- —Tagline
Frieza VS Megatron is the 182nd episode of Death Battle, featuring Frieza from the Dragon Ball series and Megatron from the Transformers series in a battle between transforming space tyrants. Frieza was voiced by Martin Billany and Megatron was voiced by Tom Schalk.
Interlude
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Wiz & Boomstick by Brandon Yates  
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Wiz: Frieza, the dread emperor from Dragon Ball.
Boomstick: And Megatron, the Decepticon commander from Transformers.
Wiz: When these two dictators collide, the cosmos will tremble!
We cut to Wiz and Boomstick.
Boomstick: He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick.
Wiz: And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win... a Death Battle.
Frieza
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Megalo Mayhem by Ceiri Torjussen  
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Wiz: Deep in the bowels of outer space lies a monster so cruel, so callous, so... evil, that the universe itself trembles at his approach. Behold, the mighty Lord Frieza.
Boomstick: Aw, he's adorable with the horns and that floppy tail and the...
We see Vegeta being impaled by a finger blast, Krillin being blown to smithereens, and a giant energy ball destroying a planet play out on-screen, all on horror music sting cues.
Boomstick: ...genocide. Oh... awesome... And he's laughing. Cool.
Wiz: Frieza's diminutive stature and faux gentility were intentionally deceptive and rooted in a surprising place. In response to the Japanese economic bubble at the time, Frieza's design was meant to evoke... real-estate speculators. Series mangaka Akira Toriyama has described such speculators as, “the worst sort of people”. Yes, really.
Boomstick: I guess you could say Frieza is... more than meets the eye. Ah wait, shit! That's later.
Wiz: Much is unknown about Frieza's alien race and heritage, only that he and his father were born as mutants with abnormally high power levels.
Boomstick: Oh, like how the doc said my blood alcohol level was 0.8 straight out the womb! Frieza was so crazy strong, that unlike most Dragon Ball characters who transform to get stronger, Frieza transforms to get weaker. So he doesn't like, accidentally nuke a planet. Only intentionally.
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Wiz: With his father's empire and army at his beck and call, Frieza would cross the universe conquering worlds one by one, and selling them to the highest bidder, just like real-estate speculators!
Boomstick: And if anyone objected, he'd just kill them, their entire family, and everyone they ever knew. Just like real-estate speculators! While he usually lets his weird multicolored alien grunts do his dirty work for him, Frieza's not afraid to throw down himself, especially if some spiky-haired space monkeys start gettin' too uppity for their own good.
Wiz: Frieza's strength comes from his innate understanding and manipulation of his own ki, or life energy, which he can use to enhance his physicality, or manifest into projectile attacks.
Boomstick: Like his classic Death Beam, Death Ball, Death Wave, Death Cannon, Death Saucers... yeah, I'm- I'm sensin' a theme here.
Wiz: Frieza can move mountains with his mind, fire laser beams from his eyes, create ki force fields, and he even learned to sense the ki of others through sheer observation alone. He's fast enough to keep up with Goku's ki attacks, which, scaled to the ki he absorbed for a Spirit Bomb against Kid Buu, could move across the universe in less than a minute. That would be over 17 quadrillion times the speed of light, and he's gotten even stronger and faster since then.
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Collateral by Matthew Slater
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Boomstick: Ya know you're a badass when you can stroll into Planet Vegeta, a planet filled with people whose only higher aspirations involve murder and hair gel, and talk shit like you own the place. And he got so paranoid about one of them getting strong enough to kick his ass that he blew up the freakin' planet!
Wiz: Considering Planet Vegeta has 10 times the gravity of Earth, this would mean it likely has 10 times the mass and 100 times the energy required to overcome its gravitational binding energy and destroy it. That's over 5.3 yottatons of TNT.
Boomstick: And that was in his weakest form! Too bad he kind of missed a spot. Or several, because a bunch of Saiyans survived to fight another day. Space genocide just ain't what it used to be.
Wiz: This would come back to bite him when he was finally forced to confront the Earth-bound Saiyan, Kakarot, and accidentally ended up being the reason he turned into the legendary Super Saiyan.
Boomstick: Like the albino dildo he is, Frieza has survived being pounded by Broly for over an hour straight, crushed by Goku's Spirit Bomb, and then split in half, consumed by an exploding planet, and left to float in the vacuum of space.
Wiz: He can survive without the vast majority of his body, though unlike other Dragon Ball villains, he can't heal on his own.
Boomstick: It didn't help him that much after he got his ass sent to Hell. But, because of that dragon and his balls, he was back at it again.
Wiz: And with just four months' worth of training, the first time he'd ever trained in his entire life, Frieza was able to achieve a new transformation capable of surpassing the Super Saiyan: Golden Frieza.
Boomstick: That's a level of laziness I aspire to, Wiz. DeviantArt Frieza here lets him keep up with Super Saiyan Blue Goku and Vegeta.
Wiz: A significantly weaker Super Saiyan God Goku could blow up the whole of Universe 7 in a punch clash with the God of Destruction, Beerus, and the shockwaves of their punches were able to reach the edges of existence in only a few seconds, over 270 quadrillion times the speed of light, and that is before so many years of power-ups and training between then and now.
Boomstick: Totally crazy, but nothing compared to his newest and greatest form.
Wiz: A transformation capable of surpassing Goku's Ultra Instinct and Vegeta's Ultra Ego, their peaks at this point.
