Two weeks ago, the UK’s largest LEGO event and only official AFOL Networking Event landed in Manchester for its eleventh year: Bricktastic 2025!

I was all signed up, packed up, and ready to roll to the convention when our beloved cat fell ill, meaning that I stayed behind, leaving my husband to brave the crowds alone. Luckily, many friends were there to greet him—and luckily for BrickNerd readers, they were more than happy to share their experiences from the weekend.

There were hundreds of AFOLs to choose from, so let’s hear from a few who had very different experiences at Bricktastic 2025!

The First-Timer: Nicole

Nicole is one of the most wholesome LEGO content creators you’ll ever come across—and I’m hugely proud of her progress in building both LEGO and confidence. With a bit of gentle encouragement, she started to create her own MOCs and now builds live for her viewers on Twitch, in turn encouraging others to start their creative journey with LEGO bricks. I’m sure she wouldn’t have imagined this back in 2020 when we first met!

Catherine: What did you bring to Bricktastic this year?

Nicole: I brought a small selection of brick builds which are based on members of the LEGO community. I tried to create brick-built “sculptures” in the likeness of dear friends. Each sculpture started with a LEGO set. I changed the sets in an attempt to achieve a vague resemblance. I originally built them for myself and the people in the chat during live streams. I decided to display at Bricktastic after some in the chat had mentioned it to me and encouraged me to do it.

lady macbrick’s display - image via settobuild

Catherine: How many times have you been to this show?

Nicole: Bricktastic was my second convention and my first time displaying. It´s my first time in Manchester. I was for many years not brave enough to visit a convention myself. I thought that I didn´t have anything of value to offer. For many years, I’ve been meeting members of the LEGO community online. I saw the pictures of conventions over and over again over the course of the years.

Catherine: What did you bring home from Bricktastic, other than LEGO?

Nicole: I brought home with me the knowledge that I am part of a family. The LEGO community is not only caring and kind—it is a community of like-minded people who invited me to be part of their family. I am grateful beyond words that I am allowed to be part of it. I met “old” online friends and experienced that the online bonds made over the course of years are true friendships. I made new friends who embraced me with kindness despite not knowing me.

I learned as well that “accomplished building” is perceived differently than I had imagined. I am not a skilled builder. I did not think that anything built by me was “good enough” to take up valuable space at a convention. It deeply touched me and made me very happy to see children running towards my table with excitement. Children really seemed to enjoy my display. I am astonished as well that adults took the time to stop by my table. The fact that pictures of my display were taken is mind-blowing to me.

The AFOL-Wrangler: Isabel

The contribution of volunteers to the running of shows can’t be overstated—despite all the effort that goes into organising an event or building MOCs to bring, without people to steer the public and control the mayhem, things will rapidly get out of control. Isabel runs a team of volunteers dedicated to supporting the AFOL displayers… keeping us hydrated, in check, and out of the hair of the organisers!

2025 Displayers and Volunteers - image via Bricktastic

Catherine: What did you bring to Bricktastic this year and how many times have you been to this show?

Isabel: I started coming in 2022, so this was my 4th year. This year, I brought the topper for a New Hashima cube, and was also a volunteer for the event heading up AFOL Support.

Catherine: What was the nerdiest moment of the weekend for you?

Meeting and geeking out with Laura Perron, who designed the LEGO Twilight set. We sat for almost an hour nerding out about twilight, books and LEGO DOTS.

Catherine: What did you bring home from Bricktastic, other than LEGO?

Isabel: Blisters, a cold, but also a lot of good memories. I also learned about an Easter Egg from the Twilight set from Laura which made my weekend!

The Element Expert: Caz

Caz is no stranger to impressive LEGO displays, and this time she went all-in on the New Hashima collaborative build. Many of her MOCs feature weird and wonderful LEGO pieces in little-known colours or moulds. From Scala handbags to Galidor connectors, there’s always something unexpected, and her cyberpunk cubes this year were no exception.

Catherine: What did you bring to Bricktastic this year?

Caz: New Hashima was enough in terms of logistics and mental bandwidth. I brought along three small MOCs for the New Elementary table but other than that, it was New Hashima all the way. The builds were: eight cubes, two toppers and one plaza, plus half a dozen boats and vehicles.

