Saturday 1 September 2018

Death Battle Predictions: Optimus Prime VS RX-78-2 Gundam

(ramonzer0)


(Brobuscus)


“We make war so that we may live in peace.”
- Aristotle


Millennia ago, the first wars were fought to resolve conflicts where diplomacy had failed, and despite its brutal nature, entire nations have relied on it to such an extent that they have improved on how they went about it, up to and including the development of newer and more powerful weapons directed towards continuing their crusades with. Whereas the earliest battles in world history were conducted with sticks and stones, combat had evolved to make way for swords, firearms and in the case of certain branches of fiction, gigantic humanoid machines armed with an army’s worth of futuristic firepower and more. That last idea forms the backbone of the mecha genre, which arguably owes its lifeblood to two specific series: Transformers and Gundam.


While the former details the civil war fought between opposing factions from a race of shape-shifting alien robots through the multiverse, and the latter covers the torn timelines and countless conflicts born as a result of mankind’s expansions to the reaches of outer space, their massive influence over the hundreds of franchises inspired by their work in both the East and the West have caused their legacies to be intertwined in spite of their differences, resulting in many a comparison made between them. Thus, it seems only natural and rather fitting that their first generation figureheads should engage in combat opposite each other to settle their score in - with all due respect to Megazord vs. Voltron - the true ultimate giant robot fight to the death.


Optimus Prime, Supreme Commander of the Autobots. The RX-78-2 Gundam, White Devil of the Earth Federation. These two iconic, freedom-fighting titans of technology have waged war to keep the peace in their respective worlds since their creations and have continued to fight so they may uphold it at any cost; to their allies, they are unwavering bastions of justice - to their foes, they are unstoppable winds of destruction. When their mettle and metal are tested against one another for the 98th episode of Death Battle, will Amuro Ray - the legendary Shooting Star - be able to prove that the tenacity and valor he and his Gundam have isn’t for show, or shall the last of the Primes establish that his unrivaled wisdom and power are truly more than meets the eye?


A Heads Up From Ya Bois
It’s been a while since Transformers or Gundam have shown up in Death Battle - Starscream and the Gundam Epyon being the first and only representatives of either series dating back to the first two seasons of the show, so we want to give a refresher on both and how we’ll be conducting our analysis based on what’s likely to show up in the episode proper. The main gist is that both sides have multiverses which all adhere to their own respective rules and levels of power, akin to how Marvel and DC conduct theirs; just like episodes with those characters, we're zeroing in on specific universes and continuities for each combatant.


In the Transformers multiverse, each of the universes or “universal streams” are given designations based on a “cluster” which in turn is based on their predominant continuity family. For example, the Aurex cluster depicts the events of the Unicron trilogy, Malgus refers to the 2007 Cartoon Network show and Tyran focuses on the live-action films directed by Michael Bay. As Optimus has been explicitly identified by Death Battle as his Generation 1 incarnation much like what was done with Starscream, we’ll be primarily focusing on that continuity’s cluster: Primax.


With a lot to cover through, we’ve chosen to limit ourselves to the select few major streams that will likely be seen in the episode proper. For the most part, this includes the original 1980s cartoon - both its American and Japanese versions, the theatrical movie based on it, the comics published by Marvel, Dreamwave and IDW, the Prime Wars trilogy on Machinima, the Devastation video game and the two Cybertron games developed by High Moon Studios.


(That last bit can be iffy for fans who are aware of how the canons work, but we can elaborate on that. War for Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron are primarily associated with the Uniend cluster which covers the Transformers Prime continuity instead of G1, but "Ask Vector Prime" - an official Hasbro column that clarifies details regarding the larger Transformers canon - has revealed that both games have two designations which put them in the Primax cluster and thus make them part of the G1 continuity while remaining canonical to Prime and the Uniend cluster. If you’re wondering why that is, Vector Prime would probably advise you to not think about it too much, so we’re doing just that.)


As with Transformers, Gundam has a large multiverse which encompasses several timelines pertaining to each manga or anime. To once again provide examples, we have the Future Century of G Gundam, the After Colony timeline from Wing - Epyon's home canon, the Anno Domini timeline from Gundam 00, the Cosmic Era of SEED, and the Port Disaster Era of Iron-Blooded Orphans. With the RX-78-2 and Amuro Ray being our main focus, we’ll be limiting our research to within its timeline: the Universal Century.


This is the primary Gundam canon that includes the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime and its many subsequent follow-ups, such as Zeta Gundam, Gundam ZZ, Char’s Counterattack, Unicorn, Narrative and more. Even then, we’ll be giving a particular emphasis on the points in time where both the RX-78-2 and Amuro were active; the original anime and additional background information from the Origin retelling will provide the majority of the Gundam’s feats as that remains its only canonical appearance thus far, while we’ll be allowing Amuro access to feats some he’s accomplished past that while piloting other Mobile Suits.

Background

Optimus Prime



Many millions of years ago, on the planet Cybertron: life existed, but not life as we know it today. Intelligent robots that could think and feel inhabited the cities. They were called Autobots and Decepticons, but the brutal Decepticons were driven by a single goal: total domination. They set out to destroy the peace-loving Autobots, and a war between good and evil raged across Cybertron, devastating all in its path and draining the planet’s once-rich sources of energy. On the verge of extinction, the Autobots battled valiantly to survive, and while they had many capable warriors, such as the mighty Ironhide or the energetic Bumblebee, few could match the dedication to their cause possessed by their awe-inspiring leader, Optimus Prime.


Once known as a low-level dock worker from the city of Iacon named Orion Pax, Optimus was rebuilt into the chosen leader of the Autobots and bravely led his comrades against the growing might of his nemesis: the Decepticon overlord, Megatron. However, millions of years spent in a seemingly never-ending conflict took a toll on Cybertron, reducing it to a husk of its former self. In search of a means to repair their damaged world, he and several Autobots embarked on an interplanetary expedition to scavenge for sources of energy. However, they were hounded by a Decepticon strike force led by Megatron upon their departure; the ensuing skirmish resulted in both sides crash landing on prehistoric Earth, rendering them in stasis until their reawakening in the modern day.


With their conflict now spilling over to yet another planet, the Autobots devoted themselves to fighting for Earth’s defense in atonement for involving humanity in their struggles while upholding their commitments to healing Cybertron, running in opposition to Megatron’s plans to ravage the Earth of its resources, regardless of who would pay the price in the process. Armed not only with the power, arsenal and skills needed to do battle against any threat but a strong and unwavering moral compass dedicated towards doing what he believes to be the right thing, Optimus has made it his mission to continue fighting for the freedom he believed all sentient beings should have, even if it meant constantly putting his life on the line to do so.

RX-78-2 Gundam

- Amuro Ray


It is the year 0079 of the Universal Century. A half-century has passed since Earth began moving its burgeoning population into gigantic orbiting space colonies - a new home for mankind, where people are born, raised and die. Nine months ago, the cluster of colonies furthest from the Earth, called Side 3, proclaimed itself the Principality of Zeon and launched a war of independence against the Earth Federation. Initial fighting lasted over one month and saw both sides lose half their respective populations. People were horrified by the indescribable atrocities that had been committed in the name of independence, mainly accomplished by Zeon’s use of the advanced and massive humanoid combat vehicles called Mobile Suits.


