Tag Archives: Conventions

LEGO conventions happen all over the world, and there’s a LEGO convention happening somewhere just about year-round. Though we can’t cover all of them, we’ll do our best to bring you highlights from BrickCon, Brickworld, Bricks by the Bay, AFOLCON, LEGO Fanwelt, Brick Fiesta, and all the rest.

BrickCon 2011 kicks off in Seattle in less than one month!

If you’re planning on attending BrickCon this year and haven’t registered yet, now would be a good time. In order to guarantee that you get your custom brick badge and bag o’ swag, you have to register by September 15th.

Photo by Adam Hally

There is a lot to look forward to this year. BrickCon has become known for its variety of collaborative layouts, which will include The Brothers Brick’s own layout, Numereji 2421, the Castle layout, Town, Space, Pirate, Pythonscape, Steampunk, Operation Bricklord, the Dragon Fly-In and many more. There is nothing like contributing to a collaborative effort, working with fellow LEGO fans and creating a giant creation that is so much more than the sum of its parts.

There will also be a number of competitions that are tons of fun for those involved and for the spectators. This year will include the 3rd Annual Fig Fling, Wacky Races, the Speed Build, AT-AT races, the Blind Build and more.

On top of all that, there will many different sessions and panels to attend, Lego Gaming, LEGO to purchase or trade, old friends to connect with, new friends to meet and lots and lots of LEGO to look at. Check out the BrickCon website, under the “Event” menu, for a full list of themes, collaborations, events, sessions and activites. The page will continue to be updated as the event draws nearer.

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BrickFair 2011 wrap up

BrickFair 2011 took place near Washington, DC this weekend. I wanted to hit up one more con before med school starts next week, so I decided to attend my first Lego convention in the Northeast and see some new people and MOCs that couldn’t make it to the other two large Lego conventions in the US: Brickworld and Brickcon.

The first thing that struck me was the enormous exhibit hall, which was about the size (and appearance) of an empty Walmart store. The next thing that struck me was the diversity of creations, including whole areas for less-commonly exhibited themes such as steampunk, post-apocalypse, even NASA. Lastly, I was amazed by the sheer number of people who showed up during the weekend public hours (above video), which turned out to be about 17,000.

Among the MOCs displayed, some of my favorites were Arthur Gugick‘s transforming mosaic, Black Baer‘s tornado vignette, the entire aquapocalypse display, and a cute Bionicle poster (not a MOC, I know). The list goes on, so I took a walkthrough video of the exhibit hall and highlighted more interesting creations along the way. Speaking of which, I’m glad people have found this video helpful. I plan on doing guided tours of the Lego conventions that I attend in the future.

I’m glad I made the decision to come to BrickFair, and I hope to do so next year as well (and perhaps have the rest of Awesometown). You can see my photos at BrickFair on Flickr or more on the BrickFair Flickr group.

BrickFair 2011 walkthrough video

Here is a video I took of BrickFair 2011. I’m not the best tour guide, but hopefully this will give you a sense of what the convention looks like if you couldn’t make it.

Canberra Brick Expo Aug 6th-7th (final reminder)

Just a reminder that BrickExpo 2011 kicks off in Canberra next weekend (6th and 7th Aug). So if you’re in the neighbourhood head along.

This will go live in my absence so please direct any queries straight to the Brick Expo team.

Comic-Con 2011 Wrap Up: Fine Weather, Comic LEGO and 125K Nerds

Comic-Con was crowded. The biggest pop culture celebration in the world happened in San Diego from July 20 to 24. Over 125,000 crashed my Downtown where I work and eat. Infernal interlopers. Seriously, it was great hectic fun as always. It’s nice to live in the city where there’s an annual shopping, people watching and pop culture extravaganza of epic proportions.

I wasn’t lucky enough to get 4 day passes with preview night or scoop everyone on the biggest LEGO related news from Comic-Con, but others in the LEGO and Comics fan worlds were on it, and we were able to pass it on to you last week: LEGO negotiated DC and Marvel Comics licenses. DC sets are scheduled for set releases in January 2012 and Marvel in summer of 2012.

I went back on Sunday and got some slightly better pictures of prototype minifigures of Wonder Woman (with very invisible plane), Super Man, Hulk, Batman, Cat Woman, Poison Ivy, Thor, Iron Man and Wolverine.

There was also a display with four Hero Factory tie in figures: Green Lantern, Batman (no, I don’t know what’s attached to his back), Iron Man and The Hulk.

Both the minifigs and Hero Factory characters are official, but keep in mind they’re prototypes so they’re likely to be a bit rough and have changes before final release.

Unfortunately, the only LEGO panel this year was a Star Wars panel on Friday morning, which I missed. D’oh!

The other great highlight is running into all kinds of people. People in costumes, friends and even friends in costume. The only LEGO related costume I saw this year was a sexy red number sported by Michael “Bruno” Todd, an excellent human being, cat rescuer and force of nature. He dressed up just like an extremely rare vintage LEGO promotional figure that he somehow managed to snag late last year. Really, he looks just like the doll.

I was also amused by a woman dressed as Poison Ivy standing right next minfig Poison Ivy. My wife also dragged me over the LEGO free build area to see a strong contender for my personal Cutest Hobbit Child Dressed as Yoda Prize. Very prestigious.

Another great highlight of at Comic-Con is all the inspiration for LEGO building. Several weeks ago I searched all over the internet to find good concept art for the Numereji 2421 display at BrickCon and found some good stuff, but nobody quite had what I was looking for. It was a pleasant surprise to run across Robh Ruppel’s book, Aspect Ratio, and the great concept art sketches on his website. Not too militarized, not too idealized. Hit my personal sweet spot.

