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*** Piccolo knew exactly where Gero was. Behind the giant doors that the people who can all destroy moons and planets for whatever reason couldn't tear down. Trunks likely wouldn't have allowed them to kill the Androids before they woke, nor would Vegeta. He didn't want to prevent the android rampage (and for all his concern likely didn't care much) what he wanted was to see Goku (specifically) and the Z Fighters (in general) defeat the Androids so he could replicate it back home. Which still doesn't answer why Piccolo who has picked up entire mountains for training purposes didn't try that if the doors and walls were made out of. . .whatever they were made out of that stopped them longer than tissue paper.
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*** Piccolo knew exactly where Gero was. Behind the giant doors that the people who can all destroy moons and planets for whatever reason couldn't tear down. Trunks likely wouldn't have allowed them to kill the Androids before they woke, nor would Vegeta. He didn't want to prevent the android rampage (and for all his concern likely didn't care much) what he wanted was to see Goku (specifically) and the Z Fighters (in general) defeat the Androids so he could replicate it back home. Which still doesn't answer why Piccolo who has picked up entire mountains for training purposes didn't try that if the doors and walls were made out of. . .whatever they were made out of that stopped them longer than tissue paper.paper.
* I don't get villains in fiction who want to destroy the universe. What if Cell won? What if he destroyed every planet in the universe? He will be floating around space for all eternity.
* I don't get villains in fiction who want to destroy the universe. What if Cell won? What if he destroyed every planet in the universe? He will be floating around space for all eternity.
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** The truth is, neither Goku or Vegeta will be taking home any Father of the Year Awards, if you have fathers like Krillin and Gohan being better than them (yes, Gohan's pretty much of an OpenMindedParent in GT and GT isn't canon, but he's still better than both). Secondly, there are a few fans who would bash Goku's parenting skills in favor of Vegeta, when the truth is, neither of them are by any means perfect, both having many flaws with their parenting.
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***** Animal lover yes... [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um_M2XLFqdc pussy]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ootn7LLVZ6M ?]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpSR2kBcDLI hell no]]
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****** If that were true King Kold should have looked like Frieza's 4th form which again is the natural form for his species. He clearly had the same issues with control that Frieza did, there is no other reason for him not to be in his base form.
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** I think it's important to note cultural differences, too. Vegeta was raised with Saiyan heritage. On Vegeta it was typical of families to send new born babies into space. I doubt Saiyans have much in the way of fatherly affection. In regards to how Vegeta treats Trunks he is actually a far more attentive father than his cultural upbringing should have made him.
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Changed line(s) 386 (click to see context) from:
** Dr. Gero's an android, thus Piccolo wouldn't be able to sense the direction Gero was headed to. He (and the others) would have to search the area using sight. Did you mean blow up? Well, Trunks did decimate the lab (not the basement part, obviously) almost immediately after 17 and 18 were awoken in an attempt to destroy them. As for the metal? Well, good question. I think it was just for suspense purposes, because if they simply barged in before 17 and 18 awoke and killed Dr. Gero, then the saga would end almost right then and there.
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** Dr. Gero's an android, thus Piccolo wouldn't be able to sense the direction Gero was headed to. He (and the others) would have to search the area using sight. Did you mean blow up? Well, Trunks did decimate the lab (not the basement part, obviously) almost immediately after 17 and 18 were awoken in an attempt to destroy them. As for the metal? Well, good question. I think it was just for suspense purposes, because if they simply barged in before 17 and 18 awoke and killed Dr. Gero, then the saga would end almost right then and there.there.
*** Piccolo knew exactly where Gero was. Behind the giant doors that the people who can all destroy moons and planets for whatever reason couldn't tear down. Trunks likely wouldn't have allowed them to kill the Androids before they woke, nor would Vegeta. He didn't want to prevent the android rampage (and for all his concern likely didn't care much) what he wanted was to see Goku (specifically) and the Z Fighters (in general) defeat the Androids so he could replicate it back home. Which still doesn't answer why Piccolo who has picked up entire mountains for training purposes didn't try that if the doors and walls were made out of. . .whatever they were made out of that stopped them longer than tissue paper.
*** Piccolo knew exactly where Gero was. Behind the giant doors that the people who can all destroy moons and planets for whatever reason couldn't tear down. Trunks likely wouldn't have allowed them to kill the Androids before they woke, nor would Vegeta. He didn't want to prevent the android rampage (and for all his concern likely didn't care much) what he wanted was to see Goku (specifically) and the Z Fighters (in general) defeat the Androids so he could replicate it back home. Which still doesn't answer why Piccolo who has picked up entire mountains for training purposes didn't try that if the doors and walls were made out of. . .whatever they were made out of that stopped them longer than tissue paper.
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Changed line(s) 385 (click to see context) from:
* Granted it likely wouldn't have accomplished much of anything but why didn't Piccolo pick up Gero's lab? And what exactly were those doors made out of that the Z Warriors couldn't casually tear them down?
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* Granted it likely wouldn't have accomplished much of anything but why didn't Piccolo pick up Gero's lab? And what exactly were those doors made out of that the Z Warriors couldn't casually tear them down?down?
** Dr. Gero's an android, thus Piccolo wouldn't be able to sense the direction Gero was headed to. He (and the others) would have to search the area using sight. Did you mean blow up? Well, Trunks did decimate the lab (not the basement part, obviously) almost immediately after 17 and 18 were awoken in an attempt to destroy them. As for the metal? Well, good question. I think it was just for suspense purposes, because if they simply barged in before 17 and 18 awoke and killed Dr. Gero, then the saga would end almost right then and there.
** Dr. Gero's an android, thus Piccolo wouldn't be able to sense the direction Gero was headed to. He (and the others) would have to search the area using sight. Did you mean blow up? Well, Trunks did decimate the lab (not the basement part, obviously) almost immediately after 17 and 18 were awoken in an attempt to destroy them. As for the metal? Well, good question. I think it was just for suspense purposes, because if they simply barged in before 17 and 18 awoke and killed Dr. Gero, then the saga would end almost right then and there.
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** In addition Trunks would have done his best to veto this option. We already know that destroying the androids in our time/dimension doesn't retroactively destroy the ones in his time/dimension. He was hoping to learn from Goku how to defeat the androids which requires them to be activated so he can see them defeated not prevented from coming into existance.
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** Gero probably wouldn't want to devote all his time to Project Cell, time he could spend building more murderbots and whatever other plans he had in his head. Better to have a computer tend to Project Cell while he does other projects.
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** Gero probably wouldn't want to devote all his time to Project Cell, time he could spend building more murderbots and whatever other plans he had in his head. Better to have a computer tend to Project Cell while he does other projects.projects.
* Granted it likely wouldn't have accomplished much of anything but why didn't Piccolo pick up Gero's lab? And what exactly were those doors made out of that the Z Warriors couldn't casually tear them down?
* Granted it likely wouldn't have accomplished much of anything but why didn't Piccolo pick up Gero's lab? And what exactly were those doors made out of that the Z Warriors couldn't casually tear them down?
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*** Gohan fell behind in strength and became apathetic BECAUSE Toriyama decided he was unfit to be the lead not the other way around. It's actually puzzling how that happened since he's been a warrior almost from the point of being able to walk and his father died protecting the world, you'd think Gohan would have kept at it. In his defense he was still the second or third strongest being in the universe at the beginning of the Buu saga and the most powerful being again by the end.
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** Akira Toriyama: ''"I intended to put Gohan into the leading role. It didn’t work out. I felt that compared to Goku, he was ultimately not suited for the part."'' (''Daizenshuu 2'' interview) There you have it, official confirmation of why Gohan didn't stay become the main character in the Buu Arc, Toriyama felt he couldn't handle the role. And considering Gohan was pretty apathetic towards training and making sure he didn't fall behind in strength, can you blame for not thinking Gohan wasn't sutible as the main character? Gohan was essentially a subversion of all the tropes that made Goku so lovable. Fan rumor though, has usually claimed that Toriyama was "forced" to give Gohan the shaft due to fan outcry and/or his ever-insidious editor and there is not any real evidence of this.
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Changed line(s) 381 (click to see context) from:
** Gero probably wouldn't want to devote all his time to Project Cell, time he could spend building more murderbots and whatever other plans he had in his head. Better to have a computer tend to Project Cell while he does other projects. Consider it like a nonorganic assistant he has. It'll do this one big thing for him while he goes and do the other projects.
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** Gero probably wouldn't want to devote all his time to Project Cell, time he could spend building more murderbots and whatever other plans he had in his head. Better to have a computer tend to Project Cell while he does other projects. Consider it like a nonorganic assistant he has. It'll do this one big thing for him while he goes and do the other projects.
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Changed line(s) 381 (click to see context) from:
** Gero probably wouldn't want to devote all his time to Project Cell, time he could spend building more murderbots and whatever other plans he had in his head. Better to have a computer tend to Project Cell while he does other projects. Consider it like his long-time assistant helping him.
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** Gero probably wouldn't want to devote all his time to Project Cell, time he could spend building more murderbots and whatever other plans he had in his head. Better to have a computer tend to Project Cell while he does other projects. Consider it like his long-time a nonorganic assistant helping him.he has. It'll do this one big thing for him while he goes and do the other projects.
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Changed line(s) 380 (click to see context) from:
* Why did Gero build a computer for Project Cell? The original answer was that the project would take longer than he would live which makes sense. For a human. Which he wasn't in the end. Even accepting that perhaps he started Project Cell before starting on the other androids (which seems unlikely from the discussion he was having with #17) that seems like the sort of thing you'd personally watch over once you made yourself into an immortal.
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* Why did Gero build a computer for Project Cell? The original answer was that the project would take longer than he would live which makes sense. For a human. Which he wasn't in the end. Even accepting that perhaps he started Project Cell before starting on the other androids (which seems unlikely from the discussion he was having with #17) that seems like the sort of thing you'd personally watch over once you made yourself into an immortal.immortal.
** Gero probably wouldn't want to devote all his time to Project Cell, time he could spend building more murderbots and whatever other plans he had in his head. Better to have a computer tend to Project Cell while he does other projects. Consider it like his long-time assistant helping him.
** Gero probably wouldn't want to devote all his time to Project Cell, time he could spend building more murderbots and whatever other plans he had in his head. Better to have a computer tend to Project Cell while he does other projects. Consider it like his long-time assistant helping him.
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Changed line(s) 379 (click to see context) from:
**** Cell holding back against Goku always sounded like blowing smoke to me. He did the same thing against Vegeta as Semi-Perfect Cell; powered up, landed a punch on Vegeta/Gohan's face, only to realize they were barely affected by the blow, followed up by Vegeta/Gohan overpowering them without difficulty. The difference seems negligible, if existent at all. Cell was still pretty exhausted after his fight with Goku and might have actually been outmatched by FPSSJ Gohan without the Senzu.
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**** Cell holding back against Goku always sounded like blowing smoke to me. He did the same thing against Vegeta as Semi-Perfect Cell; powered up, landed a punch on Vegeta/Gohan's face, only to realize they were barely affected by the blow, followed up by Vegeta/Gohan overpowering them without difficulty. The difference seems negligible, if existent at all. Cell was still pretty exhausted after his fight with Goku and might have actually been outmatched by FPSSJ Gohan without the Senzu.Senzu.
* Why did Gero build a computer for Project Cell? The original answer was that the project would take longer than he would live which makes sense. For a human. Which he wasn't in the end. Even accepting that perhaps he started Project Cell before starting on the other androids (which seems unlikely from the discussion he was having with #17) that seems like the sort of thing you'd personally watch over once you made yourself into an immortal.
* Why did Gero build a computer for Project Cell? The original answer was that the project would take longer than he would live which makes sense. For a human. Which he wasn't in the end. Even accepting that perhaps he started Project Cell before starting on the other androids (which seems unlikely from the discussion he was having with #17) that seems like the sort of thing you'd personally watch over once you made yourself into an immortal.
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** Did anybody see Frieza power up into the pinnacle of his power on Earth, like he did on Namek?
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** Here's an idea - note the difference between Cell when he first appears and when he attacks the androids for the first time - First he's having to rely on surprise to stand a chance against Piccolo, then he's become strong enough to regard Piccolo as a nuisance. 18 and 19 had great power, but it was a constant. Aside from learning new techniques, there was no way for them to improve. We only see the energy-absorbing models at their weakest. I think Dr Gero would have been a much, much worse threat had he been able to suck up a few cities before facing the Z Warriors.
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***** He states that his Final Form is the form he was born in and that the forms before it were created to suppress his power. He did not say that his Final Form was unique to him or "created". Thus, we can safely assume that it is inherent in all members of his species. As for King Kold not transforming, Kold makes it clear he thought the only reason Trunks won was because of his sword. He never once thought Trunks was simply that powerful until Trunks effortless blocked his own sword and blasted a hole through Kold's abdomen.
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***** He states that his Final Form is the form he was born in and that the forms before it were created to suppress his power. He did not say that his Final Form was unique to him or "created". Thus, we can safely assume that it is inherent in all members of his species. As for King Kold not transforming, Kold makes it clear he thought the only reason Trunks won was because of his sword. He never once thought Trunks was simply that powerful until Trunks effortless effortlessly blocked his own sword and blasted a hole through Kold's abdomen.
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*** Two problems with that. First at the time he was the in the top three most powerful beings in the universe. Sure it lasts all of a few hours but killing him wouldn't be difficult at all. Cell and Android 16 can both sense energy as well. If I have to choose between Picollo the super powered Namek and Dende the kid with the healing touch I'm really banking heavily on Cell's arrogance (a good bet) and Cell's stupidity (not a good bet). Remember Frieza put a stop to that garbage as soon as he figured out what was going and Cell clearly has Frieza's memories.
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the phrase is \"lest we forget\"
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** And less we forget, he actually was a Macguffin before the change happened. If he/Kami died, the Dragonballs are rendered useless. Piccolo knew it was wise to not appoint himself the new Guardian of the Earth, because...that'd just put him back on square one where if he dies, there goes the Dragonballs.
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** And less lest we forget, he actually was a Macguffin before the change happened. If he/Kami died, the Dragonballs are rendered useless. Piccolo knew it was wise to not appoint himself the new Guardian of the Earth, because...that'd just put him back on square one where if he dies, there goes go the Dragonballs.
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**** Cell holding back against Goku always sounded like blowing smoke to me. He did the same thing against Vegeta as Semi-Perfect Cell; powered up, landed a punch on Vegeta/Gohan's face, only to realize they were barely affected by the blow, followed up by Vegeta/Gohan overpowering them without difficulty. The difference seems negligible, if existent at all. Cell was still pretty exhausted after his fight with Goku and might have actually been outmatched by FPSSJ Gohan without the Senzu.
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* Why are people weaker than Cell managing to blow him up? Vegeta and Goku both blast part of his body up, but as he has a much higher power level shouldnt they be unable to do that, just because loss of body bits isnt as fatal to him as others that shouldnt mean that weaker characters can damage his body, regen isnt needed unless a stronger person blasts you, like piccolo and nail but cell seems to be the only one who ends up needing it against people weaker than him. I guess its lucky for him he has regen or hed be the biggest pushover villain ever, imagine if krillin could have blown friezas head off, without regen hed be dead but since hes stronger than krillin that could never happen, so why does it happen with cell?
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* Why are people weaker than Cell managing to blow him up? Vegeta and Goku both blast part of his body up, but as he has a much higher power level shouldnt they be unable to do that, just because loss of body bits isnt as fatal to him as others that shouldnt mean that weaker characters can damage his body, regen isnt regeneration isn't needed unless a stronger person blasts you, like piccolo and nail but cell seems to be the only one who ends up needing it against people weaker than him. I guess its lucky for him he has regen regeneration or hed be the biggest pushover villain ever, imagine if krillin Krillin could have blown friezas Friezas head off, without regen regeneration hed be dead but since hes stronger than krillin that could never happen, so why does it happen with cell?
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*** It's hard to tell how much anybody was holding back in any fight. It's implied that Cell was holding back against Goku. Vs Vegeta it depends on if you read the Manga, watch the Funimation dub or Kai. In the Manga it's a bit ambigious (to me anyway) if Cell underestimated the Final Flash, the Funimation dub makes it clear that he didn't realize Vegeta could fire that much energy (even after five minutes to charge) in the Kai dub the opposite is true and he intentionally allowed himself to be injured just to screw with Vegeta.
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** Isn't the fact that Cell got his top blown off by Goku proof that Cell isn't that much stronger? Goku was still giving Cell a pretty good fight before the kamehameha. As for Vegeta, Cell was intentionally baiting him, probably lowering his ki, only to realize at the last second that he underestimated the Final Flash.
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* Why doesn't King Cold seem to have [[OneWingedAngel an extra form?]] Both of his kids had at least four, and being their father he'd be at least close in power to them. If he had an extra form, I'd expect him to whip it out the moment he sees his [[DragonballZAbridged darling little princess]] get turned into ribbons.
** He doesn't have other forms, it's not a trait of Friezas entire race, only he could do it. It's not even a proper transformation either, Friezas final form is his real one and the others were created so that he could limit his power to control it better. King Cold doesn't have a problem controling his power so he never needed to create weaker forms to limit it, he was at full power already against Trunks. Cooler doesn't count because he is a movie only character and doesn't follow the logic or rules of the anime.
*** There is no reason to believe that King Cold doesn't follow the same logic as Frieza, we know for a fact that Frieza's 4th form is actually his true form. It stands to reason that King Cold being of the same race also has the same base form. As for why King Cold didn't transform he simply didn't. Maybe he didn't think he'd have the time, maybe he thought he was a lot more powerful than he was.
**** Freiza stated that he created his forms to supress his power, its not something that his whole race can do, if King Cold could transform then he would have after seeing his son killed so quickly.
***** He states that his Final Form is the form he was born in and that the forms before it were created to suppress his power. He did not say that his Final Form was unique to him or "created". Thus, we can safely assume that it is inherent in all members of his species. As for King Kold not transforming, Kold makes it clear he thought the only reason Trunks won was because of his sword. He never once thought Trunks was simply that powerful until Trunks effortless blocked his own sword and blasted a hole through Kold's abdomen.
****** No we cant assume king cold can transform as well unless he is stated to do so but he never did and no one ever said he could, Friezas claim that he created his forms proves that only he does it and not his race because only he had trouble controlling his power, King Cold didnt.
** He doesn't have other forms, it's not a trait of Friezas entire race, only he could do it. It's not even a proper transformation either, Friezas final form is his real one and the others were created so that he could limit his power to control it better. King Cold doesn't have a problem controling his power so he never needed to create weaker forms to limit it, he was at full power already against Trunks. Cooler doesn't count because he is a movie only character and doesn't follow the logic or rules of the anime.
*** There is no reason to believe that King Cold doesn't follow the same logic as Frieza, we know for a fact that Frieza's 4th form is actually his true form. It stands to reason that King Cold being of the same race also has the same base form. As for why King Cold didn't transform he simply didn't. Maybe he didn't think he'd have the time, maybe he thought he was a lot more powerful than he was.
**** Freiza stated that he created his forms to supress his power, its not something that his whole race can do, if King Cold could transform then he would have after seeing his son killed so quickly.
***** He states that his Final Form is the form he was born in and that the forms before it were created to suppress his power. He did not say that his Final Form was unique to him or "created". Thus, we can safely assume that it is inherent in all members of his species. As for King Kold not transforming, Kold makes it clear he thought the only reason Trunks won was because of his sword. He never once thought Trunks was simply that powerful until Trunks effortless blocked his own sword and blasted a hole through Kold's abdomen.
****** No we cant assume king cold can transform as well unless he is stated to do so but he never did and no one ever said he could, Friezas claim that he created his forms proves that only he does it and not his race because only he had trouble controlling his power, King Cold didnt.
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** More space for batteries storage? It is supposed to be able to absorb lots of energy and it was the first model able to do that.
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* Why doesn't King Cold seem to have [[OneWingedAngel an extra form?]] Both of his kids had at least four, and being their father he'd be at least close in power to them. If he had an extra form, I'd expect him to whip it out the moment he sees his [[DragonballZAbridged darling little princess]] get turned into ribbons.
** He doesn't have other forms, it's not a trait of Friezas entire race, only he could do it. It's not even a proper transformation either, Friezas final form is his real one and the others were created so that he could limit his power to control it better. King Cold doesn't have a problem controling his power so he never needed to create weaker forms to limit it, he was at full power already against Trunks. Cooler doesn't count because he is a movie only character and doesn't follow the logic or rules of the anime.
*** There is no reason to believe that King Cold doesn't follow the same logic as Frieza, we know for a fact that Frieza's 4th form is actually his true form. It stands to reason that King Cold being of the same race also has the same base form. As for why King Cold didn't transform he simply didn't. Maybe he didn't think he'd have the time, maybe he thought he was a lot more powerful than he was.
**** Freiza stated that he created his forms to supress his power, its not something that his whole race can do, if King Cold could transform then he would have after seeing his son killed so quickly.
***** He states that his Final Form is the form he was born in and that the forms before it were created to suppress his power. He did not say that his Final Form was unique to him or "created". Thus, we can safely assume that it is inherent in all members of his species. As for King Kold not transforming, Kold makes it clear he thought the only reason Trunks won was because of his sword. He never once thought Trunks was simply that powerful until Trunks effortless blocked his own sword and blasted a hole through Kold's abdomen.
****** No we cant assume king cold can transform as well unless he is stated to do so but he never did and no one ever said he could, Friezas claim that he created his forms proves that only he does it and not his race because only he had trouble controlling his power, King Cold didnt.
* If King Kai knew the Instant Transmission technique, why didn't he transport Goku to the Other World Checkpoint during the Saiyan Saga?
** Toriyama didn't think of it at the time. Besides, it would've killed the drama if King Kai simply buzzed Goku over to the Other World Checkpoint, rather than Goku running as fast as he could to the other side while his friends were struggling with Nappa and Vegeta.
** He doesn't have other forms, it's not a trait of Friezas entire race, only he could do it. It's not even a proper transformation either, Friezas final form is his real one and the others were created so that he could limit his power to control it better. King Cold doesn't have a problem controling his power so he never needed to create weaker forms to limit it, he was at full power already against Trunks. Cooler doesn't count because he is a movie only character and doesn't follow the logic or rules of the anime.
*** There is no reason to believe that King Cold doesn't follow the same logic as Frieza, we know for a fact that Frieza's 4th form is actually his true form. It stands to reason that King Cold being of the same race also has the same base form. As for why King Cold didn't transform he simply didn't. Maybe he didn't think he'd have the time, maybe he thought he was a lot more powerful than he was.
**** Freiza stated that he created his forms to supress his power, its not something that his whole race can do, if King Cold could transform then he would have after seeing his son killed so quickly.
***** He states that his Final Form is the form he was born in and that the forms before it were created to suppress his power. He did not say that his Final Form was unique to him or "created". Thus, we can safely assume that it is inherent in all members of his species. As for King Kold not transforming, Kold makes it clear he thought the only reason Trunks won was because of his sword. He never once thought Trunks was simply that powerful until Trunks effortless blocked his own sword and blasted a hole through Kold's abdomen.
****** No we cant assume king cold can transform as well unless he is stated to do so but he never did and no one ever said he could, Friezas claim that he created his forms proves that only he does it and not his race because only he had trouble controlling his power, King Cold didnt.
* If King Kai knew the Instant Transmission technique, why didn't he transport Goku to the Other World Checkpoint during the Saiyan Saga?
** Toriyama didn't think of it at the time. Besides, it would've killed the drama if King Kai simply buzzed Goku over to the Other World Checkpoint, rather than Goku running as fast as he could to the other side while his friends were struggling with Nappa and Vegeta.
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****** No we cant assume king cold can transform as well unless he is stated to do so but he never did and no one ever said he could, Friezas claim that he created his forms proves that only he does it and not his race because only he had trouble controlling his power, King Cold didnt.
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***** He states that his Final Form is the form he was born in and that the forms before it were created to suppress. He did not say that his Final Form was unique to him or "created". Thus, we can safely assume that it is inherent in all members of his species. As for King Kold not transforming, Kold makes it clear he thought the only reason Trunks won was because of his sword. He never once thought Trunks was simply that powerful until Trunks effortless blocked his own sword and blasted a hole through Kold's abdomen.
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***** He states that his Final Form is the form he was born in and that the forms before it were created to suppress.suppress his power. He did not say that his Final Form was unique to him or "created". Thus, we can safely assume that it is inherent in all members of his species. As for King Kold not transforming, Kold makes it clear he thought the only reason Trunks won was because of his sword. He never once thought Trunks was simply that powerful until Trunks effortless blocked his own sword and blasted a hole through Kold's abdomen.
