Bricktastic is an annual fan show held in Manchester in aid of Fairy Bricks — a charity which aims to brighten the lives of sick children by providing hospitals with LEGO sets.
This weekend saw thousands of LEGO enthusiasts descend on the show to see displays from some of the best UK builders, gawp at massive creations, try their hand at Mindstorms robotics, and enjoy some building of their own.
Here’s a short overview of some of the cool things Brothers Brick saw at the event, starting with the awesome Bright Bricks dragon which towered over the exhibition space…
The Bricks To The Past guys were showcasing their latest build — a Viking Raid on a small village. The layout featured some really nice water effects and terrain, all with the boys’ customary attention to historical detail, including period-accurate ship- and house-building going on…
Pete Reid had a huge space display, including a refurbished version of his classic Turtle Factory. Pete says he’s rebuilt practically the whole thing, and it features a bunch of nice new touches, including screens showing cool little turtle schematic animations…
Carl Greatrix was showing off his own take on a UCS-scale Slave 1. He says this model is still a work-in-progress, but it looked pretty good to me. Amazing attention to detail and lovely brickwork and sticker use…
No British LEGO show would be complete without a bunch of LEGO Train displays, this was my favourite, featuring the aptly named Manchester Brickadilly station…
I also really enjoyed seeing the Rocket Park — a pleasing mix of large-scale NASA rocket models and fictional spacecraft from the likes of Tin-Tin and Thunderbirds…
German builder Orion Pax, now UK-based, was there with an impressive display of Masters Of The Universe and Transformers models. Many of these have been big hits online, and it was a pleasure to see them “in the brick”…
But, like any LEGO show, it’s as much about the people as the models on display, and the biggest treat of the weekend was having three LEGO Ideas creators in one place at the same time. Pete Reid, Carl Greatrix, and Tom Poulson were all there, talking to fans about their Ideas sets, either existing, or in Carl’s case, forthcoming…
All-in-all an excellent weekend. Looking forward to next year!