GOH 11: Il Porto Nascosto

[TalusMoonbreaker]

 

 

Although much of the lands west of the mountains are left dry and desolate, the people of Nascosta have managed to eek out a living as fishers as vintners among an inlet in the coast nigh the dens of fierce pirates. Similar to the coastal regions of eastern Varlyrio, the buildings are constructed of strong stone and painted brightly. It is a haven for those who wish to live peacefully or continue their illicit deeds under the noses of those more powerful than them. And then there are those who see it as a nice get away from all of the sand and just wish to enjoy some focaccia and local wine by the sea. 

Spoiler

Minifigures!

Roberto la Paura

 

Former pirate, now retired and pretends to be mayor of the town. He also is very passionate about Gelato. Some rumors indicate that Illaryian was without Gelato for some months after Roberto “liberated” a shipment.

 

Lucrezia

 

The friendly town minstrel who is always willing to cheer up the townsfolk with a song and smile. Today, she has a simple tune prepared for her friend Bilg to make him happy despite his sun burns.

 

Valtýr Léttangogginn

 

It is unknown if his epithet is his actual last name or due to the parrot that keeps him company but this Kolgarí is one colorful fellow. No one knows what he is doing here, perhaps he's on holiday from the underworld?

 

Bilg

 

This poor orc of the wastelands lost his leg to a giant sand shark attack. Now he only dares to approach the water’s edges but fish he must to make a living. Unfortunately, it looks like he forgot to apply a sunblock potion due to the cork getting stuck or perhaps that’s a bottle of local Nascosta DOC.

 

Captain Cockatrice

 

Not much is known about this scoundrel but it has been rumored that her gaze is like an arrow and can petrify even the most valiant soldier or fierce scallywag. No wonder she hasn’t been caught... yet.

 

Giulio and Uberto

 

Two locals, a fisherman and fishergnome who have just brought in a fresh days' catch. 

 

Marco Marino

 

A retired sailor of sorts, he still pretends to command a vessel though might not remember that his sank when it hit a rock, the dwarves of which who used it as a beach house weren't too thrilled and chased him away to Nascosta. Regardless, he still enjoys his morning Kaliphlinian brew looking out at the rising sun over the inlet. 

 

Fiametta

One of the local bakers/chefs and perhaps the finest, Fiametta provides the town with enough delicious fire-baked goods to keep them full while out tending the vinyards built on high terraces or on a short fishing trip. 

 

 

Spoiler

I was primarily inspired by the Cinque Terre region on the coasts of Liguria and it finally gave me use for some pab pieces which made getting textures and angled pieces in a bit tricky but of course that's the fun part. The tower was inspired by a nearly identical one in Manarola and the blue house and boat ramp were inspired by those of Riomaggiore. 

Sans minifigs:

 

 

Grazie mille for looking! 

Edited January 20, 2024 by TalusMoonbreaker

[MrLind]

 Nice MOC with the bright colors of houses. The pirate with ice cream makes my day.

[Aurore]

What a wonderful choice of colours!  I'm also very impressed by how much detail (and how many houses!) you maange to pack on this footprint. The minifigs' expressions and posing is perfect too, and their backstories are excellent. Like @MrLind, I love Roberto and his Gelato!

[Simon_S]

Oh wow, I love how colourful this is. You put so many different colours in such a small MOC - great job! The different vibrant colours work well together. And using white as accent in every house really helps to keep the whole build together. Nice build! Brick on!

[Puvel]

Definitely feeling the Varlyrio vibes in the builds! Great use of colours for the different little buildings

[W Navarre]

Very fresh and lively, I love the dark blue roof! It's exciting to see you back mate! 

[Grover]

Funny, the first thing I thought when I saw that was "Manarola"! I would say that it is excellent news to bring to mind the inspiration material just by looking at it!  This is a lovely build.  I like the bold colors, the use of space (tall tower, fisher spilling forward), the angles of the buildings to one another, and the detail in the scene.  The individual mini introductions is great and gives us a close look at them, which is very nice. I particularly liked the choice of captain cockatrice's torso, head, and hair, which I think really go well together.  The texture on the stone docks is good, giving an aged feel but without being overly textured with gratuitous greebling.  The brick built shutters are very nice too, and really help keep the build to a smaller scale.  The various plants (grass, vines, etc.) growing on the corners and in all the cracks in the walkway help lend a sense of the maritime climate to the build.  Well done!

[Yperio_Bricks]

What a lively and colorful build this is! Love it!

