Bruce's contest thoughts - CCCVIII

[pijani]

Fair enough. I must say that me and my balcanical brothers were so disappointed that Ched Nasad and custom minifigs were not even in the first six (?!), but now, knowing that there were only six judges, it is ok

[Karrde]

Thanks for your feedback, Bruce. I really appreciate that it must take a long time to write these things. The different camera angle is an excellent idea, I will bear that in mind for the future.

[Bruce N H]

Mythical battle

My top 3:

1. Unitronus (Taylor) Dragon Raid - The forced perspective works really well here. Great dragon designs at three different scales, and the microscale castle and town are really well done. Those little tulips are a nice touch.

2. TooMuchCaffeine (Rod Gillies) Mythical Battle... of the bands - Fun twist on the category idea. This castle is a great playset, opening up for interior play. The troll side is my favorite, with the text on the wall, the piano, and those drums.

3. Elephant Knight (Gerard Joosten) Sea creature attack - Good effect here with the land and underwater portions coming together seamlessly. The figs halfway through the water's surface are great.

Others, in no particular order:

Nanuck's apocalypse battle - Great idea here to have the countryside destroyed with the advance of the evil army. I particularly like how the stream is dried up.

Larsnelson's Attack of the Balrog - This is an overly cluttered MOC, which is too bad as it obscures some nice ideas like the swan boat and the white gazebo-like-structure. I'd like to see those elements put into more of a peaceful, or maybe romantic scene.

Glory Forever's cascade ambush - I agree with a Flickr commenter that the waterfall itself is too blocky. The riverbank and foliage downstream from the waterfall, however, look really natural. Also nice that the bridge is at an angle to the grid of the studs. If you look close, you will see that in the cross-section along the edge, the area below the grass has a few layers of brown (dirt), which is great attention to detail.

Deviet's last stand - The monster is well done, though the splash doesn't work for me. The thing here that is outstanding but easy to overlook is the suspension bridge. I'd really like to see how that was made - it's not really clear from the photos.

[K3G]

Hey Bruce, are you publishing feedback on the Realistic Castle Category? I'm very interested in...
Thank you!

[Bruce N H]

Hey Bruce, are you publishing feedback on the Realistic Castle Category?

All in good time. I'm saving my favorite couple of categories for last. On to ...

Preparing for war

My own top three
1. Jalkow -Destroy the Neighbours

This one is just total win for me. Of course the details that jump out are the rose window and the microscale portion, but there are also nice bits like the railing using alternating fig heads and 1x1 cones, the use of cavalry torsos (I've never seen that in a castle MOC but they work great), and the pattern of inset arches. On this last, using the two different types of panels with arched windows, but set them behind brick arches gives an interesting sense of depth. On the microscale stuff, the design of the big-nose figures is great, using those fig-backpack-stud elements is inspired. The micro castle is great and I wish there were better pictures of that. The use of books and briefcases as the roofs in the micro-village is really creative parts usage.

2. Athalus - Preparing for the siege

Nice height variation in the ground outside the gate. The wall itself has an interesting curve and is mottled enough to look natural but not so much as to look over-busy. I like that he remembered to include the abutments even for the place where the wooden hoarding is not yet built. The key to this scene is the figs. When you look at them, it really feels like each one is actually going about their day and doing things, not just plopped down here and there.

3. crises - Knight'o'matic

The concept here is really funny, and well executed. Good inclusion of the PoP arches in the windows. I like the little 1-stud strip of greenery along the inner edge of the wall. Great fig posing. Probably the best build detail is the folding screen for changing clothes in the back corner.

Others, in no particular order

Deviet's lost son -
The wonderful thing here is the way the curves fit together - the stream, the wall, and the base that it is all built on. The house itself is a little meh for me, but the landscaping is outstanding, particularly the stream cascading down the slope. Those dark bley rocks on either side of the path are very nice.

Hippogryph's archer -
When you think of the category 'preparing for war', you think about action and violence, but here Hippogryph has achieved a nice quiet moment. The decoration in the base makes this a nice display piece to sit on the shelf or on a desk.

Shmails' final hours -
Each year Shmails brings us at least one MOC based on his custom Bear Claw faction. The snow on the rock formation in the back is really effective. Good fig posing - again, all of the action seems very natural. Somehow the balance between studs and tiles for the snow seems appropriate. Good brick-built-beast dragging the battering ram.

