Board 8 > How would they do in a contest? Day 160 ft Gambit, Aquaman, Neo

(+) Yeah! (+)

This is a topic to rate the contest strength of potential newcomers in the current contest environment.

I will pick the characters to rate and discuss for each day from user nominations - whoever the 3 most nominated characters are at that time. If there are more than 3 I will pick randomly. You can nominate any number of characters at any time, but you cannot nominate the same character twice.

All characters who were present in the 2018 Character Battle will NOT be eligible. Otherwise you can nominate any character that has appeared in video games; even comic book characters. This will exclude real-life athletes who have only appeared in long running sports series, however I will accept those who have their own games such as Shaq. I will accept nominations for iconic gaming duos too, if there is a compelling reason for both characters to be linked (either co-starring in a game ala Banjo & Kazooie, or always appearing together like Callie & Marie from Splatoon).

Each day will have a separate topic, and nominations will carry over. As far as actually rating the character's contest strength; I ask that users rank a characters potential strength with one of the following qualifiers - LAW Fodder, Low Fodder, Mid Fodder, High Fodder, Fodder Line, Low Midcarder, Midcarder, High Midcarder, Near Elite, Elite, LAW Tier (capable of beating Link). I will average all the ratings given to a character to come up with their final ranking. I have included a highlighted entrant from Character Battle X on each tier of the strength rankings below, to provide a baseline for each.

Note that LAW Fodder is meant to be a tier reserved for the weakest possible characters to put into a contest. A character will only be placed there if at least 3/4ths of the voters for that day agree on the LAW Fodder rating, and no ratings above Low Fodder are given. If either of those conditions are not met, the character will not be eligible for the LAW Fodder tier.

Current Character Strength Rankings: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P1AIhHywBiLd6VAMZMNEGX-HW2td8u1D0Iw_tzHsORw/edit?usp=sharing

Nomination List: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-KnSBDzppzPK5Ug1zmx8_x0bG4tqFDMPPH2k8J3s8sk/edit?usp=sharing

Results from Day 159:

Mipha (Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild) is High Fodder
Tron (Tron/Kingdom Hearts) is Low Fodder
Mysterio (Marvel) is Mid Fodder

Here is today's trio to rank:

Neo (The Matrix)
Gambit (X-Men)
Aquaman (DC Comics)
---

Neo: High Fodder. This is something people associate with Keanu, so that will definitely help him. Nostalgia for the movies helps, though I don't know how much of that there is.

Gambit: Low Fodder. Not a household name at all, and not someone people will feel compelled to vote for.

Aquaman: Mid Fodder. Jason Momoa looks nothing like the abominable video game Aquaman, which became X-Play's favorite whipping boy back in the day. Let us go there again, yeah?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HXgqk1htSY

The only video game votes he's getting are joke votes from how X-Play made that game into legendarily bad, what with the "GOLDEN MULLET AWARDS" and all, and that won't amount to much. The movie did okay, right? But I don't think he'll be getting a Momoa picture, and thus the movie's impact will be negligible. The only thing he has is his name, and that will only get enough people to care for him to beat Low Fodder.
---

Neo is Mid Fodder mostly because its Keanu. There is a new Matrix movie coming out, but unless its a big hit, Neo will only be getting votes out of nostalgia and Keanu bias.

Ok so, low fodder is just plain incorrect for Gambit. He may not be super relevant today, but he had an extremely strong presence in the 90s and is still one of the most popular X-Men today based on his cool design and personality, as well as his unique powers. He is a mainstay in X-Men games, and is still a favored character for inclusion on the roster of Marvel vs Capcom Infinite or a possible MvC4. There's a reason fans are frustrated at his limited role in the X-Men film series, and the fact that his solo film was cancelled after a lengthy development hell.

I say he is Fodder Line - I can't see him being weaker than Nightcrawler tbh.

Perhaps I'm being overly hopeful, but I will say High Fodder for Aquaman. He is probably a joke first and foremost on the site, but I do think he'll pick up quite a few joke votes thanks to Battle for Atlantis and memes about his uselessness in Super Friends. I think he'll either get a Battle for Atlantis or an Injustice pic, neither of which look bad. Plus there will be Golden Mullet jokes for the former. I think that combined with the sheer number of appearances in other media he has will get him to high fodder.
---

half_silver28 posted...

There's a reason fans are frustrated at his limited role in the X-Men film series, and the fact that his solo film was cancelled after a lengthy development hell.

And this justifies your overrating him how?
---

Neo: Mid Fodder

Gambit: High Fodder - Mostly because, while he definitely has a fanbase, I'm still pretty sure Nightcrawler is the second most popular of the X-Men.

Aquaman: High Fodder - I could see Mid Fodder, but actually having a popular, recentish movie should put him on par with The Flash, even though he would have been weaker beforehand.
---

Neo (The Matrix) - Mid fodder
Gambit (X-Men) - High fodder
Aquaman (DC Comics) - Mid fodder

---

Nominate:
Andross
Arthur (Ghosts 'n Goblins)
Arthur Morgan (Red Dead Redemption 2)
Bub (Bubble Bobble)
Captain Olimar (Pikmin)
Chex Warrior (Chex Quest)
Clank (Ratchet & Clank)
Dr. Mario (Dr. Mario)
Jay Solano (Operation Shadow)
Young Link (Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time /SSB series)

---

I'll change my Gambit vote to Mid Fodder, but I don't see him being any higher than that simply because he doesn't have fans outside of the X-Men crowd. The MCU fans might not even remember him too well.

If Neo, a 2000-ish character, is Mid Fodder, how is someone who peaked in the 90s and hasn't been relevant ever since any different?
---

X-men was really big in the 90 and Gambit in particular was bizarrely popular back then and hit gamefaqs in what was most of its users' formative years, so therefore he might be worthy of some respect. Not too much, thanks to his lack of relevance since. Could see him flopping to mid fodder too, that would be quite reasonable.

I think expansive, serialized franchises in general are probably better than movies for giving a character lasting strength because of how they encourage prolonged engagement. People can look back fondly on the years they spent with X-men and how they thought Gambit was so cool back in the day even if they're not really into it anymore. For all meaningful purposes all Neo has is a movie trilogy of which only the first one is particularly fondly remembered. And even back in the day I'm a little skeptical how much people cared about Neo himself.

---

Day 161 is up: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/78146210

nominate Sam Porter Bridges (Death Stranding)
---