Board 8 > How would they do in a contest? Day 134 ft Kain Highwind, Red XIII, Mad Max

(+) 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 133:

Sniper Wolf (Metal Gear Solid) is Mid Fodder
Kylo Ren (Star Wars) is Mid Fodder
Magneto (X-Men) is a Low Midcarder

Here is today's trio to rank:

"Mad" Max Rockatansky (Mad Max)
Red XIII (Final Fantasy VII)
Kain Highwind (Final Fantasy IV)
---

Mad Max: Low Fodder. Next.

Red XIII: Low Midcarder. He's a bit stronger than Cait Sith and Yuffie (who should be Fodder Line imho). Furries love this guy, but... really just them. FFVIIR will help, and he's a compelling character from one of the best games of all time, but he's still overshadowed by Cloud, Tifa, Seph, and Aeris.

Kain: High Fodder. Got fewer votes than Olimar in 2013 in losing to Shepard, and didn't advance against Master Chump and Raiden in 2010 (though Master Chump was actually viable at that time). I don't see him as being overly strong given that history.
---

BlueCrystalTear posted...

Got fewer votes than Olimar in 2013 in losing to Shepard

Wrong Kain. Also, that MC/Raiden match was 2008, not 2010.
---

Oh. I just searched for "Kain" and completely forgot there was another one that spells it that way (I thought the other was Cain, my error).

Still going to say High Fodder though, even if I am not particularly good at this >_>
---

Agree with Low Fodder for Max and Low Midcarder for Red XIII.

For Kain I will say he just barely makes Fodder Line. Cecil seems to be solidly fodder line based on his CBX performance, and I don't think Kain will be far behind since he is one of the more popular classic FF characters. He has been in 2 Dissidia games and a lot of spinoffs, and his design has aged well too.
---

Agreed with halfsilver.

I think Cecil actually makes it to low midcarder too, so its not hard for me to see kain as fodder line. Losing to Crash ended up looking much better as the contest continued to play out.

---

Losing to Crash only looked so bad because of how weak Crash has historically been. Crash is a beloved old school icon now just like Pikachu. I'd ask how people ignored the Crash remakes, but it's not like this site really takes to new stuff that much. Then again, Cecil did lose to a Mass Effect character once.
---

Will be busy later so putting up Day 135 a bit early: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/78083905
---