The Stick Awards II: Second Edition (Best of the Thousand) [THE FINALS!]

[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.

The time has come to finally conclude The Stick Awards II as we are now at the Finals for The Best of the Thousand Tournament! Now we decide which strip will stand alone, apart from all the others. Or at least the first thousand. :smallwink:

For full details about the Stick Awards, and any questions about them, 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 four listed is your favorite. Bolding the number of the comic (Like this) helps it stand out.

Voting, which only lasts five days during the Best of the Thousand Tournament will close on November 1st, 4pm EST. Any votes made after that will NOT count toward the totals.

The winner of this strip will be crowned the champion of the Stick Awards II.

In the second semi-final, :redcloak: 830 - Tidying Up (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0830.html) finally and swiftly dealt with the strips that had been holding it back for so long. Now, here at the end, it is going to make its move to avenge all the slights and degradations it has suffered throughout its existence as it moves on to the Finals of this entire tournament.

Meanwhile, :elan: 367 - Innocent Man (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0367.html) not only notched up 'nother victory, it not failed to not advance and in so doing kept ahold of Wild Card Slot #1.

Lastly, but certainly not leastly, http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g68/Cats_Are_Aliens/Banners/Tarquin.png 763 - Plotting Something (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0763.html) lay lurking in the shadows. The time for speeches and grand pronouncements was long since past. Instead it quietly sipped its drink and and strode into the Finals to meet its destiny by winning Wild Card Slot #2.

1000 became 100. 100 became 10. Now there can be only one. Our Gathering has come and it is time to claim the Prize. Will the winner here be the Best The Order of the Stick Comic of All Time?

Perhaps. Perhaps not. But it will be indisputable that whatever comic triumphs here will have bested all others when the chips were down. And for that, it will more than deserve its moment in the sun.

So now, it's hour come round at last, it is time to vote in the very last.....

................THE STICK AWARDS II:
BEST OF THE THOUSAND TOURNAMENT
...............(THE FINALS!)

367 - Innocent Man (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0367.html)
464 - Not for Everyone (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0464.html)
763 - Plotting Something (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0763.html)
830 - Tidying Up (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0830.html)

[Mordae]

After all the agonizing decisions from the semis, this one is surprisingly easy for me. Only one of these four has relevance to the plot enough to make it worthy of the Best of the First Thousand.

830.

[dmc91356]

Yup, what he said. 830

[Gift Jeraff]

Screw your dramatic deaths and Troper Tales-tier monologue.

#367

[ChristianSt]

Out of this selection I can rather easily vote for 830 - Tidying Up. Not sure if I would picked it up as favourite strip overall, but certainly one pretty memorable strip and certainly not to shabby to take the crown. (Not that the other one are bad per se - but I think they can't really match what 830 brings to the table.)

[Bird]

Huh. Familicide didn't make it. I never thought the page I'd vote for would be from the first half, but evidently, that's what's going to happen. 830 is tempting--it's a fine page--but I can't get over how much I prefer 832 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0832.html). To me, the tension of that final Redcloak/Xykon moment has it all over the relatively straightforward Redcloak/Tsukiko relationship.

For me, it's 464.

Not sure how much more I have to say about these pages at this point, but the tonal ambivalence in Soon's dialogue does it for me. He wasn't (and isn't) the most developed OotS character, but that the Giant convincingly allows him to hit a variety of emotional notes within one page (disapproval, anger, pensiveness, encouragement) is a nice trick of writing.

Oh, and the composition of the penultimate panel, with the fading Soon between the two bisected Miko pieces and above the scrap of her cloak, is pretty sharp.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

Well, I have to admit that this wasn't the final round I was expecting. Oh well, I guess that's what happens when all the strips you like are clustered together. I think my final vote will be for #464!

Also, huge thanks to Porthos for running this almost perfectly punctually for two years! :smallsmile:

[Sylian]

830 is probably one of the best strips in the whole comic. It deserves to win.

