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NWBrickCon

Posted: Sat Oct 07, 2006 2:55 pm
by Bruce N H
Hey,

NWBrickCon is underway this weekend, and we're already starting to see photos. First off the mark is our very own Dunechaser:

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Post links to NWBrickCon galleries (particularly those with good castle pics) in this thread.

Bruce

Posted: Sat Oct 07, 2006 7:39 pm
by wunztwice
It's looking great so far, I wish I could've gone. I really like the Egyptian layout. I'll have to keep my eyes on this thread for more!

Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 2:36 am
by Tedward
Having been involved with the AFOL online community for some time I have heard of several of these "real-life" events. I thought I had some idea of what to expect from our local LUG meetings (viclug.ca), reading reports and looking at photo galleries on Brickshelf.com and elsewhere.

I experienced activities that seemed familiar from the virtual sources but attending a real event with real people was far more than I could have imagined.

After my first hour onsite I was giddy. Yep, like a schoolgirl and barely able to keep myself from skipping back to my hotel room to grab my MOC for the castle display.

After 24 hours I felt like I had a hangover from an all-night bender yet, I hasten to note, I had not touched anything stronger than a Ding Dong (love those American treats) and a couple of gallons of Coke. I was nearly totally exhausted from the energy that was flowing as I helped set up the Castle display and began to meet fellow AFOL's: Andrew "the wizard guy" who I only discovered was Dunechaser after several hours. Brendan who drove up from California to oversee the first trial of his BPB and 8cres landscaping system. Tom with the biggest MOC's I have ever seen. Caylin with her awesome Rapunzel tower which got Jeremy and Josh and I thinking about a theme/challenge for next year to incorporate "hidden" fairy tales into the castle MOC's.

And those were just a few of the people I met from near and far. Every single one of them sharing the sort of joy I felt at being there. Every one of them in love with the bricks and the endless possibilities they present.

And lets not forget the field trip to the LEGO store where Neil and his staff gave us food and drink while allowing a "virgin" such as myself to revel in the largest selection of LEGO I have ever seen. Approaching the pick-a-brick wall I was actually nervous wanting to see what wonders I would find and afraid lest I find nothing I wanted.

I should not have worried. At least a half a large cup full of flower stems for farm building, jumper plates by the handful, a cool door, some tan window frames and more bits that I cannot remember but will get to be pleaseantly surprised by when I open the cups at home later tonight.

And lets not forget the mini-fig bar! A DOZEN yellow Princess Leia slave girl legs will allow me to equip a large squad of Romans for less than 1/5 the cost of the same parts via Bricklink. Some bits and bobs and a couple of medium sets and I could have been happy at that.

But there was the Brick Bazaar on site with used bits. I was over the moon with 5 cannons (with gun carriages!) included in a $5 pick-a-used-brick bag. There were also the custom bits like some more weapons from Will and a set of Ben's train wheels. At the end of the day the Dirty Brickster saw me steal a My Own Train caboose from Steve Barille!

Now all this acquisition of stuff was good but the most fun was the interactions. The sessions and the time just hanging out with AFOL's was priceless. The time tending the public display and talking to mothers while their kids stood in awe was amazing. The way these kids lit up as they saw the possibilities then the delight as they showed their parents some of the funny or clever details put a huge grin on my face. I love the details too.

The shark attack in the moat surrounding John's huge tower. The guy in the coracle at the base of Josh's lighthouse. The space police brutality towards martians...

I will try to upload pictures later but for right now, thanks to Wayne and Terri and Thomas and Sean and all the others from SEALUG who put on a really great event.

edit: the first few pics:

http://members.shaw.ca/t.godwin/lego/ev ... BC.001.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/t.godwin/lego/ev ... BC.002.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/t.godwin/lego/ev ... BC.003.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/t.godwin/lego/ev ... BC.004.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/t.godwin/lego/ev ... BC.005.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/t.godwin/lego/ev ... BC.006.jpg

Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 4:13 pm
by The Blue Knight
Tedward wrote:
Caylin with her awesome Rapunzel tower
For the record, that is mine :^)

It was a great time. Write up and pix tonight!

Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 10:33 pm
by Tedward
The Blue Knight wrote:
For the record, that is mine :^)

It was a great time. Write up and pix tonight!
D'oh! Sorry. :oops:

Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 12:46 am
by plums_deify
I cannot take any credit for Rapunzel. I can, however, take credit for the last-minute dragon trying to steal her from Prince Charming. The slow idiot. ;)

My contribution was the white CATHOLIC church (Not Mormon, Adam) and the nearby homes. That courtyard saw the birth of the Attack Kittens.

Attack and retaliation.

:)

I'm adding new posts daily, so keep checking my Flickr gallery for pictures. :)

Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 2:19 am
by J1A3L5
Hi guys!

I'm home now, and at least they believed I wasn't actually being stolen back into the country...and the ferry went well!


All in all, it was incredible. I'd rate it higher than last year's - Larger, better rooms, tons more public, and an awesome castle layout! It was great to meet some new people both from CC and beyond...

I won't have my pictures on right away, as I have many doubles and want to sort/name them accordingly. A certain Gary finally talked me into getting a Flickr account, so maybe a few of my more unique ones will turn up there...

Thanks to everyone who made it so awesome,
-John L.

Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 2:38 am
by BreadMan
Pics are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39911510@N ... 320798640/

Vids are here (when moderated):
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=209486

I don't know where to start, but it was a fantastic weekend. I am so glad I decided to make the trip, it was worth every mile of the drive up and back. Of course it was my first Con so I guess that explains some of it, but I loved every minute of it. It was great meeting so many CCers in person (Dunechaser, Josh, Blue Knight, Jail, Darkie, Merlin of Lego, Tedward, forgetting anybody?) and we put together a KICK A** display. I would go as far as to say we made the best and biggest castle display ever. I don't know what else to say, partly because I'm still recovering from the drive back but also because I was just completely blown away by all the awesomeness. :D

Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 3:22 am
by wunztwice
Wow, where to start indeed...

There is alot of amazing MOCs here! The castle layout is of course superb, alot of detail packed in. Everything seems to match up well and the farm standard looked great (that's what it was right?). BTW darkie, was it a bell your sig is holding?

The moonbase looked really good as well and there were alot of great sculptures...that totem pole!

I am sure I will think of more to say once more pics appear. I wish I could have been there. I will try to make it next year (maybe even bring my sigfig, hopefully there will be no risque pics of the poopsmith!) Thanks for sharing!

Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 3:46 am
by JoshWedin
I just finished uploading my pics on Brickshelf. Not all of the folders are public yet and I will be posting a write up tomorrow afternoon.
BreadMan wrote:It was great meeting so many CCers in person (Dunechaser, Josh, Blue Knight, Jail, Darkie, Merlin of Lego, Tedward, forgetting anybody?)
It was great for me to meet everyone in person as well and I will say that the display would not have been nearly as good if Breadman hadn't done such an awesome job. Way to go!

You did miss a few members though. :)

Thomas Rafert, Steve Witt, Mike Rayhawk, and Kinux (aka my cousin Jeremy).

Josh

Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 5:27 am
by The Blue Knight
Where to start indeed! Work is super-crazy so I won't have much time this week to do a write up or pix, that'll come this weekend. But I will say a bit.

BreadMan, Brendon (Only kidding, it's Brendan but they misspelled his name!) deserves the bulk of the credit. Josh, Frank Filz, Darkie, Tom, Merlin and Justin Major all made some cool and wonderful things, but Bread was the Yeoman. He did the work that you couldn't see unless you took it away. He really tied it all together with his 8cres idea, and more importantly his love of castle and a desire for a great display. He pulled all the disparate pieces together into a cohesive whole. I am not overstating when I say that this ranks up there with the very best castle displays at a con, ever, period. That's what leadership gets ya, great job Bread. The other big element was the complete lack of ego among the group. No one was too good for anything, thanks to everyone for making it my best con (OK it was only my 2nd).

The best feature wasn't even a traditional MOC. Josh, Merlin and Bread came up with the idea of a little battle scene. It was good. Then it grew, and grew, and grew and grew! Literally hundreds of little kids said "Wow look at the huge battle!" It was a crowd favorite and I will put forth the idea that such a battle should be a regular feature of all such displays.

This was a great con! I would be remiss without mentioning Bread's girlfriend(hubba hubba :^o), Tom's wife Kristin, Merlin's fam who came in a helped tear down, Josh's cousin Jeremy who did MOC-sitting duty during the public hours even though he didn't have one there, and or course Jail's mother would brought us all Chips Ahoy too get through the long public hours.

And let's not forget Wayne, Sean and the other PSLTC and Sealug members who made it all possible! Thanks for a great con!

Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:44 am
by plums_deify
wunztwice wrote:BTW darkie, was it a bell your sig is holding?
Heh. No, it's not.

A hint lies within this old thread. ;)

I do have to say something about the battle--on more than one occasion, kids would face a tough choice: Space or Castle.

They went to Castle.

:D

A group photo--it isn't all of us, but that's most of us.

Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 1:51 am
by BreadMan
JoshWedin wrote: You did miss a few members though. :)

Thomas Rafert, Steve Witt, Mike Rayhawk, and Kinux (aka my cousin Jeremy).
Steve and Mike are CCers?

Rick you give me too much credit. Wouldn't have been much of a display without all the glorious MOCs filling in the gaps. :) And hands off my girl ;)

btw, brickshelf is taking forever to moderate my folder, so I put the vids up on youtube:
http://youtube.com/profile_videos?user=BreadMan017
Tedward wrote: :shock: Wow, I cannot believe how hyper about next year I still feel!
Quoted for Truth!!!

Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 3:32 am
by Tedward
JoshWedin wrote: You did miss a few members though. :)
Yeah, as I said I met so many people it was fantastic. I especially enjoyed breakfast at the LEGO store because you and Jeremy were there.

Hey, I know I was feeling exhausted around dinner time both days but maybe next year we could have a Classic Castle Dinner on the Saturday evening?

:shock: Wow, I cannot believe how hyper about next year I still feel!

Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:00 pm
by JoshWedin
BreadMan wrote:Steve and Mike are CCers?
Yes, sir. Mike Rayhawk's screen name is "Rayhawk" and he did a Q&A session with us a while back. Steve's screen name is "speaknspell". Since cruising forums is part of Steve's job, I assume he is a member everywhere. But technically he is a member here, so I have been including him in the list of CCers at the Con.

Josh