"A Safe Haven" Challenge Cat B: Drakkenhiem

[mrcp6d]

Drakkenhiem is a rocky volcanic archipelago far west of Mitgardia.  Warm winds from the south keep the waters free of ice year round but also fuel a fierce storm season that batters the coastal areas every year.  The geography of Drakkenhiem is mostly rugged mountains and jagged shores formed over the millennia by volcanic and seismic activity, but there also are many lush forested areas and small valleys of flat plains for productive crops and livestock due to the extremely rich volcanic soil around dead or dormant volcanoes.  The fertile soils support large and often dangerous native wildlife--dragons have long been seen in Drakkenhiem and of course give the archipelago its name.  The aquatic landscape is equally varied with the shallows between islands rich grounds for school fish and clams while the seafloor on ocean-facing shores often drops quickly into deep, cold waters containing large sea creatures and migratory ocean fauna.  Most people live in the few coastal cities or their supporting inland farming villages which form trade networks moving crops and lumber towards the sea and fish and foreign goods inland.  Humans are the dominant race, having discovered, settled, and named Drakkenhiem hundreds of years ago but dwarves and elves are welcome pieces of the islands' society.

This was fun!  C&C always appreciated.

[TitusV]

Some very sweet figs, one can easily see that you had fun building them!

I especially love the guard, though they're all pretty cool!  

[narbilu]

Very nice set of figs you made here! I think the dragon cultists look best...

[mccoyed]

Great figs, especially love the Fire Elemental. If I can make one criticism, it's that Drakkenheim folk don't seem significantly diverse compared to what we've already seen in Historica. This could be a Mitgardia CMF and I don't think anyone would really be able to tell the difference.

[Henjin_Quilones]

The Dragoncultists, especially the warrior, are very cool figs. The rest are nice, too, but I agree with mccoyed here: they look very much like what we have seen already all over Historica, especially in Mitgardia. That's not to say that there are not islands and nations out there to be explored that look much like mainland Historica, but it would have been better, maybe, to see something new and different. 

[de Gothia]

Many nice and cool figs! I like that the assasin have poison as weapon! A great touch! 

[mrcp6d]

Thanks all!

@mccoyed & @Henjin_Quilones - Yeah, I get it; I think there's generally two "issues" that of we're dealing with at this point in our Guilds.  One: I think is that there's so much to the Guilds already!  Mitgardia and Avalonia have locks on stereotypical early through late medieval stuff in general.  Varylyria has the Renaissance covered.  Kaliphlin takes us to Crusader castles, Moorish architecture, Arabia and more.  There were some Asian-styled builds in Kaliphlin during Book I and a lot of the Ulandan forces used samurai armor.  Cold-weather peoples obviously reside in Mitgardia.  Lion-people are established residents of Kaliphlin.  Bird-people are established residents of Nocturnus.  Drow in both Nocty and Avalonia.  Dwarves all over.  Orcs in Nocty.  Etc.  With all the story lines and builders, there's not many places left to go--heck, there's even mummies walking around here.  Two: Take a look at what I'll call the "diversity fig parts" prices on Bricklink.  Not cool.  All colors of flesh are coming from sets that are already priced up due to licensing which should absolutely get passed along in the 2nd market.  There's quite the collectors' market for superhero movie and Tolkien minifigs that creates a supply/demand problem.  Plus, there's just fewer sets in the history of LEGO with "diversity fig parts".  The monetary issue is one that I, as still mostly anti-fleshy, generally just can't justify.  It's not just a fleshy problem either, if you want elvish ears for regular yellow minifigs, you've got only 3 options I think; and all are CMF elf parts which takes us back to the pocketbook issue.  If you move the focus from "diversity fig parts" to "monster fig parts", the same problem is present save for a lot of the Chima line (I was really surprised at how not cheap some of the snake minifig parts from Ninjago are!).  It sucks that even throwing together some minifigures raises the same money/collection contents issues that CCC's large miscellaneous category has.

[Henjin_Quilones]

1 hour ago, mrcp6d said:

Thanks all!

@mccoyed & @Henjin_Quilones - Yeah, I get it; I think there's generally two "issues" that of we're dealing with at this point in our Guilds.  One: I think is that there's so much to the Guilds already!  Mitgardia and Avalonia have locks on stereotypical early through late medieval stuff in general.  Varylyria has the Renaissance covered.  Kaliphlin takes us to Crusader castles, Moorish architecture, Arabia and more.  There were some Asian-styled builds in Kaliphlin during Book I and a lot of the Ulandan forces used samurai armor.  Cold-weather peoples obviously reside in Mitgardia.  Lion-people are established residents of Kaliphlin.  Bird-people are established residents of Nocturnus.  Drow in both Nocty and Avalonia.  Dwarves all over.  Orcs in Nocty.  Etc.  With all the story lines and builders, there's not many places left to go--heck, there's even mummies walking around here.  Two: Take a look at what I'll call the "diversity fig parts" prices on Bricklink.  Not cool.  All colors of flesh are coming from sets that are already priced up due to licensing which should absolutely get passed along in the 2nd market.  There's quite the collectors' market for superhero movie and Tolkien minifigs that creates a supply/demand problem.  Plus, there's just fewer sets in the history of LEGO with "diversity fig parts".  The monetary issue is one that I, as still mostly anti-fleshy, generally just can't justify.  It's not just a fleshy problem either, if you want elvish ears for regular yellow minifigs, you've got only 3 options I think; and all are CMF elf parts which takes us back to the pocketbook issue.  If you move the focus from "diversity fig parts" to "monster fig parts", the same problem is present save for a lot of the Chima line (I was really surprised at how not cheap some of the snake minifig parts from Ninjago are!).  It sucks that even throwing together some minifigures raises the same money/collection contents issues that CCC's large miscellaneous category has.

