S08.E12: Deadly Dolls

[ElectricBoogaloo]

The artists must overcome obstacles in order to give life to creepy dolls.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Clip:

[Portia]

Big surprise, Darla's made another character who looks like Darla!

[Canada]

It's okay of Darla does it because it's her "signature move".  If anyone else does the same thing over and over again, though, they get called on it.

[marieYOTZ]

I'm flabergasted that they eliminated Adam over Julian! Flabergasted!

I get why they picked Darla's over Emily's as the winner - but i preferred Emily's in terms of overall effect, rather than skill required to create - that rag doll really did seem to emote to me. It made me want to apologize to any childhood toy that i mistreated (which was none, i think, i've always had a velveteen rabbit complex)

Darla's felt more tired to me, inasmuch as it was a well rendered broken porcelin doll. But other than creating that effect with makeup on a human, it wasn't original. Wasn't there a broken porcelin doll in the opening credits of "are you afraid of the dark"? We get it, they're creepy

Edited April 1, 2015 by marieYOTZ

[minirth]

It absolutely kills me to lose Adam. I adored him, and I think he's more talented than Julian. Unfortunately, he ignored the damn challenge. DAMNIT!

[Ketzel]

Yeah, Adam basically threw himself on his own sword. It seems he knew from the get-go that what he was designing had only the most tangential connection to the actual challenge. And despite repeated warnings and suggestions of alternatives from his mentor, he just kept going with it. I was pleased when the judges pointed out to him that he hadn't done much of anything to make his character appear doll-like, like demonstrating an understanding of what having a monster inside would do physically to the structure of a plastic baby doll. My impression was that the judges were OK with the idea of a doll inhabited by a monster, but all Adam had given them was the monster.

Edited April 1, 2015 by Ketzel

[Rhetorica]

Loved Darla's porcelain doll. So glad she won. That was cool and creepy! Emily is always so excited but doesn't always execute well. She was creative tonight, though, with the Rag doll. I thought Logan's Voodoo doll was too muddy and nearly boring. I just didn't see it... Julian's ventriloquist dummy was a bad paint job but the sculpting was good. Adam just lost the doll in his design. He was warned. I was surprised to see him go, though. I thought he was really coming in to his own. Nice he was told he was so employable.

[Maelstrom]

Wow, did *not* expect to see Adam go. At all. Even though he basically blew off the challenge by doing a monster instead of a creepy doll, his work has been consistently good this season, especially over Julian's. I think it was just last week I predicted Adam as a shoo-in for the finale, so I guess it's my fault he's gone this week. Sorry everyone!

 

Though the judging on Face Off can be, let's just say inconsistent, it does seem like every time a contestant says (or implies) that they didn't want to follow the challenge guidelines, they're gone. Maybe that's why they ditched Adam over Julian. Either that, or Adam just got Roy'd (being canned right before the finale to eliminate serious competition for the Chosen Few). Yes, I am suspicious that way. This is still reality tv after all.

 

Emily and Darla both had good makeups tonight. I probably would've gone with Emily for the win, though I can't begrudge Darla. While I agree she has a bit of Rod-itis going on with the same face over and over, I do think it was an appropriate choice for the challenge tonight, and the paint job looked pretty good. She and Emily both had a good night.

 

Had to laugh at Laura speed-walking off the stage to avoid walking alongside Darla's creepy doll. And when the doll hit herself in the face with the mirror and scared the crap out of Neville. Hee.

 

Next week's wild west steampunk challenge looks fun. Though it'll be sad without Adam and his hair. Speaking of hair, Glenn's was in fine form tonight. I almost wanted to ask how he fabricated it.

