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Celebrating 1,000 NCIS-franchise episodes

S11.E12: Tiki Twist

ElectricBoogaloo

By ElectricBoogaloo
in Face Off [V]

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hincandenza

hincandenza

12 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Sneak peek:

Maybe it's just the lingering young mid-90's Tori Amos fan in me, but when they panned across the Tiki dolls I instantly began hoping Emily picked "Pele" as her goddess: I'm picturing some kind of epic lava-looking flowing hair.

Then I did the math and realized that the album "Boys for Pele", which came out in January 1996, is not only older than Emily, but I was older when that album came out than Emily is now.  Ugh.  Screw this, I'm gonna go drink some Metamucil, watch some Matlock, and shake my fist at the kids on my front lawn.

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sourpickles

sourpickles

On ‎4‎/‎8‎/‎2017 at 10:20 PM, hincandenza said:

Screw this, I'm gonna go drink some Metamucil, watch some Matlock, and shake my fist at the kids on my front lawn.

Personally, I drink Pepto, own every season of Murder She Wrote, and I generally use "hey you kids get out of my moat it is not meant to play in!" OR "Hey you kids, get off of my lawn......NOW!"  Bonus points if anyone knows where the moat quote came from.  And, did Mr. Westmore just compare Logan's design to a LAP DANCER, or do I need to go get a hearing check. 

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Taffy

Taffy

(edited)

It was "Latin" dancer that Mr Westmore referenced. (Carmen Miranda) 

I also recognize your moat quote from that very informative show-The Powerpuff Girls

Edited by Taffy
Spelling matters
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enoughcats

enoughcats

If that was half as exhausting for them as it was for us.....

From a distance Emily deserved to stay.  The cowl/botanical garden/amusement part was my choice to leave. First time I've disagreed with the judges in quite a while.

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enoughcats

enoughcats

2 minutes ago, sourpickles said:

Do you mean that Tyler should have gone over Logan?  Just clarifying...........

I really didn't like Logan's, esp. the water that wasn't.  Tyler's face was pretty bad, but he DID us stencils which I don't think we've seen in quite a while

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sourpickles

sourpickles

1 minute ago, enoughcats said:

I really didn't like Logan's, esp. the water that wasn't.  Tyler's face was pretty bad, but he DID us stencils which I don't think we've seen in quite a while

I'm really not trying to be a bitch, so forgive me......Tyler had the twisted high forest looking face, Logan did the Maori tattoos based on his own.  Are we at cross purposes here, or am I confused.......already established I can't hear for bug ,so............

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enoughcats

enoughcats

I liked the tat stencils, I didn't like the twisted forest face. 

I really can't keep the non-Cig guys straight.  Too many mustaches earlier on, and now so much clutter on the models' heads. 

The two guys missed the message, and Cig really took advantage of being inspired by his wood carved god.  (Emily, OTOH, got nothing of inspiration from her god statue.  

As to hearing, closed captions are my friend.

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sourpickles

sourpickles

2 minutes ago, enoughcats said:

As to hearing, closed captions are my friend.

I refuse, as of now.  I spent many a year blasting my ears with music (yes, heavy metal), but I will not admit I am old, yet.  Emily, goodness.  She's sliding again.  I hope to hell she'll pull it together but........we shall see next week.  I think Tyler was a grounding force for her in teams.  I worry now.  Happy for Cig, ok with George, and Tyler better pull it together, next week looks interesting!

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Frozendiva

Frozendiva

A meh ep and challenge. I kept thinking Disneyland and the Tiki Room.

Except for Cig's, none were really all that good. Emily has a whole season of good work to her credit. Lava and magma are probably hard to do well.

The turtle needed a bit more oooomph. Nice detail work but I wasn't attracted to it in the 'wow' way.

I was thinking the Hawaiian gods would be Polynesian type headhunters with totem poles of sorts. Maybe I watched too much Gilligan's Island.

Was happy to see Lois Burwell again as part of the Face Off 'family' which so few shows have.

