[ENTRY] [SMALL] Quadruplets?

[YellowFrog]

Steve sat down at a bar at a coastal town. Although he started the afternoon tight-lipped, after he had chugged a few bottles of smuggled whisky, he finally told me his story.

Redbeard, after years of facing a disappointing crew, decided to try something new. Exhausted by the incompetence of the usual crew, he strived to create a perfect crew - a crew made up entirely of Roger Redbeard. In an alchemist's abandoned basement, he assembled his creation, and, one fateful night, decided to give it a go.

He never revealed to me the process, nor the ingredients, but I bet it had something to do with gold coins, and rum - his two favourite things in life. Before I knew it, I was thrust into existence, and the room was filled with Redbeards: Ennio LaQuay; Ironhook, yet he hadn't lost his hand nor foot at that time; myself; and Roger. (This is the moment captured in the MOC above.)

Whilst we all shared his spitting image, and his eternal desire for wealth, we set off on our different paths, each hoping to make our fortune in our own way.

LaQuay became a captain, and assembled a fine ship, and crew, and although I heard his ship is rather slow due to stiff sails, he looted a large number of cargo ships due to his skill with cannons.Ironhook became a captain too, yet he was focused on finding treasure. Redbeard hoped to make his fortune by taking down the Imperial Army, and taking their wealth and fleet for himself.

I turned to trade, and tried to make my fortune as a merchant (I was really just a smuggler). But I didn't anticipate the small earnings and constant thievery. In one of these unfortunate encounters, I lost my hand to a gang of rival smugglers. Needing an escape from the immense danger and minimal returns, I turned to the path of my... brothers? twins? ...and became a pirate captain.

The seas were quite full, with the three other red-bearded pirates already on the waters, and I wanted to join the hunt for the Islander's lost treasure. I started a search, and quickly came across Ironhook. Two birds were too much for one cage, and I discreetly disposed of him, donned his uniform, and took over his ship and crew. I just hope no-one noticed that I wasn't missing a leg...

Steve stopped telling his story, exhausted.

---

Pictured is the moment that Redbeard made his clones. From left to right: Young Ironhook, Steve, Ennio LaQuay, Roger Redbeard.

 

Edited July 20, 2024 by YellowFrog
Changing images

[Horation]

A fun little idea, reminds me of the dalton brothers, one would almost expect them to be waring striped prison uniforms...

The build looks exotic, with all those bottles, one feels like they have been thrust into the lab of some mad scientist!

If there is something I can suggest, It might be a few sheets covered in writing (ex: a tile with a sticker or a print of a bit of text on it) or some alchemy textbook, as it would do wonders for the setting. 

In addition, maybe some hint at the mechanism used, like a lever or a wheel, to at least give us a hint at the genius behind Redbeard's contraption.

The figures are all adding a decent bit of much-needed colour to the scene, but I find it to be a shame that one of them is facing sideways from the camera. Maybe you could make him look like he's turning to observe is fellow redbeards?

Overall, an absolutely strange but fitting origin to the mysterious man. 

[Mister Phes]

  On 7/2/2024 at 12:59 PM, YellowFrog said:

Pictured is the moment that Redbeard made his clones. From left to right: Young Ironhook, Steve, Ennio LaQuay, Roger Redbeard.

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What a beautiful family photo!

Do you happen to have a larger version of this photo somewhere?

[Mazin]

Brilliant remake of Michael Keaton's Multiplicity ;) ... or the infmous SW Clone Saga ;) Seriously, i've just read and commented on a story we Steve got many clones and now i'm seeing double, or double the double, quadruple clones of the pirate captain. What next? Cloning Governor Broadside? Whatever amount of clone stories we will get, both are brilliant. And i love Your approach as well, especially that telling the tale trough the letter is new and damn original as well!

Obviously entirely fictional as or sailor's stories are 200% untrue and a create with a purpose of getting few free drinks, but still, a world would be such a interesting place without them ;)

So now we now why Steve is loosing parts of his body in some sets and regains them in other! Thanx for explaining this to us. As a creature out of this world, artificialy formed being he clearly is capable of grow his limbs again. So im quite surprised he didnt just cut his leg to properly diguise himself as the captain.

However i do hope that the real captain will return and they will all clash in the great clone battle... cause the world is too small for all of them at once.

