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DelVaLUG, the Delaware Valley LEGO Users Group, successfully
exhibited a group layout at the comics and pop-culture expo
Wizard World Philadelphia
pop-culture expo on 15-17 June, 2007, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
Participating members were Tim Caffrey, Roy Cook, Alice Leber-Cook, and Phillip
Thorne, plus new members and first-time exhibitors Arthur Stromberg and Amy.
Set up in a 10x10-foot parcel near the front of the show (amidst the major
corporate exhibitors), the layout was 6 Fleske-modules in size, in a “J” shape,
and featured one train loop, two trains, seven buildings, numerous vehicles, and
a plethora of minifigs; including:
- The Hall of Justice
- Four Freedoms Plaza
- Café Corner
- A dark variant of Café Corner
- Interpretations of robot-mode Bumblebee, Megatron, and Optimus Prime
- Vehicle-mode Bumblebee and Ironhide (from the new movie)
- The three-segment Fantasticar (from the new movie)
- Official minifigs from Batman, Harry Potter, and Spider-Man
- Custom minifigs from the Fantastic Four, Justice League, Spider-Man III, and X-Men
An article
about the show, with one photo of the exhibit, appeared in the Monday 18 June
2007 issue of the Philadelphia Inquirer. About 80 people added themselves to
the club’s email announcement list (for post-show photos and upcoming-show
announcements), including several likely prospects for new members. The exhibit
cross-promoted Philcon 2007, which is likely to be our next
major activity.
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DelVaLUG, the Delaware Valley LEGO Users Group, will be exhibiting at the
Wizard World
Philadelphia pop-culture expo on 15-17 June, 2007. The event is held at the
Pennsylvania Convention Center.
Featured elements of the display will be custom models tied to three of this
summer’s action movies: “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer,” “Spider-Man
3,” and “The Transformers.”
Behind the scenes: This is an event that DelVaLUG members first proposed before
the 2006 show, but we finally approached Wizard Entertainment this April. You
have to be diplomatic when cold-calling, and cite the right advantages; but they
were very happy to have us. After all, the company isn’t just comic books -- it
does publish the magazines ToyFare and ToyWishes, so a toy-based display
that can adapt itself to the show’s themes is definitely appropriate.
We’ll be using this event for AFOL promotion and club recruitment; the product
literature distributed at BrickFest will be used. Since I’m deeply involved
with the Philcon SF convention, I’ll also be promoting
that. It’s not a big segue; a matter of “Oh, and we’ll be appearing later
this year at Philcon -- different theme, much more convivial, and you get to
build with the parts.”
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In lugnet.events, Phillip Thorne wrote:
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Since I’ve successfully run LEGO-based events at the Philcon SF/F convention for the past three years, I’ve been asked to
investigate doing the same for the 65th World Science Fiction Convention --
Nippon2007, the first Worldcon to be held in
Japan, in August of next year. But I need your suggestions and tips!
Thanks for your help, everybody; and remember, this is still a feasibility
study.
Who? First I’d have to locate American (etc.) AFOLs planning to attend.
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I will be attending.
But, if you search my name here on Lugnet and look at my stuff,
you’ll find it’s not science fictional.
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Japanese AFOLdom can contribute even if its members don’t attend -- they can
mail-in MOCs (assuming I get some assistance with Japanese parcel post). But
actually contacting Japanese builders is, we all know, difficult. (I can get
recruitment announcements posted via the website and hardcopy progress
reports.)
What events? An exhibit is easiest, with MOCs provided by Japanese and
overseas attendees. An open build would be trickier to organize, because a
parts supply would be needed -- and although I happily loan mine to Philcon,
and the Worldcon will be shipping a bunch of stuff from the U.S., I’m not in
a rush to send my own pieces halfway around the globe.
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I agree, I don’t see how to get big things there.
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What theme? It’s an SF convention, and it’s in Japan, so the most obvious
models would be mecha -- replicas and original designs. But fans everywhere
build everything, so there’s really no “distinctive local flavor” to that --
is there? Models inspired by the author and artist GoHs (guests of honor)
would be topical -- that’ll require some research.
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Dave Brin is a guest, as well.
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(Obviously fantasy castles? “Final Fantasy”- and “Miyazaki”-esque flying
contraptions? Gojira & Co.? Mindstorms robots?)
Where? Any suggestions as to where else I should make this announcement?
Mecha Hub and Classic Space are the first that come to mind.
Followups to DelVaLUG since that’s my home club, and it’s low-traffic.
Other discussion elsewhere as necessary.
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Comments intermixed below
In lugnet.events, Phillip Thorne wrote:
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Since I’ve successfully run LEGO-based events at the Philcon SF/F convention for the past three years, I’ve been asked to
investigate doing the same for the 65th World Science Fiction Convention --
Nippon2007, the first Worldcon to be held in
Japan, in August of next year. But I need your suggestions and tips!
Thanks for your help, everybody; and remember, this is still a feasibility
study.
Who? First I’d have to locate American (etc.) AFOLs planning to attend.
Japanese AFOLdom can contribute even if its members don’t attend -- they can
mail-in MOCs (assuming I get some assistance with Japanese parcel post). But
actually contacting Japanese builders is, we all know, difficult. (I can get
recruitment announcements posted via the website and hardcopy progress
reports.)
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I might be interested in sending stuff(but I’m skittish about this sort of
thing, any assurances I could get would be helpful). I’d certainly be
interested if I could get some help to get over to Japan! Bryce, Soren, and
myself have some experience contanting Japanese builders.
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What events? An exhibit is easiest, with MOCs provided by Japanese and
overseas attendees. An open build would be trickier to organize, because a
parts supply would be needed -- and although I happily loan mine to Philcon,
and the Worldcon will be shipping a bunch of stuff from the U.S., I’m not in
a rush to send my own pieces halfway around the globe.
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Ahem, see what I was saying above?
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What theme? It’s an SF convention, and it’s in Japan, so the most obvious
models would be mecha -- replicas and original designs. But fans everywhere
build everything, so there’s really no “distinctive local flavor” to that --
is there? Models inspired by the author and artist GoHs (guests of honor)
would be topical -- that’ll require some research.
(Obviously fantasy castles? “Final Fantasy”- and “Miyazaki”-esque flying
contraptions? Gojira & Co.? Mindstorms robots?)
Where? Any suggestions as to where else I should make this announcement?
Mecha Hub and Classic Space are the first that come to mind.
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Certainly posting to MechaHub’s forums would help you out and would be a good
idea.
Mark Neumann
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Followups to DelVaLUG since that’s my home club, and it’s low-traffic.
Other discussion elsewhere as necessary.
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Since I’ve successfully run LEGO-based events at the Philcon SF/F convention for the past three years, I’ve been asked to
investigate doing the same for the 65th World Science Fiction Convention --
Nippon2007, the first Worldcon to be held in Japan,
in August of next year. But I need your suggestions and tips! Thanks for
your help, everybody; and remember, this is still a feasibility study.
Who? First I’d have to locate American (etc.) AFOLs planning to attend.
Japanese AFOLdom can contribute even if its members don’t attend -- they can
mail-in MOCs (assuming I get some assistance with Japanese parcel post). But
actually contacting Japanese builders is, we all know, difficult. (I can get
recruitment announcements posted via the website and hardcopy progress reports.)
What events? An exhibit is easiest, with MOCs provided by Japanese and
overseas attendees. An open build would be trickier to organize, because a
parts supply would be needed -- and although I happily loan mine to Philcon, and
the Worldcon will be shipping a bunch of stuff from the U.S., I’m not in a rush
to send my own pieces halfway around the globe.
What theme? It’s an SF convention, and it’s in Japan, so the most obvious
models would be mecha -- replicas and original designs. But fans everywhere
build everything, so there’s really no “distinctive local flavor” to that -- is
there? Models inspired by the author and artist GoHs (guests of honor) would be
topical -- that’ll require some research.
(Obviously fantasy castles? “Final Fantasy”- and “Miyazaki”-esque flying
contraptions? Gojira & Co.? Mindstorms robots?)
Where? Any suggestions as to where else I should make this announcement?
Mecha Hub and Classic
Space are the first that come to mind.
Followups to DelVaLUG since that’s my home club, and it’s low-traffic. Other
discussion elsewhere as necessary.
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Subject:
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LEGO events at Philcon 2006
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.events, lugnet.build.mecha, lugnet.build.microscale, lugnet.castle, lugnet.space, lugnet.org.us.delvalug, lugnet.loc.us.de, lugnet.loc.us.md, lugnet.loc.us.nj, lugnet.loc.us.ny, lugnet.loc.us.pa
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Followup-To:
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lugnet.org.us.delvalug
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Date:
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Sat, 29 Jul 2006 20:50:04 GMT
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Viewed:
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30207 times
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Philcon 2006, the 70th edition of the annual
Philadelphia Area Conference of Science Fiction and Fantasy, will run this
coming November; and for the third year, I’ll be conducting a set of LEGO-themed
events. Here are some pics of the
2004 event and
2005.
There will definitely be an Open Build and a MOC display with pre- and
at-con-built SF-themed models, and maybe a Space-themed train layout. I might
run a couple of QuikWars games, or arrange a screening of SF/F-topic brikfilms.
There may be slideshows and building technique workshops.
How can you help?
- Do you want to come and present on a topic such as Bionicle, Castles, Mecha, Micro, Moonbase or Space?
- Want to contribute images and anecdots for such a slideshow, run by someone else?
- Itching to run a game of BrickQuest, BrikWars, or QuikWars?
- Got a fancy new Mindstorms NXT bot to demo?
- Have a MOC you can send by mail?
- Have MOC plans you can send by e-mail, that I’ll recreate locally and display under your name?
- Got a brikfilm you’d like to screen?
Why should you help?
- To show off your building prowess to an audience outside AFOLdom: over a thousand people from DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA, and VA.
- To expand the awareness of advanced LEGO building, and AFOLdom.
- Because you need another collaborative LEGO fix two-and-a-half months after BrickFest.
If you’re interested, please contact me at kids2006@philcon.org for details and planning. Thank you. (Philcon is a
copyright of the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society. Philcon 2006 runs the
weekend of 17-19 November 2006 at the Sheraton Center City, located near City
Hall. LEGO activities at Philcon are considered a sub-track of the Children’s
Program only for organizational purposes. This message has been cross-posted
because... well, there are lots of reasons you might logically be interested.)
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Wonderful!
The skating pond is so simple yet so effective. All the details throughout the
scene are wonderful.
Did you drill holes in the 1x1 transperent rounds to make the Xmas light
strings?
I didn't get a chance to do one this year but you have given me some wonderful
ideas for next year!
Thanks!
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PHILCON is a three-day science fiction convention held
annually since 1935 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. As an AFOL and operator
of the con’s Children’s Program (since 2003), I initiated a LEGO sub-track in
2004. (Report to LUGNET.) This year it
had a slightly different location and a much greater turnout.
Although GardenSLUGger Eric Sophie was unable to return this year (his giant
robots are always crowd-pleasers), I instead had the assistance of fellow
DelVaLUG member Joe Cook. (The rest of DelVaLUG was exhibiting at a train show
the same weekend.)
Being an SF con, the sensible model themes were Space, Space Replica, and Mecha.
Since I had to carry everything to the hotel (models, bulk brick, other Kids
Prog supplies) the sensible scale was Micro. (Castle would also be compatible,
but it’s not one of my own themes.)
In addition to 20 of my own models, and 3 from Joe, I had 14 “virtual”
contributions from 3 well-known SF micro-builders -- that is, I recreated their
posted designs with my own brick supply, and identified the originators with MOC
cards. (To wit: Jason Allemann, Brian Cooper, and Chris Deck of Germany. My
plan to build a copy of Chris Doyle’s “Snack Sized Serenity” fell through.)
Over the weekend, some 20 attendees (both youngster and adult) built 28 models
(more if you count individual customized minifigs), some of them drawing upon
leftover fragments of my own models. There’s more exuberance than skill in
many, but that very separation from AFOLdom resulted in some very interesting
parts use.
Photos of the display, at-con MOCs, and happy builders are in
this Brickshelf
gallery. It also includes a spreadsheet (MS Excel and CSV versions) detailing
the models.
The Display and Build were located in the front of the large room dedicated to
Gaming, just off of and visible from the con’s Registration and Info area,
resulting in lots of foot traffic. They ran all-day Saturday and Sunday. On
Saturday it was adjacent to a contingent from the FIRST Robotics League. To
prevent the display of micro-ships from resembling a tabletop parking lot, I
built a “docking spire” of Znap pieces to elevate them.
Activities:
- Display
- Open Build
- “LEGO Gaming 101”
- “BrickQuest”-derived “Harry Potter”-themed game
- “LEGO Builder X-Treme” board game
Activities that did not happen:
- Micro Moonbase Themed Build fell through (I didn’t get to build any explanatory samples)
- Impressive MOCs slide shows (returning item)
- Stop-motion film fest (returning item)
- Large-scale space combat sim (the con’s semi-theme was Mil-SF, thanks to Author GoH David Weber and Artist GoH David Mattingly, his cover artist)
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In lugnet.build.mecha, Phillip Thorne wrote:
> LEGO programming will be returning to the 2005 <http://www.philcon.org
> Philcon> SF convention! This will be the second year with an official
> exhibit and events.
-snip-
Good luck this weekend Phil!
I am unable to attend. Please let us know how things went.
Highlights, thoughts and how the Lego events go.
Thank you!
Eric Sophie
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