tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38243607346907785922024-03-13T20:06:13.944-07:00JANGBRiCKS LEGO reviews & MOCsLEGO set reviews, huge city layout with custom MOCs & more! Covering Star Wars, Creator, Marvel & DC super heroes, Ideas, anything with trains, and many other themes.theJANGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06603632207942089230noreply@blogger.comBlogger3006125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824360734690778592.post-86290161199399628132021-04-28T02:30:00.002-07:002023-10-18T08:29:11.117-07:00Verified JANGBRiCKS accountsIn this post are listed real accounts owned & operated by me. <b><span style="color: red;">Assume anything else is fake.</span></b><br />
<div>
<h2>
These are me:</h2>
<ul>
<li>YouTube: </li>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://youtube.com/c/JANGBRiCKS">JANGBRiCKS</a> (main channel)</li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPi-XOCT88MwgFlkLHzBNhA" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">JANG's LEGO Reviews</a> (newest, all LEGO reviews now go here)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/JangBuilds" target="_blank">JANG Builds It!</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbBDYcILaC5TjGhzP3rtCHg/" target="_blank">Pure Builds</a></li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdgkQ55cDHRt4H0HcZeWlsA" target="_blank">JANG's Brick World</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/QUiCKBRiCKS" target="_blank">QUiCKBRiCKS</a></li>
</ul>
<li>Twitch: <a href="https://twitch.tv/thejang" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">theJANG</a></li><li>Blog: <a href="http://jangbricks.com/">http://JANGBRiCKS.com</a></li>
<li>Facebook: <a href="http://facebook.com/JANGBRiCKS">http://facebook.com/JANGBRiCKS</a></li>
<li>Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/JANGBRiCKS" target="_blank">@JANGBRiCKS</a></li>
<li>Instagram: <a href="http://instagram.com/jangbricks4real" target="_blank">@jangbricks4real</a>, <a href="https://instagram.com/jangmecha" target="_blank">@jangmecha</a></li>
<li>Patreon: <a href="https://patreon.com/jangbricks">https://patreon.com/jangbricks</a></li>
<li>Tumblr: http://jangbricks.tumblr.com/ (unused)</li>
</ul>
<h2>
Don't get fooled!</h2>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Check </b>carefully for simple spoofing such as:</li>
<ul>
<li>Extra spaces.</li>
<li>Dashes & underscores.</li>
<li>Substitutions between uppercase 'i', lowercase 'L', and the number '1'.</li>
<li>Swapped letters & misspellings. </li>
</ul>
<li>If you see any unusual content claiming to be from me, always first <b><span style="color: red;">assume it is fake</span></b>, then verify.</li>
<li>If someone contacts you claiming to me, <b><span style="color: red;">assume it is fake</span></b>, then verify (with me, not the faker).</li>
<li>If someone contacts you claiming to be my friend, personal acquaintance, or family member (whether close or distant), definitely <b><span style="color: red;">assume it is fake</span></b>; it most likely is.</li>
<li>If someone contacts you claiming to have met me, talked to me over the phone, or been messaged by me, you should automatically <b><span style="color: red;">assume it is fake</span></b>; 99.999% of the time it is.</li>
<li>If someone posts a "screenshot" of a conversation with me or a piece of content I supposedly since "deleted," obviously <b><span style="color: red;">assume it is fake</span></b>; that's the oldest trick in the book, commonly referred to as "Photoshop."</li>
<li>If you see uncharacteristic content (foul language, insults, xenophobia, etc.) coming from a source that does appear to be a 100% <i>verified </i>account of mine, <b><span style="color: red;">assume it is fake</span></b> as the account may have been hacked.</li>
<li>If someone tries to impress you with purported "private" information about me, it's either a) fake or b) actually public information copied from a public source. Avoid contact with people who openly represent themselves as stalkers.</li>
</ul>
<h2>
Other accounts that I own:</h2>
<ul>
<li>https://youtube.com/thejang</li>
<li>https://youtube.com/c/jangmobilvideo</li>
<li>https://youtube.com/UltimateRCnetwork</li>
<li>https://www.youtube.com/RCManiaDotCom</li>
<li>https://www.youtube.com/user/EverythingAnswered</li>
<li>https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI-GvuSX3Xsc82W4gY1BwxQ</li>
</ul>
<h2>
Other websites I own:</h2>
<ul>
<li>http://thejang.net</li>
<li>http://UltimateRC.com</li>
<li>http://UltimateTraxxas.com</li>
<li>http://UltimateTamiya.com</li>
<li>http://RCMania.com</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br />
Verify, <b>verify</b>, <b>VERIFY</b>. The Internet is flooded with fake news, fake content, and fake accounts. This is extremely well known has been well documented by major media coverage almost every single day. <b>Any</b> random person can sign up for any random site and give themselves an alias that sounds like someone else. Elevate your awareness and wariness and don't fall victim to the simplest of traps.</div>
</div>
theJANGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06603632207942089230noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824360734690778592.post-42051561827032038022020-03-29T17:02:00.003-07:002020-03-29T17:02:47.552-07:00Is Bricklink buying safe during peak coronavirus? A viewer today asked for my thoughts about a potential LEGO fan safety issue in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. They have a friend who is abstaining from making part orders on the popular Bricklink marketplace out of fear of contamination, and wanted to know if I felt this was an overreaction. Below was my response:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>"</b>I think everyone has a right to be as safe as they feel they need to. There's no single right answer. The fact is, no matter what we do, the majority of people on the planet are going to contract this illness, it's just a matter of <b>when</b>. Even if every country completely "flattens the curve" we're not going to exterminate this virus from existence, we're just slowing its spread so healthcare systems can keep up, while also trying our best to not transmit the darn thing to particularly vulnerable fellow humans that we or others care about.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
