There can be only... um... two.
About this creation
On his grand tour of the United States, including stops in L.A. and New York, Yellowstone National Park, and of course the Brickworld convention in Chicago, Shannon Ocean (AKA Shannon Sproule, AKA Smeagol, AKA The Other Shannon) was good enough to make a stop in the Pacific Northwest to visit with me.
He could only spare a few hours, and was battling some kind of cold. He claimed to have picked it up in Los Angeles, but I suspect he's a sleeper agent carrying some genetically engineered deadly weaponized plague. (Coincidence that he's visiting our three biggest population centers?! I think not!) Anyway, in spite of all that, we had fun talking and playing Laygoes.
It would be a bit overwhelming to be turned loose on someone else's collection, not knowing what pieces were available or how they were sorted. Where do you begin? I've seen pictures of Ocean's workspace, which seems to consist of a messy spread of loose pieces. So I took pity on him and brought out the to-be-sorted pile.
Mr. Sproule was then confronted with this pile of odd pieces -- those castoff bits that accumulate in the course of building, half-built abandoned works, old models in various stages of deconstruction as they get cannibalized for parts, the odd tablescrap, that sort of thing.
The Other Shannon is a master of abstraction, what I call a hit-and-run builder. By which I mean a lot of his builds suggest forms and shapes with relatively few parts, like quick sketches in Lego form. Someone like me would feel the need to expand on that basic form, flesh it out with greater detail, but he's already called it good and moved on to the next idea.
So naturally I expected great things from Shannon Ocean when he began to dig through that pile. And he did not disappoint. It's a neat build regardless, but when you consider the limited palette, it's that much more impressive.
And then you further consider that in the same time frame, with the home field advantage of knowing my own collection, all I was able to throw together was this thing. I am generally a slow builder, and my natural instinct is to make more elaborate, parts-intensive creations. Definitely outside my comfort zone with the "quick sketch" approach.
I found it interesting though, that we both went monochrome -- Yin and Yang.
This post would not be complete without an embarrassing shot of the good Mr. Sproule swooshing his creation. He didn't really want to, but I threatened to crack him over the head with a shovel and bury him in the garden if he didn't.
Comments
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July 7, 2011 |
I am soooo thoroughly confused as to which Shannon is which! Arggghhhhh I'm getting a headache!!! The guy on the left does look 'kinda' familiar though. LMAO Great to see you two together at last. Excellent builds and a fun time by all! |
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June 10, 2011 |
And that in just a few hours. It takes me days to do a darn thing, even when surrounded by my own inventory. What could the two of you have accomplished if you had had a week? Cool that you guys got to visit. Cool that you invited all of us as well! Attack! |
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June 10, 2011 |
Why do I suddenly feel so inadequate? It's great that you guys had a chance to meet up. I'm thankful there was no blood shed, just tears of joy. Too bad Ocean's a sleeper agent -- every other Aussie I've ever met has been so nice. Guess they can't all be like Crocodile Dundee, eh? I like both your builds; they're great sketches that I'm sure gave you guys a chance to just chat and mock the rest of us for our inferiority. |
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June 10, 2011 |
HAHA I'm with Aero, AUSTRALIAN MOCERS UNITE!!! Great stuff Shannon ;) |
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June 10, 2011 |
Australia wins once again... |
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June 10, 2011 |
He he, I had an absolute BLAST man! If I wasn't so unwell I would've been more upbeat. Thanks for a great time and when you do visit Oz we'll have a build-off rematch...Take care bro! |
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June 9, 2011 |
NICE! I don't even touch the bricks till I've built/rebuilt/torn apart and smashed my head against the mirror in my head a few times. To build something "on-the-spot" improv-style scares the crap outta me! Nice to see you 2 played nice:) |
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June 9, 2011 |
With all the talent the two of you possess it IS dissapointing you couldn't tackle more, but cool MOCs nonetheless. That was a nice little insider treat; thanks for sharing. |
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June 9, 2011 |
I look forward to seeing Mr. Shann-o in his Chicago part of the trip. Looks like you guys had fun. |
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June 9, 2011 |
Awesome squared :) |
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June 9, 2011 |
Oh dear lord! Shouldn't you have put some sort of warning on these pics? There's children on this site! (tell ShannO I'll see him next week... and yes, that's a threat.) Glad to see you guys are (were) having a blast! ~ Chris. |
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Sometimes it is nice to see the faces behind the builds...then again... Be safe on the travels!!! |
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June 9, 2011 |
HAHA, great stuff! Nice to see the Yank-Aussie Shannon combo. Hope the trip is a good one for our mate from down underwear. Cheers! |
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June 9, 2011 |
Hey, Shannon Young's alive! Which is unfortunate if Ocean's really a sleeper agent, because that means the Lego aisle at Fred Meyer is going to be the first place infected. Bah, Bellevue's too far, risking plague is worth it. |
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More from Shannon More across MOCpages
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student teen kid toy play lego child video game hobby blocks construction toy legos fun games
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