When the war entered a stalemate after 8 months of fighting, the Federation began plans for “Project V”, a development program formed with the intent to produce a Mobile Suit design that can be manufactured en masse to counter the Zeon advance. This lead to the creation of the RX-78 series of “Gundams”, prototype Mobile Suits said to be much more advanced than any other model that came before it. Before they can be field-tested, their holding facility in the Side 7 colony is razed by a Zeon platoon during their attempt to ambush a massive Federation flagship called the White Base. In the ensuing pandemonium, the RX-78-2 unit is discovered by a civilian boy named Amuro Ray, who proceeded to successfully operate it in defense of his home.


Despite having never fought or piloted a Mobile Suit in his life prior to that day, Amuro’s inborn nature as a genetically advanced human being called a Newtype allowed him to commandeer the Gundam with the skill level of a heavily-experienced pilot that belied his once-innocent nature. It was such a display which caused the Federation to reluctantly recruit him into their ranks to defend the colony survivors aboard the White Base with the Gundam. In time, Amuro evolved from being a shy and mischievous mechanic who only cared about his own survival into the battle-tested war hero he was destined to be as he and the RX-78-2 became collectively known as the Federation’s feared “White Devil” for their continued exploits against Zeon’s might.

Abilities

Optimus Prime

Cybertronian Physiology - Overview



Like his allies and enemies, Optimus is a native of the planet Cybertron: a Transformer. Alternatively referred to as Cybertronians, they are a race of shapeshifting alien robots said to be created by Primus, a deity whose body makes up the core of Cybertron itself. Despite being purely mechanical beings, they are as sentient and alive as any other living being can be. Their colloquial name is a reference to their signature ability - one which allows them to scan nearly anything and transform into it. While they normally appear as humanoid robots about the size of a small building, their alternate forms allow them to take on the appearances of weapons, vehicles, animals and more, complete with whatever benefits such transformations can provide.


A Cybertronian’s ability to transform is tied to several features within their biology. The first is a transforming cog embedded in their minds, which gives them the mental capacity to activate their transformations consciously alongside their brain module. The second is the “living metal” that comprises their bodies, said to be made of the same substance that makes up Cybertron and by extension, Primus himself. Beneath their highly durable exteriors lies a Spark, their lifeforce and equivalent of a soul. While Cybertronians are capable of withstanding large amounts of damage directed at their body, they can only be considered truly dead if anything were to directly impact their Sparks or otherwise compromise their brain modules.


For the most part, Cybertronians do not rely on breathing air or eating food to replenish themselves. They mainly subsist off Energon, a versatile energy source said to be the building blocks of their very bodies and Sparks and is more or less their own equivalent of food, electricity, blood, fuel, power, and in most cases, a currency for trading and ammunition for specific types of weapons. Almost any material can be processed and converted into Energon with the proper equipment, although its raw form is volatile and unstable; trying to handle it in such a state is dangerous as a stray impact is enough for it to violently explode.

Transformations and Modules



Optimus’ main transformation in almost every Transformers continuity is a Freightliner Cab-over-engine Class 8 semi-truck, which serves as his main form of disguise when not in active combat. Such a vehicle fits his physique quite well; according to the US Department of Transportation, those within the Class 8 group can carry weights exceeding 33,000 lbs - this includes the vehicle’s own weight and those of its passengers and cargo.


While transformed, Optimus can reach speeds up to 175 mph and is still as immensely durable as his normal form. He is more than willing to ram into his foes or swing his trailer as a melee attack and can traverse through large bodies of water thanks to thrusters and other adaptations. Transformations between his truck and robot forms are a matter of mere seconds, allowing Prime to switch his tactics on the fly and adapt to the current situation at hand.


In his robot form, Optimus is technically split up into three modules which he is mentally linked to. The Optimus Module is his actual body and the most important one out of the three; while damage to any of them is felt either way, the survival of the other two is highly dependant on the Optimus Module’s own whereas it can function without them. The Prime Module takes the form of a small remote-controlled vehicle called Roller that he can use to scout out distant locations. Lastly, the Combat Deck hidden inside his vehicle form’s trailer contains emergency supplies, weapons and an antenna that boosts his communications with other Autobots.

Point One Percenter Spark



In the IDW comics, Point One Percenters are Transformers who are forged with a very rare green-colored Spark created once in a generation that is said to grant them heightened levels of power in comparison to other members of their kind. Some of the notable figures with such a Spark who have fought in the War for Cybertron and beyond include Megatron, Scorponok, Shockwave, Fortress Maximus, Grimlock and obviously, Optimus Prime himself, whose status as the Autobots’ leader only further enhances the benefits he gains from his Spark.


Optimus’ Spark grants him superior strength, speed, and durability over many non-One Percenters. Compared to many of his comrades, he is a literal one-man army who can take on waves of enemy forces single-handedly, routinely dodge actual laser fire, withstand mortal blows and overpower giant Combiners with nothing but brute force. The Spark is also likely the reason behind some of the more unusual powers Prime has in store, although this has yet to be officially confirmed by any source in-universe or outside of it. These include limited flight capabilities even without using the thrusters built into his legs, pure Energon blasts which he can emit from his hands and the ability to telepathically control disassembled parts of his body.

RX-78-2 Gundam

Mobile Suit Composition - Overview


Within the Gundam multiverse, the term “Mobile Suit” refers to bipedal combat platforms which are deployed specifically for military use, akin to how modern-day military-grade vehicles like tanks, destroyers or helicopters are used in real life. While the exact specifications of such a weapon depend on the timeline, the majority of Mobile Suits are often equipped with propulsion systems embedded in their legs for flight and space travel, an arsenal encompassing weapons for both close-quarters and ranged combat, a camera embedded in the head along with a sub-weapon installed in it, and cockpits usually located inside the chest area. On average, a Mobile Suit is about 60 ft. tall, although again, these specifications vary on the model.


In the Universal Century timeline, the creation of Mobile Suits can be traced back to two major scientific breakthroughs. The first is Active Mass Balance Auto-Control (AMBAC), a technology which has its basis in Sir Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion: “For every action, there must be an equal and opposite reaction.” For a very quick summary, AMBAC allows a pilot and its Mobile Suit to make quick and precise movements while in the vacuum of space and without the use of their thrusters by using the Third Law and their unit’s inertia to force a change in direction. This is akin to the reaction wheels real-world satellites use to control their altitude while in orbit or how astronauts operate vehicles, albeit to a more complex degree given the subject matter.


The second is the Minovsky Particle, which was accidentally found by Dr. Trenov Y. Minovsky in his attempt to create a nuclear fission reactor. Since its discovery in U.C. 0065, it has since been harnessed to power almost every piece of technology to ever exist since. At its core, they can disrupt sources of low-frequency radiation and electricity in addition to nullifying the use of long-range communications and precision-guided weapons, unless they were protected by an expensive and very specific form of shielding. When scattered, the forces between charged particles create a lattice called an I-field; through compression, these result in the creation of destructive particle beams which form the basis of almost every weapon a Mobile Suit wields.


The Minovsky Particle was responsible for rewriting the rules of combat with its implementation into Mobile Suits. To harness them required the use of Helium-3, which was more abundant in outer space than on Earth; hence, this factored into the rapid rise of colonies and expansion to further fall back on such a resource and eventually making it the standard for all forms of technology. Because of the Minovsky Particle’s unique properties, it provided the basis for the large focus on close-quarters combat, space-based warfare and weapons like swords, maces and close-ranged particle beams for Mobile Suits, as the particles had shut down most opportunities to use ranged weapons save for ones it had directly powered.

