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Members will stretch and compress slightly which, due to trigonometry, will cause a change in the triangles corners. If a joint cannot be allowed to pivot to compensate this will cause a bending force in the members which would weaken it. But I would think the difference is so minimal as to be of very little practical use. Many real life structures have their truss members welded into one solid piece.

I have though for about 14 years or more that Technic had a tick-tock line up (never heard it called that before, nice term!). 2003 = 8455. 7 pneumatic functions that work well, recreated authentically and were powerful and great playablity plus fake engine a steering. One of the best flagships ever for a very low price and relatively small part count. TICK! 2004 = 8436. It takes a lot of work for me to not like a pneumatic set. This did it with it's simplistic chassis. Should have been released in a smaller scale to match it's complexity and functionality and no memorable new parts. TOCK! 2005 = 8421. first crane to have double extending boom and fake engine plus it has pneumatics and a buggy motor. TICK! 2006 = 8285. A 3 axle tow truck but in black (MUCH better than baby blue), telescopic boom and pneumatics. This should be a win, but being better than 42070 isn't saying much. It brings nothing new for 2006, and after 8421, TOCK! 2007 = 8275. Now I personally don't like the mechanical simplicity of this set. Nor do I like RC sets in general for there usual simplicity and hands off operation. But it did bring those tracks and more powerful motors. Hard to argue against it's innovation. Hmmm. A tentative TICK....I guess. 2008 = 8297. Nothing new here. adjustable ride height was done in 1998's v6 futuristic car thingy. It did introduce a new diff, but it can't handle much torque, inner bevel gears are prone to breaking and have very little engagement with their axles and at 5:7 it gives very little gear reduction . TOCK! 2009 = 8258. It has LAs where there should be pneumatics, perhaps longer ones!!! It's completely mechanically inauthentic. However this set also has some decent complexity perhaps on par with the previously unchallenged king of complex gear trains 8480. It also introduced the 5x7 and 5x11 frames, which have become perhaps the most useful parts ever for the build in any direction studless world. Overall, I think I like it. A tentative TICK! 2010 = 8043. Pretty much the same as 8258 with it's complex (good) but unrealistic (bad) mechanics, but with RC (for me bad) and no memorable new parts, a tentative TOCK! (ducks and runs for cover!!!) 2011 = 8110. A whole host of new parts designed to make mechanically authentic mechanisms, fully suspended/live axle truck and pneumatic. It's 8110, it has both authenticity and complexity. What more is there to say! TIIIIIICK! 2012 = 9398. Overly simplistic and completely mechanically unrealistic. Though it did introduce the servo motor which is great, but the rest of the set is just so lacking. TOCK! 2013 = 42009. This is a tough one. Much like 8258 and 8043 is has the inauthentic kind of complexity. The outriggers are innovative and complex but don't work very well. It's right in the middle between tick and tock. But then it did have at the time the largest piece count by far for any Technic set and is arguably at the time the most complex set ever, but then the complexity works against it when the motor can't drive so many gears to drive the outriggers. But it does look good though and is big and beefy, but then it has a wobbly super structure. I dunno, I guess I like it overall. Very tentative TICK! 2014 = 42030. Unrealistic without the complexity to make it worth while. It has a cool new bucket but the amount of PF makes it very expensive for having little mechanical appeal. TOCK! 2015 = 42043. Complexity, massive authenticity, new parts to make it more authentic including better pneumatics and turntable, 4 fully sprung live axles with 12 wheels, TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!!!!! 2016 = 42055. The way the wheel of buckets scoop up stuff and then makes the stuff travel along a few conveyors out the back is very authentic. The actual mechanics behind that may not be so authentic, but that would require many more motors, at least one for the bucket wheel, one for each conveyor, one for each track, one for slewing and one for slewing the conveyor, so that makes 7 motors, so it's understandable but a second motor for the bucket wheel to make it move move smoothly and with more power would have been nice. It has those great new curved gear racks and a fair bit of complexity and is very impressive to see in person. It may not be as good as 42043 but it's still very good. TICK! So the last two years were for me a pleasant anomaly with 2 TICKS in a row. The smaller 2h sets of those last two years were also way above average. Im still hoping that they threw the 2017 sets together quickly knowing that the much better sets from the previous two years would still be on the shelves to give them more time to work on an epic and ambitious 2018 line up.

Yup seems to be working great on my PC and smart phone. great work guys thankyou

Maybe next year they can hire me to build and display their sets properly?!

LOL, that was built over a year ago, so is not allowed

I guess it will be up to voter descression. A video of this.... .....bouncing off something is gonna be quite underwhelming compared to a video of this..... .....obliterating an 8081 extreme cruiser (oh you poor thing! )

I saw a few robots with multiple weapons, a flipper and an axe for instance. Spinners are probably the most effective and the simplest to make, providing you can make them strong enough to withstand the force of their own impacts** so I guess there will be a lot of spinners. **maybe it should be a rule that the robot must be built well enough such that it remains fully intact after 10 uses of the weapon against an indestructible object like a house brick or a wall. I would imagine that Lego would have such quality standards should they ever release a battlebot set. EDIT not sure how you'd enforce that rule though

Sounds great. I would like to see someone pull off a decent flipper .

Is it adjustable ride height, or is it built incorrectly?

In terms of pneumatics, more of everything! But first I would probably get more hose because the ones you get in a modern set (where they are all pre cut to size) will rarely be the length you want. And if you cut them, you'll have to rejoin them/replace them to rebuild the original set. The third party hoses that are available are perfectly usable (though not quite as good as Lego's official hoses which you can buy from bricklink) and you can buy really long lengths, 25 meter lengths or perhaps even longer, if you go third party. Second would probably be a second motor pump. Official sets only ever use one pump. However only one pump, IMHO, never gives you the full potential. I use at least 2 but have used many more depending on the MOC. After that, just more cylinders of the size/type you need and valves. You could buy an air tank, but to be honest I don't use them most of the time. They seem to be better suited for models that use hand pumps IMHO. When you have a motorized compressor, the compressor must first work to fill the air tank before moving any cylinders so unless you have at least 4 motor pumps to keep the tank topped up with pressure I wouldn't bother with an air tank.

