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Character Contest 30: It’s a Class Thing
The theme was to design a superhero around a Dungeons & Dragons character class. I am archiving five of my entries from least to most favorite. First is Carlton Binder. Binders summon monsters and spirits to perform tasks. Carlton is a business tycoon in a magical world.
Carlton Binder
Close-up
Backstory
Whooooiiieeee! Who’d have thunk it, huh? All them years haggling with those desert nomads. Making outrageous demands. Threatening to cut off the supply of dragon tears. Worse, threatening to cut off my fool head!Shoulda listened to my wizard buddy a long time ago. Attend a few empowerment seminars at the Downtown Marriott. Read a few magic tomes. Arcane… heck, easier than Spanish!
Now look at this. Convinced that goblin fellow back there to catch me a fairy dragon. Start my own dragon tear refinery! Got an ogre who says he’s gonna get me a couple of nomad heads, too. Hey, Omar, remember that time you left me to die in the Wastelands of Aban’thia? Yeah, payback’s a bitch. Only gonna cost me a goblin.
Speaking of which. Junior back there ain’t none too bright. Promised him three bags of platinum for this little flower. Instead, he pointed to the globe on my desk. I said, “If you don’t want the platinum, you can have this whole world!”
And he agreed! By the time he figured it out, I’d already surrounded me and my money with this protective rune circle. Now go away, kid! Deal’s a deal! Do come back in about a week, though. Need you to help me with an ogre problem.
Character Contest 31: The weapon’s the thing
Only one entry for this contest, but I had lots of fun with it.
The Doom Buggy!
Skulls and Surfboards (The Doom Buggy’s Theme Song)
Doom Buggy, yeah, yeah, yeah
Bustin’ skulls and surfboards
Yeah, yeah, yeahCome down to the beach
And sing along
The gatling on the roof
Has a range that’s very longThink you can run
Run real fast
The blades on the wheels
Will slice up your… whoo!The heat don’t go down
When the sun gets lower
The left headlight
Is a bitchin’ flamethrowerThe right one too
Is lots and lots of fun
Squeeze some white-hot rounds
From the gauss gunDoom Buggy ain’t the fastest in the land
But it’ll run you down
Down into the sandDoom Buggy, yeah, yeah, yeah
Bustin’ skulls and surfboards
Yeah, yeah, yeah… Doom Buggy!Character Contest 30: Gadgeteer
First entry was “bloke.” I didn’t do a convincing job with the left arm, but that’s more the point of this retrospective. To re-visit designs, review progress, and accept mistakes.
bloke:
Close-up:
Backstory:
Eric Sawyer failed auditions to be in retro-80s cover bands. Instead, he ended up as a roadie on the nostalgia circuit. Eric didn’t like life off-stage. He decided to become the superhero “bloke.”Using his knowledge of pyrotechnics and sound engineering, Eric designed the ultimate crime-fighting keytar. It so rocks! By playing certain notes, bloke is able to generate blinding flashes, stunning booms, and cutting lasers. Eric is constantly “tuning” the keytar. Someday, he hopes it will have as many bitchin’ powers as gnarly songs on his iPod.
Unbeknownst to Eric, he is also a telekinetic late-bloomer. He has never had proper ESP training. So far, he has been able to subconsciously generate defensive force fields. There are no visible effects, so Eric thinks that it has been dumb luck that bullets and bats have not put an end to his career.
Though Eric’s alter ego is bloke, he is not a full-time superhero. He only suits up when he’s “in the mood”, or there’s an opportunity for major publicity. Eric actually hopes to get out of pizza delivery and back into the music scene.
Unfortunately, Eric really isn’t that great of a musician. And several artists and record companies have threatened to sue him for copyright infringement.
Character Contest 29: Armorium
I based InkGun off of a tattoo artist that I know. Likewise, Rum Runner is said artist’s real-life friend.
InkGun has no backstory. Just a guy who built an armored suit that shoots flames.
Rum Runner:
After his tattoo artist friend Smitz built himself a flame-throwing power suit and became InkGun, the Bobster asked to have one built for him. Smitz happily obliged (for a fee$$$). Now, the stocky former college fencer is Rum Runner. With his faithful parrot Morgan… well… you get the idea.
barbario’s “Tarrasque” found in his “MONSTER MASH” thread.
“it is a bygone left-over from the times of the ELDER GODS. Imprisoned deep with the ground by ancient MAGICKS; only by gathering SIX artifacts from across the globe, and performing certain un-speakable rituals when the STARS have aligned, can the world-ender be freed. “
My first Character Contest entry was for CC 28 (Child of …). Fortunately, I had already created a character in HM 2 who was supposed to be the daughter of the classic Marvel villain Mysterio. Predictably, calling her “Mysteria,” I decided to re-vamp her for “Child of…” in HM 3 as the daughter of Mysterio and Dead Girl. In the Marvel universe, the villains did meet but did not bear any offspring.
She has her father’s gift for theatrics and stage effects. From her mother, Living Dead Girl inherited blue skin and a bad haircut. I had a full backstory and description of her powers – which I did not save to my hard drive. Also, it seems to have been lost when HeroMachine transferred from UGO to our host Jeff Hebert. Moral of the story: Back-up your files.
Here are the original HM 2.5 versions as “Mysteria:”
Here is the updated and renamed “Living Dead Girl” (yes, from the Rob Zombie song):
