Characters of the Generation! (Winners Inside!)

Hello, and welcome to the hub thread for voting on the Giant Bomb forums' Characters of the Generation! There were a lot of nominations gathered for this; 171 for the men, 108 for the women, and 15 generated characters, to be precise. Needless to say, that is kind of a lot.

The finals have concluded! Scroll down to see the winners. I apologize for the lengthy lines of busted spoiler blocks. They apparently don't agree with bulleted lists. Thanks to all that participated in the nomination and voting process.

Previous winners are in bold with their percentage of the votes.

Male Groups (Round 1)

• ·Monkey (Enslaved: Odyssey to the West)
• ·Jungo (Devil Survivor 2)
• ·Andrus Ponder (Cart Life)
• ·The Jackal (Far Cry 2)
• ·Kyle Hyde (Hotel Dusk: Room 215)
• ·Yuri Lowell (Tales of Vesperia)
• ·Cole Phelps (L.A. Noire)
• ·Garrus (Mass Effect) 41%
• ·Zobek (Castlevania: Lords of Shadow)
• ·Rucks (Bastion)
• ·Sho Minamimoto (The World Ends With You)
• ·Vaas Montenegro (Far Cry 3) 14%
• ·Tenzin (Uncharted 2)
• ·Great Wolf Sif (Dark Souls)
• ·Hisao Nakai (Katawa Shoujo)
• ·Phoenix Wright (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney) 12%
• ·Kaim Argonar (Lost Odyssey)

Male Characters in Round 2:

• Wei Shen (Sleeping Dogs)
• Lee Everett (The Walking Dead: Season 1)
• Mordin Solus (Mass Effect 2) Group 1 - 15%
• Joel (The Last of Us)
• Sissel (Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective)
• Atlas (BioShock)
• Keith David (Saints Row IV)
• Wheatley (Portal 2)
• Nathan Drake (Uncharted: Drake's Fortune) Group 2 - 19%
• Francis York Morgan (Deadly Premonition) Group 2 - 24%
• Jackie Estacado (The Darkness)
• Scarf Wearer (Journey)
• Franklin Clinton (Grand Theft Auto V)
• Lamar Davis (Grand Theft Auto V)
• Geralt of Rivia (The Witcher 2) Group 1 - 11%
• Andrew Ryan (BioShock)
• Cave Johnson (Portal 2)
• Professor Layton (Professor Layton and the Curious Village)
• Augustus Cole (Gears of War)
• Johnny Gat (Saints Row)
• Solaire of Astora (Dark Souls)
• Victor Sullivan (Uncharted: Drake's Fortune)
• John Marston (Red Dead Redemption) Group 2 - 15%
• Ezio Auditore (Assassin's Creed II)
• Legion (Mass Effect 2)
• Urdnot Wrex (Mass Effect)
• Thane (Mass Effect 2)
• The Illusive Man (Mass Effect 2)
• Trevor Phillips (Grand Theft Auto V)
• Garrus (Mass Effect) Group 1 - 15%
• Vaas Montenegro (Far Cry 3)
• Phoenix Wright (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney)

Male Category Semifinalists

Group 1:

• Mordin Solus (Mass Effect 2)
• Garrus (Mass Effect) 36%
• Geralt of Rivia (The Witcher)

Group 2:

• Nathan Drake (Uncharted: Drake's Fortune)
• Francis York Morgan (Deadly Premonition) 44%
• John Marston (Red Dead Redemption)

Female Groups (Round 1)

