BIONICLE Canon Contest #2: Meet the Maker

So, to get this right:

  • the MOC won’t decide the mask
  • the MOC probably won’t end up being properly coloured
  • any artwork can take quite some liberties (as shown in the Helryx one)

… Why do we have a MOC contest again?

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I get that, but I reckon I’m not the only one that’s already made a MOC with two shades of green on it as a compromise for the fact that sand green is rare, So this rule might actually be discouraging some people. Sure, I can recolour my MOC, but I wonder whether some people won’t be able to do that in time because they can’t get new parts ordered in time. Just something to consider as a hypothetical issue.

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Like last time.

Depends on how people vote and how people enter.

They’re called artistic liberties, and again, depends on how people vote and how they enter.

Because it creates the basis for the canon version and allows for a fun event that people can enter their creations in. Unless you want to explain to a LEGO community why they aren’t allowed to enter LEGO MOCs?

And mandating only sand green would be barring for others. People have two weeks to fix their entries if it’s an issue.

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I wouldn’t say the Helryx artwork took too many liberties. What specifically do you think was too far removed from the model?

I’m not arguing for ‘only sand green’, rather that the rule to have only one shade of green might be problematic for some people. I think the thing about artists recolouring the MOC in the artwork is a good thing definitely, and I agree the situation gets a bit muddy if artists have to try and interpret multiple shades of green, but I just wonder whether the rule will create some backlash for the reason I mentioned before.
Maybe the solution could be to require MOCists to write down in their post what colour they envision each shade as actually being in the artwork, so artists have something to go off.

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Yes, definitely. The last two points are only possibilities. Still, the question is:

So, we are a Lego community… then why is a picture the important part and not the MOC? Though not to say we shouldn’t have the picture. Rather, the MOC should get the same care as the picture in terms of canon conformity.


I’m talking about the entries in general. An entry that looked completely different could have won. Meaning that ultimately whatever is voted for in the art portion decides what the character looks like, and the MOC can only be 100% sure of having a minor impact. Everything else is based on voting for the art.

I don’t see why having only one shade of green is an issue tbh. Replacing Zaktan’s dark green parts with sand green would look weird; the same applies to Artakha. One shade of green works just fine

inb4 Ekimu + Zaktan = Artakha

I’m still sad that there was no option for “no more canon contests”. Now that people have experienced it firsthand with the Helryx context, they should be allowed to rethink their earlier vote about whether or not these canon contests should continue. If enough people vote to continue then fair enough, but LJ outright refused to include the “no more” option even though multiple people asked for it. I think preventing people from making their voice heard on the matter is simply revolting. I think contests are great and should continue, but they can do so without canonizing the winners.

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Multiple people asked, but not the majority. A lot of us still want to go, if you don’t you don’t have to follow

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Well, technically I do have to follow because you are altering the canon that we all share. Honestly if it was an option in the poll and only a minority like me voted for “no more contests” then I would be fine because the poll would have spoken. But since LJ refused to add the option, we will never know. I don’t know, and you don’t know either.

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Except you don’t have to accept it. It doesn’t have to be your canon

Then what’s even the point of having canon?

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Except there is only one true canon and you know it. But that’s not really my point anyway. My point is that LJ ignored us completely. I say it again, if there was a “no more canon contests” option and like, 4 people like me voted for it then it would be fine. But that was never an option to begin with.

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I don’t like that the artwork has to be sand green, as olive green works as a grayish green. I saw the source above but it never said that it has to be the grayish green shade used on Zaktan.

Kinda disappointed that the moc has to be 60% green and the entry time is only two weeks. Good luck to those who enter within the next two weeks though :+1:

The people who voted for the contests and back-pedaled as soon as an entry they didn’t like won should’ve thought critically when they voted for the contests.

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The artists will already have something to go off of - any green pieces on the MOC.

We’ve discussed this numerous times, but this is part of a compromise we had to make with BS01.

Could have. Did not.

We have had this discussion. We are not doing this right now.

No, I did not. I said “Not right now.” I have already explained why we’re not doing this now, and I’m not interested in repeating myself again. Look through my posts for an explanation. Until then, this discussion is over.

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You are ignoring all the people who deeply love Bionicle but that were not necessary following TTV at the time. I did not participate in the original vote because I was not aware of it.

Look to eljay for your problem, but:

You don’t HAVE to live with it. You make the choice of what you want it to be. No-ones saying you have to follow. The majority would rather do the contest, you can make whatever you want. MOVs exist for a reason, canon exists for those who want it to

Please remember that while we are operating them the best we can and managing them within a clearly defined ruleset, the way these contests are being held was not, strictly speaking, our choice. The current MoC/Art compromise was born out of the BS01 Wiki’s absolute refusal to allow custom, 3D printed pieces to be featured on their website and recognized as “canon” clashing with our vehement and steadfast belief that to exclude 3D printed pieces from a building contest in 2020 would be needlessly prohibitive to creative and and incessantly disrespectful towards the current community culture. We clashed, we debated, and we arrived at this compromise. It worked out pretty well for Helryx, all things considered, and I think it will here as well.

The MoC is a visual framework. It designs the stature of the character, their armor, their overall build, creative design techniques that can be creatively translated into artwork form, and their coloration. Even in this instance, where the primary canon color is already pre-decided, that says nothing of color distribution or secondary shades, all of which will be determined by the MoC. Please understand that the allowance of other shades of green to be used is an olive branch towards the MoCing community to enable for more participation and better, more creative entries overall, not something that should be leveraged against the very notion of MoCing contests at all. The MoC is not the canon representation, yes, per BS01’s mandate, but it still plays an important role in designing the character and will feature on the character’s wiki page.

With respect, the odds of that happening are incredibly, incredibly unlikely, so unlikely that it’s not something I’m interested in concerning myself with. I can attest that Eljay and I disqualified several entries in the Helryx art portion for straying too far from the source material, even though they were excellent art pieces. Maintaining visual continuity between the MoC and the art is of paramount importance, and quite frankly, the MoC being a different shade of green will not harm that. For the scenario you’re describing to occur, there would have to be a piece of art that perfectly skates the line between clearly resembling the MoC it’s based on enough to where Eljay and I don’t disqualify it, while also being “completely different” enough to cast doubt on the link between MoC and art in the first place.

It just ain’t gonna go like that

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No, I did not. I said “Not right now.” I have already explained why we’re not doing this now, and I’m not interested in repeating myself again. Look through my posts for an explanation. Until then, this discussion is over.

Thank you for replying. I did not know that you said “Not right now”. I think the TTV messages are very hard to navigate on huge threads like these. I hope when you say “Not right now” you mean “maybe after this context or the next one” and not “when we are done with the entire list” because the latter would basically the same as “no”. I truly had the feeling that you outright refused all discussion on the matter so I am happy to be wrong and to see that you considered us anyway, thank you.

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I would love to see the guy who’s draw of Helryx became canon made a draw of all the characters together in that same art style after all the contests are all finished

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