Brickworld Chicago 2013

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of spending Saturday with my two kids and two of their friends at Brickworld Chicago 2013. Here are some of my observations from the weekend:

1. I was very impressed by how well organized the show was. The check-in line took less than five minutes, and we arrived at a peak time of the day, roughly 11 AM. There were hundreds of people (dare I say thousands?) all trying to get into the show, but because of the organization and troops of volunteers, everyone was calm and orderly.

2. I had never been to a Lego expo before so I had some really lofty expectations, yet every expectation I had was exceeded. The MOCs were phenomenal, and Lego even had a Legends of Chima Speedorz tournament booth that was very well attended!

3. I was surprised at the number of vendors. I believe there was a cap of 20 or so imposed by the organizers, and every spot appeared filled. A large percentage had retired sets at secondary market prices.

4. There were 3 groups of interviewers with microphones/cameras in the two hours I was there, and none were mainstream media reps who likely turned up later that day for the 5 PM local news. I looked for the BrickShow guy but didn't see him.

5. I couldn't believe the number of LUGs from remote locales that were there. Off the top of my head, I remember seeing LUGs from Toronto, Philadelphia, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Michigan that joined local area LUGs from Chicago, Northern Illinois, and Kenosha.

6. My favorite displays turned out to be ones that I wouldn't typically expect. Among them was a 3-D Clue game made exclusively of Lego bricks (couldn't find a picture of this), a viking display that had a viking ship that "sailed" around an island of monks (the ship was mounted to a railroad track) where a number of the monks moved independently through the use of magnets, and some of the sculptures that were just really done well (yes, that's the Purdue Pete CUUSOO that reached 10,000 votes in the background). The ball machine was incredible, too. The cherry on top of the sundae, though, was a model of the entire story of the Wizard of Oz. That one had everything: size, detail, a great storyline, moving parts and sheer beauty. It really blew me away.

Viking ship and the Monk Island

Amazing sculptures (yes, that's Purdue Pete behind him)

This is less than 1/4 of the entire ball machine. Crazy huge!

The Wizard of Oz movie in Lego. Unbelievable! This pic doesn't do it justice...

7. Anyone that had a BNSF engine had me at hello. I have a soft place in my Lego heart for this engine because I live 2 blocks from the Burlington Northern Line that runs through Chicago's Western Suburbs. One display in particular had the BNSF train running on a track, and another had a large scale BNSF engine displayed with incredible detail. Great job.

The BNSF is behind the cargo car. Unfortunately this was the best pic I could find.

Congrats to the folks who put on Brickworld Chicago 2013 - you have made a lifelong fan of me and my kids. Also, thanks to the folks that posted the pics above on Brickworld's Flickr page.

The countdown is on to Brickworld Chicago 2014. I can't wait!