This game would feature fatalities, xrays, etc.

What do yall think about this roster is there anything you would change?

Part 196: Simon the Digger Vs. Kyle Rayner

Ladies and gentlemen, we have finally arrived at one of my most anticipated battles to finally get a review in. It is none other than Simon the Digger versus Kyle Rayner. This, this is such a wondrous occasion to finally get to review this one because when it was announced that this battle was happening, everybody lost it. Even during the Kickstarter campaign, everybody was like, holy shit, they're actually doing it, what the fuck? And for good reason, because this is one of those battles that can really go beyond anything that we have seen before. And to see if DEATH BATTLE has truly achieved that, let's dive on in.

We start with Simon's rundown. And in the world of Gurren Lagann, things start out pretty dark, but literally, because all our main characters reside underground, where they are forced to dig and dig up scrap, until Simon, our wondrous little brother in this story, finds the Core Drill and is able to finally power up the mech that his brother, Kamina, hid underground, so they could finally escape the underground and see the sun for the first time. And with Kamina at the lead, he would lead Simon and his people to fight the elusive Beastmen that live on the surface. They also score a new mech called Gurren. And with Gurren and Lagann finally together, they created, well, Gurren Lagann. And yes, giant fighting robots are sick. And this one is probably the sickest of all. It runs on willpower, it gets bigger with every single transformation, as you will see later in this rundown, and it just looks cool. Like, the sleek-ass shades that it wears on its torso and head are so iconic and cool. And honestly, the drills that he wields amongst his entire body are excessive, over the top, and also really cool. Seeing the Giga Drill Break for the first time in the anime was so riveting for me. And everything was going pretty well against the Beastmen, until unfortunately, Kamina died. Which is still one of the biggest shocks in an anime ever, that Kamina died not even halfway through the show. And with his final words, he entrusted Simon with the words to believe in the Simon that believes in him. How touching.

And now with Kamina gone, Simon was actually alone for the first time, with no proper guidance from his brother who shed light upon his entire world. But eventually, he did reclaim the light that his brother left behind and beat Lordgenome until the Anti-Spiral arrived. Because the willpower in Gurren Lagann is their Spiral Energy. And Spiral Energy, when used properly, can go until infinity. So people's willpower is also infinity, and that is what the Anti-Spiral feared. And this is where Gurren Lagann went crazy. Spiral Power can do basically anything as long as it can adapt to the situation. And honestly, the dimensional gaps, dimensional explaining, and how overpowered Simon becomes in the story is even incomprehensible to the hosts of the show. Because it is incomprehensible. To the point where Simon started to merge with every multiversal alias of himself and combining it into one. Which finally made the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, which is so incredibly big. Why is this thing larger than multiple universes? And if that wasn't enough, we, Simon, with his willpower alone like the badass he is, evolved one more time into the Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, which was even bigger, standing on universes, becoming the biggest thing that I've ever seen in fiction ever. And his drill is even bigger than that. I'm losing my mind. AND HIS DRILL IS EVEN BIGGER THAN THAT! And it's so incredibly cool. All through the indomitable human spirit. This is so incredibly motivating and cool, I love it. Because Simon's drill is the drill that would pierce the heavens, and my God, he did it. The son of a bitch actually did it. What a cool rundown, man. Holy shit. It really takes me back to the first time that I've watched Gurren Lagann.

And now we move on to Kyle Rayner's rundown, and it starts off with a little reminder of who the Green Lanterns are, as well as a reminder of who Hal Jordan is. And they even throw in a pretty funny joke about how you might hate him, which is obviously calling back to the whole Ben 10 vs. Green Lantern controversy from back in the day. That's pretty funny. Anyway, in one story, Hal Jordan witnessed his hometown being destroyed, and he completely lost it. He went insane, killed basically everybody in the Green Lantern Corps, collected their rings, absorbed the Green Lantern power itself, and eventually became Parallax. And when basically everything had gone to shit, one of the surviving founders of the Green Lanterns managed to give the last known Green Lantern ring to one person: Kyle Rayner. And there was nobody to guide him. Kyle wasn't exactly the most qualified person for the job either, and he had absolutely no idea what this ring was capable of or how he was supposed to use it. They then go over what Green Lanterns can actually do with their rings, and the answer is basically... Anything.

As long as you have enough willpower to do it, you can basically create whatever you want. You're only really limited by your own imagination, which is such a cool concept. And this is where Kyle had a massive advantage. He's a comic book artist. So when you give a comic book artist a magical ring that lets him manifest literally anything he can imagine... Yeah. His imagination can go wild. Kyle still had a lot to learn, though, because his stupidity and lack of control eventually led to one of his biggest villains killing his girlfriend and, yes... Shoving her into a fridge. You know how comic books are. After finally becoming more serious and learning how to properly use his abilities, Kyle eventually rebuilt the entire Green Lantern Corps himself and helped the Justice League defeat Hal Jordan. But that was only the beginning of his journey. Kyle was eventually destined to become the first Lantern capable of wielding every single ring in the emotional spectrum. And there are seven different Lantern colors that you need to know about. We already have green, which represents willpower. Then there's yellow, representing fear. Red, representing rage. Orange, representing greed. Blue, representing hope. Indigo, representing compassion. And violet, representing love.

Kyle somehow managed to wield all of them. And considering the emotional and physical toll that comes with using these different rings, that's already an insane achievement. But Kyle eventually pushed himself even further and achieved his final form. nHe became the first White Lantern. The White Light represents life itself, giving Kyle control over life on an entirely different level. And because of this, Kyle became one of the most powerful Lanterns to ever live. He even acquired the opposite of Darkseid's Anti-Life Equation... The Life Equation. And this basically represents the proof that life itself is worth living. With this power, Kyle could literally rewrite reality on a whim. But, unfortunately... Kyle couldn't contain all of that power forever. And all that power eventually manifested his greatest fear. Himself. Kyle created a gigantic enemy that represented the darkest parts of his own personality, essentially giving physical form to the side of himself that he was afraid of becoming. And eventually, Kyle realized something very important. He shouldn't have to carry all of this responsibility by himself. So instead of continuing to try and contain everything alone, Kyle split the Life Equation into several different parts, creating the White Lantern Corps, who were finally able to defeat his dark counterpart. And through all of this, Kyle eventually became something more than just an incredibly powerful Lantern. He became a mentor. He understood that when you're given something with this much power and responsibility, you can't simply be told how to use it. You have to learn for yourself. You have to make mistakes. You have to learn from those mistakes and become better. Which is exactly what Kyle did throughout his entire life. And honestly... Great rundown once again, man.

And now, we move on to the battle. We've seen Simon cut down some mountains for training purposes, I guess. But before he can launch his sunglasses blades, he gets stopped by a green hand, which turns out to be Kyle Rayner. Kyle says that he needs to take Simon's gigantic mech, and Simon responds, "Why don't you make me?" And so the battle ensues. Pretty simple beginning. Kyle Rayner is voiced by Brandon Acosta, and Simon is voiced by Kieran Regan. Both do a really good job voicing these characters, not gonna lie.

And now the battle starts, and we instantly get a great representation of Kyle's endless imagination as he conjures up a gigantic boxer who looks just like Balrog, that starts boxing with Simon. And honestly, the clash between hand-drawn animation and sprite animation here isn't actually too noticeable and looks pretty good. Then Kyle summons a gigantic vacuum cleaner that sucks up all the drills Simon is launching towards him, and transforms that vacuum cleaner into a dragon that whips around Simon, binding him together. Simon then propels himself forward and headbutts Kyle away until Kyle comes back with even bigger horns that he made using the red ring and knocks Simon back.

And in a pretty comical move, Kyle makes a gigantic golf player that uses Simon as a gigantic golf ball to whack him away. He knocks off his head, and Kyle takes this opportunity to take the mech away. But being only a head, Simon pilots the head into outer space chasing Kyle. And the drill attached to the head finally reattaches itself to the rest of the mech.

