The Brick Awards: The Best of the Worst tournament (#101 - #140)

[littlebum2002]

About 2 years ago, a great forumite named Porthos created an OOTS voting contest (based on a much shorter lived, but equally fantastic, previous version) which had forum goers vote on the best OOTS strips of all time. It was an impressive contest which has gone on for over 2 years (and only ended, or went on hiatus, due to running out of strips) and will undoubtedly be remembered in this forum as one of the most well-run ongoing threads on here.

This is not that contest. This is a shameless mockery of that contest.



Welcome to The Brick Awards, the best of the worst tournament! :smallsmile:

The Stick Awards were handed out to the best strips of all time as chosen by our fellow Playgrounders. However, when voting for the Stick awards, some strips felt left out, abused, unloved. Whether they simply were a weak strip, or a decent strip surrounded by amazing strips, for whatever reason some strips just didn't get any votes. :smallfrown:

So this contest is designed to give those strips the morale boost they need and deserve! I am collecting all the strips which received zero votes in the Stick awards and presenting them in groups of ten (Or, at least close to ten, since I don't want to cut off in the middle of a group of strips). We will then vote as to which is our favorite of the worst strips so we can finally decide which the best worst strip is!

(And let's be honest, even the worst OOTS strips are still pretty good and deserve our appreciation!)


To vote in this thread, simply state which comic of the ten nine listed is your favorite. Bolding the number of the comic (Like this) helps it stand out.

Voting for this week will close on Tuesday, November 17 at 10AM (MT). Any votes made after that will NOT count toward the totals.



.THE BRICK AWARDS: 0101 - 0140

101 Man-to-Man Chat (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0101.html)
104 Dramatic Pre-Battle Speech (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0104.html)
106 A Sure Bet (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0106.html)
108 Help from Above (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0108.html)
109 Tensions Rise (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0109.html)
117 Delayed Gratification (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0117.html)
131 Money Makes the World Go Round (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0131.html)
134 Craft (Plotline) (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0134.html)
138 Tomorrow's Technology Today (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0138.html)

[dmc91356]

I'm going with 134, because it set off the side quest that ultimately led to the whole Familiacide thing (and I love the fake smith's digs at humans and clerics).

[ChillerInstinct]

This selection of strips isn't as lively as the last bunch, but there's a few important ones here that, despite not sticking out so much on their own, help lay the foundation for large chunks of the comic to come. Alas, the humble support beam rarely draws the same amount of love that the wall it holds does.

With that in mind, there's a strip in this group that put a character's previous actions in a much different context, marked the start of a massive amount of character development, and whose direct impact on this comic only really stopped being relevant about two years ago.

I refer to none other than 131, which turned almost everything we knew about Haley up until that point on its head, directly led to her speech loss, and, seven years later, got a major payoff in BRitF.

It might not be the strongest comic on its own, but it certainly holds the weight of several other comics on its shoulders.

[Sir_Norbert]

#138 is delightfully silly and has always been one of my favourite of the early humorous strips. I'm honestly surprised it received zero votes.

[137beth]

131 for the incredibly long plot it sets up in BRiF.

[Laurana]

I like 101 for Elan predicting that Belkar would want to harvest the goblin kid's kidneys and Belkar actually going to do just that, I like 134 for the reasons dmc explained, but I'll pick #131.

Haley is my favorite character bar none. That was a _major_ strip. I remember being thoroughly struck when I read it for the first time.

[Euclidodese]

101... And not just 'cos it's a palindrome, 'cos 131 is one too.
But Elan's threat is just so good. It's inventive, it's funny... And to be honest it would probably work irl... Heck it'd work on me.

[ChristianSt]

Who doesn't need a Muskrat 3000? 138 - Tomorrow's Technology Today

[Killer Angel]

I would have voted for 138... if not for 131

[Bird]

Surprisingly difficult! I found this crop extremely competitive, and a lot stronger than the previous batch.

Haley's character development in 131 is a big deal, and I adore Elan threatening to cry in 101...but I think I'll go for 104. Just look at that lopsided banner. Just look at that dodgy spread. Do you want brown mash, or beige mash? What do you think is in the jello?

Never mind. I'm just going with 131; I don't want it to lose.

[Mordae]

Another vote for Elan. I'm sensing a pattern... 101.

[ti'esar]

Last time I went with enduringly amusing over long-term plot relevance. I think I'll reverse that this time, and vote for 131.

