So earlier this year, it was announced that Rooster Teeth was being shut down, and as someone who has been on the internet for pretty much most of my life, it was a bit of a bummer to hear the news, even if I had made statements about Rooster Teeth being kinda sucky. Plus, it made myself, and a bunch of others, curious about what would happen to their shows, namely RWBY, Red vs Blue and the one I was most curious about, Death Battle. Recently though, it was announced that Death Battle creators, Ben Singer and Chad James and a few others, managed to acquire the rights to the show Death Battle and have finished crowdfunding campaign to continue on with the show. Now, I'm excited because Death Battle is genuinely one of my favourite web-shows because it really tapped into conversations we've all had as kids, who would win in a fight? Seriously, if you were into any media as a kid and you had friends, you've had this conversation at least once, could SpongeBob beat Aquaman? Could Mario beat Sonic the Hedgehog? Could, I dunno... Lena from DuckTales fight Hunter from The Owl House?
Now being as I am excited to see this series return, I knew I had to do a blog about it, but what type of blog? Well, I could do one about what match-ups I'd like to see, and while I'd love to talk about Cybersix vs Jack from Bioshock, or Katara vs Lapis Lazuli, I've already done that on my Tumblr, so what haven't I talked about? Well, the battles we do have!
Seriously, I can't believe I haven't talked about my favourite fights in Death Battle before, I think it's because I wanted to save it for a different top ten list idea, the top ten animated fight scenes, but that idea hasn't materialized so I'll do it now, but I do feel like I need to get some ground rules out of the way, because Death Battle, and really versus debates as a whole, kind of lead to a lot of... y'know, the "Ak-shoo-allee" types, so let me state for the record;
1. Just because I am a fan of these fights, doesn't mean I necessarily agree with the outcome.
2. This list is about the fights themselves, not the analysis or research
3. It's my own damn list, so shut up!
That all being said, it's time for a Death Battle countdown!
I think this one is a pretty good standard match-up. Nothing too flashy, nothing too over-the-top, just an entertaining duel between similar enough characters. I'm not actually a huge fan of either Tolkien or Warcraft, so I don't know that much about either character, save for the basics. I'm also really amused at how this is actually one of the biggest time-gaps between characters in Death Battle history. Lots of people will bring up some of the badass lines and moments, and those do elevate this battle quite a bit, but I think on its own, this is just a solid fight that is always one I enjoy coming back to.
9. Samurai Jack vs Afro Samurai
This battle's strength is in how well they emulate the feeling of a Samurai Jack episode, a lot of the editing and shots feel like they were lifted directly out of an episode of Samurai Jack. I didn't grow up with Samurai Jack, I watched it a bit later in life, and I liked it. It was one of those shows that took heavy inspiration from the anime that was becoming more popular in the west, so it makes sense that they would pit him up against a manga character. I do think it is the style that elevates this one for me more than anything else, more than anything, it does make me want to get back into Samurai Jack. I'm not super into the hand-drawn style they used, it just doesn't look super right for Jack, but it does fit the match-up so I guess that's just me.
8. Chuck Norris vs Segata Sanshiro
Oh man, I remember when this battle came out, being a huge fan of Screwattack's Top Ten videos, I was familiar with Segata Sanshiro, the Japanese advertising mascot for the Sega Saturn, and of course we all love the Chuck Norris jokes, so this battle was bound to be epic, and it was... for season 2. Yeah, early Death Battle match-ups do have a bit of a different feel to them rather than more modern ones, if I was gonna do a Crash Thompson style "How To Get Into" about Death Battle, I'm probably put Seasons 1 and 2 in the Procced with Caution section, but they both have good episodes, though it does say something about the season when the joke battle that ends with the fighters destroying the entire galaxy and they are still canonically fighting is one of the better episodes of the season.
If I had to pick a battle that represents the match-ups I thought we're gonna be lesser in some way (Not necessarily bad, but maybe pretty obvious) but ended up being really fun, I think I'd go with this one. I think my initial thought was that, being that Twisted Metal is primarily a vehicular combat game, I mean it wasn't that I thought Joker was outmatched, but I thought it was a bit unfair. Of course now knowing about the Joker-Mobile, the actual vehicular part of this battle was quite fun, and honestly I do wish it went on a bit more. However, seeing Joker just mess-around with Needles was just hilarious, so I do think the rest of the battle is equally satisfactory. It does go to show, sometimes weird ideas work, and work better than good ideas.
6. Goku Black vs Reverse-Flash
I think this battle was the biggest surprise to me, when I first watched it I genuinely did not anticipate the winner. Beyond that, I think this is another really entertaining battle, it is easily my favourite of the predominately sprite-animated battles. I was vaguely familiar with Reverse-Flash, I knew he existed, but not being a comics reader at the time, I just kind of figured he was an evil version of The Flash. I think this was a great introduction to the character for me, his behavior was just the right amount of vile that he was entertaining to watch. Also, I have to give points for one of the most gruesome defeats in Death Battle history, not the most brutal, but I do think it's got to be up there.
This fight was just straight up funny. Like the basic concept alone, Mortal Kombat champion Goro fighting just an average Pokémon, I mean, that's just hilarious. What's even funnier is that this isn't a joke battle like SpongeBob vs Aquaman, they do actually take this one as seriously as any other Death Battle episode. Just the idea of Goro getting repeatedly frustrated by a Pokémon is grounds enough to warrant putting this battle on the list for me, like I think this may be my pick for funniest Death Battle fight, at the very least a close second. Also, when Goro tells Machamp to face death like a warrior, I don't speak Machamp, but I'm pretty sure its response was "you first".
4. Ratchet & Clank vs Jak & Daxter
Now this one, this one is special to me. As a PlayStation 2 kid, I was very familiar with Jak & Daxter, and my brother did also play a lot of Ratchet & Clank, so this was a match-up we probably would have discussed as kids. Seeing this battle just brings me a fun feeling of nostalgia, it's match-ups like this that really do make these kinds of debates fun. Seeing characters I have known since childhood actually squaring off... you know in something that isn't complete crap, it just puts a big smile on my face.
Remember when I said that if Goro vs Machamp wasn't the funniest than it was a close second? This battle may be the one that gives Goro vs Machamp a competition for the title. First off, it's Popeye, straight up I don't think they could have done this battle without making it funny considering that Popeye's rubber hose animation style lends itself to slapstick gags. Secondly, the transition between animation styles is just an amazing touch, they even have a style that gives a nod to the original comic strip that Popeye originated from. Though the 3D Popeye model was a weird choice, I mean seriously, when you have a cartoonish model for Saitama and a realistic model for Popeye, that's just bizarre, at least the model could have looked like Robin Williams a little. They really did go all out on this battle, and I think it's because they knew nobody was gonna be fooled, Saitama might be the One Punch Man, but Popeye is Popeye the Sailor Man.
For a while, this was actually my favourite battle. It was such a unique kind of match-up that Death Battle hasn't really done since. Snake and Fisher, both being characters from Stealth based video games, take more stealthy approaches to this battle, resorting to out maneuvering each other as often as they try to beat each other up. I also really like how this felt more like a team based battle, as it was just Snake and Fisher, but also Otacon and Grim, which leas to a battle brain just as much as a battle of brawn. There is a lot about season 2 that doesn't really hold up very well, but I think this one still holds up. It's a unique battle but doesn't stray too far from the formula. Really, the question is, why isn't this my favourite anymore, and I think I know the answer as to why.
For a brief period of time, I was into pro-wrestling, and it made sense. There was something primal about it, something that tapped into a basic part of my brain, it was watching two people fight, and I believe that might have been one of the earliest form of entertainment. I bring this up because, the main gimmick behind Balrog vs TJ Combo is that it begins like a standard boxing match, and I absolutely adore it. I like that they are using a gimmick not as a way to make a battle different, but as a way to enhance the battle. Of course these two would meet up in a boxing match, of course they would take things to seriously and actually go this far, none of it fails to work. I think this is also a great example of taking an idea that didn't work and fixing it, because it is very similar to the episode Hercule Satan vs Dan Hibiki, where the gimmick was that it was a match-up set in the Tournament of Power, but it didn't work there because it felt much slower and was clearly played more for comedy, which makes sense considering the characters, but that was about it. This battle is much faster paced and the announcer isn't as annoying in this one. This battle is my favourite because it is everything I appreciate about Death Battle, it is not too different, not completely the same, and it is a better version of a battle that I didn't really like that much. Gotta give props for this one, it's good.
I am really happy that Death Battle is coming back, and while I can't say I'm super excited for Omni-Man Vs Bardock, I think it's just gonna be Goku Vs Superman Part 4, I can't say I won't watch it, I might even watch it as a premier if they do that. Will the upcoming season have any battles that usurp these as my favourites? Maybe, there are quite a few I am looking forward to, but as of now, we're just going to have to wait and see. Until next time, I'll see y'all in the ring.
Oh yeah, and some honourable mentions:
Batman vs Spider-Man - Definitely worth a mention, I feel like this was really the point where Death Battle really started to get refined into the series it is now. Granted a lot more refining had to be done, but I think this one is where it all started.
Crash vs Spyro - As a massive Spyro fan, I do like this battle, but I think it's just a bit too goofy for my taste.
Aang vs Edward Elric - If we ignore the show ignoring Aang's pacifism for this battle, it was a pretty solid fight.
Ghost Rider vs Lobo - Probably my second favourite Marvel vs DC match-up.
Cable vs Booster Gold - Second to this one.
Deadpool vs Deathstroke - This fight was just funny.
Red vs Blue - The new voice cast weirded me out a bit, but the fight itself was really good, and in keeping with the actual Red vs Blue series.
Pretty Much all of Season 10 - I didn't really want to include Season 10 on this list because, this season was just the best and it would have taken up like, half of this list if I included any of the battles, so I decided to play it safe. If you're curious, my favourite battle from this season is Frieza vs Megatron.
Ben 10 vs Green Lantern - PSYCHE!! I actually don't care about this one, I was never a Ben 10 or DC comics kid, so as far as I'm concerned this battle was a meh. I do enjoy a harmless trolling sometimes though.
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