CDC2 CMF Eyrezer

[Eyrezer]

Here is my entry for the count down challenge "Populating Historica". This is my first thread on the forums and first proper contribution to Guilds of Historica. It was such a fun concept to try! I intend to link as many as I can with my settlement-to-be Notomys, a small fishing hamlet on the coast of the Enchanted Forest. I hope you enjoy!

Avalonia: Bayawarra, Jerboan tracker

Bayawarra’s knowledge of forest scat was second to none, making him one of the finest Jerboan trackers in the Enchanted Forest.

Avalonia: Jultarra, Jerboan trapper

Trading marten furs provided Jultarra a living, but more importantly it gave plenty of opportunity to practice archery; her dream was to be the first Jerboan to join the Faerie Forest’s elite Archery Guild.

Varlyrio: Marquis of Motu, Human business magnate

With Varlyrio intrigue never far from the boil, the Marquis of Motu restored a summer manor in sleepy Notomys; the perfect spot to avoid the (literal and metaphorical) heat.

Varlyrio: Lady Motu, Human socialite

In Lady Motu’s eyes, a ball was the only way to christen a new manor; invites were sent to all the local Notomys “lords” (insofar as such a thing existed).

Kaliphlin: Monoii, Desert Cyclops heiress

As heir apparent to her clan of desert Cyclops, Monoii choose to leave Kaliphlin to explore other lands and forge new alliances.

Kaliphlin: Arges, Desert Cyclops brute

So long as she kept him fed, Arges would follow Monoii to the ends of the earth (which was Barqa, as far as he was concerned...).

Mitgardia: Duned’in, Human drunkard

Comatose the night the Algus raided his village, Duned’in retreated further into the bottle and further from Mitgardia to escape the ghosts of his family.

Avalonia: Sofia, Human fisherwoman

Sofia always had a knack for designing snares and craypots to catch even the craftiest of crustaceans. With her father a victim of Drow poison, her skills kept Sofia and her brother Gorki fed.

Avalonia: Gorki, Human orphan

Gorki specialised in catching hermit crabs; anything larger he left to his sister Sofia lest he be on the receiving end of a nasty bite.

Avalonia: Flix, Pixie larrikin  

For Flix, the work of a pixie was never done: first, there was gathering pixie dust, then there was distributing it; then there was pranking those that visited his fairy ring.

Avalonia: Aliạria (Ạria), High Elf herbalist

Buck teeth were an ill fit for High Elven standards of beauty - but a perfect target for cruelty. After suffering one too many practical jokes, Aliạria quit the Kingdom of Hesperia and found purpose and belonging as the herbalist and healer in the tiny hamlet of Notomys.

Avalonia: Kawa, Grent fungus herder

Kawa spent his days tending mycorrhizal fungi and propagating lichen. He was alternatively helped and hindered by his friends Ạria and Flix.

Avalonia: Marija, Human widower

Left a widower with three infants, Marija discovered a sharp business acumen running the village markets gardens – with support from her mother Đoris.

Avalonia: Đoris, Human gardener

There was nothing like purpose to roll back the years: Đoris gained new vigour expanding her daughter’s gardens and helping raise her three tiny sprogs.

Nocturnus: The Devourer, lich sorcerer

Known only as the Devourer, this sorcerer emerged from the fens of Nocturnus during the Drow-Elf War. Now years later, it was rumoured to be sighted again stalking the moors.

Nocturnus: Ạrken, Corrupted Drow assassin

Its Drow body corrupted by malignant voodoo, Ạrken longed to return to the North and scorch Elven forests to the bare earth.

 And one of the whole crew together (Flix not to scale!)

Edited November 12, 2021 by Eyrezer

[Robert8]

The whole wave is awesome but the nocturnus characters are just *chef kiss*

You must have a great collection

 

Congratulations for this magnificent entry!

[Aurore]

How great! All of them! 

I especially enjoy Lord & Lady Motu - story-wise, they have a great potential for funny situations -, and my favourite is the fungus herder. Such an original idea, both for the minifig itself and for his background! And he has a nice scarf. 

The photo of Gorki is precious too : perfect minifig and crab posing and perfect choice of expression!

[Kai NRG]

It's really neat how you tied several of your characters together in pairs, great idea.  A lot of great combos, love your Varlyrian sister and brother, and incredibly cute posting with the baby hugging its mother's leg.  Those four arms on the pixie are throwing me for quite a loop though, is that a single-molded double arm??  Did not know that existed!

