A cool castle (plus some personal updates!)

I'm back!
The last few months have been super busy and I've barely even touched a LEGO brick, much less had the time to build anything serious or, as you've probably noticed, post anything here. But I'm still here, and so are the other Bucketeers, so never fear! Woo, rhymes!

A couple of asides before I jump into the main content of this post:

First, the Season 1 finale of the ABS Builder Challenge is underway, and as a Season 1 contestant, I'm included! 16 competitors are using the dark red "elbow brick" to create some dang cool MOCs, and I'll be blogging several of those in the next few days, as well as hopefully uploading a few of my own contributions to Flickr. 

Second, the other day I had an excellent conversation with my English teacher regarding the LEGO fan community. Turns out his 10-year-old son is a big fan and my teacher got suckered in, and they took a trip to LEGOLAND in Florida over February break. My teacher showed my a video he took of Miniland, and we discussed conventions and TFOLs; the next day I brought my copy of Beautiful LEGO for him and his son to borrow. I found it impressive that LEGO fan terminology and culture has now reached the level of popularity that I can discuss it with my English teacher as normally as if we were talking about Huckleberry Finn or The Catcher in the Rye. 

Anyways. I do actually have a MOC to show you today, and it's a good one. 

"Waelras Castle" comes from the build table of Sir Gillian and it's a case study in constructing a natural, tranquil Castle setting. Everything flows together nicely, from the greebled stone walls of the castle to the rocky, leafy cliffs to the smooth SNOTed water. 

Check out the Flickr album for several more shots, because there are a lot of creative details packed into this build. But I gotta point this one out: what are a Fabuland figure and a Rock Monster doing down here?

Explain yourself, sir. 

I'll be back later with some more quality content™!

2016 in the rearview: The Brick Bucket yearly recap, vol. 3

Another year has come and gone, and it's time for me to look back on The Brick Bucket and the LEGO community as a whole in 2016. 

This year - May 16, I believe - will mark the third anniversary of The Brick Bucket. That's a pretty cool achievement and I'm happy to still be here running this little blog with the help of some fantastic fellow contributors. We didn't put out as many posts this year, but we aimed for quality over quantity and I still think the Bucket is a good place to go to find some really awesome MOCs. 

I'd like to start off by discussing the addition of our newest writer, John Klapheke (BrickBuilder7622 on Flickr). John joined us in August 2016 after I blogged his microscale modern architecture build. Since then he's boosted our coverage of Castle-type MOCs (Aaron, Frog and I are more sci-fi-oriented). He's been a welcome presence on the Bucket and I've been happy to work with him. His builds are pretty sweet too, so be sure to check out his Flickr...

And now, allow me to introduce 2016's most popular posts on The Brick Bucket. 

Most popular posts (most pageviews)

1. Please welcome new contributor John Klapheke!
2. Desert Fortress
3. All of these MOCs are sort of related...
4. The good, the evil and the...nocturnal being?
5. Lovely German office building
6. Luggabeast
7. Tokyo skyline
8. "I'm late I'm late I'm late"
9. Dragon warrior
10. Cars and trucks and things that go*

Our top posts featured a variety of MOCs, from sci-fi to Castle to character builds and more. I think this illustrates the variety the Bucket is capable of, and how there's something here for every fan. 

Most-blogged builders

Jonas Kramm (Legopard) was by far our most-blogged builder, with 9 posts credited to him in 2016. Jonas is simply an incredible builder and well deserving of this small honor. I highly recommend you go scroll through his Flickr. 

Deltassius put up a strong second place finish with 5 MOCs of his being blogged. Deltassius is an under-the-radar mecha builder and his little 'bots are also worth a view or two on Flickr. 

In a tie for third place, Djokson, John Snyder (jsnyder002), nobu_tary, Robert Heim (Robiwan_Kenobi), and Tim Schwalfenberg (One More Brick) each had 3 of their MOCs blogged. 

Traffic sources and audience

Here are 2016's top visiting countries to the Bucket:

1. United States
2. Germany
3. Russia
4. United Kingdom
5. France
6. Canada
7. Italy
8. Slovakia
9. Australia
10. Netherlands

The U.S. still makes up the majority of our views, but Germany now accounts for quite a bit too (then again, Dead Frog is a German citizen!) The U.K. drops from 2nd to 4th, while Russia and Italy are up and Australia and the Netherlands are down. Slovakia is new in the top 10 and honestly? I can't account for that :P

Much of our traffic this year came from Google (a good sign - either people are Googling us, or our links/images are showing up higher in search results!), with a significant portion also from Twitter. BrickRSS and The Brothers Brick were also fairly large sources of traffic. 

