Caption Contest 113 Winners!

Posted on December 19, 2011 by | 9 comments

Caption Contest 113 generated some of the funniest lines we’ve seen in a long time, filling in the missing dialog in this classic “Superman” cover:

Without further ado, here are the ones I thought were the funniest:

  • Mr.MikeK: Mutton Chop Powers Activate! Activate Dammit!
  • Nick Hentschel: “Well, that’s the end of THESE undies!”
  • Nick Hentschel: “Oh, no not DETROIT!!!”
  • GreenBat: I’ll never play Words with Friends again.
  • Worf: Wait! I haven’t told you the punchline yet!
  • DubbleYoo: So that’s why you never tug on Superman’s cape!
  • Joel: “So THIS is fourth class.”
  • William A. Peterson: But I haven’t learned how to MISS the ground, yet!
  • spidercow2010: THIS is the connecting flight?!
  • Lewis: “This is not statistically the safest was to travel!”
  • Myro: “Fine! You’re scarier than Batman! YOU’RE SCARIER THAN BATMAN!”
  • Niall Mor: These TSA pat-downs are getting way out of hand!

As you know, there can be only one overall winner, and this week I am going once again with … Nick Hentschel!

I didn’t honestly notice the line until Spidercow2010 pointed it out, so I thank him for that.

Thanks to everyone who entered, congratulations to all the Finalists, and Nick, let me know what you’d like for your prize!

9 Comments

Posted in Caption Challenges, Challenge Favorites, Challenges

I guess monologues don't count

Posted on December 19, 2011 by | 4 comments

(From “The Green Mask” volume 2, number 1, 1945.)

4 Comments

Posted in Daily Random Panel

Sunset recipe by Nick Hentschel

Posted on December 17, 2011 by | 12 comments

Instead of the usual Power User Profile, we have a special treat today — Nick Hentschel has graciously put together a nifty how-to recipe for your own sunset backgrounds! I know he put a ton of work into this, so please let him know in the comments that you appreciate the effort and the willingness to share.

Note that you can click on most of these screen captures to see them at maximum size. Without further ado, I give you Nick’s recipe!

Continue reading →

12 Comments

Posted in Recipes, Tips & Tricks

Khan, the early years

Posted on December 17, 2011 by | 5 comments

(From “The Green Mask”, volume 2, number 1, 1945.)

5 Comments

Posted in Daily Random Panel

Open Critique Day #30

Posted on December 16, 2011 by | 101 comments

Folks, it’s time for another Open Critique Day!

If you have a HeroMachine illustration or another piece of artwork you’ve done that you’d like some help with, post a link to it in comments along with your thoughts on it — what you think is working, what you’re struggling with, etc. I will post my critique of the piece, hopefully giving some tips on how to improve it.

Of course everyone is welcome to post their critiques as well, keeping in mind the following rules:

  • Make sure your criticism is constructive. Just saying “This sucks” is both rude and unhelpful without giving specific reasons why you think it sucks and, ideally, some advice on how to make it better.
  • Each person should only post one illustration for critique to make sure everyone who wants feedback has a chance.
  • I will not critique characters entered in any currently running contest, as that doesn’t seem fair to the other entrants. You can still post it if you like for the other visitors to critique, but I will not do so.

That’s it! Hopefully we can get some good interaction going here and help everyone (me included!) learn a little bit today.

101 Comments

Posted in Open Critique Day

Pre-Internet LOLCats

Posted on December 16, 2011 by | 5 comments

(From “The Green Mask” volume 2, number 1, 1945.)

5 Comments

Posted in Daily Random Panel

META: A reminder to back up your stuff

Posted on December 15, 2011 by | 11 comments

Folks, this is just a friendly reminder that the beginning of a new year is a great opportunity for you to protect your valuable creativity. In this case, you can do that by downloading any characters you have on the UGO Forums to your local hard drive for safe-keeping. We’ve had a couple of scares in the past with those boards in danger of going bye-bye, so it’s only prudent to take steps to safeguard your characters. The end of a year is the time to be thinking of that kind of thing.

On a related note, you should also take the time if you have it to make both text and image backups of your HeroMachine 3 characters. The change the browser companies made earlier in the year to start wiping out Flash cookies by default was a good lesson that it definitely pays to be safe rather than sorry. So if you haven’t been doing it before, load up the text strings of your favorite characters and paste them into Notepad or something just in case. Doing an image export is also a sound idea.

Create safely so you can safely create!

11 Comments

Posted in Meta

College Admissions

Posted on December 15, 2011 by | 14 comments

When last we left our Highway Holocaust warrior, we were debating whether or not to explore the local college grounds looking for inebriated college students survival gear. Thus we clench our kegger close and:

Now look, I’m not waiting another week just to decide whether or not to keep doing what we already decided we were going to do. The results of that last poll were so lopsided, I’m going to take it as a mandate to forge ahead and keep exploring.

How the heck did these previous looters overlook “a large wooden crate”? I mean, put yourself in the mindset of a looter. Not an intrepid explorer trying to preserve civilization, as in our case, of course, there’s a huuuuge difference, but one of those people who trespass on property not belonging to them looking for stuff to take. See? Not the same thing at all.

Anyway, look, you’re a feckless looter wandering around the grounds, smashing and taking whatever catches your fancy. You see a big wooden crate, the kind used to store valuables, and you just go “Meh”? I think not. The door I can understand, it’s big and steel and might take tools to get past. But a crate of wood? If this is the level of accomplishment achieved by the typical post-Apocalyptic looter in Texas, I weep for our future.

So what’s it going to be, boys and girls?!

[polldaddy poll=”5763739″]

14 Comments

Posted in Freeway Warrior: Highway Holocaust, RPG Corner

Phrases you never want to hear from a guy in tights

Posted on December 15, 2011 by | 9 comments

(From “The Green Mask” number 10, 1944.)

9 Comments

Posted in Daily Random Panel

Goldbug, yo!

Posted on December 14, 2011 by | 16 comments

Goldbug had a problem. He enjoyed running around town in his gangland bandana, but he also wanted to be a super villain. His brilliant solution proved he belonged in the upper echelons of crime — fashion crime, that is:

The integrated bandana look lets him retain his street cred while still allowing him to wear spandex. Not an easy achievement, believe me.

Even better, this sartorial revolution led to another great innovation, namely patterning your chest to look like you’re armored, even if you can’t afford armor! It’s brilliant. Imagine the intrepid heroic adventurer facing Goldbug for the first time. Assuming he or she can get over their immediate fear of the bandana — “Will his Crip or Blood mates be jumping me if I stop him?!” — they still might hesitate wondering if their blows will have any effect against his awesome red-and-gold, “No, it’s not an Iron Man ripoff” faux body armor.

The squiggly lines in the arms and calves further serve to confuse the enemy. Is he some sort of gold-meister, or is that lava? Do I wear my asbestos underwear or do I need to rush off and double the guard at Fort Knox? That kind of hesitation can kill you in a super battle if you’re not careful.

And so we salute you, Goldbug, and your combination Firestar/Spider-Man Eyes/Iron Man Armor homage. Peace out!

16 Comments

Posted in Bad Super Costumes