Vote For The Next Custom Contest Theme!

[Darththomas]

I'm with cfc, love me some bad guys so it's number 6 for me!!

[Patraw]

Three-way tie so far then . . .

[RedRebelCustoms]

#1 and #5 are high on my list but I'm going to say #6. Making heroes as villains has so much appeal to me. I'm picturing some sinister versions of Cap right now!

[Patraw]

It was a close vote, but the first Figure Realm custom contest of 2012 shall be Vile Volitions II! Thank you to everybody who took the time to vote! Here are six choices for the January 15th challenge (remember: only vote for one of them):

#1 Accessorization Contest
Make an accessory pack consisting of at least 10 separate items (you don't have to customize a figure to go with them). The accessories can be for a specific character or more general in nature. If you wish, you can meet your quota with duplicates of the same object (i.e., ten identical grenades) or multiple-component items (i.e., a sixth-scale pistol, with a removable clip and eight bullets, would count as your ten things, even though they all go together when assembled). In addition to weapons, any kind of toy accessory would be legal: hats/helmets, removable armor, backpacks, swappable heads/limbs, clothing, mini-figure pets/sidekicks, stands, etc.

#2 Army Builder/Henchmen Contest
A challenge dedicated to all the nameless, generic grunts/soldiers who get all the crap jobs and are usually the first to die. Cobra Vipers, Cylon Centurions, Foot Clan Ninja, Hydra Soldiers, Parademons, Storm/Clone Troopers, etc. No specific individuals, they have to be interchangeable nobodies (i.e., a MOTU Evil Horde Trooper is fine, but Leech, Grizzlor, or Mantenna would not be).

#3 Day Off Contest
Ferris Bueller did it, and now your toys can too. Show us what your favorite character does with their down time or when they're on vacation. Do they just lay in bed, go to the beach/pool, have hobbies, part-time jobs, etc? If you think Superman would park his bullet-proof posterior on a couch, wear nothing but his scarlet spandex undies, and play Xbox 360 all day, then have at it.

#4 Digital Beatdown Contest
Any character from a 1-on-1, or team/group, fighting video game: Clayfighter, Dead or Alive, Fatal Fury, Killer Instinct, King of Fighters, Primal Rage, Marvel Vs. Capcom, Mortal Kombat, Samurai Shodown, Soul Blade/Calibur, Street Fighter, Super Smash Brothers, Tekken, TMNT: Tournament Fighters/Smash Up, Virtua Fighter, etc. Sidescrolling beat-em-ups, like Double Dragon, Final Fight, or Streets of Rage don't count (although some of those characters do appear in 1-on-1 fighting games, which would then make them legal as entries.)

#5 Incarcerated Contest
Guilty or not, all your toys has been captured and locked up! Show us how the authorities, or their arch-enemy, would restrain your favorite hero or villain--you'll have to get creative in order to neutralize particularly powerful/unusual characters. Truss your figures up with ropes, handcuffs, chains, etc., make a special cell for them, stuff like that.

#6 Yo Joe! Contest
Anything and everything having to do with Hasbro's G.I.JOE franchise. Make your favorite Joes, Cobras, Iron Grenadiers, Dreadnoks, Oktober Guard, etc., however you want. Any incarnation of G.I.JOE (toys, cartoons, comic books, live action movie, video games, etc.) is fair game. Adventure Team, Combat Heroes, RAH, Renegades, Resolute, Sigma Six, Spy Troops, etc.; the possibilities are endless.

[cosmicfantasycustoms]

love this new voting system, has me trying to finish up some projects that I have wanted to do for a long time. so thanks for the suggestion and the implementation. as for the new contest I would say #4 the digital beatdown contest, love the idea. one question though I know it is not an exact game, but mugen, it has characters from everything, is that completely off limits. and eternal champions and the older dc fighting game or dc vs mk, would they also be valid. I am sure red rebel will come up with a great list for valid fighting games, he always has such great info.

[yamivash 0]

#4 Digital Beatdown Contest
Any character from a 1-on-1, or team/group, fighting video game: Clayfighter, Dead or Alive, Fatal Fury, Killer Instinct, King of Fighters, Primal Rage, Marvel Vs. Capcom, Mortal Kombat, Samurai Shodown, Soul Blade/Calibur, Street Fighter, Super Smash Brothers, Tekken, TMNT: Tournament Fighters/Smash Up, Virtua Fighter, etc. Sidescrolling beat-em-ups, like Double Dragon, Final Fight, or Streets of Rage don't count (although some of those characters do appear in 1-on-1 fighting games, which would then make them legal as entries.)

Can we make people who appear in wrestling video games they are fighting games!if so this has my vote

[RedRebelCustoms]

I have to go with #4 as well! Thanks for the shout out CFC and here's a little info link for ya.

List of fighting games.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... obile_site
Character Cross-reference sites

http://www.fightersgeneration.com/main.htm This site also contains the newest fight game updates for those who the most recent versions

http://www.giantbomb.com/characters/?sort=alphabetical

[Darththomas]

Yup #4 for me too

[Patraw]

yamivash O: You know, wrestling games hadn't even occured to me, but, yeah, those would be fine too, along with mixed-martial-arts, boxing, kickboxing, etc. games.

cosmicfantasycustoms: I think I'm going to exclude MUGEN if #4 gets picked, simply because that would open the door to all sorts of characters that don't really fit into the theme (people have made anything and everything for MUGEN). Good question!

