Character Contest 19: The horror … the HORROR!

The season of silly costumes, a year-round affair in these parts, has reached critical mass in the world at large with the advent of that crazy holiday, Halloween! People from all walks of life will, for just this one night, release their inner geek and dress up as everything from the classic sheet-over-the-head ghost to an AT-AT Walker from Star Wars and everything in between.

As the advance guard of the Costume Design Revolution, however, it is incumbent upon us to lead the way, to show the regular citizens of this fine world what is possible. And so your challenge this week is to create the scariest Halloween costume/monster/getup you can using any version of HeroMachine you like.

I'll grant you, people dress up as non-scary stuff all the time for Halloween, but at its core the holiday is supposed to be about being scared. You don't have to go bloody, necessarily, but Tinkerbell ain't gonna cut it. Unless she's actually cutting it, "it" being the horrified neck of one Peter Pan, Esquire, for instance.

So get busy, folks, and make with the horror!

  • You have one week, starting today and ending next Tuesday.
  • All entries must be left as links to an image or images in the comments to this post, and all images must be 100% HeroMachine-generated (any version).
  • The winner will get to choose either any item he or she wants, or their caricature, put into HeroMachine 3 for all to see and love.

Good luck everyone, I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

If you don't know how to do a screen capture, and for some reason are not happy with or can't use the "Save as JPG/PNG" button in HeroMachine 3, Hammerknight put together a how-to for you.

P.S. As a special, rare sneak preview, next week's contest is going to be you submitting a photo of you (or someone you know) in their Halloween costume, along with that same costume rendered in HeroMachine. So if you were on the fence about planning something for Halloween to wear, maybe this will be the kick in the pants you need!

111 Responses to Character Contest 19: The horror … the HORROR!

  1. The Eric says:

    First entry for this: the Plague Doctor!
    I like this one especially, because i’ve been as it for Halloween and it’s historical.
    http://www.majhost.com/gallery/kaka/Heromachine2/hm3plaguedoctor.png

    PS: I noticed the Helios in the new sign. Thanks man!

  2. dementedtheclown says:

    @Jeff Is There An Entry Limit This Time??

  3. Jeff Hebert says:

    Not as such, Demented, but let’s be real — if you’re spamming a bunch of half-assed entries (not that you do this specifically, that’s a generic “you”) then I’m probably going to get to a point where I just disregard yours almost out of hand.

    A much better strategy is to only submit your best creations. More is not better in these contests, better is better.

  4. dementedtheclown says:

    I Agree, I Kinda Feel Like The Flooding Of Half Assed Creations Tend To Bury The Good Ones Sometimes.

  5. tris.xmen says:

    In Australia we dont have Halloween

  6. The Doomed Pixel says:

    In the United States we don’t have Australia.

    (I jest, I jest.)

  7. Mr.Vampire says:

    I just checked, to my suprise Oct31 is on the Australian calendar! I was expecting a gap at the end of the month. But I’m still not getting dressed up for it.

    I feel I should apologise in advance for this entry.
    Why do I get the feeling I do that with almost every second submission?…
    Ayway, I made this one a month or two ago. Here’s a South Park influenced sort of horror one.

    http://i673.photobucket.com/albums/vv97/MrVampire_photos/HeroMachine/FetusGrl.jpg

  8. William A. Peterson says:

    This is one of my first pics done with HM (version 2.0 Beta!), and I don’t think I’ve done anything Scarier, since!
    But, how can you be scared of…
    A Smiling Face?

  9. William A. Peterson says:

    Okay, let’s try that again…

    “http://s284.photobucket.com/albums/ll3/WillyPete1/?action=view&current=ASmilingFace.jpg” target=”_blank”>

  10. Gero says:

    Here’s my first entry. I got the basic idea for it from the character “Gluttony” from the manga/anime “Fullmetal Alchemist”. He has a very disturbing ability, in which his entire chest and the lower half of his head open up into a giant, drooling mouth. So, in honor of that creepy creature, I present you all with:

    The Beast Within
    http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn48/GeroTheKeymaster/BeastWithin.jpg

  11. Gero says:

    Rancid, you posted the Frankenstein one 4 times by accident, and William, your’s still isn’t working…

  12. Gero says:

    This is actually a pretty old one, though when I made it, the “backgrounds” catagory was still pretty lacking, so before entering it, I’ve added a creepy-looking background.

