Stranger Things in LEGO- D&D in the Upside Down

This build is to accompany my previously posted Wheeler family basement build, and is my rendition of the D&D game seen in the first few minutes of Season One. I built it as an entry to another LEGO contest, this time hosted on Flickr by The Brothers Brick, a Lego blog/news site. I'm reentering my basement build in the contest, but there's a catch- you've got to build the Upside Down (the show's alternate universe) equivalent of your build! I lacked nearly enough pieces to render the basement in the dark tones of the Upside Down, so I had to get creative in constructing an equivalent.

As a constant D&D player, one of my favorite aspects of the show are its heavy nods to RPGs. As I noted, the main cast plays a D&D game which foreshadows the rest of the show in the first episode. As I had already made the basement where the group plays, I decided to make a vignette roughly mirroring the basement's layout, but make it the party's characters venturing into a tainted dungeon, about to encounter the terrible Demogorgon....

....who emerges from a extraplanar portal. This is the closest detail to the show, and is inspired by the gate seen in the basement of the Hawkins Energy Lab in season one. The vines and slime, curiously, are mostly constructed from pieces borrowed from the oldest and most recent Harry Potter lines.

Behind the gate lies further ooze, most resembling the caverns seen in season two. I wanted a warmer color to contrast with the grey dungeon, and brown makes it look suitably wet and mouth-like. While there aren't as many interesting details or techniques featured as in the basement build, I'm pleased with the finished model. The gate and front right corner in particular turned out well, and I like the effect of the two builds displayed side-by-side.

Pictures of the build can also be found on my Flickr photostream, along with the accompanying basement.

Stranger Things in LEGO- The Wheeler Family Basement

When I was six years old, a LEGO catalog was delivered by accident to my home. This was the first I had heard of the construction toy, and from the moment I opened it I was hooked. I can remember agonizing over my first small purchase- a Batman dragster. More sets were the main item on my Christmas list that year, and soon I'd amassed an impressive collection. I played with them throughout my childhood, creating fantasy worlds in which my Castle Knights rubbed shoulders with Darth Vader and Dumbledore, and a system of alliances and conflicts emerged between myself and my brothers- vast conferences were held, and wars took up the whole of the house. These youthful endeavors influenced me greatly on my current path, seeding my love of tabletop and roleplay games and encouraging a burgeoning interest in fantasy. I still buy LEGOs, and build the occasional MOC (short for My Own Creation). This is the most recent of my builds, an environment from the Netflix show Stranger Things (a show I've thoroughly enjoyed, and one I ought to do a review of).

This is the basement of one of the main protagonists, Mike Wheeler, and is where he and his friends play D&D. The basement is filled with references to the show, and sharp eyes may locate some buried hints to others. I had a lot of fun adding in details to fit the extremely cluttered atmosphere of the set, which certainly shows in the finished model. Here, I'm particularly pleased with the small bowl on the bookshelf (a mere two pieces) and the small replica of the Kenner Millennium Falcon, which was featured in one episode.

The area around the couch was where I started, and also is probably the closest to the prototype. I was inspired by the awesome awnings on the official Ninjago City set in creating the curtain in front of the window- I do wish the pieces were available in a different color, though! Behind it is a system of panes accounting for the antistuds showing above the window.

A central component of the basement is, of course, Eleven's blanket fort. This was probably the section that took the longest- I went through several different versions of the structure before settling on the final one. A pie tile used as a waffle and a walkie-talkie round out this section of the basement. 

Here's a better shot of the center of the room, occupied by the gaming table! It's set up for a session with a map, miniatures (a box for which is present on the coffee table) and a DM screen- but where's the fourth player, Will?

A hint may be found in the center of the frame, where a stylized Demogorgon lurks. While a simple build, it was only recently made possible- the base piece is Jack Skellington's bow tie, and the head is the flower included with Sally. The entire basement is built around a 16/32 stud baseplate, with baseplates covering it and hanging over the edges. I then added the frame under the overhang, so there's a large hollow underneath the whole build. 

There's not quite as much detail pack into this side, but I like the detailing around the cluttered worktable on the left. In the spirit of the show, I don't believe any of the chairs are alike- they all have different bases, as well as the tables.

This picture presents a better view of the shelf behind the stairs. That was the last detailing I finished on the model, before the frame was added. It was a very enjoyable build, I love adding in detail work, and the nature of the prototype gave me pretty free reign to add as much as I wanted! I've entered this in a Stranger Things contest over on LEGO Ideas, and I'll provide a link to the entry below for those who want to check it out.