Xnet Icon promo

[Toxxic 0]

[Exclusive to www.theswf.com]

 

The screen fades up from black to reveal a figure swathed in a black cloak, the hood coming down past his eyes and shadowing his face so that only the chin and mouth are visible. He stands in what bears a vague resemblance to a control room - vague, because the ‘consoles’ are clearly made of cardboard boxes stuck together and covered with tinfoil. Behind him is a map of the world with the United States coloured in red and the words ‘We Are Here’ along with a large arrow pointing to it, whilst the United Kingdom is coloured in black with the words ‘This Country Rawks!’ scrawled underneath. The figure is leaning on the only legitimate-looking console in the room, although on closer inspection this merely proves to be the ‘world map’ control panel (complete with joysticks) from the smash-hit Capcom game ‘Streetfighter 2’.

 

“OK Toxx, we’re running,” a Canadian accent hisses from somewhere offscreen, and the mouth underneath the hood spreads into a wide smile.

 

“Hi there,” the distinctive British voice of the SWF World Heavyweight Champion - albeit with an uncharacteristic helping of smarm - greets the viewers, “and welcome to the humble abode of Revolution Zero. Scott Pretzler, JJ Johnson and myself have decided to let you see the innermost workings of our organisation on this one occasion in order to dispel some of the nasty, hurtful rumours that have been circulating about us. As you can see, we are not planning world domination,” Toxxic continues, waving a hand vaguely at the map behind him, “this atlas is merely used for our games of Risk! And as for the idea that we keep files on our past and future opponents, well,” the straight-edger chuckles heartily (a noise never previously heard by most audience members) as he reaches for a ring binder, “that’s a load of balderdash. Balderdash, I say!”

 

The camera zooms in on the pages as Toxxic’s black-nailed hands flip through them, revealing mugshots of prominent SWF wrestlers like Johnny Dangerous, Landon Maddix, Spike Jenkins, Mak Francis and Wildchild - each one with glasses and moustaches drawn on in thick black marker. Meanwhile, the cameraman (presumably Scott Pretzler) can be heard to whisper “did he just say ‘balderdash’…?”

 

“So,” Toxxic begins again, closing the file with a *snap*, “as you can imagine, it has been quite hurtful in recent weeks to hear some of the comments being passed around backstage at SWF shows, or between the fans in the audience. And as for the internet message boards and chat rooms, oh!” Toxxic’s face - what little can be seen of it - is a picture of wounded misery as he continues, “you should see the things they write about me! About us! Do these people care nothing for the guilt that wracked JJ after he tied the Insane Luchador to a tree and beat him with a kendo stick to win the Hardcore Gamer’s Championship? Do they have any idea how much dedication and effort it took Scott to deliver the Tildebang Driver to Wildchild on the steel entrance ramp? No,” the Straight-Edge Sensation sadly concludes, “these internet ‘fans’ cannot imagine the sacrifices we make for our sport. And so they call us the one word that springs to the forefront of their minds. Scott?” Toxxic asks, extending one hand to his loyal follower/cameraman.

 

“Er… ‘fuckwits’?” Pretzler responds uncertainly.

 

“No…”

 

“Well, I’m not sure what chatrooms you’ve been going in,” Pretzler continues, the camera growing less steady as he continues speaking, “but that’s certainly one of the more common epithets levelled at us. Perhaps you’re thinking of ‘bastards’?”

 

“No, not that either,” Toxxic replies impatiently.

 

“‘Assholes’?”

 

“No-”

 

“‘Pricks’?”

 

“Look-”

 

“‘Morons’?”

 

“EVIL!!” Toxxic roars, abruptly losing his patience. Pretzler doesn’t respond, and the World Champion begins to speak to the camera again (rather than the cameraman) with the smile oozing back across his face.

 

“That’s right,” he says with all the mock-sincerity of a TV evangelist, “people are calling us evil. Needless to say, such an accusation chilled me to the marrow when I first heard it. ‘Evil?’ I thought to myself as I casually decapitated a passing goat, ‘surely not?’. But alas, it was true. ‘So’, I mused as I leaned on my International Megalaser of Death and Destruction,” here the Straight-Edge Sensation pats a big red button with the words ‘Do Not Press Unless You Are At Least 80% Evil’ written underneath in large letters, “‘how can I convince the fans of the SWF that I am in fact as pure as the driven snow?’. Well, I pondered this problem for some time and even used the entrails of a couple of virgins as auguries, but was eventually forced to face up to the harsh reality.” Here Toxxic’s mouth sets into a thin line - the very image of a man readying himself for the unimaginable worst.

 

“I cannot.”

 

The bottom lip quivers for a moment, then steadies. There will be no floodgate of emotions opening in this Hoover Dam of British restraint.

