Except they didn't, because they deliberately stretched out how much time Piccolo had for the sake of a joke.
My various fanfics.Split second emotional reactions usually aren't rational. That and the anime padding the scene out to be more dramatic and adding more time where he clearly could have gotten Gohan out of the way but didn't doesn't help either.
But either way, Piccolo isn't stupid, but people really play him up as the "smart one" for reasons I don't actually understand. Piccolo is not the only one to have ideas or try to strategize and such.
edited 27th Jan '18 11:59:48 AM by LSBK
Well, unlike Goku or Vegeta he ends up as a mentor character, and also unlike those two he doesn't let people power up for its own sake. While he is a Blood Knight he does a much better job of not letting those tendencies make him pick up the Idiot Ball. So I think that's a lot of cred towards him more or less ending up as The Smart Guy by default.
Goku has smart ideas in the heat of battle but he also has a giant list of idiotic moments to his name, and Vegeta's... Vegeta. I wouldn't really pick Gohan or Krillin as particularly smart, both have their dumb moments (Gohan showboating as UG, Krillin speeding back with the Guru Dragonball at full speed and not blowing up Android 18). Yamcha, Chaotzu and Tien are just too minor characters to qualify.
edited 27th Jan '18 12:08:00 PM 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?"I genuinely can't think of any moments where the enemy asked for a chance to powerup and Goku or Vegeta refused. There were some moments in the Freeza saga where Vegeta acted very skillfully, it should be said, but no one asks him for a chance to power up then either, and he actually tells Freeza to go second form (though, as Freeza can do that instantaneously that's not an awful strategy).
edited 27th Jan '18 12:13:17 PM 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?"Character's don't generally ask to power up. Against Frieza Goku let him do it for a very specific reason, and against Cell he was high on arrogance and not his standard behavior.
The idea that Goku and Vegeta are just unable to fully appreciate a threat and treat it accordingly is wrong. They can and have made bad decisions for their own selfish desires, but that's not all they do.
But acknowledging that takes away from the "Piccolo's [or other character] not as strong but he has other points that make up for it" argument.
edited 27th Jan '18 12:16:46 PM by LSBK
Like, you're saying that, but you're also not posting any examples of them acting pragmatically in these sorts of situations.
Goku has:
- Let Freeza power up to 100% (admittedly, he had good reason to think he would still be stronger, but still this is a huge risk to take)
- Given Cell a Senzu bean
- Sandbagged against Majin Vegeta because he was enjoying the fight
Vegeta has:
- Let Cell go perfect form
- Become Majin Vegeta
- Knocked Goku out so he could fight Buu on his own
Literally the only moment I can think of Piccolo doing something like this is that he, like the rest of the fighters, doesn't want to wish for Gero's location so they can go stop him from making the androids, and that's a Goku and a Vegeta moment as well.
You could throw in "He attacked android 17 and drew Cell to them" but given that the androids could have potentially killed all his friends, and that his larger plan was to try and deny Cell the chance to absorb them, it was more of a miscalculation than simply being high on power. There was an actual plan there, which came pretty close to succeeding.
edited 27th Jan '18 12:25:25 PM 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?"Semi Perfect Cell used Vegeta's pride against him. Vegeta assumed that even his perfect form would not be strong enough to match his new level of power.
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I actually wonder of the flaws of Super Saiyan 3 exist to excuse why Goku didn't use it against Vegeta.
edited 27th Jan '18 12:22:26 PM by Darthwyn
"Shall I use you, or make you mine... I'm not so sure what I'll do." - DorthyGoku has:
- Insisted that Gohan kill Cell as soon possible.
- Decided to stay dead to make the Earth safer.
- Wanted to give the younger generation a chance to save the world because he can't always be around.
- Wanted to fight fused despite hurting his pride against Majin Buu, and then regrets not doing so against Kid Buu
- Wants to bring in Gohan to finish Kid Buu off as soon as he's revived.
And I'm not saying all of these decisions are good, I'm saying Goku is capable of making decisions independent of "It'll be a good fight" and regretting thinking along those lines. Which is something a lot of people don't seem to realize. Even then, like I said, the Frieza bit had reasoning beyond "I want to enjoy the fight", and Vegeta had a reason to tell Frieza to transform beyond "my pride".
Piccolo is hardly the only person capable of pragmatic thought, and when it comes to strategizing he's not much better than the others.
edited 27th Jan '18 12:26:21 PM by LSBK
Maybe Future/Teen Trunks, then? He's definitely the Smart Guy out of the Saiyans. Heck, he even plays the role straight in DBGT.
Also, Gohan only really seems to become an idiot once he reaches his ultimate forms. Other than that, he's pretty competent.
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Goku healed Cell and considering cell was back in Semi Perfect form again he could have killed Cell himself. Heck even Trunks would have been capable of doing so.
He also admitted that he could have possibly killed Fat Buu if he went all out. Not sure if he really could, but his let the next generation handle it got the earth blown up.
Considering Gohan was later revived he was just one instant transmission away and they did have another type of fusion option.
edited 27th Jan '18 12:35:14 PM by Darthwyn
"Shall I use you, or make you mine... I'm not so sure what I'll do." - DorthyFuture trunk had the issue of not getting much training, so he lacked fighting sense.
One Strip! One Strip!He always has been.
...well except with Frieza. He was clearly taking his time there.
One Strip! One Strip!...Yes, we've been over the bean. If you're going to blame Goku for not killing Cell when he regressed, you're also going to have to blame Vegeta, Trunks, very possible Piccolo, and, of course, Gohan. Singling Goku out there makes no sense. Although, considering the beating he and the others got, Goku very well may not have been able to kill Semi-Perfect Cell, nor any of those others mentioned, except for, again, Gohan.
My point wasn't that it was a good decision, my point was that it was explicitly a decision based on greater implications.
Yes, and Goku wanted to do that. Vegeta shot it down, and everyone else just went along with it. And the other fusion option takes time and practice to learn, it was not something they could just do with Kid Buu right there.
But, again, my point wasn't that Goku hasn't made bad decisions, he's made plenty of those. My point was that Goku can make decisions based on other things besides whether he'll enjoy a fight or not, and he's far and away from the only character to make decisions that end poorly/don't work out the way he thought they would.
edited 27th Jan '18 12:45:32 PM by LSBK
I highly doubt Piccolo could have beaten Semi-Perfect cell, the four sayians/half saiyans could, but yeah,Goku instant transmissioning him to King Kai's planet was - considering he had to make that decision in only a few seconds - an amazing plan, since he could very well have just set the blast off had he tried to kill him.
It's a great moment for Goku.
edited 27th Jan '18 12:41:52 PM 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?"The way the Buu saga went during the final battle comes down more to authorial fiat than any in universe decision by the characters.
That should not be held against them.
One Strip! One Strip!

Mistare fusion once described it thusly: "Even when everyone else is being an idiot you can usually count on Piccolo to keep his head." His one dumb moment was more a flat miscalculation than outright stupidity (thinking he could kill 17 to stop Cell absorbing him) and is overshadowed by the more serious stupidity of... everyone else.
What about when he tried to save Gohan?
PICCOLO: Alright, it's time to redeem myself. Through one final act of redemption I'll save Gohan and- wait a second, why didn't I just grab him? I can probably still do that now, actually. Yeah, that's it, I'll grab him, and throw him out of the wa-AAAARRRRRGH!
I mean, I realize that entire thought process is a DBZA only thing, but they still had a point.
edited 27th Jan '18 11:55:24 AM by kkhohoho