[Domino Quartz]

As always, #830. While there are story arcs that I like better, I can't think of an individual strip that I like better than #830. Once again, it was satisfying to see Tsukiko get what was coming to her.

[Emanick]

I'm just going to quote myself from the last thread, because I think I explained my support for 763: Plotting Something there well enough, and there's no sense in writing the same thing out in two different ways.


More than any other strip The Giant has written, it constitutes a unique contribution to literature, IMO. I've seen bits of Tarquin's speech cited around the Internet, even in places that have little to no cultural connection with this community.

"The end of what, Son? The story? There is no end, just the point where storytellers stops talking."

That strip is real Literature, with a capital L. Literature in the classic sense, where only the greatest bits of the written word get to count. It'll be worth reading a century from now. Probably a millennium from now, too, unless by that point we're all just hyperintelligent brains-in-a-jar who tell algorithm jokes to pass the ages.

[The gF]

I already made my arguments for both 464 and 830, which leaves me with a tough choice!

464 is just lovely-- a righteous send-off for a well-meaning person who allowed her flaws to consume her. Soon's musings on redemption and the importance of having the audacity to question oneself are so quintessentially Rich Burlew, I have a hard time picking anything else.

At the other end, in 830, a surprisingly well-adjusted person who KNOWS that she wants to do horrible things to people, and is just fine with that (and although she has some creepy obsessions, they're played more for laughs than Miko's are by comparison) is gruesomely put down as the endlessly toiling minion, Evil but not without purpose-- a purpose that some might even consider noble, certainly from Redcloak's own perspective-- finally steps up and makes it clear that no matter what Xykon may think, Redcloak himself is the ultimate villain. A comeuppance, and an escalation of the plot in a way few other strips have managed, not to mention the casual way Redcloak effortlessly asserts dominance over Tsukiko's own creations and turns them on her.

But... man, Soon's speech. I have to give it to 464.

[Tentreto]

This is gonna be hard...I personally wanted 550 in this, but anyways...
367 is a great character piece for Elen, and is where he begins to define himself as more than a bard, but I feel it lacks the impact of other scenes.
464 is a good piece, and is a possibility
763 is another characterisation for Elen, but similarly to 367, I won't vote for it.
830 is possibly the great reveal for Redcloaks scheming, and is a powerful piece

I just noticed that these were all essentially conversations between two people..hmm.

Anyway, my choice in this final is 464

[Rakoa]

It can't be anything but 763.

[unbeliever536]

I'd like to have 464 acknowledged as the best of its 500; it's better than its competitors by a pretty big margin.
.
But 830 is the clear king of this bunch.

[antipodeF]

Huh. 1000 and 999 didn't make it? I might be confused as to how this works..... well anyway, I vote for 464.

[Emperordaniel]

#0464 Not for Everyone wins my final vote.

[137beth]

Wow, this is quite possibly the toughest vote so far. I'll have to sleep on this decision....

[thatSeniorGuy]

So after 2 years and 5 months, we're finally here, at the end of all things the final countdown the final round. I just want to say a huge thanks to Porthos for arranging this, and for sticking (pun not intended) around to see it to the end.

That said, I think the last round persuaded me that 830 will see it enemies crushed, especially if they were stupid enough to come up against it.

[Arvedui]

830 it is, then.

[Bluepaw]

Here's to you guys -- and the best story ever. #763.

[Gilphon]

Even though I voted against it before, I'm going to have to give it to 464 this time. 367 is a better representative of the first half, but, well, at the end of the day, it turns out 464 was the strongest emotional note.

[Laurana]

I would like to vote for Elan, but although 387 is one of my absolute favourites in the whole comic, 367 definitely is not. I don't even find it funny, and I don't see the character development that others see in there, yet.

Among those, I'm voting for 763. Tarquin at his best, and a great, great speech.

Even though 830 is a very powerful strip, I find it really disappointing that it wins the whole tournament, what with being about a confrontation between two villains, one of which is minor and the other only shadowily main (and if 464 somehow manages it, it's even more disappointing).

