16×16 Challenge: Winner Announcement

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Dave

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Before I announce the winner, I want to thank everyone who entered. You guys made some really cool stuff, and each of you embraced the contest a little bit differently. The judges absolutely loved the variety of work on display here, and it was tough to choose just one person to take home the prize pack.

The 16x16 Challenge Entries

Pretty awesome stuff, right? But let’s get to the big announcement, shall we?

The winner of the 16×16 Challenge is…

Xenomurphy! Let’s check out the highlight reel of his creation. We’ll start with his custom made zombies, which he put together with those water-slide decals I keep hearing so much about. The result is fantastic, as you can see:

Custom made zombies

Next up we have a cleverly-built Tom Savini stand in, ready to hit a zombie in the face with a pie, just like in the original Dawn of the Dead (which is where this creation draws its inspiration). And speaking of clever, how about that McDonald’s logo?

This zombie is about to get pied

And then we have one of my favorite parts of the creation, the boiler room in the basement. I love how dark and creepy this place looks, even before you factor in the gore. Add in some damage to the boilers and some dangerous looking leaks, and this this is just fantastic.

The boiler room

I could go on and on, but why don’t you just go ahead and check out his photostream yourself. It’s fantastic.

The Runners Up

While Xenomurphy’s creation was outstanding, it was by no means the only thing that the judges loved. While we can’t afford to give out prize packs to everyone, I will be featuring some of my other favorites as my “Zombie Creation of the Week” over the next few weeks.

You guys did a fantastic job here, and I can’t wait for the next contest to see what else you come up with.

Thank You, Thank You

Finally, I want to sincerely thank everyone who was involved in and contributed to this contest. Let’s start with the contestants. Without your time and efforts building some really, really cool stuff, this would have been an mighty boring challenge. Hat’s off to you all for impressing the hell out of the judges once again.

And speaking of the judges, a huge thank you to ZombieMutts and Yatkuu who both volunteered their time and donated part of the prize pack. You guys were a blast to work with, and your generosity is incredible.

Finally, thank you to GI Brick for coming out of left field to double the prize pack with their extremely generous donation. That Zombie Apocalypse Survivor Pack is awesome, and fit this contest to a T!

32 thoughts on “16×16 Challenge: Winner Announcement”

  1. It’s a great build, no doubt about it. Congratulations to Xenomurphy!

    • Indeed. And hat’s off to the other entries as well. Xenomurphy’s win was a very, very close one.

  2. Congrats to Xeno! His entry was absolutely outstanding! Love me some classic zombies 😉

    • Absolutely fantastic work here.

  3. It was definitely a very… professional build. Noticed on his photostream he said he buys new bricks for every new set he makes. A good job!

    • Once again, legomiles dons his annual ‘contest’ face.

    • Regarding the professionalism of the build. That actually gives me an idea for the next contest. How would everyone feel about two tiers of entries. Pro and Amateur? The ProAM Challenge, perhaps.

      • I’m not so sure about that, Dave. I doubt anyone wants to label themselves an amateur. How would such a distinction be made? If it was self-determined by the contestants, what would keep a “professional” builder from declaring themselves an amateur, and then winning the “amateur” competition? Would you disqualify them for having “too good” of a build? I don’t think it’d be fair for judges to label people amateurs, either. I can’t see how that would work…

        • I’d love it!

  4. Well this is weird. I lost my last paragraph or two. I’ll add them back in now.

    • There we go, much better.

  5. Awesome job everyone and congratulations to Xenomurphy – your MOC is brilliant on many levels. I’ll highlight the clever use of space, the innovative building techniques, the outstanding photography. The only thing I was not too convinced by is the “destruction” aspect of the build – which I believe you admitted yourself on your Flickr was a bit of a late addition to the build. Nevertheless a great creation and a well deserved win.
    Now… you really need to make a guest post on BotD on how to work with decals because I want to be able to that too!

    • See, I liked that the destruction here was more subtle. I know I’ve cited it before, but the leaking boiler really tells a cool story to me. A bunch of crazy shit went down and the boiler was damaged in the process, and now it’s just going to keep degrading until the whole thing just blows. It’s awesome.

