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.

Mankind’s gift to the seas from which life arose

It’s easy for LEGO builders to focus on the happy, shiny world of little plastic people surrounded by fake plastic trees, but builder Emil Lidé doesn’t shy away from making a powerful statement with his latest LEGO creation. Did you know that every piece of plastic ever produced (yes, including all the ABS that LEGO is made from) will continue to exist indefinitely in the environment? That there is a floating patch of trash in the middle of the Pacific Ocean hundreds of thousands of square kilometers in size? Emil uses LEGO as a medium to remind us of the impact that our modern lives have on the planet we live on.

As much as I love the message that Emil’s creation conveys, it’s also an excellent LEGO build on its own merits. The tranquil beach scene above the water contrasts harshly with the waste beneath the waves, from the usual tires and barrels to bicycles and even a washing machine.

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Dancer’s disintegrator daydream

All she wants is some decent clothing and a less demeaning job. Or so says Aaron Van Cleave, the builder of this fun LEGO Star Wars scene. The iconic Jabba’s Palace setting from Episode VI is given an interesting twist here.

Die-hard LEGO purists avert your eyes — the dancer’s Palace outfit is made of cut netting, and Salacious Crumb’s eyes are cut stickers. But this creation doesn’t rely wholly on such techniques. While the white daydream side does not have much to it, the Jabba-side has many interesting layers, light tricks and editing. We may have seen Jabba and his lair done in LEGO before, but never so uniquely. This model sits in a strange limbo between being a faithful recreation of a movie scene and being something of its own.

We are all worms to the true tyrant of the sea

When you think it can’t get any worse, sometimes life likes to surprise you. Such is the case with this band of pirates as Dwalin Forkbeard tells us: The pirates have survived an unfortunate battle with an Imperial ship, only to be attacked by an ancient sea monster. They are doing everything they can to escape, going as far as blowing into the sail, but will that be enough? Judging by the skeleton on the animal’s back, they do not even have to be eaten to meet a tragic end.

While the textures are somewhat simple, the inner construction of the creature has to be impressive to achieve the smooth, rounded shaping. The segment on the back resembling a small island is a common theme with sea monsters, but I have never seen it done in LEGO before, and a conservative amount of seashells and other sea animals spread across the monster really gives it a realistic impression. While the whale (or is it a fish? Is it any of that, even?) is obviously the focal point and the best part of the build, its surroundings help, too — the raft is positioned so that it gives a feeling of action and the water spilling off the diorama looks just so dynamic.

Tyger Tyger, burning bright...

Possessed by the fever to follow the call of the wild, this magnificent tiger stops by the water to drink, or possibly to bathe as one of the few cats who actually likes water. Tigers are actually often portrayed in LEGO and we have even featured some in the past. There is something about the tiger that makes it ideal for a great builder to show off their skills — the shape itself is somewhat difficult to capture, but getting the colours right is a whole new level of difficulty. Simon NH did not let that discourage him and has created one of the best LEGO tigers I have seen so far.

The shape is achieved with plates and wedges set up at different angles and some exotic parts rounding off the edges. The fur on the chin and the rounding on the back are especially good. The cat itself is great, but Simon did not stop there. Any good tiger needs a good jungle to go along with it — and what a good jungle Simon has made! The plant life is unique and the ground colours and textures flow very nicely. But my favourite part, except for the build’s focal point — the tiger, obviously — is the water, which uses many colours we do not associate immediately with water in LEGO, but somehow it looks distinctly like it.

Is there an exo-suit in the house?

Nobody wants to be unwell, but if your temperature spikes or you break out in hives, then it’s time to visit the doctor. Andreas Lenander has created the kind of sick bay the average physician would dream of: Isolation beds to ensure disease doesn’t spread, a giant claw to transfer patients, and the latest in medical technology — the medical exosuit. The whole scene is full of great details for Neo-Classic Space fans. Although the exosuit and ‘claw’ are great, I really love all the little miscellaneous builds that complete the scene: ducts, vents, tubing, medical bottles, racks, and the little stasis beds.

