CCCII: What were your favorite MOCs?

[Blueandwhite]

According to Lenny, grades for the CCC have been finalized, and the winners have been determined.


I was wondering what entries really stood out to other CC Members. This year's contest had so many great entries, but everyone must have a few favorites. I would love to know what others thought. How about listing three MOCs, and what made them special to you?


I really would like to hear what others have to say about some of these great MOCs before we here the final grades! So what do you think?


Personally, I really liked Ken Oldham's Roma Wagon. The funny thing is that this MOC was really overlooked by alot of people, yet it is one of the best SNOT MOCs I have ever seen! The colours are great, and the design is unbeatable. Of all the entries we've seen, this is my favorite!

I also liked Ley Ward's Tapestry Shop. What a fantastic little shop. The fact that is built upside down is great! I really like the mottled look of the wall, and the excessive use of specialized elements! Another amazing MOC.

Finally, I really liked greg3's Farm Scene. This Vignette is just packed with fantastic details from the fence to the apple tree to the ducks, and the woman with the pitchfork! Alot of Vignettes were bigger or more humerous, but to me, this one towers above the rest.

I'm really looking to here the opinions of others. There are too many fantastic MOCs to ignore!

Later.

[LEGOFREAK]

Hands down my absolute favorite is Kevin Heckels Gryphon. this is one fantastic brick built beast.
other fave's include Ed's Vikings, Yaron's Alchemist's Workshop, and Nick's Red Samurai.
however, I would like to say that this year I really saw an outpouring of creativity.I saw some wonderful designs, and some really funny creations.
And I was inspired to do better myself, and was quite pleased with the way many of my own creations turned out.

[JoshWedin]

The ones you guys mentioned are great. Here are a couple of my other favorites:

Warwulf by Sir Nelson (in Seige weapons)

Seawolf's lair by Norro (in Outlaw's fortress)

Josh

[Jojo]

Hello!


There really are so many great MOCs in the contets this year!

Personally, I really liked Ken Oldham's Roma Wagon. The funny thing is that this MOC was really overlooked by alot of people, yet it is one of the best SNOT MOCs I have ever seen! The colours are great, and the design is unbeatable. Of all the entries we've seen, this is my favorite!

Yep, this wagon is truely a masterpiece. As I am into smaller creations myself I too would name this as my favourite. It's a perfect symbiose of cool building technique with realism, which makes this creation very atmospheric and authentic looking.


Bye
Jojo

[Bricksidge]

You've all picked out some great entries. I saw so many amazing creations, it was difficult to grade.

It's amazing how close the contest was. Numerous categories were won by a single point. In one, a margin of .5, that's right, half a point, seperated the winner from the runner's up!

Truly amazing job.

Hint: If you want to see the winners earlier next year, enter less

[Bruce N H]

Hey,

I just wanted to add my second to Kevin's statement. With so many great entries, I wish we could give multiple prizes in each category. After the winners are posted I'll go through and give some more extensive comments on some things I really liked. It was hard to keep from commenting on creations while the contest was still on, but I wanted to wait until everything was finallized.

Bruce

[TheBohrok]

I really think this Underground Lair should win in its category. It looks like it would have good play value, and stands out to me.

[TwoTonic Knight]

Dang - going through just one category was hard. Only my two cents worth, and there were lots of figs that had merits. Since the title was "Customization" I gave high marks for actual customization, rather than borrowing creatively. There were a number of simple customizations, and while not spectacular, were very well executed.

Realistic/Historic (figure) Customization

Best: Red Samurai (Nick Great). Slick execution, great eye for detail, unity of design and color. Using the green goblin head as a grim samurai face plate was a perfect choice. Note the sword holder-clip on the back of the armor, and the fusion of LEGO chain and Little Armory Flail.

Honorable Mentions: Roman General (Jobiwan7). Very well done with attention to many details. Photography and presentation wasn't as good as the Red Samurai.

Saxon Warrior (Legofreak). Here is an inherently unspectacular figure that has great attention to detail and accuracy. I didn't need to have any title to know exactly what culture and time frame this fig was representing. Without the Red Samurai tour de force, I'd have a tough time between this and the Roman General. Needed a bit of sanding.

Brother Padraig (Legofreak). Big points for the idea - the LEGO head is such a natural for a monkish tonsure. I think Bruce H.'s Precentor of the Scriptorium has a better executed robe, so I marked it down a bit for that, but it is a great figure for a medieval village and gains a lot for playablity.

[Azaghal]

Best: Red Samurai (Nick Great). Slick execution, great eye for detail, unity of design and color. Using the green goblin head as a grim samurai face plate was a perfect choice. Note the sword holder-clip on the back of the armor, and the fusion of LEGO chain and Little Armory Flail.

Yes, I thought this waas great also. Two other creations that also struck me were the Signal Tower (Submitted by Stephen Wroble) and Fry_Slayer's Black Falcon Sail Boat. Gotta steal that prow design...

