Back in September 2018, I wrote about my favorite Brick podcast called “The Bricks King Podcast.” You can read my post about it here. I found the podcast to be a great way to keep up with my LEGO addiction while doing other things like driving or chores around the house. In my search to find even more, I looked for video options. And let me say, thank goodness for the invention of on demand content. YAY! Sites like YouTube are full of folks who post videos about their LEGO addictions, review sets, and provide information about the hobby. My favorite Brick inspired channel on YouTube thus far has been Beyond the Brick. Apparently many others are fans too as they have many hundreds of thousands of subscribers.
“Beyond the Brick” was started as an audio only podcast by LEGO fan Joshua Hanlon in November 2011 as his “About” page states. He has long since moved to YouTube and now runs this channel as a full time job. If you go to his videos page, you’ll see that he is releasing new content just about every day. Having watched some of Josh’s earlier videos you can see that he’s come a long way since his early days. His interviewing skills have gotten better and he’s done a better job editing videos as well (in my opinion). You can tell that he is getting good at interviewing LEGO fans who can often be introverts who don’t like to talk to audiences on camera.
“Beyond the Brick” is different from many brick content type channels on YouTube or other platforms as Josh travels. He videos at LEGO conventions sometimes giving multi-hour long tours of a convention in case you couldn’t make it (like Brick Fair 2018 in VA) or sometimes spending a few minutes at a notable build this this recent video of a huge recreation of a bell tower in Florence, Italy. He’s been to BrickLink HQ to get an inside look at how the operation is run and has a full tour of the LEGO House in Denmark on his channel as well. He’s interviewed countless LEGO fans, LEGO company designers, LEGO Ideas designers, and many others. He’s shown us through LEGO theme parks around the world to include Japan and Denmark. Do I need to continue? If you’re a fan of the LEGO brick and you can’t find content that “Beyond the Brick” has released that you like, then you need to question whether you are actually a fan of LEGO or not.
I’m not endorsed by anyone or getting paid to say nice things so don’t worry about me leading you astray. “Beyond the Brick” has done a great job and I hope they continue to put out stellar content for many years to come. Thanks “Beyond the Brick” and keep up the great work!
Update - 15 Jan 2019
Beyond the Brick posted an interview of its founders Joshua and John Hanlon. It was done at the Skærbæk Fan Weekend 2018 in Denmark. You can see the view on YouTube here. They talk about how they got started, how they make money, and where they plan to go in the future. It’s a great interview if you’re interested in the inner workings of their YouTube channel.