Group 1

• · Aht (Radiant Historia)
• · Milla Maxwell (Tales of Xillia)
• · Momohime (Muramasa: The Demon Blade)
• · Juliet Starling (Lollipop Chainsaw)
• · Rose of Sharon Cassidy (Fallout: New Vegas) 12%
• · Mila (Dead or Alive 5)
• · Anya Stroud (Gears of War)
• · Alma Wade (F.E.A.R.)
• · Mistral (Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance)
• · Nariko (Heavenly Sword)
• · Kokonoe (BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger)
• · Rosalind Lutece (BioShock Infinite) 26%
• · Lilith (Borderlands 2) 12%
• · Triss Merigold (The Witcher 2) 32%
• · Akane/June (9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors)
• · Juri (Street Fighter IV)
• · Selvaria Bles (Valkyria Chronicles)
• · Hatsune Miku (Hatsune Miku: Project Diva) 14%
• · River Wyles (To the Moon)
• · Clementine (The Walking Dead: Season 1) 52%
• · Combat Girl (Super Monday Night Combat)
• · Rosangela Blackwell (The Blackwell Legacy)
• · Saya (Saya no Uta)
• · Nix (infamous 2)
• · Faith Connors (Mirror’s Edge) 21%
• · Kasumi Goto (Mass Effect 2) 18%
• · Goal (Deponia)
• · Emily Wyatt (Deadly Premonition) 27%
• · Judith (Tales of Vesperia)
• · Fiora (Xenoblade Chronicles)
• · Fidget (Dust: An Elysian Tale)
• · Melia (Xenoblade Chronicles)
• · Veronica (Fallout: New Vegas) 12%
• · GLaDOS (Portal) 57%
• · Elf (Dragon’s Crown)
• · Sarah Sisulart (Lost Odyssey)
• · Shaundi (Saints Row 2) 22%
• · Kinzie Kensington (Saints Row: The Third) 25%
• · Faye Lee (Binary Domain)
• · Jodie Holmes (Beyond: Two Souls)
• · Crimson Viper (Street Fighter IV)
• · *Hyun-Ae (Analogue: A Hate Story)
• · Samantha Greenbriar (Gone Home) 12%
• · Kai (Heavenly Sword)
• · Erica Anderson (Catherine) 12%
• · Jane Valderama (Saints Row)
• · EDI (Mass Effect 2) 32%
• · Bayonetta (Bayonetta) 35%
• · Ellen (Folklore)
• · Trip (Enslaved: Odyssey to the West) 17%
• · Tali (Mass Effect) 51%
• · Faridah Malik (Deus Ex: Human Revolution) 12%
• · Gemini Sunrise (Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love)
• · Amazon (Dragon’s Crown)

Group 2

• · Caterina Sforza (Assassin’s Creed II)
• · Miranda Lawson (Mass Effect 2) 34%
• · Zoey (Left 4 Dead) 13%
• · Madison Paige (Heavy Rain)
• · Merrill (Dragon Age: Origins) 13%
• · Midna (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess)
• · Shanoa (Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia)
• · Isara (Valkyria Chronicles)
• · Sheriff Sarah Breaker (Alan Wake)
• · Catherine (Catherine) 16%
• · Maiden Astraea (Demon’s Souls)
• · Calista (The Last Story)
• · Saskia (The Witcher 2) 13%
• · Isabela (Dragon Age: Origins)
• · Alicia Melchiott (Valkyria Chronicles)
• · Kat (DmC: Devil May Cry)
• · Phillippa Eilhart (The Witcher 2)
• · Rita Mordio (Tales of Vesperia)
• · Jack (Mass Effect 2) 32%
• · Bonnie MacFarlane (Red Dead Redemption) 24%
• · Rosalina (Super Mario Galaxy) 13%
• · Leliana (Dragon Age: Origins) 17%
• · Lightning (Final Fantasy XIII) 19%
• · Nilin (Remember Me)
• · Morrigan (Dragon Age: Origins) 40%
• · Liara T'soni (Mass Effect) 43%
• · Elizabeth (BioShock Infinite) 48%
• · Tess (The Last of Us) 13%
• · Clover (9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors)
• · Labrys (Persona 4 Arena) 13%
• · Hanako Ikezawa (Katawa Shoujo)
• · Dom’s Wife (Gears of War 2)
• · Sorceress (Dragon’s Crown)
• · Tiny Tina (Borderlands 2)
• · Ellie (The Last of Us) 41%
• · Jenny Romano (The Darkness)
• · Franzika Von Karma (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice For All)
• · Patricia Tannis (Borderlands)
• · Alyx Vance (Half-Life 2: Episode One) 34%
• · Seth Balmore (Lost Odyssey)
• · Marina Wulfstan (Valkyria Chronicles)
• · Sunny (Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots)
• · Chloe Frazer (Uncharted 2) 19%
• · Oerba Yun Fang (Final Fantasy XIII)
• · Elena Fisher (Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune) 26%
• · Sheva Alomar (Resident Evil 5)
• · Rin Tezuka (Katawa Shoujo)
• · Chell (Portal) 23%
• · Jeanne (Bayonetta)
• · Molly (The Walking Dead: Season 1)
• · Elena (Pandora’s Tower)
• · Girl (Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons)
• · Ellie Langford (Dead Space 2)
• Kaine (Nier)

Female Characters in Round 2:

