S08.E10: Super Selfies

[ElectricBoogaloo]

The artists shape their own personal superhero or villain alter-egos … using themselves as their own models!
Guest Judges: Patrick Tatopolous and Todd McFarlane.

 

Sneak peek:

[Reishe]

Apparently there's no escaping the Mold!Drama!, even in the previews.

Edited March 14, 2015 by Reishe

[hincandenza]

Ugh, I know.  It's one of my (few) pet peeves on an otherwise great show: the forced time crunch and ensuing mold-management drama.  And ugh, on seeing Emily suffering from it this week... although we've all watched this show enough that either her costume will turn out fine without it, or after the commercial break we'll cut back to the problem basically having been solved.  Or perhaps this is the week she goes home, in which case I'm deleting my season pass. :)

 

I can understand why they have time constraints, and I get part of the challenge is to balance choices and work efforts.  Still, I feel like for example there should be a fair way for them to get an occasional cushion for finishing work for any time-sensitive action, where five extra minutes on day 2 can save you a whole hour on day 3.  If the choice is arbitrarily stopping and having to polyfoam tomorrow when you're supposed to be painting (or omitting a mold entirely, like in the clip above), or simply getting an extra few minutes to scrape out then fill that tricky mold and cast it so it can sit overnight and properly cure... why prevent that? Sure, you can't let them have unlimited time, and there's not much challenge (and may be potential legal/union issues) if they are working 12 hour days, but it seems silly to prevent them finishing a critical step because of a few minutes.  They have work days that I've seen vary in length from 5 to 9.5 hours, just this season; it's not like a customary "cool down" phase for say 20-30 minutes after each final time is allotted to quietly finish up that critical task would derail the show.

 

I guess that comes to the two definitions of "fair".  One is the definition of fair as "justice is blind", i.e. the rules apply to you equally whether you're male or female, young or old, talented or novice.  So yes, all artists in all seasons are held to the same time crunch rules, and that's "fair".  But the other type of fair is "This rule is just, and serves a purpose", and unfair rules are things like multiple years in prison for having dried plants in your pocket, or a 6-year-old being expelled from the 2nd grade because he or she made a gun shape with their fingers and went "pew pew pew!" to another student.  These rules might be equally applied, but most sensible people agree they're useless or even harmful rules, and thus not "fair".

 

I think strict time constraints on creative shows like this are counter productive to an artistic challenge.  This isn't "Survivor" or "MXC", I'm not tuning in to see people slip and fall and fail, or held to arbitrary time standards when any professional would just work a little longer to get the job done.  I want to see artists fulfilling their artistic vision, and be judged on that.  Now, just like the weird gimmicks "The Amazing Race" sometimes pulls out, maybe their own data shows that most viewers do want mold drama and cliffhanger commercial break crises.  But personally, I think those of us who watch Face-Off do it because the costumes are best when we can ooh and aah over some amazing creations.  It helps when they are complete, so everything that encourages that- and discourages fools-no-one manufactured drama edits in the middle of the episode- seems like a win.

[diebartdie]

I want to see artists fulfilling their artistic vision, and be judged on that.

Hear! Hear! Loved your whole post.

[Taeolas]

Marge Simpson as Poison Ivy. I agree with that. If she had gotten into character better, she could probably have pulled it off, but the spirit was broken so the character was lost. She still had more work in it which probably saved Emily in the end.

 

Stephanie's character was lost as well, and just didn't really click well obviously. That Ve saw elements of one of her characters in it was just a final nail in the coffin.  And considering Laura's team had 4 to the other team's 2 and 1, it was clear one of hers had to go. Granted both of them were bottom looks worthy so either could have gone.

 

I LOVED Logan's look; but I am a dragon fan in general. That was a great character, and he really sold it. IMO for me that will be one of the memorable looks of the season.

 

Adam sold his well too, and I would have been fine with him winning, but I loved Logan's more. Still, the comedic origin worked perfect for the challenge. It looked a bit rough, but was still obvious.

 

As for the rest,, I was happy with most of them. They weren't top, but they weren't really bottom either. And for the most part IMO they fit better as Heroes than the last time they did a Hero challenge. 

 

Julian's was a bit bare IMO, but still he pulled off the tetrahorn look well enough. He was very firmly middle of the pack.

 

Darla's face had too much shine to it. If she was going for a porceline look it might have worked, but really, I might have tossed her in hte bottom instead of Emily. I think she sold it very slightly better when all was said and done. 

 

Ben's pilot zombie hero almost missed the challenge. The mask and helmet accessories probably saved him, and overall he did have a lot of work in it. He assembled and most importantly, he played the character which probably would have put him in the Top 3 for me. 

 

 

And on a side note, we've gotten almost everything we asked for this season now haven't we? Nude painting, glamour makeup, and now selfies. (And IMO this pulled off the self-characters among the best so far, or at least Logan and Adam did)

[Ketzel]

I still feel the majority of them missed the concept. Maybe I'm just old-fashioned, but I think of my super heroes as, well, heroic in some way. The top two were pretty much the only looks that hit that note, imo - one comedic and one not, but both clearly told the story of ordinary person (the contestant) transformed into super being. The rest were a mish-mosh of demons, villains, goddesses, devils, zombies, skeletons and random other things the contestants felt more at home with, regardless of how far away they were from the designated concept. Disappointing. And, by the way, "I protect humans" is not a superpower, kids.

[Maelstrom]

Loved both the top looks tonight - this is actually one of those times when I honestly wish they'd have a tie for the winner, since both looks were so excellent IMO. The dragon slayer was so creative and so well put together that I could actually see it spawning (heh) a comic book of its own. And I just loved the humor of Adam's character ("I stuck my arms in these things and they wouldn't come off") - what Zapp Branigan would be like as a superhero. 

