- —Tagline
Gaara VS Toph is the 42nd episode of Death Battle, featuring Gaara from the Naruto series and Toph Beifong from the Avatar: The Last Airbender series in a battle between young earth manipulators. Gaara was voiced by Christopher Guerrero and Toph was voiced by Kira Buckland.
Interlude
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Wiz: Throughout Death Battle, we've seen all manner of weapons and abilities, but these two combatants command the very Earth around them.
Boomstick: Gaara, of the Desert.
Wiz: And Toph Beifong, the Blind Bandit.
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.
Gaara
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Akatsuki by Yasuharu Takanashi
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Wiz: Gaara of the Desert is a short, skinny, pale, stick of a kid, but he's also one of the deadliest shinobi in the world.
Boomstick: He looks like a member of Green Day.
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Sadness and Sorrow by Yasuharu Takanashi
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Wiz: Gaara is the son of the Fourth Kazekage, leader of the Village Hidden in the Sand. Born prematurely at the cost of his mother's life, Gaara was destined for a childhood of depression and loneliness from the get-go.
Boomstick: Not even a minute old and already has a kill under his belt. Though, technically he had a little help. Because, you see... as he was being born, his father was like, "Hey! You know what would be awesome? Using ninja magic to seal a horrible monster in my son's belly to turn him into an ultimate weapon!"
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Eerie by Yasuharu Takanashi
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Gaara lets out an agonizing scream.
Wiz: The process was successful, and Gaara became a jinchūriki: human beings who have powerful tailed beasts trapped within them. Gaara's beast was Shukaku, a giant tanuki with power over sand.
Boomstick: Aww, I want a tanuki as a pet. They're so fluffy and adorable, you just wanna hu— (Shukaku appears) HOLY SHIT, WHAT IS THAT!?
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Akatsuki by Yasuharu Takanashi
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Wiz: Shukaku loathed humanity, and at first, Gaara had difficulty controlling the monster's rage, accidentally hurting others. As such, he was shunned by his own people, forced to live a secluded life.
Boomstick: Well, yeah, I mean, he's got a goddamn tummy monster, it's not like Pepto-Bismol's solving that.
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Loneliness Theme by Yasuharu Takanashi
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Wiz: Convinced his only option was to fight and care for only himself, Gaara became a ruthless killing machine.
Boomstick: But it's not all bad. Having a digestive desert demon gives him control over all things sand.
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Gaara's Theme by Yasuharu Takanashi
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Boomstick: He can wield it as a weapon using his mind to trap and crush his foes. Oh, and he can also use it to freaking fly. How the hell does that work?
Wiz: He can mentally adjust the density of his sand, whether it needs to be lighter than air or stronger than steel, He can even use it to stop bombs powerful enough to wipe out an entire village. He can control any sand in his vicinity using his chakra, a spiritual energy Shinobi access for superhuman abilities, such as walking up a tree.
Boomstick: This guy's like the ultimate emo kid, but I'm not gonna give him too much crap, because he can use existing sand to crush the ground around him for even more sand, so he's never without easy access to ammo. Despite this, he still carries a gigantic gourd of sand on his back.
Wiz: It's huge! You'd think that'd be hard on his spine. Interestingly enough, its unique shape and size is a reference to how in Japanese folklore, Tanuki's were considered to be so well endowed, they'd have to sling their testicles over their shoulders.
Boomstick: Awesome.
Wiz: But the thing is, Gaara's gourd is not carrying any ordinary testicles... I mean, sand! Gaara has infused his own Chakra into the gourd sand.
Boomstick: This directly links it to Gaara, making it much easier for him to control. He's so skilled with it, he can even forge weapons from it, bury people underground, or send it into another person's bloodstream and control them like some sort of puppet. Talk about an itch you're not gonna scratch.
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Akatsuki by Yasuharu Takanashi
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Wiz: Also, Gaara eventually battled and defeated his own father, who happened to be a zombie at the time, His father used a Magnetic Release ability to control gold dust, much like Gaara does sand.
