text:
What is the best way to sell a nearly complete large set?
I found a UCS Imperial Star Destroyer 10030 Set at garage sale. It looks complete (90% of it is still in sealed plastic bags). How can I confirm the pieces are all there, and how can I sell a set like this effectively? I'm not currently a seller on eBay.

Welcome! Here are a couple of suggestions:
a. Find a review of this set online, ideally one with pictures which shows all the bags included in the set. This will allow you to verify which bags have been opened (you already know which ones are still sealed).
b. Then, download the instructions for 10030 from LEGO.
c. Here comes the tricky part. Find out which steps contain parts from your opened bags, and check if you have all of them. If this is somehow impossible, you have two alternative options:

Open all the bags, build the 10030 and see which pieces are missing, then order those from Bricklink.com and complete your set. List the set as Used, Like New, Built once to validate completeness and you should be able to get a price relatively close to the New price.
Sell the set as Used, 90% Sealed bags, possibly some missing pieces. Depending on how complete it actually is (you won't know) you might get some good offers, especially if box and stickers and such are still present.

To sell LEGO on EBay, you don't need any special priviliges. Just create a listing and sell. However, if you have never used or sold on EBay before, and you have zero or low feedback (<50), starting off with listing a high-value item like UCS 10030 is bound to set off scam-warnings in many of your potential buyers. You'd need to sell other items first before putting this one up for sale. Of course you can always try to sell it via Craigslist, OfferUp, LetGo and other garage-sale apps, but you'll likely get less money for your set (even taking into account that EBay/Paypal will take 12-13% of the sell price and CL/OfferUp etc. take nothing).
Good luck!

I would grab the set inventory from Bricklink and see what parts you may be missing. This will be a time consuming task, particularly if you're planning to keep everything in bags, but this is probably the best way to absolutely confirm that you know what you are looking at. Often, second-hand purchases from garage sales, Craigslist, or similar sources may also contain extra parts or bags not related to the set that you are actually trying to sell, so it can be hard to confirm completeness without actually going through piece by piece.
Once you know what is missing, you can either list it exactly (e.g. 99% complete missing 2 gray 1x2 tiles) or buy the missing parts on Bricklink and sell it as a complete used set.
If you don't want to go through the work of verifying completeness, you can definitely just sell this as-is providing as much detail about what you think is present as possible. Include lots of detailed photos of exactly what parts are present, and you should still be able to fetch a fair price for this.
Regarding selling on eBay, you are able to sell from a brand new account, but this will raise red flags for buyers, particularly if your first sale is an expensive item like this. This may ultimately hurt your selling price. If you have a friend who regularly uses eBay, they may be willing to list this for you.


text:
What is the best option for Mindstorms EV3 remote control for motors?
I have never experimented with remote controlling EV3 but I wonder what is the best way to use it, especially in the case when I'd like to control large and medium motors parallel as well, possibly from relatively long distance.
As far as I know, there are different possibilities with respective drawbacks:

Use IR remote: short range (by the way, it is necessary to direct the
IR beam directly into the "face" of the IR receiver?)
Use mobile app
via Bluetooth: difficult to direct multiple motors at the same time
(?)

Alternatively, is controlling over WiFi (assuming WiFi dongle in the brick) working?

As you mentioned, the IR remote has a relatively short range. You must not direct the IR beam directly in front of the IR receiver but it is working much better if you do. If you're on the back of the receiver for example it is possible that's your signal won't be received.
I'm controlling EV3 robots over WiFi. That's working very well. I'm using the EDIMAX EW-7811UN Wireless USB Adapter that is working without any modifications on the EV3 with the latest firmware (1.09E in my case).
I think that's worth a try but depends of course on what you want to achieve.

Thank you for your reply. Could you kindly detail a bit the main steps of remote control over WiFi? Shall I write a complete program for it (as far as I know neither the IR remote nor the app is capable of handling WiFi). By the way, my goal is to construct and direct a small vehicle with wheels and a gripping arm (this latter is the one that is driven by the medium motor).

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

sort: votes


text:
Is there a slotted yoke piece?
I need it for mechanisms such as the Scotch yoke, but I only see workarounds, like this one, where the slot is made with several other pieces.

I don't believe there is a single piece that exists. It's certainly possible to create a mechanism much smaller than the one shown as well as one with fewer pieces.
In theory a single piece would not be possible, the mechanism consists of a minimum of two pieces for it to be possible: a rotating drive and a sliding yoke (as well as several additional pieces to keep everything in place).
Rotational Drive

There are many ways to create a rotation drive, they all consist of an axle (of any length) and can use pulleys/gears, and liftarms cranks.
1 + 2
For the first two examples I've used a Technic, Pin with Friction Ridges Lengthwise and Towball (6628) but you can just as easily use a standard pin (2780) as it's much more common.
2
A similar setup to 1 but with two  Technic Cam (6575) pieces.
3
The third example with two pieces is probably the simplest and most compact, it uses the Technic, Liftarm 1 x 3 with 2 Axle Holes and Pin / Crank
(33299). This setup is limited to movement between five studs (up/down, left/right).
Sliding Yoke

Here are two examples I've made of a sliding yoke. They are identical apart from the beams used. The first one can move five studs and the second can move three studs (possibly the smallest combination). You can of course use any length of beam to create larger yokes.
The beams are connected with a Technic, Pin 3L with Friction Ridges Lengthwise (6558) and a Technic, Pin Connector Round 1L (18654) or you can replace both pieces with a Technic, Pin 3L with Friction Ridges Lengthwise and Center Pin Hole (87082)
There are twelve pieces in both builds. You can reduce this to 10 if you remove the black standard pin, red connector and black axle with a Technix Axle with a stopper such as this piece and a Technic bush (3713).
This build can be reduced to 8 pieces if you make the substitutions shown above.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


text:
Can you identify this bevelled grey 2x1 piece?
I found this incredible MOC of the Ghost In The Shell robot and found a piece I have never seen before.  Is it a LEGO piece and, if so, can you help me identify it?

Link to the image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/coleblaq/31984689954/in/faves-43378406@N08/

It's 99563 LegoMinifig, Utensil Gold Ingot (Bar) in Light Bluish Grey.

Originally used for Gold pieces, nowadays regularly found as bricks and other wall decorations, for example on the ground floor of 10251 Brick Bank.


text:
Death Star 10188 Help with step 8 on page 76
On step 8 of page 76 I do not understand what holds the two sections together.  The "LEGO Flat Silver Technic Axle Joiner Perpendicular with Extension (53586)" has a smooth bore where it attaches to the "LEGO Medium Stone Gray Technic Cross Block 1 x 3 (Pin/Pin/Pin) with 4 Pins (48989)".  And directly under the first part is a Technic pin (part# 4211815) in yet another smooth bore opening (part# 4526985).
I do not see any clips, pins or other means of attaching these two components.

The "LEGO Flat Silver Technic Axle Joiner Perpendicular with Extension (53586)" smooth bore piece  is secured to a technic pin on piece "Technic, Pin Connector Perpendicular 3L with 4 Pins (48989)" installed in step 5, with the relevant pin marked in step 7 in my marked up directions below:

The smooth bore piece connects to the pin holding them together, with the lower axle connection preventing rotation.

The pin (4211887) in step 7 does not pass all the way through the other side of the 4 pin technic part (4225033)  if it did it would only collide with the end of the axle (4508553 from Step 8 item 4) inserted into the oposite end of 4494486.  The integrated pin on 4225033 slides in and out of the open end of 4494486, there aren't any internal ridges for the pin to snap into (hence the smooth bore description).  Do I have a bad 4494486?  I've looked online and every image I've been able to find of that part shows a smooth bore.  So I'm not sure what's the problem.

Even without the retaining ridge the pin should still be a tight friction fit against the smooth bore. it will come off if pulled, but it shouldn't just fall off.

Unfortunately it freely slides on and off [falls off], not even remotely tight - and I've tried ordering a replacement 4494486 from an online retailer with the same result.  I guess I'm just going to glue it.


text:
Reading NXT Touch Sensor with Monobrick Communication Library
In my program, I need to detect if a touch sensor is activated. Here's some of my code:
var nxt = new Brick<Sensor, Sensor, Sensor, Sensor>("usb");
nxt.Connection.Open();
nxt.Sensor1 = new TouchSensor();
nxt.Sensor1.Reset(false);
nxt.Sensor1.Initialize();
Console.WriteLine(nxt.Sensor1.ReadAsString());

But When I run it, the value always displays as zero. But I discovered that if I go into the "View" menu in the NXT and see the touch sensor value, the program value reads 1. I can't do that. Also, don't tell me to use Bluetooth, or get the EV3, because I can't. I've tried using the code from the Monobrick website, still nothing. I've also asked it in the "robotics" section. Can someone help me?

This got answered over at http://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/11599/monobrick-communication-library-reading-nxt-sensors

I didnt get my problem fixed


text:
EV3 not recognized by PC when attempting firmware update after interrupted update
I have just sent the following inquiry to Lego Customer Support:

I aborted a firmware update and now the Intelligent Brick does not get past the "Starting.." message when it is turned on. I followed the instructions at http://www.legoengineering.com/ev3-gone-wrong-what-to-do-when-your-ev3-stops-working/ and I can get the Brick to switch to updating, but the EV3 software on my PC does not see that the Brick is connected via USB cable. Is there anything else I can do? The Brick is new and should be covered by warranty - how would I send it in to exchange it?

I'd appreciate answers to either question.

I've edited and reopened this question after reading your comments on other questions. It sounds like your problem may be one we don't already have an answer for. For others, here are two related questions: http://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/7642/ev3-screen-stuck-at-starting and http://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/2688/ev3-brick-cannot-connect-my-to-computer/2696

You have done the right thing by contacting Customer Service. They'll be able to help you potentially fix this or replace the part if needed.
I know you said that you already tried this, but I wanted to list the steps for a firmware update here in case others find this question. Here's the exact language from the EV3 user guide:

Forced Firmware Update
If  you  need  to  update  your  firmware  manually,  follow  the
  steps   below.  (Note: the EV3 Brick still requires a USB connection
  to your  computer)

Make sure your EV3 Brick is turned off.
Hold down the Back, Center, and Right buttons on the EV3 Brick.
When the screen says “Updating”, release the buttons.

If the manual firmware update does not make your EV3 Brick work  the
  first time, repeat the manual update process.

Here are some general things to try if you haven't already:

Take out the EV3 battery and unplug from your computer and just let the brick sit for 30 seconds or so. Repeat the above steps.
Reboot your computer, or try using another computer, and repeat the above steps.
Try using another USB cable and/or USB port and repeat the above steps. This is unlikely to help in your case since the cable just worked for you, but it could be helpful to someone else.

