The Road to Bricks Cascade 2015 - The Superhero Theme

Last year I attended my first Bricks Cascade (Portland, Oregon’s annual LEGO convention).  And just like the song we all had in our heads at the time said, everything there was awesome.  Especially the exhibition hall, filled to the brim with MOCs from builders all over the place.  (Including eight MOCs of mine.)

But looking at lots and lots of MOCs always makes my brain start going over the stuff on my to-build list.  And as I was thinking over that stuff, I started to focus on some of the superhero MOCs I had in mind.  Which is what made me start focusing on the fact that ‘Superheroes’ wasn’t one of Bricks Cascade’s varied thematic categories. 

Sometime during the convention, I had a ‘Field of Dreams’ moment.  Only instead of a whispered “If you build it, they will come”, it was a much louder, “If you really want to see a theme that the con doesn’t currently offer, the most likely way for it to happen is if you volunteer to be that theme’s coordinator” announced during one of the main presentations. 

So I started talking to people.  A superhero theme just made sense.  (Both to me and pretty much everyone I spoke to about it.)  Especially for Bricks Cascade 2015.  The overall convention theme is “Lights! Camera! Action!”, and with a movie and TV based theme, how can there not be an abundance of superhero MOCs?  (Especially with the convention taking place less than two months before the theatrical release of “Avengers: Age of Ultron”?)  Not to mention the fact that LEGO is currently selling sets based on three distinct superhero properties (DC, Marvel, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). 

On the last day of the convention I had a conversation with that year’s Theme Overlord, who agreed with me that it was a good idea for inclusion for the next year.  He was going to clear it with the committee and work with me to get everything set up.  Then he opted not to continue as the Bricks Cascade Theme Overlord, and I was back at square one. 

Three months later, the president of Bricklandia, Inc (the entity in charge of producing Bricks Cascade each year) showed up at the PortLUG annual picnic, and I was able to corner him at one point and make my case for the theme.  He took down my contact info, and I eventually received an email from the new Theme Overlord when the call for volunteers was made.  The theme was a go, and I was soon confirmed as its coordinator. 

One Monkey at One Keyboard

There’s a mathematical theorem that states that a monkey randomly hitting keys on a keyboard for an infinite amount of time will eventually produce the complete works of Shakespeare. 

I’m not an actual monkey, but I am called Battlegorilla (admittedly, mostly by myself – much like Starlord), so I feel that there’s at least some kind of relevancy there. 

My very first responsibility as a theme coordinator was to write a theme description (and trophy descriptions) for my theme to go up on the Bricks Cascade Website.  And it didn’t even take me an infinite amount of time to do so. 

The SUPERHEROES Theme Description…

“Look! Up in the sky!  Or, if not up in the sky, then look in the pages of comic books.  Or novels.  Look at your television screen, or look in your local movie theater.  Superheroes and supervillains are everywhere these days – and that includes at Bricks Cascade 2015! 

We’re looking for your best superhero MOCs.  If it involves crime-fighters and criminals with powers and/or costumes, then it’s more than welcome here in the superhero theme!  And while we love Marvel, DC, and TMNT, feel free to stray from the readily available licensed LEGO superheroes.  Take inspiration from Image, or Dark Horse, or any of the superhero publishers.  Build MOCs based on original (non-comic adaptation) TV shows (like “The Greatest American Hero”, “The Cape”, etc.) or movies (“Condorman”, “Megamind”, etc.)  Or if none of that appeals to you, create your own original heroes and villains for your MOC. 

The Bricks Cascade 2015 Superhero Theme is also the home of the Crisis on Infinite Baseplates collaborative build based on the trope of intercompany cross-overs.  Heroes from one universe battling villains from another!  [More details on this will be available at the Crisis on Infinite Baseplates Flickr group at https://www.flickr.com/groups/2722186@N25/]”

…and The Trophy Descriptions

“To the Batcave!” – This award is for the best homebase, headquarters, or lair.  Whether it’s in a cave, an arctic fortress, a mansion, the sewers, or an abandoned warehouse or amusement park, we’re looking for the best base-of-operations for heroes or villains. 

“Built Like a Brick House” – This award goes to the builder of the best non-minifig character.  Either miniland scale or larger, or minifig scale using non minifig parts.  Give us your best hero, villain, sidekick, civilian, robot, alien, demon, or ‘other’. 

“The Best There Is At What I Do” – This Best-in-Theme award goes home with whoever builds the MOC that most stuns and amazes the judges. 

Other Convention-Associated Writing

I’m also responsible for promoting my theme within the LEGO online community (messageboards, newsgroups, and so on).  Which is what made me decide that I was going to have the new blog up and running by no later than the end of October, 2014.  (And I only missed that deadline by two and a half months.) 

Hopefully, the blog will gain a decent readership quickly, so that any promotion I do here will reach a wide audience.  (Yeah, it’s not ever going to be The Brothers Brick or anything, but it’s different and quirky.  Sure, it doesn’t really have exciting LEGO news that you’re hearing for the first time, or pictures of awesome MOCs, or really anything that anyone could possibly care about… hmm… I’m starting to see a few mistakes in my approach here…)

Build Superhero MOCs!

You know what you should do?  (Yes, you.  No, not the person behind you, I’m actually talking to YOU.)  You should build a superhero MOC (or two, or seventeen, or whatever) and get yourself a Bricks Cascade membership so that you can join in on the fun! 

More To Come

Between now and the start of the convention, Tuesdays here on the blog are going to be reserved for The Road to Bricks Cascade 2015.  (Last Friday’s post was originally intended for last Tuesday, but… well, didn’t happen in time.) 

There’ll be lots of clever words regarding both the Superhero Theme and the Crisis on Infinite Baseplates collaborative build.  Other clever words about my pre-con MOC building process.  Still more clever words about other convention related stuff. 

Exciting!  Stay tuned!