[SoNE Ep. VIII] Fools and their Money

[goatman461]

Not again...

I knew today was going to be bad when I found this dewback out of her pen this morning. The big old girl had already knocked over some seriously expensive equipment and was busy licking the dew off of the fuel tanks, which likely accounts for her present digestive problems.

I caught a terrible beating from my sergeant for her escape even though it was the pilots’ fault. They came back again last night, drunker than the night before and woke me up with a kick and something warm spraying on my face. After they ran me out of the stables, I am pretty sure they were messing with the dewbacks and they must have left this one loose.

My sergeant did not care; said I was responsible for the dewbacks regardless. The rest of the squad was laughing and seemed all too pleased to see me on the wrong end of the lash once again.

Now, this stupid old beast has been defecating all over the desert and I’m responsible for cleaning it up for some reason. They never said why I had to clean this stuff up; it is the freaking desert – a giant litter box – nobody is going to notice some dewback droppings. What does the Empire do about all of the wild dewback droppings? Do they have special squads to clean that up, too?

I really should know better than to ask questions at this point. Nothing about the Empire makes any sense. Right now it looks like the local pilots are buying a pod racer from some sleazy salesman. They might even be buying the Dug pilot by the looks of things. These Imperials have no respect for non-humans. They treat us like slaves, serving them drinks, keeping their bar, lining their prisons, unnecessarily cleaning up their animals’ crap in the desert…

These joker pilots are the last ones that should be getting into the pod races. From what their Iktotchi barmaid has told me, the Black Sun has been propping up this particular compound because the officers in charge are funneling Imperial V-Wings to the cartel. It’s been a good deal for the officers, who have bought up some extravagant living quarters and attached a first-rate Imperial shop. As far as the Empire is concerned, their only job is to provide aerial support to any Tatooine operations (which conveniently accounts for high V-Wing turnover due to the geography), but the enterprising among them have expanded their presence here to the aforementioned graft as well as some light “policing”/kidnapping/extortion of the locals. Because of the subsequent surrounding sentiment, this entire outpost is at the mercy of the cartel and they do not even know it.

I am sure the cartel will just use this entry into the pod races to recoup their credits from these officers, but I am hoping the cartel will pull the rug out of this entire operation and that my squad will get taken down by the backlash. We have only been here for a few weeks; something about providing security during some heightened activity. Apparently they pull this kind of detail a lot; moving from planet to planet filling in the gaps where needed.

I have only been with this squad since their last billet, but I can already tell that they were an ignorant, stupid lot of brutes. When I am not being beaten for imaginary infractions, the other troopers ridicule me mercilessly. They will not even let me wear a full uniform because it would bring shame to their glorious station. Some of the privates even tried to file down my horns before the squad leader stopped them (his reasoning, to be sure that I could be readily identified as non-human and treated appropriately – with scorn and mistrust as a non-citizen to the Empire).

I hate these people. I hate the Empire. Even more, I hate my family for leaving me to these wolves.

SoNE Episode VIII Entry by goatman461, on Flickr

[Graham Gidman]

Dang, I didn't want you to enter this challenge...

Very, very nice build! I always love a good Tatooine scene.

Edited May 6, 2015 by Graham Gidman

[Kodan Black]

Wow, as always I'm blown away. There is so much here. The pod racer with hangar, the outdoor scene ... perfectly Tattoine and perfectly Empire. The rock work is great and the differing levels of the sand is great too. The humor with the dewback and the leavings is a very nice touch. You always bring your A game.

[Tariq j]

Great work as always, everything in this scene is excellent.

[Lord Tyrus]

Great work, as always. You've already heard my feedback (and how much I love this build) so I'll say no more!

[WickNole]

As usual, as expected.

Of all things there, I really like the balcony and this white-and-tan building in the middle. Will there be any close-ups on Flickr?

[goatman461]

Thanks for all of the kind comments.

Will there be any close-ups on Flickr?

There is one more shot, but I didn't do a good job of exhibiting some of the details in the interior. And, of course, I had to take a lot of parts from this to make the Phantom, but I'm in the process of converting it into a modular (based around the Parisian Restaurant layout) for an upcoming LUG event. I'll try to focus on more of the details when I photograph that.

[LucasLaughing]

Wow, as I said before, this is fantastic. The 'cut-away' ended up looking good, and I like that it was expanded to the hallway and piping too.

I think my favorite part is how 'alive' this scene feels. You've got a ton of minifigs, but none of them seem superfluous - they all look like they're doing something or going somewhere. Love it!

[Jannik]

This has got to be the winning entry, everything in this large scene is such high quality. I really like how many different blocks of colour you have managed to include whilst still keeping it coherent and with a Tatooine vibe. The cut away buildings is a neat touch and not something I have seen before.

[MstrOfPppts]

Well this is a rather huge entry. There's plenty nice things that I really like, but there's also quite some that could use my complaints ;) I really don't know where to start ...

Fisrt of all, I really like the white / dark red combo for the Tatooine buildings. Although the white looks a bit too clean, there really were some white buildings there. But I don't understand the odd shaping of the big white pillar to the left and the middle white part looks a bit too much like a Hoth cave. Also the dark tan rockwork on top of that looks unfinished. And so do the prison cells (prison with no roof?). I think that those parts really give a bad touch to a overall very good creation, because other areas are far more detailed like the dark blue and brown side roofs which are my favourite parts.

