Android 21 vs Jack-O Valentine (Dragon Ball vs Guilty Gear)
“She’s just like candy, she’s so sweet” -Doja Cat
Android 21, the gluttonous Bio-Android of DragonBall
Jack-O Valentine, Guilty Gear’s sweet loving artificial lifeform
These two candy loving fighting game newcomers have certainly shaken the internet for one reason or another, but what happens if we put them into a battle to the fucking Death???
Heaven or Hell! That’s what.
Before We Start…
First things first, we gotta establish the content being used for both franchises have a fair amount of media in spite of these two only having a couple of appearances to their name.
On Jack-O’s side, the main games and all of the adjacent media tied to it (novels, comics, Drama CD’s, etc.) will be used. Most of the media is basically canon, with at most retellings and rewrites of older entries happening from time to time.
Android 21 has a bit more going on due to being a non canon character with no “main” version so far. DragonBall FighterZ is her original game and naturally a lot of her story and powers come from it, so that will be the “main” source.
Which leaves us with one notable question: “What about Xenoverse and DragonBall Heroes?”
To keep it very blunt, I will be compositing those two series with DBFZ into this analysis. 21’s stories and content within those games while not one to one with her story in FighterZ are still offshoots and variations of said story, with a lot of the core beats and details being more or less the same. Even in promotional material for Xenoverse 2, they reference the DBFZ game as 21's main media, implying to some degree the events still happened. It helps that DBFZ as is has three different versions of it’s own story, with radically different outcomes and scenarios. Whis even acknowledges this lightly at the end of the Z Fighters story mode.
Above all else, I want this to be as comprehensive as it can be, so including stuff like Xenoverse and Heroes felt appropriate, if only to not leave the major stones unattended. Hopefully this clears things up and you enjoy the blog!
Background
Android 21
“Heh Heh Heh. Now it’s your turn. I wonder how tasty you all will be”
21’s backstory is a bit messy due to 21 herself not knowing what her life was like prior to becoming an Android. Prior to her escapades, 21 was simply just a scientist by the name of Vomi. The wife of famous scientist Dr. Gero, the two of them would have a son named Gevo, the template for who would become Android 16.
Eventually Vomi would die through some unknown means, and from there it’s not clear what turned her into an Android. In one account 16 claims that Vomi was a template that would be used to create Android 21, but according to 21 she was converted into an Android in a similar vein to Android 17 and 18. In both cases, her creation involved the compilation of many of the universe's greatest fighters. Whether it was Goku, Piccolo, Frieza or Cell, 21 would become the ultimate Bio Android.
One of these cells however would present a major problem: Majin Buu. Due to possessing his cells, 21 would develop an immense hunger, taking shape as an alternate personality that desires nothing but to feed on powerful warriors. Eventually this personality would take over, and developed a special plan to ensure that she would be unopposed in her desires to feed.
Step 1: Use a wave suppression device to weaken fighters
Step 2: Pair the weakened fighters with artificial/human souls to strengthen them.
Step 3: Use Clones as a means of making both herself stronger and to grant the fighters a chance to make themselves more powerful.
Step 4: Consume and Profit.
A completely full proof plan right? Well maybe. There are many different routes 21’s journey goes through, usually ending in her failure. In one instance the heroes beat her by just…hitting her hard I guess? In another, the villains found flaws in her schemes and exploited them to regain their power.
But the most notable instance is when 21’s good half actually resurfaced, as it turns out the wave suppression device also weakened Evil 21, causing her other half to regain some control. In order to make sure she had someone to keep her in check, she recreated 16 and had him find a soul to link (AKA you the player) with her and suppress her urges. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough and after accidentally killing 16, the two halves of 21 split. In spite of her issues, the Z Fighters still stuck by Good 21 and proceeded to confront her evil half in one last battle. In a desperate attempt to fully finish her off once and for all, Good 21 would sacrifice herself and cause both halves to be destroyed by a Super Spirit Bomb. Seeing the good in her however, Goku would plan on going to King Yemma, in hopes of ensuring that 21 would reincarnate as a good guy, creating a possible future for the Android after everything she went through.
Jack-O
Buckle the fuck up.
The year is 2187 and humanity is on its last legs. The Universal Will has taken Justice and plans to use her to enact the Absolute World, a universal scale event that will erase all humans from existence. Sealed in another dimension with no way out, The Gear Maker/That Man speeds up his plan to save the world, and awakens his trump card.
A woman who’s named after the mascot of a metal band named “Helloween”
See a long time ago a man named Asuka AKA That Man had one simple goal. He wanted to save his best friend Aria, who was diagnosed with a TP infection with no current cure. Despite pleading with her to be cryo frozen, Aria wanted to spend her last moments with her lover and Asuka’s other best friend Fredrick Bulsara. Naturally, the best way to convince Aria to go through the process was to turn Fredrick into a super weapon (He goes by Sol now) and sell the idea of being immortal together with him by also turning her into a super weapon by the name of Justice.
Pictured: What’s left of Japan
This did not go well at all.
To make matters worse the Universal Will was making her own clones of Aria known as Valentines, hoping to create one compatible enough to fuse with Justice and bring forth the Apocalypse.
Suffice to say Asuka needed to act if he wanted his best friends to be together again. Luckily he salvaged half of Aria’s soul and planned on fixing his mess by making his own Valentine, one that would be fully compatible with Justice. This finally brings us to Jack-O!
You see Jack-O was designed as essentially a physical patch. The goal was to fuse her half of Aria’s soul with the other trapped in Justice. The fusion of the two would overwrite Justice’s information sectors and revive Aria as a normal human.
Too bad the process wasn’t complete! Not being fully awakened, Jack-O was a bit unstable and without a supply of candy to keep her in check, she went out on a tour to discover the world getting into a bunch of fights and dropping secrets left and right (hey keep this in mind). Eventually after 11 days of adventure she’d head back home (?) and await Asuka’s arrival. Once the Gear Maker returned he put his plan into action and eventually succeeded in fusing the two halves of Aria’s soul together. With the Universal Will defeated and the world at peace, it appeared Jack-O accomplished her goal, and brought Aria back to life
…..at least that’s what we thought. Despite Aria’s soul being remade, the woman was refusing to come out and take over. With nothing better to do Jack-O joined Sol on bounty hunting adventures while she awaited Aria to take over. As she waited and waited her feelings for Sol began to develop, despite her instance that she was just a clone with nothing to her. These complicated feelings would only begin to increase as a new crisis was brewing on the horizon…
…which was basically all Jack-O’s fault! Remember those secrets she probably shouldn’t have spilled? Yeah turns out one of them was informing I-No that she was basically a god who technically never had free will her entire life. It’s okay all Jack-O needs to do is sacrifice herself and revert I-No into a normal human!
