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.

Let us know what you want to see from BrickCon 2008

For those of you who can’t make it to BrickCon 2008, Josh, Nannan, and I will be covering the con starting this Thursday.

We want to know what you’re most interested in seeing from us. By voting in the new poll and leaving a comment here, you can help shape our coverage of BrickCon 2008. Our coverage of BrickCon 2008 is in your hands.

(Photo by Adam Hally.)

So, do you want to get to know some of the people behind the creations featured here on The Brothers Brick? Are you most interested in product announcements from LEGO, BrickArms, and other companies? Maybe you want to see more pictures of people’s creations and group displays. Let us know!

Note: If you see an error when you try to vote, rest assured that your vote is still being counted. It’s a conflict between two WordPress plug-ins.

[poll id=”14″]

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

New BrickArms Zombie Defense Weapons Pack at BrickCon 2008 [News]

BrickCon 2008 begins this Thursday! When I announced prizes and giveaways for the Zombie Apocafest, I realized we needed a good way to repel the zombie menace.

What better way to fend of that flesh-eating horde than with a special set of weapons designed for just that purpose from BrickArms?

In addition to the other prizes and giveaways, BrickArms and The Brothers Brick will be handing out new Zombie Defense Weapons Packs to everyone who contributes a building or vehicle to the Zombie Apocafest display. That’s right: BrickArms for free!

The weapons pack is full of the tools of the zombie-hunting trade:

SW500 Magnum Revolver (for stopping power; x2)
M21 Sniper Rifle (for keeping your distance)
Mk48 Mod 0 Machine Gun
AK Assault Rifle (doesn’t jam as easily as the M4/M16)
Uzi Submachine Gun (x2)
Bipod (x2) and Monopod (x3)
Combat Shotgun (brand-new prototype)
M1 Garand Rifle (in black)
M1 1911 .45 Pistol (backup weapon #1)
Baseball Bat (backup weapon #2)
Glow-in-the-dark Zombie Head

If you don’t have time to build something for the display, you’ll be able to buy your very own Zombie Defense Weapons Pack at the BrickArms table. And if you can’t make it in person, BrickArms will be making these available through the re-launched BrickArms.com.

Well, I’m off to finish up my final building for the display and begin creating the horde itself… :D

Counting down to BrickCon 2008 and the Zombie Apocafest

Update: Zombie Apocafest 2008 is now over, and it was awesome. Don’t miss our full coverage here on The Brothers Brick:

BrickCon 2008 is less than a month away. The list of attendees is growing, and it’s starting to look like this will be the first 200-attendee BrickCon!

Today and tomorrow are your very last chance to register at the $50 price (registration goes up to $60 on Tuesday, September 8), and the last window of opportunity to guarantee your personalized brick badge engraved by Brick Engraver.

Plans for group projects at BrickCon 2008 are well underway, with lots of progress on the Zombie Apocafest and ChiefLUG Initiation.

To sweeten the deal, The Brothers Brick will be handing out some cool prizes and giveaways:

Custom-engraved bricks to add to your badge for everyone who contributes a vehicle or building to the LEGO Zombie Apocafest
10190 Market Street for the best building in the zombie layout
10200 Custom Car Garage for the best vehicle in the zombie layout

If you’re worried that you don’t have any LEGO zombies — don’t sweat it. We’ve got you covered with a horde of at least 80 zombies. :twisted:

And for those of you who can’t make it in person this year, there’s still the GO MINIMAN GO Photo Contest with even more prizes! The contest is open to everyone over 18 worldwide, and entries are already stacking up in the GO MINIMAN GO photo pool, so take a look at the rules and try your hand at a scene inspired by the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, or 2000s.

Vipers, ChiefLUG, the LEGO Zombie Apocafest, and Brickcon 2008

Update: Zombie Apocafest 2008 went off smashingly at BrickCon 2008, October 2-5. Don’t miss our full coverage here on The Brothers Brick:

The pre-registration price for BrickCon 2008 goes up from $40 to $50 next Tuesday, August 5th. If you’re still thinking about joining Nannan, Josh, Keith, me, and lots of other Brothers Brick readers in Seattle this October, now’s the time to register!

If you’re still on the fence, here are a couple building challenges and contests to whet your appetite.

ChiefLUG Initiation

ChiefLUG will be extending initiation to anybody who builds a LEGO Viper from Battlestar Galactica. Here’s what ChiefLUG founding member Ryan “Chief” Wood has to say:

ChiefLUG is a superrad group of Lego fans dedicated to veggie platters, crazy group builds, being awesome, and pretending to be half as cool as KeithLUG. You might be familiar with our work.

To join ChiefLUG, you just have to build and bring a Viper, like the one above designed by Andrew Lee (more photos). Creative color variations are encouraged.

