33 replies to this topic

[Sandy]

A new chapter of Queens' Quest, the Castle-themed comic is here. We return to our heroine from PQ, Queen Beatrix, as she embarks on the journey to attend the wedding of the orc king. The road ahead is far from easy one, though.

For this chapter, I decided to make the fonts in the speech bubbles smaller, to fit more text and also to show more of the background. I also showcased a few of the MOCs from this chapter elsewhere in the boards, so if you want to take a closer look on them, see the Royal Carriage here, and The Swan here.

But now, enjoy this action-packed and lengthy chapter of Queen Beatrix's adventures!









































































































Phew! You made it to the end, I'm happy for that! Next chapter will take us back to the young witch Xulda, as she makes her way out of Nornia to take Beatrix's place in the throne of Brickland. The "Who's Who in Queens' Quest" -topic will shortly be updated as well, so look forward to that too.

Thank you for reading!

[Euvor]

Yay! I've been waiting for this! And finally the name of the mystery knight is revealed. Hmm... maybe Sir Brighton is the son/nephew/some other relative of Duke Bley?

[Burman]

WOW! It is a really great story and you pictures are great.
You have a talent for comics  

[Sandy]

Thanks for the fast comments!

Euvor, on May 19 2010, 11:34 PM, said:

Hmm... maybe Sir Brighton is the son/nephew/some other relative of Duke Bley?

He is Duke Bley's son, it says so in the comic.

[Professor Flitwick]

Another great addition Sandy, the fight seen was great!   Also Brickhaven and the Elven ship were both well designed!

Though I felt the back and forth between Beatrix and Dame Enta was... unrealistic. I just expected her to go down fighting, considering it seems like she was seen as quite a ruthless person.    I take it as she was in this issue, and one of those back stories, she'll be back in the future?

[Sandy]

professor flitwick, on May 20 2010, 03:46 PM, said:

Though I felt the back and forth between Beatrix and Dame Enta was... unrealistic. I just expected her to go down fighting, considering it seems like she was seen as quite a ruthless person.    I take it as she was in this issue, and one of those back stories, she'll be back in the future?

Dame Etna will be back, and the secret why she left knighthood behind will be revealed eventually. It's also the reason why she didn't fight the knights and surrendered to Beatrix. What you have to understand from Etna is that she is a deeply troubled woman, not evil. I like my characters to have ambiguous motives and complex personalities, so please bear with me.

[Jebediahs]

CallMePie, on Mar 27 2010, 10:07 AM, said:

Been reading this series a while, looks pretty good. Hope the next one has some action.  

Great fight scene in this one. I hope you're satisfied!  

ORC!

[Lord Arjay]

Yay, I've just spent the past two hours cathing up on all of PQ, QQ and both of the Who's Who aswell as both of the prequels.
I have been meaning to read through it all for a while now, but unwisely I jumped right into it and read Chapter 3 first.
It lost me a bit. So I decided that it would be neseccary to read PQ first, a month later and I still hadn't started until now that is. Having read all previous chapters it is very clear how much you've improved since you started. This latest chapter is the work of a professional.
The balance between humour and action is good. The characters are well thought out and I can understand there motives. The sets you have built for it are absolutely stunning. The plot is intriguing and leaves me wanting more.
I think it's safe to say I'm a fan.
I eagerly await the next installment!

[Commodore Hornbricker]

Fantastic as always!  I really enjoy your story telling style.

[Emperor Claudius Rome]

I enjoyed this chapter. However, the only problem I have with your series is: Too many action girls, not enough Dumb@sses in distress. I know it's cliche, but you can't have a Medieval Fantasy without one.

Also, am I the only one who's sensing that Beatrix and Muse are more than friends?

[JimButcher]

Very nice, as usual, Sandy.   I enjoyed reading this one, and I can't wait to continue the adventure. The MOCs, especially the harbor, are very well done - just goes to show how dedicated you are to this comic.

I have to say, your work with Lego comics has definitely inspired me. Reading them really makes me want to write my own Lego adventures. Maybe someday I will...

BTW, I like the jester's name. Named after the band, or the actual meaning?

[Admiral Croissant]

Good story so far
As a pirate fan I can't wait to see the next chapter with sailing scenes
The troll with orange hair looked quite funny (on the troll vessel) and the mist effects also turned out very well.
Nice job!