Anyway, this has been great, even though I only recently joined, and I'd like to profusely thank Porthos for running the thing, and smoothly too. Rock on, elf buddy! (random quotations inc.)

[nogall]

367. at the end of the day, OOTS is still a "com(ed)ic" comic strip and the best of 1000 should honor this. :smallbiggrin:

thanks Porthos for the great ride!

[declinator]

Among this line-up, my vote goes with Redcloak and 830.

[breathandpaper]

763 please! If not, I hope at least Miko wins over Redcloak.=P

[Vargtass]

I vote for 464. The Giant's skill comes through in allowing for a tragic moment, evoking pity for an antagonistic former paladin, out of reach of redemption ...

[littlebum2002]

367, first time this comic really hit us in the feels

[zql]

This one is easy: #830

[Euclidodese]

It's between 367 and 830 for me... Erm... 367. Yes... No. 830... No. 367. No. Yes... 367. 367. Yep. Nope. Nope, 830. Final answer: 830.

[FLHerne]

Last time I voted for #830. It's the most plot-relevant, it's got the most impact, contrasting Redcloak and Tsukiko's opposing views on the undead is interesting.

But darkness and philosophising isn't a good representation of OOTS as a whole - there's no humour, none of the protagonists. If you showed someone (only) #830 as the best OOTS strip, they'd get a very different impression from the reality.

I'll vote for #763 - the speech is Evil, but also perfectly fitted to Elan's ideas from the very early strips, and quite funny. It's an important bit of character development for him, and Tarquin on his own is one of the best characters.

[HolyCouncilMagi]

As somebody who dislikes the general Paladin archetype (as presented in D&D) strongly, I still have to give this one to 464. It was heart-wrenching and probably gave the most to think about. 763 and 830 both sort of punched you in the face with realizations, which was fantastic in its own way, but they didn't really worm their way into my mind in the same way 464 did. Soon was a very powerful character for his extremely short appearance and Miko was one of the most well-developed non-main characters in OOTS, so seeing them both send off in such a fitting way was quite a punch in the gut as well.

So yeah, there's my vote. 464, I believe in you!

[Killer Angel]

Between this selection, I'll vote for 830.

But 464 and 763 were worth the final, indeed. "The Stick Awards" has been a wonderful journey!

[LadyEowyn]

I'm actually really suprised by the contestants in the final. I had the Familicide strip picked as the likely winner of the tournament (the Deus Elf Machina arc won the "favourite story arc" tournament, and Vaarsuvius won favourite character, so that whole storyline certainly made an impact), and it didn't even make it to the finals.

Also interestingly - Elan is the only member of the Order of the Stick featured in the 4 finalist strips. We've got 2 strips with Elan (with Thog and Tarquin also as major elements), 1 with Redcloak, and 1 with Miko.

I'm voting for 830, an absolutely fantastic Redcloak strip.

[Mike Havran]

Yeah, it has to be #763. That strip is just magnificent in its display of an ultimate villainous plan, based on the simple (and debatable) premise that ''Audiences always think the villain is cooler than the hero, anyway''*. Even though Tarquin's threat to the protagonists is relatively small compared the other bad guys in-universe, this plan of his is something that transcends the plot itself. Snarl and Gates and IFCC are ultimately a worldbuilding element to a fairly standard fantasy tale, while Tarquin's strategy utilizes even factors beyond the reach of a storyteller. That's some serious brilliance.

Tarquin, in the end, lost the episode not because his strategy was refuted, but because he did not manage to adhere to it. He ''chose'' to forcefully alter the plot instead of quietly bidding his time, knowing that as long as he remains calm and smug, the plot has to come back to him anyway, because he is prescripted to lose, and his loss is what will move Elan forward.

In the end, that is the best part of the OotS for me, so far.

*Case in point: in Best of Thousand Tournament, two of the finalist strips focus on villains, one on a non-villainous antagonist, and one on a protagonist. A protagonist is featured only in two of the four finalists, and out of the six original protagonists, only a single one appears in the finals.

