Grover

What happened to the mini dolls! Just kidding! This build is a real work of art. I am very impressed with the build, and the piece as a whole fits together very well. I would not have expected that light blue to work that well here, but with the dark blue on the roof it really fits in well. Those double arrow tiles look great too, and I suspect that many builders will use that technique in the future! The scale of this is impressive, and I love the careful execution of the stonework on the bottom, just enough texture but not too much, mixed with the crisp lines of the timber frame on top. The weather vane at the top is a nice touch. Your minis are top notch (which is unsurprising coming from you!), and I love their coordination. Your use of printed parts on the inside is great, from the various foods to the wall hangings. Love the idea of a luthier, too. Where did you get an unprinted violin? That looks like many of the luthier shops I have been to and is a great detail. The fine detail on the furniture is very nice too, great minifig scale on the corner couch, and the use of the backward nexo shield on the chair on the upper floor is amazing! I love how the antistuds are partially shown and look like wood carving at the head of the chair! And where does that trap door on the floor lead? Mystery! I love it. Thank you for sharing. I always see more details each time I look at this. Really outstanding build!

Beautiful build! Funny, I usually don't like non-monochrome backgrounds since they are distracting (forests, etc) but yours is very neutral and looks good. Your brick built doors look awesome and really sell the various boards used to make the doors. The lightly sway-backed roof is great too, not too crazy, but just enough to let the viewer know that this is an older structure. The downward facing icicles look awesome too! I think we need some of those parts in trans clear! The smoke is pretty interesting too, not sure I've seen that before, but I like how you even made sure the smoke was coordinated so it looks like the wind is coming from one direction, one of those little things the mind can see but sometimes doesn't recognize obviously. The brick built clock is really slick, too! Nice job there. The overall very dark mood I think is set by your choice of color palette, with the dark grey on the bottom and muted overall tones (no bright flowers, all the people have dark colors). It really sets the stage for what is a very heavy and dark subject. The red scarf and the mitgardian colors on the building really pop because of that. I also like the snow piles you have left and right. They look natural, like someone cleared the path and left the rest. Really excellent work!

That is amazing! I LOVE that you designed the Viking set and am super proud of you and that a Guildie designed it! Kudos to you! I think you should totally get a free build for it, and that you should also get a front page for it! And super awesome that you put the Mitgardian shield on it! I will be buying 2 copies because it is so awesome!

I love the guarded inn for nostalgia, but you could also a build a tribute that fits in scale with your moc, something like this: or this: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-119072/irabricks/iras-guarded-inn/#details

In that case, I think it looks good. If it were going into Ideas, I'd suggest making the rooms modular so they can be arranged into any size board for customization, which would help your ratings. Since that makes no difference, I think it looks good!

Looks cool! Are you planning on submitting to Lego Ideas or doing this for fun?

I really love the work here, and especially since you're showing a WIP. The duplo buildup is great, and I like some of your ideas. Particularly the stained glass windows and the large black roof shingles are awesome. From an aesthetics standpoint, if you want to combine the MOC portion and the set portion more seamlessly, I'd either add more color to the set side (i.e., add the dark grey and old light grey like you did on the MOC side to the set side) and add some of the dark grey dental molding around the tower portions on the MOC side. I think that would improve uniformity and help blend it. The tile work in the weapons room is superb and I love the details of the gutter in the dungeon. I would not personally stack my coinage the way they do in the vault, but from a theatrical standpoint, it's very recognizable, and well done. Depending on if you want a tad of texture to the wall, you can incorporate half round 1x1 tiles to occasionally add a small recess as if part of the wall had not been entirely uniform. There's some other interesting techniques with jumper plates and the rail plates to make very slight offsets in texture that you could occasionally add in if you wanted more texture. Of course, with a wall that big, it may not really be necessary, as the larger you go, the less tiny detail you need. Nice job, and I look forward to seeing this as it progresses!

This is a gorgeous build. I love the overall shape and presentation. The tall tower dominating in the middle, with the asymmetric placement of the tree and the irregular base are awesome. The organic chaos of the roots and vine really look nice, and I like how you incorporated the ornate light grey fence pieces into the structure as stone carving. The roller skates under the arch add some nice detail as well. Even the careful choice of placement of the masonry bricks really help add to the texture, since you have intentionally chosen a pattern of them in their stacking. I LOVE the mushrooms. I'll need to remember that technique for my builds. Really fantastic with that gear under there. The detail with the SNOT stone work between the masonry 1x2 bricks is great, and I like some of the subtle detail in there without being too busy with insane greebling. The fall color choices are spectacular and I think they really work well with the dark brown and dark orange. The minis look good, as does the horse. I like that you took a chance with the lime green, although in my opinion, it doesn't quite work with the other colors. I have been quite surprised how well it can work in other builds, but I'm not sure if the lime green is too jarring against the other fall colors or it's something else that sticks out too much to me. I am imagining an olive green or even a sand green might work here. Just my opinion, though, and of course, you have to build with what you have and olive is not a particularly easy color to come by. One interesting thought occurred to me: as the seer of 4 seasons, maybe each face of the tower could hold a different season? That might be challenging but interesting if you ever take this to a show. Really nice work, and I'd love to see this in person!

