While putting together the Colosseum, reader JdV noticed that the black Technic pins joining together parts of the base were not the same as the Black Technic friction pins that he had come to know and love over the past 30 or so years. He then asked me what I knew about it?

Nothing. so I took a closer look at the element, and saw that it had some definite differences in design.

But is it significantly different? Is it functionally different? And can we fathom why it has been introduced? I dove headfirst into the Brickset database, pulled out my trusty Macro Lens and Digital Micrometer, and set about my investigations…

I went back to where the initial query began building the Colosseum: