That's not a highlight, we talk about everyone at length decades afterwards.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.I totally agree that Tien's actions shouldn't be considered irrelevant due to actions outside of his control.
We don't know what Cell would have done if he'd gone perfect before Trunks and Vegeta got out of the room of time and spirit, but we do know that he would have been perfect.
Trunks and Vegeta would have arrived in time to be stomped, and what happens from there is unknown, but I'm going on the assumption it would have been pretty bad.
Tien's actions gave the group the time they needed. Because of that Cell became interested in seeing if anyone could give him a good fight, gave the Z Warriors time to train for the Cell games ( and by default, Goku and Gohan time to finish their own training) which is why Goku was able to find out that Gohan could surpass him and rofl-stomp Cell. I get that some of you dislike trying to make certain characters more important than they really are, but now it seems you're going in the opposite direction: taking one of the few accomplishments of a non-Saiyan character and downplaying it to keep him a loser.
Tien is a loser, but that loser had his day, and it should not be shat upon.
Handsome Rob wins. Debate Fatality.
One Strip! One Strip!Hmm.
When you think about it, they were almost at full strength after this, and then got destroyed in short order by Nappa. Maybe if they worked better as a team, they could've done more against him.
......
What?
Shit. Not my intention.
I need you to take the blame for this Unnoun. Other wise, I have to take responsibility for my mistakes.
edited 2nd Jun '15 12:06:15 PM by HandsomeRob
One Strip! One Strip!Tien created a possibility that Vegeta and Trunks would destroy Cell before he achieved his Perfect Form. Without him, that possibility never would have existed in the first place.
It should not be overstated; Tien was not pivotal to the defeat of Cell. The opportunity he created was thoroughly wasted by Vegeta and Krillin's choices. In the end, it came to naught. The protagonists lost this fight.
But it should also not be understated. Tien's contribution was no less than Piccolo buying time for Goku to complete the Spirit Bomb that didn't kill Frieza, or Android 16 sacrificing his life so that Gohan could become a Super Saiyan 2 and not kill Cell, or Goku and Piccolo teaching Goten and Trunks the Fusion Dance so that Gotenks could not defeat Majin Buu. To say that Tien's contribution meant nothing is to say that the only part of a conflict that has any value is the final blow delivered to the villain.
edited 2nd Jun '15 12:21:34 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
Yes.
You did a much better job of saying that then I did. I wanted to say something like that, but oddly enough couldn't think of any good examples.
Just because nothing came out of it, doesn't make it completely meaningless.
One Strip! One Strip!Pretty much everyone in Z becomes Yamcha at some point. Jokes aside, I've always liked Yamcha. He lost most of his fights, lost his girlfriend to Vegeta and ended the series wandering the desert with his cat. He never had a wife or kids and IIRC, that was the main reason Krillin and Yamcha became martial artists.
edited 2nd Jun '15 3:12:30 PM by 940131
It was the main reason Krillin did. Yamcha got his initial skills as a bandit, then kept at it just because. He enjoyed fighting and adventuring with Goku.
Yamcha did initially want to use the Dragon Balls to overcome his crippling fear of women, but that was a separate issue unrelated to his fighting. He fought because it was enjoyable. He stopped because it wasn't fun anymore.
Unlike Tien, Yamcha and Krillin were always Goku's friends first and foremost, fighters second. They fell out of combat roles when more capable fighters became available, but never fell out of being Goku's friends.
edited 2nd Jun '15 3:33:25 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Tien is Can't Catch Up and Weak, but Skilled. Or, in other words, serious Krillin who is not a main character. Yamcha, meanwhile, started out as Innefectual Sympathetic Villian, and then became a jobber.
What he did in the Cell saga was to create an opportunity. The kind of stuff Krillin usually does, and Yamcha didn't do since Pilaf.
And now I am kinda wondering how both bald humans end up as the hermits of their respective schools... Hoping Super is a bit more than "Goku and Vegeta do insane stuff again".
I mean, if there were less overtly action-based elements it would probably work.
If there was action based around things other than fighting.
Like.
...Dammit I'm imagining the Para Para Brothers making Goku and Vegeta dance forever.
But, like. A dance-off.
Corporate intrigue involving Capsule Corp.
A crime noir starring Krillin.
Poachers in a park being ranged by 17. Having to figure out where they're sending the captured animals.
Someone's threatening to expose Mr. Satan and Chichi's panicking because they need that money.
The Paozu Tuna are going extinct because of Goku and they don't have anything to eat anymore but Oolong.

Tien tends to be a spectator when he's not just absent entirely. This was the highlight of his career post-Raditz.
edited 2nd Jun '15 9:52:50 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.