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Maelstrom

Maelstrom

A very cool idea this week that several (OK, most) of the contestants seemed to totally misunderstand. I'm a mythology geek myself, and was looking forward to this all week. Unfortunately, Cig was the only one IMO that really seemed to get it.

I was hoping Emily would pick Pele but she really did miss a lot of opportunities. If there was ever a time for a big hairpiece, it's on a goddess challenge! So glad the judges saved her, but hopefully she can get it together from here on out. I kept thinking of Anthony's lava makeup from the season 4 premiere, which was so impressive to me. Sadly, Emily's was not.

George's was very different from the rest and not especially godlike, but so well sculpted that I can overlook it. Just when I start to kind of count him out he surprises me. And I get a real kick out of his running quips and commentary in the lab. He's highly entertaining. "Turtles look like old people." Lol

Cig made a very, very cool makeup tonight. Loved the detail he put into that headpiece (popsicle sticks save the day once again!) His win was very well-deserved. He has come a very long way since his original season, and it's been a lot of fun seeing both his talent and personality mature.

Tyler and Logan both seemed to get more caught up in the elements of their character instead of the overarching "god" theme. Good thing Tyler has had so many excellent makeups over the season, because this one was a mess IMO. The face seemed more appropriate for one of the dreaded "whimsy" challenges rather than this one. Sorry to see Logan go but I think it was the right choice.

Lois! YAy! She's so cool. I still hope that one day we'll get her as the fourth permanent judge, because I adore watching her.

Did the dancers' performance seem more Maori than Hawaiian to anyone else, or was it just me?

Looks like gargoyles next week according to ye olde satellite guide (what's with the chintzy previews, Syfy? Hmm?)

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Eliza422

Eliza422

4 minutes ago, Maelstrom said:

A very cool idea this week that several (OK, most) of the contestants seemed to totally misunderstand. I'm a mythology geek myself, and was looking forward to this all week. Unfortunately, Cig was the only one IMO that really seemed to get it.

I was hoping Emily would pick Pele but she really did miss a lot of opportunities. If there was ever a time for a big hairpiece, it's on a goddess challenge! So glad the judges saved her, but hopefully she can get it together from here on out. I kept thinking of Anthony's lava makeup from the season 4 premiere, which was so impressive to me. Sadly, Emily's was not.

George's was very different from the rest and not especially godlike, but so well sculpted that I can overlook it. Just when I start to kind of count him out he surprises me. And I get a real kick out of his running quips and commentary in the lab. He's highly entertaining. "Turtles look like old people." Lol

Cig made a very, very cool makeup tonight. Loved the detail he put into that headpiece (popsicle sticks save the day once again!) His win was very well-deserved. He has come a very long way since his original season, and it's been a lot of fun seeing both his talent and personality mature.

Tyler and Logan both seemed to get more caught up in the elements of their character instead of the overarching "god" theme. Good thing Tyler has had so many excellent makeups over the season, because this one was a mess IMO. The face seemed more appropriate for one of the dreaded "whimsy" challenges rather than this one. Sorry to see Logan go but I think it was the right choice.

Lois! YAy! She's so cool. I still hope that one day we'll get her as the fourth permanent judge, because I adore watching her.

Did the dancers' performance seem more Maori than Hawaiian to anyone else, or was it just me?

Looks like gargoyles next week according to ye olde satellite guide (what's with the chintzy previews, Syfy? Hmm?)

I was also thinking it was Maori - I don't know if Hawaiians do a haka, and the whole set of movements did not seem Hawaiian.

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Maverick

Maverick

 I rarely say this about this show, but I think there may have been a slight bias in the judging.  I think Emily squeaked by on the merit of her cumulative  performance.

 I think I'm going to start calling her Samson.  Or Felicity.   It seems like she looses her mojo when she can't or doesn't utilize her hair skills.

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Richness

Richness

I agree with the judges for the winner, but not with their love for the turtle god. While it was a good job and definitely deserved to be a top look, there was something offputting about the band that went across the nose and down across the cheeks. Was it suppose to be shell plating like the circles on the head? Otherwise, sad turtle god was sad, but nicely done.