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***** He states that his Final Form is the form he was born in and that the forms before it were created to suppress. He did not say that his Final Form was unique to him or "created". Thus, we can safely assume that it is inherent in all members of his species. As for King Kold not transforming, Kold makes it clear he thought the only reason Trunks won was because of his sword. He never once thought Trunks was simply that powerful until Trunks effortless blocked his own sword and blasted a hole through Kold's abdomen.
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** In the manga, this is actually explained in a brief chapter touching upon Future trunks' past. In the future, the Androids were shown to play with their opponents. Nobody could really challenge them so they HAD to toy with their opponents to get any real entertainment. Then Future Gohan became an annoyance. Future Android 17 then says that in their last battle, he hadn't even used half of his maximum power. Cut to Gohan nearly crapping his pants in fear, as a Super Saiyan no less, and then cut to Trunks discovering Gohan's corpse. Years later, Trunks claims he is now on par with Gohan. Cut to Trunks waking up in a hospital bed, beaten to HFIL. He then agrees with his mother that Time Travel is the best option. Thus, we can assume that the Androids were not weaker but were just holding back to enjoy playing around with their vastly weaker opponents. Trunks' statement of the Future Androids being weaker is him simply taking after his father. Trunks was arrogant, cocky and vastly underestimated his opponents. He does that a lot, actually. He claims nobody could survive his ki attack that blew up Gero's lab, he assumes the Androids are stronger instead of accepting his weakness, he assumes he can match Cell and he assumes he has surpassed Vegeta with the Ultra Super Saiyan form. Trunks is pretty much just like his father except he isn't a royal pain in the ass.
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** Toriyama didn't think of it at the time. Besides, it would've killed the drama if King Kai simply buzzed Goku over to the Other World Checkpoint, rather than Goku running as fast as he could to the other side while his friends were struggling with Nappa and Vegeta.
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* Why were the Androids from Trunks' timeline weaker? Was that ever explained?
** Simple. When Trunks went back to kill the Androids in his timeline, he was much, much stronger than he was when he initially left them. All that training, then getting killed and being brought back to life in the main timeline did wonders for him. They were probably just as strong as the main timeline androids, the difference was that Trunks was now strong enough to beat them.
** ...yeah. I know. But that wasn't what I was asking about; I was asking why Trunks explicitly said several times that the current androids in the main timeline are so much stronger than the androids from his timeline.
** It's never explained. There are plenty of possibilities though. Perhaps they don't REALLY have infinite energy and sixteen or so years of running wild had weakened them some what. My personal guess is Gero purposely weakened them, without Goku to pressure him he took his time in the hopes of getting them to a point where they could be controlled. Clearly he failed in his endeavor.
** I always thought that since in the Future timeline, Goku killed Frieza and his Father by using Instant Transmission and teleporting to their ship as opposed to what Future Trunks did and fighting them on Earth. Because of that, Dr. Gero obtained their data and was able to scale the androids accordingly.
** I had assumed that seeing Trunks turn Super Saiyan freaked out Dr. Gero, who hadn't seen a Super Saiyan before, and instead of focusing that 3 years on modifying 17 and 18's personalities, he instead focused on improving their battle power to ensure they'd be more than a match for someone of Trunks' power level and just never got around to brainwashing them or whatever he did. So ironically, Trunks' interference made the Androids stronger than they would have been, but ultimately less of a threat because their personalities were mostly unchanged and they were never really evil to begin with.
* How did Trunks dispatch Mecha Frieza so effortlessly? Trunks was, according to Gohan, similar to Namek Goku. Namek Goku was pretty close to Frieza, being only 25% stronger than him (120 million vs 150 million). And Mecha Frieza was stronger than Namek Frieza, to the point that he was confident he could match Namek Goku's power and maybe even win. So if the gap between Trunks and Mecha Frieza is this small, how in the hell did Trunks manage to do half of the things he did, like ''catch Frieza's Supernova?''
** Sensed power levels are ''notoriously'' unreliable, due to suppression ability, powerup abilities, and variance based on skill and tactics - not as bad as scouters, obviously, but still unreliable enough that their evidence can be discarded if it conflicts with reality.
** Also, Trunks catching Freeza's Supernova is filler. In the manga, he actually kills him really quickly.
* It's one thing to say Goku is a bad father, but to say Vegeta was a better one? Come on. He could care less about either of his sons (present and Future) until the Future one was killed by Cell. Not to mention while they were training in the hyperbolic time chamber Trunks said that they didn't train together. A guy who was willing to let an infant die is a better father than a guy who told his experienced 11 year old Son with a hidden potential (and was the youngest person at the time to reach Super saiyan AND master it) to fight?
** And who says he was a better father? The reason him blowing up once Future Trunks is killed is treated as a "Hey, there may be something to this guy" moment is precisely BECAUSE the extent of the care he showed about his son was pride at Future Trunks' strength being near his own, yet here he is going PapaWolf and trying to avenge his son. Even so, he's still not exactly rewarded for his folly, considering he gets knocked the hell out and then Krillin criticizes how his senseless flurry doesn't help anything. And that's far from the first time the others rightly call Vegeta's crap in this saga, regarding Trunks or otherwise.
** Vegeta does care about his sons (present and Future) frankly future trunks to a nearly absurd degree. Starting with Future Trunks, Vegeta warms up to him fairly quickly. It makes some sense that Trunks worships Vegeta since Bulma apparently had much warmer and fuzzier memories of Vegeta even in that time line than we are generally lead to believe. Vegeta however is affectionate enough by the end of the saga to rush Cell over Trunks who was physically his son but emotionally was much more Gohan's child than Vegeta's. We don't know much of the details of Bulma and Vegeta's relationship, especially early on. As in when did HE find out Trunks was his son. From what we learn from Future Trunks I doubt that Vegeta and Bulma were enough of an item (especially since he went into space immediatly following that) that him coming back and finding her pregnant instantly clicked as "that's my son" not "Earth Woman got pregnant while I was away." Certainly by the time the Buu Saga comes along he's quite proud of and attached to his son. I'm not saying he's a better father than Goku, he just has a better habit of staying alive after having children but he's no where near the uncaring brute he's being portrayed as here.
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%% Bubbles and Gregory are filler-only characters, but the wish itself and King Kai remaining dead was in the main storyline, hence its placement here rather than on the Filler subpage.
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* King Kai, Bubbles, and Gregory were killed in Cell's destruction of the Kai planet, same as Goku, yet they weren't revived when the wish to bring back all those killed by Cell was made. What gives?
** Goku says King Kai could be revived but decided to stay dead in order to show him around. And apparently people can decide whether to be affected by a wish or not (such as when Goku refused to return to Earth after the Namek saga)
*** Not to mention being dead doesn't really change King Kai's situation much; he lives in the afterlife anyways.
* Vol 19, something's off about Trunks' afterstory. Cell's reason for coming to our timeline was because the androids were missing in his, right? But right before Future Trunks fights him, they have the following exchange.
--> Cell: You can't even defeat 17 or 18, much less me
--> Trunks: Oh? Then where are they now?
--> Cell(shocked): !!
--> Cell: ...You don't mean...You destroyed them?
** In other words, Cell didn't learn the androids were missing until ''after'' he tried to kill Trunks and take his time machine. But why would he try to go back in the past unless he knew the androids were missing already? Why wouldn't he try to assimilate the weaker future androids? Can anyone say "Plot hole"?
** The Time travelling story in whole. Get some Popcorn. The Original Timeline - Cell's Timeline - has Goku defeating Frieza and King Cold, then dying shortly later of a Heart virus. Dr. Gero unleashes Androids 17 and 18 onto the world. They kill the Z Fighters, bar Gohan. Gohan survives for awhile, trains Trunks, but later dies. Bulma, builds a Time Machine to find a way of preventing everything that has happened. Trunks goes back in time to an Unseen Timeline...
** Unseen Timeline: and arrives upon the arrival of Frieza and King Cold. Trunks defeats them, and tracks down Goku, giving him the antidote/cure to the Heart Virus he later develops. He returns to HIS Timeline, but returns to help the Z Fighters deal with Androids 17 and 18. At some point, they discover Gero's secret lab, and find the blue prints to 17 and 18. Trunks returns to his time...
** Cell's Timeline and destroys the Androids with the shut down device. A year later, Cell appears while Trunks is getting ready to go back one last time to tell them of his success (why he took so long is hard to understand). Cell kills him and goes back in time...
** Main Timeline: Cell winds up creating a new timeline to 1 year before Trunks arrives and begins to develop/grow. 1 year later, FUTURE TRUNKS arrives (Cell's arrival does nothing to prevent Trunks' previous Time Travelling). But because of Cell's presence in this timeline, it is not the Trunks from Cell's Timeline arriving to the Unseen Timeline, it's a different pair. This turns out to be the Main Timeline and Future Trunks' Timeline. Future Trunks is identical to the Trunks from Cell's Timeline so far. Everything you see in the manga/anime happens, including Cell killing Future Trunks. After Cell is defeated, and Trunks is resurrected, he returns to his timeline, aware of Cell's arrival in his own timeline...
** Future Trunks' Timeline: But first things first, he beats the shit out of 17 and 18. When Cell arrives, presumably that exchange happens.
*** In Cell's Timeline, 17 and 18 are dead. In Future Trunks' Timeline, they are dead. In the maintime line, Cell gets killed. In the Unseen Timeline, they are presumably gone, and Cell's fate is unknown. Hope that answered the question somewhere.
*** Much simpler explanation: Cell knew 17 and 18 were missing, but his shock was that Trunks defeated them. Understandable since previous data showed Trunks overwhelmed by a single android.
**** No. It's hard to tell from the quote above, but the manga page shows that Cell clearly did not know 17 and 18 were missing until Trunks told them. When Trunks told him, he tried to sense them (which doesn't make sense in and of itself, but...), realized they were missing and reacted with shock. If he already knew they were missing, he wouldn't have bothered searching.
**** Like you say, Cell trying to "sense" the androids makes no sense. But even if he found out first from Trunks the androids were missing, so what? Cell could've been spying on Trunks for any number of reasons, only to be called out by Trunks, learn of the androids' destruction, then decide to steal the time machine.
**** Except Trunks calls out Cell by accusing him of planning to kill him (Trunks) and go back in time to absorb the androids, to which Cell is like "How did you know?" Which brings us back to the opening question. The whole Trunks after-story is one big "Huh?"
**** ''the manga page shows that Cell clearly did not know 17 and 18 were missing.'' Wrong. Panel 1: Cell tells Trunks that he's too weak to even defeat the Androids ("You can't even defeat 17 or 18, much less me"). Panel 2: Trunks asks him "Oh? Then where are they now?". Panel 3: Cell is shocked ("!!"). Panel 4: Cell asks "You don't mean... ''They're missing because'' you destroyed them?". There's nothing that shows he didn't know they were destroyed, and he's not shown "sensing" them.
**** From that, it seems he knew they were missing, but did ''not'' know they had been destroyed. So his shock is because they were destroyed by Trunks, not because they were missing.
**** The reason why Cell eats Ginger Town is because he transforms after absorbing an amount of power (stated when Piccolo and Cell met) so why didn't Cell try and absorb Trunks who is at that point more powerful than 18 and 17 combined?
***** No, ''Cell can transform only by absorbing 17 and 18''. Absorbing others simply makes him stronger, but he was too weak to manage to absorb Trunks. Or, if you're referring to the timeline where Cell killed Trunks and stole his Time Machine, well... the manga never showed what happened, so maybe he DID absorb him.
***** Nope. In a flash back scene from the anime, Cell kills Trunks by choking him with his tail (rather silly but whatever) and goes into a cacoon state in order to travel in the time machine which was too big for him. He also lowers his power as a result of this transformation; this is why he has to absorb Ginger Town among other populated areas to get enough power to absorb the androids. Even if he had absorbed Trunks, he would have lost the power immediately in order to cacoon himself.
** Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I remember it being mentioned in the series that Cell could sense the Androids. It was probably not through ki, though. It must be some device or something the Androids had which made it possible for Cell, and only Cell, to detect them.
*** Nope. He has to look for them the old fashioned way, otherwise he wouldn't have had to go through all the trouble of blowing up islands to flush 18 out of hiding.
* Vol 14, Piccolo sees Kami looking down on the world, calls peeping on the lower world "an undignified hobby" and says Kami will lose that ability once they merge. Except they don't, and Piccolo takes over as resident voyeur. Either Toriyama forgot he wrote that line or Piccolo was wrong, or both.
** Kami "lost" that ability because he is no more, hence he can never look down anymore.
** Granted, Piccolo becomes substantially mellower when he fuses with Nail; when he fuses with Kami, it gets even worse, as he is shown to be shell-shocked at the destruction of the Lookout by Gotenks and Buu as Kami would if such was the case. As such, it can be concluded that Piccolo is just boasting at that moment.
* Android Saga. Right before they enter the Dr. Gero's cave, Krillin divides the six Senzu beans between himself, Picollo and Tien. After the Battle Royal (No Match for the Androids), Krillin again has all six Senzu beans.
** That may be an AdaptationInducedPlotHole. I don't remember the anime, but in the manga I clearly remember that the Senzu are divided, and a panel shows his hand holding only two beans. He probably recovered the other four from his friends' bodies.
* Why didn't Goku just teleport back to Earth before Cell exploded?
** Because he was feeling mentor-y and wanted his son to take over for him in guarding Earth. He persisted in this philosophy well into the Buu saga.
** '''Real Reason:''' Toriyama wanted Goku out of the way, to officially pass the torch to Gohan. Hence - Goku go boom.
*** '''Plausible In-Story Reason:''' He had to stay to make sure Cell didn't have any tricks that would allow him to return to Earth before The Boom (Turns out, he did.)
**** Not that Goku could do anything about it after the explosion...
** Because he forgot to think of that in the middle of apologizing to King Kai for taking Cell there.
** Goku's an IdiotHero anyway, what makes you think he'd actually bothered to think that far ahead? Using Instant Transmission was an absolute last resort (which didn't even work), and he didn't even have a planet in mind when he decided to use it. (Seriously, that's pretty stupid--why not go to some deserted planet, or even the ruins of Namek or the middle of space?) Throw in King Kai distracting him, and BOOM! before he has a chance to think about grabbing King Kai and zipping back to Earth.
*** Goku can teleport only to places he senses ki, so he can't 'port to a lifeless location. Considering he got only King Kai and his 2 pets, besides himself, killed, it was actually wise on Goku's part. Then again, he still could've saved them, as well as himself, if he had just moved with a little urgency.
*** Well, to be fair, Goku only had ''just'' enough time to tell King Kai that the little planet was the only place he could think of sending Cell to. Immediately after that, Cell blew up. Even if Goku had the power to teleport himself, King Kai and the animals off, he would still need some time to find somebody else to teleport to; the closest being with ki off the planet would probably be Enma Daio, at the other end of Snake Way.
*** What's stopping him from just going back to Earth?
*** He'd have to grab King Kai and search for a familiar ki back on Earth (ie, Gohan and co) and teleport in...five seconds. Granted, if he hadn't paused to yammer, but ''immediately'' ran to King Kai to teleport him off, he might just have made it.
* Ok, where are Babidi and Majin Buu in the future Trunks alternate timeline? They definitely should have appeared at that point (and presumably killed off the human race.)
** Given that he was gathering ki on weak (as far as he knew) old Earth in the primary timeline, it can be assumed that he needed to gather ki from nearby Buu's cocoon. In future Trunks' timeline, most of the strongest people are dead, except a weaker Gohan and Trunks, who combined don't have enough to unleash Buu, and ki-less androids. Presumably, Babidi keeps a few probes on Earth or something, and came by in the main timeline because there were enough strong people to fuel Buu's unleashing. Not enough strong people in future Trunks' timeline, so no Babidi, who is presumably still waiting over there.
** This is the plot of ''[[VideoGame/DragonBallZBudokai Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai 2: Another Road]]''.
*** There's bound to be timelines out there were Babidi and Buu did succeed in wrecking the planet. But given the loss of the DBZ warriors and the population being driven underground in Future Trunks' timeline, it's possible Babidi never did get enough energy to revive Buu, or was killed (either him or Dabra/Spopovich/Yamu) by the androids before succeeding.
**** The Androids just are not killing Dabra outside of the sneak attack from HFIL. Dabra's power are supposed to be comparable to Perfect Cell.
**** There are bound to be timelines where Dabra never joined Babidi, as well as timelines where Dabra killed the Androids. The multiverse is infinite.
* Dr. Gero is shocked when Goku and Vegeta go [=SSJ=]. The explaination given is that Dr. Gero wasn't monitering them in space. But wait, didn't Trunks go [=SSJ=] on earth in his fight with Frieza? Goku too?
** He never ''saw'' Goku do it, and he certainly never saw Vegeta doing it. He probably thought it was an ability unique to that Trunks person.
** Dr. Gero explicitly states that by the time Goku went off to space he had ended surveillance, since he had formed a method of calculating the future rate of everyone's power increase and considered further surveillance unnecessary and a potential security risk.
*** Honestly its a bit of a plot hole. Dr. Gero claims he stopped surveliance of them at that time and I can only imagine he must not have programmed his computer to notify him if something truly outrageous happened but Cell has Frieza and King Cold cells in him, clearly the surveilence was still active at least until Trunks vs Frieza and I doubt surveliance stopped right then which is what it would take.
*** Gero stopped surveillance, but the computer kept working on the Cell Project. The bugs that collect DNA are part of that project and have nothing to do with Goku surveillance project. This is shown in the anime by having two unique models of insects: one presumably with a camera, and the other that gathers DNA from strong fighters.
* How is it possible for '''nobody''' to figure out Trunks is Vegeta and Bulma's Child? He comes from the future, Goku is dead due to an illness, Gohan is too young to conceive anyone, and no other saiyans have appeared from space. He has the same haircolor as Bulma (manga), he is wearing a CC jacket, and has a time machine. They both live in the same house. Even the two of them don't put it together until they see him again -- despite having a lookalike baby! How can people be this clueless? It just bugs me.
** I assume you mean after Trunks reappears when the Androids emerge. Up to that point, only Goku and Piccolo knew Mirai Trunks' name and origins. And once Piccolo blurts out his name, Vegeta rapidly puts two and two together (and bashes himself for not seeing it sooner). Also don't forget Vegeta thought he was lying about being a Saiyan. Not to mention everyone was too busy acting on Trunks' warning (training and such) to put much thought into Trunks' lineage.
*** Right, like it is the *name* that makes it obvious. Sure, they are in training, but I'm sure they take a break to eat every once in a while. Dude comes from the future and nobody spends a few minutes to speculate? Not to mention Bulma isn't training, and she is supposed to be pretty clever -- yet she didn't figure it out, given she is shocked when Goku knows his name.
**** Well, keep in mind one important fact: With the exception of Bulma, they're all single-minded idiots. Bulma probably never gave it a second thought until Mirai Trunks reappeared.
*** But was anyone really ''trying'' to figure out Trunks' "identity"? He's a heroic young Saiyan from the future, apparently Future Bulma sent him back in time, there we go. They were more worried about the whole "all of you died in my future" message he'd given them, and without the benefit of hindsight, Trunks could've come from anywhere: yet another long-lost Saiyan who'd arrived on Earth, Future Bulma's attempt to artificially concieve or clone a Saiyan using Goku or Gohan's DNA, a younger child that Goku and Chi Chi had before he died (Goten didn't exist yet, so Trunks could've been Gohan's younger brother as far as they knew - remember, kids in real life don't always look like their parents, and who knows how YouGottaHaveBlueHair genetics works), and so on. For what it's worth, a lot of non-spoiled fans at the time were surprised, and they had a better perspective on the mystery than the characters themselves.
**** "Gohan is too young to conceive anyone"? I wouldn't really agree with that if you catch my drift.
** Gohan is ''ten years old'' at most when Trunks first appears with his warning of the future, man! He's still a child!
*** He's 10 chronologically at the end of the Cell Saga, making him ''7'' when Trunks comes back with the warning.
*** Which makes it even ''worse''!
** On the other hand, with the Hyperbolic Time Chamber in play, Gohan could have potentially gained quite a few years on Bulma (or any other sexually mature female with genetics conducive to purple-haired quarter-Saiyans) over the 20 years period in question. Trunks himself could have spend a significant amount of his childhood in there, as well. Who knows how many generations a Saiyan eugenics program could go through under the right circumstances. Not to mention other possibilities the Dragonballs present (like artificially aging Gohan to his peak condition or discovering/transporting to Earth any long-lost Saiyan foot soldiers that may have been offworld when Planet Vegeta blew up in hopes of bringing them back from effective extinction.) Sure, if you get hung up on his parentage, the mystery solves itself, but if you don't actually care that much (as most of them didn't), then it's the warning that captures your attention.
** The reason they didn't figure it out, despite having a look-a-like baby is because it's quite a leap to assume that just because your baby has the same eye and hair color as the strange time-traveler from the future, that your baby is him as an adult; and like another Troper said, before Mirai Trunks' return, only Goku and Piccolo knew who he really was. They ''may'' have speculated where this guy came from, but it must've happened off-screen.
** Did we really have time to discuss where Trunks came from? Once he defeats Cold and Frieza, Trunks then takes the group where Goku would land, and shortly after, spilled the beans to Goku as to where he came from. That happened the episode after he killed Frieza and Cold.
* Why did Bulma go to all of the effort of inventing a time machine for Trunks when it would have been much easier to build another spaceship and send him to Namek and use their balls. Three Wishes: Move/Destroy the Androids, Bring Piccolo/Kami Back, Bring Gohan or Vegeta Back. Much better than just saving the lives of some alternate versions of some people you never really knew, isn't it?
** First off, Namek was destroyed and nobody knew where "New Namek" was. When Goku needed the Namek Dragon Balls at the end of Buu saga he had to go ask Kaio to find them.
** Secondly, moving or destroying the androids won't work because it's established that the dragons cannot affect someone stronger than they. In that case bringing back Piccolo/Kami or any of the others is fruitless because they'll just get killed again. Trunks did say he went to the past to find out how to kill the androids. He could have wished them back ''after'', but again there's many limitations: only one person at once, or a one-year limit, or previously resurrected people can't be brought back again, etc. Why waste time on dead people with a middling chance of resurrection when you have an entire world to rebuild?
** I have to agree. While Gohan was shown as being strong enough to handle a SINGLE android, he was far more powerful than any of the other dead fighters, and since Goku died of a heart disease (which technically falls under 'natural causes', which was one of the can't-do-it rules of resurrection) bringing back the I-get-powerful-stupidly-fast fighter was out of the question.
*** Nothing stops them from building a space ship later when the world has stabilized a bit, anyway.
**** No, it doesn't put that out of the question. Future Goku, Gohan, Vegeta, Piccolo, Yamcha, Tien and Krillin are all dead. It's mentioned that Other World is inclined to encourage fighting/training as is shown with Goku, Yamcha etc. Presumably they would have done the same as mainstream, getting more powerful. Even if they didn't, they have 3 adult Super Saiyans among them, and as canon time shows, the dead can have one day on Earth. Gohan could handle the Androids on a 1v1 scale, surely with Goku and Vegeta and Trunks...it would be done quickly. So what the heck, Z-Fighters?
** All they had to do was wish that Dr. Gero (who wouldn't be stronger than Shenron or Porunga) never went into robotics or becomes good or any other wish that would prevent him from creating the rest of the androids.
*** That makes no sense. ''When'' have the dragons been shown to retroactively alter things?
*** Also Shenron and Porunga are only as strong as their creators - Kami/Dende Guru/Namek Elder. Dr Gero is at least as strong as Frieza; so no, the Dragons couldn't directly effect him in any way whatsoever.
**** It's actually an interesting question, Krillin wishes for the self-destruct bombs to be taken out of the Androids and there is no reason to believe that the Androids consented which is the actual limitation, not the power.
*** On the other hand, it's plausible that with a time machine, Trunks could have gone back to before Gero was all that strong (or even born) and make the wish well in advance. This, of course, opens up all sorts of timey-wimey problems, like a Shenron that prevents Gero from excelling in robotics (only to make some previously unknown college rival the new big bad) of the future).
** Trunks later admits (right after finding Cell) that his goal was just to find out the means to destroy the androids by watching the DBZ warriors fight them, or failing that to bring Son Goku with him to the future. What I've gotta wonder is why he didn't get Shenlong to make him a new shutdown controller for the androids and use that to immobilize+ destroy them in the future. Or get Past Bulma to make him one, but I guess by that point he was already strong enough to take on the androids on his own (who were weaker in his timeline than in Goku's).
*** In the timeline where Cell killed him, that's what happened. He went to the past, got the remote, went back to the future, used the remote, and then Cell kills him, since he didn't go through all that extra training. AllThereInTheManual.
* Okay, the timelines thing with Trunks. If he can go back to his own future to kill Cell, then his timeline is stable. But he kills Cell before he can go back in time in the first place, the Cell saga never happens. So we've got Cell in the future, dead. Cell in the present, dead. If it was possible for Trunks to get back to his own timeline, then how could he kill Cell before Cell went back, with the powers he gained training to fight Cell-in-the-past? To add yet another complication, this troper has also heard the interpretation of onscreen events as Cell killing Trunks to steal the time machine before he can go back the first time, but Trunks kills Cell before Cell can kill pre-travel future Trunks abnd get the time machine, but if he hadn't he shouldn;t bein the past. but since he did, Cell shouldn't be in the past, so [[TimeyWimeyBall oh no I've gone cross-eyed]]. To summarize: Two timelines are missing a Trunks, at least one timeline is missing a Cell, and neither Trunks nor Bulma actually know how time travel works, do they?.
** Because the timelines have already been set and can't be altered. At this point, a third timeline had been created (where the main Cell came from) and couldn't be written out of existence. Trunks himself stated that what happened in other timelines couldn't affect the other ones, as we see him and Krillin destroy present Cell, yet the main Cell still exists. When he returns to his future, the events in the main timeline haven't altered his, further confirming his statements.
** There are three independent timelines. There is the main one, there is a second one where Cell kills Trunks and goes back in time into the main timeline (ultimately becoming perfect Cell), and there is a third one where future Trunks goes back in time into the main timeline, then returns and kills the Cell of his timeline before he can steal the time machine from him. The main timeline's Cell was killed before he was even born (lol aborted). All timelines are independent; changing something in one doesn't affect anything in the other ones, so everything is accounted for.
*** Well, there are actually four timelines. The one you didn't mention was the one that would've been the main timeline if Cell didn't kill Trunks and take his machine to the main timeline. In the fourth timeline, future Cell wasn't present. They found the blueprints for the androids in Gero's lab and managed to destroy the androids of that timeline. Then that future Trunks went to the future, deactivated the androids, destroyed them, and was later killed by Cell before he could go back to the present to alert everyone of the good news. What confuses me, however, are two things: The alternate present Cell and alternate present 16. What if they ''didn't'' destroy the Cell of that timeline? Not knowing of Cell's existence, they'd have no reason to destroy the super computer building Cell nor Cell himself because they didn't know about them; Hell, they didn't even know about the hidden bunker below the lab. In 20 years or so, he'd appear and everyone would be fucked. Not to mention the whole conflict with Majin Buu that might possibly happen before Cell is even complete. Then there's 16. Was he just not present in that timeline? I doubt that he would've just sat back and allowed 17 and 18 to get destroyed and the dude was stronger than a fully powered future Imperfect Cell. The only character that would've stood a chance is Piccolo after fusing with Kami and the only reason Kami even agreed to do it was because he sensed future Cell, who wasn't present in the alternate present timeline. Did future Cell's presence somehow cause Gero to create him? That makes me wonder about just how similar the alternate present timeline is to the main timeline. Future Cell's presence could've somehow influenced Gero's decisions in regards to how powerful to make 17 and 18 and the creation of 16 (or how powerful to make him if he was going to make him anyway as a result of being affected somehow by Trunks' time traveling). Present Cell could've possibly have been much stronger than his future counterpart if allowed to grow.
* Where was Cell hiding Seventeen and Eighteen, anyhow? He's seen vomiting Eighteen out near the end of the Cell/Gohan fight, and she's totally intact. I know both androids are ninety pounds soaking wet, but Cell wasn't so big that he had enough room for two human-sized secret compartments, even if you assume they were curled up into very tight fetal positions. I don't know, maybe he could have spontaneously digested Seventeen to make room for Eighteen, but even then it's still a stretch.
** Don't forget that when Buu absorbed people, they shrank. It might be the same, especially since Cell was designed EXPRESSLY to absorb these two individuals.
** That's exactly what this troper always assumed. Seventeen was disassembled, and Eighteen was meant to be used relatively intact. And may have been usable the other way around, had he absorbed them in a different order. If you think it's a stretch, just remember: [[RuleOfCool Cell doesn't make much sense anyway]].
** Another point is that even if he could fit them in his body, his whole top half was blown off in the Cell Games. He could regenerate, but unless he could extend his capabilities to the androids (who were partly mechanical?), they should have died at that point, depriving him of his main source of power.
** Except that "androids" is a bad translation. The japanese word means something more like "artificial being" than "robot". They were both human before, gero just enhanced them. They were absorbed on the cellular level. Of course, this brings to mind the question of how #18 was coughed up at all...
*** Obvious cyborgs are obvious. Anyway, indeed, 18 should've been coughed up as sludge, and neither her nor 17 could've been left whole in there. In the normal perfect form, Cell is very lithe, only having any sort of bulk in its upper body. Only when it artificially bulks up, are its belly, throat and mouth big enough to hold an entire woman. If the process somehow reconstructed her, she should've come [[FanService naked]], and with no cheratin parts, the outer layer of skin, or any fat at all - basically a [[FanDisservice bright pink, emaciated hommunculus]] whose fragile skin would've been torn to ribbons by encountering the interior of Cell's esophagus, its ''teeth'' and the rough ground.
**** And they should not come out fully clothed either. I guess even Cell needs fiber in his diet to keep him regular.
** I alwasy assumed that 17 and 18 were stored in Cell's body just like in Buu's; shrunken and fully intact. They were probably stored in his lower body which actually makes sense as he vomited her up (she was near the stomach). When Cell grew giant they grew proportionally (to their normal sizes) and the rest is history.
** Why is everyone assuming that Cell had a 'stomach' - or even a digestive system - in the same way that humans do? At what point did Cell ever need to eat or drink? Gero was mad, yes, but he was also a scientist, which means he was a pretty smart guy. The need to eat or drink for sustenance (unless you're counting essentially sucking the blood and life energy of human victims) would have probably been one of the first weaknesses Gero made sure were ''not'' in Cell's biology. This ''is'' an alien, after all. Also, this is a world where entire houses and vehicles have been shown to be able to fit in capsules about the size of a horse pill. It's very possible that Gero somehow found a way to reverse the process and cause 17 and 18 to shrink inside Cell's body - and then that Gohan's hard shot to Cell's gut reversed that process, causing her to expand back to normal size in the body of Cell, which obviously could no longer hold her at that size.
* Why didn't Trunks just go one day back in time, get his past self to join him, and repeated the process many times over to create an army of Trunks to easily defeat the androids? Or, more seriously, gone back further and stopped Dr. Gero? Were his actions really optimal decisions?
** For one, because the time machine only had so much juice in it and being jury-rigged from the start, he didn't know how many jumps he had. For another, he had no idea where Dr. Gero was hiding.
*** Stopping Dr. Gero doesn't work because all the timelines are independent. Sure, he might save some other timeline from having to deal with the Androids, but it doesn't do anything to help his world.
* Ok, this just bugs me. If Goku was able to grow his tail back in Dragon Ball, how did they get rid of the tails forever in Dragon Ball Z?
** "Official" according to the Toriyama interview in the first issue of US Shonen Jump:
-->The tail lets you gain trememdous strength instantly by transforming you into a giant ape, but the risks are equally great - you'll lose your strength if it's squeezed. Once you're as powerful as Vegeta and Goku, the tail just gets in the way. It is thought that the bodies of Saiyans, who are a fighting species, decided that their tails are unnecessary appendages.
** Toriyama bullshitting as usual (and ignoring the fact that Goku trained his tail to overcome that weakness), but there you have it.
** AWizardDidIt?
** By the same process which restored the moon between Roshi blowing it up and Piccolo blowing it up?
*** The Wizard in either case being Kami (who permanently removed Goku's tail and restored the moon). More plausible in-story reason: Maybe once you are past puberty it is impossible to grow it back. Why Trunks, et. al. tails never grew back, I'm not sure. Cauterization? Maybe removing it at birth makes it less likely to grow back?
**** Maybe half-saiyan tails don't grow back? Vegeta didn't want the tail post-Frieza in case it interfered with becoming a super sayan, and he's Just That Badass?
***** Gohan's a half-saiyan and his tail grew back like five times.
**** Also maybe not all half-saiyan are born with tails. Neither Trunks nor Goten have ever been shown with tails, maybe Gohan's the freak.
**** According to the Toriyama interview in the very first issue of US Shonen Jump, "It seems that tails are a recessive generic trait." Of course this is Toriyama we're talking about so he probably pulled it from his ass but there you have it.
*** Kami did it, though he doesn't explain how. Since all those times he "lost" his tail in Dragon Ball he just got it cut/snapped (there is always a short stub remaining, after all), I assume when Kami got rid of it he removed it from the root. Like the difference between cutting a hair and pulling it out.
** I think it grows back when they go Oozaru, which they stop doing when the Super Saiyan becomes an option.
*** I fully expected the end of that sentence to be, "which they stop doing when the tail gets cut off." As a joke. Since they don't become Oozaru without a tail. Which means the above explanation doesn't work.
*** I always a assumed it stopped growing back after they reached a certain age.
* If Cell had absorbed Android 18 first, would he have looked the same?
** Probably, since 17-powered Cell didn't resemble 17 at all.
*** Apart from the eyes and the ego (well, that was also from Vegeta. And Freeza. And King Cold.), it was not quite like 17. However, 18 was stated to be weaker, so maybe Cell would be slighty weaker.
**** To my memory, it was 17 that constantly claimed 18 was weaker than 17. Now there does appear to be a ''slight'' difference, but I personally think it had a lot to do with ego and sexism rather than any profound difference in their power levels.
***** Sexism? That's a bit of a reach. "No one is as strong as I am" is not a statement that cares about sexes. Also, let's remember. This is ''Dragon Ball''. Even the slightest-seeming difference in power is capable of leading to a [[CurbStompBattle curb stomp]].
*** It's stated in the manga (on one of the original cover pages at the back detailing all of Gero's creations from #1-20) that #18 is slightly weaker than #17.
* Why did Dr. Gero rebuild himself as an energy absorbing model, if the whole point of that model is that its weaker and easier to control than 17 and 18's model? Was he afraid he'd lose control of himself?
** Remember just what Gero was doing remaking himself as an android. He ''disconnected his own brain and stuck it someplace else''. Given how intrincally, instinctively linked one's body and brain are, it's entirely possible that controlling himself was the last thing Gero had to worry about.
** I'd always assumed he was a poor tactician, and assumed that sucking energy out of enemies and sucking up energy beams was somehow better than unlimited energy.
** Either that, or perhaps the process requires a young, strong body. The energy-absorbing model wasn't as powerful, but all Gero had to do was put his brain in it. He was a frail old man by that time, so he probably wouldn't have survived the implantation process used on 17 and 18.
** On a related note, why did Gero make his robot body look the same age as his human body?
*** Guess vanity isn't one of his many flaws. It's not like he was much better looking as a younger man.
*** All in all, Gero may have been a super genius but he was still a complete idiot. What he ''should'' have done was build a body similar to Super 17 from GT - an Android with both energy absorbing and the infinite power generator he used on 17 and 18. This would have had the incredibly useful advantage of being able to collect the energy of the Kamehameha Wave using his hand... which was probably what he was going for with his current Android 20 body. He watched as his nemesis destroyed the entire Red Ribbon army using that attack - wouldn't it be poetic justice for him to absorb its energy and use it to destroy Goku in revenge?
**** The problem with that idea is that he could never build something like that from scratch. He needed the help of Dr. Myu just to create a clone from hell of 17 that would be able to merge with the guy into Super 17. This also still doesn't address the problem of whether his body may have been too old and worn down to be able to withstand the infinite power generator and data chip experiments he used to turn the two rebellious teenage twins into 17 and 18 in the first place. Even if he could, and even if it was as simple as going through that and then taking up energy absorbing inlets, he would have to ''cut off his own hands'' to make that happen. It's easy to see what could go wrong there.
***** Except… he got infinite energy into a pure synthetic android already! Case and point: 16!
***** [[AIIsACrapshoot Who turned out to be an animal-loving pussy]]. There's a reason Gero considered him a failure.
** I can think of a good reason: Cell. Think about it: Cell was designed to absorb 17 and 18 (or they were designed to be absorbed by Cell; I forget which). If he were like them, Cell might not see himself as perfect after absorbing both 17 and 18, and come after Gero as well. I guess he could make some alterations to his body to make his body useless to Cell or something, though...
** Remember what kind of person Dr. Gero is. He's not just an OmnicidalManiac (for lack of a better phrase), but also is an utter sadist. It seems perfectly acceptable to consider that maybe he prefers slowly, agonisingly draining every last drop of energy from a victim before slaughtering them, thus allowing them to suffer such intense pain and fear that they wish for death to come to be far more satisfying than simply blasting them away in a fairly quick manner.
** Another theory: he started making modifications to himself after he started on the Cell project but before he finished. So follow this timeline:
*** Built Android 16.
*** Started some modifications to himself.
*** Kidnapped the two teenagers, dubbed them Androids 17 and 18 while he started his experiments.
*** Realized some processes (like, say, the whole ''brain surgery'' bit) would require an extra pair of hands that he could fully control - thus, Android 19.
*** Android 19 finishes Gero's modifications for him, thus making Gero Android 20 since 16-19 are already completed.
*** Then Gero finishes Cell (who was technically #21 in the Android series)
*** The kicker here: Gero was probably the only 'true' Android. 16 and 19 were humanoid robots, 17 and 18 were essentially fully human save for a few modifications (whatever generated their power as well as the self-destruct devices), and Cell was a bio-engineered chimera that was fully organic, with no robotic parts at all.
* On the subject of Dr. Gero... Why did he design 19 the way he did? I mean, yeah, the fatness doesn't really impair his fighting ability or anything, but from a purely aesthetic point of view, you have to wonder what's going on in his mind to make him think "Hey, how cool would it be if I designed 19 to be really fat and have mime-like bleach white skin for no real reason?".
** The guy looks like a freaky clown without the red nose, cheeks, and lips. [[MonsterClown Think about it.]]
** No, he looks like a ChineseVampire...which are known to eat life energy/souls, or in this case, Ki.
** Doesn't really explain the fatness though.
* It's a minor point but when Goku comes back to Earth in his spaceship after Trunks killed Freeza he '''A:''' says he knew what was happening, and would have used his new teleport technique to come back to earth immediately if he hadn't been sure Trunks could have handled it. '''B:''' explains his teleport technique as being able to move at the speed of light, quoting the actual speed (at least in the dub, don't know about the original) '''C:''' says he came back from training on a planet millions of lightyears away. As in, it would take millions of years to reach this planet at the speed of light, but his ship did it in a year or so. But even though the ship didn't make it to earth before Freeza did, he could've teleported and arived in time. Calling ArtisticLicenseAstronomy seems a bit redunant at this point.
** It's a minor DubInducedPlotHole (he says nothing about the speed of light in the original Japanese). He clearly moves distances and to places clearly impossible if he were simply zapping himself place to place like a lazer. Easily handwaved by the fact that Goku's an idiot.
* After Future Gohan loses his arm, why doesn't Bulma just build him a new mechanical one? She's supposedly a genius with technology.
** Probably because the mechanical one wouldn't be able to shoot ki blasts. Also, maybe Future Gohan didn't want a mechanical arm because he'd feel he'd be disturbingly similar to the androids.
*** And Bulma's surname is Briefs, not [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist Rockbell]], so the thing would probably be little more than the plastic mannequin hands we give to amputees.
** Considering just how strong he and the androids were, the mechanical arm might as well have been made of custard. It would just slow him down.
** And the writers thought it'd make him a HandicappedBadass to be fighting with one arm, regardless of whether or not Bulma could've given him an arm that worked.
* How the hell did Dr Gero ''get'' the DNA of every single Z fighter and their enemies, including alien warlords and all?
** His mosquito-like spybots took blood just like the real insect, and just like the real insect, they were too small for the characters to notice, especially when the characters were busy with the person trying to kill them. Frieza and Cold were likely bitten while they were on Earth and busy with Trunks.
*** Which is weird because Dr. Gero says he ended surveillance shortly before Goku left for Namek.
*** Some of his bugs were still around, though. Goku is shown destroying one after Gero tells him about them.
**** Piccolo was actually the one to do that after Cell told him about them. As for Gero, I could've sworn he only intentionally stopped collecting data after Frieza and King Cold were killed.
*** Gero personally stopped paying attention to the surveillance, but the computer independently kept working on the Cell Project.
* How can Cell (or for that matter, Dr. Gero's computer) exist in their own timelines? Wouldn't the androids have blown up Dr. Gero's lab (especially consdering Gero even warned them about that while he was being killed in those timelines)? You have to admit Cell is pretty dang lucky the androids didn't touch the place where they ''killed their first victim''.
** Explained in the series. Cell's capsule and computers were in a basement bunker which 17 and 18 didn't know about. When they blew up the lab's ground level, the rubble covered the bunker's entrance, and so they left, thinking that they'd destroyed the entire thing.
* In Trunks' timeline, where's Android 16 and Android 19?
** It's implied that 19 is never built, and 16 never got activated by 17 and 18.
* It was really tough on Goku with all his injuries during the fight with the Cell Jrs without aid from the Senzu beans. If only he had some way of '''TELEPORTING TO AN ALIEN WHO COULD HEAL HIM!!!'''
** It takes a while for Dende to heal anyone. Plus in that time, the humans and Piccolo would bite it. Trunks and Vegeta are really the only ones who would've had a chance until Gohan got pissed. Plus y'know, as said many, MANY times on this page he's still [[IdiotHero Goku.]]
*** Not to mention the chance of Cell tracking him and hurting Dende in some way, which would really screw up their revival plans.
**** Remember, Gohan saw the DangerouslyGenreSavvy Frieza ShootTheMedicFirst on Namek and Goku got there right after. It seems that Cell has access not only to the genetic characteristics of the many fighters whose cells are in his body, but also their knowledge. Unless Cell spent some time watching film on Goku and Piccolo using the Kamehameha and SBC, respectively, there's no way he would have known how to do those particular attacks even with his respective power. Ergo - maybe he had Frieza's knowledge/memories of Dende, who was dead last time Frieza saw him, but whose HealingHands Frieza (and, by extension, Cell) would have recognized. Plus, as mentioned before, Senzu Beans take longer to grow, but they're much quicker.
* King Cold at one point suggests Frieza just [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill destroy Earth]] but Frieza doesn't want to because he wants to make Goku suffer. Makes sense for him, but after Trunks kills him, why doesn't King Cold then destroy the Earth himself? Even if Trunks killed him before he could retreat, he would still have the planet destroyed.
** Frieza actually did try the Planet Crusher on Trunks. Trunks ''caught it.'' King Cold wouldn't have fared much better.
** Maybe King Cold didn't have techniques that specialized in blowing up planets. In any case, he seemed somewhat disinterested the entire time, almost like Frieza had dragged him out there.
** Given he just saw Frieza get owned and in his own mind decided that it was the sword that enabled that, he probably figured his first priority is to separate Trunks from his sword (Which he weasels his way toward with the small talk, [[IAmNotLeftHanded not that Trunks cares]]) and ''then'' destroy Earth now that he "knows" he's depowered Trunks and can get away with it. Attempting to kill Trunks with his own sword was presumably just for irony's sake.
* After Cell was destroyed and all his victims revived by the dragon balls, why didn't Android 17 search for his sister? He seemed very fond of her, and he must have wanted an explanation for why he was alive after being ingested by Cell. Turning into a vagabond that wanders around woods with nothing to do seems very out of character for someone like him.
** Maybe he did in the 7 years between the Cell Saga and Buu saga, but he didn't want to live with her while she was with Krillin, and he didn't want to live with any of the other Z fighters either, so he just went off to live on his own.
*** 18 doesn't immediately jump Krillin's bones, she dashes off back to Earth. About the only thing we know about her warming up to Krillin, falling for him, marrying him, and bearing his daughter is that it occurs within a seven year TimeSkip. So it's likely they got back together at some point.
* The third timeline (The one where Main Cell came from) confuses me. Like how did it even happen? We have the present universe and Future Trunks universe, so at which point was this third universe created?
** What happened was their are 2 divergent timelines from the future trunks timeline. One, the one that leads to the main timeline, is where trunks went to the past, killed king cold, went to the future, came back three years later and figths the androids, then returns, only to be killed by cell, who takes the time machine back to BEFORE teen trunks returned to the future the second time. His presence there caused Trunks to become more powerful than when he got killed by cell, he goes back to the future, and kills cell instead of being killed by him. Make sense?
* How did Gero get the DNA from Frieaza and King Cold to put in cell? he clearly stated he had ended the surveillance and DNA gathering before they went to Namek.
** He ended surveillance of Goku specifically and didn't follow him into space. As I seem to remember, whatever he was using to get the DNA caught notice of Frieza and King Cold's arrival, went "Hey, those guys are strong, better grab'em." and did so.
* After fusing with Kami, why didn't Piccolo re-power the Dragon Balls? It's established that Kami knew how, and that Piccolo had all his memories. Not to mention, at that point Piccolo was (obviously) much more powerful than Kami had been, as well as surpassing all the other living Namekians. Shenron would have become stupidly powerful at that point.
** He can't. For some reason he loses the ability to create and power the Dragon Balls once he re-fuses with Kami. It's not just about memories or knowledge, there's also some innate power required which Piccolo doesn't have. Possibly because he's a clone of the original Piccolo and not the 'real other half' of Kami.
** I suspect that the reason is that you have to be good to create Dragonballs. Of the four sets we're aware of one was created by Guru who is undeniable a good guy. Kami expelled his evil, which became Piccolo, and was also pure good. Dende again about as good as you can get. We don't know much about Moori (the elder Namek who presumably made the Dragonballs that now exist on Namek) but he's portrayed as being good. It's possible that Piccolo was sufficiently evil that he simply can't.
*** Except that the only reason Kami was willing to merge with him, even in such dire circumstances, is that Piccolo ''wasn't'' evil anymore.
**** Kami was willing to merge because he sensed Cell and thought Cell was sufficiently evil. Good and evil in Dragonball is incredibly subjective to the point of absurdity. To give the perfect example Vegeta. Even if you want to count him as having been evil prior to the Frieza saga instead of a slave doing whatever it took to survive the most powerful being in the universe instead of Piccolo who was evil because he wanted to be you still have to look at the Buu Saga. Him giving his life as penance for his sins and to save the world wasn't good enough to get him into heaven. However less than a day later he was sufficiently good because he what? Fought Kid Buu? We know the universe thought he was good at that point because the Dragon Balls brought him back.
** It's also possible that he could have done it if he wanted. Fusing with Kami was sufficient to "turn them off" so to speak because the being that created them was gone now. He might very well have been capable and just didn't. It's not like they waited weeks or years, Dende was there and had the balls up and running in like six days.
** He had other priorities like finding first form Cell, and finding out what he was up too. Then he was nearly killed by Cell. Then there was preventing Cell from absorbing 17 and 18, etc. He didn't think about creating new Dragon Balls until Goku mentioned his intention to revive all those killed by Cell back to life. He also wasn't Pure good like Kami was so it was unlikely he even could make them. That is why Goku eventually went to New Namek.
** He also spends a lot on time on the frontlines, meaning he has a good chance of getting killed. In that situation, it would be better to have the macguffin device depending on someone who is never on the frontlines being alive.\
** And less we forget, he actually was a Macguffin before the change happened. If he/Kami died, the Dragonballs are rendered useless. Piccolo knew it was wise to not appoint himself the new Guardian of the Earth, because...that'd just put him back on square one where if he dies, there goes the Dragonballs.
** A better question is why fusing with Kami deactivated the Dragonballs at all. It's not like the fusion with Nail, who was an entirely separate being. Piccolo and Kami are intrinsically the same person, hence the fact that one dying would instantly kill the other. It shouldn't be considered Kami ceasing to exist, just that he's no longer physically separated from the other half of himself. The end result isn't just Piccolo with a power boost, it's Piccolo ''and'' Kami. He simply has everyone call him Piccolo as a matter of convenience.
