Henjin_Quilones

I can tell that part of the LEGO you have with you is the Temple of Airjitsu... I like the vignette, though I will agree with Exetrius about the base. The lip just doesn't do it for me, even if it does help it stay self-contained. The inclusion of the red lights is a nice nod to the true purpose of the establishment...

This is the best thing I've seen from you yet! This is excellent. I love the walls and the tower, and the blue is just the best. I would suggest trying to either build a second layer behind the walls, or else putting some paper or cardboard back there to prevent the light from shining through, but that is just something to consider for future builds. I'm not a huge fan of tudor in general, but yours is nice, and the odd tree is oddly good. I am super glad that you are continuing on with the story here, and I look forward to seeing what you do with it in the future!

I like the gate a lot! The way you fit it into the surrounding rockwork is nice, but the tree that overshadows it all it even nicer. I like how the foliage is so big compared to the trunks. I think that the weakest aspect of the build is the foreground, which seems cluttered with different colors and could use some simplification, particularly in doing something to get rid of the grey plate under it all. Either make a small border to hide it, or don't include it at all, instead making the bottom layer the same color as the plates on top of it. Beyond that, my only other critique is that the legs of the statues seem awfully long to be representing dwarves. This is a nice looking build, and a great way to start here in the Guilds!

Another interesting looking family, presented in excellent vignettes! The body guards are my favorite characters here. I wonder if there is any family connection between the Conzagas and the Centarios of Zotharith in Nocturnus (the characters of @Exetrius, who also all have white hair). Could be an interesting collab...

A good continuation to the story! I like all of the different scenes that you built for this chapter, especially the courtyard. I don't really like the 1x2 tiles stuck to the walls, though; I think it makes the wall look a bit sloppy, especially when they are put on at angles. I also am not a big fan of the 2x2 rounds bricks with texture sitting on top of 2x2 round smooth bricks, as it looks awkward to have half of a column smooth and half textured. I would have made one column smooth and the other textured. The flashbacks are well done, though, and you continue to impress with your fig posing. I look forward to seeing the rest of the story soon!

Nice little jail! I again appreciate the use of those studs above the gate, and the half-arches to hold the lanterns are also nice. I don't really like the inclusion of the printed panel in the back, but it does serve to break up the wall a bit. The little scenes of the inmates trying to get the dog and the rat are very funny, and well done!

Nicely done! I enjoy the claw on the end of the crane, and the studded corners of the tower are a nice texture to see. You did a good job showing the interior being unfinished as well, and the different tasks going on about the site. I think fewer studs on the dark bley rocks in the back would be better, though, to give a contrast texturally to the grass and dirt of the front half of the base. Overall, though, a solid entry to the contest!

The highlight for me is definitely the high light, er, I mean the lighthouse... I like the gold banding around it and the way you made it a rounded shape. I would love to see it completed 360 degrees, but what you have is lovely. I also like the arches in the sea wall, as they help it seem elvish, and white helps that too. I'm not as excited by the warehouse, but it is good to see the workers finishing it up. The activity you have here, with the boats, the cart, the people, is all very nice and helps it seem lived-in. Good entry!

The architectural style of the building is something we don't get a lot of in the Guilds, at least in the time I've been around, and that's a good thing! I love the steep roofs and the sloped bases to the walls. The arrowslits are nicely done, and the inclusion of so many different arches is very nice, too, keeping it interesting without being distracting. Your build does something that I have a hard time quantifying, but is what I feel when I look at a building whose architecture I especially like: it is asymmetrical yet balanced, detailed yet simple, playing on a similar motif but willing to play a bit with it... You have a good sense of proportion and balance, which comes across in the build. Very nicely done.

I really enjoy this build! There is so much to appreciate in it, from the solid look of the buildings to the nice little section of landscaping giving it all context. The construction part of it is also quite lovely, as the crane looks nicely scaled to the tower and the frame below the roof is excellent. I personally both like and dislike what you did leaving the studs exposed: on the one hand, it makes it LEGO; but on the other, it looks unpolished. I think either way it is fine, but I would probably lean towards getting some tiles up there myself. And the upgrades you did from the original build are spectacular, and testament to how far your skills have progressed! Nicely done.

The construction progress is very well done in this build, with the pallets and the laborers working. It seems strange to me that there is smoke coming from the chimney when there is no visible fire inside... The vegetation is very beautiful and lush, and the build is nicely done as a whole. I just wish you had a shot to allow us to take it all in!

That statue looks rather unfinished, but the SW gunner's helmet looks almost like an Egyptian crown... could this be a DK religious cult? I am not a big fan of the black border, especially with the openings; either 1. leave off the border, and make an irregular base; 2. complete the border and have a fully contained build; or 3. have the interior content spill out of the border through the gaps. The way it is now, it just looks like you ran out of black pieces, since the tan stops at the same line as the black border. Good job with the fig posing, though. I especially like the guy gesturing for the priest to view the progress.

It may be small, but the sculpture being crafted like that is brilliant. I love how you sunk the trident in to make it half-finished. I look forward to seeing it in a fuller context - and good work getting an entry in!

