It's burnt, indeed. The only way Data knows how to cook pizza - extra well done.
I guess it's time for me to throw my hat into this...
abethgrimshaw: *chuckles* Is it wrong that I find pleasure in depictions of Servbots in a tizzy? Looks like MegaMan's getting ready to firing his
lazor buster. I never knew what the bottoms of Data's feet look like, but then again do we ever get them? (I just looked at the main site for offical art of Data and lo and behold, the bottoms are brown, but adding bare spots on his feet make him look cuter, personally.) I love the way Roll and Tron were drawn in this piece, but why does it look like Roll's got golden yellow eyes? And what's with Mayor Amelia? Why is she looking at us that way?! Anyway, great work here. I'll definitely be looking forward to that MML anime when you're done with it.
Santa Melty: I'm with Trigger on this one. This looks like it could be part of the Elder System or something. The inky atmosphere of the corridor is only accentuated by that black and white color scheme, it gives the feeling like progressing down here is not going to be fun and games/rainbows/other happy things. It looks like you managed to make this Unit tremble with terror in the inside a bit. Well done. Definitely not going down this long hallway of nope.
ravenf6: Took inspiration from the start of MML1 I see? I like how that tiny Lego man meant to represent MegaMan makes the platform bigger in perspective. Is the blanket is also being used to depict the ocean here? If so, there's probably no need for the border. Unless... unless the Lego tower is really MegaMan's work of art that which he proudly flaunting at us with.
"
Surrounded by endless water" by MegaMan Volnutt/Trigger.
Medium: sculpture, hard plastic.
Style: contemporary.
Heh. But man, I want that Lego Flutter so badly...
HF: The revenge of Roll
Bogard Caskett. Look, I know for a fact that Triggs is probably just looking at the juiciest entry in your diary, Roll, but you didn't have to smack him in the skull with a freaking piece of metal! That's just rude as all heck. The lines in the background make it look it's raining - I guess he better evacuate his post before being smitten by "Hurricane Roll." Again, good work on this year's entry, HF. I always look forward to seeing work year by year.
Space Apollo: Simple, but effective (unlike me; I complicated things way too much in mine...) Though, those white, pupil-less eyes and mouth make him look as though is being possessed by Data or something. When brainstorming for my theoretical assigned prompt should have I've received this one, honestly, the first image that came to my mind was of MegaMan discovering a picture of another guy (i.e. Glyde, Barrett, or Tuttle) in Roll's closet with a heart drawn it in the bottom corner and not in a dirty sort of way. Nevertheless, I think your approach was probably the better way to go with this one. Heck, you could use a minature of this to make an analogus MML emoji. I'd like that.
MegaTuga: Wait, what's she doing in Barrell's room? Wow, it's been a hot minute since I last heard of this ditty/meme. Your drawing of Roll's not bad at all - you've improved since the last time you drew her (recalling your past Secret Santas.) Reflecting upon on the ending message, I'll admit that I took the opposite stance on the matter when making my work and did something complicated, time-consuming, tedious, and out my own heart and mind of what I wanted to see done. I put a lot of passion into what I do. A personality issue it seems (heck, that's evident by scrolling down and looking through this whole post, gosh darn it.) Oh well. What counts is that you delivered in the end, and the end result was still effective despite any setbacks you had.
So, I guess I should explaining the mess I made. As implied by what's happening, Reaverbots are plotting against the Diggers because well, who else better to play that role? The basic jist of this trap is as follows: a Miroc is balancing a delicious pizza on its head to lure the Digger (MegaMan in this case) to a corridor which is rigged with a trapdoor floor with a pit full of spikes beneath it. The trapdoor swings open only after the Miroc presses the switch on the opposite side of the hallway, dropping the pizza-craving fool into a pit of sharp and pointy death. They are currently in the process of building said trap in a hallway somewhere in the ruins, only to have a few things go the shape of the pear. The Miroc responsible for luring the Digger is leaning way to close to the spikes and is likely to fall in and die, and the pizza bait is... not very appetizing to say the least. A few key items from the games are littered around the place; the saw and pickaxe are references to MML1's gang sidequest, because appearently you can build anything with these two tools, from houses to ruin traps. There are nuts and bolts on the floor which supposedly came from the Staple Electronic Shop in Kattelox Island's Apple Market (a graphic of the shop's sign is on one of the boxes.)
This work I've created is the result of countless hours of modeling, positioning, reorienting and texturing in a little program called 3D Builder. To put it simply, it's the MS Paint of 3D modelling programs; easy to use but it won't always get you the best results, and organic shapes are next to impossible to make. Though, there is one confession I have to make (okay, one of two, actually) - about 80% of the Reaverbot models used here were constructed last year, I recycled them. A few of these models can be found in a number of my works in my little "museum" of sorts with the Gorubeshu (which was half-completed and uncolored when I started working on him,) Foo-roo, and Miroc being new Reaver-models to join the fray. Really, if I didn't have these models to begin with already, this could have easily have taken me an extra couple of days to complete, and I would have just barely finished on time. I honestly tried to sketch this one out the moment I received the prompt, but it kept looking like crap everytime I took a step back to look at it as a whole. The fact that I knew had these renders in my backlog was the sole reason I resorted to this still unnecessary and obtuse amount of work. Oh, and the ruin environment and every character here is a render, even Data on the box and MegaMan in the "simulation." As far as modelling went, this took me about 20 hours collectively to compile and position everything the way I wanted it.
As per usual, I used Paint to create skins/textures for the floor, walls, the boxes containing parts, the pizza box, and the text in the simulation and subtitles. Honestly, this was the easiest part, next to using a screen capturing tool to take a picture of the scene when I had the camera in a position I liked. Then, it was time for the shading. I used the latest version of GIMP to achieve this, adding lighting and shadows on separate layers. I wanted an atmospheric look to the piece, and I wanted it to feel like the viewer was in the ruins with the Reaverbots, looking over the projector machine observing the glum on everyone's face in the darkness illuminated by the device. As for the subtitles, I couldn't resist putting them in, but I didn't want them to interfere with the composition so I did what I did. Annnd that's all I have to say folks, tune in next time to-
*gets shoved back onto the stage*
Okay, okay! I still have that other confession to make, don't I? As with Tuga's request, I think I came an inch/centimeter too close to crossing the no-no crossover line with mine (I knew exactly what game was being referenced, and I remember it for one thing alone - its cruel game over cutscenes... and Mega Man's screaming.) Originally, the display on the screen was going to be an animated gif of MegaMan running across the floor chasing the Miroc which opens up and he futily tries to hover over the pit, lands on the spikes, and then... well, you could guess what the last frame would have consisted of. That's why I chose to pick the most interpretation-neutral frame of him hovering feet/meters away from impalement - the rest is up to the viewer to decide the manner in which MegaMan meets his end. Also, I censored something on the face of the box containing the spikes facing the camera; the scene's cropped in a way so that little of the text can be seen. There would have been more potiential references to the Classic/X series had I not cropped it this way. Ironically, I feel like I've been treading on spikes throughout the making of this work, and I'm glad that I made the right call and cut the questionable bits out. I wanted to have fun with the piece, though sometimes it can be really difficult to resist a reference or two that make the work not align with the guidelines.
Annnd I'm off to bed. Have a merry Christmas and happy holidays to you all!