February Challenge - Ptrope

[Ptrope]

Instead of waiting until the last minute, I waited only until about 4:00 PM this time!

Sure, it's my challenge, but it's also something I like and want to participate in, so here goes .

At the moment, her name is "PyrIce" (it was that or "Thermafrost" ). She's a TOS-era heroine from Andor, when the fans had decided that Andorians had "ice powers," which seem to have been very loosely-defined. In this case, Indigo (her chosen name), a Shade from the western continent that faces Andor more than any other, is able to control temperatures at either extreme, from a laser-like beam of intense cold, nearly absolute zero, to creating a fireball from the air around her - or her foe. PyrIce was disillusioned with the Federation, after seeing a world she visited destroyed by forces that Starfleet considered "the natural order" and thus subject to their Prime Directive. Since then, she has been a rogue on the outskirts of the Federation, shadowing them and slipping in to help the people that the Federation either can't or won't.

 

[Shawnster]

Nice job.

It's great to see an idea using a non-human.

I do suspect that superheroes and fantasy type characters would be very popular in the 23-24th centuries. When the literal present is sci-fi with starships spanning the galaxy, aliens from other galaxies being a reality and running into the occasional time traveler, I suspect fantasy and super hero characters will have a much stronger appeal to the average citizen.

 

[sojourner]

Very nice design! reminds me of Legion of Superheroes.

I agree on the fantasy aspect, but not so much the superhero part. When the setting is as you say, what defines the "super" part of the hero? There may be whole races with special abilities. As a character in a movie once said "Once everyone is special, no one will be".

 

[Shawnster]

There are many species on Earth now that have natural abilities that superheroes emulate. All the more reason why humans are interested in reading comics. They want to be like birds or lightning bugs or electronic eels or fish.

If your target audience doesn't have those abilities, then they may enjoy reading about characters of their own species that do.

 

[Ptrope]

Well, we've seen that action figures exist in the 24th century . Probably, even as present technology catches up with our dreams, superheroes and mythic figures will continue to play a big role in our culture - after all, our own history shows this pretty well, from the earliest sculptures and cave paintings, through tales like The Iliad and even the Bible, which are all filled with stories of superhuman figures, both good and evil, who illustrate the morality plays. Once we're in the stars and exchanging with other races, our imaginations will probably always be reaching further than our reality in order to create our myths.

sojourner has hit my challenge right on the head, though - these aren't supposed to be the myths and superheroes of Star Trek's fiction, but of its internal reality, where the abilities of alien species, or their technologies, makes the characters like mythic superheroes or villains on those worlds where their capabilities aren't the norm. They may be individuals, taking advantage of their abilities in a lesser-developed society, for good or bad, or they may even be a 'super-team' crossed with an 'IMF,' where the members chosen for a specific mission may be based upon how their abilities make them superior to the natives on the world where they're going; a super-swimmer may be only average on a world like his own, but of heroic stature on a world where the conditions never required his abilities to develop to that degree. In other words, these are the characters people hear about more from the Federation News Service than from Transwarp Comics . Their abilities make them 'super' only in the context of where they use them, in combination with their personalities, which would probably set them apart as 'alphas,' regardless of what planet they're on.

 

[Q2UnME]

8.2 on the O'Malley scale... check

Only nit, perhaps, would be to go with the "evil grin" face instead of the "scream" face in the "powers on" second shot. Every time I look at the second one I get a [Homer] D'Oh [/Homer] running through my head.

Great work P'trope!

Q2UnME

 

[Ptrope]

I may try to bring her up to at least a "9" on the O'Malley scale. As for her expression, these are just tests to see how she looks - I'm not even settled on her uniform, and I'm really hoping to get more of an aggressive, triumphant look on her face. Not so much an evil grin, though - after all, she's a hero, even if she has to be a rogue to do it.

If I have the time, I'm going to try drawing her, as well - better control over the composition and dynamics. We'll see!

 

[Ptrope]

Just working some more on PyrIce, changing her costume and, if my text can be believed, her heritage . This is definitely not my final piece - I don't care for the layout at all. But I've spent about 3 hours on this, so I figured I should post it ...

 

[Michael]

Ptrope, I really like it! She's very sexy.

 

[Q2UnME]

Sorry, Ptrope, not digging the new costume.

I really like your work overall. I'd lean towards something like Rogue or Jean Gray from the mid-'90's X-Men.

