The Stick Awards II: Second Edition (#0791 - #0800)

[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 791 through 800.

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 April 14th, 4pm EDT. Any votes made after that will NOT count toward the totals.

Last week, http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g68/Cats_Are_Aliens/Banners/gannjismileysmall.png 783 Cold Blooded (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0783.html) was forced to fight for the amusement of the judges and spectators. While it apparently didn't earn the favor of one particularly trigger happy judge, the rest of the panel was moved by its plight and sent it on its way to the Best of the Hundred Tournament.

...

I'm sure all of those arrows that were sent their way as they were making their preparations were just going-away presents. :smalleek: Yeah... That's the ticket.

Either way, that'll be a subject to be handled later. For it looks like the action is starting to heat up with the next set of contestants who wish to prove their worth. And what better way to salute their solving their problems the good ol' fashioned way than by choosing a victor in.....

.THE STICK AWARDS II: 0791 - 0800

791 Don't Get MAD (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0791.html)
792 Animal Instincts (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0792.html)
793 Critical Thinking (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0793.html)
794 We Recommend Tsukiko (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0794.html)
795 Back to the Action (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0795.html)
796 Smash (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0796.html)
797 Bird Brained (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0797.html)
798 Change of Plans (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0798.html)
799 In the Bag (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0799.html)
800 Right Tool for the Job (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0800.html)

[D.One]

I'd go with 800: Right Tool for The Job. It shows V using Inteligence instead of power to decode the enemy and devise a strategy. Also, I believe the appropriate proclamation is "Sneak Attack, Bitch."

[Jaxzan Proditor]

I'll go with #795.

[LadyEowyn]

794, both for Elan managing to seduce a succumbus and for the funny inversion of the "girls want bad boys" trope.

[Gift Jeraff]

#795. Funny first, third, and last panels. Plus, I was starting to think we would never get another update after a month of nothing, so it has somewhat of a sentimental value attached to it.

#794 would be my second choice.

[137beth]

Wow, this is a tough one. V, Roy, and Elan all have awesome moments: Elan outwits Nale and Sabine in 793-794, Roy makes an amazing comeback against Thog, and V finds Z's weakness. Ultimately, though, I'm going to go with the awesome moment for the under-appreciated order member: Blackwing in 797

[nogall]

794: go daring romantic scape artist Elan!

[Emanick]

Fantastic round. This is easily one of the best action sequences in the history of the comic. I'm starting to fear that Book Six won't be able to live up to its predecessor.

Since they're all such great strips, I'm going to underanalyze this and just go with 799: In The Bag for "insufferably terse dullard," because I love the turn of phrase to death. Also, V's sudden epiphany is a thoroughly excellent moment and probably represents the most significant character development in this series of ten.

[ti'esar]

:nale:: "Oh really? Why don't you just go chase after him, then?"
:sabine:: "Nale, you know I love you. I didn't -"
:nale:: "No, I mean literally. Go chase after him. He's escaping."

I don't know if this exchange is the best part of the comic it's in, or if that comic is objectively the best of this set - but it's still always made me laugh really hard. I vote for 794.

[Bird]

I'd go with 800: Right Tool for The Job. It shows V using Inteligence instead of power to decode the enemy and devise a strategy.
Yes--I'll also take 800.

[thatSeniorGuy]

Hmm, fairly even spread for me here, I guess I'll go with 795.

[Elenna]

Lots of great strips. I love :elan: seducing the personification of illicit sex, but I'm going to have to go with 800.
:vaarsuvius: I believe the appropriate proclamation is "Sneak Attack, bitch."

[Meph]

Lovely bunch, by my current mometum I'll call the 800.

[Killer Angel]

There are really many good strips, with little epic moments (the ones already cited, plus the still unmentioned "Thog elegant in Thog's simplicity" :smallbiggrin:)...
but I agree that 800 got something more.

[Cartographer7]

I'll help cement 800's lead.

[ChristianSt]

791 - Don't Get MAD elegant in 791's simplicity.

[littlebum2002]

800

I <3 V's brain

[Mike Havran]

Here's a vote for #795.

