ULTRATITLE Rd. 1 Br. 2 Unofficial Post-RP Predictions Thread!

[The Great Eye]

Thanks for getting me jobbed you idiot!

 

[Seymour Almasy]

"Too Cool" Chris Hopper vs Howard King: I think Hopper has this, in spite of a solid set of work all around.

Larry Tact vs "Dead End" Derek Martin: Larry Tact takes this, and fairly handily in my view, which is less an indictment of Martin and more praise of Tact. Whoever wins the above match has their hands full. Tact can make a run in this thing.

'Suite' Pete Whealdon vs gideon: As HMH said, this match hinges on gideon's first promo. If it goes over well, gideon advances and will scare ANYONE in this tournament. The sister is an AWESOME manager, to boot.

'Triple X' Sean Stevens vs Jason Murray: Closer than a lot of people anticipated, undoubtedly! Four good promos. One winner. I'll take Murray here, close as a razor, though it's hard to discount either guy after their performance.

Spooky Doom vs Carl Brigsby (j): Mr. Callaway to move on here.

Classy Mike C vs Johnny Niles: Mr C., meet Mr. W.

Leyondo de Ocho vs Alex LeBlanc: This is tight for me between two solid writers who know their characters. I'm not one to subscribe to putting over guys just because their trash talk owns the other guy, but LeBlanc's stuff was tight, focused, and up in Ocho's gril, so we'll have the Canadian survive and advance.

Space God (j) vs Orphan: Orphan beats God. What is this, a sci-fi novel?

Castor Strife vs Jaguar: Castor starts off a little slow, IMO, but he obv. takes this.

Sammy Brown vs Cyanide Harvey: Brown wins via the ever popular "more meat on the bone" standard.

Eddie Whiskey vs Chris Walker: Whiskey via El No Showo.

KC Colossus (j) vs Khristain Keller: K2 over KC.

The Seargent vs Gemini: TEN HUT! Sarge wins this one with a solid performance.

Derrick Allen vs Christopher Ryan Eagles: Eagles pieces were better, he committed a faux pas in this circle. I don't judge, I don't have to handle that piece of debate. I'll take Eagles if we're going strictly on merit and ignoring use of Allen in RP.

Dr. Silver vs Erik Mateo: I can't help agree with the assessment that the dialect is too much and makes Mateo's stuff very very hard to read, in spite of it being pretty rewarding when I get there. Perhaps EGG style subtitles would have helped. Regardless, because of that, Silver to advance.

Anarky vs Terminator (j): ANARKY!

 

[brusch]

I feel like the matchup between me and LeBlanc could go either way...he's clearly the more experienced RPer and he did some solid stuff. I'll have no qualms either way.

I sometimes wonder if I'm digging myself a hole with my character - going Nintendo-centric might force the comedy hand eventually, but I have been trying to avoid making him a joker as much as possible. I'll be very interested to hear what the judges think, it'll be a good resource for what direction I want to take Ocho in the future.

 

[LQJT86C]

DISCLAIMER: Criticism of your fictional character is not an attack on you or the personal travails on which you may or may not have based his adventures in wrestling. The purpose of this feedback is not to hurt your feelings, or to say “job well done” in the interest of being friends when you and I both know I didn’t read sh*t. I did, in fact, read everything from Bracket 2, and while my criticism can be harsh, it’s (mostly) constructive. Also, keep in mind there are A LOT of people in this round, and as we get closer to the end, the quality of RP is going to rise. I felt, all in all, the first round was really sloppy and more bad than good. That said, there were many bright spots, and the greatest compliment one can pay you is reading your full roleplay and critiquing. So for the people who get this, here's to you. ::raises beer, takes hard sip, settles in for the rampant douchebaggery that is about to take place:: And for those of you who would rather me soften the blow in the interest of being friendsies…(grabs you by the collar like Vito Corleone) YOU CAN ACT LIKE A MAN!

"Too Cool" Chris Hopper vs Howard King -- Howard King is an interesting character. A politician? (Mayor) Haven't seen that before. The first RP was a nice concept with readable narrative. I'm always a mark for guys who "study" their opponents on camera. His second RP was even better, with solid trash talk. Hopper just...he was alright, but I never got the sense that I was reading a guy who was "Too Cool". A little all over the place, a little boring, and the dialogue was just not witty or even attempting to be, which to me is a must for someone whose gimmick is "Cool". He sounded more like a boring politician, and King was the one who sounded cool! LOL. Hopper isn't bad by any stretch, but a misplaced gimmick plus writing in all italics (I don't wish to be blind at 28) spelled the end. WINNER: King

Larry Tact vs "Dead End" Derek Martin -- Not as close as people have been saying. I picked Martin to win, and he did not disappoint at all. I said on one of the podcasts, watch for this guy. Morris is an old-timer, been away for a while, and has come back STRONG. Those were solid trash talk promos, got himself over, got the match over, and he's got a real edge to boot. Tact's RPs read like legal briefs. His talking points were monotonous, repetitive, and he hit two of my pet peeves: embedding YouTube videos (yes, I do them with Pete Windham because he's a joke character), and no-selling trash talk for being boastful. Earth to Larry Tact: IT'S PRO-WRESTLING. You're supposed to act like you're gonna win! Don't tell me you're bored of people who predict their own victory: tell me why they're wrong, or why you're going to win. I know it's a tried formula, but it's also a true one. There's no place for relativism in pro-wrestling. Tact had some real good moments, but not enough of them. I've seen a lot better from this character, and to me it just wasn't his "night". WINNER: Martin

'Suite' Pete Whealdon vs gideon -- Whealdon was solid, he's a witty guy...didn't dig the concept behind the first roleplay at all, thought it was kind of hard to follow. Once again, the all italics killed me. Second promo was much stronger, and made me look forward to seeing this character at his best and/or full potential. Gideon was...oh man. I get that it's a concept character, but just like Erik Mateo, if the material is literally unreadable then it's all for nothing. That first promo was absolutely unreadable due to it being one massive run-on sentence. The second one was much better, but didn't really put the character over in my eyes. I give Andy all the credit in the world for trying something new. He took a risk that, in my mind, didn't pay off. Asperger's? Not sure that translates into comedy gold. Perhaps if he were deaf or had down's syndrome... ::shrugs:: WINNER: Whealdon

'Triple X' Sean Stevens vs Jason Murray -- This was close because Jay Short made it close with his first RP. That first one seemed really, really rushed, and I think the character even kind of acknowledged that a little bit in the second promo. Murray's first promo was good, but stagnated a bit with some boring banter between him and his girlfriend. He hinged much of his work on the ability of his character's girlfriend to be interesting, and in my opinion fell way short. And do I have this right, or is he a Gen-X backyard wrestler who talks generation gap and quotes Nirvana? That gimmick is due for major renovation, my friend. He left the door open for Stevens to crush him on some bad talking points, and Stevens came out flat. Murray's next RP was a little bit better, but still had many of the same flaws from the first one. At this point I have Murray ahead, knowing that if the real Sean Stevens shows up, it's over. Well, Jay came back with a very good one. Hit on all the right points that I felt he needed to, and showed some of that vintage Sean Stevens. His banter with Ivy was much, much better than his opponent's chick/dude dialogue, and I especially liked Stevens showing range by questioning his comeback before working himself up again. It was the best roleplay of the thread, and although not quite the best Jay is capable of, a good indication that he's shaking off the rust and enough to pull out the win. My biggest criticism of Stevens here, and something Murray successfully took him to task for (props to Murray): why is Stevens hinging his legacy on Ultratitle? Surely losing in the tournament doesn't knock his legacy down a peg. He doesn't need this, not for that reason anyway. What does he need redemption from? Nothing, in my view. There are other reasons for that character to chase the silver trophy, but this is just one man's opinion. If Jay has a vision of where this is going, he should stick with that while taking into consideration the judges' feedback. WINNER: Stevens

Spooky Doom vs Carl Brigsby (j) -- Spooky could afford to do the RP he did here: a narrative intro to the character, ending with some solid dialogue. Everything was well written, and I assume his promos will have more weight when he has an actual opponent. Spooky is dangerous, so don't fall asleep at the wheel while he's around. WINNER: Spooky

Classy Mike C vs Johnny Niles -- Mike C was really solid, and I think he's a guy who could be a threat for others in his bracket. Niles blew, it wasn't even close. WINNER: Mike C

Leyondo de Ocho vs Alex LeBlanc -- To be honest, I wasn't a huge fan of either guy after reading the thread, but LeBlanc lost a real opportunity to crush an un-refined gimmick with a low-ceiling by getting sloppy with boring dialogue that really went nowhere. Ocho scores points for really crafting a promo around his gimmick and putting work into it. He hit that pet peeve of mine about embedding videos, but it was countered and then some by Leblanc writing his entire promo in red font. WTF? WINNER: Ocho

Space God (j) vs Orphan -- These jobber matches are hard to kill people over when it affords them a good chance to take a risk, shake the rust off, whatever needs to be done. That said, this promo drove me crazy. THE GOOD: Orphan's narrative might be the best in the entire tournament. I feel like 90% of people who attempt it don't know what the f*ck they're doing, but he does. THE BAD: The dialogue was so cardboard, a homeless man could use it for shelter. Orphan sounds cookie-cutter, like the writer was trying to force his way through dialogue so he could get back to well-crafted narrative with flow. If the dialogue were half as good as the narrative, he'd be white fire. THE UGLY: Pissed off wrestler gets bothered by surprise interview while having sex with multiple women. Whatever, the setting is overdone to the point of being silly, but then again, it's always been a part of wrestling. There's a way to get that over and make it more interesting, but this was just vanilla. Then, to make it worse, Orphan proceeds to be completely, utterly, not intimidating. What part about a 5'7 185 pound dude in his pajamas playing Final Fantasy IX on a PSP in a hotel room has the interviewer frightened? Is it the hard stare that Orphan gave him 50 times? I just wasn't buying it. The narrative tried really hard to get this over, but the dialogue and action just made it to no avail. I've read Almasy before, he's a good character and I picked him to go somewhat far, but this isn't what I like to see from him. He could use more grit, I think. And the only reason I even analyzed this promo so much is because Orphan is a guy I'm watching, expecting/hoping he goes far. WINNER: Orphan

Castor Strife vs Jaguar -- I liked my first promo a lot, the second one was the interview style I've been using more, and showed Castor in a more laid-back setting. If there had been a promo to counter, I probably wouldn't have done the second one quite like that, but all-in-all it was a good representation. My intent is to give 100% to every match, every promo, even if the guy doesn't show up. You never know: some judge might even have Jaguar going over me on account of "Silence says so much more than the written word. BRILLIANT, my jungle-cat friend!" WINNER: Jaguar via One Minute of Silence

Sammy Brown vs Cyanide Harvey -- These promos were a battle between suck and suckier. Harvey was the latter. Absolutely no effort in what he wrote. WINNER: Brown

Eddie Whiskey vs Chris Walker -- Whiskey did a good promo, and Walker, a very promising, talented character, no-showed. Could he be on the lam with Joe The Plumber? Food for thought. WINNER: Whiskey

KC Colossus (j) vs Khristain Keller -- The mock appearance on E-Fed Guerillas a.k.a "eFed Monkey-Bandits" was f*cking funny, lol. That said, there wasn't a lot of weight to this, and I know as little about Keller as I did before reading. Obviously he was throwing one up to beat the jobber, but I give him kudos for the funny theme. My only question is, why is a real wrestler appearing on an e-fed podcast? WINNER: Keller

The Sergeant vs Gemini -- Sergeant came with the SOLIDITY, and Gemini got bogged down in two-man dialogue that read like stanzas with one and two word answers. Who's his dialogue coach, Jonathan Marx? The second RP was better but didn't really say much. WINNER: The Sergeant

Derrick Allen vs Christopher Ryan Eagles -- This one really had me laughing. Eagles is f*cking funny, even though a lot of it was unintentional and downright dumb. He actually reminds me a lot of my character Problem Child/Peter Windham back in the day. I think Eagles could be really good if he just cut out the retardation and focused on better dialogue. He jumped off the cliff when he had himself b*tch-slap Allen in a promo, obviously without the permission of Allen's handler, LOL. It was done in such a hilarious way, too. Sh*t, if he did that to Castor, I MIGHT HAVE sold it. I know I should really hate these promos, but I don't! Still...they technically sucked, and Allen, while not impressive, was good enough to beat a dude who didn't know when to say when. WINNER: Allen

Dr. Silver vs Erik Mateo -- Doc Silver is one of, if not the most brutal no-selling trash talker of all time. If there is anything stupid or inconsistent about your character, he will SLAY YOU. In other words, Doc is a PTC handler's worst nightmare. Erik Mateo is not from PTC. Erik Mateo might not be from this planet because I have no F*CKING clue what language he's speaking. It's like a down's syndrome Creole got his teeth hammered out and mouthf*cked in prison. I can't BELIEVE you spent that much time phonetically sounding out every word like that. I would rather have seen you copy/paste a 10 year old Shane Southern promo than write this. Siegel, I love you, I love Cameron Cruise, but not only should you retire Erik Mateo, you should KILL HIM. A man like that doesn't need to be alive. Unlike the rest of these guys who told you how bad they wanted to love Mateo but just couldn't find it in their hearts, I will tell you the truth and say I went to bed hating life just a little bit more knowing that Erik Mateo exists in a fantasy realm. You're still in the tourney with your best character, so really, who gives a sh*t. Good day sir. WINNER: The real Doc

Anarky vs Terminator (j) -- Anarky sounded like a whiney old man here. Why the f*ck does he care that a bunch of smarks didn't pick him to win? That is so not in keeping with the character. Still, RPing against a blank wall doesn't exactly shine a light on the best attributes of a primarily trash-talk character. Nark will still split you up the middle if you come with weak sh*t. Good thing for the rest of this bracket either him or Doc Silver have to be eliminated by Round 2. WINNER: Skull face

 

[Seymour Almasy]

Thanks for the feedback, good sir. Will keep such things in mind going forward.

 

[LQJT86C]

Thanks for the feedback, good sir. Will keep such things in mind going forward.

No problem. Feel free to dissect my roleplays and tell me what I did that was sh*t and/or good, that's the only way anybody gets better! You were in PRIME, so I know you're used to feedback being brutally, brutally honest, lol.

 

[Seymour Almasy]

Will do, boss. I'm having to readjust my brain after years and years of being over in the other interfed, but it's sort of refreshing to see the old school style after so long.

 

[brusch]

Definitely helpful to know about the embedded vids = bad thing (especially if that's a widely-held pet peeve).

What are some good ways to raise the proverbial ceiling on a character like this?

 

[SpookyDoom]

Definitely helpful to know about the embedded vids = bad thing (especially if that's a widely-held pet peeve).

What are some good ways to raise the proverbial ceiling on a character like this?

It's not a widely-held pet peeve; in fact I'm integrating a vid in my next promo, should be fun. Also, I like all-italics as a way to differenciate narration and spoken word; I know I'm a guy who can have double-paragraph narration followed by double-paragraph speaking parts with patterns all mixed-up afterwards, so I'm always looking for a way to have spoken or narration "jump out" for the reader. Whealdon uses italics for spoken word while I keep my italics for the narration, but I would never deduct points for stylistic formating (and shame on judges who'd do that). This doesn't appear in my first RP because Spooky just has that one paragraph of text, but in the future I'll be experimenting with formating so as to improve readability.

On the other hand, my absolutely most unforgiveable pet-peeve concerning text formating? Centered text. ISHYGDDT.

 

[LQJT86C]

Yeah, don't mistake my views for those of the majority of handlers and/or any of the judges on here. I'm not a judge, so my opinion is only as valuable as you think it is. I'll respond later with some more feedback for you, with some advice I think might help your character. You're halfway there, because you obviously have a great handle on the script format and the concept of writing a vignette. As far as the vids go, it's a hit or miss thing with people. I hate it, I know others hate it, but then again...I've seen some of the judges do it before, so that might be a good question to ask on tonight's judges podcast.

 

[SpookyDoom]

Yeah, don't mistake my views for those of the majority of handlers and/or any of the judges on here. I'm not a judge, so my opinion is only as valuable as you think it is. I'll respond later with some more feedback for you, with some advice I think might help your character. You're halfway there, because you obviously have a great handle on the script format and the concept of writing a vignette. As far as the vids go, it's a hit or miss thing with people. I hate it, I know others hate it, but then again...I've seen some of the judges do it before, so that might be a good question to ask on tonight's judges podcast.

