January Monthly Accolades (Until February 20th)

[Dark Link]

Another year of challenges ahead of us. But before we can continue on, we must determine our next set of winners!

For those of you who are unaware, the Accolades involve nominating (and later, voting for) those who have outdone themselves in a particular area each month. For variety's sake, the categories for each month may be different.

You have until February 17th to nominate your choices. After that, we will proceed to the voting phase where members will vote among the two individuals with the most nominations for each category. An exception to this is if someone manages to get 5+ more nominations than the runner-up, in which case that person becomes the winner by default.

If you wish to participate, think of who stood out the most in a particular category this month and post your choice, along with a 2-3 sentence long explanation, in this thread. You are not barred from nominating your own characters/threads, nor do you have to fill out all the categories.

The winners will become this month's "Community Stars". And what benefits does this bring? Here is an explanation, courtesy of Alex:

As part of being voted as a Community Star/User of the Month (I use the terms interchangeable mainly because Community Star is less formal-sounding than User of the Month), these members gain a color (you must select this in your User CP) and access to the Omni-World R&D forum.  In the past this was my pseudo-private forum, but it's now a place for myself and others to discuss the Omniverse.  This is also the meeting place/brainstorming area for Story Aides and Story Guides, so for all intents and purposes, winning an accolade lets you become a pseudo-Story Aide for the duration of your reign.

Forum access is for the month following a member's selection as a Community Star, and this is irregardless of which 'accolade' you were selected for.

Since these are the first accolades of the year, we will stick to the standard categories this time around. They are:

‘Best’ Character – Which character has you engaged the most?

‘Best’ Writer – Which writer wowed you the most?

Most Helpful – A staffer or a member who gave you amazing feedback on a story or was simply there to help you sort out some of your problems.

Rising Star – Which up-and-coming member stands at the crème of the crop? (must have joined within the last month and a half or have less than 8000 OM)

'Best' Story – What story did you find most riveting/entertaining? (For the sake of giving smaller threads a chance to shine, Dante's Abyss is automatically excluded from the running)

'Best' NPC – What non-player character (can be a site, personal, or story NPC) entertained you the most (for whatever reason). Please note who the 'owner' of said NPC is, just in case I am not familiar with them.

Purple Ribbon - Consider this a bonus category for nominating someone who, while they may not be the best and have all the twitter followers, you believe deserves to be recognized for what they bring the the Omniverse. (The winner must be a DIFFERENT person than last month's winner; the December winner was ElFailzalot)

[Ezrihel]

‘Best’ Character: Illidan – I have never played World of Warcraft, or well I did once or twice but not for very long (like 30 mins or so). I have to say that as someone who is unfamiliar with the canon of the character, Illidan has done a fantastic job of giving life to his character. I don’t feel lost or confused while reading his posts. His motivations are extremely clear. He has a job to do, and he’ll tear the world down around him before you stop him. Just from reading his fight thread (Spearhead) I can say that Illidan feels like such a unique character, not a two cent angst machine. He’s done a great job making him feel very rounded and three dimensional.

‘Best’ Writer: Skeletor – Mainly because have you guys even read the Darkshire Underground fight? It was fuckin intense as all get out, but man, Skeletor was a champ. I felt the struggle of his character (even though I had to give a bit of guidance there), I love how he had a little temper tantrum and how desperate the character became towards the end. He really sold the Hammy 80's cartoon villain, what with all the silly puns and 'nyeheheheh's.

Most Helpful: Alex – Mainly because this guy, this guy has been so busy behind the scenes what with the awards updates, the Q and A discord sessions, trying his damned-est to get our mobile theme working, hell, he's even the one who added in the little discord widget on the side of the Revelution Themes. Alex has just been doing so much to try to improve on the site aesthetically. He's also been super helpful and supportive of my silly ass, so all around, I give him a big thumbs up.

'Best' Story: Assault on Darkshire - Underground – (Kelly MacAryn/Ash Williams v Skeletor) It was so very intense. All the writers of the thread were simply great. This has to be one of the better fights I’ve read, and I simply enjoyed every moment of judging it. The whole thing was simply superb, and I don’t think that I’ll ever stop thinking that.

[Kaylee]

'Best' Character - King Ghidorah
He's killing it. Destruction, anarchy and total annihilation. Kelly is an amazing writer, and the first person writing style suits him so much.

'Best' Writer - TBA

Most Helpful - Mark
Mark is always there when you need him and he does too much not to get recognized. Not to say other staff members aren't AWESOME cause you are!

Rising Star - TBA
Not many newcomers this month, need to catch up on reading.

'Best' Story - Does Darkshire count?
I haven't got to read much of Darkshire in depth yet, but it's the biggest soryline this month so it gets my vote.

'Best' NPC - The only NPC I've done any ready for was mine own, Sera. So unless I can vote my own, I got nothin'.

