Thought the matchups for Domino & Longshot were super interesting in this round (Madrox & Quicksilver), I think these are funny cases where specifically in these matchups they just need to be able to hit either the right Madrox to win or hit Quicksilver in just the right place at the right moment, which to me gave them the edge (but this advantage for the lucky characters doesn't work for me the same way were they to be matched up against say, Magneto or Cyclops or Magik, etc).
Yeah, that's a great argument actually. That if you're a luck character up against someone who's not invulnerable and who despite their powers is MOSTLY a normal human (i.e. Madrox and Pietro) -- you only need that one lucky shot to take them out. And since you're a luck character you can probably get that. Yeah, that really is a terrific argument -- and a frame in which to view the tough to suss out "luck powers." I don't know if you've changed my mind but you got damn close! ;D
Aw yeah. Another twist of probability in favor of Team Luck. :D
I think Domino has a better shot against madrox than longshot vs pietro. I think the Madroxes would be getting in each other’s way a lot more than a straight 1v1 match.
This was a blast-and-a-half. It's great seeing the results accompanied by your commentary. I will absolutely cop to voting ignorantly in some of the match-ups. (e.g., Siryn v. Kylun, Sunspot v. Meggan) And some "preferred character bias" may have influenced some of my votes but I really tried to decide who would actually win their fights, which meant I had to vote against beloved characters like Beast and Nightcrawler. (And, yeah... BRING BACK BRIGHT, BUOYANT, BOUNCY BEAST.)
But my main takeaway goes back to my thesis statement: this was a blast-and-a-half. I'm down for more whenever you feel like makin' some polls!
I've never heard/seen anyone but me use the term "blast-and-a-half" and I was stoked to see you use it! So this is what it sounds like....when doves cry!
I think it's a combo of his plummeting likability and Jean being used a lot more (and used well) in the last decade -- Phoenix Resurrection, X-Men Red, Hox/Pox, current X-Men by Duggan and Larraz. Even in our X-Men Disassembled a few years back I feel like she got a bit more time/attention then I'd seen consistently in a while.
Absolute facts! It’s funny because I never knew how much I missed her being around until she came back.
I love Emma, they’ve done such great things building her up- but we are living in a time where we don’t need to choose- and having both is just so much more badass! (Unless you Scott... or maybe more so if you’re Scott....)
1. Deadpool might THINK he won the battle, but that's only because Emma fooled him into thinking that way.
2. Cable vs. Dazzler- NEVER underestimate the power of music. I love the X-Men, but if you put any five up against Prince and the Revolution , the Purple Rain would fall HEAVILY on Mutanttown.
3. One thing I have to quibble with- Forge is not low-key Batman. Forge THINKS he's Batman. It actually causes more problems for him than it should. If Forge tells you he's got a great idea, be VERY careful and start thinking of a back-up plan if/when it goes wrong.
4. At this stage, is there anything Professor X is better at than Jean Grey? He doesn't have a superior powerset. He's not smarter than Jean. He's not wiser than Jean (at least pre-Krakoa).
5. Fun question #1: One of the winners pulls up lame for the next contest, and you need an injury replacement from the losers. Who do you pick?
6. Fun question #2: Who is the absolute worst of all the losers? Who has the least chance of beating anyone in any fight? It's Beast, isn't it? At this point, would Hank beat Rogue in a game of chess? I think not, even with Rogue's ridiculously low intellect score.
7. Name one character in modern-day X-books who you'd want to see in this tournament, and why is it Laura (X-23).
#2. It's not Beast. I think Lilandra is the weak link. The Shi'ar are badasses and they have strong bodies and she's a great fighter, but she's a great fighter FOR AN EMPRESS, not for a warrior or hero. I think she's got the most experience being a ruler and the least experience being a warrior or hero, so despite her skills I think she's the weak link from this group in one on one "arena battles."
#3. It is Laura because she should be EVERYWHERE. Also, Armor.
(I would also love to see Carol Danvers on one of the Allies/Ex-Men cards tho) ;D
The only result I have beef with (he says, opening a can of worms) is the Cannonball/Banshee one. I thought it was fascinating because even if Sam is nigh-invulnerable while blasting can't Banshee's sonic scream mess up his equilibrium? It feels like a rare power set that can penetrate his forcefield!
