I still see enough Unfortunate Implications pop up in contemporary manga that I wouldn't assume it currently, either. In Toriyama's case, I have nothing recent to judge off since we don't get stuff directly from him and the subject hasn't come up in interviews.
Ok. I guess that makes sense.
I'll accept that, and it's not like her being weaker hurt anything. Weaker than her bro is still powerful enough to flatten everyone in the cast at the point when she was introduced.
One Strip! One Strip!As far as I can recall 16 only said that Piccolo was about equal to just 17 in strength, not 18. It would make sense really; why would he only reduce the power slightly? 17 is significantly weaker than 16, and 19 is significantly weaker than 18. But for 18 he decides only a slight power decrease is adequate?
She doesn't do anything for the rest of that story in general...
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.On a serious note, 18 had kind of served her purpose after her fight with Vegeta. She was there to establish how much stronger the Androids were to a Super Saiyan.
And when Cell revealed he needed to absorb them to evolve to his Perfect form, that was a foregone conclusion that their time was limited.
edited 8th Feb '18 8:04:24 AM by BlackYakuzu94
A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.Yes. But she survived. And despite being with the main cast, she doesn't really contribute in any way shape or form beyond then aside from... IIRC, getting paid by Satan to take a fall?
"And when the last law was down and the Devil turned round on you, where would you hide, the laws all being flat?"![]()
She became a supporting character for one. And two, what could she do? She was long surpassed by the Saiyans by the next arc so it's not like she could do anything.
Not every character need a continuous purpose. Sometimes its ok to fade into the background.
A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.
Though how well do they really do that?
I mean, while their contributions to fights become minimal, they still show up a lot—such as jumping into battle to just get defeated—and it’s not like Toriyama did all that much with many of them when they were important.
I like Krillin, but 18 deserves better then being his reward. She had great potential that Toriyama never tried to capitalize on.
One Strip! One Strip!You can literally say that about any character in anything ever. That they have "potential". Farmer with a Shotgun has "potential" if want to stretch it.
All that is just masking that fans want their favorite characters to be in the spotlight and focused on and nothing more.
Which isn't wrong in itself mind you, but then fans speak as if their own headcanons for their favorites are inherently superior to the official material.
And this is what leads to a lot of bad fanfiction.
A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.18 isn't even a character from Dragonball I particularly like, I'm just pointing out that the one female character who is treated with any dignity as a fighter whatsoever (Lanfan's fighting style is a combo of Wouldn't Hit a Girl and weaponized fanservice and Chi-Chi is a walking joke) is basically immediately scooted off screen and housewifed.
edited 8th Feb '18 9:23:23 AM by Sigilbreaker26
"And when the last law was down and the Devil turned round on you, where would you hide, the laws all being flat?"Like a lot of shonen authors Toriyama just doesn't seem too interested in female characters outside of fanservice and romance
And since Toriyama has stated he isn't interested and or confident in writing romance, it limits their use even more
Bulma comes off better than most because she always has SCIENCE to keep her relevant
Although who can say how things would have been if Toriyama had gone with his first second plan and 18 was half of the real final arc boss
edited 8th Feb '18 9:28:42 AM by Bocaj
Forever liveblogging the AvengersNew roles can always be added
Look at Vegeta. Like a roloflex
Hypothetically 18 may have decided to become stronger, angry that she thought she was one of the two strongest people in the world only to get eaten by Cell and then be vomited up to find half the cast now outdid her.
Or she could have decided to honor 16's all-loving except for Cell and Goku nature by becoming one of Earth's protectors.
By the time the Buu Saga rolled around, she could have been in the grouping of people that went along to try to stop Buu from being awakened.
Would this have been the best use for her? Shrug. Its about preferences. Her blackmailing Hercule Mark Satan is still hilarious to me even years later. Pragmatism at its finest.
It would have made her more of an active participant in the plot. She could have been there to react to Krillin getting stoned. She would have ended up completely useless just like everyone else because Dragonball inevitably trends towards Goku which again is a matter of preference whether thats a problem.
Actually for years I assumed that cyborgs like 17 and 18 couldn't get stronger. Because. Cyborg. But apparently 17 was able to keep up leg day even while ranging the shit out of a park. And there's probably no gravity or hyperbolic time chamber out in the park so. Good job?
edited 8th Feb '18 10:11:42 AM by Bocaj
Forever liveblogging the Avengers

Well, maybe not then, but I'm sure he knows now. That's what I thought we were talking about, what with the present tense and all.
And I'm now remembering that "he's" can be "he is" or "he was", so there was the mix-up.
edited 8th Feb '18 12:15:14 AM by PushoverMediaCritic