FNF2, Round 1: Friar Tuck

The votes are in, and the seeds are seeded! Congratulations to the top 16 vote-getters in the Play-In Cage Match:

Kyle, Rancid, Haxxx, AJW, Alphaalpharomeo, and Danny Beaty fought the good fight, but unfortunately did not make the 16-team cutoff. However, they WILL participate each week in an all-against-all consolation bracket for that week's characters, so you'll still get to see their creations, and they'll still have a chance to win something each time out. Those who are eliminated each week will join the consolation pool as well. I'll post that round in a few hours.

For those who advance, each of the Final Four teams will receive a prize, while the first runner-up also gets a black and white character sketch, and the winner a color sketch.

And now, for the first time anywhere, your Friday Night Fights 2 Bracket!

Here's where you come in. You can vote once per day in each of the eight matches. That's right, once per day! So get all of your friends to come back to HeroMachine.com each day to stuff your ballot box. You can see a larger version of each entry simply by clicking on the thumbnail. Finally, you can read the stories after all the polls are listed.

Good luck everyone!

And now, larger images of each character for those of you disinclined to click, along with the story for each.

Me, Myself, and I: The Friar and the Cardinal

The Friar and the Cardinal
 
Cardinal Tuck was fast becoming desperate. He had been immersed in the Catholic Church as a child and saw how its influence was diminishing. Amongst all of the Mars mining colonies, there was only one cathedral still functioning and hardly a word of the faith even made it to Saturn’s moons or Pluto. The church was dying everywhere. Even back on Earth it was shrinking annually.
 
It was time for some drastic measures; it was time for a miracle. When it came to pass that one of his few faithful flock came for confession the answers came to him. He was an assistant at a certain R&D science facility and knew something of Nottingham cities Sherriff’s crimes and of the alternate dimension’s existence. He admitted his shame about not going to the authorities but was fearful for his sister life as she was being held captive by William Brewer.
 
The Cardinal believed it was no coincidence that the secret came to him, on the eve of his despair, but rather a sign from god. What to do about the information though? As he pondered the Sherriff’s men caught up with him. They had discovered the leak in their security and were following up on the breech. They took Cardinal Tuck before the Sherriff and during their parley inspiration struck. The Cardinal needed a miracle to re-kindle the faith of the people, and not just a small miracle either. The Sherriff was starting to solicit more and more pressure about his recent activities and needed a smoke screen to provide cover. It wasn’t long before an accord was reached where both parties could get what they needed. The church would get miraculously be able to introduce a solution to the prime dimensions resource issues, galvanizing colonies. Likewise the Sherriff would gain the appearance of a legitimate front to carry on his business. Despite Cardinal Tuck’s misgivings, the deal was made.
 
The prime Sherriff eventually introduced Cardinal Tuck to a man from the mirror dimension named Friar Tuck.  It was suspected that the Friar had been secretly helping ‘The Merry Men’ so he was strongly invited to a meeting. The Sherriff was hoping that Cardinal Tuck would be able to gain this Friar’s trust and either get what intelligence they could from him or perhaps even turn him. Cardinal Tuck agreed to meet with the Friar and intended to do just what the Sherriff suggested. The Sherriff had Friar Tuck transported to the prime dimension where the men of the cloth could meet.
 
Upon meeting the Friar however the Cardinal’s guilt overcame him. Friar Tuck reminded the Cardinal of himself at a younger age. The Friar was full of hope and faith and the burdens of the world hadn’t weighed him down like they had the Cardinal. The cardinal did not wish to sign the Friar to the same fate he had become ensorcelled into. He also knew that failure to do so would merely end with the Friar being imprisoned, tortured and slain by the Sherriff. Saddened by his revelation he thought the best solution would be a quick end. In retrospect, it’s what he would have preferred for himself after all. The Cardinal held a feast in the Friar’s honour that evening and poisoned his mead fully expecting that to be the end of it. What the Cardinal did not count on was that the Friar had been driven to a bit of excess on occasion with all manner of drink. He was quite a glutton in fact. It just so happened that the poison the Cardinal used had far less effect on the Friar as his frequent excesses had helped him build up an immunity.
 
The Friar woke up, with a nasty migraine, in a pine box. Once escaping the box he realized he was in a small funeral home waiting to be cremated, of course his revival shocked the workers there. Mistakenly recognizing him as Cardinal Tuck raised from the dead, a few of the workers began to spread the word of the miracle.
 
