A Continued History of the WSC

WSC #11 – Extreme Wankover

While Week 10 was all about turning even the lamest of Pokemon into flesh-hungry monsters, WSC #11 was the complete opposite of that theme—the spriters were challenged to turn Game Freak's most badass Pokemon into a deformed, lame mess. The winners this week certainly rose to the challenge with hilarious results! MrBlack took a deserved first, with BynineB's truly strange creation edging into second place. Well-known artist Lorak took the Most Humorous honorable mention, and new placer Dogfish44 snatched Most Original.

It doesn't take a spriter or even anyone with a shred of intellect to figure out why MrBlack's Retard-mence took the first place position this week. Aside from the obvious humor factor, MrBlack has excelled in his use of pixels to create the curvature in the arms. The tongue has been edited such that it fits perfectly in the mouth, and the pink coloration adds a final dose of stupidity to this fantastic sprite.

BynineB's sprite was one of the major arguments for the movement to RNG abuse in Wi-Fi—the players there simply couldn't take any more of the 0/0/0/0/0/0 Absol hatching out of their eggs like some sort of horrible, ungainly, mutated alien. BynineB has done extremely well to incorporate all of these features into such a small sprite, and the tongue just adds that final touch of perfection (or should I say imperfection?).

...Is an explanation really necessary? Lorak's distinctly NU Garchomp was the clear choice for the Most Humorous award and another argument for RNG abuse. Lorak has included many parts of fish and significantly reduced the height, making it look much less intimidating. Dogfish44's angelic Darkrai really doesn't look comfortable in its new role (you can see the annoyance in its eyes!) and was a great choice for the Most Original award.

WSC #12 – Ursaring Retype

With the past few weeks focusing on difficult forms of spriting, such as devamps and sometimes even scratch sprites, WSC #12 sought to 'go back to basics' with its theme—an Ursaring retype. Despite being simple, some fantastic sprites were produced, especially those of the two spriters who claimed first and second place! Darthvader317 stole the show with his stone bear, first-time entrant s010910 taking second place. Lorak returned to take Most Original, and Lord Jesseus won Most Humorous.

Darthvader317's breathtaking Rock/Grass retype was one of the favorites for the first place spot from the beginning of the week, and for a good reason. This sprite excels in the two main qualities of a good sprite—an innovative concept and fantastic execution. Darthvader317 has used different shades in the outline of the stone segments to add texture. The low contrast in the top two shades adds a sense of realism and the the flowers around the neck add obligatory color—even the cuticle (waxy layer on top of leaves) has been portrayed excellently.

Despite not having the same level of execution as Darthvader317, s010910's Ghost-type Ursaring received a deserved second place for an amazing concept. In the same vein as Haunter, a red outline has been used to give a ghostly feel. The fangs, red eyes, and tail cement its Ghost typing.

Lorak, yet again, returned to take Most Original with this really (brace yourselves, folks) ICE Ursaring. Ursaring turned to this disguise when he realised he just wasn't getting as much caribou as he'd like—it seems to be working (the bear also looks really good in red). Lord Jesseus came back to his—still warm—Most Humorous spot with this Rock/Steel retype; it may play on a bad pun but it's still awesome!

WSC #13 – Back to the Past

The Pokedex is always talking about how Pokemon such as Armaldo lived long ago in the past, before humans and other species of Pokemon even existed. Naturally, it begs the question: "What if these fossil Pokemon all had sex to create a huge super fossil Pokemon with spikes and razor blades and stuff?". Or at least it does to the designers of the WSC! This week's theme was to create a fusion with a limited pool Pokemon and, despite the large restriction, this week's finalists met the theme spectacularly! Wizwum took a landslide victory with skymin_flower slightly behind in second. Sucram and VeteranUnderdog brought home the Honorable mentions this week.

Wizwum jumps back into the WSC with another of his enviably flawless sprites—this time a smooth blend of Kabutops, Aerodactyl, and Omastar. Wizwum hasn't particularly made use of spriting techniques as such, but the choice of color scheme and care with which he has created the sprite is admirable—not one pixel is out of place.

Though the majority of votes fell to Wizwum's sprite, skymin_flower's spiky creation still took a deserved second. Tropius was a difficult base to choose, but s_f managed to smoothly include many different parts of the available pool of Pokemon. Kabutops' color scheme asserts the fossil side of the sprite, looking particularly good on Tropius' leafy wings.

