CCC XXI

[jtooker]

Welcome to the twenty first colossal castle contest! Join us for another fabulous medieval LEGO build competition. We've got six diverse categories and some wonderful prizes. The admins are very excited for this year's contest!



When & Where
From now (November 1st) until January 3rd, 2024 at midnight CST (server time). Slight update, it appears the server is now in central standard time.

At http://www.classic-castle.com/events/ccc/rules.cgi?contest=cccxxi, you may submit entries here.

Categories

Categories and prizes are also listed on the website.

Castle of Tears:
Whether they are tears of joy or tears of sorrow, build a castle with a prominent water feature. Prominent means important, which means your water feature needs to be important to the castle, whether that is in terms of function, protection, or another reason. The importance of water for your castle will impact judging. There are no size restrictions for this category.
Prize: 76415 Battle of Hogwarts

Medieval Village:
Build a medieval village with at least 3 non-military buildings. Your creation must include landscape and other details to bring the village to life besides the three structures. There are no size restrictions for this category.
Prize: 40657 Dream Village

Truly Classic Castle:
Build a castle MOC out of parts that existed in or before 1995. The only exception is color; you may use the new grey and reddish brown colors. However all parts released after 1995 are not permitted: cheese slopes and profile bricks for example. This category has a 32 x 32 size limit.
Prize: 11021 90 Years of Play

Religious Building:
Build a religious building from the medieval era. Think cathedrals, churches, abbeys, monasteries, mosques, or any other religious construction that fits the time frame. This can be an interior or an exterior focused scene. There are no size restrictions for this category.
Prize: LEGO.com $30 Gift Card

You’ve gotta fight, for your right, to Medieval Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarty:
Build a medieval festival or party. This can be set indoors or outdoors. Peasant, military, religious, or royal party…they are all welcome. This category has a 32 x 32 size limit.
Prize: 10314 Dried Flower Centerpiece

Medieval Maintenance:
Oh no! Something has caused your building to be damaged! Build a MOC showing how it is being repaired.
This is not a before and after category; ongoing repairs should be portrayed in your scene. There are no size restrictions for this category.
Prize: 76411 Ravenclaw House Banner

Master Builder:
With a smaller selections of categories this year, to be eligible for Master Builder, you have to build in all 6 categories. If you build more than one entry in any category, your higher scoring build in judging will be the one considered for Master Builder selection. Special note: collaborative builds can not be considered for Master Builder.
Prize: 21343 Viking Village

Rules & Judging

The rules are similar to last year, check them out at the rules page on the website. If you have any questions, please post them below.

#CCCXXI

[Roxanne]

For those of us new to the Castle theme, where do we find a list of parts acceptable for the Truly Classic Castle category?

I guess what I’m really asking is which list are the judges using?

[jtooker]

For those of us new to the Castle theme, where do we find a list of parts acceptable for the Truly Classic Castle category?

The goal of this category is to make a creation with parts available to builders in the mid-nineties. I'll give list resources below, but looking at official sets before 1996 is a good place to start (MOCs too, but finding these on the internet is hard).

I guess what I’m really asking is which list are the judges using?

Bricklink and Brickset have this information. E.g. all elements introduced in 1995 https://brickset.com/parts/year-1995 or the year part 3010 (1x4 brick) was introduced: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=3010#T=C. If there is ambiguity between websites, we'll take that into account.

https://rebrickable.com/colors/ has color information by year. Again, you can substitute the new bleys in place of old grays and reddish brown in place of old brown. Other new colors are not allowed.

You don't need to make a list of all parts used; judges are not going to do that either.

We don't care too much about the interior, but builders should be prepared to show how they achieve any "complex" angles, techniques, etc. if they choose to incorporate those into their builds. Just because we can't see some new bar/clip connection in the interior doesn't mean it's allowed if the parts didn't exist pre-'95.

[the Inventor]

Yeah so, classic parts (1995 or earlier), with any modern build techniques are fine, it doesn't have to be a classic style build?

Although you could also make a classic MOC, something like this (which also has it charms, don't know if that is the goal of the contest though?):

Black Falcons Keep by Ids de Jong, on Flickr

[jtooker]

Yeah so, classic parts (1995 or earlier), with any modern build techniques are fine, it doesn't have to be a classic style build?

Correct

[Roxanne]

The goal of this category is to make a creation with parts available to builders in the mid-nineties. I'll give list resources below, but looking at official sets before 1996 is a good place to start (MOCs too, but finding these on the internet is hard).

