Technic magazine out now in the UK
Posted by Huw,
LEGO related titles dominate the kids section of the magazine aisle in UK supermarkets nowadays and today a new one has joined their ranks.
This Technic-themed one, published by Immediate Media, looks like it's a one-off, though, part of the publisher's 'giant series' which come with a cover-mounted polybag as opposed to a foil-packed set.
On the cover of this one is 30465 Helicopter, the first Technic polybag to be released since the year 2000.
It's a neat model and very reminiscent of the small Technic sets that were produced in 1998-1999 following the introduction of a wider range of studless beams and half-beams that made smaller models possible.
With just 70 pieces, it's also the smallest Technic set to be released since 8418 Mini Loader in 2005 which had 66. The accolade for the smallest Technic model ever goes to 1257 Tricycle, released during 1999, which comprises just 24 pieces yet is still recognisable and functional.
I think it proves that bigger is not always better when it comes to Technic!
The magazine itself is largely just a glorified advert, but it does have a few interesting features such as profiles of four of the theme's designers and a timeline showing major milestones in its history. It costs £4.99 and available in all good newsagents and supermarkets.
A Minecraft-themed one will be the next to appear, having been published on mainland Europe a month or so ago. It will come with 662101 Steve, Zombie and Pig on the cover.
This year there has been 81 cover mounted polybags and foil packs on the covers of magazines and even just keeping up with them for recording in the database is a challenge, let alone collecting them, which thankfully I don't!
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I built 2 recolours of this heli from my parts bin - it's a really nice little model. Might be tempted to get the magazine to get the official set, too.
It's actually pretty substantial for a polybag model
Here in the States, these mags with polybags are just about double what they are in other countries. That is IF I find them in stores, and they're quite uncommon; and we don't get half of what is offered in the UK and other countries. About ten bucks for those with just a minifig. That's why I usually pass.
At 5 quid, that's an incredibly good deal. Been hoping this set will pop up in the US as a seasonal set from chain retailers.
@Galaxy12_Import said:
"It's actually pretty substantial for a polybag model"
That's what I thought! The mag is pretty thin, but this and the poster are worth the fiver easily
I've never bought a magazine for the magazine itself. But I have bought them for the bricks or minifigs when they went on 80% clearance discount, though.
The helicopter looks nice!
81 this year? Trying to collect 8+ of these per month must be exhausting; I imagine there is no official LEGO list of them anywhere either, so there is also a high probability to miss some even if attempting to do so.
@cody6268 said:
"Here in the States, these mags with polybags are just about double what they are in other countries. That is IF I find them in stores, and they're quite uncommon; and we don't get half of what is offered in the UK and other countries. About ten bucks for those with just a minifig. That's why I usually pass.
At 5 quid, that's an incredibly good deal. Been hoping this set will pop up in the US as a seasonal set from chain retailers. "
Those magazines seem to be the cheapest in Poland. This particular technic mag RRP is 19,99 pln which equals about 3,7 gbp! And some of those mags come in discounted bundles after couple of months. That's why i buy a lot of them, multiple copies every month.
@MeisterDad said:
"81 this year? Trying to collect 8+ of these per month must be exhausting; I imagine there is no official LEGO list of them anywhere either, so there is also a high probability to miss some even if attempting to do so."
They are not packed or numbered by LEGO so no, there isn't. The best you'll find is right here at Brickset :-)
Poll doesn't have the answer I'd vote for: I haven't *yet*, but I would if I saw one with a suitably interesting minifigure! I was tempted by the Disney one that came with the Moana minidoll... last year, I think it was? But I didn't end up going for it in the end.
That said, when I was a kid, I bought the UK Lego Adventures magazines ALL THE TIME during their 1999 - 2002 run (and they usually *didn't* even come with actual Lego...), so I guess I could have voted in the affirmative on the poll, just based on that. A few early issues had basic polybags on (2139, 2138 and 2137, on different issues), a later one came with Studios minifigure polybags (either 4052, 4053 or 4051, distributed at random), and another with a randomly distributed Bionicle mask; but most just had generic freebies that were adapted to be loosely Lego themed. Still, I was there for the story material about the then-current themes more than anything else, so I still got all of them... and in hindsight, wish I'd kept them for nostalgia's sake, instead of cutting them up to use the pictures in something else. But I digress.
