Regardless, here are your entries! Click on any one to start the slideshow.

I liked Atomic Punk’s entry quite a bit, but it doesn’t have a Humanoid Companion item as its centerpiece. Which is too bad, it’s really nice.

Filo’s saucy, belligerent drunk sea captain was also really fun. Were it not for the pant bottoms, which didn’t really mesh at all with the existing pant legs, this one might’ve taken the prize.

Lime always tells a great story, both with words and images, as her “Fashion lesson for melee girls: wear clothes and bring a dragon” shows.

Mad Doctor’s “Russian Steampunk Dwarf” has all kinds of goodness in it.

Frevoli’s “The Super” shows a lot of humor and I thought he did a really nice job with the item additions as well.

Finally, I wanted to highlight RedwoodHat’s “Lord Disko”. That face …

For my winner, I think I am going to have to go with … Lime! She did a great job integrating the new item additions to the figure, and I liked her use of simple colors to tie the warrior with the dragon. All in all it’s a really nice piece, but the final push to victory comes from the words she put to it, which I think are as true as they are funny.

Great job everyone, and congratulations to Lime!

I was stunned to find 159 entries waiting for me from Character Contest 90 — you all outdid yourselves. They were universally high in quality as well, which pleased me greatly.

Furthermore, we had quite a few first-time entrants. Welcome to you all! I’m humbled and grateful to anyone who is willing to share his or her creativity with the world.

I do want to say a quick word about the point of these contests in light of so many new folks joining us. The selection process is just one guy — usually me — and his opinion of what looks neat. If you’re not among the finalists it doesn’t mean your work is bad or unappreciated, it just means on that day it didn’t happen to beat out a few other entries in my own personal opinion. If you see these weekly contests as a chance to flex your creative muscles and to have fun, you’re already a winner before you even start. The rest is just for fun.

Since everyone did such a great job this week, though, I wanted to put up a gallery with one illustration from every person who entered. For those who had multiple entries, I picked the one that I thought was the best. And if you sent some in but don’t see one here, please let me know and I’ll correct the oversight.

Ladies and gentlemen, your Character Design Contest 90 entrants!

As you can see, I had a really tough choice facing me. I’m going to pull out a few that were sort of in my final cut and share with you why I went the way I did.

First up is AJ’s “Strike Spectre”. I just thought this was a very solid, visually interesting super-hero design. I can’t say I get “spectre” from it but it’s a great illustration.

Next is Ariana Iris’ “Cannon Priest”. Again, a really solid character sketch where every piece fits and makes sense. I love the guy’s expression and the gun is stellar.

What can I say about dblade’s “Xenoplague” besides “WOW”? If you look at his oeuvre, you’ll notice how smart he is about the use of color. The foreground character and land are in cool colors while the sky and backplane are all warm oranges, yellows, and reds. That contrast really sets off the figure while giving the entire composition a lot of dynamism and depth. Plus the character herself is incredible, looking like she stepped right out of a Geiger drawing.

Guy Genesis’ “Winter Stryke” again brings a clean, simple, solid elegance to the table with a cohesive color scheme, consistent item selection, and well-directed concept.

Long-time man-crush Imp is back with another outstanding Golden-Age type of design in “Gold Spider”.

Kaylin88100′s “Chance Bloom” gives us a wonderful moment of SQUEE along with an illustration that nails the random name she was given. I love the energy, vibrancy, and attention to detail in this one. Like dblade’s, this is one of those I look at and think “I couldn’t have drawn that”. Which is pretty remarkable since in a way, I did! But no way I could come up with either of these freehand.

Lime is back! All of her illustrations manage to tell a story, which is truly remarkable. “Fish Soul” is no different, showcasing a great combination of the real and the fantastic. Plus, all of her characters tend to look like individuals. Here’s the little write-up she posted with the submission:

He found the guitar in a pawn shop, with a label on it that read “Fish Soul.” He thought it was called that because there were sharks on it. He soon learned otherwise.

Great, great job.

