Death Battle Retrospective: Eps 161-171

 

Ah yes the iconic Phoenix force Wolverine

Episode 161: Magneto vs Tetsou

G1 Blog:

https://g1dbteamblogs.blogspot.com/2022/06/death-battle-predictions-magneto-vs.html 

Tetsuo Blog:

https://ulltraguy.blogspot.com/2022/06/character-analysis-tetsuo-shimafeat.html

Magneto Blog:

https://ulltraguy.blogspot.com/2022/06/character-analysis-magneto.html 

I believe this was the first fight that DJ wrote. I’m not a particular fan of either character, but I remember him having a lot of passion for it. I also recall the idea of this ep had been thrown around for a bit, but there were animation issues that stopped it from progressing until this season.

Anyway the fight itself was fairly good and I recall being impressed at all the scientific principles used in the fight. Not much else to add.

Episode 162: Hercules vs Sun Wukong

G1 Blog:

https://g1dbteamblogs.blogspot.com/2022/06/death-battle-predictions-heracles-vs.html 

Hercules Blog:

https://ulltraguy.blogspot.com/2022/06/character-analysis-herakles-feat-djtiki.html 

Sun Wukong Blog:

https://ulltraguy.blogspot.com/2022/06/character-analysis-son-wukong-feat-lousy.html 

Another good fight. I think that it proposed unique challenges given its based on historical mythology. According to Lousy the only people more crazy than the vs crowd are history buffs, so they made it a point to dot the Is and cross the Ts. Unfortunately there was an editing error that was unable to be rectified. 

Overall the majority of history buffs seemed to like the fight, so I guess that was an accomplishment.  I recall Hercules getting a decent amount of support, but most agreed that Wukong winning was the most realistic. I also liked the narration in the background during the final blow.

Episode 163: Boba Fett vs Predator

G1 Blog:

https://g1dbteamblogs.blogspot.com/2022/07/death-battle-predictions-boba-fett-vs.html 

Boba Blog:

https://ulltraguy.blogspot.com/2022/07/character-analysis-boba-fett-feat-grand.html 

Predator Blog:

https://ulltraguy.blogspot.com/2022/07/character-analysis-predator-feat.html 

I think Boba winning this episode was pretty much a given. Other than that I don’t think I remember it too much. I recall it being fairly well received though.

Bonus Episode: Excalibur vs Raiden

Raiden Blog:

https://ulltraguy.blogspot.com/2022/07/character-analysis-raiden-feat-lousy.html 

Excalibur Blog:

 https://ulltraguy.blogspot.com/2022/07/character-anslysi-excalibur-feat.html 

This was another bonus fight that was sponsored by an outside company. Personally I think it’s a better episode than the “seven” and could probably stand on its own as a numbered episode. I recall the company that owns Excalibur also being pretty supportive and saying they didn’t care if they lost or not.

The fight itself was fairly good, and a bit more acrobatic than Raiden’s original fight. I also recall Wiz and Boomstick interrupting the fight at points via the codec system, which was cool.

Episode 164: James Bond vs John Wick

G1 Blog:

https://g1dbteamblogs.blogspot.com/2022/09/death-battle-predictions-james-bond-vs.html 

John Wick Blog:

https://ulltraguy.blogspot.com/2022/09/character-analysis-john-wick-feat-grand.html

James Bong Blog:

https://ulltraguy.blogspot.com/2022/09/character-analysis-james-bond-feat-swan.html 

John Wick is not a normal human. I watched some of the movies after this episode came out and l I think that every bone in his body should have been broken after the 4th one. Anyway I realize some people were disappointed that the episode wasn’t Bourne, but I think Wick makes sense given this popularity at the time. 

As for the animation I recall it being kinda choppy at the beginning, but it improved going into the second half. Wick’s more down to earth series was always gonna put him at a disadvantage against the more over the top Bond series.

Episode 165: Black Adam vs Apocalypse

G1 Blog:

https://g1dbteamblogs.blogspot.com/2022/09/death-battle-predictions-black-adam-vs.html 

Black Adam Blog:

https://ulltraguy.blogspot.com/2022/09/character-analysis-black-adam.html 

Apocalypse Blog:

https://ulltraguy.blogspot.com/2022/09/character-analysis-apocalypsefeat-akuma.html 

Another fight that DJ wrote. I remember it being pretty fast paced and having a fairly gory ending.This was a fight that I recall being a huge upset in terms of victory. Luckily most people seemed to roll with it and even made some memes on the subject.

Episode 166: Trunks vs Silver

G1 Blog:

https://g1dbteamblogs.blogspot.com/2022/10/death-battle-predictions-xeno-trunks-vs.html 

Silver Blog:

https://ulltraguy.blogspot.com/2022/10/analysis-archie-silver-feat-grand.html 

Trunks Blog:

https://ulltraguy.blogspot.com/2022/10/character-analysis-xeno-trunks.html 

I liked the music on this ep, which I helped Brandon pay for. Stuff like the time rewinding segment and redirection of the energy beams was really cool. Tbh I don’t care much for the Silver meme references, but people seemed to like those, so it’s whatever. 

