FBTB.net - From Bricks To Bothans

I just upgraded the forum software to the latest. So if you see a few things out of whack, let me know

I apologize for this, but there was no way to test this without posting a news item. Thank you for your patience.

I know this may be a bit outside of our usual scope, but it brightened my day too much not to post.

800 kids from ages 5 to 13 who visited the BMW Welt in Munich a few weeks ago built this full size car in four days with approximately 165,000 LEGO bricks (under the automaker’s supervision of course). For every LEGO block used BMW made a donation to the “Die Arche” children’s foundation.

More images and original story via Carsoop. Best picture though? This one right here. That’s one satisfied kid!

It’s no big secret that the site makes money from our affiliate links to Amazon, LEGO Shop@Home, Target, etc. And believe me when I say that every click that leads to a penny is fully appreciated. So it should come to no surprise that I prefer linking to products and deals from our affiliates before non-affiliated companies. Toys’R'Us is an exception in that FBTB.net does not have an affiliate relationship with them yet I will still report sales and deals regardless. I believe by not doing so, it would be a disservice to our readers. I have applied to their affiliate program many times. Try as I might, and as often as I apply, I have always been rejected. Now before you think I’m just whining, okay, so maybe I am a little bit, allow me to state why Toy’R'Us sucks. The reasons they give me, EVERY SINGLE TIME, why I am not approved for their affiliate program are as follows, and this is copied directly from their rejection email:

* inability to access Web site
* Web site not yet live
* traffic levels too low
* inappropriate material on site

Allow me to deconstruct each point.

* inability to access Web site – I’m on the site every day and every night, pretty much every chance I get, monitoring the forums, checking messages, coding features, etc. Our uptime hasn’t been better. Sure there are a few hiccups now and then, but I find it hard to believe that someone from the affiliate approval department would not be able to access the site.

* Web site not yet live – Hello? If you’re reading this, I’m pretty sure we’re live.

* traffic levels too low – FBTB’s traffic may not compare to some other heavy hitters, but hey, we get pretty good statistics according to Google Analytics.

* inappropriate material on site – Now that’s a first. LEGO Star Wars is inappropriate? Better warn the parents. Sarcasm aside, how would they be able to make that judgement if a) they are unable to access the site and b) they believe the site is not yet live?

I have a feeling Toys’R'Us just rejects every applicant and checks off every reason why without really bothering looking at applications. That right there is a sign of incompetence. Providing reasons that not only contradict each other but also contradicts the truth is proof that no effort is made in reviewing applications. And if that’s the case, then TRU has no real intent on approving any applications. If TRU does not allow affiliates, they should just cancel their program and withdraw from Linkshare completely. ‘Cause seriously, what’s the point?

Regardless of the above rant, I will continue to report sales and deals from Toys’R'Us as I believe it will benefit our readers.

I try not to post personal things on this site, but this time I couldn’t resist. Come January, my wife and I will be expecting our first child. We are having a girl. And we are going to name her Leia. That’s right, you read that right. Say what you will, start your nerd jokes now, but it is quite a nice name regardless of the obvious reference. And no, I’m not going to start calling her “my princess” or “Princess Leia”; the last thing I want for her is to get a princess complex, cause you know how fun THOSE kinds of girls are. And yes, my wife has agreed to it. And no, if it we were having a boy we would NOT have named him Luke or Han although Han does sound Asian…

In all seriousness, I can’t tell you how excited and nervous I am at the reality of it all. This is going to be quite a ride.

I had meant to post this awhile ago, but real life got the better of me trying to get as much home remodeling done as possible before she comes. That is also the reason for my on-again/off-again hiatus from the site. I don’t know what else to say much more than that.

I am going to be converting my personal site http://www.acekim.com/ from a facepalm ascii art repository to a personal blog site in the next few days, so if you feel like reading up on my trials and tribulations of fatherhood as well as the other geeky things I’m into, bookmark it now.

This will be the last time I post something personal on this site until the next time that is. Thanks for reading.

Welcome, everyone, to the new FBTB. While the dust settles from the reconstruction, I’d like to take a short moment to thank you for your patience during these times. To the fans that keep coming back: thank you! You are what makes this site as great as it is. To the staff here at FBTB: thank you! Without your patience and understanding and unwavering support, this transition would never have happened.

Now that that’s out of the way, I’ve got some great things to show you guys. First up is the new design. I like to affectionately refer to this incarnation of the site as FBTB 3.0. I decided to go with a much darker look and feel to shake things up a bit. I have Mike to thank for that gorgeous header art. We initially thought up that scene to be drawn up in cartoon form, but he ended up constructing the scene and photographing it intending to trace over it. But I loved the photo so much we decided to just go with that instead. One of the endeavors of our staff is to involve more community members to build, and this new header art would serve as a perfect example of that.

FBTB 3.o will also have a new direction in terms of news coverage. We will be expanding our coverage to include all licensed lines, not just Star Wars. We haven’t forgotten where we come from, hence the name still being From Bricks To Bothans. We debated about changing it, From Bricks to Broomsticks, From Bricks to Brands, but in the end, we decided to stay true to our roots and stick with the Bothan moniker.

Next is a new and improved forums. We’ve done away with the “no free email” rule so those of you who have had troubles registering before shouldn’t have a problem now. There are a few other policy changes in place, so I encourage you to read up on those in the Info forum. Our forum is now integrated fully into the site, which was a long time coming. The old forums are still at www.fbtbforums.net for archival purposes, but the boards will live at www.fbtb.net/forums from now on.

Our chat room has survived the transition, for better or for worse. But now there’s a permanent link on the top navigation bar.

Probably the biggest new feature is that (almost) all of our news is now properly archived, dating back to 2002. There were a few casualties during the import process but most of it made it in. And it’s searchable!

I realize that there are still quite a few holes to fill up with content, such as reviews. During the transition, one of the things we had to sacrifice for the time being was our set index and reviews that were done. We’ll be working hard over the next few days and weeks to set up a new set database to browse and if available have a review about the set. A few of the other secondary pages will be updated in the coming weeks as well, so watch this space.

It’s 4:30 am as I write this, and I have to contact my registrar to flip the switch now. I can’t think of much more to say at this point, but I welcome your comments and criticisms. Post your feedback; I’d love to hear them.

Again, thank you for your patience. We hope you enjoy the new site.

Looks like they shouldn’t have given me keys to the admin panel, because while I’m perfectly capable of “nuking” the forum – I seem to have decimated the place. Rest assured the forum and all of your posts still exist; it will be a little while before a more qualified staff member shows up to archive the place properly as planned (and I’m guessing fire me at the same time!). This is going to be a busy week…

It was supposed to be open till midnight tonight. Don jumped the gun and hit the activation code on the nukes 24 hours too early. We apologize to any survivors who were on the forums at the time, and a big “Haha suckers!” to any zombies who were still roaming around.

Don’s been fired for his mistake, if that’s any consolation.