2024 is just around the corner, and The Lego Car Blog, lodged like a piece of fluff in the internet’s belly-button, has clung on for another year!

Sadly the Queen didn’t though, and thus 2023 saw the coronation of a new king in our home nation, alongside the official end of the COVID-19 pandemic, a titanic submarine implosion, and a Chinese balloon that was just monitoring the weather, honest.

It was also the year when President Putin was usurped as the World’s Biggest Dick (ironically) by Hamas (although Benjamin Netanyahu is surely challenging that now), and in which the head of a national oil company chaired the United Nations Climate Change Conference. Which means we’re still all going to cook or drown, to the surprise of absolutely no-one.

In fact 2023 was the hottest year ever recorded for the earth’s surface temperature, but was it hot for The Lego Car Blog too? Let’s find out…

Stats

After dropping back into six-figure views from our high of over a million a few years ago, we’re almost exactly level from 2022 to 2023. Our viewing figures are directly linked to the amount of content we publish, and we’ve realised that – impressive though seven-figures annually are – we’re much too lazy to keep that pace going. Hopefully we’re publishing enough to keep you all interested (337 posts in 2023), whilst ensuring there’s balance away from writing.

The Lego Car Blog’s readers came from almost every country on earth, led by the U.S, Germany, U.K, Netherlands and Canada, whilst fourteen countries supplied just a single visitor. The most popular post of the year was ‘That’ Toyota Supra, with the Review Library, our 2024 Speed Champions preview, and the Technic 42154 Ford GT set preview also pulling in big numbers.

What’s Next?

If the online Lego Community keeps creating amazing vehicles, then we’ll keep publicising them! We might also finally complete Master MOCers Series II, with just two spaces remaining after Thirdwigg joined the Hall of Fame in 2023, and we’ll probably try to review a few things too.

We continue to be amazed just how many of you want to read the nonsense we write, and if your views and clicks earn a little revenue that we can donate to those more deserving than we are, then that’s all the motivation we need.

Thank you for visiting, if you’d like to get in touch with us you can either leave a comment or send us a message via the Contact Page, and we’ll see you in 2024.

TLCB Team

It’s 2023! Well, nearly. So let’s look back on the year that was 2022…

A (corrupt) World Cup, the death of a queen, three British Prime Ministers, Heard vs. Depp, Musk vs. Twitter, record inflation, rightful protests in Iran, a Russian invasion, and COVID still lingers, although somewhat less potently than when it first arrived on a bat from China or something. It hasn’t been a vintage year has it?

But there was some good news too, including the toughening of various environmental and climate laws worldwide, the hopeful end of the Ethiopian Civil War, and break-throughs in both cancer and Alzheimer’s treatment. But what about The Lego Car Blog?

Stats

Well it wasn’t a vintage year for TLCB either, with our Facebook page disappearing following a post supporting Ukraine, threats from Russia, and a fall in readers from the last two years’  return to the magic million.

We wondered if we were getting boring, and – whilst don’t doubt our inane gibberish probably is – a look at our numbers revealed we published 17% fewer posts in 2022 than in 2021. Ah. TLCB laziness…

Still, 380 posts isn’t to be sniffed at and – whilst we haven’t published every day – the best vehicular creations and LEGO news stories from around the world have appeared here every week, bringing visitors from very nearly every country on earth.

The United States of America once again topped our visitor list, with Germany, the UK, Netherlands and France completing the top five. At the other end of the scale are various countries with just one visitor, most of which are lovely exotic islands. There was also one visitor from Iran; if it’s you, a very special welcome to this humble site of brick-based nonsense.

202 publishable comments were written by readers during 2022 (only some of which were from angry Russians…), countless messages entered our inbox (only some of which were marketing spam), and the site received tens of thousands of referrals from social media (which considering we’re not on it, rather shows its power), with the top pages continuing to be our Review Library and The Rise and Fall of MOCpages, alongside the homepage of course.

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All of that has led to an increase in the revenue we see from the adverts that appear on this site. None of our staff (nor TLCB Elves, what with them being mythical) are paid, thus we can give away what this site earns to those who need it more than we do; thank you for taking the time to visit us – it really does make a difference.

What’s Next?

More inane gibberish on the subject of Lego vehicles most probably…

After a wonderful competition with our friends at BrickNerd during 2022, 380 posts published, and a site that spans Interviews, Reviews, and the publication of thousands of fan-made models, we’re happy to keep things a little more ‘underground’ in 2023. This means we won’t be chasing the magic million (achieved previously by posting more content), nor rejoining social media, such are its ills. Rather, if you still like what we do, we’ll keep doing that. Several posts a week, showcasing the best Lego vehicles from around the world, plus occasional LEGO news, reviews and interviews will keep us happy. We hope it keeps you happy too : )

Thank you for visiting us, please do let us know what you think of what we do via the comments or the Contact Form, and we’ll see you in 2023.

TLCB Team

It’s 2022! Which would sound super futuristic if it weren’t for the fact that it already appears to be shaping up as a repeat of the last two years (and pre-1989 if you’re Russia…).

There is newness on the horizon though, as 2022 will bring us the most corrupt Football World Cup in history, a boycotted (kinda) Winter Olympics in China, the James Webb telescope will unfurl to look back in time, and will COVID finally be vanquished?

