Actually, the 17 years line is a mistake on Toriyama's part. If he went back 17 years, then he'd return to a point in time where he was already born or was about to be born. He mentions that he wouldn't be born for a couple years when he arrives in the past. He's from 20 years in the future, not 17.dbgtFO wrote:Only age ever stated in the manga is the age from which Cell came, 788. Age 784 is not mentioned in the manga.Nia wrote:I have no reason to find the dates given in anything else to be incorrect: 784 was when Trunks left the future the first time, 785 when he left and returned the second time. And it would have to be 785 when he returned on the grounds of Cell leaving from 788.
It's clearly stated by Future Bulma that he requires 8 months for the Time Machine to charge for a round trip, and later Kuririn points out that it requires a long time to charge thus making him attempt to go further back in time a non-option. The year given from Cell's future is 3 years after his current time (age 788); Trunks very clearly says this himself.
You don't need him to say how much time had passed because the numbers are already there by his own word. It's simple enough to use a timeline to match this all up. So yes, there is a contradiction.
The 8 months line comes from the Trunks special chapter in which it is also stated that Trunks' first trip will take him back 17 years, which is also how much time is between the two timelines in Super, so again no contradiction.
Now, if he waits 8 months and returns 3 years later to that timeline, then it's 17 years.
So yes, contradiction.
Then there's the minor issue of his aging: he returns "3 years later" practically the same, spends one year in the Room of Spirit and Time, and suddenly grows much taller (although, given Goten and modern Trunks I suppose this could be somewhat handwaved, but still).
There's also Toriyama's own history to Dragon Ball Online, though that's of questionable legitimacy at this point, although he still wrote it with very specific timelines in place.