AFOLcon - what should I expect?

Si_UKNZ

I've never been to AFOLcon before, and was wondering what it's like.
Is it in a conference hall type facility?
Are there stalls with selling? (and can you sell your stuff there?)
Is it worth going to AFOLcon and not the Lego show?

andhe

I heard that the entire hall is made of lego.

Dfenz

If you check out http://www.afolcon.com/AFOLCON/Home.html and http://www.thelegoshow.com/ I think some of your questions are addressed. Its in EventCity in Manchester which strikes me as more of an event location for large trade shows than a hotel type conference facility. There are reviews online of last year's event although bear in mind that this year's show is much bigger. As to whether or not to go to the lego show in addition to AFOLCON that depends on whether or not any of the events from Saturday onwards interest you (see the agenda section) Presumably you'd have seen the displays on Friday but bear in mind that not everyone displaying will be attending AFOLCON so some displays may only be set up late on Friday/ early Saturday morning.

TechnicMan

Does anyone know if the TC-14 will be available at the shop in the LEGOLand Discovery Centre? I plan to buy the R2-D2 UCS so am hoping to get the freebie too!

mr_benn

^ It's not run by TLG but is a franchised store (like the ones at LLW), so I would expect that you won't get any exclusives out of them... just order it from [email protected] instead :)

warrenelsmore

We do have an official LEGO Brand store inside The LEGO Show, so they may have the TC-14 fig. But I can't promise anything, it's totally upto them.

TechnicMan

Thanks Warren, do you know if they'll be doing 10% discount like they did last year?

Huw

When at LEGO UK HQ this week I suggested that they make sure they have a stack of R2D2s and TC14s so with luck they will have...

bluemoose

^ all the ordering of stock for the event, and running the temporary store during the public days, is being done by the Liverpool store.

Huw

Hopefully the message gets through to them, then!

princedraven

^^ @bluemoose, you say "during the public days", does that mean that there will be no temp store during the AFOLcon days?

bluemoose

As i understand it, the store is primarily for the public days.
They will be setting up the store on the Friday, and there may be opportunities to buy stuff on Friday once they have finished. However, the main buying opportunities for the AFOLs will be on the public days, before the doors open in the morning. Perhaps Warren can confirm, but that's my understanding.

warrenelsmore

Bluemoose is correct. As soon as I have any details of any discount we will let you know :)

And yes, I suggested R2-D2's might be popular too ;-)

princedraven

Am I going to regret the fact my train home is booked for first thing Saturday?

bluemoose

Yes, I think you are ...

princedraven

Crap, acnt get a refund, worth me buying another ticket?

bluemoose

I'm kidding. You should ( but no promises ) get an opportunity to buy from the store on the Friday evening. The Liverpool staff haven't run an off-site store at an event before, so we're on uncharted ground wrt how long it will take them to set up and get to the point where they can take your money ;-)

LostInTranslation

@Princedraven: if for any reason you can't get to the shop, just give me some money and a shopping list and I'll get what you want. Will give me a vicarious shopping thrill :-)

Legoboy

Lol. But she gets to keep any promos. :-)

LostInTranslation

Well, commission, you know ;-)

Si_UKNZ

@princedraven Dont worry, could be worse, my current plan it to drive to Krakow on Friday evening :(

Redbullgivesuwind

^^and keep the sets.

^ow good luck!

LostInTranslation

^ Oh no, wouldn't do that, I'm not greedy!

^^ That is a bit of a trek. Krakow is a lovely place though. There's a really nice old-fashioned hot chocolate cafe on the main square, as I recall :-)

Redbullgivesuwind

Ha ha. cause you could always just buy everything in groups of £50 if they have the promo on. With the amount im sure @princedraven would buy, you could have an army of TCs

legirl

^and a lovely Market full of Amber jewellery

LostInTranslation

^ ooh yes, that's right, and funky Fabergé-egg-style Christmas decorations :-)

andhe

^even at this time of year? In a random side point, heard an interview with the actress who voiced tc-14, on radio 2 yesterday. She didn't seem that bothered.

MinifigsMe

Hi gang. Still in a weird, horrible place, but I felt like dipping into Brickset. I'm pretty sure Nick and I will be at afolcon, there's normality on the horizon I'm sure. I'll post the rules of what to say or not to say nearer the time, it won't be complicated though, you can talk about Quinn, we will, but don't do the head tilty thing!

AvengerDr

How far is the venue from the shopping centre at the Old trafford? My girlfriend is particularly interested in this secondary aspect :D (if the shopping centre is at all near the stadium)

cheshirecat

^ if its where I think it is its about 25 metres from the unimaginable hell that is the trafford centre. (and the hateful LDC)

warrenelsmore

Yes it is. Right next door (ie, same car parks!)

AvengerDr

I was planning to go there with my car... is there plenty of space?

mr_benn

The Trafford Centre car parks are USUALLY tolerable, particularly during the week. Definitely worse at weekends though, though aside from Christmas I've never had trouble parking there.

warrenelsmore

@AvengerDr - there are aprox 3000 parking spaces... I think you'll be fine!

Seriously though, EventCity has it's own car park too. Just follow the signs and you'll be directed there. That car park is the closest and is just for LEGO Show visitors.

Si_UKNZ

So I'm still wondering... are there stalls with selling? (and can you sell your stuff there?)

deepdalelegend

I attended last year and turned up on the first day (thursday), as my girlfriend wanted to shop in manchester, so not many mocs had been set up properly. I took some of my items to trade/sell as I thought that people may be doing this, but nobody was. I ended up trading some items that I got in my bag of bricks all attendees were given.
I went back on the Saturday morning and the lego outlet had opened and packed out straight away! I think there were only three sellers with stalls there last time, The Vault, Bricktivity and minifig for life (I think?!)

AvengerDr

I was also thinking to bring some spare CMFs for trading.. I'll be there from saturday morning

Dfenz

The list of this years sellers is available on the AFOLCON/Lego show websites if you look. I wouldn't describe the sellers as having 'stalls', more pop up shops as there's a lot more stock than you'd see in what I'd regard as a stall. There are more sellers this year than last. I'm not sure what the organisers would make of people selling their own stuff as normally sellers pay for the privilege of selling at shows and there may be designated 'marketplace' areas. I've visions of people in long trench coats saying, ' pssst ... anyone want to buy a Lego watch ....'

deepdalelegend

I found the list of sellers on the legoshow website but any ideas when they would be open for business? I recall there was a special time late on friday (?) last year for selling but I missed this and probably all the good stuff!

Si_UKNZ

@Dfenz .. thanks for the info, might look into registering as a seller, although its probably too late. Didnt see anything about that on the site, will have another look. Thought I'd read everything there was on there, but it seems to have bits all over the place.


... anyway, do you really want to buy a Lego watch? I have a whole bunch of them I can bring a long if you like. I'll bring them with me and fix them all to the inside of my coat so you can have a good look at what I've got. And they're all genuine Lego, I even have some rare ones made of real gold, if that's what youre after. 100 carrot gold.

mr_benn

^ all made from melted down gold C-3POs.

stagus

What time is kick-off on Thursday?

Martin

I'm going to be there with my Brickends store all five days, although I don't know exactly when we'll get to set up. I'm running it with Darren (aka @gizmocom) who runs a Bricklink store of the same name. I don't know if other sellers will be there that early though. And yes, there is a vendor agreement and commercial arrangement for all sellers so I would not expect to be able to rock up and set some stuff out on a spare table!