Untitled Document
 
Fallout

Post-Apoc Street Diorama

Minifigures below created using custom decals (stickers). Some accessories by Brickarms, Brickforge, and BrickWarriors.
Decals and Brickarms accessories available in the Saber-Scorpion's Lair Shop (my website)! Be sure to check 'em out! Thanks!

Click any image below to enlarge!

Howdy there, wasteland wanderers! Now, before we start, why not put on some fitting background music, to set the mood for our little journey?

First, please allow me to indulge in bit of Fallout history:

Way back in 1988, a company called Interplay released a game called Wasteland. This was the actual birth of the Fallout series, because later, when the developers of Wasteland wanted to create a sequel, they no longer had the rights to the Wasteland franchise and had to start a new one. Can you guess what that was? Yup, Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game, which inherited many ideas from Wasteland. The original Fallout was published in 1997, also by Interplay. A year later, in 1998, they published Fallout 2.

After that, everything fell apart. In 2001, Interplay was bought out by a bigger company, who shifted their focus to console gaming instead of PC, creating the much-hated shoot-em-up action-RPG Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel in 2004 for the Playstation 2 and Xbox. The founder of Interplay, Brian Fargo, soon left the company. In 2003, Interplay shut down Black Isle Studios, the division of Interplay that had developed Fallout 2 and many other classic RPGs. The version of Fallout 3 that Black Isle had been developing (dubbed "Project Van Buren" in its eary days) was cancelled.

In 2007, as Interplay struggled with bankruptcy, they sold the rights to Fallout to Bethesda Softworks. In 2009, Bethesda published the first major Fallout title in over a decade: Fallout 3, which shifted the perspective to a first-person shooter running on a variation of the same Gamebryo engine that Bethesda used for the Elder Scrolls games. A multiplatform release with a much broader appeal, Fallout 3 disappointed many old-school Fallout fans but also created a LOT more new ones.

Things started to swing back around in 2010, when Bethesda allowed Obsidian Entertainment (which was founded by many of the original Fallout developers from Black Isle Studios) to develop a new Fallout game using their engine. The result was Fallout New Vegas - a game with more emphasis on role-playing than Fallout 3, and multiple endings based on your actions throughout the wasteland. It looked and played like Fallout 3, but felt more like the world of the older, classic Fallout games.

And now things are starting to come full circle, as Brian Fargo, the founder of Interplay and producer of the original Fallout, is working on a crowd-funded sequel to the game that started it all: Wasteland. Funded directly by the fans, with no big publishing company holding the reins, Wasteland 2 promises to be the old-school "Fallout" game that fans have been waiting for. You can bet I'm on board. In fact, look for my name somewhere in the "special thanks" section of the credits.

Okay, enough rambling. Thanks for humoring me! On to the LEGO creation...

This little diorama was built as a tribute to all of the Fallout games. As such, it's not set in any particular time or place in the Fallout universe. So forgive the anachronisms as I play fast and loose with canon. It's just a tribute piece.

I wish I had been able to put more detailing on the exterior of the two buildings, but I was a little rushed near the end to finish this, so most of the detail work went into the interiors instead. Maybe I'll revisit it later and add more exterior details...

The wandering Vault Dweller of Fallout 1 walks through the streets of a post-nuclear city with his trusty canine companion, Dogmeat. On the sidewalk behind him stand a doctor from the Followers of the Apocalypse and a... working girl.

Always avoid dark alleys in the post-apocalyptic metropolis. You never know what might be lurking there. The cowgirl here is based on my Fallout New Vegas protagonist, a gun-slinging female courier. Behind her, a ghoul hobo begs for some caps from passing smoothskins.

The back of the diorama. The interior of the tan building here is mostly inspired by Fallout New Vegas. It's inhabited by the Kings and the NCR, newly allied through the hard work of the Courier.

The grey building, on the other hand, has become infested with psychotic, chem-addicted raiders... except for the fallout shelter at the bottom, which is home to a hidden Brotherhood of Steel outpost. In the sewers below lurks a feral ghoul.

