Welcome to 2014! At this time last year we discussed new year’s resolutions that can help LEGO fans managing their hobby; organizing, displaying, budgeting, planning for new LEGO projects, meeting new friends, etc. You can still joint that discussion here: What is Your LEGO New Year’s Resolution? Today I would like to reflect on the LEGO hobby in the larger scheme of things; how it fits into our lives and into the world we live in. 🙂
The reason I thought of this topic is because the LEGO company, as well as the LEGO hobby itself, has been growing by leaps and bounds in the past couple of years – in direct opposition of the rest of the economy. (See LEGO’s annual reports and progress reports here.)Prices on all basic necessities continue to rise, people have been loosing their jobs, their homes, their savings, and we are in a constant state of war with somebody or something. So why is LEGO so popular? Why are people spending money on a toy when they have trouble with other areas of their lives? 😕
A couple of years ago I read an interesting article (unfortunately I don’t remember where) about the success of child-actress Shirley Temple. She rose to popularity during the Great Depression; her sweet, innocent and funny nature stole the hearts of moviegoers. She took peoples’ mind off of the harshness of everyday reality and fulfilled their yearning for a better, kinder life. Besides being an incredibly talented and hard-working little kid, she was also at the right place at the right time to bring some sunshine into an otherwise bleak world.
The same thing is said about Cicely Mary Barker, a favorite artist of mine. Her charming little Flower Fairies became incredibly popular between the two World Wars and beyond (and are popular to this day). In the introduction of the book The Complete Book of the Flower Fairies – which is a compilation of most of her artwork – it is mentioned how the war-weary public was fascinated by Cicely’s fairies and charmed by her vision of innocence. It is said that when people are under a lot of pressure and there is a lot of darkness, hopelessness and uncertainty around, they either take to activities and substances to go even further down the abyss, or reach out to something innocent, creative, and beautiful that remind them of better times.
So what about LEGO? Of course LEGO has been around since 1949, but its recent growth has been quite unprecedented. Are people turning to the LEGO hobby as a welcome break from everyday life? Or because they know its long-term value and durability? Or is it all in the hands of speculators who are buying and selling LEGO on the secondary market making the hobby artificially inflated? What do you think?
Also, today theBrickBlogger turned 3 years old! I wanted to thank all of our readers, supporters, contributors, guest-bloggers and everyone else who helped us make 2013 a fun year! I also wanted to thank our friends at LEGO, especially Kevin Hinkle, Kim Ellekjær Thomsen and Jan Beyer, who work very hard to support both the online LEGO communities as well as LEGO Users Groups. Any time we have a question, request, or problem they are immediately there to help out. So thank you all! Below is a fun map of all the countries and territories that have visited theBrickBlogger; so far 224 countries/territories visited and 289 flags have been collected (you can find the full interactive map here). And yes, we finally have one visitor from Saint Helena, a tiny and very isolated island-group I was always hoping to get a visitor from! So where are you on the map? 😉
From the look of the 2014 LEGO sets and new releases; including the reappearance of LEGO Ninjago, the launching of The LEGO Movie and related sets, the launching of the LEGO Disney Princess line, the continuation of popular themes like LEGO Legends of Chima, LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Lord of the Rings, LEGO Super Heroes, LEGO Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, LEGO City, etc., it seems like we are going to have another great year! What do you think?
What about you? What are your plans in regards to the LEGO hobby this year? What projects are you planning to work on? Any new sets you are saving up for? Any LEGO related events you are going to? Feel free to share in the comment section below! And have a wonderful and LEGO-filled year! 😀
And you might also like to check out the following related posts:
- 2014 LEGO The Hobbit Sets Now Available!
- 2014 LEGO Hero Factory Sets Pictures!
- 2014 LEGO Star Wars Microfighters
- 2014 LEGO Ninjago Sets Video Reviews
- 2014 LEGO Legends of Chima Sets
- 2014 LEGO Super Heroes Sets – Pictures!
- The LEGO Movie – More Updates & New Trailer!
- LEGO Disney Princess Website Now Open!
First of all Happy Birthday to The BrickBlogger! I love the information and sense of community I get from this site.
As for LEGO plans this year I plan to make it to Brick faire later this month. I’ll take lots of pictures and hopefully add to my LEGO collection.
