Red Samurai entry

NickGreat · Post by **NickGreat** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 9:55 am

Hi to all. I'm Nick and I am new to this forum, so forgive me if I'm using a new topic.

First and foremost, I would like to thank CC for the great contest. Whatever was the outcome of the results, I beleive that the Admins have put in a great deal of effort for this to work.
So... Congratulations to all the winners!

I realised that there has been some talk on my entry, so I would just like to give my views, and nothing else. Please don't flame me.
I entered my custom into this category believing that Ninja was part of Castle, not through notes/rules in the forums, but on my own assumption since Ninja in the Castle category on Lugnet.
I also thought the grim faced samurai was a real figure and had a rich history culture in feudal Japan. On its colour, I based it on a character that was featured in The Last Samurai starring Tom Cruise (Cruise later took up his armour sans the mask)
Of course, these are just my views and it its not up to me to say if I was on or off topic, but I fully respect whatever decision that has been made.

Although I am dissappointed at not being able to win the contest and those cool stuff from Blasterman, I am very thankful to CC for showcasing my work. I am extremely glad that many liked my custom and have given such beautiful comments for it.
That, to me, is reward enough. Thanks to all!

I will now go back to my hideout, in a faraway lands (really!) and prepare for CC3. Cheers!

Dragonlord Esq. · Post by **Dragonlord Esq.** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 2:33 pm

It is a beautiful piece of work. Very well done. However, I too think that feudal Japan and feudal Europe are just a little too far away. Hope to see you next contest.

Dragon Master · Post by **Dragon Master** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 2:56 pm

Hello,

That was a great entry! What a cool idea using that piece for your mask. Great work.

Please stay a while at least here at CC!

DM

Post by **architect** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 3:32 pm

Hi Nick,

While many of us debate the whole Ninja/Castle arguement on occasion, do not let that bother you. Your entry was a superb custom of using already existing LEGO pieces and putting them together. By far it is the best Samurai custom I have ever seen

Dark red is such a great color is it not?

Ben

Blueandwhite · Post by **Blueandwhite** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 4:05 pm

Being a purist, I generally don't like customs. That being said, your work is quite nice. It is well executed, and well painted. This samauri could easily pass as an actual LEGO figure!

The debate as to whether Fuedal Japan should be considered part of the "Castle" theme seems a little bit silly. Considering that the Medieval period is defined by time more than geography, it seems reasonable that Ninja LEGO be included. Also, it seems that most of the AFOL community understand Ninja to be a subset of Castle LEGO. Both Brickset, and Lugnet include Ninja in their Castle databases.

In all honesty, I think that people were unduly hard on the Ninja line. It was the last decent line based on history.

Later.

JPinoy · Post by **JPinoy** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 4:54 am

There are other Samurai movies from Japan such as RAN. There was another one in which I forgot its name, but it had samurais in red armor much like the one you entered in the contest.

It is a beautiful piece of work. Very well done. However, I too think that feudal Japan and feudal Europe are just a little too far away. Hope to see you next contest.

IMO, it should about how each civilization has developed that defines the "age" its in. Just because Europe went through feudalism much earlier than Japan, doesn't mean that Japan is any less feudal during the European 16th century.

Afterall, would English Longbowmen be considered any less effective than say ancient Assyrian archers? Just because the Assyrians were one of the first to become masters of archery, while the English came at a much later time?

jonesy · Post by **jonesy** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 9:13 am

Consider:

A group of islands sits just off a continent. Its people build stone fortifications, run off a feudal system, adopt imported religion and mix it with their own unique brand, and have a king.

Is this the British or Japanese isles?

They both sound castle-y to me.

BTW Nick, your samurai fig is lovely. IMHO it's the best possible use of the Green Goblin mask. A long, Pinocchio-esque nose would've been an added plus.

TwoTonic Knight · Post by **TwoTonic Knight** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 7:43 pm

When comment was invited on the entries after the judging but before the winners were posted, I found the amount of entries daunting, so I just concentrated on my personal area of expertise, customing figs.

I actually read the rules for the classification. Historical with no mention of a specific personality. NO time frame. NO geographical limit. NO limitation to Castle period, medieval period, much less medieval Europe only. I had less of a problem with the Red Samurai, which at least falls within LEGO's Castle range (no, I don't wanna dabate that; it has been accepted as official Castle within this site, even if numerous parties would be quite happy to ignore it). The problem I had was the Roman General. But by the rules it seemed eligible. The Red Samurai was my personal choice for the best because of it's concept, attention to detail, and excellence of execution. The Roman General was very close, but I think it needed a specific customized roman helmet to match the Red Samurai. The Monk was a great concept, but I think it's execution was not quite up to snuff. The rope belt was unraveling and looked sloppy. The cloth I felt missed a level because it was only used for it's texture. People see things in different ways and interepret things differently (I figured "playablity" scores could swing wildly). Not my winner, but I think it was a worthy figure nevertheless.

The only problem so far as I can tell is that of definition. The best that can be done at this point is use more precise language and complete limitations for category definition in the future, and for everyone to be proud of their creations and hopefully have a good time sharing regardless of any confusion.

I certainly enjoyed all the entries.

DarkDotDotDotMan · Post by **DarkDotDotDotMan** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 9:52 pm

... Well... I'm just a gong farmer, so you dont need you pay attention to this response if you dont want to...

Out of the entries that were presented, I personally enjoyed the Red Samurai the best.
Since I watched the Last Samurai before hand, my thoughts were kinda set already, but they are of no concern.

The thing is, after viewing this entry, I have come to a conclusion. I really, really, really want one of these. If I lived next door to you, I would ask for one of these day in and day out until you placed a restriction order against me.

Since I don't seem to live next to you, I guess I gotta make my own. So I ask... No, I beg of you to bless me with infomation with how you made this MOC.

I know a MOC is a person's own achivement, but for a imagination-lacking person as myself, this fact does not seem to "click" in my brain.
(Pun not intended.)

So, to finish this entry up, I say,
"Thank you for coming to Classic Castle.com and showing to the world a magnificent creation."