Sockmunkeys menagerie

sockmunkey

Ive been meaning to do this for ages. Ever sense we lost one of my favorite forum games with the loss of our character pages. However, being notoriously lazy, its taken me this long to actually get around to doing it.

Ill preface this by saying I'm not fully happy with the pics. But I have no talent to do better. Some of the more subtle details are simply to hard to make out. I apologize for that. Its bad enough getting the nerve to display ones creations, to do so with lack luster pics. Well, its been one of the reasons I've been dragging my feet on all this.

Anyhow, these are just a few of my current favorite characters. Perhaps, Ill post the entire collection one day.


CLOAK
Alternate caster look
My main, and first character. A reclusive reluctant hero. Her powers came at a significant cost. She mostly lurks in the shadows using them like a cloak. A whisper in the dark helping to others to avoid her mistakes.

SNOWFLAKE
Ice hero. I wanted her costume to resemble an ice skater. A troubled mutant, who radiates such extreme cold its difficult for anyone to be around her, much less touch her.

WINDSONG
Wind and Electric mix. This is one of the few characters where I have a look without any real back story. I'm trying to avoid making some poorly done racial parody so its been a slow process. Hopefully, this character will slowly evolve in time.

ANDRASTE
Divine Andraste
This started off as a bit of a protest to all the crazy god characters. She is the earthly avatar to the Icenic war goddess Andraste. She is proud, fierce, bold, but alone. The goddess isn't calling to her, she is simply an empty avatar. With no idea of why or how she is awake. So she fights, it is all she knows, in the hopes that good deeds and glorious battle will allow the goddess to rejoin with her.

KODACHI
Alternate armored costume
Dual blade master. I wanted something different then the typical ninja. So I made her a Samurai. Her drive is not needless combat, but to serve, a noble cause. And to bring her skills to perfection.

ATHENA
Pilot jumpsuit
My attempt at a power armor build, with a twist. I was trying to create a western gundum type armor unit, beam sword and all. Athena is actually the name of the armor, not the pilot. A reformed Argent pilot trying to make good in a liberated prototype.

BLOODY HARLEQUIN
Sugar rush Harle
This is what happens when you make costumes without enough sleep. A mad toy run amok. Just don't give her any sugar or caffeine. She is a pet commander with an army of mismatched toys. I wanted the costume to be a mix of jester and ring master.

ROSARY
Alternate look
Ok, Ill admit, hardly an original concept. I wanted to make a solid dedicated healer build. I figured a nun would be fun, and then I gave her guns. Watching her go full tilt into a group of baddies with a gatling gun just never gets old. Ok, so I might of borrowed the idea from.....*gasps* Anime. Yea, its a homage to Chrono Crusade.

MASQUERADE
Ive had this concept on the shelf for a long time. Started life as a Phantom meets Batman homage. But the new Nighthawk powers gave it new life. Amazing what a little stealth can do. Not to mention her robotic arm.....it converts to a chainsaw, fun times :biggrin:

DECAY
Another concept that up till recently has been sitting on the shelf. Ive always wanted to make a seriously overpowered pestilence/infernal character. Just never could get the look down. After uncounted tweaks. I finally found a look for her I love. Sort of went for an undead poison ivy look.

MISERY
I made Misery before I even had a concept for her. I wanted to create Cloaks Nemesis as a character. So misery was born, more or less. She is a Lich, given new life...mostly from Cloak herself. As such, her looks are based on Cloak. Only with a lot more vampiness.

Hopefully more to come. Feedback is always welcome.

ccarmichael07

Some really nice concepts here!

I particularly liked:

Cloak (great color scheme)
Kodachi (kind of a "Crouching Tiger" vibe going on)
Athena (very unique concept)

Nice work!

unkomanplus

Athena is my particular favourite, yeah.
Great concept for power armour that doesn't look like typical power armour.

cascadence

Well... there's no surprise I lurbs Cloak, I just think the whole character is fantastic!. Though Snowflake has a very lovely combination of colors, that fit her theme pretty well.

