Legos, anyone?

[David Hingtgen]

5 designs are finalists, but only 1 will be produced---go vote!

https://ideas.lego.com/blogs/a4ae09b6-0d4c-4307-9da8-3ee9f3d368d6/post/d955d940-972b-4401-b013-eb948fcb5a62

And if you're not sure, I highly recommend/request you vote for the carousel.  

[Scyla]

6 hours ago, David Hingtgen said:

5 designs are finalists, but only 1 will be produced---go vote!

https://ideas.lego.com/blogs/a4ae09b6-0d4c-4307-9da8-3ee9f3d368d6/post/d955d940-972b-4401-b013-eb948fcb5a62

And if you're not sure, I highly recommend/request you vote for the carousel.  

I cast my vote!

[Chronocidal]

So this is starting to get frustrating.  I'm starting to miss the older hinge pieces that didn't involve these clips, because it seems like every time I disassemble something using these clips, I find more of these pieces just cracked from stress over time.

Maybe an environmental impact from heat or light?  I don't know.  Fortunately they're not expensive to buy in bulk, but I've lost count how many of these have done this.

On the positive side, I was able to dig enough of those mixel joints out of my stash to rebuild the Shuttle's engine panel, giving me individually adjustable nozzles.

Which.. I feel a little bad ragging on the official set, but holy cow did they phone the shuttle in.

Edited May 29 by Chronocidal

[Scyla]

7 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

So this is starting to get frustrating.  I'm starting to miss the older hinge pieces that didn't involve these clips, because it seems like every time I disassemble something using these clips, I find more of these pieces just cracked from stress over time.

Maybe an environmental impact from heat or light?  I don't know.  Fortunately they're not expensive to buy in bulk, but I've lost count how many of these have done this.

On the positive side, I was able to dig enough of those mixel joints out of my stash to rebuild the Shuttle's engine panel, giving me individually adjustable nozzles.

Which.. I feel a little bad ragging on the official set, but holy cow did they phone the shuttle in.

Lego might have gone down in quality. I had pieces from new sets that have almost no gripping force, fractures and now someone reported miss-molded pieces.

Also the stickers for the UCS Sail Barge I am currently building are cut terribly. I wish they would start include only printed pieces for those collector sets. The pieces will never not be a part of these sets. 

I don’t think any of may space pirates or castle sets from my childhood had any stickers included. I think the first set I remember having stickers were the 4558 train set and the technic 8880 super car. But those were some of the last sets I would get as a kid.

So far besides some generic control piece the Sail Barge contains no exclusive prints which feels cheap for a collector sets from a premium brand.

 

[Chronocidal]

I remember stickers in some pretty early sets (the very first shuttle launch set from the early 90s comes to mind, and those have long since faded to nothing), but also some nice prints from the same timeframe.  The ones that I always avoided were ones that bridged multiple pieces, like the first airport set, which had a large billboard sticker across several bricks.

I don't think I've actually used any stickers for twenty years or more at this point though.  I repurpose enough parts for custom builds that I just prefer everything clean of markings that would pin a part to a specific subject (even the UCS sets).  I've gotten to where I just love manually coloring things by the parts used, and tuning assemblies to get good color divisions.

One more note about the shuttle, I went on a dive into mods for the KingsKnight shuttle, and discovered there have been some pretty wild mods developed for it. 

Most interesting was one that re-built the bay doors with curved tiles rather than the custom door panels, and while it's a less smooth shape, it also removes the studs entirely, and looks like it raises the hinge to a more accurate height, allowing another layer of plates to shape the wing into more of an airfoil.

They also covered the underside with smooth black tiles, and covered over the retractable gear, which, while impressive, I'm not entirely sold on how thick it makes the entire shuttle.  I might see how expensive the tiles are to try it, but it will take a significant rebuild of the underside, and might conflict with the existing tank mounting points.

