Fans of the southern states rejoice: a new LEGO convention presented by TexLUG called Brick Fiesta is taking place in Texas this summer. This is a standard 4-day AFOL convention with a weekend public expo. Registration is now open and you can check out the details on the Brick Fiesta website.
Brickworld is celebrating its 5th anniversary in 2011, and this year you have the opportunity to design the convention’s event kit. This is a rare chance to have hundreds of people own a creation designed by you, and you don’t even have to be an attendee to submit a design. Check out more details on the Brickworld website.
As was pointed out by some readers we did not manage to cover anything much from the recent and enormous LEGO Fanwelt exhibition in Cologne. This wasn’t by choice but simply that TBB doesn’t have anyone in Europe. Luckily Holger Matthes (HoMa) was in attendence and happy to write us a summary as a guest author. Many thanks to Holger for his help.
LEGO Fanwelt in Cologne (Nov. 18-21st 2010)
The biggest LEGO event in 2010 in Germany was held recently in Cologne – to be more precise in the 12,500 m² large hall 5.1 of the Cologne Expo. Besides LEGO visitors could expore classic model railroading like Märklin and others and another hall was dedicated to handicarft. This concept went well and did not only attract grey-haired modelrailroaders but tons of families. Overall this combined expo hat about 60,000 visitors!
But let’s focus on the bricks: Besides lots of known and unknown individual MOCs by more then 250 exhibitors the Carnival Parade has drawn the most attention amoung the visitors. Cologne is one of the most important cities for Carnival in Germany though the oranisation commitee from the MBFR club organised a fan project where everyone was invited to bring Café Corner style houses (158), walking participants (63) and funny, colourful motive cars (56). The 64,5 m long parade was seen by many many real life LEGO fans and visitors and more then 17,000 minifigures!
Fans and visitors were called to vote for the best motive car. After all the 1875 votes were count, the winning car by Jürgen Bramigk was announced online
Not only the brick related figures were enormous: The exhibitors and organising team ended up in eating more then 100 litres of chilli con carne, 30 kg of french fries, 260 sausages, 35 kg of pasta, 150 schnitzel, gallons of coffee and more … all prepared by Jürgen and his kitchen team.
Special thanks to the MBFR-team around Tretty and all the exhibitors who realised a great expo!
Once again it is Summer and that means it’s time for Brickvention. As Australia Day falls on a Wednesday this year Brickvention breaks from its usual tradition of falling on the long weekend and will be held from the 14th to the 16th of January instead which hopefully means cheaper flights and accomodation.
Registration is now open so if you haven’t already started planning your trip now is a good time. One other notable change is that this year it’s in the all new venue of Melbourne Town Hall due to the enormous crowds at last years event.
In a nutshell:
- What is Brickvention?
Brickvention is the premier convention event for the Australian LEGO® Community.
Brickvention is a 2 day event for AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO®) Like other conventions, it offers workshops, presentations, special events and challenges.
The event celebrates the coming together of the fan community that has evolved as a result of the Internet and exploring and developing the LEGO® hobby.
Brickvention occurs annually on or near the Australia Day weekend in January.
- When is Brickvention?
Brickvention 2011 will be held on Saturday the 15th and Sunday 16th January 2011. The Saturday is for registered attendees and is aimed at Adult fans of LEGO®. Sunday is the Public Day where everyone is welcome.
- Where will Brickvention be held?
Brickvention 2011 will be located at: Melbourne Town Hall, corner of Swanston St and Collins St, Melbourne :
- Who can come?
Saturday the 15th includes sessions intended for AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO®) 18 years of age or older. Younger convention attendees are welcome to come with a registered adult, but keep in mind many of the activities outside of the Public Expo are targeted toward adults.
Sunday the 16th is the Public Expo, allowing the general public of all ages to watch LEGO® builders at work and view LEGO® creations and displays. – registration is not required for the Public Expo.
- How much does it cost to attend?
Convention: Saturday the 15th includes sessions intended for AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO®) to get together and discuss LEGO®, building techniques, models etc. and includes a number of events such as presentations and competitions. – Please register for these competions prior to Brickvention.
$50 for Full registration (over 15)
$25 for under 15 registration. Children under 15 attending the 2-day convention must be accompanied by an adultPublic Expo: Sunday the 16th from 10am – 5pm is the Public Expo, allowing the general public of all ages to watch LEGO® builders at work and view LEGO® creations and displays. Registration is not required for the Public Expo.
