Favourite Character Tournament

[Moriwen]

Hinjo. I really like the paladin characters.

Shojo because he is the pinnacle of awesomeness.

Ancient Black Dragon--I always felt bad for her. (I mean, if someone murdered my [hypothetical] children, you bet I'd be going in for elaborate revenge.)

Blackwing is great comic relief. ("Remind me why arcane destruction is not an appropriate response to all of life's tribulations. Quickly, please." --quoting badly from memory)

[bguy]

Hinjo. Grubwiggler is too linked to the part of the story where Celia's brain turns to mush for me to ever vote for him.

Shojo. A good aligned character who even Belkar admires.

Ancient Black Dragon. The only really tough choice in this set. I am tempted to give it to the cleric just for being the only real bright spot in the whole Greysky City storyline mess, but ultimately the ABD is just the more impressive character.

Blackwing. He showed much more style in fleeing the death knight than Ganonron did in fleeing from Xykon.

[HedgehogRanger]

Hinjo vs. Hieronymus Grubwiggler
I like Hinjo, and he's actually a character as opposed to Grubwiggler, who appeared in all of 3 strips

Shojo vs. Old Blind Pete
This wasn't a contest. Shojo is one of my favorite characters, and Old Blind Pete, while still good, can't compare to the awesomeness of Shojo

Greysky Priest vs. Ancient Black Dragon
This was difficult, but in the end Greysky Priest won out, just for the sheer amount of comedy he packed into the few strips he was in.

Ganonron vs. Blackwing
An actual character versus a plot device, no contest.

[Bluepaw]

Nooooo alas for Gannji! Welp, into the Sarlacc with him.

Now then:

Grubwiggler, I guess...

Shojo. Easy. I guess Belkar's hallucination of him counts more towards Belkar than Shojo, but it's still one of my favorite parts of the comic.

Ancient Black Dragon, if for nothing else than for her being the Grumpy Cat of the dragon community...

Blackwing, not least for making V uncomfortable with strong theropod role models.

[theNater]

Hinjo for his sense.

Shojo for his nonsense.

Ancient Black Dragon for her milliner's aspirations.

Blackwing for his baubles on dangly things.

[Excise]

Hinjo - his job was to show how Paladins are supposed to be played, and he did it well.

Shojo - Old Blind Pete was only ok, whereas Shojo gave Belkar actual character depth!... sort of.

Greysky Priest - Tough call, but Cole also gave Belkar character development with how the pair of them got along. Possibly even real character development.

Blackwing - I had to look up who Gonorwhoever was.

[martianmister]

Hinjo
Old Blind Pete
Ancient Black Dragon
Ganonron

[Draz74]

This round is rather easy

Au contraire, this is certainly the hardest round yet for me.

I suppose Shojo is a safe choice, though. Old Blind Pete was a highly amusing ol' traitor, but since someone reminded me about Shojo chucking the wizard at Roy, he has to win.

And I guess I'll vote Hinjo as well. Admittedly he's a tad boring, but I have been a fan of him for a long time anyway. He does a really good job being a good example of Lawful Good Paladin Leadership, in away that belies the forumites' dominant negative impression of paladins in play.

For now, I'll abstain on the other two. Blackwing usually doesn't tend to be my style of humor. But Ganonron ... boring. Eh.

[Ted The Bug]

Hinjo vs. Hieronymus Grubwiggler
For a one-off, I quite liked Grubby, but he's no match for everyone's second-or-third favorite paladin.

Shojo vs. Old Blind Pete
I love this man so much. Possibly my favorite character in the story so far.

Greysky Priest vs. Ancient Black Dragon
Thinking about this, I realized I actually really loved all of the side characters in the Greysky arc. Like, a lot. ABD because plot, but I wish there'd been more of Loki Guy.

Ganonron vs. Blackwing
I really, really don't like Blackwing as a character at all. I guess I can kind of see why he's included, but personally, he gets on my nerves in a non-enjoyable way.
So Ganonron wins by default.

[ti'esar]

Hinjo. As far as one-shot hammy mad scientist-esque types go, I much prefer Leeky Windstaff to Grubwiggler.
Shojo
Blackwing

Going to abstain on the third one, because while I liked both characters it was in such totally different ways that I don't feel able to properly judge between them.