More info

Average posts per month in 2016: 8.42

Total posts in 2016: 101

Social media

We maintain a presence on Twitter and I try to update our Pinterest board whenever possible. Give us a follow!

In conclusion...

Thanks again to everyone who reads and supports The Brick Bucket. I'm happy to lead such a talented team and to provide the LEGO community with another source of MOCs, reviews, and more brick-related goodness. In 2017 I'd like to post a little more, but of course we'll always be aiming for quality over quantity. If any of you have any comments or questions - or would be interested in joining our staff - feel free to use our contact page or talk to any of our writers on Flickr. Happy New Year and best of luck with your LEGO endeavors in 2017!

The Brick Bucket 2015 recap

Hello! Somewhat amazingly, it's time for me to write the second post of this kind: a look back at The Brick Bucket's past year. 2016 will mark this humble blog's third year of operation, and I have plenty of changes planned going forward - but of course The Brick Bucket will remain fundamentally the same as it has been for the last two years: a blog dedicated to the LEGO hobby and the beautiful creations built by the hobbyists. 

Let's start off the 2015 recap with a look at the top 10 most popular posts, by pageview count, on the blog this year. 

Most popular posts

1. Nexo Knights set images and analysis!
2. Iron Maiden
3. Summer 2015 set reveal masterpost
4. This in-depth review of terrible LEGO clone brands is the funniest thing you'll read all week
5. The Force Awakens set images and analysis
6. Brick Bucket Review #6: 75099 Rey's Speeder
7. A slick spacetruck
8. The faceless mecha
9. Bad things come in threes
10. Come closer to the light...

The top posts were dominated by set previews, in which we examined freshly revealed sets to look at interesting new pieces and techniques. The Nexo Knights preview, analyzing LEGO's big and brand new theme (just barely out now!) was a no-contest for the most-viewed post: three times as popular as #2 and responsible for almost 4% of The Brick Bucket's total pageviews all-time!

Hype for The Force Awakens also featured strongly, with the top 10 containing both a preview of the sets and a review of 75099 Rey's Speeder by Dead Frog Inc. 

...which brings me to my next point, and one of the blog's most important developments in 2015: the addition of three new bloggers!

A new crew

In 2015, The Brick Bucket was transformed from a one-man operation to a four-man blog team. First, in June, we welcomed Dead Frog Inc., formerly of The Brick Tavern. (He's also responsible for our flashy new logo!) Then, not even a month later, Aaron Van Cleave, aka A Plastic Infinity, joined us, bringing zany commentary and plenty of emoticons. Finally, September saw the arrival of Thomas of Tortuga. 

Having a team - small as it is - has helped our output. You may notice that we have fewer posts in 2015 than in 2014, even though the blog wasn't even created until May 2014! I haven't been able to post as much due to all the normal teenager reasons - school, sports, etc., and I imagine the same is true for my co-bloggers. But we went for quality over quantity, and as any look through the year's posts will show you, the MOCing community had a hell of a year, making it a joy to blog all the amazing builds that were produced. 

Most popular MOCs and builders
In terms of pageviews, the most popular MOC we featured this year was the microscale ship "Iron Maiden" by Sean and Steph Mayo (Siercon and Coral), made for Iron Builder. View the post here. 

Sean and Steph were part of a three-way tie for our third-most blogged builder, along with vitroleum and Kosmas Santosa (KOS brick), all of whom had 4 posts each. Second place was another three-way tie, between 6kyubi6, Rancorbait, and Tyler Clites (Legohaulic), with 5 posts each. 

But our single most-blogged builder this year was the unstoppable nobu_tary, whose excellent and prolific work garnered him 6 Brick Bucket posts this year! Use the search bar in the sidebar over there ---> to see them all. 

Traffic sources and audiences

The top 10 most popular visiting countries were much the same as last year's:

1. United States
2. United Kingdom
3. Germany
4. France
5. Canada
6. Australia
7. Russia
8. the Netherlands
9. Italy
10. Poland

Canada moved up considerably in the rankings, while Portugal and Turkey dropped out entirely, replaced by the Netherlands and Italy. The top four countries remain unchanged from 2014. 

