Friday Night Fights, Round 1!

I am pleased as punch and giddy as a schoolgirl to announce the first round of the first ever HeroMachine Friday Night Fights! Below you will find eight head-to-head matchups featuring never-before-seen titans of the Super Hero genre. Choose which one you like best in each match to decide which creator moves on to Round 2 next Friday!

You have until midnight, Thursday, November 26 to cast your vote, and to exhort your friends to do the same. All Round 1 Winners will get their choice of either a portrait of themselves, or any item they like, to be included with HeroMachine 3's final release.

Good luck, everyone, and spread the word far and wide throughout the Internets to come and vote! Click on any of the actual images to see them in their larger size.

Finally, some housekeeping details ...

  • I had eighteen actual entrants, so since I hadn't announced any sort of selection criteria ahead of time, I had to unfortunately go with the first sixteen submitted. The remaining two will be guaranteed as pot in the next competition, assuming we do this again.
  • Matchups were decided in inverse submission order, so the first one submitted got matched up with the last one, the second submission got matched up with the second-to-last one, etc.
  • All of these details are definitely open for discussion and change next time around, assuming we do this again.
  • I also want to figure out something to do with all of the submissions that won't have the chance to be seen because the creators got knocked out in later rounds, so any ideas on that are very much welcome.

Once again, good luck to all, and thanks very much for your extraordinary creativity!

83 Responses to Friday Night Fights, Round 1!

  1. John says:

    Let the Clobberin’ Time begin!

  2. kingmonkey says:

    Curse my tardiness! Curse it! I’ll see you all in FNF 2, I guess.

    Some good entries here. Are we allowed to post what we like about them here, or will that influence the voting, do you think?

  3. As #18, I commiserate with kingmonkey. But yea, I shall lurk, and wait, and… *perfect*.

    Some of these, while good ideas, are far too busy color wise. If Jeff doesn’t think comments will muck thinks up, I’d love to go on a costuming nitpick spree.

  4. Hakoon1 says:

    “and to exhort your friends to do the same.”

    Um…What about those of us that have no friends o_O?

  5. Runt82 says:

    @Hakoon: Bribes.

  6. Hammerknight says:

    With the entries that don’t make it to the next match, let them battle out ranking. Basically 16 entries and 16 ranking spots, let their votes/wins&loses count for them.

  7. Hakoon1 says:

    Oh, and a quick question:

    Will next week’s contest be Sci-Fi then? Or are there 4 Superhero ones and so on?

  8. Jeff Hebert says:

    If you want to critique the various entries and explain why you voted the way you did, go for it, that would be interesting I am sure.

    Next week’s match will feature your second submissions, the sci-fi ones. The idea is that over the four weeks the person with the four best overall characters wins.

    I’m definitely open to changing that next go-round, but we’ll play this first set out and see how it goes from there.

  9. Hakoon1 says:

    Ok thanks Jeff, I was just a little confused. Thanks again!

  10. marx says:

    Super Hero v The Rock; two kind of bland entries honestly. Nothing impressive stands out about either, but then neither made any serious mistakes either. Of the two, The Rock is slightly more interesting and gets my vote.

    Ramses v Phantom; Both good work. Ramses is a fantastically tight picture with good use off all the great HM3 features. I can’t find a single flaw. But Phantom took the risk of submitting a top-notch HM2 picture, proving that the old girl still has some life in her. One thing I can’t figure out is how he got the diagonal strap across the chest. You’ll have to share that trick. I wish Phantom had been matched against Super Hero or The Rock, because my vote has to go to Ramses.

    Doubleback Skugg v Justice; Both nice images. Very inventive with good posing and good use of the available features. Unfortunately Dobleback Skugg’s Tail is out of alignment with the rest of his body, and his hair is just a solid black mass. Also unfortunately, Justice’s left thumb ought to be positioned/layered beneath his right hand to give the illusion that BOTH hands are gripping the sword. Two distracting mistakes. I’ve got to vote for Justice though for the nice detail on the sword.

