Carbohydrates

Well I'd argue the Supra should be under EUR, but I'm keeping it "clean" here.

Y'all got my curious on EUR vs USA sets. Although 2021 is USA-heavy, there are still (in total) fewer than half as many USA cars as EUR ones. This means that USA cars make up fewer than one third of all total cars in the Speed Champions series. The only other year besides 2021 to feature more USA cars than EUR ones was 2016. 2015 and 2020 featured no USA cars at all, whereas EUR cars have been represented every year. Data follows: 2015: EUR - 75899: LaFerrari EUR - 75908: 458 Italia GT2 EUR - 75909: McLaren P1 EUR - 75910: Porsche 918 Spyder EUR - 75911: McLaren Mercedes Pit Stop EUR x2 - 75912: Porsche 911 GT Finish Line EUR x2 - 75913: F14 T & Scuderia Ferrari Truck 2015 Results: 9 (100%) EUR, 0 (0%) USA 2016: USA - 75870: Chevrolet Corvette Z06 USA - 75871: Ford Mustang GT EUR - 75872: Audi R18 e-tron quattro EUR - 75873: Audi R8 LMS ultra USA x2 - 75874: Chevrolet Camaro Drag Race USA x2 - 75875: Ford F-150 Raptor & Ford Model A Hot Rod EUR x2 - 75876: Porsche 919 Hybrid and 917K Pit Lane 2016 Results: 4 (40%) EUR, 6 (60%) USA Running total results: 13 (68.4%) EUR, 6 (31.6%) USA 2017: EUR - 75877: Mercedes-AMG GT3 EUR - 75878: Bugatti Chiron EUR - 75879: Scuderia Ferrari SF16-H EUR - 75880: McLaren 720S USA x2 - 75881: 2016 Ford GT & 1966 Ford GT40 EUR - 75882: Ferrari FXX K & Development Center EUR x2 - 75883: Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 2017 Results: 7 (77.8%) EUR, 2 (22.2%) USA Running total results: 20 (71.4%) EUR, 8 (28.6%) USA 2018: USA - 75884: 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback USA - 75885: Ford Fiesta M-Sport WRC EUR - 75886: Ferrari 488 GT3 Scuderia Corsa EUR - 5887: Porsche 919 Hybrid EUR x2 - 75888: Porsche 911 RSR and 911 Turbo 3.0 EUR x3 - 75889: Ferrari Ultimate Garage 2018 Results: 7 (77.8%) EUR, 2 (22.2%) USA Running total results: 27 (73.0%) EUR, 10 (27.0%) USA 2019: EUR - 75890: Ferrari F40 Competizione USA - 75891: Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Race Car EUR - 75892: McLaren Senna USA x2 - 75893: 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon and 1970 Dodge Charger R/T EUR x2 - 75894: 1967 Mini Cooper S Rally and 2018 MINI John Cooper Works Buggy EUR - 75895: 1974 Porsche 911 Turbo 3.0 2019 Results: 5 (62.5%) EUR, 3 (37.5%) USA Running total results: 32 (71.1%) EUR, 13 (28.9%) USA 2020: EUR - 76895: Ferrari F8 Tributo JPN - 76896: Nissan GT-R NISMO EUR - 76897: 1985 Audi Sport Quattro S1 EUR x2 - 76898: Formula E Panasonic Jaguar Racing GEN2 Car & Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY EUR x2 - 76899: Lamborghini Urus ST-X & Huracán Super Trofeo EVO Results: 6 (85.7%) EUR, 0 (0%) USA, 1 (14.3%) JPN Running total results: 38 (73.1%) EUR, 13 (25.0%) USA, 1 (1.9%) JPN 2021: EUR - 76900: Koenigsegg Jesko JPN - 76901: Toyota GR Supra EUR - 76902: McLaren Elva USA x2 - 76903: Chevrolet Corvette C8.R Race Car and 1968 Chevrolet Corvette USA x2 - 76904: Mopar Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster and 1970 Dodge Challenger T/A USA x2 - 76905: Ford GT Heritage Edition and Bronco R 2021 Results: 2 (22.2%) EUR, 6 (66.7%) USA, 1 (11.1%) JPN Running total results: 40 (65.6%) EUR, 19 (31.1%) USA, 2 (3.3%) JPN

Yup! Check that Rebrickable link in the OP. Free instructions and parts list there.