Friar Tuck did his best to disappear in this alien world but stood out everywhere. Wracked with remorse the Cardinal was thrilled to find out that Friar Tuck had somehow survived. Of course he was running amok and causing all kind of disturbances and couldn’t be left to his own devises in this world that must seem so strange to him. Cardinal Tuck exerted his influence to try to diminish the stories of him rising from the dead and to hide Friar Tuck’s true fate. It was better that the Sherriff think the Friar was dead. It was some time before Friar Tuck finally found an ally in John Young. When Friar Tuck did find an ally in John Young, the rumours seemed to die down and the mess subside. Cardinal Tuck was worried that the Friar had actually found his true end but could no longer find trace of him.

Alex: Friar Tuck

Robin Hood and his Merry men are rebels against the corrupt goverment of their star system "Kingdom".Robin and his friends travel ot the space ship "Loxley" fighting the evil tyrant John who pronounced himself King of the star system.Their base is hidden in "Sherwood Forest" a meteorite field deep in the state of Nottingham ...

Friar Tuck - He is the ships cook and ammunitions expert.On his homeworld he was a General in the army but after King John takes over ,the planets armies are disbanded.After that he starts traveling through the system in search of his faith.He is a religious person but hasn't found which religion is best for him.

DiCicatriz: Shaman Tuk

Tuk belonged to the Brotherhood of Higher Consciousness, a peaceful religious group of monks who inhabited the outer edge of the Empire, living on the borders of the dimensional rift. He was the prodigy of his group, attaining vast psychic abilities through their training and ritual exposure to interdimenaional energies. His order having been wiped out by the Preceptor, who feared their abilities, Tuk seeks to avenge his brothers by joining with Robenne's group. He carries the psychic essences of his order housed in a sacred jar so that they may witness the downfall of the empire.

Jordanxord: Frytuch, aka "Friar Tuck"

Frytuch is an alien missionary, a member of the Order of Indrenik, a religious order in the alien world of Grevanor. He arrived on Earth in a mission to investigate and explore the human race and culture. When the tyrant Baron Mordach began his evil reign, Frytuch tried to talk with the Baron and help him to reason and think about his ways. The baron ordered his arrest and sent him to a space prison, where he was rescued by Robin Hood. After his rescue, he joined Robin and his crusade against the evil Baron. Robin began to call him “Friar Tuck”. Tuck is a great philosopher and scholar, and a devoted man of religion. Altough it may sound as a contradiction, Tuck is also a trained and skilled fighter, using a bo or fighting staff as his weapon of choice.

Myro: Sister Tuck

Josephine Tuck has dreamed since she was a child of joining the seminary, and working for The Galactic Church of Infinite Truth, hearing the calling of her faith.  However, now recently ordained into the church, she finds, while she still believes in her faith, she has lost confidence in the church itself,  for having propped up Princess Joan’s illegitimate rule.   She put in to be transferred to the Galactic Frontier, to serve as a military chaplain, but the vessel that was transporting her was waylaid by Robyn Hood and crew.  Although Tuck did nothing, beyond pleading with the pirates, in the way to resist them as they made off with the ship’s supplies (leaving just enough behind to get them back to the nearest Naval Base),  when Elaine O’Dale tried to take Sister Tuck’s cross, Tuck defended herself with a shock pole, rendering O’Dale unconscious.  After fending off Little Jane, Tuck found herself facing Robyn Hood herself in a shock pole duel, which Tuck won.   Robyn ordered her Lively Ladies to depart, leaving Tuck unmolested, and at the last moment, Sister Tuck chose to join Robyn’s crew.  She serves on the crew providing medical aid (having learned nursing in the seminary), and spiritual guidance to the crew, as well as a willingness to defend the ship’s crew with her shock pole when required, despite her vows of non-violence.

Gargoyle323

Tuck is a reluctant Holy Man from the planet Earth. A easy going man with a love for music and wine, he was one of the survivors after the Sheriff attacked his planet. He swore to bring justice on this evil man, no matter what it takes. He was severely injured and needed to have cybernetic parts to keep him alive and able to continue his pursuit of the Sheriff. He has joined forces with Earth's remaining fighting forces and their leader, Robin Hood. He is part of these M.E.R.-E men (Mechanically Enhanced Rebels-Earth class) and will do what must be done to protect the universe from The Lord Sheriff.

Hammerknight

Friar Tuck had started a monastery on one of Sherwood Forrest's smaller meteors. Tuck began to care for Robin and placed him and Little John into hiding. Upon Robin's recovery, he began to plan a way for him and the other farmers to regain their farms on Nottingham. The only trade route from Nottingham to New London was through Sherwood Forest. Robin organized attacks on the Sheriff Corp's transports, stealing their goods, and using them to feed the hungry families in Sherwood.

Rozenstal

No story provided.