I hear you. I think, I have trouble saying Banshee could punch through Sam's forcefield, but I DO think if Sean could get even one shot at Sam not flying -- that blows your eardrums and fucks up your balance/equilibrium making his use of his power nearly impossible. It's a pretty good fight I think in that respect.
This was really fun Kelly! And I also enjoyed your post match commentary! (Though for the Deadpool v. Emma fight, even if for some reason she decided to physically duke it out, wouldn't her diamond form push her into the Hulk's strength and weight class? Keeping that in mind is what makes that gap make sense to me personally)
Love you Kelly! Your head is full of the best ideas! Take care - oh and I would have gone with Deadpool too, even though my heart would have wanted Emma!
This was great. Is it only the winners moving forward to find out who is the best?
For the Iceman/Bishop battle, I was thinking of elemental Iceman from Rick Reminder’s Uncanny X-Force, not the 90’s pushover (although that’s when the cards were from). I’ll watch some of the old cartoon before the next matchup and get my head where it needs to be!
Well, it's not actually supposed to be a bracket tournament -- it's just the card game war. But I admit I did feel the instinct to play again with just the winners. ;D
Agreed on Iceman, in the hands of great writers he has totally leveled up, but the writing can still be inconsistent -- like he still just defaults to ice-slides and throwing ice/ice blasts y'know? True for most superhero stories/powers though I suppose!
Poll-aris. That's it. That's all i've got to give. (This post is so chock full of data, interesting breakdown of the results. 10/10)
yessss, let's try it again!
Thought the matchups for Domino & Longshot were super interesting in this round (Madrox & Quicksilver), I think these are funny cases where specifically in these matchups they just need to be able to hit either the right Madrox to win or hit Quicksilver in just the right place at the right moment, which to me gave them the edge (but this advantage for the lucky characters doesn't work for me the same way were they to be matched up against say, Magneto or Cyclops or Magik, etc).
Totally. That was my reasoning for picking both domino and longshot as well.
Yeah, that's a great argument actually. That if you're a luck character up against someone who's not invulnerable and who despite their powers is MOSTLY a normal human (i.e. Madrox and Pietro) -- you only need that one lucky shot to take them out. And since you're a luck character you can probably get that. Yeah, that really is a terrific argument -- and a frame in which to view the tough to suss out "luck powers." I don't know if you've changed my mind but you got damn close! ;D
Aw yeah. Another twist of probability in favor of Team Luck. :D
I think Domino has a better shot against madrox than longshot vs pietro. I think the Madroxes would be getting in each other’s way a lot more than a straight 1v1 match.
This was a blast-and-a-half. It's great seeing the results accompanied by your commentary. I will absolutely cop to voting ignorantly in some of the match-ups. (e.g., Siryn v. Kylun, Sunspot v. Meggan) And some "preferred character bias" may have influenced some of my votes but I really tried to decide who would actually win their fights, which meant I had to vote against beloved characters like Beast and Nightcrawler. (And, yeah... BRING BACK BRIGHT, BUOYANT, BOUNCY BEAST.)
But my main takeaway goes back to my thesis statement: this was a blast-and-a-half. I'm down for more whenever you feel like makin' some polls!
I've never heard/seen anyone but me use the term "blast-and-a-half" and I was stoked to see you use it! So this is what it sounds like....when doves cry!
BLAST-AND-A-HALF BROS!
I wonder if Chuck wasn’t such a dick now if he would have faired a bit better? I constantly want to kick him square in the balls now, lol.
Most results (Even if I didn’t vote that way) went pretty close to what I expected. Def agree on the lack of Excalibur love though! Haha
Agreed.
I think it's a combo of his plummeting likability and Jean being used a lot more (and used well) in the last decade -- Phoenix Resurrection, X-Men Red, Hox/Pox, current X-Men by Duggan and Larraz. Even in our X-Men Disassembled a few years back I feel like she got a bit more time/attention then I'd seen consistently in a while.
Absolute facts! It’s funny because I never knew how much I missed her being around until she came back.
I love Emma, they’ve done such great things building her up- but we are living in a time where we don’t need to choose- and having both is just so much more badass! (Unless you Scott... or maybe more so if you’re Scott....)
Such a fun poll! I’m still shaking my fist at the sky that the good people of Twitter went against Polaris and for Scott (out of all people!) 😅
1. Deadpool might THINK he won the battle, but that's only because Emma fooled him into thinking that way.
2. Cable vs. Dazzler- NEVER underestimate the power of music. I love the X-Men, but if you put any five up against Prince and the Revolution , the Purple Rain would fall HEAVILY on Mutanttown.
