Grover

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!

I like it. I voted for it (as I do with all castle builds). I assume once submitted, you can't make changes, but you asked for feedback, so here you go: On the positive side: + I really like the black and light grey color scheme. It goes well with the dark red roof, and the red/blue color choice is excellent. + Love the roof, especially the eaves curving under. + The square base to round tower transition at the top is very nice. + The wider base at the bottom sloping out is a nice touch + The interior, however small, is well appreciated. + I like the fact that you used basic pieces and didn't make the thing a parts pack of exotics Suggestions: - I would make the pictures brighter. It seems a tad dark and doesn't 'pop', which I think may hurt you in attracting attention for a contest. - I would love to see the light grey corner bricks be evenly spaced on the way up between levels. I know this is difficult to design. - I'm not sure what's going on with the color scheme on the Tudor part of the tower. It is very uniform and regular, and yet, it seems to want to be random with the yellows and texture. Maybe all random per panel, or all uniform one color? - The browns/blacks up top are a little unusual to me. Since the stone below is black, I would think that a dark brown or brown (since there probably aren't enough parts in dark brown) would make it look more like wood and the black stone look more like stone. - I would like to see a different awning. The end to the awning over the entrance is a little blocky at the end. Maybe some of those new rock looking pieces could work? Overall, very nice work. I like the tower and I hope it makes it through!

Oh! My mistake, it looks like blue violet on my monitor.

Congrats to all the winners! Quite an impressive collection. Kind of makes me want to see everything put together at a convention into a Cedrica build!

Very nice! Love the background color. Well done all around.

Thanks! It's a little parts intensive, but I was able to get the sand green off a PAB wall, so it wasn't too bad. Glad you enjoyed the birch and the humor of the seagulls! Thanks! I have been wanting to try that round tower technique in a larger build for a while, and I'm glad it came off well here. Glad you liked the birch tree! We tried a lot of different colors and finally decided on the flame yellow orange for contrast, so glad it worked! Thank you! It was a little tricky picking complimentary colors for the sand green, but the dark tan and various greys plus olive seemed to work. And yes, the white patches are all seagull defecation. Have you ever been near a large lake or ocean without seagulls? I haven't. And what do they do? Well, what do they doo doo? lol Thanks! I hadn't thought of why the Cedrica colors include white, but I bet you are right, they surrendered to the seagulls years ago! The sand green was fun. I make a trip to whatever PAB wall is nearby when I have to travel and found most of the sand green here years ago in various places. If I recall, I think the tiles were at the Disneyland wall in California some years ago, and the Nexo shields were... maybe Mall of America? I can't remember that one. Most of the lesser used accent pieces were just from my collection. I had to be judicious in my choice, since I don't have a large variety of sand green, just a few parts in massive bulk from the wall. And are you sure that cave shark is an albino? Maybe he lost to the seagulls too.....

Well done! The revamp looks great, and I can really tell it is a revamp (not just a complete rebuild of an idea). You made some nice choices with the roof, both in color and removing the middle plate crossing the cylinders. The addition of the irregular base is nice, and the oven with the smoke coming out is a great addition, both because it adds some action through the smoke, but also through the size and height, which draws the eye across the build. I also like the new color palette in the dark and sand greens. The bright green in the original is OK, but I think the dark green and sand green go with the oranges and dark tan better. Keep up the awesome work!

They probably would have sold more coleseums if this was the GWP! You do a great job with these brick built centaurs. It's hard to get the detail in that small of a space and still make it look proportional, but yours are great. It allows a lot more options than the Lego centaur bodies. The use of the roman shield on the front of the chariot is fantastic, and you do a great job with the dark red/black/gold color scheme. I think you did a great job choosing the background color too, since it compliments the build. Well done!

Oooh, this is so cool. I love the blue-violet bricks! I have some 1x2 but that's about it, and it is a fantastic choice for Nocturnus! It works great with the magenta, and the pink makes a surprisingly good accent color. The overall look reminds me of the old Haunted House set, which was super cool. The suitcase now makes more sense in context (it looked like it was part of the shrine in the other build, which was confusing!). Love that you made interiors! The classroom looks good, and the use of the CMF baseplate as a chalkboard is brilliant! The tiles hang on there randomly with a very organic look. Awesome that it comes apart too. Huge applause for not only writing up the history but taking the time to link the various threads. That helps people like me that love to go read all the historical threads, having them in one place!

Gorgeous build! You have a lot of really great things going on here. The trans red dots on the snow really lead the eye, and I appreciate that you took the time to make sure they were sunken into the snow layer, since warm blood would melt the snow a bit. The dark red leaves under the white on the trees really sells the idea that the white leaves are just snow covered red ones. The angle on the owl makes it a great action shot. You did a really nice job with the curved slopes on the ground to represent the snow. The white overhang pieces at the end are great too, and I love the way you did the dark grey cliffs under the overhang. The mouse there both gives perspective and breaks up the color so the texture is easier to see. And we get a great story as well! Nice work!

Awesome tower! I love the huge green Avalonian wizard's keep! The irregular base on the regular border is nice, and the subtle slope with plates really brings out the SNOT rocks, which look awesome. I really like the tree and the way the trunk bends away from the building to get more light. You also used those bar pieces well to make the angles on the tree leaves look natural. The greens of Avalonia look good, and the low stone wall has enough texture to look like it is in a place of lush growth (and thus lower maintenance). The round stone part of the tower is excellent, and I like the roof (although I hope that door to the balcony opens inward, because that balcony is tiny!). Nice to see some of the vintage parts like the gold printed 1x4 tiles and the old polyethylene grass stalks make a comeback. The white flower pieces on the lime petals really looks good too. I may have to steal that idea! Really excited to see you back with these builds, hope it's the beginning of more to come!

