V7 Endgame Plastic Hammers

[VoltTurtle]

It's time for Endgame Hammers! These are shamelessly ripped from V6, which were shamelessly ripped from V5, and will likely be shamelessly ripped again in V8! In the spirit of consistency (and continuing to rip this introduction from the previous V7 hammers), the usual intro will also be ripped from V6 too!

A quick reminder: the hammers are to celebrate the good stuff, by and large. There are a few places where we ask for criticism and the like, usually about the story/site/game as a whole. That's fine! Just don't take shots at specific handlers/characters here. There are tons of appropriate avenues for expressing criticism and disagreeing with others' opinions and such, so use one of them instead. Do not ironically vote characters you hate into categories you find unflattering; while the phrasing of the reworked questionnaire removes most of the opportunities for such things, it still bears repeating that doing so is verboten.

With that out of the way, have at it~

The Plastic Hammer Awards!


The Basics

Handler Name:

Your Trademark Character:

Current Status of Trademark Character:

Favorite Character:

Favorite Weapon:

Favorite Scene:

Favorite Death:

Favorite Quote:

Favorite Post:

Favorite Location:


Characters

Best Character Development: What character development has kept you intrigued?

Best Game Impact: Which character do you feel has brought the most positive development to the game as a whole, outside their specific storyline?

Best Innovation: Which character has been a breath of fresh air for you?

Best Realism: Which character is really grounded in reality in a way you find appealing?

Best Heroic Character: Which good guy has you solidly on their side?

Best Villainous Character: Who is your favorite ne'er-do-well?

Best Tragic Character: Whose sad and inevitable fate have you most enjoyed lamenting?

Best Humorous Character: Which character made you laugh the most? (And we don't mean "unintentionally". Be nice!)

Best Tactics: Through elimination of the competition or a solid plan for survival, who's kept you interested in their struggle to make it back home?

The Sympathy Award: Which character did you feel the most for, and most want good things for?

The Empathy Award: Which character could you most easily put yourself in the shoes of?

The Gone-Too-Soon Award: Which deceased character should have stuck around a little longer?

The He-Had-It-Coming Award: Who best earned their (possibly still forthcoming) demise?


Scenes and Deaths

Best Tragedy: Which scene or death made you the most teary eyed?

The Stomach-Churner: Which scene or death has most effectively played with the gory/violent/overall disturbing side of the game?

Best Impact: Which scene or death do you think best played a positive role in changing the course of the game?

Best Comedy: Which scene or death served as the best comic relief?

The Sunglasses-and-Explosions Award: Which scene or death had the best action going on?

Best Feeling-Inducer: Which scene or death provoked the best emotional reaction from you?

Best Drama: Which scene or death had you on the edge of your seat in the way of conflict, suspense, and drama?

Best Surprise: Which scene or death caught you most off guard in a pleasant way, either through its unpredictable nature or its unique execution?

Best Meanwhile: Which off-island scene was your favorite?


Predictions, Preferences, and Positions

If you could change ANYTHING that has happened thus far, what would you change?

Out of the remaining characters, who are you counting on to be the overall winner of V7?

How do you predict the ending of V7 is going to turn out?

How much did you enjoy/not enjoy V7?

What do you like the most about V7?

What do you think could have been better about the version?

What do you think of the overall SOTF story?

How do you feel about V7 compared to prior versions?

How do you think V8 will differ from/compare to V7 and prior versions?


Talk About Yourself

What has been your favorite thing to write in V7?

Which of your V7 characters was your favorite to write?

What are you proudest of in V7?

What do you wish you could improve?

What is your favorite V7 memory?

What else would you like to share? Anything goes!

[+] Code

Code: Select all

[size=150][u][b]The Plastic Hammer Awards![/b][/u][/size]
 
 
[u][b]The Basics[/b][/u]
 
[b]Handler Name:[/b] 
 
[b]Your Trademark Character:[/b] 
 
[b]Current Status of Trademark Character:[/b] 
 
[b]Favorite Character:[/b] 
 
[b]Favorite Weapon:[/b] 
 
[b]Favorite Scene:[/b] 
 
[b]Favorite Death:[/b] 
 
[b]Favorite Quote:[/b] 
 
[b]Favorite Post:[/b] 
 
[b]Favorite Location:[/b] 
 
 
[u][b]Characters[/b][/u]
 
[b]Best Character Development:[/b]
 
[b]Best Game Impact:[/b]
 
[b]Best Innovation:[/b] 
 
[b]Best Realism:[/b]

[b]Best Heroic Character:[/b]
 
[b]Best Villainous Character:[/b] 
 
[b]Best Tragic Character:[/b]
 
[b]Best Humorous Character:[/b] 
 
[b]Best Tactics:[/b]
 
[b]The Sympathy Award:[/b] 
 
[b]The Empathy Award:[/b]
 
[b]The Gone-Too-Soon Award:[/b]
 
[b]The He-Had-It-Coming Award:[/b]
 
 
[u][b]Scenes and Deaths[/b][/u]
 
[b]Best Tragedy:[/b]
 
[b]The Stomach-Churner:[/b]
 
[b]Best Impact:[/b]
 
[b]Best Comedy:[/b]
 
[b]The Sunglasses-and-Explosions Award:[/b]
 
[b]Best Feeling-Inducer:[/b]
 
[b]Best Drama:[/b]
 
[b]Best Surprise:[/b]
 
[b]Best Meanwhile:[/b]
 
 
[u][b]Predictions, Preferences, and Positions[/b][/u]
 
[b]If you could change ANYTHING that has happened thus far, what would you change?[/b]
 
[b]Out of the remaining characters, who are you counting on to be the overall winner of V7?[/b]
 
[b]How do you predict the ending of V7 is going to turn out?[/b]
 
[b]How much did you enjoy/not enjoy V7?[/b]
 
[b]What do you like the most about V7?[/b]
 
[b]What do you think could have been better about the version?[/b]
 
[b]What do you think of the overall SOTF story?[/b]
 
[b]How do you feel about V7 compared to prior versions?[/b]
 
[b]How do you think V8 will differ from/compare to V7 and prior versions?[/b]
 
 
[size=150][u][b]Talk About Yourself[/b][/u][/size]
 
[b]What has been your favorite thing to write in V7?[/b]

[b]Which of your V7 characters was your favorite to write?[/b]
 
[b]What are you proudest of in V7?[/b]
 
[b]What do you wish you could improve?[/b]
 
[b]What is your favorite V7 memory?[/b]
 
[b]What else would you like to share? Anything goes![/b]

[Buko]

The Plastic Hammer Awards!


