The Avatar Project
In October 2022 the Idaho LEGO Users Group was chosen by the LEGO company and Disney from hundreds of other groups to create a version of the Pandora world using LEGO Elements.
Several months of design work followed including prototype builds and CAD design work in Stud.IO - a digital LEGO design program. A final parts list was created and eight pallets full of bricks were delivered by LEGO at the end of January 2023.
After days of sorting and organizing the parts the building process began as the group worked to meet the three month deadline. Over a hundred builders came together to create this world working nights and weekends at Bricks and Minifigs in Boise, Idaho. Often builders would also take parts home to continue working during the day. School children as local elementary schools and local libraries also helped in the work.
The finished display contains over one million LEGO parts. Many of the animals such as the Banshee, Toruk Makto, Ilu, Skimwing and Tulkun are from official LEGO Avatar sets. Additional animals were designed by members of the IdahoLUG. Our builders worked over three thousand hours over a three month period to complete the display.
Video Links
KTVB InterviewLEGO Avatar 1 Million+ Brick Diorama
Massive LEGO Avatar Pandora
Avatar MOC at FanX2023
The Tree of Souls took over 70 hours to design and build. The trunk and branch frame and the connection to the base structure required several redesignes before it was strong enough to carry the weight of the canopy. |
The mountain includes a working waterfall system that moves thousands of 1X1 round tiles from the bottom reservoir to the top using a technic conveyor system. It has proven to be a little temperamental during shows and is difficult to repair due to being centrally located in the build. |
The build includes many UV reactive and glow in the dark elements, echoing the beautiful flora and fauna of Pandora that we see in the movies. It was designed to be displayed in three light levels; Day in full light, Lunar eclipse in black light, and Night in full dark. |
The Metkayina village huts were created by weaving together hundreds of flexible LEGO zipline elements into the basket shapes. |
Many of the undersea plants and animals were designed and built by school childen who participated in our project workshops |
The uplink trailer was constructed uisng 5 of the original sets, which were combined to create more movie accurate model. |
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| The two sided backdrop is constructed entirely of LEGO elements. Over 80,000 one by one tiles are used in the main mural, which is composed of images from both Avatar movies. The rear side of the backdrop includes the credits including a list of all the builders that helped with the project. | |
Avatar has been displayed at many locations including:
MOCFEST!, Bricks and Minifigs,
Brickslopes, Bricks Cascade, and D23 Light Up the Season in 2023