Prediction Blog: Felicia vs Taokaka

"Meow" - the stray cat outside my apartment

Felicia, the catgirl popstar from Darkstalkers.

Taokaka, the Kaka tribe guardian from BlazBlue.

Who doesn't love cats? They're cute, cuddly, and aren't afraid to show everyone who's boss. And would you look at that, one thing lead to another, and now we have catgirls running around all over the place! I'm sure this will bode well for the future...

But although these two feline fatales may have already done battle once before, it's long past time that we get another look at this debate. So, in a reexamined bout of kitties and claws, who will come out on top? Let's find out!

Before we begin...

There isn't really much to make clear about this one. Of course, all of the Darkstalkers and BlazBlue games are being analysed, as well as their additional media in the form of animated series, comics, manga, and trading cards. Crossover events such as Marvel vs Capcom and BlazBlue Cross Tag are also included, albeit with the usual scaling limitations in place.

Also worth keeping in mind is that while I was indeed able to find what I think is all Darkstalkers manga, a large chunk of them are untranslated. So if there's a hidden feat in there of Felicia obliterating 69,420 universes, sorry for not including it!

Also, minor NSFW Warning. Felicia's character design is very risqué, essentially being nude with only patches of fur covering her pivotal areas. Several of the sources shown and linked in this blog feature shots and scenes where she's depicted in certain positions that could be considered NSFW to some, even if there is no actual nudity.

Source Citations

Background

Felicia

  • Species: Cat-woman Darkstalker (in case it wasn't obvious)
  • Height: 5'6" / 168 cm
  • Weight: 128 lbs / 58 kg
  • Birth year: 1967
  • Rank: B Class Darkstalker
  • Occupation: Orphanage sister, pop star, failed actress
  • Likes: Jon, naps, milk, fish, belly rubs, being scratched behind the ear, yarn, mice, laser pointers, catnip
We know scarily little about the world. Although we've made it our mission to scout each inch of the globe, we've still missed all sorts of magnificent finds over the years, and who knows what else could be hiding out there? Supposed to be extinct species, interstellar life taking refuge, supernatural monsters, things beyond your wildest of imaginations!

Well imagine no longer, as in the demon realm of Makai, your worst nightmares are real. Zombies, vampires, werewolves, oh my! And yes... even the catgirls. Because these aren't any normal creatures. These, are Darkstalkers.

However, not all Darkstalkers are as violent and deadly as their reputation may have you think. As a young girl abandoned by her parents and taken in by a catholic orphanage, Felicia was raised to respect and care for others, something which went against her Darkstalker instincts. As she grew up, those instincts and features caused her to be shunned like the rest of her kin. Still, Felicia held on to the teachings of her adopted mother, and set out to bridge the gap between humans and Darkstalkers.

But while Felicia's vision was set on the right goal, the rest of the world disagreed with her. No matter what path she took to end the hate of her kind, the world refused to move forwards. Wether she tried to become a movie star, a pop singer, or a mentor for others, the idea of a friendly Darkstalker was seemingly too much for humanity to accept.

In spite of that though, Felicia is not one to give up hope. During her travels, she would form connections with other Catwomen, her fellow non-evil Darkstalkers, and even several humans, and begin to rise up as a respected individual in spite of her identity. Wether it will be as a celebrity, or a caretaker herself, Felicia will continue towards the position of someone who's main goal is simple. To care for others, and see everyone in the world carry a big smile on their face.

Taokaka

  • Species: Taka
  • Height: 5'5" / 165 cm
  • Weight: 93 lbs / 42 kg
  • Birthday: February 22nd
  • Occupation: Guardian of the Kaka tribe, bounty hunter
  • Likes: Ragna, naps, milk, fish, belly rubs, being scratched behind the ear, yarn, mice, laser pointers, catnip, boobs
Through out the entire world, the fearsome Black Beast was known far and wide as an entity of pure destruction, a monster who sought nothing else than the absolute annihilation of everything it came into contact with. This beast could only be stopped by the strongest warriors in the world; The Six Heroes. During the Dark War, these legendary warriors did battle with the monster, and managed to finally kill it.

Eons later, genes from one of the heroes were genetically altered, giving birth to the Kaka Tribe. This race of catlike creatures would retreat to a hidden clan deep within the 13th Hierarchal City of Kagutsuchi, and from that clan would come one of the most notable and powerful warriors in all the land: TAOKAKA!!!

Taokaka is the strongest, most respected, and most skilled warrior of the village, even serving both as their guardian and as an accomplished bounty hunter. Eventually, she would catch wind of a criminal having entered Kagutsuchi, none other than the Grim Reaper himself: Ragna the Bloodedge. For sure, Taokaka would be the one to capture him and bring greatness upon her village!