[ed_dotcom]

There were some amazing entries that I was quite inspired by in the contest this year. A few highlights:

"Joust Pavilion" by Webrain - Yaron Dori (small, but would look great with the old Knight's Challenge set)

"House of a knight" by Piglet (I love the details)

"Roma Wagon" by Kenn Oldham (I agree with you all on this one. It is possibly the greatest 'small' set I have EVER seen)

"Snow Mountain Ambush" by Sir Nelson (I really don't know why, I guess it seems to tell a story just by looking at it)

"The Fall of a Kingdom" by Piglet (Just an amazing story being told by this small MOC)

"Tapestry Shop" by Ley Ward / Professor Whateverly (I am in awe of the way it was built, and how beautiful it looks)

"Red Samauri" by NickGreat (It looks like this one took a great deal of work, and it is just amazing)

"As well as all the MOCs I built... ...but seriously, there were many amazing creations during this contest. However, the ones listed above were the ones that stood out to me.

Life is Good.

[Gumby]

Best: Red Samurai (Nick Great). Slick execution, great eye for detail, unity of design and color. Using the green goblin head as a grim samurai face plate was a perfect choice. Note the sword holder-clip on the back of the armor, and the fusion of LEGO chain and Little Armory Flail.

Waaah?! That was a green goblin mask? Holy cow! I wanted to ask what piece that was (or if was completely custom made) but you're right. It looks so perfectly mated with the samurai helmet, and the shade of red paint is perfect. Very slick indeed!!

-Bryan

[KennDoubleN]

Wow, high praise indeed from BlueandWhite, Jojo, and Ed! I'm glad I looked at this thread

Then again, maybe it's not a surprise Blueandwhite liked my creation: Ley Ward's Tapestry Shop and the greg3's Farm Scene were two of the three entries I found most memorable, along with Kevin Heckel's Gryffon (my favorites aren't terribly original).

A few that haven't been mentioned: both of Sir Nelson's vignettes, Lucky Shot and Squire's Dream, really do a good job of telling a story. I also liked Aladdin's cave from the vignette category. Simple but very effective.

[Bruce N H]

Hi all,

Well, now that the results are in I'll comment on the entries. It was really cool to go through all of these in detail and really take in the details. Congratulations to all of the winners, and also congratulations to all of the builders. I figure I'll take each of the categories and comment on a few of my personal favorite details over the next few days. Let's start out with the CCC Tudor Shops category:


Krzysztof Gras Jankowski's Small Brevery Shop. I really like the SNOT walls in the upper section, with the windows put back in in a studs-up orientation. The use of railing pieces to look like diagonal beams is particularly cool.


blueandwhite's Green Fox. The green and black on light gray is particularly attractive. The walls are two or three studs thick, which allows for the interesting arch-work, which along with the mottling avoids the Big Gray Wall syndrome. I really like how it opens in the middle of arches, which necessitated attention to detail how the halves come together smoothly. The chimney is actually hollow! No one ever does that, so this is a really cool detail. I also like the upper balcony running along the interior a lot.


Piotr Lomero's Merchant's House. My favorite detail is the curved roof on one end. The interior is also packed with details, like the flower vase by the bed, that bring this to life.


Ley's Tapestry Shop. I've commented elsewhere, but the mottling, the staircase design, the innovative opening, and the sheer audacity of building upside down all make this stand out.


Scud's House. The raised ground with built in path and hidden cellar is really nice in this one, as are the minifig legs as window details.

Bruce

[Bruce N H]

On to the beasts:


Kevin's Gryphon. I've commented elsewhere, but this is just a thing of beauty. The wing design, the innovative beak, the tail, and most especially the talons are all very cool.


Apophis' Cave Troll. I love that this guy has a pot belly. The belly button, chest, hand design, and the cape as loincloth are all very cool. I'm not a fan of the elbows, but I suppose that is the tradeoff between look and posability.


Sir Nelson's Fire Bat. What makes this creation is the presentation. That pic really makes me laugh, as the whole cast of Monty Python yells "Run away, run away!" in my head. I believe that brave Sir Robin needs to change his armor.



Freak's Fenris. The head design, the shape of the legs, all the SNOT, and the posability really make this MOC. My only suggestions would be to do something a little less block-y for the paws, and also to present it a little better (the shadows in the photo are a bit distracting). I'd love to see this guy in a story.

Bruce

[Bruce N H]

Pausing a moment to look across categories, it's important to note the amazing breadth of some of our members' talents. If you look through the "Honorable Mentions" on the winners page, you'll see certain names pop up again and again (Freak 10 times; Sir Nelson 8 times; Blue and White 5 times; Greg and Psu-Ericksen 4; Kenn, Ed, Fryslayer, Norro, and Yaron 3; Stephen, Josh, Troy, and AC 2). So, in that spirit, there are a couple of things I'd note across multiple categories:

Best use of a faction: ed's series of Black Falcon creations

Perhaps it is Jojo's influence, but I have a special affection for these happy little guys, and ed really expands their realm with these MOCs.

Best history: Greg3

I love MOCs that show not just someone's imagination of "something medieval", but some real scholarship. While Greg actually won with a different MOC, these creations were a real education in different aspects of medieval history and life. Of course he's done this before with his Ale Conner and Tower creations.

Bruce