Oh hey, I had that old little technic set for a time, too. Didn't realise it was the smallest technic set ever, that's kinda neat. And that helicopter's definitely impressive for its small size :D
I have collected the Nexo Knights magazines, and later some City ones, but since magazines are published by Local companies (under license of LEGO Group) instead of Europe-Wide being the same, the offer can vary.
A good example of country differences can be seen for example how the ninjago LEGACY magazine figs are packed differently, in both polybag form, or cardboard backed blister packs.
In Netherlands at least, it seems City magazines scaled down from 12 to 6 a year unlike Germany and other countries, so not all the minisets you see on Brickset are actually available, however, magazines are still easier to find then Polybags in my area.
(yes I realise a lot of countries have 0 magazines at all)
I tend to use a subscription site (https://www.uniquemagazines.co.uk/Product-Search.aspx?keywords=lego) to help me track the release dates of new magazines. It's generally pretty accurate but won't identify if bonus figures have been added which sometimes happens.
Some of the mags are incredible value, like the Ninjago ones which include a great desirable figure every month with 2 accessories or 1 really good one. My main interest is Star Wars though, and it’s mostly unattractive and semi-recognisable mini vehicles, with the occasional minifigure.
It looks like the technic ones are (hopefully) ending up at the right end of this scale
I saw a few copies of this in WHSmith. The polybags had been stolen !!
Technic fans are naughty people (all the other Lego mags still had their polybags/figures).
@thor96 said:
" @cody6268 said:
"Here in the States, these mags with polybags are just about double what they are in other countries. That is IF I find them in stores, and they're quite uncommon; and we don't get half of what is offered in the UK and other countries. About ten bucks for those with just a minifig. That's why I usually pass.
At 5 quid, that's an incredibly good deal. Been hoping this set will pop up in the US as a seasonal set from chain retailers. "
Those magazines seem to be the cheapest in Poland. This particular technic mag RRP is 19,99 pln which equals about 3,7 gbp! And some of those mags come in discounted bundles after couple of months. That's why i buy a lot of them, multiple copies every month."
Even here, everything went up - the first Chima magazines cost PLN 9.99, now it is at least PLN 14.99.
I'm not a huge Technic fan, but I thought that little helicopter was an absolutely brilliant little model, and it's one of my favourite polybag sets this year.
Of the 81 cover-mounted packs released so far this year, I've bought four: Batgirl, Captain America, Skull Sorcerer and Emperor Palpatine - quite an eclectic mix. The magazine packs are a great way of getting select minifigures.
We have a subscription for the Friends magazine. Occasionally I buy the odd Star Wars or Ninjago magazine when there is an interesting build or minifig included. But generally I mostly pass them by.
From what I've logged here at brickset, I own 23 of the foil packed magazine sets.
I tried three stores yesterday that carry LEGO magazines but none of them had the Technic one :~(
I was absolutely delighted to spot this in Tesco the other day! I only buy the magazines occasionally (though my mum tends to pick me one up as an extra for birthdays and Christmas stockings) so had no idea this was coming, and given the polybag I was expecting it to be expensive, but £4.99 is extremely reasonable - that's a substantial model to get bundled with a mag!
And yes, it reminded me very much of the small 1998/9 sets, which also in their time got me back into Technic after a fallow period. Earlier this year I picked up some small Technic sets as incentives to drag myself through a difficult work period, and the Skid Steer Loader in particular is a really satisfying one to build and play with, which made me think we really could do with more smaller Technic sets in general, and more variety in them.
As I know a lot of us said when they did their big survey about Technic, the lack of imagination in Technic set design is disappointing. We so often end up with more of the same racing cars etc., but if they branched out there are so many other kinds of mechanisms, also with real educational value for younger builders. I can dream, I guess...