The Stick Awards II: Second Edition (#0461 - #0470)

[Porthos]

Welcome to The Stick Awards II: Second Edition! :smallsmile:

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 461 through 470.

For full details about the Stick Awards, please check out the main thread here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=283609).

To read more about the original Stick Awards, created by Nazzo, the 102nd, please read his thread here. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34791)

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 June 25th, 4pm EDT. Any votes made after that will NOT count toward the totals.

Last week, :redcloak: 456 Saved Game (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0456.html) emerged victorious from a titanic duel whose like will probably be never matched again. It prize for winning was a ticket toward the Best of the Hundred tournament.

Things now stand at the precipice, where entire fates of nations and perhaps very worlds could be decided by the whims of fate. Thankfully, our choices are far less dire. Though perhaps the strips in question might differ with that assessment as only one of them can move forward in.....


.THE STICK AWARDS II: 0461 - 0470

461 I've Got a Bad Feeling About This... (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0461.html)
462 Good Idea, Bad Idea (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0462.html)
463 Shattered (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0463.html)
464 Not for Everyone (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0464.html)
465 No One Likes a Tattletale (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0465.html)
466 I Think I Left it in the Bag... (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0466.html)
467 Learn to Play it Right (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0467.html)
468 Splitting Up is Hard to Do (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0468.html)
469 Crossbones (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0469.html)
470 With Three Arrows Left in the Quiver (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0470.html)

[Jaxzan Proditor]

I will vote for #464.

[Gift Jeraff]

#464, though I'm tempted to vote for #462 just for having an almost touching moment between Xykon and Reddy.

[Jasdoif]

Despite all the arc-based epic-ry going around, it's clear to me that 464 has the most strength to stand in its own right. If only all characters had that kind of closing, where the consequences of their actions as driven by their personalities were condensed into a single strip and tackled directly.

[Emperordaniel]

I think I'll continue the ongoing trend and vote for #464: Not For Everyone - it has one of my favorite pieces of dialogue in the comic to date.

[Angelalex242]

We still debate the consequences of 464 to this day. Indeed, there are threads about it which are being debated by me even as we speak.

But not only is this the final death of a thought provoking character who we still haven't successfully decided which afterlife she's going to end up in...

Lord Soon's grace, tact, compassion, and diplomacy is the best example of such the Giant has given us to date. He comes across like the Epic Paladin he is. Giant rolled a natural 20 on his diplomacy that day, for sure. May all my Paladins be that tactful when the need arises.

[thatSeniorGuy]

462 I guess.

[Bird]

464 is indeed a thing of beauty. It's the complexity, the notes of tonal ambiguity that make it great.

But, what the heck, I'm going 465, because:

--Xykon taking Redcloak's side is perfectly in character and quite satisfying.
--For some reason, Xykon's line about how "we're the villains. We play rough" has always stuck with me.
--This strip sets up Tsukiko's entire arc.
--The last few panels are the perfect coda to 464. Great jab at reader/forum speculation about Miko becoming an undead by the Giant. The Giant even managed to make this joke without spoiling the dignity he gave Miko's death in the previous page. No mean trick.

[LadyEowyn]

Seriously? My favourite comic in the whole strip doesn't even win its best of ten? And it loses to a plot-irrelevant, character-irrelevant, gag comic?

Clearly my idea of what makes a good story doesn't match up with the majority of the forum voting in this.

This time, I think I'll go with 463 for the destruction of the gate, although it's close between that and 464.

[Timy]

it is 465 for me.

[ChristianSt]

Normally I'm more for the funny ones, but I think 464 - Not for Everyone deserves it. Not only because of Soon's talk, but also Miko's death have just an immense impact.

[FLHerne]

Seriously? My favourite comic in the whole strip doesn't even win its best of ten? And it loses to a plot-irrelevant, character-irrelevant, gag comic?

Clearly my idea of what makes a good story doesn't match up with the majority of the forum voting in this.

This time, I think I'll go with 463 for the destruction of the gate, although it's close between that and 464.
I agree with your first two points, but I'm going with the majority here and saying 464 is the better strip.

Seriously, in what possible way is 456 a good strip? :smallconfused:

[Meph]

464
But the Insult of Opportunity's idea shall never be forgotten.

[Bird]

I agree with your first two points, but I'm going with the majority here and saying 464 is the better strip.

Seriously, in what possible way is 456 a good strip? :smallconfused:
Since this appears to be becoming a separate discussion, I'll take me response RE: 456 to the main thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=17650307&postcount=42).

[declinator]

I'll also go with :miko: in 464, but I also want to second this statement:


But the Insult of Opportunity's idea shall never be forgotten.

