A couple days ago I got reminded of those Favorite Character Bingos, and it turns out I haven't done one since 2022 (before I started Umineko), so I decided to update mine!
I could jump to my new one, but I think it's more fun if I take you all on a journey with me, so I'm going to go through my collection. That does mean this post is pretty long — I decided to forego alt text in favorite of just writing out the lists under each bingo, both for ease of formatting and so if you don't recognize any of these characters you can know who they are!
2018
In 2018, I actually made two. One where I limited how many Aveyond characters I could include — and ended up grasping for straws and picking some characters who really did not deserve to be on there (Zuko, I am not really an ATLA guy) — and one I called "honesty hour" where I imposed no such rule.
Top row: Te'ijal (Aveyond), Michael (The Good Place), Data (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Uzuki (The World Ends With You), Marcille (Dungeon Meshi)
2nd row: Aava Arek (Campaign/Evil Campaign), Zuko (ATLA), Phi (Zero Escape), Joan Watson (Elementary), Stella (Aveyond)
Middle row: Eleanor Shellstrop, Galahad (Aveyond), free space, Synox (Campaign/Evil Campaign), Picard (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
4th row: Laios (Dungeon Meshi), Agent Zero (Campaign/Evil Campaign), Pirate John (Aveyond), Myst (Aveyond), Chidi (The Good Place)
Bottom row: Sherlock (Elementary), Dio (Zero Escape), Mel (Aveyond), Sigma (Zero Escape), Rhen (Aveyond)
In honesty hour, we have:
Top row: Te'ijal (Aveyond), Michael (The Good Place), Iya (Aveyond), Lydia (Aveyond), Marcille (Dungeon Meshi)
2nd row: Aava Arek (Campaign/Evil Campaign), Boyle (Aveyond), Phi (Zero Escape), Joan Watson (Elementary), Stella (Aveyond)
Middle row: Lars (Aveyond), Galahad (Aveyond), free space, Ellie Brightsword (Aveyond), Hi'beru (Aveyond)
4th row: Laios (Dungeon Meshi), Ava One Eye (Aveyond), Pirate John (Aveyond), Myst (Aveyond), Robin (Aveyond)
Bottom row: Sherlock (Elementary), Rowen (Aveyond), Mel (Aveyond), Beatrice (Aveyond), Rhen (Aveyond)
The late 2010s and early 2020s were the absolute peak of my Aveyond obsession. It's been deep and extensive my whole life, but at this point my participation with friends and in the fandom was feeding it and I was obsessed with so many different characters from it through talking about them with other people or seeing their fanworks.
2020
Top row: Te'ijal (Aveyond), Michael (The Good Place), Data (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Lio (Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts), Marcille (Dungeon Meshi)
2nd row: Aava Arek (Campaign/Evil Campaign), Amelia (Infinity Train), Phi (Zero Escape), Joan Watson (Elementary), Stella (Aveyond)
Middle row: Scorpia (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power), Galahad (Aveyond), free space, Entrapta (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power), Picard (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
4th row: Laios (Dungeon Meshi), Adora (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power), Pirate John (Aveyond), Kiki (Kiki's Delivery Service), Catra (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power)
Bottom row: Sherlock (Elementary), Dio (Zero Escape), Mel (Aveyond), Sigma (Zero Escape), Rhen (Aveyond)
Changelog (7):
Removed Uzuki, Zuko, Synox, Zero, Eleanor, Chidi, Myst
Added Lio, Adora, Entrapta, Scorpia, Catra, Amelia, Kiki
Surprisingly lots of She-Ra this go around! I forgot how invested in it I had been before looking over at this chart.
2021
Top row: Te'ijal (Aveyond), Michael (The Good Place), Data (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Grace (Infinity Train), Marcille (Dungeon Meshi)
2nd row: Aava Arek (Campaign/Evil Campaign), Amelia (Infinity Train), Phi (Zero Escape), Joan Watson (Elementary), Stella (Aveyond)
Middle row: Guillermo (What We Do in the Shadows), Galahad (Aveyond), free space, Entrapta (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power), Picard (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
4th row: Laios (Dungeon Meshi), Adora (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power), Pirate John (Aveyond), Eda (The Owl House), Simon (Infinity Train)
Bottom row: Sherlock (Elementary), Dio (Zero Escape), Mel (Aveyond), Sigma (Zero Escape), Rhen (Aveyond)
Changelog (4):
Removed Lio, Scorpia, Kiki, Catra
Added Grace, Guillermo, Eda, and Simon
2022
Top row: Te'ijal (Aveyond), Michael (The Good Place), Data (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Grace (Infinity Train), Marcille (Dungeon Meshi)
2nd row: Aava Arek (Campaign/Evil Campaign), Amelia (Infinity Train), Phi (Zero Escape), Joan Watson (Elementary), Stella (Aveyond)
Middle row: Guillermo (What We Do in the Shadows), Galahad (Aveyond), free space, the Ghost/22 (Archivist Wasp, Latchkey, Firebreak), Picard (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
4th row: Laios (Dungeon Meshi), Synox (Campaign/Evil Campaign), Pirate John (Aveyond), Nandor (What We Do in the Shadows), Simon (Infinity Train)
Bottom row: Sherlock (Elementary), Dio (Zero Escape), Mel (Aveyond), Sigma (Zero Escape), Rhen (Aveyond)
Changelog (3):
Removed Entrapta, Adora, Eda
Added the Ghost/22, Synox, Nandor
It is genuinely so funny to me that Synox disappeared from these bingos and then came back.
2025
And now, my most recent one! It's been a while since I updated, and I've checked out a lot of new media since then, so this is the one with the most changes. They're… pretty closely congregated across a few series, though, haha.
Top row: Te'ijal (Aveyond), Beatrice/Beato (Umineko), Charlie Cale (Poker Face), Ange (Umineko), Marcille (Dungeon Meshi)
2nd row: Utena Tenjou (Revolutionary Girl Utena), Mirabelle (In Stars and Time), Picard (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Joan Watson (Elementary), Stella (Aveyond)
Middle row: Battler Ushiromiya (Umineko), Galahad (Aveyond), free space, Maria Ushiromiya (Umineko), Miranda Barlowe (Black Sails)
4th row: Laios (Dungeon Meshi), Anthy Himemiya (Revolutionary Girl Utena), Natsuhi Ushiromiya (Umineko), Siffrin (In Stars and Time), Data (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Bottom row: Sherlock (Elementary), Akane Kurashiki (Zero Escape), Mel (Aveyond), John Kramer (Saw), Rhen (Aveyond)
Changelog (13):
Removed Michael, Grace, Aava, Amelia, Phi, Guillermo, the Ghost/22, Synox, Pirate John, Nandor, Simon, Dio, Sigma
Added Beatrice/Beato, Charlie Cale, Ange, Utena, Mirabelle, Battler, Maria, Miranda, Anthy, Natsuhi, Siffrin, Akane, John Kramer
The most changes by far! A large part of that is the time that's passed, of course. The most interesting part to me — other than the absolute dominance of Umineko — is that all of my Zero Escape favorites disappeared and I added Akane instead. The reason for that is that when I'm actively playing Zero Escape, those three characters (Phi, Sigma, Dio) are the ones I'm most attached to and excited to see on screen. But when I'm not playing the games, just sitting back and thinking about them, it is consistently Akane who I think about, get emotional over, and who represents the series to me.
I also find the Beato - Mirabelle - Galahad - Anthy - Akane column hilarious. I feel like it looks deceptively easy to get bingo on (Beato, Anthy, and Akane are often compared to each other in permutations), but then Galahad is there, messing up the whole thing.
I didn't actually bother to reorganize this year's as an actual bingo card, though, so maybe I'll do that and make a second, much shorter blog post for that!