Please post back here if Customer Service is able to provide a fix for this issue, as I'm sure it will help out someone else.


text:
Can someone please identify this 2x2 round dome part with 1 stud for us?
We're trying to identify the middle part in this picture. We would appreciate any help we can get.

It looks like a Round 2 x 2 Dome Top (553b) brick with a Round 1 x 1 (4073) transparent plate.

To be specific, it is likely 553b (open stud with axle holder).

I'm not to sure, It looks like it could be 553(a) or 553(b) but not 553(c), They stopped using 553(a) in 2009 so it might not be that depending on how old these pieces are.

I can clearly make out an 'x' shaped axle hole (not a '+' shaped one). Leads me to believe it is 553b.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Can someone ID this part, a 1xY plate with an inverted slope?
I am trying to ID this part. It is the upside down triangle part that seems to be linked to a tile.

I believe you are seeing one end of 2 of Part 52501 Slope, Inverted 45 6 x 1 Double with 1 x 4 Cutout in Dark Bluish Grey.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
How do I take out this pin from an axle connector?
I have an axle connector with a blue pin stuck in it. How do I get it out?
It looks like this:

It's on very tightly. I tried removing it for 5 or so minutes, but it's too slippery.

I usually attach it to a Technic beam, then put something to fill the hole so it can't squeeze together and come out, to give a handle.
The flexible rods tend to be a nice options for filling the hole, the older ones may be a bit better, but I've had success with other pieces that fit minifig hands.

Once you have the blue pin attached to the beam instead of that red piece, you can take the rod out and push it out with an axle or something if needed.

You can additionally put a short (3-4 stud) axle in the red piece to get a better grip on it.

It's a pretty good idea, but it doesn't work :(. The problem is probably that the axle pin is too tight on the red piece. EDIT: It worked just didn't use enough force the first time...

This is such a great technique.  Have often encountered this, and have always hated using my defualt modus operandi: my teeth. :)

BTW, another piece instead of the flexible rod that works really well (just tried it) is the Pin 1/2 w/ 2L Bar Extension

The Brick Separator can be used to apply a force between blue and red pieces (use the sharp end)

I have that tool; can you elaborate on how it would work in this scenario?

You can use a monkey wrench, but the connector will be a little bit squeezed.


text:
9V Battery instead of PF Battery Box
I want to use the PF Light Unit in a small MOC. The battery box contains six 1.5V batteries and is too large.
How can I use a regular 9V block battery to power the lights (and possibly other 9V consumers)? Which wires have to be connected to the poles of the battery?

Most Power Functions pieces will run in classic 9V mode. The IR receiver can't, but motors and lights can.
A hacky solution:
Many people have done this by cutting up an extension wire, and connecting the two outer cables to their power source of choice.
From: Lego PF Hacking – Wire Hacking

GND – ground wire – Always connected (0V regardless of battery pack direction)
C1 – control wire 1 – 9V when battery pack is forward, 0V when in reverse
C2 – control wire 2 – 0V when battery pack is forward, 9V when in reverse
9V – power wire – On when battery pack is on (9V regardless of pack direction)

A purist solution:
If you prefer a purist solution, you could get a classic 9V battery box that takes a single regular 9V battery.

They have the classic 9V wire connectors on the top (a little hard to see in the image, but there are 2x6 studs with metal connectors). Just pair that with a Power Functions extension wire (which has a 9V connector adapter) to connect your Power Functions elements.

That will give you a purist solution which doesn't require chopping up your wire.

Thank you, especially for the classic 9V box - PF extension wire hint.

Check out Philo's pages for details on Power Functions: http://www.philohome.com/pf/pf.htm
Basically, a Powerfunctions cable consists of 4 wires: 9V, C1, C2 and GND. C1 and C2 are also 9V/GND, but output can be controlled by other equipment (such as the IR receiver or the LiPo battery box which has an output power control). The best way to power your lights is by connecting the 9V battery to the C1 and C2 lines (doesn't matter in which order you connect them to the + and - of your battery), and just to be safe you can also connect the + to the 9V and the - to the GND line, but that is optional.

Thanky ou for the link. So it is true that the outer lines are always "on" and the inner lines depend on e.g. switch and remote control signals?

@Aziraphale I can provide the following evidence for the outer lines being always on: I connected an IR receiver to a switch, thinking that the switch could disable the IR receiver. It turns out the IR receiver ignores the switch; no matter the switch position the IR receiver powered the motor according to what the remote told it. So probably yes, the power line is always on.


text:
Difference between Linear Actuator vs. Linear Actuator Mini
I'd like to know the difference in terms of usage between the standard Linear Actuator:

vs. the "mini" version:

Both of these parts provide the really fun mechanic of translating rotational energy into lateral motion (the essence of an actuator) in a particularly powerful way (in the sense of a worm screw).
My question revolves around the fact that the "standard" actuator is a lot more expensive.  When new it comes sealed in its own plastic bag.  The "mini" ones are a lot cheaper.  Aside from general differences in geometry associated with the two parts, is there any other reason one would choose the "standard" actuator? Does it provide any mechanical virtues one would want to consider when designing a build?

The biggest difference I can think of that would impact my choice would be that the standard linear actuator is much more sturdy.
The standard linear actuator has a metal pole and is very rigid.
The mini linear actuators are made all of plastic, wiggle quite a bit, and whatever mechanism is inside will skip fairly easily.

The large linear actuator extends 5 studs (from 11 retracted to 16 fully extended)
The small one extends 3 studs (from 7 retracted to 10 fully extended)
That's a large functional difference.


text:
Why is LEGO usually uppercase?
Everyone I see on here and mostly everywhere else (including LEGO boxes) LEGO is written as LEGO. I always thought it should be written like Lego until I came here.
Why is it always written in uppercase? This seems to also be done by The LEGO Group, as it is on their boxes and website. Is LEGO an acronym, or is that just how it is?

Sidenote: I always thought it should be written like Lego until I came here. – And you are correct. Never trust companies to spell their own name correctly. Here and here are some arguments by a professional copy editor about that.

Before I came here I thought that the LEGO Group wrote their name that way and that it wasn't a standard. This question was asking clarification if that was actually a standard.

No, it's not an acronym.

The name 'LEGO' is an abbreviation of the two Danish words "leg godt", meaning "play well".

All-caps is how the LEGO company asks to have their brand treated.

Using the LEGO® brand

ALWAYS write the LEGO brand name in capital letters.
ALWAYS use a descriptive noun after the LEGO brand name, it must never appear on its own.

E.g. wrong use: I play with LEGO.
E.g. correct use: I play with LEGO bricks.

ALWAYS accompany the LEGO brand name by the Registered symbol ® in headlines and
  the first time it appears in copy text.
NEVER use the LEGO brand name as a
  generic term, add a possessive ‘s,’ plural ‘s’
  or hyphen.

E.g. wrong use: LEGO’s, LEGOs, LEGO-bricks.
E.g. correct use: the LEGO brand’s, LEGO
  bricks.

NEVER use the Registered symbol ® in connection with a company name.

E.g. wrong use: LEGO® System A/S.
E.g. correct use: LEGO System A/S.

NEVER change or adjust the graphical design of the LEGO logo.

Thank you for helping us protect the LEGO® brand!

But why does this particular site care about Lego's official policy? It's certainly legal to ignore their recommendations in Questions and Answers.

@NikitaSokolsky True, but much of the LEGO community in general (not just this site) follows the all-caps guideline. Not everyone does, but it is very common in the community.

Alexander O'Mara's answer is correct, however I'd like to add the reasoning behind LEGO's desire to impose such strict rules on their name's usage.
According to the copyright laws generic terms can't be a protected trademark and thus if people start using "lego" as a term to describe any bricks-based game - they might loose the exclusivity to their brand. There is an entire list of terms that lost their exclusivity and protection.
Take a look at Google's Rules of proper usage for their brand. They sound an awful lot similar to ones imposed by Lego and the thing is - they are just afraid of the term "googling" in regards to any internet search.

I've never quite worked out the opposition to such things, especially in the case of Google. I'd have thought that if everyone is calling searching "googling", then it probably stands to reason that they're using Google to do it.

@MattBowyer for example in Russia where there is a player bigger than Google (local Yandex) we use the word "Google" but it really just means search.
So you point stands only up until there is another player who manages to break the Google's monopoly in the US, and then the'd be very upset when the term can't be legally attributed to them only. Once again, the same with Xerox, Thermos and other similar examples


text:
Which set does this small bag of LEGO pieces belong to?

I just received a box of LEGO bricks and have no idea what sets they make up. This packet was in there unopened and thought someone might know where they are from?

That's a very small bag with only common elements in it, I doubt anyone will be able to give a definite answer.

I agree but I don't have any other elements to add since the box of legos is a mix of all sorts of elements.

@Henrik Sounds like a challenge.

All the pieces shown are used in Day 17 of the 2012 LEGO City Advent Calendar (4428).
It looks like you only have 10 out of the 14 pieces required to build the model, the other pieces must have either been removed at some point or were never included (which is unlikely).

Yes, I would agree that this bag must have come from an advent calendar set or something similar, as no normal set would have so few pieces in a sealed bag. Perhaps it is from a different advent though? There may have been a similar build...

@SlicksterTheBrickster The Blue Panel 1 x 2 x 1 with Rounded Corners only exists in 17 sets. I can't find any other sets on that list that match the parts used.

Are you sure it's a 1 x 2 x 1 with rounded corners, and not the counterpart without rounded corners?

When I searched I used the Red Tile, Round 2 x 2 because I thought it would be the rarest of those pieces. It has been used in 54 sets, looking at those results I couldn't find any other matches either.

Also the Blue Panel 1 x 2 x 1 (without rounded corners) don't appear to match anything either.


text:
Can anyone ID this torso? White torso with electronics and tubing printed
Looks to be a Star Wars pilot torso, but I tried many different keywords on BrickLink and could not find this torso!! I found many very similar torsos, but not this one. Would appreciate any help in finding this part ID, thanks!

It is 973pb0270c02 Torso SW AT-AT Driver Pattern / Dark Bluish Gray Arms / White Hands.

Comes from three possible sets: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=973pb0270c02&in=S

Thank you! That was what threw me off: I forgot that it could be a driver, not a pilot. Just needed the ID for inventorying it :) It was with a bunch of other minifig parts none of which seem to be very complete/with their sets.


text:
EV3 won't run a certain loop
I'm trying to make a program where an EV3 is IR controlled but if button 9 (toggle) is pressed it goes in autonomous mode. However, my EV3 will not run a certain loop in the program.
It looks like this:

The big one won't run; no matter what I put in it.

