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.

Registration now open for BrickCon 2009: Imagination in Motion! [News]

Registration is now open for BrickCon 2009! BrickCon is a private convention and public exhibition for adult fans of LEGO, and will be held October 1-4, 2009 in Seattle, Washington at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall.

BrickCon is the longest continuously running LEGO fan convention in the US. Last year’s convention drew more than 250 attendees from all over North America and Europe, with a significant contingent from Billund, Denmark.

As in years past, I’ll encourage those of you who haven’t been to a LEGO convention (or BrickCon specifically) to check out our past coverage of Brickcon here on The Brothers Brick and look through the photos in the BrickCon group pool on Flickr.

Highlights of last year’s BrickCon included the ChiefLUG BSG Viper Fly-In, the announcement of 10193 Medieval Market Village, and our very own Zombie Apocafest 2008.

For me, BrickCon is all about the people. Even though we’d been blogging together for nearly a year, I met Josh in person for the first time at BrickCon 2006. Similarly, Nannan and I met for the first time at BrickCon 2008.

LEGO conventions are also a good place to learn that LEGO fans don’t all look like their sig-figs in real life.

With an emphasis on a relaxed fan convention experience, BrickCon is a great way to sit back and get to know all those fellow LEGO fans you’ve only met online — an opportunity to talk about something other than LEGO, in some cases. That’s not to say that the public exhibition isn’t an awe-inspiring spectacle. BrickCon 2008 drew over 7,000 visitors in the 8 hours open to the public on Saturday and Sunday!

This year’s theme is “Imagination in Motion!” and looks to be even bigger and cooler. So, what’re you waiting for? Register today!

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Pictures from BrickFest 2009

The big news from BrickFest 2009 may be more details about 10194 Emerald Night, but there’s more to come in the next few days. ;-)

In the meantime, attendees have begun uploading photos of displays and events.

Bill Ward already has 160+ photos online, while Mark Neumann and PurirideVry have uploaded quite a few as well.

The BrickFest pool is also getting refreshed with this year’s photos, so be sure to check it out — and add your photos if you haven’t!

ChiefLUG Battlestar Galactica Viper Fly-In at BrickCon 2008

It was recently brought to my attention that we missed covering a major collaborative display at BrickCon last October. This was a major oversight on our part as this display was incredible. In fact, I think it was one of the best collaborative displays I’ve seen.

Ryan Wood, founder and namesake of ChiefLUG, organized the first ever BSG Viper fly-in. Ryan, Mark Sandlin, and Andrew Lee built 13 foot of hanger bay, which was filled to overflowing. So much so that there were Vipers covering all the tables around. The final count was 35 Vipers and other Battlestar Galactica-inspired craft. It was most impressive! I saw every imaginable Viper on display, from pink Pardisa-inspired to Black Fantasy-infected. I was amazed at the amount of time and effort Ryan and the ChiefLUGers put in to this. Needless to say, it spawned a huge bandwagon of Vipers online! You can check some of them in this post, by clicking on the pictures, or you can see the whole fleet in the ChiefLUG Flickr Group.

Way to go, ChiefLUG!

Registration now open for BrickWorld 2009, June 18-21 in Chicago [News]

Registration is now open for BrickWorld 2009, the annually held LEGO convention in Chicago. Last year the event attracted around 300 attendees and dedicated 20,000 square feet of ballroom space to display their amazing LEGO creations. For only $50, you can register for this four day event hosted at the luxurious 5 star Westin Hotel & Convention Center.

You can check out photos from previous years’ conventions on the Flickr pool. Also, you can read my last year’s overage of the event on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Of course, I’ll be planning to attend this year’s BrickWorld, and I hope to see some you there!

From left to right: Chris Phipson, me, Keith Goldman (present in his shrine), Mark Kelso, and Brian Kescenovitz.

Registration now open for BrickFest 2009, Mar 27-29 in Portland, OR [News]

Registration is now open for BrickFest 2009, to be held March 27 through 29 at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, OR.

