The rules are simple:

• No more than three entries per person;
• All entries must be left as a comment (all in one comment or separate ones, doesn’t matter) to this post;
• Must be relatively clean, appropriate for broadcast on late-night network TV, for instance.

That’s it! Good luck everyone, we’ll post the Finalists for voting next Monday.

(Image from “Action Comics” number 1, © DC Comics, Inc. Yes, this is the one with Superman in it, so you can see why he’d be afraid of magic for the rest of his career.)

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RoboGirl by Brons

I liked how Brons was able to keep a sense of femininity in this armored-up character. The wrist-mounted gun and boot flames were also cool

(Click to embiggen.)
Torch by Crinold

I liked this ensemble, with the red bits nicely offset by the gray underarmor. The use of the robo-tentacle as a tube conduit for the flamethrower was also well done. And I like the side-by-side view showing him both with and without his mask. I didn’t ultimately feel like this was really an Iron Man style armored design, but I did think it looked great.

Captain Steam by Demented The Clown

I almost picked this one as the overall winner, both because of the super cool gear gloves and the overall nifty steampunk vibe. The design carries through the entire figure very well, I like this one a lot. But, like with Crinold’s, I didn’t think it was really a fully-armored design. Well done, though!

(Click to embiggen.)
First Responder by Hammerknight

I picked this one as an Honorable Mention because I thought it was the strongest characterization out of all the entries. The name and the auras make this a definitive hero, a guy with a mission and a reason for being. The design is good too, but it’s all in service to the concept, which is hugely important.

Green Ronin by Imp

Green Ronin also has a strong sense of identity, which I like. The addition of the antennae to the robot head also help jazz it up, and the pose overall has a lot of life in it.

Which brings us to our overall winner for this week. I’m glad he’s bringing home the gold (and a prize of whatever item he wants, or a portrait of himself, to appear in the final HeroMachine 3 version), because every time out he’s working hard and putting together strong submissions. So let’s hear it for the winner of Character Contest 29, Kyle!

Three things brought home this entry as the winner, rescuing it from the fate of being too generic by dint of the matching pieces that I more or less drew to match on purpose. First, I like that the face of the character shows through the helmet. Tweaking the alpha on the actual face is a nice touch too, making it look like she’s behind glass. Second, I love the extra set of limbs mid-body. That’s just neat. And why not, she’s in a huge robot suit, it ought to have as many limbs as needed. And finally, the simple color scheme is very effective in tying the whole design together.

Great job Kyle and everyone who entered, thank you all very much!

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It was a narrow victory of just three votes, with the second runner-up being JWMan:

Thanks to all who entered and congratulations both to Spidercow2010 and all the Finalists!

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I don’t want to prejudice the vote, but you have to think the only thing Batman is contributing to DC Team One is some Bat Lubricant for the rope, because he’s got no business hanging out with those heavy hitters. As for their Team Two, the biggest question is who disintegrates whom before the starting gun sounds for the first match.

Anyway, have fun, and by all means let ‘er rip in the comments about which group you think has the edge, and which is going to get turned into paste by the opposition.

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Gold Medal: Bullseye (Marvel)
Silver Medal: Green Arrow (DC)
Bronze Medal: Deadpool (Marvel)

I have to say, I’m a bit surprised to see Green Arrow take the silver. I just never thought of him as supernaturally gifted, or as having paranormal abilities like some of the others on the list, but apparently there’s a lot of love for normal humans out there. Go Team Homo Sapiens!

After four events, Marvel takes the lead with six medals, DC has five, and Dark Horse still gets the one token medal.

Thanks to everyone who voted! Now you know what to do if you see any of these guys in the middle of a fight — duck. Not that it’ll do you any good.

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I’m not sure what I have going on there in that image, sort of a Michael Jackson meets “When I Think Of You I Touch Myself” by way of Reed Richards. Or something. But you get the general idea.

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It’s shown here colored, obviously, and in its default size and position. For longer fire-hair, you can use the Multiples setting, move one of the items all the way to the bottom of the stack, then scale it way up on the y-axis, like so:

Hopefully this will help make your fire-related characters easier to bring to life. Thanks to Kaldath for picking a great item for his prize!

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It works well either as a straight Native American style chest symbol, or if you scale it up and make it somewhat transparent, it can serve as a great body tattoo. Nice suggestion, Nate, thanks!

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