And with the mech now finally combined once again, he uses his Spiral Power and a great transformation sequence to make the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. And the text box in Japanese and English that appears alongside it while bursting literally out of the universe is amazing. And you can see how big it is. He is beyond what Kyle can literally perceive in size. So when he sees the gigantic foot of Gurren Lagann trying to stomp him down, Kyle literally absorbs all the stars in the universe, making him the White Lantern, and makes a gigantic version of his own, which looks like Superman. Which is so appropriate that that is the light of the universe.

And he makes a sword and shield that battles a gigantic mech, and this is amazing. It is so cool. These two universal-sized beings duking it out. And then they start quoting the amazing lines from Gurren Lagann. Saying stuff like, "Do the impossible, see the invisible, touch the untouchable, and break the unbreakable." If you ain't know, now you know! Oh, I love it. And the sequence here is so incredibly cool. With the Superman connections from the gigantic form that Kyle made, even summoning eye lasers and launching them at Simon, is so cool. Simon even summons the drills that will hit anything. So even when Kyle tries to suck them all away into little black holes, they still manage to hit him, which honestly surprises him.

Then Simon makes a gigantic whip and attaches it to Kyle, swings him around, and takes him all the way towards the Source Wall. And if there's a wall in Simon's way, he's going to drill through it and go beyond. So he makes a gigantic drill with Gurren Lagann that drills straight through the Source Wall, which is absolutely insane, which is like the end of the universe. And now they are beyond the concept of reality and time. But Kyle uses all of the colors of the emotional spectrum and tries to convince Simon that he should give up. But Simon says, screw that, thinks about Kamina's words about believing in himself, and goes even further beyond, making the Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, which looks absolutely amazing. The animation here is so incredibly cool. He pulls off his cape and makes a gigantic drill that's even bigger.

But Kyle doesn't give up. He smiles and makes several drills that have all the colors of the Lantern Rings to clash with Simon. And it is absolutely insane. Reality literally cannot handle these two characters fighting as they break infinity, it seems, and they land back in their own universe, seemingly being remade throughout all the fighting that they have done. And now they're both powered down to their most vulnerable forms. Kyle is just in his Lantern form, and Simon is outside of his mech.

And now we get probably the best part of the entire fight, where they are both on opposite ends, and we get a reference to the fight between Simon and the Anti-Spiral. And we get a pure fight of hands. They start scrapping, beating the shit out of each other, and it looks amazing with the black and white punching each other in the face. And all the while, Kyle recites his greatest line: "In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil's might beware my power..." As both of them make drills in their hands: "GREEN LANTERNS LIGHT!"

The music kicks in, and it is absolutely amazing. Both of the drills break on contact, but Simon's fist is greater, punching through Kyle's fist and directly into his face, ending the fight. Kyle finally accepts his defeat, saying that Simon would make a great Lantern. And Simon ends the fight with: "Just who do you think I am?" Absolutely peak fiction.

And I have to talk about the track made for this battle, Spiral of Emotion, composed by Brandon Yates. And it is such a cool track, featuring many references to the Gurren Lagann opening, Sorairo Days, which is pretty iconic because it was an opening that was used throughout the entire show. And apparently, according to the wiki, it even features references to some fan-made tracks, which is a really cool touch. It is an incredibly cool track that really fits the fight. It's not one of my absolute favorites, but it is still a definite great song and a perfect accompaniment to all the ridiculous shit happening on screen.

And finally, we reach the end, and man, I've never felt so proud to be human, you know? It's basically what the battle comes down to: humanity's endless willpower to go beyond, evolve, break beyond their limits, and prove that nothing is impossible. And that is greatly showcased in Simon's and Kyle's rundowns, where they talk about how both of them went beyond their limits of what everyone thought was possible from them and showed the world that literally nothing is impossible. These two rundowns are so incredibly great. I can't stop fawning about them. They don't just explain why Simon and Kyle are ridiculously powerful; they explain the journeys that made them into the people capable of reaching those heights.

But what's even greater, in my opinion, is the fight. The animation is splendid. The use of sprite animation and hand-drawn animation is really cool, and the sheer scale of everything they managed to animate is ridiculous. The constructs that Kyle makes with all the Lantern Rings are amazing, especially the Superman form that he creates, and the way that the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann looks, fights, and animates is also incredibly cool. I really wanted this fight to go beyond what was possible, showcasing multiversal stuff, going beyond reality and time, and generally just going completely insane with its scale. And they delivered on that aspect and more. The only thing that I really wished happened more is that they showed off more of the other Gurren Lagann forms. Considering how many transformations Simon has, I would've loved to see some of them before jumping all the way to the biggest ones. But that's my only real nitpick. Besides that, this battle is excellent.

97/100

The new ra card lets your life points drop to 1. So you can draw 4 cards with this card. Would be pretty funny

So I had this idea of making an fighting game roster with anime characters that could be in a more brutal style game akin to Mortal Kombat, so I want to see a roster full of anime characters who you can see in a mortal kombat style game with alot of gore and violence.

Every character has like an x-ray move with fatalities. But its alot more colourful and stylized compared to MK

Part 182: Frieza Vs. Megatron

So, here we are once again in Season 10, a season that has been absolutely fucking banging so far. Seriously, man, it almost feels like I'm glazing Death Battle at this point, but what else am I supposed to do when they keep dropping episode after episode that ranges from really good to downright amazing? And this time we're talking about Frieza vs. Megatron. What a matchup, man. On one side, we have Frieza, one of the biggest and most iconic anime villains ever created. On the other side, we have Megatron, one of the most legendary cartoon villains of all time, especially if you grew up during the 80s and 90s when Transformers was absolutely everywhere. This is one of those matchups that just feels right on paper, so needless to say, I was very excited to get into this one.

We start with Frieza's rundown, and Death Battle wastes absolutely no time reminding you that Frieza is one of the most evil motherfuckers to ever exist. If Frieza is heading towards your planet, you better start making peace with whatever god you pray to because there is a very real chance he decides to blow your entire world up just because he's bored. Boomstick joking about Frieza looking kind of cute is hilarious because sure, he looks harmless at first glance, but underneath that tiny body is enough genocidal energy to make most villains look like amateurs. One thing I genuinely learned from this episode is the inspiration behind Frieza. Apparently, Akira Toriyama based him on real estate land sharks, which is such a hilariously specific thing that it somehow makes Frieza even funnier as a character. The fact that one of the most feared beings in anime history was inspired by aggressive property owners is peak fiction. Death Battle also does a solid job explaining how weird Frieza is within Dragon Ball itself. Most Dragon Ball characters are constantly trying to get stronger, but Frieza literally suppresses his own power because otherwise he would accidentally vaporize everything around him. Despite being tiny, the amount of raw power packed into that little body is absurd.

Of course, they also cover his mastery of Ki and all the ridiculous techniques that come with it. Death Beams, Death Balls, Death Saucers—honestly, Frieza naming everything after death is simultaneously the edgiest thing imaginable and the most in-character thing imaginable. They also touch on one of the most infamous moments in Dragon Ball history: Frieza blowing up Planet Vegeta because he got paranoid that someone might eventually surpass him. The funniest part is that he was actually right. Killing Frieza is also a nightmare because even when he's dead, he's still causing problems. The man was a menace in Hell, got revived for the Tournament of Power, and then somehow became even stronger because he finally decided to train for the first time in his entire life. That's still one of the most infuriating things about Dragon Ball. Frieza spent decades relying entirely on natural talent, then trained for a few months and became Golden Frieza. The fact that they even covered Black Frieza here was really cool because, if I remember correctly, Black Frieza had only recently appeared when this episode came out. Seeing them incorporate such a recent transformation into both the analysis and the fight was genuinely awesome.

