THE BRICKPICKER LEGO SET REVIEW/BLOG ARTICLE CONTEST IS HERE!!!

Jeff and I are proud to announce this contest for all registered BrickPicker members. It will be based on LEGO set reviews, Evalution Corner and Blog articles. We will judge the winners on several aspects, such as overall quantity, content and quality. We will take into consideration the quantity of reviews and articles you submit and the content and quality of those reviews/articles/blogs. Just because you pump out more reviews than other members, if your content and quality are subpar or very average, we can elect someone else the winner.

The basic BrickPicker Set Review will be accepted at 1000 characters. No less. Unlike the earlier Set Review version, you will be required to submit content for each of the 10 basic categories below:

First Impression(WOW Factor) & Introduction

An introduction and first impression of the LEGO set. Does the LEGO set "WOW" you? Is it or will it be an "iconic" LEGO set? When you see this set, you say to yourself, "I just have to have one!?

Unique Parts/Minifigures

Does the LEGO set have rare or unique minifigures? Are there rare parts/colors in the set? Does the set have a large amount of minifigures or parts that make it more desirable?

Playability/Build Experience

Does the set have elements that make it an extremely "fun" set to play with or to build, thus affecting it's popularity and future viability as an investment?

Value for money(new)

Is the set a bargain? Does the set give you a "bang for your buck" when considering piece to price ratio or is the price of the set extremely high priced for the amount of pieces included? This rating also plays into LEGO collectors/investors who like to "part out" LEGO sets to make money...Could the set be used to "part out for a profit"?

Theme Popularity

Is the LEGO set from a popular LEGO theme that sells well in the primary retail LEGO market and will most likely translate to positive growth in the secondary LEGO market?

Exclusivity

Is the set an "exclusive" set and is marked accordingly so? Is the set limited in production in any way? Is the set from a Toy Fair or Comic Con or other LEGO trade show that has limited production runs?

Packaging

Does the set have unique packaging that makes it stand out from the typical LEGO set? Does the set have special markings on the box that differentiate it from other LEGO sets?

Growth Potential

What is the potential growth of this set in the secondary LEGO market? Will this set appreciate or depreciate after being retired(EOL)?

Display Attributes

Does this set when built display well? Is it a topic of conversation when built and displayed in a office or den? Does it make for an impressive or unique set when compared with other LEGO set

Final Analysis & Conclusion

Your overall final impression of the set, taking into consideration all the above factors. A final synopsis or conclusion about the LEGO set. The numerical rating is for the entire set, with a 10 being the ?perfect? LEGO set, a 5-6 being about average and a 1 being the bottom of the barrel.

Each category can range from a sentence to several paragraphs if necessary. The combined total for all the category content needs to be 1000 characters to be accepted. You will be asked to leave a numerical 1 to 10 rank for each category as well, with 4,5 and 6 being considered "average" LEGO set rankings. You do not have to own a set to review one, but it would help and this will be noted on each review. Here is a sample of a REVIEW I did for the 10227 UCS B-Wing Starfighter. It is a 5000 character review and I would consider it an above average review. You can do more or less, but proper grammar and spelling is also important.

We will take a snapshot of the current review totals and start from there. A BrickPicker member can look over their personal reviews in our new REVIEW LOG. You will have the ability to resubmit an older review and improve it, with it counting towards the contest. Jeff and I will approve or disapprove each resubmission. What is neat about the new review system is that Jeff and I will be able to award BONUS BRICKPOINTS for above average and special reviews. A basic 1000 character review will be awarded 10 Brickpoints, but we can give up to 500 Brickpoints or more for some in depth and special reviews.

The contest will start immediately and conclude at 11:59 PM(Eastern Time) on July 3rd, 2013. There will be three main prizes:

1ST PLACE: 10228 HAUNTED HOUSE or $200 LEGO GIFT CARD

2ND PLACE: 10232 PALACE CINEMA or $150 LEGO GIFT CARD

3RD PLACE: 9516 JABBA'S PALACE or $100 LEGO GIFT CARD

We will adjust all prizes to the winner's country and situation. Jeff and I understand that some members have to pay more for LEGO sets and we will adapt to each situation. We have the right to change the prizes to equivalent LEGO sets if these become retired or out of stock.