 

While I'm glad that Logan went home instead of Emily, I think she should have been the safe one (or all three on the bottom). If anything can cause as much failure as whimsy does, it's lava. However, I liked the makeup except for the inverted mohawk. Even if I thought Tyler should have been on the bottom for that stupid waterpark diorama, Logan should still have went home mainly for doing less work.

 

Welcome back, Kotter, I mean, Lois! I'm also over the Ben shirts. Mr. Debbie Downer is gone; move on. Finally, all hail the possum god with the big hair!

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Quilt Fairy

Quilt Fairy

Wasn't it Tyler who did a twisted tree root face for his witch?  His work this week was just too close to that. He should have picked a different inspiration.  What did Lois call it?  A garden and a waterpark all in one - on a head?

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Rammchick

Rammchick

The Hawaiians and Maori are all Polynesians and share similar cultural elements, hence the haka.  But as cool as this challenge could have been, it felt like scraping the bottom of the barrel, and except for Cig, no one did really well.  It seems like these artists have problems executing make-ups that are more conceptual in nature than slam dunk monsters of different types.

In other news, I could barely follow what the judges were saying thanks to George's cowboy hat-sculpted hair.  Who thinks of things like that?

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starri

starri

8 hours ago, Frozendiva said:

Lava and magma are probably hard to do well.

Lava and magma have proved goddamn impossible to do well.  Anthony is the only person who has ever successfully pulled it off.

I don't have a problem with them looking at cumulative work when we're this far along.  Tyler and Cig have won five times, George and Emily have won four times, and Logan won once, and that was with Tyler and Emily, not solo or with Adam.  He's also been on the bottom five times, while George and Emily have been twice, and Tyler and Cig have been once.  He's a nice guy and I like him, but objectively, he was the weakest contestant.

Assuming Tyler puts out a good makeup next week, he and Cig are locks, and it's going to be between Emily and George for the last position.

This challenge, save for Cig's great makeup (the only one who looked godlike), was a total misfire.  Having said that, the smaller group allowed us to see more of the joking around in the lab, and my favorite part was another demonstration of how much they seem to legitimately love each other.

I did think Lois' "You've improved so much!" to George was kind of a backhanded compliment.  I agree he's been a stronger contender this time, but he made it to the semi-final in his previous season, so it's not like he was bad before.  But she's still so darling.

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DEL901

DEL901

6 hours ago, Richness said:

I agree with the judges for the winner, but not with their love for the turtle god. While it was a good job and definitely deserved to be a top look, there was something offputting about the band that went across the nose and down across the cheeks. Was it suppose to be shell plating like the circles on the head? Otherwise, sad turtle god was sad, but nicely done.

Sad turtle god reminded me of one of those gods that disguise themselves as old, use a cane, are hunched over, and then when the moment arrives, they blaze power and mow down the bad guys.  

1 hour ago, Rammchick said:

.. what the judges were saying thanks to George's cowboy hat-sculpted hair.  Who thinks of things like that?

That was hilarious!  I wonder if Emily did it for him (and the braids down the back)?

 

Agree that Cig was the only one who really got the challenge.  He also had the first talking head where he said he had no idea what to do and that's when I figured he was the winner.

Right final 4.  It will be interesting.  Emily and Tyler seemed stronger together.  George faltered on his first solo challenge but came back strong.  Only Cig seems to be thriving as a solo (even last week when he was mid-pack, he did a great job but was done in by lack of time to finish painting.)

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Lugal

Lugal

With the exception of Cig, and possibly George, everyone got distracted by the abstract ideas rather than doing gods themselves.  I'm amazed that no one other than Cig used the tiki statue as inspiration.

Emily, I understand her wanting to go out of her comfort zone to prove to the judges, but I think now is the point in the competition where she should double down on all the stuff she's good at.  She picked the low hanging fruit going for the lava, and that's one of the hardest things to do right.  I mean if anything called for one of her big wild wigs it's Pele's hair.  It makes me wonder how much research they get to do on their god.

