Sirens-of-Titan

Attention Guild members! Due to the scale and complexity of Challenge 3, and the great number of builders who need more time to finish their entrees, we are officially extending the deadline for Challenge 3 by 2 weeks. This is a one-time only extension that we give because we want to see everyone at their best. If you have already submitted, take this as an opportunity to refine your design, or focus on free builds instead; the choice is yours! The new deadline is now May 12th 2012. Thank you for your hard work! -The Guild Leaders

Very good points brought up by all. My initial thinking was that size restrictions are more fair not because of people's varying degree of part availability, but because of judgement at the end of the contest. Let's say I was to judge entrees from Avalonia, and I was presented with one that fits 32X32 and another that fits on 64X64, both of comparable level of detail and skill. What then determines who has the better build? Should size matter? 1) If you say no, disregard the size, then the builder who spent more time/parts gets hurt because the grandiose nature of his design is not accounted for. 2) If you say yes, size matters, then the builder who built the smaller MOC is hurt because although his detail, ideas and architecture are on point with the other builder, the fact that it's smaller automatically hurts him. That's the reason size restrictions are being discussed to begin with. Now, as some have said, if you don't care about the prizes you may build bigger or smaller just to satisfy your artistic vision. That is alright by us, but part of what separates a challenge from a free build is that there are restrictions and limitations. The challenges are artistic and innovative tasks, making members come out of their comfort zones of building, and challenging them to do something they would not ordinarily do in a MOC. Keep up the discussion and ideas guys! This is very helpful for us!

@ Angeli: Mr Drow you contradict yourself by first stating that you lack enough specific bricks to be competitive, and then saying that we are somehow tying your competitive hands down with rules. The reason to have various size categories is precisely because we want to give equal opportunity to all builders to build as well as they can within their collection size and budget. Great MOC's come in all shapes and sizes, and we should recognize that instead of only rewarding gargantuan builds. I think the community building and it's rules have been on par with most people's expectations, and it seems the smallest category (Watchtower) was the most popular to date by our survey, so smaller footprints are not a detriment to MOC's. As far as prizes are concerned, perhaps you don't see them as "that great" but they are paid for by EB and your Guild Leaders, who are not millionaires. We've spent hundreds of dollars each on prizes and the custom figures we are getting are actually unique one-offs that you cannot buy elsewhere. Reserve judgement for when you win one, and hold it in your hands. I expect a talented minifigure builder like yourslef to appreciate that.

Who are we to get in the way of inspired creations? There's probably going to be at least a week added, we have to agree on it and will make an announcement as soon as there is consensus. Until then, keep that imagination flowing!

I understand your concern, but we will judge if someone truly deserves one based on contribution. We don't operate by the model of "if you meet minimal criteria A you get tag" it's more of a "if we feel you've been around posting, giving ideas, building and helping members you deserve a tag." It's basically a reward for being part of this unique community!

Blaze, you can use the cabin as a separate free build no problem!

@Cara: As soccerkid said, no need for any starting MOC's you can go straight to the challenge. If you all think an extension will be good, we'll allow it.

Hello dear members, My apologies for being absent the last few weeks; I'm back to building and the next Historica MOC is already in the works. I hope to see more great builds from the Guild. Soccerkid, Blaze, your creations are wonderful and already look like heavy-hitters in the competition. Do you guys feel like there is enough time or would you want an extension on the deadline? Also great news on the front of prizes; our custom figures are almost complete. Very soon those of you who won the previews rounds will be the owners of "GoH official minifigures", designed by your Guild Leaders, produced by the top custom printers and fabricators in the industry and placed at your doorstep as reward for doing well in GoH! Let's make Mitgardia proud!

Hey guys, make sure to fill out the survey! We're looking forward to hearing what you think of GoH so far!

Hello Guild Members! Well it's been over six months since the Guilds of Historica began their trial run and we want to know what you think so far! It's been an incredible process, with hundreds of talented builders and creations gracing these pages, making for one of the best MOC'er online communities yet! SURVEY TIME: Do you like the Guilds? Do you feel they can be improved? This is your chance to let us know how you feel about the whole project! Please take the survey and comment below in the following format: example: Hello I'm from (Guild) I am (Active Builder and Member/Member/Past Member/Not affiliated with Guilds) Pick one Comment on what you like about GoH. Comment on things that could be improved. This survey will help us figure out the best way to keep improving the Guilds, Challenges and making EB the most fun and exciting AFOL community out there! If you've left the guilds tell us why. Be brutally honest; we can take it! Or we can blame it on one of the other guild leaders