Like dblade, Papa Krok has a shot at winning every single week. “Mastera” is no exception. I mean, look at the expression on the creature! Most drawings of HUMANS don’t get show kind of emotion!

Rhinoman’s “Battle Cleric” is a classic, well-executed D&D style character illustration. I love the simplicity and focus in this one, where every item, position, and color reinforces the character concept.

RobM only had one entry this week but it’s a doozy. “Phantom Howler” is both a great concept and a great illustration. I could totally see this as the cover of a DC or Marvel book featuring the titular character, and I could totally see myself buying it.

Shiboreth is, I think, a first-time entrant, and really knocked it out of the park with “Light Empress”. The energy effects, the costume, and the glowing eyes all combine to make for a very powerful illustration. Well done and welcome!

Admit it, Skullcraze made you laugh with “Girl Man”.

Finally, Trekkie brings her signature style to “Steel Bug”, another vaguely Golden Age-ish character design that I’d love to see in a comic.

Those are all so great … Looking back over them I’m having a really hard time narrowing it down to just one. dblade’s clearly is a fantastic illustration, but Kaylin88100′s is so much fun. All of the others are also fantastic … ugh.

I can’t choose. So guess what, YOU get to! Here’s a quick poll, which I’ll leave up till tonight. You can vote for your Top Three; the entry getting the most overall votes by tonight will win the prize. Good luck!

Many thanks to everyone who took the time to enter our Mother’s Day Pop Quiz! We had some fun entries that really gave me a chuckle. Without further ado, here they are:

I had a hard time picking a winner. I liked LogosGal’s book cover very much, but I thought it was more super-girlfriend related than super-mom. Similarly, I liked Myro’s and LoneWolf6155′s jokes a LOT but I had a hard time working through the arrangement of the word balloons. JohnnyGear’s Rose Galaxy was sweet, but didn’t quite have the visual impact I was hoping for. Mad Doctor’s entry, like Skybandit’s, was great but a little dark. Cliff’s was probably the most cohesive and “Mother’s Day” like of all, but I got more “Princess” than “Super” from it.

I liked Atomic Punk’s entry, especially the pink bow on the rocket launcher and the funky background. The concept of both Shiboreth’s and Gene’s was good but I didn’t feel like I’d “get” them from just the images. Herr D’s was cute but it looked more like they were all just dudes standing around rather than a basket of severed heads.

Kytana’s was adorable, particularly the combination of the mask with the PJs.

ManiacMick’s entry was solid but the perspective on the book bothered me a little, and I felt like too much space was taken up with the table.

Which sort of left me with NHA247′s:

It was thiiiis close to falling into the Gene/Shiboreth category of not quite getting it purely from the visual, but I thought the floating flowers gave it an edge. And I laughed at the idea of a super-powered guy giving his mom dirty laundry to do on Mother’s Day.

So congratulations to NHA247, and another sincere thanks to everyone who participated.

Happy Mother’s Day everyone!

Judge Woody from “Super Omega Deathbattle Warzone Apocalypse” has announced the winners of the big contest on the game’s Facebook page. These nine winners will have their characters fully illustrated in an awesome pose within a promo poster by Livio Ramondelli of “Transformers: Autocracy” and “DC Universe Online” fame.

I’d like to take a moment to thank Woody for his thorough, thoughtful, and insightful commentary on all of the contest entries. He took so much time in his judging, it was really an honor and a pleasure to collaborate with him. Plus, for once I didn’t have to agonize over anything, someone else had to!

And now, your winners, along with commentary by the fantastic Woody, who chose all of these on his own with no input from me.

The Winners:
The following submissions were not only fantastic designs in their own right but also worked well together to create a visually stunning piece of artwork.
Akbul

Character Designer: Papakrok
The savage-looking Akbul would be right at home in the world of Saturday-morning cartoons. I could totally see him putting the hurt on He-Man and friends. I experimented with several designs before finally deciding to add Akbul to the “Winners” folder, but it is now a decision I am exceptionally happy with. His design is interesting enough to make him completely unique, but open enough to use him as either a ninja or a brute in our promo design. Akbul is the perfect example of a simple design pulled off with flawless execution.