Kris Kelvin's gate -
Great color blocking here. I like the deep ravine with the stream and the portcullis over the water. I'm a little confused as to whether the dark gray is a wall that has been constructed or a rock formation that has been fortified. If the latter, I almost would have made this into a dwarf city. Note the construction of the wooden walls by placing 1xn brown tiles face outwards. I do think this MOC would have benefited from also showing the outside of the gate. Also it seems like it needs more fig action.

Peter's workshop -
Great angled shape on that building. Nice idea here to see all of the different parts of the battering ram housing under construction in different areas. The one fig is even holding the missing axle piece for the wheel that is being brought in. I also like how it is relatively wild on one side of the fence, but in the workyard the greenery is trampled down.

Derfel's trolls -
I've already stated how much I enjoyed all of Derfel's work, so I can be a little harsher here. This is my least favorite of his entries. I put that down to three factors 1) No greenery - All of his other entries had such outstanding landscaping that the lack seems glaring here. 2) Fantasy setting - Derfel's MOCs are so realistic that it seems odd to put fantasy elements in. 3) Too much rock wall - I commented above on his forge entry that it had a perfect balance between the rock wall portion and the timber portion. Here the rock wall is overbearing. Those things said, a bad MOC by Derfel is still a great MOC by any other standards, and this is again impressive. Great balance between all of the busy parts behind the fence and the relative simplicity of the battle arena. Probably my favorite part of this is the mix of characters in the crowd. He put a lot of thought into choosing the different torsos and heads here - mostly a mix of older factions, but also some newer figs in the mix. Two quick build details to highlight - the little decorative carving at the bottom of the wooden supports holding up the balcony, and the way the flagpoles are attached on either side of the main door in the tower.

[Bruce N H]

Realistic Castle

My top three:

1. Legacek - Reconstruction of Orlik Castle - The original castle that inspired this has such an interesting shape, and Legacek perfectly achieves all of the odd angles. The landscaping and things like the paths look very natural - not too squared off. The mix of old and new gray works well. I like the cobblestones in the interior courtyard - the mix of tiles and 1x1 round plates works well. The thing that really puts this over the top is the placement of figs. I've made this point before, but each of the figs should tell a story, not just be plopped down arbitrarily. In this castle, you can tell that each fig has a real life. BTW, it's really cool that Legacek has been featured on the Orlik Castle official site.

2. tiberium_blue - Castle Palamar - This is a gorgeous castle chock full of details. Aside from the great curved shapes, notice things like the 3-leaf plant piece embedded into the wall, the guys playing cards, the fact that there's a trap door where the ladder comes up to the parapet. Perhaps the coolest little build detail is how he uses tan lightsaber blades to make the floor in a place where no plate would fit. Great shapes for the windows, and I really like that detail with 1x1 round cylinders and plates alternating.

3, K3G - Belvoir Castle - This is another amazingly impressive castle. The rockscaping is well done, and I really like the arrow slits. Oddly, even though this is populated, it feels a little empty. Also, in contrast with the previous two, this one is all square shapes, even though the outer walls of the real castle aren't really at right angles to each other.

Others, in no particular order:

Nanuck's Baden Castle -
I really appreciate the faithful interpretation of the inspiration here. While at first glance this seems a little less flashy than some MOCs, it's important to remember that real castles were often much more like this. The door set at an angle is great, as is the hexagonal tower. Coolest build detail - the three windows in the tower ascend, as if they are following the level of a spiral staircase. Also very good attention to detail that the staircase ascends clockwise, which is correct historically.

Tastymuffins' Calgatheen -
Very realistic design, with the gatehouse, the outer ward and the inner ward. I really like the interesting roofline on the main keep. Those stained glass windows are amazing. I also appreciate how it seems that every part opens up for interior play. my main complaint is how the whole thing is essentially a rectangle. Changing up the footprint a bit would make it more interesting. Also, this MOC suffers from poor photography. The main photo obscures the interesting roofline, no photos from a lower angle, also, he took the time to try and put a white backdrop behind the MOC, but we still get to see the plug, the other LEGO over in the corner, etc. Some quick cutting and pasting in Photoshop or Gimp would quickly solve that - I do it every week for MOCs featured on the front page, it's not tough.

