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MassEditor

Mesoamerican Pyramid

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Naturally, most people look to the Old World when reflecting upon history’s greatest architectural achievements. The Pyramids of Giza, the Colosseum, the Forbidden City, Angkor Wat – these structures are forever etched into our understanding of human culture and history. Perhaps not as well known are the ancient and impressive sites in Central and South America. I built this Mesoamerican pyramid as a tribute to this wonderful architectural legacy, some of which I have been fortunate enough to see in person. This temple is based loosely on “El Castillo” in Chichen Itza, Mexico, whose construction began in the eighth century.

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Very nice stuff! And although I haven't been to Chichen Itza yet, I've seen a few other Mesoamerican temples. It's definetely awe inspiring architecture and this is a great depiction of it!

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This is a really nice pyramid, ME!

The stonework is excellent, as is the jungle foliage!  The SNOT water is very fitting here and very nice in appearance.

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Very very nice temple! 

We don't see enough historical MOCs about the old civilizations in the americas.

And I love your picture skills. Perfect light, angle, focus, ... . Did you take this photo outside or do you have a photo setup with lights?

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1 hour ago, Bonaparte said:

We don't see enough historical MOCs about the old civilizations in the americas.

1

Couldn't agree more, this is such a great theme to build in!  And you did a wonderful job!  And as always your photo's are stunning, I might say among Lego builders you're one of the best photographers for sure! 

I have to disagree though on what you've said on BB, that it lacks building techniques. I think that's a serious problem these days, there's way too much focus on showing a new way to use a brick. People often forget that just old fashion stacking can result in great mocs as well! Like the one above:wink:

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Excellent colors, photography, and composition, MassEditor, the jungle and riveredge are superb, and the pyramid itself looks great as well! :classic:  And yes, cloudy days are the best photographic lighting there is! :grin:

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Wow ! Excellent pyramid !

As a fan of mesoamerican old civilisations I am applauding you :wub:

I am still planning on building my own temple for Brethren of the Brick Seas but seing yours makes me think I would not reach such a brilliant level of building ! :pir-blush:

Great work !

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Excellent MOC, MassEditor! :thumbup:

It only would be cool if you took some more pics and showed theme so that we e. g. would know if there was an interior etc.

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Hello MassEditor, 

This is amazing, I love the greenery and river!

Makes me feel nostalgic, because it reminds me of TLG's Adventurers sets I had as a kid. This is much cooler, though! :laugh:

Kind regards, Ellis.

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Fantastic build! :thumbup:

The structure would be nice even by itself, but the scenery around it makes it awesome. 

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What an amazing photo. At first I thought that this is a rendered computer-generated picture but then realized it's built with real bricks!

The pyramid looks great for its size. The vegetation is very nicely done, too (love the added frogs and parrots).

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Awesome work!!

I saw  El Castillo not 8 months ago and was amazing to see in person.

This is excellent and definitely reminds me of visiting some of the other Mayan runes in the forest :)

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On 1/5/2017 at 11:54 AM, kabel said:

Very nice stuff! And although I haven't been to Chichen Itza yet, I've seen a few other Mesoamerican temples. It's definetely awe inspiring architecture and this is a great depiction of it!

Thanks kabel! I remember you saying you got to travel some in Mexico/Central America. I've only seen a few, smaller sites in Cozumel. Let me know next time you're in the area, we'll meet up and finally have those cervezas fria!

On 1/5/2017 at 11:58 AM, nymmerod said:

Brilliant work. I love it.

Thanks!

On 1/5/2017 at 11:58 AM, Super Fish Oil said:

This is gorgeous. Great work. :thumbup:

I appreciate it!

On 1/5/2017 at 0:51 PM, Slegengr said:

This is a really nice pyramid, ME!

The stonework is excellent, as is the jungle foliage!  The SNOT water is very fitting here and very nice in appearance.

Thanks Slegengr, I thought the SNOT water was a nice touch!

On 1/5/2017 at 1:06 PM, Bonaparte said:

Very very nice temple! 

We don't see enough historical MOCs about the old civilizations in the americas.

And I love your picture skills. Perfect light, angle, focus, ... . Did you take this photo outside or do you have a photo setup with lights?

Thanks Bonaparte! Yes, hopefully we'll see more historical builds from this side of the world! Funny thing about history in the Americas is that it is very relative - a friend of mine in Germany lives in a family home which was built right about the time El Castillo was finished...:laugh:

I took this photo outside on a really cloudy day - unfortunately, my skills with artificial lighting are virtually non-existent. I'm glad you like the angle - I took photos from many angles and this one was the last pic I took.

On 1/5/2017 at 2:20 PM, Ecclesiastes said:

Couldn't agree more, this is such a great theme to build in!  And you did a wonderful job!  And as always your photo's are stunning, I might say among Lego builders you're one of the best photographers for sure! 

