King of Avalonia Final Entry: Wilfred Sigurd

[Henjin_Quilones]

The Crowning of Wilfred Sigurd

Final Entry for the Game of Thrones: Avalonia Mini-challenge

 

Wilfred Sigurd began to walk slowly down the center of the throneroom, the scepter feeling odd in his hands, the crown, newly placed upon his head, uncomfortably heavy. Perhaps someday he would grow accustomed to these things, the trappings of his new office, but he did not think so. There was much to do; the vow he had made to his dying wife, all those years ago, to forswear war and violence and to dedicate himself to peace, came to his mind. He would have to work hard to maintain the peace that the realm needed so badly. He had alliances to forge, taxes to collect, verdicts to decide...but all that could wait. He straightened his back, made eye contact with his son, Robert, and then began to smile warmly at the gathered lords and ladies of the realm; all of the inhabitants of Avalonia, it seemed, had come out to see him crowned king.

He would not disappoint them. 

 

Spoiler

And some shots of just the new king on the throne, to show off the dragon throne:

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My entry, on behalf of @Servertijd. The architectural details are pretty cool, in my opinion, even if the tiles on the columns were nearly impossible to keep straight; I need more light bley jumper plates, apparently. The lighting, on the other hand, was unpleasant. It took multiple sessions and different configurations before finally getting something that at least was halfway decent. It looks a bit like the dim light of an old castle, I guess. The red window, commissioned to honor the blood spilled by the fallen Avalonians during the wars with Revolword and Raavage, shines particularly bright. 

Every member of Avalonia had his or her sigfig placed in the build somewhere, though unfortunately not all are visible. Some are up above in the balconies, some down below. All are fleshie, regardless of how they are otherwise presented, and the closest approximation I could get from the parts I had on hand. So some don't look that close, unfortunately, especially if three other sigfigs used the same hair or torso...

Edited April 14, 2019 by Henjin_Quilones

[zoth33]

Very nice throne room.  I like the columns and arches, reminds me of dwarvish architecture.  I think the dragon behind the throne is a great idea.  Nice windows and lighting too.

[Grover]

Very impressive!  I like the detail in the hall--the columns, the arches, the minis in small recessed areas... all outstanding.  The lighting is phenomenal, too.  I immediately thought of some of the old gothic cathedrals in Europe, with morning light streaming through the windows.  The amount of detail here is really staggering, with the tilework on the floor (that appears subtle from the angles of the shots but is probably very noticeable from above) and the details around the run to the throne.  The dragon behind the throne is a little lost with all the people, so I'm glad that you included an extra picture without all the minis.  It's decent, although I think the head style works better for the large-scale amazing dragons that you build; here it seems that space was a premium and it's hard to miniaturize the head (where Derfel's use of the Viking dragon head pieces tends to help).  In any case, it's a great build, and I love seeing all the sigfigs in there!  Very cool of you to include all of them as best you could.  Great job!

[Servertijd]

Beautiful throne room! The columns are beautiful, the architecture, the window is great, and so are the arches above the window!

 

 

Edit:

I have to add that the story really flows into mine! I like it alot.

Edited April 15, 2019 by Servertijd

[kahir88]

  Really good build from you, as always. It would be shame if you didn't share with us. The window is nice, the light and the crowd gives a really coronation feeling. 

  I not really understans, whats the problem with the columns, what is preventing them to stay straight? The dragon shaped throne is a good idea, but I would say, it's too much. You had to squize it in that small place, and I think this wasn't a good idea. A smaller throne with not so much details could fit there nicely, but for this, you need a bigger space. Like in the show, the iron throne is in a really big hall, the columns and the side walls are far awa, from the throne, not next to them. The wings too not really fit on that throne. A dragon with small wings looks so cartoonish, like in the how to train your dragon movie. And maybe I understand why you chose this way with the wings. If they were bugger, it would steal the focus of the picture, and also they would block too many lights from the window.

  I know this, I too always fell in this too. Create a scene, with te right accesories and figures, then I can't fit them in and the crowded scene ruins the build, and had to think it over again.

  Cheers mate, you mare a fantastic job, helping out Servertijd!

[W Navarre]

This is a fantastic build, great window and balcony in particular, really gives it a sense of grandeur! 

[Kai NRG]

Another excellent throne room, the columns here are particularly well done!  Love the sense of height that you've achieved.  

[The Last of Nergoue]

Very nice moc, great lighting as always. The pillars are also very nice, love how solid they look. the balcony above really adds to the moc as well. Keep up the good work. 

[Henjin_Quilones]

On 4/14/2019 at 6:08 PM, zoth33 said:

Very nice throne room.  I like the columns and arches, reminds me of dwarvish architecture.  I think the dragon behind the throne is a great idea.  Nice windows and lighting too.

Thanks, I was going less for Dwarvish and more for Gothic, perhaps, but I can see what you mean. 

On 4/14/2019 at 11:57 PM, Grover said:

Very impressive!  I like the detail in the hall--the columns, the arches, the minis in small recessed areas... all outstanding.  The lighting is phenomenal, too.  I immediately thought of some of the old gothic cathedrals in Europe, with morning light streaming through the windows.  The amount of detail here is really staggering, with the tilework on the floor (that appears subtle from the angles of the shots but is probably very noticeable from above) and the details around the run to the throne.  The dragon behind the throne is a little lost with all the people, so I'm glad that you included an extra picture without all the minis.  It's decent, although I think the head style works better for the large-scale amazing dragons that you build; here it seems that space was a premium and it's hard to miniaturize the head (where Derfel's use of the Viking dragon head pieces tends to help).  In any case, it's a great build, and I love seeing all the sigfigs in there!  Very cool of you to include all of them as best you could.  Great job!

