Issue 1 Downtime

The rules are simple: vote in each matchup for your favorite and the winner of the tournament gets put into active play. I will let exactly however long I feel like pass between each round of voting.

Feel free to explain your reasoning. Or don’t. I’m not your mom.

Tournament can be viewed here: http://challonge.com/tenscharacterchallenge

And here are our contestants:

Hannah Murphy: viewtopic.php?f=109&t=4777
Nina Madaraki: viewtopic.php?f=109&t=4778

UPDATE:

Round 1 is over and Round is beginning!

Summary of results from first round:

Benjamin Brant d. Genevieve Winchester
Lily Nicks d. Violet Salu
Nina Madaraki d. Becky Badby
Lei Heng d. Marie Darkholme
Onyx d. Claire McKenna
Kaliyah Shah d. Cassandra Reyes
Edward Carver d. Regan Rourke
Alexandra McDougal d. Marcie Tiboldy
Robert West d. Zero

UPDATE 2:

Round 2 is over, Round 3 has begun!

Summary from Round 2:

Benjamin Brant d. Hedera Arialiac
Nina Madaraki d. Lily Nicks
Dan Lawrence d. Lei Heng
Rosemary d. Onyx
Hannah Murphy d. Molly Malcolm
Edward Carver d. Kaliyah Shah
Alexandra McDougal d. Emily Inque
Robert West d. Astrid Ambramovic

UPDATE 3:

Round 3 is over, the Final Four has begun!

Summary from Round 3:

Nina Madaraki d. Benjamin Brant
Dana Lawrence d. Rosemary
Hannah Murphy d. Edward Carver
Alexandra McDougal d. Robert West

UPDATE 4:

Final Round!

Summary from the Final Four Showdown:

Nina Madaraki d. Dana Lawrence
Hannah Murphy d. Alexandra McDougal

Benjamin d. Genevive
Lily d. Violet
Nina d. Becky
Lei d. Marie
Onyx d. Claire
Hannah d. Madison
Kailyeah d. Cassandra
Edward d. Regan
Alexandra d. Marcie
Robert d. Zero

this is not a conflict of interest at all

Ben d. Gen
Lily d. Violet
Nina d. Becky
Lei d. Marie
Onyx d. Claire
Murphy d. Madison
Callie d. Cassandra
Edward d. Regan
Alexandra d. Marcie
Zero d. Rob

Benjamin Brant
Genevieve Winchester

Lily Nicks
Violet Salu

Nina Madaraki
Becky Badby

Lei Heng
Marie Darkholme

Onyx
Claire McKenna

Hannah Murphy
Madison West

Cassandra Reyes
Kaliyah Shah

Regan Rourke
Edward Carver

Marcie Tiboldt
Alexandra McDougal

Zero
Robert West

Ben d. Gen
Violet d. Lily
Nina d. Becky
Marie d. Lei
Claire d. Onyx
Madison d. Murphy
Callie d. Cassandra
Regan d. Edward
Alexandra d. Marcie
Zero d. Rob

Ben
Violet
Nina
Lei
Claire
Murphy
Cassandra
Regan
Marcie
Rob

Ben d. Gen
Lily d. Violet
Nina d. Becky
Lei d. Marie
Onyx d. Claire
Madison d. Hannah
Kaliyah d. Cassandra
Edward d. Regan
Alexandra d. Marcie
Rob d. Zero

Ben d. Gen
Lily d. Violet
Nina d. Becky
Lei d. Marie
Onyx d. Claire
Murphy d. Madison
Kaliyah d. Cassandra
Edward d. Regan
Marcie d. Alexandra
Rob d. Zero

Ben d. Gen
Lily d. Violet
Nina d. Becky
Lei d. Marie
Claire d. Onyx
Murphy d. Madison
Kaliyah d. Cassandra
Edward d. Regan
Alexandra d. Marcie
Rob d. Zero

Closing this round in about half an hour, so any stragglers should get their votes in now.

