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Thanks For Playing: The Buff Video Game Character Draft

Thanks For Playing
May 12
2 min read

Every now and then, a podcast episode descends into beautiful chaos—and this week’s draft episode might just take the creatine-laced cake.

In our latest installment of Thanks For Playing, the crew (Lucas, Matt, Hot Mickey, and MilkMan) gathered for one of the most hotly debated and absolutely absurd drafts we’ve ever done: Buff Video Game Characters.

We set out with the goal of drafting the most yoked, jacked, and creatively geared-up characters across video game history. And let’s just say… the bar for eligibility got tossed out the window like a protein shake. What is a buff guy anyway?

💪 Draft Highlights: Round One Knockouts

Lucas kicked it off strong by snatching the undisputed king of muscle-bound grapplers: Zangief from Street Fighter. With his pile-driving flair and hairy-chested charisma, Zangief is the standard by which all buff video game characters are judged.
Chambers took a timeless powerhouse with Kratos (classic edition) from God of War. Think: shirtless land-god rage mixed with trend-cycle dedication. A true bulking inspiration.
Hot Mickey went meta-anime by picking Broly from Dragon Ball FighterZ, kicking off the first round of debate over what counts as a “video game-first” character. Spoiler: rules were meant to be broken.
Matt closed the round with a suplex from Tekken, selecting King, the Mexican jaguar-masked wrestler with grapples that last longer than some boss fights.

Unhinged Picks, Honorable Mentions, and Chaos

What started as a list of “buff guys” quickly evolved into a genre-bending showcase of muscle in all forms:

Abby from The Last of Us Part II: Lucas brings the hammer with this pick, and we all mourned her watered-down representation in the HBO show.
Machamp: Four arms. Four times the hypertrophy. Certified Buff Pokémon.
Adam Smasher (Cyberpunk 2077) and Lady Dimitrescu (Resident Evil 8) stretched the definition of "buff" into philosophical territory. Is being buff a look… or a vibe?
Xzibit from NFL Street 2 made an unexpected but hilarious appearance. Yes, that Exhibit. Jorts and all.
Chunky Kong from Donkey Kong 64: An absolute frat-house unit of a primate. Not the hero we needed, but maybe the one we deserved.
Much much more!

Takeaways & Protein Shakes

This draft quickly spiraled into a beautiful mess of real athletes, Pokémon, mythic warriors, and cybernetically enhanced tanks. We debated what “buff” even means—muscle tone? Power? The ability to rip someone in half with one hand?

Regardless of where you fall on the Zangief-to-Exhibit spectrum, we all agreed on one thing: the rules were vibes only, and that’s what makes it fun.