Joystiq pumpkin-carving contest - vote on the finalists!

by Christopher Grant on Oct 30th 2007 6:30PM

Over the last week you've gotten a sneak peek at some of the entries into our pumpkin-carving contest. Now we've whittled down the entries to only 25 finalists and, believe us, picking those 25 proved to be quite a chore! Now it's your turn to select the 10 winners, each of whom will receive one copy of the beautiful 2.5D Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles for the PSP, courtesy of our pals at Konami.

Peep the 25 finalists after the break, and vote for your favorites by selecting your favorites in our handy, embedded poll at the bottom. When you're all done, take a leisurely stroll through the gallery to take in all of the entries. We'll close the poll and select our final winners tomorrow, Halloween day, at 6pm ET. Good luck!

Joystiq Pumpkin Carving Contest '07

Michael's Wario pumpkin

Stephen's Nintendo pumpkin lineup

V!K Ressy's Raving Rabbid

Tucker's Pac-Man pumpkin scene

Dominic's Raztacular Psychonauts pumpkin

Corey's Mortal Kombat pumpkin

A.S. Kelley's (Shadow of the) Colossus GETTING STABBED pumpkin

Dan's Bubble Bobble pumpkin

Roy's Illidan Stormrage from World of Warcraft pumpkin

Michelle's Moogle pumpkin

MSU_CokeBoi's Guitar Hero pumpkin

Chuck's Master Chief-splosion pumpkin

Kyle's Elephanilla Viva Pinata pumpkin (SMASH IT!)

Eric's Paper Mario pumpkin

Ben's 8-bit Mario pumpkin

Sherita's Resident Evil chainsaw pumpkin

Cory's Weighted Companion Cube pumpkin (won't stab you)

Misako's Master Higgins (yeah, Adventure Island) pumpkin

Nick's Resident Evil pumpkin

Rob's Kirby/Starman pumpkin

Sherita's Shadow of the Colossus pumpkin

Adam's Wind Waker-era Ganon

Christopher's Stubbs the Zombie pumpkin

Michael's Portal pumpkins

Takayoshi's Mario pumpkin sculpture

Tags: Castlevania, Dracula-X-Chronicles, jpcc, PSP

Reader Comments (56)

GO COMPANION CUBE!

Vote for him! He won't stab you...

Gah, they're all pretty much awesome, how am i supposed to decide?!

You can pick multiple pumpkins. Thank you for that!

There are 10 winners, so you can vote for up to 10 pumpkins.

And GO COMPANION CUBE!

Go Bubble Bobble and Adventure Island! My girlfriend and I made it to the finals!

Pixel Mario deserves to win.

This comp open to US only?

Mario (the sculpture) WTF

The World of Warcraft one is amazing.

Roy's Illidan Stormrage from World of Warcraft pumpkin FTW. Great job. wish I could carve like that.

I like Wind-Waker Ganon

Although Warcraft and Kirby are good, too

Damn, i didn't see the Wario one the first time, page must've loaded unevenly

Is it cool to vote twice?

Too bad a lot of those were made using pre-made stencils/pumpkin cut-out designs.

Magneto: Who wouldn't first prepare a stencil to trace on the pumpkin before carving? Seriously, that's a lousy excuse.

What I meant was that they took stencils off the internet that were made by other people. The Mario, Wario, Bowser, and Stubbs stencils are found on a pumpkin carving website. The Companion Cube one (that won) has been floating the 'round the interwebs for a while now.

Basically I was bit displeased with people not making their own designs.

The wario and the stubbs pumpkins are Templates from that one site. They shouldn't be in the contest. : (

Which to pick arggh, so many good ones!

ok i picked the wow and resident evil umbrella pumpkins

The Jack Thompson pumpkin should have been a finalist. Then at the end, we could all see it 'splode.

I wish I would have gotten mine in on time. I goofed up and set it to the wrong email address

http://gameapparent.com/2007/10/28/jack-o-lantern/

I would have voted for that!!

