Bruce's contest thoughts CCC-IV

DARKspawn · Post by **DARKspawn** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 7:32 am

So I guess Castle Interriors is next on the list ... *hint hint

Post by **Bruce N H** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 1:46 pm

No, I'm going to hold interiors to last as it was (along with bridges) my favorite category. Custom fig:

NickGreat's Black Samurai - This is just a perfect creation, and it includes every aspect of customization - painting, the custom accessories, the cutting of the mask, the flag, the decals (presumably, or is that script painted on?). Do we have a translation of the text?

Pharazon's Sir Antonius is another perfect custom and was just barely edged out by NickGreat's. I particularly like that spear and the very cool alteration to the face.

Others, in no particular order:

Josh's Pegasus Knight the painting here is very nice, and that placement of the pegasus' wings is much better than the normal placement that you can do based on the two studs in the foot-hole. Smart idea to remove the bridal. How'd you do the battle axe?

Tom Snellen's Jester Such a clever use of the exo-force hair. I also really like the stilts, and the splits are clever as well.

soratu's friar The tonsure is very nice. Can it be removed? Nice robe solution as well.

Damian's King Conan I'm not as big a fan of the carved-up hairpiece, but the lion shield is outstanding. This would be very appropriate in a Narnia MOC. How'd you do the sword?

Stambi's Archangel Michale The flaming sword is a nice idea, though unfortunately will only work when seen from one side.

Maehdros' Fingon The flag and cape are very nice. The hair doesn't fit my personal LEGO aesthetic, but it's well done.

Amanda's Elite Falcon Nice painting job on the helm.

Schvatts' Female necromancer and

Sir Schvatts Nice decals on both. Did you mold the white Leia hair, or is that a Recluce production. The leather helm is well done.

Emily's Lord of the Forest and

Ranger I really like the texturing on the torsos and barding. How was that done? The Lord of the Forest is my favorite, due to that cool horned helm and the custom spear.

Prince Imdol · Post by **Prince Imdol** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 1:53 pm

Wow, those are some really nice minifigs. The painting is very well done, aswell as decals.

BreadMan · Post by **BreadMan** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 7:47 pm

Wow, I hadn't been paying attention to this category much and completely missed Pharazon's Sir Antonius. That's incredible! Some fantastic entries all around, I may be a (almost) purist but that doesn't mean I don't have an appreciation for good customs.

DARKspawn · Post by **DARKspawn** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 9:15 pm

Nick's samurai is a true work of art, some the the detailing is really outstanding

wunztwice · Post by **wunztwice** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 9:19 pm

BreadMan wrote:Wow, I hadn't been paying attention to this category much and completely missed Pharazon's Sir Antonius. That's incredible! Some fantastic entries all around, I may be a (almost) purist but that doesn't mean I don't have an appreciation for good customs.

Ah, my thoughts precicely. I also missed Pharazon's entry, that's one reason why I like it so much when you do this Bruce!

SOme very nice customs (I llike the winners, the friar, and the jester best, but they are all cool!)

BohuslavIII · Post by **BohuslavIII** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 8:58 am

Thanks for all your comments, I really appreciate them and it also motivates me to another construction. Not only comments, but also the huge amount of great entries in this competition.

Bruce N H wrote:Castle buildings:
BohuslavIII's palace was actually my favorite entry. I wish there were more pictures, but all of the little ornamental effects are really nice and match gothic architecture very well. I wish there were more pictures.

Few photos? Have you seenthis and this part of my gallery? If you want more photos of some another part, which is not visible, may I try, but there are two problems:
1.) I have my MOC on three months long exposition
2.) Unfortunately, It’s hard to achieve some good pictures of many places in interior, photos are gloomy. Because the whole MOC wasn’t primary build for competition, but for my and my sons’ pleasure. I tried to achieve best playability, that my son can good play with it and at the same time he can learn something. There are also full functional places, which are hardly to see, or are invisible.

Gumby · Post by **Gumby** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 11:51 pm

Bruce N H wrote: NickGreat's Black Samurai - This is just a perfect creation, and it includes every aspect of customization - painting, the custom accessories, the cutting of the mask, the flag, the decals (presumably, or is that script painted on?). Do we have a translation of the text?

