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FOFD Since: Apr, 2013
#9301: Feb 1st 2015 at 6:43:38 PM

I think part of the reason why DBZA works so well is because one of the big problems of DBZ in general is its padded out way too much, even in terms of the manga. If you want to follow the story, it can be a little frustrating having to watch episode after episode until you find the stuff that's really good. DBZ NEEDED an abridged series - way more than Yugioh did. It's a lot easier to do a DBZA marathon than a DBZ marathon, that's for sure.

I think you explained how I feel about that perfectly.

Also GODDAMN THAT MUSIC FROM THE HISTORY OF TRUNKS SPECIAL WAS FROM SILENT F'CKING HILL. O_O

Crowning Music Of Tearjerking Awesome Nightmare Fuel

edited 1st Feb '15 6:44:25 PM by FOFD

unnoun Since: Jan, 2012
#9302: Feb 1st 2015 at 6:49:46 PM

I mean, the Ginyu Force and the Great Saiyaman are kinda hard to take completely seriously on their own merits.

There's Gotenks's moveset and the volleyball ghosts.

And the bubblegum monster turning people into candy.

And a piece of candy beating him up.

Moth13 Since: Sep, 2010
#9303: Feb 1st 2015 at 6:53:18 PM

It does feel like DBZA has gotten more serious lately, though it's still funny of course.

Enlong Court Dragon from The Underground Facility Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: is commanded to— WANK!
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#9304: Feb 1st 2015 at 6:56:29 PM

Well, it is the Cell arc.

Makes me wonder if the Trunks movie is going to be entirely silly, as they said. I don't see that happening, or at least not wholsale.

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Cruherrx I say things. from my own little world Since: Apr, 2010 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
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#9305: Feb 1st 2015 at 6:58:07 PM

DBZA really doesn't "flesh out" side characters so much as they give them completely new personalities and gags. That is impossible to do in the original since Toriyama was building off Dragonball in the Z era, while these guys can do anything they want.

"If you weren't so crazy I'd think you were insane."
LOLypop1224 ...what am I even DOING here? Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: Non-Canon
...what am I even DOING here?
#9306: Feb 1st 2015 at 6:59:09 PM

[up][up] I feel like there is going to be some seriousness in it. I'm assuming those lines from the trailer are in the episode, considering they finished recording.

edited 1st Feb '15 6:59:21 PM by LOLypop1224

The *Legendary* Super Saiyan is motivated by a crying infant! He is a literal giant f***ing baby!
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#9307: Feb 1st 2015 at 7:00:18 PM

I think there's 50-50 chance of those being line made entirely for the teaser and aren't in the movie.

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Saiga Since: Feb, 2011 Relationship Status: Getting away with murder
#9308: Feb 1st 2015 at 7:00:58 PM

[up][up][up][up] Bardock's special is arguably even more serious, and the abridged version of that was nearly non-stop jokes. Even Bardock's dying vision was spoofed.

edited 1st Feb '15 7:01:23 PM by Saiga

LOLypop1224 ...what am I even DOING here? Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: Non-Canon
...what am I even DOING here?
#9309: Feb 1st 2015 at 7:03:21 PM

I think the Bardock Special worked, though. I never thought the jokes ruined the tone of the story (except the part with the Saiyans not believing Bardock's warning). And TFS have gotten better at writing since then.

The *Legendary* Super Saiyan is motivated by a crying infant! He is a literal giant f***ing baby!
Watchtower Since: Jul, 2010
#9310: Feb 1st 2015 at 7:15:10 PM

[up][up]The Bardock Special is also incredibly stupid. Like, Bardock somehow traveling back in time to become the Legendary Super Saiyan? Good luck keeping me from laughing.

DBZ grew into a serious series when it started off as a big ball of sillyness. DBZA is a big ball of sillyness that has grown to be capable of serious moments. It all works out.

edited 1st Feb '15 7:16:17 PM by Watchtower

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#9311: Feb 1st 2015 at 7:25:36 PM

[up]There are two Bardock specials. I think Saiga meant Father of Goku, not Episode of.

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Watchtower Since: Jul, 2010
#9312: Feb 1st 2015 at 7:33:30 PM

Ack, right. Mind immediately jumped to the more recent one.

I will agree first one was pretty serious, and did a good job being serious.

FOFD Since: Apr, 2013
#9313: Feb 1st 2015 at 8:08:26 PM

I can't stop watching that History of Trunks teaser. It's powerful, succinct too.

History of Trunks is a strange chapter (And by that, I mean episode) in Dragon Ball when you're a kid. It doesn't quite have that happy, motivational ending you're used to. Goku, the coolest most awesomest guy ever, isn't present for most of it (and given how much of the show is saturated with Goku's presence, that's really unnerving). Most of the cast you know is dead, the Androids are worse than you remember, and Gohan's missing an arm. Trunks becomes a Super Saiyan, for all the good that does, even then he gets curbstomped. Then there's that claustrophobic sequence where Trunks is running for his life after 18 breaks his sword and Trunks's inexplicable survival.