The Brothers Brick LEGO Zombie Apocafest

Not to be outdone by some upstart KeithLUG wannabe, KeithLUG itself, or a bunch of reasonably well-adjusted Train/Town builders, we at The Brothers Brick are sponsoring the first ever large-scale LEGO Zombie Apocalypse. Think Shaun of the Dead. Imagine Max Brooks’ World War Z in LEGO.

Naturally, we’ve recruited some of our favorite twisted LEGO minds to contribute, including Rocko™ and Justin Pratt:

There will be free swag for participants, of course, including prizes in various categories (such as Best Building, Best Vehicle, or Best Minifig) the quality and quantity of which will be determined at our whim between now and October.

To make the display easy to integrate, we’re asking participants to follow the modular building standards exemplified by Cafe Corner, Green Grocer, and Market Street. Well, basically anything featured on Brick Town Talk — with a zombie twist, of course.

Since I can’t find any documentation on what the “Cafe Corner standard” is, here’s my take:

Building stands on one or two Baseplate 16 x 32 with Square Corners.
Two connectors on each side of the building: Technic Brick 1 x 2 with Hole placed on studs #10-11 and #22-23 (from the front of the baseplate).
Floors can be any height (though 9 bricks high appears to be the standard).
Curb at edge of baseplate built from 1 x n light gray tiles, and sidewalk built from dark gray tiles, seven studs from the curb to the building (curb + sidewalk = 8 studs).
Building can be any size (though 16 x 16 or 16 x 32 appears to be the standard), built eight studs back from the front of the baseplate with an eight-stud “alley.”

(Please correct my description of the standard as necessary, and I’ll update this. I can post the standard separately too, if there’s interest.)

We’re talking about the apocalypse here, dear readers, so variations are certainly allowed. We’ll also do our best to integrate larger structures (like Justin’s bombed-out office building). We respect zombie diversity, certainly, but I really love the old Harry Potter troll as the basis for my own zombie horde.

And don’t forget survivors. And their multifarious modes of transportation.

So, if you’re coming to BrickCon, we’d love to include your contributions to The Brothers Brick LEGO Zombie Apocafest. Bring whole buildings, or partially destroyed buildings. Bring a truck. Bring just one zombie. Whatever. There’s room for one and all at the Zombie Apocafest!

Call for presentations at BrickCon 2008

BrickCon 2008 is coming up in less than three months — October 2-5 in my lovely city of Seattle, WA. If you haven’t registered yet, read all about the people, LEGO creations, and events in our past coverage of what I think is the coolest LEGO convention around. (Awesome brick-built BrickCon logo by Adam Hally.)

Important: The price for registration goes up from $40 to $50 on August 5, so if you know you’re coming, register now to save some money — to spend at the Brick Bazaar or LEGO Store, of course! ;-)

Anyway, one of the great things about LEGO conventions is amazing variety of stuff to do. Thomas Garrison and the rest of the BrickCon planning team are interested in hearing your ideas about presentations, seminars, round-tables, and other activities you’d like to see at BrickCon this October. For more info, read on…

BrickCon 2008 is looking for any talks, roundtables, and special activities you would like to see at the Con this year.

This year we have two classrooms adjacent to the exhibition hall with real, hard walls so we anticipate being able to program presentations/activities for up to twenty people during public hours or other activities. Additionally, public hours have been further reduced from last year, leaving more programming time for events requiring larger spaces.

Past talks have included manufacturing custom parts, an introduction to LDraw, and slideshows of LEGOLAND (insiders’ and outsiders’ views), among many others.

Roundtables, or moderated discussions, have included sorting, Moonbase standards and design, landscaping, and anything that someone can think of.

Activities already planned for this year include the Dirty Brickster, a draft, and speed and blind builds.

All we need for more talks, roundtables, and activities are ideas and people to run with them. Projectors and a computer will be available (although bringing your own laptop ensures compatibility). All spaces can be configured with tables and chairs as desired.

Any registered attendee who would like to run a presentation or activity should e-mail proposals or questions to Thomas Garrison (the three letters Tee Double-U Ess AT morfydd DOT net–please mention BrickCon in the subject). If possible, please include a possible title, brief description for the event program, and any time constraints or facility requirements. Events are typically scheduled to run up to fifty minutes but can be scheduled for more or less time.

Our hard deadline for proposals is September 8. This gives Thomas time to make a schedule and get everything into our printed program. Earlier is better.

BrickCon is an annual adult LEGO hobbyist convention and exhibition in Seattle. BrickCon 2008 will be October 2-5, 2008, in the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall. For more information and online registration, visit: http://www.brickcon.org

I hope to see lots of you this October in Seattle!

Brickworld 2008 photos: late Saturday to Sunday June 21-22

Here is the final installment of the Brickworld 2008 photos from me. The four days have been a blast with seeing all the great LEGO creations and meeting friends and making new ones. Here is the Saturday gallery.

Sunday brings the second public display day and the wrap up with the closing ceremony and tear down. Here’s the gallery.