Wow, the script looks sooo cool. My Chinese is spotty, but I do know that the main character on the flag (and on the horse head armor) is the Chinese character for death. Maybe Nick could give us a translation himself?

NickGreat · Post by **NickGreat** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 12:41 am

Thanks for the reviews, Bruce and guys, thanks for the compliments! The custom fig category had the most entries (I believe) and I'm sure it wasn't easy to grade.

A translation of the script on my custom can be found on this thread.

wunztwice · Post by **wunztwice** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 8:48 pm

Sooo.......umm.....

...probably the Misc category would be next...

Prince Imdol · Post by **Prince Imdol** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 3:17 am

Wehn you say "Your thoughts on CCC4", it makes me think you did not have much say in the evaluation. Did you?

Post by **Bruce N H** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 3:40 am

Each of the judges has an equal say. I post these sum-up threads each year because, as a judge, I don't like to make comments on people's MOCs until after the winners are announced. It kills me to keep my mouth shut on so many great MOCs for 3 months. Hence the thread.

Bruce

Recluce · Post by **Recluce** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 4:11 am

Bruce N H wrote:Each of the judges has an equal say. I post these sum-up threads each year because, as a judge, I don't like to make comments on people's MOCs until after the winners are announced. It kills me to keep my mouth shut on so many great MOCs for 3 months. Hence the thread.

Bruce

Bruce I was wondering who the judges were, I didn't see it listed but perhaps I missed it.

As for how I did my texturing, I put a layer of magic sculpt on the lego pieces and then used a small tool to press a shape into it. The shape was repeated hundreds of times to make a scale pattern. The whole pattern had to be done within 30 minutes as that is the working time of the magic sculpt.

Prince Imdol · Post by **Prince Imdol** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 12:13 pm

All of the Admins are Judges. So they cant comment. Wow, tough job.

P.I

Post by **Bruce N H** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 4:13 pm

Continuing on with Misc:

Brody's Col Grace Observatory Another great MOC and a well-deserved winner. This was originally entered in the bridge category, but then moved to misc. That was probably a good thing for Brody, as it is not the bridge that makes this, but rather the landscaping and the observatory section. I particularly like the telescope. The well is also very nice.

Alban Nanty's Never wake a sleeping dragon was my personal second favorite. The humor factor really stands out. The sculpt of the dragon's head is great - I'd love to see a whole dragon based on this. I particularly like the SNOT on the nostrils, and the stalactites and stalagmites are also nice.

Tom Snellin's Riot rounds out my personal favorites. What really makes this is the posing of the figs so they have a real sense of movement. My favorite might be this guy breaking the bench. The candelabras and the stained glass windows are great designs (particularly the way to hide the center 2x2 square in the midst of the grid plates.

Others in no particular order:

Joe Butler's hilltop fort has really nice landscaping but is particularly notable for the usage of this piece which I had always assumed was completely useless.

Tim Gould's camel is a great brick-built beast. Thanks for including instructions, btw.

Alban's I want to be king is another humorous entry. I also like the design of the tripod and the snotty-stone for the sword.

Preussie's monitor stand I love it when people make mocs as practical solutions for everyday problems. This would be fun to have on your desk at work.

Amanda's river is a lovely bit of landscaping, and the presentation with the box cover is a great idea.

her Ruins uses a nice solution for the giant skeletons.

Plucky's cave spiders are very creepy. The scene seems a bit like a DnD scenario.

Chris Wunz's Castle McGloghlan is a really ambitious MOC. I like the curved wall and the sea gate a lot. The fact that all of the smoke and flags are blowing the same way is good attention to detail.

Stambi's Raubritterburg is a really attractive creation. The contrasts between the red, yellow, and dark gray is very nice. Very "classic-castle".

DARKspawn's Wyvern Great articulation and I love the pose on top of the rocks and chasing the Viking.

Maciej Koszyka's Lakeside Castle is an impressive creation with a lot to look at. The cross and drawbridge are nice details.

Azaghal's Fighting Dirty is funny. Best use of the sock tile ever.

Jens' Blackwood Falls is another great creation. I particularly like the layering of the blues in the water.

Bruce