Secret Santa 2008

[captainspud]

It's that time of year once again!

Time to huddle around the fire surrounded by screaming relatives, pretending that your spiked eggnog isn't a sign of a larger problem. Time to spend hours locked in mortal combat with frustrated shoppers for the privilege of spending hundreds of dollars on poorly-made imported goods. Time to face down the disapproving looks of your local religious officiate as you make your twice-yearly appearance. And most importantly, time to celebrate the gaping hole in your life that can only be filled by cramming in piles and piles of brand-new stuff.

Time, of course, for our 5th Annual Secret Santa.

Yes, folks, he's back. After two years of shirking my commitment to the spread of holiday cynicism, I'm out of school and finally have the overabundance of time I need to once again match you up with total strangers and demand that you make them a heartwarming, custom-tailored gift, under penalty of public humiliation and ostracism.

Ahhh, it feels great to be back.

*wipes away a single tear*

So, let's get this party started! In this thread, anybody interested in participating will need to sign up. I'll need:

1. Your e-mail address (feel free to use the [name at domain dot com] format to avoid spammination)

And the following are helpful if you want to give myself and the gifters some assistance:

2. A picture of your avatar (link is better than embedded image) and a description of what (s)he does
3. What you're into, whether it be fiction, skins, art, or what have you. This field is optional, of course. Most people don't really care, but if you REALLY want an av redesign or whatever, now's the time to speak up. No guarantee you'll get it, but there's no harm in asking. :)
4. What people have given you in the past
5. Who you were matched up with last year. We've had problems with people getting the same person twice, but if you let me know, I'll make sure you don't get this person again.


Bad Santas

Every year, we ask for people to sign up only if they can make a firm commitment to fulfilling their gifting obligation. And every year, we get a dozen or more no-shows. We call these soulless, mean-spirited people Bad Santas. And unlike that awesome movie with all the cursing and the hot mom from Gilmour Girls, we do not LIKE these Bad Santas.

We do not like them ONE BIT.

I understand that sometimes you get creative blocks and just can't come up with anything. I understand that emergencies pop up and stop you from completing your gift.

IF YOU HAVE ONE OF THESE EMERGENCIES, SEND ME A PM AND TELL ME. Seriously, that's ALL you have to do. Just tell me so I can arrange a backup.

Expand if you were a bad, bad Santa last year
[spoiler]
Note that if you were on the Bad Santa list from last year (and you know who you are), you'll need to PM me with an explanation for why you were naughty, and beg for my forgiveness, if you'd like to participate this year. Note that we had a network outage during the delivery period last year, so it's entirely possible some people ended up on the list by accident-- I'll send a PM to anyone who signs up and is on last year's list to ensure that you did, in fact, deliver your gift.

Also note that signing up and bowing out doesn't make you a Bad Santa. As long as you let me or Gday know in a PM, you're in the clear.[/spoiler]

Backup Santas

In our first year, eleven people did not deliver their gifts, which kinda left the giftees out in the cold. Texas Jack PMed me out of the blue and asked me for the list of people who didn't get presents... and then a week or two later, he delivered a righteous payload of eleven custom meshes for the people who had gotten nothing. And these weren't male_heavy_wristwatch. These were fully-detailed meshes, like a koala for Gday and a ghostbuster. TJ kicks more [expletive deleted] than has ever existed since the dawn of man. I can only assume he's kicking some of the [expletive deleted] twice.

Since then, we've continued the tradition TJ started. Every year I've gotten a couple volunteers to be Backup Santas. As a Backup Santa, your job will be to take the list of no-shows and make them something extra-awesome to make up for the crippling psychological scars left by their cruel and heartless gifters.

Expand for info on how to become a Backup Santa
[spoiler]
If you'd like to volunteer to be a Backup Santa, please send me a PM. If I don't know who you are, I may ask for some examples of what you do. Don't be offended... it's nothing against you, I just like to make sure that these poor neglected giftees get the best makeup present I can arrange.

If you're going to volunteer to be a Backup Santa, I need to get an estimate from you on how many high-quality gifts, of whatever type is your "thing", you can make in the span of about a week.

