S08.E14: Just Recommended

[ElectricBoogaloo]

The final three must choose a recommended theme at the Vinpearl Land Amphitheater in Nha Trang, Vietnam.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

New episode description:

Before the winner of Face Off is revealed, the final three must create characters that could star in a film from one of three genres: Sci-Fi, Fantasy or Post-Apocalyptic.

 

Sneak peek:

[hincandenza]

It's always nice to see those moments, but was hoping we'd get a glimpse of the parameters of the finale beyond it being in Japan, and presumably having a significantly larger or more complicated challenge since they're getting four people as their support crew.

 

With makes it interesting from a judging standpoint: at that scale, it's pretty much all about a) core concept and b) organizational/managerial skills, since the finalists will not be hands-on for most of the work, other than key sculpts and finishing touches.  It's kind of odd to have a finale that stresses the skill of delegation, in the same season that introduced having dedicated coaches.  Also, I assume the coaches are on the sidelines next week; Laura would be split between two people (unless there's a "Sophie's Choice" over which of Emily or Darla gets Anthony instead), so even offering any kind of guidance puts her in an awkward position.

[Kromm]

Yeah, frankly that's a dumb thing to present as a preview. It makes for nice TV, I guess, but it's totally useless in terms of building anticipation for the episode.

 

Gotta say the brief "Sci-Fi, Fantasy or Post-Apocalyptic" could be played to handicap, depending on the pick order.  Either of the ladies would totally be at a big disadvantage with Post-Apocalyptic, for example, and Logan (although to a lesser degree) would be handicapped somewhat if he got Fantasy.

 

So the pick order would seem to be important.

[starri]

If I were a conspiracy theory type, I'd wager that they might have their thumb on the scale to make sure Emily gets Fantasy.

[diebartdie]

Emily took top looks last week so she'll most likely get first dibs and so will probably pick fantasy!

[LoneHaranguer]

Because fantasy is the obvious choice for someone who was inspired by haunted houses and is into Star Wars gaming?

[Kromm]

Because fantasy is the obvious choice for someone who was inspired by haunted houses and is into Star Wars gaming?

Whatever her stated hobbies, if you look at what Emily has done BEST, it seems to be the whimsical stuff, and that feeds more into Fantasy that the other choices.  Or if its not overtly whimsical, instead it can instead be organic looking--another thing we've seen Emily strong at. 

 

Post-Apocalyptic is only really going to be the first choice of someone who skews heavily to horror, "damage/wound" makeup, and other dark material.  More to the grotesque.

 

Sci-fi can go either way, but tends to feed more often (and easier) into colder, less organic looks.  Metals and body mods and such--although its going to meet in the middle with Post-Apocalyptic when it comes to stuff like Cyborgs (as opposed to just pure alien creatures--at least the ones that aren't predators/hunter characters).  It's the broadest category by far, but you do have to twist it a bit to skew to the whimsical, if that's the artists' strength, because it's also all too easy for a judge to look at a whimsical Sci-fi makeup and claim it's wandered into Fantasy makeup. 

Edited April 13, 2015 by Kromm

[LoneHaranguer]

 

Post-Apocalyptic is only really going to be the first choice of someone who skews heavily to horror, "damage/wound" makeup, and other dark material.  More to the grotesque.

You mean like the examples she's showing here:    http://www.emilyserpico.com/fx.html

[Kromm]

You mean like the examples she's showing here:    http://www.emilyserpico.com/fx.html

The examples of which, frankly aren't nearly as good as the quality of the whimsical stuff she's done on the show (and even the more fantastical stuff also on that same page).

Edited April 13, 2015 by Kromm

[Monty9]

The strongest impression I was left with: Emily somehow managed to put a wig on a dude made of glass.

 

But I am fine with Darla's win. The Wind character was indeed fan-friggin-tastic and I liked the interesting take on the Fire character. As for Emily the rest of the glass character was decent but his headpiece was kind of messy and random. In fact I think all of her characters could have been neater. They looked a bit too "random bits glued on a person" with the exception of the Leather one. Logan's were cute although I haaaaated the shark character and was confused why they liked it so much. It was just a big foam head I thought. The skunk was great. Poor Megan though had to bend over that whole time for the Armadillo.

