Brickcon returned for its 25th convention this year back on September 10-13. If you’ve followed this blog at all, you’ll know that starting in 2020, Brickcon added a virtual component and I have participate for all but one of those years. While the main convention takes place in Bellevue, WA at the Meydenbauer Center, a bunch of us still meet virtually as we did starting in 2020. We get to attend the main sessions, we have access to the presentations, we get a virtual tour of the main floor, and we have our own games and chances to interact with other virtual attendees. If you’re thinking about attending a LEGO Convention in person, but you’re not sure if you’ll like it or you don’t have one nearby or you just don’t want to spend a lot of money, check out Brickcon. You can attend virtually for $35 and experience a convention from the comfort of your home to see if you really like it.

This year was another great experience. The keynote speaker was Jamie Berard from the LEGO Group (maybe you’ve heard of him?). We had some amazing presentations and we had fun playing some build games as a group.

Another benefit is the opportunity to pick up swag. I purchased a swag bag and a Con Model (I’ll review the Con Model separately). For this year, my swag bag included a program and a small bag to carry everything around in.

It also came with a mug that apparently changes color when you put a warm beverage in it. I haven’t tried it yet, but the mug is cool regardless of the neat trick.

This year as something new, they offered a challenge coin. As a former military member, I’m very familiar with challenge coins or RMOs (round metal objects). If you’re not familiar, do a search to learn how they work.

As always, you get LEGO too. This year, I purchased the black and white 1x8 bricks that said “I <3 BrickCon” on them for an extra fee. My swag bag came with the option to add text to two bricks (the blue and red ones) and then two BrickCon 2026 bricks (yellow and white). It also came with a chromed minifigure and a printed brick with the Con Logo.

Like past years, there was a small build included. This year is a frame to hold your convention badge and a small retro arcade machine where you use the printed brick and can place the chrome minifigure.

Something new for this year was a few sheets of stickers that you can place on bricks/MOCs. Many of them are oriented to Washington State, but a bunch are just related to LEGO and the building hobby. To help you out, they included a few bricks that you can place the stickers on.

Similar to previous years, the swag included parts that you could trade with other convention attendees. As a virtual attendee, I don’t have anyone to trade with, but it’s cool to get a bunch of neat parts. It also came with some stickers from a few vendors, Brick Nerd, and a BrickCon sticker.

Last up is the convention model which had the option to purchase a lighting kit separately. I ended up getting the lighting kit and will build and display this for a future post.

Happy building!