Siegfried Posted January 7, 2012 Posted January 7, 2012 Well 2011 is over... but was it good for you? Loads of good things happened on Eurobricks so we thought we'd take the time to summarise some of the highlights from most of the forums just in case you missed them. Over the next few days at regular intervals I'll be adding to this topic (at the start and the end) another forum summarised by the usual suspects so please keep checking back! Feel free to add what you thought were highlights too; EB's a big place and sometimes we miss things too. Well, that's enough intro! We'll start with... The Star Wars Forum: Taking a Look Back The Rule of Three With the Star Wars forum being one of the busiest corners of the site and constantly attracting new members, the two Dark Lord of the Bricks KimT and Stash2Sixx decided to train one of the avid LSW enthusiasts, KielDaMan, as their apprentice (Regulator), who later became one of their own (Moderator) to help in handling the forum. And I still can't stop staring at Stash's "new yellow lightsaber". The Eurobricks Star Wars Forum Blog Emerges The brainchild of KimT, the Eurobricks Star Wars Forum Blog was launched at the start of the year in the tradition of Classic Pirates and Classic Town to complement the Star Wars forum in highlighting fresh news, hot topics, high-quality set reviews and the constant influx of excellent MOCs. To keep up with the task of providing fresh updates and new material regularly for the blog, three of the finest SW-lovin' members were recruited as Rebel Bloggers - Brickdoctor, Clone O'Patra, and Oky. A year later after its start, the blog has seen tremendous increase in daily views as more new exciting features have been introduced (highlighted MOC banners, CW reviews) and expect more to come next year! EDIT: The Rebel Base welcomes its new recruit, EB's resident X-Wing fanatic Fallenangel, just immediately at the start of 2012! The Community Build Strikes Back Through the initiative of Eurobricks Fellow ACPin, the spirit of community building within the Star Wars forum has been revived anew with the Star Wars Original Trilogy Community Build which has generated significant interest and active participation from old and new members alike, "building together" under a common goal of recreating scenes from the classic OT movies in brickbuild. More community builds are lined-up for next year, which will tackle the Prequel Trilogy, Clone Wars Era, and even the Expanded Universe! Oh, and it seems we have inspired an even more successful community build in Guilds of Heroica. Continuous Influx of High-Caliber MOCs As with the past years, the Star Wars forum has been a paradise of high caliber SW creations from various MOC Experts and highly-skilled builders, from the stunning dioramas of ACPin, jaw-dropping UCS creations of marshal_banana, Anio, cavegod, spacepilot3000, imaginative fanon vehicles of Rook and HJR, innovative "Moodland"-scale figures of M<0><0><D<SWIM, highly-accurate vehicles of Brickdoctor and even LDD MOCs from Hollander. Their undying passion in SW MOCing has certainly inspired others to follow in their footsteps and we're sure to have more promising builds awaiting us in the coming year! World-class Set Reviews from the Reviewers Academy The forum has been fortunate enough to be graced with high-quality set reviews from veteran Reviewers Academy Teachers such as Rufus and def, as well as new instructors like Brickdoctor and Masked Builder. Their comprehensive reviews have proved to be helpful to members in gauging the value of SW sets. The Hilarity continues with the Star Wars Funnies Thanks to the timely revival of the SW Funnies by Originator Clone O'Patra (Mr. #1 - left), and the endless supply of humor from SW Funnies King Oky (Mr. #100 - right), together with the rest of the FUN-lovin' SW Funnies contributors, the forum's "Comedy Central" is alive and kicking on a daily basis, ready to put a smile on everyone's faces or even make us LOL/ROFL/LMAO! . More Fun Contests and Raffles The forum has yet again witnessed the best from various builders in last April's Character Rides Contest, once again showcasing the creativity and building skills of the participants wrapped in competitive spirit. And as a way of giving back to the community that we all so love, our resident Baby Blue Santa CopMike generously handed out minifig christmas gifts to almost all participants in the recently-conlcuded EB XMas Raffle 2011. Quote
Siegfried Posted January 7, 2012 Author Posted January 7, 2012 Minifig Customisation Workshop The Minifig Customisation Workshop had a very interesting and productive year in 2011. Among many other things, this year the forum saw: Minifig Customisation Workshop Contest This year we had a great new contest with three categories: 1 - Globetrotters, 2 - Alien Nation, 3 - Tournament Champion. The prizes were sponsored by BrickForge, BrickArms and BrickWarriors, with a total prize poll of more than $ 300. Rules and discussion Entries' list Prizes Winners Contest Winning MOCs The Category 1 – Globetrotters: The Category 2 – Alien Nation: The Category 3 – Tournament Champion: Discussions Contribution from our members include many discussions on customisations and tips from the experts, amongst which: LEGO alternate legs by Theo LEGO USB Zombie (and other figs) by ED-209 Minifig Swatch – a visual aid for minifig customizers selecting a fig by brickarmy Other Outstanding MOCs And let’s not forget all the incredibly good customs: Happy new year from the Minifig Customisation Workshop! Quote
Siegfried Posted January 7, 2012 Author Posted January 7, 2012 Historic Themes Amazing MOCs Market District by Sirens-of-Titan 1908 Wild West Town by marshal banana Derfel Cadarn's Guide to building a Medieval Village Reviews New and old sets get the review treatment by dedicated Castle fans 6073 Knight's Castle by Vojiste Lorentzen's 6062 Battering Ram metalandi's review of classic Forestmen set 6079 Dark Forest Fortress donut's review of the 7189 Mill Village Raid Guilds of Historica Guilds of Historica, huge member interest and large volumes of MOC's created 80 Watchtowers built for Category 1 Category 2 underway. Spaghetti Western Competition 57 entries, over 500 Euro in prizes given out! Quote
Siegfried Posted January 7, 2012 Author Posted January 7, 2012 Pirates The LEGO Pirates Forum had a very productive 2011 with the release of the Pirates of the Caribbean LEGO theme. Among many other things, this year the forum saw: Fantastic new reviews 4183 The Mill Review by Jim Butcher 4181 Isla de Muerta Review by Masked Builder Entertaining discussion Pirates of the Caribbean Theme Discussion Thread 2012 Pirates? Content Winning MOCs A highly successful Pirates of the Caribbean Contest, with 21 entries in the MOC division and 26 entries in the story division. Tia Dalma's Shack by Matn Attack of the Kraken by Hammelgeier Encounter at the Blacksmith's Workshop by Yatkuu Other Outstanding MOCs And the usual fantastic array of MOCs that we see from our forum's great MOCers such as: Lady Guinevere by Derfel Cadarn Liberty Inn by ZCerberus Happy New Year from all of us in the Pirate Forum! Quote
Siegfried Posted January 7, 2012 Author Posted January 7, 2012 Action Eurobricks Action Themes Forum had a great year, with two exciting contests: and Which had incredible entries to match the amazing prizes with some well deserving winners (D2C, Underwater). With 2011 giving us a fantastic new banner and skin courtesy of Hinckley and we dove to the watery depths for Underwater Month, with tags, avatar changes and cool MOCs. While we bade farewell to Atlantis and spent some time in the sun with Pharaohs’ Quest, Ninjago continued to keep the action going and 2012 looks to be a great year. Thank you for all the support to these off-the-wall themes and keep on coming for Dinosaurs, Snake Warriors and Monster Madness! Quote
Siegfried Posted January 7, 2012 Author Posted January 7, 2012 2011 has been a great year for EB's Train Tech forum! What started as a small sub-forum of EB's LEGO Town established August 1, 2009, Train Tech has grown to the 6th most viewed forum in 2011. Train Tech has over 210 registered LEGO Train fans that helped contribute to over one-million topic views in 2011. LEGO Train set reviews, outstanding fan-built trains, trackside structures, and interesting technical topics contributed to the success of the Train Tech forum in 2011 and helped steer many great builders from the LEGO Train community to Eurobricks. LEGO must certainly be aware of the popularity of LEGO Trains for having released four trains in 2010. 