On January 30, 2016, the Rambling Brick was born. Four years ago, give or take a couple of hours. Please pardon a little indulgence as I take a quick look through some highlights of the last 12 months.
Continue readingRambling Brick Turns Four
Boost
LEGO Boost Droid Commander launched… with a fanfare
Announced on May the 4th this year, the ‘official’ launch date for the Droid commander has arrived. The inverted commas have been provided for the benefit of the set becoming available a couple of months ago on LEGO.com.
To celebrate the launch, LEGO have released a video, presented here in widescreen glory.
Continue readingPowering Up with Colour Detection
In which I look to see how colours other than the six expected by the Boost colour sensor are detected, using the Powered Up app. What I found was…unexpected.
Continue readingGiving the Arctic Scout Truck a BOOST [60194/17101]
In which I struggle with the ideas of combining two sets into a completely seperate model, attempt to answer the riddle “What do you get if you combine a truck with a LEGO Robot?”, and find a sticker sheet that I really really like……
A couple of weeks ago, I brought you the first part of my look at the 2018 LEGO City Arctic Scout Truck. As a medium sized city set, I thought it was pretty nifty: a bit of landscape, a dog and polar bear, a few different figures and cool (Ahem!) truck, with drive wheels and caterpillar tracks. How could it be improved on?
Now, some days I worry about the kind of LEGO builder I have become. The idea of taking a recently built set, and combining it with another set, featuring a similar colour palette caused me a little consternation. Both sets would now be potentially irreversibly combined. Or uncombined. I found myself lacking the necessary motivation to carefully seperate both sets at the end of the exercise. Perhaps this is a clear signal to continue the sorting exercise which I began last year, before getting a little… distracted. Again. Continue reading
Time to get moving: first steps into the Powered Up system [Review: Passenger Train 60197]
In which I finally get my hands onto some of the new Powered Up components and find myself dealing with a system full of immense potential. I compare the Powered Up system with the old Power Functions system for driving the train, draining the batteries in the process. And I start to wish for a little bit of magic…
Giving the Roller Coaster a Boost
Not satisfied with merely motorising my Roller Coaster 10261, I incorporate the Boost Robotics System, and then add some additional functionality. It’s all fun and games until the batteries stop running at full power…
There is no doubt that the new Roller Coaster 10261 is a magnificent model, worthy of a set piece in any LEGO Layout. But driving it manually is a little tedious,to say nothing of the roughness of the ride. How can we make it so that we may have the coaster running, and share a drink with friends at the same time, while they marvel at this wonderful set?
Simple motoring using an ‘M’ motor.
Adding a Power Functions medium motor is simple: so simple in fact that you can work out how to do it in the pre release video: plug a motor over the drive shaft, and let it go.
And it goes on… and on… and on until you turn it off. There is no break in the activity, the constant rumble of the motor. Don’t get me wrong, this is pretty awesome, and with two trains of coaster carriages running, it can be pretty hypnotic. There is no reason that this should be any harder with the equivalent Powered Up/ PF2.0 motor, when we see it released in the future.
But I wonder if more can be done.
A Little Boost
In fact, adding simple automation to the set using the Boost Move hub, sensor and servo motor is pretty simple, and is described on the final page of the instructions. This is what it looks and sounds like.
Time To Get ‘Powered Up’: Known Knowns, Known Unknowns. And A Little Speculation…
Feeling overwhelmed after a barrage of press releases and new sets being announced by LEGO in New York this week, I attempt to put together what is known about the new Powered Up platform, previously referred to as Power Functions 2.0
This week, at the Fall Preview for the (Northern) Summer 2018 LEGO® releases, there have been a number of exciting announcements, some of which have been vigorously speculated about for most of the year, plus a couple of surprises!
Given that this year respresents (amongst other things) the twentieth anniversary of the LEGO Mindstorms range, and also represents 10 years since we first saw the arrival of Power Functions, it should come as no surprise that we have seen a number of sets featuring the new “Powered Up” platform – previously referred to as Power Functions 2.0.
“For 20 years, we have been creating new ways for children to combine technology and LEGO building, starting with the introduction of LEGO MINDSTORMS®, a robotics toolkit that pioneered the idea of a ‘smart toy,” said Michael McNally, senior director brand relations for the LEGO Group. “With Powered Up, we’ve established a flexible connected platform to enable innovative new play experiences that merge digital and physical play in natural ways that will delight and inspire the builders of today and tomorrow – while still focusing on the core physical play proposition of our System of Play – the LEGO brick.”
We have also seen some exciting announcements to go with LEGO Boost.
