THE ULTIMATE BATTLE OF ULTIMATE DESTINY AND ULTIMATE FANTASY

[AaronMk]

This could very well be a proper obligatory opening image:



So with Joaquin Phoenix as Emperor Commodus out of the way, let's get to the meat of the thread.

I think at least some of us would remember the Death Battle video of Starscream vs Rainbow Dash (where Rainbow Dash won). Well, the rules that determine these is pretty much the same, and it's the same basic thing. But who really cares, I desire amusement like everyone else and we have at least one pony contender who'd be new to being enrolled in this. And as the original progenitors of Death Battle are most likely going and doing other things with it not related to poni, let's just sit back and pit a poni versus an "equal" non-poni.

Rules of the game:
- Contenders are ranked side by side with a bio and their attributes, when/where known.
- As much as I would like to, anyone armed with a gun will be disarmed.
- The fight will be determined by debate (or absolute fan fury in argument) and votes. If I'm feeling energetic I could do a play-by-play later.
- I figure a lot of ya'll will be tempted to simply have the pone win every time, so I'mma just say to have an open mind before I need to decide on handicap and pit The Cake Twins with someone like Monsoon for MGR:R, or The Mountain. Or whoever else comes around in shouting.
- I do believe more in community self-moderation than anything.


So without further ado, let's go to our first match up.

LORD TIREK vs SENATOR ARMSTRONG

Lord Tirek


The crown villain from the last season, Lord Tirek returns from banishment in Pony Hades Tartarus in a mission to get back what he thinks was stolen from him.

When Tirek originally returns to the world of Equestria from the delightful underworld - perhaps as a result of the local neighborhood watch dog running loose - he is weak and without power. Tirek's power manifests only when he steals it from other ponies, basically taking their ability and strength to do anything with themselves.



Ultimately, he of course is defeated by the Rainbow Magic Fix All Button that came out of the Mystery Box of Plot Importance unleashing toyetic visuals across the screen to vanquish his powers and return it, re-banishing the dread Centaur lord and throwing him in a dungeon from whence he came, and likely not coming up again ever.

And his final fight is more-or-less the most Dragonball Z this show has ever gotten.

Strengths:
- Powerful conjurer of magic.
- Physically impressive and can grow

Weaknesses:
- His power is drained from other creatures, presumably in this case from valid equines (Earth Ponies, Pegasi, Unicorns, and Alicorns) and only if they're weak enough he can do it on the spot or can subdue them enough so they have no strength to fight back.
- Rainbows Make Tirek Cry.
- His strength varies based on the level of power he has devoured.

SENATOR ARMSTRONG



This may seem like an odd match up in potential size-differences, but in himself he is a capable foe.

Senator Steven Armstrong is the final boss and main antagonist throughout the Metal Gear Solid spinoff: Metal Gear Rising: Revengence. Originally born in Texas, Armstrong played college football up until joining the Navy (he admits in dialog he could have gone pro). post-US Navy the senator maintained his impressive physical stature, even enhancing it with later nano-machine technology. Sometime before then and the start of his political career, he moved to Colorado where he became their state senator.



By the time of Metal Gear Rising, Armstrong was preparing for the 2020 presidential election with an ambitious plan to cause an international incident to win him the votes through his involvement - or perhaps even partial ownership of - World Marshall, a large violence PMC corporation left behind by the events of MGS4 and [Liquid] Ocelot's Insurrection.

In his final stand, Armstrong employs the full extent of his physical abilities and ownership of a number of high-tech gadgets with the ability to literally bring down entire nations. In the fight with Raiden he shows the nano-machines in his body not only magnify his physical strength (making it easy to punch Raiden into the armored hull of Metal Gear Excelsius) but his skin hardens to many types of physical trauma, protecting the Senator from bullets, swords, and even the catastrophic explosion of Excelsius without a scratch. And in the event he takes physical damage the nanomachines accelerate his healing to superhuman levels, this as well applies to his strength where during the final fight he had picked up and thrown massive pieces of wreckage around the field with little to no effort.

Steven Armstrong may as well absorb various types of energy to feed and amplify his nanomachines, giving him increased physical abilities. His theme music for the two stages of his fight as well wholly solidifies the fact he is THE final boss.

Collective Consciousness
It has to be this way

Strengths:
- Immense superhuman strength.
- Energy absorption can accelerate healing, or increase his muscle mass.
- Was already an attempt hand-to-hand fighter (in a brawler sense) even during his College football career.
- Has a psuedo-Metal Gear (Excelsius)

Weaknesses:
- He's still very much a human and his heart maintains nano-machine circulation
- The right sort of HF blade has been known to cut him (Sam's Murasama).


Let the fanboyism commence.