The Iron Giant vs. Liberty Prime | |
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Season 7, Episode 2 | |
Written by | I'm Lynda |
Episode guide | |
Previous Dark Helmet vs. Darth Vader |
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The Iron Giant vs. Liberty Prime is a What-If? Death Battle by I'm Lynda. It features the Iron Giant from the 1999 movie of the same name, and Liberty Prime from the Fallout video game series.
Description[]
Giant, indestructible killer robots duke it out to see who is the deadliest!
Interlude[]
Boomstick: Giant robots, they’re the things of little boys’ dreams.
Wiz: Giants robots like the Iron Giant from the 1999 movie of the same name.
Boomstick: And like Liberty Prime, the giant robot from the video game series, Fallout.
Wiz: I’m Wiz, and he’s Boomstick.
Boomstick: And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor and skills to find out who would win a Death Battle.
The Iron Giant[]
Boomstick: The Iron Giant was created by an advanced civilization on a distant world. Why he was sent out into space is unknown, but he eventually crash-landed in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Maine, in 1957.
Wiz: At some point, possibly when he landed, the Giant suffered a blow to the head, which left a large dent in his cranium and a gaping hole in his memory.
Boomstick: He was left wandering the forests of Maine, until he met a boy named Hogarth Hughes. Hogarth? [Chuckles] What an embarrassing name. Might as well call him "Zeppo" or something.
Wiz: Why?
Boomstick: I don’t know. It seemed like the thing to say, at the time.
Wiz: Anyway, Hogarth kept him hidden from the authorities, which is to say “adults,” and found sustenance for him.
Boomstick: Yeah, it seems that the Giant eats metal! So, Hogarth found him a home in a scrap and junk yard, where he had plenty to eat.
Wiz: Hogarth also taught him how to talk, and about morality. However, when the Giant saw a toy gun being fired at him, he reacted by firing back with energy beams from his eyes, showing that his original purpose was as a weapon.
Boomstick: But, all secret friendships are eventually discovered, and the U.S. government discovered the Iron Giant. So, they sent the Army, the Navy and the Air Force to destroy him.
Wiz: But, the Iron Giant reacted to the attack, and counter-attacked, showing that he was clearly superior to the best that 1957 technology had to offer. The military finally decided to fall back on their last and greatest weapon, a submarine-launched thermonuclear missile.
Boomstick: But, before the nuke could arrive, Hogarth appealed to the Giant’s sense of morality, and snapped him out of the weapon mode that he was in. But, now, faced with seeing the potential of the town being destroyed, the Giant decided to sacrifice himself by flying out of the Earth’s atmosphere, and colliding with the missile, causing it to harmlessly detonate in space.
Wiz: But, though the Giant was blasted into its component parts, it was later seen that he was not destroyed, and was reassembling himself in Iceland.
Boomstick: As you might expect from a 50-foot tall humanoid robot, the Iron Giant is extremely strong. He can easily bend steel, and tear it apart. He can uproot large trees, lift boulders, and throw automobiles incredibly long distances.
Wiz: As mentioned, his component parts seem to be extremely durable and resistant to damage. When he was hit by a shell fired from an American battleship, which probably weighed in the vicinity of 2,700 pounds, it barely staggered him.
Bookstick: And later, when he was hit by a submarine-launched ballistic missile, it appeared that none of his parts were damaged, but he was merely disassembled, with his parts scattered from Maine to Iceland, which is a distance of at least 2,300 miles, or 3,700 kilometers!
Wiz: Though in reality it hadn’t entered service yet, and was never installed aboard the USS Nautilus, attack submarine, the missile in question was probably a first-generation, Polaris A-1 missile. This weapon carried a W-47-Y1 600 kiloton nuclear warhead.
Boomstick: Which means that an explosion equivalent to that of 1,200,000 pounds of TNT! And, yeah, THAT did not destroy him. So, I think that you can say that he’s pretty durable.
Wiz: Now, the Giant seems to have two modes. The one might be called “Normal Mode” and the other “Weapon Mode.” When in Normal Mode, he has his strength and durability, he can fly, and also can use some sort of energy beams that he can shoot from his eyes. These beams were so powerful that in just a couple of seconds, they melted a hole in the side of a school bus.
Boomstick: But, you haven’t heard anything yet! While still in *Normal* Mode, he can turn his right arm into a blaster cannon, which shoots rabidly, and one shot can easily destroy a 1950s tank. He can also turn this same arm into a rapid-fire energy gun that shoots small energy blasts like a sort of laser machinegun. This second one is probably more of an anti-personnel weapon, though the Giant used it to almost instantly take out four tanks, a truck and a jeep!
Wiz: And besides all of this, he can transform his left arm into a powerful energy cannon. This later shoots a ball of energy that can vaporize a target basically instantly. This weapon took out a tank, leaving literally nothing behind.
Boomstick: However, things really get hopping when the Iron Giant goes into full Weapon Mode! When he does that, his head retracts some, and is covered with a clear shield of some sort, while his armored skin extends, presumably increasing his durability even further. In this mode, he didn’t seem to even notice that he was being hit by shells fired at him by tanks. Oh yeah, and also, his left and right arms turn into their respective weapons.
Wiz: Not only that, but three scorpion tail-like weapons platforms extend from his back. These stingers are each capped with an energy blaster weapon, and can each engage a different target. This means that the Giant can actually fire at five different targets simultaneously.
Boomstick: But the Giant wears his greatest weapon right out on his chest. This energy cannon seems to shoot the same kind of vaporizing energy as his left arm cannon, but it creates an explosion that looks to be at least several miles wide. With its ability to vaporize whatever it hits, it is at least as dangerous as a nuclear weapon.
Wiz: So, not only is the Iron Giant a handy friend to have around, he is a weapon of staggering capability. Just, don’t call him a “gun,” as he doesn’t like that, and you would not like him when he was angry.
Liberty Prime[]
Boomstick: In the year 2066, Alaska was invaded by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, officially starting the Sino-American War of 2066 to 2077.
Wiz: The American government was determined to expel the Chinese from Alaska, and as such they initiated Military Contract 38917. This contract brought together RobCo Industries and General Atomics International to collaborate on the creation of the most powerful combat robot in the history of the world, a robot called “Liberty Prime.”
Boomstick: Unfortunately, for everyone involved, a suitable power source could not be found before the war ended. And, it ended with a bang! A great, big nuclear bang!
Wiz: Liberty Prime was left in a bunker beneath the Pentagon, and forgotten. Forgotten, that is, until 2255, when a post-apocalyptic organization called: “The Brotherhood of Steel,” sent a team to the ruins of Washington D.C. and uncovered it.
Boomstick: Despite their many resources, the Brotherhood was also unable to solve Liberty Prime’s power problem. That is, until 2277, when the Brotherhood gained control of Dr. Madison Li, a specialist in the field of fusion power. With her help, they finally brought Liberty Prime all they way to full service!
Wiz: The Brotherhood found the robot to be a very useful tool. It proved practically immune to aerial and artillery bombardment, it broke down the enemy’s high-tech, and also highly-effective photonic resonance barriers, destroyed lots of enemy equipment, and killed many enemy personnel
Boomstick: But, the enemy was not entirely stupid, and they figured out a plan to put L.P. down. First, they baited him into a cul-de-sac, and then initiated a tactical missile bombardment from some old American orbital weapons platforms. A single salvo of nine missiles succeeded in massively damaging the robot, and seemingly putting him down for good.
Wiz: But, looks can be deceiving. The Brotherhood worked for over ten years, and succeeded in putting Liberty Prime back into working order.
Boomstick: This giant metal man is very handy to have around. It has two main weapons. The first of which is its head-mounted Liberty Laser. This weapon fires out of its eyes, and can cause massive amounts of damage. It has not only destroyed enemy soldiers and vehicles, but Liberty used it to bore a hole through solid concrete to get at the an enemy’s headquarters.
Wiz: The second of its two primary weapons is a seemingly infinite number of Mark 28 nuclear bombs. Liberty Prime can draw them from a pack on his back, and hurl them at any given target, with the bombs exploding on impact. The Mark 28 appears to be a very low-yield bomb. It looks rather like the 1945 U.S. Far Man bomb, but that weapon had a yield of 21 kilotons of TNT, and a blast radius of about one mile. The Mark 28 is obviously much smaller.
Boomstick: The bomb that Liberty Prime can throw around appears to be more equivalent to the M-28 Davy Crocket weapon. That weapon had a yield of only about 10 to 20 tons, not “kilotons” but just “tons,” of TNT, and had a blast radius of about a third of a mile. The Mark 28 is perhaps even smaller than that.
Wiz: But, that said, it is still a frightening and highly effective weapon, and the simple fact that he can draw an apparently limitless supply of the weapons out of his backpack makes it even more frightening.
Boomstick: Another thing that Liberty Prime has going for him is his size and strength. Standing 40-feet tall, he has killed enemy soldiers just by stepping on them, and has grabbed huge mutants, and simply shaken them to death.
Wiz: His heavy, metal construction...
Boomstick: Not to be confused with heavy metal music.
Wiz: Nobody would get confused by that, Boomstick: Anyway, its powerful construction has rendered it practically immune to small arms fire, and pratically immune to most artillery.
Boomstick: To bring this bad boy down, you need to either hit him with very large artillery or large-yield nuclear weapons. To stop him before, the Institute had to hit him nearly simultaneously with nine orbital strike weapons that each had the yield of at least one of L.P.’s Mark 28 bombs.
Wiz: An interesting ability that this robot demonstrated was the ability to walk underwater, without any apparent damage to his electronic or mechanical parts.
Boomstick: He’s not without weaknesses, though. The Institute realized that the robot could be brought down by slipping a virus into his targeting system. Once this was done, old L.P. became more dangerous to friends than to foes.
Wiz: Liberty Prime is a fascinating weapons system. He’s heavily armed and heavily protected, and a dangerous opponent to face.
Boomstick: And, the best thing about him is his dialogue! “I am Liberty Prime. I am...America.” This robot is awesome!
Intermission[]
Wiz: Alright the combatants are set; let’s end this debate once and for all.
Boomstick: Its time for a DEATH BATTLE!
DEATH BATTLE![]
Pre-Fight []
On top of the Langjökull Glacier in Iceland, the Iron Giant reattached his left leg, the last missing part of his body.
He looked towards the horizon, and pictured his joyful reunion with Hogarth.
Some strange things had happened since his sundering by the nuclear warhead. His Geiger counter had detected an increase in atmospheric radiation, and other sensors had detected increases in dust and ash in the atmosphere. Also, he had noticed a distinct cooling of the air.
No doubt Hogarth would explain things when he got to him.
The Giant bent his knees and then launched himself up, his rockets firing and sending him flying towards Rockwell, Maine and Hogarth!
The Iron Giant landed in the field next to Hogarth’s mother’s house, but his sensors detected no energy usage.
“Hogarth!” he called, but no one answered.
The Giant bent down, and looked into the windows of the house. There was no one there.
He walked to the town of Rockwell, but also found it deserted as well. He hurried to the McCoppin Scrapyard, but found no one there either. Where had everyone gone?
The Giant searched his memory banks for a solution. He needed to ask someone else, but who? The General! General Rogard in...where had the General said? Oh yes, Washington D.C.
His memory banks contained an image from a Superman comic book, a map of the United States with Washington D.C. marked prominently. The Giant would fly to Washington D.C., find the General, and find out where Hogarth had gone,
The Giant bent his knees and exploded into the sky!
As the Giant approached the capitol, he was shocked to see that the area was devastated, a literal wasteland.
Suddenly, a laser beam shot up into the air, and struck the Giant, causing him to plummet from the air. He crash-landed onto an abandoned road, and skidded to a halt not far from the ruins of the Pentagon.
He opened his eyes to the sound of heavy footsteps approaching his location. He looked, and saw a 40-foot-tall robot striding towards him.
“Communist detected on American soil, lethal force engaged!” the robot intoned.
The Giant leaped to his feet.
FIGHT! []
Liberty Prime fired his eye lasers at the Giant, causing him to stagger backward, crying out from the force of the attack.
Then, the Giant fired his own eye lasers, breaking Liberty’s attack, and rocking him backward.
“Engaging Red Chinese aggressors,” Liberty Prime called out, and then strode forward. He pulled his right hand back into a fist and punched the Giant in the face, causing him to stagger backward. Liberty stepped forward and brought his left fist up into the Giant’s stomach, pushing him back farther.
When he stepped forward again, the Iron Giant grabbed the other robot’s shoulders, and then turned, dragging his smaller opponent around, causing him to lurch, and then collapse to one knee. The Giant grabbed ahold of Liberty Prime, wrapping his arms around other robot’s upper torso.
“Communism is the very definition of failure,” Liberty Prime stated. Then, he grabbed onto the Giant with his hand, and stood up, lifting the Giant into the air.
“The last domino falls here,” Liberty said, and then he threw the Giant. The 50-foot robot landed on the ground with an earth-shattering crash.
Liberty Prime stepped up to the prostrate Giant, and lifted his foot.
“Death is a preferable alternative to communism,” he intoned, bringing his foot down.
Before the stomp could connect, the Giant’s rockets fired, and he shot out from under the other robot. He flew up into the air, and rolled, narrowly avoiding a shot from Liberty’s eye lasers.
The Giant spun and turned, looped and rolled, as the other robot fired laser blasts towards him,
Finally, he swooped down, and flew forward at almost ground level, his fists were in front of him, and he said, “Superman!”
The Iron Giant crashed into Liberty Prime, sending him reeling backward.
As the Giant landed, Liberty reached behind his back, and drew out a bomb.
“America will never fall to Communist invasion,” he announced, pulling back his arm.
Detecting the threat, the Giant switch to Weapon Mode, his head retracting down into his shoulders, a shield flipped up and over it, and his chest opened up revealing a monstrous energy canon. He raised his right arm, and the hand retracted and an energy cannon appeared in its place.
But, before he could fire, Liberty threw the Mark 28 nuclear bomb at him.
The bomb exploded against the Giant’s chest, sending him staggering back.
“Freedom is the sovereign right of every American,” Liberty Prime intoned. Then, he reached behind him pulled out another bomb.
The Giant raised his arm, and fired a stream of energy blasts at him. Liberty was pushed back by the stream of attacks, staggering, and finally falling behind the remains of a concrete building.
The Giant stood watching the destroyed building, when suddenly Liberty Prime stepped out from behind it.
“Democracy is truth. Communism is death,” Liberty announced. Then, he reached behind himself, grabbed another Mark 28, and hurled it at the Giant.
The explosion caused the Giant to stagger backward, and then Liberty hurled another. The series of explosions drove the 50-foot robot back and back, until one exploded on his right shoulder, blowing his right arm off.
The Iron Giant turned and looked at the arm on the ground, and then he turned back towards his opponent.
His robotic face registered no emotion, as he lifted his left arm, and changed the hand into another energy weapon. A ball of crackling green energy began to form into between the two poles of the weapons, and grew.
Liberty Prime grabbed another bomb, and pulled his arm back to throw it.
“We will not fear the Red Menace,” the robot announced.
But, before he could hurl his bomb, the ball of green energy flew from the Giant’s hand, and engulfed Liberty’s left arm. It grew and sizzled, and then exploded, vaporizing the left side of the robots’ chest and head. The destruction was so complete, that not even a rivet fell to the ground.
Liberty Prime stood unmoving.
“Catastrophic ...Click...Catastrophic…Click...Catastrophic system failure... Initiating core shutdown as per emergency initiative 2682209... I die, so that democracy may live...” he announced. And then Liberty fell.
K.O.! []
The Iron Giant returned to normal mode, as his weapons systems were pulled back into his exoskeleton.
Then, he turned towards where his right hand was dragging his right arm back towards him. He stooped and lifted the arm up, putting it back in its place. The sinews of the arm reconnected themselves, drawing the limb back into place. He flexed his right arm, ensuring that it was working properly, and then turned back towards where the smaller robot lay.
Then, the Giant turned and began walking, He still needed to find out what was going on.
Results[]
Boomstick: NO!!!! I love Liberty Prime! How could he not win?!
Wiz: Liberty Prime is a powerful weapons system, without a doubt the most powerful one in the Fallout-universe. However, it does appear that the creators of the Iron Giant were simply much more advanced than the creators of Liberty Prime.
Boomstick: The first of Liberty Prime’s primary weapons are his eye-lasers. They could easily destroy organic matter, and were able to take out flying Vertibirds with one shot. However, the Iron Giant’s eye-lasers disintegrated a large chunk of a scrapped bus, suggesting that it is roughly equivalent in strength.
Wiz: Liberty’s other primary weapons are his Mark 28 nuclear bombs. These are fairly potent weapons in close combat, but their yield appears to be no more than 10 tons of TNT, 20 tons max. The Iron Giant easily tanked a direct hit from a battleship, which was likely contained a ton and a half of explosive, and encase in a warhead designed to penetrate foot-thick steel.
Boomstick: When the Giant was hit with a Polaris missile, he suffered a hit equivalent to 6,000 tons of TNT, which knocked him to pieces, but apparently did not destroy any component of the robot. This suggests that Liberty’s 10 ton nukes would have a hard time damaging the Giant, and would probably not do any serious damage at all.
Wiz: I have little doubt Liberty could have eventually destroyed the Giant, given enough time, if he could have hurled many of his bombs at him. Unfortunately for Liberty, the Giant was much faster than his opponent, and could even fly.
Boomstick: As opposed to Liberty Prime’s two weapon systems, the Iron Giant could draw on his wide arsenal of weapons. His laser-machinegun and scorpion tails, while relatively powerful, would probably not be able to harm the tanky US robot. However, his hand energy-canon could easily disintegrate a 1950s US Army tank, which was made of the same steel as the 1950s giant robot.
Wiz: And, when it came down to it, the Iron Giant could always draw on his greatest weapon, his chest-mounted energy-canon. This weapon produced a similar-appear disintegration blast to his hand-weapon, but its radius appeared to be at least a mile and a half!
Boomstick: Heck, even without resorting to weapons, the Iron Giant was 25% taller than Liberty Prime’s 40-foot height, and moved a great deal faster.
Wiz: Indeed. While Liberty Prime would be a fearsome opponent to any 1950s army, he simply wasn’t in the same category as the Iron Giant.
Boomstick: The Giant just blew him away!
Wiz: The winner is, the Iron Giant.