I totally get it, I really do. I ran into the same thing for my CMF collection, but unlike you, I love fleshies and preferentially buy fleshie sets, and actually seek out non-light flesh-colored figures in sets when possible. That's not anything against you, just a difference in our LEGO-buying tastes. And as for the yellow elf-ears, I have talked to TitusV about it before, and it is tough (I only know of two yellow-eared elf hair pieces, unless you include Christmas elf ears). And yes, there is actually nothing that can be built that could not fit somewhere in the already-established Historica, so something radically new is out of the question. I like the idea of a northern, dragon-filled island (I am making a southern, dragon-filled island myself) and I like your figs; it just would have been nice to see something a bit different from the norm (the Dragoncultists are an exception in your collection, as are the volcano elemental, the dragon spirit, and the wight - they are all great figs). 

[mccoyed]

On 12/3/2017 at 4:18 PM, mrcp6d said:

Thanks all!

@mccoyed & @Henjin_Quilones - Yeah, I get it; I think there's generally two "issues" that of we're dealing with at this point in our Guilds.  One: I think is that there's so much to the Guilds already!  Mitgardia and Avalonia have locks on stereotypical early through late medieval stuff in general.  Varylyria has the Renaissance covered.  Kaliphlin takes us to Crusader castles, Moorish architecture, Arabia and more.  There were some Asian-styled builds in Kaliphlin during Book I and a lot of the Ulandan forces used samurai armor.  Cold-weather peoples obviously reside in Mitgardia.  Lion-people are established residents of Kaliphlin.  Bird-people are established residents of Nocturnus.  Drow in both Nocty and Avalonia.  Dwarves all over.  Orcs in Nocty.  Etc.  With all the story lines and builders, there's not many places left to go--heck, there's even mummies walking around here.  Two: Take a look at what I'll call the "diversity fig parts" prices on Bricklink.  Not cool.  All colors of flesh are coming from sets that are already priced up due to licensing which should absolutely get passed along in the 2nd market.  There's quite the collectors' market for superhero movie and Tolkien minifigs that creates a supply/demand problem.  Plus, there's just fewer sets in the history of LEGO with "diversity fig parts".  The monetary issue is one that I, as still mostly anti-fleshy, generally just can't justify.  It's not just a fleshy problem either, if you want elvish ears for regular yellow minifigs, you've got only 3 options I think; and all are CMF elf parts which takes us back to the pocketbook issue.  If you move the focus from "diversity fig parts" to "monster fig parts", the same problem is present save for a lot of the Chima line (I was really surprised at how not cheap some of the snake minifig parts from Ninjago are!).  It sucks that even throwing together some minifigures raises the same money/collection contents issues that CCC's large miscellaneous category has.

Well sure. But I managed to expand on the very light Japanese flavour that was introduced in earlier GoH. I'm kind of a Feudal Japan nerd but I think you need to take a pretty deep dive to find something new for Historica, or at least a fresh take on something already there. I definitely understand the limitations of parts available, but don't think that creativity is inextricably linked to "diversity fig parts" (as you call them). Tan or brown-skinned fleshies are not required. I am running up against my own parts limits with Asian-themed stuff, especially appropriate torsos. It's a massive part of the challenge of doing a home-brew CMF.

[mrcp6d]

19 hours ago, mccoyed said:

I am running up against my own parts limits with Asian-themed stuff, especially appropriate torsos. It's a massive part of the challenge of doing a home-brew CMF.

Agree 100%!  Successfully scratching out out minifig combos is both the most frustrating & enjoyable part of these CMF challenges. 

[soccerkid6]

Nicely developed culture you established here! I very much like the general style of the figs, and agree that the dragon cultist ones are especially impressive 

The Dragon Slayer Warrior, Rogue Assassin, and Fire Elemental are also top-notch 

[The Maestro]

Awesome figs and the stories behind them are very well thought out, my favourites would be the merchent and the wright, although the dragonslayer is also pretty cool.

[blackdeathgr]

fantastic!

[Gunman]

Lovely presentation there mrcp6d 

I really like skeleton wight 

[KristinnK]

Where are the torso and legs of the Drakkenhiem Merchant from?