The one thing I would most love to improve on the base design though is to find a way to get the bay doors to fully open.  The pinned clips all pretty well limit them to 90 degrees, while they should open closer to 180, and lay down over the wings.  I'm going to attempt a rebuild with the studio later to see what I can come up with, but I'm not sure anything outside of the custom hinges from the huge Discovery set will allow that sort of motion.

[danth]

14 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

So this is starting to get frustrating.  I'm starting to miss the older hinge pieces that didn't involve these clips, because it seems like every time I disassemble something using these clips, I find more of these pieces just cracked from stress over time.

That sucks. That white piece has been redesigned a few times, supposedly for better durability, but now I'm not so sure that worked out. The ones you have there look like the newest design. The old ones had thicker clips.

6 hours ago, Scyla said:

I don’t think any of may space pirates or castle sets from my childhood had any stickers included.

They didn't, with very few, specific exceptions, like torso stickers on some of the 1978 sets.

I hate stickers and think Lego should print everything. Cobi, Mega, Funwhole, etc print basically everything these days so there's no excuse. I mean, I've heard the excuses that Lego PR shills repeat but they fall apart under scrutiny.

[wm cheng]

On 5/27/2025 at 7:32 PM, Chronocidal said:

Little late, but I think it was in LDD.  I know there have been some custom part update packs for it, since LEGO stopped supporting it.

Downside to the update would be the lack of actual windows, but I'm absolutely not upset by not having a cockpit with minifigures in it.  It's cool that sometimes they work out in the correct scale, but I'd much rather focus on a having as accurate a shape as possible, rather than being shackled to the existing stock of clear elements.

Since it hasn't been brought up here yet, I'm just going to say I'm really torn about this new set.

On the one hand.. I want to get it.  On the other.. the primary reason would be to rebuild it, because this design just upsets me in so many ways.

As a starting point, I'm not nearly the airliner aficionado that I know some folks here are, but this 747 has so many serious flaws that I can't look at it without cringing.  Primarily, the cockpit absolutely needs a redesign, but the placement of both the wing and stabilizers relative to the fuselage just bother me.

But the shuttle.. this hurts.  Mostly because it's almost dead on 1/110 scale, same as the Saturn V, and more importantly, the Ideas shuttle that got rejected.. and this design is so much worse than that one.  I do like how they used some ball and socket joints to angle the main engines, and I might steal that design for mine, but the rest is just a painful downgrade in so many ways.  It doesn't even look as nice as some of their City-themed minifig scale ones, and even using one of their old single-piece molded noses would have been an improvement over the weird half-octagon cone they designed.

I have gradually made a lot of tweaks and modifications to the original KingsKnight design, especially the nose and tail (the feature I'm most proud of, that thing is a SNOT jigsaw), but I also redesigned the wing to use the old-style notched wing plates, which let me give the wing a proper gray leading edge both on top and bottom.  Those pieces sadly aren't made anymore, but I'm certain something could be worked out using all of the new angled tiles they've made.

Funny enough, the original Ideas design was closer to the Enterprise anyway, since it left out the upper nose markings that I rebuilt it to include.

In terms of the set though, I know it's not historically accurate, since they just decided to replicate the Paris Air Show scheme carrying the Enterprise, but it feels like a lazy cop-out not to include the parts or stickers to pick one of the other shuttles.

They even missed a stupidly easy detail by not adding the upper windows on the cabin, or even a sticker for them.. which is specifically what that notch in the upper cockpit panel was used for in previous shuttle sets.  I know the Enterprise had those windows covered, but they were still there, and it would have made a very low-effort detail.

I don't know.  Maybe I'll use the points I racked up during the Star Wars sales to discount it and pick it up later this summer, but it's definitely a fixer-upper.  I could even use the stickers (yes they're all stickers) from the shuttle on mine, since the parts involved are mostly the same.  

I feel exactly the same way @Chronocidal - I feel they just phoned this one in.  I was so excited to hear about this one, I love official Lego sets especially their space stuff but there's so many bad shapes that I can't seem to support this set.  The 747 shape is so wrong, and my KnightKnight Shuttle is so much better than this one.

