NEW piece?

[Rocketbilly]

I bought a copy of 7245 today, and got a "new" piece.

I'm pretty sure It's a replacement for the classic space laser/torch piece we've had for a very long while.

Here's a link to my flickR stream, with a comparison with the old piece: http://www.flickr.com/photos/44977578@N06/4495030924/

Sorry for poor photo and lack of embedded picture, but it's dark and cluttered here, and that's the best I could do.

As you can (probably) see, it's made of a shinier plastic, lacks the ridges of the original piece and the proportions seem to be slightly different.

Is this new news, or has it been documented before? it's certainly new to me, but having said that I'm out of the loop a little. Any help would be appreciated!

Will/Rocketbilly

Edited April 5, 2010 by Rocketbilly

[not-in-use-anymore]

I don't like it's size of the front, but it does look like it'll keep bars in better(the axle hole always made things loose in it).

[Darth Legolas]

Isn't 7245 a pretty old set? 2005, right? I like this new piece, it's an improvement, but it definitely can't replace the old one!

Where'd you get the set? If it was bricklink, it's most likely a very interesting flub/mis-mold. If it was storebought, it would be very, very unlikely that Lego were to begin replacing the piece by selling the new one through old sets, so it could be a mis-mold again, or a strange tactic by Lego.

Edited April 5, 2010 by Darth Legolas

[Rocketbilly]

Isn't 7245 a pretty old set? 2005, right? I like this new piece, it's an improvement, but it definitely can't replace the old one!

Where'd you get the set? If it was bricklink, it's most likely a very interesting flub/mis-mold. If it was storebought, it would be very, very unlikely that Lego were to begin replacing the piece by selling the new one through old sets, so it could be a mis-mold again, or a strange tactic by Lego.

Yeah, it's an old set, but still in circulation here in the UK. I got it from Tesco - they have a 3-for-2 offer on at the moment. I picked up two 7245's and a 7942 aswell. I still have the other 7245 boxed. I WAS going to return it to the shop tomorrow and swap it for a second 7942, but now I'm tempted to open it up to see if it indeed has this new piece also. I presume it does, but I'm just so tempted!

I presume what they've done is started producing it, and it'll end up in other sets soon. I'm actually going to order a Smash N' Grab from shop at home soon, I've got a feelingthis piece may turn up int hat set, too, unless they're only producing them in black as of present.

As for it being a mis-mold, I highly doubt it. It's a flawless piece. If nobody has one and is interested, I'll try to get clearer pics tomorrow if I can procure batteries.

Will/Rocketbilly

Edited April 5, 2010 by Rocketbilly

[prateek]

I like that new piece. It's much more streamlined.

[The Green Brick Giant]

The new piece looks much better to me in that picture.

The set is old but LEGO is still making that set even today, so they would have to add the replacement once the old piece.

[Rick]

Looks much more generic than the old one. It will probably be more versatile for that reason.

7245 is a set released in 2005, but still in production today and therefore gets new molds when existing parts are replaced.

[RocketClone]

Isn't 7245 a pretty old set? 2005, right? I like this new piece, it's an improvement, but it definitely can't replace the old one!

Where'd you get the set? If it was bricklink, it's most likely a very interesting flub/mis-mold. If it was storebought, it would be very, very unlikely that Lego were to begin replacing the piece by selling the new one through old sets, so it could be a mis-mold again, or a strange tactic by Lego.

This isn't the only police set from 05 thats still in production, the police 4x4 from 05 is still being sold at target and TRU as well.