And.... Sugar Rush Harle its going to give me nightmare for awhile... dat smile.... DAT SMILE!!

zebelle

Cloak has always been a favorite of mine

kharma23

Great work on your toons and putting this together, lil Munkey!

I'm especially fond of Athena, and Cloak, but LUV the name Windsong!

And...Sugar Rush...yeah, she's awesome and a little scary.

sockmunkey

Dawwww, you all are way to kind. :redface: Thank you for the kind words. It really means a lot.

Everyone gets a hug from Harle. :eek: Dont run, she loves to chase!!

mangog2

They're all quite good, but I think Cloak and Athena are fabulous.

chuckthestar

Some fantastic costumes here. What I like best is how they serve your backstory so well. It's the little details that make them shine.

My big favorite is Athena, not just because the armor looks great, which it does, but what really caught my eye was the jumpsuit costume. I love how the character in the jumpsuit looks tech-ish and even a bit nerdy, while the armor itself looks so menacing. And how the character keeps her hair short to better wear the armor. I'm betting the jumpsuit character is a lot shorter too... All the little details - It's perfect!

sockmunkey wrote: »

WINDSONG
Wind and Electric mix. This is one of the few characters where I have a look without any real back story. I'm trying to avoid making some poorly done racial parody so its been a slow process. Hopefully, this character will slowly evolve in time.

Funny, because this has to be my runner-up. Your commitment to avoiding racial stereotypes is noticeable. What the character really reminds me of is a ShadowRun RPG street-shaman. Sort of "city girl is called by her totem in a waking dream, and he teaches her to hear the voices of the spirits" kind of backstory. And by the way, I really love the colors you are using.

Also honorable mention to Snowflake and Andraste. I love the Andraste backstory and she does look powerful enough to be an avatar.

And Snowflake... Well there's something cool about having the character's appearance act as foil to their capabilities. Delicate little girl in an ice-skater costume, hurling deadly shards of ice. Sort of has a Buffy the Vampire Slayer kind of vibe to it..

Overall: Very nicely done. These are great costumes!

sockmunkey

chuckthestar wrote: »

Some fantastic costumes here. What I like best is how they serve your backstory so well. It's the little details that make them shine.

My big favorite is Athena, not just because the armor looks great, which it does, but what really caught my eye was the jumpsuit costume. I love how the character in the jumpsuit looks tech-ish and even a bit nerdy, while the armor itself looks so menacing. And how the character keeps her hair short to better wear the armor. I'm betting the jumpsuit character is a lot shorter too... All the little details - It's perfect!

Yea, most of my characters are fairly short. In this case the poor pilot is only 5'2" I wanted her to be fairly petite as a counterbalance to the armor. Athena herself is slightly over 7' with head crest. I wanted it to be a dramatic change, I wanted it to feel more like a piloted machine rather then a worn suit.



Funny, because this has to be my runner-up. Your commitment to avoiding racial stereotypes is noticeable. What the character really reminds me of is a ShadowRun RPG street-shaman. Sort of "city girl is called by her totem in a waking dream, and he teaches her to hear the voices of the spirits" kind of backstory. And by the way, I really love the colors you are using.

I love that idea. I even recently gave her the ability to summon a frost wolf just for flavor. i felt she needed a spirit guide. Its a shame we don't have bird pets.


Also honorable mention to Snowflake and Andraste. I love the Andraste backstory and she does look powerful enough to be an avatar.

And Snowflake... Well there's something cool about having the character's appearance act as foil to their capabilities. Delicate little girl in an ice-skater costume, hurling deadly shards of ice. Sort of has a Buffy the Vampire Slayer kind of vibe to it..

In a world where everyone is a hero that can do almost anything. I try to put my own spin on things. Sure, we can both have ice heroes, ice heroes and villains have been done before...so how to make it unique?