Aren't you not supposed to use premade stencils? Wario, the second entry with Mario, Luigi, etc., Stubbs, all literally came from the same site. Illidan Stormrage and Master Chief also look like stencils, but I don't really feel like doing the research to check, and for all I know, those guys couldve made their own, it's as easy as changing a drawing to black and white and pressing "print". Though nice work on the carving, its still tough to be that delicate.

Howdy howdy :)

I made the master chief one and don't mind sharing with you that it's not from a template. I did reference a cool image of M.C., but it's pretty hard not to make *anything* without *something* to start with, no? (It would be pretty hard to make a mario head without looking at a pic of mario).

I started with a sheet of notebook paper, designed it in such a way it could be cut without falling apart, then taped that to the pumpkin and etched it with an xacto, which pretty much destroyed my original design (I didn't copy the notebook paper first.)

Btw - In the process I did learn you have to be smarter than an xacto to properly use it. MC is mostly pre-ER visit, the flames are entirely post-ER visit...

What I want to know is -- HOW did he/she make that Mario sculpure???

for the record, i made the designs for the luigi and pixel mushroom pumpkins myself, i did not take it from a site. mario and bowser were stencils

does that mean we should close our eyes for half of your pumpkins when we vote?

Indeed, as others have said, the Wario, Stubbs, Mario and Bowser are pre-made stencils. Proof: http://www.zombiepumpkins.com/pixel.php

That's not cool at all...epic phail.

Anyway, I voted for the Raving Rabbid. It was a tough choice. I really liked the WoW one, both Portal entries, and Nick's RE one. Oh, and the 3D Mario one is really impressive also. Good job everyone, you blew away my expectations...well, except for the cheaters..

OMG. These are ALL so cool. I cannot pick ONE

The Shadow of Colossus one looks amazing...!!!

8-bit Mario was entirely free-hand. Almost two hours of just playing with graph paper and trying to trace it well onto a pumpkin. I used one of those $2 carving kits from wal-mart and it took another two hours of tricep-torturing carving, trying to make sure that I didn't give him a pixel-ectomy. Needless to say, I woke up the next morning and my arms hurt almost as much as the time I stayed up all night getting WII tennis elbow!

yup, I referenced mine (the WoW one) from the official Illidan wallpaper. If anyone wants a copy of the pattern I made let me know. Just be warned, it took me about 6hrs of carving time.

Holy crap...you're kidding me, right? You actually expect me to be able to PICK one of those?! They're all amazing!

That Wario pumpkin, the mario, bowser, luigi, and Stubbs the zombie are bought patterns. I think they should lose points for lack of creativity.

Joystiq needs to give away 25 copies of Dracula X. One for each contestant.

SHiiiiiiitt!!!!

Wario or Illidan?!

Damn you contests with only one winner!! >.

There's 10 winners! Pick your 10 favorites, don't be shy.

10 winners?! Sweet! Voted, and Happy Halloween!

Wow, I did not expect to get in this (Pac-Man). I decided handle it philosophically; retro carving techniques for a retro concept. Freehand, single knife, pulled the insides out with my hands. It's how we roll.

Yeah, the Stubbs was stencil from a site (My Bro's pumpkin). Apparently stencil > Creativity, as mine and my fiance's pumpkins weren't chosen (a tetris level in action, and Link's hyrulian shield) and were done free hand.

Eitherway, still takes a steady hand and a bit of skill to do a stencil.

I

Hey -- I can't believe the editors didn't choose the most impressive entry (and the scariest) as a finalist!

Did anyone else recognize our good friend and patron saint of the video game industry, Mr. Jack
Thompson??? ...

http://www.joystiq.com/photos/joystiq-pumpkin-carving-contest-07/464712/ ...

Completely amazing! Nice work whoever you are, wherever you are.

that's a really sad story there-- The artist accidentally sent to the wrong e-mail, and the deadline was too late before he finally got it right. (^see post by chris^)

It really is a great pumpkin.

I don't know why it hasn't been mentioned yet but that last Mario pumpkin looks like it took a lot of skill to do... like, not just carving skill, but sculpting skill as well. It gets my vote.

I like the "Chuck's Master Chief-splosion pumpkin"!!! :)

Just suggesting here that you disqualify all the lame-o scraped pumpkins since this is a pumpkin CARVING contest, not a scraping contest.

