The Brick Connection - Goodbye
Posted by Cori on 27th Oct 2016
The Brick Connection – A novice Lego fan explores the great brick world of LEGO
Hello, LEGO fans!
Last week I said I had some pretty big news and it’s a little sad.
The news is that I am leaving BrickWarriors next week. This
will be my last blog.
I have worked for BrickWarriors for 2 years and 9 months,
but now it is time to move on. It was completely my decision to leave, for reasons that
I’m not going to get into. But this is the longest I’ve been at any job and it
will definitely be weird and a little sad to not work here anymore.
You may know that the owners of BrickWarriors are my friends
Amanda and Ryan. I was really honored that they asked me to join the company 3
years ago to help take care of their baby. No, not their actual baby. They
don’t have one of those yet. BrickWarriors is their baby and I have done the
best I can to keep it healthy and growing.
One of the more recent tasks I was given to nurture their
baby was to write a blog (okay, I’m gonna stop using that analogy because it’s
getting weird).
This blog that I was going to do would not be like the daily
blogs that highlight BrickWarriors accessories and the creativity of our fans.
No, this would be my own little blog to attract new interest to our site and
have some fun discussions with our fans about the overall LEGO community.
It was 511 days ago (6/4/15) that I posted the first Brick
Connection, titled Hello
LEGO World. I’m actually very proud of that first blog. I still think it’s
pretty good……..and it was all downhill from there.
Okay, not exactly, but I’ve definitely had my ups and downs
with this blog. And I didn’t get to do all the things I wanted to do, which
sucks. After the first couple months it was a bit of a struggle coming up with
new and interesting things to talk about every week. So the blog also involved me commenting on the latest LEGO news. Fortunately, there
was usually something going on with LEGO that I could talk about when I couldn’t
come up with an interesting topic myself.
I’ve actually really enjoyed learning about LEGO; the
company, the brand, the community, and the products themselves.
This blog was my journey as a novice LEGO fan, exploring the
great brick world of LEGO. And although there is a lot more for me to explore
and learn, I am not disappointed with the knowledge I have obtained. I even got
to talk about my wealth of LEGO knowledge while being interviewed for my new
job.
I’m still going to try to keep up to date on the latest LEGO
news and hey, maybe I’ll actually buy some LEGO for myself. I bought my little
sister a LEGO Friends set for her birthday last month. That’s not something I
ever thought I would do. (I haven’t gotten to play with the set yet though. I
need to volunteer to babysit sometime so I can do that….and also spend quality
time with my little sister of course.)
I thought I would use my last blog to go over some of the
highlights of The Brick Connection.
Like I said, I really enjoyed re-reading my first blog. The
first couple after that were where I tried to learn the lingo of LEGO and it
was pretty fun. SNOT, BURP, Greeble; what's not to love?!:
Learning the Lingo II: Learned and Fabulous
Last September I got really into talking about the LEGO Star
Wars The Force Awakens Sets. Part of the reason I stretched it out into 3 blogs
was because I liked not having to come up with new topics for a couple weeks,
but also because there was just so much I wanted to talk about. These sets got
me really hyped for the new movie:
And then of course after the movie came out I did a three
week review of it, but disguised it as something related to LEGO by talking
about the sets and what I thought of them once I had seen the movie versions. I’m
so clever and also a little obsessive:
The Force Awakens Review Part I
The Force Awakens Review Part II
The Force Awakens Review Part III
In between learning about those sets and the movie coming
out I had perhaps my favorite moment as a blog writer. I was given my very own
set. And not just any set: Rey’s Speeder. Building my first major LEGO set and
getting to review it was wonderful. I think my joy really came through in the
blog:
I eventually made the heartbreaking decision to take it
apart for my first foray into MOC building. Remember that? That was weird:
But just this week I took the time to put it back together
as a nice reminder of how far I’ve come as a LEGO fan. And now I’m going to
take it home and proudly display it there.
So those were some personal highlights. Then there were the
blogs that got a crazy response from internet people. By that, I mean you guys
blew up our Facebook. I don’t know how many of you run business pages on
Facebook, but if you do, Facebook gives you some interesting statistics about
how many people actually see your posts.
