Maybe Cell Is Just Misinformed Regarding His Regeneration?

[theherodjl]

Cell does state that so as long as his nucleus is intact he can regenerate but with it being destroyed by Goku earlier and regenerating anyways that ends up being the plothole...or does it?
Freeza(and Cooler if movie-canon is included) can survive with the vast majority of their bodies obliterated down to just being faces or parts of heads so this implies they do not have an organ like a brain or at the very least do not require them, what if this concept applies to Cell in that he thinks he would need an important organ like a brain that houses a nucleus but does not and that he can simply regenerate so as long as some degree of his being remains? Is he just wrong and the "nucleus" is really just some random part of his body that he is under the impression follows the rules of Namekian regeneration?

[Tectorman]

That's problematic because he lost his head (and upper body) before self-destructing and recovering the way he did. Coming back from Goku's Kamehameha should have already told him "That business with your nucleus the computer told you about? Ignore it; it was wrong".

That is, if he remembered. He might not have. The Cell that regenerated from Goku's attack might have only known that he took some kind of significant damage, but not what specific kind.

[TheUltimateNinja]

That's problematic because he lost his head (and upper body) before self-destructing and recovering the way he did. Coming back from Goku's Kamehameha should have already told him "That business with your nucleus the computer told you about? Ignore it; it was wrong".

That is, if he remembered. He might not have. The Cell that regenerated from Goku's attack might have only known that he took some kind of significant damage, but not what specific kind.

I've always gone with the explanation that the nucleus is only necessary if most of his body is destroyed, since he still had a significant portion of his body left after Goku blasted him the nucleus would have been unnecessary.

[LuckyCat]

Our maybe he misinformed the Z fighters? He didn't talk about his torso regeneration because it wasn't important at that moment.

[floofychan333]

There's likely no fixed nucleus. If he can regenerate no matter what part of his body is remaining, the nucleus probably shifts, if it's even there at all.

[tasuxeda]

My understanding is that Cell's nucleus was in one of the pieces of Cell's flesh that you can see being blown away from Cell's body and that it remained intact and either rejoined his body to regenerate or was able to cause his body to regenerate remotely.

[RandomGuy96]

Cell does state that so as long as his nucleus is intact he can regenerate but with it being destroyed by Goku earlier and regenerating anyways that ends up being the plothole...or does it?
Freeza(and Cooler if movie-canon is included) can survive with the vast majority of their bodies obliterated down to just being faces or parts of heads so this implies they do not have an organ like a brain or at the very least do not require them, what if this concept applies to Cell in that he thinks he would need an important organ like a brain that houses a nucleus but does not and that he can simply regenerate so as long as some degree of his being remains? Is he just wrong and the "nucleus" is really just some random part of his body that he is under the impression follows the rules of Namekian regeneration?

I just figured he was lying.

"Yep, this is how you beat me. Destroy my head. [points to head] Right here. Really, that's it."

[DBZAOTA482]

Cell said he can regenerate from any extreme of injury as long as that cluster of cells remains implying it would drain next to no energy but when Goku literally blew his top off it took a lot of energy to regenerate himself.

[Nejishiki]

Cell: "Heh heh heh..."
Cell: "You seem surprised!"
Cell: "I was too."
Cell: "Quite a stroke of luck on my part."
Cell: "There's a small cluster of cells in my head. It makes up my 'core'."
Cell: "If that cluster isn't destroyed, my body can go on regenerating, even if only microscopic pieces remain."

Taking Cell's word at face value, Goku failed to eliminate a microscopic piece. Cell's suicide attempt intended complete obliteration according to his feelings on the subject.