Also, do half-Saiyans keep the ability to come back stronger after they've almost been killed? That would explain Gohan's line of being stronger despite losing an arm.
Me and my friend's collaborative webcomic: Forged MenYes, half-Saiyans get zenkais. Gohan may have gotten one after recovering from the loss of his arm.
In the original version of the special, the second fight with the Cyborgs - which Abridged regrettably skipped most of - has him doing a fantastic job against the both of them, parrying attacks from both simultaneously with only the one arm and giving the impression that, had he had both, he might have even won. His much more impressive performance the second time despite being Stumpy may be the result of a zenkai.
edited 20th Mar '15 11:42:25 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.![]()
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Though apparently, that's an anime only thing, and as stated, they'd only been toying with him, and he never came close to standing a chance.
The fact that he actually put up a bit of a fight the second time is just the anime letting Gohan go out fighting(which I kinda like truthfully).
One Strip! One Strip!True.
I really liked Gohan's point that the world was not better before the Androids because his life sucked pretty much from the start.
It's a fair assessment. By battle power alone, the Androids are much more powerful, but by personality and intent, I'd rather have them than Frieza. They're killing people because they're bored. Frieza did it out of spite.
The Androids are deadly powerful, but not Frieza Hopeless. 17 never busted out with, "Haha, you may have become strong enough to ALMOST match my strength, but you should be aware I have three more transformations, and my ultimate power is 1,000x greater than this!"
edited 20th Mar '15 12:18:30 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.The series ended over twenty years ago from Toriyama's perspective.
A lot of these notes seem half-assed and contradict bits of the manga Toriyama himself wrote.
So. In some ways Toriyama is basically just a fan at this point.
Wasn't Frieza basically a businessman?
edited 20th Mar '15 12:19:42 PM by unnoun
Wasn't he both? He did sell off the planets as well as be an emperor?
And Gohan's childhood may have sucked for him, sure, but overall it was much better. They had the Dragon Balls, there weren't homicidal Androids Cyborgs Teenagers(with attitude) running around killing everyone.
Additional: Kinda wish Doctor Chala would be uploaded as a standalone song on You Tube.
edited 20th Mar '15 12:48:33 PM by GethKnight
x4 The manga cuts away right as 17 makes the "Oh, I only used less than 50% last time" line along with 18 laughing at Gohan's reaction and the next page is Trunks waking up hours later and finding the body in the now way more destroyed city.
It's a really somber moment that comes chapterwise right after Satan vs. Perfect Cell which is pretty much 100% comedy.
Thanks to this special, I've now come to the realization that Gohan had only really known four women in his life when he went through puberty: his mother, a (reformed) killer android, Bulma, and Bulma's mom. Five if you want to count Marron, who he knew for all of a few days when he was, what, 9? That being the case, odds are pretty good that Bulma was one of his earlier sexual fantasies, adding yet another layer of awkwardness to her hitting on him.
By the same token, it also now occurs to me that future!Gohan likely died a virgin. Man, that poor kid just can't catch a single break, can he?
Yes, but I mean during the time Gohan knew him. Gohan never met Frieza in a professional capacity; his experience with the character is Frieza wiping out Namek for reasons roughly amounting to "Because f*ck you." He was there for the Dragon Balls and decided to just do some genocide while he was at it.
To the Androids, genocide is a game. To Frieza, it's what he is. He lives and breathes the annihilation of sentient races. They slaughter billions because it's a way to entertain themselves when they're more powerful than armies. He slaughters billions because that's just who he is.
edited 20th Mar '15 1:37:42 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Buu who is on the Earth sealed in a pod that can't open without significantly more power than Cell can output and would never be awakened if Cell blew up the planet?
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.

So yeah, that was really good. Not exactly the funniest thing they've churned out, but between the dark tone and the minimalist cast they worked well with what they had. It does help to have a dark sense of humor though.