Capeworld Comics

What Are “Thematic Connections” and Their Importance-My Personal Take

 

Lately, there’s been a lot of discussion as to what a “thematic connection” is, and their importance in the quality of a matchup suggestion for Death Battle. In 2016, in defense of the choice of matchup between Shadow the Hedgehog and Mewtwo, show creator Ben Singer posted this tweet:

 

https://twitter.com/benbsinger/status/742781766012801024

 

To this day, as far as I am aware, this chart is the only concrete indication of what the cast and crew of Death Battle takes into consideration of what makes a matchup “thematic”. I’d be greatly appreciative if anyone could point me to any others. There have been other smaller hints scattered throughout the Death Battle cast episodes, but collating these hints is difficult without easily available transcriptions. But in general, whenever the cast talks about “thematic connections” they do tend to hew closely to the chart Ben posted in 2016: that these connections are related to the “meat and core of the character”.

 

So there’s that view. A “thematic connection” is a similarity or contrast between two characters relating to the core story and themes associated with each of the characters. How two characters are like, and unlike, the other when pared down to the barest essence of who they are. These connections relate to the story each character is employed to tell, what messages and motifs are being conveyed, and the role of the character themselves in the unfolding of the greater plot. In general, at lot of “thematic connections” being floated aren’t really thematic connections. They’re flotsam and jetsam. They’re loose trivial associations that if removed from either character would probably have little to no effect on the core story, or the development of either character as the plot unfolded. But to be fair, in truth the very concept of a thematic connection itself might be somewhat subjective. Not everyone sees stories the same way, or learns the same lessons from them. It’s why high school English (or whatever the mother tongue is in your country of origin) is notoriously frustrating. Meaning is subjective. And what people take away from a story is often more dependent on the skill of the storyteller themselves. Now, with all that, how important are “thematic connections”?

 

I’d actually argue they’re the most important factor of all. I suspect I’m going against the grain here, but in my opinion the connections present in a matchups are of paramount importance, followed by the quality of the debate to be had, and stuff like “animation potential” and “music potential” are the least important of all.

 

I feel that “animation potential” and “music potential” are functionally worthless to try to sell a matchup on. In the end, the animation and music potential comes down entirely to the execution of the Death Battle cast themselves. It is entirely out of our hands. We can write as much as we want, about how we think the animation and music will turn out, but in the end it’s just fanfic. The Death Battle crew can sometimes spin straw into gold, such as in the case of Goro vs Machamp. They can make an exhilarating fight animation between two guys whose core skillset is in sneaking, whose theoretical fights have been a subject of jokes since the days of Gamespy. They can make something incredible for a fight between a vampire that mostly shoots guns fighting another vampire that mostly has an invisible punch ghost. But they can also fumble the ball, such as how lukewarm the animation is for a fight between two of the biggest bad guys in fighting game history. In spite of their incredibly obvious animation potential, most fighting game matches in Death Battle history have been treated as filler. And in turn, most of their fight animations are mediocre. In truth, the “animation potential” of a fight doesn’t matter. In the same way, neither does the “music potential”. The realization of either is entirely out of our hands, and is independent of what we want or believe. What makes and breaks the episodes in those terms is the passion of the crew, and that’s not something we can control. But we can control the other two, or at least we can select good fights in terms of matchup evenness and connections.

 

In terms of the actual debate being important, the evidence is simple. How exciting was the wait for Shadow vs Ryuko, a stomp of ungodly proportions? What about Blake vs Mikasa, where it was a mildly superhuman girl fighting herself but her doppelganger has a force field and actual powers? What about Batgirl vs Spider-Gwen, where we already learned 10 years ago who would win? How fun was the wait for Korra vs Storm? Now compare it to the waits this season for Madara vs Aizen, for Batman vs Iron Man, or for Geese vs Heihachi. Legitimate debates are much more exciting, both to talk about and to wait for. Stomps suck, but connections (such as in the case of stuff like Popeye vs Saitama) can make the wait more bearable.

 

Connections make a fight. They elevate a simple matchup into something more, into a clash of perspectives. A comparison and contrast between two different views on how to live life. The interweaving of components is a key part in the execution of a story, and connections in a suggestion are analogous to this interweaving. It’s how outsiders get hooked at a glance, how the already present community becomes invested, how the meta-story of the matchup itself is told. In sports, great rivalries come from connections and contrasts. In the intense Falcons-Saints rivalry of American football, similarities were born of time and geography. Friction was born of frequent contests, and the differences and similarities between the host cities. A similar story can be told of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry of baseball. Lakers-Celtics is a basketball rivalry between two teams on the opposite sides of the North American continent, but is one of the most storied rivalries in the sport due to the memorable nature of their clashes. In a matchup suggestion, a rivalry can be born instantly of the appropriate interweaving of core points. In comparison and contrast, it can manufacture in minutes what in most circumstances would take lifetimes. It can tell a story, get people invested, and set up the stakes of the fight. Connections can make a matchup, more than anything else.

 

So, that’s what I think. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe I’m right. Who can say.