With respect to Bricklink orders, based solely upon what I've read to date from the scientific community, in the worst case scenario if the sender has the virus and is contagious, viral RNA (which alone is essentially inert) can remain detectable on plastics for up to three days, but whole viruses are certain to have become nonviable more quickly than that. Even if a contagious Bricklink seller coughed & sneezed directly into the package right before closing it up, unless it's sent via Express mail the chances of the recipient getting infected are probably infinitesimally low.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I think your biggest risk is if the mail carrier is infected and happens to cough directly onto the package right before dropping it off. Still slim chances. If worried, open the package, dump the contents out, discard the package, then wash hands, exercising normal good hygiene practices along the way. I think this can all be done very safely.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
All that said, again, I think your friend has every right to choose to hold off for the time being, if that's what feels most comfortable to them. Managing mental health and a psychological sense of safety is important especially when there are other stressors about.<b>"</b></blockquote>
</blockquote>
What's your take on the situation? Are you avoiding LEGO purchases and "non-essential" package shipments right now?theJANGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06603632207942089230noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824360734690778592.post-87936695146622211202020-03-17T18:55:00.000-07:002020-03-17T18:56:33.869-07:00Headed up the river with a boat and no paddle...<h3>
...and they got me on lock dowwwwwwn!</h3>
<br />
I have a theory that for every situation in life, classic Hip-Hop music has a reference. Today's proof comes courtesy of Cypress Hill. I'm in one of six contiguous counties in the state of California, USA, covering approximately 7 million inhabitants, now operating under "shelter in place orders" from local governments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Technically we're not on full "lockdown" like some parts of the world. We're still legally allowed to exit our homes without explicit permission, but we're not allowed to gather in groups larger than 10 or with people from outside our own households, and we're not supposed to travel by foot, scooter, bicycle, or car to any place we don't absolutely need to. All "non-essential" establishments have been ordered closed including some municipal offices and all schools.<br />
<br />
You may have seen news reports about people stockpiling toilet paper in recent weeks. These reports are accurate. Panic buying has occurred en masse, and in my region in particular there was a tremendous surge in this behavior just yesterday when our own change of status was widely announced and broadcast as an emergency alert notification on all of our phones. I topped up my own household's non- and slowly-perishable food supplies late last week, and already then there were about a half-dozen aisles completely stripped of all products. I got the last three packets of instant rice off one lonely shelf. Days later, some entire stores are all but empty. Amazon will be out of some commodities for weeks.<br />
<br />
Everyone among my close & extended family & friends appears safe & healthy for the moment, but tensions are high and uncertainty & unease are palpable in the air. Nobody has any idea how long this will last or how bad it will get. While South Korea has given the world a clinic on pandemic response & "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_distancing">flattening the curve</a>," many other places, including the mighty US, have been slow on the draw & prioritized minimizing public panic & bad early PR over taking care of serious business.<br />
<br />
For me this is a first-in-a-lifetime experience. I remember the days of peak Ebola and got inoculated for H1N1, but coronavirus is hitting harder and closer to home & heart than either. With so many people stuck at home and looking for some good news or a positive escape, I should ideally be making more content than ever. Unfortunately there's not enough of me available to oblige. I've done my share of news reading, stock-taking, protocol-generating, and social circle debating, all of which takes time as well as mental energy. I also suffered a couple bouts of insomnia over the past week that knocked me down a notch. Boo. <br />
<br />
I'll certainly do as much as I can to be normal for all of you, though, while maintaining proper care for myself and loved ones. I hope you all will do your parts as well to comply with common sense precautions, to avoid picking up or spreading this nasty little bug. There's plenty of unbiased, fact-based info out there about how respiratory tract viruses spread and how to minimize exposure through basic & easy hygienic practices & courtesies. Don't be <a href="https://graphics.reuters.com/CHINA-HEALTH-SOUTHKOREA-CLUSTERS/0100B5G33SB/index.html">patient 31</a>.theJANGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06603632207942089230noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824360734690778592.post-75548935227533573472020-03-13T20:12:00.000-07:002020-03-13T20:16:19.019-07:00Patreon is now live!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.patreon.com/jangbricks" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="770" data-original-width="1131" height="434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBxP_tD-kmfmWD2FqIeOD7mjU8RXONjWD9ncvOmuAf1QbeZoEfhT_3nuo1DlHcaUdm3OWzozAmmKI1AUKirWVwZLhAF2LwJ2IfozICCYseILMB5CgD551fDl1j-wMrg9iyjnSQdWa7G08T/s640/patreon-launch-cut.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
The official <a href="https://www.patreon.com/jangbricks" target="_blank"><b>JANGBRiCKS Patreon</b></a> page is now open and accepting signups! I heard your requests, collected your specific feedback, consulted with experts, and did my best to put together a selection of membership tiers and rewards that would really fit both what I do and what fans want.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a data-patreon-widget-type="become-patron-button" href="https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=29212684">Become a Patron!</a><script async="" src="https://c6.patreon.com/becomePatronButton.bundle.js"></script>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Pledging is of course <b>100% optional</b> and I have exactly zero plans to remove anything from my normal stream of YouTube content. However, in spite of the chorus of assurances that the very continuation of my videos & builds is itself "the reward," I insist on giving supporters <b>more</b>. There will be <b>additional content</b> made available through Patreon, including videos YouTube's algorithms <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/ill-be-making-ok-34813065" target="_blank">don't want</a> me to publish as well as early access to uploads before they're made public and really raw & candid peeks behind the scenes.<br />
<br />