    Psyren v Raven; Nice work on both. Some interesting masking going on with Psyren. I’m not 100% certain about how it was done. Very engaging color palette. Love the blue hair/dark skin combo. The coloring on Raven though takes it to another level. It’s hard to do that much black without losing detail (believe me, I’ve tried). Raven pulls it off spectacularly though. My vote goes to Raven.

    Crescent v Seismo; Two more rather bland entries, improved somewhat by the backgrounds. There is nothing risky or inventive in either, but then there are no distracting mistakes either. I dunno. I guess I’ll vote for Crescent for taking a chance on the (not as tricky as it used to be) female body.

    Super v Comet; Super is simply overly complex and busy. There is just way too much going on and the details get lost. At least there are details. Comet is perhaps the dullest entry in this round, with a very flat color scheme that doesn’t even take advantage of HM’s native highlighting that gives pictures so much depth. My vote goes to Super because of all the (too much) work that went into it.

    Ultima Terraxan v The Mighty Atlas; I see what Ultima Terraxan was going for with the dark voids in the image. He pulls it off sort of well. The most interesting thing about The Mighty Atlas is the attempt to create a globe in the background. The ice caps are a good start, but I wish the artist had taken more of a risk and put in some green land masses. The Mighty Atlas is a fine, solid picture but my vote goes to Ultima Terraxan for taking chances.

    Shadow Justice v Eagle; I like the multi-layering of Shadow justice’s capes, and the color palate is strong. Again, good work using dark colors without losing detail. The triple layer name is a bit much and hard to read though. Eagle, what can I say? I’m a sucker for a complicate pose and Eagle has the most complicated in this round. Personally, I would have made the left arm smaller to give the illusion of perspective, but the perceptive created by the wings makes up for it. Eagle gets my vote.

  11. Mmmkay. Nixie goes concrit-crazy, y’all now officially have permission to tear me a new one when I have stuff up.

    1-1 My vote — The Rock
    Super Hero — Not bad, but not ZOMG awesome. Too much of a Deadpool vibe for my tastes, and was a bit distracted by the fact that all the lines converge at the crotch.

    The Rock — Kind of an Assassin’s Creed look. I like the insignia a lot, I wish it were a bit bigger. (Does the creator read Girl Genius? Because it reminds me of the Wulfenbach seal.) A bit dull, but it works with the assassin vibe.

    1-2 My vote: Phantom

    Rameses: I love the basic design, but the black/gold bicolor scheme ends up being too busy. Like a zebra. Maybe if you threw in a brown or a red. I’d also scratch the garters, but that’s just me.

    Phantom: Props for using 2.5. Very mercenary look, and enough shades of grey to give contrast. My one annoyance is the katana, and that’s personal preference. I’m bloody sick of katanas.

    1-3 My Vote: Doubleback Skrugg

    Doubleback: A good, solid thug monster, my only nitpik is that maybe those tusks should be flipped — they generally don’t point in.

    Justice: CROTCH! I mean, bright yellow flag screaming “crotch!”. The yellow wasn’t a good choice. Also, it’s better to make some elements red, and some elements blue than every element red and blue.

    1-4 My vote: Raven.
    Psyren: I’m sorry, you immediately lose for undercleavage and nipples. Not to mention the micro-chevron-panties.

    Raven: Heh. If Batman had been spooked by something other than a bat… Would have liked to see the rest of the costume.

    1-5 My vote: Crescent
    Crescent: I would have made the titular crescents white/light grey/blue or lighter yellow, but I like the techy costume. I’m curious about her origins.

    Seismic: Too much green and white, needs to be mixed up with something else.

    1-6 My vote: (grudgingly)Comet
    Super: The green kilt just doesn’t go. That’s all I can say. Stick to your palette.

    Comet: Terribly dull, but at least it doesn’t clash. No shading, and one would expect a flashier costume froma guy named Comet.

