I'm curious how your Significant Other(s), either current or past, react to your geekery. So my Sharing Day question for you is:
Talk about how your geeky obsessions impact your relationships with whoever you're dating. Do you only go out with people who are into the same kinds of nerdage as you? How important is their attitude towards the sci-fi/fantasy/movie/comics/super-hero world you love? Have you had a fight with your SO about something geeky, like whether or not a certain movie was any good or whether Star Wars is better than Star Trek, etc.?
As for me, I've never dated a fellow nerd. My SOs have always been very tolerant and understanding about My Secret Life As A Nerd, but they don't share my loves. My wife's very nice and goes to the big super-hero movies with me (especially if they feature Robert Downey, Jr.!), but that's about it. On the other hand, she's very generous in allowing me time to play World of Warcraft or whatever other game has hooked me that month.
If you like, in return for answering my question to you, you may ask a question of me on any topic and I'll do my best to answer honestly and completely.
I look forward to hearing your stories!
(Image via cyasarah.)
I too, Jeff, have married the ANTI-GEEK. She turns a blind eye to my hobbies as long as it doesn’t consume me. Now though, having 3 impressionable boys to corrupt, the race is on to shove all that is superheroes and star wars into their little heads before they think their father is a nut job.
Question – With all the changes that are happening, are there any rules or regulations that were in place before lifted? Such as creating DC or Marvel characters? Are all contest prizes still being honored?
Request – More Sketch of the Day!!!!
Congrats and Good Luck on everything that has transprired for you.
Cheers!
I definitely don’t want people recreating existing copyrighted characters as-is, partly for legal reasons but mostly because it’s kind of lame. What’s creative about remaking Superman exactly as someone else designed him? It’s boring.
However, I haven’t made up my mind yet about doing “Project Rooftop” types of redesigns. Like “Create a Batman 4000AD costume” kind of thing. Or just a straight redesign of, say, Booster Gold or whatnot. The legal issues there are much more ambiguous, but I think we’d be in the clear.
All contest prizes are indeed still being honored, at the same glacial pace I was maintaining before.
Cool! I hope you go the way of “project Rooftop” pics. I visit that site everyday for inspiration. Everyone should check it out – http://www.tencentticker.com/projectrooftop/
I am a little bit lucky in the sense that I am engaged to a fellow geek, but I think that he far surpasses my geek level. I have to be far more patient with him when games consume him month after month and the current kick has been Skyrim. The two of us also fight over geekdoms but only mainly because we have differing views on what part of the geekdom in question is that much better. (for example which doctor is the best doctor we’ve seen)
Question: Is there a geekdom that you cannot understand? (such as star wars, star trek, doctor who, or something of the like)
That’s very interesting, thanks Amy Elf! Do you play games as well, and does that lead to “It’s MY turn to use the system!” types of arguments?
As far as a geekdom I cannot understand, I’ll have to go with the “Twilight” stuff. I read the first book out of curiosity and to give it a fair shake, and it really wasn’t bad. Kind of enjoyable in some ways, actually. But I don’t get the Potter-level enthusiasm for it, largely due to the character of Bella. She’s just not heroic, like, at all, and I need me some heroism in my geekery. I kept wanting for her to do something, but her only overtly heroic act (trying to save her mother) was actually based on being a gullible idiot and resulted in her Big Plan being to run directly to the bad guy to get eaten.
So, yeah, that’d probably be mine. I mean, I don’t judge people for liking it, I’m happy they found something that floats their boat; it just doesn’t really do anything for me, personally.
for me it brought us together. We met on the bus we take together and still have discussions about star trek. Togheter, we can be exited about geek movies, books,… as most of my friends don’t have a clue what i’m talking about when i speak geek
I love “Project: Rooftop”!
