Nocturnus Tribes II: The Ungolian

[Lord Vladivus]

"The Ungolian are ancient, immortal creatures. They are named after the first of their kind, Queen Ungoliant of Underverse. She existed in a time when the continents occupied different positions, and humans, elves and dwarves had yet to exist. The Ungolians are creatures of incalculable malice, and their plans stretch on for millenia. To cross one is to entertain misery for all of your bloodline that follow after.

Their carapace is incredibly tough, and only their eyes represent a weak spot, and coupled with their immortality, they are tough to kill, and many that exist today can remember their Queen as she was in her heyday before the coming of humans, elves and dwarves. Fortunately for Historica, Ungoliant herself perished when the first mages of the world banded together and tore her spirit from her body. She was the only female of her species, so numbers of Ungolians are few, and they largely stick to their homes atop the northern Rakath Mountains, preying on unwary travellers.

They are possessed of eight limbs, which end in vicious claws, and their prehensile tails end in a barb that renders a victim utterly paralysed. There is no known cure, and the victims body cannot be moved from the position in which it is struck. Strangely, death seems to completely remove the toxins causing the paralysis, and limbs can be moved again after this.

Ugh snowscaping is harder than I thought it would be.

If a female Unglolian were ever to be found, it would spell certain doom for the world. For now, most remain blissfully ignorant."

This is my third tribe, and first (and likely only) entry for the seocnd Nocturnus Tribes challenge. I didn't have as much time as I wanted to spend on it, as I had to go and teach Geography a hundred miles away from my bricks. I wanted to do a non-humanoid tribe, and I liked the idea of a giant arachniform. It's also my first go at putting snow in a MOC (see spoiler). I'm not too sure on the landscaping, but it'll have to do.

Edit: yep, I stole the name from Tolkein.

Edit 2: realised a bit of the story didn't make sense.

C+C welcome

Cheers!

Edited October 14, 2013 by Lord Vladivus

[Mutant Orc]

I was about to mention that Ungoliant was from Middle Earth, and strangely enough no more than 5 minuets ago I was thinking of starting to build her!!

She is a great undeveloped character and I'm glad you put your own brilliant mark on the tale!!

I adore the whole thing!!

[Lord Vladivus]

Thank you! I'm tempted by building Ungoliant, that part of Middle-Earth's history is my favourite. And Melkor.

[Emma]

I love this ! Great idea for a tribe (I've tried to read the Silmarillion, I really have... but that Tolkein can be a tough read for some of us , I did make it through LoTR though...). Anyways, the figure is really well done , landscaping could maybe use a bit of work (but you already know this). I think some black tiles for the top of the border, and one big piece of paper for the backdrop, would help polish up the images a bit more. (Alternatively, doing some digital adjustments to increase the brightness might make those paper lines disappear...)

[Lord Vladivus]

Thank you Emma! I love reading, so he's not too bad for me, but the Silmarillion is more like a historical account rather than a story for a lot of it. I was 9 (I was encouraged to read when I was young, my mother is an English teacher) when I first read it, but I can well understand it not being everyone's cup of tea. Black tiles is on the agenda, I have like 3 1x2's. And I need work on my photography!

[mrcp6d]

On the landscaping, I'm a big fan of using white curved slopes for snow. Snow isn't flat so the curves work well and the no-studs look of the slopes gives a very nice contrast to a well traveled path built with studs showing, furthering the effect. I'd stock up on 1x3 and 1x4 curved white slopes for snow as well as some white tiles.

Here's some examples:

Mine: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrcp6d/8328712360/

soccerkid6's: http://www.flickr.com/photos/66620538@N04/9667375116/

[kermit]

Nice moc. The head does look weird being smaller than the rest of the body.

[Lord Vladivus]

@mrcp6d cheers for the pointers, I'll give it a go!

@kermit, thanks. I see what you mean- I quite like the disproportions though.

[Gideon]

Nice story, it's always good to have some more background to a MOC

Both the creature design and the detailed ground are nice as well!

[Lord Vladivus]

Cheers Gideon. I like the tribes challenge, it's given me a chance to practice a couple of different landscapes, and building techniques. That and I like stories- it's good to be able to use all the random junk I have stored up in my head haha!

[soccerkid6]

Excellent landscape and the Ungolian looks creepy

[Bkrosell]

That ungolian looks great, in a creepy way.

[Lord Vladivus]

Thanks guys, creepy was what I was aiming for.

[MKJoshA]

I love, love, LOVE, the Tolkien reference! I noticed it right away even before you added that note.

Edited October 21, 2013 by MKJoshA

[Lord Vladivus]

Thanks buddy! What can I say, I love Tolkein!

[mpoh98]

Fantastic tribe you got there, very animal like! Well done!

[Lord Vladivus]

Cheers. They might end up in a MOC sometime soon.

[Gabe]

Wonderful brick-built creature Lord Vladivus, the Genosian head looks just right on it! Emma has some great suggestions for you regarding general presentation, i would also suggest that giving your landscape some different levels (trees, deep snowdrift, rocky outcrops, overhanging cliff wall etc) can add a lot of interest to your moc.

I look forward to seeing more of these creepy guys in your future builds!

[Lord Vladivus]

Cheers Gabe! I was originally going to use the regular Genonosians as spider-riders, but that evolved into this, and the zombie geonosian worked better in terms of colour. I've taken on board what Emma said re presentation, I'm familiarising myself with photo-editing software. I'm practising at replicating bits of landscaping that other members have done, to help understand what techniques work.

Before GoH and all the advice that comes with it, I would have built a castle with as many wall panels as possible. I've tried building techniques I would have never thought of before (I considered myself a pretty good builder till I found my way here!) and I'm a lot more pleased with my MOCs nowadays. I'm still trying to improve, and once I get some more white slopes, I'll cycle back to some snowscape builds (great thing about this book is the incentive to build in other guilds!).