Edited April 1, 2015 by Maelstrom

[snakenax]

 

Either that, or Adam just got Roy'd (being canned right before the finale to eliminate serious competition for the Chosen Few)

I don't really understand that theory. If you want to ensure someone wins the finale, Roy is the kind of person you put in it because like Cig last season, he's effectively dead weight. Why? All season finales since the first season have focused on minimalist make ups that have to hold up to high stress athletics with no real room for fabrication or immobile pieces. So someone can be the best big ol' fabricated monster maker ever, but they're guaranteed to lose the season unless they're also the best minimal, often feminine, make up and body painting artist as well. I mean look at how outright bad Roy's output was in the season 5 finale, he's hardly the obvious winner unless the contest is 'make something huge and immobile'.

Edited April 1, 2015 by snakenax

[Richness]

As much as I liked Adam, he had the worst make-up out there. Sorry to see him go.

 

I didn't fall for the editing ploy for Emily's mold freakout going to commercial. I knew it would be fine once they got back. So the break in her shoulder piece later did surprise me. I think we can definitely say that she's taken on the role of over the top reactions to the challenges. Do the producers make them go all s****** like that on purpose? Did Kelly infect Emily before she left? Or has she always been this bad, and Kelly was so much worse?

 

Apparently, doing a cracked porcelain doll is the key to success started by Sasha in the last season. While Darla did a fantastic job and deserved the win, I'm now officially tired of this look, and hope we don't see it again for a few seasons. However, I don't see the repetition in her looks like Emily's big hair. Either that, it just doesn't annoy me as much.

 

Overall, I just couldn't enjoy this episode due to my dislike of dolls. The dolls in the museum will probably cause nightmares tonight. Furthermore, just having the dolls hanging out in the background was creepy enough without adding in flashes of them turning on their own. Bad show!

[Mr. Simpatico]

Had to laugh at Laura speed-walking off the stage to avoid walking alongside Darla's creepy doll. And when the doll hit herself in the face with the mirror and scared the crap out of Neville. Hee.

 

I want to say that Darla's model has a lot to do with the win. She completely sold it and was in character throughout (including hitting herself in the mirror with the judges there). This is one time where Darla's same-face abilities helped her. It was a good make-up, although when she first announced what she was doing I flashed back to Sasha's cracked doll make-up from last season (which was superb) and thought it wouldn't compare. In retrospect though, I would have given it to Emily. There was A LOT of work there in that rag doll and it's is very brave to make a character that can have pretty much no face and yet still be expressive.

 

I'm not sure what the heck Adam was thinking unless it was self-sabotage. I knew as soon as he said he was going to go his own way despite Rayce's advice about making sure the "baby" part of the "baby doll" was still visible in the final product that he was going to be the one to go tonight (Julian was in the bottom true, but his make-up wasn't horrible enough to bypass Adam not even bothering to do the challenge). 

Edited April 1, 2015 by Mr. Simpatico

[GaT]

I agreed with the judges tonight, I thought Darla's doll was the best. She really made it look like porcelain. I knew Adam was a goner as soon as I saw his finished look. I didn't think it looked anything like a doll, it looked like a monster who ate dolls. 

[Black Knight]

It was interesting to hear Glenn specifically say that viewers at home wouldn't understand how hard the technical work Darla did was. He was expecting that Emily's doll would be the popular choice for the audience. It's not the first time that I've felt that the judges on Face Off have made their choice based on knowledge of their field that most viewers just won't have (and I'm fine with that - the judges are the experts), but I think it's the first time I've ever heard a judge say something like that outright.

 

I think the thing I found most disturbing about Emily's doll was how...claustrophobic the face made me feel, what with no nose and no mouth. I was wondering how poor Megan could breathe in the thing. Darla's model, who I also recognize from her many appearances but am spacing on the name of, I thought rose to Megan levels of performance this week, too. Those big eyes she has really helped, all Darla had to do on that score was pop in some blue contacts.

 

Julian, for god's sake don't paint the hair basically the same color as the face. He should have painted the hair dark brown or black, and that would've helped tremendously. Fortunately for him, Adam was worse.

