This crank-turned, rotating cylindrical work of art is more than just a visual masterpiece. Certain key elements of the scenes are elevated to trigger levers, which in turn play an organ. An organ that is playing the Star Wars theme! The four sets on the platform are scenes from Hoth, Tatooine, Naboo, and the surface of the Death Star.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5Lgcen-PGI

Most impressive! Aside from the fact that it is being used to promote a crappy, overworked prequel. Oh well, this thing is still quite possibly the best diorama anywhere, from anytime.

[via Geeks Are Sexy]

Each building has its own unique color scheme and architecture. Included is the Texaco station with cars, the movie theater playing Jaws 19, the 80s cafe and more. complete with people and futuristic cars. Even Biff Jr.’s gang and some hoverboards make an appearance.

Each building was made individually, then added to the larger diorama. I don’t want to know how many hours of watching Back to the Future II (and snapping bricks together) these took to make, but they are amazing to behold. It is amazing work. Check out more pics over on Flickr.

[via Brothers Brick via Geekosystem]

It’s inspired by the scene in Star Wars where Han, Luke, Leia, Chewie and the droids hastily escape onto the Falcon, and high-tail it out of the Death Star. The diorama and measures about 3’4″ by 3′, and is beautifully illuminated by about 50 LEDs. Some of the LEDs even blink in sequence, instead of just staying on all the time.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Dave says that he spent the last few weeks working on the LEDs and wiring in order to get the right look. All in all, it’s quite spectacular. It looks best at night. There’s even minifig Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker fighting with glowing lightsabers.

It took about six months and 10,500 LEGO bricks to build his diorama, and all told, Dave spent about €1,100 (~$1,489 USD) to complete this project.

[via Christian Jakob via DesignYouTrust]

Unfortunately I don’t have any details about the construction or the creators of these models. All I know is that they’re beautiful. If you’re in a hurry at least look at the Death Star pictures. I kind of like the clean and well-lit take on it. The hidden passengers of the partially constructed Star Destroyer are also neat touches.

If you have more information about who made these or how they were made, please share the info on the comments section. Meanwhile I urge you to check out the first source link below for more pics, including close ups of the landing pad and a TIE fighter repair scene.

[Gigazine (JP) via Geek Art Gallery via Swipelife via Design You Trust]

Each of the boxes has little plastic people inside of it – they’re about ¾ of an inch high – and a whole lot of different settings, from retro video games to other more esoteric vistas. I like how intricate each of the worlds is. You need to look closely to see all of the details, but I think that’s a mailman making deliveries in the Mushroom Kingdom.

Each box is unique and they sell for €100 to €250 ($142 to $356 USD) each. Gatz hails from Paris, France and if you’re interested, you should contact Gatz at boxstories(at)gmail(dot)com for pricing.

[via Olybop]

The beauty of this project is that if done right, you’ll be able to slide the pieces around on the board, because they’ll be held in place by magnets. So if you’re patient enough you can actually recreate an entire stage – or world, or the whole game, and then physically control Mario!

Check out Laboratory 424 for the full guide. Of course, if you’re not so keen on Mario you can always make a diorama using the many other papercraft templates available at Cubeecraft.

If it’s any consolation to Marle fans, these dioramas won’t X-Strike your wallet – you can get all four for just $40 (USD) at Entertainment Earth. So come on, sleepy head! Get up! You don’t want to get the ending where you don’t have these dioramas do you?

Keith’s Logan’s Run diorama includes many scenes from the movie. It’s kind of amazing to see this movie rendered so faithfully in LEGO bricks. It’s so good, it makes me want to see the movie again. Hello, Netflix.

The whole thing measures 4 × 8 feet and the walls are 26 inches high! It took Keith about 4 to 5 months to complete it. In total, it cost him exactly $200 to make, which is pretty good, considering the size of the thing.

Unbelievably, Keith has already begun to dismantle it. It’s a large diorama and no one seemed interested in keeping it on permanent display, which is a shame.

[The Brothers Brick via Make:]

This incredibly detailed Ghostbusters LEGO diorama features minifig versions of Venkman, Spengler, Stantz and Zeddmore putting their Proton Packs to use on their giant marshmallowy nemesis. Funny thing is, this isn’t the only Stay Puft LEGO diorama, as is evidenced by this photo taken at LEGOLAND in California several years back…

It’s a strange world we live in, no?

[via The World Wide Wonder via Laughing Squid]

This perfect likeness of  the sexy bikini-clad Leia strangling the life out of Jabba is available now as a handpainted polystone diorama. The 14.5″ (W) x 7.5″ (H) x 9″(D) sculpture is incredibly detailed, and if you squint real hard, you see that Leia is even strangling him with a tiny little chain.

Want one, head on over to Sideshow Collectibles, and whip out your credit card. Only 400 of this limited-edition collectible are being made, and they sell for $229.99 (USD).

It’ll look great on your desk next to your cute and cuddly Hello Kitty and Domokun collections.

The question is, which came first – this or the shirt? Unfortunately, the shirt is extinct already sold out.

[via Mikropikol]

I was cruising around checking out the finalists for the Washington Post’s annual Easter Peeps Diorama competition this morning, and came across this bit of Apple/Peeps humor by Sarah Kohari and Erin Mastrangelo – it’s Peep Chromatic. Be sure to check all forty finalists over at Peeps Show III and let us know your favorites.

It’s not all Lego bricks and minifigs, of course; some things had to be constructed by hand from other materials, like the tauntaun and the turrets, and I’m pretty sure there’s not a bacta tank playset. Though, really, there should be.

You can see the progression of the project at Flickr, along with a few lonely shots of what looks like another Star Wars project, though one inspired by the later trilogy. Nothing on the scale of Hoth, however, which is elaborate and enormous — with plenty of photos showing off the details, from the beginning until now.

What is it about Star Wars that inspires such incredible Lego creations? Whatever it is, keep ‘em coming, and check out the rest of the pictures from brickplumber’s diorama. There are tons, and they’re all worth a look.

[brickplumber at Flickr via HacknMod]

Tim Goddard (aka Roguebantha) created this amazingly detailed scene he calls “Rebel Attack”. The diorama envisions Rebel forces descending on a base known as “Mustaneer” and kicking some serious Imperial ass.

The display took about a year to put together, and measures about 30 by 50 inches, which works out to about 1:200th scale from actual size (assuming these things actually did exist).

I dare you to name all of the vehicles and weapons recreated in the scene.

You can check out Roguebantha’s complete photoset over on Flickr.

[via Brothers Brick]