Tara Ariano January 19, 2015 Share January 19, 2015 Oscar winner Rick Baker is the guest judge for the first Spotlight Challenge, which finds the artists working in teams to create two original alien characters, plus a primate leader. Link to comment
Maelstrom January 21, 2015 Share January 21, 2015 Ah, FaceOff, it's nice to have you back. This show felt like a slog for a few seasons there, but last season has definitely breathed new life into this show IMO. TeamLaura's aliens were beautiful - nice clean lines and lovely paint jobs. Clearly when she gave her input, they listened! Also liked TeamAnthony's monkey alien (I forget which kind of monkey it was based from - baboon?), they nailed the colors and it looked like the model was able to emote through the prosthetic fairly well. TeamRayce's spider alien looked pretty good, too (relatively speaking, that is). I didn't really care for TeamRayce's monkey queen even though the judges loved it. Must've looked better in person. I remember when Planet of the Apes came out, Rick Baker talked a bit about how his prosthetics worked best on actors with relatively flat noses, because if an actor's nose was too large or long, the simian look didn't read properly (I recall that he discovered this by testing the makeup out on himself). I think that's what didn't look right to me about TeamRayce's monkey queen - the nose looked too human. The remaining aliens ranged from forgettable to crummy, IMO, and the less said about TeamLaura's monkey, the better. Though it always sucks to lose someone the first challenge, I do think the judges made the right choice. Not only did the guy (can't remember his name) lack anatomical and sculpting knowledge, he seemed to lack the ability to listen to people who possess that knowledge. I did think it was funny that even though Anthony, Laura and Rayce know this show's tricks backward and forward, they still looked totally caught off-guard at the twist of adding a third character. Welcome back, guys! In other news, Glenn has ditched the anime hair to return to the Dracula look (I kid, Glenn, you won me over when you came out as a huge cat lover last season). Rick Baker continues to be awesome, and has awesome hair. So glad Ve is back! Though I'd love to have a return visit or two from Lois. And can't forget Neville "FaceOff is hard!" Page. Curious about next week's Hunger Games challenge - Ve will be the one to impress on that one, for sure. 3 Link to comment
Ananayel January 21, 2015 Share January 21, 2015 That was definitely the right decision. There was so much focus on Gregory even going back to last week, so he was either going to win or get the boot, and that mess of a monkey was obviously not winning. It is awkward with so many people on stage to discuss the makeups, but that will get better as time goes on. 1 Link to comment
Quilt Fairy January 21, 2015 Share January 21, 2015 If this challenge was indicative of the caliber of talent we have this season, I think we're in trouble. I thought they were all pretty crappy, with the monkey queen and the one gray alien the judges liked being slightly better. 6 Link to comment
GaT January 21, 2015 Share January 21, 2015 I wasn't that impressed with anyone, right now it's too chaotic to remember who is on which team, & with 3 sculpts per team, I couldn't keep track of who was doing what. I hope things get easier to keep track of as the season progresses. I wonder why Mckenzie doesn’t walk around with her father when he’s mentoring this season? 1 Link to comment
hincandenza January 21, 2015 Share January 21, 2015 It was weird during the whole examination and judging process because I kept expecting a cut to commercial, yet they never did for what seemed like a really long time (well, until they end, when they are legally mandated to cut away when Glenn says "The winner is...."). I too am having some reservations about the talent level based on these results- although I hope that they just struggled with the design-by-committee aspect, since there were some good elements to be found scattered among the makeups there. Happily, at least we can say that in addition to the higher-budget look and guests, the criticism is still top-notch and on point. The judges were focused on interesting and telling details with their commentary, and Michael Westmore had great, specific feedback- as did the coaches themselves, like Anthony's suggestion of plugging some of the interior holes so the mold wouldn't lock; that's the kind of thing only experience will teach you first hand. There were elements that I really liked of the old simian ruler that got so much praise- although was I the only one who thought they looked like a cross between "The Dark Crystal" and the Native Aliens from "Futurama"?