Experimental Upgrades



The brainchild of scientist Tem Ray and other Federation scientists, the RX-78 prototypes were made to be much more technologically advanced than any other Mobile Suit model that existed at the time, and it shows with many of its unique features and armaments. For one, it was equipped with a prototype Core Block System that allows any of its pilots to operate the various weapon modules attached to the Gundam through a sole Core module. These smaller ships essentially serve as cockpits for their Mobile Suits which are docked in hollow spaces located inside the chest area. If ever the Suits were sufficiently damaged enough, they could be used to help their pilots escape and preserve any combat data stored within their hard drives.


Speaking of which, the Gundam also contains an advanced Learning Computer System which not only collected data from skirmishes but analyzed it to further improve the machine’s performance and essentially function by itself via autopilot, even if its pilot were a total novice. This was conceived to act as a way for the Federation to avoid the long and drawn-out training routines for newer pilots and have the units be combat-ready as early as possible. Technician Mosque Han later upgraded its systems before the Battle of A Baoa Qu to further increase its reaction times; this was accomplished with the aid of a special magnetic coating on its limb joints that allowed it to keep pace with Amuro’s increasingly faster reflexes.


The Gundam itself stands at 18.5 meters, can travel up to 102 mph and weighs around 60 tons, making it lighter than most mass-produced Mobile Suits that are roughly 10 tons heavier. This is due to the alloy which comprises its body: Luna Titanium, a lightweight off-shoot of Titanium that remains immensely durable in its own right. While hard to properly maintain and repair, its benefits became clear when the Gundam was regularly deployed in combat. Heavy machine gun fire can barely dent it and even particle laser weapons fail to put it down for good unless hit by a sustained assault. The Suit also contains a specialized heat-resistant film and coolant system which helps it survive atmospheric re-entry.


All these combined with its weapons made it one of the deadliest war machines used throughout the Universal Century, even as Amuro’s powers were far too much for it to handle reliably. Most of the upgrades given to the RX-78-2 were later applied to the other mass-produced RX-line Mobile Suits, making the Gundam name well-known by individuals from Earth and Zeon alike.

Pilot - Amuro Ray



The son of the head researcher behind Project V, Amuro Ray’s humble beginnings as a nerdy and mischievous mechanic soon gave way for him to become arguably one of the greatest Mobile Suit pilots in the entire Universal Century. His first taste of action came when he inexplicably mastered the use of the RX-78-2 Gundam in mere seconds, and since then he had successfully run multiple missions in it and other Mobile Suits long before being “supposedly” killed-in-action during the events of the Char’s Counterattack movie. This is due to Amuro’s nature as a Newtype, a newly-evolved human being hypothesized to be the result of mankind’s migration into space and the resulting need to evolve in the process.


Most of the higher tier pilots within the U.C. timeline - including the likes of Kamille Bidan, Judau Ashta, Char Aznable, Banagher Links and Amuro himself - are all Newtypes, and their exemplary performances in combat are often attributed to their enhanced levels of spatial awareness and focus. Much of these are implied or, in most cases, outright shown to be some form of psychokinesis, which they can inexplicably pass on to their Mobile Suits, like Kamile’s ability to power the Zeta Gundam with the memories of his deceased allies. The concept of advanced humans piloting Gundams was also reused for other shows in the Gundam multiverse, such as the Coordinators in Gundam SEED and the Innovators in Gundam 00.


On the whole, Newtypes have an uncanny ability to take in knowledge at a faster rate, can detect and telepathically communicate with other Newtypes, and sense an enemy’s hostile intentions, allowing them to counter or evade any incoming attacks before they are acted out; coupled with their near-inhuman reaction times, this makes them and their Mobile Suits tough to consistently hit reliably for any normal pilot. Due to their skills in battle, they often need modified and fine-tuned Mobile Suits in order to maximize their fighting capabilities. The RX-78-2 actually suffered from this the more Amuro had gotten used to fighting as a Newtype, which led to the development of more advanced successor units that can meet his standards.

Communications Support - Sayla Mass



Born Artesia Som Deikun, Sayla Mass is a medical student from Side 7 who works alongside Amuro onboard the White Base. As it is understaffed, she too is forcibly enlisted into the Earth Federation’s ranks and becomes the ship’s Communications Officer underneath acting Captain Bright Noa. Unbeknownst to most of those who know her, she is actually the daughter of Zeon Zum Deikun, the original founder of the Republic of Zeon before its militant shift, and the sister of Casval Rem Deikun - the secret identity of Char Aznable himself; both were forcibly separated from each other after their father’s death, causing their destinies to heavily diverge.


Originally, she provided comms support for Amuro from within the White Base, pointing out strategies and enemy weaknesses for him to exploit in the heat of battle. Eventually, she became a respected Mobile Suit pilot in her own right by awakening to her own Newtype abilities, resulting in her not just improving as an analyst but also being deployed for field missions and even successfully piloting the RX-78-2 herself several times. If need be, she can directly support Amuro by piloting the G-Fighter, which can fuse directly with the Gundam to combine their mobility and weaponry together.

Equipment Load-Out

Optimus Prime

Ion Blaster



Optimus’ trusted laser rifle and his main weapon of choice during battle, the Ion Blaster fires bursts of plasma, capable of incapacitating Decepticons or destroying large stone boulders in a few quick shots. This weapon is also immensely versatile, as it can switch between multiple firing configurations; these include fully-automatic fire akin to a sub-machine gun, powerful single shots akin to a revolver and even miniaturized bolts of Energon that explode like grenades. When not in use, the blaster is hidden in his body, ready to be called at any time.


Despite this being his primary firearm, Optimus’ combat training has allowed him to wield other ranged weapon types, ranging from shotguns to machine guns, sniper rifles, EMP grenades, rocket launchers and mounted weapon emplacements. On the battlefield, he can store the images of most weapons he comes across in his memory, which he can then switch to and from for any situation he finds himself in. While his various gaming appearances show that his firearms do have limited ammo, this is less of a problem in other G1 media where such an issue is rarely brought up, likely due to his trailer often having a backup supply on hand for emergencies.

Energon Axe



Optimus has extensive training with hand-to-hand combat and all sorts of melee weapon types, ranging from warhammers to swords, gauntlets and maces, and has no qualms using the environment if he absolutely has to for makeshift weapons. However, the one armament that can even be remotely considered to be his signature weapon is his trusted Energon Axe, a blade made of pure Energon which can be reconfigured into other weapon types.


It’s worth noting that Optimus has only used this axe in one episode of The Transformers, but it has also been present as his primary weapon in other media. For example, Transformers: Devastation has him not only start with this by default but classifies similar axes as weapons only he can wield, War for Cybertron has him use a two-handed mechanical variant with a blade made of solidified and crystallized Energon for melee attacks and the live-action film version wields two smaller axe/sword hybrids which retract into his hands.

Power Master



In the Marvel G1 comics, there exists a process called “binary bonding”, where a Transformer is fused with a smaller organic being that has been artificially augmented with the ability to turn into a weapon or power source to help their larger partner. The Powermasters are one such example, whereupon a Transformer’s physical stats are boosted further with their bonds to a Nebulan, a humanoid alien belonging to a planet whose peace was interrupted by the ongoing civil war between the Autobots and the Decepticons.