My only real complaint is that they don't spend nearly enough time discussing Frieza as a character. They briefly touch on moments like him teaming up with Goku during the Tournament of Power, but outside of that, the rundown is very power-focused and doesn't really dive into what makes Frieza such a compelling villain beyond being evil. It's still good, but it definitely could've used more character work.

Then we move on to Megatron's rundown, and honestly, I found this one more interesting. We start on Cybertron before everything went completely to shit, and I really liked seeing them focus on Megatron's origins rather than immediately jumping into giant robot warfare. Before he became the tyrant we all know, Megatron was actually just a worker who wrote a manifesto advocating for change on Cybertron. The fact that his ideas became so popular that people literally tried to assassinate him is insane.

Honestly, the whole thing starts sounding suspiciously similar to somebody else from history, but thankfully Megatron doesn't have a little mustache, so we're safe there, and of course we are safe because Megatron was going to use his manifesto for the good of Cybertron. After surviving that experience, Megatron basically lost faith in peaceful solutions altogether and concluded that violence was the only path forward. It's tragic in a weird way because his original goals weren't even entirely wrong. They then dive into his powers, and good lord, Megatron is ridiculous. His arm cannon alone is a weapon of mass destruction, and that's before you get into the Energon mace, Energon shield, force fields, eye lasers, and all the different forms he can transform into. Personally, I've always liked his tank form the most.

It just feels right for Megatron. They also cover some of his crazier feats, like surviving explosions powerful enough to move Cybertron itself. Then they start talking about the black hole powers, and at that point we're fully in comic book insanity territory. What I really appreciated, though, was how they handled Megatron's character arc. After nine million years of war, the fighting itself eventually lost all meaning. The original goals became buried beneath endless conflict. And after all that time, Megatron actually had a moment of self-reflection and eventually became an Autobot. You could really say that he... transformed. Hehehehehe. I'll see myself out.

Now we get to the fight itself, and man, this setup is awesome. A ship approaches Cybertron, and sitting inside is Frieza, who has decided that this planet now belongs to him. Naturally, he demands Megatron surrender or die. Unfortunately for Frieza, Megatron has spent nine million years fighting for Cybertron and isn't exactly in the mood to hand it over to some floating space lizard. Martin Billany absolutely kills it as Frieza, which isn't surprising considering he voiced Frieza in Dragon Ball Z Abridged. What really surprised me, though, was Tom Schalk as Megatron. My God, this guy sounds incredible. Every line delivery is dripping with authority and menace. And speaking of dialogue, the shit-talking in this episode is phenomenal. Frieza saying, "I love it when they monologue back," genuinely got a laugh out of me.

The fight kicks off immediately with Frieza launching a giant Death Ball at Cybertron, only for Megatron to bounce the damn thing right back at him. Frieza casually erases it because of course he does. From there we get a really fun back-and-forth of Death Beams, shields, force fields, fusion blasts, and hand-to-hand combat. One of my favorite moments early on is Megatron trapping Frieza inside a force field with him so he can actually land hits. It's such a smart move. Also, Megatron calling Frieza a "blithering ponce" is genuinely one of the greatest insults in Death Battle history.

Visually, this fight is gorgeous. DevilArtemis once again proves why he's the GOAT. The models look fantastic, Cybertron itself looks amazing, and the effects throughout the battle are incredible. The Energon mace has some clipping issues and could've used better texturing, but honestly, it looks cool enough that I didn't care much. The battle escalates beautifully as Megatron starts pulling out heavier weapons while Frieza gets increasingly annoyed. Eventually Frieza blows up a massive chunk of Cybertron and Megatron responds by entering his tank form and firing one of the coolest-looking energy blasts in the entire episode. The effects around it are incredible. Then Frieza finally transforms into Golden Frieza, and the transformation is animated almost exactly like it is in the anime. Huge props there.

The battle somehow manages to keep escalating from there. Megatron launches himself toward Frieza by firing his tank cannon behind himself, which is one of the coolest uses of a transformation I've seen in a while. Frieza, in response, literally starts pulling Cybertron itself toward Megatron. The visual of an entire planet collapsing toward a single combatant is absolutely insane. The destruction leaves behind this giant glowing blue crater that bathes the rest of the fight in blue light, and it looks fantastic. Things only get better when Megatron loses his eyes and delivers what is probably my favorite monologue in Death Battle in years: "Behold the mighty Lord Frieza, ruler of a dying planet, my planet. Where is your army? Where is your ship? So powerful, and yet you will wander the depths of space for eternity, all because of me. What a fool." Holy shit, man. What a line. Even if Megatron loses, he's determined to make sure Frieza wins absolutely nothing. It's such a perfect Megatron moment.

Then we reach the climax. Megatron unleashes the antimatter powers flowing through his body, and the black-and-red visuals look phenomenal. Frieza responds by revealing Black Frieza, which immediately tells you he's taking this seriously. The antimatter actually starts hurting Frieza, which is shocking because seeing Frieza scream in pain is a rare sight. For a moment, it genuinely feels like Megatron might pull this off. But Frieza survives while literally cut in half, launches a Death Saucer, and slices Megatron in half too. And honestly, seeing both fighters continue battling after being cut in half is one of the coolest visuals in the episode. The final clash is incredible. Megatron fires one last fusion blast while Frieza unleashes an enormous Death Saucer that cuts through the attack, cuts through Megatron, and cuts Cybertron itself in half. Then, as the planet explodes behind him, Frieza vows to hunt down every Cybertronian in existence just like he did the Saiyans. That is the most Frieza ending imaginable and I absolutely love it.

The track for this episode, Final Formers by Brandon Yates, is another banger. It's a fast-paced vocal rock track that perfectly captures the energy of both Dragon Ball and Transformers. It honestly feels like a spiritual cousin to Wings of Iron from Optimus Prime vs. Gundam, and if that was intentional, it's a really cool touch. Not one of my absolute favorites from the season, but still a fantastic track.

Overall, I really love this episode. And yes, I know I've been saying that a lot during Season 10, but what do you want me to do? Lie? The biggest weakness here is honestly the rundowns. Frieza's rundown is cool but focuses too heavily on powers, while Megatron's is better but still doesn't completely grab me outside of the character sections. That's where most of my criticism lies. The fight itself, however, is excellent. It's one of the longest Death Battles ever at nearly five minutes long, and it uses that runtime well. We get all of Frieza's forms, Death Beams, Death Balls, Death Saucers, Megatron's transformations, his Energon weapons, his antimatter powers, and plenty of fantastic character moments. The visuals are gorgeous, the choreography is strong, the one-liners are hilarious, and the ending is perfectly fitting for both characters. Honestly, if the rundowns had been stronger, this could've pushed into the 90s for me. As it stands, though, this is still a fantastic episode.

85/100

Part 171: Gogeta Vs. Vegito

Well, how long has it been since we’ve gotten an in-universe matchup? Goomba vs. Koopa? The TMNT Battle Royale? The Mega Man Battle Royale? I genuinely don’t know, but it has been a long, long time since Death Battle decided to make two characters from the exact same franchise beat the everliving shit out of each other. And honestly? I was completely on board with the concept when they announced Gogeta vs. Vegito. Both are legendary Dragon Ball fusions. Both are fan-favorite versions of Goku and Vegeta. And if there is one thing Dragon Ball fans love, it’s arguing over which fusion is stronger.

But where my doubts immediately started kicking in was the fact that this was the SEASON FINALE of Season 9. That’s where I started getting nervous. Because an in-universe matchup can absolutely work, but for a season finale? The final episode of what many people considered one of the strongest Death Battle seasons ever? That is a gigantic expectation to live up to. So while I was excited for the concept itself, I was also sitting there wondering if this really had enough sauce to justify finale status. But hey, maybe they’d prove me wrong. Let’s dive into it.

We start with Gogeta’s rundown, and honestly, Boomstick’s introduction here is surprisingly wholesome. He starts talking about the feeling of watching Dragon Ball Z for the first time as a kid and seeing Gogeta appear in Fusion Reborn, and how that moment felt like the hypest thing imaginable. And yeah, honestly? He’s right. Even though Dragon Ball Z wasn’t really something I grew up watching weekly on television over here, I still remember eventually seeing Gogeta beating the absolute dogshit out of Janemba and thinking it was the coolest thing ever. Gogeta has always had that aura around him.

They explain the logistics of the fusion dance and how Gogeta is formed through Goku and Vegeta perfectly synchronizing with each other. And honestly, every single time the fusion dance appears in Dragon Ball, my monkey brain still activates. Especially in the Broly movie. Seeing Gogeta finally become canon again was hype as fuck. It genuinely felt like Dragon Ball fans had been rewarded after years of waiting.

But man… what can you REALLY say about Gogeta in a rundown? That’s kind of the issue this episode immediately runs into. Gogeta is cool because he exists. His entire appeal is basically “what if Goku and Vegeta fused and became the coldest motherfucker alive.” Beyond explaining his techniques and transformations, there really isn’t much character material to work with here. And unfortunately, you can absolutely feel the writers struggling to pad the runtime because Boomstick starts going on weird tangents about obscure Dragon Ball characters and random fusion trivia that barely has anything to do with Gogeta himself. One thing I will absolutely give them props for, though, is compositing Gogeta across all of his appearances, including Dragon Ball Heroes. That definitely helps spice things up because Heroes is completely fucking insane with power escalation. But besides that? Yeah, this rundown is fine. It does what it can. But there’s only so much meat on the bone here, and you can absolutely feel that limitation throughout the entire thing.

Then we move onto Vegito’s rundown, and honestly… it’s basically the exact same structure again. Which, to be fair, IS the joke. These are essentially the same damn character with slightly different mechanics. The only major distinction immediately established is that Vegito is formed through the Potara earrings instead of the fusion dance. Fancy magical jewelry versus synchronized dancing. Dragon Ball logic at its finest.

The rundown mostly focuses on the slight differences between Gogeta and Vegito’s abilities. Stuff like the Final Kamehameha, which is still one of the coolest attack names ever conceived by mankind. Spirit Sword also gets highlighted, which is one of Vegito’s sickest techniques visually. And honestly, one of my favorite Vegito moments ever is still when Buu turned him into a piece of candy and Vegito STILL proceeded to beat his ass. That is such an absurdly disrespectful feat that it loops around into being legendary.

They also explain the differences between the fusion methods themselves, including the Potara time limit being affected by excessive power output. But once again, you can feel the episode struggling to justify its own runtime because there simply isn’t enough distinct material here. These two are TOO similar. And while that’s the entire appeal of the matchup conceptually, it also becomes the biggest weakness of the episode structurally. So yeah. The rundowns are serviceable, but man, I really don’t have much to say about them because the episode itself doesn’t really give me much TO say.

And now we move onto the fight itself. The setup starts with Shenron granting a wish, which is presumably meant to be Boomstick’s wish from earlier where he wanted to finally see Gogeta and Vegito fight. So Shenron summons two Gokus and two Vegetas, and they immediately fuse into their respective forms. One side does the fusion dance, the other uses the Potara earrings. Boom. Fight starts.

Honestly? Pretty decent setup. Simple, but it works. And before getting into the actual fight choreography, I gotta mention the voice acting. Gogeta and Vegito — and by extension Goku and Vegeta — are voiced by Michael Kovach and Nick Landis respectively. Nick Landis will forever have a special place in my heart because his Vegeta voice during the old TeamFourStar era is just iconic at this point. And Michael Kovach honestly does a pretty solid Goku too.

The action starts almost immediately with the two clashing in the air, and right away the fight does a good job showing off their different techniques. Vegito pulling out the Spirit Sword looks awesome, and the effects surrounding it are genuinely really cool. But one thing that immediately stood out to me in a bad way is the lighting. The skybox they are fighting in feels WAY too dark and muddy. It makes the models blend together awkwardly at times.

And speaking of the models… yeah, this is where the fight starts losing me a bit. The actual character models themselves LOOK good on a technical level, but the animation during combat feels weirdly stiff. There are so many moments where the facial expressions look blank as hell and the movement lacks fluidity. The choreography itself isn’t bad, but the way the models move makes the hits feel unnatural. It almost feels like expensive action figures smashing into each other instead of an actual high-speed Dragon Ball fight.

That being said, there ARE still some genuinely cool moments here. The instant transmission exchanges are fun. The different ki blasts being thrown around look flashy as hell. There’s also a really sick sequence where they fight across Shenron’s body while the camera struggles to keep up with them, and that part genuinely feels dynamic. Eventually they crash back down onto the arena, and both punching each other in the face simultaneously is a cool-ass ending to that segment. It’s such a simple Dragon Ball finish, but it works.

I just wish the impact behind the punches felt heavier and the facial animation looked more expressive because it slightly undercuts what should’ve been a huge moment. The transformations are also pretty damn cool. Vegito going Super Saiyan Blue looks solid, but honestly? Gogeta transforming into Super Saiyan 4 steals the show completely. SSJ4 Gogeta just has unmatched aura, man. I’m sorry. The fight escalates further when reality itself starts breaking apart from their attacks, and they end up battling across the dragon bridge. And honestly, THIS is where the fight starts looking significantly better. The brighter environments and contrasting hair colors help the visuals immensely. The lighting finally starts popping more, and the choreography becomes easier to follow.

Then Gogeta goes Super Saiyan Blue too, and we get a gorgeous reference to the Broly movie where he launches the rain-like laser attack across the battlefield. That sequence looks AMAZING. Vegito desperately dodging through all the blasts is one of the visual highlights of the episode for me. Eventually the two end up fighting near Goku’s house, racing across the water, and surprisingly enough, the water effects actually look really good. The reflections and splashes genuinely impressed me there.

Then Gogeta fires off the gigantic finishing beam he used against Broly, sending them both into the final arena of the fight. Gogeta charges up the Stardust Breaker while Vegito prepares a gigantic Kamehameha, and honestly, the final clash itself DOES look pretty insane visually. The Stardust Breaker connects with Vegito, but it seemingly has no effect, and when Gogeta rushes in for the finishing punch, Vegito suddenly amplifies the Kamehameha again. The screen goes completely white. And when it fades back in, Gogeta has been turned to stone mid-punch. Honestly? That’s actually a pretty sick ending. Vegito casually fist-bumping Gogeta before he crumbles into dust is genuinely cold as fuck. I’ll absolutely give the episode credit for that ending visual because it goes hard.

Now, the track for this episode is called “Dragon Dance,” made by Brandon Yates in collaboration with Victor Borba. And yeah, this track absolutely slaps. It references a bunch of classic Dragon Ball music, including Cha-La Head-Cha-La, Vegeta’s themes, and even stuff from Budokai 2. It’s energetic, nostalgic, and exactly the type of Dragon Ball music you want for a fight like this. Easily one of the better tracks of the season for me.

But now we gotta get into the unfortunate part. I really appreciate the CONCEPT behind this episode. I genuinely do. An in-universe battle between essentially the same character is a very unique idea for Death Battle. But the execution just never reaches the level it needed to for a SEASON FINALE. The rundowns feel stretched thin because there simply isn’t enough distinct material between Gogeta and Vegito to carry two separate analysis sections. The fight itself is flashy, but the stiff animation and weird model movement hold it back hard for me. And worst of all… it just doesn’t FEEL like a finale.

