I’ve always dreamed of one day building a MOC that would tell a good story all by itself. Last month, I finally did it.
The impetus for this build came from Brickscalibur’s Where’s Waldo category. As the name implies, the challenge was to create a MOC that included a hidden character (but preferably not so hidden that you couldn’t spot it). A good story reason, the category description said, would be a plus.
I have to admit, I was pretty stumped when I first saw the category. A good story reason? There are some obvious ones… an assassin, a thief… but I always hate to do the obvious. Besides, I wanted the entire MOC to tell the story, not just have an isolated hiding character in a crowd of random people.
As an author, I love to tell stories. Ever since I started building with LEGO, I’ve told stories alongside my MOCs–which is a big reason why I’ve always enjoyed RPGs (role-playing-games). But gradually my ambition has changed to wanting to build MOCs that tell stories themselves. I’ve had several ideas, but until this build, the closest I’d gotten was with my hero shots, which at the end of the day are someone else’s story, not my own.
Of course a little text to explain is sometimes necessary… even this one benefits from a sentence… but the story is built into the MOC itself.
In the realm of the evil Queen Tara a baby has been born… a baby who is heir to the throne and destined to one day bring vengeance on her for her tyranny… destined, that is, if he can survive the hunt!
Once I had my basic story idea–the evil queen trying to destroy the baby who threatens her (incidentally, kudos to The Brothers Brick for recognizing Biblical inspiration behind it; I certainly had Athalia and Joash in mind.., and yes, I also certainly had Willow in mind…)–I started to search for a way to clearly present this contrast in the layout of the build itself. The other motif I had in mind was:
Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne,—
James Russell Lowell
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own.
In fact, before I thought of the baby concept, I considered doing an escaping innocent prisoner, with a scaffold behind him, but I concluded it would be too hard to make it obvious which character was the escaping convict AND make it clear that he was the good guy at the same time.
But I wanted to convey the idea that the power all seemed to be on the side of evil; so in order to do that, I put the evil up high, and bridged it out on both sides. The result is an obviously unrealistic situation… no one would build a town like that… but it builds the striking contrast between good weak and hiding on the bottom, and evil dominant and cruel on top.
Another key aspect to this build was the amount of time I spent on the concept vs. the amount of time I spent building. The concept started mid-December: I started building on the 12th of January, and was ready to post it on the 14th. Granted, I hardly slept those last three days, but I still spent an unusually large amount of time mulling over the story and trying to make sure I could convey a cohesive idea.
Besides the main story, there are a bunch of other little things going on!
A peasant struggles with his horse.
This forest man is hoping he’ll get a chance to knife one of those pesky soldiers.
To be honest, this choice of expression for the baby’s guardian wasn’t my first choice; I wanted a somewhat scared face, but wasn’t able to find one that fit right. After trying this one out, I felt that it actually fit really well, as it seems to suggest that she at least is confident the baby won’t be found and it’ll all be okay.
Posing that hat was pretty fun!
Someone was a little befuddled when he got called out and missed his helmet!
A nod to one of my other Brickscalibur entries, this little boy just can’t stop dropping his eggs!
This peasant might be fleeing, but it won’t take much more before he’ll be fighting instead!
This evil knight is the one who secretly informed the queen of the baby’s whereabouts… or at least so the upright cat thinks as it loftily ignores his bulldog.
There are other stories tucked away in different places too–the baker’s boy taking advantage of the confusion to snatch a bite, the kid curled up by the stairs sleeping peacefully with his teddy to protect him… the potter, annoyed at an interruption that’s clearly bad for business… but these all take a clear second place to the main story as the hunt for the baby is on!
Enjoyed this closer look at my creation? You might also have fun with:
Geneva D 
What do you think?