ROUND 1 is OVER

Benjamin Brant d. Genevieve Winchester
Lily Nicks d. Violet Salu
Nina Madaraki d. Becky Badby
Lei Heng d. Marie Darkholme
Onyx d. Claire McKenna
Kaliyah Shah d. Cassandra Reyes
Edward Carver d. Regan Rourke
Alexandra McDougal d. Marcie Tiboldt
Robert West d. Zero

No major surprises, I think. Most of the matches weren't even close.

Now, on to round 2! Where we have:

Hedera Arialiac v. Benjamin Brant
Nina Madaraki v. Lily Nicks
Dana Lawrence v. Lei Heng
Rosemary v. Onyx
Molly Malcolm v. Hannah Murphy
Kaliyah Shah v. Edward Carver
Emily Inque v. Alexandra McDougal
Astrid Ambramovic v. Robert West

Hedera d. Benjamin
Nina d. Lily
Dana d. Lei
Onyx d. Rosemary
Murphy d. Molly
Edward d. Kaliyah
Riot d. Emily
Robert d. Astrid

Hedera Arialiac v. Benjamin Brant
Nina Madaraki v. Lily Nicks
Dana Lawrence v. Lei Heng
Rosemary v. Onyx
Molly Malcolm v. Hannah Murphy
Kaliyah Shah v. Edward Carver
Emily Inque v. Alexandra McDougal
Astrid Ambramovic v. Robert West

Hedera d. Benjamin
Nina d. Lily
Dana d. Lei
Rosemary d. Onyx
Molly d. Hanah
Kaliyah d. Edward
Emily d. Alexandra
Robert d. Astrid

Ben
Nina
Dana
Onyx
Hannah
Edward
Emily
Robert

Benjamin d. Hedera
Nina d. Lily
Lei d. Dana
Rosemary d. Onyx
Murphy d. Molly
Edward d. Kaliyah
Alexandria d. Emily (I'm not big on Riot but no way should Emily ever come back.)
Robert d. Astrid

Benjamin Brant d. Hedera Arialiac
Lily Nicks d. Nina Madaraki
Lei Heng d. Dana Lawrence
Rosemary d. Onyx
Molly Malcolm d. Hannah Murphy
Edward Carver d. Kaliyah Shah
Emily Inque d. Alexandra McDougal
Robert West d. Astrid Ambramovic

Hedera Arialiac v. Benjamin Brant
Nina Madaraki v. Lily Nicks
Dana Lawrence v. Lei Heng
Rosemary v. Onyx
Molly Malcolm v. Hannah Murphy
Kaliyah Shah v. Edward Carver
Emily Inque v. Alexandra McDougal
Astrid Ambramovic v. Robert West

Hedera Arialiac v. Benjamin Brant
Nina Madaraki v. Lily Nicks
Dana Lawrence v. Lei Heng
Rosemary v. Onyx
Molly Malcolm v. Hannah Murphy
Kaliyah Shah v. Edward Carver
Emily Inque v. Alexandra McDougal
Astrid Ambramovic v. Robert West

Voting will end on this round in about thirty minutes to an hour.

Any ties will be decided by a tie-breaker game of my own devising.

A little late, but ROUND 2 IS CLOSED.

Our winners:

Benjamin Brant d. Hedera Arialiac
Nina Madaraki d. Lily Nicks
Dan Lawrence d. Lei Heng
Rosemary d. Onyx
Hannah Murphy d. Molly Malcolm
Edward Carver d. Kaliyah Shah
Alexandra McDougal d. Emily Inque
Robert West d. Astrid Ambramovic

Ties were decided by coin flip, called by random people in IRC.

