2020 has come and gone, and it’s left a bit of a mark on everyone, I’m sure. It’s been a year of some real struggles and I’m sure we’ve got some to come, but let’s focus on the LEGO year that’s been! Like I have been doing for the last three years, I’ll be going through month by month, exploring the sets and news that have come out of Billund, and look at 2020 from the perspective of this site as well. This won’t cover everything, just the info that hit my desk.
First and most importantly, I want to say a heartfelt thankyou to each and every one of you. Your reading, sharing, comments, and conversations around the posts and the news, as well as letting me know about new content both here and on the BricktasticBlog Facebook page is just amazing. Without you amazing readers, this website would not be here, so thankyou.
January
January brought on the release of the Bookshop, the announcement of 10272 Old Trafford – Manchester United and 21321 International Space Station, and the unveiling of LEGO Dots. It all seems like a lifetime ago!
February
In February we saw the results of LEGO Ideas First 2019 Review, bringing the Medieval Blacksmith and Winnie the Pooh to the approved status. I completely forgot about these! We also saw some first images of The Mandalorian sets, the Minions sets, Series 20 of the Collectable Minifigures, and the announcement of 10371 Fiat 500.
March
March gave us Super Mario. This has been one of the big focuses for 2020 in LEGO. We also saw the announcement of the Star Wars Helmets, 42111 Dom’s Charger, and arguably one of the best sets of 2020, 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay.
April
The return of LEGO Masters Australia! This was a busy month for me, covering every episode. We had a few set announcements too – the UCS A-wing, the Technic Ducati Panigale, and the next wave of the Harry Potter sets.
May
May seemed busy but that’s because I was still covering LEGO Masters, but we got a few really big announcements – Monkie Kid, 10273 Haunted House, another of the year’s best, and 42115 Lamborghini Sian.
June
June – wow. This was just announcement central! 10277 Crocodile Locomotive, 43179 Mickey & Minnie Mouse, all of the Super Mario sets, Star Wars 2HY 2020, and the Wooden Duck from LEGO House, plus the approval of three more LEGO Ideas submissions – Home Alone: McCallister’s House, LEGO Typewriter and Seinfeld 30th Anniversary. More I completely forgot about!
July
More big announcements came in July. LEGO Art, the incredible Nintendo Entertainment System, LEGO Grand Piano, the LEGO Book concept, and Charlestown NSW got the announcement of their LEGO Certified Store.
August
In contrast, August was quieter, which was good – it gave me some time to get stuck into my review backlog. We did see the announcement of 75978 Diagon Alley, which was another hugely popular set for the year.
September
More announcements and a whole lot of reviews! 75290 Mos Eisley Cantina, the rather out-of-the-blue Adidas and Levi’s collaborations, 76161 1989 Batwing, 10275 Elf Clubhouse, and more LEGO Ideas results, with the First 2020 Review giving us the Earth Globe – one I’m very excited about.
October
Bricktober Perth moved to an online setup in 2020, Victoria got yet another LEGO Store, and we had the official announcement of 21324 123 Sesame Street! I’m still yet to get my hands on this one, but you can be sure to look forward to a review in the new year.
November
So many more official announcements, and some seriously big sets. 10274 Ghostbusters ECTO-1, 10276 Colosseum, more LEGO Super Mario, the recently reviewed LEGO Botanical Collection and of course, the highly anticipated 2021 Modular, 10278 Police Station.
December
December is always a big month for the blog, with the daily reviews of the LEGO Advent Calendars. We got the first official look at Series 21 of the CMFs, the first images of Ninjago City Gardens, I checked out the 2020 Employee Gift, and I opened the biggest competition of the year – vote for your top 5 sets of 2020 to go in the draw to win a copy of 10278 Police Station! Phew! What a year.
On to the site related information. The site had another big traffic increase this year, thanks to the surge of interest in LEGO from COVID lockdowns. The site hit over 121,000 views from over 71,500 visitors. That’s huge! There was less posts this year, at 119, but more review posts, at 34.
The top three posts this year were very interesting – the Harry Potter, Star Wars and City Advent Calendars! Harry Potter smashed the charts at more than triple the views of the non Advent Calendar posts. After that it was the Official Announcement and Review of 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay, the new Harry Potter Wizarding World Sets announcement, and some original content – Making Dinosaurs out of Dinosaurs Part 1, back in January.
Traffic this year came from Australia and the US, almost equally, followed by the UK, Canada, the Netherlands, Singapore and Germany, with many more after that. Traffic on the Facebook page was also quite strong. I’d highly encourage you to take a look at it and give it a like, so you don’t miss a thing!
Finally, I want to thank The LEGO Group for their continued and incredible support this year. I’m so humbled to be a part of the Ambassador Network. It’s such a great resource and the support they give is nothing short of amazing.
That’s the end (finally) of 2020! I’d love to know your highlights in LEGO! Let me know in a comment, or on the Facebook page. Also, if there’s something you’d like me to cover in 2021, let me know.