 

“I am afraid that the backstage workers, the crowd and the internet fans have got me bang to rights,” Toxxic states sadly. “I am, in fact, truly evil. I know this now, and believe me it caused some severe soul-searching… once I had found it. But the evidence is unassailable.” With a grim finality, Toxxic raises his hands and begins counting off points.

 

“Firstly, and possibly most heinously, I win matches on a regular basis. Clearly this can only be achieved through the favour of the Devil. It’s true,” Toxxic continues with a sad, ironic grin, “that I had once thought that it might be because I was simply better than the majority of the roster, but I now realise my fatal error in assuming it could be the result of anything else but Unholy support.”

 

The World Champion nods his head in unhappy acknowledgement of this fact, then continues.

 

“The rest of my crimes form an unpleasant list, but I feel that I must bring them to the light of day,“ he states as finger after finger is ticked off. “I bring pestilence to crops. I am British, which after all marks me instantly as evil in Hollywood and all surrounding areas, BUT I am also made in Taiwan. I am unable to recite the American National Anthem - in fact, I am uncertain which of the many stomach-churningly patriotic songs you persist in singing it actually is. The sun hides its face from me wherever I go. Finally, and perhaps most damningly, I own a small but growing collection of plastic bowls.”

 

A sharp intake of breath is heard off-camera, and the camera itself suddenly jerks as it is set down on something at a slight angle. Scott Pretzler can distinctly be heard saying ‘right, that’s it - I’m leaving this stable!’ and footsteps move away. Toxxic lets out a sigh, then approaches the camera.

 

“Remember, SWF viewers, what you have heard here,” he says in doom-laden tones. “When Mak Francis challenges for my World Title this Sunday at Battleground, he is doing more than simply wrestling for the greatest prize in the business; he is wrestling for your souls! For assuredly, should the self-proclaimed Franchise lose I will rule the world! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” The booming, extraordinarily fake laugh continues for a couple of seconds before Toxxic grips the edge of his hood and throws it back… revealing eyes that instead of the usual steel-grey are now a blood-red colour (thanks to a handy pair of coloured contacts) and two small red plastic horns glued rather unevenly to his forehead.

 

“Look I’m evil! You can tell!” he shouts in a rather deranged manner, before suddenly calming down. A grin spreads over his face again, but this is the familiar lopsided rictus associated with the Straight-Edge Sensation.

 

“This is wrestling, not American Gothic,” he informs the camera. “Jesus people, get a bloody grip! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!”

 

[FADE TO BLACK. BLACK! BLAAAAAACCK!! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA-]

[Justice 0]

Pretty good, pretty good. My personal favorite is Pretzler saying "That's it, I'm gone."

 

Frankly, though, I think you should strike back at the Tamu guy with an official-style Campaign Commercial attacking various wrestlers with dirty secrets from their past. I think it'd be hilarious to think of Toxxic holding up a picture of Ethan Andrews in the third grade picking his nose and saying "Is this REALLY the man you want to be X-Net Icon?" Or try deporting Tamu for being a foreigner (If he really is).

 

Taking a new stance is good. Taking a guy's gimmick for a promo and surpassing him with it, though, is that much better.

[Guest Lord David]

I think it'd be hilarious to think of Toxxic holding up a picture of Ethan Andrews in the third grade picking his nose and saying "Is this REALLY the man you want to be X-Net Icon?" Or try deporting Tamu for being a foreigner (If he really is).

As a fed-head myself, I'm 100% against people making remarks on other character's past unless it's been shown in RP's. Same with attempting to do anything regarding teh character (i.e. the deportation thing). Mainly because it's taking some control away from that person by attempting to write their character for them. Chances are he'd lose more votes than he'd gain (If he gained any).

 

Of course... having an "obviously edited" image, and him "attempting" to get police to deport Tamu, but failing, would be good for the comedy round when it comes, as he could attempt to pull the rug out from underneath the other competitor's in weird comedic ways.

 

But for this round, I'd say that as it's "playa's choice" you should just do whatever comes naturally, show us what you can do on your best day. That's what'll get you through into the following round I feel.

[Justice 0]

Of course... having an "obviously edited" image, and him "attempting" to get police to deport Tamu, but failing, would be good for the comedy round when it comes, as he could attempt to pull the rug out from underneath the other competitor's in weird comedic ways.

Yeah, pretty much the idea. Just thinking of stupid ways to disqualify and discredit people. I mean, if you found a third-grade picture of someone and they are picking their nose or something like that, what real bearing does that have? It's just simple comedic purpose.

[Guest Lord David]

*nods* Just a tough line to walk, if you tip too far towards "Aiming to destroy a character" then you'll just come off as nothing more than a jobber, as such you have to make sure you keep it light hearted and upbeat, and yet make sure you don't put either character down as such.