There will be two periods where I'll need Backup Santas:

-During the gifting period. If someone PMs me and lets me know they can't deliver their gift, I'll immediately farm the assignment out to one of the backups.
-The third week of January, after I'm done chasing down the late-submitters and have a pretty clear list of no-shows.

If you can make a commitment to be available for emergency gifting during one or both of those periods, please let me know.[/spoiler]

So! With all that out of the way, let's start seeing some signups! I'm gonna leave the sign-ups open until Sunday, at which point I'll shuffle up the assignments and send them all out.

Happy holidays, and may the spirit of getting consume you!

[captainspud]

1. E-mail:captainspud at gmail dot com

And the following are helpful if you want to give myself and the gifters some assistance:

2. My Avatar: is Captain Spud, the handsome fellow you'll find here. He possesses the proportional strength, speed, endurance, invulnerability, flight speed, and energy projection abilities of ten thousand potatoes.
3. I'd Like: Anything. I don't play Freedom Force anymore, but go ahead and make me a cool skin and pose him all awesome-like if that's your thing. :D As for interests, I'm into WoW, and I'm reading Invincible and Black Summer. Oh, and all must hail Doom. All.
4. I've Gotten: An alternate avatar, a CoH demo skit, some art, and a fanfic.
5. Last Year I Gifted For: Protomorph. I made him a purty pitchur.

[Reepicheep]

E-mail: bensmartisnot at msn dot com

My Avatar: Is a tyrannical general from a fantasy era. One hand is replaced with a massive claw and the other holds a long cleaver. best source for info is here
I'd Like: Happy with anything, especially related to Reep. Similarly, I don't play freedom force, but I'm happy with anything FF-related.
I've gotten: a short fanfic
Last year: I did an image for Zippo.

[Sword]

email address wraithstrike at gmail dot com
My Avatar is: Sword seen randomly sneaking around the site.
I'd like:  any kind of artwork or homemade thing
I've gotten: Artwork from UFB
Last Year: I wrote up a story seed for an rpg for Super Cracker.

[BWPS]

1. dialaforawesome@OMYGODNOSPAMPLZFTWhotmail.com
2. Boy With Pointy Stick
http://home.graffiti.net/killerkomi/BWPSCOMIC/bwps.html
This should give you all the description you need. The costume doesn't matter, I really would love some kinda new one.
3. I like everything. I love art of all kind and avatars and fan fiction and I should be getting back into FF stuff. Anything, simple or anything would be extremely appreciated.
4. Not all for Secret Santa, but I've had multiple skins, a mesh, microheroes, and all other kindsa stuff made by people who are awesome.
5. I made an XStream a lame christmas style comic the last year that I was here. I'm not sure that he got it. If I'm on Bad Santa, nevermind. But I did deliver!

I make bad art/comics, possibly short computer games (difficult due to time constraints), I can make skins but they suck compared to everyone else's. If you request something non-meshy, I'll see what I can do.

[the_ultimate_evil]

anyone got a link to last years gift thread

[captainspud]

Last year's gift thread is in cold storage following Episode 6 of "FR's Adventures With The Hacking Community".

[Figure Fan]

e-mail: figurefan88 at yahoo dot com
My Avatar: A comedic and offbeat hero whose abilities stem from the Dreamscape. He can elongate his limbs, shape his body, animate lifeless objects, see glimpses of the future, and travel through the Dreamscape. Read all about him here: http://frworld.wikispaces.com/Figurefan
I'd Like: Some kind of homemade creation, artwork, or item based on Figure Fan, Watchmen, X-Men, Doctor Doom, Doctor Strange, or The Simpsons. I really like action figures, statues, and collectibles, too. ;)
I've Gotten: Homer Simpson mesh from Texas Jack, minature figures from Mahu, a mod from Conduit, and a sweet drawing on Figure Fan from DeadSidekick.
Last Year: I drew Conduit an avatar pin-up. In prior years I've created wallpapers and pin-ups, and even created a sweet diorama but could never send it because my recipient left the forums and hasn't returned since. <_< So basically, DON'T LEAVE US UNTIL AT LEAST JANUARY. KTHX.

