The Art of Not Finishing a MOC
Outside of LEGO conventions and LUG meetups, the LEGO community primarily gathers online. With forums, social media and chat apps, AFOLs have been sharing their creative work digitally for years. The rise of the decent phone camera has exacerbated this trend, making sharing your MOCs the easiest it has ever been. But when you have a lot of ideas and build quickly, sometimes completing only the MOC's front side that will be photographed is all I have time for… and who else will know?
Is this a LEGO building sin that needs to be confessed or a shrewd speed building secret for the digital age? Is only building the parts of a MOC that will be photographed sheer laziness? Is it a smart strategy to build more? To explore these questions, let me share with you a bit of my building process.
The Need For Speed
When I build MOCs, my process is a bit of a whirlwind! Ideas tend to strike quickly and rather unpredictable, sort of like lightning. They can appear from anywhere: more obviously a car that I saw on the road, or more subtly, a conversation I just had. Maybe even a scene from a movie. I can see particular connections and techniques in my head, wondering if they’ll work in real bricks.
I lose the idea if I don’t build quickly enough. Building digitally usually slows me down, and I need the tactile experience of building with physical bricks. If I don’t have all the parts I need on hand, my brain doesn’t have time to wait for BrickLink orders! It is a blessing and a curse. I can imagine so many builds but I can’t get them all out of my mind and built before I lose them.
Speaking of speed, my builds vary quite a bit in how long they take to design and complete; some take hours while one has taken me over three years, on and off. But I have a superpower when it comes to building quickly. Here, take a look at all of these MOCs I’ve built. Each one was received well by the LEGO community online. But I have something to confess…
None of these MOCs has a backside. That’s right, each of these creations is actually not finished… except they are. Let me explain. One of my tricks of the trade is not building a whole MOC, but instead only building the parts that will be photographed. I don’t go to a lot of LEGO fan conventions so my expression of the LEGO hobby is mostly online. I build MOCs for myself in my own way, and not finishing the backsides allows me to create things I otherwise wouldn’t.
It isn’t always that I don’t build the back of a MOC—most of the time, I end up doing it because I lack the proper elements to finish a build completely. If I’m just going to photograph it, rather than keep it together for myself or for a convention, it is usually an incomplete model meant for a fleeting moment of artistry before it is parted out soon after.
The Pros and Cons of Not Finishing a MOC
There are of course pros and cons of building in such a way that you don’t finish your MOC to what you might consider 100%.
Yes, this was a logo created in AI because this section felt like it needed some color!
Pros
An immediate positive aspect that I’ve already discussed (and something that relates to me directly) is the time involved in building. It just doesn’t take as long to build something that is incomplete on the non-photographed side. It also helps me keep up a pace online to post frequently. Additionally, less money is spent on parts for the build and fewer parts are committed overall.
Less obvious pros include that not finishing a MOC means you can possibly avoid tricky parts of a build, that the internals of a MOC are more easily accessible, and that it gives you the flexibility to be more experimental in your approach.
Cons
The most obvious con is that you don’t have a finished MOC. Transporting and displaying a partially built model at any convention without it either breaking easily or just not looking complete would be the biggest hindrance. It’s also just not quite as satisfying to have an incomplete model sitting on the shelf—finishing a MOC can be addictive. Who doesn’t like something that looks great from every side?
Also if a MOC isn’t finished, you can’t provide instructions or additional photos. It can possibly be seen as lazy to build in such a way. It’s also harder to photograph, light, and display.
As you can see, the decision to finish a MOC or not depends on what you build, how you share it, and how you want to document or preserve your MOCs.
How To Not Finish A MOC
So how do you not finish a MOC? It actually takes a bit of consideration, so let me share with you my process. I don’t outright decide if a build will be finished or not; that’s usually determined by my collection! (Or how quickly I want to build something.) If I’m just playing around with techniques for something relatively quick for example, sometimes the build won’t be finished.
Before I get to my bricks I'll decide which side or angle will be photographed. It’s usually the same side/angle as the main reference image I use to make things a little simpler. I don’t tend to lean towards a particular side usually, just whatever I think will look best for the final image and build.
From there I start building. I’ll usually tackle what originally inspired me to create the thing or vehicle. Sometimes that’s a bumper, a wheel, or a hood section! Whatever catches my eye first. Then begins the process of determining what I need to exclude or replace due to part shortages. That varies greatly based on the build, but some elements are repeat offenders.