Fast forward to the endgame and I-No has now become God so that sacrifice plan was needed more than ever. Jack-O had finally come to terms with her feelings for Sol, and decided to make a choice to save him and the world, even if it meant her death. Just when things seemed set in stone however, Sol offered a new path for Jack-O, one where she lives as her own person and doesn’t aspire to be Aria’s replacement. In spite of everything he’s been through, Sol was content with Aria choosing to not take over and let Jack-O live her own life, even if the world itself may end. Finally accepting herself as worthy of living, Jack-O rejected her sacrifice and found a separate solution to stopping I-No.
With no more conflicts appearing on the horizon (for real this time), Jack-O now lives with Sol, fulfilling the wishes of herself and everyone important to her.
Experience & Skill
Android 21
While only being chronologically 10 years old, 21 has been shown to keep up and even surpass some of the strongest warriors on the planet, in no small part due to her DNA. She has taken on the universe's most talented martial artists such as Goku, Piccolo, Gohan, and more. Even on the offset she was built to surpass Cell and Buu, the former of whom has shown to keep up with some of the aforementioned fighters in combat and the latter who has shown talent in copying techniques perfectly.
Even lower ranked martial artists like Grandpa Gohan have been stated to be a master of all martial arts in the world. Goku himself not only surpassed him but has shown on the fly battle tactics like studying and figuring out Hit’s time skip despite having no prior knowledge of its mechanics. In spite of these talents, Goku still struggled to put 21 down, showcasing just how talented she is in combat.
Jack-O
Jack-O’s experience is…weird. Despite being only around for less than a year she is stated to have thousands of years worth of knowledge for her role. She also maintains all of the memories that Aria had, granting her immense intellect. This intellect combined with her own programmed fighting skills has allowed her to compete against many experienced fighters such as Sol and Nagoryuki, who have had hundreds of years worth of combat experience backing them up. She even stalemated Jam in a fight, a martial artist with over 4,000 years worth of techniques at her disposal.
Equipment
Android 21
Wave Machine
A machine that was utilized throughout the main story of Dragon Ball FighterZ. This machine’s primary ability is to suppress the power levels (14:15-14:35) of fighters across the world. When active the waves can cause paralysis and knock out fighters. Most importantly, the waves seal off the soul of the main body. When in this “weakened” state, the fighters are reliant on outside resources, namely other souls to possess and draw out their latent power. Even when the waves were fully neutralized, the power was still dormant and required the fighters to use their souls to regain their lost power overtime.
In DragonBall Heroes World Mission, there is a skill known as “Wave Machine” that disables the special moves of an opponent. This can be undone however, by using the “Soul Link” skill within the game.
Cloning Technology
A series of replica fighters created by 21 to serve as training fodder for the linked warriors as well as free food to power herself up with. They have the same fighting styles and techniques as the originals and usually come in groups when attacking. She can even summon them in the midst of combat to assist her. They maintain none of the personality and are obedient soldiers save for Kid Buu, who maintains the same destructive impulses.
How strong the clones are isn’t fully clear. Piccolo notes that it’s power is the same as his and Gohan believes it has the same amount of power he has in his Ultimate state pre-TOP. However 21 claims the clones lack the strength of the originals, and other characters make claims that the clones aren’t very strong. In any case they are a valuable asset to 21, be it as fighters or a free source of energy.
Jack-O
Flail
A Jack O’ Lantern style flail seemingly with its own personality. Jack-O can use this object to extend the reach of her attacks, produce energy from it, and even use it to catch others. She can even use it to fly at insane speeds.
Motorcycle
A side car turned motorcycle that Jack-O can seemingly create from thin air.
Mask
A mask that initially was used to stabilize Jack-O’s existence due to being woken up earlier than normal. After becoming whole, Jack-O uses the mask to keep her composure during battle.
Halo
A symbol of her status as a clone of Aria. She can manipulate the halo in different ways, be it changing its size, attacking with it, or even flight.
Scales of Juno
(Not actually the Scales of Juno. It’s never been physically shown)
The “seed” implanted in Jack-O that is partially responsible for her absurd power. While not visually shown to us, its counterpart the “Flame of Corruption” appears to be a small glowing energy sphere. This object also assists in allowing her to survive the effects of the “Absolute World” (1:50-3:19), a world-ending threat that merges the Backyard with the current universe.
Abilities
Android 21
Ki Manipulation
Like many beings in Dragonball, Android 21 can manipulate her own life force to achieve numerous types of skills. She can utilize her life energy to fly, create energy blasts, enhance her own physicality, sense the presence of others, and utilize many destructive and unique techniques.
Bio Android Physiology
As a Bio Android similar to that of Cell, 21 has the experiences and data of all of the world’s greatest fighters, including Goku, Frieza, and most recently all variations of Majin Buu. (54:49-55:16). This grants her access to many biological traits inherent to many of these fighters, and allows her to copy techniques just from seeing them once.
Regeneration
Naturally as a part of DNA, 21 inherited the regenerative capabilities of Cell and Buu, capable of healing herself in an instant.(1:11:10-1:12:13). Her good half openly states that to destroy her would require destroying every last cell, which lines up with her data templates having shown to recover from just a cluster of cells and from tiny pieces of themselves.
Just like her counterpart, she can also receive a Zenkai Boost after approaching near death, increasing her power by extraordinary lengths
Candy Beam
Her most iconic ability, 21 has the terrifying ability to turn her opponent into any type of candy she desires. The range can be from a single person, to an entire city as displayed by Majin Buu. Beyond just simply being tasty, the opponents she devours add on to her overall strength, with the power jumps varying depending on the strength of the opponent she absorbs. (37:45-38:42)
Connoisseur Cut
A special technique where 21 summons an energy blade to stab through opponents. Techniques such as Savory Slicer and Appetizer Rush allow her to create special combo attacks with the blade. The most important aspect of this attack is the ability to copy techniques from the opponent, granting her numerous skills to utilize.
