DEATH BATTLE

Given that they're no longer doing composites, it's highly likely that we are going to see the Mask from the live action movie (and the subsequent animated series), as he is more iconic.

...

Why did they stop using Composites by the way?

That's never been clear to me.

That's just how Big Head works, though. Even in the comics, he reacts to violence with squash and stretch shenanigans. Its just that, unlike the movie, his victims don't.

• covers some differences between Carrey (movie Mask) and Big Head (comic book Mask)
  • some panels from the first Mask comic
• Yeah, Big Head (the comic book version of the Mask) more or less works the same way... except he doesn't stop at cartoon antics and flat-out murders his targets.
• Walter is the only one I recall really giving Mask trouble - toonforcing just doesn't work on the guy for some reason.

Edited by Soble on Nov 8th 2019 at 6:58:54 AM

The first two seasons were very experimental. They hadn't really worked out how they want to do things and went back and forth a few times.

My understanding was that they were originally doing composites because it was "cooler", basically. This series is literally two nerds fighting over whether Spider-Man can beat up Batman but with an effects budget.

Over time, Death Battle came into its own, some of the guidelines for how they wanted to operate were determined, and the team became more professional (including hiring staff). Death Battle became less "HOLY SHIT SUPERMAN VS GOKU GO" and more about serious analysis of the characters' abilities.

And with that more serious approach came a less favorable look on composites. See, the point of Death Battle is to determine who would seriously win a fight between two characters from popular media. If you pit Composite Link against Nathan Drake, though, what are you really analyzing? Composite Link isn't a thing. He's not a character. He's never appeared in any video game. He does not exist anywhere in the Legend of Zelda canon.

Composite Link is a fake character that the debaters made up for the sake of making the various Links more powerful. Whether he wins or loses, what does that even mean if he's not a real character? When you have Link decked out in the Magic Armor from Twilight Princess and playing the Song of Time with the Wind Waker while using the Roc's Feather, you might as well give him a Green Lantern Ring while you're at it 'cause that's not any Link that has ever existed anywhere in the franchise.

Death Battle's purpose is to go, "If Batman, if the actual canon Batman was in a fight with the actual canon Mewtwo, would he win?" Thus, in season 3, the rules changed to better encapsulate this. Seasons 1 and 2 were about characters at their most powerful possible interpretations, while seasons 3 and onwards are trying to get the characters as close to canon as physically possible.

EDIT: In fact, fun fact, Ben was talking about a hypothetical Link v. Cloud rematch this week and mentioned something funny. First, that they'd never use a game like Dissidia or Smash Bros. as the baseline canon for the characters. And second, he declared that the old Link v. Cloud fight is officially retconned as "Smash Link v. Dissidia Cloud".

Edited by TobiasDrake on Nov 8th 2019 at 8:22:11 AM

Who'd win a Link Battle Royale? Definitely not BOTW Link IMHO, since his weapons would shatter at an inopportune moment. I assume Warriors Link is disqualified.

Link Battle Royale would be amazing.

I don't expect them to do one, though, just because of how hard it would be to differentiate the various blond elf boys in green tunics carrying swords and shields.

They didn't even stop using composites given they used multiple incarnations of Battle Network Mega Man for the Mega Man Battle Royale.

Rules are that adaptations and other supplemental material are considered fair game so long as the feats being demonstrated from them don't contradict the source material. Basically, you can use something Iron Man does in a movie to make an argument if it's within reason that the 616 Iron Man would be capable of the same feat. But you can't give Dr. Strange the Time Gem because the Eye of Agamotto is something completely different in the 616 universe.

Their stance on composites now is "they're fair game if these incarnations of the character are compatible" iirc, hence why they only used one incarnation of Mechagodzilla but treated all three Captain Falcons as if they were all capable of the same feats as one another.
They might do the same thing for Link in the inevitable rematch, but with less of a weird handwave like last time and more just noting how most Links have the same equipment and do generally similar things on their adventures.

Re:Link battle royale: Honestly I'd be inclined to say BotW Link anyways since his tech is above the other Links and he's shown in flashbacks to be a One-Man Army. The runner up would be ALttP Link since he has the most experience at four different adventures under his belt, and he's also the only Link to defeat a Ganon that possessed the full Triforce.

Edited by NesClassic on Nov 8th 2019 at 8:35:14 AM

So yeah then by that logic they couldn't use the anime and manga feats for Mega Man.exe because they are completely different characters.

IINM, Deadpool's ability to perceive the fourth wall has on occasion been shown to allow him to basically ignore the fourth wall altogether, with the typical manifestation of this being the few times he "interacted" with the writer(s) of the story he's in. This, combined with the fact that his standard gear includes a personal teleporter that doubles as an Interdimensional Travel Device, seems to be a plausible justification for a "composite" Deadpool: He can pretty much "borrow" any of his alternate universe/continuity selves' gear.

Edited by MarqFJA on Nov 8th 2019 at 7:44:05 PM

Big Bead/The Mask had a crossover with Lobo. They destroyed a solar system.

I don't know how they'll look at Walter. Walter isn't, or shouldn't be anymore impressive than Deadpool, but toonforcing just doesn't seem to work on him, so what does that mean for Big Head's feats? The same guy who can pull a stick of dynamite out of thin air or spawn a drill from his groin can't seem to take out a guy who shouldn't be any tougher than Bane or Captain America.

So, to throw these out of my head:

• Mask vs Akira Fudo - transformed by supernatural phenomenon into aggressive wild-men, drastically altering their day-by-day relationships
• Big Head vs Bobobo-bobobo - a bald trickster with a garish appearance against an afro-headed trickster with a garish appearance and similar Fourth Wall-breaking abilities - whose "mission" is to defeat an empire of "hair hunters."
• Big Head vs Dio Brando - a supernatural mask from ancient times transforms them into a maniacal creature of the night with insane healing factors and a wide array of abilities
  • Or, heck, Ultimate Kars. The ancient Mayan bodybuilder who turned his hand into a killer squirrel.
• The Mask vs Axe Cop - the only fictional cop with so many ridiculous powers he could probably fight the Mask and win.

But no.

Deadpool. I mean he's definitely the one to murder Deadpool but all they're doing is replacing one fourth-wall breaking maniac with another.

I'd have rather seen:

• Deadpool vs Haruko Haruhara - eccentric, perverted, fourth-wall breaking warriors with impossible romantic goals (Death/Atomsk).
• Deadpool vs Dante - nigh-unkillable, unflappable mercenaries who've already been portrayed as being potential rivals in Marvel vs Capcom.
• Deadpool vs Nui Harime - science experiments gone wrong/right with healing factors, signature swords, healing factors, bombastic personalities, fourth-wall awareness

Edited by Soble on Nov 9th 2019 at 9:22:23 AM

Oh no my mental block of Progressive has been broken again

Was Alternative any better?

At least Progressive gave us Spiky Seeds... which the more I think about it sounds like a great name for a Stand.

But anyway - she's got to fight somebody, and it's either Deadpool, Buzz Lightyear, Atomic Betty, or Birdy the Mighty... ok she's got four workable opponents. But I need to complain about Deadpool more so I'm going to treat it as though Deadpool was the only plausible pick.

...actually thinking about it now Harley Quinn would also have been a good match for Deadpool. I'm almost certain they're in the same level of crazy by now.

Edited by Soble on Nov 9th 2019 at 11:14:23 AM

For Buzz Lightyear, I assume you mean his space hero version from the TV show and not the toy version that's more well-known?

Deadpool would stomp Harley, no challenge.

FLCL Progressive bad. FLCL Alternative good.

Specifically, I find the cast of Alternative to be way better.

It also gave us Star Overhead

What’s the deal with those sequels?

I meant to watch them but I forgot to

I found Alternative better. Progressive feels like someone with surface knowledge of the original tried to make a sequel. Alternative feels like someone who actually watched the original and understood it made it.

I just saw a picture of Godzilla facing Saitama.

And someone went "is that phony going to try to steal credit from KING again?" So I played along and went "yeah, with his bag of tricks!" referencing Hercule from Dragon Ball.

Then a weird thought occurred. I thought back to those cereal commercials for Trix and how that rabbit could never get the cereal. "Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids!"

Which mixed with me looking at Saitama and then I thought, "what if Saitama tried to get the cereal?"

Because the Rule of Funny would dictate that since Saitama isn't a child he would be physically unable to take the cereal away from the kids. Saitama's Nigh-Invulnerability seem to fail when it's funny - like when he tried to swat the fly, or when a cat managed to cut up his face.

Saitama can defeat any enemy in a single punch, but can he tell why kids love the taste of Cinnamon Toast Crunch?

Edited by KnownUnknown on Nov 11th 2019 at 2:41:11 AM

What does Saitama's nigh-invulnerability have to do with him swatting a fly (which I distinctly remember was a mosquito)?