Our Power User profiled this weekend is the prolific Cliff!
- Online name used in HeroMachine environs: Cliff
- A photo (or drawing) of you in "real life":
- Real name: Clifford Thomas Roberts
- Real city/state/country: Fort Worth, TX, USAf
- Real job: Disabled.
Jobs have included Bookstore clerk for 10yrs, Nanny (I lived with the family during the week, cleaned house, took care of the kids and went home for the weekends), Comic Book Store Manager 4 years, Cable sales clerk, Oscar Mayer security guard, Toys R Us night stocker (1 night, I don't like 12' ladders), Whataburger cook (1 day, they had a hole in the back of their microwave with a styrofoam cup in front of it), Nursing home orderly, Jack In The Box cook, KFC cook, Pizza dish washer/cook, Carpet store warehouseman (my Mom's), Sporting goods trucker gofer (my Dad's), my 1st job: Greenhouse assistant (my Uncle) - Real age: 49 (going on 12 or 100 depending on the day) 😀
- Gender: Male
- Relationship status (married, single, in a long-term relationship, dating someone, "it's complicated", etc): Gay but Married to a very wonderful, loving and understanding woman
- Online archive of your creations: PhotoBucket.
- The best piece of HeroMachine art you've created: I admit since I have first seen this question on these profiles I have had a hard time deciding my ONE fave peice, I have SO many I really like (more than a few can't be seen in a work situation or under legal age LOL). and there is still so much I am still learning, so my best piece is probably yet to come ... Ultimately I can't decide, so my wife's choice is Saint Mary Famine chapel in Ireland:
And an actual pic I took of the chapel I used as refrence:
- Favorite all-time geeky movie if any: Harry Potter, Lord Of The Rings and lots of other fantasy, Vampre flicks: Lost Boys, original Fright Night, Vamp, Interview With A Vampire, Queen of the Damned (Lestat climbing the wall YUM!), Bram Stoker's Dracula, Lair of the White Worm (Amanda Donohoe /the Lady Sylvia Marsh is FRIGGIN Sexy!) Blood and Donuts, Razor Blade Smile (Guilty pleasure!). Greek/Roman movies: Jason and the Argonauts, Alexander, Troy, 300, Percy Jackson/Lughtning Theif, almost any Super Hero/Comic movie from Thor to Scooby Doo.
(I have missed a LOT of the animated superhero movies though, lack of money more than interest.) - Favorite all-time geeky book if any: AD&D rule books and game modules 1st and 2nd Ed, possibly the first AD&D book Quag Keep, Guardian of the Flame series, The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, Piers Anthony's Xanth series (which he used my idea for Pun kins in Faun and Games), Thieves' World anthologies comics and RPG rule books, all of RA Salvatore's Demon Wars/Corona books, Elf Quest magazines comics and Graphic Novels, all the Harry Potter novels, almost any Stephen King, Bram Stoker's Dracula. At one point I was trying to collect every single different issue cover I could find. My old tattered hardback went with me to Ireland, to Bram Stoker's actual Birthplace:
On a ghost tour I saw his bachelor pad and the church where he got married. I took a cab to Trinity College where he went to school and they have a 1st Ed of Dracula:
They had Bram Stoker's Great? Grandson on the radio which I got to hear, and had some events like a Wedding reenactment at the church while we were in Ireland.
... It also happened to be Dublin's One Book One City program, which I bought an "Irish" paperback copy of Dracula with the Dublin One Book One City sticker on it for 7.99 Euros:
How's that for geeky?
- Favorite all-time geeky TV show if any: Right now, that is Glee, yes I am a Gleek. But any super hero, or vampire show I usually have loved.
- Favorite all-time comic book character if any: It changes from time to time. But Spider-Man was my first love, and I still hold him in my heart as an icon, even though I haven't really read comics in years due to my eyesight. I do also like Legion Of Super Heroes and the Sub Color Kid/Ulu Vakk (I have a created stories of him going back to 20th century to prove himself as a hero and called himself Rainbow Warrior aka Hugh Spectrum), and Poison Ivy (I created her and Floro's son Poison Oak, who is a hero).
- If you could have one super-heroic power in real life, you'd choose: I tend towards Elemental powers, possibly since I am a Wiccan priest. I have a lot of Fire characters, Ice ones, Water, Earth, Weather ... But I think I would choose just Elemental Power over all giving me a much wider range of Awesomeness. Not to mention fighting off Texas drought and heat waves and having a white Yule/Christmas.
- In your leisure time you like to: Well since I am disabled, it's all leisure time now LOL I have slowed down due to health issues, but I still do HM3 art, play AD&D, write Haiku, listen to audio books with my wife (vampure books: Sookie Stackhouse, House of Night, Romances, yes I actually like romances, as well as Sci Fi and Fantasy), And of course my Eclectic Paths coven and Fort Worth Witches Meetup duties.
- Character design turn-ons (things you love to see that make for a good design): Highlights and shadows add SO much to a design making a good design great.
- Character design turn-offs (things you hate to see that make for a bad design): Too dark. When a pic looks nearly all black and I can't see it. (Which with my eyesight might have some details a normal person can see, but get lost to me.)
- Best tip for a HeroMachine newbie: Think outside the box, don't limit yourself to something an object is, use a helmet for a bell, or a tail for an antenna etc ... Learn from other people, ask questions, check out past posts past winners and the Tutorials.
- Any personal message you'd like to share with the HeroMachine community about Geek Life: I really love it here, I wish I could respond to each and every posted pic, but with my eyesight it takes me about twice as long to read as everyone else, and with Diaylisis Tues, Thurs and Sat, and my AD&D games on Wed, Fri and Sat and my other stuff, I just don't have the time. So please don't think I am a snob or just into "me" trust me I love going through when I can and seeing what everyone has done, I usually wait till after I have posted mine, so I won't inadvertently "steal" someone else concept, or not post one I've done if someone else has done similar if I really like mine. All is all this is the only website I come back to consistently and interact with a community. Thanks for being a part of my life and allowing me to be part of yours.