YouTube has knocked me down & kicked me numerous times over the years. Now, through Patreon, the fans, the people who really matter, can help elevate what you know of as JANGBRiCKS to a new phase of interactivity and energy. You can get a minifigure of yourself to walk the streets of New Jang City. You can get your own message or video clip featured on my main channel. You can influence the evolution of my work and the priorities behind it more directly than ever. You'll even be able to participate in my first ever brick-themed live chat sessions and maybe, just maybe, some exclusive live video streams.<br />
<br />
Check out the new <b><a href="https://www.patreon.com/jangbricks" target="_blank">Patreon page</a></b> and please consider supporting my move to become simultaneously more viewer- and hobby-focused, taking a step away from the drama of chasing YouTube's ever-changing rules & tricks to just share as much fun & wholesome entertainment with all of you as possible.<br />
<br />
Thank you in advance and as always, let me know if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions.theJANGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06603632207942089230noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824360734690778592.post-40055833284055226042020-03-13T18:41:00.003-07:002020-03-13T20:29:56.566-07:00Recovery updateFor a little more than a month now I've been back to work on a "new normal" basis, getting caught up on reviews and figuring out how to most comfortably & efficiently work in the all-new studio. Viewer reaction to the new format has been <a href="https://twitter.com/JANGBRiCKS/status/1231195034285854720" target="_blank">shockingly positive</a>. I, myself, have felt perfectly comfortable being in front of the camera again, though I do yet need to work on physical access to review subjects from behind the filming rig when doing the traditional close-up shots.<br>
<br>
I've been marking new videos honestly as "not for kids" and YouTube hasn't overridden this choice on any of them as yet, though I still don't know if I'm completely in the clear as COPPA settlement enforcement actions have not begun to date, to my knowledge. I remain unfortunately confident that I need to leave most of my previous 10 years of work marked "for kids" forever, though, and that loss might thus never be recovered. New legislative efforts in the US have been initiated, meanwhile, to expand the relevant definition of "kids" to <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/9/21058562/eraser-button-childrens-data-coppa-walberg-rush-hawley-markey-congress-house" target="_blank">everyone under 16</a> instead of 13, and separately to essentially <a href="https://www.tubefilter.com/2020/03/06/coppa-senator-ed-markey-kids-act-youtube-sponsored-content-unboxing-videos/" target="_blank">end toy unboxings</a> & sponsored "reviews" targeted at that broad audience group. Ouch. I'm happy to mostly <i style="font-weight: bold;">not</i> be thinking about laws & such right now, though, as my focus is back on the content where it belongs!<br>
<br>
<a href="https://www.jangbricks.com/2020/03/recovery-update.html#more"></a>theJANGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06603632207942089230noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824360734690778592.post-78473410678876120252020-02-04T16:02:00.003-08:002020-02-04T16:02:34.405-08:00Why 4,000+ videos have comments & most ads disabled, but new ones don't<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifmvr29imzvd6Eoz1fuKrUxU0ixkplIZkgFfctZky3tcvFALX3QXnkSv7SEGObk-veEq75Nq1c0ins9LMEcXv7PMyLxdVZiGgXzKSM44-eKEeq1Ku5OBf-kc1n9wmbY-wdqizNYI6eb-aQ/s1600/jangbricks-blog-q-and-a-02a.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="812" data-original-width="1081" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifmvr29imzvd6Eoz1fuKrUxU0ixkplIZkgFfctZky3tcvFALX3QXnkSv7SEGObk-veEq75Nq1c0ins9LMEcXv7PMyLxdVZiGgXzKSM44-eKEeq1Ku5OBf-kc1n9wmbY-wdqizNYI6eb-aQ/s640/jangbricks-blog-q-and-a-02a.png" width="640"></a></div>
<br>
I've covered the fallout of the FTC vs. Google <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2019/09/google-youtube-will-pay-record-170-million-alleged-violations" target="_blank">settlement</a> for YouTube's flagrant violation of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Online_Privacy_Protection_Act" target="_blank">COPPA</a> in three dedicated blog posts, five videos, and probably over a hundred smaller postings. Anyone concerned about the issue with regards to me and my channel should have no questions about where I stand on it all and why. Yet, questions & confusions remain, so here we are again. In my last video on the subject I very clearly explained that the real-world effects on me after YouTube's compliance update necessitated a significant and immediate change to my video style & approach, otherwise JANGBRiCKS as you all know it was all but done for. During 2 & 1/2 weeks of downtime that followed, I figured out a new plan, completely disassembled & eliminated my review studio setup, and built something entirely new.<br>
<a href="https://www.jangbricks.com/2020/02/why-4000-videos-have-comments-most-ads.html#more"></a>theJANGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06603632207942089230noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824360734690778592.post-62926363339063060792020-01-26T18:41:00.001-08:002020-01-26T18:41:02.605-08:00Eleven years & 3,000 posts ago...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5SUZzlDE-F4npJpVmZEEa9HLbUMzZK4XrkkWHLhyphenhyphen2sIF7IGgCNv5jx8MkhZMvHZEB_rQqQfnOAB27z0a-DtKez2s8VnojIkHN2qwZXy7uV6U9OeghZ1jQeHJHX0DnukW16PFSIuS4hqQb/s1600/090816-lego-bionicle-moc-010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5SUZzlDE-F4npJpVmZEEa9HLbUMzZK4XrkkWHLhyphenhyphen2sIF7IGgCNv5jx8MkhZMvHZEB_rQqQfnOAB27z0a-DtKez2s8VnojIkHN2qwZXy7uV6U9OeghZ1jQeHJHX0DnukW16PFSIuS4hqQb/s640/090816-lego-bionicle-moc-010.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Above is the exact photo, pulled from its original upload location, that opened the very <a href="https://www.jangbricks.com/2009/07/zeyek-chronicler-of-bionicle.html">first post</a> on my earliest LEGO-related blog, Zeyek's BIONICLE: Untold. The in-character narratives of Zeyekti-Iiloptinous Mazzourel and a simultaneously-launched "Behind the Scenes" blog of custom creations would later give rise to my "Unofficial Hero Factory MOCs Blog," all three of which I would subsequently combine under the "LEGOJANG" banner, finally renamed in 2014 to "JANGBRiCKS." <br />
<br />
Good times, all, and still going like the Energizer Bunny! <br />
<br />
[Edit: Wait, is the Energizer Bunny still a thing?]<br />