 

I like Adam a lot, but I had no sympathy for him. First, I didn't like that he seemed unhappy with having a baby doll when he wasn't the last one to pick (and IIRC, there was one more doll than contestants picking, per usual for FO so that the last contestant to pick doesn't have no choice at all). Second, I knew he was going home as soon as he said, "I understand what Mr. Westmore is saying, but..." It's Mr. Westmore. This many seasons in, every contestant should be well aware that any sentence with "Mr. Westmore said" should never, ever be followed with a "but." Mr. Westmore is always right. Third, Adam did a poor job executing the concept he came up with. I think his big mistake there was sculpting the "tentacles" as part of the face. I put tentacles in quotes because I could never have told what those things were had I not already known what they were supposed to be, which means I also couldn't tell that it was supposed to be a doll with a monster within. If he had sculpted the doll face, and fabricated tentacles, I think that would have saved him - not only would the whole "monster inside" concept have been better executed, it would've also looked more like a doll. But, Adam seems like a genuinely nice and sweet guy.

 

The contestants are recapping events rather than giving real-time narration, so I assume they're told to say some kind of "I'm in trouble now" or "I'm going home" phrase for anything that went wrong during their work. It's just an easy cliffhanger line for the editors to cut to commercial break with. So I don't ever really take that as an indication of anyone's personality per se. Some contestants, like Emily, just give a more enthusiastic line reading than others. It's when we see them freaking out in the studio that I think of them as being kind of melodramatic. But Emily's actual in-studio reactions to the things that went wrong this week were pretty low-key.

[hincandenza]

Huh.  I also would have given it to Emily for the reasons some people have already said: Darla's execution was absolutely top notch sure, but how many times have we seen the porcelain doll effect?  I agree with the judges that the makeup was fantastic on that, no question.  It's just that Darla picked a porcelain doll and then... yup, made exactly that.  Yay.

 

Sure it was flawlessly executed, but there was nothing new or novel about it because the porcelain-doll-come-to-life is such a cliche in horror movies and TV.  Heck, it was a winning look earlier this season, back in week 5 when Stephanie and Kelly made the very cool ticking Housewife Automaton.   I'd also note that as predicted at the start of this thread by Portia, Darla once again did the moon-faced, polished-skin sculpt.  She really is the Rod of this season, same look over and over with a subconscious echoing of her own face.

 

Emily's rag doll was also a perfect fit for the challenge, was also perfectly executed, and yet was new and unique and memorable.  Plus, I just liked it more: washed out, dirty colors from head to toe perfectly captured the rag doll left in the rain, and by being convincingly faceless, it had that creepy humanoid "other" quality where I could forget there was a human actor in there.  It reminded me a little of Samara from "The Ring", crawling up out of that well in a filthy dress.  Brrrrr... 

 

I was never worried she was going home, since the mold drama was obviously just their usual commercial break editing trick, and she had the wisdom to get one thing in a mold on day 1.  That happens every now and then but I think it should be far more common.  It seems like much smarter time management as day 1 is usually 6 hours or so, day 2 is 8-9, and day 3 is always 4 (plus last looks).  By focusing on sculpting and casting one single piece on day 1, you then have the second and longest day to make any small repairs (or even recast it if it was a disaster) and start painting it while also sculpting and casting the other big piece you have.  That leaves day 3 to simply finish the already-started painting and do more finishing touches, with less stress and fewer chances of unexpected problems cropping up when you have the least amount of time to address them.  Compare this to the usual "sculpt everything at once" method where you cast all your pieces near the end of day 2; nearly every week there is at least one person who has an issue with a foam piece that either ruins their makeup or requires extensive repairs on day 3, cascading that problem into a rushed or unfinished paint job or abandoned components, and an overall shoddy piece.

 

 

I can't really critique Adam going over Julian.  Yes, Adam has been stronger of late, and has more work on this show that stood out... but if you look at the contestant progress it's not like Adam wasn't pretty weak to start, and has been in bottom looks as much as Julian (and one fewer time in top looks, although he had an outright win last week).  Of course I think he is a better artist overall, but if the judging is fair they should ignore past work when deciding (excepting when it's basically a tie and thus functions as a "save" of someone like Emily earlier this season).  From that perspective, Adam completely missed the boat on this challenge.  In no way or shape did that read "doll", much less the doll he used, and the craftwork itself wasn't noteworthy.

