Board 8 > How would they do in a contest? Day 435 ft Espeon, Flareon, Hela (Marvel)

(+) 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

If you feel that a character has been over or under-ranked, or if a new development has come up that would affect their contest strength, you may nominate them for a re-ranking. You may nominate one character per day for this, and 3 votes are needed to get them on the slate. One character with 3 votes will come up for re-ranking today.

Re-ranking Nomination List: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V6dx-tu-FD1rCxbX69eQwEzE7x1F6nNRNFochYHu1dc/edit?usp=sharing

Results from Day 434:

Colette Brunel (Tales of Symphonia) is Low Fodder
Koga (Pokemon) is Mid Fodder
Okabe Rintarou (Steins;Gate) is Low Fodder

Here is today's trio to rank:

Espeon (Pokemon)
Flareon (Pokemon)
Hela, Goddess of the Underworld (Marvel)

Today's Re-Ranking is:

Shellder (Pokemon)

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High Fodder for both of the Eevee-lutions. Espeon debuted in Gold and Silver but is a fan favorite due to its design and prowess in battle, plus it was a starter in Pokemon Colosseum. Flareon is the worst of the 3 original Eevee-lutions in battle but is pretty well-liked due to its cute design and was probably used in RBY more often than Vaporeon as a result.

Low Fodder for Hela. Thor Ragnarok is popular and Hela may get some waifu votes, but that's all she really has going for her.

I'll say Mid Fodder again for Shellder. Both it and Cloyster stand out design-wise and Shellder is pretty cute itself. Plus I think that just about every Gen 1 Pokemon should be at least mid fodder, with the exception of the most utterly forgettable ones like Nidoran F.

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Espeon (Pokemon) - Mid fodder
Flareon (Pokemon) - High fodder

GSC as a total package is respectable but GSC takes on old RBY Pokemon/trainer archetypes are almost inevitably gonna not look particularly good. I don't think Espeon or Umbreon are particularly more liked or prominent than the RBY Eeeveelutions and on gamefaqs I think they'd kinda need to be just to break even.

Hela, Goddess of the Underworld (Marvel) - Low fodder

Today's Re-Ranking is:

Shellder (Pokemon) - Low fodder

I just don't see any reason it would be worth much, unless you think basically every RBY pokemon is mid fodder ot above. It's design is decent but it's not the type that I think would attract many votes in itself and AFAIK isn't really prominent in any remotely important part of the franchise.

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Agree with Axem. I'm skeptical about halfsilver's take on Flareon, but ehh, I guess I'll go with it. Also, I don't think there's a huge gap between something like Flareon or Vaporeon and the bottom rung of Gen. 1 Pokmon, but I have no problem believing it's big enough to condemn at least the bottom ~20% to Low Fodder.

Speaking of which, I'll nominate Zubat for reranking. Its elemental hate makes it a serious candidate for weakest Gen. 1 Pokmon, and a highly anomalous vote from ertyu is the only reason it wound up above Low Fodder in the first place.

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second re-ranking Zubat

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Sure, re-rank Zubat.

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Day 436 is up: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/78932063

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