Haven Walkur

Re: in the spirit of christmas! Thanks muchly, Dr. Dee, Elegy looks good -- well, no, actually she looks a bit cadaverous and menacing, an element that didn't show up in any of the other pics of her I have. And my first reaction was surprise...but different views of Elegy by different artists is what I was after, so NO! no re-do necessary or even considered (as if, you silly person!). I particularly like the eyebrow-whiskers (which you managed to keep from looking like those animé eyebrows), and the way the pic hints at her strange hands with their non-human conformation. And I like the overall pic a lot, though I had to look at it several times to realise that; this is a more alien Elegy, not as pretty but a lot more unsettling. Actually, as her player, I hadn't ever realised she might look alarming...but given the way I described her -- her colouring, her build, her strange eyes, teeth and hands -- then yes, she is on the scary side of uncanny. And you're the first of five artists (and a player!) to notice that. Well done, Dr. Dee, and thank-you again; this pic wasn't what I expected, but it was what I wanted. Oh, and Happy Christmas to you too!

Re: Heroes from All Fifty States I love the Family Portrait of the US 50. Very intricate work, with lots of fitting and sizing of the images -- I'm impressed, and I'm delighted you honoured the characters with your efforts! (And for the record, I'm still really tickled to have been part of this project.) Aha, the Board Gods *will* permit me to lavish my Tribble-touched Rep upon you for your hard work, enthusiasm and skill -- so, REPPED!

Re: in the spirit of christmas! Strongly seconded.

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished? Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished? A] There would be much rejoicing?

Re: Poison's Champions Art Thread That's a delightful piece, Poison; playful and mischievous, the lighter side of Black Cat. And that panther-oid feline in the background is wonderful. Personally, I still can't get over how *elegant* your pencil work is! [shakes head in wonder] I love those defining lines and borders.

Re: in the spirit of christmas! Most provocative. [checking DeviantART account for more info]

Re: in the spirit of christmas! Oh my, what an incredible piece, Dr. Dee. This character is so beautiful...but also so vulgar and brutal (he's waving a thug's weapon, a BLOODY STRAIGHT RAZOR!) The picture is wonderfully well executed, with marvellous detail and contrasts of colour/shape. It also invokes a whole series of unsettling psychological contrasts, with implications of the divine (the angelic wings) versus the infernal (the fiery demonic eyes), beauty versus horror, elegance versus savagery...this is great work. [Whoops, upon further study I've realized that the weapon is a katana, foreshortened by the angle, and not a straight razor. I finally noticed the hilt. But the point about contrasts still stands and might even be strengthened by that; the vulgar brutality of splattering blood, the weapon of honour and aristocracy. A chaos versus law contrast.]

Re: Poison's Champions Art Thread Oh wow. Oh Poison, that's perfect. (please see my most recent email for further raving)

Re: Poison's Champions Art Thread Oh yes, I definitely noticed the Legion flight ring, even in the smaller image. And that multitude of smaller spheres (representing the United Planets) in front of the Legion HQ. And the Ditko dots around the weapon blast. And Superboy's gloves. And Gamma Girl's gloves. And, and, and...as I noticed in the first pics you posted, you're a master of fine detail. Every pic (of yours) tells a story!

Re: Poison's Champions Art Thread Wonderful, Poison. Thank-you. The elegance of your art really comes through in the pencil work, the almost stylised lines and curves. Of course I don't have any objection to your using shading; isn't that part of pencil work? I like the energy of the pic, the use of angled lines in the 'frame' to create a sense of motion. The high-tec weapon projecting into the image from "off camera" adds to the whole snap-shot of the action feel...and the weapon itself is very convincing. You've captured the characters well, especially since poor Superboy has been done and redone to the point of cliché, and Gamma Girl has never had a pic before. Yours is the first -- and based entirely on fragments and descriptions, you've brought her to life! You were right, that is the perfect expression for Gamma Girl! You're shooting me? You're shooting me? Oh, I don't think so! And the Legion HQ background...ooh, beautiful! [big BIG grin] Thanks again, Poison. My only concern -- and to be fair, it's not something we ever discussed -- is that GG is a bit too busty. Ah, over-endowed in the frontage department. Yes, she's a descendant of the Earth-2 Superman, but Power Girl she ain't. ;-)

Re: The Monster As Hero thread How about a heroic Banshee? This grisly ghostly lady is traditionally the spectral patron of a particular family, wailing to warn of a pending death in the family. She appears as a woman in trailing gray robes/veils, spattered with blood, and is usually described as having either a bare skull instead of a head, or only bloody eye-sockets where her eyes should be. But when James Montmorency -- a favourite member of Banshee Eleanor Montmorency's "family" -- decided to take up the mantle of crime-fighter (or superhero), this Banshee decided to accompany him and become involved in "the good fight" as well. No longer willing to just helplessly lament approaching deaths, Eleanor wanted to become actively involved in preventing deaths.... To that end, the Banshee inhabited an antique music box that kept reappearing amongst the possessions of her chosen "partner", James. Eleanor tried to get his attention with all sorts of ghostly phenomena -- knocking on walls, opening/closing doors, disembodied footsteps -- and finally visited him in his dreams on several nights.... It was a traumatic period for both Banshee and human, but they both finally managed to adjust to this strange partnership. And now James Montmorency carries around a little wind-up musicbox with his ancestress and partner riding inside it -- a naturally Desolid partner with low-level Telekinesis, one hell of a Presence Attack and a sonic RKA "Banshee Wail". Even though the costume is wildly anachronistic for Eleanor (who died in childbirth back during the reign of King Charles II), she insists on appearing in the costume of a Victorian-era "Peeler"; an old-fashioned London police constable, with the addition (of course) of a skull-head or bloody eye-sockets.

Re: Underpowered tropes? Mentalists...perceived by players/comicbook readers as underpowered if they're anything less than Professor X-level. And since the HERO system makes mental powers appallingly expensive, it's very rare to have a powerful PC Mentalist in a game. The big Mentalists are almost always NPCs, and the PC Mentalists almost always underpowered. Mentalists...perceived by the writers of HERO Games as terribly over-powered and automatic game-unbalancers. So in the interests of "game balance," the individual elements of mental powers -- cost per die, limitations, advantages, effect -- are artificially set to price the Mentalist PC out of consideration. If you want a challenge, try building a PC Mentalist that ISN'T underpowered -- on standard starting points.

Re: in the spirit of christmas! This pose is absolutely explosive! The character looks as if he's about to erupt into violent action. The change in style seems to have worked very well for him...but I too prefer your more stylised "wobbly" style. Whereabouts in the strange and mystical "world" of Cornwall are you, Dr. Dee? I ran around Cornwall with my husband some years back...though we were actually staying over the border in Clovelly, in Devon.

Re: in the spirit of christmas!

Re: Poison's Champions Art Thread Poison: I think you're a very talented artist. I particularly like your pencil drawings, and I'm very impressed by the mood and spirit of your superhero pieces. Your characters all seem to have that undeniably heroic look, that "larger-than-life" or "something special" visual quality that makes them stand out...even when all they're doing is standing there. No-one would ever mistake one of your heroes for one of the "extras". They're heroes, they're special, and it shows. (I've never seen your version of a supervillain, but I'm guessing that you'd be equally capable of depicting the dark side.)

Re: Superhero Images Interested!

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Hi, Daddy! I love you too.

Re: in the spirit of christmas! Very unsettling. All the creepier given that aside from her eyes, she looks normal...but that expression [shudder] Well done, Dr. Dee. What's the story behind Little red?

Re: The Champions Universe's mightiest archetypes Welcome back, Weevil. Haven't seen you on the Board in ages. Have some Rep. (Yes, the Tribble's little girl has grown up to be a mighty Rep-slinger.)

Re: A DC Animated-style HeroMachine Got him.

Re: Make a Green Lantern Oath I'll take that challenge, Aussie-boy! The first one's paraphrased from "Dare," the second one from "Instruments of Destruction", both from the animated Transformers movie. Good choice of Heroic Oath material.

Re: Poison's Champions Art Thread

Re: Poison's Champions Art Thread That's absolutely marvellous, Poison. The pose is wonderful, dynamic and powerful, and the figure is thoroughly female -- not just a "feminised" version of a masculine character. I think your colouring work is excellent, even if *you* have your doubts about it. The shadows and shading make the work very 3-dimensional, and the smoke/gas/vapour really does come across as insubstantial. You're evidently a man of many (artistic) talents.

