The Androids in the Future

[McDonaldsGuy]

I love "the future is in ruin, a lone (usually young) hero comes back to try to change things" storyline in fiction (Terminator, X-Men: Days of Future Past comic and DBZ are my favorites). But there's one thing I never got about DBZ's future, I have theories, so I want to see if you agree or disagree -

a) Why were the personalities of the Future Androids' so different from the present? In the future they are ruthless and pure evil, but as Future Trunks said, in the past they are pretty good people. The only reason I can think of is that when Cell went back to Timeline 1 it changed things to where Dr. Gero could not quite program the Androids correctly. I believe in the manga the Future Androids state that they were programmed for world domination, so perhaps Dr. Gero could not fully program this into the Present Androids which is why Android 16 is so peaceful. Also Future Trunks says the Androids of the present are more powerful than the Future Androids, but this may not be true as Android 17 states he was only using half of his power against Future Gohan. Was Future 17 bluffing?

b) Why haven't the Future Androids' destroyed Earth yet? It's been 13 years, it seems like there should be hardly anyone left, but only half of the population is dead by then. This is where I think the Androids of the present may not be so different from the Androids of the future; perhaps the Future Androids think it's all just a "game" so they may go inactive for months, if not years at a time until they get bored. So perhaps they only cause massive destruction once every few months or something, and aren't interested in world domination right away.

c) How did Gohan survive the initial battle? Did the Androids let him live?

e) Anyone wish Toriyama would draw a one shot manga of Goku killing Frieza? Lol I was always interested in how it went down!

thanks

[B]

Everyone is always so confused about 17 and 18 being psychotic in the bad future, but I don't really see the problem. For one, we don't ever see what 17 and 18 are like when they first wake up in the original timeline. And then they have had a decade to do whatever they want with no one powerful enough to stop them. In the main story's timeline, they are alive for barely a week before Cell absorbs them. Everyone seems to assume the Androids come out of the capsules bloodthirsty, but there's no real backing of that up. And their only mission was to kill Goku, who was already dead in the bad future. Why would they go around killing each individual person like it was a job? They are basically gods here; they can move at their own pace.

As for Gohan, I don't see why he couldn't just slip through the cracks, barely escaping each time, until he didn't.

[McDonaldsGuy]

Everyone is always so confused about 17 and 18 being psychotic in the bad future, but I don't really see the problem. For one, we don't ever see what 17 and 18 are like when they first wake up in the original timeline. And then they have had a decade to do whatever they want with no one powerful enough to stop them. In the main story's timeline, they are alive for barely a week before Cell absorbs them. Everyone seems to assume the Androids come out of the capsules bloodthirsty, but there's no real backing of that up. And their only mission was to kill Goku, who was already dead in the bad future. Why would they go around killing each individual person like it was a job? They are basically gods here; they can move at their own pace.

As for Gohan, I don't see why he couldn't just slip through the cracks, barely escaping each time, until he didn't.

Yeah, that's what I think (see c) but I didn't think about the point you made about how the Androids were barely around. Perhaps you're right - cause the present Androids did destroy land. Maybe they'd move on to humans eventually. It would be a "game" to them.

But the thing is is that the Androids didn't kill the Z Warriors in the present, but they killed them during the initial battle in the future. So there had to be some personality difference. They also fight "fairly," 17 doesn't budge in until Trunks comes to defend Vegeta and 18 doesn't budge in when Piccolo is fighting 17. However, in the Future they are dirty and will gang up without hesitation. And the Androids WERE bloodthirsty right away - remember they destroy that city right after being activated by Dr. Gero. In the main timeline it is 19 and 20 that destroys that city, but in the future it is 17 and 18.

This is why I wish Akira would do a one shot of more detail for the History of Trunks. It's so interesting!

[dbgtFO]

But the thing is is that the Androids didn't kill the Z Warriors in the present, but they killed them during the initial battle in the future. So there had to be some personality difference. They also fight "fairly," 17 doesn't budge in until Trunks comes to defend Vegeta and 18 doesn't budge in when Piccolo is fighting 17. However, in the Future they are dirty and will gang up without hesitation. And the Androids WERE bloodthirsty right away - remember they destroy that city right after being activated by Dr. Gero. In the main timeline it is 19 and 20 that destroys that city, but in the future it is 17 and 18.

