Two Lost Boys Blog

LEGO BrickFair Photo Report

Hello everyone,

Yesterday (Saturday 1st August), Jon and I went to BrickFair, which is an annual LEGO fan-run convention, located in Chantilly, Virginia. We have been twice previously to this event, and had liked it enough that we decided to go back this year, too.

The convention, for the past several years, has been held in the same place, in the Dulles Expo Center, near Washington-Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia. The event is held over two weekend days, from 11am - 4pm both days (which by all accounts is really short, I think). Entrance on the door costs $15, or you can pre-purchase tickets online. This year we decided to buy on the door, because for some reason, tickets online were more expensive - or at least there were fees attached. Having been twice before, we knew we wouldn't have an issue buying when we arrived.

The Expo Center is in a fairly built-up location, in a shopping plaza with some other things. Parking is free, but can get very full. When we arrived we didn't have trouble parking, thankfully, but the line this year to get in was longer than we had ever seen! I think this was probably due to the fact everyone was buying on the door, because of the new added online fees. So you had all the people who would have normally bought upon arrival, but then also everyone who decided against wasting more money by buying online. The line moved pretty rapidly, but it was hot outside, which made it a bit more uncomfortable that we would have liked.

Once you enter the convention centre, you find yourself in a big room with lots of tables. It's all very "low rise", and unimposing, really. Everyone who has a table is a fan who has designed some unique creation of their own, and brought it along to share. There are also vendors selling LEGO related products, a play zone, LEGO bingo, and a food bar area. Given how ridiculously popular LEGO is, this is a pretty small affair. There are no panels, no Q&A sessions, no special guests, cosplayers; nothing remotely like a convention at all. Just tables with LEGO on them. Having been to BrickFair three times now, I do think they need to change the format and add something a bit more special to it. I feel as though it has stagnated now, and it needs a fresh new approach. I mean, LEGO is one of the most successful toys of all time, yet this is apparently one of the best conventions they have for it?

Anyway, stagnating format aside, it's always fun to see the things that everyone else has come up with. Some of the models are absolutely amazing, and have undoubtedly been a near-lifetime's work in some cases. The dedication and perseverance is mind boggling at very least.

I'm going to break down the photos I took into different themes to try to keep some things together. I apologise for the quality of some of them - I didn't take my DSLR yesterday, and so all photos are taken on my iPhone 6 (which by all accounts, doesn't take bad photos, just not amazing ones!).

First up is the castle/fantasy section, filled with medieval realms, monsters and wizards. I also threw in a photo of the Battle of Waterloo that didn't really fit with the other themes.


















Next we come to the city scenes. I actually really like a lot of these, because they often have a very comical outlook on life. You could pass by and see just buildings and cars, but nearly always, if you look closely enough, you'll see that all is not what it seems! The creators all put in little hidden gems that make you point and laugh. Things such as mini alien invasions, Santa Claus in his penthouse, a pirate riding a jet ski, or Batman casually walking down the street, to name but a few.





















In the middle of the floor this year was a large LEGO map of the convention centre, which featured some hidden details too, such as Walt Disney with Mickey Mouse and friends.




I thought these signs around one of the tables were funny.




For those of you who don't know, LEGO originates in Denmark, where its headquarters is still located today. Jon and I actually went there last year, which you can read about in my trip report, here. Anyway, in the town where LEGO System A/S is located, they are building a brand new visitor centre, which is going to be called LEGO House. There was a small table set up advertising LEGO House, so I took some photos. It's somewhere that Jon and I very much want to go to once it's completed.




I was very pleased this year to see marriage equality and the diversity of love celebrated in some of the creations. There were some named pieces, such as, "Mini Grooms" and "Love in the Park." The YMCA one made me laugh.








As I mentioned above, there are retailers at the expo. These are outside vendors who have no connection to LEGO; they just sell LEGO independently. While I fully support small businesses and the freedom of enterprise, I would never buy anything from any of them, as they are ridiculously overpriced. For example, the new Scooby-Doo LEGO sets, which I reviewed here just the other day, were marked up by nearly 50%! I think that is disgusting, and should not be allowed.
Of course, they aren't all like that, and some of the vendors have their own creations for sale. While some of these are a little pricey, they have gone to the effort of designing and creating a unique piece, and providing you with the parts to construct it, which I don't mind at all supporting. There were two such example that caught my eye; one was the Starship Enterprise and the other was some aliens from the "Alien" movie series.




Along similar lines to Star Trek and Aliens, there were a lot of space and monster related creations at the expo. Here are some of the ones I thought were neat.







Keeping with the space theme, there were also a lot of Star Wars designs. The massive Ewok village was my favourite one. Santa Claus riding a Tauntaun made me laugh!




















Steampunk had its own section, and while I am no steampunk expert, some of these didn't really scream steampunk to me. They are cool nonetheless.










The Legend of Zelda and its hero, Link, are always a popular creation amongst the exhibitors at BrickFair, and this year was no exception. The huge Hyrule Castle was really awesome.







Outside of the overriding pop culture themes of Star Wars and Zelda, there were a lot of smaller models set up depicting many other TV shows, movies, musicians, computer games and more. Here are some of the ones that caught my eye.































It took us about less than two hours to fully see everything, and while there was a lot more there that what I have shown above, most of it was stuff you could look at as you walk on by. Next year we will really have to think about whether we want to go or not. To pay $15 just to look a LEGO sets for an hour seems a bit much when there is nothing else going on. Like I said at the start, I think the organisers of this event really need to bring something new and fresh to the expo, as I can't see it lasting too many more years under the current setup. It's odd because LEGO is a big deal, and with just a little effort, this expo could be something really to behold.

If you want to read my other LEGO reviews, you can find them by clicking here.

Have a great week everyone,

Dan.