 

Julian was terribly amateurish: the idea was simplistic, the proportions were terrible, the colors palette awful, and the 17th century vest looked more to me like a high school varsity letter jacket- so it felt overall like a zombie classmate in the Archie comics.  But at least it was a doll, and echoed the ventriloquist dummy he was inspired by.  The small bit of doll-ness in Adam's wasn't even recognizable as such, because that looked more like a creature wearing a bone domino mask than a doll breaking apart from the inside.

 

Logan's was bland.  I wouldn't have read "voodoo doll" from that at all except for the pin; if he hadn't had that pin fabrication I think he'd have been in bottom looks instead of Julian.  I think it looked more like a man who had third degree burns over his body and was wrapped in bandages than voodoo, especially with the bloody eyes peeking out from under the burlap.  I think Rayce was a lousy coach this week, because had Logan gone with his original plan he'd have covered the separate pieces with burlap and it would have looked more like a stitched-together doll head instead of a human wrapped in burlap.  I think his day 1 advice confused Logan and effectively cost him a day from indecision, then he was useless later when inundating him with rapid-fire nitpicking that left his contestant more dizzied.

 

Small sample size and all, but wow is Laura looking like a vastly better coach; I mean, anything can happen and I can see Julian, Emily or Darla struggling with steampunk but if Logan goes home next week then Laura has the finale monopolized.  Far more than the other coaches, she seems to give constructive and targeted advice, or useful tips in application, without confusing her peeps- yet when necessary she does gently steer them away from concept disasters.  Her first loss was Gregory who was frankly hopeless, and then she didn't lose anyone until Stephanie finally collapsed just two weeks ago.  By comparison, Anthony seemed checked out for most of this season while Rayce doesn't really give great advice (although that may be confirmation bias on my part).

[FormerMod-a1]

I thought Darla's looked exactly like something I've seen before.  And in specifics, not just generally a porcelain doll come to life.  So I was surprised it won.  However, I can't figure out where I think I saw it before.  I was "this close" to doing a google image search last night because of it, but then I fell asleep, and this morning I don't care as much.

[Taeolas]

Unless Logan completely calls it in next week, one of Laura's group will go home next week; I don't see them giving her the 'win' an ep before otherwise. 

 

As for this week, I have no problem with the call. The Top 2 looks were heads above the bottom three, and I would have been happy with either winning the round. Megan and whomever the other model is are among the best IMO, and they really sell what they get. (I'm not sure if they've mentioned her name, Megan's been getting a lot of name dropping in the past couple seasons)

 

As for the bottom three, all of them missed the mark IMO. The Dummy and the Voodoo doll both didn't look right to me, but the dummy's model sold it a bit better. (the clacking jaw effect he did just before they switched to the next model sold it for me).

 

That said, Adam's monster just missed completely (And IIRC he had one of the stronger models as well, but he didn't really give her much to work with). He deserved to go home for that. But judging by the final comments, I suspect he's all but got a job lined up already.

[tobysmom]

It absolutely kills me to lose Adam. I adored him, and I think he's more talented than Julian. Unfortunately, he ignored the damn challenge. DAMNIT!

yeah, that is basically how I feel.  When I saw his concept I didn't like it at all, I understood it; but didn't like the face at all.  Then he started to considering what his mentor was saying and I was "whew" he's going to change it - but damnit he didn't.  Sorry Adam :(

 

Have to give it to Darla, her doll was good.  But, her model SOLD that character, she was amazing; as was Emily's.  I loved how Emily's model flopped down at the end.  So BRAVO to the models.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I totally agreed with the judges about the top looks tonight. Darla and Emily were much better than anything else on the stage.