[Chronocidal]

Not sure I'm sold yet on how thick this makes the wing at the trailing edge, but you can't really gradually taper plates at this scale.  

Definitely improves the look of the main landing gear though (removable tile covers that remount as doors in the open position), and I think I could get used to the different bay doors.

For anyone interested, the inspiration for the changes was from this mod for the original design.

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-167498/Foggy0utri Design Bureau/1110-space-shuttle/#details

I'm not a fan of how he redid the nose, and the way he rebuilt the entire shuttle with 1x2 plates to get a tiled look felt a little impractical, but I like the higher (and cleaner looking) bay door hinge, and while he doesn't say it's compatible with the original tank, I was able to keep the original mounts in place, just adding one layer of plates to the underside, so it should still work.

Edited May 30 by Chronocidal

[Scyla]

I build the front panels of the Sail Barge and man it is crazy that they made the geometry work the way they did. Part 35480 came really in handy in here. No comparison to Sail Barges of old like set 6210 or 75020.

 

[M'Kyuun]

9 hours ago, Scyla said:

I build the front panels of the Sail Barge and man it is crazy that they made the geometry work the way they did. Part 35480 came really in handy in here. No comparison to Sail Barges of old like set 6210 or 75020.

 

I haven't really given the Sail Barge a look, but I'll agree that 35480 and its 3-stud counterpart have proven immensely useful. I wish they'd make more parts with hollow studs.

[Chronocidal]

they've definitely been introducing a whole host of new and interesting shapes, with some really great use cases.

One of the interesting ones I only discovered yesterday is just a tiny wedge plate, and I kind of wish they would make many more of these types of parts, in as many angles as possible, because they are fantastic for shaping.

Unfortunately.. for the way I relly need these, I actually really need one with a stud, so they're stackable.

Also really useful would be those quarter round tiles, but also with studs so you can stack them into a quarter cylinder.

 

[M'Kyuun]

3 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

they've definitely been introducing a whole host of new and interesting shapes, with some really great use cases.

One of the interesting ones I only discovered yesterday is just a tiny wedge plate, and I kind of wish they would make many more of these types of parts, in as many angles as possible, because they are fantastic for shaping.

Unfortunately.. for the way I relly need these, I actually really need one with a stud, so they're stackable.

Also really useful would be those quarter round tiles, but also with studs so you can stack them into a quarter cylinder.

 

I suggest keeping an eye on New Elementary.com, as they are, to wit, the only LEGO fan site that keeps astutely abreast of all new and recolored elements on a continual if obsessive basis. I've found them to be an excellent resource, as I'm always interested in what new parts are being introduced for my MOCing needs and they are generally on top of new releases with both set reviews and parts breakdowns. Disclaimer: I have zero affiliation with New Elementary beyond being a fan, but, like Bricklink, they are a huge resource to FOLs and, IMHO, deserve to be recommended at every opportunity.

As to those parts you pointed out, I agree. I, too, wish they'd make more types, as well as versions with studs. My parts wishlist is long, but LEGO has really been pumping out interesting and useful parts over the last few years, many of which were only available before by buying other "clone" brands, who in many ways, were way ahead of LEGO for years in their parts innovation. I still wish they'd make plates with studs top and bottom for simplified SNOT building. LEGO's playing catchup, but themes like Speed Champions are driving the addition of long sought highly useful wedges, slopes, tiles, etc and I hope that trend continues unabated.

[Scyla]

I finished the UCS Sail Barge and it is a nice set for the $350 I paid for it.

It is definitely not worth the $500 MSRP. For that it should have two Dessert Skiffs and a bunch more Minifigs.

Actually, my biggest gripe with the set is the limited selection of Minifigs. No second Gamorrean Guard, no Yakface, too few henchmen, etc.

And while I’m happy to have a Hutt Slayer Leia in Minifig form I wished they included a cloth piece. I understand why they molded the pants on but an additional cloth piece would have gone a long way to make the figure more special.

