I don't do much blogging (Lord knows I
spout my opinions off enough both online and irl) but since a good
friend of mine (and much better blogger) Imperator100 mentioned that
a blog ranking and giving feedback on some of her blogs would make a
good birthday present for her I found a good reason to sit down and
do some typing. I'll link to each of the blogs I mention and since
this blog is talking about written Death Battles/Death Predictions,
there will be a ton of spoilers so if you want to read them first and
find out who wins for yourself (which I highly recommend), make sure
to check Imp's blogs out before reading what I have to say about
them. The titles of each blog I mention will have links. Happy
Birthday Imp, take a day off from blogging but I expect the next year
to be filled with a bunch more! Semi-kidding, don't break your back.
Just before I get started here, just
wanted to say that this is a top 10 list of Imperator100's Death
Predictions, starting at #10 and counting down (up?) to my favorite
one. I should mention that just because I placed one in the number
10 or 9 or 8 spot, doesn't mean that it's bad or I don't like it.
She's made exactly 10 so far and all of them are quite good, but
something has to be #10, that's the nature of these kinds of lists.
I love top tens personally but I'm not very good at making them. If
I had my way, most of these would probably all be crammed together in
the top three spots but oh well, here goes!
#10
One of the most notable things about
this fight is that it is the only one versus one fight that Imp's
done that involves two characters from the same series, Sailor Moon.
So that I don't end up repeating myself nine times, I'm just going to
say right now that all of the fights on this list are quite close
matches and have some groovy thematic connections. Here we have a
battle between the evil, adult forms of two sweet little girls who
are best friends and while their wicked selves never encountered each
other during the series, this Death Prediction goes about solving the
puzzle of which one would come out on top in a fight!
I won't summarize what these two dark
ladies can do and how the fight goes since Imp's blog already did a
fantastic job of that. Instead I'll talk about what I like most
about this and why. But first you're probably wondering, why is this
one in the #10 spot instead of any of the others? Well, it was
process of elimination, it's in this spot because for me, the other
spots were taken. I guess some of the reasons why I prefer other
Death Predictions over this one is because they're usually longer,
and the fights usually have more dynamic/varied environments. Of
course, Imp herself has labelled this one a “Mini Death Prediction”
so this sort of thing can't be helped. For a mini one though, it's
very tight and concise, and even if the fight itself isn't very long
it does a great job of building suspense. I remember the latter half
of the fight filling me with doubt the first time I read it, thinking
that one would win, then the other, then Mistress 9 pulling it
around at the last second. This is a trend when I read Imp's Death
Predictions; even if I read the analysis and pick a winner before
reading the fight, the fight itself often makes me question how sure
I was before and I end up not knowing who will win until the very
end. It's this sort of edge-of-your-seat suspense that keeps me
enjoying these fights. I also love the premise and think it's a very
good example of an in universe fight; these two would definitely
throw down if they met each other and their connection makes things
all the more interesting. The DPs farther down on this list simply
have more of what I love than this one.
Favorite moments:
-The description of Black Lady's final
spacetime attacks
-Mistress 9 ripping off her lower body
to escape the pillar
-Black Lady mocking Mistress 9 inside
her mind
#9
Aw yeah, gunslinging gals! And not
just any gals, magical girls. You'd think they'd have wands or pink
sticks but nope! I didn't really know much of anything about these
girls or their series before reading this blog, so I had to pay extra
attention during the analysis portion and think hard about who I
thought would win. The verdict is really great here, underlining
just how close this fight is. A lot of it comes down to the
environment and an understanding of how the characters themselves
act, which Imp demonstrates admirably. And luckily, the
environmental factors can be applied to pretty much any battleground.
Another reason why I like this blog is
because it gave me an appreciation for both these characters that I
didn't have before. I hadn't heard them talk much before the blog
and yet, their dialogue sounded so natural, so in line with Imp's
descriptions of their personalities. This is gonna become a
recurring thing with other Death Predictions farther down this list
that involve characters I didn't know well before Imp blogged on
them. This one is rated higher than Black Lady vs Mistress 9 because
it gives a bit more of everything (including the analysis and the
fight) and while the fight is restricted to one wide area, that
environment goes through a lot of changes with all the collateral
damage these blondes cause and the action itself moves around a lot
inside this poor, poor city. Plus, it felt more action-packed to me
and that's always a plus in my books.
