The Sticks Awards: BotQ 526-550

[Nazzo, the 102nd]

Hi, and welcome to The Sticks Awards - The Best of the Quarter!

The Sticks Awards are given to the best strips of all times, chosen by the polls here in the Playground. Read the The Sticks Awards Results Compilation (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34791) thread for more details and previous results.

To vote, simply post your favorite strip of the current 5 on the thread. You have 5 days to do it (changed by popular claim).

The poll will close on September 5th, 14:00 PM forum default time.


The Best of the Quarter 526-550

530 Regarding the Speed With Which One Removes Band-Aids (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0530.html)
532 The Exposition Fairy (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0532.html)
538 Fiend or Foe? (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0538.html)
542 In Azure City, Shark Jumps You! (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0542.html)
550 +1 BFF (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0550.html)

[Needle]

I'll go with 538, it's Belkar in RAW and hella funny :smallbiggrin:

[Nights1stStar]

542, the comic which debuted O-Chul's awesomeness.

[Kurald Galain]

I think I've said this before, but O-Chul has a constitution score of 542. That comic is simply too awesome to lose.

[The_Void]

550. Crowning Moment of Heartwarming, it truly is.

[SlightlyEvil]

542, hands down. O-Chul is too awesome not to win.

[Foryn Gilnith]

Bah. O-Chul fans. At least they're right.

542 all the way.

[Gift Jeraff]

550.

:mitd: F.Y.I.? They were not.

[Kroy]

542, O-chul is awesome!

[xelliea]

542, O-chul is amazing.

[kerberos]

538 Belkar FTW.

[FireDrake]

542 I love action scenes with little talking. but all the others are great too.

[Onyavar]

O-Chul will certainly win this thread. He conquers them all.

Nonetheless: I vote for 538 - its comedy gold!

[warmachine]

538 A good selection but "Anyone ELSE wanna discuss my creature type with me?" is the clincher.

[Tricia]

550

I'm a sucker for the heartwarming ones.

[dps]

I think it's a foregone conclusion that 542 will win, but my vote goes to 532.

[MrPig]

542. I'm not in a wall-of-bubble-text mood today.

[Watcher]

542 is my vote.

[Janmorel]

550 for the 'Awww' factor. Also, Scrabble would be way more fun with little chocolate donuts.

[Silverraptor]

ARRRRGGGGHH!!!:smallfurious: Hard choice between 538 and 542. I guess I'm really impressed with O-chul's awesomeness. 542.

[gamerboy6000]

542 In Azure City, Shark Jumps You!

[Tannhaeuser]

I'll go with 538. "Thanks for the promotion." Tee hee.

[Assassin89]

550 due to the touching subject.

[The Blackbird]

542 O-Chul wins forever. Also Xykon had a great ending line.

[Olorin Maia]

550mandatory ten characters.

[TerrickTerran]

I'll have to go with 542 for awesome Xykonness.

[memnarch]

550 for me. It's got O-Chul and the Monster in the Darkness.

[Ceric]

550 is just so... so... aww.
Although 542 was a good contender.

[Forbiddenwar]

542 can't win if fewer people vote for it, no matter how awesome it was.
So my vote is 542
for for the title most of all. Imagine squeezing in two completely different pop references in just a few words.

[Rhydeble]

542 of course!

O-chul is just friggin awesome.

[Killer Angel]

O-Chul is a badass incarnate, but sorry, i vote for 538.
Too much fun in it. Go Belkar! (and seriously: Darkblood Gloomgloom? :smallbiggrin:)

[phobiandarkmoon]

542, for the epic sharks in acid

[Zordrath]

These strips are when it all began to go downhill with Celia... on the other hand, they also mark the start of the friendship between O-Chul and the MitD, one of my favorite parts of that story arc. That's why my vote goes to 550, even though in itself it's not particularly funny.

[petersohn]

Celia or O-chul? Of course O-chul! 550.

[Joerg]

542, no real contest.

[Morgan Wick]

Bump not so much because it needs it (though it's near the bottom of page one and last post was yesterday) but to avoid confusing it with the rounds I just commented on.

[Cleverdan22]

542

I just can't deny O-chul's badassery.

[David Argall]

538. This is a comedy and O-Chul being dramatic should be ruled out.

[Killer Angel]

538. This is a comedy and O-Chul being dramatic should be ruled out.

QFT. When O-Chul appears, peoples seem to forget that this is OotS comic, not "O-Chul and friends".
Don't misunderstand me, I like very much the guy, but it's a pity he will stomp good and funny comics like 538, only 'coz "he's so badass!".
(sorry for the little not-so-serious rant)

[war_illithid]

538 for the lulz.

[Vargtass]

I am torn between 538 and 542. Both contain a mini-story, excellently told, and in the case of 542, the character of O-Chul becomes clearer, especially in the light of 670 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0670.html), tenth panel.

