The LEGO Group opens LEGO Brickbuster Video at San Diego Comic-Con
Posted by TheBrickPal,
LEGO has detailed its presence at San Diego Comic-Con, which starts today. You can expect set displays, sculptures, panels, and more!
The press release follows:
Booth #2829 gives attendees a nostalgic, playful LEGO experience from July 20 – July 23
As 2023 San Diego Comic-Con kicks off, the LEGO Group, in collaboration with DISH and Blockbuster Video, unveils LEGO Brickbuster Video, an unforgettable experience marrying the worlds of entertainment, nostalgia and play for all. Fans can expect an action-packed agenda of playful experiences, photo opportunities, product reveals, branded panels, and show-only opportunities from Thursday through Sunday.
“We always aim to provide an unforgettable fan experience at San Diego Comic-Con. There was a time where you could find your favorite movies, video games, and TV shows all under one magical roof at the local Blockbuster, so we knew the retro video store could help unify all the exciting LEGO play worlds we offer,” said Maddie Boushie, senior brand manager at the LEGO Group. “Our LEGO Brickbuster Video experience houses beloved entertainment and video gaming properties together with new LEGO building sets and hands-on building activities, offering fans a chance to unlock their imaginations and inspire their next playful adventure.”
Explore LEGO Brickbuster Video at Comic-Con
Fans will be eager to enter the creative universe that is LEGO Brickbuster Video and explore all the brick-built details. Activities include:
• An immersive retro video store experience, including beloved properties, interactive fun and gaming kiosks
• More than 50 LEGO building sets displayed: NEW LEGO Sonic the Hedgehog, NEW LEGO DreamZzz, LEGO Ninjago, LEGO Star Wars, LEGO MARVEL and LEGO Super Mario, plus a few other cameos
• Hands-on family LEGO building opportunity to build custom creations for the iconic “New Releases” wall
• Con-wide scavenger hunt featuring familiar clamshell VHS cases for fans to find and return, with prizes redeemable via the “Brick Drop” at the LEGO Brickbuster Video info desk
• LEGO Store pop-up with opportunities to purchase select LEGO Sonic the Hedgehog, LEGO MARVEL, LEGO Star Wars, and LEGO Super Mario sets before their street date, plus a variety of other fan favorite LEGO sets
• Surprise giveaways including LEGO Brickbuster Video Membership Cards and exclusive pins
• Free Build Your Own Minifigure experience with a limited-edition LEGO Brickbuster Video themed torso. Guests (18+) are required to register to gain access using a digital queue system. Registered guests may bring up to two children to participate in the experience
• Daily signings featuring the cast of LEGO DREAMZzz (Thursday 12 p.m.), LEGO Masters judge Amy Corbett and Season 3 winner Stacey Roy (Friday 12 p.m.), and the LEGO Ninjago cast (Saturday 1:30 p.m.)
New ‘movie standee-style’ life-size LEGO brick models
LEGO Brickbuster Video features several step-in photo opps with a brand-new style of life-size LEGO builds that resemble classic cardboard standees used to promote new films in movie theater lobbies. Figures include a new Captain America Minifigure that changes daily and standees featuring the LEGO Star Wars Endor Speed Chase scene, inspired by the LEGO diorama building set. Design Manager Pete Donner will be available to discuss how he created these photo moments in a Q&A session on Friday 5:30 – 6 p.m. Additionally, a 4.5ft tall 3D LEGO sculpture of Sonic the Hedgehog debuts at the show.
Explore the Galaxy with new LEGO Star Wars sets
Three new sets joining the LEGO Star Wars collection will be displayed. Tied to the upcoming Star Wars series Star Wars: Ahsoka, the LEGO Group adds the Ahsoka Tano’s T-6 Jedi Shuttle building set, and the New Republic E-Wing and vs. Shin Hati’s Starfighter building sets. Additionally, a brick-built display model of everyone’s favorite Wookiee, Chewbacca, gives adults a one-of-a-kind build and display opportunity. Fans can pre-order these ahead of their release date of September 1st by visiting LEGO.com.
Panel events
LEGO Group will host two panels. On Thursday from 10:30 – 11:30 a.m.: I had a DreamZzz last night about Ninjago, Room: 6BCF and on Friday 4 – 5 p.m.: LEGO Masters: Behind the Brick, Room: 25ABC.
Are you attending the convention? Let us know in the comments below!
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27 comments on this article
That's one awesome green hill mosaic! The giant Sonic minifig looks brilliant as well. I just can't wait until August to get those sets!
