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Lego Saturn V
- iwintermute 9y agoCosts like a rocket - Kerbal Space Program would be much cheaper and much more interesting present/purchase
- gazarullz 9y agoIt is 1 meter big, for that price for me is a bargain.
- VLM 9y agoSomething I wonder about with something that huge is where it goes. I had mixed feelings when my Ogre Designers Edition rolled in a couple years ago, OK I can afford this, good, but where do I put something of this physical size?
- Analemma_ 9y ago$120 for a kit of this size is actually pretty cheap by Lego standards; I would've expected it to come in at $200. But I guess they're not paying licensing fees on this one. Lego is fun, and usually worth the price, but boy it can get expensive.
- jitl 9y agoCompare the size and piece count to something like a large Star Wars model like the Mellenium Falcon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00WI0PJE2/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00WI0PJE2/), $120 for ~1300 pieces. I'm surprised this model's MSRP is so low! I would happily pay ~$200 for this. Kerbal would likely be more expensive due to licensing fees -- the Saturn 5 is public domain.
- dtparr 9y agoI think Kerbal being cheaper = buying KSP itself is cheaper/more interesting, not a model of a KSP rocket would be cheaper.
- odonnellryan 9y agoI have that Falcon, it's pretty cool and I agree that the Saturn V here is a super great value.
- pavel_lishin 9y agoI'm not going to argue that KSP isn't fun, or that it's not a good value for the money, or that you shouldn't play it - but this is something you can build physically (maybe with your kid, maybe with your significant other, maybe with a friend) and actually display. And honestly, KSP isn't really for everyone. Some people would find it boring while building a giant Lego rocket would be right up their alley.
- rhcom2 9y agoI love KSP but when people ask me if they should buy it I try to be as honest about the brutal learning curve as possible. It is definitely not for everyone.
- run4yourlives2 9y agoThrowing this thing up in the air will have more chance of success in achieving orbit than anything you build in KSP for the first 30 hours of play time though.
- remarkEon 9y agoEh, my plan now is to work on my kOS moon-landing script...and when I hit a snag I'll build the Lego rocket.
- cr0sh 9y agoFor the price of the Lego kit, a better expenditure to "build with your kid" (or which the kid can build himself if he has the skills) would be a model rocket kits. There are more than a few kits out there which can be easily built and launched safely - where the total equipment needed (if all purchased) would amount to something around what this Lego kit costs. And you get a real flying rocket in the end! If you want to spend a bit (or a lot) less, you can build flyable model rockets from literally trash: One local model rocket club here in the Phoenix area likes to display rockets made from Pringles cans (body, fins, and nosecone!). There is plenty of free and low-cost software out there to help with designing such rockets (and more than a few books). Lastly - if you want - you can even make your own engines from easily sourced materials (sugar rocket engines are easily made using powdered sugar and tree stump remover, for instance, stuffed/poured into paper tubes or PVC pipe). You can find plenty of information on the internet too about these designs. So - instead of building a non-flying pretend rocket - build a flying real one, strap a gopro to it, and launch!
- perilunar 9y agoThis. I love Lego - I grew up building Lego, but you are right. For the time and money spend on this model you could build and fly a real rocket. Do that instead. (And it will look just as nice on the shelf between flights.) I also regret spending more time building Airfix model planes than building flying RC planes. oh well.
- sand500 9y agoWhere can I pre order?
- overlordalex 9y ago> This set won't be available for pre-order, but is available worldwide from June 1st. From a reply to the same question in the comments
- criddell 9y agoThe best you can do is set up a bot to buy it as soon as it's available.
- 086421357909764 9y agoThey also have a few days of early release on some sets via Lego.com VIP program. They don't always announce them. The brickheads were this way for a while.
- baldfat 9y agoI have had zero desire to personally own any Lego set till now. I MUST HAVE THIS! I am afraid when my birthday comes around it will be sold out.
- katamaritaco 9y agoDang I'm excited for this. After not being able to get a lego curiosity rover for a reasonable price, I'm hoping these won't sell out instantly...
- odonnellryan 9y agoYeah. I hope I will be able to pick one up for roughly the price they announced here. I could see this getting bumped up to $300+ from people buying just to resell!
- zerr 9y agoI never understood Lego kits... The whole point of a construction set is to be able to build many different things, possibly unimagined to the producer. But the Legos are usually limited to one or two predefined models.
- wmeredith 9y ago> Legos are usually limited to one or two predefined models. Eh, you can always just take it apart and build what you want or just build what you want form the get and throw the instructions out. I did this for years as a child and have done it for years as an adult. Think of it as buying a set of pieces you can use build anything you want with (including combining with other sets to build bigger/other stuff), but it comes with instructions to build something very cool using just those pieces. On a side note, LEGO does sell boxes of basic pieces with multiple instructions sets included that only utilize a small portion of the whole box.
- zerr 9y agoI've always preferred a metallic construction set (meccano clone probably).
