DBGT - Confusion over Ultimate Dragon Balls (Help!)

[SSJFrogGinyu]

I just finished Season One of "GT" and I'm on the second disc of Season Two. First of all, a quick run-down:

Ultimate (Black Star) Dragon Ball Saga- BORING AS HELL. Completely void of fun compared to the Dragon Ball hunts of the original series. I couldn't wait for it to be over.
Baby Saga- FANTASTIC. A complete turn-around. I was completely engaged in the story. That surprised me, because everything I'd read and heard prior to buying Season One told me that I was supposed to hate GT. SSJ4 Goku raised a bunch of questions and problems for me, but at that point I didn't care. I was having fun.

Plus I got to see the Japanese version of Fat Boo for the first time - you mean he doesn't talk in broken sentences? Who knew!

But anyway, there are three questions I have concerning the Ultimate Dragon Balls. I think these might just be plot holes or nonsense, but I was hoping someone who knows more about this series than me can shed some light:

(1). When Goku handed the UDBs back to Dende(Baby) and asked that they be sealed up, everyone expressed concern that he wouldn't be able to wish himself back to an adult again. I don't remember ever hearing that in order to reverse a wish you had to use the specific set of Dragon Balls the wish was made on to do it. Was this ever actually mentioned in the canonical stuff? Because at the moment, there are other Dragon Balls sitting around that I thought he'd be able to use.

(2). Piccolo decided to die in Earth's explosion to make the ultimate DB's turn to stone. Alright, so Kami-sama made them before he split with Piccolo Daimo... Kami-sama is gone now, so shouldn't the UDB's have already turned to stone in the first place? Or were they revived when Kami and Piccolo merged again?

(3). The UDB's were brought back together before Earth was destroyed, which was supposed to stop the countdown. But then Baby used them and they flew into space again, and the countdown resumed right where it had left off. So... why? Did the reunion of the UDB's just not work? Shouldn't the countdown have started over from the beginning since they were reused?

Any help would be appreciated! Keep in mind this is my first time ever seeing GT - I don't know what happens past the point where I'm at currently (last episode ended with Goku being sealed in Hell with Freeza and Cell), so maybe this stuff will be explained later! But go ahead and point that out if that's the case.

EDIT: My apologies! I meant to post this in the In-Universe forum but I wasn't paying attention to where I was. Sorry!

[dbgtFO]

(1). When Goku handed the UDBs back to Dende(Baby) and asked that they be sealed up, everyone expressed concern that he wouldn't be able to wish himself back to an adult again. I don't remember ever hearing that in order to reverse a wish you had to use the specific set of Dragon Balls the wish was made on to do it. Was this ever actually mentioned in the canonical stuff? Because at the moment, there are other Dragon Balls sitting around that I thought he'd be able to use.

IIRC there never were wishes that had to be reversed in the entirety of DB and Z, so it never came up.
I think what they did here makes sense. The Ultimate Dragon Balls are simply that much more powerful than the other sets of Dragon Balls, that their magic can't be overridden by anything, but its own power and the ultimate Saiyan transformation apparently.

(2). Piccolo decided to die in Earth's explosion to make the ultimate DB's turn to stone. Alright, so Kami-sama made them before he split with Piccolo Daimo... Kami-sama is gone now, so shouldn't the UDB's have already turned to stone in the first place? Or were they revived when Kami and Piccolo merged again?

Yes, they were reactivated, when Kami merged with Piccolo(I think this is actually said within the series, though I don't know, if it's first revealed later in the series).

(3). The UDB's were brought back together before Earth was destroyed, which was supposed to stop the countdown. But then Baby used them and they flew into space again, and the countdown resumed right where it had left off. So... why? Did the reunion of the UDB's just not work? Shouldn't the countdown have started over from the beginning since they were reused?

I actually don't know the answer to that. Someone more knowledgeable could take care of this.

[jpdbzrulz4sure]

(3). The UDB's were brought back together before Earth was destroyed, which was supposed to stop the countdown. But then Baby used them and they flew into space again, and the countdown resumed right where it had left off. So... why? Did the reunion of the UDB's just not work? Shouldn't the countdown have started over from the beginning since they were reused?

Not only did they need to be reunited, but they also had to be returned to the temple where Pilaf and crew found them, which they weren't. After Goku handed the Dragon Balls to Dende, Dende just held onto them until presenting them to Baby.

