Board 8 > How would they do in a contest? Day 127 ft T-Rex, Sarah Connor, Barret Wallace

(+) Yeah! (+)

This is a topic to rate the contest strength of potential newcomers in the current contest environment.

I will pick the characters to rate and discuss for each day from user nominations - whoever the 3 most nominated characters are at that time. If there are more than 3 I will pick randomly. You can nominate any number of characters at any time, but you cannot nominate the same character twice.

All characters who were present in the 2018 Character Battle will NOT be eligible. Otherwise you can nominate any character that has appeared in video games; even comic book characters. This will exclude real-life athletes who have only appeared in long running sports series, however I will accept those who have their own games such as Shaq. I will accept nominations for iconic gaming duos too, if there is a compelling reason for both characters to be linked (either co-starring in a game ala Banjo & Kazooie, or always appearing together like Callie & Marie from Splatoon).

Each day will have a separate topic, and nominations will carry over. As far as actually rating the character's contest strength; I ask that users rank a characters potential strength with one of the following qualifiers - LAW Fodder, Low Fodder, Mid Fodder, High Fodder, Fodder Line, Low Midcarder, Midcarder, High Midcarder, Near Elite, Elite, LAW Tier (capable of beating Link). I will average all the ratings given to a character to come up with their final ranking. I have included a highlighted entrant from Character Battle X on each tier of the strength rankings below, to provide a baseline for each.

Note that LAW Fodder is meant to be a tier reserved for the weakest possible characters to put into a contest. A character will only be placed there if at least 3/4ths of the voters for that day agree on the LAW Fodder rating, and no ratings above Low Fodder are given. If either of those conditions are not met, the character will not be eligible for the LAW Fodder tier.

Current Character Strength Rankings: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P1AIhHywBiLd6VAMZMNEGX-HW2td8u1D0Iw_tzHsORw/edit?usp=sharing

Nomination List: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-KnSBDzppzPK5Ug1zmx8_x0bG4tqFDMPPH2k8J3s8sk/edit?usp=sharing

Results from Day 126:

Spock (Star Trek) is High Fodder
James T. Kirk (Star Trek) is Mid Fodder
Lufia (Lufia/Estpolis Denki) is Low Fodder

Here is today's trio to rank:

Sarah Connor (Terminator series)
Barret Wallace (Final Fantasy VII)
T-Rex (Jurassic Park)
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Sarah Connor: Mid Fodder. Again, it's not a series people here are too passionate about, so I don't see her amounting to much. But she's hot and is a DLC costume for Sonya in Mortal Kombat, so that very slight boost makes her able to beat any Low Fodder and go toe-to-toe with half of Mid Fodder. Her placement is easy.

Barret: Midcarder. FFVII has proven time and time again that it's a serious contender, and Barret is with the party from the very start of the game. I don't see him losing to any kind of fodder because of that, and with FFVIIR coming out in due time, I don't see any reason for weakness. He's not as strong as Tifa (a High Midcarder who loses SFF-fests to Sephiroth a lot), seeing as he doesn't have bazongas, but is mightily close.

T-Rex: Mid Fodder, barely. Not really a series people here care about to the greatest of extent, as many of us were a few years too young to go see it when it first released in 1993 with a PG rating. And the more recent movies aren't something people here seem to talk about, either. He is a dinosaur, however, so that gives him the advantage against the most unrecognizble of characters. Low Fodder is arguable, of course.
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BlueCrystalTear posted...

He's not as strong as Tifa (a High Midcarder who loses SFF-fests to Sephiroth a lot), seeing as he doesn't have bazongas, but is mightily close.

you do remember that Tifa defeated Sephiroth in CBX right?

Anyway I agree with Mid Fodder for Sarah and T-Rex and Midcarder for Barret. However I think that Barret could potentially rise to high mid if FFVIIR does well.
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half_silver28 posted...

you do remember that Tifa defeated Sephiroth in CBX right?