 

As much as I will miss it, please producers....let's have a more experienced lot next time ok?

[Mr. Simpatico]

I have no problem with Darla's win. I liked Logan's better as a concept (and Megan was selling the hell out of that armored armadillo), but all put together her make-ups were the class of the bunch. A bit ironic that none of the judges (that we saw) commented on Darla's merman. Even in the final judging, Neville commented on how awesome she made the "women" look. A part of me thinks she won mostly on the Woodwind Elemental. 

 

But this was mostly about delegating (with viewers getting to see the actual talent some of the early booted off contestants had) and not the straight make-ups and apparently Darla was best at it (we didn't see any drama like with the finalists taking charge Emily/Adam or Logan/Gregory)? I pretty much knew Darla had in the bag (even before she won the "audience" vote) by the way the judges seemed much more enthused about her work than the others. 

 

Does this make Laura the greatest Face-Off contestant ever? Runner-up in her first season (she should have won), Winner in the All-Stars season and coach of two of this season's finalists including the winner. I wonder if the show will think of more reasons for her to pop up every now and then? Guest judge perhaps?

 

Even though I think July is too early to start a new season (judging by this season they are running out of experienced make-up artists) I'll still watch it. Even the worse of Face-Off is better than 90% of other reality shows. Syfy seems to get that as well since its become one of their signature/flagship shows.

[Maelstrom]

I've been pulling for Emily all season but Darla's win tonight was definitely deserved. All of her makeups were gorgeous (especially wind and earth) and looked the most cohesive of all the teams.

 

That said, all three groups looked pretty good, and all could've earned the win (Logan's characters made me think of Firefly). As Mr. Simpatico said it's really cool to see the banished contestants show their talents. The earth spirit's flower staff was great work by the one guy who's name I forget (heavyset with glasses) and the wind spirit's chest piece was very cool work by Stephanie. And Regina and Kelly's leather chest piece looked really convincing.

 

I can't think of a better person to be Face Off's first double winner than Laura, who proved once again what a class act she is by pointing out that it's such a team effort that it's almost a shame for just one person to win. What an awesome, talented lady.

 

(So… where'd all that promo stuff about going to Vietnam come from? I saw it on Wikipedia weeks ago. And we all know Wikipedia is never wrong. Stupid lying promo monkeys.)

 

July seems awful soon for the next season but I suppose it's about average considering they generally end the season around Sept/Oct. Here's hoping they keep up their gore/monster-lite challenges! Even though this season didn't have many standout contestants, it was a welcome change to have such a varied range of challenges.

 

See ya in the summer, Face Off!

[Rhetorica]

Great finale. All three were good but Darla's was at a higher level, as Neville said. I think you all have covered everything else I had to say. See you in July!

[GaT]

I was surprised Darla won, but OK. The fact that I didn't even know that tonight was the finale, & I wandered out of the room when the show was on & when I realized it, I didn't bother to rewind & watch what I missed tells me that this was a boring season.

 

Even though I think July is too early to start a new season (judging by this season they are running out of experienced make-up artists) I'll still watch it. 

Not only is it too early, but they've already filmed it. I think they ran out of good contestants about 3 seasons ago.

[Richness]

As much as I enjoy Face Off, the Returning Champion gimmick made it way too much about the Champions when it should have been about this season's actual contestants. Therefore, I'm finally glad to be done with it, and hope it never returns. Actually, I wouldn't mind the presence of returning Champions acting as mentors like Mr. Westmore does. However, any sort of competition among them needs to be focused on a true All-Stars season, and not mixing veterans with newbies.

 

As I said once before, the Champions have had their 15 minutes of fame whoring; move along so someone else can shine. I thought this was especially true when McKenzie had to gush about Laura being their first two-time Champion. No she isn't. She's simply the mentor whose contestant happened to win. Let Laura win an All-Star season where she's competed with the rest of the contestants, and THEN you can claim she's a two-time Champion. Till then, STFU.

 

With that having been said, Darla needs to send a big thank-you to Laura for giving her a concept redesign that helped rather than hinder her chances. That worm tree thing was hideous and stupid, while the mushroom tree spirit was gorgeous. The mushrooms created a very striking silhouette, which usually impresses the judges and grabs the eye. If anything, I thought that was more unique than the horns of the air spirit. Darla's concept of them being a musical instrument as part of her body was great, but Glen was going on about their uniqueness before learning that tidbit. Overall though, I will admit that the air spirit was gorgeous. However, the water spirit merman looked like he was trying out for the next Sharknado.