Boomstick: Even though he can't do the Zombie Dad Magnet thing, Gaara added Gold Dust to his gourd sand anyway, giving him more control over its weight.
Wiz: But wait, there's more. With her dying breath, Gaara's mother somehow imparted her own power into this sand. It became living sand, an extension of her will determined to follow and protect Gaara. It will spring from the gourd to defend him from any danger, regardless of risk and without command.
Boomstick: This absolute defensive technique is called... The Absolute Defense; pretty good name really. Gaara's sand is so dense and fast, only someone who can move nearly the speed of sound can pass it.
Wiz: Gaara can also use everyday sand to create defenses, such as his Sand Armor, which encases him in a shell to soften blows, unlike his automatic Absolute Defense, the Sand Armor is self-created, and requires a large amount of his chakra to maintain.
Boomstick: Gaara's skill with sand is only limited by how much chakra he's got left in his system, After running low, he could tag out and give Shukaku a turn fighting, until a group of crazy people literally pulled the sand monster from his body for good. That must've hurt; it's gotta be like twice as bad as the night after Chipotle.
Wiz: He... died.
Boomstick: Oh... the same, then.
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Gaara's Theme by Yasuharu Takanashi
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Wiz: Turns out losing Shukaku was actually a blessing in disguise. After being resurrected, Gaara spent some time re-evaluating his emotional roller coaster of a life. Inspired by Naruto Uzumaki, he began to truly understand compassion, his attitude changed, his people began supporting him, he even commanded the Allied Shinobi Forces during the Fourth Great Shinobi War, and like his late father, Gaara also became...
Boomstick: A ZOMBIE?!
Wiz: Kazekage.
Boomstick: Damn! Well, even non-zombie and missing Shukaku, Gaara still retained his powerful chakra and skill over sand.
Wiz: In their fight, Gaara was so powerful, his father mistook him for Shukaku itself, despite the sand monster being long gone.
Boomstick: Gaara is stronger and smarter than ever, all thanks to his mother's love... I miss Mama Boomstick...
Wiz: Few can withstand the overwhelming power of this sand shinobi...or Mama Boomstick's cooking.
Boomstick: HEY! You're uninvited to Thanksgiving.
Wiz: I never was!
Boomstick: Exactly...
Midori is caught by Gaara's sand and pulled back into the dark hallway, who screams loudly as Naruto and Shikamaru look on, frozen with fear. Gaara then silently approaches them from behind and walks past them.
Toph Beifong
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Panda Lily by Jeremy Zuckerman
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Wiz: As the only child of the wealthy Beifong family, Toph was kept a secret from the rest of the world. Hidden away, she was pampered and guarded like a fragile child. Her parents were hopeful she could someday become a noble, respected member of Earth Kingdom society.
Boomstick: But their hopes were pretty much dashed from the moment she popped out. See those faded whites? Yeah, Toph's completely blind.
Lao Beifong: My daughter is blind. She is blind and tiny and helpless and fragile!
Boomstick: Still, "fragile" is the last word that I would want to use to describe this chick.
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The Seven Chakras by Jeremy Zuckerman
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Wiz: Frustrated by her parents' stubborn coddling, Toph ran away from home at the age of six, and ended up losing her way in a cave, until she was rescued by some giant Badgermoles. Yes, they're badgers and they are moles.
Boomstick: Imagine one of those things burrowing into your home. What kind of pest control do you even call for that? Oh wait, I know. FIRE.
Wiz: Like Toph, Badgermoles are blind, so they took a liking to her.
Boomstick: Well, how the hell would they know?
Wiz: And as the original artists of the craft, the Badgermoles began her training in the art of earthbending.
Toph practices earthbending a small rock, and succeeds.
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Invading the Palace by Jeremy Zuckerman
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Boomstick: These giant varmints taught Toph how to manipulate rock and stone. Using movements similar to the Chu Gar Praying Mantis martial art, Toph can telekinetically throw, grow, shrink, and alter earth in any conceivable way, making for some pretty down to earth attacks and defenses.
Wiz: The Badgermoles also taught Toph how to see.
Boomstick: Wait, these ridiculous creatures are also masters of LASIK surgery?!
Wiz: No, Toph does not use her eyes to see. Of course, her other senses are extremely accurate, and as a master earthbender, Toph can sense the location of earth anywhere. Even more impressive though, the Badgermoles navigate their tunnels using an earthbending technique known as the Seismic Sense, and Toph quickly picked up on this talent. It's kind of like sonar, detecting the exact location and movement of a person or object through their interaction with the ground.
Toph: I feel the vibrations in the earth, and I can see where everything is. You, that tree, even those ants.
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Yuyen by Jeremy Zuckerman
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Wiz: She feels every movement, every footstep, every heartbeat, so precisely, she can even tell if a person's lying.
Boomstick: A woman who can always tell when I'm lying? No thank you! Toph is so good at this, that even her closest friends sometimes forget she's blind.
Sokka drops Toph's championship belt to her, but it hits her head and she falls over.
Toph: Ow!
Sokka: Sorry.
Boomstick: But don't worry, they're reminded. In only six years, Toph had completely mastered earthbending. She even won the Earth Rumble VI tournament multiple times under her stage name, "The Blind Bandit".
Wiz: But Toph didn't stop her training with just earthbending. At first, softer earth proved difficult for her seismic sense.
Toph: I feel the vibrations in the ground with my feet, but this sand is so loose and shifty, it makes everything look fuzzy.
Wiz: But she has since demonstrated her mastery in both sandbending and mudbending. She can also change the density of earth from sand to stone and back, and before you start making any density or hardening innuendos, she's 12.
Boomstick: I... okay, but her greatest achievement is the discovery of an all-new bending art, one thought to be impossible: metalbending.
Wiz: By manipulating the earthly composition within, Toph can bend nearly any type of metal just as well as stone, the exception being highly purified metals such as platinum.
Boomstick: Toph quickly mastered metalbending, and went on to teach it to others.
Wiz: She eventually even founded and led a metalbending police force.
Boomstick: And that's after conquering Earth Rumble IV, holding up a building the size of a castle, defeating an entire army almost singlehandedly, and dueling King Bumi to a standstill, and that guy's conquered an entire hostile city by himself.
Wiz: Even in her old age, Toph was capable of going one on one with the new Avatar, and her Seismic Sense could locate people across the world.
Boomstick: She knows when I've lied AND where I've been? Women should not have these powers.
Toph: I am the greatest earthbender in the world! Don't you two dunderheads ever forget it!
Prelude
Wiz: Alright, the combatants are set. Let's end this debate once and for all!
Boomstick: IT'S TIME FOR A DEATH BATTLEEE!!!
Death Battle
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Leaf Forest by Yousuke Yasui
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Gaara is shown standing alone is a rocky battlefield. At the other end of the battlefield, a building made of rock rises out of the ground. It opens up, and Toph walks out.
Toph: Whew, talk about a rough ride.
Gaara: You do not belong here. This is sacred ground. Leave.
Toph: Pfft. Oh yeah, tough guy? Make me.
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Forest at Night by Yousuke Yasui
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Toph stomps the ground, making a boulder rise up. Toph punches it toward Gaara. She stomps the ground again, summoning two boulders that she hurls at Gaara. Toph punches the ground creating four more boulders and throws them at Gaara. Gaara's sand arises from his gourd and destroys the first three, before creating a shield to protect him from the rest of the boulders. The sand shield shoots Sand Bullets at Toph, who creates a rock to protect herself from the attack. She then punches her stone shield, which flies towards Gaara's position, just before his sand comes down and destroys it in slow motion.
Gaara: Interesting. She commands stone as fluently as I control sand.
Toph: By the way, I can tell you're using your sand to smash up the ground underneath us for more ammo. Pretty smart for a Sandbender.
As Toph talks to Gaara, the camera shows Gaara's sand flowing. Toph then enters a fighting stance.
Toph: Too bad I'm gonna kick your butt before you can use any of it!
Toph uses her Earthbending abilities to create sharp rocks to impale Gaara. Gaara dodges and leaps into the air.
Gaara: *groans* I can't underestimate her.
Gaara uses the Body Flicker Technique to teleport away.
Toph stomps the ground to create a large rock. She jumps up and stands on top of the rock, and then commands the rock to move forward. She brings out her steel rope to strike Gaara. Gaara appears after using his jutsu and stands up.
Gaara: I need time.
Gaara creates a sphere of sand around him. The whip attaches itself to the shield of sand, unable to penetrate it.
Toph: Huh?
The shield creates spikes on the side the steel rope is connected to.
Toph: Woah!
Toph jumps off the rock and lets go of the steel rope. The rock slams into the shield and breaks.
Toph: Whew. Sorry, grumpy. I'm not ready to be a shish kebab just yet!
Toph creates a sand pillar to flatten Gaara's sand shield. It hits it, but the pillar breaks.
Toph: Come on! Are you really that scared of a little blind girl? I'm touched.
She runs at Gaara's sand shield and grabs hold of one of Gaara's spikes. She changes the spike's density to make it much harder, spins it around in her hand, and then slams it into the sand sphere, piercing straight through. Gaara flies out of the back. When he stands up once more, Gaara is wearing his sand armor, and it begins to crack.
Gaara: Your eyes. Those are not the eyes of loneliness, like mine. They are... blank.
Toph: Impressive insight, "Gloomsville". I'm digging the whole "wearing sand" thing though. That's new!
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Hidden Leaf Village Riverside Theme by Yousuke Yasui
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Gaara flies into the air on a cloud of sand, and begins firing sand bullets at Toph. She summons a rock in front of her and holds it up like a shield. Gaara's sand bullets begin to pummel the rock. However, the rock shatters after receiving too many hits, and she is hit by a barrage of sand. Gaara then uses sand to pick up Toph and restrain her.
Toph: Hey! No fair!
Gaara: You need your arms to control the Earth. I will remove them!
Toph lowers the sand's density from inside, and is able to stick her arm out. She then punches the sand and it transforms into stone. She then shatters it, and is released from Gaara's grip. The stone falls to the ground.
Toph: Dream on, creep! It will take a lot more sand than that to take me down!
Gaara: That's the plan!
Gaara uses sand wave to overwhelm Toph. An enormous amount of sand begins rushing towards Toph.
Toph: Oh, crud...
Toph creates two stone pillars to protect herself, and before the sand can reach her, she begins wrapping her steel rope around her body. The enormous wave of sand hits. When it clears, a hole opens up in the ground, and Toph rises up on top of a boulder out of the hole, completely covered in solid steel armor.
Gaara: Sand coffin!
He traps Toph in a giant coffin of sand.
Gaara: Sand Burial!
The sand constricts tightly around Toph. No sounds can be heard coming from inside. Gaara spins around to face away from her.
Gaara: It is done.
The ground begins to tremble. Toph leaps out of the sand, and her steel armor shatters and falls to the ground in mid-air.
Toph: Jeez! I almost felt that.
Gaara: That's impossible!
Toph: Are you kidding? Pay attention, Sandy. I'm about to school you!
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Sansukumi by Shinji Hosoe
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Toph assumes a horse stance and begins to yell as if she is powering up. A barrage of boulders begin to rapidly rise up out of the ground. Toph launches them all at Gaara. He uses sand to stop them all. Behind him, Toph rises out of the ground on top of a massive earth column. Six more earth columns rise up out of the ground next to her, surrounding Gaara. Gaara attempts to attack Toph with his sand. Just as it is about to hit her, time slows, and Toph reaches out and redirects the sand so it misses her. The sand loops around the pillars, then turns and starts to rush back towards Toph again. The six earth pillars bend down in front of Toph, protecting her, and the sand slams into them harmlessly. Gaara attempts to recover, but Toph appears behind him on another rock pillar, grabbing Gaara by the neck. He struggles, but he can't break free.
Toph: Gotcha...
Toph uses sandbending to compress Gaara's sand armor down into his body, crushing him within his own armor. As he lets out one last scream and dies, the camera moves upwards as blood comes out from under the screen. The scene then fades back to Toph, who throws Gaara's sand armor down at the ground. As it hits the ground, it makes the sound of porcelain/glass shattering.
Toph: That's how it's done.
Results
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ATLA Season 3 Main Theme by Jeremy Zuckerman
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Boomstick: AHHH F*** SH** F*** F*** GODDAMN F*** SON OF A SH** WEASEL! Why did another anime character have to lose?!
Wiz: Yeah, but... here's why. Gaara's sand is monstrous and its speed and power could easily obliterate most foes, but with Toph, it's another story.
Boomstick: Really? She's freaking blind for God's sake, and he can fly!
Wiz: Ohoho! In the OFFICIAL "Behind The Scenes extras" of the Avatar: Book 2 DVD, we found this...
A small caption on the screen says "Did you know? Toph can feel the Earth even if it isn't connected to the ground?"
Wiz: Toph can feel the Earth, even if it isn't connected to the ground.
Boomstick: Toph is tough, but her real strength lies in her precision and technique, and with her Earthbending and Seismic Sense, she could see Gaara's attacks coming the instant they began, regardless of if he was in the air.
Wiz: And while Gaara's chakra-infused sand is controlled by his late mother, it's still sand. Just like in an Earthbending duel, Toph was able to influence it long enough to misdirect or block attacks. Also remember, Gaara added his father's Gold Dust to the mix, giving Toph two different bending options, just in case. Unlike Platinum, Gold contains traces of Iron and Copper, and can be metal-bent.
Boomstick: To top this off, Gaara keeps himself covered in his Sand Armor, so Toph could always sense where he was.
Wiz: And it's specifically stated that the Sand Armor uses up large amount of Gaara's own chakra, not his Mother Sand. So, when he ran low on chakra, it became difficult to maintain. Thus, Toph had no problem turning Gaara's greatest defense into his worst weakness.
Boomstick: Gaara couldn't sand up to Toph. Ahaha! I know you're floored. I really ground that one in, didn't I? What can I say? It's my Earthly Delight.
Wiz: Ugh...
We cut to the "Winner" card.
Wiz: The winner is Toph Beifong.
Boomstick: No need to gravel about it. Can't we just bury the hatchet? I'm out!
Trivia
Production
- The core connections between Gaara and Toph are that they are both animated heroes and young prodigies of earth manipulation born to upper-class households (the Kazekage Clan and the Beifong family, respectively). In addition:
- Both have befriended the orange-clad main protagonists of their series (Naruto and Aang, respectively) who aspired to embrace the role of a legendary hero (the Hokage and the Avatar, respectively).
- Both of their abilities are derived from martial arts (ninjutsu and bending, respectively) that use forms of spiritual energy (chakra and chi, respectively).
- Both have endured mistreatment by their parents (Gaara's father sealed the One-Tailed Beast inside him to make him a deadly weapon, whereas Toph's parents were very controlling and overly protective of her due to her blindness).
- Both would later take up positions of authority after the conclusion of their primary series (Gaara became the fifth Kazekage of Sunagakure, and Toph became the founding chief of the Metalbending Police Force in Republic City).
- Toph's sprites for this episode were custom-made by the Toph Sprite Sheet Project lead by AkumaTh, who is also a member of the Research Team.
- Originally, this episode was going to be released on January 28th, but due to issues, it was delayed until February 7th.
- This episode has the most post-fight ending puns made by Boomstick at six.
- Boomstick's poor attitude toward Gaara losing was actually based on Chad James' (Boomstick's voice actor) reaction to him losing to Toph.
- This makes this the first time in which Boomstick is angered by the outcome of the battle, with the next four being Cable VS Booster Gold, Batman VS Iron Man, Excalibur VS Raiden, and Trunks VS Silver.
- This is the first episode to censor explicit language. However, it was only used in one instance for comedic effect, and other instances of swearing throughout the episode were uncensored.
- The episode's verdict of Toph winning received a noticeable amount of backlash from both Naruto and Death Battle fans, who criticized its arguments of Toph being able to sense and bend Gaara's sand and put up with its destructive capability.
- The controversial result of this episode was referenced in Deadpool VS Mask, in which Deadpool used the Continuity Gem to show a possible alternate outcome for this episode in which the roles of the winner and loser were reversed, alongside Link VS Cloud (2012), Rogue VS Wonder Woman, Goku VS Superman 2, and Yang VS Tifa.
- However, instead of getting killed by her opponent like the rest of the cameos, the scene ends before Toph's fate is shown because animator Zack Watkins didn't have enough time to draw the second panel showing the altered outcome to the fight.[1]
- The controversial result of this episode was referenced in Deadpool VS Mask, in which Deadpool used the Continuity Gem to show a possible alternate outcome for this episode in which the roles of the winner and loser were reversed, alongside Link VS Cloud (2012), Rogue VS Wonder Woman, Goku VS Superman 2, and Yang VS Tifa.
- As part of the Save Death Battle Kickstarter, any backers who pledged for any of the reward tiers could vote in a survey to decide a rematch to be made for Death Battle '25, with this episode having been one of the available options, though it ultimately lost to Master Chief VS Doomguy.
Errors
- The feat of Toph holding up Wan Shi Tong's library is accidentally listed twice in her "Feats" slide.
Other
- This is the fifth Male VS Female-themed episode, after Boba Fett VS Samus Aran (2010), Yoshi VS Riptor, Justin Bieber VS Rebecca Black, and Starscream VS Rainbow Dash, and with the next 21 being Boba Fett VS Samus Aran (2015), Dante VS Bayonetta, Meta VS Carolina, Tracer VS Scout, Zoro VS Erza, Deadpool VS Pinkie Pie, Lara Croft VS Nathan Drake, Thor VS Wonder Woman, Carnage VS Lucy, Captain Marvel VS Shazam, Dragonzord VS Mechagodzilla, Mob VS Tatsumaki, Gray VS Esdeath, Beerus VS Sailor Galaxia, The Seven Battle Royale, Red VS Blue, Shadow VS Ryuko, Steven Universe VS Star Butterfly, Killua VS Misaka, Gojo VS Makima, and Blade VS Buffy.
- This is the third time the Female character wins, after Boba Fett VS Samus Aran (2010) and Starscream VS Rainbow Dash, and with the next 12 being Boba Fett VS Samus Aran (2015), Meta VS Carolina, Tracer VS Scout, Lara Croft VS Nathan Drake, Thor VS Wonder Woman, Carnage VS Lucy, Dragonzord VS Mechagodzilla, Mob VS Tatsumaki, Gray VS Esdeath, Red VS Blue, Steven Universe VS Star Butterfly, and Killua VS Misaka.
- This is the first Anime/Manga VS Cartoon-themed episode, with the next six being Samurai Jack VS Afro Samurai, Optimus Prime VS Gundam, Aang VS Edward Elric, Zuko VS Shoto Todoroki, Saitama VS Popeye, and Frieza VS Megatron.
- This is the first Paramount VS Hitotsubashi-themed episode, with the next one being Zuko VS Shoto Todoroki.
- This is the first time that the Paramount character wins.
- This is the first episode to not have a post-fight animation since Pikachu VS Blanka.