Popeye vs. Arale Norimaki

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Description

Description: Popeye vs. Arale Norimaki. Two corky, yet immeasurably powerful individuals with seemingly infinite strength and speed, who are known for breaking reality itself.

Introduction

Wiz: When it comes to gag characters, they don’t usually follow the rules of reality.

Boomstick: And when you’re strong enough to ignore the rules of reality, you have the power to break them. Like these two have a habit of doing.

Wiz: Popeye, the spinach loving, one-eyed sailor with a speech impediment.

Boomstick: And Arale, the purple-haired robot girl whose idea of playing could destroy the planet. He’s Wiz and I’m Boomstick.

Wiz: And it’s our job to analyze their strength, speed, and abilities to find out who would win a Death Battle.

Popeye

Wiz: I’m sure everyone grew up hearing adults tell them to eat their vegetables if they wanted to grow up to be big and strong. And while there is truth to that, there’s no greater example than a certain one-eyed sailor.

Boomstick: He’s strong to the finish, ‘cause he eats his spinach! He’s Popeye the Sailor Man!

Wiz: Abandoned as an infant, Popeye was adopted by the sailor Whaler Joe. Throughout his childhood, Popeye would learn how to fight and take up the mantle of being a defender for the weak and bullied. Eventually, his adoptive father’s adventurous lifestyle would inspire him to join the Navy, where he would go on to fight in World War II, at one point even punching out an entire fleet of Nazi ships and fighter jets.

Boomstick: He’s one tough Gazookus that hates all Palookas that ain’t on the up and square. He biffs ‘em and buffs ‘em and always out roughs ‘em, and none of ‘em gets nowhere.

Wiz: Yes, Boomstick, we all know the song.

Boomstick: What song? I’m just pointing out how if anyone dares to risk his fist, it’s “Bop” and it’s “Wham”, understand?

Wiz *Sigh* Overtime, Popeye would go on to become a hero not just of his hometown of Sweethaven, but even the whole world.

Boomstick: Hehe, I’ll bet his real daddy wished he never abandoned him now after learning what a lovable badass his son became.

• Background
  • Age: 40
  • Height: 5’8
  • Weight: 158 lbs.
  • Adoptive son of Whaler Joe
  • Resident of Sweethaven
  • Hero of the US Navy
  • Heavyweight boxing champion
  • Lost his right eye as a teen in a fight with a cook
  • Has a rivalry with Bluto
  • Husband of Olive Oyl
  • Loves to eat spinach
  • Sailor, boxer, carpenter, farmer, restaurant owner, actor, gym instructor, blacksmith
  • He is what he is, and that’s all that he is

Wiz: Don’t be fooled by the fact that he only has one eye, smokes a pipe, and has a speech impediment, Popeye is as tough as they come.

Boomstick: Especially when he chows down on his spinach, which allows him to do… well, pretty much anything. Just one can of the green stuff and his strength goes off the charts to infinity. Talk about hammering home the point of eating your veggies.

Wiz: It’s an exaggeration for sure, but it does get the point across, as eating spinach does indeed give Popeye his incredible strength.

Boomstick: Incredible strength? More like an unlimited source of power. It’s not just great strength that Popeye gains. Have you seen the kinds of things he can do?

Wiz: Actually, it’s not so much the spinach that makes Popeye so powerful, as we’ve seen him do some pretty fantastical things even without it, such as the way he can twist and stretch his body into some pretty outlandish shapes or change in size, or even punching things to change their molecular structure so they turn into other things. Eating spinach just seems to infinitely amplify his already reality breaking power.

Boomstick: And if there’s no spinach when he needs it? No problem. Popeye can actually summon it to himself, paint a picture of it that he can eat like the real thing, or even break the Fourth Wall and have an audience member toss him a can. Yeah, logic means nothing when it comes to Popeye.

Wiz: Well, it’s not so much that it means nothing. Popeye simply works on old-school cartoon physics, where pretty much anything is possible for him. Although even for cartoon logic, Popeye does seem to break the rules.

• Powers and Abilities
  • Infinite speed and strength (with spinach)
  • “Cartoon rubber” body
  • Fourth Wall awareness and breaking
  • Breaking and altering reality
  • Spinach summoning/creating
  • Matter manipulation
  • Spinach powers – flight, invisibility, invulnerability, shapeshifting, regeneration
  • Body modification and transformation
  • Matter reconstruction/breakdown punches
  • Cartoon logic physics
  • Hammer Space
  • Physical malleability
  • Intangible interaction (can touch ghosts and spirits)
  • Duplication

Boomstick: And break the rules he certainly does. We’ve seen him punch out things like bullets, lightning, lasers, and even magic. How the hell do you punch magic? It’s magic!

Wiz: And usually the one at the other end of these punches is his rival and nemesis, Bluto, who just doesn’t seem to get the message that he should stop causing trouble, especially when Popeye is around. And especially after he’s eaten his spinach.

Boomstick: I’ll say. Popeye’s actually punched him so hard that he’s knocked him into the freakin’ real world. One time he even punched him through time itself, causing Bluto to revert to a baby. Hey, maybe he keeps messing with Popeye because he keeps developing amnesia from being knocked around so hard.

Wiz: But Bluto isn’t the only one who’s taken the brute of Popeye’s reality breaking punches. We’ve even seen him punch out ghosts, reducing them to sheets that were then sewn together to make a sail for a ship. And this isn’t the first time we’ve seen Popeye’s punches reduces the molecular structure of other objects or living things. And he doesn’t even require spinach in order to do this.

