Dragon Ball Debates Go Wrong When Fans Pull Single Moments Out of Context

One of the problems I've had discussing Dragon Ball online is that people either overthink things or don't think about them enough. Fans take a single moment from the series, strip away everything around it, and treat it as proof of who is stronger, when the context says otherwise.

This happens with the old material and the new. Far too often people want to play follow the leader instead of thinking for themselves. They should do themselves the service of rewatching the series, paying attention this time as adults, and remembering that it's actually a little bit better than they remembered it as kids. My topic here is the way people misunderstand characters' feats based on singular moments.

Super Saiyan 2 Gohan was stronger than Cell, and Goku couldn't have won

I've covered Super Saiyan 2 Gohan's power numerous times, and how he was much stronger than people understand. I think that got through to people. I think those who took it in were able to understand just how powerful Gohan was during that period, and that even Super Perfect Cell, no matter what it could do, could not match up to a complete, full power Gohan in Super Saiyan 2. Don't forget, he was able to kill Cell with one arm.

We still have people saying Goku could have gotten the job done, even though it was stated many times in the series that he couldn't have, by Goku himself. Goku had no chance against that version of Cell, and that wasn't even Super Perfect Cell. Yet because Goku blew off half of Cell's head, some fans think that means Goku could have beaten him with the warp Kamehameha. That just makes no sense to me.

Vegeta's Final Flash shows why one lucky hit on Cell proves nothing

What those fans fail to remember is that just a few episodes before that, Vegeta also blew off half of Cell's body with the Final Flash. Perfect Cell then went on to finish Vegeta off with one elbow drop. So does that mean Vegeta could have secretly beaten Cell? Do people not think when they say these things?

The truthful answer is no. People often don't think enough about what they're saying. The fans who say Goku could have killed Cell are ignoring Goku's own statements, made multiple times, that he couldn't have. Context is very important in telling this story. People take what happens in one moment, remove the information surrounding it, and use that to justify their argument rather than looking for an accurate conclusion.

Why I don't get into many Dragon Ball debates anymore

People often get into debates with somebody like me, and when I make them look foolish, it turns into playing the victim card, and I get labeled as egotistical. I had heard that many times over the years, though by that point not so much. Granted, maybe in my first couple of years doing this I was a little out of control. I've changed a lot since then and grown up a lot, and I'll admit that about myself. But hearing that from someone I trust and respect is different from hearing it from somebody who just lost a debate to me on Facebook or Twitter about Dragon Ball.

I'm not a power scaler, but I've proven over the past six years that I know what I'm talking about. The problem is that everybody wants to be a power scaler, yet people look at everything so one dimensionally. They don't look at the factors and variables that go into actual power scaling, or the actual study of the narrative of the series and what's being told. They often use straw man arguments that anybody with a functioning brain can debunk in seconds.

It's kind of frustrating, to be honest, which is why I don't get into many debates anymore. Luckily, I don't think most of the people who follow me qualify as this kind of fan, and I hope this reaches some of the ones who do, even if many of them say I'm being rude again. I'm really not. I just want you to think more. "If me wanting fans to think more is a crime then I'm guilty as charged."

Trunks wasn't stronger than Perfect Cell, and one manga panel can't prove it

The same thing comes up when people say Trunks was stronger than Perfect Cell in the battle they had after the fight with Vegeta, the one before the Cell Games. As I said in a previous debunk, that's also not true. You can't take one manga panel out of context to justify your point when there are several other pages that prove otherwise, and I explained at the time what was going on.

This isn't really about power scaling, though. It's about the singularities that make up one specific moment, which aren't really relative to a power scale at all.

Krillin cutting off Frieza's tail on Namek didn't make him stronger than Frieza

Here's an example. Krillin cut off Frieza's tail on Namek. Does that mean Krillin is stronger than Frieza? That happened during Frieza's second form, at a fighting power of one million. If you're willing to believe that, it's the same logic you're applying to Goku's warp Kamehameha meaning he's stronger than Cell. It's the same thing. He got a lucky shot.

Broly's childhood scar was never a weak spot

The same thing happened when Goku fought Broly in the eighth Dragon Ball Z movie. Before anyone says that's not canon, and I can see that coming from a mile away from some people, though not everyone, it doesn't matter. The point needs to be made. Goku by himself was obviously not stronger than Broly. But with enough force he was able to punch through Broly, with the power of his four friends helping him, and without them they couldn't have won. That was enough to send Broly away for at least a few years until he came back.

Many fans have argued it was the scar: that Broly had a weak spot on his stomach from being stabbed as a kid, and Goku exploited it. I've also debunked that before. So we have two examples of both extremes. One side takes things out of context, and the other adds more context without enough evidence.

It doesn't make logical sense that Broly has a weak spot from a scar he got as a kid when he's going around obliterating parts of galaxies and annihilating planets with ease. And you're going to tell me he has a little baby scar that Goku punched to beat him in one shot? It was never once talked about in any of the Akira Toriyama interviews. It wasn't brought up in the film itself, or even hinted at. It's basically something Broly fans made up to justify him losing that fight.

Rewatching Dragon Ball with grown up eyes

I've been around this fandom a long time. I've seen where things come from and where they go, and the more time passes, the more I wonder about people. I encourage people to go back and rewatch Dragon Ball. I say this a lot: you need to rewatch it now with grown up eyes. Some of you haven't seen this show since you were kids, and "this is a kid's show make no mistake."

I understood this when I was 13 years old, and it never ceases to amaze me that so many grown adults don't. This is a very simple show to understand. There's nothing wrong with having debates, but I feel you always have to find a balance between too much context and not enough context when it comes to characters and how they're supposed to behave.

Piccolo is more like an uncle to Gohan than a father

I'm reminded of the people who actually believe, not memeing or trying to be funny, that Piccolo was more Gohan's dad than Goku was. Those people blow my mind. Either they haven't seen the series in a very long time, or they misremember things, or they're following memes created by parody groups like Team Four Star without realizing it's just a joke. Or they see some cringeworthy post on Facebook or Instagram and think it's worthy of being discussed, when it's complete nonsense.

There's so much evidence in the series that Gohan had a much closer connection to Goku, and even his mother Chi-Chi, than he did to anybody else, with the exception of maybe Videl once they met and got married, and of course his daughter Pan. Piccolo is the first person outside his immediate family that he cares about the most, but Piccolo is more like an uncle to Gohan than a father figure.

Yes, Piccolo took care of him for one year, actually less than one year, because if you remember he put Gohan out into the wild for several months. And yes, they did bond, but not to the level of Goku and Gohan, who spent much more time together, not just in training but in casual quality time.

Yes, there is such a thing as a wrong opinion

I just want people to be better, to understand this stuff better and appreciate it more, because I love this series a lot. I think if people watched it start to finish in Japanese, really learned these characters and how things worked, and understood the series more, they would like it and appreciate it as much as I do. Some of you are getting there, some of you aren't there at all, and some of you are new.

I don't hate the fandom. I just want fans to be better in the way they analyze things. Every day I see at least one or two cringeworthy opinions. The old me would jump in and correct them, but the new me just closes the app and moves on. Some people may tell you otherwise, but when you don't have full context of something, "yes there is such thing as a wrong opinion, those do exist." You can have smarter, better informed opinions if you study the material more deeply. That's what I'm here to do, and I always encourage you to do the same.

Which of these Dragon Ball moments do you think gets taken out of context most often?