You can register now at BrickFest.com/Registration/.

For a sampling of what you can expect at this year’s BrickFest, check out the BrickFest pool on Flickr.

Brickvention 2009

A heads up for all those Australian LEGO fans out there. I plan to attend and hope to have a blast.

Brickvention is Australia’s own LEGO convention and it’s only a few months away!

The 2009 Brickvention will be held over the Australia Day Long Weekend (January 24th to 25th) in Melbourne, Australia and promises to be an exciting event.

Following on from the success of the previous years, there will be competitions, presentations, demonstrations and lots of interesting things to see and do.

Highlights of the weekend include:

MOC displays (including town, modular houses, train, moonbase, and space)

Building competitions

Dirty Brickster

Dirty Buildster

Build-in-a bag

Timed build

Brickfilms

Brikwars

Trade tables

We’re all really excited about the event and can’t wait to meet lots of other AFOLs from all over Australia and around the world.

Want to know more about the event? Check out the website at http://www.brickventures.com

Next BrickFest to be held in Portland, Oregon March 26-29, 2009 [News]

As I mentioned briefly at the end of Nannan’s post about BrickCon Day 3, the original LEGO fan convention, BrickFest, will be back in March 2009.

Here’s the full story from event organizer Steve Barile (no relation to Steve Witt, having delicious fries at right):

Where: Portland, OR at the Oregon Convention Center, Hall A
When: March 26-29, 2009 (setup: Th, convention: Fr-Sn)
Hotel: Red Lion Hotel (mention BRICKFEST for room block rate)
Who: All AFOLs!

YES, it’s that time again! Join us for the 3rd Portland BrickFest back at the OCC Hall A and the RED LION, and all the Burgerville you can stand to eat! From all the AFOL feedback we have received asking when the next BrickFest is, we are expecting a great turnout from all the familiar faces, as well as all the new AFOLs that have joined our community in the last couple years! Wow, I can’t believe it been two years!

It’s easy to get to the OCC & Red Lion: ~$2 for a MAX light rail ride form the airport; so no rental car needed. Once downtown MAX is free, so enjoy the many fine restaurants and microbrew pubs that make Portland a fine place to visit!

SEE YOU THERE!

Steve Barile

Q&A

Q: Has BrickFest changed formats?
A: Nope! We believe that the current BrickFest format works great and we are keeping it the same. Of course we strive to make the event the best possible and make tweaks as needed.

Q: Is there a public expo this time?
A: Yes, there will be a public expo on Sunday afternoon only, same as last time. BrickFest is for the AFOLs; there is no rush to set up the displays, so have fun attending sessions, arranging and rearranging MOCs, and goofing off!

Q: Will there be workshops and sessions?
A: Of course! There are so many topics to discuss and share and MOCs to see, we’ll be expecting many of you to volunteer to give talks and host round tables etc. — one of BrickFest’s assets is the sharing of the tribal knowledge.

Q: When can I register?
A: Registration will begin January 1st 2009 (for book-keeping purposes), but mark your calendars, I already rented the OCC!

Q: Is Christina Hitchcock involved?
A: Christina is completely behind BrickFest ’09 and will be taking an advisory position.

BrickFest 2007 was only my second LEGO convention, and I had a fantastic time hanging out with the friends I’d made at BrickCon 2006:

BrickFest 2007 had one of the most amazing LEGO Castle displays I’ve ever seen:

Erik Varszegi unveiled 10179 UCS Millenium Falcon at BrickFest 2007:

I’m not sure I’m ready to begin planning another Zombie Apocafest (which might have to wait until BrickCon 2009 next October), but I’m really looking forward to attending BrickFest as an out-of-towner.

Check out the action from BrickFests past in the BrickFest pool on Flickr.

BrickCon 2008: Andrew’s wrap-up

How do I put this? BrickCon 2008 was amazing, but just a little bit more stressful than years past, as I demonstrate in this photo by Adam Hally:

Nevertheless, it was the best LEGO convention I’ve ever been to! Highlights for me included:

Zombie Apocafest 2008
Nannan crashing at my place
10193 Medieval Market Village
A chance to have great one-on-one conversations with guys like Mark Larson, Joe Meno, Jonathan Bender, and Kelly McKiernan
Paul Hetherington’s “Casa Baron” winning “Best of Show” (hey, it was part of the zombie layout; I can be proud)
LEGO Playthemes Creative Director Matt Ashton autographing my 7979 Castle Advent Calendar (photo by Nannan below), which he designed

Various bloggers have posted their observations about the con:

Read more about the Zombie Apocafest on Valve’s Left 4 Dead Blog.
Listen to Wayne Hussey and Daniel Brown on LAML Radio, and hear from Bill Ward about recording for LAML Radio.
Read Hillel’s thoughts on admitting he’s a “LEGO geek” (hurray!) and see tons of great pictures on the Jackson Fish Market blog.
Read about the “Minifig Beauty Pageant” on Model Building Secrets.

I love seeing the looks of wonder and amazement on people’s faces as they find something cool that they never thought could be made from the little plastic bricks they have lying around their house. But I tend to find the public hours a bit overwhelming:

Of course, as attendees get home, they’ve started uploading pictures they took at BrickCon. Abusing the HTML list tag even further, here are a few that I’ve found so far:

And with that, I’m taking a week off. :D But fear not, dear readers! There are plenty of other LEGO blogs to sate your LEGO appetite.

I can’t wait for next year. Until then, build on!

Zombie Apocafest 2008: Children, avert your eyes!

Zombie Apocafest 2008 just wrapped up at BrickCon, and I spent about an hour taking pictures.

Front and center in the display was Ryan Wood‘s beautiful watchtower:

Josh, Nannan, and I awarded “Best Zombified Building” to Paul Hetherington‘s “Casa Baron”:

Paul’s building has a full interior, including comfy chairs and a working elevator. We loved the art deco details, many of which incorporate organic shapes:

The similarly unanimous choice for “Best Zombified Vehicle” was Andrew Lee‘s awesome truck:

In addition to the Zombie Defense Weapons Packs donated by BrickArms, the good people at Valve (the studio that brought us Half-Life and Portal) sent along a bunch of Left 4 Dead T-shirts and a great billboard:

Valve even invited a bunch of people to tour the Valve office on Friday night, where Lonnon Foster posed with Gordan Freeman (photo by Don Solo):

The LEGO zombie display wouldn’t have been possible without the organizational genius of LEGOLAND California model maker Gary McIntire — who even spent the plane ride up to Seattle creating custom zombie heads.

At least 35 participants contributed nearly 30 original buildings, dozens of vehicles, and hundreds of minifig zombies and survivors.

LEGO Certified Professional Dan Parker contributed a super-detailed mall, complete with a LEGO Store, baby store, Spencer’s Gifts, and food court:

Will there be a Zombie Apocafest 2009? Undoubtedly.

In the meantime, check out the full Zombie Apocafest 2008 photoset on Flickr.

BrickCon 2008: Friday, October 3rd

I’ve uploaded a few of my photos from today to Flickr. We’ll fill this post with something more than this later, but first, sleep!

Nannan has also uploaded his photos:

BrickCon 2008: Thursday October 2nd

Andrew, Josh, and I are at BrickCon this week (the third and last LEGO convention in North America of 2008).

As usual, Thursday is arrival and setup, and from our photo coverage you can see the 20,000 square feet of display area in the process of filling up with marvelous creations. Andrew and I have uploaded a few pictures to our respective Flickr photostreams here and here. We will keep you updated with news of the opening ceremony and other important events happening Friday.