The tunnels hold many secrets

These two adventurers seem to have come across quite an interesting structure – mysterious ancient catacombs. While in real life the dangers are limited to unstable ceilings and toxic mold, I expect a more fantastic fate to befall them if the builder, Forlorn Empire, continiues their story.

But for now, all that we know the catacombs contain are some amazing techniques and architectural details built from cheese slopes and masonry brick. The builder mixes different earth tones and careful lighting to create an immersive scene, and while the details and construction techniques definetely are the best part of the build, it is the composition in the photo that really brings it all together.

Every man is an island above an azure sea

John Donne wrote that “no man is an island”, but when it comes to LEGO creations, famous poets do not restrict your imagination. Ben Fitzsimmons has turned that saying around with his huge LEGO diorama depicting a multitude of islands each inhabited by wandering travellers. Each unique little island is a place for rest and trade above the expanse of dark azure ocean. This is a beautiful, fantastical build with a touch of steampunk. The islands are all full of creative buildings like the tall lighthouse on the far right, and nice landscaping such as the waterfall spilling back into the ocean and the colourful trees.

A closer look at one part of the diorama shows some of the fun details. I love the propeller-powered pack that one traveller is wearing to cruise between islands, while the use of the ‘hot air balloon part’ as a sail works well at this scale.

Ben’s diorama won the Steampunk category at Brickfair Virginia this year and I imagine the build was even more impressive to see in person.

All sorts of shady activities at the pirate’s harbor

Nothing valuable is safe from the hands of pirates in Mark van der Maarel’s harbor scene. The construction of each building, the movement of the water, and the scene populated with sketchy pirate operations are all well done without making the overall build appear busy.

The close-up of the alley showcases the subtle offsets to achieve the detailed features of the two buildings. The use of minifigure hands as clothespins, both in appearance and suspension of the tiles, is quite clever.

Drop feet first onto Requiem with the Master Chief

TRLegosfan shows some love for Halo 4 with a colorful diorama depicting the inner surface of the Shield World of Requiem. The aesthetic of the Forerunner world – tall, angular structures upon artificial landscape overgrown with alien vegetation – is shown beautifully in the bricks.

Don’t shatter the peace of this pool

Inspired by some of the submerged ruins found in Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Joseph Z. has made imaginative use of a pane of glass to create an excellent LEGO scene — a wandering traveller taking a moment’s rest by a tranquil pool. The ruined stonework is nicely put-together, with a depth of texture suggesting both weathering and antiquity, but it’s the use of dark grey below the waterline vs the lighter grey above which caught my eye. I also like the way the grass stalks placed under the water-lilies suggest the plants’ continuation beneath the surface — it ties the above and below-water elements together, making this more than simply two different models separated by the glass. Perhaps a fish or two wouldn’t have gone amiss, but that’s nitpicking at an otherwise lovely piece of work.

Bleak but beautiful

If I had to pick one element of the LEGO world where building styles and expectations have changed the most in the last few years, I’d suggest landscaping has seen the biggest transformation in techniques and general quality. The level of detail, clever brickwork, and creativity on display in a good piece of landscaping now is amazing. EdgelessAbyss provides a great example — a scene where the rockwork is the absolute star of the show. The restrained use of colour, the way the tumbledown ruins blend into the surrounding earth, the solitary figure — the elements all comes together to make a bleak and beautiful fantasy scene.

The builder says this was based on the style of the Dark Souls III and Berserk videogames. However, I’d love to see them use these techniques and styling on a version of Ahch-To, the Star Wars planet whose distinctive rocks and twisting stairs were filmed on the Irish island of Skellig Michael.

The sound of a thunderous charge in the dark forest

The prolific teenaged builder William Navarre is no stranger to realistic historical Japanese themes, but this latest creation of a company of samurai ambushing a camp of the emperor’s ashigaru is one of his best addditions to the series.

There is much to see in this full LEGO scene, from the minifig action that seems to express motion much better than one would expect of the somewhat motorically limited minifig, to the flags and the realistic ground texture. The background deserves discussion too; while the opinions on the trees’ textures may be variable, the textures do work for what they are supposed to. More importantly, you should not miss the most subtle, but also the most ingeniously simple part of the build: the angled black background with dark blue rays of light penetrating the treetops.