THE GRAND FESTIVAL 2007
ROUND TWO
Hyper Appeals


After an explosive first round the contestants were prepared for the second part of the appeals. While, at this stage, the R1 scores were not as integral towards success as they may later be, the mood was tense, for with each round came the chance to cave or conquer.

The theme; hyper appeals, named after Sir Nicholas Dough who, in 2001 tried cramming in as many attacks as he could into an appeal, causing his Quagsire to fall into an exhaustion-induced coma. The effect was disturbing but it paved the way for a new, more complex method of appeal.

Said the judge; “Hyper Appeals explore complexity, without a doubt. There is more depth to what you can create, but it needs to be done properly. Executed carefully, building your blocks up without causing the tower to fall.”

The first appeal, led by OzAndrew, was to begin.



Appeal #1
OzAndrew

Flash (Ongoing pulse) - Ominous Wind + ThunderBolt - Shadow Ball - Sucker Punch

The spectre hovered up and into the air. A glowing, silvery light pulsated from her every inch as she stared intently across the crowd. A sparkling, dark gust swept along as the mage’s cape fluttered; from her body she blasted a thin, fizzling jet of lightening that pierced the darkening aura around her. Sparks of indigo and yellow burst into life as a shadow ball was charged, brimming with swirling chords of energy that bubbled within. The orb was blasted and Mismagius, concentrating hard, summoned a ghostly fist to swing down, smashing the orb of shadow and causing strings of darkness to swirl and shoot around the arena amongst the pulsating ghost.

Score: 17/20
Really great work Andrew. It was cool to see the elements like the wind and the flashing pulse, as well as the lightening and the shadows. It reminded me of a sort of demonic storm. Not much to say really, but well done.


Appeal #2
Ultimate Charizard

Rain Dance -- Psychic -- Charge Beam -- Shock Wave -- Sunny Day

The charming little chime floated in the air and gave a soft ‘squee’ of delight. Shaking itself wildly the creature created a rainstorm; pellets of moisture lashed down across the arena and belted the ground. The Chingling looked almost shocked at the sudden intensity of the rain; he continued, however, by glowing a feverish pink and causing some droplets to glow this same colour; as the rain lashed down the chime pulled droplets up and around to form a large, pulsating droplet of water. It rippled and shone brightly as rain lashed against and amongst it; it was stunning. Chingling, beneath the droplet, fired a bright, laminating beam of sparks up and into the droplet; it buzzed and shook, bright as a lantern but maintained by the psychic field. Next a more powerful electric attack was blasted up, causing the bright, glowing droplet to expand and explode with overloaded energy. Sparks jutted into the sky as rain and water arched back down; Chingling glowed brightly and caused the rain to gently subside, bringing about a glowing, warming presence.

Score: 20/20
Yes, it’s finally been done. Full marks. UC this was a fantastic, flawless appeal that I thoroughly enjoyed. The imagery, the manipulation, the staging, it was all done very acutely and worked perfectly. You just nailed it 100% and I wanted this to be represented in your score. Well done.



Appeal #3
Dragonis

Focus Energy -- Earthquake -- Focus Blast -- High Jump Kick + Blaze Kick

The powerful Hitmonlee stood ready for the appeal. An orange glow overtook his body as he clenched his fists tightly, sending the aura shimmering all around him. Throwing his arms down he unleashed a quaking blast all around him; the ground shook and rumbled wildly. Next, aiming his head up, the Pokemon sent an amazing beam of focused energy to burst up into the air. The bright arrow of power soared up like a jet. Hitmonlee crouched on his coil-like legs and pounced up into the air, summoning a trail of fire to swathe his feet as he spun around wildly and smashed into the attack he had managed to overtake, sending an assortment of burning energy trails across the arena.

Score: 17.20
More great work! I love this round. I really liked the appeal because you created and shaped the area before doing your appeal. The staging, ie: the setting up of the different aspects of your appeal was fantastic. You also did a good job with a physical-based appeal, something I think is often quite difficult.



Appeal #4
MeLoVeGhOsTs

Substitute -- Sunny Day -- Bounce -- Synthesis -- Solarbeam

The small, petite cotton Pokemon floated pleasantly from its Pokeball. Lyta began by glowing and focusing hard, concentrating as she created an identical copy of herself. The audience watched intently as the little Pokemon began to then summon the brightness of the sun; the clouds parted and the sun pulsated softly as Hoppip basked in the light. Next, she leapt up high, twirling pleasantly as she floated up into the sky. The substitute stood unconcerned beneath the Hoppip as, gathering energy, the grass-type glowed and sparkled wonderfully, photosynthesising and creating a beautiful sight. Still riding the air currents, Hoppip charged up a glowing white beam of solar energy and, pointing down, fired the cataclysmic beam straight down, where it whooshed, red-hot into the substitute and destroyed it dramatically.

Score: 19/20
Brilliant appeal. The last image of Hoppip firing down that solar beam from mid-air is really great. You used sunny day well with synthesis and solar beam, and bounce was used well too. Good work.



Appeal #5
Grey

Fly - Twister - Flamethrower - Dragon Breath - Draco Meteor

The large, powerful dragon landed on the ground and looked magnificent. The sheer sight of this behemoth was exciting and intriguing. Salamence flew up high into the air instantly, beating his wings powerfully as he effortlessly summoned a swirling twister of powerful wind. The cyclone ripped up dirt and grass from the arena. Salamence opened his jaws and blasted a stream of powerful flame into the fray; the wind swept it up and long, silky reds and golds pulled around. Salamence, using his wings to beat back the escaping winds as he added a stream of emerald flame into the mix. The melding colours and flames were becoming overpowering and intense; Winden tore up into the sky and dived back down, glowing completely as he sailed into the mass destruction. He smashed into the ground and caused the flames to dissipate, twirling high into the atmosphere and ending an extreme appeal.

Score: 19/20
Nice work. All the attacks worked well with each other and it was well structured. Not much else to say really!



Appeal #6
Hypotenuse Man

Switcher -- Fling -- Bounce -- Ice Punch -- Dizzy Punch

The little, pink Buneary was adorable; MLG and his Hoppip glared angrily. Buneary leapt into the audience and grabbed a beach ball that some of the audience members were throwing around playfully. Buneary twirled it on her paw before leaping off with it, landing on the arena and throwing it wildly into the air. Buneary watched it and bounced up after it, sailing up into the air and drawing her fist back. Ice particles curled around her as she slammed the ball, freezing the big, colourful sphere of plastic and sending the frozen ball into the earth. Heavier than before, it slammed and imbedded itself into the ground. Timpani, falling to the ground, powered up a glowing yellow orb of energy in her paw, landing on the slippery ball and slamming her paw into it, destroying it.

Score: 17/20
Very quirky and very enjoyable. I picked about 6 different things I could imagine being in a stadium audience and used a RNG: other options were a large foam hand, a handbag, a large stick of candyfloss and a huge bag of sweets. The only real drawback was the size of the appeal, given that you were using a small item. But I think overall you did something very unexpected and unique and you deserve a lot of credit for that.



Appeal #7
Weasel Overlord

Double Team -- Howl -- Extreme Speed + Flare Blitz + Swift

The impressive Arcanine glowed and created a number of identical clones; the three clones stood apart from the original so that the four of them looked like a pack of hunting dogs. Each released a loud, powerful howl that sent chills down your spine. The group then glowed red as flames spurted from around their manes. They charged, speeding along at a blinding pace while the flames trailed behind like scarlet ropes. Each sprayed a series of golden stars, too, so that they trailed behind them, glowing fantastically. The four collided in a mass of curling flame and golden star; three imitators disappeared, and one Arcanine burst through the flames, victorious.

Score: 19/20
Absolutely amazing! Combining Flare Blitz, Extreme Speed and Swift was such a great idea. I think that would work as a normal, single appeal, too. The set-up was good, I always find moves like Howl can sometimes be redundant, as well as double team, although in this instance DT was very effective. Great work!




Appeal #8
River

Whirlwind -- Hydro Pump -- Silver Wind -- Blizzard -- Psybeam

The glittering moth emerged. Was it a moth? It was elegant, graceful and quirky. Flapping its wings, John created a spinning whirlwind of energy. Flying to the top, and beating his wings to maintain the winds, Masquerain sprayed a jet of water into the attack that glistened and sparkled as it was whisked around, like a column of water. Glowing slightly, the magical Pokemon send a soft, delicate scattering of silvery powder into the fray, causing it to sparkle. John Latife then flew higher, blasting a wind of cold ice to freeze the entire sculpture of frozen, sparkling water. It glistened magnificently as Masquerain, focusing hard, blasted a pinking beam of psychic energy to literally slice right through the solidified attack, causing small slivers of light to shoot off in different directions.

Score: 18/20
Ok I’ve seen appeals like this a lot. Masquerain and Butterfree, Venomoth…those Pokemon have similar move pools and the general imagery is limited. I’ve used it before, River probably has…I imagine MLG, with my old Masquerain on his team, will perhaps use a similar, dusty, freezy appeal. [b]But[b], and there is a but here, River took the attacks and did something totally different. Freezing solid an entire whirlwind of attacks? Cutting the attack up with psybeam? That is creative.



Appeal #9
Blademaster

Sketch

Blademaster released a cute looking Smeargle with a red dabble of paint on his tail. It was evident that many were intrigued by what the Pokemon may do. He gave a bark and grabbed his tail, using sketch to create a rocky, spaghetti-western landscape of rocks, dirt and cacti. Next Smeargle started drawing a replicate of himself, a clone that looked rather angry. This was essentially a form of double team, but immediately the clone chased after Smeargle frantically. Smeargle sped along the arena, skidding to a halt by the large rock and sketching a hole in it. The dog bounded through the hole and, as he did so, sealed it up with a series of wood planks that he used to board the hole. The clone smashed into the wall and dissipated into a wisp of energy. The audience were greatly amused, enjoying the cat-and-mouse game. Smeargle sketched a large Looney Tunes Logo and burst through it animatedly, barking and chuckling.

Score: 16/20
Very creative and very clever. A Smeargle in contests! I didn’t really know how to do it myself but I’d loved to have been able to try something this daring. However you have to remember that while you are emulating something like Looney Tunes, Smeargle still needs to be realistic; for example, using dig or metal claw or even drill peck to burrow through the rock instead of ‘drawing a hole’. I did like it though. I know kinks need to be smoothed out with Smeargle in contests but honestly, how many times have appeals made the audience laugh? It was a comedy show and very well done.


RESULTS TABLE



OzAndrew: 16 + 17 = 33
Ultimate Charizard: 17 + 20 = 37
Dragonis: 15 + 17 = 32
MeLoveGhosts: 16 + 19 = 35
Grey: 18 + 19 = 37
River: 17 + 18 = 35
Weasel Overlord: 17 + 19 = 36
The Blue Avenger: 19 + 17 = 36
Blademaster: 18 + 16 = 34