Face Off Season 11

Cafe Society
21

I liked this one a lot, too. The judges were exactly right that the headpiece was too low, but other than that, I thought the design was beautiful. I didn’t think it looked particularly masculine. But when you have a field this good, someone has to be in the bottom.

And yeah, speaking of the bottom, Cat and Niko’s was awful. Really bad. It looked like those performers who stand around like the Statue of Liberty at tourist attractions. They are both really sweet, I liked them on the show, but it wasn’t even close.

In the safe looks, Gage and Rachael’s had some good elements, but I thought it had almost as many issues as Keaghlan and Melissa’s. It was okay, but maybe not, to me, all star good.

Cig and George – first, could Cig please stop with the dumb stuff on his head? I liked a lot of the concepts, but I agreed with whichever judge (Glenn?) said that it was cool, but maybe not for this particular challenge. I don’t think it was quite beautiful enough to meet that aspect of the challenge. I was disappointed by the spine ice scepter. They were obviously so delighted with themselves when they were making it, but then it ended up as if they just slapped on some leftover icicles.

I liked Evan and Ben’s black ice queen better than the judges. Absolutely that chin piece looked like a weird beard. If that was gone, I would love this so much. I liked that it’s different, and I liked the darkness. But because of the chin growth, safe is the best this was going to do.

The best part of Logan and Adam’s, for me, was the beauty make-up. It was stunning. I didn’t like the armor so much, it looked fake to me. At some point they were talking about how they painted it so it wouldn’t look like foam … it totally looked like foam.

Tyler and Emily really deserved this win! For all that they keep piling on Emily for not knowing iconic movies and such, I don’t feel like it’s ever held her back. (Although I’m intrigued by Finagle’s suggestion that it’s foreshadowing.) She has a great, great eye for balance and form.

22

This Week’s Challenge: Snow Queens. Make a winter/ice/snow queen worthy of a live action film inspired by a unique snowflake, and have to do it in 2 days.

Niko & Cat: They decide the blocky shape of their snowflake is reminiscent of a statue, so they want to do an ice sculpture inspired by the Statue of Liberty. I think the ice sculpture idea is pretty interesting and original, but the Statue of Liberty element is not. It’s derivative without being inspired, and it is drab and plain for an ice queen. Then you get to the execution - that hair looks like stone sculpture, not ice sculpture. The beauty makeup is pretty good for their concept, but the overall result is lacking. Bottom looks.

Gage & Rachael: Their queen is pretty good. The face lends itself more to alien than ice, but the paint job is pretty. The ice spires for a crown are good, the coils of hair behind them aren’t bad but a little sloppy. Lovely dress. They get Safe.

Cig & George: They want to do an evil queen that was trapped beneath the ice and died, thus making her magical or whatever. The face concept is original to use clear silicone face and use paint under the mask for coloration. The face part really pulls off the look they desired, really getting the evil queen a unique look. However, that’s the only part that’s good. The dress is a mess, the hair is a big, lumpy, misshapen triangular disproportional pile of poo. It looks like one of those French bicorn hats like Napoleon wore. The ice spine scepter is okay, but not enough to save the rest of it. I call it bad, but immunity made it Safe.

Ben & Evan: This is another one that seems to have gone off track for me, starting with their concept. They want to do a “black ice” queen and use black as the primary color (with deep greens as the accent color for some reason - trees?) Somebody needs to tell them that “black ice” isn’t black, it’s clear. It looks black because it reflects the night sky over roadways. So right off the bat they are off target, but somehow Neville figures out their intent. Okay, but how does it look? The headdress shape and shoulders don’t read as ice, even black ice. And the color scheme is boggling. Plus, they put that chin piece on her that does look like a beard. But what’s with her face being bright and pale green while the rest of her so so dark? It’s pretty, but I don’t see how it fits the concept. This would have been in Bottom looks, for me, but for some reason the judges gave it Safe.

Tyler & Emily: This one is the clear winner. The work is beautiful, but what really puts it over the top is the concept, doing an ice queen as ice over something. They originally called her “evergreen”, but apparently morphed that somewhere into the Queen of Winter dying as spring arrives. My one quibble is they use evergreen bits for leaves, but then there isn’t much green in her. But that doesn’t even register, because everything else is so good. The chest piece sculpt to give tree texture to the female form, the brow piece crown that frames the face, the big hair. Top Look.

Logan & Adam: They went for a warrior queen, which is fine, but again there is something in the execution that is lacking. The face is lovely, the colors work, the shapes for the headpiece are fine. But that armor - it looks nothing like ice. It looks like foam painted to resemble rocks or something. It’s thick, clunky, and unweildy. I guess the stenciling moved it up in their opinion. Given the problems with others, I guess it is Tops.

Keaghlan & Melissa: This one I disagree with the judges. It’s not nearly as bad as they claim, it’s better than three of the others above. From afar, that belt doesn’t work, it makes her look fat. And the face sculpt and paint does accentuate the cheekbones and jawline, giving a masculine air to the result. I don’t think the crown is appreciably lower than Tyler and Emily’s, but maybe the difference is this particular execution as a whole would look better higher. I think the paint itself is pretty. The judges also comment on the ice spines out of her back, and I can see how they don’t read well.