 

Unfortunately, Emily lost this due to a weak concept and poor presentation skills. Her explanation to the judges took a twist into the bizarre compared to what she explained in her talking heads and voice overs. The make-up also looked rather rough. It was also unfortunate that she tried to tie it into the Wizard of Oz. She was suppose to be launching her own big office franchise, not rebooting the idea of someone else. However, she's probably the most talented of the contestants there this season, and will go far.

 

I thought Logan's team fit the theme and parameters of the challenge the best. However, some of the make-up looked rough to me. He does get a few giggle points for joking that his movie franchise would simple be called "The".

 

Going into the finale, Logan had the most wins at 3, but he had no High or Low looks as they were all Safe/In. Darla and Emily were tied for 2 wins each. Emily had one more Hi look than Emily's 3, but also had one more Low look. Therefore, I think it really was a toss-up going into the finale. Perhaps if Emily hadn't got Post-Apocalyptic, it might have ended differently.

 

Regardless, I continue to enjoy Face Off, and look forward to future seasons.

[snakenax]

I'm kind of hoping next season is a full on All Stars season, I think the show has a strong enough backroll of runners up and notable contestants to bring back that it would be nice to see them come back and compete. But not a half assed half new half veteran season.

[phoenix780]

I have mixed feelings. 

 

It feels like this was the first finale without a whole lot of movement, though I may factually be wrong, and I missed that.  The one that stood out to me in the tableaux was the satyr, Darla's team, but that was also one with a wind machine on it the whole time making it feel dynamic (plus that actor works every piece).  In that way it was a little disappointing, and maybe skewed. 

 

Still, I don't think anyone was robbed, so it's not like I'm all that bothered.  Though I would like to know- who had the concept behind that piece?  They loved the idea of it being a wind instrument...was that actually Darla? 

 

What stood out to me most was MacKenzie, actually, and how much she's grown as a host.  

 

Here's hoping next season is more exciting- not that this was bad, exactly.

[OakGoblinFly]

Unfortunately, Emily lost this due to a weak concept and poor presentation skills. Her explanation to the judges took a twist into the bizarre compared to what she explained in her talking heads and voice overs. The make-up also looked rather rough. It was also unfortunate that she tried to tie it into the Wizard of Oz. She was suppose to be launching her own big office franchise, not rebooting the idea of someone else. However, she's probably the most talented of the contestants there this season, and will go far.

 

 

I would not be surprised if Ve snaps Emily up as an assistant on her next project ...... she's been a fan and supporter of Emily since day once (deservedly so).

[LadyMustang65]

I think this was the first time I went into a finale without a definite idea of who I wanted to win.  Logan was my favorite from a personality standpoint, and there hasn't been much of his that I haven't liked.  Tonight was no exception.  I thought his was a great concept, and it was well executed.  I would have been happy for him to win.  Emily has probably had the most looks that I've really loved, and I like that she's pretty together for someone so young.  I wasn't as in love with her concept, and I thought some of the execution could have been better, but it was still a good set.  I was probably rooting the most for her going into the finale, but her group of characters were the ones liked least of the three, so while I would have been happy to see her win, I wasn't unhappy that she didn't either.  Darla was probably my least favorite person of the three - not sure why but I never really warmed up to her as a person - but I've loved a lot of her make-ups over the season, and since I tend to lean more towards fantasy make-ups in general, I liked her set a little bit better than Logan's, especially the earth and air characters.  Fire was good, but I honestly cannot remember what the water character looked like.  No recollection at all.  So I'm happy that she won but would not have felt she was robbed if either of the others had won.  So good night all around!

