Chicago Vic Viper fly-in remembers nnenn – fly-ins coming to DC and Seattle [News]

To commemorate the passing in April of Nate “nnenn” Nielson, each of the three LEGO conventions over the summer and fall are hosting Vic Viper fly-ins. Keith Goldman gives us a glimpse into the Chicago fly-in earlier this month.

Two weeks ago in Chicago, I had the pleasure of organizing the first Vic Viper fly-in, in honor of our departed friend and fellow builder Nate “nnenn” Nielson.

LEGO Vic Viper missing man formation

72 Vipers from 66 builders joined the missing-man formation from a total of 7 countries: Australia, Bermuda, Canada, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, U.K. and the USA. We kept the center of the layout open in the tradition of missing man formations, with nnenn’s rubber-band holder avatar as a placeholder. The public was drawn in by the amazing Vipers, and more often than not stayed for the story behind it.

Thanks again to all the participants that made the formation an outstanding tribute to Nate. Special thanks to Ley Ward for his time and patience, and skill with the dozen or so Vipers that arrived with “some assembly required”. For a detailed list of participants, please follow the link to my Flickr-posting and check the notes.

The formation was a moving experience for many of the builders involved, and we’d all like to express our condolences again to the Nielson family. Nnenn was missed in Chicago and will clearly be missed around the planet.

Both of the upcoming LEGO conventions, BrickFair in August and BrickCon in October, will also be hosting missing man formations to honor Nate. If you would like to participate in either of these formations, you can contact Dan Rubin (for BrickFair) and Andrew Becraft (for BrickCon).

6 comments on “Chicago Vic Viper fly-in remembers nnenn – fly-ins coming to DC and Seattle [News]

  1. Nabii

    I don’t think my MOCs would survive the postal journey, but I would appreciate if anyone could lend a SP3 Raid VPR on my behalf to the remaining two tributes. The set would not look like it does without Nnenns influence and I’d be proud if it could stand alongside these other tributes. (I guess it’s from Denmark via a British brain, if that’s important to note!)

  2. Catsy

    Mark, I’d be happy to bring one of mine to BrickCon. I think I still have one unopened.

  3. Nabii

    ^ Thanks Brandon, only so long as you don’t mind opening it up and building it! I wish I could be there… one day! I enjoyed Brick Magic and hopefully I can get to more US events in future, but in the meantime it means a lot to have some kind of input to these memorials.

  4. Catsy

    ^ No problem at all–I got to a point where I realized I needed to /stop/ opening Lego sets, even if I couldn’t resist buying them when they’re on sale. I have too many gigantic boxes of unsorted parts I need to deal with before I even think about opening anything else. But I can deal with one more VPR. :)

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