LEGO® CON 2021 recap: everything that happened at the first LEGO CON

The show may be over, the curtains may have closed, but there’s still plenty to talk about after the first LEGO® CON. If you’re still buzzing after the event, then you’re in the right place because it’s time for the official (and very detailed) LEGO CON recap. We’ve rounded up some of the best moments from the show including exclusive interviews, our official set reveals and exciting LEGO CON announcements.

Filmed live from LEGO House in Billund, Denmark and hosted by the amazing Michelle Khare and Melvin Odoom – it’s time to relive it all again in article form.

AFOLs shared their amazing tips with us!

Before the show kicked off, we celebrated the talented AFOL (Adult Fans of LEGO) community. Six awesome AFOLs talked about their passions using LEGO® bricks, elements and minifigures, sharing their useful tips on how to take your LEGO building skills to the next level. From stop-frame animation, minifigure photography, making your own creations and being inspired by the world around you – we learnt a lot of cool stuff before the show even began! And on that note...

We blasted off with a real-life astronaut

Calling all space lovers! Former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino joined us via satellite (how appropriate) to give us a space-education on the new NASA Artemis program and plans for sustainable exploration of the Moon (so watch this space). He also told us what it was like to film the zero-gravity challenge, where he built a LEGO Space set in a simulated zero gravity environment (and bumped into walls, floors and ceilings while doing it). You can catch up with the full interview here.

Plus, LEGO Ideas Designer Milan Madge joined us in the studio to talk us through the process of recreating sets based on actual spacecrafts.

Check out some of the LEGO City space-themed sets featured on the show.

We came together to DOT LEGO® House

We thought to ourselves, how can we make something BIG and colorful and creative AND get everyone involved?

Well, during the event we unveiled the enormous wall at LEGO® House, a soon-to-be art installation made from LEGO DOTS designs from fans all around the world.

You guys sent us your awesome patterns for the wall during the show! If you didn’t get the chance, submit a design here before 15th August 2021.

LEGO DOTS design lead Amy Corbett (and judge on LEGO Masters USA) showed us how to achieve impactful art with our vibrant DOTS range. Try some of her tips at home!

Our new LEGO® Harry Potter™ sets were unveiled

Fans of the Wizarding World™ were in luck! To celebrate the 20th anniversary of LEGO® Harry Potter™ (yes, it’s been THAT long), we pulled off the invisibility cloak to reveal some of our new sets including Harry Potter & Hermione Granger™, Herbology Class as well as the loyal phoenix Fawkes™.

Two of our LEGO Harry Potter designers Djordje Djordjevic and Marcos Bessa took on the challenge to see who could build the new LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts™ Chamber of Secrets set in the fastest time (Disclaimer: we banned the use of wands for this). Watch the show to see who came out on top.

Plus, we announced that something extra magical is coming in September. If we told you, we’d have to Obliviate you – so stay tuned.

Things can get messy on LEGO® Masters

We feasted our eyes on some smashing moments on LEGO® Masters from around the world – and the destruction was oddly satisfying to watch. It goes to show, when we’re not building, smashing can sometimes be the next best thing...

A sneak peek inside LEGO® House

LEGO® House, also known as Home of the Brick™, was the perfect venue for the first LEGO CON so our hosts took it upon themselves to show you around. You guys got live backstage access to the Masterpiece Gallery including our big dinosaur builds – and discovered our top five things to see at LEGO House including the MINI CHEF robots, the Tree of Creativity and the LEGO waterfall in the Red Zone of LEGO House. Intriguing, we know.

You can experience it for yourself and visit us in Billund, Denmark. Our house is your house...

A transatlantic screening of the 1:1 LEGO® Technic™ Lamborghini Sián FKP 37

This year we took things up a gear and created a 1:1 LEGO® Lamborghini Sián FKP 37. Yup, a life-size supercar made entirely from LEGO bricks!

The audience got a special look at the latest achievement to come out of LEGO Technic in a transatlantic screening of our short film in partnership with Automobili Lamborghini.

In the film, you got up close and personal to the phenomenal brick-built supercar with a glimpse into the excellent craftmanship and engineering that went into creating it.

Without you, we wouldn’t have LEGO® Ideas

One of our most important ranges is LEGO® Ideas because the sets start with you. Steve Guinness, the mastermind behind the LEGO Ideas Typewriter set, explained how his brilliant idea came about. It was super interesting to hear about the process from an AFOL themselves.

Keep your creative ideas coming. You never know, if you get enough votes from fans, it might be turned into our next LEGO set...

Note: AFOL stands for Adult Fans of LEGO.

