Announcing BZPower's Battle for the Gold Mask Winners

[Roa McToa]

Only two of the six semifinalists were large beyond a standard titan size, so im not seeing exactly how size is swaying the judges opinions.... just sayin.....

[believe victims]

 

That said, I'm appalled at the suggestion that the judges picked an entry just because it was big, and I in fact think it's incredibly rude and insulting towards Roa to suggest it's the only reason she won.

I just don't see much else worthwhile in the design. I'm the first to admit the style she utilizes is far from my favourite, and it has some cool techniques, but the overall MOC just doesn't feel worthy of the placing to me. I'm not a judge, so my words carry no weight, of course. But since you're implying an insult where I mean none... The engineering to build something solid, articulated, well-balanced, and at that scale is always something she does more impressively than anyone else, and something far beyond my abilities to do so. Her talents are obvious and numerous.

 

I still don't like the MOC and feel like it's size overshadows better MOCs that were in the competition and deserved the spot instead.

 

The latter part wasn't directed at you. It was more about the more strongly worded posts, especially the one that completely trashes it.

[Roa McToa]

People all have their own styles of building. People are also entitled to have whatever opinion they want about a creation or a persons building style. I think its good to express your true opinions about something whether you like it or not, and I greatly encourage it.

 

 

And yes.... gold does do strange things to people! Lol

Edited December 20, 2014 by Roa McToa

[Ektris]

Can't share much on my thoughts on the winning models right now (typing on phone at an airport so don't want to say much lol), but unless I'm making a mistake here instead, aren't most overlooking a huge point here?

 

The finalists were chosen by Andrew, yes. Which included more than just the two we have seen from this site. But LEGO employees picked the winners on each site, no? So blame seems to be misplaced a bit.

 

They still could have been swayed by size alone, but that's on them and not this site. And they totally could again for the absolute winner, which I would find unfortunate. But that is LEGO's call.

 

Regardless of my thoughts, every finalist most deserves many congratulations! This was a huge contest and all the builds of the finalists are definitely great in their own way.

 

~|ET|~

[NickonAquaMagna]

I wonder if the 3rd place winner hasn't gotten their message, yet? Maybe some glitch prevented their notification from getting through to them or something.

 

It's just a thought... I mean, they sure are taking their sweet time responding.

 

Anyway, let's not get mean here, people. There's more to the 1st place winner's entry than sheer size. It has good body proportions. It has a simple, good color scheme. It has consistent themes and motifs throughout, tubes, vents and spidery things. And yeah, even just that it doesn't collapse under its own weight is an impressive feat in itself, so it has good engineering. It's got everything.

[Bedrock1]

People all have their own styles of building. People are also entitled to have whatever opinion they want about a creation or a persons building style. I think its good to express your true opinions about something whether you like it or not, and I greatly encourage it.

 

 

And yes.... gold does do strange things to people! Lol

 

I do understand that people have their own building styles and judging methods and I'm not saying your creation is just plain bad. It's very good actually, it's incredibly impressive and cool, but here's the problem: that's not what the judges said they would be basing the winner on. To quote:

 

 

The winning entries will be judged by the jury upon:

• Overall coolness and creativity
• Inspired originality
• Uniqueness
• Creative use of parts

While your creation is very cool, it's not very creative, original, unique or creatively built. You've perfected the basic makuta design, but that's what they were claiming not to be looking for. That's precisely why many people, myself included, didn't just try and make the biggest movie-styled makuta we could; because the judges led us to believe that it would be a poor decision, as it only satisfies 1/5 of the categories.

Look, I'm not saying you've done anything wrong,  the blame lies entirely on the judges. Your creation, while amazing, simply didn't satisfy the desired traits, and that's why I don't think you should have won. If B6 said "Just build the most awesome bionicle you can, and we'll judge it by the rule of cool", I would have been completely okay with you winning. but he didn't, so I'm not.

And yes, I do believe it to be suspicious that you're ex-staff. Combined with my above comments that you didn't satisfy the desired traits and the fact that second place was literally paying the site, it makes me feel as if there's a bit of favouritism going on here. Like I said, I'm not blaming you, but like it or not, you're involved in a competition that I don't think was judged fairly.

Oh, and thank you for that comment on how you should express your true opinion on something; Too many people on this site think that saying any moc isn't perfect is a cardinal sin.

 

 

 

And yes.... gold does do strange things to people!

 

...What are you implying here?

[VampireBohrok]

A big congrats to Roa, good luck in the finals! And of course, thanks times a billion to the judges and LEGO.

 

But I found it a bit coincidental that first place is ex staff and second place is literally paying the site.

the key word here is "coincidental". six judges from different websites won't take into account what credentials you have on one particular site. LEGO's judges even less so.

Edited December 20, 2014 by VampireBohrok

[Toa Borox]

 

People all have their own styles of building. People are also entitled to have whatever opinion they want about a creation or a persons building style. I think its good to express your true opinions about something whether you like it or not, and I greatly encourage it.