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Hell Is Beautiful by Adam Arthur Dearborn 
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Wiz: A transformation even stronger than Gas, who was wished to be the strongest in the universe.
We cut to Wiz and Boomstick, the latter of whom is holding a fish bowl full of water with a goldfish swimming about in it.
Boomstick: He literally said "F you" to the Dragon Balls. This is Black Frieza!
Wiz: The all-seeing Oracle Fish had prophesized the coming of the universe's strongest, and perhaps he was talking about Frieza all along.
Boomstick suddenly begins shaking the bowl.
Boomstick: C'mon, give us another prediction!
When he stops, the poor goldfish is now upside down, clearly dead from his actions.
Boomstick: Oh... Wiz, I think you're gonna die...
Wiz sighs in disbelief as we cut back to the analysis.
Boomstick: Though, for some godforsaken reason, he didn't use his newfound power to kill those pesky Saiyans. They were right there, ya moron!
Wiz: In fact, he once committed the arch villain's greatest sin and teamed up with them to save their universe and beat Jiren, a being comparable to the Gods of Destruction!
Boomstick: Because no one's allowed to destroy the universe but him.
Wiz: And that's a promise he means to keep. This almighty emperor will continue to rule the universe with an iron grip and a heart of ice.
Megatron
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Wiz: You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.
Boomstick: Or ya live even longer and become an '80s toy commercial. This is Megatron.
Wiz: In Cybertron's ancient past, the planet was ruled by the functionist religious order, which decreed a Transformer's natural-born alternate mode determined their role and status in society rather than letting them choose for themselves. Born into this repressive cast system, Megatron of Tarn dreamed of something more.
Boomstick: So this giant Hasbro toy robot, only $5.99 at your nearest Rite Aid, wrote a manifesto on peaceful dissent that got popular with the oppressed Cybertronian working class. So much so, in fact, that the Senate tried to have him assassinated. Wuh-oh, politics alert!
Wiz: After surviving that brush with death, Megatron was convinced that peace could never be an option. The only path left to overthrow the crippling social order was violent revolution.
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Vesuvius 2 by Darren Leigh Purkiss
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Boomstick: So, were the Autobots originally the bad guys here? Optimus Prime? More like Optimus "Crime"! Never say that Megatron wasn't committed. The civil war he started between the two groups lasted nine million f***in' years! And again, remember, toy robots.
Wiz: He was aided in his war efforts by his immensely powerful Fusion Cannon, a giant laser bazooka that can hit targets from 12 miles away and level a small town in a single shot. These projectiles are so fast, they're able to exit the atmosphere from ground level after only a single second. By scaling the distance of the Earth using the angle of this shot, the Fusion Cannon's projectile must be moving over 4,200 times the speed of sound.
Boomstick: But, like me, the Fusion Cannon needs a little time to recharge between shots, so Megatron's got some tools to keep the job goin'. He can close the distance with his Energon mace and block blows with his Energon shield. It helps that Megs literally fought as a gladiator before his stunt as a revolutionary.
Wiz: Megatron can fire lasers from his eyes and arms, launch buzzsaws strong enough to slice through solid rock, fly through the air, and open up a force field known as a "Panic Bubble".
Boomstick: Now, it might seem like a huge flaw that lets enemy combatants inside, but that's only until you realize it won't let them back out again. That's when the "Panic" part comes in; Megatron's not trapped in there with you. You're trapped in there with him.
Wiz: Megatron's Cybertronian body is strong enough to match the Autobot leader, Optimus Prime, who can toss around oil tankers weighing hundreds of thousands of tons. And Megatron's metallic hide was tough enough to survive an explosion so massive, it launched the entire planet of Cybertron through space.
Boomstick: By takin' a look at Cybertron's mass and how fast it was sent flyin' to get its overall kinetic energy, Megatron must have survived a blast equal to nearly 4.5 ninatons of TNT, enough to annihilate a small star! He can even keep up with Decepticons like Starscream, who can fly across the galaxy from Earth to Cybertron at hundreds of thousands of times the speed of light.
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Relentless by Matreya
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Wiz: And he wouldn't be a Transformer without being able to... transform into various vehicles. A tank, a stealth bomber jet, a—
The Transformers morphing sound plays.
Boomstick: And a gun! Just a gun. Walther P38, in fact. I'm sorry, Wiz. I know he's this tragic revolutionary corrupted by the cycle of violence or whatever, but... that is the funniest shit I have ever seen! What, does he have like his Decepti-buddies point him at people and fire?
Wiz: Sometimes. He can fire himself, too.
Boomstick: (cracking up) Oh my God. That looks even sillier.
Wiz: You may be laughing, but Megatron is no joke. By utilizing space bridge teleportation technology, Megatron can establish a remote link up to a nearby black hole and teleport the antimatter it produces to his location.
Boomstick: Through his eyeballs~!
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Dragon Hunter by George Stephen Twydell
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We cut to Wiz, the monitor behind him giving an example of what he's saying, utilizing DUMMI as matter and antimatter.
Wiz: Should matter and antimatter meet, they will be mutually annihilated, in a brilliant release of energy defined by E=mc^2. It doesn't matter how durable the matter is, it will be destroyed at the subatomic level.
We cut back to the analysis.
Boomstick: As Megatron's war for control of Cybertron dragged on, all of his highfalutin' ideals started to fall to the wayside.