Buuuuuuut she never found him. All she could find was this Ragna the Bloodedge guy, who obviously was a different guy than the one she was looking for. But hey, this Ragna guy gave him some good food so he's cool in her book. 




Huh? What was that? Bounty hunting? Nah, Tao would rather get a meal and a nap right now.

Equipment

Felicia

Claws

As to be expected of a kitty cat, Felicia mainly attacks with her pretty pink claws. Although short, they're extremely potent, capable of rending steel and spilling blood from stronger Darkstalkers.

Disguises

In the... interesting game that is Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix, Felicia is able to utilise a wide variety of different disguises, which she can equip on and off at any time in order to preform certain special attacks. These includes things like a dinosaur with a fishbone club, a gorilla that can preform Zangief's signature piledriver, and Mega Man completely equipped with his Mega Buster. Several of these disguises also include her fellow Darkstalkers such as Jon, Rikou, Sasquatch, and Huitzil, allowing her to preform some of their special moves.

Taokaka

Claws

Same as the first, Taokaka's main weapon are her kitty claws. More uniquely though, these claws are... ridiculous. Not only are they HUGE, but they're also capable of morphing into everything from hooks and arrow heads to scythes and chainsaws. You don't want this cat clawing you.

Well I guess you don't want any cat clawing you-

Other... things

Tao is nothing if not resourceful, and has a tendency to weaponise... well, whatever she happens to have in her pockets at any given time. These items include:
  • Bowling balls
  • Apple cores
  • Baseballs
  • Bombs
  • Fish
  • Pillows

Orbs

Stemming from the now defunct, Japanese exclusive mobile RPG game BlazBlue Alternative: Dark War (yes really), these are items that Taokaka can equip to provide a variety of boons. Whilst mainly a form of in-game currency, players could also use Orbs to refill stamina and revive their team, although its questionably wether or not the characters could utilise these functions themselves. 
  • Group One: This group of Orbs are based on the elements, including the Flame Orb, Gale Orb, Tornado Orb, and Sprout Orb.
  • Group Two: This group is based on nature, creatures, artifacts, and weapons, and includes the Halberd Orb, Hope Orb, Aidama Orb, and Dominating King Orb.
While they sound fancy, the most that these do is simply alter Taokaka's attack and defence stats.

Powers and Abilities

Felicia

Transformation

While Felicia's standard form is that of a humanoid one, she's also capable of transforming into an itty bitty kitty! Doesn't have much combat utility, but the cuteness factor makes up for it!

Feline Abilities

Thanks to being a cat lady, Felicia possesses just about every ability that actual felines do, including hearing that's about 3 times better than ours, the ability to see perfectly fine in the dark and process ultraviolet frequencies, and a sense of smell up to 16 times more potent than a humans, even being able to sniff out evil energies.

Animal Communication

Felicia has the ability to communicate with animals, understanding their thoughts and emotions as if they could speak human language. Naturally, this is mainly shown as her speaking to cats.

Hand-to-hand combat

Even outside of the standard fighting game moveset, Felicia is a pretty damn good close range combatant, capable of matching seasoned martial artist Jon Talbain in his werewolf form.

Moveset

Rolling Buckler

Felicia's signature technique has her roll around at... probably not the speed of sound, but still pretty quickly, making for a potent enough attack to strike down most targets.

Rolling Uppercut

For more punch, Felicia can finish off her Rolling Buckler with a powerful uppercut to knock her opponents clean.

Rolling Scratch

Felicia preforms a variation of her Rolling Buckler, bouncing across the stage to impact her targets.

Scratch Attack

Felicia spin jumps at her opponent and bounces off them in order to swipe at them with her claws.

Cat Spike

By throwing a balloon, Felicia targets in on its location and leaps forwards, slashing through it and whatever else happens to be there.

Delta Kick

Jumping in with a diving dropkick, Felicia slashes with her foot claws to deal additional damage.

Sand Splash

Felicia's signature ranged attack. No matter what stage she's on, she's able to kick up a potent splash of sand to blind and damage her targets. Seriously, this thing packs a surprising punch.

Hell Cat

Felicia does the classic "spinny" around her opponents, ending with a powerful throw to send them flying.

Head Ride

She rides on her opponents head lol.

Wall Cling

Felicia can cling to the side of the screen.

EX Charge

Felicia channels her strength, charging to build up additional energy.

Toy Touch

Grabbing her opponent, Felicia preforms a summersault that ends with her sending them flying.

Dancing Flash

Felicia goes RAINBOW MODE and rolls into her target. If the hit connects, she follows it up with a combo of rapid slashes and blows ending with a rolling uppercut.

Please Help Me!