As for the hanger - it could really use some more bits laying around on the floor as it looks too clean. The wall detailing is very nice though. Another thing I'm not too fond of is the cutout. I usually try to make it with one straight plane so that it's more obvious which parts of the MOC should continue and in which direction. In your case I have a feeling that the hanger has some kind of bombed hole in the roof. Same goes for the back hallway where it's not very clear if the walls are cut or are they just so low. I have no useful suggestion how to illustrate that in your case but trying to stick to one cutout plane or maybe two, which are parapendicular ...

This is a very minor thing, but I had to mention it. There are too many big squares seen in the sandy ground work that are not soften by using more smaller plates to gain more relief and hide the long straight edges. I know how such big MOCs are time and piece consumig especially if you want to cover all these little flaws.

The updated version of the speeder engines looks better then the whole black ones and the minifigs action looks in place too. As for the story - I think it's a bit ridiculous that in such a big MOC the pile of poo is the main attraction ;)

[WickNole]

Hm... having read this previous post from MstrOfPppts, I realized that some parts of the MOC are indeed different from the time I've seen them and posted my own comment... (change of color on the engines, new people/aliens added).

[goatman461]

Well this is a rather huge entry. There's plenty nice things that I really like, but there's also quite some that could use my complaints ;) I really don't know where to start ...

Fisrt of all, I really like the white / dark red combo for the Tatooine buildings. Although the white looks a bit too clean, there really were some white buildings there. But I don't understand the odd shaping of the big white pillar to the left and the middle white part looks a bit too much like a Hoth cave. Also the dark tan rockwork on top of that looks unfinished. And so do the prison cells (prison with no roof?). I think that those parts really give a bad touch to a overall very good creation, because other areas are far more detailed like the dark blue and brown side roofs which are my favourite parts.

As for the hanger - it could really use some more bits laying around on the floor as it looks too clean. The wall detailing is very nice though. Another thing I'm not too fond of is the cutout. I usually try to make it with one straight plane so that it's more obvious which parts of the MOC should continue and in which direction. In your case I have a feeling that the hanger has some kind of bombed hole in the roof. Same goes for the back hallway where it's not very clear if the walls are cut or are they just so low. I have no useful suggestion how to illustrate that in your case but trying to stick to one cutout plane or maybe two, which are parapendicular ...

This is a very minor thing, but I had to mention it. There are too many big squares seen in the sandy ground work that are not soften by using more smaller plates to gain more relief and hide the long straight edges. I know how such big MOCs are time and piece consumig especially if you want to cover all these little flaws.

The updated version of the speeder engines looks better then the whole black ones and the minifigs action looks in place too. As for the story - I think it's a bit ridiculous that in such a big MOC the pile of poo is the main attraction ;)

Thanks for the comments. They would've been more helpful a month ago when I was posting WIP pics in our PM, but I am happy to get negative feedback whenever it comes.

The white rock/walls are based on the Lars homestead and the use of stucco to protect buildings from erosion. A lot of the areas you've mentioned are basically unfinished because I decided to divert my time and bricks to another build. However, the prison was intentionally left without a roof because I thought it'd be more cruel.

Hm... having read this previous post from MstrOfPppts, I realized that some parts of the MOC are indeed different from the time I've seen them and posted my own comment... (change of color on the engines, new people/aliens added).

I'm not sure what you're referring to. I didn't edit my post, so those are all the same pics.

[WickNole]

I am totally sure that you did not change anything. Please excuse me for creating any suspicion here.

But I somehow remember seeing a bit different ones as well... maybe in other post, or during WIP on Flickr.

Is that possible?

[LucasLaughing]

I am totally sure that you did not change anything. Please excuse me for creating any suspicion here.

But I somehow remember seeing a bit different ones as well... maybe in other post, or during WIP on Flickr.

Is that possible?

Yep, he posted some WIP shots in the 'Secure Comm Channel' thread last week - those are probably what you're thinking of...

[WickNole]

I think I don't have access there.

[goatman461]

Quite the mystery.

Here's the modular version I've been working on. Hopefully I can get all the details done by Saturday

WIP Tatooine modular by

goatman461, on Flickr

It's layout is based on the Parisian Restaurant but is more like a Tatooine version that was taken over by the Empire, and remodeled to include a prison cell, comm station, and dewback depot.

[Lord Tyrus]

Quite the mystery.

Here's the modular version I've been working on. Hopefully I can get all the details done by Saturday

[snip]

WIP Tatooine modular by goatman461, on Flickr

It's layout is based on the Parisian Restaurant but is more like a Tatooine version that was taken over by the Empire, and remodeled to include a prison cell, comm station, and dewback depot.

Great idea! Not too sure it belongs here, but still, looks good so far!

Edited May 7, 2015 by Lord Tyrus

[WickNole]

Cool idea and development.

As of comments... I am not sure if this "green thing" suits the color scheme of the build.

[goatman461]

Not too sure it belongs here

I figured it's basically the same building/concept just in modular form. I will give it it's own thread once I finish

Cool idea and development.

As of comments... I am not sure if this "green thing" suits the color scheme of the build.

Thanks. I think I've got the same parts in dark red or brown, which might fit better. I'd like to reuse that dark blue awning but I'm not sure it'll blend in well enough

[WickNole]

Blue looked good with white on the MOC. Try fitting these on the first floor and see how it comes.

[JonnyRainbow]

Ingenious use of the new dewback! An all-around excellent (dare I say perfect?) build. A++++

[Artizan]

Sorry I couldn't say it before, it is really an amazing build!