[Edit2: Yes, yes it is, whew.]theJANGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06603632207942089230noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824360734690778592.post-89656759074911776142020-01-25T02:48:00.001-08:002020-01-25T02:48:08.437-08:00A re-launch progress update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_goRvfn0K-VtvGHr20Ks-_14Gvf3XrjbBImWc5oOJ6rPxTKVQHOfnfRW6XrQHb1H1TGGLIMe1lzyBgRyTGaRIZzbeAv9qGC8F-SWRvlPkgya9RaqTOU29FxvNTZzmTFMu6pWu2k4ASk6k/s1600/IMG_20200125_024330.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="933" data-original-width="1600" height="372" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_goRvfn0K-VtvGHr20Ks-_14Gvf3XrjbBImWc5oOJ6rPxTKVQHOfnfRW6XrQHb1H1TGGLIMe1lzyBgRyTGaRIZzbeAv9qGC8F-SWRvlPkgya9RaqTOU29FxvNTZzmTFMu6pWu2k4ASk6k/s640/IMG_20200125_024330.jpg" width="640"></a></div>
<br>
It's been two weeks since I was forced to yank the e-brake and put a full stop on the JANGBRiCKS channel on YouTube (and almost everything else, for that matter). By the time I posted my video explaining how YouTube had <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu_wP4xmVCM" target="_blank">killed</a> nearly all value in nearly all of my work of the past 10 years, I had formed a mental image of what my primary content, LEGO reviews, could look like in the post-COPPAcalypse era. Based on viewer feedback, I discarded that initial concept and eventually <a href="https://twitter.com/JANGBRiCKS/status/1217726209137631232" target="_blank">figured out</a> something that would be less of a dramatic departure from the style many people had come to really enjoy.<br>
<br>
<a href="https://www.jangbricks.com/2020/01/a-re-launch-progress-update.html#more"></a>theJANGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06603632207942089230noreply@blogger.com65tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824360734690778592.post-52733740464682155092020-01-15T05:33:00.002-08:002020-03-13T20:13:02.754-07:00Realizing what Patreon support could really mean<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioiMnoeWFq7kN6ju1qxTn0QpDNsP1fWJyNMycRdMk05qlML9C4OLdD66MvvwZRd_r6xxYsJo6FPB2QAosZ_pimbRPGP71axUyuueFV1mlDaGCGuHq8IE1aBW5p8K2rx4fSixvgxYulQDKv/s1600/180325a-lego-new-jang-city-underwater-updates2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioiMnoeWFq7kN6ju1qxTn0QpDNsP1fWJyNMycRdMk05qlML9C4OLdD66MvvwZRd_r6xxYsJo6FPB2QAosZ_pimbRPGP71axUyuueFV1mlDaGCGuHq8IE1aBW5p8K2rx4fSixvgxYulQDKv/s640/180325a-lego-new-jang-city-underwater-updates2.jpg" width="640"></a></div>
<br>
This evening while pursuing my usual modus operandus (research, brainstorm, plan, repeat) regarding Patreon & properly rewarding/supporting patrons, I had a mind-clearing epiphany. A lot of my kindest and strongest supporters have insisted that if I accept their direct monetary support, the biggest & most important reward they'll receive in return is that I'll be able continue on doing what I've been doing up to now, making the best content I can. I now realize this is incorrect. I'll be able to do so much more, so much <b>better</b>.<br>
<a href="https://www.jangbricks.com/2020/01/realizing-what-patreon-support-could.html#more"></a>theJANGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06603632207942089230noreply@blogger.com57tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824360734690778592.post-49041481472580231912020-01-13T04:18:00.002-08:002020-03-13T20:13:02.655-07:00Patreon preview & request for feedback<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiraZ57sqkpjhSA4a_-HgOSp8o7EuKUNtCw2wC2sDe69h-h04Jzk_gbbkhY5OfSE5wt8oeyKvr0zuB4W9QeVi-R3oP-IWNg01P2MeipDa1wfR8wkdRowCjXEEHVkOUqvS741LJBTQBwa0O8/s1600/jangbricks-patreon-preview01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="559" data-original-width="867" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiraZ57sqkpjhSA4a_-HgOSp8o7EuKUNtCw2wC2sDe69h-h04Jzk_gbbkhY5OfSE5wt8oeyKvr0zuB4W9QeVi-R3oP-IWNg01P2MeipDa1wfR8wkdRowCjXEEHVkOUqvS741LJBTQBwa0O8/s640/jangbricks-patreon-preview01.jpg" width="640"></a></div>
<br>
For years I've gotten a consistent stream of requests for a Patreon page, PayPal "tip jar," or other means of directly, tangibly supporting my work, and I've always pushed the idea away. All that time, family & friends have tried to reason with me and explain why I should work past this holdup. A lot of what they've argued makes perfect sense, but at the end of the day, there's always been a single point I've returned to: I didn't <i>need</i> the extra support, thus I couldn't bring myself to accept it. Even through numerous YouTube maladies, I've always resolved to do whatever I can to keep my involvement in this hobby and contributions to this community self-sufficient through normal, reasonable ad placements.<br>
<br>
Days into 2020, everything changed. The latest batch of YouTube changes utterly decimated residual ad income from nearly a decade of past work. I finally accept that I need to decouple my ability to financially support my channels from YouTube's ever-shifting willingness to allow just that.<br>
<a href="https://www.jangbricks.com/2020/01/patreon-preview-request-for-feedback.html#more"></a>theJANGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06603632207942089230noreply@blogger.com60tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824360734690778592.post-85396624834377134502020-01-11T05:26:00.001-08:002020-01-11T05:26:09.135-08:00What a difference... a day makes...<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bu_wP4xmVCM" width="560"></iframe>
</div>
<br />
"Twenty-four little hours..."<br />
<br />
Deep breath.<br />
<br />
Right. So, the video above explains it all. Final data from YouTube's January changes arrived and the picture is <b><i>extremely bleak</i></b> for me, more than twice as bad as a supposedly accurate real-world test suggested it would be. I really should be panicking right now, but somehow I'm not.<br />
<br />
I need to make bigger changes than I have in the <a href="https://www.jangbricks.com/2009/" target="_blank">over 10 years</a> I've been doing this whole LEGO thing (almost 7 of them full-time). I'm up to the challenge, though! In the coming days & weeks you're going to see me asking a lot of questions of fans across multiple media & communication platforms, including some with which I've never before engaged. I have a lot of ideas swirling around and will need your direct input to help shape the best of them into a new reality.<br />
<br />
My primary YouTube video style in particular needs a significant adjustment to overcome the latest round of major obstacles, restoring the ability of viewers to comment on videos (at least new ones), add them to playlists, and possibly most importantly, use the "mini-player" in the YouTube app. This may be a bit disruptive at first, but I'm not fundamentally going to change who I am or what I do, I'm just going to make what changes are necessitated by factors well beyond my control.<br />
<br />