* How the hell does no one recognize any of the Z fighters during the broadcast of the Cell Games? Goku is a former World Champion, Yamcha, Krillin, and Tien were all competitors in the Tenkaichi Budokai, Piccolo should be still recognized as Ma Junior, and Vegeta was televised when the Saiyans attacked. Just because of different hair and eye color, nobody thinks that the dude wearing the exact same uniform as the former World Champion could possibly be him?
** An old couple do recognize Goku as "Chichi's husband" and the King (The dog guy) also recognises him, as for everyone else, it's probably the hair that threw them off, by the time Hercule came into the scene I doubt Goku was publicized much so no one had really seen his face for a long time. As for Yamcha, Krillin, Piccolo and Tien, I don't think the Camera was ever focused on them (I could be wrong) plus in the 23rd budokai no one realized it was Piccolo until his Turban came off... Vegeta being televised was only in the Anime.
** This is in fact a PlotHole. There is no reason why this was ommitted from the Plot Hole section on this website. Ki attacks and flying are world famous in ''Dragon Ball'' and it is absolutely ludicrous they would ever forget. They would have had to destroy every single record or altered it in some Literature/NineteenEightyFour way but for absolutely no reason. One BigBad points this out, saying that mankind has already forgotten Goku.
** Well it was roughly twenty years in between the 23rd Budokai Tenkaiichi tournament and the Cell Games so it isn't all that surprising that people forgot. Same reason Hercule was able to convince people that Ki blasts, etc. were 'tricks'. That and the rare few who CAN use Ki energy are content to be annonymous. And finding people who can use them is hard if you don't have the resources to find them. and convincing them to teach you is even harder.
* Why didn't Cell use Instant Transmission to escape Gohan's final Kamehameha?
** Because he was putting literally all his energy into deflecting Gohan's blast. He spares a moment's concentration on ducking away, he gets vaporized that much faster.
** Instant Transmission requires a Ki source to lock onto, right? So, he could have probably teleported away after Vegeta blasted him (When he turns around and shouts "BEJITA!") but after that, he is basically inside that giant kamehameha stream. How's he supposed to make out a ki source somewhere when he is beeing blasted in the face by a ginormous energy ball?
* When Cell killed Trunks in the third timeline, why did he go to the first timeline? Shouldn't he have gone to the fourth timeline (an unseen one) as that was where third timeline Trunks was going?
** Time travel plots rarely make sense, even the ones that are written well.
*** The first IS the "fourth" timeline. It's in their history that Cell came to their timeline, it's part of their timeline. The multiverse is infinite so there are millions of Cells that jumped into other timelines as well.
*** Because Cell goes back to a different year: 1 year before Future Trunks arrives. Meaning, he's basically interfering with the Original Timeline (Cell's Timeline: the one he just came from.) The reason the Main Timeline comes about is because BOTH Cell and Future Trunks wind up time travelling to it.
* How did the Androids not kill everyone on Earth in 14 years? And why are people still going to places like amusement parks after all that time?
** Androids just wanna have fun. The amusement parks, I'm not so sure...
** I get the feeling the Androids are more like frequent earthquakes than anything. Civilization still exists, with news announcements and amusement parks and clothing stores; it's just that every so often, a city goes boom.
*** Dunno about the anime, but in the manga Trunks says the androids deliberately prolong the killing for ''fun'', that the entire population of the Earth only numbers in the tens of thousands, and that most of humanity has been forced to hide underground. Not a single amusement park or shopping mall appears.
* How the hell does Imperfect Cell get so stupidly powerful after absorbing humans? When regenerated Piccolo first fights Cell, he's shown to be much more powerful, but Cell absorbs a few humans and then is able to crush Piccolo AND Android 17 in their second battle. True, Piccolo was weakened, but Android 17 was shown to be about the same strength, and he NEVER runs out of energy. In the first power level reading, it's of a farmer, who has a power of 5. So most humans have a power level of about 5, but Piccolo was as strong or even stronger than a Super Saiyan at that point, which had a power level way up in the high millions...And, if Cell could absorb weaklings and get so strong, couldn't he have absorbed a Z-Fighter or something all those times his opponent was stronger? Would've come in WAY handy against Gohan...
** Absorbing strong people was more work than he wanted to put in. He went for quantity instead of quality. Also it's likely the power inside him wasn't a 1-1 correlation, but instead grew exponentially by the number of people he absorbed.
*** A few people? He ''annihilated'' several cities, so, depending on their size, he could have absorbed something over a million people at that point.
**** The average population for a city in the US is 6545 people (281,421,906 spread over 43,000 towns/cities) and the average power level of an ordinary human (based on Raditz's Scouter) is 5. This means that Cell, on average, experienced a 32,725 fold increase in power upon successfully destroying each city. However, that is not the full story because it has often been noted that Cell's aura resembles a Super Saiyan (which given how Gero collected Frieza and King Colds cells at the same time Trunks and Goku went Super Saiyan it is highly likely he collected Super Saiyan DNA). Given the 50X multiplier Super Saiyan provides, his power increase per city increases from 32,725 to 1636250 - or in other words one Final Form Frieza per city (which given Cell's massive improvement over Piccolo the second time they fought, that figure would seem almost exactly right). It is also worth noting that according to Raditz, Roshi has a power level of 139. Now, Roshi is by every definition a superhuman, but we know from the original ''Dragon Ball'' (namely the World Martial Arts Tournaments and the Red Ribbon Saga) a fighter with even a basic level of martial arts and/or ki training is capable of reaching power levels around the 100 mark. If Cell absorbed enough reputable fighters you could happily multiply my estimate above by tens of thousands.
** Consider the Spirit Bomb; when the energy is drawn from lots of ordinary living things, it becomes the most powerful attack in existence. Cell absorbing such energy from mere humans is not so unbelievable in that context.
* According to Future Trunks, Goku in his timeline died of heart disease even before the androids attacked. Question: why didn't they use the Dragon Balls to either cure him or resurrect him? Huh?
** Earth's Dragon Balls have many restrictions. They can't grant the same wish twice, they can't revive someone who died more than a certain amount of time ago, and, most relevant to this case, they can't revive anyone that died of natural causes. Disease is natural, unfortunately.
*** What about curing the disease ''before'' it kills him? Also at that point they just came back from Namek so they know about and have access to the Namekian Dragon Balls.
**** The disease seemed to have a pretty rapid onset, so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to assume that finding the Dragon Balls would have taken too long (sure, they can fly now, but they'd still probably have to do people a bunch of favors to actually ''get'' the damn things like the first few times around). As for the Namekian ones: Yes, they were aware that they still had them, but they had ''no idea'' where the Namekians were (Goku had to go to Kaio-sama to figure that one out) and, even if they did, there was no way to get there in time -- what with the one guy that can instantly get to wherever he wants being at death's door and all.
**** If you recall, it took over a month for them to actually reach Namek, and since we don't really know exactly how fast it kills him, we can assume that by the time they got their and made the wish, Goku would have died. Or maybe they were just waiting for him to get better, or for doctors to find a cure - I mean who could have predicted that Goku would have died?
**** The rapid onset part was the problem. Remember during Cell Saga, Goku found all the Dragon Balls within a day or two before going to the Cell Games? So they could have found the balls and cured him, but it's very possible that by the time they realized he was ill and dying (they only knew what was wrong with him in this timeline because Trunks had given advance warnings) and took a few hours to search for the balls, Goku had already kicked the bucket.
***** Also, let's keep in mind that it was ''Goku'' who found all the Dragon Balls within a day or two before going to the Cell Games. AKA ''the one guy that can instantly get to wherever he wants''. I can imagine it taking closer to a week for any of the others.
* After consistently falling short with the creation of the first 16 androids because none of them are evil/obedient/proactive enough to carry out his designs to rule the world and/or destroy Goku… is there a reason why, of all the [[SunnydaleSyndrome unassuming idiots]] in the ''Dragon Ball'' world for Dr. Gero to kidnap and use for his experiments, does he even entertain the thought of going for '''[[TheRunaway the two runaway teenagers]]''', let alone decide that it's a good idea?
** Because when all else fails and you need to pick aid from the general pool of the human population, you RecruitTeenagersWithAttitude. Gero was clearly WrongGenreSavvy about that trope.
** Keep in mind that 17/18 were completely different animals than 1-16 and 19. Right around the teens and early twenties are when human beings start to reach their physical prime, first off. Second, since this seems to have been new tech, Gero might have anticipated it taking a while - which led to getting young bodies as opposed to older ones, as well as building 19 to assist him AND androidizing himself. Third, it seems that, as teenage runaways, 17 and 18 probably would have been strong enough to keep themselves out of danger and may have done a little street fighting (who the hell taught them to fight otherwise?). Say, they were maybe a power level of 8 as opposed to 2-5 like most humans.
* In the anime I don't think Trunks ever specificly says what numbers the androids are in his timeine (I may be wrong) but in the manga he says they are numbers 19 and 20, so if 19 and 20 in his timeline and 17 and 18 in the present, what are the extra 2 Gero built in Trunks timeline? Are they ever mentioned or shown?
** And to make matters worse, when Trunks goes back in time, they do refer to themselves as 17 and 18. Did Trunks just mess up or what?
** Shockingly this exists in the original manga as well because Toriyama originally intended for 19 and 20 to be the [[BigBad Big Bads]] but his old editor was not impressed so he made up 17 and 18.
* After blowing himself up, How did Cell's cells power him up? When Vegeta is explaining the whole Saiyajin get stronger after recovering from a near fatal situation that the damage cannot be self inflicted. I'm pretty sure activating a self-destruct mechanism is a self inflicted injury. And unlike the other Androids where the self-destruct bomb was a piece that was installed, with Cell being Cell that means the detonation and explosive properties were a part of his DNA ie. not external influence.
** Vegeta was apparently mistaken. Remember how Goku trained on his way to Namek? By shooting himself with his own Ki attacks then using a Senzu Bean to heal himself. So apparently Vegeta just got his facts wrong. Saiyans being a Proud WarriorRace, it probably started as just a taboo against doing it yourself because it was cheating or something that mutated into "it just doesn't work that way," sort of how the Discworld wizards' rule against sex/marriage started as a way to prevent [[PersonOfMassDestruction Sourcerors]] from being born, and mutated into "If you have sex your magic won't work".
** Nobody ever said that Saiyan zenkais had to follow the exact same rules when applied to Cell. Given that he was capable of self-destruction at all, the computer likely designed him specifically as such.
*** Vegeta and Chaosu are capable of self-destruction and if you count GT Goku can do it. I don't think that's a rare power in DBZ it's just not something that people use since it's fatal to the user.
* Why didn't they just steal Cell's time machine, go to his timeline, and retrieve the devices that deactivate the androids so Cell will revert to his imperfect form and be defeated easily?
** First, because time travel is screwy and each time you go back in time you just create a new continuity. Secondly, because Cell sorta melted his way out of his time machine and left it to rot, so it's probably not in great condition. Thirdly, Trunks says the time machine doesn't have a whole lot of juice to it, and Cell swiped it from Trunks right after he got back to the future, so it's likely it was just out of power.
*** The device that deactivates the androids was created by Bulma in THIS timeline. Going to another timeline won't help. Furthermore the whole point of deactivation was to do it BEFORE they were absorbed. Once they'd been absorbed it was already too late.
* This is a problem (I mean improvement) partially with the translation from Japanese to English but if you watch it with the subtitles on or go read the manga Cell can't regenerate from a single cell. He regenerates as long as a certain lump of cells in his head remains intact. Goku blew his head (and everything north of his waist) clear off.
** Only a guess here: maybe that lump is vital only if Cell is disintegrated. "Minor" injuries like the loss of the upper half of the body are recoverable. But yeah, that's a bit of a PlotHole...
** I think what Cell said was that as long as the nucleus in his head is intact, he can regenerate. Basically, this can be taken to mean that as long as the nucleus of at least one cell in his head exists, he can keep coming back.
*** Goku took everything over Cell's waist off with his instant transmission attack. It's either what the above poster said and the loss of everything but your legs is still considered a "minor" injury, Cell was lying and or mistaken about his own regeneration abilities (which seems likely, considering his near death experience was an explosion inside him it seems unlikely enough of his head would survive to do anything) or the writer didn't know what was up.
** Apparantly that was a translation error, there was never a thing in his head that made him regen, he just regens.
* The events surrounding Piccolo's defeat at the hands of Cell are bugging me... he has his neck broken with a punch, a hole opened through the chest by an energy wave and is then tossed into the sea; people who witness these events claim that he's dead, Goku says that he can no longer perceive his aura and nobody tries to help him (not even Tien, who's right there). A couple of minutes later Goku teleports and saves an exhausted Tien, but before he can leave, he discovers that not only Piccolo is alive, ''he is even coming out of the water by himself!'' How can he be still alive and capable of that?
** Well, Namekians can regenerate, for a start. And it wouldn't be the first time (even in this Saga) that Piccolo in particular has feigned greater injury for one reason or another.
*** Namekians can regrow body parts, but I'm pretty sure they can't regenerate a broken neck (their power is not like Wolverine's).
*** In Buu saga, Piccolo explains that he only needs his head to be intact to allow him to regenerate the rest of his body. It shows him doing this after Trunks accidentally dismembered him.
* Why is Gohan during this saga known as Teen Gohan in the video games? He's around 7 at the start and 10 at the end.
** American-induced misnaming. He doesn't even look like a teen, tbh.
** Plus, I think in the dub they originally made him like a year and a half older for reasons that I can't remember but probably only made sense back then. They probably just decided what with his abs and pecs and being between 11 and 12, he was close enough to a teenager. They just never went back to correct it.
** Other than not naming him or using the even more awkward early, mid, end, GT names that Goku, Vegeta and Piccolo often get there was no more fitting name for him.
* So Goku is dying of a heart virus and the end of the world is approaching. So... what's keeping him from using instant transmission to teleport himself and the entire crew to Namek, gather the Namekian Dragon Balls, have Vegeta vaporize him, then ask Porunga to restore his body (1st wish), petition Lord Enma to have his body reunited with spirit, ask Porunga to bring him back to life (2nd wish), then have Goku teleport back to Namek and bring everybody back to Earth. The Virus was destroyed when Vegeta vaporized him, Goku is back at full health, and received a power boost since he pretty much came back from the dead. Convoluted heart virus subplot resolved, and the subsequent complications are averted.
** So you're saying a plan that requires Vegeta acting out of character (he wants to ''beat'' Goku and wouldn't just kill him if he ''let'' him) and a bunch of back and forths is less "convoluted" than the initial plan of "just take the medicine that you know will cure you when the symptoms start showing up"? Nothing "convoluted", just bad timing.
** I believe that the original poster was referring to the Mirai timeline--y'know, the one where there [[PunctuatedForEmphasis WAS. NO. CURE.]] Besides, as far as Vegeta being out of character goes, he gets to incinerate Kakarot and fight him afterwards. Yay. No, the real trouble is probably that this thing came out of nowhere and they didn't have time to think that up or find an alternate way to get to New Namek after he died.
** He couldn't have been referring to that timeline, because in that timeline Goku was long dead before they even knew the Androids existed, so the end of the world wasn't "approaching."
** Well in the Mirai timeline it was a sudden onset that killed him before anyone realised what the disease was, how it spread etc. So they really didn't have time to go off planet for a cure. In main timeline they also didn't know much about it and were too busy training to really think about saving Goku. Also they didn't know if Goku would get the disease or when, so planning something that convoluted would have been pointless. Also why go too all that trouble for something they couldn't guarantee would work when you had medicine handy that you knew would. Also Vegeta wouldn't kill Goku like that unless it was in a true battle his pried as a True Saiyan Warrior would demand no less than a true match to the death with Goku to see who was truely the best.
** Pretty much that. There is nothing forced or complicated about taking medicine when you start feeling the symptoms. They didn't need to worry about saving Goku, as they assumed he'd take care of it himself as, y'know, he has the cure sitting in the fridge in his house, and presumably, he doesn't want to die of a heart virus. Its his fault for not thinking ahead and bringing the cure with him when it came time to face the androids. And, as previously said, Vegeta's Sayian pride and honor would not allow him to simply vaporize Goku, even if he wanted.
* Why didn't Gero just stick with Android 16? From what we saw he was far more powerful than the others, there weren't any indicators that he would have disobeyed Gero's commands and even if there was something about 16 that made him unwilling to kill Goku (which we never see) why couldn't he just use the design to make another? Heck, 17 even wonders about it briefly before it's dropped and never mentioned again.
** 17 and 18 were basically just food for Cell, Dr. Gero's biggest project. Of course, this just raises the question of why he didn't just make Cell in his Perfect Form to begin with.
** Creating two teenaged androids (who are just effectively regular renagade teens with modifactions) so they can live in fear and dread of a killer insect android hunting them down for food? Yep, sounds like something Gero would do.
* When Gohan finally overpowers Perfect Cell, the latter threatens a Super Kamehameha powerful enough to destroy the world. Fair enough. The problem is that it literally takes minutes for him to charge up the damn thing - why did he chose such an inefficient technique? Vegeta's Galick Gun destroyed Arlia effortlessly in seconds, Frieza's ''Orange Glowing Ball of Death'' destroyed Vegeta effortlessly in seconds - both techniques Cell would obviously know and yet, despite being hundreds of times stronger, he chose the longest, most drawn out technique he could possibly use which gave his enemies ample time to counter attack. In fact, to put into scale just ''how'' long Cell took to destroy the Earth, Master Roshi - Power Level 139 took less time to Kamehameha the moon than Perfect Cell - Power Level several million took to shoot the planet he was standing on.
** Cell's a bit of an idiot. I'm assuming it's something he got from Goku. He has a real sense of dramatic irony, which is why he set up the whole tournament charade to begin with. Destroying the earth with his family's signature attack is exactly the kind of thing Cell would do to spite Gohan. Minor aside; Roshi's power level was presumably above 139 when he blew up the moon. Scouters only read how much is being put out at that moment, not what they're hiding before power ups. Roshi was in hulk-mode when he made the moon go boom, not to mention several years younger and in better shape.
** Just look at the situation from Cell's point of view: you achieved your primary purpose, i.e. getting your perfect body; you, therefore, are the single most powerful being on Earth, with an unquenchable pride and thirst for fighting. You then go on creating and announcing the Cell Games; the goal, beyond satisfying your sadism, being taking the slightest chance possible to find a decent challenge on this planet before destroying it; of course, you know damn well that your archnemesises will be there, with a little surprise, Goku told you. D-day arrives, you fight the 2nd best warrior of Earth beside you to a stalemate; he gives up and make the tag to his hopeless son, that you almost immediately tries to torture. Then, that hopeless son, not only responding to your torture methods by getting his power meter through the sky, manages to ''single-handedly'' kick your perfect ass in the most humiliating way possible, even forcing you to try a self-destruct attempt. THEN, you get the chance to come back to life even stronger than before. You have the combined DNA oF frieza and Vegeta; you don't want to beat your nemesis and destroy his planet; you want to shatter his spirit before. I always assumed that Cell, with this Kamehameha, actually ''wants'' to get a response; he's about to destroy the Earth and kill the only person who bested him, all with that person's signature move; doing it by ''besting that person in a Kamehameha clash with said signature move'' would be the ultimate cherry on the cake.
** Simple answer, he said solar system, that's why it's called the solar kamehameha(wiki it).
* Since he hadn't been created for the series yet, Goten wasn't in the future- I understand that. However, after his creation, shouldn't he have been retconned into the future, or at least acknowledged as dying as a baby or something? Or did he not exist at all? Although, I'm pretty sure he should have based on my knowledge of the timeline, but I could be wrong.
** Its actually pretty simple; the most likely point in which Goku and Chi Chi conceived Goten was during his and Gohan's week long cool down period before the Cell Games - in other words years after the timelines diverged to make Future Trunk's universe. Incidentally it is also a good explanation as to why Goten can go Super Saiyan so easily seeing as there is a good chance Goku was in Full Power Super Saiyan mode during his making love to her.
*** Goku specifically said that the only time they wouldn't be Super Saiyan is when they slept. And seeing as how the act would most likely be done in bed, Goku wouldn't have been a Super Saiyan at the time. Also I don't think Goku porking Chichi as a Super Saiyan is a safe idea. I don't know if this is in the manga but in the anime Goku and Gohan, while a Super Saiyan, had a hard time controlling their strength to do ordinary tasks like picking up a glass without breaking it. I'm pretty sure Chichi would've ending up in the hospital with some broken bones.
* This could just be the english dub, but towards the end of the saga, after Cell comes back from blowing himself up, he states he's going to use instant transmission to more or less wipe out all life in the universe. Why? I get it, Cell's a dick, but really, why? He was created for the sole purpose of killing Goku. He proved, however, that he was capable of ignoring that when he chose to accept Goku's surrender and fight Gohan instead(granted, with the intent of killing Goku when he was done with his son), which can be chalked up to him being a BloodKnight; hell, the whole tournament farce of the Cell Games is due to him being a blood knight, which he gets from his saiyan genes. So, saiyan genes override the Kill Goku programming. But he goes from BloodKnight to OmnicidalManiac awful quick. If anything, shouldn't he had gone the Frieza route and decided to try his hand at becoming a GlacticConquerer?
** My theory: He wasn't planning on doing it, he just claimed that he would so that they would be desperate to defeat him and fight that much harder. He was raising the stakes.
** Cell wasn't designed to hunt and kill Goku specifically, actually. He was simply designed to [[DisproportionateRetribution spite the universe and all life as a whole]]. Cell himself remarks on this after becoming Super Perfect.
** Keep in mind what makes up Cell. The Saiyans were pretty apocalyptic in themselves-rather than using their power to enslave planets, they cleared them of all life. Yeah, Frieza told them to do it, but [[BloodKnight they sure didn't mind.]] Then there's [[AxCrazy Frieza]], who casually wiped out life due to a mixture of [[EvilIsPetty plotting real estate]] and [[ForTheEvulz sadism.]] Cell had [[FromASingleCell practical immortality]] as well, and just suffered a near-death experience when becoming Super Perfect. Cell was probably thinking that by going to war with the entire universe he'd have a great fight, and more importantly to him, prove that he's perfect [[VillainousBreakdown after Gohan hurt his ego.]] If the planets get destroyed quickly, then [[LackOfEmpathy they don't matter.]] If the heroes of the planet fight back, then [[BloodKnight Cell gets a great fight.]]
* Also, how did Cell return in his perfect form? He can regenerate from a single cell and get stronger after nearly dying, this explains why he was still alive. But without 18, shouldn't he have regenerated to his second form?
** 18 provided Cell the energy he needed to achieve his Perfect form. After Cell self-destructed and regenerated, Cell's Saiyan genes gave him an enormous power boost (since if a Saiyan recovers from (near-)death their power increases phenomenally). This power boost was enough to kick Cell into his Perfect form and even go beyond it, becoming Super Perfect Cell, all without the need of 18. Which begs the question if Cell would have become even more powerful if he had absorbed 18 again.
** The official explanation is that Cell's... cells remembered the Perfect form and allowed him to regenerate into it despite not having the Androids absorbed anymore.
*** [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy Pretty damn clever, Gero.]]
* How come, after getting a huge power boost from his self-destruction and subsequent regeneration, Cell didn't just blow himself up a few more times in deep space to bring himself to ludicrous power levels? I mean, even with his ego he should have realized he was still only roughly on par with Gohan and at risk of losing again. The only real logical reason I can think of is that he only survived his explosion by a few cells and didn't want to risk not being so lucky next time, but then he could have just used a more controlled blast or even just destroy himself with precise ki attacks until he's just a few cells.
** Zenkai doesn't work if you do it to yourself ( Remember during the Frieza fight,Krillin had to blow a whole in Vegeta's chest to invoke Zenkai, rather than Vegeta doing it himself).
*** Um...sorry, that's incorrect. Cell blew himself up and got a Zenkai, Goku got multiple Zenkais on his way to Namek by blasting himself, etc.
**** My guess was that in his mind, the only reason Gohan outclassed him was because of power, not skill. If he was on par with Gohan, then his superior skill would win the day.
* It is repeatedly stated that androids don't have chi. If that is true, then how can they use KiAttacks? I can kinda understand Android 16, since his ki attack is in the form of energy cannons he has for biceps. But 17 and 18 seem to use regular KiAttacks like everybody else despite lacking ki. What the hell?
** Well, they are [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots Ridiculously Human]] {{Cyborg}}s, after all. The energy provided may come from their circuits similar to how organic warriors draw ki out of their bodies for blast attacks, but that doesn't necessarily mean the energy itself has to be ki.
