On this day in 2016 (well… the 30th of January, anyway), I sat down and decided to start writing a LEGO Blog. I am still here. And the end of January feels more like the end of the year to me than December 31, for various reasons.
In 2022, we posted 136 new articles/ news/product announcements and reviews. We have almost reached 1000 posts on the blog, and will cross this landmark next week, I expect. Jay’s Brick Blog and. I have released 18 episodes of our Extra Pieces podcast. If you haven’t heard it, feel free to give it a try.
During the year, I have exhibited at Brickvention 2022, Bendigo Bricks 2022, Brixpo (Adelaide) 2022, and the Skaerbak Fan Weekend. This latter trip was associated with a visit to the AFOL Day at the LEGO House, along with attending the Recognised LEGO Fan Media days at LEGO HQ in Billund.
I have presented talks at Skaerbaek and Brickvention.
During the year, I sponsored a building Challenge in conjunction with @brickfambuilds on Instagram, where we explored classic themes. As part of this, I devised a new community display – the Minifigures on Parade. We made a feature of this at Brickvention 2023, and had over 80 modules on display. I feel there are ways to finesse the standard, and I hope to present a an updated specification shortly.
Finally, I am humbled to have received several awards of recognition from members of the AFOL community – a Nerd of Note, from the Bricknerd Team. Bricknerd is one of my favorite LEGO Blogs – specialising in long-form articles on just about everything you can imagine. Since its relaunch 2 years ago they have covered material at all ends of the LEGO World. The other is the Kingdom award, presented by the Victorian LEGO Community to AFOLs who make ‘a significant contribution to the AFOL community through their time, actions, talents and dedication, while serving as a role model for compassion, and service and be striving to make the AFOL World a better place.’
As I said, I find it pretty humbling to know that this is how I am regarded by my peers.
Going Forward:
We shall continue to present the articles that have characterised the last few years: AFOL focussed set announcements, reviews of sets large and small, as well as continuing our exploration of classic themes, and looking at sets from years gone past.
We hope to be presenting Extra pieces more frequently this year – ideally on a fortnightly basis. We might fail.
I will be out on the road a couple of times this year. I hope to get to a couple of Australian shows, and will also be attending the Paredes de Coura, the Portuguese Fan Weekend in June.
In the meantime, are you a regular reader of the Blog? I would love to know what types of articles you enjoy reading on the blog: Classic themes? Gender Balance? Digital how-tos? Reviews of big sets? Small sets? Classic Sets? LEGO Super Mario?
Please leave your comments below and until next time…
Play Well!
Congrats, my friend. The accolades are well deserved. Seven years of blogging is quite the achievement!
We are honored that you count BrickNerd among your favorite blogs–Rambling Brick is one of our favorites! We were pleased to name you a Nerd of Note–a well-deserved award–and we look forward to the next 7 years!
Congratulations & the happiest of birthdays to you. For a seven year old, you look like you’ve had a rough trot so far, lol, but your articles are always informative, articulate & what I admire most, unbiased. You tell it as you see it. wishing you many many more birthdays to come.