[MOC] Lothal Market feat. Meiloorun and Jogan fruit

[darththeling]

Minimalism! It's employed by TLG often in cheaper, lower piece point sets and especially when dealing with Star Wars locales. I present today a draft of a Lothal market as I think it is the among the least likely of locations that TLG would offer at retail... and include some sweet Star Wars fruit as well. Here's a wishlist of other Lothal locations, some I may attempt later:

Old Jho's Pit Stop

Lothal Captial (street, alley scene?)

Stormtrooper training facility

Tarkintown

Ezra's Tower

Communications Tower

In this MOC I'm using standard yellow for the ground of Lothal and I feel I must defend this choice by pointing out that Tattooine is pretty firmly established on our shelves as tan. Additionally, we're looking at a new planet in Episode 7 (Jekku) that looks identical to Tattooine - tan. Therefore I think Lothal should be built in the most distinctive color possible; leading yellow to be the only readily available color lying about (maybe light brown would be better?) I need to mine for more yellow so at the moment the playset is just 3 small scenes on plates and a Lothal hill, seemingly everywhere on that planet.

This project was originally just about making Lego Star Wars fruit. A common fruit found in the Star Wars universe is Jogan fruit, seen in both Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. It's palm sized with wavy purple and white lines so I figured that 1x1 white and dark purple round studs might do the trick. In barrels or boxes they look a bit more convincing. It will give your imperial troops something to bully innocent vendors over at least... plus you could send some droids to pick some up for Jogan Fruitcake. ;)

The meiloorun fruit was a bit harder to determine size and color. It needed to be a bit larger than the jogan. At first I had yellow+yellow+orange but reviewing Fighter Flight again I noticed the bottom end is dark pink. But! - I only had round light pink round studs lying about. So with a small green tip at the top, I settled on lightgree+yellow+orange... for now. If anyone else has a better solution to this fruit, please post it! .

It almost seems like the Imperials - the galactic ruling class - have no problem acquiring vast quantities of meiloorun fruit on Lothal... a planet thought unlikely to have any at all! Just another example of the inequality in the Star Wars universe. ;)

Both of these vendor stalls have adjustable awnings overheard. In the show there is a collapsing brace for the awnings that I could not reconcile with technic pieces.. yet. So for now just a pole and anchor keep the vendor spots shaded.

The planet Lothal... is a pretty dull place overall. Some exciting action takes place here but besides maybe some Loth Cats there isn't too much in the terrain that makes it stand out as a Star Wars locale (giant mushrooms on Felucia, for example). Hills and grass seemed to be the only defining elements of the terrain. As such, a tan blob of a hill is placed next to the market for atmosphere. Additionally, a small patch of grass and... what's this? A box of T-7 Ion Disruptors? Zeb isn't gonna like that. With a couple of walkers you could re-create Droids in Distress... surely we'll be seeing a Vizago someday.

Finally, I added a custom MOC of a figure we very likely aren't going to see: Taskmaster Grint. In my opinion, the Imperial Officer that comes in the Inquisitor's TIE set is supposed to look a bit like Arseko... sunken eyes and gaunt complexion. So he will need a Grint to pose together with! I will swap out the proper uniform color later. The "unshaven" head I raided from a Lone Ranger set... either the stagecoach or the train, can't remember. But the look on his face is pretty close to the one in Spark of Rebellion when he harasses the jogan vendor. "Loth scum!"

I hope others try making Lothal environments. I am experiencing a shortage of spare pieces for projects like this so I had to go 'full minimal.' However TLG has surprised with nice little scenes like this one from time to time and this one would only have a $20-25 price point. For wherever season 2 takes us, the first season of this show will always be set on Lothal so it's nice to get some representation on the shelf.

Edited April 27, 2015 by darththeling

[GuyDudeMan27]

Nice little scene! I really like the minimalistic approach. The fruits really make the world that much deeper. I feel dark tan would work better fore Lothal. The yellow isn't bad, but just a tad too bright. I'd love to see a more fleshed out market, or even some buildings. Keep building!

[Fuppylodders]

I really like this. It actually has a playset style to it that could easily be an official set. It is minimalistic, but yet, at the same time, has a lot going on for how small it is. While I haven't really seen Lothal before (now I've just googled it), I'm also not too keen on the yellow, I would go with tan (SorryGuydudeman ), but the fruits are a nice touch. They sort of humanize the setting that little bit more, putting a twist to the usual 'here's a good guy, and here's a bad guy. make them fight just coz!'. While working at such a small scale for the fruits, I think (maybe because it has been explained) it is clear they are some form of consumable edible thing and works nicely

[darththeling]

Thank you for the feedback, GuyDudeMan27 and Fuppylodders. Although I doubled down with using a yellow base for the vendor kiosks for now, I do now agree with you both about using a tan color for the ground (and grass) of Lothal. Adding buildings was an excellent idea, too.

With some help from 1070 parts pack with some new pastel colors, this build finally got upgraded. Added some buildings to make the scene more 'urban' and included a civilian speeder based on the RGC-18 landspeeder shown frequently in Rebels & The Clone Wars. I realize that the color scheme on Lothal's skyline is a lot more grey but I have more color than I have grey at the moment. In the show, the accent colors on buildings are often the result of posters and murals - so I'm trying to go for that flavor. The buildings don't have finished backs or interiors but they should.

Been enjoying a Rebels rewatch lately - it stoked me to push this build. What an excellent show. Here are a few configurations:

^ Obligatory 'menace the jogan fruit vendor' pic. 

There's more to come on this build, it needs a bit of highway now so I can fit a bunch of Imperial troop transports in there somewhere.

[roadstermatt]

very nice work

[DrMuttonchops]

Love it, dude! Colors really pop, and that speeder is a great rendition of an RGC.  Also I love the other non-human minifigs, they spice up the market.  I'm trying to think of some constructive criticism, but honestly you really nailed it.  I love the details and the varied buildings.