...oh right. So she might even be Near Elite now like Sephiroth is.
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Sarah Connor: Low Fodder

Nope, I can't buy Mid Fodder for her, sorry. Whereas Ellen Ripley, who I already voted as Low Fodder, is the sole character of import in the Alien movies that matter, Sarah has to (fail to) share the spotlight with the Terminators. As such, maybe people remember her, and perhaps they even like her, but they certainly don't care about her in general, and that's pretty much necessary for a movie character to bring in votes on GameFAQs.

Barret Wallace: Low Midcarder

BlueCrystalTear posted...

He's not as strong as Tifa (a High Midcarder who loses SFF-fests to Sephiroth a lot), seeing as he doesn't have bazongas, but is mightily close.

There's a lot that strikes me as off about this bit. First and most obviously is Tifa's 2018 triumph over Sephiroth, which half_silver already mentioned. More generally, you maybe could have argued that Tifa wasn't a Near Elite prior to CBX on account of lacking high-profile wins and even missing 2007 entirely, but she's now beaten Mewtwo (comfortably), Mega Man X, and Luigi (again), in addition to turning the tables against Sephy. Whatever you might say about hentai rallies and their 300-vote swings, Tifa's a Near Elite now, unless you would argue that neither MMX nor Luigi is at that level. I would also argue Barret is quite a bit less popular than Tifa, even without considering TJF.

Anyways, less about Tifa and more about Barret... Quite simply, his 34% on Sonic is noticeably worse than Cid Highwind's 37% on Mega Man, even adjusting for FF7's decline between 2010 and 2013. I chalk that up to a combination of RacistFAQs and the name value of the names Cid and Highwind, since the two characters are seemingly about equally popular. Fundamentally, I'm not convinced that their results (and by proxy, Sonic and Mega Man's) are lying in regards to that conclusion, thus my vote.

T-Rex: Mid Fodder

I agree that the T-rex appeal it brings to the table for our nostalgic userbase will get it above the hump, at least if it's directly associated with Jurassic Park somehow.
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Sarah Connor - Low Fodder

Agreed with Metalmind.

Barret Wallace - Low Midcarder

I have no faith in the FFVII remake until it actually comes out and is popular and well-received.Over the past decade Squeenix has underwhelmed way too many times and I think people have gotten wary. Hype in general also just isn't gonna have the same effect on a 30-year old compared to a teenager.

T-Rex - Mid Fodder

Kids love dinosaurs and Jurassic Park is THE dinosaur franchise so regardless of whether they saw it in theaters when first released I do figure most people with even remote interest in such would have given it a shot at some point? The newer movies are at least a good reminder that the franchise exists.

Not sure how much that really matters. You don't necessarily need to care a whit about Jurassic Park to vote for a T-Rex. But it can't hurt.

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Votes Lady and Felicia

Nominate:

HAL 9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey)
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a few things to add here -

I will change my vote on Sarah Connor to Low Fodder. She does get overshadowed a lot by the Terminators, and her iconic protagonist role in the first Terminator movie won't mean much to Gfaqs. Even in the Sarah Connor Chronicles tv show she got overshadowed by Cameron.

I disagree with Barret falling to low mid. It's possible that Cid is stronger than him, but the margin is very slim. Cid got 36% directly against Mega Man while Barret's result came in a 3 pack with Sonic and Dracula in 2013. In the year of the reddit invasion and Draven's win, it isn't surprising for Sonic to overperform against lesser known characters. Plus Dracula draws much of his strength from SOTN on the playstation, so I think he likely stole a significant number of votes from Barret.

It comes down to what the current state of FFVII is and how popular Barret is in comparison to others from the game. With the focus he is getting in ep 1 of the remake, I don't see why he'd decline right now.

LinkMarioSamus posted...

Nominate:

HAL 9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey)

I am going to need backup on this to accept the nomination. The only Space Odyssey game I can find is due for release this year, and I don't see any indication that HAL will be in it.
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nominate Regal Bryant (Tales of Symphonia)
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yeah i'll agree with metalmind again
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nominate Dragonite (Pokemon)
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HAL was in LEGO dimensions.
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LinkMarioSamus posted...

HAL was in LEGO dimensions.

Ah got it. I will second him. For characters who do not originate from games and appear in a game unrelated to their origin series, it helps out a lot to include the title of the game they appear in.

Day 128 is up: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/78068413
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