Oversized Opponent Finale

1. Oversized Honors
2. Personal Peeves
3. The Runners-Up
4. The Winner is...

Oversized Honors: Let's start on a positive note. I'd like to hand out a special honor this time around to With A Hat for all this hard work in this IF contest. Mono Krome, too, deserves a tip of the hat, but it was the one with "hat" in his name that started this ball rolling. That ball was making an unprecedented amount of artwork for the entries. And this wasn't just done; the work was provided promptly and looked great. These weren't just some blindfolded stabbings with the shapes tool or a single pass with a mouse and pen. These were done well. Frankly, in most cases, I enjoyed the picture more than I did the submission, and I think these images even swayed more than a few votes in the entry's favor in the end. No one asked this of them. The normal default artist (myself) was dragging a bit more than slow on getting the images done, so the dynamic duo stepped in and did thankless work. Well, I'm thanking them now. Kudos all around.

Personal Peeves: Well, I don't know why I expected any more. It seems like every time I do one of these things, I say how it seems that people kinda missed the idea and just made whatever they wanted. This time, no, I'm not going to do that. Why gripe and groan about a blind spot that people couldn't see before? Won't change after; it's still gonna be missed. Besides, enough of that already was discussed in the comments of various entries. Rather, there are a few other points that were just kinda nagging trends I noticed that got my eyebrow raised pretty high. They aren't necessarily bad but stood out in my browsing.

Names. Really? How do short and simple names like Chip or Whiskers or mostly ending in Y seem anything like "Biggupine"? Since when do names in Kirby make puns or plays on words? For the most part, these sounded like they were, I dunno, Pokémon names. Typically one or two syllables, something like Munch is spot-on in the nomenclature department. Doomstone, while creative, seems more like it'd be Rock/Ghost type. The problem was sparse at the beginning, but like all undesirables, it snowballed at the end until it seemed to take over. Why!?

The other curiosity was entries being things. Just things. Now, when I go through a list of Kirby enemies, most are rounded creatures. They are not ordinary objects with a face drawn on them. Hack, I believe, is the only example of this in the series. Being an ax with feet, it's an outlier to the norm. Enemies are living things for the most part, yet a good many seemed to wholly be an object rather than just like it. It wasn't the majority, granted, but an alarming number that thought things being creatures rather than creatures doing things was the appropriate route. Odd.

Lastly, inhaling difficulties. Not as in difficult to inhale like Metal Guardian but additional functions linked to being inhaled. I mean, was needing the super inhale not enough of a blockade? Again, just struck me as odd that it was the route people went. Just kind of a "... Huh" moment.

The Runner-Ups: I had to go through and pick out a "winner" from the lot. You know, since the encouraged end-time vote and rate didn't get any acknowledgment at all. Of the sixty submissions, the highest vote count was around thirty, which meant that not even everyone who submitted voted. Not even close. Putting aside the bridging from peeves, to do the final rating, I wiped the slate clean, mine and theirs. I went through and re-read every entry fresh in a big spree while tallying how well each did in a variety of factors. The criteria used in this scoring system included public reception, meshing with the Kirby series in appearance (not picture) and behavior, and, most importantly, how well it suited the whole being large thing. You know, the main goal of this whole thing. There were a lot of good foes made, even some great ones. But, if asked for oranges and apples are produced, what up with that?

The runner-ups to the top-earner, in no particular order, were T. Williker, Polly, and Frostle. The dino was a strong contender from the start. Thunder lizards are almost synonymous with girth and lethargy, at least before Jurassic Park, and the guy displayed more magical attributes than the current sole bearer of the ability, Boxy. Polly was an overfed bird. It was simple yet distinct. At least, it was until a lot more entries just went with "He sits on you!" as the attack strategy. The gigantic igloo finishes the stretch. It's a nice combination of ice and weight. Plus, it had an inactive state, something popular with official large foes. Meshing!

Were there more good entries than this? Of course. But these ones I thought best exemplified with the Kirby series, large enemies, and not over-stepping bounds with some type of extraordinary action.

And the Winner Is...: So, now, the final winner on top of the crop is Sunspot! While some entries came off as, or were admitted to be, passing or half-thought out ideas that were thrown out there, Kracko Cloud noticeably sat down and planned out everything for his entry with amazing detail. He thought of conditions, predicted mobility concerns, charted time frames, and even added stunning visual affects. Effort shows on anything one does, and this star is beaming with it... and radiation.

You'll all have to see your dermatologists now about those freckles.