Brickvention Melbourne 2016
Celebrating a full decade of LEGO design and building excellence, thousands of AFOLs and their families descended on the Royal Exhibition Building in downtown Melbourne beginning January 15 for Brickvention 2016. The annual gathering in honor of the brick was once again sponsored by the local Melbourne LEGO users group – MUG – and this 10 th anniversary edition attracted more visitors, vendors and builders than ever before. The three-day event played host to an estimated 27,000 of the general public to view hundreds of displays in the sprawling and historic (circa 1880) building in the heart of one of Australia’s most inviting cities.
Back in 2006, local LEGO lovers launched the first Brickvention in a small annex of Melbourne University. “That first gathering drew 150 people,” said Trevor Clark, one of Brickvention’s primary organizers. “It’s been growing pretty quickly ever since.” So much, in fact, that in 2013 the entire operation had to be moved to the massive exhibition center, which shares acreage with Melbourne Museum of Natural History and the bucolic Carlton Gardens. It’s a major family outing these days, said Sue Ann Barber, who leads a group of about 30 volunteers to organize nearly 400 exhibitors, vendors and builders in putting on the convention. She says parents increasingly bring their kids to pass along generations worth of love and enjoyment of LEGO. And sometimes the kids do a little role-playing as well. “It’s really fulfilling when I hear the kids leave here and go home to ‘play Brickvention’ on their own.” But whatever motivates them – with more than a little help from a place called BrickLink – the folks down under continue to gather in great numbers each year to express an insatiable love of the brick at a place called Brickvention.
At the end of the three-day LEGO convention, here is the obligatory group photo. Eliska and I are back row, first and second from left.
The 2016 Brickvention in Melbourne, Australia, marked the 10th anniversary of this incredible event. The crowds Downunder were huge, as usual, as so many LEGO AFOLs and their familes hunger for the brick.
A train set MOC had the full attention of both kids and adults during the Expo.
A new-look MOC
of the Titanic Disaster treats
the subject from
a can opener’s
eye-view. This
MOC won the
grand prize for originality and treatment of
theme.
Eliska's Display
As she usually does, Eliska displayed her personal MOC of the original BrickLink.com front page. Also on display were a memorial grouping of golden-plated minifigs in honor of Dan and also a MOC of his favorite childhood toy, "Listitina", which mean "little fox" in Czech.
Kids were enthusiastic about Eliska's display. It was interesting that so many actually knew about BrickLink and, of course, with the help of their parents were steady users. The kids were especially enamored of the gold-plated minifigs in the Dan memorial display. Something about bright, shiny objects.
Tying the knot
The Main Hall of the Royal Exhibition Building is barely enough to hold a multitude of AFOLs, the general public, and their families.
Rotating hourly arriving crowds are escorted into Brickvention 2016.
Dianne Winbanks and her daughter Lauren collaborate on MOCs that emulate their travels. A concert visit in February led to this Yamaha concert piano re-creation by Lauren.