howitzer

While a service fulfilling the criteria you listed would certainly be nice from the customer perspective, I wonder who would operate it? I'm guessing you think TLG would, but I'm not sure it's any more feasible for them as it would be for a single third party. They would have to keep in stock every part available, and as we know, every year some parts are retired from the sets while new ones are introduced. What would happen to those retired parts, would they have to keep producing them even when they'd not be used in sets anymore? At some point they'd have to retire some parts from this market too (it's impossible to keep producing every part forever) and this would mean discontinuing every design that used those parts. And this would repeat year after year. Currently it's the aftermarket that supplies parts for MOCing and I don't think it's possible for TLG to replace the service Bricklink stores are providing, considering the thousands of sellers and their stocks of long retired parts. I'd argue that all the important parts are still available and probably will always be, though your mileage may vary on what's considered important. Maybe something like this could work with a list of core parts considered important and irreplaceable in TLG's inventory but making such a list of parts would be really difficult and drawing the line would be somewhat arbitrary no matter where it'd be drawn. I also don't think it would be very popular among designers as they probably don't want to limit their designs into a narrow selection of usable parts. Of course there are currently many parts that are technically available, but are far too expensive to be used in a design that's intended for sale, but even counting those out, there are tons of other useful parts that are out of production but available from the aftermarket cheaply, and it's these parts that are the problem. Either TLG would have to keep producing and stocking parts which are no longer used much, or they'd have to limit the parts selection so much as to render this service almost useless. Ordering pieces for a large MOC from Bricklink can certainly be a hassle and sometimes pretty expensive too, but I don't think any other way to do it is feasible. For the record, there was a ~4300 part MOC which I wanted to build, and I exported the parts list from Rebrickable to Bricklink to get a feeling of how much it would cost to build it. The result at the time was some 400-500€ (can't remember exactly) from 4 different sellers. I could have placed the orders there and then, and assuming those shops were to provide what they promised, I could've had the set ready for building in about a week or two. From first discovering the MOC in Rebricable I could've had the orders placed and paid within an hour, which I'd say isn't that long time, and the cost would've been similar to what new official sets cost when new (not discounted). So in my experience, even with all the hassles of Bricklink, it's very useful service for us AFOLs.

Any idea how the front lights are constructed? It looks like just three white bars clipped to something and aimed to the same point, but that seems a bit too lazy solution...

I get your point about the Disney train and others, surely they are not something that an actual train fan wants. But I don't think realistic trains are really comparable to pirates/castle/space, as the three latter themes have always been set firmly in the realm of fantasy instead of realism. Trains are also somewhat difficult to sell to kids, considering that you need to spend quite a bit of money to buy tracks and trains to get the most out of it, while other parts of the City are much more playable with low investment. I remember that as a kid I would've loved to have large Lego-train (maybe even the monorail) but the sets were far too expensive for my family to be really considered. Over the years TLG seems to have done probing of the market with various sets attempting to recreate some of the feeling in the classic themes, like Benny's Spaceship and recently Barracuda Bay, but at least the former doesn't appear to have been large enough success that it would mandate full-blown space revival and the impact of the latter is yet to be seen. I certainly hope it's enough to start a new line of pirate sets as that theme is completely absent from the current selection. Making stuff for niche markets is problematic though for a large generalist corporation like TLG, so probably they'll keep on going with touching many subjects without diving deeply into anything. At least for now it appears that mostly it's the licensed themes that keep the cash flowing for TLG, but I also do hope that they invent something original that is also a marketing success in the near future. Hidden side was an attempt but it doesn't appear to be that successful.

No, it isn't. As I and others have stated, there are multiple train sets currently for sale, and many more have been available in the past. Trains were never really in a big focus for TLG anyway, as they can't really compete for attention of serious train enthusiasts with companies such as Märklin and while trains certainly have their place in TLG's selection, they are and always will be a niche at best. Kids don't care for realism and wide selection and AFOLs are a niche market for TLG so trains are more like niche of a niche. Nobody forces you to buy Lego only though, so if some other company offers products more suited to your needs, go ahead. Or make your own train designs, that's what Lego is at it's core after all.

I haven't seen the set myself, but many reviewers praised the building techniques in the set, especially the use of flex-axles in the ship's nose and how the rear-end above the waterline was constructed. As for pandering to the fans reminiscing their childhood... yes, it obviously does that, but what was the point in the original submission, other than to indulge in childhood memories? I don't see the submission as an attempt to bring something new or fresh to the table regarding the pirates theme but as a tool for adults to revisit their childhood.

