The Stick Awards II: Second Edition (#0681 - #0690)

[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 681 through 690.

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 January 12th, 4pm EST. Any votes made after that will NOT count toward the totals.

Last time, 672 A Familiar Conclusion had a heart to heart talk with the judges about recent events, as it prepared to sail away to new adventures and challenges. It was rewarded with a fairly shocking revelation. No, not that one. I'm referring to the fact that it found out that one of its journeys will be to the unexplored region known as The Best of the Hundred tournament.

The Stick Awards, fittingly enough in this fine New Year, also explores uncharted territory. For now we have caught up with the strips that were covered by the Original Stick Awards and now we, as a community, will look upon a set of strips for the first time.

At least for the purposes of the Stick Awards.

So with the recognition of that small piece of history out of the way, let us get down to business and vote for who we think which strip deserves to win....

.THE STICK AWARDS II: 0681 - 0690

681 All in the Family
682 Plus, He Probably Spits, Too
683 Whatever You Do, Don't Oscillate
684 V Was Only Waiting for This Moment to Arise
685 On Friendship
686 Also, At Lower Altitude
687 Actually, That's Probably You
688 The Comics Must Flow
689 Live Bait
690 Riders on the Worm

[137beth]

683, because of how hard I laughed when I first read it.

[asorel]

Potential Belkar character development, or Dune reference? Decisions, decisions...I guess I'll go with 687.

[declinator]

There are several amusing strips in this set, but on re-reading, I found 685 the best of this ten (without much hope of it making it through the semis, considering the competition). So another strip for me.

[littlebum2002]

It's hard to pass up Belkar's epic sarcasm in #689, but peeing in someone's neckhole can't be passed up. 685

[ti'esar]

None of these really stand out to me. But between the Belkar characterization and the hilariously gruesome fate of Buggy Lou, I'm going to vote for 685.

[David Argall]

Nothing outstanding, so I will go with 688

[Jaxzan Proditor]

So glad that this is back! I love these strips for the Dune references, I must admit. I think I shall vote for #689 because I laughed so hard when I first read it.

[Bird]

For sure 689, because the idea that Belkar's welfare could be a matter of ethical relevance is used as a joke. Delightfully mean-spirited writing.

[ChristianSt]

I'm voting for 689 - Live Bait. Belkar's reaction to the live bait plan is just hilarious

[Mike Havran]

Fairly even contest; I vote for the bottomless pit of self-reference in #683.

[Meph]

The camels's station is tempting, but 682 all the way.

[nogall]

so-so bunch, so vote for 684 and beatles-related-elan-puns!

[Cartographer7]

"OK, dangle away" 689

[Emperordaniel]

682, because I miss the Durkon vs. Tree gags.

[AGD]

I vote for 681

[LadyEowyn]

I'm voting for 681 - it's a good character moment for Haley, with a side of dramatic irony given what we find out later on. The rest of the strips are just gags, Belkar being unpleasant, and a Dune reference.

[Killer Angel]

After all, i think I'll join the 685 side.

[Emanick]

687: Actually, That's Probably You is pretty delightful. I don't usually vote based on how great Belkar is, but in a round like this, I simply can't resist.

[Gift Jeraff]

#684

Not a big fan of The Beatles, but I can appreciate the puns.

[Michael7123]

I vote for 867 for Belkar finally discovering the ultimate life hack for evil characters in DND.

[thatSeniorGuy]

Hmm, not really any stand-outs here ... I guess I'll go with 684.

tSG.

[NobodyWasTaken]

I vote 687.

[martianmister]

689 Live Bait

[Jaxzan Proditor]

I vote for 867 for Belkar finally discovering the ultimate life hack for evil characters in DND.

Do you mean 687?

[Porthos]

Pretty even set of strips here, but ones that have a nice amount of Old School OOTS gags in them. I particularly liked the OASIS gag. Also, this set of strips is notable for containing the first real seeds of Belkar's character development that will come to play a role in future stories. That being said, they also contain more of the Belkar Is Fakin' It All and Hasn't Changed a Lick. In fact, this set of strips contains, what turns out to be, one of the last Belkar the Corruptor strips that looked like it might take root as a storyline.

And it is that strip, 689, which I will vote for here. Not only for the above, but for the hilarious Take That that was, IMO, directly fired at all of the Morally Justified flamewars debates that were overrunning the forum at the time. That Belkar attempted to play the Morally Justified card, but couldn't even make it past three sentences was one of the funniest things I had read for a while at the time.

So that gets my vote easily, if only for personal reasons that will fade with the passage of time.

And with that....

VOTING IS NOW CLOSED!

689 Live Bait is the winner this week. It now moves on to the Best of the Hundred tournament.

Full Results are as follows

........THE STICK AWARDS II: 0681 - 0690

	Comic Number	Votes Received	Vote Percentage
	681	2	8.33
	682	2	8.33
	683	2	8.33
	684	3	12.50
	685	4	16.67
	686	0	0.00
	687	4	16.67
	688	1	4.17
	689	6	25.00
	690	0	0.00

Please join us for the next round of voting for Strips #691 - #700 which can be found here.