Yes, but how is Hermione in the ring?
August 11, 2010 9:41 AM Subscribe
Inspired by the cage matches between popular characters over at Suvudu, Random House's SF/fantasy blog, Heather Zundel and friends have started a YA Fantasy version. At least 3 of the characters' authors are involved in the fight write-ups, although one author reacted differently. All I know is that I have a lot of books to check out.
I played a game called Cthulhu Dice the other day. Cthulhu won, and the rest of us lost our sanity.
There is commentary on the matches, and people seemed to be good about bringing up such points, and making recommendations for next time. Personally, I was amused by the Polgara/Anita Blake matchup.
posted by booksherpa at 10:09 AM on August 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
There is commentary on the matches, and people seemed to be good about bringing up such points, and making recommendations for next time. Personally, I was amused by the Polgara/Anita Blake matchup.
posted by booksherpa at 10:09 AM on August 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
Also known as, "Who can be the biggest Mary Sue?"
(And I note that in the Suvatu matches, it was a Robert Jordan character vs. a RR Martin character. QED.)
posted by Eideteker at 10:32 AM on August 11, 2010
(And I note that in the Suvatu matches, it was a Robert Jordan character vs. a RR Martin character. QED.)
posted by Eideteker at 10:32 AM on August 11, 2010
The early character x vs. character y fight commentary websites of 1999 were a great age for written internet humor.
posted by beardlace at 10:37 AM on August 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by beardlace at 10:37 AM on August 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
Ha ha, Katsa is trouncing the Cullen in votes. I guess that's to be expected. Although, is any of this really legitimately fighty fight brackets, as opposed to voting for the characters you find nearest and dearest?
They've really got a matchup with Eugenides and Westley. If you haven't read the Attolia books, you'd probably estimate Westley, but to know Eugenides is to adore Eugenides (albeit in a frustrated way), and the tables turn significantly.
posted by redsparkler at 10:56 AM on August 11, 2010
They've really got a matchup with Eugenides and Westley. If you haven't read the Attolia books, you'd probably estimate Westley, but to know Eugenides is to adore Eugenides (albeit in a frustrated way), and the tables turn significantly.
posted by redsparkler at 10:56 AM on August 11, 2010
Interesting, clicking through the initial pairings, based on my just less than 50% completion rate of the novels included, they've done a good job of pairing similar characters.
one author reacted differently
That said, I understand asking to have your character removed due to whatever reason (against fan-fic, copyright, whatever justification) I think it's funny that they're listing "virgin" as an advantage under Peterfreund's Astrid character. While technically true (unicorn hunter), I'll be curious to see how that takes her through the other rounds. If things work well for her I'm not sure how virginity is going to hold up against the Dread Pirate Roberts or Gen in a fight. :-P
posted by librarianamy at 10:56 AM on August 11, 2010
one author reacted differently
That said, I understand asking to have your character removed due to whatever reason (against fan-fic, copyright, whatever justification) I think it's funny that they're listing "virgin" as an advantage under Peterfreund's Astrid character. While technically true (unicorn hunter), I'll be curious to see how that takes her through the other rounds. If things work well for her I'm not sure how virginity is going to hold up against the Dread Pirate Roberts or Gen in a fight. :-P
posted by librarianamy at 10:56 AM on August 11, 2010
I rather enjoyed the way that Marting wrote up Jaime beating Cthulhu. He's a great, ancient sleeping god who will destroy all if he wakes. Solution?
Don't freaking wake him!
/slaughters all the cultists
posted by Imperfect at 11:00 AM on August 11, 2010
Don't freaking wake him!
/slaughters all the cultists
posted by Imperfect at 11:00 AM on August 11, 2010
Fun! I seriously enjoyed the Katniss v. Tally Youngblood matchup — Katniss got Tally already (sorry, Scott!), and she's going to destroy some random unicorn-killing bint... but the single-combat single-elimination tournament format isn't really to Katniss' advantage. If you just put them all in an arena she'd let them kill each other off and take out the wounded, but one-on-one I don't know how Katniss makes it past either the dragon-rider or whatever a "tengu" is.
posted by nicwolff at 11:04 AM on August 11, 2010
posted by nicwolff at 11:04 AM on August 11, 2010
Christopher Chant against Hermione is pretty clever, but a bit of a bummer that they had to pair Eona with Howl, of all people. In fact, it's downright unfair to have two of Wynne-Jones' charming wizards in the ranks, and it smacks a bit of mushing people into the brackets to put Eona against Howl.