Figure Fan Images:
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q100/zachcrafty/figurefan_current_micro_by_juancho.gif
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q100/zachcrafty/figurefan_current_pinup.jpg
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q100/zachcrafty/figurefan_current_powers2.jpg
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q100/zachcrafty/figurefan_current_powers1.jpg

[Alaric]

1. E-mail:Alaric7 at verizon dot net
2. My Avatar: is the Verdant Vowel, a guy in a cotume who more-or-less bluffs his way through as a superhero while delivering long-winded, classsic-superhero-style monologues. For more information, see this thread. Some images of the Vowel can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
3. I'd Like: Anything, really.
4. I've Gotten: A picture, a Freedom Force alternate avatar skin, and a customized action figure/sculpture (which, come to think of it, I never actually recieved...).
5. Last Year I Gifted For: Uh, that would be you, Spud. I did that CoH demofile for you (which unfortunately may well be obsolete, due to changes in the game, by now... Haven't actually looked at it in a while).

[the_ultimate_evil]

Last year's gift thread is in cold storage following Episode 6 of "FR's Adventures With The Hacking Community".

no problem spud, just trying to refresh my mind on what i did or what i got, its been a busy year

[Mr. Hamrick]

1. gary at garyhamrick dot com

And the following are helpful if you want to give myself and the gifters some assistance:

2.
My character, Edgar Hammond, is basically a media-themed villain (with a name that came from a misunderstanding of my name from the person who did my AV combined with my love of Edgar Allen Poe) that is a mix of the Bond villain Elliot Carver (from Tomorrow Never Dies), Mysterio, and several characters from Batman's rogue gallery (Joker, Two-Face, Riddler, and Ra's Al Ghul).  I have some sidekicks . . . some of them came from one of the art challenges where I was the subject and the artist had to do a pirate crew.  I liked that idea actually.  Though, they might not be pirate.  But I figure The Riddler had Query and Echo, the Joker has Harley . . . or had her, Arcade has Mr. Locke and Ms. Chambers . . . I need a crew! (mostly based on a few friends of mine)

3.  I am always in need of graphic icons for my website.  In addition, I like ITunes gift cards, goth chicks (though I have a few in mind), the anime Ghost in the Shell, and artwork based on people I know.  Umm, I'll add a link to my site where I will put a zip file with some pics of aforementioned friends.  Most of them have myspace pages, though.  I would love to see some stuff done with my avatar . . . maybe me and my "crew".

4. Let's see, last year, Hitman gave me some help with some graphics for a sample homepage for a class.  The year before that, I don't recall.  I was snubbed one year but I am not sure it was the sender's fault.   

5. I was matched up with Hitman last year.  In the past, I have been matched up with Gremlin and Super Cracker.  Last year, I drew Previsionary and gave him advanced copies of some projects that are going on my reel.  I am a shameless self-promoter sometimes. 

[juancho]

1. E-mail:juanchoff at yahoo dot com dot ar



2. My Avatar:

Lord Jay, he is a mage with especial control over water and ice, ability to generate water and ice itself. Little knowledge of magic and spellcasting. His powers come from the gems of the eternal ice (the 5 blue gems on his costume) that when he is in a non hero perosan a.k.a. Juancho they look like a small necklace.

3. I'd Like: Anything, if you want to give me a picture with sticky guys it is perfect, the idea is ot have fun.
Books i read and loved. HARRY POTTER
                                The Golden Compass

TV shows I like: Smallville
                      Avatar the last air bender
Comcis I love: Green Lantern
                    Teen titans
                    Young Avengers
                   
I love anytihng you woudl get us, things in relaiton with my avatar are always wellcomed.