 

One reason I always class Tamu as one of the greatest RP'ers I've ever seen, is the fact that he manages to push not just himself, but his opponents as well. It's worth checking out his style as he always manages to bring the best out of everyone he roleplays against.

 

Dunno about the rest in the tournament, as I only know of Tamu (but then he's also only ever RP'd in XFW, heh), the only other guy I've kept a serious eye on, is Ethan Andrews. As despite the fact I don't really like NLCW as a whole, I ended up loving his initial RP. I went in wanting to hate it, and wanting to be able to say "This RP sucks", but it didn't, and it was the best of the initial round RP's. His latest one left a lot to be desired tho'.

 

Nothing against Toxxic o'course, as I only really read a bunch of people's in the initial rounds, namely those who were in XFW, or those I had pretty much had problems with.

 

Still voted for Toxxic to go through into round 3 tho', no point putting a decent RP'er down, heh.

[chirs3 0]

A word of advice:

 

Don't read this promo when in a heavily populated computer lab. You will laugh long and loud, and people will look at you funny.

 

Gold, Toxxic. Gold.

Edited April 21, 2005 by chirs3

[JJ Johnson 0]

I agree completely with the above statement, and would like to add that I kick ass at Risk.

[Ace309 0]

For the record, I think Sharpie's uninformed comment and inability to grasp the twist at the end and the dig on random gothic/evil characters is going to screw you on this one. I'm very sorry to say that.

[Guest Lord David]

Okay, just read that properly, and I loved it until the end, I just didn't "feel" the end, but the rest of it was pure genius on the hilarity scale... I'd go as far as saying that's old-school genius for comedy (Especially the laser).

 

Old-school comedy genius for me... goes back to a time when I had a character (Prana) who cast fireballs, opened portals, and came from hell... he was just amazingly thick, to the point where he'd try to cast a portal, and his ass would catch light. That sort of stupid comedy.

 

We also had tag champs of "Ant & Dec" (Yes Brits THAT Ant & Dec), with Mr T as their manager, who would be riding around on tricycles.

 

It was that level of comedy to me, which is a massive compliment. SO well done dude, I'll be voting for ya to go through along with Tamu & Mikey Scott (Ethan dropped the ball this round, I may vote him through to see what he'll do next round tho'). But you deserve to go through, despite the ending that I didn't get, as the rest was solid gold.

 

Which is amazing when you think about who it comes from... as I really hate "story" type of RP's, I much prefer script style (as my last match showed), so to not just make me like it, but laugh and want to read more... you get huge props. Good work soldier .

[Toxxic 0]

For the record, I think Sharpie's uninformed comment and inability to grasp the twist at the end and the dig on random gothic/evil characters is going to screw you on this one. I'm very sorry to say that.

I know. What the lot at X-Net don't seem to grasp is that it's possible to have a wrestler who is a WRESTLER and not anything else. As in, Toxxic doesn't have a dead sister who calls his name out, and hasn't killed for the mob, and isn't a preacher who lost his faith... he's just a wrestler, and so all his character development apart from his basic inferiority complex is totally tied to the fed. So I can't really RP outside of the fed. Which means it'll always look like an SWF promo.

 

I suppose I could just have Toxxic start a fight with a big bloke every week...

[Guest Lord David]

I think you're missing what Brad and Sharpie were trying to say (and I think that they knackered it when they said it).

 

What they mean is the RP was tailored to SWF, rather than tailored to the contest.

 

What you should be doing for the contest is attempting to get Toxxic over, not care about any "opponents" or anything, just point out why people should vote for him, what's truly so great about the guy etc. and why he's better than others.

 

That's the wort of thing that's needed, this competition has nothing to do with wrestling, it's more to do with the character. For instance, while Dibiase was always "just a wrestler", when he played the character, he always believed he did have all that money, and that he had Virgil running around doing whatever he wanted etc.

 

Same with 'Taker, back when he was the zombie type of guy, he was always acting the part of a character that was from the dark side, and was supernatural, despite the fact that essentially he's "just a wrestler".

 

You don't need to be anything else, you don't need to give him a huge history, but what ya need to do is make sure that people feel like Toxxic believes himself to be the best person in Icon, and that he's going to walk away with the prize, and not mention SWF in it at all (Unless you make mention that he's good enough to take various belts from SWF in a promo of course).

[Toxxic 0]

Hey, at the start they said they DIDN'T want people talking about it like it was an actual competition. Wish they'd make up their fucking minds. And what, we're meant to have 8 MORE WEEKS or however many it is of people simply talking about how good they are? Jesus Christ, why don't they rename it the Self-Fellatio Icon?

[Guest Lord David]

Again, ya missing the point, there's different styles in there as well. Take a look at the twist Tamu went with it, this week he had someone stating NOT to vote for him. That was interesting and it made the point well, but more importantly, it was original and entertaining.

 

Mikey Scott's this week was interesting as it went with the character. Mikey's not some overblown guy who has millions of dollars in real life, he just plays that character.

 

In fact, in XFW I make it a point to make sure everyone understands that while it's still a wrestling character they're portraying, that they should continue to build the character's story. There's a lot more involved in a character than simply "I'm facing this person, I will win", that's generic, and it's bland and boring.

 

A good RP'er can have great backstory for the character, look at Foley when he entered WWF as Mankind, he was more layered than "guy who lives in boiler room and wrestles", and that's what there should be here. The different sides of Toxxic.

 

I've been in the RP'ing game for 5 years now, and have seen a lot of stuff come and go, but one thing that's always going to be at the top of it is entertainment, be it comedy or just a quality straight promo, it needs to be entertaining. The most entertaining (and therefore best) RP'ers are the type who can constantly promote their guy, but keep doing it in original ways.

 

There's that reason that it's been a long time since an XFW'er has failed to make the top 3 in X-Net's top 10 (and trust me, it's not through bias, I can't stand the guy doing the top 10), and even longer since we missed the top 10 entirely, because all of the top guys (Tamu, J-Vo, Kendall, to name the 3 most common) are able to change it up, but keep promoting their character AND the opponent.

 

That's what this is about, promoting not just your character, but promoting his views on what's happening with the other competitors, and promoting his views on what's going on with the competition. If you can do some good stuff with that, then you'll go far.

 

After all, simply just doing "a wrestling promo" each time will get stale, yes he may be a wrestler, but you need to do a bit more to get them across for this style of contest, as it's not a tournament, you're not fighting anyone. You're competing for votes from the public, and that's where you should be directing the RP's towards. The fact that Toxxic wants the public to vote for him. As if he doesn't want them to, or doesn't care, then why did he enter in the first place?

 

Once you figure out a reason for why he actually entered, each round should be you furthering that feeling from him, and doing so in the style required (I think the next round is a specific style again). You have the ability to go all the way, but it needs to be tailored to the contest for you to pull it off, rather than tailored to SWF.

 

Not trying to put ya down or anything, just trying to help ya with some insight.

[Toxxic 0]

Toxxic entered because Tom Flesher entered him against his will - Toxxic thinks the competition is a load of crap since it's about talking instead of wrestling, and his fellow competitors are all mouth and no trousers, and wouldn't last five minutes against him in the ring. However, due to his nice little inferiority complex now he IS in he's going to try and win it.

[Guest Lord David]

Then ya wanna do everything you can to get that across, make sure that people know he didn't actually want to be there and was forced into it, but now he's there, he intends to win regardless.

 

If you can work to get the point across in each RP, then you'll see Toxxic move up in the eyes of the judges.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Holy shit, these guys are morons. Missed the point entirely, can't decide how they want to judge...yeowch. If you make it to the next round, Toxx, I think you need to be as direct as possible. They can't seem to infer anything you don't outright shout at them, and they don't really "get" the characters that don't ride hard on one basic character trait (Mikey Scott's rich! So-and-so is an arrogant ladies' man!).

[Ace309 0]

FYI:

 

Finalists' RPs

 

This week's poll

 

Toxxic's response in the Confessional forum

[Angel_Grace_Blue 0]

I agree with the others that Sharpie and Brad are morons. Also, as others have said, do not try to be subtle with these people next time. Maybe for the next one, you could give Toxx a job. He could shear sheep.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

I just read them all. The only ones that are anything but total shit are Toxx's, Jake Matthews' (bonus points for THEY SPINNIN), and I guess I at least like the concept behind Tamu's. That they think Ethan Andrew's hyper-generic, barely literate Raven-aping is the best thing they've seen so far speaks volumes about this bizarre little affair.

[King Cucaracha 0]

Then ya wanna do everything you can to get that across, make sure that people know he didn't actually want to be there and was forced into it, but now he's there, he intends to win regardless.

That's exactly what I did and I didn't even make it to the Final 16. Which, judging from what I've read, is no great loss at all.

[King Cucaracha 0]

I agree with the others that Sharpie and Brad are morons. Also, as others have said, do not try to be subtle with these people next time. Maybe for the next one, you could give Toxx a job. He could shear sheep.

He's English, not Welsh.

 

Duh!

[Angel_Grace_Blue 0]

I agree with the others that Sharpie and Brad are morons.  Also, as others have said, do not try to be subtle with these people next time.  Maybe for the next one, you could give Toxx a job.  He could shear sheep.

He's English, not Welsh.

 

Duh!

I said shear, not have intimate relations with.

 

Plus, if he were Welsh, wouldn't his named be spelled Krutxxllyivalkealjvepbdkf but still be pronounced the same?

[Guest Lord David]

Like I said in my Light & Dark article in X-Factor, I felt the ball was dropped numerous times, to the point that the entire competition essentially fell apart (It doesn't help with Rach not having chance to judge due to the fact Brad failed to check when our weekly show is... she's busy on that over the majority of the RP days, and what with harsh school work she couldn't even judge the early RP's this week).

 

I think Tamu's gonna take the entire competition, partly because I know the guy rocks (Hey, he's only ever been in XFW and he's a star, what can I say? I like the guy ), but also because he's a huge favourite in every interfed forum he goes into 'cause he's just an amazing person OOC too. Admittedly that shouldn't really count in these things, but people who are only reading their friends RP's will look at it and go "Well... Tamu's meant to be good, I'll vote for him too..." and he gets through, and so when their friend gets knocked out, they just vote for the guys that are good OOC, it's unfortunate, but that's how the competition is...

 

Something else that really needs to be understood (Note that I'm trying to see both sides here, not taking X_Net's side at all, nor the whole SWF view either), is that this is the 3rd RP for this thing, as you need people to vote for you, it's not the judges putting you through, they're stating "their" views on what they think you need to be doing, yes they keep contradicting themselves. But something ya need to remember is that in this competition, those voting need to "get" the character quickly, there should be no need to wait and see a story, it should hit hard and fast, and have a sub-story in the background.

 

In a fed, it's fine to slow burn a story, and allow people time to understand a character and how they are, but imagine if you were a wrestler, and were going to a totally new area, and you had just a single promo to get your entire character over, otherwise your career there wont work. That's what you need to be thinking, you need to get the entire gimmick over for them all. So they understand everything behind him, and THEN work on the rest.

 

As for Cucaracha, I'll be honest, I never actually read the RP, as I just didn't have the time to read them all, so I really just read those of people I knew/liked, and those of people who I didn't like. But unfortunately, as it always is in e-fedding (and as it is here, with the match writing), it's essentially just opinion when it comes to what makes a good RP, so everything I say is simply just my views on what should be done, and hence it's always up to anyone else if they pay attention, but as such, sometimes what some people call a great RP, isn't what the judges call a great RP.

 

Heck, this past week, I've heard people tell me Rach's last Veled RP in XFW owned. I rated her low (Yes, I gave my own g/f a crappy rating, I'm a harsh judge ), because I personally didn't like it, but as it's me who rates it, it's simply my opinion, just like it was for the judges here. Just like it is for the judges on a competition like Pop Idol.

 

Heck, they say they're looking for big singers... but imagine if Ozzy had gone on one of those shows... he'd get given a full batch of "no chance"'s from the judges. Despite the fact that he can truly rock. If he were an unknown he'd have gotten kicked back out the door. So it's simply how they percieved it.

 

Mikey Scott's good, and could go far if he keeps developing the gimmick and character (I love his CWR stuff, he's a decent guy too), Tamu could do well, and personally, had Toxxic changed the end of this RP, I think it'd have ruled even more, I loved it until the very end with the SWF comments, which I felt weren't really needed. So Toxxic has a shot at going far if, and only if, the SWF comments are minimized to a point where they're just "fly-by" comments.

 

It's like a good angle, it's one thing working out a good solid angle, and making up good reasons as to why certain things are happening, but unless everyone else knows why you've attacked someone (or been attacked by someone) people get bored fast. Just like a movie, the first 10 to 15 minutes are intro build up, and then you should get into the meat of it. That's about now in Icon, we need to see some serious meat, and we should have all the details about Toxxic to continue on the full story without any need for any descriptions on the character.

 

That's my theory anyway, heh.

[Toxxic 0]

So tell me, if the judges aren't judging anything now then why are they still commenting? Their opinions can make or break someone's chances. Case in point: Sharpie. People will read my promo, then read his comments and assume that he is telling the truth - that I lifted my promo straight from the SWF. They won't bother to go and check that out, because they'll assume he did. He didn't bother either.

 

If the judges don't have any say anymore, they should stick to commenting in the Fan's Choice forum and just leave the promos be. I don't mind getting kicked out if people think my work is shit, but I don't want to get kicked out because Sharpie made a false judgement and posted it.

 

And I respect differences of opinion and all, and I'm not saying by ANY means that I'm better than everyone else in there, I mean I like Faith's stuff and Tamu is at least good at putting things together, even if he is basically the HVille Thugg, but for Christ's sake tell me how SUGAR SHANE FUCKING PERRY can be getting 'not bad' votes for the SHIT that he writes? And 009 gets a 'not bad' comment for doing a promo that laughs at the judges for not being able to can him anymore, then does a fucking stand-up club routine?

 

I've started this competition so I'll finish, but I honestly have no clue, NO CLUE what Sharpie and Brad use as their marking tools here. I could have followed your advice and omitted the ending with the SWF in it and they'd have still thought it was boring and crap.

[Guest Lord David]

To be fair, I have no clue what Sharpie or Brad are looking for... I may not have read every RP, but I read every reply to it, just to see what they were saying, so you're right in that people will just read the comments and not the RP with some people.

 

But no matter how many RP responses I read (Including some of Rach's in fact) I had no clue what anyone was looking for. It was almost as though it depended on the day as to what they were actually looking for in the RP's.

 

Heck, in the initial qualifiers, it seemed that they were putting through anyone who was just "half good" (All except me it seemed, heh, not that I would have gotten anywhere, I just wanted to make peeps laugh, and I accomplished it), so where the final 14 should have really been decided by the judges, Brad essentially copped out with it, and just put half the competitors through, and let the public decide.

 

I also hated the whole "tryout as many times as you like" ruling, I could understand being allowed to try out a second time, but no more, some guys tried out 4 times before finally getting a yes vote.

 

As for why they're still judging (as in responding), it's just like Pop Idol, the judges get to comment on each of the songs sung, so the judges get to comment on this.

 

When it's finished tho', I'm considering doing something of my own, along the lines of the X-Factor show that we had over here in the UK, because while Brad aimed for this to have no bias and be perfectly fair... it ended up with amazing bias, and almost totally unfair.

 

At least with the X-Factor idea, the point would be that the judges ARE biased, and that the entire thing itself could be made more interesting because of that, as everyone would know it was more for fun, and not for being able to be called "better" than the rest.

 

Another problem I feel, is that there's a "prize" for the winner. Sure it's not much, but this is e-fedding, there shouldn't be a prize for the winner, it means ego's start coming out etc.

 

Still, all I can say is keep trying at it, I kinda get the feeling it's gonna be Tamu or Ethan winning it. Either Ethan because of the "anti-X-Net" backlash. Or Tamu because of the huge fan-base he has. Both are good RP'ers (I still feel Ethan stunk it up this week), but personally Tamu's the best in the competition.

 

Hell... when you consider that when Tamu entered XFW his first RP was along the lines of:

 

"*Tamu runs in and smashes Mike's car with a coconut*"

 

Ya can see why... hell it was interesting as not only is it against the rules to break XFW property... but he broke a non-existant car, as Mike (being me, and the IC owner at the time) doesn't drive, and therefore doesn't own a car. So... he smashed up an invisible car with an illegal coconut.

 

The guy's come a long way, and really done some amazing stuff in character development, hell, half of the angles he's been in have just been things I've taken from his RP's, because he's got such a talent for getting over everyone he's involved with. He's the type of guy who could go against the biggest jobber in a fed, and somehow make them seem like a threat in his RP's, and as such he manages to elevate people, he managed to take a bottom end angle, consisting of 6 people, and move the entire group into the main event window, overshadowing the entire title scene for two months.

 

Hence why I'm such a mark for him, heh. But it also works against him in a way, as now I know what he can do, if he ever drops back, I mark badly against him. Personally Tamu's got the right view on how a character should be done well.

 

and I know I'm probably not the most liked on here for supporting a non-SWF guy, but I think I'm allowed to, given the circumstances .

[Justice 0]

My entire look at this thing:

 

I think the entire thing is fatally flawed for a few reasons.

 

1) Not having a solid or set system to make sure that they filter out the bad stuff out in the opening round. 2nd Chance RPs were bad ideas, a lack of definition with the concept (I didn't RP because I honestly couldn't figure what the hell the competition actually was), and generally ambigious reasons for people advancing. This led to way too many people being let in and, frankly, I think allowed a few popular choices to sneak past the filter.

 

2) The simple ability to be completely wowed by a generic and played gimmick. See Ethan and Kennedy (I hate "I've killed people and can easily kill anyone" gimmick. Perhaps the biggest failing of the Clan in my eyes) of the first round. Oh dear God, he hates X-Net! What originality! Pfft. If he hates X-Net, then he'd fucking leave and not be their fucking ratings tool. God help me, does no one else see this contradiction?

 

3) Public opinion. Honestly, it's nto that hard to have a hardcore fanbase and not have any talent at all. I think they should have at least stuck with judge opinions for at least a few roudns to make sure they weeded out all the stragglers that might have gotten in. I honestly thinks that Tamu would rather win for his RPs (His last one was excellent, especially with the kids) rather than his OoC reputation.

 

4) Complete Wrestling Disconnect. I agree completely with Toxx that it's hard to shoot words across at people for 8 weeks without any actual action. With American Idol, this makes sense, because hey, it's about music. Problem is, this is wrestling. We aren't having matches, we are just having insults and blowjobs being given out. Perhaps one of the biggest weaknesses in the entire competition. At least have matches or something to make the thing interesting, or form it into an actual show. Let the characters actually interact and stuff! Jeez...

 

5) Deadlines: I don't think that the RPs should be posted at different times. I think that gives an advantage to anyone who comes after them. It allows them to look and say "I like this, but I don't like this" and tailor them to those specifacations. Get them done in the first three days, don't put on any comments, and then when it's all locked up put on comments so no one can change their styles in-round to gain an advantage.

 

And to finish up:

 

6) Judging Style. Not themselves, but it'd be better to not give people cliffnotes and let them respond in RPs through voting. I think that it's well-meant, but ultimately I think it's a mistake. Their comments aren't a big help (Outside of maybe Rachel's, who seems to be better able to express herself) since they aren't really that different. I mean, I'd like them to be a bit more specific when pointing out flaws or strengths.

 

That's my overall view of the thing.

 

And Dave, you've explained your reasons pretty well. I don't think anyone is faulting you for supporting a friend who you feel should win. I think you've actually been a good observer and 'X-Net' Advocate .

Edited April 25, 2005 by Justice

[Guest Lord David]

Justice seems to have hit the nail on the head with almost every point it seems.

 

There was definitely a popular choice or two just "let slide", I mean did anyone here read Burn's original RP and go "Hey, that should be through!" Nope, probably not... but Sharpie and Brad wanted him through, as they didn't want him whining.

 

Onto ya second point, I like Ethan because of the "X-Net sucks" thing he runs with, what his character's doing in this thing is trying to win despite the fact that X-Net is flawed and constantly holds him back. You need to know the backstory to the gimmick really.

 

If you check the rules for submitting a top 5, you're not allowed to place staff members in the top 5, NLCW vote for who the top 5 were each week, and Ethan was landing on top, but as they're not eligable for the top 10, they were just getting ignored for it. Ethan protested, but the ruling stuck (Quite rightly I say, it's to stop egotistical fed-heads, and as only the top 2 RP'ers get rated, Rach will never be number 1 or 2 in XFW's top 5). So he had the character begin claiming that he was being held back by X-Net etc, and the gimmick itself has worked amazingly well I feel.

 

As for the public opinion thing, I think it's sort of "half and half", I know Tamu would rather win through earning it, than because he has a fan base, in fact if you ever see him talking about Icon, he's asking you to vote for him only if you feel he deserves the vote. To me that's a good showing of a guy right there, but unfortunately it wont happen that way, even people who don't read his stuff will likely vote for him "because he's The 'Mu".

 

Of course Burn had a huge following it seemed, and he was booted out in round 2, deservedly I'll admit, and heck, I laughed when I saw people claiming he didn't deserve to go out... What? He didn't deserve to go out even after the voters kicked him out? I never got that...

 

The wrestling disconnect thing, in a way I see your point... but the fact is, the competition was never supposed to have anything to do with wrestling, look at it more as a "wrestling personality" contest. There's nothing to do with wrestling up there, it's just how well the guy can talk etc. That's how come Burn brought in a manager... hell Jammah (RP's as J-Vo, and did an RP in Worldwide, one of only two peeps who bothered) was considering RP'ing as Curtis McMasterson (Think a more updated version of Jimmy Hart, complete with megaphone), that'd have been amazing.

 

Deadlines... why can't they do it the same as the top 5 really? Faith seems to be pulling it close each week, as she's always the last to RP, almost as though she's scouting the competition, while Ethan is always one of the first to RP. Tamu is unless he has a bad week (like the past one). So I kinda see what you mean, those who post later get to see what the judges liked and disliked.

 

Of course, on the flip side of the coin, imagine if Tamu had posted his RP earlier, and someone else had the exact same idea, they would have to change the entire RP because of it. So I think it essentially evens itself out.

 

And the judging... yeah, I know exactly what you mean, they now give just one liners, and when they DO give help, they pick a specific person (Hey, SSP's a nice guy, but why does he deserve special treatment over everyone else?)

 

In fact, if you look through the early stuff in the qualifying round, Rach was pretty much a bitch with the judging, it was either "amazing" or it stunk, no middle ground, so I sorta bitched her out about that, and told her that it wasn't especially helping to people. If she wants to bitch at someone who blatantly made no attempt to RP well, then go for it, but if they made some effort to make it original, then she should at least respect that effort.

 

However all we get from Brad & Sharpie now is "Great RP, you'll be in the top 2 or 3" or "Not bad" or something like "This RP sucked, you'll be lucky to advance".

 

Where's the helping comments? Where's the stuff that points out the good AND bad, it's as if, the OOC favourites are given pats on the back and told it "wasn't bad" and such, and the ones who aren't fan favourites OOC are just given a harder time, like Toxxic, was his RP finalist material? No. Was it good enough to get him through? Hell yeah. But Brad and Sharpie mostlikely condemned him through ill-informed comments. My statement about the SWF stuff stands, but it really does seem that unless you're Jake Matthews (used to be a permanent number 1 on X-Net's top 10 apparently), Tamu, Ethan or SSP... you're given a harsher comment than anyone else.

 

I'd just play it through to the end, Brad and Sharpie dun seem to know what they're actually looking for, and Rach is having trouble judging due to a poorly timed end of round. So nobodies winning really. I'm expecting Tamu to win, as are most people now it seems, which probably means he will win, just through popularity. But I'd much rather he won, if he's going to, for being the best RP'er on there.

[Justice 0]

A few points: Okay, fair enough point on Ethan. I guess I he should probably go a bit more into that because I really haven't seen enough of that explanation out there. To me, at first it seemed like "I smoulder with Generic Rage", but perhaps I see it wrong.

 

And I only mention Tamu because he does have that huge fanbase. If he wins, I'd concede immediately that he completely deserved it. Frankly, I'd rather there be more of an assurance that the 'popular' picks get taken out if they suck quickly (i.e. Having judging go on for a few more rounds and then letting the public decide). That, and allow less popular people develop and show their stuff so that they can get popular.

 

On the wrestling part: A good part of personality is in the wrestling itself. From Hulk Hogan to Eddie Guerrero, what you do in the ring does make a lot of you. Would Hogan be the same without his 'Hulking up'? Would Eddie be the same without his cheating? I understand it's personality, but they shouldn't single out one aspect, it should really be them as a whole. I think even if they decided the matches through popularity or something, as long as they had this idea of one-on-one competition the entire thing would be a bit more sensible than who has the largest mouth to run. Not to say you are wrong, that's perhaps one of the best arguments I've seen for this. But this is just my opinion. It makes more sense to have at least the wrestling present, even if it's technically on the backburner.

 

And I only mention a deadline because comments are involved. Indeed, you have the flipside, but I honestly dislike the idea of people rping early and basically getting punished for it because they are the first to go and others can make adjustments from there.

 

And we completely agree on the comments. I think they need to be more indepth: Why the hell was it bad? Why was it good? Give us points, reasons why it was weak. I'd love to learn why you thought this promo was good, why it was bad, and explain it out. The discussion we are having right now works for the simple reason that we are taking time in thinking out our points and making them.

[Guest Lord David]

Well, regarding the wrestling based thing. Like I say, the intention for it was never to have anything to do with wrestling, hence why it's a competition and not a tournament. Which makes it tougher for the RP'er to get the character over. But then that's half the point I feel, to make sure that the gimmick gets over without the wrestling. But I admit that point was never really made from the get-go, meaning a lot of people are still left feeling it's meant to be about wrestling.

 

In fact, very few seem to understand the concept of it and RP towards that, it's another reason I'm liking Tamu's stuff in this, he seems to have gotten the fact that it's solely about "getting votes", and has pushed from his very first RP about trying to get people to like him and vote for him ('tho his in-ring promo I'd have preferred him to have it in the XFW arena after a show or something, along with the same "rules" we have regarding props etc. But he got through and it was a good RP, so that's fine, heh).

 

As for there being more judging... well in a way you're right, I've said previously that I disliked the whole "We're putting 30 people through, you decide who gets the boot" junk. It didn't sit right to me... the majority were put through, which actually meant the judges opinions became worthless, you only failed to advance if you made some serious errors.

 

Heck, there was a lot of replies of "I don't think you're top 14 material, but you're better than some that have gone through, you're in." That's not how people should have been advancing.

 

Considering judges were allowed to change their minds on voting, it seemed funny that the only two "changed votes" were Princess Natsuki (amazingly an XFW'er... because we can't be biased towards XFW and have most of those going through with Rach judging can we?) and then Burn, because Rach requested a second RP, so Brad changed his vote to do the same.

 

If they can change their vote... shouldn't they have been going back and doing so on those who they didn't feel deserved to go through until we had just 14? Shouldn't they have discussed it to make sure just 14 went through, rather than opening it to the public?

 

Of course, then they opened it to the public, and at least one person voted for some of the RP'ers "Because Rach dislikes them", yup... that's how some of this tournament's "best 16" were decided... they advanced because a certain person dislikes a certain judge... great contest.