Well, my fiancee doesn’t share my love of geekdom, in fact she has no interest in it whatsoever. She accepts my own geekiness (although will sometimes playfully mock me for it). Nor can I say that I’ve ever dated a fellow geek. So there have never been any Star Wars-Star Trek or Marvel-DC disagreements, but there have been some of the Star Wars-“Please, not Star Wars again” variety. I guess that’s why I love coming here so much, because you guys can fill the geek-void that my home-life doesn’t provide.
I don’t have a question yet, Jeff. I might get back to you later.
My wife, Brenda or Bre as we call her, not only tolerates my geekery, but joins in from time to time, He has not only RPed some great characters she GMed a Warhammer game back in the 90s,
Tonight she takes me to my AD&D game, I haven’t got to play since November due to gas prices, but its the first of the month.
She loved her some Amethyst comic books (I had got her the entire multiple series), she read’s Anita Blake and the Mary novels, she has turned me into a Nora Roberts fan, she has got into Star Trek, Dr, Who, the Harry Potter books and then audtio and the movies, and the RA Salvatore Demon War Saga on audio, we both go into poetry and haiku around the same time, She has went to Rocky Horror Picture Show with me, even made me a cake for my 69th show,
She is not only my wife, but my very best friend.
Luckily all my friends share at least one or more of my interests, or else why would we have bonded and become friends? LOL
Never had a significant other so I haven’t had any problems. lol
My wife wasn’t a nerd at all when we met, but she has slowly come about 🙂 She likes Star trek, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and superhero movies. She even rolls out the occasional geeky movie quote. I didn’t set out looking for a nerdy girl, that didn’t matter to me. But it’s definitely grown on her. Nineteen years later, we’re both nerdier than ever. She does not however like any video games or RPGs. So I don’t have to share, but she does give me plenty of time to play. I’ve got a group consisting of mostly my kids that meets every couple of weeks for a little D&D.
I’m assuming Jeff you’ve played some D&D in the past? what was ‘your’ character class. The one where when you say you are playing it, no one is surprised, becuase you play it most of the time.
Do like the Fan Art sites do, call it Fan Art. They get by that way.
I’d say my wife isn’t exactlly an non-geek, she just has her own things she’s geeky about. I have been able to bring her around to the point where she gets excited about seeing the movies, but she still doesn’t really get the collecting comics thing. She has said to me in the past that I should sell some of my comics, and I try to explain that most of them aren’t really worth anything, but that just makes her wonder why I have them to begin with.
My wife, Isia is perfect. We share the same passions for fantasy and sci-fi. She introduced me into game so that we could play with the kids. Four game systems in one room playing Final Fantasy XI, that is cool. We love the Ren Fairs, and other historical reenactments stuff. She humors me sometimes and acts like she is listening even when she don’t want to. She is the one that joined the forums first. She is not into comics as much as I am, but she loves to design the characters. She knows way more about computers then I do, by far, but I am learning. The dear Lord granted me the perfect partner in life. Fantasy worlds, Space adventures, hunting history, and more, she is with me all the way. Besides all that she is the nicest,kindness, and most loving person in the world. I could go on for ever about how great she is and how good we are together. The King and Queen of Geekdom (or Dorkdom). Live long and wonderful lives, Dorks, Geeks, and Nerd rule the world.
I’m pretty much in the same boat as you Jeff. My wife doesn’t share the love of geek stuff, but will go along to a superhero movie or such. I’ve even gotten her to play some D&D. She will, sometimes, give me the eye-roll when I get too much into it (like buying the limited edition Klingon Monopoly) but she knows that’s just me. Heck I even got her to promise me a copy of Diablo III when it comes out (It’ll probably be a birthday or Christmas gift given that Blizzard’s taking their sweet time about it).
Going a little wider than just D&D, my question is: Which pen-and-paper RPGs do you play/have played and which one is/was your favorite?
I get the “Star Wars AGAIN?” one all the time. But at least now I have an excuse, because since my son is hooked on them too, I can just blame it on him. 😉
Gene, that’d probably be either a rogue. Love me some skulking action!