P.S.- this blog entry was written in the comfort of Andrew’s living room. More blog fests from headquarters to come…

EDIT (AB): Lonnon Foster has also begun uploading photos to his Flickr photostream.

BrickCon 2008: Last-minute logistics (and more free stuff)

Apologies for boring 99% of our readers, but this is still the fastest way to communicate with the fairly large number of TBB readers who are attending BrickCon later this week.

Fill out your MOC cards now

MOC (My Own Creation) cards identify your LEGO creations for fellow attendees and the general public. They also help theme organizers like Josh and me plan for how much space is needed (more on how that relates to the zombie display later in this post).

Fill out your MOC cards on BrickCon.org. A couple quick points:

Unless you want to spend the public hours explaining what “SNOT” and “MOC” are to kids and their parents, avoid “AFOL-speak” in your descriptions.
Zombie creations go in “Other,” not “Train/Town” (whose organizers I suspect think they’re being invaded at this point; that doesn’t actually happen until Sunday).

Remember, only “registered” LEGO creations (ones with MOC cards) will be eligible for the various awards given out by BrickCon.

Pack your LEGO creations for travel or shipping

Before you stuff your LEGO into your carry-on luggage, consider reading the LUGNET post by Duane Hess and the Classic-Castle.com article by Lenny Hoffman about packing and shipping LEGO.

Wouldn’t you rather spend your time socializing and integrating your pristine creations into the display instead of rebuilding them?

Unload your LEGO at the venue

By now, you should’ve received a message from Daniel Brown with details on when, where, and how to unload your LEGO creations at Seattle Center. The loading dock is only available during the following times:

Thursday 8am – noon
Thursday 5pm – 9pm
Friday 8am – noon
Sunday 5pm – midnight

Please only use the loading dock if you have massive amounts to unload. For more details, please see Daniel’s e-mail. If you didn’t get that e-mail, let us know and we’ll post more information here.

(CC-licensed photo of the Space Needle by Chris Blakely.)

Get to and from the airport

I know several of you are looking to share rides between Sea-Tac Airport and the BrickCon venue at Seattle Center (301 Mercer St., Seattle, WA 98109). Transportation options include Shuttle Express, taxis, and rental cars — all available near baggage claim.

If you’d like to share a ride with someone to cut costs, post a comment here with your arrival time, and when two or more of you are interesting in connecting, I’ll put you in touch through e-mail.

Bringing stuff for the draft and Dirty Brickster

Drafting a LEGO set allows you to get parts in large quantities that you might otherwise have to buy individually (from, say, Bricklink). Read more about how the draft works on SEALUG.org. If you want to participate, the draft set for BrickCon 2008 is 7626 Jungle Cutter.

Dirty Brickster is a LEGO “white elephant” gift exchange. Bring something that would be worth $10-20 to the recipient, wrapped.

Help bring some order to the Great Chaos of the Zombie Apocafest

With so many last-minute, “Oh, I’m so there!” contributions (thanks in no small part to BrickArms’ generosity, I’m sure), we don’t have a very good sense of how many zombified LEGO creations to expect for the Zombie Apocafest.

Filling out a MOC card will help, but could we also get a quick roll-call from readers planning on bringing a building? (Vehicles will be easy enough to incorporate into the display.) I’ll be at the venue nearly all day Thursday to help with setup — Castle and the zombie display in particular.

Build your GO MINIMAN GO Photo Contest entries

If you haven’t entered our GO MINIMAN GO Photo Contest yet, you can do so right there at BrickCon.

Just swing by The LEGO Group’s table, dig through the bricks, build a vig or dio, have it photographed, and fill out the entry form. Oh, and you get to keep what you build.

Get your Brothers Brick LEGO brick

Last but not least, the first 100 people who come up to Josh, Nannan, or me and say “It’s a brick-built world out there” will get a custom-engraved brick — your choice of “The Brothers Brick” or “Brothers-Brick.com”.

Oh yes, this is gonna be the best BrickCon yet! See everybody in a couple of days!