“Woah! You do NOT look like what I expected!”

This is the greeting that I received after finally meeting one of a handful of Bionicle/constraction builders displaying in-person at Brickworld Chicago 2022. At LEGO conventions, it’s fairly common for people to mistake any grey-haired person like myself for being the parent of one of the displaying builders—as opposed to actually being one of the displayers. In addition, some people still envision the stereotypical Bionicle/constraction builder as being a young male teenager, who spends as much time debating Bionicle canon in online forums as they do actually building with Bionicle. Receiving this reaction after meeting another male Bionicle builder means to me that there’s still work to be done in changing this paradigm—even within the Bionicle community.

More and more builders from varied backgrounds have been trying their hand at building with Bionicle/constraction parts. It is evident that annual community-building contests like the Bio-Cup are playing a large part in driving this Renaissance. The contest drives great interest across a broad range of builders in the LEGO community. The best way to retire the paradigm of the typical “Bionicle Builder” is to shine a light on some these diverse builders.

One of these builders like myself who stands out from the “typical” Bionicle builder is Abby Lilliebridge. Abby is a female Bionicle builder and a member of ChiLUG. I met her at Brickworld Chicago when I stopped at her display tables and saw the massive amount of amazing Bionicle creations that she had on display. Below are just a few of them that really grabbed my attention.

She did not end up participating in Bio-Cup that year and did not get a nomination in the“Best Constraction” award category at Brickworld. However, Abby did receive one of BrickNerd’s “Nerd of Note” trophies that we award to those who foster community, inclusiveness, and diversity in some way (…or who are just plain “nerdy about the bricks”). We awarded it to Abby for forging her own path in the Bionicle building theme that still tends to be male-dominated, and for simply being an inspiration for other potential non-typical Bionicle builders that might see her displaying at the show.

As such, I thought Abby would be a perfect person to profile here on BrickNerd. I reached out to her after the show to learn a bit more about her and the things she likes to build.

An Interview with Abby Lilliebridge

Ted Andes: Hey Abby. It was great meeting you at Brickworld and talking with you about your builds. As I mentioned, we at BrickNerd like to highlight a broad range of builders in the community, and I thought you would be a perfect person to interview. Would you be interested?

Abby Lilliebridge: Hi Ted. It was really nice meeting you and chatting with you at Brickworld too. Congrats on your well-deserved awards at the show… And thank you for considering me for an interview. That would be exciting.

Ted: Absolutely, and I should also thank you for the Bionicle Kanohi mask that you gave to me at Brickworld. I will treasure it (and hopefully build with it too).

So to start, how long have you been building with LEGO, and specifically with Bionicle/Constraction/CCBS parts? Have you always built using Bionicle, or have you ever built with LEGO System sets?

Abby: I only remember building with LEGO (System) a little bit growing up. My plunge into Bionicle came around 2010 (ironically, right around the time the series ended) when I was visiting my cousins and building MOCs with their collection of pieces. It wasn’t until later that summer when my family happened upon a garage sale that had a lot of older Bionicle and Technic sets for sale that I was able to purchase and start my own collection. At that time I also started reading the comics and books, and watching the movies that followed the Bionicle storyline. I was hooked!

Lately, I have started building more with LEGO System pieces, mostly as a personal challenge from my usual building style. Sometimes it seems to be helpful in getting me out of “builders block”. It's kinda fun to figure out how to do shaping and color blocking with LEGO system pieces for a change, especially when trying to get the MOC to look like a certain character. Although, I haven’t really tried combining Constraction and System parts into a single build yet. My younger brother Nathan, who lives and breathes LEGO, has also been influencing me to come to the dark side of building MOCs with System... Just joking 😄.

Ted: What are your favorite parts to build with? Are there any parts that you thought you might build something with and have yet to use them? (I certainly have a whole bin full of those myself).

Abby: Honestly, most of the time, I don’t really go by the technical name of the parts. To find specific pieces to buy I usually search for the set I know they come in and then view the parts list. However, these are some of my favorite pieces I use all the time:

Technic Ball Joint (so useful!)
Technic Rubber Bands
Bionicle Kraata (rubber leeches)
Bionicle 1 x 3 Tooth with Axle Hole
Rigid Hose (Flex Tube)
Bar 1L with Clip Mechanical Claw
Thin 1 x 2 Technic Liftarm
Any Bionicle masks (I use them for anything from leg armor and shoulder plates to parts of torsos).

I have been trying to come up with a use for the Bionicle Bohrok canister hanger piece, other than its original intended use. It’s a cool, but unusual piece since it seems to have only one standard way of attachment. Another piece that intrigues me is the Bionicle Krana mask. I’ve seen it used in some interesting ways by other builders and want to try to incorporate it into one of my creations. I also would like to try and find some uses for the pieces from the Technic Robo Riders and Slizer sets.

Ted: Trying to remember the names for the unique LEGO system elements is certainly challenging already, so trying to search for constraction parts by name can be even more daunting. Your strategy for finding parts by the sets you remember them belonging to is great advice.

I usually learn the part names whenever someone compliments me on some NPU (“nice part usage”) that I’ve done with them—most recently, it has been the Vahki eyestalks. I saw plenty of great examples of NPU in the MOCs you displayed at Brickworld as well. I especially like how you constructed the Deer Patronus. Quite the challenge to build, being limited to only the available parts in transparent light blue.

I saw that you were displaying your builds alongside ChiLUG at Brickworld. How did you learn about the LUG, and how long have you been a member?

