M9 - Sponsoring, I've got a lot of faith in him to make it through this round.
M10 - Sponsoring, and now he's already at +7 votes, trolololo
M11 - I think he could possibly make it through
M12 - His anime appearances were hilarious, my favorite part of the Johto series

1. One of my favorite pokemon
2. Best of the remaining
3. Unown ? and ! are epic, my favorite psychic types.
4. My favorite bird and ice pokemon at same time. Also, I'm Sponsoring it

M09: I like electabuzz, one of my favorite electric types.
M10: Before I actually played pokemon and knew anything about battling, ledian was one of my favorite pokemon, probably because it had 4 arms. Anyway, I still like it because of that.
M11: I always like this for being one of the first pokemon to have multiple different forms, also the ? and ! forms are cool.
M12: I may or may not have mentiopn ed this before, but I like dogs and snubbull is a dog. Therefore I like snubbull.

Well, DP the reason you're confused that Unown got a sponsor is that it didn't. I'm sponsoring Mew, Pineco and Magikarp. However, I was actually considering sponsoring Unown. Since, Mew didn't make it to the next round, could I sponsor Unown, if it gets to the next round?

Votes
M09 I always liked Lugia. And Lugia was the reason I got Silver instead of Gold as a kid.
M10 I always like politoed even before Drizzle, just because it was a frog.
M11 I also really like Unown and considered sponsoring it. (and apparently already am)
M12 Because its the first pokemon ever

Just gotta review my sponsor notes then. With Unown's sponsoring we'll have to see if he gets into the second round first!

Anyway here's a progress tally since I'm here:

PROGRESS SCOREBOARD
M09: +0 | +3 | +1 | +2
M10: +8 | +0 | +1 | +0
M11: +1 | +3 | +0 | +7
M12: +2 | +0 | +2 | +4

I'll do a recap at 24 hours to go... But Unown possibly winning Match 11 is just so weird to me.

M9 - This was a tough call between him and Aerodactyl, but the flying chinese dragon has always been one of my Gen 1 favorites.

M10 - Sponsoring! Cute baby version of my all-time favorite starter.

M11 - The only other one I was considering was Skarmory, but the original super-legendary is still pretty cool, over a decade after Red and Blue.

M12 - Ampharos is probably my favorite electric type ever, and the rest in this match are meh, so I'll vote for its pre-evo.

I hate you guys, you killed off all my sponsors :[

Anyway:

Lugia

Cyndaquil

Unown

Articuno

- Favourite of these.
- Tough decision but I'll go with Ledian.
- The only one I even kind of like.
- Since I didn't vote Ampharos.

These are my votes...
Gyarados - because it evolves from magikarp and because its (sort of) a dragon
Cyndaquil - favorite johto starter
Unown - I don't really like any of the others
Snubbull - because its a fairy

Gyarados: My favourite of the four

Politoad: Have one on my team (for competitive battling)

Mewtwo: I'm sponsoring it

Snubbull: I'm sponsoring it

I don't really understand why everyone is voting for snubbull, suck an ugly thing!

But oh well o_O

Yeah I'm not sure about the Snubbull thing too - will it be this year's Pikachu? Different strokes for different folks - he's obviously made an impression in the arena! Good on him!

PROGRESS SCORES
M09: +2 | +3 | +2 | +5
M10: +9 | +0 | +4 | +6
M11: +6 | +3 | +1 | +9
M12: +2 | +2 | +7 | +5

Wildcard Gyarados takes the lead over the seeded Aerodactyl in this match, and to think the flying serpent almost didn't make the maindraw! Is the 2 vote lead enough to tide him over to Round 2?
Politoed takes the lead in the water arena, BUT support for the little fire mouse Cyndaquil is building! He's gone from -1 to +6: can the fire starter avenge his brothers' defeats to complete a come-from-behind fairytale?
And I still can't get over Unown possibly winning this match, but second seeded Mewtwo finally has gotten over his Slow Start and begun to make his move in the arena! Last year's second seed Arcanine won the competition, but could it be lights out for the misunderstood cat?
Finally, it's all between Articuno and Snubbull in the last match - who will prevail? Snubbull seems to have a few lurking fans here: can he surprise everyone the way Pikachu did in the last Battle Royale?