You make it sound like trains have been discontinued, but there are several sets available currently, and even PoweredUp-scheme includes a new train motor, so obviously TLG is interested in producing train sets in the future too. So what's the exact problem here?

I looked at the website, and I didn't really see anything that couldn't reasonably be replicated in Lego. The only thing Bluebrixx appears to have going on for them is that they offer themes TLG doesn't (=military etc. but that has been talked in length elsewhere) and their prices are lower per piece. The latter of course begs the question, why are their prices lower? I'm guessing, lower profit margin and probably lower quality for the bricks. One thing that has kept TLG afloat for all this time is that they have never compromised on quality of the basic product itself and it has created a strong brand which everyone recognizes and associates with expensive, but high quality product. I'm sure the clone brands will start eating TLG's market sooner or later, but I believe it's a slow process and gives TLG plenty of time to react and adapt. They probably face a stronger competition from other kinds of toys and entertainment, especially video/mobile games and such. Of course the Bricklink orders would cost a fortune, try doing the same with a similarly sized Lego set (as in buying the parts separately) and you'll see that it would cost a fortune too. But if a ready-made kit is what you want, why are you even considering a Bricklink order? Bluebrixx will never make the exact same sets as TLG, nor will TLG make the exact same sets as Bluebrixx, so if you want a certain set, you'll have to buy it from whoever made it, or pay extra for the Bricklink hassle. One problem with clone brands is that there are so many of them, with varying quality and availability and that they generally aren't compatible with each other (or Lego) even if they try to. Let's say that you start buying sets of brand X, and get a nice collection going on making great MOCs. Then for one reason or another, the manufacturing stops (company goes bankrupt, or decides it's not profitable and shifts to some other market or whatever), and then you'll find yourself with a collection of bricks that are practically worthless for resale, and with no possibilities to expand your collection or replace worn out or broken parts. I think similar thing happening with Lego isn't nearly as likely (not impossible, but less likely) scenario, considering that even if the company went bankrupt, the brand is strong enough to attract buyers who would probably want continue the core business of making bricks.

Yes, those CLASSIC sets are not very useful due to the rainbow colour palette combined with the wide variety of moulds. I'm sure kids love them but I also think that it would be much better to release colour coded sets of generic pieces, let's say containing a selection of parts in 3-5 shades of the base colour. This way the boxes could cover a wide variety of colours and moulds but for example someone making a landscape with river could buy only greens, browns, blues and maybe greys while skipping on yellows, purples and reds along with black and white. Currently one has to resort to either B&P or aftermarket to find what they need, and while it's all well and good to be able to order exactly what you need, I think it would be nicer for example for a someone with a vague castle idea to buy a box of grey parts and see what happens, as it promotes creativity very differently when you have a limited but not too limited selection of parts at hand.

It wasn't ugly in it's day, but you are correct in the sense that the sets of 1980 to early 1990 don't compare to sets of today at all. If you remove all the nostalgia and the inherent value of an earlier installment, you get a set that's more like a shitty MOC than a high-quality product made by a major company. As a basic themes (space, castle, pirates) I do miss those, as many of TLG's own product lines have been discontinued in favour of licensed themes and apart from Star Wars, there's really no product lines currently to cater to people who like these themes. I find Technic a curious theme here, because while technology has certainly marched on, lots of core concepts are still the same as in 1980's and there were some truly genius techniques used (linkage in 856 bucket, the robotic arm of 8094 or the whole of 8868) and such cleverness doesn't seem to be around as much anymore. Also, while in the earlier days Technic sets were all about functions with very little attention given to looks, today the aesthetic side of things is just as important, and while I understand the reasons for it, I kind of miss the days when you could actually see how the functions worked inside the model instead of everything being covered in panels.

Some of the new licenses are definitely adult-oriented though, like Stranger Things and Fast&Furious. Of course teenagers can (and do) watch those, but Lego has come pretty far from the days of being strictly kid-oriented. When I was a kid the age recommendations were based on technical difficulty (consider 8868 or 8480 with their recommended age starting at 11) of building and not thematic content as everything was kid-friendly in that respect.

