[ SoNE Episode VII ] - Dark Secrets - The CODE

[Pointblank]

[ SoNE Episode VII ] - Dark Secrets - The CODE

After a recent promotion to the ISB, Pointblank sat up on his bed in his new quarters, rudely awoken by 2 shadow troopers of the ISB.

"Get up Newbie, its time for your training with a melee weapon if you truly want to be a shadow trooper"

Pointblank could feel their menacing scowl piercing through their dark helmets, in disdain of their new to-be recruit. News of Pointblanks' recent accolades have reached the shadow trooper corp and Pointblank has been earmarked to be the next rising star. However, he dislikes the un-neccessary attention the success of the past missions has drawn upon him.

"Just because the High Inquisitor favours you, don't you dare think that you have the luxury of skipping training. We'll make it hard for you and

wish you will never step foot in the shadow trooper corp" - the troopers railed. The troopers left hastily, mumbling in their breath as they depart.

Pointblank got up, reached for a secret switch and flipped it. The bed spun to reveal a melee weapon - the hilt of a Vibroblade.

He picked the hilt up from the ray-shielded container, and scrutinised the polished but battle-scarred surface. Firing it up, he admired the shadowy glow and its silent but addictive humming. The blade, belonging to his ancestors, has been passed down from generation to generation, abruptly ending in the generation before his.

It has seen a lot of action, and long fabled to have downed almighty jedi and sith warriors.

" This blade brings a lot of memories ... " Pointblank recalls the origin of the blade and the CODE he lives by

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

20BBY - Concordia, Moon of Mandalore

It was a time where Pointblank was a callous young adolesecent and the galaxy was rife with conflict and disorder.

Borned into the Mandalorian culture, he couldn't understand the obsession of the fight and the CODE.

In front of an altar, the towering shrine of the Mandalorian Insignia, and a backdrop of the blood red banner, day and night, combatants duel in the arena to better themselves, in a bid to regain Mandalore and restore the honour that Mandalorians once hold.

From a safe high perch of the stadium, the Droid commentator announces every winner and loser,

faithfully keeping score, whilst Death Watch Commandos cheered on.

The Droid arenamaster in the arena assigns weapons from the weapons rack and lets new combatants in behind a caged gate, the moment the previous battle ends. Usually, it's the plain wearing death watch commando.

Meanwhile, 10 year old Pointblank flies his mini drone in the background, with one eye kept on the battle, observing the combatants every move.

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

Note: The following shots were taken at night, for an enhanced arena/stadium effect

The view of the Arena through the entry passage. 2 Death Watch Combatants fighting it out

The Bird's Eye view of the Arena

Young Pointblank, impervious to whats happening around him, continues to pilot his mini drone fighter.

Overall Build, Summary and Conclusion

The overall build is of 2 parts to provide a wrapped around atmosphere. Taken apart, they are the arena and the stadium.

The main part, the arena, provides most of the action and depicts fights of the Death Watch mandolorian group. It features minifgs Pre-Vizla, 2 Death Watch Commandos and a TC-14. As a compedium, there is the unmistakable and imposing Mandalorian Inisgnia against a blood red backdrop, which also has a hilt holder at the bottom (to be referenced again in future freebuild project), a weapons rack which has a spear, hammer, nunchuck and a halberd, and a blood red banner on a flag staff. The overall stage of the arena has a rocky side which sets the stage of mining planet Concordia, the black and red striking surfaced side to depict a violent but strict heritage, and a side where there is a cargo net and combatants' caged entrance (along with weapons rack) to the arena to signify the warlike properties of the battle. Pre-Vizla is posed taking down a combatant, whilst the TC-14 observes and controls the weapon rack and entrance for the next combatant awaiting behind the caged door.

