There’s an idea that keeps getting kicked around in the comments that sounds something like this: “Ease of reproducibility should be a limitation for entries so that fans can make the winners themselves.” In responding to this I’m not replying directly to specific posts because it’s usually not that in its entirety, but shades of this alluded to in many separate instances. “Paint/custom masks should be off limits so that purists can reproduce the winner.” “Mocs must be at least THIS simple to enter so fans without many pieces can build it.” Since the discussions here weigh more than I thought with the site’s powers that be, I want to plant my uncompromising opinion to push back against this. Hard.
NO, reproducibility should NOT be a factor in this contest. At all.
Obviously no one here can control what a voter’s thinking when they vote, but people who mention this idea of reproducibility seem to want either the rules to reflect such limitations for the voter in advance or for the contest to explicitly promote this as a factor for their conscience. This is the most absurd argument I’ve seen in a while. A moc contest is an art contest. We’re not competing to design Lego’s next cost effective set sold on shelves, we’re competing to build the most appealing interpretation of a character that never had one. However complex or simple someone will build their entry, it serves only one purpose - what they think LOOKS GOOD. And what are voters deciding on? Which entry they think LOOKS GOOD. Period. I don’t remember a single contest while G1 was alive that told its contestants, “Now be sure your mocs are simple enough for most fans to build themselves!” How many of you had the necessary pieces at the time of the contest’s winner to build your own Tahtorak? Miserix? I know a couple of Dark Hunters that had more than their fair share of greebling and rare pieces for their time. People raising this point seem to be losing sight of what a moc contest is in the first place.
Now if the accessibility of these designs is so important to you, great. Vote along those criteria. But don’t pretend it must be made everyone else’s criteria as well. Let’s get this very straight, the point of whatever limitations are made by the rules are for contestants to have an agreed upon starting point before the contest, not for the people after the contest. Expecting this competition to promote or enforce such an arbitrary constraint is a fussiness that goes beyond even the previous thread’s discussions. And reading some of those almost gave me an aneurysm.