Worf, the unquestioned king of my pen and paper RPG life has been “Champions”. I only played a little D&D and never for very long, but Champions was my mainstay, both as player and Game Master. We had great fun with the system and the guys with whom we gamed.
This would be a great sharing day topic by itself.
I’m not sure if my answer would be enough to warrant me asking you a question, but here goes. Ahem…
So far, at the age of 20, I have never dated, nor have I ever “done it.” Nor am I ashamed. While I’m sure not many girls would want me to be their boyfriend, there have been a few so far who have been willing to go past my ugly body and abnormal personality and try to make me theirs. But there’s a problem, you see, one which makes me feel awkward and sorry when I explain it to them…
It is, for the sake of exactly one woman, whom I adore, that I have taken conditional oaths of chastity and celibacy. I am not religious; in fact, I find nothing at all convincing about the accounts of reality presented by religion. No, the reason I have taken my oaths is because I feel that no matter what, I’ll always be comparing potential lovers to that one woman who has captured my heart; that I feel by my own judgment as though I am inadequate as a person to be worthy of that woman, let alone the one who is right for her; and that, while we are on very good terms with each other, there are irreconcilable differences between us which, I do greatly fear, would cause only suffering for her.
And so I limit my love and adoration of her to a martyr’s love, that I shall not seek for her to be mine but instead to want that which is best for her, even if that means I can never be hers.
Going back to the subject of your question, though, this woman of whom I speak is a childhood friend of mine, and looking back on our childhoods it is clear that while she’s most definitely not a nerd or geek, she did (and still does) have nerdy and geeky interests, such as some video gaming (she’s only a casual gamer, so I don’t know if that counts), Harry Potter, and fantasy.
Now that that is over, here’s my question to you, and to the rest of the HM community: I am designing a race for the game I am making, a sort of arthropod-style race that takes features from, well, arthropods. I have already decided that this race will, mechanically, focus on durability (due to having a strong exoskeleton and all) rather than the agility that most other fantasy arthropod-based races seem to focus on. But, as I noticed when trying to draw concept art of the race, I’m a bit stuck as far as what physical traits the race should have. I have already figured out what the race’s face will look like, and that the race will have beetle-like wings, but as far as what else to include on the torso, as well as what the torso itself and the limbs should look like… I have no idea. Could you or someone else give me any ideas?
I agree. We could go on to discuss favorite characters, etc… Another idea is our favorite Electronic games (PC/Playstation/X-box/Wii/etc…).
Trek RULEZ! 😉
Jadebrain, there’s a lot there to get into, but since I don’t know you personally I’ll try to refrain. But, I want to say, try not to think of your body as ugly or your personality as abnormal. If hanging out around here should teach us anything, it’s that we’re not alone in our likes and quirks, and that far from being ashamed by them, you should wear them proudly as marks of your uniqueness.
Look, my brother put it best when he told me “People will line up down the block to put you down and make you feel bad about yourself without you doing it on your own.”
Regarding your love, all I can say is, I see a worrying trend among a lot of young people to idealize women or men to such a degree that their conception of what a partner can be is literally impossible. We’re all humans (well, except for Dennis Rodman), we’re all flawed, and we’re all just doing the best we can. Setting someone — anyone — up as perfect or idealizing them to an incredible degree robs them of their humanity and us of a chance to get to know other people in a real, positive, healthy way.
Getting off the soapbox now …
For your alien race, I think most people who play games want something they can empathize with, so I think you’re probably going to have to have at least a vaguely human body plan, with an upright torso, two arms, etc. You can go centauroid below that with an insectile body, but in my opinion the head and upper body need to be more humanocentric. But, you can trick it out in terms of segmented plates instead of skin, horny protrusions, antennae, etc.