Damn. I don't know whether to rewatch the original, or wait for the Abridged. Watching one might ruin the other.

-

The positioning of Gohan and Trunks is a cute little bit of Foreshadowing.

edited 1st Feb '15 8:12:55 PM by FOFD

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#9314: Feb 1st 2015 at 10:49:08 PM

Team Four Star is really good at mixing the serious with the funny to accentuate both.

The Cell Saga does seem more serious than the other arcs, but that has a lot to do with the tone of the original. Cell Saga was the least intentionally silly arc of the series, and I say intentionally because there's still a lot that is ridiculous, but more along the lines of character motivations being bullshit, everyone behaving like morons, the complete and utter nonsense of Dr. Gero's actions, etc.

There's not a lot to make fun of in this arc other than how stupid everybody is.

edited 1st Feb '15 10:50:06 PM by TobiasDrake

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Saiga Since: Feb, 2011 Relationship Status: Getting away with murder
#9315: Feb 2nd 2015 at 3:30:38 AM

I think Team Four Star have done a good job avoiding that, actually. Most of the time they're not the sort to go for low-hanging fruit.

And yeah my bad, I meant the Father of Goku. The original is very serious and bleak, but the Abridged version is almost non-stop jokes. I think it works fine and shows TFS can spoof anything without altering it a great deal.

Eriorguez Since: Jun, 2009
#9316: Feb 2nd 2015 at 5:53:39 AM

TFS is made up of Dragon Ball fans. They know their stuff, and craft it properly into continuity. Remember that Lunch didn't appear in Z because Toriyama forgot about her.

Cruherrx I say things. from my own little world Since: Apr, 2010 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
I say things.
#9317: Feb 2nd 2015 at 7:23:08 AM

[up]That's just a myth. He's mentioned Lunch multiple times in DBZ's run, and wanted to include her in the shots showing people giving energy for the Spirit Bomb, but thought readers wouldn't remember her.

"If you weren't so crazy I'd think you were insane."
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#9318: Feb 2nd 2015 at 7:39:23 AM

[up][up][up] I don't know, 18's commentary about how the Piccolo v. 17 fight "could not get any dumber" and then how it "got so much dumber" was pretty on-the-nose.

I happen to agree, so I found the joke hilarious, but still the punchline was basically, "This scene is f*cking stupid and everyone involved is an idiot."

edited 2nd Feb '15 7:40:26 AM by TobiasDrake

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KarkatTheDalek Not as angry as the name would suggest. from Somwhere in Time/Space Since: Mar, 2012 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
Not as angry as the name would suggest.
#9319: Feb 2nd 2015 at 7:42:33 AM

[up] I loved that scene. 18 might actually be one of my favorite characters here.

Oh God! Natural light!
Eriorguez Since: Jun, 2009
#9320: Feb 2nd 2015 at 7:57:17 AM

That fight convinced me that Namekian spines and ribcages are quite plastic, and so are the cybernetic ones. Because come the fuck on.

And I would really enjoy a Falcon Punch joke when Vegeta leaves his first mark on Cell. Mostly due to voice actor shenanigans (Vegeta's Japanese VA voices Captain Falcon in Smash, while Cell's voiced Black Shadow (the guy who got decked by a Falcon Punch in the face in the memetic clip) in the anime), but yeah...

nabaduco Since: Oct, 2010
#9321: Feb 2nd 2015 at 9:25:33 AM

Well yeah, there's no point comparing DBZ Abridged and the original show. As the original show is of course far better a parody of itself.

17 vs. Piccolo really was a stupid fight. Piccolo should have known that raising his energy would give Cell the Androids' locations. And outright forgot to warn them about him. The fight was a waste of time that served 17 in Cell's platter.

edited 2nd Feb '15 9:34:51 AM by nabaduco

wanderlustwarrior Role Model from Where Gods Belong Since: Jun, 2009 Relationship Status: What's love got to do with it?
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#9322: Feb 2nd 2015 at 9:44:40 AM

Did he know how much stronger Cell had gotten, though?

I wonder what would happen if Cell used, and then absorbed into himself, the Spirit Bomb. Would he permanently gain power from everything that contributed?

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#9323: Feb 2nd 2015 at 9:53:10 AM

Goku didn't.

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wanderlustwarrior Role Model from Where Gods Belong Since: Jun, 2009 Relationship Status: What's love got to do with it?
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#9324: Feb 2nd 2015 at 10:00:13 AM

But Goku isn't an artificially created being that gains power from absorbing life energy.

Cruherrx I say things. from my own little world Since: Apr, 2010 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
I say things.
#9325: Feb 2nd 2015 at 10:09:34 AM

There's also a matter of Cell being evil. The spirit bomb's energy would rip him apart.

Unless, of course, he makes his spirit bomb out of stupid energy, in which case it should be the same result as Goku absorbing the spirit bomb's energy in filler/movies/vidya games. This would also only apply to Imperfect Cell, since as Semi and Perfect Cell he has access to 17 and 18's infinite energy reactors and has no need to (or maybe he can't) absorb energy.

"If you weren't so crazy I'd think you were insane."

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