Author Archives: AFDStudios

META: Freshening up

I feel like the blog is in need of some fresh material or new blood or something. Are there feature ideas you'd like to see? Anything you are sick of and want to retire? How would you feel about my adding one or more additional co-bloggers to produce entertaining material for you all, and what sorts of things would you want to see them cover?

Basically I'm trolling for new ideas and plan on stealing your brilliance to present as my own. It's a win-win! Well, technically a win-lose, but ... look, squirrel!

I'd be frosty wearing that, too

Emma Frost (aka The White Dominatrix) has for whatever reason become one of the top five pinup characters in all of comics. Unfortunately that's put her in the line of fire for some of the most overly-sexualized costume designs the fevered brains of artists could conjure. I won't go into them all, but I will focus on this unfortunate approach:

You have to start with the ridiculous gravity-defying side-boob bra. One assumes she keeps it up either through dedicated TK or really strong double-sided tape, either of which exhibits a truly epic level of dedication to ... well, exhibitionism, I suppose. Unless that thing is made of stiff plastic and hides a virtual scaffold of underwires, she's going to bounce out of it the first time the Blackbird hits turbulence.

What really gets me, though, is the X-Diaper, now featuring gratuitous crotch bulging. Not only is it unflattering and not only does it share the same gravity-defying power as the top, but the all-the-way-down zipper hits an all new low. Literally. This is a piece of clothing designed by someone who has never actually worn pants. Or had lady parts. Can you imagine actually zipping this thing up? Any fashion accessory that requires a hand mirror under your butt to put on is a fashion accessory that has failed.

The topper (again, literally) is that dickey she's wearing. Seriously, if your costume involves the word "dickey", you've lost before you've started. I know they were going for the "stylish slut" look here, but between the diapers and the mid-century failed tuxedo shirt underlining, what they actually got was "Old Folks' Home Escapee".

(Image and character © Marvel Comics.)

Betty got angry that the safe word was "Veronica"

Master Chief vs. Darth Vader

Two teched-up bad-ass guys going man-to-man. Two walk in, one walks out. Who will that one be, and why?

I leave it up to you, intrepid creators! Vote, then lay out your case in the comments as to why everyone ought to agree with you. Aaaaand ... FIGHT!

[polldaddy poll="6413119"]

That certainly explains a lot

Character Design Challenge 96: The Big Bad

Your Character Design Challenge this week is to create the most awesome illustration possible featuring the idea of a Big Bad type of villain using HeroMachine 3.

We're talking city-threatening, nation-engaging, Justice League-level sorts of things here, stuff that will strike terror into the hearts of supermen and superwomen (and even superdogs!) everywhere. Sure, Paste Pot Pete and The Joker are great one-on-one threats, but I'm going for something bigger and badder here, something that would require a whole team to take down. Or just, you know, Superman. Same diff.

I'll pick my personal favorites when the week is over, with the one I like best being featured in the right column for the week. The rules otherwise are the same as always:

  • All entries must be in JPG or PNG form (BMPs are too big), posted to a publicly accessible website (like the HeroMachine forums, ImageShack, PhotoBucket, or 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 challenge;
  • Please name your files as [your name]-[character name].[file extension] before you upload it. 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). See this post on how to get the direct link for most sites.
  • All entries must be in by next Monday, when I'll choose my personal favorites.

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

Caption Challenge 125 Results

Many thanks to everyone who entered Caption Challenge 125, which asked you to come up with the best replacement dialog for this comics panel:

I was amazed at the great lines you came up with for what I thought was a very challenging image. Here are the ones that were my personal favorites, though if you haven't read through all the comments I highly encourage you to, as they're pretty funny.

Continue reading

Feel the Wonder Burn!

(All characters & images © DC Comics.)

Pop Quiz 19 Results

Many thanks to the brave folks who entered our last Pop Quiz, which challenged you to make something with Barbario's head. Wow, does that sound creepy all written out like that ...

Anyway, here are all of the great entries! Click any one to start the slideshow.

Those are all great, but the ones that made me chuckle or that I thought had a little something extra special were Myro's, Watson Bradshaw's, WebPulp's, Vampyrist's, NHA247, MMI, Legatus, Keric, Kaylin88100 (that one will haunt my nightmares), djuby, and ... well hell, that's practically the whole list. Everyone did a fantastic job!

As for the overall favorite, the honor this week will go to Barbario himself for being such a good sport. Speak up in the comments, my man, and that person will get to be profiled in the right hand column.

Pop Quiz: Barbaracious

Happy Saturday, folks! Your one-day quick-fire challenge today is:

Make something with this head!

You can find it in Head-Winners. It doesn't have to be a full-on character, though it could be if you want. But the head has to be somewhere in the image, even if it's just a photo-bomb kind of situation.

You only get one entry -- that's right, just one! So make it your best. Most of the other rules are the same as for a regular challenge, but instead of a whole week I'll announce my favorites either tonight or tomorrow morning. Elaborate backgrounds aren't necessary, though if you've got one it's fine.

  • All entries must be in JPG or PNG form (BMPs are too big), posted to a publicly accessible website (like ImageShack, PhotoBucket, the HeroMachine 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;
  • 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). Here's a quick-start guide on how to do that for various image hosting services.

I'll pick one entry as my personal favorite, which will get to be featured in the side bar to the right for ultimate glory! As a bonus you're allowed to say you won the Internet for a few days.

Good luck!