 

I did like the way they picked blind.  That made it more fair than if they had known what they were getting.  I have a feeling that if they had been able to see the genres, Darla might well have ended up with post-apocalyptic since she was picking last.  I suspect Emily would have picked Fantasy and Logan still would have taken SciFi.  That might have changed the results a bit.  So that was good.  I also enjoyed them having to pick random words off a board and come up with a title for their movie franchise.  That was a fun way to get things going.  I love Logan's sense of humor, so I laughed at the "The" name.  :)

 

Count me in on those who would love to see a true all-star season.  They have a ton of prospects to choose from to be able to do several of them.  I'm not sure how many seasons they've had, but it seems like they should have enough to do a true all-stars season with just the winners from each season competing against each other.  That would be amazing.  And a season filled with the non-winning finalists would be great.  Even a season of first-offs would be interesting since they've mostly all had time to really grow and learn and knowing what it's like to be on the show they should be able to manage better.  Lots of interesting ideas there, I think.

[Eliza422]

One thing I think Is interesting is that they had 4 days to do this challenge - and the quality really soared.

I don't remember if in previous finales they've had the extra day - I know they have always had the extra hands.

Imagine the regular challenges having that extra day - we would have much better work!!!

I was happy Darla won, I loved her characters.

I'm not sure why Glenn loved the shark - I thought it was the weakest one of all 12 characters up there. However, Logan's foursome had the most acting going on...the shark was really working that computer terminal!

[Tasya]

Hmm in our house we thought Emily should have taken the win. Her characters were memorable, done well and overall a new and unique concept. She should have gone with the explanation she originally had, I feel like she thought she needed to change and spice up her plot. I think her original explanation was just fine and it made a lot of sense. Logan's was nice but we thought it was too cutesy and read more like a Kid's film.

 

My issue with Darla's win is that there was nothing unique or new about her characters other than the wind character. Plus the concept itself was sooo lame and tired. You have Fantasy so you choose to use the 4 elements. So very predictable. I think that if Logan or Emily had any of the genres they would have done well. Darla only had a chance to win with Fantasy. If she had gotten Sci-fi or Post-Apocalyptic she would have failed; badly. I just think that her monitor was going to say Fantasy no matter, call me crazy. 

 

I also noticed that unlike previous seasons they didn't reflect back on overall body of work before making their decisions. I think that's because it would have shown how many of Darla's characters were similar as well as not put her in a good light next to the other two. 

 

I am also hoping for an all-star season; although I suppose my all-time favorite would not get to come back again (Tate). 

[Bella]

I thought Darla's win was well-deserved. I would have given Logan second place and Emily third, if they did it that way.

 

Laura did a short interview about this season, which I'll place in our media thread (assuming we have one).

[LoneHaranguer]

I absolutely hated the way the finale was structured. Anyone getting fantasy was going to have an advantage, and anyone getting post-apocalyptic a disadvantage. Like Tasya, it crossed my mind that the assignments were preselected. Why use computer monitors instead of the usual method of making blind picks if it was really random?

 

There sure were a lot of zoom-ins on Wind's chest; it reached a point where I wondered if the director was thinking about more than wanting us to see Darla's workmanship yet again.

[Primetimer]

Season 8's final challenge finds the facetestants designing teams of characters and coming up with the movies they'll star in. Who's camera-ready?

Read the story

[nottopbravo]

Highlight of the episode for me: When pulling on the head/chest piece on Darla's model (the earth figure) and it popped into place, the model said, "I'm born".   I had to hit pause button I was laughing so hard.

[Maelstrom]

One thing I think Is interesting is that they had 4 days to do this challenge - and the quality really soared.

I don't remember if in previous finales they've had the extra day - I know they have always had the extra hands.

Imagine the regular challenges having that extra day - we would have much better work!!!

As far as I can remember the finales have always had 4 workdays. Actually when they said they'd be doing 4 characters, I thought they should've been given 5 workdays, since all other finales have only required three characters. But each finalist had more teammates this season, with four returning contestants to help instead of the usual two or three.

 

I know, there are so many times when I think, if they'd just had a few more hours that makeup would've turned out a lot better. It's shame to see them judged on so many half-finished makeups, really.

 

Anyone know if they're going to do the Champion thing again next season? Even though I always love seeing Laura and Anthony, it seemed a bit gimmicky to me, and I hope they return to the old format.

Edited April 15, 2015 by Maelstrom

[hincandenza]

I'm with Maelstrom: I could have sworn something somewhere mentioned the finale being in Japan; when did that change?

