Christmas is coming…

I know it is still November, and while the shops may have had Christmas decorations out for a while some places, it may still not quite feel like Christmas. But in a few days, the date will tick over to 1 December, and we can (finally) get started on the advent calendar. I will as usual cover it here on the blog…

It has been quiet – very quiet on the blog, mainly because my life has been very, very busy. But I’ve really enjoyed doing the calendar review the other years, and if there was one thing I should do in an otherwise ‘forced’ quiet year, it has to be the daily review of the advent calendar. So stay tuned, it is coming. The page is actually already up here.

As usual, it will be spoiler free – due to time zone differences, I may post it before the date has ticked over everywhere – but the banner photo will not show what was in the calendar. Just wait opening the post till you are ready at your end (I myself like the surprise from opening it myself every morning).

What else have I been up to…

So while the blog as been quiet, in addition to working, I’ve actually been building quite a lot of LEGO – just not a lot of Harry Potter related. But I have started on my next larger Harry Potter themed MOC. It is slower going that I’d like, trying to overcome some engineering challenges of getting the shapes I have hoped for. It is no secret, it is the Ministry of Magic. I know there are some amazing models of that around. Don’t expect me to beat any of those, but hopefully it will be a step up or two from the official set…

In September, I displayed my Kings Cross station at the BBX 2023, the major LEGO Fan Expo in Brisbane, Australia.

There was a lot of interest in the building techniques used, but of course also the Harry Potter elements of the build.

I posted a video of it on Facebook, which you can see here. To complement, we also showed the model of Hogsmeade my friend Russell made.

And then I’ve been doing something I haven’t done previously – presenting about LEGO Harry Potter, with focus on my journey building the 100,000 brick Hogwarts and surroundings display. It has been quite cool actually.

The first time was at the GhMX – Gaming, Hobby & Model 2023 (known as Gamex), where I was one of several guest panelist.

It wasn’t all about talking as the full display was there to look at as well. I posted a teaser video of it of Facebook.

And this Friday, I went to one of the local libraries, which organises “LEGO Up Late” events for adults, and this one was about Harry Potter. This brought together the holy trinity of LEGO, Harry Potter and drinks.

Bricks 4 Kidz in Springfield delivered the LEGO part, bringing along heaps for LEGO for some fun games and building challenges. I brought a number of MOCs, as seen below, to give inspiration to what to build, either there – or back at home.

Here, you can see the models I brought along a bit closer up.

And here I’ve started on my presentation, which was a shortened version of what I presented at Gamex.

Wearable art – my LEGO version of Luna’s glasses were very popular.

So while quiet on the blog, I still do plenty of Harry Potter stuff. Hopefully, I can find the time and energy to get more of it posted in the future.

And as promised, I’ll start with the advent calendar here in a few days!

Till then, Build the Magic!