[Commander Flash]

Good as always! I like the idea for smaller text, so theres more story. The pictures and MOCs are good as always, and the story is well written  

[Sandy]

Thanks for the comments, again!

Emperor Claudius Rome, on May 22 2010, 12:36 AM, said:

I enjoyed this chapter. However, the only problem I have with your series is: Too many action girls, not enough Dumb@sses in distress. I know it's cliche, but you can't have a Medieval Fantasy without one.

What can I say? This is quite a feministic comic, and damsels in distress fit very poorly in my image about women.

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Also, am I the only one who's sensing that Beatrix and Muse are more than friends?

What's with all these lesbian connotations? On the other hand, why not?

JimButcher, on May 23 2010, 02:45 AM, said:

BTW, I like the jester's name. Named after the band, or the actual meaning?

The actual meaning, definitely.

[Perfectionist]

Ahh now that's finally where you have included that fine vessel, you showed in the Pirate MOC forum!  

It looks quite feminine and so is your comic!

I didn't yet found the time to read all episodes and character introduction, but I might do this at some point.

What I saw here so far is actually a very well made comic with great pics and editing!
The story seems good as well, even though I don't know all that happened before...  

[Emperor Claudius Rome]

Sandy, on May 23 2010, 01:34 PM, said:

What can I say? This is quite a feministic comic, and damsels in distress fit very poorly in my image about women.

What's with all these lesbian connotations? On the other hand, why not?

Perhaps you could do some sort of Role Reversal, with Beatrix Saving, perhaps the Troll prince.

You make is too easy.

[Captain Becker]

Sorry at a bit late reply, i loved the story all the way, but where did you get the Duke Sandred`s suit? I really like it

Captain Becker

[Sandy]

Captain Becker, on May 29 2010, 12:46 PM, said:

where did you get the Duke Sandred`s suit? I really like it

I really love it, too. It belongs to Gilderoy Lockhart from the Harry Potter theme's Chamber of Secrets set, and he's one of the very few sand red minifigs ever created (I actually can't think of any other sand red minifigs, now that I think about it).

[Zepher]

Well, I finally took the time to read the newest installment, and I'm glad I did being the fan I am.  I have a few pieces of story-telling advice, if you'd have it, though.

Let me start by saying I did like the chapter, quite a bit, in fact.  Maybe my favorite Queen's Quest chapter so far!  I liked the story, I liked the travel, and I always love the vast world you include, which makes it feel like a real fantasy epic.

That being said, there's a few problems, many of which I share when writing stories.  The first is the cliche's of peoples lines, that you sometimes fall into the trap of.  The lines don't seem organic, the people are legtimantly just saying things that are on thier minds.  Beatrix openly and blatently voices her thoughts in the scene with the Blood/Red Knight (forgive me, I have forgotten her name... you know Etna).  Instead maybe have two other characters suggesting she kill or pardon her, and show the Queen have conflict with both statements.  That would show how unsure she is with out her saying: "Hey, I'm unsure, what should I do?"  People don't actually say that.

The other cliche you fal into is the one of characters.  One of the things I liked about Princess Quest is that all the characters had more than one demension, but in Queen's Quest they seem to get a little stale.  The evil son of the duke thinking "That guy knows too much, I will elimanate him so i can go through with my ultimate plans, mwahahahaha" is just so boring to me.  Make us have some unexpected characters twists.  Make an old evil go evil, make a character who was evil seek redemption, give a character inner-conflict, add a new rivalship or past mis-deed, but don't make it boring for us.

Finally, you have SO many characters.  As I stated above, that's nice for creating a universe, but don't over-whelm yourself.  We won't be able to keep track, and you won't be able to develop them.  Again, look ack at Princess Quest.  We had a small cast that we knew and loved.  Do the same here.  Please don't be afraid to sacrifice a few characters to death, or even just take a few of them out of ahte picture for a while so we get to see others grow.

Anyway, keep up the good work and I look forward to the next installment!

[Sandy]

Thanks for the constructive criticism, Zeph, it's much appreciated!

Zepher, on May 29 2010, 07:26 PM, said:

That being said, there's a few problems, many of which I share when writing stories.  The first is the cliche's of peoples lines, that you sometimes fall into the trap of.  The lines don't seem organic, the people are legtimantly just saying things that are on thier minds.  Beatrix openly and blatently voices her thoughts in the scene with the Blood/Red Knight (forgive me, I have forgotten her name... you know Etna).  Instead maybe have two other characters suggesting she kill or pardon her, and show the Queen have conflict with both statements.  That would show how unsure she is with out her saying: "Hey, I'm unsure, what should I do?"  People don't actually say that.

