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nobahn
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Joined: 14 Dec 2006
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Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 4:26 am
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@errinundra:
Here is one definition of badass:
"Someone whose mere presence you find intimidating because you know that s/he could kill/maim you if s/he really wanted to."
And it goes without saying that there are others as well.....
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Mister V
Joined: 15 Apr 2009
Posts: 1000
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Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 6:01 am
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I'd like to point out that having a Coolest character tournament could turn out to be nothing more than Batman vs. Superman. While we saw some pretty lengthy argumentation on which supporting character objectively contributes more to the show, Coolest/Badass is completely subjective.
And while, say, Best Weapon/Vehicle is also subjective, it's at least something fresh(er) than comparing character power levels. i like the Best Mentor/Teacher suggestion as well.
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egoist
Joined: 20 Jun 2008
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Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 8:21 am
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Hmm, I hope I participate this time.
Anyway, I'll drop Funniest Character for now (even though going by what I was told, the same reason as to not hold a Funniest also applies to Coolest).
So, this time I'm proposing a Best Antihero/Antiheroine tournament. I wasn't here when the Best Hero tournament was held, so I don't know what the criteria was back then, but if you did include antiheroes then it was a foul!
Quote: | Can a "good" character be a badass? |
See the protagonists of Bastard!! and Berserk (whom I'd also consider antiheroes).
Quote: | Is Batou from Ghost in the Shell a badass? |
I don't consider him a badass. But that's the point of the tournament... for those who believe to convince me.
Quote: | If so, is it because she'll shoot you without blinking? |
I haven't seen the anime (or I have but forgot), but I know that Golgo 13 is a badass. Since they're both assassins, how about giving it a shot and making the comparison yourself. Btw, Golgo 13 can have sex without blinking; can she, as well?
Quote: | Can a villain be a badass? |
Of course. Even a timid character could be a badass if he acted badass at times. Is the count a villain? I always considered him an antihero.
Quote: | Better yet, when is a villain not a badass? |
When he acts behind the scenes (Johan, Monster), doesn't enter very risky situations until his final act (See final antagonist of Darker Than Black 1), and so forth.
There's bound to be some personal interpretation in this... so it's not like it's a very solid term (heck, not even the past tournament were that solid even though it was really well clarified).
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
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Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
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Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 10:01 am
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errinundra wrote: | That brings me to my question. What exactly is a "badass"? It's an American term that is gaining currency here in Australia but isn't yet widespread.
Can a "good" character be a badass? Is Batou from Ghost in the Shell a badass? If so, what makes him a badass? Is it his propensity to shoot first before asking questions that makes him a badass?
Is a badass an ambiguous character? Is Mireille Bouquet from Noir a badass? If so, is it because she'll shoot you without blinking?
Can a villain be a badass? Is the Count from Gankutsuou a badass? Is it because he is all-round cool despite being a thoroughly frightening piece of work?
Better yet, when is a villain not a badass? |
I keep forgetting that "Bad-Ass" is more specifically American slang.
The definition that nbahn gave isn't bad, but that's not all there is to it. A "bad-ass" has nothing to do with being good or evil, a hero or a villain; both types of characters could be considered "bad-asses." It is, instead, a combination of fearsome skill (or power), attitude, presence, and supreme confidence. Bad-asses are inherently intimidating to their opponents, the height of cool to their allies, and are commonly very appealing to potential love interests. They generally (but not always) project a sense of danger. Most would consider Motoko from Ghost in the Shell or Spike from Cowboy Bebop to be Bad-Asses (though I wouldn't say either is a top-caliber one). Ichigo from Bleach and Vash the Stampede from Trigun would be marginal selections because the attitude isn't quite right.
Someone brought up the point that some of the biggest bad-asses in anime are also huge jerks. I think it would be very interesting to see how that would play out in the late rounds of a Coolest Character tournament.
Concerning some other ideas mentioned:
*I question whether or not there are enough iconic weapons in anime to make a Best Weapon or Best Vehicle tournament feasible. Something like those might be an interesting idea if we wanted to do a shorter interim tournament sometime, but could we even fill out a field of 32 with either?