** Their energy is unnatural, so it probably can't be sensed naturally. Also I vaguely recall Androids' energy being referred to as something other than ki.
* Okay, I've got a few things concerning Akira Toriyama's rather notorious AssPull decisions. If he intended Gohan to be Goku's successor, why in the seven hells did he go against it in the Buu saga? It wasn't as if the series would collapse without Goku and Gohan was popular enough to keep the series alive and loved, but why-oh-why did he do the things he did to Gohan? Not only has Gohan almost stopped training completely, he has actually ''got weaker and horribly rusty'' over seven years to the point that he can't take on a considerably weakened '' '''[[AxCrazy Bro]][[OmnicidalManiac ly]]''' '' at his strongest and he has proven to be a poor successor. If that was what he had in mind, then why did he have Goku die in the Cell saga?
** Can't claim to know what goes on in Toriyama's mind of course and it bugs me too, but I'm guessing by the time the Buu saga rolled around he was just sick and tired of the series and wanted to move on to other things and just wasn't paying much attention to what he was doing (it would explain a LOT of the problems with the Buu saga), and decided to pander to the base a bit by making Goku and Vegeta the heroes again.
** As I understand it, having Gohan succeed Goku was Toriyama's original plan, but ExecutiveMeddling forced Goku back into the spotlight.
** Something like that, I heard that the japanese audience really liked goku, which makes sense to me considering that I ONLY liked gohan during the cell games.
* When 17 breaks Gero's HandyRemoteControl, he replies that he'll make another one. So does he just expect 17 and 18 to stand there and watch while he does?
** [[TooDumbToLive Yes.]]
** Let's not forget who we're talking about here. This is Dr. Gero: [[BadassBookworm scientific genius]], [[EvilOldFolks crazy old man]], and [[EvilOldFolks sadistic]] [[RevengeBeforeReason vengeful]] [[AIIsACrapshoot idiot]] [[TooDumbToLive extraordinaire]].
* Cell doesn't seem to use his powers anywhere near as much as he could. Absorbtion, regeneration, teleportation, the ability to spawn mini-mook versions of himself, ''all'' of the Z-Fighter's techniques... it just seemed like if he used even one of those abilities intelligently no one would've stood a chance. Absorbing a few million humans raised him from weaker than Piccolo to stronger than him. Yet he never tries to absorb Piccolo, who's hundreds of millions times stronger than the average human? He never thinks to spawn a Super Perfect Cell Jr. in his final fight with Gohan to help him, or at least make sure the other fighters don't interfere like, you know, exactly what they did? He doesn't think to teleport Gohan and himself into space, where he can survive and Gohan can't? He doesn't think to try to self-destruct again, knowing that no one could stop him and he could regenerate? Even if that somehow didn't destroy the planet, he'd still come back more than powerful enough to stomp Gohan.
** Cell didn't seem to be entirely sane when he came back after self-destructing, given his drastic motivation and personality change. Not that he was sane before, but he pretty much completely shifted gears from "I'm going to have fun with my new body by fighting powerful opponents and killing people slowly" to "I'm going to slaughter every living thing in the universe because I'm convinced that's my purpose now". It seems like killing himself and coming back from a cell messed up his faculties somewhat and he was so obsessed with taking vengeance on Gohan as fast as possible he simply didn't think of those options. As for why he didn't absorb Piccolo? Maybe he could have, but by the time he was powerful enough to do that he was already much stronger than him anyway, and Androids 17 and 18 were right there, so he decided not to waste time and just get to his perfect form already.
* Why is Cell not weaker when he regenerates from his own bomb? Cell's regeneration comes from his Namekian cells, and their power of regeneration has been repeatedly stated to drain energy when replacing limbs; not only did Freeza comment on this when Nail grew his arm back, but just earlier during their fight Cell had used up a good amount of it recovering from the Kamehameha Goku had hit him with. Restoring himself from such a state where only one brain cell was left would have to be taxing on his remaining supplies, and even accepting the way he was able to regain his Perfect form without 18, that much of a power loss means either he shouldn't have been any stronger than he was during his previous round of getting beaten around by Gohan, or that he'd used up so much power that Vegeta's barrage of attacks should have been able to seriously hurt him.
** Two possible explainations: 1. Cell's mix of genes allowed him to overcome that weakness of namekian regeneration, or 2. Cell's power increase from being restored from near death was so massive, that it managed to not only overcome the fatigue loss as a result of the regeneration, but increase Cell's power far beyond what it was before.
** You forgot that Goku Threw Cell a senzu bean before his fight with Gohan which restored his energy.
** Saiyans get stronger when they survive near death experiences, embodying the term "what doesn't kill me makes me stronger." Cell was very nearly killed, considering even ''[[SmugSuper he]]'' didn't know he'd survive. The massive boost of strength allowed him to return to perfection and then some.
* OK, why didn't Trunks bother to describe what the Androids looked like when he first came to them? Goku was right on target when he said, "Couldn't Trunks have given a picture of them to us or something?" Now, I know Trunks wouldn't take a camera and snap a photo of the Androids, but would it have killed him to tell them what they looked like in the first place?
** Yea honestly it's a bit of a plot hole. I guess you could HandWave it by saying that Trunks just didn't think to describe them because he figured that two killer robots flying around blowing up cities would be hard to miss.
*** It's a bigger plot hole than that when you think about it. While I can't think of a specific scene that confirms beyond a doubt that Trunks CAN sense energy levels I think it can be assumed that he can. With that in mind he not only neglected to mention what the Androids looked like but that they you can't sense their energy! Considering the DBZ fighters are so accustomed to fighting because they can sense your energy and not see you that's a pretty important detail to have forgotten to mention. Since there is some evidence that fighter's durability is a conscious power (Not just the "non-cannon" rock from Krillin but also the one hit ko by Vegeta against Goku during the Buu Saga) it's possible that even 19 and 20 could have killed Goku the same way they did Yamcha. Sucker punch. After all who's on their guard around a little girl and her effeminate brother if they just come across you on the streets?
*** Remember Trunks was only a toddler when the Androids first attacked, and the Androids have been his only real opponents his entire life. While Trunks probably knows how to sense energy, he's never had an enemy to fight where he'd even be able to use that to track them. It's something he simply doesn't think about, and it didn't occur to him to mention it. To him, not being able to sense your opponent's energy is normal, not an anomalous factor to be warned about.
* Why didn't our heroes simply gather the Dragon Balls, wish for knowledge of Gero's location, and then go there and kill him, preventing the creation of the Androids?
** That's what Bulma said. Plus, it's simple. It's because they thought that if they trained ahead of time, they would stand a chance against Gero and the Androids..I swear, it's all in the blood, but oh well, we wouldn't have a show if the heroes didn't make any poor decisions.
** Several reasons, first Saiyans are deeply stupid and crave challenge, the idea of cheating to get around it is something Goku and Vegeta would rather die than attempt. Second Goku and the good characters probably think you can't punish someone for a crime they haven't committed yet even if your time traveling buddy thinks you should. Ultimately it wouldn't stop Cell anyway since he was hidden away and even Imperfect Cell is perfectly fatal to a bunch of people who have precisely one warrior capable of standing up to Frieza.
** There's also the issue that they really don't know how far along in development the androids are, and going there right away would risk kick-starting Trunks' apocalypse earlier than they could be prepared for. It made more sense to play it safe and wait for a time where they could be counted on showing up and just train hard til then.
* Okay, why don't androids have energy? I get why 16 and 19 don't. As far as we can tell they are pure robots, Gero is quite possibly pure robot but 17 and 18 aren't robots, they're enhanced humans. 18 is human enough to have a child. They should have energy just like every other living thing (which is the whole point of the Spirit Bomb is you can draw ki from the GRASS). Their ki shouldn't be on par with their power levels but I don't see any logical reason why they shouldn't be at least on par with say the Farmer Raditz killed or Mr. Turtle!
** Number one, the farmer doesn't even measure up to the loosest interpretation of formidable when it comes to ki in ''Dragon Ball''. Number two, Dr. Gero modified them enough that they could take a basic Super Saiyan easily with little-to-no training yet still be put to sleep via remote control. It actually makes sense that their human energy would be relatively impossible to catch. Number three, they're both shown later raising their hands to surrender the little ki they actually have to Goku's Spirit Bomb at the end of the Buu saga. So it's not that they don't have ki; it just doesn't stick out at all.
* Okay, time travel gets real wonky real fast. Why does Trunks know the time and place of Goku's landing? The answer we're supposed to accept is that is where and when he landed in Trunk's timeline but all the evidence (aside from Trunk's knowledge) suggests that Goku DIDN'T land in Trunk's timeline. Frieza arrived and before he could kill anybody Goku used Instant Transmission and saved the day. It seems the location of the ship not only probably would have changed but without Goku being in the thing who cares about it?
** It's still a cool piece of alien tech that Bulma probably would've wanted to work on.
* This troper wonders exactly why the military just throw all their resources into attacking Cell and Majin Buu senselessly, without developing a real strategy. Wouldn't that needlessly cost them the lives of their soldiers, particularly the infantry? It seems completely stupid to have their infantry soldiers within range of where missiles, bombs, and shrapnle are exploding.
** The general public in the world of Dragon Ball....[[HumansAreMorons aren't too bright]] to say the least. Those scenes also serve the purpose of showing off how powerful and/or merciless the villains are though.
*** You have a point.
** What kind of strategy would have made any kind of difference?
*** No Idea. But, [[DumbassMilitary you'd think that the military would've at least come up with something better]] than "Throw everything you have at him at the EXACT same time." Heck, there should be a trope for this.
*** What, exactly, makes that a bad strategy, anyway? The fact it didn't work? ''Nothing'' they tried was going to work. That's the whole point. It's a singular target, with no resources to attack, and which is impossible to flank. Concentrating all your firepower on it is not in any way "idiotic."
*** Except for the fact that you are sending your infantry to attack that single target as well, thus risking their lives unnecessarily.It makes to concentrate your attack with Atillery, Jets, and Vehicles... but not with regular infantry added into the mix; Machine Gunners would have to get close to the target in order to fire, putting them at greater risk of getting hit by your own units.They would be in the blast radius OF your long range weaponry while they were firing; thus It is better for you to have them pulled back and used as escorts instead, so as to not risk any unneccesary casualties. If you want to concentrate the combined firepower of your artillery,Tanks, Missle Launchers, Snipers, and jets on a single target, fine, go ahead, but regular infantry would just get in the way. Hence why I say that they were "idiotic."
*** Personally I've always wondered why they never attempted to just drop nukes on Cell. Not that it would have worked (it might even have made him a little stronger if it injured him enough and is Saiyan genes kicked in with Zenkai), but I could see a desperate military considering that when faced with a global threat like Cell. It's not like they'd have to worry much about injuring civilians since he was standing in the middle of a huge barren wasteland with his ring.
* How exactly was Cell going to destroy the earth with his Kamehameha aimed tangentially to the earth's surface? I mean he was shooting it at Gohan, who was standing at the same ground level. I'm ready to accept though that Cell was a bit too unhinged for basic geometry at that point.
** Most energy attacks explode, he probably means to incinerate gohan and the remaining energy would make a large explosion to destroy the 'earth'(he said solar system later)
* Why are people weaker than Cell managing to blow him up? Vegeta and Goku both blast part of his body up, but as he has a much higher power level shouldnt they be unable to do that, just because loss of body bits isnt as fatal to him as others that shouldnt mean that weaker characters can damage his body, regen isnt needed unless a stronger person blasts you, like piccolo and nail but cell seems to be the only one who ends up needing it against people weaker than him. I guess its lucky for him he has regen or hed be the biggest pushover villain ever, imagine if krillin could have blown friezas head off, without regen hed be dead but since hes stronger than krillin that could never happen, so why does it happen with cell?
** Probably two reasons. Out-of-universe it's just so we can see Cell (and later Buu) badly deformed and seemingly "near" death and then come back from it. In-universe Cell might be a weaker than we think, instead of splitting his power between offense and defense he dumps it all in offense because what does he care if half his body gets blown away? We know that defense is at least partially based on will and focusing energy.
* Why doesn't King Cold seem to have [[OneWingedAngel an extra form?]] Both of his kids had at least four, and being their father he'd be at least close in power to them. If he had an extra form, I'd expect him to whip it out the moment he sees his [[DragonballZAbridged darling little princess]] get turned into ribbons.
** He doesn't have other forms, it's not a trait of Friezas entire race, only he could do it. It's not even a proper transformation either, Friezas final form is his real one and the others were created so that he could limit his power to control it better. King Cold doesn't have a problem controling his power so he never needed to create weaker forms to limit it, he was at full power already against Trunks. Cooler doesn't count because he is a movie only character and doesn't follow the logic or rules of the anime.
*** There is no reason to believe that King Cold doesn't follow the same logic as Frieza, we know for a fact that Frieza's 4th form is actually his true form. It stands to reason that King Cold being of the same race also has the same base form. As for why King Cold didn't transform he simply didn't. Maybe he didn't think he'd have the time, maybe he thought he was a lot more powerful than he was.
**** Freiza stated that he created his forms to supress his power, its not something that his whole race can do, if King Cold could transform then he would have after seeing his son killed so quickly.
* If King Kai knew the Instant Transmission technique, why didn't he transport Goku to the Other World Checkpoint during the Saiyan Saga?
** Simple. When Trunks went back to kill the Androids in his timeline, he was much, much stronger than he was when he initially left them. All that training, then getting killed and being brought back to life in the main timeline did wonders for him. They were probably just as strong as the main timeline androids, the difference was that Trunks was now strong enough to beat them.
** ...yeah. I know. But that wasn't what I was asking about; I was asking why Trunks explicitly said several times that the current androids in the main timeline are so much stronger than the androids from his timeline.
** It's never explained. There are plenty of possibilities though. Perhaps they don't REALLY have infinite energy and sixteen or so years of running wild had weakened them some what. My personal guess is Gero purposely weakened them, without Goku to pressure him he took his time in the hopes of getting them to a point where they could be controlled. Clearly he failed in his endeavor.
** I always thought that since in the Future timeline, Goku killed Frieza and his Father by using Instant Transmission and teleporting to their ship as opposed to what Future Trunks did and fighting them on Earth. Because of that, Dr. Gero obtained their data and was able to scale the androids accordingly.
** I had assumed that seeing Trunks turn Super Saiyan freaked out Dr. Gero, who hadn't seen a Super Saiyan before, and instead of focusing that 3 years on modifying 17 and 18's personalities, he instead focused on improving their battle power to ensure they'd be more than a match for someone of Trunks' power level and just never got around to brainwashing them or whatever he did. So ironically, Trunks' interference made the Androids stronger than they would have been, but ultimately less of a threat because their personalities were mostly unchanged and they were never really evil to begin with.
* How did Trunks dispatch Mecha Frieza so effortlessly? Trunks was, according to Gohan, similar to Namek Goku. Namek Goku was pretty close to Frieza, being only 25% stronger than him (120 million vs 150 million). And Mecha Frieza was stronger than Namek Frieza, to the point that he was confident he could match Namek Goku's power and maybe even win. So if the gap between Trunks and Mecha Frieza is this small, how in the hell did Trunks manage to do half of the things he did, like ''catch Frieza's Supernova?''
** Sensed power levels are ''notoriously'' unreliable, due to suppression ability, powerup abilities, and variance based on skill and tactics - not as bad as scouters, obviously, but still unreliable enough that their evidence can be discarded if it conflicts with reality.
** Also, Trunks catching Freeza's Supernova is filler. In the manga, he actually kills him really quickly.
* It's one thing to say Goku is a bad father, but to say Vegeta was a better one? Come on. He could care less about either of his sons (present and Future) until the Future one was killed by Cell. Not to mention while they were training in the hyperbolic time chamber Trunks said that they didn't train together. A guy who was willing to let an infant die is a better father than a guy who told his experienced 11 year old Son with a hidden potential (and was the youngest person at the time to reach Super saiyan AND master it) to fight?
** And who says he was a better father? The reason him blowing up once Future Trunks is killed is treated as a "Hey, there may be something to this guy" moment is precisely BECAUSE the extent of the care he showed about his son was pride at Future Trunks' strength being near his own, yet here he is going PapaWolf and trying to avenge his son. Even so, he's still not exactly rewarded for his folly, considering he gets knocked the hell out and then Krillin criticizes how his senseless flurry doesn't help anything. And that's far from the first time the others rightly call Vegeta's crap in this saga, regarding Trunks or otherwise.
** Vegeta does care about his sons (present and Future) frankly future trunks to a nearly absurd degree. Starting with Future Trunks, Vegeta warms up to him fairly quickly. It makes some sense that Trunks worships Vegeta since Bulma apparently had much warmer and fuzzier memories of Vegeta even in that time line than we are generally lead to believe. Vegeta however is affectionate enough by the end of the saga to rush Cell over Trunks who was physically his son but emotionally was much more Gohan's child than Vegeta's. We don't know much of the details of Bulma and Vegeta's relationship, especially early on. As in when did HE find out Trunks was his son. From what we learn from Future Trunks I doubt that Vegeta and Bulma were enough of an item (especially since he went into space immediatly following that) that him coming back and finding her pregnant instantly clicked as "that's my son" not "Earth Woman got pregnant while I was away." Certainly by the time the Buu Saga comes along he's quite proud of and attached to his son. I'm not saying he's a better father than Goku, he just has a better habit of staying alive after having children but he's no where near the uncaring brute he's being portrayed as here.
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%% Bubbles and Gregory are filler-only characters, but the wish itself and King Kai remaining dead was in the main storyline, hence its placement here rather than on the Filler subpage.
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* King Kai, Bubbles, and Gregory were killed in Cell's destruction of the Kai planet, same as Goku, yet they weren't revived when the wish to bring back all those killed by Cell was made. What gives?
** Goku says King Kai could be revived but decided to stay dead in order to show him around. And apparently people can decide whether to be affected by a wish or not (such as when Goku refused to return to Earth after the Namek saga)
*** Not to mention being dead doesn't really change King Kai's situation much; he lives in the afterlife anyways.
* Vol 19, something's off about Trunks' afterstory. Cell's reason for coming to our timeline was because the androids were missing in his, right? But right before Future Trunks fights him, they have the following exchange.
--> Cell: You can't even defeat 17 or 18, much less me
--> Trunks: Oh? Then where are they now?
--> Cell(shocked): !!
--> Cell: ...You don't mean...You destroyed them?
** In other words, Cell didn't learn the androids were missing until ''after'' he tried to kill Trunks and take his time machine. But why would he try to go back in the past unless he knew the androids were missing already? Why wouldn't he try to assimilate the weaker future androids? Can anyone say "Plot hole"?
** The Time travelling story in whole. Get some Popcorn. The Original Timeline - Cell's Timeline - has Goku defeating Frieza and King Cold, then dying shortly later of a Heart virus. Dr. Gero unleashes Androids 17 and 18 onto the world. They kill the Z Fighters, bar Gohan. Gohan survives for awhile, trains Trunks, but later dies. Bulma, builds a Time Machine to find a way of preventing everything that has happened. Trunks goes back in time to an Unseen Timeline...
** Unseen Timeline: and arrives upon the arrival of Frieza and King Cold. Trunks defeats them, and tracks down Goku, giving him the antidote/cure to the Heart Virus he later develops. He returns to HIS Timeline, but returns to help the Z Fighters deal with Androids 17 and 18. At some point, they discover Gero's secret lab, and find the blue prints to 17 and 18. Trunks returns to his time...
** Cell's Timeline and destroys the Androids with the shut down device. A year later, Cell appears while Trunks is getting ready to go back one last time to tell them of his success (why he took so long is hard to understand). Cell kills him and goes back in time...
** Main Timeline: Cell winds up creating a new timeline to 1 year before Trunks arrives and begins to develop/grow. 1 year later, FUTURE TRUNKS arrives (Cell's arrival does nothing to prevent Trunks' previous Time Travelling). But because of Cell's presence in this timeline, it is not the Trunks from Cell's Timeline arriving to the Unseen Timeline, it's a different pair. This turns out to be the Main Timeline and Future Trunks' Timeline. Future Trunks is identical to the Trunks from Cell's Timeline so far. Everything you see in the manga/anime happens, including Cell killing Future Trunks. After Cell is defeated, and Trunks is resurrected, he returns to his timeline, aware of Cell's arrival in his own timeline...
** Future Trunks' Timeline: But first things first, he beats the shit out of 17 and 18. When Cell arrives, presumably that exchange happens.
*** In Cell's Timeline, 17 and 18 are dead. In Future Trunks' Timeline, they are dead. In the maintime line, Cell gets killed. In the Unseen Timeline, they are presumably gone, and Cell's fate is unknown. Hope that answered the question somewhere.
*** Much simpler explanation: Cell knew 17 and 18 were missing, but his shock was that Trunks defeated them. Understandable since previous data showed Trunks overwhelmed by a single android.
**** No. It's hard to tell from the quote above, but the manga page shows that Cell clearly did not know 17 and 18 were missing until Trunks told them. When Trunks told him, he tried to sense them (which doesn't make sense in and of itself, but...), realized they were missing and reacted with shock. If he already knew they were missing, he wouldn't have bothered searching.
**** Like you say, Cell trying to "sense" the androids makes no sense. But even if he found out first from Trunks the androids were missing, so what? Cell could've been spying on Trunks for any number of reasons, only to be called out by Trunks, learn of the androids' destruction, then decide to steal the time machine.
**** Except Trunks calls out Cell by accusing him of planning to kill him (Trunks) and go back in time to absorb the androids, to which Cell is like "How did you know?" Which brings us back to the opening question. The whole Trunks after-story is one big "Huh?"
**** ''the manga page shows that Cell clearly did not know 17 and 18 were missing.'' Wrong. Panel 1: Cell tells Trunks that he's too weak to even defeat the Androids ("You can't even defeat 17 or 18, much less me"). Panel 2: Trunks asks him "Oh? Then where are they now?". Panel 3: Cell is shocked ("!!"). Panel 4: Cell asks "You don't mean... ''They're missing because'' you destroyed them?". There's nothing that shows he didn't know they were destroyed, and he's not shown "sensing" them.
**** From that, it seems he knew they were missing, but did ''not'' know they had been destroyed. So his shock is because they were destroyed by Trunks, not because they were missing.
**** The reason why Cell eats Ginger Town is because he transforms after absorbing an amount of power (stated when Piccolo and Cell met) so why didn't Cell try and absorb Trunks who is at that point more powerful than 18 and 17 combined?
***** No, ''Cell can transform only by absorbing 17 and 18''. Absorbing others simply makes him stronger, but he was too weak to manage to absorb Trunks. Or, if you're referring to the timeline where Cell killed Trunks and stole his Time Machine, well... the manga never showed what happened, so maybe he DID absorb him.
***** Nope. In a flash back scene from the anime, Cell kills Trunks by choking him with his tail (rather silly but whatever) and goes into a cacoon state in order to travel in the time machine which was too big for him. He also lowers his power as a result of this transformation; this is why he has to absorb Ginger Town among other populated areas to get enough power to absorb the androids. Even if he had absorbed Trunks, he would have lost the power immediately in order to cacoon himself.
** Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I remember it being mentioned in the series that Cell could sense the Androids. It was probably not through ki, though. It must be some device or something the Androids had which made it possible for Cell, and only Cell, to detect them.
*** Nope. He has to look for them the old fashioned way, otherwise he wouldn't have had to go through all the trouble of blowing up islands to flush 18 out of hiding.
* Vol 14, Piccolo sees Kami looking down on the world, calls peeping on the lower world "an undignified hobby" and says Kami will lose that ability once they merge. Except they don't, and Piccolo takes over as resident voyeur. Either Toriyama forgot he wrote that line or Piccolo was wrong, or both.
** Kami "lost" that ability because he is no more, hence he can never look down anymore.
** Granted, Piccolo becomes substantially mellower when he fuses with Nail; when he fuses with Kami, it gets even worse, as he is shown to be shell-shocked at the destruction of the Lookout by Gotenks and Buu as Kami would if such was the case. As such, it can be concluded that Piccolo is just boasting at that moment.
* Android Saga. Right before they enter the Dr. Gero's cave, Krillin divides the six Senzu beans between himself, Picollo and Tien. After the Battle Royal (No Match for the Androids), Krillin again has all six Senzu beans.
** That may be an AdaptationInducedPlotHole. I don't remember the anime, but in the manga I clearly remember that the Senzu are divided, and a panel shows his hand holding only two beans. He probably recovered the other four from his friends' bodies.