We shared our sustainability journey so far

One of our main priorities in the next few years is to play our part in building a sustainable future by doing all we can to have a positive impact on the environment.

Building with LEGO® bricks means that sometimes you create something amazing, and sometimes you struggle and need to start again. And that’s okay. It’s also what makes it so wonderful – that you can build and rebuild again and again.

We’re applying that same mindset to the sustainability challenges we face. We don’t know exactly how we’re going to make LEGO bricks from new materials, but we’re up for the challenge and are excited to give it a go!

Our aim is to create without waste so we’re exploring new ways to make our bricks from recycled plastic from PET bottles.

We chatted to Tim Brooks and Nelleke van der Puil who lead our sustainability initiatives and they shared their plans for making our core products more sustainable by 2030.

We celebrated all things Minecraft®

LEGO® Minecraft® Design Manager Frédéric Roland Andre and Chief Storyteller at Mojang Studios Lydia Winters talked us through the design process of a LEGO Minecraft set and how they get the brick build as close to the game as possible. If you aren’t familiar with Mojang Studios, they’re the developers of the video game Minecraft.

Fans were also given a closer look at the brand-new LEGO Minecraft sets!

You guys have been voting on Twitter to choose the next character skin. Don’t forget to have your say...voting closes at the beginning of July!

A day in the life of a LEGO® Friends designer

Always wanted to know what it’s like to be a LEGO® designer? We took you behind the scenes to see a day in the life of Ellen Bowley, a real LEGO Friends designer.

We spent some time with Ellen so you can get a glimpse into her typical working day, and how she finds inspiration to create magical LEGO Friends sets. She also let us in on a few little design secrets!

We celebrated 10 years of LEGO® NINJAGO®!

This year marks the 10th anniversary of LEGO® NINJAGO® and to celebrate, we looked back at some of the best moments in NINJAGO history. The gang ‘Spinjitzu’ed onto our screens as we reminisced about all the brave battles, epic locations, weird looking bad buys and action-packed adventures so far.

Bring on Seabound! We got a glimpse at the latest series that takes the battle against evil underwater!

An EXCITING announcement for gamers...Seabound is coming to LEGO Brawls in August, exclusive to Apple Arcade, with an incredible new level to play and super cool upgrades to Nya. You heard it here first!

It’s LEGO® Luigi™ time!

Requested by fans from all around the world, Luigi is now part of the LEGO® Super Mario™ family! To introduce you to the brother of LEGO® Mario™, we gave you a quick look at our new LEGO Super Mario Adventures with Luigi Starter Course set. Plus, two-player connectivity has officially arrived. Our hosts explained how the new dual-player functionality works, so you can collect all those digital coins together with friends and family.

We also gave you a glimpse of the new LEGO Super Mario Bowser’s Airship, the newest and super cool Expansion Set!

The brilliant reveal of the new LEGO® Star Wars™ set

We were transported to a galaxy far, far away for one of the biggest reveals of the show. OK, fine, we didn’t go that far...we were in LEGO® House in Denmark, but the reveal was still pretty cool. We watched in anticipation as Ahsoka and the LEGO Star Wars™ The Child, used the power of The Force to reveal...the LEGO Star Wars Imperial Light Cruiser. Re-live the reveal right here...

You heard correctly: the super powerful and super-fast spaceship from Star Wars: The Mandalorian is getting its own LEGO set.

The LEGO® Technic™ driving challenge got a bit wobbly

The teaser for our Build for Real campaign (coming soon) involved an obstacle course, the LEGO® Technic™ 6x6 Volvo Articulated Hauler and... A LOT of jelly.

The cool kids from the FIRST® LEGO League issued a serious challenge where Volvo engineer Frida Jönsson and LEGO Technic designer Samuel Tashi battled it out to see who would become the ultimate LEGO Technic driving champion. Who triumphed? Check out the video here.

Keep an eye out for Built for Real later this year where you can see the kids from FIRST LEGO League rise to the ultimate LEGO Technic challenge.

L.L.A.M.A brought the show to a musical close

There was no better way to end the live show than a VIDIYO-themed closing party hosted by our very own DJ and music producer, L.L.A.M.A. Check out our LEGO® VIDIYO™ app and make your own music video at home!

We had everyone from the crew dancing to Shake by Ne-Yo, Carmen DeLeon and L.L.A.M.A, an uplifting way to celebrate our first LEGO CON.

As you can see, a lot happened at the first LEGO CON (almost too much to fit into an entire blog) ...luckily you have until next year to process it all.

So, see you next year for LEGO CON 2022!