LEGO Torii Gate Microscale Diorama
This has been a collaborative work with Kukuru, who was my Japan expert for this project. She tasked me with creating a Japan themed diorama with a torii gate [1] for her, and provided useful feedback throughout the process. This is also the first diorama I ever did.
And speaking of first things, I'm trying my luck at LEGO Ideas too! If this gets selected, it could potentially become an official LEGO product! I don't know if it will succeed, but this is very exciting nonetheless! If you'd like to help, go to the link below, and vote for my submission!
The set features the titular torii gate [1] in a sakura garden, along with some typical Japanese stone lanterns. I figured I should go for microscale, because I wanted something small that you can put on your desk without it taking up all the space, similarly to the Succulents collection (10309).
Fun fact, that the tiny figure was only an afterthought. I just realized it exists, and it was just the perfect size, and it really helps selling the scale of the diorama. Unfortunately, they only come in single colors, so I just chose the one that was common enough and looked the least bad. Of course, painting it is always an option. Also, in an official LEGO set they can have printed patterns, so if it becomes one then we could get some cool Japanese mini-minifigures, similar to the tiny astronauts (90398pb008) from the NASA Apollo Saturn V (92176) set. Personally, I would imagine a person wearing kimono, in one of the traditional colors.
Building instructions
No need to wait for LEGO Ideas to select it, you can download the building instructions right now from here in PDF format!
I also uploaded it to Bricklink Studio Gallery! They only accept the Studio file, no PDF, and you can't download that either, but you can browse the building steps online, with rotatable 3D models.