Technic General Discussion

[Doua]

56 minutes ago, Toastie said:

 

   makes me feel, TLG is more or less aiming at one-time or a couple-of-time customers, who easily shell out 500++ $/€ if the set appeals.

I can't help but see similarities between Lego's marketing/target audience shift in the past 10/15 years, and that of Magic the Gathering (MtG). 

MtG releases sets of cards a few times a year. That used to be it until a couple years ago. Now the number of sets they release has exploded in number, a ton of MtG fans are complaining that they now can't "keep up" and get all the releases, from my experience it's absolutely true. There's now licensed sets in MtG, collectors editions etc... And a ton more cards released each year. It looks like MtG has expanded their target audience to now include, say, LOTR fans, rare cards collectors, card art fans, etc etc... They even state it officially with things like "[this particular set/product] is not made for [this audience]. 

To me it seems like Lego is doing similar, the number of sets per year has grown a fair bit in the last 15 years or so, and now they target a whole bunch of audiences from young kids to expensive display pieces collectors, specific license collectors etc. The similarities between Lego and MtG shifts in production/releases is striking (granted I only have come back to Lego recently). 

 

Edited December 4, 2023 by Doua

[howitzer]

48 minutes ago, Toastie said:

Yes, this would be the case, when "people"  want to do that. I have a different take on how TLG operates - in recent times, that is, but what do I know.

I am coming from the "bare-bone Technic" and "yes, this could be a robot arm ^^" community and find it cool to automate stuff. And thus believe in Technic Control (1986), RCX/Cybermaster Mindstorms as LEGO Technic heaven.

Seeing all these black (also Technic) boxes filled with Liebherrs, super cars, licensed stuff, you name it, makes me feel, TLG is more or less aiming at one-time or a couple-of-time customers, who easily shell out 500++ $/€ if the set appeals. When I look at these nice photographs, where a person is sitting somewhere in a rather expensive looking home - along with this rather minimalistic, but again very expensive furniture (call it Danish or whatever), that LEGO set displayed creates a cool contrast. To me, it appears as if this is on purpose: Exclusive, luxurious. The instructions, now of the layout and page count of an expensive bible edition, tell a similar story, to me. So the storage bins may not be an issue at all.

B-models thus become completely obsolete in this world.

But again: Just my view. Nothing of importance. I just ordered a couple of Cybermaster antennas and two 4.5V motors.

Best regards,
Thorsten

You're not wrong at all, the at least some part of the marketing is definitely aiming towards people who ordinarily wouldn't be interested in Lego at all - those who are not interested in building their own thing with construction toys, but who could still be tempted to buy Lego out of nostalgia or brand loyalty (with licensed sets) or just to have a cool thing on a shelf. The whole 18+ branding and many of the newer sets (especially Icons line) are aiming exactly at these people, and yes, B-models are meaningless to (most of) them.

[Jim]

Is there any interest in/desire for a Generic WIP / Proof of Concept topic? I have been asked by @Aurorasaurus if this would be an idea. A topic to post WIPs you might or might not complete or simply a Proof of Concept.

 

[Divitis]

Maybe the 'general help' topic can be expanded to cover WIPs as well?

[dhc6twinotter]

5 hours ago, Jim said:

Is there any interest in/desire for a Generic WIP / Proof of Concept topic? I have been asked by @Aurorasaurus if this would be an idea. A topic to post WIPs you might or might not complete or simply a Proof of Concept.

 

I like that idea.  I have lots of those WIP projects that never seem to get finished. 😂

[Jim]

1 hour ago, dhc6twinotter said:

I like that idea.  I have lots of those WIP projects that never seem to get finished. 😂

LoL

The topic would be for "I like to show something, but I don't have enough for a dedicated topic".

[Aurorasaurus]

Hello! I feel I should poke my head in here, but I dont actually have anything to add, since Jim did a great job saying everything I would have :)

An example of something I'd post here, admittedly more finished than most things I work on:

https://bricksafe.com/pages/Aurorasaurus/42077-max

A few more images, and .lxf and .io files available on bricksafe.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XCdn9qIAc-kskz-6HoapZjxRXMcUALHg/view?usp=drivesdk

Instructions available here

This was a 42077 mod I made to use 4 buwizz motors. It reached 19.1 km/h, with offroad tires. But because it didnt have caster angle, and probably a few other things like the ride height, it was too unstable to drive safely. It was fast and fun, but ultimately a failure as it wouldn't go where you tried to make it go. Because of this, I decided to mark the project as a failure and not make a video.

[2GodBDGlory]

3 hours ago, Jim said:

LoL

The topic would be for "I like to show something, but I don't have enough for a dedicated topic".

Yeah, that sounds worthwhile!

[rollermonkey]

So...

I wanted some black 2L pin/cross-axles and 3L pins to replace the blue ones in the Dune Ornithopter set, and since these are long discontinued, they're a bit pricey on Bricklink. As a work-around, I saw that the old LEGO Racers set 8437 had large numbers of both, so I bought one of them, new and sealed. It also has the 6L and 2L axles in black to replace those in yellow and red, too.

It arrived and, wow! What a neat set. All kinds of Bionicle parts I've never seen before and something that confused me for a minute. 

It's been so long since I saw this, I'd forgotten that they used to do it all the time: The instruction book has B-models in it, too. 

[Zerobricks]

1 hour ago, rollermonkey said:

So...

