User blog:BobTheDoctor27/Contest of Champions

Obligatory Introduction
As a number of you may already know, I’m most likely going to be away from my collection for large periods of time over the coming months. My family is moving back to Holland my parts bins are most likely going to end up in storage in another country. While this does unfortunately mean that I won’t be able to produce custom creations with as much freedom as I currently am, I don’t want to leave things entirely unattended on my MOC-making side. To compensate, I want to hand my personal spotlight down to other MOC creators for a while with this: my Contest of Champions.

Here to pick out five of the greatest creations the BIONICLE community has to offer, this contest is hopefully open to just about anyone and will be run primarily on Tumblr and CBW, both of which are vibrant communities that I feel I have come to belong to in recent years and months.

Prizes
As with any contest, the prizes for this one will be substantial. Since there are five categories and I have no guarantee that people will enter all of them, it would be a bit unreasonable to award first, second, and third places in each category. The overall winners will be settled upon by myself and two other judges, who will then award appropriate rankings to the winners of each category.
 * 4th/5th Place: will receive a custom banner for being a finalist and an honorable mention.
 * 3rd Place: will receive a custom banner for being a finalist, and I will build a close replica of their entry.
 * 2nd place: will receive a custom banner for being a finalist, I will fulfill a MOC request of a pre-existing fanon character of their choice, and I will build a close replica of their entry.
 * 1st place: will receive a custom banner for winning the contest, I will build as close a replica of their creation as I possibly can, I will fulfill a MOC request of a pre-existing fanon character of their choice, that character will then get a photograph taken with Thode, and I will send the winner a solid painted Metru blue/black Kanohi of their choice, entirely free of charge. *

*All entrants must be prepared to reveal their shipping address through Private Messaging in the event that they win the overall first prize. There is no point in winning the contest but being unwilling to provide an address for me to send the prize to. Additionally, rare mask molds such as Movie Edition Kraahkans and Vahis are, for obvious reasons, excluded from this offer. No bank account details will be necessary as I will cover shipment costs myself. Just a shipping address, all copies of which I personally guarantee will be destroyed once the prize has been delivered.

Category 1: Barnyard Rahi
BIONICLE has celebrated a rich history of smalltime Rahi characters and immersive village backdrops, ranging from Pewku the Ussal Crab to Piruk’s nameless Burnak. Indeed, Rahi have played parts throughout the line’s history, whether it’s harvesting oxygen from Airweed or aiding Matoran in mounting aerial defense against a Nui Rama infestation. The purpose of this category is to celebrate the more docile species of the Matoran Universe, the Mahi and Ussal and Fikou and Dermis Turtles that act as everyday sights to the average Matoran laborer.

It can be a pre-existing Rahi. It can be a fanon one. In any case, it needs to be smallish in size. It does not necessarily have to be TECHNIC-based either.

Category 2: Matoran Kaita
While not an entirely canon concept, this category asks entrants to take three fanon/canon Matoran and merge them together to form a larger, singular creation. Please note that all Matoran involved in the Kaita must be of different elements. The Matoran involved can be pre-existing or created entirely for the purpose of this contest. This category will not judge the quality of the Matoran but will consider the Kaita itself in comparison to the original Matoran, so images of the component Matoran will be necessary.

For this category, a display of the required parts will be compulsory in order for the entry to be considered valid and to ensure that the entrant uses parts exclusively from the Matoran involved in the Kaita.

Category 3: Toa Kaita
This category asks entrants to take three fanon/canon Toa and merge them together to form a larger, singular creation. Please note that all Toa involved in the Kaita must be of different elements. The creations involved can be pre-existing or created entirely for the purpose of this contest. This category will not judge the quality of the Toa but will consider the Kaita itself in comparison to the original Toa, so images of the component Toa will be necessary.

Since Toa can be infinitely more complex than Matoran and disassembly can often cause considerable trouble, no image is required to prove that parts were used exclusively from the Toa involved in the Kaita.

Category 4: Gali Mistika
For many years now, Toa Gali has been one of my personal favorite BIONICLE characters. Having been the first set that I acquired, I have always been favorable of her classic Mata/medium blue color scheme and armoring. It is no understatement to say that, when her 2008 Mistika rendition was released, the overwhelming majority of fans were dissatisfied by the blatant lack of attention to her previous incarnations. This category asks entrants to build a revamp of 2008 Gali that is more faithful to her original concept. While the Mistika Kaukau is not compulsory for this version, a Kaukau of some form is.

Category 5: Toa Okoto


The final category on this list focuses exclusively on the G2 setline. How satisfied were you with this year’s Toa wave? On the whole, I think it was a pretty faithful wave that paid considerable homage to the earlier years of BIONICLE. It was not, however, a wave devoid of its faults. Entrants in this category are expected to perform a revamp for one of this year’s G2 Toa using any combination of TECHNIC, G1, CCBS, or System parts. They can be as nostalgic or innovative as the MOCist chooses.

Rules

 * Declare your designs. On this occasion, I am willing to permit the use of designs created by others in the build of your creation provided you present either evidence of their consent or a declaration of credit where applicable. Designs that are found to be used without consent or are undeclared will face disqualification. Please note that if the original creator takes issue with your use of his/her design then the entry will likely face disqualification as well.
 * Painted/customized parts are permitted.
 * MOCs created prior to this contest may be entered but will not necessarily be looked on as favorably as MOCs created specifically for this event.
 * Unfortunately, artwork cannot be accepted as a valid substitute for a creation. However, if an entrant wishes to include artwork to accompany his/her physical MOC entry, this is acceptable.
 * A minimum of three images must be displayed of the creation, preferably from different angles and different poses. A display of the required parts to build a creation is not necessary unless it is for Category 1. However, should entrants choose to provide one such image, it will be looked kindly upon.
 * There is no restriction on the TECHNIC:System ratio.

Entries can be submitted on virtually any website you are allowed to host images on, be it CBW, Flickr, Brickshelf, or MOCpages. Entries can only be submitted, however, if entrants bring them to my attention through either CBW or Tumblr.

Closing Date is currently set at ''December 22nd 2015'.