MOC competition: And the winner is… (drumroll)…

Blockwarts was kindly sent a LEGO Harry Potter Collectable Minifigure (CMF) series 2 box to review by LEGO. And as you don’t need a full box to do a review, we decided to run our very first MOC competition, with a full set of 16 minifigures as prize. Entries were due last Sunday night – and we can now announce the winner…

The judges have reviewed the entries, 17 in total, and settled on a winner. As a reminder, the judges were:

• Myself, editor of Blockwarts
• Cade Franklin, winner of LEGO Masters Australia (together with Henry Pinto), season 1
• Richard Jones, editor of the Rambling Brick.

The vignettes were assessed based on creativity (the idea), technique (how well executed) and story telling (does to capture an interesting moment).

While there’s unfortunately only a prize for the the winner, we’ll list the top three entries, as well as a whole lot of others that deserve a special mention! We were amazed to see so many great MOCs from our talented readers.

Without further ado, let’s get to the business!

Winner – “Nice big smile, Harry”

This vignette shows when Harry is grabbed by Lockhart for a photo opportunity at the Flourish and Blotts book store. It is a detailed build with eye catching colours, cool stacks of books, and nice use of figures capturing an iconic moment from the movies. 

“Nice big smile, Harry,” said Lockhart, through his own gleaming teeth. “Together, you and I are worth the front page.”

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

A huge congratulation to Gail Horsey, who built this. We’ll be in touch with regards to the prize.

Runner up – Ron and Hermione

Just behind, we have Ron and Hermione in this nice clean composition and an interesting sideways build of the stairs. We found it was the MOC that best showed feelings. Well done to the builder, Robert Panga.

Third place – Harry at Honeydukes 

This third place was another close race. But combining the scores, this vignette by Lindsay Wayne came out just ahead of a few others (and wasn’t far away from a first place either). It shows Harry at Honeydukes under his invisibility cloak, having travelled the secrets tunnels from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade using the Marauders map. The vignette has shelves full of colourful lollies and a nice tiled floor.

Special mentions

There were so many great models it would be a shame not to give credits to a few more. Many were close to a top 3 position or otherwise excelled in a certain way. So special mentions go to (in no particular order):

Ron the knight: This vignette by Florent Etcheverry shows Ron Weasley in the chess game at the end of the first movie. It is an ambitious build, and we really respect the builder for building the horse rather than simply using a horse piece. At the end-of-year feast, Albus Dumbledore awarded Ron fifty house points for “the best played game of chess that Hogwarts has seen these many years“. In this case, Ron wins a special mention.

Boggart in the cupboard: Neville got to face his worst nightmare in Professor Lupin’s class. From the cupboard, Professor Snape emerged and this is the theme of this vignette by Jan. It has an amazingly detailed wall and cupboard and some interesting part usage.

Neville and the Boggart: Here’s another take of this scene by Chris Nelson. This is one of the first times we really saw Neville step up to a challenge. The posing of the minifigures really brings action to this vignette, which also feature nice arched window.

Hagrid shopping at Eeylops Owl Emporium: Hagrid has just bought Hedwig for Harry for his 11th birthday. While the competition rules restricted the models to 8×8 in size, there was no height limitation. Building a tall shop full of owls is a great idea, and we liked this model by Jennifer Brawn Gittings, which also featured good detail in addition to the impressive height.

Niffler chasing gold: This vignette by Brody McCarthy deserves a special mention for the stained glass window. And then of course niffler is super-cute, and its is hard not to love a scene with it.

Next competition

To finish off, a big thank you goes to LEGO’s AFOL Engagement team for providing the prize.

We are pleased to see so many played along. We will announce a new competition shortly, so keep you building skills sharp!

Till then, Build the Magic!