Now, looking forward to Round 3, we have the races tightening up with:

Benjamin Brant v. Nina Madaraki
Dana Lawrence v. Rosemary
Hannah Murphy v. Edward Carver
Alexandra McDougal v. Robert West

And after this we have.....THE FINAL FOUR

Nina d. Ben
Dana d. Rosemary
Edward d. Hannah
Rob d. Riot

Nina d. Ben
Dana d. Rosemary
Murphy d. Edward
Riot d. Rob

Benjamin Brant v. Nina Madaraki
Dana Lawrence v. Rosemary
Hannah Murphy v. Edward Carver
Alexandra McDougal v. Robert West

Benjamin Brant v. Nina Madaraki
Dana Lawrence v. Rosemary
Hannah Murphy v. Edward Carver
Alexandra McDougal v. Robert West

Benjamin Brant v. Nina Madaraki
Dana Lawrence v. Rosemary
Hannah Murphy v. Edward Carver
Alexandra McDougal v. Robert West

Ben d. Nina
Rosemary d. Dana
Edward d. Murphy
Alexandra d. Rob

Benjamin Brant d. Nina
Dana Lawrence d. Rosemary
Hannah Murphy d. Edward Carver
Alexandra McDougal d. Robert West

Nina, Dana, Hannah, Alexandra.

Closing the polls in thirty minutes! Last call!

There will be a delay in the next round as I set something special up. Stay tuned.

Ben, Dana, Hannah, Rob

AND THE POLLS ARE NOW CLOSED

The results:

Nina Madaraki d. Benjamin Brant
Dana Lawrence d. Rosemary
Hannah Murphy d. Edward Carver
Alexandra McDougal d. Robert West

Stay tune for the Final Four!

Final Four has Begun! We have:

Nina Madaraki v. Dana Lawrence
Hannah Murphy v. Alexandra McDougal

And for some extra fun, I've decided to do some quick write-ups of what I feel are the strengths and weaknesses of each of these characters. Because I don't talk about them enough already:

Nina Madaraki:

Nina is one of my first characters and has a great history. She’s well connected in the XU community and great fun to play. Cute, friendly, and more than a little nuts, Nina just has an engaging personality that lends itself easily to character interaction.

Now, in my mind, Nina is someone that wants to do good, but she doesn’t understand what “good” actually is. This is the core strength of her character, since it makes makes her forgiving and compelling. We want to see Nina become a better person. We want her to become the kind of person she wants to be. Especially because we’ve seen what happens when Nina goes to the other side of things and it’s very, very scary.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t downsides though. Nina has gone off the rails in recent times. While it may be good character growth, joining SHIELD moves her away from her original concept and what makes her fun in the first place. If the conflict of Nina is between the type of person she wants to be and the type of person she is, then turning to an outside source for her moral code makes sense, but it’s a cheat as far as resolving her character arc.

Also, her powers have always been a bit difficult to pin down. Her probes are an interesting approach to healing, but I think I can count the number of times they were actually used for healing on one hand. Most of the time they act more like a personal healing factor for Nina and not much else.

I don’t have a whole lot more to say about Nina. Everyone knows her pretty well and I think she has some real strengths. However, if I end up playing her again I definitely will need to give some thought to where she’s going.

Bottom Line: Isn’t Dana just a ripoff of Nina?

Dana Lawrence

Dana is a neat idea. Someone with an accelerating post-human intelligence brings up all sorts of possibilities. Even without having to resort to ripping off Lucy. There’s an inherent tragedy with Dana, summed up in one of her first interactions with other characters, where she expresses a fear of going to sleep because she’s not the same person when she wakes up. That’s unsettling in all the best ways.

Another thing I like about Dana is that she isn’t a gadgeteer or a tech genius. She’s just generally really, really smart and getting smarter everyday. It’s an ability that makes you think outside the box about what the human brain can really do.

The major problem with Dana is that her main character motivation has been undermined. Her powers were killing her and that was going to inspire her to be a hero. Nice idea, but one that kind of got transplanted on Winn. And the last thing I need is two characters whining about having to die.

In the end, Dana is a character with a lot of potential, but one that needs to be reworked a bit. What it probably comes down to is whether you think her potential is better than Nina’s established character.

Bottom Line: oh hey i have an original idea maybe this time nina could sleep with someone and then get sad when they fall in love with someone else

Hannah Murphy

Murphy is adorable.

Writing like this is hard.

Bottom Line: Shouldn’t she be at the school already watching her sister?