Boomstick: You can say it doesn’t make sense, but I say that Popeye’s so strong that he actually knocks the sense out of anything he punches. Or anything he touches really, like the time he punched an octopus into a merry-go-round, punched a giant ape monster into three different monkeys, or punched a mountain into a hill. Hell, he technically doesn’t even need to physically touch anything to fight since he’s been shown to be able to send a punch through a radio wire. Like, how does something like that even work?

Wiz: Not even reality is safe from Popeye, as we’ve seen him break the Fourth Wall in ways that have allowed him to tear the film strip of his own cartoon, and even knock out his own animator.

Boomstick: But if you think Popeye’s power is strength alone, you’re sorely mistaken, because Popeye’s just as fast, running down things like trains and stuff like they were nothing. We once saw him build 8 Navy battleships in 5 seconds by himself without even trying. He can actually move so fast that he can occupy multiple spaces at once, like the time he shadowboxed with himself, or when he fielded an entire baseball game or played in a twenty-man band by himself. My favorite was when he fought multiple people at the same time while lighting his pipe and smoking it.

Wiz: While not the healthiest habit, Popeye’s just not complete without his pipe. It could be that Popeye smoking just doesn’t have any negative effects on him, as we’ve even seen that Popeye can breathe in space just fine. But his pipe isn’t just a trademark of his character since it can actually help him out at times, as we once saw him spin his pipe like a propellor in order to fly, or simply use it to launch himself through the air.

Boomstick: As if he actually needs to fly. He can jump up and punch fighter jets out of the sky, and once even jumped up so high he was able to punch the man in the moon and give it a black eye. And that’s not the first time we’ve seen him reach celestial bodies. We’ve even seen him give the actual sun a black eye after knocking the weight off a High Striker game into it. Or how about the time he punched Bluto into space and alter the constellations. Yeah, try and figure that one out. Or just avoid the headache and just stop questioning Popeye since he can actually do things like blow out the sun so he and Olive Oyl can get some private time.

Wiz: If all this wasn’t enough, Popeye is also incredibly durable. Not only does he possess a cartoon rubber body that he can stretch and change the shape, size, and even the molecular structure of, he’s taken on some pretty heavy blows and just walked them off. He’s withstood explosions, being run over by a tank, getting crushed beneath a battleship, walked straight into gunfire and had the bullets simply bounce off him. Um, don’t try any of these at home, kids, no matter how much spinach you eat.

Boomstick: Even when he has taken a few lumps before eating his spinach, there’s nothing he can’t come back from. After chowing down on the green stuff, we’ve seen him de-age himself after he was age-up by an alien age ray, or rematerialized after he was completely disintegrated into nothing; I’m still trying to wrap my head around that one. He’s even full-on come back to life after dying when his nephews stuffed some spinach into his corpse’s mouth. Hell, the guy freakin’ withstood God turning off reality itself, and he didn’t so much as flinch.

• Feats
  • Punched bullets, lightning bolts, lasers, and magic spells
  • Moved so fast he occupied multiple spaces
  • Knocked out his animator and torn apart his own film strip
  • Gave the sun a black eye with a High Striker game weight
  • Tilted the planet’s axis after knocking Bluto into it
  • Punched Bluto around the world and into the moon (turning it into a crescent)
  • Knocked Bluto into space, altering the constellations
  • Knocked Bluto through time to turn him into an infant
  • Punched Bluto into the real world
  • Pulled the Grand Canyon and the continents together
  • Used a lasso to pull the moon closer to Earth and make the sun rise
  • Caught and withstood bullets
  • Lifted Earth and juggled planets
  • Dog-paddled an island
  • Defeated Bluto, Zeus, Sinbad, animals, giant monsters, dinosaurs, ghosts, giant machines
  • Received the Medal of Honor from Eisenhower
  • Destroyed a comet to save Earth
  • Jumped up and punched the man in the moon
  • Rematerialized after being disintegrated
  • Withstood God turning off reality

Wiz: There’s no denying that Popeye has shown to be capable of some pretty fantastical things, but his most impressive feats do indeed come from his incredible displays of strength. This is where Popeye truly shines.

Boomstick: Shines even brighter than the sun he gave a black eye to. And poor Bluto is usually the one to feel it. Popeye’s knocked him across the entire planet faster than the speed of light, hit him so hard that when he hit the planet he tilted the Earth’s axis, and even punched him into the full moon so hard it broke into a crescent moon.

Wiz: Which is no small feat, as it would take nearly 3,000 megatons of TNT to destroy the moon, with a single megaton being the equivalent of one million tons. In the case of Bluto hitting the moon like this, it would require 1.24 × 1,029 joules of energy.

Boomstick: And if you want an example that doesn’t include Bluto, he once saved the world by destroying a comet that would have destroyed Earth with a single punch. Now that’s power!

Wiz: But fighting and punching aren’t Popeye’s only displays of strength. He’s even changed whole land masses, like the time he dog-paddled an entire island that he and Olive Oyl were stranded on. He’s also pretty good with a lasso, having used one to pull the Grand Canyon together, and even the continents. He’s lassoed the moon and pulled it closer to Earth, and even lassoed the sun to make it rise faster.

Boomstick: Yeah, it’s no wonder he’s been mistaken for a cowboy before. Or maybe he’s just good with tying things, like with how he’s managed to snatch lightning out of the sky, tie it together, and then throw it into the ocean. He’s also pretty good at Frisbee since he once grabbed a UFO during an alien invasion and threw it into the other spaceships like a pinball. We’ve even seen Popeye go full Bill Atlas and lift the entire Earth.

Wiz: Which is really saying something since the Earth weighs approximately 5.972 sextillion ton (5,972,000,000,000,000,000,000,000). In fact, never mind lifting, we’ve even seen Popeye juggle the actual planets.

Boomstick: Kind of makes you wonder if those anchor tattoos on his arms aren’t so much for decoration and are more along the lines of meant to symbolize that he’s got anchor arms. Like literally. It’s like there’s no one who can take Popeye down, not even his own animator.

Wiz: Fortunately, Popeye always uses his strength and power to fight for justice and to protect. Sure he may be a little hotheaded at times, but he always fights on the side of good. Even so, it’s best not to get on his bad side, not unless you want to experience first-hand just how strong he really is.

Boomstick: So keep good behavior, that’s your one life savior, with Popeye the Sailor Man.

Wiz: You really couldn’t resist, could you?

Boomstick: No, I couldn’t.

Arale Norimaki

Wiz: Let’s go back several years, to a time before the Dragon Ball series took the world by storm. Back then, there was another series that went by the name of Dr. Slump.

Boomstick: Which is referring to this guy, Senbei Norimaki, the brilliant whacko who creates the craziest of inventions, almost all of which are alive for some reason, even when they shouldn’t be. But then that’s the case for a lot of things in this series.

Wiz: And the crowning jewel of his inventions came in the form of a little robot girl. Say hello to Arale Norimaki.

Boomstick: Or as she likes to say, N’cha!

Wiz: Despite having the appearance of a middle-schooler, Arale is a state-of-the-art robot with more power than… well, pretty much anything.

Boomstick: You wouldn’t think so with the way she behaves though. Arale typically acts like a naïve and hyperactive little kid, lacks basic common sense, and always wants to play. Oh, and she’s obsessed with fooling around with crap for some reason. Yeah, don’t ask.

• Background
  • Age: unknown (physically 15)
  • Height: 3’6
  • Weight: 68.3 lbs.
  • Birthday: May 17th
  • Android created by Senbei Norimaki
  • Student of Penguin Village Middle School
  • Mayor of Penguin Village
  • Popular catchphrases: “Hoyoyo” and “N’cha”
  • Goofy and playful personality
  • Enjoys cosplaying, running, and playing with poop
  • Surrogate sibling to the Gatchans
  • Wife of Obotchamen

Wiz: It may seem like Arale is a broken character, and really, she is, but then the world she lives in is more or less broken as well, as the world of Dr. Slump functions as a gag series, with physics that are typically found in old-fashioned western cartoon logic, like the old Mickey Mouse and Felix The Cat cartoons; most notably the kind where almost everything is alive.

Boomstick: It really takes a lot to be a broken character in a cartoon logic filled world, but hey, that’s a gag character for you.

Wiz: A gag character indeed, as Arale is known for doing many things for the sake of fun and laughs. More often than not, this causes trouble for Senbei or the other residents of Penguin Village, but it’s always innocent on Arale’s part. She’s simply too strong for her own good.

Boomstick: Well, not always. She is a bit of a prankster, and will do things to freak people out for a laugh, like the way she takes her head off around others, or when she gets destruction happy because she thinks it’s funny.

Wiz: True, but the point is, none of these things are ever done maliciously. In fact, she seems to pride herself on being a good girl, and doesn’t seem to be aware of the fact that she’s causing trouble or being destructive, and often just wants to help out. Although this usually causes more problems than it solves. But what it mostly comes down to is that she doesn’t know her own strength, and the destruction she causes doesn’t seem to register to her.

Boomstick: Man, forget destruction, Wiz, Arale has broken the rules of reality and even reality itself on more than one occasion, including the Fourth Wall. And trust me, in cartoon logic in a gag anime, that’s really saying something. The reason she can do this? She’s just that strong. Strong enough to even go head-to-head with Goku, and not even put any effort into it.

• Powers and Abilities
  • Infinite speed and strength
  • Nearly indestructible
  • Fourth Wall awareness and breaking
  • Breaking and altering reality
  • Super genius level intelligent (yet naïve and lacking common sense)
  • Pure of heart (can ride the Flying Nimbus)
  • Playful fighting combat
  • N’Cha Cannon
  • Various ki attacks
  • Cartoon logic physics
  • Hammer Space
  • Incredibly durable and stretchable rubber skin
  • Intangible interaction (can touch ghosts and spirits)
  • Flight (by farting when her exhaust system is damaged)

Wiz: For those of you that don’t know, both Dr. Slump and Dragon Ball apparently share a universe, although Penguin Village, where Arale lives, does seem to exist within its own pocket dimension. Even so, we’ve seen her meet and interact with Goku on more than one occasion. In fact, at one point we even saw her make child’s play out of Vegeta and even Goku at the Super Saiyan God Blue level.

Boomstick: For all you Dragon Ball fans, you might remember the time Goku fought the God of Destruction Beerus as a Super Saiyan God. During that fight, the shockwaves from Goku’s punches alone were enough to disintegrate whole planets, and it was stated that just four of those shockwaves would obliterate the entire universe. Until he learned to counteract them that is.

Wiz: Keep in mind that this is just the Super Saiyan God form. The Super Saiyan God Blue form actually combines the Super Saiyan transformation with it. That’s a 50x multiplier by the way. And that’s not even including all the additional training Goku did since achieving Super Saiyan God before he faced off with Arale. And she was casually making pure sport of him.

Boomstick: Yeah, but although she can fight, Arale isn’t actually a fighter. Really, she just thinks of fighting as a fun game, which is actually pretty scary when you think about it. Hell, even Akira Toriyama, the freakin’ creator of her series, is afraid of her.

Wiz: Yes, there was a point where Toriyama appeared, as himself, within the actual series to rewrite events that had happened. Although we usually see his avatar, Tori-Bot, throughout the series, he has stated that he is a character within his own series, and that he’s the most powerful being in it.

