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Monster Face Off - TV Tropes

  • ️Sun Aug 13 2023

Monster Face Off (Web Animation)

There will be no quarter given, no mercy shown. Only one contestant will get out alive...

Monster Face Off is a web series hosted by the youtube channel, "Goji Center". In each episode, a climactic battle various giant monsters or powerful megafauna duke it out in unseen match-ups, similar to Deadliest Warrior and Animal Face Off with the latter serving as a Spiritual Predecessor.

Beginning in 2023, the series premieres in special events on Youtube before being formally uploaded. The format introduces the two combatants, be they real-life animals or fictional monsters, and going through a series of categories note  with the advantage per category going to one combatant or another.

Season trailer here.

Thus far, confirmed match-ups are:

Tropes in this series:

  • Animals Not to Scale: The ARK Giganotosaurus is magnitudes larger than the real thing, putting it on even scaling with the Skull Devil.
  • Artistic License – Paleontology: Discussed several times throughout the series.
    • Both The Meg and InGen Mosasaurus are not perfectly aligned with their real life counterparts, though The Meg is substantially closer to the real thing. This gets Deconstructed with the Mosasaurus, since not having a streamlined body, a properly blubbery body, and lacking a forked tongue for sensory input is one of the reasons it lost to the shark, which retained all of its essential abilities.
    • It's also discussed in Rexy vs Sue, as despite both being the same species, Rexy differs substantially from Sue, due in part to a combination of outdated assumptions and deliberate design choices by the filmmakers. Just like with the Mosasaurus this gets Deconstructed, as the changes in Rexy's design end up putting her at a noticeable disadvantage in several crucial areas such as mass, senses, and bite effectiveness, which results in her handily losing to Sue. With Rexy's only advantages being more reach, faster speed, and having a stronger headbutt, all of which are fairly negligible compared to Sue's advantages in mass, senses, agility, and bite effectiveness.
  • Awesome, but Impractical:
    • The Mosasaur's back armor osteoderms end up being this, as not only does it result in it losing its streamlined body plan and blubbery body, thus causing it to become much more noisy and reducing it's speed considerably, its position leaves it's underbelly, aka the most vulnerable part of the body, completely undefended.
    • Tyrannosaurus rex vs. Palaeoloxodon namadicus brings up the top speed of both animals when detailing their speed, but also that they would not run at their top speed when fighting. Doing so would consume far too much energy and only be done if they were running away or had a guaranteed hit.
      • By real animal standards, the Tyrannosaurus rex has a huge head but only two legs which makes it more prone to getting toppled over.
    • Camazotz’ buffalo-like horns and lion-like mane end up being this as the mane causes excessive weight on Camazotz in the air and combined with the horns, cause too much drag for Camazotz to fly as fast as Rodan.
    • The Skull Devil's use of it's arms for locomotion is stated to be this, as while it looks cool, it's also stated to be extremely draining in terms of energy and stamina compared to more traditional legs, due to the arms being composed primarily of fast-twitch muscle fibers that tear more easily and consume much more energy.
    • Rexy's teeth are another example of this, as while their narrower, blade-like shape makes her look "scarier", they also result in her bite being considerably less effective compared to an actual Tyrannosaurus Rex like Sue.
  • Behemoth Battle: Be it megafauna or kaiju, the combatants are all titanic to various degrees.
  • Boring, but Practical: A recurring theme throughout the series is that the more grounded combatants tend to triumph over their more exotic/outlandish opponents, due to being more optimized for the aspects of combat that really matter.
    • Compared to the monstrous looking InGen Mosasaurus, The Meg is essentially just a real life megalodon with extra gills and more cold tolerance. This means it is more fine tuned and has all of its abilities intact, helping the shark secure the win.
    • By real animal standards, compared to the more chimera-esque Tyrannosaurus, the Paleoloxodon is mostly just an oversized elephant with straight tusks. This helps the mammal win important categories in terms of mass, armor, intelligence, and auxiliary weaponry.
