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It is still insane to think we're finally here. For context, this has been a fight they've said they wanted to do since 2015. We're now in 2023 and just at the end of a surprise legacy episode comes this. Galactus vs. Unicron. World eaters collide to cap off a season that is easily Death Battle's best for it is the first season where there is not a single bad or underwhelming episode with the episodes that take the bottom spot doing so just based purely on comparison to other episodes and not because of them being bad. It also feels perfectly timed to a degree since this is the year that Unicron returned to theater screens with Rise of the Beasts and when Peter Cullen just won a lifetime achievement award. Hell, this fight felt like a huge event. I tip my hat off to the crew in how they teased this fight. From the fact that we got both of these characters' heralds in fights to the blink and you'll miss it cameo at the end of GvS 2023, they've done wonders in setting the stage for probably one of the most technically challenging fights of all time. Death Battle has dealt with giant fights before, they've dealt with reality warpers but to have two characters where they're basically those things mashed up and with so many powers and creative skills to put into play? Not since the original Goku vs. Superman have I been this anxious to see how the fight would be pulled off. Now in terms of my history with the characters? Well... the icon and my musings on Freezatron should make my thoughts on Transformers clear while Galactus honestly is only known to me as the big purple dude that eats planets and at one point got eaten by zombies. With that in mind, while I knew in my heart Galactus likely had some comic book insanity that secured him the win? I personally am a guy that likes to dream so I of course rooted for my big love. Now before we begin this? I kind of feel like Goku vs. Superman before it's necessary to speak about the previous outings TF has had to kind of set the stage for how we got here... and we got a doozy to start with.

1) Starscream vs. Rainbow Dash

This fight is fun, y'all are just mean...

Okay we should expand on this point further. StarDash is one of those Death Battles. It's one you either totally get down with or you absolutely hate and it certainly came out at a bad time for this. Now to be fair, we were in I'd say peak MLP love territory but with that also comes peak hate, specifically from members of the internet who could not fathom that anyone could find value in a show about brightly colored ponies, writing off fans as weirdos while using the most extreme fringe examples to represent the whole community. Couple that with the Transformers fandom which can be about as bad as Dragon Ball fans in how insufferable we can be in reaction to people with different opinions and one can see where this is going. Any suggestion that the big strong robot guy would lose to this teeny horse was bound to piss people off, even when that big strong robot guy... is Starscream. Now before we continue further, we should point this out. This fight was not at all intended to be taken seriously and was birthed from a joking conversation about how they could potentially capitalize on the phenomenon of Friendship is Magic which led to a suggestion being thrown out there that since they were both Hasbro properties, why not Transformers? One trip to the wiki for MLP later and they saw how this fight was actually possible. Originally the suggestion was for Megatron to face Twilight Sparkle but they quickly realized they didn't really have much to work with in that situation so then they zeroed in on Rainbow Dash, noting her traits are her speed and loyalty and thought from there about pitting her against the dude whose acts of treachery are so infamous a whole trope was named after him. Then another issue came up.

See a few episodes before this we got the TMNT Battle Royale, one of the first episodes of Death Battle to trend outside the circles the show was appealing to which led to it getting a lot of comments about the violence of the episode being incredibly disturbing, especially in how it was very far removed from what the characters featured would engage in at least in most popular media and that got Ben thinking about how if that were to happen again and say Rainbow Dash died a horrifically grotesque demise? It could lead to issues where Bronies would feel baited, young girls would be mortified to watch their favorite character be viciously murdered and non-Bronies who already were thinking "Lul, gurlz toy too weak." would question the point and so, the choice was made that no matter what, the pony had to win. Nowadays that doesn't really happen considering how the show is structured but that's what they did and for the record as a Transformers fan? Yes I was initially annoyed Starscream lost... but now I can enjoy it for what it is. A good bout of stupid fun and while you're free to disagree? I don't think the stipulations for this episode's existence make this a spite fight. People, I have seen those fights, they're called DB debunks. That being said? This isn't all sunshine and rainbows (HAH!), it's still a season 1 episode through and through and as such we got analyses that are less analyses and more just summaries of a character's traits and feats. There's stuff to dissect of course like the runthrough of the traits of an actual F-15 jet, them pointing out how quickly Starscream assumes command as a reminder that the G1 cartoon can be so bafflingly dumb in all the best ways and even a highlight of his embarrassing adventures in Kiss Players and the ending quote being Megatron calling him an idiot. People like to say this plays into how it's spiteful against the character to which I say y'all need to refresh yourselves on G1.

