Oh_Hi_Mao

It is interesting approach. I personally assume that LEGO wont discontinue control+ without leaving permanent alternative of how to use old control+ sets. If so, it could damage reputation of business badly. I don't know if it would be even legal in EU to do such thing (when an existing company won't provide support on their product which may lose its functionality). I personally own and enjoy control+ sets because I found them cool and interesting, if my kids won't be able to play with them (which I doubt), they will get other alternative. But at least their pops had a great memories himself.

I am interested too so just made a quick draft. It is not as sophisticated size comparison as the one from Reddit but for a reference it should work:

Found this size comparison on reddit legotechnic community:

This is not how business works, believe me, is its not based on ''sounds cool, let's roll!''. I am sure they do analysis what would sell well before investing into new product. At the end of the day TLG has to sell stuff and they are experts at that since it is multi billion company. More diverse line up = more people are interested = more sales. I think if 42146 will sell bad, we won't see any other big boy with multiple new parts anytime soon. On the other hand, I bet that Technic cars are the best sellers considering the amount of new releases we get every year :)

Perhaps dragline excavator could be another use of new molds from 42146. Or new version of bucket wheel excavator. Since the last two flagship sets were tracked (42131 and 42146), I bet the next one won't be tracked and won't be a crane. I think it may be front loader. Something from John Deere line up is also possible (licensed + has wheels + not yellow :D )

Now I am think this is just a marketing campaign from TLG. Price will fall. But now everyone is talking about the crane because of it's ridiculous price. And when the price will have a ''discount'', some people will consider it as a deal.

Try to be respectful while answering to the comments. Design flaw of a toy? It is not defined by ISO standards. How can you call it a flaw? By your visual observation? In engineering it is usually relied on numbers. Can you provide any? Or it is just your assumptions which has to be taken as a facts?

I am sure it will be strong enough to lift advertised weight (which is rumored to be 0.5 kg.). Other than that, why do they need to overengineer it? It is a toy not heavy duty machinery.

Interesting. French eshop "cdiscount", from which the most recent leak originated, removed 42146 from its website. Now page results in 404 not found.

You missed the point. I'll wait for discount. Saved money could be (but it doesn't mean will be) spent on additional parts to extend boom (if it will be needed). At the end of the day, I should get more for the same initial price. If Crane would be 1,5 meters high from day one I perhaps would consider to pay the actual price on 1st of August. But we all know why LEGO settled with 1 meter height of a crene.

At the end of the day it is a modular constructor toy which is restricted by the elements of LEGO system. LR13000 perhaps was too ambitious for LEGO system, they should have went with a smaller Liebherr crane.

proportions can be different due to different perspective. After we get more pictures from a different angles, crane look much less awkward than on the leaked image of a box. It is only my opinion, people with a better 3D imagination could already had a better general opinion on proportions of this set.

Personally, I really like it. It looks massive and proportions are not awkward like in the leaked pictures. Few let downs: price (I'll wait for a discount, 500 EUR is max what I am willing to pay). Tracks were not being used from 41131. It does not look like LR13000 but perhaps it is a compromise to have this set safe. I don't care about the length of booms, it can be easily extended (it is still LEGO at the end of the day).

Excellent hidden references for 42146 Liebherr :)

I am sure Lego is already working on 2024 line up which may have flagship set (we didn't get any in 2022 so there is a free spot). RacingBrick had good insight, that information about August releases should be in the first half on July. Remember Skidder, information was released about three weeks before it arrived to the shelves. And we are also waiting for Yamaha motorcycle to be revealed. If Liebherr won't be announced together with Yamaha, then I would be a little concerned. Another fact that 42131 was released in October so I would not be surprised if 42146 release date will be also October.

We should not forget it is LEGO. LEGO deliver to us ''not impressive'' but safe crane. At our own risk we can (I guess easily) extend boom and other parts, add more counterweight, etc. I think we will see quite magnificent modifications from a community.

Mould king crane is too large and unstable. And Mould king don't care about it. Actually I didn't bought it because it is too large (no space to store it) and has not enough counterweight to work properly. So in my opinion Lego does not need to match size of a competitor set - they need to make it stable. Profit of TLG is increasing every year, LEGO is doing the right thing for business, and not so right thing for nostalgia.

So new picture was leaked? Is the crane different from the leaked box earlier?

My guess is that this will be the fastest Control+ set. They didn't tried to fully recreate the real Dakar car (no spare tires, interior). It does look like just a shell on a chasis (Same like the non-Lego RC cars).

Any ideas why we don't have 42146 in the catalog ? I have a feeling that it is again delayed to October.