Barred Tournaments
The barred tournaments are a series of smaller side tournaments that have been held alongside several main tournaments on both /v/ and /co/, focused on characters left out of the tournament bracket or qualifier forms despite reaching the threshold of replies during the nomination round. Many of these characters were barred due to obvious rule breaks, though some others either were left out under less concrete circumstances, got hit with the three per series limit, or simply just narrowly missed the threshold to qualify. In several cases, picks would be included based off recommendations from anons in the tournament threads. These tournaments average around 32 participants, a far cry from the full 128 on most tournament brackets. As a results, these tournaments are often shorter in length and will end prior to the final round of its associated tournament.
These tournaments have been almost entirely hosted by an anon using Bill Clinton as his moniker (with no trip, unlike the main hosts). Due to the association with the former president, the winners of these tournaments have been repeatedly honored as the Financial Accountants of their respective champions. He would end up later using the trip Mr. Sir The Guymanbro !xNDnmYN2QQ as the host of The /an/lympics 2024, and would use this name going forward following the revelation of some unsavory trips by Bill Clinton. The tournaments in general often take on a less serious nature, with the voting forms often including a number of joke questions and a generally less formal attitude throughout.
2022[edit]
Barred from King of /v/[edit]
The first barred tournament would be held during the fourth iteration of King of /v/ in December 2022. The tournament would follow in the wake of the first bottom bracket tournament held the month prior alongside Queen of /v/ 2022. Like that tournament and its subsequent King of /v/ 2022 equivalent, Barred from King of /v/ took place entirely during the main rounds of its main tournament. Likely due in large part from being the first of its kind, this barred tournament had a few small differences from its later iterations. The list of candidates would not be vetted prior to the rounds starting, and the direct voting form results would be passed over in favor of screenshots of them.
The winner of this tournament would be The Nerd from Cinemassacre's The Angry Video Game Nerd. Funnily enough, the Nerd would be whitelisted later on and join the main bracket of the following King of /v/ tournament. He would end up losing unceremoniously there to Jacket from Hotline Miami. 2nd place would go to "Dante" from the often mocked DMC: Devil May Cry, affectionately called El Donto in this tournament. The mouse cursor and Hitler (not any single game's version) were both eliminated in the semi-finals, though there was no proper vote for 3rd place between the two.
2022 Barred from King of /v/ | |||||||||||||||||||
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Champion | |||||||||||||||||||
The Nerd | |||||||||||||||||||
The Angry Video Game Nerd |
Results (Catbox): Round 1 • Round 2 • Round 3 (lost) • Round 4 • Round 5 (Finals)
2023[edit]
Barred from Ms. /co/[edit]
The following year, Bill Clinton would return to host four more barred tournaments alongside the main four tournaments. The first of these tournaments was simply titled Barred from /co/ without the Ms. /co/ specification. Bill had first teased the idea of a Ms. /co/ tournament at the very end of the first barred tournament the previous December. This tournament would also mark the first appearance of another anon posing as Bill Clinton's alter ego Dill Clinton, who would re-post the voting forms and brackets at times in Bill's stead.
The second barred tournament would gain decent traction throughout the main tournament's rounds. A lot of this was around a pick known simply as Option 1, stemming from a choice on the qualifiers survey that had accidentally been left there by NightShiftAnon !!9A2duD1C25+. Her exclusion became the subject of joking in the threads and soon spawned a surprising amount of OC. Option 1 would end up winning and getting the proper ceremonies as a result.
Notably, three of the girls in the top eight (Nia, Lila, and Dr. Amelia Buck) all originate from popular web series. Nia would later go on to team up with Lacey from Lacey Games during Tag-Team 2023, with the duo managing to reach sixth place during that tournament after tying with the ever-popular Wallace and Gromit. There was a notable amount of hype around Nia's penultimate round opponent, the restroom sign woman, with some expecting the finale to just be her against Option 1. Nia managed to still win that round by a mere four votes prior to losing to Option 1 the following round.
Both Creepy Susie and Blossom had qualified for the main tournament in the past, with both being added to this tournament by popular requests in the threads due to specific factors. (Susie had been in every prior tournament and made Top 16 the previous year; Blossom is to date the only one of the Powerpuff Girls to be left out of a Ms. /co/ installment.)
2023 Barred from Ms. /co/ | |||||||||||||||||||
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Champion | |||||||||||||||||||
Option 1 | |||||||||||||||||||
Ms. /co/ | |||||||||||||||||||
2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | |||||||||||||
Nia | Restroom Sign Woman | Lila | Creepy Susie | Blossom | Android 18 | Dr. Amelia Buck | |||||||||||||
I can't sleep | Cook and Shanosky Associates | Spooky Month | The Oblongs | The Powerpuff Girls | Dragon Ball | SCP Animated - Tales From The Foundation |
Bracket: Challonge
Google Forms Results: Round 1 • Round 2 • Round 3 • Round 4 • Round 5 (Finals)
Barred from Mr. /co/[edit]
The following month, Bill Clinton would return to host an equivalent tournament for Mr. /co/lympus 2023. The tournament was won by the Nostalgia Critic, who had only been nominated after one anon pointed out the oddity behind video game content creator Mike Matei being allowed on the nomination spreadsheet for a brief period. He would go on to mostly have a clean sweep, easily beating Panis Cupcake for the top spot after the latter had a one vote upset over Bill Wilson from The Dark Knight Rises fame. Humorously, the Critic's victory paired with the AVGN's win back in the first Barred from King of /v/. While the Nostalgia Critic has and likely never will be allowed in Mr. /co/lympus, he would have some surprise side tournament presence in the first half of 2024 alongside the Nerd during both /cov/ and, more infamously, Heroes of /a/.
On the whole, the picks that were allowed in were arguable as being more wild than the ones that made it into the Ms. /co/ equivalent a few weeks beforehand. The most surprising pick would arguably be Emílio G. Médici, the former president of Brazil. A less shocking but still unique pick was the Beatles, merged into one pick after several had been individually nominated earlier on. Finally, a character simply known as [NAME] from [SERIES] was nominated as a joke, presumably in direct response to Option 1 in the previous tournament. All three managed to rank in Barred from Mr. /co/'s top eight picks.
One other notable candidate who was defeated in the first round was "Incredibly Gassy", an infamous disgusting parody of Mr. Incredible known for his superpowered farting. The character has largely been associated with Soyjak memes and thus has been noted as a complete joke. While beaten in the first round by the Critic, Gassy would become more remembered in the tournament as a whole after his marriage to Dr. Livesey.
The tournament would mark the debut of a third roleplayer going by Al Gore, who would work to assemble preliminary lists of potential barred candidates in advance of the barred tournaments.
2023 Barred from Mr. /co/lympus | |||||||||||||||||||
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Champion | |||||||||||||||||||
The Critic | |||||||||||||||||||
Nostalgia Critic | |||||||||||||||||||
File:Médici icon.png | |||||||||||||||||||
2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | |||||||||||||
Panis Cupcake | Bill Wilson | The Beatles | [NAME] | Rolf | Emílio G. Médici | Skips | |||||||||||||
RubberFruit | DC | The Beatles (1965) | [SERIES] | Ed, Edd n Eddy | 🇧🇷 | Regular Show |
Bracket: Challonge
Google Forms Results: Round 1 • Round 2 • Round 3 • Round 4 • Round 5 (Finals)
Barred from Queen of /v/[edit]
The fourth barred tournament would take place the month after Barred from Mr. /co/, this time focusing on Queen of /v/ 2023. This would mark at least one barred tournament having occurred alongside each of what are generally considered to be the main four character tournaments on 4chan.
Going into the tournament, Koishi Komeiji was one of the clear favorites to win. She had been consistent presence in the Queen of /v/ threads for years, with many seeing her as having favorable odds of making the main bracket. The removal of one of Touhou's slots since 2022 had caused her to be barred from the tournament twice despite coming in third among Touhou girls during qualifiers twice. This year in particular she had ended up losing out on the bracket by a single vote to Alice Margatroid. Kainé from NieR Replicant had also been seen as a top contender to possibly win due to the dispute over her disqualification. Koishi and Kainé would face off in the semi-finals, with Koishi winning and going on to take the tournament's first champion title for Queen of /v/.
One of the top 8 picks, the forklift, spawned from a joke towards the end of Barred from Mr. /co/ about a forklift being granted a free spot in the following barred tournament. This would lead to a forklift being given an actual joke nomination at the start of Queen of /v/ 2023.
2023 Forbidden Princess of /v/ | |||||||||||||||||||
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Champion | |||||||||||||||||||
Koishi Komeiji | |||||||||||||||||||
Touhou Project | |||||||||||||||||||
2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | |||||||||||||
Dawn | Kainé | Tomo Takino | Marina Liteyears | Don Quixote | Ebony & Ivory | Forklift | |||||||||||||
Pokémon | NieR Replicant | Azumanga Daioh Puzzle Bobble | Mischief Makers | Limbus Company | Devil May Cry | Forklift Simulator |
Challonge Bracket: Challonge
Google Forms Results: Round 1 • Round 2 • Round 3 • Round 4 • Round 5 (Finals) • Bonus Round
Barred from King of /v/ 2023[edit]
The fifth barred tournament and the first one to cover another installment of the same main tournament, Barred from King of /v/ would return to cover the 2023 iteration of the same tournament. The tournament would have a bumpier start due to poor timing on Bill's part, but would mostly stabilize as it went on. The winner would end up being Sekiro from Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, who won after narrowly missing the main tournament's bracket and later getting several pieces of quality OC alongside his barred tournament run.
Bracket: Challonge
Google Forms Results: Round 1 • Round 2 • Round 3 • Round 4 • Round 5 (Finals)
2024[edit]
Top 8s / "Forbidden Eight"[edit]
Gallery[edit]
Ms. /co/[edit]
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The Bill Clinton version of the Forbidden Eight pic.
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A template for the Forbidden Eight
(More art can be viewed here.)
Mr. /co/[edit]
(Extra art can be viewed here.)