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.

The birthplace of the European rebirth

A builder that goes by the name Classical Bricks (Timothy Shortell) would probably find it challenging to choose a more appropriate theme to build in – there are few things more Classical than the Renaissance in western culture, which Timothy is a part of. His creation, built for the Time Isles collaboration at BrickCon, represents Florence, the birthplace of the Renaissance.

The scene is bursting with the style and characteristics of the depicted time and place; the buildings are packed tightly to give an impression of an old city, but the buildings themselves are obviously screaming Renaissance too. Arches, ornate decoration and colours show us a rich city that was instrumental in bringing western culture to where it is today.

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LEGO Space builders take over the moon [Interview]

This year’s season of LEGO shows in the UK saw a massive collaborative moonbase display, from some of the UK’s best-known and most talented builders. The model was absolutely enormous, 2.5m square, featuring a huge tower and multiple compartments. It was built with more than 50,000 bricks…

The moonbase plays host to an impressive collection of landing pads, with Neo-Classic spaceships and rovers of all shapes and sizes…

But below the lunar surface, there is even more action going on, with dozens of cutaway compartments and corridors, stuffed with lighting effects, motorised elements, and cool building techniques…

Brothers Brick caught up with Jason Briscoe, one of the collaboration’s organisers, to find out more…
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A harsh but satisfying life in the village of Avalon

Four young builders join forces to bring us this extensive medieval village diorama. While I often complain about lack of variety in top-end castle-themed LEGO builds, there is a very bright side to this; if I had not known this creation was a collaboration, I would never have figured it out. The main image is hosted by Timothy Shortell, but the others involved are Micah the fire-breathing hobbit, Mountain hobbit and Cole Blood.

There are many details to see all over the diorama; the market has many interesting elemets, houses are all exceptionally done with interesting textures and angles everywhere, and the plant life facilitates the time and place where this diorama is set up – dried grass, autumn leaves and pine trees show us a cold but habitable place.

Volvo – they’re blocky but they’re good

70s Sweden. What do you think of? If you didn’t say ABBA, there’s something wrong with you. But here’s a fabulous LEGO diorama from LegoJalex which manages to capture the era perfectly without a hint of the Scandi-SuperTroupers. We’ve got an excellent orange Volvo 242 in the driveway, but for me, it’s the surrounding scenery and attention to detail which make this model pop. I love the textures of the different walls, the use of forced perspective to create the buildings and factories in the distance, and the little touches like the pail and the abandoned football in the grass.

The car itself is a smart model in its own right, well worth a closer look…

Motorised LEGO version of Ken Block’s Gymkhana 7

Custom car enthusiasts will surely recognize this LEGO scene by Primož Mlakar from Ken Block’s Gymkhana 7: Wild in the Streets of Los Angeles. The diorama has 20,000 bricks, almost half of which are the grille tiles on the walls and roof of the workshop. I was privileged enough to see this creation in person at my local LEGO club’s display, Kockefest, a few weeks ago and can confirm it looks even more impressive “in the brick”.

The cars were built in LEGO’s Speed Racers style and the diorama scaled accordingly. Primož has polished the model to perfection, despite having to meet the deadline — a feeling well known amongst convention-going LEGO fans. The buildings look realistic with just enough details to hold your attention, but not to be overwhelming. The cars themselves are excellent, with all the right curves and proportions, allowed by their slightly larger scale, as opposed to the more limiting minifig scale.

Best of all, the scene integrates Power Functions motorised elements, allowing the vehicles to spin some donuts…

Smell the adventure in the jungle air!

There are many LEGO fans who grew up in the late nineties and at the start of the new millenium, a time marked by one very unique LEGO theme: Adventurers. To me (and I believe many share this opinion), Adventurers seemed like one of those broad themes like space, castle or pirates, that just seems natural and should be present in one way or another. With this in mind, there seems to be a strange lack of Adventurers creations online. Recently, this silence was momentarily broken by Joshua Brooks with his Diamond Falls diorama.

I was drawn to the diorama’s theme and the official Adventurers logo in the top right corner of the picture. More experienced builders will notice that the waterfall and the cliffs, which represents a large portion of the build, are somewhat simple in their design, but that is more than made up for by the boat, the overgrowth and the ruins hidden beneath it. The build has a story written in the description, which more curious and adventurous readers might be interested in.

What does Marcellus Wallace look like?

“Say what again. I dare you. I double-dare you mister falcon.”

tablizm has used LEGO to capture the infamous scene from Pulp Fiction where Jules and Vincent demand the return of Marcellus Wallace’s briefcase. Poor Brett doesn’t look happy, probably because Jules just took a big bite out of his burger. All together now: “The path of the minifig is beset on all sides by the infinity of sorting and the terror of standing on a brick. And you will know my name is Lord Business when I lay my instructions upon thee..”

Deep in the forest, in a hidden place...

The LEGO Elves theme has some of the most unique sets of recent years, but we rarely see any custom creations inspired by this official theme. There are exceptions, of course, and the exception we are looking at today is Sean Mayo‘s Fairy Tree House. This build was set on display in the LEGO House’s Masterpiece Gallery, which may shed some light on the choice of theme. Indeed, if I had to choose builders to showcase their work in the LEGO House, Sean Mayo would be very near the top of the list.

The focal point is obviously the tree with a quaint little house at the top, both crafted masterfully. The surrounding deserves some attention too; the overgrowth is exploding with imagination (The ferns are made out of grill tiles!) and the rocks, while simplistic in technique, work really well – it really shows how a top builder can make any technique look good. My favourite part is the little boat, though. There are so many curves all over that give it a whimsical and organic look.

Building forts in the clouds has never been so productive

Floating islands are a popular motive in LEGO, most often coupled with steampunk or similar themes. Andrew JN goes just a little bit back in (alternate) time with this colonial themed floating rock. The scene represents a heavily guarded prison fort and a flying ship. While the ship does not look especially like a floating one, it is unique enough that it does not look out of place in the sky. The prison actually looks so nice, it makes me want to commit some heinous acts of piracy in the skies.

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.

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.