 

Emily's was a beautiful makeup, but unfortunately in no way a superhero. And as Ve pointed out, it's certainly not new territory for Emily. Hopefully she can knock it out of the park next week and really challenge herself.

 

Second (at least?) time that Stephanie had a meltdown on day one leading to a concept-less makeup, so I knew she'd be going home. She started off promising but I think the competition left her behind a few weeks ago.

 

I'm so happy with the range of really creative challenges we've gotten this season. Looks like next week they're touching back on the "kid-inspired" challenge we saw back in season 3. I'm going to be bummed when this season is over!

[GaT]

I would have been happy with either Logan or Adam winning. I think the fact that they were having so much fun with the whole "becoming a super hero" thing really sold both their looks. Stephanie & Emily were clearly both seriously uncomfortable & it showed.

[hincandenza]

The judges were on point this week, I can't disagree with their choices. As soon as they announced the 4 left over, the numbers were obvious- everyone knew how this would play out, except possible Emily. It was clear those two were in the bottom, with Stephanie finally leaving and Emily hopefully getting jostled out of complacency.

Stephanie really freezes up creatively, to the point of being awkward to watch; if she can get over that flaw, her career will be fine. 7th is respectable, shw should feel proud! I'm a big believer in there being no such thing as "writers block" but only "editor's mania"- shooting down the half-formed ideas before they get a chance to evolve into something cohesive. The result is once again a muddied and uninspired concept, and with her losing a day (again) of lab time she could only churn out an anemic amount of monotone work. I think she could have gone with a post-apocalyptic Tank Girl aesthetic, and even play up the existing scar on her face, and maybe been safe over Julian. It was kind of hard to watch, because from the moment she was on stage you could see she was holding back tears the entire time.

As much as I adore Forest Babe- er, I mean Emily- I'm glad she was in bottom looks this week. Girl needed a wake up call. She looked absolutely amazing of course, and did another solid work... but once again, not an appropriately themed work! I'm worried she'll be gone soon, just because the people left are getting better and better at awesome concepts and have the technical chops to boot. Ve totally called her on the carpet (gently enough) when she thrice mentioned "big hair". As "Self-Portrait" Rod showed us in season 3, when the judges explicitly warn you about a common quirk in your work... pay attention.

That said, Emily doing the quick day 1 paint test on herself... that's brilliant. I don't believe I've never seen someone do that before, but it's exactly the kind of pre-emptive check I wish people did more often: if you test and hate your color palette on day 1, you can make changes instead of being surprised on day 3/last looks.

Logan's dragon slayer was cool and detailed, but I've always wondered why they sculpt in accessories like an eye mask, when you could just buy/make it as a separate piece, and make it appear more real. It just makes the whole face look flat and mask-like. Still, he did a TON of detail work this week, head to toe, so a deserved win for him.

Adam had, to me, the best concept. He just nailed the challenge parameters and execution this week. The shape of that mask and chin piece made his face seem even more perfectly comic-book. You can tell he's a real genre fan, he even had the patter down. I'd have easily applauded him winning over Logan for best meeting the challenge specifications, so yes a tie for first would have been cool.

Ben was solid, and when he emoted and his eyes seemed to almost grow illuminated, that was a great effect. There was a ton of work in those pieces, but Logan did even more work and Adam's was much more challenge-appropriate, so I'd call Ben the third of the top two.

Darla's paint job didn't do enough to make the skin look separate from the filigree work, so she looked kind of... marshmallow faced. She also appeared to have zero ability to emote at all, or at least without risking her face cracking.

Julian's head sculpt looked like Nicholas Hoult as a Ferengi. And it was boring. Just... meh. If we'd had a bottom 3, he'd have been there.

[Kelda Feegle]

Personally I would have given the win to Adam, Logan's just felt a little too much like Arrow meets TMNT, that said they were both well done pieces of work and met the challenge. The rest were just generally alien or creature rather than SuperHero, and I always forget Julian from week to week - sorry J.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

It's the tenth episode and I'm still asking, "Who?" whenever they say Julian's name. I didn't like that he admitted that he didn't look like a superhero but that he could explain his concept. Just no. Your concept needs to be able to stand on its own without an explanation.

 

Stephanie had the same problem again - she had no concept so she wasted a lot of time. When looking at her, all I could think was "there's no there there." She slapped on a brow and painted her face white. Then there was nothing else to her costume or accessories.

 

Logan's was interesting but from a distance the combination of the hood and the mask reminded me of Skeletor. I was worried that the judges would see that the makeup on his neck stopped, which I chalked up to him not being able to see as well. I alsos liked that he did a lot. He had a face sculpt, wings, etc. He really did a lot of work.

 

Darla's had a very cool demeanor, like she was a marble statue that came to life.

 

Ben's was creepier than I like my superheros, but I was impressed with how much movement he had in his face.

 

Emily's was really beautiful but it was more goddess than superhero. I felt like once she realized that, she gave up. Her character description to the judges was so defeated. I actually really liked the purple and green makeup she tried on her face first.

 

Adam's explanation, on the other hand, was nonsensical but hilarious. I agree with the guest judge too - this was the one superhero that I could see bringing home to a kid who would love it.

[Kromm]

Emily may not have followed the brief, but man that was a spectacular looking makeup.

 

She does need to try to go outside her box next time, but in most ways she's that one dominating contestant that's always better than the rest.

[Lugal]

Both top looks were awesome, but I personally would have given it to Adam.  He had the superhero look down (mask, logo, color theme), and like Ve said, "you finally got to use your hair."  Adam was more classic, almost manga superhero while Logan went for a more TMNT vibe.  I loved the logo he had for his character.

 

Ben was good as well, although I find it interesting that he saw himself more as a supervillain.  He skirts the edges of the challenge parameters just enough that when he pulls it off, it can be different enough to really get the judges' attention.

