The Stick Awards II: Second Edition (#0301 - #0310)

[Porthos]

Welcome to The Stick Awards II: Second Edition!

The Stick Awards are handed out to the best strips of all time as chosen by our fellow Playgrounders.

This week we are covering the comic strips 301 through 310.

For full details about the Stick Awards, please check out the main thread here.

To read more about the original Stick Awards, created by Nazzo, the 102nd, please read his thread here.

To vote in this thread, simply state which comic of the ten listed is your favorite. Bolding the number of the comic (Like this) helps it stand out.

Voting for this week will close on February 11th, 4pm EST. Any votes made after that will NOT count toward the totals.

Last time, 298 The Future is Forged in the Fires of Today set in motion a series of plans that will ultimately conclude by its entering the Best of the Thousand tournament. While that happens though, it's time to focus on the present as a whole new batch of hopeful contestants look to follow in its lead.

They say the journey to the (Tournament of the) Thousand Strips begins with a single step. Well, perhaps so, but voting sure helps. So with that in mind, let's get this party started once again by voting on.....

.THE STICK AWARDS II: 0301 - 0310

301 A Brief Intermission
302 New Beginnings
303 Phrenology Today
304 A Leper Can't Change His Spots
305 The Epistle of Durkon
306 Power Word: Annoy
307 Take the Problem By the Hand
308 Sword Envy
309 My Dinner with Elan
310 Advanced Dates & Dinners

====

For ease of reading, What Haley Said, courtesy of the thread of the same name.

Spoiler

Show

#303
Laughing with a *snort*

#309
Yrhw, N'u nw rdjy mnck vdg.
Elan, I'm in love with you.

Yrhw, N'u nw rdjy mnck vdg. Lduzrycyrv nw rdjy. Rdjy, rdjy, rdjy, rdjy!
Elan, I'm in love with you. Completely in love. Love, love, love, love!

Uv ehe nb aynwp kyre fhwbdu av hw yjnr enlchcdf.
My dad is being held ransom by an evil dictator.

N'u wdc fyhrrv nw cky Cknyjtb' Pgnre hwvudfy.
I'm not really in the Thieves' Guild anymore.

N lkyhc hc bdrnchnfy.
I cheat at solitaire.

N khjy h chccdd vdg'jy wyjyf byyw.
I have a tattoo you've never seen.

N tnbbye h pnfr dwly.
I kissed a girl once.

DT, DT, udfy ckhw dwly!
OK, OK, more than once!

Yrhw, nc cgfwb dgc N uhv wdc ay yqhlcrv mkhc vdg mdgre lhrr-
Elan, it turns out I may not be exactly what you would call-

[Sylian]

309 My Dinner with Elan - Lets us know more about Haley's past and the way she thinks.

[David Argall]

301 seems best to me. Now 309 has a shot, but the need to translate is a drawback. So 301

[Killer Angel]

310 is very nice, but I think I'll go for 306. Magic has its own mysteries, even for a wizard!

[Gift Jeraff]

This is the point at which The Order of the Stick had grown to become something more than a simple gag-a-day comic strip on the Internet. No, these strips mark the beginning of the series's evolution into a true epic. The stakes are raised, the action is more intense, and the drama is on an upward trajectory. It is now when the comic can be taken truly seriously and shown to others without fear of being mocked for liking what is "just a stick figure comic."

It becomes evident that Rich Burlew has more to tell us than the story--The Order of the Stick has become a commentary on fiction itself. And fiction is naught but the reflection of reality. Therefore, The Order of the Stick is the ultimate guide to all of life and existence.

It is for these reasons that I vote for none other than strip #301.

[Sir_Leorik]

"Let's go out to the lobby, let's go out to the lobby..."

"Let's go out to the lobby, and vote for --"

"Your time has come and gone Popcorn! Today's reader of "The Order of the Stick" desires more nourishing strips, with drama!"

"And romance!"

"And complicated discussions of morality, politics and the D&D Alignment system!"

"You fools! Comedy strips like No. 301 have been beloved by "OotS" fans for over ten years! Do you know the kind of power that gives us? We have become like unto witty, humorous gods!"

Battle ensues. Popcorn blasts Nachos into oblivion, Soda wards off Latte's arrows, but Pizza manages to score a critical hit on Milk Dudes.

"Milk Dudes! NO!!!"

"Promise me... promise me one thing, old friend... promise me you'll vote for No. 301!"

Milk Dudes falls to -10 hit points and dies.

"No. 301!!!!!"

[martianmister]

...

Lol.

309............