Sometimes you just can't do things by yourself, and boy does Felicia know that well. That's exactly why she's got all of her fellow cat ladies on speed dial to call them in at any time. These kitties will proceed to, quite frankly, beat the absolute shit out of whoever Felicia wants bloodied in any alleyway. (You know, as long as Felicia pays them their worth)

Kitty's Helper

But she's got more help than that. This lil' cutie is Alto, and she- oh, oh my god she's beating the shit out of him

Soul Absorption

Just like other Darkstalkers, Felicia has the ability to absorb the souls of her defeated enemies in order to grow stronger. Though, it's not only something she can only do after killing someone, but also something she'd rather not do considering her pacifism compared to her kin.

Duplication

Yeah she can just do that ig

Resistances

  • Madness Manipulation / Mental Corruption: Other, evil Darkstalkers naturally emanate a maddening aura, but as a fellow Darkstalker, Felicia is unaffected by this.
  • Emotional Manipulation: Felicia can resist Morrigan's body odour, which causes people to fall in love with her.

Taokaka

Superhuman Senses

While she may be less feline than her opponent, Taokaka still possesses the superhuman senses of her cat kind, allowing her to do things like track Ragna's location across miles by following his scent, or sense the state of seithr in the air. And although she's shown little of it, her ability of extrasensory perception allowed her to sense and locate Izanami, a target even Rachel Alucard couldn't find.

Seithr Manipulation

In BlazBlue, Seithr (or just the Magic Element, translations differ on the name) is the energy that most characters utilise to channel their abilities. Think of it as the Ki, or Mana of the verse, seithr was originally a very sparse energy source before the death of the Black Beast, which caused it to spread into massive, dangerous amounts.

While most characters undergo specific training in order to utilise seithr, as any more than a small amount of it can lead to fatal poisoning, Taokaka and her tribe are naturally resistant to it, allowing her to utilise its effects and boons instinctually. It also means she has a much higher aptitude with the element than others, and requires less amounts of it to use her attacks, meaning that while she is limited by the limited amount present in whatever area she's currently in, she uses it up at a slower pace than most others.


So, what extraordinary abilities does seithr grant Taokaka? Well, apart from greatly enhanced strength and endurance, Taokaka also possesses superhuman speeds, even considered ridiculously fast to those within her verse. Furthermore, seithr can increase the power of her attacks, through moves such as...

Moveset

Cat Spirit One!

Taokaka unleashes a simple combo of powerful claw slashes.

Cat Spirit Two!

The same as the first, but now aerial.

Cat Spirit Three!

The natural follow-up to the two above, a strong combo of clashes started by a powerful wind-up that's sure to leave any target scratched.

Kitty Litter Special

Taokaka reaches out and throws forwards... uh, well whatever she happens to have in her pockets at the time, I suppose. Again, resourceful.

Cat Jump!

Taokaka jumpy!

Trick Edge

Taokaka leaps up to dash towards her opponent like a missile, homing in on their location.

Sticky Kitty

Taokaka can also cling to the side of the screen.

Slashy-Slashy!

Tao morphs her claws into chainsaws and shoves them into her enemy, shredding them.

Hexa Edge

With a burst of seithr, Taokaka readies herself and delivers a devestating combo.

Imma Beat The Crap Out Of You!

yeah, she sure does.

Almost Becoming Two

Using a burst of seithr, Taokaka creates an afterimage, allowing her to stack combos and damage in quick secession.

Attack Meow Pow!

Taokaka unleashes a devastating barrage on her opponent with the help of her fellow Kaka's before finishing with a final blow curtesy of her claws.    

Resistances

  • Poisons & Toxins: Taokaka and her entire tribe are borderline immune to levels of seithr overdose capable of affecting ordinary people and even "the entire ecosystem".
  • Spatial Manipulation: Tao can take hits from Noel's Bolverk, which fires rounds capable of piercing through space.

Feats

Felicia

Overall

  • Beat the shit out of Jon in their first meeting.
  • Eventually became a famous movie star.
  • Fought off an army of Huitzil's alongside Jon.
  • Totally defeated Galactus that one time.
  • One of few Darkstalkers things Capcom will actually acknowledge
    • (please give us a new game its been 12 years). 

Strength

Speed

Durability

Taokaka

Overall

  • Beat up some thugs alongside Ragna.
  • A surprisingly successful guardian for her village.
  • Trained under Bang Shishigami as his pupil.
  • Defeated numerous characters, including Ragna, in her Central Fiction arcade mode.

Strength

Speed

Durability

Scaling

Felicia

Jon Talbain

Felicia and Jon are far from strangers. No matter the Darkstalkers continuity, the two happen to meet each other eventually, and once they do they're often considered near equals. Although Jon is more commonly depicted as the stronger of the two, that's usually due to his longer experience as a hardened warrior compared to the more peaceful Felicia. In fact, the comic version of their first meeting had Felicia come out victorious in a fight with a bloodlusted Jon.