That’s the biggest issue. Season 9 had so many absolutely insane episodes with gigantic emotional climaxes, cinematic spectacles, or ridiculously creative concepts. And then the season ends with a three-minute fight between two nearly identical Dragon Ball fusions. It just feels underwhelming. Even if the episode itself is decent, it never once gave me the feeling of “THIS is the grand finale.” And honestly? That disappointment really hurt my enjoyment of the episode overall. Because I kept sitting there thinking about how much crazier the season had already been before this. There are cool moments here. The final kill is awesome. The transformations are hype. Some of the effects genuinely look fantastic. But the weak rundowns, awkward animation, and lack of finale energy really drag this episode down for me. Season 9 was on such an unbelievable streak of peak Death Battle content, but this finale honestly feels like the train suddenly slammed into a brick wall.

56/100

Part 169: Sauron Vs. Lich King

And today we are covering a fucking banger of a matchup that took a lot of people by surprise when it got announced. We are talking about Sauron versus the Lich King. And while I think the idea of this matchup is really cool and exciting, I don’t have any connection to these characters whatsoever. I think I am one of the last five people on this planet who has never checked out The Lord of the Rings. And I have never been interested in World of Warcraft either. So I am going into this episode as blind as I possibly can because it’s been a while since I last watched it.

We start with Sauron’s rundown, and we begin with some lore about The Lord of the Rings, and please do not kill me if I misinterpret some stuff here because I am unfamiliar with all of it. From what I can gather, there were basically two angel-like beings that created the world of Lord of the Rings, one of them being Melkor. But he was kind of a rebel, and he later became known as Morgoth. One of his greatest followers is known as Sauron. Sauron is basically a force of nature, and I mean that literally. He can conjure up fire and earthquakes wherever he goes. On top of his already insane abilities, he can shapeshift to trick people into thinking he is some kind of holy saint when in actuality he is absolutely not. And his manipulation didn’t stop there either, because at one point he forged a bunch of rings for all the different races to wear, while secretly controlling them all through the One Ring to rule them all. See? Death Battle explained this really nicely to me in a way where I could actually fluently understand what the fuck was happening.

They continue the rundown by talking about Sauron’s story, and honestly, it really did make me interested in eventually checking this series out. I appreciate how in-depth they go in such a relatively short amount of time while also trying to make it sound epic as hell. Like, Sauron is pretty fucking badass from what I am hearing here. The man is literally surviving biblical-level catastrophes and then immediately going back to manipulating and conquering everybody around him. We also get a cutaway gag where Boomstick gets manipulated by the ring, and of course he fucking would. And Lord of the Rings also apparently gets crazy in the power-scaling department, or at least Sauron does, because the shit he can do is ridiculous. The war they describe in this rundown also sounds really epic, with Sauron trying to reclaim the ring that rightfully belongs to him. And the part where they explain how mankind could never resist the power of the ring, but how that same temptation eventually led to Sauron’s downfall, is really cool as well. Overall, this rundown is pretty sick and does a fantastic job of introducing me to Lord of the Rings.

And now we move on to the Lich King’s lore, and yeah, “lore” is absolutely the right word here because holy shit, this was even harder for me to absorb than the Lord of the Rings stuff. I know absolutely nothing about World of Warcraft except for that one Warcraft movie that came out years ago that I don’t even know was actually related to World of Warcraft in the first place. But anyway, they start explaining the Lich King’s story, and it is already packed with names and terminology that I don’t understand, but they still do a pretty good job explaining the history behind the different Lich Kings that came before. And today I learned that the Lich King is basically just a possessed suit of armor, and whoever wears it becomes the next Lich King. Which honestly is metal as fuck.

The unfortunate soul who ended up becoming the next Lich King is Arthas Menethil, who was once a great hero. But due to all the pressure piling onto him from constantly needing to be humanity’s strongest protector, he slowly started losing his mind. And hearing creepy voices in your head telling you to go find a cursed sword and wear haunted armor definitely wasn’t helping matters either. Arthas slowly descended into darkness until he fully became the Lich King. The joke where Boomstick accidentally says the armor is made out of “Sauronite” before correcting himself to Saronite is honestly pretty funny because of the obvious Sauron connection.

And the powers the Lich King gets are absolutely fucking insane as well. One of the few things I do know about Warcraft is that there is an absurd amount of magic bullshit in that universe, and this rundown definitely confirms that. The man raises entire undead armies, commands this badass skeletal dragon, and literally rips his own heart out because his humanity means absolutely nothing to him anymore. I also kind of like the joke where they explain the Lich King eventually got defeated by what is basically described as a herd of nerds raiding him in-game. But yeah, while this rundown was admittedly a lot for me to process, they still explained the lore in a very epic way. It just didn’t make me personally want to go play the game afterward or anything.

Now the battle finally starts, and it opens with the Lich King sitting on his frozen throne while a blizzard violently storms around him, until a massive footstep approaches him. It is Sauron. And Sauron instantly says that he will claim the Lich King’s throne as his own, perfectly reflecting Sauron’s conquering nature. And the Lich King basically responds with “the fuck you will” and prepares to defend his throne at all costs. And the battle immediately escalates from there between these two tyrannical warlords.

And before I even continue, I NEED to talk about the voice acting here because holy shit. Sauron is voiced by Ryan Solis, and from the few Sauron clips I’ve heard over the years, he absolutely nails that whispery, intimidating, echoing voice Sauron is known for. This shit sounds incredible. And the Lich King is voiced by Philip Sacramento, who absolutely kills it as this cold, ruthless king. And honestly, the dialogue these two have throughout the episode is so fucking cool. Like genuinely some of the coolest dialogue in the entire show. For example, when the Lich King tells Sauron that he will claim his throne, Sauron responds with “You will find nothing but death here.” And instantly I knew this episode was about to go hard as fuck.

The fight itself starts with both of them clashing their giant weapons together. And yes, the combat is admittedly a little stiff at first, but honestly it gets elevated massively by how cinematic the entire battle feels. The environment, the lighting, the effects, all of it looks absolutely gorgeous. This might genuinely be one of the best-looking Death Battles ever made. Stuff like the Lich King summoning tortured souls to swarm Sauron looks incredible, and Sauron using the One Ring to erupt into flames and break free looks equally amazing.

And speaking of the visuals, I NEED to talk about the lighting because holy fuck, the color contrast in this episode is beautiful. The Lich King is constantly associated with icy blue tones because of the frozen mountain and blizzard around him, while Sauron is represented by orange fire and molten lava. And throughout the fight, those colors constantly clash against each other in such a visually pleasing way. It’s fucking splendid. The sound design is also insanely good here. Stuff like the cracking ice magic around the Lich King sounds so satisfying.

Then Sauron summons a wolf made entirely out of flames to attack the Lich King, but it turns out the wolf itself IS Sauron. I don’t know if this is supposed to be some reversed “wolf in sheep’s clothing” metaphor or something, but honestly I hope you get what I mean because my brain was frying trying to explain that. But anyway, Sauron grabs the Lich King by the throat and holds him over the edge of the mountain. And we get another absolutely cold line where Sauron says he will tear out the Lich King’s heart, only for the Lich King to respond with “You will find nothing there,” referencing the fact that he literally removed his own heart years ago. That line is raw as fuck.

The Lich King summons his blade back with magic and starts slicing away at Sauron, and now the sword choreography looks much better compared to the beginning of the episode. Then he creates this massive ice storm around the battlefield, which looks absolutely gorgeous with snow particles flying everywhere, but Sauron counters by causing the fucking mountain behind them to erupt. And HOLY SHIT. This might genuinely be one of the best visual effects Death Battle has ever done. The eruption lighting up the dark blue sky with orange flames is breathtaking. The sky itself slowly starts turning orange throughout the battle, symbolizing Sauron slowly taking control over the battlefield itself. I love the symbolism here and I really hope I’m interpreting it the way they intended.

Then Sauron says “I see you,” catching the Lich King trying to sneak attack him, and the way they clash on top of the mountain while the sky is now this blend of icy blue and burning orange looks fucking incredible. Sauron then grabs Frostmourne with his bare hand, and even though it cuts him, he instantly regenerates. He starts beating the shit out of the Lich King with his mace, but the Lich King slowly gains the upper hand through his magic and eventually impales Sauron through the abdomen.

And then we get the Eye of Sauron transformation. Holy fuck. The gigantic fiery eye erupting from Sauron’s body looks absolutely insane. The shot of the enormous eye staring down at the Lich King is genuinely one of the coolest shots in the entire series. And Sauron starts talking about prophecy spelling out the Lich King’s demise, while visually towering over him. Even when the Lich King summons his own giant magical eye to counter Sauron’s, he is still literally looking upward at him. It really feels like the episode is symbolizing that Sauron is simply above him.

The Lich King starts getting desperate and unleashes this massive surge of dark magic to consume the Eye of Sauron, but Sauron suddenly bursts out of the eye itself as this flaming avatar and shatters Frostmourne. The Eye of Sauron continues burning away at the Lich King’s magic while Sauron traps him inside a giant pillar of fire. Then, using the power of the One Ring, Sauron starts draining the Lich King’s soul out of his body until there is nothing left but an empty husk collapsing to the ground. And the fight ends with Sauron taking the throne for himself. What started as an icy throne surrounded by a blizzard has now become a throne engulfed in flames during a literal firestorm. What a fucking transition compared to the start of the battle.

And honestly, the track made for this episode, “One King to Rule Them All,” made by Werewolf Media, is probably one of the best songs in the entire show. It feels unbelievably epic with the choir chanting in the background and the massive orchestral energy throughout the track. I am such a sucker for these giant choir-heavy fantasy tracks in movies and games, and this one absolutely nails it.

You know what? I kind of want to apologize if it sounded like I didn’t fully know what I was talking about during this review, because this is genuinely an episode between two characters that I know almost nothing about. I really did try my hardest to understand the lore, and honestly I need to give Death Battle credit because they explained these characters surprisingly well to newcomers like me.

But you didn’t seriously think that would hurt the score THAT much, right? Because holy fuck, this might honestly be the best episode of the entire season. And that is saying something considering how absurdly stacked this season already is. The rundowns were great, the fight itself is probably the most cinematic battle we have gotten so far, and the lighting, animation, and effects all looked gorgeous. The only things I’m really deducting points for are the slightly janky beginning of the fight and the fact that these just aren’t characters that personally connect with me. But honestly? That barely matters when the episode itself is THIS good. This episode is a masterpiece just like people say it is. Holy fuck, what an enjoyable ride from beginning to end. What an absolute spectacle of an episode. Well done, DEATH BATTLE. Seriously, well done.

97/100

Part 164: James Bond Vs. John Wick

Season 9 really has been all over the place in terms of matchups, hasn’t it? We’ve had gods, aliens, psychics, bounty hunters, mythological icons, and now… two guys. Just two actual human beings with guns, knives, trauma, and a frankly concerning amount of dead bodies attached to their names. And honestly? That alone already made James Bond vs. John Wick stand out immediately. After all the universe-shattering bullshit we’ve had this season, having a grounded battle between two elite spies/assassins actually felt refreshing. And yes, I know we had Justin Bieber vs. Rebecca Black once, but we do not talk about that cursed fucking thing.

We kick things off with James Bond’s rundown—or sorry, James Bond, because apparently saying “Bond” alone feels disrespectful here. And honestly, Wiz’s opening spiel referencing Bond’s countless missions, faces, and movie eras is a fantastic way to start. Bond really is one of those characters who has saved the world over and over and over again, yet most of the people he’s saving don’t even know he exists. And I think that’s kind of the core of who Bond is as a character. He’s the man in the shadows, doing the dirty work so the rest of the world can sleep peacefully without ever knowing his name. They go into his military history during World War II, his service under Her Majesty, and of course his evolution into MI6’s finest. And yeah, Boomstick makes some sex jokes… but honestly, this is James fucking Bond. If there’s any character where sex jokes feel completely appropriate, it’s him. The man’s body count is ridiculous in more ways than one.

What I really loved is how they acknowledge that Bond has had countless interpretations over the decades—whether it’s Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan, or Daniel Craig—yet at his core, he’s still the same guy. A charismatic bastard, an elite marksman, a martial artist, and essentially a one-man army despite being nothing more than human. And of course, Bond’s gadgets get their time to shine too, ranging from genuinely useful spy tools to “who the fuck approved this in Q branch?” territory. But the best part of the rundown for me wasn’t the gadgets or the feats—it was when they actually focused on Bond as a person. Behind all the rizz, all the martinis, all the smooth talk and impossible escapes, there’s a man who is mentally shattered by years of killing and endless missions. And I’m so glad Death Battle actually addressed that, because that side of Bond gets ignored way too often. My only issue is they kind of ruin that emotional ending by suddenly jumping back into feats afterward. It makes the rundown drag a bit longer than it needed to. Still, really solid stuff overall.

Then we move on to John Wick’s rundown, and Boomstick’s opening joke about “if you’ve ever really fucked up in your life…” followed by that deadpan delivery actually got me. It comes out of nowhere and lands perfectly. As for Wick himself, I did find it a little weird that they spent time talking about Keanu Reeves and his martial arts training, because… we’re covering John Wick, not Keanu. It feels a little unnecessary. But once they actually get into Wick himself, things pick up fast. They cover exactly why Wick is such a terrifying bastard. This man is basically a walking extinction event for organized crime.

They go into his arsenal, his combat skills, and all the ridiculous shit he manages to pull off in his movies. And while he may not be a walking sex machine like Bond, he’s definitely got his own arsenal of explosive surprises. But just like Bond, what really makes Wick compelling isn’t the kills—it’s the man underneath. The fact that he actually left that life behind, found peace with his wife, got himself a puppy, and was ready to live a normal life… until some absolute dipshits killed his dog and dragged him right back into hell. And honestly? Those guys deserved every single brutal thing that happened to them. Probably more. I also started noticing all the James Bond movie references and puns sprinkled throughout both rundowns—little nods to stuff like Skyfall, Casino Royale, and From Russia with Love—and honestly, those little touches elevated both analyses for me. I still slightly prefer Bond’s rundown, but Wick’s was strong.

Now for the fight itself—and honestly, the setup is about as natural as you could ask for. Bond gets a mission to eliminate Wick, and the two face off inside the The Continental. Perfect. No weird portals, no forced bullshit, just business. That said… the first thing I noticed is that the animation looked a little rough. Like, really rough at points. Wick looked like he was sliding across the floor instead of actually walking, and the models themselves looked kinda iffy.

But once the actual fight starts? It gets way better. Bond’s voice actor, Stephen Kelly, does a fantastic job selling the British charm, and Mornal returns as Wick after the last episode and does another great performance.

And while the animation starts off choppy, the choreography itself starts getting really damn good. The hand-to-hand combat is where this episode truly shines. Watching them punch, grapple, throw each other around, and constantly fight for positioning feels raw in a way Death Battle rarely gets to do. The scene where Wick suplexes Bond? Great. The knife struggle with the pen? Great. And then the reveal that the pen is actually an explosive after all that clicking? That’s such a fun Bond gadget payoff. And one thing I absolutely loved is how human this fight feels. When they crash through the floor, they don’t just pop back up like superheroes. They actually cough, stagger, and need a second to recover. That small detail adds so much authenticity to the fight.

Then we get the car sequence… and holy shit, this is where the episode peaks. Bond remotely summoning his car to crash through the front window while the music kicks in is such a fucking cool scene. Sure, the guns clipping through the headlights looks goofy as hell, but the actual choreography of them dodging the car’s bullets while still trying to stab each other is phenomenal. It genuinely feels like something you’d see in either franchise.

Eventually, Wick lands what looks like a lethal stab on Bond, and then we get one of the coolest finishing setups in the episode—a recreation of the iconic Bond gun-barrel opening, except this time Wick is on the receiving end. Even while riddled with bullets, Wick still charges forward with that insane determination, and you can actually see Bond realizing just how fucking dangerous this man really is. Then Bond knocks him onto the car and uses his laser watch to shoot down a chandelier on top of him. Honestly? Pretty damn good kill.

And now the soundtrack: Secret Service, made by Therewolf Media. Really solid track. It leans heavily into both the John Wick and Bond vibes, but especially the Bond influences. When that Bond theme remix kicks in during the car sequence? Yeah, that’s easily the best part of the track for me. It fits the fight perfectly.

So overall… I really liked this one, even if it had some rough edges. The beginning of the fight is definitely the weakest part. The animation looks janky, the models look off, and Wick’s face looks cursed at a few points. But once the hand-to-hand combat starts, the episode really finds its footing. The choreography becomes fantastic, the gadgets are used creatively, the soundtrack hits hard, and both rundowns were genuinely fun—especially all the Bond movie references. Honestly, if the early animation had been cleaner, this could’ve scored even higher for me. But as it stands, the incredible choreography and grounded, human feel of the fight save it big time.

76/100

Part 163.5: Excalibur Vs. Raiden

Alright, so today’s battle is a bit of a special one. And I’m not sugarcoating that at all. Today marks the first bonus episode that I’ll be covering while reviewing Death Battle as a whole. And honestly? It’ll probably be the only one. Looking at the other bonus episodes, most of them just don’t interest me nearly enough to sit through and properly review. I’m not touching The Seven Battle Royale because, in my opinion, that episode is a piece of shit. And episodes like Vegeta vs Mewtwo or Death Battle vs The World were never really designed to be reviewed in the same way as a standard episode anyway. So for now, consider this the one and only bonus episode I’m actually giving a proper review to... unless Death Battle drops another one worth talking about. But enough of that—today, we’re talking about Excalibur vs Raiden.

We start with Excalibur’s rundown, and right away you can tell this episode is doing something a little different. They actually give an extended intro explaining what Warframe even is and who Excalibur is, because—something I didn’t mention earlier—Warframe actually sponsored this episode. And yeah... as you’d expect, that pissed a lot of people off at the time. A lot of viewers thought Death Battle would just hand Excalibur the win so they could promote Warframe and call it a day. But from what I’ve heard, Death Battle apparently made it very clear that they wouldn’t accept a sponsorship if the sponsor had any influence over who actually wins. So for now, I’m willing to take them at their word.

Still, you can definitely feel the sponsorship in the presentation. Wiz and Boomstick start things off by talking about their favorite Warframes before transitioning into Excalibur himself, and while it’s a neat little change of pace, it also kind of screams, “Hey, don’t forget this is sponsored!” They go into the backstory of Warframe, explaining how the Warframes came to be—cyborgs that... actually aren’t cyborgs? Yeah, Warframe lore is weird as fuck, man. And while they’re explaining all of this, I should mention that I’ve actually played Warframe myself... for about thirty minutes before I bounced off it completely. That’s not gonna affect how I judge this rundown, though.

And honestly? Wiz’s explanation of Warframe’s lore is kind of convoluted, but thankfully Boomstick is there to simplify things and keep it from turning into complete nonsense. They do a solid job covering Excalibur’s abilities and powers—his swordsmanship, energy-based attacks, mobility, and all that good stuff—but throughout the rundown, I couldn’t shake this feeling that it all came off a little... forced. Like, maybe it’s just me, but because it’s sponsored, some of the dialogue doesn’t feel as natural as it usually does. Wiz especially sounds like he’s really excited to sell you on how cool Excalibur is, almost like he’s going on a tangent, while Boomstick kind of fades into the background for most of it. So yeah, the Excalibur rundown is fine overall, but my issues with it are pretty obvious.

Then we move on to Raiden’s rundown. And yes—he is still one of my favorite characters in gaming history, and that’s mostly thanks to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, which is genuinely one of my favorite games of all time. Raiden has been on the show before, of course, against Wolverine, and the beginning of his rundown is kind of similar to that one—trying to explain the absolute clusterfuck that is Metal Gear lore while also explaining how Raiden basically knew nothing but violence for most of his life.

And honestly? Covering the insane shit Raiden pulls off is absolutely warranted, because the stuff he does in Revengeance is completely batshit. Throwing a Metal Gear Ray into the air? Breakdancing with giant robots attached to his legs? Slicing apart entire buildings? It’s so over-the-top, but Raiden somehow still manages to look cool instead of ridiculous. They also do a really good job covering his Jack the Ripper side and how terrifying that transformation is—basically turning off his pain receptors and going on a full-on fucking killing spree.

But what made me happiest is that they actually covered his relationship with Senator Armstrong. That dynamic is one of my favorite parts of the entire game. The way both characters are so different, but also weirdly similar at the same time, is what really completed Raiden as a character for me. It’s honestly one of my favorite rivalries in gaming, period. And yeah, I still really want Armstrong on Death Battle someday. If you haven’t played Revengeance, stop watching memes about it and just play the damn game already. Seriously. And overall, Raiden’s rundown kind of made up for Boomstick fading into the background during Excalibur’s, because he feels way more involved here.

Now before we even get to the actual fight, Death Battle does something... kind of weird. Wiz and Boomstick start actively bickering over who they think is gonna win. And yes, I know that’s technically the whole point of Death Battle. I’m aware. But usually that part comes after the fight, not before. Here, Wiz is siding with Excalibur while Boomstick is rooting for Raiden, and while I get that they wanted to shake up the formula because it’s a sponsored episode... it also kind of feels like they’re padding out the runtime a little, especially because both rundowns felt shorter than usual.

Then—after another Warframe ad—we finally get to the fight. It starts with Raiden arriving at some facility where a Warframe is being created. He doesn’t really know where he is or what’s going on, but Excalibur is there too, and apparently wants to beat Raiden to whatever’s happening. And instead of, you know, introducing himself like a normal fucking person, Excalibur just attacks immediately. Alright then, straight to business.

Excalibur doesn’t have a voice actor here, which is fine—I don’t even think he talks in Warframe anyway. Raiden, on the other hand, is voiced by Mornal, and honestly? He does a pretty damn good Raiden impression. That deep, raspy voice is there, and it works.

And once the fight starts... holy shit, it wastes absolutely no time. The action goes fucking insane almost immediately. Both characters are darting around the battlefield with insane speed, pulling off wall runs, mid-air clashes, crazy sword exchanges—this is peak Devil Artemis chaos. And speaking of which, Devil Artemis—my personal favorite Death Battle animator—is back for this one, and he absolutely kills it here.

One thing this fight does way better than Raiden vs Wolverine is that Raiden actually gets to use more of his arsenal. He’s not just swinging the Murasama around the entire fight. He uses abilities inspired by Mistral, pulls out other weapons, and actually feels like the full Raiden experience. Excalibur also gets to show off more than just swordplay, pulling out dual pistols—what I lovingly call the double Glocks—and trying to fill Raiden with holes. But Raiden just casually blocks every bullet without breaking a sweat. Then Raiden pulls out a Glock too, because why the fuck not? And the slow-motion scene where he fires a bullet, it freezes right before Excalibur... and Excalibur slices every single bullet apart in one motion? That shit is cool.

Honestly, the best part of the entire fight is when they’re bouncing between buildings at such insane speed that even I, as the viewer, started losing track of where the hell they were. But in a good way. The red and blue streaks following each character makes it easy to track who’s who, and I always appreciate little color coding details like that. Raiden gets pinned down by energy blasts at one point, barely holding on while trying to block them all. But then... the pacing kind of gets interrupted by Boomstick trying to call Raiden in the middle of the fight. And yeah... I really didn’t need that. I get that Boomstick is rooting for Raiden, but it just kills the momentum. Then Wiz does the same for Excalibur, and I didn’t like that either. Keep that shit out of the actual fight.

Anyway, Raiden pulls a fake-out straight out of Solid Snake’s playbook by hiding under a cardboard box... except it’s a trap with explosives underneath. Nice touch. Excalibur gets blasted off the building, Raiden follows him, destroys his blade... but Excalibur just summons another weapon out of nowhere and keeps flying around with lasers and missiles, really putting the pressure on Raiden. Raiden responds by using abilities inspired by Monsoon, which I really liked. More variety is always good. Then he goes into Jack the Ripper mode... and honestly? I preferred how that transformation was handled in Wolverine vs Raiden. Here it kind of just... happens. No big transformation, no buildup. It’s a little underwhelming.

Then the final clash happens. Excalibur forms a new blade, both of them clash at absolutely insane speeds mid-air, and Raiden finally lands what looks like the killing blow by stabbing Excalibur as they crash toward the ground. But Excalibur isn’t done. He pulls out a gun one last time, Raiden blocks the shots, and then we get this amazing slow-motion shot of both of them preparing one final strike. And it ends with Excalibur coming out on top... slicing Raiden clean in half. Honestly? Good kill. Clean, brutal, effective.

And of course, we’ve got to talk about the track—The Metal Lotus—made by Therewolf Media and Brandon Yates in another collaboration. Yeah... this track fucking rules. It takes obvious inspiration from the Revengeance soundtrack, especially Rules of Nature, and the second I heard those leitmotifs and musical callbacks, I was instantly sold. The Metal Gear soundtrack means way too much to me, so hearing that influence here immediately made me fuck with this track.

So yeah, even though this is technically a bonus episode, I’d honestly say this could fit into any normal Death Battle season just fine. It’s genuinely high quality. Sure, the structure is weird. The sponsorship stuff is a little awkward. Wiz and Boomstick interfering in the fight isn’t really my thing. And the rundowns for both characters are a little lacking. But the fight itself? Absolutely fucking awesome. High-speed action, great animation, tons of variety, and an amazing soundtrack. It just sucks that if this wasn’t a sponsored episode, I genuinely think it could’ve been even better.

81/100

Part 153: Korra Vs. Storm

So for today we have another Avatar matchup in the form of Korra vs. Storm, and to be honest, I love Avatar—even though I’ve never watched The Legend of Korra, I’m not one of those people who’s just going to mindlessly hate on it. No, the actual problem here is that Death Battle’s Avatar episodes have all… kinda sucked so far. Gaara vs. Toph Beifong is bad, Aang vs. Edward Elric is also very bad, and Shoto Todoroki vs. Zuko was mid. So yeah… here’s me hoping this episode finally breaks the curse.

We start with Korra’s rundown and wow, I actually really like the way they did her introduction here. They present it like an old film reel documentary, which is a really nice stylistic touch considering Korra’s era leans more into that early industrial vibe. They mention that Avatar Aang united the nations but eventually passed away, and Korra stepped in as the next Avatar. And then they immediately jump into “she can bend all four elements at once.” Okay cool, but can we maybe learn about her first??? It feels like they skipped a step. Then they start throwing in calculations already, and I’m just sitting there like… why are we speedrunning feats before properly establishing the character? This rundown feels messy as hell in terms of structure.

Eventually, they circle back and explain what she can do with each element individually—which again, probably should’ve come earlier—but fine. Them diving into her connection to the Spirit World is actually really interesting, especially for someone like me who hasn’t watched the show fully. But the highlight here is definitely when they talk about how she was emotionally broken after nearly dying in the Avatar State. That’s genuinely compelling stuff. Her recovery, her doubts about whether the world even needs an Avatar anymore—that’s good character writing, and it made me appreciate her a lot more. But outside of those moments, this rundown is kind of all over the place. Not terrible, but definitely messy.

Now we move on to Storm’s rundown, and in classic Marvel fashion, her life starts off with trauma—her parents die in a plane crash, leaving her as an orphan surviving on the streets of Cairo. Standard comic book suffering starter pack. Then she discovers her X-gene and becomes a mutant, and yeah… her powers are insanely cool. She controls the weather. That alone is busted. Like, imagine just ruining someone’s day by spawning a thunderstorm directly above their house out of pure spite—I’m not saying I would do that, but I’m also not saying I wouldn’t.

They go really in-depth on her abilities—summoning storms, manipulating atmospheric pressure, sensing weather changes, creating conditions that shouldn’t even exist on Earth—and while it’s all cool, it does drag on a bit. I get it, she’s powerful as hell, but can we maybe talk more about her as a person? They briefly touch on her compassion and her role as a leader, even becoming queen of Wakanda, which is dope, but it feels like they barely scratch the surface of her character. This rundown leans way too hard into powers and not enough into personality.

Now we get to the fight, and it opens with Korra meditating… or at least trying to. She gets bored, breaks an iceberg, and suddenly Storm shows up pissed about it. She calls Korra strong but undisciplined, and Korra responds kind of snobbishly. And look—I haven’t watched the full show, but even I know this feels like early-series Korra behavior, not end-of-series Korra. Death Battle really loves reverting characters back to their rougher personality phases for conflict, don’t they?

Korra is voiced by Amanda Juliana Gonzales, who does a solid job, but Shara Kirby as Storm stands out more to me. The fight starts with Korra using airbending, which Storm casually deflects. Korra zips around on her air scooter trying to confuse her, which is a nice touch, but the animation already shows some cracks—like when Korra lands and bounces like a damn rubber ball. It looks goofy as hell.

Storm fires lightning, Korra dodges, counters with water, grabs Storm, slams her—standard back-and-forth. Storm creates a water tornado that actually looks pretty cool, but overall the effects feel underwhelming compared to earlier episodes this season. There’s just not enough impact or visual flair. It feels weirdly toned down for a fight that should be an elemental spectacle.

Things pick up a bit when Korra uses metalbending to rip apart nearby cars and trap Storm—finally some creative use of her abilities. She kicks Storm into the Spirit Portal, sending her to the Spirit World and into the Fog of Lost Souls. Storm starts losing herself but powers through it by remembering her friends—which is fine—but then we get ANOTHER FUCKING CABBAGES JOKE. OH MY GOD STOP. That’s like the third time they’ve done this in Avatar episodes. It’s not funny anymore.

Back to the fight, Korra enters the Avatar State and finally starts doing some cool stuff—lifting massive chunks of earth, slamming Storm between them, using fire propulsion to go in for close combat. These effects actually look good, finally. But here’s the big problem: Storm has basically been getting her ass kicked the entire fight. Like, she has barely landed anything meaningful up to this point. And I really don’t like fights structured like this—where one character dominates 90% of the time and the other just pulls out one move at the end to win.

Which is exactly what happens. Storm finally does something—she summons a massive lightning storm, Korra tries to redirect it, Storm grabs her hand, stops her, points at her head, and just boom—lightning straight to the brain. Fight over. And yeah… that’s it. After getting bodied the whole time, she wins in one move. It just feels unsatisfying.

I do want to talk about the track, “Weather the Elements” by Therewolf Media. It’s actually pretty solid. It has that Avatar OST vibe, and it builds a nice atmospheric tone like a storm brewing in the background. But it doesn’t really evolve much beyond that. It starts strong and then just kind of… stays there.

God, this episode is just… meh. I really wanted this to break the streak of underwhelming Avatar episodes, but nope, we’re still stuck in the same cycle. Korra’s rundown is messy, Storm’s is too power-focused, and the fight itself doesn’t live up to its potential. The effects feel lacking, the choreography is uneven, and the pacing of the fight—especially with Storm barely doing anything until the end—really drags it down. There are some bright spots, especially in the later half of the fight where the visuals improve a bit, but it’s nowhere near enough to save the episode. So yeah… unfortunately, this continues the trend.

47/100