A program should have only one "Start" block (the green play button).
Your 3 segments of code are not linked together, you need to drag a "beam" from the exit of one loop to the block that should execute after the loop exits.
You need to link the action of pressing the button to an exit condition for your loops. You are using infinite loops. The only way to escape an infinite loop is a Loop Interrupt block. Click on the infinity symbol on the loop blocks for more options.


text:
I have a bunch of LEGO pieces given to me already setup, any ideas to what set? Tan base with white and transparent cheese wedges?
These were already set up in a box of LEGO pieces that I got.  Anyone have an idea of what they might go to?

They appear to be part of the Sydney Opera House set:

It contains that tan slope brick:

And those white hinge brick bases:

And you can see those parts in that configuration.


text:
System.ArgumentException: Only Sequence Wires can be snapped
I try to open an project on last version of LEGO Mindstorm EV3 Home Edition, but the system shows the next error message 'An unexcpected error has ocurred. Please restart LEGO MINDSTORM EV3.' After that it generate a log with the next error message:

================================================================================ ev3-crash-sl-2017-02-25_10-41-11-PM.log
Unhandled exception occurred at 2017-02-25_10-40-43-PM
  System.ArgumentException: Only Sequence Wires can be snapped.    at
  NationalInstruments.X3.Model.Wiring.X3WireHelper.IsWireSnapped(Wire
  wire)    at
  NationalInstruments.X3.Model.Block.TabletImportHelpers.CleanupTabletImportPrograms(IEnumerable`1
  vis)    at
  NationalInstruments.X3.X3VI.Design.MultiProjectSupport.<>c__DisplayClass3f.<>c__DisplayClass43.b__3a()
  at
  NationalInstruments.X3.Base.EditorHelpers.PerformActionWhenNoLoadsPending(Project
  project, Action noLoadsPendingAction, Action projectClosedAction)
  at
  NationalInstruments.X3.Base.EditorHelpers.<>c__DisplayClassd.b__a()
  Stack trace with ILOffsets:    at .X3WireHelper.IsWireSnapped
  (IL offset: 0xffffffff)    at
  .TabletImportHelpers.CleanupTabletImportPrograms  (IL offset:
  0xffffffff)    at .<>c__DisplayClass43.b__3a
  (IL offset: 0xffffffff)    at
  .EditorHelpers.PerformActionWhenNoLoadsPending  (IL offset:
  0xffffffff)    at
  .<>c__DisplayClassd.b__a
  (IL offset: 0xffffffff)
================================================================================ ev3-log-sl-2017-02-25_10-41-11-PM.log
+000,024 >> MINDSTORMS EV3 launched at 2017-02-25_10-39-52-p.m.
  +000,024 >> OS Type: Mac
  +000,024 >> OS Version: Mac OS X 10.12.1 16B2555
  +000,024 >> Silverlight version: 5.1.50901.0
  +000,026 >> MINDSTORMS EV3 assembly file version: 1.0.30908.1
  +000,026 >> MINDSTORMS EV3 build drop: R1-X3-Dev[GC]_20160908.1
  +000,122 >> In Application_Startup
  +000,125 >> Starting plugin loading
  +002,079 >> Starting InitializeNewRespectingForRootCatalog
  +005,571 >> Starting GetExportedValue()
  +005,595 >> Starting GetExportedValue()
  +006,321 >> Generated XmlSerializer for requests/responses/server messages in (seconds): 0,660005
  +006,358 >> Message queue successfully claimed.
  +006,382 >> Starting GetExportedValue()
  +006,388 >> MINDSTORMS EV3 version: 1.2.2
  +006,388 >> MINDSTORMS EV3 running as: Retail
  +006,388 >> Starting setup phase 1
  +006,433 >> MINDSTORMS EV3 language: en-US
  +006,434 >> Starting setup phase 2
  +006.448 >> _implicitFallbackString set to ""
  +006.450 >> Starting setup phase 3
  +006.855 >> FallbackString is ""
  +006.857 >> Starting setup phase 4
  +007.209 >> Generated XmlSerializer for requests/responses/server messages in (seconds): 0.326752
  +007.845 >> Starting setup phase 5
  +007.852 >> Starting setup phase 6
  +007.854 >> Starting setup phase 7
  +008.059 >> Starting setup phase 8
  +008.059 >> Starting setup phase 9
  +008.069 >> Startup done
  +010.566 >> Time for CreateAndRelinquishX3ProjectInstanceAtLaunch (seconds): 1.346874
  +012.597 >> Time to load lobby (seconds): 2.027232
  +012.597 >> Editor load completed
  +013.536 >> Loading project from "/Users/JoseCoronel/Desktop/WALL-E7_bazmarc/BT_WALL-E71_LEFT.ev3"
  +017.277 >> Generating XmlSerializer for BlockHelpSupport took (seconds): 0.015914
  +024,729 >> Time to create XmlSerializer for MEFAndSerializationHelper (seconds): 0,086546
  +051.091 >> Unhandled exception occurred at 2017-02-25_10-40-43-PM System.ArgumentException: Only Sequence Wires can be snapped.    at
  NationalInstruments.X3.Model.Wiring.X3WireHelper.IsWireSnapped(Wire
  wire)    at
  NationalInstruments.X3.Model.Block.TabletImportHelpers.CleanupTabletImportPrograms(IEnumerable`1
  vis)    at
  NationalInstruments.X3.X3VI.Design.MultiProjectSupport.<>c__DisplayClass3f.<>c__DisplayClass43.b__3a()
  at
  NationalInstruments.X3.Base.EditorHelpers.PerformActionWhenNoLoadsPending(Project
  project, Action noLoadsPendingAction, Action projectClosedAction)
  at
  NationalInstruments.X3.Base.EditorHelpers.<>c__DisplayClassd.b__a()
  Stack trace with ILOffsets:    at .X3WireHelper.IsWireSnapped
  (IL offset: 0xffffffff)    at
  .TabletImportHelpers.CleanupTabletImportPrograms  (IL offset:
  0xffffffff)    at .<>c__DisplayClass43.b__3a
  (IL offset: 0xffffffff)    at
  .EditorHelpers.PerformActionWhenNoLoadsPending  (IL offset:
  0xffffffff)    at
  .<>c__DisplayClassd.b__a
  (IL offset: 0xffffffff)
+051.091 >> App exiting (crash)
================================================================================ ev3-log-wpf-2017-02-25_10-41-11-PM.log
+000,002 >> MINDSTORMS EV3 launched at 2017-02-25_10-39-48-p.m.
  +000,011 >> OS Type: Mac
  +000,011 >> OS Version: Mono reports the following but it is inaccurate: Unix 16.1.0.0
  +000,011 >> OS Bitness: 32-bit
  +000,011 >> MINDSTORMS EV3 assembly file version and drop cannot be determined on Mac Desktop - see Silverlight log for this info.
  +000,227 >> Enabling passive scan for TCP;USB
  +000,340 >> Generated XmlSerializer for server messages in (seconds): 0,088872
  +000,389 >> Generated XmlSerializers for requests/responses messages in (seconds): 0,044407
  +010,317 >> Message queue successfully claimed.
  +016,121 >> AppFullyLoadedEvent received
  +054,705 >> App trying to exit (crash)
  +054,710 >> WorkingSet64:                    446,377,984
  +054,710 >> VirtualMemorySize64:           1,589,334,016
  +069,046 >> App exiting (crash)

How I can open the project again to fix the issue?

*.ev3 project files are zip files that contain a bunch of files.
Using a copy of the original project file you might be able to edit the zip file and throw out a file at a time to see if the project file can be opened.
Otherwise, reloading the EV3 software application might be helpful.
None of that is a real solution, but might be worth a try.


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Saturn V set from the 60s?
I have some of my dad's old Lego sets from the 1960s when he was a kid. There are circular discs that fit on top of each other to connect and form a rocket. Is this a Saturn V rocket model (the ones that took the Apollo astronauts to the moon) or perhaps some other rocket? What Lego sets like this were available in that period?

Welcome to LEGO Answers! If you have these pieces handy and could upload a photo, we could identify the set they come from more easily.

Yes, well, they are currently  in a bin with about a 1000 of my kids' other Legos.

It's hard to answer this definitively without a picture identifying the exact parts you have, but this sounds a lot like the set Rocket Base (358-1) from 1973:

That was one of the first space themed sets. The round parts are similar to what you've described. It looks like an obvious tribute to the Apollo program, though it isn't licensed or branded that way.

The rocket pieces look exactly like what I have, but I don't recall ever seeing those antenna pieces. Maybe they got broken before I came around though.

I could certainly imagine those antenna pieces breaking or going missing. Do you have the red baseplate that this is built on? Red baseplates are uncommon, and the one for this set also has a unique dot pattern: http://peeron.com/inv/parts/10p03

I'm not sure about the baseplate. I vaguely remember a broken piece we got rid of when I was a kid that might have been that. Or not. I'm going to have my dad take a look at this.

Those antennas are notorious for breaking, so I could easily imagine them being tossed sometime in the last 45 years, which might explain why you don't remember them.


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Where can I find a LEGO tube piece that is ridged on the outside
I have tried Amazon and had no luck.

Welcome to LEGO Answers! It looks like you tried to include an image in you question, but it was cut off. Could you try editing your question to include the image?

Try BrickLink, a site which can solve all of your lego needs. It's pretty useful and relatively easy to navigate. Takes a while to get used to, but it's personally my favorite third-party lego site out there.
Here are a couple screenshots of some of the items in the 'hose' categories. You can buy any item that has been listed by any of the thousands of sellers on the site! It's much better than Amazon, eBay, or LEGO.com/pickabrick in terms of variety, price, and convenience.


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What set is this head from?

Could somebody tell me what set this head was used in. I swore it came from an Indiana jones set, but after looking it up I guess not.

This is part 3626bpb0402:

This part is present in six sets, but if you are getting it confused with something from Indiana Jones, my bet would be on it coming from this Prince of Persia set (7573 Battle of Alamut):

Here's the complete minifig with that head from the set:

Here's the list of other sets if that isn't the right one.


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Bazooka blast ev3 Mindstorms using Python
I would like to shoot balls with the ev3 Lego robot. How can I code it using Python?
Which components do I need for that and which function and motor use ?

ev3dev works pretty well for that purpose, and all you need is a microSD card.
You'll need to use the Motor class. It work with both large and medium motors, and either can be use to shoot balls, so this part will be at your preference.


