Official Skinning Challenge - Weapon X (It's Over!)

[laughing paradox]

So the not-quite-first-ever Skinning Challenge is officially started.... now.

Objective: Create a character that could be a member of Weapon X, from the Exiles comic book.

The members of Weapon X were all from various alternate realities in the Marvel Universe that had no inhibitions when it came to completing violent and dangerous missions to secure their goal. Think of it as Marvel superheroes.. with a major attitude. Since these characters come from alternate realities, the sky is the limit. Previous members of the Weapon X team included a Spider-Man that succumbed to the Carnage symbiote, a Storm that never left Africa and believed herself a goddess, Sabretooth from the Age of Apocalypse, and a very morally reprehensible Ms. Marvel.

With your skin, provide a brief history of your character. Is your version of Rogue someone who permanently absorbed the power of Thor? Is your version of Moon Knight actually a vampire? Let us know what they're all about.


Deadline: June 5 (2009, smart alecks)

If you want to participate and haven't completed your skin, no worries. Show us what you've got finished by the deadline. This is meant to be fun, not stress!

If you have any questions, just direct them all to Previsionary. (KIDDING!) Just ask in this thread, or pm me.

[Cyber Burn]

With John Walker having had the Captain America identity taken away by the CSA, Steve Rogers is asked to resume the role of Captain America. Burnt out on the politics involved Rogers declines the CSA's offer. Not wanting to give up his life as a costumed adventurer, and feeling betrayed by his country, Rogers takes a new costume and creates the identity of "The Patriot". Now, filled with contempt, Rogers is on the path of self destruction, and he's willing to take everyone else their with him.

After getting abducted by the time keepers, Rogers must perform his duties to the time stream or spend the rest of his life in jail for the murder of the Red Skull.

[laughing paradox]

I didn't expect any submissions this early on. Rock on!

[Sioux City Dynamo]

Hi everyone,

I am in with two Defenders inspired characters.  I am working on some rough sketches and have the following really rough back grounds:

Hellstorm, Sorcerer Supreme - Damien Hellstorm studies under the Ancient One and becomes the Sorcerer Supreme.  Damien learns to harness his dark soul and add to the power of the Sorcerer Supreme.  Weapon X has always had a strong focus on melee and stealth.  Hellstorm provides the group with a counter to magical/mystical opponents/encounters as well as effective ability to engage in melee.  He is a potent, yet hard to control, member of Weapon X.

Nighthawk, Agent of the Hand - Kyle Richmond is kidnapped and brainwashed by the Hand prior to being approached by the Grand Master.  He becomes the Hand's greatest assassin, able to employ his vast personal assets in addition to mastery of ninja training and adopts the motif of the Tengu to strike fear in the hearts of his prey.

More to come!!

[UnkoMan]

Well, I will formally throw down my hat. Now I'm off to pick somebody obscure and awkward!

[daglob]

I really am going to do Reed Richards.

[laughing paradox]

Nice, bring it on folks!

Very cool stories, Sioux.. I'm looking forward to see what skins you come up with, particularly the Hellstorm one.

I'll give a synopsis for my character:

Spoiler

The White Widow

Natasha Romanova was Russia's supreme espionage agent when she fell in love with the fledgling Avenger known as Hawkeye. Their relationship blossomed and she decided to remain in the United States, defecting from the USSR, and became an official member of the Avengers early on in the team's history. Natasha proved to be a mainstay through several incarnations of the team, and saw several members come and go. The Black Widow was an active member when they were forced to become part of the Beyonder's Secret Wars. While on War World, the Black Widow encountered a gooey substance that covered her body and became a brand new suit, replacing the one she trashed during a recent battle. Natasha found that the new substance was incredible, fitting her body in a new costume that shifted in response to her thought, allowing her to blend into her surroundings, as well as giving her enhanced strength and other powers. After the Secret Wars was over, Natasha named herself the White Widow, inspired by the white spider design on her new costume. In time, Natasha became significantly more moody and much more reckless to her foes. Noticing the change immediately, Hawkeye asked Doctor Hank Pym to examine her. Pym had an inkling that the new suit was actually an alien symbiote. Natasha kept the secret to herself, unwilling to give up the new powers she received, even though she felt herself losing control. The White Widow was then approached by the Timebroker, explaining to her that she has been unhinged from time and space, meant to correct universal wrongs. If she refused her mission, she would succumb to the symbiote and become the Red Widow, killing her teammates in the Avengers, including her lover Hawkeye. Rather than kill the ones she loved the most, she accepted the Timebroker's offer and joined Weapon X.

[Cyber Burn]

Cant wait for the skin for White Widow LP.



