Diorama Discussion: AOTC - Coruscant

[Tycho]

Thought I'd like to tell anyone who's interested a little about my hobby, and discuss it with those who do things similar. Some interesting tidbits of what characters we still need made, as well as who needs a resculpt, are brought up in the discussion, scene by scene.

This thread is about E2 dioramas based on events that took place on Coruscant.

I've actually got quite a lot planned. Unfortunately, space does not permit me to build ANY of these until I buy a large enough house. There I intend to have a "black room" that has all things metallic, synthetic, and would include dioramas from Coruscant to the Death Star and scenes on Imperial Star Destroyers, as well as hopefully, one day, a Star Destroyer ship/playset (way offscale, but functional) that I'll build like my Blockade Runner (whcih may or may not also end up in this room). I figure it is a good room to wire up my A/V system in and use as a home theater, since stereo components are also usually black, and it will blend in with black couches and everything. Well, that's the dream.

Now the scenes from Attack of the Clones that are specific to Coruscant that will go in there:

1) Landing Platform Assasination.

2 Naboo Royal Guards
Padme Pilot figure
Captain Typho
R2D2

I'd like a Corde figure (dressed as the Senator of course) and a green / white R2 unit that would serve as Captain Typho's astromech. Hopefully Hasbro will make this droid soon, as it also serves as Wedge Antilles' droid's colors, too I believe.

I doubt that Hasbro will make the Senator's starship for the 3 3/4" figures, nor do I want that in my scene (though I'd buy the toy and re-write my plans for this scene if they did, as it was an awesome ship).

I think I'll use a hanging window box and add in a background shot of a Naboo fighter on the landing platform and maybe some smouldering wreckage.

I plan on keeping the scene tight because it's mainly to exhibit my Padme Pilot figure which I appreciate a lot, and get Captain Typho a scene where he's not underscored by the Jedi stars or aliens or something. A Corde figure is not such a longshot, though I don't know if we'll get her as soon as 2004, or if she'll be a figure we struggle with like it's been a struggle to get Jan Dadonna. I certainly would see there being some complaints if Corde was made before many of Padme's still-missing outfit changes, however, Corde does obviously fit into a scene where most of the other figures already exist, and she'd do well to compliment them.

Anyone else interested in recreating this particular scene before I discuss a Palpatine's Office diorama?

[stillakid]

Originally posted by Tycho
Thought I'd like to tell anyone who's interested a little about my hobby, and discuss it with those who do things similar.

This thread is about E2 dioramas based on events that took place on Coruscant.

I've actually got quite a lot planned. Unfortunately, space does not permit me to build ANY of these until I buy a large enough house. There I intend to have a "black room" that has all things metallic, synthetic, and would include dioramas from Coruscant to the Death Star and scenes on Imperial Star Destroyers, as well as hopefully, one day, a Star Destroyer ship/playset (way offscale, but functional) that I'll build like my Blockade Runner (whcih may or may not also end up in this room). I figure it is a good room to wire up my A/V system in and use as a home theater, since stereo components are also usually black, and it will blend in with black couches and everything. Well, that's the dream.

Now the scenes from Attack of the Clones that are specific to Coruscant that will go in there:

1) Landing Platform Assasination.

2 Naboo Royal Guards
Padme Pilot figure
Captain Typho
R2D2

I'd like a Corde figure (dressed as the Senator of course) and a green / white R2 unit that would serve as Captain Typho's astromech. Hopefully Hasbro will make this droid soon, as it also serves as Wedge Antilles' droid's colors, too I believe.

I doubt that Hasbro will make the Senator's starship for the 3 3/4" figures, nor do I want that in my scene (though I'd buy the toy and re-write my plans for this scene if they did, as it was an awesome ship).

I think I'll use a hanging window box and add in a background shot of a Naboo fighter on the landing platform and maybe some smouldering wreckage.

I plan on keeping the scene tight because it's mainly to exhibit my Padme Pilot figure which I appreciate a lot, and get Captain Typho a scene where he's not underscored by the Jedi stars or aliens or something. A Corde figure is not such a longshot, though I don't know if we'll get her as soon as 2004, or if she'll be a figure we struggle with like it's been a struggle to get Jan Dadonna. I certainly would see there being some complaints if Corde was made before many of Padme's still-missing outfit changes, however, Corde does obviously fit into a scene where most of the other figures already exist, and she'd do well to compliment them.

Anyone else interested in recreating this particular scene before I discuss a Palpatine's Office diorama?

I like the assassination attempt scene. If it was me (and it isn't ) I'd probably buy a discounted starship from Episode I and "explode" it. Not with real stuff, just cut aways and other paint to A) disguise that it's the wrong ship and B) to have something there that I could rig small smokers into. Could be pretty cool.

[Tycho]

That is a cool idea if you have the room. My taste is to keep this scene small - probably wide enough for 2 dead guards, Padme to kneel over Corde with Typho behind her (weapon drawn), and R2 beside them, plus maybe the other "destroyed" astromech slightly set off from them.

Maybe 1 foot in length, by 4 inches deep, and 4 1/2 inches high. A plastics company here that works with plexiglass can make me the wall-hanging case for this for probably $30 or less. The background with the Naboo fighter I can just select and print from my DVD.

I think the scene was well-done, too. However I don't think it appeals to me to take up the space, nor destroy as cool of toy as I think the Royal Starship is. Finally, unless I can get a starship for under $30, the case is the final expense I want going into this. I could always be wrong and Hasbro could decide to produce the Senator's Starship (though that's more of a remote possibility) and I might want to undo this scene and readjust it to include that awesome ship, plus add up to 3 Naboo Fighters to the scene as well - expanding it out to a kitchen-table size scene.

However, I prefer to only have moments as crucial as the Arena Battle or the Sarlaac Pit expand out to dimensions like that.

While I plan to buy a house to hold all my scenes in as many rooms as possible (5 bedrooms/offices, garage, dining room, living room, home theater room, and hallways, plus maybe even a country kitchen included), I still will not have the room to designate the space for too many scenes of this size throughout the whole house.

I want each room to be functional for things I also want: an exercise room with a weight machine center, an office, guest bedrooms, and a rec room with a pool table. However, things like the Sarlaac battle with 2 skiffs and either a custom or Hasbro Sailbarge, will take the centerplace of a room so it can be viewed from all angles (figuring that access to most sailbarge customs I've seen is from a removed wall on one side that allows you to actually see Jabba). So what can I do with the average room with THAT in the center - same thing with 2 'kitchen-table-sized' arena battles going in another? (back to back - before and after the Clones attack - or 'one with the beasts still alive')

I figure it will be just my luck if I can get a weight machine with a bench press / leg extension machine, and an exercise bicycle in there in one end (far or near end is still a question), and then put in the table-sized diorama to fill up the rest.

You have to be very careful with how you use space (and real estate) with this hobby.

I try to keep as many scenes as possible to stay very small, because the major battles get large-scale treatment.

Stillakid, I think when you visited, you saw my space-measuring test-set for the Battle of Geonosis which I think will measure 6 feet long, by 2.5 feet wide and 4 feet tall. With the Republic Gunships (hanging in flight) to consider for this one, I need to keep other scenes in check and not allow them to grow beyond control.

[Tycho]

The above being said, the topic of this thread is scenes from Coruscant from Attack of the Clones.

Palpatine's Office is one I'm going to try to keep tightly in small proportions.

My main goal here is to display some particular very-scene specific figures I want made, including Chancellor Palpatine, Senator Amidala, and Bail Organa. Mas Ameddas is also a nice figure, and the scene allows a rare opportunity to show him off, as well as Sly Moore (if they make her).

The figures included are:

Yoda (E1 will do)
Mace Windu (sneak preview)
Ki Adi Mundi (E1)
Plo Koon (POTJ)
Chancellor Palpatine
2 Crimson Royal Guards (E2)
Mas Ameddas
Bail Organa (coming this fall!)
Orm Free Taa (Twi'lek Senator)
Shaaka (orange Twi'lek slave girl from Wattos Box Seats)

Aayla Secura (I figure her non-Jedi dress is to let her infiltrate, and perhaps she sometimes joins Ryloth's senator's entourage, while he has no idea she is a Jedi Knight)

Captain Typho (another chance to use his good figure)

JarJar Senator (really it should be another outfit, but I bought my 5 JarJar figures I'd be using before I realized the Gungan wears a different outfit until his Senate speech scene). So I think I'll just use the JarJars I already have, possibly swapping out one JarJar for another if a new figure is really cool, and if JarJar will don the same Senate outfit in Episode 3.

