Tonight’s Episode (Airdate January 22nd, 2013): Heroic Proportions
Note: Starting now and in all future recaps (until he is eliminated), contestant Michael will be referred to as Wolverine.
Spotlight Challenge
The contestants are having breakfast when a note arrives from McKenzie asking them to join her at San Diego Comic Con – a nerd’s dream come true! The group is understandably excited. Tonight we skip the Foundation Challenge and go directly into the group’s first individual Spotlight Challenge: to create an original Super Hero! To help them get inspired are DC Comic artist legends Dan Didio and Jim Lee. Jim says that Super Heroes reflect the era that they come from and suggests that the artists consider the importance of their color palette, which are generally primary colors. Dan says to take into consideration how the hero’s powers relate to how they look. A group of DC artists will consult with the contestants while they brainstorm and sketch. The winning look will appear in an upcoming DC comic book!
Eric Z is so excited to be able to work with Jim Lee – his hero – on his design. He bases his hero sketch on his dad, a working class guy in a chemical factory. Autumn mentions that her young daughter loves Super Heroes, so she will use her as an inspiration. Her Super Hero is a flashback to the 1970s and has pink skin. House is doing a Robot Girl; a “kick ass cyborg.” His sketch looks like the robot from the silent film ‘Metropolis’ dressed like Tank Girl. Anthony talks about a lava character that will incorporate shiny volcanic rock. Hey, didn’t that idea get someone kicked off last week?
Eric F is inspired by a ‘40s Dick Tracy look. His character will be a type of cop. Wolverine is designing an anti-hero, Elijah, Bringer of Plagues. He wears a mask that he says resembles an “old plague doctor” with a long nose meant to hold incense to cover up the smell of death! Talk about a complete back-story! Meagan designs Freedom Fighter, who protects NYC. His costume incorporates aspects of the Twin Towers. I’m thinking this idea could go either way. Katie also has a punk rock aesthetic for her hero that shoots electricity out of its fingers. Kris is working on a Time Traveler character.
Meagan is overwhelmed immediately and calls her unintentional “cat robot” the worst sculpt in the room. Wayne points out that most Super Heroes have a thin nose, as reflected in his facial sculpt! His guy is in a muscle suit type of costume. Alam’s creation is covered with shards of glass from exploding buildings, or something like that. Alex is doing an ambitious aquatic female character that could look amazing if executed correctly. And…Meagan is still hopelessly lost as everyone progresses around her.
Jenna’s creation is called Silversight. She’s like Wonder Woman with wings! Jenna is all about the strong, beautiful woman, for sure. We get a “how to” on the way a facial sculpt is made into the finished head piece with the clay, mold, silicone, etc. Educational! At the end of day one, Wolverine is worried that he might have two bottom looks in a row and Katie voices concern that her creation is too simple compared to what everyone else is doing.
On day two of the Super Hero challenge it’s time for Eric Z to work on things like armor and props. Eric F wants to expose the human anatomy of his character using clear domes as well as showing the lungs actually functioning. Jenna needs to get her wings done and she needs feathers as well. Alam’s glass shard costume looks insane! She says that she is worried that she doesn’t know the materials well, but the costume looks just amazing. Wolverine feels that he is wasting time because his mask, which is such an important part of the look, is not coming out the way he wants. He switches to a spandex cowl, which he will sculpt a nose onto. Anthony fears he may have gone “too big” (ambition wise) with the chest piece sculpts needed for his hero’s body armor. He is way behind at the end of day two. House, whose Robot Girl is based on Japanese anime, aspires to receive Top Looks for all of his characters! This challenge is so ambitious that we don’t even have any down time back at the house or any unrelated personal drama. The contestants are all business.
Day three is for applications and the models arrive so the Super Hero looks can start coming together. I love Alam’s costume so much but she is having trouble getting the glass shard back piece to stay on because it is so heavy. Anthony smashes one of his fingers trying to open his mold, which just will not open, so his chest piece will not make it onto his final look. Time to go to Plan B, which means…what? We’re in the final hours of last looks, which is Alam’s last chance to get her back piece on and Anthony to improvise for his discarded chest piece.
The Reveal:
Glenn, Ve and Neville meet up with the contestants at judges table with no guest judges tonight.
Wolverine’s Bringer of the Plagues looks surprisingly cheap to me, like a Monk wearing a glitter Mardi Gras mask, but he’s very proud of his look.
Kris’s character is called Orion X. His face looks cool, like a chiseled ice creature, but he’s a bit worried that he did not spend enough time on the costume, and it shows.