 

I absolutely hated the way the finale was structured. Anyone getting fantasy was going to have an advantage, and anyone getting post-apocalyptic a disadvantage. Like Tasya, it crossed my mind that the assignments were preselected. Why use computer monitors instead of the usual method of making blind picks if it was really random?

 

There sure were a lot of zoom-ins on Wind's chest; it reached a point where I wondered if the director was thinking about more than wanting us to see Darla's workmanship yet again.

 

This.  I can't pretend that Darla didn't have the clearly best output last night, so on that basis she deserved to win- no question in my mind.  However, I agree with LoneHaranguer and others that the very nature of the challenge put non-fantasy at a disadvantage.  Fantasy is going to have access to a vibrant natural palette and organic look/feel, from leather or armor clad warriors to forest spirits to dragons.  However, post-apocalyptic is by definition all about grungy, grimy, dirty, washed out... it's as specific a category as "steampunk", so you just can't compete.  Darla biggest gift is beauty makeups, and she got the one that would best expose that among the trees and wind machines; Logan was stuck on the steel bridge of a spaceship, while Emily was in a junkyard.  Still, that's some sour grapes; Darla did have the best result last night, and the judges did their job properly in giving her the win.

 

I'm still really disappointed that Emily didn't win: to me she is unquestionably the most talented contestant this year, and probably one of the most naturally gifted artists they've ever had on this show, so her not winning reminds me of Laura's first season when she lost to Nicole.  I suspected Emily wouldn't win a few weeks ago, when someone on one of the earlier threads linked her social media (FB or Instagram) about something else, and I noticed that she had a recent picture where she was still working at her retail job in Florida.  Granted, she could have been just unusually mature and responsible and kept her job because $100K isn't as much as it might seem when you're 19, but for that reason I didn't go into the finale last night with much hope.  Regardless, if she wants it I'm sure she'll be snatched up by a Ve or Glenn or someone similar, as soon as she's ready to move to Hollywood.

 

Logan's I think once again fit the challenge parameters the best: neither Emily nor Darla had as solid a "team backstory" as Logan did.  Apparently I'm in the minority, because like Glenn I enjoyed the detail work of the hammerhead shark sculpt.  I also liked the concept behind the armadillo, the way Megan the model acted it out felt very Rocket Raccoon from GotG- without saying a word, I knew that would be the wisecracking character.  He actually had some bright touches on the skunk (which the judges like, but I thought was a mistake from the colors chosen like that lime green hair), but I don't know what he could have done to win out over Fantasy and its welcoming pastoral embrace.

 

Along with the difficulties of judging three teams on three wildly different challenges, we never knew who was responsible for what- though maybe the judges did- so it dramatically changes the challenge from "Who is the best artist" to "Who can best organize four diverse people with no personal allegiance to you or the job".  As a result, an awful lot of this win was up to the quality of work the supporting cast (was Darla even the inventor or sculptor behind the famous windwood creature?), and it doesn't help when people like Adam argue over the palette choice right before last looks; buddy, you're out, only these three are still being judged!  Not to mention poor Logan got Gregory who... did he even do anything?  He did that fabrication that seemed to be going nowhere, then I think Allan finished it for him.

 

 

All in all, I enjoyed this season, as I do every season.  The challenge ideas were often fresh and interesting and took a break from the monsters-monsters-monsters rut of past seasons; the judging and overall flow of the show remains rock-solid; and it's just so nice: these people are top-to-bottom pretty likeable and normal and not the usual famewhoring psychos. 

 

If I could tweak anything, I'd give them a little more time for each challenge (we saw this week how much that can improve things), and also space out the seasons: at the least, if they have already shot the next season while we're watching the current one, then they've had no chance to take into account fan feedback from the current season to fix their "product" in small, incremental ways.  Beyond that, though, I'm basically a super loyal fan of this show.

[Bella]

 

I suspected Emily wouldn't win a few weeks ago, when someone on one of the earlier threads linked her social media (FB or Instagram) about something else, and I noticed that she had a recent picture where she was still working at her retail job in Florida.  Granted, she could have been just unusually mature and responsible and kept her job because $100K isn't as much as it might seem when you're 19, but for that reason I didn't go into the finale last night with much hope.

