Without a doubt, the coolest thing at Brick Universe was the amount of people that were there. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have that many things in common with others, so sometimes it’s nice to know I’m not the only one who really likes a certain thing.

If you don’t already know, Brick Universe was a two-day event at the Raleigh Convention Center last weekend with Lego exhibits and people selling Lego-related stuff. Lots of people selling Lego-related stuff.

The second coolest thing, after seeing how many people like Legos, would have to be the large pit that had lots of Lego Technic vehicles inside. Technic is a kind of Lego set you can build robots with. I got to drive a miniature tank and shoot plastic marbles at other miniature vehicles. And also run over them. I spent most of my time doing this.

A lot of kids were using a remote control, but I was using some sort of tablet with three rectangles on the screen. I slid my fingers up and down on those to control the tank. The guy running the activity was very helpful when the tablet lost its wireless connection, even though he had his hands full keeping the large pieces of black cloth surrounding the tank pit from falling off the railing.

You could also get cool Lego prints of characters from video games and movies. You could even get yourself sketched in the style of a Lego minifigure, for a fee. My dad thought about getting one of me, but there were too many people getting sketches of themselves for it to be worth spending that much time in line. We might still be there.

Instead, I got a print of Link from The Legend of Zelda and an assassin from Assassin’s Creed. They looked extremely accurate and exquisite.

There was also a bounce house and a pit filled with giant Lego bricks for kids 5 and under to build with, a free build area with regular-size Lego bricks, a building challenge area and lots and lots of places to buy Lego figures, even custom-printed ones. I was interested in getting one later, so I took a business card. (My Dad is hoping it’s not the $55 Silver Surfer one, even though he’s a Marvel fan.)

There were places to build army Lego figures. You could buy minifig weapons and all sorts of other things for minifigs. I wasn’t really that interested because I’m not a fan of war.

You could also buy tote bags, bracelets, key chains, Lego sets, light-switch plates and more. Some of the Lego sets were old ones no longer in production.

In general, the Brick Universe show was really great. However, I think there was a little too much to buy and not enough to do. There were enough shops to keep my mom busy for two lifetimes, but only enough activities to keep me busy for a morning.

Mason Fields is 11 years old and has been to multiple Legolands and Lego conventions. His father is the INDY associate editor.

This article appeared in print with the headline “LEGO my wallet.”