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Description
(Warning: Rant)

With Papa's Next Chefs 2023 ended, I can safely say that this is by far the worst PNC tournament ever and a testament at how Flipline is so blind to how they see the community and a showcase at how poorly-aged the pre-selected bracket of characters is for the contest considering how many customers we have as of now.

But before we go on to my rant, let's bring the good news:
Congrats on Hacky Zak on finally winning Papa's Next Chefs and Liezel for being the first LGBT+ Worker in the Papa Louie series of games.

Now, we get to the awful part.

First off, let's look at the selections Flipline chose for us to vote... Yeah. Very unimpressive. The top 8 female candidates are clearly not popular choices, being akin to poll fodders. While we do get poll fodders from time to time, a bracket section of noithing but poll fodders isn't something fans appreciate. This leads to very droned votes that don't feel strong. While there are close matches here and there (Indigo vs Cherissa is by far the closest that come into mind), the moment we get the finalist (Cherissa), it's clear she's not gonna stand a chance considering who we got in the bottom half.

The top 4 and bottom 4 male candidates are notable poll fodders too, as they're not notable for having good results in the contests where fan-favorites are there. However, things did turn around when Kaleb finally got his Flipdeck, and I believe the fact he's related to Trishna bumped his popularity to Clover-esque levels as the amazing relative of a popular contestant to vote for (Greg's an exception since he's not a worker-kind of character). But the fact Kaleb was a poll fodder beforehand shows how Flipline may need to prioritize giving fans some info on the customers BEFORE we vote them. Especially after the drought of Flipdeck cards back then. This implies that Kaleb vs Drakson would've been MORE one-sided after we get Kaleb's Flipdeck.

Speaking of Flipdecks, the absence of a Flipdeck for Budwin shows that the result for Budwin vs Chase would probably end up different if we ultimately know more about Budwin. So, it shows how Flipdecks can change a character's reception.

Moving on, despite the fact Hacky Zak had defeated Cameo before, rather than pairing a different starting match, they redo the fight again and Cameo predictably got destroyed. Like, how can Flipline be this lazy? I get that Trishna beat Perri in 2020 after Perri beat Trishna in 2016 (maybe due to Austin's absence in 2020, that's my theory). But Cameo isn't even close to Hacky Zak, so it's clear that Flipline Studios isn't doing their research. And also blurs at how popular Cameo is to be exact.
Let's not forget that the only match Hacky Zak is in that's NOT a rematch is against Kaleb, in the finals. And he predictably defeated Cameo, Deano (who's the only strong competitor beforehand), and Brody.

While Hacky Zak is like the only one worth voting (aside from Chase and Budwin, but that's because they have interesting designs and personality for Chase before Budwin's got his Flipdeck) on the male candidates side, with Deano being the second (and only by a margin) before Kaleb got his Flipdeck, the female side has a VERY lackluster. As we drone out on the first two weeks due to uninteresting matchups, we FINALLY got someone interesting with Liezel, who became famous due to being a trans icon (as her Flipdeck told us) this year. However, this also makes the contest feel rigged as she has nearly no competition in the contest. Things then change up when Tohru finally reappears in the competition (seven years since she last participated and was a finalist back then).

However, with Tohru's return came in controversy as by the time Liezel vs Tohru happened, Tohru had the initial lead. Suddenly, Liezel got a HUGE surge of voters thanks to a Tumblr post (it's real, look it up). This ends up causing controversy as there's conspiracy that Liezel's votes got hacked (fortunately, it wasn't as Liezel genuinely had thousands of fans wanting her victory). While this shows how backwards some parts of the community is, it is arguably the most interesting match as well as a clash between two titans of popularity ultimately tests the testament how popular Liezel is, and very popular she is indeed.
But with that popularity means that by the time Liezel reached the finals, Cherissa was utterly crushed as she didn't even stand a chance. This shows how utterly screwed everyone on the top 8 on the female side ultimately is in the end, leading to an evidently boring finals round as Liezel's victory was already up for grabs.