Chris, always nice to have you, and Happy New Year to you too! Keep us posted on BrickFair and how you liked it! 🙂
Happy Brithday TBB! 🙂
Thanks! And Happy New Year to you! 🙂
Your Welcome! And Happy New Year. (Oh, I’ve just ordered the Thunder Raider, Destructoid and Hover Hunter. I’ll do a review once they arrive 😀 !)
Nice! Have fun with your new sets! And let us know how you like them. 🙂
Sigh. My new year passed by uneventfully. Anyways, Happy New Year and Happy Birthday The BrickBlogger! I love articles like this that focus on the more philosophical aspects of the hobby…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TBB my resolution is to get my legos under control 😉
That is going not going to be easy with all the awesome sets that just came out, plus the ones scheduled for the summer. One needs to have the self-control of a zen buddhist! What I do is to have a very strict LEGO budget and also a shopping list. But even with that some unplanned $10 sets sometimes sneak in here and there.
I agree with the Buddhist approach. Is it true you were a monk for eight years?
Yeah, those were very peaceful years; reading, chanting, meditating… but it also came with a lot of restrictions. Eventually I realized I needed to be more balanced in life as far as the material and spiritual sides. But I will always be grateful for those years and will always remember the teachings and the realizations I had. I think every young person should try it, at least for a while (older people can do it too, of course, but it is easier in younger years when there are less needs and obligations). It makes you discover yourself, and gain a kind of clarity that is difficult to achieve in any other way. It also helps you learn to cope with internal and external disturbances and get a larger perpective on them, and life in general. 🙂
Its true that in order to fully be at peace with the world you can’t live in an extreme.
I do find myself very tense at times, so I think a couple years as a monk would be good for me. What faith did you practice as a monk.
Also, you said you have diven a tank, did you join the army? If so, how did you reconclile the pacifism you practiced as a monk with being with the military?
Lorca, sometimes you have to go extreme to find balance. It is a great contradiction, but it is how it works. Swinging from one extreme to the next at times can help you see the scope of things, and finally land in the middle at peace. It is not easy. It can take years, or even lifetimes. And it requires courage. Someone else can’t do it for you. You have to find your own peace. A lot of people make the mistake on relying on others to walk the path for them. It is impossible. We can have teachers, well-wishers and friends, but we all have to fly our own airplane. We are all born alone and die alone… the earlier we reliase this the better prepared we will be.
I lived with Vaishnava monks. They are a monoteistic group, but it is not considered a religion or faith. It is about self-realisation – a spiritual science, and people from many religions practice its principles. When I was with them there were several Jewish practitioners, a Christian priest, and people from many other groups and walks of life. Some of the monks practiced their entire life. Vaisnavism originates in India, so some people think it has to do with Hinduism. The roots are similar, but the conclusion and application are quite different.
There are four NOs to the the practice; no meat-eating, no intoxication, no gambling and no illicit sex. This is to clear the mind and the body and to live a pure and simple life free of distractions. The DOs are basically to find the way to be happy and peaceful; this includes meditating, chanting, study and humble service to the community.
No, I never joined military service. I was a tween when I drove a tank. I was part of an experiment where children were thought basic military and survival skills early in life. We learned survival techniques, the use of guns, and driving one rickety old tank. 😉
I think some time as a Monk with no physical attachments would do me some good. It’ll probably help with my Hoarding Problem.
LOL! Yeah, it can help. For 8 years all I had was a milk-crate-worth of belongings; a couple of sets of clothes, a sleeping bag and a journal. You can learn to live with very little. It is a liberating feeling. I gave away all my stuff before I did that, but it’s not necessary. Some monks have hoarding problems too. It is a tough habit to overcome. The trick is to turn it into something beneficial in the service of others. 🙂
I have always thought of myself as having the propensity to live with little belongings. My father has always tought me to have everything, including my person, inside me, and not have to rely on physical objects. It has helped me alot. I would like a chance to test my mettle, though.
And the tank, was this a scientific study?
Also, if I may ask, how old are you?
Scientific study? I don’t know. It was probably one of those stupid things grown-ups came up with to torture kids. It was part of my school curriculum I think. We didn’t really care what it was because on days when we had training we didn’t have to be in the classroom. It didn’t last for very long though. My brother is four years younger, went to the same school and he didn’t go through it. It was probably too controversial. But he was so jealous because it was really fun and I was always telling him about my adventures. Our parents got us into a lot of crazy stuff.
You will never get a straight answer from a female about their age. When they are younger they pretend to be older, and when they are older they pretend to be younger. It is a futile question. If they tell you their real age they are not a real lady – at least that’s what my grandma always said. My grandpa didn’t find out that my grandma was 5 years older until they were both in their 80s! 🙄
Rather jaw-dropping educational policies…
Sounds a bit like Red Dawn…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Dawn
Hakan, it wasn’t like that, although it is a good comparison. We were never in danger. At least not to my knowledge. I’m not exactly sure what was the reason for this program as I was just a child, but we were safe and had lots of fun camping out in the woods and learning all kinds of useful and interesting skills. I can ask my Dad who ran the program next time I talk with him. I just remember having fun. 🙂
Anna, the tactic I used to find out women’s ages was asking “soooo, how YOUNG are you?”… 80% “of the time it works, every time” (that last quote was Brian Fantana on the 1st anchorman LOL)
Naw, that’s just means that we were successful in making you believe you got the real answer. One of my teachers said: If a lady says “no” she means “maybe”, if she says “maybe” she means “yes”, and if she says “yes” she is not a lady. You will never get a straight answer from us… on anything. Have you read “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus”? It is a very funny eye-opener, and a great book to read with your spouse. There is a Mars-Venus dictionary in it to help out those poor simple Martians. 😀
my resolution, get more LEGOs! 😈
Happy Birthday and Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to you, Allen from TheBrickFan! Always nice to have you over! I hope you will another wonderful blogging year! 🙂
Have a happy new year and thank you Brick blogger(Admin) for all the things you shared with us this past year. As for temptations of the new year of LEGO sets, well, I am helplessly hopeless about that. As they say in AA one step at a time.
Maybe we should start a LEGO AA program. 😉
…Uh, What’s an AA? Batteries?
Alcoholics Anonymous. It is a non-profit support group for people who are recovering from addictions. It has been around for a long time and is a very succesful program. It is not just for alcoholics. There are groups within the organization for all kinds of addictions. They are well known for their 12-step program of recovery.
I would probably never pass day 3, at the most.
Oh, those things, the ones often shown in movies with dialogues such as this:
Alcoholic: My name is (Put your name here)
Everyone else:(in a deadpan tone) Hello (Put your name here)
Am I right?
LOL! Yeah!
AFOL:s Anonymous.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TBB! and happy new year! 😀 and (hopefully) only a week away till the Ninjago season premier!
Happy New Year to you too, and all the wonderful Ninjago fans who keep the Ninjago section always fresh and alive! 🙂
😉 happy new year to you too admin!
Thanks! Happy New Year to you too! 😛
funny, the last time I commented on this website was last year! 😆
Lego has meant a lot to me the last few years. I haven’t had consistent work and Lego has always been there for me to fight back any sadness that wants to show it’s ugly head. Even window shopping for Lego makes me feel better. It makes sense that something that makes people happy will continue to grow even when everything else is so bleak.
Happy birthday! I love this site and read it every day.
Antoniette, thanks for your honest sharing. Yeah, LEGO is a good way to stay in touch with the better, brighter, kinder things in live. Wishing you a wonderful, prosperious and satisfying year! And keep in touch! 🙂
Has any of you seen this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HScCfu7_UZs
In my opinion, it’s amazing. I will be looking forward to it-I hope Ghost does a good job in it. By the looks of it, it might actually have a thick, coherent storyline this time!
Just watched it. Very interesting! I really like the small hearoes and look forward to them. If you want to write a post on the topic and the trailer it’s yours. It doesn’t have to be long. A 500-word-ish post for a trailer like this is fine. 😉
I’ll work on it…
Thanks for all the work you put into this blog to keep people informed on Lego! For the past 2 years I’ve been on this site, I have always been satisfied with the information. Thanks again for making this blog! 😀
P.S. there are no visitors from Greenland 😛
Not yet, at least…
Thanks for your kind words and for sticking around. Maybe we should do something about Greenland… anyone knows anybody up there?
I know someone from Greenland! okay not really. 🙁 but that would be awesome!
Greenland’s part of Denmark, actually. You would think they’d have an AFOL community.
It’s very cold, dry and arid, though. I believe it’s basically only the coastline that is habitable…
Hm… I’m not sure if on the map they are considered as one. Maybe they are. I think it depends on the IP address.
Hey wait, I just rechecked and there’s already 44 visitors in Greenland,if I’m not mistaken. But I think I’m wrong.
