V8 BKA/BDA Voting: July 2023

[Fothcrah]

BKA:The evil twink himself Salem Fox, once again delivering the goods with a creepy, intense and creatively staged scene. Shout out to all three characters here who bring the goods. But Salem manages to hit that sweet spot of being both a dastardly and theatrical enough villain that his plans and schemes are immediately interesting and engaging but he also makes mistakes or gets caught out. The buildup to him forcing Greg and Jacob to play russian roulette spin the bottle and then the casually cruel way he both plays the game and kills Greg really sell the scene. Evil twink gets another one.

BDA: Outfoxd for DeMarcus Miller.
I mean, where do to start.

The.380 caliber steel hornets stitched his body from groin to throat, a dozen stingers that opened holes in flesh and the organs underneath.

The prose in DeMarcus' death post is something else, clean, concise and evocative in all the best ways. DeMarcus was a good villain but Outfoxd has always managed to do a lot with only a few words and that holds true here. DeMarcus is shot and doesn't have any time to react and do anything before he passes. It's unexpected in its brutality but stands out because of it. I hope 'foxd sticks around for the next version because whenever he shows up he brings the goods with him.

[starscratch]

Both my votes for BKA and BDA go to the Graves sisters, Kitty and Ash respectively. Already a sucker for the drama that comes with a person killing a family member, and all the build up beforehand just had me on the edge of my seat. I knew what was happening, and yet it still felt like I was in a chokehold with all the suspense. Kitty just wanting to talk things out and finally have a relationship with her sister that wasn’t solely them hating each other! Ash doing her damnedest to stoke the flames of that hate so that her plan could work out! It’s a full blown tragedy in the best ways possible, and I just loved every second of it.

[robot in the mimikyu]

low on spoons so i'll keep these short

BKA: Kitty Graves

One of my favorite of Kitty's kills, along with her murder of Tay. This whole scene is just deliciously fucked up. Ash, doing what she had always done, convinced of her righteousness to the end, and Kitty, trying not to do what she had always done, but this time--genuinely, without a shred of self-delusion--left with no choice.

BDA: Josh James

Yeah, I know Rugga's already taken 2 BDA's, but this was pretty much a flawless ending to one of my favorite villains on this website, so. I had to, okay? There isn't much to say here that hasn't already been said. Josh wins. He was always going to win once he realized there was no reason for him not to do whatever he wanted to do. Kudos to Apples for his part in this scene, too--it takes an impressive amount of selflessness to let Josh get the last word on your character.

HM's: Lots of great scenes. Return the Slab and Burning the House Down were both wonderfully paced and wonderfully tense--and when violence came, it was explosive. Also I just want to give Iris a hug.

[Guest]

BEST KILL AWARD: Katelyn Graves for killing Ashlyn Graves
This is my favourite of Kitty’s kills so far. Volt does a great job capturing her emotions and confliction here and selling the bad blood between her and her sister (shout out as well to Gundham for his part in this scene, and obviously to Cicada before that!) with the lines “She would take it all: …” and “leaving Katelyn on top for the first time in her life” being my favourites.

BEST DEATH AWARD: Ruggahissy for the death of Joshua James
This is a deeply, brilliantly unsatisfying death for v8’s most despicable villain. I’m sure we all wanted Josh to die screaming and crying and losing but Rugga’s decision to end things this way was a great call. The appeal of Josh, if you can call it that, for me at least is how uncomfortable he makes you feel and him getting some sick satisfaction even out of his own death doubles down on that.

[VoltTurtle]

That's time for votes! Approving them now.