Make Your Move 27: Top 50 Up! See you in the New Year for MYM28!

[Katapultar]

I'll admit that I was hoping for Maple to win outright, or at least be a guaranteed Top 3. I don't normally aim for first place or expect my sets to get there, but I felt it was actually realistic and potentially fitting this contest - a good part of me feels that Maple is my magnum opus (or at least on par with Vania/Fatla and Tsukuyo), and I was really driven when writing her and hoped that all the inspiration and effort would pay off. On one hand, I kind of feel cheated out by a single last-second votelist. On the other hand, I'm very happy with the support she got (2 SV+s - my first set to get multiple SV+s!) and the fact that she could have potentially won outright. Could just be denial and pretend that I actually won. It's a bit of a bummer, but I don't actually feel angry or indignant. It is what it is! I'm just glad to finally see the results - the wait for this felt like an eternity, and the nervousness of waiting for the results was worse than actually seeing the results (especially when you obsess over votes and placements, which is horribly mind-consuming and why I stopped being a vote guru).

(I thought it would be fitting for Maple to win because she is comparable to MYM16 winner Chou-Chou, as both are small but very powerful girls who lead colourful allies and are full of surprises. Likewise, I thought for the longest time that Suisen would Top 5 and be my 3rd T5'ing Disgaea moveset, which would have been fitting when Chou-Chou placed 1st and Judge Nemo from Disgaea 4 placed 4th in MYM16. Just goes to show that history doesn't repeat itself, which is fitting and probably for the best)

• Top 5 is pretty much what I thought it would be, with - the deserving - Blood Falcon being the most likely candidate when I realized that Suisen wouldn't be popular enough for it. I will admit that it's hard to feel happy for Raven Beak winning, partly due to Maple's circumstances and because Beak's authors have already placed 1st or 2nd in so many contests. I feel like Tern was more deserving of the win for carrying the contest, but I'm sure he'll get his time with all the stuff he has ready for next contest.
• Huh, Knull and Regina George in the camp of "more popular than I thought".
• Didn't think Kasumi would place second-highest (even if she wouldn't get that high in MYM25 or 26, and outplace the superior Iz). It's nice to have two BOFURI T'10s on my belt, though.
• Kaela being in the Top 10 is surreal - I thought she would be like, Top 25 at most. It might not be as satisfying as a joint, but hopefully Bubby gets some satisfaction with their first Top 10 placement! Absolutely wouldn't have finished this set without Bubby and Froy there to iron out the final inputs, so huge thanks to them. Kind of ironic that Kaela gets this placement when she's the one set that I was "out of" compared to everything else I wrote, with maybe Kasumi as well by a big margin. Places 6-10th felt like a big mystery in "any set could place here" and I had no idea who would place there: maybe Sayu, Kasumi, Cordelia, Ninja, Oogie Boogie, Reisen, Angwith, Kefka, Blood Falcon, for I had tunnel vision thanks to only focusing on Tern and my own rankings for the longest time.
• Speaking of Kefka, he got 1 spot lower than his MYM4 counterpart. Really thought he would place higher, but Tern's set is infinitely better anyway.

• Voyager and Suisen tying is weird. I'll admit that I wish the leadership did implement ties like in all the previous contests (bar MYM1), as it feels weird and does make the Top 50 a bit harder to take seriously. Also I have never placed 16th on a Top 50. I don't think I can exactly go and tiebreak my own sets: "I think Suisen is better than Voyager, so he should have the 15th spot while Voyager is 16th," even for my own personal doc.
• A bit surprised that Saika placed "higher" than I expected. Sayu placing so low is baffling, though she is admittedly one of several casualties from n88 not finishing every set. It's a bit disappointing that we've had 2 contests where sets place lower than they should/could have due to missing out on reads, which makes the recent Top 50s feel a bit less "valid", but I guess it can't be helped. There are a good chunk of Tern and Turtles sets that feel like they could/should have placed higher, like Ice Master, Amy Rose, Beedrill, Gato and Reisen. Also thought that Drifblim would place higher, as it seemed like a popular set.
• Glad to see Goliso, Brazillian Guy and Hypah all get on the Top 50. It feels kind of wrong for Fang to not place, though.

Even with everything, I do think this is my personal best contest, even if it's just by a slight margin compared to MYM25 and 26.






Okay, so... this is probably going to be the last contest I participate in. I feel like my interest in reading and writing movesets has dropped to zero over the reading period, and I just can't grasp the inspiration or incentive to make further movesets. I did mention this in the chat over a month ago, but mentioning it for posterity's sake. It's possible that this burnout has developed over the course of the last few contests, like me quitting leadership, but either way MYM just does not feel the same for me anymore. Though understandable, MYM27 did not have the same level of engagement as the previous contests, and part of me thinks that this will not improve in the future because sets aren't necessarily going to get shorter and simpler.