Adults – $6
Children – $3
Family – $15 (2 adults and 2 children)
If you’re in the neighbourhood I highly recommend attending. It’s by far the biggest AFOL convention in Australasia. I’m already fully booked.
A new type of LEGO convention is coming to Europe next year, balancing the private convention experience I know I enjoy at US conventions with the public exhibition time that’s been bringing in the masses for years.
AFOLcon will be held between April 28 and May 2, 2011 at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester.
Here’s what the organizers say:
Come to AFOLcon and get the inside track on what is happening in the LEGO world. We have a busy schedule of private, AFOL-only events for you to take part in. Listen to guest speakers from LEGO, TT Games and more. Unless you live in Billund, there’s no way to get closer to to LEGO than at AFOLcon!
Read more about the events and activities on AFOLcon.com.
The Castle layout at BrickCon is going all out this year! In support of that effort, Brickforge is contributing exclusive packs for contributors to the Castle section at the Con. Gotta love those gold helms…
Quantities are limited, so if you have something medieval, let me know about it. We can always use more Castle goodness.
BrickCon 2010 starts this Thursday (with the public exhibition on Saturday and Sunday). If you’re not ready yet — I know I’m not — you don’t have a whole lot of time left!
First, today and tomorrow are your last chance to register your MOC cards. Remember, only registered LEGO creations are eligible to win prizes.
At this point, your main concerns should probably be packing and traveling. (See our BrickCon 2009 logistics post for links to suggestions on how to pack your LEGO so it travels safely.)
As for getting to the convention location for less than five bucks, Mark Sandlin has updated his Infothingy™ to reflect the fact that our light rail now goes all the way from Sea-Tac Airport to Westlake Center. Throw in a bonus monorail ride to take you the rest of the way, and it’s not only inexpensive but down right awesome:
With nearly 400 registered attendees, BrickCon 2010 is shaping up to be the biggest yet. See you all there later this week!
In addition to the large-scale, theme-specific collaborate displays that BrickCon has become known for throughout the LEGO fan community — from sweeping Castle landscapes to Great Ball Contraptions that would make Rube Goldberg envious — BrickCon 2010 will also feature several new and returning favorites.
If you’re still thinking about attending, you only have a few days left to register and guarantee custom-engraved bricks in your registration packet. If you have registered, don’t forget to also register your LEGO creations by filling out MOC cards. MOC cards help theme organizers plan for the necessary space, and more importantly make your creations eligible to win convention prizes.
Each of BrickCon’s group builds is designed to be accessible to every registered attendee (sorry, no contributions during Public Hours), regardless of how big or small your LEGO collection is, and whether or not you’ve even started building yet!
Zombies are so last year (and the year before)… The Brothers Brick’s official collaborative display this year takes its inspiration from the history, mythology, and pop culture of Japan. In keeping with the organic way we’ve put together layouts in years past, we’re not asking you to follow any particular standard, timeline, or even scale. We’ll have life-size ninja weapons, a minifig-scale rendition of the village from Seven Samurai, Ochre Jelly’s wonderfully unique homage to Hayao Miyazaki, the return of Mecha Godzilla, and whatever else inspires you to build something that’s … Big in Japan.
If you’re trying to think of an easy way to contribute something, consider building small for Big in Japan.
A Micropolis module isn’t parts or time intensive, and it’ll bring me one step closer to my dream of a microscale LEGO map of the entire Japanese archipelago. (I’ve built seven more modules after posting Micro Tokyo there on the right.)
Please sound off in the comments with what you’re planning to bring for Big in Japan, just so we don’t end up with three Mount Fujis.
Debuted at Bricks by the Bay earlier this year, Bricks of Character is “a Lego building theme featuring brick-built models of well known characters from film, television, literature, history, politics, or even just your imagination. Anything so long as it has personality, and isn’t just posed mini-figs” (*ahem* not that there’s anything wrong with posing minifigs).
Read more about Bricks of Character in the official announcement post on The Living Brick.
BrickCon 2010 is sure to be a lot of fun, but it’s also going to be bittersweet for many of us.
Following fly-ins at BrickWorld and BrickFair, the Vic Viper Fly-in at BrickCon will be the last fly-in to memorialize the influence and legacy of Nate Nielson, who died in a car accident earlier this year.
Though Nate lived here in the Pacific Northwest, nobody in the LEGO fan community had ever met him in person (or even knew his real name), but we all said that this was the year we were going to convince him to attend BrickCon. That can’t happen now, but members of Nate’s family will be in attendance, taking in our tribute to this legendary builder.