With Snowflake, I wanted her to look delicate, very much breakable. Completely different from most norms. No pressure suit, no heavy armor. She doesn't need it. She is so cold, most of that would not work anyhow, it would just end up frozen and brittle. She is so cold, most people need protection from her. Not the other way around. Fragile but dangerous.

To me, that making my characters story different is nearly as much fun as making the costumes. Taking a fairly mundane power or concept and putting it to an odd or interesting hook. My poor characters, most of them end up with some horrible flaw or problem. Just so I can keep them grounded. :biggrin:


Overall: Very nicely done. These are great costumes!

Thank you for taking the time to comment. I'm grateful for the feedback. Its nice to know that some of my goofy concepts actually projected the effects I was trying to go for. :biggrin:

chuckthestar

My pleasure!. Thanks for taking the time to post these, and saving me time browsing around the tailors in MC.

sockmunkey wrote: »

She is so cold, most people need protection from her. Not the other way around. Fragile but dangerous.

I absolutely love that phrase.

I can see her being emotionally cold as well. Cold, hard and distant, but on some (buried) level, she may feel emotionally fragile - mirroring her outwards appearance. It sounds like she can't turn her powers off, which might give her the X-Men Rogue 'never been kissed' complex. A thing of beauty, delicate as the orchid, but also equally deadly. Confident, in the sense that she can walk where giants fear to tread, but also somewhat sad and alone.

A person can extrapolate so much from such a simple costume. I have just written a half-dozen snowflake stories in my mind. It's a great character concept!

Edit: By the way if you haven't already experimented with it, have a look at the 'blazing speed' travel power. I've noticed that colored blue, it looks an awful lot like ice skating or ice sliding. Enough so, that someone once stopped me and asked where they can get the 'Ice Skating' travel power.

jonesing4

sockmunkey wrote: »

CLOAK

Really great, simple look. The original is the better, in my opinion, though they both certainly work. Cloak has that great, "stepped out of the pages of a well-drawn comic book" feel that can be so elusive.

SNOWFLAKE

Love the concept for this one that you've elaborated on, and you definitely nailed it with the accompanying costume. Another keeper!

WINDSONG

Really impressed with how many disparate elements you managed to tie into this one and still make them all work together as a cohesive unit. Keep us updated on the concept.

ANDRASTE

Cool costume--definitely a different look from the Thors, etc. that usually get the "god" treatment. Hoping you won't take it the wrong way, though, the concept is way cooler than the costume! I would like to see this toon's appearance take a turn in one of two ways (based on the concept you've put forth): either look more majestic and awe-inspiring, as a living avatar of a war goddess, or look "more human" as a forsaken avatar. I know, "more human" is pretty worthless feedback, but... real eyes instead of glowing eyes, perhaps a more natural (youthful) hair color, maybe assymetrical armor, a touch of vulnerability somewhere, etc.

Just my two cents (as with all of these), but it really is an interesting concept and at the very least a good costume to represent the character--I think you can get even more out of her though.

KODACHI

Original look might've been my favorite the first time I looked through all of these. It's VERY simple but just as effective--another one where you got that "yeah, I can see this in a comic book" feel. Awesome face, too. That's what I'm most jealous of when I see the stuff some of you guys and gals post on here... my female faces always look pretty much exactly the same. Anyway, really good job on this one.

ATHENA

Terrifying! The gear, not the pilot, and in a good way. Those Greek helmets are just so cool-looking, and you've done a really good job incorporating that into a modernized armor. I really like it, it works bigtime.

BLOODY HARLEQUIN

Not really my 'type' of toon, but for what it is it works really, really well. The face on the "sugar rush" version is hilarious and awesome.

Keep more coming, these were all winners...

sockmunkey

Things have been hectic with the leveling rush. So apologies for this reply being late.

