Discussion regarding the entirety of the franchise in a general (meta) sense, including such aspects as: production, trends, merchandise, fan culture, and more.
Main Timeline (Dragon Ball Z TV Special 1, Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock, Dragon Ball Movies 1-3, Dragon Ball Z Movies 1-8, Dragon Ball Z: Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans, Dragon Ball Z Movies 9-13)
Trunks' Timeline (Dragon Ball Z TV Special 2)
10th Anniversary Timeline
Main Timeline (Dragon Ball Z TV Special 1, Dragon Ball Movie 4, Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT)
Trunks' Timeline (Dragon Ball TV Special 2, Dragon Ball Z)
SD Timeline
Main Timeline (Dragon Ball SD)
Trunks' Timeline (Dragon Ball SD)
Heroes Timeline
Main Timeline (Dragon Ball TV Special 1, Jaco The Galactic Patrolman, Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock, Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Z Movies 1-8, Dragon Ball Z: Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans, Dragon Ball Z Movies 9-13, Dragon Ball: Heya! Son Goku and Friends Return!, Dragon Ball Super, Dragon Ball GT, Dragon Ball: Ultimate Blast, Dragon Ball Heroes, Super Dragon Ball Heroes, Dragon Ball Heroes: Victory Mission, Dragon Ball Heroes: Super Charisma Mission, Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Dark Demon Realm Mission, Dragon Ball: Ultimate Blast, Dragon Ball Discross, Dragon Ball Fusions)
Trunks' Timeline (Dragon Ball Z TV Special 2, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection "F" - Future Trunks Special Edition, Dragon Ball Super)
New Timeline
Timeline #1
Timeline #2
Main Timeline (Jaco The Galactic Patrolman, Dragon Ball Z TV Special 1, Dragon Ball , Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Super)
Trunks' Timeline (Dragon Ball Z TV Special 2, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection "F" - Future Trunks Special Edition, Dragon Ball Super)
Spoiler:
New timelines are born from eggs by Tokitoki (the latest one is the timeline where Super takes place, and it was born from the egg we saw in XV2), while sub-timelines are created through the use of time-machines. The Kaioshin can travel in their sub-timelines with their green Time Rings, but only the Kaioshin of Time can travel through all timelines (there exists only one Kaioshin of Time for all timelines & universes). Cell's timeline & the unseen timeline that Trunks from Cell's timeline visited no longer exist, because they were replaced with Future Trunks' & the main timelines respectively, like Goku Black's timeline was replaced & no longer exists. Time-traveling can create more than one timelines as a result, which the Time Patrollers fix (as it was explained in XV). The GT timeline was created from Trunks' time-travels, and was apparently never fixed (also explained in XV). In timelines where the stories don't fit (like in the Heroes timeline, where all TV series & movies somehow co-exist), the events happened differently than we saw them.
Also, all guidebooks are canon.
Last edited by DBZGTKOSDH on Wed Nov 09, 2016 5:13 pm, edited 4 times in total.
James Teal (Animerica 1996) wrote:When you think about it, there are a number of similarities between the Chinese-inspired Son Goku and that most American of superhero icons, Superman. Both are aliens sent to Earth shortly after birth to escape the destruction of their homeworlds; both possess super-strength, flight, super-speed, heightened senses and the ability to cast energy blasts. But the crucial difference between them lies not only in how they view the world, but in how the world views them.
Superman is, and always has been, a symbol for truth, justice, and upstanding moral fortitude–a role model and leader as much as a fighter. The more down-to-earth Goku has no illusions about being responsible for maintaining social order, or for setting some kind of moral example for the entire world. Goku is simply a martial artist who’s devoted his life toward perfecting his fighting skills and other abilities. Though never shy about risking his life to save either one person or the entire world, he just doesn’t believe that the balance of the world rests in any way on his shoulders, and he has no need to shape any part of it in his image. Goku is an idealist, and believes that there is some good in everyone, but he is unconcerned with the big picture of the world…unless it has to do with some kind of fight. Politics, society, law and order don’t have much bearing on his life, but he’s a man who knows right from wrong.
The manga (except for the Trunks side story), any and all non-contradictory filler, both filler arcs (just ignore the parts with Freeza, Cell, and the Ginyus, and Goku meets Pikkon in some other way. Also ignore the no dying while dead line. That wasn't the filler's fault; that hadn't been established in the manga yet.), movies 1, 5, 9, and 13, the Bardock special, and BoG.
Yes, I know there is a minor plothole in movie 1, and some weird strength stuff in movie 13. Don't care.
I don't like Minus, and the Bardock Special is better, so I go with it.
