Did they need to learn them?
I actually don't remember if the manga canonically established that their memories of their past lives were erased, or if that's just something the fandom latched onto? Or anime filler?
I don't know. I know it's common knowledge that 17 and 18 had their minds wiped and woke up with no identity but the ones Gero programmed them with, but I don't remember where that bit of info actually came from. I don't remember the manga going into a lot of detail about them beyond "Babymaker still intact", as TFS so eloquently put it.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Sep 25th 2018 at 9:43:51 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.The Abridged Androids certainly seem cool with it. 18 likes to use her designation for jokes.
"What's your number?" "18!"
And that's really the most important part at the Watsonian level. I'm just saying, from a writing perspective, it kind of wasn't cool of Toriyama to continue identifying her as Gero's Product after the timeskip rather than giving her an actual name.
Of course, she would go on to also be made to Stay in the Kitchen when he came back to writing years later so maybe 18 isn't as much of an exception to "Toriyama sucks at writing women" as fans sometimes claim.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Sep 25th 2018 at 9:54:43 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.![]()
We don't really know that. It's not impossible, but Toriyama probably never considered it, and he's clearly not interested in capitalizing on it either.
I don't even know how to look at that any more. I hate it because it makes Krillin look bad. 18 may have just been a lucky break where the demands of the plot superseded any inherent sexism that might have prevented him from doing anything more with her, but once she was no longer needed as a villain, he was free to find (very dumb) excuses to keep her out of the story to railroad the plot in the direction he wanted it to go, logic (as usual) be damned.
Edited by HandsomeRob on Sep 25th 2018 at 10:46:31 AM
One Strip! One Strip!I think they do remember their past and it wasn't very nice for them. It's just that their general stoic nature makes them feel indifferent about them, although they might have internalized their problems and haven't discussed them with their peers.
This video from MasakoX about Android 18
talks about why she is a lot less active and why she spends most of her time with her family. According to him, he believes that she wanted to settle down and i think it is a plausible theory. She seems a lot more happy in Super than she was in Z, even if she was already married in the Buu saga
I know that video, and I admit, it's a compelling argument.
But that still doesn't excuse the thing with her and Krillin in Resurrection F.
No matter what way we try to justify it (and I've tried, because I hate hearing that garbage out of Krillin's mouth), it's just Toriyama being lazy for the sake of focusing on a specific group of characters. 18 is just where it's most obvious...though it's still nigh impossible to justify Roshi being there instead of Yamcha.
One Strip! One Strip!That, yes. 17 dropped off the face of the universe and when he did come back, he was Super Saiyan Blue-tier strength via Mountain Training because reasons.
18 stuck around in the show to be Krillin's Baby-Mama and have a brief arc where she triumphantly managed to outwit Goku and Vegeta's adolescent children before they could accidentally obliterate her, and then be told to Stay in the Kitchen when Frieza came back.
She also competes in the Tournament of Power, but she is not Super Saiyan Blue-tier despite having access to adequate training partners and methods far in excess of anything 17 could even dream of.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Sep 25th 2018 at 11:27:34 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub....
Well, she was already weaker than 17 (in-universe because Gero thought it'd make her easier to control, but I still question that), but I admit that 17 getting as strong as he did by ranging the hell out of a park is very nebulous.
We just have to assume that 17 did his bullshit training constantly, while 18 didn't get serious until around the time of the tournament.
This is me trying to give them the benefit of the doubt however. Because even I get sick and tired of stating because she's a girl.
One Strip! One Strip!Well she was encumbered by a sprain ankle.
Seriously a sprained ankle was treated as a relatively serious dehabilitating injury despite others fighting on with broken bones or Hell their entire bodies fucked.
Plus her showing in the To P was pretty unimpressive compared to her brother.
"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."I'm pretty sure 18 in the manga did worse than Anime Krillin.
At least in the anime she got a nice moment versus the worst evil Dragon Ball has ever created. Yes, i'm talking about Ribrianne.
But if you ask how 17's training somehow got him around SSB/Freeza level, i have this old but gold TFS clip for you

It's moot anyway because learning their names only happened for the readers. There's been no indication in story that they learned them, or even care to do so.