CCCV Contest Thoughts

[DARKspawn]

Wow, just wow. What an incredible amount of entries, I really don't envy our beloved admins & the level of skill displayed this year is staggering! Everybody who entered deserves a massive kudos, well done everyone for taking the time to really make this contest the most awesome annual online LEGO contest ever.

I'd like to mention a few creations that I really enjoyed. This is just a small example of my favs in each catagory.

Betrayal of Gwenievere and Lancelot by Daria, the minifig action just makes this one for me

Sir Roland's last stand by Daniel / DNL, another great action scene, great landscaping & blend of earthtones here too

Legend of Blondel by Giorgio Chronas, excellent little castle that captures the feel of the real life structure nicely imo

Market Square Wedding by Stone Goblin, a little crowded for my tastes, but still an excellent presentation, great figs & nice surrounding structures

Edessa's annual fair by Giorgio Chronas, heaps of cool details here, my favourites would have to be the witch's tent & the musicians

Hrothingas by Daniel / DNL, I really like the "in construction" shot in this one & how the house is placed diagonally, great job all round

Gold Mine by Stone Goblin, what can I say? this is an awesome MOC, I really love the way it folds out

Miller's Nightmare by Lolas, again, wow. Incredible looking creation, got to love the SNOT brickwork. The only thing that bugs me about this MOC is that there is not a great deal of evidence this structure is a mill other than the very nicely constructed water wheel. Still, very striking.

Dwarven mine and smithy by Micah Berger / The Green Knight, this looks like heaps of fun, diorama style presentation, working parts & some awesome parts usage make this a highlight imo

The Last Journey by hippotam, fantastic scene & an awesome little boat

Call To Arms by Stone Goblin, I'm a big fan of the Ninja theme & this is great, there is a certain charm to this diorama, I like the alternating backdrops which also serve as partitions

95 Theses by Chris "wunztwice" Wunz, this is great, awesome little scene with some really cool architecture.

Wizard Tricks by Tom Snellen / MrTS, excellent minifig action, I also really like the windows & attention to detail.

Trophy room by Micah Berger / The Green Knight, some really cool brick built beasts in this one, & I also like the secret door into what looks to be a taxidermists room.

Unlucky Queen by Iskra, what is this facination with infedelity? Another great scene, I like the lover's escape route

Clancy's Farm by Josh, ever since Josh made this MOC I haven't been able to look at LEGO trolls the same way again. As far as I am concerned there can be only one LEGO troll, his name is Clancy, & this is his farm

throejh's farm by Daniel / DNL, good landscaping & I really like the ramshackle hut, I iamgine it's hard to build something like that without it looking incomplete, well done

Corner House by Maciej Koszyka (Ciamek aka Piglet), there is lots of interesting SNOT work on the structure's exterrior, a little too much black for my tastes, but a very striking creation

The Tower of Brothers by V1, fantastic. Best in show. 'nuff said

WinterFell by tania Baixinho, great use of 1x1 slopes & most definitely the most impressive example of studs out wall design I have seen in a castle MOC.

[Giorgio Chronas]

Well, I will certainly not say who is going to win, cause I am too lazy to do that job, but I can mention some (not all) of the mocs I really admired, as a moc and not within CCCV, as I do not care about the rules when defining what I like.

My absollute favourite is Hypotam's Last Journey, and then without any order, I liked
- Aarons medieval bath (especially that stinking piece of something floating there...)
- Stone Goblins Gold Mine, really great (go see in Mocpages his Wolf Outpost, wow)
- Hrotingaas, lovely
- Millers Nightmare, astonishing
- What a wonderfull Harbour by Lomero
- Although I hate taxes, Baixinhos tax collectors house is very nice, then again I HATE TAXES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- take a break and check out those trophies in trophy room. I am fascinated about Berger and Green Knight's ability to build small stuff. Small stuff is sooooooo haaaard. There should be a contest for small stuff.

The most inspiring moc for me was, again, Last Journey, really, really inspiring, I am dreaming of a next possible moc, due to that moc.
I simply cannot get Lego out of my mind, is that bad

[Hob Took]

Again a great contest (I entered CCCIV), and I would like to thank the administrators, the LEGO company, everyone who entered to put up some hard competition, and anyone else who contributed! I have chosen a couple entries from each category that I thought were great.

Legend (aside from my entry)
Sir Ronlad's last stand by DNL, the excellent poses of all the figs make it a great action scene
Bakery of Eeklo by Tom Snellen, while I am unframiliar with the legend, it is told through the creation
Festivals
I just have to say cheese roll, why? by Athos
Fortifications
Hrothingas, another great creation by DNL, I especially like the shot of the scaffolding and piles of stone as the wall is being build.
Village of Richleaf by Aliencat, very nice terrain which the walls are built around, not instead of.
Journey
The Last Journey by hippotam, the best brick built hull I have seen, and lots of little details in a great battle scene.
Criminal's Journey by Sir Dillon, an odd twist on the category but that doesn't take away from the feeling of the creation.
Journey to Laketown by Josh, while it is rather plain it is a wonderful interpretation of Tolkien's writing. I must see The Hobbit movie when it comes out.
Historic Event
95 Theses by wunztwice, very nice use of bricks in this creation, and I think I see a sigfig cameo.
Battle on the Ice by Stone Goblin, wow, there certainly have been a lot of creations with wonderful fig placement and this is one of them. All it needs is a kraken to burst out of the ice!
Castle Spaces
Wizard Tricks by Tom Snellen, this is my absolute favorite spaces entry. Amazing new details seem to appear each time I look at it, such as the ghost around the corner seen in the last picture.
Medieval Farm
Clancy's Farm by Josh, what's there not to like? This is the most original use of a troll I have seen yet.
Miscellaneous
Winter Fell by tania Baixinho, amazing SNOT work and a very nice window design.

Well that's just about it. I only have one complaint about this contest. While the rules on the main page are fairly specific I wish they were updated as the contest rules are editied. I wanted my entry to be in the Historic Event category, but there was a timeline rule that was only in forum. Maybe it's just what I get for being a procrastinator, but I think all the rules should be on the main contest page. Thanks again everyone for this great contest, and good luck to you all.

Hob Took

[preterosso]

Having just joined this forum and coming out of my Castle "dark age" (got stuck in Star Wars for a decade or so there. . .), I was BLOWN AWAY by the entries. I'm plenty happy with my own modest effort, but I can honestly say I'm just glad to have participated: the overall quality of the work is simply stellar. It's great to see the vibrancy of this group and encouraging that TLG is responding to these aficionados with a welcome and much-needed new Castle line. Good luck to all who entered, and congratulations to the eventual winners!

[kelderic]

I think that my favorate entry was Hrothingas. Mainly, because of the construction phase, which looks awesome. The thing is though, it is so hard to pick a favorate, because there are so many great ones. This contest really does bring out the best in us.

I would like to say good luck to all contestents, and again, a hearty thanks to the admins for taking the time to grade them all.

Kelderic