 

Adam had to go for not even trying to fulfill the requirements of this challenge. And if you're going to be stubborn enough to ignore the basic instructions (make a creepy doll) and then ignore Mr. Westmoreland's suggestions, then you deserve to go home.

[seacliffsal]

I was really surprised when Neville told Adam that he would be very employable.  Just by the fact that Mr. Westmore as well as Rayce told him he was missing the challenge and that in a confessional (or two or three) Adam said that he wanted to do what he wanted to do and make something memorable.  Too bad it will be memorable for losing and being completely off task.  I really wanted him to make it to the finale but he was just too invested in what he wanted to do rather than what he was asked to do.  To me, this does not make him employable.  So, I still don't understand Neville's comment.

[Pandora]

Small sample size and all, but wow is Laura looking like a vastly better coach[...] Far more than the other coaches, she seems to give constructive and targeted advice, or useful tips in application, without confusing her peeps

 

You're right, it's a small sample size and who knows what happens that we don't see? But having said that, I thought Laura's suggestion for Emily to use a power tool on her doll's hair was a fine example of why they're using coaches this season. Laura didn't get too far up in Emily's concept, what we saw was Emily's work, Laura just had a suggestion on how she could execute her concept without using a bunch of time. We get to see a better end product, the contestants are less stressed, the coaches get practice in supervising, the judges don't have to send as many people home for "swinging for the fences" and being unable to finish, it seems like a win for everyone.

[GinevradiBenci]

Adam might have been able to pull something safe off if his out-there design had been a better one, but it was not only a very distant take on the assignment but it was also kind of crappy design all on its own. It looked goofy, not terrifying.

 

Emily and Darla did such good work, but none of the others did much for me. I agree that the wooden dummy looked a lot more like a stereotypical 1950s jock and the costuming added to that.

[Primetimer]

The facetestants get a break from the recent run of cute makeup challenges with one that requires them to turn make menacing doll characters.

Read the story

[OakGoblinFly]

I want to say that Darla's model has a lot to do with the win. She completely sold it and was in character throughout (including hitting herself in the mirror with the judges there). This is one time where Darla's same-face abilities helped her. It was a good make-up, although when she first announced what she was doing I flashed back to Sasha's cracked doll make-up from last season (which was superb) and thought it wouldn't compare. In retrospect though, I would have given it to Emily. There was A LOT of work there in that rag doll and it's is very brave to make a character that can have pretty much no face and yet still be expressive.

 

I'm not sure what the heck Adam was thinking unless it was self-sabotage. I knew as soon as he said he was going to go his own way despite Rayce's advice about making sure the "baby" part of the "baby doll" was still visible in the final product that he was going to be the one to go tonight (Julian was in the bottom true, but his make-up wasn't horrible enough to bypass Adam not even bothering to do the challenge). 

 

 

Not just Rayce, Mr. Westmore too.  And one thing I've learned, always listen to Mr. Westmore.

 

I thought Emily's model was pretty awesome as well - she moved like a rag doll and I think that really "sold" the character.

Edited April 1, 2015 by OakGoblinFly

[Tech Noir]

I just can't get too invested in whether or not people's designs are super original when the challenge is something as over done as 'creepy doll'. I mean, the concept itself is just so played out. I agree with the judges almost all the time, that panel is one of the things I respect most about this show. Their opinions ARE based on knowledge that the viewing audience simply does not have. As mentioned by another poster, Glenn's comment about technical skills/viewers at home was very telling.

 

I thought the right person went home.  I don't have strong opinions about who should win, I think everyone left does good work. Although Darla's painting skills seem tome to be a little bit stronger than the othes, and Emily's hair skills cannot be matched.  Top 3 could really be any combination of those that are left!

 

This show repeats itself a lot. I think they should have one season a year instead of two, maybe then it would feel fresher.