[Hogwarts9876]

Hinjo, Shojo, Greysky Priest, Blackwing
Also, if it ever comes up, Tarquin vs. Shojo will be so hard!

[Cizak]

Yes, IFCC won! Can't actually believe Gannji was able to compete that well with them.

Hinjo
Shojo
Ancient Black Dragon
Blackwing

[Kish]

Also, if it ever comes up, Tarquin vs. Shojo will be so hard!

Indeed it will!

...Um, I'm probably saying that for the opposite reason from you.

[Grape Starburst]

Hinjo vs. Hieronymus Grubwiggler
A real character vs. a shtik.

Shojo vs. Old Blind Pete
Shojo was funny; Pete was a treacherous ingrate.

Greysky Priest vs. Ancient Black Dragon
She had a lot more initiative than the Cleric of Loki. Besides, you know, being a dragon.

Ganonron vs. Blackwing
Blackwing is nicer, funnier, and has more to do in the comic. And he’s a stealth dinosaur.

same for me

[Rakoa]

Hinjo is at least somewhat interesting.

Shojo is a great character.

The Ancient Black Dragon is my favourite kind of plot device. I use this sort of thing against my players all the time...

Blackwing wins easily.

[willpell]

Apologize if I'm doing this wrong since I'm new to this thread, I'm assuming it's just say your favorite and it counts as a vote? Here goes.

Hinjo vs. Grubwriggler i'm gonna abstain. They're both rather mechanistic characters who are good for their intended purpose; Hinjo is more enjoyable but that might just be because he has way more lines, so I'll say it's too close to call.

Shojo shojo shojoshojo Shojo. Also Shojo. Gonna be hard for anybody but Tarquin and Xykon to compete with His Eminent Wackiness. Sorry Pete but you never stood a chance, much like in the strip.

Feel very sorry for the NCOL, but him vs. Momma Dragon is nowhere near a fair fight. Though I'd have picked different quotes for both, they have way more awesome lines IMO. (Again, apologies if I'm missing something about the significance.)

Ganonron has a dumb name, a neat powerset, and no personality whatsoever. Against anyone he'd be a longshot at best, but Blackwing is sheer magnificence. Another landslide.

Three major weight-class differences and one toss-up; no hard choices today. Oh well, not bad for a first visit. See you next round, I'll be hoping for a real brainteaser or two.

[Procyonpi]

Hinjo, Shojo, ABD, Blackwing.

Wasn't that hard, although I'm not that big a fan of either of the characters in the 3rd match-up.

[Xelbiuj]

Hinjo - Wins on style alone. Unleashing the fury, multiple katanas,
"I'll stand between any 2 murders I wish."

Shojo - Nothing I can say that hasn't already been said a million times.

Ancient Black Dragon - Hate uber powerful plot devices just thrown in but it works within the story and made the whole Darth V plot possible.

Ganonron - More of a vote against Blackwing, I just don't care for that character at all.

[Hogwarts9876]

Indeed it will!

...Um, I'm probably saying that for the opposite reason from you.

I'm saying that because I like them both so much. What's the opposite? Do you mean that you don't like either of them at all?

[Kish]

Exactly!

I can see it now, "Do I vote against Tarquin the Overrated Eminence Grease (misspelling intentional), or against Shojo the Why-Is-He-Supposedly-Good Puppetmaster?"

(Disclaimer: I wouldn't dream of asking anyone else to share or even comprehend my dislikes.)

[willpell]

"I'll stand between any 2 murders I wish."

I change my abstain vote; Hinjo it is.

[dps]

Hinjo

Shojo

Greysky Priest

Blackwing

[thisisnotspam]

Hieronymus Grubwiggler- a man who leads an interesting and charitable enterprise in a downtrodden comunity, truly a hero, unlike that coward Hinjo who ran away on his first day on the job.

Shojo-like Pete, he was killed by those he betrayed, but unlike Pete's, his betrayal was totally awesome and several decades long.

Greysky Priest-cooler one-liners and armor win the day for him in this contest of popularity.

