Lurker > LusterSoldier

Goodra did a lot worse than would have been expected based on last year's round 1 division. I actually thought Goodra had a tougher division last year and was still just barely eliminated despite the tough division. Goodra's division last year had Vulpix/Totodile/Charizard/Charmander, which is a much stronger group of Pokemon than Mewtwo/Flygon/Toucannon/Dragonair. This year, despite the much weaker division, Goodra did far worse in the actual results.


Celebi has fallen off tremendously since last year. For reference, this is what Celebi did last year in round 1:

31 Espeon
15 Celebi
7 Togekiss
6 Clawitzer
-2 Altaria
-3 Volcarona
-5 Vileplume
-6 Cloyster
-7 Rampardos
-36 Hoothoot

The division was weaker for sure, but the important thing to note is that Celebi shared a division with Espeon in both PotY 2016 and 2017. This year, Celebi has dropped off by a massive amount in comparison to Espeon.
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Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as DpObliVion, Guru Champ!

3DSRage posted...

The three gen 1s take the top three spots in what seems like a weak division in retrospect. Derpy Machamp just could get enough speed to do anything. Palossand nearly takes 4th last in a close race between three Pokemon. Lilligant perhaps underperformed if last year was any indication of skill. Manaphy thinks more people should have watched its movie!

Huge underperformance for Lilligant, considering it was almost in the Top 48 last year. It just barely survived as another vote could have knocked it out for good.
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Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as DpObliVion, Guru Champ!

mnkboy907 posted...

I didn't pick Incineroar because I thought it'd be more middling. Lots of fans but also lots of detractors.

That was what I thought too. I know Incineroar was getting a lot of hate when it was first revealed. I was surprised that it was able to go head to head against Squirtle for most of the match before falling behind near the end of the match. I guess it's possible some people probably didn't bother voting for Squirtle since it was round 1 and it had no chance of being eliminated.
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Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as DpObliVion, Guru Champ!

3DSRage posted...

I don't see how any Ultra Beasts will do well! Marshadow too...

Well, there was only Ultra Beast that even got into this contest. I only picked Buzzwole because my options were pretty limited in the Gen 7 II category.

Marshadow clearly wasn't going to get out of round 1. Oricorio has a pretty stacked division that makes it difficult to make it to round 2. Palossand certainly has a division where it should likely advance, but I don't see it going beyond round 2, so I didn't pick it either.

Primarina was another possible choice, since it has a very weak division (outside of Lucario) that should allow it to advance to round 2. However, Primarina is considered too cute and too feminine for some people and should get anti-voted by most of the people who would also anti-vote Sylveon.

Then there's a division containing Passimian, Torracat, Toucannon. Having all 3 of these Pokemon in the same division (and it's also somewhat stacked) makes it difficult to pick any of these Pokemon to move on. This made it so I couldn't really pick any of these Pokemon, although I give Toucannon the best chance of moving on.

This leaves me with only Buzzwole, Kommo-o, and Wishiwashi remaining.
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Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as DpObliVion, Guru Champ!

mnkboy907 posted...

Marshadow is adorable and apparently will be amazing in battle, but yeah, not being officially out yet will probably hurt it to some degree.

Yeah, that's definitely a major concern, but it's also a Ghost type and Board 8 has a hard-on when it comes to Dark and Ghost types. So it might perform better than it would have if it wasn't Ghost type.

I should point out that Hoopa managed to finish higher than Diancie in Steiner's Gen VI Ranking Project despite Hoopa being unreleased at the time while Diancie was already released.
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Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as DpObliVion, Guru Champ!

For future voting topics, I would like to see the topic titles using the full name "Pokemon of the Year 2017" over the shortened "POTY 2017". Even when the full name is used, the topic title "(-o-) Pokemon of the Year 2017 - Round One [Divisions A/B/C] (-o-)" would only take up 66 characters (80 is the max). The only time I think it's appropriate to use the shortened "POTY 2017" in a topic title of a voting topic is when you need to get a topic title under the 80 character limit.

