ToyLanta happens this weekend, and although your PopCulteer is among the folks who can’t make the trek to Atlanta for the fun this year, I’m going to tell you how you can enjoy a taste of the festivities from the comfort of your own home. Fans from all over the country will be gathering to indulge in the fine art of toy nutzoidism, and they will be masked up and social distancing, but not everybody can make it there this year.

Last year the folks who put on ToyLanta organized  VirtualToyLanta, an online substitute for last year’s canceled toy show. That Facebook Group is still around, and folks are already posting cool stuff in it. I believe the plan is to post new stuff at least once an hour during the show, so us folks who are still pandemic-grounded can see what we’re missing. You can join the Facebook Group to see way more cool stuff from the best toy show in the world.

One of the highlights of ToyLanta/JoeLanta is always the dioramas and custom figure contest. This is where the toy collectors show off their creativity and make incredible custom action figues, accessories, vehicles and scenarios. This year there is some epic stuff in the works, including an epic seafaring adventure scene from Mike Gardner, and Troy Baker’s amazing Jonny Quest diorama.

In this post we’re bringing you some videos that focus on the dioramas from past years at JoeLanta and ToyLanta. Plus we’ll have links to some of the photo essays that I’ve posted over the years.

Above is the video of 2019’s ToyLanta dioramas. You can find photo essays covering last year’s dioramas and custom figures HERE, HERE and HERE.

Here we have the raw footage from the 2016 JoeLanta Diorama room…

That year we had photo essays for Mike Gardner’s epic diner and garage diorama as well as the custom figures.

Photos from 2016 can be found HERE.  A 2017 photo essay looks at Mike Gardner’s Avengers diorama from that year.

I did a Diorama video in 2015, and you can see it below and check out the accompanying photo essay HERE.

2014 was the year of MIke Gardner’s massive “Zombie Horde at Yellow Jacket Creek” Walking Dead diorama, and it got its own two-part photo essay HERE and HERE.

There are a few photos of the 2013 dioramas scattered in posts HERE and HERE. It was my first time, and I was a little overwhelmed by the experience.

Check PopCult Friday as I attempt to compile an index to every ToyLanta/JoeLanta post that I’ve had in this blog. It’s one way you can enjoy the show, even if you can’t be there.