Tag Archives: Dioramas

There’s nothing like a massive LEGO diorama to prove that you’ve arrived as a LEGO builder. The LEGO dioramas we feature here span everything from realistic medieval castles to scenes from World War II, and more than a few post-apocalyptic wastelands.

Try not to B2EMO on Rix Road

Big screen Star Wars adventures might lean heavily into swooshable LEGO-ready ships and alien vistas, but Andor emphasized sides of that galaxy far, far away that feel uncannily grounded and close to home. Abe Fortier (Hypolite Bricks) has been recreating those gritty, lived-in spaces with vignettes from every episode of the series’ first season, and his latest – a tribute to the uprising on Ferrix – movingly captures the spark of revolution from the finale. A digitally added projection of Maarva Andor looms large over the tense scene, but look closely and you’ll see that she also appears in brick-built form as… a brick, as per Ferrix traditions, the remains of local heroes are “bricked” into funerary stones. Bricks feature heavily in Abe’s creation, which uses no less than five colors of masonry bricks to recreate the earthy tones of Rix Road.

Andor Finale | Uprising on Rix Road Ferrix

See more of Cassian’s exploits in LEGO form below

A pop of colour set against a dreary WWII sea

Some months ago (well, over a year ago now), PelLego Bricks built a model of a Schnellboot S-100 – a German marine craft from the Second World War. Now, this was – and still is – a mighty impressive model, with some fantastic shaping. But they’ve gone one better and built an entire Norwegian harbour to go with it! The last time we featured this builder’s work, we commented on the excellent use of the humble LEGO tile. But while there it was on serene, flat water, PelLego has somehow manipulated the same parts into a darker, much more dynamic sea. The effect is terrific! Boat and water take centre stage, but the background has a nice contrast of colour thanks to some autumn foliage and the red wooden buildings, so typical of these Northern climes.

Johnny Thunder and the Plunderers of the Misplaced Coffer

An intrepid adventurer in a wide-brimmed hat enters a desert temple containing Anubis statues, with a sinister rival in tow. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? What? Indiana who now?! No, we’re referring to Ben Cossy‘s latest masterpiece! It depicts the Adventurers heroes of yesteryear – Johnny Thunder, Pippin Reed, and Dr Kilroy Lightning – in hot pursuit of their erstwhile antagonists, Baron von Barron and Sam Sinister. You can see why they were drawn to this structure. The massive Anubis statue at the back, framed by that broken ring, is striking! It’s almost Stargate-esque – a testament to Ben’s architectural skills. As for Johnny Thunder, it’s a good thing he has that torch in hand. There’s always the possibility of snakes…

Temple of Anubis

A portion of medieval village that has us eager for more

We see a lot of enormous collaborative LEGO dioramas here on TBB, albeit often through the individual modules that make them up. At first glance, this serene windmill scene by Sandro Damiano might seem like one such module. There are some conspicuous holes to connect to other parts of the diorama, and after all, it is referred to as “Module #2”. But the only person Sandro is collaborating with on this particular project is… Himself! He has taken on the construction of an entire medieval village. This section is already pretty big, so this could end up being very impressive once finished!

Medieval bridge and water mill

Not only that – if the other modules are as well-built as this one (and with Sandro’s skill, there’s no reason to doubt they will be), it could be pretty stunning too. Take a look at the river flowing over the weir here, for instance. Using trans-light-blue cockpit is the perfect way to capture the movement of the water! We can’t wait to see more, Sandro…

Medieval bridge and water mill

The Home of Wisdom was built on wise parts usage

In looking upon Simon Schweyer’s elegant LEGO Home of Wisdom, I feel smarter already. Simon goes on to tell us that this home’s occupant Futuros couldn’t sleep. He found no inner peace. After reading philosophical books, he simply couldn’t turn off his thoughts. What really existed? And what was just imagination? And why did anything exist, rather than nothing? That is surely some lofty stuff to be thinking about as you try to sleep. You know what keeps me up at night? Getting that song My neck, my back stuck in my head and also wondering if there’s beer on the sun. Cleary I could use a bit of philosophy and wisdom from a stay in this stunning home.

Home of Wisdom

As if that isn’t brilliant enough, the place is lit at night and I don’t mean two 40s of Malt Liquor kind of lit.

Home of Wisdom

“Snakes! Why did it have to be snakes?”

