"Kill Teal" - the winners

It's all over! 54 builders submitted 79 entries that imagined how the newly returned LEGO® colour called teal could be killed off again, given that Mark Stafford's last attempt in 2006 clearly failed. Here are all the entries in one image:

Which of course means we had to judge winners; always a painful task but especially difficult when the entries all excelled in different ways - their originality, humour, clever ideas and of course nice piece usage. Thank you so much to everyone that entered, creating so many smiles for us and New Elementary readers. Now read on to find out who was picked for the prizes...

Judging

When the contest closed the judges received all 79 images and text at once (with the names of the builders removed). They chose personal favourites before comparing results and agreeing two equal First Prize winners and one Runner-up. Thankfully, there was a lot of common ground.

I chose the role of administrator rather than judge; instead we had three esteemed builders:

• Jeremy Williams, who had the idea for the contest,
• Elspeth De Montes, who built the model that inspired Jeremy in the first place,
• Mel Finelli... to prevent the judging panel from comprising entirely of British senses of humour!

2 x FIRST PRIZE WINNERS

The two equal first prize winners both win a copy of 10260 Downtown Diner, and they are:

Ryan Howerter, "Stafford's Choice: Trolley Problem Edition"

Jez:
"This is a deserving winner on several levels - an inspired application of the famous ‘trolley dilemma’ thought experiment to Mark’s choice between killing teal and purple, combined with an interesting build (the carriage especially) and nicely framed and shot. You can hear the crunch and sense the anguish!"

Mel:
"Love this little scene! The details of the car are so fun with the rubber band details around the cheese slopes and the greebling of the track! Very clever and fun to have Teal destroyed in such a old-time classic way."

Elspeth:
"This entry immediately made me think of the old 1920s B&W slapstick comedy movies; there’s a damsel tied to the railway tracks and the suave hunk (in this case Mark Stafford) has to save her in the nick of time!  I love the use of the train switch to depict the decision Mark had to make between Teal and Dark Purple. The little carriage is suitably rickety but the highlight is that destroyed 2x4 Teal brick with just ABS granules left. This entry had comedy, it had drama, it had the death of Teal and it was a clear winner."

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Joshua Allinger, "Mark Stafford is Psycho!"

Elspeth:
"The famous scene in the movie Psycho is so well known, I imagine even those who have never seen the film will know the reference material.  Teal is relaxing in the shower when suddenly Mark Stafford’s shadow appears behind the curtain with a knife! The moment when Teal turns her head has been depicted in this entry and, I have no idea how, the 2x4 brick with 2x2 brick resting on top actually looks scared to me. Another entry with comedy, the death of Teal and it made me laugh. An equally murderous 1st place."

Jez:
"An iconic shower scene rendered beautifully in ABS, this entry injects the right combination of violence and humour. The teal bricks are brought to life (albeit briefly) by careful posing and the room adds just enough detail without taking the focus from the action. Altogether a worthy winner."

Mel:
"This is giving me the gore I was waiting for! The scene is so simple but so great, laid out and presented really well that we recognize it perfectly. Even the placement of the Teal bricks gives us such an expression I can hear the Psycho music as the curtain is pulled away!"

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1 x Runner-up prize

The one runner-up will will receive 3 sets: a copy of 21039 Shanghai, 41155 Elsa’s Market Adventure and 41332 Emma’s Art Stand, and it is:

Tom (Inthert), "The Extremes people will go to..."

Mel:
"This totally was thinking outside of the box and I love it. So beautifully presented and the details are super fun, from the texture of the pencils, the rip in the centre of the book and even the binding of the notebook."

Elspeth:
"The Angry Bride’s list from Kill Bill has been turned into Mark’s colour kill list in this entry. I love that it keep the Kill Teal theme going.  The torn page and open book are cleverly built and I love that the list includes other colours that ‘died’ or, in LEGO terms, were no longer in the colour palette. This entry is clever, well designed and a fun parody of Kill Bill."

Jez:
"This entry is also top-notch in build quality (the torn page being the highlight) and its evocation of the Bride’s kill list from Tarantino’s classic Kill Bill is on-target, too. It’s imaginative and a well-deserving runner up."

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Winners, I will be in touch later to get your addresses.

There were so, so many other entries that were deserving of praise but we had to choose just three. Thanks again to each and every one of you; I trust you enjoyed killing teal.

READ MORE: See all 79 entries!

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Prizes in this competition are kindly provided by the LEGO Group. All content represents the opinions of New Elementary authors, and not the LEGO Group. All text and images are the copyright of the named entrant.