- usefulcat 9y agoAlthough that's strictly true, I'd say it's definitely more true (closer to true?) now than 30-40 years ago. The proliferation of specialized pieces has definitely had a negative effect on their reusability IMO. My concern is that, due to the much greater number of unique pieces, the increased difficulty of organizing a collection, or finding the piece you need in an unorganized pile, or even just being able to visualize what it is you want to build will tend to discourage kids from making their own creations. Hopefully I'm wrong about that.
- usefulcat 9y agoOops--that should have read "not strictly true"
- thesuitonym 9y ago
- JustSomeNobody 9y agoI'll probably get ridiculed for saying, but i just don't think Legos look very much like Legos anymore. They don't have that blocky Lego shape/look. This is a beautiful model. Looks like a model though and not a Lego set.
- btown 9y agoWebsites don't have that blocky '90s shape/look now either. There's an eerie parallel where both the Web and LEGO have moved increasingly from a place of "limited aesthetic suggestions so you can build anything you want" to "it's gonna be much easier for you if you play/watch/live within a walled garden with highly scripted interactions from the entertainment/advertising industry." It's interesting that Minecraft has risen as a reaction to this trend.
- overcast 9y agoHuh. Everything on the web is just blocks. Simplified, minimal block layouts, that are mobile focused. Even rounded buttons are gone.
- thesuitonym 9y agoRemember this is a meter tall, some of the detail is lost in the image. Lego Ideas kits only use pre-existing parts.
- kikimaru 9y agoNintendo actually made rounded Lego-style blocks in 1968-72 called N&B Block http://blog.beforemario.com/2011/10/nintendo-n-block-introduction-1968-71.html http://blog.beforemario.com/2011/10/nintendo-n-block-introdu...
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- owenversteeg 9y agoFor those that are surprised that it's "so expensive", LEGO is usually very expensive (and totally worth it.) This is only 119 euros/dollars (same for both) and I know I'll be buying it both for myself and as a gift for my best friend (unless she gets it for herself first.) LEGO sets have an average price per piece of around 10 cents, which has been pretty stable since the late 70s [0]. With 1969 pieces (which is a fantastic number) you'd expect the set to cost $216.59 at the current average of 11 cents per piece, so this is a fantastic deal. It's also a meter high (about 3 foot 4 for the Americans) which is really fantastic. [0] https://flowingdata.com/2013/02/07/analysis-of-lego-brick-prices-over-the-years/ https://flowingdata.com/2013/02/07/analysis-of-lego-brick-pr...
- btown 9y agoFor anyone curious why the price for a piece of plastic is so high, the molds are built to ridiculous tolerances for the plastic industry. https://www.wired.com/2013/02/retired-lego-mold-reddit/ https://www.wired.com/2013/02/retired-lego-mold-reddit/
- _nedR 9y agoSeriously? Lego has been in business for almost a century. They should have recuperated their initial costs for their molds by now.
- Orangeair 9y agoThey're creating new pieces all the time, plus the molds have a limited lifespan in order to maintain those high tolerances.
- eyesee 9y agoMolds have a finite cycle count before parts go out of tolerance. A typical steel mold might have a million cycles, more complex and precise ones may be much less. At the volumes Lego delivers (~19 billion elements a year), I'd expect nearly 100% turnover each year.
- 9y ago
- michaelbuckbee 9y agoThere's a bit of an easter egg if you check out the number of pieces in the kit.
- Uhhrrr 9y agoIt's neat to think of the buildmasters coming up with a part count of (say) 1985 and realizing, "Hey, we could..."
- Darthy 9y agoFwiw, there is an untrue statement in the article: "With 1969 LEGO elements the 21309 NASA Apollo Saturn V rockets its way into LEGO Ideas history as the tallest LEGO Ideas set, as well as the one containing most elements." The last part is incorrect, the Lego set with the most pieces was Taj Mahal with 5922 pieces, way more than this: http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/10189_Taj_Mahal http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/10189_Taj_Mahal Edit: I misread that, thanks for the clarification.
- Osmose 9y agoThey weren't claiming it had the most pieces of any Lego set, but that it had the most pieces of any Lego Ideas set, Ideas being the program for fans to submit their own designs for sets.
- donogh 9y agoIn this case, 'elements' seems to refer to the number of sections of the set that are independent -- the stages of the rocket, the lander, the astronauts, etc. Also, they specifically refer to the "LEGO Ideas" collection; the Taj Mahal was part of the "LEGO Sculptures" collection. (There have been many other sets from other collections with more pieces than this.)
- Malic 9y agoOk... One - Do want, yes. Two - Might there be an accompanying launch pad gantry set in the future? :)
- 52-6F-62 9y agoIt would be so much more difficult to display well... but god I hope so.
- Theodores 9y agoI built one of these as a kid complete with lander and orbiting module. Colours were accurate too. Around that age I also built a bomber plane with cruise missile. I was inspired by Greenham Common and the news! My parents did not think that was so good. All the adults were impressed by our creations, plus our child view of the world. So that Saturn rocket would be subtly on show rather than thrown in the box. We had feedback on our creations and played to the crowd. I am sure brick economics would have me not getting every piece optimal, however there would be few spare bricks. I doubt our version would compare to this fancy kit version though. Therefore the original mega project would not have been attempted had the new kit been available, it would enforce a requirement to have the special bricks rather than be extra resourceful. Yes I will buy this for my sister in memory of those happy times, to be a familiar object on the shelf for her newborn to eventually play with. It will be there ready.