It’s not over yet, and while the event has wrapped up, there’s sure to be many more pictures and discussions in the communities. You can look forward to more Brickworld related blog posts in the coming days, including reviews of new Brickforge and Brickarms items.

BrickWorld 2008 early coverage roundup

Public hours at BrickWorld 2008 are wrapping up as I type this, and I hope Nannan is taking a well-deserved break from the fantastic coverage he’s been bringing those of us who couldn’t make it to Chicago this year.

To tide everybody over until Nannan’s next post, here are some blog posts and photos I’ve found while sitting on my couch in Seattle.

A photoset from “way2curly“:

Another photoset on Flickr, from Tom Mancine:

And from around the LEGO blogosphere:

David Pagano: BrickWorld 2008: The Reckoning
Garth Danielson:
- TwinLUG at Brickworld Friday
- TwinLUG at Brickworld Mo’ Pictures

As Nannan has alluded to, we’ll have a few special items trickling out over the next week or so, in addition to the rest of Nannan’s coverage from Chicago.

Brickworld 2008 photos: mid-day Saturday June 21st

It is Saturday at Brickworld 2008, and today is when the public come to tour the displays. Here are pictures taken in the morning through mid-afternoon, courtesy of The Brothers Brick’s fastest service to bring you the latest.

Brickworld 2008 photos: Friday June 20th

It is the end of the second day at Brickworld, and here are the pictures I took during the day. Activities that took place today included presentations, finishing setup, the opening ceremony, and a trip to insanity- I mean the LEGO store.

Noteworthy observations include:
1. 10188 Death Star revealed at opening ceremony.
2. Brickarms arrived with new items, including the Needler gun from Halo, baseball bats, combat knives, and more (review to come next week).
3. The Indiana Jones line will continue next year.
4. LEGO reveals the LEGO Universe logo and character (photos to come)
5. You may get trampled during the special night sale at the LEGO store.

I’ve just read the comments left from the Thursday blog post, and I’ll try to get those requested pictures tomorrow. It’s 2:00am, goodnight everyone.

Brickworld 2008 photos: Thursday June 19th

Brickworld, an annual LEGO convention held in Chicago, is taking place from June 19-22. I am attending the event and am bringing you the most current photos. Here are selected ones from Thursday of the convention that will last until Sunday night. Please see the gallery on flickr.

Some interesting observations so far:
1. The LEGO Group has sent copies of their newest sets, including the upcoming Star Wars Clone Wars sets to be built and played with.
2. Brickforge has an impressive sales booth containing all minifig accessories and tons of new items, like the new Halo spartan armor and helmet along with many other new and never before seen minifig weapons and accessories (review to come next week)
3. I got to sneak a peak at the plans and assembly of the most deadly space station in the galaxy; many Bothans died to bring this information ;)

In order to be have these photos uploaded on the web as soon as possible, I’ve not had time to add descriptions or do any editing. Since there are still three days left of the convention, please let me know what you would like to see by leaving a comment and I’ll do my best to accomodate your needs. It is 1:50am at the time of this post, so I will be getting some sleep for tomorrow’s full day.

Registration now open for BrickCon 2008, October 2-5 in Seattle [News]

If you’ve never been to a LEGO convention, you probably don’t know what you’re missing. Even if you’ve seen thousands of pictures, it’s not the same.

BrickCon is my hometown LEGO con, held each October in Seattle. Registration is now open, and I’d highly recommend signing up today to come to our fair city this fall.

Naturally, the big draw at any LEGO con is all the LEGO! You might see creations like Kevin Blocksidge’s “Victorian Floating Rock” or a War of the Worlds tripod by Lino Martins:

Maybe you prefer Town creations, like “The Real Cafe Corner” by Alice Leber-Cook, or huge Castle battles:

Of course, BrickCon isn’t just about LEGO. Where else can you have your picture taken with Josh, Shannon, Brendan, a dude in a kilt, Robin, John, and The Keith?

And don’t forget the adoring fans (that’s the back of Michael Rutherford’s head):

Oh, there’s also free stuff. Here’s Steve Barile winning 10181 Eiffel Tower:

When the con is done, here’s how we ship Nathan Proudlove back to Manitoba:

If you’re still not convinced, you might want to check out our past coverage here on The Brothers Brick:

So, what are you waiting for? Register today!

Brickworld 2008 is coming (June 19-22)

Brickworld, a LEGO convention in its second year hosted in Chicago, will be taking place in less than two weeks on June 19-22. It is never too late to register, but it’s better to do so sooner than later. I’ll be attending in part on behalf of The Brothers Brick to update the blog with pictures and news.

Meanwhile, the most recent episode of LAML Radio conducts an informative interview with Bryan Bonahoom, one of Brickworld’s main coordinators, to give the lowdown on the event and what’s happening.

You can see pictures of last year’s Brickworld in this flickr gallery.