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[Sandy]

Vig. 43a

Each day at the crack of dawn, Governor Hastalavista left the imperial outpost in Porto Faro for a ride across the town. Riding on his favorite white horse, he always headed towards the majestetic lighthouse that the whole town had been named for first. But that specific morning, a horrendous sight awaited him at the harbor...


The town was under attack of one of the most fear-striking group of pirates ever to terrorize the Caribbean Sea: Las Sirenes. Legends told of even the most foolhardy men shaking in their trousers when they saw the Sirens approaching. This same effect struck Governor Hastalavista as he witnessed his precious town in turmoil. Your common garden-variety pirates could never have been as ruthless, as abominable, as plain mockery to the laws of nature as these, because these pirates... they were all women.


Their captain was known as Calamity Jeanne, who in her youth had graced the court of the king of France himself with her beauty. She had to give up a life of luxury when she was banished to the New World, but she found a new status for herself in piracy. Now she ruled the Sirens with the blade of her signature golden sword.


Following Jeanne's lead, many disgraced and shunned women joined her crew, and in every port that they raided a few more joined their ranks. Las Sirenes didn't turn away any woman who desired to dedicate her life to them instead of their tyrant fathers, jealous husbands and needy children. Thus the crew contained both untouched maidens and mothers of many, as well as former beggars and former nobility. Under Calamity Jeanne's command, they were all sisters.


These desperate women were ready to do anything to get back at the patriarchal society that had trodden on them and their rights. They had no say in governmental issues, so they made sure that the government would suffer for it.


But these women weren't all without a heart. They never harmed innocent children, and in every port they took with them the most handsome young men they could get their hands on for a few nights filled with passion and bliss. These men would later be found stranded on solitary islands or discarted rowboats, but not one of them ever complained.


But as said, this all was a true abomination to men like Governor Hastalavista. It was unfortunate that his horse was as scared as him at the sight of women raiding his precious town, or else he might have not fallen off the horse and broken his neck.

More views of the tragic events in Porto Faro can be seen here:
Side view of the town.
The front of the harbor.
The town from above.
View from the lighthouse with the Onetoothed, Peglegged and Hook-handed Maddy.
Pretty Prudence, the ugliest woman on Earth.
The crew holds natives as well.
Not all of the crew are into men, as this unusual stealing of the bride proves.
"Women must remain silent in the Church!"

~ Sandy, who suddenly feels very empowered and feministic

[Guss]

that's a wonderful moc Sandy ! I love this bridge

a women crew is a nice idea too, and your little story of the governor riding his horse every morning was very pleasant to read, I enjoyed to read your description ^^

I also like that you don't make like every big entries ( including mine^^ ) a snot water! water is nice like this !
I love the building as well, that's some original building, and they're very well done !

the only thing I don't like ? the shark ON the sea, just remove it, if you want to put a shark on it, try to just make it ... fin ? is that the word ? appear at the surface of the sea, but not the whole shark ^^

and the only thing this entry need is blood, because I love blood ^^ but anyway, that's a wonderful entry Sandy , and I wish you the BEST for the contest!

[Zorro]

My opinion:
Yes, Sandy, this is really an amazing performance you displayed here, the 'Sirenes' are truly a bunch of crazy pirates ! Boy, I want to be kidnapped by them as well! The bridge, the tower, the little harbour, everything is finished so good .

Possible improvements:
1) You don't have to for me, but many expect you to add more blood to the dead soldiers and the ones that are being killed! It might convince people to vote for you, although I always look at the scenes itself instead of the ammount of gore included.

2) I have my doubts about the troll-alike lady...some may like her in a pirate scene, some may not.

3) If you have more tiles in the correct colours, I would use them! Eg. the tower, the red roof, around the firing cannon,...

Non-brick related advise:
1) If you would retake the pics at some point, I would suggest taking them at 800x600 to show us as many as possible, we will then be able to see even more details of this beautiful MOC!

2) In this case I most certainly would use a digital background, it is so suitable!

This post has been edited by zorro3999: 25 November 2008 - 08:57 PM

[Lord King of Everything]

Wow, I love the dreamy atmosphere of the town in the first pic, although the saddistic womenfigs (and you have a LOT of them!!!) quickly made me change my mind about the dreamy stuff. I also really like the use of that raised baseplate and the cannon firing effects.
I only think those grey modified tilelike bricks would be better in a lighter colour like white. Grey makes the water look so dirty and I think the water would look better clean. I do like the concept of these bricks as tiny waves washing ashore!

Very original entry!

[Sandy]

Thanks for all the superfast comments! I'll try to address them, although I have to say that I unfortunately don't have the time to work on this entry anymore, since I have to dismantle it to get parts for my next big project. That's the life of a LEGO fan with few bricks.

Guss, on Nov 25 2008, 10:37 PM, said:

I also like that you don't make like every big entries ( including mine^^ ) a snot water! water is nice like this !

I totally agree with you on the water, I wouldn't have it any other way - plus I don't even own that many blue bricks to begin with!

Guss, on Nov 25 2008, 10:37 PM, said:

the only thing I don't like ? the shark ON the sea, just remove it, if you want to put a shark on it, try to just make it ... fin ? is that the word ? appear at the surface of the sea, but not the whole shark ^^

The shark is there for both filler and comic relief (it's chasing the escaping officer), I didn't think about it any more than that, but thanks for the suggestion anyway!

