Character Design Challenge #182- Walk Like An Egyptian

Posted on August 8, 2016 by | Comments Off on Character Design Challenge #182- Walk Like An Egyptian

egyptian_gods_by_katemaxpaint-d8ra9smOk guys, this week your CDC  is to re-imagine one of the gods or goddesses of Ancient Egypt as a superhero or villain. The only restrictions in place are that you must use at least one example of masking, and at least two examples of shading or highlighting. Click on the link for a list of possible options.

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Egyptian_gods_and_goddesses

There is no limit on the number of entries. Please read the contest rules before entering, have fun and good luck. The contest will close at 9:00am Eastern on Sunday, August 14th

Rules for posts, contests, and challenges: Original characters only, no copyrighted characters, no characters based on copyrighted characters, no characters based on RPG’s or other games. The characters must be your own design and not based on any character that might be copyrighted in any way. I have the right to delete any post that I believe crosses this line without warning. Only post characters that you have either created for this contest specifically or you know for certain have never been entered to a contest before. If you aren’t certain, don’t enter it, because I’m not going to go back through all of the contests and check.

All entries must be in JPG or PNG form (BMPs are too big), posted to a publicly accessible website (like the HeroMachine :,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;
  • Please name your filesas [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).

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Posted in Challenges, Character Design Challenges

Character Design Challenge #181 (Free For All) Winner

Posted on August 7, 2016 by | Comments Off on Character Design Challenge #181 (Free For All) Winner

Honourable Mentions: Hawk007- War Chief & Xinmodic- Alien Super Suit

Winner: Candruth- Synnove

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Posted in Challenge Favorites

Taking a Step Back

Posted on August 6, 2016 by | Comments Off on Taking a Step Back

Hey Machiners, Kaldath here with a bit of an announcement. I would like to start off by saying that I love this community and have been proud to be the leader of it in Jeff's stead for these long years  but I had been getting burned out for a long time now and then I had this serious illness. I haven't told anyone in the HM community this until now but I came very close to death. The doctors told me if I had waited just a couple more hours before seeking treatment it is very unlikely I would be here right now. Besides the infection in my foot that resulted in my toe and a couple other bones being removed my diabetes was completely out of control, my blood sugar was over 500 and I was in what is known as Diabetic Ketoacidosis ( you can look it up if you like ) and that is what nearly killed me.

 

Now I will admit that I have been considering hanging up the cape and resigning my position as Moderator and blog author here at HeroMachine but instead I have decided to step back and go extremely part time  for the rest of this year so I can work on getting my health back in order as well as recharge my batteries. I have just sent an email to Jeff and JR to that effect and wanted to let you all know as well. I will still be around watching over the place from the shadows for spambots and rules breakers ( too much of the security guard in me to stop being a rules enforcer I guess ) and I will still write a post now and then like I have been recently but for the most part I will be leaving this place in the hands of JR whom I have asked Jeff to promote to the same level of authority on the site that I have.

 

Anyway I will see you all around and hopefully come January I will be back in action ready and raring to go !

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Posted in Meta

CDC Announcement

Posted on August 6, 2016 by | Comments Off on CDC Announcement

Hey guys JR here.

Ok, so, the long and short of it is that, after tomorrow, I'm going to be stepping down from running the Character Design Challenges on the blog. I've been running the contests since May 2013, well over 3 years, and during that time I've hosted 157 contests, more than Jeff and Hammerknight combined, which is ridiculous. I was originally planning to carry on until November, so I could leave on the 300th contest, but if I'm being honest, I feel like I've run out of good ideas for the contests. Also, since the Friday Night Fights back in June, I've been wanting to compete in the contests more and more, which I obviously can't do if I'm the one deciding the winner. Those two things, combined with the fact that the contests have been getting a smaller and smaller turn out each year, led me to decide that now was the right time to step down.

However, the CDC's will not be finishing. I've arranged for djuby to take over running them, which he hopefully will this coming Monday. I look forward to seeing what challenges he throws our way and you can rest assured, I'm going to be looking to get more than the 1 win I got before I took over from Hammerknight. I can also assure you that I will not be stepping down from my position as moderator nor ceasing to post on the blog. If you've paid attention over the last 3 years, I've had a lot of blog posts, so that won't change. I'll still be here with lists each Tuesday and, if I feel like it, I may introduce other blog topics. But we'll have to see about that.

And with that.

JR out.

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Posted in News & Updates

Suicide Squad Review by Arioch

Posted on August 6, 2016 by | Comments Off on Suicide Squad Review by Arioch

Hi guys, JR here. Before I hand you over to Arioch for the review, obligatory warning about spoilers and opinions. If you haven't seen the movie yet, probably not best to read the review first, but you already know that. So, without further ado, over to Arioch for the review.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Movies and TV

Pop Quiz – Twist!

Posted on August 6, 2016 by | Comments Off on Pop Quiz – Twist!

TwistComic1962

On August 6th, 1960 Chubby Checker performed "The Twist" on American TV for the first time on "American Bandstand."

Your challenge this week is to design a hip dude or groovy chick superhero or villain inspired by the 1960s.