 

The winners of reality TV competitions typically don't receive the money until after the finale has aired. The last winner of Top Chef did make a life change between the win and the airing of the finale, but that's not common.

[sourpickles]

I guess I'm in the minority here, but I wasn't thrilled with Darla's win. A bit put out, actually. I knew Emily wasn't going to win, much as I love her, but her creations were clearly not on par with the other two. I thought Logan would win. I've never did care for Darla, though she was more likeable (to me) after her video chat than she had been all season. I had been feeling squicky about her since the Miss Intergalactic thing and the judges were so HAPPY to have her back on board, that was major foreshadowing for me. I do agree with whoever said that with the four looks and all the team members, kind of hard to access the actual skills of the finalist, it bugged me too. I did love the concept ideas though, I'm big into sets and collections and whatever, super cohesive for a compulsive like me. I guess I feel kind of blah about this whole season, though I'm really looking forward to July! Cheers!

[diebartdie]

 

Darla only had a chance to win with Fantasy. If she had gotten Sci-fi or Post-Apocalyptic she would have failed; badly. I just think that her monitor was going to say Fantasy no matter, call me crazy.

I wont call ya crazy because I thought so as well! I was really hoping Emily would win it and if not her then I was pulling for Logan but I pretty much knew the fix was in when Darla got Fantasy. You know, she didnt even make that chest piece and she got so much help from Laura, meh sour grapes as someone else mentioned. I kind of thought Emily was sort of running out of steam anyway, there towards the end of the competition so it made sense to me her final thing wasn't as awesome as I thought it would be. She really likes working with Jamie (even though she didnt pick her first), I thought that was cool and even though I really liked Jamie's sculpt for the wood monster, they really missed their mark, Emily wanted it to look like a bunch of wooden pallets had exploded into the guy but instead the wood all looked too much like raw wood, it should have had nails in it and maybe been lighter in color or something. Ah well, I reckon any of the final three could have very bright careers in the industry if the go for it and especially Emily, she's a youngin' going places.

 

 

poor Logan got Gregory who... did he even do anything?

 Yeah he did the armadillo sculpt.

[Shannon L.]

I liked all three finalists, but really wanted Emily to win. Logan would have been my second choice.  However, after seeing the results, I can't say that Darla didn't deserve it.  When we saw that Darla got fantasy (which I agree was a great advantage) and then saw Emily's designs, I knew Darla was going to win unless she seriously messed up. 

 

I thought Logan's shark looked goofy with those two things on the front of his mouth that looked to me like teeth.  Today it occurred to me that his facial shape was too much like Sid from Ice Age.

[Richness]

I've had some further thoughts after reading the PTV Review and other comments. And no surprise, they're mostly about Emily. I go back and forth on liking and disliking her. Her immaturity glowed brightly when she asked if she could go hug the former contestants. Dial it back a couple notches, please.

 

As much as I admire the raw talent contained in someone so young, my head nearly exploded when Emily perpetuated the girls can't do math stereotype. It's as if someone replaced her with a "Math Class is Tough" Teen Talk Barbie. Of course, my brain probably couldn't have done mathematical computations at the end of a stressful and sleep deprived competition either. I just wish the editors hadn't focused on it so much.

 

I alluded to it earlier, but I suspect Emily would have done much better with either of the other two genres. (And I don't think it was rigged.) I don't think it was unfair to include Post-Apocalyptic genre though, as I think Logan and Team Sausage Fest would have rocked it. After all, Tate did an incredible take on a PA Riding Hood and ice-age werewolf in the first season of Face Off (though he didn't win either). PA just didn't compliment Emily's beauty make-up strengths (though Charlize Theron and Tina Turner bring the sexy PA look in Mad Max). If she and Logan had switched, I think it would have been an entirely different outcome, and a much tighter race among all three.

[morakot]

There's no reason why Post-Apocalyptic HAS to be grungy. You could theorize that after the destruction of technology, nature is coming back (seedlings breaking through the rubble, etc). That could provide all kinds of possibilities for organic shapes and fantastic beauty. (Even Darla's worm girl might work in this setting!)

