Theory for no Saiyan tails

[Piccolo Daimao]

I've come up with a little theory for why Saiyans don't grow their tail back. Yeah, I know, Toriyama forgot about them, etc., but this is just an in-universe explanation.

At first, Saiyans draw their latent power from the Ozaru transformation, but after a certain point, they begin drawing power from Super Saiyan instead. Essentially, once they begin drawing their strength from Super Saiyan, they don't need Ozaru anymore, since they're heading towards the final act of reaching Super Saiyan. This is the reason why Goten and Trunks were born without tails, because they had already drawn all their power from Super Saiyan without having to train for it.

[Super Saiyan Turlast x4]

Nice theory.

[Dabooyaka]

I always thought that once a Saiyan reaches adulthood, they wont grow them anymore. It explains why Vegeta never grew his back.

[Kaboom]

It's similar to Xyex's old theory, where Super Saiyan starts to develop as an even better replacement for Ozaru after losing one's tail.

[Piccolo Daimao]

I always thought that once a Saiyan reaches adulthood, they wont grow them anymore. It explains why Vegeta never grew his back.

It makes no sense for Saiyans to lose what they consider the source of their true power once they became fully-grown Saiyan warriors at the peak of their power. Not to mention that Vegeta stated that his tail would grow back, and we have no reason to assume that he didn't know. Besides, I doubt Saiyans losing their tail is unusual, considering what they do for a living.

[Fox666]

It's similar to Xyex's old theory, where Super Saiyan starts to develop as an even better replacement for Ozaru after losing one's tail.

I remember one interview which Toriyama was asked, and he said that they don't need the tail anymore once they became too strong. However I don't know the validity of this interview

[Dabooyaka]

I've heard of so many interviews over the years, and honestly, i dont know which one are legit, and which ones are fake.

[dbgtFO]

I think Toriyama actually claimed something about the tails being a recessive gene or something?
Which apparently wouldn't make much sense seen from a real world perspective.
So the advice to Toriyama should be not to try and give such technical explanations, if he wants it to make sense from our perspective.

[Dabooyaka]

Well, the author of Dragonball failed biology. I still think that once a Saiyan reaches adulthood, he can no longer grow a tail.

[Kaboom]

Well, the fact that Vegeta's tail DIDN'T grow back, despite him saying it would, is probably enough for us to assume he was mistaken. After all, considering how powerful Vegeta was, he'd probably never lost his tail in battle since he was a kid, if ever at all.

I've subscribed to the "tail stops growing once the Saiyan does" theory for the longest time, myself.

[Piccolo Daimao]

Well, the fact that Vegeta's tail DIDN'T grow back, despite him saying it would, is probably enough for us to assume he was mistaken. After all, considering how powerful Vegeta was, he'd probably never lost his tail in battle since he was a kid, if ever at all.

I've subscribed to the "tail stops growing once the Saiyan does" theory for the longest time, myself.

Vegeta seemed pretty nonchalant and sure that his tail would grow back. If he didn't know for sure, why would he just go, "No matter. It'll grow back."?

Suupaa Gohan's post in a thread about Gohan's tail in Movie #5 involves a damn good argument (which I borrowed from her) explaining why the "Saiyans' tails don't grow back after becoming an adult" is...what's the word? Well, just read for yourself.

I always felt like Gohan's tail was supposed to grow back like Goku's used to - Hell, Vegeta makes the remark after being healed before going to Namek that his tail, too, will eventually grow back. I know a lot of fans subscribe to the theory of 'it stops growing after a certain age' but I think that's ridiculous. Goku's tail stopped growing back because Kami-Sama did something special to it, to prevent further transformations. A race that relies so largely on their tail and the transformation it brings wouldn't logically lose the ability to regrow it after such a young age, especially considering their youth period lasting so long is specifically because it's in the advantage of being a warrior race.

Consider the fact that Vegeta explicitly tells us that only elite-class warriors like him A) have overcome the tail weakness and B) can create fake moons to transform with. Do you honestly think an adult Saiyajin, whose youth lasts longer than humans (as we can see at the end of the series and GT, when our heroes are in their 50's and haven't visibly aged a day) and for the most part make extensive use of their transformations in conquering planets, would have such a crippling weakness as to lose the ability to regrow their tail at what, to them, would be the prime of life? It makes no sense.

Had Kami-Sama not tampered with Goku's tail, it would have likely kept growing back every couple of months. I'm of the mind that Vegeta and Gohan were originally supposed to get their tails back, too. But I think we can all see the obvious reason why they didn't, and why future Saiyajin were never seen with tails in the first place - by that point in the series, Toriyama-Sensei had completely forgotten about them. And before someone says 'but he considered having Brolli have a tail in the concept art, and one of the rough designs for SSJ3 Goku had a tail' - I didn't say he didn't eventually remember, but it was probably too late by then and just didn't matter, because tails would have had no impact on the story by then and just been something extra to draw (as it stands there are several instances in the Manga where he'd forget to draw a certain detail from one panel to the next - I recall Nappa was missing his scouter in a few panels of the Saiyajin arc, we had a whole thread about whether or not pupils were intended as part of the SSJ3 design that he just kept forgetting to draw, and there's even a panel when Vegeta is floating in the sky during the fight with Goku, looking for the moon, when his tail is hanging about all over the place, but when he lands, the tail is gone for a panel or two...anyone who can provide pics, please do). And by the time Goten and Trunks were introduced, tails hadn't been around for soooooooo many years that even if he did remember them, he'd probably be thinking 'eh, the fans won't notice' or something. Hence his half-assed write off of 'it's a recessive trait' when he realized that whoops, the fans did notice. It's obvious that because of the direction the story went in, he just forgot about having the tails grow back, and made excuses for it.