Gorgeous build! Love the colors again, and how they and the story continue the Crimson Falcon plot. The roof here looks great, and I'm glad that you used the new 1x2 round plates to make a rounded tower. I always wondered what that would look like on a small scale (someone posted a monstrous curve a while back in the historic forums), and it looks pretty good as a technique. You did a great job incorporating the various detailing and texture in the bricks to make it blend well. Your color detailing is great too, using smaller plate sized off-colors rather than whole brick off colors, which tend to be too blocky for my tastes. The dark grey stonework around the front door is very aggressive and seems to give a rather dangerous feeling. I think the black falcon built above the main door and the black goblet sign are both excellent. Also, easily overlooked, but rather difficult to make look good, are the corners on the dormers. They are really clean, which is quite impressive for a brick build tile roof. Awesome work!

Great to see you back again, and with some incredible MOCs! You really build at a tremendous scale and have some very nice details. I particularly like the color choice with the olive and dark red, and the nice shading under the water for depth. The foliage looks really good in the trees, vines, and various plants, and I love the little yellow splash of color on the small outcropping the corner of the build in the water. I had to go to your flickr to get zoomed in enough to see the detail, but it was worth it. There are tons of details in here, from the falcon and crow on top of the flagpoles, to the happy fisherman in the boat and the knight kneeling to pledge service to his liege. The small shrine in the rocks near the landing area, and the low stone wall built along the lower rock/shoreline are very nice touches. The winch is excellent (and also answers questions of how they get large items up the hill), and you have a lot of nice techniques showcased in the build, such as the irregular roof tiling. And we get a very intriguing storyline to see where it goes! Keep them coming!

I like it! Kind of funny, I looked at this and thought "This kind of looks like it's part of another build", then sure enough, you posted the other one! I love the use of the helmet as part of the shield emblem up top. I also applaud the use of those double sloped large triangular pieces. I always struggle to find a good use for them, but you have done well. I really like the arches holding up the forge hood, it looks fantastic. The details of the chains hanging down, and the fence on the bottom to allow airflow are also well done and help the mind see the subtle 'realism' of the build. Great use of the candles in the old black palm tree four pronged pieces (whatever they are called). I have not seen that before and they really lend themselves to that use. It's very subtle, but I love the symmetry you used in building the columns. Makes it seem very deliberate and planned, exactly as one might expect from a temple where the builder was sparing no expense and had a high attention to detail. I'm not entirely sure about the suitcase hanging there, but I think my brain can only see that as a 1980s city piece now! Very nice work and thumbs up for HSS!

Exetrius 1 point Kahir88 1 point Louis of Nutwood 1 point

Simon_S 1 point LittleJohn 1 point Ecclesiastes 1 point

I'm waiting for the Duplo CMF line next April 1...

Thank you! @Kai NRG and I had fun building it. I used a technique from InnovaLUG for the round tower that actually is pretty strong. I'll post a link if I can find the original pics (I can't seem to find it right now). And yes, the gulls are a mess, but as usual, I find that any large body of water without gulls is usually unrealistic, so I added a lot of whitewash on the walls and towers! Glad you enjoyed all the humor too! Indeed, they are the CMF gulls. Glad you enjoyed! Thanks! I was lucky to find most of the sand green at PAB walls over the years. This would be an incredibly expensive build otherwise! And yeah, I'd hate to have to fight all the gulls at the top of the tower! Thank you! We had some fun being creative with ideas for the gulls. A couple are attached through those little clear foot studs with a bent bar on them, attached to the wall. The jumping fish is wedged between two of those (65578) in the splash piece. It's not super strong, but it works OK for pictures. The sand green window actually took some work, but I managed to get it to attach through studs, so it is on there quite securely. I agree on the backdrop. I'm still unpacking my things after a move, so was happy to have the lightbox (compare to the junk picture on my Rumors entry...). I have a black, grey, brown, and blue backdrop. Where? That is a much better question. I would have liked to have tried the grey or blue, but I have no idea where they are in my pile of junk from the move and only found the white. Next time, next time! Thanks, I enjoy adding humor to my builds, and @Kai NRG helped brainstorm some ideas for comedy with the gulls! We had some fun with the tower and the rocks, which really kind of set the idea for the whole piece. Thank you! Thanks again for the collab, it was a blast! I agree, I think the blend was good, hard to tell who worked on what, which is the way it should be!

And a belated but official welcome from me! I've enjoyed seeing your builds so far, and look forward to more as Erdil's story unfolds!

Very cool! Love how you've incorporated that gold shield seamlessly, and you've managed to get a lot of detail in the grey through texture alone. The lighted fires look great too! One tip for photography that I found helpful is to take the picture from further away, then zoom in and crop. It gives a better depth of field and allows for more overall clarity of things in the build. Nice work!

I think I've commented on the individual builds before, but it's great to have a thread where you can keep everything together and link builds. I should probably do that for my town... Great to have you on board and I look forward to your builds!

Thank you! I had some fun with the tree. I haven't done a lot of leaf weaving, so I thought I'd start small. Thanks! I am still playing with my rockwork, trying to make it look natural. Difficult in small volumes like here. The soil is thin above the bedrock here, which I am glad you noticed! And yes, the expression is great. It's a Citizen Brick head that I really liked.

This is an amazing build. The forced perspective is great, and you do a fantastic job portraying the terror on the face of the peasants. You get the sense of the fear as they flee the orc horde, which is not something easy to convey in my opinion. The smoke looks really good too. The harvested wheat field really works with the dark orange leaf-woven tree. It kind of looks like a cypress (i.e., a deciduous conifer), and I think really ties some of the colors together. Spot on photography too. Great job!