Thank you for the clarification and all of the resources! I did not even consider MOC-building before January of this year, so I’m way behind everyone else regarding stuff like this.

Yeah so, classic parts (1995 or earlier), with any modern build techniques are fine, it doesn't have to be a classic style build?

Although you could also make a classic MOC, something like this (which also has it charms, don't know if that is the goal of the contest though?):

OMG, I didn’t even think about there being a difference in techniques! I’m glad there aren’t restrictions regarding those, because I have no idea what’s considered a “modern build technique” compared to what I’m doing now.

(I’ve been on the internet since the CompuServe days, but I never thought about looking for Lego building ideas before this year. Anyone have a time machine? I’ve made more than a few mistakes that I need to rectify. )

[AK_Brickster]

OMG, I didn’t even think about there being a difference in techniques! I’m glad there aren’t restrictions regarding those, because I have no idea what’s considered a “modern build technique” compared to what I’m doing now.

I'm actually looking forward to seeing what "modern" techniques can be achieved using old parts. Will people still be able to use SNOT effectively, for example? It's going to be a fun category!

[the Inventor]

Yeah, I agree, can't wait to try somethings myself for that category.

[Roxanne]

Apologies if these questions have already been discussed somewhere. I did search, but it can be difficult to find the exact information needed.

1. Aside from the Truly Classic Castle category, are skin tone minifigures allowed in this contest? If so, is there any penalty for using them?

2. Are Vikings considered to be part of the Castle theme? (I know the timeline, as well as some of the geography, matches, but I want to know for certain whether or not they count for the sake of the contest.)

3. Regarding dragons, do they have to be the castle-style dragons? Are Elves dragons allowed?

4. Are custom printed Lego pieces allowed? Specifically, custom printed minifigures, wanted posters, and/or shield designs?

I’m still in the planning stages, so there won’t be any hardship on my end if all questions are answered with “NO, absolutely not!” As I’ve said before, I’m new to the Classic themes, and I’m not sure what’s allowed. I’m here to learn.

Thanks in advance!

[Bluesecrets]

Apologies if these questions have already been discussed somewhere. I did search, but it can be difficult to find the exact information needed.

1. Aside from the Truly Classic Castle category, are skin tone minifigures allowed in this contest? If so, is there any penalty for using them?

2. Are Vikings considered to be part of the Castle theme? (I know the timeline, as well as some of the geography, matches, but I want to know for certain whether or not they count for the sake of the contest.)

3. Regarding dragons, do they have to be the castle-style dragons? Are Elves dragons allowed?

4. Are custom printed Lego pieces allowed? Specifically, custom printed minifigures, wanted posters, and/or shield designs?

I’m still in the planning stages, so there won’t be any hardship on my end if all questions are answered with “NO, absolutely not!” As I’ve said before, I’m new to the Classic themes, and I’m not sure what’s allowed. I’m here to learn.

Thanks in advance!

1) Fleshies are fine except for the parts before 1995 category.

2) Yes, Vikings are fine.

3) Dragons are dragons..so sure use friends ones.

4) No to the custom pieces. An exception to this in the past has been cloth or string, for example custom sails on a ship.

[Roxanne]

1) Fleshies are fine except for the parts before 1995 category.

2) Yes, Vikings are fine.

3) Dragons are dragons..so sure use friends ones.

4) No to the custom pieces.

Thank you so much for your prompt response!

Now I just need to wait for BrickLink to come back online, so I can get the pieces I need to fully implement my ideas.

I’m excited to share my builds. The contest prompts are really helpful in getting my creative juices flowing.

[AK_Brickster]

I posted a clarification edit to custom parts - you can use custom cloth and non-LEGO string. This exception most commonly is used for sails and/or rigging in a ship. I personally also use a lot of third-party capes because LEGO ones are *expensive*. My general rule for capes would be "don't make it obvious it's not LEGO" - i.e. some of the fancy fur-ruffed ones from third party vendors might be considered over-the-top.

[Roxanne]

Thank you for the additional information!

[KlaasK]

Just a question: When will the submissions which are already in the system be available for publication?

Just curious to see what goodies are made.

[Bluesecrets]

Just a question: When will the submissions which are already in the system be available for publication?

Just curious to see what goodies are made.

I approve them daily. I reached out in email to you for a couple of issues with yours. You may want to check.