B Class Darkstalkers

Within their classes, Darkstalkers are generally comparable to each other across the board. Being a notable B Class and being consistently comparable to the B+ Class Jon, Felicia should certainly have similar levels of power to her peers.

A Class Darkstalkers

Although Morrigan, Lilith, and Demitri's A Class is indeed higher than Felicia's B Class, that doesn't necessarily mean that a huge divide of power separates them. Whether it be in the OVA, the comics, or the manga, there have been numerous times that the lower classes have competed with the higher ones, meaning there's potential to scale. (For more detail, see Before the verdicts segment)

Street Fighters

We've done this song and dance before...

The casts of Street Fighter and Darkstalkers have crossed over numerous times in the past, most notably during the two comic book crossovers that have released (the second one even coming out just two months ago!). While yes, this is exclusive to the Street Fighter UDON continuity, there is little to imply that those versions of the characters are massively weaker than their game versions. (For more detail, see Before the verdicts segment)

Taokaka

Ragna the Bloodedge

BlazBlue's main protagonist, and more importantly, Taokaka's favourite Good Guy! Although Tao quite clearly shouldn't be able to compare to Ragna's power as the complete Black Beast or with the True Azure, she has at times fought Ragna's base level of power and been shown to compare to him. (For more detail, see Before the verdicts segment)

Jin Kisaragi

Although they haven't had any official fights, Taokaka can likely compare to Jin in some way due to his own fights with Ragna. As Taokaka is somewhat comparable to him, she can be scaled to Jin as well. (For more detail, see Before the verdicts segment)

Sector Seven

NOL's opposite rebel group, Sector Seven is a rag tag team of science pursuers founded by that asshole Terumi. While another group of characters Taokaka hasn't had formal meetings with, they are all noticeably weaker than Ragna, and thus an argument for Taokaka being comparable could be made.

Weaknesses

Felicia

Although a competent fighter in her own right, Felicia is far from the strongest or more deadly Darkstalker out there. This is bad, because her lack of bloodlust leads her to not give it her potential best in most fights, which had lead to trouble in the past. Alongside that, she is really nice... to a fault. Felicia is way too trusting and has a tendency to not take notice of potential threats in time.



She was also like the secondary main protagonist in that stupid fucking cartoon god I hate it

Taokaka

There's no sugarcoating it, Taokaka is an idiot. She's lazy, naive, too trusting, and an astronomical-level moron. She has, quite frankly, no amount of common sense at all.

There's not much more to say, honestly. She's stupid. What else do you want?

Summary

Felicia


Advantages:
  • Is stronger and more durable depending on stat interpretations.
  • Quantifiably faster.
  • Generally better and more skilled combatant.
  • More experience as an actual fighter.
Disadvantages:
  • Is weaker and less durable depending on stat interpretations.
  • Can't compare to the immeasurable speeds.
  • The Darkstalkers cartoon 

Taokaka


Advantages:
  • Is stronger and more durable depending on stat interpretations.
  • With immeasurable speeds, holds an obvious speed advantage.
  • Better and longer claws, giving her a range advantage.
Disadvantages:
  • Is weaker and less durable depending on stat interpretations.
  • Quantifiably slower by a lot.
  • Runs on a limited amount of seithr to use her attacks.
  • Moron

Before the verdicts

Darkstalkers & BlazBlue Arcade Modes - are they canon?

In a cosmic sort of way

The topic of arcade mode exclusive feats in fighting games aren't usually brought up in debates, but I thought that it may be neat to take a look at the topic anyways.

Felicia and Darkstalkers is pretty clear cut. No, the arcade modes are not canon. They contain no story or narrative, so there isn't much to discuss. Now, BlazBlue... is interesting. Most fights in the arcade modes are non-narrative, but there are a fair few on each of them that actually contain story and appear to be somewhat in line with canon.

However, if we were to include them based on that alone, that would mean taking Taokaka being able to defeat Hakumen, Mu-12, and Hazama at face value, which.... no. But then we get to Central Fiction and they just couldn't keep it simple.

See, in Central Fiction, the arcade modes got an upgrade into full-fledged individual character story modes with several acts and plot points. As thus, these were also included in the research for this blog. Now, yes, they come with their own hurdles for scaling, but that will be tackled in a segment further down.

Justifying A Class Scaling for Felicia

Admittedly, I'm not quite sure how controversial it is in the Darkstalkers VS scene (like that exists) to give B Classers like Jon and Felicia scaling to A Classers like Morrigan and Demitri, especially since this is an argument that Death Battle used to justify Jon's win in his episode.

Although you may expect the class system to do it's job and properly separate the cast into distinctive tiers, it just can't be that easy, can it? For instance, C Classer BB Hood is consistently able to fight on part with the B+ Class Jon and genuinely injure him. Meanwhile, the likes of Jon himself is also capable of fighting against Morrigan, as seen in the OVA intro, where he keeps an even pace with her and dodged multiple of her attacks.