Apparently there could be up to 500 passengers so throw a couple of them into the set (like more Skiff guards) even if they weren’t shown on screen.

Or, you know, lower the price. $350 is still expensive but more palatable. 

[Chronocidal]

After messing with the design all week, I finally just decided to pick up the parts for a complete second orbiter, rather than just what I needed to revamp the first.  Gives me a few options for display, and I can reconfigure a few parts to build a different shuttle.  The color swap for Columbia is pretty simple, and I ordered the parts for multiple tails, including the tip sensor, and the parachute pack mod.

So I spent last night building a parts list.  Aside from a couple of nonexistent colors and a few parts not in production anymore, I was able to pick up the entire thing on the official Pick-a-Brick site for roughly $120 for approximately 1300 parts.  Not a terrible total I think, and I added some extras of some pieces I use a lot (and spares of those clips that keep breaking ).  The four old gray notched wings I used for the main wing I had to pick up used from another vendor though.

Frankly, the lack of a part to replace the function of these is getting painful... and after last night, the official ID numbers #3935 and #3936 will be forever burned into my noggin.

I got my first pair of these in one of my first space sets, and they are sorely missed, because even with the rapidly expanding selection of wedge plates we have, the 45 degree angle plates are now the lone holdout for which we do not have an option to arrange multiples into a seamless edge.

They did fortunately introduce the two 45 degree tile pieces in red there, but they don't solve this issue.

They can be used to fill gaps, but only on top of another already established surface.  They can't be used to plug the gaps left by other wedge plates along a bare edge, because even if they did have studs, there's nothing to hold them in place there.  

The old solid edges on the 45 degree notched plates made them impossible to stack, so they did need an upgrade, but we really need them back in an updated format now.

[M'Kyuun]

5 hours ago, Scyla said:

And while I’m happy to have a Hutt Slayer Leia in Minifig form I wished they included a cloth piece. I understand why they molded the pants on but an additional cloth piece would have gone a long way to make the figure more special. 

Preach! They've made cloth bits for far more superfluous or obscure figs when this particular version of Leia has been beggaring a cloth skirt for some time.

1 hour ago, Chronocidal said:

After messing with the design all week, I finally just decided to pick up the parts for a complete second orbiter, rather than just what I needed to revamp the first.  Gives me a few options for display, and I can reconfigure a few parts to build a different shuttle.  The color swap for Columbia is pretty simple, and I ordered the parts for multiple tails, including the tip sensor, and the parachute pack mod.

So I spent last night building a parts list.  Aside from a couple of nonexistent colors and a few parts not in production anymore, I was able to pick up the entire thing on the official Pick-a-Brick site for roughly $120 for approximately 1300 parts.  Not a terrible total I think, and I added some extras of some pieces I use a lot (and spares of those clips that keep breaking ).  The four old gray notched wings I used for the main wing I had to pick up used from another vendor though.

Frankly, the lack of a part to replace the function of these is getting painful... and after last night, the official ID numbers #3935 and #3936 will be forever burned into my noggin.

I got my first pair of these in one of my first space sets, and they are sorely missed, because even with the rapidly expanding selection of wedge plates we have, the 45 degree angle plates are now the lone holdout for which we do not have an option to arrange multiples into a seamless edge.

They did fortunately introduce the two 45 degree tile pieces in red there, but they don't solve this issue.

They can be used to fill gaps, but only on top of another already established surface.  They can't be used to plug the gaps left by other wedge plates along a bare edge, because even if they did have studs, there's nothing to hold them in place there.  

The old solid edges on the 45 degree notched plates made them impossible to stack, so they did need an upgrade, but we really need them back in an updated format now.

Agree completely with recreating those old notched wedge plates, albeit with stud cutouts along the edges. They may be uglier, but the added usefulness of that modification would be worth it.