- but the face really wasn't working for me for similar reasons to what Maelstrom mentioned, that it didn't look simian enough. Also, the nostrils were asymmetric and out of place... but some of the concepts were pretty cool. Ah, but they are graded on a curve, and what with some of those other costumes... :) Gregory was an obvious choice; as Maelstrom said, he wasn't just bad, he was a bad listener. When Laura was like "Uh, it was... uh... ooh... uh... not good?" or something when referring to Gregory's monkey-face v.1, it was cringe-worthy to watch her struggle to find any kind of praise. I am glad that Emily wasn't in the bottom 3 this week; I'm worried she won't last too long since she was showing the first symptoms of the seasonal designated melodramatic diva "I'm so going home today!" role. But good lord, she is absolutely stunning to me. I'm probably dating myself with this reference, but she looks like she just hopped off the pages of a Robert Crumb comic; just imagine the Snu-Snu! :) The rest are still somewhat of a forgettable blur, as is the case when a new season starts... although I remember Ben as the other guy on the chopping block this week, who was crassly critiquing that one woman (Kelly?) for not using enough burlap... and then ended up having his own mold fall apart and be an aesthetic disaster. Not that she didn't need the advice, but his delivery was lousy. I hope that taught you a lesson in hubris and constructive criticism, dude. :) Lastly, I still have faith in the show, but... this episode left me pretty confused as to how the season will work. Like, when McKenzie suddenly said something like "This means that of course (Ben, Kelly, Gregory) are the bottom 3" I scrunched up my face because... how did you figure that, while we knew the bottom looks, it wasn't obvious how they picked the 3 from those teams. It's especially odd since Gregory went home today having been part of both a top look and a bottom look. I thought that they'd judge the whole team as one unit for all three makeups, and then select a winner from those 5. I do like that it is still the judges making that choice- for now at least- and not some weepy Sophie's Choice deliberation by the champion mentor.. I suppose I just hope they don't do this all-team challenge much, it's very confusing. When solo or duos it's pretty straightforward, though there's a near-certainty you'd have to make at least one pair using contestants from different teams. But especially with these large groups, the "process" for choosing seems more nebulous to the viewing audience, which in turns makes it feel more... arbitrary, I guess. In conclusion, Face Off is a land of contrasts. 3 Link to comment
Primetimer January 21, 2015 Share January 21, 2015 In part two of the season premiere, aliens meet monkeys, and everyone says 'Rick Baker' a lot. It's fun to say. 'Rick Baker!' Read the story 1 Link to comment
Lorimac January 21, 2015 Share January 21, 2015 (edited) Well, that was a shocker! I thought Greg did some work on the alien they liked as well as the aliens they did not like, but Bad Hands Guy (as my T-A Son has been calling him) just made those bad hands which were probably the worst hands ever made on F-O. T-A Son also thinks that McKenzie just forgot about the monkeys in all of the excitement of having Rick Baker (!!) on set, and some production assistant reminded her that they needed to be shoehorned in which is kind of funny. Edited January 21, 2015 by Lorimac 2 Link to comment
Monty9 January 21, 2015 Share January 21, 2015 (edited) QuiltFairy If this challenge was indicative of the caliber of talent we have this season, I think we're in trouble. I thought they were all pretty crappy, with the monkey queen and the one gray alien the judges liked being slightly better. Uh huh. I'm holding out final judgement until we see what happens when they have an individual challenge where they actually have some time. Working as a team might make people hold back a bit and a more muddled character happens as a result. But if they actually get to show their own individual talents and we still get things that average out to that......shame on you casting agents and producers for setting up the season like this. I did like the ones that the judges pointed out and the younger alien from Laura's team. Edited January 21, 2015 by Monty9 Link to comment
Drogo January 21, 2015 Share January 21, 2015 That's not a squirrel monkey, that's Ned Stark. 1 Link to comment
Rammchick January 21, 2015 Share January 21, 2015 They could have done the team challenge by not eliminating anyone from week to week, but creating an overall points system. I agree -- it was very difficult to discern who would win or lose if someone worked on both winning and losing looks. 1 Link to comment
Maelstrom January 21, 2015 Share January 21, 2015 I suppose I just hope they don't do this all-team challenge much, it's very confusing. When solo or duos it's pretty straightforward, though there's a near-certainty you'd have to make at least one pair using contestants from different teams. But especially with these large groups, the "process" for choosing seems more nebulous to the viewing audience, which in turns makes it feel more... arbitrary, I guess. it was very difficult to discern who would win or lose if someone worked on both winning and losing looks. Definitely agree with both of these - it's always a challenge to keep track of all the contestants at the beginning, even in a normal year. And I'm not that familiar with how team competition shows work to begin with, so it's even more unnecessarily confusing to me. With 14 contestants left (right? I can't even remember) I can only assume they'll do seven teams of two next challenge, so hopefully it'll be easier to keep everyone straight and identify who works on what. In conclusion, Face Off is a land of contrasts. And unique hairstyles. 1 Link to comment
