Blake Belladonna (DEATH BATTLE!)

"Major Spoilers Ahead!" This Article Contains Spoilers - WARNING: Axelrod is here to inform you that this page contains spoilers. If you haven't seen/played the work that this scrappy is from yet, we'd advise that you turn back and look at another page.

NOTE: Only Blake's DEATH BATTLE! incarnation is counted here, since her RWBY counterpart cannot be classified as a Scrappy, and is more Base Breaking at worst.

Scrappy
Full Name	Blake Belladonna
Alias	Blake Belladona The feline Huntress from RWBY
Origin	DEATH BATTLE!
Allies	Mikasa Ackerman (Rick Sanchez VS The Doctor)
Powers / Skills	Shadow Semblance Gambol Shroud Aura Cat Faunus senses
Goals	Defeat Mikasa, potentially to continue reading her book (succeeded, abandoned her book) Defeat the Titans (ongoing)
What failed with the character?	She is a baffling shell of her canon self, not only being portrayed without her voice actor, but also very petty and unlikable. And her being okay after losing her arm comes off as pretentious and insulting to the source material.
Type of Scrappy?	Baffling Adaptation

“	Leave me alone!	„
	~ Blake's ironic and infamous reused line as she starts fighting Mikasa.

“	Incoming!	„
	~ Blake's second infamous reused line as she overconfidently rushes to fight a Titan after killing Mikasa

Blake Belladonna is one of the two titular main protagonists of the DEATH BATTLE episode "Blake VS Mikasa." She is a cat Faunus huntress from RWBY, and Mikasa Ackerman's arch nemesis. While Blake is typically well liked in RWBY, her portrayal in DEATH BATTLE was heavily criticized.

She was voiced by Arryn Zech via reused audio.

What Makes Her a Scrappy?