Purple Ribbon - Guu
oHarmony is back! Though I'm not participating I like the concept! undoge:

[Carmelita]

‘Best’ Character – King Gidorah

‘Best’ Writer – I've got my Feb choice from Darkshire, but no idea for Jan.

Most Helpful – Alex

'Best' Story – Beyond the Mountains of Madness (Jade and Amber {Gemstones both!})
Star piece quests are great reading, and this one is no exception. Absolutely loving the contrast between the zest of the two primes and the comparative seriousness of the Camelot crew.

'Best' NPC – Lord Zedd's Stormtrooper Support
Made me chuckle, the highlight of the Invasion of the Vorticons.

[Dark Link]

Carmelita, thank you for your nominations, but could I request that you edit your post and include the already mentioned nominees? I only ask because the number of nominations a candidate gets is also relevant, so I need to know who you were going to nominate. 

That aside, two days remain for nominations. I encourage everyone to bring up theirs.

[Carmelita]

Carmelita, thank you for your nominations, but could I request that you edit your post and include the already mentioned nominees? I only ask because the number of nominations a candidate gets is also relevant, so I need to know who you were going to nominate. 

That aside, two days remain for nominations. I encourage everyone to bring up theirs.

Done

[Amaterasu]

Best Character Okor. Solely because of that rap that he pulled in the fight against Illidan.

Most Helpful Alex. He's usually very helpful anyway, but this month deserves a special mention twice over because of all the cool stuff he did to help the Omniverse improve - the Q&As, the various thread-mergings and many other things.

Rising Star For lack of new blood or people who are under 8k OM writing much, at least AFAIK, I'll nominate myself, with Malon as the character presented, because I've immensely enjoyed her recent writing in the thread with Carmelita and Dawn (playing Sera) for an engaging story.

Best Story Darkshire. Although there's so many writers in there that we might run out of ribbons to give!

Purple Ribbon I agree with Dawn: Guu deserves that, for bringing oHarmony back!

[The Humble Sage]

‘Best’ Character – Kelly MacAryan. An excellent thought-out original character and a tenatious opponent. Well done, sir!

‘Best’ Writer – Gotta say, while I am loving pretty much everything about the Darkshire situation (y'know besides dying) I have been pretty blown away by Gamzee's work. They're doing an amazing job of keeping the non-sequitur nature of their character noticeable, while still letting you keep track of what's going on in the post. Excellent work!

Most Helpful – EZZY! you da best for managing and organizing all of our scatter-brained thuggery!

Rising Star – I'm gonna send this one towards Jaina for a character I am excited to see go places, but to be honest the Nexus has been surprisingly subdued this month...

'Best' Story – I'm actually quite selfish, whether God-mind or man...mind? Tearen Wover knows how to craft a compelling plot line. Because we all didn't know that.

'Best' NPC – concur with Carmelita, Zedd's troops were great.

Purple Ribbon - Renji; for keeping alive the concept of bounty's being dangerous, rather than just inconvenient!

[Kelly MacAryn]

'Best' Character: This is a tough one - but I've just been enjoying the hell out of Lord Zedd. Spur does an amazing job bringing across the former galactic conqueror's constantly strained tolerance and offended sense of dignity at practically everything that happens around him.

'Best' Writer:  Skeletor. The man writes that bony bastard like he was born for the role, and it is amazing.  Check out his rant just before the end of the Underground section of the Darkshire fight. Classic.

Most Helpful: I also nominate Ezrihel, for much the same reason as Sage did.  She's been patient and attentive in judging the Darkshire hullabaloo, and has given some excellent feedback.  

'Best' Story: Invasion of the Vorticons. Spur and Failz clearly had a ton of fun with this, and it's infectious.

[Alex]

‘Best’ Character – Strazio; I think there might be more layered characters out there, but for whatever reason, this dude just always pulls me in. When he gets going, it’s like a high speed car chase, and your just waiting for the wreck to happen when blood starts exploding and body parts start flying.

‘Best’ Writer – I have to say Skeletor, for many of the same reasons that Ez put forth, although I think the majority of people involved in the Pale Moors are knocking it out of the park. But to be more specific, I have a soft spot for compelling villains, and while the character is awesome, it’s the writing that sold me. A lesser writer would have been way less adept and been way more of a walking trope-machine.

Rising Star – January? Helel. It’s nice to see what has the makings of being a serious take on the manipulator type. Who knows if he’ll pan out, but I like the writing and I enjoy the concept. Gets my vote.

'Best' Story – Darkshire’s a February thing =p … so Eye of the Storm (Jim Raynor). He started the thread a while back, but he wrote the majority of it (including the end) in January. I love Jim Raynor, as much as I hate Starcraft II for being awful.

'Best' NPC – This one I’ll have to wait on/might not have a nom for.

Purple Ribbon – Ezzy, for taking the hazing that is grading an event that has a lot of people involved and not utterly falling to pieces.

[Luci]

‘Best’ Character – Sarah Kerrigan. I have been watching her from afar since I saw Psychic Collision, and she has not disappointed in Darkshire

‘Best’ Writer – Skeletor/TheHumbleSage. He needs to be on here, Skeletor is a good contender for Best Character but I like what he's writing for Sage as well.

Most Helpful – Elf, because he is always frogging about in shoutbox and lurking and such

Rising Star – Harlan Higgs, if he applies.

'Best' Story – Hoshi No Guu Star Quest is one of my favorite threads right now, so my vote there, but this Darkshire thing is OFF THE HOOK

'Best' NPC – I love Lord Zedd's NPCs and am glad to be able to put him on the list again. The NPCs in Invasion of the Vorticons are a riot.

Purple Ribbon - Ash Williams/Jacket. This guy is the king of cool, I love everything he writes. Also shout out to Carmelita, I'm not a hundred percent sure what she's doing but I'm very interested. Also shout out to Tom Marvollo Riddle, it's sucks I never got to write with you bro.

Pink Ribbon- Trixie!

[Yukki Kazuto]

Somehow managed to miss this until now. Oops. Oh well.

‘Best’ Character – I'm going to have to nominate Luci on this one. That's really the only character besides my own that I've read anything about this month. 

‘Best’ Writer – Abstain

Most Helpful – Alex, for always being prepared with an answer to my, sometimes ridiculously stupid, questions. 

Rising Star – Abstain

'Best' Story – Can I give this to the stuff that's been going on with Dawn and King Ghidorah lately? I'ma do that. 

'Best' NPC – I have to give it to Luci's collection of Westside gangsters. Their personalities are all so different from each others, and I love reading threads with their actions in them. 

Purple Ribbon - Guu hands down. No explanation necessary. 

[Deadpool]

Best Character - Skeletor ~ for the reasons that has gotten this character votes in 'best writer'. I find the character to be both diabolical, but yet still comically humorous.

Best Writer - Any month that I produce even one post I will nominate myself. Call it arrogant; I don't give a shit

Most Helpful - Whoever does bulk of the move approvals and approves joining forms. Hell, give it to the collective unit.

Purple Ribbon - Ezrihel ~ for taking on the duty of judging the fight(s) in Darkshire.

[Dark Link]

I'd like to thank everyone who made their nominations. I am quite pleased to see so many entries. =) I would like to take this opportunity to thank Alex for his assistance. On a side note, 'Invasion of the Vorticons', 'Assault on Darkshire' and 'Check: Queen Threatens King' have been excluded from the running for 'Best' Story. The former because it already received 'Best' Story in December, and the latter two because they are technically February threads.

Voting will last until February 20th. You may vote even if you hadn't made any nominations. If you have and a nominee you put forth is in the run-offs, you don't have to cast your vote for that specific category (unless you wish to cast your vote for the opponent instead); your nomination will automatically count as a vote for the nominee.

In cases where a member rather than a specific character wins a category, the winner can (if they so desire) post in the Accolades thread which account should get the colour. That way, those members who already have a nifty colour for their master account have the option to display their well-earned pink colour with a different account.

Most Helpful – Alex vs. Ezrihel
Rising Star – Malon vs. Jaina Proudmoore vs. Helel vs. Harlan Higgs
'Best' Story – 'Beyond the Mountains of Madness' by Jade Harley and Amber Veritz vs. 'I'm Actually Quite Selfish' by Tearen Wover vs. 'Eye of the Storm' by Jim Raynor vs. 'Hoshi no Guu' by Guu and Gildarts
Purple Ribbon - Guu vs. Ezrihel

‘Best’ Character – King Ghidorah
‘Best’ Writer – Skeletor
'Best' NPC – Zedd's Stormtroopers (Lord Zedd)

[Jade Harley]

Helpful – Alex
Rising Star – Harlan Higgs
Purple Ribbon - Ezrihel

[Zack Fair]

Most Helpful – Alex
Rising Star – Harlan Higgs
'Best' Story – 'Beyond the Mountains of Madness' by Jade Harley and Amber Veritz
Purple Ribbon - Ezrihel

Thanks so much to everyone who voted for Zedd and his cast of misfits!

[Kaylee]

Most Helpful - Alex
Rising Star - Malon
Best Story - Null(I'd rather not vote when I'm in the running )
Purple Ribbon - EzzEzz!

[Ezrihel]

Most Helpful – Alex
Rising Star – Helel
'Best' Story – 'I'm Actually Quite Selfish' by Tearen Wover
Purple Ribbon - Abstain

[Alex]

Star - Helel
Story - Eye of the Storm by James Raynor
Ribbon - Ez-o-matic

[Amaterasu]

Most Helpful: Alex
Rising Star: Harlan Higgs
'Best' Story: Beyond the Mountains of Madness (Amber, Jade)
Purple Ribbon: Ezrihel (sorry Guu!)