danth

https://www.thebrickfan.com/lego-micro-rocket-launchpad-40712-gwp-sold-out-for-general-release/

I bought the space cab and built it, and really liked it as a cab, and didn't bother to open the bag with the white wheels. I have plans for an Ice Planet MOC which will use those. Don't click if you're tired of the sticker/print discussion:

I will say that yeah, it's gotta be easier to print on round tiles because you don't have to align them in three dimensions but that's not a storage/tracking issue. And yeah, maybe if you print on the same parts in the same color, it's easier to do all the prints at once straight from the mold and them drop them all into the same bag. That's probably why, for example, we got multiple prints on white 2x2 tiles in the Galaxy Explorer. Being smart about color/part choices to enable more prints? Great, do it. But running out of bins is a non issue. Even ignoring prints, you're going to run out of bins, and that's when you put all your parts into a bag and then get your bins back.

Parts going into bins isn't the problem, running out of bins is the problem. Once you put parts into a bag you get the bins back. This is why Lego bags have smaller inner bags. Really, the whole "bin" excuse is a farce.

We were talking about the logistics of tracking/storing individual pieces. Not the process of getting them into a bag. They already get all parts into bags; it's a solved problem. I'm just saying, use that same ability to put related sets of prints into one bag and track/store them together.

It's a meaning less distinction. Once you have parts in a bag, you can track and store the bag as a unit. Sure, depending on the what parts are printed and how, there might be a step before bagging where the parts have to be in separate bins (although I'm not even sure that's required), but that's only until they're bagged. Lego doesn't make every set and every part all at once. They make some at a time. Once parts for a set are in bags/boxes, the bins are free to store other parts.

Why? They are going to end up in the same bag regardless. We already have smaller bags within larger bags. A set of printed parts in one bag makes absolute sense. We already get that with things like spider web elements. Or sticker sheets. Or large parts not in bags. I absolutely do if it means all printed parts. I want the people that own Lego to be slightly less rich instead.

They do it for randomly shaped parts too. https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=36083#T=C The bags in each Lego set are tracked/stored during the manufacturing process. They all have numbers and QR codes on them. People are really bending over backwards to deny the obvious here... When you buy Lego sets, are you getting empty boxes, or boxes with random bags? No? Then those bags were stored and tracked as bags, with mixed printed and unprinted parts inside.

Almost every set ever released has bags with mixed parts so I'm not sure why you would say that.

Yeah no thanks. Last time I tried to get a problem solved by TLG customer support I got disconnected twice and it took hours and in they end they couldn't fix the issue without me creating a new account. Not worth the frustration which is the whole point.

Weird, is that a thing? This was an official Lego store in a mall, which I thought were all operated by Lego.

One thing to remember is that every bag of Lego bricks is a bag of arbitrary parts (possibly with different prints). They even do bags within bags to reduce the need to store parts individually throughout the manufacturing process.

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=77486&idColor=1#T=C&C=1

They can put as many printed parts as they want into one bag and store/track it as if it were a sticker sheet. They've already done that in some cases. So yeah, designers have said it's about storage/tracking logistics, but it seems to be a PR-crafted excuse.

Awesome! Very pleasing colors.

I think the Space logo stickers on the rocket and base are just gratuitous. Lego loves to slap Kragel paper on any unstudded surface and it's really sad. On the other hand, the Space logo on the 2x1 cheese slope would have been a godsend as a print. Same with the base console stickers. If they don't want to do that just for a GWP, here's a freaking idea: release some actual Space sets that use the same printed parts. Maybe a small Creator set or something.

https://brickset.com/article/106194/review-40712-micro-rocket-launchpad Looks like the trans yellow windows in the base are panels not bricks like I originally thought. Either way, new in trans yellow! And extremely useful. So are the trans yellow pieces made just for this GWP or are they going to be in some other upcoming set?

I have to complain again. I bought some Lego sets in a Lego store and they couldn't find my account at all, which means I couldn't use or get any points. They said they sometimes cancel accounts that have been inactive for months. Which is an insanely short amount of time. But yet I can log in at home and see my points. No idea why the store couldn't connect to my account. This all reinforces my opinion that VIP points are supposed to be as difficult as possible to use.

New pics show the ugly stickers on the GWP Space Babies set. To be expected knowing Lego's avarice but still disappointing. A slap in the face to Space's proud and long sticker-free legacy. And yes I know about the 1978 chest stickers and that one flag and the Exploriens magnetic stickers so you don't have to tell me. Those exceptions prove the rule. On the other hand, that 4 x 3 windscreen hasn't been released in trans yellow before right? Same with the 1 x 2 tall bricks I think, unless they're in some 2024 Friends set.

You know what would be better than a shield painting shop? An armor shop with fully printed shields. I half jokingly posit that the painter shop was included specifically to cheap out on printed shields.

Yes, the single guard is nowhere near as big a problem as the lack of animals, for the exact reason you stated. It's hard to get medieval civilians so I understand preferring them over guards. I wouldn't complain though if they threw in another guard and kept all the civilians though. But I guess some would prefer an extra civilian over another guard.

This set really feels like it's missing a guard and some farm animals. That was my first thought upon seeing the pics. "Shouldn't there be more farm animals? And why only one guard? Seems stingy." Medieval Market Village had two cows and a horse. Mill Village Raid famously had two goats and a pig and a horse. So the paltry single goat here really hurts. And both those sets had at least two guards. So there are established expectations here. Then I read this set literally is "missing" those things, because the original pic shows them. So the original design had it right, and then Lego penny pinchers cut them. Also, stickers, really? I'm not paying multiple hundreds of dollars for stickers.

To be clear, that's just the asking price. It's unlikely anyone would pay that price. A new Renegade recently sold for less than half of that.

So definitely stickers.

If there's room for a minifig in all the builds, they just become microfighter scale.