Bullets bounce off strong characters because they're being fired by weak characters. Bulma and Launch aren't powerful enough to make bullets hurt people like Goku and his ilk. So long as Ginyu himself was the one wielding the knife and not, say, Guldo, he'd be fine.
In Japanese works, a weapon is as powerful as the person who wields it. King Cold learned this the hard way regarding the sword that cut through Frieza. That sword isn't special, Trunks is. The blade is an extension of its wielder's power, capable of slicing effortlessly through those too weak to threaten Trunks, yet powerless against the bare finger of a greater warrior.
Power levels: yes, even your weapon is subject to them.
edited 28th Sep '15 1:58:43 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.I interrupt this conversation to bring you something more on-topic.
Renegade for Life: Metal Gear Solid V
In the Dragon Ball Abridged thread, I would say that the creators doing things unrelated to the show is about as on-topic as unabridged Dragon Ball.
Wait, that's Renegade for Life, not TFS Plays. Ignore me.
edited 28th Sep '15 2:08:30 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub. This also seems to be the general TFS thread seeing as how people used to keep track of their LPs and even talk about them here. At least this is their Vegeta playing a game.
Ignored.
edited 28th Sep '15 2:09:20 PM by Zelenal
Let the joy of love give you an answer! Check out my book!In the case of guns, the belief is more along the lines of "A gun cannot do anything that the wielder could not" meaning something along the lines of "The best gun in the world is worthless if in the hands of someone who can't pull the trigger." Dragon Ball just takes that and runs with it.
Let the joy of love give you an answer! Check out my book!Yeah. It makes as much sense as a steel sword being capable of cleaving through Frieza's advanced cybernetics, but shattering on 18's soft, human skin - not even cutting to the metal beneath. The sword shatters not because of the hardness of its metal, the sharpness of the blade, but because of the hardness and sharpness of its wielder.
By Western standards, the blade would be a point of failure between Trunks and Frieza. Caught between the massive amounts of force exerted by Trunks's swing and Frieza's unbreakable hide, the sword would have shattered into a million pieces, not Frieza. It's just a sword. It doesn't have any superpowers, so when thrown into a match between planet-bursting super-strength and super-durability, it just can't measure up.
But by Easten standards, it is not a blade. It is Trunks's weapon, an extension of his being. It is as powerful as the warrior who wields it. It slices through Frieza because Trunks is powerful enough to slice through Frieza, and it is not the sword that fails against 18 but Trunks himself. It succeeds because he is strong and it breaks because he is weak.
edited 28th Sep '15 2:31:37 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.At least the sword has the simple excuse of likely being reinforced by Trunks' ki.
Let the joy of love give you an answer! Check out my book!To be fair to the Z Sword, it broke against a sample of the hardest substance in the universe, or something to that effect. Because nobody thought to start small and work up to test its capabilities.
Like, the defensive equivalent would be something like "pfft. That shield couldn't withstand even one nuke."
edited 28th Sep '15 2:57:50 PM by Enlong
I have a message from another time...That is pretty pathetic.
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.I thought SK threw it with telekinesis or something. Either way, lifting and breaking a thing are two different things. Of course, nobody tried to punch the block, so we can't measure that.
Wait, they called it the densest material, rather than hardest or toughest?
But yes. Sword vs Buu was doomed from the start.
edited 28th Sep '15 3:05:40 PM by Enlong
I have a message from another time...What would magic do to Boo?
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.Yeah, Buu's made of magic, so it might have some effect on him.
On that note, I'm still pulling for a Death Battle between Shendu and Aku.

Except for Piccoro, who stayed short.
edited 28th Sep '15 12:28:45 PM by randomness4
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.