Brickonium. A brief history.
Brickonium. A brief history.
Diorama by Muriel. @muriel.afol.2021
Brickonium is a planet inhabited by species from all over the universe, watched over by a big brother system called Defender, an extensive network of bots scattered everywhere. Brickonium synthesises a toxic green lava product of the planet's own core, whose value lies in being a great space fuel, hence its great attraction. Crime, bounty hunters and resistance are present at all times.
With this idea in mind I wanted to make this diorama using 16x32 MILS modules and let myself go.
I have to say that I don't consider myself a good builder, I have everything to learn. If anything, I have just a little imagination. The diorama is based on a dystopian world, an aesthetic mix between Matt Groening's Futurama and other cyberpunk/dystopian worlds but without taking any specific image reference, film, anime, etc., just letting my imagination run free. My intention has been to capture a bit of this idea as well as to learn by practicing some simple techniques that I had written down and that I hadn't put into practice, such as building walls and some greebling. Of course all inspired by amazing builders, Instagram, Flickr, Youtube and the internet in general are an inexhaustible source of inspiration for an AFOL.
Overview of the diorama.
Defender, big brother is always watching you.
The user "The Lego Theory" told me on Eurobricks that Brickonium reminded him of something from Life on Mars, so I looked it up and indeed, the idea of the name and the fuel was not as original as I thought. Maybe my subconscious assimilated it from that LEGO line back in the day and I had forgotten all about it. In 20 years some things are forgotten. Thanks for the note ;).
The diorama features a variety of situations, from bounty hunters to people coming out of the ever-open nightclubs, a PizzaPlanet - sound familiar?, a parcel post office, Japanese restaurants, a petrol station, a robot repair shop, and of course a few homes. The space is so coveted that the flats are tiny, but not without the necessities. At the back of the MOC is a river of toxic lava and a small refinery station. This is where the coveted fuel is synthesised. There are refineries scattered all over the planet. They are very efficient and cheap, and they are small. However, acquiring the fuel off-planet is very expensive. Brickonium is outside the outer rim and therefore far away from the centre of the galaxy where this type of fuel is scarce. The refinery plants are always guarded by speeder police and also by a defender who at the same time guards the adjacent streets. Such surveillance does not prevent groups from raiding the refinery and making off with a few coveted barrels.
Bounty hunter.
Group of thieves.
Express parcels in the background.
Various flats.
Details of the gas station.
The fun of building with total freedom has been a fantastic journey. Ultimately, the idea behind this creation is to enjoy imagining and building just as I did as a child with a pencil and a blank piece of paper. The LEGO system is wide and infinite in all its "AFOL" variants, because building with bricks is not only about reflecting the reality that surrounds us, it is not only about collecting sets or minifigures, it is also about forgetting all critical and logical rules and letting ourselves go, meeting again with the child inside us, feeding it and letting it feed us. All this and much more is what we AFOLS get from building with bricks.
Let this humble post serve as a thank you to the AFOLS community of the planet for such a good time showing us their constructions.
More information about the MILS system can be found at: http://www.abellon.net/MILS/
To see some more pictures of the diorama you can visit https://www.flickr.com/photos/muriel_lego/
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