Difference between revisions of "Idols"

Revision as of 14:23, 20 April 2023

The idol board as it appeared on Season 13, Day 4.

Idol Board as it appeared on Season β13, Day 4.

An Idol is a fan's favorite Blaseball player, whom they support and cheer for every game. All fans are incredibly loyal to their Idol, and thus may only have one at a time. Idols need not even be on a fan's favorite team.

Fans may choose to idolize a player on that player's page. It will cost a fan 200 coins to betray their idol and choose another.

The Idol Leaderboard stands as a monument to the 20 most idolized players, displaying their popularity for all to see.

MVPs, Ego Boosts and becoming Legendary

Currently, and since Season β13, a zig-zag yellow line, sometimes called the "noodle", exists on the Idol Leaderboard. All players above this line at the end of day 99 of the regular season are declared MVPs (Most Valuable Players), and receive an "Ego Boost".

If a player receiving an Ego Boost has never had one before, they receive the modification Ego+. If they then get an Ego Boost again, they receive Ego++; and so on until reaching Ego++++ after four Ego Boosts. As far as is currently known, the only effect of all Ego modifications during play is that players with Ego will occasionally resist being swept off base by surges of Immateria during Flooding weather, with the message "(player)'s ego keeps them on base!"

If a player with Ego++++ receives a fifth Ego Boost, they become Legendary. Legendary players cease to be on a team, leaving their existing roster, and are then said to have been "Preserved". The only players who have returned to active status from being Legendary are Parker MacMillan (Super Roamed out of the vault) and Sutton Bishop (swapped with Glabe Moon of the Boston Flowers via the Season β23 blessing "Vault Swap").

Other Leaderboard Effects

In earlier seasons, position on the idol board has had other effects. For example, during seasons where there was a dotted red line, players lifted above the line were often subjected to a new event taking place after the conclusion of Day 99 games. During The Discipline Era, any players above the dotted red line were Shelled at the end of the regular season, encasing those players in gigantic peanut shells, preventing them from actively playing.

Pendants and Snacks

Pendants were adornments purchasable in the Shop. They were the conduit through which fans were rewarded for their undying loyalty in their Idol. When an Idolized player performed well, fans received Coins in return.

Pendants existed in 4 different forms, each reacting to different accomplishments a player may make during a game. For lineup players, pendants may track hits or home runs. For pitching players, they can track strikeouts and shutouts.

Pendants were replaced with Snacks during the introduction of Concessions in Season β12.

Discipline Era

Fans first became aware of their penchant for Idolatry at the beginning of Season β6. The fad quickly spread, and fan favorite Players such as Jessica Telephone, Nagomi Mcdaniel, Axel Trololol, PolkaDot Patterson, York Silk, and Randall Marijuana shot to the top of the Leaderboard; both for their popularity and for their reliable success in games.

Season 6

In Season β6, the dotted red line split the top three players in the leaderboard from the rest of the top idols. The purpose of this wasn't revealed until The Third Strike, when The Shelled One encased the non-peanut named players above the line in gigantic peanut shells. After this, fans pushed the three Peanuts above the line, and the line disappeared shortly after.

As the first Season featuring the Idol Board, many of the Blessings in the Season β6 elections involved the Idolization of Players:

Rate and Review, brought to you by The Multitude Podcast Collective would boost a Team's most Idolized Player by 25%. It was won by the Dallas Steaks, boosting Conner Haley.
Collect Call would call in the Alternate for a Team's least Idolized Player. This was also won by the Steaks, affecting Leach Herman.
Lottery Pick would let a Team steal the 14th most Idolized Player in the League. It was won by the Seattle Garages, and notably would lead to the first instance of necromancy in recorded history, reviving Jaylen Hotdogfingers. Mike Townsend would be sent to the Shadows to make room for Hotdogfingers on the Rotation.
Who? would let a Team steal and maximize the least Idolized Player in the League. It was won by the Charleston Shoe Thieves, stealing Howell Franklin from the Houston Spies.
Headliners would reorganize a Team's Lineup from most to least Idolized. It was won by the Kansas City Breath Mints.

Season 7

The dotted red line reappeared on the leaderboard again in Season β7, this time splitting the top 10 idols from the following 10 idols. After the conclusion of the regular season, the players above the dotted red line were once again Shelled, which included the entire Unlimited Tacos pitching rotation, PolkaDot Patterson, and Axel Trololol. All of the three Peanuts were also above the dotted line, receiving the Honey Roasted modification and pleasing The Shelled One.

Much like Season β6, numerous Blessings from this Season would involve the Idol Board. Lottery Pick and Headliners would return from the previous Season, the former being won by the Hawai'i Fridays to steal Evelton McBlase II from the Houston Spies while sending back Karato Bean, and the latter being won by the San Francisco Lovers. Various new Blessings would be introduced as well:

Popular by Association would steal a random Player from the Idol Board. It was won by the Hawai'i Fridays, stealing Aldon Cashmoney from the Breckenridge Jazz Hands and sending back Elijah Valenzuela.
Blind Date would steal the League's 21st most Idolized Player, notably being the first position unseen on the Idol Board. It was won by the Seattle Garages, stealing Oliver Notarobot from the Baltimore Crabs and sending back Luis Acevedo.
Humblebrag would give a random Player the Idol Immune modification. It was won by the Hawai'i Fridays, hitting Jacob Winner.
Center of Attention would give the most Idolized Player on a Team the Super Idol modification. It was also won by the Fridays, hitting York Silk.

Season 8

In Season β8, the dotted red line was positioned under the top 5 idolized players. Additionally, new Feedback icons appeared next to the 6th, 11th, and 18th positions on the leaderboard.

At the end of the regular season, the dotted red line vibrated once more. The top five idolized players were Pitching Machine, York Silk, Jessica Telephone, Peanutiel Duffy, and Axel Trololol. Duffy is immune to being Shelled by being one of the three peanuts, while Trololol was previously Shelled. Machine, Silk, and Telephone are now Shelled.

In the 6th, 11th, and 18th positions were Jaylen Hotdogfingers, NaN, and Sixpack Dogwalker. Following the conclusion of the season, Hotdogfingers received the permanent modification Flickering. NaN and Dogwalker also received Flickering, as well as receiving the new modification Receiver, which appears to be a method through which The Microphone can speak. NaN's and Dogwalker's pre-game rituals then changed three times in rapid succession:

hi friends
it is Wyatt
I have a plan

It is presumed that "Wyatt" is NaN, who is Wyatt Mason Prime, who lost their name during the The Unmasoning.

In the Season β8 elections, the Lottery Pick and Blind Date blessings would return, alongside Who?, renamed to Who? You Too? A new Blessing, New Kid, would incinerate the Least Idolized Player on a Team.

Lottery Pick was won by the Yellowstone Magic, stealing Chorby Short from the Seattle Garages' Shadows and sending back Terrell Bradley.
Blind Date was won by the Hades Tigers, stealing Aldon Cashmoney from the Hawai'i Fridays and sending back Spears Taylor.
Who? You Too? was won by the Philly Pies, stealing Jaxon Buckley from themselves, maximizing Buckley and swapping their position on the lineup with Farrell Seagull.
New Kid was won by the Seattle Garages, incinerating Ron Monstera, and replacing them with Durham Spaceman.

Season 9

Season β9 marked the first season since the Idol board was introduced that there was no dotted red line splitting any members of the leaderboard apart. Instead, there was a small icon on the left hand side of the board of The Monitor, who was placed right next to the top-most idolized player that had the modification Shelled. At the end of the regular season, in a traditional post-season transmission, The Monitor attempted to eat PolkaDot Patterson, the top-most idolized Shelled player. Finding the taste unpleasant, the Monitor claimed "that egg [was] spoiled" and left Patterson with the modification Squiddish, replacing Shelled.

The Season β9 elections would bring back New Kid from Season β8, alongside two new Blessings involving Idolization: Credit to the Team and Kill Your Darling.

New Kid would be won by the Miami Dale. The target of the Blessing, Don Elliott, would be protected by Raúl Leal, resulting in the incineration of the Umpire.
Credit to the Team would give the worst Player on a Team the Credit to the Team modification. It was won by the Yellowstone Magic, hitting Wyatt Glover.
Kill Your Darling would incinerate a Team's most Idolized Player. It was won by the Dallas Steaks, incinerating August Mina and replacing them with Kit Adamses.

Season 10

The leaderboard in Season β10 shared some similarities with the board in Season 8, with several weather icons populating positions along the entire board, relating to the Forecast decrees voted on in. In positions 3 and 12 are Lots of Birds icons; positions 6 and 15 are Eclipse icons; positions 9 and 18 are Blooddrain icons; and position 14 is a Feedback icon. The leaderboard did not feature a dotted red line this season.

On the evening of Thursday, October 15th, 2020, Baltimore Crabs began idolizing Tillman Henderson, who was recently incinerated, as a joke. However, upon reaching Slot 18, which was marked with a Blooddrain icon, both the icon and the numerical marker lit up in a deep blue, much like the appearance of the Hall of Flame and speeches from The Monitor. Fans quickly mobilized to idolize more incinerated players, and by Day 97, six players had occupied all six weather icons, in order: Caligula Lotus, Landry Violence, Workman Gloom, Sebastian Telephone, Tillman Henderson, and Randall Marijuana. Additionally, fans placed Jaylen Hotdogfingers in slot 14, based on tweets from The Microphone repeatedly calling out to Jaylen. As usual, fans expected an event to be triggered at the end of Day 99.

However, as Day 99 came to an end, a late minute shift in the idol board led to unpredictable results. In a twist, Tillman Henderson came back to life to join the Charleston Shoe Thieves, while Jaylen Hotdogfingers's Returned modification forced them back into the Void, taking Henderson's position on the board in the Hall of Flame. Henderson gained the modification Returned, and is now the second player to have returned to active play from incineration. Hotdogfingers gained the new modification Fliickerrriiing, but cannot make use of it without being in active play.

Lotus, Violence, and Gloom received the new season-based modifications, Friend of Crows, Fire Eater, and Siphon, respectively. Meanwhile, last minute shifts caused Thomas Dracaena to gain Siphon, and Hahn Fox to gain Friend of Crows.

Additionally, umpires performed a reset on the leaderboard early in the season, causing participants to pick a new idol and shuffling players on THE SHELLED ONE'S PODS off the leaderboard. PODS players could not be reidolized after this reset.

The only Blessing in this Season that involved the Idol Board was Popular by Association, returning from Season β7. It was won by the San Francisco Lovers, stealing Montgomery Bullock from the Baltimore Crabs, while sending Milo Brown to the Shadows. Due to the Hawai'i Fridays stealing Bullock at the same time, this would result in the creation of Lovers pitcher Bontgomery Mullock.

Season 11

Following the end of the Discipline Era and the death of the Shelled One, the Idol board in Season 11 offered no new mechanics, weather interactions, or blessing interactions, with no dotted red line.

Expansion Era

Season 12

In Season β12, the Shop was replaced with Concessions, which itself brought a new selection of snacks for Fans to purchase. Many of these snacks related to passive income bonuses from idolizing players. Fans are able to hold eight items in their Snack Pack at once, limiting what they can carry at once.

This Season marked the introduction of Wills, including the Plunder will that would allow Teams to steal a selected Player from the Idol Board, while sending a random Player back in exchange. The following transactions were a result of Plunder:

The Moab Hellmouth Sunbeams would plunder Aldon Cashmoney from the Hades Tigers, sending back Nerd Pacheco.
The Seattle Garages would plunder Nagomi Mcdaniel from the Hawai'i Fridays, sending back Greer Gwiffin.
The Mexico City Wild Wings would plunder Jessica Telephone from the Kansas City Breath Mints, sending back Joshua Watson.
The Core Mechanics would plunder PolkaDot Patterson from the Canada Moist Talkers, sending back Doc Anice.

Season 13

After a Season β12 with no changes to the Idol board, Season β13 ushered in a new idol board with the numbers 1 through 9 in yellow, same color as Boss's text. A wiggly line appeared at the cutoff, and above the Idol board:

MVPs are selected each Endseason. Players above the line will be named season MVPs and will receive an Ego Boost.

Over the course of the season, the line moved up and down slightly, cutting off the top 8 and top 10 players, before finally ending at the top 10. The selected MVPs were:

The list of MVPs was influenced by a Fan-led effort called the "Dom Wom Joe Bong Yams Con MVP Plan Extravaganza with Pickles" which attempted to place several lower performing players from the Shadows and Hall of Flame on the leaderboard. The plan was intended to disrupt any attempts Boss may be making to assemble a team of players, similar to THE SHELLED ONE'S PODS and The Shelled One. Of the players targeted by this effort, Peanut Bong and Sutton Picklestein, who was added to the plan as a memorial after their recent incineration, were successfully pushed into position in time for the MVP selection.