Walking away from the X-Men after Jean Grey (Phoenix) died. Scott Summers decided to build a solo career. Eventually he was asked to join the Avengers, becoming team leader shortly thereafter. Happily married to Madeline Prior, and thriving in fatherhood, Summers is approached by the time keepers. He is told that unless he joins them, Madeline would become the Goblin Queen, killing her son, the Avengers, and then all of New York in a bid for more power.

[Carravaggio]

I'm really liking all these, but then who doesn't love alternate reality characters?
June 5th is a long way off, even i can manage to make  up a skin by then.
Now to decide who.

[laughing paradox]

Nice Cyclops and design, Cyber.

Here's the White Widow, and her eventual Red Widow look.

[Gremlin]

Ooh that's cool.

[Carravaggio]

Very nice designs, LP. I'd like to see a more Carnage like Red Widow, red all over with that fantastic webbing to give her an even more inhuman look.
Great stuff, even though its a different costume I immediately thought 'Natasha' when I saw it.

[blobula]

Well done LP !

[Cyber Burn]

Very cool LP. 

[laughing paradox]

Thanks, folks!

I understand what you mean about pushing Red Widow's Carnage look more.. I may actually do it.

For now, though, I'm going to think up of another submission. I like the idea of creating a character for Weapon X.

[daglob]

Spoiler

It all started with Victor Von Doom.

Reed was thrilled to have Von Doom assigned as his roommate, but Von Doom was an abrasive, somewhat egotistical genius, and sought a solitary bunk. His substitute was football star Ben Grimm, whom Reed admired for his outgoing personality, his football skill and his engineering knowledge. Been and Reed started a friendship that would last for decades.

Reed saw Von Doom often, and they attended many of the same lectures and classes. He was one of the few people that could follow von Doom’s more exotic formulae and calculations. He learned quickly that Von Doom did not like to be corrected.

One evening, though, Reed had just finished up one of his own experiments when he chanced by an open lab. Checking to see if anyone was there, he discovered several pages of notes scattered about the tables within. Just a quick curious perusal and Reed saw a dangerous error, almost hidden in the complex calculations. Von doom stormed in and accused Reed of all sorts of things, whereas Reed tried to convince Von Doom that he needed to re-check his math. In the end, Reed left, while Von Doom, in the paranoid belief that Reed would go to the school authorities and try to have him stopped, went ahead with the experiment he had concocted.

Halfway back to his dorm, Reed realized that he had left a book on the table with Von Doom’s calculations. In many universes, he just shrugged and decided he would try to get it the next day. In this universe, however, he turned around and went back. As he neared the building, he realized what was going on. Reed raced into the lab, intending to shut down the process before something bad happened.

He was too late.

He and Von Doom were the only survivors, Reed was bruised and burned slightly, Von Doom’s face was a mass or raw, burned flesh, but the lab assistant was killed. Von Doom ranted and raved about Reed sabotaging the experiment, and Reed found himself suspended from the college pending an investigation. The papers with the erroneous calculations were destroyed in the explosion and subsequent fire, and, truth to tell, only a half a dozen people in the world could have understood the equations well enough to have discerned that Reed might have been right. At this time, Reed also found out that Von Doom had been filing complaints against him with the Dean of Students. Von Doom insisted that Reed was engaged in some kind of vendetta against him.

Before he vanished, Von Doom was questioned by the college officials. He insisted that the experiment was, while not sanctioned by the school, not explainable to anyone in terms that could readily be understood, was going as planned until Reed Richard entered and began throwing switches. Von Doom claimed that it was a miracle that he was alive, since it was “obvious” that the intended outcome of the sabotage had been his death.

Then the bandages came off and Von Doom disappeared.

The school was unable to prove Reed guilty of wrongdoing, but Reed could not prove his innocence either. Reed’s grants were not renewed the next year, and the scholarship he had received was terminated. Reed continued his ecucation using his own money.

Then along came World War II. Reed ended up in Army Intelligence, the in OSS. He did many brave and heroic things, none of which ever showed up in the papers. His ex-roommate was a war hero, with decorations and a high number of enemy planes shot down to his credit. Reed stayed on with the OSS after the war, actually seeing a little action in Korea. He eventually headed home, where the entire world had changed.

Every top-rated technical institute had heard about the trouble with Von Doom. They all managed to be “full up” when Reed applied. He managed to finish college at a little known school in Massachusetts. At home, the “girl next door” had grown into a beautiful woman. She wouldn’t have anything to do with him, though. This was, of course, because her own father was accused of murder, and she was leery of a relationship with someone whose past had a shadow over it.

Years went by, with Reed working at low-paying jobs assisting men who were, while geniuses, not in Reed’s class. A couple of times, Reeds ideas were stolen and passed off as his employer’s own, and the old college incident was brought in to haunt Reed again when he tried to take credit for his own inventions.

