MOC: Fog on the Barrow-Downs

A bit fitting for Halloween, this newest build is trying to recreate the earie setting from early in the Fellowship of the Ring book, where our Hobbits haven`t met Aragorn yet and learn some harsh lessons of the world beyond the Shire.

My latest `pure` MOC for the Tolkien verse, Fog on the Barrow-Downs is a not known to not book readers part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

You see, in the movies they get weapons from Aragorn after leaving Bree.  In the books, that happened all a bit more adventureous, as they set out of the Shire and came to an ancient burial place, the Barrow-Downs.  Inhabited by the spirits of long deceased warriors, Frodo, Samwise, Peregrin and Meriadoc are captured and paralysed, only to be saved by Tom Bombadil.

It is from these tombs they obtain their swords, and realise their are far bigger and far dangerous things in the outside world.

When I found this nice piece of artwork of the Barrow-Downs, I decided to try and recreate the setting, including the spooky patches of mist that trail Frodo as he approaches the doorway of one of the tombs.

In the end, I`m rather happy how this effect turned out, as it seems a light wind is blowing over the hill, but perhaps just a bit to selective to be a natural phenomena...

The Army of Merak wip

While I was filling in my rank and file troops earlier today for my ongoing army project, I started to put together all sorts of other Castle / Kingdoms as well.

No, not as they appear in sets, just as they went together well to build the `regular army` while my village`s forces assembled more.

The main infantry compromising of demi-humans and regular footfolk, led by the King and his retinue of magicians.

And the knightly cavalry...

Finally, the army of Hagen of Merak, still needing 5 more Chima Polar Bears, a Hun Warrior and a polar bear mount...

I estimate to have it al finished in a few weeks, then the project will move into the `uniformly based` phase for the village troops for 2016, where they will all be transplanted onto more detailed plates of grey and white accents.

Birdy The Mighty

Based on a manga series, Birdy the Mighty was adapted into anime in a 25 episode series spread over 2 `seasons`, called Decode and Decode II respectively.

Back when it was announced in magazines like Neo, it was a highly anticipated series, but due to circumstances it took me some years more to finally obtain it and watch it through a marathon.

Plot

Birdy the Mighty: Decode starts when Birdy secretly entered Earth to track down an alien criminal named Geega as an Earth Federation police officer. In the midst of her work, she accidentally kills a Japanese national named Senkawa Tsutomu. To save his life, Birdy merges her body with his.
As the two work together on maintaining their lives, a mysterious person wishes to uses the Ryunka in order to commit genocide on the entire Earth.

She then moves through the layers of society, even having to go to a party at a classmate`s house, in order to continue her investigations.  When Sayaka becomes possessed by Ryunka, she and Tsutomu have to find a way to purge her body from the evil `inhabitant`.

Season 2 starts a few months after Shyamalan was killed while attempting to use Ryunka to kill everyone on Earth starting in Japan, Senkawa and Birdy are still attempting to maintain their dual lives until space criminals connected to the Ryunka case escape from Federation police custody.

It involves more on the alien influence on our planet, even involving some mild time travelling, and a romatic intrest for Birdy...

Opinion

Well, I can see why it was anticipated highly, but I also must confess i never `caught on` with the series, watching it amused but not impressed.

On an animated level, some great work was done here, and the storylines aren`t to bad either not being riddled with off the point and filler episodes, but well, it just wasn`t really my thing.  If it ain`t mecha`s or Saints, they generally aren`t ;-)

But if you like the super-heroine style animations, Birdy is definitly a go for you!

Project Merak

It has been an idea for MOC`cing that has been playing in the back of my head ever since I signed up in the Guilds of Historica, and I finally bit the bullet.

I`m going to build a lay-out of the village of my sig-fig Hagen, the village of Merak.  Now, in order to do that, and falling back on the `experience` I gathered over the past years, I`m going to make it a mash of what I like building.

On the one hand, there will be existing sets in the lay-out, plated up as I do with my Tolkien sets.  On the other hand, I will also be including my MOC`s that I like and keep from GoH and intermingle that as well onto the plates.

For example, this is the beacon of Merak build I did a few months ago, rebased on a 32x32 plate and with the classic small Castle boat included.  I still need to dress up the plate further, and place a LOT more waterstuds, but it is good enough to show the idea I`m playing with.

My personal deadline to have a decent first part of the lay-out ready will be Brick Mania Antwerp 2016, for which I hope to have about 5 or 6 plates done, but I already know I`ll be doing something with the Yellow Castle for the central part of the build.  Just not sure what yet lol...

Platinum: Lego Batman 2 DC Super Heroes

The latest of the Lego games I have platinumed, this game is actually already a few years old, but it was enjoyable never the less.

Well, and I had promised myself to platinum this one at last after a yearlong hiatus before going for the highest goal with Dimensions.

Now, the game plays around the Lego Batman movie, and it features a lot of cutscenes playing out from that particular movie as well.  It`s enjoyable in the usual Lego way, and being one of the bit older generation, you actually have to do some serious puzzling in the clean up modus for the 250 gold bricks.