For my part, I wish they'd make more Mixel ball and socket joint-related parts, especially more socket parts.  I really wish they'd resurrected the old brick-built homemaker hands, 1x1 hollow-studded round plates with ball joints. That seems like such a no-brainer necessity that it boggles my mind that it wasn't part of the original Mixels release, let alone STILL having not been done. To partner with that much needed part would be the analogous socket on a 1x1 round plate with a hollow stud. Too, a 1x1 or 1x2 plate with a vertical socket would be extremely useful. Since I primarily build mecha, the number of omissions around joints is still rather disheartening, especially when I see other LEGO-compatible products come out with parts that LEGO should have already included in their palette as the premiere building system. Ball joints are great, but man would I love it if they added a series of ratcheted Technic pin joints that would allow for more controlled and stiff movement at that small level. Technic pins on their own generally lack the requisite friction to be of much use, especially the new pin design which has less friction than any previous version. Ratchets at that scale would open so many possibilities.

When I'm building, I often notice the lack of certain parts, many times the same ones, that would be extremely useful and seem, to my mind, to be no-brainer parts and yet they've not been produced. It's infinitely frustrating so I empathize with your plight.

[Tking22]

I didn't know a Technic 2 Fast Skyline GTR just came out. Wish it was Icons, brick built, I don't like Technic cars, they're too fiddly. I got the Ford GT on sale and it looks okay, Technic gappy, and like I said, fiddly overall, just not as solid as brick built. 

[Scyla]

I saw the announcement of the Lego One Piece sets (non Brickheads) and they look absolutely amazing to me.

Sadly I’m almost done with collecting Lego so they are not for me but at times like these I wished Lego was more the focus of my collection.

 

[M'Kyuun]

On 6/7/2025 at 1:22 PM, Scyla said:

I saw the announcement of the Lego One Piece sets (non Brickheads) and they look absolutely amazing to me.

Sadly I’m almost done with collecting Lego so they are not for me but at times like these I wished Lego was more the focus of my collection.

 

Not at all into One Piece, but cool for those who like it. Too, new sets and new themes always bring the potential for new parts, so that aspect interests me.

So wish LEGO would get a Macross license, even if it means likely no VF-1 due to HG. All those other valks would be fair game, though. Realistically, however, I think we'd be far more likely to see a Gundam license given its global prevalence. I'd be down for that, too.

[sh9000]

[Tking22]

12 minutes ago, sh9000 said:

Holy mother of frakk, that is absolutely mine! I was bummed the Paul Walker Skyline was Technic, less bummed now, a brick-built Icons Cobra? Um, frakking yes please. 

[Chronocidal]

Nice, and the newer compound curve plates are being used to great effect on these new car models.

I almost picked up the Countach set at Walmart here a week or so ago, but only because it was on the wrong shelf, and I didn't check the price (and it was only a few days after I splurged on SW day ).  I might grab both of those eventually, but I'm still stuck in space shuttle land.

Side note.. it's bizarre that Lego only offers tracked shipping for their best-selling parts.  I ordered about $150 in bricks to build up Columbia, and it got split into two separate orders.  Only the "best-seller" parts were tracked, and arrive in about five days.  The other half of the order is .. somewhere?  I got confirmation they shipped, but all I know is that I've got about $50 in plastic floating somewhere in the mail system that should arrive sometime between now and mid-August.

[Scyla]

Brickvault released a new UCCS Imperial Shuttle instructions.

I’m very tempted to buy the instructions and source the pieces via Bricklink especially since an UCS Imperial Shuttle is the last piece for my Lego Star Wars spaceship collection.

Especially since this way I could try to switch all the white pieces to light bluish gray (since this is the color the shuttle should be in).

Does anyone know how much effort it is to go through the part list they published and check if all the white pieces are available in gray and create my own list to source all the pieces?

I also probably would change the tan highlights to dark bluish gray and introduce some trans-light blue pieces for the thrusters. 

[Chronocidal]

Hmmm, I'm kind of torn.  Really love the smoother setup for the engines, but I'm not sure I actually like all of the weird angles and layers in the nose.  Also, still think there are better ways to do the wings with ratchets rather than gearing.  