    1-7 My vote: Atlas
    Ultima Terraxan: Is there a costume somewhere under there? Too much pure black layered on pure black, and likewise there are light grey on light grey energy effects you can barely see.

    Atlas: I like it! The gold and white is simple, and he gives off a strong good-guy vibe. Reminds me of some alt-universe version of Superman.

    1-8 My vote: Eagle.
    Shadow Justice: I love the billowing multi-cape and collar, it’s very dramatic. But I think there needs to be more contrast between cape and body.

    Eagle: Great pose, nice contrast without clashing, love how the background complements the character.

  12. MegaGoober says:

    Black on black? Since when do ALL superheroes have to wear spandex and possess the qualities of a good soul? Ever heard of Snake from Metal Gear?

  13. Danny Beaty says:

    @PhoenixTalion: Thanks! I’m glad you liked my character The Mighty Atlas. I’m glad you recognized that I was trying to create a Superman/Captain Marvel type of good guy. I chose the colors for the costume because:
    A: I tend to use red and blue too much.
    B: I think the chosen colors go well together.
    Once again, thanks!

  14. gero says:

    I wasn’t sure about something, so I went back and read the rules in the article that first announced the fights, and it said that all entries must be “new” heros, i.e. ones that haven’t been in contests before. I think that “Super” from 1-6 has been in “Costume Crossover”. Here is the link:http://imgcash3.imageshack.us/img21/2034/hm3beta5w.jpg
    I’m pretty sure it’s the same character, so either someone entered one of their earlier works, or someone else copied it from them…

  15. gero says:

    On a side note, I think the best overall is the Eagle, just because of that cool “flying towards the screen” pose. That had to have taken FOREVER to get right!

  16. song_bird says:

    I have a feeling that Psyren isn’t going to make it. I know it’s too early to decide, but I’ve started off pretty bad already…

  17. Danny Beaty says:

    @song_bird: I feel your pain. My guy Mighty Atlas isn’t getting many votes. Oh well,so it goes.

  18. Hammerknight says:

    Don’t give up so soon, this is just the first day, six more days of voting to go. Anything can happen.

  19. MegaGoober: There’s dark, then there’s black shape on grey bubbles. Solid Snake, and for that matter, Sam Fisher have enough contrast to see what they’re wearing. Phantom, Raven, and Shadow Justice are all black as well. But, Ultima Terraxan is winning his slot, so maybe it’s just me.

  20. violodion says:

    Bummer the original (likely) UGO post were omitted, woulda given stories for those who like ’em. Too, probably missed multiple views β€” such as, BlueBlazer’s Raven.

  21. Jeff Hebert says:

    True V, but then that wouldn’t be fair to the people who don’t have a UGO forum. I wanted it to be as level a playing field as possible, focused primarily on the visual design of the character.

  22. Danny Beaty says:

    So the winners will be announced next Friday?

  23. Jeff Hebert says:

    Yes, winners decided Friday, round two starting later that same day. Since there’s no judging, just vote totals, it is pretty black and white.

  24. The Imp says:

    …No electoral college, Jeff? πŸ˜€

  25. MartianBlue says:

    Ok. I like this unknown creator idea Jeff, people can really share their thoughts. I’ll try to keep this short and sweet.
    1. Super Hero vs The Rock
    Vote ; The Rock
    Why ; Attention to detail and overall design preference. Being a nod to the Golden Age the simplistics of the overall design is what makes him such a solid character.

    2. Ramses vs Phantom
    Vote ; Ramses
    Why ; Just overall design, from the colors to the theme, to the insignia. And on top of that HM3 just has an advantage over it’s predecessor.

    3. Doubleback Skugg vs Justice
    Vote ; Justice
    Why ; Honestly, I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s something there.

