10 Year Anniversary / History of New Element - 2005

10 Days, 10 Years

- 2005 -

by Milo

To open on a personal note, I joined NE on March 3rd, 2005 after lurking for nearly two years. That makes it just over seven years where I have been an active member of this website and nearly a decade of playing RCT, a decade being half of my current time on this planet. The community has changed a lot since the early days of my membership and 2005 marked the start of a turbulent time for New Element. In late 2004 “Godfather” iris' time and motivation for the site was declining so he passed the torch to the capable hands of Corkscrewed, who had been a part of the community since forever. This was no small order as H2H3 was in full swing by January '05.

The Head-2-Head competitions have always been some of the most exciting events at NE. Part art showcase and part sport, all five iterations of the contest have had their share of drama and excitement as well as the biggest bursts of community activity this side of the Pro Tour Prelims. H2H3 was no exception and by Week 2 there had already been matches with over 100 votes, a tie (featuring the almighty sloB), and a DQ. Throughout the rest of the season there would be many more close matches and strange twists of fate. Most notably, Coaster Ed's perfect H2H record was broken by Blitz in the Cajamarca 1532 vs. Ghost Cell Crisis match and in Week 8 two teams submitted eerily similar “Bedroom” style parks. Despite being in a decline, LL had a very nice showing with Ed's Cajamarca park and an LL centered team with the classy name, MoLLesters, who would make it to the playoffs. The postseason of H2H3 had some of the closest H2H matches ever, many being decided by less than ten votes. Also, sloB lost with an excellent playoff solo effort, Gotheburg, and would forever be known as Mr. Cursed.
 

Cajamarca 1532 by Coaster Ed and tracidEdge


Ghost Cell Crisis by Blitz and Janus

In the finals The Hurricanes lost to the Flying Germans by a combined TWO votes in two matchups. There were accusations of possible cheating and an official revote but in the end the Flying Germans were H2H3 champions. (as an aside, I'd just like to say that if there is a H2H6, I'm petitioning for all new team names)
 

Slob's Gotheburg

After an exciting end to H2H3 and iris returning to NE in April to host the yearly and H2H3 awards, the community barely had time to catch its breath before the announcement of Pro Tour 2 on May 13th. The Prelims started shortly after and ran throughout the summer. Does anyone remember when Xcoaster was just some guy who had participated in some rct2.com Road Rallies and squeaked into the PT2 on a weak Steel Coaster Prelim entry that caused some controversy? After the likes of Shadowlands and DisneyAir, I'm having difficulty remembering that as well. It happened though and other recognizable names, such as Steve, Metropole, Six Frags and Magnus, all had to earn their spot in the PT2 with Prelim Round wins. The official contest began in September with a deadline of Christmas 2005. It would end up being over a half a year with a 1 month extension before the results were to be seen in 2006. The original cast of Parkmakers and Prelim winners was impressive and led to speculation of an amazing final contest. However, a lot can happen in six months, including iris going AWOL again and general community apathy leading to a disappointing slump of activity.

On a lighter note, 2005 was a great year for general accolades despite the fact that contests were running throughout the majority of the year. Artist (formerly nemisis_chris) explosively broke out of his “up and comer” shell. It all started on March 11th when Busch Gardens Europe won Super Runner Up (which was code for “hey this could be Spotlight but it's controversial”). Just twelve days later Ports of Magia became the first Corkscrewed endorsed Spotlight of NE history. Fast forward three months and Islands of Enchantment becomes artist's second Spotlight win. A Gold and two Spotlights in a year is impressive no matter what year it is. Oh and he won a Design in December, too. Perhaps the title of this year recap should be 2005: The Year Artist Won NE?
 

Busch Gardens Europa by Artist

Ports of Magia by Artist

Islands of Enchantment by... Artist.

However, let's not forget there was a total of six Spotlights in 2005, including artist's pair and they came from a variety of sources. Over the years the elusive Twisted had developed a habit of swooping in, building something awesome and then disappearing like some kind of superhero. He slowly improved and developed a signature style that relies heavily on trackitecture and managed to grab Spotlight with a surprise release of Baiht Oashyr Veg Thalloo, a park that wins the coveted “Most Difficult to Pronounce” award. Word has it Twisted is currently hiding in a cave with the Yeti and Bigfoot and planning his return come H2H6. Turtle won NE's highest honor with Isole Calabria, bringing his Spotlight total to two. Jkay nabbed his first Spotlight with the love/hate Rocky Mountain Mystique. The final Spotlight release of 2005, but certainly not the least, was on Christmas Day 2005 where Fatha' (Grinch) stole Christmas with Busch Gardens San Simeon. With a huge Ad District topic it was a highly anticipated park that unfortunately was jam packed with so much pure awesome it broke the LL object limit and could not be fully finished. It still remains one of the most detailed and immersive LL parks ever, a feat made all the more impressive because Fatha' built BGSS many months before darkfire officially released the Codex trainer.
 

