DEATH BATTLE

Fixed that for you.

At some point in history, it was decided that having romance in a story automatically makes the story better. Always. No exceptions. And so romances became shoehorned into basically every story ever written from that point onwards. And, by romance, I mean Will They or Won't They? nonsense because that's the only way any writer can think of to actually do a romance.

Honestly, Dragon Ball is in a weird way better off than 90% of works out there because its writer outright admitted that he has no f*cking idea how to write romance. So he just doesn't. In every single romance in Dragon Ball, the actual development of the relationship happens offscreen. Characters just show up after some time has passed and they're a couple now, and they may or may not have a kid to reveal.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Jun 3rd 2020 at 12:20:04 PM

My Tumblr. Currently liveblogging Haruhi Suzumiya and revisiting Danganronpa V3.

This may be better for the romance (can't do it, don't) but he rarely seems to know what to do with his female characters outside of that. Chi-chi is suffering from that, outside of the bad Education Mama jokes, and poor 18 is only even still showing up because of her marriage to Krillin, despite being one of the strongest women in the cast.

....this never happened. Krillin and 18 have one of the more normal marriages. It's helps that 18 is far more low key and laid back than Bulma and Chi-chi.

One Strip! One Strip!

Not just Fire Emblem, but I wanna say Mulan vs. Lucina's also the first time a mainline Disney movie's getting represented in DB/X as opposed to a TV show, comic series, etc.

Though, yeah being a popularity contest for a show with nerds as the target audience I think Lucina's victory is gonna be cut and dry here. And even if it were treated seriously I think the sorts of superhuman flippy jump sword spins she'd get from cutscenes, crit animations, etc. would put her above Mulan anyways (who's more of a strategist that uses the environment in her favor than a head-on fighter)

🏳️‍⚧️she/her | Vio Rhyse Alberia

No, time for Yu-Gi-Oh! talk!

A. To be fair to Yubel, years of isolation in a space capsule plus contamination by the Light of Destruction messed her up a lot. I don't think they actually died, though? Just fused.

B. If we're going to talk about stunted, one-sided romances between Yu-Gi-Oh! protagonists, let me bring up Tsukumo Yuma! Dude had three girls going after him! At least, that's what my memes tell me. Crunchyroll doesn't have the subs and Yuma's dub voice makes me want to flay myself.

I mean. That just might be more of a "main cast connection that lets her get involved" thing .

Edited by fredhot16 on Jun 3rd 2020 at 11:36:51 AM

Trans rights are human rights. TV Tropes is not a place for bigotry, cruelty, or dickishness, no matter who or their position.

nope, there is in fact an episode where they fight each other, i think leading up to the tournament of power

was i being hyperbolic? absolutely, but they do fight in an episode

Edited by EpicBleye on Jun 3rd 2020 at 2:53:34 PM

"There's not a girl alive who wouldn't be happy being called cute." ~Tamamo-no-Mae

If we are going to talk about a shafted female character in dragon ball then we have to mention Videl

Married to Gohan. Alongside husband and daughter we have a family of pure wasted potential

Uni cat

Other point, most TV and Film writers are (straight) men. So they write women as love interests because that's how they see most of them.

Getting a wife and some amount of children is seen as the life win condition by a lot of writers

Although I think Toriyama just wanted the offspring part so if he had thought to justify saiyans reproducing by budding rather than have to write even a little relationship he probably would have

Anyway that’s why love interests are often bland or flat because they’re seen as part of the win condition and not as their own character first and foremost

Edited by Bocaj on Jun 3rd 2020 at 3:37:04 PM

Forever liveblogging the Avengers

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Goku getting married (outside of the novelty of a main character becoming a father and grandfather, which is something you don't really see in Shonen, or at least you don't continue to follow them after it happens like we have with DB) added nothing. Chi-chi has no purpose, and Toriyama himself threw away all the build up he did with Gohan as the next hero.

It started as Goku's story, ended as Goku's story, and re-started as Goku's story.

They were having a brief sparing match leading up, but it wasn't really a huge focus. Maybe you're confusing it with that episode where Goku fights Krillin to test his resolve in the tournament?

One Strip! One Strip!

If Bowser were to make a return in an episode of Death Battle who would make for a good opponent for the Koopa King?

I could see Megatron working as both are the well known enemies of two red and blue clad heroes who are one of the most recognized characters in media (Mario and Optimus Prime) both are also the well respected leader of an army that they use to cause trouble for the heroes.

There’s also Ridley from Metroid as both are fearsome beasts from Nintendo games who manage to come back no matter how many times they get beaten.

Check out Rogues Gallery Transplant: The Game

The reason it's novel is probably because other Shonen writers who all drew their inspiration from the series (Of which there are many) realized it didn't always work and just didn't do it themselves. Ah, the tribulations of being a trailblazer.

Ridley vs Megatron seems like a better matchup than Bowser vs either.

I'm sure there's some Saturday morning cartoon villain I haven't been watching since I'm thirty now that could take on Bowser. Skeletor or Hordak?

Edited by ShirowShirow on Jun 3rd 2020 at 4:45:07 AM

I personally would like to see Bowser fight Dedede, but I think the fight against Wario give credence to the idea that Kirby characters are more broken than Mario characters.

King K. Rool could be another suggestion, but he doesn't have as much feats as Bowser, so it would probably be a stomp for him.

I think Kirby kicking a Dragon Ball character's ass is more of an indicator of how broken they can be.

Jason has come back to kill for Mommy.

Alright but Megatron vs. Frieza though.

Edited by FlutterFire on Jun 3rd 2020 at 4:03:04 AM

Is this another part of pony friendship? Telling each other what you learned all the time?

Hmm... Bowser versus Ice King?

I'm sure Simon has more thematically-appropriate matchups that don't end in him being comically squashed but that's the best I've got.

🏳️‍⚧️she/her | Vio Rhyse Alberia

For a Marvel vs DC battle that I think would be a close match, interesting and very thematically appropriate, but also would break DC's streak, is Lizard vs Man-Bat.

One of the better bits of advice I got as a writing student was when I wrote a movie screenplay, and decided in the 11th hour to make an implicit relationship I wrote between two characters explicit in a dramatic moment just because I figured it would be obligatory - and my instructor said something to the tune of "your initial take was right, the characters don't need that. As writer, your job is to let the director screw that up."

Edited by KnownUnknown on Jun 3rd 2020 at 2:29:43 AM

"The difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to make sense." - Tom Clancy, paraphrasing Mark Twain.

I just realized that, since this battle involves swords, we are quite likely going to see a Disney Princess get a very Family-Unfriendly Death.

Think this might be the straw that finally catches the attention of the Disney Overlords' lawyers? <.<;

Edited by Servbot on Jun 3rd 2020 at 7:33:58 AM

Shan-Yu gets blown to kingdom come and a whole village is killed. I think Disney would be fine with one of its more serious characters dying violently.

Jason has come back to kill for Mommy.

True, but Mulan was very good at using Bloodless Carnage and offscreen deaths that still protected the brand's image while having a body count in the thousands.

So they might still take umbrage on a member of one of their billion dollar franchises suffering lets say... a decapitation. Especially if Youtube decides to recommend it to a kid that's been binge watching on Disney Princess related Youtube shows <.<;

Edited by Servbot on Jun 3rd 2020 at 7:47:43 AM

Would they? Would they, honestly?

Trans rights are human rights. TV Tropes is not a place for bigotry, cruelty, or dickishness, no matter who or their position.

Well, I just took a quick Google for Disney takedowns and got a fairly recent article of someone getting hit by a takedown notice for posting pictures of a Rey action figure. So the answer is... maybe.

Edited by Servbot on Jun 6th 2020 at 5:29:14 AM

It's a matter of time before Disney sues actress Daisy Ridley for looking too much like Rey. /s

Uni cat

That Kylo Ren toy with Mace's head is awesome.

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."

Is this another part of pony friendship? Telling each other what you learned all the time?

Lady Deathstrike (X-Men) vs Lust (Fullmetal Alchemist). Both have black hair, healing factors and Wolverine Claws.