For practical purposes, "Pokemon of the Year 2017" is better than "POTY 2017" because it will grab the attention of casual Board 8ers more than "POTY 2017". "Pokemon of the Year 2017" does a much better job than "POTY 2017" of communicating to people that this is a Pokemon contest.


The first post of future voting topics should provide a link to the discussion topic.
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Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as DpObliVion, Guru Champ!

I'd rather start out with one division for the first day. Not sure I'll be able to track three divisions at once.
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Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as DpObliVion, Guru Champ!

There are a couple of things you could watch out for. The biggest one would be votes from users outside of Board 8, which could be a sign of rallying.

Another thing to watch out for is when you get votes from users who are voting for the first time in the contest, especially multiple votes from first-time voters in the contest. You would have to keep track of every single user who has voted at least once in the contest to check which votes are coming from users voting for the first time in the contest.

In the case where someone rallied a Board 8 user to vote in the contest, they could very well choose not to vote and report the rallying attempt directly to you. If someone reports a rally attempt directly to you, I guess the proof would likely come in the form of a screenshot or the exact text of the message they received (telling them to go vote for a certain Pokemon). However, this type of proof does have a major issue in the fact it could be faked.
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Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as DpObliVion, Guru Champ!

I think we need to have actual rule against rallying in this contest. Last year's contest actually didn't have a rule against rallying, since it wasn't listed in the rules. I was a bit surprised rallying wasn't technically banned in the last contest.

For the purposes of this contest, rallying would consist of asking someone to vote for (or against) certain Pokemon. I think any cases of rallying would involve throwing out any votes that are submitted as a result of the rallying. The user who tried to rally would get a temporary ban from voting in the contest for the first violation of the rule and getting caught a second time should be a permanent ban for the rest of the contest.
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Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as DpObliVion, Guru Champ!

These divisions are insane. The following divisions are stacked in terms of my favorites being in a tough division:

Division F - Celebi, Espeon, Shaymin, Tapu Lele

Also, poor Marshadow. I might have voted for it, but the division has at least 4 Pokemon that have higher priority when it comes to my vote.

Division H - Tapu Fini

This one is really stacked hard. I don't even have a clue which Pokemon might go out in this division.

Division M - Cinccino, Lugia, Lunala, Sylveon

I'd like to vote for all of these Pokemon, but it can't happen here. I'll end up voting for the 3 Pokemon that need the most help, meaning Lugia probably doesn't get my vote here. Sylveon has priority over all of the other Pokemon in my vote.

Division O - Glaceon, Victini, Xerneas

Xerneas somehow did well enough last year to qualify for automatic entry into this contest, but now I'm not even sure if it's even able to make it out of this division. Archeops seems like the only obvious elimination.

Division Q - Latias, Whimsicott

Another stacked division. I guess only likely eliminations are Glalie and Miltank. Also, LOL at Froslass and Glalie being in the same division.

Division S - Empoleon, Gogoat, Meowstic, Oricorio, Vaporeon

This one has the highest number of my favorites. Other than those Pokemon, I guess Marowak, Starmie, and Xatu have the best chance of going out.

Division T - Castform, Corsola, Jolteon, Rowlet

Bellsprout is the only obvious elimination here.

Division U - Chansey, Diancie, Vivillon

Rhydon is the only obvious elimination here. Also, holy shit at Sneasel and Weavile in the same division.

Division Y - Brionne, Jirachi, Mudsdale, Popplio, Raichu

I would like to support all of these Pokemon, but it's possible I may leave Brionne out of my vote. Also, Brionne is the weakest member of the Popplio line anyways. Whoever I vote for depends on how they're doing in the division. Dwebble is an easy elimination in this division, but I don't know if anyone else has a chance of getting eliminated outside of the Pokemon I might vote for.
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Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as DpObliVion, Guru Champ!

All of these cookies look terrible.
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Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as DpObliVion, Guru Champ!