    4. Psyren vs Raven
    Vote ; Psyren
    Why ; With a little work, she could have an epic costume. As cool as Raven may be, I just can’t vote for him on imagination

    5. Crescent vs Seismo
    Vote ; Seismo
    Why ; Crescent is comic book worthy

    6. Super vs Comet
    Vote ; Super
    Why ; Busier character design. Could use a little more work, but closer to a finished work than Comet

    7. Ultima Terraxan vs The Mighty Atlas
    Vote ; Ultima Terraxan
    Why ; Both designs are evenly matched, but as a preference call, I’m going to have to go with UT. One complaint, is the colors are too dark, hiding the basic details weakening the overall design

    8. Shadow Justice vs Eagle
    Vote ; Eagle
    Why ; Stronger character design, great pose and a very simple, but very cool helmet

  26. MartianBlue says:

    Overall I think the best character design of this round has to go to Crescent.

  27. MartianBlue says:

    *FIX*
    5. Crescent vs Seismo
    Vote ; Crescent (not Seismo)
    Why ; Crescent is comic book worthy
    *FIX*

  28. johny says:

    what happen to the character contest Jeff?
    im not a big fan of this contest: it kinda looks if the loser’s or the ones that are falling being are spite the winning character

    how about the losers can then go on to their own contest and their prize could be choice the next contest,honorably mention so on and so forth.

  29. johny says:

    hey PhoenixTalion what are you the fashion police all of the sudden
    judging entries by the color not the detail nice.
    are you evening in the contest?

  30. Kaldath says:

    @Johny: The Weekly Contests are still going on, this week is a Caption contest, next week should be another regular character contest as Jeff has been alternating between the two. This Friday Night Fights Contest is Separate from those with a completely different prize for winning then you get in the weekly contests. This is the fourth Big Contest that Jeff has Held ( Third if you don’t want to count the one connected to the Modern warrior Mini, as that was really more of UGO’s baby then it was Jeff’s )

  31. johny says:

    thanks for clearing that up Kaldath.
    Jeff is in this contest too i didn’t even notice.
    the fourth biggest contest what was the first three contest?
    warrior Mini now you lost me on that one!
    oh i get it one contest for Tuesday’s and another one for Friday’s

  32. Kaldath says:

    @Johny: Relax, We all chose the people we voted for, for different reasons, I am not offended that Phoenix thoght my Ramses looked like a Zebra because of the two tone bright on dark colors I went with. We are all entitled to our own opinions and Phoenix was only stating why he/she voted they he/she voted.

    For example I voted for Psyren over Raven even though I really like what I see of Raven, and BlueBlazer is one of the HM artists I admire and have learned from by trying to reproduce effects I have seen him do. The Reason, in my mind because it is just a close up view of Raven and not a shot of the entire characters costume it is disqualified, but that is just me and my opinion

  33. Kaldath says:

    The first 3 big Contest have been spaced out of a great deal of time, the first one was a farly long time ago, it was just a basic character contest, submit any character you wanted, then jeff picks the I believe it was the 5 he thought were the best and we voted on those 5.

    The Second contest was a Patriot Hero Contest, we made characters that had a Patriotic Theme, and again Jeff Choose the ones he though were the best ( I think it was 10 that time ) and we again Voted on those. That was about a year ago if I remember correctly. (I won that one btw )

    The 3rd one was more of a UGO thing, All the character had to be made with the Heromachine Modern Warrior Mini and submitted through that same program to UGO itself. The winner got a video Game made of the winning character. That was oh about 6 months or so ago, just before Jeff started working on Heromachine 3

  34. johny says:

    @Kaldath: forgive my bad behavior the dunk and doughnut’s shop closed, i didn’t make it to comic con 09 and finally i woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. any ways
    oh i understand we all have the rights to voice are opinions on here but some of would like to push the buttons on others.

    i was newly added to this site im sorry i won’t have known about those contest.

    i hope you win(others as well)

  35. johny says:

    along with the critiques give advice as well that way we would know what to work or improve on

  36. Jeff Hebert says:

    I do think (having come out of art school) that constructive critiques are an important part of improving as an artist. And really, everyone using HM is, in a very real sense, engaging in an artistic enterprise. Keeping the criticism constructive is the trick, but so far I’ve been very impressed with everyone’s feedback, even when I don’t necessarily agree with it.