I’ll be coordinating the fly-in, but Keith Goldman — who was so instrumental in organizing the earlier tributes to Nate — will also be attending BrickCon, and I’m sure I’ll be leaning heavily on his experience.
I’ve personally invested a great deal of my own building energies lately in preparing an invasion force for Operation Bricklord: Europe at War.
“The setting is a battle-torn town with a canal running through it – much like the fictional town of Ramelle at the end of Saving Private Ryan, for those of you who are familiar with that film – in mid-late 1944, almost immediately post D-Day. Therefore, little details like planes with invasion stripes and such would be extra accurate!”
My buddy Nick Kappatos and I once again teamed up to build for BrickFair. We can’t seem to tear ourselves away from crashed alien space ships as a subject, though I think we managed to change things up enough.
This year, we’re bringing the viewer to a bizarre sector of the sea. A shaman stands atop of the island, invoking the mysteries of the sea. Sea monsters emerge, as a UFO crashes into the ocean. Meanwhile, other inhabitants of the island battle to contain a monster escaping from a cage at the base of the mountain.
This year, Nick and I wanted to do something different, so we went to the sea. We also incorporated lights into this display, official LEGO lights which flash behind the eyes of the skull. We’re hoping to open up this sea-based concept as a community build at BrickFair next year, so stay tuned for an announcement with a standard.
Photograph by Adam Hally
BrickCon is a scant thirty-five days away–but who’s counting? Not me, I assure you. As time for BrickCon (and the close of registration!) draws near, I wanted to point out one of the latest additions to the BrickCon line-up:
We are pleased to announce the return of the BrickCon Film Festival.
Awards and prizes will be given for the best films submitted, and the claim to fame till next year.
Films will be shown to attendees and voted on to determine the best.
They will also be shown during public hours exhibition if possible.
Submission guidelines:
1. BrickCon Film Festival reserves the right accept or not accept film submissions at its sole descretion.
2. Films must be your own original work.
3. You must be registered as an attendee to submit an entry.
4. 1-4 minutes is a good length, longer films may be rejected unless they are incredibly awesome.
5. Recommended file types are *.mov or *.mp4
6. The last day we can receive your submission is September 23,20082010.
7. Contact Dave Ingraham (pull down) on our Contact Us page for information on how to submit your film.
8. You must be present to win prize (else prize will go to film with the next most votes).Filmmakers agree that their film and/or clips from it and all other material related to their project may be used and/or published in the event program, the BrickCon Film Festival screening, the BrickCon website, rescreened at BrickCon and for any promotional purposes which the BrickCon Film Festival deems appropriate.
Submission of your film confirms that you have read, understand, and agree to the BrickCon Film Festival Submission Guidelines as stated above.
Good luck and happy filming!
I know there are some great filmmakers out there, and I’m pretty sure at least some of you are attending BrickCon. So show us your stuff!
Photograph by Adam Hally
We are getting excited about BrickCon 2010 here and, while we were busy getting our bricks in a row, we received the following press release from the BrickCon staff.
Now is the time to register for BrickCon 2010, September 30th through October 3rd. This year’s Theme is “Tales of the Brick!” Build your Tale and tell (and show) it to the world!
We return to the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall and have added the Rainier Room (Northwest Rooms) to our venue space. We’ll be using the Rainier Room (6,000 sq ft) for all of our Convention Activities including the Thursday Meet and Greet and our General Assemblies, seminars and contests.
Registering now will guarantee you’ll receive a customized engraved name badge you can wear proudly to the entire three day (four if you count Thursday – and we do!) event. Included with your registration will be a great Goody Bag, a Free Luncheon on Friday. And, if you’re old enough, you can attend our Thursday Meet and Greet get together where mixed drinks, beer and wine will be available ($4 per drink – cash only) along with free Mexican fare (snacks).
If you procrastinate too long, September 15th is the “deadline”, we cannot guarantee the terrific Goody Bag and custom badge. Registration will close September 28th. Then registration will only be at the door at the Exhibition Hall.
Visit www.brickcon.org now for details and Register Now!
Prices:
Adult Registration (21+) $65
Young Adult Registration (18-21) $60
Under 18 (Teen) Registration (must include an Adult (21+) as a package) $60
T-Shirts $15 – $17.50
Convention Model $20Wayne Hussey
BrickCon
So get your rear in gear and be there! By the way, if you are attending, and you see some of us, make sure you say ‘hi’. See you there!