More info

- Average posts per month this year: 14
- Total posts this year: 167

- Pins on our Pinterest board this year: 201

- Most popular Pin: once again, Tuna the Phelfie Dog

(Don't forget to follow our aforementioned Pinterest board as well as our Twitter!)

Ads (and building contests?)

Another important development for us in 2015 was that we started running ads in the sidebar. They don't generate much revenue, since I designed them to be as unobtrusive as possible, but any money we make will go towards site maintenance or towards prizes for contests! Yes, the idea has been put forth many times in our group chat, and we would like to host at least one building contest here in 2016. But more on that as it develops...

In conclusion...

If you read this blog regularly, you've heard all this from me before, but here's a big thank you not just to my readers, but to all members of the LEGO community, who build such creative and amazing models and make browsing Flickr for MOCs to blog so enjoyable. All of us here at The Brick Bucket wish all of you the best of luck in your building. Happy New Year and Leg Godt. 

2014 in review

On May 17th, 2014- a little over six months ago- I started Brickology with the intent of highlighting the best LEGO fan creations from around the web, along with other LEGO-related musings. Now it's the end of the year (already!) and it's time for my 2014 recap. In this post I'll talk a little bit about the development of Brickology throughout those months as well as what it's been like running an increasingly popular LEGO blog. 

Most popular posts
The ten most popular posts on Brickology this year were:

1. Of cosmic proportions
2. Executron from The LEGO Movie looks like Tumblr's "anonymous" symbol
3. Why are collectible minifigures so overpriced now? [Editorial]
4. Grow up or wither
5. Star Vikings
6. Supernova
7. Abaqa
8. Nice curves
9. Super 7
10. Vespa

In first place for the year was my post on Jerac's stunning (and huge) Imperial Star Destroyer replica. Close behind was a post that I just made as a quick joke, but it seems to have been popular. Readers also enjoyed my essay about how pricey LEGO's collectible Minifigures line has become and why that's a problem. Filling out the top ten are a collection of MOCs from all different themes and areas of the community.

Traffic sources and audience
Much of my traffic came from Google and Netvibes. Within the LEGO community, I got a lot of pageviews from The Brothers Brick, Build Like a Boss, Big Sal's Brick Blog, BrickRSS, and The LEGO Car Blog. 

The top ten visiting countries were:

1. United States
2. United Kingdom
3. Germany
4. France
5. Australia
6. Turkey
7. Portugal
8. Russia
9. Poland
10. Canada  

More info
- Average posts per month this year: 27 
- Total Pins on Brickology's Pinterest board this year: 210
- Most popular Pin on Brickology's Pinterest board: Tuna the Phelfie Dog
- Brickology's stats courtesy of Alexa.com (I'm ranked #9.4 million in the world!)

What's it been like for me? 
I have had a lot of fun working on Brickology. After seeing great blogs like The Brothers Brick, The LEGO Car Blog, and many others, I wanted to help spread the amazing work of the LEGO fan community to the rest of the world, and hopefully inspire more people to take up LEGO as a hobby and an art form. I plan to continue updating this blog into 2015 and beyond. 

A lot of people and blogs in the online LEGO community have helped me out along the way. The LEGO Car Blog, Big Sal's Brick Blog, and Build Like A Boss all added Brickology to their blogrolls. BrickRSS was also kind enough to add Brickology to its LEGO blog RSS feed. Additionally, shout out to everyone who followed Brickology on Pinterest, Twitter, and Google+!

Thanks to all my readers (past, present and future), and to all the members of the LEGO community who build such amazing creations and make browsing Flickr for models to blog a joy every day. Have fun and Leg Godt. 

How do I find creations to blog?

A reader emailed me this morning with the following question:

"I was just curious enough to know how you pick out your Brick creations of a day, which website do you go on to choose?"

