Simon the Digger vs Kyle Rayner Review- One Brightest Day Later

 

I wanted to make this to both complete the trilogy of Simon vs Kyle blogs, and because I feel like giving my full thoughts on the episode in a Discord comment wouldn't do it justice, but I do not think my voice is good enough to make a YouTube video on this either lol, so I'm gonna do it here. This is a raw, honest review on the episode that I'm typing out as I go along, and just giving my thoughts on everything. I rewatched the episode probably over 10 times from yesterday to now so I can say that I did this without too much bias, but this was my most wanted so expect a little bit of bias haha. If you're reading this in hopes of changing your mind about the episode, then I'm glad you're here, and hopefully I can change your mind, but this isn't made solely to do that either so don't think anything is a call out to people being critical of the episode or to those who don't like it. Everyone is entitled to their opinions. 

Introduction

The little introduction was nice, loved the Gurren Lagann and White Lantern lingering over Simon and Kyle, and just the sentence they gave about their connections and how the match is about willpower that conquers infinity was good shit.

Simon's Analysis- Pros

Simon's analysis was some of Death Battle's best work. One thing I love about a lot of the episode is how they overlap the story aspects with the powerscaling aspects, befitting to the matches theme of willpower allowing these two not just the power to overcome, but to surpass. In Simon's case its especially fitting because Gurren Lagann does not get that crazy until we get to the later parts of the post-timeskip, and once they reached Super Galaxy Dai-Gurren, it made sense that the rest of it would go a lot more ham on just how powerful Simon is. The way they portrayed the escalation in powers and abilities was so much fun, barely beginning with Simon straight up surpassing the highest speed feat in Death Battle (that being Spongebob unraveling the universe), and showing a funny little panel of all the combatants who have held the title. 

I loved the Multiverse Labyrinth being tied into the absurd power jumps Simon would take, because the next series of edits would be really stinking awesome. This was an episode where they couldn't avoid talking about dimensional tiering since Gurren Lagann, more then any franchise probably, did their homework on quantum physics and cosmology. Kazuki Nakashima, the shows screenwriter, apparently resonated with the idea of universes only being real by observation, and he took that to heart when writing a lot of Gurren Lagann, so its cool to see Death Battle extensively talk about it and not just throw it into a black box, even if logically it should since it is peak vs brainrot. Boomstick's "What?" felt so genuine, it was the first time I could hear a little bit of Chad in him and the jaw drop of Simon and Kamina just made me laugh. DJTikki did an exceptional job in editing the entire segment explaining the dimensional jumps in power, it looked really cool yet simple enough to follow. 

It was especially interesting to see the CD drama also be talked about and also not just black box'd, but it was clear they wanted to make one exception and talk about reality over fiction stuff since it weirdly mattered a lot in this debate, and they did it in a very respectable and good way, that didn't feel overbearing or too confusing, at least to me. Also not sure if its caught much but they actually addressed Simon not needing co-pilots around the 6:50 mark, so they definitely looked at everything when talking about Simon's best stuff, and they topped it off with Nia keeping herself alive from her own destruction, and the transition from that to Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, along with the music choice of Flight Over Africa was really sweet and felt full circle, loved the little Boomstick name dropping the movie at the end. It did just about everything I'd want in terms of respect to the character and powers, feats, or other stuff mentioned.

Simon's Analysis- Flaws

Yokko and Boota not being name dropped was a bit sad, I understand not needing to really go into detail about Simon's initial crush on Yokko holding him back but the crew could've been at least mentioned, and where the hell was Boota at??? I would've loved to see Boomsticks reaction to Boota one-shotting the Anti-Spiral. 

Kyle's Analysis- Pros

You love to see Dex-Starr jumpscare right when the analysis start, and I like the approach of starting with Hal Jordan and the Zero Hour Crisis, similarly to how Flash vs Sonic opened Wally's analysis with the sacrifice of Barry Allen and the Crisis on Infinite Earths. They told the story of Emerald Twilight great and to the point, and loved how Wiz separated why Kyle was chosen among other Lanterns. And of course, love to see the trend from Ben vs Hal of naming off absurd Lanterns, only this time it was Colonel Sanders, Daffy Duck, and the GOAT that is B'0x. They definitely hammered on how absurd the Lantern ring is, jumping straight to the absolute hilarious feat of Kyle and Anarky altering the shortest measurable unit of all time, and glad they also go over some of the ring's weirder technological features. They highlighted Kyle's artistry and constructs very nicely, and glad they referenced the Gurren Lagann construct. 

As far as the entire segment about Alex's death by fridge, I didn't have any problems with them! I thought it was funny that they talked about the impact of the death of Kyle's girlfriend, and how it spawned an entire epidemic of female characters being sacrificed for the sake of the plot, its funny, and it didn't outwardly mock Kyle or spend too much time on it, I'd compare it to the way Death Battle handled Hank's infamous scene of smacking Janet in Ant-Man vs Atom; they handled it with a lot of respect in the end, and they tied it to how Kyle became the White Lantern; by forgiving himself of what happened with Alex. It was really well done, and I'm glad they talked so extensively about what all of the emotions in the Emotional Spectrum do, felt so surreal seeing all these Lanterns talked about like a true appreciation of the Lantern mythos. We got a TF2 Medic jumpscare too! Super glad to have seen Oblivion get a mention, and I loved the creepy static over the giant scary teeth version of Oblivion, once again really good stuff from the editing team. The way they went about the White Lantern and Life Equation was also great, once again tying into Kyle's overarching story of rising to the occasion with all the power in the world, like he did with Ion (which was briefly mentioned when Kyle restored the Guardians of the Universe). And dude! We got the Green Machine edit?

Just so awesome. To wrap this section up, I think one thing I've seen a lot in the way of criticisms is Simon's analysis felt way more grandeur and life-like then Kyle's. I do agree somewhat, but I think there's a reason for that. Not to undermine what Simon had to overcome to get to where he was, but for Kyle, his story feels way more tragic because that's how it has always been. A big portion of his history stretching all the way to Sinestro Corps involves Kyle dealing with some of the worst burdens of a superhero, whether it was necessary or not. The final shot in Ion #12 where Kyle is alone and breaking down with portraits of the women he's lost in his life, including his mother, embodies this, and I like to think Kyle in some ways is a prototype Invincible, in terms of being hit with the hardest of reality early on as a superhero, though obviously less gory. But like Simon's analysis, they still showed how crazy the Lantern powerset can be, going over the entire Emotional Spectrum and giving him the actual source code of life itself, and giving credence to his own reality over fiction arguments, and I think people think he didn't feel as loved because lots of it was shoved straight into the beginning, compared to Simon's being more towards the middle and end of the analysis. As someone whos read Kyle's comics extensively, this was great. It was some of, if not, THE finest comic analysis on the show. They gave respect to Kyle in a way that DC themselves never have, and they gave him much love and respect.

Kyle's Analysis- Flaws

I think the jump from "Kyle got the ring" to "so heres all it can do!" felt a little fast, could've at least thrown in his first outing against Mongul, or the detail of how he was unaware of any of the events of Emerald Twilight, but they did have to go through not just all of his Green Lantern content, but his Emotional Spectrum, White Lantern, and Life Equation stuff, so it doesn't take away from what story beats they did add. I do wish they elaborated a wee bit more on Anti-Monitor scaling or what exactly he'd scale to in terms of power, even the black box just listed off people he fought as a chain without elaborating on what 'creation' could encompass. 

The Fight

Yeah I have a lot to say about this.

It's hard to separate categories like dialogue and choreography without talking about both at the same time, so I'm just gonna go scene by scene as best I can.

The voice acting from Kieran Regan and Brandon Acosta was on point I feel. The first interaction was similar to Ben vs Hal, Kyle wanting to confiscate the Gurren Lagann mecha which I didn't care for at first but it'd come in handy later better then I would think. The little Gurren Boomerang being caught by a construct hand with the comic "Catch!" was already a great start, glad they gave Kyle special effects on account of his lack of media so comic sound effects being spelled out? Hell yeah. 

The beginning is where most of the constructs are, and for what ones we got, I'm glad I was surprised rather then seeing what people would expect the usual references to be, even if I was a bit sad we didn't get a callback to the time Kyle made an Evangelion construct. But Balrog, Luigi's Poltergust 3000, a fucking dragon (that I thiiiink was Shenron but I dunno) Banbaro's horns, and Tiger Woods? Already off to a great start and highlighted Kyle's creativity perfectly, mostly in the way they interacted with Gurren Lagann. Balrog being used for an upclose mecha exchange, the dragon wrapping up GL for Tiger Words to put the head of the mecha off, the poltergust sucking up the spiral missiles...chefs kiss. The facial reaction of Gurren Lagann and him asking "Fore?" was just brilliant, and reminded me of earlier Gurren Lagann.

Admittedly Kyle does dominate a lot of the early fight, but Simon still kinda no-diffs the Balrog construct and shows off his missiles, but we already got a lot of Kyle stuff in just one sitting, about 30 seconds of an introduction. Then it flies off to space.

Its about at this point where a lot of people say it goes to fast and the escalation gets really quick, but I can kinda see some reasons why that is the case and they're understandable. I think having mechas like Super Galaxy Dai-Gurren Lagann wouldn't have fit as well, and I think they were saving the more build-up transformation for Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, since that's like the final form of it all, so I don't blame them for jumping straight into the action. We still got a nice in between of Simon taking the mecha back, and shredding through a crystal Star Sapphire shield, and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann trying to step in loser was silly, while also retaining the silly reactions the mecha can have, and I love the detail that they remember the mecha reflects Simon in a lot of life-like ways that make it move and even react as such. And the transformation itself into TTGL, with the shot of its title looked super clean, and Kyle staring up at it did a good job at showing the sheer scope in which he was going to reach already.

The Super Spiral Universe fight was just a fucking treat. Kyle making a construct that resembles the Thought Robot version of Superman was undoubtedly an idea from Rina that made it in since Superman is Kyle's favorite hero, and the classic sword and shield was very in-character since Kyle uses those things a lot when it comes his samurai and robot constructs. Simon saying "that's so cool" is something Kyle would've definitely said, and them having a sword clash, while not something we see TTGL do much, felt really Kyle-coded, and I like it that way; one thing going forward that I will also say is I think the DB feels like they did their homework and giving both them-coded scenes, they could've easily just made Simon have drills like in the anime ending of the Anti-Spiral fight, but they gave him two big swords that resembled Virals as well. Their lines overlapping with "I'm a Lantern/Digger" Simon jumping on literal spiral universes, shattering the blue shield, Kyle delivering with Red Lantern's rage blast, was just a peak sequence, primarily carried by the line delivery of the two. 

I loved the way they used the Indigo light of compassion in this fight. Admittedly in the lead-up to this match I've always been poking fun at the Indigo Tribe for having useless Lantern abilities, but using it to redirect the probability missiles looked really fucking cool, though they worked on him anyway. Simon yanking Kyle around Dayaka-style felt like a reference to Zarathos swinging Spawn around in Ghost Rider vs Spawn, was kinda funny. 

The Source Wall fight got even better, Simon smashing through it with a banger line and Kyle tapping into the Life Equation, which was probably the best way they could incorporate it into the fight, made for a really cool moment, of Kyle trying to stop the fighting, and while it may look like he's being framed as antagonistic, I think the "choose life" line followed by Kamina was an interesting thing to have, especially in the context of Kyle's job as a White Lantern, coming from a place of knowing that life is precious and worth living, and Simon probably agrees, and also keeps fighting. The Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann was fucking awesome, wasting no time to Giga Drill Break, and then Kyle delivers with a fucking drill of his own. And honestly, the little sequence of the multicolored drills forming together into one drill might be one of the best 'transformations' in the show (if you can count it as that), or just one of the best build-ups. The sounds of the drills grinding as they charge towards each other and clash...oh my fucking god. Just so fucking amazing, and I don't care if it feels too 'Gurren Lagann coded', Kyle's cocky smile and deliverance is a testament that Kyle would agree it feels too anime-coded, but he'd make a construct to match anyway. 

Side tangent but its at this point that I must point out how fucking awesome and well designed some of the transitional shots, camera work, and backdrops are. I love how they made the Source Wall feel like its dwarfing even Simon in a wide shot, because it made the fight within the Source Wall itself feel astronomically large, even if Kyle himself looked to be just human; little details like that, plus the Life Equation stirring around in the background and the flurry of neutral colors in the background were great touches. I vastly prefer that over just "white space background", even if in the context of the Source Wall it would've been far more accurate. Oh and showing us the cockpit reignite whenever Simon begins to power up again is just a great touch, they absolutely cooked with the more transitional scenes. 

After a quick infinity sign symbolling reality breaking, we get to the final confrontation. And this entire sequence alone just embodies what I love about Death Battle, but also what I love about this match, and for what it does, its phenomenal. Kyle saying "The super-weapon wasn't your mech", Simon replying with "It was me", and Kyle replying with "Then, Simon...I'm taking you in" with smile...probably my favorite line exchange in the whole fight. Kyle realizing it was the man and not the machine, embracing the fight and recognizing the indomitable will present in Simon, and in his mind he knew he'd be a good Lantern for those reasons. Kyle smiling as he says he's gonna take Simon in feels like what we've all been waiting for, as they exchange in one final clash among the lights in the sky. 

One complaint I also hear in regards to the fight feeling too Gurren Lagann-coded is the fact that the final clash is a blatant reference to the ending fistfight with the Anti-Spiral in the Gurren Lagann movie, The Lights in the Sky are Stars. But Kyle chanting the Green Lantern oath while Simon isn't saying anything I think tips the balances, it wasn't overlapped with a line from Simon, it was just a raw, better version of the line delivery then Ben vs Hal, and the little moment where they both grab the weapons that started their journey, forming drills out of them and hitting each other with one last personal drill clash...

Favorite shot in the entire show of Death Battle. 

We have been waiting for this moment since 2021, a final drill clash with everything they've got, shattering each others attacks as we hear a little bit of Will of the Drill in the background in a modern track, after a crazy cosmic fight with the rainbow colors all over the sky across the barren valley Simon first saw when he reached the surface. Seeing it come to fruition was bittersweet, and I was grinning ear-to-ear knowing that I was witnessing the peakest of fiction to ever peak fiction. I don't think a single shot from DB may ever come close to this one, which is why its my computer wallpaper and the starting image for this review!

Simon delivers the final blow, using the line his bro used long ago, hitting Kyle with a drill-shaped punch. The ending was somewhat close to what I envisioned the ending being, where Simon takes on the mantle of Lantern after Kyle's death, and Kyle saying he'd make a good Lantern as he stares upon the super-weapon of will was glorious. Only Kyle, in his last moments, would recognize a character straight out of an anime, as a peer of his in fighting spirit. The ending line and "The End"? Beautiful fucking finish.

It was an amazing fight. My favorite of the entire show by far. I'm not gonna hear the recency bias stuff, because as far as I'm concerned, Death Battle is definitely in its prime right now when it comes to animation and how they do it. At first I wasn't sure how it'd look in hand-drawn but they blew my socks off. Many people say this fight felt like a "checklist" and to that I say, so what? People wanted to see stuff in a fight with so much potential? What a crazy concept. The checklist brought me so much, and surprised me in so many places. They used emotions I didn't think they'd really use, constructs that were very surprising, gave us a beautiful drill clash, had Simon overcoming the Source Wall in true Multiverse Labyrinth-style, setpieces like the Super Spiral Universe, and so so much more. They went above and beyond to deliver something that took some risks, but ultimately make a love letter to the many fans of this match who have been waiting for these moments. When I was in that VC with Dekhead, we could barely speak because we were just on the edge of our seats watching everything go down, and I could tell we were both just witnessing history unfold with how little we said. 

Does the fight have flaws? Absolutely. Sometimes Kyle's model looked slightly shorter, and his hair looked a bit different between shots...honestly that's all I can think of. Go figure. Again, a little sad we got no super mecha construct fight but they still made great pop culture reference constructs that felt in character, which ultimately was what I hoped for at the end of the day. They used the other emotions in satisfying enough ways, and I can forgive Blue not being used as much since it doesn't really do a whole lot different visually, so it getting a shield is acceptable. 

But for what we got, the final product is still amazing. They both got their flowers, they gave us a scale unlike anything we've seen from the show, some great banter, good vibes, moments full of will, beautiful colors, iconic shots, and a FUCKING DRILL CLASH GRAHHHHH-

The Post-Analysis

To wrap things up, I think a lot of this will be somewhat of a defense for the post-analysis, but I won't talk about the debate itself as much. But if you're curious, yeah there's some things I disagree with, like Kyle only taking the half of Imagination, he should've outright gotten the full of it since they said in Simon's analysis that he primarily makes drills, Kyle is easily more creative. Yeah Simon has the potential to be just as creative, but Kyle implements it...way way more. 

One criticism I've seen with the fight is that it pretty much spits in Kyle's face, gives him no flowers, and puts him down. No. Not at all. Hard disagree. Kyle Rayner is one of, it not my current favorite DC character and I didn't really feel like he didn't get his credit. They opened up by stating that they cancel out in just about everything, even saying he would survive probability missiles due to the COIE resistance feat, which the G1 blog said was the main wincon. People are disillusioned by Simon taking 75% of the categories and thinking that Kyle got owned with no wincons, and that's not really true. They didn't talk about the Orange Lantern stuff, sure, but it probably never came up because they didn't think Kyle would kill Simon; not that the soul stuff itself wouldn't work, but he couldn't reach the point to get there. But they acknowledged he could keep getting stronger, stay on the backfoot with energy absorption, but they just said that Simon had better versions of it. Which I think is true! Simon will continue to get stronger at a way higher rate then Kyle, and they didn't doubt Kyle's willpower as anything less per say, and that Kyle erasing the Aberration wouldn't be as effective as the things Simon has come back from. 

Does that mean the fight is clear cut? Maybe, depends on how you interpret what 'clear cut' means. Death Battle episodes are also made in a vacuum, and you're allowed to personally disagree with how things are presented or stated while also acknowledging that they do have to also explain this to a casual audience. And for what they could've done, they focused on the most important part, which was Simon getting stronger vs Kyle shutting him down and vice versa, and Simon just wins that exchange. Personally I think the fight is close for different reasons, but I don't really agree with the idea that the post-analysis didn't do anything for Kyle. In fact, let me draw some attention to this meme I've been seeing around today;

When you look at it from a lens of what it did for Kyle in a larger scope beyond Death Battle, it did so much; much more then probably more mainstream DC characters like Wonder Woman (rip). All the efforts, the editing, the animation, the checklist that they themselves probably looked to fan ideas for, the level of power and scope they put him at (literally R>F), all of it...was for Kyle. This match has always been for him just as much as it has been for Simon, and I know that because the entirety of the lead-up was people actually curious about Kyle and asking me and others for comic recommendations.

Has there been Kyle slander? Absolutely, I've seen plenty of r/dbm bum threads talking about Simon slayed the herald, and laughing at the fact that Kyle is 'a big nobody who got his first piece of media in decades'. But those losers don't matter. If you love Kyle, whether before the episode or grew to love him during, I hope you can see as much as I do that they gave Kyle the biggest love letter possible; he's the other half of one of the biggest community matches in recent DB memory. I would not be surprised if the DB team, researchers, producers, or whoever, felt the same way when they learned about him. We should be hoping that because of this celebration of him, that DC will finally love him just as much!

But my point really in all of this is that I love this episode so much despite it flaws for the sole fact that we just made this all happen, and we as a community should be so proud of something like that. I said it in my first tribute blog to this episode, but if we can get Kyle Rayner, a C-Lister character objectively, to appear in one of the most anticipated episodes of the Kickstarter among Ash vs Yugi or Bowser vs Dr. Eggman, then the sky is limitless for what else we can push. Its what keeps me in this community! The idea that you can have so much bonding, fun, love, passion, and energy put into these silly hypothetical vs matches. That's a great thing, and something I've learned not to be ashamed of when I tell people I like talking about who would win between x and y. If you have a matchup that you dearly love or its your most wanted, push for it. Fight for it. Don't stop, no matter who may laugh at it or who may doubt it. You're meant to enjoy the things you love. And I certainly enjoyed this one. 

Back to the conclusion, overall I agree in the end that Simon wins. I know I've spent a lot of this time talking about Kyle but I've always been in this fight for both since these are some of my favorite characters, I didn't smile even a twitch less when I saw Simon look over Kyle victorious. I thought he won, simple as that, but I was also happy to see a character that has brought me out of heavy feelings, even during this year, smiling through and through. These two mean so much to me. 

Final Thoughts

This is my favorite episode of the entire show. Unequivocally. My most wanted finally came to life, and they delivered in a way that left me happy. Happy that I got to be here and see it come about. To see Will of the Drill remastered into Spiral of Emotions, to see the debate come down to the wire after much confusion on how strong these two are, to get to watch it with all of the people that made this half a decade journey so memorable, to get to have my jaw dropped, and see the impact this match has made on me and the community, happen at last. It was so good that people are asking for even more Lantern matches, which is my favorite mythos of DC Comics by far, so that warms my heart that people are taking interest in one of the coolest parts of DC. 

Will an episode take its place? I don't know. Maybe another DC vs Non-Marvel match (or vice versa) will take its place, or maybe neither will and a certain creepypasta fighting a japanese horror icon may just as well do so. But one things for sure; comparing what I've previously had as my most wanted, Flash vs Sonic...it doesn't even begin to compare. As I've told to my friends, I am so sad that this is all over, but I am thankful for the memories I made, the people I've met through this match that I can call brothers and sisters (won't say names because I'd feel bad if I forgot someone but you know who you are), and I'll look back fondly as this, like Jotaro looking at a picture of the Stardust Crusaders. It was a really fun month, and I know the us in 2020 would be blown away by what the final episode turned into.

It's been fun, Simon the Digger vs Kyle Rayner; you shined alight as power filled, because nothing, will ever contain your will. 

anyways I give it a 12.3/10