There probably has been no better time to be in the LEGO MOC building community than right now when in comes to finding a building contest or activity to participate in. Each new month brings us another series of inspiring building prompts. Some of them have become annual traditions, arriving like seasons of the year. Others challenge us to build in areas that have yet to be explored. We compile a comprehensive list of these LEGO contests to help you find the ones that best fit your interests or may provide you with a creative spark to try something new.

…And occasionally, we also have a contest idea of our own to add to that list.

First orc I built, which ended up as a trophy prize for the contest.

How Orctober Was Born

Sometime last summer, I was chatting with my friend Alex from BricksLog (a LEGO-related website for the Bulgarian community) who is a big fan of everything orc. Since I am known for building small brick-built characters, he suggested that I should try building one—and I did. This led to us talking about how we might build different types of orcs and that we would love to see how other people might build them in their own style. We decided what better way to get people to build them than to create a little contest for it, which is how the Orctober idea was born.

The concept was simple—build an orc character, no matter what color or size. For the awards, we wanted to have three prizes for the three best characters (according to our vote as the two judges). I designed the prizes, and he provided the parts to build them. Of course, when building the prizes I got carried away and built more than we needed (they are just too much fun to build!). Out of them all, we chose the three we liked best as our trophies. Here are the other four.

Orcs of All Sorts

We didn't expect a lot of entries, mostly because October is known for Mechtober and people tend to build mechs (although it used to be known for Ma.Ktoberfest). As an option to our contest, we offered that one can build a Mech Orc as an entry as long as it looks like an orc for those people who like to “double-dip” (aka build something that can fit into more than one building contest or category). No one built a mech, though, which could've been fun.

There was a total of 32 entries, which we considered a success. It was really hard to judge the entries with so many beautiful and fun characters. There ended up being a three-way tie for first place, so we had to come up with a way to choose who would win. Because I like the challenge of making “detailed builds in small packages,” we decided to select the smallest build as 1st, the next size up as 2nd, and the 3rd place went to the largest one.

Here are what we call the “Angry Eight”—what we judged as the eight best entries from the contest, presented in reverse order of ranking.

8th - Zug Zug by greenarj

I love the the whole head design and especially that beard. The build is full of details and great colors. The thing that made me laugh was the the builder’s comment suggesting that Zug Zug skipped leg day :D

7th - Stakava the Orc Priestess by BricksandBoosters

Stakava was built by BrickNerd’s very own Michael J. The priestess is posed beautifully, showing us how she performs her magic while reading one’s destiny written in the bones. And that wolf skin with the whole head peeking over her shoulder was such an amazing addition.

6th - Orc Barbarian by NikiFilik

Niki created such cute, but dangerous orc warrior. Fantastic face with the mohawk and clever NPU using the door for the shield, wheel for the sword, and even the book as a shoulder pad/ pauldron.

5th - Blarge by F.S. Leinad

The face that F.S. Leinad was able to produce is why I would love to see more orc builds from them in the future - cartoonish and super fun. The alien head was used so well.

4th - Fledgling Orc by Woomy World

Woomy World created another face that is hard to forget. Not because it’s scary, but because it’s a top-notch build full of NPU. The crown and hair from the Disney Evil Queen CMP is impired.

3rd - Orc by Wes Talbot

Ok, Wes is a LEGO designer by trade, but wow - just check this fellow, huge menacing orc. By looking at his shield, I already know that he eats a bunch of hobbits before going into battle with those gears for teeth. You can see the full 360-degree angle of this beast here.

2nd - Gorc by Magnus W

Magnus was able to build one of the best overall-looking orcs. Starting with the face and the egg eyes, the nose and the tusks, of course the ears and hands. The whole pose is awesome, which makes the character extremely fun. It could very well be an iron builder round with those green sacks! I would love to see him in an animation.

1st - Orc Shaman by gGh0st

And finally, our 1st place winner was gGh0st with this small but powerful shaman. Probably my favorite part is how the builder was able to “tie up“ the beard with a simple 1x2 round plate (despite the small scale) adding a great amount of detail.

Honorable Mentions

In closing, here are a few more builds that Alex and I found really cute and full of character. Hopefully we will be able to run this contest again when the next Orctober comes around. It was certainly a lot of fun and full of orcs.

I also hope this inspires others to start a contest of your own as well, especially in areas that you are passionate about and would like to see others build too. If you do, be sure to contact us here at BrickNerd and let us know so we can share it with the rest of the MOC building community. “Lok'tar!” (“Victory"!”)

Do you take part in LEGO contests? Is there a specific theme that you think is missing from the contest calendar? Let us know in the comments below.

Do you want to help BrickNerd continue publishing articles like this one? Become a top patron like Charlie Stephens, Marc & Liz Puleo, Paige Mueller, Rob Klingberg from Brickstuff, John & Joshua Hanlon from Beyond the Brick, Megan Lum, Andy Price, Lukas Kurth from StoneWars, Wayne Tyler, LeAnna Taylor, Monica Innis, Dan Church, and Roxanne Baxter to show your support, get early access, exclusive swag and more.