Bastiodon is generally a difficult base to work with, but when it is used correctly, as Sucram has here, it looks awesome! The two Pokemon have been seamlessly merged, with Bastiodon's brilliant color scheme being put to great use—a deserved winner of the Most Original honorable mention! VeteranUnderdog took the Most Humorous award with this scythed, breasted amalgamation of the pool of sprites.

WSC #14 – G/S/C Trainer Sprite

Seriin wowed the spriting public with this amazing Vaporeon-man—what's more, this was his first sprite! Though later confessing that the shading was imperfect, the vibrant and dynamic pose together with the choice of Pokemon brought Seriin the win.

WSC veteran BynineB was edged into second place by just one vote this week, but still took a defiant second place with this girl dressed as a Slowpoke. Showing that he is no stranger to the older styles of G/S/C sprites, BynineB has managed to make the sprite very fluid and realistic with little to fault—it was only the dynamic pose that pushed Seriin into the lead by only one vote.

Tortferngatr took the Most Original honorable mention this week with his amusing Farfetch'd man! skymin_flower took Most Humorous with this funny, yet at the same time slightly creepy, fire-breathing baby. One trademark of Generation 2 sprites is that use of dithering in the transition between colors, rather than simply blocking the colors in shading. All of this week's winners have expressed this very well in their sprites.

WSC #15 – Triathlon

Designed to be a true test of a spriter's versatility, WSC #15 required that the spriters submit three different sprites which would be judged by the community as a collection, rather than as individual sprites. The three themes chosen were a generic fusion, an Ice retype, and a repose. On a week that demanded such creativity, the spriters who won awards certainly went above and beyond expectations! Darthvader317 took first place once again, being the first spriter to earn the silver Arceus trophy, with new guy Lovebite taking a deserved second. noobiess and The Politoed Hunter took the Most Original and Most Humorous awards.

Darthvader317 grabbed first place by the horns with this amazing trio of sprites. His Nidoking/Arcanine fusion plays excellently on the imposing nature of both Pokemon involved, and is well executed given the different body shapes of the two. His Ice-typed Electabuzz may be the weakest link of the three sprites, but is by no means weak! The color scheme is very appealing to the eye, and minor details such as the frozen icicles on the tail and the spikes on the arms add to the convincing Ice theme. Finally, the Charizard repose has long been considered by many to be the best of the Sith lord's sprites, boasting a dynamic pose and appropriate use of dithering. These three sprites in combination gained Darthvader317 the first ever Silver Arceus trophy for multiple WSC wins.

Newcomer Lovebite was not far behind in the polls with this amusing trio of sprites. Forming the backbone of his entry, his Dodrio/Electivire fusion (though mainly—and obviously—based on Dodrio) wowed the spriting community in both its brilliant execution and fantastic concept. His Ice-typed Magmortar also boasts the same level of competence in concepts, and is a convincing snowman with a hat and even a carrot for a nose. Finally, his fully-scratched Mawile repose is an admirable effort in a dynamic pose. The shading is adequate, yet not liberal, and Lovebite has captured the shadow of the mouth very well in the shading.

1. 2.

Some questioned noobiess' decision to base all of his entries around one Pokemon, but his final products are undeniably cute and well-executed. The 'platypus' Psyduck/Bibarel fusion shows intuitive knowledge of body shapes and color schemes, with the tail fitting flawlessly onto Psyduck. The Ice retype (third in the sequence) is a simple, yet effective, change of color scheme, and the repose is cute enough to soften the heart even of Tangerine. noobiess clearly deserved the Most Original honorable mention this week! The Politoed Hunter clearly amused the judges with his trio of sprites, MrBlack especially loving the fact that the Sceptile/Charizard fusion is using a walking stick and really does look like a hunched old man! Rotom-Fridge takes a whole new meaning with his second sprite, literally assuming the form of a fridge for the Ice retype section—it is doubtful that anyone else came up with this concept! The Politoed Hunter took a new, more dynamic, approach to Unown and—while losing the tradition of them being letters—pulled off a great pose that asserted his honorable mention spot.

« Previous Article

Home