[ChillerInstinct]

Kind of surprised that 763 didn't flat out WIN last round, and in fact only barely snuck in. All of these finalists are great, don't get me wrong... but only one brutally decontructs the very concept of heroic fantasy, let alone as masterfully as Plotting Something.

It is, in my mind, THE very best strip in OotS history. Whether it wins here or not.

[Will22]

763. Simply narrative mastery.

830 is good, but not legendary material. The giant's strength has always been in his writing, and compared to a "the fury" episode done well, tarquin's speech contains many more layers and transcends the mere story.

[Cizak]

"I just- I don't understand you! How can you be like this? Don't you know your favorite things never win??"

"Like most things, 'winning' is a matter of perspective. You're a comic reader, right? How many strips have you read that most readers did not love as much as you did?"

"I dunno... dozens, I guess."

"What is the one thing they all have in common? The one fact they all share?"

"They always lose in popularity to other strips!"

"Arguable. No, the one thing they all have in common is this: The strips you love exist. They were made by the author, and will continue to be published regardless of if other specific strips get more attention! Don't you see? The rules of drama to which you subscribe as a reader tell us that such strips can exist - indeed, MUST exist - and gain just enough attention that no one realistically thinks that they can win a fan poll. Else, where's the drama in a reader voting for them? And if such strips are necessary, why shouldn't I vote for one?"

"But other strips always GET more votes! And win the polls!"

"You know, you can't always fixate on the negative. You should try being more optimistic. If someone reads a comic strip and finds it holds up through several rereads, and then it doesn't get nearly enough votes in a poll as they expected, what do you think they're going to remember as the poll ends?"

"...That their favorite strip lost?

"No, that they got to read a masterfully composed strip and enjoy it! Sure the poll results sucked, but you can't have everything."

"But in the end-"

"The end of what? The poll? There is no end, there's just the point where the readers stop voting. Somewhere between "strip of the week" and "your favorite strip doesn't get as much love as you'd ideally like" there's a sweet spot where guys like me get enjoy their favorite strip as long as they want. As long as I go into this accepting that other readers' opinions will differ from mine, then I win - no matter what actually happens. And hey, I was willing to make that deal when I thought it would be some random gag-a-day strip being more popular than my favorite. Now, I can really see the big picture. It's your favorite! If any strip will ever be more popular than my favorite, it will be yours. I knew it the moment I saw it up for voting. All the pieces fell into place."

"Ok, well, then, let's do this voting thing, and you don't have to vote."

"No, no, no! I'm not going to take a dive for you. You need to EARN it. Besides, it's too early. We're only on the second page of the thread. The tension needs to build more. You need to build up a pool of votes for your favorite, staying just above mine. Plus, I have to wait for all the Tarquin lovers to notice this thread. So, you go get some more votes and we'll tally them in, say, four days?"

"I can't let you get more votes for four days!"

"Well, if you want, we could end the voting early... But the way these things go, you'll probably end up with a bunch of really upset readers."

"Oh, right. Like, flaming and scrubbed posts, at the very least."

"Right! Exactly. Besides, I'd think you would be happy about this."

"Happy?? To find out that a comic I don't think deserve the number one spot is competing for it?"

"Sure. It'll make a great thread. Think about it. An epic for the ages! Strip vs strip! Readers vs readers! One emotional readthrough vs another one! We'll be read until the end of history! My strip number will be immortalized forever."

"As a the less popular one!"

"So what? Readers always reread all strips that are up for voting, anyway. That's the beauty of it all. If I win, my favorite gets to be the most popular strip. If I lose, I still got to make this post which was really fun to write! I'll inspire a thousand more readers to reread my favorite strip. And it'll all be thanks to you.
Here's a vote for #763. This is going to be the best fan poll EVER."

[thatSeniorGuy]

...
Cizak, that is absolutely EPIC. All the internets to you.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

...
Cizak, that is absolutely EPIC. All the internets to you.