* Why didn't Goku just teleport back to Earth before Cell exploded?
** Because he was feeling mentor-y and wanted his son to take over for him in guarding Earth. He persisted in this philosophy well into the Buu saga.
** '''Real Reason:''' Toriyama wanted Goku out of the way, to officially pass the torch to Gohan. Hence - Goku go boom.
*** '''Plausible In-Story Reason:''' He had to stay to make sure Cell didn't have any tricks that would allow him to return to Earth before The Boom (Turns out, he did.)
**** Not that Goku could do anything about it after the explosion...
** Because he forgot to think of that in the middle of apologizing to King Kai for taking Cell there.
** Goku's an IdiotHero anyway, what makes you think he'd actually bothered to think that far ahead? Using Instant Transmission was an absolute last resort (which didn't even work), and he didn't even have a planet in mind when he decided to use it. (Seriously, that's pretty stupid--why not go to some deserted planet, or even the ruins of Namek or the middle of space?) Throw in King Kai distracting him, and BOOM! before he has a chance to think about grabbing King Kai and zipping back to Earth.
*** Goku can teleport only to places he senses ki, so he can't 'port to a lifeless location. Considering he got only King Kai and his 2 pets, besides himself, killed, it was actually wise on Goku's part. Then again, he still could've saved them, as well as himself, if he had just moved with a little urgency.
*** Well, to be fair, Goku only had ''just'' enough time to tell King Kai that the little planet was the only place he could think of sending Cell to. Immediately after that, Cell blew up. Even if Goku had the power to teleport himself, King Kai and the animals off, he would still need some time to find somebody else to teleport to; the closest being with ki off the planet would probably be Enma Daio, at the other end of Snake Way.
*** What's stopping him from just going back to Earth?
*** He'd have to grab King Kai and search for a familiar ki back on Earth (ie, Gohan and co) and teleport in...five seconds. Granted, if he hadn't paused to yammer, but ''immediately'' ran to King Kai to teleport him off, he might just have made it.
* Ok, where are Babidi and Majin Buu in the future Trunks alternate timeline? They definitely should have appeared at that point (and presumably killed off the human race.)
** Given that he was gathering ki on weak (as far as he knew) old Earth in the primary timeline, it can be assumed that he needed to gather ki from nearby Buu's cocoon. In future Trunks' timeline, most of the strongest people are dead, except a weaker Gohan and Trunks, who combined don't have enough to unleash Buu, and ki-less androids. Presumably, Babidi keeps a few probes on Earth or something, and came by in the main timeline because there were enough strong people to fuel Buu's unleashing. Not enough strong people in future Trunks' timeline, so no Babidi, who is presumably still waiting over there.
** This is the plot of ''[[VideoGame/DragonBallZBudokai Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai 2: Another Road]]''.
*** There's bound to be timelines out there were Babidi and Buu did succeed in wrecking the planet. But given the loss of the DBZ warriors and the population being driven underground in Future Trunks' timeline, it's possible Babidi never did get enough energy to revive Buu, or was killed (either him or Dabra/Spopovich/Yamu) by the androids before succeeding.
**** The Androids just are not killing Dabra outside of the sneak attack from HFIL. Dabra's power are supposed to be comparable to Perfect Cell.
**** There are bound to be timelines where Dabra never joined Babidi, as well as timelines where Dabra killed the Androids. The multiverse is infinite.
* Dr. Gero is shocked when Goku and Vegeta go [=SSJ=]. The explaination given is that Dr. Gero wasn't monitering them in space. But wait, didn't Trunks go [=SSJ=] on earth in his fight with Frieza? Goku too?
** He never ''saw'' Goku do it, and he certainly never saw Vegeta doing it. He probably thought it was an ability unique to that Trunks person.
** Dr. Gero explicitly states that by the time Goku went off to space he had ended surveillance, since he had formed a method of calculating the future rate of everyone's power increase and considered further surveillance unnecessary and a potential security risk.
*** Honestly its a bit of a plot hole. Dr. Gero claims he stopped surveliance of them at that time and I can only imagine he must not have programmed his computer to notify him if something truly outrageous happened but Cell has Frieza and King Cold cells in him, clearly the surveilence was still active at least until Trunks vs Frieza and I doubt surveliance stopped right then which is what it would take.
*** Gero stopped surveillance, but the computer kept working on the Cell Project. The bugs that collect DNA are part of that project and have nothing to do with Goku surveillance project. This is shown in the anime by having two unique models of insects: one presumably with a camera, and the other that gathers DNA from strong fighters.
* How is it possible for '''nobody''' to figure out Trunks is Vegeta and Bulma's Child? He comes from the future, Goku is dead due to an illness, Gohan is too young to conceive anyone, and no other saiyans have appeared from space. He has the same haircolor as Bulma (manga), he is wearing a CC jacket, and has a time machine. They both live in the same house. Even the two of them don't put it together until they see him again -- despite having a lookalike baby! How can people be this clueless? It just bugs me.
** I assume you mean after Trunks reappears when the Androids emerge. Up to that point, only Goku and Piccolo knew Mirai Trunks' name and origins. And once Piccolo blurts out his name, Vegeta rapidly puts two and two together (and bashes himself for not seeing it sooner). Also don't forget Vegeta thought he was lying about being a Saiyan. Not to mention everyone was too busy acting on Trunks' warning (training and such) to put much thought into Trunks' lineage.
*** Right, like it is the *name* that makes it obvious. Sure, they are in training, but I'm sure they take a break to eat every once in a while. Dude comes from the future and nobody spends a few minutes to speculate? Not to mention Bulma isn't training, and she is supposed to be pretty clever -- yet she didn't figure it out, given she is shocked when Goku knows his name.
**** Well, keep in mind one important fact: With the exception of Bulma, they're all single-minded idiots. Bulma probably never gave it a second thought until Mirai Trunks reappeared.
*** But was anyone really ''trying'' to figure out Trunks' "identity"? He's a heroic young Saiyan from the future, apparently Future Bulma sent him back in time, there we go. They were more worried about the whole "all of you died in my future" message he'd given them, and without the benefit of hindsight, Trunks could've come from anywhere: yet another long-lost Saiyan who'd arrived on Earth, Future Bulma's attempt to artificially concieve or clone a Saiyan using Goku or Gohan's DNA, a younger child that Goku and Chi Chi had before he died (Goten didn't exist yet, so Trunks could've been Gohan's younger brother as far as they knew - remember, kids in real life don't always look like their parents, and who knows how YouGottaHaveBlueHair genetics works), and so on. For what it's worth, a lot of non-spoiled fans at the time were surprised, and they had a better perspective on the mystery than the characters themselves.
**** "Gohan is too young to conceive anyone"? I wouldn't really agree with that if you catch my drift.
** Gohan is ''ten years old'' at most when Trunks first appears with his warning of the future, man! He's still a child!
*** He's 10 chronologically at the end of the Cell Saga, making him ''7'' when Trunks comes back with the warning.
*** Which makes it even ''worse''!
** On the other hand, with the Hyperbolic Time Chamber in play, Gohan could have potentially gained quite a few years on Bulma (or any other sexually mature female with genetics conducive to purple-haired quarter-Saiyans) over the 20 years period in question. Trunks himself could have spend a significant amount of his childhood in there, as well. Who knows how many generations a Saiyan eugenics program could go through under the right circumstances. Not to mention other possibilities the Dragonballs present (like artificially aging Gohan to his peak condition or discovering/transporting to Earth any long-lost Saiyan foot soldiers that may have been offworld when Planet Vegeta blew up in hopes of bringing them back from effective extinction.) Sure, if you get hung up on his parentage, the mystery solves itself, but if you don't actually care that much (as most of them didn't), then it's the warning that captures your attention.
** The reason they didn't figure it out, despite having a look-a-like baby is because it's quite a leap to assume that just because your baby has the same eye and hair color as the strange time-traveler from the future, that your baby is him as an adult; and like another Troper said, before Mirai Trunks' return, only Goku and Piccolo knew who he really was. They ''may'' have speculated where this guy came from, but it must've happened off-screen.
** Did we really have time to discuss where Trunks came from? Once he defeats Cold and Frieza, Trunks then takes the group where Goku would land, and shortly after, spilled the beans to Goku as to where he came from. That happened the episode after he killed Frieza and Cold.
* Why did Bulma go to all of the effort of inventing a time machine for Trunks when it would have been much easier to build another spaceship and send him to Namek and use their balls. Three Wishes: Move/Destroy the Androids, Bring Piccolo/Kami Back, Bring Gohan or Vegeta Back. Much better than just saving the lives of some alternate versions of some people you never really knew, isn't it?
** First off, Namek was destroyed and nobody knew where "New Namek" was. When Goku needed the Namek Dragon Balls at the end of Buu saga he had to go ask Kaio to find them.
** Secondly, moving or destroying the androids won't work because it's established that the dragons cannot affect someone stronger than they. In that case bringing back Piccolo/Kami or any of the others is fruitless because they'll just get killed again. Trunks did say he went to the past to find out how to kill the androids. He could have wished them back ''after'', but again there's many limitations: only one person at once, or a one-year limit, or previously resurrected people can't be brought back again, etc. Why waste time on dead people with a middling chance of resurrection when you have an entire world to rebuild?
** I have to agree. While Gohan was shown as being strong enough to handle a SINGLE android, he was far more powerful than any of the other dead fighters, and since Goku died of a heart disease (which technically falls under 'natural causes', which was one of the can't-do-it rules of resurrection) bringing back the I-get-powerful-stupidly-fast fighter was out of the question.
*** Nothing stops them from building a space ship later when the world has stabilized a bit, anyway.
**** No, it doesn't put that out of the question. Future Goku, Gohan, Vegeta, Piccolo, Yamcha, Tien and Krillin are all dead. It's mentioned that Other World is inclined to encourage fighting/training as is shown with Goku, Yamcha etc. Presumably they would have done the same as mainstream, getting more powerful. Even if they didn't, they have 3 adult Super Saiyans among them, and as canon time shows, the dead can have one day on Earth. Gohan could handle the Androids on a 1v1 scale, surely with Goku and Vegeta and Trunks...it would be done quickly. So what the heck, Z-Fighters?
** All they had to do was wish that Dr. Gero (who wouldn't be stronger than Shenron or Porunga) never went into robotics or becomes good or any other wish that would prevent him from creating the rest of the androids.
*** That makes no sense. ''When'' have the dragons been shown to retroactively alter things?
*** Also Shenron and Porunga are only as strong as their creators - Kami/Dende Guru/Namek Elder. Dr Gero is at least as strong as Frieza; so no, the Dragons couldn't directly effect him in any way whatsoever.
**** It's actually an interesting question, Krillin wishes for the self-destruct bombs to be taken out of the Androids and there is no reason to believe that the Androids consented which is the actual limitation, not the power.
*** On the other hand, it's plausible that with a time machine, Trunks could have gone back to before Gero was all that strong (or even born) and make the wish well in advance. This, of course, opens up all sorts of timey-wimey problems, like a Shenron that prevents Gero from excelling in robotics (only to make some previously unknown college rival the new big bad) of the future).
** Trunks later admits (right after finding Cell) that his goal was just to find out the means to destroy the androids by watching the DBZ warriors fight them, or failing that to bring Son Goku with him to the future. What I've gotta wonder is why he didn't get Shenlong to make him a new shutdown controller for the androids and use that to immobilize+ destroy them in the future. Or get Past Bulma to make him one, but I guess by that point he was already strong enough to take on the androids on his own (who were weaker in his timeline than in Goku's).
*** In the timeline where Cell killed him, that's what happened. He went to the past, got the remote, went back to the future, used the remote, and then Cell kills him, since he didn't go through all that extra training. AllThereInTheManual.
* Okay, the timelines thing with Trunks. If he can go back to his own future to kill Cell, then his timeline is stable. But he kills Cell before he can go back in time in the first place, the Cell saga never happens. So we've got Cell in the future, dead. Cell in the present, dead. If it was possible for Trunks to get back to his own timeline, then how could he kill Cell before Cell went back, with the powers he gained training to fight Cell-in-the-past? To add yet another complication, this troper has also heard the interpretation of onscreen events as Cell killing Trunks to steal the time machine before he can go back the first time, but Trunks kills Cell before Cell can kill pre-travel future Trunks abnd get the time machine, but if he hadn't he shouldn;t bein the past. but since he did, Cell shouldn't be in the past, so [[TimeyWimeyBall oh no I've gone cross-eyed]]. To summarize: Two timelines are missing a Trunks, at least one timeline is missing a Cell, and neither Trunks nor Bulma actually know how time travel works, do they?.
** Because the timelines have already been set and can't be altered. At this point, a third timeline had been created (where the main Cell came from) and couldn't be written out of existence. Trunks himself stated that what happened in other timelines couldn't affect the other ones, as we see him and Krillin destroy present Cell, yet the main Cell still exists. When he returns to his future, the events in the main timeline haven't altered his, further confirming his statements.
** There are three independent timelines. There is the main one, there is a second one where Cell kills Trunks and goes back in time into the main timeline (ultimately becoming perfect Cell), and there is a third one where future Trunks goes back in time into the main timeline, then returns and kills the Cell of his timeline before he can steal the time machine from him. The main timeline's Cell was killed before he was even born (lol aborted). All timelines are independent; changing something in one doesn't affect anything in the other ones, so everything is accounted for.
*** Well, there are actually four timelines. The one you didn't mention was the one that would've been the main timeline if Cell didn't kill Trunks and take his machine to the main timeline. In the fourth timeline, future Cell wasn't present. They found the blueprints for the androids in Gero's lab and managed to destroy the androids of that timeline. Then that future Trunks went to the future, deactivated the androids, destroyed them, and was later killed by Cell before he could go back to the present to alert everyone of the good news. What confuses me, however, are two things: The alternate present Cell and alternate present 16. What if they ''didn't'' destroy the Cell of that timeline? Not knowing of Cell's existence, they'd have no reason to destroy the super computer building Cell nor Cell himself because they didn't know about them; Hell, they didn't even know about the hidden bunker below the lab. In 20 years or so, he'd appear and everyone would be fucked. Not to mention the whole conflict with Majin Buu that might possibly happen before Cell is even complete. Then there's 16. Was he just not present in that timeline? I doubt that he would've just sat back and allowed 17 and 18 to get destroyed and the dude was stronger than a fully powered future Imperfect Cell. The only character that would've stood a chance is Piccolo after fusing with Kami and the only reason Kami even agreed to do it was because he sensed future Cell, who wasn't present in the alternate present timeline. Did future Cell's presence somehow cause Gero to create him? That makes me wonder about just how similar the alternate present timeline is to the main timeline. Future Cell's presence could've somehow influenced Gero's decisions in regards to how powerful to make 17 and 18 and the creation of 16 (or how powerful to make him if he was going to make him anyway as a result of being affected somehow by Trunks' time traveling). Present Cell could've possibly have been much stronger than his future counterpart if allowed to grow.
* Where was Cell hiding Seventeen and Eighteen, anyhow? He's seen vomiting Eighteen out near the end of the Cell/Gohan fight, and she's totally intact. I know both androids are ninety pounds soaking wet, but Cell wasn't so big that he had enough room for two human-sized secret compartments, even if you assume they were curled up into very tight fetal positions. I don't know, maybe he could have spontaneously digested Seventeen to make room for Eighteen, but even then it's still a stretch.
** Don't forget that when Buu absorbed people, they shrank. It might be the same, especially since Cell was designed EXPRESSLY to absorb these two individuals.
** That's exactly what this troper always assumed. Seventeen was disassembled, and Eighteen was meant to be used relatively intact. And may have been usable the other way around, had he absorbed them in a different order. If you think it's a stretch, just remember: [[RuleOfCool Cell doesn't make much sense anyway]].
** Another point is that even if he could fit them in his body, his whole top half was blown off in the Cell Games. He could regenerate, but unless he could extend his capabilities to the androids (who were partly mechanical?), they should have died at that point, depriving him of his main source of power.
** Except that "androids" is a bad translation. The japanese word means something more like "artificial being" than "robot". They were both human before, gero just enhanced them. They were absorbed on the cellular level. Of course, this brings to mind the question of how #18 was coughed up at all...
*** Obvious cyborgs are obvious. Anyway, indeed, 18 should've been coughed up as sludge, and neither her nor 17 could've been left whole in there. In the normal perfect form, Cell is very lithe, only having any sort of bulk in its upper body. Only when it artificially bulks up, are its belly, throat and mouth big enough to hold an entire woman. If the process somehow reconstructed her, she should've come [[FanService naked]], and with no cheratin parts, the outer layer of skin, or any fat at all - basically a [[FanDisservice bright pink, emaciated hommunculus]] whose fragile skin would've been torn to ribbons by encountering the interior of Cell's esophagus, its ''teeth'' and the rough ground.
**** And they should not come out fully clothed either. I guess even Cell needs fiber in his diet to keep him regular.
** I alwasy assumed that 17 and 18 were stored in Cell's body just like in Buu's; shrunken and fully intact. They were probably stored in his lower body which actually makes sense as he vomited her up (she was near the stomach). When Cell grew giant they grew proportionally (to their normal sizes) and the rest is history.
** Why is everyone assuming that Cell had a 'stomach' - or even a digestive system - in the same way that humans do? At what point did Cell ever need to eat or drink? Gero was mad, yes, but he was also a scientist, which means he was a pretty smart guy. The need to eat or drink for sustenance (unless you're counting essentially sucking the blood and life energy of human victims) would have probably been one of the first weaknesses Gero made sure were ''not'' in Cell's biology. This ''is'' an alien, after all. Also, this is a world where entire houses and vehicles have been shown to be able to fit in capsules about the size of a horse pill. It's very possible that Gero somehow found a way to reverse the process and cause 17 and 18 to shrink inside Cell's body - and then that Gohan's hard shot to Cell's gut reversed that process, causing her to expand back to normal size in the body of Cell, which obviously could no longer hold her at that size.
* Why didn't Trunks just go one day back in time, get his past self to join him, and repeated the process many times over to create an army of Trunks to easily defeat the androids? Or, more seriously, gone back further and stopped Dr. Gero? Were his actions really optimal decisions?
** For one, because the time machine only had so much juice in it and being jury-rigged from the start, he didn't know how many jumps he had. For another, he had no idea where Dr. Gero was hiding.
*** Stopping Dr. Gero doesn't work because all the timelines are independent. Sure, he might save some other timeline from having to deal with the Androids, but it doesn't do anything to help his world.
* Ok, this just bugs me. If Goku was able to grow his tail back in Dragon Ball, how did they get rid of the tails forever in Dragon Ball Z?
** "Official" according to the Toriyama interview in the first issue of US Shonen Jump:
-->The tail lets you gain trememdous strength instantly by transforming you into a giant ape, but the risks are equally great - you'll lose your strength if it's squeezed. Once you're as powerful as Vegeta and Goku, the tail just gets in the way. It is thought that the bodies of Saiyans, who are a fighting species, decided that their tails are unnecessary appendages.
** Toriyama bullshitting as usual (and ignoring the fact that Goku trained his tail to overcome that weakness), but there you have it.
** AWizardDidIt?
** By the same process which restored the moon between Roshi blowing it up and Piccolo blowing it up?
*** The Wizard in either case being Kami (who permanently removed Goku's tail and restored the moon). More plausible in-story reason: Maybe once you are past puberty it is impossible to grow it back. Why Trunks, et. al. tails never grew back, I'm not sure. Cauterization? Maybe removing it at birth makes it less likely to grow back?
**** Maybe half-saiyan tails don't grow back? Vegeta didn't want the tail post-Frieza in case it interfered with becoming a super sayan, and he's Just That Badass?
***** Gohan's a half-saiyan and his tail grew back like five times.
**** Also maybe not all half-saiyan are born with tails. Neither Trunks nor Goten have ever been shown with tails, maybe Gohan's the freak.
**** According to the Toriyama interview in the very first issue of US Shonen Jump, "It seems that tails are a recessive generic trait." Of course this is Toriyama we're talking about so he probably pulled it from his ass but there you have it.
*** Kami did it, though he doesn't explain how. Since all those times he "lost" his tail in Dragon Ball he just got it cut/snapped (there is always a short stub remaining, after all), I assume when Kami got rid of it he removed it from the root. Like the difference between cutting a hair and pulling it out.
** I think it grows back when they go Oozaru, which they stop doing when the Super Saiyan becomes an option.
*** I fully expected the end of that sentence to be, "which they stop doing when the tail gets cut off." As a joke. Since they don't become Oozaru without a tail. Which means the above explanation doesn't work.
*** I always a assumed it stopped growing back after they reached a certain age.
* If Cell had absorbed Android 18 first, would he have looked the same?
** Probably, since 17-powered Cell didn't resemble 17 at all.
*** Apart from the eyes and the ego (well, that was also from Vegeta. And Freeza. And King Cold.), it was not quite like 17. However, 18 was stated to be weaker, so maybe Cell would be slighty weaker.
**** To my memory, it was 17 that constantly claimed 18 was weaker than 17. Now there does appear to be a ''slight'' difference, but I personally think it had a lot to do with ego and sexism rather than any profound difference in their power levels.
***** Sexism? That's a bit of a reach. "No one is as strong as I am" is not a statement that cares about sexes. Also, let's remember. This is ''Dragon Ball''. Even the slightest-seeming difference in power is capable of leading to a [[CurbStompBattle curb stomp]].
*** It's stated in the manga (on one of the original cover pages at the back detailing all of Gero's creations from #1-20) that #18 is slightly weaker than #17.
* Why did Dr. Gero rebuild himself as an energy absorbing model, if the whole point of that model is that its weaker and easier to control than 17 and 18's model? Was he afraid he'd lose control of himself?
** Remember just what Gero was doing remaking himself as an android. He ''disconnected his own brain and stuck it someplace else''. Given how intrincally, instinctively linked one's body and brain are, it's entirely possible that controlling himself was the last thing Gero had to worry about.
** I'd always assumed he was a poor tactician, and assumed that sucking energy out of enemies and sucking up energy beams was somehow better than unlimited energy.
** Either that, or perhaps the process requires a young, strong body. The energy-absorbing model wasn't as powerful, but all Gero had to do was put his brain in it. He was a frail old man by that time, so he probably wouldn't have survived the implantation process used on 17 and 18.
** On a related note, why did Gero make his robot body look the same age as his human body?
*** Guess vanity isn't one of his many flaws. It's not like he was much better looking as a younger man.
*** All in all, Gero may have been a super genius but he was still a complete idiot. What he ''should'' have done was build a body similar to Super 17 from GT - an Android with both energy absorbing and the infinite power generator he used on 17 and 18. This would have had the incredibly useful advantage of being able to collect the energy of the Kamehameha Wave using his hand... which was probably what he was going for with his current Android 20 body. He watched as his nemesis destroyed the entire Red Ribbon army using that attack - wouldn't it be poetic justice for him to absorb its energy and use it to destroy Goku in revenge?
**** The problem with that idea is that he could never build something like that from scratch. He needed the help of Dr. Myu just to create a clone from hell of 17 that would be able to merge with the guy into Super 17. This also still doesn't address the problem of whether his body may have been too old and worn down to be able to withstand the infinite power generator and data chip experiments he used to turn the two rebellious teenage twins into 17 and 18 in the first place. Even if he could, and even if it was as simple as going through that and then taking up energy absorbing inlets, he would have to ''cut off his own hands'' to make that happen. It's easy to see what could go wrong there.
***** Except… he got infinite energy into a pure synthetic android already! Case and point: 16!
***** [[AIIsACrapshoot Who turned out to be an animal-loving pussy]]. There's a reason Gero considered him a failure.
** I can think of a good reason: Cell. Think about it: Cell was designed to absorb 17 and 18 (or they were designed to be absorbed by Cell; I forget which). If he were like them, Cell might not see himself as perfect after absorbing both 17 and 18, and come after Gero as well. I guess he could make some alterations to his body to make his body useless to Cell or something, though...
** Remember what kind of person Dr. Gero is. He's not just an OmnicidalManiac (for lack of a better phrase), but also is an utter sadist. It seems perfectly acceptable to consider that maybe he prefers slowly, agonisingly draining every last drop of energy from a victim before slaughtering them, thus allowing them to suffer such intense pain and fear that they wish for death to come to be far more satisfying than simply blasting them away in a fairly quick manner.
