Help your fellow builder by leaving your feedback based on these three criteria:
- Originality: How original is this - never seen before?
- Building Techniques: How much skill do you think the creator of this MOC has, in terms of building technique?
- Details: Express how much you like the details of the build.
Your feedback is only shown to the creator as well as yourself. It is not available for other users to see. The creator won't see your user name.
Last Updated . Click "Updates" above to see the latest.
No doubt everyone has heard about the legendary Quest for the Holy Grail, popularized by countless books, sagas and movies.
Therefore, no need to present King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table…
But maybe it is useful to replace things on a timeline, which is what this diorama is all about, displaying five major scenes from the Legend:
- Pulling out the sword Excalibur from the stone, with the help of the magician Merlin and the Lady of the Lake;
- Selecting the knights who would show their worth by accomplishing some heroic quest, whether it is Lancelot fighting a breathing dragon, or Bohort sewing some clothes so thugs can tell everyone about his -pretended- fighting skills;
- Building the Round Table and gathering the bravest knights of all around it, to plan the Holy Grail quest;
- Growing the legend by completing some secondary quest, such as killing the Giant Serpent of the Shadow Lake (that is, if Perceval and Karadoc do not confuse it with an eel, of course);
- And finally, finally reaching the ultimate goal: the Holy Grail itself!
They can connect easily to each other using Technic pins.
This particular interpretation of the Arthurian Legend is loosely based on the highly popular French comic-fantasy series Kaamelott, created by Alexandre Astier, which explored this saga under the assumption that there is no way all members of the team were performing at their highest potential, or more precisely that the potential in question may not be as high as the CV showed (after all, why would Arthur’s organization be different than any other organization in the world?). Which obviously slows down considerably the Quest :)
So considerable that the fifth scene is entirely fictional: the Knights may find the Holy Grail in the future development of the series (which became cinema movies after 6 seasons as TV series: one had been released last year, three more are yet to come), but it seems it is still a long way ahead! Hence a little nod to Indiana Jones, who actually did find it, unlike our heroes :)
For this otherwise static diorama, I wanted to include some fun play features: a button can be turned in each of those scenes to trigger different mechanisms:
- Unscrew a spanner to release the grip provided by two rubber liftarms, so that Arthur (or someone else, who knows?!) can actually pull out the sword from the rock;
- Turn some axles to tilt the dragon down, while turning Lancelot (and swooshing his sword) at the same time;
- Move a combination of wormscrew and gear racks to slide open the doors on both sides of the Round Table room;
- Activate some gears to lift up the Giant Serpent above the surface of the Lake’s water (I am still working on a design that would turn his head at the same time, for now it is manual);
- Lift up a platform that would make a Grail appear, randomly selected (is it a cup? A luminescent stone? An anchovy jar?) by turning a series of splat gears and knob wheels.
All those systems had been cleverly concealed beneath the tiles, under the dirt or behind the rocks, making sure they use the flattest connections possible, for a seamless “Classic” display.
An alternative build is available for the central Scene: rather than the Round Table, it is also possible to build the Throne room and the table Lancelot setup when he seized power.
14 of the main characters are provided with this set: Arthur, Merlin, the Lady of the Lake, Pere Blaise, Leodagan, Lancelot (2 alternate torsos/legs), Bohort, Perceval, Karadoc, King Loth, Dagonet, Horsa and Mevanwi of Vannes.
Plus a Templar knight protecting the Holy Grail, making it 15 mini-figures in total. Plus, not counting two knights’ armors statues decorating the Round Table room.
Except for the statues, all mini-figures torsos, legs/hips and faces had been custom designed (using Photoshop and PartDesigner). Some characters are fitted with dual faces to allow more play and display options.
Since we were there, and because the story is lacking animals, this project is a chance to introduce two mythical creatures: a Sea (well, Lake, let’s not be picky here!) Serpent and a Dragon (mostly because I always wanted to design one!). Both are fully articulated and can be displayed in a multitude of positions thanks to the versatile tow ball connections.
A little over 3300 pieces, I believe this epic submission would find a loving place to call home with any fan of the Castle theme, of Kaamelott, of the Arthurian legend or of the Middle-Age in general. With a combination of “Technic” elements and “System” pieces, it would be fun and entertaining to build, and the creatures are sure to please younger builders too :)
Hope you like it, feel free to comment with any improvement suggestions: this can easily be an ever-evolving project!
Oh, and if you have a few more minutes, feel free to take a look to my other project, thanks a lot for passing by :)
Help your fellow builder by leaving your feedback based on these three criteria:
- Originality: How original is this - never seen before?
- Building Techniques: How much skill do you think the creator of this MOC has, in terms of building technique?
- Details: Express how much you like the details of the build.
Your feedback is only shown to the creator as well as yourself. It is not available for other users to see. The creator won't see your user name.