Whoa... a surprise elimination!!!

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

The theme last week was one of surprises, with an extra elimination and a shift in the deadlines.

Trust there to be one more surprise to add to the mix.

The person with the lowest amount of votes was lordrexfear, by a single vote.

However gnomeangel decided to use her special powers. BOTH of them.

She used her nullify power to take out popfiend's immunity.

Then she used TOPSY TURVEY to turn the results upside down to take out the person she referred to as one of the strongest players in the game.

Which means it's time to say goodbye to

popfiend!!!

Which just goes to show, you never can be sure what is going to happen next!!

Comments

[sera-bella.livejournal.com]

Whoa... I never saw -that- coming.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

tell me about it!

I thought that either of the other folks with the nullifer power were going to take Topsy Turvey out before it was used! But when they decided not to do so, it was only a matter of time before it was used!

[shannon-elaine.livejournal.com]

Now that was some strategic planning!

[bettybaker.livejournal.com]

Oh my goodness gracious! Popfiend really has been one of the strongest players in the game--and Gnomeangel displays some strong tactical gameplay there. I'm glad to see Lordrexfear still in the game, and sorry to see Popfiend go.

[lordrexfear.livejournal.com]

I'm glad someone is glad. :)

[popfiend.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I appreciate that.

I enjoyed your entries as well, and I'll keep reading and voting.

[pseudonymjones.livejournal.com]

Homygod.

That was excellent. High fives, gnomeangel for totally making the most of your superpowers.

[tryslora]

Wow. I'm seriously impressed by the planning. Great strategic move. I'm sorry to see popfiend go, but I'm in awe of how it was done.

[drewshi.livejournal.com]

Well played. Well played. Ouch!

[zebrapix.livejournal.com]

Oh. Man.

[anchasta.livejournal.com]

Woah...dude! What a play...!

Popfiend! Buddy! Good run, man!

Thanks everyone...

[popfiend.livejournal.com]

http://popfiend.livejournal.com/1234409.html

[spydielives.livejournal.com]

I was explaining to my husband how that would happen last night!

Wow - just... Wow.

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

I have two things to say about this:

1) Much kudos to gnomeangel for being cunning, evil and entertaining in equal measure !

2) Much kudos to popfiend both for the weeks of very fine blog posts and for taking his exit very gracefully.

<applause @ both>

Wow... just... wow

[lordrexfear.livejournal.com]

One vote too... well, that's gratifying. I feel now that for popfiend and for gnomeangel that I really need to knock the "Open Topic" out of the ballpark here.

One vote and I was almost out of here. That's what I get for slacking and also not doing a big reminder or voting for myself (I can't remember... I know I didn't have any of my other accounts vote for me.)

Well, thanks for the save... I hope I make it worth it, even though it really wasn't for me.

[tru2myart.livejournal.com]

:folds her arms: I can't say that I like it, not that I have anything against lordrexfear, I just dislike the "powers of elimination" thing.

Meh, I'm just not a power player that's all. Too damned nice.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

heh, I still remember the first time you won "extra votes" and used them to save someone, not thinking about the fact that you would be eliminating the person with the *second* fewest votes!!

After that you used the remaining votes equally so as to not change the outcome!

you have *zero* "go for the throat" skills!*g*

Then again, you also won. So maybe there is something to say for that. We'll see how this plays itself out.

[helenangel.livejournal.com]

My thoughts exactly. I don't think it's very good spirited to use cutthroat tactics like that, especially to eliminate a strong and good contestant.

[rebellibrarian.livejournal.com]

Which just goes to show, you never can be sure what is going to happen next!!

And it also goes to remind us that this is a game of strategy and the best strategy to win is to take out the competition.

This is not a contest to find the best writer - it's a contest to find the person who can stay in to the bitter end. Some weeks it's the writing ability (or maybe it's more the popularity/approachability of the writing) that makes the difference & some weeks it's magic powers that rule...

It is hugely disappointing to me to see popfiend go.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

"best writer" is something that can and will be argued about to the bitter end, with no one agreeing on who it is. The powers are a way to balance out things between people with large friends list and those with smaller ones, as we've just seen.

I won't argue the point though that some weeks it's more one thing than another. (and I think you've got a solid point with the "approachability of the writing" standard. That's something both of the previous winners have in common.)

Keep in mind though that the best way not to have any "magic powers" involved in the game is to make sure that there is no need for a special vote. After all, they only show up when people don't turn in their entries!

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

This is not a contest to find the best writer - it's a contest to find the person who can stay in to the bitter end.

Don't jump to conclusions too quickly. The third user to be crowned LJ Idol may embody any number of qualities, but the contest itself achieves far more than seeking that one person. And indeed, numerous people "win" in all kinds of ways as well as the LJ Idol themselves.

Even popfiend's departure itself has now become an immortal part of the LJ Idol story. When LJ Idol III is turned into a movie, actors will be queueing up to get that part.

Before each player can pick a strategy, they first have to decide what they want from the contest. The answers might surprise you.

[gnomeangel.livejournal.com]

*deep breath*

i've been umming and ahhing about whether to say anything or just let the comments fly back and forth and leave you all wondering, but i figure this will be my last week on the game (can't take out a heavily popular and awesome writer with out some type of karma!) so i'd give my reasoning.

1. popfiend you're AWESOME! not only with your writing, but also at how well you took the game for what it is... a game.

2. i was always planning on using the powers when we got to the top 25. i was always feeling ho-hum about having them, but i didn't want to waste them.

3. the reason i used them now... lordrexfear. i wanted to save him. which is when i started thinking about the best way to do that, and this presented itself.

so there it is... i would have taken out whoever won this week if it wasn't welfy (due to nullify).

but in the end - i'm kinda glad that i've given the game some excitement and it's opened it up some more. i hope in the movie i'm played by joe pesci!

*good luck* to everyone left and thank you to popfiend for being so cool about it - i meant it as a HUGE compliment, you're a massively strong player and someone i really respect.

Thank you

[popfiend.livejournal.com]

I'm not going to lie to you, I am a little bummed, but I understand.

I'm as cool as the other side of the pillow, because being anything else wouldn't get me anything anyway.

Peace.

[ahavah]

OUCH.

popfiend, I'm sorry, man. I think that nullifying immunity thing is pretty poor form, but I do have to acknowledge props to gnomeangel for deviousness. Totally wish you hadn't been the victim, though.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

just as an aside here - make sure you read shannihilation's entry this week. You won't be disappointed.

[shannon-elaine.livejournal.com]

Oh wow! Thank you!

*blushes*

[zebrapix.livejournal.com]

So... who has the other Topsy-Turvy again?

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

there is no other Topsy Turvey, it's back in play as something that *could* come back into the game. So the smart money is on the people "on top" to be the cheerleaders to make sure everyone gets their entries in on time so it doesn't!!!