Again we don't have the details. Just like in the main timeline they might not have been the aggressors(it was Vegeta who wanted a fight with the androids after all) and after beating Vegeta and co. might just have left them for dead.
We have no clue, if they started off bloodthirsty, Trunks is not a credible source on that, as he couldn't possibly have comprehended that, as a newborn, even if he witnessed, which he most likely didn't.

This is why I wish Akira would do a one shot of more detail for the History of Trunks. It's so interesting!

Agreed. I'd have liked to see a mini-series about the events in Trunks alternate timeline, instead of just the one chapter we got.
See the circumstances of Goku defeating Freeza in the original timeline, perhaps Vegeta going on a rampage across the galaxies to destroy the remainer of Freeza's army(unbeknownst to him ruining any possibility of Freeza getting revived), perhaps a 24th Budokai, where Goku's friend do participate, since they aren't preparing for an android attack(and maybe Gohan meeting Videl 7 years earlier, than he does in the main timeline), Goku himself could be using his one day in the living realm, at the same time explaining why Goku can't just save them from the androids.
Stuff like that.

[Super Saiyan Turlast x4]

In the History of Trunks, #17 said they were designed for world domination, but admitted that they just hate all humans.

The manga never makes it clear. Goku asks Trunks if world domination is their goal, and Trunks believes it is. Since Goku was gone in the future, I always assumed Gero awakened them so they could take over the world.

[McDonaldsGuy]

Again we don't have the details. Just like in the main timeline they might not have been the aggressors(it was Vegeta who wanted a fight with the androids after all) and after beating Vegeta and co. might just have left them for dead.
We have no clue, if they started off bloodthirsty, Trunks is not a credible source on that, as he couldn't possibly have comprehended that, as a newborn, even if he witnessed, which he most likely didn't.

If the future they were the main aggressors because they attacked that city. It just comes off as different than the present, where it was Vegeta who challenged them. In the present it seems they weren't interested in any of that at all, while in the future they are hell bent on killing anything that moves in the beginning - Dr. Gero, the people of that island, Vegeta, Piccolo, Kurririn, Tenshinhan, Yamcha, Yajirobe, etc. etc. Which surprises me Gohan was able to survive.

Agreed. I'd have liked to see a mini-series about the events in Trunks alternate timeline, instead of just the one chapter we got.
See the circumstances of Goku defeating Freeza in the original timeline, perhaps Vegeta going on a rampage across the galaxies to destroy the remainer of Freeza's army(unbeknownst to him ruining any possibility of Freeza getting revived), perhaps a 24th Budokai, where Goku's friend do participate, since they aren't preparing for an android attack(and maybe Gohan meeting Videl 7 years earlier, than he does in the main timeline), Goku himself could be using his one day in the living realm, at the same time explaining why Goku can't just save them from the androids.
Stuff like that.

All good ideas, and so interesting. I like mystery in many stories, but "ruined futures" always interested me on how it went down and why so many things are different (for example, perhaps they can't use the Namek Dragon Balls because they dont know where New Namek is cause Goku and Kami are dead). It's like Terminator's future. I was so excited to be able to see a movie about how John Connor defeated Skynet in Terminator: Salvation, until I saw what they actually made .

[SpiritBombTriumphant]

Honestly I thought the reason for nearly every difference between the main timeline and Trunks's timeline was the time traveling.

[supercat]

I like the theory of Gero possibly programming the ones from the future for world domination versus having a one track goal of taking out Goku. With that being said, if Gero was already an android himself in the future, not sure why he wouldn't have just went about destroying and ruling as he pleases on his own. We can assume that he feared SSJ Vegeta, but in the present time he wasn't even aware of the SSJ transformation.

It also could have been simply chance that the personalities embedded into the Present Androids was just not as vile. This may or may not have been influenced or affected by Trunks traveling back in time.

Environmentally, we can factor in the fact that because they (especially 17) saw helping 16 track down Goku as a game, and were so intrigued by that quest, they didn't feel the need to do anything else at the time. Who's to say that they wouldn't suddenly grow bored and begin their mindless destruction if they had in fact defeated Goku? I felt that it was their boredom and just from them having so much power and no where to really use it on that resulted in their destructive behavior. Combine that boredom, lack of opportunities to leverage their power, and with their absence of empathy, and you have a pair of destructive machines. We can't say for sure that the Present Androids would have remained "nice" 20 years down the road. If Goku and the other Z-Fighters went down, 17's next idea of a game could possibly have been senseless destruction.

