AFFR: Season 4 Fallen-Stars

[Bob]

I'm curious to see who people would enjoy seeing in the upcoming season of Amazing Final Fantasy Race: Fallen-Stars. This is the teams that did not make the top half of the competition, which in most cases means a bottom six.

You are allowed to select as many teams as you'd like for the poll, but keep in mind that if I see a solid block of "yay all teams" then it doesn't help me at all. On average, there will be 3 teams selected from each season, but that isn't a definite number. If one season wants 5, it just means another season gets 1 (or a combination of 'em get 2...y'know...math and all that).

So please, feel free to weigh in. And as always, comments help me a lot...plus it's kinda fun. Yes, Fallen-Stars probably won't happen for about a year, so this is WAY early, but I think it's fun to consider.

[Dale]

I voted for Galuf & Krile, Kuja & Seymour, Gabranth & Basch, and Fang & Vanille.

I'll start with the higher-ranked teams this time. Gabranth & Basch and Fang & Vanille were obvious choices to me because we need representation for the later-series games, and having a team each from FF12 and FF13 is a must. Also, I feel like both teams have untapped potential. Gabranth & Basch weren't great racers, but I feel like we can see a newly-rejuvenated version of them in Fallen-Stars and see whether or not they've worked on their communication skills and trying to agree with each other a lot better.

As for Fang & Vanille, they've got even more untapped potential. They were running this current season awesomely before their race basically got derailed for no reason other than a U-Turn. And even then, one that wasn't strategic, but simply over petty grudges and pointless hatred from Kefka. I absolutely think they had the goods to go a lot farther than they did, if not win, so I think they deserve another chance.

Plus, every season, Bob seems content with casting only two women's teams (and this season, just one!), yet seems to see fit every single season to cast three or even FOUR men's teams. I'm a huge proponent of women's teams, and it's time for a season to have three to four of them now. So I'm not only looking at game diversity, but also gender diversity.

As for the other two . . . I picked Galuf & Krile because I think there could've been a lot more done with them. They're one of the few first-outs in this series that I know I'd like to see again. Though it'd probably be more of the same -- starting out well, but Galuf screwing things up for them to the point of elimination, just like he did this season. At the same time, I'd really like to see them come back just so Krile can do a Roadblock.

When it comes to Kuja & Seymour . . . well . . . they are the very definition of untapped potential. Of the two mixed-game teams, I do think they'd be the better team to come back (assuming Bob only brings one of them back). They had so much story to tell, and so much scheming and plotting to do, and I think I'd like to see more of what they could bring to the table. Plus, the race needs villains and villain teams to stir the pot and keep things interesting, and they're a perfect fit for both!

I didn't vote for Zidane & Vivi because, well, they were boring. They worked together well enough, but it seemed like Zidane was completely carrying the team, which shouldn't have been so obvious so early on. They were also too cohesive of a team, with no real drama, to be all that interesting. Add in Zidane's leg-two stupidity with helping Edea & Seifer, and I'm finding it way too hard to get on board with a return from them.

Edea & Seifer went unpicked by me because while they were interesting, I don't think they were interesting enough. Plus, while I absolutely think that Seifer would want to race again, I doubt Edea would with the threat of Ultimecia hanging over her head again. Also, Bob said he really only liked writing Seifer, but not Edea, so I doubt they'd return, anyway.

But these are just my choices. How about everyone else's?

[Fleck]

My first pick: Kuja and Seymour.

Kuja and Seymour are probably the first team in AFFR to really think about the entire race as a complete game. There have been other highly strategic teams in the past, and probably more intelligent teams as well. But K/S were not only super-conniving, they were so conniving that they forced everyone else around them to be conniving as well. Kuja and Seymour are the kind of racers that improve their season just by virtue of participating in it. They make everyone else race harder and race smarter just to compete. Perhaps, now that they have a few legs under their belt, they can come back better and stronger and really make a good run of it.


My second pick: Edea and Seifer.

I get the feeling that Bob had a lot more ideas he wanted to explore with these two, but just never got around to it. I don't think they came out the way that Bob wanted. Obviously, if Bob brings these two back, then the best choice would be to have it actually be Edea and Seifer, rather than Ultimecia and Seifer. This presents both problems and possibilities. It has possibilities, because now you can explore a new team dynamic and get to know Edea. It poses problems because Edea is an unknown factor, and she may prove to be worse than Ultimecia/Seifer. The choice is Bob's and Bob's alone!

My third pick: Fang and Vanille.

Super-competent female/female team that got knocked out early? Come on. They have to come back. Pretty sure there's a law about it. Also, I did not get NEARLY enough implied lesbianism this season. I demand more.

Possible alternate: Galuf and Krile.

I'm ambivalent about them, but if Bob doesn't want to go with Edea/Seifer, then I'll suggest Galuf/Krile as a backup choice. But ONLY if he doesn't pick Strago/Relm from season 1. I think their respective team dynamics would overlap and make them both duller and less interesting.

[Dale]

Sept 24, 2013 0:52:21 GMT -8 Fleck said:

Possible alternate: Galuf and Krile.

I'm ambivalent about them, but if Bob doesn't want to go with Edea/Seifer, then I'll suggest Galuf/Krile as a backup choice. But ONLY if he doesn't pick Strago/Relm from season 1. I think their respective team dynamics would overlap and make them both duller and less interesting.

That's funny, because I actually think it'd make them MORE interesting, especially to see their contrasting dynamics. Galuf & Krile ran the race with the grandfather running the team. Strago & Relm ran the race with the granddaughter running the team. About the only similar thing to each team was that the ones running their teams ultimately brought about their respective ousters.