[Xazeal]

The problem I had with Darla's creations was that it felt like I had seen them before. Nothing really felt original, and the "elements" thing has been done to death. Mother Earth and Ugly Aquatic Demon are really tired Face Off clichés at this point, and the ones she made were extremely similar to past attempts. The air spirit was admittedly fantastic both in concept and execution. The fire spirit was my least favorite, but at least she managed to avoid the worst of Face Off clichés: Sculpted Flames. It always ends badly.

 

That said, I'm fine with her win. Though unoriginal, her creations were impeccably executed and pretty cohesive. Conceptually, I enjoyed Emily's a lot more, but her looks just weren't as polished. I loved the glass dude, though. Wasn't a fan of Logan's characters at all.

 

And of course, Laura deserves all the wins in the world. Definitely the best the show's ever had, and I can't blame them for trotting her out every chance they get.

[carrps]

Can't think of anything that hasn't already been said, but I wanted to agree about the skunk. That lime green hair was AWful.

[Kaoteek]

Meh. That's about all I have to say about that finale, and, really, about the entire "team" concept this entire season has revolved around. It ended up rewarding the least memorable and impressive contestant, just because she had great teammates with great imput & solid work, & the best mentor around to alter her so-so ideas.

 

And speaking of ideas : "My characters are gonna be a team of humanoid animals à la Rocket Racoon escaping from a lab and fighting evil", fine, could be fun, and there's a cohesive idea & look to the team ; "Errr.... I'm gonna do Wizard of Oz-inspired post-apocalyptic mutants".... nope. Weak concept, and no real visual identity to the make-ups. "I'm gonna do the four elements fighting evil after Adam & Eve left Paradise", uh... okay... not sure it really makes sense story-wise, but why not... however, aside from the Wind spirit (not necessarily particularly original, design-wise, since fauns & other similar draeneis are quite the rage, these days), and the Wood spirits to an extant, those weren't really inspired or technically astounding (I honestly disliked the Fire spirit, the colors just clashed and didn't read fire).

 

TL;DR : not impressed, and hoping for better things next season.

Edited April 15, 2015 by Kaoteek

[LoneHaranguer]

 

Darla only had a chance to win with Fantasy. If she had gotten Sci-fi or Post-Apocalyptic she would have failed; badly.

She would have failed with fantasy if Laura hadn't talked her out of the worm idea she seemed set on. That reminds me, did I miss something or did Emily not need/get any substantial help from Laura or Mr. Westmore? MW made a comment about painting that came off as stating the obvious for lack of anything else to say, and that was about it.

 

 

As much as I admire the raw talent contained in someone so young, my head nearly exploded when Emily perpetuated the girls can't do math stereotype.

It wasn't a gender thing, it was an age thing. Schools these days presume that everyone who needs one will have a calculator or computer handy, so they don't put much effort into teaching how to do math "the hard way".

[Maverick]

I'm with Maelstrom: I could have sworn something somewhere mentioned the finale being in Japan; when did that change

I thought it was supposed to be in Vietnam. I don't remember if I heard that at the beginning of the season or toward the end but I know o heard it. I think Japan is relayed to them doing a trip there for one episode last season.

[Taeolas]

SciFi also doesn't need to be sharp edges and cold metals; you can have a lot of warmth in a SciFi setting. Jupiter Ascending had lots of set scenes that ranged from the industrial and the grungy to some beautiful gothic settings. (And Logan's characters could probably have fit easily into the JA setting, or their own).

 

As mentioned, Post Apocalypse doesn't need to be grimy dirty either; move the time line further down from the Apocalypse and you can have a recovering pastorial world, with the remains of the modern world seamlessly fitting into it. 

 

As for the characters; I had the most fun with Logan's Manimals, but that's some of my preferred settings. The Wind-faun was really good, probably the best of all 12, but the rest of the characters didn't really do much for me. (From what I remember of the Fire one, it didn't really read fire to me). Still, I have no issues with any of the three winning, and they all did good work IMO. 

[Canada]

Ugh, as a firm member of Team NotDarla, so bummed that she won.  Her work just bores me.  I don't see what the judges see in it.

 

I really liked Logan's looks.  They seemed to actually be a part of a story, whereas Emily and Darla just made some characters.  Even the, I preferred Emily's looks over Darla's; hers were so much more interesting to look at.

 

Snooze.  Sorry Logan and Emily.  Hope next season is better.

