User blog:Shadow7615/Shadow's Season 2: A Lookback

Welcome everyone!

Boy we're here again already, huh?

It's been 6 months since I wrapped up Season 1 with Raiden (Metal Gear) vs. Zero (Mega Man X) and now here we are the end of Season 2!

Boy, and to think I covered the same number of fights in a much shorter frame of time, I think I have stepped up my quality a bit.

I'd like to take this moment just to thank everyone who commented on my battles and gave me positive feedback throughout the Season, your guys input helps me improve in every area I could possibly need to improve on, and an extra special thanks for checking out this blog too, a lot of text could make the blog a little too long and uninteresting to read, so I won't ramble on, let's get right into Season 2's matchups and review the season!

Episode 1: Frieza vs. Ronan the Accuser

 * Completion Date: December 7th, 2015
 * Words: 2,719

My first battle of Season 2 introduced two new series to my Death Battles, Dragon Ball Z and Marvel Comics, in fact, Ronan the Accuser is the first Comic Book character I have ever used in a Death Battle, this is in thanks directly to Guardians of the Galaxy which came out back in 2014, which was when Season 2 was in development prior to it's announcement, when I saw just how awesome Ronan was as a villain, I knew I could use him in a Death Battle, however, the tough part was deciding a villain that had similiarities to him, then I saw that Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F was coming out, and so I decided to brush up on my Frieza knowledge, and to my surprise, Frieza and Ronan had a number of similarities, and I decided, "Why not? I haven't used DBZ, and Frieza is a fun character to use, so let's go with it!"

And the end result was quite a joy for me personally, I got to share one of my first original ideas with the wiki, and I'm glad people were open to the idea, which encouraged me to start bringing more of my original ideas to life onto the wiki.

Trivia

 * This battle is directly inspired by Guardians of the Galaxy and Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F, as well as TeamFourStar themselves.
 * Originally, the battle would have MCU Ronan, however this was changed to allow Ronan use of the Black Vortex.
 * I vaguely remember writing some of this battle while listening to The Final Countdown by Europe.
 * Back in 2014, I first shared the early concept of this battle idea with Fedora Lord Para 348, who also considered using Frieza, which I helped influence as Gilgamesh vs. Frieza vs. Xemnas.
 * This battle is also the first battle I completed after finishing Secondary School.
 * This battle features the cameos of Nebula and Zarbon, which was done to establish a potential battle between the two.

Episode 2: Darth Malgus vs. Darth Vader
My first ever 'Series' themed Death Battle, and one I was VERY interested in doing as a battle here! With Darth Vader VS Doctor Doom being released earlier in 2015, I decided that Darth Vader was going to be a character I would use regardless, and while my original idea was claimed, I decided to mix things up and put Darth Vader against his fellow Sith Lord, Darth Malgus, and doing this battle was awesome! I had a lot of fun doing this one, and it was also a great way to build hype for the new movie! Definitely stay tuned in future seasons for more Star Wars, as well as the return of Darth Vader himself!
 * Completion Date: December 17th, 2015
 * Words: 2,844

Trivia

 * In it's early development, this battle was originally going to be Darth Vader VS Golbez, but this was later changed when the fight was created by DealySinner28, Malgus was then chosen to be Vader's opponent.
 * This battle is inspired by Jensaarai1's YouTube video on this matchup.
 * This battle is the first battle I have done in commemoration, in this case, it was to commemorate the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
 * My cousin, ReverseShadow and I had a debate on this matchup, we took opposing sides on the debate, though we agreed on a verdict.
 * This battle was not originally going to be Episode 2, it was in fact going to be Episode 4, as a subtle nod to Vader's first appearance in Episode 4 of the Star Wars films, however, the battle was changed to Episode 2 so that it would commemorate The Force Awakens.
 * This battle features a cameo with Starkiller, confirming him for his future appearance in my Death Battles.

Episode 3: Kiryu vs. Mecha-Naruto
This battle, in my opinion, is my first truly original idea, after the absolutely, and godly amazing fight that is Godzilla vs. Evangelion Unit-01, it became the #1 fight on the wiki, and it deserved all of it's praise, and I knew that I could write something that can act as a follow-up/sequel to that glorious battle, and sure enough, when I played Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution, I got to encounter the game's exclusive character, Mecha-Naruto, and first impressions were that of interest, since he is a robot in a time period and locations where technology is all but minimal, and I later discovered that Mecha-Naruto was created by the Mangaka of Naruto Shippūden himself, Masashi Kishimoto, and he went on to say that Godzilla having a robot version of himself was the inspiration for Mecha-Naruto, and so I decided that since Mecha-Naruto looks much like his human namesake, that he should fight the Mecha-Kaiju that mostly takes after Godzilla himself, and that was Kiryu, whom has the skeleton of Godzilla within him!
 * Completion Date: January 7th, 2016
 * Words: 3,507

This battle turned a lot of heads and got praise, and I felt especially thankful that Para himself had read it, since this battle now fits within the timeline I have created which shares continuity with Godzilla vs. Evangelion Unit-01, however, I could not have done this battle alone.

Des and I shall collaborate again in the future!

Trivia

 * Special thanks to ImagoDesattrolante for collaborating with me on this one, I would not have known nearly as much abou Kiryu without you man!
 * This battle is the first time I have collaborated with another user! (And it won't be the last, that's for sure!)
 * This battle is the only battle of Season 2 to include music cues where none of the songs are from either combatant's franchises.
 * This battle is the first time I have implemented the use of Parts, as this battle was divided into two parts, to make it more interesting.

Episode 4: Dudley vs. Little Mac
And here we arrive at the boxing matchup that I surprised myself with! When I wrote this fight, in my head, I was anticipating a word count of around 3,000 at best, but as I finished writing it, I came in with 3,715 words, and that blew my mind at the time, I had written more than my previous battles at that time, and that just literally made me believe I could write anything and make it a good length!
 * Completion Date: January 27th, 2016
 * Words: 3,715

But that aside, this battle pretty much came to mind when I was thinking of using my first Street Fighter character, and at the time, in the games, I played Ryu, Akuma, Guy and occasionally Chun-Li, however, I spent a bit of my time playing as Dudley, who is still one of my favourite characters to date, and I figured, it would be fun to use him in a Death Battle, and I decided that Dudley should face the one boxer that was at the time, undefeated, which was none other than Little Mac!

When I released this battle, I was quite happy to hear that some users consider this battle their favourite battle that I have written, that legitimately makes me feel good about myself since I initially didn't expect to make it such a great Death Battle.

Trivia

 * This battle was originally going to be Episode 2, but was swapped with Darth Malgus vs. Darth Vader to comemmorate Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
 * This battle is also the first time I used Xander Mobus as a guest in the conclusion section of my Death Battles, Xander returns for all future battles where a character featured in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS is the victor.
 * January 27th, the day this fight was released, is actually Dudley's birthday, fancy that!
 * This batle also uses the Parts feature, though in this case, in the style of a real boxing match, the fight is divided into Rounds, and three rounds determines the winner.

Episode 5: Roronoa Zoro vs. Zabuza Momochi
And now we arrive at the first epic sword fight in this seasons, except it's Pirates vs. Ninjas! And boy, this one was exciting to do even just leading up it, users were guessing who Zoro would be fighting and there were nice guesses thrown out there, but ulimately I continued on with bringing in my more original ideas and implementing them into episodes. This fight got in the polls a number of times and finished pretty high on the polls following it's release, I'm honestly surprised this fight did as well as it did, i'm glad you guys enjoy my ideas!
 * Completion Date: February 14th, 2016
 * Words: 3,102

Trivia

 * Roronoa Zoro is my favourite One Piece character, which guaranteed he would be in a Death Battle.
 * This battle is also my first 'Naruto vs. One Piece' themed Death Battle, as the majority of my past battles with Naruto characters were against characters from Bleach.
 * This battle is also the first battle I completed after commencing University.
 * This battle is directly inspired by Erza Scarlet vs Roronoa Zoro, written by WarpyNeko930.
 * This battle is the first time I have included a song from Touhou, another song from Touhou will be featured in Season 3.

Episode 6: Nightmare vs. Hakumen
Now we arrive at the second massive sword fight of Season 2! Though this time, it goes from Anime swordsmen to Fighting Game swordsmen, and things were going well in the development process for this fight, though once DealySinner once again beat me to making the page, I went looking around for fights with Nightmare in it, and sure enough, I found an abandoned battle that pitted Nightmare against Hakumen.
 * Completion Date: February 24th, 2016
 * Words: 2,907

A special thanks to Tier for going out of the way to make the awesome FIGHT! pictures added onto the page, they completed it rather nicely and it made the fight feel more fleshed out and awesome as the writer.

Trivia

 * This is the first battle Adopted Death Battle that I have completed.
 * This battle was directly inspired by my favourite Season 2 Death Battle, Guts VS Nightmare.
 * Originally, Hakumen was never planned to appear in this episode, instead, the fight was originally going to be Garland VS Nightmare.
 * This battle serves as the first time I have used both Soulcalibur and BlazBlue in my Death Battles, both series will be featured again in future episodes.

Episode 7: Aqua vs. Erza Scarlet
Now we arrive at the seventh episode, and the single 'Girls Only' fight of this Season, as well as the second collaboration of Season 2, this time, I teammed up with fellow admin Chesknight to bring a Battle of Red vs. Blue, Fire vs. Water and to an extent, Aqua vs. Tier, a battle of the core female members of travelling parties, as well as the introduction of Kingdom Hearts and Fairy Tail to my Death Battles, and like before, both series will be returning in future seasons!
 * Completion Date: March 15th, 2016
 * Words: 4,111

This battle took a little longer to release, largely for the most part due to moving house just a day or two after finishing the battle, which was then followed up by two weeks of no internet at the new house, and the struggle to keep up with my established structure of when I release my battles, though with a minor revision or two here and there, I delivered a good fight, though were I not moving house at the time, I could have in fact delivered much more content.

Trivia

 * Special Thanks to Chesknight for collaborating with me on this one, I didn't know much about Erza at all prior to this one, so thanks a bunch dude!
 * This battle is dedicated to Aqua-pineapple-princess, not only for her interest in both characters, but also for her contributions.
 * This battle was the final battle I wrote before moving out of my old house and into my current one. (Curses, foiled again!)
 * This battle, like Roronoa Zoro vs. Zabuza Momochi, was inspired by Warpy's Erza Scarlet vs. Roronoa Zoro, additionally, it was also inspired by Para's Erza Scarlet VS Saber.
 * A few aspects of this battle of were inspired by Warpy's Erza Scarlet vs Roxas, another Kingdom Hearts/Fairy Tail Death Battle.

Episode 8: Ganondorf vs. Garland
After having to work out alternative measures with no internet for two weeks, I took to alternate locations to write Death Battles, and thanks to my Dad, I went by his place and sat down for hours and wrote down this epic battle of Demon Incarnates from 1987! In it's early development, this battle was going to be Chaos, which is Garland's ultimate form against the Kid Icarus incarnation of Hades, however, once Garland VS Nightmare was taken, I decided I should probably give someone else a go.
 * Completion Date: March 30th, 2016
 * Words: 4,132

I decided I should stay with just Garland, since using both him and Chaos wouldn't be all that original, at one point, I considered Ganondorf vs. Sephiroth, but I wanted to save Sephiroth for something truly hype building, Finally, I ended up putting Ganondorf against his Final Fantasy equivalent, Garland, and I wrote what I consider one of the best fights of Season 2, in my opinion.

Trivia

 * This battle is the follow up to Ghirahim vs. Genesis Rhapsodos, acting as it's sequel, also making it the second 'Zelda vs. Final Fantasy' battle I have written.
 * This battle also included a song from Devil May Cry 4, a nod to Dante VS Bayonetta, which was released prior to his battle, and coincidentally, before Bowser VS Ganon was confirmed as the next episode.
 * This battle also the battle I wrote while inbetween house moves.
 * I hope this battle inspires Para's Ragna the Bloodedge vs. Ganondorf as well as Magic's Ganondorf VS Sephiroth in any capacity.

Episode 9: Raoh vs. Dio Brando
And now we arrive at the third and final collaboration of the Season! And this is one was quite possibly the most collaborative of the three collabs, and also a great experience too, especially since I sat myself down and watched the entire JoJo anime at the time up until the end of Stardust Crusaders so I could have all the information I needed for research on Dio Brando, though I decided that Raoh would be an awesome choice for a fight against him.
 * Completion Date: April 11th, 2016
 * Words: 4,108

And releasing the battle almost directly alongside Chesk's Lucario VS Renamon made the timing of the battle's release feel right on point, and this now opens the door to more JoJo and FotNS characters for me to use in the future.

Trivia

 * Special Thanks to Derpurple for collaborating with me on this battle, researching the fight was fun, and i'm glad we had a good discussion on it
 * This battle marks the first time I have used Fist of the North Star and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, both of which shall return in future seasons
 * This battle is the sequel to Kenshiro VS Jonathan Joestar, which itself is a sequel to Kenshiro VS Jotaro Kujo.
 * This battle is also the tenth episode of Derpurple's DIO Spree, a series of fights involving Dio Brando, which is also, coincidentally enough, also a Season 2.
 * This battle is also the first battle written after I had fully moved into my new house where I now live.
 * I hope this battles inspires Para's Dio Brando vs. Doctor Doom in any capacity.

Episode 10: Four Hokage Battle Royale
Now we come to the big fight, and I mean the biggest fight i've written so far, I mean, just look at that Word Count, it's over 5,000! And that's a personal landmark for me! Writing something to that length just blows my mind, I imagined I would make it my longest fight, but I did not imagine I would make it past 5,000, and that fact alone just makes me rub my eyes to make sure I'm seeing this stuff correctly.
 * Completion Date: April 27th, 2016
 * Words: 5,032

Naruto characters are my strong suit, though putting all four of the Hokage against each other was quite the challenge in and of itself, but going through this battle proved a challenge indeed, especially consider how the battle would play out, who would be defeated in which order and who would be the remaining Hokage still standing, ultimately a fight i'm very proud of.

Trivia

 * This battle also marks the longest battle I have written, as well as the first Battle Royale I have written.
 * Aspects of this battle were inspired by Para's Twitch Plays Pokemon Battle Royale.
 * This battle also begun a running trend of Orochimaru making cameo appearances in Death Battles, often contributing to the fight in some fashion.

Episode 11: Black Knight vs. Gabranth
BAM! We nearly got through the Season without any Fire Emblem character, but alas, the Black Knight himself, Zelgius, finally makes his appearance for a Death Battle against his most similiar Final Fantasy equivalent, the Archadian Judge, Gabranth, for the next iteration of my iconic matchup, Final Fantasy vs. Fire Emblem, this battle also served as an introduction to Gabranth for a number of people, as Gabranth hails from a lesser known Final Fantasy game.
 * Completion Date: May 10th, 2016
 * Words: 3,479

Completing this battle was quite a joy, and I felt had successfully shared a couple of new characters with the wiki, and I plan to continue sharing more obscure characters and matchups with you guys as we move into Season 3 and beyond.

Trivia

 * During development, I considered other opponents for the Black Knight, but Gabranth had the most in common with Black Knight.
 * As a joke idea, I boldly thought up the idea of Gabranth vs. Judge Dredd, as both are epic armor wearing Judges.
 * This is the fourth 'Final Fantasy vs. Fire Emblem' themed Death Battle I have written.
 * It is also the first 'Villain vs. Anti-Villain' themed Death Battle ever completed.
 * On June 6th, the day Season 2 was completed, Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age was announced, which is a remastering of Final Fantasy XII, in which Gabranth is the secondary antagonist.
 * I spent a bit of research time playing Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, to help gather information on Black Knight.

Episode 12: Ulquiorra Cifer vs. Obito Uchiha
And finally, we arrive at the Season 2 Finale, the battle that I announced 6 months ago and slowly been hyping up for months, and finally it arrives and delivers, serving as the direct follow-up to Sōsuke Aizen vs. Madara Uchiha and essentially my penultimate 'Bleach vs. Naruto' fight I think will ever write.
 * Completion Date: May 24th, 2016
 * Words: 4,850

Topping this fight will be hard to do in the future, writing this battle was not only a personal achievement, but also a great way to cap off the Season, and going forward, the only fight I can think that will top this will be the Season 3 Finale, and boy, that one will take ages to do.

Trivia

 * This battle was chosen as the Season Finale because Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Naruto Uzumaki didn't end up being the Season 1 Finale, and I really wanted to finish the Season on a 'Bleach vs. Naruto' themed Death Battle, plus Ulquiorra is my favourite Espada, and third favourite Bleach character, third only to Sōsuke Aizen and Ichigo Kurosaki, just as I consider Obito my favourite Naruto character.
 * Ulquiorra was originally considered to fight against Pain, however, Obito had much more in common with Ulquiorra rather than Pain.
 * This battle was coincidentally released a short time after Ulquiorra Cifer vs. Itachi Uchiha by Venage237, I helped contribute to that battle as well, I also took some inspiration from that battle as well.

Bonus Episode: Zelda vs. Lucina
And now we arrive the Bonus Episode, and boy, this one took me a little longer to release, I got held up with a combination of real life stuff as well as a certain game coming out that requires my attention for research, and I apologise for that, but I hope you found the battle to be enjoyable.Zelda herself finally enters the fray, taking on another Nintendo Princess, none other than Lucina making her second apperance in my Death Battles, this battle
 * Completion Date: June 6th, 2016
 * Words: 3,515

Trivia

 * The release of this battle was delayed due the Australian release of Fire Emblem: Fates, May 21st, 2016 (Yes, we had to wait that long)
 * This battles marks the first time I have used a combatant a second time, as Lucina previously appeared in Season 1.
 * The bonus episode of Season 2 was originally going to be Obito Uchiha vs. Darth Vader, however, this was changed to Zelda vs. Lucina

Season 3 Teaser Trailer


Back by popular demand, the Teaser Trailer is back for another round of announcing combatants for Season 3!

The following combatants are confirmed for Season 3!
 * Scorpion (Mortal Kombat)
 * Jean-Pierre Polnareff (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure)
 * Robin (Fire Emblem)
 * Ryu (Street Fighter)
 * Sayaka Miki (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)
 * Gilgamesh (Final Fantasy)
 * Jin Kisaragi (BlazBlue)
 * Spawn (Image Comics)
 * Algol (Soulcalibur)
 * Jin Kazama (Tekken)
 * Kamui (Fire Emblem)
 * Jackie Eternal (Devil’s Pet: Die to Death)
 * Auron (Final Fantasy)
 * Chrom (Fire Emblem)
 * Xemnas (Kingdom Hearts)
 * Segata Sanshiro (Sega Saturn)
 * Homura Akemi (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)
 * Weiss Schnee (RWBY)
 * Madoka Kaname (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Polls
Which Season 2 Death Battle is your favourite? Their Race's Finest - Frieza vs. Ronan the Accuser Broken Machine Sith - Darth Malgus vs. Darth Vader We take after an Icon - Kiryu vs. Mecha-Naruto Brit meets Bronx - Dudley vs. Little Mac Pirate vs. Ninja, Sword Style! - Roronoa Zoro vs. Zabuza Momochi Armor is all we are now - Nightmare vs. Hakumen Leading Ladies - Aqua vs. Erza Scarlet A Demon's Recreation - Ganondorf vs. Garland Bending my brother's Power - Raoh vs. Dio Brando For the Village we love! - Four Hokage Battle Royale True Loyalties are beneath the armor - Black Knight vs. Gabranth Emptiness is who we are - Ulquiorra Cifer vs. Obito Uchiha Princess Stereotype Breakers - Zelda vs. Lucina

Which victorious Season 2 Combatant is your favourite? Frieza Darth Vader Kiryu Little Mac Roronoa Zoro Hakumen Aqua Ganondorf Dio Brando Hashirama Senju Gabranth Obito Uchiha Lucina

Which defeated Season 2 Combatant is your favourite? Ronan the Accuser Darth Malgus Mecha-Naruto Dudley Zabuza Momochi Nightmare Erza Scarlet Garland Raoh Tobirama Senju Hiruzen Sarutobi Minato Namikaze Black Knight Ulquiorra Cifer Zelda

Which Death was your favourite? Ronan the Accuser (Obliterated via Golden Death Ball) Darth Malgus (Lightsaber Impalement via sliced off arm) Mecha-Naruto (Frozen alive via Absolute Zero Cannon) Zabuza Momochi (Multiple Impalements, Decapitation) Nightmare (Erased via Time Killer) Garland (Repeated Impalement, Burned Alive) Raoh (Crushed by Road Roller, Blood Sucked) Tobirama Senju (Impalement, blood loss) Hiruzen Sarutobi (Fatally wounded by Flying Thunder God Slash) Minato Namikaze (Stabbed by his own kunai) Black Knight (Overwhelmed by Quickenings, Impalement) Ulquiorra Cifer (Sliced in half via Sword of Nunoboko) Zelda (Backstabbed via Parallel Falchion)

Which Season 3 Death Battle are you most hyped for? Scorpion vs. Spawn Auron vs. Jean-Pierre Polnareff Robin vs. Kamui Jin Kazama vs. Ryu Sayaka Miki vs. ??? Gilgamesh vs. Jackie Eternal Weiss Schnee vs. Jin Kisaragi Algol vs. ??? Chrom vs. ??? Segata Sanshiro vs. ??? Homura Akemi vs. ??? Madoka Kaname vs. ???

Season 2 in Summary

 * Total Word Count: 48,021
 * Average per Episode: 3,693

Jesus, that's a lot of words right there! Special Thanks to Ahomeschoolingroudon for sharing with me how to make the awesome graph as well as calculate the Average per Episode, it's some nice statistics to have, and i'll be sure to use it in future Lookback Blogs!

Well, that it's for Season 2, I hope you guys enjoyed reading through the blog, checking out the trivia, looking at the Season 3 Teaser Trailer and putting your votes in on the polls, so, until next time my friends, Happy Writing, and here's to another successful Season!