Brick Mania Wetteren 2016 Lego Convention Report

And so we came to that moment at last, the first Brick Mania of 2016 had arrived.  After months of thinking "it`s still a while away", we found ourselves at the venue for the first of the BeLUG conventions this year.

And traditionally, Wetteren (near Ghent) kicked it off with yet another great event, so let`s have a look at around...

Everyone who volunteered for the event could also come and collect his new club polo for free, with the new and updated logo on our lovely Aqua coloured shirts.

Divided over three halls, we had a lot of exhibitors as well as professional and private sellers, so there was bound to be something for everyone`s taste.

The first thing people would see once they past the entrance was the clubs collaborative project, the Time Traveller.  In this, every participant build a MOC of a certain period, and a figure would travel the road in front taking him through all sort of historical events.

And this is said Time Traveller who was present at each and everyone of the displayed MOC`s of the club project

Entering hall 1,

you could see amongst others, this huge castle and village

A big Pirate Lay-Out was also present (together with the Time Traveller, the only thing I could lend a modest contribution to) based on the Brethren of the Brick Seas building game.

Technic was present with a lot of moving vehicles that could be (but please ask first!) demonstrated and operated by the children present.

While children could also obtain their driver`s license

But there was a lot more to be seen in this first hall, so here is a little oversight:

Moving on to the second hall of the event, we found the Mindstorms team with the fabulous Elves treasure chest among some other of their creations:

This big display was really cool, incorporating the Tower Bridge set amongst it

Bringing back memories, how about this Fabuland layout?

And some more fantastic builds that could be found in Hall 2

That leaves us with the third hall to visit.  Being placed in the gymnasium of the school venue, you could follow the red carpet to arrive there, and the sunny weather and bouncing castle for the kids made this a nice stroll.

One of the first thing`s you`d notice upon entering, is this truly massive cargo vessel

Or the historical recreation of this train station, correct into the littlest of details

I really thought that the use of these Duplo animals was pure genious

And what about this `measurement correct` Vietnamese Junk?

There was a lot more to see in the third hall as well, so here is an oversight of yet more astonishing pieces of work:

Okay, so now that we toured the venue, it was time to sit down for a coffee.  Now it looked quiet and calm at the cantina (many thanks to the volunteers of the school`s Parent Commitee for running this, loved the chocolate cake btw ;-) ), but that was soon to end because...

The Evening Event

Once the evening fell, the entertainment for the `grown up kids` would begin.  As always, there was the raffle, and like in Liege, Wetteren went for the Super Tombola approach, guaranteeing that everyone would win something, worth above their `entrance fee` of 10 euro.

So this raffle was divided into three parts, "wrapped" in between the other activities and the very tastefull dinner in which a choice was offered between Coque au Vin and Veggieburgers.  For the children (and some big children) there was also some fried sausage available.

You won`t hear me complaining about my raffle, as I took home a Carbon Freezing Chamber set :-)

Another activity was a building contest.  Every participant received a little Creator set, and needed to build something entirely different from it within 10 minutes.  The only rule was that it wasn`t permitted to make another vehicle.
Personally, I stranded on what I called "Wall E from the Aldi"... oh well, if you tilted his head he could look really sad lol.  Probably out of compassion that I couldn`t do better... at least we could keep the set so I`ll be building it for a report in the future "as it should be"...

The other game was the quiz.  Yeah, I performed magnificent,  so yeah, by question two I was already knocked out...

The final event of the evening program was the auction, where I took home an old Christmas Train polybag.

The Loot

Well, you could already see the Time Traveller figure, the auction win and my raffle price, but I got some more thingies.

Every participant received a Thank You gift, being the Park Animal Creator set, two bags of parts, and a voucher to purchase loose elements.

Now, some people I know didn`t find anything in the available parts section to their likings, so I bought over their vouchers and as such had a whole lot of mainly plant pieces and caramel wall elements for the expansion of Quinnsville...

I sponsored the normal raffle for a few euro, and managed to get two Ninjago polybags out of it, that`s nice :-)

But real purchases?  That was very limited on my part, taking home the Harry Potter train polybag and a Halloween polybag, but nothing else.

Onwards to Liege...

So this has caught your intrest, and you want to participate in the next event BeLUG organises?  The last weekend of May you can!
You can find us in Cheratte, nearby Liege in the walloon part of Belgium, for the second edition of Brick Mania Liege.  I`ll be present there, and I hope to be able to meet YOU there!

Because you never know who you might run into at a Brick Mania after all...

So now my Brickbadge for 2016 is still looking modest, but expect a "few" bricks to be added over time, and I`ll bring forward pictures and impressions where and when I can!

Cheerios!

Your very adult and serious reporter!