Micro Madness 2014 / [MM2014 R2] Kumba vs. 5Dave vs. gdb

First off, everyone should know that Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is first and foremost, a novel, and my favorite novel hands down, and maybe a thousand times better than the movie (though i still enjoy the movie).

gdb-i liked this, it was interesting and well done. Still, somehow, it felt odd. The coaster was fun, but not terribly exciting. The archy was really detailed and intricate in parts, but seemed less in others. It's hard to say exactly what it was about this micro, it just seemed a bit off. Very well done, but i had trouble with how the parts fit together i guess. 

Kumba-same problem with this as i've had with your first micro and a lot of your work before that. The ideas are brilliant, the interior was wonderful to look through, but you shoved it in a shitty box. The exterior just looked poor. Ideas can only get you so far, eventually you have to back them up with legit RCT foundations like archy. This micro was very good, but imo just not good enough.

5Dave-this park, on the other hand, was all the brilliant ideas this contest favors with the packaging to boot. Quaint, well done archy, simple but well prepared references, a wonderful coaster with happy peeps. Loved the whale, the planets, and ofcourse the police box. Hitchhikers is my favorite novel, so this was kinda perfect. Well done.

Vote: 5Dave

3. Conquest for the Forgotten Empire.

Very cool plane!  And a nice little back-story too, just to set the scene.  The coaster was decent with a great starting element, but a bit too short-lived.  Perhaps if it made more use of the building interiors, or the spire of the Parliamentary Building...?  The architecture was good too, but I felt that all the buildings could’ve used a certain something like a common tertiary colour or style of ornate decoration to establish a specific theme for the Empire.  Overall, a great entry with solid architecture and a good coaster, but lacking something to really clarify the theme.

2. Comic Con Miami.

As I felt was also the case with 42, there were a lot of references here that I didn’t get, but there were also a lot that I found very humourous – cosplay Richard Parker and the bit next to Chris Sawyer in particular.  Obviously, the focus wasn’t so much on the architecture or rides (although the Rumble Seat was a very nice idea) but on the small details and content, and I’m still a bit torn as to whether that alone did it for me.  What was there was good, but once you take away the frozen peeps and the signs, there isn’t much to go on, in my opinion.  I guess I need to know Comic Con and the references to be able to truly appreciate what’s going on in all the small sections, but as it stands, I’m afraid I wasn’t engrossed for too long.

1. 42.

There were some really lovely touches in this, such as the way the queue line entered under Deep Thought, and the fact that people were actually sitting around the tables and eating.  While I’m sure a lot of the references were lost on me, I did get the dolphin bit and saw Marvin walking around, and the entire area gave off a wacky sci-fi vibe, which I what I believe Hitchhiker’s strives for, so well done on that.  As a whole, the area worked well and had a good mix of rides, landscaping and architecture/sculptures to keep it interesting and pleasant to look at, and I voted this 1st.

Voting Closed

Winner: 5DAve with 13 votes (proceeds to next round)

Runner-up: gdb with 9 votes (proceeds to wildcards)

3rd place: Kumba with 6 votes (is eliminated from Micro Madness 2014)

congrats 5dave! even though i'm not officially out yet i'm very proud of myself for getting 32% of the votes in a matchup with 2 elite parkmakers

also i beat the reigning champion

3rd place: Kumba with 6 votes (is eliminated from Micro Madness 2014)

UPSET OF THE CENTRURY

Figured I never really replied here...

Comic Con Miami - Kumba

Another typical nice Kumba entry here. I think the only thing that held it down was people not really getting into the theme that much, which is surprising as I thought there are only nerds around here anyways. However, the details were really nice, especially all the staff, the movie props and booths. What held it down was the facade on the one hand, and the fact that there wasn't anything else to see besides klicking on staff to see what it should represent. A coaster would have made no sense here, so I don't really know what could have helped. Really nice work nontheless and finally I've beaten you in a contest - haha!

Conquest for the forgotten Empire - gdb

I didn't really get the theme here. The readme suggests a lost African city culture with gigantic buildings, but from the looks it looked more like a medieval arabian city or something, not really lost IMO. I like the backstory behind it and the work you've put into it, but the story itself was a bit confusing. Also I didn't get why the coaster was half floating in air, half supported and realistically looking. Next time just pick one aspect of a story and work that out more (for example the exploring of the city itself). But a good little micro nontheless, great work!

About 42:

Glad most of you guys liked the coaster layout. It was planned last MM but didnt see the light until now thanks to Levis! About the details in the park: Glad most of you got the stuff - I included Deep Thought, the Heart of Gold, the Milliways Restaurant (with the TARDIS and the red landing ship parking in front), the crashed whale and petunia, underground planet construction, Arthur's home and the dolphin ride. Glad most of it got recognized.

@Kumba: Yeah the landscape got a bit messy unfortunately.

@Ling: I wanted to include stars, but it was a bit rushed in the end unfortunately.

I hope I can keep up with my next entry as I'm pretty busy the next two weeks. So wish me luck!

"MFG"