Castle at Brickworld 2010

[DaleDVM]

I can't wait to see you all at the convention. I don't think I will be able to build anything for the collaborative castle display. My castle layout is now 3-4 tables long and my trailer can only hold so much. I just hope to the castle Gods that I planned better and nothing falls apart like the disaster that happened last year! It was so depressing I didn't even get to talk with anyone as I spent the whole time rebuilding.

David if you need any of my figs let me know. You know I have bunches of just about any faction you would be interested in using. I will not be displaying them. Although last year I didn't want to set them up either but there was so much empty space in that far room that Bryan Bonahoom asked me to put them out. If you have need of baseplates or any other requests let me know and I will do my best to bring what you need.

I am sure you will make a beautiful display. The one last year was great!

To all of the CC members: I will be the guy with a large crownie castle display. Please stop by and please also let me know your online name when we meet so I can make the connection. I can't wait to see what everyone has done for this event and to just talk castle stuff with you all!

[Crazylegoman]

I just hope that I planned better and nothing falls apart like the disaster that happened last year! It was so depressing I didn't even get to talk with anyone as I spent the whole time rebuilding.

Make sure to take plenty of pictures of it before you pack it up just in case. It was really handy that you had those pre-catastrophe photos last year on your laptop.

David

[DaleDVM]

David I choked on my breakfast when I read that. I'm not very superstitious, but could that jinx the whole thing?

Yes... I will take plenty of photos. Those pics came in handy at the convention and when rebuilding as well. It had been 1 1/2 years in the making and I couldn't even remember how I built several of the structures. I didn't even start working on it again until the winter. I was so upset I couldn't even look at it for months. It isn't as fun building something the second time around. Luckily I finished it up and moved on to new stuff a while ago.

Thanks for the laugh and can't wait to see you and whatever you are bringing this year!

Dale

[Crazylegoman]

Brickworld 2010 is now less than 2 weeks from starting! If we have anyone else planning to bring castle wall sections, please post what kind they are, so that we can plan how it will be setup. (We don't want to few corners, too many corners, etc.) Please let us know if you're bringing CCC Walls or Tall Walls.

David

[DaleDVM]

Dave, I am looking forward to the presentations that you and Ben are going to do this year. 9 days to go and I have been building like a madman.

[Shadowviking]

Forgot to mention, have a more Northern European (German) towerhouse built, if I can fit that into the layout that's cool; otherwise I have my own table too. It's a 32x32 green baseplate.

I'll see y'all there!

[Crazylegoman]

We should definitely be able to fit in a 32X32 creation. Thanks for letting us know.

David

[architect]

Please check out pictures of the Pirates and Castle displays this year at Brickworld:

Pirates:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9321695@N0 ... 204418417/

Castle:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9321695@N0 ... 204393317/

Thanks!

Ben

[Brickule]

Yeah, the amount of people that showed for the display was disappointing, next year I must remember to bring more castle stuff, or just do my own little castle display.

[JCool]

There seemed to be a decent amount of castle stuff at the show... but is there a reason it was so spread out instead of organized into one general area?

Pirates seemed under-represented, though I really did like the small brick-built islands and the stone fort-in-the-middle-of-nowhere.

[Crazylegoman]

There seemed to be a decent amount of castle stuff at the show... but is there a reason it was so spread out instead of organized into one general area?

The way that Brickworld is organized can sometimes cause people to want to put all their MOC's on their own MOC tables instead of putting them into the collaborative displays. Even though most creations are based on a specific theme, Brickworld tries to be theme neutral as far as where attendees display their stuff.

David

[Blueandwhite]

There seemed to be a decent amount of castle stuff at the show... but is there a reason it was so spread out instead of organized into one general area?

The way that Brickworld is organized can sometimes cause people to want to put all their MOC's on their own MOC tables instead of putting them into the collaborative displays. Even though most creations are based on a specific theme, Brickworld tries to be theme neutral as far as where attendees display their stuff.

David

Honestly, I find this approach very disappointing. Conventions are the one place where we have hundreds of AFOLs coming together to display their works in a single event. It seems unfortunate not to try and make a more cohesive showing. Perhaps it's just me, but it seems that most older conventions placed a greater emphasis on display cohesiveness. Yes, there are recent conventions with some fantastic castle displays, however most events seem to focus on individual MOCs rather than a single large layout. Even though I'm not a huge fan of the CCC (Classic Castle City) standard, I still prefer seeing one large display over seeing a bunch of MOCs sitting separately on different tables. Honestly, I can look at a plethora of stand-alone MOCs by searching brickshelf or flickr. Events are the one place where we as AFOLs can actually see a kingdom of bricks established which makes things very exciting.

I've noticed that this trend isn't exclusive to North American showings either. Looking at the old photos of European events and it seems to me this trend seems to be something of a global phenomenon. Now as I haven't really had the opportunity to travel to these fests perhaps I'm missing something, but I definitely prefer the cohesive approach even if the MOCs don't mesh perfectly.

[Bruce N H]

Hey guys,

Who made the massive Neuschwanstein MOC?



Bruce

[Blueandwhite]

Hey guys,

Who made the massive Neuschwanstein MOC?

Bruce

That would be the good Dr. (Carney). He's actually been documenting the progress on this one for months. It certainly is a monster!

[Crazylegoman]

Honestly, I find this approach very disappointing. Conventions are the one place where we have hundreds of AFOLs coming together to display their works in a single event. It seems unfortunate not to try and make a more cohesive showing. Perhaps it's just me, but it seems that most older conventions placed a greater emphasis on display cohesiveness. Yes, there are recent conventions with some fantastic castle displays, however most events seem to focus on individual MOCs rather than a single large layout. Even though I'm not a huge fan of the CCC (Classic Castle City) standard, I still prefer seeing one large display over seeing a bunch of MOCs sitting separately on different tables. Honestly, I can look at a plethora of stand-alone MOCs by searching brickshelf or flickr. Events are the one place where we as AFOLs can actually see a kingdom of bricks established which makes things very exciting.

I totally agree. The first LEGO conventions I went to were Brickfests at GMU. Since GMU was divided up into many classrooms, it made perfect sense to let each room be its own theme. You would bring your MOC's and place them in the appropriate places. It worked. If you wanted to put all your stuff together, you could, but only if there was room and tables left after everything else was in place. It was the group first, individuals second.

When we started Brickworld, the head organizers didn't want to have "themes". (I can't remember their exact argument for this, but I recall it's pretty weak.) Of course 95% of MOC's fall into one theme or another. The first Brickworld (2007) was held at the Westin in Wheeling, IL just like it still is, but we just had a couple big rooms that year. There were no physical divisions in the rooms, unless you count the tables themselves. There were a couple people who whined about having their MOC's spread all over the place, so they planned to let everyone sign up for MOC tables. You would reserve a number of tables, and if you wanted, you could also put MOC's in the collaborative displays. It was individuals first, the group second.

I have setup my MOC's in different layouts at LEGO events numerous times, and I must say it works just fine. There does seem to be a recent trend for AFOL's to display their MOC's in a "look what I made" sort of way instead of a "look what we made" sort of way, and I think it lessens the overall effectiveness of displays. LEGO can often be a very individual hobby, but as you said earlier, there's Brickshelf and Flickr for that. I don't really claim to have a good solution. If we said that people coming to Brickworld had to put all their MOC's into certain places with other like creations, that would probably deter some people, since we've been doing it the other way for 4 years.

Any ideas?

David