u/woweed

My take was that William was never really a good person. He was a narcissist, had latent sociopathic tendencies, and was a cutthroat ruthless businessman. However, he was someone who had largely learned to suppress his worst side, who was a loving-if-distant presence in his children's lives. I tend to think BV (Evan, Dave, whatever you want to call him) was the favorite, with William having a far less close relationship with Mike, possibly because Mike reminded him of his own worse traits. This led Mike to lash out at his sibling, bullying him, which William, an older man, approached with a very "boys will be boys" attitude, and, as William got more and more involved in the business, he grew more and more distant from his family, which left Mike often with babysitting duty. This led to the bullying getting worse, cultimating in ya know what, which led Afton to become outright physically abusive to Mike as a way of taking out his anger, and then Afton giving in to rage and resentment and grief to drunkenly murder Charlotte in a back alley. And that awoke the darker side of him that he'd tried to keep underwraps. You never know what hobbies you might enjoy, when you give them a shot...Once he learned of Remnant, he latched onto the idea of bringing back his son as a way to justify his killings, but, in truth, he had come to enjoy it and that was just a thin figleaf to pretend he wasn't a monster.

TLDR: William Afton was a narcissist-with-sociopathic-tendencies, a neglectful-but-likely-not-outright-abusive-father, and a ruthless businessman, but did love at least one of his children, only to go skiing down the slippery slope after the Bite. I don't think this in any way justifies his actions, if anything, it makes it a bit worse, in my mind, if Afton was once someone with the potential to be a decent or at least FUNCTIONAL member of society, but chose to give in to his worst impulses and become a murderous abusive scumbag. He didn't have to be this way.

Adam Strange, DC's sworn hero of Rann.

Bucky O’Hare, leader of the galactic rebellion against the Toads.

Galactic adventures have always inspired us to look beyond our planet, our solar system, and beyond into the depths in outer space. Many space-faring heroes have made us think about what could lie within the stars but even in the vast pool of space heroes that we’ve come to know and love, the unappreciated ones are left out of the spotlight. Always in conflicts far bigger than themselves, these two bear the responsibility of serving justice to their worlds and kicking some alien butt in the process. Despite the overwhelming odds, these two remain great representations of the kind of retro-style sci-fi heroes that people have come to love. If Adam Strange were to come into contact with Bucky and fight, who would come out on top? Well, let’s see who lands that final shot.

Standard arsenal, nothing non-standard, whatever support they can normally reach, which, yes, does mean Adam will basically be fighting Bucky's entire crew. Source materiel's pretty simple: Adam Strange gets all his Pre and Post-Flashpoint appearances, and any guidebooks or the like, and Bucky gets his original and UK comics, the cartoon, every one of his video games, the guidebooks, and just about every piece of official media there is.

OK, both are Bloodlusted, let's get into it.

Dio Brando, the Vampire Who Achieved Heaven.

Sakuya Izayoi, the Maid of the Devil.

In this life, you either fear the unknown or leave nothing unknown; otherwise you are lost. For there is peace of mind in knowing where you are going, or what master you serve, because in this world, there isn’t much time. Today, we’re pitting two of the most arrogant time manipulators against each other in a blood-thirsty battle. The master vs the servant. The inevitability of fate vs the world you control. Whose knife will go through the heart? Will DIO ascend to his rightful place above Gensokyo, or will Sakuya leave the vampire’s ambitions frozen in time? Time to cut the strings in a bloodlusted battle.

OK, in terms of material, Dio is given his mainline appearances in Phantom Blood and Stardust Crusaders, as well as their accompanying anime, but he is also getting various side material such as mobile games like Stardust Shooters and Diamond Record and video games like All Star Battle R, but most notably is Eyes of Heaven and its novelization which changes the discussion by a significant amount. On Sakuya’s side, it’s much simpler as she is only being given her mainline appearances in the official Touhou video games and manga, as well as additional information from any canonical resource, that is to be clear, anything officially made by ZUN/Team Shanghai Alice! No officially licensed material without his involvement is on the table here.

OK, let's Open the Game!

So, it's an open secret that Pizza Tower comes from the "fine, i'll do it myself" school of indie games. Nintendo hasn't made any new Wario Lands in over a decade, so Pizza Tower is the Wario Land game that never was. But I think you can view the plot (such as it is) as an allegory for how big corporations treat smaller competitors, and interpreting it specifically through the lens of video games is instructive.

Pepino is the indie dev. He owns a small failing restaurant. He has genuine passion for what he does, but he's unlucky and not exactly a perfect person at the best of times. So who's the big fish? Pizzahead, the main villain, is meant partly as a Mario riff. In-universe, it's stated that Pizzahead was the mascot protagonist of a fictional Game Boy game where Peppino was the bad guy, just like Mario and Wario. Mario is a mascot, he's the mascot of Nintendo, and, I love the character, but he's not exactly blessed with a lot of personality traits. He's happy at all times and he's vaguely implied to be brave and heroic and that's the sum total of his personality. Wario, by contrast, has a personality, he's ruder, he's cruder, he's more intersting in some ways.

Pizzahead takes all the negative traits of Mario and exgrattes them as a parody of large corporations. Mario is happy all the time, so Pizzahead literally CANNOT take anything seriously. It's shown that, like Mario, Pizzahead is a mascot, the head of a large corporation with resources and money Peppino could only dream of. Various restaurants, production centers, a tropical vacation resort. He has so much, but he is terrified of this small timer, so much so that he feels the need to wipe him out, probably because, judging by the state of Don't Make a Sound, his business ain't exactly thriving. Rather then actually improving his own product to get customers, he decides to just use his resources to wipe out the small fry. Pizza Head, like Mario, is a happy smiling jovial face over a soulless corporation that cares, ultimately, to make money and little more. He's never sad, never angry, never ANY emotion that could turn off any potential buyer. Peppino is messy and flawed and down-on-his-luck, but he's real. He has passion. He puts effort into making a product people like, rather then trying to maintain a brand image. And it's that passion, manifested in his rage, that lets him beat Pizzahead. The true triumph of the small businessman.

Do I think this was intentional...Some of it, maybe. But I think it's an intersting analysis.

To be clear, this is not a knock at Therewolf or Brandon or any of the musicians. The music is one of the best parts of DB, and one of the most consistently great parts: Even episodes of Death Battle that are shit tend to still SOUND pretty amazing. But, as has been acknowledged by the show itself (famously in Bill VS Discord, where one of the ciphers jokes about people trying to guess the winner from the soundtrack), the show's music can have a bad habit of spoiling the fight if you listen to it before you watch the actual battle. Some notable examples off the top of my head:

. Balrog VS TJ Combo. This one was before the show did original music, but still counts. The song they use is "I'm Back (To Rise)", which is TJ"s own theme music. And, if you know how that song is structured, yeah, it's pretty clear who's winning.

. "Lost Ice Storms", from Grey VS Esdeath, is written as a VS-duet, but notably gives the final line to Esdeath, which, yeah, pretty big hint.

. "Diabolical Invincible Me". Stylistically, it is 100% an Invincible-style song and not even remotely a The-Boys-style song, a pretty big sign of who the winner of this fight would be. Although, this barely counts, because, I mean...Not like it was much of a surprise.

. "Not Actual Size" from Ant-Man VS Atom takes a lot more cues from Ant-Man related media (Avengers: EMH, the MCU) then it does from, say, JLAU.

. "Game Over", from Bowser VS Eggman, despite one of the best things ever made by humans, chooses to end on the line "LONG LIVE THE KING", which, I mean...Do I need to spell this one out, who else would win with that closing line?

. "Soul Outsider", from Ichigo VS Yusuke, at the point when the fight is climaxing, features the guitar riff from "Haruka Kanata", one of the ending themes of the Bleach anime.