[jtooker]

Great variety of characters.  I enjoyed reading through their descriptions.  Spot on photography too!

[Eyrezer]

On 9/5/2021 at 9:21 PM, Robert8 said:

The whole wave is awesome but the nocturnus characters are just *chef kiss*

You must have a great collection

 

Congratulations for this magnificent entry!

Thanks so much, @Robert8, for your kind words. I love those tentacle bases so had to find a way to work them into my collection. I can definitely see the potential fun of some Nocturnus builds!

On 9/6/2021 at 6:29 PM, Aurore said:

How great! All of them! 

I especially enjoy Lord & Lady Motu - story-wise, they have a great potential for funny situations -, and my favourite is the fungus herder. Such an original idea, both for the minifig itself and for his background! And he has a nice scarf. 

The photo of Gorki is precious too : perfect minifig and crab posing and perfect choice of expression!

Thanks @Aurore 🙏 I was really inspired by your entry, not least the clever blurbs, which drove me to try and improve mine. Yes, I have some ideas for Lady Motu's ball. Maybe a representative of Embervale could make it along if you are happy with that? 

I thought the scarf just added a nice quirk to a tree man! Hat tip to @Henjin for the term "Grent". 

Poor wee Gorki! The other posing I like is Bayawarra - "scat" means animal droppings, so guess what that LEGO piece he is sniffing represents!  

On 9/7/2021 at 2:08 AM, Kai NRG said:

It's really neat how you tied several of your characters together in pairs, great idea.  A lot of great combos, love your Varlyrian sister and brother, and incredibly cute posting with the baby hugging its mother's leg.  Those four arms on the pixie are throwing me for quite a loop though, is that a single-molded double arm??  Did not know that existed!

Thanks @Kai NRG! They were all in pairs until Flix forced his way in as a last minute addition and booted out a second Mitgardian. Hopefully that Guild won't take it personally! I guess a pixie would have fit there too... The Varlyrians are meant to be husband and wife 

And yes, that is a single-molded double arm! When I saw it I knew I had to have it. It's from a Star Wars figure, Rio Durant:

 

23 hours ago, jtooker said:

Great variety of characters.  I enjoyed reading through their descriptions.  Spot on photography too!

Thanks @jtooker! I am definitely open to tips on photography. The group photo is especially tricky. I admit that I copied the settings on some other people's photos to get them this way. I think there are a few marks on my camera lens too  

Edited September 7, 2021 by Eyrezer

[Umbra-Manis]

A great collection! Arken is probably my personal favorite

[Kai NRG]

15 hours ago, Eyrezer said:

The Varlyrians are meant to be husband and wife 

Oh, ha, I actually meant the Avalonians 

That is a perfectly fascinating arm that I now want get so I can find a way to use it as a tiny pair of jeans. 

16 hours ago, Eyrezer said:

I am definitely open to tips on photography.

The close-ups are all really good, the group one has a little too much glare which comes from the light not being sufficiently diffused.  Moderate cloud cover is the best diffuser, but that's not always available on demand...  If you're shooting in natural light from a window, might be good to try bouncing it around with some large white poster boards.

But I'm one to talk.  Wait until you see my figs, I didn't even try to take a group photo. 

[W Navarre]

Awesome figs, I really like the little storytelling for each of them! Do you mind if I write a bit of a story including Lady Motu?

[Aurore]

On 9/8/2021 at 1:11 AM, Eyrezer said:

Thanks @Aurore 🙏 I was really inspired by your entry, not least the clever blurbs, which drove me to try and improve mine

On 9/8/2021 at 1:11 AM, Eyrezer said:

Yes, I have some ideas for Lady Motu's ball. Maybe a representative of Embervale could make it along if you are happy with that? 

Oh my, now I'm thinking up the discussion between loner elf Alrune and snobbish elf Dresghar when they would receive such an invitation...to a ball! From a human! But noblesse oblige, someone has to go! 

On 9/8/2021 at 1:11 AM, Eyrezer said:

The other posing I like is Bayawarra - "scat" means animal droppings, so guess what that LEGO piece he is sniffing represents!

Indeed, the expression is perfect too - Hmm...that scent...a female squeaker obviously, not older than 8 months. Alone and scared, looking for her mother and siblings. Interesting. 

