Some may say that building all in one, neutral, color is “easy” and perhaps a “cop-out” to avoid having to think about color I say that while this may be the case, it still looks good. It also makes sticker usage come to the forefront, as that’s where most of the contrasting color (mostly white in this case) comes from. There is a little bit of yellow and blue on this sucker, but apparently none of the photos are of that side of the chopper.

It also turns out that trying to photograph something with even a tiny bit of yellow on it against a yellow backdrop is a disaster.

When I started building this little thing, I intended it to be a comically tiny scout tank, like this. As I worked on it, though, it became clear that this would be too small that it would be too absurd even for this theme. I changed the tank to a remote tank, and that seems to work OK, even if it is a cop-out.

Check out the full gallery of Zombie Apocafest 2009 photos in Thanel’s photostream on Flickr.

The display this year was more than double the size of last year’s, with 17 tables covered in all manner of buildings and vehicles, ranging from little mini-tanks to a fig-scale tanker. Once again, we had the organizational genius of LEGOLAND Master Model Maker Gary McIntire laying out the city, with major contributions from other LEGOLAND staffers, including Ryan Wood (Port ChiefLUG) and Joel Baker (awesome zombie head).

As announced before BrickCon, we had four prize categories. Here are the winners:

• Best Original Vehicle: Lino’s Zombie Killin’ Gay Pride Float
• Best Apocafied LEGO Vehicle: Tommy Williamson’s motorized 7636 Combine
• Best Original Building: Abandoned factory by Justin Pratt
• Best Apocafied LEGO Building: Paul Hetherington’s Dark Carousel (hard to believe it’s an undead 10196 Grand Carousel!)

A huge “Thank you!” to BrickArms for their awesome contributor’s weapons packs, and to Valve for a batch of wicked Left 4 Dead 2 T-shirts!

So, how do these things work? What does it take to pull together a collaborative LEGO layout that covers a couple hundred square feet of display space? What have we learned after running a display at a LEGO convention for two years? Off we go…

It’s not as easy as it looks

Soliciting “cornerstone” LEGO creations, recruiting lots of good builders, and working with sponsors and partners is hard work. Similarly, planning for enough space with convention organizers takes time.

Know your audience

Despite my rather chirpy online persona, I have a subversive streak a mile wide. This manifests itself in my political vignettes and the occasional snarky comment. Before BrickCon 2008, a large-scale collaborative display of undead LEGO minifigs overrunning a Cafe Corner city, built by the adults who read The Brothers Brick, seemed like a reasonably subversive idea. I think last year’s display worked so well because that’s precisely what it was.

As cool as I think this year’s display turned out to be, it was a little spread out, and it was rather heavy on the small vehicles with spikes and ladders. The world really needs to be a nicer place than the purely ironic perspective some espouse, but really, some measure of self-referential irony would’ve been welcome.

I’m not a parent, and I don’t judge others’ parenting styles (okay, I do, but only a little bit). But it’s hard for me to imagine encouraging interest in the hyper-violent world of flesh-eating zombies and brain-smashing survivors. The subversive and ironic aspects of a zombie apocalypse built out of LEGO are likely lost on the 11-14 set.

A good idea is better than free stuff

Let’s be honest: The kiddies like the BrickArms, and will do just about anything for prototypes.

We’re big fans of the high-quality custom accessories produced by Will Chapman and his team, and can’t believe how generous they are. Will donated 35 packs of weapons for contributors, including hand-produced cricket bats at our request. Wow.

Nevertheless, we’ve all seen the “wil U trad wit me? kthxby” mentality on display in recent months, and I have to admit that the display this year seemed to attract a bit more interest from the 11-14 set than I’d anticipated.

In fact, there were at least two kids who leaned over the barricades during the public hours, asked to put one minifig on the display and asked for a contributor’s pack. Seriously, kids? The answer to both questions was — and will remain — a firm “No.” (I did let them take a picture of their figs on the display. I’m not a total jerk.)

Overall, I’m happy about how things went with Zombie Apocafest 2009, but it will be the last Zombie Apocafest, and I don’t plan for us to repeat themes from year to year. I’m even happier to report that we’re changing things up for next year. We’ve run our BrickCon 2010 display idea by a few attendees, and we’ll be announcing next year’s theme shortly. Plans are already underway…

Thanks to the generous folks at BrickArms, we’ll be giving away a bunch of these to those of you who contribute to Zombie Apocafest 2009 at BrickCon 2009 later this week. Each Zombie Defense Pack will include a prototype cricket bat and M1 carbine, along with other great stuff that remains Top Secret.

The cricket bats in particular will be in short supply outside these packs, and there will be a limited number of packs, so be sure to build something awesome.

But have a look inside and see why you want this truck on YOUR side during the Zombie Apocalypse.

Naturally, we’re hoping that those of you who build something for this challenge will also bring it for the Zombie Apocafest 2009 collaborative display at BrickCon.

As with other LUGNuts challenges, this is sure to generate some truly creative builds. And creativity is key! We won’t be awarding prizes at BrickCon for Biggest Guns, Most Chains, or Best Use of Brown and Gray.

This challenge is about apocafied civilian vehicles, like my S&S Wildland Ultra XT brushfire engine. Note the bright red color and complete lack of chains, though I must admit that the crazy Bionicle spike strip proved irresistible…

So, head on over to the Zombie Apocalypse Killfest ‘09 thread on Flickr, read Lino’s hilarious challenge, and build something awesome!

Or it could be that it’s just cool, like this neat little dio by Martin Latta.

The scene includes a heavily armed VTOL scout fighter, gun emplacement, cyborg, door to an underground bunker, and what appears to be a warning siren — a logical addition to any such scene, though the first I’ve noticed.

Via the ever-vigilant Young Spacers.

Thanks to Chase for the tip!