What will happen? Tune in in 24 hours, where the FINAL RESULTS are revealed, as well as the start of the next four matches in this year's BATTLE ROYALE!

SCHEDULE OF PLAY
B09: Kabutops v [11] Kingdra v Mantine v Meganium
B10: Pineco v Ditto v [6] Tyranitar v Feraligatr
B11: [3] Scizor v Blissey v Magikarp v Bayleef
B12: Ariados v Forretress v Kangaskhan v [14] Scyther

M9: Lugia
M10: Politoed
M11: Mewtwo
M12: Articuno

Gyarados, Cyndaquil, Vaporeon, and Articuno get my votes

FINAL RESULTS
M09: +3 | +3 | +2 | +6
M10: +10 | +0 | +4 | +7
M11: +7 | +3 | +2 | +9
M12: +2 | +2 | +7 | +7

And then of course: the anonymous votes!

+15
+16
+6
+ 5
+5
+5
+1

(even moreso) FINAL RESULTS
B09: [10] AERODACTYL def. Gyarados / Lugia / Electabuzz (8-6-3-2)
B10: POLITOED def. [7] Ledian / Cyndaquil / Ampharos (11-9-7-0)
B11: [2] MEWTWO def. Unown / Skarmory / Vaporeon (22-15-3-2)
B12: SNUBBULL def. [15] Articuno / Flaaffy / Rhydon (23-12-2-2)

This time, 2 seeds managed to get through with Aerodactyl taking the lead in Match 9. Politoed I think can be a real threat for the title, he narrowly beats out favourite Ledian who I thought was going to be the real dark horse of the competition. Unown falls to Mewtwo, who got FIFTEEN anonymous votes, and if you thought that was a lot, Snubbull beats that and received SIXTEEN anonymous votes. In round 2 we'll see Mewtwo and Snubbull face off so it will be interesting to see who gets on top of that battle!

Now onto the west section matches!

ROUND 1 MATCHES:

COMMENTARY: The wildly contested for Kabutops finally makes his appearance in the Battle Arena and what a sight! His arms and limbs all stretched out, making the crowd make very known that he's definitely a contender for the title! He'll thrive in the Poison arena, where he's up against 11th seeded Kingdra who couldn't even manage a sponsor! The water seahorse is one of my favourites, can he gather up the support? Grass starter Meganium is also in the mix, but he starts on a bit of a slip, whilst the grossly underrated Mantine also looms as a threat. Expect to see an landslide annihilation in this match though!

EXPECTED: KABUTOPS
LOOMING: Mantine


COMMENTARY: It's only the first few seconds here on the arena and I bet Tyranitar can't believe his luck. Not only is he facing up against lightweights Pineco and Ditto, he's also up against my Host Discretion's pick Feraligatr, who was largely ignored in the preliminary rounds. And to rub salt into his opponent's wounds, he'll also start on a +3 advantage thanks to his immunity to the Psychic attacks in this arena! I mean should the others even bother trying? Is this one match that's truly over before it began? NO! As we've seen countless times before, anything can happen so don't write anyone off here yet!

EXPECTED: [6] TYRANITAR
GIMMICK VOTE: Ditto


COMMENTARY: The electric arena will be absolutely sparking up tonight in this electric matchup. Third seeded Scizor finally gets to rev the crowd up, and being a popular member of the OU metagame he should be familiar with most of the crowd members. However he's also here with another metagame staple, Blissey! Can the egg nurse increase her defenses to fend off the potent Bullet Puncher? Grass starter Bayleef is personally my favourite of all the grass starter's forms, but how does everyone else feel about him? The seemingly useless Magikarp is also in this group - but is he a walking bye, or can he do what Unown did in a previous match and make this battle a competitive?

