#like if pressed i'd say that i'd like grizabella not to win but that's only because she already won the ball

[jellicle-brawl]

"Hey Jelliclebrawl, you're being really cavalier and showing a lot of favoritism on this poll. :/"

Couple reasons for that.

I have in fact not shown favoritism, because thus far I have implied that I want Tugger to win. This is not true! I'm expecting that likely either he and/or Misto will win, and I'm okay with that because I like them, but I am also nerfing them as much as I fairly can so that at least they have to work for it. However, I actually want Etcetera to win, because she's my baby. I just don't think she stands a chance against, you know, everyone else. Maybe against Pouncival. I think she could take him.

On a less jokey level, this is my fourth tournament (and will be the third that has started voting once it does). In the first I was accused of favoritism because I said in an offmic conversation that I would like the two mascots of the bracket to make it to the finals; in the second, I ended up going off on one of my voters because my determination to remain impartial meant that I couldn't just say "I do not actually like this option and here is why" to the person who kept pushing me regarding an offhand and extremely neutral remark I made. So, I'm trying something different, and seeing what happens if I'm just really blatant about which options I'm backing. Especially since my choice is likely to change at the drop of a hat, especially with the groupies and young toms, because I really do love every single character and would genuinely love any of them to win. But especially Etcetera, because she's my baby.

In the two weeks before I changed up this tournament, I got exactly two votes. One of them was from my best friend submitting John Partridge as Tugger because they knew I really wanted to run him but had already selected the two autoentries and left him up to chance. It was really discouraging but in the interim while I watched that number stay at two I decided to just run a bracket about the 1999 proshot, because I had all those gifs anyway so why not? And since this is effectively a tournament where all of the options are my own submissions, I realized I can just do whatever I want to. Would I have really liked to do my original idea instead? Absolutely, and maybe if this tournament builds enough of a follower base I can run it (and my original original idea) in future. But in the meantime... I make the rules babyyyy. If you wanted impartiality you should have submitted to my tournament when you had the chance.

I want to be able to talk about my opinions and headcanons and the stuff I'm putting into my fanfictions and the little background things I've spotted and having to remain impartial gets in the way of that. Having to do it for the Discworld poll is hard enough; doing it for the thing I am actively hyperfixating on would be torture. I want to be able to chat with you guys in the comments. I want to have fun engaging with fellow fans. I can't do any of those things if I have to sit on my hands and pretend I don't care who wins or loses and don't have any favorites while I'm in character. I'm still in character here, just this time the character I'm inhabiting is a guy with 27 cats and some dogs and I really want you to have opinions about them with me while you decide amongst yourselves which ones you like best.

And, because it bears saying: regardless of my own impartiality, vote your own heart. If something I say makes you decide that you like that option, then by all means! But I am one man and I have one vote (well, two if I feel like going to the trouble of logging into the old account), and all of my propaganda should carry the same weight as any other rando who propagandas about the polls.

#nobody has actually said anything i just want to be upfront about what i'm about #impartiality on the part of the pollrunner really is important to me and in a way i am still maintaining it on some level #i think if i had one clear favorite maybe i would be making more of an attempt #but the more i thought about it the more i realized my opinions were all based on who i would be sad to see get voted out and like #all of them #honestly #i love all of them! #they are so fun for me! #like if pressed i'd say that i'd like grizabella not to win but that's only because she already won the ball #so someone else should get a chance to win the brawl! #but even that is more like... so what if she does win? #she's a really good character and mrs. paige put her whole p- #no i shan't say it #not because it's inappropriate it's just a really low hanging fruit of a pun #anyway even with the cat that i least want to win it's still a case of 'this would still be a satisfying conclusion' #but anyway the point is #impartiality is very important to me and so if i'm going to be partial and show blatant favoritism #i'd at least like us all to be on the same page about the what my favoritism manifests itself as and why i'm allowing it