Power-scaling is...fine.
Using numbers to decide how strong someone is...is dumb.
Luckily no one ever does that.
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Best music?
Edited by randomness4 on Nov 15th 2023 at 3:05:29 PM
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.I would definitely agree that fanbases of classic shounen is a big reason why power scaling is such a thing nowadays, as much of the fandom groundwork that evolved into the power scaling perceptions we have today came from anime fans coming back from media that’s very rigid about scaling and Super Weight to media that doesn’t and expecting/insisting them to adhere to the same rules.
Like, it could have come from other stuff in a hypothetical alternate course of events, but that doesn’t change the fact that it definitely does have its roots in those tropes and communities in reality.
Edited by KnownUnknown on Nov 15th 2023 at 1:23:52 AM
As an ancient nerd in his thirties I definitely have seen the evolution.
We where always asking "Could Batman beat Spider-Man?" sure, but we usually approached it how the writers would. We'd see what sort of things Batman's known for and what Spider-Man can do and see how their abilities would interact.
With the advent of DBZ backporting it became more "X beat Y and Y beat Z, and Z blew up a city block, so obviously X can blow up ten city blocks" even if it makes no sense.
It's how you get shit like people insisting the Hunters in Bloodborne are planet-busters.
You are not alone.To be quite fair to Dragon Ball, the various Wuxia and Xianxia fantasy stories its based basically did that already.
Dragon Ball just made it more obvious by using numerical numbers for a while, before just doing Character scaling afterwards due to the numbers becoming meaningless.
Doesn't help that Marvel and DC guides basically do their own numerical scaling too, with the whole Class system for strength and the Stats block system for everything else.
Watch SymphogearTrue.
Dragon balls own type of scaling has in its own way been backported to Chinese Webcomics, amusingly. Just replace Numerical Power levels with Cultivation realms with each realm ranked 1-10 before breaking through to the next realm, rinse and repeat.
RPG Mechanics 'Verse's do similar ideas, which is quite convenient for scalers in that respect.
Edited by Demongodofchaos2 on Nov 15th 2023 at 8:36:57 AM
Watch SymphogearWell the thing with Dragon Ball and RPG Mechanics 'Verse is that I can lay almost no blame on them initially. The numbers are generally introduced as a concept to show how foolish the entire concept is to rely on. The whole point of Power Levels in DBZ was to show how worthless it is to use Power Levels as a gauge to determine who would win in a fight. And in the RPG Mechanics 'Verse the first few stories gave us low-leveled heroes that beat high tier opponents with skill and strategy.
At first. But then they ended up giving us transformation levels in DBZ and a lot more isekai-ish stuff is just about how incredibly awesome and unstoppable the hero is so of course they have the highest raw stats.
What's the opposite of Franchise Original Sin? Like, a sin that wasn't in the original but then got corrupted into it over time?
You are not alone.That tracks.
All the roots of evil track back to reading.
Money and greed? You have to read the bills to know how much the money's worth.
Hatred and mob mentality? Everyone knows you can't have a mob without pamphlets, which you have to read!
Power, which corrupts? That all comes back to might makes right. And everything you right you then have to read, and hoo boy this joke sucks. And it was evil of me to... make you read it. Boom.
What are you talking about? Every chapter of Dragon Ball has flying monkeys in it. The lead hero is a flying monkey!
You are not alone.

Exactly.