Thanks to everyone who entered the first Character Contest! I had a good time seeing the visuals and reading the stories, thanks to everyone who took the time to send in an entry. After careful consideration that kept me pondering til this late at night, I have decided that the winner is ... Imp! He'll get to choose any one item to be included in HeroMachine 3, which I'll be sure to let you see as soon as it's done. Here's Imp's winning entry:
And here's his write-up:
Capstan
Real Name: Sanjay Singh
Powers:
1. Cybernetically enhanced nervous, skeletal, muscular system, giving him superhuman strength, speed, and reflexes.
2. Cybernetic tentacles, able to carry various types of onboard weaponry.Bio:
Sanjay Singh was a cybernetics engineer working for the Indian government, working on methods of enhancing the combat abilities of soldiers. He was paralyzed by a bomb planted by Muslim separatists, and volunteered to be implanted with his own creations in the hopes of being able to walk again. The surgery was a success, and Sanjay has since become one of India's premiere superheroes.
I'm not quite sure what that has to do with the word "capstan" but luckily for Imp, the visual made up for that small shortcoming. I like how simple the image is, without a ton of complications distracting from the basic design. The combo-logo looks great, too, and I like the power circles on the tentacles. The patterning on the metal arms was the final piece to the puzzle, making them look mottled and dirty and seaworn. Even though he doesn't have anything to do with the sea. Go figure.
Anyway, congratulations to Imp. Imp, be sure to drop me a line and let me know what you're thinking of for the prize.
I wanted to include some designs I thought were especially nice as Honorable Mentions after the jump, so here goes:
I thought Worf's design was the most super-heroically aquatic in nature which was a good bonus.
Hofter's design was probably the first runner up. It's a really tight, well-executed concept. It's more nautical than Imp's, and I like the "ghost arm" idea with the repurposed Headgear element as a weapon. Ultimately Imp's just appealed to me more, but it was really close.
Karasu's Jedi-inpsired character looks great, but ultimately I felt like it wasn't really relevant enough to the name "Capstan".
Thanks again to everyone who entered, I hope you had as much fun as I did looking at what people came up with!
Wow, thanks, Jeff! I feel like Susan Lucci finally winning an Emmy. 😀
Actually, my Capstan is very relevant to the name when you think about it. A capstan is a winching device used nautically to haul in anchors, etc., but it’s used in land-based applications as well. And with his tentacles, he’s able to bring a lot of force to bear, to apply force to hard-to-move objects. And his symbol was supposed to represent a crank-type device. So there! 😀
Umm… give me a day or so to think about what I’d like to request. One item… that’s gonna be tough…
. . . and we’re all primed for “Character Contest #2” . . .
I thought I should wait til I had more items in before doing another one. What do you think about a “create your own item” sort of contest, which I think I mentioned once before?
Also, the caption contests seem to generate more general interest. And they’re fun to read, too. So I dunno, I go back and forth on what kind of contest to run.
i still say you should have a contest for most horrifyingly Lifieldian creation
“ Pouches. Lots of Pouches. ” …to paraphrase Neo.
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Different contests for different folks, indubitably. A quick, witty phrase will get more entries. Creating a character can have a higher time involvement. Item creation can be interesting
Meh, until that next creating contest.
Aww. It’s too bad I didn’t win. Oh well. Better luck next time.
A bad super costume contest seems a good idea. (:-)
I think you should have a contest for the best “Superhero Jeff Herbert.”
For the next contest, what about a Star wars theme or sumething like that?
Or maybe a video game character re-design contest. That’d be sick cuz I recently hav been design Sonic the Hedgehog characters, but as human heroes and villains. Please consider.
-Shadow