2012

We still have a few days left of 2012, it is the perfect chance to look at what we got this year.

In 2012 had only 21 new posts, fewer than what I would have liked. But as some of you may have noticed, I try to post a fresh post every week. I hope to keep the momentum going into 2013 as well.

But instead of spending too much time on what has or has not happened here, let me look at another important event from my own perspective: kockagyar.blog.hu used to be the most popular LEGO blog in Hungary but it has closed its doors in May 2012. Since I have co-authored the blog, I have written about 60 blog posts.

I am most proud of the interviews - I managed to get in touch with two well respected LEGO builders. Mad Physicist is one of the most influential car and aircraft builders, you can clearly notice his influence on this blog as well. You can read part one and part two of the interview here.

Legomonster was interviewed by Lehi in person. I think this is interview is probably the peak of my blogger journalist career. Thanks kockagyar and thanks Lehi, we could not have done this without you!

These would probably have never been created without kockagyar.blog.hu and its single-person engine, tutuka.

Without kockagyar I will probably have to keep a lower profile. But bricksngears will continue well into 2013 with the weekly posts. Also, we have new builds ready to be shown, stay tuned!

Happy and LEGO-rich 2013 to all our readers!

Legoland Deutschland 2012

Recently I had a chance to visit my one of my favorite places again, the Legoland in Germany. This was not my first visit to the park (see older here) and it was interesting to see what changed in two years.

First of all, there are new themes. Star Wars has been a popular theme for LEGO sets, but two years ago this was not visible in the park at all. By now this has changed completely: next to the Miniland of European cities there is an extensive Star Wars Miniland covering the older and newer movies. Another sign of the increased interest is the extra tent selling Star Wars sets only.

Friends got quite visible too. In the big store there is a separate corner for Friends fans. There is also a specialized store selling accessories and... khm.... sets. At least in theory. The store personnel said that as soon as they have a new shipment it is sold within days. This is of course not official, but every signs points to Friends being very popular.

Ninjago did not exist 2 years ago either and become quite apparent in Legoland. It has its own mini-world now and something quite special, the Flying Ninjago. As I have quite apparent and strong limits when trying extra dimensions, I did not get try it myself. But the concept seems interesting: by controlling two wings one can do a full turn or even rotate continuously.

One of my favorites is the brick store. The selection was excellent as usual: more limited than Bricklink, but better than anything else. The price has increased though: 100g of bricks costs 9 Euros now, compared to 8 Euros two years ago.

Regardless of this, it's still an excellent buy, as the spreadsheet shows:

Part	Weight (Bricklink)	BL best offer Euro/piece	BL 6 month avg Euro/piece	Legoland Euro/piece
1x1 plate (black)	0.20g	0.0264	0.0583	0.0180
1x1 plate (medium blue)	0.20g	0.0269	0.0750	0.0180
1x4 plate (black)	0.71g	0.0126	0.0500	0.0639
1x2 tile (dark tan)	0.26g	0.0240	0.0583	0.0234
1x2 jumper (light bluish gray)	0.30g	0.0320	0.0583	0.0270
Technic gear, 20 tooth (tan)	1.40g	0.1421	0.2417	0.1260

LEGO Military Build Competition 2012

Yes, it is that time of the year again!

So far the Middle East Aircraft and Microscale Heavy Aircraft categories seem to be the most interesting. Let's build!