EXPECTED: [3] SCIZOR
GIMMICK VOTE PART 2: Magikarp


COMMENTARY: Time to get my selling skills on! My personal favourite Pokemon currently in the competition is Scyther, and I must admit it panged a little when no one else sponsored him.. Come on guys get behind him! Scyther though will take comfort in the fact that no one else in this match has also secured a sponsor, putting everyone on more or less of an even footing... Until we see Kangaskhan, who needs to make up a 2 vote deficit before he's out of the red. Forretress is also in this match, but I've never used him before so I have no idea what to expect from this guy. Ariados too might be a good chance - but I'm hoping everyone does the right thing and vote Scyther into the next round. /endplug

EXPECTED: [14] SCYTHER
GOOD CHANCE: Ariados

Remember you get only 1 vote per group, counts as 3 if you've sponsored a Pokemon, and if you want to play with extra votes, you do not post in here, but rather you PM me! (These will not be revealed until the end of the round. Be careful with what you do as there are no change of minds in terms of voting!) As always, I enjoy reading your reasons of your votes, so put them down (not compulsory). Please refrain from editing your votes because then I have to scroll around and readd everything and I might just make mistakes with my math...

VOTING STARTS NOW! WILL LAST 3-4 DAYS. Ill be updating the scoreboard if I see fit, but not all the time.


(Initial scoreboard in next post because of smiley limit)

Oh well...

What is this, anonymous votes? o_O

1. sponsored... he's gonna loose
2.
3. sponsored, awesome wall
4.

INITIAL SCOREBOARD
M13: +1 | +0 | +0 | -1
M14: +0 | +0 | +3 | +0
M15: +0 | +0 | -1 | +1
M16: +2 | +2 | +0 | +2

(ps: not including GhostPony750's votes, I'll add them in next post I make).

M13: - don't really like any of the others.
M14: - Sponsoring!
M15: - I think it'd be funny for magikarp to get through
M16: - favorite of the bunch

Kabutops - my favorite fossil pokemon
Ditto - Always like ditto, especially its appearances in the anime.
Bayleef - I always liked bayleef more than the rest of its line.
Forretress - Don't like any of the others.

M13 - Sponsoring... 2001 Psybucks, don't let me down now! *cross fingers*
M14 - I really dislike Tyranitar, and enjoy using the gimmicky Ditto
M15 - Come on... how can you not vote the little guy through?
M16 - This one's a key member of my competitive team, laying out the hazards and taking mine down

M13- favorite johto starter.
M14- sponsered
M15- sponsered
M16- Evolved form of sponsored Pineco

Seriously this Pokémon is awesome, and you are less awesome if you disagree.

It's a really cool Pokémon in concept, although not that useful in game outside of breeding, but I like the pink blob.

The bug/steel evo from Johto is pretty awesome, both in power and design.

The bug/flying pre evo of Scizor is also pretty awesomely designed. I guess this round is all about the claws?

PROGRESS SCOREBOARD
M13: +6 | +0 | +1 | +3
M14: +3 | +6 | +4 | +0
M15: +1 | +3 | +4 | +2
M16: +3 | +6 | +0 | +3

OK pretty self explanatory how things are rolling out, Kabutops takes the lead in the first match with Meganium close behind. Can the Grass starter cause an upset?
Ditto races out for the lead in Match 14, and good on him! Will Tyranitar live up to his #6 seeding or will he be bundled out by the pink blob?
Magikarp also takes the lead in Match 15, but careful because Blissey is not far behind!
Forretress seems to have Match 16 down pat, and still, I am a little sad that no one (except 1) has voted for Scyther.

ROUND ONE WILL CLOSE IN 24 HOURS! GET YOUR VOTES IN BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!

What happens next:
- We will find sponsors for Houndoom and possibly the winner of Match 16, using the same process in the bidding stages, but only people who haven't gotten a sponsor through can apply.
- The start of 1v1: Round 2 matches! (Might run 4 matches at the same time again.. I hope to wrap up this thread by the end of July because I'm back packing Europe in August.)