BrickNerd 2023: Numbers and New Years Resolutions
Three years ago, we relaunched BrickNerd to celebrate the creativity of fellow LEGO builders, tell the stories behind the bricks, share in-depth knowledge of the hobby, and increase connections within the LEGO community. Each year, we are amazed by the reception to all our hard work, so today, we wanted to share with you the numbers of what we’ve achieved in 2023 and some of our New Year’s resolutions for what we want to accomplish in 2024.
Looking Back
Taking a step back, wow, so much happened for BrickNerd in 2023! We witnessed the birth, death and re-birth of Mega-Nerdly. We organized gatherings at half a dozen LEGO conventions. Our readership grew considerably and spent more time on the site than ever before. We gained several amazing new contributors and patrons, hosted and sponsored building contests, and had even more nerdy guest articles than in previous years. We awarded dozens of “Nerd of Note” trophies to deserving LEGO fans across the globe and partnered with some amazing organizations.
We have tried and will continue to help increase representation and visibility for diverse LEGO communities around the world. The map below shows every country where we have featured a culture, community, builder or event so far. As you can see, we’ve really tried to span the globe… but we still have work to do!
Overall, we are genuinely humbled by the global enthusiasm for BrickNerd and what we are doing. We do this for you—our peers in the LEGO community—to learn from each other and share the knowledge we collectively share. So let’s take a look at the numbers from 2023 to see what we’ve accomplished together.
BrickNerd 2023 By The Numbers
1,325,000 articles clicked on during the year (64% more than last year)
17,881 combined followers on various social media platforms
4,002 days worth of non-stop 24-hour reading if all the visits to BrickNerd in 2023 were accessed by a single person
365 days published (we posted something interesting every single day!)
286 brand new articles
216 countries where readers accessed the site (including the Vatican!)
203 feature articles linked to from other LEGO fan media
135 building contest reminders
100+ custom Nerdlies built for our 10th anniversary and Nerdvember: Survival Edition
96 deep dives on nerdy LEGO topics
89 Best of BrickNerd weekend articles
88+ interviews (almost impossible to count this since we try to talk to EVERYONE about what they build)
87 builder showcases, MOC spotlights and MOC round-ups
50 current contributors from around the world who speak dozens of languages
37 guest articles highlighting the best minds from the AFOL community
36 Patrons supporting BrickNerd every month (thank you!)
28 event and convention reports
13 instructions published for custom LEGO creations
4 minutes 21 seconds average read time per article (up slightly from last year)
Top 15 BrickNerd Articles of 2023
One of the things that we at BrickNerd are proud of is our diversity of content and how the articles we publish are relevant whenever people discover them. You can see from the list below that the topics we cover are broad and the knowledge within the LEGO community is deep.
From building techniques to instructions, deep dives to MOC features, here are the top 15 BrickNerd articles from 2023. (Note: due to the arbitrary time measurement, this list favors articles from earlier in the year, though a few later ones had a strong showing!)
The LEGO Color Palette: 2023 Edition
The Majestic Horse: The Making of LEGO's April Fools’ Prank
An Opinionated Guide to LEGO Storage: Containers and Cost
Every Comic-Con and Event Exclusive LEGO Set
Meaningful Modding: Winterizing the A-Frame Cabin
The AI Revolution: How Artificial Intelligence Is Impacting the LEGO Community
The Missing Minifigures of LEGO Star Wars
LEGO SNOT: Modern Elements for Stud Reversal and Sideways Building
Everything You Want to Know About Fabuland
The Meaning of LEGO Instructions Symbols… Interpreted by Kids
Making Trains Move: The History of LEGO Trains, Track, Motors and More
How to Build Bionicle: Combining Constraction with the LEGO System
Magnetic Movement: Taking LEGO Mario to the Next Level
Instructions to Expand Your LEGO Succulents
It’s a Smokeshow! Ten LEGO Smoke Techniques
Fan Favorite Articles
But clicks and views aren’t everything! I asked a few BrickNerd patrons and contributors what some of their favorite articles of the year were and these 15 came to mind of the hundreds of quality articles we published in 2023:
LEGO Minifigure Skin Tones Over Time: The Changing Colors of an Icon
How To Insure Your LEGO Collection
Illegal SNOT: Stressful Techniques For Sideways Building
Which Country Has The Cheapest LEGO?
Disability Representation in LEGO
The LEGO IP Tax: How Much Extra Do Licensed Sets Cost?
Coping and Catharsis: Autistic AFOLs In Their Own Words
Castle on a Hill: An Architectural Tour of Himeji Castle
All Roads Lead to Rome: Building the Eternal City
What the Shell? A LEGO Modding Journey Under the Sea
LEGO Launches New “Children Welcome” Marketing Initiative
Behind the Design: Deconstructing the LEGO Octan Logo
Molds Over Time, Part 2: How Part Updates Change Build Techniques
An Ode to Elves: Remaking Rivendell in the Style of LEGO Elves
New Years Resolutions
So what can you expect from BrickNerd in 2024? Of course, we’ll have more of the quality LEGO content that you’ve come to expect from us, but we’re looking to expand the team and cover more LEGO creations and communities from different parts of the globe. We’re also working on more nerdy articles, contests, partnerships and swag!
This last year, we improved our site search and some things beneath the hood to help the site run more smoothly. For next year, we are exploring creating an article archive and implementing a site-wide auto-translation feature so our many non-English readers can access the site more easily. We also hope to rebuild our swag shop and instructions hub to make everything more accessible. We are also looking for an editor if you are interested!
Thanks To You
So that’s what BrickNerd has accomplished this past year and where we are heading in the coming year. We couldn’t do all of this without the countless hours of research and writing from our contributors, the support from our amazing Patrons and sponsors, and the enthusiasm from all of you who visit and read BrickNerd.
If you want to get involved or support us as we head into 2024, we’d love to have you as part of the BrickNerd contributor team or as one of our Patrons. Or you can help out by making a donation, using our affiliate codes, or by simply sharing the articles you enjoy with your friends. And if you have any other ideas on how we can improve, let us know in the comments!
Thanks again, and Happy New Year from the entire team at BrickNerd!
How do you think BrickNerd has done the past year? What do you want to see from us next year? We’d love to hear your feedback below!
Do you want to help BrickNerd continue publishing articles like this one? Become a top patron like Charlie Stephens, Marc & Liz Puleo, Paige Mueller, Rob Klingberg from Brickstuff, John & Joshua Hanlon from Beyond the Brick, Megan Lum, Andy Price, Lukas Kurth from StoneWars, Wayne Tyler, Monica Innis, Dan Church, and Roxanne Baxter to show your support, get early access, exclusive swag and more.