Winner: Emily & Tyler.

Eliminated: Cat & Niko.

Adding in the results from the previous week, Cat & Niko had that dreadful Clawdeen Wolf, so they were deserving to leave.

MacKenzie’s dress: white and sparkly, like snow.

Yes, most of the beauty makeups this latest challenge were pretty good. On first review, I was having trouble deciding which was better.

That’s the unfortunate result of the format. They have to emphasize the competition element at the expense of the technique element. I didn’t have the problem they did with it, but there were plenty of other problems, so they were lucky they had immunity.

It’s still a bit early for handicapping to mean much. Emily & Tyler right now are on a roll.

I get the concept - paint the surface in latex to make it smooth, not pitted. Didn’t really work out.

It could be a hindrance on a challenge that relies on the specifics of the universe/characters/storyline. However, if Tyler can fill those in, she has a great eye for color and form.

23

Okay, this week was “Troubling Transformations” - the teams have to use two models to make one character in two different stages of transformation in a sort of Jekyll/Hyde way. On the line: immunity next week, no one eliminated this week.

Fun note: they come into the lab for the challenge announcement and it’s decked out with all sorts of weird science stuff - test tubes, jars of preserved critters, anthropology skulls, electrical equipment, etc., and Emily says that’s what her bedroom looks like. :eek:

Also, Mackenzie’s outfit is a two-piece skirt/top that is deep blue (not navy) and black.

Two things for the reveal: first, they use the midtransformation scientist but do a “before” picture prior to any of the costuming, so they can have three points in the transition, not just two. Interesting way to do that. Second, guest judge this week is John Landis.

Ben & Evan, Chemical Exposure: A rogue scientist making a human growth hormone, but it goes wrong and the chemical makes him bulk up on one side, then eats away his skin and makes his muscles atrophy. Note: I’m watching Ben as he sculpts the monster’s shoulder and arm, and he is doing a great job at accurate anatomy. At the reveal, I don’t like the long hair -doesn’t read “scientist”. The mid-transformation look is too subtle. They put an appliance on the face, and the paint job is pretty close (it reads just a tad yellow on TV, but maybe not on the set), but it doesn’t show much beefing up of musculature, just makes his face lumpy. They also put an appliance on his pectoral and shoulder, but they are also too subtle - you can hardly tell any difference. If the point is to show the muscles being transformed, you need to show some difference. Also, the edges on the chest and shoulder are bad. The final monster is somewhat better, in that it is really bigger, but it’s a bit difficult to figure out what is happening. How did the glasses get bent up? And the head has an unexplained shape on top. Plus, his pecs aren’t as big - maybe that’s the atrophy? Bottom look.

Logan & Adam. Radiation Exposure: They want to do a campy hokey look for “space radiation”. They describe in the set up that an astronaut is exposed to radiation from an asteroid shard, and half his body gets blistered and deformed from runaway mutation. The full monster is covered with boils and has a huge left arm with weird claws at the end. Adam tries to build a harness that mounts to the shoulder for the upper arm, but his rig doesn’t work, so he’s left with only the lower arm and a gap in the costume, which he fills with some fabric from the space suit. They are going for a campy look, and they achieve it. The fully transformed head and arm are huge, the paint job works. Minor quibble that the midtransformation is missing the whole left sleeve, then the full transformation regrows some sleeve, but that’s a successful cover for the whole in the appliance. Also, Logan gets creative and makes a face mold to have part of the model’s face embedded in the final monster, to show it comes from the guy. Only problem - he sculpts the left half of the face, but on the midtransformation look, that side is already messed up and the right side is okay. Oops. The judges overlook or miss that. Top look.

Keaghlan & Melissa, Insect DNA Splicing: Their scientist is trying to use bug DNA to create a supersoldier, but it goes wrong and he starts to develop bug exoskeleton and his internal organs liquefy and burst out of his skin. The midtransformation has the skin ripping and bulges forming and goo leaking out. Hard to read as “bug”. The skin overlaps the hair, but doesn’t read as exoskeleton forming. Final monster, the color choice is odd. Keaghlan says she based it on colors from real bugs, but a white stripe on the face and turquoise colors around the face give it an odd appearance. Also, I notice the eye hole edges lifted. Melissa says she hopes the judges will see all of the positives and forgive the negatives. Well, doesn’t everyone? It doesn’t work that way. Glen thinks the red, white, and blue face paint job is tacky. Bottom look.

Tyler & Emily, Electrical Shock: Their scientist injects himself with “metals”, but it goes wrong and he is transformed into a giant that conducts electricity and has metals rusting through. I will give them this - that is an original and creative idea. It’s not the clichéd burn marks or Frankenstein. Their midtransformation has half the face affected, and the application is spectacular, the edges are invisible. The coloration shows grays like they are showing through the skin as it becomes transformed, and rusty red spots for exposed metal. The full monster pushes that around the entire head and chest. The judges like the smoothness of the color blending. The judges are really impressed. Top look.

