If you’ve walked the show floor at FAN EXPO Dallas or Comicpalooza and stopped dead in front of a massive LEGO cityscape or a full-scale Star Wars diorama built from hundreds of thousands of bricks, there’s a good chance TSLUG built it. The Texas LEGO Users Group is the official LEGO Recognized User Group (RLUG) for the state of Texas, and its members are the builders, collectors, and community organizers who bring those jaw-dropping displays to life at conventions across the Lone Star State. They’re not paid to be there — they just love building, and they want you to love it too.
What Is TSLUG?
TSLUG stands for Texas LEGO Users Group, and it holds official RLUG status from the LEGO Group itself. That recognition matters: it means TSLUG members get access to exclusive LEGO programs, early set releases, and direct communication channels with LEGO’s community relations team. The group has been active for years, drawing members from Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, and smaller cities in between. It’s a statewide community, not a single-city club.
RLUG status separates TSLUG from informal local build groups or Facebook LEGO communities. The LEGO Group vets recognized clubs for activity level, public display participation, and community engagement — TSLUG meets all three. Members range from AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO) who build museum-quality MOCs to families who joined after rediscovering the hobby through their kids. The group skews adult but is genuinely multigenerational. Texas Fandoms tracks active hobby communities on the Local Creator Hub — TSLUG is one of the most organized in the state.
TSLUG at Texas Conventions and Fan Expos
FAN EXPO Dallas at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center is one of TSLUG’s signature appearances. Members haul in pre-built modules, set them up in dedicated display zones, and spend the weekend fielding questions from attendees of all ages. The displays are interactive in the sense that staff and members explain what’s in them — the stud counts, the techniques, the hours of work — even if the builds themselves stay behind table barriers. It’s part show-and-tell, part gallery opening.
Comicpalooza in Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center is another regular stop. TSLUG’s Houston-area members take the lead there, assembling themed layouts that often tie into whatever blockbuster franchise is dominating the con floor that year. Brick shows like BrickUniverse (which has run events in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio) give TSLUG members a dedicated LEGO-focused venue, separate from general fan conventions. Check the Texas Con Calendar for confirmed TSLUG appearances at upcoming events.
San Japan in San Antonio is another convention where TSLUG has shown up with anime-themed LEGO builds — think Gundam-scale mechs and Studio Ghibli village recreations — tailored specifically to that crowd. The group reads the room and builds accordingly, which is one reason their displays generate lines of fans wanting to photograph them.
What a LEGO MOC Display Looks Like
MOC stands for My Own Creation — a LEGO build using no official set instructions, designed entirely by the builder. At a TSLUG display, MOCs are the centerpiece. You’ll see a 12-foot-long modular city layout where every building was designed from scratch by a different member, each conforming to a shared baseplate grid so they all snap together seamlessly. The result looks like a real downtown block, except built in 1:48 scale with minifigures going about their plastic lives.
Theme variety is the norm, not the exception. One table might hold a functioning LEGO Technic machine with gears and pneumatics; the next holds a microscale recreation of the Houston skyline; the one after that is a medieval castle built to compete with official LEGO Castle sets in size and detail. Members often post WIP (work-in-progress) shots in the TSLUG group channels for months before a convention, so the builds arrive battle-tested and debugged.
Transport is its own discipline. Large modular builds get disassembled into sub-sections, wrapped in foam, and transported in plastic tubs with locking lids. Members develop packing systems as refined as the builds themselves. Setup at a venue like the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center typically takes a full morning, with members snapping sections together and touch-up building any parts that shifted in transit.
Collecting vs. Building: Two Paths in the Texas LEGO Community
Not everyone in TSLUG is a MOC builder. A significant portion of the membership are collectors — people who hunt retired sets, sealed boxes, and minifigure rarities. Texas is a good state for this hobby. Half Price Books locations across Dallas and Houston regularly surface clearance LEGO at steep discounts. Lone Star Comics in the DFW area and comic shops in Austin sometimes carry sealed vintage sets. The Collectors Guide to Retail covers brick-and-mortar hunting grounds in detail.
Collectors often specialize by theme: Star Wars sets from 1999 to 2005, Classic Space from the early 1980s, or Technic pneumatic sets from the late 1990s. The secondary market on BrickLink and eBay drives serious price tracking among this crowd. Collectors bring sealed or display-quality built sets to conventions, showcasing rare releases alongside the MOC builders’ original creations.
The two groups overlap more than you’d expect. A collector who finishes a massive Star Wars set might start modifying it with custom printed parts or third-party minifigures, edging into MOC territory. A MOC builder who gets deep into a specific theme ends up hunting rare parts in the same secondary markets collectors frequent. TSLUG is big enough to hold both cultures without tension, and that breadth makes the group stronger at conventions where variety draws more foot traffic.
How to Connect with TSLUG and Local LEGO Fans
TSLUG maintains an active online presence, and the easiest first step is finding the group’s social media pages and applying for membership through the official LEGO fan community portal at fan.lego.com. Membership is free, open to anyone, and requires no minimum build level. You don’t need to own a thousand-piece MOC to join — showing up to events and being part of the community is enough to get started.
In-person meetups happen at local LEGO stores — the LEGO Brand Retail Store at NorthPark Center in Dallas and the location in Houston’s Memorial City Mall both host fan events where TSLUG members appear. These are lower-stakes than conventions: smaller crowds, more time for one-on-one conversation with experienced builders, and a chance to see technique demonstrations up close.
Discord and Facebook groups are where day-to-day community happens. Members share current builds, organize carpools to conventions, debate set reviews, and post buy-sell-trade offers for parts. New members who engage consistently in these spaces get pulled into the planning conversations for upcoming convention displays well before the event date. If you’re in Austin, Dallas, Houston, or San Antonio, there’s almost certainly a regional sub-group or meetup thread you can tap into within the TSLUG network.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is TSLUG?
TSLUG — Texas LEGO Users Group — is the official LEGO Recognized User Group (RLUG) for Texas, sanctioned directly by the LEGO Group. It brings together adult fans, collectors, and families from across the state who build, display, and celebrate LEGO as a serious creative hobby. The group organizes convention appearances, member meetups, and collaborative display builds throughout the year.
Where does TSLUG display at conventions?
TSLUG regularly appears at FAN EXPO Dallas at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, Comicpalooza at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, and BrickUniverse events held in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Members also show up at San Japan and other Texas fan conventions with custom-themed displays matched to each event’s audience. The Texas Con Calendar lists confirmed dates for upcoming appearances.
How do I join the Texas LEGO user group?
Membership in TSLUG starts at fan.lego.com, where you can find the group’s official listing and submit a join request. There’s no fee and no experience requirement — the group welcomes builders at every skill level, from first-time MOC creators to seasoned AFOL veterans. Engaging with the group on social media and showing up to a local meetup is the fastest way to go from applicant to active member.
Is TSLUG active in Houston and Dallas?
Yes — both cities have strong TSLUG representation. Dallas-area members are particularly active around FAN EXPO and local LEGO Brand Store events at NorthPark Center, while Houston members anchor the Comicpalooza display and organize meetups near Memorial City Mall. Members from both metros contribute to statewide collaborative builds that appear at brick shows across Texas.
Do you have to be an adult to join a LEGO user group?
TSLUG is primarily an AFOL (Adult Fans of LEGO) community, but younger builders are welcome when accompanied by a parent or guardian, and many families participate together. The LEGO Group encourages multigenerational fan communities, and TSLUG’s convention displays are explicitly family-friendly. Teen builders who are serious about MOC creation often find mentorship opportunities within the group’s more experienced members.
Leave a Reply