The Rest of the Best - A Popularity Contest 50th Anniversary! Week Sixteen - Video Games of the 21st Century!

[Johnny Unusual]

Wow, 50 years. I feel like I was only a young whippersnapper in those days, back when whippersnapping paid a mere 21 cents an hour and was called "lash-a-crackin'". And to celebrate us getting to our 50th Popularity Contest, I want to take a look back this next year. Oh, no, relax, on top of any current popularity contest, you won't be asked to contribute another list. This is a weekly list where we celebrate the entrants that didn't make it. After all, it's been almost 10 years (OK, closer to 9.2 as of posting this) since we started doing these on the old talking time! And I wanted a way to celebrate! Top 50 top 50 lists? Nah, too meta and I feel like some people might feel bad for being ranked low (or not at all). Top 50 TT members? Ugh, even worse for people feeling like their worth might be tied to the list. I don't want to play you like that.

No, instead, we are looking back at the OLD lists and saying "what was missing" After all, for some of the earlier ones it has been 10 years and a lot of things that didn't exist or you were unaware of probably didn't make any lists. So instead, I want you to think of what should be.

Here's how it works: Every week we'll have a brief retrospective of an old list. So the first week will be Wizards week, the next will be Female Heroes and so on. I am encouraging everyone to do one of the following; Make an entry of your own regarding something you'd like to see on the list. My preference is, if possible, something you think is great that for whatever reason you didn't vote for last time but if you want to write about something you did, that's fine. But I want it to be something that did not make the original list. You are free to do an effort post but I would like it (though do not order it) to do it in the style of an entry post (big header, picture, explanation of the entry and then why you like it). The topic will change every Monday and I'll change the title to remind you of this week's topic. Sound cool? I hope you enjoy it and I also hope to hear retrospectives from some of the old hosts (the ones who are still around).

BTW, PLEASE do take part in our popularity contest list currently running; Top 50 Plants! Both real and fictional!

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Week 1

Top 50 Wizards

Host: Johnny Unusual

Participants (please note, it’s possible someone changed their names since and I am not aware. I tend to lose track of that stuff): @Lady, @JBear, @Lokii, @Falselogic, Gerad, @ThornGhost, @aturtledoesbite, Sanagi @Rascally Badger, Raven @Kirin, @Destil, @Droewyn, @Eirikr, Violet, Guild (I think that’s everyone. Let me know if I forgot you).

Back when I was on the Rifftrax forums, we would do lists like these under the title List of Crap. Over time, I was the guy who was basically running them despite slowly over time interest garnering us from 27 lists to around 10-ish. Eventually I came onto talking time and was feeling comfortable around it but I was hesitant; I really wanted to start this but I wasn’t sure I people were going to be into it. I had tried it on the Cracked forums a year prior but basically no one was interested. Still, I thought once I got a list out there and people saw what I was doing, it could be a fun activity. I randomly picked Wizards as an example topic more or less because I did think it would be fun and it turns out it was. I chose using that term over what it really is: magic user. Mostly because that is clunkier and I think people will quickly more identify just a one term title, especially on the first go-round for one of these.

Here is the original list:

Spoiler: The List

50. Nita Callahan

49. The Fairy Godmother

48. Willow Ufgood

47. Ghaleon

46. Randall Flagg

45. Radagast the Brown

44. Doctor Doom

43. Celes Chere

42. Voldemort

41. John Constantine

40. Aleister Crowley

39. Black Mage

38. Luke Skywalker

37. Howl

36. Moiraine Damodred

35. IKA

34. The Wicked Witch of the West

33. Tellah

32. Harry Houdini

31. Shanoa

30. Darth Vader

29. Dream of the Endless

28. Tiffany Aching

27. Harry Dresden

26. Schmendrick

25. Ganondorf

24. Willow Rosenberg

23. Aang

22. Prospero

21. L’Arachel

20. Harry Potter

19. Zatanna

18. Rincewind

17. Viki

16. Magica de Spell

15. Bayaz

14. Tim the Enchanter

13. Red Mage

12. The Ice King

11. Terra Branford

10. Magus

9. A Magician Named Gob

8. Albus Dumbledore

7. Kiki

6. Granny Weatherwax

5. Rydia

4. Vivi Ortinier

3. Hermione Granger

2. Merlin

1. Gandalf

As you can see, a lot of representation from Final Fantasy and Discworld, a lot of Harry Potter before Just Kidding Rowling’s awful viewpoints kind of tainted that well (similarly, I would probably not vote for Willow Rosenberg just because as much as I loved the character, Whedon’s awfulness eventually killed any remaining affection for that franchise. Seriously, if we ever do Top Vampires, I would have had, like, 7 at least from that franchise back in 2014 and none now). I was hoping for a couple more stage magicians but getting one real one and one fictive one (and another real practitioner of “real” magic) felt pretty good.