Alexandra McDougal

Riot cracks me up. She’s a perverted, disgusting, troll who doesn’t give two fucks about anyone but herself. She’s great and if you don’t like Riot at least a little then you are wrong.

The thing I like about Riot is that she’s a character with a lot of room to grow. She’s an anti-social extremist dropped into an environment where she has to interact with the type of people she hates. Even worse, she has to interact with people in situations where they don’t have to put up with her shit. That’s a great setup for conflict and character growth right there.

But there are a few downsides to Riot. While I actually do like her disabilities, since they add a bit of sympathy and backstory towards her attitude towards the world, they can be difficult to play. Her “proxies” make up for that a little bit, but it is an annoyance.

The other problem with Riot is, well, what is her goal? What does she want? While I know that I want her to open up more to people, that’s not really Riot’s goal. In fact, she doesn’t seem to have a goal or any clear motivation. She’s very reactive and that makes her difficult to play sometimes. If she wins, I definitely need to think about what she wants out of life and her time at XU.

Regardless, I love Riot and she never fails to crack me up. Even when she’s being a pain to play.

Bottom Line: Because Murphy had to become a lesbian werewolf before she was even remotely interesting.

With all of that in mind: On your mark, get set, WAHLBERG!

Nina d. Dana
Riot d. Murphy

I'm going to add some reasoning to my picks for this round and I may be a little blunt, so be warned.

Nina Madaraki v. Dana Lawrence
This is a toughy because I've only seen recent Nina who you say in your write up has gone off the rails. And nothing I ever saw of Dana when she was around really stood out to me. I have to go with Nina though because it feels like there's more there that could be done, while I just don't get that feeling from Dana.

Hannah Murphy v. Alexandra McDougal
This wasn't even a contest. I love interacting with Murph. If Murph won, it would make me wish I had a werewolf-type character just to interact with her more. I'm content with being 'wrong' because I've never liked RIot even a little. Her l33tspeak is hard to read and respond to and her attitude has always been a turn off to interacting with her. She's the sort of thing I go out of my way to avoid on the rest of the internet.

Because I agree with WP, Nina and Murphy.

Gonna do the same thing.

Nina Madaraki d. Dana Lawrence
Let me preface this with the fact that I think Dana is just what happens if Nina gets into a transporter accident with Winn. So that explains voting against Dana. As for voting for Nina I love the character, I love who she is based on and I love the well-meaning creepy. I never liked the more recent take on her, partially because I think I just don't get SHIELD. There's nothing wrong with it, it just often feels to me they're pointing guns at stuff in a world where most things just kind of laugh and shrug at that. I just find it kind of boring so that makes it hard for me to fairly judge the direction she went in. Still, I like Nina and when pitched against Dana she wins without having to try.


Alexandra McDougal d. Hannah Murphy
Screw you, Ten, for making me vote against the cute lesbian werewolf. (Previously only narrowly beaten out by the adorkable klutzy vampire) But I love Riot. A lot of that is selfish because I love the way she interacts with Ashlie. She exemplifies the worst the Internet has to offer and that contrasts Ashlie's innocence because most of her lewd comments are innuendo that goes over the robot's head. They're each others foils on almost every level. They're both creatures of the digital world but one is lewd, insulting and frail, the other is essentially asexual, polite and made from a titanium-steel alloy. I love their interactions and I love the potential they have for making each other grow.

Yeah, Nina could always, uh, leave SHIELD

Nina d. Dana
Murphy d. Riot

Nina I think has some decent play possibility with existing characters, especially Will. So I'm gonna vote Nina.

Murphy versus Riot is a tough one, but I feel like Murphy was always getting reintroduced only to never quite have the time to let her shine. I really kind of want her to have a chance.

I'm not gonna provide much specific feedback, 'cause I think that I made my feelings pretty clear with my earlier post, but here's my votes:

Nina d. Dana

Sorry, Dana. You're just too much like Nina, but only without any of her advantages.

Alexandra McDougal d. Hannah Murphy

This is a really tough one for me, but I have a soft spot for Riot and I think it's a shame she didn't get a chance to shine. Both characters have room to grow and I'd love to play either one again though.