It's that time of year. Early April and Lego releases its annual update of the DesignByMe/Pick-A-Brick palette:

http://designbyme.lego.com/en-us/news/default.aspx (spotted by EB user t20a1h5u23)

This year, the new palette will go into effect on April 6th. For all LDD users, this means the removal of a lot of bricks. Instead, appernatly some new bricks for Atlantis will be added along with some "surprises".

Here is a screenshot of all the parts that will be removed on april 6th:

Aww, they're getting rid of the smiley face and the classic tire... :(

Thanks for posting this! The parts that are being removed aren't extremely important to building (except the brown arches and a few other things on the list), but it does take away some cool parts, like the parrot and the stickered pieces from Star Justice, Space Skulls, and Custom Car Garage.

Hopefully the update will have some more exciting parts for all of us to enjoy!

Oh noes! They're getting rid of the ever-so-popular-among-official-set tire! I don't see the reason behind removing these parts all together; they should just make them unavailable in PaB. At least there will be some new parts.

Oh noes! They're getting rid of the ever-so-popular-among-official-set tire!

My sarcasm detector is tingling...

My sarcasm detector is tingling...

Actually I'm not being sarcastic. That's an important piece on LDD.

Actually I'm not being sarcastic. That's an important piece on LDD.

Agreed. I recently tried to make a Ford Excursion, and that was the best size wheel. It's also a good size wheel for a bunch of other road vehicles you might want to make at 1/36 scale (which is the scale I prefer to use).

As for some of the stuff, though, I don't think it's fair to judge until we see what parts they're adding. For instance, they might be removing the smiley-face minifig head in order to add one with the shine in the eyes-- something I very much hope for since then it can be used with other LDD figs without any inconsistency.

Atlantis parts in LDD sounds promising. Granted, I don't need LDD for that since all my Atlantis sets are with me at college, but perhaps I can replicate some of the Atlantis MOCs I've made and put them online for others to see or build.

Actually I'm not being sarcastic. That's an important piece on LDD.

Oh. My bad. I should send the damned thing to the mechanic!

BTW, to the Mods: I think this merits Frontpage status, doesn't it?

A lot of those pieces are from Market Street. I'll miss the smiley face and the seaweed. It was good for making trees. I can't say I'm excited about the Atlantis pieces. I guess they will get more orders if kids can make their own sets from a licensed theme.

Some of the sliding door and roof pieces seemed to come from 7898 train set - which will get a new lease of life with the new cargo trains this august.

Hmm... I have a few LDD MOCs that use some of those pieces that are going. What's going to happen when I try to work on them with the updated palette?

Hmm... I have a few LDD MOCs that use some of those pieces that are going. What's going to happen when I try to work on them with the updated palette?

They will be removed. A solution could be to wait for the new LDD mod that will enable you to have access to both the new and old bricks in one go. Check this thread now and then, and you can download the mod when it's ready:

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=39841

Okay, so it's April 6, an no update

Okay, so it's April 6, an no update

Either there's a technical problem (e.g., the new parts don't work properly in LDD yet) with implementing the new parts, or perhaps someone in upper management is "stuck in neutral" about the decision to update LDD's palette and/or remove parts. If it's upper management, here's a hint to get things moving along: Just keep all the old bricks after adding the new ones for now, especially that classic tire! Your customers (including me!) will thank you. On the other hand, perhaps LEGO is waiting for an adequate supply of new elements before they make them available.

Here's another possibility regarding the classic tire: Perhaps that classic tire isn't really going away, but maybe its part number is being changed to reflect a slightly updated design. If you've bought any recent sets with that tire, try comparing it with older tires and you'll notice a few differences. The old tire has part number 6015, while the "new" tire has part number 60700. Come to think of it, perhaps that's where one of the technical difficulties is coming from...

-Toa Of Justice

They will be removed. A solution could be to wait for the new LDD mod that will enable you to have access to both the new and old bricks in one go. Check this thread now and then, and you can download the mod when it's ready:

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=39841

Actually, from my experience with older versions of LDD, you can still open and edit models that use parts that aren't inventoried. An option will come up to remove all the out-of-date parts, but you can say "no" to that. However, you cannot add additional ones of the parts (except maybe with the clone tool; never tried that myself), and you cannot upload the model or check the price.