 

[Violentvixen]

Nice, I wanted to do something like this for top 50 animals but couldn't figure out logistics. This is a great idea!

What I really wanted was an interface that lets you drag and drop the final list to let individuals rearrange how they please, but couldn't find anything like that and lack the time to make it myself.

 

[Torzelbaum]

What I really wanted was an interface that lets you drag and drop the final list to let individuals rearrange how they please, but couldn't find anything like that and lack the time to make it myself.

So do you mean that a person could change and rearrange their Top 25 and see how that would affect the final Top 50 list?

 

[Kirin]

This is a cool idea, Johnny! I actually have most of my old submissions from the past decade saved still. I'll take a look and see if I want to do something from there that didn't make it or something new and come up with a Wizard post later in the week.

Insta-edit: Lol, the vast majority of my submission list for this one already made the top 50. I just thought of something I watched later that would work great, though, but ironically it was still long enough ago that I'll have to do some research to refresh my memory.

 

[Daikaiju]

Sidenote: If possible cane we get the original thread titles and section to find them? Some stuff is harder to dig up in the old archive without that knowledge. These threads weren't under one umbrella.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Mash Burnedead

​

Class
Wizard (?)
Spells/Specialization
Triceps Magic

From the History of Magicks
Mash Burnedead is a recently enrolled student in Easton Magic Academy, the famous prestigious school of magic, in the hopes of becoming a Divine Visionary, one of a group of powers magicians whose will are unquestioned. There's just one thing standing in his way.... he can't do magic. In a world were non-magic users are killed on sight. But most people don't notice. Why? Because he is so ridiculously strong, he can do seemingly impossible feats of strength that create the illusion of magic. Mash is pretty unstoppable but is in a rough spot because a magic cop threatens his weak father with the promise that even if he beats up the authorities, he and his father will be forever hounded. But the cop makes him an offer; become the Divine Visionary, remember me when you have influence and even if everyone discovers the truth, a Divine Visionary is basically untouchable. Soon, Mash struggles in class but every smug magician who makes the mistake of crossing his path gets a beatdown.

And that really is the treat of Mashle, the manga and anime series Mash is from. If anything, the other protagonist characters kind of suck but Mash himself is always a delight; laconic, unphased, surprisingly and awkward despite his stoic nature. But the minute anyone messes with the good people in his life, he will take them down with extreme prejudice (until they are so beaten, it doesn't seem worth bothering anymore). And that's really the fun of the series, waiting to see what ridiculous feat of strength he'll use to escape an impossible situation. It's basically like if Popeye stormed into the world of Harry Potter and just beat everyone up. And he's right to do it.

Mash was a relatively new character so there's some recency bias. I had another one I intentionally didn't use because I'm trying not to pick characters I voted for last time, even if they made the list. And I definitely had other ones I considered. But Mash is all about the catharsis of just a character who gives very little fucks and beats up all the worst characters. And it helps that Mash is very likeable, too. I put my faith in Triceps Magic any day of the week.

 

[Violentvixen]

So do you mean that a person could change and rearrange their Top 25 and see how that would affect the final Top 50 list?

Nah, this would be more to address the "oh no I forgot so-and-so" idea. So here's the final 50 to choose from how would you rank just those. Yes it could be done without drag and drop by just retyping it yourself but it's more fun to imagine that way.

 

[JBear]

I'm not going to effort-post, but off the top of my head, several characters from Owl House might have shown up on my list if I remade it now.

 

[Kirin]

Oh, of course, hadn't thought of that yet but I could vote for like three or four Owl House characters easy.

