A Risky Endeavor

[soccerkid6]

My 2nd entry for the 15th Colossal Castle Contest, for the “Ye Old Switcheroo” category. I used a technique somewhat similar to my technic rockwork, but using plate modified with clip and handle instead of technic bricks for the cliff, and really like how it turned out.

Getting a dragon’s egg is always a dangerous business. This Mitgardian adventurer thought switching an egg for a similar shaped rock would allow him to make an undetected swap. After a long climb up the cliff face to reach the dragon's nest, he finally seems to have achieved his objective. But will he really get away with the egg?

 

Plenty more pictures available on brickbuilt!

Finally finished the semester, so now I can get onto CCC entries/GoH builds!

C&C welcome

[Orange Leader]

That rockwork is incredibly detailed! That must be a lot of slopes, the angled SNOT technique is very well implemented here. And ofcourse the dragon is super cool as well, detailed but no overkill to see here! A MOCer's job well done, Soccerkid6!

[Puvel]

Another excellent build! Great idea and well executed!

That rock work looks amazing, some crazy angles in there.

Your colour combination works extremely well. Nicely built dark green parts with a little bit of olive and then that tan in the middle to focus on, awesome stuff!

 

 

[Kai NRG]

The rockwork here is fantastic, the angles you've achieved at the top with the dark green look so organic!  Great job on the nest too and the dragon is kinda cute! 

[TitusV]

You're certainly not the only one who likes how the cliffs turned out! I always love some good rockworking, and this is just yummie-yummie  

Also really like that dragon, I've never understood how to make one myself (or any brickbuilt animal, that is)  

[Merc4Hire]

Never get tired of seeing your creations; fantastic work on this! The rock-work is brilliantly done, especially loving the top mid-section, and the bits of shrubbery are a nice touch. The dragon is also very nicely designed all around with just the right amount of jagged pieces. Another excellent build Soccerkid6

[mrcp6d]

Really great MOC Isaac.  Your angled rock technique works incredibly well here!   

[TheLegoDr]

Clever use of pieces here. I hadn't attempted rockwork like that.

The dragon looks really good for brickbuilt. Is it similar to the ninjago green dragon? I hadn't built that one either, but they did come up with some interesting ideas.

Good luck in the contest.

[Exetrius]

I agree with previous comments, the angled rockwork is outstanding! You also made great use of the opportunity to have angled grass/vegetation coverage on top, creating a very organic look! The nest and the minifig scene are perfectly executed, too. 

Some criticism, if I may. I actually can't find a lot to like about the dragon. The olive and grey work well and the head has a recognizable profile, but for the rest I have some suggestions. Firstly, I think the black doesn't belong in the colour scheme. For the horns and claws I'd go with silver (to blend with grey) or gold (to match the wings). Secondly, I'm not much of a fan of fabric wings with obvious structure underneath on the whole, but if you do chose to do them, maybe try grey instead of black. Thirdly, the wings seem to be placed backwards, which makes the structure more awkward from an aerodynamic and anatomical point of view. Finally, (a personal thing) I think a pointy spike tail would look better than the hammerhead design.

I'm well aware there that the chosen scale and colour scheme come with some very tough challenges, some nearly impossible to overcome with current parts and purist techniques. Regardless, I hope you don't mind me pointing out where you may still improve!  

[de Gothia]

Wow! Those rocks are so natural looking! I want a tutorial on brickbuilt!!!:D

 

the dragon is really organic! Good work with that as well!

[Garmadon]

Like I said on Flickr - fabulous rockwork, mate!  The nest and the dark green are great as well, and I'm really liking that dragon (those wings are perfect here!)  Really nice work, SK! 

[Elostirion]

Impressive all around. What I love most is how the dark green melts with the rocks, that is inspiring and superbly executed and just feels very natural. Fantastic MOC. WOW!

[Gideon]

Fantastic landscaping! Good luck in the contest

[The Maestro]

Fantastic rockwork and tge use of that techique really adds to the moc. The dark green is a good choice for the landscaping and the splashes of olive is also nice. The nest and dragon are perfect too  

[Blufiji]

Very nice mountain and organic dragon. I like the concept of this build even more, and your posing really added a bit of danger to it. 

[Henjin_Quilones]

The dark green in this build makes me happy. It looks so organic, due to the different angles and textures, that one would scarcely think that it is LEGO. I have never seen grass or moss on LEGO rocks done so well. The cliffs, too, are great.

I do find myself agreeing somewhat with Exetrius here about the dragon, though. Considering the size restrictions, you did a good job of it, but less black would have been better, I think. As far as the wings go, I think my issue is that the support structure does not mimic what I would expect the bone structure to be, so it ends up looking too artificial and straight. 

[soccerkid6]

On 12/18/2017 at 4:25 AM, Orange Leader said:

That rockwork is incredibly detailed! That must be a lot of slopes, the angled SNOT technique is very well implemented here. And ofcourse the dragon is super cool as well, detailed but no overkill to see here! A MOCer's job well done, Soccerkid6!

Thank you very much, Orange Leader 

On 12/18/2017 at 5:56 AM, Puvel said:

Another excellent build! Great idea and well executed!

That rock work looks amazing, some crazy angles in there.