When LDD had the option to design a set and order the pieces online, I was firmly in my dark ages but I heard about it and actually tried LDD briefly. I was horrified to discover that the parts/colours selection is extremely limited and the usability of the software is pretty bad. Obviously LDD was improved after that but the limited selection of parts was the biggest hurdle, it didn't even have most of the basic Technic pieces like most gears and axles available. No wonder this feature was scrapped. In retrospect, though, I kinda understand why ordering custom set of pieces from a wide selection is something where price wouldn't meet expectations. The logistics of handling all the parts is a nightmare for a large corporation with millions of customers who have high expectations of the quality of the service (namely, always exactly correct parts in delivery, and fast delivery times) so they'd have to raise the price accordingly which would make the service disproportionately expensive. Running a Bricklink store is much different in terms of customer expectations and size of the operation. Many BL storekeepers are actually AFOL hobbyists instead of entrepreneurs with profit expectations, so they don't face the same risks and challenges as a large, profit-driven corporation like TLG.

People have been fearing that pneumatics might become discontinued for at least 30 years, as there has always been gaps of few years in pneumatics releases but every time the fears have been unfounded. It's only two years since the last new pneumatics parts were released and those were made for a set which isn't very complex or interesting in it's pneumatics functions. I'd be really surprised if TLG just abandoned those moulds and decided that there's no more profit in pneumatics. I'm guessing that in a year or two we'll be seeing a flagship set which combines pneumatics and Control+ into a model with many RC functions, considering especially the new valve, which seems to be designed for motorized operation. BTW, I wonder if anyone has remodeled 42100 to work with pneumatics in place of linear actuators?

First make sure you really are missing the parts in question, there's a parts list in the instruction book and you can also use Bricklink or other such site for reference. Sometimes parts really are missing from the official sets although it isn't too common. If that's the case, you can contact Lego customer service at their website and they will mail you the missing parts.

Yeah, Ideas, if anything, is very telling about GBC's as a prospective market. Many great sets there get the required 10k votes and are still turned down by TLG, while GBCs in general don't even get anywhere near the required number of votes. Also no Technic model has ever been featured in Ideas, and if and when Technic set will be chosen for production, I'm guessing it'll be some nice licensed car or truck - but not a GBC. I get that GBCs have a certain appeal for some people, myself included, but that appeal doesn't seem to be very widely shared, it's a niche market at best.

I'm aware that many great kinetic sculptures are made by AFOLs but licenses are a good way to give the official sets an extra kick of marketability. I'm not saying they must be licensed, just that license is a great way to increase sales, as I'm sure some non-AFOL HP fans will get the Hedwig set just to display it on their desks, even if they will never buy another Lego set. I like TLG:s own themes though, and I'm a bit saddened that there's no non-licensed themes today on space, pirates, castle, etc. But this is going somewhat off-topic. I agree, there are some machinery that for some reason haven't had a decent set or only had very few. Grader would make a great flagship set, as would a backhoe or a proper harvester (I think there's been only one excepting the B-model of 8862). -- One reason Technic licenses have increased so much lately may be the fact that many vehicles like cars and motorcycles have been produced since the beginning of the Technic line and as for increasing functions, there's only so much you can do with a car. Licensing is one way to keep them interesting for the market, so while Dom's Charger isn't bringing anything new functions-wise, it has a license which immediately makes it stand out compared to any generic car TLG might produce. Something I'd like to see is some sort of division of functional sets and good-looking sets: functional sets would of course focus on functions and continue the core tradition of Technic while good-looking sets would be a sort of resurrection of the old Model Team theme where realistic looks is the main goal while still having some simple functions like steering as opposed to Creator Expert vehicles which don't have those, maybe even combining with Creator Expert vehicle line to make stuff that looks good, replicates faithfully the real thing and is still functional enough to be playable. Then there's of course UCS cars which I think should continue representing the pinnacle of Technic technology, while still having a strong focus on aesthetics.

GBC:s have several problems as an official set line. As already mentioned, they require a lot of parts, especially if you want a module line that is self-contained and can recycle the balls indefinitely while still being interesting to watch. Another problems is that they are fairly hard to build. I mean, surely as an official set some kind of a GBC module could be made into an easy enough build but expanding on that is hard, as designing a novel mechanisms are difficult and there's a lot of trial and error in making it work so in the end many kids would just get frustrated, probably even before getting their first own module to work. One problem is also the fact that once you have a GBC running, there's not much to do with it except watching it. No swoosh/wroom-factor, no manual functions to operate or switches to use like with most Technic sets, no imaginative scenarios of being a crane operator or supercar driver. So I think there's just not a big enough market for these sets, as they are not really suitable for kids and there's not enough AFOLs to justify a whole new expensive product line. I agree that kinetic sculptures are something that TLG should explore more. Forma was a nice try but the models weren't that interesting in the end, and unlike Hedwig there, they didn't have the license factor to boost sales. I'm sure more interesting models can be made and I also believe that they would sell better, especially when licensed.

