BrickCon (Virtual) 2022 - Day 1

I took some time off from work to attend BrickCon 2022 virtually. It was also a good opportunity to do some building, sorting of parts, and organizing my store so I’ll take it.

Day one was pretty slow. This is due to the physical show just setting up so most of the attendees are assembling MOCs in the main hall.

For those of you not familiar, BrickCon is held in Washington state and this is the 21st year it has been held. 2020 kicked off the virtual side with COVID and BrickCon kept up a hybrid version in 2021. 2022 has a hybrid version as well. You can attend sessions via Zoom, there are games for virtual sessions only, and you have access to a Discord server just for attendees.

The first session I attended was titled BrickCon 101 which was an introduction to attending a virtual Con and was a good overview of the events going forward. I got to hear about some of the events like an auction happening over the weekend and some of the speakers. Also, Stuart Harris from the Lego House popped in to say hi.

Next up, I observed a speed build. I missed the sock build (build a set wearing socks on your hands). The speed build took set #31100-1 and an alternate build to the set was presented to the builders to assemble. The first one to finish won. The alternate build was a windmill and there were 5 participants. I was the only observer and then the BrickCon virtual host. As an observer, you’re supposed to heckle, but I kept my mouth shut mostly and watched. They finished pretty quickly and then a few of us chatted for a bit.

I re-joined my family for dinner and kiddo bedtime prep after this ended.

Next up was the opening ceremony. The virtual crew got to watch the opening ceremony going on live in Seattle. The presentation had a lot of administrative notes and then some information on moving the location in future years.

There were also prizes. In person attendees won a bunch, but the virtual crew also won a few to include…

This guy!!!! WOOHOO!!!

I won #71773-1: Kai’s Golden Dragon Raider from the Ninjago line.

This wasn’t new to those present in person, but for the virtual crew, we got to see the Convention Model for the first time. It’s titled “The Wooden Duck” and it contains 346 pieces. I don’t remember how much it cost, but I should get it sometime in mid to late October. I’m looking forward to it!

Lastly, I checked in with the virtual late night social for a bit before getting to bed. They were playing a LEGO based bingo game online. I played two rounds. You go to a web site, enter your info, and get a card. Then the host did random generated picks of various LEGO elements, minifigures, and other related items. I didn’t win, but it was fun and it was impressive to hear how many people knew which sets some of the obscure pieces were from.

I’m looking forward to day 2. It should be a few presentations and the key note speaker in the evening.

Happy building!

Brickcon 2022 - Registration Open

Brickcon 2022 is happening again this year in Seattle, WA on 1-2 October 2022. If you are an AFOL, you can register to attend the AFOL Fan Convention which starts on 29 September. They have limited in-person attendance for 500 people so sign up sooner rather than later if you plan to be in person. Registration is online here. For those of you who can’t make it to Seattle, you can still participate virtually. For a $25 registration fee, you can access presentation live streams, online games, tours, the private BrickCon Discord server, online social meet-ups, virtual door prizes, as well as a virtual exhibition with awards. A limited amount of swag bags, merchandise and commemorative models will be made available for purchase at a later date which is awesome. It’s not the full experience, but the hybrid option isn’t bad if you don’t live in the area or can’t fly to Seattle for that weekend.

I attended Brickcon 2020 or should I say virtually attended Brickcon 2020. It was fully virtual that year due to COVID so this will by my first hybrid experience. You can learn about my experience here: My experience. You can also read a quick intro here Intro and Swag and see a review of the convention set here: Convention Set Review.

I have not been able to attend a convention in person, but would like to some day. In the meantime, this is a great alternative option. I enjoyed the last time and I’m looking forward to this year. I’m hoping to be able to volunteer again like I did last time and with any luck, I’ll be able to purchase some swag as it included some cool stuff during my last venture to Brickcon. If you’re like me and can’t make it in person, but have the time to attend virtually, go for it!

The keynote speaker for this year is Angus MacLane who was the Director for Pixar movies like “Finding Dory” and “Lightyear.” The Brothers Brick site has a good write up about it here.

Hope to “see” you there!