** Another theory: he started making modifications to himself after he started on the Cell project but before he finished. So follow this timeline:
*** Built Android 16.
*** Started some modifications to himself.
*** Kidnapped the two teenagers, dubbed them Androids 17 and 18 while he started his experiments.
*** Realized some processes (like, say, the whole ''brain surgery'' bit) would require an extra pair of hands that he could fully control - thus, Android 19.
*** Android 19 finishes Gero's modifications for him, thus making Gero Android 20 since 16-19 are already completed.
*** Then Gero finishes Cell (who was technically #21 in the Android series)
*** The kicker here: Gero was probably the only 'true' Android. 16 and 19 were humanoid robots, 17 and 18 were essentially fully human save for a few modifications (whatever generated their power as well as the self-destruct devices), and Cell was a bio-engineered chimera that was fully organic, with no robotic parts at all.
* On the subject of Dr. Gero... Why did he design 19 the way he did? I mean, yeah, the fatness doesn't really impair his fighting ability or anything, but from a purely aesthetic point of view, you have to wonder what's going on in his mind to make him think "Hey, how cool would it be if I designed 19 to be really fat and have mime-like bleach white skin for no real reason?".
** The guy looks like a freaky clown without the red nose, cheeks, and lips. [[MonsterClown Think about it.]]
** No, he looks like a ChineseVampire...which are known to eat life energy/souls, or in this case, Ki.
** Doesn't really explain the fatness though.
* It's a minor point but when Goku comes back to Earth in his spaceship after Trunks killed Freeza he '''A:''' says he knew what was happening, and would have used his new teleport technique to come back to earth immediately if he hadn't been sure Trunks could have handled it. '''B:''' explains his teleport technique as being able to move at the speed of light, quoting the actual speed (at least in the dub, don't know about the original) '''C:''' says he came back from training on a planet millions of lightyears away. As in, it would take millions of years to reach this planet at the speed of light, but his ship did it in a year or so. But even though the ship didn't make it to earth before Freeza did, he could've teleported and arived in time. Calling ArtisticLicenseAstronomy seems a bit redunant at this point.
** It's a minor DubInducedPlotHole (he says nothing about the speed of light in the original Japanese). He clearly moves distances and to places clearly impossible if he were simply zapping himself place to place like a lazer. Easily handwaved by the fact that Goku's an idiot.
* After Future Gohan loses his arm, why doesn't Bulma just build him a new mechanical one? She's supposedly a genius with technology.
** Probably because the mechanical one wouldn't be able to shoot ki blasts. Also, maybe Future Gohan didn't want a mechanical arm because he'd feel he'd be disturbingly similar to the androids.
*** And Bulma's surname is Briefs, not [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist Rockbell]], so the thing would probably be little more than the plastic mannequin hands we give to amputees.
** Considering just how strong he and the androids were, the mechanical arm might as well have been made of custard. It would just slow him down.
** And the writers thought it'd make him a HandicappedBadass to be fighting with one arm, regardless of whether or not Bulma could've given him an arm that worked.
* How the hell did Dr Gero ''get'' the DNA of every single Z fighter and their enemies, including alien warlords and all?
** His mosquito-like spybots took blood just like the real insect, and just like the real insect, they were too small for the characters to notice, especially when the characters were busy with the person trying to kill them. Frieza and Cold were likely bitten while they were on Earth and busy with Trunks.
*** Which is weird because Dr. Gero says he ended surveillance shortly before Goku left for Namek.
*** Some of his bugs were still around, though. Goku is shown destroying one after Gero tells him about them.
**** Piccolo was actually the one to do that after Cell told him about them. As for Gero, I could've sworn he only intentionally stopped collecting data after Frieza and King Cold were killed.
*** Gero personally stopped paying attention to the surveillance, but the computer independently kept working on the Cell Project.
* How can Cell (or for that matter, Dr. Gero's computer) exist in their own timelines? Wouldn't the androids have blown up Dr. Gero's lab (especially consdering Gero even warned them about that while he was being killed in those timelines)? You have to admit Cell is pretty dang lucky the androids didn't touch the place where they ''killed their first victim''.
** Explained in the series. Cell's capsule and computers were in a basement bunker which 17 and 18 didn't know about. When they blew up the lab's ground level, the rubble covered the bunker's entrance, and so they left, thinking that they'd destroyed the entire thing.
* In Trunks' timeline, where's Android 16 and Android 19?
** It's implied that 19 is never built, and 16 never got activated by 17 and 18.
* It was really tough on Goku with all his injuries during the fight with the Cell Jrs without aid from the Senzu beans. If only he had some way of '''TELEPORTING TO AN ALIEN WHO COULD HEAL HIM!!!'''
** It takes a while for Dende to heal anyone. Plus in that time, the humans and Piccolo would bite it. Trunks and Vegeta are really the only ones who would've had a chance until Gohan got pissed. Plus y'know, as said many, MANY times on this page he's still [[IdiotHero Goku.]]
*** Not to mention the chance of Cell tracking him and hurting Dende in some way, which would really screw up their revival plans.
**** Remember, Gohan saw the DangerouslyGenreSavvy Frieza ShootTheMedicFirst on Namek and Goku got there right after. It seems that Cell has access not only to the genetic characteristics of the many fighters whose cells are in his body, but also their knowledge. Unless Cell spent some time watching film on Goku and Piccolo using the Kamehameha and SBC, respectively, there's no way he would have known how to do those particular attacks even with his respective power. Ergo - maybe he had Frieza's knowledge/memories of Dende, who was dead last time Frieza saw him, but whose HealingHands Frieza (and, by extension, Cell) would have recognized. Plus, as mentioned before, Senzu Beans take longer to grow, but they're much quicker.
* King Cold at one point suggests Frieza just [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill destroy Earth]] but Frieza doesn't want to because he wants to make Goku suffer. Makes sense for him, but after Trunks kills him, why doesn't King Cold then destroy the Earth himself? Even if Trunks killed him before he could retreat, he would still have the planet destroyed.
** Frieza actually did try the Planet Crusher on Trunks. Trunks ''caught it.'' King Cold wouldn't have fared much better.
** Maybe King Cold didn't have techniques that specialized in blowing up planets. In any case, he seemed somewhat disinterested the entire time, almost like Frieza had dragged him out there.
** Given he just saw Frieza get owned and in his own mind decided that it was the sword that enabled that, he probably figured his first priority is to separate Trunks from his sword (Which he weasels his way toward with the small talk, [[IAmNotLeftHanded not that Trunks cares]]) and ''then'' destroy Earth now that he "knows" he's depowered Trunks and can get away with it. Attempting to kill Trunks with his own sword was presumably just for irony's sake.
* After Cell was destroyed and all his victims revived by the dragon balls, why didn't Android 17 search for his sister? He seemed very fond of her, and he must have wanted an explanation for why he was alive after being ingested by Cell. Turning into a vagabond that wanders around woods with nothing to do seems very out of character for someone like him.
** Maybe he did in the 7 years between the Cell Saga and Buu saga, but he didn't want to live with her while she was with Krillin, and he didn't want to live with any of the other Z fighters either, so he just went off to live on his own.
*** 18 doesn't immediately jump Krillin's bones, she dashes off back to Earth. About the only thing we know about her warming up to Krillin, falling for him, marrying him, and bearing his daughter is that it occurs within a seven year TimeSkip. So it's likely they got back together at some point.
* The third timeline (The one where Main Cell came from) confuses me. Like how did it even happen? We have the present universe and Future Trunks universe, so at which point was this third universe created?
** What happened was their are 2 divergent timelines from the future trunks timeline. One, the one that leads to the main timeline, is where trunks went to the past, killed king cold, went to the future, came back three years later and figths the androids, then returns, only to be killed by cell, who takes the time machine back to BEFORE teen trunks returned to the future the second time. His presence there caused Trunks to become more powerful than when he got killed by cell, he goes back to the future, and kills cell instead of being killed by him. Make sense?
* How did Gero get the DNA from Frieaza and King Cold to put in cell? he clearly stated he had ended the surveillance and DNA gathering before they went to Namek.
** He ended surveillance of Goku specifically and didn't follow him into space. As I seem to remember, whatever he was using to get the DNA caught notice of Frieza and King Cold's arrival, went "Hey, those guys are strong, better grab'em." and did so.
* After fusing with Kami, why didn't Piccolo re-power the Dragon Balls? It's established that Kami knew how, and that Piccolo had all his memories. Not to mention, at that point Piccolo was (obviously) much more powerful than Kami had been, as well as surpassing all the other living Namekians. Shenron would have become stupidly powerful at that point.
** He can't. For some reason he loses the ability to create and power the Dragon Balls once he re-fuses with Kami. It's not just about memories or knowledge, there's also some innate power required which Piccolo doesn't have. Possibly because he's a clone of the original Piccolo and not the 'real other half' of Kami.
** I suspect that the reason is that you have to be good to create Dragonballs. Of the four sets we're aware of one was created by Guru who is undeniable a good guy. Kami expelled his evil, which became Piccolo, and was also pure good. Dende again about as good as you can get. We don't know much about Moori (the elder Namek who presumably made the Dragonballs that now exist on Namek) but he's portrayed as being good. It's possible that Piccolo was sufficiently evil that he simply can't.
*** Except that the only reason Kami was willing to merge with him, even in such dire circumstances, is that Piccolo ''wasn't'' evil anymore.
**** Kami was willing to merge because he sensed Cell and thought Cell was sufficiently evil. Good and evil in Dragonball is incredibly subjective to the point of absurdity. To give the perfect example Vegeta. Even if you want to count him as having been evil prior to the Frieza saga instead of a slave doing whatever it took to survive the most powerful being in the universe instead of Piccolo who was evil because he wanted to be you still have to look at the Buu Saga. Him giving his life as penance for his sins and to save the world wasn't good enough to get him into heaven. However less than a day later he was sufficiently good because he what? Fought Kid Buu? We know the universe thought he was good at that point because the Dragon Balls brought him back.
** It's also possible that he could have done it if he wanted. Fusing with Kami was sufficient to "turn them off" so to speak because the being that created them was gone now. He might very well have been capable and just didn't. It's not like they waited weeks or years, Dende was there and had the balls up and running in like six days.
** He had other priorities like finding first form Cell, and finding out what he was up too. Then he was nearly killed by Cell. Then there was preventing Cell from absorbing 17 and 18, etc. He didn't think about creating new Dragon Balls until Goku mentioned his intention to revive all those killed by Cell back to life. He also wasn't Pure good like Kami was so it was unlikely he even could make them. That is why Goku eventually went to New Namek.
** He also spends a lot on time on the frontlines, meaning he has a good chance of getting killed. In that situation, it would be better to have the macguffin device depending on someone who is never on the frontlines being alive.\
** And less we forget, he actually was a Macguffin before the change happened. If he/Kami died, the Dragonballs are rendered useless. Piccolo knew it was wise to not appoint himself the new Guardian of the Earth, because...that'd just put him back on square one where if he dies, there goes the Dragonballs.
** A better question is why fusing with Kami deactivated the Dragonballs at all. It's not like the fusion with Nail, who was an entirely separate being. Piccolo and Kami are intrinsically the same person, hence the fact that one dying would instantly kill the other. It shouldn't be considered Kami ceasing to exist, just that he's no longer physically separated from the other half of himself. The end result isn't just Piccolo with a power boost, it's Piccolo ''and'' Kami. He simply has everyone call him Piccolo as a matter of convenience.
* How the hell does no one recognize any of the Z fighters during the broadcast of the Cell Games? Goku is a former World Champion, Yamcha, Krillin, and Tien were all competitors in the Tenkaichi Budokai, Piccolo should be still recognized as Ma Junior, and Vegeta was televised when the Saiyans attacked. Just because of different hair and eye color, nobody thinks that the dude wearing the exact same uniform as the former World Champion could possibly be him?
** An old couple do recognize Goku as "Chichi's husband" and the King (The dog guy) also recognises him, as for everyone else, it's probably the hair that threw them off, by the time Hercule came into the scene I doubt Goku was publicized much so no one had really seen his face for a long time. As for Yamcha, Krillin, Piccolo and Tien, I don't think the Camera was ever focused on them (I could be wrong) plus in the 23rd budokai no one realized it was Piccolo until his Turban came off... Vegeta being televised was only in the Anime.
** This is in fact a PlotHole. There is no reason why this was ommitted from the Plot Hole section on this website. Ki attacks and flying are world famous in ''Dragon Ball'' and it is absolutely ludicrous they would ever forget. They would have had to destroy every single record or altered it in some Literature/NineteenEightyFour way but for absolutely no reason. One BigBad points this out, saying that mankind has already forgotten Goku.
** Well it was roughly twenty years in between the 23rd Budokai Tenkaiichi tournament and the Cell Games so it isn't all that surprising that people forgot. Same reason Hercule was able to convince people that Ki blasts, etc. were 'tricks'. That and the rare few who CAN use Ki energy are content to be annonymous. And finding people who can use them is hard if you don't have the resources to find them. and convincing them to teach you is even harder.
* Why didn't Cell use Instant Transmission to escape Gohan's final Kamehameha?
** Because he was putting literally all his energy into deflecting Gohan's blast. He spares a moment's concentration on ducking away, he gets vaporized that much faster.
** Instant Transmission requires a Ki source to lock onto, right? So, he could have probably teleported away after Vegeta blasted him (When he turns around and shouts "BEJITA!") but after that, he is basically inside that giant kamehameha stream. How's he supposed to make out a ki source somewhere when he is beeing blasted in the face by a ginormous energy ball?
* When Cell killed Trunks in the third timeline, why did he go to the first timeline? Shouldn't he have gone to the fourth timeline (an unseen one) as that was where third timeline Trunks was going?
** Time travel plots rarely make sense, even the ones that are written well.
*** The first IS the "fourth" timeline. It's in their history that Cell came to their timeline, it's part of their timeline. The multiverse is infinite so there are millions of Cells that jumped into other timelines as well.
*** Because Cell goes back to a different year: 1 year before Future Trunks arrives. Meaning, he's basically interfering with the Original Timeline (Cell's Timeline: the one he just came from.) The reason the Main Timeline comes about is because BOTH Cell and Future Trunks wind up time travelling to it.
* How did the Androids not kill everyone on Earth in 14 years? And why are people still going to places like amusement parks after all that time?
** Androids just wanna have fun. The amusement parks, I'm not so sure...
** I get the feeling the Androids are more like frequent earthquakes than anything. Civilization still exists, with news announcements and amusement parks and clothing stores; it's just that every so often, a city goes boom.
*** Dunno about the anime, but in the manga Trunks says the androids deliberately prolong the killing for ''fun'', that the entire population of the Earth only numbers in the tens of thousands, and that most of humanity has been forced to hide underground. Not a single amusement park or shopping mall appears.
* How the hell does Imperfect Cell get so stupidly powerful after absorbing humans? When regenerated Piccolo first fights Cell, he's shown to be much more powerful, but Cell absorbs a few humans and then is able to crush Piccolo AND Android 17 in their second battle. True, Piccolo was weakened, but Android 17 was shown to be about the same strength, and he NEVER runs out of energy. In the first power level reading, it's of a farmer, who has a power of 5. So most humans have a power level of about 5, but Piccolo was as strong or even stronger than a Super Saiyan at that point, which had a power level way up in the high millions...And, if Cell could absorb weaklings and get so strong, couldn't he have absorbed a Z-Fighter or something all those times his opponent was stronger? Would've come in WAY handy against Gohan...
** Absorbing strong people was more work than he wanted to put in. He went for quantity instead of quality. Also it's likely the power inside him wasn't a 1-1 correlation, but instead grew exponentially by the number of people he absorbed.
*** A few people? He ''annihilated'' several cities, so, depending on their size, he could have absorbed something over a million people at that point.
**** The average population for a city in the US is 6545 people (281,421,906 spread over 43,000 towns/cities) and the average power level of an ordinary human (based on Raditz's Scouter) is 5. This means that Cell, on average, experienced a 32,725 fold increase in power upon successfully destroying each city. However, that is not the full story because it has often been noted that Cell's aura resembles a Super Saiyan (which given how Gero collected Frieza and King Colds cells at the same time Trunks and Goku went Super Saiyan it is highly likely he collected Super Saiyan DNA). Given the 50X multiplier Super Saiyan provides, his power increase per city increases from 32,725 to 1636250 - or in other words one Final Form Frieza per city (which given Cell's massive improvement over Piccolo the second time they fought, that figure would seem almost exactly right). It is also worth noting that according to Raditz, Roshi has a power level of 139. Now, Roshi is by every definition a superhuman, but we know from the original ''Dragon Ball'' (namely the World Martial Arts Tournaments and the Red Ribbon Saga) a fighter with even a basic level of martial arts and/or ki training is capable of reaching power levels around the 100 mark. If Cell absorbed enough reputable fighters you could happily multiply my estimate above by tens of thousands.
** Consider the Spirit Bomb; when the energy is drawn from lots of ordinary living things, it becomes the most powerful attack in existence. Cell absorbing such energy from mere humans is not so unbelievable in that context.
* According to Future Trunks, Goku in his timeline died of heart disease even before the androids attacked. Question: why didn't they use the Dragon Balls to either cure him or resurrect him? Huh?
** Earth's Dragon Balls have many restrictions. They can't grant the same wish twice, they can't revive someone who died more than a certain amount of time ago, and, most relevant to this case, they can't revive anyone that died of natural causes. Disease is natural, unfortunately.
*** What about curing the disease ''before'' it kills him? Also at that point they just came back from Namek so they know about and have access to the Namekian Dragon Balls.
**** The disease seemed to have a pretty rapid onset, so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to assume that finding the Dragon Balls would have taken too long (sure, they can fly now, but they'd still probably have to do people a bunch of favors to actually ''get'' the damn things like the first few times around). As for the Namekian ones: Yes, they were aware that they still had them, but they had ''no idea'' where the Namekians were (Goku had to go to Kaio-sama to figure that one out) and, even if they did, there was no way to get there in time -- what with the one guy that can instantly get to wherever he wants being at death's door and all.
**** If you recall, it took over a month for them to actually reach Namek, and since we don't really know exactly how fast it kills him, we can assume that by the time they got their and made the wish, Goku would have died. Or maybe they were just waiting for him to get better, or for doctors to find a cure - I mean who could have predicted that Goku would have died?
**** The rapid onset part was the problem. Remember during Cell Saga, Goku found all the Dragon Balls within a day or two before going to the Cell Games? So they could have found the balls and cured him, but it's very possible that by the time they realized he was ill and dying (they only knew what was wrong with him in this timeline because Trunks had given advance warnings) and took a few hours to search for the balls, Goku had already kicked the bucket.
***** Also, let's keep in mind that it was ''Goku'' who found all the Dragon Balls within a day or two before going to the Cell Games. AKA ''the one guy that can instantly get to wherever he wants''. I can imagine it taking closer to a week for any of the others.
* After consistently falling short with the creation of the first 16 androids because none of them are evil/obedient/proactive enough to carry out his designs to rule the world and/or destroy Goku… is there a reason why, of all the [[SunnydaleSyndrome unassuming idiots]] in the ''Dragon Ball'' world for Dr. Gero to kidnap and use for his experiments, does he even entertain the thought of going for '''[[TheRunaway the two runaway teenagers]]''', let alone decide that it's a good idea?
** Because when all else fails and you need to pick aid from the general pool of the human population, you RecruitTeenagersWithAttitude. Gero was clearly WrongGenreSavvy about that trope.
** Keep in mind that 17/18 were completely different animals than 1-16 and 19. Right around the teens and early twenties are when human beings start to reach their physical prime, first off. Second, since this seems to have been new tech, Gero might have anticipated it taking a while - which led to getting young bodies as opposed to older ones, as well as building 19 to assist him AND androidizing himself. Third, it seems that, as teenage runaways, 17 and 18 probably would have been strong enough to keep themselves out of danger and may have done a little street fighting (who the hell taught them to fight otherwise?). Say, they were maybe a power level of 8 as opposed to 2-5 like most humans.
* In the anime I don't think Trunks ever specificly says what numbers the androids are in his timeine (I may be wrong) but in the manga he says they are numbers 19 and 20, so if 19 and 20 in his timeline and 17 and 18 in the present, what are the extra 2 Gero built in Trunks timeline? Are they ever mentioned or shown?
** And to make matters worse, when Trunks goes back in time, they do refer to themselves as 17 and 18. Did Trunks just mess up or what?
** Shockingly this exists in the original manga as well because Toriyama originally intended for 19 and 20 to be the [[BigBad Big Bads]] but his old editor was not impressed so he made up 17 and 18.
* After blowing himself up, How did Cell's cells power him up? When Vegeta is explaining the whole Saiyajin get stronger after recovering from a near fatal situation that the damage cannot be self inflicted. I'm pretty sure activating a self-destruct mechanism is a self inflicted injury. And unlike the other Androids where the self-destruct bomb was a piece that was installed, with Cell being Cell that means the detonation and explosive properties were a part of his DNA ie. not external influence.
** Vegeta was apparently mistaken. Remember how Goku trained on his way to Namek? By shooting himself with his own Ki attacks then using a Senzu Bean to heal himself. So apparently Vegeta just got his facts wrong. Saiyans being a Proud WarriorRace, it probably started as just a taboo against doing it yourself because it was cheating or something that mutated into "it just doesn't work that way," sort of how the Discworld wizards' rule against sex/marriage started as a way to prevent [[PersonOfMassDestruction Sourcerors]] from being born, and mutated into "If you have sex your magic won't work".
** Nobody ever said that Saiyan zenkais had to follow the exact same rules when applied to Cell. Given that he was capable of self-destruction at all, the computer likely designed him specifically as such.
*** Vegeta and Chaosu are capable of self-destruction and if you count GT Goku can do it. I don't think that's a rare power in DBZ it's just not something that people use since it's fatal to the user.
* Why didn't they just steal Cell's time machine, go to his timeline, and retrieve the devices that deactivate the androids so Cell will revert to his imperfect form and be defeated easily?
** First, because time travel is screwy and each time you go back in time you just create a new continuity. Secondly, because Cell sorta melted his way out of his time machine and left it to rot, so it's probably not in great condition. Thirdly, Trunks says the time machine doesn't have a whole lot of juice to it, and Cell swiped it from Trunks right after he got back to the future, so it's likely it was just out of power.
*** The device that deactivates the androids was created by Bulma in THIS timeline. Going to another timeline won't help. Furthermore the whole point of deactivation was to do it BEFORE they were absorbed. Once they'd been absorbed it was already too late.
* This is a problem (I mean improvement) partially with the translation from Japanese to English but if you watch it with the subtitles on or go read the manga Cell can't regenerate from a single cell. He regenerates as long as a certain lump of cells in his head remains intact. Goku blew his head (and everything north of his waist) clear off.
** Only a guess here: maybe that lump is vital only if Cell is disintegrated. "Minor" injuries like the loss of the upper half of the body are recoverable. But yeah, that's a bit of a PlotHole...
** I think what Cell said was that as long as the nucleus in his head is intact, he can regenerate. Basically, this can be taken to mean that as long as the nucleus of at least one cell in his head exists, he can keep coming back.
*** Goku took everything over Cell's waist off with his instant transmission attack. It's either what the above poster said and the loss of everything but your legs is still considered a "minor" injury, Cell was lying and or mistaken about his own regeneration abilities (which seems likely, considering his near death experience was an explosion inside him it seems unlikely enough of his head would survive to do anything) or the writer didn't know what was up.
** Apparantly that was a translation error, there was never a thing in his head that made him regen, he just regens.
* The events surrounding Piccolo's defeat at the hands of Cell are bugging me... he has his neck broken with a punch, a hole opened through the chest by an energy wave and is then tossed into the sea; people who witness these events claim that he's dead, Goku says that he can no longer perceive his aura and nobody tries to help him (not even Tien, who's right there). A couple of minutes later Goku teleports and saves an exhausted Tien, but before he can leave, he discovers that not only Piccolo is alive, ''he is even coming out of the water by himself!'' How can he be still alive and capable of that?
** Well, Namekians can regenerate, for a start. And it wouldn't be the first time (even in this Saga) that Piccolo in particular has feigned greater injury for one reason or another.
*** Namekians can regrow body parts, but I'm pretty sure they can't regenerate a broken neck (their power is not like Wolverine's).
*** In Buu saga, Piccolo explains that he only needs his head to be intact to allow him to regenerate the rest of his body. It shows him doing this after Trunks accidentally dismembered him.
* Why is Gohan during this saga known as Teen Gohan in the video games? He's around 7 at the start and 10 at the end.