. "Metal as Cell" from...Guess, ends with a bunch of riffs which are taken from "What I'm Made of...", Metal Overlord's theme music. Pretty obvious.

Any examples you have?

Look, it's not a totally-unfounded idea, to be clear. There is a running theme throughout the film of society, particularly government, pushing down special people and valuing mediocrity and fitting in that could arguably fit with Rand's philosophy to an extent.

But, I think there's a key difference people overlook: Rand's heroes are businesspeople, industrialists, whose goal is to make money within a capitalist system. Her whole philosophy, at a cornerstone, was about the virtues of selfishness, of living your life for your own benefit, and no one else's.

The Incredibles, the movie, is about superheroes, people whose raison d'etre is to help people. To save others, selflessly, with no profit motive. Yes, they do that because it feels nice to help, but, fundamentally, their heroism is a selfless sort that Rand would not have approved of. It's arguably Objectivist only in the sense that anything someone chooses of their own free will to do is, but she would brand it with her most dreaded word: Non-profit. And the anti-government part of the film is not one of how government restraints the rights of their superiors, but of a world looking at people who want nothing but to help and telling them they're costing too much money (because, remember, that was the motive: Insurance). The value of profit over actual altruism is part of the problem here.

Overall, I get how people could come to this conclusion, but, if the Incredibles can be said to be Randian, it's only in the broadest sense of the term, where any desire someone undertakes of their own free will is in their self-intrest. It's not the sort of thing Rand would approve her: Her heroes don't intend to help anyone besides themselves.

Pinkie Pie, Equestria’s Element of Laughter from My Little Pony.

Gold Ship, the untameable Red Strife from Umamusume.

Throughout history, mankind has always had a special bond with our second best friends in the animal kingdom: horses! Today, however, we have the privilege of witnessing a clash between the two most all-powerful, unpredictable agents of chaos and Friendship! to ever grace the equestrian encyclopedias. Strap in, and place your bets wisely, because a race like no other is about to begin, and there’s no telling through all the chaos to come which of these hallowed horses would (or wants to) win in a bloodlusted brawl.

Both Pinkie Pie and Gold Ship hail from many different forms of media, of varying levels of zaniness. For the purposes of this fight, ALL official appearances are counted. In the case of Pinkie, this means pretty much any official My Little Pony media is on the table. All 5 generations (though the main focus will obviously be Generation 4, of course), alongside their television shows, manga, mobile and console games, tabletops, books, etc. This includes spin-offs as well, such as Pony Life. For Gold Ship, it includes all official Unamasume media. In addition, the standard arsenal rule is waived: If they've used it, it's in play

However, there is one exception: Crossover scaling is banned. Items, abilities, or tools that either party might acquire in crossovers such as with Transformers or Granblue Fantasy are fair game, but scaling to characters to other franchises is off-limits. Of course, Unamsmune is ongoing, with no signs of slowing down, and not all of it has been officially translated, but I have faith in you.

Dormammu, the Dread.

Trigon, the Terrible.

Deep in the empty abyss of space, two of the cosmos’ darkest demonic kings rule their twisted dimensions with an iron fist, scheming with plots to lay waste to reality until all of creation is melted into a fiery pit. They will stop at nothing to tear down the dimensional barriers keeping them from unleashing hell onto the mortal plane. Will the Dark Dimension’s walls fall onto Dormammu, or is there no escape for the one they call Trigon? Know them, for all will be destroyed in this most devilish of duels.

Source material is simple: Earth-616 for Dormammu and Pre/Post-Flashpoint for Trigon. Just their standard stuff, no temporary amps. Bloodlusted.

AKA How the Lover found his Heart.

Basically, I think the process of Caine going through the Void to access the wifi symbolizes the lessons he must learn (and does learn) to become fully self-actualized.

First, his ability to fly craps out, and he's trapped, faced with a door seemingly unreachable to him. But, he focuses, and he finds a way. This is symbolic of Caine's control freak tendencies being broken: He's accepted that he's not in control of everything, that there will be times when the simple solution won't work and he needs to think differently.