It's a good thing I work well under pressure! I'm actually feeling more than a little tinge of excitement over all this.theJANGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06603632207942089230noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824360734690778592.post-278924286900198872020-01-06T20:28:00.000-08:002020-01-06T20:28:52.440-08:00Where did YouTube comments go, and what now?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQaENRE9ooCYo2TzGeTtSw2GuFFIOLnd2vuGYi4CHhz8NlkxxzDIBR5u6lnkKic4jQhkrhcaTQPej0IenmyK7ZjLGaUFV-qido_jsbXxJqf__YLGTioqOrOTQSCzZG9JWMparUxVAsIj61/s1600/jangbricks-blog-q-and-a-02a.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="812" data-original-width="1081" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQaENRE9ooCYo2TzGeTtSw2GuFFIOLnd2vuGYi4CHhz8NlkxxzDIBR5u6lnkKic4jQhkrhcaTQPej0IenmyK7ZjLGaUFV-qido_jsbXxJqf__YLGTioqOrOTQSCzZG9JWMparUxVAsIj61/s640/jangbricks-blog-q-and-a-02a.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
It's a little late, but YouTube today completed the second round of implementation of their changes to comply with the COPPA lawsuit settlement (that I've talked about quite a bit in the past) as well as some questionable add-ons they've bundled along. The settlement was announced in September 2019 and in November we learned a lot of the specifics of what would be changing. Now comments & end screens are completely disabled from most of my videos, and you will generally not get subscription notifications when I upload new content (not that many of you got these anyhow). Some other features will be impacted as well. All of this is because these videos count as "mixed audience" content according to YouTube's own definitions and had to be marked as "for kids" and restricted as such. The actual COPPA rule that YouTube flagrantly broke and is now forcing us creators to follow on their behalf actually allows "mixed audience" videos to be marked as "not for kids" since, by definition, "children are not the primary audience." However, this requires a small extra step to be implemented by YouTube, and guess what YouTube <b>didn't</b> do? It's pretty messed up.<br />
<br />
At the time of this writing, my plan remains unchanged from last year. I'm going to continue publishing my real-time <a href="https://youtube.com/PureBuilds" target="_blank">Pure Builds</a>, time lapse <a href="https://youtube.com/JangBuilds" target="_blank">speed builds</a>, and reviews & MOCs as I've done up to now. Those of you who are aged 13 or older are welcomed & encouraged to continue commenting on my Pure Builds videos as those are very clearly aimed at a more patient, mature crowd and I've not seen any evidence that younger kids are interested in that content. I have also been thinking up more ways to make videos on my main JangBricks channel that can be easily and honestly marked as "not for kids" per COPPA definitions, so you'll be able to comment on those. You can also comment here on the blog, or on these other social media accounts:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://facebook.com/JangBricks">Facebook.com/JangBricks</a></li>
<li><a href="http://instagram.com/JangBricks4real">Instagram.com/JangBricks4real</a></li>
<li><a href="http://twitter.com/JangBricks">Twitter.com/JangBricks</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
As for the loss of subscription notifications, there's not much I personally can do, though you as a viewer can still work around this. You know I upload regularly (averaging once/day over the long term), so just check the <a href="http://youtube.com/c/JangBricks" target="_blank">main channel</a> any time you want to see what's new, especially during busy release seasons like we're in right now! I decided not to spam up all of my social media accounts with "Hey I just posted a new video, go check it out!" posts every day, though I will do some occasional updates and I'm experimenting with posting videos natively on Facebook as well.</div>
theJANGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06603632207942089230noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824360734690778592.post-71925913297565865932019-12-18T04:57:00.004-08:002019-12-18T18:11:16.751-08:00What Am I Doing? Part 2!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYCHejmfHY7-8RSwzyJUjj6Y4gglK3J6XUO9aQu7f9kib-EoxAR1RA7RVR2IwUcCXDhDLrotyIZ9aq55lGTQIvNpfp3fvDRvD3YjTQq8NN84o7Nw8ssYhRiVuRjTKc0t-WHHJ3CGeC6tsv/s1600/jangbricks-q-a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYCHejmfHY7-8RSwzyJUjj6Y4gglK3J6XUO9aQu7f9kib-EoxAR1RA7RVR2IwUcCXDhDLrotyIZ9aq55lGTQIvNpfp3fvDRvD3YjTQq8NN84o7Nw8ssYhRiVuRjTKc0t-WHHJ3CGeC6tsv/s400/jangbricks-q-a.jpg" width="400"></a></div>
<br>
Hi all! I've continued to be a bit quieter on YouTube than usual in this between-releases season, but I've also continued to use this time for important behind-the-scenes work that will pay dividends in 2020. The four major groups of tasks I mentioned <a href="https://www.jangbricks.com/2019/11/what-am-i-doing.html" target="_blank">previously</a> have all been wrapped up, but a bunch of new stuff, some completely unexpected, some long overdue, has been keeping me busy. Time for another update list!<br>
<a href="https://www.jangbricks.com/2019/12/what-am-i-doing-part-2.html#more"></a>theJANGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06603632207942089230noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824360734690778592.post-23769767991279773642019-12-18T02:51:00.001-08:002019-12-18T02:51:05.980-08:00LEGO Marvel Avengers Hulk Helicopter Rescue review & thoughts! 76144<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieKN536VSt2SjMe6yVkX52KAsa3fld2FjVQUmq2UcqE_49pc81Oz_jyFMjKrtkl39HpCQ3d-nU-Kfriosbgey37QT2Bn37Qgij_Uvc5nz2BoCMY2Ij0_jRP9yHDZfe4t86qCTs2Y-k54zn/s1600/191216a-lego-marvel-avengers-hulk-helicopter-rescue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieKN536VSt2SjMe6yVkX52KAsa3fld2FjVQUmq2UcqE_49pc81Oz_jyFMjKrtkl39HpCQ3d-nU-Kfriosbgey37QT2Bn37Qgij_Uvc5nz2BoCMY2Ij0_jRP9yHDZfe4t86qCTs2Y-k54zn/s640/191216a-lego-marvel-avengers-hulk-helicopter-rescue.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />With subscription notifications going away on YouTube for a lot of content (including much of my own), I'm going to experiment with a return to posting up about my new videos here on the blog. I'll be playing around a bit with different ways to do this over the coming months. Right now I don't have any fully-formed clever ideas, but I'll at the very least share some link updates on a fairly regular basis, most likely in groups rather than with a new post for every single video. I'm open to suggestions, so let me know what you'd like to see.<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Videos:</b><br /><ul>
<li><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7VQSbtJdf0" target="_blank">LEGO Marvel Avengers Hulk Helicopter Rescue review & thoughts! 76144</a></b></li>
<li><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6KuaOvbv9s&t=139s" target="_blank">Real-time Pure Build</a></b></li>
<li><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OWo__c8ybo" target="_blank">Speed Build</a></b></li>
</ul>
