Tag Archives: diorama

The way of the sword

The last time I hung out under a tree shirtless with a sword it led to a record number of cops showing up at the scene. But this LEGO minifigure pulls it off in style and that probably has everything to do with his sweet washboard abs. Unlike my drunken ordeal at the city park, SweStar has portrayed a sense of harmony and serenity here. I’m loving the tree trunk and even the root that extends beyond the orderly border. This is a bit tricky and not entirely recommended for the novice but this builder separated the minifigure legs from its waist in order to have the figure seated in a lotus position. Classy! Check out our archives to see the other times we’ve been totally enchanted by this builder’s stuff.

The Way of the Sword

Morning at the Museum

True story; I had a chance to work after hours at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle. I was contracted to paint display backdrops for a Mars exhibit. It was late at night, long after the patrons and staff had gone home and a security guard and I were the only two people there. I can say with confidence that a museum at night is a strange and eerie place. Some lights are on, others are off and incidentally, they leave the animatronic dinosaurs turned on so they were moving and roaring throughout the night. This LEGO creation called Morning at the Museum by Alex Eylar reminds me of that experience. To be clear, the skeleton T-Rex is from this set but the environment Alex has built for it and the lighting makes this a stellar creation indeed. Alex is quite good at setting a mood in LEGO. Check out what I mean in our archives.

Morning at the Museum

The droids you weren’t looking for

Expert builder Tim Goddard is no stranger to grey greebly things. Co-writer of LEGO Space: Building the Future, he excels in spaceships, space stations, space robots, and really anything to do with space. This collection of robots—sorry, droids—must have been child’s play for him, as they are as simple as they are accurate.

While the astromech, the treadwell, and mouse droids are something we’ve seen in Star Wars numerous times, the larger Binary Loadlifter isn’t as common. Essentially a walking forklift, a plethora of greebly parts make up this lanky mechanical beast. Cabinet doors make up the arms, which provide ample space to lift even the large Imperial crates we see. But my favourite parts usage has to be the use of black Bionicle Toa Metru leg armour as the base for one of the smaller droids. Is it a mouse droid? No, those are the tiny ones. Mouse droid XL? My droid knowledge escapes me…

Somewhere to display droids and stuff

Tim even built a diorama of a room storing some of the crates. This could either be on the Death Star or aboard a Star Destroyer, since the white vertical lines are a defining characteristic of the Empire’s space brutalism. Tim’s iconic greenling takes a minimal approach here, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. It enhances the mechanical nature of this cold room somewhere in the coldness of space…

Check out more of Tim’s builds here!

It’s a pirate’s life for me down by ‘arr-bour

You might have missed it, but last Sunday was that silliest of holidays, Talk Like a Pirate Day. And to celebrate the occasion, Nick Sweetman built the local LEGO pirate hangout, the Skull and Crossbones Bar & Grill. The cutaway design is ingenious for giving you a feel for the building while letting you see all the piratey action, mostly consisting of lots of drinking and carousing—which seems about right. My favorite thing about this scene, though, is the multitude of pirates wearing that classic blue pirate coat. Often builders try to carefully make sure all the minifigures in a scene are uniquely dressed, but this somehow seems perfect to me for how LEGO pirates would dress and I absolutely love it.

We Arrr Family Talk Like A Pirate Day Build

This is what it sounds like when doves cry

Prince is, of course, a music legend who left us too soon. However, he’s also notable for totally nailing his passport photo. I mean, DAMN! How can he look that good? Who doesn’t resemble a crazed maniac in their passport photos? Speaking of crazed maniacs, Paul Hetherington is one of the most talented LEGO artists we know. On the stage of his newest creation, we have the inimitable Prince and the Revolution, but flanking them are Majesty and Divinity, Prince’s beloved doves. This piece also includes Prince’s signature purple piano, firepole, and bathtub.

LEGO Prince and the Revolution

A closer look at the band members and we see a striking resemblance to Wendy and Lisa, Doctor Fink, BobbyZ, and Brownmark, all of which were carefully crafted from existing LEGO minifigure parts. If you’re looking at Prince and thinking whoa, hang on there Sonny Jim, what is going on here? Well, he is a custom-made figure by Citizen Brick and features Crazy Arms made by Crazy Bricks. Us LEGO people get by with a little help from our friends which, I’m aware, is completely the wrong band and song reference.

LEGO Prince and the Revolution

If you’re loving this and are totally jonesing for all things Paul, then we got you covered. If, by chance, you want to know what it sounds like when a TBB writer cries, then remind me to show you my passport photo. Oy, what was I thinking with that face? Like a burst sofa!