SFF Fight Brackets/Elimination?

[chomiji]

Some SFF/pop/media website had a yearly tournament bracket feature where they pitted characters against each other and had someone (sometimes someone pretty good) narrate how it would have played out, at least for like the final four. Readers vote to advance their preferred opponent to the next round. The tournament featured all kinds of characters: I know Ged from Earthsea showed up one year, for example.

I cannot for the life of me recall where it was, and it's making me nuts. I *think* I saw Gideon Nav in it last year, and I'm re-reading Gideon the Ninth, which I had not read at the time. I have a vision of the little stylized image of her with her cropped red hair, shades, and big honkin' sword, from the site. So now I want to see who she was slated to fight and how it worked out.

Anybody recognize what I'm talking about? If so, can you point me to the site? I usually can find this stuff for myself, but I'm getting NOWHERE.

Comments

[sovay]

Anybody recognize what I'm talking about?

No, but I wish I did!

(Please tell me Ged had to fight his shadow.)

[chomiji]

>> Please tell me Ged had to fight his shadow. <<

'Fraid not, it didn't work that way. So sorry! For that to happen, the Shadow would have to have been a character in its own right somewhere the brackets. There was usually quite an eclectic mix. The idea was to have characters who would never, ever encounter each other in canon end up in a bout together.

[sovay]

The idea was to have characters who would never, ever encounter each other in canon end up in a bout together.

That's fair!

[sholio]

If you mean the one with little bits of fiction about the fights (often written by the actual authors) that was Suvudu Cage Match. Unfortunately as far as I can tell from some googling, it looks like Penguin Random House got the rights to it a couple of years ago and now all the links just go to 404s.

ETA: Although if you're remembering one with Gideon Nav in it, it looks like this hasn't run that recently, so either it's running somewhere else or it's a different one.

[hamsterwoman]

I was also thinking Suvudu... but if someone has taken up that mantle, I want to know who!

[chomiji]

Yup, Suvudu. See my response to sholio here.

[chomiji]

Maybe it didn't have Gideon? It would not be the first time that my brain has invented a neat little image. But I can see it so hard! It's a black-and-white stylized image except for her red hair.

*goes to look at the Suvudu link* Yeah, that's it! I'm remembering the art style pretty well!

OH. Looks like it was Unbound Worlds Cage Match for a year or two! But now Unbound Worlds has been absorbed by Random House, it seems, and the pages are all gone! WOE!

How could the get rid of something that was so much fun? Maybe there were copyright issues,

[daegaer]

Was it File770? They definitely do the brackets thing.

[chomiji]

No, more commercial an undertaking than Kira's Brackets, and about characters rather than works. It was the suvudu Cage Match; see my response here.