Hey, I never said I was ashamed of my body or personality – in fact, those obvious and extreme traits give me a little advantage in that I can almost instantly tell me who is too shallow or too much of a clone to be my friend, based on their reactions – nor did I say or want to imply that the subject of my love is perfect in my eyes; no, she simply has many wonderful qualities, and those flaws that make her human are not of the kind that make me think any less of her. It’s understandable that you would get what message you got out of my post, though; looking back upon it, it does have that general feel to it.
As far as the race is concerned, some of the more specific things I’m stuck on are things such as bodily proportions: Should I make the torso thin, or have it round to match the shape of the wings? Should I make the lower legs long or short? Other things I’m stuck upon are how to treat the hands and feet. Should I give them regular hands, lobster-like claws, or some amalgam thereof? With only two legs, what should the feet look like, since they won’t be quite like those of an actual insect due to issues of balance? Things like that. I do like your suggestion of antennae, though; I don’t think I added any to the picture I am working on, and so I will make sure to do so.
As a young heromachinist of sixteen years, I’ve never had a Significant Other, or dated anyone before. I do believe, though, that when I do decide to take the plunge into dating, it will be with someone who is OK with the way I am, geek and all. I don’t think I could have a SO, if they did not tolerate me as I am. I am not going to change who myself for anyone.
My question is Jeff if you could add any item to Heromachine, even if it is copyrighted, what item would that be and why.
My wife is Geek Friendly with a few geek tendencies of her own. She actually knew about the X-men before we met (and before they were in the mainstream), thanks to her Geek brother so I knew there would be no surprises for her.
While she doesn’t have the obsessive qualities of a True Geek she enjoys many things Geek: Battlestar Galactica, superhero movies, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, etc. She doesn’t play RPGs but she politely tolerates my gaming obsessions.
I am working on geekifying my daughter right now. She enjoys watching superhero cartoons with me and has recently started making her own superheroes on HeroMachine. She loves dancing and performing and will probably be quite the looker (totally unbiased, empirically speaking she has a high cute factor) 🙂 , so I expect some day a grateful young geek lad will be thanking me for molding the perfect combination of cheerleader and geek. My wife thinks I am a little crazy. I wonder why.
Anyway, I have a double question that you can answer either one or the other, or both if you feel like it.
What feature do you wish you could add to Hero Machine that you know is not possible with the current Flash application?
What feature do you wish you could add to Hero Machine that you know is possible but would take too much time and effort, or it might be problematic in some way?
My wife messes with me on a lot of different things. She says if she only knew how much of a nerd I was before we got married, and I am like hey it just makes me more of a well rounded person that I know how to shoot a gun and what all the different colors and symbols of the lantern corps are and mean, or how I know how to fight and like to collect card games and battle board games. Just because I don’t always have the attention span to sit though another episode of I use to be fat, teen mom, or todlers in tiaras (which they pretty much can transfer the characters from one show to the next) doesn’t mean she can diss my nerdom of video games, my shows, and comics. Im a different type of nerd 🙂
I wish I could add a skew feature, but Flash doesn’t allow it.
I wish I could add an “import face” feature, so you could upload a picture of whoever you like and use it as an element in the program. It’s been done plenty of times so I know it’s possible, but it’s been too complicated for me to spend time figuring it out. It would be so neat, though …
I’d probably add logos of the various “big” copyrighted characters like Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, etc. I think it would be so fun to have people designing new costumes for those folks …
Can’t really give an answer to this, because:
(1) I’m 14
(2) I’m not really all that geeky. The only big thing for me is that I read a lot. When I say “a lot” I’m talking “takes me 2 days to finish Harry Potter 7”.
I do get teased a bit at school about my reading. I don’t think I’d want to have a boyfriend that hated reading or teased me about it, but I can’t give any more of an answer than that. Sorry.
Jeff, feel free to answer this or not, depending on whether you think I answered the question:
Do you have any ideas for another “series” of contests like the Zodiac ones? ‘Cause they were fun. 🙂
That’s a perfectly good answer, Kaylin88100! I agree, I’d have a hard time being in a relationship with someone who didn’t like to read. I lucked out, my wife was a literary publicist!