    The Reaper
    http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn48/GeroTheKeymaster/TheReaper.jpg

  13. rancid says:

    yeah i know my computer freaked out and crashed srry

  14. Solander says:

    Hmm… guess I could try submitting my necromancer:

    http://forums.ugo.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=62303&d=1253388692

  15. Jeff Hebert says:

    I try not to ever look at these until the actual judging day but I accidentally clicked on your Hanged Woman, Kingmonkey, and … wow. Really nicely done.

  16. Lawrence says:

    For this one I went with the “what you don’t see is more scary than anything else” approach.

    http://forums.ugo.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=63199&d=1256153599

  17. Lawrence says:

    Detective Stone doesn’t believe in demons but he does believe in being prepared.

    http://forums.ugo.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=63200&d=1256153608

    The only problem is … there’s somethings that you can’t prepare for.

    http://forums.ugo.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=63201&d=1256153618

  18. chase says:

    entry 25, where did you get the name Vladimir from was it from the book Vladimir Tod

  19. chase says:

    entry 27 Hanged Woman

    GREAT CHARACTER!

  20. Hakoon1 says:

    Chase, Vladimir is a Russian name, in fact their prime minister is called Vladimir Putin.

  21. Gero says:

    Granted, this next entry would be VERY difficult to pull off as a costume, but costumes are NEXT week’s contest rules. So, with that in mind, I’ve created the delightfully macabre:

    Demon’s Head
    http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn48/GeroTheKeymaster/DemonHead.jpg

  22. rancid says:

    wow thanks for using my character on the new logo

  23. dementedtheclown says:

    @Rancid I Noticed That Too, Congrats

  24. Gero says:

    Not to be a buzzkill, Blue, but I think you may have just knocked yourself out of this. You have some really good entries, don’t get me wrong, but Jeff said earlier that if you flood the contest with dozens of them, they’d just get skipped over during the judging…

  25. dementedtheclown says:

    Wooooow xD Thats Alotta Entrys

  26. Jeff Hebert says:

    Blue, you know I love your stuff, but … if you could maybe pick four or five you think are the best, it would save me a lot of time. I didn’t set a limit to start with, so I’ll still look through them all if you want, but … yeah, that’s a lot.

  27. Danny Beaty says:

    Hello, kiddies! Mr. Gallows here with three terrifying tales!

    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=145352&l=70af91eeae&id=1815191475

  28. dementedtheclown says:

    @Jeff, any word on a release day for the new mini?

  29. Danny Beaty says:

    My first tawdry tale is a story of an uninvited guest, which I call “The Risen!”

    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=145355&l=7cf1bd37bd&id=1815191475

    Your name is Eddie Howard, and today the world is your oyster! Why, because the hottest girl in school has agreed to go out with you. You tell yourself that your coolness won her over, and that your shiny new car has nothing to do with it. That’s okay, Eddie. The good thing about a Fool’s Paradise is that there is always room for one more.
    Finally, that damn bell rings. It took forever to ring, didn’t it Eddie? Now get home quickly, shower, put on some cologne, and dress for that date!
    So now you’re all dressed up, smelling good and driving that shiny new car to Lisa’s house. Hopefully, the intro to her parents will be quick. You pull into the driveway and (miracle of miracles) she comes to the car and gets in. She smiles and says “What are you waiting for?” You smile and head for the movie theater.
    Not a very good movie, eh Eddie? Perhaps that’s one reason you’re so glad when Lisa takes your hand in hers and whispers “Let’s go park.”
    You take her to the perfect spot: a nice secluded spot in the woods. Oh sure, you got some dirt on your new car, but it’s worth it. Yes Eddie, life for you is perfect. At least it was perfect…
    It dug it’s way through the dirt, clumsily crawled out of the grave, and rose to it’s rotting feet. It shambled in the direction of the noise which disturbed it’s slumber.
    Well, Eddie, those soft, sweet kisses from Lisa’s lips feel good. You look in her eyes and…wait, what’s wrong? Why does she suddenly look so frightened. She’s looking past you. Turn around and look behind you, Eddie. Yes, Eddie, it’s comming for you! You want to move, but you can’t. As the shambling corpse reaches through the glass and grabs you, all you can do is scream, and you keep screaming as it throws you to the ground. As it pulls Lisa from the car, you continue screaming, and as bites into her throat and rips through her jugular vein, you want to run, but you can’t. You’re too paralyzed with fear to move, so you just keep on screaming as the rotting corpse carries Lisa’s dead body away.
    Now, you’re in the madhouse, only you don’t know where you are. That night of three years ago drove you hopelessly
    insane. You will never know peace until the day you die…or will you? Who knows, Eddie, maybe you will awaken from the peace of death and wander as one of…the risen!