 

Darla's was beautiful, with the classical look and the domino mask, but she didn't highlight the filigree enough so her face just looked like an oval.

 

Glad I'm not the only one who struggles to remember Julian's name.  His was more demon than superhero.

 

Emily had a two part problem, the first being her confidence crashed right before she had to go out and show the make-up.  If she at least had some umph behind it, she could have at least tried to sell it, like: "I am...Guardian of Nature!" The second problem was even though the look was extremely beautiful, it did not read as superhero.  It was too 'soft' for lack of a better word.  Superhero comics started with 4 colors and strong lines, and while that has changed with modern graphic novels, it's still the heart of it.  Her colors were too dark and the lines were obscured by the costume. "Marge Simpson as Poison Ivy" I loved that.

 

Stephanie's look could have been good.  If she had made the demon mask to fit and could pull it off for a reveal and then gone with a simple domino mask (since she didn't want a large appliance on her face) it would have been pretty cool.  Her Black Canary-style costume was at least superhero inspired, and I give her credit for attempting black and white.  It seems the further away from her wheelhouse she got the more she struggled with concepts.

[FormerMod-a1]

I also didn't think most of them looked like superheroes.  I could maybe see the alter-ego in most of them, but not superhero.  The top 2 were the only ones that looked like superheroes to me.  

[LoneHaranguer]

 

Emily's was a beautiful makeup, but unfortunately in no way a superhero. And as Ve pointed out, it's certainly not new territory for Emily.

There was absolutely nothing wrong with either of the "bottom" looks as far as meeting the challenge; there's more to the world of superheroes than DC and Marvel. And, if you're going to ask contestants to make themselves up as <whatever>, you can expect to see what they like and have maybe done before, but so what? Ve came off as a douche for dissing the really big hair that Emily did to honor her mother. I'm sure she didn't know why Emily did that; she could have asked, but it really wasn't cool to question any of the contestants' choices for an alter ego anyway. Not all were going to just do something arbitrary.

 

 

Stephanie & Emily were clearly both seriously uncomfortable & it showed.

I think they may have been showing too much of themselves in their designs (not in the skin-tight cleavage-y way I think most of the judges would have preferred).

[BensBritches]

Am I the only one still laughing over Glen's, "You look like a hedge" comment?  TeenBritches and I must have laughed for 10 minutes straight last night and kept randomly saying it to each other this morning.  Just me?  Ok, moving along...

 

I must have a very different idea of "superhero" because if I just saw pictures of each character, without an explanation as to what they were supposed to be, I would only have identified Adam's as a "superhero."  I know there is more to superheroes than DC and Marvel, but I don't think of them as having multiple horns or blood dripping out of their mouths or topiaries growing out of their heads... A lot of the make-ups were great, particularly as they were (mostly) self-applied, but overall to me they just didn't fit the challenge. 

[mlp]

I saw superhero in only the top two characters, Adam's most clearly.  The rest looked to me like they made aliens/villains and tried to spin superpower stories around them.  Emily's forest woman was lovely and well done but in the wrong challenge.

 

I was relieved to see Stephanie go at last.  Since the very first episode, every time I looked at her the word that sprang to my mind was "vapid."  That on top of the mental blocks and crying had me favoring anyone else.

 

I've wondered how they figure "days" for several seasons.  The house where they stay seems to be a long distance from the lab and so do many of the places they go to for the challenge introductions.  Traffic in LA is notoriously bad so I've never understood how they have the stated number of hours for work on Day One.  I've been assuming all along that Day One starts with the set up and sketching but it occurred to me last night that maybe the timing doesn't start until they get to the lab to begin actual work.  I can't think of any other explanation of how they all had molds of their own faces ready to go when the "selfie" part was supposed to be a surprise.

[Primetimer]

Or, as mostly ends up happening...kind of not really superheroes at all. How do things shake out when the makeup artists be their own models?

Read the story

[MarquisDeCarabas]

 

Stephanie had the same problem again - she had no concept so she wasted a lot of time.

when Ve said she had a lot of ideas in the good bye I was like if she had a lot of ideas she wouldn't be in this mess.

 

They really should give up the idea of a superhero challenge and just go supervillan, because no really seems willing to do a superhero (outside of Adam and Logan to a slightly lesser extent)  Given them an image of a different superhero and  and have them design that hero's arch nemesis

 

Also of all the people to bring in for a superhero challenge Todd McFarlane is is probably one of the worst. The man hasn't done straight superhero work in ages and his toy line is either preexisting properties or twisted horror version of some common domain idea like fairy tales.  Even his comments about Adam's Hero about it being great for an 8 year old felt slightly dismissive to me. A light-hearted comedic superhero can apply to any age.

[Rhetorica]

when Ve said she had a lot of ideas in the good bye I was like if she had a lot of ideas she wouldn't be in this mess.

They really should give up the idea of a superhero challenge and just go supervillan, because no really seems willing to do a superhero (outside of Adam and Logan to a slightly lesser extent) Given them an image of a different superhero and and have them design that hero's arch nemesis

Also of all the people to bring in for a superhero challenge Todd McFarlane is is probably one of the worst. The man hasn't done straight superhero work in ages and his toy line is either preexisting properties or twisted horror version of some common domain idea like fairy tales. Even his comments about Adam's Hero about it being great for an 8 year old felt slightly dismissive to me. A light-hearted comedic superhero can apply to any age.

I still love William Katt's Greatest American Hero!

[Drogo]

Best two moments of this episode, for me:

1. Glenn inspecting Adam's bucket arms "What ARE these?" "Oh that's just proto-plasmic... well, it's all very technical, you don't want to hear about it."

2. Ben shooting his toy (bubble?) gun while he was on stage. Rrrrrrr....

Khaleesi's theory is that Adam's superhero was more about the costume and less about the makeup, which is why Logan walked away with it. I could see that.