Imp: Friar Wolfram Tuck

A priest of the United Church and a former member of its Viridian Order (an order of fighting monks), Tuck was discredited by the Church after certain embarrassing incidents involving vast quantities of alcohol, hiraga weed, and young women.  He was thrown out of the Viridians and became a wandering monk, eventually making his way to Nottingham Sector and joining Robin Hood in his fight against the Marshalls.

Frevoli: Tucker Fry

The gang's coming together, but what they don't have is a technology expert. Enter inventer and spiritualist Tucker Fry. Bound by an ancient order which even he knows little about (but still regards fairly important) Tucker is the self determined "comic relief" of the group.

Jean: T.U.C.K.

Originally Father Fontaine Tucker, a Catholic Priest who had protested the brain ships, the (literal) brain of the ship was once a man who strongly believed in peace and justice.  Now trapped inside a brainship he still holds to these beliefs and will act to protect not just the crew but any innocents who may be involved. As a human, TUCK (as he now prefers to be called) was a bit of a hedonist, who enjoyed cooking and still uses the food replicators on the ship to prepare fine meals for his human friends.  For convenience, he usually appears in a holographic form that strongly resembles his former self.

GeneH

No story provided.

Atomic Punk: Frre Tuk

Of all the Merry Men, Frre Tuk is the most enigmatic. Robin Hood "met" Tuk while attempting to hack into the Fontane Dale Financial Systems' network. Robin intended to use the bank as a backdoor to the Sheriff of Nottingham's tax records. FDF and Nottingham have a rather cozy relationship. Tuk was well aware of Nottingham's financial tricks. Still, he had a job to do.

Robin and Tuk fought a pitched battle in cyberspace. First, was a battle of wits, spamming floods, Spacebook flaming, and chat room insults. Robin grew impatient and launched an all out attack: denials of service, worms, even writing virus code on the fly. In all, their exchanges were fifty for fifty.

Suddenly, Tuk relented. Robin took advantage and "blew the horn": hacker jargon for a rapid code break. Tuk also blew the horn. Robin found himself on the defensive. Tuk had responded with his "packet dogs." Code of his own design, the packet dogs had infiltrated Robin's own network.

Just as Robin thought he would lose his entire system in a flash, Tuk broke the attack. He sent a message to Robin: "Well played, good sir. I am most impressed." Tuk then opened the Sheriff's system to Robin for a brief glimpse.

Robin and Tuk soon were chatting regularly in cyberspace. The two have never met, at least Robin does not believe that they ever have. No one knows whether Tuk is a real person. Some rumors say that Tuk is an artificial intelligence. Others, that he is a brain tape that made its way into cyberspace. Still others say Tuk might be a double agent working for Fontane Dale. To add to the riddle, Tuk now refers to himself as FrereTuk. He claims that Tuk stands for "Truth, Unity, and Knowledge."
Tuk is the merriest of the Merry Men. He is Robin's Chief Intelligence Officer, despite never being physically present. Though he can be flaky and sometimes mischievous, he has never broken Robin's trust. If he is human, he must imbibe quite frequently. Some of his chats tend to be rambling and incoherent.

TJ

Far from a true man of the cloth, Tuck is more of a street Preacher Spreading the word to the masses of
Prince Johns demise under the guise and yarn of the "gospils."

VonMalcolm: Deep Fryer Truck

The second largest member of The Robbing Hoods is Deep Fryer Truck:  a massive advanced animal (parahuman) with a love for Fried E.T.s and Alien Ale.  To gain entry into the Robbing Hoods he ripped Robbin’s legs off:  this led to Robbin’s cybernetic replacement legs.  Truck’s belly is the secret hiding place of  the amoeba-like Too Much. 

Cliff

No story provided.

30 Responses to FNF2, Round 1: Friar Tuck

  1. Me, Myself & I says:

    Once again, it appears as though mine is the longest winded entry. Lots of story for those that are interested. All in all though, Friar Tuck was my least favourite entry as I was running out of time and rushed through this one. I’m really hoping I last for the Maid Marian round. I think my entry for that one will surprise a few people.

  2. VonMalcolm says:

    I think I like these Friars better than the Sheriffs.

    My (Fluid) Top 7:

    1: Gargoyle323: Friar Tuck (Another #1)
    2: Alex: Friar Tuck (Bringing the Heavy Artillery! -Damn! I am regretting not giving my ‘Friar Tuck’ a sidearm! Alex, tell your Friar to put those weapons down and engage in a fair fight!)
    3: Rozenstal: Friar Tuck (Is that drink Alive!)
    4: Frevoli: Tucker Fry (Interesting Face and Weapon)
    5: Imp: Wolfram Tuck (Dropped a bit because not Sci-fi-ish)
    6: Myro: Sister Tuck (Nice Light Effects)
    7: DiCicatriz : Shaman Tuk (Friar Tuck has gone on a diet!)