Blizzard

Character Designer: AMS
Blizzard was an early submission, and was the first character to be added to the “Winners” folder. Taking fashion cues from Pyro, Captain Cold, and Mister Freeze, Blizzard is the quintessential super –powered mercenary. I love how you can almost feel the cryogenic energy coursing through his armor. I really love just about every aspect of this design.

Psych

Character Designer: Kaldath
Kaldath shows us all what happens when you combine elegant design choices with flashy execution. I could easily see Psych starring in her own mainstream comic series, so it’s no wonder she made the cut and will now be a featured character on as much SODWA promo artwork as we can work her into. As a well-designed female character wearing a costume and exhibiting super powers in an eye-catching manner, Psych was added to the “Winners” folder almost the moment she was submitted.

Plutonium Man

Character Designer: Sutter Kaine
Another great Saturday-morning-style character, I could see Plutonium Man not only fighting the Thundercats, but giving them all cancer while Mumm-Ra cried in the corner. This guy is truly terrifying, and I’m more than excited to feature him in our promo artwork. I can’t wait to see what Livio is able to do with this design! Choosing between Sutter Kaine’s “Plutonium Man”, Myro’s “Biohazzard”, and Marquis Samedi’s “General Fallout” was a very tough decision, but in the end I had to give it to Plutonium Man. He just had a certain charisma that the other designs lacked.

Faradox

Character Design: Kaldath
Kaldath is a freak. Seriously. No one should be this good at designing Hero Machine characters. Why do I feel like Faradox could take on Robocop, ED-209, and the Terminator all at the same time? This guy is going to be a centerpiece of our SODWA promo art, and with Livio’s background in illustrating Transformers, I can’t even imagine how far he’ll be able to take this design. Just as with Kaldath’s other winning design, “Psych”, Faradox was added to the “Winners” folder almost immediately. I could instantly picture him in the rear middle of the promo artwork (the spot being filled by Holocaust in the example promo). He’ll be looming over the other 2 middle characters.

Scarab Supreme

Character Design: Marquis Samedi
I’m pretty sure Marquis Samedi is a mind reader, because this is exactly the type of character I wanted representing SODWA. I absolutely adore the military uniform/cape combo, and her quasi-cybernetic scarab arm is almost too cool! This is a lady who doesn’t take crap from anyone, and that’s why she’ll be featured front-and-center in our finished promo artwork! Scarab Supreme was another character who was added to the “Winners” folder the very moment I laid eyes on her. There was never any question in my mind that she would be a winning submission in this contest. She manages to be completely unique and original, while not being totally ridiculous, and is quite possibly my favorite of all the winning designs.

Stormbird

Character Designer: Fuzztone
It’s no wonder the beautiful Stormbird is the only complete human face we show in our promo artwork. I love how all of the little touches like her belt buckle and high collar combine to form a deceptively simple design. She would be right at home as the star of a Joss Whedon spy thriller, but since he’s a little busy at the moment, she’ll just have to settle for the next best thing: SODWA promo art! Though I am totally satisfied with having chosen her now, it took me a while to come to that decision. I was worried that she was just a little too simple, but then I realized that if anything, she would stand out when placed next to all of these giant robots, mutants, and monsters.

Synapse

Character Design: DiCicatriz
Synapse looks like he could invent new ways to kill you as he’s killing you! The sword is bad enough, but the devilish claw arm and emotion-concealing mask combine to form a thrilling design that is void of any semblance of conscience or regret. I also love that he’s barefoot! And nothing screams “I’m can and will murder you” like a red flowing cape! Did I mention he’s barefoot? Synapse was the last design to be chosen as a winning submission. There was a surprising lack of good ninja-oriented characters, and when I started trying to narrow down my options, Synapse emerged as the obvious choice.