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Looking for a list of Star Wars minifigures
I just started a collection of minifigures of LEGO but exclusively of Star Wars (Although also I include some monster, like the dewack), so my question is simple.
How or where can I get a list of minifigures that currently exist?
Is it something that can be obtained or are simply guided by other things to have these collections?

BrickLink is your friend. Use the Catalog Search function to find all Star Wars related minifigures ever produced (all 896 of them as per today). Clicking on each minifig gives you the set(s) it came in.
Here are the results if you search for Type = Minifig, Theme = Star Wars, ordered by year of release: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogList.asp?v=5&pg=1&catLike=W&catType=M&catID=65

oh yes, is perfect. One question more about the BrickLink page is a good site for buy ?

BrickLink is THE marketplace for LEGO (especially for things you cannot buy from shop.lego.com). Just remember that prices do not include shipping, and if you are unsure of how much it would cost to ship something, you need to read the store terms and/or request a quote from the seller before placing an order.

The most complete list there is - www.minifigs.nl - His database is jaw-dropping and always up-to-date.


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Is using the term "Legos" always wrong?
LEGO tries very hard to protect its brand name. There is a company policy to use the expression "Lego bricks" rather than "Legos."
I am fortunate to live close to a Legoland and a LEGO retail store. However, I occasionally hear an employee say "Legos," and of course the (American) public uses "Legos" all the time.
Is this incorrect? Are we just being lazy?

No. It's not wrong. It's just sad that no one corrected them when they were young. I blame their parents, really.

See also the answers to Can anyone find a photo of the "LEGO Bricks" not "LEGOs" insert and the Meta question "Do we use LEGO or LEGOs" for both TLG's policy on usage and ours ;)

You can say "Legos" if you want to. But for The LEGO Group it's an important matter, because if people start saying "Legos" about similar products produced by other companies, LEGO might lose their brand if it is deemed genericized.
For instance, see Wikipedia which has an entry about "Legos" in the Generic trademark article:

The Lego Company has worked to prevent the genericization of its plastic building blocks following the expiration of Lego's last major patents in 1978. Lego manuals and catalogs throughout the 1980s included a message imploring customers to preserve the brand name by "referring to [their] bricks as 'LEGO Bricks or Toys', and not just 'LEGOS'." In the early 2000s, the company acquired the Legos.com URL in order to redirect customers to the Lego.com website and deliver a similar message. Despite these efforts, many children and adults in the United States continue to use "Legos" as the plural form of "Lego".

For LEGO guidelides, see this picture:

(I feel like this should be pinned to the homepage or something, as I've seen this question a LOT.)
Here is a link to their official policy statement:
https://www.lego.com/en-us/legal/legal-notice/fair-play
Relevant excerpts:
"A Trademark must be Protected
A trademark must be able to distinguish the goods of one company from those of another. If a trademark loses this ability, the owner may find that it can no longer prevent others from using the trademark. An owner must prevent the improper use of its trademarks to prevent the public from being deceived. This is why the LEGO Group is very active around the world in making sure that its trademarks are not misused."
"Proper Use of the LEGO Trademark on a Web Site
If the LEGO trademark is used at all, it should always be used as an adjective, not as a noun. For example, say "MODELS BUILT OF LEGO BRICKS". Never say "MODELS BUILT OF LEGOs". Also, the trademark should appear in the same typeface as the surrounding text and should not be isolated or set apart from the surrounding text. In other words, the trademarks should not be emphasized or highlighted. Finally, the LEGO trademark should always appear with a ® symbol each time it is used."


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What is the name of this part
This part is usually used on the simple 4 wide car base mostly seen in city sets.
With making these simple cars, it sits on the sides, and provides a base under a 1x4 Panel pieces. 4 studs on the lower part, 1 higher stud on each side which touches with the fender pieces. Dimensions for this piece is 1x6x1.

BrickLink calls it Part 52501 Slope, Inverted 45 6 x 1 Double with 1 x 4 Cutout:


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Set identification for white Technic panel with sticker that says "5974"
I would like to know what set these are from. We have 2 of them! Thanks!!

You have
LegoTechnic, Panel Fairing #18 Large Smooth, Side B with '5974' and Air Intake Pattern (Sticker) - Set 5974
from  5974-1: Galactic Enforcer


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How to remove an unslotted length-2 technic axle from a one-way axle hole?
A problem that sometimes occurs during disassembling is an unslotted length-2 technic axle being stuck in some axle hole that is a dead end, i.e., you cannot push the axle out with a longer axle from the other side, e.g., like this:

With longer axles, you usually have a better grip and more leverage to get them out, and slotted axles can be grabbed by the slots. But an unslotted length-2 axle may be quite difficult to remove.
Are there any tricks to do this?

I usually just use my teeth, though that might not be what you want to do.

Take a thin technic beam or plate with an axle hole, preferably in the middle. I like the rotor 2 blade, which already has a firm grip on axles to begin with.
Push it over the axle.
Apply a slight rotating force like this:

Slowly and straightly pull out the axle (while still applying the force).
Free the axle from the tool with standard means.

The method I use is not as "purist" as Wrzlprmft's, but it also works. Wrap the exposed section of the axle in a piece of cloth (a T-shirt works well), then gently grab the cloth-wrapped axle with pliers and pull out. The cloth is to prevent any marring of the axle piece, and it also provides a good grip for the plyers. Needle-nose or other small pliers work the best as they give you the most control for manipulating small LEGO pieces.

For me, I try to use any gears or wheels that is more stiff to pull it out by attaching it with the gear or wheel. If cannot, I directly use a tapered nose pliers with a piece of cloth to pull it out.


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Lego Batman Figures In Picture Unknown? Please Help
I missed this purchase by seconds; I was devastated and so was my son; probably me more so. Secretly I am a massive fan.
There are some unusual Batman figures that I haven't seen before. I was wondering if someone is able to identify these so I can search again. Chances of the same bunch coming up are very unlikely. Will buy them individually if that's what it takes.

First off let me apologize for fueling your future addiction to Batman LEGO minifigures.
Bricklink finds me 211 minifigures searching for "batman"
https://www.bricklink.com/v2/search.page?q=batman#T=M
Many of these are related characters and not Batman himself, but there are a lot of Batman minifigures, including some really odd ones:

I can also confirm that some of the ones shown in your picture are not Batman and are assembled incorrectly, the middle far right figure appears to be a Nightwing body with a different head and an added cape and batman cowl (original Nightwing shown below), also upper right is clearly superman wearing a bat cowl, if the picture was better you could tell it was dark blue and not black.


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Identify this figure - soccer shirt with a "VS" (or cut off "US") logo with soccer ball (football) on front, and "7" on back
Checked lots of different categories on BrickLink, but couldn't find anything on this figure, or even the torso by itself. Any help to get me closer to figuring out who this little guy is would be much appreciated!

My first guess would be that some fan of a sports team printed out its logo (or cut it out from a magazine or similar) and glued it onto a minifigure.

That sounds reasonable, but the 'stickers' are very similar to the type used in that era of minifigure (where the stickers put on torsos were often the type that would crack and peel with age).

Soccer Player White Team Player 5

This minifigure appeared only once in the 2002 set Grand Championship Cup - U.S. Men's Team Cup Edition (3425).

There are two sticker sheets included in the set (1, 2), the second sticker sheet shows the stickers used on the minifigures. However the sticker used is for player number 7, but BrickLink calls this minifig player 5 (which isn't a huge difference but possibly worth mentioning for identification).
The instructions don't provide any particular guidance as to which minifigure is which number, probably because none of them represent real football players. You probably couldn't find the exact Minifig on Bricklink because they use an image without the stickers.

Thank you very much for the informational and insightful answer! I figured it was one of those figures that isn't listed with sticker information (there are also some parts with that issue, especially in older sets with smaller 'sticker over assembly' builds). Anyway, now I know where he came from, much appreciated!

The "VS" is actually "US" and that is the logo used by US Soccer from 1995 to 2006. See history of crest logos here: https://news.sportslogos.net/2016/02/29/us-soccer-officially-unveils-new-crest/


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Brick-built sails for a pirate ship
I am building a Sea-Cow(70810)-like ship that of course needs sails. The sails should be larger than the Technic fairings used in the LEGO movie set, but I want to avoid cloth sails and strings.
My idea is to connect rows of white 4x6 modified tiles with studs on edges (part 6180) with hinge plates. That would give a curved rectangular sail. However, sails usually are not rectangular.
Do you have experience with sails made out of tiles or plates? How do you create the shape/curvature you have in mind? I appreciate any ideas.
EDIT:
After very useful suggestions by @jncraton I was able to create a prototype of sail. I found some hinges (4275/4276) to connect the rows of tiles. The brown plates are not the final solution. Now I still have to figure out how to make the sail less rectangular.

Side note: I am not the only one who misses the old finger hinges: see this question

Great question. It sounds like you are building a fairly large ship. If the scale is large enough, brick-built sails can look quite nice. You can add shape, contour, and texture using various building techniques.
If you want to keep things simple, you could just use a single layer of bricks as was done in this basic sailboat model that was an in-store build back in 2009:

That example obviously isn't the most detailed. It's challenging to develop sail-like contours with studs on top.
Here's one example just using plates that is similar to what you mentioned in your question:

Notice how it uses wedge plates to round off the square corners of the sails. Wedge plates come in a variety of shapes and sizes, so that gives you some flexibility in the shape of your sail. Here's another shot showing that technique more clearly:

Here's a second example of that technique in a physical model to try to show how the sail sections can be connected using hinges:

Here's another where layered plates are used to provide more depth and contour:

And one more example of the same technique:

I personally like the aesthetic of studs showing in those examples, but you could also smooth your sails out using tiles and curved slopes if you'd prefer.

Oh come on, did you really edit in the same example I wanted to add, while I was writing my answer? :D

@zovits :D That's certainly what it looks like.

I've reverted my edit now that you've added this set as a separate answer. I think it works better as a separate answer. You have my upvote. :)

Thanks, but you really shouldn't have :) This question is linked from the recent Pirates of Barracuda Bay question, and the Creator Pirate Ship is a trivial association to this topic. Whether a long list or multiple single answers is better, I can't really decide, so let's leave it like it is :)

An official example from 2020 is seen in the 31109 Pirate-Ship using plates and curved panels:

I haven't seen this set until now. Very simple sail construction. Interesting timing by TLG to release this shortly after the Barracuda Bay 21322 (cloth sails). I had to abandon my ship project for a "while", but with all the new pirates in the LEGO world I feel that now is a good time to get it done.


