For me, Stromberg and Drax are iterations of the archetype of the wealthy/powerful aristocrat/king who refuses any check on the satisfaction of his desires. In a way, they are versions of King Midas–they have everything they could desire or need, but still want more–to the point of mania. Bond is the hero who battles to put an end to the toxic consequences of their unchecked desires.
We have a winner. If that’s the right word.
A consistently strong performance throughout and perhaps a deserved victor given the vanquishing of Goldfinger in the first round, OHMSS Blofeld establishes himself the most dastardly dastard there is.
What, if anything, has this really proven? Absolutely nothing, and obviously the way things fall depends upon the competitor against whom one is drawn, but query whether any general - and heavily generalised - ordering of favourites would have looked radically different from the below? Maybe in one or two cases some underperform against preconceived popularity; others may be overachievers.
Out in Round 1, the lowest of the low. That might be over-complimenting them, though
Gustav Graves
Koskov & Whitaker
Dominic Greene
Kristatos
You Only Live Twice Blofeld
Elektra King
Diamonds are Forever Blofeld
Goldfinger
Out in Round 2, solid middle-range villainy
Dr No
Alec Trevelyan
Kamal Khan & General Orlov
Le Chiffre 2006
Spectre Blofeld
Elliot Carver
Francisco Scaramanga
Franz Sanchez
Losing Quarter-Finalists - nearly the top tier but just falling short
Emilio Largo
Dr Kananga
Max Zorin
Karl Stromberg
Fourth place following a Death-Off
Klebb & Grant
Third place following a Death-Off
Hugo Drax
Silver
Silva - how appropriate
Gold - and the biggest Count of all
OHMSS Blofeld
Based wholly on my own views…
Underachievers - Goldfinger, Scaramanga, Le Chiffre 2006
Overachievers - Spectre Blofeld and even with a resounding vote of absolutely no votes whatsoever, Gustav Graves is still massively overachieving.
Otherwise… yeah, tending to confirm more or less to my stultifyingly conventional perspective.
A different draw might provide different results - but markedly so? Nice to see some Kananga-love and respect for Drax and Largo in there. That first round clash of Goldfinger v OHMSS Blofeld may have been definitive in how everything else played out, on this occasion.
Villain Deathmatch will return.
Smashing good fun - many thanks for arranging this and provide the proper Killer-League commentary.
Absolutely loved it! huge thanks for doing this:clap:
Thank you for all of your work. It was great fun.
Yes, thank you for your great idea and all the work.
I was going to go with Raoul Silva but sharpshooter’s and MrHinx’s reasons changed my mind. Besides, I like Telly Savalas’ Ernst Stavro Blofeld better so Blofeld it is.
Well done to Jim for coming up with this initiative. It’s exactly what we needed in this period of limbo. I would’ve liked to have seen Sanchez progress further, but at least Telly’s Blofeld won. He greatly contributes to OHMSS being all that it is.
The “best” man Won?
The one I voted for did so, yeah.
(Do you suppose that would earn me any brownie points with ol’ Ernst?)
He’s perhaps not the easiest employer to satisfy. If you didn’t earn brownie points with him you’d be the first to notice…