    Too bad Imp and Rozenstal are facing each other! I might be flip-flopping on this one throughout the week.

    I kept my Friar larger than the frame to give him a sense of size.

    I can’t wait to see the other Friar Tucks.

  3. Hammerknight says:

    Good job to all. It looks like it is going to be a good fight this round everyone has done a great job.

  4. Myro says:

    MMI(1): Yes, you shame me in the vast amounts that you have written compared to me. I felt I had spent quite some time writing, and the fact I had to do it twice probably weighs on me the most (stupid computer error). However, I think I had the opposite experience, in that I had done my Tuck character third, and in many ways felt it was my strongest entry of the group, whereas I put my “Maid Marian” character off until last, having difficulty figuring out how I wanted it to appear, and felt I kinda threw that one together. On the other hand, my Maid Marian is a guy, which goes with out saying, as all my other characters are female. That may really go against me if I make it that far.

    VonMalcolm(2): Thanks for the favorable rating, and actually thanks for the top 10 last week too.

  5. Gargoyle323 says:

    WOW!!! Great job by all on the Friar Tuck entries! These all look terrific. This is going to be a great battle in this round. Good luck to all and really nice job!

    @VonMalcolm-Thanks for the high ranking! You keep this up and I might start to develop a man crush on you!(Ha-Ha!)

  6. Danny Beaty says:

    So anyone whose Sheriff of Nottingham was not picked is disqualified from all remaining matches?

  7. Me, Myself & I says:

    Well so far Atomic Punk has one of the most outside the box submissions. I enjoyed it because it was so unusual. Cool idea Atomic Punk. I suspect the fact that, other than the hands, there is no actual character present is working against you. Much like my volcano submission a while back.

    GeneH, a jedi like Friar Tuck. I like a martial arts drunken master concept. Certainly not easy to pull off. You have s strong competitor with Myro. Myro, I really like the lighting on yours; it almost looks like actual neon lights which I imagine was your intent. I certainly won’t hold the gender role reversal against you; I thought it was a neet idea.

    Vonmalcolm, yours was certainly out of the box as well. It left me wondering what the story was about the critter on his stomache. You have some stiff competition against Alex who did a great job as well.

    Imp, I like your trading cards theme. You pulled it off quite well without making it seem campy.

    DiCicatriz I like your simple concept. you didn’t get very complicated and I think it paid off. Likewise TJ, a very simple concept. I can actually picture your character roaming the streets.

    Gargoyle323 you got quite a stout looking entry. I certainly wouldn’t want to end up on his bad side. I like the logo’s and the religious imagery. You produced that quite well.

  8. Me, Myself & I says:

    Oh yah Alex, I forgot you mention your tatoo’s. Well done indeed.

  9. Jeff Hebert says:

    Danny (6): Yes, that was the nature of the Play-In Round, to determine who the sixteen seeds in the actual tournament would be.

    After this week, 8 more people will be eliminated, and they too will no longer advance week to week. Only the winners each week go forward, until ultimately there is only one person standing.

    Each week, however, those who did not make the cut (and this is cumulative) will compete against each other in a Consolation Round, so at least everyone gets a chance to win each week even if they’re not in the main tournament. I’ll post that one in a bit for those who didn’t make the tournament initial cut.

  10. ajw says:

    Thank you jeff i was so unhappy to lose out in the first round but at least now people can still see my guys

  11. Me, Myself & I says:

    I can’t speak for everyone else ajw (10) but I for one am looking foreword to seeing eveyone else’s submissions as well. Everyone put in a lot of effort and it would be a shame if we didn’t get to see them all.

  12. VonMalcolm says:

    @MMI – I like your Cardinal better than your Friar (but the Friar’s pretty good though); I also like your Sheriff, a little subtler than the other entries: the more I looked at him the more I liked him. That being said I don’t like him 52 to 4 better than Danny Beaty’s entry!

    @Danny – I don’t quite understand the lack of love for your Sheriff submission: the only thing I can come up with is his sword isn’t futuristic looking -though Frevoli got away with the same thing!

    @Haxxx – I am thinking a different color scheme *may* have helped your Sheriff: we all usually use a uniform scheme of two or three colors to cover most of the body and head, but with your Sheriff that uniform color scheme kind of garbled the upper body with his lower body -and with the background for that matter. He is a cool character -it is just hard to see that!