Cig & George, Medical Augmentation: An amputee scientist decides go create a new arm that is stronger, faster, better, except something goes wrong and the arm’s biology starts to take control. The mid-transformation look has the beginnings of runaway bone growth via bone spurs. The full result is a monster covered in spikes. That’s the concept, anyway. What do we get? First off, there’s something weird with the costumes where the midtransformation looks like a woman in a dress instead of a lab coat. The face lacks any coherence to the bone growths. I do agree with Glen, there is something interesting in the face of the full monster, but overall it’s a mess. Also, the midtransformation has Glen’s hairstyle. This gets Safe.

Gage & Rachael, Horticultural Hybridization: Their scientist experiments with some plant DNA, and transforms into a giant plant monster. They decide to go with Venus Flytrap - I hope they do better than the last Venus Flytrap on the show. (They don’t.) Gage started sculpting the face, but Rachael didn’t like it - it looked too “snake-like”. She took over, but she doesn’t do very much - it doesn’t look different to me. Then Gage took on the mid transformation, and “made an aesthetic choice that may not make sense but just looks cool”. That doesn’t bode well. On the reveal stage, it’s hard to tell what is happening midtransformation. The face has random bumps and veins and purplish colors, and their is a brow ridge on the right that doesn’t show up on the full monster. Okay, I will accept the chest looks like it is connected between the two, but the connection to plants is missing. The concept is venus flytrap, but the mouth doesn’t look anything like those. It is a weird wrap around the chin. The teeth don’t look like flytrap grips. There is nothing leafy and green. The judges can’t see the connection, either, but these two get lucky and come up Safe.

Winner: Emily & Tyler - well done

No elimination, but Keaglan and Melissa need to step up next week to stay in.

Mackenzie’s dress - black with intricate gray lacey patterning. Maybe it’s green and blue.

24

It seems like there’s one episode in every competition where I don’t like anybody’s design. And this was the episode. I was kind of wincing when I heard them talking about their concepts and it seemed like they were all going down the “glue on all sorts of gross crap and call it a failed experiment” route.

I agree that Emily and Tyler’s design showed some restraint and was the best of the lot, but to me, they all looked like last minute halloween costumes. Maybe I was just in a cranky mood.

Anyway, I don’t know if the elimination is based on the aggregate of the last two weeks, but Ben and Evan have a hole to dig themselves out of. Again.

25

This is true for me, too! Maybe it’s that the challenge that simply doesn’t resonate with me – I didn’t think it was that interesting even upon first announcement. None of the finished products really thrilled me. I thought Emily and Tyler’s was “okay, fine.”

I got a kick out of John Landis, though. He’s definitely in the top tier of guest judges in terms of his successes and name recognition. I liked that he was nonchalant about saying what he liked, even when the other judges didn’t like it.

26

It’s not clear how eliminations are picked. It appears to be selecting from the Bottom Looks from that week, then maybe considering the past week as an additional comparator. The don’t seem to be actively considering the Bottom looks from the previous week. I guess if you make Bottom and then Safe, you’re Safe, but if you make Safe then Bottom, you might be eliminated.

27

A slightly irritating show last night, because it began with what was essentially a five minute commercial for a Hyandai Veloster. Did they change sponsors? Anyway, the contestants gamely put up with the product pimpage and then went on to the challenge, which was to design characters for Mad Max post apocalypse style vehicles. Part of the challenge was to incorporate car parts into the designs.

Cig and George knocked this one out of the park with an burn scarred female warrior. They got the look and the attitude right. Emily and Tyler came up with a beautiful and beautifully executed design that was completely and utterly wrong for the challenge. Unless there is some post-apocalyptic beauty salon where you can get your beauty makeup touched up in between duking it out with other tribes for gasoline and rattlesnake meat. I think this was one of those cases where Emily’s lack of genre smarts showed. But the judges loved everything else about it, so they ended up safe.

The three bottom looks had various issues – Logan and Adam, I think, threw some crud on their model at the last minute to make it grittier, but that had the effect of concealing a lot of their detail work. (One of the few cases in Face Off where I’ve heard a contestant really blame the other for a bad decision.) One of the other teams did this kind of vast open wound protected by a mesh headlight shield, but it didn’t really look very good.

Two surprising things about the judging. First, when they announced the winner, they didn’t do the “And the winner is…commercial…” bit. Maybe they got all the crass commercialism out of their system at the beginning of the show. And, second, the three bottom looks got an extra hour of last looks to improve their design. And, the eliminated team was … to be continued next week. Oh, the suspense.

In addition to these changes, I thought the editing was really unusual this week. Either I was micro-napping during the show or they really sped up the first day design and critique part. One moment they’re designing, and all of a sudden Michael Westmore is there critiquing, and then day 1 is done.

28

Not the first time they’ve done this. The monster family challenge from season 9 had it.

Obviously it was a bit shorter due to the longer intro section, but I didn’t notice it being particularly fast.

I agree with the judges on pretty much everything this week, as far as the critiquing of the actual designs went.

I do, though, find myself disappointed that the ones who chose the bike didn’t go with a design more tailored to the bike. The samurai theme was pretty cool, but aside the bike would be an extension of it, not the other way around, if you catch my drift.

29

While Cig and George did an amazing job - their model also sold the hell out of that look. Some of the models are definitely better at bringing the characters to life than others. And I wonder how much of an effect that has on the judges. It isn’t going to make something bad into something good - but it might make something bad into something safe or something good into something great.

