December roundup... and thanks for 2018

You'd be forgiven for missing some of our posts this month – we've been especially prolific! So as we depart 2018, we thought we'd round up December's posts for you.

New LEGO® for 2019

• LEGO Minecraft is branching into larger scale "BigFigs" and Jonas Kramm explores a brand new SNOT bracket included in the sets 
• The new modular is LEGO Creator Expert 10264 Corner Garage and Elspeth De Montes took a look at its new parts and how they are used
• LEGO Architecture add 21044 Paris and 21043 San Francisco to the Skylines series; Sven Franic sizes them both up
• So far, Elspeth has reviewed two sets from THE LEGO® MOVIE 2: The Second Part: 70827 Ultrakatty & Warrior Lucy! and 70821 Emmet and Benny's ‘Build and Fix' Workshop!
• All the new parts and recolours to be found in the Asia-exclusive set 80102 Dragon Dance were revealed in a cryptogram by LEGO designer Nick Vas
• A completely new salmon shade called Vibrant Coral is being added to the palette. Ryan Howerter takes a stab at how it will work with other LEGO colours

Examining 2018 elements

• Jonas Kramm came up with many inspiring ways you can use the strange Minecraft animal pieces - Horse and Wolf, Cat and Rabbit, Silverfish and Chicken
• Sven Franic continued his investigation of LEGO Unikitty with the 1x3 Inverted Tile with Hole

But wait, there's more...

• Gary Davis reviewed re-issued LEGO Creator Expert set 10268 Vestas Wind Turbine
• The LEGO Architecture designer Rok Zgalin Kobe was interviewed by Are J. Heiseldal 

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Looking forward... and backward

Over the next couple of weeks we will be bringing you more 2019 parts and sets in review, including Speed Champions and more from TLM2, as well as some remaining 2018 reviews of Brickheadz and Technic. Sven is finishing his Unikitty analysis and to top that off we have a great interview with two of the designers from that theme. While we plan our 2019 parts festivals we've got more creations using 2018 parts to share with you too.

What do you want to see more of in 2019? And less of? Let us know in the comments.

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This also seems a good time to thank everyone for an amazing 2018. We passed the five year mark halfway through the year*, something I would never have imagined back in 2013. 

Firstly, thanks to you fantastic bunch of readers. I think you're the smartest and nicest LEGO peeps out there! And there's more of you than ever reading the blog, while our Instagram following doubled to 10,000.  Special thanks to those who take the time to comment on the blog or social media – given this is unpaid work, it's genuinely appreciated by us contributors. What's more, many of you even displayed your enjoyment of our work by contributing to our funds drive or sending us Paypal tips – these acts of kindness have had a direct and important effect on the running of the blog, for example being able to bring you LEGO employee interviews from Billund undertaken by the talented Are J. Heiseldal. Thanks also to everyone who followed our links to Amazon, that allows us to deliver you some additional set reviews (like the upcoming 70828 Pop-Up Party Bus).

Secondly, my thanks to the contributors. I was blown away by the quantity and quality of work delivered by Sven Franic, Chris McVeigh, Jonas Kramm and Ryan Welles this year. We were also privileged to receive contributions from Kevin Levell, Peter Reid, Simon Liu, Alexandre Campos, Ralf Langer, Gary Davis, Ryan Howerter, Dave Foreman, Jay Phoenix, Márton Ferenci, Tyler Clites, Sean Mayo and Cole Blaq. Meanwhile, master builders Tim Goddard, James Pegrum, Luc Byard and Steve Guinness built special models for us in our parts festival, and not to forget either the 140-or-so builders who attended our New E workshops in Portugal, Denmark and Italy (although I apologise we've still only published a fraction of those builds... they will come!). Also there were the amazing reader entries we received to our Kill Teal contest early in the year, 79 in all – thank you to everyone who participated and made it so much fun. 

I deliberately left Elspeth out of the above list as she deserves special mention. On top of her many wonderful reviews throughout the year she recently stepped up her New E responsibilities, not only by becoming our official Ambassador (to liaise with The LEGO Group and other LEGO fan groups) but also by increasing her admin duties on the blog... all while mothering two bouncy toddlers. I can't properly convey how huge the impact of her work has been for me but I am sure you will all have noted the positive effect it has had on the blog over the last couple of months.

Many others have helped in the background too, for example the workshops would not have happened without help from Andrew Tipping, Eduard Petrač, Kevin Gascoigne, Francesco Spreafico, Fabio Broggi, Mel Finelli, Ed Diment, Markus Rollbühler and the organising committees and helpers of Paredes de Coura Fan Weekend, Skærbæk Fan Weekend and Bricks in Florence Festival. Sincere apologies if I have left anyone out of these lists!

Crikey... that's in excess of 250 people who have contributed to New E this year. That really warms my heart... and blows my mind a bit!

It's not in my nature but I guess if I'm wittering on this much I also need to pat myself on the back for managing to hold this all together alongside a more than full-time job and all the other personal dramas of life.

Lastly and far from least, The LEGO Group and the amazing team there in AFOL Relations. This blog would have ended many years ago without the support of Kim Ellekjær Thomsen and his colleagues. Bestowing us with Tier 2 status at the start of 2018 has elevated what we are able to achieve even higher. We hope you've all seen and enjoyed the benefits of that additional support, because your enjoyment is the reason we do this.

Happy New Year!

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