Today’s article is brought to you by BrickNerd Contributor Emeritus and LEGO Masters contestant Philip Straatsma.

BrickSlopes

Do you have a LEGO-related bucket list? If so, what is on it? Is it a set that you want to own, a MOC that you have not built yet, or maybe an experience you wish to have? For me an experience high on my list has always been to attend BrickSlopes, a LEGO fan event in Salt Lake City, Utah.

I’d been to Salt Lake City once before in 2021 and fell in love with the place. No matter where you looked, mountains surrounded you. And, maybe it was the thin air speaking, but somehow the sky just seemed bigger in Salt Lake City—explain that to me. But I think where SLC really shines is in its AFOL community. When I was there in 2021 for an unrelated event, ULUG, the local LEGO User Group, welcomed a load of us AFOLs with open arms. They treated us like out-of-town family, even though many of them had never met us before.

At the time, having heard about the BrickSlopes convention from many of the ULUG members and how great of an event it was, I knew I had to get back as an attendee. That opportunity presented itself this year, so I hopped on a plane and after a connection and a car ride, I found myself at the convention hall.

Each LEGO convention has a personality and vibe of its own. For Example, Brickfair Virginia, true to its name, really has a faire vibe. You can go from checking out someone’s MOCs, to lunch with some buddies, to a fan-driven event, and end up at the convention LEGO garage sale in the course of a couple hours. Brickworld Chicago is the convention you go to to see some of the largest, most spectacular builds you will ever see, and it has recently grown into a week-long party with its own exciting and unique day and nightlife.

What’s It All About?

BrickSlopes has an identity of its own as well, one that I have been trying to put my finger on since the convention. Let's explore the event together, and see if we can find the vibe. Brickslopes is unique in the fact that it exists in the middle of a LEGO convention desert (pun intended), with the vast majority of large US cons existing on or near the coasts or in massive cities. As such the convention draws many AFOLs from the surrounding states that don’t have a great local con scene of their own, including large contingents from Colorado and Idaho. In fact, 200 out of the 300+ AFOLs in attendance were from outside of Utah, truly making this a national and even internationally attended convention.

The Venue

The convention hall space doubled this year compared to last year giving attendees plenty of MOCs to look at and enjoy. Something I noticed is that the quality of these MOCs per attendee is off the charts, not to say this is not the case at other cons, but you can tell that people build MOCs specifically for this event with the intention of showing off their talent.

The People

The group of people that attend the convention are some of the friendliest and warmest individuals you will ever meet. The ability to casually talk with builders and have long conversations with them about their MOCs, their building techniques, and just getting to know the builder behind the display table, while not unique to BrickSlopes, feels much more natural to do so in the environment of the BrickSlopes Convention. In addition, the community giving spirit is alive and well at BrickSlopes with individuals handing out tokens and words of appreciation to the builds they like best. Lastly, most conventions seem to be hectic affairs where you never seem to have enough time to get to all the things you wished you could, but at BrickSlopes the environment is very relaxed and chill, allowing you plenty of time to take part in competitions, attend panels, all while connecting with members of the community.

So, did BrickSlopes live up to the hype created in my mind? YES! In short I plan on attending again, hopefully in the next few years to check on how much the convention has grown. And if you, the reader, have the ability to make it to Brickslopes in Utah to experience the convention, I would highly recommend it.

Bucket Lists

The theme of this year’s BrickSlopes was Bucket List. So I took the unique opportunity to interview multiple AFOLs about their personal LEGO related bucket lists. I asked them the same series of questions, and got unique and sometimes surprising answers. Check out the interviews below!

Bryan Firks (@bryanbuilds_)

Philip: Before you kick the bucket, what is the one LEGO set from the massive LEGO catalog, from any theme or time, that you would want to own?
Bryan: I’d have to say it would be the crazy bust of Darth Maul that came out in the early wave of Star Wars, around 2001. It’s one of the few times that LEGO has fully embraced the brick-built, sculptural, studs-up technique to create this crazy, terrifying looking Darth Maul face that just stares back at you. I think it’s one of the weirdest sets LEGO’s ever made. And although, maybe, I wouldn’t want to keep it on the shelf in my bedroom, I would want to try building it just to see how LEGO approaches such a big sculptural set like you see at LEGOLand.

Philip: If there was one MOC that you could build with unlimited bricks and unlimited time before you kick the bucket, what would it be?
Bryan: Being a massive Lord of the Rings fan it has to be in the Lord of the Rings universe. I did a small version of a middle earth map, but I feel like I could go a lot bigger. If I had no restrictions on parts I would build a Middle Earth map that would span an entire room, and captures all of the locations and all of the geography of Middle Earth. It would actually be minifig scale and you could take the minifigures all the way across the map from the Shire to Mordor.

Philip: What is the one LEGO-related experience you would like to have before you kick the bucket?
Bryan: Being a huge fan of The LEGO Movie, and living in Los Angeles, and being a part of the film world, I’ve been obsessed with Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s work for a really long time. Getting the chance to meet them in person and talk about their experiences on The LEGO Movie, have a chat about where the world of film and the world of LEGO meet. I was a little jealous that the LEGO Masters season 1 contestants got to have that.

Jill Benson (@brick_bling_by_jill)

Philip: What is the one LEGO-related experience you would like to have before you kick the bucket?
Jill: Would be going to Denmark to see the motherland and go to Skærbæk. They've been on my bucket list for forever. So excited we get to go this year. Finally get to mark something off the list.

Philip: If there was one MOC that you could build with unlimited bricks and unlimited time before you kick the bucket, what would it be?
Jill: I know it's been done, but I love it and would love to have it for myself – I would build Disneyland. I would love the whole thing but if not the whole thing I think it would be Main Street and then the castle.

