Pojo's Dragonball news, tips, strategies and more!

Main
Main Page
Message Board
Interviews
Who'd Play Who?

Trading Card Game
Scores CCG Section
Bandai Card of the Day
Old Killer Decks
Tips & Strategies
IQ's Crew
CCG Spoilers

Episode Summaries
U.S. Dubbed DBZ
U.S. Dubbed DB
U.S. Dubbed DBGT
Jap. Fansub DB
Jap. Fansub DBZ
Jap. Fansub DBGT
Movies

By Fans
DBZ Editorials
Episode Summaries
Manga Reviews
DBZ Song Parodies
Fan Fiction
Time Travel
Theory
Voice Overs
What If...?

Information
Adventure History
Akira Toriyama
Attack List
Before Dragon Ball
Biographies
Character Appearances
Character Deaths
Daizenshyu Guide
DB Summary
DBZ Summary
DBGT Summary
Dialogue Scripts
Dragon Balls
Dragon Ball GT Info
Dragon Ball Mix-Ups
Dragon Ball Time Line
Dragon Ball Wishes
Dragon Ball World Guide
Every Single Fight
Final Battle!
Jap. Game Reviews
Growing Up
Guides
Important Numbers
Item Guide
Japanese Lessons
King Kamehameha
Lyrics
Merchandise Guide
Movie Reviews
Name Puns
Name Translations
Newbie Guide
Power Levels
Relation Charts
Red Ribbon Army Ranks
Room of Spirit and Time
Saiya-jin Forms
Special Attacks
Tenkaichi Budoukai Info
Training Locations
Voice Actors

Multimedia
Daizenshyu Scans
Final Bout Scans

Video Games
Game Reviews
DBZ Sagas Walkthrough

Magic
Yu-Gi-Oh!
DBZ
Pokemon
Yu Yu Hakusho
NeoPets
HeroClix
Harry Potter
Anime
Vs. System
Megaman

This Space
For Rent

Pojo's Dragonball - What If?

WHAT IF THE “WHAT IF” ENTRIES DIDN’T MAKE REFERENCE TO NUMERIC POWER LEVELS IN THEIR DESCRIPTIONS

Formerly DarthNaps here to say hello and that it’s nice to write back to the Pojo faithful, especially our DBZ fans who enjoy talking about all aspects of Dragonball. I’d just like to give a shout out to all of the writers because I think everyone has some valid theories and interesting takes. That being said. . . I was wondering about these extensive numeric power level references in our beloved “what if’s”. . .

I have never read the actual comics upon which the cartoon series was based so I may be incorrect about this, but there is no official noting of power levels for each character in each series. Of course, from the Saiyan saga up to the Frieza saga and a bit in the Trunks subset, some characters do take scouter readings and we get the numbers, but most of the time the readings are inaccurate because humans have learned to manipulate their power levels.

Then there are the SEEMINGLY random numeric selections in the original DBZ CCG. Now these may or may not have been confirmed with Funimation prior to printing, but I believe they had a Yamcha character card surpassing a power level of 1 million. Ahem, we are talking about Yamcha. . . being slightly stronger than Frieza and the first SS Goku? I realize he and the rest of the humans went toe to toe with Cell Jr.’s and he got special training in Other World after Buu destroys the Earth, but Yamcha at a million is just plain wrong.

My point here is that there is no accurate power levels beyond Frieza saga because after that point, everybody that matters start getting ridiculously powerful and only 2 or three characters during any one given conflict can actually participate in the battle without dying by one punch. If this is so, how can we, the fans, with any rationale, make relentless power level guess-timantions to justify our new theories? It seems like everyone does this and that’s ok seeing how we have freedom of speech here in the States, but reading all those numbers is meaningless to me. I simply cannot appreciate the difference between a character capable of a power level of

15,000,000

versus a character capable of a power level of

20,000,000.

The important thing in DBZ is knowing when you are outclassed, thus providing the main impetus for our heroes to train. It’s sort of like Rocky and how he progressed through the first four films. Rocky’s opponents were always stronger than him, at least initially and thus Rocky trained.

So, I ask, why the annoying list of numbers? Can’t we make a more general reference to technical power level in favor of a more detailed explanation as to why one character is stronger than another under new rules and theories and how either gets stronger? I wouldn’t mind number crunching if they were based on some universal calculation, approved by the powers that be, in order to have a reliable frame of reference for changes in power levels in our “what if’s.” Because honestly, one person’s

150,000,000

Could be another’s

300,000,000

The only strength reference that makes any sense is comparing what characters actually do at different points in the series. SS Gohan could not destroy Cell initially but after his transformation to SS2 he did, so that’s a noticeable difference (for example). So maybe adopting a quick code for strength reference would make more sense. Something like:

CDK - capable of destroying Krillin (basically everyone)
CDP - capable of destroying a planet
CDF - capable of destroying Frieza
CDC - capable of destroying Cell

So what if the “what if” entries didn’t make numeric power level references? They’d be more concise, they’ be forced to find a more efficient way of expressing one being stronger than another and the theories would make a little bit more practical sense.

Lawrence
 


 

 


Copyright© 1998-2005 pojo.com
This site is not sponsored, endorsed, or otherwise affiliated with any of the companies or products featured on this site. This is not an Official Site.