Hey Y’all,

Since yesterday’s come-from-behind, crazy-upset victory over Mario and Ganondorf in GameFAQs’ “Character Battle IX”, I’ve had an idea brewing in my head. He had a great victory, but I want more. As crazy as it may sound, how great would it be for a character from Final Fantasy IX to win the ninth Character Battle?

Needless to say, chances are slim – Link is still in the running, and he’s won many of the character battles in the past, not to mention Sephiroth and the dreaded Tetris “L-Block”. If Vivi’s gonna win, he’s gonna need some help.

That’s where you come in.

For the next five days (ending at 11:59 pm on Wednesday, September 4th), I’ll be accepting submissions artwork that encourages votes for Vivi. At that time (possibly the following morning, as I have to get to work), I’ll post these pieces of art to this blog, and people will be able to vote on their favorite campaign posters for the next few days, either on this page, the Facebook profile (FFIXBlog) or on Twitter (@FFIXBlog).

When the Character Battle with Vivi in it begins (the next one is on Sunday, Sept. 8), I’ll tally the votes and declare the winner!

The winner will receive either a copy of FFIX, a FFIX poster, or anything FFIX-related that they can think of (given that it’s in the $10-$30 price range… I can’t afford much more, but if people donate, the prizes can become much larger!).

Didn’t win? Don’t worry! Every time that Vivi moves into the next round, I will begin to accept submissions again, and the contest will recur until he loses. That means if he gets to the finals, there will be three chances to win!

I think this could be a lot of fun. I’d love to see some great FFIX artwork come out of this!

To enter, simply email your poster as an attachment to Zidane@finalfantasyix.com, with “Vote for Vivi”, along with the title of your work, in the subject line.

Artists… Start your pencils! Vote for Vivi! And, most importantly, have fun!