    • By Mix-and-Match Critters standards, both Rodan and Camazotz are flying creatures who have traits from multiple animals. Compared to Camazotz, who has more traits from terrestrial animals which make him look scarier, Rodan has more traits from aerial animals such as a pterosaur's base body and an eagle's beak. The only terrestrial animal traits the latter has are gazelle-like horns. This helps Rodan be much more optimal for aerial combat than Camazotz and help the volcanic titan defeat the bat monster.
    • The Skull Devil wins a majority of the categories the two didn't tie in, and has a vaster array of natural weapons like its dexterous arms, grappling tail, and prehensile, extendable tongue.The ARK Giganosaurus just has naturally good stamina as a theropod, bites hard and quickly, and has a Rage Mode. The ARK Giganotosaurus just barely wins largely because it could deal more damage faster than the Skull Devil could, just biting it over and over and over and over again once in Rage Mode.
    • Sue, in comparison to the scarier Rexy, is basically a more accurate Tyrannosaurus. Helping her keep all her species' strengths without hinderance and win with little effort, with her only disadvantages being less reach, slower speed, and having a weaker headbutt, all of which are fairly negligible compared to Sue's advantages in mass, senses, agility, and bite effectiveness.
  • Brains Versus Brawn: Happens several times as "Intelligence" is measured between combatants.
    • Played With in episode 1, The Meg is heavier, has better armor, and can bite harder in terms of "brawn" and has more experienced "brains"; whilst the InGen Mosasaurus wins the "Intelligence" category in terms of "brains", has better finesse with a win in the "Agility" category, and has better stamina and ramming force which helps her win the "Stamina" and "Auxiliary Weaponry" categories in terms of "brawn". Better armored and harder biting "Brawn" and more experienced "brains" wins.
    • In episode 3, Porco in his Jaw Titan form is every bit as intelligent as he is in human form; whereas the the Skullcrawler is a highly reactive, instinctive animal whilst being noticeably larger and more physically powerful. "Brains" wins.
    • In episode 4, Rodan is the more durable and stronger of the two titans. Whilst he isn't exactly stupid, he is much less cerebral than Camazotz; whom showed the ability for plans, on-the-fly strategy, and could command an army of smaller bat-like monsters. "Brawn" wins.
    • In episode 5, ARK Giganotosaurus has much better stamina, a much tougher bite than the Skull Devil, and has a rage mode that can make it more physically stronger. However, the Skull Devil is less impulsive and much more experienced than the gigantic carnosaur. "Brawn" wins.
  • Clash of Evolutionary Levels:
    • To a degree in The Meg vs. InGen Mosasaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex vs. Palaeoloxodon namadicus, which feature a Cenozoic beast going against a Mesozoic saurian. In both cases so far, the Cenozoic animal won.
    • By Kaiju standards, Rodan vs. Camazotz has one opponent resembling a Mesozoic pterosaur clashing with another opponent resembling a Modern bat. The Mesozoic-looking titan wins.
    • In a more fictional take, Ark Giga vs. Skull Devil has a Mesozoic dinosaur against a psuedo-reptile which branched off in the Paleozoic era. The Mesozoic reptile wins.
    • In a way when it comes to counterparts, Rexy vs. Sue has a Mesozoic creature born in the past fighting a Cenozoic creation based on it. The Mesozoic creature wins.
  • Cool Versus Awesome: Arguably the major point of the series, showcasing either crossover brawls or battles never depicted before.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: The fight between Rexy and Sue ends up being one in Sue's favor. Rexy is only able to inflict some relatively minor cuts on Sue's back, while Sue bites off one of Rexy's arms, inflicts a deep bite on her skull, and takes off half of her tail.
  • Cruel Elephant: Downplayed with the Palaeoloxodon. While it is defending itself from the Tyrannosaurus, being an herbivore does not mean it is any less violent when threatened than any carnivore. The Palaeoloxodon is not content to end the fight with the T. rex by simply driving it off, and after knocking the dinosaur over, it impales it with its tusk and then stomps on its chest, crushing it.
  • David Versus Goliath:
    • The Tyrannosaurus rex is roughly half the mass of the Palaeoloxodon namadicus, despite being of comparable overall size. Goliath wins when the Tyrannosaurus just can't topple the huge elephant.
    • Porco's Jaw Titan form is noticeably smaller than the Skull Crawler. This time David wins as Porco can dodge around and get under the Skull Crawler to maul at it from below.
    • Averted in ARK Giga vs. Skull Devil. If official stats were used, it would have wound up being one due to the Skull Devil's outlandishly light weight note . But using volumetric analysis, the revised masses wound up being extremely close.
    • Played With in Rexy vs Sue as both combatants are both David and Goliath in different ways. Rexy has the height and length advantage, but Sue is heavier and harder for Rexy to push around because of it. The shorter David but heavier Goliath Sue wins because the combination lowers her center of gravity enough that Rexy can't topple her to get a chance to do some real damage.
  • Determinator: Even when backed into a corner or hammered with blows, many combatants will refuse to throw in the towel. Rexy and the ARK Giga especially qualify.
    • This lands the ARK Giga a win because it just refuses to give up and activates its rage mode after the Skull Devil landed a dire blow and got within biting range.
      • However this bites Rexy in a very brutal deconstruction. After Rexy started the fight and Sue managed to force her back and win the first round by the terms of a typical, nonlethal T.rex fight, Rexy decides to go in again to keep attacking. This forces Sue to not take chances and once they regain momentum, Rexy winds up with half her tail torn off and sent retreating.
  • Detrimental Determination: Rexy’s status as a Determinator gets savagely deconstructed in her fight against Sue. Sue forced Rexy back and won the first round by the terms of a non-lethal Tyrannosaurus fight. However, Rexy decides to keep attacking Sue, causing Sue to retaliate. By the end of the fight, Sue has barely a scratch on her, while Rexy has lost her right arm and half of her tail, and is forced to retreat.
  • Finishing Stomp:
    • How Tyrannosaurus rex vs. Palaeoloxodon namadicus ends: the latter rears up and brings its massive front feet down on the former.
    • Rodan kills Camazotz by doing a dive bomb stomp to his head while he's falling from high up, slamming his skull straight into the ground at high speed.
    • Downplayed with ARK Giga vs. Skull Devil. The enraged ARK Giga planting its foot on the chest of the downed Skull Devil isn't the finishing blow, but it does keep it pinned in place and allows the ARK Giga to brutally tear it to shreds with its fast and powerful bites.
  • Genius Bruiser:
    • "The Meg", while not as cognitive, not only has better armor and a tougher bite but also has more experience than the InGen Mosasaurus.
    • The InGen Mosasaurus, while not as experienced, is not only more cognitive but also has more stamina and superior ramming force.
    • The Palaeoloxodon surpassed the Tyrannosaurus in terms of raw power, by merit of being double the mass, and intelligence thanks to a much larger brain to give it complex problem solving intelligence.
    • Porco wields the power of the Jaw Titan, which can punch well above its weight class on top of being quite big as is, and retains all of his skills and human mind when transformed.
    • The Skull Devil is a creature that has lived for a very long time and has accumulated far more experience than its opponent, the Ark Giga.
    • While not as experienced as the Skull Devil, the Ark Giga is by no means stupid and is intelligent enough to respond to its opponent’s tactics.
    • Sue, not only surpasses Rexy in overall mass, but also despite being just as intelligent, has better experience than her genetically modified counterpart.
  • Giant Flyer: Rodan, Camazotz, and King Ghidorah all feature. Valka's Bewilderbeast cannot fully fly, but can glide with its wings.
  • Glowing Eyes of Doom: When the ARK Giga’s Unstoppable Rage ability is triggered, its eyes glow bright yellow.
  • High-Altitude Battle: Rodan vs. Camazotz involves both flying titans duking it out in the tunnels and atmosphere of the Hollow Earth.
  • Homefield Advantage: While the battle areas are typically intended to be an even playing field, sometimes the terrain becomes a deciding factor:
    • Rodan vs. Camazotz alternates between the dark, claustrophobic tunnels where Camazotz is at an advantage and the wide open skies of Hollow Earth where Rodan is in his element. While Camazotz does get the upper hand while in the tunnels, Rodan's endurance allows him to tank all his attacks until they get back into the Hollow Earth skies, where Rodan has the space to get up to full speed and land the finishing blows on Camazotz.
    • ARK Giga vs. Skull Devil takes place in a foggy, mountainous landscape that both creatures call home, but the Skull Devil, being more agile and not relying on sight as much as the ARK Giga, is able to use the environment to launch surprise attacks on the dinosaur. It still loses the fight thanks to the the ARK Giga's Rage Mode. However, it is noted that a more uneven, rocky environment than seen in the battle would give the Skull Devil a decisive edge, and that the Skull Devil's amphibious nature would allow it to make short work of the ARK Giga in water.
    • Downplayed with Rexy vs Sue takes place in Mesozoic Hell Creek as while both combatants are not unfamiliar with the terrain Sue is just better adapted for it than the genetic hodgepodge Rexy is.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: After knocking over the Tyrannosaurus, the Palaeoloxodon drives its unbroken tusk into it.
  • Lightning Bruiser:
    • Compared to the InGen Mosasaurus, The Meg is both heavier and faster in a straight line.
    • The Tyrannosaurus rex is a huge powerful carnivore that is deceptively fast and agile despite its sheer bulk.
    • Both Camazotz and Rodan could as one amongst kaiju. Rodan is more durable and faster in a straight flight, whereas Camazotz has more weapons and is more agile in changing direction.
    • Both the ARK Giganotosaurus and Skull Devil are ridiculously tough customers whilst also being very quick, the Skull Devil being more agile and have quicker explosive speed whereas the ARK Giganotosaurus has superior stamina.
    • Both Rexy and Sue are powerhouses but also quite nimble in different ways. Rexy being a far faster runner and with a higher top speed, Sue being more stable and agile pivoting on her footing.
  • Made of Iron: The Skull Devil’s high adrenaline means it can keep fighting despite brutal injuries, continuing its fight against Kong despite getting its neck cut open. In the fight, cuts from the ARK Giga’s feet and getting part of its tail bitten off don’t slow it down. It only dies when the Giganotosaurus pins it to the ground, and rapidly bites it until it rips open the Skull Devil and tears out its guts.
  • Mighty Glacier: The Palaeoloxodon namadicus when compared to the Tyrannosaurus rex. It is up to twice as heavy, making it physically stronger and more defended. But it is much slower, losing both the "Speed" and "Agility" categories.
  • Mighty Roar: Naturally, for many combatants. At some point or another virtually every fight has the combatants calling out at eachother.
  • Noisy Nature: Tyrannosaurus rex vs. Palaeoloxodon namadicus sees both animals making noises before the fight for no particular reason, even when there is nothing around them. The Tyrannosaurus at least does not make enough noise to give away its position to the Palaeoloxodon while sneaking up on it. When the fight starts, both make noises. The Palaeoloxodon trumpeting at least serves the purpose of trying to frighten the dinosaur away. All the noises during their fight, however, serve no purpose. After the Palaeoloxodon wins, it trumpets in triumph for no reason beyond looking cool.
  • Outside-Context Problem:
    • The combatants of episode 2 are this to each other. The Tyrannosaurus rex would never have encountered a gigantic mammal the size of a sauropod which can grapple with a trunk, and the Palaeoloxodon namadicus never would have encountered a dinosaur anywhere near its own size nor animals that large also being very agile.
    • The Skull Devil's somewhat outlandish biology makes it this to the ARK Giganotosaurus. With a "base" ARK Giga mainly being familiar with exaggerated forms of real-life dinosaurs, it lacks experience with the Skull Devil's unique arm-based bipedal posture and long, armored tail that can grapple and throw enemies.
  • Ramming Always Works:
    • Both The Meg and InGen Mosasaurus employ ramming as a secondary means of attack other than biting, but the latter is more effective at it.
    • Whilst not a calculated weapon, the Palaeoloxodon also uses its head as a battering ram to stun the Tyrannosaurus.
    • The decisive blow that wins the match between Rodan and Camazotz comes when Rodan preforms a full speed charge at Camazotz that tears massive chunks out of its wing, crippling the bat Titan and leaving him at Rodan's mercy.
    • The Skull Devil's namesake cranium enables it to use hard-and-fast ramming charges, utilizing this attack to knock the ARK Giga off-balance.
    • Both Rexy and Sue can headbutt but the former can headbutt with a lot more effectiveness.
  • Roar Before Beating: The Palaeoloxodon trumpets at the Tyrannosaurus before their fight starts, and the Tyrannosaurus roars in return. The elephant making noise has the understandable purpose of frightening away the predator, the dinosaur roaring is just there to look cool.
  • Rule of Cool: Discussed and Deconstructed, in the case of the Mosasaurus and Rexy, as it's shown that the changes made to make them "cooler" often end up hindering their abilities compared to their real-life counterparts.
    • In the case of the Mosasaurus, the inclusion of spiked armor on it's back results in it losing the streamlined blubbery body-plan that the real-life version had, resulting in it experiencing much more drag while swimming and making it much harder for it to sneak up on opponents, lacking full body armor, along with it's lack of a forked tongue resulting in it losing some of it's sensory perception.
    • In Rexy's case, her teeth being redesigned to be more blade-like and "scarier" makes them considerably less effective for biting compared to the real-life Tyrannosaurus Rex.
  • Scifi Writers Have No Sense Of Scale: Discussed in Episode 5 with regards to the official statements about the size of the Skull Devil. At most, these statements say the giant reptile weighs a hundred tons, which is far too light given the creature’s sheer mass.
  • Sea Monster: Both The Meg and the InGen Mosasaurus in the first episode, with Godzilla, The Bloop, and Valka's Bewilderbeast also counting.
  • Shown Their Work: Be it the research for the real-life animals, the in-universe lore for the fictional creatures, or the mathematical calculations for some metrics, the series has a lot of cited research and math behind it.
    • Sue does have a Mighty Roar, but their calls are more akin to the raspy bellows and hisses vultures or crocodilians have. Insights into dinosaur vocal abilities indicate this is more likely than the more shrieking roars Rexy has.
  • Shout-Out: The title card animation seems to homage that of Jurassic Fight Club.
  • Special Guest: Two real-life Tyrannosaurus specimens, Sue and Scotty, appear in two episodes.
  • Stealthy Colossus:
    • The Meg can swim almost silently thanks to its streamlined body and denticle covered skin. This is one of the reasons it won, as it could reliably ambush the Mosasaurus.
    • The Tyrannosaurus is stated to rely on ambushes, but the Palaoloxodon's Super-Senses mean a single T. rex sneaking up on it isn't feasible.
    • The Skull Devil is able to make use of the foggy, mountainous terrain of the arena to launch a surprise attack on the ARK Giga, and later slink away to line up a ramming charge.
    • Sue proves to be much more superior at sneaking than Rexy as her soft pads on her feet help her walk around without making any noise. She winds up sneaking up on Rexy and surprising the latter.
  • Super-Senses: The Palaeoloxodon and Tyrannosaurus both possess excellent hearing and smell. The sense of smell of the Tyrannosaurus identifies different animals and its eyesight is superior to that of a human. In addition to its sense of smell and hearing, the Palaeoloxodon can also sense vibrations in the ground. The impressive senses of both animals mean that one ambushing the other is impossible.
  • Terrifying Tyrannosaur: Tyrannosaurus rex, naturally. Whilst portrayed realistically, the raw power and abilities of the most powerful apex predator North America has ever seen are on full display. The "Scotty" specimen has a face off against a large Palaeoloxodon namadicus whereas the real life "Sue" specimen ends up facing off against the fictional Tyrannosaurus, Rexy.
  • There Is No Kill Like Overkill:
    • Tyrannosaurus rex vs. Palaeoloxodon namadicus ends with the Palaeoloxodon knocking over the Tyrannosaurus and impaling it with its good tusk. While the T. rex was already dying from the wound, the elephant still stomps on it and crushes it to death.
    • In Rodan vs. Camazotz Despite Camazotz already being mortally wounded and falling out of the sky, Rodan dive bombs the giant bat and slams its skull into the ground.
    • In ARK Giganotosaurus vs. Skull Devil, The ARK Giganotosaurus, once in Rage Mode, proceeds to maul the Skull Devil with brutal abandon. First by disabling its arm and then by pinning it down and biting it over, and over, and over, and over, and over again to keep ripping it apart even after its dead and shredded.
    • Defied in Rexy Vs. Sue. Sue gains the upper hand in ripping off one of Rexy's arms and ripping off her artificial counterpart's tail. However, not wanting to fight anymore, Sue decides to let Rexy limp away.
  • Threatening Shark: The Meg, naturally. Specifically the first shark seen in the movie, as to be around the same size as the InGen Mosasaurus for a fair fight.
  • Unstoppable Rage: The Ark Giga’s rage ability triggers after it takes enough damage, causing it to grow stronger and faster. This power comes at the cost of heightened aggression causing the Giga to rely less on tactics. The drawback doesn’t prove an issue as the Skull Devil’s inferior stamina causes it to start running out of steam and its own high aggression causes it to rely less on tactics.
  • Wrecked Weapon: Discussed with Tyrannosaurus rex vs. Palaeoloxodon namadicus, where one of the points discussed is whether or not the dinosaur could break the elephant's tusks. The analysis says that it would be possible but not easy. In the fight, the T. rex does manage to clamp down on one tusk and begins to weaken it, but it's only breaks when the Palaeoloxodon slams said tusk into the ground to shake off the T. rex.