AFFR: Season 3 All-Stars

[Bob]

Okay, time to post up these poll questions now. As Season 4 nears the All-Star cut-off, let's look back at past seasons. Like with Fallen-Stars, you can vote for as many as you'd like, but if you pick 'em all, that doesn't really help me.

I will add that I'm close to finalizing the All-Stars (minus Season 4), but I'd like to see if my picks are similar to yours, plus I might reconsider picks based on this. Just for fun, comment if you'd like.

[Dale]

Oh, Lord. I only picked three teams from this group, because only three of them deserve to be called All-Stars in any way -- Vaan & Penelo, Irvine & Selphie, and Cid & Hilda.

Vaan & Penelo are very simple -- they won. And they did so when nearly nobody in their cast thought that they would. They were probably the most surprising winners of their season. So for that alone, they should get another chance. I wasn't as crazy about Vaan's kooky schemes and rule-bending as Fleck was, but it worked and was one of the things that got them through the race, so . . . there you go. And Penelo moderated him well enough that she could be called a good racer in her own right.

Irvine & Selphie were another team who was unlikely to get far, but they found their rhythm around the same time that Vaan & Penelo did, and while they weren't as scheme-y in their racing, they were certainly funnier to read about. Irvine was easily the stronger of the two, but Selphie was amazing in her own ways. They were superior racers, and the best of the teams who made the F3, and I think they could match up against a group of high-calibre racers in an All-Stars season.

Cid & Hilda I mainly picked because, well, we need an oldster team, and they were one of the stronger oldster teams to date. They're the only team of older characters to win not only one leg, but two. And they were the only team in their season to win two legs with NO Fast Forwards (Tidus & Wakka, Irvine & Selphie, and Blank & Marcus each needed Fast Forwards to win at least one leg). In the end, what felled them was simply lack of cab funds, so I think that without money problems, they could do a fantastic job if given another chance.

I said no to Blank & Marcus because while they were also decent racers, they really started strong, but pulled a feat similar to Auron & Jecht and got weaker and weaker as the legs went by, though unlike those two, they got stronger again for two legs . . . but they fell apart after they won back-to-back legs and got weak again. Plus, they were just so boring. Ditto Lucil & Elma. I feel like they could've been fun, and they did have hilarious moments (more than Blank & Marcus, for sure!), but they just didn't pop the way they should've. And my position on Tidus & Wakka is similar to my stance on Biran & Yenke. Yes, they had physical strength to spare, but THAT WAS ALL THEY HAD. They were way too lucky most of the time, whenever they came upon something that should've rightfully killed them. Plus, see everything else I said about Biran & Yenke on season two's thread for All-Stars picks.

[Fleck]

My picks:

Vaan/Penelo, again because we gotta keep the winners. And also because they were fun and creative and forced all the other teams to step up their game in order to compete. They're the kind of team that improves the whole season by virtue of their behavior.

Tidus/Wakka because they're a slightly smarter Biran/Yenke. My picks so far lack a lot of pure physicality, and I still argue that there's something to be said for just straight up power in the race. Also bromance.

And Cid/Hilda to be the counterpoint to Tidus/Wakka, pure brains over pure physicality. Also I'd like to see how their marriage progresses after Season 3.

Irvine/Selphie probably deserve to be All-Stars based on their skills, but they never interested me as racers. Not to say that they're boring or anything, but their personalities never interested me. If you choose to include them, fine, but they aren't a team I really care for.

The same basically can be said about Blank and Marcus.

And definitely no to Lucil/Elma. Keep them away from the All-Stars.

Also, all my picks across all three seasons have the virtue of being perfectly gender balanced, with 9 dudes and 9 dudettes, while also having a solid mix of FF games, one from 5, one from 7, two from 8, one from 9, and two from both 10 and 12.

[Bob]

The balance aspect is definitely one I'm working toward. I'd LIKE a mix of games, though I'm not fixated on it. Likewise with gender. I'm not going to just pick all the Female-Female teams, but at the same time, they need to be represented.

I'm only going to respond to this thread, but consider it a response to all three. Thanks for the suggestions, guys. If anybody else wants to submit to the polls, please do so, just make sure you leave a quick comment so that I know you've added to this. I need to see how Season 4 goes before I can make anything official, but I will say that about half of my picks overlap with yours and the other half are all in consideration. We shall see what the outcome is...umm...eventually. There are a few on the three polls though that got either two votes when they weren't a pick of mine, or zero votes and they were a pick, so those are being highly considered, especially since good points are being made.

I'm using three criteria for making these picks though:
1. Would the team want to come back? There are some teams that I just know wouldn't do it again, so they're left out.
2. Is there anything else to write about? What's true of All-Stars that isn't true of most Fallen-Stars is that they've been in several episodes. Some of them I can see being very dull or repetitive in a second attempt. It's still a story, so they've gotta have some story left in 'em.
3. Do I want to write them again? There's not the most of story-telling integrity here, but there are a few teams that I've written that I just...didn't like writing. Some that even made it pretty far. So yeah, part of it will just be if I feel like writing them again.

Anywho, thanks for the comments and votes, you two! Hope to see more comments and votes in the future from others!

[Dale]

I'd expect more, but Count and NS come and go so infrequently, and Wyvern's basically useless on all counts, so I won't surprised if no one else opines.