Blackwing- his sarcasm be of da hook yall, know what i'm sayn?!?

[Caivs]

Hinjo. Honestly, he's by far my favourite paladin. Maybe it's because I wasn't there when it was O-Chul's arc, but I really never understood all that cult of personality around him just because he's strong and badass : Hinjo, on the other hand, I always found him quite interesting, especially since he took the role of leader and became some kind of pragmatic paladin. He also reminds us that you don't need to be good at fighting to be useful.

Shojo. Heh, how can we not like him?

ABD-Even though I quite liked the priest of Loki, ABD really deserves our gratitude for Darth V's arc, plus she's quite interesting for a monster in a D&D setting.

Blackwing- Who would have thought V's unnamed and unpresent familiar would become so important and likeable? If he weren't there, V's efforts of redemption would be quite boring since it would be only monologue.

[Tannhaeuser]

I can see it now, “Do I vote against Tarquin the Overrated Eminence Grease (misspelling intentional), or against Shojo the Why-Is-He-Supposedly-Good Puppetmaster?”

(Disclaimer: I wouldn't dream of asking anyone else to share or even comprehend my dislikes.)

Actually, I do understand, and even to an extent share, your dislikes. (By the way, I was going to take issue with your comparing Tarquin to « Père Joseph », but I reviewed the man’s career and — dang! you nailed it.) I am amused by Tarquin, even though he is shamefully over-rated by a great many fans; I find his metafictional attitude a clever counterpoint to Elan’s. Shojo was a ruthless manipulator, just as much as Tarquin — in a way, I find his manipulativeness even more annoying, exactly because he used people in the name of “Good.” At least Tarquin owns up to his selfishness and tyranny. Still, I do find both characters give me a good laugh, and are interesting studies in contrasting philosophies of dictatorship.

[Priceguy]

Hinjo. As much as I liked Hieronymus Grubwiggler and the massive contrast between him and the innocence of Celia, it's just no contest between him and the new lord of the Sapphire Guard. If Miko is the example of how not to play a paladin, Hinjo is surely the example of how to.

Shojo. Shojo, including his hallucinatory appearance, is one of the greatest characters in this comic. He's a Good character who earned Belkar's affection, for crying out loud. Old Blind Pete is just a snivelly little backstabber who got what he deserved.

Greysky Priest, but this is a tough one. The dragon's part in the story is certainly much larger and more important, but was she really that much of a character? I did like the "I'm still a dragon" bit very much, though. But the priest, despite his brief appearance, managed to endear himself to me, especially while he was alone with the cursed Belkar. "Are you a warrior? Are you good at fighting? ... Good enough for me" and then "We should call you Brainy Pete". Good stuff.

Blackwing. No contest. Ganonron, like the other two souls, didn't get much time to develop; I only voted for Haerta last round because her opponent was even less interesting. Meanwhile, Blackwing has evolved from a "glorified class feature" to a full-fledged, fleshed-out character with real importance and a lot of funny.

[ranagrande]

Hinjo

Shojo

Greysky Priest

Blackwing

[pwning doodes]

Hinjo
Shojo
Dragon
Blackwing

[Torrasque]

Hinjo. For introducing us to the proper paladin, without being boring.

Shojo. Duh.

Greysky Priest. The more interesting character of the two. The dragon was more of a nuclear bomb kind of interesting.

Blackwing. Blackwing is really turning into a proper character, instead of just a named class feature. Gives laughs to me, and character growth to V.

[Sylian]

Hinjo

Shojo

Greysky Priest

Blackwing

Most of these votes should be fairly obvious, so I'm only going to comment on Greysky Priest vs Ancient Black Dragon. The Ancient Black Dragon is interesting, since she shows that even "Always Evil" creatures are not soulless monsters without care for anyone else. Well, some of them are, but she wasn't. The Greysky Priest, on the other hand, shows that just because someone is Evil (probably, though I guess he could be Neutral) doesn't mean they have to be comfortable with murder.

I kind of like both, but in the end, I decided to settle for the Greysky Priest, since he is an example of a fairly realistic kind of Evil (or possibly Neutral).