Some figures that I still hope to have made for this scene definitely include:

Senator Amidala - a singular cool key reason to make this scene in the first place - as well as to show Palpatine with the Jedi. (I did figure on one more scene to show off this Padme should they make her).

Sly Moore - she won the most-wanted Senate figure poll I did here on SSG when I offered up about 9 great (non-Separatist) choices. Boring by herself (and sure to be a peg-warmer like Mon Mothma), she's very cool and necessary to add to this scene.

Kit Fisto Resculpt
Luminara Resculpt
Bariss Resculpt

- all 3 of these Jedi belong in this scene, but I don't care for them to look like they're attacking something. The very Arena Battle-specific sculpts we got of these characters are very nice indeed, but still leave these characters lacking neutrally sculpted figures.
While Kit Fisto will supposedly have a Clone Wars figure, I would be pleasantly surprised if he were actually useful for a neutral scene. I read something about him swimming like the scene in Alien Resurrection being planned for the animated series, so I suspect a figure in the likes of Swimming JarJar to be done for Kit Fisto. We'll unfortunately end up needing a THIRD SCULPT of a non-speaking character! That in itself sucks, but what am I to do but support getting the sculpt of Kit that I need for my scene?

Palpatine's Office will stay as small as possible, but reasonably place all these figures in the scene, without crowding out an appreciator's view of any but my most common figures. The Chancellor's desk will likely be the only add-in I'll really pursue, and the backdrop might be part of the window, but I really need to capture the scene so that its from a side view so that Bail Organa or Padme's backs won't be turned to the viewer.

[stillakid]

Originally posted by Tycho
That is a cool idea if you have the room. My taste is to keep this scene small - probably wide enough for 2 dead guards, Padme to kneel over Corde with Typho behind her (weapon drawn), and R2 beside them, plus maybe the other "destroyed" astromech slightly set off from them.

Maybe 1 foot in length, by 4 inches deep, and 4 1/2 inches high. A plastics company here that works with plexiglass can make me the wall-hanging case for this for probably $30 or less. The background with the Naboo fighter I can just select and print from my DVD.

I think the scene was well-done, too. However I don't think it appeals to me to take up the space, nor destroy as cool of toy as I think the Royal Starship is. Finally, unless I can get a starship for under $30, the case is the final expense I want going into this. I could always be wrong and Hasbro could decide to produce the Senator's Starship (though that's more of a remote possibility) and I might want to undo this scene and readjust it to include that awesome ship, plus add up to 3 Naboo Fighters to the scene as well - expanding it out to a kitchen-table size scene.

However, I prefer to only have moments as crucial as the Arena Battle or the Sarlaac Pit expand out to dimensions like that.

While I plan to buy a house to hold all my scenes in as many rooms as possible (5 bedrooms/offices, garage, dining room, living room, home theater room, and hallways, plus maybe even a country kitchen included), I still will not have the room to designate the space for too many scenes of this size throughout the whole house.

I want each room to be functional for things I also want: an exercise room with a weight machine center, an office, guest bedrooms, and a rec room with a pool table. However, things like the Sarlaac battle with 2 skiffs and either a custom or Hasbro Sailbarge, will take the centerplace of a room so it can be viewed from all angles (figuring that access to most sailbarge customs I've seen is from a removed wall on one side that allows you to actually see Jabba). So what can I do with the average room with THAT in the center - same thing with 2 'kitchen-table-sized' arena battles going in another? (back to back - before and after the Clones attack - or 'one with the beasts still alive')

I figure it will be just my luck if I can get a weight machine with a bench press / leg extension machine, and an exercise bicycle in there in one end (far or near end is still a question), and then put in the table-sized diorama to fill up the rest.

You have to be very careful with how you use space (and real estate) with this hobby.

I try to keep as many scenes as possible to stay very small, because the major battles get large-scale treatment.

Stillakid, I think when you visited, you saw my space-measuring test-set for the Battle of Geonosis which I think will measure 6 feet long, by 2.5 feet wide and 4 feet tall. With the Republic Gunships (hanging in flight) to consider for this one, I need to keep other scenes in check and not allow them to grow beyond control.

What you need is a separate "barn" like Sansweet has. Of course, So. Cal. isn't exactly the best place to look for that kind of property.

[Tycho]

PADME'S APARTMENT DIORAMA plus a response:


Well, I figure a 5-bedroom house where I utilize all the rooms in total, including the garage would work:

Bedroom 1: My room, and everything white, mostly Hoth & Bespin.

