ashrass99, I’m sorry you didn’t get any posts. That does suck. I personally know the feeling. It’s very frustrating. You just want to strangle everyone… and alas, it is true what W.I.P said about loosing you place on the front page. I didn’t notice your thread until checking out the final entries. I checked this out because it deals with issues that affect people like myself. It isn’t completely following the “machine” part of the contest, but hey, mine didn’t really either (I ended up pulling out).
So don’t be mad at everyone, it just takes time to get to know others. Also, sometimes, if you make comments on other people work you like, asking them if they could share their insight on your work is a good idea as well. 
There are some modeling/shading changes I would make, but W.I.P made most of the same comments… so with that said, nice work!
toodles!