Kamehameha
The signature technique of the Turtle School was stolen from Goku. A giant energy beam formed from two hands, this continuous destructive wave has been used to overpower the most powerful foes, with some of the most powerful versions capable of shattering moons.
Solar Flare
A technique stolen from Krillin Tien that utilizes a flash of light to blind opponents and escape dire situations or distract characters in the midst of attacking.
Continuous Energy Blast
The Vegeta special. A stream of energy blasts that will be whipped out if you are in a dire situation and need to win.
Sticky Energy Blast
An attack that “sticks” an energy blast to an opponent and detonates it. Apparently originates from the “Vegeta” side of things but he’s never used this technique like ever.
Explosive Energy Blast
An attack supposedly taken from the Androids, this attack summons two giant energy spheres to attack the opponent.
Barrier Sphere
A classic Android technique, these barriers have the ability to nullify attacks both ranged and physical.
Homing Energy Blast
A technique taken from Piccolo, this energy attack as the name implies tracks the opponent before exploding on contact.
Instant Transmission
A technique stolen from Goku, Instant Transmission allows for one to track Ki signatures to teleport instantly to another location. 21 herself has used this to travel from Earth to the Supreme Kai planet, a distance of light years away. Alternate media such as the Return of Cooler Movie, the Budokai Tenkaichi game and DBZ Kakarot depict using instant transmission as fighting within a specific space where time around everyone else is frozen. Goku has even used this technique to…somehow teleport to the Crack Of Time, a space closed off from all of time.
Total Detonation Ball
A special move that takes 21’s absorbed techniques and places them into an energy blast that becomes larger with more techniques put into it. An even more potent version of this ability, known as the Absolute Release Ball, manifests as a Death Ball-esque attack, mostly used to kill 16.
Photon Swipe
A death beam like attack that has 21 swipe her finger, causing destruction all over the battlefield.
Excellent Full Course
A powerful combo attack which sees 21 blitz across the battlefield, ending with her pouncing on her opponent and unleashing a massive energy blast that can devastate large portions of the land.
Impending Doom
A giant explosion that can 21 charges up to unleash a wave of destruction amongst her enemies.
Resistances
NOTE: A fair amount of these resistances will come from scaling to other characters' accomplishments in DragonBall. Given the nature of Ki within the series, any feat performed by a weaker or comparable character, it's fair to say 21 would get.
Extreme Temperatures: Frieza and Buu can live in space with no issues, with temperatures being as low as -270.45 Celsius. Given she has their DNA, this should apply to 21.
Possession/Corruption: 21 was able to block the linked soul from entering her body, and was able to resist Demon God Dabura’s magic corrupting her and bringing out her evil side, suppressing it.
Mind Manipulation: Characters like Vegeta are able to fend of mind control, and Demigra admitted he could not control Goku with his Dark Ki due to his God Ki, which is consistent with Beerus resisting Demigra’s control with ease. Being in a similar league to these characters, 21 should be able to resist.
BFR: Super Buu was able to scream his way out of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, and as Buuhan replicated the feat on a universal scale. Having Buu cells should make it obvious 21 can replicate the same feat.
Transmutation: Vegeta within Heroes could resist Lagss’s ability to turn people into glass, and Vegito when fully turned into a piece of candy maintained his strength. Given her greater power+cells 21 should be capable of the same.
Time Manipulation: In his fight with Hit, Goku through sheer power was able to break through his Time Skip. Given Hit’s abilities do not work on those who are stronger, and 21 could potentially keep up with SSB Goku post U6 arc, she should be capable of the same thing.
Existence Erasure: Characters such as Frieza, Goku, and Vegeta through sheer power have resisted the effects of Hakai. Hakai erases the physical body and the soul, removing them from the time stream. Being comparable in power to these characters makes it likely 21 can resist these effects.
Jack-O
Magic
The main source of energy throughout the Guilty Gear universe. Ever since being discovered by “The Original” magic has become a multi purpose tool for all aspects of life. Whether it's the fuel for a car or creating puppies out of thin air, the possibilities with magic became endless, effectively replacing technology itself and kick starting a new age for centuries to come.
The practical application of magic is called a spell, which involves taking magical energy from “another plane” to convert it into more useful and familiar forms. Spells often take the form of the five elements, being water, fire, electricity, wind, and ki.
The source of all of this magic is the Backyard (16:16-16:57), an alternate dimension responsible for programming the entire world. When anyone uses magic, they essentially borrow energy from the Backyard and manifest it into reality. (18:59-19:30). Due to the near infinite amount of energy present within, magic is effectively an inexhaustible resource with barely any limitations.
Skills
Hunger of Dopulous
An attack where her flail grabs someone and spits them out in any direction she desires.
Zest
An energy based uppercut that lets her cut through attacks.
Air Zest
….exactly what it sounds like it's literally just the air version of the attack above.
Remove the Chain of Chiron
A blast of energy balls that can rain down on the opponent, ranging from one to three
Calvados
A volleyball spike that causes an explosion of energy. In the boss version Jack-O can cause three pillars to appear.
Forever Elysion Driver
Apparently a fan of wrestling, Jack-O grabs her opponent with her flail, ascending into the air and slamming them into the ground to shatter the earth.
Minion Summoning
These little guys are the crux of Jack-O’s game plan despite never actually showing up in any story mode. Jack-O’s minions can be summoned from thin air and seemingly have no limit and can be manipulated by her in many ways. While they act on their own, they can be picked up or launched around the battlefield, making them not fully predictable.
Minion Houses
In GG Xrd, the minions worked notably differently than in Strive. Rather than just summoning a minion she summons a house that can summon multitude of minions at a time. Over time the house begins to level up and the minions become stronger. Like the servants she can pick them up and move them around for positioning. The only way to fully stop this process is by destroying the houses entirely.
Commands
Jack-O can give multiple commands to her servants to add some variety to her gameplan. She can command them to attack and defend, recall them back to her, or even command them to explode. (1:20-2:26). Her special Cheer On Servant can either make her servants invincible or increase the speed at which she can summon them.
Organ Development
A master of music, Jack-O can access this keyboard to affect herself or other servants, causing all sorts of potential mayhem.
Recover All: Returns all summons to Jack-O, with their levels still intact.
Clock Up: Buffs the servants, accelerating their attack and speed.