 

[Kirin]

Eliot Waugh

Class:
Student Prodigy / Magician King
Spells / Specialization:
Telekinesis / Wellspring Magic / Sword Magic / Mixology

We first meet Eliot as a senior at Brakebills University, which at first blush appears to be a setting akin to "adult Harry Potter", with sex and booze and stuff. However, the story takes a lot of twists and turns and ends up having more obvious inspiration from Narnia alongside more recent urban fantasy.

Eliot presents as a classic hedonistic slacker, complete with a flask enchanted to never run out of alcohol, but he also has a somber side and connects deeply only with a small number of close friends. He's proudly bisexual and polyamorous and has a flair for the dramatic, but carries scars from persecution he suffered as a child. He's also just really good at magic. Though a series of odd events he eventually finds himself crowned as High King of the magical realm of Fillory, an experience with a steep learning curve that he eventually pulled off rather well. He also spent some time possessed by a world-ending Monster, but he got better.

 

[Issun]

Top 50 Wizards was a thing I was aware of at the time, but didn't participate in because I wasn't sure I could name 25 wizards to vote for and hadn't read the rules so I didn't know I could vote for fewer than 25. Then these things fell off my radar until the JRPG list so until then it'll only be who I might've voted for had I participated (Vivi would have been my #1).

As for wizards that didn't make the top 50, I probably would have had Raistlin Majere from Dragonlance on my list. I always found him interesting as someone willfully trying to repress his humanity and failing just often enough to keep him complex. (I'll try and clean this up into an entry post if I have the time before next week).

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Week 2

Top 50 Heroines

Host: @Solitayre

Participants: @aturtledoesbite , @Büge , @dhawks @Erilex @Falselogic @FelixSH @Gerad @Healy @JBear @JFink Johnny Unusual @Kirin @madhair60 @Nich @Octopus Prime @Olli @Patrick @Paul le Fou @periodical @q 3 @Rascally Badger @Raven @Red Hedgehog @Sanagu @Solitayre @Taeryn

Spoiler: The List

#01 - Samus Aran - Metroid

#02 - Ellen Ripley - Aliens

#03 - Garnet - Steven Universe

#04 - Imperator Furiosa - Mad Max: Fury Road

#05 - Korra - The Legend of Korra

#06 - Nausicaô - Nausicaô of the Valley of the Wind

#07 - Terra Branford - Final Fantasy VI

#08 - éowyn - The Lord of the Rings

#09 - Leia Organa - Star Wars

#10 - Toph Beifong - Avatar: The Last Airbender

#11 - Commander Shepard - Mass Effect

#12 - Celes Ch�re - Final Fantasy VI

#13 - Pearl - Steven Universe

#14 - Hermione Granger - Harry Potter

#15 - Sarah Connor - The Terminator

#16 - San - Princess Mononoke

#17 - Marge Gunderson - Fargo

#18 - Storm - X-Men

#19 - Chell - Portal

#20 - Big Barda - DC Comics

#21 - Buffy Summers - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

#22 - Almond - Cucumber Quest

#23 - Lyra Belacqua - His Dark Materials

#24 - Jade - Beyond Good and Evil

#25 - Katara - Avatar: The Last Airbender

#26 - Daenerys Tagaryen - A Song of Ice and Fire

#27 - Alice - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

#28 - Arya Stark - A Song of Ice and Fire

#29 - Turanga Leela - Futurama

#30 - Mako Mori - Pacific Rim

#31 - Katniss Everdeen - The Hunger Games

#32 - Meg Murry - A Wrinkle in Time

#33 - Vin - Mistborn

#34 - Scout Finch - To Kill a Mockingbird

#35 - Hester Prynne - The Scarlet Letter

#36 - Youko Nakajima - The Twelve Kingdoms

#37 - Amaterasu - Okami

#38 - Princess Zelda - The Legend of Zelda

#39 - Chris Lightfellow - Suikoden III

#40-41 - Dana Scully - The X-Files

#40-41 - Utena Tenjou - Revolutionary Girl Utena

#42 - Yuna - Final Fantasy X

#43 - L'Arachel - Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

#44 - Amethyst - Steven Universe

#45 - The Bride - Kill Bill

#46 - Balsa Yonsa - Moribito

#47 - Hua Mulan - The Ballad of Mulan

#48 - Willow Rosenberg - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

#49 - Lenna Tycoon - Final Fantasy V

#50 - Daria Morgendorffer - Daria

#51 - Wonder Woman - DC Comics

#52 - Sailor Uranus - Sailor Moon

This was were I was excited to see people were really interested in this, garnering 25 participants. I think we’ve had more but not for a very long time. I’ve got to battle and scrape to get to 14. Which reminds me, please take part in @Kirin’s current list, top 50 plants (both real and fictional).

