Future Contest Ideas

[Shinigami]

The real man comment kinda reminds me of Pinoccio. Lol.

That's what I was aiming for

First of all, I think the mecha characters should be anything but robots that are covered in skin (terminators, androids) or lack skin only to look human. So Transformers, Go Bots, Gundams, Zords and stuff like that are ok in my book.
Armor? Sure, I don't see a reason not to include it. But, again, shouldn't look like a man dressed for halloween as the mecha version. Some parts, like Optimus' chest piece would be fine. Or full armor only when it's a knight/space marine/etc.
And I don't know about that transforming parts (I see it as a real human, not a robot), but animals would be great. Make Bumblebee as a real bumblebee, Unicorn Gundam as a unicorn (though sorry, not a robot unicorn).

[RedRebelCustoms]

I have a question regarding the popularity of the contests and the possibility that if not enough entries are received we will cut back on the frquency of our contests. Before I ask though I would like to say Patraw has done a great job picking from the long list of themes. Ok, here's my question, Is it possible to add a poll without slowing the site down? I use a Poll Daddy on my site and it seems to be a simple addition to make. I only ask because I think the entries are not based on overkill so much as the popularity of some of our themes. I have been away for a while so recent contests were no go for me. Also this is a busy time for many customizers. I would hate to see unrelated factors cause the 2 contest a month to go away. I love how we can put ideas in this topic but a poll would allow those less active in the forums to vote on maybe 5 ideas and that could be the one we then add as the next contest. If the poll is through Poll Daddy or a like site, wouldn't that take the load from the votes? Also, if we add a more popular theme as the end of the month contest and a random/less pop culture theme as the mid-month contest it seems we'd get more consistent entries as well as an overview of wjat works and what doesn't. I'm betting the Thundercats and Anime contests have a greater number of entries based solely on popularity. Just a thought.

[Patraw]

Shinigami: In my earliest draft of the Mechanized Contest, I had included the option to do just what you suggested (i.e., convert a robot into an organic being), but, upon further reflection, I decided to leave that out to keep things simpler and because I felt that would work well as a stand-alone contest by itself. I don't see any reason why you couldn't have armor on a humanoid Transformer, to help sell the connection with the original robot, just so long as you could still tell the figure was supposed to be human underneath the armor (removable helmet maybe?).

RedRebelCustoms: Some themes are always going to be more popular than others--it's impossible to tell how many entries a given contest is going to get until you actually run it (unless you're repeating a past contest, in which case you can guesstimate a relatively similar turnout.)

Polling the members with a selection of contest ideas is something I have contemplated doing; if that's what you'd like to see in the future, I can probably accommodate that. In the earlier pages of this thread, I noticed that moderators would sometimes do just that, so it's not without precedent. Of course, one could argue that the discussion in this thread acts as a barometer of sorts too. I don't know that we need an actual physical poll to do this (no need to make extra work for Captain Coder if we don't have to)--I would think people just informally posting which theme they like the best from a list would do the trick.

[Shinigami]

Here's a new one - "Out of a cartoon". I thought about excluding Marvel and DC to avoid lots of Spider- and Batmen, but then again, there are lots of fun redesigns in these shows, so what the heck, everything goes.

[Patraw]

A Cartoon contest has been suggested in the past, and I think it's a good idea with a lot of potential. The only problem I have with it is that there's currently a Japanese cartoon/comic contest active, and I wouldn't want to run another cartoon contest too close to that one, just for the sake of variety. But, certainly, sometime down the road, it'd probably be a good one to try out.

[RedRebelCustoms]

Not sure of the best place to put this but I would like to see a huge turnout for the Independent Contest. Thought this may help.
List of all publishers
http://www.comicvine.com/publishers/

My Top Faves

DYNAMITE
http://www.comicvine.com/dynamite-enter ... haracters/
IMAGE
http://www.comicvine.com/image/57-513/characters/
TOP COW
http://www.comicvine.com/top-cow/57-606/characters/
MALIBU
http://www.comicvine.com/malibu/57-447/characters/
BOOM
http://www.comicvine.com/boom-studios/5 ... haracters/
VALIANT
http://www.comicvine.com/valiant/57-485/characters/
DARK HORSE
http://www.comicvine.com/dark-horse-com ... haracters/
IDW
http://www.comicvine.com/idw-publishing ... haracters/
CHAOS!
http://www.comicvine.com/chaos-comics/5 ... haracters/
TOPPS
http://www.comicvine.com/topps/57-519/characters/
ZENESCOPE
http://www.comicvine.com/zenescope-ente ... haracters/
CALIBER
http://www.comicvine.com/caliber-comics ... haracters/
IMPACT/ WILDSTORM

http://www.comicvine.com/impact/57-483/characters/

http://www.comicvine.com/wildstorm/57-708/characters/

[RedRebelCustoms]

