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I filled out the spreadsheet. If preferred I would like a single depth table, not double that appears to be default on the sheet. Like last year I do plan on needing electric. My display will look similar to last years but I am hoping to have some new fire trucks, and bring back my One World Trade MOC that hasn’t been seen since Brickfair Exton.
Does anyone know if there is a Discord or forum for this year’s event? I know New Hashima things are becoming more common and I am interested in building a block or doing some other large collab.
>> Does anyone know if there is a Discord or forum for this year’s event? I know New Hashima things are becoming more common and I am interested in building a block or doing some other large collab.
I don’t know how to search for forums on Discord, anything I’m on is because I got an invite, and I’ve found most of them to have little traffic and be of minimum use. If there’s a forum specifically for BFNoVA25 or even just BrickFair, I’m not aware.
There is a channel called “The BrickFair Bound”. They mostly talk about hotels and restaurants and meeting up before the event, but somebody there might know where to direct you. (There is a “BrickFair GBC” specifically for planning GBC loops at BrickFair events.)
To my knowledge, the New Hashima people have their own forums on Discord, I know one was used to plan the really large BWC23 display. I don’t know if they’re doing a New Hashima at BrickFair this year. I’d heard that Stephan is done with BrickFair, but they did one in 2023 without him.
>> Does anyone know if there is a Discord or forum for this year’s event?
PS – it occurred to me that the best place to ask about collabs at the event might be on the BrickFair website itself. Yak is Todd’s Q&A discussion forum, you can start your own thread there, and people do read them and reply. You might get minimal response until after Fredericksburg is over though.
Thank you for all this info! I know other groups are doing NH spinoffs based around the cube structure so I may look around. I can report back to anyone else interested.
I completed the spreadsheet. Thank you, Ben. Double depth is preferred but I can work with single depth table if needed.
Full disclosure: I did not read the entire thread up until this point. I went online to register for BFVA ’25 and there isthis info on the registration page:
“Map was finalized Thursday, Jun 19th.
No more MOCs will be pre-drawn onto the map.
MOCs belonging to new registrants might find space to display.”Is this some artifact that was left over from last year?
>> Is this some artifact that was left over from last year?
I would think so. I’m pretty sure that once the last one ended, Todd’s focus turned almost entirely to Fredericksburg, and the website will revert to Fredericksburg at every opportunity.
I’m not sure exactly where you’re seeing that line. Despite it, you should be able to register and pay – which I have already done and I believe so have other people – which is important if you’re planning on making a reservation through the site at the HI. You should also be able to register MOCs and upload your avatar tile. I’m seeing a “Map not yet posted” line on the map tab, which is typical of all BrickFairs until about a month before the event.
So is the avatar really an opportunity to have a custom image printed on a tile, not necessarily a photo ID part of the badge that must be worn at all times?
>> So is the avatar really an opportunity to have a custom image printed on a tile, not necessarily a photo ID part of the badge that must be worn at all times?
As I recall, Todd created them as a way for people to decorate their badges. On the Attendees page, there’s a tab where you can see all the avatar tiles that have been submitted thus far for that event. I didn’t always submit anything (which I now regret), and the default was the BrickFair logo.
In this photo there’s seven avatar tiles. The 2×4’s are a design by Chris Giddens that I got off of Flickr, and the other three are my own designs based on Giddens’.
I read that the avatars are printed on a 2×3 white tile and I saw all the avatars that are registered so far. Below is what I picked for Anne and myself.
@bengood921, is there any way to tell what color the name badges will be? The colors will influence what I choose to print for the 1×8 name and city bricks … ex. right now I have the city name as North Pole, but if the bricks are orange and purple, that would be pointless.So after reading your message I realized that my last post might be obsolete; I’m not sure you will be allowed to use your avatar tiles to decorate your badge at this event, although of course you would be at non-BrickFair events. See below:
>> is there any way to tell what color the name badges will be?
No. The only way I can think of to find out is to use the BrickFair contact form and ask Todd. But I’m not sure he will say ahead of time. He’s on record that the reason the colors are changed every year is a security thing, the security people at the venue are told to look for that year’s colors. Announcing the colors ahead of time seems like it would be a conflict of interest there.
Historically Todd has chosen a lot of color combinations that I consider awful, and I eventually stopped trying to come up with stuff that I might be able to use in a MOC. Instead, all those bricks are gonna be used for landscape internal support.
A bigger issue now is Todd’s new rules for badges this year. At Chantilly last year, for the first time ever, I skipped closing ceremonies (I was worried about my teardown time), but Will Kay told me about it afterwards. Apparently there’s been big problems with people switching up their badges, sending them outside, and the essentially smuggling in their friends who are not registered attendees after hours, which obviously is a big security concern. So if I’m understanding the new rules, we have to wear the badge as given to us in our goodie bag and absolutely nothing else with it. So you can’t wear your old convention bricks, or your Steel City LUG brick, or your Brick Circuits brick that lights up, or your custom-engraved private joke bricks, or your black & yellow name and city bricks. None of that. From what I’ve gathered on the BrickFair Bound forum, it’s a very unpopular decision, and I don’t understand why Todd doesn’t just get lanyards like the other conventions. Once FXBG is over, I’ll be waiting to hear from people there as to how it went with the badges.
On the official website, on the News page:
Feb 3rd 2025
Complete Name Badge
Exhibitors are required to wear their complete name badge at all times. It must be worn alone. The current show’s badge must not be buried among other badges. Sorry folks :/
Yeah, I saw this stuff about policing the name badges this year but that does not mean you can’t wear a
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separate
LUG badge etc.
I’d thought of that too but two badges sounds like a giant hassle to me, plus there’s a risk that you end up looking like this guy:
we have to wear the badge as given to us in our goodie bag and absolutely nothing else with it. So you can’t wear your old convention bricks, or your Steel City LUG brick, or your Brick Circuits brick that lights up, or your custom-engraved private joke bricks, or your black & yellow name and city bricks.
I do not see where there would be any prohibition in wearing a completely separate badge (i.e. the official convention badge on the left side and a personal badge on the right side) so long as there is no confusion with security in identifying the current badge. We’ll see if my interpretation is correct.
I do remember Todd mentioning an issue with badges and people trying to sneak people in. He didn’t name the people, but I have a sneaky suspicion it may have been the influencers who were sharing space with us. From what I heard just walking around they were causing some other issues too other than what was happening in our area.
That said, I don’t remember specifically what he said his solution was. Last year I wore my LUG badge and put the 2024 Brickfair brick underneath it. Wasn’t hidden at all.. no one gave me any hassle or issue. I see the validity in what he is saying and trying to prevent. It’s a shame that it has to come to this though .
>> That said, I don’t remember specifically what he said his solution was.
I don’t think he had one at the time. His policy of BrickFair badge and nothing else wasn’t announced until last month (although there might’ve been rumors before that), but more importantly, it’s gonna be implemented for the first time at FXBG25. So I’ll be interested in hearing about how it goes (for those not on the FXBG25 thread, I had to withdraw), cause I’m wondering if there’s gonna be a lot of push-back. I’m still hoping his circle of advisors can convince him to do lanyards, he does listen to what people say.
I have no idea who the guilty parties were (as a cranky old man, my gut feeling was “young people”) so I don’t want to make any accusations, but I would suspect that it’s people who are newer to the event. Anybody who’s gone a bunch of times knows that security and respect for the other exhibitors is a fundamental part of the culture, and smuggling people in goes against that.
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