Bricktastic, February 2026

If you love Lego and want to see hundreds of fantastic Lego creations, then book a ticket to Bricktastic. I could probably end the post there, but I’ll waffle some more.

We’re a house full of Lego nerds, me especially. We love building fun sets and seeing some of the impressive and creative things people can do with it, so Bricktastic has become a must in our calendar. We first visited Bricktastic in 2025 and loved it then, so a return trip was never in doubt.

Bricktastic is an annual event, held in Manchester Central Complex in February each year, where the most talented Lego moc (my own creation) builders get to go and show off their unique builds. The event is in aid of the Fairy Bricks charity which gives Lego sets to children in hospitals around the country. It’s a great event, full of crazy builds, things that move, things that think, art, movies and TV, music and more. All made from little plastic blocks.

Tickets for Bricktastic start at around £15 if you book in advance. The event is in Feb each year and as we booked our tickets before October, we got them for a cheaper price of £15 each. After October, prices rose to £20. I cant say if they’ll be doing the same for 2027, but its worth checking well in advance if you want to go. They also have quiet hour between 9 and 10am, but its usually busy with everyone trying to get to the Lego market stall for bargains, so later in the afternoon might be quieter. The event does usually sell out, so don’t wait until the day as you won’t get in!

Once again we got stung for £33 for the joy of parking in the Central Convention Complex car park. There are Q-Parks close by so unless you have to park close, park somewhere else. You’ll save a tenner if you’re there all day.

Lego. Everywhere. Amongst the absolute sea of fantastical creations, you’ve also got a small selection of stalls, selling everything from retired and vintage sets, minifigures, Lego jewellery, 3D printed big-figs, custom minfigs and accessories. At the back of the stall is the crazy Lego market stall that last year was selling some of the big retired sets at really good prices. They weren’t that good this year, but the queues were still around the building and 2 hours long. There’s also food stalls selling sandwiches, pizza, hot dogs, snacks and drinks along with a seating area.

For activities, there were several build pits for the kids to play in, tables where you could build and display your creations, a tombola for the Fairy Bricks charity where you could win anything from a minifig to a decent set, a giant mosaic build, where you could take part and build a section, a demonstration area for the new Lego Smart Play sets, competitions, talks, and films. Plenty to entertain both fair-weather Lego fans and the diehards.

We did take part in the demonstration of the new Smart Play features. All the accompanying sets are Star Wars related, which is my favourite kind of Lego, and I’ve been quite dismissive of it as a ‘play’ feature. I did come away from it feeling a lot better about it as a thing, but it’s still way overpriced and the sets don’t look great, so its hard pass from me. The demo did show us most of the new sets and allowed us to have a go of each of the sets and explore the Smart brick and its features. As a thank you, you got to make some Lego mini builds and take them with you. I do love a bit of free Lego!

There is so much to see. I took over 500 photos across the day of as many of the brilliant things that were on display as possible, and I don’t think I could write about each and every one here. There were items from film and TV such as a 10ft plus wide map of Middle Earth and a Minas Tirith model that was easily 6ft tall from Lord of the Rings, numerous Star Wars builds like Mos Eisley, the hangar from the Venator, and other large character builds. One of our favourites was a Gremlins build, with a giant Stripe as the centrepiece, surrounded by items from the film, and of course Gizmo. There were things from Dr Who, Transformers cartoons, Pokemon, WWE, Jurassic Park, Minecraft, Five Nights at Freddies and more.

The fantasy themed builds are always some of my favourites. There were loads of incredibly detailed scenes featuring dragons attacking castles, warring knights, fantasy village scenes, pirate islands and ships, Vikings battling the world serpent. The artistry and detail they put in these builds is amazing.

Theme Parks were also on show. There were a few who’d created a fun fair type display with big wheels, swinging rides, bouncy castles and roller-coasters, but one of the best was a giant sunflower themed rollercoaster with lots of fun details and food stalls all around.

One team had recreated the Download Festival stage, which is another thing close to my heart. As a fan of the festival it was great to see something like this on display. Not just the front of stage with Sleep Token playing, but the backstage area, all the rigging, second stage, camping area, food stalls, bars and the dreaded Portaloos. Lots of fun stories in the build and things hidden for you to find. It even had a moving mosh pit! \m/

Art builds are also popular. Lots of pictures built in different ways. Some use textured items to create an image that stands out, such as the one of Chopper from Star Wars, there was a Darth Maul picture using gearstick pieces to create lines, but the ones that stood out to use were the stud art pieces from Wicked, Black Panther and The Avengers. Really clever.

One team of builders had brought in a giant space station too. It was massive. I’ll say massive because I don’t have the exact measurements for you to understand how big some of these models are. This space station was a whole planet landscape with exterior landing areas and ships and a full underground interior. I could have crawled inside it, that’s how big it was.

The Soapbox team were back again this year, allowing you to race cars down the ramp and get a Lego trophy at the end. This year I think all the exhibitors were building their own cars to race. It’s a fun little touch that adults and kids can enjoy.

There was so much more. Giant team built ball contraptions that went around 20 tables, a massive Zulu war scene with an amazingly detailed landscape, a War of the Worlds build with a snapshot of London being attacked by 4ft tall Martian war machines, stomping through the Thames, Winter Village scenes, another epic train layout, lots of creative city builds with modern and vintage layouts, underwater scenes and much, much more. There was even an automated build that was knitting a scarf!

It’s fair to say we love Bricktastic as a day out. If you’re a big Lego fan, you can easily spend the day looking at everything in detail and still miss something. We love seeing the builds and chatting to the artists about their creations. It’s a friendly environment. Some also make their builds more interactive by adding hidden things for kids to find and giving a small prize or sticker to the kids.

It is a busy and sometimes gets very crowded in some areas, so be aware if you or your little ones aren’t fans of that kind of environment, but it is in a large building with plenty of open areas to take a break in, or you can go for a walk into Manchester and come back.

It is a long day but there are food and drinks available, or you can bring your own picnic in. They do a good pizza though.

Its a great day out! Definitely worth visiting.

Keep an eye on the Bricktastic website for details of Bricktastic 2027