Anyway. Awesome build. I like the addition of those stares, gives the whole setting  a great classic secret laboratory-in-the-basement kinda a feel. Even that bottle with green ooze that is about to fall is great idea. Exactly the kind of detail i'd like to see here. 

And the "cloning machine" is smrtly simply, not overthought, but just like something that's both credible, fun and creepy at the same time. 

The only part about Your post i dislike is that after reading it i will have to abandon my plans to clone myself :( I mean, i'm not gonna risk making copies of myself if one of them might kill me, that would be stupid, wouldnt it?  Lesson learned. 

[SevenDeadlyStreamers]

Interesting concept, and I’m impressed you have so many Redbeard head pieces. Critique would be the photo is a little dark in places, but such is the challenge of photographing a physical build. Oh, and I think you need more room on that shelf, the bottle is about to tip over!

Well done matey! 

[Captain Pirate Man]

I have never really identified Redbeard and Steve to be related what so ever. This is the 2nd entry that kinda "alludes" to this, which is an interesting and unique take on the lore. The build itself is very nice little scene, I think you captured the feel of your story very well. My only critique, and perhaps you don't have the minifigs to do this, but if you put all the different versions of Redbeard from over the years, that would be fun.

[YellowFrog]

  On 7/2/2024 at 8:21 PM, SevenDeadlyStreamers said:

I’m impressed you have so many Redbeard head pieces

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Thanks for all the feedback, but I only have two Redbeard heads! I took the photo, moved the heads, and took another photo. I stitched the photos together.

Also, I was wanting to take some of the feedback on board, make some changes, and get a higher quality image. What is the EB etiquette in this case? Should I change the original post, make a new post, put the image in the replies to the main post?

EDIT: I changed the original post.

Edited July 3, 2024 by YellowFrog

[Horation]

I see you moved the head a little on young Ironhook, which is good, but now there are two pictures where we can see him without his head at all, which is a little strange, maybe take those pictures and stitch 'em once more so they fit better? Because, headless Ironhook wasn't on my pirates bingo card...

[SevenDeadlyStreamers]

  On 7/3/2024 at 6:13 AM, YellowFrog said:

Thanks for all the feedback, but I only have two Redbeard heads! I took the photo, moved the heads, and took another photo. I stitched the photos together.

Also, I was wanting to take some of the feedback on board, make some changes, and get a higher quality image. What is the EB etiquette in this case? Should I change the original post, make a new post, put the image in the replies to the main post?

EDIT: I changed the original post.

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Very good, and I’m even more impressed that you merged the photos and I never even realized! As fast as etiquette, I think you made the right choice, however I usually just add a new photo and explain (I just find it easier)

[YellowFrog]

  On 7/3/2024 at 1:47 PM, Horation said:

I see you moved the head a little on young Ironhook, which is good, but now there are two pictures where we can see him without his head at all, which is a little strange, maybe take those pictures and stitch 'em once more so they fit better? Because, headless Ironhook wasn't on my pirates bingo card...

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I wanted to share some of the magic of editing by allowing a sneak peek into the real MOC instead of the edited version.

[Horation]

  On 7/6/2024 at 4:00 AM, YellowFrog said:

I wanted to share some of the magic of editing by allowing a sneak peek into the real MOC instead of the edited version.

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That's your choice, but it is definitively going to bother some people, and might cost you valuable votes.

[YellowFrog]

  On 7/6/2024 at 12:20 PM, Horation said:

That's your choice, but it is definitively going to bother some people, and might cost you valuable votes.

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Fair point; images have now been cropped.

[Math Wizard]

Ahoy Matey!

They call me Captain Crit in these parts and I heard that polly wants a sandwich (They’re fed up with crackers apparently) - a criticism sandwich that is! (For you landlubbers, that’s 3 seas [Cs]- Compliment, Constructive Criticism, and another Compliment).

Ye did a great job buildin’ this and writin’ a story to go along with it. The story is quite excellently written. I never would’a guessed they were all interrelated- What a surprise! 

It was a tough task to come up with a critique for this build, as it looks quite fine already. Perhaps if you added some tiling for floorboards instead of exposed studs it could make it a wee bit better. I’d also love to see some sort of trigger for the clone machine- A wheel, lever, or button of some sort.

Me favorite part o’ this build is the posing of all the minifigures, all running out from the cloning machine, and the simplicity of the cloning machine itself, built in true pirate fashion. I also never would’a guessed you took multiple photos and edited them together- your editing job is very clean-great work!