30

This week’s challenge: sell Hyundai.

Oh, I mean, take a post-apocalyptic vehicle and create the wasteland character that drives that vehicle. Incorporate at least three random pieces of junk from a trunk into the character.

They often start with a challenge driven by a sponsor as a way to promote that sponsor, but this episode is particularly in-your-face. Hyundai’s slogan is apparently “We make things better”, and we get to look over a Hyundai Veloster and get all the competitors to fawn and drool.

Then we get six vehicles: a motorcycle, a dune buggy with cowskin and bones motif, a VW Beetle body jacked up on a 4-wheel drive truck chassis, a muscle car with a sawblade launcher on top, an old square-bodied limo with a turret gun on top and various other guns mounted on the frame, and some sort of long diesel vehicle with a cage on front for hauling around corpses.

Guest Judge: Paul W. S. Anderson, director of the Resident Evil franchise.

Cig & George, muscle car: They had a coherent character idea, which they benefitted from the vehicle having so many creative elements. I like the taillight covers as thigh armor, and the tank on the shoulder looks functional. I’m not an expert on what burn scars look like, so it’s difficult to say how well the shapes and colors pull off. Also, the accidental mounting of the headpiece askew turned out to be one of the features the judges liked most, the asymmetry of it. And yes, the model really sold the attitude. Top look.

Ben & Evan, VW Beetle-truck: They also went with the fire theme and made a burn-scarred character, this guy having a suit to help keep him cool and a flamethrower. The costume elements work pretty well, but the judges aren’t as happy with the burn scarring on the face. Also, they craft a clear mask that has coolant in it, which turns out not looking too bad. I think the chest armor is supposed to resemble the front VW panel on the vehicle. Or maybe that’s just me. Safe.

Tyler & Emily, cow dune buggy: When I saw the drawing during the design phase segment, I couldn’t tell what was going on with the head. They mentioned having three towers sticking out, but I couldn’t see them in the sketch. On stage, I finally saw that they opted for an extreme body modification of stretching the skin from the scalp up onto the towers. Also, the face was too neat and pretty. She doesn’t look like she’s living in the wasteland. The body paint and arms fit better. Basically that’s the two elements that don’t really fit the challenge. However, the character is cool, and they have immunity anyway. Safe.

Logan & Adam, motorcycle: They claim they want a samurai figure, but their character doesn’t really have much samurai look. The curved swords aren’t right (and the sword used in the first sketch is also wrong, being a European long sword). The birdskull headdress gives it a unique look, but I don’t know about that eyepiece. Is that just some patch she cobbled up, or is it supposed to do something? I’m amused the plastic swords broke on first swing around, but fortunately they found it early. And Adam, those aren’t scabbards. The character certainly has a Mad Max feel. However, in an attempt at verisimilitude, Logan decides to add dust to the face to show the kind of dirtiness that this warrior would acquire, but goes a bit dark and heavy and instead covers up much of the face paint work. Also, the character has scars as tally marks on the arm, but they are dull and plain.

Gage & Rachael, diesel truck thing: They see a metal cage and think “He’s got some sort of detector device embedded in his chest.” :confused: The concept itself isn’t great, and then the execution is also poor, with the shapes and colors on the chest not making sense. Also, the face sculpt comes out bad, so they opt to do manual overlay during last looks using something called fish skin, that is thin and gives texture. The wrinkles don’t really read as organic, and a couple of edges lift.

Keaghlan & Melissa, machine-gun limo: Because of all the guns on the car, they decide their character lost an arm and replaced it with a machine gun. They also give her a scar across the face anda bad eye, then decorate her with some black and gold face paint. The gold in particular is too neat, and the paint doesn’t look lived-in. The machine-gun arm works differently than I thought. Instead of just having the gun replace the forearm, they have it mounted to the arm on a swivel and operated by the left hand. That’s neat. However, Neville points out the bone sticking out of the end of the stump that’s coated in gold, and how ridiculous that looks.

In another twist, they speak to all teams, then give the bottom three groups (Logan & Adam, Gage & Rachael, and Keaghlan & Melissa) another 1 hour last looks to make changes as suggested by the judges to improve their character. So they go off and do the work, and then to be continued next week.

Winner: Cig & George.

Is it just me, or did Mr. Westmore’s make up look particularly off this week? I could clearly see the line on the side of his neck where the make up ended, and it had a weird yellowish tinge to me.

Mackenzie’s outfit - I’m not as thrilled this week with the gold lame jacket and black pants. Kinda bland.

Actually, he didn’t rat out his partner on stage, just during the commentary segment.

That threw me. I hit fast forward and then realized I was missing show. They moved that commercial slot until after they announced a second hour of last looks.

I’ve certainly seen times when the model’s attitude helped the character appear more real, and times when the attitude was limp.

31

And now I’m behind…

First, the conclusion from the previous week. Which team of three did the worst job fixing their drecky character?

Logan & Adam: They cleaned up the dirt and added back tattoos, for some reason brightened the eyepatch to gold, and enhanced the color on the scarring on the face. Also, they removed the big bird bone head and strapped it to her chest for some reason. I don’t recall the judges saying to remove it, but maybe that was a comment that was edited out. Glen thinks they could have put it on the back of the head rather than sitting over the face. Also, while improving the scars on the arm, they still didn’t satisfy Ve.

Gage & Rachael: They removed the cage from the chest and tried to cover it up as much as possible, which was seriously needed. They also removed the peeling fish skin on the face and applied some face paint patterns. But they tried to follow Glen’s advice and move the cage to the head, except they couldn’t do much to transform the shape, so how they implemented it didn’t do anything to help the character. Glen didn’t like it.

Keaghlan & Melissa: First, they improved the scar coloration. Then they smudged and smeared the face paint to look lived in. They also enhanced the scarring on the right cheek. And they dirtied up the hair. And of course they removed that dreadful bone on the arm.

Team eliminated: Gage & Rachael. I agree, that one didn’t get much improvement. I think Keaghlan & Melissa’s was most improved. She looked more authentic and scarier.

So now we get to the new challenge: make an alternate version of Pinocchio if Gappetto had been a different kind of craftsman instead of a carpenter. This is an immunity challenge, no elimination, but they only have two days.

Guest judge this week: Suzanne Todd, an award-winning producer.

Cig & George, Tanner: Tanner is a very cool choice, getting to make their puppet out of leather. Given how many times people have accidentally achieved that look, this will be interesting. George happens to have been a puppeteer, so he has a background to draw upon. They opt to go comedic, so they make a leather rodeo clown whose job is to keep the people safe. Their concept really plays up the goofiness, with a barrel, a large hat that has cow horns on it, arrows sticking out of random spots from kids playing around, and a leather mustache. I’m thinking it looks over the top. George does some great work making the horns out of Styrofoam, really capturing the texture and color. During last looks, they realize the character doesn’t read well, and they smartly adjust the concept to fit what feels right, so they ditch the big hat, the arrows, and the mustache, and tone down the silliness. It’s a smart move. Fortunately the head sculpt had a complete top and they painted it, I guess thinking he might remove the hat. Anyway, the end result is really good. The texture reads as leather, and Cig put in an extreme amount of detail work to make stitches in the leather work. I also love the choice of leather for the hair. The judges love the craftsmanship of the detail. Top Look.

Ben & Evan, Goldsmith: This is the category that I wouldn’t want, because I don’t really know what that means. Do you go with delicate jewelry? Apparently they are as lost as I am, because they go more toward a blacksmith except working with gold. After struggling to find a concept, they settle on a ballerina to replace the goldsmith’s daughter. They have an interesting concept for making the molds for hinges in the joints, molding them flat to wrap around the joints. But they run into a problem on application, in that the texture difference for the latex pieces versus the skin with hair make the edge lines too obvious and the skin doesn’t read like flat gold. Body hair! Doh! Also, they do something strange with the hairline and have the edges of the gold metal extend over her hairline. It is a strange choice that doesn’t give a good explanation of how the doll has hair applied. The hinges themselves look great, with the large wingnuts to secure the joints in different poses. Not so good.

Logan & Adam, Stonemason: They want to go ironic and funny, so they decide a stone puppet that wants to be a sailor is the way to go. They opt to go with a granite look, but the color they pick is fairly blue, which makes it hard to read as stone. Grayer would be better. The shapes they pick for the hands, arms, and legs are vague and don’t read as stone, just blobs. In an effort to play up the silliness, they give him a squirrely grin that’s a bit too much. Adam tells a goofy story, but it doesn’t help. It just doesn’t read well. Not so good.

Keaghlan & Melissa, Blacksmith: Keaghlan’s dad is a welder, so she has experience with metal work. They make a blacksmith’s apprentice made out of metal scraps from the shop, so they make a Tinmanesque robot instead of a strict puppet (marionette), but it fits their category and the story works. They have a bit of a disagreement over the paint job, and both work over the other person’s paint. Poor coordination. Melissa’s design for the suit anticipates the means of donning, so everything velcros on and fits on quickly. That’s smart. The result is a very good looking metal man, including some good details in using red lights shining out openings to simulate an internal fire, and a chimney that has a smoke effect. That’s pretty cool. I think the paint turned out to look metallic. Glen thinks there is something missing about the face, and I have to agree. This is certainly a Top Look.

Tyler & Emily, Tailor: They get to make a doll out of fabric. They make a ballerina to dance forever, but she’s wearing down over time, getting dirty and frayed. They have a great technique to make the underlying fabric of the doll. They sculpt latex pieces to cover all her exposed body parts under the dress so the skin looks like fabric and has stitches. Cool. And then for the face, Emily creates a wonderful technique to make a latex mask read as fabric by gluing fuzz all over the mask. As for the result, they end up with a stunning doll with lots of great details. Emily’s face technique is awesome, and she caps it off with a great beauty make up, not so much about lots of color, but rather an appropriate subtle brightening to make the face pop. They eyes are also bright blue contacts that pop. The hair is amazing, looking like yarn, and Tyler applied cotton in all the seams to make the stuffing coming out, and dirtied it up good. This is exquisite. I want one. Top Look.

Winner: Tyler & Emily - I think creating the face technique pushed them over the top.

