Yearly Archives: 2011

META: On mancation

Best bud and "Friend of HeroMachine" John Hartwell is in town and we're headed up to Telluride today through Friday for unplugged Mancation time. That means I'll have very limited Internet access, so your moderated comments will be more delayed than usual until I can get to a wi-fi spot to check in via the iTouch. I've also got our regularly scheduled features queued up and ready to go so it'll be like I'm still here.

Be good to each other!

Poll Position: Luke Skywalker vs. Magneto

I return to our "Versus" roots this week for the following Throwdown Spectacular:

{democracy:198}

I'm assuming we're dealing with a full Jedi Luke here, the guy from Episode VI. So that means Magneto can probably grab that robotic hand and try to rip it out of Luke's forearm. On the other hand, you can be pretty sure Skywalker's going to be grabbing back with the full power of the Force at his command. Which will be the more powerful tool? Considering Yoda was far superior to Luke in Force-power, and yet even he could lift an X-Wing only very slowly, while Magneto routinely chunks tanks and planes and ships around, I would think Magneto wins.

Still, as a Jedi, Luke I am sure is equally adept with either hand, so the loss of one might not be a major inconvenience. We also learned during Empire that even a half-trained Jedi gets used to having big chunky blocks of metal flung at him, which is one of Magneto's favorite tricks.

The key question in this fight to my mind is, could Luke get close enough to Magneto to bring his light saber into play? If he can, I think Magneto's toast. He can throw up all the magnetic shields he wants, I doubt it's going to get in the way of a well-placed Jedi saber slash.

What do you think? Who would win, and why?

What kind of a city's never seen a manhole before?

(From "Green Lantern" number 2, ©1960, DC Comics.)

Character Contest 72: The Power COSMIC!

Your challenge for this week is to create the coolest character in the best illustration possible using any version of the HeroMachine that has something to do with the broad category of “Cosmic”. You could just use a name of a cosmological phenomenon like “Black Hole” or “Nebula”, or you could design a “star elf” from a fantasy role playing game, or simply a super-hero with some sort of cosmic-related powers. Classic examples would include Marvel’s “Galactus” (duh!) or “Nova,” or perhaps DC’s “Eclipso” or “Sun-Eater.”

However, “Cosmic” should not be confused with “Sci-Fi” or "Based in Space". For example, DC’s "New Gods" series featuring the likes of Darkseid and High Father is set in the vast reaches of time and space, but the characters themselves are not necessarily “cosmic”. New God "Orion" would qualify, but Darkseid would not.

I'm also excited and honored to have as our Guest Judge this week none other than "Friend of HeroMachine" Mr. John Hartwell, who in addition to being an instructor at the prestigious Portfolio Center in Atlanta, Georgia, is also the guy who introduced me to the Champions RPG. John's got impeccable design sense and a keen eye for good super hero costuming, so be sure to bring your "A" game this week.

The person with the winning entry as selected by John will win their choice of either a portrait or item to go in HeroMachine 3, or a custom black and white “Sketch of the Day” style drawing (by yours truly). The rules otherwise are the same as always:

  • Be sure to check out this thread that explains how to post a link to your image!
  • All entries must be in JPG or PNG form (BMPs are too big), posted to a publicly accessible website (like ImageShack, PhotoBucket, the UGO Forums, whatever);
  • Entries must be made as a comment or comments to this post, containing a link directly to the image and the character name;
  • The image cannot have been used in any previous HeroMachine character design contest;
  • Please name your files as [your name]-[character name].[file extension]. So DiCicatriz, for instance, would save his "Bayou Belle" character image as DiCicatriz-BayouBelle.png.
  • Please make the link go directly to the image (like this) and not to a hosting jump page (like this). If you see "preview" or "rotate" somewhere in the link you're probably doing it wrong.
  • All entries must be in by next Monday, when I'll choose a winner.

Entries are limited to three (3) per person, so pull out your red editing pen and make ‘em your best!

Caption Contest 106 Winners!

I think Caption Contest 106 was the most difficult one to date, generating the fewest entries in a long, long time and presenting major challenges. Kudos therefore to the following four folks who managed to build in a funny interim thought between the two existing ones!

  • Loki: Everyone thinks I’m a dick because I’m so awesome…
  • Myro:
    1. “People need to learn to never, ever kneel before Zod.”
    2. “I told DC that rebooting again would be a bad idea.”
  • Skybandit: Teaching Luthor and Brainiac to play World of Warcraft has left me with nothing to do but reporting!
  • Mr.MikeK: Lois kicked me out when I proved her wrong again.
  • spidercow2010: I’ve been appointed SuperPope!

I liked Loki's for the irony, Myro's for the topical reference and for anything referencing "kneel before Zod", Skybandit's because I'm about to restart my WoW account here in a few days, Mr.MikeK's prescient analysis of male-female relationships, and spidercow2010's excellent referral to one of the great Super Dickery moments of all time.

But I have to choose just one as the ultimate winner, and for that I have to go with the one I thought was the cleverest leveraging of the two existing balloons, in a way that made me laugh. Namely, Loki!

Congratulations to Loki -- just let me know what you'd like for your prize either in comments or via email, Loki, and I'll get it on the list.

Thanks to everyone who entered, and next time we'll do something that's a little more universal, promise!

Hal Jordan takes a walk on the wild side

(From "Green Lantern" number 2, ©1960, DC Comics.)

Samson’s Labor Day party

(From "Samson" number 1, 1940.)

Power User Profile: Zyp!

At long last, arguably one of the greatest HeroMachine creators around has provided his Power User Profile. Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to present the one, the only, ZYP!

Continue reading

And architecture!

(From "Samson" number 1, 1940.)

Caption Contest 101 Prize

As his prize for winning Caption Contest 101, ajw chose a custom drawing of an awesome action figure he created. So here's your drawing, ajw, hope you like it!