CDC2 Ancient Wonders: The Fighting Pit of Kaliphlin

[Kai NRG]

Welcome to the Fighting Pit!

One of the wonders of Historica, this massive amphitheater has seen some of the biggest crowds in the guilds gathered to watch the most exciting spectacles.

Old timers who saw the arena in its heyday say that the roar of the crowd as you enter was like nothing ever heard anywhere else in Historica.

My first idea for this was to make it a single scene viewable through the gladiator's tunnel, but I quickly realized I wouldn't have enough depth of field to make the stands as big as I was envisioning them.  So you get two scenes for the price of one. 

I've never used this many minifigures in a build before!  Wasn't able to pay quite the usual attention I give to each combination, I basically just had to use every passably medieval torso.

The final model is quite large, each succeeding row got wider and wider!

I put together a time lapse video of the process which you may or may not be interested in but I encourage you to watch the first thirty seconds anyways, got some neat effects.  

There are also lots of pictures and more detail on my blog!

I was inspired by @Gideon's fighting pit of Mophet back in the day, and the concept has kind of simmered on the back burner for me since then.  It seemed to fit the Ancient Wonders bill perfectly and so I decided to go all out and hopefully give W. Navarre a run for his money... and the rest of you too.   Let me know what you think and thanks for stopping by!

[The Stad]

The scale of this thing alone is staggering, but for it to also be packed full of interesting building techniques, a slew of diverse minifigures, excellent color composition, and all-around gorgeous design, this build totally raises the bar. Outstanding. Totally amazing.

[W Navarre]

It really is one of your biggest and best builds! I love the way it looks in the sunlight, and the crowds look very impressive. It's an epic fighting pit! 

[Servertijd]

This looks fantastic, probably my favorite build from you! The scale is epic. It looks like the whole build comes to life as the gladiator enters the field.

[Boindil Lego]

Wow very cool build! Lots of great details in the walls.

[Eyrezer]

Okay wow! With that opening video clip, this is now my favourite entry for this challenge!! Love it!!

[NOD]

Wow, great!  It's a beautiful amphitheater. It is a very elaborate and detailed construction. It's great to see so many spectators.

[Sympatik Brick]

Incredible! How many minifigs in this build?

[MKJoshA]

Absolutely amazing! I love the perspective shot. But seeing all those minifigures in the broader shots really helps you realize the scale of this thing.

[Gideon]

Wow! Just wow! You’ve really managed to capture the feeling of an immense arena, clever use of the perspective in the panning.
This is also fitting perfectly in how I imagine Kaliphlin, with kind of Roman moral values where people are enjoying blood sports and rulers/wealthy patrons can buy the appreciation of the people by arranging these kind of games

[Captain Dee]

Wow. That's just a beautiful build. There are so many cool techniques and the photography is excellent. Great job with all the minifigs.

[mrcp6d]

Great stuff here Kai!  I really like how you used the brick bricks in the columns, I'll have to borrow that in the future.

[Umbra-Manis]

That camera pull shot really elevates this to another level! Impressively packed crowd too

[Aurore]

How impressive! The build is absolutely wonderful, I love the architectural details you created. The arch above the lioness, especially, is top notch, and the red banners and fire pits really add drama to the whole ensemble. 

Making a video is such a great idea, it sets the mood and definitely highlights the epic dimensions of the build. 
I enjoyed the time lapse too - and I'm impressed by how tidy your working desk is during building! 

 

PS : I'd be curious too to know how many minifigs you packed in there!

[Kai NRG]

Thanks everyone! I have to say I'm loving the wows. 

On 10/30/2021 at 2:57 AM, Servertijd said:

This looks fantastic, probably my favorite build from you! The scale is epic. It looks like the whole build comes to life as the gladiator enters the field.

So cool to hear that, exactly the feeling I was going for! 

On 10/30/2021 at 3:15 AM, Eyrezer said:

Okay wow! With that opening video clip, this is now my favourite entry for this challenge!! Love it!!

Yay!!   Credit to @Exetrius for breaking ground and being the first to post a gif in GoH!

On 10/30/2021 at 10:41 AM, Sympatik Brick said:

Incredible! How many minifigs in this build?

I have no idea.   I thought about counting them as I dismantled it because it would be cool to know how many there were, but turns out my little siblings were interested in tearing the figs apart so no counting got done. 

On 10/30/2021 at 1:48 PM, Gideon said:

Wow! Just wow! You’ve really managed to capture the feeling of an immense arena, clever use of the perspective in the panning.
This is also fitting perfectly in how I imagine Kaliphlin, with kind of Roman moral values where people are enjoying blood sports and rulers/wealthy patrons can buy the appreciation of the people by arranging these kind of games

Thanks Gideon!  Yes, this seems like a Kaliphlinian thing, I couldn't imagine the tree huggers patronizing a fighting pit!

6 hours ago, Aurore said:

How impressive! The build is absolutely wonderful, I love the architectural details you created. The arch above the lioness, especially, is top notch, and the red banners and fire pits really add drama to the whole ensemble. 