Optimus became a Powermaster when the Autobots searched for a new way to rebuild his body. Hi-Q, a Nebulan scientist who was responsible for creating the Powermaster bonding process, sought a way to counter the rising threat of the Decepticon Powermasters and so willingly bonded himself to Prime in order to do so. Though this procedure, Optimus can call upon Hi-Q for bursts of increased power and speed for short periods of time, albeit at the cost of being unable to turn into a vehicle without his partner’s presence.


A drawback to the Powermaster procedure is that the Nebulans have very high metabolisms, and must constantly ingest large quantities of food and water to sustain themselves lest they starve to death. In addition, Nebulans who remain fused for longer periods of time with their Transformer partners become absorbed into them; Hi-Q himself physically and mentally turned into a part of Optimus until nothing remained of his initial self.


We do want to note that this is only one out of the many different upgraded forms that Optimus has assumed over the past 30+ years. Loads of Transformers media, especially those from the Japanese continuity, have given him lots more like his Sky Convoy form, but much of these have relied on too many outside circumstances for them to be considered reliable in a Death Battle setting. While the same could be said for the Powermaster, we at least want to highlight this due to being the first and most notable transformation Optimus has acquired.

Matrix of Leadership



As his name implies, Optimus holds the rank of Prime, designating him as the leader of the Autobots. This position is derived from - once again - Primus himself as attributed by the original 13 Transformers he had created. To serve as physical proof of their status, each Prime was entrusted with the Matrix of Leadership, a talisman which contains a portion of Primus’ spark. This trinket grants its user the wisdom and experience of the Primes, as well as a built-in counter to any source of evil, regardless of however strong it may be.


Optimus keeps the Matrix on his chassis at all times, and while it does allow him to harness its powers in combat, he often holds back in the event he can cause unwanted collateral damage. He was notably separated from it during the events of the Transformers movie, whereupon he passed it on to Hot Rod before dying, but he reclaimed it in short fashion after being resurrected when the newly-dubbed Rodimus Prime was infected by the Hate Plague. In most instances similar to these, the Matrix cannot be taken away by force nor can it be destroyed by any conventional means, as it is usually passed on to another Autobot worthy of being called a Prime in the event the bearer is compromised in some fashion.


At its core, the Matrix can increase the strength of its bearer to immense levels, allowing them to take on almost any threat they face single-handedly, up to and including universal-level threats such as the planet-eating Unicron. It also connects them to the Cybertronian afterlife, allowing them to commune with previous Primes or even resurrect fallen Transformers. In an even more absurd take on its abilities, the Matrix also grants the bearer the knowledge of almost any form of technology to ever exist as well as the ability to remotely control them. It has also acted as a healing factor of sorts by repairing grievous amounts of damage sustained by its bearer and has even been responsible for straight up resurrecting Optimus at one point in the Japanese continuity.

RX-78-2 Gundam

Beam Saber / Javelin



The RX-78-2 Gundam is the first Mobile Suit within the U.C. era to utilize a beam-based melee weapon. In this case, it takes the form of its dual Beam Sabers. The sabers’ plasma blades are made of Minovsky Particles held in place by an I-field which can cut through almost any material. Those particles are formed from an energy capacitor (E-Cap) located within the hilt and are recharged while it is sheathed in a storage unit located near the Gundam’s reactor. Amuro mainly fights with one Saber active in tandem with the Gundam’s shield, although he is proficient enough in dual-wielding both if needed. The Beam Saber can also be reformatted to form the Beam Javelin, which increases the weapon’s length to make it more akin to a pole arm.

60mm Vulcan Guns



Mounted on top of the RX-78-2’s head is a pair of 60mm gatling guns, which are meant to primarily ward off smaller targets and take on enemy aircraft and on-foot infantry while preserving the more limited and stronger ammunition of its other weapons. Although the guns have a high rate-of-fire, its rounds are ineffective against ordinary Mobile Suits and other heavily armored targets unless the weapons are shot from point-blank range.

Hyper Hammer



Contrary to what the name implies, the Gundam Hammer is not a warhammer or anything of the sort, but rather a ball-and-chain flail weapon which has a slightly longer reach than the Beam Saber and specializes in dealing blunt-force damage through the mass of the spiked ball. It was later upgraded to the Hyper Hammer, with several rockets mounted onto the ball to increase the damage it can produce and the amount of control the Gundam has over it in space.

BAUVA*XBR-M-79-07G Beam Rifle



This experimental firearm serves as the Gundam’s primary weapon and is hailed for being groundbreaking for its time thanks to its implementation of E-cap technology. It makes use of charges made of Minovsky Particles as ammunition; when fired, these can penetrate enemy armor and destroy objects on a molecular scale. At best, each of these blasts can destroy entire warships in a single shot. While a fearsome weapon on par with those wielded by larger Mobile Armors, the Beam Rifle can only be fired 16 times before being emptied. Trying to refill those charges in the middle of a battle can be difficult, as they can only be recharged by equipment located in a nearby base of operations.

BLASH*XHB-L-03/N-STD Hyper Bazooka



The most powerful weapon in the RX-78-2’s arsenal, the Hyper Bazooka fires 380mm rockets which yield a payload of 40 kilotons to attack heavily armored targets and can easily one-shot mass-produced Mobile Suits. While destructive, its rate of fire and reloading speeds are slower than that of the Beam Rifle’s and its ammo capacity is even more limited to boot.

RX*M-Sh-008/S-01025 Shield



This simple shield serves as the RX-78-2’s primary line of defense against any attack, whether ranged or physical. As per its design, it is mostly wielded in conjunction with a Beam Saber in close-quarters combat, although it can also be stored on the Gundam’s back when not in use. Most have described it as being sturdier than the Luna Titanium which comprises the Gundam's body, allowing it to reliably take attacks which could possibly damage it.

G-Fighter



The G-Fighter is versatile support vehicle that assists the RX-78-2 on the field, either by directly participating in combat with its beam cannon and missile launcher or scouting locations ahead of the Gundam for reconnaissance purposes. It is comprised of two halves: G-Parts A - the cockpit, weapons systems and treads for ground transport and G-Parts B - the four-engine fuselage. Two of these have been deployed to help Amuro over the course of Mobile Suit Gundam, with Sayla having piloted one of them.


It can also combine with the RX-78-2 directly for certain situations. The G-Armor is the primary form of transport for both component units while on the ground; although it is heavily armored, it sacrifices a lot of speed and agility. The G-Sky is its inverse; it has a lot of mobility due to being airborne, but it cannot defend itself due to lacking the heavier weapons of its other forms. Finally, the Gundam Sky combines the upper half of the RX-78-2 with the B Parts, allowing it to fight more effectively while in flight at the expense of the flexibility afforded to it by its legs.

Feats

Optimus Prime

Accomplishments



Strength



Speed



  • Dodged a shot from a tank
  • Dodged attacks from Nightbird, a ninja robot.
  • Beat the Fusion Cannon's firing speed with his Ion Blaster.
  • Can dodge missile fire. (Missiles can fly at Mach 9.7.)
  • Can effortlessly evade attacks from Windblade.
  • Blitzted Galvatron, often portrayed as an upgraded form of Megatron.

Durability



RX-78-2 Gundam

Accomplishments



Strength

Speed

Durability

Weaknesses

Optimus Prime



Although he will not hesitate to fight and kill if the situation calls for it, Optimus is honor-bound to hold back his full power and avoid collateral damage to the surrounding environment and loss of innocent life. Many believe that he would be a much more successful military commander if he were more ruthless, but that would go against what makes him Optimus Prime to begin with.