As far as a series of contests, I’d love to come up with one because, goodness knows, it makes my job WAAAAY easier. Having to think these up each week is tough! The closest I’ve come is to go back to the “regional” idea. We did Texas, I think, but I’d thought of doing other countries as well as regions in the US. So, you know, British, Indian, Scottish, Brazilian, etc. The problem with those is that not everyone knows much about other countries (or regions in the US) so it might make it tough for everyone to participate.
If anyone has ideas for longer-running themed contests like the Zodiac, I’d love to hear them!
I originally was going to say “either a rogue or a fighter” but I changed my mind halfway through since mostly I ended up as the former. But then I forgot to edit out the “either”. Oops!
Hey, that’s a great idea! If you think picking specific countries for a series would be too difficult, how about just a single contest where everyone does a character from their own country? Just looking at Power User Profiles you can see how many different nationalities are represented.
Besides, what’s Google Images for if not finding reference material for character designs? Just type in “India” or “Britain” and see what comes up! Simples! 🙂
I think it would be fun/funny to make a contest where you have to make a villian or hero that couldnt fight his or her way out of a wet napkin LOL. Make them have some stupid power like flying but needing a grapling hook and rope to pull yourself down, ahem, you know like a villian no one would fear and hero that couldnt save anyone but you cant help but shake your head and laugh
I agree it is a great idea. Another idea is the Chinese zodiac. An idea I was thinking for a multi part contest would be a progression. One week is golden age, then silver, bronze, the nineties, the modern age. However that may work better as a FNF.
Hi 😀 Good to catch up on all the news. Glad HM is independent, etc. But, this is a sharing day,and I have to get long-winded about my wonderful fiancee!
We actually came from two different semi-geek worlds, mostly without knowing it. I was never a comic booker, and she was never a gamer. Now she plays DC Universe Online until the 7 AM shutdown, and I’ve become a regular customer at my “Heroes aren’t Hard to Find.” Oddly, it’s blending into a wonderful mix. We’re absolute suckers for a midnight launch at our local GameStop, and she actually got a better score in the Arkham City challenge map than I did. She also had an absolute blast at the launch of Mortal Kobmat, and “OOH!”‘ed along with all the boys at the crazy X-ray moves. She also has recently gotten into the Steampunk scene, and was actually pushing me to add to my sword collection. “Go ahead and get both, it’s obvious you want them.”
The true clincher here, though, is that she thinks I’m sexy in my glasses. Seriously, how are you gonna beat that? 😀
Oh, MISTA J! A question is owed, yes? I was just wondering, is the Bald Avenger in need of a sidekick? Or is it possible for you to franchise out the rights? Y’see, my hair is calling it quits after a venerable 25 years of service, and I’m looking to put my gorgeous dome into service! For truth! Justice! And genetics getting the better of me!
Just brainstorming…
The four seasons (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall)
The seven deadly sins (wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony)
The Justice League or Avengers Revisited: Heroes inspired by the type of character but completely different look or even gender. This could be a FNF or just a way for a HeroMachinist to build up his ultimate hero (or villain) group over a series of contests. Wonder Woman becomes an alien warrior princess for instance.
Love those ideas, dblade!
Brad, sadly the ranks of the Bald Brigade are constantly expanding, as our hairlines constantly contract :-/
I was lucky and married a girl who is very into comics. She’s not as into it as me and still considers be a geek(a name a bare proudly) but she enjoys it enough that she has a wonder woman beer mug, loves Venom, and enjoys some comics and sitting down to watch superher movies with me.
My question is: If you could date any comic book character which one would it be?
Heres an example for my contest, He’s Gas man, he flys through the air by expelling gasses and can clear a room in 10 seconds flat or can knock a person out then he pickpockets them and then heads back to his lair for his diet of scrambeled cabbage, eggs, and cheese.
http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee363/cameron_stanley_84/My%20Characters/TOOL-GasMan.png
That’s how I come up with many of my international and theme characters. In the weather contest, I typed “weather phenomenon” in Bing. Came across “pogonip” and read up on it. “Pogonip” is a dense winter fog with ice crystals floating in the air.