[Lorimac]

Great choice of GIF in showing the model over-acting as the windy faun, but look at the face of the fire model and she watches the faun gallop in - she breaks character and chortles at the over-the-top-ness of it!

[mlp]

I had also read somewhere that the finale would be held in Viet Nam.  I'm glad they didn't do that because, it seems to me, taking the contestants out of familiar territory when they need to be concentrating on doing their best work is counter-productive and pointless.

 

I hope they don't repeat a season with mentors.  The fact that they used them said to me right up front that the contestants were neophytes and I think we could see that in the quality of many of the finished creations.  Dina last season was a marvelous exception. 

 

I was disappointed in the end because I'd been underwhelmed by Darla all season.  I figured all along that Emily would end up winning but her final characters put her in third place in the finale IMO.  She's a natural and very young so I'm sure she has a fine career ahead of her.  I liked Logan's final characters best.  Darla's wind character was good but I'm not so sure that she had a whole lot to do with it.  I hope she gives some of her 100K to her boyfriend to get his teeth fixed.  Yecch.

[LoneHaranguer]

I think you could have declared any of the three contestants the winner of the final task depending on how you weight the successes of each. From the broadbrush view of the concept, it was right that Darla "won", but was a tainted victory. Laura, at least, deserved her win.

[Taeolas]

Given Laura's popularity and obvious skill, I wonder if they might look to keep bringing her back. Instead of a team mentor, just have her be a floating expert. Bring Mr Westmore in for the initial sanity check of the designs on Day 1, then bring in Laura (and maybe other strong former contenders like Ray) in as a Day 2 floating expert to offer suggestions. While some may not have liked it, its obvious that having the former contestants onboard did raise the quality level a lot. Having them around in the future would only improve the show further IMO. 

[Black Knight]

I knew Emily wasn't going to win as soon as one of the judges said she had so much "raw talent." She'll be back in a couple of seasons and likely will win in a walk then.

 

I don't have a problem with Darla's win, although I agree that any of the three could have won depending on what the judges used as their criteria. Plus, the popular vote was for Darla. I think a lot of it is about how finished her work is - I think this is where viewing on TV vs. seeing the work IRL makes a big difference. IRL non-camera-ready work probably looks rougher than it does on TV, and camera ready work is super impressive. That was a huge strength for Laura as well in her seasons; I wouldn't put her in the top tier for creativity, but her work was always polished. Emily made a good run, but at the beginning of this season Laura was the first one to pick and her first pick was Darla. She essentially picked herself, so it's not surprising Darla ended up walking away with the win. I do like Darla and haven't found her boring like some have.

[starri]

I'm perfectly fine with Darla's win.  I'm generally not as big on them seeming to decide the winner just on the basis of the final challenge (as the viewer vote for Nicolle demonstrated), but Darla has turned in some pretty good makeups over the season.  I don't think she's quite the font of creativity and enthusiasm that Emily is, but she's a little more polished.

 

I can't pretend that I was big on Logan's creations.  He seems like a nice guy, but all I could see was looking at his vignette was Guardians of the Galaxy, with a few things drawn from other genre stuff:  the skunk was Squirrel Girl, the commander character was the Jem'Hadar from DS9 (Mr. Westmore even alluded to that).  It was fine, but it wasn't anything special, and it didn't seem as cohesive as the other two.

 

I think my favorite individual piece was the leather woman that Emily did.  I'm not entirely sure why, but I could pretty instantly see that character being the star of something I'd want to see.

 

I also appreciate that with Darla's victory, there have now being the same number of women and men who have won.

[seacliffsal]

I thought all 3 finalists had some strong looks.  However, it really bothered me that Laura drew the entire wood character for Darla.  Laura had previously drawn looks for her team, but in the finale I thought it was too much.  It was Laura's design that Darla's team executed.  It just doesn't seem right.  I did like Logan's idea and focus on creating a true team concept.

[snakenax]

One thing I always find strange, that in the finale when they have to pick teams one of the guys always seems to go for a all guy team. It didn't blow up in Logan's face like it did Roy(really Roy? No one who knows how to do beauty makeup for a /ballet/ challenge?), but it is one of those things that will make me give a stinkface about the contestant.

[jbrecken]

I think I'd rather see Logan's movie, but I was ok with Darla getting the win.