I’m gonna just throw in my 2 cents on this, because I’m personally conflicted by the idea myself. As both a MOCist, and a G1 fan-fiction writer, I’m both psyched and worried respectively by the concept of canonizing official appearances for characters who’s appearances have remained largely open to interpretation for almost a decade.
This is my version of Helryx. (Don’t worry, I’m not going in the direction you think I am.) Let’s say there was a contest to canonize Helryx’s appearance, I would definitely enter for the slim chance that the community and Greg would approve this design as canon.
As far as Helryx’s described appearance goes, this MOC fits that description well enough. But as you can see, there’s additions to her character design that could be argued as non-canon. My version has wing-fins (Like Hahli Mahri, which is possible in canon) and an additional sword in her arsenal of tools. As far as current canon is concerned, There’s nothing that says Helryx can’t look like this, and therein lies one of the problems.
What if a design wins the contest with a small design addition, like in my version of Helryx? Wouldn’t her described canon appearance have to be updated? What are the limits of this? Would the community be upset about changing a character’s described appearance because a specific MOC/Drawing won a contest?
Then you have the problem of voting. Design freedom and creative potential for people’s entries would be severely limited if the community only votes for entries that follow canon to a tee.
Plus, right now, there are hundreds, if not thousands of MOCs and Drawings people have already made for Helryx, all of which could be interpreted as canon in their own right. (I’m speaking specifically of creations people have made whose sole purpose is to replicate Helryx’s described canon appearance.) Wouldn’t it be a bit unfair to instantly de-legitimize the work put in to every single one of them in favor of one canon design?
These are the concerns I have. Personally, I don’t care either way if my MOC gets decanonized, but the idea of changing/adding things to G1 canon never did sit right with me, and feels kind of Rowling-Esque. Typically, I take Greg’s canonizations outside official writing as fanon in their own right. But seeing as sites like BS01 and the community as a whole take Greg’s word as absolute, the results of these contests are going to be taken far more seriously than they probably should be in the end.
I’m more leaning toward the mindset that we should leave G1 be, but I can also see why the TTV crew would leap at the opportunity to help expand on the lore of the best years of Bionicle, especially when their platform is the hub for it. Heck, I’d do it myself.
I voted for either way. If it happens, I’ll enter. But if it doesn’t, I admit, I’d be relieved.