*We won't do something that just deals with a physical feature, like Best Hair/Eyes, as that would be too limiting on discussion.
*The problem I see with Most Skilled is the difficulty comparing characters on similar criteria, although I won't disallow that one.
*Best Scene is more interesting to me (I do this category every year for my Year in Review pieces) but it would be a logistical nightmare, as we'd have to have video clips for everything up front. There would also be no room for expansion with further video evidence for later rounds and it would, I feel, be more purely a popularity contest unless we laid some firm rules about evaluating criteria.
*dtm42's idea on Best Mentor is the way we'll go with that category when we come to a vote. It's a lot more feasible, for a number of reasons, than Best Teacher and Best Old Person individually, and seeing which characters people think qualify for that category (or not) might be very interesting indeed.
*Best Antihero is interesting but tricky, and I have a feeling such a category would be more fraught with bias than other ideas; Shinji Ikari is a definitive antihero, for instance, but since he isn't a "cool" one and is widely hated as a character, how many would actually give him his due here?
Right now, the most viable ideas for a full-format tournament look to be Coolest Character, Best Mentor, and Best Rivals, although the latter idea should probably be saved for next time since we're still only only one tournament removed from our last "group" tournament. We still have a couple of days to see if other worthy ideas will come up, but do start thinking seriously about these options if you haven't already.
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Spastic Minnow
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Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 12:05 pm
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Although I'm the guy who came up with the Best Mentor idea as an alternative to the Old Person idea and think it's a good idea for a tournament I'm not likely to actually vote for it this time, it strikes me as too similar to the Supporting Character tourney, Mentors are often (but not exclusively) a type of Supporting character after all. I think I'd prefer one where personal taste does bear a little more weight. If there was another category I'd vote for this time around, other than Coolest Character it would be the other one I suggested, the age-specific category that would work, Best Child Character. Ash Ketchum vs. Chiyo Mihama vs. Henrietta (Gunslinger Girl), it has possibilities in my humble opinion.
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Aylinn
Joined: 18 Nov 2006
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Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 1:29 pm
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Spastic Minnow wrote: | If there was another category I'd vote for this time around, other than "Coolest Character" it would be the other one I came up with, Best Child Character. Ash Ketchum vs. Chiyo Mihama vs. Henrietta (Gunslinger Girl), it has possibilities in my humble opinion. |
It's not a good idea, it has the same type of problem as The Best old character. It is hard to define criteria that characters would be judged upon. What should be taken into consideration? How young are they?
The Best Mentor is a better idea, we can at least judge teaching effectiveness.
I’m for the coolest character if the field is evenly divided into badasses and non-badasses. I can think of characters that are calm, collected and cool for example: Erin from Kemono no Souja Erin, Kusuriuri from Mononoke, neither of which is from an action series. There are characters that are funny and cool such as: Shigure from Fruits Basket etc.
Last edited by Aylinn on Sun Dec 05, 2010 3:04 am; edited 1 time in total
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egoist
Joined: 20 Jun 2008
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Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 2:34 pm
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Quote: | *Best Antihero is interesting but tricky, and I have a feeling such a category would be more fraught with bias than other ideas; Shinji Ikari is a definitive antihero, for instance, but since he isn't a "cool" one and is widely hated as a character, how many would actually give him his due here? |
Interesting, but [very] arguable point. It could either be the most discussed match or the most biased disaster in a possible tournament.
Hard to predict the outcome, because as we all know the most vocal part of anime fandom are the haters.
In addition, we'd get very interesting characters involved. Using TV tropes as a basis, Light, L, Lelouch, Guts, Revy, Roberta, Vegeta, Archer, Scar, Alucard, a bunch from Inuyasha, acouple from Noir, Saito Hajime, Wolfwood, Hei, Accelerator, Golgo 13, Dark Schneider, that blond from Durarara!, the doctor from Shiki, the "king" from Star Driver, Angel Beats' Shinji version, etc. Funny that it does cover a lot of the most popular badass characters.
I'd be awesome, indeed. I'd say it's a category bound to be picked up at some point, so there's no rush on my side.
