Letter from the Director, October 2023

Hey Brick News readers,

Frase here, I hope those of you reading this are having a great week so far! I've got a few important updates to cover, so I'll get straight into that stuff first.

Website Updates

Brick News won't be getting another website patch until November. Any bugs or issues that arise between October 14th and October 31st unfortunately may not be handled right away. As some of you know, I am the driving force behind the website updates and I will be overseas from the 14th to the 31st of October. When I return on the 1st of November I will immediately attend to any website issues should there be any. Server issues or temporary outages will be handled by a tech team.

With that being said, I am confident that the website is 99% bug free, and I have endeavored to resolve any existing known issues prior to this week. Subscribers should note that while I am away, the Subscriber Club will still be updated with the latest rumours, news and leaks regarding LEGO products. This trip is also the reason that the October monthly draw will not feature a counter with the amount of people who have entered, as it requires manual updates. In November and December, we will likely reinstate the tracker so that our subscribers can estimate their odds of winning the draw each month.

Build Competition Plans

While a lot of our subscribers are very invested in LEGO Star Wars and have been enjoying the build competitions focused on that theme, we are mindful that we also have subscribers who would like to see other themes. Following the October-November extended build competition, December's build competition will instead open the floor up to almost any franchise or just your own general creation. Whether it's Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars or just regular LEGO City, you'll be able to enter the competition as long as your build fits a certain theme. For those of you wondering what this theme will be, it's December, take a wild guess...

Also, we've been advertising the chance to receive polybags when participating in build competition votes. This will continue going forward and we're preparing to send a handful off, so remember to keep voting and support our builders!

Other Competitions

Some of our veteran site members will recall that we hosted Instagram competitions early on when we first launched our website. We are considering running more of these in the near future, but with more exclusive or rarer LEGO sets. Please head over to our Instagram page and follow us so you're kept in the loop.

That wraps up the important information for this month! Remember if you have any suggestions you can always email us at info@bricknews.co - we read all of your emails and we've taken on board plenty of ideas and feedback since we launched!

Where Are You Going?

Thanks for sticking around! I'm off to England for two weeks. While half my family lives in Australia, the other half reside in England. I've only ever seen my grandparents on my mum's side three times throughout my life, so I'm heading over to see them again for the first time in eight years. While I will be visiting the biggest LEGO store in the world during my stay in London (just in time before Sydney takes that title), this trip is more of a family visit than a holiday.

I'll be keeping my eye out for sets exclusive to the UK and I'll be making sure to keep subscribers updated with LEGO leaks and rumours as much as possible. I should arrive back in time to close the October draw, determine the lucky winner and organise the shipping of the prize. LEGO.com has had some delays recently in shipping their sets, so if possible we may arrange for the UCS Venator to be shipped by a third party retailer in the event that we can ensure our winner receives it faster.

There's plenty more I'd like to cover, but I don't want this article to go on forever, so I'll close off here. Thank you to those of you who have subscribed and make running this website & our competitions possible. I'd also like to thank our general website members that stop by to check our news and look around the site.

All the best,

Frase

Director, Brick News