    Not everyone will like everything you do as an artist. The key is to be able to learn how to create work that better achieves what you were hoping to achieve, leaving out that which is useless from that which is helpful, even if it hurts a bit.

    Good stuff, everyone! And thanks for covering the contest histories Imp, while I was in my self-imposed Internet exile day πŸ™‚

  37. Kaldath says:

    You are welcome Jeff ( even thought I am not imp πŸ˜‰ )

  38. Aaron says:

    Super Hero v The Rock; I chose the rock because his costume reminds me of old school superhero costumes

    Ramses v Phantom; Ramses just because he looks bad ass

    Doubleback Skugg v Justice; Doubleback Skugg because Justice just looks to goody-goody

    Psyren v Raven; Raven because I think he also looks pretty bad ass and like he’s more able to protect me then Psyren is

    Crescent v Seismo; Crescent because the creater was creative with limited female apps

    Super v Comet; Comet because super is way to complex. Comet has a simple costume yet still looks heroic. Sometimes it’s better just to be more simple

    Ultima Terraxan v The Mighty Atlas;Mighty Atlas for the same reason for Comet he looks simple to make yet heroic

    Shadow Justice v Eagle; Shadow Justice because he looks like the silent heroic type like Snameeyes from GI Joe

  39. Gero says:

    Well, I already said which is my overall favorite, but since everyone else is giving their opinions for each grouping, I guess I’ll do that, too…

    1-1-The Rock (which, from the insignia featuring a bird and a chess piece, was probably supposed to say “The Rook”), mainly because, while both entries are pretty bland, the Rock has that little up/down hood.

    1-2-Ramses, because I just don’t think that Phantom used the right headgear to match the rest of the outfit.

    1-3-Doubleback Skugg…honestly, I just like the name.

    1-4-Raven, because it feels more like the correct name for the picture than Syren does.

    1-5-Cresent, for pretty much the same reason as above. Seismo just doesn’t seem to have anything in his picture that would tie in with that name.

    1-6-Comet, not because I like it more, but because Power has been in two contests before this, and, honestly, I’m tired of seeing it.

    1-7-Ultima Terraxan, because Atlas just seems too plain, even with the background.

    1-8-Eagle-as I’ve said before-is my overall favorite in this contest. I just think the pose is amazing, and can only imagine how much money it’s artist dropped in their swear jar by the time it was finished.

  40. Johny — I did enter, but I was #18 so I got cut. And like I said, next time I have something up y’all have the right to tear me a new one. As for color vs. detail — I’m a theatrical costuming person, so I favor line and color over fine detail.

  41. johny says:

    @PhoenixTalion: im sorry from before and that you didn’t make the cut, you would have gone far in the contest.

    @Jeff: thanks for the tip and the creative advice.

  42. johny says:

    1-1-The Rock: both entries are pretty bland

    1-2-Ramses,looks badass

    1-3-Doubleback Skug,different but good

    1-4-Raven, kinda almost looks like batman,i like the up close style it give him the mystery look

    1-5-Cresent, looks like a comic book plus her outfit matches her name

    1-6-super,comet looks plain ,boring,not enough items,not worth eye candy,

    super well done,very creative,
    i like background,i like the kilt he must be from Ireland.its eye catchy,

    1-7-Ultima Terraxan, because Atlas just seems too plain,

    1-8-Eagle : all the way

  43. Johny: No worries, I’ve got a thread on the forums now, so feel free to have at mine.

  44. Danny Beaty says:

    @Aaron: Thanks! I’m a firm believer in the Jamie Hyneman (of “Mythbusters”) credo: “Simple is better.”

  45. Aaron says:

    @Danny Beaty No problem

  46. song_bird says:

    If we lose, do our other submissions make it through?