Favorite moments:
-TIRO FINALE! And the accompanying
explosion
-Panty reversing the situation when she
got tied up by embarrassing Mami
-The Mami ribbon clone trap
#8
I feel bad because when I tried
recalling all of Imp's Death Predictions to make this list, I only
counted nine and this is the one I forgot. That's completely on my
bad memory though because as you can see, it's certainly not #10 or
even #9 on this list! This blog stands out from the others to me
because it involves the two least powerful characters Imp has made a
Death Prediction for as they are merely men. Well, I'd say they're a
cut above the rest of us. Fights like these interest me a lot since
they're a lot grittier, you have to get right down to what tools they
have ready access to, what sort of fighting experience they've had,
that sort of thing. Stats alone can't decide this thing, as Imp
points out in her verdict; versatility and mentality wins the day
here and that's how you can tell something is super close.
A highlight of this blog is the premise
for the fight; it's expertly set up and I could easily see these two
characters sharing the same universe. This DP gets ranked higher
than a couple others for several things, which include having a nice
little “story” to the fight, a unique power level for the
combatants, and having a musical score during the fight to set the
mood just right, which #10 and #9 on this list didn't. True the
music choices were done by ThorGundersen1508, a mutual friend of mine
and Imp's, but the fact of the matter is that it is a part of this
blog and counts as something that can be evaluated. Also I'm
probably a little biased since I had familiarity with both sides of
this fight unlike the previous two (I hadn't finished Sailor Moon at
the time).
Favorite moments:
-The fight inside the flames
-The two fighters sizing each other up
just before the fight starts
-When they break out into the city
above
#7
The most recently released Death
Prediction on this list and a really fun one considering it features
a major stick in the mud. I may know a decent amount about Magicka
but Grimnir himself was a mystery to me before this blog, making for
an interesting mix of the familiar and the new. Abigail (I love that
name) also turned out to be really cool and definitely my kind of
wizard: he gets up close and personal and even has A FREAKING MECH!
I felt this was a very original “dark wizard” themed fight,
featuring two characters that don't normally get brought up; usually
people are talking about Voldemort, Sauron, those sorts of guys.
There was a lot to dig into here and I really liked the analysis both
pre-fight and post-fight. Both combatants had a variety of magical
spells at their disposal that presented many interesting scenarios,
kill conditions and counters.
The sheer variety of what these two
characters can do is one of the main factors for why I've placed this
blog above the ones before it, and Imp does a wonderful job exploring
these many options through the fight. There's a very good rhythm
here, much like in fight #8 on this list but this one is greater in
scope and, for lack of better words, flashier. One of the things I
know Imp likes about wizard fights is how much they are “counter”
fights, and by that I mean it's a constantly escalating back and
forth between things that could end the fight and ways the opposing
combatant can nullify them (in this case, nullify is used quite
literally), only for the tables to turn and the one doing the
countering going on the offensive with their gained momentum. We'll
see more of this farther down the list but for now it's important to
highlight this here because it's also something I find highly
entertaining, generating that constantly shifting doubt about who has
victory in the bag that I mentioned when talking about Black Lady vs
Mistress 9. Also, there's a freaking mech, okay? The reason why
there are fights that rank higher than this one is because they have
things that blow me away even more than Abigail's mech. For those
who know me, you'll immediately know this means that the rest of the
list is pretty bananas (in a good way).
Favorite moments:
-OMEGA ABIGAIL! Everything about this
thing, but especially the part where Abigail launches himself out of
it
-Omega Abigail using the Abigail Beam
as a way to fly instead of just an attack
-Grimnir defeating the Forbidden and
slaying the ghosts by making them corporeal
#6
I really didn't know what to expect
going into this one, I knew nothing about either of these characters.
Reading this blog was an educational experience for me and a whole
lot of fun. This is a battle between two super-duper powerful
badasses and reading this fight was such a blast! It kind of makes
me think of Grimnir vs Abigail to tell you the truth with but managed
to edge it out on this list because of the sheer insanity of the
scale of destruction when these two beings clash.
It's so metal! You've got a super
vampire fighting Satan, basically. A guy who keeps coming back no
matter how badly you tear him apart versus a guy who transforms from
an angel, to a fallen angel, to a freaking dragon! All while the
universe is ripping apart and the blood and souls of innocents are
being harvested. It's crazy, man! And I love it! This right here
is a prime example of a Death Prediction totally winning me over from
the get go and getting me more and more pumped right to the finish
without me going in with any investment in either side whatsoever!
You can tell by my frequent use of exclamation marks just how much
this one excited me. This DP is an excellent example of
entertainment meeting analysis. The blogs ranked higher on this list
are above (er, below? Top 10 terminology confuses me) this one
because they all have something very special, and that special
something is different for each of them.
Favorite moments:
-Lucemon's power causing a black hole
to EXPLODE (yes I know this isn't even the craziest part of this
fight but the whole description of the black hole scene stuck out to
me)
-Jedah casually harvesting a planet's
population and extending blood arms from them to grab Lucemon
-Jedah's line just before the fight
commences is just too cool
#5
I really, really like Hikaru. Probably
one of my favorite characters out there and she's up against my
favorite Madoka Magica girl, Sayaka! And even though they are both
magical girls, this is also a battle of knights, my favorite type of
fantasy character! This one is a fight dear to my heart, making it
onto my own list of most wanted Death Battles. Not gonna lie, one of
the factors for why I ranked it above the previous ones is because I
really wanted this to become a reality. Thanks for making it Imp!
Okay, but let's talk about merits of
this blog's quality, not just its choice of topic. While there is
magic of course, a big part of this Death Prediction is
sword-fighting and even if I didn't love sword duels as much as I do,
this blog would still win big points for the excellent and authentic
sword-fighting action. I say “authentic” because Imp actually
researched real life sword-fighting to write a better battle and
understand who would win a fight and it shows in the detailed
descriptions of every blow and movement in this duel. Another thing
I love about this fight is just how hot-blooded it is! There is a
passion here burning within both fighters and tearing the dynamic
battlefield apart (love the changing environments in this one) and
that appeals very strongly to me. Finally, I have to admit I felt
really salty about Hikaru losing. And yet, despite that I still put
this blog at the halfway point, kicking off the top 5, nowhere near
the bottom. The reason is that it was such a small thing compared to
how much this fight hit all the right buttons for me and looking over
the reasoning behind verdict (it's one of the longer written verdicts
too), I can't argue with it. In this situation, under these
conditions, Hikaru would lose and so, she does. No matter how much I
want her to win though, and regardless of the victor, this blog gets
me burning in all the right ways and I really wish I could see this
fight animated.
Favorite moments:
-Hikaru's reverse block early on in the
fight when Sayaka tries a back attack
-Battle in the flaming forest
-When both girls think the same thing
about themselves during the above-mentioned fiery battle
#4
Another very unique blog on this list
because it's the only one that is a collab! It was created together
by Imperator100 and the aforementioned ThorGundersen1508. Perfect
idea for a collaboration in my opinion; Imp loves Magicka and Thor
loves Castle Crashers. Also, it's a team vs team match. And the
theme is just too good! Two teams of four, color-coded adventurers
from action-packed games with a very notable comedic element to them.
Knights vs wizard; a lot of times they don't take things too
seriously but when they do, watch out! I really enjoy Death
Predictions written by both of these bloggers so I think it's
understandable that this one made it pretty high on my list.
How come I like this more than, say,
Hikaru vs Sayaka, when I don't know the Castle Crashers at all and I
love both of those sword-fighting magical girls? It's kind of hard
to put into words but here goes a try. One of the positive elements
of this blog is the sheer size of it. There is so much here, both in
the analysis and the fight itself. And despite the analysis being so
long, it was able to continuously hold my attention and keep me
entertained with a constant flow of colorful and often amusing images
balancing out the text. In other words, this blog felt especially
well put together, with the kind of quality you can expect from a
team effort. Hey, a blog about teams fighting each other created by
a team of bloggers...I just got that connection.
I went into the fight with high
expectations and I was not disappointed. I'm more of a sword guy
than a sorcery guy, so I was kind of rooting for the Castle Crashers
despite having familiarity with the Wizards but this fight made me
worry for everyone on both sides at some point. Except Yellow
Wizard, I always look forward to his comical deaths. I think one of
the biggest challenges in writing a fight like this, one that
involves eight combatants, is ensuring that everyone gets enough
focus. You need to keep the fight moving and not linger on any
character too long, but also give them their due. It's a very tricky
balance and I'm happy to say that Imp and Thor managed to strike that
balance exceptionally well. Pulling this off is another reason why
I'd rate this blog above the previous ones. Of course, a consequence
of this balance is that I was taken on a very fast-paced yet long
ride, which kept my eyes glued to the screen; always a plus. I
didn't think the knights would pull it off and every time I thought
they were gonna lose, things kept turning around up until the end.
The verdict makes things pretty clear though, and once again we see
the authors' excellent grasp of the characters' behaviour coming into
play to settle a close fight. Oh, and as a final thing to note, the
comedy was great!
Favorite moments:
-Every single Yellow Wizard death, but
especially when Orange Knight accidentally explodes him with a
playful punch
-Green Knight and Orange Knight hulking
out of the meteor shower spell
-Red vs Red, fire and lightning
clashing together
#3
Out of all ten blogs on this list, this
is one that I would like to stress you take a moment to read before
reading my feedback on it. Go click the link just above this
paragraph, then come back when you're ready. Okay? Good.
We're into the top three now and the
one I'm starting off with should be given The Most Creative Death
Prediction award. I just made that award up now and congratulations
to Imperator100 for winning it! This one blew me away. Okay, I
could say that about basically all of these but this one had a huge
impact on me. First off, the matchup is brilliant; these two
characters exemplify the feeling of being in charge but when they
meet each other, only one can truly be the one controlling the story.
It just makes me so curious who will be the one left standing. They
also have very interesting, powerful control over the world around
them. Figuring out who is stronger seemed like such an excellently
twisted puzzle but luckily, I didn't have to solve it; Imp did it for
me.
Now I have to bring up the most
interest ability they have and how wonderfully it's represented in
this blog. Both of these characters are from video games where they
can manipulate the game on a meta level, meaning they can affect the
player's game directly, reloading it, shutting it down, etc, changing
not only the game world but even technically affecting the real
world. And so, both of these combatants manage to hijack Imp's blog
and give their own analysis of themselves, while taking stabs at the
other the whole time. And when battle finally commences...seems
short, doesn't it? Well, I hope you noticed the last sentence is a
link and you clicked on it, because the story doesn't end there!
This battle takes the reader themselves on an actual journey
alongside the combatants, hopping across multiple blogs each with
their own unique looks and formats as the struggle between Flowey and
The Narrator travels through different timelines and alternate
universes. This is all implemented so, so well. We even switch
websites to a google doc when the fight moves to a place outside of
the various timelines! Imp really knocked this one out of the park,
getting extremely creative when it came to the problem of solving how
to help a reader visualize and experience such an abstract battle.
The only Death Predictions that can top this one for me are her very
first one, which has a special place in my heart and still holds up
exceptionally well even after the ones that came after, and her
magnum opus.
Favorite moments:
-The first transition to another blog,
it surprised me immensely
-Stanley providing the human soul
Flowey needed
-The chaotic flurry that leads to the
game crashing and The Narrator doing a reset, showing another unique
visual with only text
#2
Here we are, the Death Prediction that
can only be topped by one in my opinion. This was the very first one
Imperator100 has posted and it shows in its unique approach and
formatting. That I ranked it higher than almost every other one may
give the wrong impression that I haven't noticed improvement since
then. That is not at all correct. You can see how in blogs that
come after one, Imp finds her “groove” in making character
analyses and adopts a distinct style and format. There are also
blogs like #3 on this list that shows her ability as an author to
really stretch her creative limits and create something unlike
anything people have seen before. So why is this blog rated higher?
Allow me to explain.
Since this is a personal top 10, bias
is gonna be a factor and this battle features my favorite character
out of all the characters Imp has blogged on (including analysis
blogs that don't feature battles), Sailor Mars. Mars is either my
second favorite female character in fiction or tied for first; I
really like her. I'm also a big fan of the rest of her squad (except
maybe Ami, sorry Ami). So it's great to see Rei strut her stuff on
the battlefield in an original work. One major point I'd like to
highlight as something that is unique to this blog and is something
that makes me love it so much is how Imp created an analysis for each
and every possible matchup between these four characters, in addition
to analyzing their strength and weaknesses individually.
Now the battle. I feel like the word
“story” is more fitting than battle here; it really sucked me
into its little world. These sorts of blogs assume all the
combatants have an intention to kill each other and while short of
mind control it seems like you could never find a reason for them to
fight, Imp did. And cleverly, this narrative also solved the more
meta issue of removing Sailor Moon from the equation. As
Imperator100 has explained many times, she has no place in a battle
of the Sailor Senshi; it's too unfairly in her favor. This fight
introduced me to edge-of-my-seat Death Prediction reading. I knew
right away that I would need to scroll line by line to avoid risking
my eyes jumping ahead in their haste to discover what came next and
spoiling myself. The descriptions are vivid and the actions and
personalities of the characters are flawlessly written; Imp usually
excels at these two parts of writing but here it is apparent that
she's writing about some of her favorite characters. This is a
project of passion. Remember back when I talked about how Magicka
Wizards vs Castle Crashers presented the challenge of balancing the
spotlight for each of the combatants? Well, this is a precursor to
that and while there are half the number of fighters present here,
there's also half the number of authors so it works out nicely for
Imp. And since it's a battle royale, we get to see the format of the
fight change with every death, ending in a one versus one. This
serves to build the suspense and intensity as the fight goes on,
ensuring that the heat never cools and that the reader doesn't start
to get bored. Speaking of not getting bored, the variety of
environments here is another huge plus.
Reminiscent of Hikaru vs Sayaka, this
is another fight where the character I loved most lost and I still
get emotional reading the ending even now. That's not a negative
though; making the reader feel something speaks to the quality of the
writing. It's not just dependent on the reader's investment in the
character; anyone could write “and then Sailor Venus killed Sailor
Mars. The end.” The writing has to be able to draw out those
feelings and here it succeeded. I really can't argue with the
verdict either. It makes sense that Venus would win and she does it
so, so well.
Favorite moments:
-the final kill, Venus executes it
brilliantly and gets me to laugh just before I'm shocked by Rei's
death
-Venus disguising herself as Mercury to
take advantage of Rei's fury
-”Bitch...” “...Please”
#1
#1! This one is the best, and I like
to think it's not only #1 for me but also objectively Imperator100's
greatest Death Prediction. I happen to know that this is her number
one most desired Death Battle and while I believe it will eventually
become a reality on that web series, it seems Imp couldn't wait and
did the whole thing all by herself! When the time comes for Sailor
Moon and/or Sakura to appear on Death Battle, I wish Imp could be a
research consultant for the show; I can't think of anyone more
qualified. She knows both these characters like the back of her left
and right hands and it really shows.
The analysis, hoo boy the analysis.
This is easily the most enormous blog Imp has written and I can't
imagine her making a longer one in the future. Not just because this
project was so important to her but also because I can't think of
many characters with more at their disposal that these cute young
girls. It's insane the power they have, don't be deceived by their
looks! Taken at her strongest, Usagi technically has more powers
than could ever be detailed in any blog but Imp does a great job of
going over the known ones. One very interesting fact about this blog
is that Imp saved Sailor Moon, the main character, for last when she
made blogs on all SM characters because Usagi can use all their
abilities! So this blog ties everything together as the ultimate
Sailor Moon analysis. While this necessitates some repetition of
abilities, Usagi has plenty of her own unique powers and gear to also
cover. And before moving on to Sakura I'd just like to mention that
the selection of images and video for this section is amazing.
There's a lot of gorgeous art and a lot of parts that make me laugh.
I haven't highlighted Imperator100's comedic talent very much but
it's an ongoing thing that enhances many of her blogs and here she
shows she's not above poking some fun at her favorite character.
For Sakura, I'm afraid I would have to
repeat myself a lot here (in a good way). So I'll save you some time
and tell you that I found that her analysis mirrored Usagi's by
showing all of the same good points. Lots of cool powers to cover,
attention to canon and great use of imagery. One of this blog's
strongest points is its balance and harmony; it's not lop-sided and
we don't see one combatant getting special treatment or extra
attention over the other. Oh, and did I mention the score? The
analysis is scored as well as the battle and the music choices are
top notch, they feel very appropriate for the sections you read while
listening to them.
The battle, oh man, the battle! Imp
takes her time with this one and it feels like a short film plays in
your head as you read it. Well, more like three short films since
it's a three parter! The fight has a significantly long prologue and
I don't mean that as a negative. Quite the contrary, it's very fun
and entertaining to see these two characters interact with each other
before lethal combat commences. The fight itself is the height of
one of those “wizard battles” I mentioned earlier; there are so
many abilities and counters in play here and Imp explores even more
of them than you would expect. The escalation is immense, from
basically playing around by the side of the road to shaking the
cosmos themselves; none of Imp's other DPs have this kind of breadth
to them and as I've said above, scale and changing environments
leave a big impression on me. The tone escalates appropriately too,
starting comedic and playful until finally leaving me in awe at the
beauty of the ending. That's another highlight of this blog, its
beauty. I mentioned the beautiful art and music earlier but the
poetic descriptions present in the fight itself are also just simply
beautiful writing. So you have all three artistic elements working
in harmony here. That's not to say that the other Death Predictions
are bereft of this, oh no. I just found this one to excel the most
at it. This harmony builds along with the fight and we see a lot of
mirrored moments, which is something I always like, such as the
asides with each combatant's friends and loved ones and how these
characters form counterparts to each other, just like Usagi and
Sakura can be seen to be. This builds on the theme of unity, perhaps
the ultimate theme of this blog in my opinion and if you can grasp
that theme then you'll see the ending before it happens as it plays
perfectly into it. I would say that's my favorite part of this blog
and why it's at the top: everything just fits together so damn well.
Favorite moments:
-Usagi's final words echoing Sakura's
from early in the fight
-the ending to Part 2 and the girls'
declarations of challenge
-the girls' simultaneous fear of ghosts
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