Doesn’t seem to be any word or hinting towards another set of SDCC Minifugres/sets? Not that I can get my hands on those anyways ^^;;
@HipsterArcticFox said:
"Doesn’t seem to be any word or hinting towards another set of SDCC Minifugres/sets? Not that I can get my hands on those anyways ^^;;"
Too many people complained and they stopped doing them.
@HipsterArcticFox said:
"Doesn’t seem to be any word or hinting towards another set of SDCC Minifugres/sets? Not that I can get my hands on those anyways ^^;;"
Other than the Blockbuster themed torso
Trying to put myself in the moment of cosplay in SD and loving Lego, and... all they have said above still sounds completely LAME!
I never hated on the SDCC exclusives. Desired, lusted, craved, wondered- YES. But, the whole idea of making a pilgrimage is to have a revelation!
The store is a great idea. But, there's no there, there. The exclusive is paying full price for over-priced Lego sets? A Brickbuster minifig? A signing with Amy? Or Ninjago voice talent? Bet, they're a sight for sore eyes.
This is no revelation. It's lame.
Here's a much better itinerary for a trip to SD: 1) bike ride with Bill Walton; 2) oyster happy hour at Tom's Lighthouse, and 3) a good show at the Soda Bar.
You're welcome.
@fourstud said:
" @HipsterArcticFox said:
"Doesn’t seem to be any word or hinting towards another set of SDCC Minifugres/sets? Not that I can get my hands on those anyways ^^;;"
Too many people complained and they stopped doing them."
That makes me sad. I get that they weren't widely available, which was frustrating for some, but I got plenty of enjoyment out of them existing. It's more fun to have official figures like Duckpool or PS4 Spider-Man exist than to just not exist at all. And it's hardly unprecedented for popular con exclusives to eventually inspire retail sets - the Star Wars Dioramas and the Executor clearly came from 75294 and 77904 respectively.
Kinda feels like the only people who would be pleased by that are the ones who 'need' a complete collection of something. For everyone else, now they just don't exist at all.
I get that using Blockbuster type styling is meant to be nostalgic, but is looking like a poorly managed company that totally failed to adapt to changes in the way multimedia was sold and rented actually that good a look?
I’m very confused, blockbuster is still around?
Anyway this looks fine
@CCC said:
"I get that using Blockbuster type styling is meant to be nostalgic, but is looking like a poorly managed company that totally failed to adapt to changes in the way multimedia was sold and rented actually that good a look?
"
They'll make some poor business decisions and then lose their market share to Netbrix.
@Lemerbrix06 said:
"I’m very confused, blockbuster is still around?
Anyway this looks fine"
I saw on the news on TV last year that the last remaining Blockbuster Video is still open in Oregon USA. The owners contact a man who is in another state about the new movies that they would like to offer and he orders movies and provides technical support right from his house. The couple that runs the business still have a full staff. I read an article later that there even was a TV commercial for the store during the Super Bowl this year.
@StyleCounselor said:
"Trying to put myself in the moment of cosplay in SD and loving Lego, and... all they have said above still sounds completely LAME!
I never hated on the SDCC exclusives. Desired, lusted, craved, wondered- YES. But, the whole idea of making a pilgrimage is to have a revelation!
The store is a great idea. But, there's no there, there. The exclusive is paying full price for over-priced Lego sets? A Brickbuster minifig? A signing with Amy? Or Ninjago voice talent? Bet, they're a sight for sore eyes.
This is no revelation. It's lame.
Here's a much better itinerary for a trip to SD: 1) bike ride with Bill Walton; 2) oyster happy hour at Tom's Lighthouse, and 3) a good show at the Soda Bar.
You're welcome.
"
Lol wut
Looks like a blast.
@StyleCounselor said:
"Trying to put myself in the moment of cosplay in SD and loving Lego, and... all they have said above still sounds completely LAME!
I never hated on the SDCC exclusives. Desired, lusted, craved, wondered- YES. But, the whole idea of making a pilgrimage is to have a revelation!
The store is a great idea. But, there's no there, there. The exclusive is paying full price for over-priced Lego sets? A Brickbuster minifig? A signing with Amy? Or Ninjago voice talent? Bet, they're a sight for sore eyes.
This is no revelation. It's lame.
Here's a much better itinerary for a trip to SD: 1) bike ride with Bill Walton; 2) oyster happy hour at Tom's Lighthouse, and 3) a good show at the Soda Bar.
You're welcome.
"
This was a sore to read, please stop.
It looks like they’ll have a ton of custom VHS tapes on display! It would be cool throwback if they had the Bionicle or Jack Stone VHS on display!
Aw, look at Blockbuster trying to pretend they’re still relevant.
@sirventricle said:
" @CCC said:
"I get that using Blockbuster type styling is meant to be nostalgic, but is looking like a poorly managed company that totally failed to adapt to changes in the way multimedia was sold and rented actually that good a look?