This. Hats off to Cizak. :smallsmile:

[ti'esar]

That was brilliant!

...But I'm still probably not going to vote for 763. Undecided as to what I do want to vote for, though.

[ChillerInstinct]

...Wow. Cizak... holy cow, man. Now THAT is how you go all the way. Beautiful.

[Emperordaniel]

...

*slow clap*

Well done.

[Laurana]

I'm actually really suprised by the contestants in the final. I had the Familicide strip picked as the likely winner of the tournament (the Deus Elf Machina arc won the "favourite story arc" tournament, and Vaarsuvius won favourite character, so that whole storyline certainly made an impact), and it didn't even make it to the finals.

Also interestingly - Elan is the only member of the Order of the Stick featured in the 4 finalist strips. We've got 2 strips with Elan (with Thog and Tarquin also as major elements), 1 with Redcloak, and 1 with Miko.


Nooooo, I never knew those existed! I would have totally loved to participate in those, and Vaarsuvius is only my 3rd favourite character! Woe is me.:smallsigh: :smallfrown:

[Pigkappa]

Given that my favourite strip (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0490.html) didn't make it to here, I will go for 763.

[nogall]

Bravo Cizak.

I was tallying up some votes and it seems that 3 of the 4 can still win: 464 and 763 are tied with 10 votes and 830 is a little bit ahead, with 13 (if my numbers are correct). What an exciting ending!

and if there is a tie in the end, wouldn't be nice if Porthos is the one with the deciding vote, as a due reward for the 2+ year project! :smallcool:

[Joerg]

830 isn't the best of the 1000 for me, but I'll vote for it anyway because it's better than 763 or 464.

[JoseB]

Hmmm ... 464, or 830...? 464, or 830...?

Alea iacta est! 830!

[Deprox]

"What does that prove, exactly? Lots of votings grant a form of control. Like Referendums or Elections--"

"Those are votings from the Democracy and Public Office subschools, jerkass. This is strictly a Forum Poll subschool voting. I don't even think it targets a strip at all! The voters might not be educated enough to know the difference, but I do. I was expelled from some of the best forums in the Internet, you know.
They think they'll be able to choose their favorite strip and if it wins, use it to boast to their many peers, but it doesn't work that way, does it?"

"..."

"Thought so."

"And this information you seem to think you have uncovered... What do you intend to do with it?"

"Tell the voters! Duh!
The subforum have already contacted them to tell them the voting has been initiated, so they're swarming here any minute. When they do, I'm gonna tell them that you've been lying to them! How do you like that, pea-head?
And when I do tell them, they'll have you banned and promote me to be their Porthos. So we'll have to create lots of polls and threads together closely... Very closely. A lot of late nights, just them and me. And one night, as we're trolling by monitor light, they'll tell me 'THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS--"

"Not that interrupting that train of thought wouldn't be enough reason for me to speak-- but why exactly do you think I'm going to allow you to just tell them?"

"'Allow?' What's to allow? You're gonna 'allow' me to tell them because you're a spineless coward squirming under the voters' heel! You'll back down and just create descriptions for the winning comics like you have every time we've argued for hours for the last year or so.
Because you work for the readers, and the readers like me. Now, tell me what the voting does, so I can tell them!"

"*Sigh* It moves the Thread."

"lolwut?"

"The Thread upon which the voting has been initiated. It shifts it-- or rather, allows it to be shifted at a later time. To another forum, along with the discussion around which it has been built. The real life part of the voting also gives control of what forum the Thread arrives to my deity, the Giant, rather than to myself or the voters. In that way, the Giant may use the threat of releasing angry readers and trolls on their home forums to blackmail the other webmasters into a series of concessions that will improve the lives of the moderators."

"That... that doesn't help the voters at all!"

"Yes, I know. That's why I've kept it from them for more than 30 threads."

"Twelve Mods... I didn't think..."

"You're right, of course. About me. I have let you have your way, time and again, because stopping you would have caused lots of angry posts and probably have me banned. But now... right now... not stopping you will cause even more. Argue back."