[kivzirrum]

Seems like I'm in the minority, but 793 for me just edges out 794, which easily edges out the rest. Elan is one of my two favorite characters in the entire strip, and his dialogue in the last few panels is just the kind of adorable hilarity I have come to love him for.

[Emperordaniel]

#800. Sneak attack!

[Gilphon]

Voicing my support for 794, because one needs to vote for silliness over drama sometimes.

[declinator]

800 - it's always good to see when people use their intelligence in combat. :vaarsuvius: for victory.

[martianmister]

794 We Recommend Tsukiko

[NADRIGOL]

My vote is for 800.

[137beth]

By the way, I noticed a mistake in the 'main' Stick Awards thread (I can't respond to it there due to the thread's age):

601-600) (29 total votes)
1st) 639 - If They Pull a Knife...
2nd) 657 - Second Chance
3rd) 628 - Every Parent's Worst Nightmare
---) 661 - The Path of Least Expectation
I think that should be 601-700.

[Xihirli]

The Right Tool for the Job.
It, and the comic immediately after, shows just how far Vaarsuvious has come from his original elven arrogance, that if you have truly beaten your opponent, you do not have to prove it.


:smallbiggrin: :smallbiggrin: :smallbiggrin: :smallbiggrin: :smallbiggrin: :smallbiggrin: :smallbiggrin: :smallbiggrin:

[AvatarVecna]

Decisions, decisions...I'm gonna cast my vote for #800, but I feel the need to mention my runner-up, since I haven't seen it mentioned yet, and I'm gonna explain why I love it so much.

Every once in a while, we get a comic that isn't focused on comedy, or tragedy, or drama, or character development; it's focused on the characters we know and love (or at least, love to hate) being pure, stone cold badasses. This is Roy winning at combat with Intelligence (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0808.html), Belkar carving his way through hobgoblins (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0439.html) and thieves (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0611.html) alike, Hayley rendering Belkar speechless (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0470.html), Elan's debut as a Dashing Swordsman (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0393.html), Durkon taking down an army of his sworn enemies with a single spell (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0352.html), Vaarsuvius doing what high-level evokers do best (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0919.html) or showing off hir ultimate arcane power (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0638.html), Nale taking down Malack out of the blue (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0906.html), Redcloak taking down Tsukiko (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0830.html), Soon curbstomping two extremely high-level casters (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0462.html), and O-Chul in just about (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0542.html) every comic (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0655.html) he's fighting (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0670.html).

And there's one in this series: Comic #796 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0796.html) shows a high-level, gearless barbarian who has searched his loincloth thoroughly and found absolutely no ****s to give. Thog put a dent in a thick stone wall using Roy's head as a battering ram, kicked Roy's sword away with such power and accuracy that it decapitated an innocent bystander on the other side of the arena, takes two powerful punches without even blinking, denting another arena wall by throwing Roy roughly 50 ft, slams Roy into the ground, and finishes it off by slamming a piece of wall three times his size (and probably several times his weight) into Roy's face.

This is Thog the Barbarian, showing exactly why a high-level Barbarian is a monster in melee combat.

[Porthos]

By the way, I noticed a mistake in the 'main' Stick Awards thread (I can't respond to it there due to the thread's age):

I think that should be 601-700.

Fixed, thanks. :smallsmile:

Since that's a curation thread, I haven't been paying attention to Thread Necromancy rules. I'll double check with a mod sometime soon about posting in it, however. :smallsmile:

Might have an announcement in that thread semi-soon, anyway.....

======

Ah, decisions decisions. Hmmm. Surprised there's not a single vote for 798, actually. The line about "'Loveable miser' crass" was pure gold and one I've always loved. For that alone, it deserves a vote sent its way.

And with that....

VOTING IS NOW CLOSED!

:vaarsuvius: 800 Right Tool for the Job (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0800.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: 0791 - 0800



Comic Number
Votes Received
Vote Percentage





791

1

3.85





792

0

0.00





793

1

3.85





794

5

19.23





795

4

15.38





796

0

0.00





797

1

3.85





798

1

3.85





799

1

3.85





800

12

46.15




Please join us for as we embark once more into the Best of the Hundred tournament, which can be found here. :smallsmile: