Random part of the day: Shell 13M, W/ 3,2 Shaft, No. 1

Yay trolls balloon! What a wacky element, feels jack stone inspired, being massive and specific

This is the kind of part that would make great NPU for a large-scale character with a big belly. I hope it shows up in other sets in different colours but somehow I'm doubtful it will...

@Terrasher said:
"This is the kind of part that would make great NPU for a large-scale character with a big belly. I hope it shows up in other sets in different colours but somehow I'm doubtful it will... "

It took me time to find it back but here is a great use of the smaller similar part on a John Silver figure https://redd.it/fk7ify
There's an Instagram link in the comments. It seems to be a photograph, not a render

Less elegant as it's predecessor: https://brickset.com/parts/6177882/deco-shell-12m-w-%C3%B83-2-holder
Will be tough to make it usefull.
The studs on the side give possibilities but also make it ugly when not used/disguised properly

On yesterday's random part article, @LegoMike said:
"I’m struggling with ‘Part of the day’ now I can’t link to the sets I have with the parts. I was really enjoying it."

You can still get to that page! If you click the part number link in the description to go to the part's page, find under its details the field for the number of occurrences: the number is a link, and will take you to the same place as the link on the older Random Part articles. It's a couple of extra clicks, but it gets to the same result ^^

The reason it was removed, I believe, was because several parts have alternate mould numbers even though the parts are virtually the same, leading to frequent disagreement over the accuracy of the given number of occurrences. I agree that it was interesting information, but without a way to account for many parts having multiple entries for differences that often aren't readily apparent, it didn't appear at a glance as if it properly represented the facts.

Maybe an alternate solution, though, could be to reword the sentence as "this mould variant appeared in [x] sets", rather than "this part"? Just a thought.

@watcher21 said:
"Less elegant as it's predecessor: https://brickset.com/parts/6177882/deco-shell-12m-w-%C3%B83-2-holder
Will be tough to make it usefull.
The studs on the side give possibilities but also make it ugly when not used/disguised properly"

https://www.instagram.com/p/CKpaw8hJdxP/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

@Norikins:
The simplest molds are two halves, top and bottom, that pull away from each other to allow the parts to be ejected. This works for 2x4 bricks, but as the parts become more complex, so too must the molds. For small undercuts, they can use spring-loaded hinged bits that pivot out of the way as the part is ejected. For more complex shapes, there may need to be sections that slide out of the way in the correct order, like a puzzle box. As you might guess, the more complex the mold gets, the more expensive it gets to produce. If it was a mold they planned to keep around long-term, that might have made sense, but if it was planned to be retired as soon as the theme concluded, I could see them keeping things simple to allow a greater range of new elements to be produced.

@ThatBionicleGuy:
There were a few reasons behind the removal. Brickset scrapes set inventory data from the LEGO servers, so any errors on their system carry over. Some sets have incomplete inventories, meaning they won’t pop up as an “earliest use” set even if they were the only set to include that part for a time. There were also issues with different molds being produced for opaque vs transparent parts, new numbers being assigned due to running changes in the shape, and simply retiring old numbers and assigning new ones when the part is returned to production. Much of the discussion for early RPotD articles revolves around why @Huwbot might have got the date of first use wrong.

I can’t come up with a dirty or disgusting joke for this one… idk, balloons are cool, I guess? I was playing some LittleBigPlanet yesterday, I spammed them in one of my old levels.

You guys all know how to use the three shells, right?

@Trigger_:
I thought of one before I even finished reading your first sentence.