I liked the turtle ("turtles look like old people") but if George had brought in a few elements from the statue, I think he could have given Cig a run for his money.

Logan and Tyler's looks sort of blend together for me.  They went kind of foresty-agricultural with no sign of anything really Hawaiian in it.  I would have put Tyler in the bottom, but I think he squeaked by because of his past wins.

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LoneHaranguer

LoneHaranguer

2 hours ago, DEL901 said:

Agree that Cig was the only one who really got the challenge.  He also had the first talking head where he said he had no idea what to do and that's when I figured he was the winner.

I thought this challenge was ambiguous, with at least three possible interpretations. He took a guess and went for it, which is a pretty good strategy on this show. Very rarely will you get tossed for doing a good job, even if it's not what the judges were expecting, as long as you made a reasonable guess. FWIW, I didn't think his was the most likely to be right.

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40Love

40Love

4 hours ago, starri said:

Assuming Tyler puts out a good makeup next week, he and Cig are locks, and it's going to be between Emily and George for the last position.

Yep... IMO, all the other contestants were cannon fodder. Almost from Day-1, I  predicted these 4 would be the last one's standing with Tyler and Cig being shoe-ins for the final! Between the two I'm not sure who I'm rooting for. I like them and their work equally (well up until Tyler's theme park Tiki God). Heh!

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morakot

morakot

On ‎4‎/‎8‎/‎2017 at 7:20 PM, hincandenza said:

 I instantly began hoping Emily picked "Pele" as her goddess: I'm picturing some kind of epic lava-looking flowing hair.

Exactly! Long flowing hair would have been great--- appropriate and useful in dancing. I was imagining it as black on the outer areas with red beneath (that would show when dancing) and possibly some light filaments glowing in amongst the red.

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SirOsisOfLiver

SirOsisOfLiver

Have to agree with those who thought this was a 'meh' episode. Another instance of trying too hard to do something new just because it's new. Personally, when I think about Hawaiian gods, absolutely nothing comes to mind. I could see several of them drawing a blank as they tried to imagine what their god should be.

Other than god of possums, of course.

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seacliffsal

seacliffsal

Although I loved George's turtle god, it really reminded me of the turtle mentor from Kung Fu Panda.  When I looked at the photo of Emily's effort in the synthesis of the episode, it looked far worse than I remembered.  She is very fortunate that they did not go with a double elimination.

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LoneHaranguer

LoneHaranguer

55 minutes ago, enoughcats said:

Problem would be explaining that without sounding condescending to the judges (who may have slept through vulcanology 101.)

I think you'd have to take an upper-level geology course to run across that; a Rocks For Jocks wouldn't cut it.

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Mabinogia

Mabinogia

OMG, did Logan say "as it should be" when he got eliminated? That actually breaks my heart. Based on this challenge I could make the argument for him or Emily to go but I do think Emily's body of work has been stronger this season. I thought Cig was the absolute clear winner. That was stunning and on point for the challenge.

I did adore the old man turtle. That would be my runner up. The other three were not great.

It's gonna get hard now. I think the four strongest have made it to the end.

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azshadowwalker

azshadowwalker

On 4/11/2017 at 6:17 PM, sourpickles said:

And, did Mr. Westmore just compare Logan's design to a LAP DANCER, or do I need to go get a hearing check. 

I heard "lap dancer", too. I wish I still thought that, because it was the highlight of the episode. I just wasn't impressed by anyone's work. The winner was the best of the worst. 

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hincandenza

hincandenza

On 4/11/2017 at 7:07 PM, Pandora said:

"God of Possums?" WTF Emily?

God of Possums?  Emily == Marvel's Squirrel Girl confirmed.

 

23 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

I was hoping Emily would pick Pele but she really did miss a lot of opportunities. If there was ever a time for a big hairpiece, it's on a goddess challenge! So glad the judges saved her, but hopefully she can get it together from here on out. I kept thinking of Anthony's lava makeup from the season 4 premiere, which was so impressive to me. Sadly, Emily's was not.