Although comparing to them in power is questionable, speed and reactions should be more straightforward. As stated, Jon can dodge Morrigan's attacks (this is something BB Hood is capable of as well), and both Jon and Felicia showed similar level of success against the Huitzil robots as Morrigan and Demitri (the likes of Anakaris have also done this).


So in short, Felicia can likely compare to the A Classers in term of speed, but there really isn't enough evidence to support any actual physical-

Oh, right. That.

So here we have the famous feat; Jon blowing a hole open in Lilith's chest. Seems like a surefire way to scale the B Classers to the A ones in power, right? Well, not quite. The Soul's Lost Child manga isn't exactly the most in line with Darkstalkers lore, even compared to most other side-media. However, even if we take the feat at face value and assume Lilith is directly comparable to her game version, it is a big part of the story that Lilith is still finding herself and that her power is rapidly fluctuating during the course of the manga. In fact, she had only very recently managed to unlock her succubus powers at all. Thus, its hard to justify this feat as useable in any regard.

So can Felicia scale to Pyron then?

If you paid attention to the scaling segment, you may or may not have noticed a few potential ways that we could theoretically scale Felicia to the big bad of the Darkstalkers verse: Pyron. Although most people would consider him far and above anything the rest of the cast can scale to, we here have three instances of lower classes competing with him that he have to cover.

1. Demitri vs Pyron in the OVA

The potential for Demitri downscaling from Pyron has been brought up via the two's fight in the fourth episode of the Night Warriors OVA, but while it seems like a solid concept in theory, there wasn't much of an actual fight going on there. Sure, Dimitri does avoid and take hits from Pyron, including a massive blow that certainly looks impressive, Pyron is very evidently in control over the entire fight and outright states afterwards that it was lackluster for him. This by itself isn't really enough to justify actual scaling.

2. Demitri killing Pyron in the comics

At the end of the Darkstalkers: Night Warriors comics, Pyron arrives and beats the absolute shit out of Donovan, almost managing to kill him before Anita steps in and launches him back, giving Demitri the opportunity to take a big ol' chomp out of Pyron's neck and suck up all his power. Then, in spite of his new power, Donovan manages to freeze him over and have Anita launch him into orbit. So, that sounds like some pretty solid scaling, right?

Well, it should be noted that Anita is strong. Really strong, on a level probably even higher than the A Classers since she's suppose to be the probable ruler of humanity, which is something even Jedah takes note of. So its hard to really take this scaling seriously when it relied on her strength to weaken Pyron (something he states himself). So not only was Demitri absorbing the power of a weakened Pyron, but that also explains why Donovan was then so easily able to freeze him over, especially with Anita there to send him out of bounds.

3. Donovan killing Pyron in the OVA

And the big one. At the very end of the OVA, after a brutal beatdown from Pyron, Donovan gets a supercharge from Anita and manages to use it to obliterate Pyron-

You already know where this is going
thanks Anita.


tldr; No she can't

Darkstalkers Crossover Scaling

Darkstalkers' potential crossover scaling arguments mainly stem from its comic collaborations with Street Fighter's UDON comics (Street Fighter VS. Darkstalkers & Darkstalkers X Street Fighter: Blood Throne), where the two series share a universe. Obviously, its not strictly canonical to either series, but has just about enough consistency in terms of characters to where we can include it. Backing this up, an art expedition from Capcom directly connects Darkstalkers to the Street Fighter timeline.

However, while the Street Fighter side of things is fine, the real meat is in SF's own crossovers, because the stats granted by Final Fight and Fatal Fury would definitely be more important.. 

The latter is easy to prove. There's a scene in Street Fighter 6 where Ken and Terry interact, recognising each other and stating that its been 20 years since they last met, which is in reference to Capcom vs. SNK. While that game isn't necessarily canon to either franchise, it means there's precedent for a crossover scaling to be made if you wish to. 

Final Fight is a different story though. Whilst the series take place in the same universe and share a canon, the two big feats that people like to scale the SF cast to both come from spin-off games, being Final Fight Revenge and Street Fighter EX. So, are these games canon- No.

Simply put, there is just nothing that implies these games as canonical. None of the events of Revenge are ever brought up at any other point in the franchise, and EX strays pretty far from the primary focus of Street Fighter. Whilst you could certainly argue against this depending on how you view canon / scaling as a whole, its not as set in stone as other parts of the franchise. Now, yes, the games not being canon doesn't necessarily mean that the characters aren't absolutely incapable of preforming these feats, but when they are that much higher than other showings form the franchise, it's more difficult to call 100% useable.



and no, Tekken isnt canon lol

Does Taokaka really scale to Ragna?