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Dorcas_Aurelia
Joined: 23 Jul 2006
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Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 5:37 pm
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One of the suggestions for a tournament last time was best comic relief character. It didn't get a huge response, but it made it through the initial discussion to the voting phase, and it could provide a bit of entertainment. Maybe we could use a more intentionally lighthearted topic.
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dtm42
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Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 6:12 pm
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For Best Rivals, are we talking solely about one-on-one rivalries such as, say, Light and L, or can rivalries between teams/groups be allowed too? And what about one-sided rivalries like the one Vegeta had with Goku; do both parties have to reciprocate?
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marie-antoinette
Joined: 18 Sep 2005
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Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 11:24 pm
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Dorcas_Aurelia wrote: | One of the suggestions for a tournament last time was best comic relief character. It didn't get a huge response, but it made it through the initial discussion to the voting phase, and it could provide a bit of entertainment. Maybe we could use a more intentionally lighthearted topic. |
I think the issue with this one, at least IMO, is that you're going to have a lot of overlap with the Best Supporting Characters. Granted there are a lot of them who weren't comic relief and there are comic relief main characters but still, the number of repeat characters would probably be fairly high.
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Key
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Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2010 4:35 am
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dtm42 wrote: | For Best Rivals, are we talking solely about one-on-one rivalries such as, say, Light and L, or can rivalries between teams/groups be allowed too? And what about one-sided rivalries like the one Vegeta had with Goku; do both parties have to reciprocate? |
Oh, it would definitely include group vs. group (or group vs. individual) rivalries, too, such as my aforementioned Gachaman example or possibly something like, say, Vash the Stampede vs. the Gung Ho Guns from Trigun. (Mind you, I'm not pointing to the latter as a strong choice, just an example of a solo vs. group rivalry.) The question of whether or not the rivalry would have to be reciprocated is a tricky one, as allowing only ones that are distinctly two-sided would take a big chunk out of the potential field of candidates. OTOH, we'd get a flood of marginal and weak examples if we don't do that.
We really do have to do something like this at some point, though. Ryoko vs. Ayeka is definitely a participant I'd want to see in action.
marie-antoinette wrote: | I think the issue with this one, at least IMO, is that you're going to have a lot of overlap with the Best Supporting Characters. Granted there are a lot of them who weren't comic relief and there are comic relief main characters but still, the number of repeat characters would probably be fairly high. |
And this is also a big concern, regardless of what character-based category we do. I definitely want to see some fresh blood in the next tournament, and while Coolest Character would definitely have some overlap with previous tournaments, there wouldn't be as much as with some other proposed ideas.
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Aylinn
Joined: 18 Nov 2006
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Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2010 4:49 am
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I have thought about making best rivals broader by renaming it as best adversaries, since the best rivals suggested that characters compete against each other and strive to obtain something that only one can possess. The word adversary seems to have a bit broader meaning person you are fighting or competing against, so it is not only about characters that are competing against each other to get something, but also about enemies who oppose each other. Johan and Tenma from Monster made me think about it, they are enemies, somehow defining them as rivals doesn't sound right.
However, I would like to hear your opinions, especially since English is not my first language.
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excaliber736
Joined: 02 Dec 2010
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Location: Canada
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Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 1:35 am
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Hmmm, I kind of like the best mentor idea. It would allow for some interesting debates and maybe make people think a little more about the dynamics of each anime. How influential is the mentor, how important is he to the story, what would the anime have been like without him, that kind of thing.
Alternatively, I like the best vehicle/weapon (one of the two) idea. Something a little different to focus on rather than always making it about the characters.
I see lots of other great ideas out there too.
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Dorcas_Aurelia
Joined: 23 Jul 2006
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Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 6:27 pm
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I think Best Weapon would suffer from the same limited pool of series that Biggest Badass would, but also would be less interesting, because weapons tend not to have personalities or perform actions of their own will.
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Spastic Minnow
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Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 6:37 pm
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Dorcas_Aurelia wrote: | I think Best Weapon would suffer from the same limited pool of series that Biggest Badass would, but also would be less interesting, because weapons tend not to have personalities or perform actions of their own will. |
I guess you could go with Most important tool/accessory (there must be a better way to say that). Which adds other magical items and tools into the mix-- magical amulets, Death Note,, Alchemist's Watch, etc.
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