As for Dash? It's okay. There's a fun bit where they show how someone was able to analyze the speed of the Sonic Rainboom which would be one of the earlier instances of them engaging in the research we see today but... god this analysis is LOADED with that "this girl's toy shouldn't be badass!" rhetoric that we saw way too much of in the 2000s and 2010s and it really bogs it down. Death Battle analyses I feel are at their best when they can teach a fan something they might've never known about in regards to a series they love while teaching newbies about a series they maybe should check out and thus both franchises are shown equal respect. That isn't to say that you can't be snarky or make the odd joke or in the case of Superfriends Aquaman just shit all over him but still. When the analysis is done like this? It's eyeroll-inducing and really will only appeal to people who still engage in the outdated tribalism of the console wars. Thankfully though, that quickly fades away with the fight itself which as I said is fun.

Now again, it's season 1 so this animation be shithouse with blurry sprites, some misused sound effects and music and not always the greatest choreography but for something that is clearly a joke episode? I think the gags work. In particular, the shake and yell of anger Starscream does just from being tagged utterly slays me every time as do the little details like how Starscream's HUD has an objective list with "Destroy Megatron" being constantly calculated. It's also just fun to see Starscream having to put up with abilities much more outlandish than what he normally has to deal with and how it utterly perplexes him and the way his dramatic speech when his spark comes out is just cut off by being eaten is fun. This is helped by some great vocal performances for how early in the show's history this is. Starscream is played very well by Zak Wilson and Stephanie Sterling who sell the character in all the ways you'd want him to be sold. In particular, Sterling's gravitas at the end is a very good match for Chris Latta and the tones he would hit and as for Dash? She's voiced by Erica Mendez AKA Ryuko Matoi from Kill la Kill and Gon from Hunter x Hunter and once again she does a great job selling the cocky attitude. It's overall a fun fight that I think gets more shit than it deserves from people taking it way too seriously. Is it a great episode? No, it definitely is a season 1 episode through and through but considering how much of this season is considered by me to be mediocre to bad with only a few actually good episodes? This one is surprisingly a diamond in the rough.

2) Optimus vs. RX-78 Gundam

This one... this was a dream fight of mine. I personally did not care who they got to fight him. I had been dying to see Optimus on Death Battle. I mean I may be a Transformers fan and a diehard one but holy crap does my Optimus ascend into the heavens. He is to me up there with Superman and Goku as one of my top three favorite heroes with him being nestled comfortably at the top so when they announced that the fight to follow Carnage vs. Lucy would be one between him and the OG Gundam? I was hyped. It especially helped that while I wasn't familiar with the Gundam anime? I did have experience playing the games so this was one of the few fights I knew both combatants at least. Then the episode came out and... I loved it initially! Looking back though, there are definitely problems brewing beneath the surface. The analyses work overall. There's some odd moments like them demonstrating how fast Prime made it to the Nemesis using Sideswipe's jetpack but I think that's more a forgivable oopsie in the writing given they mentioned the feet boosters earlier with the intent likely being to point out he needed the jetpack to reach the outer atmosphere since otherwise... he still moves pretty fast. That being said, we also get fun jokes about the amount of times he has died, a neat point on how honorable he is to a fault and the end quote outright quoting The Touch is lovely. Thankfully Amuro isn't left out of the love and returning to this as a Gundam fan and one who has watched the OG anime really feels rewarding. It covers the basics pretty well, there's an erection joke that got a chuckle out of me regarding increasing the size of the Beam Sabers, I like them poking fun at the psychic powers angle and also this is one of those episodes to demonstrate the benefits of actually being able to use clips from the media being covered since the ways in which they use them do a great job in highlighting points in the research. Overall? It's nice and fair.