Df1's Teutonic Knights -
I really love the overall shape of this. That octagonal tower over on the left in particular is nice, as is the chapel. In the main keep, the various windows are really cool. I really dislike the red/black color scheme. It's just too overpowering. It does seems like something that would have been part of an official LEGO display back in, say 1980, great design, large scales, limited and unnatural color palette. That crane is really nice. I wish there were more photos to show details like this.

Castleist's Marienstein -
This reminds me of Orlik, above, in how it has all of these sections built at interesting angles to each other. Also very cool how the mostly studless castle is built into this interestingly shaped and studded rockscaping. Great how this opens up for interior play, though the interior section shown seems oddly empty. I do really appreciate how the walls are a realistic thickness, and those window seats built into the wall are terrific.

Peter's Hyacinthe -
Great overall shape and distribution of buildings here. I like how the one tower is set at an angle. The decorative shields on the walls are great. Good height on the crenelations.

Tavernello's Castle -
This is a beautiful MOC. Perhaps more of a manor than a castle, but full of great details. The fact that it is made of almost all plates rather than bricks gives a great texture to the wall, and the touches of light gray are great. The various window designs are really nice, and that rounded section as well. The highlight here is the roof - both that amazing texture achieved with tiles and cheese wedges, and also the coloration to make it look partly snow-covered. That may well be my favorite roof ever.

[K3G]

Realistic Castle
Thanks Bruce for your constructive feedback.
However, I assume that it's more difficult to build huge full populated castles with full interiors than small ones with no interiors... on small ones one can focus more on minifigs... Ooooops!




My top three:

1. Legacek - Reconstruction of Orlik Castle - The original castle that inspired this has such an interesting shape, and Legacek perfectly achieves all of the odd angles. The landscaping and things like the paths look very natural - not too squared off. The mix of old and new gray works well. I like the cobblestones in the interior courtyard - the mix of tiles and 1x1 round plates works well. The thing that really puts this over the top is the placement of figs. I've made this point before, but each of the figs should tell a story, not just be plopped down arbitrarily. In this castle, you can tell that each fig has a real life. BTW, it's really cool that Legacek has been featured on the Orlik Castle official site.

2. tiberium_blue - Castle Palamar - This is a gorgeous castle chock full of details. Aside from the great curved shapes, notice things like the 3-leaf plant piece embedded into the wall, the guys playing cards, the fact that there's a trap door where the ladder comes up to the parapet. Perhaps the coolest little build detail is how he uses tan lightsaber blades to make the floor in a place where no plate would fit. Great shapes for the windows, and I really like that detail with 1x1 round cylinders and plates alternating.

3, K3G - Belvoir Castle - This is another amazingly impressive castle. The rockscaping is well done, and I really like the arrow slits. Oddly, even though this is populated, it feels a little empty. Also, in contrast with the previous two, this one is all square shapes, even though the outer walls of the real castle aren't really at right angles to each other.

Others, in no particular order:

Nanuck's Baden Castle -
I really appreciate the faithful interpretation of the inspiration here. While at first glance this seems a little less flashy than some MOCs, it's important to remember that real castles were often much more like this. The door set at an angle is great, as is the hexagonal tower. Coolest build detail - the three windows in the tower ascend, as if they are following the level of a spiral staircase. Also very good attention to detail that the staircase ascends clockwise, which is correct historically.

Tastymuffins' Calgatheen -
Very realistic design, with the gatehouse, the outer ward and the inner ward. I really like the interesting roofline on the main keep. Those stained glass windows are amazing. I also appreciate how it seems that every part opens up for interior play. my main complaint is how the whole thing is essentially a rectangle. Changing up the footprint a bit would make it more interesting. Also, this MOC suffers from poor photography. The main photo obscures the interesting roofline, no photos from a lower angle, also, he took the time to try and put a white backdrop behind the MOC, but we still get to see the plug, the other LEGO over in the corner, etc. Some quick cutting and pasting in Photoshop or Gimp would quickly solve that - I do it every week for MOCs featured on the front page, it's not tough.

Df1's Teutonic Knights -
I really love the overall shape of this. That octagonal tower over on the left in particular is nice, as is the chapel. In the main keep, the various windows are really cool. I really dislike the red/black color scheme. It's just too overpowering. It does seems like something that would have been part of an official LEGO display back in, say 1980, great design, large scales, limited and unnatural color palette. That crane is really nice. I wish there were more photos to show details like this.