If you're talking to me, I already wrote my promo against Classy so you're a bit late. Maybe for next time.

 

[LQJT86C]

I was talking to Ocho's handler.

 

[brusch]

Yeah, don't mistake my views for those of the majority of handlers and/or any of the judges on here. I'm not a judge, so my opinion is only as valuable as you think it is. I'll respond later with some more feedback for you, with some advice I think might help your character. You're halfway there, because you obviously have a great handle on the script format and the concept of writing a vignette. As far as the vids go, it's a hit or miss thing with people. I hate it, I know others hate it, but then again...I've seen some of the judges do it before, so that might be a good question to ask on tonight's judges podcast.

I'd definitely appreciate any and all feedback! First character in my first tournament, I have no illusions that I'm instantly an expert in this thing, ha.

 

[Starbreaker]

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it. I'm happy to receive feedback from anyone who puts in the time to read my RPs.

Looking forward to other people's feedback, as well, and the judges when they do their Bracket 2 podcast.

 

[Classy Mike C]

If you're talking to me, I already wrote my promo against Classy so you're a bit late. Maybe for next time.

Well hot dog...I already wrote my promo against you (providing I get through)...

This should be rather fun.

 

[SpookyDoom]

Well hot dog...I already wrote my promo against you (providing I get through)...This should be rather fun.

Oh man thanks, typing out one promo without using any material from the other guy was hard enough, but writing a second one was friggin' murder! You don't mind if I save that second one for Orphan, do ya? No? K, thanks again.

 

[BMorris]

Larry Tact vs. Derek Martin: I never make picks for matches involving my characters. I do think Larry put out solid work, though.

Howard King vs. Chris Hopper: King's handler did a good job fleshing out his character in the first RP but didn't give as much with the second, while Hopper showed consistency. I give this to Hopper.

Pete Whealdon vs. gideon: I understand what gideon was trying to do with his first RP but it just didn't work for me. Whealdon did better with both RPs and I'd go with him.

Sean Stevens vs. Jason Murray: Whoa, this one is an extremely tough call. I have Stevens going deep into the tourney in my bracket picks, but Murray was just as strong as Stevens is. My gut says to stick with the Stevens pick but I wouldn't be surprised to see Murray win.

Spooky Doom vs. Carl Brigsby: Spooky wins with the ala peanut butter sandwiches! (I wonder if anyone will get the reference.)

Classy Mike C vs. Johnny Niles: I don't think Niles really put forth his best effort. I saw better work from Mike C and he's my pick.

Leyondo de Ocho vs. Alex LeBlanc: Neither guy blew me away with his work -- some good and some not-so-good. LeBlanc was a bit better overall, so I go with him.

Space God vs. Orphan: Orphan wins with the Statler and Waldorf retort!

Castor Strife vs. Jaguar: Jaguar no shows, so Strife moves on.

Sammy Brown vs. Cyanide Harvey: Wasn't particularly impressed with Harvey. I go with Brown.

Eddie Whiskey vs. Chris Walker: With Walker no showing, Eddie moves on.

KC Colossus vs. Khristian Keller: Keller wins with the Gonzo Cannonball trick!

The Sergeant vs. Gemini: I think Gemini went too over the top with his work. Sergeant was more straight-forward and he's my pick.

Derrick Allen vs. Christopher Ryan Eagles: CRE had good work but using somebody's character without permission is a no-no. If I were judging, I'd deduct points for that and give it to Allen.

Dr. Silver vs. Erik Mateo: Mateo overdid it with the accent. Silver should advance.

Anarky vs. Terminator: Anarky wins with the Fozzie the Bear lame joke!

(OK, maybe I could have done better with my Muppet references.)

 

[AUMedina]

Where have you been, Morris? Great to see you around again.

 

[BMorris]

Been around elsewhere, what can I say.

Good to see you again, Andrew.

 

[AUMedina]

Have you been in contact with Keeney in the past few years? Would love to see him come back.