In the late ‘50s, Reed started working for Grim Aeronautical Engineering as a lab tech. When Ben heard about it, he pulled Reed out and set him up doing experiments of his own. While many of Ben’s contemporaries though he was crazy, Ben had never believed the story about Reed sabotaging Von Doom’s experiment. Ben, too, had a run-in or two with that particular old school chum.

By the early ‘60s, Reed had built the first spaceship. He was ahead of NASA, and had reason to believe that The Soviets knew that. He and Ben planed to launch the ship in secret. Come the day of blast off, Ben was nowhere to be found. Soviet agents had kidnapped him and were trying to get the information as to the location of the launch so they could stop it. They, in turn, were caught by military police when they tried to enter the testing area. None of this stopped Reed from climbing into the cockpit and taking of himself.

Reed knew the cosmic ray shielding was light; it had been a struggle to have enough shielding without increasing the weight so much as to have to send a dog or a monkey into space. They figured that maybe 10% of the rays would get through. Not too bad if they didn’t go flying in space for a couple of month afterward. What Reed did not know was that there was a sudden increase in the amount of cosmic radiation in his path. Even shielding 90% of the rays, the exposure was going to be many times higher than if there had been no shielding at all under normal circumstances.

Reed was not as good a pilot as Ben Grim, but he should have been able to land the ship where he wanted it. For some reason, a control circuit supplied by a small electronics firm in the country of Latveria, malfunctioned and sent the craft plummeting back into the atmosphere out of control. The returning spacecraft plowed into a residential neighborhood. Six people were killed, and almost fifty injured. Reed did what he could for the survivors, but he did not wait around for the authorities. H didn’t trust things to go any better for him this time than when he was in college. So he ran.

And was surprised to find that he was taking 30-40 yard steps as he ran.

Reed hid for a couple of years, surviving mostly by stealing. This was fairly easy for someone with his abilities. Every once in awhile, he would allow himself to be caught. After a filling meal and a good nights sleep, he would flow between the bars of the cell and escape.

Then one day an old war buddy entered a bar, sat down next to Reed, and told him “Don’t bother running; we’ve got the place surrounded, and we know all about your ‘special’ abilities”.
Reed asked “What do you want, Nick?”
Nick Fury smiled and shifted his stogie. “Your old unit wants you back. The initials have changed, but we're still us.”
Nick slid a card across the bar to reed. The initials Nick was talking about were CIA.

For forty years, Red Richard has worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. He has done research, espionage, and wet work (h can reshape his body into blades which are useless against most things, but sufficient to use on “soft” targets). He is cynical and more than al little bitter about how his life has gone. Oddly enough, the is still an idealist within his heart. When offered a position in Weapon X, he took it, actually hoping that he could make some worlds a better place.

[daerdevil]

Are these going to available D/L eventually?  These are looking great.  I especially love LP's entries...great look on the Red Widow!

And now an Alt Reed Richards! I think I might have to find some time to make a skin (haven't done a challenge since my Ultimate Quicksilver design).

Now I need to decide which character...

[Gremlin]

I like the concept but I'm not crazy about the ponytail. It just doesn't seem to fit Reed. I can see him with long hair, and maybe a ponytail, but not something that...I dunno, Omega Red. Heh.

[daglob]

Reed is on the Warblade mesh. If I were a better scoper, I'd try and combine this with one of the Mr. Fantastic meshes or Plastic Man TJ. I chose the  mesh partially because the pony tail looks so much UNLIKE Reed. I thought about making it smaller, but then if I posted it I'd have to include the mesh and...

We never decided what to do with the skins. Post 'em together? Put 'em in a Mod? I can always post Reed here at Character Obscura.

[Carravaggio]

Even a two or three mission ezscript mod would be fun, something as simple as protect the X, or defeat all the time traveling Y. So long as the missions use pre-existing maps almost anyone can cobble a few missions together...

[laughing paradox]

Very interesting Mister Fantastic. I like the blue shading on it.

So.. about releasing these characters.

I was thinking of creating a Yahoo group specifically for the Skinning Challenges.. there would be a folder in the Yahoo Group for this Weapon X challenge.. a new folder for the next challenge and so on. Unless, that is, everyone would rather just host their own work.

Creating an ezscript mod would be very cool.. would anyone be interested in creating that?

[daglob]

Very interesting Mister Fantastic. I like the blue shading on it.

So.. about releasing these characters.

I was thinking of creating a Yahoo group specifically for the Skinning Challenges.. there would be a folder in the Yahoo Group for this Weapon X challenge.. a new folder for the next challenge and so on. Unless, that is, everyone would rather just host their own work.

The blue is reflective, it looks weird when it moves.

The Yahoo group sounds good to me.

[laughing paradox]

Just giving a general head's up that you guys have a little over two weeks left to show us what you got!