[nogall]

470 for haley's all-around badassery.

[Mike Havran]

#464. End of the line for an exceptionally well-written tragic character.

[Emanick]

469 almost makes it for me. The first few panels of it are some of the funniest ones in this panel of the arc, IMO.

But I have to agree with the consensus and go with 464: Not for Everyone. It's simply an outstanding strip.

[Tris]

464 is perfect.

[137beth]

Overall I think this is a stronger batch than recent weeks. However, there is a clear strongest, making this an easier pick for me:
462

It does so many things. First, it shows that as strong as the army of paladins were, Redcloak was stronger. Redcloak turned and destroyed the entire army of ghost-martyrs, save for Soon himself. Arguably, this is the first time in the series where Redcloak is shown to be truly, phenomenally powerful. He's shown intelligence in his manipulation of Xykon right from the beginning. But in SoD and in the previous two books, he hasn't been the one with the power, Xykon was. Sure, we've seen him cast a few save-or-die spells (becoming the Supreme Leader of the hobgoblins, defeating the High Priest of the Twelve Gods), but here we see that he is more than just the highest level cleric around: he single-handedly destroyed the largest bastion of Good on the continent, destroying creatures that even Xykon had trouble fighting.
Then Soon strikes at both Xykon and Redcloak. For only the second time in the entire saga, Xykon seems mortal. From the first time we saw him as a teenager, Xykon seemed invulnerable. He was so much more powerful than anyone else around that there was no question he would win any fight he got into completely unscathed. Only when the Guardian Virus appeared did Xykon become anything but invincible. The Virus showed us that Xykon was, in fact, mortal.
But then as soon as he became a lich, any appearance of vulnerability vanished. Xykon went right back to being the unbeatable perfect casting god he had been as a human, only immune to diseases. Even when fighting Dorukan, possibly the most powerful Good-aligned arcane caster in the world, Xykon seemed unbeatable and survived completely unharmed. But now, at strip 462, Xykon has met, if not his match, at least someone who poses a legitimate threat to his life. There is a very real chance that Soon will destroy Xykon.


And then Miko makes her fatal decision and wraps everything up for us.

[Livius]

#465......

[David Argall]

A lot of strong candidates, but 464 is the winner.

[Torrasque]

462 for xykon and redcloak really having a shot at the prize there.

[czieg]

Although #464 is a great comic, my vote goes to #465 for sheer awesomeness by Haley. That entire sequence inspired a gunslinger character for me.

[Emperordaniel]

Although #464 is a great comic, my vote goes to #465 for sheer awesomeness by Haley. That entire sequence inspired a gunslinger character for me.

Uh, what? Haley doesn't even appear in #465 (or #466, for that matter). :smallconfused: Perhaps you were referring to #470?

[Killer Angel]

464 and be done with it!

[littlebum2002]

Insult of opportunity!
Insult of opportunity!

467

[137beth]

464 is on a roll. Come on, 462, you can do it!

[Codex]

#470 because :haley: so rarely gets a chance to shine.

[Sylian]

This is a strong bunch. #464 gets my vote.

[Porthos]

Well, even though I was prepared to give all the other comics here a fair shot, 464 just is THAT good. That's not to say that the other strips are lacking. Far from it. 470 is great, and up to this point, rare Haley/Belkar two hander. It provides a glimpse at how those two will indeed be able to carry the comic with their dynamic.

461 is also wonderful. Mostly for Elan's unwitting commentary on Miko's actions. 465 was a great poke at fandom, as well as furthering the Redcloak/Tuskiko dynamic.

But, in the end, Soon and Miko interacting was just too great. It's amazing that such a simple scene can be interpreted as differently as it has been by portions of fandom. Beyond that, it gave even some of Miko's loudest detractors a cause to say, "Alas, Poor Miko (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AlasPoorScrappy).

....

OK, only some. :smalltongue: But I do recall some commenting on her passing, in more sorrow than in anger. And ANY strip that can cause people to reassess a character like that deserves to move on, IMO. 464 it is, and this competition is better for it.

And with that....

VOTING IS NOW CLOSED!

:miko: 464 - Not for Everyone (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0464.html) 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: 0461 - 0470



Comic Number
Votes Received
Vote Percentage





461

0

0.00





462

3

11.11





463

1

3.70





464

16

59.26





465

4

14.81





466

0

0.00





467

1

3.70





468

0

0.00





469

0

0.00





470

2

7.41




Please join us for the next round of voting for Strips #471 - #480 which can be found here. :smallsmile:

[Jaxzan Proditor]

I think that 59.26% is the greatest portion of the votes that any comic has received in a while, although 449 came close.