      • Dave, I have a great idea. The next contest should be around the theme of leaking boilers!

        • I love it!

        • Haha, announcing the “2012 Bricks of the Dead leaking boiler contest”!
          I wouldn’t be surprised that a lot of people must think that were are complete lunatics with our Lego Zombies.. but with a contest like that you can be sure that we would enter in a completely new category.. people would probably start to be afraid of us.

        • That would land us on government watch lists for sure.

  6. Wow! This is just amazing! The detail and creativity is outstanding. I especially love the leak in the boiler room and the movie poster.

    This should go on display at the next ZomBcom.

    • The boiler room is absolutely my favorite part.

  7. Well. Now to wait for Sunday to watch The Walking Dead 😀

    • Oh god, does that start back up this week?

    • Dude!! My whole family is pysced for that show. lol

      • I am so excited, my family had themselves that it would end just like firefly(everybody loved it accept for critics.) and now I am the only one that has kept up with it. Can’t wait!!!!

      • My Mom’s been asking when that show comes back and I find it weird she’s interested in it, Being Human and Lost Girl with me.

  8. Wow, I don’t know what to say. I’ve read this at work and was totally surprised.

    First of all, thank you, Dave, ZombieMutts and Yatkuu, for this entertaining contest. It was so much fun building level after level, watching the first movies of the dead-franchise again (and again) and some new stuff (I finally started watching & reading ‘The Walking Dead’).

    But seeing and exploring with what the other participants came up, was almost more enjoyable. There were so many amazing entries here that it makes me even more glad to be part of this. Thanks to all of you guys and gals.

    I’d also like to thank the sponsors. Very generous.

    Legomiles, I’d love to buy new bricks each time I build a new MOC, but I’m not that rich. I started in 2009 with my old childhood bricks (which I got back from my nephew) and (here you’re right) bought new bricks for new and bigger MOCs. I never mixed the old and new bricks and today I have so many new bricks that I almost never need the old ones (my nephew is very glad about it, because he wants them back, haha). I still have to buy new ones for new MOCs, but not all of them.

    Yatkuu, as soon as I’ve tested all the pros and cons of the decals, I’ll gladly share my experiences here on BotD.

    • If you’re serious about a How To article, I’d love to post it!

      And don’t forget to send me your mailing address on Flickr so I can get the prize pack in the mail.

      Congratulations again. Hell of an entry.

    • Congrats on winning. The chainsaw wielding ewoks salute you too.

      • I’m quite sure I read somewhere about obtaining bricks for new creations on Brick Link, maybe I misread it. It’s a great model anyway, how do you get such shiny bricks?

  9. Really the entries here were astounding! Wonderful job to all of you and thank you Dave for allowing me to judge!!!

  10. Legomiles, it’s true I still buy a lot of bricks on BL, but since my collection grew over almost 3 years now, I don’t have to buy that many anymore.

    They are so shiny because I always handle them with care and try not to scratch (or bite) them. That is really all. A good camera and very good flashlights bring out the best in my MOCs.

    • I share (most of) my bricks with my four-year-old, so I know first-hand how fast new bricks get scuffed up from use. No biting at my house, but sifting through a large bin leads to instant scratches.
      I’m really pleased that you won Xeno as your build is really great. The only downside I see is the lack of destruction (it looks like about a dozen bricks out of place in the whole build), and the static nature of the piece. Sure, there was a scene in the film where the main characters all stood on the balcony, but there were also scenes of sliding down escalators, killing zombies, and falling off the balcony. If you had incorporated more of this action into the piece I would have loved it even more.
      The fact is, this build is pretty much on the same level as Yatkuu’s Shaun of the Dead build, so we should all be congratulating you on a job well done just as we did Yatkuu. Am I bummed I didn’t win? Sure, but winning isn’t everything. I loved seeing all the awesome creativity on display once again. All I wanted was zombie heads anyway, and if all goes well I’ll be buying a set of Xeno’s at some point and that makes it worth it for me.
      Congratulations Xenomurphy!

  11. Great job every one all the builds were awesome

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