Heromachine Amalgam

[Blue Blazer]

Do you guys remember Amalgam Comics, the series that combined various DC and marvel characters into new characters? If not, or if you need a refresher, or just for a trip down memory lane, here’s the Wikipedia article: .

So I was thinking of starting a contest along this vein in which each week one person (the one who won the previous week’s contest) will post one of his or her characters. The players’ challenge will be to come up with another character with which to combine the judge’s character into a new, amalgamated hero or villain. Entrants would need to include pics of both their own character and the combined character.

Does that make sense? If not, should I post an example? And if so, does this sound interesting? Shoot me some feedback.

[Hammerknight]

Sound cool to me.

[JR19759]

Sounds good to me. Quick query though, we amalgamate the judges character with one of our own that already exists or we create one to amalgamate with the judges character?

[Blue Blazer]

Either. As long as it’s your own original character it qualifies as an entry. If the week’s judge submits something and you don’t have a character in your archives that you think will mix well, you can make one up specifically for the contest.

Just to be perfectly clear with everyone, these will be our own characters, not any pre-existing, copyrighted characters.

[livewyre1014]

love it…love everything about it.

[The Atomic Punk]

Sounds good. I would go with a “Two Great Tastes” format. Everyone submits an original character before a deadline. Once the judge compiles the list, entrants amalgate a new character from two of the choices. We get the benefit of seeing the original characters and the hybrids!

[Suleman]

Ooh, this seems interesting. Maybe I’ll even have time to participate.

[Blue Blazer]

@The Atomic Punk said:

Sounds good. I would go with a “Two Great Tastes” format. Everyone submits an original character before a deadline. Once the judge compiles the list, entrants amalgate a new character from two of the choices. We get the benefit of seeing the original characters and the hybrids!

That’s a good idea, but I’m going to avoid it for two reasons:
1) It could take weeks before a suitable number of characters were submitted
2) I want everyone to have the freedom to come up with the most suitable second character he/she can.

[The Atomic Punk]

@Blue Blazer said:

@The Atomic Punk said:

Sounds good. I would go with a “Two Great Tastes” format. Everyone submits an original character before a deadline. Once the judge compiles the list, entrants amalgate a new character from two of the choices. We get the benefit of seeing the original characters and the hybrids!

That’s a good idea, but I’m going to avoid it for two reasons:
1) It could take weeks before a suitable number of characters were submitted
2) I want everyone to have the freedom to come up with the most suitable second character he/she can.

1) Good point. I don’t think that would stop a handful of people from rapid-fire submissions of multiple characters that everyone can choose from. Personally, I’ve slowed down a lot on the original material. The Forums have exploded with eager talent! Ultimately, I agree that waiting too long to get enough entries would kill interest in the challenge.

2) Also a good point. I’m just not in a thinking mood and being lazy. It’s winter. I should be hibernating.

[Alexander of Limbo]

maybe one week is not long enough is some people make two characters; the amalgamated character and their own. However contests that last two weeks do seem to lose their buzz a bit.

I’ll have to leave you to chew on that one for a bit cos i wouldn’t be able to decide.

[Blue Blazer]

How about 10 days?

[Hammerknight]

Two weeks is a long time for a contest. Look at HOTM it fuses out quickly, there was a lot more action when it was weekly. I lose track of it sometimes.

[Blue Blazer]

I mean, I have complete faith in all of you that a week is sufficient to get in an entry. But I don’t want to discourage anyone from entering. Feedback please.

[The Atomic Punk]

@Blue Blazer said:

I mean, I have complete faith in all of you that a week is sufficient to get in an entry. But I don’t want to discourage anyone from entering. Feedback please.

Many sites like CGHUB, DeviantArt, Seventh Sanctum, Project Rooftop, etc., have month-long contests as well as on-going side projects. Even the 30 Characters’ rules say you don’t have to enter a character every day; rather, 30 anytime within the 30 days.

An Amalgam challenge is a big production that can sustain itself if done in the right format. The big buzz right now is the Forums. We have some really prolific creators, a few new members, and a lot of people running their own challenges. Which is great! It’s also like herding cats. Perhaps wrangle those little kitties back to the Blog.

How’s this for an Amalgam: use past Hero of the Month winners or even nominations. Pair the winners of January and February, March and April, etc. That is a decent size pool of ready creations and potential for some crazy, awesome stuff! Of course, you will probably want to seek permission of the HOTM winners.

[Suleman]

I will try to participate no matter what the submission time is. Seven days or ten or fourteen, not an issue to me.

[Author]

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