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Technic 8858 Rebel Wrecker alternate model impossible to build?
I don't mean "difficult", I mean it appears to have an actually impossible instruction.  Or am I missing something obvious?  Here's the deal (pardon my lack of standard names for parts):
I recently dusted off my 8858 Rebel Wrecker, and decided to build for the first time ever the alternate model, a quad bike.  It's fine, despite its fondness for difficult-to-separate brick combinations, until I get to the steering linkage, which involves a connecting bar with a socket on either end.

One socket connects to the rack (a toothed plate with a ball on both ends; this happens in Step 8), the other to a ball on a part that forms the wheel mount.  The catch is that the connecting bar has little flanges in the sockets that (a) make it so the ball won't immediately pop out the other side, but crucially here, (b) make it so the both balls must be inserted from the same side.  The model has the balls on opposite sides.  I cannot figure out how to make this work without breaking the flanges.  Any advice?

Welcome to LEGO Answers! That's a great question.
I don't actually have this set, but I believe the issue is that the linkage piece that you are using comes in two separate variants:

The variation is subtle, but the small flanges that you mention in your question were added in a variant that came later than the set you are trying to build. This is what prevents you from connecting ball joints from different sides, and is one of the cases where part variants are not equivalent for particular building scenarios. You really need to use 2739a here rather than 2739b.
Hopefully you still have the original 2739a parts around, but if not, you can pick them up on Bricklink relatively cheaply.


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Doubt about minifigures of LEGO Star Wars on BrickLink not having accessories like weapons
another user recommend to me in another post this page to buy miniatures for my growing collection of minifigures of LEGO Star Wars.
My question regarding the page is simple, there is a large assortment of minifigures of all the years, but why no one includes their accessories? For example, laser sheets or blasters ...
Can the originals be obtained in any way within the page or is there any other method to obtain them?
I've been looking at Amazon, but the prices are very high ... But they do include the minifigures accessories.
Any ideas?

Bricklink has dedicated categories in the stores' "parts" section for tools, accessories etc. If you know what the minifig needs you will find it there.

As you've noticed, the Starwars Minifigs don't come with accessories - this probably makes it easier for the sellers and buyers in terms of sorting: for example the battle packs often came with 3 or 4 different characters along with 2 different weapon styles - there's no definitive "this character has this style of weapon".
The weapons can be found using the Parts - Minifig, Weapon category - there are (at present) 4 guns tagged with (SW), as well as the various different lightsaber hilts (listed as Weapon Lightsaber Hilt), various generic weapons (pikes/spears) and the newer "Shooter Mini with [...] Trigger" that is appearing for more play value over authentic weapon styles (another reason why you might want to buy the weapons separately).
In terms of lightsabers, the beams themselves are listed as Bar 4L (Lightsaber Blade / Wand) under the Bars category (there's also Kylo Ren's Bar 4L / 2L Crossed).
If you're after more "realistic" weapons, then third party producers may be what you're after. BrickArms do a nice line in Sci-Fi weapons that include Han's DL-44 and the Imperial issued EL-11, DC-15, DC-15S and D9-AR.

So there are only these three "official" models of weapons? What is the name given to lightsaber bars? Is there somewhere to buy something more realistic like the "Shooter Mini with [...] Trigger" that you comment?

Yeah the non-LEGO options are better, so for the lightsaber is better take a original hilt and different colors  of bars dependents of the personage no?

Yes, but are there different types of beams? I can not look for beams or 4L bars in BrickLinks and get some useful part. I'm using the parts filter...

Since you are asking 'why' accessories are not included in listings for minifigures, I will give you a short and simple answer to directly answer that part of your question.
It is not nearly as efficient to try and have figures with their accessories be listed as it would be for them to be alone. Accessories are different from a minifig's hat, persay, because we do not see a character bald in universe, so the hat is a necessity for their character, but a weapon or accessory does not have that same necessity.
In addition to this, proneness to discrepancies in listings from seller to seller would be much higher when accessories are involved. This is especially true if a figure comes in more than one set, but has different accessories in each set. By keeping accessories and minifigures separate, there will be fewer catalog entries in the database. The goal is always to keep the database as simplistic and easy to use as possible.
I hope that sheds some light on why BL does not list its figures with their accessories (nor does any other third-party-lego-selling website).


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What's the purpose of the decoration on the BrickHeadz piece?
I just bought a BrickHeadz set (the Captain America one) and it comes with a piece to put on the models base. The part number is 6188632 and is described on a few sites as a black 2x4 with decoration. What I don't get is what the purpose of the decoration is. Here is a picture of the piece.

The decoration looks like a generic BrickHeadz head with a speech bubble with the number one. So is that all there really is to it or is there something I'm missing? I thought it might represent the models number but this particular one is number five in the series not one.
What am I missing here?

According to LEGO, it's the BrickHeadz icon with the series number.

He also stands on a buildable baseplate with series number and BrickHeadz icon for easy display -- Batman Brickheadz LEGO Shop page

If they release another series of Brickheadz, those sets will probably have a similar piece with a "2" on it.

I knew I was missing something. Not the model in the series but the series itself! How silly.


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3D printing LDD model
I want to 3D print my LEGO models (.lxf file type). How do you do it?
Do you export it to a specific file type (there are LXFML, LDraw, and LXFML4 besides LXF) then import into a 3D modeller?
Or is there a way to 3D print directly from LEGO Digital Designer?
Can you save all parts used in the model automatically (not manually by hand, it will be too much work) in a 3D-printable file format then print those parts individually?
I really don't know anything about 3D printing, so please share if you know anything that could help!

It's a cool idea but even with the best 3D printer you're unlikely to match the tight tolerances that LEGO bricks (made using plastic moulds) have.

First, some notes:

LEGO Digital Designer cannot do 3D printing.
LDD won't get any new features any time soon, as it is no longer being updated.
LXF files contain no part meshes. They only contain information on how to assemble the parts. The actual part data is stored in binary files inside the various LIF files.
LDraw files are similarly structured like the LXF files.

So getting 3D mesh data out of LDD is tricky to say the least. I know of two techniques:

There is some software which will attempt to capture 3D mesh from memory. Caveats:

LDD optimizes the drawing by removing the faces of parts that are not visible.
This means the mesh you get out may be missing some things you might expect.

Convert to LDraw, and open in an LDraw compatible program that can export 3D meshes. This is probably your better option, but it also has some caveats:

If you are using a piece that your LDraw program does not have in the library, it will be missing.
If LDD does not know how to map a part to LDraw, it could also be missing.

I know some people have done some research  into directly converting LDD models directly into 3D mesh, by reverse engineering the file formats. I don't know of any complete tools that actually do this though.
Now for the next issue, once you have your 3D mesh into another program, is it good for printing? Even without knowing specifics, I doubt it. Modelling for 3D printing is a lot different from modelling from LEGO bricks. You would likely have to do a lot of work making the model printable. It would probably be quicker to make the model from scratch in the 3D modelling program directly.

You could try Mecabricks.

Login
Make model or import it
Click export (choose .stl)

Mecabricks can also import your LDD model so you don't have to start from scratch.


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The four armed minifig
How do you put together a four armed minifig?????

I really want one.

The good news is: This Minifig is still available (as of March 2017)! The bad news is, he's only in two sets and they're both quite expensive. He's Nadakhan, the captain of the Sky Pirates in the Ninjago range. There is also General Kozu, but his set is even more expensive.

Misfortune's Keep
The Lighthouse Siege
Samurai X Cave Chaos

As Kevin points out in the comments, Lord Garmadon appears three times in the LEGO Ninjago Minifigures series (Garmadon, Volcano Garmadon (pyjamas), and Flashback Garmadon (suit and tie)), so it's possible the part is now more widely available.
The key part from Nadakhan's body you need is:

Torso, Modified Short with Armour Breastplate...

Or there are some other options from earlier Ninjago sets available as well.
Which accepts a standard neck post and has holes for the arms.

So what pieces would I use for the actual body?

You'd use a standard torso (body) for the bottom part, and then a "torso, modified" on top of that - they are custom designed to fit on the neck and shoulders of the standard body part.

there were also at least two in the CMF line for the Ninjago movie.

Also there is Z-95 Headhunter (75004) which has General Pong Krell, but it is also fairly expensive.


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Any way to track a light source in 1 dimension using one color sensor?
I would like to know if there is any workable way to use a single color sensor to track a light source in one axis of rotation?
Would rotating the sensor back and forth within a few degrees, every few seconds, to check differing light levels work?

Yes this is doable.
The typical use is with a robot, a lamp/light placed some distance away, with the goal being: navigate towards the light.
Assuming a robot that can spin (turn in place without moving forward or backward);
mount a light sensor in a tunnel that shield the sensor from most of the light except light coming from straight forward.
Spin the robot until the light sensor sees the light (anything above 80% is reasonable).
Drive forward while the bright light is visible, when it isn't stop, spin until it is visible.
The color sensor has an ambient light setting, use that.
There are a number of line-following algorithms that can be modified to handle moving toward a point of light.


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Mindstorms nxt screen not lighting up
I just pickup up this set at a garage sale and put in new batteries.  The initial start up noises were indicated and there are clicking noises but the screen is not lighting up.  Is it broken or do I just need to install the software?


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Why do many minifigures have printing on their neck pegs?
Why do many minifigures have printing on their neck pegs?
For example:

I also remember most (if not all) of the minifigures from the classic Space, Town, and Castle sets from the 1980s having similar printing on the neck peg. (I don't have a good sampling of current minifigures, but I've seen some with and some without the printing.)
What is the printing for?  It is not visible when the head is attached, it does not seem to resemble anything (like a tie or scarf).  The only thing I can think of is to prevent the head from sticking to the neck peg (or to reduce wear on the plastic itself), but if that's the case, why do some torsos have them and some don't, and why would they be only on the front of the neck peg?
(My guess for the last answer is that their manufacturing equipment usually prints only on the front of torso anyway.)

It is explained and demonstrated in this documentary from the LEGO factory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnRRDIFNxoM&t=3m33s
While the machines in Denmark use a sensor to detect the paint on the neck-posts to attach the arms correctly, the machines in China use a more sophisticated modern camera to detect torso print, and they don't need the paint on the neck-post. This is why minifigures made in China (collectible minifigures, magnet and keychain minifigs, etc.) do not have the paint mark on the neck.

The neck printing is a visual cue for the manufacturing machinery to indicate which side of the minifig is the front. This is done to avoid incorrect assembly of arms, and likely also assists in the printing of the torso.

