In this chapter, we sought to answer one simple question, “What is Technic?” You discovered that the answer really has two parts to it. First, you found out that Technic is a system within a system. It is a set of LEGO elements with unique and interesting features that can also work with the standard parts you’ve seen elsewhere in this book. Second, you saw that Technic is also a style of building with the specialized pieces that make up this class of parts. This could mean wheeled vehicles that have working steering or it could mean a small helicopter with rotor blades that turn when you give its tail a spin with your finger.

Defining Technic wasn’t as easy as some of the other questions we’ve tackled in this text, but you shouldn’t feel that Technic-style models are beyond your reach in terms of part selection or skills required. As you saw with the helicopter example, a Technic model doesn’t need thousands of parts to make it interesting. It only needs one clever function that makes use of one or more Technic pieces. That’s what makes it different than a model made from only standard system parts. And that’s all you need to know to answer the question, “What is Technic?”