• Despite DEATH BATTLE being owned by the same company who owned RWBY at the time, and therefore very clearly had all the means to get Arryn Zech back to play Blake (as they did the same with Yang, Weiss, and most of the Red vs. Blue cast), Blake didn't get her voice actress and only speaks through recycled voice clips. The reasoning for this is unknown, whether it’d be the writing for the script not calling for new voice lines (which is bad writing), or, more likely and reasonably, constraints with Arryn Zech's personal life, hence why Arryn is still credited in the episode, and she is at least aware of the episode’s existence, which implies they wanted or intended to have her for the episode, but couldn't/didn't for unknown reasons. Regardless of the reason, as a result of this bizarre casting choice, Blake's interactions are heavily limited in the battle, and it also pushes a lot of the problems people have with her portrayal in the episode. It becomes especially noticeable when her opponent, Mikasa, does have a voice actor.
  • Blake not being able to properly speak to Mikasa wastes a lot of potential of the episode, as one of the main connections these two have are that they have dealt with fighting in their cruel worlds and being persecuted by civilization, which could've led to some interesting setups and interactions in spite of their anti-socialism, and the only character traits Blake seems to retain in the battle are her appeal for reading, her anti-socialism, and her tendency to run away, the former two are stretched to unlikable degrees and the latter trait being rather contentious by fans.
  • Tex and Sheila also didn't get their voice actors for their episode, but this is justified for the following reasons.
    • Tex's voice actress, Kathleen Zuelch, had left Rooster Teeth by then, and they likely couldn't find a good replacement like with Caboose, who needed to have a voice, while Tex's voiceless behavior didn't feel as off putting, given how she is in the series and the setup not requiring any lines from her, being filled up by the rest of her team.
    • Sheila is relegated to a rather minor cameo, and likely had no reason to say anything.
  • Despite the library of potential lines from RWBY and other RWBY related media such as BlazBlue, the episode only got two brief repurposed lines, both of which are rather questionable to off putting.
    • When Blake tells Mikasa to leave her alone, it is recycled from Blake's encounter with Adam in Volume 6. However, ironically and hypocritically, Blake could have avoided fighting easily to be left alone, as Mikasa wasn't even the one who started the fight. Meanwhile, in the original source of the line, Blake says this to Adam because after years of enduring his existence and torment, she was tired and afraid of seeing him again. In the original line and delivery, Blake was being wrongfully oppressed by someone who has done so to her for years, which is the exact opposite of what's going on here.
    • Blake saying “Incoming!” at the end was considered by some to be at best a lame quirky one-liner that breaks the immersion of the scene where she is about to face the Titan, and at worst a heavily out of character moment.
  • While Blake is typically very quiet in RWBY, and even more so when fighting, if working off the excuse that the script didn't need a voice actor for Blake, they still could've at least snuck in decent dialogue before she fights Mikasa and the ending.
  • Combatants such as Samurai Jack, Afro Samurai, Winter Soldier, and Sabrewulf all also have limited dialogue in their fights (the same amount of brief lines as Blake in her battle), but were still able to convey more character and be more likable with these lines alone.
  • Combatants such as Ryu, Green Arrow, and Hawkeye all also exclusively use reused audio as their lines, but were still able to convey a decent personality with these lines, which Blake simply doesn't with hers.
• She ignorantly did not listen to Mikasa when she told her the Titans were coming and only silently tried to make it clear she just wanted to read. While questioning how Blake got in Wall Maria in the first place isn't typically a problem, given how long it's implied Blake was sitting there, Blake really should've been able to hear that there was something going on, which is even more embarrassing considering how it's said in the fight itself that Blake has "4 times the hearing."
• She is the one who starts the fight. While Mikasa did shoot an ODM hook at her book and could've had less violent ways to properly get her attention, she clearly had no intention to fight when something as dangerous as a Titan attack was about to happen. And given how Blake just said nothing and ignored Mikasa, the latter's supposed extreme way to get her attention is more than justified. Blake did not really need to start a fight over something as petty as her book and could've just peacefully told Mikasa she wanted to be left alone, asked what was going on, or simply complied to Mikasa's orders. It's especially jarring, because in canon, Blake is typically a peace-loving person (it was the whole reason why she left the White Fang in canon) and would not usually pick fights with random people unless she has to or if she feels they are wrong or evil, the latter being what they seem to be going for, but Mikasa was clearly not wrong or evil and evidently just wanted to help save the world. It makes Blake look more psychopathic than the average DEATH BATTLE combatant.
  • Given how DEATH BATTLE works, these two did need to fight somehow. However, if a decent setup could not be created due to technical issues with the voice actor, this instance of poor writing could've been avoided by simply just not showing how or why they started fighting, like what "Miles Morales VS Static," "Weiss VS Mitsuru," "Dragonzord VS Mechagodzilla," or "Guts VS Dimitri" did.
  • While Blake does spend a good chunk of the battle running from Mikasa and only attacking or dodging out of defense, which is technically in character for her, she really had no reason to run, as Mikasa was just trying to tell her she's in danger and was evidently not initially chasing her to fight until Blake struck first.
• She gets hit by one of the three Thunder Spears Mikasa throws at her, being the second one that she catches with her bare hands despite knowing full well that they explode, which it does right in her face. The scene is not conveyed as Blake intending to tank the explosion like with the Predator in "Boba Fett VS Predator," especially since Blake still had her semblance and it’s also stated in the episode that her reaction time is faster than lightning, so she really could’ve just used a shadow clone to avoid the Thunder Spear the moment she caught it instead like what she just did for the first Thunder Spear, as the conclusion states that the biggest weakness of the Thunder Spears is that they are too slow for Blake, so having Blake get hit by one of the Thunder Spears, especially like this, comes off as jarring and forced by the episode’s logic.
  • The intention was to have Mikasa use the Spear on Blake after learning her shadow clone tactic to get the jump on her. However, this falls apart when the final episode (and even the storyboards) shows Blake catching the Thunder Spear and seemingly forgetting she can escape from it in an instant. Even if she was caught by surprise, her faster than lightning reflexes should've let her escape the moment she caught it.
• When Mikasa goes in to slice Blake's arm off, you can see that even though Blake still has her sword in her right arm, instead of using that to defend herself from Mikasa, she stupidly reaches her unarmed left arm out instead, causing it to be cut off.
  • Even with her Aura depleted and her arm cut off, Blake is still able to get up, catch and throw a Thunder Spear back at Mikasa with her weapon (which is like catching and throwing a rocket firework), and run up to fight a Titan confidently (which she would likely have no clue how to kill due to the precise weak point of a Titan that an outsider like Blake wouldn't have been informed about). This is HEAVILY inaccurate to RWBY's canon, where it's been shown that once Aura is depleted, Huntsmen are shown to be near powerless due to being tired or critically injured. And even more so, unlike other combatants who have lost limbs, as shown with Yang (in the very scene being referenced in the battle), having your arm cut off, even with Aura, can leave victims mentally and physically crippled and knocked out, meaning the physically weaker Blake should not have been able to get back up to take the win, something that the writers of the battle should've known researching the scene they intended to reference. The ending comes off as the animators intending for Mikasa to win, then realizing Blake actually wins, so they had to haphazardly force a win with what they had.
    • While Blake has been run through with a blade and was able to escape in that very scene being referenced, it was not any major organ damage, nor was it any limb amputation, and she still had her Aura. And she still needed a lot of physical healing to fight again, which this moment in the battle contradicts with Blake rushing to fight a Titan after sustaining an even worse injury.
• Blake being this confident to fight the Titans after losing her arm comes off as extremely out of character, and more like something Yang would do, except as stated, Yang herself has lost an arm, and even she wouldn't act like such in this situation, mainly because she would've and has been knocked out. Especially since given her condition, Blake would certainly be dead trying to fight that Titan.
  • The scene could've at least been a moment where Blake realizes Mikasa was right and shows some remorse and decides to power through the pain to fight in Mikasa's honor. However, the scene is instead conveyed as Blake forgetting about Mikasa completely and only fighting the Titan because it was there.
• Due to killing Mikasa, who really only wanted to warn Blake about the upcoming Titans, Blake comes off as an antagonistic Karma Houdini, as Mikasa was clearly more in the right. Not to mention that given Blake starts the fight, viewers would naturally be rooting for Mikasa on a moral standpoint, even though it was obvious from a versus standpoint that Blake was going to win, which can make the battle frustrating to sit though.
  • This is ironic, as it's clear the episode intended for Mikasa to be the antagonist. However, that falls apart when you realize the outside stakes with the Titans, which makes Blake look like a complete idiot and Mikasa completely justifiable.
• Even though Blake is written in such an unlikable and antagonistic way, given how the analysis respects her, her overall track record in canon, as well as how the intention was to make Mikasa look like the antagonist and that she ends up winning, it's clear she is not meant to be a Hate Sink like Homelander.
• While other combatants have also been criticized for their poor and inaccurate portrayals, Blake stands out for the following reasons.
  • Blake appears in a season where the bar for characterization is much higher, unlike Beast and Goliath, where voice acting likely was a bit short and battles without voice acting were common at the time (even though it's still very egregious with those two).
    • Blake also stands out as the only combatant in Season 8 to lack character, especially compared to the highly praised likes of Reverse-Flash, Saitama, Madara, Aizen, and Po, and even lesser praised portrayals such as Ryūko, Shao Kahn, and Korra. Even Link, who is the only other combatant who didn't receive a voice actor that season, has a good reason to, since Link doesn't typically talk. And Link still managed to keep a unique and likable personality intact, like the pot smashing and the Link clones. Blake overall feels like a pedestrian Season 1-4 combatant pulled into a Season 8 episode.
      • It should be noted the episode was planned to release in Seasons 5 and 6. However, with this in mind, it comes off as the creators not revising or updating the script of the fight much come its proper release for Season 8.
  • Unlike most flawed combatants in the show, Blake was directly tied to the company that owned DEATH BATTLE at the time and given that fans have had suspicions of DEATH BATTLE showing bias for RWBY characters for this very reason (Yang defeating Tifa, Weiss' death being heavily neutered, and Ruby winning her DBX against Ragna), it comes off as a backwards choice to have Rooster Teeth portray their own original character the way she is.
• While there are other major elements that fans criticize about the episode (the analysis sections, the animation, or some of Mikasa’s own questionable moments), Blake's portrayal in the episode is one of the biggest reasons why the episode isn't very popular amongst the fans, typically being ranked second to worst or the very worst of the season (with "Akuma VS Shao Kahn" typically being considered worse by a little bit), and the episode itself currently having the second least amount of views in the season and the fifth least amount of views in the whole series, currently only beating "Killua VS Misaka", "Joker VS Giorno", "Among Us VS Fall Guys", and "Macho Man VS Kool-Aid Man." Fans typically cite the episode as boring or not very memorable, which can allude to Blake's lackluster performance not allowing the episode to have the meaningful interactions that defined most of the season's other episodes.

Trivia

• Blake is the first Rooster Teeth, DEATH BATTLE, and RWBY character to be a Scrappy.
• Her opponent, Mikasa Ackerman, has also been a subject of criticism for some of her own arguably even more infamous moments (thinking Blake has "4 times the hearing" with 2 sets of ears even though that is not how the math would work, punching Blake in the air even though she knows she can escape with her shadows, seemingly replacing her swords for no reason, etc.), but Mikasa is saved from being a Scrappy for the following reasons.
  • Mikasa felt like the writers actually tried with her, not only giving her a voice, but also moments where she acts strategic like how she is in canon, even if the execution of said strategies was flawed.
  • Mikasa is overall the more likable combatant, as she evidently initially cared about Blake's safety, and has more of a personality.
• While the canon version of Blake is already a subject of contention in how she was written (some fans even jokingly stating that Blake’s poor portrayal in the episode was accurate), she at least has a personality and a likable character, even if critics weren't a fan of how it was handled, while this version barely even tried with anything, let alone anything likable.
• Her DBX counterpart also cannot be considered a Scrappy, due to the standards of DBX being generally lower, and as a result, Blake is portrayed considerably better in that series in comparison to this one when put up to the standards of DBX.
  • Ironically, the setup for her DBX is similar to this one, in that Blake is minding her own business and is interrupted and put into a fight by her opponent. However, given the stakes weren't the dooming of humanity, Blake is less idiotic and antagonistic as a result. In fact, it's more debatable in this one who truly started the fight first.
• Blake and Mikasa have made cameos in future episodes. Their fight is seen in "Harley Quinn VS Jinx," and the two are seen sharing a table at Blips and Chitz during "Rick Sanchez VS The Doctor."
  • Given that the combatants are confirmed to be revived after each battle, it can be assumed that Blake and Mikasa got along properly following their battle. However, given that this is only a hypothetical from a mere cameo, this is not enough to save her from being a Scrappy.

External Links

• Blake on the Death Battle Wiki