The word “pogonip” is anglicized from the Shoshone word “pakenappeh.” The Shoshone are from Idaho (USA). Idaho is home to various outlaw motorcycle gangs.
Voilà, “Pogonip” is an outlaw biker from Mountain Home, ID, with a metallic blue chopper. His preferred weapons are two balanced daggers (his “ice crystals”).
I find researching character ideas and writing backstories to be most of the fun.
Question: I’m getting used to the new Comments Board. How do I add my avatar?
AP, just go to https://en.gravatar.com/ to create an account and upload your image. It takes a few minutes for it to show up on your comments, but it’ll come. You have to be sure to use the same email address as the one you assign the image to, I think, since Gravatar lets you you have multiple email accounts registered.
I would date Lois Lane. She’s smart, successful, insightful, and would love a man who cooks for her when she comes back from Jakarta and gives her a backrub.
From your initial description of your fantasy race, I picture umber hulks with wings. Basically giant upright beetles. I would forgo a thin torso in favor of a bulkier almost tank-like body. The would move accordingly. Throwing their weight around the way a real world beetle lumbers, constantly shifting to accomodate its own girth.
Here’s a “rough draft” of one interpretation. Though it looks simply like a bug. The exoskeleton is tough. I picture “insect men” as having bodies that reflect caste roles like real bugs (ants and bees). Something that the Alien franchise tapped into and was rather successful with.
This arthropod, though intelligent with a language and culture, evolved from an apex predator. His body is designed to wrap around prey in a total body bearhug using prehensile legs. The legs appear frail but are in fact dense, coiled muscle wrapped in a chitin that is tough as a bullet-proof vest.
http://forums.ugo.com/picture.php?albumid=251&pictureid=2226
“Dating”? What in hell’s THAT?! 😉
Pardon me if this seems a bit ribald, but I’ve concluded, after encountering women’s total NON-reaction to my own hair loss, that a full hair of head, on a man, is like perky breasts on a woman: after a certain age, it’s NOT supposed to be there. And if it is, it looks kind of sleazy.
The girl I’m currently dating has a huge obsession with video games and she and her twin sister want to create their own. They’ve also just goten into comic books. I actually met her att the local comic shop.
My ex-girlfriend actually got me the tickets to go to WonderCon last year in San Francisco. We had more than a few conversations about 80’s/90’s cartoons and geek movies.
At this point the two of us aren’t living together. Although, I don’t think that there would be any trouble with us having our own computers. The only problem that would come from that one would be if he started to forget that I was there. I guess that even with me understanding it all I am still a semi-typical girl in which I like some attention from time to time.
Personally mine is a tie between Twilight, Star Trek and Star Wars. Twilight I just dislike. Star Trek and Star Wars I don’t really understand the hype (and I come from a family in which my father is an extreme Star Trek fan and my brother is an avid Star Wars fan). As long as I have my doctor, comics, and (I will admit this one too) Harry Potter, I am perfectly happy. (Although I would take the good doctor over either of the others two options listed previously)
my wife & I are both forms of half-nerds–each of us have nerddoms we visit alone and we have common nerddoms. The same applies to our ‘non-nerd’ interests.
My question is perhaps prosaic, but as a multiple hobbyist with an unusually full schedule, I may have missed something obvious. . . how do you crop edges you don’t want so it won’t print a whole odd shape? I like my work better when I use multiple-pieced & skewed background items.
Currently single, though a suitor of mine is a huge Halo fan. I do love me some videogames. And Batman. And Transformers. And My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. And that lamp. I considered myself to be an “official” nerd the day I bought my Hyrulean Sheild Beltbuckle. I love it so.