The 2nd part, the stadium, provides the emphasis on Pointblank looking away off screen and seemingly non-interest in the battle, and him playing with a drone to portray his age then. It also allows for a better showing of other spectating commandos and the great respect and encouragement of battles, and the scoreboard of the battles. Notice the white fangs insignia beside the scoreboard (to be referenced again in future freebuild project). The Droid, a TC-4 Minifig, plays the role of the commentator and scorekeeper. Mandalorians have always left the menial non-combat stuff to droids while they relish in the honour of combat. The towering cauldrons of fire also adds to the sporting atmosphere of the arena. The curved walkway aka entrance to the arena also allows for a good view into the arena, and makes for very good photo-taking.

The build for current timeline is done on a 16x16 plate. It depicts Pointblanks's quarters. It serves to hold a number of Pointblanks' war trophies, gear and weapon array. Besides crevices created for Lego LED insert, it also has a rotating bed on a technic pin, to reveal the blade on the other side.

While it is thought to be spacious, I didn't find it quite at all. I wanted to put in more custom equipment, but couldn't. I had also wanted to include a holographic projector for secret communications.

One of the challenges of both builds was the use of black surfaces which reflects a lot of lights and surfaces, making it seem more cluttered and messy(dirty).

Enjoyable build overall.

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

Comments and Criticisms welcomed as always. Thanks to those who posted. They are all taken in with good intentions.

Editted to reduce clutter of pictures, reduce formatting and improve consistency of story.

Edited November 19, 2014 by Pointblank

[Jacob Nion]

Nice start. I really like the mythosaurs skull. Never thought of brick building that. Also Mamdalorian culture as hdritage is a great choice for this contest.

[Kodan Black]

I like Pointblank's room, those sure are some fancy quarters. The Dark Troopers live it up!

The arena is great. You have a lot of cool little details like the scoring and the cauldrons. Plus a lot of set ups for future freebuilds! My one critique would be that the arena fighting space feels a bit small. If you took the minifig with his sword and stretched it out it would be about the width of the yellow box. For close quarters combat I would have thought they'd use smaller weapons like knives or short swords. But I know scale is always tricky with minifigs.

[Pointblank]

Nice start. I really like the mythosaurs skull. Never thought of brick building that. Also Mamdalorian culture as hdritage is a great choice for this contest.

Cheers Jacob. Was hoping to start the ball rolling for the builds, procrastination is very real, besides the holiday season is fast approaching and I wouldnt like to rush builds. For the mythosaurs skull, I thought to myself, what better way to symbolise a warrior culture

I like Pointblank's room, those sure are some fancy quarters. The Dark Troopers live it up!

The arena is great. You have a lot of cool little details like the scoring and the cauldrons. Plus a lot of set ups for future freebuilds! My one critique would be that the arena fighting space feels a bit small. If you took the minifig with his sword and stretched it out it would be about the width of the yellow box. For close quarters combat I would have thought they'd use smaller weapons like knives or short swords. But I know scale is always tricky with minifigs.

Thanks Kodan. Pointblank's room on 16x16 was very small to work on, which is why it appeared cramp. And I can't really build a multi storey room as it wouldn't fit the story (who on a ship will have a 2 storey room?) or rank of Pointblank (just ISB at the moment). My iniital intention if I had more space was more of a collection / trophy room, where helmets of downed foes, personal gear and variation of weapons can be displayed. Currently, its just the four helmets, which is probably hard to notice on the shelf in PB's room. I would likely do that in a later on freebuild where PB's rank goes up and have a bigger room or even bigger secret rooms

For the arena, thanks again for the compliments, noted on the weapons. Daggers will look better but otherwise won't fit star wars or mandalore too much. Hard to scale the arena area though. One more stud each side, it would look misaligned and misproportioned to the insignia shrine, and too close to the edges of the build.

[Kodan Black]

Thanks Kodan. Pointblank's room on 16x16 was very small to work on, which is why it appeared cramp. And I can't really build a multi storey room as it wouldn't fit the story (who on a ship will have a 2 storey room?) or rank of Pointblank (just ISB at the moment). My iniital intention if I had more space was more of a collection / trophy room, where helmets of downed foes, personal gear and variation of weapons can be displayed. Currently, its just the four helmets, which is probably hard to notice on the shelf in PB's room.

I actually thought his room was pretty spacious since it is a single! I did notice all the helmets, kinda like Ezra on Rebels. I liked the room very much, seemed almost luxurious. I can't wait for Kodan to rank up and be out of his cramped quarters (coming in a freebuild).

BTW, is it intentional that we never got a clear look at Pointblank without his helmet?

[GallardoLU]

Ok.. I have to voice a concern brought up by this story, and I am really sorry your build is the one to do it to (the build is great, but I'll get to that second) The Issue I have is the Dark Vibroblade, we know the history on it and its connection to Clan Vizsla, we also know that Darth Maul took it. and that's where the concern happens, what is the policy/ rule on items of Lore already strongly developed into star wars? I am not exactly fond of the idea of players running around claiming to have Revan's Mask, or Malgus' armor, or even the Darksaber here. If the judges are ok with it I will be too, but I had to voice that concern.

Now, onto the Build its self! Pointblank's room is great, dark and shadowy like a prospective Dark Troopers room should be. I love the shelf of helms and the display case for the hilt under the bed. the battle arena is clean and clear as it should be and even without the Mythosour skull there is a distinct Mandalorian feel to it. the Skull its self does bug me slightly the eyes are a bit to small, I'd like to see it revised slightly for the larger eye sockets. its a homerun in my book!

[goatman461]

I feel like there is a lot of random part usage going on here. For example, the black tiles and railing on the stadium, whatever is in front of the red droid, the red fabric, the netting, the gates, the brown weapons rack, and the miscolored slopes on the rock wall. There are also some parts that could be covered up to prevent eye soars, like the wall behind the dark troopers and the technic bricks along the base. I also think your drone could use a redesign. Sorry for all the negativity, but it is what I would want from c&c on a WIP.

If you have the episodes, go back to the end of season 4 of the clone wars (I think that was when all the Mandalor scenes were) and look at the architectural features in their buildings. Some of the chandeliers and whatnot were pretty interesting.

As for your room, I actually think it's a little big for military quarters on a ship. I think you should cut it in half (at least) and include other corridors and rooms. You could make that bed fold back into the wall (Star Wars Murphy bed style) if you have the extra space behind it; this could also allow you to put in a cool door or other storage.

A lot of your lighting looks great. Just make sure we get some clear shots of the entire build so we can get a better idea of what we are looking at.

I hope I wasn't too critical.

[Pointblank]

Ok.. I have to voice a concern brought up by this story, and I am really sorry your build is the one to do it to (the build is great, but I'll get to that second) The Issue I have is the Dark Vibroblade, we know the history on it and its connection to Clan Vizsla, we also know that Darth Maul took it. and that's where the concern happens, what is the policy/ rule on items of Lore already strongly developed into star wars? I am not exactly fond of the idea of players running around claiming to have Revan's Mask, or Malgus' armor, or even the Darksaber here. If the judges are ok with it I will be too, but I had to voice that concern.

Now, onto the Build its self! Pointblank's room is great, dark and shadowy like a prospective Dark Troopers room should be. I love the shelf of helms and the display case for the hilt under the bed. the battle arena is clean and clear as it should be and even without the Mythosour skull there is a distinct Mandalorian feel to it. the Skull its self does bug me slightly the eyes are a bit to small, I'd like to see it revised slightly for the larger eye sockets. its a homerun in my book!

Thanks for the feedback. I realise that this may cause confusion from the dark vibroblade. I probably shouldnt have Vizla minifig there to add to that. I wanted to have a heirloom from the Mandalorian culture, and I deliberately didnt do any reference in the story with reference to Vizla and how and if Pointblank is related to Vizla. I will probably elaborate more in the story itself. I have taken care not to show the blade in Pointblanks hands :) And there are a lot of vibroblades out there in the SW universe.