4. I've Gotten: Fanfics, and avatar pictures.

5. Last Year I Gifted For: Hittman. I made him a set of alternative avatars, then los them in a PC crash and made a micro to compensate it (sorry buddy)

6. Last Year I got gift from: Deanjo.

[kkhohoho]

1.scanders@covad.net
2. Santa Claus.  The red is darker though.  There have been several variations to his face.  His face on my av pic that I had before it mysteriously disappeared has a decolored left eye, a scar on his left eye, and earings on both ears.  My sig has red eyes.  I've imagined him with a normal face, except for the fact that his mouth is often in a scowl.  He has superhuman strength (I'd say 50 tons), the ability to leap great distances, the ability to fire a powerful beam on energy from his mouth by laughing, and any injuries he acquires get healed when he hears any laugh other his own.  He also has a gift bag that contains various goodies he's swiped from Santa's workshop, such as explosive ornaments, rope disguised as tinsel, candycane boomerangs, and more.  To balance things out, his weakness is a gut punch in the stomach.  He'll nearly pass out with one of those.  He's evil, but is a hero and not a villain, because he's convinced being a hero gets him more kicks. (Not the kind of kick involving the foot. :P)
3. I'd like anything.
4. This is my first time doing this...
5. ..and since this is my first time, I've been matched up with noone in the past. :P

[gdaybloke]

a customized action figure/sculpture (which, come to think of it, I never actually recieved...).

Ya know, it's still here on my desk. I keep looking at it and thinking "I gotta remember to post that..."
My bad entirely, Al. I'll try to get it out asap.

1. E-mail:gdaybloke at cogeco dot ca

2. My Avatar: A vague cross between Nick Fury and the Man From UNCLE, really. Anyone who's been on the forums for more than 12 months or played CoH with meknows my avatar, really...

3. I'd Like: Original art's always a favourite. I'm a sucker for sketches of Stilt-Man and Beta Ray Bill. I also rely on Christmas as the only time of the year I get new Marvel Legends figures.

4. I've Gotten: Everything from meshes to mod packs to fanfic to wallpapers. I'll freely confess that I don't play Freedom Force nowadays, so mods and meshes aren't a lot of use to me - but as I said, I'm a sucker for cool pics.

5. Last Year I Gifted For: Alaric. Made him a custom action figure thingie, posted a pic, and promptly forgot to mail it off for, oh, about a year.

[Zippo]

Email:whapow at gmail dot com
Avatar: Zippo, there's one iteration of him over there <-- I might try to find some old art of him. At the moment he's pretty similar to Nate Grey in a lot of ways. The one thing that's constant in any version of him is his dark blue and black colour scheme and looking awesome :P
I'd Like: Anything is good. I quite like art or anything that's nice to look at. If my santa is creative, one thing that I'd really like is a total reimagining of my avatar, seeing as Hellion in the new x-men is now almost exactly a yellow version of the current Zippo : <
I've Gotten:Ummmm, some art, a cool animation, wallpapers.
Last Year I Gifted For:I can't remember for sure, especially seeing as I don't have any of my old gifts saved on this computer, but I ~think~ it may have been Lunarman because he's the last person I remember doing any art of. Correct me if I'm wrong on this.

[Carravaggio]

I missed out on participating last year so I'm definitely in this time around.

1. isaac_carravaggio@yahoo.com.au


2.
Thats my guy, think evil galaxy conquering superman

3. I wouldn't mind an avatar redesign, but i liked the sound of the original art g'day mentioned. It'd be keen if someone penciled and inked my character and sent me the original, then i could frame it :)
Or sum Vs. cards, doesn't matter which, i use them all,
Or your favourite book. send me a copy of ur favourite book,
or something that doesn't cost money :)

I drew Nymph a pic of his avatar the year before last, and sgt. friday made a skin of my avatar that same year.

[Uncle Yuan]

Yeah, last year I was crazy swamped and had to pull out - but I am so in this year!

Email: spbtc1168 at yahoo dot com

Avatar: I have some awesome but essentially inaccurate av art of UY in monk-mode.  In "real life" he would look more like Uncle from the Jackie Chan Adventures, but with no hair and with an added walking stick and satchel.  UY is a dragon that was trapped in a human body by a botched summoning, greatly reducing his powers.  He is essentially a magician who pulls foci for his spells out of his satchel.