Was looking for one but TheBrickBlogger beat me to it ... supported her answer :)


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Which is the largest U.K. LEGO shop?
The LEGOLAND Windsor claims to have the largest U.K. Shop for LEGO, but the Leicester Square store claims to be the largest LEGO shop in the world. Which is the truth?

Welcome! There are many different measurements for "largest" (most sets, largest floor space, largest number of bricks, biggest selection of sets, most visitors, heck even most employees employed) so there can be multiple "largest UK stores" in existence. Thank marketing for that.

The LEGOLAND Windsor store is owned by the Merlin Group and not LEGO directly, where the Leicester Square store is the LEGO flagship store for the LEGO Group, so like the comment above there would need to be a bit more refinement on how you want to classify them as you could start adding in the other toy shops which sell Lego such as ToysRUs, Smiths etc

Having been to both in the last couple of weeks I would say the one in LEGOLAND seemed bigger, certainly in floor area. Leicester Square was more densely packed so selections available seemed roughly equivalent. As Adam comments I both would statements are probably true with the correct subtext. Leicester Square being the "Largest LEGO [owned and operated] Store", LEGOLAND being the largest "shop stocking only LEGO products".

The LEGO Store in Leicester Square which opened in 2016 has an area of 914sq m
(Source: Evening Standard, Telegraph)

The LEGOLAND Windsor Big Shop is 'one of the UK's largest shops for LEGO' according to their website. In 2015 the website stated the store was '... the UK's largest one-stop shop for LEGO'. It appears as if the Leicester Square store has taken over.

The LEGOLAND Big Shop is operated by the parks owner Merlin Entertainments. As it is not an 'official' LEGO store it does accept VIP cards or have a standard pick-a-brick wall.


text:
Can anyone please tell me what these old white 4x4 circles are?
What are these?

They are from a box of very old LEGO bricks, circa 1981.

It looks like 3 of Turntable 4 x 4 - Old Type Complete, Perfectly Round which came in 13 different sets from 1963 - 1970.

I'm guessing the one in the middle is either broken or disassembled (if that's possible), and the top of it attached to the bottom of one on the right.


text:
Are COGO and LEGO bricks compatible?
Is COGO compatible with LEGO sets, that is can I combine parts from both packages? My kid got a COGO set on his birthday recently, which we did not open because I think we can return and exchange (for a surcharge) it at toy store where it was bought, if they can not be used together with LEGO bricks that is.

COGO bricks sucks
I just started building and what happens next is when I try to put another brick, the whole thing fall

Welcome! COGO is a clone brand, and hence not generally used around here. COGO bricks will work with LEGO, however, the quality, finish and fit of COGO bricks is significantly less than LEGO's, so I would advise to return the COGO set and buy a (smaller but) better quality LEGO set instead.

Yes COGO are compatible with LEGO. And I wonder why we don't find them easily - I love them. And it works great for missing LEGO peices.


text:
Please help identify this vintage (but non-Lego) brick!
It's time to play the "what brick is this" game, and this time our contestant is definitely non-Lego, yet vintage.  This brick was in a small lot of early-60's Samsonite Lego bricks, and I am assuming it is nearly as old as those.
It appears to be CA plastic, has studs (but they are taller than Lego studs), and a stylized "S" logo of some sort in the center of the surface of the brick.  Inside are slots and sidebars, rather than tubes.  Here are some photos to help.

That is a Kawada Dia Block made in Japan. Entex and Sears imported those into the US in the 70’s and 80’s and repackaged them under such brands as Loc Bloc and Brix Blox. The “S” is actually a K on top of a D, which is the emblem for the Japanese toy company Kawada. Dia Blocks are still made and available in Japan today.

I have solved the mystery. After searching up many different vintage plastic bricks (I had no idea there were so many), I stumbled upon LOC BLOC, made in the USA in the 1970's by a company called Entex.  I still don't get what the "S" symbol on top of the brick is, but they match completely.
http://www.architoys.net/toys/toypages/locblocs.html

Very nice! You didn't happen to stumble across anything like this in your search, did you? http://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/7748/help-identifying-a-lego-clone That's been unanswered for quite some time.

Not exactly like those, unfortunately.  If they really are from the 1980's (could be the gift was in the 1980's, and the bricks are older) they are past what I was looking at.  I was shocked to find so many kinds of bricks were produced in the 1950's-70's that weren't Lego.  I looked at:  American Plastic Bricks, Playskool Plastic Building Bricks, Educational Building Bricks, Sta-Lox, Auburn Bricks, Betta Builder (UK), Airfix (UK), Block CIty, Playmate (Australia), and Loc Blocs.

This is positively a Kawada brick:

Thanks to @Dean Rumsey for pointing me in the right direction to find an example so any doubts can be put to rest. He seems to be paraphrasing the Wiki article that briefly covers their history;  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loc_Blocs

"They were marketed in the 1970s and 1980s by Entex Industries, and manufactured in Japan as Dia Block by Kawada Co., which still produces sets to this day."
"They were also sold by Sears, Roebuck and Co. under their house brand "Brix Blox." Today, similar blocks are still manufactured in Japan as Diabloks and sold in the U.S.A. under the name "Disney Build-It" blocks."

To further complicate things, I found inconsistencies in the way these blocks were marked. In my research I found that most of the bricks sold under the Entex/Loc Bloc and Sears/Brix Blox name were not marked with the Kawada company logo on them. However, I found one example of a Loc Blocs set that did appear to contain bricks with the Kawada logo (assuming the bricks were all original):

Based on these findings, this brick could have come from any set using bricks made by Kawada, regardless of the brand it sold under.

This appears to be a nano-block, though I can't be sure, as I can't make out the size of that brick.
This is the nano-block website.
http://www.nanoblockuk.com/

Why do you think this is a nanoblock? Are there any markings that lead you to believe this? Is the bottom slot design typical of nanoblocks? The brick looks very worn and old, is nanoblock old enough to have bricks of this age?

On second thought, that brick is too large to be a nano-block, the bottom slot is similar (see answer edit), and I doubt nano-block is old enough.

I did neglect to mention that it is roughly the same size as a 2x4 brick.  If it helps, it's leaning against a brick separator tool in the first photo (the one that used to be sold on a card with the red measuring tool; not one included with larger sets).

I had these bricks when I was a child in the 50´s, so they can´t be neither Nano-blocks nor Loc-Blocks.
Sorry, I can´t give you any moore info. The bricks were lost some time in the late fifties.

I fear the photo showing the logo is strong proof that the other answers are correct; perhaps very similar ones were available 70 years ago, but the one in the photo is from Kawada Dia.


text:
Please help identify this 1980's, very odd, Non-Lego brick!
I have one more mystery brick to share, and it is a strange one.  This brick is FIVE studs long, and the width is comparable to a regular 2x4 Lego brick.  The inner tubes are also comparable, but because of the slope, the brick's length is five studs.
This brick was included in a large lot of early 1980's bricks.  It doesn't have the Lego name anywhere that I can see.  Could it be possibly a Tyco part?

2x5, heaven forbid!

To me it looks like the air-box of Ferrari Formula 1 car (the part behind the drivers head). It doesn't seem to match any of the parts used in the official LEGO Ferrari sets.

This brick does not appear in the BrickLink catalog for 2x5 parts or 5x2 parts. Therefore I seriously doubt it is genuine Lego.

Had to tell for sure, but it looks like it came from the red car in this Mega Bloks set:
http://blokcity.com/wiki/9801_Build_%26_Race_Speedway
Here's an image including that part from this set:

That looks right to me. I added the best image I could find of that part in that set.


text:
Averaged out, as of 2016, how many shapes has Lego introduced per year since brick 1?
Averaged out since Lego first began selling addictive bricks, and discounting  the structural redesign of existing bricks (Like the 2x4. Tubes were added, but it was still a 2x4) how many shaped elements has Lego added per year?
To be clear, I'm asking for a shape count, not a color or piece count, and the average number of released shapes over the years, not a breakdown of the treasures recently heaped upon us.

For LEGO, this isn't quite as easy as you might expect. The reason for this is that there is disagreement over what constitutes a different "shape". For example, there are two main variants of 2x2 round tiles; those that have a single central "tube" on the bottom, and those that have a cross. For most purposes they are interchangeable, but not for all. There are lots of parts like this, and it has never been obvious to me how we should categorise them. For most practical purposes, none of this really matters. But I think it is interesting, nonetheless.

Have you tried to download the complete Bricklink catalog and group the items by description or item number? I noticed that e.g. the Brick 2x4 variants are called 3001, 3001f1, 3001old, 3001oldf1, and so on. Thinking about it, I will do a "bricklink catalog statistics" Google search. Someone must have done like this before!?

The BrickLink catalog has this option. List all parts, then click on "Year summary". There are 45510 parts in total. The list starts in 1950 (8 parts!), everything before that year is year "0". 2002 was the first year with more than 1000 parts, 2016 saw an impressive number of 3490 parts.
EDIT:
As pointed out in a comment, the entries in the BrickLink catalog contain all kinds of variants of the same shape. One example:
Brick 1 x 2 with Yellow Left Arrow and Black Border Pattern
Brick 1 x 2 with Yellow Down Arrow and Black Border Pattern
Brick 1 x 2 with Yellow Grille Pattern
Brick 1 x 2 with Black Grille Pattern
Brick 1 x 2 with White Grille Pattern ... and so on
It turns out that part descriptions are structured like this:
<shape description> "with" or "without" <details>

So all above items are "Brick 1 x 2" shape. I wrote a script that takes the csv-formatted BrickLink catalog, deletes all part descriptions from "with" or "without" onwards, and then deletes all duplicate lines.
Result: from the 45510 parts of the catalog remain 17236 entries. Looking at this list, I would say that this number is an upper limit to the number of distict shapes that have been produced. Maybe 10% have to be subtracted to get a good estimate.
Example: There are 52 types of Bricks left. There are some transparent bricks and "solid studs" that are not a shape of its own.
Brick 10 x 10
Brick 10 x 20
Brick 10 x 20 - Undetermined Underside Type
Brick 12 x 24
Brick 1 x 1
Brick 1 x 10
Brick 1 x 12
Brick 1 x 16
Brick 1 x 1 Transparent
Brick 1 x 1 x 3
Brick 1 x 1 x 5
Brick 1 x 1 x 5 - Solid Stud
Brick 1 x 2
Brick 1 x 2 Transparent
Brick 1 x 2 x 2
Brick 1 x 2 x 3
Brick 1 x 2 x 5
Brick 1 x 3
Brick 1 x 3 Transparent
Brick 1 x 3 x 5
Brick 1 x 4
Brick 1 X 4
Brick 1 x 4 Transparent
Brick 1 x 4 x 1
Brick 1 x 6
Brick 1 x 6 Transparent
Brick 1 x 6 x 5
Brick 1 x 8
Brick 1 x 8 Transparent
Brick 2 x 10
Brick 2 x 12
Brick 2 x 14
Brick 2 x 2
Brick 2 x 2 Corner
Brick 2 x 2 Transparent
Brick 2 x 2 x 3
Brick 2 x 3
Brick 2 x 3 Transparent
Brick 2 x 4
Brick 2 x 4 special (special bricks, test bricks and/or prototypes)
Brick 2 x 4 Transparent
Brick 2 x 4 x 3
Brick 2 x 6
Brick 2 x 6 x 3
Brick 2 x 8
Brick 4 x 10
Brick 4 x 12
Brick 4 x 18
Brick 4 x 4 Corner
Brick 4 x 6
Brick 8 x 16
Brick 8 x 8
This exercise gave me some insight at how many parts exist. Did you know, that there are 64 "dog" shapes, but only 8 "cat"?
I hope this answer did help somehow.
This is the method to manipulate the catalog (Linux environment):
First, load catalog (tab-delimited list) into Excel, and export the column containing the part names to an ASCII file.
Now delete everything including "with" from the lines:
awk '{if (index($0," with") != 0) {print substr($0,1,index($0," with")-2)} else {print $0} }' parts.csv > temp.csv

Now sort and remove duplicate lines:
sort -u temp.csv > unique_shapes.csv

That's it. In Linux, there are 1000 ways to do this. I like to use commands that are easy to follow. Now one could refine the method and delete other items that don't qualify as shapes, e.g. cloth or the above mentioned "transparent" bricks. There are endless possibilities :)
P.S.: Reading the question, I just realize that I missed the "per year" part. But this topic is far from over, anyway.

While this is a very helpful answer, it is worth noting that these numbers aren't entirely reflective of the number of unique molds (or "shapes") introduced in a given year. Bricklink parts consider printing, so those 3490 new parts for 2016 include, for example, hundreds of unique minifig head prints.

You are right. I am looking at the catalog right now. The numbering complicates thing even more. It seems to be less consistent than I thought. Some part variants don't start with a number. One example: bhol04 is a 2x4 brick without bottom tubes....

@jncraton I updated the answer. The method should at least remove all printed variants, and everything that is described using "...with..." or "...without..." in the catalog.

Nice work. It's helpful to see that broken down. It would be cool if you could post the script somewhere in case others want to build on this concept.

Excellent effort. Excellent answer.

@jncraton See updated answer for Linux commands I used. It is just basic file manipuation.

@Aziraphale Very cool. Thanks for sharing!


text:
How do you open a logfile (.rdf) downloaded from an EV3 brick?
I have been logging data for a few sensors, and would like to import that data into Excel. What exactly do I need to do? I remember reading somewhere that LabView can export logging data (I have the Education version) but I cannot get LabView to open the datalog files.

I couldn't find much out there.  Maybe these docs will help you more than they enlightened me: http://s3.amazonaws.com/scschoolfiles/379/data_logging.pdf

In the LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Education software:

Open a new experiment.
Go to the Tools menu and select Data Log File Manager.
Browse to the the .rdf file and click the Import button. (It can be on the brick or on your computer.)
Close the Data Log File Manager
On the Tools menu, select Export Datasets
Save the file as a .csv file
Open the .csv file in Excel


text:
How to tell if I need a neck kit for 21303 WALL•E?
I heard that some older 21303 WALL-E models (LEGO Ideas #012) have a weak neck connection and that LEGO fixed that in later production runs, and that if I have an older WALLE I can contact customer support to have a "neck kit" sent over.
How can I tell if my model is the older or the newer version? There's nothing obvious on the box, and there is no information on the official LEGO website.

I contacted LEGO and this was their reply (emphasis mine):

All LEGO® 21303 WALL-E sets produced during or after November 2015 already include the neck stability revision, which includes revised Building Instructions and extra parts.  You can tell the production date by checking the manufacturing code which is usually printed in black ink on the clear tape holding the box together.  If your number is 47(S)5 or higher, your have the revised set.  You can also tell my looking at the Building Instruction number.  This number is printed at the bottom corner on the back cover.  New revised BIs produced from November onwards will have the number 6162870 or 6162871.

Unfortunately my BI number is 6146260, so I guess I have a model with the old neck connection.

My number on clear tape of the box is 38 R6 but instructions have number 6162871, which indicate the revised set. The neck part is a "ball" and not the clicking mechanism as shown in some youtube videos for the problematic version.


text:
EV3 Wired Brick to Brick communication
I'm currently working on a project for my intro to engineering class.
As it stands now, one brick is running a LabView program to intake data from a 'barcode' and another brick runs a  Matlab program that reads a marble with the color-sensor, and can pass or deny the marble.
I'm having an issue in making the bricks communicate with each other. Because there will be many other bricks in operation where this project will be tested, BlueTooth communication would be unreliable.
From reading that I've done, there might be a way to perform hardwired communication by linking sensor port 4 of both bricks together, but I'm not sure of the specifics.
Both of the bricks are EV3, updated to the latest firmware.

You say Bluetooth is unreliable for your application. I'm not so sure it is. Have you considered a mesh network?

The reading you have done about connecting input port 4 is for the NXT, not the EV3. The NXT has a special feature on that port for RS485 serial communications. This is not present on the EV3 bricks.
The EV3 bricks are designed to be able to be daisy chained via USB. There are "Message" blocks in the EV3 software for sending messages from brick to brick. I'm not sure about LabView and Matlab, but I suspect that have a similar block/function for sending messages.


text:
Are there more instructions for LEGO Architecture Studio?
I have a LEGO Architecture Studio set of 1210 pieces. The set have a book about architecture and techniques but it have no instructions for, e.g. build a pyramid, building or others. So I want to know if exists instructions for this, and where could I find them.

I don't think so.  I've found a few places that show nothing but the original book for it in terms of official LEGO content:

http://lego.brickinstructions.com/lego_instructions/set/21050/Architectuer_Studio
https://www.repubrick.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&view=productdetails&virtuemart_product_id=451&virtuemart_category_id=38&lang=en
https://www.reddit.com/r/architecture/comments/1k108y/the_lego_architecture_studio_manual_via_legos/

Tom Alphin's book
While it isn't entirely instructions it does include lots of instructions: Tom Alphin's book The Lego Architect.  It has been a while since I flipped through it so I just gave it another skim.  I'd say that a third to a half of the pages are dedicated to detailed instructions.  The rest of it is lovely inspiration so it isn't like filler.

Brick Architect blog
Tom Alphin also has created a blog that has lots of LEGO architecture designs in it: http://brickarchitect.com/ but I didn't see any instructions there.  It is still probably worth checking out for inspiration.

Thanks, I´m out of ideas, I've been building many things with this LEGO set, and I wanted to find instructions to try other buildings.


text:
help identify set from parts
Please help me identify which set either of these parts came from (tried using Bricklink but don't know how to describe the bricks to get the correct result)...

The bottom photo is a Mega Blok set, so isn't likely to show up in Lego set searches...

The first assembly is from the #8087 LEGO Star Wars TIE Defender released in 2010.

The second assembly is not LEGO, but Mega Bloks (Mega Construx).

Wow, you guys are incredible. Thanks for the help!

You're very welcome. :)


text:
In what colours can I build my whole model?
Is there a tool which, given a list of parts, will tell me the common colours, i.e. the colours that all the parts are available in?

Can you add more detail about the model? Do you have a set number, a plan or an image of it?

I guess you are not looking for the part-by-part solution that Bricklink provides?

I could not find a tool with this ability, so I made one using the Rebrickable API. You can find it here:
https://gist.github.com/ali1234/836ba792390c1a5feca9a3dcb35c14af
It parses an LDraw file and selects all the bricks of a specified colour (by LDraw colour number, eg yellow = 14), then for each unique piece it requests all available colours. Finally it calculates the intersection of all colours and prints a list.
Optional rarity parameter can be used to avoid very rare parts.
Example output:
./colourswap pirover.ldr 14
Parts:
3665, 2730, 3660, 3455, 3005, 3002, 3702, 3703, 3700, 3701, 3895
Common Colours:
Blue, Yellow, Black, White, Light Gray, Red, Light Bluish Gray

./colourswap pirover.ldr 14 20
Parts:
3665, 2730, 3660, 3455, 3005, 3002, 3702, 3703, 3700, 3701, 3895
Common Colours:
Black, Red


text:
Please help identify LEGO Batman vehicle
I'm trying to identify the set that this partial Batman vehicle belongs to. I believe the front center piece is part # 4623524 Roof tile 6x10, but all of the sets that contain that part don't seem to match the rest of the pieces.

Here is the bottom front of the boat as it has an unusual shape that I can't find:

It appears to actually be an Iron Man set, with the dark green #4623524 piece swapped out for the same piece in black from a Batman set.
The base is 76006-1 Iron Man: Extremis Sea Port Battle

Based on the 1x2 slope piece with the Batman symbol, the #4623524 piece likely comes from 76000-1 Arctic Batman vs. Mr. Freeze: Aquaman on Ice


text:
What is TLC's (earlier?) "obsession" with dragsters about?
When thinking back, it seems that most of the time, Lego Town's racing subtheme featured a so-called "dragster" - a racing car with an elongated front.
This impression is corroborated by checking the actual sets: Brickset list
While I did not check for how long each of these "dragster" sets was produced/sold, if we assume a medium set lifespan (in the catalogue) of some 3 years, the succession of release years (1983, 1986, 1989, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2006, 2017) indicates at least until the beginning of the 21st century, there was at least one dragster set available at almost any time.
Now, I am not a car racing buff at all, so maybe I am missing something. Yet, while I have seen my share of car racing scenes on TV, and plenty of racing cars in museums of technology, I do not think I have ever encountered a "dragster" in real life. Therefore, my perception is that in the real world, dragsters must be an extremely exotic kind of vehicle.
Is there any known reason for why dragsters seem to be so overrepresented in Lego's town sets compared to other elements of the real world? (Or is it indeed my perception that is skewed, because dragster are indeed common sights a part of this planet's car racing subculture, and Lego is simply replicating that part of the world?)

If you want to find an ant, visit an art hill. Hang around professional drag strips and you'll see plenty of dragsters. They are not that exotic, having been around since the 1950s. But that is a super-expensive type of racing so you might not see too many at smaller drag strips.