[LordDan]

Great work on the vibrant colors and detailed buildings! The blue and white house is my favorite, it looks so good! I also enjoyed the detailed minifigs with their backstories, but I feel like the overall build felt very crowded with them all there ( which I get you were trying to show it as a bustling city). I liked looking at the photo without figs because there was a lot more details to see. I also liked how vibrant the colors are in the first picture, but the direct light made some harsh shadows that made it hard to see in the doorways and under the archway. Overall excellent Varlyrian build!!

[TalusMoonbreaker]

Sorry for the late reply all. University has been keeping me quite busy lately. 

On 1/21/2024 at 2:02 AM, MrLind said:

 Nice MOC with the bright colors of houses. The pirate with ice cream makes my day.

Thank you! I love Gelato. I'm glad your day was improved :D

On 1/22/2024 at 2:50 PM, Aurore said:

What a wonderful choice of colours!  I'm also very impressed by how much detail (and how many houses!) you maange to pack on this footprint. The minifigs' expressions and posing is perfect too, and their backstories are excellent. Like @MrLind, I love Roberto and his Gelato!

Thanks! I have limited supply of those colours so small size was necessary. Additionally, I've noticed that the towns of Cinque Terre have lots of small alleys crowded with vibrant buildings, so I wanted to recreate that feel and, it makes it cute! I didn't have time to write a full story as I built and photographed this right at the end of winter break but, I am glad that you like the minifigs! They're fun to make. It was quite difficult to arrange them as I photographed this outside similar to L'Arco della Vittoria. 

On 2/6/2024 at 2:06 PM, Simon_S said:

Oh wow, I love how colourful this is. You put so many different colours in such a small MOC - great job! The different vibrant colours work well together. And using white as accent in every house really helps to keep the whole build together. Nice build! Brick on!

Thank you! The white accents felt right for the scene and were quite incidentally due to having many white pieces but as Oogway says: "There are no accidents" so I'm glad it worked well with all of the colours. 

On 2/7/2024 at 4:55 PM, Puvel said:

Definitely feeling the Varlyrio vibes in the builds! Great use of colours for the different little buildings

Thank you! I take inspiration from real-life Italy. 

On 2/12/2024 at 10:28 AM, W Navarre said:

Very fresh and lively, I love the dark blue roof! It's exciting to see you back mate! 

Grazie mio amico! Dark blue is one of my favorite colours though I unfortunately have very few parts in it. Hopefully, I'll have more time for building this year, but we shall see. I started another project, this time Japanese-inspired but I don't know when I'll complete it. I look forward to one day seeing Arama's retribution! 

On 2/18/2024 at 10:56 AM, Grover said:

Funny, the first thing I thought when I saw that was "Manarola"! I would say that it is excellent news to bring to mind the inspiration material just by looking at it!  This is a lovely build.  I like the bold colors, the use of space (tall tower, fisher spilling forward), the angles of the buildings to one another, and the detail in the scene.  The individual mini introductions is great and gives us a close look at them, which is very nice. I particularly liked the choice of captain cockatrice's torso, head, and hair, which I think really go well together.  The texture on the stone docks is good, giving an aged feel but without being overly textured with gratuitous greebling.  The brick built shutters are very nice too, and really help keep the build to a smaller scale.  The various plants (grass, vines, etc.) growing on the corners and in all the cracks in the walkway help lend a sense of the maritime climate to the build.  Well done!

Yay! I'm glad someone recognised the source material and am honoured that you took the time to comment about the various elements. I have lots of fun building the minifigs and inventing little lives and roles for them. Captain Cockatrice is one of my favourites too and she now proudly commands the pirate ship set - one of the few I display due to its quality and fun! Plants always help to brighten up a dull space and bring more life both in lego and reality!

On 2/18/2024 at 12:50 PM, Yperio_Bricks said:

What a lively and colorful build this is! Love it!

Thank you! I'm glad you love it.

On 6/29/2024 at 4:32 PM, LordDan said:

Great work on the vibrant colors and detailed buildings! The blue and white house is my favorite, it looks so good! I also enjoyed the detailed minifigs with their backstories, but I feel like the overall build felt very crowded with them all there ( which I get you were trying to show it as a bustling city). I liked looking at the photo without figs because there was a lot more details to see. I also liked how vibrant the colors are in the first picture, but the direct light made some harsh shadows that made it hard to see in the doorways and under the archway. Overall excellent Varlyrian build!!

Thank you! I appreciate the feedback. I'll have to experiment around with different minifig setups so that it looks bustling but not so as to detract from the overall build. I agree about the harsh shadows, but I didn't have the time (or knowledge) on how to make it better. Another thing to experiment with and I'll see how I can improve for next time!