Tino Poutiainen’s second-round entry for last year’s bio-cup, Mictlantecuhtli.

The world’s largest Bionicle MOC competition is back in town, and the preliminary round is officially open today! This is the fifth year that Bio-Cup has been held in its current incarnation, and it will likely be the biggest yet.

The Bio-Cup attracts one of the largest pools of talented LEGO builders to compete, including those that are new to creature and character building and excited to give it a try. Last year, Bio-Cup 2020 had a record 241 people who submitted entries in the preliminary round alone!

Although focused on “Bionicle” building (thus the “Bio” in the name), it truly has evolved into a cross-community event. In the past, we have seen plenty of heavyweight contenders come out of hibernation for Bio-Cup just to take names and have a shot at the top prizes. This year, that includes prizes sponsored by BrickNerd ourselves!

Bio-Cup 2021 begins today with the preliminary round. In this round, contestants have 13 days to build their entry, with the highest scores qualifying them to move on to the “head-to-head” elimination portion of the tournament. From that point onward, entrants will need to beat two opponents per round to advance through the single-elimination tournament bracket. For those that don’t make it through the preliminary round, or get eliminated later, there are still plenty of “redemption round” options that give participants a second chance to compete for prizes against the others who were eliminated. What’s not to like!?

As the contest progresses, you can expect to see plenty of top-quality character/creature MOCs that turn out to be the best of the year. Now, when you start seeing these builds being featured on various LEGO blogs in the coming weeks, you will now know why they were built.

What Does “Bio” Even Mean?

Vlad Lisin’s 2020 entry Tlaloc features heavy use of dishes, minifigure accessories, plants, and elements which first appeared in dinosaur sets. But the tribal theme, organic shapes, and core construction of constraction elements cement it as an entry in the Bionicle genre of LEGO art.

When talking about any Bionicle MOC competition, we must address the elephant in the room: “What is a Bionicle MOC?” 11 years ago, the answer to this question was a lot less controversial: It was a MOC made of Bionicle pieces! In the time since, many factors have changed how character/creature builders have come to fit in this genre. It’s hard to nail down an exact definition, but there are two rules of thumb:

Is it made of “constraction” pieces? Nowadays this includes Bionicle, Technic, CCBS, Ben 10, Galidor, and many standard LEGO parts that are useful for Bionicle MOCcing.
Does it look like a Bionicle? Would it fit in at the Bionicle section of a convention?

Crucially, a MOC does not need to satisfy both criteria, just one is good enough.

In the past, other contests have set strict ratios of how many Bionicle pieces need to be in a MOC, but whether something is a Bionicle part is up for debate as well as many favorite parts originated in other themes. In practice, the judges have their own opinions on what qualifies (which you can learn about in the Meet-The-Judges topic!), and you can take a look at entries from last year to see some examples.

I have two more pieces of advice if you plan to use lots of standard LEGO bricks on your entries. Creative use of a few Bionicle parts can go a long way to impress the judges, and straying from the 90-degree grid as much as possible to create unique and fluid shapes will make it look more like a “Bionicle.”

(Please note that the opinions contained here are by no means universally accepted definitions, and there are other contests that have both stricter or looser definitions. )

History of the Bio-Cup

The Bio-Cup was started in 2011 as an annual 1-on-1 bracket tournament contest hosted on the now-defunct MOCpages. The once indisputable center of the online Bionicle universe—the forum BZPower —had just gone offline following Bionicle’s 2010 cancellation, which meant a hiatus for their illustrious monthly contests. This and a cast of judges that were stars among MOCpages users were all the Bio-Cup needed to take up the mantle as the largest Bionicle-themed contest.

Just one half of Nicolaas Vás’s winning entry for the final round of the 2012 Bio-cup. (Here’s the other half for fun!)

But it wasn’t made to last, and after MOCpages was left to technical decay by its owner and the Bio-Cup participation waned, 2014 marked the last year for the Bio-Cup.

That was until 2017, when ex-MOCpages user Mitch Henry returned from his own Dark Age and wondered where the contest had gone. Since there was no similar Bionicle MOCcing tournament at the time, he took it upon himself to revive the format.

How to Participate

If you’re interested in competing, or just want to watch the fireworks, head on over to the Flickr group. And while you’re at it, join the Discord server to discuss the contest!

Also take note of the promotional raffle: to earn a chance at a prize, all you need to do is promote the contest on social media and enter the preliminary round. More details here!

All in all, the entire LEGO community is about to see a deluge of Bionicle MOCs. And no matter how you define them, you can expect some of the most creative MOCs of the year. Let the Bio-Cup begin!

How do you define a Bionicle MOC? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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