[oppyu]

First off; the Haley/Elan storyline was one filled with annoying cryptograms which had the side effect of silencing the lead female, devoted the lead female to a lengthy romance subplot which was crucial to her character development (unlike all those other times where a woman was able to develop as a person without angsting over a dude), and ended up damselling said lead female (and very nearly leading into a Stuffed Into The Fridge moment) at the end of her subplot so we could transition into Elan learning to be a badarse. Although it should be mentioned that towards the end of the day, the helpful woman was able to save the day... with her verbal expression of her emotional breakthrough. Hooray. So while I love Haley, there's a fairly solid chance I won't be voting for her strips for a while.

That being said, the other strips are pretty good. Vaarsuvius, Durkon and Belkar all got funny moments, there was an inexplicable humourous non-sequitur strip about movie snacks, and I actually kinda like the Roy and Celia pairing. But in the end, I'm going to have to go with inexplicably humourous.

301

[Jaxzan Proditor]

I will nominate 301.

[ChristianSt]

Uh, ah really nice batch. But I make this rather short to leave enough room for 306 - Power Word: Annoy

[Emanick]

It probably won't win, but 306: Power Word: Annoy gets my vote for sure. Absolutely hilarious comic, and a great example of how "rules jokes" when done really well, can coexist comfortably with an epic storyline.

[Bird]

My inexplicable like of Belkar-on-stilts causes me to vote for 304.

Though 307 ("Puppets!") and 308 ("THOR'S TAINT, man") also had their moments.

[Meph]

302
Not one of my favourites, but it's good: this time it's not going to be one of those not passing the round.

[LadyEowyn]

307, because Haley/Elan is cute.

[thatSeniorGuy]

Hard to pick one, these are all decent strips but I don't feel that any stand out. Nevertheless, I'll go with 301 (that kind of humour really tickles me for some reason).

ETA: Sir Leorik, that was epic.

[GuySmiley1970]

I vote 306. Definitely a hilarious D&D rules joke that requires no prior knowledge of the game.

[NobodyWasTaken]

I guess I vote for 307 I don't know

[Procyonpi]

301, for the most epic battle of all time.

[Mike Havran]

I've never got the charm of the junk food battle. #302 it is.

[nogall]

Very strong and funny batch, with great strips for each of the order's members.
But the sheer randomness and brilliant writing of 301 will get my vote.

ETA:

... serious stuff...
It is for these reasons that I vote for none other than strip #301.

"No. 301!!!!!"

you guys are awesome.

[littlebum2002]

I'll have to vote 309, just for the epic secret we STILL haven't learned yet.

[Plerumque]

After such thought-provoking commentary, how can I vote for anything but #301?

[rs2excelsior]

Hmm. A good set of strips, but I don't think any of them can compete individually with the brilliance of 301.

[mythmonster2]

I honestly do not like 301 at all and was confused when I saw so many people liking it. Now, I could go with 309 for a bit more plot-related stuff, but 306 is just too good for me.

[Porthos]

Let's all go to the Aaaaaaa-wards thread!
Let's all go to the Aaaaaaa-wards thread!
Let's all go to the Aaaaaaa-wards thread!
And hold a vote for a strip!

...

What's that? People have already used this gag? Don't care.

Anyone who has seen my posts over the years probably already knows where I am going with this. But for those who don't, let's just say I was VERY tempted to drop five grand on the OOTS Kickstarter project to commission a short story centered around The Order of the Snacks.

I didn't for two reasons.

A) I couldn't justify spending the money at the time

and

B) I figured I would have been lynched by some fans for 'wasting' a short story on these folks.

Still, I was verrrrrrrrry tempted.

Ah, who am I kidding? I probably would have chickened out and went for The Oracle instead.

Still....

Anywho, as is obvious, an enthusiastic vote for 301. It is absolutely one of my favorite strips of all time, and one I will never ever tire of.

And with that....

VOTING IS NOW CLOSED!

301 A Brief Intermission is the winner this time. It now moves on to the Best of the Hundred tournament.

Full Results are as follows

...THE STICK AWARDS II: 0301 - 0310
{table]|Comic Number | Votes Received | Vote Percentage |
|

301

|

11

|

45.83

|
|

302

|

2

|

8.33

|
|

303

|

0

|

0.00

|
|

304

|

1

|

4.17

|
|

305

|

0

|

0.00

|
|

306

|

5

|

20.83

|
|

307

|

2

|

8.33

|
|

308

|

0

|

0.00

|
|

309

|

3

|

12.50

|
|

310

|

0

|

0.00

|[/table]


Please join us for the next round of voting for Strips #311 - #320 which can be found here.