Shadows

5. Cecilie - 3 4. Penguin - 2

Welcome to Ameribricks Eurobricks!

April Fool's Month: Coming when you least expect it!

If we lose a few people who can't see an obvious joke and get worked up over the name of the site when the content didn't change, that's just one more positive to the whole thing.

Founded in 2003 as the 'European Fan Community', Eurobricks quickly evolved into so much more. The internet isn't about exclusion, it's about inclusion, and it should be about having fun. Sometimes, fun comes from pointing at others, but the best kind comes from pointing at ourselves. We tried that. A lot of you got it. A few, not so much. Whatever the case, we are and will always be a worldwide LEGO community, no matter what we're called, and that is the one thing that will NEVER change! In other words, it was all a cruel and hilarious joke that most of you got. Whether you did or not, go discuss just what you think of us for doing it, and what you think of yourself for either getting it or not. And make a little fun of the other side, but mostly us, we can take it, we're Americans good like that.

I should also add, I absolutely love this avatar and plan to keep it around for a while. I'm not mad at anyone, I just think it's hilarious that anyone who knows this site at all could have taken it seriously on the first of April with people directly posting that it was an obvious joke. The whole thing was so tongue in cheek that honestly, anyone who believed in it deserves a little good-natured kidding for it. Very well said. Keep watching for what comes next! It might be anything!

Then why did you buy that sweet red, white and blue pickup truck?

Silly kids.

If people can't recognise a joke, they deserve to suffer from it. ~ Shadows To those of you who understood what we were doing with the entire Ameribricks announcement, cheers, we hope you got a laugh out of it. It was only going to be a one day joke, a quick hit and run that we expected people to immediately see through. We were taking bets on how quickly every post would be "ahaha, you got us, April Fools", especially after a few of those were posted. What we didn't expect was the amount of selfish whining we saw. Seriously. If LEGO renamed itself OGEL tomorrow, would you start an internet petition and stamp your feet and wail? Based on this experience, it seems likely. The amount of turmoil some of you were experiencing is laughably ridiculous. You were so blinded by outrage that you couldn't see the thoroughly obvious joke that was right in your faces. From the over-the-top slogan to the blinding graphics and absolutely stereotypical comments and finally the poll today, there is no excuse for anyone to think this was serious. I would strongly suggest you learn from this experience and maybe stop taking things quite so seriously. Nothing about the site changed during that time except the graphics and one topic. Nothing. Think about your response to that. Kind of sad, isn't it? I must say, this almost turned out to be more of a psychological experiment than an April Fool's joke, but not because it wasn't a good joke, just because some of you took it so poorly. It literally ran a lot longer than expected because it was fascinating to watch just how distraught a few of you got over a name change. Feel free to discuss this amongst yourselves and maybe, with a little introspection, you can grow a bit. The rest of you can laugh at the ones who didn't get it, but try to be nice anyway, ok? Keep it good natured, like this joke would have been, and the point might get through to them. Whatever the case, we are and will always be Eurobricks, even though the name doesn't really fit what we do here. It's tradition, and some traditions should never be lost. At least not until the beginning of April next year, at which time we've decided to turn the site into a Portal fanfiction repository. With free cake. Would I lie to you?

Ok, I confess, I agree there, but it's what Hinck used in his cool graphic for the change, so, like all of you, I am bending to the will of the people and accepting that annoying phrase.

Why do you have to be so negative? You don't see the Ameribricks supporters being negative, so there's another vote in their favor.

Dear friends and members of the forum, We were very excited to announce the transition of Eurobricks to AmeriBricks, and we expected you would be as well. Many of you were, but a few were slightly less enthusiastic to see this happening and some even chose to go into denial and declare it a joke, which it obviously wasn't. We've always been a community where the majority, and certainly an overwhelming majority have made the decisions, and things are no different now, if anything, it's more like that than ever. So, here's the plan: we're going to let you vote and then proceed according to that vote, whatever it may be. How American is that? Please be sure to vote and feel free to comment, but limit those comments to the question and not bashing people. It might be cooler to be American and we can certainly take the silly stereotypes and jabs, but that doesn't mean that this topic should become insulting to either side, so let's have a clean fight, nothing below the waist and no biting. Without permission. No biting without permission. And ... begin! EuroBricks/AmeriBricks Staff

Right, because mum is the natural abbreviation of mother, er, mutha muther. Now I see why people say "Murican", they spell the same way they do "mum". Makes perfect sense now. And on that note, this topic has gone as far as it can, it's time to move on and accept reality.