This segment is almost singlehandedly what delayed this blog for so long. Of course Taokaka should be at least somewhat comparable, right? I mean that's what everyone says, so it obviously has to be true! There's gotta be an example of the two throwing hands for real somewhere in the franchise?

What's that? Taokaka's arcade mode in Central Fiction?

alright...


So, like stated in the canonicity segment, Central Fiction's arcade modes definitely have a more canonical feel than the other ones from the franchise, and its fair to assume its supposed to be something in vein to an alternate, but still canon, side-supplement to the main story. We can infer this further when looking at the Taokaka vs Ragna fight there itself. It's essentially a different take on their in-story first meeting, this time having Taokaka come out on top. At this point in the story, Ragna was noticeably weakened, so that means Tao shouldn't be able to scale right?

Uhhhhhh kind of? Yeah, sure, feats that have Ragna obviously exert himself or fight powerful characters are a little above that, but how about something like... say, him surviving Take-Mikazuchi's lasers? That's not really a feat that requires incredible effort from him, so should Taokaka be capable of the same? Maybe! 

But what about Hazama- no, she doesn't fight him. He's allergic to cats so he runs away lol. Even against Mu 12, Tao makes it pretty clear that she couldn't win a fight against her, and Mu basically throws it away. These encounters both support the idea that Tao very much can't compete with Multiversal levels of power, but being able to still take hits and compete with physical feats means that she can scale to some level of higher stats.


I'm not a fucking expert okay I tried

Sector Seven - Planet Busters?

OKAY, what about Sector Seven then? Again, while Taokaka hasn't fought any of them in a standard fight, they're all solidly beneath Ragna in terms of power. And with the... weird potential Tao-Ragna scaling, that in turn means we can potentially scale her to the Sector Seven members! So, what can they do-

oh 

oh holy shit


aaaaaaalright we now have two more absurd feats to talk about here, being Kokonoe's meteors and black holes shenanigans, as well as Makoto's moon punch. Immediately worth noting is that... well, Taokaka has never made black holes or launched people to the moon. However, just like Ragna's laser survival, that doesn't necessarily mean that she can't compare to these stats. Kokonoe's feats were done via her magic and Makoto's via her brute strength, both being empowered by their seithr reserves.

Ultimately, whether or not Tao can scale to them comes down to everyone's favourite... INTERPRETATION!! As you may have noticed, Taokaka is a character that has only a small amount of feats herself, thus making her stats very debatable. What can be stated is that her scaling to these feats is very much reliant on her scaling to Ragna as well, so do with that what you will.

Immeasurable Taokaka?

Immeasurable BlazBlue is an interesting can of worms, and it's all thanks to that stupid Boundary that I hate talking about.

Let's run through it quickly. The Boundary is absolutely infinite in size, since it has been stated to be so numerous times in BlazBlue, even having being described as an "infinite expanse". Ragna is capable of crossing the entire thing, traversing from around the middle of it to reach the Gate / Cauldron leading out of it. Bada bim, bada boom, that's immeasurable speed!

oh wait right this is a Taokaka blog


So can Taokaka scale to this? Debatably. Whilst most scaling Tao to Ragna is through some form of downscaling... well, you can't really downscale immeasurable speeds because it'd still be immeasurable. But it's also unlikely Ragna actually busted out his super immeasurable speed in the fight against Taokaka, isn't it? So, once again, it ultimately comes out to what you yourself considers useable. 

Verdicts

Loka

When I started this blog, I expected it to be a breeze. After all, I know Darkstalkers like the back of my hand, so even if Taokaka ends up being complicated, I should be able to knock this one out in a few weeks.


I started it in June and it is now August. It has now over a month since Springtrap vs Junko came out. So much for me wanting to do one blog a month for this wave...

Yeah, suprise suprise, this one was a little more complicated than I expected. And for once it wasn't because I was overwhelmed with information, rather... it was the opposite. If you thought that some of Taokaka's segments were a little barebones then yeah, thats because thats all there is for her (unless I missed stuff which is 100% plausible and on me in that case). For once, the thing holding me back was my complete bafflement over a lack of content, and having to figure out a way to make that side of the blog at all interesting with it.

But hey! We made it! And with all blocks in place, let's try to figure out this debate that had me scratching my head for a month.



So, for starters, Felicia is way more competent than Taokaka. She's a seasoned veteran who's capable of taking on master martial artists like Jon and the Street Fighter crew, whereas Tao is not only lacking in proper training, but is also way more of an airhead and easily distracted. Of course, that's not to say Taokaka is straight up incompetent, but the skill difference is clearly apparent.

But thats the obvious advantage. Things get way more interesting and complicated when we have to look at their stats and capabilities. Comparing them directly, Felicia knocking over Huitzils and tanking their detonations clears Tao's own feats, and her ability to dodge attacks from the lightspeed Jon is above Taokaka... uh... changing clothes.