  30. Jeff Hebert says:

    It’s canceled, Demented, that was how the mech stuff got released, remember?

  31. Danny Beaty says:

    So Eddie had a date he’ll never forget…no matter how hard he tries! Now, youre old FIEND Mr. Gallows is going to WHACK POE-etic with a ROTTEN RHYME I call “I Hate To Travel Alone.”

    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=145351&l=41d35f9ac2&id=1815191475

    I Hate To Travel Alone

    You saw me standing in the rain, a Bible in my hand.
    You stopped your car and said “Hop in!”, a good samaritan.
    The wind was unforgiving, and it chilled me to the bone.
    The road to Hell is lonely, and I hate to travel alone.

    You told me how, a mile ago, you passed a green sedan.
    You slowed down just enough to look and saw no one within.
    But I know that its’ driver lies where the grass is overgrown.
    The road to Hell is lonely, and I hate to travel alone.

    I open my big Bible; you see the bloody knife.
    You realize you have made the worse mistake of your life.
    Let me show you terror, terror few have ever known,
    for the road to Hell is lonely, and I hate to travel alone.

    You know the end has come, I can see it in your eyes,
    and when I rip your heart out, it should be no surprise.
    Pull over and I’ll thank you for the kindness you have shown.
    The road to Hell is lonely, and I hate to travel alone.

    You saw me standing in the sun, a Bible in my hand.
    You make the same mistake as the last samaritan.
    No last minute rescues, and you’re so far from your home.
    The road to Hell is lonely, and I hate to travel alone.

  32. Danny Beaty says:

    Now, my MORBID MANIACS, feast your PUTRID PUPILS on this, my last story, a YOWLING YARN of days gone by which I call “The Snipe.”

    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=145353&l=6897aff70e&id=1815191475