3. One thing I have to quibble with- Forge is not low-key Batman. Forge THINKS he's Batman. It actually causes more problems for him than it should. If Forge tells you he's got a great idea, be VERY careful and start thinking of a back-up plan if/when it goes wrong.
4. At this stage, is there anything Professor X is better at than Jean Grey? He doesn't have a superior powerset. He's not smarter than Jean. He's not wiser than Jean (at least pre-Krakoa).
5. Fun question #1: One of the winners pulls up lame for the next contest, and you need an injury replacement from the losers. Who do you pick?
6. Fun question #2: Who is the absolute worst of all the losers? Who has the least chance of beating anyone in any fight? It's Beast, isn't it? At this point, would Hank beat Rogue in a game of chess? I think not, even with Rogue's ridiculously low intellect score.
7. Name one character in modern-day X-books who you'd want to see in this tournament, and why is it Laura (X-23).
These are great questions!
#1. Deadpool
#2. It's not Beast. I think Lilandra is the weak link. The Shi'ar are badasses and they have strong bodies and she's a great fighter, but she's a great fighter FOR AN EMPRESS, not for a warrior or hero. I think she's got the most experience being a ruler and the least experience being a warrior or hero, so despite her skills I think she's the weak link from this group in one on one "arena battles."
#3. It is Laura because she should be EVERYWHERE. Also, Armor.
(I would also love to see Carol Danvers on one of the Allies/Ex-Men cards tho) ;D
You should add someone and do bracket style, make the winners face off!
The only result I have beef with (he says, opening a can of worms) is the Cannonball/Banshee one. I thought it was fascinating because even if Sam is nigh-invulnerable while blasting can't Banshee's sonic scream mess up his equilibrium? It feels like a rare power set that can penetrate his forcefield!
I hear you. I think, I have trouble saying Banshee could punch through Sam's forcefield, but I DO think if Sean could get even one shot at Sam not flying -- that blows your eardrums and fucks up your balance/equilibrium making his use of his power nearly impossible. It's a pretty good fight I think in that respect.
This was really fun Kelly! And I also enjoyed your post match commentary! (Though for the Deadpool v. Emma fight, even if for some reason she decided to physically duke it out, wouldn't her diamond form push her into the Hulk's strength and weight class? Keeping that in mind is what makes that gap make sense to me personally)
This was great. It dropped right as I was chaperoning a sleep-over.
Ha!
Love you Kelly! Your head is full of the best ideas! Take care - oh and I would have gone with Deadpool too, even though my heart would have wanted Emma!
we should keep reshuffling until Guido gets his due.
Hear, Hear!
This was great. Is it only the winners moving forward to find out who is the best?
For the Iceman/Bishop battle, I was thinking of elemental Iceman from Rick Reminder’s Uncanny X-Force, not the 90’s pushover (although that’s when the cards were from). I’ll watch some of the old cartoon before the next matchup and get my head where it needs to be!
Thanks!
Well, it's not actually supposed to be a bracket tournament -- it's just the card game war. But I admit I did feel the instinct to play again with just the winners. ;D
Agreed on Iceman, in the hands of great writers he has totally leveled up, but the writing can still be inconsistent -- like he still just defaults to ice-slides and throwing ice/ice blasts y'know? True for most superhero stories/powers though I suppose!
Just for fun I reshuffled the winners from the Twitter poll and saw what new matches we'd have gotten. Some absolutely bruuuuutal match ups! Ahhhhh!
Shatterstar vs Cable
Iceman vs Emma Frost (Redux!!!)
Magik vs Wolverine (Logan) (!!!)
Boom Boom vs Kitty Pryde
Quicksilver vs Rogue
Cannonball vs Psylocke (Kwannon)
Cyclops vs Magneto
Colossus vs Archangel
Domino vs Sunspot
Nightcrawler vs Siryn
Storm vs Jean Grey (OUCH!)
[uneven number of cards -- Phoenix (Rachel) was odd man out]
This was a lot of fun n would definitely vote again. Just this time please fates give me a match up I can vote for Jubilee on!
Haha. We all would like to see that!
Aw I love absolute bastard Beast but I understand the love of gentle genius Beast