Remember 42043 not only comes with pneumatics (what more do you need ) but you also get a new large turntable, a small turntable, 4 hard shocks, 4 soft shocks, 3 telescopic slidy things, two diffs, 12 wheels, l motor, lots of gears, 6 cylinder engine and a finished model that is authentic with a crane that can actually lift something!

I don't see any issue with it so long as you are not taking credit for a design you have purposefully copied from someone else.

I wonder if it would be worth it for Lego to release a limo built out of Technic pieces in the friends line? Like the Ferrari sets that arguably weren't really Technic (focus on aesthetics above functionality, but that debate belongs elsewhere ). Something like this.... ....with some basic functionality (again like the Ferrari sets) such as steering, V6 engine and opening doors/hood/truck/etc. Maybe even some (lots of) PF lights connected to a light/sound module? As for scale, because it's so long I guess making it in scale with 42043 wheels would make it a pretty decent size. I wonder if the regular Lego friends fan would be interested. Would it bother them that it would be in a totally different scale to the figures?

This is disgusting. Luckily, those unimaginative Chinese knock-offs have always been a bit shit... ....and when it comes to Technic, it is a precise engineering medium, it comes down to dimensional accuracy of 1 or 2 thousandths of an inch, axles and beams that are not bent (though I have seen real Technic sets have this issue with the axles which causes friction in long drive trains) and several different plastic compounds just so the parts fit together just right. The above picture is their attitude to getting it "right". "It has eye's, it has a mouth, and we make it better with teeth, what more do you want?!" yeah, thanks, but no thanks. Lego appears to be struggling to sue these thieves, but can't they sue anyone selling or handling these goods in any country outside of China? Afterall, they are handling stolen goods, the good in question being in part Lego's own intellectual property.

Every great band is allowed a bad album. After the last two great years TLG is allowed a bad year, but that doesn't mean we can't keep the designers on their toes .

Somebody will have to build ackerman steering and fully adjustable seats into the combi model Edit Just kidding, I know it's a different scale

So far these sets look depressingly uninteresting. I can't help but wonder what the hell happened that led to this years second half amounting to: 42070: I see nothing of mechanical interest, no new parts, nothing to indicate any mechanical authenticity, lots of baby blue which looks good on.....absolutely nothing (as proven by every other baby blue set, all of those sets would have looked better in a different colour), a wimpy crane that looks as if it was thrown together in a few hours as a proof of concept and that has less functionality and authenticity than a bajillion canes that have come before it, and a piece count that, compared to the huge size of the model makes me suspect that it's mostly empty without any hidden wonders that I may have missed.. And this is the flagship? 42069: Ok, now they are taking the........these Porsche wheel arches are a great new piece from last year, but you can't do much with them being orange (black, red or dark blue would have been much better for most things), so they release them again...IN PURPLE!!! What's the point of that? Nothing looks good in purple and there aren't many parts in the technic parts assortment in that colour anyway (thank God!), and while 42069 is ugly enough, that colour scheme makes it even worse. But of course Technic is about functionality over looks, but I can't see anything interesting here in that regard either. I guess it steers, maybe drives a fake engine and suspension. Those are just the essential basics for a model this type/size/part count. 42068: Last years first half reject, it has a crane moved by a bunch of gears and steering and probably an engine, and looks kinda boring. Nothing else really to say. Come on guys, what happened? 2015s 42042 was amazing and 42043 was one of, if not the best flagship ever and, despite the different direction I would have liked to have seen with the Porsche (different colour, less spent on fancy hand packaging and more spent on new transmission parts) last years second half was also quite impressive overall. Did they call it quits early this year to give the designers more time to work on an awesome 2018 line up?

Rare parts in new colours may be good or bad like you say. A porsche wheel arch in purple would be crap when we don't already have it in a useful colour like black or blue or the 5x7 and 5x11 frames in colours other than LBG, like maybe yellow? Time will tell.

In the picture the crane does look slightly turned. Also, trucks with swiveling cranes have their outriggers on the side (like 42070 does) where as tow trucks with non swiveling cranes have their stabilizers at the rear (like 42008). Right now my hopes aren't high for 42070 though I hope I'm wrong. If 42068 turns out to be just an unaltered 42051 then I don't think that'll be that great either. Hopefully 42069 might be interesting, though won't it just be the arctic truck with a landrover type body in purple and yellow? At least that's what I heard. I can't see me being too bowled over with that but again, I could be wrong. My very first immediate impression of seeing a tiny leaked grainy picture of the 8110 unimog was that of disappointment but that turned out to be one of my all time favorite sets, I could not have been more wrong on that one, so while my hopes aren't high, lets see what the toy fair brings.

As far as I know only purchasers were allowed into the lego stand, no press or anything which is why there was no interest in going. Who wants to travel to London just to see the outside walls of a lego stand?

But a link is permitted, right? So somebody could post the picture somewhere else then link to them here afaik.

Lego has many themes other than Technic that have IP considerations. My guess is that's the reason for the secrecy.

If I sell something on ebay does that make me a retailer?!

I'm confused, I thought is was only.... Buyers Merchandisers Licensors The media Play specialists Inventors Marketeers Designers Suppliers to the trade Distributors Importers Agents Educational specialists and others affiliated with the trade ....with the appropriate trade card or whatever that could attend.

This tends to happen when a model is left assembled for a very long time.