On an unrelated note, there was an entry of mine in the last contest that I would like to have commented on before Open Critique Day because it’s a school day and I’ll miss it. I never came up with a name for the guy since I didn’t care, so I just call him Steve. http://i.imgur.com/RTTeo.jpg
There are several ways of doing that. One is outlined in this post by Jeff a while ago:
http://www.heromachine.com/2010/12/23/framed-background-recipe/
It’s about creating a frame around your background. If I understand what you’re talking about, that should help you. Please say if I’m on completely the wrong track.
Please look at the comments on the post as well as the actual post, we discussed different ideas.
I would say wanting attention sometimes isn’t just a “girl” thing, but a very natural, understandable, and healthy human thing.
D, I think the way most people do it is to mask the object to a big rectangle, then make all three of the rectangle colors invisible (set alpha to 0) so you’re just left with the masked/cropped original item.
Guys, trust me when I say that the Champions RPG geekage that went down in Austin, TX between 1996-1998 was nothing short of EPIC. The awesomeness that was the continuing adventures of The Crusaders was geek nerdvana for one and all.
Roger that! In fact, that campaign season was one of the major reasons I came up with HeroMachine in the first place.
Thanks for mentioning the Umber Hulk. I completely forgot about that DnD monster as a source of inspiration. Ah, well…
As I said, I already have a good idea of what the face looks like. Basically, it’ll have a vestigial “horn,” like that of some beetles, vestigial in that it wouldn’t be long enough or shaped right to impale anything but would instead fit into the forehead as some sort of extra reinforcement to the exoskeleton of the head. It will have large, segmented eyes, like those of a fly, that would take up most of the side of the head. As for the mouth, it will have both pincers and a proboscis; I’m thinking that the pincers will be used not only to attack but also to hold food in place while the proboscis sucks nutrients out of the food. And, of course, there will be antennae on the top of the head.
I must say, though, that your artistic interpretation doesn’t look at all like what I want. It really does look like more of a pure insect than a humanoid, which you have stated, of course. What I was thinking about the wings is that they would have that sort of exoskeletal “shell” that would open up to allow the wings to move, like that of a ladybug or, I think, a scarab. I’m also thinking that the race will have a pair of digits or limbs or whatever somewhere on the body that would be too small to serve as limbs, but would rub together to create a buzzing noise that would allow the race to mimic human speech. They will also breathe in the same way arthropods do, with holes in the side of their body that go directly to the lungs.
I’m still not sure about the arms or legs, though. Going with your Umber Hulk reference, I’m torn between legs like in this picture:
http://www.umberhulk.com/graphics/umberhulk-3rd-edition.jpg
or this picture:
http://www.umberhulk.com/graphics/umberhulk-2nd-edition.gif
As far as the arms, or more specifically the hands, go, I’m also torn between giving them regular hands or giving them lobster-like claws, or even an amalgam thereof (such as having claws that would open to reveal hands?).
Any more help you or anyone can provide would be appreciated.
Try clawed fingers—It reinforces the inhuman nature of the race while giving them something familiar and human like.
i find myself quite lucky as my partner and i Starman2000 both love heromachine and we both often try and out do each other in geek wars on different subjects and i love listening to his geek rants about things as it improves my own geek knowledge lol
Geekiness is next to Godliness in our lives sometimes, long live the geek as they shall inherit the earth 🙂
and heres my question?
Which brand has the better superheroes: DC or Marvel??
Wow, that’s a tough question, because so much depends on what you think makes for a “good” superhero.
For me personally, I’m a DC guy. Marvel’s focus on “realism” is fine, but I look at comics as escapism. I don’t need to worry about Peter Parker’s crappy life — I have one of my own! I want thrilling adventures of people I can only dream of being like, who live lives way cooler than mine.
But, as they say, opinions differ!
I forgot to ask the question: Of the DCnU comics, which titles have you been most pleased with and which are you most hopeful for?