Castleist's Marienstein -
This reminds me of Orlik, above, in how it has all of these sections built at interesting angles to each other. Also very cool how the mostly studless castle is built into this interestingly shaped and studded rockscaping. Great how this opens up for interior play, though the interior section shown seems oddly empty. I do really appreciate how the walls are a realistic thickness, and those window seats built into the wall are terrific.

Peter's Hyacinthe -
Great overall shape and distribution of buildings here. I like how the one tower is set at an angle. The decorative shields on the walls are great. Good height on the crenelations.

Tavernello's Castle -
This is a beautiful MOC. Perhaps more of a manor than a castle, but full of great details. The fact that it is made of almost all plates rather than bricks gives a great texture to the wall, and the touches of light gray are great. The various window designs are really nice, and that rounded section as well. The highlight here is the roof - both that amazing texture achieved with tiles and cheese wedges, and also the coloration to make it look partly snow-covered. That may well be my favorite roof ever.

[Skalldyr]

It is so interesting to read.
But how about if you would make a final review about the last remaining category: Pastoral life. That would be very nice!

[Unitronus]

I too am curious about the Pastorial Life category.

[Bruce N H]

I apologize for the interruption in these postings. Pastoral life was my favorite category and I wanted to save it for last, but then I got busy with other things. Before going on to pastoral life, though, I wanted to note a few MOCs that should have been in the contest.

Dengar's Minibrooks farm

Unfortunately Dengar never resized his pics, so these were not included. I did think the microscale cow and sheep were very nice designs.

Forestman Jon's country farm

Again, rejected from the contest due to image size. I like the foliage and the water splashing down the small fall. My favorite detail, though, is the design of the ox-drawn plow.

Karrde's Failcastle

Karrde never completed this entry, which is why he called it 'Failcastle', but what was underway here was in no way a failure. The landscaping is outstanding, and the castle design with inner and outer wards is really nice. I love the color variations in the roofs, and the way you can reach all of the allures in reasonable ways. The gate set at an angle is really nice,

Shmails' Bridge Evolution

Another incomplete entry, as this category asked for three scenes and Shmails completed just two. I imagine that the third scene would have had an arched stone bridge. Great landscaping here, and I particularly like the first bridge. Too bad we didn't get to see the final entry.

[Bruce N H]

Pastoral life

My top three:

1. Derfel Cadarn -Ramble On! -

This may just have been my favorite MOC in the competition. It's one of those where from the thumbnail you wouldn't even know it was LEGO, as all of the square edges inherent to the brick. That use of the headscarf piece as a traveler's pack is an outstanding part usage. Other than that, there aren't any specific build details to note here - really the effect comes from the perfect balance of this MOC rather than from any particular little trick here or there.

2. Skalldyr -Silence before Storm -

This is full of great build details, like all of the animals (the bird grabbing a fish out of the water is my favorite), the wagon, and that spiral stair built into the cliff. The best thing about this MOC, though, is the sense of motion. You can really feel the wind blowing as you look at this. It all works together - the trees swaying, that bird in the top of one being blown off, all of the flames blowing, the wave crashing and pushing the boat up against the shore, and perhaps best of all is the lamp on the side of the wagon being blown sideways.

3. Deviet - Walking The Goats -

Again, the sense of motion is what makes this scene. Here it is the water crashing down over the falls. Both the texture and the color variation work really well here. Against that, we have the very peaceful scene of walking the goats, which is a great contrast. The goats themselves are a nice design, as are the birds. Great foliage as well, and I like that bridge. Tree root reaching out beyond the edge of the baseplate is a nice touch.

Others, in no particular order:

Shmails' horses -
The movement of the horses down into and then up out of the water is really nice here, including the bubbles being churned up as they go. The one horse refusing to enter the river is a funny detail. I'm not thrilled about the little slice of a house here. It doesn't seem to balance against the rest of the scene. Also, having a cutaway piece of a structure like that is fine in a vig, or some other setting with a limited footprint, but in a MOC of this size it seems odd to have no structures anywhere else, and then put a little piece of one in the corner like there was no room for it in the diorama. Oh, great attention to detail that the riverbottom (dark gray plates) slopes down underneath the water on both sides of the stream.

TooMuchCaffeine's Baa -
I just wanted to highlight here the NPU of the ice cream scoops as wool.

Nanuck's gators -
Some nice foliage here, especially the cattails, but the coolest thing is how the two molded gators are joined by three others constructed of plates, slopes, and some gator parts to make the submerged crocs. Oh, the one with feathers in his mouth is a nice touch. Shouldn't that be Betty White on the pier, though?