By far, my most popular Brick Connection post on Facebook
was about how to become a LEGO designer:
10,853 people were “reached” with this post. I believe that
means that’s how many people came across it in their newsfeed. And that number
is by far the most we’ve ever gotten for any post on our Facebook page. 98
people either liked it or loved it; another very high number for us. It was
shared 40 times. There were another 18 likes on those shares. There were also 8
comments on our post and 4 others on shares.
The most important number for me is that 349 people clicked on the link. That means 349 people opened the blog. Now whether they actually read the whole thing or not, I don’t know, but it’s cool to know. Plus, those are just the stats through Facebook. I also post the blog on Twitter and Google+ so I know it reached even more than 10,853 people.
I didn’t go into writing about LEGO designers thinking it would have those crazy results, but I was very pleased to see it. And unlike some topics I forced myself to cover, I genuinely loved researching and writing about LEGO designers. Those people are crazy talented and the interview process to become one is fascinating. They could probably make a pretty decent reality show centered on that process.
Inspired by the big response, I decided to do a few other blogs covering
more LEGO jobs:
“Other LEGO Jobs” was pretty popular on Facebook as well. “Becoming a
Master Builder”, not so much. Sometimes I think it’s just the way I caption the
post on Facebook. I’ve learned a lot through experimentation on how to make
Facebook posts “pop” more. Ending with a question usually helps. And you gotta
have an interesting photo with the link because some people don’t read, they
just like pretty pictures.
Another Brick Connection Facebook post that garnered a lot
of attention was about the LEGO house. I really loved the time I spent on that
blog, because 52 minutes of it involved me watching an episode of TV….while at
work….and not on my lunch break:
My most recent blogs have also been pretty popular. It worked
out pretty nicely that I spent the last four weeks talking about the best LEGO
sets. I can’t believe I didn’t do it sooner, but it ended up being a great way
to end my bloggingship. (Totally a word):
The LEGO Debate (Best LEGO Sets Part I)
Although I do have another full week here at BrickWarriors,
I decided to quit while I was ahead. Ahead of what? Geeze, I don’t know! I just
didn’t want to have to think up another topic. Blogging is hard, you guys!
So, to some questions you might have:
Will the blog continue after I'm gone?
Not the Brick
Connection. That dies with me. But wait, I’m not dying……….am I?
I believe my coworker, Dylan, is interested in starting up a
blog of his own, so look out for that. But to get my hilarious take on LEGO
once a week, you’re gonna have to pony up the big bucks. I’m not working hard
with a moderate amount of effort on something I’m not getting paid for. Because
momma gots to pay the bills!
Alright, I better end this quickly before my grammar gets too out of control.
Will I miss you?
Of course I will! …..sort of. It’s complicated. I mean you
guys didn’t exactly go crazy commenting on the blog every week, so it’s not
like you’ve given me much to miss.
I will give a shout out to my best reader, Gregory Coff. He commented multiple times and was very kind with his support of my blog. Thanks, Gregory!
Will I end my LEGO fandom?
Absolutely not. I’ve been sucked into this world and I
don’t see myself getting out. And hey, someday I’ll have kids that I can play
LEGO with. That sounds nice.
But like waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay in the future.
This is it for me and The Brick Connection though. Thanks
for reading. Whether you read 1 blog, or all 70, or a number in between, thanks
for your support.
Continue to dream big when it comes to your LEGO building
and probably more importantly when it comes to your life. Always keep moving.
Don’t stick with one type of MOC or LEGO theme for too long. Open yourself up
to all possibilities and opportunities. (Again, this is a good analogy for life.)
My final piece of advice: LEGO (that’s Danish for “play
well” if you don’t remember.)
Until next time……..oh there won’t be a next time! Goodbye!
*Compliments, general feedback, and constructive
criticism are welcome. Any haters that are gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate
can go step on some Lego with their bare feet.*
Have at it with your negative comments! I'm gone either way!