[Pyrous]

#106 - A Sure Bet

:redcloak: Sir, you actually said the words "wink, wink".
:xykon: Never bet against the gullibility of the good guys.

Classic.:smallbiggrin:

[StLordeth]

106 is one of the best strips from the entire first book IMO. Classic Xykon.

[Dushara]

101 for Elan being useful and Belkar being Belkar.

[Bulldog Psion]

I guess I'll go for 109 for various reasons -- Haley and Elan, Elan being oblivious which is funnier to me than it probably should be, and probably kind of a "pity vote" because I doubt anyone else will vote for it.

[Laurana]

I guess I'll go for 109 for various reasons -- Haley and Elan, Elan being oblivious which is funnier to me than it probably should be, and probably kind of a "pity vote" because I doubt anyone else will vote for it.

I like that one too! Thanks for voting for it, seeing that I could not bring myself to do it. :smallbiggrin:

[Rift_Wolf]

101

It shows Elan as competent, being able to read his opponent and get what he wants while not being afraid to demean himself to get it. He may be all ditsy and loveable the rest of the time, but in that moment we see his Inner Tarquin.

[Syldar]

134. So many plotlines stem from this... one... comic. If that quest didn't happen, then we wouldn't have the familicide plotline, Roy wouldn't have this awesome sword, all kinds of stuff.

[nogall]

wait, what #106?

[is it the first time this running joke is mentioned? =]

[Lvl 2 Expert]

104 has all the qualities I'm looking for in an enjoyable bad comic, including some casual cringe worthy racism against dwarfs and elves. 131 has a dramatic unveil of an important plot point, and would probably be my choice if I was just looking for a good strip. But I fear I must ones again go for the very last option, the low story gag strip 138 wins it for me.

[declinator]

My vote goes with :haley: and the reveal of her father's whereabouts: 131

[LotusWyvern]

I vote 138. It's just so silly.

[Vargtass]

I think 109 gets my vote, for excellent use of silent storytelling over several panels in a very simplstic artstyle of these early days.

Otherwise, honoury mentions go to 108 for being one I would love to see converted to the current artstyle.

[Tentreto]

Never voted or comedy in the stick awards... so 138 for a pretty good gag

[Sylian]

131, because we got some insight into Haley's character.

[War-Wren]

They've all got something to bring to the table... clever, classic Elan (101), wink, wink (106), the start of the smoldering, sexual tension between two of my favourite characters (109) long term plot foreshadowing (131), massive effects from one side-quest (134).... :smallconfused: It be so damn difficult!!

I'm gonna give my vote to 106, simply because, like Dronuspk and Pyros said, it is classic Xykon :smallbiggrin:

[Jaxzan Proditor]

I've always enjoyed #138.

[Mike Havran]

#138 it is. I liked the absurd omelet metaphor.

[Emanick]

Most of these are pretty clumsy in one way or another. But 138: Tomorrow's Technology Today isn't. It's plain old funny. It's aged well, too.

It's also completely irrelevant to the plot, which for some reason I appreciate right now. It's just so gratuitously zany. You gotta love it.

[Bluepaw]

101, for sure. I've always loved this early example of Elan's real bardic talent for creative solutions to unconventional problems...

[littlebum2002]

SO this post marks the end of voting, HOWEVER, I am currently stranded at an airport, on my phone, and unable to make a proper post so hopefully I will be able to post the results later today

[Gift Jeraff]

#104 even if it doesn't count.

[obaryb]

104 Dramatic Pre-Battle Speech is slightly better than others.

[littlebum2002]

Technically we had 3 "super-bricks" this week, but since that vote for #104 was SO close, I'll throw it a bone and say only #108 and #117 got the golden brick.

My vote, not that it affects anything, goes to #109

VOTING IS NOW CLOSED!

:durkon: 138 Tomorrow's Technology Today (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0138.html) is the winner this week. It will make it into my blatantly ripped off tournament at the end!

Full Results are as follows

........THE STICK AWARDS II: 0101-0140



Comic Number
Votes Received
Vote Percentage





101

5

17.2%





104

1

3.4%





106

4

13.8%





108

0

0%





109

2

6.9%





117

0

0%





131

7

24.1%





134

2

6.9%






138

8

27.6%





Please join us for the next round of voting for Strips #141-190 here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?460614-The-Brick-Awards-the-Best-of-the-Worst-tournament-(-141-190))

[137beth]

....why is 72 in the results table:smallconfused:?
And 108 and 117 enter the Hyper Brick Awards.