Elemental Who Would Win!

[Violentvixen]

Almost Brilliant a helpful know-it-all smartass bird known in the lore of the Singing Hills novella series as a Neixin. Neixin are a special type of hoopoe who not only can speak but remember everything they hear and are used to archive the world. She's a great character with a real bond to the main character we follow through the book, the monk Chih.

She is on the cover of the first book and she and other neixin are on the cover of the 4th book.

Lazy repost, but basically Almost Brilliant has access to most known human knowledge AND bird knowledge and also has been recorded as having sharp claws and beak like a typical bird. She's definitely dive bombed and attacked people and I'm pretty sure her claws have drawn blood in the books? She wins this.

And Mothra.

 

[Mogri]

I could be contrarian here, but my first inclination was that the wings have this round, and I'll stick to that.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Mothra and Almost Brilliant win

The Green Giant is eliminated from the competition.
Third Card​

The Invisible Woman

VS

The Thing

This definitely must have happened at one point. Multiple times. It’s Marvel Comics; every hero had to fight every other hero due to misunderstanding or difference of opinion at one point. But in all honesty, none come to mind. @Octo has read more FF than me so perhaps he can cite precedent.

All the same, this would be a big fight. Any fight between FF members are but both parties have both heavy defense and offense power. In the Thing’s case, a mix of a heavy hide and a never say die attitude means for even really strong fighters, The Thing is an extremely formidable opponent and one hard to take down. Meanwhile, the Invisible Woman has power force fields that have repelled very powerful enemy attacks which can also be shaped to trap or disable enemies. In addition, she can also turn invisible. She’s also been trained in unarmed combat by Iron Fist, the Thing and She-Hulk and though she couldn’t punch out the Thing, she does has an understanding of how a hand-to-hand combatant functions.

Fourth Card​

.

Pazuzu ................................................VS .........................Titan


It’s deity vs deity. A heroic demon (kind of) vs. a somewhat neutral one. Both of very strongly tied to their elements and can do some real damage to their opponents. Note that in this battle, both are at one loss, meaning the next one that goes down goes down for good!

 

[Torzelbaum]

I think his aerial nature is going to give Pazuzu an edge in that matchup, unless Titan can manage to quickly and accurately hurl some boulders at his flying opponent as a means of offense. If not then Titan will most likely have to wait until Pazuzu lands before the T can counterattack.

 

[Violentvixen]

Tough ones. Going to go for Invisible Woman and Pazazu.

 

[Purple]

I think Invisible Woman has had way more power creep and also can take someone out of a fight non-violently so canonically more than likely comes out on top.

And we're talking about the Final Fantasy Titan, whose whole deal is making the ground give way under you and you're immune if you're flying? As Pazuzu does?

 

[Mogri]

Ben is not a clever man, and Titan can't hurt Pazuzu. I'm voting with the consensus.

 

[RT-55J]

Pazuzu beats Titan by simple typing logic, yeah. Mister T here doesn't have anything to counteract his inherent disadvantage.

The Thing is strong, yes, but the Invisible Woman's kit is exactly what you'd need if you wanted to have the power to outsmart the guy.

 

[Torzelbaum]

I wonder - since Ben and Sue are teammates then would they choose an alternate method of determining the winner?

 

[Kirin]

I’m pretty sure Titan has been known to throw rocks at things in some of the more cinematic entries where it’s not limited to a single move… but I’m still not sure that’d be enough to take out Pazuzu unless he took it by surprise, which seems unlikely in a tournament context. I don’t think I have any strong enough argument to go against consensus on these.

 

[Olli]

I wonder - since Ben and Sue are teammates then would they choose an alternate method of determining the winner?

If it comes down to non-physical skills, Sue wins for sure. She's the FF's ace in the hole.

As for the gods/demons, yeah, Pazuzu just feels right.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Invisible Woman Vs. Thing is a Hell of a match but I think that Sue would be smart enough not to use her force fields in power vs power but using it to stop any attack from gaining momentum and holding him so he can't get the leverage to free himself.

Titan's power doesn't hit enemies with float and he disappears after doing his attack so Pazuzu.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Invisible Woman and Pazuzu move on. Titan is eliminated from the competition.

Fifth Card

Hawkgirl
Vs.

Plants​

Again, bending the rules a bit to include an army but rules and bones are made to be broken. Hawkgirl vs one kind of every one of these dudes. This is tough. Hawkgirl has aerial maneuverability and agility and can disrupt magic with her nth metal mace (are these magic plants? I don’t know the lore). The plants are generally long range fighters and there are a lot of them with different powers. Can a Justice League/Justice Society member overcome the barrage and manage to get to these wacky weeds?



Note that Hawkgirl has a win under her belt but if the plants lose this one, they are out of the competition!

Sixth Card





Air Man

VS.

Lich

​

An NES battle! Robot Vs. Wizard! That’s what we are here for. Air Man has an arsenal of little hurricanes to do some damage but the Lich has his share of spells. That said, the Lich is also used to fighting living beings so a robot is probably a whole new experience for him. Similarly, Air Man probably has never met a for real wizard before, much less a ghoul . Let the games begin!