 

21 hours ago, Maverick said:

 I rarely say this about this show, but I think there may have been a slight bias in the judging.  I think Emily squeaked by on the merit of her cumulative  performance.

 I think I'm going to start calling her Samson.  Or Felicity.   It seems like she looses her mojo when she can't or doesn't utilize her hair skills.

 

11 hours ago, Lugal said:

Emily, I understand her wanting to go out of her comfort zone to prove to the judges, but I think now is the point in the competition where she should double down on all the stuff she's good at.  She picked the low hanging fruit going for the lava, and that's one of the hardest things to do right.  I mean if anything called for one of her big wild wigs it's Pele's hair.  It makes me wonder how much research they get to do on their god.

 

7 hours ago, morakot said:

Exactly! Long flowing hair would have been great--- appropriate and useful in dancing. I was imagining it as black on the outer areas with red beneath (that would show when dancing) and possibly some light filaments glowing in amongst the red.


So I totally called Emily picking Pele... but as others have said she really missed an opportunity as this would have been a perfect challenge to kill it with a beautiful makeup and astonishing hair set piece.  I'm picturing in my head a relatively light face mold or pure makeup, and more focus on details and subtle rock formations/lava cracks in the body/along the arms, along with a fiery huge flowing hairpiece- something that feels like a "beautiful Polynesian woman" mid-transformation into "powerful, elemental goddess of creation and destruction".  Like @morakot I pictured long fake black hair with streaks of red, grey, ash, etc, and maybe even little glowing read streaks.  In my opinion, this was one of her worst efforts as it was so low-inspiration and paint-by-numbers, just a generic vague face sculpt with embedded pieces.  

@Lugal, I believe we've learned from the facetestants that they aren't allowed internet even when at the house much less in the lab, and thus can't even google to find out more about this or that goddess/theme/concept.  Personally, this is silly to me: I'd rather they have access to basic research items than have to go purely off memory and challenge instructions.  Heck, they aren't even allowed to doodle at night during downtime, as leaving around pens and paper would apparently "allow" the facetestants to sketch ideas in between lab time.

While I like @Maverick's Samson theory, she was also an unsurprising save this week and was probably the only person in that room who didn't know it (including Logan, obviously), just on body of work merits.  It's as if her insecure teenage self from season 8 just came back with a vengeance as soon as they split up into different teams/solo work, dropping her in the last couple of weeks from "top contender" to "will be lucky to get third".  She's got incredible instincts, except when she decides to ignore them.  She knew that sculpt was shit, and should have scrapped it on day 2 and gone for something more in her wheel house.  We'll see if she can pull it together and make something amazing next week to reach the finale.

 

Cig's was the best at meeting the challenge criteria, but I couldn't help but think of that Kali-Ma guy from "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom".  Or maybe Tuco from Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul.  :) I wasn't wild about the colors in his face paint, either- too muted and muddy, even though it was supposed to be tiki-like.  But the sculpt, and level of detail, were far and away the best on stage this week, and excepting maybe George the only one that felt like a Polynesian god.

Logan's felt so incomplete; I didn't totally dislike the head sculpt, although it was asymmetrical and with the lack of any real detail on the body made the whole thing feel very Halloween mask.

George was good, in my opinion.  He wasn't flashy, and I feel like something was missing but I can't quite say what.  That said, the detail was great, the old turtle thing fit the challenge/model/dancing very well, and the only big change I might have made is washing out the flesh tones to a more muted, even light blue/grey, skin color.  I like @DEL901's impression of one of those "in disguise" old person gods who reveal themselves as epic forces of nature.

Tyler's was also kind of lopsided and vaguely formed, for me.  Leaving aside the weird "Splash World" theme park on top, the face reminded me of actor Don Cheadle, if he was the Swamp Thing.  I could as easily have seen him in the bottom instead of either Logan or Emily.

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SherriAnt

SherriAnt

(edited)
17 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

OMG, did Logan say "as it should be"

Yes, I heard it too, and I loved that Emily cried so hard for him. They really were a close knit little group.

