JesseNight

Can you link me those specific instructions and what the commenter said about an error? I can probably find out, since I have the original model without any issues of the hatch closing. But originally the exhausts are short and deep under the model and don't go anywhere near the hatch at all. [edit] I found your YT channel and your build video. Your hatch looks completely fine. Considering how the hatch is built, there's no small change you could make to make it close further, and I doubt that was intended. As it is, the long horizontal beams are in closed state a perfect extension of the horizontal beams of the doors. The top beams are stretched to their maximum length. And the lowest bricks on the back rest just on those 2 slopes.

Oh, you're right, I hadn't noticed book 1 still being v1.5. Just downloaded it again, only to notice book 1 still being v1.5 actually. [edit] Now I have 1.6, thanks again!

This is very true. And that's also what the title of this topic suggests and my personal opinion... I don't mind licensed themes but I feel overdosed by the endless repetition of some of those. If classic space and the following themes had persisted, I would have been bored within a few years of it too. But did I appreciate the recent Galaxy Explorer and Renegade releases? Absolutely.

True, I remember that well during their releases. Personally I liked them, but I was already a generation younger than those who had seen the original trilogy in the theaters in the late 70s and early 80s. Generation might be a thing. Or maybe some people are a bit too trigger happy on complaining first, learning to appreciate later? At the same time it suffers from something that every sequel or prequel suffers from... It's no longer an original thing when we first see it, and yet it has to somehow live up to (or surpass) expectations that are unrealistically high after the original being a major success.

Me neither. But I am sure they have people in-house analyzing such statistics. Well Disney sure is keeping the franchise much alive with all the new series and talk about upcoming new films, even if the fans of the original Star Wars stuff aren't liking it. Maybe it appeals more to the younger crowd? Also don't forget that the new trilogies may have a lot of bad reviews, that never stopped any fans to still go and see it. It was a commercial success and that's what matters to a business in the end. That everybody pays to watch it just to trash talk it on Youtube later isn't their concern. Bad reviews don't hurt any business (unless there's direct competition for a same product), only undermining profit does.

I think the fact they keep up those licenses proves that they must in fact sell well, enough to keep a decent profit after fees. I'm no fan but I'm not everybody in the end. I guess in the end nostalgia plays a role too for many adults, having a special place for the themes we grew up with. I loved the old Town more than the modern City. I loved old Castle (which was more of a historical non-fantasy setting) more than more modern attempts. I loved 80s Space themes more than the new City Space, even though I admit that one was a breath of fresh air. Just for franchises that I love, I'm way more appealed to buy an accurate model than a Lego one. And I'm just really bored of the amount of superhero themes we got nowadays, but that's just my personal (dis)taste. No offense intended to anyone! @imposter Oh small note about that modular City set that you posted. I would surely define that as creative, and I love modular builds in general because it offers a grade of variety we otherwise wouldn't have. However... this set feels weird. City was always a realistic theme, and the way this was executed it just allows to change realistic builds into unrealistic and rather weird ones... I guess accuracy of themes is a whole different discussion though. Unless it's licensed accuracy

Of course, and maybe my wording is a bit wrong. To stay on the castle example... If you have an open Castle theme, there's a lot of variety. Look at all the different castles we've had through those years. Sure it still has to look like a castle, but it leaves a lot of freedom within the rules of the theme. If you want to make the Harry Potter Hogwarts castle however, people expect accuracy to what they have seen in the movies. You can still make a different castle that will fit that world, but people have high expectations on what they know and will all try to replicate it rather than creating their own interpretation of "a castle". That's the difference. I feel I'm starting to sound like my grandpa when I was a kid That's a good point, I suppose I haven't seen a lot of these mocs yet. I guess the SW universe has grown a lot beyond the movies nowadays (but that's where I lost my interest a bit).

I would say ours, but motivated by Lego by giving us a theme with less rules. If you're in a preset licensed theme, everybody will try to make the same stuff (stuff they've seen in the movies). Sure there's still creative solutions to solve problems, but in a non-licensed theme there's full creative freedom. Not saying it's impossible in licensed themes for us (for Lego it probably is), just a lot less likely for people to be motivated to do that. There are exceptions of course. No offense taken, and it's true that I have no idea how professional designers work. When someone has to design an X-Wing, their creativity is aimed solely towards making it look like that. And when we get the so-many'th X-Wing we've had in so many years, that makes me facepalm. Even more if endless repetition of the same is really what people want. That's just my opinion about it, no disrespect intended to the people liking or designing it. However if someone's told to design a new space theme, or a new ship in a decided uniform set of colors for that theme, they can literally go every direction. And if something doesn't turn out right, they can alter their vision or make it better. I miss being surprised by originality of new sets, not knowing at all what we're getting until we see it for the first time. So even as a Star Wars fan, I'd pick City Space over Lego's SW series anytime. Also once again, I'm not against licensed themes, only against too many, and the endless repetition of the same franchises.