[Black Knight]

Small sample size and all, but wow is Laura looking like a vastly better coach; I mean, anything can happen and I can see Julian, Emily or Darla struggling with steampunk but if Logan goes home next week then Laura has the finale monopolized.  Far more than the other coaches, she seems to give constructive and targeted advice, or useful tips in application, without confusing her peeps- yet when necessary she does gently steer them away from concept disasters.  Her first loss was Gregory who was frankly hopeless, and then she didn't lose anyone until Stephanie finally collapsed just two weeks ago.  By comparison, Anthony seemed checked out for most of this season while Rayce doesn't really give great advice (although that may be confirmation bias on my part).

I have wondered if contestant Anthony would've lasted longer if he'd been on Laura's team. I remember when the coaches were picking their teams, Laura had a talking-head insert where she was hoping Anthony wouldn't be taken yet, but then one of the other coaches, I forget who, grabbed him. Anthony proceeded to go home relatively early without really showing whatever it was that Laura saw in him that made her want him so much.

 

I think Rayce is getting tuned out somewhat by the people on his team. He had that fiasco a while ago where he admitted to the judges that he steered his team wrong, and I wonder if that started the tuning-out. Plus, I thought Logan's comment in this episode that he and Rayce don't have the same aesthetic was telling, because it sounds like Rayce may be a little too rigid about his preferred style rather than seeing what his contestants' individual styles are and focusing his advice on how to execute what they want to execute. And that segment where he was just overwhelming Logan with all those notes was painful. Logan found a civil way to phrase it, but it was really essentially telling Rayce to STFU.

[Kaoteek]

Would've given the win to Emily. Not only was Darla's porcelain make-up very been there, seen that, but it never convincingly read porcelain doll to me, partly due to its proportions, and partly to the eyes & their electric blue contacts, which made it too alive & make-upy rather than dead, cold and scary. It was a competent make-up, but Emily's was much stronger, as far as i'm concerned.

 

As for this week's loser, well, no surprise there.

[Cyranetta]

One of the things that impressed me about Emily's creation this week was how she was able to redirect herself when the shoulder-piece cracked. I suspect that the cotton stuffing element might have actually wound up being more effective than the original idea (especially with the help of Megan's character animation).

[Bella]

I loved both Darla and Emily's dolls, but I would have given the win to Emily's simply because I thought that was a harder concept to pull off.

 

My heart sank when I saw Adam's. It wasn't just not a doll, it was emphatically not a doll. They didn't have much choice.

[Black Knight]

I just can't get too invested in whether or not people's designs are super original when the challenge is something as over done as 'creepy doll'. I mean, the concept itself is just so played out.

Good point. Looking back at last night, I don't think the judges went into that challenge looking for, much less requiring, originality. I loved Emily's doll too, but was it really any more of a twist on the rag doll she picked than Darla's was on the porcelain doll she picked? I don't think so. It only feels fresher because we don't see rag dolls as often as porcelain dolls (not just on Face Off, but life in general). Logan and Julian were much the same, only their technical execution wasn't nearly as strong. Adam is the only one who really went for a twist on the doll he picked, but he went too far conceptually and he executed it poorly.

 

The more I think about it, the more I think that the judges very much viewed this challenge as being about technical skill, which explains Darla's win - I'll take their word for it that she did the most impressive technical work (I believe one mentioned that it was camera-ready, which is really important). And it makes sense they would have a challenge like this at this point in the season, to weed out contestants who aren't going to do well with the particular technical specifications of the finale challenge that snakeax laid out above.

Edited April 2, 2015 by Black Knight

[Kromm]

Ah man, Tara, you're being so harsh in the recap about Emily and her excited puppy like qualities! I don't read what she's doing as mugging or overacting for screen time. I think she legitimately IS that excited about like... everything. It's weird, yes--maybe even MORESO because teenagers these days tend to act blase and moody more often than gushing--but she's a throwback I guess to the times when 18 year olds bounced up and down like lunatics to communicate pleasure.

[Portia]

Loved loved loved this challenge, but I cry bullshit at Adam being booted over Whatshisname. Julian's thing didn't read "ventriloquist's dummy" to me at all.

