BrickWorld kicked off today in Chicago with over 550 attendees displaying 25,000 square feet of LEGO creations. The event tops records as the largest convention in the US. Over the course of the weekend I will be uploading pictures to my Flickr gallery in addition to collecting links to photos by other attendees. For now, here are pictures from the setup day.
Meanwhile, you can also see more photos from Joe Meno and Bill Ward. Coverage of the opening ceremony and more will begin tomorrow.
LEGO builders and Star Wars fans, including the San Diego LEGO User’s Group (SandLUG) and From Bricks to Bothans (FBTB) converged on LEGOLAND California last weekend (June 13 and 14) and set up several tables across from The Big Shop. This isn’t an effort at self-promotion, but more a desire to share a few of the great creations that I’m pretty sure the builders don’t have time to post online or the creations are just too cool to pass up.
In addition to Mark Borlase’s gigantic Hoth diorama (it tragically took a “humpty dumpty” on the way back to Las Vegas) has been featured on The Brothers Brick before, here are a few of the other notables:
Cooperatively built Sarlacc Pit by Andy Grubb (anderson.grubb) and Gary McIntire (MrGSnot). Check out my other photos which show Sarlacc’s stomach contents, perhaps the coolest feature. Yummy.
Probably the most coveted creation at the display, people were quite literally offering to buy this “Star Wars: A New Hope” chess set created by Brandon Griffith (icgetaway) right off the table, thinking it was an official set. That good. Playing with toys are (left to right) Ryan Wood (lights) and Andy Grubb.
SandLUG member Brian Heins built this Ronto that has such great coloration and was quite playable.
(Edit: misspelled Brian Heins’ name. Corrected.)
UPDATE: 10197 Fire Brigade is now available from the LEGO Store online.
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In news that I strongly suspect reveals the mystery question mark in the 10194 Emerald Night announcement video, LEGO announced 10197 Fire Brigade at LEGO fan events in Germany and Portugal.
Here’s the full announcement from The LEGO Group:
10197 – Fire Brigade
Ages 16+. 2,231 pieces.
US $ 149.99; CA $ 199.99, UK £ 97.85, DE € 149.99
Build an authentic vintage fire station!
Ding ding ding! There’s a fire in town! The fire brigade drives to the scene from this detailed and realistic 1930’s fire station. Designed to fit with other modular buildings like 10182 Café Corner and 10185 Green Grocer, the station features rare LEGO® pieces and innovative construction techniques. It includes a ‘30s-style fire truck, 4 minifigures, a fire-dog, an opening station garage door, and a removable building roof for interior access. It also includes 2 fully-furnished floors with fire-fighting tools, racks for the firemen’s helmets, fire-pole, ping-pong table, kitchen with fully-stocked fridge, couch, bookshelf and a roof with a water tower and bell. Measures 14″ (35 cm) high and 10″ (25 cm) wide.
- Includes a 1930’s-style fire truck, 4 minifigures and a fire-dog!
- Features lots of realistic details including fire-fighting tools, racks for firemen’s helmets and even a fire-pole!
- The station house features an opening station garage door and 2 fully-furnished
floors including a kitchen with fully-stocked fridge and a ping-pong table!- Remove the roof for interior access!
- The roof is equipped with a water tower and bell!
- Fire Brigade features rare LEGO elements including bricks and plates in dark tan, 1×1 dark red tiles, a red hot dog and the 3x6x5 Belleville® arch. It also features gold fireman’s helmets, a tan hand bag and a red sliding garage door!
- Measures 14″ (35 cm) high and 10″ (25 cm) wide.
- Add Fire Brigade to your LEGO® Town and combine it with other modular buildings like 10182 Café Corner and 10185 Green Grocer!
September can’t come soon enough for me, and you can guess where my second fire station will show up in October.
I’ve uploaded a full gallery of photos to Flickr:
UPDATE: Andreas Haase has photos from 1000steineland 2009, showing interior shots of the upper story:
Check out the album on 1000steine.de for more event pics from the event in Berlin.
The early impressions about LEGO Battles (a new real-time strategy game for Nintendo DS) weren’t entirely positive, but Destructoid played the game at E3 2009 earlier this month and has a different viewpoint.
Conrad Zimmerman writes:
I’m looking forward to playing this, in part because it looks adorable but also because the simplification of what can often be a convoluted style of game really appeals to me. I avoid RTS games not because they aren’t really fun but because I can’t keep track of everything going on and wind up just getting wiped out when the second or third attack on my forces is made. LEGO Battles looks just simple enough to play that I may be picking this one up when it comes out.
LEGO® Battles is available for – Nintendo DS™ now.
At last year’s BrickWorld, Dr. Jay Hanes from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and collaborators captured the marvels of LEGO fans and their exhibition and produced a documentary about the love of the brick. At this year’s BrickWorld, you can watch a screening of the documentary and meet the producers and many of the featured builders. You can learn more about “Love of the Brick” here and watch the trailer below:
Oh, I’m sorry, was that the wrong response to this new installment in Brendan Powell Smith‘s The Brick Testament
I love the apocalypse, just love it.
The idea of rolling around our creations in the dirt is anathema to most of us LEGO SYSTEM builders. Not so a group of LEGO Technic engineers who gathered in Prague last month for the 2009 LEGO Technic Rally.
I was rooting for this Tatra by Nikolas Tepper.
Read more about this event on TechnicBRICKs.
The chain of LEGO store openings continues with two more stores to open in July in Dallas and Oklahoma City. Here are the details:
Oklahoma City, OK
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Dallas, TX
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I will be attending the Grand Opening at the Dallas store, and I hope to see some of our readers there!
