Main protagonists and villains get all the glory, but what about the masses of other guys? Those oft-unsung figures who may not lead but lend critical support and/or tension-breaking to the animated endeavor? This tournament is for them, and this is their chance to shine.
NOTE: Since this tournament is being run on an English-language site based in North America, official English spellings, title translations, and naming conventions will be observed in any case where it matters.
Evaluating Criteria
Although each voter may ultimately decide for himself/herself what exactly "best" means in this case, the following are the recommended criteria that all voters are strongly encouraged to keep in mind:
1. The character must have a significant role but not one that dominates for more than a small portion of the series or title.
2. The character should have a significant impact on the main plot and/or the actions of the main protagonists or villains, unless the character exists purely for comic relief.
3. The character should have a distinctive presence, one that allows him/her/it to stand out in the series (i.e. the character is not just figuratively "a face in the crowd").
4. The character must be entertaining within the context of the source title.
5. Only animated content can be considered for evaluation purposes; deeds or characteristics only present in a manga, novel, or live action form of the title cannot be considered and should not even be brought up. Also, please note that, in some cases, characters are competing based on a presence in a part of a broader franchise rather than the whole thing (usually because the character in question does not appear in all parts of the franchise - e.g. Olivier Mira Armstrong only appears in FMA: Brotherhood and not in the original series or follow-up movie, so she is only listed for that specific series).
Other factors that might be worth considering include degree of character development given the character's limited screen time, originality, and effectiveness. Voters are very strongly discouraged from just relying on popularity or personal favoritism, although the latter is tolerable if used only as a tiebreaking factor.
Tournament Rules/Standards:
1. This is a single elimination tournament using a standard advancement bracket.
2. Advancement is determined by receiving a plurality of votes in a given match-up. In the event of a tie, all tying participants who have the highest score advance.
3. The field is divided into four lettered Groups, each representing one of the four major branches of the bracket.
4. Each voting phase will last exactly one week, beginning and ending at midnight Tuesday EST (which is GMT-4 right now, I think?). No votes posted after the cut-off time will be accepted, even if an official end to the round hasn’t been announced.
5. Anyone who is a registered forum member in good standing (i.e. you aren’t currently banned) is allowed to vote, regardless of whether or not you’ve participated in any previous round or group. However, you must vote for all match-ups in a particular week or none of your votes will be counted.
6. Although justifying your votes is not required in the first two rounds, it is strongly encouraged, as not everyone is going to know every character and convincing arguments have proven to be a major factor in past tournaments. Beginning with Round 1 Group C, voters are required to make significant arguments in at least one match for each Group during the first two rounds.
7. Changing your vote during the course of a week is allowed, but such changes must meet three requirements to be counted: they must be justified, a change that's clearly marked as a change must be done on the original voting post, and a notice about the change must be put in a new post.
8. Key is the final arbiter of the tournament. Dorcas_Aurelia is the final arbiter of the accompanying minigame.
References
Since voters are not expected to know everyone going in, Guide pages which briefly describe each character and provide a picture of said character are being provided; these are linked on the name of the character in each match-up. Beginning in Round 3 these Guide pages will also have links to video clips featuring the characters. (No, we don't do such clips in the first two rounds because the sheer volume would make them too much of a hassle.)
The bracket showing all match-ups in the tournament can be download using this link.
ccdx's official tournament progression bracket can be seen at this link. He is also the Video Clip Master when Round 3 comes around.
Round Links
Round 1
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Round 2
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Round 3
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Round 4
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Round 5 (Group Finals)
Groups A&B
Groups C&D
Round 6
Semifinals
Round 7
Finals
NOTE: Since this tournament is being run on an English-language site based in North America, official English spellings, title translations, and naming conventions will be observed in any case where it matters.
Evaluating Criteria
Although each voter may ultimately decide for himself/herself what exactly "best" means in this case, the following are the recommended criteria that all voters are strongly encouraged to keep in mind:
1. The character must have a significant role but not one that dominates for more than a small portion of the series or title.
2. The character should have a significant impact on the main plot and/or the actions of the main protagonists or villains, unless the character exists purely for comic relief.
3. The character should have a distinctive presence, one that allows him/her/it to stand out in the series (i.e. the character is not just figuratively "a face in the crowd").
4. The character must be entertaining within the context of the source title.
5. Only animated content can be considered for evaluation purposes; deeds or characteristics only present in a manga, novel, or live action form of the title cannot be considered and should not even be brought up. Also, please note that, in some cases, characters are competing based on a presence in a part of a broader franchise rather than the whole thing (usually because the character in question does not appear in all parts of the franchise - e.g. Olivier Mira Armstrong only appears in FMA: Brotherhood and not in the original series or follow-up movie, so she is only listed for that specific series).
Other factors that might be worth considering include degree of character development given the character's limited screen time, originality, and effectiveness. Voters are very strongly discouraged from just relying on popularity or personal favoritism, although the latter is tolerable if used only as a tiebreaking factor.
Tournament Rules/Standards:
1. This is a single elimination tournament using a standard advancement bracket.
2. Advancement is determined by receiving a plurality of votes in a given match-up. In the event of a tie, all tying participants who have the highest score advance.
3. The field is divided into four lettered Groups, each representing one of the four major branches of the bracket.
4. Each voting phase will last exactly one week, beginning and ending at midnight Tuesday EST (which is GMT-4 right now, I think?). No votes posted after the cut-off time will be accepted, even if an official end to the round hasn’t been announced.
5. Anyone who is a registered forum member in good standing (i.e. you aren’t currently banned) is allowed to vote, regardless of whether or not you’ve participated in any previous round or group. However, you must vote for all match-ups in a particular week or none of your votes will be counted.
6. Although justifying your votes is not required in the first two rounds, it is strongly encouraged, as not everyone is going to know every character and convincing arguments have proven to be a major factor in past tournaments. Beginning with Round 1 Group C, voters are required to make significant arguments in at least one match for each Group during the first two rounds.
7. Changing your vote during the course of a week is allowed, but such changes must meet three requirements to be counted: they must be justified, a change that's clearly marked as a change must be done on the original voting post, and a notice about the change must be put in a new post.
8. Key is the final arbiter of the tournament. Dorcas_Aurelia is the final arbiter of the accompanying minigame.
References
Since voters are not expected to know everyone going in, Guide pages which briefly describe each character and provide a picture of said character are being provided; these are linked on the name of the character in each match-up. Beginning in Round 3 these Guide pages will also have links to video clips featuring the characters. (No, we don't do such clips in the first two rounds because the sheer volume would make them too much of a hassle.)
The bracket showing all match-ups in the tournament can be download using this link.
ccdx's official tournament progression bracket can be seen at this link. He is also the Video Clip Master when Round 3 comes around.
Round Links
Round 1
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Round 2
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Round 3
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Round 4
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Round 5 (Group Finals)
Groups A&B
Groups C&D
Round 6
Semifinals
Round 7
Finals