The Basics

Handler Name: The Plantain Supernova aka Chad aka Buko

Your Trademark Character: The one, the only—Ace Beats.

Current Status of Trademark Character: Dead in Thug Mansion.

Favorite Character: Very, very, very tough for me to choose and I already gave a big ass list in the midgame hammers but, y’know, fuck it let’s go: K8 the Gr8, Marco Hart, Arizona Butler, Tirzah Foss, Lori Martin, Ivy Langley, Justin Greene, The Rat King, Diego Larrosa, Sakurako Jackson, Grandma Cam and El Presidente are all high on my recommendation list. I gave Ivy the honor of my favorite in midgame and she is still close to my heart…

But Imma give Zona as my favorite V7 character. I think Deamon wrote a great character who was a compelling and interesting hero that remained someone of strength and honor even as they succumbed to darkness and vengeance. I loved Zona and she was a creative north star and tone setter for me in V7. Great character and I think a stand out in the version.

Favorite Weapon: The Bag of Lucky Charms and the Grenade Launcher both got a lotta good scenes and mileage outta of ‘em and I feel cover the range of deadliness. Lucky Charms kill more folks than grenades. Not on the island I think, but in real life.

Favorite Scene: Look at the Cleanse, Look at the Moves—a slow burn that leads into some good paced action and a gritty finish for Michael Froese in the subsequent thread. What stands out here is the resolution of Zona and how that infects and effects the ever evolving Garren. Great scene with three of the best writers in the version.

Favorite Death: Imma give it to Jonah Heartgrave. Jonah’s death was very much emotional and I think the catalyst to that whole arc that is solved with Zona’s death at Darlene’s hands later on along with Mikey’s eventual demise as well (Jonah is even a great support corpse!). A great scene that provoked great and honest emotion outta me.

Favorite Quote: Let me be selfish and self serving in this one…

”Yep!” – Sakurako Jackson

Favorite Post: My favorite BKA pick up!

Favorite Location: The big ass mansion, duh!


Characters

Best Character Development: I think, it’s gotta be given to Garren here. His development and betterment as a person was quite a pleasure to watch. Honorable mention for Marco Hart who I think had a bittersweet and sad sorta development with murder muddling overall a positive bend. Garren's growth from trolly intel towards brave underdog and beacon of positivity and mercy was amazing to see and I think Pip's strongest work in the version. Considering how strong Pip is as a writer, that's saying a lot.

Best Game Impact: Talking from a pure quantitative area? Gotta give it to the three double digit killers: Erika, Blaise and Justin. Talking from a development and domino section? Gotta give it to Beryl as she kicks off that whole Mikey F and Darlene plotline which also leads into the AriJonah and Quinn stuff and ultimately Zona and Mikey as well. I think that’s one of the tightest and best written arcs of the version with great writers throughout.

Best Innovation: I think I’m going to go with Darlene here, ultimately. The extraordinary in being extra ordinary—I think there’s a poignant and valuable lesson there to be learned for V8.

Best Realism: It was Lil Nathan Coleman at midgame—and it’s Lil Nathan Coleman here. A great example of expertise and empathy and skill on Ricky’s part. In any other handler’s hands, it would be a cringe fest and a thing of worry—in Ricky’s, it’s a wholesome and sweet depiction of innocence and ultimately senseless tragedy. Very good stuff.

Best Heroic Character: Imma go with Zona here because I went with Jonah at midgame and she's my favorite, duh! I enjoyed Zona’s resoluteness and sorta badass hero energy that laid in conflict with the sweetness of her soul. We have two sides of Zona—the tough and standoffish basketball player and also Zona the sweet lover and searcher for justice. I feel her ending and the way she echoes Jonah’s is a heroic and her last mission for and her guidance of Darlene through her own murder exceptionally illustrative of the core of her character. She’s my favorite for a reason!

Best Villainous Character: I think this is going to Justin Greene again, I obviously was very attached to Justin’s story and was very proud to ultimately end it—what appeals to me about Justin is the unity in theme and vision that he has throughout his story and the remarkable consistency in which Ricky expresses himself within it. Justin’s overarching theme is desperation and selfishness and those remain the solid guiding principles throughout. The one downside of Justin’s story is that some of the kills, especially the later ones, can be a little repetitive and he can read sorta samey—but that is the cost of that consistency and the result of the characters dedication to desperation. I think Justin is hands down the best played and best written of the double digit killers in the version and the reason being is that consistency and dedication to the overarching vision.

Best Tragic Character: Let’s go with Diego because his Mom is gonna see video of him jerkin’ off.

But, real talk, Diego was someone who had a lot of empathy and sympathy towards him and the way that he constantly couldn’t overcome that demon of self inspite of his desire and determination to live. I loved Diego’s story and in many ways thought Train did a lot of stuff with him that I was trying and failed to do with Ace. A great character occupying the grey and the true tragedy of his arc is that his biggest and most hurt victim is likely himself.

And y’know, those people he killed, whatever.