That's a good question, and the truth is, I don't really have any sort of "master plan" for how I find creations to blog here on Brickology. Basically, if I see something I like, I blog it. However, I have a few criteria:

1. Must be made (almost) entirely out of LEGO. No clone brands allowed, ever. (Custom parts are okay.) I make the occasional exception when a small amount of non-LEGO material enhances the MOC in some way, but if it's less than 95% LEGO, it's a no-go. 
2. Good photography is a must! 
3. I don't usually like to blog LDD creations. Don't ask why. 
4. I try not to blog things that any of the other major LEGO blogs have already posted, but obviously this is an easy rule to break. 

Where do I find MOCs to blog? Mostly on Flickr- I frequently check the Builders Lounge pool and many of the other ones listed in Brickology's LEGO Web Directory. I check MOCpages about 2-3 times a month, and rarely use anything else. (Sorry Brickshelf users, it's too cluttered and outdated for me!)

The Brothers Brick has a great "how to get blogged" article here that also kind of applies to Brickology, if anyone wants more information. 

Thanks for the question- I'm always open to hearing from readers!

Why are Collectible Minifigures so overpriced now? [Editorial]

Back when they were introduced in May 2010, LEGO's Collectible Minifigures were clearly something special. 16 different characters in mystery packs, so you wouldn't know who you'd get- but you knew you would get something good. It was undoubtedly a quite profitable idea for LEGO, but it also gave us fans something new and exciting, whether you wanted the parts or just another nice minifigure for your collection. 

And for a few years, everything was going well. 11 series of minifigures were produced- a total of 176 different characters. Parts from the line were beginning to find their way into mainstream sets, but the minifigures kept getting better and better. 

Then, in May 2014- four years after the original Minifigures series- The Simpsons series was released. This was an interesting move on LEGO's part, and some thought it was a bad one. Previously, LEGO had made a series based on The LEGO Movie, but The Simpsons series was the first truly licensed theme, based on another company's property. Due to the licensing costs, this series of minifigures cost $3.99 each instead of the usual $2.99. This was slightly aggravating, but in this case understandable. 

BUT THEN...

LEGO announced that Series 12 (which was just released a month ago) would also have minifigures priced at $3.99 each, just like The Simpsons series. The difference here was that these minifigures weren't licensed. There wasn't really any good reason for LEGO to keep the price a dollar above the previous amount. 

Four dollars is not a lot of money, I know. But the minifigures have not suddenly started containing more pieces. They are still tiny little toys, no more than 10 parts each (usually more like 5 or 6). Four dollars for six parts is waaaayyyyy higher than would reasonably be expected in any other LEGO theme. It comes out as about 67 cents per piece, compared to the average of 10 or 11 cents per piece. 

I really think The LEGO Group should consider taking the price of Collectible Minifigures back down to three dollars (or even two dollars, the price back in 2010) for the next series and any (non-licensed) ones after that. The current price increase has taken a considerable amount away from the joy of purchasing, opening, and trading your minifigures. 

And anyway- at its heart, LEGO isn't entirely about making scads of money. It's about having fun. Collectible minifigures used to be fun. If LEGO brings the price down to a more reasonable amount, they can be fun again. 

Everything is NOT awesome [Editorial]

Update- as of October 9th, 2014, LEGO has ended its partnership with Shell, claiming they want no involvement with Shell or Greenpeace. Read more on The Brick Fan or The LEGO Car Blog. 

Though this blog has a fun, playful tone (it is about a toy and an art form, after all), today I'm using it to address a real-life (but still, of course, LEGO-related) issue. 

The video above is fantastic... and it tells of a real problem. 

Greenpeace is asking LEGO to sever its ties with oil company Shell, who is "polluting our kids' imaginations" through their associations with LEGO. You can click here to learn more and to sign a petition to try and help stop LEGO's partnership with Shell. This is an important issue and I'm glad to see someone addressing it in such a peaceful, useful manner. 

Here's what Greenpeace said regarding this video on YouTube: 

http://www.legoblockshell.org/?ytv1

We love LEGO. You love LEGO. Everyone loves LEGO. 

But when LEGO's halo effect is being used to sell propaganda to children, especially by an unethical corporation who are busy destroying the natural world our children will inherit, we have to do something.

http://www.legoblockshell.org/?ytv1

Children's imaginations are an unspoilt wilderness. Help us stop Shell polluting them by telling LEGO to stop selling Shell-branded bricks and kits today. Sign our petition athttp://www.legoblockshell.org/?ytv1

Greenpeace is calling on LEGO to end its partnership with Shell to Save the Arctic