2021-10-23 - Out of the Shadows

[President Raygun]

Is it Fighting Yank?

[doctorchallenger]

Is it Fighting Yank?

Right in one. - Nice job Raygun! 

[Cyber Burn]

I have to say, I'm really interested in seeing where this Project goes. I also really enjoy seeing other people's interpretations of established Characters. Looking forward to what's next. 

[President Raygun]

Is it Fighting Yank?

Right in one. - Nice job Raygun! 

Thanks. Great skin BTW - very Evel Knievelish  You should try putting him on Tommyboy's Cap_America_bike, that would look awesome.

[Distorto]

Is that Elvis Pressley!? 

[doctorchallenger]

Is that Elvis Pressley!? 

Definitely based on Elvis.

Still plugging away at this project.

3 new skins. All based on public domain characters.  This set are all based on characters produced by Canadian publishers, and are (therefore) members of a Canadian super group I call the Ministry. First up is the leader Minister Steel based on the Canadian Commander Steel. His ppower set is similar to Captain America, particularly the MCU version, and the emblem made me think of the mesh.

http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Commander_Steel



Some extras currently kitbashed
Thanks to Murs, Googleplex, Tomato, DarkJered, and Zed for bases, Grenadier for the mesh and pieces.

Next is Le Coquin Cramoisi, based on Red Rogue.

http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Red_Rogue




The Costume is a reference, of course to the Canadian flag, replacing the maple leaf with a fleur de lis. The iconography is to suggest that he is proud to be a Canadian of French extraction.

Some extras currently kitbashed
Thanks to Murs, Googleplex, Tomato, DarkJered, and Zed for bases. Grenadier for the mesh and Tommyboy and Grenadier for the pieces.

Lastly comes a Legacy character, Morning Star.  Bit of a story here. As I got inspire to skin these, I learned that Ty Templeton (best known for his work on the Batman Adventures comics) is doing a series for Moonstone Comics called Norther Guard; The concept is similar Canadian super group made suing Canadian public domain characters. Templeton, who lives in Toronto, used many of the same characters that I had picked for my group, including Nelvana of the Northern Lights.

http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Nelvana_of_the_Northern_Lights

As I had intended, Templeton recast Nelvana as Native America (he also chose to call her Nanook).  This led me to develop Morning Star, who in my universe is the son of Nelvana. He is named for a mythic hero from Cree legend.  While I wanted the character to be native American, I did not want him to appear in any way like a stereotypical Indian superhero. My one concession to stereotypes are the turquoise stones. It seemed like a good use of the sphere that come on the mesh.



Thanks to Murs, Gryphon, Tomato, DarkJered, and Zed for bases, Renegade for the mesh and Vertex for the pieces.

Bonus: here he is summoning the Northern lights as a power up.

[spydermann93]

haha, these are really neat, DC! I've never seen these characters before, but I'm liking them.

Nelvana's Northern Lights ability looks really cool!

[daglob]

Hey, these look really good. And Commander Steel is another one off my list.

[doctorchallenger]

New skin.



This is Gato, based on Holyoke's Cat-Man. The character is an unapologetic homage to Batman. As the name implies, I have made the character Latino (specifically Puerto Rican). 

http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Cat-Man_(Holyoke)

Some extras currently kitbashed
Thanks to Murs, Gryphon, Tomato, DarkJered, and Zed for bases, Grenadier for the mesh and Vertex and Tommyboy for the pieces.

Bonus close up.

[doctorchallenger]

Moving on...

This character is based on Ajax-Farrell's 1950s character, the Flame (not to be confused with Fox's Golden Age character of the same name).

http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Flame_(Ajax-Farrell)/

Here comes FUEGO, Hero of Mexico. The original character is really a Golden Age Superman knockoff (i.e. super-strong, super-tough, but no other powers to speak of), but he is depicted using flame powers on the first splash page of his first appearance.  Drawing from that, my version is similar, mostly a brick character rather than a human torch analog, but can manifest flame powers (in FF terms, a flaming punch with a high energy cost). Personality wise, I envision the character to be gruff and taciturn, a no-nonsense guy who doesn't waste energy on banter.

I would like to get thoughts form people however. I have a few versions of the design, and I am not sure which I like best. I am not settled on the emblem and I am not settled on the helmet. Please let me know which you think is best. Feel free to mix and match (For example you prefer Emblem A and Helmet B) Thanks! Any other feedback is welcome as well.

Emblem A, Helmet A



Emblem B, Helmet B



Emblem C, Helmet C



Some extras currently kitbashed
Thanks to Murs, Gryphon, Tomato, DarkJered, and Zed for bases, Renegade for the mesh and Grenadier and Tommyboy for the pieces.


EDIT: Thanks to windblown for the spelling correction on the name.

[WyldFyre]

Loving these skins doctor.  Vivid colors and very clean work. Can't wait to see more.

[Outcast]

Hmmm....i like helmet B, and probably emblem C more.

But i also like helmet A, and emblem B.

Next would be helmet C, and emblem A.  Because there not that bad either.

[Amazo Version 2.2]

i'm really enjoying this thread. there's lots of cool stuff here. as for the most current character, i like emblem B, but can't decide between helmets A or C.

[Podmark]

I like the B versions best. Very cool seeing all the costume variants. Nice job.

[BentonGrey]

There is a lot of cool stuff here!  Well, I'm afraid I'm going to complicate matters by voting for something different than everyone else!

I like both A and C helmets, but I really like emblem A, though I'd get rid of the little spot of red in the bottom left.

[windblown]

Very cool! I think that my favorites are Helmet C and enblem B.