However, the real meat is within their scaling. Felicia is on the same level of power as Anakaris sinking all of Egypt, equalling upwards of 3.5 Gigatons of TNT, while scaling her to Haggar's seismic piledriver nets a massive 10 Petatons. Meanwhile, Tao has a few different numbers we can place her at, with the most conservative being scaling to Take-Mikazuchi's city busting laser at 30 Teratons of TNT. Since Ragna basically bounces off this attack, and Felicia can damage a weakened state of his, its fair to assume she could be comparable. 

Using these make Felicia a whopping 333 times stronger. Although we then reach a little bit of a hurdle. Sector Seven's members have preformed feats in the Quettatons of TNT, with Makoto's massive moon mumbo netting an outrageous one trillion times stat advantage for Taokaka. Of course, its questionable wether or not she could even scale to this, but even a millionth of a fraction of this outdoes any number Felicia can get. Pretty blatant, right?



Well, thats not it. Let's cover our final topic; speed. Through comparing to the Huitzil's casual crusing speed, Felicia can react to foes moving at 360 Million times lightspeed. Meanwhile, the best Taokaka can get is just a fraction of the speed of light.

But what about the immeasurable BlazBlue scaling?

IIIIIIIIIII don't buy it. It's such an immensely massive jump in stats that I find it incredibly hard to justify at all. Taokaka has no at all showings of her own that'd support those levels of insane speeds, so I don't find it useable for her.


What that then means is that Taokaka will literally never land a solid hit on Felicia, whilst Felicia can in turn just keep her distance until Tao runs out of seithr. Yeah, don't forget about that tidbit,  because one she does, her stamina and power will drop fast. We also know for a fact that Taokaka is prone to stamina loss and passing out, so once the seithr in the area vanishes, there's not much she can do.

Felicia is an expert combatant and will likely notice that she can't damage Taokaka, so she'll know to keep dodging (a preffered tactic of hers, looking at her fight with Jon) until Taokaka visibly slows down and leaves herself open to a finishing blow.


So whilst she has an advantage in raw power, Taokaka simply doesn't have any reliable way past Felicia's speed and experience advantages, meaning that the only likely result is Tao finally taking her final meow. The winner is Felicia.

Gman

Man it's been a while since I've been in one of these, hasn't it? Let's start off, like I always do, with

Strength: Starting with Felicia, she was able to knock Jon unconscious with a rolling uppercut. Jon is a pretty tough guy, able to slice Huitzils to pieces and tear the roof of a train off. While this is impressive. Taokaka in comparison... can singlehandedly throw bowling balls. This isn't unimpressive, but compared to Jon yes it is. Bringing scaling into the mix, Felicia scales to Anakaris, who was able to sink all of ancient Egypt! Taokaka on the other hand scales to Tager, who's able to piledrive people from space to seconds! Comparing these two feats, even the low-end of Anakaris sinking Egypt gets higher than Tager's piledrive, which means that Felicia takes strength!

Speed: Felicia is capable of dodging attacks from Jon, who claims he can achieve lightspeed. Taokaka, comparatively, doesn't have much in terms of speed... without scaling. Scaling Taokaka to Tager's piledriving feat again, she should be able to move at sub-relativistic speeds. Impressive, but not compared to Felicia dodging attacks from a Huitzil, which can travel from Earth to planet Hellstorm in about a day. Speed goes to Felicia.

Durability: Felicia's most notable durability feat should be surviving a shoryuken from Akuma. Now Akuma is a tough ol' bastard, strong enough to blow up an island! Taokaka comparatively was able to withstand getting slammed into a wall by Ragna. Ragna is also a tough ol' bastard, able to withstand a laser shot by Take-Mikazuchi, which annihilated an entire Hierarchial City! Comparing these two feats, Ragna surviving that laser gets higher than Akuma destroying an island, shockingly enough! And because of that, durability goes to Taokaka.

Tertiaries: This should be easy enough. Felicia is a better and more experienced fighter, and unlike Taokaka, isn't a moron. Comparatively, the only thing Taokaka has going for her is the fact that... she has range because of her longer claws??? Tertiaries go to Felicia.


With those out of the way I think that in spite of Taokaka's staggering durability advantage, I do believe Felicia should win this thanks to her speed, strength, and experience as a fighter. 
Sorry Taokaka, but it looks like you're getting declawed.

Soma

UwU OwO Meow Nya and all that fun stuff

Catgirls! You gotta love them. And a very fun matchup to runback after well over a decade. So how do things stack up now compared to in 2011? Well, let's find out.

For what's a relatively simple matchup on the surface, there's a lot more stuff to sort out first. Loka's done a great job covering it all, but as they've said, a lot of this match comes down to how you individually interpret feats and a character's scaling to them, so that's the most important thing to sort out first.

