Mind that Banana contest: The winners

With the new LEGO® Fortnite Odyssey social roleplay experience Brick Life launching today, 12 December 2024, now's the perfect moment to announce the winners of our Mind that Banana contest and find out which original creations won the prizes of LEGO Fortnite sets! 

We asked readers to create non-banana MOCs using LEGO bananas. With 102 entries to judge, finding the pick of the bunch was no easy task.

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Prizes provided by The LEGO Group. 
New Elementary is not associated with The LEGO Group. LEGO® is a trademark of The LEGO Group of companies which does not sponsor, authorise or endorse our site or contest.

We are delighted to have two LEGO designers on our judging panel. Mathias Julin knows a thing or two about bananas as he was the lead designer of our main prize, the LEGO Fortnite Peely Bone set. He is joined by senior product designer Markus Rollbühler, who is also a host of the Iron Builders challenge... in short, a master of nice parts usage! Our third judge was me... New Elementary contributor Thomas Jenkins.

We were looking closely for imagination, creativity and cleverness in the use of bananas as non-bananas. With that out of the way, let's reveal our top bananas!

First Prize winners

Our 5 equal first winners each receive a copy of LEGO Fortnite set 77072 Peely Bone! 

In no particular order:

The Iguana by Les Briques de Loïc

In our collective imagination, the iguana is green. Yellow iguanas do exist, they are those affected by the disease albinism. Having only this part reference and this yellow color, I quickly had the idea of ​​diverting this part to illustrate the crest of this emblematic animal.

Les Briques de Loïc demonstrates masterful use of the seed part in this beautiful lizard. Multiple bananas appear all over the build to represent all kinds of little details including eyelids, claws, and spines, to name just a few. Each instance of the banana seems very natural and not at all forced – one of the best ways to use the seed element.

See more angles and descriptions on Les Briques de Loïc's Instagram.

Final Boss by Matthias Bartsch

It's time for the ultimate showdown! A brave plumber and his trusted mount face off against the final boss in order to save the princess. The character lineup is inspired by the official 18+ LEGO® Super Mario™ sets and the build includes a total number of 84 LEGO banana elements.

Matthias Bartsch's use of bananas as lava in this build really surprised the judges. Who knew banana lava would look so good? As well as this ingenious seed part usage, the banana is used to great effect in a few other details such as Peach's cage and Yoshi's tongue.

Be sure to check out Matthias Bartsch's Instagram where you will find instructions for the lava technique and the characters!

Barf the Banana Dwarf by JanwillemLoonen

The T on the shield was supposed to represent a hammer. His belt is made of orange bananas. His name was made using the words Banana and Dwarf. I like bananas.

We received a few brick-built character entries but the clever seed part usage in this little figure impressed us the most, especially that beautiful banana beard.

There's lots more to enjoy on JanwillemLoonen's Instagram!

Crash Bandicoot by dw_builds

My take on Crash. Loved the new recolours in the Chrysanthemum set.

The likeness of this iconic video game character has been well captured by dw_builds through the use of a variety of LEGO System and Technic System elements – and a healthy serve of bananas. The curved shape of the element lends itself well to recreate Crash's face, and inject expression.

See more character creations on dw_build's Instagram.

The Joker by Clockwork Bricks

Purple suit, playing cards, and fancy flowers,

Bananas always help to cheer up a good joker!

Another entry that put a big smile on our judges' faces. Clockwork Bricks has made effective use of the banana in the playing card and especially the brooch. The presentation of this entry was particularly impressive.

There are loads more stunning builds, beautifully lit and photographed, on Clockwork Bricks' Instagram.

Second prize winner

We have one second place winner, who will receive LEGO Fortnite sets 77071 Supply Llama & 77070 Durrr Burger!

Mad Scientist Menace by Luca Pongolini

I tried to get the banana element to be central as much as possible and the scene to kind of expand from it. I played around with colors having black to create the darkness in the lower portion and brighter colors for the Mad Scientist in the upper part.

The composition of Luca Pongolini's entry helped set it apart from the rest. The menace of the scientist is conveyed well by clever parts and colour choice. The banana makes for a great moustache but Luca has also found some nice complementary parts to create the hands.

Third Prize winner

We have 1 third place winner who will receive LEGO Fortnite set 77071 Supply Llama!

Fit for a (banana) King by Allison Cutting

My entry features a crown sitting on a satin pillow on display in a museum. I've included two types of banana elements in the gold parts of the crown. 

A small build, the structure of which relies heavily on two different banana elements – but the nice parts usage is not limited to the seed part. There are only a few other elements used in the crown, but this minimal approach is very effective. We received other entries of crowns too, but this one was the king!

Follow Allison Cutting on Instagram.

That's it! We hope you enjoyed our contest. Our thanks go to my fellow judges for their time, to The LEGO Group for supply of the prizes, and last but by no means least to every single person who entered. We loved going na-na over your creativity and ideas.

READ MORE: See all Mind that Banana contest entries

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