I have largely been sticking around because I wanted to see the MYM27 Top 50 through to the end, because I was invested in Maple and wanted closure. Now that that's happened, I don't have anything tying my down in MYM, and I don't foresee a future where I read or comment next contest. It's ironic because Kaela, who is most likely my last moveset, was something that I was worried about not finishing and leaving Bubby hanging via losing steam on the set, but she was able to reach completion and closure.

I've been a part of Make Your Move for some 15 years, little under half of my life, and it's a special place and creative avenue for sure. I think I was able to invest all the sets and comments I did because it was the only online community I was really a part of. I've been here for so long that it's easy to believe that MYM would be around forever and I would never leave, but let's face it - nothing lasts forever. People are coming and going, readership has dwindled, and big presences like FA, Froy, Smady and Kupa have more or less left and MYM is really not the same without those long-time pals and their reading presence. It's not impossible that I could hang around and talk about movesets, MYM nostalgia or even get back into things, but otherwise this is goodbye for me. I don't know what the future holds, but I genuinely feel that I have to let MYM go, and that's not a terribly easy thing.

For everyone who remains and strives to continue movesetting, good luck! I hope that writing movesets can continue to be a creative outlet and source of inspiration and excitement for you - that's the true joy of writing movesets, after all. We have people n88 and Dae wanting to jump (back) on the comment wagon, Almand wanting to get back into setmaking and Tern and Bubby with what will technically be their leadership debuts, all for next contest. I don't know how it will pan out, but I'm sure it will all work out okay.

 

[Hyper_Ridley]

My voting days are behind me, so here's my top 10:

10) Sayu by Katapultar

9) Raven Beak by FrozenRoy and Forward Arrow

8) Buzz Buzzard by BrazilianGuy

7) Knull by n88

6) Indiana Jones by Rychu

5) Toadette by WierdChillFever

4) Byleth by TortoiseNotTurtle

3) The President by Slavic

2) Regina George by WierdChillFever and Arctic Tern

1) Gilius Thunderhead by BridgesWithTurtles










Congrats to everyone on the top 50. While I wish my own sets could have placed better, I promised myself when I returned to MYM that I was going to make sets my way and not chase votes.

As for the future, if you've hung around the Discord server during the last few months, you may have seen a sneak peek of my next moveset:

Dillon is basically finished and I plan to post him ASAP in MYM28. I also plan on releasing a "bonus" moveset of sorts later on, you'll know what I mean when you see it.

Beyond that...I guess we'll see! There are some other creative endeavors I'd like to give more attention to, so movesets will be more of a side project for the time being. But for the community at large I'm here to stay! Here's to 100 years of MYM!

 

[WeirdChillFever]

How do I begin to describe MYM27?

The rest of the scene has been quoted plenty enough, including in the T50 post and in half of my set output this time around. I already posted a message on the Discord, but I love end-of-contest retrospectives too much to not elaborate on some elements here and there through the official thread.

So, first of all: Congratulations to Froy and FA for the win!! Raven Beak was a force of nature with a lot of character, so from what I’ve read it’s a deserving winner. Huuuge congratulations to Dae for nabbing second place! I’ve said this on Discord, but I’ll try to check out Blood Falcon before the next contest starts. Also a huge congratulations to the rest of the T50, including our new leaders Bubby and Tern. I know Bubby especially aimed to score higher, which they definitely did! Neato! Good to see MYM has the potential to welcome new blood with such fervor, a far cry from the stories regaled about Old MYM.

As for my own sets in MYM27, I had a pretty good contest, both in terms of results as well as in set-writing experiences.
Acheron was smooth sailing from beginning to end, which gave me a sense of peace throughout the rest of the contest. After Acheron, I felt like I could do nothing for the rest of the contest and still have a good contest. It didn’t feel like I had something to proof. It’s not as high a high as other sets, but it never felt like a bad set throughout its writing process: A far cry from my “showstopper” sets from days past, which existed on a periodic wave that oscillated between “This is genius and the best set I ever made” and “This is pure ****”. Acheron was a breath of fresh air that never ballooned outside of what I could handle and I hope my solo sets going forward are more Acheron and less Ilyana from last contest.

I never expected Regina George to T10. I did feel like I had a decent hook going with the Burn Book, stale move negation felt very classic MYM thanks to Walt White, but I never considered it a magnum opus of sorts. That’s all Tern: His mechanical understanding of setwork is nothing short of impressive, and his work ethic is dehumanizing to see play out live in the doc when we decided to work on the set together. His understanding of the game definitely is the reason it scored so high: Like Sherlock of last contest, it wasn’t just the concepts that made it a hit. I didn’t have a good grasp on the contest this time around, so I never expected it to place as high as it did. Looking back, it’s probably healthier this way, otherwise I ironically would’ve been obsessing over her popularity.

Hades is probably proof of how my lack of mechanical understanding undercuts my concepts: Although it imo has the smoother concept and I have no regrets over building it in a JamCon, it did mean I had to cut some corners in the execution: I feel like core of the set is intact regardless of that, though it did miss some layers by me boffing the aerials. I did try to go back and edit the set, but I ironically couldn’t look back to the set. Still loved sharing this incredibly special piece of art through this set and the highlight was always the narrative to it rather than the actual moves. I’m literally still tearing up to Come Home With Me writing this comment.

Finally, with Toadette I wanted to do something short and sweet for the express purpose of using it as a proof of concept in speculation, which I at the time believed to be ramping up soon again. “Fauxdette” was an MYMy addition that I decided to add back to the set last-minute, going back and forth on going all-in on simplicity or going for more MYM-y elements. I decided on the MYM-ian Fauxdette because, well, it was for MYM, and because the Mario Run platforming was too elaborate and specific to make it to mainstream Smash speculation.

After that, my MYM energy was dwindling rapidly. Seeing the activity go down is disheartening, and I know it matched up with my own dwindling activity over the years reading-wise. It reached what is hopefully an all-time low this contest, where I think I only read one set fully. It’s why I can’t see this contest as a personal success, though my results on the production side were surprisingly neat, it leaves a bitter taste knowing I didn’t contribute to reading to give back to the community.

Although neither the time I can allot to MYM nor my time management skills will improve next contest, I really do hope to get back into reading. I’m not exactly walking on sunshine this year, but I do hope it will improve next year. This community is dear to me, and I hope we get more reading activity in general next time around. I felt really bad for both Kat and Tern giving it their all, while I couldn’t match a fraction of that energy. I do hope that this contest was a satisfying end for Kat in terms of their MYM carreer; they deserve nothing less for the long years of being one of the most dedicated of our lot. I wish them well in further endeavours and I do hope inspiration comes back, even if I wholeheartedly understand their decision to leave. The same goes for others who have decided to step back. MYM can be soul-sucking these days. I also wish the best to our new leaders, who have already proven to make our community better with their presence.

As for my own future? I don’t know. As said before, my free time is significantly less this school year as it was last year and I don’t have any WIPs that I want to pursue outside of obligation to the work already done on them: Gaming-wise I haven’t done too much outside of playing through Skyward Sword this summer and my moveset brain didn’t act up during that game.

My WIPs aren’t super current either: Not only are they based on games that I’m not as invested in as I once was, but they’re also based on the very WCF-ian idea of “Taking a game and slap its elements in moveset form”. With the success my more narrative-based/outlandish sets saw this contest (in results and in personal satisfaction) I want to continue down that path rather than writing even more love letters to games like Tears of the Kingdom (Nabooru, Master Kohga) or Fire Emblem: Three Hopes (Annette, Baby Bros.). Unlike when writing Toadette, I don’t see speculation starting up in any meaningful way anytime soon, so I don’t have any meaningful plans to mount sets like Kohga or Off the Hook. MYM is something that just comes and goes for me, so I might feel different when opening day comes. It’s not my fault I’m like, in love with it.

 

[OldManHan]

I've said plenty in the discord, but I'm popping in to say congratulations! Great job on everyone for closing this one out, and an even bigger great job to those in the Top 50, especially you, Dae...

I can't make any promises, since I was obviously absent for the entire MYM, but I'll try my best to push at least something out for next contest. It's a shame to see motivation dwindle from so many great writers, and hopefully a bit of additional engagement from a missing face will help with things.

 

[n88]

This contest was kind of a mixed bag for me - I didn't do as much to support Tern and Kat as I hoped at the outset, but I suppose managing to scrape a votelist together at the end is still ahead of where I wound up last contest so it's progress.

I almost bounced from MYM at the end of MYM26 and I think in hindsight I would have had an easier year if I'd given myself some time off from movesetting. It's a great creative outlet but it's darn time-consuming and easily feeds into some rot behavior; toss in my job becoming a little more overwhelming and keeping up with MYM wasn't super easy this year. It's exhausting to constantly feel like you're trying to dig yourself out of a hole both at work and in hobby time.

But, ah well. It's my nature to be ambitious and try to do it all, and it probably wouldn't have taken if I'd tried to retire anyway. I'm working on how I manage these things and hopefully seeing some early signs of progress. Onward and upward.

Kat, the contest has leaned on you to function, more than a little unfairly, for a few years now. It won't be the same without you, but you've more than earned your rest and I'm rooting for you to chase your bliss. Hopefully you're planning on sticking around socially though. It sounds like you are but I want to say this now just in case: I'm very glad you were still part of this community I managed to reconnect with! Even if you're not MYMing, I'd love to hear about how you're doing and anything else you get up to creatively.

Anyway, more on the Top 50: I too was hoping for a Tern or Kat victory and wasn't thrilled with Chappy outperforming Maple - at one point as the votes were coming in it looked like we might get a Tern/Kat draw at the top and I was excited for that. Alas! Raven Beak isn't a bad winner, I very much enjoyed him, but he kind of blindsided me taking the top spot. Which is, I guess, something Raven Beak would do. Congrats to FA/Froy on the win, and to all the folks who made the Top 50!

And a huge thanks to everyone who participated also - I think coming off the insanity of MYM25/26 this contest isn't apt to be remembered as fondly, but it still saw some really great work and I'm looking forward to what y'all bring next time around.