Explode: Detonates all the servants present on the battlefield.
Aegis Field: A shield that nullifies all projectiles.
Minion Types
Numbered Servants
The servants used in Strive, sharing generally the same properties. They can attack with their lollipops and block attacks with their shield.
Swordsman
A minion that often prioritizes mid range combat with its sword.
Lancer
A servant that focuses primarily on low range attacks.
Magician
A magic user who largely attacks from the skies. Notable for cockblocking jump ins.
I Want Out
Jack-O’s “Instant Kill” which acts as her strongest attack. After her minions tie up the unfortunate victim, Jack-O is lifted in the air far enough to reach outer space. Once in space, Jack-O’s halo turns into wings, allowing her to rider kick her opponent with enough force to create an explosion from space.
Information Analysis
Having half of Aria’s soul grants Jack-O a vast array of knowledge to her surroundings. She could identify the pieces of technology used to build Johnny’s ship, figure out how Bedman’s powers work despite having no records on him, and even knew about the origin of Axl and I-No’s powers despite the two of them not existing in either the past or future. If she ever needs more information on a subject she can use her organ to search the “records” of a person.
Regeneration
If she were to take damage, Jack-O’s body can self-regenerate any wound as long as it isn’t “instant and fatal.” While we don’t see the regeneration in action, she engaged in fights with weapon users such as Sol, Ramlethal, Axl, and Bedman and only walked away with a scar on her leg.
Valentine Abilities
As the final model of the Valentine series, it's likely that Jack-O shares some abilities from her predecessors.
Power Nullification
Valentines utilize magic foreign to the main world, causing spells to have no effect on them. (3:42-4:12). It took the cast learning said foreign magics in order to even deal damage to basic soldiers.
As a part of her creation, Jack-O can also use her powers to remove I-No’s godhood and revert her into a human, albeit at the cost of her own life.
Sublimation
In Guilty Gear 2, Valentine displays an ability known as “Sublimation”, which allows her to disassemble a target down to their cells. Valentine can seemingly perform this without being close to the target, and full sublimation can outright make targets disappear all together. If the target needs to be left alive, Valentine can take specific cells from a target without completely purging them.
Resistances
NOTE: Many of these resistances come from the fact that Jack-O was designed to survive the Backyard thanks to the Scales of Juno and being created inside of it. If not stated otherwise assume the resistance is due to these factors.
Soul Manipulation: The Backyard is stated to crush a target into dust, including their soul.
Information Manipulation: The Backyard is a wealth of nigh-infinite information. The mind is stated to vanish as if it melted if one enters without preparation.
Gamma Radiation: Gamma Ray emits… gamma radiation. Justice survives her insides being fried by Dizzy’s own Gamma Ray. (3:50-4:26) After fusing with Justice, Jack-O should arguably contain her resistances.
Space-Time Manipulation: Information Flares destroy the space-time in their respective areas by filling it with far more information than it can handle. The Backyard as mentioned has an infinite amount of said information.
Transmutation: Information Flares can rewrite the matter, causing objects like dirt to become steel.
Possession: Information Flares can cause possession, which also rewrite matter and overwrite a targets information.
Antimatter Reaction: Ramlethal is caught into the antimatter (29:48-29:59) explosion of a Gear and later returns with Raven’s healing bandages. Raven’s healing cannot regrow limbs and can only heal wounds “down to the bone,” implying to some extent she survived some of the explosion
Power Nullification: By utilizing the same magic as the Valentines (9:10-9:33), the cast of GG2 could properly bypass (12:44-12:54) their powers being nullified.
Existence Erasure: The Absolute World is stated to "erase” beings that cannot withstand it, and several species were erased prior. Given she was designed to be immune to it, and Valentines are inherently immune to the effects of the Backyard, Jack-O should be resistant to this.
Forms
Android 21
Standard/Lab Coat
The normal state of Android 21. While in this state she has access to a fair amount of her poweset including the Candy Beam, barriers, energy swords, and typical ki abilities that come with the DragonBall kit.
Good Android 21
The side of Android 21 that represents her more caring and motherly nature. Without her hunger being nearly as ravenous, Good 21 is far more critical in her thinking and is and is less prone to unhealthy outbursts. While she does have access to most of the same powers, she’s far more unwilling to utilize her more dangerous powers such as the Candy Beam.
Evil Android 21
The gluttonous personality developed through the Buu cells that went berserk. Evil Android 21 is focused on doing whatever it takes to satisfy her cravings. Containing most of the actual power, Evil 21 is easily the most powerful version of the character, and only increased in power once she absorbed Cell. Even after Goku and the Z Fighters unlocked their full power and became stronger, they still failed to properly take down Evil 21.
Jack-O
Personalities
Aria
Sol’s previous lover and the template for all other Valentines. After merging with Justice, Aria’s soul resides in Jack-O as its own entity. While Aria will not take over Jack-O’s body, she can still offer advice and support as a second voice.
Jackie
Note: This name is not official
A bubbly persona representative of Jack-O’s more extreme emotions. Initially present when Jack-O first woke up, she seemingly disappeared after Jack-O fully merged with Justice and became “human.” After the events of Strive’s story mode Jackie would resurface to assist Jack-O with finding herself.
Unlike Aria, Jackie can…seemingly manifest herself physically. While it's not 100% clear Jack-O’s arcade mode treats Jackie as a physical being who can be interacted with by others.. The only time this isn’t the case is when she merges back with Jack-O and shares the same body. Despite her personality, Jackie shares the same abilities and intelligence as Jack-O, making her a viable partner in combat.
Feats
Android 21
Overall
One of the smartest characters in the whole series, surpassing Dr.Gero in intellect
Bested many of the series villains including Frieza, Cell, Cooler and Demon King Dabura
Conquered and suppressed her evil cells in multiple timelines
Saved the world once separated from her evil half
Power
Weaker spirit bombs have created explosions visible from space and have been stated to destroy the Earth
Speed
The energy gathered for the Super Spirit bomb could move across the universe in seconds (100-489 quadrillion c)
Durability
Jack-O
Overall
Also one of the smartest characters in the entire series, rivaling Sol in intellect
Has fought on par with some of the strongest characters in the series including Sol, Sin, Ramlethal, and Nagoryuki
Fused and accepted her alternate personality to become even more powerful
Saved the world from extinction and nearly defeated God I-No
Power
Creates a large scale explosion that can be seen from space that vaporizes the rocks launched into space. (148 zettatons-984 zettatons)
Speed
Can fly to Earth from a nearby galaxy in seconds. (33 trillion c)
Durability
Fought many fighters including Sol, Sin, Ramlethal, and across 11 days and only received one injury.