New Hashima Sector 38: Meridian Quays - image via Admiraltyphoon

Catherine: What made you want to join the New Hashima collab?

Caz: I had seen videos of the US versions and thought it was awesome—I didn’t realise until it was almost too late that it was happening last year at Bricktastic. Just managed to build a flying car for that, and was hugely inspired by what I had seen in person in 2024. So I started building my first cube in March 2024. I just kept getting ideas!

Catherine: What was it like to be part of a big collaborative build for the first time?

Caz: This was not my first big collab, having done GBC, Moonbase, etc. in the past. This time it was a lot of work to set up, but very rewarding seeing the public’s reaction - and other AFOLs, who can be hard to impress!

Catherine: How many times have you been to this show, and what was the nerdiest moment of the weekend for you?

Caz: I first came as a punter in 2018, and have been a displayer since 2022. And just being able to be thoroughly nerdy with folks who understand, for a whole three days!

Catherine: What did you bring home from Bricktastic, other than LEGO?

Caz: Very sore feet (no chairs for the New Hashima display!) and a whole ton of inspiration. Ideas are already buzzing around my head.

The Part Lord: Mansur

Known for perilously fragile but incredibly clever use of parts in his MOCs, this year Mansur (a.k.a Waffles) took on an even bigger challenge: organising other AFOLs!

Catherine: What did you bring to Bricktastic this year?

Mansur: Aside from organising two massive collabs, I brought some Star Wars-adjacent builds exploring the world of Haelos Star Yards, a shipbuilding corporation. This includes my recent and favourite build so far, a lit up and somewhat cosy cross-section of a high-rise apartment on Denon, a city-wide planet similar to Coruscant.

Catherine: What was it like to be part of a big collaborative build?

Mansur: Organising New Hashima Sector 38 for Bricktastic was the ultimate test of my people skills and my organisational skills. It involved months of working and reworking a layout that was possible to set up in less than a day, and constantly annoying people on Discord to build their modules. It felt good seeing it all come together and seeing the finished product—it’s just such an amazing collaboration between a lot of local builders and builders coming in from abroad.

Catherine: How many times have you been to this show?

Mansur: I have been displaying since 2022. Since then, I have been helping young people from continental Europe and even the United States come to display at Bricktastic and help the event grow into one of the best places to be for AFOLs.

The Electrician: Daniele

Daniele has been building MOCs for many years, but this was his most ambitious event, learning now to integrate screens and lighting into a large MOC for the New Hashima collaboration.

new hashima keychains - image via admiraltyphoon

Catherine: What did you bring to Bricktastic this year?

Daniele: I took a few MOCs, mainly my tower, topper, and vehicles for New Hashima, the Transformers Cliffjumper I built from the Icons Bumblebee set, and my Age of Space book for a collaborative display of the LEGO Wonderlist competition models between various British LUGs. In a last-minute decision, I also modelled and 3D printed New Hashima keychains for all participants and as a token to give out! I thought it’d be a unique way to remember this collaboration.

Catherine: What made you want to join the New Hashima collab?

Daniele: I’ve always been a fan of Sci-fi and its worldbuilding, and the Cyberpunk genre is no different—the worlds from Blade Runner, Cyberpunk 2077, Akira, Deus Ex and other media have so much life and details packed into them, and New Hashima offers that opportunity to build your own piece of that chaotic cyberpunk city life alongside others.

New Hashima Advertising Screens - image via AdmiralTyphoon

My latest MOC, the Octan Advert Tower, features advertising screens and an Octan service station for hoverbike—something akin to Piccadilly Circus in London. Big bright adverts are a staple of any Cyberpunk world, but I thought brick-built versions wouldn’t do it justice so used digital photo frames, which are energy efficient and easy to hold in place between brackets and plates. The corner rollercoaster tracks look like ventilation for these big screens.

I commissioned my sibling to draw the adverts with references to both LEGO and real-life objects and characters - I liked the idea of virtual idols fitting in a cyberpunk world, using the Monkie Kid cartoon style to represent anime in the LEGO World. We also asked Steven Howard (@Ghalad) for some of his brick-built animations to add a bit more variety.

Given that we were going for a British theme for Meridian Quays, the standout was the iconic Henry the Hooverbot; it was very fun to see people’s reactions to him!

