I really enjoyed BioShock Infinite
Imagine has also included lots of action closer to the floating platform that I’m having trouble calling “ground,” with Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth running away from Songbird while the twins stand by and Vox Populi round the corner.
Thanks for the tip, Jordan!
I was on the fence for a while about whether or not to blog the latest effort from Helsinki, Finland’s Cpt. Brick. When I first looked at the thumbnail in a group-pool, the giant spooky Scarecrow-face drew me in for a closer look. Upon closer inspection, the rest of the model didn’t seem complex enough and the fingers of the Scarecrow in particular (above the hypodermic needles) seemed a little rough for the lofty quality expectations here at TBB. Over the course of the weekend a funny thing happened, the model started to grow on me and I went back for a second and third look. The final thing that tipped me over was the sheer number of ‘favorites’ and the volume of enthusiastic comments.
I’m blathering on about myself here because our selection process must seem a mystery to many of our readers, and I don’t have anything particularly clever to say about this diorama. Its spooky.
Brian Williams delivers a stunning rendition of the warehouse scene from Indiana Jones. It took me a while to realize there were mirrors used to create the illusion of depth, for the actual diorama is much smaller. If you spend more time taking a closer look, you might find some good laughs in the crate labels.
My homeboy from Florida, Mike Yoder (M.R.Yoder) has been on a roll lately, building like a tweaker locked in a room with uncut product and plenty of LEGO. Yoder’s latest project has nothing to do with epic microscale spaceships or mecha hiding in barns. Instead Yoder takes us back to the “War of Nothern Aggression” as some in the southern portion of this country like to call it. The setting is incidental though; the real star of this diorama is the meticulous and dare I say original landscaping.
This display is part of a collaborative effort Mike is hoping to bring to Brickfair VA in August, his first convention. Unfortunately, unless Mike can find a like-minded soul to split hotel expenses with, it won’t happen. Mike is a good guy, so if you’re headed to the convention anyay, why not save a few bucks and help get this diorama to Virginia? Hit Yoder up on Flickrmail if you’re interested in helping.
I know you are all going to say, “Stick a Megablok in your pie hole Tromas!” But I simply must beat this dead horse: Our community is rather fantastic!!
Case in point Simon Liu’s (Si-MOCs) Operation Oscar: Phase 1. Simon built this large scene to honour a few of his favourite builders, those that inspired and influenced him. Simon left it up to us, the viewers, to recognize who those builders are, but it is rather obvious just who the guilty parties are…all of which are TBB regulars; Fedde (Karf), Peter Reid, and of course our own resident DJ, The Goldman (or as I like to affectionately refer to him, Gold Member).
Now it must be pointed out that Gold Member’s influence on Simon’s build is quite prominent, as the general layout of the launch base is straight out of his ‘Gypsy Queens, you are clear to launch’…a hit single that Keith debuted 2 weeks ago. Now if I have learned anything from my time spent kickin’ it with Gold-Member in the TBB club house, it is that despite his epic awesomeness, he is not one to toot his own horn. So I am more than happy to cut into his weekend air time and toot his horn in his stead. So here it, the world debut of ‘Gypsy Queens, you are clear to launch’:
![Gypsy Queens, you are clear to launch! [2/7]](https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/media.brothers-brick.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/8833005988_5a18f70d79.jpg)
Now, back to the brilliance of the community…not only is Simon’s creation inspired by his favourite builders, but Keith’s build was a direct result of a few more of our regulars, Stijn (Red Spacecat) & Mike Yoder. I’ll just let Keith explain the story in his own words:
Almost two years ago I was fortunate enough to receive the generous gift of a MATSF-5000E Superbanshee II SE from Stijn. To make things all the more strange, the package was sent through middleman Yoder. Although I was stoked to receive such a swooshable fighter, I was a little burned out of building dioramas for starfighters. Over the course of the last couple of years I’ve attempted 3 relatively large scale dioramas, including a cruder version of what you see here. The models failed for various reasons, but mostly because I was struggling with the scale. While I have tried microscale before, it was never on such a large scale and I found it very difficult to grind out the small details that make everything come to life without the trusty minifig to guide me.
The model also includes Stijn’s recent M28-Pig in the pen, as it were, in the lower left hand corner.
So cheers Stijn! I hope it was worth the wait.
So what is the moral of this story you ask?
Don’t think for a second that just because oceans and continents separate us, that we can’t still get together to play LEGO!
Also, please be sure to check out the full set of pictures for both of these brilliant creations, there are simply too many details to pass up:
SPOILER ALERT! If you have not seen the latest episode of Game of Thrones, don’t look or read any further…
diegoboy brings one of the more infamous scenes of George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones series to life with his take on the “The Red Wedding”. The builder does a great job focusing the somewhat chaotic action of the diorama and he certainly doesn’t skimp on the gore.
“Expect nothing of Walder Frey and you will never be surprised.”
Zemata gives us a look at the decidedly otherworldly: a creature from a planet where insects have the mastery. It’s a fantastically created diorama, with vivid colors and an interesting shape. Plus, it lights up.
Here’s a fun scene by Mattius Xavier. I always love a bit of good forced perspective in a model, plus I don’t see that old school dragon nearly enough. This is a very nicely composed shot, and shows what you can do without any fancy photography tools, and only a bit of clever building and skill.
The pedant in me is very happy that Karwik has, after many years, given me the designation of a rad ski-mobile (technically an aerosan) I built way back when. He’s also given all of us an absolutely excellent LEGO rendition of the NKL-26 which totally puts my older one to shame. And since you need to be freezing in your boots to use this thing, I promise not to complain about the 10C minimum on this Winter’s day…
Here’s Jonas’ (Legopard) take on Weathertop. I always enjoy seeing a fan’s version of a movie/book location that LEGO has already made into a set. For obvious reasons, it’s unfair to expect LEGO to produce a decently priced set that can match the complexity of what fans build, but nevertheless, it would have been fantastic if the official set had been anywhere near as cool as this one.
EDIT (AB): Yes, yes, we blogged this last week, too — but I like Chris’ contrast with the official set, so enjoy this one twice, at no extra cost to you!
David Hensel (Legonardo Davidy) is churning out creations this week, with at least six decent dioramas in as many days. First up is this great little scene. The mounted Wyvern is what really makes this one shine.
Also there’s this gorgeous mill scene.
Be sure to check out David’s photostream to see the rest of his beautiful dioramas.
Okay, just one more — I couldn’t pass up the beautiful landscaping in this scene by Gary the Procrastinator, who managed to finish his diorama well in advance of the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. Gary has depicted Col. Strong Vincent leading the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division of the V Corps of the Army of the Potomac in an overnight march to the decisive battle that would place the Union Army on the road to victory. Strong was mortally wounded defending Little Round Top during the battle.
Gary built this as part of a collaborative display for BrickFair Virginia this summer.