(Apr. 22, 2021 11:40 PM)Zeutron Wrote:(Apr. 22, 2021 10:55 PM)Admiral W Wrote: Free wasn't even resonating when battling Rantaro, on the other hand Free was not only resonating during his battle with Lui, he took his power to 11, both Lui and Free did. It's clear he was drawing on far more of his strength when battling Lui. Both Free and Lui drew on all their power and they couldn't overcome the other. Their essentially equals.
In the opening match of the tag battles, Rantaro was only able to hold Lui off for a few moments before getting swatted away, and this was without Lui resonating, couldn't match Lui, while Free was able to do exactly that with a powered up Lui. Rantaro beat Hikaru when he wasn't completely focused on the battle, his concentration was split so I don't think we can count that to Rantaro, both Hyuga and Hikaru have battled way better in the past than when they were facing Valt and Rantaro. They were clearly off their game. Yes he eliminated Silas using Synchro lighting which was good on him, but Silas only did slightly better than Free during the tag tournament, not a huge margin by any stretch. Rantaro tied with Valt in the legend fest but the reason Valtryek burst was because Roktavor bounced off Satomb and crashed into Valtryek, the force of that caused a double burst, we all know Valt is stronger than Rantaro. As far as the twin break impact is concerned, I don't really know how to even judge that given all the factors involved with it, I don't think that can really be used to scale. He still burst in the end. At the very least we know that Rantaro can tie with Hikaru from the first match of the tag league semi's.
Even so, Rantaro wouldn’t be battling at full power either so we are only left to speculate tha they are equal based on the actually evidence. Each time they battles both bladers were knocked back on equal ground. If we say Free wasn’t going full power we could say the same for Rantaro. We know that when he gets full on serious Rantaro can cause colloidal damage (large enough to engulf the entire stadium in an air mass).
Yes, Rantaro was having trouble holding Lui off but this was because he used the storm plate to greatly boost his power, it’s even mentioned in the subtitles. That’s why Lui easily one shots Valt out of the before going head to head with Kiyama. Once Rantaro used glide tornado he began to force the storm plate powered Lui back albeit slightly before Lui escaped. Yes Rantaro beat an unfocused Hikaru but that has a lot more claim than Free eliminating a completely vulnerable Drum (Drum literally couldn’t even resist) with only a knockout while still having to use the storm plate, a special move and the rails, Free basically just got a FREEbie. As for the twin impact break, it is a little weird but I would still say that it can be factored in. Hyuga getting the boost from Valt to beat Free and Lui basically falls under the same boat, main difference is that Hikaru actually survived due to the moves function. I just rewatched the BC Sol tag battle and I can confirm that Ragnaruk did not bounce off of Satan and bump into Valkyrie, Valkyrie got sent straight into the air and into a burst while Ragnaruk burst when it hit Satan and got sent up meaning that Rantaro basically won. Here’s the proof:
I slowed it down to make it visible but we can see that Ragnaruk doesn’t actually hit Valkyrie. Doesn’t change the fact that Valt is generally the better blader based on feats and statements but it’s definitely its own feat nonetheless.
I'm going to be gone for a few hours so I won't be able to continue. All I'll say is look at the opponent they both battled; Lui. Rantaro couldn't go head to head with Lui while in just base, wasn't the case with Free. Not only did he go head to head; he did so while Lui was resonating. In either while I don't agree with your position, I respect your pov as usual. Let's just agree to disagree.