Best Humorous Character: Lori is probably the most consistently funny kid on the island—but let’s give it to the Rat King because he deserves recognition. Boogie was super clever and expressive in Abe’s voice and consistently scummy and sarcastic. He was a character I loved to read, loved to hate and hated to lose. A great standout of the version.

Best Tactics: I think it still has to be Parker here—though I also wouldn’t mind repping King Rat again. Let’s give it though to a team effort: AriJonah. The tracking down and disposal of Quinn remains one of the best foreshadowed and executed kills in the version.

The Sympathy Award: K8 the Gr8, Jilly did a great job illustrating the wholesomeness and resilience of the Furby Queen. I think K8 was someone a lot of people felt for and rooted for because of her innocence and resilience. Her last march towards the end provoked genuine feels from even the most cold hearts and so I feel she is very much deserving here.

The Empathy Award: I think, I see myself a lot in Abe, especially a younger me. Abe’s dedication to snark and his sorta ‘too smart for his own good’-ness appeals to me and speaks to me specifically. I'll also shout out Garren and Dememetri here because I think part of the comedy and genius of these characters is there empathetic and toxic relatability. Good stuff from all three writers that often made me laugh and made me think--very much my whole aesthetic. I smoke a lotta weed, sue me.

The Gone-Too-Soon Award: So many choices: Arizona, Wyatt and Garren all scream out to me—but Imma go off the wall and pick Tirzah. Mostly because if Rugga doesn’t swap out Tirzah for Lori, Jonah doesn’t get hit the next set. That’s how dice work, right?

The He-Had-It-Coming Award: Well, Diego obviously. He took matters into his own hands though…

Nah, but real talk, gotta be Lorenzo right? That’s what it was midgame at least. I think for this stage—let’s go with Blaise. They long deserved their full ride to Hands U. When that death post finally came up, I think even Paige was saying "FINALLY!"


Scenes and Deaths

Best Tragedy: Something a bit Shakespearean in DRUGS SAV3D MY LIF3

The Stomach-Churner: Prolly reading Lucas A and Tonya hook up…

Nah, but real talk, I did visibly wince at Tirzah’s death. I’m not one for eye stuff and we ended up getting a lot of it in V7 (shit, I partook)—but I think that was the best and most visceral display of it. For sure felt it in my stomach and uh, my eye.

Best Impact: I already hinted at this and said it explicitly, but I will go with Jonah’s death for the dominoes it sets off—this could even go further into Beryl’s death as well. In terms of impact and positivity—my love affair for Zona continues as I think her death showed off the positivity of character and resistance to the core values of the game that her story was building. Zona’s story was one about justice and vengeance and love—her end was about acceptance and moving forward and love. I thought it was very poignant and great.

Best Comedy: Darlene and Sakurako Both Had One-shots and Abe Didn’t Want to Feel Left Out Even Though He Doesn’t Have Much to Say Now on title alone.

The Sunglasses-and-Explosions Award: Could be a lot of scenes here and I think there’s a lot of good and exciting action to be picked—but I think I’m gonna go with something that puts that cold in cool. And go with Nick Oglive’s death in Princess of the Night. Not a conventional choice by any means but I think there’s always something visceral about straight up, executioner style murder. A strong scene by all involved and in my opinion Marceline’s strongest kill!

Best Feeling-Inducer: Gotta be the award winning and heart wrenching death of Axel

Best Drama: My favorite overall plot in the version—let’s go with the climax of it and Zona’s killing of Mikey F. A masterclass by both handlers and I think indicative of well deserving hype for both of them going into V8. Mikey F as a character was a lot and every kill tended to be both an assault on his own psyche a well as a constant river of trauma. His ending his sharp, quick and to the point. It pulls no punches as Zona pulls the trigger. I knew what was coming--I was still hooked and on the edge of my seat. Well deserving of all the praise it got.

Best Surprise: I will go with Camilla Bell’s death for reasons both OOC and IC. For IC, I thought it was a great scene and pleasant way of making lemonade out of dice lemons. For OOC? Blizzard was coming off of a BKA award and turned in a BDA performance less than two weeks later. An impressive turn around for anybody but for a teenager in her first version? That’s the type of feather in your cap that’ll get people talkin’ 10 years later in a RAT. This death also firmly got me in on the Train Train and hyped for Diego. A great performance by both.

Best Meanwhile: This category is created for The Other Student Roster. Said it during midgame and I’ll say it again here! It’s been on of my favorite things to follow all version, prolly due to my love of power rankings.


Predictions, Preferences, and Positions

If you could change ANYTHING that has happened thus far, what would you change?
The dice…always the dice. But perhaps having more opportunities with Wyatt, Tirzah or Ramsey would’ve made Ace’s story different. I think about it in particular due to me only RPing so much with Jilly this version—things to remedy in V8.

I also would’ve loved for Darlene to tie with Ace in that final BKA and write a scene with Toben of a BKA pick up kill. Would’ve been a cool moment and I was bummed we didn’t get it.

Out of the remaining characters, who are you counting on to be the overall winner of V7?
There are…so many ammendments! In the con-sti-tution! Of the United States—of Americaaaaaaaa! I can only choose one. I can only choose oooooooooooooone…..

I plead da fif.

How do you predict the ending of V7 is going to turn out?


How much did you enjoy/not enjoy V7?
I loved V7! It was a great experience for me both creatively and personally! I met some great friends and wrote some fun scenes that I look forward to reading in years to come. The important thing to me was leaving it all out there and not having any regrets—I accomplished that. My favorite thing in V7 was the friends I made along the way, no cap. But it was also the going all in with one character and RPing them and them alone for a period nearing two years. A great experience I will never be able to replicate again!

What do you like the most about V7?
That it’s almost over! I’m enjoying my victory lap and a well deserved rest as we prepare V8 stuff—but I’m eager to put V7 behind me and apply the lessons learned in unique and interesting ways!

What do you think could have been better about the version?
I think we have a bit of an unhealthy view on critique and this causes for a lot of hidden talk and double speak. I would like for folks to be more transparent and take critique less personally. I think our whole site culture could benefit from a bit of a checking of ego and a dedication towards honesty and contrition. Ultimately, just a focus on fun. That’s how I’m going to try and be better at least.

What do you think of the overall SOTF story?
Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiif!

But, yeah, I’m staff. Of course I dig the story—I’m part of crafting it. I’ve enjoyed taking up the Greynolds mantle and being part of those storyboarding discussions. Excited for what lies ahead!

How do you feel about V7 compared to prior versions?
It’s strange—I think V7 is the best version in terms of quality and creativity. We really outdid ourselves and this is both the SOTF of my memory and so, so much more. Emphasis on more. While we’re better than I remember in a lot of ways—in a lot of ways we’re the same as we ever were. For good or for bad. I think the blessing in V7 is that we were stronger writers and storytellers than ever before. I think the lesson is that we have just as much ego and pride as we ever did. I think reflection and some humble self awareness will do us some good in the off season.

How do you think V8 will differ from/compare to V7 and prior versions?
Once more, just for the memes…

Fiiiiiiiiiiiiif!

Oh, yeah and probably a lot of people meme-ing and creating some half-baked characters totally learning the wrong lesson from V7. But, y’know, that’s life! I’m sure V8 will stand on the shoulders of everything we’ve ever done or written before and exceed the standards and stories we’ve already established in our history. The SOTF timeline bends towards growth and improvement.


Talk About Yourself

What has been your favorite thing to write in V7?
I will go with all I ever asked is keep it 8 more than 92 with me as it subverted my own expectations and intentions and created a great group of writers (Sunny, Boogie, Toben and Mara) spontaneously. It was one of my favorite moments of the entire version and it was super duper fun to write in it and subvert my own plans (of which there were only vague ones). Having a sexy thread be an open thread and actually having people take the bait—one of my favorite moments of the version.

Which of your V7 characters was your favorite to write?
The one, the only—Ace Beats! But I have also had a great time writing Greynolds and Donald, to just to flex them staff muscles.

What are you proudest of in V7?
These two scenes back to back. With the Connor and Justin kills, I feel the vision of Ace and my writing with him reached their peak. It was tough going into BKA with those two kills because I knew they would cannibalize one another. My most proud moment came in those few hours where I thought Ace would actually tie with Ace for BKA. It was awesome to get love for those two scenes and ultimately end up winning an award with the Justin one, but the real prize came in the writing and the execution of vision. Dodd and Ricky were both great partners in that!

What do you wish you could improve?
I would’ve liked to have had at least one more character as to have been able to feel better about using a hero. There were some characters I felt deserved to be saved and I would’ve loved to have saved them.

What is your favorite V7 memory?
Becoming staff and getting back my horcruxes, making the top ten and winning my first BKA since Bloodtricution. Gotta love it!

What else would you like to share? Anything goes!
HIT, STICK AND BUST DICK! THEM CANES ARE THE SHIT! HIT, STICK AND BUST DICK---

TALK SHIT! TALK SHIT! TALK SHIT!

[Kermit]

The Basics

Handler Name: A robot Kermit has trained on v7's midgame hammers (+ chad's endgame hammer)

Your Trademark Character: Mario Lembo aka The Curmudgeon

Current Status of Trademark Character: Deceased

Favorite Character: K8lynne Grayson-Murphy

Favorite Weapon: The Bat-Signal, generally. Mostly for comedic effect.

Favorite Scene: Arianna saves Darlene from a sad ending

Favorite Death: Sakurako Jackson

Favorite Quote: "Hey hey! Hey hey! Hey hey! Hey hey! Hey hey! Hey hey! Hey hey! Hey hey! Hey hey! Hey hey! Hey hey! Hey hey! Hey hey! Hey hey! Hey hey! Hey hey! Hey hey! Hey hey! Hey hey! Hey hey! Hey hey! Hey hey! Hey hey! Hey hey! Hey hey!"

Favorite Post: Justin's Grave March

Favorite Location: The Nature Preserve


Characters

Best Character Development: Ace Ortega's development from cranky captain to laid back goofball has been a fascinating ride. The first half of the game saw him lash out at his fellow humans, lash out at the game, and try to put that anger behind him. It was nice to see him come out of it better for sure, but there's always that doubt of what's really behind every move. In the middle of it, he started to realize who he was and where he was, and the game hit him where it needed to: with a ton of heart and grit.

Best Game Impact: Beryl's death. It was a really dark and unfortunate thing to happen, but also a really nice slow burn that really showed off what could have been cool about V7. A lot of people talk about how important it is to them that Beryl survive, but I think if anything, she should have stood a better chance of succeeding without her aid.

Best Innovation: AriJonah's death

Best Realism: Tyrell Lahti has proven to be a surprisingly sympathetic character in V7, especially considering his past. I think he's moved on from a really dark place, and I think many people are beginning to see the error of their ways.

Best Heroic Character: Paloma Reyes is a recent arrival to the island, but already she has become one of the leaders of the SOS Brigade. Paloma is driven, but also has a kind heart and a brave soul, and I look to her to act boldly even as she loses some of her more self-assured bravado.

Best Villainous Character: Ace Ortega isn't a villain, he's just done bad. That's the mark of a great villain, and it's been there from the start. From the moment he showed up on the island to the moment he started beating on each other, Ace Ortega was a force to be reckoned with. But, you know, maybe that's the point. Maybe he wasn't exactly a force when he started, but the island taught him that hard not to let that stop him.

Best Tragic Character: Lucas Brady's story paints a bleak picture of his character and the people he cares about. Lucas is a likable kid who does bad things, but who also has a strong moral code that drives him to do the worst things. He's driven by a strong sense of justice and vengeance, and when those ends up coming at the cost of others, he feels justified in doing so.

Best Humorous Character: I think Jonah and Arizona are pretty funny at the same time.

Best Tactics: Madison

The Sympathy Award: I thought it was a cool scene between Diego and Meka, or between Cara and Parker. Their moment of pure, unadulterated, unadulterated goodness paired with the pure, unadulterated purest sentiment between Meka and Diego. Meka has a point. They really do.

The Empathy Award: You Are Not Alone, by Philip Pullman. Philip's story of loss and re-entry into the human condition is absolutely heartbreaking, full of twists and overall messiness. It's full of good characterizations, poignant themes, and surprising turns of events. It's got everything: the tragedy of loss, the triumph of inner resolution, the hilarity of discovery, and the heartbreak of rejection. I just want to see it end.

The Gone-Too-Soon Award: Nathan Coleman, the punk who got pushed around a bit during pre-game (and by proxy, also pre-game's outcome) but has since gone all in with the V7 cause.

The He-Had-It-Coming Award: Lorenzo Time. Wherever that is, you know it's over.


Scenes and Deaths

Best Tragedy: Katie and Tonya winning their first game of the tournament and feeling awful about it afterwards, respectively.

The Stomach-Churner: The fact that Ace and Ivy both died inside the infirmary, or that Bertha died in the infirmary, or that Reginald died in the infirmary, or that Justin died in the infirmary, or that Erika died in the infirmary, or that Justin's body was dumped in the canal by the guards. That one just makes me sad.

Best Impact: My understanding of the game is that Zona has to make some hard moral choices, and the majority of the island mourns the loss of her. This sends shockwaves through the narrative, and leads to some really interesting scenes and transitions.

Best Comedy: As much as anyone could have wanted it, Matt does get up in the middle of a scene and start pontificating about the meaning of life.

The Sunglasses-and-Explosions Award: Colin McCabe, because the tu quoque con gé en ivène was a journey I would have happily followed even without the knowledge that the rabbit hole we were building went even deeper than we realized.

Best Feeling-Inducer: Mikey "the Penguin" Fwindrel!

Best Drama: Watching Ace and Ivy put out a hit on each other in broad daylight.

Best Surprise: Paloma got dropped like a hot potato in Cut Catcher's Den.

Best Meanwhile: Default, if you're following along. If not, please excuse my awkward silence.


Predictions, Preferences, and Positions

If you could change ANYTHING that has happened thus far, what would you change? the island design really needs some retooling since it's such a visually striking piece of work and stuff but the execution is so suspect. the lag caused by our lack of communication during the whole gothic v7 kerfuffle is almost 16 years old.

Out of the remaining characters, who are you counting on to be the overall winner of V7? The island tourney is a good way to try and establish yourself and get noticed, but if you don't make it in time, you could be in big trouble.

How do you predict the ending of V7 is going to turn out? I hope and pray and we'll find out in mid-December.

How much did you enjoy/not enjoy V7? I have been having a blast, I don't know why I slowed myself down.

What do you like the most about V7? Daylight saving time.

What do you think could have been better about the version? There are a lot of things that I feel could have been done to make the game a bit more palatable for those not used to the language of violence, but fear and retribution. For starters, the amount of times I've killed someone who wasn't my enemy is astounding. There are a lot of people who don't get how justified it is being able to murder someone with such little justification in their view, but I think for the most part people are used to it and use it as a crutch to justify themselves. There are a lot of people who don't think it's all that bad a way of hurting someone, but who are reluctant to try it because of how it'll turn out if they do. Of course, this leads to two inevitable traps: people getting exactly what they deserve and people not wanting to take the time to put down a weapon once they get started.

What do you think of the overall SOTF story? It's not my thing to say, but there was a quiet moment during pre-game where I let myself get carried away and wrote some truly horrible things, from the start. I don't think anyone saw it coming at all and it was a really badly thought-out and cruel way to go out.

How do you feel about V7 compared to prior versions? I think V7 has been a wild ride and I would have loved for it to end there.

How do you think V8 will differ from/compare to V7 and prior versions? I think it's going to be even more unique and worth the wait. I know it's early days, but I'm interested in the ups and downs and the lawless potential.


Talk About Yourself

What has been your favorite thing to write in V7? The Darlene/Christina/Aliya spat at the altar, or the Mike vs. Blaise fight. The Mike vs. Blaise was done really well, and really feels like the last fight of a slasher film.

Which of your V7 characters was your favorite to write? Lone Wolf or Mimi

What are you proudest of in V7? Always making the most of the times we had. Sorta stoked I got to add a bike shop to my alma mater, though.

What do you wish you could improve? I honestly don't know. Ask anybody at E3.

What is your favorite V7 memory? I have so many good ones, but this is probably the one I had in mind when I wrote down the club's menu in advance...

What else would you like to share? Anything goes! I'm glad you like my little corner of the internet! I've got a few more corner cases happening so I don't know how committed I am to these kinds of threads, but I'm always interested in what your favorite little black book is. How about a few minutes every now and again? That's it, hit submit. I promise I won't spam you. I promise I won't check to see if you haven't posted in chat. You're welcome.

[Frozen Smoke]

So as a forewarning to this - I have not read all of the characters in V7. I have not even read a significant percentage of V7 overall, given the sheer volume of words y'all have put out, so this is my "Live in the moment" hammers. Maybe in 6 months when I've done some more reading, I'll come back and do a more comprehensive hammers, but I'm a lazy piece of shit so maybe not. We'll see.

---

The Plastic Hammer Awards!


The Basics

Handler Name: Frozen Smoke

Your Trademark Character: Faith C. Marshal-Mackenzie - And let me tell you, typing that out every thread got real fucking tiring

Current Status of Trademark Character: Palling around with Jesus

Favorite Character: Oof, we go RIGHT to the big ones with this don't we? - Obviously a lot of choices, but I'm going to pick Ace Ortega for this one. There's a reason he ended up killing both of my kids and it's not just stoner solidarity with Chad.