Of course, my experience with this was when I was using models built from LDD 1.4 on newer versions like LDD 1.6 and 2.0. Not sure if anything's changed about LDD since those versions. Perhaps the new LDD is not backwards-compatible. However, I can certainly hope.

The palette update must be coming really soon--here is an ad from LEGO.com's front page.

-Toa Of Justice

Oh wow. I am underwhelmed. Just some new parts in lime and red. Big deal...

Why are they getting rid of the famous classic smiley head? That is like a trademark of Lego.

Edited April 8, 201014 yr by General Redwater

Why are they getting rid of the famous classic smiley head? That is like a trademark of Lego.

From the news article at the top of the topic: "Some of the less used elements are going away..."

It seems that piece was used rather infrequently compared to the other minifigure heads. I agree with you about it being a trademark. I think LEGO should keep it along with the classic tire.

-Toa Of Justice

OK, the new palette is out now.

Here is a screenshot of some new pieces I found after a quick browsing (there are probably more):

Edited April 8, 201014 yr by superkalle

The new pieces look interesting. I was expecting something more than what has been given to us.

I hope there are some more as I have not been able to download the new pallet yet.

Thanks for the pic superkalle. Hmm Nothing there looks particularly usefull, I can't see myself ever using that big red peice though . But still maybe the rest of the new peices will be better.

Yay, LEGO put the 7-blade prop into LDD! They even kept the classic tire and a couple of wedges from the parts they were going to delete--here's my screenshot of what I think are new pieces aside from what superkalle found (it's a bit huge, so I linked it):

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Toa-Of-J..._april_2010.png

Besides the preservation of the classic tire, LEGO also included the small tire for this wheel. Also, we get some Power Miners elements--the warning light from Mine Mech and Magma Mech, a pickaxe, and DYNAMITE! There's also new wedges, TECHNIC elements, a pirate sword, ice cream, a castle wheel, new arches and curved slopes, the 2x2 jumper and 2x4 tiles...and so much more! I can't wait to start building!

-Toa Of Justice

EDIT: It seems that some of the textures aren't quite right on some of the new pieces (the pizza and the new printed minifig elements). I hope LEGO will fix those soon.

Edited April 8, 201014 yr by Toa_Of_Justice

Yay, LEGO put the 7-blade prop into LDD! They even kept the classic tire and a couple of wedges from the parts they were going to delete--here's my screenshot of what I think are new pieces aside from what superkalle found (it's a bit huge, so I linked it):

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Toa-Of-J..._april_2010.png

Thanks for the screenshot TOJ. I'm much happier to hear that the cassic tire is still there and I am very glad they included dynomite :skull:. The only problem is I cant access the new pallet yet!

Interesting to note that the new visor from the Atlantis sets is there but no other Atlantis minifig parts at all.

Some nice new parts (like the Hawaiian shirt torso, the handcuffs and the 2 x 2 tile with stud)

Wish there was more parts for building trucks larger vehicles such as:

the new 2 x 6 plate with the studs facing sideways as seen in the new tanker truck and fire station

the 2 x 6 x 2 windscreen in more colors

the new 2 x 6 x 3 vertical windscreen

the 4 x 6 wedge tile/plate piece commonly used for the hood or roof of vehicles (e.g. the 4x4 in the horse trailer has 2 of them)

Also, more torsos would be nice (especially ones that you can use for generic figs in their day to day lives instead of specific occupations like pilots, firemen, cops, construction workers etc. More specifically casual torsos like the planet logo jacket one they added rather than suits are what I want/need more of)

Hopefully they will update PAB soon so I can place an order for some of the new parts maybe :)

EDIT: Something else I noticed is that they still have the Mr Krabs torso even though its from a license they no longer own (Spongebob) and (I would have thought) counted as a licenced part and therefore not be something they could put on PAB. Plus, its not been in a set for ages.

Edited April 8, 201014 yr by jonwil