PTV II Small Entry -- Skull Mountain

[Mariann Asanuma]

104c

After surviving twenty long years on the high seas, three mutinies (two of them he instigated), and being stranded on a desert island five times Captain Brickbeard has decided to retire and give up his life of plundering and pillaging -- well semi-retire, you can never have enough plundering in your life.

So to fund his retirement Brickbeard takes his "loyal" crew to Skull Mountain, a location known only to him, to retrieve his ill gotten gains.

Many have tried to find Skull Mountain and a few have even succeeded. Yet none have been able to possess the mounds of gold and treasure that lies within the heart of the mountain. All who have tried have met a grisly fate.

For Skull Mountain is also the home of a colony Gigantic Man-eating Spiders that owe their allegiance to Brickbeard. He alone can quell their man-eating tendencies and safely trespass on their land.

Brickbeard plans to load his fleet with the gold and leave all but his most trusted men to the fate of the Spiders.

The Spiders themselves have other plans however. They have begun to think of the gold and jewels as theirs.

The Storm may have passed, but for Brickbeard, another may soon be on the horizon . . .

You can see larger images of all the pictures at my Flickr photostream.

[RampantDingo]

I love the idea very much. I feel that the spiders, though a nice addition, are a bit distracting. I think the ships could get away being slightly bigger as well. Good luck

[Tereglith]

Doing a micro-scale for the competition is certainly original - I like it! However, there are a couple of things I would change. For one, I would get rid of the ginormous lock sitting amongst the treasure - where would Brickbeard have gotten a forty-foot long padlock anyway? Also, I would trade out the three ships for one larger, slightly more detailed one. It would make the scaling a little better.

I love the backstory with spiders - had a run-in with some Acromantulae, did he? It's the sort of POTC "ooh, pirates aren't just guys who drank a lot of rum, stole stuff, and got killed, they're magical, mystical people that are way better than ninjas" vibe.

Good entry! If you manage to pull off a good slightly-larger-micro-scale ship, it will be even better

[Mariann Asanuma]

Doing a micro-scale for the competition is certainly original - I like it! However, there are a couple of things I would change. For one, I would get rid of the ginormous lock sitting amongst the treasure - where would Brickbeard have gotten a forty-foot long padlock anyway? Also, I would trade out the three ships for one larger, slightly more detailed one. It would make the scaling a little better.

The "ginormous" lock isn't supposed to be a lock, its supposed to be a giant chest of treasure. There are actually two of them in the cave.

And the reason that I scaled the ships the way I did was that I wanted them to be that scale. I'll experiment, but making a larger scale ship would probably throw off the scale of everything else.

[Tereglith]

OK'S! YOU DON'T HAVE TO SHOOTS MY HEAD OFFS WIF A CANNON!!!1!1one!

I sorta can see the lock as a treasure chest. If I squint... It looks more like a big brown handbag though...

As for the ships... I was thinking about it, and it would be very difficult to get one that's bigger, but not TOO big. I also admire your use of "X" tiles (hmm... X-files?) as sail decoration for the ones that you have currently. Even the way the printing has worn off contributes to the look. A big on parts usage there.

[martinsuper]

Micro scale is a really good idea and a very unique one for this contest! I have to agree with the others that the spiders are going to have to go. Also, if you could "pull back" the ships a little from the island I could see them better and realize faster that they are a micro-scale fleet! Maybe use snot and make the water smoother and the ships more defined? Just an idea...

I was always VERY impressed with the skill that micro-scale takes!

Good Job!

-martinsuper

[SlyOwl]

Really nice. The micro-ships are great, made better by the X tiles, and the vine is inspired.

As Martin said, I'd like to see the sea done in SNOT, mainly to avoid those 1x1 blue studs under the ships to get them at the angle. Using the cheese-to-cheese technique, you could get a nice transition from dark blue to blue to white.

If it's cool with Dan, you could probably enter a modified version of this into the MCCV on Classic-Castle.

Where would Brickbeard have gotten a forty-foot long padlock anyway?

You mean you don't have one?

[Zorro]

A micro-MOC entry, original (although not undone), but certainly of high quality. I love the mini-ships and the story is frightening yet fun to read.

As said by the others, SNOT might/could improve this MOC, on the other hand that is your decision and yours alone.

[badboytje88]

So! You took the small entry very literaly! You brought it to a whole other lever. The level of miniscale and I love it! The little ships are so cute. I like the palm trees and I absolutely love the use of the lock for a treasure chest. Very creative.

The only thing you could do to improve this MOC is work on the water I'd love to see the water getting more light blueish towards the beach. That would look ever so pritty!

~Badboy

[Joey Lock]

Very nice! Man thats a lot of gold, Fills up the Cave! Also those spiders are massive!

[MetroiD]

The first thing that caught my eye with this one was the slight angle at which the "skull" top of the island is tilted - a subtle, yet brilliant touch.

Now, like most of the other guys have already said, SNOTting might be a great idea here - to me personally, studs are a "no-no" in microscale, because they just feel... well... too huge.

As to that 40-inch padlock treasure chest, I must agree with Tereglith and at the same time request your and your cannon's mercy... But it just doesn't feel right (at least to me it doesn't). The spiders could just about fit in there, given the wonderful storyline, but the green background colour of the tiles is somewhat distracting. I'd suggest removing those spiders which are on the sand and leaving only the ones on the rocks - since they sorta blend in and look much more natural.

As to the ships, I have absolutely no problems with their scale - as a matter of fact, I feel it's a really ingenious design and having three instead of just one makes the whole MOC look a bit more epic. You know - man-eating spiders, skull-headed island... having an entire pirate armada head for the buried & guarded treasure does fit just right in there :)

[NewRight]

Great entry. I love the use of 'X' tiles represent the sails. Very clever concept.

I like your entry although with the lock (smart idea) I just don't find it believable. It would be quite large at the scale your have those ships. As well as the spiders which would be nearly 30 feet large if I'm not mistaken in comparison to your ships. I do like the mountain though and overall your entry looks great.

I wish you the best of luck in the rest of PTV.

[Derfel Cadarn]

Great idea and nice to see something different. Really like this