Project Portal Commentary Part One

Now that's one for the record books!

Alright guys...I have to admit, when ManEatingWreath quit a few days ago...for half a second I kind of had a freak out in my mind, and even refereed to this season as "a joke' to him in a PM. You know what? This season IS a joke! It's a spectacular joke, and the thing I love about it is that literally every step of the way so far we've had turn of events that nobody saw coming. MickeyMania and Basketbuddy being eliminated early on set the tone for what was soon to be the flat out most unpredictable season in the game's history. I am really in love with this cast, we already have a few new people that I would gladly count as "All Stars", and everyone left in the game, including the people on Outcast Island, have been playing hard all season. ManEatingWreath described his departure from the game in a way I completely agree with...a turning point.

From the get go, "Project Portal" was all Strat's idea. I didn't know anything about the game, but Strat insisted that this be included in the group of projects. He had very specific ideas for what he wanted to see done. Portal is one of those things that is pretty widely talked about during the game, just in general, so naturally a few people were really looking forward to this. I'll admit, the story elements of this project really weren't handled in the way Strat wanted them to be handled, and I'll lay the blame on the fact that, again...were still pretty far behind schedule here. The whole outro of the project was planned out pretty far in advance, and me posting Project Six early basically ruined the continuity of the whole thing. I'd like to personally apologize for that particular interference.

As somewhat expected, the core of how this project played out was essentially, each team had a "go-to guy", who was wall versed in the world of Portal. Team Bluth had DWorld (who I must say...is living up to his potential at this point!) Team Coats had the ever-allusive Hack2112, and Team Baxter of course had the mighty and towering Disneyson1. Each of these players really stepped up to the plate, resulting in three very different approaches to a wildly talked about project.

Team Bluth over on Outcast Island really blew me away this time. They were the first to get brainstorming, and they had a solid lead in total posts throughout the entire project. Granted, having more pages in your brainstorming thread doesn't always guarantee a winning project, but it is a pretty good indicator. Team Bluth, even though they were made up of people previously voted out, all contributed a very solid amount of brainstorming to the overall process. CostaFreak...sorry man. I've got to say, while you are definitely a helpful player, your sporatic nature pretty much makes it clear that...you're never going to win this game. Bold statement of me to make, I know...and I'd love for you to prove me wrong, but CostaFreak...that's what makes your character shine. I'm not saying you have absolutely no chance, but your solid reputation of coming and going, always leaving some kind of a mark on every season you're on, but most of the time never really having a considerable shot at the winner's title. Season Eight was a really memorable season for you and it really brought your character full circle. With Season Nine, while like I said every time you do contribute, you contribute something useful, I feel like you're still just kind of playing from the sidelines. Unfortunately, if I don't see SOMETHING from Team Bluth when the projects get turned in, I might have to eliminate CostaFreak if he doesn't end up showing up. Definitely not something I WANT to do, but if you expect to survive on Outcast Island, you must at the very least compete on a project-by-project basis.

AdvBlueDude kind of took a backseat this project, but he deserved it. Thrill, meanwhile, is a big wildcard at this point. He's certainly not the loudest player in the bunch, but he's also had a lot of influence in the events of the season. It was Thrill that sent the infamous StarWarsGeek to Outcast Island, thus potentially ending his game. Then, Thrill gets sent to Outcast Island the very same project as StarWarsGeek, and has now managed to quietly win his way back into the main game. It was pretty obvious AdvBlueDude would be one of the people returning, but the other slot was completely up for grabs. It was a close vote. It ultimately came down to most everybody who cast a vote voting for AdvBlueDude, with one vote for CostaFreak and ultimately two votes for Thrill. Very close call. Oddly enough, DWorld was the only person to not receive a vote, in spite of really being the leader this past project and putting together what I consider to be the best overall project submitted so far this season. So essentially, each and every personality on Outcast Island really shined in their own way. Something tells me DWorld is going to come back sooner than you guys think, and who KNOWS what that's going to bring to the table. Remember, the Outsider's Ceremony is still up for grabs. I changed the rules so that instead of eliminating someone completely from Outcast Island, instead you'll chose someone from the main game and send them to Outcast Island in your place. The twist is still pretty brutal, but at least it's not game ending. Only POTENTIALLY game ending, haha. For all intents and purposes, Outcast Island really is working out how I wanted it to. It's a lot better than how Redemption Island worked out for Survivor. Basically what I wanted to see was a whole other element of gameplay emerge, and I think Outcast Island is really providing that. In general, I'm very satisfied with how this season is turning out, especially if it remains as unpredictable in the first half as it was in the second half. I don't care about the outcome of any one season, but I always appreciate when it's an unpredictable road to get there. I'd say Seasons five and six were probably about as unpredictable as they come, and ever since PL7764 took the title in one of my personal favorite wins the game has ever seen, I've constantly been looking for that next player who comes out of nowhere and takes the title completely by surprise. This season, the potential is definitely there.

In part two I'll discuss.

-My controversial low score for Team Baxter, and personally address Disneyson1 and his potential "Napoleon Complex".
-How ManEatingWreath's elimination will further impact the game, and the overall storyline of Team Coats.
-How I see the rest of the season potentially playing out.