Lucky Bastards: Logan & Adam. If this were an elimination week, it would be them.

MacKenzie’s outfit - a red dress with a flaired skirt that has two white stripes and a little black one around it. Not as eye-catching as some of the more intricate dresses she wears, but not bad.

Once again, for some reason Mr. Westmore’s make up really stands out.

32

I hope my summaries aren’t shutting down conversation. I post as a means of processing and as a record I can refer back to throughout the season, to remind myself of my observations.

33

Not at all! I saw this week’s, but I missed last week’s and wanted to go back to watch before commenting. Since it wasn’t an elimination week, I guess it doesn’t matter that much, but I am a completist about things like this.

34

NO! Please don’t stop! I enjoy your summaries. Just haven’t been here, SDMB in general, a lot to comment but I did stop in to follow this thread.

I have really enjoyed this season. Some basics on that. I really like how they have switched it up. Now it’s a team elimination every other week instead of weekly. I enjoy seeing the lack of drama, except them being critical of themselves, so I’m glad that has continued.

I’m really curious as to why they are doing an all stars. Why bring back people? Has the show brought about more talent in the pool and this is a way to increase skills? Give them a second chance?

(And now that they have done that, i would love to know where previous contestants are, not just winners or finalists but many of them.)

My wife and I are convinced that Tyler and Emily are going to win this season. They haven’t had a miss and only lost when they did something that didn’t fit the challenge. Even then, it was a top look for how well they had done.

As for this week, I wasn’t thrilled that they held over the results. They could have edited out four minutes from the previous show to show this, so I wasn’t thrilled with that but it’s a minor point.

The rest of it was summed up well by Irishman, as usual. Logan & Adam’s was awful. I don’t know why they didn’t see that earlier. The face was bad and all of it was out of proportion, even to itself.

The doll by Tyler and Emily was exquisite! You know a team will win when they invent a technique the judges haven’t seen!

I agree that the goldsmith is tough. I don’t know when they did the rivets but if they had done that at the head, instead of the abrupt transition, it would have been much better. Perhaps a bit more aging as well?

The blacksmith was so good as well. It’s got to be tough when another team is just on their game and it raises that bar so much.

What’s also interesting to me is how much things have changed over the years on the show, in terms of the talent. Any of these contestants would have won first, second, and maybe third season easily. Quality is just that high for technique and ability.

I was bummed that they didn’t do two seasons last year as they had the previous year but with this switch up, I figured that’s why.

Really enjoying the show and thanks again for the summaries, Irishman!

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Please continue posting these - I really like them.
I don’t always comment because a lot of the time, my comments would be “____ was cool.” which may not be worth posting.

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This week’s elimination challenge: a comedic Fantasy duo fit for an epic movie, using an unlikely pair of characters. Except to make it tougher, the models come out wearing funny-shaped body suits, and have been preassigned a fantasy race.

The immediately obvious detail is the awkwardness of the body suits, and how anatomically ridiculous they are. Two of the males have big, oversized pot bellies that hang inordinately low. I’m sure that plays to the comedic element, but makes the realism element a challenge. The other challenge is that the body suits are stuffing that needs to read like flesh and blood (and fat). Suffice it to say, there is a strong challenge here.

Keaghlan & Melissa, Fairy & Troll: They are a married couple going on a vacation, so they’re going to be wearing contemporary tourist attire. Interesting choice, can they pull it off and still read right? Melissa takes the Troll, and she takes the premise that trolls turn into stone in sunlight, so she gives the Troll sunburn on his ears and nose that turn into petrification. That’s a nice element. Her troll looks pretty good, even in a Hawaiian shirt and ball cap. Keaghlan’s fairy, on the other hand, doesn’t work. She spends a lot of effort on an old age make up, and is worried about making the face too fantasy, but what she creates doesn’t have much to sell it as a fairy. As Glen says, a lavender face and two tiny wings does not make a fairy. Sure, her nose is a bit upturned and pointy, but other than that, there isn’t anything different. She could have had eyelashes of feathers or flower petals for hair or even just delicate feature enhancements. Nope. Bottom look.

Tyler & Emily, Goblin & Faun: Their goblin is a sneaky, greedy character who is manipulating the kind, gentle faun to go on a quest to steal treasure from the castle. There is so much hair in their characters that Tyler gets to make the goblin wig while Emily is laying hair for the faun, so he gets a tutorial from Emily on how to style hair properly. Their result is a grody old goblin and a big, sweet faun. I have to wonder about the tiny hat on his head and how it would stay in place on a real character when you can’t glue it on. Also, this one is one of the worst cases of the body suit not reading like flesh, but rather like stuffing. And his pants are kind of awkward where they end the legs above the knees, but they look bunched and uneven rather than tailored to that fit. But the hair and paint are excellent, and the models really sell the attitude. They’re good make ups. And I love the detail that the faun ate part of the map. Top look.