Just suggesting that you may want to look up the definition of carving.

**gives Player 1 a high-five**

Jack Thompson FTW (that is the only time in my life I will ever say that).

As the wife of the Jack Thompson pumpkin carver, I wish the rules and other publications were proof-read so the email addresses were correct. Some of the entries are awesome, but I wish stencils were excluded (although hard to tell sometimes). Chris took hours carving this pumpkin and I think Jack is the scariest thing of all!

Takayoshi's Mario pumpkin sculpture FTW for sure. The WoW one is great, but the Mario sculpture is amazing.

To the stencil haters: Where are your pumpkins?? Post some links to the ones you did! If you didn't do one, quit your bitching! If joystiq had said no stencils how would anyone enter?? Only videos of you doing the carving are allowed?? The cool kids like to h8te on 3v3th1ng on teh N3t!!
-I do feel bad for the Thompson guy, but you should have double check the address, somehow everyone else sent theirs just find.

Actually Joystiq did say stencils aren't allowed:

http://www.joystiq.com/the-2007-joystiq-pumpkin-carving-contest-official-rules/

Read item #6:
"Designs must be original. No template cutting/carvings allowed."

| 1 | 2 | Most Recent | Next 50 Comments

Sorry, you must be logged in to leave a comment.

Breaking News

The most popular posts
in the last 7 days

Vita 'UMD Passport' won't be offered in US 218 comments
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning review: A tempting fate 151 comments
David Jaffe leaves Eat Sleep Play, layoffs hit developer [Update] 107 comments
Don't call it a remake: Final Fantasy X is a 'remaster,' to be clear 95 comments
Battleship movie adapted into FPS by Double Helix 92 comments

Joystiq pumpkin-carving contest - vote on the finalists!

Joystiq Pumpkin Carving Contest '07

Reader Comments (56)

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 6:49PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 9:13PM MrHashbrown said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 6:49PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 6:57PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 7:26PM DonaldMick said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 6:57PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 6:58PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 7:03PM edoglost said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 7:07PM einhanderkiller said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 7:12PM Darayz said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 7:15PM Mr Khan said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 7:36PM Mr Khan said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 7:22PM Magetto1 said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 11:42PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 31st 2007 9:48PM Magetto1 said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 7:38PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 7:27PM QuePasa87 said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 7:31PM QuePasa87 said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 7:39PM gamabunta said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 9:59PM ckoerner said

Posted: Oct 31st 2007 5:32PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 7:53PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 8:26PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 8:00PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 8:23PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 8:52PM DomoBraden said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 8:58PM RobAccomando said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 9:21PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 9:21PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 9:22PM rhoymand said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 9:36PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 9:49PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 9:57PM RobAccomando said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 10:46PM ThornedVenom said

Posted: Oct 31st 2007 9:38AM chrisgrant said

Posted: Oct 31st 2007 3:42PM ThornedVenom said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 11:21PM Gimpeyjoe said

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 11:15PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 31st 2007 12:59AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 31st 2007 1:30AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 31st 2007 1:27AM Cheezeman3000 said

Posted: Oct 31st 2007 2:11AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 31st 2007 5:48AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 31st 2007 10:10AM Player1 said

Posted: Oct 31st 2007 12:06PM DomoBraden said

Posted: Oct 31st 2007 10:07AM Player1 said

Posted: Oct 31st 2007 10:17AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 31st 2007 12:16PM Man Or Monster said

Posted: Oct 31st 2007 1:48PM Eyghon8 said

Posted: Oct 31st 2007 2:05PM (Unverified) said

Info

Description

MSRP

Release Date

Genre

Developer

Publisher

Rating

Breaking News

Double Fine breaks Kickstarter funding records

Featured Stories

Rhythm Heaven Fever review: Crazy into you

Remedy not done with Alan Wake

The Joystiq Show - DICE 2012: David Jaffe and Kevin Dent

The most popular postsin the last 7 days

Engadget

TUAW

Massively

WoW

The most popular posts
in the last 7 days