In the end, main characters triumph: 538 for me!

[Hann]

542. Because of Sheer O-Chul badarsery.

[Herald Alberich]

Probably throwing away my vote here, but I'm gonna go with 532.

[Red XIV]

I've got to go with 550.

[Cleverdan22]

538. This is a comedy and O-Chul being dramatic should be ruled out.

No it shouldn't. Sorry, but while I certainly love the strips of comedy, a lot of them are around, and many I find funnier than the ones on this list. However, while Order of the Stick can really shine during funny moments, it shines even brighter during awesome moments. When Order of the Stick gets dramatic, it is GOOD, and that O-chul strip is certainly an example of that.

Just because you define best as "funniest" it doesn't mean everyone else has to.

[Kronno]

538. Don't mess with the Belkar!

[Aaron]

I pick 538, for Belkar!!! :smallbiggrin:

[Blackjackg]

550, definitely. The Gods are right-- O-Chul did do well that day.

538 a distant second.

[Silverraptor]

Attention.
The polls are now closed.

Please wait for the results to be calculated by Nazzo, the 102nd.

Any votes after this will not count.

[Nazzo, the 102nd]

Official results.

530 - 0 (0.00%)


532 - 2 (4.45%)
dps; Herald Alberich

538 - 11 (25.00%)
Needle; kerberos; Onyavar; warmachine; Tannhaeuser; Killer Angel; David Argall; war_illithid; Vargtass; Kronno; Aaron

542 - 19 (43.18%)
Nights1stStar; Kurald Galain; SlightlyEvil; Foryn Gilnith; Kroy; xelliea; FireDrake; MrPig; OdinsWatcher; Silverraptor; gamerboy6000; The Blackbird; TerrickTerran; Forbiddenwar; Rhydeble; phobiandarkmoon; Joerg; Cleverdan22; Hann

550 - 12 (27.27%)
The_Void; Gift Jeraff; Tricia; Janmorel; Assassin89; Olorin Maia; memnarch; nightmaj; Lord Zordrath; petersohn; Red XIV; Blackjackg

[Morgan Wick]

O-Chul 5:42 says I just whooped your ass (again)... but not to the extent you might have thought. 538 and 550's battle for second was intense enough (especially on the second page) that the two of them combined for enough votes to have potentially beaten 542, which didn't reach 20 by my count the way a good dominant strip should, which may not bode well for 542 in BotH when it'll go up against two tough challenges from the second half.

(What does it say about a BotQ round when 530 receives no votes and 532 receives two? It's Celia hatred rearing its ugly head again, that's what. Worth noting that 530 came out of a round that never got past the first page, since it was against Celia strips and lackluster Roy action and Belkar caused it to win almost by default, and even then 528 almost won anyway; I even predicted it would be the runt while the round was still ongoing. Remind me to discount Celia strips in the Seventh Hundred. 538's performance is the only saving grace for 578 two rounds from now. In fact it says a lot that a technically-Celia strip could challenge an O-Chul strip, although I thought 550 could have been the runt in its group of five and beat the best shot to challenge 542, a round I generally mangled.)

552 feels weak for a BotQ contender to me (and came out of a round I called weak, though I later claimed it would be top three), although it does bring the funny and the Elan. 560 probably brings more of both, though, for Elan imagining Therkla as a superhero, and is the favorite from the Elan-group part of this quarter. But despite a lackluster effort from 565 (about whose round I said could produce this round's runt, and I nailed how that round played out, so take from that what you will), 560 will have a hard time with the plot-critical strips 568 and 572, Belkar's Mark of Justice activating and Roy's escape from the Oracle. (I called 572's round weak and another potential runt for this round, but I mangled it because that was where the Celia Rebellion started in force, and it appears to have grown on me in the interim.)

Those two will definitely challenge each other and, with the funny crowd asserting itself in this round by backing 538 loudly, they'll be even more in force with the anti-Celia crowd not turned off by their strip and 560 will definitely challenge for at least second, although with one word - "Lickmyorangeballshalfling" - 568 will siphon away some of their support, and that could be enough to top 572. (At the moment, 568 is more plot-critical anyway, and after its group of five I proclaimed it the BotQ favorite.) 552 and 565 will probably be the runts, but neither will go voteless and they'll combine for more votes than this round. (And given that 552 now looks like the poor man's 560, I think it'll be more runty than 565.)

Hey David Argall, 10 gold says the order of the next round is 568, 572, 560, 565, and 552. I'll even predict vote numbers, same order: 16, 11, 10, 5, 2.

I may be late with the next round's commentary because I don't intend to come back to the forums until after I've finished a much-needed (considering the break) and long-planned archive binge from the beginning. I hope to have refreshed commentary afterwards.