Abby’s display tables in the ChiLUG area of Brickworld Chicago 2022

Abby: My family visited Brickworld Chicago in 2018, and after seeing all of the amazing creations there, we knew we had to be a part of this LEGO community. A year later, we had our MOCs on display at this massive convention for all to see. Members of ChiLUG came by our tables and invited us to join their group. We have been members of ChiLUG since 2019 and have really enjoyed displaying with them ever since. It was great being part of a group t at Brickworld too. ChiLUG has so many talented members with so much experience to share.

Ted: I understand that ChiLUG is one of the rare regional LUGs that have multiple people specializing in Bionicle builds (currently four I know of). How has it been to have others in your local area that build the same type of things that you do?

Abby: It’s been really cool seeing other Bionicle MOCs in person and not just on social media. I used to think that there weren’t a lot of local Bionicle builders, before joining ChiLUG. It’s also inspiring to know that I have others in our group that share in my obsession and that we’re able to “talk shop” (Bionicle storyline and lore, building techniques, and part usage).

Ted: I also saw a picture of you on the ChiLUG Facebook page at the Brickworld GBC (Great Ball Contraption) workshop. Did you end up building a module for the GBC display? What kind of mechanism did you create?

Abby: This was my first time ever building a GBC module. I built the Wheel of Fortune kit, which I really enjoyed working on. The GBC group display at Brickworld was absolutely amazing and mesmerizing. They are so much fun to watch, but I’m still new to how they function and have a lot to learn about how they all come together. Maybe I can collaborate on some kind of GBC build with my brother, Nathan, in the future.

Ted: Speaking of things that are mesmerizing and fun to watch, I noticed that you decided not to enter the Bio-Cup competition. I was looking back through the results of Bio-Cup 2021, and noticed that you made it past the preliminary round, which is a great accomplishment itself… If fact, you and I actually scored fairly closely and I barely placed a few slots ahead of you. Although you were eliminated in Round 1, I thought your Bionicle Punk Rock Band for that round was very creative and well posed.

Abby’s build for Round 1 of Bio-cup 2021; Theme: Media and Entertainment - Sub-theme: Music

Ted: So since you don’t have the added stress of building for Bio-Cup, I was wondering what are you planning to build next? Did you get any inspiration for your next project from the entries so far or from other builders displaying at Brickworld?

Abby: I definitely plan on making more creatures from Star Wars as well as other Pop Culture-type builds. Maybe a Predator to go with my Alien MOC. I also have a bin of work-in-progress builds to go through and finish, which includes a revamp of the Ninjago Firstbourne Dragon set and various Bionicle character revamps.

I think it’s impossible not to get inspired by all of the amazing builds entered in the Bio-Cup and displayed at Brickworld. Walking the floor though during the Brickworld World of Lights really got me thinking about how I can incorporate lights, blacklights, or more glow-in-the-dark pieces into some of my builds. The things that also really drew my attention were all of the castle, Mecha, and of course Bionicle MOCs at the show. I was really happy that Brickworld finally added Constraction to the award categories!

Ted: Yes indeed. And congratulations go out to your LUG-mate Daniel Olvera who took home that very first Brickworld “Best Constraction” Award for his Kumamoto warrior.

Obviously interacting with builders at an in-person convention is very different than interacting with the building community through social media. Unlike at a convention, the online LEGO communities allow a person to remain semi-anonymous via the use of avatars and created user names (so that a person’s gender, preferred pronouns, or background aren’t always readily apparent). Knowing that, how has it been for you as a female Bionicle builder in the online community? Has gender ever played a part in the interactions? Have you made contact with any other female Bionicle builders out there?

Abby: Gender doesn’t seem to play a part in the Bionicle community on Instagram, at least from my experience. Even though Bionicle, and probably LEGO in general, is male-dominated, I have had a really positive response in sharing my MOCs online. I feel, when it comes to a build, people don’t really care what gender you are. If a MOC is cool, it’s cool. Period.

I do follow about a dozen female Bionicle builders online and I think their designs are just awesome! I have also collaborated with both male and female builders online. I’m pretty sure there are many other female Bionicle builders out there but it’s hard to tell with the anonymity of social media.

Abby getting set up at Brickworld Chicago 2022

Ted: Very true on all counts. I am aware of a few of the female Bionicle builders out there, but for many you’d only really know they were by asking; Breann Sledge is certainly one of the more well-known female trailblazers in the Bionicle community (Beyond the Brick did this great video profile of her, and BrickJournal did a feature on her as well). Margit MOCs, Topsy Creatori, Alieraah, Pink_pakari_mocs, Kat of the LadiesWhoLego, are some of the others known to me as well… and I am sure there are plenty of others I’ve yet to discover.

So before we close, is there anything else that you would like to share with our BrickNerd readers?

Abby: For those that might be interested, I have occasionally offered Bionicle commissions through my Instagram page. It has been successful so far, and I have really enjoyed the challenge of creating something from someone else’s ideas. However, I do have a difficult time giving up my creations so finally mailing them out is hard sometimes. I may start offering finished MOCs for sale as well. This will give me more control of my designs in regards to the pieces I use, so I can optimize the pricing of the final creation.

Ted: Thanks so much, Abby for taking the time to share with us. I am looking forward to seeing what you build as your next creations, and I hope to see you again at Brickworld Chicago.

Abby: Thank you again for this opportunity.

Best of BrickNerd - Article originally published July 7, 2022

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