What a way to end the year, and start a new one!

The last day of 2013 saw a new record amount of viewer activity on my YouTube channel, but the first day of 2014 pushed the record a shocking 10% higher still!  How did that happen?!

This time last year my involvement with construction-style products was limited to the tiny niche that was LEGO's Hero Factory line.  I did Hero Factory reviews, Hero Factory MOCs, and Hero Factory stories.  That was it.  However, I had just made the decision to try something new for 2013. I was going to take an enormous risk and shift my priorities to reviewing traditional brick-based sets.  There were already a ton of excellent, well-established reviewers out there with millions & millions of video views, and I had no delusions of grandeur.  I just wanted to give this thing a shot because it seemed fun, and I thought I might be able to offer some sort of unique value to the LEGO community.

(continues...)

Well, it seems to have worked.

In December 2012, I had over 10,000 subscribers.  In December 2013 alone, I gained over 10,000 subscribers.  More people watched my videos in the last six days of '13 than in the entire last month of '12.

Of course, subscriber & view counts are numbers of only limited importance.  What really matters is whether the content I produce is worth watching.  I've been absolutely ruthless in critiquing my own work and I strive relentlessly to make every month's batch of videos better than the last.  I track obscure analytic data before & after subtle changes to ensure that I'm moving in the right direction. When I compare my earliest brick-based set reviews to my latest, it's hard to believe they're from the same person, and that's exactly how it should be.

I feel like over the course of 2013 I finally became acceptably decent at what I do.  In 2014 I want to become good at it.  I've gone from covering Hero Factory, to Hero Factory + City, to the majority of themes LEGO produces plus a couple Mega Bloks themes and random samples of other manufacturers' compatible products.  However, I've also learned how to get through huge loads of new releases quickly, so in 2014 I will have time to kick MOC-making into high gear and finally make my city look like... well, a city.

I'm going to continue to improve accuracy in my review videos (everybody makes mistakes) as well as the info-to-"um" ratio, and you'll see me try out more different styles of products and videos alike.

Well, enough writing, it's time to make this happen.  Again I thank you all so much for your support, hope I'll remain worthy of it over the coming year and beyond!