  47. Jeff Hebert says:

    @Song_Bird: That’s one of the things I am asking about for feedback. The way it’s originally intended is no, when you’re out, you’re out, but I hate the thought of all those great images not being seen at all. So we’re debating some sort of seeding brackets going forward to determine where in the sixteen you fall, using the other characters, etc.

  48. Runt82 says:

    I don’t want to call this idea a loser’s bracket, but this idea could work. It’s hard for me to do this without drawing it in person, but I’ve done the best I can below with a tree diagram. The winners travel down the right side of each branch of the tree, while the losers travel down the left side. After each round the winners and losers get separated, so that at the end of round 4, you have an overall ranking for all participating entrants (1 through 16, 1 being on the right, 16 on the left). This isn’t single elimination (nor double elimination) and it allows every character entered a chance to be seen. If this is confusing, let me know and I’ll try to explain it better, but this an idea I think could work.

    16
    End Round 1: 8 8
    End Round 2: 4 4 4 4
    End Round 3: 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
    End Round 4: 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

  49. Runt82 says:

    *Nevermind, it didn’t format right, I’ll try to post a link in a little bit.

  50. Jeff Hebert says:

    Love to see that link Runt, I think we’re thinking the same thing but visuals work better for me.

  51. Runt82 says:

    I just threw it together in a couple minutes, so please forgive the roughness of it.

    http://forums.ugo.com/showpost.php?p=624333&postcount=170

  52. kingmonkey says:

    How about at the end, you just post the entries from folks who didn’t make it past round X? One big gallery at the end?

    The Rock (Rook?) took my vote in 1-1. He reminds me of the Hourman. I like the simple, concise nod to the golden age. Superhero looked too much like Deadpool for me to consider it as a new hero. I might have recommended some more accessories or a modification to the spandex/colouring for more originality.

    Rameses won, but not by much. I was actually quite impressed by Phantom’s sophistication despite being made by HM2. In the end, I went with Ramses because I thought he looke dmore fantastic, more “super”. Close round.

    I chose Doubleback Skugg over Justice for two reasons. One, the design was unique. Two, Justice suffered from a gaudy colour scheme. Both of these entrants were close, and with a little tweaking of colour, both would be truly awesome entries.

    Syren and Raven were in another close round, in my mind. Syren had a great colour scheme, but I’ve never been fond of the Image-style costumes, which this one has. Raven, while limited in scope, due to being just a head shot, had enough personality and attention to detail to take my vote.

    Crescent took the round against Seismo. She has a good colour scheme and coherent costume, even with the yellow crescents. Nice hair, too. Seismo, while clean and coherent, lacked something extra that would have made him a contender.

    I chose Comet over Super for a couple reasons, too. Supr, while intricate and well-designed,isn’t a super hero type character, in my opinion, and thus lost on a technicality. Comet, while a bit plain, has the start of a good, solid superhero suit.

    The Mighty Atls could easily have won, but I found the A on his chest didn’t come off quite right. I found it distracting from an otherwise straightforward but neat costume. UT, on the other hand, had some nice colours and a decent background effect. I’m a fan of the Frank Miller, black-out-all-that-detail drawing style.

    I’m sad to say that Shadow Justice lost on account of having too much going on in the cape department. I understand the desired effect, but I don’t know that it worked too well. Eagle has a good look and a fantastc pose. I voted for Eagle.

    Take my opinion for what it’s worth, and know that I liked all entries.

    Of course, if PhoenixTallion and I were in the contest, we would have easily swept the whole event, I’m sure. You all won by default, as far as I’m concerned. πŸ˜‰

  53. song_bird2103 says:

    All of my work was made before the competition. I just never submitted them into heromachine.com contests. But, it’s all good. When you lose, you lose. I had fun while it lasted, though.

  54. Hammerknight says:

    It’s not over yet still 4 more days.