"
They'll make some poor business decisions and then lose their market share to Netbrix."
After they were offered to buy netbrix but declined the offer, things have been going downhill ever since
Would love to see a modular Brickbuster...
The teaser for this genuinely made me think there was going to be a Lego Icons Blockbuster store set for a second.
I realize the audience for that would've been pretty niche, but I would've still bought it in a heartbeat.
@MisterBrickster said:
" It's more fun to have official figures like Duckpool or PS4 Spider-Man exist than to just not exist at all"
TLG can always mass produce it if they want, but they don't.
SDCC exclusives were a bad idea, most people just cued up to sell it. It was capitalism at its worse. Not only you need to be "lucky" enough to have a ticket to SDCC, but you also need cue for hours to get a figure you might or might not care about just to hold on to it and sell for profit.
On the flip side, I have a feeling their booth won't be as busy as previous years, once people realize there's no free exclusive item they can sell.
@elangab:
Few things have been as disastrous as the way their SDCC booth was managed. FBTB did a three-article series (three, because it took that long to fully explain it all!) on how the giveaway was rigged one year. They had paper tickets, and when you got to the front of the line they would take a ticket out of their apron and give it to you, and you would lose. Unless you were a family, in which case _ONE_ kid in your group got one of the tickets they were holding in their other hand, and they would win. But everyone else in the group got apron tickets and lost (and whatever parent was in the group would usually pluck the minifig out of their kid’s hand and list it for sale before even leaving the building. There was an unannounced Azog minifig that they were reportedly just handing at random to kids, and one of those sold for $2000 (they hadn’t even announced a single set that would include an Azog, and ironically it turned out the packaging was exclusive to SDCC, but the minifig would not be). The year they did The Collector from GotG, someone walked through the building and showed off a huge bag full of those minifigs, which weren’t due to be handed out until the next day (a picture of those got posted the next day). I know no less than three people who have claimed they were just given one copy of every SDCC minifig each year because they knew someone involved in running the booth.
Given the resale value, it’s like being handed a stack of money. I guarantee you, every, “Relax, guys, it’s just a silly toy,” people would throw a fit if once each year they went to the bank and one of the tellers just walked around the lobby handing hundreds of dollars to every customer in the lobby _except_ them.
The setup looks neat, but I'm a bit confused by the Blockbuster theming. There's no official partnership between TLG and Blockbuster, is there? Is this just nostalgia for the sake of nostalgia?
@jjr_2009 said:
"The setup looks neat, but I'm a bit confused by the Blockbuster theming. There's no official partnership between TLG and Blockbuster, is there? Is this just nostalgia for the sake of nostalgia? "
Blockbuster did have some exclusive Bionicle releases. Copper-colored masks were shrink-wrapped to standard retail sets that many people already owned, so nothing major like a unique model, but I had to learn where the nearest Blockbuster was for the first time.
The tie in with Lego Sonic is that Blockbusters also rented video games for NES etc. back in 2004 where you could rent as many games each month as you wanted (one at a time) for a fixed monthly membership fee of around $9 or pay a couple dollars each time. This was around the time when games cost from $10 to $20 to buy. They also rented out consoles for birthday parties etc.
I went to SDCC in 2019 (the last great SDCC as the world remembered them) and wasn’t able to get anything exclusive.
The fact that Lego made stuff exclusive to this ONE convention was ridiculous! (Especially when there are literally THOUSANDS of fan cons every year…not to mention all the brick/Lego toy conventions!) So you not only had to be at SDCC but you ALSO had to queue forever AND you also had to be “lucky” (or take advantage of the rigged system).
It was BAD! I’m glad they stopped the madness.
@PDelahanty:
After the FBTB articles, they really did seem to wise up to the rampant abuse of their booth (which, as I understand it, was actually run by LLCA staff, not actual LEGO employees, so there was a glaring lack of direct oversight). They ended up with an iPad system, where you would get to the front of the line, they'd scan your badge with an iPad, and you would either win or you wouldn't. If you won, your badge was "burned" for the day, and there was no winning a second time. If you lost, you could simply get in line again and keep trying until you won, you gave up, or they ran out. Aside from the still-exclusive-to-one-convention nature of things, that seemed like it was a truly fair system. Well, unless you were a kid whose parent still plucked it out of your hands and listed it for sale before you walked away from the booth.
Are those white boxes placeholders until the actual Con, or won't they be replaced with LEGO packaging?
@Galactus said:
"Are those white boxes placeholders until the actual Con, or won't they be replaced with LEGO packaging?"
The white boxes were just for the concept photos. The booth at the convention had the actual sets on display.