Helm's Deep, breached

Helm's Deep, breached by Graeme Straughn.

MELO Round 5

In the fifth round of the MELO, the remaining four builders had to come up with MOCs based on characters from Return of the King.

Graham Gidman faced off against Dunedain98 to build creations based on Sauron. Graham built a micro version of the climax of Return of the King with Sauron looking on. Dunedain built the scene where Luthien and Haun come to rescue Beren from Tol-in-Gaurhoth. We don't get enough Silmarillion builds, so I'm happy to report that Dunedain98 won the Barad Dur bracket and went on to the MELO finals.



Joseph Olson faced off against Andrew JN to build creations based on Gollum. Joseph's scene at the foot of the stairs going up to Cirith Ungol really suffered from poor photography. He tried to use low light for effect, but it makes the scene hard to see, so I'm showing below the picture with full light but without the figs to show the great build he has here; the bridge to the right is the road towards Minas Morgul. Andrew JN showed Gollum leading Frodo and Sam through the Dead Marshes and won the Orthanc bracket and went on to the MELO finals. In a cool detail, Andrew made a mosaic of Gollum in the water, but I have to admit I find it hard to see.

MELO Round 4 Orthanc bracket

Here are the pairings for the Orthanc bracket in round 4 of the MELO. Again, the topics are characters from the Two Towers.

Joseph Olson faced off against Vladimir van Hoek to built MOCs based on Theoden. Joseph Olson advanced to round 5.



Bane of Seaguls faced off against Andrew JN to built MOCs based on Saruman. Andrew JN advanced to round 5.

MELO Round 4 Barad-Dur bracket

Round 4 of the MELO challenged each pair to face off based on characters from the Two Towers. Here is the Barad-Dur bracket.

Captain Nemo went up against Graham Gidman to build MOCs based on Treebeard. Graham Gidman advanced to round 5.



Tim W went up against Dunedain98 to build MOCs based on Eowyn. Dunedain98 advanced to round 5.

MELO Round 3 Orthanc bracket

Continuing on with round 3 of the MELO. Here are the four pairings for the Orthanc bracket - again, with creations themed on characters from the Fellowship of the Ring.

Pieter Dennison faced off against Joseph Olson to build MOCs based on Aragorn. Joseph Olson advanced to round 4.



Andrew JN faced off against Professor B to build MOCs based on Frodo. Professor B defaulted, so Andrew JN automatically advanced to round 4, but given the quality of this build he probably would have gone on anyway.

ForlonEmpire faced off against Bane of Seagulls to build MOCs based on Gimli. Bane of Seaguls advanced to round 4.



Vladimir van Hoek faced off against Trevor Turco to build MOCs based on Merry. Vladimir van Hoek advanced to round 4. I cannot find Trevor's entry, but I don't think he defaulted.

MELO round 3 - Barad Dur bracket

In round 3 of the MELO, each pair had to build MOCs based on characters from the Fellowship of the Ring. Here are the four pairs from the Barad Dur bracket.

Captain Nemo faced off against Graeme Straughn to build creations based on Boromir. Captain Nemo advanced to round 4.



Finn Tegotash faced off against Tim W to build creations based on Sam. Tim W advanced to round 4.



Dunedain98 faced off against Dodge to build creations based on Legolas. Dunedain98 advanced to round 4.



Mark McPeek faced off against Graham Gidman to build creations based on Pippin. Graham Gidman advanced to round 4.

MELO Round 1 - The Last Goodbye

The Last Goodbye was another popular one, inspiring several MOCs.

Jacob Pennington showed Bilbo on his trip out of the Shire after his eleventy-first birthday party. He advanced.


Jared depicted Boromir's death. I'm surprised, but he just missed advancing to round 2.


Forlorn Empire advanced with Thorin's death scene from the movie.


As did John Smith.


Micah the Fire Breathing Hobbit did not go directly to a book or movie scene, but instead gave us an unnamed warrior and his fallen comrades after an orc-raid. He advanced.

MELO round 1 - I See Fire

I See Fire inspired a lot of entries into the MELO round 1. Here are some of my favorites. Perhaps predictably, most of the entries were Smaug-centric, either his original attack on Erebor, or the destruction of Lake-town.

My favorite of these was actually very different. Finn Tegotash's Fate of Merry and Pippin shows Strider, Legolas and Gimli coming to the smouldering remains of the Uruk-hai, and perhaps, they fear, their friends as well. Finn advanced.


Here are some of the best (IMO) depicting Smaug's assault on Erebor. Caleb Walker advanced with his entry.


Jamie Hampton showed the breaching of the gates. Nice idea, but it did not advance.


Thomas' entry, on the other hand, did advance.


Dunedain98 is the first of my favorite Lake-Town entries. This advanced.


Brick Madness also advanced.


Zach Lucia also moved forward with this entry. Frustratingly, none of his photos really do justice to both his dragon creation and the building.

Still more MELO round 1 - Gollum's song

The next source of inspiration in the MELO Round 1 was Gollum's Song. Here are some of the best, IMO.

Tim W. built Gollum's Cave. This was my favorite of these and easily advanced to round 2.


My second favorite was Graeme Straughn's To Catch A Fish... So Juicy Sweetttt!!. This illustration of the scene from the Two Towers also easily advanced.


I'm not sure where exactly Bane of Seagulls' End of the Road is set--presumably when Sam and Frodo first meet Gollum at the edge of the Emyn Muil. This also advanced.


Theomatic's Forbidden Pool was a nice entry, though it did not advance.


Finally, Pieter Dennison had a very different take. Rather than illustrate a scene from Gollum's life, some of the lyrics in the song made him think of the story line of the video game Middle Earth; Shadow of Mordor. His unique take, You are banished from death.. was one of the top scoring entries in round 1, moving on into round 2.

More MELO round 1

I've been just horrible at this - I keep meaning to go through much of the 2013-2014 MELO, but I keep getting distracted, and have gone through long blogging hiatuses (hiati? Haiti?). Anyway, here are some additional selected MOCs from round 1, again, all based on riddles from the riddle game:

Zoltan went on to round 2 with wargs of the Misty Mountains for the Mountain riddle.


General Magma just missed advancing with Smeagol and Deagol's fishing trip for the Fish riddle.


Kyle Ransom built the Gates of Edoras for the Wind riddle, because, um, I guess the flags were flapping when Gandalf and the three hunters arrived in the movie version. Sketchy, but it's a great MOC and went on to round 2.


Eli Willsea advanced with his Mountain riddle entry, out of the mines.


LukeClarenceVan the Revanchist advanced with his Dark entry, There is no light, Wizard, that can defeat darkness based on the Desolation of Smaug movie.