I loved the feedback jonesing4 and not just because it was nearly all positive :biggrin: Thank you.

I did want to respond a bit about Adraste.

jonesing4 wrote: »

ANDRASTE

Cool costume--definitely a different look from the Thors, etc. that usually get the "god" treatment. Hoping you won't take it the wrong way, though, the concept is way cooler than the costume! I would like to see this toon's appearance take a turn in one of two ways (based on the concept you've put forth): either look more majestic and awe-inspiring, as a living avatar of a war goddess, or look "more human" as a forsaken avatar. I know, "more human" is pretty worthless feedback, but... real eyes instead of glowing eyes, perhaps a more natural (youthful) hair color, maybe assymetrical armor, a touch of vulnerability somewhere, etc.

Just my two cents (as with all of these), but it really is an interesting concept and at the very least a good costume to represent the character--I think you can get even more out of her though.

You are pretty much dead on about how she feels. But in truth, I wanted to project a bit of a humble look to her. One it made a nice counterbalance to her divinity, or lack there of. And two, I felt as a warrior she would favor simple and functional over glitzy and pretense.

The hair color was simply a choice to reflect who she is. Andraste was known as the "White goddess" I felt it needed to be represented.

Still, you got me thinking she really should have a slightly more divine look, at least from time to time. So...with a little inspiration and help from your comments. I came up with this.

Divine Andraste

Granted, it looks a bit more impressive in game with her Invulnerability sparkles in full force. :biggrin:

sockmunkey

Updated original post to include Rosary

c3rvand0

Some very nice designs. I like the simplicity of many of them. My favourite is Athena's armoured look. Very cool and menacing. As for Rosary, I too have a gun toting nun, called Stigmata. Hard to see in the shot, but her eyes glow a soft white and bleed.

sockmunkey

Lookie new characters!!

Ive gotten off my lazy behind and added Masquerade, Misery, and Decay.

Hope you all like :biggrin:

jasinblaze

i like the flapper stylings of snowflake best
nice work

sockmunkey

jasinblaze wrote: »

i like the flapper stylings of snowflake best
nice work

Thank you. I was going for more of a waifish look for her. But now that you pointed it out. I can totally see a flapper connection as well. A slightly longer smooth skirt would add a bit more emphasis on it....

We really need more skirt options :biggrin:

kharma23

After teaming with Harle yesterday, I'd like to reiterate what a wonderfully crazy (and I mean that in a good way ) character she is! Not only does she look fun but she has a wicked sense of humor :P

sockmunkey

I always wanted a pet spammer and Harle gave me the excuse. No tactics, just total chaos, send the pets in and hope for the best. And having a handy verbal quip ready and a giant particle rifle are just a bonus.

Besides you gota love any character who has the Coca-cola polar bear as a nemesis.

I had a blast, hopefully we can do it again sometime. :biggrin:

spacedazee

You have really great costumes and concepts for your characters. It's apparent you've put a bit of thought into each one. I was wondering though, what mask/pattern you used for Sugar rush Harle. I've been wanting something with that look for awhile an I just can't seem to find it how I'm looking.

c3rvand0

spacedazee wrote: »

You have really great costumes and concepts for your characters. It's apparent you've put a bit of thought into each one. I was wondering though, what mask/pattern you used for Sugar rush Harle. I've been wanting something with that look for awhile an I just can't seem to find it how I'm looking.

It's the scarecrow mask, part of the Halloween Costume set. Here is a link.

spacedazee

c3rvand0 wrote: »

It's the scarecrow mask, part of the Halloween Costume set. Here is a link.

Ah thanks. Guess I just hadn't played around with it enough.

sockmunkey

Truth be told. I totally forgot I even had that part. Sometimes when looking for inspiration I just hit the random all button over and over again to see what comes up.

I just recall that a couple of clicks in the mask popped up and my broken twisted mind went to work from there. Anyhow, glad you liked :biggrin: