Last Figure Standing Switching To A Top 12 This Year

Last year, the format for Last Figure Standing was Rounds of 10, 6, 3, 2 and the finals. I don't know if you recall, but we said that was the plan at the outset, but the data would shape the way the poll unfolded. We were toying with the idea of going to 12 last year because it was looking like the data was taking us that way, but ultimately, we were able to keep it to 10. This year, not so much. As a team, we made a decision to start with a round of twelve. Let me explain, but in doing so, I'm going to have to reveal a little bit of the seeding info. This is something we want to avoid until the finals, but in the interest of transparency, which is critical to us, we have to divulge a little of that information.

My role right now is to clean the data. It's a miserable task. Because the participants can enter freeform text, the inputs are not constrained. This makes it impossible to aggregate the totals on the raw entries. If a given figure has 50 votes, without exaggeration, there are probably 40 different unique values that were submitted. Those entries all have to be normalized to an identical value for aggregation purposes. Sometimes it's very easy. For example, it's patently obvious that "Commander Cody - Episode III", "Commander Cody Episode 3" and "Commander Cody Ep3" are all the same exact thing, even though they are technically three distinct values. I can actually normalize things like that programatically.

Other times, it comes down to a judgment call. For example, what does "Cantina Wolf Man" mean? Is that Lak Sivrak or Arleil Schous? We have to make those determinations (note: this year, those votes went to Lak Sivrak to avoid cries of favoritism.) So there is a degree of potential error in the final numbers because of these judgment calls, but normally, they are not statistically significant. It usually amounts to one or two votes going one way or another. In most cases that's harmless, but this year was different. When we made the decision yesterday to start with a round of 12, the difference between #10 and #11 WAS ONE VOTE. Obviously those judgment calls now come into play. What makes matters worse is who the #10 and #11 characters were at the time.

Ten was Obi-Wan Kenobi (Episode III), which is in my personal top 10, and Asajj Ventress (The Clone Wars), which is not. I wasn't comfortable having the all important Top 10 potentially be influenced by a judgement call on my part that favored one of my personal wants. Maybe "Obi-Wan Kenobi (Mustafar)" is supposed to mean a battle damaged and disheveled Obi-Wan, and me attributing it to the regular Episode III Obi-Wan is wrong. Then again, it may be right. These are the judgment calls that have to be made to tally the votes.

So the Last Figure Standing team decided to start with a round of 12 this year, just to be safe. Since that decision was announced, I've cleaned another 1000+ votes, and Ventress actually pulled ahead by two votes, but the same issues with judgment calls exist. Asajj Ventress has appeared in publishing, Clone Wars, and The Bad Batch with different looks. Those would be completely different figures if made. If someone simply votes "Ventress" I have to decide to which source it should be attributed. In my opinion, The Clone Wars is her primary source, so that is where those votes were attributed. That may or may not be correct. Normally these things don't have a big impact, but with only two votes separating Ventress and Obi-Wan for the last spot in the top 10, they do. It's safest to let it go to the community to settle.

For formatting purposes, it's cleaner to go to an even number, so we're going to twelve. #12 is only five votes off the pace anyway, and this characters does not appear on any of the LFS team members' lists. The number of rounds won't change. Just the size, and number of votes for round 1 does. Here's how it will go:

Round 1: Top 12 - you can pick up to 6
Round 2: Top 6 - you can pick up to 3
Round 3: Top 3 - you can pick up to 2
Finals: Top 2 - you pick the Last Figure Standing

I hope this makes sense and is acceptable to the community. Integrity and being above board are very important to me personally. I don't want to get into my background, but I'd rather die than conduct myself dishonorably (IYKYK). This is very important to the Last Figure Stand team as a whole as well. In our collective opinion, starting with a round of 12 ensures the integrity of 2024 The Last Figure Standing.

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