carrps January 21, 2015 Share January 21, 2015 It was weird during the whole examination and judging process because I kept expecting a cut to commercial, yet they never did for what seemed like a really long time (well, until they end, when they are legally mandated to cut away when Glenn says "The winner is...."). How many seasons have we been watching? And I still have to tell my sister to ff the dvr as soon as McKenzie hands off to Glenn for the winner announcement.... I thought Gregory was the best choice to go. I was appalled by his sculpt from the beginning. Just the way he was applying the clay to the form looked off. Yes, too many, contestants right now. I'm usually pretty good at names but I'm not even trying to remember any yet. If they catch my attention, yeah. Like Kelly. Who is annoying the ever-loving hell out of me already. Is she trying to be cute? Or is she just mentally challenged? Her talking heads were ...uh...interesting. Link to comment
GaT January 21, 2015 Share January 21, 2015 Lastly, I still have faith in the show, but... this episode left me pretty confused as to how the season will work. Like, when McKenzie suddenly said something like "This means that of course (Ben, Kelly, Gregory) are the bottom 3" I scrunched up my face because... how did you figure that, while we knew the bottom looks, it wasn't obvious how they picked the 3 from those teams. I thought I had just missed something when that happened, I had no idea how those 3 became the bottom 3, never mind "of course" Link to comment
Kaoteek January 21, 2015 Share January 21, 2015 Pretty meh, overall, except for that one arachnid alien from Rayce's crew. In a distant second place, Team Laura's blue aliens, that had nice colors & sculpts. None of the monkeys looked good to me, though. (I can't help but think that, given the same amount of time, any of the three champions could have produced at least one or two vastly superior creatures on their own, back when they were competing) Link to comment
larapu2000 January 21, 2015 Share January 21, 2015 I liked the old monkey queen, I thought it was a very unique and different approach to "Warrior Chimp!" that the others teams gravitated to. This may have been brought up in earlier seasons (I just started watching last season), but is Mackenzie only allowed to wear Herve Leger bandage cocktail dresses? She's got a killer body, but they are constantly putting her in the same dress over and over. I didn't care for the insect alien concept overall. I never really care for any of the aliens that get created on Face Off, because I feel like they all look the same. Link to comment
carrps January 21, 2015 Share January 21, 2015 I liked the old monkey queen, I thought it was a very unique and different approach to "Warrior Chimp!" that the others teams gravitated to. This may have been brought up in earlier seasons (I just started watching last season), but is Mackenzie only allowed to wear Herve Leger bandage cocktail dresses? She's got a killer body, but they are constantly putting her in the same dress over and over. Yeah, I liked the older capuchin monkey queen, just because it was different. I noticed that one of the contestants (Stepahnie?) was wearing what looked like a knock-off of Leger dress and stilettos. Sincerest form of flattery? 1 Link to comment
ratgirlagogo January 21, 2015 Share January 21, 2015 Well, that was a shocker! I thought Greg did some work on the alien they liked as well as the aliens they did not like, but Bad Hands Guy (as my T-A Son has been calling him) just made those bad hands which were probably the worst hands ever made on F-O. I could not understand that for the life of me. Those hands were complete shit. Link to comment
starri January 22, 2015 Share January 22, 2015 The judging made me dizzy. I couldn't keep up with who was where and which make-up was from which team. Does anyone want to bet that we're going to see the teams shuffled somewhere around the halfway point? I wish I could say any of the contestants had made any impression on me, but at this point, it's just a blur of faces, piercings, and interesting hair. Have they specified exactly how much work the coaches are allowed to do? Because at one point, Laura had a tool in her hand and seemed to be helping reshape her guy's (the one who I believe has a shrine to her in his home and perhaps she picked only because he reminded her of Roy) monkey face, and at the beginning of application day, Anthony was shown with an airbrush in his hands. I know they said the teams are on their own at Last Looks, but what can/can't they do beyond that? Link to comment
jbrecken January 22, 2015 Share January 22, 2015 How could they not mention in all this monkeyness that Rick Baker once played King Kong? It would be nice if the opening credits told us who was on which team. Link to comment
snakenax January 22, 2015 Share January 22, 2015 I guess maybe i'm alone in thinking it wasn't that bad a line up for a first episode, especially one that was so team oriented only one of the make ups had only two people work on it(i'm not sure why, but make ups that have 3+ people on them often fall short of those that have 1-2 on them). The arachnid alien, both of Laura's aliens, the old queen monkey and the mandrill looked good to me. The two aliens on Anthony's team were just meh(i'm pretty sure i've seen that exact look done better in one of the Men In Black movies or something similar), the hands which were hilariously awful though. The advanced alien on Rayce's team was one I was surprised they didn't throw a harsher judgement at, considering it was a bad sculpt that was either built lopsided or applied crooked. The losing monkey look was just abominable, though the lady who made the wig shouldn't have felt afraid, the wig she made was actually one of the better wigs i've seen on the show. Too bad she had to apply it to that hideous sculpt. One thing my brother noticed is it looks like we might actually have multiple competent fabricators this season, which might be a shift away from last season where nobody stood out too much in fabricating skill. 2 Link to comment
needschocolate January 22, 2015 Share January 22, 2015 Rule 43b in the Mandatory Requirements for Competitive Reality Shows Manual states "When adding an extra challenge, do not allow for extra time. Competitors must be as stressed as possible. Also, allowing enough time to properly finish a challenge creates the possibility for a competitor to do a good job with the challenge, which would lesson the opportunites for judges could make witty, derogatory remarks." Apparently, those connected with FO stilll haven't read the manual, after all these seasons. And I am very happy about that. Given that the challenge was for 3 characters from 5 people, done over 4 days, these artists don't seem as good as in past seasons. I am thinking that the producers realized this (or realized that the talent pool was getting sparse) and decided to add mentors so that there were be a teaching/learning aspect this season. This also goes against the Manual (rule 57c, I believe). 1 Link to comment
Canada January 22, 2015 Share January 22, 2015 Not impressed so far this season, either by the group challenge or the talent. I really hope this is not an entire season of group challenges as they are my least favourite. I don't think anyone does their best work in them. I wasn't impressed by any of the final looks this week. 2 Link to comment
starri January 22, 2015 Share January 22, 2015 (edited) Given that the challenge was for 3 characters from 5 people, done over 4 days, these artists don't seem as good as in past seasons. I am thinking that the producers realized this (or realized that the talent pool was getting sparse) See, I used to think the talent pool thing was true, but then Dina happened. As far as why the make-ups didn't seem very good, I think it was a "too many cooks" situation. In the finales, we've seen finalists with teams of two having to make two characters. This time, we had teams of five with three coaches trying to keep the chaos organized. Every person did multiple things (or at least it seemed, because it was really hard for me to keep track of everything), which made it harder to focus on one particular element and make it great. So the results, apart from the obvious flops like Team Laura's monkey, were pretty meh. Edited January 22, 2015 by starri 2 Link to comment
Kromm January 23, 2015 Share January 23, 2015 (edited) If this challenge was indicative of the caliber of talent we have this season, I think we're in trouble. I thought they were all pretty crappy, with the monkey queen and the one gray alien the judges liked being slightly better. Yeah. On one hand this is only the first challenge and those can be a mess. On the other hand, they only had three looks AND an extra day. And Team Laura was a study in contrasts--interesting aliens and such a super-slipshod monkey, there was no way to NOT eliminate the person responsible. Edited January 23, 2015 by Kromm Link to comment
LoneHaranguer January 23, 2015 Share January 23, 2015 And Team Laura was a study in contrasts--interesting aliens and such a super-slipshod monkey, there was no way to NOT eliminate the person responsible. Since this show has taken a page from The Voice in having the coaches compete as well as the contestants, we may see similar ploys to dump the least talented contestants. Laura may have deliberately put her worst team members on the monkey. 1 Link to comment
hincandenza January 24, 2015 Share January 24, 2015 See, I used to think the talent pool thing was true, but then Dina happened. As far as why the make-ups didn't seem very good, I think it was a "too many cooks" situation. Wait, did you say... "Too Many Cooks"? :) 1 Link to comment
Kromm January 24, 2015 Share January 24, 2015 Since this show has taken a page from The Voice in having the coaches compete as well as the contestants, we may see similar ploys to dump the least talented contestants. Laura may have deliberately put her worst team members on the monkey. Wouldn't be wise in Round 1, where it has now led to them having a numerical disadvantage. Given that the teams are all probably going to be given the same amount of work no matter what, having one less person is an instant major disadvantage, no matter how crappy that person was. Link to comment
sourpickles January 24, 2015 Share January 24, 2015 I'm still not sold on the whole teams thing, or how it will work later, but focusing on right now...I'm astounded how the guy that did the hands (was that Ben?) wasn't sent home. I guess they send home Gregory (again, ?) for sheering stalkerness, but I didn't feel any of the groups were super cohesive. None of them looked like they belonged together. If they wanted to do a monkey challenge, they could/should have done it separate because none of this twist then twist vs twist looked right. There were some people who looked good though, so I guess time will tell. Link to comment
snakenax January 24, 2015 Share January 24, 2015 Laura may have deliberately put her worst team members on the monkey. I actually think the guy deliberately took on the monkey alone, because he viewed himself as the group leader and the most experienced. Which is one of the things that really screwed him, he was trying to solo the monkey while still playing team lead. Link to comment
PepperMonkey January 24, 2015 Share January 24, 2015 I'm not going to stop watching this show. It's one of my favourites and I still love everything about it, even the crappy talent they seem to have this go round. To be fair, it IS early, but, yeah, these guys are so far beneath last season's sculptestants, it's not even funny. Someone mentioned thinking the talent pool was exhausted, then Dina happened (DINA!!): I agree slightly, but I thought the top 3 last season were all super talented and even some of the last few eliminated could have probably won against these guys. Having said that, I still like them and want to like them all, although I am getting a "can't wait till he leaves" vibe from Ben. I said this last week, but as happy as I am to have Ve back, I really hope we haven't seen the last of Lois. Oh, and, I'm fine with Mr. Westmore doing his walk-throughs and critiques without McKenzie; nothing against her, I just love him and appreciate his straightforward and actually helpful advice. Link to comment
needschocolate January 24, 2015 Share January 24, 2015 Do we know for sure that they will always be divided into three teams on all challenges? They tend to do team challenges in the beginning anyway - I assume because there are so many people - but just because their are in three teams doesn't mean the can't divide them into pairs or have individual challenges. I could even see them pairing everyone up with someone from another team - it might make it difficult to mentor, but they seem to handle judging just fine when they had "al five of us worked on this one character - I did the eyes and the feet, he did the fingernails and the left ear, she did the cowl and the tight ear, etc...) Link to comment
sourpickles January 24, 2015 Share January 24, 2015 Oh, I loved Dina. My husband and I had her picked from minute one to win. Now that I've exhausted those powers, whoever I love this season will go home. Soon. On the other hand, I don't remember Anthony. At all. I even went and looked up his season and only remembered about half of the episodes. Not sure what that says about me, but I'm now automatically leaning toward Rayce and Laura. Cause I remember them! I will always watch but man, this teams thing, I'm still not sold on. Link to comment
bilgistic January 25, 2015 Share January 25, 2015 This may have been brought up in earlier seasons (I just started watching last season), but is Mackenzie only allowed to wear Herve Leger bandage cocktail dresses? She's got a killer body, but they are constantly putting her in the same dress over and over.I was thinking that same thing, and isn't that dress, like, very 2011? Says me, Queen Old Navy Clearance Rack.I'm so proud of Glenn for having used deep conditioner once or twice between seasons. I saw pictures of his cats on Twitter or Instagram. Love! I miss George from last season. The workroom seemed much less fun without his dancing and modeling of costumes. 2 Link to comment
sourpickles January 26, 2015 Share January 26, 2015 I've wondered about those dresses for quite a while. I'm a girl, but still, for three seasons or so the only thing I could see when she was on screen was boobs. Good boobs, but boobs. I still have no idea what she said most the time. Link to comment
snakenax January 26, 2015 Share January 26, 2015 On the other hand, I don't remember Anthony. At all. I even went and looked up his season and only remembered about half of the episodes. Not that surprising, season four was really rough and amateur, mostly notable for how thoroughly Anthony trashed his competition throughout the season. Link to comment
LoneHaranguer January 26, 2015 Share January 26, 2015 Given that the teams are all probably going to be given the same amount of work no matter what, having one less person is an instant major disadvantage, no matter how crappy that person was. I think it's been demonstrated on The Apprentice numerous times that a team member can be worse than dead weight, Omarosa being the most famous example from that show. Link to comment
sourpickles January 27, 2015 Share January 27, 2015 re: snakeax...oh good, I guess I blocked out that whole season. I even asked my husband and he said "nope, who is that?". And if people want to Lavender Hair Kelly, did ya'll see Keighlan last season? THAT was what we would call sea foam green. Good gravy. She was so talented and I wish they had kept her over Sasha, but the only thing I could focus on when she talked was the green and the red. She was a really pretty kissing ball. Link to comment
snakenax January 27, 2015 Share January 27, 2015 re: snakeax...oh good, I guess I blocked out that whole season. I can't blame anyone for blocking out Autumn.. or Eric Z... or House... or the lady with the tumor in her wrist... or the list just goes on. 1 Link to comment
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