Toriyama's Trunks side story was ok, but the special was much better, so I go with it.
On a good day, I'll take GT, minus the Super 17 arc.
Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball Z
Dragon Ball Z TV Special: Bardock - The Father of Goku
Episode of Bardock
Dragon Ball Z TV Special: The History of Trunks
Dragon Ball Z Movie 5: Cooler's Revenge
Dragon Ball Z Movie 9: Bojack Unbound
Dragon Ball Z Movie 13: Wrath of The Dragon
Yo! Son Goku and Friends Return!
Dragon Ball Z Movie 14: Battle of Gods
Dragon Ball GT
Visit DragonBallFigures for all your Dragon Ball figure info and needs!
Mayuri Kurotsuchi wrote:"In this world, nothing perfect exists. It may be a cliche after all but it's the way things are. That's precisely why ordinary men pursue the concept of perfection, it's infatuation. But ultimately I have to ask myself "What is the true meaning of being perfect?" and the answer I came up with was nothing. Not one thing. The truth of the matter is I despise perfection! If something is truly perfect, that's IT! The bottom line becomes there is no room for imagination! No space for intelligence or ability or improvement! Do you understand? To men of science like us, perfection is a dead end, a condition of hopelessness. Always strive to be better than anything that came before you but not perfect! Scientist's agonize over the attempt to achieve perfection! That's the kind of creatures we are! We take joy in trying to exceed our grasp, in trying to reach for something that in the end, we have to admit may in fact be unreachable!"
Jaco the Galactic Patrolman
Perfect Edition of the manga
That one Freeza era Christmas strip
Jump Super Anime Tour Special minus Gregory's appearance
Battle of Gods
I still consider most of Online's story to count for now even though it is dead and never actually made it to Japan.
Oh, and 13-15 probably look like how they did in Z movie 7, Goku trained Oob at Mt. Paozu for awhile like in Neko Majin Z, and Toriyama's interviews and manga-centric guidebooks(though they are secondary to the actual material).
Pretty much everything for me. I really don't care about the plot holes as it'll take a while to actually sit down and plan out what I actually consider part of the story and what I do not. If there are plotholes, I'll just throw in the multiverse theory out there as a plausable explanation.
In order of priority, whenever contradictions exist:
Dragon Ball (full-colored manga)
Dragon Ball Z: A Final, Solitary Battle
Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock (OVA)
Toriyama interviews, notes and commentaries
Dragon Ball Kai
Dragon Ball Minus (only for Gine's character and Raditz whereabouts)
Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods (for now, may change with future movies)
Don't have one, apart from considering the original 42 as the highest-canon authority. But apart from that? Some things were obviously never aimed to be considered canon (many of the movies) while some, like GT, obviously were, yet they are now being more and more contradicted. DB Online & GT are mutually exclusive, GT/BOG as well to a degree, Bardock special/DB Minus is another example. It's not even whether these conflict with the original 42 manga but that they conflict with each other, providing stories that can't happen both at the same time, has to be either one or another. And I fully expect Toei to one day make a clear distinction what is part of the main A story and what is not so I try not to get too stuck on anything (other than the original 42) being "totally surely canon".
The Original Dragon Ball manga
Jaco the Galactic Partolman manga(I don't like it too much but if it's a prequel, let it be)
Dragon Ball Minus(only for Gine) = Bardock, Father of Goku TV Special (literally how it happened even if it doesn't fit with Dragon Ball Minus)
Future Trunks special story in the Original manga
Episode of Bardock manga(only if Toriyama doesn't come with someting like Bardock died against Freeza)
Yo! Son Goku and his friends return manga
Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods Movie
Dragon Ball GT(Shadow Dragon Saga) - but not compulsorily
And also Toriyama's interviews and comments, of course!
Last edited by Low Tone G on Fri Apr 25, 2014 2:52 pm, edited 3 times in total.
English is not my first language!
I'm still waiting for Dragon Ball in Super...
That doesn't clear anything up. What does "quite some time" mean to him? Is it the ~30 years from his death at the hands of Freeza or the ~1000 years from his death of unknown circumstances in the past?
Note, years are rough estimations from Jaco's not exactly certain year of occurrence to the Freeza Arc, where he is most relevant again.
Direct translations of the Korean DB Online timeline and guidebook.
My personal "canon" and BP list. (Coming Soon)
Low Tone G wrote:What might that mean for You personally? For me it's highly ambiguous!
Well, there's nothing ambiguous about "he's been dead for quite some time", but of course you can argue if he was killed by Freeza or someone else.
