Post-G1 BIONICLE Canon Contests Discussion Topic

[CZQ]

@Atobe_Brick

The way I see it, the adherence to canon is the one thing that separates this contest from other contests and colabs. More abstract designs should be permitted, but voting on those designs soley on how cool they look, as opposed to how well they fit into canon kind of undermines the purpose of this particular brand of contests.

I’ve always approached these from the perspective that they’re build contests first and foremost and should reward (or at the very least) encourage creativity. FWIW I also don’t think entries should be voted on solely for how cool they look. I’ve heard people make the argument before that “cool factor” (read as: creativite liberties) and canon don’t/can’t meet halfway, and I just don’t believe that.

Take these MOCs for instance:

Helryx by Anthony Wilson

Helryx: Ancient Guardian (Canon Contest #1: The First) - Creative Content / Lego Creations - The TTV Message Boards (ttvchannel.com)

Artakha by Mitch Phillips

Artakha (Meet the Maker) - Creative Content / Lego Creations - The TTV Message Boards (ttvchannel.com)

Both MOCs are exceptional on a technical level, are incredibly distinct and original, and are a breath of fresh air in a 20-year-old franchise yet neither deviate from the canon information provided. However, despite some strong support in the comments, they both fell out of the running simply because they didn’t fit what the majority perceived as at adherent to canon. Or, as Toa of Snow said earlier:

@Toa-of-Snow

they were absolutely canon compliant, otherwise they would have been disqualified. They just didn’t fit established and/or preconceived stylistic traditions.

Adherence to canon is a subjective statement and everyone will interpret it differently. IMO entries with creative liberties or entries that challenge norms don’t undermine the purpose of these contests because the purpose is to show off your interpretation of the provided canon information.

If the results of the contest don’t match your vision of the character then you don’t have to accept them. And as you said yourself nobody can fairly enforce the results

@Atobe_Brick

I agree that their should be one central set of contests and a winner, but there’s no way to make people accept the winners as canon; there’s no way to fairly ‘enforce’ that

Now I realize that I sound pretty argumentative/confrontational right now but I’m not trying to be so don’t take any of this personally. It’s just something that’s been on my mind for a while now and I’m just trying to put it into words.

This is why I believe an open collab is the right call moving forward. An open collab, on top of being simple to organize and easy to understand:

• allows anyone to enter their interpretation of the canon information
• allows the community at large, participants or not, to choose their favorite entry as the “true” version of the character.
• Does not discourage people from building their own versions of characters after a canon appearance is decided
• Is a low stakes community effort with no competition.
• keeps the guidelines loose, encouraging long-term and repeat participation

You could still hold a vote for “community favorite” and this could have a small prize (or simply bragging rights) but in my experience, for a community effort on such a large scale, the lower the stakes and looser the guideline the better the experience for the participants.