Brick Cascade

[lego the hutt]

I am excited about the Brick Cascade expo that is coming up next weekend in Portland Oregon. I will be attending as just a member of the general viewing public. It will be my first lego convention and I am really looking forward to it.

I thought I would share some info in case others were interested.

Here is the link: http://brickscascade.com/index.html

[Brickbuilder0937]

I'll be there, but I probably won't bring any MOCs.

[Brickbuilder0937]

Well I'm back, it was a fun convention. While I didn't bring any MOC's I did manage to win three trophies, one for the build-in-a-bag challenge, one for the team speed build and one for the brick hunt (sorting LEGO from MB, Tyco, BTR etc).
One of my favorite things about LEGO fan conventions is Q&A with a representative from the LEGO group. Some things we learned from Kevin Hinkle:
-Even though Ninjago is the second best selling line it will end this year.
-The friends line will continue into next year.
-He saw the designs for the collectable Minifigs through series 12.
-Monorail tracks will NOT return.

About 2,400 paying visitors came to the public exhibition which means that it was profitable enough to do it again next year. I hope to be able to go.
You can check out all of the displays here http://www.flickr.com/groups/bricks_cascade/

[dho7622u]

Great info! Thanks!

[lego the hutt]

Congrats on your trophies. I had a lot of fun and took a bunch of pictures. Between brick cascade and art of the brick a couple months ago I was noticing my camera has more lego pics in it than anything else.

Looking forward to attending again next year

[Legobrandon]

Although I'm not a Ninjago fan, I'm surprised they made the decision to terminate the line. Why? It is second best selling, generating a lot of revenue, and most importantly the kids and fans love it! Did they run out of idea?

[knicky]

Really? What are they going to replace it with?? It seems silly to put that much effort in building up a unique line like that just to cut it when its making more money than a liscened line like SWs..... ( Im not a ninjago fan either )

[Brickbuilder0937]

I think the reason for cutting the ninjago line is that people might start getting tired of it by the third year. After a great first and second year they didn't want to push their luck and suddenly lose money in the third year. From what I know that's what happened to Exo-Force (great 1st and 2nd year but very poor sales 3rd year).
When Kevin was asked what would replace it he said something like "you'll see".
@knicky, actually Star Wars is their best selling line.

[knicky]

Thanks! I actually thought city was for some reason..

[unclephn]

My guess is that Ninjago will somehow evolve into something new and different. It makes sense that they would want to 'end' the theme for fear of it becoming stagnant and stale. But at the same time, why abandon a line that SO many kids have fully embraced (not to mention being the second highest selling theme)? The logical solution would be to evolve the theme and try and keep it fresh, and hopefully continue its success.

The fact that his reply was, "You'll see", when asked what will replace it, leads me to believe that while 'Ninjago' as we know it might end, a new theme with a different name but with the same characters will be released.

Or I could be reading way too much into that and be way off! It's fun to speculate!