Guss, on Nov 25 2008, 10:37 PM, said:

and the only thing this entry need is blood, because I love blood ^^ but anyway, that's a wonderful entry Sandy , and I wish you the BEST for the contest!

Those translucent red tiles are overrated.

zorro3999, on Nov 25 2008, 10:53 PM, said:

2) I have my doubts about the troll-alike lady...some may like her in a pirate scene, some may not.

But as the caption says, her point is not to be a troll, but the ugliest woman on the Earth. She's the reason why the governor's horse got so afraid...

zorro3999, on Nov 25 2008, 10:53 PM, said:

3) If you have more tiles in the correct colours, I would use them! Eg. the tower, the red roof, around the firing cannon,...

I really don't have many tiles, honestly! I'd use them more if I had them, but I don't... Plus the studs help posing the minifigs a lot.

zorro3999, on Nov 25 2008, 10:53 PM, said:

1) If you would retake the pics at some point, I would suggest taking them at 800x600 to show us as many as possible, we will then be able to see even more details of this beautiful MOC!

Hmm, but the horizontal ones are 800x600... It was actually my boyfriend who took these photos while I held the spotlight, just to maximize the quality of them - I'm notorious for my shaky and blurry photos in this household.

zorro3999, on Nov 25 2008, 10:53 PM, said:

2) In this case I most certainly would use a digital background, it is so suitable!

If I only knew how to do it properly! Can you believe, there is not a single white sheet in our appartment to act as a clean backdrop?

Lord King of Everything, on Nov 25 2008, 10:55 PM, said:

I only think those grey modified tilelike bricks would be better in a lighter colour like white. Grey makes the water look so dirty and I think the water would look better clean. I do like the concept of these bricks as tiny waves washing ashore!

If you mean the gridded tiles on the beach, they're actually sand blue - although I can see that they look very grey in the pictures. They were just a late addition to make the water blend in with the beach more, but I do see your point.

Thanks again for the tips! I know I have no chance in hell to get to top 3 in this category, but the idea of pillaging women taking their revenge on the patriarchal society was too good to pass up!

[Lord King of Everything]

Sandy, on Nov 25 2008, 10:13 PM, said:

If you mean the gridded tiles on the beach, they're actually sand blue - although I can see that they look very grey in the pictures. They were just a late addition to make the water blend in with the beach more, but I do see your point.

Gridded tiles is a nice name for them and aargh yeah I think the picture does not do them justice then. Sand blue would be a good colour , I have not seen that colour before, so that + my terrible eyes would explain
Don't worry about the background, the blue with the flowers make it look like springtime air and the carpet can pass as water.

A bit more gore would not hurt, but I think that theme of the MOC is more than enough to make it fit in PTV.

[Ryan_T]

Hey, If you want me to, I could give you a nice Background, If this is the Final Pictures.. I will be happy to contribute to this great build with a Sky! lol

[Svelte]

This is a great MOC, Sandy. As others have noted, that bridge especially is

The overall design is great. It reminds me of the classic old catalogue layouts - lots of small buildings joined together to form one massive, busy landscape. Highlights are the dock, clever use of the baseplate and the lion column portico.

The only thing I would change is some of the colour selections, but I think you said your part selection was limited? I think you could lose the tan third floor of the white tower as it looks a bit delicate and skinny, and the Harry Potter clock face from the grey tower. Apart from that, as I said, I love how all the little areas interconnect. I like the studdy water too - sometimes SNOT is used for SNOT's sake I think.

And rampaging female pirates? Woo!

[Erdbeereis]

Very nice entry Sandy!
The bulidings are beautiful and so is that curved bridge. It also has plenty of action which makes it fun to look at, plus your cannon fire and dock are brilliant as well.

You did a good job with that baseplate, I wouldn't have thought of that myself. Those guys hanging off of the building on the right made me laugh!

Your entry just has a really nice village feel to it.

Some improvement ideas:

1) I'm not so sure about the usage of all of the Castle minifigs... You may not have enough actual pirate figs, but perhaps you could use a few more that are more neutral.

2) Personally, I also think some more blood would be nice, to add more cruelty. If you don't have enough trans-red, I'm sure plain red would look just fine.

3) Where the water hits the sand, I think some white plates or tiles placed sort of randomly by the beach would be much better than the sand blue grills.

4) I think it may look nice to make the sand extend all of the way to the dock, since it looks so nice.

5) Do you perhaps have a few more boats to put in the water? I think that would fill it up nicely.


========================================================================

Overall, I think you did an amazing job with your entry! Great buildings, wonderful story and like I said, it looks like a charming little village.

Nice work and good luck!

[Legoking]

Opinion
Well Sandy, I have never seen a PTV entry with an all women pirate crew. You have a great story following your creation. I like the giant clock you have. The pirates battling at the top of the tower is just great. I still cannot believe that the Imperial Guard is getting beat up by woman pirates. I like the woman transporting the pirates under the bridge.

Possible Improvements

1) I would put some blue tiles on the water.

2) I also would put some tan tiles on the sand.

3) As zorro3999 said, you need to have some more blood in your MOC.

Overall- You have a great MOC. I like the idea of women pirates instead of men pirates. There are some very little things to fix, but other than that, it is great. I wish you the best of luck!

LegoKing

[Josh]

Very nice work again sandy!I love your style with the Female pirate gang its a nice touch IMO!You are one of my favourite builders I have seen on here since Joining up recently!Looking forward to more of your work in the future!Good luck in the comp!