    “Man, we have to get the new kid”, said Bobby.
    “Darn right,” agreed Tim.
    Yes, the kids of the forties were pretty much as kids are today, and Bobby and Tim just had to give the new kid a rough time.
    “Bobby, let’s take ol’ newbie on a snipe hunt!”
    “Heck yeah!”
    “What’s newbie’s name”, asked Tim.
    “Uh,…Roger, that’s it’ Roger! Here he comes!”
    Roger wondered if he would ever make any friends in this school, or if he would always be the “Gal darn Yankee!”. Naturally, he was surprised (and a little wary) when Tim and Bobby approached him with smiles on their faces.
    “Hey, Roger”, said Tim.
    “Hey”, said Bobby
    “Hi”, said a suspicious Roger.
    “We know we’ve been pickin’ on you alot, but we just wanted to see if you could take it.” Bobby continued. “Listen, me and Tim want to take you snipe hunting with us. It’ll be fun!”
    Roger asked “What’s a snipe?”
    “Well”, Bobby spoke, “A snipe is a big ol’ ugly thing with sharp teeth, and a long tail. It’s got bony collar around its’ neck, and horns on the sides of its’ big ol’ head…oh, and it’s got claws as sharp as butcher knives!”
    “Aw, you’re just makin’ that up”, Roger replied.
    Tim said “No, it’s true! Everybody ’round thes parts knows about snipes. We don’t want one of the big ones, though. We just want one of the little ones. You can catch the little ones, just as long as you got someone to keep an eye out for the big ones.”
    “Yeah”, said Bobby. “The little ones taste just like chicken!”
    “It’ll be a good way to initiate you into our group, you know, to see if you’re brave and not yellow”, said Tim. “But you can’t tell anyone. You’ll have to sneak out of your house tonight. We’ll be outside your house waitin’ for you.”
    Roger thought for a moment, and said “Okay!”
    Later that night, after his mom was asleep, Roger sneaked out of his house, hoping his jacket was loose enough to concel the items hidden under the sleaves. Sure enough, Tim and Bobby were waiting for him.
    Bobby asked “You’re not going to turn yellow, are you?”
    “No”, replied Roger. ” Tonight you’ll see just how brave I am.”
    So the boys rode their bikes three miles to the woods, dismounted, and walked a half a mile into the woods. Bobby gave Roger an old burlap sack, saying “Here’s what you put the snipe in.”
    Tim gave Roger a thick stick and said “Here’s what you kill it with. Just whump it on the head ’till it’s good and dead! We’ll go keep watch in case one of the big snipes comes this way.”
    Bobby and Tim then walked away, Tim behind Bobby. The two boys hadn’t got too far when, suddenly, Bobby heard Tim scream. Bobby turned and saw Tim on the ground, Roger standing over Tim holding a bloody butcher knife in each hand. Bobby yelled “Good lord, you killed him! YOU KILLED HIM!”
    Roger looked at Bobby through the eyes of a psychopath and said “I told you you would see how brave I am!”
    Bobby ran, but Roger quickly caught up with him, plunging one of the knives into Bobby’s back. Bobby fell to his knees and screamed “Why?”
    Roger looked down upon his prey and said “You boys have been picking on me for weeks! I had to figure some way to cover my tracks; then you told me about those snipes. Now when the law asks what happened to you two boys, I’ll just tell them a snipe did it.
    Weak from loss of blood, Bobby fell back and said “But there ain’t no such thing as-” That was as far as Bobby got, for soon, Roger was plunging one of the butcher knives into Bobby’s young throat. Blood spewed from Bobby’s throat, and within seconds, Bobby was as dead as his friend Tim. Roger rose and headed back for his bike, proud of himself for commiting the perfect crime. Yes, he would just blame the whole thing on the snipes. Everybody around these parts knows about snipes.

    The End

    Well, kiddies, I don’t know about you, but I would love to have seen the look on Roger’s face when the cops told him that there are no such things as snipes! Oh well, you live learn! That’s all for now, my CRUEL CRETINS! This is your old pal Mr. Gallows saying “Goodbye”, and always remember: The MORGUE, the merrier!

  33. The Eric says:

    Hey, Lawrence – you have to use the HeroMachine.

    Wait…whoa.

  34. lawrence says:

    @rancid. Penny Dreadful is really freaky. That one and Demented’s banshee are probably the scariest looking ones.

  35. Hammerknight says:

    Here is Scary Sailor Boy. Warning do not open if you get scared or sick easy.
    http://forums.ugo.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=63230&d=1256232757

  36. lawrence says:

    @The Eric

    Thanks man. I like to see how far I can push Heromachine sometimes although I don’t think I’ll go as mad on the detail for a while. The detective took ages.

  37. The Eric says:

    I loved the detective, especially the reflections.

  38. Lawrence says:

    Cheers. I checked out plague doctors on the net. You stayed quite true to them. Man are they creepy? As if getting the plague wasn’t bad enough, imagine that thing turning up to look at you!

  39. dementedtheclown says:

    @ Laurence Awesome Work, And Thank You.

    @ Rancid Frank Is The Sh**

  40. Blue Blazer says:

    Yeah, sorry. Guess ah don’t listen too good. I’ll narrow it down to the Silent Spectre, Baphomet, Jack O’Lantern, the Scarab, and Nekro.

    My bad. 🙁

  41. Danny Beaty says:

    @rancid: Great job on Penny Dreadful!

  42. kyle says:

    ((Afraid I can’t allow this one Kyle, “Killer Croc” is a copyrighted DC character, even though your take on it is different. — Jeff))

  43. Al says:

    I’ll at least get Honorable Mention with this one.