</div>
theJANGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06603632207942089230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824360734690778592.post-16471836959039393292019-11-08T03:34:00.004-08:002019-11-08T03:34:52.159-08:00What Am I Doing?!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYCHejmfHY7-8RSwzyJUjj6Y4gglK3J6XUO9aQu7f9kib-EoxAR1RA7RVR2IwUcCXDhDLrotyIZ9aq55lGTQIvNpfp3fvDRvD3YjTQq8NN84o7Nw8ssYhRiVuRjTKc0t-WHHJ3CGeC6tsv/s1600/jangbricks-q-a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYCHejmfHY7-8RSwzyJUjj6Y4gglK3J6XUO9aQu7f9kib-EoxAR1RA7RVR2IwUcCXDhDLrotyIZ9aq55lGTQIvNpfp3fvDRvD3YjTQq8NN84o7Nw8ssYhRiVuRjTKc0t-WHHJ3CGeC6tsv/s400/jangbricks-q-a.jpg" width="400"></a></div>
<br>
I may seem a bit quiet on the content front at the moment, but don't worry, all is well. I'm not in a motivational rut and there's no other problem behind the scenes, but at the same time there's no big-bang MOC I'm secretly working on or anything. This is the most dramatic new product release lull of the year, with the trans-holiday rush looming over the horizon, and I always use this time to work on mundane chores that nobody else cares about. Most of these "between" seasons have delayed starts as normal work goes overtime, and that has resulted in a significant backlog against which I'm now making as much progress as I can, while I can. For those curious, here are some of the major groups of chores currently underway:<br>
<br>
<a href="https://www.jangbricks.com/2019/11/what-am-i-doing.html#more"></a>theJANGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06603632207942089230noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824360734690778592.post-89406926702688018502019-09-24T08:01:00.005-07:002021-01-22T16:40:37.584-08:00FAQ: Price/part vs. price/weight in LEGO sets<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYCHejmfHY7-8RSwzyJUjj6Y4gglK3J6XUO9aQu7f9kib-EoxAR1RA7RVR2IwUcCXDhDLrotyIZ9aq55lGTQIvNpfp3fvDRvD3YjTQq8NN84o7Nw8ssYhRiVuRjTKc0t-WHHJ3CGeC6tsv/s1600/jangbricks-q-a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYCHejmfHY7-8RSwzyJUjj6Y4gglK3J6XUO9aQu7f9kib-EoxAR1RA7RVR2IwUcCXDhDLrotyIZ9aq55lGTQIvNpfp3fvDRvD3YjTQq8NN84o7Nw8ssYhRiVuRjTKc0t-WHHJ3CGeC6tsv/s400/jangbricks-q-a.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Q: Should we look at price to weight ratios for LEGO sets instead of price to part?</span></b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>A:</b> No. No we should not.<br />
<ol>
<li>In terms of production costs, the price of the raw ABS that goes into each set is minuscule. In a quick search as a consumer, not even having access to true high-volume industrial pricing, the price of ABS looked to be around $1/lb. in moderate bulk and I'm sure with the outrageous quantities LEGO deals with, they get a significantly better deal than that. The $800 USD UCS Millennium Falcon thus contains less than $25 worth of plastic.</li>
<li>The smaller LEGO pieces are, the <b>more</b> they weigh for a given volume of completed set; 8x 1x1 bricks weigh more than a single 2x4 brick that takes up the same space, and 3x 1x1 plates weigh more than a 1x1 brick. In other words weight and what I simply call "volume of stuff," the total amount of visible/usable product when assembled, are not directly coupled measures. You can easily make one LEGO model smaller, yet heavier than another with the same general design.</li>
<li>The sense of value that consumers derive from a LEGO set has nothing to do with its weight. We care about its size, play features & fun, complexity, level of detail & visual interest, accuracy if applicable, and construction.</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
With the release of 2019's Ultimate Collector Series Imperial Star Destroyer, many people compared the weight of its package to that of the UCS Millennium Falcon to arrive at a single data point "proof" that LEGO prices all of their products by the weight of the raw ABS plastic (plus bags, cardboard, instruction book paper & binding, etc.). The boxed Star Destroyer came in at $0.055 USD per gram, with the Millennium Falcon at $0.060/g. That's within 9% of each other or even potentially "equal" if you round off another decimal point. However the theory falls apart quickly if you look at more than two sets. <a href="http://bricklink.com/" target="_blank">Bricklink</a> displays the total weight of just the individual components in each set inventoried in its catalog, sans packaging. Even sticking strictly to boxed minifig-compatible Star Wars sets from 2018-2019, the range is far too wide for comfort:<br />
<div>
<ul>
<li>75229 $0.099/g</li>
<li>75217 $0.094/g</li>
<li>75220 $0.083/g</li>
<li>75243 $0.080/g</li>
<li>75222 $0.075/g</li>
<li>75203 $0.071/g</li>
<li>75234 $0.067/g</li>
<li>75214 $0.052/g</li>
</ul><div>Taking matters into my own hands, for my last 50 reviews of 2020 I weighed each set myself (completed, sans packaging & spares) and published a price/gram measure below price/part. The number proved once again a measure of minimal usefulness. Sets I considered a good value were all over the scale, varying by as much as 106%. Those I found overpriced, meanwhile, had price/gram ratios often near or below average.</div><div><br /></div>
<div>
The data doesn't fit the hypothesis, and there's no good logical argument in favor either.</div>
</div>
theJANGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06603632207942089230noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824360734690778592.post-59705945134052301982019-09-18T21:17:00.003-07:002019-09-24T02:28:16.596-07:00My thoughts on the LEGO UCS Star Destroyer 75252<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM07o-JZ04as_jEnG3EAlFU7vRfjMXbLalE65KycIKW9cTCdLqznctgNn4oeASspzr4Ij_0Q0Ip_XJCvZi_gU4E4cToRSDBZ7vaMvRHWA7JXjA7d_CnAFCyLmke9Mksqnu4qWXc4XGU_fm/s1600/lego-star-wars-star-destroyer-75252.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1238" data-original-width="1600" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM07o-JZ04as_jEnG3EAlFU7vRfjMXbLalE65KycIKW9cTCdLqznctgNn4oeASspzr4Ij_0Q0Ip_XJCvZi_gU4E4cToRSDBZ7vaMvRHWA7JXjA7d_CnAFCyLmke9Mksqnu4qWXc4XGU_fm/s400/lego-star-wars-star-destroyer-75252.jpg" width="400"></a></div>
<br>
Today marked the public release of the second LEGO Ultimate Collector Series Imperial Star Destroyer, the hollow, but beautiful 4,784 piece behemoth. If you have any interest in it whatsoever, you've surely already been soaked in news announcements and "analyses" in addition to full-fledged (and fully positive) reviews since LEGO shipped pallets of them out for free to generate praise. As much as I used to wish I had the <a href="https://brickset.com/sets/10030-1/Imperial-Star-Destroyer" target="_blank">original mega-model</a> from 2002, I won't be buying the new one. At $700 USD, it costs too much and more importantly, at over 2 feet <b>wide</b> and 3.5 feet long, it's too dang big. I do rather like it, though...<br>