Boomstick: Which means he’s even more powerful than the freakin’ Omni-King, the highest-ranking deity in the series. And Grand Zeno has eternal and unlimited power, and can even instantly erase all of existence across the entire multiverse without even trying. Yet Toriyama ranks above him, and he’s still nervous around Arale. You know not to mess with someone like that.

Wiz: Indeed, it seems that Toriyama’s power, as the creator, is to control reality. But Arale has defied reality and broken the Fourth Wall on several occasions, including pulling out, reading, folding, and cutting up her own manga. She’s even taken shortcuts by breaking through comic panels or simply stepping out of the pages.

Boomstick: This isn’t just manga exclusive either. We’ve seen her interacted with characters from other movies and TV shows. Hell, she even fired her N’Cha Cannon out of the TV to blast the people watching.

Wiz: The N’Cha Cannon is an energy beam Arale fires from her mouth. With it, she’s been able to destroy robots the size of mountains with a single hit, and has even matched Goku’s Kamehameha at the Super Saiyan God Blue level. In fact, she even claimed she could casually fire a N’Cha Cannon 100x more powerful than that.

Boomstick: Yeah, it’s a shame we never got to actually see that though. But after everything Arale has done, it’s certainly believable that she can do a 100x N’Cha Cannon easily, and probably go even higher. Although, repeatedly using it and other ki attacks does drain her of energy, which will render her immobile when she runs out of power until she recharges. But that’s nothing a nice dose of Robovita A won’t fix. And bottles of the stuff will even seek her out when she runs out of energy.

Wiz: But Arale also possesses other logic defying abilities. For instance, she possesses the power of Hammer Space, allowing her to pull things seemingly out of thin air. She can fly by farting out exhaust when her exhaust system is damaged or removed, allowing her to fly to the moon and back. She can physically interact with ghosts and spirits, immobilize a person by sewing their shadows to the ground, or even shatter the sun by throwing something at it or simply by punching it herself using cartoon perspective logic.

Boomstick: Man, forget all the illogical stuff, let’s get back to how ridiculously strong she is. Because, let me tell you, she’s done some stuff that will make your head spin trying to comprehend how someone so small can be packing so much power.

• Feats
  • Can easily move mountains with her bare hands
  • Caused Earth to crash from Mars to Venus by stomping her feet
  • Jumped from Earth to the moon in seconds
  • Belly-bounced a large robot from Earth, off Mercury, off the sun, then back to Earth
  • Destroyed the moon by throwing a rock at it
  • Broke the Earth in two with a single punch
  • Punched a large robot through the planet to the other side
  • Sent a man flying to the moon with a finger flick
  • Casually defeated Vegeta
  • Easily matched Goku at the Super Saiyan God Blue level
  • Out-raced Sonic the Hedgehog
  • Went from the sun to Earth in a few seconds
  • Can easily dodge lasers
  • Ran around the planet several times in a few seconds
  • Was unharmed after being crushed between Earth and Mars
  • Withstood planet cutting lasers
  • Withstood blows that could destroy moons and planets
  • Was unharmed after being knocked through Earth, into the moon, then back to Earth

Wiz: Indeed, Arale has displayed incredible feats of strength that defy logic, and she’s always done so casually. She’s cracked the planet in two from a light punch to the ground, sent a large mecha flying into space to bounce off Mercury and the sun before it bounced back to Earth in mere seconds. It should be noted that she actually cracked the sun when she did this. She’s even sent Earth crashing from Mars and into Venus just by stomping her feet. That’s a distance of about 141,578,000 miles.

Boomstick: But Arale isn’t just really strong, she’s also super fast and super durable. She’s casually raced across the entire planet several times in just a few seconds, jumped from the moon to Earth in a matter of seconds, and even easily run up walls and dodged lasers, which means she’s faster than the speed of light!

Wiz: Which is about 186,282 miles per second in case you were wondering. In fact, Arale’s casual running speed is about Mach 1, and that’s without her even trying. Her actual top speed seems to be limitless, allowing her to even go from Earth to Saturn in just a few seconds. At one point, she even out-raced Sonic the Hedgehog. Quite frankly, like her strength, Arale’s speed seems to be completely immeasurable and unlimited.

Boomstick: As for durability, despite looking like a little kid, she can certainly take a beating. One time she was crushed between Earth and Mars, and she wasn’t even hurt. Hell, she was even hit so hard that she went through the entire planet, bounced off the moon, crashed back down to Earth, and she was perfectly fine. She’s taken bullets, explosions, lasers that can cut through planets, has taken hits from blows that can destroy moons and planets, and was even punched so hard by Vegeta that she flew around the entire world in seconds, and she just laughed it off. Sure, being a robot, she’s malfunctioned a few times, but there’s nothing that can keep her down for long. Hell, she one time got blasted straight out of the manga by Goku and Kid Buu and was still unharmed.

Wiz: Even Arale’s functionality is a total mess, as we’ve seen both her body and head act separately from each other, despite her body not being able to see, and using Senbei’s Age-Changing Wristwatch, she’s somehow been able to turn into an adult, even though that should be impossible since she’s a robot. She even defied the laws of physics and how things actually work, like the time she swung Goku in his Great Ape form by the tail to the ground so hard that he reverted back to normal, even though that shouldn’t be possible while the full moon is out. Really, it seems that Arale just makes up her own rules of reality, and not even she follows them.

Boomstick: Long story short, we’re saying logic need not apply when it comes to Arale, even when it comes to simple things. Tell me, how exactly does a robot need glasses, because those things aren’t just for show?

Wiz: Just chalk it up to one of her weaknesses… Which are pretty much nonexistent. Really, her only weaknesses besides being nearsighted are that even though she’s very intelligent, she’s still very naïve, and she gets easily distracted, usually by feces.

Boomstick: Wait, does that crap have a face? Why does a pile of crap have a face? And why is it pink? Is crap pink and sentient in Dr. Slump?