Logan & Adam, Naiad & Orc: They have a booksmart, fun-loving but not physically capable Naiad hanging with a dopey, construction worker type Orc. The Naiad is a water being, but they don’t want to do literal fish character, rather keep it more fantasy. I think that’s a good choice. During fabrication, they get behind on day one, don’t get the molds done to run overnight, and that leaves them with a challenge to figure out how to complete the naiad’s cowl so they can fabricate on it. Adam gets frustrated, but fortunately Logan is able to keep a calm head and figure out solutions. The fin he creates on her head from fabric and latex paint turns out great. I like her look, with the big glasses and the fringes on the face, and I think her face makeup is good, but the judges don’t like it. They think she should have more water features on the face and skip the glasses because she’s under water. But it’s FANTASY. If she’s reading books, why not glasses, too? As for the orc, it turns out very good. My one issue is it is reminiscent of Mangalores from “The Fifth Element”. Still, it’s pretty good. Bottom look.

Ben & Evan, Wood Elf & Minotaur: They decide on a married couple, with the wood elf being an older fun-loving woman wearing a beehive hairdo that’s an actual beehive, and the Minotaur being her beefcake trophy companion. Looking at the conceptual sketches we’re shown, I’m immediately put off by her outfit - some sort of turquoise jump suit combined with genre boots. I don’t know what to make of that. There isn’t much there to say “wood elf” apart from pointy ears and the beehive on her head. Which brings up problem two, the “beehive hairdo that’s a literal beehive” has been done on the show before, and it didn’t work then, either. So I’m struggling to see how this is not going to be a dud. The minotaur’s outfit seems much more fitting. As I feared, the final product, the wood elf’s costume doesn’t work. It doesn’t make sense, and doesn’t read as elf or woods. The beehive in the hairdo is hard to make out at first, and the gimmick comes off slightly better than the last attempt, but not enough to sell the character. And her old age makeup doesn’t look great. On the other hand, the minotaur is superb. Everything from the sculpt of the face to the paint job and choice of colors to the detail of the broken and repaired horn all play well. The eyes, in particular, blend really well and seem organic, not a model’s eyes behind a mask. So this one is a mixed result. Safe?

Side note: what does it mean to “look realistic but not, like, super-cheesy”? Why is there a “but” in that sentence?

Cig & George, Dwarf and Ogre: They opt for a grumpy old lady dwarf and a gentle, dumb ogre. I’m sensing a pattern - dumb men. George decides to expose the pot belly, so he covers the suit in silicone to make a skin-like surface for painting. That’s pretty neat. George decides to use silicone for the dwarf’s face, which works really well. He makes a great sculpt and does a great paint job, giving a very realistic result. The ogre is also a great result. This is the belly suit that reads the most authentic. The paint job is very detailed and great. I’m a little bothered by the dwarf’s weapon, a rolling pin with two cast-iron skillets tied to one end. I don’t quite get that, but otherwise this set is spot on. Glen feels like the ogre is the best integration of the body suit to the character. Top look.

Winner: George & Cig. Great job.

Eliminated: This is the first time they’ve explicitly mentioned both weeks’ results in their evaluation. And what a difference a week makes. Remember how I said that Adam and Logan were lucky bastards? The summaries this week are that Keaghlan and Melissa have not been moving forward creatively and successfully whereas the guys are getting better and better as we go. But if last week had been an elimination week, the summaries would have been that Adam and Logan had two bad weeks in a row and that stone puppet was dreadful, whereas Keaghlan and Melissa had a rough streak, but with their blacksmith’s apprentice, they were finally back on track.

Stats wise, the two teams are basically even, with Keaghlan & Melissa having 1 Win early, then 3 Bottom looks in a row before a Top look, whereas Adam & Logan had an early bottom score, 2 Top looks, and then 2 Bottom looks. Both are essentially 2 good/ 3 bad. In my mind, Adam & Logan had better results this week, but including results from last week, I would say that Keaghlan & Melissa should have been the ones kept. But the judges disagreed, so the ladies got eliminated.

MacKenzie’s outfit - a dress with a black torso and silver sparkly sleeves and sides. I think I’d like a little more breakup on the front, but the sleeves are nice.

Now for the stats review leading to finale.

Emily & Tyler: 3 Wins, 3 Tops, 0 Bottoms

Cig & George: 3 Wins, 1 Top, 0 Bottoms

Ben & Evan: 0 Wins, 3 Tops, 3 Bottoms

Adam & Logan: 0 Wins, 2 Tops, 4 Bottoms

At this rate, Emily & Tyler and Cig & George have about equal chance of winning this - while the first two have a slightly better record, both pairs are doing great work and neither are facing real problems. As long as they avoid going too stupid/funny. Whereas Ben & Evan and Adam & Logan are about equal in struggling. I don’t know which group will be knocked off next, but it will take a real strange set of weeks for one of those two groups to beat out the others.

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The show is perpetually facing a need to keep the audience interested, and so they have to find ways to keep upping the ante, or shaking it up. Season 5 they brought back eight returning contestants versus eight new ones. For season 8, they brought back three prior winners to serve as coaches for the new contestants.

A couple years ago, SyFy had a different special effects show they tried out, where three of the competitors from a couple seasons formed a special effects house and were working together. I think it was Nicole Chilelli, Roy Wooley, and Eric Fox.

[quote]
What’s also interesting to me is how much things have changed over the years on the show, in terms of the talent. Any of these contestants would have won first, second, and maybe third season easily. Quality is just that high for technique and ability.

