Set reference: 41999
Set name: 4x4 Crawler Exclusive Edition
Theme: LEGO Technic
Release date: 2013.Aug
Number of parts: 1585 (plus a few spares)
Production: 20.000 numbered units (Limited Edition)
LEGO Designer: Kossi (Markus Kossman), rm8 (Egor Karshiev)
Weight: 0,0g (0.0oz)
Approximate set dimensions:
Length - 0,0cm (0.0")
Width - 0,0cm (0.0")
Height - 0,0cm (0.0")
Approximate box dimensions:
Length - 47,8cm (18.8")
Width - 37,7cm (14.6")
Height - 9,4cm (3.5")
Stickers:Yes
Building instructions: 4 booklets included (84, 80, 76 and 68 pages)
B-model: No
Recommended for ages: 11 - 16
Building difficulty level: Medium+
Estimated building time: 5 - 7h
Price range: 179,99€ (EC) / $199.99 (US)
Price per part: 11,4 euro cents / 12.6 cents
Inventory (Bricklink): Link
Other user reviews (Brickset): Link (when available)
As we all should know by now, there was an official LEGO Technic competition in 2012 with the motto "You Design It - We Make It!", in which the contestants had to submit an new model based on the chassis from 9398, 4x4 Crawler. During the submission period (a couple of months) fans voted on their favorites and then LEGO chose 10 from the 100 most voted. finally there was a public votation to choose the winner of those 10, which will turn into an official LEGO Technic set, with a limited and numbered edition of 20.000 sets.
Ant the winner was "The Boss" from Egor Karshiev (rm8) from Russia.
It took a few months for TLG to design the final model based on Egor's design, which was mainly done by our well known Markus Kossman as far as I know. Of course it was also a joint work done with Egor.
Here at TBs 
we will do a review of this model, from wish we are now publishing the first part.
And why we are splitting these in multiple parts you may ask.... Because we intend to do a video streaming from a Live Building session, hence we have not yet built the whole model, which is waiting for you.
So we are now focusing mainly on the box and its contents in this first part, and will return with the remaining part of the review in some days.
1. The package and contents
We had seen a small preview and I had heard a few rumors, the box of this special edition would be something also special in itself. But it was only when I received the model for review and opened the package, that I truly understood what it meant.
The box is indeed something unique, along with its contents!
At first and besides the box is still made of card board, it is a special one with kind of a mate but resembling some sort of plastic finish, and with some glossy details on special elements like the logos and highlighted features from the model.
The box is also of kind never seen on a LEGO Technic model, as you don't need to destroy anything (except the sticker seals) to open it. It has a bottom and top, that you can open and close again and again, without damaging it - no wear, no tear.
Truly a unique collector's box!
I wouldn't be surprised if LEGO would start using this kind of boxes more often, for very special and collectible sets.
Now a view also on each side of the box.
I'll try to show in the photos below, the glossy or shiny details that I was referring above, although it is not easy to capture them in photos, or at least you won't be able have a full experience until you eventually get one in your hands...
The box is full of references to the exclusiveness and functions of the model, from which we show a few examples in more detail below.
And of course it couldn't be missed a reference to the uniquely numbered plate included with the model, included with each of the 20.000 produced units, to assure they are really unique.
For the ultimate touch, the artwork responsibles have decide to include the signatures of the LEGO Technic Designers team, at the innerside of the box cover. I must confess I had a lot of doubts about this until I read about at the official LEGO Technic Blog. Besides my efforts I had only recognized two signatures from Markus and Milan. My wild guess would tell me these are not only model designers but eventually also other people connected with the team and/or the Co-Creation project.
Don't think that even the Egor's signature was included...
Now and still regarding the box, it comes the unavoidable comparation between the boxes from this exclusive set and its older brother 9398. The footprint of the latest is noticeably smaller, which is confirmed by a 32% smaller volume, and this including almost 260 extra parts.
Perhaps it turns even more evident when we put one on top of the other. The length of one is exactly the same of the width from the other, despite the perspective effect on the photo below may suggest they are a bit different. Here you can easily see how huge the difference is!
It is a considerable decrease that certainly reflects on how full you feel the box, when opening it, as we can testify from this picture. Perhaps a more environment friendly trend within TLG, as we haven seen in other LEGO Technic sets from the 2H, like 42009. Future will tell us if it a change to stay or just a coincidence between a huge set in terms of parts and one very exclusive set with a small fancy box.
As usual, in the bottom of everything we can find the bag with the well protected building instructions books (4 of them), the stickers sheet and the string for the winch.
And here a closer view on these.
With the exclusive parts supplied with this set, and the potential use they could have. still don't know whether I'll apply the stickers...
In the end pages from the last book, we can see the already usual and helpful parts list.
Or if you prefer her they are also, inside the numbered bags. "1" for the chassis and "2" for the new upper body, so that building comes easier, and one could work with a smaller amount of parts as they are needed.
Personally and because I'll be doing the live stream, I'll prefer to open all bags and sort the parts so that I could find them the fastest way possible, and decrease the building time to the minimum.
2. The new parts
In terms of new parts this set also includes 3 of the new 11x3 curved panels, that offer additional pin holes for extra connection options.
Although the exclusiveness of this set is in part guaranteed by the number of elements, included in colors never released before for such elements. Namely the Technic panels, some new liftarms and connectors in Dark Blue, and some beams in Metallic Silver.
Additionally we have of course the numbered plate (EK 00001 to EK 20000) that uniquely identifies each set, printed in 2x4 Tile. They are printed with a nice metallic silver "ink" too.
And last but not the least the very exclusive wheels with a printed decorative white circle.
These wheels are also molded with a glossy black plastic, while they use to be mate in other sets.
In order to protect the white printed circle, from getting damaged by other elements inside the box, the wheels are packed partially inserted in the tires (from the printed side).
Although still minor imperfections can be found on the printing, at the edge running in the middle of the printed surface (at least it happened with my model).
And this is what you get in terms of exclusive items.
3. The parts assortment
As with the original 9398, part assortment in this set is quite specific for off-road or trial vehicles. Due to set size and exclusiveness of many parts, this is a good assortment though!
This is also a good source to gather some specific and rare PF elements, like the still rare PF Servo, L-motor, the V2 IR Receiver and even the PF Lights or PF Switch, which are not that common.
Below a more detailed view on the PF elements included, since there are some extras when compared to 9398. Namely we get additionally:
1x PF M-motor
1x PF Switch
1x PF Lights
I'm sure you'll find great use for all these!
To finalize for today, I leave you with some additional photos of the box.
An now that we are ready to build...
... we will return with the rest, some other day!...