Note About Images

You may have noticed that lots of images originally uploaded to Mediafire are not showing up on the site.  Well, there is some good news and bad news about that.

The good news is that these files haven't been deleted and clicking the image will take you to download them.  The bad news is that the only way I can probably get them to show up is to reupload them.  There are way too many images not showing up for me to do that.

For the moment, I am avoiding uploading any images in future posts to Mediafire. 

Broken Images

I've noticed lately that Mediafire has been deleting a small selection of images I have uploaded for HFG. In the hundreds of images I have posted, it's only a handful. Still, I know it can be annoying to visit a post and see that an image or two is missing.

If you see a broken or missing image in a post, please send me the URL via e-mail (lagosta2700 at aim dot com). I'll reupload the missing pic as soon as I can. In the meantime, I'll also be working on reuploading any missing images I find myself.

Also, if anyone has recommendations for free or low-cost image hosting solutions for this blog, let me know.

New Look, Same HFG

For the first time in the 2+ years of HFG, I've completely changed the look. The look is courtesy of Blogger in Draft's Template Designer. However, I did back up the original template.

I have put up a post in the sidebar to gauge reaction to the new blog design. Feel free to comment here or in the shoutbox as well.

All-Request Week 2010 is Coming!

Although it's later than last year, All-Request Week 2010 is coming soon! This year, it's going to be the second week of April, beginning Monday April 5th (the day after Easter). I know there's a lot of great stuff out there that I'm missing so this is your chance to let me know about it.

The rules are really simple once again. You can request just about anything as long as it isn't porn and you don't ask me to post a complete comic book or complete manga. You can request stuff that has never been on the site before or stuff that's been posted before. I'll try to do at least five posts during All-Request Week and any requests that aren't granted during that week will still likely get posted later.

I'm putting out the call pretty early this time because it can sometimes take a while to gather enough pics. If you already have pics, feel free to send them to me.

You can send requests to me via e-mail (lagosta2700 at aim dot com), comments on this post, or comments in the shoutbox. I'm not limiting the amount of requests this time around but know that I'll only post one request per person during the actual All-Request week. If you want me to include your name with your request (or not) let me know.

Thanks to all who enjoy HFG and I hope to receive your requests soon!

Happy (Belated) 2nd Anniversary HFG!

You know you're busy when you forget your blog's anniversary. That's right, I actually forgot that February 7th was HFG's second anniversary. So, umm, happy 2nd anniversary!

In all seriousness, some of you longtime readers may have noticed that posts have been less frequent than they have in the past. It's not because of a lack of material or anything like that. It's mainly because my life has taken a turn where I don't have the time to post everyday anymore.

I appreciate every single person who checks out HFG, comments, or posts something in the shoutbox. I still enjoy doing this blog. Since I don't have as much time, my goal is to make sure that whatever I do post is going to be worth the wait.

While I'm not doing anything to mark HFG's anniversary this time around, some stuff is in the works. One immediate thing I'm working on is an FAQ for the blog for first-time visitors. If there are any questions you've always wanted to ask me, send them to me and I might answer them in the FAQ.

Also, All-Request Week is making a comeback in the spring and this summer, I would like to give the site itself a facelift.

Thanks for sticking with this blog for two years. I hope you'll continue to check it out for more.

Happy New Year!

It's 2010! I hope everybody enjoyed their New Year's celebrations. I'm still recovering a bit from mine, so there won't be a full-fledged post today. However, HFG will kick off the New Year right tomorrow. A sneak peek is below...

A Quick Note

There hasn't been a post in a few days, and I just wanted to let you know that I haven't dropped off the face of the earth.  I lost Internet access for three days and it's finally back.  Look for some fresh posts beginning tomorrow.

Poll Winner

The poll is over and the High-Res collection won.

High-Resolution Versions of 10 Previously Posted Pictures	7 (38%)
All Un-Archived Code Geass pics	2 (11%)
Unposted Pics Considered For Misfits #5	4 (22%)
Screenshot Collection From The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest	4 (22%)
Something Else (Comment In Shoutbox)	1 (5%)

I'm going to start compiling the pics and post the archive early next week.  If you have any pics you really want in that archive, let me know.  I'm going to try to keep the archive balanced in terms of what's in it.

As for the other choices, I'll get to them very soon too.  Thanks to everyone who voted in the poll.

New Poll -- The Next Bonus Archive

There's a new poll on the site regarding the next Bonus Archive. For those of you who may not visit the site, Bonus Archives are extra collections of pics linked on the site for a limited time.

I had a few ideas for the next one but I couldn't make up my mind. So, I decided to make a poll. Here are the choices in more detail:

High-Resolution Versions of 10 Previously Posted Pictures: 90% of the pics posted here are shrunk down to be more palatable for the web. This Bonus Archive would be a collection of 10 pics posted on the site in their full-sized glory. Regardless of whether or not this wins the poll, this archive will probably go up eventually. If you have suggestions for what pics to use, let me know.