Hey guys, it's true there hasn't been a lot of activity lately, but that shouldn't be something to lose faith over. A lot of members are busy and will be back in full force in the summer. I know that I'm swamped quite a bit right now, so let's give it another round or two to get the excitement level back up. The prizes are taking way to long, I agree, and we will have those out to winners of the past 2 rounds as soon as they come in. (probably within a few weeks) Ecclesiastes, I sent your Valholl Build prize out yesterday, it should be reaching you within the week. @kabel: You Valholl builds are wonderful, I wouldn't lose faith over the number of comments. It frequently happens that you invest a lot of time money and creativity into a MOC and it gets a total of a few day's attention online and then dies down. That, for better or worse, is the nature of MOC building; I know that I don't comment on every single creation I like even though I think "oh wow that's clever". You should build because you love it and because you want to stay true to your vision. Chances that someone online will appreciate your time and effort and thin, so building to please is something I've learned to avoid. If the few people I know and respect tell me they like my MOC's it doesn't matter if it gets blogged or featured or commented on a thousand time; I'm still happy another person took the time to let me know they like it. Unfortunately I fear this may be the reason a lot of people have stopped building. We turned this from a community build into a series of contests that are won by one person per guild, and that may have put a damper on some people's enthusiasm to build and express themselves. I'm gonna add a poll up to see what you guys think of GoH so far.

With regards to running out of parts, you can always build, take pictures disassemble and build the final parts with us none-the-wiser. I reuse parts from scene to scene a lot when they are rare and especially when I start to run out of bricks.

Wow DC, this is mighty impressive! I like the size and layout but above all; that staircase has just set the bar for building staircases. Well done on another awesome build!

Wow, I would kill for those elf figures to be made into real Lego figures. The nobles, goblin and undead warrior are also gorgeous; great find Angeli!

1) We tried to find the equilibrium between guild participation and quality of builds submitted. Just because a guild is high-yield does not guarantee it more points. Having said that, a guild with a lot of active builders who do their best seems to receive the most points by our scheme, but it is fair to credit each builder equally regardless of his Guild affiliation. 2) All free builds were judged, from the beginning until now. 3) I want to express my gratitude towards the other Guild Leaders and Taz as it seems they all contributed in collecting and scoring free builds, and I wasn't very active in it at all. About Ecclesiastes' signature. We may have to create a new character for you; you're a damn national treasure as it stands now and we wouldn't want you getting assassinated and leaving us in the dark ages without military, religion, naval fleet, and arts.

Hello Guildsmen! The 2 days are up and the votes are in. In first place came Ecclesiastes, followed by darkdragon, followed by soccerkid6, and bartjuh. Congratulations everyone, you did a great job on these builds! Micro-scale building is incredibly challenging and intricate and all 4 entrees showed ingenious techniques and part usage! Ecclesiastes, I'll contact you about the prizes and you may add the title: "Master Architect of Valholl" to your lineup. All others who entered you get the title "Architect Regent of Valholl" We are working on special tags as well, so participating in these will eventually mean more tags for those who take part. Thanks for everyone's votes and participation, now let's get on with Challenge 3!

There are several sets that have medieval farmers/peasants included. I would use Bricklink if I were you, it's by far the best place to buy Lego online. Here are a few notable characters: Link to minifigure page--> look through fantasy era, and Kingdoms for all available peasants. There should be stores in Europe that have plenty of all.

Bump

I'll keep voting open for art least 2 days so that we get a decent turnout.

Hello Mitgardians! Please take a moment and look at our Valholl Micro Scale Project and vote for your favorite entree!

Hello members of all Guilds across Historica! Please take a moment and look at our Valholl Micro Scale Project and vote for your favorite entree!

All right! We have our entrees and now it's time to vote!

Hello Guildsmen; I'm thrilled to see that there are already 2 entree for the Valholl Micro-Scale Challenge! One more day left for those who still wish to enter.

I do, watching Guild members wrap their brains around my convoluted rules is a twisted hobby of mine. If I made it too easy, where's the satisfaction in knowing you've invented something new?

Thanks guys! I appreciate your kind words! Well now that you bring that up there are similarities in the shapes, but my primary inspiration was classic elven architecture. I looked through LOTR concept art and a few video game concepts to get an idea for what the common themes were, and then applied them to bricks, with my own subtle twist. If I had to attribute it to one particular inspiration, it would have to be this one. Although it looks nothing like it, it was mostly the organic feel I emulated: