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.

A wonder of the ancient world

Sometimes a unique color palette really makes a LEGO creation stand out. That is exactly what’s happened with jaapxaap‘s most recent build. And considering that scholars disagree on where and when the Hanging Gardens were built (and if they ever actually existed in the first place), no one can argue that the famous gardens weren’t surrounded by beautiful tile work in blues, white, and gold. My favorite details in this stunning build are the bas-relief animals sculpted into the walls and the SNOT (studs not on top) lintels.

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The most dangerous hunt: Cretaceous trophies

When building a LEGO collection, one often accumulates many special pieces – unique trinkets destined for greatness, or the closest special parts bin. What you may not know however is that these pieces are special to your minifigures too – special enough to hang in some short of ghoulish trophy room to be stared at with smokey-depressed-retirement eyes:

TBB mainstay Paddy Bricksplitter knows this, as does ‘Old Johnny’; together they created one viciously intriguing trophy room overflowing with story potential. And oh what a story it was! Clearly this time, it was the T-Rex who should have run!

Two ravens of the Nine Kingdoms

At first glance, this diorama by Austrian builder sanellukovic might appear to be a scene from Lord of the Rings, but it’s actually an original scene built for a LEGO Castle roleplaying game called Die Neun Reiche (the Nine Kingdoms) on the German-language site Imperium der Steine. One’s eye is certainly drawn to the excellent statues in the back, along with the brick-built pair of ravens, but my favorite details are the stone walkway leading to the paved area, with its missing paving stones.

A traveler’s rest at the Dunholm Taverna

Wochender, one of the team members over at The Brick Time, has built a couple of wonderful medieval buildings that would look beautiful in any setting, with their carved timber construction and stonework, but the trees and roads surrounding are what caught my eye.

Both buildings also have full interiors.

Click through to see the interiors

Tired and angry with the pressures of life

This diorama by Sad Brick is apparently simple…just a tire minding its own business, rolling along a road that cuts through the desert. For those who have not seen the French 2010 movie Rubber, this tire is called Robert and he is sentient. Robert has a few personality issues, perhaps related to being abandoned in the desert as a “young tire” and he soon teaches himself to kill. The violence starts to inflate and Robert goes on a bit of a killing spree using psychokinetic energy.

Sad Brick has used depth of field to good effect in this diorama, giving a sense of movement to ~~the tire~~ Robert. The setting is clearly the desert with the sand and the cute cactus add some colour. I especially like the simplicity of the railing and the hint of danger and death using the animals and skeletal remains.

Editor’s note: Our apologies to both the British author of the post and all our readers outside the U.S. for Americanising (see what I did there?) the spelling of “tyre.” Sadly perhaps, the tired pun (heh heh…) in the title just works better in “American.”

Taking control of the Sullust battlefield

Star Wars: Battlefront delivers plenty of nostalgia for Star Wars fans wanting to battle on familiar worlds of Tatooine, Hoth, and the forest moon of Endor. Interestingly, developers DICE also included the volcanic world of Sullust, which was home to Imperial bases and manufacturing complexes, and is my favorite battlefront in the game. Markus19840420 presents a diorama showing the three major scenery types you’ll find on Battlefront’s Sullust (obsidian and lava rivers, massive rocky cliffsides, and Imperial architecture) all blended together well. I especially like the integration of the bunker into the jagged cliff.

Is that Boba Fett on the overlook? The rebels are about to be wrecked. Fett is overpowered.

Niima Outpost on Jakku

Wookieewarrior spent several months building a minifigure-scale diorama of the Niima Outpost from Star Wars, complete with a massive model of the Millennium Falcon similar to LEGO’s UCS version. It was displayed at Bricking Bavaria 2015 where for his efforts the builder was awarded “ummmmm… one-quarter portion.”

In addition to the large Falcon, the diorama includes a highly detailed market.

Bringing Imperial order to the wretched hive of scum and villainy

Nikolai Mordan has built this awesome diorama of an Imperial base on Tatooine. It makes a fantastic backdrop for displaying LEGO’s UCS Imperial Shuttle, which looms ominously over the squads of stormtroopers and Imperial officers bringing the Imperial arm of order to the backwater oasis of Mos Eisley. I hope they find those droids they’re looking for.

Nikolai built this as part of a collaboration displayed at Wintercon, a Latvian geek convention.

See more photos after the jump

Incredible LEGO model of the Titanic breaking in half

Ryan McNaught is a professional LEGO model builder, and there’s absolutely no question about his building skills when he produces models like this or a life-sized Tardis. The breathtaking scene of the final moments of the Titantic show its stern lifted high in the air, the vessel splitting under its own weight before sinking over two miles to the sea floor. Supporting the significant weight of the ship’s stern through the thin connection in the ship’s keel is an incredible feat of LEGO engineering.

Click to see more photos of the sinking LEGO Titanic

Where water and earth meet

Water is quite fascinating, really. It has the power to create and destroy. It has carved the earth over the centuries to create the world we see today. It continues its slow work each and every day.

A bit philosophical for a Saturday morning, but for that, I look to Anu Pehrson who posted this absolutely lovely seaside village. With her build, she focused on how water interacts with stone to create arches and the curves of the coast, which she’s accomplished beautifully.

Medieval done right with Luke Hutchison

The Castle theme has a long history within the LEGO community, and builders all over the world have produced magnificent creations in every size, shape, and color. Luke Hutchinson (Derfel Cadarn) is one of the originators of the now-common “ramshackle” style, characterized by the odd angles and an organic approach to the scene. His beautiful creations inspired me to start building with LEGO and posting my creations online many years ago.

So, naturally I was very excited to see a glimpse of his latest creation in a teaser pic a few months back. He continues to improve his own building style, pushing his creations further and further, influencing many other builders in this theme.

We had a chance to talk to Luke more about his creation and his approach.

Minifig-scale Ewok Village

Have you ever thought about how tall the trees on Endor would be if they were scaled to minifigs? Check out KW Vauban‘s Ewok village with its gargantuan trees that rise over 3 feet; then head over to MOCpages for more photos on and see how many scenes from the movie you can spot.