We’ve got some news too, but we’ll get to that in a bit. Before that, here’s a look at the year that was 2021!

Stats

2021 saw a little less than a million of you join us here at The Lego Car Blog. The U.S – despite our regular mockery of its former President, guns, and cars – was once more the most prolific country by views, with more of you joining us from America than the next five countries combined.

At the other end of the scale there are just four countries with a single visitor, all of which are the remotest of islands. If you are the one person from either the Cook Islands, St. Helena, Christmas Island, or the Cocos Islands, we’re delighted to have you with us!

Google was the top referrer, followed by Pinterest and Facebook, and our most viewed individual pages were the Review Library, The Rise and Fall of MOCpages, and the Directory.

447 posts were published during 2021 (receiving 281 comments and 1,115 likes), several new reviews were added to the Review Library (some of which were written by you), one further builder was inducted into the Master MOCers Hall of Fame, and we even helped to develop a brand new lighting kit suitable for vehicle creations.

We also celebrated our 10th Anniversary! By which we mean, we forgot. But we do have something planned in 2022!

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2021 was our first full year of allowing proper advertising to appear. We hope they haven’t been too annoying, and even that a few have been interesting enough to click on.

Most are controlled by Google (what isn’t!), and display in the right sidebar, between posts, at the header and/or footer, and will sometimes appear full screen during page navigation. The revenue generated from these is given to those who need it more than we do, so your views and clicks really do make a difference.

What’s Coming Up?

2022 will see more of the best vehicle creations, occasional set reviews, Master MOCers and LEGO news published here at The Lego Car Blog and via our Facebook page.

You can also let us know your suggestions via the Contact and the Submission Suggestions pages. Take a look at our Submission Guidelines to know what we look for!

And finally, 2022 will bring the next building competition! Stay tuned for a hint which will be appearing right here very soon…

Thank you for joining us in 2021, and we wish you all a very happy New Year

TLCB Team

Find us on Flickr, Facebook, and check out the new LED Starter Kit for vehicle creations that Lightailing launched at our request by clicking here!

Well that was awful wasn’t it. As TLCB’s home nation plunges into another lockdown, the health services are overwhelmed with Coronavirus cases, and President Trump barricades himself in the oval office, 2021 looks to be carrying on where 2020 is leaving off.

Still, here at The Lego Car Blog, things have been alright…

Stats:

After two years of reducing views, 2020 saw a surge in visitors, taking us back towards the million a year mark. We know people have been bored during lockdowns but there are surely much better places to visit than here!

The U.S remains the top nation for visitors, with more than twice as many of you joining us from America than the next nearest country, despite us annoying a few of you by mentioning some of the U.S’s foibles. Visitors from over two-hundred and twenty other nations visited over the course of 2020, and if you’re the one visitor from Christmas Island, Sierra Leone, Tonga, Samoa, or Gabon an extra warm welcome to you!

Search Engines and Pinterest were the largest source of referrals, with our Review Library and The Rise and Fall of MOCpages receiving the most visits.

Oh yeah, if a killer virus, the undermining of American democracy, and race-related riots weren’t enough, 2020 also saw the surprise deletion of MOCpages. Once the bastion of creation-sharing online, Sean Kenney decided to delete the site without warning, taking with it countless creations and duly collecting the ‘Villain of the Year’ trophy in the process.

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After years of changing virtually nothing about this site whatsoever, our hand was forced in 2020 as our un-supported platform finally crapped out on us. Cue a shiny new platform that looks exactly like the old one, except with a proper side bar for advertisements.

We then displayed all the intelligence of an anti-vaccine group by clicking these ads to check they were OK and not leading anywhere unpalatable, and consequently got frozen by Google. Whoopsie. Anyway, they should be back soon, and the revenue they generate will continue to go to good causes that need it more than we do, only now the cheques will be much larger!

Competitions & Reader Contributions:

With many of you stuck inside during 2020’s various COVID-19 lock-downs it was the perfect time to hold a competition that we’d been mulling over for some time: Take a set you already own, and turn it into something new. The Lego Car Blog Lock-Down B-Model Competition was a roaring success, with over forty creations making the shortlist to win an awesome array of prizes from our sponsors. It was seriously close at the top, with about seven creations separated by only one or two points! Much arguing later and we had our Winner and Runner-Up, who each received some properly good SBrick Bluetooth Controller packs.

We also opened our Review Library up to our readers via our Facebook page, with several of you joining us to review official LEGO sets, and to take home some free (apart from writing a review of course) Game of Bricks lighting kits.

2021:

As we move into 2021 we’re still here to blog the best Lego vehicles that the web has to offer. We know 2020 has been exceptionally hard for thousands of you, and sadly 2021 looks to be no better at the moment, despite the promise of a Coronavirus vaccine. However, we hope LEGO can still be a source a joy, and that this crummy little corner of the internet provides an escape every once in a while.

Remember that you can suggest a creation to appear here via the Contact or Submission Suggestions pages (just make sure you read our Submission Guidelines first), you can leave a comment on any page via the feedback box, even if it’s to tell us we’re idiots, and that your views and clicks really do make a difference, particularly once we’re off the naughty step and adverts reappear, with all the revenue earned here at TLCB going to good causes.

Wishing you a very Happy New Year, and a better 2021 for all of humankind

TLCB Team