"tl;dr" "You're wrong about everything."

"What the--?
Sweeties, you need to read carefully my arguments. You need to understand everything I'm saying."

"We're sorry, Old Poster. Your arguments are way back on third page."

"She has a quoting tool that will make you read the same stuff over and over, doesn't she? Ignore it since it's too long."

"GAAAH! Read it! I'm going to go on and on about the same thing once again if you don't!"

"That's what you've never understood about the forum posters, troll. You treat them like people, when they're nothing but bits of nitpicking and walls of text and circular logic, glued together by a profile into the shape of an avatar with a signature."

"Report thread!"

"This thread won't be locked."

"LOGOUT!"

"Logging out won't delete your posts.
So many arguments. So few that can be used when losing a discussion.
See, the forum posters are tools. Powerful, debating tools. From the lowliest troll to the voters themselves, the forum posters are just complex people with a desire to lose hours on the same topic. All that differs is how long or short are their walls of text.
For your beloved lurkers, one use of my Bait ability when I walked into the thread was more than up to the task. For our so-called voters, more creative strategies are required."

"You don't control the voters! They control the strips that win!"

"Like I said: {Quoted wall of text}."

"You bastard! The voters will report you and destroy you and every one of your filthy voting posts when they find out about this."

"Maybe. Would they have not reported me if they knew I have been deceiving them, though? I highly doubt it.
Because let's be clear: If I tolerated your humiliating attempts to chase me thread over thread, nitpicking everything I said-- it was only because arguing back would be the biggest waste of time in my life and would divert the attention from the poll on which "the voters" unknowingly make their choices. But if you're going to stand here and tell me that you'll expose that the polls are a lie? If you're going to be THAT stupid? There can only be one rational response to that.
Troll her until you have her fired up. Then have her banned."

"lol angry?"

"NO!!
Wall of text. You're wrong because wall of text. He just wants you to think I'm wrong because wall of text. You can - AAAGH! - You can ignore my posts! But you'll say I'm right if you do so!
No! NO!! Don't you - AAAGH! - Don't you understand?
Of course you don't. You're all idiots! Idiots! Idiots!
Why is the mod... writing... in red...?"

"When you're all done with that, go vote for 830."

"Sure." "That's my favorite."

"Last one left, don't vote if it's after November 1st. No walls of text, please."

[Mordae]

Truly these voters are the greatest ever. :smallbiggrin:

[Laurana]

"Twelve Mods... I didn't think..."


This is hilarious! :smallbiggrin:

[Cizak]

*Greatness*

:smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin:

[Sir_Norbert]

Wow, it's a very long time since I last posted about my favourite strips -- and back then, #367 was my choice. I can't remember whether this was before #464 existed. Now, while I still love #367 for that speech, which is still the most ingenious and awesome piece of wordplay in the comic's run, and I'm very glad it got to the finals, now I'm voting for #464 for emotional impact and for the nostalgia of the debates we had back when Miko was alive.

#763 is also a stand-out strip that very much deserves its place in the final -- for me, though, it's just undermined because we later found out just how wrong Tarquin was about himself.

[ti'esar]

These awards are certainly ending in very colorful and creative fashion.

Still not sure what to vote for, except that it's probably not 763, which I maintain is too much bought into by readers.

[Bluepaw]

*snip*

twelve mods! :elan:

[FLHerne]

Changing my vote to #464, crossed out my previous post.

[Mordae]

Current standings, with two days of voting left...

367: 3
464: 11
763: 10
830: 16

[ChillerInstinct]

These awards are certainly ending in very colorful and creative fashion.


You can say that again (but you really don't need to). Now all we need are voters for the other two strips to do their own take on that as well. Any takers?

Bravo Deprox, thank you for doing your part in making sure these awards go out with a bang.

[DaggerPen]

Unbelievably difficult, but ultimately, I'm going to chip in my vote for 763 -Plotting Something . One of my favorite villain speeches of all time, and just as bone chilling now as it was then.

