Bleach

[Khajit]

Not really. The Espada were all quite powerful but they had to fight opponents with hax for shikai/bankai. Whenever a captain won it was usually by sheer luck that a person had the appropriate skill nearby for eeking out a win. If the Captains hadn't decided to whip themselves into shape after some untrained schmuck oneuppped them at everything out of nowhere the VL would easily have curbstomped everyone outside of perhaps Kenpachi Unohana and oldfart.

[kuronosan]

But you see, we have no proof of any of that. It's all speculated and assumed, which is one of the biggest problems most (poorly-written) stories have.

[Tajin]

Espada were all quite powerful but they had to fight opponents with hax for shikai/bankai.

The only hax fight was barragan vs the fatfuck with barrier powers. The captains won because good guys win. and even then Aizen curbstomped what? 4 captains plus a vaizard in seconds rendering all previous fighting obsolete.

Anyway incoming more useless powerful characters right off Kubo's hat.

[Khajit]

The only hax fight was barragan vs the fatfuck with barrier powers. The captains won because good guys win. and even then Aizen curbstomped what? 4 captains plus a vaizard in seconds rendering all previous fighting obsolete.

Anyway incoming more useless powerful characters right off Kubo's hat.

I cant remember all of the fights in perfect detail but i can give an example or two.
Stark basically is a guy with ranged attacks as his main method of attack that ended up vs a guy with the ability to absorb and redirect ranged attacks. The "games" bankai was overpowered as shit too. Sure it can hurt both parties but one side has centuries if not millenia of experience at using the bankai so his advantage while training and many of those games probably didn't exist when the guy first showed up so the weapon is clearly learning new games constantly. Teach that thing calvinball and you've basically got an instant win button.
Hallibel's fight essentially boiled down to two people with powers completely countered by the other which gave Hitsuyaga the advantage as he also used his abilities to give himself those silly dragon wings and he still was getting a beatdown. He even landed misc hax move #38927854754 which Hallibel broke out of almost immediately. Even down to peacock guy in Kenpachi's squad we see this kind of stuff. He has essentially an auto win shikai and once he has a chance to use it the fight is usually over.

Kubo does this alot. Eg rankiku vs (kira?) the guy with a hooked sword that doubles weight each time it hits. In a situation where person A is clearly going to lose to person B give person A something that conveniently counters the exact thing making person B so strong. So Rangiku's zanpakto turns out to be able to make itself weightless and attack in the form of some weird dust.

[Tsuneo]

Stark basically is a guy with ranged attacks as his main method of attack that ended up vs a guy with the ability to absorb and redirect ranged attacks. The "games" bankai was overpowered as shit too. Sure it can hurt both parties but one side has centuries if not millenia of experience at using the bankai so his advantage while training and many of those games probably didn't exist when the guy first showed up so the weapon is clearly learning new games constantly. Teach that thing calvinball and you've basically got an instant win button.

The game thing was only his shikai, so his bankai is definitely going to be more overpowered.

[Odin'sLaw]

The game thing was only his shikai, so his bankai is definitely going to be more overpowered.

his shikai is going to be hangman! guess the word or die bitches

@Khajit the name is Ash cat, its not dust its ash and it cuts like glass and is hot to the touch, sword be trippin

[Khajit]

I knew the name of it but didn't feel ash cat really described anything other than lolrandom. Hearing you redescribe it(plus I completely forgot it was actually hot) however makes me think of it as more like Obsidian/volcanic glass shattered into tiny pieces which makes the whole thing make a ton more sense as to why it's dangerous.

[orson]

Lmao kudos on the Calvinball reference. Any way we look at it though I'm ultimately hoping Kubo actually explains some important stuff already. Ichigo and Uryu's dads are one of the big question marks. The bodies found in Heuco Mundo maybe that will be explained in this next little bit (maybe they were the first quincy/arrancar.) I'm trying to think of other big left over plot points there are a few more but definitely those are the big ones to me.

[Souj]

Zero Squad.

[Tymon]

Zero Squad, rogue Vasto Lordes, etc.

We already know that Hallibel and Ulquiorra at least were VL's prior to becoming Arrancar. Don't know much else.

[torasu]

Lmao kudos on the Calvinball reference. Any way we look at it though I'm ultimately hoping Kubo actually explains some important stuff already. Ichigo and Uryu's dads are one of the big question marks. The bodies found in Heuco Mundo maybe that will be explained in this next little bit (maybe they were the first quincy/arrancar.) I'm trying to think of other big left over plot points there are a few more but definitely those are the big ones to me.

One of the bodies looks like it is the fodder arrancar that Uryuu fought and was then collected by the skeleton squad since its clearly female and they both have the same boots, the other one Im not sure but it kinda looks like the bottom of a Shinigami uniform, it doesnt really match the legs of the other two fodder arrancars. I dont know, it seems a lot more reasonable to me for the bodies to simply be a pretty insignificant thing rather than believing that theres any actual foreshadowing in Bleach.

Spoiler: show

http://i14.mangareader.net/bleach/30...ch-2406063.jpg
http://i9.mangareader.net/bleach/257/bleach-14583.jpg

[Lucavi]

Herp derp, new chapter. Herp derp, another off-screen beating of fodder characters to hype up a big bad underling before he fights the main character. This week's chapter was trope-city.

[Insanecyclone]

http://www.mangahere.com/manga/bleach/v53/c488/

[Souj]

OMG theyre Quincy who could have ever foreseen such a thing? The way the word "Quincy" took up an entire panel and sent shivers down my spine. And then the whoe page that showed the neutral faces of the captains was totally awesome

[Xno Kappa]

Yamamoto is pissed lol.

[Correction]

the neutral faces of the captains was totally awesome

The scientific term is Dull Surprise

[Seanr]

I cant remember all of the fights in perfect detail but i can give an example or two.
Stark basically is a guy with ranged attacks as his main method of attack that ended up vs a guy with the ability to absorb and redirect ranged attacks. The "games" bankai was overpowered as shit too. Sure it can hurt both parties but one side has centuries if not millenia of experience at using the bankai so his advantage while training and many of those games probably didn't exist when the guy first showed up so the weapon is clearly learning new games constantly. Teach that thing calvinball and you've basically got an instant win button.

Wiki is a motherfucker, I started brushing up on Stark again when you wrote this, at 10:34 AM EST, it is now 1:36 PM EST and i clicked back to this thread like "fuck, i completely forgot i was reading this"

[Kisamoo]

I just want to see everyone's Bankai. Seriously. Could care less about everything else. That said, the Bankai sealing/stealing power is alluding to the fact that this might never happen so I'm not getting my hopes up.

[Outlaw]

If we don't get to see Captain Kyōraku and Urahara's bankai at least I will be disappointed.

It would also be nice to see the sword release of the following: Yoruichi, Nanao and Yachiru.

[Xno Kappa]

Don't wanna jinx it but Urahara's seems to be a given the way Kubo interjected him so quickly into the arc.