LEGO has this to say about the events taking place at each grand opening:
Help a real LEGO Master Builder construct an 8-foot tall LEGO R2-D2™ (Oklahoma City)/Yoda™ (Dallas) during our 3-day Grand Opening Celebration weekend!
You’ll get a free LEGO® Star Wars™ Certificate of Achievement for helping, while supplies last! Visit the LEGO Store during the event to enter for a chance to win a $50 LEGO Store Gift Card! No purchase necessary to enter.
Plus:
On Saturday, be one of the first 300 customers to spend $35 in the LEGO Store and you’ll receive an exclusive, limited-edition LEGO set!On Sunday, the first 300 customers to spend $35 in the LEGO Store will receive an exclusive, limited-edition LEGO Minifigure T-Shirt! Shirts are available in child’s sizes only.
Visit stores.LEGO.com for more details.
In addition, here’s a full list of stores opening in 2009:
Kotaku spent some time at E3 playing the upcoming LEGO Rock Band game and reports some early impressions:
The problem with this game is all in the name. LEGO Rock Band makes you wonder “why LEGO?” Maybe “Rock Band: Play Rock Band With Your Kids” would have been better.
Because if you don’t have kids, this game is largely pointless. It’s Rock Band, except with a more pedestrian songlist, and no real changes to the way the game is structured, or plays.
But that’s if you don’t have kids. If you do have kids around, and want a game to play with them, well. This looks pretty damn good.
Read the full article on Kotaku.
And in case you missed it, here’s the game’s trailer:
Digital Blue has released details of their upcoming LEGO-branded electronics. The site lists four upcoming products:
The camera and MP3 player look like they’re going to be available in LEGO’s traditional primary colors as well as shades of pink and white. All four products are due out later this summer, so look for a massive increase in truly horrible LEGO photos to wade through starting then.
Thanks for the tip, Bunbrick!
This coming weekend, June 13 and 14, Legoland California is hosting Star Wars Days. The park, located in Carlsbad, CA just off the I-5 freeway, will be open from 10:00am to 6:00pm on both Saturday and Sunday. Single-day ticket prices start at $53 for children and $63 for adults, though membership, multi-day and “hopper” packages are also available.
Members of my local LEGO user group (SandLUG) and I will be manning a display table or two of our own creations. From Bricks to Bothans (FBTB), a LEGO Star Wars special interest group, will also be partcipating. We have many skilled builders (Right: John Cooper’s “Cantina Band”) in Southern California and this is a chance to see their creations, or more importantly meet the builders, in person. You are all welcome to drop by our display and say ‘hello.’
Though SandLUG has been around for a couple years and we have done displays in the past, this is our first effort at a cooperative display, so it may be interesting to see our starting point, so you can be stunned by our slickness in future years and say with authority: “I remember when Sandluggers couldn’t fit two base plates together.”
Here’s the full press release from LEGOLAND:
THE FORCE RETURNS TO LEGOLAND® CALIFORNIA FOR STAR WARS™ DAYS
Special two-day event features Xbox 360 gaming, Droid Hunt, daily costume contests and a special visit from Darth Vader himself
CARLSBAD, Calif. (April 20, 2009) – The Force returns to LEGOLAND® California on June 13 and 14 during LEGO® STAR WARS Days. Darth Vader and his 501st Legion of stormtroopers will invade the family theme park to interact with fans all weekend long, and LEGOLAND guests will also be able to take part in out-of-this-world activities like the Droid Hunt, video game battles, trivia competitions, building activities, scavenger hunts and daily costume contests.
For the first time ever during LEGO STAR WARS Days, fans of all ages can experience the new Xbox Family GameSpace, where they can play LEGO STAR WARS games all weekend long. The Xbox Family GameSpace features 13 game stations, providing an optimal gaming experience. Xbox Family GameSpace is a new permanent feature at LEGOLAND California where guests can experience LEGO STAR WARS and other family-friendly games year-round.
One of the most popular LEGO STAR WARS Days events is the Droid Hunt. Guests of all ages receive “droid badges” if they are among the first to stop by a specially marked table in The Beginning of the Park, where they will learn a special droid quote from within the STAR WARS Saga. When guests wearing droid badges are “caught” within the Park by members of the 501st Legion, they must recite the quote to receive a raffle ticket for the chance to win fantastic LEGO STAR WARS and LEGOLAND California merchandise.
Other features and attractions include the LEGO STAR WARS Fan Gallery, highlighting LEGO STAR WARS creations built by local fans and LEGO Club members; Jedi Trivia Contests, which allow guests to use their STAR WARS knowledge to compete for fabulous prizes; and a Miniland U.S.A. scavenger hunt to discover scrambled letters hidden by clone trooper mini-figures. Those who locate all the letters and unscramble the secret phrase will be entered into a contest to win a family four-pack of LEGOLAND California tickets and exclusive LEGO STAR WARS merchandise.
Also, guests are encouraged to dress as their favorite STAR WARS characters and participate in daily costume contests. Prizes will be awarded in two age categories: 8 and younger and 9 to 15. Each prize is valued at more than $500 and includes exclusive LEGO STAR WARS toys, collectible gear and tickets to LEGOLAND California.
When I revealed the following at my last SandLUG meeting, I was almost kicked out: I have lived in San Diego for 8 years and have never been to Legoland.
We’re not the only ones nominating LEGO Ambassadors for Cycle 7 of the program.
We’ll add to this list as we encounter more nomination processes as we learn about them. Feel free to suggest links in the comments.