2011 was another exciting year for train fans with the release of the Maersk (10219) and the more playful Red Cargo Train (3677). The Maersk has become a LEGO Train fan favorite while the Red Cargo Train helped draw more fans to LEGO Trains. We sincerely thank our Train Tech members and viewers, and extend our appreciation to other LEGO Train communities/sites including Railbricks for contributing to the success of the LEGO Train hobby. While there have been so many fantastic LEGO Train MOCs posted in Train Tech throughout the year, this is just a small sample of the high quality and diversity of the creations shared by EB's train fans in 2011: Thank you for your continued support of Train Tech and making 2011 a fantastic year! Quote
Siegfried Posted January 7, 2012 Author Posted January 7, 2012 Town 3 new Regulators Phred Rick Ricecracker Amazing MOCs Some Excellent Reviews Thank to Rick for compiling these! 2011 Sets: 7286 Prisoner Transport by Rufus 4642 Fishing Boat by TheBrickster 4644 Marina by Pandora 4645 Harbour by Rufus 3367 Space Shuttle by TheBrickster Older sets: 6370 Weekend Home by Pandora 6403 Paradise Playground by Pandora 6409 Island Arcade by TheCobra 6378 Service Station by LuxorV 6575 Polar Base by -R8- 6456 Mission Control by -R8- Exciting new product news: Thanks to Ricecracker for compiling these! More Info on LEGO Friends from TLG Expand the Winter Village II New LEGO Mini-Modular Exclusive New LEGO Exclusive: Winter Village post Office LEGO NEWS: 10218 Pet Shop NEWS: 2011 LEGO City Harbour Sets Quote
Siegfried Posted January 7, 2012 Author Posted January 7, 2012 Sci-Fi 2011 brought loads of cool MOCs in Sci-Fi. Picking a few was hard, so sorry to the unpicked! I think it was a good year for new Sci-Fi sets. Alien Conquest was a different line that brought in some nice new figs, and I'm a bit sad that it seems to be over. (It also seems that the best line for Sci-Fi fans in 2012 is Ninjago!) But I think we'll have to at last have a contest in Sci-Fi to make up for the lack of new sets. Here's to a bigger 2012. Quote
Siegfried Posted January 7, 2012 Author Posted January 7, 2012 Stunning Reviews THREE Collectable Minifigure Contests! Amazing MOCs from a huge variety of themes Quote
Siegfried Posted January 7, 2012 Author Posted January 7, 2012 Technic, Mindstorms & Model Team Many won't realise this, but this is actually one of our most active forums; in terms of page views it's just behind Star Wars. Thus I tried to go though this forum looking for year highlights, but I just didn't have the time to find more than a few. There is however a topic discussing personal 2011 Technic highlights. Quote
Siegfried Posted January 7, 2012 Author Posted January 7, 2012 Licensed ...and CorneliusMurdock who helped Da Walrus pick the highlights. Contests! MOCs! Reviews and News! Quote
Siegfried Posted January 7, 2012 Author Posted January 7, 2012 Events Taking over from Ras as Event Moderator is CopMike. In 2011 the Eurobricks Event was held in Windsor. I (Siegfried) even made it in the form of an extremely lame video! EB 2011 Windsor Event - pics & stories The 2012 event is in Billund, more Eurobricks 2012 Event details here! But it's not all about EB events, there's also topics about Brickvention, Brick Expo, Brickfair, Brickcon, LEGO World... 2011 was another year for great events! But that's not all! CopMike is almost a walking event, hosting fun like the EB SW X-mas Raffle and the Container Raffle Build! Quote
Siegfried Posted January 7, 2012 Author Posted January 7, 2012 Mafia, RPG and Wargames Ahhh, this forum. It's been known to suck away the time of many a member... including Dragonator. But summarising this forum is easy so I'll do it for him! Heroica was the big addition for 2011... ...other than that there were also... Mysteries ...oh, and there's also the... Mafia Games I've actually missed a few so for more details be sure to check out the Mafia Games Index and browse the LEGO Mafia, RPG and Wargames forum! Quote
Siegfried Posted January 7, 2012 Author Posted January 7, 2012 LDD While it only became a root forum in late 2010 LDD hit one million views less than a year later! The Official LEGO Sets made in LDD topic is especially impressive; 2128 posts, about 800 from 2011 alone, with almost each post being a set made in LDD. Missing parts are no impediment; just improvise! Size is no impediment either... Here's to another year of the LDD forum and the LDD Moderator Superkalle! Quote
