Board 8 > How would they do in a contest? Day 436 ft Selphie Tilmitt, Alakazam, Thief

(+) 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

If you feel that a character has been over or under-ranked, or if a new development has come up that would affect their contest strength, you may nominate them for a re-ranking. You may nominate one character per day for this, and 3 votes are needed to get them on the slate. One character with 3 votes will come up for re-ranking today.

Re-ranking Nomination List: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V6dx-tu-FD1rCxbX69eQwEzE7x1F6nNRNFochYHu1dc/edit?usp=sharing

Results from Day 435:

Espeon (Pokemon) is Mid Fodder
Flareon (Pokemon) is High Fodder
Hela, Goddess of the Underworld (Marvel) is Low Fodder

Re-Ranking Result:

Shellder (Pokemon) is now Low Fodder

Here is today's trio to rank:

Selphie Tilmitt (Final Fantasy VIII)
Alakazam (Pokemon)
Thief (Final Fantasy)

Today's Re-Ranking is:

Zubat (Pokemon)

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Nominate:
Tentacool
Nidoking
Arbok
Weezing

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I can't speak on all of these, (not touching ff8, i have a game mechanic hatred which means i know nothing of the characters and don't want to ) but I'd put Alakazam at mid or high fodder, just because it's the original psychic pokemon.

Thief... that's hard LAW fodder, it's not a character, it's a class, and a very bad one only used in the most memecentric of runs. The only time I ever saw thief used in FF1 was in randomizer seeds where the game FORCED it, and the time where the after tournament was voted in to have everyone run 4 thieves (because twitch chat is a cruel and evil god) And the only consideration that would bring it up due to positive recognition, 8 bit theatre is over 19 years old from it's conclusion, and I doubt anyone would remember it, much less remember the mechanics in a FF1 game. If you wanted actual character, you'd pick Garland, who'd knock you all down, or Fighter who has been reimagined in Dissidia and World of Final Fantasy as the Warrior of Light. Not someone that is such a non-important design that they are just a forgettable class out of 6 classes.

Maybe if it was THIEF from Link's Awakening...

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Selphie Tilmitt (Final Fantasy VIII) - Low fodder

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/846-who-is-your-favorite-final-fantasy-viii-character

She seems to get the most hate of the FFVIII cast (that's not counteracted by significantly greater amounts of lvoe anyways) and that seems to be reflected there.

Alakazam (Pokemon) - Fodder line

Alakazam as one of the strongest Gen 1 Pokemon that's not a legendary or starter seems about right. Outside Mewtwo, it was the face of Gen 1 Psychic domination. Alakazam vs. Isaac, who ya got?

Thief (Final Fantasy) - Low fodder

I think between being from Final Fantasy I which most people on this site have at least briefly tried out, the sprite charm, 8 bit theater nostalgia, and maybe for a few the appeal of "Thief" archetypes in general should keep it well out of LAW fodder even if it's not much of a character and nobody really likes actually using FFI Thieves.

Zubat (Pokemon) - Low fodder

people hate zubat

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Nominate:
Hitmonchan
Hitmonlee
Coco Bandicoot
Jack Frost (Megami Tensei series)

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High Fodder for Alakazam. I've never gotten the sense it's been on the same fan-favorite level as the likes of Gengar, Gyarados, and Jolteon, even if it was easily more potent in battle than all of them. Vaporeon and Starmie feel like much better comparisons in that regard.

Otherwise, I'll agree with Axem. No FF1 character class should remotely be in consideration for LAW (i.e. comparable to the weakest characters we've ever seen in a contest), a tier which even someone like Yuri Hyuga is well above.

I'll also second ranking Nidoking.

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Selphie Tilmitt (Final Fantasy VIII) - low fodder
Alakazam (Pokemon) - high fodder
Thief (Final Fantasy) - low fodder


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second the Pokemon Axem nominated

Agree with High Fodder for Alakazam and Low for Selphie and Thief.

Low Fodder for Zubat too. No one likes that blind annoyance

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Day 437 is up: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/78933978

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