I have an alarm set and I’ll be getting up early for the first ever LEGO Con.
I’ll be updating this post with my coverage of the event so keep refreshing for my take on all the happenings.
The event kicks off at 2AM AEST so go get some sleep before we get started. You can find the livestream here.
Update: Turns out my alarm didn’t go off. I’ll be doing a recap of the event rather than a live blog. Sorry everybody.
4:37 AM AEST – The replay is not available yet. The general consensus online seems to be that the event was a bust.
Here we go. The replay is now available.
We open with Adam Ward. The first joke is about LEGO Con being short for LEGO Confetti and I get the impression this event is not going to be for adults.
Our first guest is Kevin Ulrich from Brotherhood Workshop. He’s going to be talking about stop motion animation.
His advice on getting started is using the devices that you have available rather than worrying about having the best tools.
We also get the basics of crafting a story.
Next up is Inez Vasquez (@IV_LEGO) a scientific botanical builder. She builds some awesome LEGO plants. There are some really interesting builds in this segment. Some interesting parts usage.
Now it’s on to Richard Board and Flynn De Marco from Tricky Bricks. They are going to explain what MOCs are. They are showing off a great Theatre MOC.
They are going over hinges. This is clearly not an event for adults.
They also show off a very simple mechanism using a crank.
They keep reminding us every minute that the live show starts soon. We get it.
Next up is Kat Harris (@LadieswhoLEGO) who is talking about building with her family even though they live on other sides of the country.
Kat is going through some interesting tips for MOC building. I like the idea of a scrapyard where you keep builds you were just experimenting with as a reference.
We now go to Donny Chen, the fan designer of the LEGO Ideas Grand Piano. Donny is a piano teacher and technician.
Donny is talking about building what you know and the inspiration behind his ideas submission.
Our final AFOL is Anna Bitanga (@FourBricksTall), a LEGO photographer. Anna discusses her process of taking photos. She goes from how she started out with a minifigure and phone and now has a full studio set up.
Now it’s time for the live bit. No more Adam Ward.
Our hosts for the live stream are Melvin Odoom and Michelle Khare.
The weird L.L.M.A person, thing, is here.
Our first segment is LEGO Space with designer George Gilliatt. I want his shirt. We are just going over some space related sets including the Space Shuttle Discovery. Just an overview of the features of the set.
Next we look at the LEGO Ideas ISS set.
The host says that the LEGO City space set looks like the most advanced of the ones on display. She had to look past the big Space Shuttle Discovery set to see it.
George is talking about the collaboration with NASA. We’ve got NASA astronaut Mike Massimino here via satellite. He built the LEGO Lunar Lander in zero gravity. We get a 10 second recap of that video.
Now we are getting an overview of the Artemis Program for some reason now. I’m excited we are going back to the moon but this is meant to be a LEGO event.
We cross to Melvin who is talking about the LEGO build event that is taking place. They are doing a huge LEGO DOTs mural. You can create a 6×6 design and submit it for the mural. You can find the details at legohouse.com/dots.
Amy Corbett is here to give some LEGO DOTS design tips.
And the stream cuts out.
We now have our AFOLs from earlier giving a demo of creating a design.
The next segment is all about Harry Potter. We have a speed building challenge with two LEGO Designers (Marcos and Djordje), They are going to be answering some questions during the speed build. This is obviously a pre-recorded segment.
Djordje wins the build.
Marcos Bessa is now here live for a chat about LEGO Harry Potter and the 20th anniversary. There is not a lot to this, just covering the sets.
They are trying to talk up the random wizard cards in the sets. I am not a big of random stuff in a regular set.
Now they are doing a montage of LEGO smashes from LEGO Masters series across the world. I didn’t see anything from Australia.
Next is Mathias Thorning, a LEGO House Play Hero, to talk about the Masterpiece Gallery. And the stream cut out again.
Wow that was out for a while.
We come back with a highlights package for LEGO House. I’d love to go to LEGO House. Can’t leave the country though.
Our next segment is on LEGO Technic. We get a video of the life sized Lamborghini Sian. This was revealed a little while ago.
Catching up on the LEGO DOTs build. They are just showing off some of the submissions that have come through.
It’s time for a LEGO Ideas. There is an interview with the fan designer of the typewriter, and the LEGO designers who made the final version.
We are getting an announcement about the results of a recent LEGO Ideas competition. The winning sport build is LEGO Foosball table. This will become an actual set at some point in the future.
It’s time for another recap of something that has previously been announced. This time it is LEGO bricks made from recycled plastic bottles. This is something that is still in the very early stages but I love the idea of more sustainable LEGO.
It’s time for a Q&A with LEGO Minecraft. This segment features Frederic Roland Andre, a senior design manager at LEGO and Lydia Winters, chief storyteller at Mojang Studios.
They are showing off the LEGO Minecraft Treehouse. I haven’t paid a lot of attention to Minecraft but this set looks pretty cool.
Not a lot to the Q&A.
There is a twitter vote for the next LEGO Minecraft skin. You can find that vote here.
Time for another pre-recorded segment before we get another Q&A.
We have designers Ellen Bowley and Fenella Charity for the Q&A segment. Some very general questions about being a designer, and how to become one.
Good question about what new areas the designers would like to add to LEGO Friends. The answer doesn’t give anything away.
It’s the 10th anniversary of LEGO Ninjago, so we get a bit of a highlights package. There is an update coming to the LEGO Brawls game on Apple Arcade.
It’s Mario time! In the form of an ad for LEGO Mario and Luigi. That was it. Just an ad. They didn’t say anything about the range.
We’ve got a LEGO Star Wars pre-record where a kid dressed as Asoka uses the force to fix a set dropped from the LEGO House roof. It’s a bit weird.
Our Star Wars reveal is the Imperial Light Cruiser. I’ll be doing up a separate post about the new Star Wars sets.
In total there are three new Mandalorian sets.
Another pre-record segment on Builder’s Journey, which is now available on Switch and Steam. It looks like a cute game but I haven’t had a chance to check it out yet.
More Technic with First LEGO League set challenge of driving LEGO technic over an obstacle course. We;ve got somebody from LEGO and somebody from Volvo racing to transport some jelly.
It’s time to wrap things up. But before we finish we have an announcement the L.L.M.A is going on tour to LEGOLANDs around the world. And we have the LEGO Vidiyo boomboox set. Finishing this whole thing with Vidiyo is a bold choice. A theme that has not been a smash hit at all.
Overall I found LEGO Con to be a bit underwhelming as an AFOL. I was hoping for something more exciting in terms of reveals.