You're right, it is about time we told you the truth. You're crazy. Seriously. Your Chima anthropomorphic crocodile rants are literally off-the-wall insane. Not entirely unlike your overly expressive posting style. There, now you know the truth. Remember, you asked for it, more or less.

There's the spirit, welcome, honourary American! Your laptop and other devices, including your toaster, should now have the right banner/skin. We're working on the rest of the internet, it won't take long.

Really? You can't even win at reading my country of origin as listed to the left over there. You know, the left. Well, let me make this easier, see the picture of the cowboy? That's me. Now go down a little and you'll see my "Country" and further down, my flag. Nice job, though, calling on an untrue stereotype to try to make an argument about stereotypes. Way to do us Americans proud.

Leave the whales out of this, they'll think you're picking on them for eating too much. Like Americans. Who we love. Love 'em! Every blubbery pound of 'em! And I don't mean the whales that time.

None of those places are representative of the shift in our member base. Did you even read my post? Americans. Oh, wait. Americans!

The first stage of grief is denial. We understand, but trust us, this is the right decision, even if the timing is a bit unfortunate. You'll see.

This is Cave Johnson, founder and CEO of Aperture Laboratories, the best damn applied sciences company on Earth, and in most of the multiverse. Except for Galron 4. Damn squid people really know their science. As some of you may know, I'm dead. I know, you're saying to yourselves, "Cave, if you're dead, how can you be talking to us now?" Science! Basically, when I kicked the bucket, the lab boys sawed open my skull, scooped out my brains, put them in some kind of doohickey science thing, attached a bunch of wires and sucked my brain into a computer. Other than that, everything is perfectly normal here. Now you may be wondering why I'm addressing you today. Damned if I know, just felt like it. You can do things like that when you're the CEO and inside an all-seeing computer hell-bent on world domination. Probably shouldn't have mentioned that last part, just disregard it. Back to work, people. What? Kids? What the hell are we doing hiring kids? Sure, cheap labor, but last time it damn near got us shut down. Well, whatever, if someone calls claiming to be from the government, don't tell them anything. That is all. (Signed) Cave Johnson CEO and Supercomputer of Aperture Laboratories

You people are just making me Hungary hungry.

Have some faith, we'll see you through these troubling times and on to a brighter future!

Right, as we said, this is a work in progress, you're just seeing the beginning of the whole process. There is so much more excitement to come. Yippee!

Speaking of which, our esteemed Root Admin and Graphic Wizard Hinckley has given us this spectacular poster in keeping with the new spirit of Ameribricks.

Dear Eurobricks Members: As most of you know, we've been through a number of software and server upgrades in order to provide you with the best experience possible. During that time, we've installed several new tools that better allow us to track the evolution of the site, and now is the time when we can apply this new knowledge to bring the forum to even greater heights. Specifically, we were able to look at registrations over time, marking very definite trends in our member base and we've come to an interesting evolutionary timeline, of sorts. In the early days of Eurobricks, the site was primarily used by European members who found it to be a comfortable place to share their love of LEGO with like-minded people of a similar background. Gradually, that shifted to a more global membership, which was something we had noticed ourselves, even without the detailed analysis that we have now. The part that surprised us was the last few years, the time when the site has seen it's largest increases in membership and traffic, and that is what we are here to discuss. To put it simply, what was once a European site has turned into one mostly populated by American AFOLs who now outnumber all other locations by a 4 to 1 margin. As such, continuing to maintain our image as a European site is unfair to the majority of our members. As a result, adjustments are being made. Over the next few weeks, you may notice some slight changes to the site, changes designed to allow us to better accommodate the largest portion of our member base more efficiently while still keeping the site friendly and open to all. The Plan Rebranding of the site to AmeriBricks, along with the necessary change in address. Reworking of site graphics to better match American visual sensibilities. Shifting the focus of our discussions to a more American point of view. Movement of the physical server to America to improve site performance during peak usage times. Rebranding is currently in progress, feel free to visit Ameribricks over the next few weeks to watch our progress. The majority of the plan is happening behind the scenes and will most likely appear suddenly, which is why we felt the need to let you know about the coming improvements. We hope that this change will come as both a surprise and a pleasure to you and that we may continue to serve you for many years to come. ~ The AmeriBricks Staff