1083 replies to this topic

[Lyichir]

I was a bit disappointed to see that there were absolutely no Hero Factory sets mentioned in the Late Holiday 2012 product catalog. I know Lego wants to push their more popular lines at the end of the year, but it still annoyed me.

That sort of thing has been happening more and more since Lego reduced the size of their catalogs. I know the catalogs are mostly obsolete now thanks to the online shop, but it's still a shame.

[Space Marine]

Money, people. Release at certain times of the year to hype up products and such.

[Randy Disher]

This isn't necessarily about 2012 sets, but why doesn't Lego use 5M shells in black? According to Bricklink, they exist, and there are instances where they should have been used, such as Black Phantom's feet.

[Aanchir: Rachira of Time]

This isn't necessarily about 2012 sets, but why doesn't Lego use 5M shells in black? According to Bricklink, they exist, and there are instances where they should have been used, such as Black Phantom's feet.

Sometimes things like this are deliberate design decisions (the designers may very well have wanted Black Phantom's feet to resemble steel-toed boots or something to that effect). Other times, though, it's because TLG only keeps a certain amount of elements in production at any one time. Even if neither the color nor the mold has been discontinued, it's not uncommon for certain part-color combinations to be kept in production because a lot of sets require them, whereas others that might only be needed for one or two sets are not kept in production. So even if you have one set that could use a 5M black shell, it might be more cost-effective to use a 4M or 6M black shell or a differently-colored shell instead.

In this case, only one set has used an unprinted 5M black shell (Fangz), though naturally the part has been produced in greater quantities since all printed 5M black shells start their lives as unprinted ones, and there are at least three such printed shells that have been released: those in Waspix, Jetbug, and Nitroblast. It was also a Hero Recon Team/Pick-A-Brick part.

It does seem to be coming back later this year in 70205 CHI Razar, so that may be a sign that it will be appearing more frequently in the future.

Edited by Aanchir: Rachira of Time, May 09 2013 - 05:20 PM.