There will also be four $25 LEGO GIFT CARDS given out to those exceptional reviews in which I can convert to content for the EVALUATION CORNER. One person can win them all. Look at my reviews for an example of what I am looking for. You do not have to go through the normal review processor if it is easier to produce a large and quality review and analysis on a word processor like OPEN OFFICE(which I use). If you are doing a "special" review, you can contact me. I can guide you. What I don't want is something I have to rewrite. It needs to be quality content and properly written. I can tweak it and help with data and charts, but the overall written content needs to be very, very good.

Depending on the response, we can throw in some other prizes along the way. Maybe some "Honorable Mentions" or some other prize for some review or content that tickles my fancy. This is a serious competition and Jeff and I want the content of the LEGO set reviews to become a very important part of our site. Unlike the quality reviews on top sites like Brickset or Eurobricks, I want our reviews to focus on aspects of LEGO sets that will affect its "investment" potential and value. You can discuss anything you want, but you should have a serious investment correlation in your reviews when discussing many of the categories. The basic categories are set up like an essay, with an introduction, body & content and then a conclusion. Think of the reviews in proper English class terms and you will do well.

That's about it. Good luck with your reviews and any questions can be posted below. Winners will be announced on July 4th, 2013. Thanks.

Ed Mack

EDIT: JEFF AND I WILL ALSO ACCEPT EVALUATION CORNER/BLOG ARTICLES TOWARDS THE CONTEST AS WELL!!!

Remember, thats why I wanted to have that save feature in there. You don't have to do it all in one sitting. You will also see the benefit to such high quality reviews in other areas of the site soon. So your hard work will be available for visitors of Brickpicker to read in more places..

I write up everything in a word file using Microsoft Office, so I basically do a little here & there throughout the day and remember to save often. This also helps with my lack of perfect grammer and spelling. Ha. The option to save your review is the best.

I think the addition of a video review will be a great thing for those that do that sort of thing. I don't have a digital camera for that and not much for being in front of a screen myself but I'm sure guys like The Brick Show dudes will enjoy the feature.

Maybe people skipped by this post or maybe no one cares about it, but just wanted some overall thoughts on it.

It seems like a lot of people would turn in a crap load of cheap videos, and additionally, it would be harder to judge these reviews.

Speaking of charts, people can be creative with regular keyboard inputs...

SET NUMBER // CAGR(%)

_____________________________

10179 // 31.19

10030 // 12.40

10212 // 7.88

THIS IS A BAD IDEA! DOES NOT WORK. THAT IS ALL! ;-)

There is now a new editor in place in which charts can be included. Feel free to resubmit older reviews with the new editor and charts.

http://www.screencast.com/t/stlCVskN4

Here is a screenshot about creating a table and a tip or two when doing so to make it easier for you to enter info. I would definitely put in the correct number or rows and columns and set the width to at least 600 when starting your table. With the editor you can bold, highlight color text that you want to bring attention to as well.

Here is an excellent review from Fcbarcelona101 using the new editor to include charts. http://www.brickpicker.com/reviews/review.cfm?id=134 You can also include different fonts, colors, and links.

Something I just noticed: you can buy gift cards only for the UK, German and Dannish LEGO Shop at Home in Europe.

Something I just noticed: you can buy gift cards only for the UK, German and Dannish S@H in Europe.

Regardless of what happens and who wins what, the people will get their prize in a fashion that makes everyone happy. Its tough when the rules don't apply equally to everyone, Ed and I understand that, but it will be fair and equal.

Regardless of what happens and who wins what, the people will get their prize in a fashion that makes everyone happy. Its tough when the rules don't apply equally to everyone, Ed and I understand that, but it will be fair and equal.

Sweet

Max <3 BrickPicker

Man, there are some really good reviews out there! Great job guys!

There is now a new editor in place in which charts can be included. Feel free to resubmit older reviews with the new editor and charts.

http://www.screencast.com/t/stlCVskN4

This is pretty radical guys but does take some getting used to.

I am wondering though, when I add a hyperlink to some of the text why does that text become all caps?

It looks like this in the preview 4630

Gone for 5 days, come back and we have this! I need to go out of town more often. Maybe we will have more contests! Thanks, Macks!!

This is pretty radical guys but does take some getting used to.

I am wondering though, when I add a hyperlink to some of the text why does that text become all caps?

It looks like this in the preview 4630

If you use URLs from Brickpicker, they should now be working fine as well.

