I wonder how they're going to pull off him saving everyone's lives (at least for a little while).
Maybe Popo invites them to the lookout because even Buu would think twice about invading his place. (Or so he thinks.)
"It's liberating, realizing you never need to be competent." — UltimatepheerI just thought of something. I wonder if, after Cell absorbs them, 17 and 18 will be Nail-like voices in his head until he dies (or spits her out, in 18's case). That might be pretty funny, if perhaps a bit too drama killing.
On the other hand, I could totally see Cell taking what was a funny way of keeping characters alive, as with Nail and Kami, and twisting into a nasty way to force his victims to continue to exist/suffer even in death. Imagine every single one of his absorbed victims being trapped in there. It'd make this scene a whole lot more horrible than it already is...
edited 23rd May '14 12:58:53 AM by KnownUnknown
Kind of like how the final sendoff for the Kaio-What? gag was used to build up how truly powerful and terrifying Frieza is?
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Man, figuring out the DBZ timeline/alternate universes is fun. Here's a theory I've been mulling over, which may or may not be official or already known (I haven't really checked).
First thing's first - "our" timeline can be considered the "Main" timeline, but it isn't the original timeline. You could kind of say there are two main "groups" caused by all the rampant time traveling:
The original universe (let's call it Prime) is the one we see in History Of Trunks. The Freeza saga goes as normal, Goku is the one who defeats Frieza somehow, and then everyone lives their lives unsuspecting until the androids show up and wreck everyone's shit. Everyone dies, Trunks grows up in a living hell, and Bulma - in desperation - creates a time machine. Initially, I thought that there might be universe where time travel never happened at all, but that doesn't make sense - Bulma creating the time machine was a natural effect of this timeline's progression, and thus there is always a timeline where Trunks left. After he leaves, this timeline effectively ends - though to be precise, it splits into two (that we know of). The Trunks we initially meet when he kills Freeza is Trunks Prime - he's from the Prime universe, and his leaving (in a manner of speaking, the real reason is a bit more complicated) is what splits the two - Trunks himself becomes one or the other based on whether or not Cell has also time traveled into the past he visits, and both of these timelines are "created" (for lack of a better word) when he returns:
- The first (Prime A, let's call it) is Cell's timeline, wherein Trunks doesn't encounter Cell in the alternate past, and is thus unprepared for him in the future. We can infer from this that there is another universe (that we never see) that splits off from the Main timeline in which the androids and Trunks appeared but not Cell, but more on that later. In this timeline, when Trunks returned from the past he was strong enough, but not strong enough to face Cell. Cell A kills him and takes his time machine. We never actually meet Trunks A, unless you count the him that we was when he was Trunks Prime, but Cell A is the Big Bad we know and love.
- Prime B is the timeline where the Trunks we know is from - this one is distinct from the first, in that Trunks encountered Cell A in the Main timeline (it's odd that the thing that separates the timelines happens in a totally different timeline, but there it is) and thus grew from that experienced. When he returned, this Trunks was strong enough to not only destroy the androids, but also Cell when he tried to jack his time machine.
So, the "Main" timeline is created likes this: Cell A goes to the past in order to absorb the androids that were destroyed by Trunks A in his timeline -> then Trunks Prime shows up, kills Frieeeza, and warns the Main heroes about said androids -> the heroes train for the androids, etc, etc -> Trunks B shows up while they were in the middle of trying to fight Gero and everything progresses as we know it. Cell Main is blown up as a larva, Cell A is killed by Gohan, Trunks B has some life experiences and leaves for home a better man, Trunks Main lives a happy life and grows up to be an asshole with a heart of gold and everything ends happily ever after (with the addition of an evil pink Omnicidal Maniac, but that's not relevant here).
- As I noted before, there is at least one alternate universe (Main A?) that should exist but that we never actually see - the universe that Trunks A ported to. It's mostly unknown what happened here - it's easy to assume that everything progressed as normal until the point we know Cell shows up, but as Trunks points out, not only does the act of time travel create an alternate universe, it also alters things in unpredictable ways just by way of doing it (things like the #17 and #18 being not only stronger, but better people). Cell actually appeared in the Main universe before Trunks Prime first showed up, so who knows what alternations didn't happen here. It's safe to assume that everyone made it out alive, though, since Trunks A leaves this timeline victorious, but it's also safe to assume that everyone is weaker than the main universe since they didn't have to grind for Cell (Trunks A himself is much weaker than Trunks B). It's unknown whether #17 and #18 survive (I kind of doubt it, though - even if they're the less evil and more amoral cyborgs we know in this timeline, the heroes - minus possibly Krillin, depending on what happened - have less reason to be sympathetic. This version of Cell probably grew to adulthood and was unleashed upon the world, so who knows what happened there.
That's about it for the timelines we know (or at least can reasonably conclude) exist. You could assume that there's a universe where Trunks didn't return the second time (though Trunks leaving is inherent to the Prime universe, you could make a case that Trunks "arriving" anywhere isn't a necessity), I guess, but it's not as evident as the others.
edited 23rd May '14 12:52:14 PM by KnownUnknown
NEEEEEEEEERD!
I've got new mythological machinery, and very handsome supernatural scenery. Goodfae: a mafia web serial
In layman's terms...
- Universe A: No time travel. Androids destroy everything.
- Universe B: Trunks goes back in time. Cell hasn't arrived yet. We only see this one for a few episodes.
- Universe C: Cell goes back in time. This is the one we see.
edited 23rd May '14 2:43:52 PM by BaffleBlend
"It's liberating, realizing you never need to be competent." — Ultimatepheer![]()
There is no universe with no time travel in some way (and thus arguably no universe where the androids win, though I guess you could make the case that the universe Trunks returns to is not the one he left from - I'd disagree though). In the end its more like this:
- Universe A: Trunks goes back, doesn't meet Cell in past, destroys androids. Cell kills him. Cell's universe.
- Universe B: Trunks goes back, meets Cell, destroys androids and Cell I future. Trunks' universe.
- Universe C: Trunks warns of androids in past, then helps defeat them. No Cell (except larva). The universe Trunks from Universe A ends up in. We never see this one.
- Universe D: Cell arrives in past. Trunks warns of androids in past, then helps defeat them and Cell. Our universe.
The Prime stuff is just to point out that there's a bit of a divide between Trunks-es, since it splits after we meet him. (There was one Trunks before, in the History of Trunks stuff, but split into two in the timey wimey confusion thanks to Cell).
edited 23rd May '14 4:01:33 PM by KnownUnknown
[[never mind, misread]]
edited 23rd May '14 5:05:43 PM by BaffleBlend
"It's liberating, realizing you never need to be competent." — Ultimatepheer![]()
The guidebooks mostly follow that same four timelines you described, but they cut out your Timeline C. One of the guidebooks adds a timeline which says nothing but "The Cell Games happen but Trunks is absent" and nobody has figured out what the fuck that was about. Later guidebooks ended up dropping that one.
I think that's the timeline that was overwritten when Trunks came back the second time (after warning the Z fighters but before fighting 17/18 — he was back in his own time period between that, remember).
edited 23rd May '14 8:10:10 PM by BaffleBlend
"It's liberating, realizing you never need to be competent." — UltimatepheerUnabridged Cooler is on tonight.
I'm rewatching a couple of scenes of Cooler Abridged. Goku really was a poor father in parts of here. When I mentioned before him listing Gohan last for the things that Cooler's Armored Squadron should get away from, I'd forgotten that he'd even taken care to say "in that order".
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Pretty much.
Yeah, the fact that he'd bothered to say that was kind of jarring. It's one thing to be a neglectful idiot — vocally declaring him unimportant is something else entirely.
Man, I don't know what's more annoying with this movie, lolKrillin, or that Korin was going to LET GOKU DIE because Gohan didn't give him a gift.
My various fanfics.

Loved that part.