As for 18 I think Cell had a major impact on her. The Androids from the future had no one to fear or put them in their place. The fear that the present 18 faced when put up against Cell as well as seeing Z-Fighters who are far above her is likely what caused her to avoid destruction altogether.

Personally, I think the environmental difference was the strongest contributor of all these possibilities.

[Hellspawn28]

I think Goku's death in Trunks and Cell's timeline has changed plans for Dr. Gero. With Goku dead, Dr. Gero wanted to use #17 and #18 to take over the Earth. However those plans seem to back fire on him when #17 killed him.

[supercat]

I think Goku's death in Trunks and Cell's timeline has changed plans for Dr. Gero. With Goku dead, Dr. Gero wanted to use #17 and #18 to take over the Earth. However those plans seem to back fire on him when #17 killed him.

Wouldn't Gero leverage the enhancements he used on himself to take over the Earth? I mean, I could see Gero fearing the remaining SSJs, but I think if he could conquer on his own it may have been something he would have considered. It also seemed like Gero was already aware of 17 and 18 potentially disobeying him.

[Rocketman]

But the thing is is that the Androids didn't kill the Z Warriors in the present, but they killed them during the initial battle in the future. So there had to be some personality difference.

The difference was the Z Squad wasn't forewarned. Without Trunks, without a bunch of Senzu, and without Krillin afraid to join in, everybody would've died there.

[buutenks]

Things changed compared to the original time line.

Trunks pointed out that the androids in the alternate timeline were stronger than the ones in his time line.So obviously some slight changes happened to them and their personalities.

What happened who knows,was never mentioned in the manga.

As for why the future androids didnt blow up earth.Well they enjoyed having fun so that would be pointless,plus what would they do after?Drift in space and freeza over or something?I think future androids were fine on earth,they just didnt like humans in particular so wanted to kill them slowly off while still having some fun.

Plus,they proly wouldnt have finished off the humans cos then they'd be all alone with nothing to do.So theyd attack them,kill allot,wait for them to rebuild and so on and repeat for kicks.

Makes u wander,what in the world did cell plan to do after he blew up earth?Lucky he got the IT from goku or else would have looked bad for him if he destroyed earth before he self destructed.

[supercat]

Subtle variations in their programming may or may not have been possible due to Trunks traveling back and forth through time. I just feel like they weren't as adamant at that point to destroy the Earth or participate in senseless destruction because their goal (viewed as a simple game to 17) was to take down Goku. Plus, even at that point they trashed the Z-fighters pretty hard, and their beating was by in no means anything remotely akin to being nice. Without 16 interfering, I don't find it unlikely that if there was no one left that could stand in their way, 17 and 18 would eventually have gone on the same rampage as their future counterparts.

As for the battle power that the Androids possessed, I feel the ones in the future weren't going as hard because there wasn't as much of a threat to them as there were in the present time. With the present Z-Fighters wielding greater power, it doesn't rule out the possibility of the present Androids displaying a greater amount of power to get the job done. Plus, 17 and 18 from the future seem like they're more in it to have fun and toy with an opponent versus one-shotting them.

[DanielSSJ]

a) I figured that if the Androids never got involved with Cell, they would've eventually went on to be destroyers of the world like their future selves. They did set out to kill Goku because it sounded like fun. They also threatened to kill Piccolo and the others if they didn't tell them where Goku was. As to why the present day ones were more powerful, there are two posibilities. 1) Being left running for almost 20 years with no repair or maintenance would have caused them to graually lose power. 2) Dr Gero, who never fought the Z warriors, didn't wake the twins when he did in the main timeline. Instead he did some adjustments to make them more obedient, which also weakened their power. The obedience adjustment failed, and Dr Gero is killed.

b) Technically the population of earth is much smaller than half of what it used to be. There are only 10,000 people left in Trunks' time. As to why they haven't destroyed the earth? They were actually born on Earth, unlike Piccolo, the Saiyans, or Freeza. They don't know anything else other than Earth. And they pretty much have conquered the planet.

c) I dunno. Maybe Piccolo shielded Gohan from a blast that knocked him unconscious. Maybe he wasn't actually at the battle. I doubt the Androids would've spared him.

d) Yes.