Announcing The Hybridfighter Contest

[onions]

Ever since DJ Hero, I've been obsessed with mashups. Mashups are when you take two songs and mix them together to create one new song. Maybe it's because I grew up during the '80s but my favorite mashup from DJ Hero 1 is Ice Ice Baby vs. U Can't Touch This. Some other notable tracks on my mashup playlist are Beachball Sky Falls Down by Myon and Shane 54 and Every Car You Chase by Party Ben.

Anyways, aside from the serious digression, the whole point of me telling you all this is to relate it to April's building contest: The Hybridfighter Contest. Basically, your task is to make a mashup ship using two ships from the Star Wars Universe.

In the Star Wars universe, they are knowns as Uglies (Wookiepedia entry: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Ugly). Here, we're calling them Hybridfighters. We ran this contest before, and I present to you two of the top entries to give you an idea of what we're looking for:

Adrian Florea's Natai:


Andrew Racle's Slice Hound:


Contest-specific rules:

- Build an entirely new starship or vehicle utilizing design elements from two different starships or vehicles.
- You may draw inspiration from any ship or vehicle that LEGO has made into an official set to date, be it canon or expanded universe.
- DO NOT take chunks of two official LEGO sets and attach them together. You will be laughed at and then disqualified.
- Your hybridfighter must be in minifig scale.
- You may optionally include a pilot minifigure.
- Submit one or two photos of your hybridfighter as a reply to this post.
- Contest deadline is 11:59pm GMT -8 (Pacific Time) May 7, 2011.

There will be one round of voting. This is a winner take all contest. He who has the best hybridfighter determined by his peers shall receive one copy each of two of the ugliest sets currently available: 7930 Bounty Hunter Assault Gunship and 7931 T-6 Jedi Shuttle, because within their ugliness, there lies beauty in free LEGO.

If you have any questions about these rules, please post.

Standard Contest Restrictions:

• No more than one entry per person.
• No modified parts or stickers.
• No unofficial elements.
• No pre-existing or virtual models.
• No changes allowed after the deadline.

How To Enter:
Simply post a photo of your model in a reply to this thread before the deadline.
You must have a forum account to enter. Entries by proxy will be not be allowed.
Optional: include a link to a gallery or MOC Showcase post with more images.
Do not post non-entry photos to the contest thread unless you want to be disqualified.

You must use Flickr to host your entry picture because we rely on the built in image resizing feature. If you do not have an account, you can sign up for free, or ask someone to upload it for you. Once uploaded you will need to embed the photo in the forum. To do so:

1. go to the flickr photo page for your image
2. click the little down arrow above your photo to the right of the icons
3. click "Grab the HTML/BBCode" from that drop down menu
4. check the bubble next to "BBCode" (HTML will not work)
5. copy the code from the box above and paste that into a reply here
6. do not add any more code tags
7. click Preview to verify that it worked, then Submit.

If it didn't work, send a PM to Solo.

Photography note: be sure to submit the best picture possible. Color and contrast correction is recommended if necessary. The only other image enhancement allowed is replacing the background with either a solid color or simple gradient. Your photo cannot be altered in any other way. For example; no composite views, special effects, text, graphics, or scenery will be permitted. Remember, the contest is about the models - not your image manipulation prowess.

[onions]

reserved for rule clarifications

Clarifications from page 1: All Star Wars vehicles that have been made by Lego (walkers, speeders, starships, etc - no playsets), from any faction (Republic, CIS, Rebels, Empire, etc - mix and match at will), are allowed as inspiration for your mashup (pick only two though) - but the end result must be a starfighter.

Clarifications from page 2: No transition/evolution models where you make a new ship inspired by two others - use recognizable parts from two (and only two) ships and as much scrap as needed to merge them into something that flies. Alternate color schemes are OK. Custom pilots are OK (again official unmodified parts only though). Vehicles from official sets only are allowed for your source pair, alt models do not count as official models and are not allowed.