[Bussani]

(3). The UDB's were brought back together before Earth was destroyed, which was supposed to stop the countdown. But then Baby used them and they flew into space again, and the countdown resumed right where it had left off. So... why? Did the reunion of the UDB's just not work? Shouldn't the countdown have started over from the beginning since they were reused?

That would make the countdown kind of arbitrary and video game like. If anything, I'd expect using them again to reduce the time left even more. I always figured the balls had to remain on Earth longer in order to gradually cancel out the problem, personally, but it could have been that they had to do something specific with them.

[Super Ghost Kamikaze]

(1). When Goku handed the UDBs back to Dende(Baby) and asked that they be sealed up, everyone expressed concern that he wouldn't be able to wish himself back to an adult again. I don't remember ever hearing that in order to reverse a wish you had to use the specific set of Dragon Balls the wish was made on to do it. Was this ever actually mentioned in the canonical stuff? Because at the moment, there are other Dragon Balls sitting around that I thought he'd be able to use.

Re-watch the first episode. Kaio says quite clearly that Goku can't be wished back to normal size without the Black Star balls. Goku doesn't give a fuck though, and kind of waves it off. Kaio thinks this is stupid and also looks more into the whole black star deal, and then the whole planet blowing up bit comes up. The first reason given to grab the balls, though, was that the wishes made on them were of a stronger magic that couldn't be overridden by the relatively "weaker" earth balls.

(2). Piccolo decided to die in Earth's explosion to make the ultimate DB's turn to stone. Alright, so Kami-sama made them before he split with Piccolo Daimo... Kami-sama is gone now, so shouldn't the UDB's have already turned to stone in the first place? Or were they revived when Kami and Piccolo merged again?p

This is also explained in the first episode, by Pilaf no less. The balls were made by the namekian who would split to become Kami-sama and Piccolo. That split turned them into stone. When Kami-sama and Piccolo merged, the earth balls became stone(hence needing Dende to make new ones), and the Black Star balls turned from stones back into Dragon Balls.

[the_abberration]

(3). The UDB's were brought back together before Earth was destroyed, which was supposed to stop the countdown. But then Baby used them and they flew into space again, and the countdown resumed right where it had left off. So... why? Did the reunion of the UDB's just not work? Shouldn't the countdown have started over from the beginning since they were reused?

I think it had something to do with making two wishes on the same planet before the year was up. It was treated as if they never found the balls. It's possible, the countdown may have reset after the initial year had passed before the second wish was made.

[TheDevilsCorpse]

(3). The UDB's were brought back together before Earth was destroyed, which was supposed to stop the countdown. But then Baby used them and they flew into space again, and the countdown resumed right where it had left off. So... why? Did the reunion of the UDB's just not work? Shouldn't the countdown have started over from the beginning since they were reused?

I think it had something to do with making two wishes on the same planet before the year was up. It was treated as if they never found the balls. It's possible, the countdown may have reset after the initial year had passed before the second wish was made.

The countdown didn't reset. Goku and the gang returned to Earth with a couple of weeks to spare, and it still exploded on the originally expected date, even after Bebi made his wish. So the original countdown was still in effect. You are right in saying the balls were treated as if they were never found for the first countdown, because they don't need to just be returned to Earth, they need to be there on the date the planet is expected to explode. It's possible that a second, separate countdown was started for the balls after Bebi made his wish. It obviously would have been negated though, seeing how the Earth blew up with Piccolo on it...

[SSJFrogGinyu]

Geez, it sounds like I need to watch those episodes again - it seems like everything was all so clearly spelled out and I just completely missed it! And then I get on here and ask questions when the answers were already so obvious... gotta be honest, I feel pretty stupid now!

On the other hand, whenever I read subtitles I tend to forget about half the things they said later on unless I watch the episode in question again about 2-3 more times... multiply that times 34 episodes...

[the_abberration]

The countdown didn't reset. Goku and the gang returned to Earth with a couple of weeks to spare, and it still exploded on the originally expected date, even after Bebi made his wish. So the original countdown was still in effect. You are right in saying the balls were treated as if they were never found for the first countdown, because they don't need to just be returned to Earth, they need to be there on the date the planet is expected to explode. It's possible that a second, separate countdown was started for the balls after Bebi made his wish. It obviously would have been negated though, seeing how the Earth blew up with Piccolo on it...

I think you misread my post a little. That's basically what I was saying. To clarify my last point. If Baby had made his wish after the full year of the first wish expired, it may have been possible that they would have had another year to recover the balls. Then Piccolo may not have needed to die.