I guess the judges like them, but does anyone besides me get tired of the elaborate backstories? Sometimes I just want someone to say, "This baby doll is scary because, um, it's an evil baby doll."

To me the two women were neck and neck. Emily's creativity with materials astounded me once again, but Darla showed more technical proficiency, and her doll scared the everloving poop out of me. Oh, and personality wise, I'll take Emily over Darla any day of the week. She seems smug and humorless to me 100% of the time.

[Kromm]

Another vote for Emily deserving the win.  While it's true that the painting of the cracks on the porcelain doll was incredibly hard and incredibly detailed, and deserved praise, and it's also true that Darla had to contend more with a level of familiarity people have with porcelain dolls, I think Emily's big innovation was actually in the decision to make the face disappear. That is NOT a standard aspect of a Rag Doll, and yet it still managed to be read as Rag Doll.  Ergo, it read as incredibly creepy and yes, the judges for a change were actually right... also very sad.

[snakenax]

I think Adam's could have worked with a few changes. First off, sculpt at least one oversize baby doll leg and have the hanging baby doll arms not be from regular size baby dolls but sculpted to match the proportion of the head. Pad the torso so it has that somewhat shapeless baby doll shape to it. Then have the tentacles coming through the mouth and jaw, rather than obliterating the head directly below the nose. That way you can keep the giant rounded baby doll cheeks and have it still come off as that doll. Then don't crack the head apart, leave it recognizable whole.

[Reishe]

I guess the judges like them, but does anyone besides me get tired of the elaborate backstories? Sometimes I just want someone to say, "This baby doll is scary because, um, it's an evil baby doll."

 

1000x yes. Particularly because so many of the backstories are so farfetched. "My character started becoming a clock/bridge/fish/demon..." Maybe it's because a lot of these contestants have a background in monsters, so the fantastical comes naturally to them. My viewing experience of FX makeup is aliens (which are shaped by biological forces, not supernatural) and medical FX, so I'm just not used to that line of thinking.

[Tech Noir]

I guess the judges like them, but does anyone besides me get tired of the elaborate backstories?

 

YES. The whole backstory thing has always bugged me. Actual make-up artists working on films get a script. They don't invent back stories for charatcers, they create characters based on information laid out by the writers/director/actors. They also don't do outfits or hairstyles as there is a costume designer who handles the wardrobe design, and a hairdresser who handles wigs etc.

 

Yeahhh, I know, reality shows are not actual reality and that would be boring television (but the backstories still make me roll my eyes).

 

Oh, and personality wise, I'll take Emily over Darla any day of the week. She seems smug and humorless to me 100% of the time.

 

 Aw. To me she just seems serious and reserved. So many artists are introverted. Not everyone can be adorable and bubbly.

Edited April 2, 2015 by Tech Noir

[Linderhill]

 

I guess the judges like them, but does anyone besides me get tired of the elaborate backstories?

The backstories don't bother me much on this show, its when they go into way too much detail on say, Project Runway, that they stories are truly eye-roll worthy.  And if you don't like the backstories, don't watch the Jim Henson project show.  In that show every character had an elaborate backstory.

[Ketzel]

Aww, I like the backstories. I think it offers the designers another way to be creative with what they've been handed to do. And I think there have been a few times when a really creative one has saved an otherwise meh design.

[The Cake is a Pie]

I would have run screaming from the theater when the revealed all those dolls at the beginning. Porcelain dolls, ventriloquist dummies, and marionettes are my trifecta of nope. GAAAAHHHHHH!

I don't know how Julian has managed to stay on the show for this long with the crap work he's done week after week. This week he was just lucky that Adam didn't adhere to the actual challenge in any way. Julian could have made a life-sized exact replica of the ventriloquist dummy and it would have been far creepier than what he actually did.

[LoneHaranguer]

 

Actual make-up artists working on films get a script. They don't invent back stories for charatcers, they create characters based on information laid out by the writers/director/actors.