- tostitos1979 9y agoAs an adult who has had to deal with a Lego addiction, my suggestion is IF you have an addictive personality and not money to burn - please .. don't start. I sunk 1-2 grand into sets - for me it wasn't worth it. The old legos were a lot better. Reusable pieces that make them an investment. The newer sets often have special purpose pieces and instructions to just build 2-3 models. I thought I was learning about mechanical stuff - differential steering, inside of an engine, etc. Frankly, watching Youtube videos is a much more cost effective way of learning. What is the worst thing of it all - artificial scarcity. I'd buy sets I didn't really care for because I was afraid they would go out of stock. This has happened to some of the popular sets where scalpers charge 10x. They even have web sites where people do this full time. Just say no.
- pavel_lishin 9y agoMeccano seems like a better choice for learning about mechanisms. (Sorry in advance if you're about to drop a few grand on those...)
- Tomte 9y agoFischertechnik is fantastic, but I guess mostly unknown in the US? The tolerances are far worse than with Lego, but there are many more possibilities to build workng machines. I'm just reading a book about technic history with Fischertechnik, where all kinds of differentials, steering mechanisms, planetariums (yes, with several planets, ecliptic, and so on) and even several types of mechanical clocks are built.
- cr0sh 9y ago> Fischertechnik is fantastic, but I guess mostly unknown in the US? Perhaps only by those "not in the know" so to speak. For the general consumer, yeah mostly. But if you're into DIY robotics for any length of time (or perhaps other STEM pursuits), you likely know about it. That said, Fischertechnik makes Lego look cost effective...
- deleted 9y ago
- run4yourlives2 9y agoIt has 1969 pieces. Seriously? Who worked that one out? Kudos.
- Tomte 9y agoI have an ongoing moratorium about buying Lego, but extraordinary circumstances require extraordinary measures. I will have this set.
- giarc 9y agoThis is the first set I've ever heard about pre-release. I imagine it will be pretty popular.
- olivermarks 9y agohttps://www.amazon.com/Bandai-Tamashii-Nations-Vehicle-Chogokin/dp/B00C4MDDAG/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_21_tr_img_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=5CM0CE8F2A2RF779N87F https://www.amazon.com/Bandai-Tamashii-Nations-Vehicle-Chogo... I prefer real scale models over Lego
- anorphirith 9y agowhat's the best way to insure I can get one of these ? without spending hours writing a bot for it ...
- post_break 9y agoGo to a lego store after they launch, buy it. Even the rare porsche was widely available. There hasn't been a lego set I "missed" because I didn't order it the second it was available, and I even have the "ultra rare" 4x4 remote control car.
- bcaulfield 9y agoBeats the crap out of the Saturn Vue model.
- bcaulfield 9y agohttps://thelegocarblog.com/tag/saturn/ https://thelegocarblog.com/tag/saturn/
- rorosaurus 9y agoCan you imagine how large and expensive this would be if it were minifig-scale? The minifigs that come with it are maybe half-size. That just goes to show how incredibly massive Saturn V really was! Edit: Imagination no longer required. > Ryan "The Brickman" McNaught, one of only 13 LEGO Certified Professionals, has built an 18.7 foot (5.7 meter) tall Saturn V with launch umbilical tower using 120,000 bricks. It took him 250 hours to build. http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum16/HTML/000764.html http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum16/HTML/000764.html
- DanCarvajal 9y agoHoly crap, I've seen a Saturn V and but it took this to make the standing size sink in.
- VLM 9y agoUsually traditional toys experiencing a boom in expensive collector behavior means the crash is coming up. Look at greatest gen / early boomers and baseball cards. So that part is sad, when lego is gone because a generation of kids grew up where its too expensive to play with I'm going to miss it. But time moves on. Hard to predict exactly how much my kids will pay for Minecraft memorabilia when they're in their 40s... bet it will be near $119 inflation adjusted LOL as per this article. Maybe 2040 will have a re-release of the original iphone.
- wdr1 9y agoDo these go onsale at midnight on 6/1? Are Lego sellouts common?
- mcv 9y agoI know the Research Institute sold out several times and was often hard to get.
- 52-6F-62 9y agoI want that.
- mstade 9y agoI'm definitely buying this. I've got a yearly pass to Kennedy Space Center, but I don't even live in the US. Still, I've been there more than four times just this year, and even watched a rocket launch from the LC-39 gantry. I've been to the Apollo/Saturn V center a number of times and the sheer size of the rocket gets me every time. I watch rocket launches all the time on the web, and am constantly awed by what engineers can accomplish, not least with SpaceX landing rockets like parking a car these days. I'm a total space nerd. This package is epic, even down to the number of pieces. I need it.