Q2

 

[Ptrope]

No problem, Q2UnME - I'm still trying things out. Anything specific you don't like? Style, cut, colors, details? I'm pretty well set on the purple & black main colors, and I like using the IDIC as a personal bit of ornamentation. I want to make it something that could fit in with TOS, but not look like something from Starfleet, nor something too typically 'spandex' - this is something that a person in her 'profession' might make herself, or at least design herself, so that she is unique and identifiable. Probably a middle ground between the two I've used - the first was, to me, too conservative, where this one may be too 'spandex.' but I do intend to keep a goodly amount of skin exposed - for controlling her body temp, obviously .

 

[Irishman]

I preferred the first one, the little swishy skirt bit seemed to add more femininity to the outfit than the more form-fitting one.

And more cleavage in the first one is good. It's like she's a futuristic siren. She seduces you in and then bashes your head in!

 

[Ptrope]

Well, I'm still playing around with the outfit. And the cleavage .

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

Bigger means better, right? Her D Cups of Justice!

 

[Ptrope]

Sure! Becaaaaauuuse she cannn ... store more energy! Yeah, that's it!

 

[Venardhi]

The red is a bad color to put in with the purple and blue. Try replacing it with 'avocado' gold and putting it in more places than just the collar.

Having her costume vac-formed to her breasts looks a bit silly, the cleavage works much better.

I'd encourage you to look into using particles for her superpowers; that whole 'ball of plasma' is pretty easy to pull off.

 

[Ptrope]

Okay, I'll agree that the red is out of place - I don't think it's a bad accent to purple and black (her actual outfit colors), but it's overly massive at her collar, especially if it doesn't show up anywhere else. It worked better on the body suit than the newer outfit. Avocado gold, though? No ... just ... no . In the meantime, I'm trying another variant on the latest outfit; keep in mind, I'm pretty much using my existing Poser libraries as the basis for this - I don't model clothing, so I'm pretty limited in that aspect. That pretty much covers the particles, too - it's something I can do fairly easily in post, but I don't have the software to do it in camera.

And so, come see the softer side of superheroes ...

I put her bangs back, as well, and gave her more of a smirk than an outraged expression. She looks more in control, not to mention she's just prettier this way, I think. (As for her attributes, I confess I've been reading through a lot of DC's "Power Girl" stuff lately ... ). I did model the IDIC for this, btw ...

 

[Venardhi]

It is like the 80s used the last of its strength to create the most inhumane outfit it could possibly inflict on a slutty girl going to prom. Needless to say, I think it is a step in the wrong direction my friend.

I was under the impression you used lightwave for some of your modeling, it has some very nifty particle abilities built in.

 

[USS Jack Riley]

Ptrope - I like where you are going with this (I am referring to posts #1 and #8, for some reason I cannot see the other pics). It seems to be a variant of the Silk Spectre II's costume from Watchmen. [/sarcasm] You might have heard of the movie somewhere so you might be able to find a pic or two [b/sarcasm]. Are you using her costume as an influence?

OT - Given the coverage it has received, Watchmen better not tank.

 

[Ptrope]

Well, I've gone a different direction since those posts, obviously (no idea why the last two PNG images stopped displaying; apparently my ISP has lost them [EDIT: Images are back!]). I've never read or even picked up Watchmen, so I have no idea what Silk Spectre II's costume might look like, unless it's what I see in the trailers (and as a complete outsider, I have to say the promotions don't make the movie appealing to me - they make it look like a superheroic Galaxy Quest, and while that was a fun movie, it certainly wasn't serious, and I can't see a 'serious' approach in the Watchmen ads). Given that, nope, no influence .

Venardhi, I do use Lightwave (v. 7); if it has particles, I've never found them - I'm still trying to figure out subpatching and weights! I don't use Lightwave for anything other than modeling - I've rarely used it to create an animation, so the particles, and dynamic systems, and even model rigging have been completely unused. Different priorities, I guess . I just want to get to the point where I can efficiently and accurately model a modern car - that's my goal for 2009.

"Inhumane?" I like to think of her as the "dangerous cheerleader." Look, she's a superhero, not a Starfleet officer; their outfits are usually not the most practical - especially, it seems, the DC ladies (Marvel women seem to be more conservative, to me - they may have a lot of graphics, but their outfits seem to lean more toward bodysuits than, say, Wonder Woman (talk about inhumane!) or Power Girl's outfits, with obvious exceptions like the various Queens of the Hellfire Club. And stuff like Wolverine's original costume - yellow with black tiger stripes and blue accessories? ). She's larger than life (some parts literally!), so her outfit is going to be the same. Plus the deadline is rapidly approaching, so I'm going to have to shift away from wardrobe and start getting a good scene together, especially having seen how long they're taking to render (a couple hours at a time).