The fight itself? Epic as hell but deeply flawed. Let's get the Big Convoys in the room out of the way first so we can end positive, my boy Optimus is done dirty here in terms of personality. The analysis takes great pains to point out how kind the dude is and shows many examples of his heroism... only for the fight animation to have Optimus mistake a kid in a mech for being a Decepticon in a manner that makes him seem really idiotic and confrontational. With a simple rewrite this angle could've worked such as maybe having him approach sleeping Autobots which would trigger Optimus into going full Papa Bear to protect them or maybe just having something that would allow him to be more reflective of his personality like having Amuro be the aggressor but as is it feels off. Next, the vocal performance. Peter Cullen's voice is one that is hard to replicate I realize. It's extremely difficult to capture that "Be strong enough to be gentle" tone that he popularized but the voice here still doesn't exactly fit, coming off more like just a generic firm gravelly voice than the Autobot leader I've come to know and love. I think it's not a fault of Richard Barcenas so much as it's more it was a miscast. One just needs to watch Hulk vs. Broly where he's clearly shown to be in his element as the jade giant. Also, this model for Prime is... weird. It's attempting a look more like his IDW counterpart and it works for the most part but it's oddly lacking detail in points and proportionally it's kind of strange. Finally, the ending kill line is lame. It's a homage to the one line that I have heard repeated far too many times from Optimus Primes and the way it's used here is so forced.

Everything else though? Well... it's just Prime. To start off, the fight itself kicks ass with loads of interesting choreography that makes it feel like a proper mashup of Transformers and Gundam's styles of combat complete with loads of homages to various points of their history with Transformers in particular getting nods to Devastation, Prime, the 86 movie and so much more and it's especially helped by the track. Wings of Iron is AWESOME. It's an 80s-style ballad that fits right at home with the likes of Stan Bush's work and I of course love it both on its own and how it compliments the fight. The vocal performance of Amuro and Sayla is great. David Matranga who I mainly know for his deeper voiced characters really impresses me with how he's able to tap into Amuro's youth and Lindsay Jones as always is such a delight. Finally, even if I'm not a fan of the ending line? The kill itself is really damn cool and while yes it's odd because Optimus kills a human? In this case I can let it slide. Death Battle by its nature has to do away with no kill rules and also considering the tone this fight was trying to go for? It would've been a major bit of whiplash to have Optimus break down when coming off such a high. I know this result is considered controversial considering they composite Optimus technically since he has facts from the cartoon, Marvel and the IDW comics and I have stated many times I do not care about this complaining regarding the compositing considering Death Battle's purpose so we're moving on. Overall, this episode kicks ass and then some. It has flaws that hold it back nowadays but every time I watch the fight? The choreography and animation suck me in and thus I find myself just living for the thrill. It is definitely one of the best actual battles the show has made and honestly set a pretty good standard for Transformers episodes. Nowadays you have people requesting Optimus match-ups since there is a desire for an updated coverage and of course more opponents but personally? I'm satisfied... that being said if you ask me? I want an Optimus battle royale to see who's the strongest iteration of the character.

3) Freeza vs. Megatron

I've already reviewed this so I'm not gonna waste too much time and instead I'm just gonna quickly go over my thoughts. Freezatron is awesome, plain and simple. For a fight that was derided by many people as being pointless? This one was a major high point for me. I love Dragon Ball, I love Transformers and this scratched both itches splendidly with some fantastic choreography, amazing music and many hype moments that left me pumping my fist especially with how the writing feels very much in-character. Not much more to say so let's get to the main course.

The analyses both rock in how they sell these guys as absurd forces of nature while still being entertaining. Compared to the last finale we got? They really pulled out every stop with this one. Everything just feels climactic and epic in scope. In particular, Unicron's sticks out to me in how it manages to properly sell how pants-crappingly TERRIFYING he is, especially the ending speech about how he's basically the embodiment of evil. Couple that with some amazing editing as expected from comic episodes along with some very funny gags about Orson Welles and the multitude of visual gags in Galactus's analysis and the whole way through I'm smiling and chuckling while also being fascinated by the knowledge I'm gaining about certain characters... and then being frustrated because now I can never go back and read Marvel Zombies since now I'm baffled at the suggestion Galactus could be eaten and I feel vindicated in why I feel Unicron should stop being shoved in as the climax of every Transformers series... though I also admit there's a positive now in TLK making the choice to tease Unicron instead of rushing to him like ROTB so good job Death Battle, you make me hate one Transformers movie a bit less. I also love how being the finale of the season, it manages to tie together the whole shebang effectively, especially with how it details that every act of violence makes Unicron stronger and even references past Death Battles.

