1/11 episode *Spoilers*

[TripleGemini]

It's back! (Hope it's OK that I started a thread for tonight. If not, just let me know & I won't do it again.)

I think this year, the artists are even more talented than last year. The SyFy site has some videos...some of these folks are really impressive.

I'm glad the women won. The woman who did the scarecrow by herself should have been the "only one winner"...she did amazing. But the witch was pretty good (and the model really got into it).

I hope the blond woman doesn't go much further. But her partner is also kind of high-strung...she won't be that easy to watch, I don't think.

[Critical]

I'm just watching right now, so I'll have to comment on the winners/losers later.

I'm so happy to see Conor and know that he's doing so well! Hunger Games is a pretty great job!

[jadewarlock]

A few points:

1. The women were the hands down winners. Loved the witch and scarecrow. The men's cowardly lion was the best of the lions though.

2. BOTH showed naiveness in regard to the Tin Woodman in the story. In the story, the witch cursed his axe and that's why his arms, head and eventually his torso were chopped. It wasn't his own doing. Additionally, he was split into two, and the tinman who put him back together forgot his heart. While I know the challenge was to reinvent the characters some... you DO have to know a basic knowledge of these characters.

3. The men should've kept that original Scarecrow idea. Had they done that, I think they may have won overall because apparently the lion they had was the most popular design based on judges reaction. To have the face animated, I don't see why the guy didn't consider doing a little angle flap in the makeup that the person could use his jaw to move up and down. The mouth exterior could've been similar to Beaker the Muppet's mouth.

4. The Tin Men... The two women who did that character were very lucky that the women's team won. Theirs IMHO was the worse designed of the two. That said...

5. The men need to know anatomy better too. The heart is closer to your sternum, and that alone would've made the character more creepy.

Overall, none of the designs were bad; however, they need to really work on these details long term.

[Arielflies]

So happy for Conor. To be hired by Ve to work on a high profile film is an honor. Jerry is really full of himself, isn't he? His simple, yet well done paint job on a simple but well done elf for the first challenge was just what his ego needed - not.

I agree that the men would have come closer to winning if the original scarecrow idea had held. They are lucky they discovered how to work in teams if only at the last moment. Still, though, the sparkly witch with the warts was more interesting than Jerry's attempt at dehydration and the women's team rode in on that.

One question though - why does updated makeup or concept have to slide into post-apocalyptic monster mode? The original characters as envisioned in the film were not monsters and quite sympathetic. I don't see any of these characters being sympathetic.

Was it Angela (?) who spent the majority of the first day dipping her hands in plaster to make clawless paws? I felt so bad for her partner especially when she didn't follow through with the body paint on the torso of their lion.

Previews look fascinating; can't wait.

[jadewarlock]

One question though - why does updated makeup or concept have to slide into post-apocalyptic monster mode? The original characters as envisioned in the film were not monsters and quite sympathetic. I don't see any of these characters being sympathetic.

You bring up a good point - "Tin Man" is a good example of updating the characters but not going to the realm you mention. Glitch and its version of the Lion are good examples here (Tin Man just changed to a human). Azkadalia (the wicked witch) was another one too. She was beautiful, and had just a few tattoos...

... which BTW looked a bit familiar to the body paint done on the women's lion (though on a smaller scale).

I think though they wanted the characters to be scary because... well... how in particular Tin Man and the Scarecrow get and what their heart and brain are made of I can see that correlation.

[Shoepie]

I agree Arielflies. The only logical explanation is that the majority of this kind of extensive make up is for horror movies. A direction could have been all these characters getting what they sought and portrayed as happy. That would have looked very Disney and they all seek shocking drama.