Wiz: In essence, there used to be a point to the war. Now, war... was the point. His only goal left was to rule Cybertron with a literal iron fist.
Boomstick: That's where Megatron's greatest weapon came into play: his mind. The dude is a strategic and tactical genius who's always thinking 10 steps ahead.
Wiz: He's fought powerful Transformers like Grimlock, Predaking, and the Deceptigod, a being with the power of an entire evil universe behind it!
Boomstick: He and Optimus have even fought Nova Prime and Regenesis Shockwave, both of whom could utilize the energy of that same universe!
Wiz: Megatron once sealed himself inside an Omniglobe and commanded a thousand real life battles at once, funneling every iota of relevant information into his brain at the same time. The sheer deluge of data would be incomprehensible for anyone without that supercomputer brain.
Boomstick: But all that robot ass-kicking ended up as a draw, and the only true loser was Cybertron.
Wiz: With the planet in ruins and its civilization extinguished, the Cybertronian Golden Age was long over, and the vanguard of its destruction was Megatron.
Boomstick: Who's now a crusty Saturday morning cartoon villain with a voice that sounds like he smokes 40 packs a day, and a hate-boner for his bone-headed second-in-command, Starscream.
Wiz: After countless millennia of a humiliating stalemate with his boy scout rival, Megatron's billiant mind finally turned inward. He remembered that his early writings advocated for peaceful conversion and free thought instead of domination.
Boomstick: It took you nine million years to remember why you started fighting in the first place?! What, did that memory get lost in the cloud?
Wiz: In what was possibly his most surprising tactical move yet, Megatron saved the universe from annihilation... as an Autobot!
Boomstick: WHAT?!
Wiz: He realized that after millions of years of indefinite war, the ideals that he fought for, freedom, justice, equality, had switched sides. And Megatron had to as well.
Boomstick: Turns out, there was more to this supervillain than met the eye, because true to his nature, Megatron transformed.
Prelude
Wiz: Alright, the combatants are set. We've run the data through all possibilities.
Boomstick: IT'S TIME FOR A DEATH BATTLEEE!!!
Death Battle
In the orbit of the lone planet of Cybertron, an armada of massive spaceships approach the robotic celestial body. The leader of this fleet, Lord Frieza, flies down on his own hover pod to address and negotiate with the leader of the Decepticons, Megatron, who is floating before them.
Frieza: Greetings, noble warrior of Planet Cyber-whatever. I, Lord Frieza, claim this world as my own. Cheer for me or face annihilation.
Unfazed by Frieza's threat, Megatron makes it clear that he will not give up his home without a fight.
Megatron: I have fought for my planet for eons. I would rather see it turned to ash than reside in your filthy hands, organic scum!
Frieza: Ohohohohohoo! I love it when they monologue back.
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Final Formers by Brandon Yates
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Frieza lifts up his finger, unleashing a Supernova and sending it straight towards Megatron and his planet. In response, the Decepticon leader fires at it with his Fusion Cannon, which knocks it back at the Frost Demon, engulfing him and his fleet. The Supernova destroys all of Frieza's spaceships, but the blast soon turns from a fiery orange to a royal purple. It then dissipates as Frieza emerges, floating alone in his Final Form.
Frieza: Pity. I'll have to construct a new mothership from your corpse!
The true fight then begins as Frieza unleashes a Death Wave upon Megatron, who uses his Panic Bubble to shield himself from it. It instead passes through him and creates a massive explosion on Cybertron, which he looks back on. Annoyed by the scarring of his home world, Megatron fires on Frieza with the Fusion Cannon again, only for him to effortlessly evade it and sideswipe him twice with his Nova Strike.
Frieza: What's wrong? Is that clunky robot body too slow to keep up?
Immediately after taunting Megatron, Frieza unwittingly collides his head with the inner wall of the Panic Bubble as Megatron seals them both inside it.
Megatron: My wits should more than suffice, you blithering ponce!
Megatron then clubs Frieza hard enough to send him flying out of the Bubble and onto Cybertron's surface with another big explosion. Frieza stands back up, shrugs off the hit with an indifferent crack of his neck, and unleashes a Barrage Death Beam at Megatron.
Megatron uses his Energon mace to deflect the shots and then uses his Fusion Cannon to launch it at Frieza, but he dodges it. Megatron continues to blast at Frieza with the cannon until he manages to land a hit, embedding Frieza into the ground. Cackling malevolently, Megatron repeatedly shoots at the crater Frieza was buried in. Frieza flies out, and the two engage in a bit of close-quarters combat before Frieza ensnares Megatron in an Imprisonment Ball from behind and launches him towards the ground. The camera pulls out from Cybertron to reveal the resultant explosion, which devastates an enormous area of the mechanical planet.
In the aftermath of the blast, Frieza searches for his foe while growling in annoyance.
Frieza: Where did he go?
As the dust settles, Frieza turns around to see that Megatron, now in tank form, had survived the blast. He aims his cannon at Frieza, charges a powerful energy beam, and promptly fires it at him. Frieza extends his hand in an attempt to block the beam as it connects and launches him further into space. However, it pauses for a split second and explodes into a gleaming ball of light. It is immediately revealed to be the doing of Frieza, transforming into his Golden Frieza form. The camera pans around him, displaying his elegancy before he absorbs the sphere and emerges. Giggling with glee, Golden Frieza charges up a extremely large Death Ball and sends it straight towards his foe.
