Reprinted with permission from www.redesignrevolution.com

The contestants on converge at a masquerade ball at the Park Plaza Hotel in Hollywood to start their journey towards becoming the next great name in movie magic. This season, it’s Face Off veterans versusFace Off newbies. The cast of Heros Of Cosplay, a new Syfy show that I will not be watching, join the contestants at the ball to introduce the first Foundation Challenge: create an original character inspired by one of the costume partygoers. The winner receives immunity, and the judge is the screenwriter and director Catherine Hardwick.

With two hours and limited supplies, the contestants rush to begin their transformations. Rick is going with a tribal hunter theme, RJ from Season Two is turning an otherwise handsome man into an old, crusty soldier, Tate from Season One transforms a beautiful woman into a princess, Eddie is inspired by Phantom of the Opera, Adolfo is aging a woman (never age a woman!), Frank from Season One is creating a fireball or something rage-induced, Laura from Season Three is making “a demon queen of some sort,” and time is up.

The results are phenomenal, and I’m beginning to see why this is probably the most creative reality show on television. The biggest disappointment is probably a royal Hindu bride—there’s not much other than face painting. The coolest is a transformation into a sketched cartoon character, which looks like a real-life A-ha video. Judge Catherine Hardwick’s top looks are by Tate, Roy, and Laura, who are all veterans.

Laura’s Underworld Queen

Roy’s Caricature General

Tate’s Kidnapped Princess

The winner of the Foundation Challenge and the all-important immunity is Tate.

The Spotlight Challenge is to create original fantasy characters that would live in their own hyper-fantasy world. It’s a team challenge, with the veterans battling newcomers. Each team will create five looks: Ogre, Pixie, Fawn, Troll, and Witch. Work is divided up, and the newcomers settle on the idea of each character being the member of a high council of their species, and each has a gemstone on their chest. The veterans are creating a giant ogre and a witch without eyes because all of the other creatures are her eyes.

The contestants begin sculpting. There are horns and clay arms and spiney heads. On the second day, the contestants have to finish up their sculptures, make the molds, open the molds, clean out the clay…all in ten hours. The newcomers are quietly ambitious, with a witch that has to show both beauty and age. The veterans have gone a little bigger with a giant ogre and a multi-eared pixie.

Michael Westmore, a renowned make-up artist, arrives in the studio to review the progress. He recommends the contestants go bold. “Dig a little deeper…we’re dealing in fantasy, not subtle things.” He is most impressed with one of the veterans’ pieces that has fingers on the ends of spikes which, yeah. Very cool.

The end of the second day brings absolute madness. Molds are opening, some are cracking, time is ticking….It’s finally the Application Day. The models arrive for four hours of makeup application. But some molds were better than others, and not everyone has a prosthetic to apply. Two hours later, and Adolfo still has not been able to bust his mold open. And when he does, it’s a mess. Sam is freaking out at Scott. They’re working together on a model, but they have two totally different painting techniques and are at risk for not completing the task.

With ten minutes left before one hour of Last Looks, some contestants are finished, and others are half-finished. But in the end, there are ten fairly impressive looks to present.  The veterans have a pretty badass low-budget-looking ogre, a bizarre fawn that looks inhuman, a creepy one-eyed troll holding a bloody baby. Their pixie has eyeballs in her multiple ears, and the witch is kind of unfinished. Overall, I’m not sure how the veterans’ team fits together.

Tate’s Troll

Roy’s Faun

Alana and Miranda’s Pixie

Laura’s Witch

Frank, RJ and Eric’s Ogre

The newcomers present a goofy, stiff ogre, a barely-modified fawn, and a troll with a massive brow and sunken eyes. Their fawn is unfinished, with the entire bottom of the face completely human, and the witch is only marginally better. While the newcomers’ story of the chest stones holds the story together, it’s visually disjointed. Pretty sure the veterans won this round, handily.

Scott and Sam’s Witch

Rick and Laney’s Faun

Tolin and Eddie’s Ogre

Lyma’s Pixie

Adolfo’s Troll

Hostess McKenzie Westmore (wait, there’s another Westmore?) introduces the judges. There is three-time Academy Award winner Ve Neill, and Hollywood veterans Glenn Hetrick and Neville Page. When the judges examine the models, they are impressed with some things, and disappointed in others. “Wrinkle your face, close your eyes, scrunch your brow.”

The judges ask to speak to Alana and Miranda from the veterans about their Pixie. The multi-tiered ears impress the judges, as does make-up application. Tolin and Eddie from the newcomers are less successful. The judges find the proportions completely off and the character “just looks like a blob with a head on top.” It is “sculpturally substandard.”

Next up are Frank, RJ and Eric from the veterans and their knuckle-dragging ogre. The judges find it disproportionate, with a tiny head and giant feet. Also, the mouth is static. Rick and Laney from the newcomers present their fawn. The judges like the fawn (despite the bizarre and unnecessary paint on the stomach) because it looks humane and feminine. Adolfo and his troll are next from the newcomers. The judges are disappointed with the sculpt, which doesn’t even have a good paint job. Laura displays her witch from the veterans. This is the piece with fingers coming out of the spine, and the judges “dig it, a lot.” However, the face paint is a mess.

The top team is the veterans. No big shocker there. And the winner of the challenge is Miranda. And from the losing team, Eddie, Tolin, and Adolfo are up for elimination. The judges eliminate Tolin because of the lack of precision and form in his head sculpt.

Next week, more madness.

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