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.

Repair, refuel, reload — replete with awesomeness

Frequent readers will know that we at Brothers Brick love in-situ LEGO shots, with the background presentation also being brick-built. Here’s a fine example by Brazilian builder Gilcelio Chagas of a nifty mech being serviced in a hangar bay. I love that this mech’s design incorporates the huge cockpit windscreen from the Slave I to give the pilot a fantastic view of the battle, and the refueling ports on the wall made of 2x2x2 turntable bricks makes for a great detail. And of course, I can’t overlook the terrific use the upside-down baseplates for the cool textured floor.

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The force is with you, young Skywalker, but you are not a Jedi yet.

LEGO builder Andrew JN, whose excellent death of Obi-Wan Kenobi we featured a year ago, brings us this great rendition of one of the most tense scenes in all of Star Wars: the chilling first meeting of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back. Andrew says he worked hard to balance the lighting, so that the model captures the dark, foreboding aura of the scene, while still highlighting his fantastic work with the bricks. The great design of the carbon-freezing chamber is worth noting, built with unevenly stacked plates to form a semicircle.

A house for Mickey and Minnie-figs

David FNJ has built a lovely little vignette for Mickey and Minnie featuring a building which wouldn’t look out of place down on Main Street USA. The touches of pearl gold detailing and the blue and white bunting add a festive feel, and that “hidden Mickey” made with the black boat studs is a nice touch. Mickey and Minnie look like they’ve secured themselves a great spot for watching the parade…

Say hello to my little friend

What a line! Al Pacino delivers that famous line in the role of Tony Montana in the movie Scarface. Spanish builder Omar Ovalle has used the line as the title for his creation, preferring to use Technic figures and their bigger scale over the classic minifigure. Technic figures are capable of increased expression due to their articulations and pose-ability when compared to minifigures. This guy has plenty of attitude, holding his minigun (I’m guessing) and rounds. Is that a minigun? It’s pretty big with a few barrels? Do we have a weapons expert out there to help me?

Omar has also made other vignettes using Technic figures. We blogged his Star Wars Technic figures earlier this year, and I have to highlight my own particular favourite, ‘The Angry Groom’…

A good place to catch your breath — or have your breath catch

The dark primeval swamps of a fantasy world are always a place to be on your guard. They may be silent, too silent perhaps, but the heavy air laden with motes belies the danger of Tirrell Brown‘s bog. This great little vignette has some amazing fen flora made of classic LEGO bushes turned upside down and capped with 4×4 domes. The glowing Galaxy Squad alien eggs add to the mystery and otherworldliness of this everglade.

LEGO vignettes from CLUE the board game

Bust out your detective notebooks because it’s time to find out who killed Mr. Boddy! The list of suspects is long and the combination of rooms and murder weapons seemingly endless. Leah G built seven fantastic little LEGO vignettes based on the classic board game of who done it known as Clue. Each vignette depicts a possible murder scenario and tons of great details.

Who do you think could be responsible for such a heinous crime? Could Tim Curry be invovled somehow? I need to snoop around a bit more for clues before I’ll feel confident opening that secret envelope. Leah has narrowed the list of possibilities down to a few of the usual suspects.

See all the possible villains after the jump

Sometimes, the abyss stares back

This dragon model by Eero Okkomen has made me question how a LEGO creation can have so much personality. It proves an image can tell a story without an accompanying explanation — you don’t need to be told, you just know to fear and respect the summoned serpent.

I’ve always thought the Ninjago Morro Dragon set is a mine for amazing pieces, but I would have never in a thousand years have used the wings like this — awesome. And that face — so much expression with so few pieces. The smoke coming from the nostrils is just brilliant, and so are the electric moustaches. Overall, this model is an art piece, and I wouldn’t mind displaying it in my living room, like an ukiyo-e style sculpture.

When you gotta go, you gotta LE-GO

I suppose derjoe has just created another public space like a museum, library or cafe. But this is the first time that I’ve seen public toilets used as the theme for a LEGO ‘playset’. The builder has cleverly captured some of the common findings in a male public toilet block, such as urinals (and some pee ewwww), wash basin, toilet brushes, toilet rolls, and cisterns complete with their seats left up!

The playset is hinged and opens out to allow the paper towel dispenser and waste bin to be revealed. Thankfully the stalls all have their door closed in this view and the brown frog is not visible, although I find the fact that the toilet paper is placed the wrong way much more upsetting.

Overall, a quirky, fun build and I really like the colour scheme used, although it does not reflect the average public toilet here here in the UK. Also, for us females, a long queue of minifigures patiently waiting while the male toilets are empty would seem about right.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire recreated in LEGO, chapter by chapter

Thorsten Bonsch has been hard at work all month recreating scene after gorgeous scene from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in LEGO. Each build is packed with interesting details and clever building techniques. For example, the stone fireplace in Chapter 19 was assembled using 1×2 tiles connected by minifig hands. To see how he accomplished tricks like this and enjoy other behind-the-scenes photos, check out Thorsten’s Twitter page. All the finished scenes are also on Flickr.

And in case you missed them, here are similar LEGO versions of chapters from the first three Harry Potter books. Expecto patronum!

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by Marvel V.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by Markus Rollbuhler
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by Kevin Wollert

Here are some of our favorite scenes from this latest Goblet of Fire collection:

Click here to see more of our favorites

The untamable beast of the underworld

This mythical scene by Henry F. evokes cold dead lands, riven with streams of smoking rock, populated only by those too unlucky or too cursed to be elsewhere. Here, a mighty beast lurks, and a band of hellish warriors surrounds it, hoping to catch a prize? Or perhaps unwisely seeking to tame it. Whatever their intentions, I cannot think this will go well for them.

Look closely at the stonework, for it is masterfully done, with just the right amount of profile “brick” bricks sprinkled with other pieces to create a crumbling edifice. The uneven base, which doesn’t sit flat, also lends to this vignette’s otherworldliness.

Magnificent Maleficent makes a scene

Jme Wheeler has created a brilliant vignette featuring Maleficent and the fearsome dragon she transforms into at the end of Sleeping Beauty [ oops, spoiler alert! ]. I love everything about this scene — from the impressive billowing smoke effect, through the fabulous sculpting of the dragon’s neck and head, to the touches of gold on the base. But it’s the shaping and coloring of that dragon’s eye that makes the model for me — an instantly recognisable detail that’s perfectly-captured.

If you’ve ever seen the Phantasmic show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park then this model will instantly grab your attention. It reminded me of the massive version of Maleficent in full “dragon mode” which ends up rearing over the entire stadium. Great stuff.

Then & Now with Doris the aging minifig

TBB contributor Elspeth De Montes has been working on a fantastic series of scenes contrasting the life of a woman named Doris in 1966 and later in her life today, in 2016. Originally built for and published in Bricks magazine, Elspeth’s scenes are not only well-built LEGO creations, but also poignant and funny. She describes her Doris series thus: “On the left it is 1966 and she is a young vibrant lady in touch with the latest fashion, technology and trends. On the right, time has passed and it is 2016 and Doris has to cope with new technology, innovation and the changes in society.”

In Elspeth’s first scene, Doris happily tosses her rubbish out in 1966, but struggles to sort her recyclables in 2016. What impresses me most about this scene is how many LEGO trash cans in various colors Elspeth owns!

Click through to see all of Doris’s adventures through the years