RP: Right, and I was bitten by a rubber band …

(From "Ultimate Spider-Man" number 98, ©Marvel Comics.)

Character Contest 52: Sagittarius

Known as the Centaur or the Archer to the Greeks, and "The Soldier" by the Babylonians, your challenge for this week is to design a character based on the concepts suggested by the Zodiac sign "Sagittarius". Some of the traits of a Sagittarius are:

Positive:

  • Optimistic and freedom-loving
  • Jovial and good-humored
  • Honest and straightforward
  • Intellectual and philosophical

Negative:

  • Blindly optimistic and careless
  • Irresponsible and superficial
  • Tactless and restless

But hey, we're not here to find a date, we're here to create kick-ass characters, right?! Obvious takes would be anything centaur-like, whether with a classic horse or some other beast (or cyborg, whatever), or anything archer-related.

Whoever comes up with the best character will win a) his or her choice of either any item they like to be included in the final HeroMachine 3 version; b) a portrait to be included in the final HeroMachine 3 version, or c) a "sketch of the day" style custom drawing. The rules are fairly simple:

  • 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 -- we had an "Angels and Demons" contest and a "D&D Character" contest a while back, for instance, and I don't want repeats of stuff you already did for those;
  • 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, who will receive his or her choice of any item or a portrait to be included in the final HeroMachine 3 program, or a "Sketch of the Week" style black and white illustration.

No limit on entries this week, so knock yourselves out. Just make them good!

Caption Contest 88 Winner!

Sorry for the late posting, I've been converting Female Fantasy Common items all day and time kind of slipped away from me. But without further ado, I am happy to announce that the winner of Caption Contest 88 is ... Joshua!

Joshua, let me know what you'd like as your prize and I'll throw it on the list. This was the one that made both John and I laugh right out loud the most, so we had to go with it.

I thought these entries were very funny as well:

  • joel: “Screw the barrels, Take this Mario!”
  • Dr. Shrinker: The name is Furious George!
  • bookaddict1978: Now look what you made me do! Stop Grabbin my Ass!!!!!!!
  • Runt82: Take this, Dancing With The Stars!
  • The Atomic Punk: Mine is tapped, but yours is gettin’ capped!
  • TheNate: Watch those pinchers, RoboCop-a-feel!
  • Jester: THIS is my CRANKY face!
  • TheNate: Monkey see, monkey shoot!
  • Jake: See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil? What about shoot all evil?
  • Blue Blazer: TAKE OFF THAT DAMN YELLOW HAT!!!!!!

Congratulations to Joshua for the win, and many thanks to not only the Finalists above, but to everyone who entered. Great job!

RP: Spidey on comics fans

(From "Ultimate Spider-Man" number 84, ©Marvel Comics.)

Super songs

For some random reason, I woke up this morning thinking Doctor Octopus' theme song should be "Crazy Arms".

No, I do not understand how my brain works.

But it started me wondering what other songs would go well with established super-heroes. But pre-coffee, I can't think of any. Which is where you come in. Are there other songs that go perfectly with a comics character? Let 'em rip in the comments!

(Image ©2006 by Mark Engblom.)

RP: Truth

(From "Ultimate Spider-Man Annual" number 1, ©2005, Marvel Comics.)

Conan gets animated

Not the big muscly Conan, but the tall pale one with shocking red hair. He sat down with some of the Warner Animation guys to talk about bad super-hero designs and to get Bruce Timm -- Bruce Effing Timm! -- to sketch him as a super. Great stuff that I definitely liked!

RP: Fashion is not for the weak

(From "Ultimate Spider-Man" number 70, © Marvel Comics.)

FNF2 Final Results!

Congratulations to Imp for winning Friday Night Fights 2! The results were not as close as I'd have expected:

As the winner, Imp will receive a custom color illustration of pretty much whatever he likes (within reason), and as the Runner-Up DiCicatriz will receive a black and white character illustration. Congratulations to them both for making it this far.

And in the last Consolation Round, the winner is Frevoli!

Frevoli wins his choice of any item or any portrait to be included in the final HM3 release, or a Sketch of the Day style drawing. Congratulations!

Thanks to everyone who participated either by submitting characters or by voting. Let me know what you thought of the whole process, and I hope you enjoyed it.

Finally, I wanted to show all of Imp's team, along with the full backstory, so it'll all be in one place. Enjoy!





Setting:  This is a neo-feudal/corporate-run galactic nation, the Terran Empire.  Corporations have become the 'new nobility', with CEO, CFO, and other titles becoming hereditary.  The Emperor himself is elected by the Grand Combine, a high council consisting of the CEOs of the most powerful corporations.  The Emperor serves for life unless he gets voted out on a 'no confidence' vote by 85% of the Combine.  For the last fifteen years, the Empire has been at war with the Gath, an alien stellar nation with similar technological levels and motivations as the humans.  Unfortunately, this has resulted in a stalemate for the last decade.  The current Emperor, Diarmid VIII, has been on crusade on the frontiers for the last nine years; despite continued calls for votes of no confidence, the Grand Combine has been unable to reach a majority.  This had led to unrest and even outright rebellion in certain Imperial sectors as local despots seek to increase their own power at the expense of the citizenry...
 
Colonel Robin Hood:  Once a colonel in the Imperial Skyforce (a combination space fleet and air force), Hood is the son of Albert Hood, CEO of Hood Industries and Duke of Covington, an Imperial Sector within the New Albion quadrant.  His family has been life-long friends and allies of LM&P (Leaford Mining and Pharmaceuticals), the rulers of neighboring Nottingham Sector.  While serving on the frontier in the war against the Gath, Robin was captured and spent three years in a Gathi prison.  When he finally escaped, he made his way home, only to find that his Sector and Nottingham Sector had been 'reorganized' by the Sheriff of Nottingham.  His father was dead, and Robin himself was quickly declared an outlaw.
 
Sheriff Roger Lacey:  The Imperial Marshalls are the internal peace-keeping forces of the Empire.  In this time of strife, certain Sheriffs (the heads of the various Sector Marshalls) have declared martial law... and sometimes worse.  One of these is Roger Lacey, the Sheriff of Nottingham.  No friend of the current Emperor (since Lacey's ancient House/Corporation was disgraced and disbanded two decades ago), Lacey has set himself up as the virtual dictator of two Sectors, Covington and Nottingham.
 
Marian Leaford:  Former Duchess of Nottingham Sector and heir to LM&P, Marian was declared an outlaw and her properties and titles forfeited by the Sheriff after she was discovered funnelling arms and money to Robin.  She has since become an active member of the local rebellion against the Marshalls.
 
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.
 
'Little John':  A member of the Varsulan race.  A hero on his native planet during their war against the Empire thirty years ago (a war which the Varsulans lost; they were inducted into the Empire as part of Covington Sector), John has joined Hood's Rebellion on the condition that Varsu be freed when and if they triumph over the Marshalls.  'Little John' is Hood's nickname for the alien; his real name is pretty much unpronounceable by the human tongue.

RP: Fashion can’t do it all

(From "Ultimate Spider-Man" number 18, ©Marvel Comics.)