Lego thread: Shiiiiiiiit, I don't got the money for this.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Lego thread: Shiiiiiiiit, I don't got the money for this.

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Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

Carbohydrates posted:

Speed Champions words time. Not a response to any specific person, but some general info on the theme as I understand it.

The ones retiring are not the "current run" - well, in the sense that they are currently still being produced, sure - but they are not the latest, or most current, 2022 models. They are the 2021 models, the second year of 8-wide production.

How cars get chosen:

In the early days of Speed Champions, the decision of what car(s) would be made into a set was largely in the hands of the manufacturers. In older interviews, LEGO stated that almost all the specific deals came from manufacturers approaching them with specific cars that they wanted made into sets. Typically, this was done with cross marketing in mind, so of course modern cars received far more focus because those are the ones the makes were pushing. In recent years, the Speed Champions team has far more autonomy. I'm not sure at exactly which point this transition happened, but in the 8-wide era, LEGO has much more frequently been able to choose specific cars that they wish to build in LEGO - ones that they think would translate particularly well. So why did LEGO bother making a Koenigsegg Jesko? Was it due to pressure from Koenigsegg? No, it's because they saw that distinctive rear wing situation and thought it would look great in LEGO, so they set up the license and built the car.

That said, auto manufacturers still have influence. IIRC LEGO simply wished to build the new Ford Bronco, but influence from Ford is why it ended up as the R variant specifically. Keeping this in mind, a manufacturer has essentially no reason to promote a defunct brand. To date, we have yet to see a car from a brand / line that does not exist anymore, such as Pontiac, Plymouth, Oldsmobile, or AMC. There's nothing stopping this from happening in the future, though, if LEGO wishes to pursue this and creates a convincing enough argument for doing so. I wouldn't hold my breath, though.

Who is this theme for:

The very intent behind the theme has changed over the years, too. When the theme debuted, it was in the 6-wide scale at least partially so that the cars could be dropped into minifig scale City layouts - this according to information from a Flickr post by LEGO designer Adam Grabowski. Over time, the focus changed to prioritize making accurate models of cars - models, moreso than toys. At that point, with scale compatibility no longer being important to the designers, moving to 8-wide made all the sense in the world. This transition happened around the same time as the introduction / push of 18+, and so another design ethos rose: these cars should have a build experience akin to a tiny Creator Expert set (according to a NewE interview with designer Christopher Stamp). They could be as complex and intricate as the designers wanted. With this new focus on the rise, the consideration of playability (like, as a playset) continued to recede. Side builds such as trophy stands, starting gates, and tool carts became less and less frequent, disappearing entirely in 2021.

Two packs have another specific purpose: cross-generational appeal. The idea is, a 2-pack will ideally consist of a car that's more appealing to a younger person, and a car that's more appealing to an older person, with the hope that it leads to parents building along with their children. Often, this takes the form of newer car / older car, but it doesn't always play out that way. This logic also kind of falls off when both cars in a 2-pack are newer, such as the 2021 Lambo set or the 2022 Mercedes set, so perhaps the intention behind 2-packs is changing, too. If that's the case, I do wonder what they're now trying to achieve, beyond "these two cars are from the same brand, so may as well throw 'em in a set together."

Other changes over time:

Speed Champions has introduced a lot of new pieces to the LEGO library. We have the theme to thank for various complex wheel arches, wheels and covers, tires, curved wedge slopes, chassis pieces, windscreens, axles, and more. Lately, the theme has taken a look at various specific areas of focus on a per-year basis. In 2020, the focus was on introducing the 8-wide scale with the introduction of new windscreens, axles, and a chassis. In 2021, the focus was on wheels, with the introduction of dual molded low profile wheels, which can fit 2 x 2 round elements within them, allowing for printed wheel covers and more general compatibility with the system. In 2022, the focus was on headlights and taillights: every single 2022 set has lights that are either printed or brick built, so sticker-adverse fans can still have complete-looking cars. Very interested to see what else changes for the 2023 sets. My best guess would be a continued shift away from stickers in general, like they did for headlights, to (hopefully) the point where stickers would be entirely optional on builds - in other words, all critical detailing would be brick-built or printed. This is an area they have stated that they have received, uh, a ton of feedback about.

That was an awesome write-up. Thanks! :tipshat:

# ¿ Jun 6, 2022 20:48

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 17:18

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

PKMN Trainer Red posted:

Finally found the bin with the last of my Classic Space guys, so now I can get a nice rainbow collection going.

That's effing awesome and I want it.

Where are the grey, green and purple ones from?

# ¿ Jun 8, 2022 05:58

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

Awesome, thanks!

Think I got myself a project.

# ¿ Jun 8, 2022 10:28

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

Darth Vader; well known for loving sand.

# ¿ Jun 9, 2022 07:17

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

Haha, same!

I was going to post that I never ever had a missing piece and lo and behold, 10 minutes ago, while building the Starry Night, one of the black inverted slopes to build the frame from was missing. :v:

Got an extra corner piece though, so I could fix it ,and once it is mounted on the wall, nobody will ever notice.

# ¿ Jun 11, 2022 10:28

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

xzzy posted:

720 parts of grey and blue:

I should have about 75% of them on hand, gonna need to buy a ton of 1x8 bricks though. Kinda bummed I couldn't align that strip of tiles along the near edge, but I'm trying to fit a specific measurement so don't have much room to fix it. It's possible when I assemble it for real I make some adjustments and fix it but we'll see.

Also the tube tool in studio suuuuuucks. I got mad at it and gave up.

Having built all of three of those structures during the pandemic, I have to say this fricking amazing! Kinda jelly.

# ¿ Jun 11, 2022 17:25

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

gently caress, the tallneck does look amazing, and I want it, but never having played the game it is based on, prevents me from buying it.

Guess I will pick the game up in the next steam sale then.

Cross-promotion works. :mad:

# ¿ Jun 15, 2022 13:13

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

Butterfly Valley posted:

Do you like ubisoft style giant yet sterile and joyless open worlds where you follow map icons and engage in exactly the same stealth action gameplay you've played in umpteen other titles in the last 5 years? Do you enjoy collecting 23 robot grundles to expand the secondary ammo pouch on your tertiary weapon by +3? If so, go ham

Every couple of years, yes. I have played and finished Far Cry 3 in 2013 and Far Cry 4 this year.

Might be too soon. Hmm.

# ¿ Jun 15, 2022 13:29

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

Sorry for the accidental derail.

The Tallneck Lego model looks awesome, though. With it being sold out most of the time, I think most people agree, and hopefully we will see more cool vidyagaem adaptions. :toot:

# ¿ Jun 15, 2022 19:44

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

It would make sense to have this GWP available for the big anniversary classic castle release.

# ¿ Jun 16, 2022 17:01

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

The only thing I care about is the galaxy explorer remake.

Give it to me!

# ¿ Jun 18, 2022 07:00

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

Did Lego Yurop do pre-orders in the past? Like ever?

# ¿ Jun 20, 2022 07:07

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

I mean, nobody forces you to buy them on day one. The kits will be available for months or years.

# ¿ Jun 23, 2022 06:52

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

TEN castles!

Ah ah ah!

# ¿ Jun 24, 2022 14:38

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

I am not a minifig collector; why are those costumes bad, please? Is it about maintaining the purity of the minifig design? :confused:

I'm not being facetious here, I genuinely do not know.

# ¿ Jun 27, 2022 06:14

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

I misunderstood then. My bad.

# ¿ Jun 27, 2022 06:46

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

I adore those creations. :3:

# ¿ Jun 29, 2022 20:10

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

# ¿ Jun 30, 2022 17:34

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

Prophet of Nixon posted:

Unfortunately I'm like out of parts when it comes to finishing the feet, hence the dainty yellow shoes.

Here's an attempt at a Schnauzer:

That's Brian Griffin.

# ¿ Jul 3, 2022 14:57

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

Sexual Lorax posted:

in what universe is this piece of crap worth $100?

Now I'm definitely hanging on to mine out of pure dumb spite and refusal to participate in a marketplace so far divorced from reality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5HOt0ZOcYk

Edit: At most.

Tarquinn fucked around with this message at 20:22 on Jul 5, 2022

# ¿ Jul 5, 2022 20:20

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

Dude seems awesome. I'd share alcoholic beverages with him.

