Why was everyone so weak compared to Nappa besides Goku?

[precita]

Is it just me, or does it make very little sense that Nappa was shown to be so much more insanely powerful than any character until Goku showed up? I just rewatched the whole Saiyan saga and it really is mind blowing how poorly everyone did despite their training:

- Piccolo got a few hits in, but only because Nappa was distracted. Otherwise Piccolo was outclassed in every way, he immediately gets kicked by Nappa in the beginning of the fight and has to come up with the multi-form technique and trying to grab Nappa's tail to stop him but it fails both times. I'm honestly surprised how poor Piccolo was as a match to Nappa, especially with him being an alien as well. I had wrongly remembered Piccolo putting up a decent fight against Nappa, but no that's wrong.

- Tenshinhan is one of my bigger disappointments. The guy who was on par with Goku for most of Dragonball and was completely obliterated. Nappa immediately kicks him in the stomach and punches off his arm, and from that point on Tien couldn't keep up with him. He uses his last bit of energy to try and kill Nappa but even that barely phases him and he dies.

- Chiatozu does absolutely nothing. I don't even understand why he bothered to train with the rest of them. He doesn't do any attacking and tries to blow himself up.

- Yamcha of course gets cocky and lets the Saibaman blow himself up, but even if he survived, he would have had Nappa tear through him.

- Krillin manages to work with Piccolo against Nappa for a while, but Nappa eventually beats him rather easily when he goes after him.

- Gohan is too scared to fight for most of the battle, which is understandable as he was never in real combat before.

- Yajirobe doesn't even show up until Vegeta.


In retrospect it looks weird since Nappa is now one of the weakest villains of the show considering every villain who came after him was stronger. While of course everyone was destined to lose until Goku showed up anyway, don't you think they all should have put up a slightly better fight? They were all stronger than Radditz when he came to Earth, meaning early DBZ-era Goku/Piccolo were already surpassed.

[JulieYBM]

Toriyama doesn't plan ahead and really only needed Nappa to keep being unstoppable until Gokuu could show up to look cooler by comparison.

[fadeddreams5]

To be fair in the case of Tien, he happens to be the first person Nappa lunged at. Nobody expected him to be quite as strong as he ended up being. Anyone else would have suffered the same fate (dismembered) or worse. Despite that, he still tried to fight Nappa one-on-one in hand-to-hand combat... with one arm! Later, he says "fuck it" and uses the Tri-Beam. Despite never having the chance to fight at full strength, he died a true warrior.

As for everyone else, remember that Goku didn't really gain much from training under Kami--at least, nothing worth bragging about in comparison to someone like Nappa. A souped up version of this training is essentially what everyone else received, besides Piccolo. Taking that into consideration, everyone improved quite a damn lot if you think about it.

[dario03]

I like Tien but he didn't really keep up with Goku for all of DB. IIRC he was already outclassed by a decent bit by the time they went to fight Daimao.

But for the topic as a whole, everybody was weak in comparison to make Napa look good so that Goku would look good when he showed up. Pretty common for DB. Same thing with nobody standing a chance against Freeza except for Goku and nobody standing a chance against (Super)Perfect Cell except Gohan.

[sayian_nation_]

I guess it's the fact that humans no matter what are outclassed against a Saiyan race. Piccolo wasn't as strong then, I'm betting had he fused with Nail and Kami earlier he would of had a chance. Goku is a Saiyan it's only right that he was the only person to defeat both Nappa and Vegeta though he needed help with taking down Vegeta in the end.

[nickzambuto]

Saiyans are a big deal. They are born warriors who live for nothing but the joy of combat, and Nappa was an elite among them. Not only was he the most experienced fighter there, but his sheer natural ability and instincts made him the best fighter as well. That's what Saiyans are, the best fighters in the whole universe just by nature, Goku had to get training from a god just to match up with Nappa, and then against the Saiyan Prince he admitted to STILL being outmatched in skill. Nappa wasn't a honed martial artist like Tenshinhan and the others, but he was savage, brutal, and instinctive. I like to believe that even without his strength advantage, none of the Earth warriors would have been able to keep up with him in hand-to-hand. All at once with their strategies they probably could have managed something, but Nappa's fighting tenacity was among the very best in the universe.