Would it have been offensive to put Ai Ling from Silver Pheonix up against her instead? It seems like they both live in a more spiritual fantasy world, and do quite different things. Even Lessa would've have been an interesting match, since both ladies have some dragons to control, although the forms they take are quite different.
posted by redsparkler at 11:08 AM on August 11, 2010
Would it have been offensive to put Ai Ling from Silver Pheonix up against her instead? It seems like they both live in a more spiritual fantasy world, and do quite different things. Even Lessa would've have been an interesting match, since both ladies have some dragons to control, although the forms they take are quite different.
posted by redsparkler at 11:08 AM on August 11, 2010
The more I have opinions on stuff like this, the more I'm glad I was born a little too early and/or a little too sheltered to find fanfic communities when I was in high school.
Don't get me wrong, I think they're awesome resources for folks, but I'm so certain I would have spent copious amounts of time writing strange mashups, and instead I did other things, and now I only pretend that I'm going to write fanfic crossovers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Babysitters Club.
(Okay, see, all the Babysitters become Slayers. That's pretty much the extent of it, except also Jackie Rodowsky turns into a vampire. And sometimes they babysit for vampires, and sometimes they stake vampires who are preying on the babysat.)
posted by redsparkler at 11:19 AM on August 11, 2010
Don't get me wrong, I think they're awesome resources for folks, but I'm so certain I would have spent copious amounts of time writing strange mashups, and instead I did other things, and now I only pretend that I'm going to write fanfic crossovers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Babysitters Club.
(Okay, see, all the Babysitters become Slayers. That's pretty much the extent of it, except also Jackie Rodowsky turns into a vampire. And sometimes they babysit for vampires, and sometimes they stake vampires who are preying on the babysat.)
posted by redsparkler at 11:19 AM on August 11, 2010
"Okay, see, all the Babysitters become Slayers."
Wait, so... "The Babyslayers Club"? I'm anticipating some pushback from marketing on this one.
posted by Eideteker at 11:42 AM on August 11, 2010
Wait, so... "The Babyslayers Club"? I'm anticipating some pushback from marketing on this one.
posted by Eideteker at 11:42 AM on August 11, 2010
At night, Chuck Norris checks his closet for KATNISS EVERDEEN.
Awesome.
posted by cereselle at 12:51 PM on August 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
Awesome.
posted by cereselle at 12:51 PM on August 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
Ha ha, Katsa is trouncing the Cullen in votes. I guess that's to be expected.
Yep, no surprise at all. The Twilight hate among "true" fen is pretty strong. I read the first book, liked it okay, haven't been sufficiently inspired yet to read the rest. I can absolutely see the appeal for many young women, though. I definitely want to read the Katsa books now, though.
Although, is any of this really legitimately fighty fight brackets, as opposed to voting for the characters you find nearest and dearest?
Yeah, that's my problem with it too, the whole popularity contest aspect. On the other hand, if someone obviously less powerful wins the popular vote, should make for interesting reading. That's the cool part of this for me - reading the mashups.
posted by booksherpa at 12:58 PM on August 11, 2010
Yep, no surprise at all. The Twilight hate among "true" fen is pretty strong. I read the first book, liked it okay, haven't been sufficiently inspired yet to read the rest. I can absolutely see the appeal for many young women, though. I definitely want to read the Katsa books now, though.
Although, is any of this really legitimately fighty fight brackets, as opposed to voting for the characters you find nearest and dearest?
Yeah, that's my problem with it too, the whole popularity contest aspect. On the other hand, if someone obviously less powerful wins the popular vote, should make for interesting reading. That's the cool part of this for me - reading the mashups.
posted by booksherpa at 12:58 PM on August 11, 2010
I'm loving the pair-ups in which I'm familiar with both characters:
- Christopher Chant vs. Hermione - It's a damn shame HP is so much more popular than the Chrestomanci series, because as much as I love Hermione she doesn't stand a chance by any rational argument.