A wasteland merchant sells some pre-war goods to a gambler on his way to the New Vegas strip, while a former vault dweller lady munches on some mystery meat. Mole rat, perhaps? Or Iguana on a Stick?

Note the decals on the caps. Thanks, LEGO, for finally coming out with a round 1x1 tile!

The interior sans-minifigs. Note the safe on the wall. Requires 50 Lockpicking.

The Kings and the NCR. The Kings are the gang that protect the New Vegas Freeside, operating out of an old "School of Impersonation". They dress up like the King himself. Ironically (and unfortunately), no Elvis songs are actually featured in New Vegas. You'll just have to add those yourself. "Bright light city gonna set my soul, gonna set my soul on fire..."

The New California Republic (NCR) was first introduced in Fallout 2, and also appears in New Vegas. They seek to restore a United States style government to the wasteland, but unlike the twisted Enclave, they have mostly benevolent intentions... even if their methods are a bit crude and inept at times.

An NCR veteran Ranger watches over the streets through the scope of his anti-materiel rifle. The Fallout faction called the Desert Rangers are a reference to the faction of the same name in the 1988 game Wasteland, the predecessor to Fallout.

I had fun on the decal detailing in this diorama. I know some LEGO builders frown upon the use of decals, but, well... call it my own particular style, I guess.

Alternate ending: the Courier sides with Caesar's Legion. That's what an RPG is supposed to be all about, my friends: playing a role, making choices, and living with the consequences.

Caesar's Legion was originally concieved for Black Isle's version of Fallout 3 ("Project Van Buren") that was cancelled when Interplay shut them down. The former employees of Black Isle in Obsidian Entertainment finally got a chance to feature the Legion in a game when they made Fallout New Vegas.

Like the NCR, Caesar's Legion wishes to bring law and order to the wasteland. But their version is far more extreme, based on the ways of the ancient Roman Empire. They conquer wasteland tribes, assimilate them into the Legion, and violently purge the criminals and "profligates" through extreme methods of execution, including crucifixion... or force them into slavery.

Sure, they're evil. But they're damn cool villains, in my opinion. But being a History major with a concentration on ancient and medieval times, I'm probably biased.

The Brotherhood of Steel are a reclusive group dedicated to the preservation of pre-war knowledge and technology, which they hoard to keep it out of the hands of the ignorant wastelanders. Their ways have changed over time and as their influence spreads, however. With their big, iconic suits of power armor, they're the poster faction of the Fallout games.

A Brotherhood scribe works on a computer terminal, with a Vault Boy bobblehead on the desk nearby. The bobblehead is a LEGO microfig from the LEGO board games, with custom decals.

Raiders are gangs of nefarious killers who pillage and murder as a means to survive in the wasteland, Mad Max style. In Fallout 1 and 2, they're mostly members of various gangs like the Jackals, Khans, and Vipers. Fallout 3 turned them into over-the-top psycopaths with corpses dangling from meathooks on the cieling in their hideouts. Which was a bit ridiculous, in my opinion. In New Vegas, the only raiders who share this brand of insanity are the Fiends, who are madly addicted to various chems.

Ridiculous or not, the psychopathic raiders are pretty fun to recreate in LEGO. This one's got a Ripper, a meat cleaver, and a whole head full of Psycho and brain damage!

And finally, last but not least, the final room in my vignette... a re-creation of the very first room you ever see in the world of Fallout. I sure hope you know the one I'm talking about!

Maybe... maybe... maybe...

A few shots of the delapidated car. The dark orange parts are meant to be rust. You'll be hard pressed to find a working vehicle in the world of Fallout. Fallout 2 had a Chryslus Motors Highwayman that could be repaired and used by the player to 'fast-travel,' which was a cool alternative to the simple click system of Fallout 3 and New Vegas. But then, the original Fallout games actually spanned MUCH larger areas of land than the new ones.

For more pics of the minifigures in this diorama, visit the LEGO Fallout section of my site.
All minifigs created using custom decals (stickers). Some accessories by Brickarms, Brickforge, and BrickWarriors.
Decals and Brickarms accessories available in the Saber-Scorpion's Lair Shop (my website)! Be sure to check 'em out! Thanks!

 

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