Gone for 5 days, come back and we have this! I need to go out of town more often. Maybe we will have more contests!

Thanks, Macks!!

Hey! Welcome back, Comicblast! :-)

If you use URLs from Brickpicker, they should now be working fine as well.

Alrighty then. Thank you, Jeff.

So cool seeing my two reviews up. Hate to be a nudge again, Jeff, but the hypertext link at the bottom of my review of Blue Roadster for 6743 Street Speeder is linking to 6734 Beach Cruisers. Besides that, everything is perfect and I thank you for fixing the rest of the links for me.

I'm running into a small issue when writing my reviews and would like to see if anyone else here as any input or advice. How are you guys dealing with the Theme Popularity section when you are reviewing several sets of the same theme? I have been doing a couple SW, HP and LOTR reviews and up to know I have been able to write similar things on a different way once I get to that particular section, but I feel that once I do 3 or 4 sets of the same theme I will run into a big problem since I will keep repeating some of the same stuff from other past reviews I have done. The thing also is that I consider each review individually, since people are obviously not going to read my reviews back to back, rather they will probably go to one specific review and then read that one. In this case I don't think similar theme popularity sections will be a problem, but still wanted to see what you guys think since I do feel like I am repeating myself on that section sometimes.

Agreed, not just theme popularity, but usually packaging and exclusivity as well. I hate to sound redundant, but remember that people usually aren't just reading all of your reviews looking for similarities.

Agreed, not just theme popularity, but usually packaging and exclusivity as well. I hate to sound redundant, but remember that people usually aren't just reading all of your reviews looking for similarities.

Right, I think the same, but still it feels a little weird just writing similar things over and over lol.

I'n running into a small issue when writing my reviews and would like to see if anyone else here as any input or advice.

How are you guys dealing with the Theme Popularity section when you are reviewing several sets of the same theme? I have been doing a couple SW, HP and LOTR reviews and up to know I have been able to write similar things on a different way once I ge to that particular section, but I feel that once I do 3 or 4 sets of the same theme I will run into a big problem since I will keep repeating some of the same stuff from other past reviews I have done.

The thing also is that I consider each review individually, since people are obviously not going to read my reviews back to back, rather they will probably go to one specific review and then read that one. In this case I don't think similar theme popularity sections will be a problem, but still wanted to see what you guys think since I do feel like I am repeting myself on that section sometimes.

Just tell it the way it is. Some categories will be repetitive or monotonous for some sets, then very interesting for others. Remember this, even a theme like STAR WARS is not equal when comparing sets. A UCS themed STAR WARS set has completely different values than a regular STAR WARS set. Heck, STAR WARS sets as a whole could be considered a detriment to some people.

On a personal note, your reviews are excellent!

Yeah, I guess I'll just keep doing that then, trying to mix up and change it a little bit each time.

Thanks!

Ok guys, I was just talking with my mom tonight about this review thing and showing her some examples, and she said I might be able to combine this with my writing curriculum to a certain extent! So watch out for clausal openers, parallelisms, correlative conjunctions, anadiplosis, dual adjectives, and polysyndetons!

The crap? How about let's just go verbs, nouns, and adjectives. Much more...on par with my ability. ;)

@ Fcbarcelona101 What I suggest you do in regards to repetitive information in the theme section is look at how the set fits into the theme (is it the flagship? is it the most iconic set of the theme?), which you already have done sort of in your reviews. I don't think its a problem - I personally love all of your reviews and when reading them, it didn't bother me. As for the review contest helping with people's writing abilities, I see this as my practice on writing expository and narrative essays LOL.

@ Fcbarcelona101

What I suggest you do in regards to repetitive information in the theme section is look at how the set fits into the theme (is it the flagship? is it the most iconic set of the theme?), which you already have done sort of in your reviews. I don't think its a problem - I personally love all of your reviews and when reading them, it didn't bother me.

As for the review contest helping with people's writing abilities, I see this as my practice on writing expository and narrative essays LOL.

I appreciate the input, I'll try to start doing something like that on my next reviews.

Thanks for the compliments! yours are pretty good as well. Especially liked the Orc Forge's review. Here's hoping that value does increase by the time Orthanc is released!

I was going to write about this before i saw that you guys had already hit opon it! I'm running out of ways to say, "SW sets are popular."