 

 

And yes.... gold does do strange things to people! Lol

 

I do understand that people have their own building styles and judging methods and I'm not saying your creation is just plain bad. It's very good actually, it's incredibly impressive and cool, but here's the problem: that's not what the judges said they would be basing the winner on. To quote:

 

 

The winning entries will be judged by the jury upon:

• Overall coolness and creativity
• Inspired originality
• Uniqueness
• Creative use of parts

While your creation is very cool, it's not very creative, original, unique or creatively built. You've perfected the basic makuta design, but that's what they were claiming not to be looking for. That's precisely why many people, myself included, didn't just try and make the biggest movie-styled makuta we could; because the judges led us to believe that it would be a poor decision, as it only satisfies 1/5 of the categories.

Look, I'm not saying you've done anything wrong,  the blame lies entirely on the judges. Your creation, while amazing, simply didn't satisfy the desired traits, and that's why I don't think you should have won. If B6 said "Just build the most awesome bionicle you can, and we'll judge it by the rule of cool", I would have been completely okay with you winning. but he didn't, so I'm not.

And yes, I do believe it to be suspicious that you're ex-staff. Combined with my above comments that you didn't satisfy the desired traits and the fact that second place was literally paying the site, it makes me feel as if there's a bit of favouritism going on here. Like I said, I'm not blaming you, but like it or not, you're involved in a competition that I don't think was judged fairly.

Oh, and thank you for that comment on how you should express your true opinion on something; Too many people on this site think that saying any moc isn't perfect is a cardinal sin.

 

 

 

And yes.... gold does do strange things to people!

 

...What are you implying here?

 

Greed, my friend. Greed.

[Wazdakka]

Congratulations to the winners! Good job to all!

[Paleo]

And yes, I do believe it to be suspicious that you're ex-staff. Combined with my above comments that you didn't satisfy the desired traits and the fact that second place was literally paying the site, it makes me feel as if there's a bit of favouritism going on here. 

 

Being a retired staffie doesn't really affect the judges at all, especially when the majority have no affiliation with the site. Likewise, premier membership isn't a factor. "Paying the site" is more "donation with the perk of a blog," and it's often a one-time thing.

[believe victims]

 

People all have their own styles of building. People are also entitled to have whatever opinion they want about a creation or a persons building style. I think its good to express your true opinions about something whether you like it or not, and I greatly encourage it.

 

 

And yes.... gold does do strange things to people! Lol

 

I do understand that people have their own building styles and judging methods and I'm not saying your creation is just plain bad. It's very good actually, it's incredibly impressive and cool, but here's the problem: that's not what the judges said they would be basing the winner on. To quote:

The winning entries will be judged by the jury upon:

• Overall coolness and creativity
• Inspired originality
• Uniqueness
• Creative use of parts

While your creation is very cool, it's not very creative, original, unique or creatively built. You've perfected the basic makuta design, but that's what they were claiming not to be looking for. That's precisely why many people, myself included, didn't just try and make the biggest movie-styled makuta we could; because the judges led us to believe that it would be a poor decision, as it only satisfies 1/5 of the categories.

Look, I'm not saying you've done anything wrong,  the blame lies entirely on the judges. Your creation, while amazing, simply didn't satisfy the desired traits, and that's why I don't think you should have won. If B6 said "Just build the most awesome bionicle you can, and we'll judge it by the rule of cool", I would have been completely okay with you winning. but he didn't, so I'm not.

And yes, I do believe it to be suspicious that you're ex-staff. Combined with my above comments that you didn't satisfy the desired traits and the fact that second place was literally paying the site, it makes me feel as if there's a bit of favouritism going on here. Like I said, I'm not blaming you, but like it or not, you're involved in a competition that I don't think was judged fairly.

Oh, and thank you for that comment on how you should express your true opinion on something; Too many people on this site think that saying any moc isn't perfect is a cardinal sin.

 

Am I missing something here, or did those things at some point stop being subjective opinion that was entirely based on who's judging? You seem to be treating your views on those traits as objective fact that the judges are ignoring, when really it's a matter of opinion, and it seems your tastes are merely completely different from the judges'.

 

Even if the single BZPower judge was swayed by an entry being made by an ex-staff member, or someone who paid for Premier Membership, there was a panel of judges, the rest of which likely didn't give a hoot in a whirlwind about either of those things. That's why you have multiple judges: to eliminate bias. In fact, I've paid this site on multiple occasions, and I did not win.

 

It's fine that you dislike the MOC that won. I have my criticisms of it as well. But this isn't a case of judge favoritism or corruption just because the results don't align with what you or I personally like.

Edited December 20, 2014 by Wally

[Pohatu: Uniter of Stone]

My Evil Maha is still the most evilest entry.

[Black Six]

 

Beating out 865 other entries, Roa McToa proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that girls can build Bionicle too.

Uhh... Who said they couldn't? Seriously? I find it a bit strange that you're commenting on the gender of the winner as if it's a weird thing.

 

For the record, those are not my words. I was quoting the panel of LEGO-employee judges. Gender had nothing to do with how I picked what I thought were the best MOCs to send to LEGO to judge.