Hardegon's farm -
Lots of loving attention to detail in this one, like the kids playing in the stream, the roof beams poking out underneath the thatching, the ripple where the cow is drinking. The landscaping and the curve of the stream and path feel really natural. The guy shaping the log is great and I wish there were clearer pictures of this.

Peter de Yule and the Wolf -
Good landscaping and mix of different tree styles here. The shape of the stream is nice, though I wish the water were set down a plate from the surrounding land. The color variation in the waterfall is nice. I like the movement with the wolf jumping, though the wolves themselves seem a little too blocky.

LegoLord's farm -
The really cool thing here is how Legolord did the undergrowth, by putting the large flat leaf pieces on the ground and then filling in the gaps with the 1x1 round with three leaves. That gives it a great texture and make it seem really overgrown (though perhaps more appropriate for a wilderness area than right next to a farmhouse, where you'd expect things to be more trampled down). The little fence for the chickens is nice as well.

Liwnik's barn -
The thing to point out here is the way the thatching was done. Particular the irregular edge down along the eaves work really well, as does incorporating some tan log bricks into the normal bricks. I don't think those tan plates laid over top work at all, though. The three different bird designs are another outstanding detail.

ACPin's caravan -
The mix of tan and dark tan is really nice here (though the camels get kind of lost). Good landscaping, and an interesting idea to offset the four 16x32 baseplates by 12 studs each time to change up to overall footprint.

Jalkow's shepherd -
The bird in the tree, the wall, and the placement of the shepherd's things are all great. What makes this memorable, is the parts usage of building it on top of a boat hull and, of course, the dino head for a blanket.

Athos' pigs -
The gate is a nice structure. I particularly like how it's all one color, but he uses texture to make it interesting. Some nice variation inside the gate as well. The negative here is that this is really not at all a 'pastoral life' scene. It really feels like Steve was set on making a gate, or maybe even had one partially built before the contest was announced, but his planned MOC didn't fit any of the categories, so he just threw in some pigs and called it pastoral.

[Bruce N H]

Master builder



Well, it was pretty obvious to me that Derfel took top honors here. If you look at my various 'top three' lists above, you'll see that three of his six entries were my favorites in their respective categories, and I scored the other three highly in their own categories as well. The great thing here is that all of his structures fit a very cohesive aesthetic, and you could easily see them all within the same world, but there is also enough variation that they don't become boringly repetitive. Great attention to landscaping and foliage to make these really seem natural. I don't see any place where you get artificial square shapes imposed by LEGO geometry to disrupt the natural feel. There is also obvious care taken in the placement of figs and their accessories so it looks like a real life scene.
At one point (before this contest) Luke mentioned that he keeps his MOCs together rather than tearing them apart for the pieces. If that is still true (and it would take an amazing supply of 1x1 round plates if so), I'd love to see some photos putting all of these MOCs together into one layout.

I shouldn't leave this without also pointing to Peter's work as well, found here and here, as he was the next strongest contender for the Master Builder. A lot of great builds there, and I think I discussed each of these in some of my commentaries above.

And with that, I'm done with CCCVIII. Thanks, again, to all who entered.

Bruce

[TooMuchCaffeine]

Finally got time to read through all your thoughts and I just wanted to say thanks for going to the trouble of doing it. Hearing a judge's thoughts about winning entries, and reading constructive criticism of your own and other entries is really enlightening.

Cheers mate. It is much appreciated.

[Skalldyr]

Thanks, it was really interesting to hear all your thoughts. In particular, I am pleased with your words about my Pastoral Life Moc.
I am delighted that you have seen all the little details, as the flames!

[Bruce N H]

No problem, Skalldyr. When you're judging a contest like this, you spend a lot of time looking closely at the small details, especially when trying to make distinctions among the top entries. I forgot to say in my thoughts above what I thought when I first saw this. Your MOC reminds me of the very start of Voyage of the Dawn Treader (the book - I haven't seen the movie). Lucy and Edmund are looking at this painting of an ocean scene, and Lucy says what she loves about it is how it really seems as if the ship is actually moving, and then the boat actually does start moving, and then they (and Eustace) are magically drawn through the painting into the world of the ship. I felt a little of that when looking at your MOC, as if it were about to actually start moving, and I could get pulled into that world.

Bruce