Face Off Episode 608
“Ego Trip Abroad”
Original Airdate: 4 March 2014
In This Episode…
The group has a wonderful time in Japan. Lots of travelogue nonsense before they meet Kazuhiro Tsuji (arguably the greatest makeup artist in the world) who will judge their foundation challenge: create an original oni (a Japanese demon, who we are spending a lot of time with in Teen Wolf, ironically enough). Daran wins, and will have immunity for their spotlight challenge.
The contestants head to Akihabra, the anime capital of the world. This is to inspire them, for they are going to create their own anime characters, an alter-ego of themselves. A famous anime artist will be mentoring them. They will then return to Los Angeles and create the actual makeups in their lab.
The Creations
Daran wanted his alter-ego to find freedom. To him, that was either fish or birds, and he was inspired by the koi, so he created a character with a fish face and koi wrapped around it. I loved this one - it was colorful and clean. You knew exactly what you were looking at. It was wild. Glenn thought the attention to detail was impressive; Ve thought the transition from water to fish was exquisite; and Kazuhiro found it incredibly unique, with a great sense of proportion.
Corinne incorporated Halloween into her character. I thought it was kind of a bland character, but the judges were impressed. Neville thought she did a great job capturing the essence of anime; Glenn was impressed that he drew on the reflection in the oversized eyes; Kazuhiro thought it was the “most” anime character of the bunch.
George’s character was not particularly special and I didn’t really see any bits of him in it. Kazuhiro thought the suit looked cheap and cheesy; Glenn thought it read anime from far away but upon closer look, he saw the horrible decisions and a bad, sloppy paint job; Ve liked the face sculpt but it didn’t go with anything; Neville thought the entire thing was subpar, especially for George.
Graham made a mad scientist that I loved. It had a big viney arm, the result of an accident with a plant in the lab, crazy hair, and oversized goggles. The judges were not taken with it. Ve thought it looked like a reject from Poison Ivy’s lab - not in a good way. She didn’t “get” the viney arm; Kazuhiro simply thought Graham didn’t have enough time; Glenn thought the hair felt anime but didn’t understand the big googly eyes.
The Verdict?
Daran won. Graham was sent home - or would have been, but the judges used their “special immunity power” and kept him in the competition. So no one goes home this week.
Dig It or Bury It?
I loved this challenge. It is perhaps the most unique challenge they have ever had on Face Off. To create a live-action cartoon character. I just loved that. Making them the alter-egos of the contestants was even better. I felt that the successful makeups were really successful.
Prophecies?
The contestants get to play mad scientist and create bizarre human guinea pigs. Sounds fun!