I wanted some black 2L pin/cross-axles and 3L pins to replace the blue ones in the Dune Ornithopter set, and since these are long discontinued, they're a bit pricey on Bricklink. As a work-around, I saw that the old LEGO Racers set 8437 had large numbers of both, so I bought one of them, new and sealed. It also has the 6L and 2L axles in black to replace those in yellow and red, too.

It arrived and, wow! What a neat set. All kinds of Bionicle parts I've never seen before and something that confused me for a minute. 

It's been so long since I saw this, I'd forgotten that they used to do it all the time: The instruction book has B-models in it, too. 

8437 or 8473?

[Erik Leppen]

On 3/21/2024 at 11:50 AM, Jim said:

Is there any interest in/desire for a Generic WIP / Proof of Concept topic? I have been asked by @Aurorasaurus if this would be an idea. A topic to post WIPs you might or might not complete or simply a Proof of Concept.

 

There's only one way to find out... ;)

And yes, a place to put "builds that are just short of desevering their own topic" also sounds like a great place to get inspiration :)

[rollermonkey]

22 hours ago, Zerobricks said:

8437 or 8473?

Sorry. 8473

This set is wild. It's got the old light gray, not LBG. Dark grey metallic half-pins, and the instructions are really weird. I just thought Id started at step 1 on the second vehicle, and when I got to step 11, I realized that I was on a sub-assemble, because the next step was 26. The font size is a little different but I didn't even register it. Plus the colors look awful. There's rubber bands in the set, and they are just stretched around a Bionicle piece. I don't remember the 16T double-bevel gear ever being in gray, either. Bag #1 was a bag, but #2 is a box of bags. 

I'm kinda having a blast because it's so bad in some old-school ways. 

Edited March 23, 2024 by rollermonkey

[rollermonkey]

OK, just finised the A model(s), and it's every bit as ugly as the picture on the box suggests. Very much not a fan of all the panels with large holes. 

Bricklink shows the 3/4 pins as dark gray, but they seem to be the same Pearl Dark Gray as the panels with holes?  (Eyes probably just playing tricks.) 

Anyways, while not really a goot set, it is a great parts pack for black axles, black 3L pins with friction ridges (23) and black 2L pin/cross axle.(22) as well as some lift arms in dark gray and light gray. (NOT LBG or DBG) There's an orange connector or two I don't think I've ever seen before in that color, too. Trans-red axle connector's probably uncommon, too. 

Interesting. Dark Gray Rubber Band / Belt Holder 2 x 4 x 2 1/3 is an extra thing, I thought maybe it was part of the SLAMMER of the B-Model build. 

Edited March 23, 2024 by rollermonkey

[Ngoc Nguyen]

Throwback time:

 

[Lipko]

There was an exhibition in Hungary with an activity I did in a few other exhibitions too, I upploaded a short video about it. Unfortunately I didn't have time to make proper shots to show how much of an abuse those models took.

Essentially anyone can try out and play freely with my MOCs here without age and other restrictions (obviously not taking the models apart), and I wonder how frequent this kind of activity is on exhibitions. I have only seen RC stuff with challenges, standing in lines etc.

Is it something unique, or just I haven't seen such thing yet?

 

 

[tseary]

@Lipko It's generous of you to subject your models to that! It would be a nice treat for those kids to get their hands on some Lego, where the norm is "look but don't touch". I don't know if I could do that; I'd be watching like a hawk.

In the video clip it seems everyone is well-behaved, but I'm sure you discovered some weak points in the builds. Was there any damage?

[Lipko]

2 hours ago, tseary said:

@Lipko It's generous of you to subject your models to that! It would be a nice treat for those kids to get their hands on some Lego, where the norm is "look but don't touch". I don't know if I could do that; I'd be watching like a hawk.

In the video clip it seems everyone is well-behaved, but I'm sure you discovered some weak points in the builds. Was there any damage?

Yes, on the video everyone behaved well, but unfortunately I didn't pay attention to make good shots.
I am continuously at the table to moderate people, although I don't remember any actual moderation, just "let the other kid play a bit" kind of stuff 1-2 times.
Another task is to check the models every now and then and to arrange them nicely on the table, check some connections and stuff. So in a sense, I had to watch like a hawk, but NOT the nervous type of hawk.
And another task obviously is to show stuff when asked, answer questions, talk about modelling in general, do some demostrations as requested, not all features are obvious to discover without aid.

Some parts obviously fell off, but these were all easy to attach, most of the time the kids/parents could do this on their own. One of my design principles is either make it strong or very easy to fix. There were some discovered weaknesses in earlier ehibitions on the models which were all adressed already, so no real issues occurred. 

Some models are being assembled since years ago, some of them are over four or five such events without major overhaul. Even the linear actuators that are sometimes clicked to hell are still operating okay-ish. The white clutch gears. Now that suck. Either too strong or too weak.

Edited October 16, 2024 by Lipko

[Thirdwigg]

The last two shows I went to I let some children play with my builds. It was great to see the joy in their faces as they got to touch something when everyone else expected them to not touch anything. Some adults did this as well, and were grateful for the interaction and led to some great conversations.

It gave me some great feedback on the strength of the MOC. More crucially, it helped me watch if they found the play features, how they found the features without instruction, and if the feature was at all valuable to their play.

Some things needed to be fixed, but for the most part there were no issues. I tend to have a low concern for damage as most of the issues can be fixed quickly. There was no significant damage because most people assume what they are handling is very fragile.