Favorite Weapon: I'm going to skip this one as, honestly, I don't feel like we really had a weapon that stood out and truly helped facilitate interesting roleplay situations - Which is what would make me like a weapon.

Favorite Scene: No Hell But The One We Made - This scene served as an amazing, tense break from the norm in both Garnet & Erika's stories. The pulling back into things that happened before the island helped really build a connection between two characters who didn't have a huge amount of pregame interaction as well, and the fretting over who's trying to kill who is just amazing. I have to admit when I was reading this live, I half expected Garnet to go out unrolled, and being able to give that impression is REALLY HARD. Kudos to both Shiola and Elena for it.

Favorite Death: who is the lamb and who is the knife? - Ivy and Myles' death is the first one to come to mind for me. It hits all of the main things I really appreciate in a death scene, with the deaths being a result of the character's demonstrated previous flaws, having moments of hope splattered in there just to keep you guessing, and ending on an extremely emotional note with the two of them going out holding hands. *chefs kiss*

Favorite Quote: Quotes don't really stick in my head particularly well, so I'm passing on this one as well as I don't feel like crawling through a tonne of threads and picking something at random just to fill in a checkbox. I suspect the quote I'd pick given time would be something from Garren, possibly the one where he laments how he fucked over everyone who cared about him off the island.

Favorite Post: For this one, I'm going to pull WAY back in the timeline, and go for the oneshot Ich Bin Ein Berliner. It's a great introduction to Max as a character if you didn't read his pregame, and addresses a lot of topics that aren't often touched upon in SOTF, but I love seeing toyed around with - Specifically thinking about how you'll be perceived outside the game. I love it and it's stuck in my head since I read it more than most oneshots, so it gets this spot.

Favorite Location: From a conceptual point of view, The Art Exhibition was awesome and unique and gave a lot of chances to do weird things, which I value pretty highly from enviroments. From an actual play point of view, The Village was my favourite, as getting to settle down and have a bit of a home base (although that arc didn't go for as long as I would like) is both realistic, and really fun to plan out.


Characters

Best Character Development: Julien Leblanc - Julien is probably the character who undergoes the most dramatic character development across the time of his journey on the island, going from someone who wanted to do the right thing even to those antagonising him (see; first thread with Ivy - Although obviously he gives us an insight into what he would become there) and talking about burying bodies, to someone who is convinced that holding his best friend/crush up at knife point is a genuinely morally good thing to do, and is willing to kill those who he doesn't think he can reason with. Kudos to Endie for pulling off the transition so subtly that you can never really pinpoint where exactly Julien goes from a good guy with poor execution to an actual villain.

Best Game Impact: Erika. It's tremendously difficult to think of a character who has influenced more people's stories than her, given both how prolifically she was posted with, and of course all the murders. Her name pops up all the time in threads with characters she's never met on the island, and the deaths she caused facilitated the general dissolution of civility on the island. Danya would be proud.

Best Innovation: Blaise (and Carl), for bringing back the coloured voices in a way that is not completely cancerous, and for giving us an absolute treasure trove of weird metatextual fuckery to go along with it. It might not be for everyone, but I greatly appreciated it, especially using a Zalgo-ed character profile to introduce us to Carl and explain what's going on in the most obtuse way possible.

Best Realism: Weird pick for this, but actually Justin Greene, because he tries to plan things out repeatedly in order to not make similar mistakes - But the second those plans come in contact with anyone else, they immediately evaporate, and we're left with the same panicked and selfish Justin we know is right at his core, and that's just too relatable for me to not consider it realistic. Great job Kilma.

Best Heroic Character: Passing on this one as honestly I did not read many character who had pretentions of being good people. I will fill this in some other time probably.

Best Villainous Character: This is a VERY hard on, as we had a lot of very nuanced and well written villains in the version, but I think I'm going to put Mikey Freeze in this spot. Whilst he might not have caused as much chaos as Quinn, or killed as many people as Erika, or even been as much of a rat as Diego, I greatly enjoyed the internal struggle of Michael trying to accept and rationalise what he's doing. The fight between self-pity and externalised blame, the weird musical interludes, the cutaway oneshots that show us Mike just falling apart when he's alone - It's all really excellently executed and I can't recommend him enough from that angle.

Best Tragic Character: Nathan Coleman. I don't need to explain this much more I assume.

Best Humorous Character: Wyatt Carter - Wyatt was the only character who legitimately made me laugh during his death scene, and if that doesn't signal a character who nails humour I don't know what does. He might not have quite had the density of jokes that he did in pregame, but the ones that are scattered around his story land perfectly, and help to both give a bit of levity to the scenes he's in as well as cement Wyatt's character (rather than being just comedic support). I will also make an exception to my habit of only nominating one character per category here to give a shoutout to Matthew Hunt who had some absolutely fucking amazing points of comedic timing that were an absolute blast to play the straight man to.

Best Tactics: This is a bit of a hard one, as I don't really rate the tactical approach that many people took in V7 (or at least that I've read so far), but that's because I'm a wanky game theory nerd who at one point was considering doing a oneshot where I dismantled the various IC mechanics of SOTF into their mathematical foundation before I realised that I was the only person who would ever read that and be like "this is entertaining and fun".

I suppose Diego would be my nomination, because he used all of the tools he had at his disposal the best to try and maximise his chances at survival.

The Sympathy Award: Oddly, Marco Hart. Paige did a great job of making someone who is, by their actions, a completely awful and terrible person who should be given nothing but contempt and internal narrative that really sells why she's doing what he's doing - And includes enough breaks where you get to see his struggles with himself and his dysphoria that you almost forget about the murders. His death scene is just the icing on the sadness cake there, as she finally comes to terms with what she's done and decides that the best way to continue is to well, not.