When exactly did Movie #5 come out in relation to where the Manga was at that point? Granted, the trip to Namek took a few months and logically Gohan should have had his tail back when they landed on the planet, it went by in the blink of an eye in real time, so I can forgive him for forgetting that. But they were only on Namek for about a week, right? Maybe Toriyama-Sensei initially did intend for Gohan (and possibly Vegeta) to have their tails grow back at some point on the planet, but then the plot got away from him and it was forgotten. But what I'm wondering is, did Movie #5 come out during the period before Trunks arrives on Earth? Because in that case, Toei was actually being clever by giving him a tail in the movie - probably thinking, 'hey, his tail would have grown back by now, like Goku's always did' - before it was set in stone in the Manga that hey, it's been about a year since Goku vanished in Namek's explosion, and then another 3 years have gone by before the Androids show up, and no one has grown any tails back...they're gone for good. Depending on when the movie was released, it may not yet have been cemented in the canon that 'hey, Gohan shouldn't have a tail in this movie!!', so it's not necessarily 'wrong'.

[Gaffer Tape]

Well, I'm still of the mind that Toriyama didn't *forget* about tails. He just wrote them off with a few lines (like Vegeta's open-ended line that his tail would grow back on its own) and hoped that the *readers* would eventually forget about it when he never made good on his promise. Tails (or specifically, the Oozaru transformation) were just liabilities from a story perspective. Working them into the story was a pain, but not having the characters who could (and logically would) use them just looked stupid. So no moon. No tails. No problem!

[Son_Gohan]

I've come up with a little theory for why Saiyans don't grow their tail back. Yeah, I know, Toriyama forgot about them, etc., but this is just an in-universe explanation.

At first, Saiyans draw their latent power from the Ozaru transformation, but after a certain point, they begin drawing power from Super Saiyan instead. Essentially, once they begin drawing their strength from Super Saiyan, they don't need Ozaru anymore, since they're heading towards the final act of reaching Super Saiyan. This is the reason why Goten and Trunks were born without tails, because they had already drawn all their power from Super Saiyan without having to train for it.

But did Vegeta not achieve Super Saiyan after copulating with Bulma?

[Piccolo Daimao]

I've come up with a little theory for why Saiyans don't grow their tail back. Yeah, I know, Toriyama forgot about them, etc., but this is just an in-universe explanation.

At first, Saiyans draw their latent power from the Ozaru transformation, but after a certain point, they begin drawing power from Super Saiyan instead. Essentially, once they begin drawing their strength from Super Saiyan, they don't need Ozaru anymore, since they're heading towards the final act of reaching Super Saiyan. This is the reason why Goten and Trunks were born without tails, because they had already drawn all their power from Super Saiyan without having to train for it.

But did Vegeta not achieve Super Saiyan after copulating with Bulma?

He became a Super Saiyan sometime during the three years, and could transform at will when he fought #19, so it's safe to say he'd had it for quite a while before that (Goku spent a year on Yardrat controlling Super Saiyan and learning Shunkan-Ido before returning to Earth). We don't know whether it was before or after he had sex with Bulma.

[Fox666]

Probably they didn't had sex only one time either... they might already had when Freeza returned

[Gaffer Tape]

Well, if that's the case, then Bulma's a really, really terrible person, now isn't she?

[Chibi Mystic Gohan]

It's similar to Xyex's old theory, where Super Saiyan starts to develop as an even better replacement for Ozaru after losing one's tail.

I remember one interview which Toriyama was asked, and he said that they don't need the tail anymore once they became too strong. However I don't know the validity of this interview

It's from US Shonen Jump #1. That's also where he says that tails are recessive, if I recall correctly.

[lash]

I've come up with a little theory for why Saiyans don't grow their tail back. Yeah, I know, Toriyama forgot about them, etc., but this is just an in-universe explanation.

At first, Saiyans draw their latent power from the Ozaru transformation, but after a certain point, they begin drawing power from Super Saiyan instead. Essentially, once they begin drawing their strength from Super Saiyan, they don't need Ozaru anymore, since they're heading towards the final act of reaching Super Saiyan. This is the reason why Goten and Trunks were born without tails, because they had already drawn all their power from Super Saiyan without having to train for it.

Nice theory.

I had one sorta based on that myself. It's pretty much: Once a Saiyan greatly surpasses normal saiyan limits(ex. battle power >60K) their normal saiyan characteristics also alter. If you surpass saiyan limits, you surpass the need for your body to grow back a tail. You're essentially what Ginyu thought Goku was... a mutant. Idk, that's what I always felt in my mind.

[Super Saiyan Turlast x4]

Does anyone remember the last time the Saiyan tail was ever mentioned in the Manga? I think I recall Krillin asking Bulma about baby Trunks's tail, but I might be wrong there.

[Gaffer Tape]

Yep. I believe that is the last time. However, the question, in true Toriyama fashion, is never answered.