[M4-22 - Brick Built Creature] – Beware the Rancor

[Mandalorianknight]

As I've stated on this forum to an extent that likely annoys everyone else who reads it, I dislike the use of molded creatures in sets if a brick-built one is even remotely feasible. One of the biggest culprits, IMO, was the Rancor, since it's pretty big. With creatures being a part of this contest, I figured it was finally time to put my bricks where my mouth was. Then I realized I didn't have many reddish brown parts, so I made it in Stud.io. Here he is:

Oh, my. Let's break it down a bit, shall we?

Our boy here is 379 pieces and about 3 figures tall, which is roughly in scale considering the canon height of 5 meters. He features 25 points of articulation if you're generous about what's considered articulation: 3 in each arm, 4 for the fingers in each hand (the top finger has 2 points of articulation but the little stubby finger at the bottom does not have any real articulation.), 1 for the lower jaw, 3 in the legs, and 1 for each of 4 posable toes. 

Here's the back. I didn't know this before starting the build, but the rancor has this shell-like carapace on his back, which was fun to try and build. Color availability was a big issue here. aside from the obvious mixel joints, which I think I did an alright job covering, there's quite a few brackets not available in brown, as well as the 2x2 round brick with pin holes not coming in dark bluish gray (I used black instead, which I think works). 

Here's one final picture of him doin a big chomp on Luke:

The jaw is of course, a big part of the rancor, so I wanted to make sure he could munch on some minifigs. He can't fit an entire man inside of him like the 2013 molded creature, but you can fit a head and some of the torso into his mouth. (You can also close the jaw after putting a severed head in his mouth, if you so choose.)

Thanks for taking a look at my Rancor moc!

Edited May 18, 2022 by Mandalorianknight

[carpandean]

I love the design!

The only very minor thing is it's like one of those drawings that if you look at it one way you see an old man's face, but another way you see an old woman's whole body (just as an example.)  If I look quickly, the nose looks like two eyes, which clearly gives the wrong impression.  However, if I look at his actual eyes and tell myself that those are the eyes and the nose is his nose, it looks perfect.  Did you try a "Plate, round 1 x 2 with open studs" (part #35480) instead of the two "Plate, round 1 x 1 with open stud" (part #85861) to give the impression that they are one nose, rather than two eyes?  Another option is the "Minifigure, Utensil Ingot / Bar" (part #99563).  Again, just a very minor optical illusion.  The actual eyes are great.

[MKJoshA]

Great job! Personally I think the nose is fine, but it really needs obvious eyes.

[Mandalorianknight]

2 hours ago, carpandean said:

I love the design!

The only very minor thing is it's like one of those drawings that if you look at it one way you see an old man's face, but another way you see an old woman's whole body (just as an example.)  If I look quickly, the nose looks like two eyes, which clearly gives the wrong impression.  However, if I look at his actual eyes and tell myself that those are the eyes and the nose is his nose, it looks perfect.  Did you try a "Plate, round 1 x 2 with open studs" (part #35480) instead of the two "Plate, round 1 x 1 with open stud" (part #85861) to give the impression that they are one nose, rather than two eyes?  Another option is the "Minifigure, Utensil Ingot / Bar" (part #99563).  Again, just a very minor optical illusion.  The actual eyes are great.

Thanks!

I showed this to a few friends of mine and they all had the exact same criticism with the nose looking like eyes. I'm not sure how the ingot would look, since the rancor's nostrils are pretty defined in the film, but 35480 is an excellent suggestion. I'll whip up a rendering of both that and the ingot to see how they'd look.

2 hours ago, MKJoshA said:

Great job! Personally I think the nose is fine, but it really needs obvious eyes.

Yeah, the eyes were tricky. I couldn't find any printed eyes that would work, since aside from the brickheadz eyes, they're all printed only on white backgrounds, and it looked odd when applied to the rancor. I also wanted his eyes to look "angry", if that makes sense, since most existing rancor mocs seemed to just use 1x1 black studs, giving him a blank expression, hence the quarter tiles. 

Edited May 18, 2022 by Mandalorianknight

[carpandean]

1 hour ago, Mandalorianknight said:

Thanks!

I showed this to a few friends of mine and they all had the exact same criticism with the nose looking like eyes. I'm not sure how the ingot would look, since the rancor's nostrils are pretty defined in the film, but 35480 is an excellent suggestion. I'll whip up a rendering of both that and the ingot to see how they'd look.