Still, really nice to see more people tackling this old mess.  

[M'Kyuun]

Contrarily, I love the entire nose section which no official LEGO model has gotten right. The whole thing, though, is brilliant. 

Some new sets have been revealed for August. 

Among them this new V-19 Torrent (with trans yellow windscreen sure to excite many a Classic Space/Blacktron fan) is a bit smaller than its 2008 original, which actually brings it closer to proper scale as it appeared in Tartakovsky's Clone Wars. The design is a bit different, reflecting how it looks in recent animated Clone Wars related shows, but I like it and have hoped for a release like this. Sadly, it doesn't appear that this model possesses gearing to allow the wings and central foil to rotate into flight/landing configuration like the OG set did, relying instead on ball joints. Disappointing, but I'm still gonna get it.  567pcs,; $65

While the LEGO SW team seems to be leaning heavy into the Clone Wars with the August wave, once again there is no new Republic Shuttle set. The last and only other minifig scaled set came out in 2009 and it is in dire need of a modern update. For some reason, even though it featured heavily in the excellent Bad Batch series, no set was forthcoming then either. It's such a great design and its omission is curious and dismaying.

LEGO's 2009 release. Definitely could be better.

there's also a new MTT coming. Like the majority of minifig scaled sets, it's been shrunk a bit compared to previous releases. I still have my 2007 MTT which is, IMHO, the best version that they've released. I like the colors of this version but given that the prices have risen on SW sets in particular, and all LEGO in general, I'll likely be skipping it. That droid rack looks a bit off. 976pcs, $160

LEGO's continuing their homegrown animated SW series Rebuild the Galaxy this fall and they've got another oddball release to accompany it. Behold the Force Burner Snowspeeder. Of note, that canopy will likely appeal to Blacktron MOCists. It's also a new mold which makes me think a regular Snowspeeder is likely not far behind. 349pcs, $55

Back to Clone Wars. there's a new, also shrunken, Republic Juggernaut (Clone Turbo Tank) coming. 813pcs, $160

There's also a new miniaturized version of Jango Fett's Slave I similar to Boba's version released in 2021. Notably, this is the first minifig of Lama Su, the Kaminoan Prime Minister.  707pcs, $70

And finally, the set that will likely appeal to a number of you guys here, a new UCS AT-ST. 1513pcs, $200  For reference, the previous UCS AT-ST, released in 2006, had 1068 pcs and originally sold for $80. Thanks to the addition of innumerable new parts over the last 19 years, the finer details are executed far better on this set, as they should be. I still wish they'd imbue these things with appropriate articulation, but I get why they don't.

Oh, one more. LEGO's been knocking it out of the proverbial park over the last few years with their Creator animal sets and this one looks to continue the trend. Not sure how many Transformers fans there are here, but this totally gave me Rhinox vibes from Beast Wars. Now they need to make a gorilla that can ride on his back.😁

Edited July 2 by M'Kyuun

[Chronocidal]

Youch, $200 for 1500 parts is pretty steep.  Those prices are feeling pretty high across the board actually, maybe they're just using a ton of really large parts?  Might pick up the AT-ST eventually, but probably not going to rush to it.  I might burn my VIP points to pick up the Shuttle Carrier 747 at a heavy discount in a few weeks.. mostly because i want to rebuild it.  

I've been reworking my KingsKnight shuttle heavily for the past couple of weeks after taking a few measurements and realizing the scale could be a bit better for true 1/110, but it involved completely redesigning the main body and bay doors.  Still working on the OMS pod design, but it's getting there, and will probably take a few photos soon.

Edited July 2 by Chronocidal

[M'Kyuun]

5 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

Youch, $200 for 1500 parts is pretty steep.  Those prices are feeling pretty high across the board actually, maybe they're just using a ton of really large parts?  Might pick up the AT-ST eventually, but probably not going to rush to it.  I might burn my VIP points to pick up the Shuttle Carrier 747 at a heavy discount in a few weeks.. mostly because i want to rebuild it.  