Megatron then redirects his cannon towards the ground and fires, thus launching himself upwards towards the Death Ball. He then transforms back to his normal form and starts maniacally laughing again as he fires a beam from his Fusion Cannon to counteract Frieza's attack. Frieza growls at Megatron's persistence, but then decides to telekinetically pull the Transformer's own planet towards him. Megatron does not realize this until it is too late, leaving his planet to slam into him and make him stop firing. Consequentially, the Death Ball slams into both him and his planet, resulting in a blinding explosion.
With Cybertron now completely in ruin and crumbling apart, Frieza taunts Megatron, now on his knees in the middle of a massive crater, estimating how long it will be before the planet's impending doom.
Frieza: Well, doesn't this just always happen? I give it three- no, five minutes.
Enraged by Frieza's arrogance, Megatron roars with fury at the condition of his home.
Megatron: MY PLANET!!!!!
The enraged Megatron fires beams of energy from his eyes at Frieza, who only grins and uses his own, appearing to put no effort into them and overpowering Megatron, turning him around. Despite having been overpowered, Megatron slowly chortles as antimatter pours from his face and he mocks his foe, who slowly loses his composure over Megatron's monologue.
Megatron: Behold the mighty Lord Frieza, ruler of a dying planet. My planet. Where is your army? Where is your ship? So powerful, and yet you will wander the depths of space for eternity, all because of me! What a fool.
Angered by his opponent's words, Golden Frieza loses his smug attitude and adopts his Black Frieza form.
Frieza: You despicable cretinous worm! I'll torture you until your screams can be heard in the vacuum of space!
Just then, Megatron's antimatter begins spreading around himself and towards Frieza.
Megatron: Die a fool's death!
Black Frieza, stunned by the destructive power, screams in agony as it completely swarms him. When the smoke of the dying planet's core clears, Megatron, all alone, begins laughing, believing his foe to be dead. However, a Death Saucer bisects him from the waist behind, leaving the top half of his body to fall to the ground. Groaning in pain, he sees that the now-crazed Black Frieza is alive and less-than-well, as he floats with his left arm and bottom half of his body gone from the antimatter attack.
Frieza: YOU WILL DIE BY MY HAND!
Megatron: YOU FOOL!
The immobile Megatron shoots one more blast of his Fusion Cannon at Black Frieza, but the latter forms three more Death Saucers with his only hand and throws them, which combine together and easily cut through the Fusion Cannon's shot. Megatron can do nothing as it pierces not just through his head, but the entirety of Cybertron with enough force to detonate it in a purple planet-consuming blast.
Black Frieza remains alone, engulfed in his own energy that continues to erupt as he stops bleeding from his severed torso, staring at the camera with silent rage, and clenching his only fist as he makes a new resolve.
Frieza: Cybertronians... Must... kill them all.
Results
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Final Formers by Brandon Yates
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Boomstick: Wrong again, Frieza! It was actually one minute and 10 seconds! Idiot.
Wiz: Megatron's ruthless resilience may have netted him a win in some scenarios, but Frieza's overwhelming power gave him a clear edge.
Boomstick: Megatron's ace-in-the-hole was his antimatter, which would have annihilated Frieza's ass no matter how tough it was.
Wiz: And that was a real possibility. Megatron is a master tactician and manipulator with millions of years of combat experience. Frieza, on the other hand, has always relied on his raw power and intimidation to win fights.
Boomstick: When things don't go his way, he has a tendency to... freak out.
Wiz: However, Frieza has survived getting most of his body obliterated and kept going.
Boomstick: Which meant the antimatter wasn't a surefire win. It would have to completely cover Frieza's whole body before he could react, and Frieza was way too fast for that.
Wiz: While Megatron scaled to characters who could cross galaxies, Frieza has kept up with Goku, who should be at least trillions of times faster.
Boomstick: Add on his smaller size and ki forcefields, Frieza had more than enough ways to avoid, defend, or survive the antimatter.
Wiz: So Megatron's only option was power. While Megatron has survived planet-busting explosions and even fought with a being that had the energy of a universe behind it, Golden Frieza was just too much for him, considering he certainly surpassed Goku and Beerus' punch clash. Since Universe 7 as a whole should be over 13 times larger than our own universe, Frieza's super forms would far exceed Megatron's own power.
- He looks hype though!
Boomstick: And that feat happened at the beginning of Dragon Ball Super. Goku has gotten leagues stronger since then, and Black Frieza is currently beyond him. There was just no way Megatron was strong enough to keep up.
Wiz: Megatron was a devious foe, but Frieza's power, speed, and sheer survivability allowed him to crush the Decepticon leader underfoot.
Boomstick: I guess you could say Megatron was cool, but Frieza... was cooler.
We cut to the "Winner" card.
Wiz: The winner is Frieza.
Comparison
Frieza
- + Notably faster
- + Much more powerful
- + Had plenty of defensive counters
- - Vulnerable to antimatter
Megatron
- + More experienced
- + Smarter
- - Physically inferior
- - Larger size made for bigger target
Original Track
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Final Formers by Brandon Yates
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Composition
The track for this fight is "Final Formers" by Brandon Yates, with mixing and mastering done by Anthony DiGiacomo. It is a fast-paced vocal rock track combining elements of the high-energy Dragon Ball soundtracks and the '80s guitar heard in the Transformers soundtracks, with Ben stating in one of this episode's then-recent Members-only Fireside Chat that the goal of it was to sound like a villainous sister track to Wings of Iron. Some of the rhythm and lyrical tone riffs on "F" by Maximum the Hormone, and the middle of the track includes an orchestral choir rendition with some similar chord progression to Frieza's Golden Form theme, fitting for his transformation to said form in the fight. The post-chorus also makes reference to "Deceptive Tyrants", a fan-commissioned track for this matchup Yates previously worked on.
Title
The title refers to the transforming theme that both combatants share, specifically with both Frieza's Final Form and Megatron's species as a Transformer.
Cover Arts
The original cover art done by John Mitchell depicts Frieza's right arm creating a Supernova radiating beams of energy that features the Decepticon logo at its center and mechanical plating surrounding it to make it resemble the planet Cybertron. Golden trails of energy surround Frieza's arm and the Supernova, along with a white trail with a black glow, both likely representing Golden and Black Frieza.
The cover art of the remastered version done by DekHead (which was created for the track's remaster following Rooster Teeth's shutdown) is done in the style of a metal album cover, depicting a screaming, battle-damaged Megatron with antimatter pouring out of his eyes and destroying part of his side where the artist credit is located. The antimatter features the track's title within it, and surrounded by it is a wireframe model of Frieza's Cosmic Suit emitting a purple glow, referencing Megatron's transformation into Galvatron in The Transformers: The Movie. A pink wormhole (a reference to the one seen in the second season intro of the original Transformers cartoon) can be seen emerging from Megatron's damaged body. The background depicts a beam struggle between Frieza's ship and the Decepticons' Nemesis ship in space, as well as two explosions, one to the left of Frieza's ship and one below the Nemesis.
Lyrics
Thunder roars across the vast unknown, |
Trivia
Production
- The core connections between Frieza and Megatron are that they are both selfish, arrogant, ruthless, powerful alien warlords who lead armies (the Frieza Force and the Decepticons, respectively) to conquer planets and accomplish their goals through either deception or brute force. In addition:
- Both are responsible for the fall of their arch-enemies' home planet (Planet Vegeta and Cybertron, respectively), which ended up indirectly creating their arch-enemies in the process, both of whom are considered their equals in combat (Son Goku and Optimus Prime, respectively).
- Both are constantly fighting a race of alien heroes (Saiyans and Autobots, respectively) to determine the fate of the Earth, although they both have a history of temporarily teaming up with the protagonists to take on a common foe.
- Both are capable of manipulating forms of life energy (Ki and Energon, respectively) and are associated with the color purple, with it being a part of their designs and energy attacks.
- Both have a history of being betrayed/thwarted by a fellow warrior who worked under them (Vegeta and Starscream, respectively).
- Both can take on other forms to alter their powers (Frieza has numerous transformations that increase his power and Megatron can transform into a gun, tank, or stealth bomber).
- Both were turned into something more powerful after their defeat (Frieza was turned into Mecha Frieza by his father's scientists and Megatron was reborn as Galvatron by Unicron).
- Several major incarnations of G1 Megatron (most notably his IDW counterpart, whose backstory was used for Megatron's analysis) were defined by being a revolutionary, fighting against the same kind of tyranny that Frieza, as a cosmic tyrant, upholds to his core, only for Megatron to become the thing he fought against.
- In Takara's Japanese G1 continuity, its iteration of Megatron has a super form dubbed Gold Megatron, which mirrors Frieza's own Golden form (though it ultimately wasn't factored in, as the episode considers Takara and Hasbro's G1s to be conflicting canons).
- This is the first Death Battle that DevilArtemis has animated with Blender.[1]
- This is also the first Dragon Ball episode that DevilArtemis, who is known for his Dragon Ball animations on his YouTube channel, has animated for Death Battle.
- Starting with this episode, episodes and their analysis previews no longer receive early FIRST Members/Champions releases. This was due to the early releases being internally speculated to be negatively affecting the overall performance of the episode on YouTube, with this episode having been the first as an initial test to see the potential difference.[2]
- This is the second episode since Black Adam VS Apocalypse whose Next Time trailer wasn't reuploaded as a YouTube Short, after Ant-Man VS Atom, and with the next two being Rick Sanchez VS The Doctor and Goku VS Superman (2023).
- According to former editor Nick Cramer, this episode had been far enough along in a prior season that he had gotten to the point of editing the analyses, before it would ultimately end up being delayed until after his contract with Rooster Teeth wasn't renewed, with the reason for it taking so long to be finished being unknown.[3]
- Because of this fact, this is the first episode to credit Nick as an editor since he was let go from Rooster Teeth at the end of Season 9.
- It was eventually revealed in the April 24th, 2024 Fireside Chat that this episode was meant to happen in Season 8, but was delayed and replaced with Goku Black VS Reverse-Flash instead.
- This is the second episode whose track references a fan-commissioned track (in this case being "Deceptive Tyrants" from Vol. 1 of Brandon Yates' "What If?" commission tracks), after Deku VS Asta.
- The tagline for the episode is different between the Rooster Teeth and YouTube releases, with the former being "Who wins this galactic battle?".
- The storyboards by John Mitchell reveal numerous differences and cut scenes compared to the final episode. In order, they are as follows:
- Numerous pieces of dialogue were changed between the boards and the final episode.
- Appule originally appeared at the beginning of the alongside Frieza to remind him what Cybertron's name was. After Megatron shoots Frieza's Supernova back at him, the boards show Appule trying to flee, only to get vaporized alongside Frieza's ships.
- The scene in the Panic Bubble scene is longer in the boards, with Megatron grabbing Frieza and flailing him around a few before forcefully throwing him out of the force field.
- Instead of Frieza trapping Megatron in an Imprisonment Ball and launching him into the ground after their midair scuffle in the final episode, the boards had Frieza grab Megatron's Energon mace after he swung it at him, throw him onto the ground, and fire a Death Beam at him.
- The scene of Megatron firing in his Tank form is longer in the boards, with Frieza dodging the initial blast and flying around the tank cannon before getting hit by another blast that interrupts him creating a Death Saucer.
- Golden Frieza's transformation scene is much shorter in the boards.
- After noticing Cybertron being pulled closer to him, Megatron originally stood his ground and continued firing at Frieza's Death Ball after landing and kneeling on its surface instead of his attack being cut short by the planet impacting him.
- After Megatron screams "MY PLANET!!!!!" in rage, he originally lunged at Frieza and tried to punch him, only for Frieza to trap him in an Imprisonment Ball and kick him around before Megatron broke free with a shot from his Fusion Cannon and the two got into an arm grapple and an ensuing eye beam clash. The final episode instead goes straight to the eye beam clash after Megatron's scream.
- Frieza originally tried to escape Megatron's antimatter attack in the boards instead of floating still and looking around in shock.
- Megatron's death is slightly extended in the boards, with Frieza redirecting the initial Death Saucer he used to bisect Megatron to cut the Fusion Cannon's blast in half and slice off his right arm before summoning (and subsequently launching) another batch of Death Saucers to kill him and blow up Cybertron.
- One of Death Battle's 2D animators, Susie Combs, drew art for the episode after its release to commemorate the episode getting #1 on YouTube's Trending page.[4]
- This is the seventh episode she made art for, after Darth Vader VS Obito Uchiha, Phoenix VS Raven, Guts VS Dimitri, and Martian Manhunter VS Silver Surfer, Bill Cipher VS Discord, and Cole MacGrath VS Alex Mercer, and with the next two being Gojo VS Makima and Scooby-Doo VS Courage the Cowardly Dog.
- This episode was released the same week as the first issue of Skybound's Transformers comic, which featured Starscream as the new leader of the Decepticons on Earth with Megatron no longer around to lead them for (at the time) unknown reasons.
- The second thumbnail for this episode used uncredited fan art of both Frieza and Megatron by Yholl on DeviantArt and Tim Shinn on Twitter, respectively. The thumbnail was later updated to replace the fan art with official artwork.
- This makes it the 20th episode where at least one of its thumbnails uses fan art, after Zitz VS Leonardo, Kratos VS Spawn, Bomberman VS Dig Dug, Vegeta VS Shadow, Chun-Li VS Mai Shiranui, Ivy VS Orchid, Fulgore VS Sektor, Godzilla VS Gamera, Deadpool VS Pinkie Pie, Lucario VS Renamon, Raven VS Twilight Sparkle, Leon Kennedy VS Frank West, Nightwing VS Daredevil, All Might VS Might Guy, Black Canary VS Sindel, Beerus VS Sailor Galaxia, Blake VS Mikasa, Steven Universe VS Star Butterfly, and Sauron VS Lich King, and with the next one being Rick Sanchez VS The Doctor.
- This is the third episode where said thumbnail uses fan art for both combatants instead of just one, after Ivy VS Orchid and Godzilla VS Gamera.
- This makes it the 20th episode where at least one of its thumbnails uses fan art, after Zitz VS Leonardo, Kratos VS Spawn, Bomberman VS Dig Dug, Vegeta VS Shadow, Chun-Li VS Mai Shiranui, Ivy VS Orchid, Fulgore VS Sektor, Godzilla VS Gamera, Deadpool VS Pinkie Pie, Lucario VS Renamon, Raven VS Twilight Sparkle, Leon Kennedy VS Frank West, Nightwing VS Daredevil, All Might VS Might Guy, Black Canary VS Sindel, Beerus VS Sailor Galaxia, Blake VS Mikasa, Steven Universe VS Star Butterfly, and Sauron VS Lich King, and with the next one being Rick Sanchez VS The Doctor.
- The version of Final Formers released on YouTube and Spotify and the version within the fight itself are significantly different, with the fight version adding in an entire horn intro section for Frieza and Megatron's initial confrontation over Cybertron's fate at the start of the fight, a short instrumental break during the scene of Frieza looking for Megatron, and an entire outro section after the fake-out kill, as well as cutting out the lyrics during certain parts of the track (namely during Golden Frieza's transformation sequence and after Frieza telekinetically pulls Cybertron into Megatron) and extending the instrumentals for Megatron's taunting monologue towards Frieza, all of which were changes made so that the track better fits with the fight animation.
- The fight version of the track would later be uploaded to the Death Battle channel as part of their series of AMVs exclusive to Death Battle Champions.
- At the beginning of the season, a teaser trailer was released that included a Gravity Falls-inspired zodiac wheel with 16 symbols on it, each representing and hinting toward an episode in the season. After the release of the Season Finale, the Death Battle YouTube channel began revealing the answers to the zodiac wheel by posting the answers in pinned comments under the symbols' respective episodes. This episode was revealed to be represented by the shuffle symbol.[5] This is because both combatants shuffle themselves around via their many transformations, especially in regards to Megatron's species, as Transformers move their components around whenever they transform.
Easter Eggs
- Four subjects listed in Frieza's "Likes" and "Hates" bullet points in his "Background" slide are references:
- "Grape soda" refers to this memetic collaboration commercial for grape-flavored Kirin Mets cola made to promote Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’.
- "Frieza day" refers to the holiday of the (mostly) same name from DragonBall Z Abridged.
- "Yamcha" refers to this cutscene from Dragon Ball FighterZ's Story Mode, where Frieza compliments Yamcha's appearance and mannerisms.
- The "stuffed animals" listed in Frieza's list of hates refer to the Angels of Hell that watched over him during his time in Earth's Hell.
- Wiz quotes Harvey Dent's "die a hero" quote from The Dark Knight at the beginning of Megatron's analysis.
- This is the second episode to reference the quote, after Darth Vader VS Obito Uchiha.
- Boomstick saying that Megatron's Panic Bubble doesn't trap him in there with you, but trap you in there in with him references Rorschach's "You're locked in here with me" quote from the 2009 Watchmen film.
- Boomstick saying "that is the funniest shit I have ever seen!" in Megatron's analysis in regards to him turning into a gun is a reference to the "He turned himself into a pickle, funniest shit I've ever seen." meme from Rick and Morty.
- This is the second episode to reference the meme, after Tanjiro VS Jonathan Joestar, and with the next one being Rick Sanchez VS The Doctor.
- The initial set of energy attacks, with Frieza sending a Death Ball towards Cybertron with a finger and Megatron firing back at it, are a direct parallel to Bardock's last stand at the end of Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku, with the primary difference being that Megatron actually succeeds in repelling the Death Ball from his home planet.
- The shot immediately after Frieza transforms into his Final Form is a reference to his intro animation in Dragon Ball FighterZ.
- Frieza being incapable of sensing Megatron's energy likely references concepts originating from Dragon Ball's Android Saga, where other mechanical beings (such as Android 18) were fully incapable of being detected through Ki sensing.
- The pose Frieza takes when attempting to block Megatron's tank beam replicates when he was trying to block Goku's 20x Kaio-ken Kamehameha in their battle on Namek.
- Frieza's Golden transformation sequence is a shot-for-shot remake of the one seen in the Dragon Ball Super anime.
- Frieza's line upon Cybertron's demolished state, "Well, doesn't this just always happen? I give it three- no, five minutes.", is a reference to how he declared Namek would be destroyed in five minutes after he nuked a large majority of the planet.
- Boomstick comments on this at the beginning of the post-analysis, saying that it actually took a minute and 10 seconds, a nod to how both Namek in the Dragon Ball Z anime and Cybertron in the fight don't take the stated duration needed to detonate.
- The pose Frieza takes upon being hit with Megatron's antimatter resembles the one he made after being hit by Goku's final attack on Namek, likely to help sell the idea of it being a fake-out kill.
- Additionally (and more obviously), Frieza's wounded state after surviving the antimatter gives him the same wounds he had after accidentally cutting himself in half during his fight with Super Saiyan Goku on Namek.
- The final exchange of words between the two combatants, Frieza yelling "You will die by my hand!" and Megatron yelling "You fool!" in response, is a reference to the exact same lines said by Frieza and Goku on Namek.
- Boomstick's ending pun for this episode is a nod to the same line that Goku says at the end of TeamFourStar's DragonBall Z Abridged Movie: Cooler 2: The Return of Cooler's Revenge – The Reckoning: "At the end of the day, Freezer was Cooler, and Cooler... was Freezer."
- Final Formers contains the line "Deceptive tyrants never choose to make amends" in its post-chorus, referencing "Deceptive Tyrants", the What-If? commission track Brandon Yates made for this match prior to this episode.
Errors
- In Megatron's analysis, Boomstick states that the Cybertron blast he survived was worth 4.5 ninatons of TNT. However, the official International System of Units clarifies that such a number would be "ronnatons" instead of "ninatons", a change which has occurred since November 2022, 11 months before this episode released.[6] Whether this was because the episode was produced before the change or not is unknown.
- One of the clips used for Megatron in the verdict depicts his Transformers Animated counterpart, who is part of a completely separate universe cluster than G1, and thus not part of the composite that was used.
- Additionally, the prelude has a clip of the live action film version of Megatron from Universal Studios, though this was likely intentionally added as just a joke, as that Megatron is known primarily for his humorous and purposefully out-of-character banter with the guests.
- When Megatron turns into a tank and Frieza looks back at him, part of the ground texture behind Megatron is missing and the space background can be seen through it.
- The third popup box in the post-analysis mentioning Shockwave is missing the period in its last sentence.
Other
- This is the seventh Cartoon VS Anime/Manga-themed episode, after Gaara VS Toph, Samurai Jack VS Afro Samurai, Optimus Prime VS Gundam, Aang VS Edward Elric, Zuko VS Shoto Todoroki, and Saitama VS Popeye.
- This is the second time that the Anime/Manga character wins, after Zuko VS Shoto Todoroki.
- This is the 14th Anime/Manga VS Comic Book-themed episode, after Goku VS Superman 1, Goku VS Superman 2, Android 18 VS Captain Marvel, Carnage VS Lucy, Optimus Prime VS Gundam, Genos VS War Machine, Venom VS Crona, Hulk VS Broly, Goku Black VS Reverse-Flash, Saitama VS Popeye, Thor VS Vegeta, Magneto VS Tetsuo, and Trunks VS Silver, and with the next three being Goku VS Superman (2023), Omni-Man VS Bardock, and Simon the Digger VS White Lantern.
- This is the fifth time that the Anime/Manga character wins, after Android 18 VS Captain Marvel, Carnage VS Lucy, Venom VS Crona, and Hulk VS Broly.
- This episode marks the first time in which five vocal tracks were released within consecutive episodes (preceded by Bill Cipher VS Discord's "Discordant Decipher" and Cole MacGrath VS Alex Mercer's "[inHuman]", and followed by Gojo VS Makima's "Who Wears the Crown" and Scooby-Doo VS Courage the Cowardly Dog's "Forever Terror Night").
- This is the seventh 3D fight to directly follow another 3D fight, after Dante VS Bayonetta, Batgirl VS Spider-Gwen, Yoda VS King Mickey, Excalibur VS Raiden, James Bond VS John Wick, and Sauron VS Lich King.
- This is the fifth 3D fight to directly follow another 3D fight in the same season, after Batgirl VS Spider-Gwen, Excalibur VS Raiden, James Bond VS John Wick, and Sauron VS Lich King.
- Prior to this episode, Brandon Yates made a track for this matchup called "Deceptive Tyrants" as part of his "What If?" commission tracks.
- This track is referenced in the official track for the episode, as its title is name-dropped in the post-chorus of the track.
- This makes it the sixth episode that received its own commission track before its release, after Blake VS Mikasa, Goku Black VS Reverse-Flash, Jason Voorhees VS Michael Myers, Guts VS Dimitri, and Bill Cipher VS Discord, and with the next seven being Gojo VS Makima, Galactus VS Unicron, Bowser VS Eggman, Kratos VS Asura, Ash VS Yugi, Simon the Digger VS White Lantern, and Ruby VS Maka.
- This is the sixth one to be done by Brandon Yates, after Blake VS Mikasa, Goku Black VS Reverse-Flash, Jason Voorhees VS Michael Myers, Guts VS Dimitri, and Bill Cipher VS Discord, and with the next six being Galactus VS Unicron, Bowser VS Eggman, Kratos VS Asura, Ash VS Yugi, Simon the Digger VS White Lantern, and Ruby VS Maka.
- This is the second episode since Nightwing VS Daredevil that doesn't cut to Wiz and Boomstick at the end of the post-analysis, after Phoenix VS Raven.
- A week before this episode's release, Frieza's analysis preview reached #12 on YouTube's Trending page.
- This is the second episode in which a combatant's analysis preview reached the Trending page, after Thor VS Vegeta, and with the next one being Goku VS Superman (2023).
- A day after the episode's release, it reached #1 on YouTube's Trending page.
- This is the eighth episode to reach #1 on Trending, after Johnny Cage VS Captain Falcon, Ganondorf VS Dracula, All Might VS Might Guy, Flash VS Sonic, Gogeta VS Vegito, Guts VS Dimitri, and Bill Cipher VS Discord, and with the next three being Scooby-Doo VS Courage the Cowardly Dog, Rick Sanchez VS The Doctor, and Galactus VS Unicron.
- This is the eighth episode to feature planetary destruction, after Goku VS Superman 1, Chuck Norris VS Segata Sanshiro, Thanos VS Darkseid, Wario VS King Dedede, Beerus VS Sailor Galaxia, Hulk VS Broly, and Saitama VS Popeye, and with the next two being Goku VS Superman (2023) and Galactus VS Unicron.
- This is the third episode to end with planetary destruction, Goku VS Superman 1 and Wario VS King Dedede, and with the next one being Goku VS Superman (2023).
- On September 15th, 2024, the DEATH BATTLE! YouTube channel uploaded the full fight animation of this episode on its own, most likely to commemorate the release of Transformers One, which came out five days later.
- This makes it the 22nd episode whose full fight was reuploaded by itself, after Ryu VS Jin, Optimus Prime VS Gundam, Korra VS Storm, Harley Quinn VS Jinx, Flash VS Sonic, Deadpool VS Mask, Beerus VS Sailor Galaxia, Link VS Cloud (2021), Iron Fist VS Po, Omni-Man VS Homelander, Wolverine VS Raiden, Zelda VS Peach, Magneto VS Tetsuo, Deadpool VS Deathstroke, and All Might VS Might Guy, Goku Black VS Reverse-Flash, Hercules VS Sun Wukong, Sauron VS Lich King, Shao Kahn VS M. Bison, and Lex Luthor VS Doctor Doom.
- The original thumbnail for the fight animation uses the same fan art of Frieza from the episode's second thumbnail before eventually being changed to one without it.
References
- ↑ https://twitter.com/DevilArtemisX/status/1707039550525116464
- ↑ Spinal vs Cervantes (Killer Instinct VS Soul Calibur) Who wins a DEATH BATTLE Debate?
- ↑ https://twitter.com/NervousNick/status/1711896988768149714
- ↑ https://twitter.com/DEATHBATTLE/status/1712562383833469088
- ↑ 🔀🔀🔀 SHUFFLE 🔀🔀🔀
- ↑ https://www.newscientist.com/article/2347426-ronnametres-and-quettagrams-have-joined-the-ranks-of-si-units/