Wayne’s Solarian looks like Mr. Freeze with dreadlocks and a blue paint job on the body, which he admits is unfinished. It’s obvious that this head does not go with the body he created, at all.
Anthony’s The Infernal Core looks, so far, the most like what a Comic Book Super Hero should look like. The facial detail, with a split paint job, looks very creative. He regrets not having the chest piece but his look is still one of the best so far.
Meagan feels that her Freedom Fighter will be in the bottom looks and I do not disagree. It’s horrible.
House’s Robot Girl is much more of a horror look than anticipated. The paint job is very gory and she looks like one of the cenobites from Hellraiser. Not what I was expecting from the sketch, but well-done.
How did Autumn get on this show? Her Mercury Ray looks really cheap, with her flat, monochromatic red body paint, and insectoid eyes, but Autumn expresses that she’s got what it takes to be a Super Hero because, “Her panties are on the outside and she’s got a cape.” OK! The costume looks like she bought it at Walmart. Despite how shoddy the workmanship looks, it does have an undeniable comic-book-feel.
Alam’s Dark Shard is impressive. It’s simple but the details are so finely executed that the concept is fully realized. Too bad about that back piece.
Alex’s H2 Ophelia looks like an albino creature left over from Battlefield Earth. No me gusta.
Jenna’s Silversight makes a vibrant first impression even though the wings were obviously where Jenna spent 90 percent of her time.
Katie’s Revolt has a fun mask and wig, but she may be right that it is too simple. She doubts Glenn will dig it.
Eric Z’s Contagion has one big arm like Hell Boy, with a comic book vibe overall.
Eric F’s Dick Gritty also had a good design for a DC Comics’ Super Hero. His sculpt has some truly “gritty” features including exposed organs and facial muscles.
Unfortunately the judges make Dark Shard turn around during Closer Looks and you can see that not only is the back piece – which was the most impressive part of the costume – totally missing, but the model’s back is completely exposed and just has some paint splashed on it. Oh, Alam. That’s not going to be good for anyone.
Judgment Time
House, Eric F, Meagan, Anthony and Wolverine are the best and the worst this week and the others are safe and may return to the make-up room to breathe huge sighs of relief.
Up for cross-examination by the judges, House explains that Robot Girl is a pro fighter from the future out for revenge. Glenn calls the design extremely unconventional and says that his risks paid off. Ve likes it despite the gore and Neville concurs that it reads a bit more horror than Super Hero. Glenn says it speaks to him.
The arm pieces worn by Meagan’s Freedom Fighter are bad news. Ve says that his arms look like “TV controls with gaffers tape wrapped around them,” which, yes. She thinks the face sculpt is “rough.” Glenn likes the neck piece but says ultimately the character does not work; she missed too many opportunities to do cool things.
Eric F explains that his detective Dick Gritty is a reanimated corpse out for revenge. Neville calls it an entertaining piece. Ve gets the 1940s vibe. Glen says that the look compels the viewer to ask what happened to this guy to make him that way, which is exactly what you want.
Wolverine Explains His Crappy Make-Up to the Judges
Wolverine gives his Bringer of Plagues’ back-story. Glenn gets that the mask is based on a traditional plague doctor but says this version of the mask was unsuccessful. Ve wonders what he did with his time and says that this week was a huge waste of time for him.
Anthony’s The Infernal Core is from the Earth’s core and Ve puts it out there that there have been other characters presented with the cracked earth lava look, but his is the first one that has been successful. Despite not being able to get his chest and back pieces out of the molds, he transcended those obstacles and came up with a strong silhouette, says Neville. Glenn loves the piece’s mix of a great sculpt and great paint job. Well done!
Katie calls her Revolt character a “vigilante homemade hero punk rock superman” (doctor lawyer Indian chief). Neville doesn’t think she is as well-versed at anatomy as she needs to be. He says the character neither looks heroic nor menacing, just deformed. Glenn calls the mask a “Jugalo Tiki Mask” from a frat party. What a burn!
Tonight’s winner is Anthony for the strong work on his characters’ head sculpture! His creature will be featured in a DC comic! That’s three wins in a row for Anthony! Can he be stopped?
Sadly…Wolverine goes home due to making too many bad decisions and not giving the judges any make up to look at. Wolverine! I can’t believe I only got to call you Wolverine for one episode!
The episode recaps of SyFy’s Face Off Season 4 were originally written for the website, Redesign Revolution. As that site has gone offline, this article has been added into the historical archive of the Worley Gig for all of our readers to enjoy.
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