• GLaDOS (Portal) Group 1 - 24%
• Clementine (The Walking Dead: Season 1) Group 2 - 17%
• Tali (Mass Effect) Group 1 - 12%
• Bayonetta (Bayonetta) Group 2 - 12%
• Triss Merigold (The Witcher 2)
• EDI (Mass Effect 2)
• Emily Wyatt (Deadly Premonition)
• Rosalind Lutece (BioShock Infinite)
• Kinzie Kensington (Saints Row: The Third)
• Shaundi (Saints Row 2)
• Faith Connors (Mirror's Edge)
• Kasumi Goto (Mass Effect 2)
• Trip (Enslaved: Odyssey to the West)
• Hatsune Miku (Hatsune Miku: Project Diva)
• Lilith (Borderlands 2)
• Veronica (Fallout: New Vegas)
• Samantha Greenbriar (Gone Home)
• Erica Anderson (Catherine)
• Faridah Malik (Deus Ex: Human Revolution)
• Elizabeth (BioShock Infinite)
• Liara T'soni (Mass Effect) Group 1 - 10%
• Ellie (The Last of Us) Group 2 - 20%
• Morrigan (Dragon Age: Origins)
• Miranda Lawson (Mass Effect 2)
• Alyx Vance (Half-Life 2: Episode One)
• Jack (Mass Effect 2)
• Elena Fisher (Uncharted: Drake's Fortune)
• Bonnie MacFarlane (Red Dead Redemption)
• Chell (Portal)
• Lightning (Final Fantasy XIII)
• Chloe Frazer (Uncharted 2: Among Thieves)
• Leliana (Dragon Age: Origins)
• Catherine (Catherine)
• Rose of Sharon Cassidy (Fallout: New Vegas)
• Zoey (Left 4 Dead)
• Merrill (Dragon Age: Origins)
• Saskia (The Witcher 2)
• Rosalina (Super Mario Galaxy)
• Tess (The Last of Us)
• Labrys (Persona 4 Arena)

Female Category Semifinalists

Group 1:

• GLaDOS (Portal) 53%
• Tali (Mass Effect)
• Liara T'soni (Mass Effect)

Group 2:

• Ellie (The Last of Us) 41%
• Clementine (The Walking Dead: Season 1)
• Bayonetta (Bayonetta)

Generated Characters

Round 1:

• Commander Shepard (Mass Effect) 46%
• The Warden (Dragon Age: Origins)
• Hawke (Dragon Age II)
• Sackboy (LittleBigPlanet)
• Tag (ModNation Racers
• The Boss (Saints Row) 35%
• Protagonist (Rogue Legacy)
• XCOM Soldier (XCOM: Enemy Unknown)

• The Lone Wanderer (Fallout 3)
• The Courier (Fallout: New Vegas)
• Dovahkiin (The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim) 26%
• The Arisen (Dragon’s Dogma)
• Pawn (Dragon’s Dogma)
• The Chosen Undead (Dark Souls) 35%
• Protagonist (Kingdoms of Amalur)

Generated Category Semifinalists

Group 1

• Commander Shepard (Mass Effect) 51%
• The Boss (Saints Row)

Group 2

• Dovahkiin (The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim)
• The Chosen Undead (Dark Souls) 55%

Male Character of the Generation Finalists

• Garrus Vakarian (Mass Effect)
• Francis York Morgan (Deadly Premonition) 52%

Female Character of the Generation Finalists

• GLaDOS (Portal) 61%
• Ellie (The Last of Us)

Generated Character of the Generation Finalists

• Commander Shepard (Mass Effect) 66%
• The Chosen Undead (Dark Souls)

The Winners!

Male Character of the Generation: Francis York Morgan of Deadly Premonition!

Female Character of the Generation: GLaDOS of Portal!

Generated Character of the Generation: Commander Shepard of Mass Effect!

Thanks again to all that participated in the nominations and voting!

There's going to be 10 threads? Couldn't it just be one massive poll?

Walker and Joel in the same bracket? Nolan North and Troy Baker showdown must be in the finals!

Edit: Read initial paragraph, still doesn't make sense to have two heavyweights in the same bracket.

This one's gonna be hard.

Also, Clannad was released this gen? I always thought of it as something from last gen.

@video_game_king: Isn't Lucifel the only good character from El Shaddai?

...that's alot of characters.

Okay, this is a pretty comprehensive list. I'm all in for the dark horse though.

CAMERAMAN JEFF!

Jesus, that's a lotta choosin'

Well, no matter how it shook out, some big names were bound to go up against each other in this round.

well, I regret everything. On a side note, happy when I look back overall this pass generation not as many Bald Space marines as everyone made it out to be.

Didn't really like any of Xenoblade's characters except Riki... and he's up against Lee Everett.

Bring it on, ya'll. So prepared for all my favorite characters to lose to like, John Marston or something. Yuck.

Your a monster putting Gwyn and Joel together.

i don't understand the criteria here. you've characters listed that don't have any characterization. on what basis should they be judged - how they look?

I know it's closed but shame there is no Marcus Fenix or Dominic Santiago.

But my votes went to Jackie, Big Bo and york ofc

There was a huge nomination thread a few days ago, all the choices were nominated by the community in there. Also, come up with whatever criteria you want, no one's telling you how to come up with your own picks.

I don't think multiple nominations from each game should have been allowed. This selection is just a huge mess varying from "well-developed protagonist who embodies the themes of the game" to "wacky stereotype with a cool design" and "faceless mute".

The Red Bird from Angry Birds?

It'd be nice of you to link the threads in this hub post for easier access. I had to lurk your profile to find all of them fast now. :C

Sorry about that. Added them now!

It's all about the polls, baby!

One day of voting is done. On to the rest of Round 1!

I have a feeling this will come done to "Who's your favourite Mass Effect character"

It's not going to be an all Mass Effect final. I can promise that, at least.

Here comes York with a massive 57% of his bracket. He's an easy pick to steamroll his way to the final.

Seems more like Group 4 was just a badly-selected list of characters, almost everyone in it was an extremely weak character. I mean, the fucking SCARF WEARER FROM JOURNEY was one of the winners in that group. Travis Touchdown, an actually interesting character who develops over the course of two games, didn't make it through, but Scarf Wearer and Keith David did. This poll is lame.

@lackingsaint: Travis is kind of an unlikable asshole from a niche game. Doomed to fail.

Why is Tenzin not winning everything. I am disappointed.

Men's Round 1 is closed. These are the characters that are moving on:

• Wei Shen (Sleeping Dogs)
• Lee Everett (The Walking Dead: Season 1)
• Mordin Solus (Mass Effect 2)
• Joel (The Last of Us)
• Sissel (Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective)
• Atlas (BioShock)
• Keith David (Saints Row IV)
• Wheatley (Portal 2)
• Nathan Drake (Uncharted: Drake's Fortune)
• Francis York Morgan (Deadly Premonition)
• Jackie Estacado (The Darkness)
• Scarf Wearer (Journey)
• Franklin Clinton (Grand Theft Auto V)
• Lamar Davis (Grand Theft Auto V)
• Geralt of Rivia (The Witcher 2)
• Andrew Ryan (BioShock)
• Cave Johnson (Portal 2)
• Professor Layton (Professor Layton and the Curious Village)
• Augustus Cole (Gears of War)
• Johnny Gat (Saints Row)
• Solaire of Astora (Dark Souls)
• Victor Sullivan (Uncharted: Drake's Fortune)
• John Marston (Red Dead Redemption)
• Ezio Auditore (Assassin's Creed II)
• Legion (Mass Effect 2)
• Urdnot Wrex (Mass Effect)
• Thane (Mass Effect 2)
• The Illusive Man (Mass Effect 2)
• Trevor Phillips (Grand Theft Auto V)
• Garrus (Mass Effect)
• Vaas Montenegro (Far Cry 3)
• Phoenix Wright (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney)

I'm really going to have to do something about the people voting for every single Mass Effect character.

@hailinel: If you're gonna arbitrarily come up with a way to prevent Mass Effect characters from moving on you might as well just cancel this thing. That would just defeat the purpose of having the vote in the first place. GTA V got half as many characters in the next round and that's just one game with a much smaller cast of main characters compared to the Mass Effect trilogy.

It is real easy. Do two polls for round 2 and put all the ME characters in the same poll then say only 3 characters can advance from each poll. Then you are down to Mordin, Garrus, and Wrex who (be honest) are all legitimately great characters.

I say it half-jokingly. I'd prefer it if the later rounds do not feature an abundance of characters from any one singular franchise. You'll be seeing a lot more head-to-head competition between characters that come from the same franchise in the lead up to the finals. This goes for Grand Theft Auto as well. If possible, I want to avoid a scenario that would lead to a ME vs. ME or GTA vs. GTA or Uncharted vs. Uncharted final round.

@hailinel: Yeah, I think it's reasonable to group up all of the Mass Effect characters into one or two ME brackets so they largely knock each other out. They all got a lot of exposure and dialogue to get fleshed out across a long trilogy, so obviously they made a bigger impact than characters in a much shorter game. But those characters from shorter games are cool too, and I really don't want an all ME finals.

But it's a popularity contest/which-game-did-the-most-people-play contest, so an ME character is bound to be in the finals. GlaDOS, Nathan Drake, and the GTA characters are probably the only ones that really stand a chance against any Mass Effect characters.

And I'm still kinda surprised Legion did so well in Group 8. I would've preferred that Missile or Sander Cohen moved on, just for a bit more variety.

Here's the shakeout on the Female category's first round:

• GLaDOS (Portal)
• Clementine (The Walking Dead: Season 1)
• Tali (Mass Effect)
• Bayonetta (Bayonetta)
• Triss Merigold (The Witcher 2)
• EDI (Mass Effect 2)
• Emily Wyatt (Deadly Premonition)
• Rosalind Lutece (BioShock Infinite)
• Kinzie Kensington (Saints Row: The Third)
• Shaundi (Saints Row 2)
• Faith Connors (Mirror's Edge)
• Kasumi Goto (Mass Effect 2)
• Trip (Enslaved: Odyssey to the West)
• Hatsune Miku (Hatsune Miku: Project Diva)
• Rose of Sharon Cassidy (Fallout: New Vegas)
• Lilith (Borderlands 2)
• Veronica (Fallout: New Vegas)
• Samantha Greenbriar (Gone Home)
• Erica Anderson (Catherine)
• Faridah Malik (Deus Ex: Human Revolution)
• Elizabeth (BioShock Infinite)
• Liara T'soni (Mass Effect)
• Ellie (The Last of Us)
• Morrigan (Dragon Age: Origins)
• Miranda Lawson (Mass Effect 2)
• Alyx Vance (Half-Life 2: Episode One)
• Jack (Mass Effect 2)
• Elena Fisher (Uncharted: Drake's Fortune)
• Bonnie MacFarlane (Red Dead Redemption)
• Chell (Portal)
• Lightning (Final Fantasy XIII)
• Chloe Frazer (Uncharted 2: Among Thieves)
• Leliana (Dragon Age: Origins)
• Catherine (Catherine)
• Rose of Sharon Cassidy (Fallout: New Vegas)
• Zoey (Left 4 Dead)
• Merrill (Dragon Age: Origins)
• Saskia (The Witcher 2)
• Rosalina (Super Mario Galaxy)
• Tess (The Last of Us)
• Labrys (Persona 4 Arena)

The males will continue their battle later tonight. The polls should be up shortly.

I missed my chance to vote for Akiyama, who may be one of my favorite characters ever. This whole thing is very impressive though :]

One of these days, using a spoiler block on a bulleted list needs to work. Anyway, the male category is down to the six semifinalists. Voting on Round 2 of the female bracket will end this Tuesday at 9PM Pacific.

If Agent Francis York Morgan doesn't win, than I'm calling collusion and swearing off this community forever.

I feel like the Generated Characters pairings are very strange. Commander Shepard vs The Boss and The Chosen Undead vs The Dovaakin? Both The Boss and Commander Shepard are actual characters with actual personalities, the other two are essentially just empty husks for the player to embody.

Male character of the generation has turned out QUITE silly.

York for best character of this generation!

And the contest is over! Thanks, guys and gals!

Shepard winning best generated character is a joke, but the other two seem perfectly reasonable!

Make the victors fight.

Nah. My intent was three winners this whole time. I didn't set this contest up to have a single victor.

@hailinel:

You mind if I make a poll like that, anyway? Perhaps with some weird gender twist (given that the characters are already gender-divided)?

There's nothing I can really do to stop you or anyone from doing something like that, but I'd prefer you didn't. There's no need to put them against each other. When the Oscars are on, they don't take the Best Actor and Actress winners and vote on a Best Thespian award. It minimizes the impact, particularly when the three winners were never up against each other in any of the previous polls and the early rounds for each were structured in vastly different ways.

YAY for York! There is trully no other character like York this generation.

I love the irreverence of Shepard's picture

Francis York Morgan winning makes me indescribably....I was going to so happy, but that sounds a bit extreme for a video game character poll, so I'll go with "pleased" instead....indescribably pleased.

Well, this poll has proven to me that Giantbomb wouldn't know what a good character was if it hit them straight in the face, but at least the final results are amusing.

@hailinel: I love you so much for that Picture of shepard. Hahaha.