Board Thread:Season Rankings/@comment-24899664-20141222121159/@comment-25629305-20160629003929

10) Survivor: Amazon

Survivor: Amazon is a favorite season of mine, and the second of the three clusterfuck seasons. Amazon is mostly known for it's insane post-merge, with Rob Cesternino flipping back and forth between many different alliances and creating an unpredictable style of gameplay that hadn't been used before, revolutionizing the game. The post-merge of Amazon really is amazing, with alliances shifting every episode and blindside after blindside occurring, but much like in Kaoh Rong, since we actually got to know the players, it was very easy to get invested in what was happening. With hilarious and fun characters like Matthew Von Ertfelda, Rob, Heidi, Christy, and Deena, how could you NOT be invested in the season? I only have two issues with Amazon. One, the pre-merge is forgettable. There's not much to say on that, it's not THAT big of an issue since the post-merge shoots off into the stratosphere later, but it is something that negatively impacts the season. Also, the editing for Amazon is very strange. The season spends its time building up the Rob and Matt duo, making us think one of those two will win, most likely Matt after dethroning Rob, and when it gets down to the final 3 and Matt defeats Rob, you think it's all over... and then Jenna wins 6-1. Now, I respect Jenna's win, but much like Michele's, it came across as very anticlimactic, not to mention the fact that Jenna had received a very negative edit for most of the season. The strange editing of Amazon hurts its position in this ranking, so I have to put it lower down.

9) Survivor: Marquesas

Marquesas is one of four Survivor seasons that I'd consider flawless (or almost flawless) from a storyline perspective. You have the love tribe, Rotu, dominating in challenges early on, with Kathy on the outside of the tribe looking in. Then you have the absolute mess of a tribe, Maraamu, ran by Boston Rob 1.0, a tribe that is taking out their strongest players early on and already playing for the endgame. A tribe swap, however, disrupts the love tribe mentality on Rotu, and the alliance known as the Rotu 4 (John/Tammy/Robert/Zoe) take out Gabe, the main proponent of the "Love tribe" mentality, leaving the other 3 original Rotus on NuMaraamu wondering what the heck happened. At the merge, Boston Rob opens Kathy's eyes to the fact that the Rotu 4 are plotting against her, but John catches wind of Rob's scheming and he is sent packing. It seems like the Rotu 4 are destined to dominate the game, but Kathy, Sean, and Vecepia work together to convince Paschal and Neleh to flip, pulling off the first power shift of the game and taking out the entire Rotu 4 one by one. Then the endgame comes, a bunch of flip-flopping happens, and Vecepia reigns supreme after tragically cutting off Kathy, the hero of the season, one day before her potential victory.

On paper, this season is PERFECT. It has an amazing cast, where EVERYONE plays a part in the events of the season, and it has a basic, but amazing, "good vs. evil" storyline ending with good winning, of course. However, in execution, there is just one flaw.

During the episodes between John's boot and the endgame, the game crawls by at a snail's pace. For the story to work out, the Rotu 4 HAD to be pagonged, but those episodes are just bland and don't hook you in at all. The endgame revitalizes the season with the flip-flopping and such, but those 3 episodes are enough to put Marquesas at number 9 on the list, rather than in the top 5.

8) Survivor: Gabon

Oh, Gabon <3. Okay, Gabon is a pretty controversial season. I'm sure some people reading this right now are screaming at me that it should've been lower on the list, and some are screaming at me that it should've been at least top 3, but for me, Gabon is perfect where it's at right now. It's a clusterfucky season with tons of fun characters that are constantly melting down, and yet somehow these misfits all win out over the awful people, which is a recipe for an utterly amazing season. Gabon gave us gems like Randy, Sugar, Crystal, and Susie, and for that I will forever be grateful. Also, I spent the entire first half of the season fearing that Marcus would CP4 gamebot his way to a win, but Susie saved us at the last possible time that it could've happened and sent Marcus home, saving the season and paving the way for an amazing clusterfuck of a post-merge where all the bad people go home first <3. However, Gabon is this low on the list for two reasons. One, Gabon isn't as good at creating long-term storylines for each of the contestants, and I 100% understand that Gabon isn't really that kind of season, but I'm still a ~storytelling~ kind of guy and I prefer Survivor seasons that tell a good story over Survivor seasons that are random and fun, even though I love seasons that are random and fun as well. The second reason I have is that there's something about Gabon that just feels... off. It has this dark vibe to it, which is great times, but also kind of turns me off of the season. I know that probably sounds like a stupid reason, but things like that really matter when it gets down to the wire and I have to choose between all these amazing seasons.

7) Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains

THIS is what all-stars should've been. A group of 20 well-known players coming together to play hard, but to have FUN as well. Heroes vs. Villains was consistently exciting. I'm not the biggest fan of the Rob vs. Russell storyline that dominated most of the pre-merge, but it did bring the entertainment and once it ended the other players flourished enough that I can be glad for what it brought to the season. Heroes vs. Villains has crazy gameplay, a fun cast, and some hilarious moments (JT giving away his idol and then getting eliminated by it comes to mind). The story is simple but very effective: Sandra makes Russell look like a fool all season long, then crushes him in the FTC and wins the game for a second time. What more could you ask for? Heroes vs. Villains was also the first season I watched (weird, since it's an all-star season, I know, but I found it on youtube and was interested :P), so I'll always hold a special place in my heart for it <3. However, the reason why it's lower on my list is that I don't think it's as good at crafting a story for each one of the contestants as the seasons above it, and also, Russell once again had a bloated edit, and though it was less noticeable in a cast of other all-stars, it still had a negative impact on the season as a whole.

Remaining Seasons: Borneo, Pearl Islands, Vanuatu, China, Philippines, SJDS

Y'all were probably calling for SJDS and Borneo's eliminations a long time ago, but they're both amazing and deserved their spots in the top 6 so YAY ^_^.

Anyways, it's getting down to the wire here, and choosing between these six seasons is going to be PAINFUL, but I have to do it :(.