Survived the energy output of Saint Oratorio (23:15-23:39), which is stated to have “no limits” and required Sol to be in Dragon Install to properly fire.
Scaling
Android 21
Cell and Buu
Being designed to surpass both Cell and Majin Buu and having all of their DNA within her, it’s obvious that 21 should be able to scale to all of their feats.
Semi Perfect Cell casually destroys islands when searching for 18
When evolved to SUPER Perfect Cell his power grew large enough to destroy the entire Solar System (1.05 kiloFOE)
Side media such as Ultimate Butouden show this feat explicitly.
Majin Buu destroyed a galaxy overtime (51-136 quntillionFOE)
Kid Buu was going to destroy the Grand Kai planet, which is comparable in size to Heaven, a universe sized world
Kid Buu matches Goku in Instant Transmission (Infinite)(Debatable)
Movie Villains
Due to keeping up with fighters like Goku and the Player within the Xenoverse and Heroes timelines, it’s only natural 21 should scale to many of the villains who have been bested by them.
Meta Cooler could fight and tag Goku within Instant Transmission (Infinite) (Debatable)
Z Broly, while restricted, can destroy an entire galaxy in the South Quadrant.
Z Broly if out of control would eventually destroy the universe (1.46 duodecillion - 16.34 tredecillionFOE)
Goku and Vegeta (Semi Debatable)
Okay so this is a bit of a weird case.
In no uncertain terms 21 does scale to Goku and Vegeta. She battles all the Z Fighters in all three routes of DBFZ and often no sells their attacks. This is consistent in games like Xenoverse where Goku needed a Spirit Bomb to actually best her.
The question would be HOW far she scales. In every cutscene of DBFZ’s big battle Goku and Vegeta are in their Super Saiyan states and never tap into their God Ki power in the conflict, making it unclear if they ever regain that power heading into the final battle. Goku even notes his original power is back in the Android Arc and yet doesn’t ever seem to use Blue. So what gives?
Well one notable aspect is in DBFZ’s post game you unlock SSB forms for both Goku and Vegeta, and in both cases it’s heavily implied they are at the proper power they should be. Goku no sells Kid Buu’s attacks and Cell cannot sense Vegeta’s Ki due to not possessing God Ki. You also cannot have a team of SSJ and SSB when heading into the final battle, making it clear it’s not just a complete what if.
More notably, in Xenoverse 2’s DLC quest, there’s an ending where 21, 16, and Gamma 1 team up and destroy Cell Max. You know, the thing that Piccolo thinks Goku and Vegeta would struggle with and only Beast Gohan could beat?
Okay okay so maybe it might be a whole lot to claim 21 is Beast tier but at the very least it should be enough to prove that at her peaks 21 would be in the higher tier of DragonBall power levels.
Even as a kid Vegeta was considered stronger than his father, who could destroy planets with the wave of his hand (14.34 ronnatons - 1.8 quettatons)
Goku flew to from Grand Kai’s planet to Hell in under a minute (74.9 quadrillion c)
WHEN GOKU AND BEERUS CLASHED THEIR SHOCKWAVES NEARLY DESTROYED ALL OF UNIVERSE 7 A HUMONGOUS MACROCOSM (365-1755 times universal) (358 quadrillion-507sextillion c)
Dark Empire (Debatable)
Another weird and wonky debate. In terms of narrative, 21 doesn't play a major role in any of the big storylines in either Xenoverse or DBH. It also doesn’t help that it’s not fully clear when these events are supposed to take place in the storyline of either XV or DBH.
That being said, there are some arguments to get her to scale. As mentioned prior she does put Goku on the back foot in Xenoverse 2. In the first game,Goku in just SSJ3 was able to team up with the Future Warrior and help defeat Demigra in that game. Naturally 21 would upscale.
As for DBH it’s even more nebulous but she does battle and fight Demon God Dabura throughout the story while suppressing her true power. She’s also a boss in multiple missions, where she clashes against your Avatar and the party. There’s a lot of scaling chains that can be made to get 21 to these levels but effectively it works something like this:
Dabura is generally equal to most of the base cast who can handle Demigra with his true power, which he gained from absorbing Toki Toki. The party can also fight bosses like Chamael who absorbed Demigras power after the fact.
The TLDR for this section is while 21’s fights are definitely not apart of the core story in either case, she does compete with most of the core cast in said fights, leaving some room to argue that she can scale.
Toki Toki in Heroes restores all timelines after they were erased by Mechikabura (Multiversal+) (Infinite)
Chamael absorbs Demigra’s power in DBH and nearly collapses “everything” (Multiversal+)
Miscellaneous
Given her history of fighting some of the strongest beings in DragonBall, 21 should get scaling to plenty of feats across the franchise performed by either comparable or weaker characters.
Piccolo creates an illusion blows up the moon (29.3 exatons) (41% c)
SS Gogeta creates a big bang level explosion that lights up the Underworld when created. (39.7 quettagigafoe)
Cosmology
Universe 7
The main universe of DragonBall is anything but normal. There are three main realms within its structure: the Mortal Universe, the Otherworld, and the Demon Realm, all being universe sized. The Otherworld in particular is larger than normal due to containing Heaven, a planet the size of an entire universe, and yet is still fairly small in the grand scope of the universe.
Guidebooks have made claims that the universe is “composed of innumerable stars, and there are ‘galaxies’ composed of innumerable nebulae.” Each of the four Kais govern a quadrant of the universe (North, East, South and West), with claims that there are infinite galaxies all over the universe. That being said, characters like Bulma have noted that the universe has an edge, bringing into question the validity of these statements.
Alternate Timelines
DragonBall contains multiple timelines across its wider universe, with the concept getting expanded more in the Xenoverse and DBH games. At the very minimum there are 74,434,925,761 timelines, with even more that we haven’t seen. No matter how far this goes however, there is a hard limit, as established by concepts like the Time Vault. This fits with the general goal of the Time Patrol in all Xeno/Heroes related media, which is to avoid a large amount of timelines being created as it distorts space and time.
Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaat being said, there exists many lesser timelines known as Parallax Quests which do not interfere with the “main branch” and are not stored in the Time Vault. These timelines have been heavily implied to be infinite in their number, with characters like Fu stating that history isn’t linear or finite, and is formed of a network of countless events.
This only leaves the Crack of Time, which sits outside of time and is closed off from the many timelines. Outside of a random V-Jump scan calling the space “Superdimensional”, there aren’t any major details given to the Crack of Time’s size.
Jack-O
Sol Badguy
The main protagonist of the story. Sol and Jack-O have fought in the past, with Sol being notably freaked out by how strong she was. With that in mind Jack-O should scale to some of Sol’s accomplishments
Contains (15:10-16:00) a black hole within his fist (11,405 quettatons of TNT)
Survives the recoil of the Outrage in human form which is stated to output infinite energy (Universal)
Earlier its stated that setting off all the zeal pods could blow up half the world (1.03 exatons-44.64 zettatons)
Justice
The Command Gear and one of the main antagonists of the story. Since Jack-O fused with her at the end of Xrd , it's very likely she should be just as powerful as her.
I-No
A recurring antagonist and big bad of Strive’s story mode. At the end of the game I-No becomes a god and notes that the only things that could stop her are the Flame of Corruption and Scales of Juno. Ky would then use his portion of said Scales to compete with I-No.
Its unknown exactly if Jack-O lost or didn’t have access to the Scales of Juno during this time, but she later mentions in her arcade mode that she can “move around like she used to after training with her other self, implying to some degree she was weakened during the main events of Strive. Regardless at her peak she should be comparable to God I-No.
Was going to reset and recreate the universe over and over. (Universal)
Her existence threatened to collapse the entire Backyard (Multiversal+ possibly higher) (Infinite)
Was stated to transcend the concept of time (Infinite/immeasurable) (Debatable)
Miscellaneous
Naturally due to fighting many powerful characters, Jack-O should scale to other characters across the Guilty Gear universe
Bridget can throw people to the moon in seconds (2.4 gigatons) (42.74%c)
Ramlethal absorbs the energy of a sphere that would turn the planet to dust (55 exatons)
Faust can create and throw black holes (1.5 yottatons-0.13FOE)
Slayer’s instant kill sends people to another galaxy (985 ronnatons)(442 billion c)
Cosmology
The Backyard is stated to give birth to infinite possibilities, with the existence of infinite dimensions and worlds being consistently reinforced.
It has also been stated to be a “superior” or a higher dimension, with realms beneath it such as “Underworld Hill” being stated to transcend and surpass the concept of time.
When I-No became a god with power comparable to the Backyard, she mentioned how reality appeared like fiction to her, describing it as a sea of ones and zeroes, which is consistent with statements of how the Backyard functions. If the universe we live in is like software, then the Backyard can be seen as a programming language that governs all laws in reality.
Weaknesses
Android 21
21’s hunger can be a massive problem in the way she approaches combat. Should she not be satiated enough, her intelligence is lost to berserker rampages that act on a pure need to feed herself. Even worse, her power can actually be lessened should her hunger be left unattended.
Jack-O
As powerful as the minions are, they will immediately disappear should Jack-O be damaged. There’s also a limit to how many minions can be present at a time, even with the houses being only two of each type. Lastly, if the minions' houses are destroyed the levels are completely reset, forcing Jack-O to redo the process all over again.
Before The Verdicts
Why this Match?
I had already typed up the connections in my Jack-O blog but intelligent artificial life forms modeled after the lover of a scientist who have split personalities and an obsession with candy I think is a pretty solid theme all around.
More to the point I think there’s just some fun things you can do fight wise overall. Jack-O visually speaking is someone I think could actually keep up reasonably with a DBZ character without having to radically alter her sense of scale. Her instant kill is the most obvious example of this but between the many energy attacks, the flight with her flail, and just natural combat due to being le fighting game I think she can bounce off a DBZ character fairly well.
Beyond the basics I think there’s also just some fun interactions to be had depending on how things are taken. I like the idea of shit like Jack-O swapping personalities and her fighting style changing to replicate that, or 21 getting a massive power boost into her Cell-esque form by turning all the clones and minions on the battlefield into candy. While Evil 21 would likely be the main personality and would ultimately make for a better fight, I like the idea of traces of her good self being shown earlier in the fight with 21 fighting smarter and more carefully, but eventually becoming more destructive as she falls more to her berserk like hunger. It’d be great to showcase how the two use their talents effectively in the fight, with Jack-O working more in tandem with herself while 21 indulges in her more negative traits.
But above all else I think it’d just be a cool animation and hey getting GG back would be neat sooooo yeah!
Verdict
Stats
If you couldn’t tell by the above, the stats for these two tend to lean into absurd numbers and scaling that will be a lot to take in at a glance so let’s take this a step at a time.
Jack-O I think should be safely Multiversal+ even with a more conservative mindset. She’s been hyped up by multiple characters in the universe, many of whom are some of the strongest in said universe such as Sol or Bedman. I-No’s statement about the Scales of Juno being a threat reaffirms this point given that it is just Jack-O’s main source of power. By her own feats her speed at the minimum would be 160 billion-206 trillion times the speed of light. Safe to say, she’s got some strong stuff going for her out the gate.
Android 21 has a little bit more…complicated ways to approach her scaling. On the surface level if you just give her the bare minimum of scaling to characters like Cell and Kid Buu she’d reach about Solar System to Universe level based on Cell’s Solar System destruction and Kid Buu destroying a universe sized planet and 74 quadrillion times light speed through Goku’s trip to hell. While weaker so far, she easily takes the speed advantage by a large margin.
Naturally that’s not gonna be enough for this match, so this leads into the bigger ends that can be pulled from Dragon Ball Super scaling. I think between SSB being unlocked and having dedicated cutscenes to note its power, alongside side events like Xenoverse 2 having her best Cell Max, this scaling shouldn’t be too hard to accept. With this in mind the iconic El-Shockwave chan would get 21 to being around 1755 times universal and sextillion times the speed of light in the higher ends. Very good so far but still not enough clearly to compete with the power Jack-O is packing.
