Tag Archives: Vignettes

Vignettes are like the haiku of the LEGO world. Usually built on a base 8 studs wide by 8 studs deep, vignettes show a little scene or a moment in time. But like written poetry, there’s plenty of variation on the basic theme.

Harassing your local LEGO farm

Ciamosław Ciamek today brings us simple but very effective, with a small “Barnstomer” plane rudely flying low on a farmer’s land. Take a few seconds to look at this build. There are no complex techniques nor an overwhelming amount of parts — it’s just the right amount of bricks used in the right places.

What I also love about this build is the small scale of the plane. It’s absolutely minute, and there was some cheating done with the build. I assume the minifig head is just stuck on a brick, or one of the 2X2 driver’s bodies that have a minifig head peg. They were popular with the Drome Racers theme in the early 2000’s, and it’s a good way to simulate a full minifig in a small space. Also check out this alternate view, which shows off more of the plane.

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Panda ex machina

If we’re all puppets, who is pulling the strings? Cole Blaq presents an interesting answer in a fun little cyberpunk vignette. We should’ve known all along Duplo martial artist pandas were behind everything.

LEGO looks great, even when it’s garbage

Life is a mess. Look anywhere and you’re sure to see clutter, trash, and other signs of waste. This is a fact builders can easily forget when aiming to create a lifelike scene, but it’s certainly not the case with this pile of garbage by David Guedes:

If you’ve ever been down an alley of any major city on the planet, then this is going to be a familiar scene. The busted toilet, piles of cardboard boxes, newspapers and other assorted trash capture a common though rarely highlighted aspect of the inner city. It’s this attention to detail which can really bring a LEGO city scene to life. Heck, I’d go so far as to say this garbage looks rather attractive. The real stuff, well, not so much.

Happy Pancake Day!

UK based builder Nick Sweetman has created a fantastic build for Pancake Day (also known as Shrove Tuesday). My new favorite LEGO creature – the lobster – is helping himself to a bottle of something from the sink as the Chef and his new apprentice create delicious floor pancakes for the annual holiday. But I guess you should expect floor pancakes when you hire a butcher to operate the frying pan!

All we need is a bit of wind to grind the grain

Windmills have been utilising the energy of the wind power to automate tasks such as water pumping of grain grinding since 500-900 A.D. in Persia. This LEGO windmill by Issac S was inspired by some of the windmills seen in the video game Skyrim and was built for the 2017 Brickstory contest in the Early Middle Age category. The textured stone base of the windmill contrasts nicely with the wood and lighter stone central section and inspired use of the upturned barrel is the cherry on top.

The model features working windmill blades and a grindstone that are simultaneously operated by a crank on the back of the windmill. Issac has shared a video of this feature in action.

If you want to read more about the landscaping and, in particular, the tree seen in the left hand corner of this build, Issac has shared a tutorial. Originally this technique was used by Joeri Riddler and Issac has unpacked the design to allow others to develop the technique.

A bit of LEGO love

It’s Valentine’s today, and what better way to celebrate than with a bit of LEGO love, in the form of a an over-eager minifigure Cupid shooting heart tiles at random passersby?

The custom prints in this model are terrific, from the emotive expressions on the figures to the little hearts tiles. Interestingly, the Fabuland and Rebrick torsos are original.

Star Wars: Uncertain Ways – an original LEGO Star Wars vignette series

We have featured Ordo‘s work before with his recording studio and RWBY diorama, but until now we hadn’t featured any of the builder’s brilliant original Star Wars vignettes. In the scene below — the fourteenth in Ordo’s series — a beautifully constructed background creates the perfect staging for a great action-packed scene on the back of the seriously listing speeder. With its bonnet stripes made from minifig seats, wind shields made from sunroof visors sitting in hinge pieces and lovely natural looking effect of the flaming engine, it is truly the star of this vignette. But the masterstroke is the unseen fate of the smoking abandoned speeder bike plowing into a wall at 400 mph somewhere left purely to the imagination.

Click the photo to see the builder’s backstory for the scene, and check out some of Ordo’s other episodes below.

The scenes are beautiful, the story is compelling, and I really want to know what happens next! Read all fourteen episodes yourself in Ordo’s photostream.

Rollin’ on a Hot Rod on Route 66

This little road trip has got lots of details going on by Thomas W. First of all, you can’t miss the Hot Rod that’s built to perfection. I love the subtle details like uneven, worn-out road and the Route 66 sign that’s about to tumble over. The details of the flora and fauna are great too—in case you missed the perched vulture. The exposed LEGO studs make for natural detailing on the saguaro, too.

Back to a time when LEGO meant wooden tractors

LEGO wasn’t always about plastic bricks. Back in 1932, Ole Kirk Kristiansen, a master carpenter and joiner, establishes his business in the village of Billund, Denmark. Ole’s firm manufactures stepladders, ironing boards, stools and wooden toys. By the early 1950s, LEGO was producing not just wooden toys; plastic toys account for half of the company’s output. The older wooden toys remain in circulation today, often as rare or collector items depending on their condition. Bailey Fullarton has used an apt mix of an original wooden LEGO tractor from the late 1940s/early 1950s and the plastic parts we all know and love to show off the vintage toy.

The LEGO Group’s many wooden and plastic products from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s took inspiration from social change and technological progress. In the early 1950s, the LEGO Group set up production of a Ferguson tractor in plastic. A range of implements is also available for the new toy tractor, including a cultivator and a plough, for hitching on the back of the tractor. These implements fit not only the plastic Ferguson tractor, but also the wooden tractors that are also part of the LEGO^® products at the time. The collection below shows the same tractor as Bailey used bit in better condition and with some of the accessories for working the land.

I personally prefer Bailey’s worn tractor with its played with, nostalgic feel. I get the impression the tractor has had a hard life as a toy and now it is resting by the creek, enjoying the peace and quiet of retirement.

Vignettes from How I Met Your Mother

How I Met Your Mother, for those of you who don’t know, is a romantic comedy about 6 friends and their everyday stories told from Ted’s viewpoint. The entire premise (surprise!) is Ted telling his kids the story of how he met their mother. It took him 9 seasons finish telling that story! It kept viewers guessing who was Ted’s wife all along. Builder Sascha is clearly a huge fan, and he’s built a series of vignettes from a few key scenes that fans should love and remember.

That famous yellow umbrella in the final episode

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Microscale LEGO model evokes the indie game Journey with just a few pieces

The adventures of Master Chief and Marcus Fenix I get as an Xbox player are great and all, but it’s becoming clear I’m missing out on great games on PlayStation like The Last of Us and Journey. Mel F. shows love for the critically acclaimed indie title Journey in a vignette full of clever parts usage. Unikitty tails in tan and the arms of the chicken suit minifigure show the flow of a sandstorm, and a dark red minifigure fan as the playable robed character also evokes movement.

Forge your legend in Destiny’s Old Russia

Like many Destiny players, I have spent many hours grinding out XP slaying Fallen in Old Russia’s Cosmodrome. Without even reading the title of this build from Nick Della Mora, I knew it was specifically The Divide region of the Cosmodrome. That particular group of buildings are recognizable, as many Dregs and Shanks have been sniped from atop them.

But for me, the highlight of the build is the Fallen Walker. It is not only accurate in its aesthetics; it waddles like the one in game, and the head slides out, exposing and illuminating the weak spot. Watch these functions, and an overview of the whole scene, in the following video.