And speaking of the other finals, Kaleb vs Hacky Zak became a huge mess ever since we knew Kaleb is Trishna's cousin (hinted at Freezeria Deluxe's promotional art). As while Hacky Zak was able to take the lead after Kaleb's head-start, the day before the ending became brutal as proxy voters start to bump up Kaleb's numbers (and it's proven unlike with Liezel vs Tohru as Flipline then removes several votes between the two). The intense rivalry end up causing the match to be such a mess that the finals end up ended several hours before the winners are announced, which is already clear by then.

Ultimately, with all the commotion, it's clear that Papa's Next Chefs 2023 is not only boring, but so full of controversies in two of its matches. It just strikes a line that there's absolutely nothing to see for the tournament unless it involves someone popular, which ends up turning into a flame war on who will end up winning, especially if said customer had been in previous contests and was a fan-favorite.

I think we also need to bring up at the issue with the pre-selected system for customers entering the contest. With over a hundred customers, and only several eligible (notably skinny/slim and tall ones), it's clear that among them, there will be fan-favorites, and we had seen them beforehand.
However, this year, there's a surprisingly lackluster amount of fan-favorites, with only around two on each side qualifying as one (Kaleb became one later after getting a Flipdeck while Chase and Budwin are newcomes who won). Without fan-favorites, it doesn't really motivate the fans to try and vote, as the reason why fans want to vote is for the chance that the favorites who came far before can finally win again.
If you noticed, finalists like Austin, Perri, Moe, Trishna, Robby, and Mindy, are conspicuously absent, and those six are notable fan-favorites in the Papa Louie series of games. There are also Sienna and Lisa, who are notably popular too.
The notable issue here with the pre-selected system is that fans don't want to wait for the chance (emphasis on chance) that their fan-favorites to participate again. This is notable when veterans who have been participating for quite a long time and aren't necessarily fan-favorites, like Connor, Hugo, Iggy, Greg, Kayla, Sasha, Zoe, and Nevada, return and predictably fall against clearly popular customers. I get that we need a diverse selection, but this is not the way to go, especially with those who don't last very long in the tournaments. Meanwhile, the fan-favorites I mentioned are all absent despite lasting rather long beforehand and make up for interesting matches to see how popular a character really is. What we got here is a group who are clearly so unpopular (the top 8 female customers) that the finals end up a predictable victory for Liezel, which really doesn't show how popular she truly is as only Tohru put a testament to that. This waiting game is the same issue fans have with some sticker achievements in Bakeria that involve serving certain customers specific orders that was rectified in Sushiria with Customer Coupons.

In the end, it's clear that Papa's Next Chefs as how it is can no longer work due to the influx of new customers that would make a fan-favorite's return less likely. And Flipline REALLY needs to either:
-Redo and rework the contest to give fans more power over who gets to be the next chef.
-Actually try to look into the community and include those who fans WANT to appear again. This is notable as Austin, a finalist at debut, took half a decade to finally appear again, which isn't fun for those who enjoyed Austin and got him far, and wanted him to have another chance.
If you ask me, the best way I can see to rework here is to make some sort of multi-vote list featuring a long list of eligible customers who have been in PNC and can be in the contest, like with this Animal Crossing Villager Popularity Tier List:
www.animalcrossingportal.com/t…
And eliminate those who rank lower.
Or maybe do a Kingsley's Customerpalooza voting system where different groups of characters can be voted on a different rating scale. Or even do both, where we get five votes on a huge list of characters, and each vote has different scores.

Ultimately, we need to spread this message. I don't want another boring yet controversy-filled (when notable) Papa's Next Chefs again. It's clear that the fans deserve better than this, and Flipline has to listen to what and who the fans want, as that's what the studio needs right now. And what I type here isn't necessarily accurate, but it is something I noticed regarding the tournament this year and last years. If you have any comment regarding this year's competition, tell me. Hopefully, Papa's Next Chefs is fixed soon.

And as for one last thing, the current customers I want to see become workers next are Austin and Perri. Who do you want?

Papa Louie Arcade is owned by Flipline Studios.

Description
(Warning: Rant)

With Papa's Next Chefs 2023 ended, I can safely say that this is by far the worst PNC tournament ever and a testament at how Flipline is so blind to how they see the community and a showcase at how poorly-aged the pre-selected bracket of characters is for the contest considering how many customers we have as of now.

But before we go on to my rant, let's bring the good news:
Congrats on Hacky Zak on finally winning Papa's Next Chefs and Liezel for being the first LGBT+ Worker in the Papa Louie series of games.

Now, we get to the awful part.

First off, let's look at the selections Flipline chose for us to vote... Yeah. Very unimpressive. The top 8 female candidates are clearly not popular choices, being akin to poll fodders. While we do get poll fodders from time to time, a bracket section of noithing but poll fodders isn't something fans appreciate. This leads to very droned votes that don't feel strong. While there are close matches here and there (Indigo vs Cherissa is by far the closest that come into mind), the moment we get the finalist (Cherissa), it's clear she's not gonna stand a chance considering who we got in the bottom half.

The top 4 and bottom 4 male candidates are notable poll fodders too, as they're not notable for having good results in the contests where fan-favorites are there. However, things did turn around when Kaleb finally got his Flipdeck, and I believe the fact he's related to Trishna bumped his popularity to Clover-esque levels as the amazing relative of a popular contestant to vote for (Greg's an exception since he's not a worker-kind of character). But the fact Kaleb was a poll fodder beforehand shows how Flipline may need to prioritize giving fans some info on the customers BEFORE we vote them. Especially after the drought of Flipdeck cards back then. This implies that Kaleb vs Drakson would've been MORE one-sided after we get Kaleb's Flipdeck.

Speaking of Flipdecks, the absence of a Flipdeck for Budwin shows that the result for Budwin vs Chase would probably end up different if we ultimately know more about Budwin. So, it shows how Flipdecks can change a character's reception.

Moving on, despite the fact Hacky Zak had defeated Cameo before, rather than pairing a different starting match, they redo the fight again and Cameo predictably got destroyed. Like, how can Flipline be this lazy? I get that Trishna beat Perri in 2020 after Perri beat Trishna in 2016 (maybe due to Austin's absence in 2020, that's my theory). But Cameo isn't even close to Hacky Zak, so it's clear that Flipline Studios isn't doing their research. And also blurs at how popular Cameo is to be exact.
Let's not forget that the only match Hacky Zak is in that's NOT a rematch is against Kaleb, in the finals. And he predictably defeated Cameo, Deano (who's the only strong competitor beforehand), and Brody.

While Hacky Zak is like the only one worth voting (aside from Chase and Budwin, but that's because they have interesting designs and personality for Chase before Budwin's got his Flipdeck) on the male candidates side, with Deano being the second (and only by a margin) before Kaleb got his Flipdeck, the female side has a VERY lackluster. As we drone out on the first two weeks due to uninteresting matchups, we FINALLY got someone interesting with Liezel, who became famous due to being a trans icon (as her Flipdeck told us) this year. However, this also makes the contest feel rigged as she has nearly no competition in the contest. Things then change up when Tohru finally reappears in the competition (seven years since she last participated and was a finalist back then).

However, with Tohru's return came in controversy as by the time Liezel vs Tohru happened, Tohru had the initial lead. Suddenly, Liezel got a HUGE surge of voters thanks to a Tumblr post (it's real, look it up). This ends up causing controversy as there's conspiracy that Liezel's votes got hacked (fortunately, it wasn't as Liezel genuinely had thousands of fans wanting her victory). While this shows how backwards some parts of the community is, it is arguably the most interesting match as well as a clash between two titans of popularity ultimately tests the testament how popular Liezel is, and very popular she is indeed.
But with that popularity means that by the time Liezel reached the finals, Cherissa was utterly crushed as she didn't even stand a chance. This shows how utterly screwed everyone on the top 8 on the female side ultimately is in the end, leading to an evidently boring finals round as Liezel's victory was already up for grabs.

And speaking of the other finals, Kaleb vs Hacky Zak became a huge mess ever since we knew Kaleb is Trishna's cousin (hinted at Freezeria Deluxe's promotional art). As while Hacky Zak was able to take the lead after Kaleb's head-start, the day before the ending became brutal as proxy voters start to bump up Kaleb's numbers (and it's proven unlike with Liezel vs Tohru as Flipline then removes several votes between the two). The intense rivalry end up causing the match to be such a mess that the finals end up ended several hours before the winners are announced, which is already clear by then.

Ultimately, with all the commotion, it's clear that Papa's Next Chefs 2023 is not only boring, but so full of controversies in two of its matches. It just strikes a line that there's absolutely nothing to see for the tournament unless it involves someone popular, which ends up turning into a flame war on who will end up winning, especially if said customer had been in previous contests and was a fan-favorite.

I think we also need to bring up at the issue with the pre-selected system for customers entering the contest. With over a hundred customers, and only several eligible (notably skinny/slim and tall ones), it's clear that among them, there will be fan-favorites, and we had seen them beforehand.
However, this year, there's a surprisingly lackluster amount of fan-favorites, with only around two on each side qualifying as one (Kaleb became one later after getting a Flipdeck while Chase and Budwin are newcomes who won). Without fan-favorites, it doesn't really motivate the fans to try and vote, as the reason why fans want to vote is for the chance that the favorites who came far before can finally win again.
If you noticed, finalists like Austin, Perri, Moe, Trishna, Robby, and Mindy, are conspicuously absent, and those six are notable fan-favorites in the Papa Louie series of games. There are also Sienna and Lisa, who are notably popular too.
The notable issue here with the pre-selected system is that fans don't want to wait for the chance (emphasis on chance) that their fan-favorites to participate again. This is notable when veterans who have been participating for quite a long time and aren't necessarily fan-favorites, like Connor, Hugo, Iggy, Greg, Kayla, Sasha, Zoe, and Nevada, return and predictably fall against clearly popular customers. I get that we need a diverse selection, but this is not the way to go, especially with those who don't last very long in the tournaments. Meanwhile, the fan-favorites I mentioned are all absent despite lasting rather long beforehand and make up for interesting matches to see how popular a character really is. What we got here is a group who are clearly so unpopular (the top 8 female customers) that the finals end up a predictable victory for Liezel, which really doesn't show how popular she truly is as only Tohru put a testament to that. This waiting game is the same issue fans have with some sticker achievements in Bakeria that involve serving certain customers specific orders that was rectified in Sushiria with Customer Coupons.

In the end, it's clear that Papa's Next Chefs as how it is can no longer work due to the influx of new customers that would make a fan-favorite's return less likely. And Flipline REALLY needs to either:
-Redo and rework the contest to give fans more power over who gets to be the next chef.
-Actually try to look into the community and include those who fans WANT to appear again. This is notable as Austin, a finalist at debut, took half a decade to finally appear again, which isn't fun for those who enjoyed Austin and got him far, and wanted him to have another chance.
If you ask me, the best way I can see to rework here is to make some sort of multi-vote list featuring a long list of eligible customers who have been in PNC and can be in the contest, like with this Animal Crossing Villager Popularity Tier List:
www.animalcrossingportal.com/t…
And eliminate those who rank lower.
Or maybe do a Kingsley's Customerpalooza voting system where different groups of characters can be voted on a different rating scale. Or even do both, where we get five votes on a huge list of characters, and each vote has different scores.

Ultimately, we need to spread this message. I don't want another boring yet controversy-filled (when notable) Papa's Next Chefs again. It's clear that the fans deserve better than this, and Flipline has to listen to what and who the fans want, as that's what the studio needs right now. And what I type here isn't necessarily accurate, but it is something I noticed regarding the tournament this year and last years. If you have any comment regarding this year's competition, tell me. Hopefully, Papa's Next Chefs is fixed soon.

And as for one last thing, the current customers I want to see become workers next are Austin and Perri. Who do you want?

Papa Louie Arcade is owned by Flipline Studios.