Thanks, Grover! The dragon head is actually copied from one of my smaller large dragons (which has not been photographed yet) so that makes sense; I was going for a slightly caricatured dragon, in the spirit of the Gothic gargoyle, and this is what I came up with. If I had had two of the Viking heads, I would have done something similar to dG, but alas, only one makes things seem imbalanced. And I did not feel like ordering another one. 

I am particularly pleased that you like the lighting, as it was a major struggle to get right. And one of my joys is adding as many architectural details as I can, so I am glad you like them!

On 4/15/2019 at 12:48 AM, Servertijd said:

Beautiful throne room! The columns are beautiful, the architecture, the window is great, and so are the arches above the window!

Edit:

I have to add that the story really flows into mine! I like it alot.

Thanks, Servertijd! Hopefully I did Wilfred justice here. 

On 4/15/2019 at 8:48 AM, kahir88 said:

  Really good build from you, as always. It would be shame if you didn't share with us. The window is nice, the light and the crowd gives a really coronation feeling. 

  I not really understans, whats the problem with the columns, what is preventing them to stay straight? The dragon shaped throne is a good idea, but I would say, it's too much. You had to squize it in that small place, and I think this wasn't a good idea. A smaller throne with not so much details could fit there nicely, but for this, you need a bigger space. Like in the show, the iron throne is in a really big hall, the columns and the side walls are far awa, from the throne, not next to them. The wings too not really fit on that throne. A dragon with small wings looks so cartoonish, like in the how to train your dragon movie. And maybe I understand why you chose this way with the wings. If they were bugger, it would steal the focus of the picture, and also they would block too many lights from the window.

  I know this, I too always fell in this too. Create a scene, with te right accesories and figures, then I can't fit them in and the crowded scene ruins the build, and had to think it over again.

  Cheers mate, you mare a fantastic job, helping out Servertijd!

Thanks, kahir88! The only thing keeping the tiles on the columns from standing straight is my fingers reaching in there to place minifigs, and then me not noticing that they are off-kilter until after the picture was taken, and then not being able to get any other shots with the same level of clarity (I took six or so with the camera in the same place, with the light the same, and everything, but only the first one, with the tiles askew, was in focus); this is a problem only because each tile is held on by a single stud, since I ran out of jumper plates to secure them better to the rest of the column. Nudging it even gently will get them out of whack. 

As for the dragon, I was deliberately not going for a realistic style, as it would not be possible for me at this scale; instead I was hoping for a more gargoyle-esque shape. I did experiment with larger wings, and, as you suggest, they did indeed take up too much space. With only 32x32 to work with, there was only so much I could do with scale!

On 4/15/2019 at 10:31 AM, W Navarre said:

This is a fantastic build, great window and balcony in particular, really gives it a sense of grandeur! 

Thanks, grandeur is something I was shooting for! I got the idea for the balcony when visiting a large basilica church and saw a balcony over the side aisles. 

On 4/15/2019 at 12:32 PM, Kai NRG said:

Another excellent throne room, the columns here are particularly well done!  Love the sense of height that you've achieved.  

Thanks, Kai! I almost went taller, too, but decided against it...

On 4/15/2019 at 2:16 PM, The Last of Nergoue said:

Very nice moc, great lighting as always. The pillars are also very nice, love how solid they look. the balcony above really adds to the moc as well. Keep up the good work. 

Glad you like the light, and the pillars, too. I like the look of how they turned out, too. 

Edited April 16, 2019 by Henjin_Quilones

[en_zoo]

Awesome job here, HQ! The room is very elegant and I love how you used simple pieces to decorate it. I think the light is pretty cool, though one thing that could be said, is that it's too bright from every corner, so we cannot understand which way the sun is shining from. I think you worked really well with the space limit (there was one, right?) and those columns are pretty col too - I don't recall seeing them anywhere else. Oh and do I spot a pair of pointy ears? Guess it must be @Gideon's minifig again.. !

[de Gothia]

Wow man!!! I just love it!! You really nail your lightning in the pics!! Great work mate!!!

[Henjin_Quilones]

On 4/20/2019 at 4:24 PM, en_zoo said:

Awesome job here, HQ! The room is very elegant and I love how you used simple pieces to decorate it. I think the light is pretty cool, though one thing that could be said, is that it's too bright from every corner, so we cannot understand which way the sun is shining from. I think you worked really well with the space limit (there was one, right?) and those columns are pretty col too - I don't recall seeing them anywhere else. Oh and do I spot a pair of pointy ears? Guess it must be @Gideon's minifig again.. !

Thanks, en_zoo! Sometimes simple pieces, used in the right way, create the most elegant solutions. The space was very cramped, trying to fit an imposing and lofty structure on a 32x32 base! As to the light, you are right: I had lamps shining in each of the windows, which does make the sunlight's direction confusing, but when I tried it with just light shining from one direction there was not enough light inside to get clear photos. The quality of the picture is worth the confusion, in my opinion. 

And those pointy ears do belong to a certain amnesiac I know who lives in Avalonia...

On 4/21/2019 at 4:11 PM, de Gothia said:

Wow man!!! I just love it!! You really nail your lightning in the pics!! Great work mate!!!

Thanks, dG! My first attempt at lighting the build failed, but because your build was so epic I had to do re-shoots and try again with different lighting. So thank you for inspiring me to try harder to get good shots!

[soccerkid6]

Fantastic use of that column design! And the 4x4 round plates set stud to stud at the tops give a very neat pattern

Excellent lighting, as we've come to expect in your interior settings. Fun choice using 2x2 turntables to give a cool texture/pattern to the ceilings.

And the floor is also beautiful with that SNOT pattern and elaborate carpet leading to the throne