I have to disagree though on what you've said on BB, that it lacks building techniques. I think that's a serious problem these days, there's way too much focus on showing a new way to use a brick. People often forget that just old fashion stacking can result in great mocs as well! Like the one above:wink:

Thanks Ecc, that means a lot coming from one of my all time favorite builders. And I absolutely agree with you on the building techniques. There is such an 'arms race' among LEGO builders to introduce new techniques and continually go over the top in detail. When, like you said, that's completely unnecessary. I've definitely adopted a style of building that many would label fairly simple while focusing more on composition and color. That hurts my brain less than trying to figure out some of those more advanced styles (like building trees from axes - I'll never understand it!:laugh:).

I dare say I see a comeback of the old fashioned building among castle builders. I see fewer and fewer of the DC/Cesar style of castle building - which is a great style, but was quickly and excessively adopted by many builders, very few of whom could pull it off like they did.

On 1/5/2017 at 2:35 PM, Garmadon said:

Excellent colors, photography, and composition, MassEditor, the jungle and riveredge are superb, and the pyramid itself looks great as well! :classic:  And yes, cloudy days are the best photographic lighting there is! :grin:

Thanks Garm! You are 100 percent on target - cloudy days for the win!

On 1/5/2017 at 2:43 PM, Faladrin said:

Wow ! Excellent pyramid !

As a fan of mesoamerican old civilisations I am applauding you :wub:

I am still planning on building my own temple for Brethren of the Brick Seas but seing yours makes me think I would not reach such a brilliant level of building ! :pir-blush:

Great work !

Thanks Faladrin! Please don't feel discouraged - if anything, use it as inspiration or, hell, copy the design and change it up a bit, I don't care! In fact I would be flattered!

On 1/5/2017 at 2:49 PM, Klaus-Dieter said:

Excellent MOC, MassEditor! :thumbup:

It only would be cool if you took some more pics and showed theme so that we e. g. would know if there was an interior etc.

Thanks Klaus! I have another pic or two on my Flickr, I should have shared them here too. Not really much of an interior to speak of.

On 1/5/2017 at 3:01 PM, Ellisss_2 said:

Hello MassEditor, 

This is amazing, I love the greenery and river!

Makes me feel nostalgic, because it reminds me of TLG's Adventurers sets I had as a kid. This is much cooler, though! :laugh:

Kind regards, Ellis.

Thanks Ellisss! I was thinking of the Adventurers a lot as I built this. One of my favorite all time LEGO series for sure!

On 1/5/2017 at 4:17 PM, Leonardo da Bricki said:

Beautiful pyramid, the stonework is excellent! :thumbup: But those trees are just awesome! :wub:

I appreciate it dude!

On 1/5/2017 at 6:05 PM, Windusky said:

Amazing build!

Thanks!

On 1/5/2017 at 6:57 PM, Vorkosigan said:

Beautiful!

Thank ya!

On 1/6/2017 at 9:08 AM, Thebeeze111 said:

So simple but effective. Very nicely done. 

Thanks a ton!

On 1/6/2017 at 10:01 AM, Asphalt said:

That is a beautiful display piece.  Thank you for sharing it with us.

Thank you for looking!

On 1/7/2017 at 9:41 AM, -obelix- said:

Fantastic build! :thumbup:

The structure would be nice even by itself, but the scenery around it makes it awesome. 

Thanks obelix! I was torn between going with the jungle or a field around the pyramid (like at Chichen Itza). It had been a while since I built anything jungly, so I went with that!

On 1/7/2017 at 0:18 PM, koalayummies said:

Absolutely beautiful, I love the elegance of the pyramid and the surrounding foliage is exquisite. Classic Lego Islanders!

I love me some classic LEGO islanders!

On 1/8/2017 at 5:04 AM, Dazz said:

What an amazing photo. At first I thought that this is a rendered computer-generated picture but then realized it's built with real bricks!

The pyramid looks great for its size. The vegetation is very nicely done, too (love the added frogs and parrots).

Thanks Dazz! You're not the only one - I had several suggest this was actually a render! I think this would be easier to build in real life than digitally!:laugh:

On 1/8/2017 at 6:36 PM, infector said:

Awesome work!!

I saw  El Castillo not 8 months ago and was amazing to see in person.

This is excellent and definitely reminds me of visiting some of the other Mayan runes in the forest :)

Thanks so much! I hope you had an awesome time!

On 1/8/2017 at 9:10 PM, BrickFit26 said:

Amazing work. You designed and built it well.

Thanks a ton!

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Fantastic build! Very nice how you depicted the struggle of nature versus architecture.

Nice how you populated the diorama with little animals and Islanders.

Could this be the place the upcoming Jungle Explorers are heading to?

Won't you publish it on Lego Ideas? I'd buy one for sure!

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