Khaleesi sums up the contestants' failures in one long sentence:

"Comic book heroes wear bright colors and carry a cool weapon that no one else has, and they are supposed to look like someone who's going to save you, not kill you."

She was particularly turned off by Ben's character, foaming at the mouth with black blood under his Bane-like mask.

[Linderhill]

I was glad that most of these contestants at least tried to embrace the superhero/hero/goodguy vibe this time around.  The last time they tried to do comicbook characters was back in season two or three and each one to the contestants made some sort of demon/monster hybrid.  It was disturbing to the point that it felt like we missed some of the briefing.  They took the train down to ComiCon and consulted with DC artists I believe and ended up with monsters and demons.  These guys at least tried, especially the top looks.  Ben's was much like the earlier challenge because he just had to do his own spin on things.  Did not follow instructions.  If the girls had tried to sell their looks at all they would have done better.  Stephanie, thank goodness she's been sent home because she's been tiresome with her brain freeze. 

 

I'm sure the fact that they had to do the challenge on themselves really threw the contestants.  I was amused to see the helper make up people mostly just sitting around. 

[carrps]

Marge Simpson as Poison Ivy. I agree with that. If she had gotten into character better, she could probably have pulled it off, but the spirit was broken so the character was lost. She still had more work in it which probably saved Emily in the end.

 

I think a big part of this challenge was the ability to perform. The more introverted personalities who felt uncomfortable performing fared the worst. Every week we see how Megan sells her characters -- even when they're weak tea. In a profession such as this, I'd expect they'd attract a lot of people not especially eager to be the one with the spotlight on them rather than their work. I think this was a major factor in Stephanie, Darla and Emily's outcomes. Of course, Stephanie's work was subpar. Nothing there, and it didn't even look good.

 

Loved both the top looks tonight - this is actually one of those times when I honestly wish they'd have a tie for the winner, since both looks were so excellent IMO. 

 

 

My sister said exactly that! I wouldn't have been unhappy with a tie either.

 

P.S. Where was Patrick Tatopolous?

Edited March 18, 2015 by carrps

[Captain Asshat]

Part of what I loved about Adam's hero and backstory? Even the hero name is awkward and out of place for a male hero. Crimson Wave? Euphemism for menstruation. No *wonder* he wrecks cities. No one is ever at their best during that time of the month!

[Kromm]

I also didn't think most of them looked like superheroes.  I could maybe see the alter-ego in most of them, but not superhero.  The top 2 were the only ones that looked like superheroes to me.  

Right.  And this was my problem with how (and how extensively) Emily's work was criticized.  To my eyes, actually, even the lizardy guy didn't read as a superhero--he read as a medieval/fantasy-based warrior, because there was no 'tech" or other contemporary notes to his costume at ALL.  Only the character with the paint cans read totally as a superhero--and frankly it wasn't that good a look in terms of technique, but.... whatever.

 

ALL of the looks then, less one, didn't follow the brief that well, but Emily got slammed harder than the rest for around the same level of violation.  The way she... kind of collapsed and didn't "sell" it to the judges was a bit of a problem, true, but these judges aren't idiots.  I tend to expect them to see logical consistencies and inconsistencies all by themselves, unlike judges on some shows.

 

Medieval lizardy guy = fantasy character, not superhero

Demon in a black trenchcoat = horror character, not superhero

Goddess character who looks like a statue = fantasy character, not superhero

Zombie soldier = horror character, not superhero

demonish gray/blue skinned character = horror character, not superhero

 

So a tree goddess?  About the same level of offense.

[LoneHaranguer]

 

I must have a very different idea of "superhero" because if I just saw pictures of each character, without an explanation as to what they were supposed to be, I would only have identified Adam's as a "superhero."

Sounds like if you'd never seen Marvel's Fantastic Four, you wouldn't consider the Thing or Human Torch to be superheroes. 

 

 

From the recap:

She wants to make her black and white like she jumped out of a comic book, which, that's not my world, but have comic books been black and white...ever?

Black and white has been used to save money or soften potentially objectionable elements. Vampirella was originally in black & white.

 

BTW, I liked that when the contestants entered the lab for their makeover that one of the women shouted "the models are here". Just once I'd like to see everyone get an extra minute because they were all too busy to yell out the "time's up". This would have been the perfect challenge for it. I know it won't happen because I'm sure somebody behind the camera gives a heads-up.

[starri]

This was such a good challenge on paper.  I wish the execution hadn't been so lacking.

[diebartdie]

I cracked up so hard during the reveal stage! Ben is a freek, that black blood coming out of his mouth, dear lord that is not a SUPER HERO!!! Did Macenzie say they could make EITHER a hero  or a villain? The worst thing was Emily got SPANKED by the judges but you know what? She really really needs a WAKE UP call. There is no reason for a person that talented and that young to be relying on crutches and her crutch is BIG HAIR so she just needs to quit it. She'd do well to do a bald makeup for the next challenge. Im glad Stephanie is gone, she was boring. Darla's makeup sucked, it could have been awesome but instead it was just so blah. Logan is another one relying on a shtick, almost all his creations have been a face with a mask so he needs to quit it too (his was AMAZING but really, I could see that running around in WoW but not City of Heroes) Oh and Julian, man dude made a male counterpart to his female beauty queen from last week! What the hell, this group is just very disappointing. By this point last season there were AWESOME makeups happening, this group is overall weak.

 

..... how they all had molds of their own faces ready to go when the "selfie" part was supposed to be a surprise.

I assume before anything is filmed all the contestants have to sit for head shots and casts of their faces.

[Black Knight]

Right.  And this was my problem with how (and how extensively) Emily's work was criticized.  To my eyes, actually, even the lizardy guy didn't read as a superhero--he read as a medieval/fantasy-based warrior, because there was no 'tech" or other contemporary notes to his costume at ALL.  Only the character with the paint cans read totally as a superhero--and frankly it wasn't that good a look in terms of technique, but.... whatever.

