Well, as I recall, Dodoria did assume that Zarbon was off about Vegeta's power level when the latter was scanning him. I think he even mentioned something in the dub about using an older model.
That's the dub though.
One Strip! One Strip!Zarbon did have an older model. You can tell the difference between older and newer scouters because the older ones explode at readings of about 20,000.
edited 1st Sep '14 1:54:11 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.I think it's just a refusal to accept that this random asshole from the farthest, hillbilliest reaches of the cosmos could be stronger than the prized members of Frieza's empire.
My various fanfics.I just found this gem while looking for Civilization mods.
Power Level Philosophy and Buudhism ftw.
#IceBearForPresidentI wonder how Frieza used the older scouters at all, being over 500,000 like he is.
"It's liberating, realizing you never need to be competent." — UltimatepheerHe probably didn't, given that he gives estimations for the powers of his forms rather than hard numbers. For instance, his Second Form is in the general area of 1 million.
IIRC, 530,000 for his First Form is the only exact number he ever states; it's probable that the newer Scouters were able to calculate that, but started exploding on his higher forms.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.How do Frieza's elites still have left eyes in that case.
Seriously, I can't imagine a scouters being very useful when your own power level is over it's limits.
edited 2nd Sep '14 6:21:35 AM by BaffleBlend
"It's liberating, realizing you never need to be competent." — UltimatepheerMy guess is they don't encounter many who can do that.
Plus, if we take the Older model comment into account, we can assume they are continually upgraded to withstand higher power levels.
One Strip! One Strip!A power level greater than the old Scouters could handle is rare. They explode at around 20,000, which is f*cking AMAZING as far as powers in the universe go. Namek was explicitly stated to be one of the higher-power worlds out there, and their fighters were 3,000 - with the strongest of all the Namekians, with his full potential unlocked by Guru, capping out at 42,000 - too strong for the old Scouters, but within the parameters of the new ones. The mightiest of all Saiyans had a battle power of 18,000.
The Ginyu Force represent the strongest warriors in the Universe and they only range from 30,000 to 60,000, with Captain Ginyu being exceptionally powerful at 120,000 - the second highest power in the entire universe, and still within parameters for new Scouters. Prior to the events of the series, the only person who falls outside the range of the new Scouters - judging by the way it exploded when Vegeta was powering up - is Frieza himself, whose phenomenal power level is utterly ridiculous.
edited 2nd Sep '14 8:07:06 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.What I'm getting at is, most of the people at scouter-explodey levels were the ones wearing the scouters; Zarbon, Dodoria, the Ginyu Force, and Frieza. How did they not blow up their own scouters?
(I know the GF are the ones who delivered the upgraded scouters, but I mean before that, and the others still stand.)
edited 2nd Sep '14 10:46:19 AM by BaffleBlend
"It's liberating, realizing you never need to be competent." — UltimatepheerDodoria had an upgrade too; he was able to track Vegeta's power as he killed Cui. The explosion of Zarbon's shitty Scouter is what called his attention to it.
The Scouters probably don't give exact power readings on everyone. We know they have multiple settings; I expect they show something vague like "Big power there" until you have the Scouter actually analyze it, and that's when it starts tracking how big it is. Zarbon and Dodoria would be able to avoid blowing up their own Scouters by just not reading each other - which they wouldn't need to do anyway, because they know how strong they are, and they're on the same side.
If the very existence of a large power in the general vicinity of the Scouter caused it to overload, Frieza would burst every Scouter his army had the moment he walked into the room to address them. Every time a Scouter has exploded, it was specifically scanning someone.
edited 2nd Sep '14 10:56:22 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Digital systems in storytelling frequently do bizarre and nonsensical things to alert the audience as to what's going on. Having the Scouters explode is an easy visual cue that they're detecting a power beyond their ability to measure without requiring the audience to be able to see the Scouter from the wearer's perspective.
edited 2nd Sep '14 11:37:26 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
Pretty shitty engineering if you ask me. You should always include some kind of failsafe, like an auto-shutoff or a heat sink.
Hell, I'm shocked that even Bulma was somehow stupid enough to overlook that when she fixed and translated Raditz's.
edited 2nd Sep '14 11:51:56 AM by BaffleBlend
"It's liberating, realizing you never need to be competent." — UltimatepheerStar Trek's engineers have never been able to make computers stop exploding at the slightest provocation, and their technology runs entirely on bullshit fanwank. What hope did Frieza have?
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.![]()
I doubt she thought it would explode or it would shut off and then explode anyway.
I'd still like a scouter.
I know I wouldn't see anything but 5's, but I'd be able to see WHERE they were. As in, I could tell if someone was sneaking up on me.
"It's liberating, realizing you never need to be competent." — UltimatepheerWould you be ready to get glass in your eye on the off chance someone's power level is Over 9000?
edited 2nd Sep '14 7:14:01 PM by HandsomeRob
One Strip! One Strip!
I'd do something unthinkable — when it starts heating up, I turn it off.
It tends to happen pretty fast man, otherwise all the other dudes that had it happen to them would have done just what you suggested.
One Strip! One Strip!

It still seems weird that that's everyone's first assumption.
"He can't be that strong, the Scouter malfunctioned." "That reading can't be right, the Scouter malfunctioned." "No, he's not dead, the Scouter's just malfunctioning."
It's like, how often must these things malfunction that everyone who uses one immediately jumps to "malfunction" at the first opportunity? Never, "That's a weird reading, I wonder how that could be happening," it's always, "Whoops, darn thing's busted again."
edited 1st Sep '14 1:53:22 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.