This past weekend had so many awesome (some of which were free) activities and events for LEGO fans. The following is a review of these events from I LUG NY members who were fortunate to be in attendance at all of these events.
Starting Thursday, October 9th and running through Sunday October 12th was New York Comic Con, held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan. This event is not just a celebration of comic books but of all things pop culture related as well.
-LEGO had a small presence at this convention including a press event to reveal that their popular Bionicle line would be back in toy stores. I LUG NY member Bill Murphy was in attendance thanks to Huw over on Brickset and he got a first glance at the Bionicle offering. Bill’s thoughts on attending this panel:
“I hope everyone who was around Thursday got to talk to some of them (Bionicle fans), we had people from all over the US and Europe, TLG had some fly in from as far as Russia! Really nice people and passionate about the brand… no system hating like so many of us do on Barnacle =-) Early on Thursday before the panel we attended I spoke to several BZ power people I told them I’m from ILUGNY and they immediately said “oh cool you guys do so much stuff”… seems like we’re doing pretty good…”
-Warner Bros., TT Games and LEGO held a panel to promote the upcoming LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham video game where they handed out T-shirts and LEGO keychains
-the LEGO booth at NYCC was a showcase for the return of Bionicle and this was where fans lined up to score a free limited edition trans clear Tahu Mask and
Bionicle posters.
-Megan Rothrock (author of the LEGO Adventure Book series) was in attendance autographing copies of her excellent books and displaying some of the models from her excellent
books
-TwoMorrows Publishing was in attendance offering back issues of Brick Journal for 50% off
-vendors were offering LEGO sets, LEGO themed T-shirts, LEGO books, LEGO minifigures and knock off LEGO Super Hero figures
-Warner Bros. Home Entertainment was on hand at the Batman 75th area offering fans the chance to play the upcoming LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham video game and to hand out the exclusive Plastic Man minifgure previously only thought to be offered by pre-ordering the video game from Game Stop
LEGO also celebrated the Grand Opening of their 8th New York LEGO Store in the Flatiron district of Manhattan. I LUG NY members attended a special sneak preview night on Thursday and then attended the Grand Opening Master Builder Event.
Bill Murphy attended the sneak preview night at the Flatiron store and had this to offer:
“Brian (ILUGNY member) and I were there building and got to take home a nice batch of new Bionicle parts (here’s 1 of everything I got except the chest cover for Lewa (I missed it) … was one more lime attacker piece with 5 of those new claw pieces but it somehow didn’t make it in my bag. Based on what we saw Bionicle looks pretty decent. The BZPower people (they had their full staff and 12 guests including @bg3d) seemed to go nuts for what they saw. A lot of it is just recolored/printed Hero Factory stuff but some cool elements are coming in January with some interesting features, and the figures looked great, although I got strong Chima and Ninjago vibes based on the color, style and elemental background.”
The following were part of the Grand Opening celebration of the newest New York LEGO Store:
-the public was invited to build an amazing 20′ tall model of the Statue of Liberty
-various LEGO statues were on display including Superman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Shredder, Cinderella and a firefighter
-limited edition Duplo bricks were handed out to customers throughout the event showcasing their New York timeline which depicts minifigures in different outfits representative of different eras in New York history
-customers also received different items throughout the weekend (either a T-shirt, LEGO Store building set, a Statue of Liberty polybag set or a limited edition LEGO Minifigure set of 3 figures exclusive to this event)
A special thanks to ILUGNY members and friends who traveled from NYCC to the Flatiron store to pick up the Flatiron Grand Opening fig set for me and the 1700’s Duplo Brick as well. We served as guides for one another throughout the weekend alerting one another to the locations of the LEGO goodies and helping one another out.
Toys R Us also held a free LEGO Star Wars Renegades building event.
I LUG NY members attended this event at different area Toys R Us locations. Attendees received the elements and instructions to build a mini model of the Ghost spaceship along with a poster depicting the Star Wars figures released in 2014 on one side and several Star Wars sets on the other.
Part availability was not an issue as everyone in attendance during my time there was able to get the parts needed to build the Ghost. My only issue was that it was too crowded to build the model. In the past the store would package the parts needed in a ziploc bag so all you would have to do is pick up the bag and an instruction sheet and you could build or just take the parts home. You can download a high quality scan of the instructions here:
(Courtesy of brickset)
Another member attended the event at a different TRU and they wouldn’t even give him the instructions as he attended without his child. Mike and I attended with our children at separate stores and didn’t have a problem getting the parts and instructions.
What an amazing weekend for LEGO fans! Not to be missed is the LEGO Batman building event at Toys R Us today, October 18th from 12-2 pm. Judging by the turn out for the Star Wars build last weekend I would suggest arriving about 15-20 minutes early to this event in order to ensure a successful trip.