That looks freaking epic!
And I don't think you're crazy for carving each spectator individually that's something I would probably have done x_x
"Everyone" likes doing characters, it's the job "everyone" is desperate for when going into animation as well XD
It takes one crazy person to know another one. I have tried texturing tools to give the idea of a crowd but in the end it looked too much the same.
In the end I was able to make hundreds of characters where as most others just made one.
!ENGAGE10
ENGAGEtokens.