Despite how powerful Optimus is, he is not as invincible as some Autobots who look up to him say, since enough damage will be enough to kill him if his opponent possesses the means to output such power. This has lead to the many deaths he had undergone throughout the G1 continuity, even if he did eventually get better as time went on.

RX-78-2 Gundam



Owing to its nature as a prototype and part of the first wave of Gundams, the RX-78-2 is outdated in comparison to many of the advanced models developed in the later parts of the U.C. continuity. Several factors behind this include the very limited ammo capacity for its ranged weapons, Amuro still being vulnerable enough to getting knocked out if the Gundam is hit with particularly strong attacks and itself eventually being considered too slow by his Newtype reflexes to fully take advantage of. This is reinforced further by the fact that the RX-78-2 is currently out of commission after it was destroyed in the battle of A Baoa Qu.


Amuro has limits on his Newtype powers, which could result in him failing to react against incoming attacks. For example, he can’t use them to dodge attack far faster than he can perceive or at speeds the Gundam cannot move at, and he often faces his greatest challenges when confronted with other Newtypes who can utilize the same tactics he employs to a greater degree than he does. Even with them, he still is as human and mortal as much as any other person and is as susceptible to the same weaknesses they are, and the amount of mental and emotional trauma he has undergone since being forced to participate in the U.C.’s various wars has taken its toll on him.

Summary

Optimus Prime



Advantages:
  • STATSTOMPS, or at the very least much more physically powerful than the Gundam to the point where it shouldn't be able to really hurt him.
  • Due to being millions of years older than Amuro, the Gundam or any of the major conflicts within the Universal Century, he holds massive advantages in terms of skill and experience.
  • While smaller, his speed advantage only makes him a harder target to hit.
  • The Matrix of Leadership provides him with a wide variety of hax (healing factor, control over technology, etc.) that neither the Gundam or Amuro have any true counter to.
  • Has little in the way of exploitable weaknesses that Amuro can actually abuse.
  • Peter Cullen.
  • He's a giant robot.
Disadvantages:
  • Moral code makes him unlikely to fight with his full power unless he is forced to do so.
  • Amuro’s Newtype abilities may be able to pick up on his attacks to some extent, given that he is still a sentient being.
  • Kiss Players. Fuck that shit.

RX-78-2 Gundam

- Amuro Ray


Advantages:
  • As Optimus is a sentient being, it is still possible for Amuro’s Newtype abilities to work on him and react to his attacks to some extent.
  • It's a giant robot.
  • Rocks the red, white and blue color scheme a lot better.
Disadvantages:
  • Simply outclassed in almost every way possible.
  • Amuro is less experienced than Optimus.
  • Has more readily exploitable weaknesses, including limited ammunition for its strongest weapons.
  • No counter to any of the hax given by the Matrix of Leadership.
  • The massive size difference (Optimus’ 6 m to the RX’s 18) only makes it a bigger target.
  • Very weak to Bright Slaps and his soul being weighed down by gravity.

Verdicts

ramonzer0



This just in: NXT Champion Tomasso Ciampa is still a bald bastard. Fuck him.


Also, permit me to fanboy a bit and get this out of the way. Cue imaginary 2000s punk rock riffs.






LIVIN’ HERE IN JERSEY




FIGHTIN’ VILLAINS FROM ABOVE




YOU GOTTA FIND FIRST GEAR




IN YOUR GIANT ROBOT CAR




YOU. DIG. GIANT ROBOTS.




I. DIG. GIANT ROBOTS.




WE. DIG. GIANT ROBOTS.




CHICKS. DIG. GIANT ROBOTS.




NICE.




On a good day, what’s better than a good ol’ fashioned giant robot fight? If I’ve ever learned anything from watching a shit ton of mecha from wherever I could possibly get ‘em as a kid, there’s only one real answer to this question: absolutely nothing.


Also, I’m not sure if the term “ironic” should be used when we’re moving on from arguably one of the closest fights we’ve had between two characters who’ve never been requested to fight each other to an insanely popular match between two real famous folks that just so happens to be hilariously one-sided and ugly. Then again, this is probs the one other fight I wanted the most since Sephiroth vs. Vergil was a thing, so on my honor as “quite literally the only mecha authority on this blog to the point we had to get Tinnie on this ep because the boi also knows quality when he sees it and he’s the only other guy who knows Gundam”, I gotta give this fight the old college try. (On that note, watch more Transformers and Gundam. Love more mecha.)


Well, time to unpack this mess of a fight as best I can. I wanna dedicate this to the peeps who somehow think that Amuro has this in the bag and will paste Prime in seconds without realizing just how insane G1 stuff is. Also, probs towards the peeps who somehow think that we’re getting stupid Bay shit or mistaking the RX for literally any other Gundam just because names. Anyway, think of this battle as a very, very rough equivalent to making a Real Robot fight a Super Robot. For those who aren’t familiar with the terms, here’s a crash course:


A Real Robot is what would happen if we took a giant robot and integrated them into a “realistic” wartime setting. They wouldn’t be any different than the tanks and fighter jets armies send out today and usually have a lot of pseudo-sciences applied to make their development seem “feasible” or explainable to a certain extent; hence, the word “Real” in “Real Robot.” If you need examples, Gundam kick-started the genre, but other works like these include Code Geass, Pacific Rim, Neon Genesis Evangelion (to a point), Armored Core, Full Metal Panic, Aldnoah.Zero and Knights of Sidonia. Obviously, the RX-78-2 is our Real Robot in this case.


A Super Robot leans towards the side of fantasy as robots basically become superheroes at this point. Peeps in this genre give the middle finger to realism as we see robots that have superpowered attacks, are sentient, can somehow feed off emotions and break the laws of physics all the livelong day. This is the genre that spawned the likes of Power Rangers, Voltron, Mazinger Z, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Zone of the Enders, Megas XLR, Zoids and more. Transformers counts as Super Robot stuff given the whole concept of “robot alien civil war” and thus, we have Optimus providing the other side of the equation.


In other words, this fight is what happens when we get a glorified military vehicle piloted by an ace prodigy against a superhero whose only weakness is trying to hold back at the right time. Maybe if I placed this in comic-book terms, this is what could likely happen if we made Iron Man fight Superman. It’s that one-sided. As much as Amuro has the larger arsenal filled with durability-negating weapons and fancy precognition powers, Prime still tops him and the Gundam by being physically superior in almost every way possible in addition to hilariously big advantages in experience and hax that the RX-78-2 just doesn’t have enough consistent and reliable counters to. Spoiler alert: you’re going to see most of those keywords a lot here.


Let’s first talk about power - destructive capability, durability and what not. Although I could easily say that the Hate Plague and planet-level Megatron feats topple anything that the RX-78-2 can pull off on the account that they objectively and literally are better, I’ll set those aside for now and point out a few other feats Optimus has that proves his advantage here:


The RX-78-2 can lift up roughly 80-ton Zakus? Optimus lifted up part of the Washington Monument, which is almost 1000x heavier than that. The Beam Rifle can penetrate the defenses of larger Mobile Armors and battleships? The Ion Blaster can one-shot Combiners that are strong enough to drill through the Earth’s core and blow the planet up. The Gundam can survive falls from orbit thanks to specialized equipment? Prime can do the same with raw durability alone. Even with the durability negation provided by most of the RX-78-2’s arsenal, its firepower still pales in comparison to the stuff Prime tanks normally, not to mention the slight healing factor he has from the Matrix, so its actual effectiveness can be a bit questionable.


