Winners

Below you'll find a rundown of the 10 winners. There were 4 grand prize winners, one for each category of characters that could be redesigned. In addition to those, 6 other entries were chosen for their charm and or creativity even though they ended up not winning the grand prize. The competition was tough as usual, particularly for the Pico and friends category as expected. While you may not agree with all or any of the winners, a decision had to be made and it is what it is. Hopefully you wont feel too bitter about it if you did not win.
In an attempt to not make this a totally personal decision, I've invited Mindchamber and Pico Day winner Zombie-Pimp to weigh in on things.
Without further delay, on to the winners:

Winner: Pico and friends by LiLg

This was definately the toughest of the categories to choose a winner from. Nevermind the fact that it had the biggest turnout, but there was alot of damn good interpretations. In the end it became a battle between LiLg and Frogcommando (see honorable mention). Both really showed a fresh take on all the characters and felt like a breath of fresh air. I think in the end it came down to consistency for me, LiLg's characters just felt like a complete set. The new style feels like its effectively used on all 3 characters, whereas in frogcommando's it felt like Pico had the best use of the style, Nene feels a bit unresolved. I also feel that LiLg's maintained the psychotic side of the characters. Nene in particular looks like the crazy asian bitch she always should be. Pico felt equally disturbed and Darnell feels like the cool black kid that I always envisioned him as. So in the end I felt that frogcommando had a better looking redesign but LilG offered a redesign that was fresh and also integrated the personalities of the original characters. He won 2-1 in my book, although I could just as easily change my mind.

Winner: M-Bot by kardinal

This was one of the tougher categories to pick from, there was alot of great interpretations on everyones robotic protectors of Newgrounds. In the end we were swayed by kardinal's rendition of M-Bot. I particularly like how he chose a bot that is kind of obscure and how his redesign was very concious as to what the robot's duties were. It felt like a very smart redesign, it felt like it really had a purpose. The unicycle police motorcycle wheel was particularly a great touch.

Winner: Tankmen by danomano65

Like the winner of the Dad n' Me category, I was really drawn to how the artist managed to change the mood of the series. Tankmen becomes more like a documentary / Band of Brothers take that is valid and workable. I liked how the characters feel more wartorn and like they are in it for the long run.

Winner: Dad n' Me by PvtAntoine

I think of all the Dad n' Me entries, this piece felt the most complete and thoughtout. I was anticipating people would try and interpret Dad n Me in a more realistic fashion but I was just never sure if that wouwld work. PvtAntoine's piece provided a new more serious take on the Dad n Me series. It is kind of amazing how the whole mood of a series changes by the style they are drawn in. Dan Paladin's Dad n Me has this whole tongue-in-cheek approach to chainsawing children and yet when I look at PvtAntoine's take on the character it feels a great deal more brutal.

Honorable Mention: Pico and friends by frogcommando

This was neck and neck with LilG for the top slot on the Pico category. I think the interpretations are beautiful, i think in the end it simply came down to being able to infuse the personality of the old characters into the new design and in that respect i felt that the winner did that a bit more effectively. I know I'm going to lose sleep over this tonight.

Honorable Mention: Blackface Darnell by Catoblepas

This was an entry that I found hilarious, everytime I run across it I laugh to myself. You really get a good sense of Darnells personality and also the artist's sense of humor

Honorable Mention: 1930's Pico by ElMagico

This was kind of refreshing, it was like a Steamboat Mickey meets Pico interpretation. It left me hungry to see how other characters in Pico's neighborhood could be interpreted. I gravitated towards it for how easy it would be to apply this look into a Pico flash movie.

Honorable Mention: Pico and Darnell by ShirtTurtle

This was another piece that called out to me for how adaptable the new look would be inside a Flash movie. This was a good example of being able to apply your style towards a character and still be able to tell that its Darnell and Pico. I especially liked Pico's boots. He even went as far as putting in the little circle designs that are in pico's original shoes. Cool attention to detail.

Honorable Mention: Baby Darnell by nathanielmilburn

This piece is actually one in a set of 3 of the baby pico and friends series. I think from the 3 he did, this one was just the most bizarre one. You cant help but feel slightly dirty looking at it.

Honorable Mention: Dad n' Me by reality-monkey

This was a nice piece in terms of him being able to go in a different direction. Whereas most people made Dad n Me more human, this piece went the total opposite direction and theres something about it that just works.

Honorable Mention: A-Bot by occluded

Since nathanielmilburn decided to pass up his prize, there left room for another honorable mention. Thus Occluded's audio bot rises to the occasion. I particularly liked that a-bot was a chick, totally unexpected route and yet it works out well. I like the EQ hair strands and other subtle details.