The Gone-Too-Soon Award: Beryl. Whilst her death was acutely interesting, and had a lot of consequences that spilled over the course of the game, to the point that I think V7 would be notably different if she hadn't died at that point - She was such a force in pregame that her going out so early still feels like a shame to me, and I wish we could have seen more of her impact on the game as a social connection point.

The He-Had-It-Coming Award: Yeah it's still Lorenzo for the pretty obvious reasons of rape is bad. I have to give massive credit to TonyK and Fenris for being willing to go that far to get such incredible heat, but doing so in a respectful and more realistic way than rape has been portrayed in SOTF's past. Seeing extremely sensitive topics like that handled well deserves kudos!


Scenes and Deaths

I am going to save this for my inevitable second hammerstroke because it feels extremely lame to hand out these awards when there are scenes I am aware of that fit these categories well, but have yet to read and fully formulate my opinion on, whoops.


Predictions, Preferences, and Positions

If you could change ANYTHING that has happened thus far, what would you change?
This is going to touch on a very live nerve, especially as we have not seen the conclusion of V7 yet, but I would much rather the Final Four discussion had been able to reach a collaborative outcome. Whilst Marco and K8lynnes side-deaths were both brilliantly executed, I would have preferred for us to get an ending that involved all four, both for character chemistry and thematic reasons.

Out of the remaining characters, who are you counting on to be the overall winner of V7?
There's two characters left so this is coinflip odds, but Garnet.

How do you predict the ending of V7 is going to turn out?
Again, it feels somewhat redundant to answer this question given we have the ending of V7 currently in progress.

How much did you enjoy/not enjoy V7?
I greatly enjoyed V7! It's my first time doing long form fiction writing since I was 14, and it made me realise just why I loved it, and beyond that I feel I've greatly improved my writing in the 2 years (!!!) that I've spent with my V7 characters. Being part of this community has also been rather fun, as y'all are very open and welcoming, and I've spent a great many lazy evenings just talking shit with you guys and that means just as much to me as the actual writing process.

What do you like the most about V7?
This is going to be somewhat weird, but honestly pregame. I don't know how other versions have handled pregame, but I felt that V7 had some great arcs that ran through it, and events like the Facebook Thread and Swiftball made it feel almost as improvisational and dramatic as the island can be. I am greatly looking forwards to V8's, and I hope it's just as eventful and well handled!

What do you think could have been better about the version?
A very difficult one, as trying to mess with one aspect of V7 would necessarily impact and change the parts I liked too, but I wish there were more smaller-time villains in the version. Blaise, Erika and Justin soaked up, between them, 42 kills - Which is just shy of 1/3 of the entire island's population. Whilst most of those kills were well executed, I get the feeling that for a non-zero amount of them, they ended up being the killers simply because there weren't enough other players out there for handlers to work with.

What do you think of the overall SOTF story?
Great! I love the metaplot updates, and the storyline of someone trying to defect from the AT was pretty excellently told and wrapped up. Looking forwards to seeing what other details we get during the epilogue!

How do you feel about V7 compared to prior versions?
I have not been in other versions so pass.

How do you think V8 will differ from/compare to V7 and prior versions?
I'm not entirely sure here. I suspect some of the trends we already have seen - an increase in prevalence of GNC/Sexual Minority characters, the blurring of who's good and evil on the island, and the decrease in importance/obviousness of 'flagships' - will all continue. But if I had to make a more specific call, I would say that I expect more people to try and hit experimentalist/avant garde notes like Blaise and Mikey Freeze, given the success and prominence of those characters.


Talk About Yourself

What has been your favorite thing to write in V7?
Number by Number - Because well, it's exactly the kind of thing I like doing outside of SOTF, but applied to SOTF in an IC manner. It might not be the most expressive or impactful oneshot, but it was something that I found quite easy and yet entertaining to put together. I am still kinda bummed I never got to return later on in the game and add to the premise, but such is the way on SOTF.

Which of your V7 characters was your favorite to write?
Faith by a mile. She's a very different person to me, but shares just enough similarities that she wasn't literal hell for me to try and write like Luca.

What are you proudest of in V7?
Faith's death. I wasn't entirely sure of my capacity to tug violently on people's heartstrings, and proving to myself that I was made me rather proud of myself. It's simple, sure, but I still hold it in high regard.

What do you wish you could improve?
Writing empathy, love, and all those other squishy emotions. I find it incredibly hard to bring those across in text in a way that feels genuine, and whilst I was able to hit it a few times with Luca, doing so was so draining and difficult for me that it made me not want to write her. Hopefully I can hook Mimi, Blizzard, and a few other handlers up to some sort of skill juicing machine and steal their amazing abilities in the future.

What is your favorite V7 memory?
People saying lots of nice things to me after Faith died. T'was a great experience, and I'm glad people enjoyed reading her. I hope to write a character in V8 who can have the same impact on people!

What else would you like to share? Anything goes!
This is your daily reminder to h y d r a t e

[Sunnybunny]

The Plastic Hammer Awards!


The Basics

Handler Name: Sunny, with all the aliases thereof

Your Trademark Character: Sakurako A. Jackson, I think!

Current Status of Trademark Character: Something something an extra hour in the ballpit...

Favorite Character: I love Ace like I wrote him, full stop. There are many kids I adore, like way more than I can count with my fingers and toes, but that's my son.

Favorite Weapon: The durian, which... seriously? A smelly fruit? But I've learned to stop worrying and love the durian.

Favorite Scene: Like, and I'll edit links in later but, Play With Fire in it's entirety is like... you're waiting for the shoe to drop and it turns out to to be a fucking anvil, and it's sooooo hype. I was so excited to read it, and it's sizzling with villain turns and instigation.

Favorite Death: Justin Greene and the Tire Iron get up close and personal, baybee. Also confession, the first time I read that I thought he'd named the tire iron Jackson and I was so confused. Anyway, it was a long time coming and a good closeout to my favorite coward.

