What if there were no Power Levels?

[FoolsGil]

What if there were no Power Levels? What if it all came to your fighting ability and whatnot-How would the series have changed? Could Freeza still have destroyed the Saiyans for example. What would the Saiyans be without their seemingly limitless power? Could DBZ even work without power levels?

[dbzfan7]

There would be no more childish debates that get threads constantly locked...okay there probably would still be...but not as much..

[TheGmGoken]

Still based off of ki and power. It would be just fan made numbers from scale 1-500. Though I suspect that fand would create a system similar to power levels.

[Kaboom]

The general in-universe (Western) fandom would be a whole lot friendlier.

There would probably still be strength debates, but at least there would be no "the DAIZ NUMBRS ARE SUCK B/C MAH GAPS RULES" malarkey. Which would be a marked improvement.

[dbzfan7]

The general in-universe (Western) fandom would be a whole lot friendlier.

There would probably still be strength debates, but at least there would be no "the DAIZ NUMBRS ARE SUCK B/C MAH GAPS RULES" malarkey. Which would be a marked improvement.

Give this man an award....we have a winner.

[Ajay]

The community would be far less full of numbnuts who care about arbitrary power levels. I wouldn't get cancer every time I accidentally click on the 'in-universe' section.

[Herms]

Well, power levels are only around in volumes 17-28. For 30 of the series' 42 volumes, power levels effectively don't exist. And on the anime side of things, they aren't mentioned in GT at all, and only turn up in 3 movies and 1 TV special.

[Kamiccolo9]

Well, power levels are only around in volumes 17-28. For 30 of the series' 42 volumes, power levels effectively don't exist. And on the anime side of things, they aren't mentioned in GT at all, and only turn up in 3 movies and 1 TV special.

Well, Volume 40 (I think) mentions Kiris, which are more or less the same concept. And doesn't Tarble use his scouter in the JSAT?

[RandomGuy96]

I probably wouldn't have found Kanzenshuu.

[Polyphase Avatron]

There would be no more childish debates that get threads constantly locked...okay there probably would still be...but not as much..

This

[Saiga]

Well, we would have lost a really interesting concept, and the Saiyan-Freeza arcs would have a void where battle powers were, which would have made a lot of moments lose their charm. We'd still have strength debates and discussions, but there'd be no discussion to be had about battle powers and their mechanics, no fun in creating one's own battle power list. That'd be a shame. Also, no scouters, which is a huge shame because scouters are awesome. Then we wouldn't have the parodies and references to battle powers and scouters in other media.

But on the plus side, we wouldn't have the extreme fans who put too much stock in battle powers, and we also wouldn't have the equally-as-bad fans who go to the opposite extreme and can't shut up about how little they care for power levels and how other people shouldn't talk about them. Eh, while it'd be nice, I don't think it makes up for the cons of losing battle powers.

[Kaboom]

You know what might have fixed the problems? If there were a lot MORE power level numbers in the original manga, all of which obviously followed no observable strict consistency or anything close to it. Power levels are already wildly inconsistent, but having more of them laid out as such in the original work would have made the point more clear.

[ZombieVito]

I probably wouldn't have found Kanzenshuu.

Pretty much this.

[ThePrinceOfSaiyans]

If there were no power levels, Christopher Sabat would be a happier man and not have said "It's over 9000" the amount equivalent to the amount of meals Goku can eat in a year.

But no, really. There would be a lot less petty arguments as said already.

[Herms]

You know what might have fixed the problems? If there were a lot MORE power level numbers in the original manga, all of which obviously followed no observable strict consistency or anything close to it.

That's pretty much Kinnikuman in a nutshell.

Then we wouldn't have the parodies and references to battle powers and scouters in other media.

But there might be disadvantages too.

[ThePrinceOfSaiyans]

I probably wouldn't have found Kanzenshuu.

Pretty much this.

Very true, didn't even think of this.

[RandomGuy96]

I probably wouldn't have found Kanzenshuu.

Pretty much this.

Very true, didn't even think of this.

I actually would be nowhere near as interested in the series as I am in general really. I only came here originally to post an old battle power list I made when I was still into this series; I don't know why, but after I became aware that online power level discussion was a thing I felt the need to post my old one. Came for that, stayed for the community and conversations. If I didn't come here, I probably wouldn't even have read the manga- well technically I still haven't, but I've read most/some as opposed to none- and wouldn't be discussing the series today.

That's just its effect on me though. In terms of effect on a larger scale:

Well, we would have lost a really interesting concept, and the Saiyan-Freeza arcs would have a void where battle powers were, which would have made a lot of moments lose their charm. We'd still have strength debates and discussions, but there'd be no discussion to be had about battle powers and their mechanics, no fun in creating one's own battle power list. That'd be a shame. Also, no scouters, which is a huge shame because scouters are awesome. Then we wouldn't have the parodies and references to battle powers and scouters in other media.

But on the plus side, we wouldn't have the extreme fans who put too much stock in battle powers, and we also wouldn't have the equally-as-bad fans who go to the opposite extreme and can't shut up about how little they care for power levels and how other people shouldn't talk about them. Eh, while it'd be nice, I don't think it makes up for the cons of losing battle powers.

I think this is pretty accurate.

[KentalSSJ6]

Half of the In-Universe thread wouldn't exist.

[Strife1]

In universe - characters would underestimate characters A LOT less.
Out of universe - we wouldn't have a lot of members, but we'd have much less hostility towards one another.

[Gaffer Tape]

Eh. They provided some good punch to a few moments, but, overall, I don't their absence would affect the story all that much, and the community would be better off without them. I don't have anything against them, and they were an interesting addition, but they're really not that important. They're a spice in the dish but not even a really important spice like salt.