TeddytheSpoon

The McQuarrie trooper helmet sounds cool, but I do fear this is another case of the monkey paw curling after so years of wanting a TK trooper minifigure...

The top speed will have been the same, but an extra motor would mean higher pulling power and greater acceleration. In crude terms, from F = m x a, a greater F with the same m must mean a greater a!

Nice design, and nice improvements too! Although I'm surprised that engineer isn't freaking out at the dismembered hand just above his on the handrail

Nice speeders, and the figures are good likenesses for Brasso and Wilmon too!

From a 'morals' standpoint, I mean. For sure his actual situation is less than ideal. (Though as stated above, and bad police forces notwithstanding, being a bit more ambiguous when talking about some of the stuff he was doing probably would've helped his case!)

That article is a good summary: everyone seems to have their own vested interest in this situation. Ben is the person that comes out of it the best, but I maintain that the way he's gone about it (at least publicly) could've been handled in a smarter way. I don't have a problem with his methods per se, but maybe just allude to the more dodgy aspects rather than spelling it out for the court! I don't love the co-opting of the #MeToo hashtag, but otherwise good video. I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear more stories about B&M's dodgy business practices surface as the weeks go by.

Very nice! Looks like you could fit a circuit cube in the bunker after all?

DRNK droid?

Without wanting to derail things too much, I doubt everything being Gen-AI-ridden is happening any time in the near future given the tech's fundamental flaws and precarious financial position. There are still plenty of creatives out there who make stuff without it. So until then, I'm quite happy to drop the ones who do use it in favour of those who don't! I dunno, I feel like if you get someone to sign something under the pretense it's something else, that's a bit dodgy, regardless of whether it's enforceable or not. If nothing else it probably won't help his case if/when it ends up in front of a judge or jury... It's good that it's out in the open now, no question. And all I'll say is Ben's videos are not for me, I won't tell people not to enjoy it! It's just a shame the system is rigged in such a way that it takes sensationalist content to bring attention to things like this, rather than it being able to be settled through proper channels (not that they existed in this case).

I got the same feeling from the few videos of his I watched (I found the style and use of Gen-AI images rather grating). It's good that he's drawn attention to B&M's malpractice, but some of the stunts he's pulled are downright stupid from a legal point of view. Two wrongs don't make a right...

New name for the antagonist of Rebuild the Galaxy S3 just dropped!

Here are my expanded answers... 1. Basically since childhood. Interest waned as a teenager but I never fully put the bricks down. 2. Nope, no kids. 3. Not at all. I love the tactile nature of LEGO, and the fact it has to withstand the laws of physics, but I find digital building is SO valuable for scale models especially. It's a great sandbox. 4. I would more say that there are too many IP tie-ins than too few in-house themes (as @Yperio_Bricks says, they're not all winners!). Then again, I like that there's something for everyone, even if it does involve licensing. 5. Hot take: no. I have a lot of nostalgia for the 9V era. Had the question been "did the 9V era have the best train designs", it would have been a resounding yes. But as a system, I don't love it. The rails are more prone to breaking, and you need a basic understanding of electrics or model railways to make layouts more complex than a loop. 6. Not a fan personally, but I don't begrudge those that do enjoy them. 7. I listen to music whenever I do anything, so yes! 8. I don't care for baseplates particularly. 9. Function first. If I had more space I would probably do colour too. 10. Yes, on occasion!

I was more thinking with B&M specifically, if they'd used similar tactics to prevent having to give people what they're owed. But yes, more generally I can fully believe it happens a lot when Big Business gets involved.

Wait, the guy from Pomplamoose is also the CEO of Patreon? That's wild. I had no idea! I saw someone on social media summarise this B&M situation as "everyone involved should've spoken to a lawyer sooner", which is hard to disagree with. But B&M's conduct, regardless of if they have any legitimacy over the sets in question, is disgraceful. Makes you wonder if there's been similar situations that just didn't get the publicity this got...

I actually forgot about that but yes, it supports the idea that LFL have a veto rather than actively dictating the exact things TLG make. And even then I assume LEGO would've had some sketches and concepts for the Zeta kicking around. FWIW, while a Zeta would've been nice I don't think what we got was a bad option. I think that Krennic's shuttle set is awesome. Is it not that there's a portion of bricks that can be removed to be replaced with the Smart Brick? That's the impression I got. (I have Many Thoughts on these, but without derailing the topic, I'll just say the rounded-cube design of the Pokémon sets is very off-putting to me. So even though it's not directly the SB's fault here, TLG are still 0 for 2 on Smart set line-ups that look good.)