It's being worked on I believe, as mentioned here

I wouldn't say "ruin" it. All I wanna say is the old Lego themes would encourage it more by setting an example. Doesn't mean there is no room for licensed themes, because there most certainly is. I just wish it was slightly less, and the endless repetition of new revisions of the same sets (like SW theme) would stop.

I wasn't even aware that monorail flopped. I loved it, but there were very limited sets and they were at a very high price point for that time. This is exactly what bothers me so much too, the endless repetition of the same sets. But I guess it somehow works from a business pov... The point is probably creative freedom. Of course there's always tolerance, and restriction of what we can do with the bricks given, but you know in advance what you have to design... instead of following a designer's own fantasy to create something unseen before. It's the latter that so many people are missing.

I'm no business man and I'm not going to say they should get rid of something that's working for them. I'm just no fan of it myself. Even the licenses that I do like, I would be more tempted to buy a very accurate scale model of rather than a Lego set. I love Star Wars for example, but I own 0 Lego SW sets. For me Lego was about creativity. And yes I loved the old space, castle, and town themes. Should they be frozen in time? Absolutely not. Look at the Galaxy Explorer a few years ago. It proved that an old theme can be successfully "remastered" without losing either functionality or quality, and even offering more on both. With that in mind, new themes should be possible too, right?

I am not against licensed themes, but I agree there's a bit many. And more, I feel like they keep dragging on waaaaaaaay too long. It's fine to have a Jurassic World theme for 2-3 years when a movie releases.But then move on. Same with Star Wars or any other, although the TV industry is part to blame here for keeping the franchise endlessly going with more series (and lots of disappointments). Just my opinion. I see it too that it works for the big audience, so can't blame Lego for making the best commercial decision. "Back in the day" creative themes were most certainly a much bigger thing.

Thanks for the updates @jb70! There's been a part that's been bugging me. It's in book 1, page 114, in the sub model between steps 41 and 42. On step 3 of this sub model, there's a brown 3L axle with stop being inserted. I haven't built this irl, but looking at this digitally I was wondering... how would you ever get it back out once it's all the way in? For now I am more tempted to replace it with a normal 4L axle and a 1/2 bush (if that works in the entire build).

Exactly. Sellers are free to ask what they want, buyers are free to take it or leave it. I see this happen more often with large stores that have a lot of harder to find parts. People prefer to order from the least possible amount of different stores and are easier willing to accept a few common parts being more expensive... or just overlook it in a large order.

@Operacion Saturno That's some valid points indeed! Yes I'm happy with the new trans-yellow canopies too (both the 4 studs wide Cruiser and the 6 studs wide Galaxy Explorer & Renegade). Though in all honesty my favorite canopy is still the SP1/M-Tron one (think SP2 and IP still had it too). I feel the pilots have to sit or lean back too much on these new ones that are a slope down right from the hinge.

Understandable from a business pov. Bit of a shame because it's often the fans who already bought one or more of the official Lego one who want to see more of the series.

I don't know, I just remember some awesome classic space designs that actually got the votes and then got rejected for that very reason. I'm no Lego representative so I can't say how it works, only what I've seen. Not sure if it's better if they're inconsistent with these rules... Anyway you have my support, I love these old space themes and would absolutely wanna see more!

Awesome! Love to see that, but Lego said more than once that they won't accept Ideas based on previous existing themes. Some amazing builds have been rejected for that very reason.

That looks amazing!

This discussion is among the reasons Aquazone never appealed to me and always felt weird. To me it wasn't Space... but it sure appeared like it tried to be a Space replacement or addition. I just couldn't put my finger on it where to place it.

I'm not an admin, but I don't think such a thing would be easily done. The problem with social media is that they often create complex links and sometimes the formula for those changes. They're likely not a fan of their content being embedded everywhere. The easiest for yourself is to just use a free image host like https://imgbb.com because they give a direct link to the picture that the forum picks up to embed it. You can do a quick upload without an account being required at all, or make an account if you wanna be able to manage your content later.

I have to agree there. Feels like a clear example of upgrades not always making things better so it got me wondering too. On that last note, I wouldn't be surprised if a link to a gallery is actually preferred. It keeps the load of the forum pages a lot lighter for people who just wanna quickly go over the text.

I have to agree not seeing Aquazone as a Space theme, despite the similarities in how vehicles are built. I remember first seeing Aquazone as a kid in the catalog it released and at first thinking it was a new Space theme... then being disappointed when I read the story and found out it wasn't. Not saying it was bad, it just lost its appeal to me.

Not that I'm aware of. I would have known since those were the prime days I was totally into Lego Space! Just double checked the paper catalogues I still have from those years and it wasn't in them.