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.

Fearsome flora feeds on foolish astronauts

If you will insist on picking flowers on alien worlds, at the very least you should check they’re not the offspring of some larger carnivorous plant. That’s Paddy Bricksplitter‘s advice — as depicted in this great little scene. An unsuspecting pink-clad astronaut skips through an excellent alien landscape, seemingly oblivious to the floral horror her pruning has awakened. The giant flower beastie is a cracker — all spikes and teeth and sinister tongue-stamen thing. I love the use of balloon panels as petals, and the ring of teeth at the top is nicely done. The purple rocks add a wonderful splash of otherworldly colour to the backdrop.

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Real paths have curves

In a world where it seems as if a castle builder’s merit is measured in part by their best stone and timber medieval cottage, it is not hard to imagine that the motif has been perfected over the years. Though it is nearly impossible to invent anything new, builders like David Zambito still manage to bring something fresh to the table.

It is no surprise that I will point out the sloping path as ingenious and unique. It is so simple and effective that the real surprise is the fact we haven’t seen such paths everywhere! But I should not ignore the patchy snow on the frozen pond, achieved by combining clear and white slope pieces, or the stone walls on the cottage. What really brings the creation together is the smoothly flowing snow, made out of an assortment of curved slope pieces.

Defend the fortress from the dragons, with full hardness

A thick stone wall is all well and good, but how does that help when what you’re up against has huge fangs, breathes fire, and can fly? Michael K. addresses this dilemma in this large-scale castle siege diorama titled expressively, “With Full Hardness”.

The scene is quite moody, using mainly dark colours, focusing on dark green. Even darker than the colour pallet is the theme, a vicious battle that the builder depicts quite explicitly, sparing no blood in the shape of translucent red parts. The best part of the build has to be the dragons, all posed and placed so they convey as much sense of motion and story as they can.

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown

Light is everything in this atmospheric creation by Henjin Quilones. Young Queen Ylspeth has gathered her council to her palace to seek advice. The photograph centres in on the young monarch’s concentrated face, leaving her advisors suggestively out of focus.

Using a glowing orange laptop screen to create a sense of torchlight emanating from the left of the room, and a desk lamp to imitate glaring sunlight to the right, gives the model a genuine sense of place. It also metaphorically frames the difficult choices the Queen must make: the two statues behind her, one holding a sword the other a key, reinforcing the motif.

Awesome 8-foot-long LEGO Indiana Jones diorama recreates Raiders of the Lost Ark intro [Video]

After wowing us with an amazing collaborative diorama of Cloud City, builder Caleb Watson has turned his skills to another classic Harrison Ford franchise, Indiana Jones. In this huge diorama, Indy runs through all the perils from the opening sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark as he escapes the temple with the idol. But this diorama holds a secret: it’s completely motorized, with minifigure Indy actually dodging each of the traps.

Check out this video of the action as Indy makes his way through the temple, and then read about the details of how it works below.

Learn more about this model below

Enter the fanciest crossroad in the kingdom

Magical swirls, bright colours, and mysterious runes might impress you in this portal hub scene by LEGO builder Chris Perron, but with a bit of thought you realize it is just a glorified crossroad, which seems as magical to us as cars would to someone using a portal transport system.

There is so much to love in the scene. The swirling, colourful portals are highlighted in post-production to give an immersive magical feeling. The green runes on the floor add a bit of mystery, along with the eye symbols and other decoration on the walls. The real star is the forced perspective castle in the central, blue portal and how it is lit in beautiful sunset colours.

Arise, arise, Riders of Théoden!

LEGO castle scenes are generally static pieces of landscape with some kinds of structures or a little sprinkle of life in the form of a handful of minifigs. This is a tested formula that works best in most examples, but the latest scene by h2brick is not one of them. The builder faithfully recreates a piece of the battle of Minas Tirith from the third Lord of the Rings movie.

