How would a War arc work in Dragon Ball?

[ImmaDeker]

It's not like you need to explain robot soldiers, though, if you're talking about "galactic organization." It's not like the robots from GT had to be based on Gero.

[Pantalones]

Doesn't the Dragonball Online timeline mention something about a Namekian civil war at one point, caused by some kind of super evil Namekian appearing and gathering followers? I know I remember reading something like this somewhere...

[TheUltimateVegito]

It's not like you need to explain robot soldiers, though, if you're talking about "galactic organization." It's not like the robots from GT had to be based on Gero.

True. But I just think it'd be the best way to go about it.

[SilverArmada]

I think you could do a war in Dragonball. I have a couple of large scale conflicts planned in a fanfic I'm writing (one is a war, two are smaller in scale). The key is that the Dragonball characters can't just steamroll the enemy and become "one-man armies" otherwise the storyline is pointless. There needs to be a struggle. A couple of ways to do this: the enemy has technology to suppress and/or block the use of ki; the characters are facing an army so vast that they can't protect everyone at once; the characters must integrate into and operate as part of another military force capable of opposing the enemy on the same terms. So overall: it can be done, but it has to be done right.

[ImmaDeker]

I think you could do a war in Dragonball. I have a couple of large scale conflicts planned in a fanfic I'm writing (one is a war, two are smaller in scale). The key is that the Dragonball characters can't just steamroll the enemy and become "one-man armies" otherwise the storyline is pointless. There needs to be a struggle. A couple of ways to do this: the enemy has technology to suppress and/or block the use of ki; the characters are facing an army so vast that they can't protect everyone at once; the characters must integrate into and operate as part of another military force capable of opposing the enemy on the same terms. So overall: it can be done, but it has to be done right.

That doesn't sound very Dragonball-y, though. It's done "right" in the sense of it taking care of practical plot concerns, but the emotional logic is way off.

[SilverArmada]

I think you could do a war in Dragonball. I have a couple of large scale conflicts planned in a fanfic I'm writing (one is a war, two are smaller in scale). The key is that the Dragonball characters can't just steamroll the enemy and become "one-man armies" otherwise the storyline is pointless. There needs to be a struggle. A couple of ways to do this: the enemy has technology to suppress and/or block the use of ki; the characters are facing an army so vast that they can't protect everyone at once; the characters must integrate into and operate as part of another military force capable of opposing the enemy on the same terms. So overall: it can be done, but it has to be done right.

That doesn't sound very Dragonball-y, though. It's done "right" in the sense of it taking care of practical plot concerns, but the emotional logic is way off.

Agreed, but a war itself isn't very Dragonball-y either. While wars are alluded to in a lot of history/backstory in DB/Z, especially concerning the Saiyans and Freeza's empire, they aren't featured in the story directly. You could have an elite force in the opposing military that features ki fighters on par with the DB characters, or one specific general/commander/whatever who is the super strong big bad that fits more with Dragonball's typical plot cycles in each arc, and use the war as a backdrop to lead up to the 'epic final showdown,' if you will.

[Bullza]

I could see there a war between realms. Have a storyline where the Makaioshin find a way to break the barrier between the Demon and Living realms and then unleash a huge demon horde out to wipe out civilisation and take over the living realm and it's up to the Z Fighters, the Galactic Patrolmen and heroes from other heroes to fight back and save the day.

In true Shonen fashion you'd have to have a structure so at the top there'd be the Supreme Makaioshin who Goku would fight at the end, then the lesser Makaioshin who Vegeta and Gohan etc would fight and then the standout Demon War Generals who Piccolo and #18 would fight.

I think that'd be interesting as it'd expand the universe and give us new characters, races and settings.