That's a lot of yellow.

I suppose it looks like the old Universal logo, if you squint (really really hard, and tilt your head to the side, and have quite a good imagination).

Can anyone tell me why these old Technic sets used only the "brick" variant of Technic? Technic sets these days seem to mostly use the new studless pieces, but why and when were they changed? I have a rather limited knowledge of Technic and this question just popped into my mind.

Or in mathematical terms...

U

@lynels said:
" @gorf43 said:
"Can anyone tell me why these old Technic sets used only the "brick" variant of Technic? Technic sets these days seem to mostly use the new studless pieces, but why and when were they changed? I have a rather limited knowledge of Technic and this question just popped into my mind. "

Because most of the studless beams (or liftarms) were introduced only around the late 90s/early 00s. Studless beams are smaller than their brick variants, making it possible for more construction methods and techniques. Also, there's the aesthetic factor of it."

Also the fact that it looks cleaner, but that falls under the conundrums of aesthetics.

Universal, huh? That doesn’t look like it’d be useful for building Batman stuff. Or purple stuff.

@gorf43:
Regarding the smallification mentioned by @lynels, one of the big shifts in this transition was that parts replaced certain construction techniques. With Brick Technic, making a 90° vertical change in orientation required a clunky assembly of parts, which you can see a few times in the set image here. In the top model, there’s a long Technic brick that has a crank running through it. Built up from that is two layers of plates and then another Technic brick. In the lower model, up and to the right from the rear tire, you can see a stack of parts consisting of a 1x2 Technic brick, a 1x3 plate, a 1x4 plate, and finally a 1x4 Technic brick. These multi-piece subassemblies were necessary to attach another Technic brick mounted vertically, if you wanted to keep it from pivoting down. With Beam Technic, there’s a pair of 90° Technic beams, a pair of quarter-oval Technic pieces that have 90° corners, and so on. These often single-piece solutions helped allow smaller models to be built, as less space needed to be devoted to cross-bracing the structure. There was also the addition of panels.

Universal Set U or e (Brickset doesn’t let me type Greek symbols)

Edit: realised somebody made the maths joke before me

Owned by 1,565 members, one of whom I can only assume must be the Universal Soldier

My first Technic set. Back then I felt I was getting too old for my Lego Town sets, and that Technic sets were for older kids, so I got this one. The first of many Technic sets. I loved Technic back then.
If only I knew my love for Lego would come back, I would I have kept them all!

Acquired this a year or two in a bulk lot, almost complete but sadly missing those 4442 plates with toothed ends that are long out of production and a touch fragile, so haven't built any of the models with the parts yet.

And yes it's very yellow! At least the earlier 8030 had a little bit in the way of grey relief.

My first technic set, still in one piece!

I had a lot of Universal Technic sets of this era - this one was one of the best, partly because of the 6 cool wheels (same type that was used in the awesome Model Team sets). Also I've got a soft spot for anything made with yellow parts ^^

Not a set I had myself, but I did have two earlier universal sets. And I still don't understand why they don't make those anymore. Even with a rather limited number of pieces (also resulting in a moderate price) you got so much play value. I mean, this set has 5 pretty different official builds. And it's also a great way of learning the basics of building with Technic.

As for studded versus studless, I feel both have pros and cons. Obviously, the current studless system with also so many parts lends itself for much more complex mechanisms in a smaller space. And indeed, going vertical is now a lot easier. That said, I feel building studless is a lot less intuitive. It reminds me more of building with the Fischer Technik I also had as a kid. You have to think further ahead, while with studs you can much more easily make changes on the go. In some of the current sets, you have no clue what you're building or why some pieces are even there, until at last it all falls together and everything suddenly makes sense. Studded Technic is Lego with benefits, studless is a system on its own.

Ooh, this was my very first Lego Technic set! I still remember buying it with my mom in the toy store. I still have the set but some of the grey pieces have broken. I still think those pieces are very cool and typical Technic pieces but unfortunately they were a bit frail

They did well to get three models out of so few pieces, just asking to be combined with a motor and another set to make something larger.

@ambr said:
"They did well to get three models out of so few pieces, just asking to be combined with a motor and another set to make something larger."
There's actually four! The one not shown is a somewhat weird 6-wheeled vehicle with a rather interestingly constructed 4-wheel steering. It is using some of the traditional steering parts, but not in a way I've ever seen on any other set....

I earlier mistakenly mentioned there were even 5 builds, but that 5th part of the instruction was just how to motorize one of the four builds.

Idk if my previous comment was seen as offensive (it 100% wasn’t supposed to be) or if it was just removed for irrelevance but 3 in 1 Technic (more?) is cool I guess, I’d make a joke about Universal but idk what to say. LEGO Movie acquisition, maybe, or just the Minions theme? I dunno, this set is mostly yellow.

@Trigger_:
If it’s the comment I’m thinking of, I’m not really surprised it got chopped. I read what you wrote, and I didn’t personally think it was offensive. I know that some people do, though, so once people start taking notice, it has a tendency to turn real ugly in a very short timespan. Sometimes I’ve logged on and read through a 100+ comment section that just gets uglier as it goes on, only to find it was shut down early. Other times I’ve seen that mass purges of comments have taken place, with warnings of further purges to discourage heading down the same path a second time.

I don’t expect this will make you feel better about the situation (I'd even be surprised if it did), but hopefully it helps you understand what happened.

@ambr said:
"They did well to get three models out of so few pieces, just asking to be combined with a motor and another set to make something larger."

It's funny you say that because the instructions show you how to build in a 9V motor to power the models!