I will say the debate on this one got a bit more “heated”. I got the feeling at times there were people who hadn’t watched or read either series. People initially did not seem to be aware of Archie Specific stuff Silver had or that most of the games became canon to the comic. Heroes was also initially seen as this weird fanfic thing a lot of people were actively against having show use in official episodes.

The G1 blog also spent a lot more time debating certain topics than I would say was reasonable. Towards the end when it was clear Silver was going to win the vote, supposedly there were people on Trunks' side who tried to Pm others to attempt to get them to change their alliance. Not…….. a great look tbh. 

I will also say please do not drag Archie or Sega’s writers into power scaling discussion. A lot of them seem to be really nice people, and I’m sure it probably looks bad when you have tons of fans actively bothering them on Sonic fights in a public location. You should make it a point to be respectful to them, cause they probably already have a lot to deal with within the Sonic fandom already.

Episode 167: Spongebob vs Aquaman

 

G1 Blog:

https://g1dbteamblogs.blogspot.com/2022/10/death-battle-predictions-spongebob-vs.html 

Spongebob Blog:

https://ulltraguy.blogspot.com/2022/10/character-analysis-spongebob-djtikiultra.html 

Aquaman Blog:

https://ulltraguy.blogspot.com/2022/10/character-analysis-super-friends.html 

This is one of my favorite episodes of this season and I actually helped substantially on it despite not being directly technically assigned. DJ watched the majority of the early seasons of Spongebob. While I watched a lot of the stuff that sucks ass like Camp Krusty, and post season 3 episodes and  the comics.

Overall this ep does a great job of keeping a light tone while still respecting both characters despite it being an obvious stomp in Spongebob’s favor. I actually watched Super Friends later on while doing Superman research btw. It kinda sucks that Aquaman’s rep got ruined for so long due to this show, despite literally everything in it being so silly. The ending is also pretty heartfelt.

Episode 168: Jason vs Michael

G1 Blog:

https://g1dbteamblogs.blogspot.com/2022/10/death-battle-predictions-jason-voorhees.html 

Jason Blog:

https://ulltraguy.blogspot.com/2022/10/character-analysis-jason-voorhees-feat.html 

Michael Blog:

https://ulltraguy.blogspot.com/2022/10/character-analysis-michael-myers-feat.html 

This episode is ok. I think a bit too much focus is placed on the campers compared to the combatants, and the ep isn’t long enough to totally make bank on the “horror” concept. The host analysis being a set of stories around a campfire was super cool though.

Episode 169:  Sauron vs Lich King

G1 Blog:

https://g1dbteamblogs.blogspot.com/2022/11/death-battle-predictions-sauron-vs-lich.html 

Sauron Blog:

https://ulltraguy.blogspot.com/2022/11/character-analysis-sauron.html 

Lich King Blog:

https://ulltraguy.blogspot.com/2022/11/character-analysis-lich-king-feat.html 

Yet another fight I don’t have too much investment in. I thought it was good for the most part. The dialogue seemed well written as well. 

The most memorable part was people in the casual fandom not knowing who Sauron was. Granted I’ll admit I myself only know his name and looks, not his history or whatever.

Episode 170: Deku vs Asta

G1 Blog:

https://g1dbteamblogs.blogspot.com/2022/11/death-battle-predictions-deku-vs-asta.html 

Asta Blog:

https://ulltraguy.blogspot.com/2022/11/character-analysis-asta-feat-felicia.html

Deku Blog:

https://ulltraguy.blogspot.com/2022/11/character-analysis-deku-feat-grand.html 

The weirdest part of this fight is how people seemed to take issue with Asta not stomping “hard enough”. I’ve never seen that happen before. It was as if Black Clover’s fanbase couldn’t understand that the animation was just for the sake of entertainment.

Anyway I know some people think Asta’s characterization is a bit mixed, but I thought the fight was enjoyable. I thought the family guy falling meme used at the end was also pretty funny. 

One joke I remember Swan bringing up was that Asta’s “hit really hard” comment wasn’t meant to be downplaying his intelligence. It was actually Deku overthinking the battle, when ultimately it was just gonna come down to who hits harder.

Episode 171: Gogeta vs Vegito

G1 Blog:

https://g1dbteamblogs.blogspot.com/2022/12/death-battle-predictions-gogeta-vs.html 

Gogeta Blog:

https://ulltraguy.blogspot.com/2022/12/character-analysis-gogeta.html 

Vegito Blog:

https://ulltraguy.blogspot.com/2022/12/character-analysis-vegito-feat-akuma.html 

I actually don’t have a lot to say on this episode. I think the winner is pretty clear cut, since it mostly just comes down to canonical statements and the time limits. I recall there was debate throughout the episode on what sources should be used, with them eventually just deciding to soft composite anything we could find on the fusion. Despite the subject being somewhat sparse, I also think Swan did a good job of filling out the host script and making it engaging.

The fight itself is your standard Dragon Ball fair, but  itdoes a good job of adding variety by changing the scenery via reality breaks. The ending was also pretty nice with the fist bump.

One thing I often remember with this episode is that one prominent youtube DB power scaler got mad about the episode, but then proceeded to use the exact same logic the show did in his own explanation. I still can’t figure that one out.