Edited by SherriAnt
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LadyMustang65

LadyMustang65

17 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

OMG, did Logan say "as it should be" when he got eliminated? That actually breaks my heart.

He did indeed.  I have always liked Logan as a person - he just seems very nice and low drama (compared to some of the ones who cry and whine at the drop of a hat), but I get frustrated because he's so inconsistent.  While I understand what the judges were saying about it not being organic that the flowers were growing out of his face, the sculpt on those were gorgeous.  Even my husband, who rarely comments during the show, remarked how beautiful they were.  So were some of the other details.  He is capable of doing incredibly terrific work, but sometimes it seems like only in bits and pieces.  The whole often does not equal the sum of the parts.

Cig was definitely our pick to win.  That was amazing.  We did not like the turtle guy.  I don't know why.  We just didn't.  We also did not like Tyler's creation.  I had to laugh at the whole 'water park' going on that the judges mentioned.  We thought it was a mess.  And we seem to have liked Emily's creation better than most, although it clearly was not her best. 

Logan was the right pick to go home, as the others have just had a more impressive body of work.  But I have to wonder if he would have done better with a different partner.  If memory serves, Logan had some good ideas that his partner vetoed, or he just took over the project and basically decided what they would be doing without much input.  Sorry - that guy really annoyed me so I forgot his name as soon as he was gone.  Anyway, I can't help but think Logan might have done better overall with a different partner.

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SherriAnt

SherriAnt

9 minutes ago, LadyMustang65 said:

I can't help but think Logan might have done better overall with a different partner.

I totally agree, but I don't know who. Any ideas? I think Laura, Gage or Tate  would have been perfect with Logan.

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Mabinogia

Mabinogia

1 hour ago, LadyMustang65 said:

We did not like the turtle guy.  I don't know why.

The interesting thing about turtle guy was, I disliked the part the judges were gushing about, the nose mouth area. I thought it was oddly colored and mismatched. I loved the detail in the head and how he thought up the idea, oldest god, god of the sea, old man of the sea = turtle.

I really didn't like Tylers. Too many branches all jumbled up. It was hard to look at, like, I had trouble making out what was happening. The work was well done, it was just too shapeless for me.

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enoughcats

enoughcats

I did a search for tiki gods and more specifically Pele.  Pele generally has nothing much, just the crescent thing that come from the shoulder tops forward over the head.  
The rest are heavily carved with almost nothing that I could see quickly to distinguish one from the next.

Had I been drinking, I couldn't have told you the difference between them and some Mayan carvings.  

Had the guys managed to think about it for more than 15 minutes, they might not have gotten fixated on what the gods were the gods of, and gotten more of an inspiration from the carvings.  Looking at the figure of Pele (or at least other statues of Pele), the attention grabbing feature are the huge conical breasts (they'll put your eyes out, kid), and I can't imagine that even other statues of Pele could have been inspirational.  

A hard challenge, made harder by the contestants being tired and maybe sensory deprived.

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lilwhitelion

lilwhitelion

6 hours ago, sourpickles said:

I still say the turtle has been done before.  I thought Cig should win based on the fact that yes, he was the only on to fully embrace the Tiki style.  I was  impressed with the overall creations. 

@sourpickles, it looks like in Season 2, Nix and Jerry did a sea turtle.  Way too literal an interpretation (I can't copy the image) and I liked George's more subtle depiction.

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sourpickles

sourpickles

18 hours ago, lilwhitelion said:

@sourpickles, it looks like in Season 2, Nix and Jerry did a sea turtle.  Way too literal an interpretation (I can't copy the image) and I liked George's more subtle depiction.

Was it that long ago???  Man, time flies.  I could have sworn  it was more recent, like Dina or Darla's season.  The good thing is I remember it!  Cause I'm old like that.  I have to say I DO agree with the people who said that there was a total lack of comprehension among the make up ideas/interpretation, but I was still majorly impressed.  After the previous two weeks, I'll take it.  Happy with our top four, worried about Emily still, and poor Logan.........his exit was all but telegraphed. 

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