It’s difficult to explain the creative process, but I continue with the build as I see parts of the thing or vehicle that I can recreate, sometimes in different chunks. If I’m tired of working on one section, I’ll start another, building and rebuilding until I’m satisfied. I don't usually strive for multiple iterations—it just happens! Eventually everything (hopefully) comes together. If not, it’s back to square one!
Challenges and Considerations of Going Backless
There are some challenges to consider if you’re going to build an incomplete model for the purpose of photography.
Angle
Angles are a huge consideration for me. Will it be photographed from an upper or lower angle? From a front-right or front-left? Maybe only the rear will be photographed. It really depends on how I decide I want the final image to look. I usually have an idea beforehand, but I always take photos from slightly different angles to see which looks better to me.
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Light Leakage
If a model isn’t complete on the other side, something that’s practically unavoidable is light leakage. To fix this, I mostly just choose a darker background color. It takes the focus away from what isn’t there. Sometimes I’ll sneak in a few extra bricks on the other side where they’re needed to block the view.
Background Color
The background color is synonymous with light leakage, at least somewhat. If you need to hide cracks or open spaces, you can use a darker background color or something similar to your build to compensate.
All of these tips and considerations come together to help you focus on the all-important photograph. For example, this Ford Bronco I built earlier this year is an example of something that is incomplete on the non-photographed side. (You can scroll through to see each side, but don’t miss out on those amazing and rare chrome hubcaps!)
A Nasty Secret or a Building Super Power?
Now that you know why and how to not finish a MOC, I was curious how my LEGO peers might react or if any are “guilty” of the same sin. Here are some of the thoughts of my fellow BrickNerd contributors. The topic was quite engaging on our Discord!
“When I don’t finish a MOC, I would compare it to a movie set; the main characters can be viewed from all angles, while the ‘set’ backdrops tend to be facades due to all the bricks they would require to finish.” - Ted Andes
“Most of the sets I built for my BSG comics were often just walls I could move around. Sometimes rooms, sometimes hallways. As long as they filled the shot, that was what mattered. That and keeping track of the ‘extras’ walking around.” - Bart Larrow (El Barto!)
“It’s not just MOCers that build this way. A lot of LEGO sets are like this too without a back.” - Miro Dudas
“Almost every LEGO Town set ever was like that. I can’t remember a single playset building outside of the Modular line that wasn’t missing the rear wall.” - Are M. Heiseldal
“I think there’s a difference between leaving out one wall for play/interior view and leaving a build unfinished because you’re only taking photos from a particular angle.” - Ronald Vallenduuk
I also asked a few of my building peers for their perspectives on not finishing a MOC:
“I describe my type of building as one-sided, though ‘one-sided’ is misleading. Some MOCs are not only one-sided but even the front is designed in a way that the whole model only works at a certain angle.” - Ralf Langer
“Usually forced-view MOCs that make the horizon look far away are done this way. I have built loads of scenes for the shot, as well as complete 360-degree builds. I don’t have a preference per se, albeit when not seen through a lens, I find a complete build more pleasant—it’s really just what suits your vision better. Beyond the build, the presentation of the different types requires different skill sets, of which the more sophisticated lighting and composition work of scenes is obviously the more fun one to hone. And depending on the kind of scene, different approaches to the building part are explored to achieve the desired results, i.e., as Ralf mentioned with forced perspective.” - JakobKaiserMOCS
From all these responses, you can see that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all consensus on what a completed MOC actually is. Whether a MOC is finished depends on how it will be presented, the personal preferences of the builder, and even if they have enough pieces on hand. But what stood out the most for me was that because there is no hard and fast rule, it allows for more creativity and spending time where it counts.
Unfinished Masterpieces
I think the final say in whether “unfinished” MOCs are acceptable comes from the Masterpiece Gallery in the LEGO House. This is where some of the best builders in the world showcase some of their best work when invited by the LEGO Group. On a recent trip after our team conversation on the subject, our Nerd-in-Chief Dave noticed that you could clearly see the back side of Ralf Langer’s Masterpiece Gallery MOC.
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As you can see, your brain fills in the detail from the photo as you assume it is finished all around, but I almost enjoy seeing the backside more. It reveals a little bit of what it took to build. I hope more people take and publish photos of the backsides of their MOCs to show off a bit more of their artistry… or chaos. I enjoy seeing both!
So the next time you build a MOC, maybe don’t finish it. If a finished “unfinished” MOC can end up in the Masterpiece Gallery, one of yours could too, and you might even save some time and pieces in the process.
Have you ever built an “unfinished” MOC? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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