In the Season β13 elections, the Center of Attention blessing would return. It was won by the Boston Flowers, making Nagomi Mcdaniel a Super Idol. Additionally, the following transactions would occur as a result of the Plunder Will:

The Canada Moist Talkers plundered PolkaDot Patterson from the Core Mechanics, sending back Shirai McElroy.
The Hades Tigers plundered Aldon Cashmoney from the Moab Hellmouth Sunbeams, sending back Richmond Harrison.
The Boston Flowers plundered Sutton Picklestein from the Hall of Flame, sending Castillo Turner to the Shadows. This was the first instance of necromancy performed using the Plunder Will.
The Kansas City Breath Mints plundered Sutton Picklestein from the Boston Flowers, sending back Lenny Spruce.
The Ohio Worms plundered Pitching Machine from themselves, swapping Machine's position in the Lineup with [[Farrell Seagull].

While this marked the first instance of necromancy in the Expansion Era, the Returned modification would immediately activate, sending Picklestein back to the Hall of Flame.

Season 14

Following the Day 99 games, Monitor introduced the MVPs for this season. Several MVPs from last season remained on the board, and their Ego+ modifications were replaced with Ego++. All new entrants to the board received Ego+. The MVPs were:

In the Season β14 elections, the Headliners Blessing would return, and would be won by the Canada Moist Talkers. Additionally, the following transactions happened as a result of the Plunder Will:

The Philly Pies plundered Jessica Telephone from the Kansas City Breath Mints, sending back Jode Preston.
The Hawai'i Fridays plundered Valentine Games from the LA Unlimited Tacos, sending back Greer Gwiffin.
The Seattle Garages plundered Chorby Soul from the Hall of Flame, sending Arturo Huerta to the Shadows.
The Baltimore Crabs plundered York Silk from the Hall of Flame, sending Enid Marlow to the Shadows.

Season 15

Following the Day 99 games, Boss introduced the MVPs for this season. Only three players were named as MVP this season:

Mcdaniel and Silk received the modification Ego+++, while Soul received Ego+.

In the Season β15 elections, the following transactions would happen as a result of the Plunder Will:

The Canada Moist Talkers plundered York Silk from the Baltimore Crabs, sending back Fish Summer.
The New York Millennials plundered Chorby Soul from the Seattle Garages, sending back Penelope Mathews.
The Hades Tigers plundered Jessica Telephone from the Philly Pies, sending back Usurper Violet.
The Dallas Steaks plundered PolkaDot Patterson from the Canada Moist Talkers, sending back Sixpack Dogwalker.
The Yellowstone Magic attempted to plunder Chorby Short, but due to Short being Redacted at the time, Short would become permanently Unstable.
The Boston Flowers attempted to plunder Nagomi Mcdaniel, but due to Mcdaniel being Redacted at the time, Mcdaniel would become permanently Unstable.
The Charleston Shoe Thieves plundered Jaylen Hotdogfingers from the Seattle Garages' Shadows, sending back Conditional Yuniesky.

Season 16

Following the Day 99 games, Lōotcrates introduced the MVPs for this season:

As in prior seasons, all MVPs' Ego modifications were upgraded by one step, to a current maximum of Ego++++ for Silk and Mcdaniel.

In the Season β16 elections, the following transactions would happen as a result of the Plunder Will:

The Core Mechanics plundered PolkaDot Patterson from the Dallas Steaks, sending back Zoey Kirchner.
The Boston Flowers plundered Chorby Soul from the Hall of Flame, sending Margarito Nava to the Shadows.
The San Francisco Lovers plundered Pitching Machine from the Ohio Worms, sending back Kichiro Guerra.
The Charleston Shoe Thieves plundered Goodwin Morin from the Tokyo Lift, sending back Halexandrey Walton.
The Baltimore Crabs plundered Chorby Soul from the Boston Flowers, sending back Silvaire Roadhouse.
The Tokyo Lift plundered Jessica Telephone from the Hades Tigers, sending back Ayanna Dumpington.
The Mexico City Wild Wings plundered Aurora Blortles from the Ohio Worms' Shadows, sending back Matteo Cash.
The Seattle Garages plundered York Silk from the Canada Moist Talkers, sending back Carmelo Plums.

Season 17

Following the Day 99 games, several players remained above the line and had their Ego modifications upgraded to the next tier.

Additionally, York Silk and Nagomi Mcdaniel, two players who previously held the Ego++++ modification, were upgraded to Legendary, which removed them from the idol board and their previous teams and made it so that Fans could not Idol them.

In the Season β17 elections, the only use of the Plunder Will would be from the Yellowstone Magic, plundering Sexton Wheerer from the LA Unlimited Tacos and sending back Bevan Wise. This would be the last Season to feature the Plunder Will.