That’s it. Great weekend of geeky frolicking.

Brick Fiesta 2011 wrap up

In the past two weeks I went from the largest Lego convention in the US to the smallest back to back. As a fledgeling event in its first year, Brick Fiesta was only about a tenth the size of Brickworld. Nevertheless, the public waited in line for up to an hour and half to enjoy MOCs such as Mirage, Tony Sava‘s Cathedral, and a Batman sculpture by 13-year-old Evan Bacon (which were the top 3 public favorites). There were other gems as well, which you can dig up by browsing the pictures on the Brick Fiesta Flickr group.

Some of my most memorable things at Brick Fiesta included the Alien Mothership draft (one of the best sets to draft), great trailer food and restaurants in Austin, and meeting lots of new people. At the same time, I should mention that this was the first Lego convention for Kevin Hinkle, who will follow Steve Witt’s footsteps as the new North America Community Coordinator.

Overall, Brick Fiesta was a unique Texas style Lego convention. For more coverage of the event, you can check out TV segments of Brick Fiesta from KVUE and KXAN.

The Love Boat captain cruises BrickWorld

Actor Gavin MacLeod, best known as Captain Stubing of The Love Boat, made a stop at Brickworld this year. His purpose? To pay a surprise visit to certified Lego professional, Ryan McNaught, who had built a super-sized replica of the Pacific Princess, the ship used in 1970s tv show.

You can also see Ryan’s work in his Flickr stream.

Brickworld 2011 wrap up

For this year’s wrap up post, I’ve decided to feature 3 videos to illustrate my impression of Brickworld 2011.

This first video shows the largest of the 4 display rooms during public hours. Like any other Lego convention you would attend, Brickworld is full of awesome MOCs and awesome people. But unlike many, these awesome MOCs and people come in great numbers, with over 900 registered attendees displaying creations over 30,000 sq. ft. This year marks only and already the 5th anniversary of Brickworld, which has now become the most attended Lego fan convention out of the half dozen in the US.

The next video shows the Flexpicker by Chris Shepherd, which won the Best Mechanical award. It is one of the many new MOCs that turned heads at the show. Some others new creations at Brickworld included the Love Boat by Ryan McNaught, the Lord of the Rings group display by MOCpages members, and Ben Caulkins’ Master Chief suit, which probably appeared in photos with just about every camera owner at Brickworld.

When you combine lots of awesome people with awesome MOCs, fun times (and hilarity) ensue. Speaking of the Lego Master Chief, here’s a video of him crashing through the decorative wall by Beth Weis. Other moments that slipped my camera included the drunk build of the Barad-dûr, the mysterious transformation of the new Super Star Destroyer into a BrickMania tank, and the f-bomb glorified in a lit-up mosaic during the World of Lights. If you search hard enough, you might come across some photographic evidence (the Brickworld group on Flickr is a good place to start). And for the other things that went down (including the unspeakable), you’ll just have to make it out to Chicago to see it all.

Don’t forget about your chance to design the 2012 event kit!

PLUG announces TOMAR BRInCKa 2011, July 1 – 3

The Portuguese LEGO Users Group (PLUG) is again hosting its annual LEGO fan event from July 1-3 called TOMAR BRInCKa 2011. The event will take place in the municipal pavilion of the city of Tomar. If you’re nearby, you can also attend the quadrennial Festival of the Tabuleiros.

Brickfête registration closes in two weeks

The Brickfête Team would like to remind all of The Brothers Brick readers that there are only TWO WEEKS LEFT to register.

Join us for some “old school” fun in Ontario, Canada for our inaugural LEGO Fan Convention for the adult hobbyist. Tons of cool LEGO moments, interesting challenges, enlightening experiences and prizes that have make perfect rattling sound await you.

July 28th to July 31st
The Assembly Hall
Toronto, Canada

To register for the four days check out the “AFOL” pages at www.brickfete.com

The general public is invited to view the awesome LEGO Creations on display. We can’t wait for you to see what we have built!

July 30th, 2011
10am until 5pm
The Assembly Hall
Tickets sold at the door

All the details and more can be read on www.brickfete.com

Looking forward to having you join us,
The Brickfête Team
“A festival run by fans, made by the fans, for the fans.”

BrickCon 2011 open for registration [News]

Photo by Adam Hally

Registration is now open for BrickCon 2011! In many ways, BrickCon is the “home convention” for several of our contributors, and this is just one reason why, for a third year, we at The Brothers Brick are proud to be sponsors of BrickCon.

This year the convention theme is Building a Community and there are plenty of collaborative builds to which you can add your efforts. There are all the normal themes, such as Space, Castle, and Train, along with many new ideas and plans.

Some of the collaborations include:
Great Ball Contraptions
Pythonscape
Bling your AT-AT
The Dark Side
Pirates
War Beasts
World Architecture.

Also The Brothers Brick will be hosting our own theme and collaborative build entitled Numereji!

Keep checking the BrickCon “Themes and Collaborative Builds” page as the information will be updated when new information is available.

See you at the Con!

Arte em Peças 2 Lego event in Portugal, June 8 – 12

The second annual Portuguese Lego event called Arte em Peças (Art in Pieces) will be held in Paredes de Coura from June 8-12. Special guests include Jan Beyer from LEGO Community Development and LEGO Designer Marcos Bessa. You can check out a video introduction on YouTube that contains highlights from last year’s event.