And that positivity continues to the fight which... damn... this is by far one of the most insane fights I've witnessed them do. One of the trickiest elements of just the idea of this fight is how it basically is a combination of all the most difficult to pull off fight ideas. For one thing, it's a fight with reality warpers meaning there's always the risk that if they don't pull it off well? The fight could easily become incomprehensible and dull rather than entertaining. Then you tack on the fact that these guys are giants and right away another issue presents itself. Death Battle has done giant battles before and done so very well but the struggle you always run into with these is how to convey the sheer scope of the fight. Do it poorly and rather than feeling just how big these people are it can become stiff and slow very quickly and somehow? Death Battle got this down perfectly. The fight is just epic in scope from top-to-bottom and in such a way that properly conveys just the overwhelming presence of both which is helped greatly by the vocal performances. Wolf Williams is fantastic as Galactus, portraying the world devourer as calm, collected and very well-spoken but the real star of the show is Brent Mukai as Unicron. The Chaos Bringer gets a voice that sounds like a combination of his original tones and the ROTB version which results in a version of this character that just feels like you're listening to evil incarnate. It's the kind of performance that's so good, I genuinely want Brent to voice Unicron in official productions because goddamn. What especially helps is how the writing is done in a style that's meant to evoke old-school comic prose which fits for both but also really sells how you're not just fighting two big men fight but rather otherworldly beings completely beyond our understanding which considering that Unicron more often than not has not really faced anyone like this but Primus means this is probably one of the best showcases of how powerful he really is at least with how Death Battle has researched it and considering TF is not a series I know for usually delving into this kind of insanity? This is such a treat. In particular, the scene where Unicron's spark manifests him as this gigantic body that utterly dwarfs Galactus is nothing short of spectacular and terrifying and the fact Galactus immediately responds by growing to be equal to that size which leads to them throwing galaxies at one another is jaw-dropping. This is further backed by an amazing track in All-Consuming which is this dramatic orchestral number that really emphasizes the horror that is the scope of these two which comes complete with some great auditory nods to Unicron's original theme. It's amazing to see how far we've come from the days of Darkseid vs. Thanos where we got a banger of a track in Kings of Infinity that sadly did not fit the fight which while being great seemed a little scared of going into the crazy reality-warping territory.

And it's all tied up neatly in the death which let me just say is one of the best fake-outs they've done. Going into it, I was certain Galactus was gonna win but I rooted for Unicron. Then the analysis for Unicron occurs and I feel confident he might be able to take this. The fight then plays out and just seeing how crazy it got with Unicron left me feeling pretty good about his chances and then we get the kill which leaves the Chaos Bringer completely erased by the Ultimate Nullifier, meaning on the one hand no Unicron but on the other hand the Earth and multiple galaxies have been decimated and there's the realization that there is no hope with Galactus but since Unicron gave it his all and it's clear respect was shown to both characters? I had fun with this. All in all, Galacticron is one of the best Death Battles they've ever done and with that wraps what I must reiterate is easily Death Battle's best season.

Season 10 to me is where Death Battle hit perfection. With the past two seasons, while still phenomenal in many ways, they definitely still had their downsides. In particular there was still the odd disappointment, moments where the animation ruins the tone it was setting out for and cases where technical difficulties and life being a big ol' shit definitely hampered what otherwise should've been bonafide classics. But Season 10 is where we got it. The analyses are the right balance of detail and gags, the animations have all been top-notch but most importantly? The fights are perfect. No longer is Death Battle seemingly content with just creating a fun fight that has a blah set-up but instead they feel like mini-stories and tributes to the franchises that take on several unique tones whether it's the cosmic horror of Galacticron, the bugnuts carnival that was Billcord, the clash of ideals in Rick vs. The Doctor or just a loving poke at their own history like we saw with Alex vs. Cole. With Death Battles of the past, you always had to accept that with the nature of the show you were not always guaranteed to see characters portrayed faithfully but here? They managed to make a season of Death Battle that keeps the modus operandi of the show intact while still keeping characters mostly in-character and frankly that deserves to be commended. From the bottom of my heart, I've gotta really pay my thanks to Ben, Chad and the whole Death Battle crew. It has been amazing watching this show grow from the entertaining jank of Akuma vs. Shang Tsung and evolve into this massive labor of love that I always look forward to partaking in and the fact we have consistently been growing in quality now makes me real excited for the future, especially with the fact we'll see in this coming season what's sure to be more toon force shenanigans with Wile E. Coyote vs. Tom the Cat and hopefully more TF at some point.

Also please give us Jenny vs. Robotboy or at least Jenny vs. Penny, please? Okay, thank you.

And that's all I have to say about this fight. Thank you all reading, please tell me your thoughts below and until next time, stay gold.