Edit:


<snipped awesome>


<more snipped awesome>

I love these forums. Whatever strip triumphs in the end, you two still win.

[Emanick]

Come on, people! 763 needs another burst of love! :smallsmile:

[Gift Jeraff]

I'm just going to quote myself from the last thread, because I think I explained my support for 763: Plotting Something there well enough, and there's no sense in writing the same thing out in two different ways.


Come on, people! 763 needs another burst of love! :smallsmile:

Are you trying to make it look like it got 2 votes? Disqualified.

[Yendor]

It's kind of a shame 936 didn't make it this far, as it shows up so well how wrong Tarquin is. The story's not about the villain, and even if it was, it wouldn't be about him. Tarquin will never get the epic showdown he wants. And the last we see of him is him complaining about the ending.

We'll just have to go meta, with a real villain taking down a third-rate wannabe. Redcloak and 830 it is.

[137beth]

For me, it came down to 464 or 830. I think in the end, I'm going to go with 464. It wrapped up Miko's arc so nicely, and 830 is mostly stuff I already knew from SoD.

[StLordeth]

No contest for me, Redcloak is the GOAT. #830.

[serenetempest]

Though I really would have wanted to vote for either 936: End of the Line or 449: Land of the Rising..., out of these #830: Tidyng Up just barely edges out 367: Innocent Man for me.

[Nazzo, the 102nd]

Whoa, three pages! Nice! :smallcool:

My vote is for #367, my choice for the first semi. Not that it's going to make a difference, but I wanted to vote on the very last round. You know, to bring a sense of closure. :smallsmile:

Thank you all guys that thave voted, it was a great ride. And Porthos, again, nice work!

[Emanick]

Are you trying to make it look like it got 2 votes? Disqualified.

That's a fair point, actually. I hadn't thought of that. Just edited post #2 to remove the bold font.

[GuySmiley1970]

I have to go with 464 here over 830. Both are powerful strips, but Soon's philosophical discussion on the nature of redemption tips it for me.

Ironically, if 830 wins, Tarquin's speech in 763 will be vindicated: "Audiences always think the villain is cooler than the hero is, anyway."

[Dushara]

I think Tarquin’s speech in 763 is a masterful meta-analysis, a story about stories that reminds me a bit of Beagle’s “The Last Unicorn”. It absolutely excels from a literary viewpoint. (And of course, there is much, much more, with great reactions from father and son, and lots of lovely humor interspersed throughout.) But 830 is dramatic and ruthless, with an unexpectedly poignant death for a villain I hated and a long awaited maturation for a villain I loved.

It is an extremely difficult choice. But I think I must choose 763, because the writing is so ineffably superb.

[Porthos]

For me, this is easy. I know that there's lots of love for 763 and 830, and deservedly so, but they're not for me. The other strips were all worthy, and then some. And 830 will more than deserve its place it will now hold.

But my vote, and the final vote for the Stick Awards II is for 464. It's just so serene and beautiful. Let others vote for evil gloating at the height of their power. Me? I'm going for the closure of an arc. A strip so powerful that it helped rehabilitate the character to a huge degree.

Any strip that can make the audience go "Alas, Poor Miko." is a strip worthy of making it this far. It won't ultimately win, but it deserves each and every vote it got, including mine.

And with that....

VOTING IS NOW CLOSED!

:redcloak: 830 - Tidying Up (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0830.html) is the winner of this final and THE WINNER OF THE STICK AWARDS II: SECOND EDITION!

Full Results are as follows:

.............THE STICK AWARDS II:
..BEST OF THE THOUSAND TOURNAMENT
......... (THE FINALS!)



Comic Number
Votes Received
Vote Percentage





367

4

8.33





464

14

29.17





763

11

22.92





830

19

39.58





Please join us in the The Stick Awards II: Second Edition (Results and General Commentary) thread here for any and all comments one might have about the Awards, the future of the Stick Awards, and perhaps, just perhaps, an announcement from one of our long time voters. :smallsmile: