Auron's a badass. Red XIII is a badass with vulnerabilities, a moving (though granted, fairly straightforward) local storyline and he helps form a needed logical foundation when characters start getting loopy. And I personally find Cosmo Canyon one of my favourite sections of Disc 1, although I know a surprising number of people don't very much care for any of it.

Either deserve to win this, but I don't think Red XIII is a novelty character. If anything Cait Sith is your novelty character although even it gains a semblence of depth in the latter stages of the game.