So many great things here to love, what with all of the great castle-building practices you have illustrated! I agree that the crane seems too big in proportion to the rest, but I think my main critique is the same as Gideon: the ground. I understand that you were working with something from earlier, and probably did not do much to the ground as a result, but it is too flat and monotone for my taste, and should definitely exhibit some wear and tear (unless they have medieval AstroTurf...) from all of the workers walking around and carts bringing heavy loads of stone. I'd expect a ton of mud, or at very least, dust! On the whole, though, the level of thought that has gone into the construction aspects makes this a very good entry.

I like the innovative roof approach here, as it offers a nice change from what we are accustomed to seeing around the Guilds. The landscape is a bit too flat in the front, though, and the ladders are not my favorite part here for the scaffolding - they look a bit too pre-fab to me. Something that was custom-built for your house that did not have to worry about awkward connection angles and that kind of thing would be better, in my opinion. That being said, I really enjoy how the workers are all busy, and the inclusion of so many aspects of the construction is quite nice. I also like that you included interiors!

This is very nicely done! The snow looks lovely, and the lavender looks great as an accent with the white. The dark brown ground presents a very pretty contrast with the snow, and effectively conveys frozen mud. While the frame is a bit too studded for my initial liking, I appreciate how the build could not have been done on this scale without them there. They do not detract that much from the overall appearance, and the action captured in the midst of raising up the walls is perfect! Great entry.

The arrangement of the figures is nice, but as others have said, the angle of the photo makes it hard to tell what's going on. I like the way you have layered plates for the terrain to build up some height, and the road below the grass level is nice, too. Some wedge plates would have been nice to break up the hard angles, though, and a less uniform distribution of the flower stalks and 1x1 round rocks would also improve things some.

There is literally nothing to say about this build, because I have not the words. It is one of my favorite, if not the favorite, builds of all time. The symmetry, the style, the composition, the photography, the arrangement and construction of the figs, the techniques, the colors, it is all sublime. Honestly. It doesn't get much better than this. Until your next build. This was the build that made me glad I was voting in the competition and thus ineligible from competing, because I knew I would never stand a chance...

Those builders raising the roof section must really trust that scaffolding to hold up the tower while they add more weight to the top of it! I like the vegetation and the cleared working area, it being quite monotone appropriate for a construction site. My biggest gripe would be what I would call an overuse of textured bricks - I don't really like the visual impression of the masonry bricks stacked in a tower like that so repetitively. It's not bad, and it works, but it is not my favorite. The bustle about the scene is nice, though, and you have done a great job of conveying the labor involved in repairing the structure.

There's not much left to say that has not already been said (the problem of being a late commentator), but I will add my opinion to the less-is-more discussion. In this case, I think that there is too much going on in too small of a space. Your color scheme is great, and you haven't unnecessarily cluttered up that with a bunch of reds and blues (sticking to a more neutral palette of greens, browns, and greys), but on the other hand, everything being of a similar color does cause things to get lost. Also, due to the nature of vegetation (rough around the edges, bumpy, not straight and geometric) having so much of it, though very well done and the highlight of the build to me, prevents there from being any straight lines and clear-cut edges to simplify the visual presentation. The house normally would provide that, but being under construction it too is rough around the edges. So, between the colors and the shapes, things get blurred and confused. I will second (or third) mccoyed about the text - less is definitely more on the text side of things! And the border, while a work of art on its own, adds just one more visually complex layer to the scene, which is about three too many for my taste. So, to finish, I would recommend choosing one of the following to make the visually complex aspect of a build, while simplifying the rest: the border, the text, the vegetation, or the building. If you focus on the building, cut back on the vegetation's detail; if you focus on the vegetation, cut back on the building's detail. In general I personally would counsel against visually complex bases and text, as they tend to detract from the build itself - though the base looked great with the micro build. Simplifying in this way aids the eye's understanding of what is going on. All that said, I will actually finish by saying that I love all of the different parts of this build on their own (minus the text...), but together they are each so strong that they negatively affect each other when put together. I hope that makes sense, and I hope you do not get discouraged by my comments, as your talent is immense and I want to see it flourish!

This is an excellent build! I think that the best parts have already been mentioned, most notably the columns and the wall texture, but I also love the roof and the posing of the figs around the scene. You created activity without visual busyness. The two weakest aspects I think are the odd gaps in the curve on the front (I'm not blaming, as curves in LEGO are hard!) and the windows on the ground floor being oddly low and large for a defensive position. But you mentioned those already, so I know I am preaching to the choir here, so to speak. That said, this is a very strong entry into the contest, and I look forward to seeing what else you cook up with your story!

@Full Plate Glad to have you around in Book III! I'll get you added to the first post soon. I look forward to seeing some of those experimental part usages from Flickr appearing here in full-fledged builds!

Use this one, but make sure you have a new reply post for your builds. People who already made a post in this thread for the first freebuild period should make a new post in this thread for their new builds going forward.

Please make a new entry for the next scoring period for freebuilds, even if you made one already for the first period. It makes it easier when it comes time to score the builds, if all of the new builds are in new entries. Of course, keep all of your new builds in a single entry, but do not keep updating the entry from the first freebuild period. We will be releasing the Guild Standings based upon the first freebuild scoring period shortly! Keep building for the glory of your guild!

You need to have a craftsmen/merchant build, but fulfilling any of the four categories of craftsmen/merchant will do. Just like either of the two agriculture categories will work, or either of the hospitality categories. It looks to me like you qualify for hamlet status! Congrats!