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The key missing word by LEGO from all previous posts is "recognizable". Not contemporary, military or similar. Hence, make a military based product generic and cartoonish enough, and you're good to go. Such as 9396, 42025, 42066 etc. And make sure you name it something irrelevant. Which is the only point where 42113 fails. Which means it all boils down to licensing.

Thing is, this is not an enforceable limit, as it cannot be defined unambiguously, but rather twisted to suit anybody's agenda. 1) What is contemporary? Does it mean "not currently in use"? If it did, we would see a boatload of WW1 and 2 machinery. We don't, due to guidelines. Does it then mean "newer than x years"? Then, what is X? Has to be newer than 100, ref. WW1, Red Baron etc. If so, see point above regarding WW1 sets. Then, what does contemporary really mean? 2) What is "military equipment"? Stuff used ONLY by military? In which case, big submarines would be off limits. Yet Technic has seen two big ones, disguised as "Research". What about stuff used non-exclusively by military? Then all helicopters are off limits. What about developed by the military? Fighter jets off limits. Developed for the military originally? Saturn V off limits, propeller cargo planes and hydrofoils too. Has military capability? Same result. If research subs and rescue helicopters were acceptable for TLG previously, a SAR Osprey is no different. Which boils down to licensing being the only difference.

Which is the case for Liebherr, Volvo, VAG, etc. as well. The lot. If you venture into licensing, some of that money is going to end up places you didn't like. But it's outside your control, bar leaving licensing be altogether.

Can't really leave this topic be... Did a brief search, and I couldn't find ANY single example of a modern SAR helicopter in use which is exclusively civilian, or utility helicopter at that. In other words, most helicopters ever depicted by TLG in their sets have a military connotation... Hence, this set being an Osprey should in itself not be an unacceptable factor for TLG. however, the licensing may be. In other words, and as mentioned previously, nulling out any profit to the license holders, or donating similar or exceeding amounts towards charity, should in theory be enough to mitigate any potential brand backlash from selling the set. This smells more and more like knee jerk reaction, made exponentially more difficult to manage by brand and marketing dept's. Ask Kodak how it works letting brand weight matter more than sensible business decisions...

A cool thing for Bell or Boeing to do would be to publicly waive any possible licence income from this set; this could let TLG off the hook re: economically supporting arms companies. The income is probably negligible anyway.

Anybody fancy setting up a petition to release the set, or something like that? I'd sign it in a heartbeat.

If they end up cancelling this, it is hypocrisy. All licence partners for the Technic line have defense revenue; Mercedes, Land Rover, Volvo, Liebherr, Dodge (Chrysler), VAG. Should mark the end of licensing altogether, if the argument is to be applied universally. There are several other feasible ways of handling this situation, which do not have similar implications. It is tempting to not buy the Lambo or the Volvo for exactly the same reason. Revenue hits are probably the best possible way to show TLG what the community feels about this.

Not entirely true. The Osprey has been marketed as, and participated in public civil SAR tenders.

Two simple rules of Economics in effect here: 1) Individual parts always cost more than the complete product. Think of your car or your gadgets; replacement parts are always extortionately priced, just because they can. 2) Make a product of high desirability or demand attractively prices as a package part, and very expensive separately. People will buy the set for the parts, spending more money than intended, in order to get a better deal. In addition, those who would only by the one part anyway, will be extorted for their set minds. Maximize profits, people. The chorus of Economics. The prices will drop significantly in a couple of years to keep stock moving.

I would have thought it might help to increase the force around the stepper piece; it seems that the gearbox lingers undecidedly between 90 degree intervals when it struggles to shift. Don't know if it would prohibit shifting altogether though, would probably need some testing.

The Osprey was a contender for the renewal of Norwegian Civil SAR helicopters a few years back, so it has been marketed towards a non-military application.

This is excellent! If there ever comes an official working set like this one, I'd buy several copies. This is what Technic is all about! Functionality, ingenuity, looks, all in one.

Oh, there would be reviews available, all right. But they wouldn't be Eurobricks reviews, they would be Brothersbrick or Brickset or whatever. To some users, that would be a great loss. To some, it wouldn't. But it is a tall order to ask the runners of this site to possibly give up on something that both appeals to a large audience, generates a fair amount of traffic, and keeps their own interests fresh, for some additional discussion freedom which appeals to fewer users. One is always free to set up a brand independent forum oneself, though, if one disagrees with a particular forum's rules ?

Superfluous question, IMO. If I were TLG, I would only provide sets for review to sites and forums who employ and enforce "LEGO only rules". What would you prefer, fewer reviews or the freedom to speak about competing brands? We may dislike arrangements like that, even fight it, but there would be dozens of other sites who would be eager to pick up the reviews and followers associated with those.

OK is also used by Milan Reindl, as these are the official Czech aircraft markings. Found on both 42040 and 42052, IIRC.

Very curious to see how the transmission is built! I believe I built a copy many years ago of (your?) two speed gearbox which could switch while driving. It was basically a 12-20 gear combo mounted on a pulley pair, rotated 180 degrees by a servo to invert the ratio. Very cool concept for light cars! but suffered under excess torque. As this car is significantly bigger, I assume the transmission is a lot more robust. Looking forward to seeing it!

If you want a relatively cheap set that showcases a lot of functional principles, I heartily recommend 42025! It has some motorized, some manual control. It utilizes both a function gearbox and directly operated levers. It transmits motion both by gears and by linkages. And it only consists of parts of high general usage value in very usable colours. And, despite its average piece count, is huge and impressive when finished. One of my personal all-time favourites!

I agree! I skipped those sets as well ?

So basically a smaller 42050, at a higher price point and no B model. Inclusion of suspension is nice, though. I'll probably pass on this one, I hope the money is better spent on other sets.

It should be postponed. Global economy has taken a hit, and people will have less money to spend on LEGO. Therefore it makes sense to release fewer sets per year until the economy and willingness to spend recovers.

May not need positional feedback when used for propulsion, as no calibration will be needed. So a splitter cable for propulsion only should be doable, as that is the service which both requires most motors as well as low accuracy. Port current limits may be restrictive, though.

This is very cool, I'm impressed!

I may be in the other camp, I specifically buy extra copies of sets with cool B-models, in order to have both displayed at the same time. My favourite so far is the 42055 B-model, absolutely fabulous build and unique functionality. Also bought multiples of 42078, 42030, 8258, 8285, 9397, 42020, 42025, 42043, 42053 and 42080. Would never do that for the supercars or other single purpose models, so there is additional revenue to have from making B-models...

Less than a year after its launch, and seemingly with no prior warning, this set has been retired. It went "temporarily out of stock" in December, then disappeared from LEGO Shop altogether when the "Retiring soon" sale for TLM2 sets started just before Christmas. Yesterday I got confirmation from LEGO Customer Service that the set had ended production. A pity that such a big and great set is discontinued so stealthily; makes you wonder if the TLM2 sets have performed very poorly sales wise...

Very interesting construction! I wish axle, suspension and gearbox solutions such as that could be part of an official set... Would really offer something novel and interesting to build, study and play with!