    Behold: The most horrible thing possible!!!

    http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/3701/bushisback.png

    If there’s any confusion, look at the pic name.

  44. Al says:

    Dangit, he’d look less like Clinton if I’d have given him ears! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

  45. gero says:

    Re-do your Bush with the big round ears that I used on my “beast within” entry and it should look a bit more like him…

  46. kyle says:

    @kyle what!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    blue made a killer croc and yet he didn’t get scored at.

    and second change your name on here

  47. kyle says:

    @kyle do you work for heromachine.com??????

  48. johny says:

    waring:who despise the lions pro-football team, will be more afraid of seeing Jeff Hebert in a dress cheering for the lions.

    http://lh3.ggpht.com/_Difnwn0Qqu4/SuOeF3E4a7I/AAAAAAAAAGQ/LJ2glBvPFl8/s512/hm3-beta%287%29.jpg

  49. Jeff Hebert says:

    @Kyle: If I missed a Killer Croc earlier that was my bad. It’s a registered and copyrighted character with a very distinctive name, and as such is off limits. Blue shouldn’t have gotten away with it either, but I sometimes miss things. I also don’t make up copyright laws, I just try to make sure I don’t violate them (on my own or via anyone’s posts on the site I’m responsible for). I have no clue what your comment 84 means, but if you’re asking if I work for heromachine.com, then … yeah, I sort of do, in the sense that I’m the only one who works on it for UGO.com 🙂

  50. kyle says:

    thanks for clearing that up Jeff.
    im sorry that i took the killer croc idea from DC and i dont want you to get in a lawsuit by DC(aka one of the greatest comic company)
    i didn’t see a no copyright rule in the contest rules and blue did king croc which looks kinda like the batman killer croc, so i thought why cant i. again im sorry

  51. Danny Beaty says:

    @Kyle: Concerning your crocodillian character, how about using another name, such as Manogator, The Caiman, etc., and making sure that your croc is different and unique from DCs’ croc? After all, DC owning the Joker didn’t stop Image from putting Clown in the Spawn comics. Both DC and Marvel have scarecrow inspired characters (both called “Scarecrow”), but Marvel’s is very different from DC’s. Just a thought. Good luck with the contest!

  52. Blue Blazer says:

    Mine is named King Kroc, anyway.

  53. Jeff Hebert says:

    Yeah, what Danny said — it’s the name that was the big problem, not the image.

  54. kyle says:

    thanks for clearing that up Danny Beaty: so its the name not the character.
    i think i got it

  55. Hakoon1 says:

    Ok, this isn’t the most scary thing you’ll ever see, but here is me as a vampire: http://forums.ugo.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=63347&stc=1&d=1256479184

  56. DJ says:

    http://s51.photobucket.com/albums/f374/Deemanboy24/?action=view&current=creepy1.png

    Been a while since I’ve been in one of these. Hope this one works. No name for it really.

  57. Danny Beaty says:

    @Kyle: You’re very welcome, and (once again) good luck with the contest.

  58. kyle says:

    @Danny Beaty:thanks again

  59. DJ says:

    http://s51.photobucket.com/albums/f374/Deemanboy24/?action=view&current=creepy1.png

    Not sure if the first went through or not. It’s been a while since I’ve entered one of these.

  60. Lawrence says:

    @acid_man332 emergence is very creepy.

    @DJ loving the detail, very cool

  61. dementedtheclown says:

    This One Took Forever To Save, My Internet Crashed Over Ten Times, I Didnt Get To Finish The Patterns, Or Put A Good Background On It, I Was Lucky To Get The Black Background.

    Heres Skeleton Ghost

    http://i35.tinypic.com/2vsjkmu.jpg

  62. Jake says:

    Never done one of these before. I hope you all like it.

    [link]http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f349/singalongsong/hm3-beta-42-5.jpg[/link]

  63. acid_man322 says:

    hey thanks lawrence

  64. Jake says:

    It looks as though this doesn’t use HTML for its links. I hope these work.

    Kind of Classic Vampire

    Cyclops Cowboy

    My costume this year

    The entry I just posted, I hope it is a link this time.

    Enjoy!