But I managed it in the end, the very final thing I missed was a LexCorp mini-vtol, this has actually cost me almost 2 hours while being on the map all the time... it just looked like a building and with that big a gap between having played it and revisiting it the past weeks, I couldn`t remember wether or not it was a building from a level, stupid me...

But that means the game is all wrapped up, the next platinum goals will be Dimensions, and then The Hobbit.

Zetman

Based on the manga with the same name, this 13 episode long series from 2012 is just as dark and raw as the source material.

Although it does suffer from some serious deviations from the drawn version, altered for the silver screen.

Plot

Jin is an energetic young boy living in a shanty town and making ends meet by performing good deeds for money. However, when his mentor dies during a fight with a strange monster he finally learns the meaning of death. Having been taken in by a stripper named Akemi whom he once saved, Jin begins to live a quiet and normal life - though in reality he is anything but ordinary. With superhuman abilities and a group of mysterious men searching for him under the name of Zet, over the years Jin finds himself drawn into a world of creatures with dangerous powers called "Players". But what is Jin really, and with his vicious methods of defeating these threats, is he really a hero for justice or simply another dangerous monster?

Opinion

This is one of those anime series that aren`t really suited for children, as it is rather gory and brutal in it`s fights, the storyline is rather hard but it suffers from being in essence a long mature manga that has been converted in a short series.  Due to this, it lacks any real and in depth character development, the story is hotchy-potchy at times, and doesn`t really quite deliver on the adult level of Power Rangers style story it was supposed to become.

But at 13 episodes of 22 minutes, it isn`t that huge a time investment after all to catch it on Crunchy and the likes, and if you`re a fan of the superhero genre, you`ll like this.

Garo the Animation

Based upon a real live action Super Sentai series, Garo is an animated version that tells a tale from long before that particular series takes place.

The first season is the story of the `Sealed Flame`, while the second ine that is now running is telling the manga tale of the Crimson Moon.

Plot

But it is this first season I`d be watching, in which 17 year old Leon Luis lives in a fictional kingdom resembling the Inquisitorial Spain from around the 17th century.  He is the Garo of the golden Knight, born from the Garo Knight German and the Makai alchemsit Anna who was burned at the stake.

When the land is infested by Horrors, he and his father return together with the lone gun Eza to clear the land of the enemies and avenge his mother.  Whe he discovers another Makai alchemist wanted to usurp the throne, the prince seeks out Leon to help him free the land of the terrors.

Both he and Alfonso meet and learn that they are in fact maternal cousins whose grandfather was the previous Garo. Though León was relieved of the Garo title after Mendoza's assumed death for misconduct, Alfonso contends with the surviving Horrors in his kingdom. After casting away his drive for revenge and deciding to become a protector instead, León reclaims his armor and title, and joins forces with his friends to search after Mendoza once it is confirmed that he is still alive

Opinion

The series isn`t that bad, and features a lot of  high speed action like the Super Sentai series did, though with the powers of animation this can all be done a lot more fluently then with RL acting and effects.

It is that kind of series you just sit down for and can watch 5 - 6 episodes in a row, though I doubt it is just captivating enough to do a full series marathon in one go.  Still, a nice in betweener while you wait for the next episode of another series.

The Poor Intern MOC

The first of the display`s I`ll be building for the Jurassic World range, like I am doing for my Tolkien`s, I thought a bit of humor might be in place.

And yes, I know the polybags labels them as Gallimimus and that they are actually compy`s, but let`s just say the intern was mistaken as well lol.

The first change I made to previous display builds, and which I`ll also be doing with future Harry Potter moc`s, is to add the printed tiles to the front, right next to the name of the display.

The display actually features a single `complete` trap polybag set, as well as some more loose beasties.  And a plant guy from series 14, doubling as an intern who needed to observe the little critters.

The fences are made by using droid arms, wizard staves and cones, and a gate is included to allow access to the paddock itself.  Add foliage and the first one of the range is completed.

Inspirational Lego #41

Welcome monday, the only reason I like you is that I have the chance to show off some more great lookers found over the internet.

Because let`s face it, if you are reading this, you have even the slightest intrest in the brick, and this might even push you into full AFOL-ness if you aren`t one already.

We start off this week with a great looking build from a shogunate era palace, in which the troops are gathering at the front of the gates.

The next find is this interior of a mine, Indiana Jones style, as he chases over the rails trying to escape the huge boulder.

We have some more shogunate troops in this next build, as another army of samurai seems to be raised to go to battle.

A movie classic is next in the selection, with the iconic ET scene as they bike past the moon.

The gates of the elven fortress are opening as they march out towards unknown destinations.

This humongous tree, located in some wizard`s gathering square, is the next build.  That is a lot of leaves there...

The overgrown and ruined amphitheatre is greatly executed, `breathing` a real atmosphere of old.

Another great `DG` build (AFOL`s know who I mean ofc) in his Dark Island Saga is this old cottage by the road.

This Fabuland minifigure sculpture is by a BeLUG member and has great shaping and details of a cool theme from the past.

We end the week with this small historical shiptype, the cog.  I love how he did the curvature of the bow.

And that is it again, 10 of the many cool builds that caught my eye the past week, and I hope you enjoyed it again as well.  Until the next week, build on!