If you want an example of how the numbers pan out, here’s a comparison: the Gundam’s Beam Rifle is estimated to yield around 4 kilotons of TNT at its best via one-shotting Zeon battleships. The feat we listed regarding Optimus and others surviving the refinery explosion Scorponok caused is around 2 petatons. A petaton is equal to 1,000,000,000,000 kilotons. That’s a rough idea of how big the power gap is between the Gundam and Prime given that these are commonly accepted high ends and indicators for both of them, which should also answer the question you might have about how Amuro could probably hurt Optimus. (Spoiler: he can’t.)


Point is that a lot of these higher-end feats spread all across G1 lore lead to Prime having the advantage in terms of raw strength and durability that is all on a whole other scale compared to the stuff that happens within U.C.-era Gundam, or at least the periods in time where Amuro was an active combatant. Hell, the stuff I listed for Optimus was all mainly limited to the cartoon, and there’s an absolute crapton of that to be found and more if we went through everything beyond that, especially the IDW comics which have a heavier emphasis on conflicts that take place entirely within Cybertron and are a massive departure from the majority of Earth-based media.


You can’t even use his death in the movie as an argument that is supposed to hold any weight here. Before dying, Optimus managed to steamroll his way through multiple Decepticons and only bit the dust because of one last shot from Megatron, and he still had enough life in him to finish kicking the crap out of Megs so badly he needed to turn into Galvatron in order to survive. For those who need reminders, Megatron also took part in the tanker and Washington Monument feats we’ve listed in addition to the planet one and repeatedly kicks the asses of his subordinates (including Combiners and Triple Changers) even when teaming up against him.


Trying to compare that to how the RX-78-2 met its end isn’t fair by any means either. As much as Char is Amuro’s destined rival and all, none of the Mobile Suits he’s piloted can’t really be considered within the same league as the peeps Prime often faces off against. Claiming that Optimus wouldn’t withstand shots from the Beam Rifle since it only took a relatively normal laser pistol to nearly kill him is cherry picking compared to the other major durability feats that he has, and trying to turn this line of questioning back towards the RX-78-2 isn’t going to help its case. Under this logic, it’d also be easy to say that Optimus’ attacks could be enough to knock Amuro unconscious and take him out of the equation this way, but let’s try and avoid low-balling here.


Speed is possibly the closest area of the stat trinity given the multiple laser-dodging feats here, although Optimus has a more consistent history with reacting to attacks much faster than anything Amuro or the RX-78-2 have ever dished out or taken, like his fights with Unicron and such giving him FTL reaction speeds whereas those are a lot rarer to find in Gundam. We could be super-generous and say that they are equal, but even if being in the same speed range gave Amuro all the means to reliably react to Optimus’ attacks with Newtype stuff, he has two issues going for him here: he still doesn’t have the power or means to kill Prime, and the Matrix counters that further by having precog of its own.


By the way, that’s all under the assumption that Amuro’s Newtypeness can work on Prime because we’re under the belief that the latter being a sentient life form should make him susceptible to it, and it makes the fight a tad bit fairer. The flipside to all of this is saying that Prime being mechanical should null and void any attempts at precognition, which fucks Amuro over completely by removing the one thing he could even remotely use to stand a fighting chance. Granted, there isn’t a definitive answer to this question on we can give at the moment on account of sentient robots not being a thing in Gundam, but trying to find one still wouldn’t help Amuro much thanks to a lot of these other factors that are still going against him.


“Why have the Matrix at all, though?”, you may ask. After all, that little trinket is responsible for a lot of hax, including but not limited to: healing, resurrection, telekinesis, energy blasts, precognition, time travel, control over all technology and more. Surely it’d be a much fairer fight without it, yeah? True, but at the same time, the Matrix is literally embedded within Optimus’ body and is pretty indestructible to boot, so not only does it count as legitimate default equipment, but it isn’t anything that Amuro can rid himself of if he wants to try and win this. Plus, as we’ve covered earlier, Optimus is certainly strong enough to the point where he won’t even need to use or overly rely upon any hax I’ve listed earlier to win.


The science behind the Minovsky particles isn’t going to help Amuro a lot out here, either. Its EMP-like matter-eating properties may not have much of an effect against Optimus in any case since you’d have to argue that it would somehow work against a Transformers due to the aforementioned differences between those and Gundams and again, Optimus has survived much worse compared to the most damaging attacks the RX-78-2 could ever pull out. It’d be a massive stretch to assume that Optimus would start randomly blacking out, have his Energon reserves messed up or lose control over his weapons.


There’s also the issue of sizes. While the Gundam is three times larger than Optimus if we went with official sizes (Optimus at 6 m vs. the RX-78-2 at 18), that will do little good for him here. Optimus has dealt with his fair share of larger opponents before - Devastator is almost as tall as the RX-78-2, and while the same can be said with Amuro’s own battles against smaller foes, Optimus’ speed advantage combined with his shorter stature in comparison only makes it easier for him to evade the Gundam’s attacks.


The experience advantage is just the icing on the cake here. Optimus is literally millions of years older than any of the wars fought in the Universal Century and over the many lifetimes he’s lived on account of dying a lot and what not, he’s faced too much crazy shit to be fazed by anything the RX-78-2 could toss at him. At best, Amuro has only been an active combatant for 20 years or so while only piloting the RX-78-2 for 4 months, and while he is very much a decorated war hero, he has nothing on Optimus having fought for the fate of the universe against foes with weapons and abilities far more varied and powerful than anything in Amuro has ever had to deal with. I mean, the fact that Prime has managed to stand up to his race’s own version of the Devil and won should at least speak volumes about his advantage here. Also, Cthulhu.


To be honest, the only reason why this fight doesn’t legitimately end in one hit is because of Prime himself. Even if he’s aiming to kill, it’s arguable that he’d still intend to hold back his power when the fight starts and won’t go all out until pushed to do so, and I doubt he’ll ever be in any danger since again, the Gundam simply doesn’t have the means to reliably hurt him gravely, much less actually come close to putting him down for good. Holding back is the only true weakness Prime has, and it isn’t something Amuro can go after or exploit, unlike a more feasible strategy like say, Prime going for the Gundam’s cockpit and killing Amuro straight away to win, which he totally can do.


The fact of the matter is that when it comes down to it, both Amuro and the Gundam are pretty limited to what they can do together. Let me put it this way: the RX-78-2’s powerful ranged weapons run on a very finite quantity of ammunition that Prime could dodge or tank, Amuro’s skill as a melee combatant and tactician doesn’t quite stack up to all the experience and formal training Optimus has in those areas and more, and Newtype precognition can only go so far when the opponent not only has precognition of their own but is still massively stronger and tougher to boot, not to mention the RX’s outdated nature limiting Amuro’s capabilities as a pilot. Also, it doesn’t have any hax of its own to help counter the literal piece of God that Optimus has.


Getting outside help from Sayla wouldn’t help Amuro much, either. Optimus’ powerset, arsenal and fighting style isn’t anything that she or Amuro’s shared Newtype-ness can pick apart for things to exploit, and strategies and moral support can only go so far against such a superior opponent whose kind they’ve had little experience against. In the event she could pilot the G-Fighter in to help Amuro, it still wouldn’t give the RX-78-2 any major buffs akin to a Power Master transformation, that Optimus still wouldn’t remotely need to give him an edge. Besides, he could literally snipe her out of the sky before she could do anything.


Is there any way then that Amuro can realistically get out of this and beat Prime, then? Well, if you choose to low-ball the ungodly hell out of the latter and wank the former, that’s a possibility. Obviously, that isn’t fair so ignoring that, what are we left with? Frankly, his options - however few they may be - are few; hopefully pushing his Newtype abilities to their absolute limits so that he can react to Prime as much as he can do just that, but all that would do is just delay the inevitable.


Now, for most Gundam nerds out there or for the peeps who’ve noticed it here in the blog, y’all must be aware of the fact that the RX-93 Nu Gundam is a thing that Amuro’s moved on to after Mobile Suit Gundam. Y’all are going to point out that the Nu Gundam does everything the older one does but is literally better at it in every way and will undoubtedly question why that’s not the one Amuro’s piloting to fight Prime since it’s the strongest Mobile Suit he’s canonically piloted. Answer’s simple, really: aside from the fact that the RX-78-2 is the OG Gundam and is infinitely more iconic - after all, the episode’s entire theme hinges on that given who its opponent is - it still wouldn’t make a damn difference at all.


Consider that the best feat the Nu Gundam accomplished would be preventing a stray piece of the Axis base from hitting Earth. That may seem impressive, but it comes with caveats: Amuro still had the help of other inferior Mobile Suits at the time that mostly ended up dead, and the act ended up overloading his Psychoframe enough to the point it caused him to disappear. Even with that and the added bonus of more control via Psycommu stuff, none of the Nu Gundam’s better equipment and Amuro’s further experience still isn’t enough to top whatever Optimus has; again: millions of years fighting a lot, a butt-load of hax and minimum planet-level feats are all still out of Amuro’s reach, so even taking him at his absolute best still isn’t going to be enough to win.


This fight’s biggest problem boils down to the amount of material both sides have. We can only really fall back on sticking to Mobile Suit Gundam specifically for the RX-78-2 since that’s where it makes any canonical appearances that can be used for analysis whereas the broad nature of the G1 continuity gives Optimus a lot to work with in terms of feats, scaling and the like, that all point to G1 Transformers simply being the stronger verse in this scenario. Even with making concessions like allowing Amuro the experience he gains as an adult while piloting other suits and limiting Prime to just the cartoon and movie, it doesn’t change the fact that he still has a lot more to bring to the table, which is all going to be too much for Amuro to handle.


In summary, Amuro is - for lack of a better term - utterly fucked on the grounds that he can’t answer the majority of Optimus’ advantages. The Gundam is nowhere close to critically damaging Optimus nor can it survive any of his attacks in turn. It lacks anything resembling a solid lead in speed to consistently land hits or use Amuro’s precognition to react, its heaviest weapons can only last for so long and neither it or Amuro can hard counter Prime’s hax and experience. The poor child is stuck entering an uphill battle against literal robot Jesus which he’ll need a grade-A miracle to walk out alive from, and I doubt it’ll happen any time soon.


Amuro may be ready to mobilize the Gundam into battle, but neither of them is suited enough to walk away with the win. Optimus Prime takes this in the biggest stomp of the season so far.





GB was right, formatting bullet points and all that jazz is truly a bitch. Happy advanced Labor Day!

Malcolm Belmont



Oh Boy, Optimus vs Gundam - well this matchup is interesting compared to last episode - Carnage VS Lucy in that Carnage vs Lucy while not being a requested fight at all was a very interesting debate and could be argued on either side that both sides could win, this episode has the very opposite matchup it is a heavily requested episode that i have seen plenty of people clamor for over the years, but sadly it is also an extreme stomp with one side clearly has better feats then the other as well as vastly outclasses the other in multiple areas. Most of the other guests and official blog members are going to outpoint how just how screwed the Gundam is since Optimus Prime’s Feats are gradually better than Gundam and there are several other areas including Experience and Fighting Capability that Optimus Prime is better in compared to Gundam so i am going to say my personal opinions and thoughts on this fight and how it will play out.


When it comes to Optimus while the stat section is the deciding factor honestly i think there are other key factors that Optimus greatly eclipses Gundam in and that’s experience and tactics. Think about it - the war between the Autobots and the Decidcons have been going on for thousands of years and Optimus has been leading the Autobots for a long time - the amount of decades of battle combat is extremely impressive especially when compared to Amuro who piloted the Gundam RX-78 for about 2-3 months max which quite honestly doesn’t compare to Optimus Prime’s thousands of years.  While experience isn’t always the key factor in order to find out who wins in a fight - in this case i think it very much matters. Optimus’s intelligence and experience will allow him to easily determine any potential exploitable weaknesses found in the Gundam which there are - compared to the Gundam who will find it difficult to figure out Optimus Prime’s Faults. Even if Amuro figures out that he needs to destroy Optimus’s spark in order to end him - it’s going to be extremely difficult to do so especially considering that it is clearly protected and Optimus Prime can simply tap into more power and just annihilate him then and there. If Optimus Prime even thinks that Amuro has the potential to destroy Amuro’s spark (he doesn’t really - his firepower is not nearly enough) - Optimus Prime is going to protect that weak point at all costs making it impossible for Amuro to destroy it. On the other hand the Gundam’s weak point which is Amuro itself is going to be made extremely obvious to Optimus due to his scanning systems that allows him to see through metallic objects. Optimus Prime due to his intelligence will likely determine that Amuro is controlling the robot and he just needs to kill him in order to end him. While the Gundam’s armor will protect him to some extend - Optimus Prime’s weapons should easily be enough to slice through it and kill Amuro.


There is another competent about this fact that i would like to talk about - Hacking. I have heard some people argue that if they are bringing in Sayla for this fight then she could simply hack into Optimus Prime in order to neutralize him - i find this to be extremely implausible for a couple of reasons - the first that Optimus Prime is genetically extremely different to the piloted mechs of Zeon making me question if Sayla has the skill to hack into as complex as Optimus Prime which in my opinion she doesn’t plus Optimus Prime has his own protection and countermeasures against being hacked meaning Optimus Prime could simply resist Sayla’s hacking and destroy her computers remotely. So overall no - hacking Optimus would not work to take him down.


Like my compatriots i just see no way that Amuro could take this - he is simply dwarfed in experience, has no concrete ways of taking him out besides overpowering him (which he doesn’t have the Destructive Capability to do so). Optimus Prime will simply keep taking hits which will at best provide him with a minor annoyance and then find out his main weaknesses and completely dominate him so overall i definitely think Optimus Prime has the win in this matchup. Looks like Optimus Prime’s got the touch needed to defeat Amuro and the Gundam RX-78-2.


Brobuscus


Oh boy. This is legit.

If my profile pic didn’t give it away, I am a HUMONGOUS fan of Optimus Prime. He’s without question my favorite character in all of fictional history. So you can tell, binge watching the OG Transformers cartoon for this blog was an absolute blast. Unfortunately, I couldn’t watch the entire cartoon in time, but I got through quite a bit of it, just enough to make myself confident on the winner.

I should also note that I haven’t watched Gundam, so if I mess up anything, I sincerely apologize.

But yeah, long story short, Prime should have no trouble dealing with anything the Gundam can throw at him. Unfortunately for Amuro, he just doesn’t have the means to hurt Optimus, let alone kill him.

The Gundam may have been able to lift 73 ton beings in the past, but Optimus stopped the collapse of the Washington Monument, which has been lowballed to weigh 80,000 tons, more than 1,000 times heavier than what the Gundam lifted up. So Optimus has a clear cut strength advantage.

The Gundam may have a rocket launcher capable of destroying towns, but Optimus has dealt damage to Megatron, who can shrug off an explosion that launched Cybertron out of Earth’s orbit. Not only that, but the Matrix of Leadership can destroy Unicron, a giant planet eating robot.

The Gundam may be able to survive atmospheric re-entry, but that was with a coolant system, and there are no other feats to support that it could survive a fall like that. But you know who has survived re-entry without the need of a coolant system? That’s right, Optimus Prime. Heck, Optimus has done it twice.

The only debatable stat advantage that the Gundam may have is speed, only enhanced by Amuro’s Newtype abilities giving him precognition. But there’s two issues here. 1.) The Gundam still isn’t strong enough to hurt Optimus, and 2.) The Matrix grants Optimus precog too. So.....yeah.

Oh yeah, and those fancy Minovsky Particles? Yeah, they won’t help him out here. There are people in the Gundam universe, such as other Mobile Armors, which have no-sold them. So, it turns out, they’re not the durability bypassing super beam energy lasers that people think. And considering those Mobile Armors are generally weaker than Optimus, there’s no reason to assume he wouldn’t no-sell it here.

It doesn’t help that Optimus has millions of years of experience over Amuro, and the thing is, Amuro really doesn’t have anything Optimus hasn’t seen before, so Optimus should know how to work around Amuro’s tech.

Honestly, there’s not much to cover here and there’s not much to really think about. Even when lowballed, Optimus is still much stronger, tough enough to take anything thrown at him by the Gundam, can counter Amuro’s precognition with his own precognition, has hax that the Gundam can’t counter, is far more experienced, and can legit do pretty much everything that the Gundam can and much MUCH more.

In the end, my favorite character in all of fiction takes this fight by a longshot.

And I thought Black Panther VS Batman was unfair

Tinnie


Optimus spanks Amuro and the RX with his weakest attack and turns him into the second burning gundam. Nah, for real. Optimus bout to beat my man Amuro harder than I’m about to beat this dead horse. But I’ll spare you the novel because lord knows Ramen just went too far in and just keep this short and simple.

Optimus has literally every advantage he needs and more. Faster, stronger, more durable, smarter, more experience, more reliable arsenal, etc. Doesn’t help that Amuro’s Newtype abilities, his trump card, are intentionally left vague by the writers and the most helpful ability he gets from them, precognition, is negated by Optimus’ own. Not that it matters anyway since the Gundam literally has no way of dealing damage to Optimus.

Hell, let’s look at a scenario where the RX and Optimus have equal physical stats across the board. Optimus still negates Amuro’s advantage of precog and has the experience and intellect to outsmart him with an arsenal that isn’t super limited to back it up. That’d leave the RX with size as the only thing in its favour. And on the off chance that it manages to severely damage Optimus, he can recover from it and be back in tip top shape whilst any damage that the RX takes is lasting there until the end.

As Brobuscus said, this match is just unfair. There’s nothing Amuro and the Gundam can do to stand up to Optimus. They can’t deal any damage and it wouldn’t even matter if they could. They couldn’t take a single hit. They’ve got limited fuel and ammunition. His best abilities are completely negated. His bigger size and slower speed only makes him a bigger target. He can’t outwit or outlast him. There is literally no hope for Amuro in this match no matter how you look at it.

Only thing in this match that’s gone be more than meets the eye is the asswhoopin Optimus finna lay down.




One Last Heads Up

So we just got the announcement that Torrian is moving up to animate gen:Lock for Rooster Teeth, which spells the end for his run as Death Battle’s lead 3D animator. For those of you who don’t keep up with the show or at least aren’t exactly too familiar with the people who run it behind the scenes, Torrian is a gent Screwattack brought on nearly 4 years ago to make those awesome 3D fights with the cool effects and a lot of flippy shit that people just absolutely fucking love for whatever reason. Over the course of his run with DB, he’s animated the following fights - these also include his stints for other shows:
  • Terminator vs. Robocop: The one which wasn’t that good, but peeps gotta start somewhere.
  • Godzilla vs. Gamera: The one with the fight that was just as jank and cheesy as the actual movies.
  • Deadpool vs. Deathstroke: The one he finished while hammered. True story.
  • Samus Aran vs. Boba Fett REMASTERED: The one where he does a Monty for Monty.
  • Iron Man vs. Lex Luthor: The one where all this time, he’s been playing human.
  • Solid Snake vs. Sam Fisher: The one where Metal Gear wins and is automatically god tier. Also, flippy shit and Christopher Sabat.
  • Goku vs. Superman 2: The one where Superman was Kale before Kale.
  • Wolverine vs. Raiden: The one that he “””hinted””” at on Twitter with a silhouette that was so clearly Wolverine. We here at the G1DBFB don’t forget, Torrian. But this matchup was all your idea, so thanks for that man! Also, another one where Metal Gear wins and is automatically god tier.
  • Yang vs. Tifa: The one he voice acted in. No further comments needed or recommended.
  • Pokemon vs. Digimon: The one where they dogged the bois super hard and that hurt.
  • Dante vs. Bayonetta: The one where he literally saved the episode and made it god tier.
  • Ratchet and Clank vs. Jak and Daxter: The one that people really liked a lot. Also, guns.
  • The Joker vs. Sweet Tooth: The one that is somehow the closest we’ve gotten to a death race but it involves clowns.
  • The Meta vs. Agent Carolina: The one with the crossover.
  • Tracer vs. Scout: The one he claims that he forgot he did.
  • Hulk vs. Doomsday: The one that was a hypebeast.
  • Lara Croft vs. Nathan Drake: The one with letterboxes. (Also, Nathan Drake lost so fuck this episode.)
  • Power Rangers vs. Voltron: The one where the better show won.
  • Balrog vs. TJ Combo: The one where I’M BACK (TO RISE) I’M BACK (TO GLOW) I’M BACK (TO FLY) I’M BACK (TO SOAR) I’M BACK (TO WAR) LET THE TRUTH BE TOLD I FEEL ON FIRE LET MY PASSION FLOW.
  • Thor vs. Wonder Woman: The one which preceded Naruto vs. Ichigo. Sorry, man. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  • Sephiroth vs. Vergil: The one which was so goddamn awesome.
  • Crash vs. Spyro: The one where Crash choked and used his Critical Art early, so Spyro popped V-Trigger I and came back to whup his ass, reset the bracket and win EVO.
  • Ryu vs. Jin: The one that was apparently a RWBY episode and no one knew about it. Also, Omega Sparx dropped some sick bars and that was dope.
  • Batman vs. Albert Wesker: The one where Batman dies again. How many times can he keep on doing this? (Answer after the Black Panther fight: not enough.)
  • Lightning vs. Wonder Woman: The one where he makes his waifu win. Because One Minute Melee.
  • Sun Wukong vs. Kim Wu: The one which will come out. Soon. Eventually. Probably.

It’s an understatement to say that many if not all of Torrian’s fights have been the highlights of the show for a long time. Issues over research aside, each of those episodes tend to deliver from an animation perspective, and he has continued to improve on his handiwork as his run progressed. While he isn't completely leaving Death Battle and is still going to stick around in some official capacity, we here at the G1DBFB want to say thanks to Torrian for everything he’s done over at Screwattack, whether as an animator or as the guy who routinely pops up in the Death Battle Cast to say he doesn’t know anything, and wish him nothing but the best of luck as he moves on to bigger things over at Rooster Teeth.

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