The last three are creator owned although have been imprints of DC. They operate in their own comic universes and some earlier titles were never transfered to DC's imprint. In the case of crossovers they have still operated in their own universe. Being as they are not characters of the big two, are they subject matter we may use? With the exception maybe of characters such as Grifter who was transfered via the New 52. Likewise would an older Pre-DC version of Grifter be admissable? Not a huge deal really. Just wanted your input so I can remove them from my post if we can't use them. Although, I was a W.I.L.D.C.A.T.S. fan!

[Patraw]

Thanks for the list/links. Personally, I don't consider Vertigo to be an Indendent thing, it's just a sub-universe of DC, and there's plenty of precedent for Vertigo characters like Swamp Thing interacting with characters from the main DC universe, like Batman.

Yeah, I'm aware that Jim Lee sold Wildstorm to DC, that's one of the reasons why I included the language "past or present" in the rules. If you want to make WildC.A.T.s, or other Wildstorm, characters, simply limit yourself to the comics and characters that were created prior to the sale (so, in other words, if you wanted to make Grifter, make him from the pre-DC era of WildC.A.T.s.) Unfortunately, intellectual properties changing hands, over time, is just one of those flies in the ointment.

Crossovers are okay IF the character isn't Marvel/DC or a licensed, non-comic book character (i.e., Batman Vs. Judge Dredd is a no-go, no Batman under any circumstances.) Cerebus appearing in Spawn #10, on the other hand, is okay 'cuz they're both Independent characters.

[RedRebelCustoms]

Thanks for clearing that up for me Patraw! A lot of great characters I wasn't quite sure about.

[KJL2381]

Here's an idea that will take fully rounded artists to achieve. A dio comic. Customizers have to create a diorama filled with custom figures to simulate a short out of a comic. Previously posted figures can be used as extras to fill space but the comic must have at least one custom specially made for the comic short. The dio comic can be a re-creation from an already existing/published comic, or an original scene.

[Patraw]

That's a pretty cool idea, and a nice twist on the diorama concept. Rather than just limiting it to comics, I think it'd be good to expand it to any 2-dimensional art, that way people could do movie posters (like McFarlane's 3D movie posters), book covers, and other stuff too.

You wouldn't be allowed to use previously posted figures though, that would compromise contest participant anonymity, although I see no problem with using unaltered figures as supporting cast for the scene.

[KJL2381]

That's a pretty cool idea, and a nice twist on the diorama concept. Rather than just limiting it to comics, I think it'd be good to expand it to any 2-dimensional art, that way people could do movie posters (like McFarlane's 3D movie posters), book covers, and other stuff too.

That's a good idea!

You wouldn't be allowed to use previously posted figures though, that would compromise contest participant anonymity, although I see no problem with using unaltered figures as supporting cast for the scene.

Ah, I didnt think about that. Good point.

[Pickledish]

I thought it would be awesome if there was a contest where you would take a cartoon-ish character and recreate them in a realistic version! e.g. taking Mario and turning him into what he would look like as a plumber in our real world, or turning animal characters such as Sonic into an actual looking mutated hedgehog, or basically turning any char of that sort into a realistic version. Thanks a bunch!~~

-Pickledish

[RedRebelCustoms]

I thought it would be awesome if there was a contest where you would take a cartoon-ish character and recreate them in a realistic version! e.g. taking Mario and turning him into what he would look like as a plumber in our real world, or turning animal characters such as Sonic into an actual looking mutated hedgehog, or basically turning any char of that sort into a realistic version. Thanks a bunch!~~

-Pickledish

Cool idea! I kinda thought Bob Hoskins made a dang good Mario in the movie though. Sonic would probably look similar to TMNT 2 Rahzar minus the bad attitude.

[Patraw]

Yeah, I agree that'd be a good and interesting contest.