I think it was: Become perfect.
Hang on a second, I'm feeling kinda Saiyan. I wanna fight the strongest people.
But I'm also feeling kinda King Piccolo, so Imma be a douche and make a spectacle out of it.
My various fanfics.I'll admit up-front that all my DBZ experience comes from the anime, which I haven't seen in forever.
In regards to Cell, look at the Future!Trunks timeline. What do the Androids do as soon as Goku dies? Start killing everyone for kicks. Cell was pretty much going to do that once he went Perfect, and Perfect Cell is a much bigger pain in the ass to deal with.
Kinda surprised he didn't get more of Goku's personality traits.
Or.
...Wait, whose cells exactly was he made of, and when were those cells collected?
Yeah, Frieza and Cold were only on Earth for a very short window of time, so that's that answered, but.
Goku and everyone else had a lengthier time period.
And, in the Future Timeline, most of them sorta died.
...Technically the Cell that everyone meets is Future Future Cell and that's hilarious.
Also, Supersonic Warriors and Xenoverse give us a Future Perfect Cell and just saying that reminds me of grammar school. It's great.
Krillin killed Present Cell.
But if he hadn't though. I mean, I wonder how that would have/could have gone.
If by the Buu Saga or Battle of Gods or Resurrection of F or whatever he'd just sorta wake up and find out that a version of him from the future ended up becoming Perfect and got his shit wrecked.
And. Like, if the robot hadn't been destroyed by Piccolo, could it have kept harvesting cells from other characters?
...Does Buu have cells?
We know he has stomach acid and intestinal parasites. Alien worms.
edited 21st Mar '15 7:43:48 AM by unnoun
Vegetto being sent straight to the absorbee place in the manga was far more sensible than Goku and Vegeta's incredible voyage, funny as it could be.
Also, were you guys arguing about CELL not being all that bad? The guy who sees everything else as Liquid Resources ?
Yeah I would beg to disagree.
I stand by the reasoning that Cell has demonic Piccolo cells, and this is how Kami&Piccolo immediately knew he was going to be evil. The Freeza&Cold cells made him even more despicable. Vegeta cells turned him into a proud asshole. Goku cells gave him a bit of honour, but that's it.
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Buu probably has cells. That regenerate.
...If Piccolo hadn't destroyed that bug, Buu could still be alive. That's a scary thought.
edited 21st Mar '15 8:19:31 AM by JonnasN
Yeah I would beg to disagree.
Not quite. We're arguing about Cell running out of Character Motivation and reverting to Stupid Evil because he still needed to be the villain until the protagonists beat him, but had succeeded in his goals and thus had no reason to keep doing villainous things. He never had any desires or motivations beyond "Become Perfect" so once he did that, he turned around and was like, "F*ck, guys, I actually just won this story. You seriously haven't beaten me yet? I don't think you get how shonen works. Fine, guess I'll threaten the planet or some shit until you kick my ass. Shape up, guys, this is disappointing."
It's not that Cell isn't evil. It's that he fails to provide adequate reasoning for why he's more evil than some of our protagonists, who we are rooting for to get stronger so as to defeat him - especially Vegeta.
Frieza is a galactic tyrant who wants to achieve immortality so as to rule over everything with an iron fist. Majin Buu is an eldritch horror weapon of mass destruction Gone Horribly Right, a mindless force of destruction that seeks to annihilate everything because that was the purpose it was designed for and it's not really sentient enough to think outside that box. Cell is a bio-android who wants to become Perfect because he was designed to be Perfect, and then test his strength against powerful foes because he has Saiyan genes...and then also destroy the universe because...?
edited 21st Mar '15 8:27:14 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Even if he did, it wouldn't really justify blowing up the universe.
If Cell intended to take control of Frieza's galactic empire and become the immortal tyrant Frieza never could, that would be an entirely in-character motivation stemming from the cells of conquerors in him, but there isn't a single component of his genetic structure that thinks the annihilation of all life in the universe is a worthy cause.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Cell being in charge of the Planet Trade Organization could have been cool.
He'd wear armor and the black panty thing.
Or maybe pants.
The black panty thing would be funnier.
...Also, side note, I noticed that when I fought Frieza for his mentor quest Mastery thing to get the Supernova in Xenoverse he was in his first form and not wearing his armor and.
I mean, Frieza isn't always naked in his first form. He just gets naked for his second and third and true forms because. Because.
Um.
...Why does he do that?
...Why would Gero want that?
I mean. I could buy if Cell kinda Came Back Wrong or went a little nuts after his attempted self-destruct when he became Super Perfect. That shit had to have hurt, and it probably messed with his brain.
edited 21st Mar '15 9:06:28 AM by unnoun
I imagine Freeza's bio-armor just isn't elastic like Saiyan armor, so it breaks from the stresses put on it by the transformations.
Which makes sense. Freeza almost never transforms, so he doesn't need transformation-safe armor. That, and his transformations increase his survivability a lot more than his armor.
I have a message from another time...Because Gero's motivation is even more nonsensical and bullshit than Cell's, as a product of numerous retcons more or less converting every aspect of his character from "Deranged scientist seeking to avenge Commander Red's shortness despite his complete failure to follow the Red Ribbon naming theme, builds androids intended to kill Goku," into pure and utter gibberish.
I mean, he was already a walking retcon masquerading as a returning character who couldn't even get his name properly acclimated to what he claims to be a throwback to. That wasn't a great start, and then it just got worse.
edited 21st Mar '15 9:10:36 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Staff Officer Black didn't know what Red was going to use his wish on until towards the very end.
And then he killed Red and took over for a bit and used a giant robot and died himself and didn't seem to tell anyone.
So, I don't think we can say "avenge Red's shortness" was a thing for Gero. He probably didn't know that was a character motivation.
I mean. Maybe Gero's son was in a tank or a plane Goku blew up or something?
edited 21st Mar '15 9:13:52 AM by unnoun
And I seriously will never forgive him for his name.
Dr. Gero is the only character in the entire franchise whose name doesn't mean anything. It's not a pun. It's not a theme. It doesn't apply to anything. That is how little thought was put into this walking plot device of a character.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub....Yeah, literally naming the only black character "black" was really fucked up and dumb.
...Also, why was his android body old?
It's like, why make a fat clown android, why make an old android and then put your brain in the old android.
Why not put your brain in a strong body with power equivalent equivalent to one you kept in storage for being too nice?
edited 21st Mar '15 9:16:48 AM by unnoun
That was totally f*cked up and dumb; Japan isn't exactly a bastion of progressiveness. They are a very racist and sexist culture, and I expect it was more "Making Black a black character" than making the black character Black because that is exactly the kind of logic that would fly in 40's American Comics, which is about where Japan is culturally.
Still, Dr. Gero should have been, like, Dr. Gold or something.
Seriously! Why was his android body the shittiest android design he's ever made? Why couldn't he make himself an infinite energy model like 17 and 18? The problem with them was that they're uncontrollable and have too much free will, which wouldn't be a problem when the android in question is Gero himself. Dr. Gero made an amazingly powerful android when he made 16, declared it to be too good, and kept making shittier and shittier models until he had one that was sufficiently shitty enough to lose to Goku and Vegeta.
edited 21st Mar '15 9:21:07 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.I think Cell needed to absorb 17 and 18 because they had those limitless energy engine thingies, and Gero only ever built two of those. So when he absorbs 17 and 18 he's kind of doing the same thing Android 13 did in Super Android 13 when he absorbed the "engines" of 14 and 15.
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It's possible Gero though that if he absorbed enough energy from people his power level would surpass that of 17 and 18.
edited 21st Mar '15 9:26:36 AM by WillKeaton

I think Cell's plan was more: Become perfect, give his opponents time to get stronger, defeat Goku, and then destroy everything because why not?
The *Legendary* Super Saiyan is motivated by a crying infant! He is a literal giant f***ing baby!