Miku by Ateliercog6

Vita Rush by Ateliercog6

Henry Hooverbot by Ateliercog6

At the base of the tower, I was inspired by the idea of ghost kitchens: food places that only serve through delivery apps, so I built an Octan service station meant only for hoverbikes—with takeaway buns, kebab, and pizza places, a garage, and a bike charging station with vending machines. Here I changed up the look of the walkways that are usually set by a cube, making opposite corners smooth as landing zones and using modified tiles for bigger hazard stripes. Finally, the topper offers a place to display one of my previous MOCs, the Talon Dropship.

Catherine: What was it like to be part of a big collaborative build for the first time?

Octan Advert Tower - image via admiraltyphoon

Daniele: Fun, and stressful! Building a New Hashima cube was a change from my usual models; my favourite part is working on a full interior, whereas here I had to remind myself that I only needed to build a very nice façade and small interiors to allow cables to run in the middle. It was my first time transporting such a big MOC so I was nervous throughout the whole journey from London to Manchester, but the cube framework really helped keep the tower together. Most of the effort was working in the power supply and matching the right length of cables available.

Something I learnt and I recommend to others is having a plan B for any part of your MOC that you may be trying out for the first time; whether it’s about power extensions or spare bricks for the build itself, it’s always useful to have a backup plan. The other highlight was getting to talk in person with the other contributors, hearing their stories behind their builds, and seeing the end result come to life at the end is what made it all worth it – shoutout to Barrie Crossan and his amazing rotating topper tower!

Catherine: What was the nerdiest moment of the weekend for you?

Daniele: The top moment was getting the chance to chat with and present my Advert Tower MOC to LEGO designers, including Chris Perron and LEGO House Master Builder Stuart Harris – it was so fun to listen to their stories and anecdotes! Another great moment was seeing boxes of sets from the 90/80/70/60’s in some of the vendor stalls; it’s one thing looking at pictures from Brickset or BrickLink, but a totally different seeing them in person.

One of my favourite highlights was definitely the different reinterpretations of the Concorde set! Another fun part of these big events is that you have AFOLs coming from other countries as well – for example I met Norwegian and Greek AFOLs, but there were many more in attendance.

Catherine: What did you bring home from Bricktastic, other than LEGO?

Daniele: Bricktastic 2025 has been the best LEGO show I’ve attended so far – from working on New Hashima, seeing other people’s builds, to meeting and chatting with guest designers and participating in challenges, it really was an amazing experience of its own. It taught me some experience in transporting large models, and as usual I got inspiration for more MOCs, but that’s already on top of an ever-growing list of ideas that I want to build!

The ‘Go Big Or Go Home’: Jon

Famous for his impractically large builds, this year Jon ‘only’ brought a few things…

Catherine: What did you bring to Bricktastic this year?

Jon: This year I brought parts of the large white London AFOLs castle collaboration (Afolbwick Castle). I also brought the monorail seen around New Hashima. Finally a book, created as part of a project with LEGO for Christmas - Project Wonderlist.

London AFOLs Castle - image via SetToBuild

Catherine: What made you join all these collabs? What was it like to be part of a big collaborative build?

Jon: It was my design and idea to do the collaborative build but one of our members (Sabrina Kelly) twisted my arm into bringing it to Bricktastic this year! It’s been good to be part of these big collabs, there’s always been people there to help get things in place and help dismantle at the end of the show. A version of the castle was first shown just over a year ago at STEAM and that was the first big build I’ve shown that felt really collaborative. I’ve done other things before and since where I’ve been a part but the overall design of this added a very cohesive feel that really added to the sense of collaboration.

Catherine: What was the nerdiest moment of the weekend for you?

Jon: My favourite experience this year was being told by a few people that the castle was their favourite thing at the show. That sort of feeling culminated with someone coming up and giving me a little award brick while telling me that. The less good side is that we had a few other little build awards left for us but part way through the show some of them seem to have been stolen from the table. :(

Catherine: What did you bring home from Bricktastic, other than LEGO?

Jon: The scale of the show was very impressive this year, I’m now thinking I’ll have to do a US show to see anything significantly larger! I got a few ideas for future builds from the show, a couple of reminders for things I’ve thought about building before but abandoned before completion. Seeing a lot of people’s custom wooden crates for getting stuff to the show has made me reconsider building something similar.

The ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’: Sabrina

Aside from being the chair of the nationwide LUG (Brickish) and herself participating in two other collaborative builds, Sabrina also organised more collaborations at the event for Brickish members.

Catherine: What did you bring to Bricktastic this year?

Sabrina: We were organising (with Jon Gale) the London AFOLs White Castle (my husband Matt and I have built the keep and brought a large army of knights, stables etc), as well as organising and looking after the three Brickish collaborations (Brickish-on-Sea, the Yellow castle, Lenticular Mosaics). Oh and we had a New Hashima cube as well!

Unfortunately, with the placement of the Brickish collabs in the main gallery and the Castle on the opposite site of the main hall, we got a good workout to be between the two displays. 13k steps on Friday at setup, 12k steps on Sunday and only 10k steps on Saturday!

Catherine: What made you join all these collabs?

Sabrina: The London AFOLs castle was the first collab after we joined. We had organised two collaborations beforehand, but that was without instructions; back then we just arranged various builds across a large table space. So it was new to follow instructions and have a design. When Jon was looking for someone to build a keep we said “How hard can it be?” until we realised we misunderstood the dimensions, and the keep was going BIG. After a period of four months and 190h, we used about 45-50k pieces for the keep alone!

yellow castle collab: gingerbread edition - image via settobuild

For the Brickish collabs, Matt and I had the idea for the seafront “ Brickish-on-Sea” after a previous smaller collaboration idea of just a train bridge on a baseplate was immensely popular. With the help of another friend from the AFOL community we managed to get instructions available and were absolutely amazed about the 35 different participants. The other two collabs we organised were “Yellow Castle” with reimagining a classic set and lenticular mosaics, which are two pictures in one, made with cheese slopes, allowing the image to morph from one into the other. These collabs are always a great way to engage new builders and take away their fear from their first show.

Catherine: What was it like to be part of a big collaborative build?

yellow castle collab: Star TreK edition - image via settobuild

Sabrina: Being the organiser of a large collab is nearly as stressful as running your own show, as it is a lot of herding cats and involves a lot of planning. When you then see the public impressed by a 9-table long seafront or 6-table big white castle, there is quite a bit of pride which makes up for it. But as said before, just enabling less confident members to chip in, and be part of something they are not able yet to build themselves is great.

Catherine: What was the nerdiest moment of the weekend for you?

Sabrina: The nerdiest moment probably was discussing the baby figure in the homemaker Red Indians set. When we saw it was released in 1977 we were surprised, as the minifigure only came out in 1978 with homemaker being one of the first sets having the minifigure as a baby. So we were wondering if the release date was wrong. But we then realised it wasn’t the printed head/movable arms minifigure, but the already existing torso which was released in 1975.

Set 215 Red Indians - Image via Brickset

Catherine: What did you bring home from Bricktastic, other than LEGO?

Sabrina: Sore feet! A lot of vintage LEGO which I had to buy on Friday so a friend who had to go home for Saturday could take it home with her, as we had zero inches of space left in the car for the return journey. A gigabyte of pictures and videos, and lots of great conversations with AFOLS and the public. Not quite as many interactions with new AFOLs as we were quite overrun at the seafront most of Saturday, so didn’t have as much time as we wanted to catch up with friends after setting up most of Friday. But still a great event we are looking forward to for next year. Hopefully not with two major collabs to run.

The Absentee: Catherine

I was disappointed to miss out on attending the event in person, but it’s been wonderful to hear about it after the fact. There were countless more talented AFOLs present and so many more impressive displays that it’s impossible to write about them all!

Hopefully this selection has given you a taste of the different experiences of displayers at an event like this, and hopefully someone reading this is considering joining the fun for themselves next year.

Here’s my display that made it to the show without me—my LEGO-embellished wedding dress in white, sand green and lavender. I also contributed a New Hashima cube of my own, with a subtle nod to Paradisa of course!

Paradisa Virtual Beach - image via AdmiralTyphoon

Finally here’s a bonus cat picture for those who were paying attention to the introduction!

What was the nerdiest moment of your week? Let us know in the comments below!

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