You only get one entry so be creative, and above all else, have fun!

All entries must be in JPG or PNG form (BMPs are too big), posted to a publicly accessible website (like the HeroMachine :,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 must be new and designed specifically for the Pop Quiz;
  • No copyrighted characters please – they will be deleted.
  • Please name your filesas [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).

This contest will close at 6pm Eastern on Sunday, August 7th.

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Posted in Pop Quiz

Character Of The Week: AMS- Dama De Cobre

Posted on August 5, 2016 by | Comments Off on Character Of The Week: AMS- Dama De Cobre

Ok, haven't done one of these in a long time and can't promise they'll be coming back with any regularity, but this picture needs to be showcased.

Obviously, being an AMS picture, we must talk about the shading, because it is excellent, especially on the face, chest and stomach areas of the character. It really accentuates the non-standard skin colour and gives an unnatural glow that makes the character seem to be made of some sort of plasma or similar substance. I also really like the costume, the red detailing on the top and leggings are very well executed and I love how the boots have been done. Making use of solid black on a costume can be very difficult to get right, so using it in such a confined area really grabs the attention. And of course, as one should expect from AMS, the face has such character, which is accentuated by the powerful and confident pose. Sublime.

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Posted in Character of the Week

Kaldath’s Corner: Babymetal X Rob Halford

Posted on August 4, 2016 by | Comments Off on Kaldath’s Corner: Babymetal X Rob Halford

Welcome to the next edition of Kaldath's Corner where I showcase things that I like and want to share with you all! Now what I am about to share with you happened a couple weeks ago as the APWAS award show but I was feeling under the weather back then as you all know but I saw this video again last night and wanted to share it!. So I present to you all Babymetal on stage with and performing with Rob Halford of Judas Priest fame!

Now we have 3 songs on this video. It starts with Just Babymetal preforming their song Karate, then after a bit of a video package plays Rob Joins sue on stage to preform Judas Priest classic Painkiller, then Yui and Moa enter the fray for a bit of "Breaking the Law".

Now I have to confess even though I was born in the 70's and was a kid of the 80's and 90's I have never listened to Judas Priest before however after seeing this I went back to youtube and found their videos and am now a fan! Which just proves that Babymetal can indeed be your foot in the door to the "True metal" scene! ( though I consider them true metal on there own!!!)

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Posted in Things I Like

Warner Bros./ DC Can’t Catch A Break

Posted on August 4, 2016 by | Comments Off on Warner Bros./ DC Can’t Catch A Break

So, Suicide Squad is out tomorrow and, well, it's fair to say that there seems to be a theme with the DCEU films early critical receptions (i.e. they aren't what Warner Bros. want). Like Batman vs. Superman, early reviews are criticising the film for having a poor plot and not knowing what to do with all of the characters they've assembled.

However, this seems to be just the tip of the iceberg. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the production of the movie was fraught with problems, an overly tight production period, the script having to be finished within 6 weeks and conflict over the tone of the film in the edit between the director and the studio which led to two different versions of the film being pre-screened, neither version apparently being much like what the marketing campaign would have you believe. Added on to that is a rotating cast of editors trying to balance between the studio and the directors demands, a director unused to making large effects driven blockbusters and the huge pressure the studio has been under after BvS's underperformance (in terms of studio expectations that is), you get the feeling that this film a) wasn't all that fun to make if you were in a high up position in the production and b) could really put a dent into the DCEU if it doesn't live up to the studios expectations. Two high profile "flops" (I say flops, because Warner Bros. was/is expecting $1 billion from both of these films and BvS didn't achieve that) in a row will be hugely embarrassing for WB and DC, especially considering how consistently Marvel is hitting their targets. Obviously Justice League will make shed loads of money, so that may remedy the situation a bit, but things may look bleak otherwise for the DCEU. But we'll just have to wait and see on that front.

On a related note, if anyone would like to do a review of Suicide Squad upon its release for the blog (like Worf did for BvS back in April) then feel free to do so and email it to me at jr19759@hotmail.co.uk. I want to see if we can get movie reviews going for as many of the new releases in the DCEU, MCU, Star Wars and Star Trek franchises as possible and I probably won't be able to go and see as many of those films on release as I'd like, so if anybody wants to help out on that front, it would be very much appreciated.

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Posted in Movies and TV

The List: Top 10 Best Superhero Films

Posted on August 2, 2016 by | Comments Off on The List: Top 10 Best Superhero Films

Ok, big list this. Really, you should never do "Best" lists because someone is always going to say that you're wrong, but hey, I'm going to because I can and, to be honest, I don't think there's going to be much disagreement with what I put on the list. People might disagree with a few films on the list, but I think the majority of them will be acceptable. Also, warning, there's only one pre-millennium film on this list. Whilst I do like Christopher Reeve's first two outings as Superman neither of them will be on this list and I had to choose between Tim Burton's two Batman films, mostly because the Superhero film genre really hit its stride after the first X-Men film and there have been more high quality films released since then than before.

Warning: This list contains opinions. Do not take if allergic.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Lists, Movies and TV