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.

Massive collaborative LEGO project shows Vikings invading a Spanish village

Group LEGO building projects are a great way to create something much more impressive than what an individual builder might accomplish, and this recent collaboration between a group of builders called The Brickstons and several friends from the LEGO club ALE is a great example. Considering that there were 14 builders involved, the scene is very well designed, with carefully laid out building standards and many unifying design elements helping everything fit together. This isn’t their first experience with large displays though, and we highlighted their 1930s Harlem display last month.

The diorama portrays a Viking raid on the coast of Spain in approximately the year 859, a real historic event. The villa shown here isn’t any specific port, but rather an amalgamation of what a typical village in the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba would have looked like at the time.

See all the amazing details in the images below.

Check out more details

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A cottage lies deep in the forest

Builder Perterz doesn’t give a backstory for this weathered cottage surrounded by nature, but it makes me think of Sondheim’s musical Into the Woods with its lonely and slightly exaggerated look. The wide-ranging color palette encompasses pretty much every earth tone in LEGO’s catalog, and the multitude of flowers make the setting teem with life.

While none of the major techniques on display here are new, Perterz employs them excellently, from the highly textured roof to the tall tree made with olive green cheese slopes. I particularly love the detailed wooden door, with black minifigure hands as iron bands.

A dark, dingy, dangerous future awaits

Often LEGO Space models depict a bright and shiny future. Even when humanity might be threatened by aliens, or blasting ourselves to bits in starfighter duels, our brick-built future is usually one of primary colours and gleaming surfaces. Andreas Lenander offers us a very different vision with his latest creation — a dark and gritty scene of spacemen hard at work. The twin mechs are nicely done, particularly those fearsome-looking cutting claws, but it’s the presentation of the models — the lighting and surrounding clutter in the corridor — which elevates this beyond the usual LEGO sci-fi diorama.

The bear and the maiden fair: incredible LEGO diorama from Game of Thrones

The devil’s in the details of this remarkable LEGO creation by Barthezz Brick. Pulled straight from season three of Game of Thrones, this ramshackle pile of stones is Harrenhal, the cursed fortress that was once the largest castle in all of Westeros. Barthezz captured the eerie atmosphere of this ruin through the use of crumbling, mossy stonework, dilapidated wooden structures, and a muted color palette. The overall effect is magnificent.

Barthezz used approximately 20,000 bricks to recreate the scene where Brienne of Tarth is forced to fight a bear using only a fake wooden sword. Look closely and you’ll find countless wonderful details, like realistic trees and vines, House Bolton banners (featuring the flayed man), and even a mud-spattered Jamie Lannister (with his severed hand tied around his neck).

This LEGO Harrenhal looks great from all angles and the custom minifigures (complete with adorable, tiny fur capes) really bring this scene to life. Check out all the great details for yourself below.

See more pictures of this incredible castle

Confronted with an enemy from outer space

It’s always fun when we find builds that come with a little bit of a story. This scene, “Alliance Against the Invader,” by Jon Stead, is one of those builds. According to Jon, the year is 1178 and a medieval kingdom has been rocked by an object falling from the sky. A flaming saucer smashes into the forest and the alien invader it contains is ready to kill. Now it’s time for warring factions to come together to fight the beast and save the kingdom!

Click to see more of this war of worlds

Incredible, fully lit LEGO Batman Wayne Manor with huge Batcave underneath stands over 6 feet tall [Exclusive]

We’ve always known that Batman has it pretty sweet, with a huge mansion sitting atop a cave for all his toys. But this jaw-dropping creation by Brent Waller shows us the full extent of Batman’s lair, from the gorgeous gothic architecture of the Wayne Manor to the dark depths of the Batcave. Brent has given TBB an exclusive early look at all the details of this incredible creation, so let’s check it out.