 

[Torzelbaum]

From what I can tell Lich is neither resistant or immune to Air/Wind elemental attacks and might even take slightly more damage from them. I think Lich's sleep spells might not be able to affect Air Man. I think the same might also be true of Lich's Death spell. Lich's LIT2 might do more damage to Air Man but I'm not sure. I think Lich's ICE2 and FIR2 could damage Air Man but Air Man might be able to blow them away or possibly even blow them back at Lich. Lich is also a pretty large target so I think Air Man could hit him multiple times with each Air Shooter barrage. If Lich lands the HOLD spell then I think he could win the fight but the odds of that aren't in his favor. I think the odds ultimately favor Air Man.

 

[Torzelbaum]

Are the Plants able to aim in any direction? I feel like they might have a limited firing arc which Hawkgirl could take advantage of.

 

[Mogri]

Most of the plants can't aim up, and I'm not sure Air Man can fire down Lich fast enough to avoid NUKE.

Lich Girl

 

[Torzelbaum]

Is the Lich in the contest supposed to be the one from the Temple of Friends revisited / final dungeon / boss rush?

 

[Mogri]

That's how I'm treating it. I'm not sure it was specified.

 

[Kirin]

I feel like we usually give combatants their full repertoire / final load-out if they increase their capabilities through their own story, unless otherwise specified. And given that, I think I'm with Mogri in concluding that Lich's full arsenal of spells and abilities has some things in it that could probably do fatal damage to Air Man before Lich took enough tiny-tornado damage to go down.

Not real sure on the other card, that's an odd fight. Saying the plants can't aim seems a little too pedantic for my taste, in which case it comes down to whether Hawkgirl can dodge/neutralize/tank the plants' volley of ranged attacks long enough to fly-by and smoosh or break them all with her mace. That's assuming she can't just immediately, like, turn them all off because they count as nth-metal susceptible magically animated or something, but that also feels a bit too cheesy.

 

[Olli]

I'm going to say Hawkgirl alone isn't versatile enough to deal with all of the Plants. She could deal with any individual plant, sure, but sooner or later there's going to be something that she's not prepared for (she's not exactly Batman, after all) and then she's going down for the count.

Lich is a master of death magic, but robots aren't alive or dead to begin with. Air Man wins.

 

[Purple]

The entire deal with Plants Vs. Zombies is that the plans are both quite fragile, and also have very limited and fixed firing arcs. Rather explicitly, there are precisely two plants with any ability whatsoever to deal with flying enemies. The cactus, which specifically functions by popping balloons, and would therefore not realistically pose any threats, and the "blover," a clover acting as a fan. That could pose a problem if deployed in excess, but the rule is there's only one of each, and it's not going to have the coverage. Just veer out of the one lane and it's a simple gardening job for Hawkgirl.

From what I can tell Lich is neither resistant or immune to Air/Wind elemental attacks and might even take slightly more damage from them. I think Lich's sleep spells might not be able to affect Air Man. I think the same might also be true of Lich's Death spell. Lich's LIT2 might do more damage to Air Man but I'm not sure. I think Lich's ICE2 and FIR2 could damage Air Man but Air Man might be able to blow them away or possibly even blow them back at Lich. Lich is also a pretty large target so I think Air Man could hit him multiple times with each Air Shooter barrage. If Lich lands the HOLD spell then I think he could win the fight but the odds of that aren't in his favor. I think the odds ultimately favor Air Man.

This is such an odd match up, but the main point of commonality is elemental weakness play. By D&D rules, which I'm fairly certain Lich's spells vaguely need to stick with, Air Man would clearly be considered a construct. What that means varies from edition to edition, but even at the most generous, sleep, death, and poison explicitly are not going to do a damn thing. Airman does take a bit of extra damage from fire, and, going by Mega Man 3's semi-recreation, electricity. BUT, Air Man canonically absolutely fills the screen with projectiles, and Lich definitely folds like a deck of cards when you're landing like 20 hits a round. You could make an argument that Air Man is taking more damage per hit with a couple effective spells, but Lich is also going to be wasting a lot of turns doing things that have no actual effect, so, yeah I gotta give the edge to Airman.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Yeah, I got to go with game mechanics perspective, even though I kind want to break the chain of Air completely dominating Earth. Air Man and Hawk Girl.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

I'll put up the next match up later today but please know I'm also looking for lists for my musicals thread! Please send some in. I need 9 more!

The Top 50 Musicals Submission Thread: The Old Song and Dance

These are not the happiest of times and sometimes we just need art that is an explosion of emotion, whether it be joy or tragedy, to give us the release we need. Even when they aren’t happy, musicals are beyond “realistic” because by putting our emotions and ideas to music, it can (when done...

talking-time.net

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Hawkgirl weeds the garden. Air Man just barely defeats the Lich. The Plants are eliminated.
Seventh Card

Captain Dola vs Toph Beifong​

With the possible exception of Hawk Girl, meet the two most rough and tumble women in he competition. Dola doesn’t have any powers but don’t underestimate her toughness and ability to muscle her way into a treasure hunt! Under her tough exterior is a surprising capacity for kindness and nobility but don’t tell her that because she’s gonna trample all over ya. If she’s going to face someone with the same depth of stubbornness, it’s probably Toph. Toph is already one of the tougher tourney entries. She comes in swinging in almost any fight yet also has a wide variety of techniques that prove her wise and crafty. She admires brute force but never underestimate her ability to improvise.

Dola has one loss, Toph has one win so Dola is out for good if she can’t take out Toph.

Eighth Card

The Big Bad Wolf VS. Captain Anderson​

It’s legend vs. war hero. Which will rise to the top? A wolf with a breathe strong enough to knock down poorly constructed houses (that doesn’t sound impressive but it is) or a guy with space guns. I don’t remember what kind. Been a long time since I’ve played this one. Both of these are coming in with one loss; someone is losing for good this time!

 

[Violentvixen]

Toph and Captain Anderson

 

[Torzelbaum]

The Big Bad Wolf might be able to defeat Captain Anderson but I don't think the odds are in his favor.

Captain Anderson

Spoiler: about Anderson

"Genius-level intellect: Anderson is primarily known for his penetrating tactical mind and superior intelligence. His mind moves quickly, he considers all the right questions, stays calm and analytical under all circumstances, and has ample experience from which to drawn."

"Peak human condition: Anderson is a seasoned N7 Special Forces operative with decades of battlefield experience."

"Anderson has an impressive willpower, and keeps fighting and soldiering well past the point where anybody else would have given up in despair and exhaustion."

"He also knows his way around lying and manipulation, though again this is more about countermeasures than employing this himself."

"Weaknesses::
Human vulnerabilities: Anderson's greatest weakness is that he is quite vulnerable to the physical attacks of stronger and more powerful opponents. However, he usually compensates for this quite well with his combat skills, his brilliant tactical intellect, and his long battlefield experience."

"Equipment:
Combat knife
Assault Rifles
Heavy Pistols"

I think the only way BWW could win is by blowing Anderson off the battlefield or blowing him around and breaking his limbs. And Anderson sounds to be pretty tough and determined so that second strategy might not even stop him.

Anderson was in special forces and knows how to deal with lies and manipulation so I don't think that strategy (which already seems to be of dubious effectiveness) would pan out for BWW either.

If BWW tries to blow Anderson down I think the Captain will either hit the dirt or seek out cover. And BWW can't sustain his breath attack forever so that would give Anderson the opportunity to use a rifle or pistol to take down the Wolf.

If Anderson was in a light military vehicle then the Wolf might be able to blow that over but I don't think that would work if Anderson was driving something heavier.

So the seasoned soldier seems vastly more likely to win this battle against the big bad blowhard.

Winner: Captain Anderson

 

[Purple]

So the thing about the big bad wolf is we're always focused on the house-blowing abilities, and it's easy to fall into the trap that he has nothing else going on. A huge part of the premise though is that facing a pig in an open field, there isn't even a fight. There's no fleeing, there's no careful strategizing, it is accepted as a given that you are dead and wolf chow unless you are barricaded into a structure, and THEN we get into the problem of how sturdy the materials have to be for that to even work. Meanwhile, Anderson is just some guy from Mass Effect. Like yeah we get informed about him having all these accomplishments and whatever, but he doesn't get to bring along a capital ship or whatever, these are one on one fights. And sure he presumably has a gun and can start the fight at some range before having to deal with terrifying wolf melee, but look, I've played mass effect. Literally anyone you hit with a pushing force similar to this wolf blowing instantly ragdolls into the walls and ceiling and there really doesn't seem to be any sort of counterplay to that available.

The other fight, I dunno. It's another where I have a hard time not seeing them just immediately hit it off. I guess it comes down to the venue? A blind girl's not going to do well in a gun fight generally, and even less so if we're like on the wing of a plane or something where there's no rock walls to yank out of the floor. If we're in like a cave or a canyon, obviously it swings the other direction.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

The other fight, I dunno. It's another where I have a hard time not seeing them just immediately hit it off

I definitely think they would 100% but remember Dola is a pirate. When you end up at an impasse with her, that's when you get to be her friend and you got a good one. But before that, she's not above robbing and capturing kids. I think she'd just try to rob Toph first, not nearly expecting the trouncing she's about to get. AFTER that, they become best buds but Toph turns down Dola's offer to join, only because Toph is literally someone who prefers to keep her feet on the ground (though we do know she can really fuck up an air ship).

I think the second fight is actually a close one. The big bad wolf can straight up blow down buildings (poorly made buildings to be sure) and that would slow Anderson down but I think the first and second time the wolf did it, the pigs could escape. To me, that means that the Wolf has to collect himself before attacking. I think Anderson will rebound and we'll be back to square one, though Anderson will take a hit from falling damage. But after that, I think Anderson can use his weaponry and aim to take down the wolf.

 

[Purple]

I think the first and second time the wolf did it, the pigs could escape.

No, that's sanitized versions of the story for children whose parents assume they can't deal with violence. In versions closer to the original (apparently the ORIGINAL version had a fox and 3 pixies?) the first two are devoured basically instantly.

 

[Torzelbaum]

Here's a Reddit thread I found detailing some information about what Dola is capable of.