Description
It is still insane to think we're finally here. For context, this has been a fight they've said they wanted to do since 2015. We're now in 2023 and just at the end of a surprise legacy episode comes this. Galactus vs. Unicron. World eaters collide to cap off a season that is easily Death Battle's best for it is the first season where there is not a single bad or underwhelming episode with the episodes that take the bottom spot doing so just based purely on comparison to other episodes and not because of them being bad. It also feels perfectly timed to a degree since this is the year that Unicron returned to theater screens with Rise of the Beasts and when Peter Cullen just won a lifetime achievement award. Hell, this fight felt like a huge event. I tip my hat off to the crew in how they teased this fight. From the fact that we got both of these characters' heralds in fights to the blink and you'll miss it cameo at the end of GvS 2023, they've done wonders in setting the stage for probably one of the most technically challenging fights of all time. Death Battle has dealt with giant fights before, they've dealt with reality warpers but to have two characters where they're basically those things mashed up and with so many powers and creative skills to put into play? Not since the original Goku vs. Superman have I been this anxious to see how the fight would be pulled off. Now in terms of my history with the characters? Well... the icon and my musings on Freezatron should make my thoughts on Transformers clear while Galactus honestly is only known to me as the big purple dude that eats planets and at one point got eaten by zombies. With that in mind, while I knew in my heart Galactus likely had some comic book insanity that secured him the win? I personally am a guy that likes to dream so I of course rooted for my big love. Now before we begin this? I kind of feel like Goku vs. Superman before it's necessary to speak about the previous outings TF has had to kind of set the stage for how we got here... and we got a doozy to start with.

1) Starscream vs. Rainbow Dash

This fight is fun, y'all are just mean...

Okay we should expand on this point further. StarDash is one of those Death Battles. It's one you either totally get down with or you absolutely hate and it certainly came out at a bad time for this. Now to be fair, we were in I'd say peak MLP love territory but with that also comes peak hate, specifically from members of the internet who could not fathom that anyone could find value in a show about brightly colored ponies, writing off fans as weirdos while using the most extreme fringe examples to represent the whole community. Couple that with the Transformers fandom which can be about as bad as Dragon Ball fans in how insufferable we can be in reaction to people with different opinions and one can see where this is going. Any suggestion that the big strong robot guy would lose to this teeny horse was bound to piss people off, even when that big strong robot guy... is Starscream. Now before we continue further, we should point this out. This fight was not at all intended to be taken seriously and was birthed from a joking conversation about how they could potentially capitalize on the phenomenon of Friendship is Magic which led to a suggestion being thrown out there that since they were both Hasbro properties, why not Transformers? One trip to the wiki for MLP later and they saw how this fight was actually possible. Originally the suggestion was for Megatron to face Twilight Sparkle but they quickly realized they didn't really have much to work with in that situation so then they zeroed in on Rainbow Dash, noting her traits are her speed and loyalty and thought from there about pitting her against the dude whose acts of treachery are so infamous a whole trope was named after him. Then another issue came up.

See a few episodes before this we got the TMNT Battle Royale, one of the first episodes of Death Battle to trend outside the circles the show was appealing to which led to it getting a lot of comments about the violence of the episode being incredibly disturbing, especially in how it was very far removed from what the characters featured would engage in at least in most popular media and that got Ben thinking about how if that were to happen again and say Rainbow Dash died a horrifically grotesque demise? It could lead to issues where Bronies would feel baited, young girls would be mortified to watch their favorite character be viciously murdered and non-Bronies who already were thinking "Lul, gurlz toy too weak." would question the point and so, the choice was made that no matter what, the pony had to win. Nowadays that doesn't really happen considering how the show is structured but that's what they did and for the record as a Transformers fan? Yes I was initially annoyed Starscream lost... but now I can enjoy it for what it is. A good bout of stupid fun and while you're free to disagree? I don't think the stipulations for this episode's existence make this a spite fight. People, I have seen those fights, they're called DB debunks. That being said? This isn't all sunshine and rainbows (HAH!), it's still a season 1 episode through and through and as such we got analyses that are less analyses and more just summaries of a character's traits and feats. There's stuff to dissect of course like the runthrough of the traits of an actual F-15 jet, them pointing out how quickly Starscream assumes command as a reminder that the G1 cartoon can be so bafflingly dumb in all the best ways and even a highlight of his embarrassing adventures in Kiss Players and the ending quote being Megatron calling him an idiot. People like to say this plays into how it's spiteful against the character to which I say y'all need to refresh yourselves on G1.

As for Dash? It's okay. There's a fun bit where they show how someone was able to analyze the speed of the Sonic Rainboom which would be one of the earlier instances of them engaging in the research we see today but... god this analysis is LOADED with that "this girl's toy shouldn't be badass!" rhetoric that we saw way too much of in the 2000s and 2010s and it really bogs it down. Death Battle analyses I feel are at their best when they can teach a fan something they might've never known about in regards to a series they love while teaching newbies about a series they maybe should check out and thus both franchises are shown equal respect. That isn't to say that you can't be snarky or make the odd joke or in the case of Superfriends Aquaman just shit all over him but still. When the analysis is done like this? It's eyeroll-inducing and really will only appeal to people who still engage in the outdated tribalism of the console wars. Thankfully though, that quickly fades away with the fight itself which as I said is fun.

Now again, it's season 1 so this animation be shithouse with blurry sprites, some misused sound effects and music and not always the greatest choreography but for something that is clearly a joke episode? I think the gags work. In particular, the shake and yell of anger Starscream does just from being tagged utterly slays me every time as do the little details like how Starscream's HUD has an objective list with "Destroy Megatron" being constantly calculated. It's also just fun to see Starscream having to put up with abilities much more outlandish than what he normally has to deal with and how it utterly perplexes him and the way his dramatic speech when his spark comes out is just cut off by being eaten is fun. This is helped by some great vocal performances for how early in the show's history this is. Starscream is played very well by Zak Wilson and Stephanie Sterling who sell the character in all the ways you'd want him to be sold. In particular, Sterling's gravitas at the end is a very good match for Chris Latta and the tones he would hit and as for Dash? She's voiced by Erica Mendez AKA Ryuko Matoi from Kill la Kill and Gon from Hunter x Hunter and once again she does a great job selling the cocky attitude. It's overall a fun fight that I think gets more shit than it deserves from people taking it way too seriously. Is it a great episode? No, it definitely is a season 1 episode through and through but considering how much of this season is considered by me to be mediocre to bad with only a few actually good episodes? This one is surprisingly a diamond in the rough.

2) Optimus vs. RX-78 Gundam

This one... this was a dream fight of mine. I personally did not care who they got to fight him. I had been dying to see Optimus on Death Battle. I mean I may be a Transformers fan and a diehard one but holy crap does my Optimus ascend into the heavens. He is to me up there with Superman and Goku as one of my top three favorite heroes with him being nestled comfortably at the top so when they announced that the fight to follow Carnage vs. Lucy would be one between him and the OG Gundam? I was hyped. It especially helped that while I wasn't familiar with the Gundam anime? I did have experience playing the games so this was one of the few fights I knew both combatants at least. Then the episode came out and... I loved it initially! Looking back though, there are definitely problems brewing beneath the surface. The analyses work overall. There's some odd moments like them demonstrating how fast Prime made it to the Nemesis using Sideswipe's jetpack but I think that's more a forgivable oopsie in the writing given they mentioned the feet boosters earlier with the intent likely being to point out he needed the jetpack to reach the outer atmosphere since otherwise... he still moves pretty fast. That being said, we also get fun jokes about the amount of times he has died, a neat point on how honorable he is to a fault and the end quote outright quoting The Touch is lovely. Thankfully Amuro isn't left out of the love and returning to this as a Gundam fan and one who has watched the OG anime really feels rewarding. It covers the basics pretty well, there's an erection joke that got a chuckle out of me regarding increasing the size of the Beam Sabers, I like them poking fun at the psychic powers angle and also this is one of those episodes to demonstrate the benefits of actually being able to use clips from the media being covered since the ways in which they use them do a great job in highlighting points in the research. Overall? It's nice and fair.

The fight itself? Epic as hell but deeply flawed. Let's get the Big Convoys in the room out of the way first so we can end positive, my boy Optimus is done dirty here in terms of personality. The analysis takes great pains to point out how kind the dude is and shows many examples of his heroism... only for the fight animation to have Optimus mistake a kid in a mech for being a Decepticon in a manner that makes him seem really idiotic and confrontational. With a simple rewrite this angle could've worked such as maybe having him approach sleeping Autobots which would trigger Optimus into going full Papa Bear to protect them or maybe just having something that would allow him to be more reflective of his personality like having Amuro be the aggressor but as is it feels off. Next, the vocal performance. Peter Cullen's voice is one that is hard to replicate I realize. It's extremely difficult to capture that "Be strong enough to be gentle" tone that he popularized but the voice here still doesn't exactly fit, coming off more like just a generic firm gravelly voice than the Autobot leader I've come to know and love. I think it's not a fault of Richard Barcenas so much as it's more it was a miscast. One just needs to watch Hulk vs. Broly where he's clearly shown to be in his element as the jade giant. Also, this model for Prime is... weird. It's attempting a look more like his IDW counterpart and it works for the most part but it's oddly lacking detail in points and proportionally it's kind of strange. Finally, the ending kill line is lame. It's a homage to the one line that I have heard repeated far too many times from Optimus Primes and the way it's used here is so forced.

Everything else though? Well... it's just Prime. To start off, the fight itself kicks ass with loads of interesting choreography that makes it feel like a proper mashup of Transformers and Gundam's styles of combat complete with loads of homages to various points of their history with Transformers in particular getting nods to Devastation, Prime, the 86 movie and so much more and it's especially helped by the track. Wings of Iron is AWESOME. It's an 80s-style ballad that fits right at home with the likes of Stan Bush's work and I of course love it both on its own and how it compliments the fight. The vocal performance of Amuro and Sayla is great. David Matranga who I mainly know for his deeper voiced characters really impresses me with how he's able to tap into Amuro's youth and Lindsay Jones as always is such a delight. Finally, even if I'm not a fan of the ending line? The kill itself is really damn cool and while yes it's odd because Optimus kills a human? In this case I can let it slide. Death Battle by its nature has to do away with no kill rules and also considering the tone this fight was trying to go for? It would've been a major bit of whiplash to have Optimus break down when coming off such a high. I know this result is considered controversial considering they composite Optimus technically since he has facts from the cartoon, Marvel and the IDW comics and I have stated many times I do not care about this complaining regarding the compositing considering Death Battle's purpose so we're moving on. Overall, this episode kicks ass and then some. It has flaws that hold it back nowadays but every time I watch the fight? The choreography and animation suck me in and thus I find myself just living for the thrill. It is definitely one of the best actual battles the show has made and honestly set a pretty good standard for Transformers episodes. Nowadays you have people requesting Optimus match-ups since there is a desire for an updated coverage and of course more opponents but personally? I'm satisfied... that being said if you ask me? I want an Optimus battle royale to see who's the strongest iteration of the character.

3) Freeza vs. Megatron

I've already reviewed this so I'm not gonna waste too much time and instead I'm just gonna quickly go over my thoughts. Freezatron is awesome, plain and simple. For a fight that was derided by many people as being pointless? This one was a major high point for me. I love Dragon Ball, I love Transformers and this scratched both itches splendidly with some fantastic choreography, amazing music and many hype moments that left me pumping my fist especially with how the writing feels very much in-character. Not much more to say so let's get to the main course.

The analyses both rock in how they sell these guys as absurd forces of nature while still being entertaining. Compared to the last finale we got? They really pulled out every stop with this one. Everything just feels climactic and epic in scope. In particular, Unicron's sticks out to me in how it manages to properly sell how pants-crappingly TERRIFYING he is, especially the ending speech about how he's basically the embodiment of evil. Couple that with some amazing editing as expected from comic episodes along with some very funny gags about Orson Welles and the multitude of visual gags in Galactus's analysis and the whole way through I'm smiling and chuckling while also being fascinated by the knowledge I'm gaining about certain characters... and then being frustrated because now I can never go back and read Marvel Zombies since now I'm baffled at the suggestion Galactus could be eaten and I feel vindicated in why I feel Unicron should stop being shoved in as the climax of every Transformers series... though I also admit there's a positive now in TLK making the choice to tease Unicron instead of rushing to him like ROTB so good job Death Battle, you make me hate one Transformers movie a bit less. I also love how being the finale of the season, it manages to tie together the whole shebang effectively, especially with how it details that every act of violence makes Unicron stronger and even references past Death Battles.

And that positivity continues to the fight which... damn... this is by far one of the most insane fights I've witnessed them do. One of the trickiest elements of just the idea of this fight is how it basically is a combination of all the most difficult to pull off fight ideas. For one thing, it's a fight with reality warpers meaning there's always the risk that if they don't pull it off well? The fight could easily become incomprehensible and dull rather than entertaining. Then you tack on the fact that these guys are giants and right away another issue presents itself. Death Battle has done giant battles before and done so very well but the struggle you always run into with these is how to convey the sheer scope of the fight. Do it poorly and rather than feeling just how big these people are it can become stiff and slow very quickly and somehow? Death Battle got this down perfectly. The fight is just epic in scope from top-to-bottom and in such a way that properly conveys just the overwhelming presence of both which is helped greatly by the vocal performances. Wolf Williams is fantastic as Galactus, portraying the world devourer as calm, collected and very well-spoken but the real star of the show is Brent Mukai as Unicron. The Chaos Bringer gets a voice that sounds like a combination of his original tones and the ROTB version which results in a version of this character that just feels like you're listening to evil incarnate. It's the kind of performance that's so good, I genuinely want Brent to voice Unicron in official productions because goddamn. What especially helps is how the writing is done in a style that's meant to evoke old-school comic prose which fits for both but also really sells how you're not just fighting two big men fight but rather otherworldly beings completely beyond our understanding which considering that Unicron more often than not has not really faced anyone like this but Primus means this is probably one of the best showcases of how powerful he really is at least with how Death Battle has researched it and considering TF is not a series I know for usually delving into this kind of insanity? This is such a treat. In particular, the scene where Unicron's spark manifests him as this gigantic body that utterly dwarfs Galactus is nothing short of spectacular and terrifying and the fact Galactus immediately responds by growing to be equal to that size which leads to them throwing galaxies at one another is jaw-dropping. This is further backed by an amazing track in All-Consuming which is this dramatic orchestral number that really emphasizes the horror that is the scope of these two which comes complete with some great auditory nods to Unicron's original theme. It's amazing to see how far we've come from the days of Darkseid vs. Thanos where we got a banger of a track in Kings of Infinity that sadly did not fit the fight which while being great seemed a little scared of going into the crazy reality-warping territory.

And it's all tied up neatly in the death which let me just say is one of the best fake-outs they've done. Going into it, I was certain Galactus was gonna win but I rooted for Unicron. Then the analysis for Unicron occurs and I feel confident he might be able to take this. The fight then plays out and just seeing how crazy it got with Unicron left me feeling pretty good about his chances and then we get the kill which leaves the Chaos Bringer completely erased by the Ultimate Nullifier, meaning on the one hand no Unicron but on the other hand the Earth and multiple galaxies have been decimated and there's the realization that there is no hope with Galactus but since Unicron gave it his all and it's clear respect was shown to both characters? I had fun with this. All in all, Galacticron is one of the best Death Battles they've ever done and with that wraps what I must reiterate is easily Death Battle's best season.

Season 10 to me is where Death Battle hit perfection. With the past two seasons, while still phenomenal in many ways, they definitely still had their downsides. In particular there was still the odd disappointment, moments where the animation ruins the tone it was setting out for and cases where technical difficulties and life being a big ol' shit definitely hampered what otherwise should've been bonafide classics. But Season 10 is where we got it. The analyses are the right balance of detail and gags, the animations have all been top-notch but most importantly? The fights are perfect. No longer is Death Battle seemingly content with just creating a fun fight that has a blah set-up but instead they feel like mini-stories and tributes to the franchises that take on several unique tones whether it's the cosmic horror of Galacticron, the bugnuts carnival that was Billcord, the clash of ideals in Rick vs. The Doctor or just a loving poke at their own history like we saw with Alex vs. Cole. With Death Battles of the past, you always had to accept that with the nature of the show you were not always guaranteed to see characters portrayed faithfully but here? They managed to make a season of Death Battle that keeps the modus operandi of the show intact while still keeping characters mostly in-character and frankly that deserves to be commended. From the bottom of my heart, I've gotta really pay my thanks to Ben, Chad and the whole Death Battle crew. It has been amazing watching this show grow from the entertaining jank of Akuma vs. Shang Tsung and evolve into this massive labor of love that I always look forward to partaking in and the fact we have consistently been growing in quality now makes me real excited for the future, especially with the fact we'll see in this coming season what's sure to be more toon force shenanigans with Wile E. Coyote vs. Tom the Cat and hopefully more TF at some point.

Also please give us Jenny vs. Robotboy or at least Jenny vs. Penny, please? Okay, thank you.

And that's all I have to say about this fight. Thank you all reading, please tell me your thoughts below and until next time, stay gold.