Re: Poison's Champions Art Thread MONKEYSHINE Poison -- Have you ever watched the original "Planet of the Apes" movies? What about the old T.V. series, with Roddy McDowell as Galen the chimp? Well, here's a character idea that's one of the "evolved" Apes from that continuity, where the Apes have become Earth's sentient races and Humans have degenerated into mute, near-mindless animals. [see "Planet of the Apes", the first one.] And no, I've never played her. Always wanted to, though. Dr. Minerva is an educated, middle-aged lady Chimp, a zoo-ologist who was her world's equivalent of Jane Goodall, studying and working with the feral human packs out in the Wildlands. She also became interested in the artifacts occasionally found in the the human habitats, old artifacts of some very un-Apelike culture. But when Dr. Minerva began theorizing about an ancient species of 'greater humans' having once existed -- tool-using humans with the power of speech, humans with almost Apelike intelligence -- she found herself very unpopular in Ape society. While searching for proof of her "greater humans" theory -- ("something that even those feces-flinging *monkeys* back in Pacifica won't be able to ignore!" ) -- in the Wildlands and the Wastes beyond, Dr. Minerva was captured by the Mutants, a small society of humans that had been living in the ruins for generations. They had preserved enough old human technology to have power and light...but they had also been guarding a cache of atom bombs, which had been irradiating them for generations. As a result, the Mutants were all born physically deformed -- but they had also developed telepathic powers. [see movie #2; "Beneath the Planet of the Apes."] And as their captive, Dr. Minerva endured a living hell of persecution and mental abuse.... But after almost a year of constant exposure to the Mutants' telepathic powers, Dr. Minerva began to develop abilities of her own, to defend herself from the Mutants' mental attacks. She learned to generate a powerful mental shield; she also began learning to "read" the thoughts and intentions of those around her with a low-level telepathy of her own. She even began developing the ability to "read" some of the objects and artifacts all around her. The lady Chimp was torn between staying on in the city with its treasure-trove of knowledge and trying to escape the Mutants and their cruelty -- and then the decision was taken out of her hands. The Mutants captured a strange human, capable of thought and speech, and brought him to their city to interrogate, but the Gorilla soldiers pursuing him followed, and attacked the Mutant city. In the chaos, Dr. Minerva managed to scramble into one of the old human "flying machines" and tried to fly it safety. But the "flying machine" was actually a scout-class spaceship, which carried the startled Chimp into orbit -- just as someone in the Mutant city detonated the atom bombs. And as her world was destroyed behind her, Dr. Minerva's ship carried her through the flaw or warp in spacetime separating her Earth -- the Ape Earth -- from the Human (Champions) Earth. Fortunately, ships from the orbiting UNTIL station intercepted her before her ship could crash into the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. After debriefing, a stunned Dr. Minerva was provisionally classified as an extraterrestrial, and placed in the custody of METE...where she remained as she tried to find her place in this alien Human world. Her few public appearances have earned her the name of "Monkeyshine" -- which she detests. Dr. Minerva is...well, a humanoid chimpanzee. She's in her mid-40s (equivalent), about 5'6", slightly stooped, with long arms, short bandy legs and dark, intelligent eyes. To correct her short-sightedness, she now wears glasses...which weren't available on Ape Earth. The glasses are wire-rimmed in copper, with hexagonal lenses. Her fur is walnut-coloured, dark brown-black stippled with grey -- particularly on her head and shoulders. She often wears a white labcoat, but doesn't care for most other items of Human apparel; she usually prefers her long mossy-green tunic with its dark leather shoulder-pieces and elbow patches, and matching leggings. She won't wear footwear of any sort. Minerva is highly intelligent, strong-willed (read: "stubborn"), assertive and intellectually daring. She doesn't suffer fools gladly...or at all. She's gutsy and self-sufficient, has a very good constitution and loves fieldwork, especially out in the wild. She also loves lecturing -- and yes, she *is* inclined to be pedantic. She's physically fast and acrobatic -- though slowing down and stiffening up as she gets older -- and when she's in a hurry she adopts the typical chimpanzee "scurry". The only weapon she'll use is a staff, and she has a total Code Against Killing ("We are not savages, after all.") She has a variety of mental powers, including low-level Telepathy, Mind Scan and Ego Attack, but her mental shields and her psychometry ("Detect, as a sense: events of the past" -- maybe?) are the truly powerful ones. Next: CHIMERON

Re: Green Lantern: Against the Blackest Night PBM I took the Power Ring test, and, well...colour me surprised. Actually, colour me Blue!