A little photo editing has been used to great effect in this bustling scene by legomeee, making the saxophonist stand out against the washed out surroundings. It creates the feeling that the busker is bringing vibrancy and color to an otherwise drab and dour market scene. The builder has chosen the perfect expression for the musician’s face as he plays his sax, and the motion blur of the people in the foreground helps complete the illusion of a lively flea market.
This week we headed up to our great neighbor to the north to track down Tim Schwalfenberg. Tim lives in Canada, is 21 years old and is currently studying Materials Engineering at his local university. He also likes to publicly smash his LEGO builds too, but more about that later.
TBB: Hi Tim! Can you tell us a little about yourself and your relationship with the Brick?
Tim: Sure! I have found LEGO to be a great creative outlet when I need a break from all my calculus or physics courses. While I’ve been building almost as long as I can remember, it wasn’t until my first year of university that I started to look at LEGO with the intention of making anything beyond the rainbow-warrior spaceships of my earlier years. Through a combination of some inspiring creations I stumbled upon through MOCpages and finding myself with too much free time on my hands, I decided that to try out this LEGO thing more seriously. Thousands of pieces and hundreds of creations later the LEGO hobby has become an incredibly important part of my life. The itch to build has become a constant companion that is easily rewarded by long hours tinkering away on a table-scrap covered table.
I’m fairly sure this LEGO “Martian Outpost” is a human outpost on Mars rather than a place for Martians to hang out. The dark orange-red environment in this diorama by KW Vauban certainly looks like Mars to me, and there’s a lot of action despite the microscale size of the build. Centrally, a railed transport vehicle approaches a shelter — suggesting we are seeing only a small portion of a much larger habitat. My favourite part? The sliding doors closing behind the ‘space saucer’ that has just left an underground area. I want to peek inside those doors to see what’s down below!
There’s a whole story in this microscale diorama, but the builder hasn’t given us any extra information — just this smart little snapshot in time.
For the final round of The Tourney medieval building contest on MOCpages, W. Navarre has given his all in this intense diorama. Whether you like the controlled chaos or not, it is impossible to deny the intricacy and detail at work here. An epic fight of the last two competitors ensues as the Forsaken Abyss mine burns beneath them. One can almost hear those cliched words: “You are going down… Or both of us are going down!”
At first sight I thought this build was a recreation of the climax action scene from the Mask of Zorro film – and I was only halfway wrong. It was indeed inspired by it, although the builder adds that he has in fact never actually seen the movie.
A Pokemon trainer from northeast Ohio named Adrian Drake recently took a break from sneaking up on squirtles and evolving his eevees. What did he do with his spare time? He built the Niantic logo out of LEGO bricks, of course!
If you’ve played any Ingress or Pokemon Go (and seriously, who hasn’t?), you’ll probably recognize this hot air balloon that also kinda looks like an atom carrying a ship. But even if you don’t recognize the Niantic logo, you have to admit Adrian’s 3D LEGO version is pretty sweet.
The Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the late 1700s and saw a shift from manufacturing within people’s homes, using hand tools or basic machines, to powered machinery, factories, and mass production. Factories and steam locomotives were signature developments of the times. Toltomeja has used both of these icons of the industrial revolution in his LEGO diorama. There’s a large factory with tall chimneys emitting clouds of smoke (the part used is the cloth spider’s net) and a steam train loaded with coal. The bridge and the factory are very nicely put together, but it was the brick-built lettering and the little horses and carts that really caught my eye.
The steam locomotive is cleverly built at this scale, using a telephone handset as the coupling rod connecting the drive wheels, while a few treasure chests become the open wagons containing coal.
Is this encampment the last bastion of humanity in a world gone awry? Or are there other holdouts, lone refuges for the few who still know friend from foe. I suspect the inhabitants of this outpost created by Lego Master don’t know, but they’ll keep on fighting against the undead hoards no matter what.
Click to see more of this huge zombie apocalypse diorama
Even though this oriental bazaar creation by Scottish builder Colin Parry uses LEGO pieces introduced as recently as 2016, there is a strange 2008-like essence to it. Maybe it’s the use of all yellow minifigs (flesh tones have been more predominant in recent years) and amongst them many older head prints. Or maybe it’s how clean the design is, as opposed to more contemporary high-detail castle building trends. Whatever it is, I like it and I think it’s important that we do not get so wound up in progress as to forget how much more there is to be done in styles that fell out of fashion years ago.
While there is much to love in the architecture and other details like the boat or canvases, the real star of the show is probably the minifig action. Minifig posing is an art most people ignore when making dioramas, but it can be the difference between a good scene and an amazing one. After all, what is a diorama without life?
Whatever planet this is on, the atmosphere doesn’t appear breathable to all humanoids. The creative choices Kingdomviewbricks has made to inject life into this marvelous display are ingenious. The beautiful lighting creates a Blade Runner-esque quality while giving the city a cleaner, more clinical feeling. Curved LEGO tubing adds a subtle natural, almost organic quality, all combining to create the intriguing futuristic atmosphere. Finally, the speeder’s simple design and elegant shape are excellent and the speeder’s blurred motion effect looks quite natural, blending in perfectly with the rest of the scene.
A year ago, we featured a series of autobiographical builds from Dave Kaleta. He’s recently shared the next step in his story, which he states took 6 months to create. Given that the next chapter in his story involves a small child in a crib, 6 months seems perfectly reasonable!
There are some great things in this scene: mom’s posture flipping on the light, and the perfect fetal position of dad on the floor. I think the 1×2 brick with the technic hole is inspired use for what I imagine is a chatty, energetic toddler. The Batman and Robin minifigs as toys are perfect at this scale!
There’s something calming, peaceful, and haunting about a shipwreck. It’s knowing that it’s untouchable at the deepest depths of the ocean, where no one can touch the remains of the ship. Built by TBB contributor Luka Vodnik, this is a sombre ship, mesmerizing us with contrasting details and a story we may never know. Smooth tiles form the body of the ship’s hull, with studded elements creating barnacles. Luka has named the ill-fated vessel Lemuria, leaving her tales with Davy Jones at the bottom of the sea.
The relationship between Batman and The Joker has been the source of countless LEGO creations, not to mention the main theme of the recent LEGO Batman Movie. However, we don’t often see large-scale interpretations of where it all began, the confrontation between Batman and the leader of the Red Hood Gang at Gotham’s Ace Chemical Plant — as depicted in the classic graphic novel The Killing Joke. Once again Tim Lydy proves he’s a master of LEGO Batman creations, following up on his wonderful large-scale figures with this brilliant diorama.
I love what Tim’s done with the chemical tanks — their contents look suitably toxic. And the level of detail and greebling creates a fantastic impression of a working plant, full of pipes and valves and gauges. As soon as I saw the Red Hood figure in the Batman Collectible Minifig range, I knew someone would have a go at this scene. I’m just glad it was Tim — he’s certainly done it justice.