Ah, the Well of Souls. A location so synonymous with Indiana Jones, it’s one of the few that has been represented more than once in an official LEGO set. OK, it’ only been twice so far, but still, they were both neat. Unfortunately, they’ve both been outdone somewhat by Cube Brick‘s brilliant cross-sectional diorama! They’ve raided their collection of snakes to immortalise one of the most iconic scenes in the franchise.

Indiana Jones and the Well of Souls

There is more to see from this diorama – click here to take a closer look!

Reeks and Nexus and Acklays, oh my!

Despite being on the brink of its 25th birthday, somehow there are still locations and sets that haven’t been made into LEGO Star Wars sets. One that I’ve seen a lot of requests for recently is the Geonosian arena from Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Well, The Minikit Guy has had enough of waiting! He’s taken matters into his own hands and crafted a small section of this enormous arena. The stadium architecture is nice enough on its own, broken up with some nice texturing, and I like the way the balcony has been made with curved slopes. But the monsters are well worth a look too! You’ve got the cat-like Nexus; the rhinoceros-inspired Reek; and my personal favourite, the spidery Acklay. And look closely behind the Acklay – you might spot The Minikit Guy’s namesake hidden away in the walls!

UCS Petranaki / Geonosian Arena (Minifigure Scale)

This LEGO temple to the Minotaur is no bull

While this Minoan temple may seem simple at first glance, there is quite a lot going on in this scene by BrickiboT. Inspired by the architecture of archaeological sites like the Minoan palace at Knossos on Crete, the angled pattern along the roof is made from carefully arranged sideways plates and brackets. A small noodle bowl acts as the perfect accent. The plates and rounded plates in two colors, along with a variety of textured bricks gives the front of the temple a weathered look.

Rogue Odyssey-Minoan Temple

The rocky landscape, dotted with plants and vines is a good blend of straight and curved slopes, and even the small beach is filled with details, like the group of hermit crabs, and the head of an elephant disguised as a rock. The angled sides of the small boat are attached with handlebars fit into the undersides of rounded plates with holes. Well done!

Read on to see more details

Donuts, donuts, LEGO blocks, and a LEGO Block

There are two types of people in this world when it comes to donuts: those who think of round sugary things, and those who picture squealing tires and a very sideways car. And for the latter, chances are the person performing them in your mind’s eye is Ken Block, who sadly left us earlier this year. Clemens Schneider has paid tribute to a true icon of motorsport in the best way possible: with full steering lock, foot to the floor, and a massive plume of tire smoke!

Donuts - Ken Block drifts around Randy's Donut-Shop

The keen-eyed among you will notice something odd about those tyre tracks. They hide a very different kind of track, but it’s one that gives this diorama an awesome party trick. This isn’t a moment frozen in time – Ken’s LEGO Hoonicorn Mustang actually performs donuts!

Cactus makes perfect

I love a bit of meta in a LEGO build. Eli Willsea is taking part in Iron Builder, where the challenge is to use the watering can piece in new and unusual ways. Now a watering can is a tool to help keep your plants alive. So Eli has used it to bring a plant to life in brick form! But why not go further? Why not choose a plant that is famous for not needing a lot of water, like a cactus? Now we’ve got a hint of irony involved too! Pretty much all that’s missing now is a good pun. What to do for that, I wonder…

The Cactus Caretakers

Enjoying the fruits of one’s labour

After a long day’s work, some people might like to reward themselves with a drink of, er, grape juice. But sometimes, making the grape juice is the long day’s work! This is the lesson Martin Gebert‘s LEGO diorama teaches us. Partly, that is down to its content as it depicts how wine was made back in Antiquity. The grapes are picked, then crushed, then the juice is transferred to a storehouse to ferment into wine. But it’s also a lesson in teamwork. There’s a small team of minifigures at work here, and indeed Martin is part of a team himself! This diorama is part of an enormous collaboration that appeared at Bricking Bavaria, in Germany, last week. And although we can’t taste the wine (or grape juice) made here, we can still enjoy the fruits of Martin’s labour!

A Fruitful Epoch

Winter is coming? No, winter is already here!

For some, this time of year is closely associated with falling leaves, scarves and things being suddenly pumpkin-flavoured for a few weeks. But for those of us in the more Northerly latitudes, autumn is already starting to look like Michał Kozłowski‘s wintry scene. In fact, as I type this, there are two inches of snow forecast in a few days, and muggins here still haven’t changed over to winter tyres. How did they manage that in medieval LEGO villages? Do you think they had horsecarts with studded wheels? Or did the horses just have to look for the studs to lock themselves in? You’d have to hope your builder hasn’t exclusively used slopes and tiles to model their snow.

Winter in the Raven's Wharf_E8