[Grover]

Awesome!  I love the tracker.  Hilarious little writeups on some of them.  Well done!

[Exetrius]

Sofia (with the cages!!) and Gorki are great! Creative use of the printed tiles as fancy invitation envelops, and the cloth part on Aliạria really works wonders for the whole combo. Flix is pretty wild, reminds me a lot these figs by Vince Toulouse. Jealous of those arms btw, I wish LEGO would re-use and recolour those sometime. A word of criticism: Duned’in could be much more convincing, imo. For example, give him the bottle you describe, and choose whether he'd be holding the axe, or the banjo (or neither). He's feeling drunk and miserable, right? Lastly, I think Đoris is an okay fig, but in my eyes offers nothing that Marija doesn't offer. Maybe a (more) different profession would have helped.

[Eyrezer]

On 9/9/2021 at 1:12 AM, Umbra-Manis said:

A great collection! Arken is probably my personal favorite

Thanks @Umbra-Manis. That was a fun one to create and I am really happy with the hair piece on the victim. I think the upside-down Ninjago hair really simulates gravity pulling it down. 

 

On 9/9/2021 at 3:18 AM, Kai NRG said:

That is a perfectly fascinating arm that I now want get so I can find a way to use it as a tiny pair of jeans. 

Oh wow, it is perfect as a pair of jeans!

 

On 9/9/2021 at 7:45 PM, Aurore said:

Oh my, now I'm thinking up the discussion between loner elf Alrune and snobbish elf Dresghar when they would receive such an invitation...to a ball! From a human! But noblesse oblige, someone has to go! 

Actually @Aurore, I see a scenario where the great vanquisher of tarasque would be the one to get invited 

On 9/13/2021 at 9:44 AM, Grover said:

Awesome!  I love the tracker.  Hilarious little writeups on some of them.  Well done!

Thanks @Grover. I had a few objectives with the write ups. As a new contributor, I wanted to tie them into the wider lore like the references to Archery Guild and the kingdom of Hesperia; I wanted to keep the backdrop of the war, hence the orphans, widows, and other solder references; and I wanted humour where I could fit it in. Hopefully I got the balance right.

On 9/27/2021 at 10:22 PM, Exetrius said:

Sofia (with the cages!!) and Gorki are great! Creative use of the printed tiles as fancy invitation envelops, and the cloth part on Aliạria really works wonders for the whole combo. Flix is pretty wild, reminds me a lot these figs by Vince Toulouse. Jealous of those arms btw, I wish LEGO would re-use and recolour those sometime. A word of criticism: Duned’in could be much more convincing, imo. For example, give him the bottle you describe, and choose whether he'd be holding the axe, or the banjo (or neither). He's feeling drunk and miserable, right? Lastly, I think Đoris is an okay fig, but in my eyes offers nothing that Marija doesn't offer. Maybe a (more) different profession would have helped.

Thanks @Exetrius, glad you enjoyed the figs. And what a compliment to be reminded of Vince's figs! Thanks for the constructive criticism, too. I think you're right about Duned'in - he was meant to have a Mitgardian partner too who has the bottle but that guy got subbed out at the last minute. In hindsight, I think the "sunclops" brute should also have had a weapon rather than the flute too.

Try telling a solo mother of three children that a supportive grandmother offers nothing!   

Edited October 10, 2021 by Eyrezer
Adding link to Archery Guild/Faerie Forest

[Exetrius]

7 hours ago, Eyrezer said:

Try telling a solo mother of three children that a supportive grandmother offers nothing!   

Oof, you got me! 

[LordDan]

Very neat collection of figs! Having them come in pairs is an interesting idea. I feel like it works really well for some of them but others like the cyclopes feel repetitive. My favorites are Sofia and Gorki, Sofieas traps are really neat and the hermit crabs with Gorki are cute, and together they really feel like a family.

[Eyrezer]

Thanks @LordDan, I understand what you mean. I think I was too focused on establishing some new races!

I also liked Sofia and Gorki, so much that I built them a home and backstory:

 

Edited October 26, 2021 by Eyrezer

[mrcp6d]

Pairing these off is kind of a fun idea, and you managed to make the individual minifigs different enough that they don't seem too repetitive.  My favorites are Sofia (those cages are all fantastic too!), The Devourer, and Arken; the Motus are strong combos too. 

[The Stad]

Awesome series, I’m especially fond of Aliạria. Great use of the Ninjago torso and legs.