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Brick: Fair Vs Con

xccj

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This year, I attended both premier Lego conventions on opposite ends of the country: BrickFair and BrickCon. I've heard a lot of claims that BrickFair is better because... um, well, because so and so said so. Having been to both, I feel the need to properly compare the two conventions, and note the pros and cons of each.

 

And, as a disclaimer, these are all my opinions. I am not saying that one convention is BY FACT better than the other. These are my preferences and feel free to disagree with them, but please do not edit my blog to reflect your views. Thank you. :)

 

Traveling to Get There

 

BrickFair was across the country from me, so I had to pay for a plane ticket over, and then endure the red eye flight, as well as all the stress that comes with flying in this day and age. It was expensive. BrickCon was relatively close... it was still a bit of a drive away, but I'm used to driving to Seattle, and I got to carpool which EW too, so it was to my advantage. (Maybe not EW's... he did, after all, have to put up with me.) But gas and all, it was still less costly than a plane ticket.

 

Advantage: Con

 

Sleeping Accommodations

 

I got to stay at a friend's place when I went to DC, which was super convenient cost-wise and hanging-out-with-other-BZPer-wise. (Seriously, thanks a ton for that Ben!) I used to live in Seattle, but not anymore, so I had to organize a hotel room for us to crash in. And between organizing the reservation and keeping Swert and EW from making long distance calls that would drive up the bill, it was more stressful.

 

Advantage: Fair

 

Meeting New People

 

I got to see a couple of new peeps at BrickCon this year, notably EW and Swert (about time I was able to bug him offline). At BrickFair, I met (for the first time) Chocolate Frogs, B6, Smeag, Nukaya, DV, Ray, Janus, Nuju Metru, Vezons Friend, Disky... and many more. It was a bit much.

 

Advantage: Fair

 

Hanging Out With Cool People

 

BrickFair's highlight was definitely when I was chilling with other cool BZPers. The problem, of course, was that there were so many of them that it was hard to spend time with all of them. (Especially when Smeag hogged all of them at his apartment. :P ) There were fewer people at BrickCon, but I felt like we got to spend more time with each other, rather than just spending a little bit of time with each other. And just because they are not as active online or BZP staff does not lessen their coolness.

 

Advantage: Tie

 

The Bionicle Table

 

BrickFair had some mighty cool MOCs... it helped that there were some star MOCist there, like DV and TOM, and that there were also the winners of the BBC Contest on display. And everything WAS more spread out. But, geez, the BrickCon Bionicle table was jam-packed with amazing MOCs. From Czar's massive creation to Arkov's highly-playable weapons to Kopakanui's THREE BUCKETS WORTH OF MOCS to a few creations by AFOLs whom I had never heard of but who still made some great stuff. And then there were a ton of members who sent in stuff, from Brickthing's Frost Cycle to Zorrakh's Destral Cycle (which took forever to set up properly but looked really cool in the end). Plus, we had cooler trophies. Thanks to a donation by Black Six and some purchased bricks, we were able to give out 4 prototype pieces and 5 trophies. So I may be biased, because I was in charge of setting up the Bionicle table, but I thought it had just as much awesomeness as BrickFair.

 

Advantage: Con

 

Other Themes

 

There were plenty of other amazing theme displays around at BrickCon, from Big in Japan to Mecha to SPACE to Castle to Town and Trains. Sadly, I did not have nearly enough time to browse them like I wanted to, but even the quick glances I got impressed me. BrickFair also had some cool displays, but I felt the Con had some more impressive features. However, I must draw attention to the attitudes between the conventions. When I asked a theme coordinator if I could display a few of my small MOCs on their table at B.Fair, they either said no or pushed my stuff to the back where it couldn't be seen. But the folks at B.Con seemed more opened to having outsider MOCs mixed into their city streets. That, and B.Fair didn't have nearly enough Battle Bugs. :sly:

 

Advantage: Con

 

Loot

 

I got some cool stuff at BrickFair. I snagged a few medium sized sets, won a couple of Exo Force sets, and in the raffle I got a set that made me roll my eyes. (But it's a secret because I may still post about it later) At BrickCon last year, I got zilch, but this year I got a couple of large sets on sale, won the same Exo Force sets again ( :rolleyes: ) and somehow won the biggest raffle there. So...

 

Advantage: Con

 

Shortage of Time

 

At B.Fair, I felt like we were rushing to do stuff, and then before I knew it I was back at the airport. At B.Con, I felt like we were rushing to meet all these deadlines, and the next thing I know we're driving back home. Both conventions went by too fast. Next year, instead of meeting at BrickFair, let's host a BZPower Fair, to take place a week before B.Fair, where we'll all hang out with each other and then have plenty of time to geek out at the Lego convention.

 

Advantage: Neither

 

So there you have it. Of course, some of these points will be wiped out by BrickFest, which sounds like it'll attract quite the crowd and is still rather close to me... so just another convention to look forward to. :sly:

 

:music:

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Hahli Husky

Of course you know that when people say "Brickfair is better!!" or "Brickcon is the best!", they're usually just having fun being ridiculously biased. XP Some people really seemed to take offense to it, though. In the end it depends on where you live, who your close friends are, what you can handle, and what you like best; basically like you've said here. I had fun at Con the past couple years, it was less of a monetary commitment and I got to sleep at home every night, not to mention it was less crowded and potentially confusing. Most of my -very- good friends can't make it Con, but Fair is easier for them to attend. I'm more interested in hanging out with friends, that's just how I am, so given that I had to choose, Fair was the better bet. Plus it's a great getaway from home. But it's awesome that you could make it to both, and bring up some of the fabulous parts of Con. :D Glad to hear you had fun!!

 

Brickfest or bust, man!! Yesssssss ~

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dviddy

What Becca said, followed by this:

 

There's no way on Earth the Brickcon MOC display was better when it comes to BIONICLE. Not a freaking chance. The Brickcon display was cluttered, cramped, and though there were some fantastic MOCs, nothing that could compete with what was shown at Brickfair. We had Primus, Arpy, ToM, myself, etc, and like five times as many MOCs as Brickcon. There's just no way.

 

Otherwise, yeah, the "Brickfair is better!!" comments are mostly in jest (and partly a little bit of organizational pride because it is THE convention for BZPower, and many of us have helped organize and set it up and continue to do so year in and year out). But yeah, it's just in jest, and we're glad you guys had fun at Brickcon. :)

 

And Brickfest will be awesome.

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ChocolateFrogs
The Brickcon display was cluttered, cramped...

Hehe, I've said the same thing.

 

Otherwise, yeah, the "Brickfair is better!!" comments are mostly in jest (and partly a little bit of organizational pride because it is THE convention for BZPower, and many of us have helped organize and set it up and continue to do so year in and year out). But yeah, it's just in jest.

Note: When it's seemingly the only thing being said, every time, it gets old. [/end]

(But yeah, it's totally BZP's con.)

 

 

Anyway, it looks like this con was tons of fun. It seems there are quite of few cool activities that totally would have enhanced by BrickFair experience if we had some of those clever things, like the Iron Brick build off.

 

Also, living at home rocks, I'll agree with HH. (Though I might stay at the hotel next year?)

 

-CF

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Arpy
Orrr we could just be thankful for what we've got and stop trying to validate our biases and/or put down others'. :)
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Hahli Husky
Orrr we could just be thankful for what we've got and stop trying to validate our biases and/or put down others'. :)

Dude, totally! If we just had -one- LEGO convention in the USA, that would stink. Getting to attend more than one a year is sweet!

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Swert
What Becca said, followed by this:

 

There's no way on Earth the Brickcon MOC display was better when it comes to BIONICLE. Not a freaking chance. The Brickcon display was cluttered, cramped, and though there were some fantastic MOCs, nothing that could compete with what was shown at Brickfair. We had Primus, Arpy, ToM, myself, etc, and like five times as many MOCs as Brickcon. There's just no way.

 

Otherwise, yeah, the "Brickfair is better!!" comments are mostly in jest (and partly a little bit of organizational pride because it is THE convention for BZPower, and many of us have helped organize and set it up and continue to do so year in and year out). But yeah, it's just in jest, and we're glad you guys had fun at Brickcon. :)

 

And Brickfest will be awesome.

Oh trust me, if I get my way for 2011, Brickcon's table will PACKED, ORGANIZED, and if my boss Dan Parker has a word in it, we'll have more than just Bionicle to share. Trust me, we're going to improve. It just needed the step in the right direction, which has now been taken *nods to Xccj and EW*

 

As for BrickFest, I'm sure I could go, but it'll depend on if my boss is going as well, and if we display anything, plus if I'm still employed. So many if's. But I'm sure I'll go.

 

Also, Xccj, I didn't use the phone once. I've got unlimited minutes on my cell phone to any mobile... why would I want to use the hotel phone? :P

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Zorrakh

Yeah, sorry about the cycle. :blush: I tried to make it easy to stand up, but the kickstand kept getting loose because of the weight.

 

Orrr we could just be thankful for what we've got and stop trying to validate our biases and/or put down others'. :)

 

Agreed. I've only been to two conventions so far (BrickFest 09 and Bricks by the Bay), and I won't put one over the other because 1. this was Bricks by the Bay's first year, and 2. they're Lego conventions. :P

 

However, I wish the Bionicle table had some more stuff at BbtB, but that was my fault because I was Bionicle coordinator and I took too long to send out a report to the BZP news which unfortunately didn't get through.

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Kayru

Agreed with putting aside bias. It's really not worth it. Each one is good for its own reasons, and having both is even better.

 

To add upon what Swert said, I think we proved quite loudly that, despite Bionicle's end, Bionicle is FAR from disappearing from BrickCon. I was about to quit altogether, and now I am standing beside a very dedicated group that is determined to see Bionicle's appearance at next year's BrickCon to be absolutely spectacular.

 

Thanks for the comparisons, Xccj -- I'm thinking about going to Fair someday. ;D

 

signature.png

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Letagi
Orrr we could just be thankful for what we've got and stop trying to validate our biases and/or put down others'. :)

Can't we just all go to BrickFest, because everybody seems to like it?

I am in full agreement with the above two quotes.

 

I also don't think that anyone should criticize either convention until one has been to both, such as Jason here.

 

- :l: :flagcanada:

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xccj

Geez, I didn't mean for this to be a hatefest. Although I guess I was just trying to counter the hate I kept hearing about the con, which I obvious misinterpreted because it was meant to be jest. Oh well.

 

(Also, my enthusiasm is slightly drained now that I've seen how much my bank account was drained by this trip, so I be humbled now)

 

Entry locked to end any more conflict. Let us all praise Brickfest now.

 

:music:

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