<a href="https://www.jangbricks.com/2019/09/my-thoughts-on-lego-ucs-star-destroyer.html#more"></a>theJANGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06603632207942089230noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824360734690778592.post-48390648487853601852019-09-17T04:22:00.001-07:002019-09-21T05:15:18.623-07:00So, What's Going On?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYCHejmfHY7-8RSwzyJUjj6Y4gglK3J6XUO9aQu7f9kib-EoxAR1RA7RVR2IwUcCXDhDLrotyIZ9aq55lGTQIvNpfp3fvDRvD3YjTQq8NN84o7Nw8ssYhRiVuRjTKc0t-WHHJ3CGeC6tsv/s1600/jangbricks-q-a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYCHejmfHY7-8RSwzyJUjj6Y4gglK3J6XUO9aQu7f9kib-EoxAR1RA7RVR2IwUcCXDhDLrotyIZ9aq55lGTQIvNpfp3fvDRvD3YjTQq8NN84o7Nw8ssYhRiVuRjTKc0t-WHHJ3CGeC6tsv/s400/jangbricks-q-a.jpg" width="400"></a></div>
<br>
It's been quite an eventful year for me and my YouTubing adventures, and with a final lull now in effect between release seasons, let me take a step back and let you know where my head is at and how things have been going in general. The good news is, I still like LEGO, a lot. I'm also a lot happier with my work today than I was a year ago, with a more positive outlook on the future of my various content publishing channels. Let me take you through the key points of interest.<br>
<a href="https://www.jangbricks.com/2019/09/so-whats-going-on.html#more"></a>theJANGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06603632207942089230noreply@blogger.com42tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824360734690778592.post-60135865950420364962019-09-13T21:05:00.001-07:002019-09-13T21:05:15.185-07:00FTC vs. YouTube vs... JANGBRiCKS?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhERqbOsPxm7AJtkYSaPeCYswjQAfo85pD23O7wco7q-h6o9ncbRU5TeD1WFB3ib3r0cbJ792KOFxeAhO7m41YzKjFon4gi4FQz3EA3jnNayM6t0WVEDWKlfLk80qfGGpigadduVInT1oHT/s1600/lego-elephant-jangbricks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhERqbOsPxm7AJtkYSaPeCYswjQAfo85pD23O7wco7q-h6o9ncbRU5TeD1WFB3ib3r0cbJ792KOFxeAhO7m41YzKjFon4gi4FQz3EA3jnNayM6t0WVEDWKlfLk80qfGGpigadduVInT1oHT/s400/lego-elephant-jangbricks.jpg" width="400"></a></div>
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It's about time I said something about the elephant in the room. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has determined that YouTube massively violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) of 1998 by flagrantly turning a blind eye to the huge number of young kids using the service with their parents' accounts or simply by lying about their age during signup. As a result of that finding, Google's been fined a petty (by their standards) sum of $170M, and more importantly, they're being forced to either clean up their act or face significantly greater consequences. <br>
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As has been the case over and over again when YouTube is caught being criminally irresponsible for profit, <a href="https://youtube.googleblog.com/2019/09/an-update-on-kids.html" target="_blank">they're going to overreact</a> and devastatingly punish a significant number of content creators who have done absolutely nothing wrong up to this point. This time rather than YouTube purging or restricting all of the fraudulent accounts clearly used by kids under 13, as their systems can easily detect (the root of the FTC findings), they're going to place sanctions on anything they deem to be "children's content." Mind you, there is nothing in COPPA even suggesting in passing that content for kids itself needs to be regulated, or that kids' viewing of that content warrants restriction. It only insists that identifiable personal data such as names, birthdates, email addresses, home/locations, etc. of kids under 13 must not be stored or tracked. In other words, there is nothing legally wrong with the existence of "children's content" on YouTube, and there is nothing legally wrong with actual children viewing said content on YouTube. The only thing that's wrong is for children to be logged in with an account that's not COPPA compliant when they use the site or app. YouTube's response, to butcher a metaphor, is akin to punishing the baby instead of throwing out the bathwater. It's egregiously idiotic.<br>
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<a href="https://www.jangbricks.com/2019/09/ftc-vs-youtube-vs-jangbricks.html#more"></a>theJANGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06603632207942089230noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824360734690778592.post-85710700967580999902019-06-13T19:03:00.000-07:002019-06-13T19:08:50.400-07:00How To: Criticize<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhji9rrQ5GdBSEQ28I2yqlXmL6QBvWi0QPOIxobIj-Feo1mZYNOcnzE4O6tQ46zUZxZYh2Rlfx7HAEqdkE-0MrgGTTpFEG4bwthML_P9CVDMzqxTEd18oxZvZsBvVDKihmF8AjADry7WMw/s1600/jangbricks-q-a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhji9rrQ5GdBSEQ28I2yqlXmL6QBvWi0QPOIxobIj-Feo1mZYNOcnzE4O6tQ46zUZxZYh2Rlfx7HAEqdkE-0MrgGTTpFEG4bwthML_P9CVDMzqxTEd18oxZvZsBvVDKihmF8AjADry7WMw/s1600/jangbricks-q-a.jpg" width="400"></a></div>
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<i>[Originally published January 2015, brought to the top & mildly updated June 2019 in conjunction with a <a href="https://brickset.com/article/44244/why-the-negativity" target="_blank">relevant debate</a> going on at Brickset.]</i><br>
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You probably don't want to read a bunch of extraneous text, so let's get right to the point. I think criticism is a good thing -- criticism of people, practices, products, companies, you name it. However, there are good & constructive ways to criticize and there are bad & inexcusable ways to criticize. Here are some analogous examples from each side of the fence. Backstory for this article is shoved down at the end, if you're interested!<br>
<a href="https://www.jangbricks.com/2015/01/how-to-criticize.html#more"></a>theJANGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06603632207942089230noreply@blogger.com42tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824360734690778592.post-65796884567384817632019-06-11T19:00:00.000-07:002019-06-11T19:00:14.576-07:00Peace is restored, for now<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuVJRFQ1Ri4krWXJlh-1iYKZcuNAxaDUQcGmPoJCamlJ-MmeiKgGcbsWQmeHEymeWJuU7plrigNBsDlaNzNGcATZri7A1kZOvEvfQSLGCU9hjP2O1AU4-tA6meBIg42qpAbzUJ9AM1GbGW/s1600/jang-vs-jang.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="733" data-original-width="1233" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuVJRFQ1Ri4krWXJlh-1iYKZcuNAxaDUQcGmPoJCamlJ-MmeiKgGcbsWQmeHEymeWJuU7plrigNBsDlaNzNGcATZri7A1kZOvEvfQSLGCU9hjP2O1AU4-tA6meBIg42qpAbzUJ9AM1GbGW/s400/jang-vs-jang.jpg" width="400"></a></div>