Clarifications from page 3: For Fett's sake people, official designs are not allowed in your model. For futher explanation and examples, see here. Beautifully simplified: "Take 2 ships that have had official models made of them. Ignore the official LEGO models. Make 1 ship using partially recognizable elements of both ships without stealing any design elements from the official models" (care of MisterFubar). Also, you aren't limited to a single pilot.

Clarifications from page 4: Droids (full or partial) are also allowed even if neither of the source ships had one.

[MisterFubar]

Great contest and one I might actually enter if I have the time. I've always been a huge fan of "uglies"

Now let the silly questions about rules and the building begin.

[Stardusty]

This will be interesting.

I am entering, but first I need to get some ideas.


Great contest and thank you for it FBTB.

[theStuck]

yeah !! a challenge for April ...thanks guys for it !

[mikado]

now is this only star wars kits or any like spake police or others......wonders what an X-hogwarts express would look like lol

[GIR3691]

To clarify, is this for starfighters, or any ship from the Star Wars universe?

[Mofo Jones]

Now, I'm just staff, and a mere writer at that, but my guess would that any set, given the following:

"- You may draw inspiration from any ship or vehicle that LEGO has made into an official set to date, be it canon or expanded universe."

So, go on, make that Republic Gunspeeder Bikeship* or whatever other crazy combination you can mash up.



*I claim first rights on this exact name.

[Deroblo]

Oh im pumped for this one! Gotta crack my knuckles and give it hell!

[Solo]

now is this only star wars kits or any like spake police or others......wonders what an X-hogwarts express would look like lol

Basically, your task is to make a mashup ship using two ships from the Star Wars Universe.

While I love the idea of a space train with s-foils on it, we're sticking to the Star Wars universe this time.

To clarify, is this for starfighters, or any ship from the Star Wars universe?

Any vehicle can be used for your source vehicles. Walkers, Speeders, Starfighters, the works. But the end result must be a starfighter.

Now before some nerf herder asks, the Death Star is no vehicle. It's a space station. Also it's way too big to incorporate into anything like this so don't bother trying to get technical. Remember: minifig scale.

[Moodswim]

Okay, here's a (probably stupid) question: can we combine sides? IE: Alliance vehicle with Empire, CIS with Republic? I'm guessing we can, but I thought I'd ask before I start building.

[Solo]

Absolutely.

[Moodswim]

Thanks! Okay here's another (probaby stupid) question: the rules say starfighter/vehicle, but is there a size restriction? I understand the Death Star comment, but, say I combine an AT-AT with an X-wing (which I call claim on), would that be considered too large, since it would probably be considered a transport not a fighter?

[Solo]

No sanctioned size restriction, just keep it reasonable. Remember that Starfighters are typically crewed by one and highly maneuverable. You won't get disqualified for making a bad starfighter, but you may be if you make no effort to present it as one. Chopping the legs off an ATAT and slapping on some dinky s-foils won't cut it. Using the head as a cockpit on the other hand... I can see someone pulling that idea off.

[Moodswim]

Actually, I was gonna build a full-size AT from scratch and add X-wing wings and have the legs fold up in "flight mode" but I'll think of something else.

[JackJonespaw]

Can we combine more than two vehicles?

[Solo]

No.

[Boyfromvalley]

Question here, suppose I wanted to make one with a Y-Wing cockpit, would I be allowed to use the one from the actual set or would I have to build it with a diferent design?

[MrAnderson]

A couple questions...

1) From the example photos you posted, when you say "Build an entirely new starship or vehicle utilizing design elements...", you are really looking for two existing ships/vehicles, with their parts literally mashed together--NOT a ship that, simply in terms of design, borrows stylistic elements from other ships, and possibly represents a "transition" model between those ships, like this:

(http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Eta-2_Actis-class_light_interceptor).
Correct?

2) If that's the case, is building a new "transition" type model an automatically DQ'ed entry, or just an entry that steps away from the original spirit of the contest (but might still be awesome)?

Thanks.

[kyphur]

Question here, suppose I wanted to make one with a Y-Wing cockpit, would I be allowed to use the one from the actual set or would I have to build it with a diferent design?

- DO NOT take chunks of two official LEGO sets and attach them together. You will be laughed at and then disqualified.