Make-up artists aren't always doing lead characters, so what they get isn't always complete. Sometimes it's just a vague idea. Not saying you need anything elaborate for a character that's just going to be on screen for 30 seconds, but being able to hypothesize a thumbnail bio helps to make the character look good. People will notice a bad job.

[starri]

I like Emily better as a person, but whether or not the broken porcelain doll was something we've seen before, Darla's execution was flawless.

 

Although both of them owe a debt to Naomi and Meghan.  They did the right thing thanked them, so that's good.

 

No matter who is the ultimate victor is, I think that it's pretty fair to say that Laura has absolutely won the season.  Whether she has two contestants in the finale or three, she coached rings around Anthony and Rayce.  By the end, it was clear Anthony no longer gave a crap and seemed to actively dislike Ben.  Rayce seems scattered.

[Kromm]

Aww, I like the backstories. I think it offers the designers another way to be creative with what they've been handed to do. And I think there have been a few times when a really creative one has saved an otherwise meh design.

The problem isn't allowing them backstories.  The problem is judging their placement down for not having the best one.

[Bella]

Even if it's just a 90-minute special, I'd like to see this show from the models' POV. Like, how did they get into this, what else do they do, how does this fit in with their other work, what would they like to see on Face Off, most and least favorite challenges, etc.

[Kromm]

No matter who is the ultimate victor is, I think that it's pretty fair to say that Laura has absolutely won the season.  Whether she has two contestants in the finale or three, she coached rings around Anthony and Rayce.  By the end, it was clear Anthony no longer gave a crap and seemed to actively dislike Ben.  Rayce seems scattered.

Laura's always been the VIP of the entire series.  Remember how outraged people were when she lost her first season, and how right and frankly inevitable it seemed when she won her second one.  Plus if you look at her IMDB (as Laura Dandridge, not Laura Tyler), she's worked more than the others as a result (although still not as much as she probably should have).

 

So yeah.  It's just another vindication, her dominating the coaching end of things.

[Ketzel]

By the end, it was clear Anthony no longer gave a crap and seemed to actively dislike Ben.

Hard to blame him, if true. Ben didn't seem even slightly coachable to me.

[starri]

Hard to blame him, if true. Ben didn't seem even slightly coachable to me.

I didn't find anything to root for with Ben, but Anthony is the one who elected to come back and act in the coach role, and to try and steer his team toward victory.  Given his role in getting Dina on the show, I would have thought he'd be great in that part, but based on what we saw, he not only doesn't have the best eye for talent, he's also not much of a leader/manager.

[CherZ]

I was in the Darla/Emiily camp this week. Happy if either of them won. :)

 

Adam's was a mess, and not even a hot one. It was just a mish mash that read anything but doll and it wasn't well put together. Julian's reminded me a little of a dummy in an old movie called "The Fear", but that dummy (which moved etc) was far scarier and more realistic than the crap he put together. Heck, throw on some paint and have it chipped away in parts, that would have been terrifying.

[jbrecken]

Instead of tights and shoes, Emily should have just put her model's feet in mismatched thick socks.

[LoneHaranguer]

 

Hard to blame him, if true. Ben didn't seem even slightly coachable to me.

The coaches chose their teams, but I don't recall how that went. Was Ben the final pick?

[sourpickles]

While I was a bit surprised Adam went home over Julian, I HATED both of those bottom looks, and was not at all surprised to see them land there. I think it is safe to say that someone from Laura's team is going home next week, if they eliminated the last contestant from Rayce's, what would be the point of the season? I am excited for the steampunk though, wish they'd done that sooner. I guess Darla should have won, though I've always had a preference for Emily, and I did like Logan's, though my first thought was that it should have had more pins. I was rather peeved that they had the porcelain doll in there at all, it gave me a bit of flashback to Stella's, and that was only last season. I was so disappointed as well that no one chose the matryoshka, I collect them and thought that it would make an awesome concept.