Eternal Champions, Mortal Kombat Vs. DC, and Justice League Task Force would all be legal subject matter. I believe there was a Lobo fighting game many years ago as well, but maybe that got cancelled before it saw the light of day.

[Shinigami]

#4 for me too. I may finally be tempted to make some of the characters I like.

[RedRebelCustoms]

Patraw- Lobo was a prototype never released in 1996 but was intended for the sega Genesis /Super Nintendo. A CD ROM version made its way to release via a Spanish Co. A screen shot can be seen here ...
http://stresslines.org/?tag=retro
As well it was featured in Nintendo Power #84 of that year. Given customizing is all about making what never was, would it still be legal subject matter?

[Patraw]

Possibly--I've been thinking about it. There are a number of fighting games that were canceled or had specific characters that were cut from the final version of the game. If such characters were allowed, they'd have to be documented, not just unsubstantiated rumors.

[Patraw]

Okay, Digital Beatdown is shall be--my thanks to everyone who took the time to cast their vote and comment on the implementation of the theme (helps me to see aspects/concerns that might never occur to me otherwise). Here are your choices for the February 1st Custom Contest (only vote for one):


#1 Art Alive
Reproduce any 2-dimensional piece of artwork as closely as you can in 3-dimensional customized toy form. You could do comic books, movie posters, paintings, music album covers, etc. (and, no, you can't use your own artwork, it has to be somebody else's design that you bring to life). Depending on what you choose to replicate, this might entail diorama-type elements and multiple figures or it could be something much more simplistic.

#2 Articulation Junkie
Create the most articulated figure you possibly can, all while trying to make the joints as unobtrusive as possible. Whatever you make should have a joint count in the double digits. You can't just slap a coat of paint on a super-articulated base figure and submit it "as-is", you have to improve on its range of motion in some fashion (i.e., if your base figure had 18 points of articulation, you must add at least one more joint to it). If you're not any good at constructing new joints, you can simply swap out parts from a better articulated figure in order to achieve this goal.

#3 I Love the 70s/80s/90s/00s
(If you pick this one, then also post which decade you want, but, note that you can't pick the 2010s, because the current decade obviously isn't finished yet.) I'm pretty much just stealing a page out of VH1's playbook here. Customs based on anything from the decade in question would be legal: toys, actors/actresses, athletes, musicians, video games, comic books, etc. You have to make your custom look like he/she/it does during that time period (i.e., if it was I Love The 90s, you'd have to make Mary Kate & Ashley Olson customs as kids, not the adults they are now.) If 80s was the decade picked, then I'd probably call it "80s Style II", as it'd pretty much be a repeat of that previous contest. If this is the contest theme that gets the most votes, but there isn't a clear winner as far as what decade it should be, then I'll make a tie-breaker decision.

#4 Pirates
Make any pirate character, real or fictional. Human pirates, zombie pirates, space pirates, it's all good, matey! Edward Teach (Blackbeard), Pirates of The Carribean, Pirates of Darkwater, Pirates of The Galaxseas, ThunderCats Berserkers, etc. You could also give non-pirate characters a buccaneer makeover (i.e., the Dread Pirate Deadpool).

#5 Specific Character*
(*Actual contest name dependent on whomever is picked.)
A contest dedicated to a single character (if you vote for this option, then also post your top three picks for the character that you'd like to see as the focus). You can make any existing version of the selected character, or reinterpret them however you see fit with an original design. If there's no clear majority as far as who the focus should be (i.e., if five people voted for this one but each picked completely different characters), then I'll choose one of them from the pool of nominees. While you can nominate any character, try to keep in mind whether or not your fellow Figure Realm members might, or might not, be interested in your choice (a well-known character, with a number of different looks, would probably work better than an obscure one).

#6 Three Choices
Basically, there would be three lists of generic objects/concepts, and you have to pick one item from each of those three lists and then somehow incorporate them into your custom (however you do that is completely up to your own creativity, for example, if you picked "sword", you might give your character a sword accessory, put a sword tattoo or emblem somewhere on their body, make a Transformer whose alt mode is a sword, etc., it doesn't matter how you do it, just as long as the item/concept is somehow represented in or on your figure). Think of it as kind of like a 3-dimensional version of Mad-Libs. If you pick this one, feel free to also suggest some categories/items for said lists (remember to keep them generic though, so that they can be broadly applied to many characters, in other words, "helmet" is good, "Stormtrooper helmet" is too specific). Some of the possible categories I was considering include "accessories", "action features" (swappable limbs, spring-loaded projectiles, glow-in-the-dark, etc.), "shapes", "colors", "techniques" (flocking, dry-brushing, magnets, etc.), "genres" (western, sci-fi, horror, etc.), but if you've got something better, I'd like to hear it.

[cosmicfantasycustoms]

this is the toughest one yet, I might be inclined to go with #3, but might have to ponder a bit more on it. so as of now #3 and the 2000s.

[Shinigami]

Oh man, I think you guys will agree this is the toughest choice yet, all of these themes would make wonderful contest. I'd say Art Alive is my pick, because I want to see some of the best painters on the Realm in action.