** American-induced misnaming. He doesn't even look like a teen, tbh.
** Plus, I think in the dub they originally made him like a year and a half older for reasons that I can't remember but probably only made sense back then. They probably just decided what with his abs and pecs and being between 11 and 12, he was close enough to a teenager. They just never went back to correct it.
** Other than not naming him or using the even more awkward early, mid, end, GT names that Goku, Vegeta and Piccolo often get there was no more fitting name for him.
* So Goku is dying of a heart virus and the end of the world is approaching. So... what's keeping him from using instant transmission to teleport himself and the entire crew to Namek, gather the Namekian Dragon Balls, have Vegeta vaporize him, then ask Porunga to restore his body (1st wish), petition Lord Enma to have his body reunited with spirit, ask Porunga to bring him back to life (2nd wish), then have Goku teleport back to Namek and bring everybody back to Earth. The Virus was destroyed when Vegeta vaporized him, Goku is back at full health, and received a power boost since he pretty much came back from the dead. Convoluted heart virus subplot resolved, and the subsequent complications are averted.
** So you're saying a plan that requires Vegeta acting out of character (he wants to ''beat'' Goku and wouldn't just kill him if he ''let'' him) and a bunch of back and forths is less "convoluted" than the initial plan of "just take the medicine that you know will cure you when the symptoms start showing up"? Nothing "convoluted", just bad timing.
** I believe that the original poster was referring to the Mirai timeline--y'know, the one where there [[PunctuatedForEmphasis WAS. NO. CURE.]] Besides, as far as Vegeta being out of character goes, he gets to incinerate Kakarot and fight him afterwards. Yay. No, the real trouble is probably that this thing came out of nowhere and they didn't have time to think that up or find an alternate way to get to New Namek after he died.
** He couldn't have been referring to that timeline, because in that timeline Goku was long dead before they even knew the Androids existed, so the end of the world wasn't "approaching."
** Well in the Mirai timeline it was a sudden onset that killed him before anyone realised what the disease was, how it spread etc. So they really didn't have time to go off planet for a cure. In main timeline they also didn't know much about it and were too busy training to really think about saving Goku. Also they didn't know if Goku would get the disease or when, so planning something that convoluted would have been pointless. Also why go too all that trouble for something they couldn't guarantee would work when you had medicine handy that you knew would. Also Vegeta wouldn't kill Goku like that unless it was in a true battle his pried as a True Saiyan Warrior would demand no less than a true match to the death with Goku to see who was truely the best.
** Pretty much that. There is nothing forced or complicated about taking medicine when you start feeling the symptoms. They didn't need to worry about saving Goku, as they assumed he'd take care of it himself as, y'know, he has the cure sitting in the fridge in his house, and presumably, he doesn't want to die of a heart virus. Its his fault for not thinking ahead and bringing the cure with him when it came time to face the androids. And, as previously said, Vegeta's Sayian pride and honor would not allow him to simply vaporize Goku, even if he wanted.
* Why didn't Gero just stick with Android 16? From what we saw he was far more powerful than the others, there weren't any indicators that he would have disobeyed Gero's commands and even if there was something about 16 that made him unwilling to kill Goku (which we never see) why couldn't he just use the design to make another? Heck, 17 even wonders about it briefly before it's dropped and never mentioned again.
** 17 and 18 were basically just food for Cell, Dr. Gero's biggest project. Of course, this just raises the question of why he didn't just make Cell in his Perfect Form to begin with.
** Creating two teenaged androids (who are just effectively regular renagade teens with modifactions) so they can live in fear and dread of a killer insect android hunting them down for food? Yep, sounds like something Gero would do.
* When Gohan finally overpowers Perfect Cell, the latter threatens a Super Kamehameha powerful enough to destroy the world. Fair enough. The problem is that it literally takes minutes for him to charge up the damn thing - why did he chose such an inefficient technique? Vegeta's Galick Gun destroyed Arlia effortlessly in seconds, Frieza's ''Orange Glowing Ball of Death'' destroyed Vegeta effortlessly in seconds - both techniques Cell would obviously know and yet, despite being hundreds of times stronger, he chose the longest, most drawn out technique he could possibly use which gave his enemies ample time to counter attack. In fact, to put into scale just ''how'' long Cell took to destroy the Earth, Master Roshi - Power Level 139 took less time to Kamehameha the moon than Perfect Cell - Power Level several million took to shoot the planet he was standing on.
** Cell's a bit of an idiot. I'm assuming it's something he got from Goku. He has a real sense of dramatic irony, which is why he set up the whole tournament charade to begin with. Destroying the earth with his family's signature attack is exactly the kind of thing Cell would do to spite Gohan. Minor aside; Roshi's power level was presumably above 139 when he blew up the moon. Scouters only read how much is being put out at that moment, not what they're hiding before power ups. Roshi was in hulk-mode when he made the moon go boom, not to mention several years younger and in better shape.
** Just look at the situation from Cell's point of view: you achieved your primary purpose, i.e. getting your perfect body; you, therefore, are the single most powerful being on Earth, with an unquenchable pride and thirst for fighting. You then go on creating and announcing the Cell Games; the goal, beyond satisfying your sadism, being taking the slightest chance possible to find a decent challenge on this planet before destroying it; of course, you know damn well that your archnemesises will be there, with a little surprise, Goku told you. D-day arrives, you fight the 2nd best warrior of Earth beside you to a stalemate; he gives up and make the tag to his hopeless son, that you almost immediately tries to torture. Then, that hopeless son, not only responding to your torture methods by getting his power meter through the sky, manages to ''single-handedly'' kick your perfect ass in the most humiliating way possible, even forcing you to try a self-destruct attempt. THEN, you get the chance to come back to life even stronger than before. You have the combined DNA oF frieza and Vegeta; you don't want to beat your nemesis and destroy his planet; you want to shatter his spirit before. I always assumed that Cell, with this Kamehameha, actually ''wants'' to get a response; he's about to destroy the Earth and kill the only person who bested him, all with that person's signature move; doing it by ''besting that person in a Kamehameha clash with said signature move'' would be the ultimate cherry on the cake.
** Simple answer, he said solar system, that's why it's called the solar kamehameha(wiki it).
* Since he hadn't been created for the series yet, Goten wasn't in the future- I understand that. However, after his creation, shouldn't he have been retconned into the future, or at least acknowledged as dying as a baby or something? Or did he not exist at all? Although, I'm pretty sure he should have based on my knowledge of the timeline, but I could be wrong.
** Its actually pretty simple; the most likely point in which Goku and Chi Chi conceived Goten was during his and Gohan's week long cool down period before the Cell Games - in other words years after the timelines diverged to make Future Trunk's universe. Incidentally it is also a good explanation as to why Goten can go Super Saiyan so easily seeing as there is a good chance Goku was in Full Power Super Saiyan mode during his making love to her.
*** Goku specifically said that the only time they wouldn't be Super Saiyan is when they slept. And seeing as how the act would most likely be done in bed, Goku wouldn't have been a Super Saiyan at the time. Also I don't think Goku porking Chichi as a Super Saiyan is a safe idea. I don't know if this is in the manga but in the anime Goku and Gohan, while a Super Saiyan, had a hard time controlling their strength to do ordinary tasks like picking up a glass without breaking it. I'm pretty sure Chichi would've ending up in the hospital with some broken bones.
* This could just be the english dub, but towards the end of the saga, after Cell comes back from blowing himself up, he states he's going to use instant transmission to more or less wipe out all life in the universe. Why? I get it, Cell's a dick, but really, why? He was created for the sole purpose of killing Goku. He proved, however, that he was capable of ignoring that when he chose to accept Goku's surrender and fight Gohan instead(granted, with the intent of killing Goku when he was done with his son), which can be chalked up to him being a BloodKnight; hell, the whole tournament farce of the Cell Games is due to him being a blood knight, which he gets from his saiyan genes. So, saiyan genes override the Kill Goku programming. But he goes from BloodKnight to OmnicidalManiac awful quick. If anything, shouldn't he had gone the Frieza route and decided to try his hand at becoming a GlacticConquerer?
** My theory: He wasn't planning on doing it, he just claimed that he would so that they would be desperate to defeat him and fight that much harder. He was raising the stakes.
** Cell wasn't designed to hunt and kill Goku specifically, actually. He was simply designed to [[DisproportionateRetribution spite the universe and all life as a whole]]. Cell himself remarks on this after becoming Super Perfect.
** Keep in mind what makes up Cell. The Saiyans were pretty apocalyptic in themselves-rather than using their power to enslave planets, they cleared them of all life. Yeah, Frieza told them to do it, but [[BloodKnight they sure didn't mind.]] Then there's [[AxCrazy Frieza]], who casually wiped out life due to a mixture of [[EvilIsPetty plotting real estate]] and [[ForTheEvulz sadism.]] Cell had [[FromASingleCell practical immortality]] as well, and just suffered a near-death experience when becoming Super Perfect. Cell was probably thinking that by going to war with the entire universe he'd have a great fight, and more importantly to him, prove that he's perfect [[VillainousBreakdown after Gohan hurt his ego.]] If the planets get destroyed quickly, then [[LackOfEmpathy they don't matter.]] If the heroes of the planet fight back, then [[BloodKnight Cell gets a great fight.]]
* Also, how did Cell return in his perfect form? He can regenerate from a single cell and get stronger after nearly dying, this explains why he was still alive. But without 18, shouldn't he have regenerated to his second form?
** 18 provided Cell the energy he needed to achieve his Perfect form. After Cell self-destructed and regenerated, Cell's Saiyan genes gave him an enormous power boost (since if a Saiyan recovers from (near-)death their power increases phenomenally). This power boost was enough to kick Cell into his Perfect form and even go beyond it, becoming Super Perfect Cell, all without the need of 18. Which begs the question if Cell would have become even more powerful if he had absorbed 18 again.
** The official explanation is that Cell's... cells remembered the Perfect form and allowed him to regenerate into it despite not having the Androids absorbed anymore.
*** [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy Pretty damn clever, Gero.]]
* How come, after getting a huge power boost from his self-destruction and subsequent regeneration, Cell didn't just blow himself up a few more times in deep space to bring himself to ludicrous power levels? I mean, even with his ego he should have realized he was still only roughly on par with Gohan and at risk of losing again. The only real logical reason I can think of is that he only survived his explosion by a few cells and didn't want to risk not being so lucky next time, but then he could have just used a more controlled blast or even just destroy himself with precise ki attacks until he's just a few cells.
** Zenkai doesn't work if you do it to yourself ( Remember during the Frieza fight,Krillin had to blow a whole in Vegeta's chest to invoke Zenkai, rather than Vegeta doing it himself).
*** Um...sorry, that's incorrect. Cell blew himself up and got a Zenkai, Goku got multiple Zenkais on his way to Namek by blasting himself, etc.
**** My guess was that in his mind, the only reason Gohan outclassed him was because of power, not skill. If he was on par with Gohan, then his superior skill would win the day.
* It is repeatedly stated that androids don't have chi. If that is true, then how can they use KiAttacks? I can kinda understand Android 16, since his ki attack is in the form of energy cannons he has for biceps. But 17 and 18 seem to use regular KiAttacks like everybody else despite lacking ki. What the hell?
** Well, they are [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots Ridiculously Human]] {{Cyborg}}s, after all. The energy provided may come from their circuits similar to how organic warriors draw ki out of their bodies for blast attacks, but that doesn't necessarily mean the energy itself has to be ki.
** Their energy is unnatural, so it probably can't be sensed naturally. Also I vaguely recall Androids' energy being referred to as something other than ki.
* Okay, I've got a few things concerning Akira Toriyama's rather notorious AssPull decisions. If he intended Gohan to be Goku's successor, why in the seven hells did he go against it in the Buu saga? It wasn't as if the series would collapse without Goku and Gohan was popular enough to keep the series alive and loved, but why-oh-why did he do the things he did to Gohan? Not only has Gohan almost stopped training completely, he has actually ''got weaker and horribly rusty'' over seven years to the point that he can't take on a considerably weakened '' '''[[AxCrazy Bro]][[OmnicidalManiac ly]]''' '' at his strongest and he has proven to be a poor successor. If that was what he had in mind, then why did he have Goku die in the Cell saga?
** Can't claim to know what goes on in Toriyama's mind of course and it bugs me too, but I'm guessing by the time the Buu saga rolled around he was just sick and tired of the series and wanted to move on to other things and just wasn't paying much attention to what he was doing (it would explain a LOT of the problems with the Buu saga), and decided to pander to the base a bit by making Goku and Vegeta the heroes again.
** As I understand it, having Gohan succeed Goku was Toriyama's original plan, but ExecutiveMeddling forced Goku back into the spotlight.
** Something like that, I heard that the japanese audience really liked goku, which makes sense to me considering that I ONLY liked gohan during the cell games.
* When 17 breaks Gero's HandyRemoteControl, he replies that he'll make another one. So does he just expect 17 and 18 to stand there and watch while he does?
** [[TooDumbToLive Yes.]]
** Let's not forget who we're talking about here. This is Dr. Gero: [[BadassBookworm scientific genius]], [[EvilOldFolks crazy old man]], and [[EvilOldFolks sadistic]] [[RevengeBeforeReason vengeful]] [[AIIsACrapshoot idiot]] [[TooDumbToLive extraordinaire]].
* Cell doesn't seem to use his powers anywhere near as much as he could. Absorbtion, regeneration, teleportation, the ability to spawn mini-mook versions of himself, ''all'' of the Z-Fighter's techniques... it just seemed like if he used even one of those abilities intelligently no one would've stood a chance. Absorbing a few million humans raised him from weaker than Piccolo to stronger than him. Yet he never tries to absorb Piccolo, who's hundreds of millions times stronger than the average human? He never thinks to spawn a Super Perfect Cell Jr. in his final fight with Gohan to help him, or at least make sure the other fighters don't interfere like, you know, exactly what they did? He doesn't think to teleport Gohan and himself into space, where he can survive and Gohan can't? He doesn't think to try to self-destruct again, knowing that no one could stop him and he could regenerate? Even if that somehow didn't destroy the planet, he'd still come back more than powerful enough to stomp Gohan.
** Cell didn't seem to be entirely sane when he came back after self-destructing, given his drastic motivation and personality change. Not that he was sane before, but he pretty much completely shifted gears from "I'm going to have fun with my new body by fighting powerful opponents and killing people slowly" to "I'm going to slaughter every living thing in the universe because I'm convinced that's my purpose now". It seems like killing himself and coming back from a cell messed up his faculties somewhat and he was so obsessed with taking vengeance on Gohan as fast as possible he simply didn't think of those options. As for why he didn't absorb Piccolo? Maybe he could have, but by the time he was powerful enough to do that he was already much stronger than him anyway, and Androids 17 and 18 were right there, so he decided not to waste time and just get to his perfect form already.
* Why is Cell not weaker when he regenerates from his own bomb? Cell's regeneration comes from his Namekian cells, and their power of regeneration has been repeatedly stated to drain energy when replacing limbs; not only did Freeza comment on this when Nail grew his arm back, but just earlier during their fight Cell had used up a good amount of it recovering from the Kamehameha Goku had hit him with. Restoring himself from such a state where only one brain cell was left would have to be taxing on his remaining supplies, and even accepting the way he was able to regain his Perfect form without 18, that much of a power loss means either he shouldn't have been any stronger than he was during his previous round of getting beaten around by Gohan, or that he'd used up so much power that Vegeta's barrage of attacks should have been able to seriously hurt him.
** Two possible explainations: 1. Cell's mix of genes allowed him to overcome that weakness of namekian regeneration, or 2. Cell's power increase from being restored from near death was so massive, that it managed to not only overcome the fatigue loss as a result of the regeneration, but increase Cell's power far beyond what it was before.
** You forgot that Goku Threw Cell a senzu bean before his fight with Gohan which restored his energy.
** Saiyans get stronger when they survive near death experiences, embodying the term "what doesn't kill me makes me stronger." Cell was very nearly killed, considering even ''[[SmugSuper he]]'' didn't know he'd survive. The massive boost of strength allowed him to return to perfection and then some.
* OK, why didn't Trunks bother to describe what the Androids looked like when he first came to them? Goku was right on target when he said, "Couldn't Trunks have given a picture of them to us or something?" Now, I know Trunks wouldn't take a camera and snap a photo of the Androids, but would it have killed him to tell them what they looked like in the first place?
** Yea honestly it's a bit of a plot hole. I guess you could HandWave it by saying that Trunks just didn't think to describe them because he figured that two killer robots flying around blowing up cities would be hard to miss.
*** It's a bigger plot hole than that when you think about it. While I can't think of a specific scene that confirms beyond a doubt that Trunks CAN sense energy levels I think it can be assumed that he can. With that in mind he not only neglected to mention what the Androids looked like but that they you can't sense their energy! Considering the DBZ fighters are so accustomed to fighting because they can sense your energy and not see you that's a pretty important detail to have forgotten to mention. Since there is some evidence that fighter's durability is a conscious power (Not just the "non-cannon" rock from Krillin but also the one hit ko by Vegeta against Goku during the Buu Saga) it's possible that even 19 and 20 could have killed Goku the same way they did Yamcha. Sucker punch. After all who's on their guard around a little girl and her effeminate brother if they just come across you on the streets?
*** Remember Trunks was only a toddler when the Androids first attacked, and the Androids have been his only real opponents his entire life. While Trunks probably knows how to sense energy, he's never had an enemy to fight where he'd even be able to use that to track them. It's something he simply doesn't think about, and it didn't occur to him to mention it. To him, not being able to sense your opponent's energy is normal, not an anomalous factor to be warned about.
* Why didn't our heroes simply gather the Dragon Balls, wish for knowledge of Gero's location, and then go there and kill him, preventing the creation of the Androids?
** That's what Bulma said. Plus, it's simple. It's because they thought that if they trained ahead of time, they would stand a chance against Gero and the Androids..I swear, it's all in the blood, but oh well, we wouldn't have a show if the heroes didn't make any poor decisions.
** Several reasons, first Saiyans are deeply stupid and crave challenge, the idea of cheating to get around it is something Goku and Vegeta would rather die than attempt. Second Goku and the good characters probably think you can't punish someone for a crime they haven't committed yet even if your time traveling buddy thinks you should. Ultimately it wouldn't stop Cell anyway since he was hidden away and even Imperfect Cell is perfectly fatal to a bunch of people who have precisely one warrior capable of standing up to Frieza.
** There's also the issue that they really don't know how far along in development the androids are, and going there right away would risk kick-starting Trunks' apocalypse earlier than they could be prepared for. It made more sense to play it safe and wait for a time where they could be counted on showing up and just train hard til then.
* Okay, why don't androids have energy? I get why 16 and 19 don't. As far as we can tell they are pure robots, Gero is quite possibly pure robot but 17 and 18 aren't robots, they're enhanced humans. 18 is human enough to have a child. They should have energy just like every other living thing (which is the whole point of the Spirit Bomb is you can draw ki from the GRASS). Their ki shouldn't be on par with their power levels but I don't see any logical reason why they shouldn't be at least on par with say the Farmer Raditz killed or Mr. Turtle!
** Number one, the farmer doesn't even measure up to the loosest interpretation of formidable when it comes to ki in ''Dragon Ball''. Number two, Dr. Gero modified them enough that they could take a basic Super Saiyan easily with little-to-no training yet still be put to sleep via remote control. It actually makes sense that their human energy would be relatively impossible to catch. Number three, they're both shown later raising their hands to surrender the little ki they actually have to Goku's Spirit Bomb at the end of the Buu saga. So it's not that they don't have ki; it just doesn't stick out at all.
* Okay, time travel gets real wonky real fast. Why does Trunks know the time and place of Goku's landing? The answer we're supposed to accept is that is where and when he landed in Trunk's timeline but all the evidence (aside from Trunk's knowledge) suggests that Goku DIDN'T land in Trunk's timeline. Frieza arrived and before he could kill anybody Goku used Instant Transmission and saved the day. It seems the location of the ship not only probably would have changed but without Goku being in the thing who cares about it?
** It's still a cool piece of alien tech that Bulma probably would've wanted to work on.
* This troper wonders exactly why the military just throw all their resources into attacking Cell and Majin Buu senselessly, without developing a real strategy. Wouldn't that needlessly cost them the lives of their soldiers, particularly the infantry? It seems completely stupid to have their infantry soldiers within range of where missiles, bombs, and shrapnle are exploding.
** The general public in the world of Dragon Ball....[[HumansAreMorons aren't too bright]] to say the least. Those scenes also serve the purpose of showing off how powerful and/or merciless the villains are though.
*** You have a point.
** What kind of strategy would have made any kind of difference?
*** No Idea. But, [[DumbassMilitary you'd think that the military would've at least come up with something better]] than "Throw everything you have at him at the EXACT same time." Heck, there should be a trope for this.
*** What, exactly, makes that a bad strategy, anyway? The fact it didn't work? ''Nothing'' they tried was going to work. That's the whole point. It's a singular target, with no resources to attack, and which is impossible to flank. Concentrating all your firepower on it is not in any way "idiotic."
*** Except for the fact that you are sending your infantry to attack that single target as well, thus risking their lives unnecessarily.It makes to concentrate your attack with Atillery, Jets, and Vehicles... but not with regular infantry added into the mix; Machine Gunners would have to get close to the target in order to fire, putting them at greater risk of getting hit by your own units.They would be in the blast radius OF your long range weaponry while they were firing; thus It is better for you to have them pulled back and used as escorts instead, so as to not risk any unneccesary casualties. If you want to concentrate the combined firepower of your artillery,Tanks, Missle Launchers, Snipers, and jets on a single target, fine, go ahead, but regular infantry would just get in the way. Hence why I say that they were "idiotic."
*** Personally I've always wondered why they never attempted to just drop nukes on Cell. Not that it would have worked (it might even have made him a little stronger if it injured him enough and is Saiyan genes kicked in with Zenkai), but I could see a desperate military considering that when faced with a global threat like Cell. It's not like they'd have to worry much about injuring civilians since he was standing in the middle of a huge barren wasteland with his ring.
* How exactly was Cell going to destroy the earth with his Kamehameha aimed tangentially to the earth's surface? I mean he was shooting it at Gohan, who was standing at the same ground level. I'm ready to accept though that Cell was a bit too unhinged for basic geometry at that point.
** Most energy attacks explode, he probably means to incinerate gohan and the remaining energy would make a large explosion to destroy the 'earth'(he said solar system later)
* Why are people weaker than Cell managing to blow him up? Vegeta and Goku both blast part of his body up, but as he has a much higher power level shouldnt they be unable to do that, just because loss of body bits isnt as fatal to him as others that shouldnt mean that weaker characters can damage his body, regen isnt needed unless a stronger person blasts you, like piccolo and nail but cell seems to be the only one who ends up needing it against people weaker than him. I guess its lucky for him he has regen or hed be the biggest pushover villain ever, imagine if krillin could have blown friezas head off, without regen hed be dead but since hes stronger than krillin that could never happen, so why does it happen with cell?
** Probably two reasons. Out-of-universe it's just so we can see Cell (and later Buu) badly deformed and seemingly "near" death and then come back from it. In-universe Cell might be a weaker than we think, instead of splitting his power between offense and defense he dumps it all in offense because what does he care if half his body gets blown away? We know that defense is at least partially based on will and focusing energy.
* Why doesn't King Cold seem to have [[OneWingedAngel an extra form?]] Both of his kids had at least four, and being their father he'd be at least close in power to them. If he had an extra form, I'd expect him to whip it out the moment he sees his [[DragonballZAbridged darling little princess]] get turned into ribbons.
** He doesn't have other forms, it's not a trait of Friezas entire race, only he could do it. It's not even a proper transformation either, Friezas final form is his real one and the others were created so that he could limit his power to control it better. King Cold doesn't have a problem controling his power so he never needed to create weaker forms to limit it, he was at full power already against Trunks. Cooler doesn't count because he is a movie only character and doesn't follow the logic or rules of the anime.
*** There is no reason to believe that King Cold doesn't follow the same logic as Frieza, we know for a fact that Frieza's 4th form is actually his true form. It stands to reason that King Cold being of the same race also has the same base form. As for why King Cold didn't transform he simply didn't. Maybe he didn't think he'd have the time, maybe he thought he was a lot more powerful than he was.
**** Freiza stated that he created his forms to supress his power, its not something that his whole race can do, if King Cold could transform then he would have after seeing his son killed so quickly.
* If King Kai knew the Instant Transmission technique, why didn't he transport Goku to the Other World Checkpoint during the Saiyan Saga?
