Brickvention 2019!

If it’s January in Melbourne, it must be time for Brickvention. As we again embraced the southern summer, over  350 LEGO® Fans made their way towards the World Heritage listed Royal Exhibition Building. For four days, we would occupy this grand venue: On Thursday January 17 we would set up for the event, with people arriving from all over Australia at different times.  On Friday, we saw the first day of the fan convention, with speakers from around the world.

After a greeting from the organising committee, we heard from Eliska Jezkova, the mother of Dan Jezek- the founder of Bricklink.  She has been attending Brickvention for many years with her partner Larry. He presented a moving tribute to Dan, talking about how he was the right person, with the right idea at the right time. And from there, Bricklink was born.

After the welcomes, we moved on with the program: there was the annual “build in the bag” competition- constructing set 30349 - in a plastic bag, and another few speakers: Kale Frost, designer of the convention set; Andrew Morrey (@cheepjokes) talking about stop motion animation using LEGO. International visitors included David Tabner (UK) who spoke about the AFOL scene in the UK, and the creation of Technic figure scaled narrow gauge trains; Josh and John Hanlon from Beyond the Brick TV spoke about life as LEGO YouTube personalities. We also had presentations from The LEGO Group: Minhwa (Kevin) Ahn, from the AFOL Engagement Team spoke about the role of the team, and the Ambassador Network, and Adrian Di Francesco, of LEGO Australia’s LEGO Life team, spoke about the ongoing future of that platform, as well as the importance of ‘user generated content’. Claus Kristensen, head of LEGO Australia, and members of the marketing team were also in attendance.

In between speakers, we took time to look around the Exhibits, apply the finishing touches, and catch up with old friends.

We heard from Dave Holder, resident master builder at the LEGOLAND® Discovery Centre in Chadstone (a suburban shopping centre renowned for its own postcode and micro climate): he presented his story sharing how he came out of his dark ages and headed towards the LEGO Fan’s Dream Job.

Another popular game, Dirty Brickster, was played during the final break while the exhibits were judged.

The quality and variety of exhibits added a special challenge for the judges. Many Commendations were awarded, as well as prizes for the best in different children’s age groups. The diversity of these builds was remarkable, from a stained glass Dalek, a moon base covering and number of film and television references, the Daily Bugle, from Spider-man, wearable and decorative models, beautifully coloured villages and a most intriguing monorail.

The Best Junior entry (under 16) went to Dylan, who had produced a functioning pinball machine.

Top places went to Steve Reynolds  (3rd Place) for an incredible Scooby-Doo™ themed, LEGO Boost enabled roller coaster. (With a mechanism fashioned out of parts PRIOR to the release of the Creator Expert set); Eli Brinsmead and Ben Cosantin (2nd place) with an epic, multilayer castle scene, with a soul scouring demon fashioned from Bionicle® elements. Best in show was awarded to Runa Lundblum, whose model of a Vulptex (crystal fox),  from Star Wars: The Last Jedi amazed us all.

Staff from the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre were also in attendance, with the goal of swapping over 3000 figures over the course of the weekend.

The evening before the public exhibition was a VIP night- tickets for exhibitors and public were available to see the show with fewer crowds, while enjoying some music and finger-food.  For some it was a chance to unwind, and for others, a great chance to get some photos without the crowds.

We then retired to prepare for the public days.

Saturday started quietly, as it often does, but soon picked up. This year, we saw a more open traffic flow: previously the Great Ball contraption and Train layout occupied the central hall, close to the entrance, capturing people’s attention, and keeping them close to the door. This year, they were moved further away, allowing the public to get around some of the smaller exhibits before spending more time around these evergreen crowd pleasers. The other great crowd pleaser was a collaborative display showcasing 50 years of DUPLO, bringing out lots of nostalgia for visitors. With models and sub themes that some of us had never heard of, it was a fantastic reminder of our first introductions to The LEGO system play.  Another great tribute, to both DUPLO and the Apollo Program was Nancye and Jaimie Hanson’s Saturn V rocket and gantry. Fashioned entirely out of DUPLO Elements.

Before I knew it, the day was over and the evening was upon us: Saturday evening coincided with the monthly adult night at the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre- so we headed in. For some it was an all out assault on the senses. The rides were open, the movie screening, and many took the chance to get a literal bucket full of pick-a-brick parts at a bargain price. The catch? It represented the mixed contents of the entire wall. Many took the chance to catch up with friends, while others took part in the building competition. The door prize for this night was unprecedented: 45 boxes of LEGO from the pick a brick wall.

For myself, it was great to finally see the completed Melbourne Miniland model with many landmarks that I am familiar with in full operation.

The evening finished relatively early, allowing people to catch up into the small hours, or catch some of the sleep they had been missing out on while preparing for the event.

Sunday morning opened with the exhibitors being told that the tickets for the day had sold out. While tickets are sold with a given entry time, there is no prescribed departure time. We started Sunday  with a ‘sensory friendly’ session - a smaller admission cohort, particularly aimed at families with children on the autism spectrum, for whom large crowds might be intimidating.

As the day went on, the building filled up a bit more than the day before: I think Sunday and Saturday crowds are a bit different. I have a theory: Saturday crowds are (mainly) on a timetable, fitting other activities in, while Sunday crowds seem to make more of a day of it.

As the weekend passed, we saw exhibitors renewing old friendships and establishing new ones; discussing building and colour blocking techniques; sharing ideas for builds, crazy fan theories, and examining mechanisms.

Then the final bell sounded, and it was time to pack up. In four hours, this thriving exhibition space was vacated, and returned to its base line state.

Congratulations to all of the exhibitors on presenting a mighty fine collection of MOCs, and thank you to the organising committee and the speakers for bringing this event to fruition.  After a year long preparation, thoughts are already turning towards Brickvention 2020, and what that might bring.