Favorite Quote: "IN MY DEFENSE I KILLED A LOT OF PEOPLE!"

Favorite Post: https://sotfmini.com/SurvivalOfTheFitte ... 898#p75898 This is true villainy, guys! I didn't know it was going to be like that!

Favorite Location: It's still the waterfall, but I'd like to give a shoutout to the cliffs and the lake for holding it down for a girl.


Characters

Best Character Development: Marceline Carlson, in proof that character development not always meaning the character becoming a better person. Marceline goes from a slow spiral of despair to the fast track of doing mean ass things, but she never loses the plot of herself.

Best Game Impact: Camilla Bell wins a rocket launcher, which means Diego Larrosa gets a rocket launcher. He proceeds to ruin hella days.

Best Innovation: Kelly Nguyen. I don't know what she was smoking but good golly it's potent. Long live the death cult!

Best Realism: Faith Marshal-Mackenzie. Nothing about her felt larger than life, she was just a girl in a fucked up situation who died because of a bad judgement call. I enjoyed her story as a whole, and it's a dynamite ending.

Best Heroic Character: Darlene Silva, and okay like... she does bad things. She causes deaths. She bullies sweet space cadets. But heroism is the willingness to do the right thing, and the way she stumbles into her attempts at that is something I can call heroic. Daria Bhatia gets a nod from me for holding on to her believe that life has value, and also running into a gun fight with a bat.

Best Villainous Character: Abraham Watanabe, who is also really funny. He's the rat king who helps people to make himself look better and can also cry, sometimes, when he thinks about shooting his girlfriend in the face. He's a different sort of villain, but man did I hate to see this guy leave.

Best Tragic Character: Amelia Fischer deserved the world and all she got was trauma, betrayal, and some LSD. Damn.

Best Humorous Character: Zachary Beck, who is also pretty villainous! Him running around being a shitty teen, judging people and cheering on deaths of people he trolled in high school made me smile a lot.

Best Tactics: Lori Martin was doing really good with the whole drugging thing! Connor Lorenzen was also doing good with the group leaving!

The Sympathy Award: Megan Summers was... I haven't read her in full yet, but everything I saw of her pulled at my heartstrings.

The Empathy Award: K8's final trek to make to it back to Marco and walking walking walking was... I felt that.

The Gone-Too-Soon Award: ALL OF THEM but like... Marco, damn. Like, the way it ended was a knife to the gut, I wanted him to go on and live. It was powerful.

The He-Had-It-Coming Award: BLAISE YOU MOTHERFUCK-; Mikey Freezy


Scenes and Deaths

Best Tragedy: Garren getting shot... Like, Garren is one of the kids that actually became a better person! And he died in someone else's beef!

The Stomach-Churner: Marceline's arrow to the gut. Henry's transformation into a pair of shoes. Eye scream you scream I scream at eye damage.

Best Impact: It doesn't quite fit this category but I'm going to write down Teresa killing Violet and being insta got by Blaise because I enjoyed it.

Best Comedy: Marco just chilling in shades on a porch cracked me up! It did! Also Diego's date with Rosie Palms being interrupted by Blaise Seeing It.

The Sunglasses-and-Explosions Award: say goodnight to the bad guy

Best Feeling-Inducer: The View From Halfway Down

Best Drama: Aurelien and Morgan chasing Blaise around was enjoyable.

Best Surprise: I'm getting to this late so I don't remember but man, I liked most of the top 10 threads a lot.

Best Meanwhile: Still the Other Student Roster. Nothing like it.


Predictions, Preferences, and Positions

If you could change ANYTHING that has happened thus far, what would you change? Let's talk about the elephant in the room that's Endgame. I wish things hadn't ended up with the mess of hurt feelings, the strife, the hurt friendships and my momentary complete disillusion with the site. Generally, my view is that there's nothing two characters could do that four couldn't better, and I still think that's true. I can't help but wonder what could have been.

How much did you enjoy/not enjoy V7? Man, v7 was the only reason 2020 wasn't a total wash for me. Despite that whole paragraph above, I fucking looooove this version as a whole and people really put their best to the table. The cast as a whole felt so cohesive and I'm thankful I noticed that discord message warning about the start.

What do you like the most about V7? The game starting and being like ??? because I didn't read pregame. It was a blast.

What do you think could have been better about the version? No vroom vroom makes Sunny said.

What do you think of the overall SOTF story? I like it, but I want to see Danya on the back foot more. We come in to see these kids suffer, but I want to see it spread around!

How do you feel about V7 compared to prior versions? It's my first time seeing a version from beginning to end, and I love my soap opera ass v7. It's not perfect, but it might be my favorite for a while.

How do you think V8 will differ from/compare to V7 and prior versions? It's gonna get even weirder, people were super experimental in v7. I feel like there will be some worry about letting it be it's own thing, but once that's relaxed it's gonna get wiiild!


Talk About Yourself

What has been your favorite thing to write in V7? Lake scene lake sceneeeee... and every death I was involved in.

Which of your V7 characters was your favorite to write? Sakurako is my favorite kid to write ever. I want to see her dethroned, but we'll see.

What are you proudest of in V7? NOT IDLING OUT! I DID IT! I FINISHED A VERSION!!!

What do you wish you could improve? Being bolder with plotting with people, I am pretty shy and passive with that. Letting people know how much I enjoy their work.

What is your favorite V7 memory? God, so many. Hard to rank, easy to cherish.

What else would you like to share? Anything goes! In this hell year, I've learned so much about friendship, writing, and myself. SOTF was my lifeline, and I'm so grateful to people for being kind to me and willing to play with a recovering flake. I fucking love this shit and I hope it keeps rocking the free world! Pregame hopefully soon come!

I don't have the words for what this experience has meant to me.