Site of the Month: January 2012

Guys and gals, hello! Once again, let's set the spotlight on another gorgeous fansite. Before the big reveal, let me say one thing: wow, you made this job really hard for me! All sites nominated were amazing and the mail with all the nominations went on and on and on, yet I can only pick one...A big thank you to Aku, Ava, Destinie, Mikari, Saya and Varen for suggesting so many great sites!



Stalwart is Karen's outstanding, wonderfully written tribute to Cyan Garamonde. Her personal, clear and precise voice explains Cyan's character firstly through the direct path to the character's role in the game, and then through all the paths that lead to him - comparisons and parallels to other universes, background information concerning the origin of his character type, even references to the historical figures he is based on. It gives an amazingly broad view of everything surrounding this character, each reference researched into the ground and never tossed in. The media section is just as refined as everything else in this site, offering official artwork, soundtracks, fan art, and two very unique pages about poems chosen from different eras that relate to Cyan and a page about actors who could play his role in a fictitious Final Fantasy VI movie. And how could no words be spent on the site's looks - complementing the soul of this site, so to speak, the layout looks clean yet not simplicistic, and very personal - it was illustrated by Karen herself.


In the words of our nominators...

Saya: The first time I read this shrine, it pulled me in to a new world and I was really taken by the way Karen writes. This shrine shows a great writing style and also an awesome graphic style. And at the same time it shows appreciation for the character, giving facts and personal opinion, which makes it a really interesting and awesome read.

Aku: I had the pleasure of reading Stalwart when I helped with SOTM back in September, and it was honestly an incredibly close race for me--which is why I came back to nominate it again! Karen's Cyan shrine is lovably personal--from the content to the layout, her hand and voice are in every aspect of this site. Alongside framing the character concisely, I enjoy the way in which she almost makes arguments for visitors of the site to realize how "cool!" Cyan is. The site features not only essays about Cyan's character in game, but more
speculative essays about east meets west, how he differs from the stereotypical "fantasy" hero, as well as an entertaining media section which features original fanart, as well as actors who could possibly play Cyan in a live action movie, as well as poems chosen by the owner which relate to Cyan. I thought it was a unique twist on the usual, and an entertaining way to introduce and give a better feeling of the character to those unfamiliar with Final Fantasy 6.


Congratulations to Karen for earning this award (I hope you enjoy my little illustration, too)!