Eh, I'll link 'em up with turntable tops or boat studs or something, I'm not too worried about it. That 6 x 6 tile is just awful, though.

On the Challenger? That's the 6 x 6 tile, the one with the matted texture and center injection (vacuum?) mold mark that people don't like very much. I'd prefer to replace it with a few 2 x 6 tiles, personally.

As an aside: I was so disappointed by the C3, I was thinking about it all day. So I decided to design my own this afternoon (in 6-wide, my preference) to make me feel better.

I'm glad to finally see some pics. I have mixed feelings. GT & Bronco: I'm interested in how the Bronco's roll cage was done. The blue bars look shorter than 3L - short rigid hose maybe? I wish the GT's stripe wasn't done so... lazily, for lack of a better word, being all prints and stickers. The headlights look off, but the rest of the build is pretty solid. The rear looks great. Wish it was medium blue, which feels like a better match for Gulf Oil. Jesko: They didn't capture the car's super dynamic lines all that well. Making the nose steeper or raking the cabin would have helped a lot. The wing is extremely thick. It's a fine model overall, but not amazing. Supra: Looks pretty bad. Everything is chunky. A far cry from how elegantly they handled fascia lines on last year's Lambo and Jag SUVs. Not a very interesting build for the rest of it, either. Elva: I'm really impressed. The splitter and angled sides are clever and cleanly executed. The dash and printed(?) seats are great. Brick built lights, front and back! Tons of subtle bodywork executed well. Very little reliance on stickers. This is a really great model, and easily the standout of this wave for me, even though I don't care about the real car at all. C3 & C8: The C8 looks generic without the bodywork widening as it approaches the rear fenders - really costs the car a lot of its identity. The rear's detailing is ALL stickers. Hate to see that. The C3 is atrocious. It's extremely square and blocky. The rear deck being completely flat is wild! The windscreen feels like a poor choice. Stubby nose. Honestly, this looks closer to a Nova than a Corvette. Its best aspect by far is the taillight / rear bumper assembly, which is fantastic, but way too much was compromised for just that. If you go search for "lego corvette C3" on Flickr, you can find tons of 6- and 8-wide MOCs that looks massively better. This fails to meet the standard set by nearly everyone else. Challenger & dragster: These look pretty good. Not much I'd change. Still not a fan of the Challenger's side stripe being partially stickers and partially plates, because it doesn't line up well, but that's pretty minor. The rear pillar technique is something new and interesting. Not bad!

It definitely is, yeah. The question is about the leaked Friends set, which could be regular yellow or light yellow - although, the more I look at it, the more I fear that it's just regular yellow as well.

There may or may not be a link hidden somewhere in my post that you quoted there.

I built a Voyager probe in the same 1:70 scale as the recent Discovery shuttle. I'm not personally much of a space builder, but this was a commissioned build and it was actually a lot of fun! I have free instructions on my Rebrickable for anybody who would enjoy them.

Not a Speed Champions leak, but it sure looks like we may be getting the newer Speed Champions mudguards/fenders in bright light yellow!

The more I look at the challenger, the more annoyed I am by the side stripe. Thing's gonna be a pain to convincingly align, and you'd need a few purple pieces from your own collection to omit it because part of it is brick-built.

I don't know, what if? I doubt it, though, given how seriously LEGO has continued to crack down on leaks and even rumors. A number of people left the Ambassador / LEGO recognized media program recently when LEGO banned discussions about rumors - regardless of the presence (or lack) of any actual leaked media - from YouTube channels and such. To their credit, they did reverse this decision shortly after receiving a ton of backlash, but the fact that they made it at all reveals a lot about the corporate mindset regarding leaks right now. Consider also the incredibly short window nowadays between a set's announcement and its availability. Given the amount of control LEGO desires over their own press, a planned leak doesn't really make sense. With their recent explosion in popularity and difficulty keeping up with demand, I don't think they need that particular form of guerilla marketing to build hype, either. I think Occam's Razor applies here: it's most likely that a store simply screwed up and put it out too early.

2015 Jeep Renegade Another unique challenge, building a car like this in olive green! The idea for this one came from the realization that I could use a white Technic cross axle for the iconic X-shaped taillights. I'm not sure it's my BEST build ever, but given the limitations of scale and color, I'm very pleased with it!