 

ALL of the looks then, less one, didn't follow the brief that well, but Emily got slammed harder than the rest for around the same level of violation.

Emily got slammed harder because, as you said in another post, she's in most ways that one dominating contestant that's always better than the rest. So the standards for her are higher and that's really a compliment. She's not being judged compared to the others, who are not on her level anyway; she's being judged on her own. I remember my junior year of high school, my honors English teacher gave me a C for work that I knew would've gotten an A or B if done by other students, and told me she wouldn't accept mediocre work from me anymore. It pissed me off initially to be getting graded more harshly than others, but when I calmed down I realized she was right and got my act together. I thanked her for it later because it made me actually work instead of coasting.

 

Emily needed the wakeup call, and this was the perfect challenge for the judges to do it. She can't do big hair every week, and the field is narrowing down so that soon she can't count on there being a Stephanie who rolls out something terrible both conceptually and technically, and the judges don't have a save this year. If Emily makes it to the final she has the win in the bag IMO, but she has to get to the final. The judges are worried that there'll be a week where she misses the mark but none of the others do. They didn't slam the others like they did Emily for about the same level of violation because those others are cannon fodder.

Edited March 19, 2015 by Black Knight

[Mr. Simpatico]

They really should give up the idea of a superhero challenge and just go supervillan, because no really seems willing to do a superhero (outside of Adam and Logan to a slightly lesser extent)  Given them an image of a different superhero and  and have them design that hero's arch nemesis

 

I actually liked this challenge because it made them think and see what they could do. Only Adam (who I would have chosen because he seemed to be the only one who knew what a super-hero should look like) and Logan. I actually would have put Ben in the bottom because I'm pretty sure Mckenzie said "super-heroes" and he just decided to make a super-villain because...(and Anthony was OK with that). The rest of them didn't even seem to bother making actual super-HEROES and it's not like they don't what the concept is supposed to be even if you don't read comics thanks to movies, TV, cartoons, heck everyone knows Superman, Batman and Spider-Man. Julian made a generic demon, Darla made a live action version of the statue of Lady Justice, and Emily made Mother Nature's Daughter (although her beauty make-up was wonderful and I actually thought she had a chance before I saw that hair) and Stephanie was a zombie Buffy the Vampire Slayer. None of them said super-hero. Giving them a chance to do super-villains would have been more of the same (heck, Julian and Ben and Stephanie literally could have made the same make-ups).

 

I must have a very different idea of "superhero" because if I just saw pictures of each character, without an explanation as to what they were supposed to be, I would only have identified Adam's as a "superhero."  I know there is more to superheroes than DC and Marvel, but I don't think of them as having multiple horns or blood dripping out of their mouths or topiaries growing out of their heads... A lot of the make-ups were great, particularly as they were (mostly) self-applied, but overall to me they just didn't fit the challenge.

 

I agree. I wonder why more just didn't go with the old domino mask like so many heroes wore and concentrate more on the outfits (which is what Adam did). Logan even put his mask into the make-up which seemed like a waste of time. Most superheroes are identified by their costumes not their face (since most of them are human). I wonder what RJ, Roy or Rhashaad would have done with this challenge since it cried out for fabrication over make-up.

Edited March 19, 2015 by Mr. Simpatico

[Kromm]

Sounds like if you'd never seen Marvel's Fantastic Four, you wouldn't consider the Thing or Human Torch to be superheroes. 

Not a fair comparison, IMO. 

 

Firstly, The Thing or Human Torch don't have distinctive mythological or medieval looking "markers" in their appearance, the way FAR too many of these did. Or overt horror markers, the way others did.  The Thing, while a "monster", has in my drawings a very benign, deliberately bright colored appearance, inserted into equally bright and contemporary (at least for the 1960s) tights/shorts.   The Torch, in flame mode, doesn't signify anything in particular, but does look VERY human-normal in his silhouette, even when covered in flames, so again, it's not communicating horror, fantasy, etc. but "transformed human"--which is more sciency.  And OUT of flame mode, he's in bright blue spandex, like the others.

 

The contestants on this show didn't seem to get the Spandex brief.  Most superheroes are signified by it.  But if not, it's still going to communicate superhero better if we see contemporary flourishes, and do so less if they're using traditional fantasy or horror concepts.  Not always, because I suppose Hellboy might count as a Superhero, but lets be honest... usually.  And yeah, masks have been mentioned now too. Another signifier we didn't see much of.

 

Even a character, like Dr. Strange, for example, might fail this test, even though we know he counts as a Superhero.   Because as long as the judges on this show insist on using this kind of filter overall, they'd better be applying it equally (which I felt they didn't in the case of Emily, since she seemed to be getting far more heat than everyone else, although point taken on Black Knight's statement upthread that she only got that heat because the judges felt it "safe" to vent to her--in other words she was never in any real danger of going--because she's the clear front-runner, the application genius they get one of every few seasons who's makeups just look more detailed than the others by a mile).

Edited March 19, 2015 by Kromm

[starri]

 

The contestants on this show didn't seem to get the Spandex brief.  Most superheroes are signified by it.  But if not, it's still going to communicate superhero better if we see contemporary flourishes, and do so less if they're using traditional fantasy or horror concepts.  Not always, because I suppose Hellboy might count as a Superhero, but lets be honest... usually.

With the exception of Adam and Logan, everyone else seemed to half-ass it.  Stephanie was the worst offender, but Ben (despite the amount of fabrication he did) did Darth Malak from Knights of the Old Republic, Julian made a demon, and Darla did...whatever it was Darla did.  Emily was really enthusiastic about the challenge at first, and had she not gone for the Big Hair again, she and and one of the safe contestants probably would have switched places.  She totally lost her confidence and that was half of her problem, but her actual makeup was gorgeous, even if she was basically just a yellow Poison Ivy.

 

I already feel like an asshole for saying this, but I wish Darla had gone with a concept that did less to emphasize the fullness of her face.  She's not a large woman (she and Emily are both kind of zaftig), but her makeup made her look damned near spherical, and the "wings" which I think were partially to elongate her face didn't work to accomplish that.

 

Stephanie was going home no matter what, because she Doesn't Do Superheroes.  She tried, but she made Buffy crossed with Black Canary.  If she'd vacuformed her life cast and sculpted the second mask based on that, it probably would have made the makeup better by maybe a point, and I'm kind of surprised Laura didn't suggest that to her.

 

Speaking of which, I loved Laura geeking out when they introduced Todd McFarlane.  I hate him, but me at perhaps thirteen would have had the same reaction.  But she was just cute and totally in character for her, because she did the same thing when they brought out Kevin Smith in S3.

Edited March 19, 2015 by starri

[Kromm]

With the exception of Adam and Logan, everyone else seemed to half-ass it. 

I don't think Logan was any more on target to Superhero than any of the others.  He just had a better makeup (putting aside Emily, who's makeup job was at least on par with his, if not better).

 

 

Do I see "hero" there potentially?  Sure.  It's a warrior look, and those are hero flourishes of a type.

 

But the only "superhero" element is the mask.  The rest is pure medieval/fantasy (bow, armor bracers on the forearms, a helardic device on the chest, leatherwork).

 

Again, not that it isn't excellent.  But again,literally the only thing that makes it more superhero than any of the others (other than paint can hands man) is that mask.

[starri]

I don't necessarily think Logan pulled off "superhero" particularly well, he just seemed like he put a bit more thought and effort into it than anyone except for Adam and Emily.

[Taeolas]

Looking at Logan's dragon archer, and comparing him to the classic Comic archers like Hawkeye and Green Arrow, and to me, he's pretty spot on. The only real difference (outside the dragon aspects) is that Hawkeye and Green Arrow have their primary colour looks, while he's more toned down. But on the flip side, if you look at their movie/TV versions, his colour scheme is more in tune with what Movie Hawkeye and TV Green Arrow are pulling off. So in that respect, I have no problem with his look.

 

Frankly, considering all the types of Heroes, Anti-Heroes, Grey Heroes and so forth we have nowadays in the comics medium, most of those looks were fine (including the zombie-cyborg one). The main gotcha is how you present it, and most of the artists fell flat on their face in that respect. 

[Kromm]

To me the difference is that the "superhero" archers (although in many ways that's a nonsense phrase/idea) are in bright primary colors, not dark muted ones looking like actual medieval leather armor.

Of course TV Arrow muted theirs down, but a contest like this is where we're getting judging against comic book/cartoon version ideals, I think. Otherwise, Adam's character wouldn't have been noted as the ideal.

Edited March 19, 2015 by Kromm

[Biosynth]

What about characters such as Ghost Rider and Moon Knight?  Or Deadpool or Beast or a lot of the others?  They are considered Superheroes or Anti-Heroes.  Would they have fit the criteria?  Ghost Rider especially, could be horror I guess, but really, he's a hero, so.....

 

Also, why did everyone need to have a prosthetic face?  Even if you have a human face there it has to be a prosthetic?  Wha?  They couldn't have done painting and do a character like Blink or Domino?

 

Maybe these people really don't know much about superheroes? 

 

My favorite were the two top looks.  I have no trouble with a dragon superhero, really.  And I loved the smirk that Adam gave.  Reminded me of Ash from Evil Dead, LOL. 

[Kromm]

Well Ghost Rider is easy.

 

In the movies, and later years comics, he's basically just a horror character.  If he interacts with the superhero side of the Marvel house these days, it's when they're thrust into a horror plotline.

 

When he was in more direct Superhero mode, in the comics, he... was in primary color mode.  Bright blue instead of black leathers.

 

[eurekagirl mOo]

I love this show BUT when you tell them "super HERO" and they come up with some creature with blood running out his mouth???? They should be eliminated for not following the guidelines of the challenge. And don't say "Oh I'm doing an anti-hero" They said Superhero not anti-hero. Just bugs the shit out of me when people do whatever they dam well please and not what there told to do. If there working on a movie or tv show and the boss says make me a superhero and you show up with something that in no way resembles what you were told to do....fired.

[carrps]

I already feel like an asshole for saying this, but I wish Darla had gone with a concept that did less to emphasize the fullness of her face.  She's not a large woman (she and Emily are both kind of zaftig), but her makeup made her look damned near spherical, and the "wings" which I think were partially to elongate her face didn't work to accomplish that.

 

 

I think Darla was probably more sensitive about her size than the others. She's no way obese, but she has a few more pounds on her than the others. I don't see her ever dressing herself in spandex! Another point on the negative side for using themselves as models.

 

And Ben's was just a complete FAIL for me.

[diebartdie]

Ben's was horrible for this challenge but otherwise it was a great makeup.

[RedHackle]

Ben's was horrible for this challenge but otherwise it was a great makeup.

 

I agree, which is also pretty much true of Emily's,  and yet almost got her bounced out.  Glad she's still in there, though.  This is a very superficial criticism but I'm extremely tired of Ben's perma-sneer.  If he has some sort of facial paralysis which makes him incapable of making any other expression, then I apologize.  Otherwise, he's just a smug/insecure bastard. 

 

I thought Adam's was better by far - as near as I can tell he's the only one who did what was a very recognizable super-hero. Although, to be fair, I saw more than a little Syndrome from the Incredibles in his design.  Still liked it though.

[starri]

I agree, which is also pretty much true of Emily's,  and yet almost got her bounced out. 

She wasn't almost bounced.  They were always going to chuck Stephanie, but wanted to, if I may borrow a phrase, tell Emily to "check herself before she wrecks herself."  The only reason Emily was on the bottom was her doing another variation on the huge wig, the makeup was technically fine.

[jbrecken]

I thought Ben's was a pretty good Deathlok.

[hincandenza]

I agree, I think there was zero chance they bounced Emily this week- but I think they'd been letting her skate on talent for a while and wanted some kind of shock to her system.  We'll see if it was enough.  When the judges like someone- and they love her- they want them to succeed and will give them a purely shock therapy trip to the bottom to jolt them... but they also are not going to give them infinite rope if they continue their bad habits.

 

This episode really made me appreciate "Heroes of Cosplay" a little more (is that ever coming back?); sure they have a lot more time to make their outfits and the scripted drama and obvious pre-written dialogue are laughably bad, but excepting that one weird "male model" dude in the second season they all had a finger on the pulse of comic book superheroes, both traditional and modern. 

 

It's depressing that excepting Adam, none of these looks felt like someone had ever opened a comic book.  A couple of days later, and I feel more and more he was robbed; he aced this challenge from a concept and execution standpoint. Also, he and Logan appeared to be the only ones with much of an origin story, at least that we heard.  Not one person was bitten by a radioactive ____ either, so a poor showing all around. :)

 

Logan's was very good technically, but really more fantasy/WOW/video game character as someone said above; however, he did get into character the most which I think helped put him over the top.  It is a bit of a crapshoot on winning a challenge when sometimes the judges reward an idea, and sometimes they reward the work.

 

Ben's was horror/zombie not superhero at all, and that gif in Tara's recap of Anthony almost recoiling when Ben shows him the idea... I think that was really what happened.  Seriously, if you didn't see that, go watch the gif now; I think it shows Anthony struggling to keep suppressed the opinion "Holy shit, this guy has the creative sensibility of a 12-year-old".  Ben is a good technician, but not much more. 

 

Julian's was simply atrocious; the more I look at it, the more I hate it. It's not super, it's not heroic. And tell me I'm not right, that he didn't make an almost perfect reproduction of Nicholas Hoult from the film "Warm Bodies".

 

As for the women, I really need to stop predicting things: I figured the women would have a slight edge for putting makeup on themselves, but I didn't consider that all three seemed cripplingly uncomfortable being in the spotlight.  Darla and Emily couldn't have looked more awkward, and Stephanie was pretty much dead woman walking and knew it from the moment she was on stage. 

 

Stephanie's looked like mediocre work for a Foundation Challenge, much less three days in a Spotlight Challenge.  Don't know what more can be said about that.

 

Darla in particular did a lousy makeup, because it looks like a Gods and Goddesses challenge, and besides the proportions are all off.  It looks plastic and sticky, and the oval silhouette and golden domino mask make her look like she's a cartoonishly nerdy character with a comically oversized egghead and big glasses.  It doesn't convey regal, or powerful, or heroic in any fashion.

 

Emily once again had a great makeup that missed the mark on the challenge because she lost sight of the goal, and then wasn't willing/able to sell her heroic personality as "Forest Babe"- I don't think she even came up with a name much less a backstory.  She seemed so excited, then at Last Looks finally realized "I did the wrong challenge".  To her credit, the people who were all safe didn't even seem to realize the same thing.

 

It's a shame, because if either Darla or Emily had just embraced their natural bodies, they'd have done fine: both are curvy, voluptuous women... which instead of feeling self-conscious about it, they should have realized that it happens to be an asset in the cosplay and comicon world!  Play up the camp angle, instead of being so serious, like Adam did so well this week.  I'm not saying Emily had to be Power Girl or anything that blunt- although good lord, she could with that Joan Holloway figure of hers- but she and Darla could have done well to embrace a certain campy, 4-color style superhero with a clear and fun backstory.

[Mr. Simpatico]

It's depressing that excepting Adam, none of these looks felt like someone had ever opened a comic book.  A couple of days later, and I feel more and more he was robbed; he aced this challenge from a concept and execution standpoint. Also, he and Logan appeared to be the only ones with much of an origin story, at least that we heard.  Not one person was bitten by a radioactive ____ either, so a poor showing all around. :)

---

It's a shame, because if either Darla or Emily had just embraced their natural bodies, they'd have done fine: both are curvy, voluptuous women... which instead of feeling self-conscious about it, they should have realized that it happens to be an asset in the cosplay and comicon world!  Play up the camp angle, instead of being so serious, like Adam did so well this week.  I'm not saying Emily had to be Power Girl or anything that blunt- although good lord, she could with that Joan Holloway figure of hers- but she and Darla could have done well to embrace a certain campy, 4-color style superhero with a clear and fun backstory.

I can't give them a pass even if they are not comic book readers. Comic book super-heroes have become so prevalent in our culture and our media (and have dominated the box office and are now all over TV) that there is no excuse not to even know the basics of what a super-hero should look like or what their backstory is. I agree that Logan's win not only had to do with the make-up and how he sold it but because he had a feasible origin for his hero. Emily appeared stumped when asked who her hero was supposed to be.

 

As for Emily and Darla not using their figures (which would work for superheroines particularly of the Marvel/DC kind) to the best advantage, I can see they were nervous on stage to begin with (and who could blame them - they are not professional models/actors) so I don't think they would have been willing to go there...however...I do think a part of the brilliance of Adam's actual design (which on second glance didn't look as well put together as Logan's to be honest) was that he realized that it was the fabrication of the costume and not the face (for which he just made a mask) that tells you who a superhero is. Or to put it more bluntly, aside from their hairstyles Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent look a lot alike (squared jawed white guys with black hair) - but you can easily tell who they are by what they wore. Darla and Emily (and Julian and Ben) seemed to concentrate almost entirely on focusing above the neck to create their character. I put aside Stephanie because hers was a fail on many levels. Even with all the work she put in the face - it seemed like very little.