Click to see more pictures and a video of the Manor and Batcave

Waves are stacking up

LEGO Pirates have been sailing the seas for nearly 30 years. We’ve seen any number of impressive pirate vessel creations in that time, but only a handful where the sea itself has taken a starring role in the presentation of the model. Jerome Kloou‘s pirate ship is a good example of the genre — an attractive colour scheme, smart cloth sails, stacked barrels used for the masts, and an impressive array of minifigures making up the scurvy crew. But the main attraction here is surely the rolling swell of the sea — fashioned from innumerable stacks of transparent blue 1×1 round pieces. Whilst this must have been a nightmare to put together, the effect is undoubtedly worth it — providing a visually striking and dynamic base for the model.

A fortified village with a seaside view

I imagine being a fisherman in the middle ages was a modest but good life–if you count out living out in the open, ready to be raided. Jako of Nerogue solves this problem for his fishermen with the fortifications around the village he built. This facilitates both a picturesque and also practical feeling about this whole diorama.

I love how the diorama really makes sense. The village is confined by the wooden walls, and nothing is left outside… Or maybe it was just all pillaged. Sadly there are not many pictures showing the fortification’s interior, but the outside is impressive enough on its own. The mixing of dark tan with exotic greens is very realistic and pleasant to look at, and the grass also hides some cleverly used clip pieces to simulate taller blades of grass. The whole diorama is brought together with a few splashes of brighter colours, like the regular green bushes and a bit of water in the back.

Beorn’s beautiful building built by bricks

A few years have passed from The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit hysteria that included an official LEGO theme, but many builders still find inspiration in Tolkien’s fantasy universe. Roanoke Handybuck is one of these builders and his latest creation is Beorn’s house. We can see the party of dwarves accompanied by the Grey Wizard and Bilbo Baggins meeting the master of the house.

The builder uses colours and their combinations to great advantage, especially mixing the dark tan and olive green, which seem to naturally fit together. Do not limit your attention only to the beautifully flowing roof, because the stonework of the house’s walls is quite impressive too, as is a plethora of details spread around the diorama.

The ruinous beauty of an earthquake captured in a huge LEGO diorama

At first glance, this ruined city may look a little like a classic post-apocalyptic zombie scenario (like the stunning scene from The Last of Us) but this build by Ralf Langer actually represents an apocalypse of a more realistic and consequentially more threatening type: a devastating earthquake. Admittedly though, the two are visually very similar, zombies and sci-fi gear aside.

The diorama is huge, but Ralf does not merely rely on size to impress. Instead, he makes textures and details so fine that they would make a tiny vignette worth drooling over, let alone a diorama with a surface that could fit a hundred such vignettes. The different angles at which many surfaces of the diorama are set give a very dynamic and organic feeling, and the builder has done it so well, it almost looks like it’s not LEGO. The colours used are perfect too, with various earth tones and realistic colours on the buildings.

Click to see some close-up pictures and a few techniques behind the builds!

Indiana Jones and the brick-built tank of brilliance

It’s one of the most famous action scenes in cinema — Indiana Jones taking on a fearsome tank, armed with little more than a rock. This unforgettable moment in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade is recreated brilliantly in LEGO by Joshua Brooks. The tank is wonderfully detailed, bedecked with equipment and cargo, and features nicely-sculpted gun sponsons. Also, don’t miss the added touch of brick-built clouds of dust kicked up at the rear of the tracks…

As Joshua puts it: “SPOILER ALERT — rock beats cannon”…

A beautiful killer

The Orca is the largest of the dolphin family, one of the planet’s top predators, and a majestic sight. Ken Ito has put together an excellent LEGO model of one of these amazing creatures breaching the surface. The model is nicely shaped, particularly those fins, and I like the restrained use of a custom sticker for the white facial marking. The upsurge of water around the orca’s flanks is well done, as is the spattering of white and trans-clear pieces — it creates a sense of movement, and of the rest of the creature’s bulk just beneath the surface. I’d love to have this oceanic treat on my desk at work.