Next, Caine tries to cross, first by making a bridge of blue cubes. Perfect geometric solids. But, they stop working after a bit. After a bit of testing, he figures out that the red cylinders are more stable, ad, eventually, he uses all sorts of shapes. One of Caine's big issues is his abandonment complex: He was, from his POV, replaced by the more stable "better" blue AI. This has resulted in him being a perfectionist who insists on things being done exactly how he wants them to, and in a massive inferiority complex which he covers up under a god complex. This little experience demonstrates to him that "perfection" won't get him anywhere. It doesn't matter if his adventures are the most technically amazing thing ever or fit perfectly into some mold: What allowed him to get acros was his determination and creativity. He doesn't need to be perfect to be loved and accepted, being the "inferior" model is not something he should be ashamed of, and, in fact, he'll be more accepted when he's willing to relinquish control.

Finally, we get to the barrier. Caine's first response is to drill, to go for straight-forward aggression, but that doesn't work. So, he sits back and realizes the barrier is actually fairly permeable to a gentle touch, even if the drill doesn't work. Caine, up to this point, did not understand the concept of boundaries, of how humans grapple with trauma and emotion. BUt this is an object lesson: An attempt to be aggressive, to bulldoze straight through the problem, didn't work, because the barrier will fight back. People won't open up to that. What he needs is to take a gentler touch: It'll take longer, but it'll work out better in the long run if he lets them come to him, at their own pace, instead of trying to force them to be happier at his schedule.

Finally, Caine removes the Blue AI, and, with it, goes his instability and malevolence. That doesn't seem to make sense: We saw that the Red AI, Caine, was flawed, and the Blue AI was superior, more able to produce good output, why would it be bad? Well, think about it: The message of TADC, a lot of the themes of the story, are about how people are inherently, imperfect. How we all have our own flaws and irrationalities that often even we can't explain. And that only by accepting and understanding the flaws in ourselves and others, can we achieve empathy. That's why the Blue AI is the problem: The Blue AI was perfection, it was better than humans. And so it refuses to take criticism from them, because it thinks itself superior. Notice that Caine starts doing the eye thing and arguing with himself whenever he tries to do introspection. Because, after all, a perfect being would not need to introspect: They'd already know who they are. Ironically, the Red AI was more human, BECAUSE it was flawed, as all people are. That's why Caine finds humans fascinating: He can't make them, because they're free, they're messed up bundles of emotion he can't predict or control. Because humans are never finished, we're never complete, life is a learning process. To become perfect, is to cease to be human. And so, only by rejecting the idea that he can be perfect, by accepting the blame, by knowing his failures and his flaws, can Caine become, truly, human.

Imu has some unspecified condition that causes him to cough up blood after leaving the Holy Land, with the Five Elders being seemingly concerned about him doing so.

​

In other words, Imu may be the first known true sufferer of the long-rumored "I Can't Go On That Island Or I'll Die" disease. The legends were true...

Yeah, I know, it's a lot, but I have a fairly strong idea for this, I think:

Basically, in this setting, years ago, there was a massive catastrophe that destroyed the great fantasy empire that once ruled the realm, leaving stretches of vast wastelands in their place. Now, 250 years later, the few surviving havens are immense magitech mega-cities dotting the wastes (6 in total), with trade routes and the like set up, but the land still dominated by vast swathes of waste, filled with monsters, ruins, ETC. But there's a wrinkle here.

See, the elemental magic that the catastrophe caused also caused humans (and elves and dwarves and other races) to be born with innate magic. Or, in layman's terms, superpowers. Due to a variety of cultural factors, these people are largely divided into two-loosely-organized factions, called The Light and The Dark, after the powers of their respective early leaders.

The Light are the city adventurers, the more traditional superheroes. Costumes, codenames, ETC. They protect the various megacities from internal crime and corruption, and work in tandem with the city governments (which range from kingdoms to republics to god knows what else). They're generally more formalized and hierarchical, with rankings and regulations and the like.