[Sioux City Dynamo]

Hi everyone,

Back with Nighthawk, agent of the HAND -

This version of Nighthawk, Kyle Richmond,first appears as a member of the Squadron Sinister, a group of supervillains assembled by the cosmic entity the Grandmaster to battle the champions of the time-traveling Kang - the superhero team the Avengers. Nighthawk battles the Avenger Captain America but is defeated. After being abandoned by the Grandmaster, Nighthawk becomes a solo adventurer and encounters Daredevil, and after being defeated again decides to seek better training and a purpose. Richmond began using his personal wealth and influence to travel the world seeking out the greatest Martial Arts masters and train under them.  The hand through its operations learned of Richmonds journey and his previous alter ego.  Seeing an opportunity to develop a weapon to help further their aims, the Hand sought out Kyle and began his training.  Richmond's training began innocently enough as a student/teacher relationship.  However, over time, the hand was able through arcane and other means to subtly brainwash Richmond and turn him into a superpowered, sleeper assasin.  Nighthawk's powers, technology and training helped to further the myth that the Hand are the spawn of Tengu and other Oni.  As such, Nighthawk became an effective weapon utilized by the Hand to further its aims.  Nighthawk was responsible for several high profile assassinations of presidents, dictators and business leaders.  Nighthawk was also used effectively against the American Superhuman community and was able to quietly eliminate several members of the Avengers (Giantman and the Wasp).  The Avengers, drawing on resources across the superhuman community, were able to determine that Nighthawk was responsible for the deaths of Giantman and the Wasp and began a massive manhunt for Nighthawk.  Several encounters ensued between Nighthawk and members of the Avengers.  Nighthawk was able to escape each assault as a result of his extensive training but is unsure why he is being hunted by the Avengers.  As a result of his programming he has no recollection of the assassinations.  Richmond is looking for answers related to his most wanted status when he is approached by Weapon X.  Nighthawk now supports Weapon X missions across the universe.

http://i520.photobucket.com/albums/w330/Sioux_City_Dynamo/exiles_nighthawk.jpg

(I believe this is what you get when you cross Marvel homage to DC with the Power Rangers -  )

Now to finish, Hellstorm - Sorceror Supreme.....

[herodad1]

cool design! nice to see your still kickin' dynamo!   

[laughing paradox]

I really like your character's history. The design is even better! Very cool looking Nighthawk. Looking forward to seeing it in the game.

[UnkoMan]

Sweet Nighthawk. Way to go with the other ones too, folks.

Oh man, I'm so bad. I haven't even started. I know what character I want to do but that is it. Granted, not having reliable internet access (and none at all on the computer I skin with) has put a damper on it. Maybe I ought to get started today though.

[laughing paradox]

Here's another submission before the deadline.

Spoiler

Elektra Natchios was the daughter of a Greek ambassador to the United States and a freshman at Empire State University. Elektra's father knew that Elektra was in a vulnerable position, due to his political stance, so he made his daughter train with various skilled martial artists throughout most of her life. Unfortunately, her learned skill was not enough to prevent terrorists from kidnapping Elektra and her father on campus grounds. The New York Police Department arrived to the scene immediately when a young recruit, Frank Castle, took the initiative to engage the enemy. Frank Castle was able to stop several of the terrorists, with Elektra dispatching a few on her own, but were unable to stop a bullet from killing her father. Grief-stricken and despondent, Elektra found solace in the heroic police officer that offered help, Frank Castle, and in time fell in love and married. One day the couple were enjoying a day in the park when several gangsters targeted Frank Castle and instantly murdered him in front of Elektra. She became determined to avenge the death of her husband, as well as her father and to disrupt all organized crime. Continuing her martial arts training around the world, Elektra returned to New York City to find her revenge by taking down the Kingpin, whom she knew was responsible for the death of her husband. Adopting the vigilante name of the Punisher (Lady Punisher? Elektracutioner?), New York's newest vigilante has placed fear in the criminals of New York, battling both Kingpin's forces as well as superheroes who have opposed Elektra's fatal approach at vigilantism. The Timebroker approached the Punisher on one of her missions when he informed her that she had been displaced from time and space. She would join the team of Weapon X or, on her planet, she would accidentally kill a member of the Avengers, leading her to be hunted by the world's greatest superhero team.



For the design, I actually wanted the skull to be right in the middle of her shirt, where the teeth would come down through the loincloth part of her costume, but the skull was too distorted and it didn't look good on the loincloth, so this was a second version of it.

[docdelorean88]

 ... I have never been so compelled to read an Electra comic, or  a punisher comic for that matter. I don't like either character, but this would be one heck of a story line! Nice story and great design!

[Gremlin]

Okay, that is stellar work. The face in particular is fantastic.