Brick Mania Antwerpen 2016

Brick Mania Antwerp, the final event we organise in 2016, has come to pass

And it was a blast, with a lot of people visiting the show this year, topping our entrance number of last year.  

I don`t have the official numbers, but I`m sure the BeLUG board will communicate these as soon as they are known, but let`s have a look at the event itself then!

Preparations

Of course, no show can be held without the volunteers that set up the whole venue.  So on friday, two dozen people where present to put down all the tables, add the decorations, and well, set everything up.

And we are a go!

After the early arrivals on saturdays of both traders and exhibitors, teh doors opened at 10 o`clock for two days of bricky fun.  And it was a rush from the word "go" as people streamed into the Waagnatie, and this would continue for two whole days.

Here you have a small movieclip of the crowd on a "lazy sunday afternoon"... 

MOC`s, plenty of MOC`s!

The heart of any convention are of course the builds by the members, and there was a lot to see once again this year.

There was a Pirate lay-out of 100 square meters, with contributions of a dozen builders from all over Europe

A great looking Fabuland city including moving train

City and Trains where present as well, to be seen over a variety of tables.  Maybe an idea for all those train fans to combine in one HUGE lay out next year?

The Great Ball Contraption remains an eyecatcher, as thousands of little balls moved all over the circuitcourse.

Technic remains a popular theme to build in, and all those moving builds are always wildly appreciated by visitors young and old.

Two of our resident `sculpture builders`, Dirk and Koen, had their work on display.

LEGO Certified Professional Dirk Denoyelle and his company Amazings had real pieces of art on display, as well as some of the great sets they`ve build for clients.

The Star Wars fans had collaborated in presenting their builds all together, so you could emerge in the franchise as you marvelled at the works.

But there was so much more to see, ranging from a Space lay-out all the way to mosaics.

Traders

No event is complete without the opportunity to add some sets to your collection, and there was plenty of choice to buy from.

Activities

During the day, there where workshops for the children to learn how to build alternate models from small Creator 3 in 1 sets.

As well as two trading moments every day for exchanging minifigures and polybags.

The evening!

After the first day, an excellent buffet was served to feed the hungry.  Once the inner person had been satisfied, the evening event commenced.  It had a boardgame adapted to LEGO, Quarto, and the winner took home a small prize.

The clubraffle was also present, as was the auction, and then we could go home for a good night sleep after a long and eventful day, before facing an even busier sunday.

The sunday breakdown... 

As the sunday progressed as a true festival, we had various regional and national press making their appearance.  From the local ATV to the national VTM and radio 2, our members and staff duly answered every question they had.

Our friends from OLBC came along as well to say "hi" and a little chat.

And then, the weekend had gone by, and it was time for the breakdown... including the demolition of my part of the Pirate lay-out, recycling it into other projects for 2017.

We like to thank all the participants and visitors of the event, for it was a truly magnificent 2016 edition!

The Loot

Well, of course I had some things to add to my little collection...

Perhaps the coolest thing is the signature of LEGO Certified Professional Dirk Denoyelle.  Apart from being a LCP, he is also a stand-up comedian, but also a voice actor who amongst others did the flemish version of Harry Potter`s Hagrid.

I picked up some free Club magazines I lacked in my collection and played the raffle a bit, gaining some polybags from it, as well as a bag of mixed elements every volunteer of the event received.

The Thank You set was the lovely Treehouse Creator set, while the club raffle resulted in an Elves set.  I originally had a Technic go-kart, but Michael, a Technic fan, was all to happy to exchange it for his Elves set.

Brickizimo donated a goodie bag to all the participants, containing their Brick Stacks lighting system.

I also actually purchased two monthly model polybags as I think those where really cool builds.  expect them in a build report in the far, far future!

Another small purchase where these printed pieces at Mijn Blokje, I really adore the Middle Earth map wall.

And of course, no event is complete without an event brick, and so it ends my rather impressive series of bricks for 2016... time to start the new year!

And that`s it, the last event for me for this year.  Now I`ll be on a break until february and Comic Con for certain, and while I would loved to `cooldown` for a while, I must admit I already began tinkering on my "main project" for 2017 ;-)