I've been reworking my KingsKnight shuttle heavily for the past couple of weeks after taking a few measurements and realizing the scale could be a bit better for true 1/110, but it involved completely redesigning the main body and bay doors.  Still working on the OMS pod design, but it's getting there, and will probably take a few photos soon.

LEGO was already an expensive hobby, but the recent price hikes have been pricing fans out of the hobby, from what I've read. As for myself, due to space limitations and also the higher prices, I've cut down substantially from just three or four years ago. I'm also more apt to wait for clearances. At this point, the only UCS sets I think I'd buy are the Imperial Shuttle or the Republic Shuttle, although, TBH, given my space limits, I think I'd rather have them both at regular minifig scale albeit done very well. Alas, I'm thinking the Imperial Shuttle set we got in 2015 (75094 is probably the best version we're ever going to get at the regular minifig scale). The current trend is to downsize all the large vehicles even more than they were before which really limits interior space and features like landing gear and such. I love set 75094 and I have a copy on permanent display; it was also a really good parts set, and I have an extra copy for that purpose. The nose was a bit too angular and I'd love to see them release a set where the nose is more rounded and has the fins under the nose within that curvature like the filming model. No official set has done that...yet. I could MOC it, I suppose, but I've got other stuff I'm working on and I'm lazy.

As for your shuttle project, I'm always impressed by your talent, dedication and meticulous approach. I wish you every success with it and look forward to seeing WIP and finished pics. 

[Scyla]

I think Lego has gone too far with the price hikes. $200 for the AT-ST is insane (and some of the other prices).  I’m glad that I am almost done with my adult Lego collection.

Yes, Lego was always expensive but this is not justifying any longer. What justifies the $200 price tag for 1500 pieces? It has just one Minifig, and I can’t spot many unique or big pieces on the set that would indicate a high material cost per piece. And the structure of the "turret" ist mostly hollow. 

They are pricing me out of buying Lego. Not because I can’t afford it but because I am not willing to pay these bonkers prices.

I think after I found a solution for my missing UCS Imperial Shuttle I will go back and complete "my" classic Space collection and call it a day.

[Phyrox]

Hmm, I haven't picked up an official set in a while, but one of the sets I've been hoping for forever is a UCS Hoth AS-ST, and while it's hard to tell from those photos...the head might be the right shape, it looks about right from the front.  The legs aren't quite long enough but I can probably figure that out myself.

Looks like a good basis for an ESB AT-ST MOC at worst.  I'm excited to pick this one up.  The price is too high of course, but lego star wars usually is.

[M'Kyuun]

Change of topic. I'm working on a MOC and ordered a bunch of parts from LEGO's online Bricks and Pieces Hub as I've done many times before. The bestseller portion of my order came today and it was complete except there was only one of a piece for which I'd ordered two. Not a big deal. but here's the kicker: out of 36 different parts in the order, nearly every one had extras thrown in. and not just like one or two, although that happened with a few, too. Some parts had up to twenty or more extra pieces thrown in and in cases of matched pairs, the numbers of extras were generally highly incongruent. For example: I ordered 10ea 1x2 tiles with a wedge cutout both left and right; what I received: left 26 parts, right 16 parts This pattern repeats for a number of paired parts in the order. I'm not going to complain about extra free LEGO, but this is a highly unusual occurrence, and I have to wonder the meaning behind it. LEGO's a good company, but I've never known them to engage in this level of or method of altruism nor have I ever had this much discrepancy, albeit largely in my favor, between what I ordered (and paid for) and what was actually in the bag. I have had an extra here or there, as these are all hand-picked parts by real people, so mistakes happen, but usually they're pretty good about matching the orders. Anyway, my only complaint, being an entitled American, is that the incongruency messes with my inventory, as I generally always order paired bits in equal numbers and this is going to throw me off in the future unless I make another order to shore up the lesser numbers of those pairs. First world problem, I know. I'm grateful for the extra bits, but I'm really curious what's behind it. Perhaps there's a disgruntled employee or one who feels LEGO is too expensive and fans should get more for their buck. or maybe one person started picking the bag, went home, and another resumed picking without taking stock of what was already picked. Anyway, since that's only half of my order (the standard parts have yet to come), I'm curious if the same phenomenon is going to reoccur or if it will be a normal order matching what I ordered and paid for. Has anyone else here had this happen? I'm also curious if this is an isolated incident or if other folks are getting surprise orders, too.