Wiz: Focus, Boomstick.

Boomstick: But it’s pink crap with a face!

Wiz: Uch, I swear, you’re as bad as Arale sometimes.

Boomstick: You mean a kick-ass android with unlimited speed and strength that’s practically indestructible, but is still pure-hearted enough to ride the Flying Nimbus?

Wiz: …Sure, Boomstick, sure.

Boomstick: Ye-ah! Bring it on! I knew I was a badass.

Wiz: *Sigh*

Interlude

Wiz: Alright the combatants are set. And we've run the data through all possibilities.

Boomstick: It’s time for a Death Battle!

The Battle

Senbei is in his workshop, working on a remote control while the TV plays in the background. He finishes what he’s doing and holds the remote up proudly.

Senbei: “Finally, I finished! Mr. TV Transporter is finished! Hehe. And now for a quick bathroom break before a test.”

He sets the remote down and exits the room. A few moments later, Arale comes running in happily.

Arale: “Professor, let’s play, let’s play! Hoyoyo?”

She looks around, not seeing him anywhere. But then she spots the remote and picks it up, looking at it curiously. On the TV behind her, Popeye The Sailor Man comes on. Arale looks from the remote to the TV a few times, then point the remote at the TV and pushes a button. She suddenly disappears as she’s transported into the TV and appears on screen at the port of Sweethaven.

Arale looks around her new surroundings curiously for a few moments before laughing joyfully and begins running around. She’s at a ship harbor, and ends up causing a bunch of destruction as she runs around, and suddenly Popeye arrives.

Popeye: “Ahoy! What do ja think ja be doin’, li’l lady?”

With a “Hoyoyo?”, she skids to a stop and turns to Popeye. She races over to him and gives him her trademark “N’cha!” greeting, but he ignores it and points an accusing finger at her.

Popeye: “Now, listen here, missy, ja best be behavin’, else I’m gonna have to be givin’ ja a spankin’ for bein’ a bad girl.”

Arale glances at his hand, then reaches out and grabs his finger, lifting him off the ground. She laughs as she tosses him away, causing him to crash into a stack of crates, and stars start circling over his head. Arale points to him and laughs.

Arale: “Hey, hey, Arale is very strong!”

Shaking off his dizziness, Popeye jumps to his feet and gives her a dirty look.

Popeye: “Ja want strong, do ja? I’ll giva ja strong.”

He whistles, and from a nearby food stand, a can of spinach jumps off and rolls over to him. He snatches it up and squeezes it open, the contests flying into his mouth. Arale looks on in interest as his muscles bulge and he holds up his fists, ready to fight.

Popeye: “If we can’t be frens, we’ll be enmies!”

FIGHT!

Popeye charges at Arale. He throws a punch, but Arale holds up her hand and blocks it. He throws more punches, but Arale continues to easily block them, laughing all the while. Popeye grows frustrated and picks her up by her shirt collar. Arale looks at him curiously as he pulls his arm back and throws a punch. Arale goes flying backwards from the hit, bouncing across the ground before laying still. Popeye looks on nervously and uncomfortably rubs the back of his head.

Popeye: “Nyeh, uh-oh. I mighta over done it.”

Arale sits up and blinks, then happily jumps up and begins hopping up and down.

Arale: “Hooray! Hooray! He’s so strong! Kiiiiiiin!”

She races at Popeye, who looks caught off guard as she comes at him. She slams into him, and he goes flying backwards. Arale suddenly appears in front of him as he flies through the air and laughs as she rapidly delivers punch after punch to his head and torso before slamming both feet into him, sending him flying backwards even faster, and he crashes into a lighthouse, hitting it with such force that it cracks all the way through and the upper part falls over. Arale lands a distance away and begins happily jumping up and down again.

Arale: “Yay! Yay! Arale is the strongest!”

Popeye gets to his feet and dusts himself off before giving Arale a dirty look and holding his fists and punching the air.

Popeye: “Hmm, strongest, ja say? Fine then, no more holdin’ back. Li’l girl or no li’l girl.”

He leaps through the air towards her. Arale stops jumping and lets out her trademark “Hoyoyo?” before Popeye’s fist slams into her face. She flies backwards, going through space and time, aging up to an adult. She skids to a halt and looks down at herself, noticing her adult form, then smiles happily.

Arale: “Yay! Arale is an adult again!”

Popeye suddenly appears behind her and punches her from behind, sending her back through time again, de-aging her into a child again. As she flies through the air, he appears in her path and holds out his fist, which she slams into. He then delivers another punch, sending her flying again, and he races after her. As she flies through the air, he catches up to her and begins repeatedly punching her over and over again, his fists slamming into her face so hard and so fast that the two of them zoom across the street. He pulls back his fist one final time and it grows three times in size before he punches her, and she goes flying into a brick wall.

She remains stuck there for a moment before sliding to the ground. Then her head falls off her shoulders and lands in her lap. Popeye skids to a halt and glares at her, but then gasps in surprise when he sees the headless Arale. But she simply stands up and places her head back on her neck, twisting it back into place. Popeye gets over his shock and adjusts his hat.

Popeye: “Well, blow me down, she’s a robot. Guess I don’ needs to be feelin’ bad for hittin’ her then.”

He barely finishes talking before Arale comes flying through the air and head-butts him in the gut. He goes flying backwards, and Arale races past him before turning around and punching him. He goes flying the other way, and she races past him again and punches him in a different direction. She repeats this several more times before delivering an uppercut, sending him flying up into the air.

Far in the background, a large tanker ship is floating in the ocean. Arale turns towards it as she watches the tiny silhouette of Popeye in the distance come down and crash through the ship, causing a water spout to shoot up from it, and the ship sinks.

