Tony's CCCV Contest Criticism

Post by **SavaTheAggie** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:39 pm

Well, I meant it as a joke, but others felt that a thread discussing the reasons why a MOC lost points, instead of gained them as in Bruce's Contest Thoughts thread, would be helpful.

So here is my thread - my Contest Constructive Criticism thread. While I may (privately) call it the "Why you sucked" thread, I will endevour to do my best to give you constructive criticism to your MOCs on why they did not score higher and what you can do to improve.

However, as not to hurt anyone's feelings, I am not going to volunteer any of my thoughts on anyone's MOC unless you first post a link to it in this thread. A thumbnail would also be nice so I can keep my replies straight, but I won't require it.

So if you're curious why I, the great Lord Sava of Aggie, I thought your MOC sucked... I mean did not score as highly as others, please post away.

I also encourage the other judges to add their constructive criticism when they feel it important, as we are all different in the way we view MOCs.

--Tony

wunztwice · Post by **wunztwice** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:42 pm

I'm very curious, sir Aggie! I'll be the first to put myself up on the blocks.

So, Tony, why did both my MOCs suck?

(FYI: The poopsmith's and the 95 Thesis MOCs.)

Post by **Elephant Knight** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:06 pm

I guess I will have to wait in line if I want you to say how much my creations suck.

Here are the links to the gallerys:

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=285115 miscellaneous
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=286408 Farm catagory
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=287272 Fortification
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=285053 Journey
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=286124 Festivals and celabrations
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/galle ... cellaneous

EKnight

Jansen · Post by **Jansen** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:07 pm

Why Lord Sava, why?

Post by **SavaTheAggie** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:12 pm

wunztwice wrote:I'm very curious, sir Aggie! I'll be the first to put myself up on the blocks.

So, Tony, why did both my MOCs suck?

(FYI: The poopsmith's and the 95 Thesis MOCs.)

To everyone - for future inquiries, I do ask that if you're not going to give me a link to the pictures, at least tell me what category they're entered in... fortunately I remember these two MOCs enough to know where they were.

Your Poopsmith MOC is very highly detailed, you lost no points there. The baseplateless design and non-conventional non-square footprint was also a plus. However, there wasn't much playability in your MOC - not a lot of action going on. All you have is your gong farmer tending his umm... pile, and a jealous neighbor spying on him. It also does not quite flow with the 'trade and industry' theme, in that while he is indeed a gong farmer, you aren't actually seeing him do (doo?) his job. This MOC seems more to be what happens on the Gong Farmer's off-hours.

Your Theses MOC actually made the top ten in it's category, it scored very highly. The details were stunning, especially the uneven cobblestones. However, like your poopsmith MOC, there isn't much playability. While the event may indeed be historic, there isn't much going on, which may be more a fault of the topic rather than design. Also, the signifigance of the event is more Martin Luther, and less the church, but the facade simply dwarfs your subject, which detracts from the overall MOC. Like I said, though, this MOC scored very highly, and there isn't much to critique.

--Tony

Hippotam · Post by **Hippotam** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:17 pm

Lord Sava, now you are under close scrutiny of the Poles.
Consider yourself warned

EDIT: It's becoming "good cop/bad cop" game, I love that!

Aliencat · Post by **Aliencat** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:20 pm

I'm curious Lord Sava, what is your criticism on this one?

Category: Castle Spaces

Thanks for taking your time to look at it and criticize.

Post by **SavaTheAggie** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:23 pm

Elephant Knight wrote:I guess I will have to wait in line if I want you to say how much my creations suck.

Here are the links to the gallerys:

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=285115
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=286408
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=287272
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=285053
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=286124
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=286300

EKnight

You have a lot of MOCs listed here, but they all share a common thread - your MOCs are very square and a bit unrefined. By square I mean very blocky, for example your fortifications entry, the rocky area is just as square and regular as the man-made walls. You also need to take more time in spreading your colors out; many of your creations have large chunks of solid color, which detracts from the whole. For example your farm entry - the forest and the field doesn't really mesh together well. I would expect one to be encroahcing on the other more, and I would have liked to have seen more detail on the field itself, whether it be cut stalks, or elevation changes representing irrigation troughs or crop rows.

Of your creations, I like your Joust best, good detail, lots of playability, and a conscious effort controlling colors.

--Tony

Post by **SavaTheAggie** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:31 pm

Jansen wrote:Why Lord Sava, why?

Your creation is well thought out, and has some good details. I like the vignette-ness to it, with the boat cut in half at the edge of the MOC. There's lots of height changes, which makes it a nice MOC to look at. However, your MOC suffers from a lack of action, there really isn't anything 'going on'. I would have liked to have seen Leif on the shore perhaps, planting a flag, slaying the natives, or maybe simply kissing dry land. Simply sailing by doesn't really scream 'discovers' to me.

A few more details would probably have helped as well, more foliage like the short grasses or flowers, a wake in the water around the bow of the ship, moss or critters at the water's edge, or more height variations on the flat green field. The SNOT 2xX plates along the side of your MOC really detracts from the smooth rocky face you've strived to create.

--Tony

Post by **SavaTheAggie** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:39 pm

Aliencat wrote:I'm curious Lord Sava, what is your criticism on this one?

Category: Castle Spaces

Thanks for taking your time to look at it and criticize.

This MOC actually made the top ten in it's category. The details are really great, and it's a fine looking MOC. The windows in the tudor section on the second and third floors are a bit hard to differenciate from the rest of the wall, but that's just my personal taste. There really isn't anything going on on the bottom floor that we can see, and it's hard to see what's going on on the second. This MOC really suffers more from your choice in photography than design, as we can't really see the details of the rooms you've created.

I would suggest taking more of the walls off each floor before taking photographs, so that the action and design of the rooms is easy to see and understand.

--Tony

Post by **SavaTheAggie** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:41 pm

Hippotam wrote:Lord Sava, now you are under close scrutiny of the Poles.
Consider yourself warned

EDIT: It's becoming "good cop/bad cop" game, I love that!

Lol... I'll consider myself on notice.

I'm not sure how wise this all is. Not only do I usually have a hard time giving criticism, but if this helps people improve, next years contest will be even harder to grade... ugh.

--Tony

Hippotam · Post by **Hippotam** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:48 pm

In my opinion, this is a good call.

I like and respect CC's unwritten "comment nice or don't comment at all" policy, but what you do is required to provide feedback and help us to improve.

I hope this will become a tradition.

Aliencat · Post by **Aliencat** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:57 pm

Thanks for the review Anthony, here's the next one if you'd be so kind:

babyjawa · Post by **babyjawa** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:01 pm

I like criticism..

Young Farm - entered in farm category.
The Dungeon Below - entered in castle spaces.
Winter Glory - entered in misc.

Thanks.

Spongey · Post by **Spongey** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:02 pm

Hello, Lord Sava. I'd be honoured if you were to let me know the flaws with the MOCs in my folder.

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=292653

Thank you very much.