Toriyama apparently has a personal, spiritual duty to make sure nobody besides Goku is useful in a fight.
This really becomes obvious near the end of the cell games...
You are not alone.On Zenkai becoming insignificant: perhaps that means it grants a flat power boost, which becomes less impressive the stronger you are?
Like, something granting 1000 points (just as an example) is insane if you yourself are at 500. But if you're at, say 1000000, it becomes decidedly less helpful.
I have a message from another time...It's explicitly seen as being "Strong as They Need to Be" embodied. It's a writer's crutch that was fortunately abandoned, though in doing so Toriyama has raised plot holes.
edited 22nd Dec '13 9:12:00 AM by wanderlustwarrior
In-universe, I'm more of the mind that it's got a percentage based diminishing return. Like the first time you get it, most likely in childhood, it'll boost your power level by say 80%. But by the umpteenth time you get it your body is worn from so many near death experiences that zenkai only gives a paltry 5% boost.
edited 22nd Dec '13 9:32:17 AM by Spirit
#IceBearForPresidentAgain, that contradicts what actually happens in the series. The boosts start out modest but Goku, Gohan and Vegeta all get huge ones for their final Zenkai.
@Shirow That's really unfair. Toriyama had other characters be plenty useful throughout the series - Goku would've been killed by Vegeta if Kuririn and Gohan didn't help him, for instance. Even at the Cell Games, Gohan is the one to kill Cell and Vegeta gave him the opening to do so.
You clearly were missing the delivery of each kill me. The sheer range of emotion he portrayed each time he spoke those two words was simply astonishing.
Improving as an author, one video at a time.God, that moment reminded me of...well, just about every word that came out of Frieza's mouth. Abridged 17 is delightfully terrifying despite existing in a comedy show, and can even manage to get some nice jokes in while still being completely terrifying.
edited 22nd Dec '13 9:31:34 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Same. The only time I've ever heard it pronounced differently was in a spectacularly terrible Toonami commercial that named him, "Doctor GEAR-ROW!"
It always amuses me when advertisers fail to do the research on something as simple as pronouncing the names of the characters right.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Well to be fair, it's only one letter away from the most inconsistently pronounced food of all time.

Wait, minor error, Cell always refers to it as "my nucleus" specifically.
You know, I wonder if that's actually meant to be a pun. If every cell has a nucleus, then Cell has his nucleus as well.