Hippoborg

Character Design: Myro
I have to imagine all of these designs in terms of what they will look like once illustrated by Livio. Anyone who doesn’t think this design can be made to look as pants-crappingly awesome as any of the other designs should check out this link: http://davidrapozaart.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d3bhg9v. Now imagine that with cybernetics. According to a relevant Cracked.com article, “The late Steve Irwin, a man who used to tackle 12-foot crocodiles for fun and wave angry snakes filled with kill-you-before-your-next-heartbeat poison at a camera, considered a five-minute sequence where his camera team had to cross a river filled with hippos to be the single most dangerous moment ever filmed on his show.” And those are just the plain old non-cybernetic hippos! There is no doubt in my mind that Livio is going to take this design and use it to give anyone who sees it a permanent phobia of Hippos. (And, yes, I’m well-aware that Rocksteady is a Rhinoceros, not a Hippo. It’s still a close-enough comparison…). Rhinoman’s “Bounty Hunter of the Abyss” very nearly got this spot, but in the end I decided to go with Hippoborg, and that’s a decision I am very happy with.

Promo Mock-Up

This is a very rough mock-up of what the final promo will look like. Of course, all characters will be illustrated by Livio and will be posed differently, and they will not just be plastered over the old promo filler art, but this should give you a rough idea of what the finished piece will look like. Hopefully seeing all of the characters together will give you some insight as to why some of them were chosen as winning submissions. Our idea is to have the left group engaged with the right group and vice verse, with the middle group engaged with the viewer. Psych will be flying and using telekinesis. Blizzard will be blasting cryogenic energy. Akbul will be crouched down, ready to strike with his razor-sharp claw arm. Plutonium Man and Scarab Supreme will be posing in the middle, showing off for the audience, with Faradox looming over them. Stormbird will be crouched down, brandishing dual pistols. Synapse will most likely be standing or jumping, sword drawn back in preparation of a killing blow. And Hippoborg will most likely be about to hurl a very heavy piece of something at the left group.

Conclusion
And that concludes the official “Create Your Own SODWA Character” contest. I want to congratulate all of our contestants for submitting some of the coolest character concepts I’ve ever seen, and I can’t wait to see what you guys come up with next! I’ll be sure to let you guys know as soon as Livio is finished illustrating the official promo artwork so you can see what he was able to do with the 9 winning designs. And please remember, though the contest is over, the real project is just beginning. Our Kickstarter campaign to raise money for the game should begin around the middle of June. If our project doesn’t get funded then SODWA will never exist. Please help us spread the word about our Kickstarter campaign so that you might get the chance to not only show off your awesome character designs to the world, but also use them to destroy the characters of other designers! That’s all for now. Thanks for participating, and please keep up the good work!
-Brian Woody, Thunderpunch Studios

Judge Woody from “Super Omega Deathbattle Warzone Apocalypse” announced his final round of Honorable Mentions today on the game’s Facebook page. For your convenience I am re-posting them here as well, but for the most up-to-date results you should really follow them on Facebook. Tomorrow is the big day when he reveals the nine final winning selections.

Ladies and gentlemen, your final batch of Honorable Mentions, along with Woody’s comments. Congratulations to these folks on jobs well done!

The Knights Ballistic

Ximero’s “The Knights Ballistic” is just an overall incredible piece of art. Forget the actual character design, the entire piece is just amazing to behold. I love how the black and white color scheme makes it feel like he is actually in space, standing on the moon. I think everything about this piece is awesome, from the transparent clockwork shield to the rectangular head to that weird device on his right should (his right, our left). If this had been a contest of pure artistic awesomeness, then there would have been a place in the winners’ circle for The Knights Ballistic. Unfortunately the actual character design was outclassed by the 9 winning submissions.

GeneralFallout

Another great design from MarquisSamedi, General Fallout is definitely an eye-catching design. Weirdly, there was quite a lot of competition when it came to green glowy effects, and I decided to limit our final design to only one such character (hint, that means one of the winners did include green glowy effects…). There is just so much to love about this character, though. The helmet, the customized chain-gun, the green pulsing veins, the vials sticking out of him, and the enormous green tubes coming out of his shoulders. The fact that the huge green tubes have ventricles is severely disturbing to me for some reason. Very nice work, MarquisSamedi!