Presumably they were popular with kids in their market research? They're very swooshable. Three of these sets have either a wind-back motor or manual launch system, an extra gimmick to make these sets more attrative, it's possible dragsters were chosen as they are more stable at high speed and suited to be launched?

Drag racing is a popular sport all over the world. I think OP will find the Wikipedia page on drag racing very interesting as it goes through the history of drag racing on every continent. The bottom line is this: "The history of automobiles and motorcycles being used for drag racing is nearly as long as the history of motorized vehicles themselves, and has taken the form of both illegal street racing, and as an organized and regulated motorsport." Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_racing

@Ambo100: How is this opinion-based? I am not asking for what people think could be reasons. I am asking for the concrete, actual reason.

@TheBrickBlogger: "The history of automobiles and motorcycles being used for drag racing" - that seems to cover a considerably wider range of vehicles than the specific kind of "dragster" apparently prevalent in Lego sets.

It is unlikely that you will receive a concrete reason without contacting TLG directly. Any answers you receive can only be based on theories and opinions. These types of questions are better suited to a forum or chat room.

@Ambo100: This type of questions ("what reasoning was at work behind the scenes") is commonplace e.g. on [scifi.se]. Answers typically quote statements by people involved in the design process of the product, from interviews, books, or other published sources. I see absolutely no reason why it should be any different with questions about design decisions for Lego products. On top of that, note that a statement by someone behind the scenes is not even necessary, as it seems there is a credible real-world example for the sets I asked about - which is a valid, verifiable answer, too.

This isn't really SF&F, and both site and community cultures vary. It could be as simple as "Kids love dragsters and they are simple to build" or they sell well.

@ZaphBenDuguid: I already explained how such an answer does not have to come directly from TLG without being mere speculation. Anyway, to be fair, SO is not about software recommendations, so asking about software recommendations would indeed be off-topic there. LEGO Answers, on the other hand, is precisely about LEGO.

I'm not sure how we can give "the concrete, actual answer" unless we have access to TLGs research or marketing teams to know why they have found dragsters so marketable. They do like them though, LEGOLand Windsor includes a drag strip in its Miniland, and my kid had the creator set that builds a bike, dragster and something else and the dragster is still complete. My other thought was that steering is tricky at 4-6 studs, and dragsters don't steer, so they suit the medium well.


text:
How can I remove old LEGO bricks that are stuck together?
Brought my childhood LEGO sets from 1970's and 80's for my kids. The pieces attach much tighter together than sets purchased recently.
Can something be done to loosen the attachment without damaging the bricks?

Try using this brick separator tool

Source: https://shop.lego.com/en-US/Brick-Separator-630
A simpler version used to come with older sets. Some of the images demonstrate how the tool may be used with different kinds of pieces.

Source: http://www.philohome.com/remover/remover1.htm
Two brick separators may be used for maximum separating efficiency for certain types of stuck brick situations.
For example, when two plates are stuck together:

Alternatively, using it as a lever to remove tiles

Source: http://thebrickblogger.com/2010/11/lego-brick-separator/

(@emagar has done the editing asked by moderator)
Leverage does the trick with no need for spacial separators or tools that might damage LEGO plastic. Use a long brick as lever, a smaller brick as wedge. Attach the wedge slightly towards the center of the lever. Plug the stuck brick to the space left free, in contact with the wedge. Apply diagonal force to release the stuck brick. Quite amazing.
 _________________________
 |________________________|  lever
     |__|  wedge

           ___
   ________|__| stuck brick (seen sideways)
   |          |
   |          |
   |__________|

     _________________________
     |________________________|
  ____|__|__|<-here  force |
 |          |              V
 |          |            here
 |__________|

See https://youtu.be/KbJV90f6GpM
Try using this technique, fast and easy!

Hi Kenny, welcome to Bricks!  Thanks for this, but link-only answers are discouraged on StackExchange sites.  Can you summarize things here so nothing is lost later if links move around?


text:
My grandson wants a LEGO motor. What should I get?
My grandson wants a LEGO Power Motor to use with his gigantic box of Lego pieces.  He is 11 years old and seems to know his way around the world of LEGO bricks.  I, though, haven't a clue what he is asking for. I see things such as "EV3, NXT, RCX, and NXT-G and I'm confused. Can anyone help me?  What is it I'm looking for?

See Alex' answer, with the following note: There is a combo box that sells a battery box (the AA type) and an M-Motor, plus LED lights, a couple of gears and a polarity switch for (US) $30. It's not typically available in normal stores, but online at shop.lego.com as well as in LEGO brand stores. That's your best deal.

You say he is looking for a "Power Motor", which sounds like he is referring to the LEGO Power Functions line. The bare minimum you need to get a spinning motor would be one of the battery boxes and one of the motors.
Battery Boxes:

AA Battery Box
AAA Battery Box
Rechargeable Battery Box (requires Transformer 10V DC)

Motors:

M-Motor
L-Motor
XL-Motor

(They also make a servo-motor and a train motor, but these are made for special purposes.)

The terms you listed however refer to the different generation of Mindstorms robotics.

EV3: Current generation
NXT: Previous generation
RCX: First generation (rather old and difficult to use with modern computers)
NXT-G: The GUI used to program the NXT robots.

Mindstorms do include motors, among other things, but are mainly geared towards use with robotics.

Alexander you have been very helpful.  I assume that the upper half of your reply is what I'm looking for and we won't worry about the lower half since you lost me there!  This is a great web page for Grandparents.

Note that there is a combo box that sells a battery box (the AA type) and an M-Motor, plus LED lights, a couple of gears and a polarity switch for (US) $30. It's not typically available in normal stores, but online at shop.lego.com as well as in LEGO brand stores. That's your best deal.

@Phil, the set you are referring to is 8293. If the grandson already has a lot of Technic then this is a good way to motorise it https://shop.lego.com/en-NZ/LEGO-Power-Functions-Motor-Set-8293

While Alexander's answer is completely correct, I wanted to provide an alternative that may work a little better while being a bit more expensive. Buying a motor and battery box is certainly the cheapest way to get a spinning motor, but depending on your grandson's collection, this might not provide the best experience.
In order to build creations that operate using motors, it is helpful to have the following in addition to a battery box and motor:

Gears
Axles
Wheels that fit axles (the majority of wheels in the LEGO system are not designed to be driven by a motor)

These pieces form what is commonly branded "Technic", though they are found in non-Technic sets which sometimes feature moving parts.
It can also be helpful to see how motors are used within the larger LEGO system. The best way to get all the needed components and see them in action is to buy a complete set that is motorized. For example:

This set contains loads of axles, wheels, and gears, which together provide a great base for mechanical building. Sets like this are typically expensive ($150+), but could be worth it to you depending on your means.
Here's a list of currently available Technic sets that include electric motors.
Also, to directly respond to your confusion over the many acronyms, the current manually controlled motor system is called Control+ (the previous, and now incompatible, system was called Power Functions). Everything else (EV3, NXT, RCX, etc) is related to robotic and computer controlled motors.

I second this. Getting a motor by itself probably isn't enough. You need a decent collection of gears and technic bricks/beams to make even a simple machine.It also helps to get some of the gear boxes or other specialized parts. Buying any of the motorized Technic sets is a good way to start.

If your grandson has lots of Technic pieces, such as gear wheels, axles, beams with holes etc (if he knows his way around Lego he should be able to confirm that pretty easily), the Lego have a good starter set which contains a motor, battery box and a few other pieces. It's how I started updating my old LEGO Technic sets from the early 90s to be motorised and eventually radio controlled.
https://shop.lego.com/en-NZ/LEGO-Power-Functions-Motor-Set-8293


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How can I create custom EV3 blocks (developer mode)?
What do I need to create custom blocks and in particular the VIX part?

Would be great if someone could create a MQTT custom block.

You only need the official LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 software.
LEGO provides a "EV3 Block Developer Kit" on the MINDSTORMS downloads page. This contains some minimal instructions on creating blocks. It also contains an older version of the EV3 software.
However, I have found that any version of the MINDSTORMS software can be used in "developer mode" by creating a file named MindstormsEV3.ini with the following contents:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Tokens DeveloperMode="True" />

Save this file in the directory where the software is installed, e.g. C:\Program Files (x86)\LEGO Software\LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Home Edition\, then start the software.

This works. Drop a Block to a Program and double-click the block to inspect its .vix internals. Now you are in LabView edit mode.

When trying to save a .vix -- even a new Project and new .vix -- I get a "Unexpected error during save. Is the file read-only?". (Win7 SP1. file permission should not be the issue).

With a fresh copy of Lego Mindstorms Home Edition or Education, the error went away, but the save action is not saving the edited .vix back to disc. Any ideas?

Use Export... on the Developer menu to save the .vix file to disk.

For input output you can use the OtherFiles Folder> EV3 and import the PBricks primitive.


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Creating custom blocks using EV3 block developer kit
I am trying to develop a custom block using ev3 block development kit but I get nowhere. I created the XML files according to the documentation and the VIX file but it does not compile, I cannot export it to a ev3b file and so on.
Can anyone give me some direction (documentation, procedure, hits - anything) in order to proceed.


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Problem with running two XL motors
We are trying to run our Grand Prix racing car on the IR remote control and would like to use two PF XL motors for the drive. One motor works fine on its own, but when both are connected, they stop running. Could it be that the battery pack power isn't strong enough for two motors?

Welcome to LEGO Answers.  Can you show us a picture of how you have this wired up?

You need to explain the circuit you have created or provide a picture of it so we can help you.

Thanks for your answers. I'll try to upload a picture tomorrow. We tried to let the motors run free without being built in and it's the same problem.

We tested the motors directly on the battery box and the motors are running fine for 1or 2 sec and then they stop. one motor at a time is fine.

after a few more tests..... it's the battery box. We tested the motors on another box and everything is running as it should.

As others have said, it's difficult know what is going without seeing your design. I would expect what you have described to work, but it is possible that your design is overloading the over current protection in the battery box.
PF battery boxes are designed to provide 800mA. Any more than this, and they have protection built in to cut power and prevent damage.
LEGO indicated that the XL motors draw 300mA under normal conditions, and Philo has the stalled current listed at 1800mA. A single stalled XL motor can overload the battery box, and two of them working hard can easily as well. See this answer for more information.
As a quick check, if you disconnect the motors from your car so that they can just run free, are they able to both run as expected? This should work fine and draw only 160mA if everything is connected and working properly. If not, one of your components must be performing abnormally or not be connected properly. As others have said, a photo would help us diagnose connection or build issues.