[QUOTE]

That’s one of the benefits of an all-stars show - returning contestants have been through the mill once, so they know the drill, and they’ve had time to hone their skills. Also, there have been some behind the scenes changes from early seasons. The first few seasons, the contestants were making all their costumes, but now those are getting farmed out so they can focus on the make ups, unless they fabricate the costume as an element of the character (i.e. the blacksmith’s apprentice). Second, they used to have to run their own molds, but now if they get their molds cleaned out by the end of a day’s shift, a crew comes in to run the appliances overnight for them. Those two things are big time savers for the contestants, allowing bigger challenges.

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I still haven’t caught up from two weeks ago, but I wanted to get in my comments on last week’s before this weeks. :slight_smile:

This challenge seemed like such a random grouping of elements, and I wasn’t super excited about any of the final products either … so maybe I was predisposed to that, or maybe it didn’t quite click with the contestants either.

Keaghlan & Melissa, Fairy & Troll. I liked the turning into rock parts of the troll … but that’s such a small detail in a design that was lacking any big visual concept, I thought. I get how being tourists on vacation is funny, but there also seem like a lot of missed opportunities here. As has been said, the fairy didn’t look at all like a fairy, and that’s probably one of the easier things to do on this show.

Tyler & Emily, Goblin & Faun: I was really mixed on this. First, it’s just not my thing so it was probably hard for me to be objective about it. Technically they probably did a great job, as the judges seemed really impressed. I liked the idea of making a faun with a different body type than the typical lithe faun … but it still looked weirdly blocky to me. His expression was great, though. And I thought the goblin was generic, and that the color palette was mostly browns and earth tones – which it seems standard for goblins, so I thought comedy would be a reason to perk it up a little. I can appreciate why it was a top look even though it didn’t thrill me personally. (oh wait, I have to add, and it’s already been pointed out, the faun’s cap struck me as … weird? Unbalanced on his head?)

Logan & Adam, Naiad & Orc: Like Irishman, I liked this a lot more than the judges. They clearly hated the naiad in glasses, but I thought it was cute and funny. I wonder if Logan and Adam had presented the “story” better, if the judges would have liked it more … it’s hard to tell on the show, it seemed like they hated the glasses right up front. But it was adorable to me, and is perfectly fine for a fantasy/comedy, like an urban fantasy or something for kids like Percy Jackson. I was so focused on this that I didn’t pay much attention to the orc. Oh, the only other thing I would say, conceptually, is that maybe the glasses would have worked better if the naiad had included some other “real world” costume choices or accessories to show that she’s a fantasy creature that is interacting with the everyday world.

Ben & Evan, Wood Elf & Minotaur: I liked the minotaur a lot (as did the judges) but I wasn’t really getting where they were going with it in terms of comedy or how the characters go together. The wood elf was blah. I’m struggling to even find more to say about this one.

Cig & George, Dwarf and Ogre: Sure. The judges were duly impressed with their technical skills. Sometimes I don’t always get the nuances about what the judges are seeing in the casting of the pieces, but this week, even I could tell that the silicone on the dwarf was unbelievably realistic. Wow. Again, the couple looked drab to me because of the color choices, and I agree that the rolling pin was not the best choice.

Something that struck me is how many of the teams said something like “well, we saw the bodysuit and immediately thought OLD.” Four of the five female characters were old, and the only young character was the naiad, whose bodysuit was more busty than fat.

One thing I have been noticing this season is that I like Emily so much more! I had gone back and read my comments about the season she was on, and I had a lot of mentions about her age – that while I was sympathetic that she was so much younger than most of them, I was still annoyed by how often she would freak out over little things. This hasn’t really happened to any extent this season – maybe she has more experience, or maybe working with a partner helps her stay focused.

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That was one where the body suit was least lifelike. I agree it was weirdly blocky, not looking like real weight. I’m not sure what they could have done better with it, though, as the suit was provided to work around, and that’s really in the makeup of the suit as stuffing.

Most of the female body suits had lumpy hips and thighs and bellies. That doesn’t equate in many people’s mind to healthy young people.

I think she’s had a chance to mature and gain confidence through experience.

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I didn’t comment on the last week because, like you, I was kind of “meh” about the results. All the contestants automatically went with “big and dumb” vs 'small and feisty". They didn’t really have much choice, given the pre-made body-types. But that’s not going to lead to much that’s original. Coupled with the earth tones of Middle Earth type fantasy, and you get a pretty drab week. Except for the vacation couple, and let’s face it, they kind of missed the word “epic” in the problem description.

So, yeah, OK, there were some good dwarf makeups, and some good orc/minotaur/whatever costumes, but I would have preferred a competition that gave the contestants more latitude. Although I have noticed that the contestants are visually creative, but when required to make up stories, they go with pretty derivative or cliched backgrounds. This is, after all, why they are makeup artists and not screenwriters. Still, I wouldn’t have minded seeing an anomalously smart Orc that wanted to be a wizard or a monk instead of a meat shield.

In respect to the glasses on the naiad – not only was that a cute touch, but one would almost think that a creature that lives in water would need glasses outside of it in the same way that we need googles to see properly in water. The density of the mediums are very different.