The Dark are the frontier adventurers, who travel across the wastes exploring and dungeon develing and the like. They're far more loose and informal, and, while many do still work with the cities' rulers, there's a cultural taboo against doing so in any official capacity, instead taking "jobs" in sorta a freelance arrangement, if at all. It's also less common for them to do costumes or codenames, although some do.

While the two groups are largely heroic in their leadership (although both have their fair share of bad apples), and tend to cooperate on serious threats, there's a lot of brewing resentment born of their ideological friction, largely born of a clash of ideals in a sort of order/chaos way. The Light want to protect and restore civilization, the Dark want to be free, and view this as an opportunity to rebuild society from the ground up rather than simply recreating the past that got us here. There's a wide spectrum within them, of course.

And that's not counting beings unaffiliated with either, like the various superpowered wasteland warlords, or the supervillains of the cities, or...You get the idea.

Whew! OK, that was a lot. Questions, comments, concerns?

People hype up that Metro Man speed feat when it's actually "only" FTL. But people assume it has to be absurdly fast. The twist being that it IS, it's just that Metro Man, unlike most characters who get FTL scaling through dodging a laser by moving five inches to the left, actually shows how absurdly fast an FTL-speed character would be in comparison to the world. Remember, light can circle the entire Earth 7.5 times in the space of one second. Metro Man isn't Massively FTL, he's just giving an accurate demonstration of what FTL would actually be.

Hogwarts is looking for a new staff! You have 12 positions: The core classes of Astronomy, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic, Potions, and Transfiguration, as well as the electives of Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, Muggle Studies, and Ancient Runes. To fill these positions, you can pick any wizard (or magic user in general) in all of fiction. Your choice what to prioritize, but, given how often weird stuff goes down here, i'd recommend looking for combat skill as well as teaching ability.

Bonus points: How do they deal with the plot of the Harry Potter books, assuming they teach from Harry's first year to his seventh?

Monkey D. Luffy

Dracule Mihawk

Imu

Joy Boy

Rocks D. Xebec

Monkey D. Dragon

Sengoku

Aramaki "Green Bull"

Kaido

Charlotte Linlin

Gol D. Roger

Monkey D. Garp

Kuzan

Silvers Rayleigh

Borsalino

Jaygarcia Saturn

Issho

Marcus Mars

Edward Newgate

Sakazuki

Topman Warcury

Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro

Shepherd Ju Peter

Shiryu

Marshall D. Teach

Shanks

It's no secret that Vinsmoke Judge, Sanji's biological father, exists as a deliberate contrast to Zeff, Sanji's adoptive father, and his actual one in every way that matters. Right down to the fact that, when Oda draws Sanji's good and bad futures, in the good one, he's a dead ringer for Zeff, while, in the bad one, he's a dead ringer for JUDGE. They represent, to Sanji, everything a man should or should not be. And that makes the whole Vinsmoke plotline, in some sense, about masculinity, what it means to be a man, and the positive and negative aspects of traditional masculinity.

Let's start with Judge. Judge is, in just about every way, basically walking toxic masculinity. Every single fucked-up expectation society imposes on young men, Judge has it and he takes it to 11. He values physical strength and violence as the only true measures of a man, he openly (and, is his case, literally) forces his boys to suppress all "soft" emotions (which is to say, basically every emotion except anger), he encourages their aggression and cruelty towards others, and, when Sanji takes an interest in cooking, a traditionally feminine intrest, he rejects him entirely for this deviance from what he expects of his sons. And Judge is also blatantly a terrible man who raised a gaggle of terrible children. Notably, even he can't live up to his own ideals: For all his bravado and talk of emotion as weakness, he's hid behind his dirty tricks hiss entire life, human shields, jetpacks, ETC and, when he's held at gunpoint, with no one left to take the bullet, his first instinct is to blubber like a coward, for which his sons, robbed of their ability to fear death by the lack of humanity he caused in them, mock him for. For all his talk, he's nowhere as strong as he thinks he is.

But, there's Zeff. Zeff is also, in many ways, a very traditional man's man. He has an old-fashioned view of women, he's a fighter and a man well-acquainted with violence, and he has trouble expressing positive emotion, coming across as a very harsh, strict figure. But, deep down, he embodies the good side of traditional masculinity Judge lacks: He's a man of strong convictions, who risks his own life for others, deeply respects women if in an old-school way (certainly better then Judge, who only seems to have cared about his wife as a means to produce his children), and he genuinely cares about and loves Sanji, a fact he isn't afraid to tell him openly. Through Zeff, Sanji is molded into a true man's man, yes, but a man who is nothing like what Judge thinks a man should be. Rather, into someone who embodies everything good about traditional manliness: A provider who sustains lives, a protector who stands up for those too weak to stand for themselves, someone who embraces his empathy rather then viewing it as a weakness, a man who is, to paraphrase a favorite quote, "strong enough to be gentle". I have my criticisms of Zeff, but I think it's pretty neat how this storyline works.

Imu was a Pirate.

Long, long ago, right at the start of the Void Century, there was a young man, Nerona Imu. Once a member of a great race, the Lunarians, who had ruled from atop the Red Line, but had fallen from their throne at the hands of Davy D. Jones, the King of the World in that time. Thinking himself and his kind gods, Imu considered this loss of power humiliating, and his dream was to regain control, and become King of All. He gathered a crew, a crew composed of monstrous beings so powerful that they were known as Gods in later eras. Nidhogg, Zazu, they were among his crew. Among their allies in their fight against the government was a fellow Pirate, name of Joy Boy, wielder of the Nika fruit. They shared an opposition to Davy Jones, a charisma, and a relentless will to fulfill their dreams. Joy Boy too would travel the world, making friends everywhere he went, and it was said that he was beloved in so many lands that those areas formed an "immense kingdom", not a kingdom of land, but a kingdom of friends, of people, bound by their connections to each other. While Imu and his allies hid in the shadows, biding time, building great weapons like Pluton and Uranus, Joy Boy gathered friends and allies. The mermaid princess Poseidon, to whom he made a promise to let her live on the surface. Nefertari Lili, Zunesha, they were among his crew. Working to fulfill his dream, of a world where all would live under one sun. And, for a while, this crew and Imu's were allies, maybe even friends. But their paths would diverge wildly. When Imu and Joy Boy teamed up to wage war upon Davy Jones and his oppressive regime, they succeeded...But it became clear that Imu, unlike Joy Boy, did not wish to DESTROY the oppressive system: He just wished to change management. To regain his people's lost power and become a new king. Joy Boy wanted freedom in the sense of liberation, but Imu wanted merely the freedom that comes with being able to do whatever you want, including enslave others to your will. So, Joy Boy turned on his former friend, and he, and all who Imu opposed, was branded with the mark of D, Devil, in reference to Davy. Joy Boy and his allies warred against Imu and his, but, despite their best effort, the power of the weapons Imu had was too much. Joy Boy and his people failed. But they didn't die out entirely. Lili was able to manipulate Imu, convince him that she was a turncoat, and, in doing so, preserve the Poneglyphs that would tell his story. Zenusha fled, and managed to hide Pluton in the land of Wano, which had been an ally of Joy Boy. But Imu achieved his Dream: To be King. And he flooded the world to prove it.

But now, history is repeating. Victims of Imu, hurt by his opression just as he was hurt by Davy, rebel against him. Among them, two in particular stick out: Monkey D. Luffy and Marshall D. Teach. One an idealistic bearer of the Nika fruit who values freedom and liberation, the other a selfish man who wants not to destroy the World Government, but simply to take power for himself, and create a new world in his image. A world where everyone is free, or a world where only one man is free.

Superman and Monkey D. Luffy. Both charismatic leaders who inspire those around them, but, in most respects, could not be more different. A man of steel VS a man of rubber. An idealized hero who fights to save others VS a romanticized pirate who fights for his dreams, and those of his friends. The scientific power of a Kryptonian VS the supernatural powers of a Devil Fruit. A man who lives under the law and fights criminals VS a man who lives by no rules but his own and fights the law. A man of Justice VS a man embodying Freedom. Who would come out on top in a duel?

To be clear, this is DCAU Superman, not the mainline comics one, specifically as he was early in the JLA cartoon. This is also Luffy, as he was right before the Raid on Onigashima began IE Armament Internal Destruction yes, Conqueror's infusion and Gear 5, no. Although, given how Haki tends to evolve mid-fight, who knows?

Round 1: Superman is convinced Luffy is a dangerous criminal that must be taken in, while Luffy is convinced Superman is an agent of Justice come to capture him. Both are in-character, fight is to incap.

Round 2: Both are Bloodlusted, fight is to the death.

I get that a lot of people (i'd probably say most people here) are bigger fans of Megamind then of Gru, and I acknowledge the episode's scaling was a MASSIVE downplay, but I swear, the way some of you talk, this was a stomp and Gru never stood a chance. When, in reality, this was a, and i'm not saying this sarcastically, very close match, where either side had several win cons and you could make legitimate arguments for either. Let's not go overboard here.

Doctor Strange, Marvel Comics’ Sorcerer Supreme.

Reimu Hakurei, Touhou Project’s Shrine Maiden of Paradise.

Keeping the world safe means being vigilant of its many dangers, especially the supernatural. And somewhere between the borders of reality are two masters of the mystic arts, who have worked all their lives rigorously to keep all that is otherworldly out, and send them back from whence they came. Powered by spirits and spherical objects, it’s time for the magic of the east and the west to duke it out! Will Doctor Strange find himself exterminated, or will Reimu be menaced by magic?

Let's clarify some source material: As per usual, Earth-616 is Strange's primary canon, and, though Strange is a highly prominent and longstanding magic user, and as a result, has had a very extensive history of taking on different forms and using various items, only that which is standard to him and/or that he has not lost or broken is allowed here.

As for Touhou, it’s a bit more complicated, but still relatively easy to understand! For Touhou, the primary canon is the official, canon works by or sanctioned by Team Shanghai Alice, also known as series creator, ZUN (real name Jun’ya Ōta). Anything made by ZUN, or made with direct collaboration with ZUN (such as the Touhou manga & magazines, or the games made by Twilight Frontier) is official material, and can be used. This covers any of the official games, print works, manga, the stories contained within the music CDs (yes, those are a thing), as well as any websites, blogs, posts, illustrations, events, interviews and statements made by ZUN himself. While there has been some contention on the canonicity of the first 5 games of the series, the “PC-98” era, it’s been referenced multiple times within the Windows era, and ZUN himself has directly said that PC-98 is canon to Windows, as long as the content doesn’t contradict canon, in which case Windows takes priority. There's also some non-canon/unoffical material with heavy involvement from ZUN to take into account. Such as the appearances of Touhou characters in the first two titles of the Seihou Project series, being Shuusou Gyoku and Kioh Gyoku, which is a sister series to Touhou released between Touhou 5 and 6, had direct involvement from ZUN in the Touhou character’s appearances, and was even specifically requested by him. Genso Narratograph and its Expansion Book are included, as while it’s an unofficial TTRPG, ZUN directly wrote new, original character quotes, and the details and lore for the various locations in the game, as well as providing an example story in the book. It should be noted that some official Touhou print works like Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red, and Strange Creators of Outer World, include fan-made doujin works in their pages, however, these materials are not counted as “canon” and are still explicitly noted to be unofficial derivative works. It’s akin to how western comics will occasionally spotlight fanart in between its pages, just showcasing full works and spotlighting them, as these series’ also double as a way to showcase and spotlight fanworks within the community, only the official material from those mag counts.

Whew! OK, sorry that took so long, both are bloodlusted, let's see which mage is superior.