I have also removed the entry of darth maul picture which was meant to be a teaser of sorts, but might have caused confusion . It looked cool with the horns against the arena backdrop

I feel like there is a lot of random part usage going on here. For example, the black tiles and railing on the stadium, whatever is in front of the red droid, the red fabric, the netting, the gates, the brown weapons rack, and the miscolored slopes on the rock wall. There are also some parts that could be covered up to prevent eye soars, like the wall behind the dark troopers and the technic bricks along the base. I also think your drone could use a redesign. Sorry for all the negativity, but it is what I would want from c&c on a WIP.

If you have the episodes, go back to the end of season 4 of the clone wars (I think that was when all the Mandalor scenes were) and look at the architectural features in their buildings. Some of the chandeliers and whatnot were pretty interesting.

As for your room, I actually think it's a little big for military quarters on a ship. I think you should cut it in half (at least) and include other corridors and rooms. You could make that bed fold back into the wall (Star Wars Murphy bed style) if you have the extra space behind it; this could also allow you to put in a cool door or other storage.

A lot of your lighting looks great. Just make sure we get some clear shots of the entire build so we can get a better idea of what we are looking at.

I hope I wasn't too critical.

No problem. I am happy to take criticisms and also hope to clarify. The wall behind the darktroopers is actually a half opened door, probably wasn't depicted well. Let me see how I can improve that. The slopes of the rock feature was deliberate, there are only two tones - dark grey and tan, just to break the mundane colour of the rock.

At season 4, the final battle took place in Mandalore itself which is in a grand building. This build was set in Corcodia, which is a mining moon of concordia and the home of Death Watch. I dont believe it had grand buildings. I admit I was lazy with the droids though, as I didnt want any further details to the build - too much going on :P, but well suggested in any case. I will defintely look to doing that next.

For the bed, I made it rotate to reveal the blade, so I couldn't do the folding part. And for 16x16, I really couldnt do much with a corridor and a room together, it's a bit of a squeeze. I wanted to focus on PB and his room for now.

Rejigged to make it more consistent and remove reference to Darth Maul.

Edited November 18, 2014 by Pointblank

[Pointblank]

BTW, is it intentional that we never got a clear look at Pointblank without his helmet?

Somewhat intentional, I would like to do a backstory in a freebuild to show how Pointblank got his funky hair and cybernetic face

[MKJoshA]

Ok.. I have to voice a concern brought up by this story, and I am really sorry your build is the one to do it to (the build is great, but I'll get to that second) The Issue I have is the Dark Vibroblade, we know the history on it and its connection to Clan Vizsla, we also know that Darth Maul took it. and that's where the concern happens, what is the policy/ rule on items of Lore already strongly developed into star wars? I am not exactly fond of the idea of players running around claiming to have Revan's Mask, or Malgus' armor, or even the Darksaber here. If the judges are ok with it I will be too, but I had to voice that concern.

Now, onto the Build its self! Pointblank's room is great, dark and shadowy like a prospective Dark Troopers room should be. I love the shelf of helms and the display case for the hilt under the bed. the battle arena is clean and clear as it should be and even without the Mythosour skull there is a distinct Mandalorian feel to it. the Skull its self does bug me slightly the eyes are a bit to small, I'd like to see it revised slightly for the larger eye sockets. its a homerun in my book!

I know Pointblank already pointed out that his vibroblade is not the lightsaber known as Darksaber. But I'd also like to say that if players claim ownership of a canon or non-canon item it might be because they don't know the stories behind it. Someone could have watched 1 episode of the Clone Wars and found out about the Darksaber, but not seen the episode where Darth Maul takes it. And who's to say that the player didn't take it from Darth Maul? Anyway, I really just want to say that it's good to give people here the benefit of the doubt. It's a fictional universe we are building in anyway and there is room for some forgiveness if the story gets a little mangled

As for the build. I love all the Mandalorian references. I'm a huge fan of the Mandalorian race and their history and all your references are candy! Your builds use a lot of dark colors which are incredibly hard to photograph. I think you've done a good job with what you have, but because of the darker tones the pictures won't look as sharp as maybe some other entries. I really like all the though you've put into these two builds like the hidden compartment in the bed, the brick-built skull, and the PoP cloth piece used as a banner Great work overall and keep up the SoNE builds!

[Pointblank]

I really like all the though you've put into these two builds like the hidden compartment in the bed, the brick-built skull, and the PoP cloth piece used as a banner Great work overall and keep up the SoNE builds!

Thanks MKJoshA for your compliments and comments. Man, you know your parts, I was trying hard to find a red cloth, and I had to look hard for it, you immediately identified that as a prince of persia bit. Endeavouring to get more variety of parts in due course.

I am surprised no one expressed concern that Pointblank was in his underwear.. o well... everyone's so serious... hehe

I appreciate everyone's feedback. Please keep them coming, critical, complimentary or otherwise.

[Kodan Black]

I am surprised no one expressed concern that Pointblank was in his underwear.. o well... everyone's so serious... hehe

I'm hoping no one will be offended by the nudity in my build! I figured it is ok since it is Lego and it isn't an intentional graphic shot, more incidental to the scene.

[GallardoLU]

ok, seeing as it's not actually Darksaber, and even if it were the consensus seems to be that it would have been fine, then I'm on board with it.

[Lord Tyrus]

Great MOC, skull looks brilliant, although I do agree with goatman on some points. I was going to do a Mando reference, now I'll have to think of something else...

[MKJoshA]

Great MOC, skull looks brilliant, although I do agree with goatman on some points. I was going to do a Mando reference, now I'll have to think of something else...

Or maybe we're all just Mandalorians at heart!

[Pointblank]

Or maybe we're all just Mandalorians at heart!

Great MOC, skull looks brilliant, although I do agree with goatman on some points. I was going to do a Mando reference, now I'll have to think of something else...

There can be more ways than one to reference Mando besides the mythos skull, and there are lot of Mandos out there. Happy to have more Mandos reference and brothers , no one owns that or can take away the fun of that!

Maybe a third faction is in order ... hehehe

Ok, will take a hard look and rebuild that - keep the good points, improve on the not-so-good ones, more weeks to go, so I guess there is still some time.

Edit: more parts are ordered in, hopefully in time, as Australia is very far away

ok, seeing as it's not actually Darksaber, and even if it were the consensus seems to be that it would have been fine, then I'm on board with it.

Cheers Gallardo.

Happy Building!

Edited November 20, 2014 by Pointblank

[Dapper-D2]

Nice story. I like how the Vibroblade appears, the arena insignia, and young Pointblank playing with his drone oblivious to its value and meaning.

[Pointblank]

Nice story. I like how the Vibroblade appears, the arena insignia, and young Pointblank playing with his drone oblivious to its value and meaning.

Thanks Dapper.

Will look into improving and finishing this in the last week... Look forward to your build too!

[markus1984]

Yeah, i also think you have done an great job!

The two scenes looking really good with all the details and the matching story!

markus

[Pointblank]

Sorry guys. I doubt I have time to rebuild this, and I was hoping to do in my downtime, but this end of year has been crazy for business and between getting a new place and a planned family trip overseas in the next few days, that its chewed up all my time.

[Disco86]

Cool entry with the lights and especially that Mandalorian mask at the wall !

My only criticism is about the color. Black is always hard to photograph, so I try to avoid using too much black.

[BEAVeR]

Great work, Pointblank! Apart from creating two separate builds, I really like how you connected them. It makes your story quite solid.

The present scene is really neat. At first I too thought it was a bit sparse, but I'm growing rather fond of the look. It has a very clean and rather spartan look to it. Also, the color palette is refreshing for the Empire and very suitable for both the theme of the shadowtroopers as your Mandalorian heritage. The big arches do that as well, and make for some stunning photography: good way to differentiate your 'room'! As for the furniture, the bed is well done, although it gives me the impression your character has to do a lot of effort to get in it, and he'd better not fall out! Perhaps you could have made it a bit more intricate by making the floor thicker and hiding a part of the bed in a burrow. The shelf is a very cool addition, and the other equipment certainly makes the scene more interesting. But still, the room looks a bit plain. You can counter that without compromising the size or the cleanliness though: you could have some closed closet doors embedded in the walls, for instance. Offsetting them in/out the wall would make it even more interesting. So, next time, when you think about detailing of your scenes, don't forget to think about textures in walls and floors as well, alongside the 'regular' objects. It will give yet more realism and depth to your scenes. Still, you already did a terrific job with that red stripe. It seems like a new kind of Death Star stripe thingy to me!

Your arena is great as well, and again you did it justice with the awesome photography (note: if you want to avoid a lot of reflections, you could mount your camera so that it has a fixed angle, take a picture of your build with and without minifigs/furniture... without moving the rest, and editing them back together. It's quite a lot of editing labor, but it gives you the control to do with the reflections what you want. If you're a real pro, I think you could pull it off with just one picture as well, by reducing the contrast in the reflective areas). You succeeded in directing the viewer's attention perfectly to the insignia, with that amazing centered color contrast. I have the feeling that you could have made it more threatening though, especially if you could have angled the eyes, narrow the brow and prolong the underside, as it still looks a bit 'friendly', and that is a bit unfortunate in such a violent scene. The blood red it great though, and I like your subtlety of adding curved edges to it, to really give it that more 'liquid' feel. It stands out against the very geometric nature of the rest of your build. When doing such a 'artistic' build, you don't need to be afraid to make abstraction of certain elements. The rocks for example: you added some color variation to it to break things up a bit, but that just pulls the attention away a bit. The different shape of the rocks is already enough to make it varied. Maybe you could even have gotten away with completely black rocks too. If you keep your color palette limited and well composed, you can often achieve a much more striking and just as interesting scene, then when you combine the black, red, grey, tan, yellow, brown and blue. Especially with your proven photography skills, you can make and portray some amazing and unique scenes then.

The tribune is pretty basic, but I'm really fond of those columns in the hallway and of the nice torches. All of the tubing going on distracts a bit from the cleanliness however. And when you make it tall, it seems that you want to emphasize that that arena is really monumental. This might have been better if you raised the other walls as well, to really give the 'fighting in a cage' feeling and a really intense atmosphere. If you organize everything really well like that, then you can make the contrast of young Pointblank looking away from it all even more striking, and your build would say as much as your story. So I think planning is key. Set realistic goals, decide on general colors and architectural features, and plan where you will diverge to attract attention, and how you can make that as dramatic as possible. I firmly believe that all of your awesome story, building and photography capacities will result in something very beautiful then. It has to be, with this already as a terrific indicator of things to come. So keep it up!

[Pointblank]

Thank you Beaver for the honest and constructive comments , i appreciate the detailed review. based on what you said and on hindsight, I totally agree that there are still loads of room for improvement, too many open areas, too much symmetry, too plain, and I need to think build and still photography, rather than playset :) . I need to be bolder on builds, and play with more challenging angles.

As in a post before, I do regret not able to improve my last minutes due to too many things at work for end of year, which was really unexpected. Yes.. overaged working adults do have RL problems too

I try to do the SONE Builds when I have time rather than when the deadline is nearing up, contrary to what I have been noticing here.. everyone puts them up last minute ... lol.. not sure why.

The next one, I would have some challenges due to myself buying and moving to a new place, but I would see what I can do. Depends on the episode and time given. ( i will have a more dedicated lego building and display area though, so that's good I suppose... )

Once again, I thank everyone for their feedback.