This is some really nice work. I love all the photographs and the exploded view of the interior. The closeup pics of the minis are really fantastic, and the eye level of them really draws the viewer in. The lighting is good, and the backgrounds are nice. Some of the overall shots may benefit from cropping of excess background to allow for a larger view of the build, and the weird links that flickr inserts could be trimmed for line continuity in the post, but otherwise it is good. As for the build, the color choices are superb. They work well together, and you have some great color blocking between levels, yet tie them together with highlights under the windows. The grey corner stones are a nice touch. I like the off grid market stalls that make the scene look more natural, and you chose some nice colors for the awnings. I haven't seen that roof pattern before, but I think it's a nice combination of a simple pattern and suggestion of roof tiling. The slide out interior is genius! I may have to use that on one of my builds in the future! I love the headless shark being butchered by the pier, a very realistic addition! I also like the mixture of tiles and open studs on the walkway. They work together like different size stones. Great job! Keep up the great work and I look forward to seeing more of Faeril and Gyrdher's story!

Really beautiful build! I love the incredible use of all the various specialty parts: the black hair and crown, the gold handbag, the baby frogman, the plant guy CMF head, the cornish pixie, the HP golden egg, and all the various printed flora. You have such a great eye for the natural world and color, blending it seamlessly. The whole thing comes off quite natural. The upside down brown branch pieces look like a mangrove, and the super light green leaves work great for this setting. The stonework frog statue is fantastic! I love seeing all the little details you can pack into a small build. Great job!

I agree, it does not detract at all. I was mostly curious, since if he managed to get that glow with a camera only, I wanted to know how! I think the real lights blends with the photoshop, making it look more realistic. In any case, it is well done.

Very nice. I like the SW planet half as a dome. I think my favorite part is the tree. It looks very organic, and the 3 leaf stems on the smaller limb pieces really break up the planarity of the small limb, which helps it look natural. Is the tree trunk sturdy? It looks like it is. The two tone leaf colors work, and add some texture. You did a good job keeping the lighter color layered underneath, too, sort of a color blocking in the tree. The tower looks good, and I like how you alternated the masonry bricks with the cylinders to add to the rounded feel and avoid sharp corners at the joints. It helps sell the illusion of an octagon as a round tower. Did you photoshop the light coming out of the tower? If not, the photography is crazy, and I don't know how you did it! The rockwork looks pretty decent, the snot helps a lot, although in a few points it looks a little too regular to me. I think rockwork is an exceedingly difficult thing to do and make look natural. The ocean, however, with the color layering underneath, is superb, and really sells itself. I really like the sparse vines twisting in and out of the fence on the dais. It looks just like a plant doing its best to grow in a rocky area. Keep up the awesome work!

Considering that a precision mold is expensive (think $100k), it would seem cost prohibitive for one-off molds like for the CMFs, but they do it. Some of these may be lesser quality shorter run molds, but still, the mold is expensive, especially at the precision tolerances the TLG demands. As for the goat, I can see all sides of the argument. However, the goat is a fairly complex shape, with the curved horns, etc., as one must consider how the mold is filled, particularly if there is dual molding going on (as in for the horns). The sheep and the cows are popular. I think that the goat would be just as popular with kids and non AFOLs, plus have the extra draw of AFOL buys, so it would probably sell pretty well. That said, TLG is still a business, and I have no idea how they make their choices on budgets, profit margins etc., so there's no telling.

You're welcome. I try to provide feedback to other builders. Feedback here is how I improved as a builder, and I think it's one of the best features of the forum!

Very nice. The tree is a show stealer. Getting that level of leaf density on a tree without making it look like linear sheets is difficult, and you have mastered it. I also like the trunk extending under the stone, as if the elves built the stone carefully over the tree without damaging it (as you would think elves would do). The lantern is pretty slick, too. I'm not entirely convinced by the square water, thinking maybe some trans light blue shooter pieces (i.e., marvel stuff) might look good, but it's pretty obvious what it is, and I like the stone work on the fountain. The overall color choices are quite nice, and I really like the HP body with the Arwen hair. The sideways fence pieces in the back look more elven and less asian with their open tops, which is well done. I also appreciate the non-vestigial crenellations that one could actually take cover behind. Some nice subtle detail work on them. The lighting on the background is nice, too. Overall, very well done!