For me, the favorites are the GL comics (even Red Lanterns), Grifter (hopeful), Flash and Justice League. Aquaman has been a surprise hit.
McKnight57, shockingly I have not read a single DCnU comic yet. Maybe when I get back to Austin in two weeks and have access to a comics store once again, I can catch back up.
I don’t have an “SO,” but I am friendly with a girl who works at the local Four Square who is not only a “geek,” but is into the same things as I am!
(Plus, she’s cute and has a sexy English accent).
Is there an an artist, comicbook or otherwise, you are inspired by?
I’d say at this point the comics artist that most gets me going is Ryan Ottley.
Awesome i have to say that whilst i am mainly a Marvel kinda gal i do love Batman especially the recent incarnations in gaming and movie.
In that case, I’d recommend: Justice League, Detective Comics, Action Comics, GL, Flash, Aquaman, Swamp Thing, Nightwing, Batgirl, Red Hood & the Outlaws and Batman: The Dark Knight.
And I’d like to counter with a hearty recommendation to spare yourself from the absolutely awful Red Hood. You could replace it with Batwoman (but only if you liked her run in Detective; she got no reboot to speak of) or Wonder Woman.
X-Stacy, hate to break it to ya, but she actually DID get a reboot. Here’s the link to DC for proof. http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/new-52-batwoman/
Also, in my defense for Red Hood, I’m more interested in it to see about Jason Todd than I am in regard to Starfire. Hopefully the next writer can do a better job with that. Also, while we’re on the subject of things to skip, Superman, at least until the writer changes after issue 7. Trust me, you’re not really missing much.
Yes, technically she rebooted. But she’s still the same character and basically continuing the same arc, unlike most of the relaunch books. For someone who likes Batwoman, that’s a good thing.
Okay. That’s understandable. It’s the same reason I’m still reading the GL titles, especially the original and New Guardians.
This is a tough question for me. Specifically I don’t think of my boyfriend as a geek (he’s trained as a mechanic) but I have noticed that he gets massively obsessed with any Xbox game he can play well. Take Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (the game). He was massively excited when he beat the Decepticon campaign. However, my own geekiness he playfully teases me about all the time. I am a very loyal geek so I only play around with specific things. Heromachine and City of Heroes are my two main obsessions (starting to see a pattern?). He teases me all the time when I go off on a rant about my “new toon”. He looks at me like he’s being very patient then says, “Okay. Done with the geek moment?” to which I say, “Yes, I am.” He also teases me when he’s going on about his game and I look at him patiently (tehe). Usually he’ll say something like, “I know it’s not up to your standard…” It’s all fun and jokes though. I don’t get so obsessed that it cuts into my time with him and he’s cool with that. I like to say we all have our geek sides, even the people you would never guess.
Whoops! Forgot my question. Jeff, has anyone ever asked you a question about a topic you know alot about and you came up blank on the answer? For example, I know alot about the show Supernatural but someone once asked me the name of the director of a particular episode and I drew a complete blank. Has that ever happened to you?
Jessica, plenty of times. About all kinds of things. Like … this question for instance, about which I ought to know a ton about but I am coming up blank for a specific example!
lol okay, so it’s not just me! That happens to me all the time and I keep saying to myself, “I should know this but I don’t…” It’s okay, Jeff. These are what I like to call my “blond moments” since I’m partially blond (tehe).
1. thanx Kaylin & Jeff for cropping methods–2. DC or Marvel hero superiority? . . . I tend to think negatively, so: one has inferior stories behind the heroes, the other has too many reboots, and they both have too many ads per page of action. The real superiors are indie. 3.Jadebrain? I don’t know if you care, but if you go having bugs that UNDERSTAND human speech, you might give them some non-trad-bug ears or trek-shortcut the whole thing with a Univ. Translator. The original book for the first Bat. Galactica hinted that bug hearing is not so “specific” as mammalian and is at least partly correct. Would be like a tone-deaf person trying Mandarin.