I recall reading or hearing, from a past interview, that the Speed Champions line is largely dictated by what various auto manufacturers come to them with. Seemingly, what specific cars get built and whether a brand is even represented in the series or not seems to mostly come from the auto companies themselves.

I'm a little short of impressed by the Challenger, but I look forward to being delightfully surprised by some aspect of it. I don't care about the dragster at all so I won't even comment on it. I am a little curious about the Challenger's wheel situation, though. Using a dish or similar round piece in place of a wheel is a pretty common MOC technique, but I'm positive I've never seen this in an official set before.

As always, thank you so much for your kind words! I'm glad you're enjoying my builds. 1967 Ford Mustang (10265) I will confess, I am ridiculously excited to show this one to you guys. It's my most ambitious model so far. I really wanted to replicate the 10265 Creator Expert set, including the mechanism to raise the rear axle, and I did just that! I also made the various hot rod add-on bits as well.

As far as I am aware, LEGO was under no outside pressure whatsoever to cancel this set. Their stated reason was that this isn't the direction they wanted their (typically more mild) City theme to go. I read the comments section on the Brickset article about this and it was all "virtue signaling" this and "cancel culture" that, and it just doesn't seem to apply in this context. LEGO has had a specific idea in mind for their image, and the curation of particular themes, since nearly their inception as a company. We all know the story of the yellow castle, after all. Their ideas change over time, but they still have a direction for the development of each and every theme, and different themes are handled differently. I'm positive set ideas along the lines of this get rejected internally on a constant basis. I feel as if certain ideologies about "cancel culture" are just very hot-button right now and perhaps folks are subconsciously seeking confirmation bias, trying to fit the square peg into the round hole to prove something about the way the world is perceived. Maybe that's not the discussion to have here, so I'll get back to the topic: I don't really see what's so special about this set. Given LEGO's explanation, I'd imagine the big brick-built dynamite stick would have to be removed in order for this to be released in any form, and that's by far the most iconic element in the set. Without it, it's just a simple dark red building and a couple forgettable vehicles. Is it really such a loss?

You must have had a ton of fun with all the mini builds here. The detailing is perfect, and the contrast of the cluttered ground floor against the sleek, modernized apartment looks great.

I don't really mind stickers in sets too much. Obviously I prefer (and greatly value) prints instead, but stickers make sense to me, especially when introducing 20 new prints would make a Speed Champions set impossibly expensive. What I DON'T like is stickers being used to represent features that could, and should, be brick-built instead. I feel as if the early SC sets were particularly guilty of making headlights, taillights, exhaust pipes, vents, and all sorts of physical details out of stickers instead, and it's a real bummer. However, when stickers are only used to represent a livery or manufacturer branding or whatever, that's perfectly fine and even exciting to me. So, having explained my personal thoughts about stickers in SC sets, I'd like to show off a few of my own MOCs that I have designed custom graphics for. In all of these cars, the graphics are PURELY for liveries and advertisements and such. All physical details are still brick-built and the cars work perfectly fine with no graphics at all. Also, I do in several cases use STAMPS (STickers Across Multiple PartS). I know this is contentious and I personally dislike it in official sets since it makes taking them apart extremely annoying, but I don't typically take apart my own MOCs when they're completed, so I don't mind using such a thing on my own builds. Again, just explaining my process and apologizing in advance if you dislike the idea. First up is my Hoonicorn V1. You can see the complete, non-stickered version of my MOC here. This is a really popular model for Speed Champions MOCers because LEGO built their own version of this to give to Hoonigan Racing's Ken Block (driver of the real car) as a gift, so we all had the same inspiration and template to work from. As a result, many people make sticker sheets to make the LEGO model match the branding on the real car. I decided to do something different and design LEGO-centric in-universe branding to put on the car instead. This thing is full of references to LEGO, which I will detail: HOONIGAN replaced with HOONIKITTY. FORD logo replaced with the classic 1950s LEGO logo, recolored The skull on the roof is replaced with the classic LEGO skull. The crossed bones behind it are from the latest version of the Jolly Roger flag from 21322: Pirates of Barracuda Bay. Monster Energy branding is replaced with Vita RUSH branding, which is LEGO's in-universe sport beverage company (and racing team sponsor). Toyo Tires branding is replaced with Nutrax Tyres, a brand that was advertised on the red car in 8198: Ramp Crash. Smooth Oil and Heavy Cargo are brand advertised on 42041: Race Truck. Spark is advertised on the side of 75884: Ford Mustang Fastback. ENgyne and TOOLS are advertised on the side of ]60218: Desert Rally Racer. The pony badge in the grill is a LEGO horse in profile. I had a lot of fun with that, so I decided to do another. I had built a gasser variant of my '64 Ford Fairlane last year, and it seemed like a natural choice to turn into even more of a show car. This one doesn't really have any special or unique references. I used the Smooth Oil brand again, and I added Octan Racing and "Spin Wear," another racing gear brand from the Racers Tiny Turbos theme. Finally, I wanted to do another gasser to race against that one. The problem is, I hadn't actually BUILT another gasser yet! In fact, I still haven't, but I did finish designing one, at least. Consider this, then, a MOC reveal as well: I made a 1963 Chevy Nova gasser in dark azure, then I made some graphics for it. More simple, this time - less of a show car and more of a serious drag racing machine. Like the Hoonicorn, I filled this one with LEGO references, too. The car's number, 541, is a reference to 5541: Blue Fury. The name "Well Played" is a reference to the origin of the name LEGO, "Leg Godt" = "Play Well." Brick Street Custom is a speed shop from the Tiny Turbos line - 8154: Brick Street Customs The axle company, Cross, is advertised on the legs of 71021-13: Race Car Guy, which itself is a reference: "Cross axle" is the shape of a Technic axle. The other two part companies, "Cams - Red Bird" and "Pistons - Rally," are brands that I made up in reference to the first sets that the cam and piston pieces appeared in: 5591: Mach II Red Bird Rig and 8850: Rally Support Truck, respectively.