# ¿ Jul 8, 2022 11:46

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

Lego Gundam set when?

# ¿ Jul 9, 2022 19:49

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

Prophet of Nixon posted:

I have, there's no way I'd come up with stuff on the computer. Is the tropical parrot the polybag from this year? I looked everywhere for that, I don't think it came here. Might have to bricklink one, it looked really cool.

One more I've been working on for a few hours: The Prospector -

(and supporting space bug)

Just wanted to say that I appreciate your creations. :3:

I am not doing something like that myself, but I do enjoy your creativity.

# ¿ Jul 11, 2022 07:36

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

Blooop!

Gravitas Shortfall posted:

Hold up.

Computer, zoom and enhance.

Zoom and enhance.

Space cat??? A space minifig wearing a huge orange harness? What is this?

It is a jet pack

# ¿ Jul 11, 2022 15:34

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

Not till I get my Gundam. :mad:

Also plz vote for the Gundam.

# ¿ Jul 12, 2022 18:12

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

Pyroclastic posted:

Wow, out of all the submissions in that Ideas review, Hocus Pocus got selected? Must've been a really fuckin' cheap license. I think I would have liked it better if nothing passed.

It belongs to Disney, doesn�t it?

Maybe Hocus Pocus was part of their contract already.

# ¿ Jul 13, 2022 09:20

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

Price goes up. Quality goes down.

Lego things.

# ¿ Jul 14, 2022 10:57

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

Habibi posted:

Ohhh does it have a queen and no king?

Yes!

# ¿ Jul 14, 2022 15:24

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

I have seen at least one company starting to use rub on dry transfers instead of stickers:

The red stripes on the sides, the rest are prints.

A huge improvement for non-play sets, imo.

# ¿ Jul 15, 2022 10:22

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

He has like 18 stores in Germany. That one guy must be busy.

E: Same number as LEGO. lol

Tarquinn fucked around with this message at 10:59 on Jul 15, 2022

# ¿ Jul 15, 2022 10:54

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

ivantod posted:

Has Disney quietly bought lego at some point without telling anybody?

That would explain so much.

# ¿ Jul 15, 2022 13:14

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

The_Doctor posted:

https://twitter.com/lego_group/status/1547932891862011913

# ¿ Jul 15, 2022 14:38

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

drat, that looks good. And no superfluous TV-Set.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2022 14:29

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

How some people can call the Atari 2600 ugly is beyond me. It's the best looking classical console by far.

Am I so out of touch? :hmmno:

# ¿ Jul 19, 2022 20:27

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

RatHat posted:

Atari 2600 review

This set really feels like they padded it out to justify the price. I would�ve been fine with just the cartridges and Atari for $50 cheaper, without the vignettes

Yeah, I don't really get the extra builds either. It makes no sense.

:v:

: "Hey, let's get the Atari 2600 set to exactly 2600 pieces."
:dance:

:"Awesome idea, let's build some extra stuff!"
~ 2532 pieces later ~
:effort:

: "That's good enough."

# ¿ Jul 21, 2022 20:26

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

Feenix posted:

I had disassembled Spaceshipx3 and kept the parts for a future project. (I built it with my kid when he was potty training and he�s almost 10 now.)

I liked LightYear XL-15 but instead of buying it, I did a Galaxy Explorer variant.

gently caress. Yes!

# ¿ Jul 22, 2022 05:55

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

Look at that BURP, just look at it!

# ¿ Jul 30, 2022 19:30

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

Prophet of Nixon posted:

How is this thread not called "Something AFOL"?

# ¿ Jul 30, 2022 23:08

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

Futanari Damacy posted:

I like the old crater baseplates. They should bring those back!

Have you seen what they have done to road plates??

# ¿ Aug 6, 2022 08:55

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 17:18

Tarquinn: Jul 3, 2007; I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you
my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.; Hell Gem

Futanari Damacy posted:

I voted for Blacktron, Ice Planet, and Paradisa

You monster!

Blacktron's cool though.

# ¿ Aug 8, 2022 08:39

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Lego thread: Shiiiiiiiit, I don't got the money for this.

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