STEEL CAGE POKÉMON BATTLE I GUESS? FINAL ROUND

The last poll already! How time flies when you're clicking on little round buttons to indicate your preferred Pokémon.

I have been having far too much fun hosting this.




look I never claimed to be a good or even a capable artist

In a turn of events that I certainly failed to foresee, both Pikachu and Eevee were knocked out in the semi-finals, leaving Cubone and Vulpix to fight for the title of champion in the

FINAL ROUND

( STEEL CAGE POKÉMON BATTLE I GUESS? FINAL ROUND )

The picture of Pikachu above in no way means I'm bitter about Cubone's victory (as opposed to the picture of Bulbasaur in round three, about whose loss I was definitely bitter). I may have voted for Pikachu (as I've trained one, whereas I've never actually had a Cubone in my team), but I was sort of delighted to see such a triumph of the underdog. Also, Cubone had a joy of a campaign in the semi-finals; particular mention must go to his remarkable performance as Hamlet, courtesy of dev_chieftain.

Other contributions in the last round: bubbles_san provided Indiana Jones manips and crossover ficlets in support of Cubone, dracothelizard portrayed the outcome of the Cubone-versus-Pikachu battle, timydamonkey drew Pikachu, arguingvitality drew Vulpix, and nightfire_kvala drew an Eevee which was then swiftly appropriated and demonised by subtle_rift.

It's the final round now; last chance to campaign for your favourite! This poll will be closed at around 15.00 GMT tomorrow (the sixth of March), and I'll try to make an entry celebrating the winner on Monday.

And Now For An Entry That Actually Isn't About Pokémon.

Yesterday, sos_your_face and I went to a recording of Would I Lie to You?. On the journey to the studios, I mentioned that Victoria Coren hadn't appeared on the game before and I'd love to see her there.

'You've said it, so now it's going to happen,' sos_your_face said, referring back to an earlier discussion of my weird power to alter reality: the way Charlie Brooker began flirting with David Mitchell only after I began theoretically 'shipping them, the way I came away from an earlier Would I Lie to You? filming thinking Keeley Hawes/David Mitchell would be adorable and subsequently along came this sketch. 'I'm going to be really disappointed if she's not there tonight. I'm just going to leave and go home.'

'Right,' I said. 'Well, I apologise in advance if on this occasion my reality-warping powers let you down.'


Fast-forward a couple of hours and you'd find us sitting in the studio.

'Next,' Rob Brydon said, 'please welcome to the stage one of my favourite writers, presenters and poker players...'

I actually exclaimed 'Yes!' aloud.

So, yes! On David Mitchell's team were Chris Packham and Mackenzie Crook; on Lee Mack's were Rhod Gilbert and ♥ Victoria Coren ♥. I was convinced for several minutes after Coren's appearance that I was dreaming.

(Victoria Coren is, incidentally, the best player of Would I Lie to You? as a game ever. She got every single claim right.)


Here are some things that I remember from the recording! For anyone unfamiliar with the concept of Would I Lie to You?: a panellist on one team reads out a fact about themselves from a card, and the other team cross-examine them in order to determine whether the fact is true or false.


( Would I Lie to You? recording, 4th March 2011. )

At the end, Coren put on her duffel coat and she and Mitchell walked away together and Mitchell stepped down from the set and held out his hand to assist her and she took it and stepped down and it was the most adorable thing ever. It's fine if you don't want to get married and produce the world's most intelligent and sarcastic children, guys, but I think it would be a great loss to humanity.