Edited March 19, 2015 by Mr. Simpatico

[hincandenza]

As for Emily and Darla not using their figures (which would work for superheroines particularly of the Marvel/DC kind) to the best advantage, I can see they were nervous on stage to begin with (and who could blame them - they are not professional models/actors) so I don't think they would have been willing to go there...however...I do think a part of the brilliance of Adam's actual design (which on second glance didn't look as well put together as Logan's to be honest) was that he realized that it was the fabrication of the costume and not the face (for which he just made a mask) that tells you who a superhero is. Or to put it more bluntly, aside from their hairstyles Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent look a lot alike (squared jawed white guys with black hair) - but you can easily tell who they are by what they wore. Darla and Emily (and Julian and Ben) seemed to concentrate almost entirely on focusing above the neck to create their character. I put aside Stephanie because hers was a fail on many levels. Even with all the work she put in the face - it seemed like very little.

Yeah, I mentioned that I expected S/E/D to do well for putting on their own makeup/likely being more in tune with their own look and shape as more fashion-conscious. I didn't anticipate that they simply might not be comfortable being on stage, period. I'm pretty sure when they asked Darla to emote, her face literally didn't move.

You also hit on something key, not just for this challenge, but for all of them: pick one, clear concept or component, and focus on making it "pop". Adam had that this week with simple, bold colors and those Mega Man arms, since like you said unless a superhero is known by their face, it's those key shapes and colors that identify them on a simple 4-color print run. Even Logan had a clear "He's a dragon warrior" and damn if every piece he crafted didn't support that theme. Walk on stage, and boom- dragon guy, no question about it. He wanted to say "dragon", and did so before he uttered a word.

What you say is insightful because it's broadly true of all costumes for each challenge. All the detail in the world doesn't matter if it just seems cluttered without a center, which has been Emily's problem when she struggles. It seems they'd do well to repeat the challenge concept to themselves, come up with one or two key props or sculpted shapes that totally scream "[THEME THIS WEEK]", then go to town around that with details and technical polish to support your core idea.

It seems a lot of the judges' feedback can boil down to either "It told a story" (when good) or "None of that is shown in your character" (when bad), or even "The sculpt doesn't look ______, it looks _____" (when really bad).

It has me concluding that you've hit on the root of a great makeup, namely being iconic: clear icons that stand out and instantly convey your message, but are grounded in fine handiwork to make them screen-ready.

[Portia]

We were absolutely stunned that Darla wasn't in the bottom looks, since her concept seemed as off-track as the other women's. She just looked silly, like she'd wandered into the wrong party, and every time she appeared my husband would laugh insanely. I kept hitting pause and telling him to shut up.

I was really disappointed that none of the women created a character who looked like she could kick someone's ass. I'm a full-figured woman who wouldn't be caught dead in spandex, but if I were in that challenge I'd have given myself a cool weapon and done my best to make myself strong and fierce!

[Kromm]

She wasn't almost bounced.  They were always going to chuck Stephanie, but wanted to, if I may borrow a phrase, tell Emily to "check herself before she wrecks herself."  The only reason Emily was on the bottom was her doing another variation on the huge wig, the makeup was technically fine.

Yes, to be fair I agree that they were never going to boot Emily.

 

While this show GENERALLY isn't guilty of milking or manipulating a situation for drama, this is as close as they come.  And it probably wasn't any producer manipulation, but rather the judges themselves, seeing an opportunity to give Emily a "safe" knock to the rear, to get her gears cranking even more, with them of course never for a moment intending on booting the very likely winner of the season (because face it.. she's the Laura of this season).

 

The phrase "check herself before she wrecks herself" may not quite be accurate though, since I don't think (even without changing her opinion on wigs) she would ever have been legitimately near the bottom going forward.  The "scare" is about knocking her out a design rut, sure, but it wasn't a very deep rut (the quality of her application is still leagues better than any of these other folks--although to be fair, Logan seems a bit closer to her skill level than the others).

Edited March 20, 2015 by Kromm

[Kromm]

I can't give them a pass even if they are not comic book readers. Comic book super-heroes have become so prevalent in our culture and our media (and have dominated the box office and are now all over TV) that there is no excuse not to even know the basics of what a super-hero should look like or what their backstory is. I agree that Logan's win not only had to do with the make-up and how he sold it but because he had a feasible origin for his hero. Emily appeared stumped when asked who her hero was supposed to be.

It's a good point about Logan's "story", and maybe that shows that the judging is as much about verbalizing the concept as visually presenting it.  Because again, "dragon warrior" inherently seems to telegraph well.. "dragon warrior" more than "superhero" (other than the domino mask--the one way he directly addressed that). Logan had really good application this week, and a decent design (not epically great, but the excellent application elevated it), and it's the story that sold it that final extra bit.  Whereas Emily's was perhaps applied with even more skill than his, was probably no more or no less a "superhero", but she sold it SO weakly the judges seized on that (and the wig) to try and teach her a lesson.  Although, again, if we're addressing the bit of BS in this, I bet if Emily's design had been exactly the same, but with a domino mask the judges might have lost their excuse.

 

And yeah, no excuses for ANY of these folks not knowing the basics of Superheroes (and I include Logan in this deficiency).  Bright primary colors.  Spandex, or if not actual Spandex, then something contemporary or futuristic looking.  A full head covering, like Spider-Man or Deadpool, a classic Domino mask like Green Arrow, Zorro, or Robin The Boy Wonder, or finally, possibly a Cowl design like Batman or The Flash.  

 

Everyone knows those design flourishes--I don't care who you are, you've seen them somewhere.

Edited March 20, 2015 by Kromm