MOCBoxing Goes: Brick Fan Expo Charlotte

MOCBoxing Goes: Brick Fan Expo Charlotte

Welcome to MOCBoxing Goes, where we’ll cover the events and places correspondents all across the world happen to visit within the LEGO and brick building sphere. Everything from expos, museums and more, expect plenty of coverage pointing out whatever your hosts find interesting. This weekend, we’re in Charlotte, NC checking out the Brick Fan Expo!

Well, let’s get straight to it!  Waltzing into the expanse of the expo center, we were greeted with a load of booths. Honestly, the best way to enjoy an event such as this one is to run a sighting lap. Don’t enter anything, don’t spend too much time at any one display. Just get your bearing, understand the layout (if we were more prepared, we would’ve looked at the layout beforehand), and note anything of interest. It certainly helps with being overwhelmed!

Now that we’ve gotten acquainted, directly starting us is the massive Bricker Builds booth. Taking up more room than any other stand in the expo center, everything from Pokémon to lightsabers were being displayed. While a live build of Bulbasaur progressed, the opportunity to chat with one of the lead designers presented itself! A wonderful conversation with Steven Erickson ensued, leaving with us being quite impressed by everything Bricker has accomplished. What a team!

Directly to the right of Bricker stood an interactive booth, one of many, and what’s a LEGO convention without the chance to build something? This in particular had an architecture theme, with only white bricks provided. Tricky to work around and build some depth, but something of interest started to form! A sort of angled oblong loop, with a flag waving dominance over the much larger builds around it. There’s nothing quite like building with inspiration all around.

One of the best parts of a larger LEGO Convention (in our opinion) are the great ball contraption (GBC) displays. Naturally, Brick Fan Expo came in swinging. With tables on top of tables of length, this triple looping tower caught our eye the most:

One of the best parts of a Brick Expo is the opportunity to meet some LEGO heroes. From real-life master builder Dan Steininger to multiple LEGO Masters Season winners like the Erickson brothers and Corey Samuels, there was no shortage of awesome people to meet. Some of them, like Dan, hosted events like the strongest bridge challenge. It’s always amazing how much load some plastic bricks can take, the most we saw was upwards of 180 pounds! The usual Q&A panels were also great to listen to, with plenty of fun stories regaled.

Back to the displays, the first that must be showcased is this insane Jedi temple. The size is difficult to comprehend through photos, but this build towered over anything else in the general vicinity. Packed with details inside of the main structure, it was certainly a masterpiece to behold. 

All the usual tropes were present but to levels never before seen. Lego city? Yes, but the size of what felt like an actual city block. Pirate bay? Of course, except the bay has expanded to an entire island! Winter village? How about a winter landscape, complete with rolling snowy hills and a train looping the entire table. Mentioning trains, there was a vast variety of MOC transportation running around a minifig scale depot. Many hours could be spent just watching the trains traverse their plastic domain. However, more sightseeing was in place.

Both the NC and SC LUGs were present, with a variety of jaw dropping builds from their prospective members. Talking and asking about builds from normal people like you and I is always a wonderful time, and the LUGs are always so invitational! Naturally, there were loads of vendors selling their wares, with a particular standout being a laser engraving service for custom aluminum 2x4 bricks. 

Overall, there’s nothing like a good convention. Even when alone, there’s always plenty of new friends to talk to, things to do and events to see. Until next year, Brick Fan Expo