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Last month I <a href="https://www.jangbricks.com/2019/04/its-war-lego-reviews-vs-city-updates.html" target="_blank">declared war</a> against myself and set up some simple rules of engagement. I would not publish reviews more than 3 days in a row, and I would take a minimum of 1 day off per week from uploading to my main YouTube channel altogether. I'm happy to report today that I succeeded at those simple (but deceptively extraordinary) goals, and have achieved a state of armistice for the time being. Let me share with you what I learned and accomplished during this unique & interesting period.<br>
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<a href="https://www.jangbricks.com/2019/06/peace-is-restored-for-now.html#more"></a>theJANGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06603632207942089230noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824360734690778592.post-14561901054642037522019-06-11T17:48:00.001-07:002019-06-12T01:21:09.830-07:00FAQ: Why don't I talk over my Pure Build videos<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYCHejmfHY7-8RSwzyJUjj6Y4gglK3J6XUO9aQu7f9kib-EoxAR1RA7RVR2IwUcCXDhDLrotyIZ9aq55lGTQIvNpfp3fvDRvD3YjTQq8NN84o7Nw8ssYhRiVuRjTKc0t-WHHJ3CGeC6tsv/s1600/jangbricks-q-a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYCHejmfHY7-8RSwzyJUjj6Y4gglK3J6XUO9aQu7f9kib-EoxAR1RA7RVR2IwUcCXDhDLrotyIZ9aq55lGTQIvNpfp3fvDRvD3YjTQq8NN84o7Nw8ssYhRiVuRjTKc0t-WHHJ3CGeC6tsv/s640/jangbricks-q-a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Q: Can you add narration to your real-time "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbBDYcILaC5TjGhzP3rtCHg" target="_blank">Pure Builds</a>?"</span></b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>A:</b> While this sounds like a good idea for people who like the sound of my voice, the reality of such an effort would fall apart almost immediately. There are only so many ways one can say, "Look how these two pieces go together; isn't that cool?" Only a tiny percentage of assembly steps in LEGO sets are ever unusual and noteworthy, and it's even more rare to encounter something truly new. In other words, me narrating LEGO builds in real time would become agonizingly boring and repetitive in the shortest of orders, to viewers and myself alike. It has been suggested that I fill uninteresting times with small talk, but I hate small talk. Multiple-hour LEGO builds and me struggling to find entertaining things to say are two things that definitely do not go together.</blockquote>
theJANGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06603632207942089230noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824360734690778592.post-90968744218816400892019-04-30T22:07:00.001-07:002019-04-30T22:07:14.199-07:00It's WAR! LEGO reviews vs. city updates & MOC work<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpWPhCerNbNTyA85xfKknTj3wW7GLqN6_bTVcTs9dTdwVvGkP6lgfa5oWy4E-_nDoEMzhYfeyar8q04sIWBvo3s3rAbCOi9biu9mRfuVsOMzKjM3DgM7sQah8Ci8CYzDg7LTY-3SYH21rm/s1600/jang-vs-jang.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="733" data-original-width="1233" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpWPhCerNbNTyA85xfKknTj3wW7GLqN6_bTVcTs9dTdwVvGkP6lgfa5oWy4E-_nDoEMzhYfeyar8q04sIWBvo3s3rAbCOi9biu9mRfuVsOMzKjM3DgM7sQah8Ci8CYzDg7LTY-3SYH21rm/s640/jang-vs-jang.jpg" width="640"></a></div>
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The numbers are clear. When asked <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/jangbricks/community" target="_blank">directly</a>, the majority of JANGBRiCKS YouTube channel viewers want to see reviews of current LEGO products more than anything else, by a significant margin. <b>However!</b> There some other reliable quantitative measures very strongly disagree. The situation is just maddening enough to motivate the kickoff of a risky, radical experiment, and it all starts this week.<br>
<a href="https://www.jangbricks.com/2019/04/its-war-lego-reviews-vs-city-updates.html#more"></a>theJANGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06603632207942089230noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824360734690778592.post-58038780364331514472019-04-24T05:45:00.004-07:002019-04-24T05:45:56.870-07:00A New Personal Record!Today I filmed, edited, and published a total of 6 hours of content to YouTube:<br />
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<ul>
<li>1 hour 47 minutes of real-time HD <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbBDYcILaC5TjGhzP3rtCHg" target="_blank">Pure Builds</a></li>
<li>40 minutes of shortened HD <a href="http://www.youtube.com/c/jangbuilds" target="_blank">time-lapse</a> versions of those builds</li>
<li>19 minutes in a 4K quadruple-review on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/c/jangmobilvideo" target="_blank">my Playmobil channel</a></li>
<li>15 minutes in a 4K set review on the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/c/jangbricks" target="_blank">main</a> LEGO focused channel</li>
</ul>
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In all I chewed through 62 gigabytes of raw video footage and uploaded 13 gigabytes of finished product.</div>
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Not bad for a day's work?</div>
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PS: For MOC fans, the news is that I worked on a custom car for 5 hours the previous night. Didn't get it done, stuck on a perplexing build challenge. I'll keep working on it and when it's done, it'll be worth about 30 seconds of video viewing time 🤷♂️</div>
theJANGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06603632207942089230noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824360734690778592.post-1826093453609724732019-04-13T05:00:00.002-07:002019-04-13T06:46:33.531-07:00I Did It All Wrong (but I'm fixing it)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm3ySwGjjjO9N-NddsGRTZweN2xqxpuzmjBbJPGjCyhPp1x1xlBebBW-La1wMTgoSRlv0tc8J5zRftwa_zGVFE_7l_lijclHJGRv34vq2t3f6DAAJOWLaxsKQg342gziozHha-22pwaCPP/s1600/IMG_20190413_045926.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm3ySwGjjjO9N-NddsGRTZweN2xqxpuzmjBbJPGjCyhPp1x1xlBebBW-La1wMTgoSRlv0tc8J5zRftwa_zGVFE_7l_lijclHJGRv34vq2t3f6DAAJOWLaxsKQg342gziozHha-22pwaCPP/s640/IMG_20190413_045926.jpg" width="640"></a></div>
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It's time for me to get very, very candid about some thoughts that have guided my actions, how I made some very serious mistakes in planning New Jang City, and how I've permanently turned a major corner in the course of my involvement in the LEGO hobby on the whole. Grab a snack or beverage, and let me fully break the situation down for you.<br>
<a href="https://www.jangbricks.com/2019/04/i-did-it-all-wrong-but-im-fixing-it.html#more"></a>theJANGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06603632207942089230noreply@blogger.com46