Brick Mania Liege 2015 report

And let it be noted down, that on the weekend of the 5th and 6th of december 2015, the first Brick Mania in Liege kicked off.

And your faithful one was present, though he just knew it for 3 weeks he would be attending after BM Antwerp :-)

Leaving at 7.30 with the president and his lovely wife, we arrived at 9 in Liege, at the `salle des Treteaux.  Time to dust off the french, as we entered the hall which already was dressed up nicely.

Here is a look of the various expositions on show:

 Hans`s train had a fun game where attendees had to find certain minifigures

 My modest contribution

 A mechanised amusement park

 The GBC was present as well

 Yup... that`s the UCS Falcon right there!

Of course, some traders where present as well to help us from our euro bills and coins.

And then at 10, the doors opened and the first visitors streamed in.

The saturday had a nice crowd, ticking off at around 750 people on the very preliminary first numbers, not bad at all for a first edition first day.

We went to the evening activities, which contained a very nice buffet to strengthen the inner person after a day of talks and joys.

And then after the necessary bites, drinks and games, off to the B&B to get some hours of sleep.

On sunday, the attendance numbers exploded, going to around 1100 on the sunday, including a very special VIP.

But when the dust settled at 17.00hrs, it was time to break up the whole shabang and to return homewards after a very enjoyable weekend.

I like the Walloon mentality more then my Antverpian one (but please, keep that a secret) and Michel and his team did a wonderfull job of creating a very relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere.

Due to the smaller scale of the event compared to BM Antwerp or the sci-fi cons I attended this year, this event felt more of a cosy get together (okay, the sunday afternoon when the crowd streamed in en masse was not so relaxed, but that`s part of a convention after all) and I`m pretty sure there will be a second edition.

BeLUG has made a good first impression this year in the francophone part of Belgium, and I think we are off for some nice shows in the future in the southern part of the country.  But I can`t promise though if I can sacrifice half a year of weekends for events thoug, unless they keep luring me with the excellent fresh Onion soup to keep me on my feet...

The Loot

Yes, there was loot, and lots of it.  I had the time on this Brick Mania to look around at the local traders for some loose parts, and grabbed from one trader a few pieces, a Max polybag and the Belville one (with some nice discount on top for the whole lot) for the teddybears.

The `Thank You` gift for this Brick Mania was the piggy bank set, that`s a nice one thougb i doubt it would get full fast ;-)

I had a bit of bad luck with the Super Tombola on saturday, scoring one of the small early prices with 4 bags of Mixels, but never the less I`m pretty happy with it.  Joint parts, Glow in the Dark parts... good enough for me.

In the Dirty Brickster game, my luck turned, as I managed to secure this lovely set for myself:

The club also gave every attendee at the evening party a nice bag of Lego pieces:

But the true win came during the auction.  For a measly 25 euro, I managed to FINALLY score me a Lego banner, and it`s a lovely one to boot with Star Wars`s Ashoka on it.  I did not sleep alone that night :-)

The final piece was the event brick that started this report, so my badge ends 2015 looking as this...

And now, it`s time to start thinking about 2016, with a lot more of potential events on the horizon, with a second FACTS coming on the calendar, and perhaps even more Brick Mania`s?  I`m sure there are some regions somewhere we can go and convert the population to the Religion of the Brick hehehe... or if you ask those two strange persons, worldwide brickdomination