Always excited to see a new post from you in this thread. You have such a distinctive style that comes through in the things you build. Hey, this is stellar! I love any use of that particular mudguard piece in your fascia, but I especially love the cockpit here. Just detailed enough and perfectly scaled. Nice model.

Well sure, I think there can definitely be a tendency to prioritize size and scale over detail, but that's an individual's choice to make. The fact of the matter is that a skyscraper is just going to be a large build, and that's going to require a certain commitment of parts and design. Slapping one together because you want something tall is going to yield poor results, but it's more an issue of underestimating the undertaking, IMO. There are other things to consider, too. A single skyscraper in a city that's otherwise filled with short buildings is going to look awkward. If you're doing a downtown high rise section of a city, it really needs to be a whole neighborhood, or at least a block. Also, if your town is predominantly modulars or modular-style buildings, a skyscraper likely won't make a lot of thematic sense. Modulars are like caricatures of buildings. They're facade-oriented and quite shallow, intended to make up the face of a block but not its depth, and are just generally small overall. Skyscrapers tend to be much more proportionate to their real equivalents, going much deeper down a block to make the correct visual profile. As a result, they're far more likely to dominate a city build in the modular style rather than complement it.

Thanks for the invite! I make a point of avoiding Facebook, but it looks like a nice group. I did see, within a couple minutes of looking, a guy knocking off my work as his own - fun stuff. I had to have a bunch of his stolen work removed from Rebrickable already.

Well sure, I'll talk about it here briefly, then, since I'm kind of avoiding posting things to my thread until I have the physical model built. The concept is: I was, by coincidence, already working on a 6-wide version of the Creator Expert Mustang when I saw your wonderful car in the thread here. As you may know, that set has a feature that allows you to change the height of the rear axle on the fly to give the car a more aggressive rake. You inspired me to build a similar mechanism into my own model! You can see that the badge on the decklid is actually a bushing on a grey Technic axle. Turning it engages a small gearbox between the wheels that cams the rear axle downward. Turning the axle liftarms about 20 degrees is enough to stance the whole car by about 2 degrees! And then, just to complete the package, I made all the little hot rod add-on bits, too. Thank you once more for the inspiration and the opportunity to talk about it here, because I'm very excited about this one!

Hey, what a wonderful build. I love this so much! And the cam mechanism to raise the suspension? Brilliant. In fact, it inspired me to try something - not quite this, but something like it - for one of my own models. I don't wish to derail your thread with a conversation about my own stuff, but thanks for posting this. Incredibly cool, cute, and inspirational.