Which finally brings us to the Xenoverse/Dragon Ball Heroes side of things. Android 21 isn’t very active in any major storyline, with her adventures mostly being side quests, making it difficult to pinpoint exactly when many of these events take place and how far the scaling chain could go. That being said between her showings against Goku who in XV1 bested Demigra, and keeping up and fighting on par with Demon God Dabura, I think there’s some room to argue the higher end feats would be viable to use.
With that in mind feats such as Toki Toki’s power restoring all of time throughout the multiverse and Chamael threatening to collapse everything with Demigra’s power, Multiversal is at the very least on the table, with Multiversal+ being viable if all of time would include the infinite offshoot branches not apart of the Time Vault. Feats of this scale could also invoke the argument of infinite speed due to needing to destroy and infinite amount of distance in finite time, which could be backed up with feats like Cooler and Kid Buu fighting Goku in Instant Transmission. So with that in mind 21 should be just as strong and faster right?
Well hold your horses there bucko. Off the bat you can argue that Jack-O can have infinite speed through similar cases. Given I-No’s statements of collapsing the Backyard as a whole, similar speeds would apply for similar reasons, with statements of I-No and vampires transcending time being decent supporting evidence. But hey that just means at higher ends stats are equal right?
Alright enough games it’s time to bring up the dreaded and powerful word: Cosmology
Okay so DragonBall is a little more simple. Stuff like Universe 7’s size and scope frankly doesn’t matter here since it’s obviously<<<<<less than infinite universes. While both Xenoverse and DB Heroes makes a larger point about the fact that the “main history” is finite in how many timelines there are, the lesser branches do not seem to abide by those rules. If we fairly assume all of the timeline destroying and restoring feats include these branches, then we have infinite universes. The Crack of Time sits outside of these universes, but outside of a vague “Superdimensional” statement in a magazine, nothing suggests higher planes of existence.
The Backyard by comparison has statements of being a “higher order”, “superior” or just a “high dimensional” space, with realms that transcend time. Most importantly these universe are stated to be made specifically within the Backyard, which would lead credence to many of these earlier statements. Because it’s big enough to contain all of these infinite timelines, it would more than likely have to have a greater set of infinity, thus being a higher dimension overall compared to just baseline “infinity.”
I’ll be the first to say I loathe these kinds of discussions but when looking at the greater picture the Backyard is just a much much much bigger realm than anything in Xenoverse/DBH when taking these claims into account, and by proxy Jack-O would be way way way stronger than 21. The main gimmick of DragonBall Heroes and Xenoverse already fights against the idea that infinite timelines can 100% exist, but even assuming these timelines were going to be destroyed (which FTR is a fair assessment to come to) it’s functionally “infinite universes” VS “super duper infinite universes.” If you need a reference point for what I’m saying just look back at this episode’s verdict cosmology wise:
To summarize this entire segment, most ends for Android 21 end up with her being either faster quantifiably or equal in speed, but she simply cannot make up the power difference between her and Jack-O. Overall, Jack-O takes the more important stat edges in this bout.
Arsenal & Abilities
Right out the gate Android 21 has a fair amount of notable advantages when it comes to her kit when it comes to offensive options. While Jack-O isn’t lacking per se, the DNA that Android 21 contains from all of the world’s greatest fighters grants her access to a much bigger variety of abilities even beyond just basic attacks, whether it be blinding people with Solar Flare or creating homing projectiles that can track Jack-O. Even with these “basic” attacks the sheer AOE of them outclasses Jack-O on average, with the highest in scale she’s shown/stated being planetary, something which is casual for DragonBall and can even go to universal in scale.
She can also play the defensive card very well. Comparing their mobility options, even with Jack-O’s greatest speed feat of traveling between a galaxy, characters like Goku have moved between universes and have utilized said speed far more consistently in combat. Instant Transmission makes hitting 21 even more difficult, especially when on the absolute higher ends 21 can go to places…outside of time in case she needs to formulate a plan or escape to heal. Even if she can’t just dodge attacks, her barriers can cover both physical and ranged attacks, whereas Jack-O’s most notable active barrier can only stop projectiles.
In general 21’s ability to possibly keep herself alive is bolstered by her immense regenerative capabilities and cloning technology. Jackie’s regen frankly doesn’t have any crazy showings outside of only one notable injury being sustained in her fights against many characters with bladed weapons or explosive attacks like Bedman, Sol, and Axl. Not only does 21’s regen outpace this in spades, each near death experience gives her a Zenkai Boost, making it even harder to get her to those near death experiences. If she ever needs to heal, she can always utilize the clones, which as servants are generally better in the moment than Jack-O’s servants. Between having all of the skills of their respective fighters, not vanishing either overtime or through hitting their boss, and being free fuel for 21 if need be certainly makes them a useful asset for the whole fight.
All of this however isn’t enough to grant her the win, and Jack-O’s own abilities certainly can help her keep up. The clones while inherently useful…are not generally powerful and even on a lower interpretation for Jack-O would easily be destroyed by her. Even in DBFZ when the fighters were nerfed, they were able to take out many of these clones without issues. Removing these clones will be fairly easy, and remove plenty of 21’s tricks to stay out of the fight if or give herself a power boost. By comparison, while the minions may not be as easy to produce as clones, should the fight prolong they can easily become a much bigger problem, especially when they upgrade and gain amps from Jackie herself. The ability to transport them and produce them effectively without any limits keeps her options readily available, making the servants while initially weak a much more notable threat should 21 not be able to destroy their stat building resources fast enough.
21’s ki attacks and many ranged options while extremely powerful and useful…sadly can get shut down should Jack-O ever decide to tap into the foreign magic of Valentines. As shown above our main cast couldn’t utilize any of their abilities to affect the Valentine army during GG2, and said magic does include concepts like “Ki.” As described by GG itself, Ki is something that everyone has and doesn’t need training for and being a part of every living thing. 21’s attacks would not be exempt from this and would severely limit 21’s options for attacking, forcing her to rely more on physical hits more than anything. Even if they were to hit her, the only notable threat to her would possibly be the Candy Beam, but given Jack-O is immune to the effects of the Backyard’s transmutation, this wouldn’t be an issue.