Would like: Anything creative really.  These days my interests run towards City of Heroes/Villains, I like the classic comics and the Timm-verse animated shows, Firefly and comic/fantasy/sci-fi/gaming geekdom in general.  Oh, and medicine.  Go figure.

Two years ago I got: a really cool piece of avatar art from Pyroclasm that he made into a VS Deck card

Two years ago I gave: a stained-glass piece to Protomorph

[lugaru]

email address lugaruclone at yahoo dot com
My Avatar is: Described often but rarely skinned.
I'd like: anything involving superheroes, comics, alternative comics, death/black/prog metal or gaming. Freedom force stuff is super welcome.
I've gotten: A killer custom Mod by Lunarman using some of my villains and a copy of the awesome game Lugaru from detourne_me.
Last Year: I was short on time so I sent Catwho a treasure chest of video games, heroclix and D&D minnies.

[Outcast]

 ^_^ once again...a nice idea from Captain Spud. Thanks for bringing this back again. :thumbup:

I'd like to see how this turns up in the end.  :)

Hopefully no more bad santas this time around.  ;)

[captainspud]

I'm gonna extend this for a couple days to let more people see it. If you know someone who hasn't signed up, please poke them and let them know we're here. :)

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Alright, I'll get off my lazy rear end and sign up again.

1.  Email: My username at yahoo.com

2.  Avatar: The picture my sign is the only real picture ever made.  Catman, did, however, make my an in game avatar which I haven't yet played with (I need to reinstall FF after the big hard drive wipping I did a few weeks ago)  He's pretty simple though.  the catwhowalksbyhimself appears as a ghostly black housecat most of the time, but can transform into a tiger-sized cat.  He is a cosmic-level being, the personification of catliness itself, but can only exist when in the presence of real cats of any kind, and derives his power from them.  He also knows anything that any cat knows.  As a cat, he rarely actually intervenes in events, and usually acts aloof and uncaring when does.  He arch-nemesis/friend is the dogwhocrieswoof, the canine counterpart to the catwhowalksbyimself, who is well meaning and heroic, but none too bright.

3.   What I want:  I'll be grateful for anything, but I've never had any real art of that character.

4.  What I got in the past:  Some hero clix and some rpg computer games.

5.  Last year's victim:  Reepicheep, who got a short story about his character.  I originally intended to make it into a one-man audio drama, but wasn't happy with my initial attempts to do so.

[the_ultimate_evil]

hmm didnt know it closed this early ok i'm in

1the.ultimate.evil at googlemail.com

2. av my av is basically a guy who was taken by a cult as part of a solider programme for a war against heaven. one thing that people get confused is that he is a hero and the name comes from the sword which is the flesheater, a weapon created in the fires of hell to be wielded against the army's of heaven but an angel placed an element in it that if wielded by a person with pure heart it could be used against the dark forces. the sword feel to earth and travelled through the hands of some of the most evil men in history. taking a form of a different blade to reflect there inner darkness( daggers, swords, switch blades) apart from that flesheater(the person) i wanted a hero that had to deal with both the supernatural and standard comic villains, eg a bunch of vampires on issue a super villain the next. imagine a cross between spider-man and buffy.

3. i'm grateful for what ever i get. i'm into comics(Teen titans, justice league, batman, spider-man, x-men), many types of films, cartoons. i'm a big fan of masters of the universe. i'm also extremely into drawing and illustration and try and make a living using my photography.

4. last year i got an illustration of my av.

5 last years victume was deanjo i did a skin of his av.

flesheater images

http://the-ultimate-evil.deviantart.com/art/Flesheater-28476970
http://the-ultimate-evil.deviantart.com/art/Where-angels-sing-14838627
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c185/the_ultimate_evil/flesheaterv6.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c185/the_ultimate_evil/flesh.gif

[Uncle Yuan]

Spud, will you be willing to relay questions between Santa and Santee so as to maintain secret-ness?