A trail of bubbles moves along the surface of the water back up to the port, and Popeye jumps back up onto the deck. He reaches down into the water and pulls out the enormous ship that had just sank, and he tosses it up into the air towards Arale. She looks up as it comes down, and it lands on top of her, causing the ground to tremble.

Satisfied, Popeye smirks and dusts his hands off before turning and beginning to walk away, but then hears a sound and turns around to see the ship rising into the air as Arale casually lifts it up with one hand. She throws it back at Popeye, and he catches it, skidding backwards in the process. While he’s holding up the ship, Arale charges at him and punches him out from underneath it. He goes flying backwards and Arale races after him.

Popeye does a flip and lands on his feet. He raises his fists and slams them down in the ground. The ground acts as a catapult, launching Arale into the air towards Popeye. He pulls back his fist, his arm stretching back several meters, and as Arale comes down in front of him, he throws a punch. Arale goes flying into the distance, disappearing upon the horizon. She ends up circling the entire planet, and ends up coming up behind Popeye. He turns around and punches her again, sending her circling around the planet again.

He repeats this several times, and Arale rotates around the planet over and over again. In a view from space, rings begin appearing around Earth as Arale constantly goes flying around it in different directions nearly a dozen times. Upon completely one rotation though, as Popeye makes to punch her again, Arale suddenly catches his fist. She laughs playfully as she spins him around and throws him, then races after him. She catches up and throws a punch, but he blocks it. He punches at her, but she ducks beneath it, then dodges the next punch he throws, laughing all the while.

Popeye pulls his fist back to throw another punch, and Arale throws one as well. Their fists collide, and the impact sends out a massive shockwave that cracks the ground apart and sends everything around them flying for miles. The two then begin throwing punches at each other so fast that their arms become mere blurs, and it appears as if they both have a dozen fists.

Arale laughs as she and Popeye continue to throw punches, then suddenly jumps back. She inhales deeply and lets out a cry of “N’cha!” as she fires her N’Cha Cannon. Popeye gasps in surprise before he’s hit with the beam and goes flying to the other side of the world, landing in Antartica. He gets up though and dusts himself off, then looks around at where he’s at before reaching down and grabbing hold of the ground. He rolls the ground beneath him, and the entire planet starts spinning in a blur. Then he grabs the ground again, stopping the world from spinning, and he’s back in Sweethaven, with Arale standing a distance away. She holds up her hand with a “N’cha!”, and Popeye points at her in frustration.

Popeye: “That’s all I can stands, ‘cause I can’t stands no more!”

He leaps a her and delivers a punch that sends Arale flying into the distance. She goes flying around the planet, and Popeye turns and begins winding up his fist to punch her as she come at him. As she’s flying through the air though, Arale suddenly flips around.

Arale: “Arale Kick!”

Before Popeye can punch her, she slams both feet into him, and it’s Popeye who goes flying backwards. Back in the world of Dr. Slump, Senbei is seen trying to pull the TV remote he invented out of Gatchan’s mouth when Popeye suddenly comes flying out of the TV. He shoots past them, drawing their attention, and slams into the wall, his body losing depth and becoming flat. Senbei and Gatchan stop fighting and look at him curiously before Senbei cautiously approaches. Popeye detaches himself from the wall and returns to his normal depth, then turns to Senbei, who points at him in bewilderment.

Senbei: “Hey, how’d you do that? What are you?”

Popeye: “I yam what I yam, an’ tha’s all that I yam.”

On the TV, Arale waves to Popeye.

Arale: “Hey, Mr. Cowboy, let’s play some more!”

With a grunt, Popeye marches past Senbei and Gatchan, heading back over to the TV. He climbs back inside it, standing across from Arale, who begins clapping, and places his hands on his hips as he glares at her.

Popeye: “Ja think I’m a cowboy?”

Arale: “Yay! Funny cowboy!”

Popeye: “I ain’t no cowboy, I’m Popeye the Sailor Man!”

He leaps at her and throws a punch. Arale stops clapping and jumps back, and his fist hits the ground, shattering it. She lands a distance away and takes a deep breath, firing her N’Cha Cannon. Popeye punches the beam away, and Arale begins repeatedly firing her attack. Popeye proceeds to punch the beams away before catching one and leaping into the air. He ties the beam into a ball and throws it back at Arale once he lands.

Arale catches the ball of energy and happily throws it back at Popeye. He jumps over it and lands in front of her, then pulls his fist back so far that he twists up his body. As he unwinds, he delivers a roundhouse punch to Arale’s jaw, causing her head to spin around on her shoulders. He then leaps behind her, punching her again, causing her head to stop spinning, before jumping to her other side to deliver another punch, then jumping back again. He repeats this process, going faster and faster until it appears that there are two Popeyes. And then suddenly, there are, and Arale is caught between the two as they proceed to punch her one after the other over and over again.

Suddenly, one of the Popeyes disappears, and the remaining one pulls his fist back, and it grows several times larger before he uses it to deliver an uppercut, sending Arale flying up into the sky. From a high up aerial view, she gets closer and closer, and suddenly smashes into the screen, cracking the glass. She remains flattened against it for a few seconds before the glass breaks apart, and she falls flat on her face. She hops up a moment later, and suddenly finds herself standing between a bewildered Wiz and Boomstick.

Boomstick: “What the!?”

Arale turns to him and raises a hand in greeting with a cry of “N’cha!”, and Boomstick glances at Wiz.

Boomstick: “Uh, Wiz, what do we do about this?”

Wiz scratches the back of his head uncomfortably.

Wiz: “Well… uh… DUMMI!”

Looking bored, DUMMI lazily floats onto the set.

DUMMI: “I don’t know why I have to do all the work around here.”

He reaches out a robot claw, picks Arale up by her collar, and tosses her back through the open screen. Arale’s look of curiosity becomes a joyful laugh as she falls through the sky back to the ground. Down below, Popeye shades his eyes as he looks into the sky.

Popeye: “Hmm, I wonder when she’s comin’ down?”

Suddenly, he sees her speeding down towards him like a meteor. She makes to throw a punch, but he jumps back, and her fist slams into the ground, causing the entire planet to crack in two. Arale then lets out a cry of “Kiiin!” as she races towards Popeye, and before he even lands, she belly-bumps him, sending him flying into the sky. He flies up into space, hitting the moon and going straight through it and out the other side. From a view of the solar system, he bounces off one planet after another like a pinball, hitting every planet all the way up to Pluto, then bouncing off each planet once more all the way back to the broken Earth.

He hits the ground, flattening into a pancake. His hand comes up a moment later and he reaches down, pulling himself up, and he pops back to normal. He wobbles on his feet a bit with stars and miniature running Arales rotating around the top of his head to indicate dizziness, but then he shakes his head to clear it and begins looking around. He sees Arale running at him again with a cry of “Kiiin!” He pulls back his fist and throws a punch, his arm stretching like rubber to close the distance between him and Arale.

Arale doesn’t stop, and just keeps laughing as she jumps up to avoid the punch, and runs along the length of his arm. Popeye blinks in surprise as she reaches him, and she open-palm slaps him across the face, knocking Popeye off his feet. He tumbles head over heels, and Arale races to catch up to him, and is soon running alongside his tumbling form. He regains control of his momentum and begins running alongside her as well. The two begin exchanging blows as they run along. They race across the land, crashing through buildings and mountains, eventually running across the surface of the water, crashing through ships and even icebergs as they proceed to exchange blows while running across the entire planet.

They finish racing across the ocean and reach land again, and suddenly Arale disappears. Popeye continues to throw punches at empty space as he runs along, but then suddenly notices that Arale is no longer there. He skids to a halt and looks back. He sees Arale crouched down with her back to him. She has a stick in her hand and is poking a pile of poop, and Popeye curiously walks over to her.

Popeye: “Nyeh, what ja lookin’ at?”

Arale stands up and turns around, happily holding out the stick with the poop on the end of it and laughing. Popeye lets out an appalled gasp.

Popeye: “Oh my gorshk!”

He slaps the stick out of her hand, and Arale looks down at it with a “Hoyoyo?”

Popeye: “Now listen here, I yam disgustipated with ja. Children shouldn’ play with that stuff.”

In response, Arale turns back to him and pokes Popeye in his good eye with her index finger. Popeye cries out and stumbles back as he rubs his eye. He begins muttering under his breath as he starts blindly punching out with both eyes closed. Arale catches his fist, and then begins swinging him over her head and slams him onto the ground over and over again before spinning him around and throwing him.

Popeye slams into the wall of a building and crashes through it, leaving a perfect hole in the shape of himself. From a distance away, Arale points at the hole and laughs. A few moments later, Popeye exits the front door and places his hands on his hips.

Popeye: “Ok, li’l lady, I’m t’rough takin’ it easy on ja.”

Arale just joyfully throws her hands in the air over and over again.

Arale: “Yay! Yay! No more taking it easy! Arale will do her N’Cha Cannon 100x stronger!”

Arale begins taking a deep breath, inhaling energy particles around her. Popeye charges at her, and begins winding up his fist.

Popeye: “Arf! Arf! Arf!”

Arale: “N’CHA!!!”

Arale opens her mouth and unleashes her N’Cha Cannon, firing a massive beam of energy from her mouth. It comes towards Popeye as he flies towards the beam and throws a punch. His fists collides with the beam, creating a massive explosion that’s followed by a blinding flash of light, and all of reality shatters. The flash dies down a few moments later, leaving both Popeye and Arale standing next to each other in a white void of nothingness. Popeye scratches his head as he and Arale look around curiously.

Arale: “Hoyoyo?”

Popeye: “Hmm, well, that ain’t good. Gimme a minute to, eh…”

He reaches up offscreen and feels around before pulling down a new scene like a screen, restoring everything to normal, with them both back on the docks of Sweethaven once more. Popeye claps his hands together and then places them on his hips as he looks down at Arale and smiles.

Popeye: “There. Now we can get back to–”

Arale: “Jump punch!”

Arale leaps up, driving her fist into Popeye’s chin, sending hm flying high up into the air. Arale laughs happily and leaps high into the air. As Popeye goes spinning upward, Arale head-bashes into him from down below, her head slamming into his back. He’s once again sent flying into space, heading straight for the moon again, while back on Earth, Arale lands and waves up at the sky.

Arale: “Bye’cha!”

As Popeye approaches the moon, he suddenly regains control of his momentum. Before he hits the moon, he kicks off its surface, creating a massive crater that covers most of its surface as he shoots back to Earth. Down on the ground, Arale cocks her head to the side as she sees Popeye coming down at her.

Arale: “Hoyoyo?”

Popeye raises his balled fists over his head and brings them down on Arale’s head before he lands. In a view from space, a large mushroom cloud forms on the surface of the Earth. A moment later, on the other side of the planet, there’s another explosion. And as the dusts settles on this side of the planet, Arale’s legs are seen sticking out of the ground. They kick about for a few moments before she hops out of the ground. Her head is missing, but then she reaches into the hole and pulls out her head before putting it back on, then she begins happily jumping up and down again.

Arale: “Yay! Yay! He’s so strong! Arale’s going to hit him as hard as she can now! Kiiiiiiiin!”

She takes off running, racing across land and water as she heads back to the other side of the planet. Meanwhile, Popeye looks down into the hole curiously with his arms crossed as he impatiently taps his foot.

Popeye: “Where’d she go now?”

He continues looking down the hole, but then catches sight of something out of the corner of his eye. He sees two walls of water in the far distance rising high into the air, the source being from Arale happily running across the ocean to come back to him. Popeye grunts as he turns to her approaching form.

Popeye: “Shiver me timbers, this kid ain’t stoppin’. Time to put an end to this.”

He leans back and begins winding up his fist as Arale rapidly races towards him.

Popeye: “Aguhguhguhguhguhguhguh.”

Arale: “Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin!”

Popeye: “Guhguhguhguhguhguh.”

Arale: “Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin!”

Popeye: “Guhguhguhguhguh.”

Arale: “Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin!”

Popeye: “Guhguhguhguh.”

Arale: “Kiiiiiiiiiiiin!”

Popeye: “Guhguhguh.”

Arale: “Kiiiiiiiiin!”

Popeye: “Guhguh.”

Arale: “Kiiiiiin!”

Popeye: “Guh.”

Arale: “Kiiin!”

Popeye throws a punch as Arale crashes into him. The impact causes a flash that lights up the entire land, blinding everything for several seconds. Time seems to have frozen under the power of the collision. And when the light fades, it’s revealed that Popeye’s fist has collided with Arale’s head. Time starts moving again, and Arale’s head goes flying off her shoulders and into the sky.

Arale: “Hoyoyoyoooooooooooooooo!”

Her voice fades out as her head flies up towards the sun, disappearing from sight. A few seconds pass, and then there’s a small spark that emits from the sun in the spot Arale’s head had been flying towards. Back on the ground, Popeye stares at the sun with his hand to his forehead to shade his eyes. He then notices Arale’s headless body running around him in circles.

Popeye places his hands on his hips as he glares at the circling body, then puts his thumb in his mouth and blows, causing his fist to expand to an enormous size. He lifts his fist and brings it down on Arale’s body. And when he lifts it, only a smashed pile of scrap metal remains. Popeye then smirks and looks to the screen.

Popeye: “♪ She fought with her best, but she failed the test, with Popeye the Sailor Man! ♪” (Toot! Toot!)

KO!

Popeye is seen with a broom sweeping Arale’s broken body into a dustpan that he then drops into a trash can.

Outcome

Boomstick: Oh snap, did Popeye just kill a child, or does it not count since Arale’s a robot? I mean, either way, it made for one hell of a fight, but still, damn.

Wiz: Both Popeye and Arale were ridiculously strong, both seemingly possessing unlimited strength that can’t even begin to be measured and is seemingly infinite, as any feats they’ve displayed have always been rather casual on their part. The same goes for their speed, which is also completely immeasurable and infinitely fast. This made it very difficult to determine who would win since it’s impossible to say which of the two is actually stronger or faster.

Boomstick: Not only that, both of them are known for breaking the Fourth Wall and even reality itself. Not even gods or their own artists can stand up to them. So why exactly was it that Popeye came out on top? Is it because he’s actually a fighter while Arale just plays around?

Wiz: Well, that did contribute, but it’s not the main reason. We’ve actually seen Arale easily take down professional martial artists while she was simply “playing” due to her sheer strength and speed, even making sport of Vegeta and Goku at the Super Saiyan God Blue level. So even if she wasn’t a fighter, she could still have won if she was the stronger or faster of the two.

Boomstick: But you said there’s no way to determine that. Both their power was on such a level of bullshit that they could do practically anything with their strength, even if it made no sense.

Wiz: Yes, it’s true that both Popeye and Arale have shown to be strong enough to do whatever needs to be done for whatever situation they’re in, and not only that, but do it casually, meaning there really is no limit to their strength or speed. So since we couldn’t determine which of the two is the faster or stronger, we instead had to look at which of the two was more durable.

Boomstick: Oh yeah, Popeye definitely outshined Arale in that area. I mean, the guy survived being disintegrated into nothing, and even withstood existence being turned off. If he can survive that, then someone with super strength, even if it’s unlimited, isn’t going to do much.

Wiz: The same can’t be said for Arale though, as we’ve actually seen her take on damage and even malfunction and need repairs in several instances, from things less powerful than the feats of strength that Popeye has displayed. So if Arale could take damage from these lesser things, then Popeye would definitely be able to deliver damage to her.

Boomstick: To sum it up, she could dish out the hits, but she couldn’t take them herself. Even if we say she and Popeye were equal in speed and strength, she didn’t really have anything that could finish Popeye off, but he was able to deal the blows needed to send her to the scrap yard.

Wiz: And as you pointed out before, Boomstick, Arale is not a fighter, whereas Popeye is, meaning he would be able to deal far more hits to her than she could to him, which would eventually cause enough damage to put Arale down for good.

Boomstick: So while Arale could match Popeye power-wise and move just as fast as him, Popeye was able to handle whatever Arale threw at him, but the same just couldn’t be said for her. Also, there’s Popeye’s whole altering the reality of the things he hits, not to mention all the other kind of bullshit he’s pulled in his day that goes beyond what Arale has done, even with her own reality breaking feats. Guess this means old Dr. Slump better get to work on making a new robot.

Wiz: The winner is Popeye.

Trivia

• • BothPopeye and Arale have seemingly infinite and unlimited strength.
  • Both can move at immeasurable speeds.
  • Both are incredibly durable
  • Both are known for breaking the Fourth Wall with their power.
  • Both are known for defying logic and breaking reality itself.
  • Both can interact with and affect the real world
  • Both have interacted with and intimidated their animator/artist.
  • Both have a special catchphrase they always say.
  • Both are fueled by a specific “food” (spinach/Robovita A).