I wasn't aware I was doing this, but I do see it now. There's just the trouble of minifigs having one or two expressions available to them, so I feel like I have to write out their thoughts because they can't effectively just show them. Your suggestion is a fine one, however sometimes the space in the screen limits how many speech bubbles will fit in it. This could maybe be fixed with duplicate panels of the same shot, but I'd like to avoid that.

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The other cliche you fal into is the one of characters.  One of the things I liked about Princess Quest is that all the characters had more than one demension, but in Queen's Quest they seem to get a little stale.  The evil son of the duke thinking "That guy knows too much, I will elimanate him so i can go through with my ultimate plans, mwahahahaha" is just so boring to me.  Make us have some unexpected characters twists.  Make an old evil go evil, make a character who was evil seek redemption, give a character inner-conflict, add a new rivalship or past mis-deed, but don't make it boring for us.

Patience. This is only the second chapter with this lot of characters, and I'm only building up the new characters' personalities. Brighton Bley is not by any means "evil incarnated", but hey, he's Duke Bley's son - what can you expect?

Quote

Finally, you have SO many characters.  As I stated above, that's nice for creating a universe, but don't over-whelm yourself.  We won't be able to keep track, and you won't be able to develop them.  Again, look ack at Princess Quest.  We had a small cast that we knew and loved.  Do the same here.  Please don't be afraid to sacrifice a few characters to death, or even just take a few of them out of ahte picture for a while so we get to see others grow.

I know, and I'm sorry to tell you there's going to be even more.

But there's a reason why the sisters have so many companions, but I won't elaborate on that just now. And death will be gathering it's harvest eventually, just wait for that.

Thanks for being a devoted fan, and please, share your opinions in the future as well!

[Jlblue]

Sandy, on May 23 2010, 02:34 PM, said:

What's with all these lesbian connotations? On the other hand, why not?

I guess the readers start wondering when you have so many women not serving the standard action-story role of "damsel in distress that hooks up with the male lead".    But seriously, this is a really cool comic. I especially liked the set of the port with all the people bustling about.

[Sandy]

With a heavy heart I have to announce that I'm not continuing Queens' Quest anymore. I guess time just drove by it, and my motivations lie elsewhere now. My collection has grown immensely during my "career" of making LEGO comics and keeps growing still, so I constantly want to try new things with my new figs and pieces. Even though I still cherish the characters and the world I've created for this setting, I want to move away from the stereotypical high fantasy setting.

I will now start disassembling the QQ-related MOCs I've stored for half a year (and probably cry myself to sleep tonight ), so this comic is cancelled for good. My apologies for anyone who was still waiting for a new chapter.

But as I hinted above, I'm making this decision because there's a whole new comic coming up. I've already written scripts for the three first chapters of it, and it's going to be soooo much fun - especially for fans of a certain videogame franchise. So there's something to look forward to.

PS. Links to all of my comics here will forever be stored in my "About Me" -page in my profile.

[Jebediahs]

NOOOOO!

You're a strong force in keeping the Castle/Fantasy line alive in the hearts and mind of the LEGO community! I am sad.

HALLOWEEN!

[Professor Flitwick]

When will your gruesome killings end, Sandy? First Time Crash, now PQ? End of an era, but I'm glad to see your got another series in mind!

Any chance of telling us how the two series would've ended?

Sandy, on 25 October 2010 - 02:35 PM, said:

But as I hinted above, I'm making this decision because there's a whole new comic coming up. I've already written scripts for the three first chapters of it, and it's going to be soooo much fun - especially for fans of a certain videogame franchise. So there's something to look forward to.

Yay! I'm a video-game nerd so the chances of me enjoying your new series is high! I look forward to seeing it!

[Sandy]

Professor Flitwick, on 25 October 2010 - 04:41 PM, said:

Any chance of telling us how the two series would've ended?

Ended? Frankly said, I don't know it myself. I only planned the story into the point where the twin sisters meet, so there really was no ending in sight. There was going to be a forced wedding between Beatrix and the orc king, though, but fortunately nobody will never get to witness that.