Making a video is such a great idea, it sets the mood and definitely highlights the epic dimensions of the build. 
I enjoyed the time lapse too - and I'm impressed by how tidy your working desk is during building! 

 

PS : I'd be curious too to know how many minifigs you packed in there!

Thanks Aurore!  Yeah... I didn't count them... maybe someday when I'm waiting in line for something I'll zoom in on the picture and start counting. 

[Grover]

Amazing.  This build is brilliant.  There are so many wonderful aspects to this, and I love the detail: the grass in the cracks in the floor, the lion pacing, the SNOT detail in the columns, the decorative mixel joints in the walls, the flowing tapestries to add a splash of color, the braziers on the columns... all fantastic.  And so many minis to place!  Wow!  I really love your time lapse video, particularly with the voice-over, as I learn a lot from watching others build and describing their techniques, what worked and what didn't.  The disparate styles of the big block dark grey and the light grey work.  The animation at the setting sun is fantastic as well.  My only nitpick would be to have the flames on the braziers going the same direction since the wind would be in the same direction more than likely, but it's such a big build it's a little hard to notice.  Fantastic work and I hope to see more of these videos!

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Impressive! And the video makes it all come to life!

[Kai NRG]

On 11/5/2021 at 11:18 PM, Grover said:

Amazing.  This build is brilliant.  There are so many wonderful aspects to this, and I love the detail: the grass in the cracks in the floor, the lion pacing, the SNOT detail in the columns, the decorative mixel joints in the walls, the flowing tapestries to add a splash of color, the braziers on the columns... all fantastic.  And so many minis to place!  Wow!  I really love your time lapse video, particularly with the voice-over, as I learn a lot from watching others build and describing their techniques, what worked and what didn't.  The disparate styles of the big block dark grey and the light grey work.  The animation at the setting sun is fantastic as well.  My only nitpick would be to have the flames on the braziers going the same direction since the wind would be in the same direction more than likely, but it's such a big build it's a little hard to notice.  Fantastic work and I hope to see more of these videos!

Thanks Grover, really glad you took the time to notice so much. 

Yesss... at some point the flames were going the same way... something happened. 

19 hours ago, Captain Braunsfeld said:

Impressive! And the video makes it all come to life!

Thanks Captain!  Glad to hear people are enjoying the video, was a really fun to try something a little different from the usual way we present MOCs!

[RocketBoy]

Absolutely spectacular. I'm in awe. Time to poke through your backlog...

[Garmadon]

This thing is soo massive - and so many minifigs!  Fantastic presentation as well with that gif at the beginning of the post!   Great job with the semi-circular shape too and all that brickbending, it really turned out stunning!  The hanging red banners and that awning work really well too with the flaming torches, and the purple throughout the crowd makes it look so much more cohesive - and you finally got to use a ton of those tiles you got!    Great work all around!

[Kai NRG]

On 11/10/2021 at 12:51 AM, RocketBoy said:

Absolutely spectacular. I'm in awe. Time to poke through your backlog...

Thank you! 

21 hours ago, Garmadon said:

This thing is soo massive - and so many minifigs!  Fantastic presentation as well with that gif at the beginning of the post!   Great job with the semi-circular shape too and all that brickbending, it really turned out stunning!  The hanging red banners and that awning work really well too with the flaming torches, and the purple throughout the crowd makes it look so much more cohesive - and you finally got to use a ton of those tiles you got!    Great work all around!

Thanks Garmadon!  Ha, that brick bending, it kept wanting to unbend... remind me not to try semicircles again. 

[jtooker]

Well, I think videos that spectacular must be against the rules!  Great job framing the scene in the photos and video.  I can hear the roar of the crowd in my head!  The size of the MOC (especially the crowd) really does it.  If you didn't show the zoomed out view of the 'slice' of the stadium, I'd have assumed it was 100% built.  I enjoyed the progress pictures and will watch your time laps video later!  Wonderful job!

[MKJoshA]

@Kai NRG How did you get your GIF to display on EB? I've been trying to post one and can't figure it out. I'm using Bricksafe just like you.

[Kai NRG]

5 hours ago, MKJoshA said:

@Kai NRG How did you get your GIF to display on EB? I've been trying to post one and can't figure it out. I'm using Bricksafe just like you.

Pretty sure I just opened the Bricksafe image and copy and pasted.   Don't remember having any difficulties! 

[socalbricks]

Amazing work! I love the large masonry bricks at the front entrance (really love how implemented them in that archway), the "SNOT" construction for the dirt, and the dark red "awnings" in the back. I also like how you used those light bluish-gray "flick-fire missile" parts for a lot of the masonry - I have so many of those at home (and no idea what to do with them; this gave me some ideas!). 

Your outdoor shots are wonderfully cinematic as well! Not only that, but the positioning of those minifigures makes this whole MOC come alive.

I also appreciate your "Behind the Scenes" video - that's something you rarely see on this website, and it really made me appreciate the amount of work and creativity that went into this MOC (especially at such a large scale)!

 

Edited December 8, 2021 by socalbricks