Your colour combination works extremely well. Nicely built dark green parts with a little bit of olive and then that tan in the middle to focus on, awesome stuff!

 

 

Thanks Puvel! This rockwork design was easier to build than I had expected, so I will probably be using it again.

On 12/18/2017 at 6:21 AM, Kai NRG said:

The rockwork here is fantastic, the angles you've achieved at the top with the dark green look so organic!  Great job on the nest too and the dragon is kinda cute! 

Thanks Kai, the nest had me stumped on how to approach it, so I just started throwing some plates together, and liked the affect they gave. 

On 12/18/2017 at 7:03 AM, TitusV said:

You're certainly not the only one who likes how the cliffs turned out! I always love some good rockworking, and this is just yummie-yummie  

Also really like that dragon, I've never understood how to make one myself (or any brickbuilt animal, that is)  

Thanks Titus 

On 12/18/2017 at 2:22 PM, Merc4Hire said:

Never get tired of seeing your creations; fantastic work on this! The rock-work is brilliantly done, especially loving the top mid-section, and the bits of shrubbery are a nice touch. The dragon is also very nicely designed all around with just the right amount of jagged pieces. Another excellent build Soccerkid6

Thank you! 

On 12/18/2017 at 3:29 PM, mrcp6d said:

Really great MOC Isaac.  Your angled rock technique works incredibly well here!   

Thanks Mike!

On 12/18/2017 at 4:40 PM, TheLegoDr said:

Clever use of pieces here. I hadn't attempted rockwork like that.

The dragon looks really good for brickbuilt. Is it similar to the ninjago green dragon? I hadn't built that one either, but they did come up with some interesting ideas.

Good luck in the contest.

Thank you, I haven't built the green dragon myself either, though I would imagine it uses some similar designs. 

On 12/19/2017 at 11:40 AM, Exetrius said:

I agree with previous comments, the angled rockwork is outstanding! You also made great use of the opportunity to have angled grass/vegetation coverage on top, creating a very organic look! The nest and the minifig scene are perfectly executed, too. 

Some criticism, if I may. I actually can't find a lot to like about the dragon. The olive and grey work well and the head has a recognizable profile, but for the rest I have some suggestions. Firstly, I think the black doesn't belong in the colour scheme. For the horns and claws I'd go with silver (to blend with grey) or gold (to match the wings). Secondly, I'm not much of a fan of fabric wings with obvious structure underneath on the whole, but if you do chose to do them, maybe try grey instead of black. Thirdly, the wings seem to be placed backwards, which makes the structure more awkward from an aerodynamic and anatomical point of view. Finally, (a personal thing) I think a pointy spike tail would look better than the hammerhead design.

I'm well aware there that the chosen scale and colour scheme come with some very tough challenges, some nearly impossible to overcome with current parts and purist techniques. Regardless, I hope you don't mind me pointing out where you may still improve!  

Thanks man! Great suggestions for the dragon, I may try to incorporate some of those for a new version of him (if he stays together  ).

On 12/22/2017 at 3:22 AM, de Gothia said:

Wow! Those rocks are so natural looking! I want a tutorial on brickbuilt!!!:D

 

the dragon is really organic! Good work with that as well!

Thanks dG, there will be a tutorial for the rocks. In fact I already have pictures, just need to finish editing them and get the post written 

On 12/22/2017 at 8:17 AM, Garmadon said:

Like I said on Flickr - fabulous rockwork, mate!  The nest and the dark green are great as well, and I'm really liking that dragon (those wings are perfect here!)  Really nice work, SK! 

Thanks Garmadon! The dragon wings were a present from John, and I thought it was time to give them some use 

On 12/23/2017 at 2:57 AM, Elostirion said:

Impressive all around. What I love most is how the dark green melts with the rocks, that is inspiring and superbly executed and just feels very natural. Fantastic MOC. WOW!

Thank you!

On 12/23/2017 at 6:26 PM, Gideon said:

Fantastic landscaping! Good luck in the contest

Thanks Gideon!

On 12/28/2017 at 8:20 PM, The Maestro said:

Fantastic rockwork and tge use of that techique really adds to the moc. The dark green is a good choice for the landscaping and the splashes of olive is also nice. The nest and dragon are perfect too  

Thanks Maestro, I'm really enjoying having more dark green landscape parts to work with 

On 1/3/2018 at 3:57 PM, Blufiji said:

Very nice mountain and organic dragon. I like the concept of this build even more, and your posing really added a bit of danger to it. 

Thanks Blufiji!

On 1/5/2018 at 1:28 PM, Henjin_Quilones said:

The dark green in this build makes me happy. It looks so organic, due to the different angles and textures, that one would scarcely think that it is LEGO. I have never seen grass or moss on LEGO rocks done so well. The cliffs, too, are great.

I do find myself agreeing somewhat with Exetrius here about the dragon, though. Considering the size restrictions, you did a good job of it, but less black would have been better, I think. As far as the wings go, I think my issue is that the support structure does not mimic what I would expect the bone structure to be, so it ends up looking too artificial and straight. 

Thank you HQ 
And thanks for your input on the dragon! It was what I built first, and likely suffered a bit from me being impatient and wanting to get the build done.