  55. johny says:

    how about the loser can have their own contest
    their prize 1st round honorably mention and 2nd round any item to be included to the site, 3 round face , 4th round a black and white illusion of their choosing
    that by said:the loser will win something so that is a win/win lose/lose situation

    what do you think

  56. John says:

    “Of course, if PhoenixTallion and I were in the contest, we would have easily swept the whole event, I’m sure. You all won by default, as far as I’m concerned.”

    …sounds like fightin’ words to me, HM community! You gonna sit for that kinda trash talk? Or are you gonna bring your best for FNF2? Huh? Huh? Huh?

    Don’t give up hope, song_bird2103…you can take it to ’em in the next fight!

  57. song_bird2103 says:

    From my understanding, my other submitting characters won’t make it into the next rounds.

  58. John says:

    @song_bird: Yes, that’s correct. The “next fight” to which I refer would be FNF2. Don’t despair hould you not make it out of this round. Live to fight another day!

  59. “…sounds like fightin’ words to me, HM community! You gonna sit for that kinda trash talk?”

    He said it! He said it, not me. πŸ˜›

  60. kingmonkey says:

    And by not immediately and unequivocally stating your dissension from my opinion, PhoenixTalion, you have tacitly implied that you are of the samemind. Sorry, pal, it’s just politics.

  61. MartianBlue says:

    Out of curiosity kingmonkey have you got your’s posted to your ugo thread? I’ve seen PhoenixTailon’s and they would have made a nice entry into the contest.

  62. Hammerknight says:

    I agree with MartianBlue, kingmonkey show the hand that you were going to play.

  63. kingmonkey says:

    Uh, I’m signed up, but I don’t remember if I even have a UGO thread. Do I? What’s the url to get to the appropriate forums?

  64. kingmonkey says:

    Never mind, I found the forum. I’ll see what I can do.

  65. kingmonkey says:

    And for those of you who want to judge me back, here are my entries.

    http://forums.ugo.com/showthread.php?p=624414#post624414

  66. Zyp says:

    Just sharing thoughts about the creations of my competitors:
    (I’m in the contest)

    1.My vote:The Rock. As some have said above the Super Hero is very deadpoolish. I think the red and black colour scheme is quite common in the superhero genre, and needs some other detail to be interesting. Just the colours are a bit dull.
    The rock on the other hand is also quite simle but has just the right items in right places, nothing’s too much.

    2.Ramses. The Phatom was just unlucky to get one of the best pics of the round agaist him. A very good hm2 creation, but no match for Ramses and his cool mask-thingy. Don’t like the spikes in the armour, though.

    3.Doubleback Skugg. These were both a bit dull. Justice’s backround just doesn’t compliment the character. It makes the red armour look bad… wrong colours. DS is solid character with no notable flaws but nothing very special.

    4.Raven. Psyrens costume is quite… well too revealing for a cool superhero costume in my opinion. The blue hair is very neat though… and the background psyche effects. Raven is batmanish as Super Hero was deadpoolish. But Raven still is different enough to be a good character. I think the wings on his back would’ve made him even more distinctable if visible.

    5.Crescent. I like the overall design a lot here. But it makes me wonder why does a pistol wielding hero have a cape? I like Seismo’s costume, but the bright colours in the background makes the picture look flat. I think toning down the colours there would help creating the illusion of depth.

    6.Comet. I think Super is overall better creation than comet but since it has been in some earlier contests, iIve grown a bit tired of it. It also makes me fear that the creators other submissions in FNF are somethin we’ve seen before. So I voted Comet which is a bit dull due to not using the color1/color2 system. But it’s not bad.

    7.Ultima Terraxan. I Like the sense of personality in UT. The backgound bubble effects are cool. I’ve never quite liked those inhumanly heroic superman-type of heroes.. Though Atlases costume could be pretty cool if done with a little more detail. The pose could also be more heroic.