 

Edit: I'm NOW after checking VB's info, and he's a Premier Member.

Methinks this competition not judged 100% fairly.

I can state with 100% honesty that I never looked at whether a member was Premier or not when I was judging entries. For the first few passes through them as I was narrowing down the list I didn't even look at usernames. Does this mean I'm completely unbiased? Of course not - some of the builders who entered have been part of the community for a long time and I'm very familiar with their styles and techniques. It's very possible that this swayed me a little bit here and there. But that's why I wasn't a final judge and why the finalists were decided upon as a group. 

 

I was exaggerating B6's post for comedic effect and to emphasise the message I felt he was sending. And, uh, how do you know gender didn't effect it? Are you B6? Because what he said sounded like blatant pandering to women to me. And no, I'm not saying premiers should be banned. But I found it a bit coincidental that first place is ex staff and second place is literally paying the site. And it's okay. I'm a very observant and negative person.

So was it biased because Roa McToa is a woman or because she's ex-staff? I'm confused as to what you're accusing me of here. If there was bias as you claim the finalists would have been people like DeeVee and Makaru, who are current staff members, Premier Members, and good friends of mine. The entries were judged on the merits of the MOCs, not on the builders and their histories or personal relationships.

[Adventurer]

Congratulations to all of them, I was right in assuming nothing I could build would hold a candle to the top tier entries. Must say I'm really fond of the second place one, it feels like it conveys a really distinct character.

[-Windrider-]

Congrats! Being selected out of BZPower's incredible amount of entries is something indeed.

[IcarusBen]

(WARNING: I'm about to start hating on third place)

 

What on Mata Nui's green (and brown, and white, and blue, and black and red) island were they thinking with 3rd place? That head, sure it's big, but it's horribly ugly. The legs are alright, I suppose, but that waist is way too thin and those arms... good grief, those arms... The arms are just a little too short and way too skinny. The only good parts are the color scheme and legs, and that's not going to outweigh the cons. I look at Xares and I don't see a villain of Light, like a Knight Templar or something like that. A villain based around Light should be graceful. Xares has about as much grace as a flying brick. 

 

Still, at least we can rule out Bedrock's theory of bias; Xares's creator has a grand total of two posts, and I'm going to guess he signed up entirely to post his entry.

[Tufi Piyufi]

(WARNING: I'm about to start hating on third place)

 

What on Mata Nui's green (and brown, and white, and blue, and black and red) island were they thinking with 3rd place? That head, sure it's big, but it's horribly ugly. The legs are alright, I suppose, but that waist is way too thin and those arms... good grief, those arms... The arms are just a little too short and way too skinny. The only good parts are the color scheme and legs, and that's not going to outweigh the cons. I look at Xares and I don't see a villain of Light, like a Knight Templar or something like that. A villain based around Light should be graceful. Xares has about as much grace as a flying brick. 

 

Still, at least we can rule out Bedrock's theory of bias; Xares's creator has a grand total of two posts, and I'm going to guess he signed up entirely to post his entry.

Bashing a MOC and/or its builder isn't sporting, and it isn't okay. If you're just posting to "hate on" something, don't make the post at all. Poor conduct can get you barred from future building contests.

[Saint-14]

Those finalists are super impressive! Maybe they can give out some tips to those of us who have building for a long-ish time but haven't picked up the expert ways yet hehe

 

I'll admit I was jealous at first, but the winners really do deserve what they won, those are amazing MOCs and look like they'd be right at home on Okoto. Congratulations to everybody, and Roa I hope you can take home the (literal) gold!

 

B6, will you be detailing any of your other favourite creations? It'd be interesting to see which ones caught your eye amongst the 800 or so entires

Edited December 23, 2014 by Haxorus

[Black Six]

B6, will you be detailing any of your other favourite creations? It'd be interesting to see which ones caught your eye amongst the 800 or so entires

Once the overall winner is announced I will put together my list of BZPower favorites.

[Latrodectus]

Wow, that... That really is gorgeous.

 

At first I was a bit put off by how indistinguishable all the detail appears on the big dark-colored MOC, but the closer pictures made me eat my words. Some amazing stuff, especially on the face, and some very creative use of pieces.

 

The size helps; seeing the big bad titan next to a toa-sized figure made me realize just how intimidating it looked. 

 

Hope this wins the whole contest. I like how all the finalists are distinct; they're each cool in their own little way: Hysleria is a sleek steel knight, Antukha is a hulking monster, Terror Bite is a cartoony freak of nature, Nakken is an elegant shadow, Dark Fang Warlord is a decked-out weapons-master, and Diatan is a regal tyrant.

Edited December 23, 2014 by Latrodectus

[Tiakor]

All of these models are so impressive. I can now see why it took so long to determine a winner.

I found it hard to even pick my own favorites out of the contest entries.

[Toaraga]

Roa, I knew you had it in you to get this far, and I guess we'll soon see if you can make it all the way.

 

©1984-2014 Toaraga EAM

[Phovos]

Bloody Bahrag, they're all amazing.

 

I think the three of them together have more pieces than all my Bionicle sets combined.