The focus of this one was fictional female heroes and I think the list largely holds up, though I would be very curious what this list would look like today. I feel like the Buffy and Harry Potter characters would not be in there. But I was surprised to see Steven Universe rank so high so early into it’s run. Aside from the big obvious winner that is Samus, the Final Fantasy made a somewhat strong showing. Myth is actually not that strongly represented, mostly in the form of Mulan. In literature and in general, most of the non-action based heroes were just Hester Prynne, Scout Finch and Daria Morgendorfer. And I guess Dana Scully Marge Gunderson but they got to wave a gun around and say “FBI!”and "Police!" respectively a fair bit. All in all, a good list.

 

[JBear]

Again not going to effort-post, but for different reasons this time! Any serious examination of why I'd vote for her would be full of spoilers! Anyway, if I remade a list now, Lea, the MC from Crosscode, would definitely be on it.

Hrm, and probably also Aliya Elasra, the MC from Heaven's Vault, Evelyn, the MC from Eliza, and Estelle, the MC from Trail in the Sky.

 

[Issun]

I will do the post for this one for sure. These would be my top 3 if we redid the list today:

Max (never Maxine) Caulfield
Life is Strange
Max is a student at Blackwell Academy. She is an everyday person until one day she isn't, when she realizes, while watching her former best friend get murdered, that she can reverse time. She and said friend go on adventures until Max has to make the most horrific choice of her life.

Chloe Price
Life is Strange
Chloe is the former best friend that Max runs across in her return to Arcadia Bay. Chloe is her own, independent and angry character who gets her own agency in the first game and a backstory in the (worst) second game.

2B
NieR: Automata
2B is the protagonist of the first third of NieR: Automata and a major figure throughout the game. She has a presence that is so important that, even when she is not there she is.

 

[Violentvixen]

Oh wow, did I miss the Heroine list? Bummer, I would have enjoyed that. Lots of great stuff on there for sure.

 

[Solitayre]

The focus of this one was fictional female heroes and I think the list largely holds up, though I would be very curious what this list would look like today.

As would I. I'd be interested in re-running this topic in the future if people were interested.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Eleanor Shellstrop

​

Notable Traits
Arizona Trash Bag
Capable of change
Capable of believing others can change
Loves shrimp cocktails
Doesn't stand for bullshirt

Eleanor Shellstrop is the main character of the television series The Good Place. The series begins with her being told she's earned a place in the Good Place, the true afterlife (all of the religions get the specifics wrong). The problem? She's been mixed up with another Eleanor. Eleanor, fearful she will be sent to the Bad Place, decides to work with her designated soulmate Chidi, a professor of moral philosophy, to work out becoming an actual good person. You see, in life, she was incredibly selfish and misanthropic, having little care for other people. On the surface, it would seem that Eleanor is the worst. And there is a lot wrong with her. Boy howdy is there ever.

Over the course of the series, Eleanor grows. She finds people to care for, values to care about and what her pre-existing virtues are. Yeah, even when she was alive she was a lot, but she's also always been clever, fiercely determined and unwilling to bend to others, all things which are invaluable in her journey into saving the universe itself from a very messed up system. What's more, she surprisingly becomes an inspiration to her friends, someone they can rely on and despite her selfish past, someone who is willing to risk her very existence to protect others. She even inspires an entity who would seem impossible to change to start to question the nature of their existence and strive for a better one. The cast of the Good Place are flawed characters who are also good but Eleanor really becomes the series North Star.

Now in the event you don't know the direction of the Good Place, I don't want to give too much away except (go in not knowing to much because the show takes some crazy turns) it is a perfect mix of sitcom and epic fantasy adventure with a killer cast. Prior to this, Kristen Bell was most famous for the teen detective show Veronica Mars but this is the role I'll most remember her for, a character who I care about dearly and is also just a lot of fun to spend time with. There were a few characters I considered for this entry and a couple I feel bad for not including but The Good Place is top notch TV in no small part to this great character.

