#MakeThisBattle Feedback - 13th April 2022

Good evening sports fans! Welcome to another frigid-fingered edition of "Make This Battle"! I'm Nice Peter. It’s a sunny day, I’m sat at a table outside and I hear the sounds of children and a lawnmower. How very America! We begin today's match-up discussion with...

Pinocchio vs Woody [submitted by Pixel Chris]

I find this particularly funny because I almost watched Toy Story last night. I chose “Rio” instead. It scared the shit out of everybody under four years old, by discussing kidnapping and genocide in the first few minutes, and it left my daughter saying out loud “I hate movies”. Anyway, I actually love this matchup. I think combining both these characters is a fantastic idea, tons to joke about, tons to reference, I love it. Costumes in a real life battle would be extremely difficult, but as a potential animated battle for the future, I give this an A+ written with a glittery marker.

Satan vs Loki [submitted by MarblePipes]

Ha! Also a very funny pairing. I’ve always loved the idea of doing Satan. Moving him away from other Christian figures is cool to me, opens up the humor, I think. Another matchup jam packed with reference and joke potential, brilliantly fun characters. I do wonder, how much impact has the South Park Satan had on general perceptions of that character? I would wager a LOT! When I picture Satan these days, I hear that voice. That bizarre, sexually rejecting Saddam Hussein voice. Another A+. Not glittery, but definitely circled with an exclamation point!

Ash Williams vs Buffy [submitted by Justin Wawrzonek]

I just never got into Evil Dead. Or Buffy the Vampire slayer, for that matter. Because of that, this matchup is hard for me to get too “excited” about, but I certainly recognize it has tremendous value and potential. Both these franchises were and still are super popular. I think this would be a fun learning experience to research and write. The backgrounds could be amazing! There couldn’t ever be too much killing undead villains. Another banger of a matchup, at least to my under informed mind. Solid A rating.

Judas vs Brutus [submitted by Alvin Franco]

Stop it. Really? I thought for sure whatever was next would be a clunkeroo of a matchup. Three top suggestions in a row just felt like too much, but now we have four! Absolute brilliant idea. I love it. It hits all the buttons. How much quasi-historical record is there for Judas, I wonder?  Even if it’s all bible related, we could historically reference a man like him from that time period, what he would have worn, eaten, spoken, etc. It’s awesome. Skin tone for casting & makeup would be an interesting conversation too, for both these guys. I always picture Judas as a black man because of the Jesus Christ Superstar movie. Brutus, I have no idea, I just think it would be funny for Lloyd to play him and try to make him stab old Caesar footage somehow. A+  Glittery marker, with a unicorn sticker saying “great job!”

Marie Curie vs Ada Lovelace [submitted by MaryTPWK]

I love it! I just wish I didn’t have to Google Ada Lovelace. I shouldn’t have had to, but for some reason her name and her history don’t play nice in my memory. It’s a brilliant suggestion and I think my new favorite for Marie Curie. The more I think about it the more I like it. Dr Frankenstein as an opponent for Curie always felt a little off to me after I learned he wasn’t considered “killed by his own experiments” the same way Curie was. But now that I just Googled that to confirm I didn’t sound like a moron, I might sound like a moron. How is Dr Frankenstein dying while running away from his creation not considered being killed by his own creation? I digress. This is still a brilliant suggestion and I think from a battle writing stand point it is the best Curie matchup to date. Dr Frankenstein can wolf wieners for now.

Richard Nixon vs Nero [submitted by DeliciousCrepe]

Well at least I am relieved that we finally discovered this batch’s source of “meh.”  This is it.   Nero always bores me. He feels more like he should be a joke in some other Italian’s verse rather than a leading character. I still believe in Richard Nixon, a little bit. I think it’s a fun character and tons to joke about, but, I think people are a little full of American presidents.  If we were going to do another, I think Reagan or Kennedy are stronger. FDR is decent. This battle seems like who’s the bigger pile of damaging shit? Which would you rather step in, hot gum, cat poop, or someone’s old hotdog with relish on it? I think some contests are just not thrilling to watch pan out, because no one involved is ever a winner, and Richard Nixon vs Nero feels like that to me. Still creative, sensible, and articulate. I’ll give it an H, for honorable mention.

Ned Kelly vs Lampião [submitted by Crabcakes125]

I was talking to an Australian guy this morning, who had moved to California with his family. I have daydreamed about moving to Australia. I suppose if I did, I’d have to finally finish understanding Ned Kelly and why he’s so important. So far I think of him as a sort of National Treasure thief murderer, and I think I’m missing something. Now to google this Lampoons vacation chap….oh interesting, never heard of this dude before, I’m digging the spectacles. Brazilian national treasure thief murderer… gotcha, but I don’t see the… oh yeah. A battle between national treasure thief murderers! Decent. Maybe we could expand it, there has got to be one of these kind of guys in every single country in the world. But, I’ll read up a bit more on this Mr Lampanelli character, I like the skewer on his meat so far. C+

Wow. What a ride. I feel like I just ate at a restaurant with 4.8 stars on Yelp and more than 100 reviews. You’re really doing something right here and I had a great time. Thank you and see you for the next round of Make This Battle! -np

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Our manager HeadMonk offers his thoughts on a couple of the match-ups...

The two matchups this round that popped out straight away to me were Satan vs Loki and Judas vs Brutus. Both suited the theme of "Betrayal & Lies" and both just seem like the perfect opponents for each individual character. I particularly think Satan vs Loki could be a lot of fun to write. Visually it could be pretty insane too. I'm surprised I don't recall seeing this pairing suggested before. But my mind is hazy.

Pinocchio vs Woody also sounds like its got potential. Although maybe it would need a bad guy third party like Chucky just to bring a bit of edge to proceedings. The other issue with it is, I do kind of prefer the idea of featuring Buzz Lightyear in ERB rather than Woody. But, the latter could probably work just fine.

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One round closes, another round of MTB begins now...

The theme for this new round is "April Showers"

When I was younger my dad often said the phrase "It never rains, but its pours". I always liked the term. For the theme this round we are looking for some matchups that feature at least one character who suffered unfortunate occurrences where everything went wrong for them. Maybe they suffered a certain event (or events) where everything collapsed around them. Or they went from hero to zero. Whether through their own actions or through bad luck. As always we will keep the theme loose.

You can of course always ignore the theme completely if you prefer. But, when selecting the match-ups for feedback we will select 2 or more suggestions that particularly suit the theme.

Same rules apply. Seven match-ups in total will be selected. Three suggestions per person. You can post them in the comments below, email them to erbpatreon@gmail.com or post them on the Discord server in the dedicated '#make-this-battle' channel.

Deadline for submissions is... 5pm PT on Monday 25th April. 

Talk soon!!