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No, what the manga does is spice up events and change things. That's what it does, it doesn't clarify Ridley couldn't damage Samus in ZM if that's what you're insinuating, the fights themselves aren't even remotely the same, they don't even take place in the same locale nor do the events leading up to it even remotely similar. It's less giving details to a fight in the games and more changing a fight and event entirely to fit a narrative in a manga-sense because it's a different medium and it'd fit better for the newly awoken Samus to roll the asshole dragon into dust. While in the game, that isn't a thing so they just fight normally like they do every other time. Now I'm not saying narrative invalidates feats or scaling, definitely not, otherwise every manga ever would be ******, but I am saying manga adaption ain't taking precedence over the game it's based on in a game verse.The manga clarifies Ridley couldn't actually damage Varia Suit, not Power Suit, Samus in ZM.
I also want to point out, Ridley isn't even instantly stomped, I mean he's ****** up quite badly in the manga, but he tanks the wave beam with little if any damage, he tanks the ice beam too, it's only the final shot, the shot that immolates him and sets him ablaze and burns him continuously, that he falls. He straight up tanks two attacks from her and is only beaten by being burned alive (the actual explosion from the shot too didn't do him in). The issue at hand isn't even if he can tank her attack's, because he does twice, maybe three, the issue is if he can hurt her, being the main discrepancy (And given how much of a meme Ridley dragging Varia has become...).
No offense but in the actual game itself, and every game Ridley is featured in, he's tossing hands with Varia, not power, only in a single scene in a manga is that not the case, needless to say, while the manga definitely has merit, it sure as **** ain't taking precedence over literally every single interaction with Ridley in every single other piece of media ever besides the original NES game where Varia didn't even exist.
Well, the issue is that Ridley basically lost to the weakest form of Samus in ZM and the manga, only to get stronger (to a consistent level of around Gravity Suit / Late Game Legendary Varia Suit) level.
That's the thing, never stated or hinted at to get stronger. That's mere conjecture because he lost in the manga, which is what I hold issue with, because it's in direct contrast with every single game including the game it's based upon, and what explanation that could exist, is never actually said or implied to be a thing. It's only a discrepancy that comes at the cost of a few pages of a manga in contrast to everything else.
While he fought Samus on equal footing in Varia or above in literally every single instance besides that. Some of which the Phazon excuse can't be applied to.
You're ignoring that every single instance of Ridley contending with Samus predates Phazon's conception so it's obviously not the actual reason why, and in the source material the single discrepancy never actually happens. That's a huge red flag. One that isn't just going to be handwaved here.
While I don't think it was intended, Phazon is a pretty good explanation.
Of course it wasn't intended, it wasn't even a thing, it wasn't even the same people who came up with it, retro created Phazon, literally nobody involved with every single base Ridley encounter had any idea Phazon was ever going to be a thing. It can be an explanation, but really all it is is a excuse to patch up an inconsistency, one that doesn't even exist if you don't opt to include that single manga scene. I'm sure you see the issue here. Like, I'm fine with this being supplementary if there was more to go on, like even just a statement saying Ridley got stronger, Phazon would coincide with that statement and help flesh it out, but by itself it's not really anything.
Headcanon here, but Prime Ridley is also shown differently from ZM Ridley, going from a blackish gray to dark purple + blue in MP3 to violet by the time of the rest of the 2-D games.
Ridley changes colors and appearance in literally every single game. Even his clones, the exact same clones at that, look different despite nothing happening to trigger such a change. The Ridley clone in Other M, the Clone in Fusion, same shit, looks completely different. Or how Ridley looks different even in the same games, in ZM's cutscenes but in gameplay, he looks different let alone the official green art, or the official art of Super and in game.
Ridley looking slightly different here and there is nothing beyond art style shifts and aesthetic. I could go on even, Ridley in Samus Returns but Super, completely different, even after Ridley sheds his last remaining cybernetics and becomes the exact same Ridley in Super.
It's obviously not something they thought about but Phazon blue being added only to be removed coincides with the color changes of Ridley. Also consistent with black Ridley only appearing pre-Prime, in ZM and the manga. Obviously not arguing this here, but thought it was interesting.
I mean it's interesting, but it's not an argument though you've said as much so I don't really have any qualms with it, and one I'm not even sure is true, Ridley's been shown as grey/purple and blue all pre-prime, he's also shown grey post prime, and red, and purple, and blue, etc.
I'm gonna be as blunt as possible here.
But I need an actual statement suggesting Ridley got stronger because I'm not taking a manga that, while has canonical merit, to supersede every single game base Ridley is featured in, including the game with the exact Ridley we're scaling and the game the manga is based upon.
I simply can't do that here, the games still take precedence over a single scene in a manga, no matter how good that manga is and if the manga is canon. And the Phazon reasoning I don't buy either, Phazon was created by a completely different studio long after the games established base Ridley to be able to contend with Varia (In fact, does Varia even increase AP? Durability sure, explicitly, but AP?) when they created the games where Ridley fought Samus, Ridley was fighting Samus not because of some powerup that'll be conceptualized way later that he wouldn't even have in his system any longer by the times of those games anyhow chronologically (Not to mention the two different clones that rolled up to Varia that wouldn't have Phazon) but simply because big dragon man is strong and a threat to Samus and rival.
I don't really wanna argue this much further, mostly because I have at least 3 other verses that take priority atm, but you're going to need to find another feat to scale Ridley to so we don't need to have this debate in the first place, because that blast is only 7-B, except halved because it's not nuclear so 7-C, at best, because the feat takes place where the Chozo and MB primarily live, which is protected from the harsh conditions of the planet, so the gravity might not even be a factor there, making it 8-C.
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