In defense of "Omni-Man Vs Bardock"

Given that Joker Vs Giorno is a few days away, I wanted to address this season's premiere and some thoughts I've been holding onto. "Omni-Man Vs Bardock" was certainly a more contreversial season debut for Death Battle than we're used to. Plenty of people have provided debunks and criticisms for their verdict, and how some information was misrepresented. But as someone who enjoyed the episode personally, I thought I'd share some thoughts about the fight/analysis that haven't been as appreciated.

First off, even if you didn't agree with the winner, I think many of us can agree the animation was well done. I like the 3D models for Omni-Man and Bardock, and the former's voice actor is particularly reminiscent to J.K. Simmon's original performance. I also like "Solid State Invincible", even if it's largely a repeat from "Diabolical Invincible Me".

Secondly, many people have addressed the misrepresentation of Omni-Man's planet busting feat, as compared the feat from King Vegeta they scaled Bardock too. I'd point out two things with this. One, they do in fact allude to the "Invincible" feat being a team effort, as seen in a black panel at 18:20 stating "Note that the numbers listed do not include division between participants, as equal effort is uncertain". It definitely could've been better presented or outright stated in Boomstick's narration, but you can't say they fully ignored that point. And two, this is the strength feat everyone has been talking about, but its NOT the strength feat they put for Omni-Man's peak IE the solar disc. If the planet level destruction was the only thing they covered from "Invincible", then I'd understand the outrage a lot more.

Where I do understand the outrage, though, is the sheer disparity between the speed calcs.

Bardock = 477.9 x faster than Omni-Man (9 558 464 461 289 FTL vs 20 Billion FTL) in base = 23 896.2 x faster in super saiyan, 14.1 x faster if scaled to Universa (34 trillion x FTL)

Let's compare that to the differences in the strength calcs.

Omni-Man = 8 641 quettatons (10^30 tons) TNT (disc feat) = 11 164 x stronger than base Bardock (774 ronnatons (10^27 tons)) = 22.3 x stronger than super saiyan Bardock (387 quettatons)

If using high end feats (from black panel at 19:19), Omni-Man is 15.6 x stronger (120 000 quettatons vs 7704 quettatons).

Anyway you look at it, even with his strength, Omni-Man is at a severe handicap for getting in punches. And as always, these comparisons require you to believe in DB's math (which I generally find acceptable) and how valid their scaling is (which can be debated here, however I find that the disc feat checks out based on context/supporting lore). The main way I can rationalize him winning, according to the shows structure, is if we follow their pre-existing logic with whoever has the most advantages. Based on DB's analysis, Omni-Man has strength, experience and stamina while Bardock has speed and versatility. And to Omni-Man's credit, I don't know how someone possibly argues experience and stamina not going to him, given his age, ability to sustain himself without breathing, and smart atoms. But by the same token, the speed blitz argument can still be applied here, and DB has given that rationale themselves plenty of times.

But with all that aside...even if I don't 100% buy their argument for Omni-Man's win...I will still say I enjoy the episode. I completely understand how some DragonBall fans would be pissed about the outcome. Me personally...I generally appreciate the production of the fight itself and coverage of it's characters/franchises more interesting than whoever wins. In those regards, I think it's mostly decent.