BrickCon 2014

BrickCon 2014 returned to the Seattle Center in Seattle, Washington, for its 13^th year.  This year 470 convention attendees showed up with their models of all different shapes and sizes, from giant space needles and DUPLO orcas, to teeny-tiny replicas of actual models for the micro-BrickCon display. 

Blackberry, the giant LEGO orca, by Robin Sather



"Micro BrickCon", by assorted builders

The theme of this year's convention was “Invasion!”   Many of the models on display featured some kind of invasion, from the straight-forward to the rather inventive and clever.  Some of the invasions featured a strange mix of different themes, such as in an alien invasion of a medieval castle, creepily portrayed by Andrew Schultz.  There was also an invasion of zombies into the Star Wars world of Geonosia, as portrayed by Rich Maes.  And in the model "Sandbox", by the Vancouver LEGO Club (http://vlc.ca/), a child's play area is turned into a raging battle between the toy soldiers and the invading insect hordes. 

Alien Invasion!:  "Last Day of King Ulrich's Reign", by Andrew Schultz

"Zombie Apocalypse on Geonosia", by Rich Maes




"Sandbox", by the Vancouver LEGO Club

In contrast to the large-scale battles waged throughout the exhibition hall, there were quite a few small invasions too.  In "A Small-Scale Invasion" by Allen Smith, the invaders are no larger than mice, much to the delight of the neighborhood cat.   And sometimes, the invading force might be something as cute and cuddly as a sheep going for a joyride on someone else's model, as was the case with Thorin Finch's sheep popping up in all sorts of different places, such as on the "Sun Salamander" by Sean and Steph Mayo.

"A Small-Scale Invasion", by Allen Smith

 

"Sun Salamander", by Sean and Steph Mayo, invaded by a sheep

Some of the Invasions  were quite creative in their reach and scope.  The fearsome Space Vikings (along with their respective builders) invaded more than one theme over the course of the convention.  Wearing Viking hats and playing battle music, the group of builders grabbed their Space Viking ships to go on a conquest of the Model Team car display.

Space Vikings prepare to invade the Model Team theme table.

The Space Vikings celebrate their conquest of the Model Team theme table.

There were many other models that moved beyond the Invasion theme.  Anu Pehrson won the People’s Choice award with her rendition of the Tiger’s Nest Monastery.  It is a gorgeous, incredibly detailed rendition of the original.  Since its first display at BrickCon 2013, Anu has spent time adding more details, such as a waterfall and more landscaping with a wooden bridge.  She rebuilt most of the backdrop cliffs, made them 6 inches higher, and added rock work to both the sides/ends as well.  For more information about this model, see the article in HispaBrick's Issue 19.

Anu Pehrson and her Tiger's Nest Monastery

Paul Hetherington continued to add to his impressive collection of BrickCon Best-in-Show awards with his Mouseguard title sculpture.  ArchLUG (http://www.archlug.com/), an architecture- and castle-based LUG from Seattle, is planning a cooperative build illustrating David Peterson's Mouseguard series of comic books (http://www.mouseguard.net/).  ArchLUG is working with the directly with the author to try to bring the world of Mouseguard to life.  Paul's title model gave us a hint of what is to come.  Look for a debut of the entire collaboration at Emerald City ComicCon in Seattle next spring. 




Mouseguard by Paul Hetherington

Of course it would be remiss to speak of the abundance of invasions at BrickCon this year and then leave out the greatest one of all:  the 13,200 public attendees that came through on the two public days (a new record!).  There were visitors who come every year, buying their tickets well in advance, and others who made it for the first time.  Many of them left inspired to go and build something of their own.  My two nephews visited for their first time this year.  Five-year old Jameson was enraptured by what he saw and went home and got right to work, creating a model of a tornado-damaged park, complete with a teeny-tiny remote-controlled helicopter lost in a tree.  It won't be long before these little ones come back to future editions of BrickCon, bringing their own models with them to share and inspire.
 

Brogan and Jameson at their first BrickCon



The next generation of builders!