Powered Up: Power Functions 2.0 Known Knowns.
Back in February, we presented information about the new power functions platform. We were aware that we have a new combined Bluetooth receiver and Battery Box, as well as a motor unit suitable for trains. We knew that the new cables featured the same connections as the WeDo 2.0 platform, as well as Boost.We also knew there would be a new remote and that the platform could also be App Powered.
This new platform, and all of the other Motorised LEGO Elements now fall under the broader banner of “Powered up,” and includes CITY Trains, app driven vehicles, Boost and the DUPLO Cargo Train.
Trains
Looking Forward to the rest of the year at the 2018 Melbourne Toy, Hobby and Licensing Fair
The toy fair season is now starting to wind up for now: We have had Nuremberg. We have had New York. Now we have had Melbourne…
The Melbourne Toy, Hobby and Licensing Fair is a bit of a mouthful. Predominantly a trade show, taking place in Melbourne in early March each year, LEGO Australia have a strong presence. There has traditionally been little ‘big news’ coming out of the show, as visitors have not been able to take photographs at the LEGO® booth, a trend that was reinforced at Nuremberg this year.
I had the chance to visit the Fair last weekend, and visit the booth displaying our favourite Danish Plastic Brick. Once I got past the big displays outside the booth, I had to put the camera away, and make do with words and memories.
After the recent New York and Nuremberg Toy shows, there is little to be seen in left field, unexpected presentations. Unlike New York, there are no Direct to Consumer sets on display (for example: Hogwarts Great Hall; Ultron Hulkbuster). There were also no Brickheadz or 40th Birthday Minifigure sets on display. There were no sets associated with unreleased movies ( such as Jurassic World; Solo; Incredibles 2) , unless they were already on sale (Avengers: Infinity War went on sale the week before the toy fair).
There were plenty of sets on display that are already on the shop shelves, readily available to purchase in real life shops, or on line. And everything else that I saw already has an entry in Brickset’s 2018 database. However, there were some sets from the second half year on display, of which few details have previously been available, or for which some additional clarity was able to be gained. If you wish to avoid spoilers, look away now. If you have read everything coming out of Nuremberg and New York, there may not be a lot that sounds new… but certainly a few points of clarification.
Beginning with Boost: Driven to Distraction
In which we look at the steering wheeled base, that is one of the starter platforms with LEGO Boost Creative Toolkit, visit the nomenclature of LEGO Tyres and go out for a spin…Along the way, we go atomic. Now read on…
The recent announcement of the forthcoming Power functions 2.0 reminded me that it has been a while since we looked at the Boost Creative Toolbox. I just wanted to briefly touch on one of the starter models from the Creative Canvas today: the Vehicle hub.
All you need is a little patience.
Towards the end of 2017, Boost became supported on new platforms including the iOS smartphones, and Windows 10- no longer limited to tablets (iOS, Android and Kindle fire). There is also an up to date compatibility list available from the Unofficial LEGO Boost Community Facebook page. Continue reading
Giving NEXO Knights a Boost…
A quick post this morning to demonstrate how easy it is to get a fun result from LEGO Boost, with very little style or skill. I really believe that the Boost Move Hub is the successor to the motor bricks of the 1960’s and 70’s.
For reasons best known to myself, I recently built the NEXO Knights Knighton castle set. It was an interesting build, demonstrating the 2017 NEXO Aesthetic, with lots of dark blue, orange, trans neon orange, dark stone grey and bright blue for the trim (being King Halbert’s colour). But I bought it for the parts. Reasons shall become apparent with time, or perhaps on Instagram…
In pulling it apart, I thought, wouldn’t this look great if it were mobile, like the Fortrex. Then I realised I had not yet dismantled the walking base which I discussed last week. To make the project a little easier, I removed the tail, head plate and gun: I am here for a good time, not a long time. I reconstructed a tower and moved some of the other components from the caster to produce something a little like this…
So… a few elements onto the walking base, a short ‘Walk forward’ Program, and voila: a moving MOC that is just a little more interesting than anything I might have produced with the castle elements alone, or indeed the Boost. The Classic knight was terribly impressed with the changes that had occurred since he was a young lad.
The program I used is extremely simple: Play; Walk forward at speed 50 for 30 seconds; And Stop.
Mercifully, I have not mixed elements too much, and returning my sorted Boost to its natural state should not be too hard.
And now I return you to our normal viewing…
What would like to make move with Boost? Would you build a more comprehensive castle to move? Why not comment below, and follow the Rambling Brick on WordPress or Facebook. Until next time…
Play Well!
The Rambling Brick 
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