Every week someone posts a matchup that should be close and watches it end 90 to 10. Usually the losing side had the better case and argued it badly.
Power scaling arguments are winnable. They just reward a particular kind of discipline, and most people skip straight past it.
Establish the version before anything else
Almost every unresolvable argument is two people discussing different characters with the same name. Base form or final form. Manga or anime. Start of the series or after the last power-up. Movie continuity or main continuity.
State the version in your first sentence. If your opponent has not stated theirs, ask before you write three paragraphs that turn out to be about someone else.
Win conditions beat power levels
The most common mistake is treating a fight as a comparison of raw output. It is not. It is a question of whether one character can execute the thing that ends the fight before the other one does.
A character with overwhelming destructive power loses constantly to a character with a faster or more reliable win condition — mind control, instant death, a hard counter to their one defence. Ask what actually ends this, then ask who gets there first.
Feats over statements
A character saying they are the strongest is not evidence. A narrator saying it is weak evidence. A character doing something on screen is evidence.
Rank your support accordingly, and be honest about which kind you are using. An argument built on three demonstrated feats beats one built on six lines of dialogue, and people can tell the difference.
- Shown on screen — strongest.
- Described by a reliable narrator — usable, with caveats.
- Claimed by a character, especially about themselves — nearly worthless.
- Calculated by a fan from a background explosion — cite it or drop it.
Concede the small things fast
Defending every single point makes your strong points look the same as your weak ones. If the other side is obviously faster, say so, and then explain why speed does not decide this particular fight.
Arguments that concede nothing read as unserious, and the tally reflects it.
Say what would change your mind
This is the one that actually moves votes. An argument that names the feat which would flip it is visibly a real position rather than a preference dressed up as analysis.
It also tends to end the argument faster, because someone either produces that feat or admits they cannot.