Desert Star

The 2nd Honorable Mention for Abominal401, Desert Star in the same boat as Ximero’s Knights Ballistic: it’s a cool design, but it’s the artistry of the entire piece that makes it so mesmerizing. I’m not sure if any part of this design was used how it was meant to be used. For instance, notice the gun-based arms, or the shoulder-pad-based elbows. Even the central core of the chest is made out of shoulder-pads! Though the piece does exhibit exceptional creativity on the part of designer Abominal401, the actual character design itself was not quite strong enough to stand up to the 9 designs chosen to represent SODWA in our official promo artwork.

Killbert

Another phenomenal design from Headlessgeneral, Killbert was a last-minute submission but quickly became one of my favorites. I spent a very long time trying to figure out how he could fit into the final design, but finally realized I would have had to switch out too many of the other fantastic designs to make it happen. This is another guy I could totally see in an episode of an old Saturday-morning action cartoon, if not for the fact that he’s like a child nightmare machine. I think the glass-plated torso is such a cool design, and the head is bizarrely awesome. The presentation makes it look like Killbert’s superpower is hyper-digging, which just catapults the character to a whole new level. He and Hellborg should have their own comic, cartoon, or videogame series together.

Bounty Hunter of the Abyss

Rhinoman presented a number of high-quality last-minute submissions. This guy, the Bounty Hunter of the Abyss, actually managed to make it into the “Winners” folder, replacing another brute who had taken up the slot for about a week. I ended up flip-flopping a few times, and finally decided to stick with the other design. I still can’t begin to express how awesome I think this design is. Just like JohnnyGear’s Ninja Assassin and AMS’s Iron Eagle, the Bounty Hunter of the Abyss looks like he actually has weight to him. I’m not a huge fan of the “Soul Edge” sword from Soul Calibur, but I love the huge club, the bestial face, and the oversized spiked armor pieces.

Flux

Yet another one of DiCicatriz’s designs, Flux was one character who I constantly had to stop and consider, but who never actually made it into the “Winners” folder. I think in the end it was the orange fohawk and goatee that turned me off to the design, but I still love just about every other aspect. The color scheme is just really cool, with the gold armor and glowing blue accents. The red chest design that runs down the legs is also really cool. What I really love about this design are the 2 completely robotic arms. There’s just something about having 2 robotic arms in addition to his normal arms that I think is just a really awesome and original design choice.

Judge Woody from “Super Omega Deathbattle Warzone Apocalypse” announced his third round of Honorable Mentions yesterday on the game’s Facebook page. For your convenience I am re-posting them here as well, but for the most up-to-date results you should really follow them on Facebook. Today he’ll be posting the last of the Honorable Mentions, then tomorrow we get the nine overall winners.

Ladies and gentlemen, your second batch of Honorable Mentions, along with Woody’s comments. Congratulations to these folks on jobs well done!

Wrath

DiCicatriz’s 2nd Honorable Mention, Wrath is another character who spent quite a while in the “Winners” folder before I was forced to replace him. I love the contrast between that awesome helmet and his absurdly-simple costume, and the 4-armed look just totally works with this guy. The fact that his entire costume is just black body + awesome helmet was an incredibly bold choice on DiCicatriz’s part, and it very nearly paid off. I’m a sucker for a dome helmet, and I tried very hard to fit Wrath into the final design, but (as I’m sure you can guess by now…) I ended up having to go with a more colorful design. (As a side note, being colorful wasn’t a requirement for characters to be chosen, but each character’s colors needed to work well with the surrounding characters. For instance, the only spot Wrath could have fit into the final design would have been the middle of the right group, based on the other winning characters. The characters above and below that spot were both neutral colors, meaning I had to fill that spot with a more colorful design.)

Gladiator

Another wonderful AMS design, Gladiator got transferred to and from the “Winners” folder several times before I finally made an official decision. I think what finally made me decide against including him was his helmet. I absolutely love every other aspect of the character, but there’s just something about the helmet that turns me off to the design. Since there was so much stiff competition when it came to tech-oriented characters, that one single drawback was all it took to keep Gladiator out of the winners’ circle.