  13. @MMI: Thanks for the compliment. With this entry, I am relying on the strength of the backstory more than the illustration to carry me into the next round. Oh well, I’m having fun. :9

  14. Danny Beaty says:

    @VonMalcolm and MMI: Thanks guys!

  15. Me, Myself & I says:

    VonMalcolm (12), I certainly like the color scheme of the cardinal better than the friar. I wanted to make him look more modern (or post modern for that matter) as well as more politically and media savvy.

    For the Friar I was trying to make him as true to the medieval period style catholic friar uniform that was actually used seeing as that was the era he was from. The fact of the matter is that the medieval outfits used were really rather boring. I tried to make up for that with a little personality. I was hoping that a pint of mead and a big hunk of meat would go a long way.

    Because they were effectively the same person from different dimensions I also needed to make them appear similar enough that they could pass for one another while trying to maintain their individuality. Kind of like identical twins from different worlds.

    This wasn’t the first attempt at the Friar either. Here is my original concept.
    http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6781672/MMI-Large%20Friar%20Tuck.bmp
    Unfortunately HM3 started to get so glitchy that I had to start over and I was then running out of time so I didn’t get to add the banquette table back in.

  16. Myro says:

    MMI (15): It’s too bad you couldn’t have your original taking a single bite out of everything, and then chuck it over his shoulder too. 😀

  17. Me, Myself & I says:

    I was thinking the same thing Myro. That’s what I was trying to do when the program got all glitchy on me.

  18. The Imp says:

    Another very good round of entries.

    I think my favorite of the Tucks has got to be DiCicatriz’s – cool picture and nifty backstory.

  19. Solander says:

    Hi there Jeff! I have a question: do you know how far Mark has come with the big weapons art for HM3?

  20. Jeff Hebert says:

    Solander (19): I heard from him a few days ago. He’s got a lot going on in his regular life and job that have put a crimp in the Big Weapons development plan, but it’s still on his agenda and he’s working on it when he can.

  21. Me, Myself & I says:

    I find it interesting that the nummber of votes is different for each pair of contestants. I suspect that some voters don’t realize that they can vote on each pair.

  22. Me, Myself & I says:

    Holy smokes; there is only one vote separating Frevoli & Hammerknight! Votes seem to be comming in at a lesser rate lately as well. Just one or two more votes could sing it either way.

    Hey Jeff, What are you planning to do in case of a tie?

  23. Jordan_Xord says:

    Hi, fellas. If anyone wishes to comment on my submissions, you are more han welcome. I´d like to hear some feedback. Thanks.

  24. VonMalcolm says:

    @Jordan_Xord: I am flip flopping between your entry and Atomic Punk’s entry:

    Nitpick: your Friar’s feet look a little too small for his body -but maybe his alien race has naturally small feet! Also, Freytuch’s hands are quite large, but not necessarily too large.

    Since your Friar doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles (which is cool – simple elegance is always nice), a background *might* have added some depth.

    Just my two cents! I definitely like Freytuch!

  25. Jordan_Xord says:

    Thanks, Von Malcolm. Appreciated. Then don´t fight; GO FOR FREYTUCH, MAN!

  26. Alex says:

    @Von Malcolm:Dude it’s gonna be a photofinish 58 votes each RESPECT!
    BTW:I think my Friar Tuck will need his guns if he’s going to win this battle and how tall is you Deep Fryer Truck he looks like a giant ,honestly i’m a little afraid of him!

  27. Me, Myself & I says:

    Some of these are a lot closer than I expected at this point. Its going to be a nail biter for a few people. Wow, Myro has the most significant spread compared to the competition.

    I can’t wait for the next round!

  28. VonMalcolm says:

    @Alex: Throughout the week I have been trying to find a reason to not like your character: I can’t (other than nitpicking): he’s too good: IMO he is definitely the baddest, coolest Tuck of the bunch -the Tattoos rock! I actually thought my character was going to get creamed (or blown to smithereens)! The only reason I can think of why my character is hanging in there is perhaps he is a more appropriate ‘Friar Tuck’: the monk haircut, the big belly, the love of food, etc.

    I am torn on this one -I want to Win, but your character is exceptional! May the best character prevail!

    Deep Fryer is probably about eight feet tall and a half a ton in weight.

  29. Alex says:

    @Von Malcolm:64 votes each ,the suspense is killing me!

  30. Myro says:

    YAY! You like me! You really like me! I’m just afraid that I might have peaked too early. I did mention that I thought my Sister Tuck entry was my strongest. But that is a very convincing lead on GeneH.

    I am a little surprised about Atomic Punk’s entry starting to pull ahead despite starting the week from behind, while that Alex v. VonMalcolm battle is a pitched one.