Face Off 08×03 – Let The Games Begin (SPOILERS)

SPOILERS

So, this week we’re kind of back to normal with the Face Off format.  We don’t necessarily have to worry about champion teams or anything.  It’s just straight up random partners.  They all go to the Olympic Colosseum in LA, and turns out they are doing a Hunger Games sort of challenge – it would have been cool if they’d had to do crazy Capitol residents, but they’re doing game arena monsters that are a hybrid of an animal and an already assigned plant (they did something like this in Season 2 with the episode Dangerous Beauty).  However, Ve warns them to make it as scary as possible, so no pretty or cutesy animals this time around.  Also, Josh Hutcherson (who plays Peeta in the Hunger Games) is going to be on the reveal stage.

Kelly and Daniel choose the Scorpion/Delphinium, Ben and Darla get the Ram/Cactus, Julian and Adam take the Bat/Sugarbush Protea, Anthony and Logan get the Warthog/American Pitcher Plant, Emily and Regina take the Hyena/Shampoo Ginger, Stephanie and Alan take the Thorny Dragon/Cockscomb, and Rob and Jamie take the Piranha/Blue Thistle.  The drawings are all starting to look pretty cool, and every team gets a concept right away.  But, this is Face Off, so things are never going to be that easy.  You know that.

Logan and Anthony are immediately elbow-deep in clay.  They’re doing the nostrils as eye holes to give a different shape, and because pigs DO have huge nostrils.  They want to use the shape of the plant for the cowl, and the texture like rotting skin.  Everyone’s already getting pretty far in blocking out their shit when the coaches show up.  Since the teams mix up the coach’s contestants, the coaches get to work together a little bit, too.  Which they’re happy about.  Laura’s digging the concept for Emily and Regina’s work, but something goes horribly wrong as they’re sculpting through the day, and they’re TOTALLY not on the same page, and it’s bad enough that they’re going to have to start over.  They’re the team that’s in the biggest trouble right now.

Anthony comes over to Stephanie and Alan and suggests that they add more of the flower, because the face is looking just like a literal Thorny Dragon lizard.  Alan decides it might be cool to add venom sacks below the jaw.  Kelly and Daniel are one of the teams where they both have the same coach (Anthony), and they’re worried about having been on the bottom last week, so they’re taking that into consideration while they’re sculpting.  They don’t want to do anything too bulky, like what happened last week.

And I have to agree with Mr. Westmore when he comes through – I LOVE the cowl that Ben’s doing for the Ram.  It’s fucking DOPE.  Also, I HATE when they put subtitles under someone who has an accent.  I can understand Daniel perfectly, and I find it actually kind of racist/offensive.  Huge pet peeve of mine.

On day 2, Julian is the first in the mold room, so he’s feeling good.  Emily and Regina talked overnight, and have changed up their concept.  They’re super behind, and really nervous.  They’re going to have to go FAST so they can get in the mold room.  Kelly’s also having the same issue as last week – she’s getting into the mold room late.  She’s worried about the mistake with the thick Ultracal she made last week, and this week the sculpt on the cowl is WAY more complex, so it’s a hard mold to block out, and a rushed mold will ruin all the detail.  Daniel is being calm, so it’s helping her stay calm.  That’s the sign of a good teammate.

Emily decides to use hemp instead of hair to help add the Hyena aspect more to the creature.  I’ve never seen anyone do that before, so I’m curious.  It could be cool, or it could be a disaster.  Rob and Jamie want to add some more thistle to their Piranha, so Rob starts fabricating some leaf dreadlocks that are in the shape of the thistle.  Darla and Ben are having some issues getting the Ram cowl out of the mold, and they don’t have much time to clean it out as well as they’d like, so they’re really worried about how the foam is going to turn out (IE: if it will have steam pockets or be busted up)

On Application Day, Darla and Ben’s cowl is mostly okay, but it’s Stephanie and Alan’s cowl that’s the turd sandwich.  It’s busted all over and there’s big seams, so they have to spend a lot of time patching it up.  After doing some minor patch work, Darla and Ben get the cowl on their model, but it’s wayyyy too big, so they have to spend some time sorting that out.  Emily is fabricating the chest and back piece, and then she’s going to start laying the hemp as Regina does the applying.  Daniel makes a scorpion tail out of foam pieces that he then strings up, and it really does look like a scorpion’s tail with all the segments.  The things you can do with styrofoam if you’re creative enough! (And I still don’t fucking understand why they’re subtitling him!  You can understand him perfectly!!!!  ARRRRGHHHHH!)

Logan and Anthony have a LOT of surface area to paint, and Rayce is hovering like a nervous mother, worrying that they’re too slow.  Laura’s also worried about Stephanie and Alan since they’re WAY behind on painting because of all the patching that they had to do.  Regina and Emily are still in trouble town, and Emily is worried about getting kicked off.

So, for Last Looks, here are what we have (I miss the old way they used to take pictures on SyFy’s website.  You can’t see as much detail in these images).  Also, NONE of the makeups this week were terrible.  Most of the time, there’s that one makeup that’s way worse than the others, but even the ones that had issues still had lots of positives in them. (And McKenzie’s dress is GORGEOUS!  I wish I had one for my dolls!)

Anthony and Logan’s Warthog/American Pitcher Plant:

The mouth and tusk area on this thing is REALLY gnarly and looks like it could do some serious damage.  The face is kind of ‘uncomfortable’ looking in terms of anatomy, which I mean as a compliment.  That means it’s gotten away from human structure, and looks very alien and creepy.

Kelly and Daniel’s Scorpion/Delphinium:

I find the breakup of the color to be a little samurai helmet-y, and the tail on the head as a ponytail wasn’t what I thought they were going to do with it, but I do like the sculpture of it.  The cowl not only looks like a scorpion, but it’s also got the plant shapes.

Ben and Darla’s Ram/Cactus:

I LOVE this thing.  It looks like a skeleton that’s come back to life.  And the back of the head is fucking AWESOME.  The only minor nitpick I have is I wish there were some more cactus spines used, but it’s my fave up there.

Julian and Adam’s Bat/Sugarbush Protea:

Artichoke-Ferengi is how Glenn describes it, and he’s not completely wrong.  There’s some AWESOME sculpture in this thing, but the paint just isn’t helping it at all.  A bottom look that normally probably wouldn’t have been a bottom look, but this week is pretty solid.

Emily and Regina’s Hyena/Shampoo Ginger:

For one that seems to be up shit’s creek, it turned out GREAT.  Last Looks really helped them pull this thing together, and while the model is small, it helps to add a sense of sneakiness.

Stephanie and Alan’s Thorny Dragon/Cockscomb:

Another one that’s got some cool sculpting going on, but the paint is doing it a disservice.  The color is really flat looking, especially from far away, and the judges don’t like the venom sacs that Alan made, because they think they look more like goiters.

Rob and Jamie’s Piranha/Blue Thistle:

There’s a ton of work on this dude.  I wish I could have seen the back more, or how the dreadlock leaves moved when the actor moved.

The top looks are Darla and Ben, and Emily and Regina.  The bottom looks are Adam and Julian, and Stephanie and Alan.  It’s easy for me to say, a day behind everything, that I chose correctly, but I really did!  I said that Darla and Ben would win, and Ben would win for that awesome cowl, and he did.  I really wasn’t sure who would go home though.  It turns out that it’s Alan, since he did the venom sacs.  The judges point out that he shouldn’t be ashamed, since none of the makeups were bad this week (and it’s true).  Glenn also points out earlier that he can really see all the positives with having the champs there giving them pointers.  We’ll definitely see how well it helps during the individual challenges.