Firepower

Another design from the very talented MarquisSamedi, I was actually very surprised when Firepower didn’t end up in the winners’ circle. He’s colorful, has awesome energy weapons, and is just an overall good character design. In the end, he basically just didn’t hold up against the finalists, but that’s absolutely nothing to be ashamed of, considering the same can be said of over 390 other designs, most of which didn’t receive an Honorable Mention.

Globe

MaDPac’s Globe has the distinction of being the only non-humanoid winner of an Honorable Mention. I think this is just a really cool design. It reminds of something I would have fought in the old SNES RPG, Earthbound, and anything that can remind me of Earthbound is automatically awesome. It also kind of reminds me of the killer orb from the Phantasm movies. I love the colors, and just the overall design choices. Very nice work, Madpac!

Lord Dread

Sutter Kaine’s Lord Dread reminds me of Dr. Doom, and that is always a compliment. This dude is a pretty good embodiment of what we were looking for, and I tried to include him in the final promo design, but as with so many others, he got beat out by a more colorful design. Despite his lack of color, I love how basic the design is, and I’m a sucker for a cape flowing dramatically in the wind. If there’s one thing Lord Dread can do, it’s rock that cape like nobody’s business.

Iron Eagle

AMS’s 3rd and final Honorable Mention, Iron Eagle is a great example of good character design combined with flawless execution. Just like JohnnyGear’s Ninja Assassin character, Iron Eagle looks like he actually has weight and mass. He looks like he could dish out incredible amounts of pain and shrug off bullets and knives like they were nothing. Although I think he’s a great design, Iron Eagle just didn’t stand out quite as much as a few of the winning designs.

Locust Assassin

Frevoli’s Locust Assassin is just a really cool and original character design. Though she never quite made it into the “Winners” folder, I did stop on her more than a few times, debating whether to add her or not. Her actual costume is just so simple and effective, but then you’ve got this insane locust head and insect wings in direct contrast to the otherwise simple design. She looks like she’d be a sniper or something, but then you notice that all she has are bladed weapons, and you realize she’s going to be right there with you when she makes the kill.

Cyber_Rogue

Kingslaughter’s 2nd Honorable Mention, Cyber Rogue is another awesome character design presented with flawless execution. I think Kingslaughter’s designs alone contained more shades of color than all the other 400 entries combined! There’s almost too much awesome stuff in this piece to take in at once. First, I love the cybernetic spine made out of knee-pads. Those crazy blade weapons are incredible, and the fact that Cyber Rogue has a morning star attached to his head shows he’s not afraid to use any part of his body as a weapon.

Booster Girl

I love the retro feel of MScat’s Booster Girl. The pose, expression, and coloring all combine to form something that could have been pulled right out of a golden-age comic. I love that there’s absolutely nothing about this design that attempts to be badass or awesome; it just manages to achieve both naturally. It says a lot about the design when the character doesn’t need exposed cybernetics, digital visors, badass weapons, or snazzy special effects to catch your eye. Great job, MScat!

Judge Woody from “Super Omega Deathbattle Warzone Apocalypse” announced his second round of Honorable Mentions yesterday on the game’s Facebook page. For your convenience I am re-posting them here as well, but for the most up-to-date results you should really follow them on Facebook.

Ladies and gentlemen, your second batch of Honorable Mentions, along with Woody’s comments. Congratulations to these folks on jobs well done!

Sawfin

MarquisSamedi submitted a number of fantastic designs, but none as endearing as the loveable “Sawfin”. I actually did give some serious thought to adding him to the finished design, but he just didn’t quite hold up when I finally saw what ended up being the 9 winning designs. I think the shark-head tattoo over the heart tattoo was also kind of a turn-off, but I absolutely loved every other aspect of this character. Hopefully MarquisSamedi can shed some light on how Sawfin manages to put on his pants and buckle all of those belts…

Cybermage OlethroN

Kingslaughter_Archon’s Cybermage OlethroN nearly won just because of how much color he brought to the overall design. I imagine if Mr. Fantastic ever tripped LSD, that’s what he would see… I think the thing that finally turned me off to the design was the weird clockwork chest piece. It was just a little too much Flavor Flav and not enough psychedelic Dr. Doom. Though it wasn’t right for our promo piece, this design is still a bizarre yet masterful piece of Hero Machine artistry.