But the most important factor is getting past 21’s absurd regenerative capabilities. The most obvious basic answer is just hitting her really hard, which given Jack-O’s instant kill is shown to vaporize large parts of earth means it’s not impossible a powerful enough energy blast would do her in, but it’s not her only option. Valentines in Guilty Gear 2 have the ability to “sublimate” their targets, breaking them down to their very cells and causing them to vanish all together. This ability would be a perfect way to completely reduce 21 into a state where she can’t regenerate in full. She wouldn’t even need to break her down all together, as Valentine was able to target specific cells within Sin without breaking him down completely. Cell himself has a specific cluster of cells that allow him to come back from the brink of death, and he mentions Buu having the same type of healing. She would just need to pull of the technique, which given the previous Valentine could do it in a flash, it wouldn’t be hard to set up.
Now I will admit this ability isn’t one that Jackie has shown off in universe but I don’t think it’s unlikely for her to at least attempt it in due time. Even her own intellect aside she has the ability to look into the opponent she’s fighting even with no inherent knowledge on them, and even without any records on them figure out their powers like she did with Bedman. With tools like her servants to keep 21 busy, Jack-O would more than likely have the time to dig up the info she needs to halt 21’s regeneration.
Which leaves the final hurdle to jump over being the Wave Machine’s power nullification abilities. While the machine was neutralized in DBFZ, that mostly came from 21 choosing to stop it for her plans, and with the “Wave Machine” ability in DBH, she could still invoke this effect in battle. Unfortunately for her, Jack-O has ways around these issues.
Off the bat the Valentines foreign magic was used by others to bypass the power nullification in universe, but even if theoretically Jack-O was affected by this she has another way to still continue the fight. A major part of the story is how the souls within the party can bring out lost power, …something which happened to Jack-O herself. “Jackie” as I have dubbed her explicitly brought out Jack-O’s former power, with her stating that she could “move around like she used to.” Even without THIS the “Soul Link” skill which allows another soul to enter the body cancels out the ability. With two souls inside of her (Jackie and Aria), it’s incredibly unlikely that any of 21’s wave machine powers would shut off her skills.
To summarize, Jack-O can take out many of the clones, neutralize 21’s regeneration process, and is immune to any attempts to nullify her powers.
Tertiary Factors
When it comes to combat skill and experience, neither have a whole lot compared to others in their own universe due to only existing for a short period of time. 21 however by the virtue of having some of the world’s greatest martial artists in her programming would be a notably better fighter than Jack-O. Fighting Jam who has 4,000 years worth of techniques up her sleeve is impressive, but characters like Goku have bested people who’ve mastered every martial art in the world and have studied and practiced combat for hundreds to thousands of years. Even Jack-O’s thousands of years worth of knowledge isn’t super useful in a combat sense given most of that isn’t exactly combat related information.
That’s not to say Jack-O’s years of intellect has no use. Jack-O generally keeps a cool head within combat and even when becoming excitable, isn’t prone to any irrational outbursts or understanding of her goals and needs. It helps that the experience and knowledge of Aria is back in her corner to help her if need be. Android 21 is by no means an idiot and has shown the ability to plan and manipulate the cast around her, but at times falls prey to her gluttonous impulses and often becomes more berserk and rash in her actions. If by any means she loses access to a steady supply of food, this could cause her to be led into potential setups by Jack-O.
Overall, Jack-O’s intellect can certainly help her formulate a proper plan if she wants to gain an edge in battle, but 21 in the pure heat of combat should surpass her by a fair amount.
Conclusion
Advantages:
Faster with quantifiable ends and equal with unquantifiable ones
Much better regeneration
Better fighter
More variety in attacks
Clones are generally better in the moment than Servants
Larger AOE
Greater travel speed
Semi breached her way into canon without a movie
Disadvantages:
Far weaker
No answer to power nullification and can’t remove Jack-O’s powers
Regeneration can be nullified via powers or sheer destructive energy
Cannot transmute Jack-O
Clones are fodder and can easily be destroyed
More prone to outbursts and losing critical thinking
Has no way of stopping Jack-O from learning about her powers
The internet
Conclusion
"If I…can be by his side, I don't care if the world ends."
Advantages:
Far stronger overall and equal in speed with unquantifiable ends.
Can either remove 21’s regen or overpower it
Is immune to power nullification and can cancel most of 21’s arsenal
Generally more intelligent and cool headed
Can find out and decipher how 21’s powers work
Immune to transmutation
Can easily overpower the clones
Gave Sol a happy ending
Disadvantages:
Slower with quantifiable ends
Inferior regeneration
Servants can be taken out easier and need time to fully prepare
Inferior travel speed
Worse in terms of fighting skill
Smaller AOE
Less variety in attacks
The internet
This fight is fascinating and in the words of Wiz, 21 certainly wouldn’t go down without a fight. Sadly for her when looking the grand picture Jack-O has greater hands to deal with in this match.
While 21 can keep up in speed no matter what, she can’t make up the difference in power. Even with Xenoverse and Heroes backing her up the scope of their timelines do not measure up to the sheer scale that is the Backyard’s size. While she might have an edge in general mobility, it can only last her so long before that fatal hit occurs.
Jack-O’s abilities while initially smaller than what 21 has overall, has more deadly and poignant ones to take the victory. The clones can be easily taken out, her power nullification can shut down her Ki attacks, and her sublimation can take away the core parts of her regeneration process if simply hitting her hard enough with a massive AOE explosion wouldn’t cut it. On the flip side, in spite of her many abilities, 21 has no means to actually make up the power difference, with her trumps cards of transmutation and power nullification being ineffective in this bout.
Lastly, 21’s battle and combat skills are certainly nothing to scoff at, but Jack-O’s own intellect and general cool headed approach in battle can prevent her from more rash decisions even when the chips are down. The hungrier 21 gets, the less she’ll be able to think and act properly, which can give Jack-O the opening she needs to claim her victory
I’m not good at puns at all so I’ll just be lazy and say Jack-O got a sweet victory in her fight against Android 21.
Credit to ScruffyTurtles for this image!
Firstly thanks for taking time to read this blog of mine! I hope you enjoyed it cause I sure as hell enjoyed making it.
Next I wanna give special thanks to Rina Antiqua for a fair amount of stuff, including calcs, proofreading, creating special images, etc. She’s a real one and her talent doesn’t get enough credit.
Of course all credit to any non Rina calcs and feats go to their original sources whether it be DA, VBW, or even other blogs.
And lastly, thank you Akira Toriyama for inspiring and changing so many lives with your stories. I hope heaven is as beautiful as you drew it.
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