 

[Issun]

Good choice! Eleanor is a fantastic character from a fantastic show that I really need to rewatch soon.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Yeah, I had a few strong characters but I decided not to go with a "person who fights" protagonist. Sorry, Big Barda. Someone else can stan for you this week.

 

[WildcatJF]

I'd love for a redo of this one as I was not here for the original. So I'll refrain on sharing thoughts for now in the hopes it happens again

 

[Kirin]

Hell yes to Eleanor! Love it.
I have an idea for one that’d definitely make my list now, let’s see if I have some time to write something in between plant list entries…

 

[Lady]

Week 1

Top 50 Wizards

Host: Johnny Unusual

Participants (please note, it’s possible someone changed their names since and I am not aware. I tend to lose track of that stuff): @Lady, @JBear, @Lokii, @Falselogic, Gerad, @ThornGhost, @aturtledoesbite, Sanagi @Rascally Badger, Raven @Kirin, @Destil, @Droewyn, @Eirikr, Violet, Guild (I think that’s everyone. Let me know if I forgot you).

dug up the old thread--most of us posted our lists towards the last page https://talking-time.net/index.php?archive/ms/16959

 

[Kirin]

Ran outta time for the week, so y'all can google/wiki the deets for yourself, but by current heroines would definitely include:

Michael Burnham

In brief, a Star Fleet anthropologist who once committed just a little mutiny, with the best of intentions but which ended up kicking off the war with the Klingons and getting her captain killed, and for which she was court-martialed and sentenced to life in prison. Until the sketchy captain of an experimental ship pulled her out to help win the war, and then a bunch of mirror universe stuff happened, and then a bunch of timey-wimey stuff happened, and eventually after four seasons she grew through a long personal journey to be an amazing captain in Trek's far future.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Robots!

Host: @Octopus Prime

Participants: @Mogri @madhair60 @Mr Bean @BEAT @JBear @Little Sampson @MCBanjoMike @Zodar @karzac @Raven @Olli @Traumadore @Kirin @Adam @Taeryn @q 3 @Yorin Trouble @Cyrael @Gerad @conchobhar @JFink @Madmachine @Sanagi @Johnny Unusual @Destil @PrivateJoker @Beta Metroid @Rascally Badger @Solitayre @Healy @breakman @aturtledoesbite

Spoiler: Robots

50. R Daneel Ovilaw

49. T-1000

48. Ultron

47. Alita

46. Ershin

45. ROB

44. Kryten

43. Destil

42. Metal Sonic

41. X

40. KITT

39. Mr. Butlertron

38. Maria

37. Dog

36. Curiosity

35. HAL-9000

34. H.E.L.P.eR.

33. Calculon

32. B-9

31. Big Dog

30. BMO

29. Aaron Stack

28. Robot

27. Curly Grace

26. Crooooooooooooow

25. Servbots

24. Quote

23. Tom Servo

22. Proto Man

21. Bishop

20. Johnny No. 5

19. Robo

18. Mecha Godzilla

17. C-3PO

16. Robocop

15. Zero

14. Tachikoma

13. Optimus Prime

12. Hk-47

11. Wall-E

10. T-800

9. GLADoS

8. The Iron Giant

7. Astro Boy

6. Mega Man

5. Marvin

4. Robo

3. Bender

2. Data

1. R2-D2

Our first Octo-hosting. You have him hosting, you are going to have a good time. Eventually he moved to doing “sidelists” because some of his other lists… took a while. Not robots, no sir, somehow he finished robots in a mere 11 days (Oct. 17-27th, 2015). I cannot imagine ANYONE doing that today (prove me wrong, hosts). Also, 33 participants! Oh, to get those numbers again. Maybe someday, the tide will turn! The list itself is fairly strong (you know it would be if Mr. Butlertron made it). To be clear, also, there are 2 entries for Robo. This is not a mistake, one is the main character of Atomic Robo and the other one is from Chrono Trigger.

 

[madhair60]

i have no memory of participating in this.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

I don't know what to tell you.

@Octopus Prime had you on his list.

 

[Kirin]

I mean, I have no memory of a lot of things I did a decade ago.

 

[Issun]

I would probably have had 2B on this list as well.

 

[madhair60]

Oh this is old. I see. My bad