[Chronocidal]

I can't say whether or not that might have been the case with my recent order, since I didn't actually take stock of everything once I got it.  I'd counted up the numbers I needed, and then rounded up, or added extras of parts I know I use a lot of, so I wasn't concerned about having enough for the project itself.  All told I ordered over a thousand parts, so I didn't really feel like counting them all.  

I sincerely wish they would work out something better than the complete lack of tracking they give for standard parts orders.  I'm thankful my parts arrived before I left on vacation, but there was literally no way to know when or how they were coming.  No details on delivery service, no estimate on date beyond "within about 40 days," it didn't even show up as a package in my USPS informed delivery queue, it just appeared in my box one day in a plain paper envelope.  If I'd known that ahead of time, I probably would have used a third party through Bricklink instead.

[Test_Pilot_2]

This one looks fun...

https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/arcade-machine-40805?CMP=AFC-AffiliateUS-FKSJxY2VJAk-1324061-1606623-10

[M'Kyuun]

On 7/2/2025 at 9:02 PM, Chronocidal said:

I can't say whether or not that might have been the case with my recent order, since I didn't actually take stock of everything once I got it.  I'd counted up the numbers I needed, and then rounded up, or added extras of parts I know I use a lot of, so I wasn't concerned about having enough for the project itself.  All told I ordered over a thousand parts, so I didn't really feel like counting them all.  

I sincerely wish they would work out something better than the complete lack of tracking they give for standard parts orders.  I'm thankful my parts arrived before I left on vacation, but there was literally no way to know when or how they were coming.  No details on delivery service, no estimate on date beyond "within about 40 days," it didn't even show up as a package in my USPS informed delivery queue, it just appeared in my box one day in a plain paper envelope.  If I'd known that ahead of time, I probably would have used a third party through Bricklink instead.

Yeah, the indeterminate window for standard parts deliveries can be frustrating. I dislike that they break them up into bestseller and standard categories in the first place, but then they also charge $7 service fees if a minimal number of parts isn't met, and that goes for each category, so you can end up paying $14 on top of what you're paying for a smaller order. I'd rather my money went towards actual bricks, so I always wait to order when I've got a project requiring, or potentially requiring, enough parts to exceed the service fee limits, as was the case with this last order. The numbers of parts compared to actual numbers I ordered were so random and excessive at times that it raised my antennae. I've never had such an odd experience before with their online Pick-A-Brick. I appreciate the free extra parts though. I'm curious if I'm going to have the same experience with my standard parts. Guess we'll see.

[sh9000]

Soundwave.

Edited July 8 by sh9000

[M'Kyuun]

On 7/8/2025 at 2:26 PM, sh9000 said:

Soundwave.

Nearly a month late due to the release schedule, but this is my birthday ask for my wife. I didn't think Bee was all that well done, but this looks on par, if not better, than Optimus. Loving those cassettes! I'm really glad Optimus wasn't a one-off. However, should they choose to do more Decepticons, Megatron and the Seekers are off the table unless they do Cybertronian alt modes due to LEGO's no-modern-war-machine policy. Megatron already falls afoul of American toy gun laws. Reflector would be pretty neat, though, as would the Insecticons or Constructicons, should they stick with G1 first season bots for these sets. More Autobot carbots are surely welcome.

Edited July 10 by M'Kyuun

[Tking22]

Looks gorgeous, truly superior, I'm in! I hope we get a Megatron eventually, tank form alt mode obviously like the new Studio Series figure, but I'll take it!