And of course he DID have a huge power advantage as well that just totally solidified his win, no matter how clever the Dragon Team tried to be. It makes a ton of sense to me, although it would have been cool if Piccolo did provide a challenging rival to Nappa before ultimately being outmatched.

[Araki]

I think Piccolo, Kuririn and Gohan in particular actually did very good against Nappa. It's not like Nappa was untouched when Goku arrived, he barely even had his clothes anymore and was pretty worn out. I always liked how at one point of the fight they were really getting on his nerves, almost exchanging hits.

Hell, if not for Vegeta's warning, Kuririn was about to cut him in half. So we could argue they could actually beat him if Vegeta wasn't there to be the brain.

[nickzambuto]

I think Piccolo, Kuririn and Gohan in particular actually did very good against Nappa. It's not like Nappa was untouched when Goku arrived, he barely even had his clothes anymore and was pretty worn out. I always liked how at one point of the fight they were really getting on his nerves, almost exchanging hits.

Hell, if not for Vegeta's warning, Kuririn was about to cut him in half. So we could argue they could actually beat him if Vegeta wasn't there to be the brain.

That's a good point, and I don't think there is any argument to be had. Nappa would have been killed by Krillin, fair and square, if Vegeta did not interfere. Goes to show how epic Krillin is, let's not forget that the Keinzan/Destructo Disk only came after Krillin hopped into action by intercepting Nappa and saving Gohan's life, beating Nappa up for a couple pages with a martial arts blitz, and even Vegeta admitted he had nice moves. So the one technique isn't all Krillin has to offer, he is exceptionally skilled, courageous, and strong willed.

[sayian_nation_]

Hell, if not for Vegeta's warning, Kuririn was about to cut him in half. So we could argue they could actually beat him if Vegeta wasn't there to be the brain.

Oh good point I forgot about that I could make an exception for Kuririn. Brain over brawn.

[Cipher]

I think it's consistent with how the series has operated up to that point. Why should any of these characters, who are vastly weaker than Raditz, be able to catch up to the faaaaaar stronger Nappa doing one year of the terrestrial training Goku had previously spent three doing?* That they all end up outclassing Raditz on the other side is already impressive. These are elite Saiyans who are supposed to be able to blow through other ki-wielding warrior races with ease.

Only Goku, with his otherworldly training has a chance, and even then needs the Kaio-Ken for a decisive victory and is still no match for Vegeta.

Also, hell yeah, Kuririn almost killed Nappa.

*Maybe if they'd trained for four months, it'd make more sense.

[Kid Buu]

It's Dragon Ball. Most of the time the B-team are a lot weaker than a henchmen that Goku one-shots.

[rereboy]

Nappa was an elite Saiyan and North Kaio stated himself that Vegeta and Nappa were stronger than him. So, Nappa is not only stronger than a god like Kami, he is stronger than a Kaio that oversees many planets and gods. Also, in terms of power level, Nappa was able to fight an over 8000 Goku and even nullify a Kamehameha at close range with his best attack, when Piccolo and the others at best were between 2000 and 3000. Nappa was simply too strong for them. They really couldn't do much of anything. There's no real mystery, Nappa is just really strong compared to them.

[LSSJGODSSJ4Gogeta]

Because in Z all that matters is you're a saiyan or the villain. It's why some prefer Ball>Z.

[Lord Beerus]

Because in Z all that matters is you're a saiyan or the villain. It's why some prefer Ball>Z.

Bulma, Mr Satan and the Namekians beg to differ.

[Hellspawn28]

Well the Saiyans where hype up to be a very powerful alien race. Nappa was proven to be a tank until Goku show up. The idea was to show how powerful the Saiyans are really are and that there are forces outside of Earth stronger then they can imagine.