Giant Bomb Community GOTY - Best New Character Winner

Giant Bomb Community GOTY - Best New Character Winner - Cave Johnson (Portal 2)

Portal was a game that came out of nowhere and stunned audiences with its unique gameplay and clever writing. It quickly became one of the most popular games of the year and while it began its life as an add-on to the Orange Box it eventually became its own sequel. One of the most memorable aspects of the original Portal was the sadistic robot GLaDOS who is your guide through the testing rooms as well as your enemy. This corrupt AI was a funny, charming, and sadistic character that brought life into that world and propelled her to be recognized as one of gaming's greatest villains. So how do you top that? Enter Cave Johnson

As the founder and former President of Aperture Science, Cave Johnson is your premeditated guide through the archives of testing rooms as you struggle to make your way back to the surface. Although your only interactions with him are through pre-recorded messages he remains one of the most interesting, exciting characters in Portal 2 and in video games. Part of this is directly due to the phenomenal voice work of J.K. Simmons who shows great range in emotion conveying happiness, resent, regret, and everything in between. However, the reason this character is so memorable is in his personality. Most supporting characters are meant to enhance the strength and weaknesses of the protagonist. They are designed to bring about different aspects of the main character's personality and sometimes challenge the player's views and morals. However, Portal 2 is unique in that the supporting cast is the main cast and their personalities are what color and define that game. Cave Johnson demonstrates this in spades. It is rare to see a character that can make you feel a whole range of emotions from happiness, to anger, to empathy. He also provides a great sense of history to Aperture Science and their seemingly nonexistent obligation for ethics and morals. In direct contrast to GLaDOS Cave Johnson is a man who seems more robotic and inhuman than anyone else in video games but he is a wonderful character and your pick for Giant Bomb's Best New Character

Runner Up: Wheatley (Portal 2)

I'm so happy he won!

EDIT: It's actually kind of sad to hear him at the end compared to the start.

Definitely the right choice, although Wheatley is a close second. Honestly, I can't think of that many other good, new characters, aside from maybe Varric from DA2 and Cutter from UC3. Maybe that's a testament to how phenomenal Portal 2's characters were that no others come close to their excellence, or maybe this year just wasn't that good for story.

Didn't do much for me. I liked the lemon speech but otherwise it was that painting (and a few others) and voice recordings as you enter a room to solve a puzzle.

Cave Johnson and Wheatley definitely deserve to be on top, in that order. No other characters really come close.

I may have chosen Zulf (Bastion) over him, but I'm not disappointed with the choice in the slightest.

I have no problems with these winners although I probably prefer Wheatley if only for my love of Steve Merchant. (goggle-eyed freak :p)