Baiht Oashyr Veg Thalloo by Twisted

Isole Calabria by Turtle

Rocky Mountain Mystique by JKay

Busch Gardens San Simeon by Fatha'

Other mentionable accolades include Loopy and posix winning RCT2 Designs which still boggles my mind. Phatage released the combination adventure ride and massive coaster Design, Fright Nights. Kumba released Bayfront Parc which narrowly missed Spotlight (eventually elevated to Spotlight later on). Corky threw in the towel and released the sadly unfinished but still awesome LL 4 map group project, Amity Cove, that still features some of the best LL work ever from members like RRP, posix, x-sector, Fatha' and many more; all while they were at the top of their game. There was a steady stream of other Super Runner Ups and a ton of Designs released over the course of the year.
 

Fright Nights by Phatage

Amity Cove; shown is an area by RRP.

Overall 2005 was arguably one of the last “great” years for NE. The average quality of releases was at a very high level and with six Spotlights and several parks nearly earning Spotlight it was a very good year for high quality accolades. Coupled with two successful contests, H2H3 and PT2, held and a constant stream of Designs and Runners Up (now Bronze-Silver level parks) the activity of the community was at a high point. Many of the legends of today were just breaking out and earning their Parkmaker status. Unfortunately iris' disappearing off and on and general disinterest in the site seemed contagious and spread to the major Parkmakers and eventually the general membership. Activity started to sink rapidly, evidenced by a large amount of participants dropping out of the PT2 before the deadline and a sharp drop in the number of accolades bigger than Design.

 

Must-See Releases of 2005

Fright Nights by Phatage Ghost Cell Crisis by Blitz and Janus Cajamarca 1532 by Coaster Ed and tracidEdge Amity Cove by many Life is a Rollercoaster by Magnus and Anolis Busch Gardens Europe by artist Ports of Magia by artist, X250 and Turtle The Faraway Tree by x-sector and Splash-0 Götheburg by slob Aviara Cove by Kumba and Corkscrewed Artesian Well Waterworks by JKay and Titan Baiht Oashyr Vel Thalloo by Twisted Islands of Enchantment by artist and Evil WME Arch Angel by Titan Get Lost by OldRed Calatravas by Corkscrewed and slob Isole Calabria by Turtle and Steve Missouri River Bridge by Magnus Rocky Mountain Mystique by JKay Thrillmatic by slob Kurakku by X250 Lake Rash Mount by Ride6 and Splash-0 The Masterpiece by X250 Busch Gardens San Simeon by Fatha' Musette by John Solaris by slob

Hmm, several other big events of the year were missed out, mainly the RCT Olympics being the main thing I remember. And all the drama that brought up

Though not relevant entirely to this topic being that it's about the parks and releases, the year was also the year of the only April Fool Prank I've ever fallen for and is the exact reason why I ended up staying on this site, I had so much fun that day lol, earning me and trav 'Defender of the Faith' titles lol. Was a crazy time.

I have to admit I have limited to no memory of the April Fool's Prank of '05. Was it the OJ fake hacking of the site?

And sorry but the RCT Olympics? I'll be honest and say I decided against including it because it was pretty stupid...

I have to admit I have limited to no memory of the April Fool's Prank of '05. Was it the OJ fake hacking of the site?

And sorry but the RCT Olympics? I'll be honest and say I decided against including it because it was pretty stupid...

Yeah the olympics were stupid , so fair enough, Yeah it was the fake hacking crap, was so funny how stupid I was back then lol, it's not important at all but hey it's what got me here I remember me being a complete asshole in the shitpile as well around then, and everyone hating me at first lol. Good times <3

Is that the same April Fools as New Elephant?

What exactly happened at the RCT Olympics? The idea of an inter-site contest was nice, no?

Is that the same April Fools as New Elephant?

No, this was when CoryXTreme supposedly 'hacked' the site, so me and JJ spent the day trying to fix it. I think JJ actually hacked it back himself at one point haha. Seems like so long ago, but yeah it was funny.

This is the year I will always remember as NE's 'Golden Year', with my favourite 3 parks all being released this year, along with my favourite design. Nice write up again.

This is what happens when you're only a lurker You miss out on all the fun.

Haha yeah. It's scary to think I've been a member here since I was 12. And I was around for 2 years prior to that on RCTCompo. Time goes so quickly!

This is what happens when you're only a lurker You miss out on all the fun.

I was only a lurker until that day lol, I feel so stupid looking back on it lmao. Aww and RCTCompo, good times, good times <3. Pretending I was a girl for a week, getting banned then everyone petitioning for me to be unbanned <3. I think 2005 was the year where I was 'bad', and got banned from RCTCompo, RCTMart and RCT2.com, hey I was moody teenager, what ya expect , But I gotta say I think it was my most enjoyable year that's for sure

hey I was moody teenager

oh ... was, you say??

Arch Angel. Forgot all about it, still one of my all-time favorite designs. Great job Milo.

Gotheburg looks badass. Anyone still have that?

Looking back at how the RCT Olympics turned out I have to agree, the contest was not up to the standards of NE. Whatsoever, the contest brought up CP6 and I won MVP of the contest. So at least for me that is a great memory.

Gotheburg looks badass. Anyone still have that?

http://www.nedesigns...958/goetheburg/

...

oh ... was, you say??

Not sure I qualify as a teen anymore at 22 , so more of a moody adult now