A Bit of Wit, Mk. 2

It's finally here; the announcement of the 12th Character Battle Contest! For the 2nd time, this contest will be held at the new site for all my Character Battle contests, The Battling Arena, a free site where you can register, vote, and get all the contest info:

This summer, 64 characters who don't get the glory, who don't get the fame and lasting appeal as the hero, will finally get their chance in the limelight.

Second Fiddle is exactly that; a collection of characters who tag along with the hero (or villain), offering valuable help, expertise, and know-how in order so that the hero or villain can accomplish their ultimate goal--to save or conquer. Sometimes the sidekick serves little more than a bumbling idiot, but still finds a way to help the main character. Yet all sidekicks have something in common; more often than not, they are nothing more than a footnote, a stepping stone for the hero/villain, often times not acknowledged. How could Snake ever finally take down Ocelot without Otacon? How could Sonic get past Dr. Robotnik's more technological creations, or even climb high cliffs? How could Leon Kennedy refrain from shooting Ashley Graham? While it is true that some of these sidekicks do make it beyond second fiddle and actually become famous in their own right, even getting their own games (Daxter, Yoshi, and Diddy Kong, to name a few), it is the exception, rather than the rule. Hopefully, this contest will bring these characters to light.

Now comes the first audience participation part of the program--I need your help to round up characters so I can make a contest bracket. I plan on opening signups for this contest at the end of the month, first week of June at the very latest. Your task is simple; send me character suggestions. I have a few guidelines on what characters will be considered for entry:

1) The characters must be a sidekick; sidekicks can be anyone who provides direct assistance to the hero and/or villain. Not all sidekicks have to be useful; some sidekicks exist and serve little function, but tag along with the hero/villain anyway; Slippy Toad and Navi come to mind--Slippy's good for giving you the boss's lifebar, but not much else; Navi helps Link to Z-Target, but her constant cries of "HEY! LISTEN! HEY! LISTEN!" do nothing else.

2) The characters must be from console games; I don't use characters from PC games unless I REALLY have to. Please specify the game/series, and the console.

3) Don't send me whole lists of characters from one game/series; at the very most, 2-3 characters will come from any one game/series.

So, how do you submit character ideas?

--You can either email me at LLoire1119@hotmail.com (please use the subject line "CB12 Character Ideas", otherwise I'll treat it as spam)
--If you know me on Facebook, you can send me a message
--You can IM me if you see me online (AIM: Xcbrian2, Yahoo: LLoire01)
--You can leave them as an LJ comment, although if you do, leave it as an anonymous post
--Or, if you're registered at The Battling Arena, you can send me a message there to--send the message to "admin."

The point is to not leave your suggestions open to the public--by sending messages directly to me, there's bound to be repeat suggestions. The 64 most requested characters will make it into the bracket.

The suggestion period will end on May 30; signups will begin June 4.

If you have any questions, send them along--I hope to see a lot of characters!