Britannica

Kaldath is probably the most freakishly talented Hero Machine designer out there. I would love to see a design-off between Kaldath and AMS, but I’m afraid the world might end due to them using up all the awesome. Britannica is just an incredibly well-rounded design. He manages to look brilliant and badass all at the same time. I could somehow picture him in either a Dr. Strange comic or alongside the cast of Mortal Kombat (he almost looks like a cross between the old and new Ermac designs). He honestly deserved to be a winning submission, but unfortunately there were certain technicalities that prevented me from picking him.

Mistress Claw

If I had to give an award for best overall designer, it would have to be either AMS or Kaldath. Some of their designs are so far beyond anything I thought Hero Machine was capable of, I am inclined to believe they belong to a lost species of extremely creative bat-like creatures that sleep during the day and create mind-blowing Hero Machine art at night. Regardless, AMS’s Mistress Claw came so close to being a winning character, I feel like “Honorable Mention” doesn’t quite do her justice. She’s like a female version of Shredder, or maybe the transvestite version of Dr. Claw from a gritty reboot of Inspector Gadget (you know you would pay to see that!). I hate to call attention to it, but she definitely does have a bit of a “husband bulge” goin on down there…

Ninja Assassin

JohnnyGear’s 2nd Honorable Mention, the Ninja Assassin, was very close to being chosen as a winning submission. I ended up having to go with a more colorful design, but I still think this guy is perfect in almost every way. I love that he just looks “solid”, like he’s got weight and mass to him. I also just love that helmet/mask. It’s got kind of a Yoshimitsu/Predator feel to it, which is just awesome. Although I had to go with a more colorful design for the sake of the promo art, I honestly hate the idea of a “colorful ninja”, and think the subdued tones make a lot more sense. Great job, JohnnyGear!

Highrollerstealthsoldier

Rancid’s Highrollerstealthsoldier was one of our last-minute submissions, and he made me reconsider a few of the winning designs I had already picked out. He’s like a mix of Bullseye and Mysterio, which is a combination I don’t think anyone had ever considered before. I also love his weird little staff weapon. In the end it came down to color. The vast majority of designs were either black or grey, meaning I almost always had to go for the more colorful design when one was available.

Hellborg

Dblade’s Hellborg is just plain awesome. He’s another character who would be right at home trying to bash in He-Man’s head with that crazy-ass mace. I love the exposed wiring underneath the armored frame, and the red/black/grey color scheme is a solid choice. This dude just looks lethal, and that’s all there is to it. If there hadn’t have been such stiff competition when it came to tech-oriented characters, Hellborg would have definitely had a place in the official promo design.

Judge Woody from “Super Omega Deathbattle Warzone Apocalypse” has announced his first round of Honorable Mentions today on the game’s Facebook page. He’ll be doing that all week, leading up to the nine winners on Friday. Your best bet is to “like” their page, as everything will be announced there first.

Ladies and gentlemen, your first batch of Honorable Mentions, along with Woody’s comments. Congratulations to these folks on jobs well done!

Coyote

JohnnyGear’s “Coyote” was possibly my favorite design out of all 400+ submissions. There’s just something about this design that I absolutely love. His left arm is hidden, indicating his covert nature, but his left hand is tossing a lit bomb, which is about as overt as you can get! His costume is so simple, but he still manages to look fresh, unique, and dangerous all at the same time. I picture him as some sort of Deathstroke-esque assassin or Batman-esque vigilante. I tried my best to work him into the promo piece, but when it came down to it he just wasn’t quite colorful or diverse enough to fit in with the other characters. It should be noted that Livio was just now able to see Coyote and is devastated that we won’t be able to include him in the promo.