[Glitch Girl]

Add me to the list again

1.  Email: mea_v4@DELTETETHISPARTyahoo.com

2.  Avatar: the quintesential Glitch Girl 
Glitch Girl's powers involve a semi-controlled tehcnopathy.  She can control electronics and computers with her mind, but her control is erratic at best.  Often she just makes it "work in new and interesting ways" (ie: freak out) She has history in the FR universe, most of which can be read on my site.

3.   What I want:  I'm easily impressed and not picky.  As long as effort was made, I'll be happy.

4.  Previously received:  All kinds of stuff: art, clix, a personalized picross, story.. you name it.

5.  Previously made:  I tend to stick with doing artwork, generally Poser portraits of my victim. 

I'd also like to remind people that the 2008 FR calendar makes a great Secret SAnta gift if you're stuck on ideas.  :D

[captainspud]

Spud, will you be willing to relay questions between Santa and Santee so as to maintain secret-ness?

Yup. As always.

[Mystik]

1.  Email: MALIKBELL700 AT MSN

2.  Avatar:  natural mystik- able to simultaneously channel the elements thru 3 different weapons, his lion partner changes form when  he changes weapons

3.   What I want:  surprise me

4.  Previously received:  first time

5.  what i can make:  skopes, props fx and maybe some  maps

[The Pwime]

ah, what the heck?  :P


1. E-mail: fear_the_cow at hotmail dot com

2. My Avatar: is this nameless, sulking dude who wears a spiffy black and silver costume.  Long story short, he started out as a really happy guy who wanted to do nothing but help people, then he wound up possessed by a demon-of-the-sorts, did some bad things, and then managed to split from the demon.  He's a telekinetic by default, and then after his joyous time spent with the demon, he also acquired energy-based powers during the split.  These powers can blow stuff up, heal him, and make really nifty stocking stuffers at christmas time.  Except he doesn't celebrate christmas, because he's busy all the time trying to redeem himself.

3. I'd Like:  Something related to my avatar, and something that can stay on the internet.  Whether that's
a skin, custom mesh, an image, etc...

4. I've Gotten: Nothing.  This is my first time.

5. Last Year I Gifted For: No one. 

6. What I can make: skins, skins, skins, skins, the occasional skope, and maybe an artwork.


EDIT:

Here's a pic of "Omega Pwime's" most recent design (though the skin is in need of a serious revamp in the detail department)

[GrizzlyBearTalon]

1. GrizzlyBearTalon at aol dot com

2. My avatar: Keeping it simple Grizz is my avatar. He is a big furry bearlike humanoid (ursine) so he is incredibly strong and tough with big claws to better shred you with, big teeth to better bite you with, a big nose to better smell you with... you get the picture. His costume changes pretty much revolve around black pants or blue colored duds for HAMSTER, after all when you are fur covered it gets awful hot in a t-shirt. You are all lucky he even wears the pants!



Picture Links 1 2 3* 4 5*

*Note: Ignore the half-cybernetic head that part of the design is from an alternate reality event set in the FR Universe
*Super Double Special Note Version 2.0: Grizz in COH! Actually Gryzz... someone had Grizz already when I started, bah! Sadly monster heads can't have goggles, oh well they were always optional.

3. I like art of my avatar or maybe fanfic but anything is fine

4. Some art and a new skin of my avatar

5. Pretty sure I didn't get involved this past year, could be wrong the last thing I remember was doing a Secret Santa fanfic present for Juancho.

[Thunder]

e-mail: thunder.prime@ geemail dot com
My Avatar:Thunder-A hero who channels the electrical powers of Earth's electromagnetic field.
I'd Like: some original art, a skin or mesh for FF, or anything you want to come up with (plus I'm a HUGE fan of Golden Age Comics and an avid action figure collector  ;) )
I've Gotten:a custom mod, custom mesh, and my all time favorite: a recreation of a cover from a classic issue of All-Star Comics featuring my avatar with the Justice Society of America
Last Year: I made SPAM a custom skin for Freedom Force

[captainspud]

I spent 8 hours on Sunday writing a huge script to sort the assignments and automatically send out the e-mails.

This, to save myself less than an hour of drawing names out of a hat.

I can't decide if that makes me awesome or mentally challenged.