Next goal, Alaska!
Oh, yeah, you are right! Maybe Butter Ninja was only looking at the static picture I posted here, rather than the dynamic one following the link. Actually, we do have visitors from Alaska. 4036 different people according to the map counter. You have to go the the “Details” tab on the map-counter, and hit the little + next to the USA to expand to different states. 😉
Oh I see. Right, silly me for forgetting that Alaska is an American state and thus is counted in America. Alaskan readers, please spare me!
Alright then, a real next goal: The North Pole!
Yeah, Alaska is kind of part of the USA, but it is really like another country. Even we think of it that way at times. I don’t think the North Pole is a country or even land. It is just ice in the ocean. But if a polar bear wants to chime in and correct me that’s fine. 😉
I’m surprised at the number of visitors from Australia, I thought there would be less. Funny thing is I saw a number plate the other day on someone’s car LEGOADIKT I took a photo of it 😀
Oh, that’s fun! You should have stopped and asked them if you could visit their house!
As far as Australia, it has a very large LEGO fan community. Also, if you go to the real map (at the link) you can play with it and check out how many visitors are coming from various countries. On this static picture I just pulled up some of the countries we get the most visitors from. 😉
Happy New Year and Happy Birthday!! I love this blog and all the informative and fun articles you have here.
I am one of your brazillian visitors! 😀
I want to have more sets and to separate a time for the hobby so I can do MOCs and not only build by instructions.
Eduardo, nice to have ya! I didn’t realize you were from Brazil! Yay, for Brazilian LEGO fans! Wishing you the best with MOC-ing it is a very fun hobby and the community of MOC-ers is great! 🙂
Hey, Antoinette. I know what you mean about dealing with hard things in life.( I think we all do.) LEGO has been a great escape for me as well. It is so nice to have an outlet and a health one at that. I been following BB for about a year and half. I learned a lot. One, is I am not the only one stuck in a LEGO whirlwind. I’m just enjoying the ride ( and hope it doesn’t stop.)
That’s a good point about discovering the LEGO community. If you are a teen who is “still playing with LEGO”, or an adult who got into the hobby later in life, it could feel a little weird alone; like wondering if it is okay for a grown-up to “play with a toy”. Once however you discover the awesome people involved in the hobby coming from all age-groups and professions, you realize that this is one of the bestest hobbies ever. And if you regularly stay in touch with other in the hobby your creativity and inspiration will grow quickly. A nice side-effect of which that because of your enthusiasm and positive energy, other aspects of your life will improve too. 😉
I have to admit, 2013 has been somewhat of a bad year, but I feel hope for 2014. LEGO has and will continue to be my companion to good and bad times.
Happy Birthday BrickBlogger! I have read this blog for almost a year now! 😀 My New Year’s resolutions are to post in the comments section here more often and organize my LEGO(Duh duh duh :P) am looking forward to another great year for LEGO!
Thank you! Actually the comments from you guys help out greatly. I may not always respond to every single comment, but I do read every one of them. It gives me ideas of what I should write about and what can be helpful to our community. So yeah, questions, ideas, just plain comments, or even when you guys talk with each other are very much appreciated. Good luck with the organization. 😉
Thanks, I have only collected since ’07 but I have a TON to organize. But of course I think my room will not look like a LEGO tornado went through it when I’m done. 😀
He-he… I have a LEGO tornado in my room right now after working on The LEGO Movie sets. 😉
i’ve been reading this blog for a year!
The 😛 emote is a lot different than the one on the LMBs! XD
My family and I give our Christmas gifts on New Years, so, I recieved 2012’s minifig-scale X-Wing set, and a bag of extremely rare vintage LEGO my grandmother found at a flea market. Among the contents were three Jack Stone figures, an M-Tron sound brick, and the 2005 special edition golden brick!
My gosh, that’s a lot of great treasure right there! Your grandma is awesome! 😀
She is. In fact, she is with me now, she is reading Northanger Abbey.
I am about to show her GoLEGO’s Totentanz brickfilm.
P.S. I finished building my X-Wing.
Happy birthday 🙂 my resolution is simple in terms of lego. No more buying just sorting – 40ish sets to part out and 200+ polybags to do something with!
Once that’s done I can start moccing again
Tom, that sounds like an awesome plan! 40 sets? That’s like being in a candy store!
Its a cumulative amount from last year but yes its rather exciting. Limiting myself to only the maersk ship this year as I need to get this lot sorted first!
Happy New Birthday Year admin,TBB!!! 😛 I’m sorry I missed a few artcticles (even though none of you know that I read here) because I spent the new year at my friend’s. but it was very fun. And my resolution is to get a fair amount of LEGO and not all at once. Well that is what I think. (P.S. a small idea, when TBB is 5 years old, something speical should happen???
Bob, there is no need to be sorry. You just come by whenever you like. I’m not good at thinking way ahead, but yeah, maybe we will come up with something fun for TBB’s 5th BD! 😛
Happy Anniversary The Brick Blogger. I am happy to say I have been an active visitor since the 2nd year , but I’m sad I wasn’t here from day 1, those darn dark years 🙁 … I check this blog every day, it’s part of my life now.
In 2014 I am going to make informative LEGO unboxing videos and post them on my Youtube Channel, I started the first one last night but still need to finish it, hopefully today. The first one is on Black Zero Escape, my second will be on TLR Silver Mine Shootout!!! Hopefully the videos will get better and better as experience grows.
Micho, always nice to have you around! Let me know when your videos are posted. Would love to check them out. 🙂
Oh thank you, although be warned, the first couple may be a bit choppy until I get comfortable doing video reviews 😀 … and it is very nice reading your Blog every day, it’s like my wife has her starbux, and I have my Brickblogger as a little escape from the insanity in this modern world.
That’s all-rigth as far as the videos. I have watched several fledging reviewers turn out to be real pros in just a bit of time. Everybody has to start soemwhere. Yeah, the LEGO hoppby is a nice escape – with no side-effects. Well, maybe the wallet gets a little thinner. 😉
In 2014 I will have $200 to spend on Lego, the largest budget I’ve had.
Nice! You can get a lot for that if you budget visely! 🙂
Its probably going to be my budget for my upcoming film, working title Pathogen. I have a Webcam, Bricklink haul, and green screen on my requisition.
My apologies , I didn’t intend mean to violate any online ettiquette or say anything suspect. I just wondered.
Oh, no, you are totally fine. We are friends here, so getting off topic at times to have some personal chat is cool. 🙂
Admin, did you go to some sort of private school for this apocalyptic education?
No, it was a brand new public school (I was the first generation going there), and it was trying out some new teaching methods and programs. It also had a pretty innovative arts program that I really liked, and also new teaching methods in sports. We had an incredible gym and a huge olympic-size swimming pool! All pretty much fizzled out by the time I was in middle-school, and just became another regular boring public school by the time I left. 😕
I didnt make any really solid New Years resolutions, but I plan to finish a few microscale things this year, build a 3D bust of myself, aaaandd learn a double-backflip by fall =D
oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR/BIRTHDAY/2NDOFJANUARY!!!!!!!!!!!
You gonna learn a double-backflip? That’s awesome! 😛
Hi all its been such a long time since i last commented on TBB but i would like to firstly say HAPPY NEW YEAR all and hope you have an amazing year and i intend to probably make a miniature lego movies website. Its gonna take a while but il try be best
Gosh, I haven’t seen you for ages! Happy New Year to you too! Keep us posted on how yoru website is doing. Sounds interesting! 🙂
Also since my niche is cars i might blog about some techniques on car designs for any other car fans out there.
I would love to hear some tips from a good LEGO car designer. I’m working on 3 racecars right now, and I ran into trouble with the logos and stuff.
Hi everybody its been quite a while since i have been on TBB but i would just like to say HAPPY NEW YEARS and hope that all have a great year ahead of them. I dont quite exactly have a new years resolution,but i intend to start my own lego movie making site,gonna take a while though. And also i might post some articles on car making techniques since my niche is cars so for anybody else out there who desires different designs or is crazy for cars,let me know and i will get back to you
Sorry about the double comment post but im typing on my iPad so it doesnt quite exactly show me everything but just forget the first 2 comments
It’s all right. We haven’t seen you so long, it is nice to hear you say something, even if it is the same thing twice. 😉
Happy Birthday TBB. Did ya know that I have a ninjago related photo album on my ipad that has 1540 ninjago photos, I have everything from scenes to memes. 😛
Are you serious???!!! That’s a lot! Nice to see your dedication! 🙂
Thank you admin, yes I’m quite serious
Awesome! (high-five smiley goes here)