Theory on Saiyan's near death boosts

[Saiga]

This was something I was speculating today. Is it feasible that the size of the boost received from a Saiyan's ability to power up after a near death experience depend partly on the strength of the opponent delivering the beatdown? To use the near-death boosts we know of in numbers:

Vegeta goes from 18,000 to 24,000 after the battle on Earth.

Vegeta goes from 24,000 to 30,000 after the battle with Zarbon.

Vegeta goes from 30,000 to 250,000 after the battle with Recoome.

Goku goes from 90,000 to 3,000,000 after the battle with... Ginyu? Himself? Vegeta? Ginyu vs Vegeta, I suppose.

Vegeta's first and second boost are fairly modest, in the first case he received accumulated damage from varying sources of varying strengths so I'm probably not going to get anything meaningful out of that. The second boost was after fighting an enemy with a battle power of less than 30,000 and as such, his boost as rather small.

His third boost, however, was quite huge. He became nearly 10 times stronger, although we don't know how strong Recoome was. I'd place him around 40,000 minimum - 50,000 maximum. The wider difference between him and Vegeta than what existed between Zarbon and Vegeta means a disproportionately larger boost.

As for Goku, who gets the horseshittily large 33x power boost, his body was being mangled by Vegeta with a battle power of 250,000 (Admittedly, this is debatable, some say he didn't get the full boost until after his nap). The difference between 250,000 and 90,000 is already great enough, however, Ginyu was in Goku's body at the time, lowering the battle power to below 23,000. With Vegeta being over 10 times stronger, it would make sense for Goku to get such a large gain out of it.

So, uh... seems legit? Yay or nay?

[hleV]

I think it would be most logical if the strength boost depended on how much damage the Saiyan's body has to "recover". When a Saiyan gets stronger, he can withstand more damage, but it's still more damage that needs to be recovered.

[Saiga]

I think it would be most logical if the strength boost depended on how much damage the Saiyan's body has to "recover". When a Saiyan gets stronger, he can withstand more damage, but it's still more damage that needs to be recovered.

Well, it seems the beating Vegeta got on Earth was way worse than what Ginyu-Goku got from Vegeta.

[hleV]

Well, it seems the beating Vegeta got on Earth was way worse than what Ginyu-Goku got from Vegeta.

Are you saying that Goku's body received less damage from Vegeta than Vegeta on Earth?

[Saiga]

Are you saying that Goku received less damage than Vegeta on Earth?

Proportionally, yeah. I don't see damage received as being measured non-proportionally.

[hleV]

Well then re-read my first post because I exactly meant the amount of damage, not how that amount compares to the receiver's power.

• Power: 100
  Received damage: 99
  Zenkai: 99
  
  Power: 200
  Received damage: 199
  Zenkai: 199

[Piccolo Daimao]

I think it might depends on how closer the Saiyan in question is getting to becoming a Super Saiyan. Like a "dormant power meter" that they're gradually using up, and with each Zenkai, they gain more power to get to Super Saiyan faster.

[Fin]

I think it might depends on how closer the Saiyan in question is getting to becoming a Super Saiyan. Like a "dormant power meter" that they're gradually using up, and with each Zenkai, they gain more power to get to Super Saiyan faster.

I agree with this. I think Vegeta said something along those lines during his pseudo-Super Saiyan power trip in the Freeza fight.

[mysticboy]

I think those large power boosts of Goku and Vegeta during the Namek arc have something to do with getting so many zenkais so close together. They were both getting zenkais within hours of each time they got their last one. Vegeta kept getting his ass beat, and Goku kept beating his own ass during his training.

[Ringworm128]

My theory for Goku's insanely huge power up after his battle with Ginyu is that by training in 100G's he built up A LOT of dormant power and the zenkai helped release it all. As for Vegeta it's possible that he had the power within him all along since he is meant to be a prodigy among Saiyans and it just took more then a couple of zenkai's to get it all out.

[MasterVampire]

Vegeta goes from 30,000 to 250,000 after the battle with Recoome.

No wonder Freezer was worried.

[Kendamu]

Like the first post implies, it could simply be a matter of adaption to the threats faced as opposed to the actual amount of damage received. Vegeta didn't gain as much strength from his battle on Earth because his body only needed to adapt to being beaten by a child and a couple Earthlings over the course of an afternoon/evening while he was already worn down. On the other hand, getting quickly annihilated by Zarbon and then ReaCoom within the same week might cause the Saiyan body to adapt differently.

In Goku's case, the same could apply. In addition to that, the artificial gravity creating constant life-threatening stress could've affected the power up in the same way that he mysteriously gained plot-convenient telepathy. I'm sure that dying at one strength and returning in 11 months with the strength equivalent of training for about 3,000 years and a bit of body switching probably also affected how his body adapted to being pulverized. How? Not sure, but it just makes a weird sort of sense to me.