    8.Eagle. The background in shadow justice is too dark for the dark character. I like the layered cape idea but it might have worked better if the layers were darker the further away they are from the wiever, the nearest layer the lightest and and the one furthest away the darkest. Eagle is cool! πŸ™‚

    Jeff: I assume that the submissions won’t be in the same order as now since many of the contestants have revealed which are their creations.

  67. Jeff Hebert says:

    Zyp, the plan was to match the highest vote getter of the top 8 with the lowest of the Top 8, and so on. There’s some risk of identifying creators if people want to go back and count votes from the previous round, but I don’t think there’s a way around that unless I go with a totally random assignment of matchups, which introduces the risk of bias.

  68. Zyp says:

    Jeah.. Well I guess it isn’t so dangerous to get identifyed. There’s not gonna be super-villains attaking our loved ones if our true identities are revealed. πŸ˜€ I hope…

  69. kyle says:

    @ZyP:why do you want the creator’s identity to be reveal,
    is it because you want to critique the creator instead
    of their work.
    so that way you can feel better of yourself and your work

    p.s which one is yours on here?

  70. kyle says:

    i agree with Johny and king monkey.
    i think the loser should have their own contest or have a gallery up that way they can fell better that they accomplished something.

    what the SAM hill is comic con?

  71. kyle says:

    will the loser get their own contest?

    to those that are legging behind in behind are you OK of having and not making it to the second round?

    is comic con where people dress up as their favorite superhero or villain,where there all great stars are,
    tons of artist, wall to wall comics

  72. kyle says:

    correct: to those that are legging behind are you OK of having and not making it to the second round?

  73. Zyp says:

    kyle I don’t WANT the creator to be revealed. I’m just saying that if someone does figure out what’s who’s work and votes the name instead of the creation that’s his problem and theres nothing we gan do about it.

  74. Danny Beaty says:

    @Jeff: If I understand correctly, if I lose the FNF,Round 1 competition (and it seems to be going my opponent’s way) all of my other characters will not be eligible for the other FNFs. Am I correct?

  75. Jeff Hebert says:

    @Danny: That is correct, yes. It’s a single-elimination bracket tournament.

    Having said that, I am wanting some way to make sure those other characters get seen, probably with a parallel set of tournaments to decide final seating for the other slots (3 through 16, since 1 and 2 are the last two standing).

  76. kyle says:

    @Zyp:i understand we want them to vote for the entire not are name. got it πŸ™‚

  77. Gene says:

    Haven’t had a chance to read through all of the comments, but it sounds like you are looking for a way to showcase all entrants work. Maybe try a double elimination style contest:

    http://www.baberuthleague.org/images/8team.pdf

  78. Isia says:

    I like the overall concept of the contest, however I don’t like the program(?) used. We have two users in our household, but it would only allow one of us to vote per day. Even when I would try to vote at work, I got one vote, and the other days I tried, it said “Thank you, we have already counted your vote” (or something close to that). I think if it were possible, on the next go around we should try a program where you have to log in or something, so everyone’s vote would get counted. Just my frustrated opinion, thanks.

  79. Jeff Hebert says:

    Yeah, PollDaddy lets you set it to either cookie, or cookie plus IP address. I chose the latter, but that will prevent multiple computers behind the same router from voting more than once per day. If I turn off all vote tracking then people can just stuff the ballot box, which isn’t really fair. I know it’s frustrating. Maybe next time I’ll set it to cookie only, although even then if you’re both on the same computer, there’s not really a way around it.

    A log-in system isn’t going to happen, that’s incredibly complicated and would prevent casual friends/users from dropping in and casting a quick “help out a buddy” kind of vote.

  80. Isia says:

    I can understand that, and we are on different computers so maybe the cookie only one will work better.

  81. John says:

    Wow…talk about running the gamut. From decisive landslides to ONE vote! I think Mr. Hebert better start counting hanging chads!

  82. Gene says:

    Hey Jeff, just out of curiosity, who’d you vote for, and why?

  83. Jeff Hebert says:

    I didn’t vote, I am an impartial administrator πŸ™‚