#MakeThisBattle Feedback - 11th March 2022

Happy near-the-Ides of March, I'm Nice Peter and welcome to another potentially earth shattering edition of Make This Battle. First off, how are you all? I feel like it’s been ages. It’s been five colds amongst the youngsters at my house, since I last did one of these, so at least 3 weeks! Hope you are all fit and healthy and raring to go look at some more match-up ideas! Let’s begin.

Vince McMahon vs P.T Barnum [submitted by Regal, Dragonsblood, MarblePipes & Violet]

This is a fantastic idea. I think I’ve already said this was an amazing idea somewhere, a long time ago. It’s one of those ideas that just sits on its own confidently waiting for you to recognize how solid it is. This is a slab of marble idea. My favorite part, besides how hilarious Vince McMahon just has to be, is shifting the perception of Barnum away from that of a plucky singing Wolverine.

Salvador Dalí vs Andy Warhol vs Vincent Van Gogh [submitted by MaryTPWK] 

This is juicy, I like it. It adds some dazzle to Warhol vs Van Gogh, which… while I have tried, is just not gathering much of its own momentum. Somewhere in my heart it feels like Warhol vs Van Gogh is already covered in the Bob Ross vs Picasso battle. Obviously it’s different but there’s a “I’m light and fluffy… you’re dark and probably better” conflict that just carries most of the load in both. Adding Dali does something, I’m not sure what, and I’m not sure how it would work. But, its one magnificent moustache. Could we keep adding? Can Frida come in after Dali… then someone else?  People love Frida, I’m not sure too many know too much about her, in a good way, like they’d be excited to learn. 

John Wilkes Booth vs Lee Harvey Oswald [submitted by Braden Baum]

I’ve had a real love/hate relationship with this matchup over the years. For the history, imagery, costumes, characters, all of that… I love it. For glorifying too such small men, it rubs me wrong. I feel like both probably thought they were doing something good for history, and to pay any extra attention to them, feels like too much. Maybe I just don’t want to pretend to be either of them on camera either. Such dicks. 

Johnny Knoxville vs Evel Knievel [submitted by Swan]

Awesome matchup, but hard to find the genuine deeper conflict. Would Johnny Knoxville do anything but idolize Evel Knievel?  What could he possibly say… “yeah, but I get kicked in the nuts for money!” I think Evel Knievel is an amazing character to consider, and Johnny Knoxville does sound great, is timely, there’s a lot going for it… I’m coming around… I think this might just be awesome. But that lack of deeper conflict is the concern.

Armstrong & Aldrin vs Hillary & Norgay [submitted by FoxDoc]

I understand the first two, I’ll need to Google the latter pairing…. Oh…cool! Everest, first to reach summit. Of course. That’s very cool. Great basis for a matchup here, I love the concept. But, not sure it would necessarily make a fun battle. Beyond the majestic success of reaching the Moon or the summit of Everest, there would need to be more to it. We've found Armstrong to be very dry in past research, and I'd wager we might encounter the same problem with Hillary. But it's still a sound idea.

Joe Rogan vs Walter Cronkite [submitted by Seth Eliot]

Ha! That’s funny, very good suggestion. Very original, got some nice history & flavor to it. I like it. Rogan’s a turd but he makes good points sometimes on some things, Cronkite is a legend but he probably helped prop up some other kind of media bullshit. This is fun though, so much to joke about. Modern media versus old media. It could work well.

Charles Dickens vs Mark Twain [submitted by HCISIAOW]

This matchup just feels obvious when looking at it. Why wouldn’t we do these two? Maybe because it also feels suuuuuuuper boring. I can smell the dust. I love to read, but I think Charles Dickens and Mark Twain both deserve their esteemed place in the library, on the shelf in the back where no one goes. I like Mark Twain on his own, (I still enjoy the Oscar Wilde pairing). I haven’t actually read enough Charles Dickens to get excited about him. I’ve tried, but the language always felt like swimming through soup to me.

Speaking of soup, that concludes this steaming edition of Make This Battle. There were some very solid, and looking back very male orientated suggestions, but I guess the theme was "Ideas for Peter vs Lloyd matchups" and you just don't wanna see Lloyd's legs in a dress. Trust me, you are not missing out too much! -np

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

I do love the idea of Vince McMahon in ERB. I loved various eras of wrestling in general growing up. Pairing him with P.T Barnum definitely works. The main niggle is how "The Greatest Showman" film was so highly fictionalised in it's story telling, which could be confusing to people who may only know about Barnum from that film. Regardless its the best match up for Barnum I think, and certainly remains an idea Peter and I like alot. 

I've always been fond of Evel Knievel. Leaping buses on motorbikes was prime time entertainment at one point. Wholesome but dangerous stuff. So pairing him with the prank styled, dumber shenanigans of Knoxville offers some nice contrast and some easy visual gags. It just doesn't feel very ERB worthy though. Lets see how it polls.

Being English myself I've often thought Charles Dickens deserved his own appearance in ERB (other than just the character of Scrooge). The setting of "Hard Times" was based on my hometown. But the problem with authors, is their literary works can often outweigh them as individuals. Do we want to see Dracula or Bram Stoker? Frankenstein or Mary Shelley? Scrooge or Charles Dickens? I'm sure we could make a great battle out of Dickens vs Twain. But do enough people out there truly want to see it? I'm not sure.

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Another round of MTB begins now...

The theme for this new round is "Betrayal & Lies"

Later this week marks the Ides Of March on March 15th, notorious for the day in 44BC when Julius Caesar was assassinated. So for the theme this round we are looking for match-ups that contain at least one character known for suffering betrayal or betraying others or just being generally unscrupulous in their actions. Let's keep it loose. Fictional or historical. 

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 Friday 25th March.

Talk soon.