Philip: Before you kick the bucket, what is the one LEGO set from the massive LEGO catalog, from any theme or time, that you would want to own?
Jill: I collect the modulars, they're my favorite sets. That was my first set as a gift and the only one I don't have is a Green Grocer. So I would love to have that.

Brent White (@bcwbricks)

Philip: What is the one LEGO-related experience you would like to have before you kick the bucket?
Brent: When I was in elementary school, my dad was an artist – he drew and he was tied into the local arts community. He would bring in local artists into my art class in elementary school to teach us how to draw better and do art better. What I would love to do is kind of make that a family tradition, but use LEGO as a medium. To bring LEGO into the classroom and teach kids about art and perspective and forced perspective. All different ways of using LEGO as a medium for art instead of just models and play.

Philip: Before you kick the bucket, what is the one LEGO set from the massive LEGO catalog, from any theme or time, that you would want to own?
Brent: I want to build Rivendell and it’s not just because it’s front of mind. All of the little details are so beautiful, the foliage, the furniture, the – everything about it is just gorgeous.

Philip: If there was one MOC that you could build with unlimited bricks and unlimited time before you kick the bucket, what would it be?
Brent: I came back into the AFOL community with a tribute to the Pepsi Center where the Colorado Avalanche played. It was a huge arena. I went with the 95-96 line up, I created jerseys, stats, everything. A big jumbotron where everybody could watch everything. And, just for space, I had to tear it down. My bucket list MOC is going to be rebuild it again as Ball Stadium and have it big enough that it fits into a train loop, have train tracks, all that sort of fun stuff, outdoor things, just anything and everything so that you almost feel like you’re there.

Adam Herendeen (@mad_viking_bricks)

Philip: What is the one LEGO-related experience you would like to have before you kick the bucket?
Adam: I really, really wanna go to Brickworld one day. It's the biggest LEGO convention in the world, I believe. So I really wanna take one of my big, impressive MOCS, go to Brickworld, drop it there, and see how well I do.

Philip: If there was one MOC that you could build with unlimited bricks and unlimited time before you kick the bucket, what would it be?
Adam: I want to do a one called Bear Island - it's a castle faction that I created for myself. It was what I was wanting to do for Brick Slopes this year, but, just again, didn't have the time, money, or the brick.

Philip: Before you kick the bucket, what is the one LEGO set from the massive LEGO catalog, from any theme or time, that you would want to own?
Adam: That is a tough, tough question because there's so many good ones, but I’m a huge Star Wars fan, even though I've built castle and pirates mostly. I'm gonna have to say probably the Ewok village. It's one that is definitely a white whale of mine.

Tanner Veurink (@tannjamlego)

Philip: What is the one LEGO-related experience you would like to have before you kick the bucket?
Tanner: I think it would be incredible to design a set that LEGO put out, right? Something that you could see on the shelf that you know you designed. So whether it was through the Ideas program or just being a designer for LEGO I think that would mean a lot. Ideas is my favorite theme because you can do something that's IP related – I like to build a lot of pop culture references, but you can also do your own thing, you know the medieval stuff, the castle stuff, adventure stuff.

Philip: If there was one MOC that you could build with unlimited bricks and unlimited time before you kick the bucket, what would it be?
Tanner: I would love to build a life-size scene from any of the Indiana Jones movies – Raiders and Last Crusade, those two are my favorites. Actually a lot of inspiration from the Hidden Oasis that that Eurobricks did last year that had shades of that kind of theme. I love the Adventurers theme as well, so just doing something in the realm of a scene from Indiana Jones where you could do outside layers, different facets of the movie, moving parts, moving mechanisms, lights, sound, all that.

Philip: Before you kick the bucket, what is the one LEGO set from the massive LEGO catalog, from any theme or time, that you would want to own?
Tanner: I love the Adventurers theme. It came out when I was in my Dark Ages of LEGO. I've come back and seen some of those and I've tried to accumulate some of the older sets. One of the ones I just can't justify paying for is the Expedition Balloon. I've actually bought a used copy of it and gave it to one of my friends that's a really huge fan, but it was an incomplete copy. There's a store near me that has one that's new and sealed, that's in the packaging, and they want something like $500 for it. You just can't justify spending that, but if I had unlimited funds didn't care that's the one I’d get.

Tim Howell (@timmyowl)

Philip: What is the one LEGO-related experience you would like to have before you kick the bucket?
Tim: I think the one thing I would really like is to have a MOC displayed in the LEGO House. Seeing that opportunity has been put out there for AFOLs I think that would be pretty much the top of the heap.

Philip: If there was one MOC that you could build with unlimited bricks and unlimited time before you kick the bucket, what would it be?
Tim: I don't have any specific MOC itself in mind. I've been thinking about conventions and exhibits and if there's a way to do a MOC building on site, getting the public to contribute. What exactly it is, whether it's a castle, or cities, or space, it would require a certain amount of planning ahead of time.

Philip: Before you kick the bucket, what is the one LEGO set from the massive LEGO catalog, from any theme or time, that you would want to own?
Tim: It's actually two that kind of go together. When I got back into LEGO as an adult, the Fire Brigade set I bought and that was the one that taught me that I could buy a set as an adult for myself. That was in the modular line and I never went back and got the Green Grocer or The Cafe Corner. So I think getting those two would really kind of be the beginning of what got me into LEGO as an adult. And big thanks to Jamie Berard, the product designer for those. I was an architect at the time and those really resonated with me with the detailing and colors and proportions .

So there you have it, BrickNerd reader! Every AFOL convention has its own unique character, community, and charm. And BrickSlopes certainly deserves being on your LEGO Bucket List!

Do you have a LEGO bucket list, or just a bucket? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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