D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

Judges: Ulf/'Steve' Auctifer, Oditr, Titania, Mint

Criteria: Looks, Not-sand features, Structurally Sound, Creativity, Looks

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Kress was somewhat surprised to see a box full of sand as their next destination. This time, Thyme provided three copies so that not everyone was crowded around the same little bit of sand. Though there was arguably more to look at here. Kress looked the whole thing over and… wasn't entirely sure what to think. 

The box was obviously full of sand. That was the first thing that stood out was just how much extra sand there was. After that you started to see little bits and pieces of sand buildings dotted around the place. The building in the middle was the most obvious, but only because the hole for it was such large. The building itself was mostly covered with only the towers surviving. 

There were a few other things around, once Kress started to look. There was a dried-out oasis with a few dead trees. Clearly, they didn't think to ask Timmy to make ones with leaves on them. Or go looking for them. There was also what Kress was guessing had to be a guard post, and a few other little buildings that might've been houses? Hard to say really. 

Kress could see one of the copies shaking violently and assumed that was a Oditr's destruction test. With a shrug, Kress kept examining everything for a few more moments unsure of his own overall thoughts. *There seem to be some good ideas here. The buildings that are present happen to be a bit small but the detail on them isn't bad… the biggest issue is that I can't tell if there was originally more to the buildings or if they were built that way intentionally. 

If it's the former, then I respect the guts it takes to build such small fractions of buildings but don't agree with the decision at all. If it's the latter, then it's probably just an unfortunate accident for the builders of this one. I wonder who it is? Borgick and Marigold almost certainly worked on the cannon, but I don't know who is so fond of deserts.*

"So Blue, what do you think?" asked Kress to his companion. Kress was a little surprised that Stan and Gareth weren't nearby. They were at the middle copy. Or perhaps the one in the middle was the original? Kress didn't know or care. 

"I think it's an acceptable idea with middling execution," said Blue, a touch coldly in Kress' opinion. 

"That's a bit harsh. I feel like they tried here. It's a cool idea that probably lead to them making mistakes when climbing out of the holes they dug themselves into. Literally," responded Kress.

"True but it IS such an obvious problem they really should've seen coming. I mean, they had to have known they'd burry more of the structure as they were climbing out correct?" offered Blue. 

Kress nodded and said, "While yes, from here that's easy to see. I suspect they just had what they thought was a unique idea and then got started working on things. Built up that main building in the big hole… and then realised the problem as they were climbing out. By then it might've been too late to fix, or perhaps it's gotten worse over time? Either is possible," 

Blue just shrugged again, "It's not like they built a whole buried town though. Just a few random buildings. It's not even a proper set of ruins if that's what they were aiming for. I'd give it a six at most," 

Kress nodded, "I can't say I disagree with the final score… even if I'd be a lot nicer about how I handed it out," 

Soon after Kress and Blue finished their own discussion Thyme pulled everyone out and asked the judges, once again, for their initial thoughts. Oditr went first this time, "I'm not sure what to give them honestly. Parts of it stayed really stable throughout, but other things were covered in sand quickly… which I guess technically isn't being destroyed… but is it fair to say the sand hiding the sculptures is part of the sculptures? Anyway, I'm thinking of giving them two threes, for a total of six at the moment," 

*I didn't get a good look at the destroyed test so I can't really say if that's an accurate score or not.*

Mint spoke next, "I thought it was a cool idea… but it didn't really resonate with me. It was just hiding the stuff I really wanted to see. I'm going to have to give whoever made this a five," 

*Blue and I were thinking of giving them a six so… not too far off what we were thinking. Perhaps a more fair score, we might've been going easy.*

Steve spoke next, "Unlike Mint I DO quite like how this one turned out. I think it paints a really cool landscape as it stands… but it is a little lacking in features so I'm thinking of handing out a six," 

*Or perhaps we weren't going easy. Steve seems to agree with us, and Blue and I are using his judgement.*

Auctifer shrugged and said, "There just wasn't much use of things that weren't sand, even if the sand was used in a unique way. I'm giving them a one or a two. We'll see how the others shake out," 

*True. Still not something I'd expect in a sandcastle contest. But he isn't wrong exactly.*

Once again, everyone turned to Titania. "Before I give more score. I feel the need to ask, how did all the extra sand end up in this one?" Thyme instantly blurred the faces of everyone in the room accept the judges. 

"Sorry for this but I'm afraid I can't let them answer that question and reveal who made this before the judging is final. That being said I personally can ask them and then pass it on?" offered Thyme. 

Titania shrugged and said, "Right well my main question is how the sand ended up there and how they decided on this as the final design," 

Thyme nodded and suddenly nobody could see or hear anything. Kress just rolled his eyes as this persisted for around a minute and then things went back to normal. Thyme walked up to Titania and… whispered the answer for some reason. Kress' eyes narrowed at them both. Knowing he should probably still be able to hear them considering he wasn't far away. *Probably Thyme using magic to prevent the sound escaping.*

Titania chewed on her lips for a few seconds after Thyme stepped away. "Right, with that information I'm going to say this work here is particularly creative. I'm going to award them at least eight points, possibly more if the rest of the lineup is particularly disappointing," 

"Of course, in that case, let us move on to the third sculpture," said Thyme with a smile. One clap later and their was three new squares to walk around. Kress walked over from the side impressed with what he saw. 

He was currently looking at Carl and Midnight's multiple castle idea. *This is pretty neat actually. If we didn't have Timmy find all that coloured sand I might have done something similar to this. The details on the castle aren't really up to my standards, and the castle itself seems to have been built in pieces instead of carved out like mine… but honestly? This is something I could see myself building had things been different.*

"This one is probably my favourite so far," said Kress to Blue. 

"I agree with you. While I was somewhat hesitant on the previous one, and really not fond of the cannon, this stacking design is quite cool, if a little lacking in details in some places," said Blue. 

Kres nodded as he glanced over the castles. "Yeah… they weren't particularly consistent with the details. The larger stuff? Perfectly done. The size scaling was probably in Thyme's hands as they upgraded the buckets, but the individual details are… good but not great," Kress pointed to a few windows as he spoke. "See those windows? Only on the largest, and second smallest castle. Then there's the fact that the brick lines don't exist on the main structure of the biggest or smallest castle and just… yeah the details are what's lacking here," 

Blue thought for a moment then asked, "It's gotta have been a time issue right? As in, they took too long getting started? Or perhaps they got everything 'good enough' and didn't have the time to fix up the details properly?" 

Kress shrugged and said, "It's totally possible. I'm not sure if they'd notice while working on it. Things like that can be pretty easy to miss. Especially if they weren't doing all the details at the same time. Looking back and forth between all the various castles, it would be easy to get things wrong here and there," 

"So how would you say this happened?" asked Blue. 

"I'd guess they were making a sandcastle… and it was one of the small ones. They finished in… perhaps an hour? Then they decided that one small castle wasn't enough. Perhaps they meant to build bigger originally, perhaps they just thought the original would take longer,"