Sub-Zero VS Glacius

Oh boy. I've been waiting for this battle for a long time and is one of the few episodes that I didn't need anything prior to hype me up. While I actually haven't played either Mortal Kombat or Killer Instinct, I knew enough about the characters that I was actually not a complete moron going into this so I was pretty excited for this matchup. Let me just say that it was... a huge disappointment. Let's get into the review, shall we?

Analysis

OK the analysis does its job in informing the audience about the characters' backgrounds, arsenals and feats. However, it falls into the same traps before hand that its blatantly obvious who's going to win. I hadn't even started Glacius' rundown when I figured out that Sub-Zero would win because of its blatant usage of the "weakness trap". The Glasius rundown did leave me slightly skeptical when they didn't even calculate his feats while they did calculate Sub-Zero's as I suspected this was them using what I call the "calc omission" trap which is another trap used to make one combatant more powerful then the other via omitting certain information on the latter combatant. But SA usually doesn't use these traps in conjunction so I was still adamant that Sub-Zero would win. And while it also did explain one of Glacius' weaknesses, they went out of their way to put Sub-Zero's in. I mean I wouldn't exactly call being a "mortal man" or having "emotional baggage" as being factors that could work against him in a fight especially one such as Death Battle. The analysis uses up most of its good jokes in the first couple minutes of each rundown and as such they are already used up if you watch the previews. There's only one other joke that's particularly memorable and that's Wiz trying to be funny again which might've worked had Natsu VS Ace not brought it up and used it as a moment of heartwarming between Wiz and Boomstick. I give the analysis a 5/10

Animation

Here is where the bulk of my criticisms lie. The animation is only one minute 44 seconds long and unlike Power Rangers VS Voltron, it doesn't make that time count. I'd like to point out that the last episode that had a less than 2 minute animation was 30 episodes ago with Beast VS Goliath and that animation still has a longer time than this episode. The last episode that had a shorter animation than this was 41 episodes ago with Batman VS Captain America and that was a filler episode to compensate for the huge delay with Godzilla VS Gamera!!

It also suffers some pacing problems which made the animation drag on. The choreography is also a bit off with Glacius standing in one place for the majority of the fight and all of his attacks being animated rather slowly. While I get that this may have been intentional so as to emphasize Glasius' preference to long range attacks, they are just animated too slowly to make it enjoyable. Now I get that this was Kiid's first animation for Death Battle but he also animated Iron Man VS Mega Man X for DBX which was commonly regarded as one of the best animations for DBX at that time. While Iron Man VS Mega Man X had its flaws, one of them wasn't pacing. It was more that Iron Man couldn't get a single solid attack in. 

However he does do some things that are well done. For example the fake out was actually really well done and one of the few things that doesn't suffer from pacing. Its timed perfectly for you to make you think Glacius has won but does not give you enough time to realize that "Oh shit the K.O hasn't appeared!". Surprisingly I think this is the first time that a fake out has been executed perfectly because both Ryu VS Scorpion and Godzilla VS Gamera drags them out long enough for you to realize the fight isn't over. 

Now its by no means a bad animation but it isn't good either. Its just "meh" for me. However, I do think that Kiid has some potential and will look forward to the next time he animates for DB. I mean I was thinking similar things with Jetz when he did Cammy VS Sonya. All the closeups were just too awkwardly placed and timed for it to be enjoyable (in my opinion). Yet skip to Ken VS Terry and there is a drastic improvement. A few animations later and Jetz has become one of SA's best animators if not the best and I think a similar thing could happen with Kiid. But for now I have to give his first DB animation a 5/10.

Conclusion

OK now I know Glacius was the popular vote to win but I don't really have a problem with my preferred character losing provided there is reasonable justification. This episode kinda met me half way. Bringing up all the kinds of opponents that Sub-Zero has fought against doesn't do much when you look at the kinds of opponents that Glacius has faced off against and this bit could've just been a part of the analysis. I will concede that Sub-Zero's reflexes would allow him to easily dodge Glacius' attacks and his teleportation would've made it much easier. I will also concede that Glacius' telepathy would not be able to be utilized in the manner of mind reading as well as Glacius having better defenses. 

However, my main problem with this conclusion is that it yet again uses the 'Test Your Might' mini game fallacy. Test Your Might is a mini game and success is completely dependent on the player's own ability making it a Player Influenced Feat. These feats are typically non-canon and are the reason why Shovel Knight dodging meteors wasn't taken seriously. Its the same as saying 'Mario can die to spikes'. Of course its ridiculous because well 1) its gameplay and 2) Mario didn't hit those spike, YOU did. The same logic has to be used for character feats. Sub-Zero didn't break the titanium statue, YOU did and as such it shouldn't be counted as a feat. 

I can tolerate it being used in MK VS SF fights because SF also has the destroy the car mini game. However, KI doesn't have any such mini games and as such its essentially giving Sub-Zero more feats than he needs. Like I said I'm OK with Sub-Zero winning but the fact that he mainly won because of a mini game is what I'm not OK with. I give the conclusion a 5/10 making this episode barely scrape by with 50%. However, there is a silver lining here and that is that these lower quality episodes help make the higher quality episodes stand out a bit better which I can only hope will be the case with Android 18 VS Captain Marvel.

Power Rangers VS Voltron/Natsu VS Ace

OK so I've gotten a bit behind but there's a good reason for that and that good reason is... laziness. After 6 months I've found that I haven't really been enjoying writing these as I did when I started and that has mainly come from the fact that every time I write one of these reviews, I end up saying the same things over and over in a slightly different way. Hell I'm sure some variation of "pretty good" started becoming somewhat of a catch phrase over time given how many times I used it.

The thing is that while each episode of DEATH BATTLE is different they end up very formulaic. For the analysis, start with some background information before going over the character's feat/powers. Throw in a joke or two for good measure. While the animation is much more variable, it is essentially two characters passing the advantage ball between themselves (maybe getting some good combos in) before one of them dies. The conclusion is essentially giving the audience some information that was seemingly omitted in the analysis portion. The result is arguably even more predictable if SA is using the 'weakness trap'.However, despite this formula DB manages to entertain with a constant but subtle increase in quality. That changed when Power Rangers VS Voltron was uploaded.

To be blunt, I felt the fight was a disappointment. Now before you start raging I thought it was a pretty good episode and definitely one of Torrian's better animations. Unfortunately SA hyped it up so much that even I, who has had no experience with either show, was hyped to the point of believing it was going to be a fight worthy of rivaling Goku VS Superman (the good one) in terms of quality. Instead I got a fight that was only 4 minutes 25 seconds long (only one second less than Deadpool VS Pinkie Pie) and while the episode utilizes every second of those 4 minutes 25 seconds to their maximum potential, it feels like the episode would have benefited from a longer animation. The characters don't play off each other very well and despite bringing in an AllStarCast to fit the characters, the dialogue isn't that great. The one scene where I actually feel invested is Lance's heroic sacrifice to save Pidge and the impact it had on Pidge. From then on, I was fully invested at both the fact that Power Rangers had actually managed to cripple Voltron and possibly killed someone and the sheer awesomeness that was Pidge. Unfortunately that happens very late in the fight and while the choreography is still awesome, it doesn't really help the problems I addressed.

The analysis and conclusion are par for the course with some good jokes here and there. The conclusion was actually the only thing that matched my expectations by demonstrating how far Power Rangers were outclassed by Voltron with over the top calculations. Now I know I'm being a bit harsh to the episode but in my defense SA deliberately hyped this fight up and this is where I reached my revelation. DB has reached a quality where its almost impossible to surmount. Sure episodes will keep slightly improving in quality but unfortunately that works against fights that SA wants to hype up.

For example Goku VS Superman was able to exceed beyond expectations because the quality of its animation was far beyond anything we had ever seen before at that point in time. Hell at that point in time most of the episodes were animated by Ben Singer himself and let's just say they have not aged well due to him being an amateur animator. Goku VS Superman 2 was also a success in my opinion mainly because there were two types of people prior to the episode's release. Those that were hoping Goku to win or those that like me had understood the message of the first fight and as such were not looking forward to this. Surprisingly the episode was rife with symbolism. How Wiz and Boomstick take a break from the formula and instead focus on the history of the franchise. How Superman actually decides to Mercy Kill Goku. And of course the infamous "Superman walking through the Super Kamehameha". Sure its not a great message (that being 'Superman is limitless' which is BS imo) but it gets the point across.

Power Rangers VS Voltron turned out to be a failure because while I like it more than Goku VS Superman 2, it couldn't live up to the hype. Sure there's Voltron overloading Power Ranger's systems at the end to "show how powerful Voltron is" but for the majority of the fight the Megazord and Voltron were fighting on equal footing and the Megazord ends up being somewhat of a curbstomp cushion by coming dangerously close to actually defeating Voltron which is weird considering that unlike Superman, Voltron has no reason to hold back. Now I'm used to these kinds of fights appearing in DB where the victor actually curbstomps the loser in the results but is nearly defeated in the animation but that's where my point is. Power Rangers VS Voltron ended up being simply another Death Battle rather than a milestone fight. Don't get me wrong, I loved this episode and I'd probably be saying completely different things had SA not hyped it up but I guess thems the breaks. The fight's not really bad and is even really good. I just expected a bit more out of a milestone episode. I give this episode an 83%

Now onto Natsu VS Ace. The analysis is good with some good jokes here and there such as the early closing of Natsu's analysis upon realization that he died at an early age. The analysis does a good job at informing the audience of what exactly the combatants' arsenals consisted of. The animation was excellent and for the first time I thought the close ups on the characters actually served a purpose and helped make the fight seem more cinematic (even if one or two felt out of place). I especially enjoyed Ace's disintegration and the close up used for it. The results provide a reasonable explanation for why Natsu won and actually contained a heartwarming moment between Wiz and Boomstick. I only have two issues with the episode: 1) the reason for the fight happening was pretty dumb and 2) I CAN'T FIND THE MUSIC FOR ACE'S FIREFLY ATTACK!!! Though seriously if you know the name of that track could you please tell me? I give the episode an 85% As for next time: ALL OF MY YES!

Venom VS Bane

This was one of the few battles where I actually had a decent amount of prior knowledge on before the prediction blog came out. With me having the gist of Bane and Venom being one of my favorite Marvel characters of all time, I was pretty hyped for the battle. The connections were also not bad with both being evil counterparts of the protagonists that are also physically stronger (though Ben and Chad didn't realize this until after looking into the battle).

Analysis

The analysis were informative as always. In fact they were so informative that they were actually able to come up with a feat for Bane that made it less than a stomp in Venom's favor. Specifically surviving SuperBat's beatdown. In terms of feats, the analysis do a good job at stating feats without giving the audience a way to gauge the feats until the conclusion (though its still safe to assume that a giant carnival ride is a bigger feat than lifting a truck). The analysis were pretty decent in the entertainment department with Boomstick name ratings being a notable aspect. However, while the analysis is decent on its own, it pales in comarison to other episodes. The analysis does do its job in being informative but it could be better by putting in more feats and/or calcs. It also isn't as entertaining as other episodes so I give the analysis a 5.8 out of 10.

Animation

Now unlike the previous episode, I freaking love the fight choreography for this episode. The animation starts out as a homage to Batman while also mixing in a bit of Mook Horror Show. It demonstrates Bane's superior skill in martial arts while also maintaining Venom's superior power set. The way Venom finishes Bane is well-done and the way Bane dies (with Venom overloading him with webbing to the point where he explodes) definitely fits this episode more than Batman VS Spider-man (where it was originally intended to appear). Unlike the last episode, the advantage ball is passed around rather than keeping it in one combatant so I'm comfortable giving the animation an 8 out of 10 (and upon further inspection despite Scrooge VS SK's superior animation, it really didn't deserve a 9.5/10).

Conclusion

The conclusion is as expected yet, it is dealt with in a tactful manner. Rather than simply righting the episode off due to him being physically superior, the episode actual tackles calculations for several feats such as the carnival ride weighing around 200 tons and calculating Venom's reaction speed to be 1,500 miles per hour. Yes it does end with essentially what I said they didn't do but they actually give justifiable reasons rather than using powerscaling to Spiderman. As such I think the conclusion deserves a 7.5 out of 10. That brings the total score to 21.3 out of 30 or 71%. 

Scrooge McDuck VS Shovel Knight

I'm going to be honest; when this matchup was first announced I was pissed. The only connection I could see was "both collect money" and that really isn't worthy enough to become a DEATH BATTLE! However, as time went on I discovered more and more connections between the two. Both were treasure hunters (and judging by the amount of jewelry behind Shovel Knight, it was an important aspect of his character) who had a 'partner' but lost that partner at one point in their life resulting in them heartbroken and these partners were still alive after the protagonists lost them. Both had similar arsenals with a means of generating extreme heat, becoming intangible, generating loud noises, turning opponents into gold and even had a similar technique. So by the time this battle got released I was actually pretty excited.

Analysis

One thing I noticed about this episode is that it seemed to be a contrast to Lara Croft VS Nathan Drake. Both gave the background but then while that episode spent more time going over feats, this episode spent more time going over the combatant's arsenals. It goes so far that Wiz and Boomstick even share their favorite weapons the characters have. Now they still go over the combatants feats but there's not as much emphasis on it, making the episode a bit unpredictable. Also adding to the unpredictability is that the 'weakness trap' as I'm calling it wasn't used. While I disagree with Shovel Knight being dumb, I understand that that was put there in an attempt to avoid making the episode predictable. Unfortunately the matchup itself destroys all of that but I'll explain what I mean by that later on. With all this I give the analysis a 7/10.

Animation

Well this fight of all episodes finally showed me the difference between fight and animation. On one hand I'm disappointed with the fight itself as it portrays Scrooge as winning on pure luck. He only manages to get a solid hit in until 13 seconds prior to the end of the battle. This is a problem I also noticed in Meta VS Carolina (with Carolina only winning because of Maine's Brute Shot). While the animation is purely made for entertainment, most people will still think of this as how the fight will play out (hence why you see people arguing about the details of the animation) and by portraying the victor as only winning because of a combination of sheer luck and their opponent's weapon, you get rid of the feeling that the victor actually earned that win. The episode also didn't show as much of either combatant's arsenal as I would've liked and is quite short. The fight does have its moments such as Shovel Knight swinging the cannon ball back to Scrooge and Scrooge's comeback is especially good as Shovel Knight dies with honor... by slipping over a pool of gold and getting decapitated by his own weapon.

However, that all changes when you look at the animation itself. Every movement is fluid and it creates a semblance of quality that surpasses even some 3D animated fights. The animation has a nice flow to it and this is even shown in the music used when it easily changes from 'The Ancient Ship of Doom - Act 1' to the NES theme of DuckTales. This animation greatly improves upon the quality of previous 2D episodes and I look forward to seeing more of Jetz battles in the future. Seriously this episode has made me think of Jetz as the Torrian of 2D battles. With this I give the animation 9.5/10

Conclusion

Now as I've said the outcome was obvious just because of the sheer matchup itself. This is what happens when you pit a character with 70+ years of comic books (as well as other mediums) against an indie video game character with one game (and a bunch of cameos). Yes the majority of Shovel Knights game is fighting, giving the illusion that he has more combat experience but in canon its still a few days. Scrooge on the other hand has more source material and has gone on more adventures than Shovel Knight so while DB's claim that Scrooge has 100+ years of experience is incorrect, Scrooge still has more canon experience than Shovel Knight. Yes Shovel Knight has a bigger arsenal that could provide more hax but Scrooge's arsenal literally destroys the laws of physics and doesn't have as much of a catch. Yes Shovel Knight has faced impressive threats such as dragons and the Order of No Quarter but Scrooge has accomplished feats well above that such as surviving the center of the earth. 

There's also the problem with the format of 'Shovel Knight' in that many of the feats Shovel Knight performs in that game are 'player influenced' and as a result make the feats extremely iffy in my opinion. Yes Shovel Knight 'could' dodge meteors but if the player isn't fast enough then Shovel Knight will just end up being hit by them and the game doesn't even acknowledge these meteorites. Canonically Shovel Knight just beat Black Knight and that is that. This is likely the reason why DB didn't cover the meteorite feat (though according to the prediction blog it wouldn't have mattered if it was included). 

With the format of 'Shovel Knight' this episode put a nearly featless character against a character with 70 years worth of feats on his belt. The result was obvious. from the getgo. However, despite that the episode's reasoning is sound. They show that Scrooge was superior in stats, had a superior arsenal and brought up Shovel Knight's finite supply of magic. I give the reasoning a score of 7.5/10. That brings the total score to 24/30.

Lara Croft VS Nathan Drake

Well this was another battle I in which I was very inexperienced and did not know either character. However, as this was a highly requested matchup I still had a bit of knowledge on the combatants other than the prediction blog so I wasn't going in completely blind.

Analysis

The analysis were more informative than most episodes yet at the same time seemed a bit watered down, compared to other episodes. Both Lara and Nathan's analysis seemed to be the standard background of the characters and then just lists of what the combatants had accomplished. While this did give me a better idea about what they have accomplished, it also didn't leave much room for Wiz and Boomstick's character and didn't hold back as much as most episodes do. As such the outcome of the episode was predictable even if you had no prior knowledge on the combatants. The analysis also used a trap that I've noticed has appeared in many episodes of DEATH BATTLE. To put it simply the trap involves giving the audience one combatant's weakness/es while leaving out the other one's. This is quite evident in this episode due to discussing Lara's recklessness while leaving out Nathan's reliance on luck. As such I give the analysis a 6/10.

Animation

Well Torrian was able to put out another great animation complete with Final Fantasy music to boot. The animation plays out quite similar to Sold Snake VS Sam Fisher in that both combatants are fighting over some item which constantly gets passed between them as the fight progresses. The item (which is the Holy Grail) is supposed to symbolize the advantage ball that gets passed around (though I doubt anyone else sees it that way) during the fight.

The fight goes from a mountain to a car chase (which is surprisingly appropriate unlike the last car chase that occurred on Death Battle) before finally ending up in the desert. The only real problem with this is the ending. Now I don't have a problem with the fact that Nathan tried to flee. He had the Holy Grail and knew that Lara could beat him in a close quarters fight so there was no reason for him to stay. I don't have a problem with Nathan surviving the explosion and the fall. That seems to be par for the course with these combatants. However how Nathan dies is anticlimactic as all hell. Instead of getting into one final showdown where they die, Nathan gets killed by the helicopter rotor falling back down and impaling him. OK putting aside the fact that this fight should not have ended in an accidental murder due to Lara actively trying to murder Nathan, how Nathan died is NOT PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE. The rotor flew upwards and the laws of aerodynamics and physics would not allow it to completely reverse its momentum to embed itself in Nathan's body.

However, other than the ending the animation is pretty good. The voice acting is great and I think the fight choreography is really good (those Lara flips). There's even a sufficient motive to start the fight. So taking all this into consideration I give the fight a 7.5/10.

Conclusion

Well as I said the outcome was quite predictable due to how the analysis were handled. Now they still gave solid reasoning proving that Lara was stronger, tougher, more level-headed and generally more skilled. Sure Nathan is impressive compared to a normal human being but the hosts were right in saying that Nathan typically relied on luck which isn't something you should rely on. There is also the issue that Lara has faced more powerful threats (which is another similarity to Snake VS Sam). So with all this I give the conclusion a 7.5/10. This brings the total rating to 21/30 or 70%.

Deadpool VS Pinkie Pie

Well this was a battle I figured was going to be a joke battle. Whether it was Chad's comments about how 'fun and serious battles and the balance between them' or just the match up itself, I figured it was going to be a silly fight. when this match up was first announced I didn't really care so when it was finally released I was completely blown away.

Analysis

Now due to this being a joke battle and as such being more for the entertainment, I'm willing to let the fact that the analysis seemed a bit watered down compared to most death battles slide. Now while they weren't as informative as I would have liked, they make up for it in entertainment value. Deadpool interacts with Wiz and Boomstick more and Pinkie Pie's not slouching in the fourth wall department either. On top of that Wiz actually manages to make them leave in one way or another and I'll forever remember Deadpool's screams as Wiz starts erasing him. For it being more entertaining I give the analysis an 7/10.

Animation

OK the animation was fantastic and I have to say Kayas did a great job with the script he was given. Now the actual fight between the combatants is pretty standard for a good animation but the real fun begins when an alliance is formed between Deadpool and Pinkie Pie. They begin going through previous death battles and hijacking them, possibly even changing the victor of some before ending at an episode of DB Cast. Now if that doesn't truly exemplify the nonsensical natures of these combatants, I don't know what will. It ends with Deadpool having a birthday party in Equestria and its great. Hey Deadpool say hi to Starsceam for me will ya? For it being hilariously over the top I give the animation a 9/10. Sure there are some animations that are better done but this animation gave me the most joy out of the entire series (sans maybe Chuck VS Segata) so that's how I justify giving it a nigh-perfect score.

Conclusion

Do I even have to go over this? While we don't get a true victor, just how defeated Wiz and Boomstick sound when they find out Deadpool managed to beat the system says it all. Though I can't really give a ranking for this. While I do enjoy it, there really wasn't anything else. That brings the total score to 16/20 or 80%.

Zoro VS Erza

Well this is a rather tricky situation. Not knowing either character and having very limited knowledge of them ( coughpredictionblogcough) leaves me more impressionable to the episode's reasoning. However, I will still try to keep a neutral voice in the matter. With that said let's start the review.

Analysis

Well due to being an outsider the analysis were pretty informative from my perspective. Both analysis had calculations that showed just how powerful each character was. For Zoro he was able to dish out an attack equivalent to an atomic bomb while Erza had calculations proving she could deal an attack equivalent to 16 kilotons of force and was able to endure an attack equivalent to 2 kilotons of TNT. However, this made the outcome a bit predictable. While the winner of these episodes typically has something left out or is made out to be the worse fight, the calcs given are typically the same. To have Erza's best feat shown is withstanding an attack of 2 kilotons of TNT when her opponent can deal an attack equivalent to 11 megatons of TNT just shows how outclassed she is. Furthermore but from what I've seen in the comments there was quite a it left out for Erza. While I can let that slide due to the amount of armors she wears and the same was done for Iron Man to cover their versatility, if Erza had better feats those should've been used. With all this I give the analysis a 6.5/10.

Animation

The animation was actually pretty good. It included humor where it was appropriate while also maintaining the destructive capacity that both combatants were capable of. The whole reason for the start of the fight is that Erza is going after Zoro's bounty which is... acceptable. Don't get me wrong its a valid reason for the fight to start but I don't recall Erza being a bounty hunter of sorts. Maybe she is but I'd like to have had it at least established somewhere in the analysis. Also Zoro rolling around to put out the fire is pretty hilarious and the fight gets even more entertaining when the both Zoro and Erza inadvertently destroy the town their fighting in. Then there's Zoro's win which is pretty badass. He gets up on the brink of death, fights hundreds of swords and then uses these swords as a means to reach Erza and deliver a powerful enough strike to not only slice her in pieces but also slice the nearby mountain in half. The voice acting is also pretty good and Kaji Tang's deliverance of Zoro's lines especially "So much for that true strength bullshit" is perfect (well for an outsider like me anyways). As such I think this is Season 3's best 2D animation and I score it an 8.5/10.

Conclusion

As an outsider the reasoning they gave is sound. While this is the same outsider who thought Gaara VS Toph's reasoning was sound (upon closer inspection it is not), I actually have faith in this reasoning. While I still have limited knowledge (coughstillonlypredictionblogcough) on the characters Death Battle's reasoning actually gives calculations proving Zoro is superior in speed and strength. It doesn't help matters that Erza would eventually run out of magic putting her on a time limit, giving Zoro another advantage over her. With that said I give the conclusion an 8/10. This makes the total score 23/30 or 77%.