Over at Classic-Castle is the beginning of new contest titled "Castle goes to Space". If I am properly understanding the terms correctly, the core concept is to take an officially released set either Space related (Star Wars, Alien Conquest, Futuron, etcetera) and transform it into a Castle themed one or from the Castle side (Knights Kingdom, Vikings, Ninja, The Hobbit, so on) and turn it into a Space type design. (In short, Castle -> Space or Space -> Castle.)

Here is a good example from a prior contest where the entry had 'Castlefied' set 7749 Echo Base from Star Wars.

I suspect some ideas have better possibilities in making the transition from one era to the other but who knows. Perhaps a few neat surprises will spring up from this switcheroo of a competition. There is no size limit far as the choices in sets go however the 'footprint' must be close to the original set of your choosing's design. Judging will be based on both how well your Spaced Castle or Castled Space design matches the official set well as its new theme.

Deadline is September 30th midnight.

Here is the first entry to the contest which is a 'spaced out' version of 7079 Drawbridge Defense. Nice translation.

Attack on Space Priestess Base by Leopold Mao

Here is the third entry which is a 'castlefied' edition of 75020 Jabba's Sail Barge. Funny and interesting but seems a tad too close to the source as in mostly cosmetic changes with a couple of actual ones to the build. R2-D2 in a kilt is kind of hilarious though. Ha.

Jabba's War Barge by Draken Nek

Here is the fifth entry (waiting for the fourth to be reposted in the meantime) that is a 'castled' edition of 3368 Space Center from the City line which certainly was an unexpected surprise and not bad either. The footprint and overall setup is quite similar to the source yet its own thing. My critique would be the longboat being 'worked on' isn't much; barely considered a frame. A full ship would have been impressive of course but I think at least a complete frame for the longboat would fit the entry's idea plus looked better.

Orcish Longboat Yard by Henry F.

The entries are starting to pick up some speed now with a couple of interest here. Sixth entry is The Solar Mill Raid which is a 'spaced out' version of the Kingdoms set 7189 Mill Village Raid giving the rustic shed and windmill a more modern nature friendly approach with an Ice Planet touch color scheme and somehow even a smidge of Winter Village oddly enough but that could be more of the house structures themselves. As an added bonus, the hinged roofing can be used as landing platforms.

Here for the seventh entry is quite brilliant in my opinion. A value bundle pack set 1843 containing both a Castle and Space design has been completely switched around where the Space vehicle is now a Castle flyer and the Castle build has become Space! The combo just could not get any more perfect.

Eighth entry and last for now is a 'castled' edition of the Blacktron 6988 Alpha Centuri Outpost simply titled ACO Castle. Well it definitely fits the basic blueprint for the original in terms of general shaping and layout while at the same time is a good Castle MOC on its own.

Entry nine is called the Gatlin Cannon which is a 'castled' edition of 75040 General Grievous' Wheel Bike. Believe it.

Ninth Entry is a 'castled' take on 6899 Nebula Outpost from the Exploriens.

Lookout Tower

Here at number ten is Spyrius' 6959 Lunar Launch Site 'castled' into a Wolfpack Hideout. Now this for me wins on many levels. First, I took one look at the build and immediately recognized what the set of inspiration was. Second, Spyrius was possibly my favorite group of explorers well as some personal fervor for Wolfpack. Third, the built-up 'baseplate' is quite good almost matching the actual one in every aspect. A lot of play features integrated here like a trap door, secret passageway through the middle openable boulder, a hidden dungeon beneath the ground, and then some.

Tenth entry is an interesting twist of a 'castled' 70703 Star Slicer called "Sea Serpent Attack".

Turning the 5980 Squidman's Pitstop into a medieval blacksmith shop called "Mitgardian Smithy" marks entry number eleven of this contest.

Here is another entry 'spacifying' the 7189 Mill Village Raid and one more for this soon to be wrapped up contest called "Solar Plant Attack".

This entry is a 'spaced' edition of 6059 Knight's Stronghold turning it into a M:Tron Stronghold. Classic Castle becomes classic Space. Awesome.

They finally have a winner! (Or rather two winners!):

"Since we had enough entries there were two prizes, and we divided these up between the best "Castle turned Space" entry and the best "Space turned Castle" entry.



Leopold took top spot for her "Castle turned Space" entry, taking set 7079, Drawbridge Defense and turning it into Attack on Space Priestess Base. She wins a copy of 70806, Castle Cavalry.

Soccerkid6 came out on top for "Space turned Castle", taking set 5980, Squidman's Pitstop and turning it into Mitgardian Smithy. He wins a copy of Great LEGO Sets: A Visual History."

The two categories make perfect sense looking over each of the entries and I feel like they (the judges) selected the best from the lot. As you asked over at Classic Castle, I also am interested in what particular areas were taken into consideration for the final rankings.

The two categories make perfect sense looking over each of the entries and I feel like they (the judges) selected the best from the lot. As you asked over at Classic Castle, I also am interested in what particular areas were taken into consideration for the final rankings.

Especially when it comes to space turned castle I had my difficulties chosing my favorite.

Honestly Mitgardian Smithy is very good and maybe they just didn't chose Grievious Wheelbike because it also is from Leopold who already won the castle goes space category.

 

But there are at least a couple of other great builds, for example the alpha centauri outpost or lunar launch site or sea serpent attack that would have given me a hard time to decide.