Comparing their lower ends, Felicia would be comparable to Anakaris' feat of sinking Egypt at 3.5 Gigatons, but that's outdone by Ragna tanking Take-Mikazuchi's laser, worth up to 30 Teratons. However, Felicia being on par with Huitzil units (which fly 365 million times faster than light) means that she would in-turn vastly outspeed Taokaka's lower speed ends through scaling to Tsubaki Yayoi, who attacks with light itself (which is light speed).

So with these ends, Taokaka is a lot stronger, but Felicia is a lot faster. Pretty simple to understand, but there are higher end arguments for both. Felicia, for example, could scale to Mike Haggar's piledriver through the Earth, which gets up to 10 Petatons of TNT, and is in-line with Huitzil units causing the extinction of the dinosaurs in Darkstalkers canon. Taokaka still outdoes this however through scaling to members of Sector Seven, such as Kokonoe pulling down and surviving the impact meteors at 7.2 Exatons of TNT, creating black hole singularities at 4.9 Yottatons of TNT, or Makoto Nanaya punching you to the moon and shattering it - a feat worth up to 1.1 Quettatons of TNT.

Fully arguing that both would scale to these is already pretty shaky, but generally across the various ends, the kinds of strength feats you can reasonably compare Taokaka to surpass Felicia's own scaling, and by quite a bit on the higher ends. Neither of them would scale to the strongest feats in the series like Jedah creating a universe and Pyron destroying it, or Jin Kisaragi cutting through the Azure and Ragna channelling the full power of the entire Boundary - that's far above their pay grades. Though there is an actually reasonable argument for Taokaka scaling to characters who cross the Boundary, which would mean she is capable of Immeasurable speed, thus solidly taking all stats against Felicia.

Do I personally think it's valid? Well, it does sound a bit silly, but downscaling from any measure of Immeasurable speed would get you the same Immeasurable speed, because it's still unable to be measured. And it's not like the characters who do this are doing anything special, they're just moving normally through the Boundary, and if Taokaka were to ever go inside the Boundary, I believe she could do this too. While this may vary from person to person, I do ultimately believe that Taokaka does win with or without giving it to her.

Although Felicia would be massively outspeeding Taokaka without the Boundary feat, she lacks real means to properly capitalise on this advantage. She's more skilled and experienced than Taokaka, but she's not a violent person and doesn't actively go out seeking fights, so this edge isn't very large in the grand scheme of things. With the difference in strength being as large as it is, Taokaka just needs one good hit on Felicia to win the fight, and she does have the options to be able to land that even through the speed disadvantage.

Primarily, Taokaka will be tanking everything Felicia can dish out at her. Felicia's disguises give her a few new options for attack, like with the fishbone club, Mega Buster, and the other moves from her fellow Darkstalkers, but Taokaka has her own arsenal of strange things she's picked up, such as apple cores, hammers, baseballs and bowling balls, pillows, plushies and bombs. Her having a more extensive variety of options to throw at Felicia certainly helps, and if Felicia gets in too close, then the bomb's explosions might catch her before she can properly escape in time.

Taokaka's claws are also a lot better than Felicia's own, being sharper, able to transform, and can use Seithr to poison Felicia. Felicia's own inherent ability as a Darkstalker to inflict madness upon people kind of cancels this out, as both have passive options to try and hurt the other, but neither of which have really ever come into effect in their series. Both could probably resist it to a degree due to their physiology, so it's ultimately not much of an edge either way.
Both have superhuman senses and supernatural perception, both can create clones/afterimages in combat, both can jump around and are extremely acrobatic. In so many ways, they're evenly matched, but of all the things to matter in the matchup, directly comparing the range of their normal attacks paints a clear advantage for Taokaka. The sheer space she's able to hit with those claws is massive, and much larger than the area Felicia can strike in. Felicia is best at chipping away at her foe with darting blows and then jumping back, but getting in close with Taokaka will be risking her life every time she tries. With her vast advantage in strength, if Taokaka is able to land just one strike on Felicia, it's game over, and with a much higher durability and some ranged options of her own, Taokaka really can just wait Felicia out until she messes up, because that single slip up is all Taokaka needs to claim victory.

Felicia is fighting a losing war of attrition without a real way to actually take out Taokaka, and even if she was able to chip away at her over and over again, she would need to play the fight perfectly to try and do that, which she really just has no way to know is something she needs to do. And this is all just assuming you don't argue the higher speed ends for Taokaka, in which case her one big disadvantage becomes an immeasurable advantage on her end.

For what's a much more purr-plexing fight than you'd first think, Taokaka walks away feline fine, and Felicia's story ends in cat-astrophe. No kitten around, her win was paw-fect.

Results

Team Felicia: 2 (Loka, Gman)

Team Taokaka: 1 (Soma)

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