Wow, this is incredible, and with so small parts count! Makes me want to take apart my 8868 A-model and build the B-model...

Yeah, it appears that someone just made a compilation video of what has been revealed and added some real Sian imagery. No new info in that one.

AA batteries have typically a bit over double the capacity of AAA yet the cost is nearly the same. Even if you use rechargeable batteries, the charging is a hassle so personally I prefer AA more often than AAA simply because the latter has to be replaced/recharged at least twice as often. And yeah, integrated Li-ion battery with USB charger plugin would be nice, but I totally get why TLG avoids them, with all the extra cost and safety considerations that inevitably comes with them, as kbalage said already. If you are annoyed by large battery boxes, why not just get a BuWizz?

One thing that seems to be often forgotten in comparing MOCs to official sets is that the designers at TLG have to adhere to strict rules in how to build the model. Legal vs. illegal connections is one aspect that MOC makers can just ignore as they can make the decision to sacrifice certain parts in order to make their model better (case in point: using axles as twisting springs), while TLG designers don't have that option. Another point is that the models have to be buildable within the same framefork of legal connections, there can be no bending or twisting parts in a manner that risks breaking them, even during assembly so they have to design around that. Of course a number of illegal connections in models have made it to production over the years, but apparently today QA is much stricter regarding legal connections.

Supercars have been with the Technic line since the beginning, and they have always represented the most advanced technology available at the time. In the beginning they were of course just a chassis with no bodywork at all, but in time they evolved and first got proper bodywork and later licenses took over. Many people find cars fascinating and model cars representing the real thing have been a part of children's play almost since the invention of the automobile so it's only natural that TLG also wants to use licenses and frankly, I find it a bit weird that it took until 2010's for them to actually acquire such a license. That being said, I also like the generic sets TLG has produced (with B-models and all) so I'm a bit sad to see them decline. I also have to wonder if licenses such as Liebherr actually provide significant increase in sales compared to generic sets. But I guess that from the marketing point of view it's easier to sell stuff saying "just like the real thing, only smaller" as opposed to "we made this up, hopefully it sells". There's an obvious conflict of interest in aesthetics and functionality, in that making a good looking model with closed bodywork hides most of the functionality. I find merits in both approaches, but apparently TLG has chosen the path of making models look good rather than showing the functions. Sets like 42055 BWE are nice in that you can see a lot of the functionality due to the nature of the machine, even if aesthetics is considered in the design. 42082 RTC on the other hand is an example of a generic set with almost nothing of the functions visible even if there's a lot going on inside the machine. It looks nice but doesn't feel Technic like BWE.

I'm not aware of any part moulds that are specific to a brand or license, to my knowledge all are reusable in MOCs and future sets. Maybe a slight problem arises from things like the colour scheme of Bugatti, which currently offers a limited parts palette but that's not a licensed-specific problem as there have been quite a few non-licensed sets with "weird" colours before, offering limited parts palette. There are of course a few printed pieces with logos but all of them, to my knowledge, are also available without prints.

I don't think microscale is underrated or underrepresented at all in official sets as many sets representing real life things are microscale, few examples that popped in my mind: Tower Bridge, Taj Mahal, ISS, Saturn V. All of those sets are of course very large when finished so they provide a good display, and they are also interesting to build being so large, so they are in entirely different category than polybag microscale sets or even Architecture sets.

I'm pretty sure that licensing has been hugely beneficial for Technic, at least from the sales point of view and increased sales will of course help TLG to bring more new parts, whether functional or aesthetic. The times of Technic models being just liftarms with gears inside are far behind us, and today looks is also important design consideration - not least because of licensing where exterior must be easily recognizable. If you think some classic models from 30 years ago (like 8865 or 8872), there's no way such an unfinished-looking sets would be released today. Even 8868, which was unprecedented in it's aesthetic detailing at the time looks pretty rough by today's standards.

I'm quite sure that 42096 was never meant to be anything else than a big empty shell for modders to build upon. I also got it when it was on sale as a parts pack, although I'm not interested in supercars generally at all, but functionally it's barely above the entry-level sets of 1990's. As for the panels, I dislike that they tend to cover up all the interesting functionality, but on the other hand, there's no denying that most sets look much better when covered with panels. This is probably the main reason why TLG is heading this direction with Technic, considering how much better those sets look on the store shelf, as they still have to compete with other toys and there looks play a significant role in purchase decisions.