Or by natural causes also in the distant past? As this issue was mentioned in the Episode of Bardock interview I go with Bardock being sent in the distant past in Toriyama's view, but he could have meant that Bardock was killed by Freeza also, so it's ambiguous.
English is not my first language!
I'm still waiting for Dragon Ball in Super...
Canon: 42 volumes of Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball manga (yeah, there's some leeway there, but very little)
Not canon: Everything else ever.
Kentai wrote:Son Gokuu is a fascinating character anyway, because he is - at face value, anyway - an idiot savant. The victim of violent head trauma as an infant [...] he's a simple bumpkin with a fair share of brain damage who's natural talents to work out what's wrong compensate for his broad lack of common sense. But he's also a fighter, through and through [...] he fight until he has, in no uncertain terms, beaten his enemy on terms they can both acknowledge. He doesn't want to kill anyone, or even prove that he can win... he just wants to know he can. He's an ineffably charming bastard who's manly leanings were really incendental, and yes, the fact that he was voiced by a squeaky woman made the combination perhaps all the more charming.
penguintruth wrote:Canon: 42 volumes of Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball manga (yeah, there's some leeway there, but very little)
Not canon: Everything else ever.
Yeah, basically the safest approach a fan can have right now. Especially in the recent few years with all the new projects coming out that conflict with each other, both from Toei and Toriyama himself lol
My personal canon is pretty straightforward. It follows "the rule of cool." The parts of Dragon Ball that I enjoy are what I include in my personal canon. It's the same approach I take with Star Wars and its convoluted expanded universe. I ignore everything I don't like, and why shouldn't I? It's all fiction after all. Entertainment is meant to be enjoyable. If the powers-that-be introduce a story element that I feel is detrimental to my enjoyment of the overall series, I set it aside.
I'm pretty lenient when it comes to Dragon Ball. I include the entirety of the manga in my personal head canon, along with any quality anime-only content. Some specific works I prefer to ignore:
-Most of the movies - Even the ones I enjoy can't be fit within the continuity of the main work. Thankfully, there are several movies that I am more than happy to cast in the non-canon bin.
-Episode of Bardock - I liked seeing Freeza's space pirate ancestor, but I cannot abide with how this special undid Bardock's memorable sacrifice and pandered to the fan-fiction community by making him a Super Saiyan.
-Dragon Ball GT - There were parts of it I liked, but I prefer treating it as alternative universe.
Favorite Movies: Alien, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, The Thing, Evil Dead, The Land Before Time
Favorite Shows: Cardcaptor Sakura, Doctor Who, Wallace and Gromit, Wakfu, Yu Yu Hakusho
Favorite Manga: Fullmetal Alchemist, Hunter x Hunter, Dragon Ball
Augenis wrote:The power level view into the series has trained a significant portion of the fan base into real life stereotypical members of the Freeza empire, where each and every individual is reduced to a floating number above their heads and any sudden changes to said number are met with shock and confusion.
Manga :
Kanzenban/Full color volumes
Anime :
Dragon ball (minus the filler episodes)
Dragon ball kai
Dragon ball z bardock the father of goku
Dragon ball z the history of trunks
July 9th 2018 will be remembered as the day Broly became canon.
ParkerAL wrote:but I cannot abide with how this special undid Bardock's memorable sacrifice and pandered to the fan-fiction community by making him a Super Saiyan.
I would agree with you if his transformation came out of nowhere just for the sake of it (i.e: Trunks and Goten). Fortunately the story justified it well enough.
Manga: Jaco the Galactic Patrolman, DB-, EOB, Vol 1-42, the new ending with Ubb, 2008 Jump Special manga BOG and DBO.
Anime: Bardock TV special, DB Anime, DBZ Movie 1, DBZ Anime, Trunks TV special, DBZ Movie 9, DBZ Movie 13, 2008 Jump Special, GT
AU: DB Movie 1-4, every DBZ movie expect for Movie 1, 9, 13 and BOG. Every video game expect for DBO and anything else that does not fit.
Last edited by Hellspawn28 on Wed Apr 23, 2014 9:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Jaco the Galactic Patrolman --> Dragon Ball Minus --> Episode of Bardock --> The manga proper up to chapter 517 --> Heya! Son Goku & Friends Reutrn --> Battle of Gods --> Chapters 518 and 519 of the original manga --> Dragon Ball Online
Also, any and all guidebook information/supplementary material that doesn't contradict the above. I don't understand why some folks flip their lid over inconsistencies in these things. It seems pretty easy to say "yeah, the editor wasn't paying attention in this one instant" and move on.
Keen Observation of Dragon Ball Z Movie 4's Climax wrote:Slug shits to see the genki