In July 2024, Zenless Zone Zero looked at its community and asked a question that would haunt art folders for years: what does your ideal Bangboo look like? 🤖 The official DIY Bangboo Fan Art Contest invited Proxies to grab a template, unleash imagination, and draw a Bangboo worthy of New Eridu's weirdest streets. By 2026, the event has become a nostalgic landmark—part fan art festival, part cautionary tale about deadlines, and part celebration of tiny robots with big attitudes.
The pitch was simple. A Bangboo is already a walking bundle of personality: beeping, stomping, occasionally helpful, and always judgmental in a cute way. The contest asked Proxies to redesign one. The template was provided. The rest was up to them. Some imagined fashion icons. Some imagined combat-ready gremlins. Some probably imagined a Bangboo that finally does the dishes. The event ran from July 15, 2024, at 12:00 UTC+8 to July 28, 2024, at 23:59 UTC+8, with winners announced after August 5, 2024. It was a tight two-week window, which meant artists had to choose between sleep and adding one more tiny hat. 🎨
The prizes were not subtle. They were a gacha player's dream pantry:
| Placement | Winners | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| First Place | 5 | 5,000 Polychromes + 3 random acrylic character stands + 1 Bangboo pillow + 1 Bangboo fridge magnet collection |
| Second Place | 10 | 2,000 Polychromes + 2 random acrylic character stands + 1 Bangboo fridge magnet collection |
| Third Place | 20 | 1,000 Polychromes + 2 random acrylic character stands |
In other words, the top prize was enough Polychromes to make a wallet tremble and enough merch to turn a shelf into a Bangboo shrine. 🏆 The contest accepted submissions through two main routes. On social media, Proxies posted their art on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram with #zzzero and #DIYbangboo, then submitted the details through a form. On HoYoLAB, they used the Post Image button on the event page. The rules were clear: image formats JPG, PNG, JPEG, and GIF; no file larger than 20MB; original art created within the last month; one work per submission; and a public account that stayed public until winners were announced. Deleting the post early was the digital equivalent of vanishing in a puff of smoke.
The notes section was where the fun met the fine print. Participants had to be adults or have guardian permission. Hate, NSFW content, harassment, misleading info, plagiarism, stolen art, cheating, and commercial use were all banned. The organizer could use submissions for online promotions with credit. Prizes could not be stacked, and one UID could only win once. Physical prizes required shipping information, customs cooperation, and patience—up to 90 days after the event. Taxes were the winner's responsibility. It was the kind of legal text that made Proxies scroll faster, but it also protected the artists.
By 2026, the DIY Bangboo contest is remembered as a snapshot of Zenless Zone Zero's early community energy. It produced cute robots, cursed robots, and at least one Bangboo that looked like it had seen the end of the world and decided to sell snacks anyway. 😵 It also proved that a simple template can spark wildly different results. The contest did not just reward art; it rewarded interpretation. A Bangboo could be a knight, a DJ, a noodle chef, or a tiny menace with a jetpack. The only real limit was the artist's willingness to ignore sleep. 💤
For modern Proxies looking back, the 2024 event offers a few timeless lessons. Deadlines are not suggestions. Originality beats polish. A public account is not the time to test privacy settings. And if a Bangboo pillow is on the line, someone will absolutely learn how to draw a robot. The contest may have ended, but its spirit lives on in every fan art folder, every meme, and every Bangboo that looks slightly too confident.
So here's to the DIY Bangboo Fan Art Contest: a brief, chaotic, Polychrome-fueled moment when Zenless Zone Zero asked its community to build a better robot, and the community responded with glitter, grease, and questionable fashion choices. In 2026, that is still a beautiful thing. 🧠