Siegfried Posted January 7, 2012 Author Posted January 7, 2012 Action Figures Since late 2010 EB has been very lucky lately to be part of the promotion of Hero Factory... as well as the new Super Heroes sets. I was very fortunate to get in on the game too! It's given us the chance to see the new sets in detail before they hit the stores. Thanks TLG! There's been some great MOCs in the Action Forum too, for example; So where the bloody hell are you what are you waiting for? Go to the Action Figures forum and see something different! Quote
Siegfried Posted January 7, 2012 Author Posted January 7, 2012 Wrap-up Wrap-up Ahhh, the insanity of it all. It's enough to make your ears bleed. Anyway, as you should be able to see by now 2011 has been an impressive year for EB. But if you can't here's some more from a boring number point of view; We've gone from around 50,000 topics to almost 65,000. We hit 20,000 members in December, which was a gain of about 5,000 over the year. The Eurobricks Reviewers Academy has been around for three years. One Million views in Train Tech for 2011. One million posts total. Impressive I think... and it's all thanks to you... yeah you! Even you, the lurker in the back who still hasn't got around to joining. (And why not?!) So on behalf of the EB Staff, thanks! ...and while I'm thanking I'd like to also thank the rest of the staff, including the Regulators, some of who helped make this wrap-up. Namely (oh, I'm sure I'm gonna miss one... ) Admiral Croissant, Big Cam, Tazmaniac, Ricecracker, Phred, CorneliusMurdock and Calabar. Oh, and thanks Dreamweb, our Shipyard Master.... and Mister Phes as well To all of you, your help around EB is appreciated by all! So with that said, consider 2011 wrapped... from me at least. Quote
Siegfried Posted January 7, 2012 Author Posted January 7, 2012 Historic added, Pirates is next! Quote
WesternOutlaw Posted January 7, 2012 Posted January 7, 2012 A big thank you to all of our EB members! EB is the greatest thanks to all of your contributions. Quote
Siegfried Posted January 7, 2012 Author Posted January 7, 2012 A big thank you to all of our EB members! EB is the greatest thanks to all of your contributions. Yes, thanks for making this point! The most important aspect of EB to me is our active members. Thanks to all of you for such a good year! On that subject, Pirates has been added! Quote
just2good Posted January 7, 2012 Posted January 7, 2012 I like this idea, since I missed most of 2011 on Eurobricks! I can't wait to see the Licensed theme section added! Quote
Parrothead Rasmus Posted January 7, 2012 Posted January 7, 2012 What a fantastic idea! Thanks Siegfried! Can't wait to see it completed. Quote
Eskallon Posted January 7, 2012 Posted January 7, 2012 Great work on putting this together, and its great to see everything thats happened this year summarised. Looking back all I can say is how amazing the year has been, from the addition of the Heroica RPG to the amazing Derfel Cadarn's Guide to the many reviews of the lego Friends line. Its been a great honour to be here to witness the year and concerning 2012... ROCK ON Quote
TheLegoDr Posted January 7, 2012 Posted January 7, 2012 Thanks for setting this up. It will be neat to see everything that happened in 2011. It was a huge year for Lego (for me at least) and I didn't join EB until halfway through the year, so there is a lot I missed. Can't wait to read more. And let's make 2012 even better! Quote
prateek Posted January 7, 2012 Posted January 7, 2012 This is awesome! Great job in summarizing what has turned out to be a wonderful year on EB BTW, why are all the staff over 6 feet tall, especially Bonaparte? Quote
Si-MOCs Posted January 7, 2012 Posted January 7, 2012 Awesome idea! Wow I really missed a lot of stuff this year... great to see some people's hard work being highlighted! If there weren't enough challenges in EB - now I have to try to make Sieg's wrap up post for next year Though isn't Taz the History Regulator? Quote
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