All Un-Archived Code Geass pics: Of the five Code Geass-only posts, only one of them has an archive. This Bonus Archive would have all the pics from the other four posts.

Unposted Pics Considered For Misfits #5: When I initially compiled the pics for the fifth Misfits post, I came up with over 20 images. I had to bring that number down to an easier to handle amount but that left quite a few nice pics I didn't end up posting. This Bonus Archive would be a collection of those pics.

Screenshot Collection From The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest: In the spirit of the Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes and Interstella 5555 archives comes this one. I bought the first volume of season one of this show a while back. I was going to do a post about it but I decided against it. In lieu of that post, this Bonus Archive would be a collection of screenshots made by yours truly from my DVD set.

Something Else (Comment In Shoutbox): If you have any other suggestions, let me know in the shoutbox.

The original poll end date is too soon, so I'm going to reset it to end June 12th.

Guest of Chest

One of the links I have recently added to HFG is to the blog Chest of Chests .  This blog is dedicated simply to the chests of comic book guys.  One of the features on the site is "Guest of Chest."  This is when Xavier, the guy who runs the blog, lets a guest blogger rank a series of chests.

He invited me to try my hand at it and my Guest of Chest is now up.  Check it out and see if you agree with my choices.  Thanks again to Xavier for asking me to participate!

Introducing Bonus Archives

When I decided to put up zip files of some of the images here on HFG, I thought about making archives for older posts.  I now realize that I will not have the time to do that for all the old posts.  So, I've decided to do some bonus archives.  These will be archives of either older images on the site or stuff that hasn't been posted.

The archives will be linked on the site for a limited time.  The very first Bonus Archive is an "Anti-April Fools" archive with pics that are the opposite of the April 1st "trap" post.  You can find the link in the sidebar.  If you have a request for an older post you'd like to see archived, let me know.

New Banner

The reign of HFG's first banner has ended and it's time for a new one.  This month's winner is Ravenfear who sent not one or two but four awesome banners for the contest.

It was tough but I like the way the guy is lying on his side in the one I chose:

 

This banner looks to have Dark from DNAngel in the background and a guy drawn by Mikiyo Tsuda/Taishi Zaou in the foreground.

If you want to see your banner on the site, check out this post and send me your submissions.  April's not that far away! 

Here are the other three banners Ravenfear sent.  What do you think?  Did I pick the right one? 

  

  

 

The First Banner

Happy Valentine's Day to All!

To celebrate, I'm revealing the first winner of the 2009 Banner Contest.  The inaugural winner is Fuzu, who sent along this anime-centric banner.

From left to right, the guys are:  Orphen, Pegasus Seiya (of Saint Seiya), Eikichi Onizuka (of Great Teacher Onizuka), Tenchi Masaki (of Tenchi Muyo) and Sagara Sousuke (of Full Metal Panic).

This banner will stay up for about a month, so please keep sending entries.  Check out this post for details.

Thanks again to Fuzu for the awesome banner!

The HFG Banner Contest

For the past year, this blog has only had a simple text title and description.  One thing I wanted to do was have a cool banner/header to put up for HFG's anniversary.  Unfortunately, I only have basic graphic skills so I decided to have a little contest.

All you have to do is send in a cool banner that has the name of the blog and a hot male character (or several) that has been featured here.  I only ask that the banner's worksafe and that you use official art like what's posted here.  You can use fan art as well if it's your own.  To get an idea of what I'm looking for, check out Shirtless Superheroes and notice how it has an image instead of a text header.  Preferably, the image should be no more than 640 pixels wide, but I'll resize bigger entries in order to fit the blog.

The banner/headers I like the most will be featured on the site for about a month with full credit and a link to your site, if you like.  Also, I'll give you the original, full-size versions of any 10 pics you want from the site (except the artwork from MANLY, which I cannot distribute).

This is an ongoing contest.  There's no deadline or anything like that.  E-mail your submissions to me at lagosta2700 at aim dot com.

Happy Anniversary HFG!

Today is the one-year anniversary of the birth of Hot Fictional Guys!  I can't believe it's been a whole year already.  It feels like it was yesterday when I was setting up this blog and doing the very first post.

Fun fact:  Before I came up with Hot Fictional Guys, I was going to call this blog "Drawn In" (as in drawn guys drawing you in). 

I'd like to take a little time to say thanks to three of the people who influenced this blog and helped me out:

Jay at Shirtless Superheroes:  His blog was a big influence on me deciding to do this blog (I've followed his blog for a long time).  He also was very likely the first person to link to HFG. 

Eric at Just Beautiful Men:  His blog was also a big influence on me.  The way pictures are laid out in the posts on HFG is very much inspired by the way the pictures are laid out on Just Beautiful Men.

Patrick Filion at Boytoons Magazine (link NSFW):  Not only did he put a link to my blog on his popular site, he even devoted a whole post to it.  For that, I'm eternally grateful.

Now, it's time to celebrate!

First up, per the recently closed poll, I will be uploading archives of all the images in certain posts.  For now, the archives will be zip files and there will be both rapidshare and mediafire links.  To keep the size down, the images will be the same resized ones I post here.  The picture posts today will be the first ones with the archives but some older posts might get them.

There will be a whopping three picture posts today, each one representing something different on HFG (anime/manga, comics, and video games). 

Finally, if you looked at the sidebar, you might have wondered about the "banner contest."  Well, all will be revealed late today!

Thanks to everyone out there who checks out this site whether it's on RSS, e-mail, or just by visiting everyday.  I really enjoy doing this blog and I hope year number two will be just as great as the first one!

New Poll and 100,000 Visitors!

There's a new poll up that I think everybody should check out.  It's regarding something I've been thinking about doing and I wanted to gauge the interest.

However, there is one piece of big news...HFG has had over 100,000 visitors! Thanks to everyone who helped this blog reach that mark in less than a year. 

A celebration is in order, so check out the pic below.  It's a sneak peek of an upcoming post:

Introducing The HFG Shoutbox

Here is a quick update.  HFG now has a shoutbox in the sidebar.  It's up on a trial basis for now and if people use it, it'll stay.  Feel free to use it to tell me what you love/hate about the site or send some suggestions/requests my way. 

Also, thanks to everyone who voted in the poll regarding female characters in pics.  It got the largest number of votes of any poll posted here so far. 

There may be some other design tweaks here and there on the site over the next couple of months.  I'll let you know about the big ones. 

All-Request Week Thanks

All-Request Week is over and I'd like to thank everyone who sent their requests.  It was great to see the types of things you out there wanted to see.  It was also eye-opening.  I would have never thought to post Ian Nottingham from Witchblade until I got that request. 

Just because All-Request Week is over doesn't mean that you can no longer request.  If you have some good stuff you want to see here or just a suggestion for a future post, let me know.  There's a lot of great stuff out there I'm probably missing.

I've updated the Request Guidelines so please check those out before you send your request.

I don't know when I'll do another one of these, but there will certainly be another one in the future.

Request Guidelines

Have a great guy you want to see on Hot Fictional Guys?  Then send in a request!

Here's how it works.  Send me your requests at lagosta2700 at aim dot com.  Any pictures you have to go along with your request are appreciated but not required.  Let me know in your e-mail if you have a site/blog you'd like me to link to and if you don't want your name/screen name on the post. 

Now, there are some guidelines for requests, though, so please read carefully before you send off that e-mail:

One request per week:  You can put multiple requests in your e-mail but I'll only post one request per person per week.

Anything requested has to be worksafe or have worksafe art available:  This means no full-frontal nudity or sex.  So, you could request artwork from a yaoi game but only the non-sexual artwork would be posted.

No comic book/manga/doujinshi/artbook/episode will be posted in full:  A few scans from one of these is okay, but not the whole thing.

Japanese fan art is off-limits unless it's a doujinshi (published fan comic).  Non-Japanese fan art with a source is okay:  The reason I need a source is so I can check to see if the artist doesn't mind their artwork shared.  Of course, feel free to share your own fan artwork.
These guidelines may change at any time.  If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me.

New Poll: Theme Weeks

Recently, a new poll was put up on the site asking about theme weeks.  I put that up because the six-month anniversary of HFG is coming and I wanted to do something special for it.  I decided that a week of themed posts would work but I had a ton of ideas and no clue which one I wanted to use.

Here are the choices for a potential theme week:

All-Request Week:  It would be a week made up entirely of requests from visitors to HFG.  I haven't figured out how I would take said requests yet but anyting suitable for the blog is fair game including stuff I have already covered.

No Anime Week:   Anime guys are a big part of what I post here but for one week, I would not post any at all.  To make things even more interesting, I won't cop out and make it all manga.  There would be a max of one manga post for the week. 

Artist Spotlight Week:   A week devoted to the posts that feature the artwork of a single artist.  Although most of the artists spotlighted so far have been Japanese, this week would also include some Western/comics artists.

Video Week:  Every post for this week would feature one or multiple video clips. 

Best of HFG Week:   A recap of some of this blog's best posts so far with maybe a little commentary and some additional art.

No Theme Week At All:  Things stay exactly the same and I'll just wait until the really special one-year anniversary to do something like this.

Please vote and let me know what you think in the comments or other means.  If a theme week happens, it would run from August 7-13 with a minimum of five posts.