I picked the ingot because his nostrils are more vertical slits than round holes.  However, not having actual slits, just indents, it may not look right.  I look forward to seeing the renders.  Now that I use Studio, I wanted to just jump over and swap them myself. 

[naugem]

Nice build! The rancor looks great.

[carpandean]

And for goodness' sake, give Luke a 93160!

[Mandalorianknight]

6 hours ago, carpandean said:

I picked the ingot because his nostrils are more vertical slits than round holes.  However, not having actual slits, just indents, it may not look right.  I look forward to seeing the renders.  Now that I use Studio, I wanted to just jump over and swap them myself. 

Alright, I've edited the post with the 1x2 rounded plate instead of the 1x1s. Looks much better, so thank you for the idea! The ingot is....well, here it is:

Spoiler

5 hours ago, naugem said:

Nice build! The rancor looks great.

Thanks!

1 hour ago, carpandean said:

And for goodness' sake, give Luke a 93160!

This is the alternate universe where everything proceeds exactly the same except the bone isn't there, hence Luke's demise.  Like those old infinities where it'd be like "What if C-3PO wasn't able to translate huttese?" and then it ends with a light side darth vader fighting alongside a newly daredevil-esque han solo.

Edited May 18, 2022 by Mandalorianknight

[carpandean]

19 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

Alright, I've edited the post with the 1x2 rounded plate instead of the 1x1s. Looks much better, so thank you for the idea! The ingot is....well, here it is:

  Reveal hidden contents

Thanks!

This is the alternate universe where everything proceeds exactly the same except the bone isn't there, hence Luke's demise.  Like those old infinities where it'd be like "What if C-3PO wasn't able to translate huttese?" and then it ends with a light side darth vader fighting alongside a newly daredevil-esque han solo.

Nice!  Definitely an improvement.  I can still see the nose as eyes, but it's not first thought.  The ingot is the best at that, but doesn't quite look right.

It would interesting to see that parallel universe ... that would have been a shocking twist in ROTJ.  Might have been a much shorter movie.

[Mandalorianknight]

2 minutes ago, carpandean said:

Nice!  Definitely an improvement.  I can still see the nose as eyes, but it's not first thought.  The ingot is the best at that, but doesn't quite look right.

It would interesting to see that parallel universe ... that would have been a shocking twist in ROTJ.  Might have been a much shorter movie.

Yeah, the ingot is the best in theory, but there's just something off about it. I think it's how angular it is. 

Oh, that wasn't a random thought on my part. That's an actual infinities comic.

[carpandean]

2 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

Yeah, the ingot is the best in theory, but there's just something off about it. I think it's how angular it is. 

Oh, that wasn't a random thought on my part. That's an actual infinities comic.

I'll have to check that out.

I did have one other idea, but you already used the quarter rounds for the eyes:

Spoiler

 

Edited May 19, 2022 by carpandean

[Mandalorianknight]

On 5/19/2022 at 3:34 PM, carpandean said:

I'll have to check that out.

I did have one other idea, but you already used the quarter rounds for the eyes:

That looks good too, although like you said it kind of blends the face together since the eyelids are the same part. The ingot's growing on me, though I still think I prefer the 2x1 round. If you want to keep playing around with it, do you want the part file? 

[carpandean]

On 5/21/2022 at 10:16 PM, Mandalorianknight said:

That looks good too, although like you said it kind of blends the face together since the eyelids are the same part. The ingot's growing on me, though I still think I prefer the 2x1 round. If you want to keep playing around with it, do you want the part file? 

As with anything Lego, there's rarely a perfect option.  Both have their advantages and disadvantages.  That's the fun and challenge of the medium. 

I was able to piece together enough to play with, but it would be interesting to see the full list.  There's some small internal difference in what I put together, as the alignment is just slightly off.

[Mandalorianknight]

2 hours ago, carpandean said:

As with anything Lego, there's rarely a perfect option.  Both have their advantages and disadvantages.  That's the fun and challenge of the medium. 

I was able to piece together enough to play with, but it would be interesting to see the full list.  There's some small internal difference in what I put together, as the alignment is just slightly off.

Ok, if you PM me an email address, I can send you the part file. 

 

And for fun, here's some alternate rancor colorations (all only in colors lego has molded the parts in, just like the first moc)

L-R: Shadow Rancor, Abominable Snowrancor, aquarancor, Molten rancor, Entcor, Patriotic Rancor.

[Ephseb]

deservedly high in the ranking, this is a great brick-built rendition of Dathomir's fiercest!