Azula vs. Galen Marek

After two days of prep time who will prevail in a fight to the death between the Dark Knight and the God of War?

Batman vs. Kratos

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Sarah Kerrigan vs. Anakin Skywalker: Opening statements and Grading scale : Revamped!

 * The Sarah Kerrigan used in this matchup will be the Kerrigan from near the close of Starcraft 2 while the Anakin used will be prior to his duel with Obi-Wan on Mustafar, when he was at his most powerful point in his life.


( I am going to try Vercingetorix712's tactic of introducing some reading music. This song is appropriate both in title and deeper meaning behind some of the lyrics) 
Sarah Kerrigan dueling Zeratul. Note his Psi blade, the Starcraft version of a light-saber. 



 Science Fiction is full of fantastic superheroes, dangerous bad-assess, and terrifying monsters. While all of those are present in this battle, to that list we add one more archetype that defines both of these  two characters: the Tragic Hero. Sarah Kerrigan was an assassin turned rebel leader who fought to overthrow a corrupt and murderous government while Anakin Skywalker sought to protect the legitimate government of the galaxy against a tyrannical usurper. Really these were just different perceptions of two similar conflicts, as one could argue very easily that the Old Republic was corrupt and its leadership (particularly soon-to-be-emperor Palpatine) murderous  , while Mengsk turned out to be more tyrannical  then the preceding  government that he had viscously condemned to death.

   Both heroes were ultimately corrupted; one by the desire to save the love of his life and another by the betrayal of the man who she looked up to. And once corrupted both went on to initiate horrible massacres, whether it be his own Jedi Order for Anakin or entire planets for Sarah. Both eventually came to value power above all else, though Anakin was stopped from achieving the position of emperor by Obi-Wan.  Neither should be confused as a Sociopath however, and both hold some deep down regret over what they have become/ done.
Anakin vs. his former master, Obi-Wan Kenobi 

 Anakin and Sarah were both leaders who adhered to the rare policy of leading from the front, putting their lives on the line time and again. Both have powers capable of single handily warping the battlefield, and were known for their dueling prowess. A battle between the two will be ground shaking, and likely force ripping.
Why Pre-suit Vader?
WHO. IS. DEADLIEST!


   The decision to include pre-suit Vader over the more iconic suited one is likely to be controversial, so I will take the time to address it. All evidence points to the fact that physically and force-wise, the Anakin that in I am using was at the very peak of his power, and that the deeds (both good and bad)  that he was able to accomplish during the Clone War to Mustafar era far out-shined anything suited Vader was ever able accomplish . In short the Anakin that I am using would wipe the floor with Vader, and this opinion is shared by the Emperor and possibly even Anakin himself. Prior to Mustafar the Emperor was content with his apprentice, post he was conspiring to replace him after observing his limitations in disgust. Anakin himself was frustrated by his suit, and how it limited his vision and movement. He had  to readjust his entire light-saber style which he so perfected(even Dooku conceded  his mastery in that style prior to his death) , and rely on working with others to achieve his ultimate goal of overthrowing the emperor(the rare attempts that he made to do this personally ended in failure). This is in direct contrast to Pre-Mustafar Vader, who was actually planing on  assassinating  him after Mustafar and taking his position. 


To put it into a historical persons comparison: Pre-Vader Skywalker would be Alexander the Great, a success in almost everything he does but with some notable fatal vices, while Vader would be his general Paremerion, cautious and competent but prone to mistakes. 


Grading Scale:


Offensive: 


Close Range: /25


Mid Range: /30


**Long range: /35


* Force vs. Psionic Powers(offensive only) : /60


*** Explosives: /25


* Allies Category : 
*Primary Weapon: /15


*Secondary weapon: /10




*Allied Defense /10
Armor and Abilities:
Personal Defense /10


Agility and speed: /10


Regeneration/healing: /20


*Misc. Abilities and passive powers: /20


X-Factors: 


Tactics/Personality: /30


Motivation: /10


Training/ Experience/ Quality of enemies: /20


Martial Arts/fighting style: /20


*Weaknesses  of Persona: / -20


* denotes new category
** denotes inclusion of unique ally for one side, or allied weaponry extended 
*** denotes both of the above


New Categories: 




Force vs. Psionic Powers(Offensive) : By far the most important category on this page, this will pit the deadly and flexible  powers of the dark side of the force against the army destroying massacring powers of Kerrigan. 


Explosives: Self Explanatory. This category will feature the explosives used in this matchup, both living and non. 


Allies: Both Kerrigan and Anakin were battlefield commanders accustoming to leading others into battle, and both Sarah's Hydralisk Bodyguard and Anakin's  501st Legion Commando's will following their master's into this battle. 
Primary Weapon and Secondary Weapon:  In order to signify that this is Anakin vs. Sarah and not 501st legion vs. Zerg swarm, both   sides will be limited to two weapons, a primary (rifle) and a secondary ( claws)


Allied Armor:  The armor of the minions will be factored in as well. 


Misc. Abilities and passive powers:  This section contains powers and abilities that wont really be able to achieve kills, but will be influence the outcome nonetheless . 


Weaknesses  of Persona:  Yes for the first time in the history of my matchups, there will be a category where the fighters are actually subtracted points. Both fighters had noticeable and exploitable personality traits that ultimately helped lead to their perspective downfalls. Will it happen here? 




 Out of all the Fictional match-ups I have done thus far this match excites me the most. I truly hope you will enjoy it!

7 comments:

  1. Now I have to say, this is a lot better than the one I came up with. Already I'm highly impressed by the level of effort put into this as well as how well thought out it is. I think I'm going to enjoy this very much.

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  2. Very neat! I know exactly zero about Starcraft, but it seems that Kerrigan will be an equal on paper to Skywalker. You must put a lot of time into this, since both bios are extremely well-done and detailed.

    One minor point that I slightly disagree with you on is that I like to put my bios in with the profiles, so that the intro is devoted more to the matchup in general and you personal thoughts on it. That way, each Warrior profile contains all the information you need to know about the fighter right there, from the story to the motivations to the weapons and styles. It's probably just a matter of personal style, though.

    On my own blog, I have been experimenting with the idea of using color codes for each side and the videos and using larger fonts for the titles of each section. These make the text more eye-catching and easier to distinguish. I have had very good results with it, and I believe it would work well with your blog too.

    Also, you probably know way more about Star Wars than me, but I would think that twenty or so years of Sith training would have actually made Vader stronger in the Dark side; remember, at Mustafar he had only just declared his loyalty to the Sith and so he did not have as much specific training with dark forces. Yoda, the strongest Jedi, was 600 so my guess is that age would not matter physically. BTW, I'm sure that if George Lucas had CGI effects in 1979 then Vader would have looked MUCH more badass... (LOL)

    My guess as to why he could not overthrow Palpatine was that either Palpatine had grown stronger as well or that the Emperor could read Vader so well by that point that he could just predict his every move. I'm actually glad Vader wasn't used, though, since I would like to see him used against a higher profile opponent later(no insult to Sarah.)

    As it is, this contest looks very promising and if this matches your last it will be amazing! Good Luck!

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  3. @ Master of the Boot:

    Thanks man but I could never equal your epic storytelling skills.

    @Vercingetorix712

    Maybe I will do that in regards to the bio. Probably a better style. As for the color codes ill have to experiment with that before doing.

    You must remember that Darth Vader had to relearn dueling with his lightsaber, as his previous style that he had mastered required a lot of movement. Unlike his previous style which contained a lot of finese, according to the wiki his new style relied on brute force. He also couldn't use his force jump, which he excelled at, and various other force moves were unusable by him that he could have used as Anakin.
    By far his most impressive battle in my mind was that of Operation Knightfall http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Operation:_Knightfall

    Also Anakin was confident on Mustafar that he could kill the emperor, afterwards he didn't feel he was strong enough. Nor did the emperor, apparently.


    As for Kerrigan not being high profile enough to face down Vader, perhaps this poll will interest you...

    http://www.gamespot.com/greatest-video-game-villain/vote/battle-hub/index.html?battle_id=63

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  4. What I like about your fictional matches is how you choose nearly two equally matched characters in battle that's to hard to call just by looking at the names. I also love how I learn something from your warrior bios. Plus 'Monsters' is one of my favourite songs. Hell in a Cell 2009. Good Times. Keep the work up!

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  5. Yeah, the music worked out perfectly here. One of the benefits to music is that you can discover some great music you wouldn't have otherwise. I'm putting this song on my ipod!

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  6. Hey man, just saw the revamp of this page. I didn't think it could get any better, but it did :)

    By the way, how do you get a youtube video to appear on a post? It's a great idea but I'm at a loss of how to do it.

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  7. @Master of the Boot: Putting a video in your blog is easy. At the top of your blog editing window, there is an icon of a movie clip thing. Click on it, and video options will appear. Click on youtube, and search for the video you want to put in! Hope that helps.

    ReplyDelete