The landscaping is nice to look at with flowing layers and colours, as well as some well built yet subtle rocks. One would expect the LEGO horse to start feeling repetitive, but the variation between colours, mold types and posing keeps it fresh. The touches of clutter on both sides give a feeling of an anxious anticipation of battle.

TBB cover photo for December 2018: The quickest way to the top

For December’s TBB social media cover image, alanboar is taking us back to the turn of the last century in Hong Kong, where the Taikoo Ropeway spans the mountainside in Hong Kong. In use from 1891-1932, the aerial ropeway (also called the Mount Parker Cable Car) provided quick transportation from the docks and sugar refinery to apartments on the mountain’s slopes. Alanboar’s rendition is an artistic representation all decked out in the white of snow, backed by the apartments and elegant steep-pinnacled peaks with clouds punctuating the sky.

Want to see your own LEGO creation featured across TBB social media for a month? Then read the submission guidelines and send us your photo today. Photos that do not meet the submission guidelines will not be considered, and will be removed from the group.

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Do you feel lucky cyberpunk? Well, do you?

William Gibson’s seminal sci-fi novel Neuromancer helped set the cyberpunk standard for urban cityscapes with its depiction of The Sprawl — a vast built-up area stretching the full length of the Eastern Seaboard of the US. Whilst Didier Burtin doesn’t mention Neuromancer with regards his latest model, this microscale LEGO creation immediately made me think of Gibson’s work. The architecture and the presence of some small-scale aerial vehicles also brings to mind Syd Mead’s vision of the cities of the future from Blade Runner. Whatever your particular favourite flavour of cyberpunk, you’re sure to find something you like in this model…

The city is gloriously detailed, rewarding a closer look with a wealth of textured detail, the product of smart parts choices and interesting combinations. Too often futuristic LEGO cities offer a homogenous architecture, but this offers a rich variety of building style, looking like it evolved over time in a messy clash of planning, business, and everyday living — much as a real world city does.

The model is all the more impressive for its tight footprint. All the glorious details in the images above are found within a small square of construction — a great advertisement for the effectiveness of microscale building in being able to conjure up epic vistas…

Same house, different times

When you’ve designed something as beautiful as Ayrlego‘s Wainwright house, it seems a shame not to experiment with its presentation. It looks right at home in its medieval situ, with its muddy path, city guards, and period timber frame construction.

However, why stop here? Relocate the build half way around the globe to Jamestown in Virginia and you have a completely different enviroment to explore. LEGO palm trees and red coat soldiers have surrounded the timber frame residence, giving the model a fresh colonial feel.

Bizarre crowd gathers in the bazaar

There are a wealth of details worth checking out in Andreas Lenander‘s latest LEGO creation — a busy marketplace in a Middle-East-inspired fantasy city — not least its unusual inhabitants. The city walls feature some nice little touches to break up the expanse of tan, and the detailing around the arch is spot-on. The towers provide a nice backdrop to the action, and the white one has some lovely texturing which delivers the impression of mosaics or elaborate carved screens. Below, the market itself is brimming with people and animals, creating a sense of activity and movement. You can’t look at this without finding yourself waiting on a big fight breaking out!

There are a huge variety of minifigures amidst the hustle and bustle of the marketplace. The mixing of figures from different LEGO themes can sometimes jar, but here it simply adds to the sense of a wider fantasy world and the bazaar as a melting pot of cultures and races…

Voyaging begins when one burns one’s boats, adventures begin with a shipwreck

If your LEGO pirate ship crashes on the rocks, what do you do? Easy, rebuild! Travis Brickle has embraced this idea, skilfully repurposing the recognisable aspects of his vessel into a makeshift cottage on its own remote island. It’s a ramshackle affair with the hull doubling as roof replete with dormers; I love the turtle shell fix to one of these. The mast stands tall as a look out post, I assume to scour the horizon for rescue. A ship’s wheel hangs above the door, a reminder of past maritime glory. Yet, even when a pirate’s shipwrecked, you can’t take the buccaneer out of the man: there are sailors still to walk the plank, treasure to plunder, and rum aplenty to be swilled.