Lillian

First off, I just want to say how incredibly talented designer HeadlessGeneral is. Almost any of his designs could have been chosen as Honorable Mentions, but I believe Lillian is the design that trumps all the others. This is a truly impressive piece of Hero Machine work. It doesn’t even look like it was done in Hero Machine. It looks like it was just straight-up hand drawn! I think Lillian is a very cool character who would be right at home in an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I looked at different ways I could fit her into the promo piece, but she just didn’t quite mesh with the other characters as well as the rival design I ended up going with. I came *this* close to swapping out a few of the winning submissions just to fit Lillian into the final piece.

Biohazard

Myro’s “Biohazzard” spent quite a while sitting in my “winners” folder, until he was dethroned by a rival design. I think this design is absolutely killer, but unfortunately we got more tech-based designs AND radiation/”green energy” designs than almost anything else, making that a very tough area to excel in. Regardless, I would have loved to see what Livio could do with this design. Myro should know that taking Biohazard out of the “winners” folder was not an easy decision.

Abominal

Abominal’s self-titled design was a perfect example of an incredible piece of work that was just too hard to see behind the complicated pose and special effects. I was totally blown away when I saw this piece, but was unable to really see enough of the actual character design to make it a winning submission. This is still an amazing example of not only Abominal’s incredible talent, but also of the power and versatility of the Hero Machine system.

Major General Benedict Davis Brassington

Starfighterace421’s “Major General Benedict Davis Brassington” was an early submission, and has consistently been one of my favorites. Not only would a character with his name be right at home in a game with a 23-syllable title like ours, but he just looks so badass. I could totally see him chilling with Teddy Roosevelt and the Dos Equis guy right before they rode some hippos bareback into the Amazonian jungle to recover the lost gold from some sort of evil jungle demons. The Major almost made it into the winners circle, but eventually I was forced to go in a different direction and give the Major an honorable discharge.

Asylum

DiCicatriz-9’s “Asylum” was one of the more visually stunning and original submissions. She is just so cool looking, and was completely unlike any of the other submitted designs. I would have loved to include her in the final promo, but I just couldn’t figure out a good way to work her into the design. I know there are going to be more than a few designs I regret not going with, and I imagine Asylum will be near the top of that list.

Your last challenge was to come up with the best replacement caption for this comics panel:

The funniest suggestions in my opinion were:

• alphaalpharomeo: And then Batman punched his way of a stomach!
• BenK22: The first time Peter saw Claire in a bikini.
• Mr.MikeK: The real Napoleon Dynamite discovered!
• Kaito94: “And then God said: Let there be Michael Bay!”
• Xavierking5: The alien probe proved to have… complications.
• E350: …he launches into an EXTREME HUG.

As you can see, we had some gems. But for me it wasn’t really close, as I almost BLOOFed myself when reading the entry of … Bael!

I’m such a sucker for that movie.

Well done, Bael, let me know what you’d like for your prize!

Many thanks to everyone who participated in Pop Quiz 8, from our first-timers (welcome!) to old friends returning after a long absence (hi Solander!).

Since everyone only gets one entry with these single-day affairs, I like to show them all. So without further ado, your entries!

I particularly wanted to pull out Myro’s entry, which made me laugh right out loud.

As you can see, picking a winner has not been easy. After a lot of wailing and gnashing of the teeth, out of a set of seven Finalists (dblade, demonhunter, Jeremy Thurlow, LoneWolf6155, Mad Doctor, MLS, and Trekkie), I came down to two:

MLS

Mad Doctor

I really liked MLS’ entry, but something about having the entire bird head above the human’s eyes unsettled me. At least I think that’s what was holding me back. But I loved the “Battle of the Planets” throwback look.

Regardless, I finally decided to go with Mad Doctor. Congratulations! I liked the vaguely menacing feel to it and the nice use of color. I probably would have chosen a more steamy looking item for the steam but even with that, I thought it was super. And I am not even a fan of steampunk generally.

Many thanks to all of you who shared your creativity, I really appreciate it!