A few weeks back, Brick Festival came to Milton Keynes. Now it's not to be confused with Brick Fest Live, which coincidentally was at Milton Keynes the following weekend. This was a much smaller scale event at Middleton Hall in Centre: MK. Described as a celebration of Lego, it was an opportunity to see some amazing creations as well as build our own, partake in challenges and even purchase Lego sets, memorabilia, and merchandise.
It was a ticketed event, priced at £7 per adult and £5 per
child – and I personally found it strange there was a fee, when other events at
the shopping centre have been free. There was even an early bird ticket priced
at £13 with a free gift. For the sake of arriving an hour earlier, I don't
think it would have been worth it. However, I was looking forward to a fun and
creative day out so won't grumble (too much) about the pricing…
When we arrived, just after 11am, it was already fairly
busy. There was no set route to walk around, and you could go and see whatever
you liked, whenever – this meant some of the more popular builds and areas were
quite overcrowded and it was difficult getting around with a pushchair. Tables had
been set up with all the finished Lego models on and we could walk around at
leisure to admire them all. I loved that all the builders had their own cards
with their names on and some even had their Instagram pages or websites
advertised as well.

Of course, my favourites were all the Disney and Pixar
themed builds – there were a whole host of Beauty & the Beast ones, including
some of the characters (Mrs Potts, Chip, Lumiere and Cogsworth). Another of my
favourites were some builds inspired by the film Up, with the iconic house and
balloons transformed into a Lego masterpiece. We also saw Batman and some other
characters from the DC franchise; plenty of Star Wars models including an epic
one (some of it shown in my reel); and even celebrity faces made from Lego in a
portrait style (similar to the Beauty & the Beast one above).
It was amazing to see how Lego has changed over the years –
and in particular, there was a retro carousel made out of retro Lego bricks.
You could see how the colours had changed (or were a lot simpler back then,
with fewer colours available) and how these ones had even discoloured over the
years. There were also some models made with giant bricks which I'd never seen
before. I wouldn't say it was like Duplo, but the bricks were a lot bigger and
smoother. These creations were understandably more basic and, in my opinion,
not as impressive as some of the ones using the standard bricks.

As well as looking at the incredible Lego builds, we were
able to create our own – and single colour tables had been set up – so you
could choose to build something white, blue, yellow or red (I can’t remember
now if any other colours were available). The tables had all manner of bricks,
shapes, accessories and so much more so you could build anything your heart
desired (or inventive mind allowed). I took Alfie over to the blue table and he
wasn’t feeling too inspired, so I took it upon myself to make something. I have
no idea what I was aiming for, but I used some lovely arched pieces, flags and then
some balls in the centre. We only stayed for about 5-10 minutes, and I ended up
putting my half-finished creation in the box for someone else to finish – or demolish!
Alfie was intent on going to the corner where the Lego cars
were – although I'd say it was more like Robot Wars. There were two Lego vehicles which you could control using a Lego remote, and the aim of the game was
to try and get the Lego disc in the circle zone marked on the floor. I
personally found it really hard to control and gave up instantly. And I
wouldn't say it was worth the queue – as of course it was very popular and
limited to two at a time – but it was a bit of fun in between looking around.
It was nice to have this additional interactive element.
The Lego that was on offer to buy was fairly mixed in terms
of pricing. I really wanted the Up set with the balloons, but a quick Google
indicated it was being sold at around £20 more than a lot of the retailers.
However, you could build your own Lego figures (premade or create your own) or
buy a bag of bits (figures or bricks) – and this was a lot cheaper than the Lego
store! I guess it depends on what you wanted. There were some really cool rare
sets, as well as collectors’ items and discontinued boxes. For Lego fanatics,
it was an absolute dream.
If you missed out, Brick Festival returns to Milton Keynes on
Sunday 15th September, and you can find out more details in the link
above.
Love, Lucy xx
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Love, Lucy xx