Fair Winds Matey!

[Horation]

I don't know if there are enough parts left in the budget for full tiling, so we'll ask the master behind the entry : tell me @YellowFrog, do you have enough parts left to tile the floor?

[YellowFrog]

  On 8/3/2024 at 12:40 AM, Horation said:

I don't know if there are enough parts left in the budget for full tiling, so we'll ask the master behind the entry : tell me @YellowFrog, do you have enough parts left to tile the floor?

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I'd love to tile it as much as you, but dark tan tiles aren't plentiful in my collection... I could tile them in tan or dark orange, but I think the contrast provided by dark tan is needed.

[Math Wizard]

  On 8/4/2024 at 12:17 PM, YellowFrog said:

I'd love to tile it as much as you, but dark tan tiles aren't plentiful in my collection... I could tile them in tan or dark orange, but I think the contrast provided by dark tan is needed.

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Sounds good! I often face this issue myself. At least you have some options that could work for other builds- I'm pretty sure I would only have enough in black or white. I would be interested to see what dark orange could look like though- It's close enough to stained wood I believe. (I don't know if I even have ANY dark orange pieces)

[Horation]

@Math Wizard I don't have any I'm quite sure, since I recently did a visual inventory estimate.

But I second your proposal, I wanna see what it looks like, irregardless of the result, out of genuine curiosity.

[YellowFrog]

  On 8/4/2024 at 8:44 PM, Math Wizard said:

I don't know if I even have ANY dark orange pieces.

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Luckily enough, I found dark orange 1x2 tiles on the PAB wall quite a while ago, and 2x4 rounded tiles not that long ago.

[Math Wizard]

  On 8/5/2024 at 11:48 AM, YellowFrog said:

Luckily enough, I found dark orange 1x2 tiles on the PAB wall quite a while ago, and 2x4 rounded tiles not that long ago.

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Nice! I don't have any official LEGO stores within 3 or so hours of me, so I've never gotten to experience a PAB wall  Maybe someday while traveling...

 

[Horation]

Well that's a shame, I've also never done it (there's only one, but it's too far for me to go there regularly).

In all seriousness, I now see a slight curve in the whole build, is this an illusion or is the build indeed slightly curved?

I mean, it makes no difference to any voter looking at it for a minute or two, it's just to know, since I've looked at it a fair amount of time and I just noticed.

[YellowFrog]

That's partly fisheye from a wide-angle camera lens, and partly because when you build bricks under plates, and then a more solid structure on top, the Lego warps a bit (because you know they make the bricks slighter smaller to fit better).

Also, the closest Lego store was a 36 hour drive until they opened one in my city a year or two ago.

Edited August 6, 2024 by YellowFrog

[Horation]

Good grief! I forgot how big Australia is! I mean Canada is bigger, but we don't have cities that are that spread out. It's mostly Toronto, Montréal and then a few people everywhere else...

Edited August 6, 2024 by Horation
Tokébakicitte!

[Autumn]

It's a fun little mad scientist kind of scene. I think you have the essence of it down and the machine is kind of whacky with just being two wooden tubs. All the coloured vials (and skull) give a sense of what unnatural purposes this room is used for.

There's not a whole lot I would change except maybe add some sort of energy element to imply the clones' creation? I'm assuming the one in the machine is the original so maybe add some energy trails from each clone leading back to the machine and add a little more visual indication of what is happening.

[YellowFrog]

  On 8/6/2024 at 10:23 PM, Autumn said:

add some energy trails from each clone leading back to the machine and add a little more visual indication of what is happening.

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Do you mean with Lego, or in post-production? Either way, it will be a challenge...

[Autumn]

  On 8/7/2024 at 2:27 PM, YellowFrog said:

Do you mean with Lego, or in post-production? Either way, it will be a challenge...

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With Lego. Something like this was what I had on mind:

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=27256&name=Wave Angular Single with Bar End (Lightning Bolt)&category=[Energy Effect]#T=C

or

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=6126b&name=Wave Rounded Straight with Bar End (Castle Dragon Flame / Seaweed / Water)&category=[Energy Effect]#T=C

You might be able to use some transparent elements to attach them to the floor and look like they are suspended. Only a suggestion though.

Edited August 7, 2024 by Autumn