Season 2 Blog Retrospective

hi

It's that time again, the time that always feels weird. This year has been a huge improvement from last year ( in my eyes at least ). Images have become easier, yet somehow harder at the same time, with each blog having on average about 80+ images. 

Let's see how I did this year, shall we? 

Part 1 Ranking: 

Number 12: 

Tank Girl VS Harley Quinn ( Tankgirl Comics VS DC )

When writing this blog, it felt like Harley Quinn, featuring Tank Girl; That is probably for good reason as the more I got into Tank Girl, the less I liked it. 

The art and story at best was readable and at worst too vile for my liking. Some comic panels were full of visual clutter and text making them impossible to read, and it felt disgusting to read through ( and not in a good way ). 

I ended up enjoying the Harley Quinn section a lot more than I thought I would, partially thanks to the involvement of my friends. I could tell reading it back that I didn't really want to write for Tank Girl, and just compensated with more Harley Quinn. 

Harley Quinn is also bisexual. Cool dude. 

Number 11: 

Human Torch VS Green Lantern ( Marvel Comics VS DC )

I needed a slot for February and I was short of ideas. I had moved back to Doctor Fate VS Doctor Strange and I needed something to slot in. Looking through my notes, I stumbled across this matchup, with 2 relatively niche characters who were easy for me to research. 

One problem. I forgot that I wanted Thor Odinson to be the first Marvel Herald, as I wanted to cover the Marvel Cosmology in more depth when I covered him. 

So I had to leave a lot of things vague on the power side. Formatting was a bit off here and there and the conclusion, although correct, was a little uninteresting in that they were relative in everything but Green Lantern had more powers. I had to adjust to the new workload these big projects bring upon, and spirits were quite low when I made this installment. 

I still enjoy this blog, and though it suffers from the issues I had early on, I'm still happy with The Green Lantern Versus The Human Torch. 

Technically Alan Scott is also my first gay representation, which is pog. 

Funnily he isn't my first LGBT representation, as Jonathan Kent is a bisexual, but he is my first gay representation. 

Fun Fact, the first LGBT character I have featured would belong to….Deadpool of all characters as a pansexual.  Neat.

Number 10:

Homelander VS Iron Patriot ( The Boys VS Marvel Comics )

The main issue with this one is that I funnily didn't research Iron Patriot enough. I thought that since I had a lot of notes on characters like Ironman, and had plenty of notes on the boys, that it would be easy to research this blog. A lot of the blog loses its identity since I didn't give Norman a lot of his personality. 

It's also by far the biggest finite stomp. Iron Patriot is over 25 Billion times stronger and several thousand times faster, Homelander ain't doing anything. 

Whilst I do not have too many plans for the Boys, I would love to bring them back eventually. 

Number 9:

Doctor Fate VS Doctor Strange ( DC Extended Universe VS Marvel Cinematic Universe)

I haven't too much to say on Doctor Fate VS Doctor Strange actually. It's pretty well researched, with plenty of images, and well explained. 

There are a few things that drag this blog down, both of them relating to the images. Due to the nature of how live action works, a lot of the images are both hard to find and are low resolution. Typically with say a comic or manga character, it is pretty easy to pull up a manga panel that has a stagnant image. Live Action meanwhile has motion that is harder to capture in still images. Combine that with the inconsistent picture size, and it pulls me out of the analysis at some parts. 

The matchup is also a little unwarranted. Doctor Strange VS Doctor Fate, but movie addition~

I much rather cover the actual Doctor Fate VS Doctor Strange, or a matchup unique to the MCU and DCEU, such as Worthy Captain America VS Wonder Woman. 

 

Still a rather fine episode, and one I wouldn't change. 

Number 8:

Hiro & Baymax VS Hiccup & Toothless ( Big Hero 6 VS How to Train Your Dragon )

My friends actually voted for this one. I had a slot open since I couldn’t finish the Archie Sonic Blog, and hence I needed something simple to fill it up. This one won, and I'm glad it won. How to Train Your Dragon is phenomenal, and Big Hero 6, in spite of its flaws, is still pretty good. 

It ranks the middle simply because it is well….simple. It isn't as detailed as Mob VS Deku or as significant as Tommy VS Spiderman since it doesn't have as much detail to cover. 

It definitely has earned its place as a middle ground between the decent blogs and top tier blogs. 

Number 7:

Cosmic Garou VS Godspeed ( One Punch Man VS DC )

This was the hardest one to place. Sure, it does suffer from inconsistent image sizes, some vagueness here and there, and being a stomp for Godspeed. 

However, I really enjoyed explaining the speed force and how Cosmic Garou's unique abilities paired off against Godspeed's abilities. It was a fun blog to make, and the end product was good, so it earns a high spot.

Number 6: 

Static VS Spiderman ( Static Shock VS Miles Morales )

I actually had this installment far lower on the list, around the number 9 spot, but looking back on it, it's actually pretty good. With as many notes as I had, I managed to put a lot of detail in the statistics side. While I wish I had slightly more for the abilities section, I think it turned out fine. 

Spider Verse is absolutely awesome, I guarantee that I will cover it once "Beyond the Spider Verse" comes out and we have enough content to cover it in full. 

Number 5:

Invincible VS Steven ( Invincible VS Steven Universe )

I feel like I picked up a lot of my stride after this one. This was my first big blog of the year, featuring 2 entirely new series and I was anxious it would turn out badly. 

Glad to say that I still enjoy how well this turned out. While it suffers from early issues, notably the image size being inconsistent, the production and research needed for this was one of the highest in the year, and the quality still holds. 

This has opened several doors for opportunity, and I have plenty of plans in stock of both Invincible and Steven Universe. 

Number 4:

Spiderman VS Tommyinit ( Marvel Cinematic Universe VS Dream SMP )

I think this one hits the closest to home for me. It's well researched and high quality of course lends it a good favor for a high ranking, but what it ultimately symbolizes to me means I refuse to place it any lower than the Top 5. 

Doesn't matter though, as the amount of research and planning that went into this one, as well as how fun it was to research, means I would have placed it in the top 5 regards. 

It's been an entire year without him, yet it still doesn't feel right. All for you, king. <3 

Number 3:

Thor VS Vegeta ( Marvel Comics VS Dragon Ball )

( I wish I found that Thor render earlier, look at how clean that is. T-T ) 

Thor VS Vegeta was a lot of fun to make. I need to find more Dragon Ball fights that aren't against Marvel and DC because they are really a lot of fun to research, with tons of versatility, lore and powers that I'm thankfully very familiar with. 

The reason why this blog is only in the 3rd spot is that a large portion of the blog feels like Thor: Featuring Vegeta. A lot of Vegeta's scaling, notably with the power multipliers and cosmology, was already covered in Goku VS Superman back last year. Hence, Thor stole a lot of the blog.

Compare the cosmology of Marvel's Yggdrasil and Dragon Ball's Universe 7 – Marvel had a lot more to cover in comparison. There is still so much I want to explore with Dragon Ball and Marvel, they are definitely coming back. 

Nonetheless, definitely a highlight of the year. Thor VS Vegeta goes no lower than the Top 3. 

Number 2:

Mob VS Deku ( Mob Psycho 100 VS My Hero Academia )

It might be a bit sacreligious to put this above Thor VS Vegeta, given that was technically one the specials; But if any episode deserves it, Mob VS Deku is the one. 

I've been wanting to make a blog bringing back My Hero Academia and bringing in Mob Psycho 100 for over a year now – and this episode turned out exactly how I wanted it to. Most importantly, it was really fun to make and I'm proud of it. 

Number 1:

OMORI VS Chara ( OMORI VS Undertale)

I'm so happy with how this blog turned out, it came out almost exactly how I wanted it to. The reason why I chose OMORI VS Chara against other alternatives like Batter, Phongingi and Room ( Other than being more familiar with Undertale and OMORI ) is that the debate was by far the most interesting to me – I think it turned out great. 

Play OMORI and Undertale. These games have meant so much to me. You will not regret it. 

Like Superman VS Goku, it sets a new bar for what I want to do in the coming 2024. Speaking of 2024….

Part 2 What have we covered:

Series Distribution:

Marvel: 4

DC: 4

MCU: 2

DCEU: 1

Dragon Ball: 1

One Punch Man: 1

Minecraft: 1

OMORI: 1 

Undertale: 1

My Hero Academia: 1

Mob Psycho 100: 1

Steven Universe: 1

Invincible: 1

Big Hero 6: 1

How to Train Your Dragon: 1

The Boys: 1

Tank Girl: 1

In total, we've covered 17 series, with 11 of them being new series ( technically 13 if you count Invincible and MHA ). 

Part 3 What to expect:

So the schedule is changing up a little bit. This year, I managed to squeeze out roughly a blog every month which ended up turning out pretty well. 

However, school sucks. 

Season 3 will have 6 blogs happening every 2 months or so, instead of monthly installments. This way, I'll get to focus on my studies, while having more time to fully develop and flesh out everything I want to cover. If it goes well, and the following years turn out to be equally hectic, I might stick to that rough outline afterwards. We'll see. 

From what I promised last year , I didn't cover Archie Sonic and Superfriends. While I really want to cover Archie Sonic, it is far more complicated than I originally thought, and I need a bit more time to research it out to a degree I am satisfied with. I am still looking for things for Superfriends, that would be funny. 

Don't expect too many new series, as I want to develop a lot more matchups with series that I've only touched a few times. For example, Dragon Ball. I don't want to over-promise just yet. 

Next year will be a transitional year, as I find out how I want to handle my schedule. One thing I guarantee, is that at least half of the season will feature entirely new series. 

Next time: 

" Red Winter "

Red Hood VS Winter Soldier ( DC VS Marvel Comics )

With that being said, we are all a little older, a little wiser, a little more ready to handle what comes next. All will be well, have a Happy New Year.