At this point, I feel like you guys might have caught on to what kind of animals my tournaments are based on, so let's not be coy about it this time. Our next tournament will be...
The Best Fictional Lizard Tournament, otherwise known as the Zaurnament!
I don't think we really need any further explanation, but just to cover my bases, this tournament will obviously consist of fictional lizards; things like geckos, chameleons, iguana, monitor lizards, and so on!
For clarity, note that dinosaurs, crocodiles, and salamanders are NOT lizards at all (though the mythical salamander may be, depending on depiction!). Dimetrodon is also not even a reptile and thus certainly not a lizard! And finally, for our purposes, dragons will also NOT be counted as lizards even if they lack wings!
Also, I don't think there's any fictional tuatara, but if so, I WILL allow that simply because tuatara won't fit anywhere else in my tournaments!
Not fully sure if there will be brackets or not, I'll have to see how the candidates are spread out, but I'm currently not envisioning any brackets! Anyway, stay tuned for when submissions open, probably within the next week or so! Or not, if I suddenly lose steam. Anyway, details rules to follow; submissions to open soon! Probably.
@tournament-announcer thanks in advance as always!
The rules should be pretty familiar and straightforward by now! All candidates must be or primarily be based on a lizard (NOT a dinosaur, NOT an amphibian (the class, not the adjective), and NOT a dragon!).
*** CHECK THE LIST BEFORE SUBMITTING. If it is obvious you did not do this, I will ignore your ENTIRE ask! ***
Submissions must have:
The name and origin of the character; please be specific!
An official image representation of some kind! Please submit one if you can, it makes things easier for me, but you don't have to if you really don't want to or are unable to! If no such image exists on the internet at all though, the character is not allowed!
Additionally, propaganda for anyone can be submitted at any time! Unfortunately, I was unable to figure out how to get image propaganda working in time, so text/links only!
Also, please try and only submit characters you're actually interested in! Don't feel the need to just "complete a series" or anything similar. This isn't a rule, of course, just a suggestion/request!
*****
Before I get into specifics, let me clarify what I mean by "primarily based on", as I think this caused a bit of confusion last time. A simplified explanation:
Two things matter when evaluating characters: design and intent. Design is how much is it actually a lizard (in this case), intent is how much did the creators think/intend for it to be a lizard. Pretend we give every character a score of 1 to 10 in both categories, and you need at least an average of say, 7 to 8, to be qualified (don't get too caught up on the specific numbers).
For example, Charmander was clearly intended to be a lizard (the salamander naming convention is an English only thing), and it does more or less look like one, so this ranks highly in both.
Meanwhile, the Lava Lizards from Spyro are called lizards, but based on design and context, are obviously intended to be in dinosaurs, so it would rank pretty low in both despite the name.
And finally, Salazzle is hard to pin down. It does clearly have some salamander/newt designs, but it's also associated with a few lizard-like traits as well as the mythical salamander, and a certain kind of lizard/dragon from Hawaiian myth, so it's hard to tell whether the developers intended for it to be strictly an amphibian, a lizard, or if they don't know/care about the distinction. I would personally lean towards not allowing it, but it's on the fence for sure!
Anyway, detailed rules under the cut as usual.
Also, please excuse any delay in processing these. Not feeling that well physically for a while, so my mood/ability to work on this will come and go!
Be A Lizard: Obviously. Note that dinosaurs are NOT lizards at all, or vice versa. Dragons, even wingless ones, are also NOT lizards for our purposes in general, though specific instances may count depending. As I said, dimetrodon is not a reptile at all. And finally, salamanders (the amphibian) are NOT lizards, but salamanders (the mythical creature) are kind of a gray area, so those are case dependent.
Images: Candidates MUST have at least one official depiction in image form. Fanart is NOT allowed.
Past Performance: Characters that made it into the Quarterfinals or later in a previous tournament will not be allowed! Try not to dwell on this one; I believe for our purposes, it only excludes Serperior and Godzilla, if you count them as lizards. Also, I suspect you'll see any such characters again in the future...
Humanoids: Humanoid lizards CAN count, so long as they are more lizard than human; i.e., not just a guy with scales, no nose, and a tail, but a notably lizard-like body/head structure. In other words, "a two-legged lizard" and not "a guy with lizard/generically reptilian attributes".
Constructs: Any kind of construct that is shaped like a lizard, such as a golem, robot, create made of lava/water/etc, WILL be allowed, as long as it is an actual autonomous entity and not just the shape of an attack. A swordsman that shoots lizard shaped fire blasts, for example, cannot enter said fire blasts. But, a witch that creates an autonomous lizard creature from tree bark and grass MAY be able to enter it, provided it sufficiently qualifies.
Existing Myths: Characters from real life myths (that is, myths of existing cultures) are ONLY allowed if they are not directly worshiped or sincerely believed in by the culture in question (as I do not feel comfortable classifying them as "fictional"!). Youkai, for example, are generally allowed, as they're usually more or less cryptids even if they have more cultural significance. But any god or similar figure from an actively practiced religion is NOT allowed.
Ethics: Any extremely offensive characters or characters from extremely offensive series will not be allowed. This is a very very loose rule; pretty much the only thing I can think of that meets this criteria is Harry Potter. I will not judge series for having "problematic" elements on a granular level; if the series is not as globally repugnant as JKR has made Harry Potter, and if your character is not a direct racist depiction, you're certainly safe!
