Face Off Episode 401
“Make It Reign”
Original Airdate: 15 January 2013
In This Episode...
A new year, a new group of artists. The game started aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California, where the group was assigned a spotlight challenge: pick a crown from a selection before them, then create a queen based on it. Michael Westmore judged this competition (he also joins the season as a mentor.) Anthony won for a blue cat-like queen that Michael found to be camera ready. Anthony gained immunity for the episode.
For the foundation challenge, the contestants are randomly paired up and are tasked to create a goblin king. Each must be themed around a different geological feature. Actor John Rhys-Davies was the guest judge.
The Creations
Alam and Chris’s theme was the forest. They created a tree man with a lot of details.
Katie and House created an arctic king. There was nothing nothing about it that stood out, either good or bad.
Michael and Troy made a volcano king. The volcanic “crown” looked more like a red and black dunce cap (Ve described it as a clown hat.) John thought it looked like two guys divided the work and brought together the individual pieces at the end, with hardly a word of discussion. Neville felt that every decision they made was wrong.
Jenna and Eric F. made a desert king with a very scary, desiccated face sculpt. Glenn felt they demonstrated exceptional teamwork; Ve loved the attention to detail and how all the little details were tied together with gold.
Alex and Wayne created a swamp king with an alligator theme. Unfortunately, it didn’t really bear any resemblance to an alligator. The sculpt wasn’t bad, but the paint job was atrocious. There is good reason for that: Alex and Wayne only allowed 40 minutes for paint, a fact that offends all the judges. Glenn also found that their team had the most inequitable division of labor.
Anthony and Meagan created a mountain king. Neville thought they did an “exceptional” job sculpting a natural formation. Glenn was very impressed with the paint job.
Eric Z. and Autumn had a jungle theme, and made their king a tiki king. Ve liked that the wood grain was incorporated into the musculature; Neville liked that they turned tree knots into the ears. There were lots of little, well thought-out details.
The Verdict?
Anthony and Meagan were named the top team, with Anthony chosen as winner. Troy was sent home for a very disappointing face sculpt.
Dig It or Bury It?
The talent gets greater every season, and this group is no exception. I liked the regal theme, the geographic twist, and for the most part, the creations. Tonight’s episode was 90 minutes; luckily the extended time was just for tonight. There is absolutely no need for this show to be 90 minutes.
Prophecies?
Next week the contestants must make a superhero worthy of DC Comics.