The Stick Awards II: Second Edition (BotH [#0501-#0600]) [FINALS]

[Porthos]

Welcome to The Stick Awards II: Second Edition!

The Stick Awards are handed out to the best strips of all time as chosen by our fellow Playgrounders.

Over the next few days, we're taking a bit of a break and finishing up The Best of the Hundred Tournament for Comics #501 - #600 as we take the time to decide which of the strips really are the best of best.

For full details about the Stick Awards, and any questions about them, please check out the main thread here.

To read more about the original Stick Awards, created by Nazzo, the 102nd, please read his thread here.

To vote in this thread, simply state which comic of the five 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 Hundred Tournament will close on October 25th, 4pm EST. Any votes made after that will NOT count toward the totals.

The winner of this Best of the Hundred final will go on to the Best of the Thousand tournament if and when we reach Comic Number 1000.

In the second semi-final, 568 - A Sign That You Have a Problem moved on to the finals as it was foretold by those who can foresee the future. Not to be outdone, the stirring oratory of 593 - Another Choice proved to be its equal in moving the judges' hearts. Thus both were deemed worthy to represent their comrades as winners of that semi-final.

Meanwhile, both 538 - Fiend or Foe? and 587 - What to Expect When You're Expecting Assassins threatened enough judges with death and discomfort that they too were allowed their place in the Best of the Hundred's Finals as the Wild Card representatives. Well, I mean, would you tell those strips they didn't have enough backers to move on? Good way to wind up with x's on one's eyes, I'd say!

One hundred more strips have been reviewed and proved worthy. But not quite worthy enough to send the victor on to the Best of the Thousand. For that we need one last set of judges to assemble for.....

................THE STICK AWARDS II:
BEST OF THE HUNDRED TOURNAMENT (501-600)
...................(Finals)

538 - Fiend or Foe?
550 - +1 BFF
568 - A Sign That You Have a Problem
587 - What to Expect When You're Expecting Assassins
593 - Another Choice

[ChristianSt]

After voting for 587 in the semi-finals, I just need to show some love for 593 - Another Choice.

[Bird]

538, my favorite Celia page.

[Killer Angel]

A hard choice.
I suppose I'll stick with 568, the beginning of Belkar's ordeal and of his subsequent character advancement.

[Mordae]

After voting for 587 in the semi-finals, I just need to show some love for 593 - Another Choice.

My vote is like this, but it has my name on it. 593.

[NobodyWasTaken]

No votes for 550 yet? Oh, alright.

[GAAD]

Third time voting, third time voting for the same thing
593 all the way.

[littlebum2002]

By far the best finals yet. So many good ones to choose from!
As much as I love O-Chul, I'm going to have to go with 593

[Jaxzan Proditor]

#568, with O-Chul as a close second.

[Emperordaniel]

#550 - +1 BFF, though #587 comes pretty close for me.

[LadyEowyn]

I'm definitely voting for either 550 or 593, but I'll wait until later in the round so that I can pick the one that's closest to winning.

[oppyu]

550

O-Chul! O-Chul! O-Chul!

[Emanick]

Tough call. There are so many great comics in this run. But in the end, my decision isn't as hard as Elan's or Therkla's were. 593: Another Choice takes it for me.

[ti'esar]

550 for me.

[Mike Havran]

#568 it is.

[Meph]

593, sorry Belkar.

[zinycor]

538 because Belkar Rocks

[AGD]

I vote for 568

[Sylian]

550. It's probably the most important for the plot (since chances are it influenced how MitD will react in the future, not to mention how it already got MitD to save the life of the Order sans V.), and it's also the most interesting and touching of the bunch. The others don't come close, in my opinion.

[Timy]

It seems my vote will only be "for the honor" but I can't let my vote anywhere exep to 587. It is actually about everything I love in OotS and more !

[137beth]

While both semifinals were tough, this is easier because the reasons I gave for and against each one still apply. So I'm going to go with 593, another choice.

[FLHerne]

550, because I like sleeping in the rain too. Also, "your other friends likely have new and exciting atrocities to commit against me tomorrow" is very much O'Chul.

With 587 as a close second, because Kazumi is awesome whereas Therkla is merely a contrived plot device*.

*She's about the only character in the entire series to have broken my suspension of disbelief, and I hate her for it.

[thatSeniorGuy]

Not as hard a choice as I thought this might be. O'Chul/550 for the win!

[declinator]

550 or 568, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous torture
Or to take arms against a helpless seer
And by opposing end him.

I used to support Belkar all the way, but somehow I cannot bypass O-Chul here. 550 for the win.

[Porthos]

Running late, so I'll make this quick. If I had to break a tie between 550 and 593, I'd vote for 550 without a second thought. I get why other people like 593, but it really doesn't do that much for me. But since I don't have to break a tie, it comes down to 550 and 568. I honestly thought I might vote for 550 here, given my love for O-Chul and the sheer perfection of this scene. But upon thinking about it, the payoff in 568 is just too great for me to ignore. It may not be moving on to the Best of the Thousand, but it gets my vote nonetheless.

And with that....

VOTING IS NOW CLOSED!

550 - +1 BFF is the winner of this Best of the Hundred tournament! It now moves on to the Best of the Thousand tournament.

Full Results are as follows:

.............THE STICK AWARDS II:
..BEST OF THE HUNDRED TOURNAMENT
......... (501-600 | Finals)

	Comic Number	Votes Received	Vote Percentage
	538	2	8.70
	550	8	34.78
	568	5	21.74
	587	2	8.70
	593	7	30.43

Please join us as we we return to the regular rounds of the Stick Awards II where we cover strips #601-#610, in this thread here.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

Looking back on it, a lot of the strips in this section (except the O-Chul ones) just don't feel exceptional to me, at least not individually. I think the separated format mad it so that a lot of the strips were mainly build up, and so while this section as a whole is very strong, individually I don't think is quite as grand. Can't say I'm disappointed with the winner though; the main reason why I didn't vote for 550 is that I didn't think that was his best moment here.

Anyway, I am really looking forward to the next round of 100, which have some of my favorite moments.

[137beth]

Looking back on it, a lot of the strips in this section (except the O-Chul ones) just don't feel exceptional to me, at least not individually. I think the separated format mad it so that a lot of the strips were mainly build up, and so while this section as a whole is very strong, individually I don't think is quite as grand. Can't say I'm disappointed with the winner though; the main reason why I didn't vote for 550 is that I didn't think that was his best moment here.

Anyway, I am really looking forward to the next round of 100, which have some of my favorite moments.

Agreed. Although, many of the 600s strips are largely build up, a lot of them are individually good as well. There are going to be some really tough matchups, such as the Darth V, and the unspliced V vs Xykon sequence.

[Killer Angel]

593 was really, really close...