Papyrus vs Giovanni Potage
"When a man realizes his littleness, his greatness can appear."-H.G. Wells
Papyrus: Undertale's very famous Royal Guardsman
Giovanni Potage: Epithet Erased's leader of the Bonzai Blasters
Being evil and being cool practically go hand in hand, there's nothing more kickass than doing bad, after all. The problem is, uh, these two aren't exactly all too good at that. With their big dreams and even bigger hearts, as much as these two try, they struggle with nailing the villain role. Really, they're generally pretty cool dudes, and despite their clear incompetence, they've managed to get a group of friends- I mean sidekicks, who'll be there every step of the way. Battle bodies and baseball bats shall collide, as these two will duke it out in order to find out who the true coolest dude is. Will Papyrus bite the dust once again, or will Giovanni get canned? Let's find out in this DEATHBATTLE!...blog.
Before We Begin...
This one shouldn't be all too complicated to explain. For Papyrus, he only really appears in one game, so anything officially tied to it should be fair, though due to the uncertainty between Deltarune and Undertale's exact connection, as well as the fact Paps hasn't appeared in it either, it all adds up to Deltarune not being taken into account here. As for Giovanni, we'll only go off of the first season of Epithet Erased, along with anything the creators have publicly revealed. Yeah, Epithet Erased is currently very unfinished as of right now, and has content that's rather hard to gain access to, so generally speaking, we're going with what's out for all of us currently.
Background
Papyrus
One day in Snowdin, through unclear circumstances, two living skeletons sorta just...showed up one day, making themselves at home, and Papyrus was one of them. He doesn't really have a set in stone backstory aside from that, but we definitely know what he's doing through the game. Claiming himself to be a famous member of the Royal Guard (even though he's only in training to be one), his grandest aspiration is to finally catch a human for a big promotion, and to get the recognition he desires. While his dreams seemed silly, Papyrus was given his ticket to stardom by one stray child, who fell into the Underground. Upon finding out about them, he set up his finest puzzles in order to successfully capture them, but due to shoddy design and his overall incompetence, Papyrus didn't have much luck with that. Ultimately taking matters into his own hands, he dueled the human one final time, and either due to defeat or an act of kindness, Papyrus conceded to his loss. Depending on the route you could've spared him or coldly murdered him, I'm sure the game won't judge anyone for that choice.
Giovanni Potage
Born in Sweet Jazz City, Taiga Country, Giovanni was always the outcast from his family, frequently being bullied in family get-togethers. As crummy as his early days were, Giovanni managed to turn his life around upon joining the Banzai Blasters, and while him becoming the leader seemed like a pipedream at first, he gradually shifted into the position as Banzai Captain. For one of the group's important missions, he had the idea of breaking into the Sweet Jazz City Museum, plotting to steal the fabled Arsenal Amulet for themselves. Unfortunately for them, they met some adversity along the way in their mission, with almost all of the Banzai Blasters being compromised, aside from Gio. Being separated from his boys was a hefty toll, but luckily, he still found some support in a subordinate he found in the museum: Molly Blyndeff, or Beartrap, going off of her henchman name. The pair ended up making a surprisingly efficient supervillain duo, and through their team up they managed to crack the museum's conspiracies wide open.
Experience/Skill
Papyrus
Despite his disposition, Papyrus does have a high level of expertise, albeit not in common sense. He's trained with Undyne frequently in the past, with Undyne regarding him as adept enough to train Alphys. In his spare time, he acts out theoretical battle scenarios with action figures, and is skilled in the arts of both jumping out of windows and Photoshop. He's also been shown to read books for smart people, and is a self described master of puzzles.
Giovanni Potage
While far from the most intelligent, Giovanni has proven himself to be nothing to scoff at. Well, maybe a scoff-at-able but that's besides the point. He's managed to make a shockingly powerful weapon out of soup, and became the leader of the Banzai Blasters, forming a plan to steal a highly sought after object. In combat, with creativity and collaboration with Beartrap, he's managed to best admittedly more competent foes, such as Sylvester Ashling and Mera Salamin.
Equipment
Papyrus
Battle Body
Papyrus's beloved Battle Body, which he wears litterally everywhere, including the shower. Said to have been made for a costume party, sans mentions how he's never taken it off since. While the name suggests some enhancement to combat capability, this is only an implication, as the Battle Body isn't actually shown to protect or amplify anything in battle during the game.
Puzzles
For the use of catching any stray humans, Papyrus has assembled an entourage of dangerous traps in order to stump and befuddle. Although not very portable, his puzzles employ a variety of traps and weapons, from electric shock, multi paneled mazes, and all the things shown above, the only reason Papyrus's puzzles are unsuccessful is due to his own personality.
Giovanni Potage
Soulslugger Doombat
Sporting a very cool name, Giovanni's primary mode of violence isn't merely a bat, no, it's a bat...with a knife taped to it! Due to the position of the knife, the sharp part is rather ineffective, but the bat side to it is more than efficient enough for him. In order to use the knife at maximum capacity, Gio can also hit the knife with the bat in order to send a quick and piercing projectile at a foe.
Banzai Blasters Pea Shooter
Although not his preferred weapon, Giovanni posseses the standard pea shooter that all members of the Banzai Blasters have. It's been seen shooting small bullets, and generally just being a somewhat weak pistol, that's standard issues to any member of the group.
Abilities
Papyrus
Monster Physiology
In the Underground, Monsters can come in all shapes and sizes, and Papyrus is no different. Inherently, a Monster isn't made out of a lot of physical matter, and is ultimately comprised of magic similarly to how humans are made up of water. Due to this magical composition, Monsters are naturally attuned to their SOULs, allowing for varied bullet patterns and general use of magic in attacks. Offensively, magic isn't just able to hit physically, but the SOUL itself, the essence of one's being, and hurting similarly incorporeal beings, like ghosts. A final, and rather macabre ability Monsters have, is that upon killing a human, they can absorb their soul to become a terrible, but powerful beast. Comparatively, when Monsters die, they just crumble into dust, leaving no soul behind.
Bone Manipulation
Matching with the whole skeleton thing, Papyrus's go to attack involved throwing a large volley of bones at his opponent. As shown above, the size and multitude of the bones can vary substantially from one attack to another. As seen in his room, these bones are real, tangible objects, rather than some kind of metaphorical representation. But his bones come in different colors, as he also has blue bones in his tool kit too. In order to evade them, an opponent must stand still while being hit, and upon contact, the bones can also turn an opponent's soul blue, weighing them down via some force of gravity.
"Special Attack"
During his battle with Frisk, Papyrus was going to use a "Special Attack", that he stated would blast the human to bits...if it landed, that is. Due to the fact the Annoying Dog took it, we know very little about what the Special Attack actually does, aside from looking like a bone, and being very powerful in comparison to his other attacks.
RPG Mechanics
Due to Undertale being very meta, there are several examples of there being mention of in-game mechanics being actual parts of the world. Early on, Froggits mention that their names turn yellow when ready to be spared, or other mentions of characters messing with the dialogue box, and as shown above, Asgore breaking the Mercy option with trident. Another aspect of the mechanics is that it operates under a canonical turn system, although judging by sans's boss fight, it isn't exactly an unbreakable rule.
Giovanni Potage
Epithet: Soup
In the world of Epithet Erased, everybody in it speaks the same language, which allows for the manifestation of Epithets, as everyone can understand the words. Epithets are said to be inscribed in the soul, and are tangible powers sprung from any compatible word. In Giovanni's case, his word is "Soup", allowing for the creation and manipulation of soup.
Lava Grenade
By heating up the temperature of his soup, Giovanni can create a scorching ball of it, able to throw it and cause an explosion on contact.
Soup Aura
With his Epithet, Giovanni can create an aura of soup around himself. This aura is explosive enough to blow away dust particles, and can be used to create the Fog of Lost Souls. The aforementioned fog has the property of healing those in its vicinity passively.
Ancient Potion
Once per battle, Giovanni can turn his sweat into soup, with it being put into a healing concoction for him. This drink heals a hefty 15 points of damage for the user.
Teleportation 
In order to perform the classic "teleports behind you" trick, Giovanni can massively propel himself using Soup, allowing for a limited form of teleportation, as well as being the perfect means for a stealth attack.
Critical 13
Due to viewing 13 as his lucky number, every 13th hit Giovanni gets a large boost to the power behind his strike. He can stock up his counter ahead of time by hitting nearby objects. This has nothing to do with his Soup powers, he's just, as he puts it, "that awesome".
RPG Mechanics
Undertale isn't the only one with canon game mechanics, as Epithet Erased has similarly in-built logic. In Epithet Erased, all attacks do a set amount of damage, and due to the logic it ascribes to, even if someone was shot in the head, it'd only do a few points of damage, meaning it's incredibly hard to actually kill someone. Another factor is that one's energy is completely restored after battle, healing even broken bones.
Resistances
Papyrus:
Radiation: A common energy drink for monsters is Gamerblood, which contains literal radioactive waste, implying that Monsters can drink a radioactive substance without harm.
Extreme Cold: Papyrus is a resident of Snowdin, which is so cold its snow doesn't melt when entering Hotland. Hotland is so, well, hot that water and the cup it's in is instantly turned to vapor upon entering.
Feats
Papyrus
Strength
- Undyne describes Papyrus as "pretty freaking tough"
- Should be physically stronger than sans, who moved around large bones (1,5483 Joules)
- His absolutely normal attack has him moving a giant bone (30.35 Kilojoules)
- Shouldn't be far behind Knight Knight, who's able to summon down meteors (0.19 Tons of TNT)
- Is near the power of Mettaton's Box and EX forms, who have feats such as:
- Pulverizing a wall by slamming through it (0.024 Tons of TNT)
- Kicking at supersonic speeds (0.044 Tons of TNT)
Speed
- He can quickly run around back and forth around his house (16.92m/s)
- Can keep up with and tag Frisk, who has:
- Dodged the sound waves of a dog barking (Mach 0.58)
- Evaded meteors falling from the sky (Mach 4.8)
- Moved in tandem with electricity (Mach 3.05)
- Is likely faster than the early game boss Naptsablook, who closed their blinds before light reached them (Debatable)
Durability
- Briefly survived without a head, as shown above
- Is regarded as tough by Undyne, who survived her house exploding (0.001 Tons of TNT)
- Flowey used more vines than usual to restrain Papyrus
Giovanni Potage
Strength
- At maximum, a baseball bat can be swung with hundreds, to even a thousand joules (1,441.98 Joules)
- Busted down the door of a police station
- Knocked Bugsy across a room
- His Critical 13 hit Mera hard enough to crack a wall (0.001 Tons of TNT)
Speed
- Can move fast enough to seem like he's teleporting via Soup
- Dodged a knife being thrown at him
- Got involved in a scuffle with Percy, who can block bullets (Mach 0.50-1.04)
- Percy is also compare to Bugsy, who caught soup fired out of a shotgun (Mach 0.87)
Durability
- Was unscathed by an attack Mera noted as typically one shotting foes like him
- As shown above, Giovanni survived being whaled on by Doctor Beefton (279 Kilojoules)
- Likely tougher than Molly, who survived a rough fall (4,589 Joules)
- Took being knocked off screen by Indus's barrier, with Indus being able to lift up trucks (16.8-35.7 Kilojoules), and smash through a wall (0.044 Tons of TNT)
Weaknesses
Papyrus
Contrary to popular belief, Papyrus isn't perfect. He's often shown to lack common sense, which is in part why so many of his schemes have failed. More importantly, Papyrus's kind-hearted nature prevents him from seriously hurting people, with Undyne saying his unwillingness to injure or kill anybody is what's holding him back from joining the Royal Guard. Despite how much of a testament to his character that is, it's a detriment in combat, as Papyrus will always try to sort out the issue non fatally, with his trusting nature ultimately getting him killed in some alternate routes of the game, as well as the fact a Monster's defense weakens when unwilling to fight in general.
Giovanni Potage
A roadblock all Epithet users face is that their power revolves around how they percieve a word, meaning one's own associations with the word could limit the potential applications of an ability. Though, Giovanni has generally sidestepped such an issue, as he's displayed how creative he can get with a word like soup as a power. As for Giovanni specifically, his Ancient Potion technique can only be used once in a battle, and he can be very quickly emotionally devastated if his boys are in danger, due to how much he cares about them, though since this is a solo fight, this weakness is unlikely to be exploited.
Verdict
Stats
Due to Undertale's limited graphics, feats have been a contentious topic in the debating community for quite some time now, but over the years the game's stats have been generally locked down. The two skeleton brothers can both move large structures of bones, ranging 1,5483 Joules and up to 30.35 Kilojoules, as courtesy of Papyrus himself. While likely not as strong, Undyne's regard for Papyrus, as well as his placement in the game, both imply that he can likely downscale from feats preformed by Mettaton, clocking in at 0.024 and 0.044 Tons of TNT for each body, solidly placing Papyrus in Small Building. Despite Epithet Erased's unfinished status, Giovanni is no slouch, hitting someone hard enough to crack a wall, getting over 0.001 Tons of TNT, and taking a Barrier from Indus Tarbella, who's casual wall busting got 0.044 Tons of TNT, similarly placing Gio at Small Building. Despite the two combatants downscaling the feat, they coincidentally both can be placed at 0.044 Tons, meaning they're practically dead even in terms of strength and durability.
Unlike the other two stats, speed can be definitively decided. A big elephant in the room is Naptsablook's "light speed feat", which has been subject to some debate. As simple as it may sound on paper, the light's properties are rather strange, being said to knock on Naptsablook's door. While light does indeed possess force, just a very negligible amount, and this light may just posseses a higher amount of force due to it being magical, the description still muddles things. There's also an argument to be made for consistency, as every other feat (at least one's a character like Papyrus would scale to) gets nowhere near as high as being faster than light. All in all, while it's a potentially viable feat, it will generally not be a focus of this discussion. With all that jargon aside, Papyrus can reliably scale to Frisk, who's dodged things from sound waves, to meteors, and even electricity, placing them at Mach 3.05 or Mach 4.8 in speed. In comparison, Giovanni is relative to Bugsy and Percy, with Percy's bullet timing being at Mach 0.50 or 1.04, and Bugsy's soup shotgun reactions getting up to Mach 0.87. While Gio can be put a little over the speed of sound, Paps is 3 to 4 times faster than that, giving the Great Papyrus a solid edge in speed. The gap is also made far, far larger if you take the Naptsablook feat as valid.
Arsenal/Abillities
While neither have very powerful weapons, Soulslugger is certainly a more trusty weapon than Papyrus's clunky collection of traps, and though he rarely uses it, the pea shooter would also give Giovanni better range in the fight.
Where these two really standout is in their abillities. In Papyrus's court, he has a large, large amount of bones he can summon, and with the added variety of his blue bones, they could increase Giovanni's gravity, and likely catch him off guard at first due to their unique properties. Before getting into Giovanni, it's safe to say Papyrus's attacks won't negate his durability, as not only does enhanced armoury increase the durability of both the body and the soul in game, Epithets also reside in the souls of the user, meaning the power provided by an Epithet would likely similarly impact the soul's durability as well. With that out of the way, Giovanni's Soup grants him a surprising amount of variety, letting him throw hot projectiles, produce an aura of healing for himself, and even teleport with it's speed boosting. Another factor Giovanni has is Critical 13, which would likely let him severely damage Papyrus if landed. For how these bounce off each other, not only would Papyrus be damaged by the kinetic power of the thrown Soup, it's heat could likely also add some extra damage. In terms of range, Paps has Gio beat, being able to spawn out bones from across the screen compared to Soup coming out of Giovanni's body, and coupled with his speed, that means Papyrus's projectiles would be hitting more, and hitting first. Even though Giovanni can heal, it'll either heal him once for 15 points of damage, or passively heal the both of them, so while it'll help Giovanni stay in the game longer, Papyrus can hold out for some time, even against foes who have similar healing items, like Frisk. A critical factor (pun intended), is Gio's lucky number, as when it's coupled with teleportation, it could end up being a deciding factor on who wins here. The problem is, even though he could rack up a good score on the bones, they may simply move too fast for him to lock in on, due to tagging Frisk, and the blue bones provide another issue entirely. Since they hurt moving targets, trying to hit them would only end up with Giovanni taking more damage, as well as the gravity effect halting his movement in the process. While teleportation could help get some hits in, it's not like Giovanni really ever uses it dodge attacks, and due to his speed and ability to turn Giovanni's soul blue, it could likely also give Papyrus ample time to dodge if he uses it offensively. Also, while the Special Attack would likely be detrimental to Giovanni, we have no idea what it is, so it's not exactly fair game to use.
As for both's game mechanics, while they do make Giovanni hard to kill, that shouldn't really be much of an issue, as it's not like Papyrus is trying to kill him here anyways. Regarding the matter of Papyrus's dialogue options and turns, while they do exist in Undertale, they're rather hard to actually implement into a cross universe fight, and likely shouldn't be treated as a gospel to go off of here, especially since the rules to them have been broken in the game.
Tertiary Factors
As goofy as these two are, they're not useless in a fight. While Papyrus likely has superior training due to his many lessons with Undyne, Giovanni is definitely more creative in his combat, coming up with all sorts of uses for a power that seems so simple at a glance. In terms of mindset, Giovanni likely also takes that, as although it's unlikely either would want to kill each other, Giovanni has proved himself to be much more willing to get down and dirty in combat, rather than Papyrus's harmless demeanor.
Conclusion
Papyrus
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Advantages:
- Decently or significantly faster
- Bones have superior range
- Blue bones circumvent Critical 13 and restrain Giovanni's movements
- Better trained
Disadvantages:
- Equal strength and durability
- Lower combat IQ and weaker mindset
- Critical 13 would be debilitating if landed
Giovanni Potage
Advantages:
- Teleportation can help land hits
- More creative in combat
- Healing could prolong the fight
- Critical 13 would likely end up in a win if it landed
Disadvantages:
- Equal strength and durability
- Definitively slower regardless of how high Papyrus is placed
- Smaller range of effect
- Fog of Lost Souls would heal Papyrus as well
- Blue bones would hinder Giovanni's wincons
When you're dealing with some of the coolest dudes out there, picking between them can be rather difficult, between their near equal strength or collection of abillities, there can be points made for both sides, and while Giovanni could take out Papyrus with a good hit from a Critical 13, Paps has the speed, range, and bone variety to ultimately net him the win. This match was soup-er close, but in the end, Giovanni was boned from the start. The winner is...
Papyrus
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