Btw, I think you misspelled his name, as fire/flame means FUEGO in Spanish.

[doctorchallenger]

Veritas - Hero of Italy.

My take on PD character Captain Truth

http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Captain_Truth



Some extras currently kitbashed
Thanks to Murs, Googleplex, Tomato, DarkJered, and Zed for bases, Vertex for the mesh and Crusader/Saracen, Grenadier, and Tommyboy for the pieces.

Feedback always welcome.

[daglob]

So, that makes two of us who know about Captain Truth...

I have a theory that most of these Golden Age exhibitionists were the result of the colorists receiving little, if any, instructions, or of thinking that "bare chest=he-man". I'm pretty certain that Blue Blade was supposed to have a shirt, otherwise why would he wear just the collar and cuffs?

[doctorchallenger]

Seems like a reasonable theory.  In keeping with the way the original design was executed, bare chest and all, I found myself channeling my Bronze age roots. The corset top is based on Mike Grell's Cosmic Boy redesign. I got the original issue in which it debuted as a kid, so I have a powerful memory of it. I have used the boot flares on a couple of characters (see Fuego and Rainbow above), which reveals a major Dave Cockrum influence.  I never realized how significant Cockrum was to my taste in superheroes until I amassed a lot of designs featuring cavalier boots and shoulder flares...

[doctorchallenger]

Major Mystery



Thanks to Murs, Googleplex, Strangefate, Tomato, DarkJered, and Zed for bases, Tommyboy for the mesh.

Based on Captain Marvel by MF Enterprises.
http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Captain_Marvel_(MF_Enterprises)

The Major in action:

[daglob]

I've thought about doing the character again, and doing the skin on an alpha enabled mesh, and have a Multiform that is a head and torso, and a private army or summon that is two arms and two legs. The head flies around shooting lasers, the arms strike and the legs kick. Never did it, thought.

However, this looks pretty good.

Now all you gotta do is release these treasures.

[daglob]

Man, that's a lot of "ands".

[Podmark]

He looks great! Interesting mesh.

[doctorchallenger]

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u256/drchallenger/Countdown360.jpg


Still at it. Lately I've been inspired to work on a set of characters that operate in and/or work for a what I call the Centauri Protectorate.  The Protectorate is the current government ruling over a distant, multi-racial, multi-species, galactic empire. Like many comic book galactic empires, the Protectorate is an authoritarian government with fascistic tendencies.  Also like many comic book galactic empires, the Protectorate has created a special team of superhuman to assist in the law enforcement process. My team is called the Order Battalion. One metatextual aspect to this galactic empires is that the humans who rule it subscribe to Jack Kirby-esque aesthetic; imagine if you will, the characters in the background scenery in the Inhumans' city of Attlin, or in Supertown of New Genesis. Therefore, I have tried to create all of the skins with an eye to making them seem like a character Jack Kirby might design as best as I can.

The above character is Countdown, an early member of the Order Battalion, retired in the present in my universe.  The character is inspired by one of the earliest superheroes in the history of the genre, the Clock.

http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Clock

As you can see, my character bears little resemblance to the original Clock.  Metatextually, I am giving the Clock a makeover inspired by Kirby's redesign of DC's Golden Age Sandman, another hero which began with a suit, tie, and full face mask.  The shield, inspired by Kirby creations Captain America and Guardian, is designed to represent the type of clock used in the empire, which divides the day into twenty "hours", and the yellow and purple bands represent the periods of daylight and evening.

Thanks to Murs, Gryphon, Tomato, DarkJered, and Zed for bases. Grenadier for the mesh and Tommyboy, and Grenadier for the pieces.

Within my universe Countdown began as a heroic character on a popular program presented on state-sponsored media (imagine Storm Saxon, the show within a show from V for Vendetta).  Bran Obrin is the actor-stuntman who played the role of Countdown. In later seasons, Obrin's son Hocrin, takes on the role of Countdown's teen-aged assistant, Buzz (as in the sound a digital alarm clock makes). It is around this time that the Protectorate first organized the Order Battalion.  In response to mail from young fans of the show, the Ministry of Propaganda insisted on making the duo members of the team.  Though the appointment was met by existing members with skepticism at first, Obrin worked had to earn their respect.  Doing so, however, required the duo give up being media figures, a move that caused considerable frustration with Buzz, who enjoyed his fame within the empire.  The pair had a falling out, and when Countdown retired due age, Hocrin created a new identity for himself (to be shown later).

His catch phrase is: "Time's up."

One last thing to point out is the emblem on the belt buckle.  This is the emblem of the Centauri Party which rules the Protectorate. It is inspired by the emblem that Ming's followers, most notably Klytus, wore in the classic Flash Gordon film of the 1980s.

While it shouldn't be too hard to figure out, the order Battalion are inspired by three separate superhero teams, one from a major publisher, the other two from smaller independent publishers. Any guesses?

[spydermann93]

I can't see the pic, even by trying to follow the link above it

[doctorchallenger]

Grr.

[daglob]

I was able to follow the link.

[doctorchallenger]

I see many people still use photobucket for posting images.  Can someone clue me in on how to set my settings to allow my images to be displayed here? If not, what service to people recommend as an alternative?

[crimsonquill]

I see many people still use photobucket for posting images.  Can someone clue me in on how to set my settings to allow my images to be displayed here? If not, what service to people recommend as an alternative?

Just make a Tumblr account and then link the images from there. I've used that trick for months now.

- CQ

[Deaths Jester]

Yeah, either a Tumbler or Imugr account is better than Photobucket nowadays. If you want to continue to do it via Photobucket then you'll have to pay to be able to share the pics.