Bedroom 2: tan, also serving as a guest room, with all things Tatooine from the Classic Trilogy

Bedroom 3: tan-and-red, also housing my exercise machines and weights bench, with all things from the prequels to do with Tatooine and Geonosis, including a pod-race course that runs around the room, and 2 full-scale arena battles, and the Battle for Geonosis!

Bedroom 4: olive, also serving as a guest bedroom, and holding all things dark and swampy, like Dagobah, and a large scale Otah Gunga! Kamino might be designed to go with stuff I locate here.

The Living Room: green and large, housing 3 full-size Battle for Naboo scenes, and 1 large Battle of Endor display, inlcuding everything from a large scale Ewok village to the City of Theed!

The Home Theater Room: black and technologically sophisticated, everything to do with the Death Star, space battles, and Coruscant is here, including several renditions of the Galactic Senate, during Valorum's and Palpatine's reigns.

The Garage: 3-car, but housing only my SeaDoo on one side, its battery recharging without having to remove it, and then the rest being an extra lounge room with a pool table and everything Star Trek from Archer to Janeway that I've collected over the years.

The Dining Room - might be a good place for a blue room, if Kamino gets to be too much - from not only Episode 2's stuff, but the large Clone Wars battle I plan to do for the Expanded Universe story to come to life with my action figures.

The Kitchen - most country kitchens have space for extra things to look at. I won't overlook using mine.

Hall Ways - great places for small scene sections like the Trade Federation sets or the Duel of the Fates scenarios.


a 5th bedroom: the larger the house I can get, the better. This would be a good way to split the prequel scenes up so that Geonosis and Tatooine are not in the same room, and one is a proper "red room," the other my 2nd tan one. My personal gym might be better off in the 'red room,' so I can relive the Clone Wars while I work out, but also due to the arena playsets being best off taking up the centerplace in a room, so exercise equipment can be split between the front, back, and along mirrored walls. I'm not sure if the 2nd tan room would then work as a guest bedroom though, because I still want the electric-run pod racers I want to build to circle the entire room. Pillows kicked off the bed at night might ruin my fragile Canyon Dune Turn, so a reading room might be more appropriate.

I guess we'll see.


The next display I'm making for Coruscant will be Padme's apartment.

Figures included are almost all not yet made:

Obi-Wan with cloak
Anakin with straight-non-motion cloak
Padme Senator
JarJar Binks (correct version)
Captain Typho
Dorme
R2-D2 (might not have been in the scene, but I'd like to include him)

Somehow, out a window, or in a split-frame shadowbox, I'd like to add

Zam Wessel meeting with...

Jango Fett (using the rocket pack Boba came with to fit on the Arena Battle Fett, since he's not always 'action-posed' due to his good articulation).


I think it's a key scene, when Anakin and Padme and Obi-Wan are all reunited, and it subtley underlays the danger with the bounty hunters lurking outside.

I don't know if its a good idea to use the hunters, or to split that into a second, more boring scene. If I go that way, I'll add an assassin droid to put more into the picture. I doubt I'll buy an extra Zam Wessel speeder if she isn't actually driving it in that scene. But you never know. It could look cool - but it does require that 1) I increase the size and amount of shadowboxes I'm using, and 2) I increase the number of displays I'm using wall space for, just from Episode 2.

[stillakid]

Have you been to the Madonna Inn up by San Luis Opisbo? Theme rooms. Maybe you could actually make money at this and open a "theme" B&B. Could be pretty cool!

[Tycho]

Someday, if I had the capital. I'd be really concerned about the safety of my collection - from everything from theft, to that one stormtrooper falling over, or Han somehow winding up kissing Chewbacca in the carbon freezing room scene (because Leia fell over...)

Maintaining a diorama collection takes:

1) funds
2) security
3) patience

on top of the creative talents it necessitates, plus the time investment, and the luck finding your figures.


So no one thinks

Palpatine's Office

or

Padme's Apartment

are interesting dioramas to recreate?

[Tycho]

I added an image of what NiubNiub created for a diorama of Palpatine's office:

[Tycho]

Here's another shot from NiubNiubsUniverse.com showing NiubNiub's work on Palpatine's Office.

He, along with our own site's ACPin, have to be the best diorama craftsmen I've ever seen!

Isn't this the BEST thing you can possibly due with your action figures?

I hope my scene will be even 25% as great as this one: