Not much longer before voting begins for this year's Death Battle Fanon Awards and before I get to writing 100 questions for the trivia game, I would like to take a minute to promote the battles I made this year. This year, I have the least amount of submissions as only 3 fights were completed this year, yet they are still some of the highest quality fights you can find on this wiki. I encourage you to check all these fights out before you get to voting, I put a lot of effort into them and they are very much worth reading.
*Note: Nominations listed are currently assumptions, they might change depending on where they are listed in Phase 4.
Chaos vs Kyogre[]
Nominated for: Best ‘Video Game’ themed Death Battle, Best Conclusion/Result/Reasoning, Best Respect to Source Material
Wanting to start this year out right, I picked a Matchup that I not only believe is super popular, but consisted of two video game franchises that I loved since childhood. Gen III has always been my favorite generation of Pokémon so working with one of it's biggest names was a blast, and after acquiring Sonic Adventure for a really cheap price on Steam (New Year's Sale) and seeing Chaos in all his glory, I knew I had to pit him and Kyogre against each other.
I was real thorough with my analysis sections making sure to crack jokes at every corner and double checking my information as this ended up being a rather interesting fights. One such joke I loved to make was references to the YouTuber Jehtt who had several hilarious Sonic videos to reference, especially ones related to Sonic Adventure. And let's not forget the Snapcube joke at the beginning, I loved writing that one so much that I think for all future Sonic stuff, I'll pretend to believe Snapcube is canon until immediately corrected as a running gag.
When writing the fight itself, I made sure to perfectly capture their natural instincts to show the pure intensity of the fight. Using the flooded Station Square from Sonic Adventure felt like the perfect environment since it's a natural disaster with plenty of room for both (not to mention this is EXACTLY where you picture Perfect Chaos to be). I also feel like using Kyogre territorial sense that usually pits it against Groudon as motive to fight a being with similar power was a nice touch.
Finally, results were something that I could not take lightly as the outcome was a surprise to even myself. These two had advantages over each other that I thought the other would have had making the fight both unpredictable and difficult to figure out. Still, I made sure that no detail was left out and considered every case scenario that could potentially turn the tides of this battle. It was a tough fight to write, but ultimately this fight nailed every last detail and became something so incredible that nobody would want to miss a single word of it.
Joseph Joestar vs Edward Elric[]
Nominated for: Best ‘Anime/Manga’ themed Death Battle, Best Analysis, Best Respect to Source Material
Having been a bit low on ideas at the time, I decided to make my own Champion's Poll to figure out my next MU. I didn't expect this one to get so far and while it was sad to see that none of the RWBY MUs made it (don't worry, that will be later) I was excited to be using both JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and Fullmetal Alchemist again, with the best protagonists from both series nonetheless. As a fan of both these anime characters, I was looking forward to the opportunity to work with them and really wanted to make the most of this fight.
One thing I was worried about during development was that the analysis might come out as too straightforward which is why I took every opportunity to make sure it was worth reading. Not only did I look into every last detail to fully explain their capabilities, but I also put more personality into Wiz and Boomstick to make the analysis just as entertaining as it was informal. The result turned out pretty well and I'm proud to say that the analysis turned out better than expected.
In addition, I wanted to take an interesting approach to the fight as well. Given that the strengths of these two characters lie in more than their raw power, I sought to create something that had equal parts head-on combat and battle of wits. To accomplish this, I had them constantly analyzing each others abilities and finding creative ways to overcome them, and that led to a bunch of different angles for me to write such a creative fight. I especially loved writing the pre-fight for this where I made both of them interested in hunting down a red stone and have their own quests and monologues eventually collide with one another (also every time Joseph called Ed little). This fight was a truly incredible one to write and I assure you that you won't be disappointed when you read it.
Tracer vs Number Five[]
Nominated for: Best ‘Hero vs Hero’ themed Death Battle, Best Death, Best Overall Death Battle of 2023
After the last two matchups I started to grow more ambitious and wanted to do a more original MU. For a while, I've been wanting to use Number Five from The Umbrella Academy because I loved watching him in the Netflix Series and Tracer felt like the perfect fit given their teleportation abilities. Perhaps one of my favorite fights to write this year, this is the one I'm wanting to throw into the ring as the best fight of the year as I'm sure it will get far.
When it came to the fight itself, I really went all out on this one. I wasn't going to be satisfied with making the fight short and strove to create something more. As a result, this became more than a teleporting gun fight, it became something that tested their skill and character as the fight went all over the place and took many unexpected turns. I made sure that these two used every trick in their book and held on as long as possible to make it as intense as possible. Both these two really had each other on edge for the sake of completing their heroic mention and pitting Tracer's optimistic nature against against Five's cynical nature was a excellent addition too.
One thing I wanted to do right was the death in this fight. It didn't just have to be gruesome, I needed it to match the winning character's style so that it truly captured the core of their character. Honestly, it probably ended up as one of the best kills I've ever done and it's inspired me to be more creative in my kills for future Death Battles. This is definably one of the best fights I've written in a while and I highly recommend checking it out as one of the biggest challenges I'll have this year is figuring out how to top this masterpiece.