- Katniss Everdeen vs. Tally Youngblood - They're both badass and they're both survivalists, but Katniss has been hunting for her life all her life, whereas Tally is an accidental revolutionary. Katniss definitely takes this one despite the power disadvantage. Though I find Tally more interesting as a character.
- Ged vs. Edmund Pevensie - Ouch! Poor Edmund. Someone had to get the short end of the power stick, I guess.
- Westley vs. Eugenides - Eugenides should definitely win this one; it's just a question whether his small but fierce fandom can outvote the more numerous but on average more casual Princess Bride fans. They have a similar skill set and and aptitude within that set; I'd say Westley is better at hand-to-hand combat but Eugenides is a better strategist. Plus Westley is scrupulously honorable whereas Eugenides is a nice guy for whom cheating is (quite literally) a religion. So Eugenides would win.
I'm a little sad that there are so many spoilers for The Queen's Thief in the write-up, though; while the books wouldn't be half so interesting without the charming protagonist or the complex politics, a good part of the fun is getting led wildly astray at least once per book by unreliable and yet entirely truthful narration. I love all the series mentioned in this comment, but The Queen's Thief is my personal favorite.
Ooooh, boy, looking a few rounds ahead it looks quite likely that we'll have a Katniss vs. Eugenides match. That write-up should be epic.
posted by bettafish at 2:03 PM on August 11, 2010
- Christopher Chant vs. Hermione - It's a damn shame HP is so much more popular than the Chrestomanci series, because as much as I love Hermione she doesn't stand a chance by any rational argument.
- Katniss Everdeen vs. Tally Youngblood - They're both badass and they're both survivalists, but Katniss has been hunting for her life all her life, whereas Tally is an accidental revolutionary. Katniss definitely takes this one despite the power disadvantage. Though I find Tally more interesting as a character.
- Ged vs. Edmund Pevensie - Ouch! Poor Edmund. Someone had to get the short end of the power stick, I guess.
- Westley vs. Eugenides - Eugenides should definitely win this one; it's just a question whether his small but fierce fandom can outvote the more numerous but on average more casual Princess Bride fans. They have a similar skill set and and aptitude within that set; I'd say Westley is better at hand-to-hand combat but Eugenides is a better strategist. Plus Westley is scrupulously honorable whereas Eugenides is a nice guy for whom cheating is (quite literally) a religion. So Eugenides would win.
I'm a little sad that there are so many spoilers for The Queen's Thief in the write-up, though; while the books wouldn't be half so interesting without the charming protagonist or the complex politics, a good part of the fun is getting led wildly astray at least once per book by unreliable and yet entirely truthful narration. I love all the series mentioned in this comment, but The Queen's Thief is my personal favorite.
Ooooh, boy, looking a few rounds ahead it looks quite likely that we'll have a Katniss vs. Eugenides match. That write-up should be epic.
posted by bettafish at 2:03 PM on August 11, 2010
Shawn works so hard on this site, I was delighted to see it pop up on mefi. w00t.
posted by Fizz at 5:08 PM on August 11, 2010
posted by Fizz at 5:08 PM on August 11, 2010
Oops, I'm talking specifically about suvudo.com, such a great place for fantasy nerds.
posted by Fizz at 5:08 PM on August 11, 2010
posted by Fizz at 5:08 PM on August 11, 2010
Shawn works so hard on this site, I was delighted to see it pop up on mefi. w00t.
I hadn't heard of it before, and was happy to discover it via the other cage match. Now I'm glad I made it part of the post!
posted by booksherpa at 1:37 PM on August 12, 2010
I hadn't heard of it before, and was happy to discover it via the other cage match. Now I'm glad I made it part of the post!
posted by booksherpa at 1:37 PM on August 12, 2010
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Jaime Lannister, fucking seriously?
posted by Caduceus at 10:06 AM on August 11, 2010 [1 favorite]