Did they suddenly remember Bulma in Super?

[Rukawa11]

Has anyone noticed that Bulma is everywhere in Super? She somewhat reminds me of the useless amount of screen time Pan had received in DBGT. I mean, Bulma is always there, and unlike the latter half of DB and all of DBZ, she always seems to have a point to make in Super. Aside from her logical involvement with reconstructing Cell's time machine, her presence throughout Super just didn't make any sense. It got to a point where you could almost predict when she would speak because a whole minute had gone by without her saying anything. Toriyama/ Toei seemed to have taken all sorts of measures to ensure her continued presence (being well-acquainted with Jaco, having lunch with Whis, bickering with Beerus, to name a few).

If we disregard Gohan finally landing himself a key role in the Universe Survival arc, neither he nor Goten have had half of Bulma's screen time. There was a time in DBZ where the very idea of Bulma rising through the ranks and offsetting Goku's two sons in importance was simply inconceivable. Some might argue that Gohan's family man/ scholar life and Goten going to school explain their lack of involvement with the plot. But this is Bulma we're talking about. Even in DB, it wasn't long before she was reduced to a Tenkaichi Budokai spectator with Oolong and the gang.

I remember many people complaining about Future Trunks and Mai's relationship being the most absurd thing about Super, but imo, Bulma's screen time wins the prize.

[Lapislettuce]

Has anyone noticed that Bulma is everywhere in Super? She somewhat reminds me of the useless amount of screen time Pan had received in DBGT. I mean, Bulma is always there, and unlike the latter half of DB and all of DBZ, she always seems to have a point to make in Super. Aside from her logical involvement with reconstructing Cell's time machine, her presence throughout Super just didn't make any sense. It got to a point where you could almost predict when she would speak because a whole minute had gone by without her saying anything. Toriyama/ Toei seemed to have taken all sorts of measures to ensure her continued presence (being well-acquainted with Jaco, having lunch with Whis, bickering with Beerus, to name a few).

If we disregard Gohan finally landing himself a key role in the Universe Survival arc, neither he nor Goten have had half of Bulma's screen time. There was a time in DBZ where the very idea of Bulma rising through the ranks and offsetting Goku's two sons in importance was simply inconceivable. Some might argue that Gohan's family man/ scholar life and Goten going to school explain their lack of involvement with the plot. But this is Bulma we're talking about. Even in DB, it wasn't long before she was reduced to a Tenkaichi Budokai spectator with Oolong and the gang.

I remember many people complaining about Future Trunks and Mai's relationship being the most absurd thing about Super, but imo, Bulma's screen time wins the prize.

Umm i'm pretty sure Bulma has always been the most useful and relevant female in dragon ball nothing new there.

[Boo Machine]

Just because Bulma isn't a fighter it doesn't mean she isn't important. She might not have always been in the middle of the action but she often finds ways to contribute. Even if it's just being the pilot of some space ship. So I'm glad that Super is using her. Better than leaving one of the series oldest characters in the background to do nothing. It would be a waste.

I don't see what's so ridiculous about it. It's not like she is rushing into battle fists flailing and landing devastating blows. She just does what she is able.

[HybridSaiyan]

Just because Bulma isn't a fighter it doesn't mean she isn't important. She might not have always been in the middle of the action but she often finds ways to contribute. Even if it's just being the pilot of some space ship. So I'm glad that Super is using her. Better than leaving one of the series oldest characters in the background to do nothing. It would be a waste.

I don't see what's so ridiculous about it. It's not like she is rushing into battle fists flailing and landing devastating blows. She just does what she is able.

She just seems less mature than her Buu Saga counterpart. But I dunno, that's just me.

[Boo Machine]

Just because Bulma isn't a fighter it doesn't mean she isn't important. She might not have always been in the middle of the action but she often finds ways to contribute. Even if it's just being the pilot of some space ship. So I'm glad that Super is using her. Better than leaving one of the series oldest characters in the background to do nothing. It would be a waste.

I don't see what's so ridiculous about it. It's not like she is rushing into battle fists flailing and landing devastating blows. She just does what she is able.

She just seems less mature than her Buu Saga counterpart. But I dunno, that's just me.

Perhaps a bit. But then again the buu saga barely focused on her, so not much of an opportunity to showcase her more selfish or bratty side. Any time she was was shown it was with Vegeta or Trunks who were the main focus of whatever scene they happen to be in with her and whatever it was they were doing. Now that she is more in the center of everything her personality quirks are in full view of everyone but is still plenty mature. I feel it makes sure she isn't boring, which is a good thing if she is going to be around.

[Chuquita]

I appreciate Bulma's presence in Super because up until recently she's been the only one who's been standing up to Beerus when he tries being pushy.
It took Gokû 70+ episodes and Vegeta 80+ to do what Bulma did right off the bat.

It'd be nice to see a more grown up Goten and Trunks, but they're trapped in childhood due to marketing.

[HybridSaiyan]

Just because Bulma isn't a fighter it doesn't mean she isn't important. She might not have always been in the middle of the action but she often finds ways to contribute. Even if it's just being the pilot of some space ship. So I'm glad that Super is using her. Better than leaving one of the series oldest characters in the background to do nothing. It would be a waste.

I don't see what's so ridiculous about it. It's not like she is rushing into battle fists flailing and landing devastating blows. She just does what she is able.

She just seems less mature than her Buu Saga counterpart. But I dunno, that's just me.

Perhaps a bit. But then again the buu saga barely focused on her, so not much of an opportunity to showcase her more selfish or bratty side. Any time she was was shown it was with Vegeta or Trunks who were the main focus of whatever scene they happen to be in with her and whatever it was they were doing. Now that she is more in the center of everything her personality quirks are in full view of everyone but is still plenty mature. I feel it makes sure she isn't boring, which is a good thing if she is going to be around.

Yeah, I have no problem with her attitude game playing strong, however since the design change, that's when she's been her Pre-Buu self. Bcause, I had no issues with her in Battle of Gods. Though I agree, she's not boring, that much is obvious haha.

[Rukawa11]

There's no question about Bulma always being relevant. In Super, however, it's not just about her being relevant, useful, or ever-present. Try to think of all the instances (they could amount to 20 or more) where a whole set of characters are watching a fight. Somehow, Bulma is always the one with something to say. In the Universe 6 tournament, the "camera" swung at her among the spectators way more than even Trunks and Goten. I don't remember Videl or the others saying anything at all. The same can be said about her and Jaco as everyone was watching the Freeza fight. I believe there are younger and far more important characters (Trunks, Goten, Gohan, Videl) that have simply missed out on a lot of screen time due to Bulma always being in the middle of things and sort of warranting that Goku and Vegeta need to be by her side. I also noticed, for the first time in the entire franchise, that Goku and Vegeta have taken her so seriously as to relay pure battle-related information to her. Stuff like Black Goku's Super Saiyan Rose, Zamasu and Black Goku's similar ki, and how the two of them make an excellent teamwork because they're the same person. If you think about, why would Bulma partake in these types of discussions/ speculations? Back in in the Cell Arc, she only stuck to what she was good at: inventing a remote control to deactivate the Androids. Therefore, it should follow that her role in the Future Trunks arc would reconstructing the time machine, but somehow, she just rose far beyond that.

Perhaps a character popularity poll forced Toei to bring her into the forefront? Apart from Gohan, Goten and Trunks obviously being more important than she was in DBZ, I could've sworn that she didn't even hold a candle to the likes of Videl and Mr. Satan.

she just seems less mature than her Buu Saga counterpart. But I dunno, that's just me.

It ain't you. Bulma in Super reminds of her Namek arc self. I believe another reason for this is that Vegeta himself is somewhat childish in Super (at least during the funny moments). I believe we could also attribute Bulma's screen time in Super to Vegeta's. Surely everyone has realized we've seen more of him in Super than we ever did in DBZ.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

What's so absurd about Bulma having screen time? She's smart, useful and fearless has connections with Jaco etc don't see the issue at all. DB started with Goku and Bulma and it's pretty great they're still main characters this far on.

[Draconic]

The series started with her and Goku. She well deserves her screen time more than any other character except Goku himself. She was always a useful part of the cast, except the filler stuff on Namek. She jumpstarts the hunt for the DBs, repairs Goku's Radar, thinkers with the Scouters, her family builds the spaceship to Namek, she helps against the Androids a lot. It's only in the tournaments, because she's not a martial artist, and in the Buu saga, which is just a long string of fights, that she doesn't do anything, but it's understandable. However, get some tech involved, lika a Time Machine or a spaceship and she's the one to go to.

Comparing her to Pan in GT is dumb. Pan is nothing but a contrivance to Goku, on top of her whiny and bossy attitude, but Bulma, while a whiner in her own right, always does something to help.

[Alruneia]

Is that actually the case? I've never really thought about that before, but now that I am, you may have a point. If it is, then... it is a little GT Pan-y, yeah, honestly. I'm not going to sit here and come up with a bunch of excuses to rationalise that, since I'm a supporter of "support character screen time equality", myself.

[Lord Beerus]

I don't see what the issue is with Bulma being brought back into prominence. She basically kicked started the entire plot of Dragon Ball and remained an integral part of the cast up until the end of the original story. She has every right to get as much screen-time as she does in Super. And for the most part, her role is Super is just as significant as most of the other cast members. I don't really understand this logic where she can't get more involved with the plot beyond inventing important shit for the cast to use. She's very smart and savvy and has seen enough fights and battles in her lifetime to have the privilege of providing her own commentary on certain matters. It's actually quite refreshing approach, in my opinion.

[Rukawa11]

That Bulma had earned her spotlight in Super just because she got the ball rolling in DB is weak reasoning. Roshi had taught Goku the Kamehameha, kept track of his progress in two Tenkaichi Budokais by entering himself, and had remained extremely relevant up until the Piccolo Daimao arc., but they sure as hell didn't take that into account in neither DBZ nor Super (teaching Goku the mafuba for five minutes was kinda pointless). No one seems to take Bulma's age into account either (it's bad enough that the series strictly follows the adventures of a mid 40sh-year old Vegeta and late 30's Goku). Her involvement with reconstructing Cell's time machine was really the only relevant she did. Everything else from bickering with Jaco, having lunch with Whis, suspecting Beerus's intentions, seeking out the truth about the Super Dragonballs, and being the one with the most comments to make about a fight, were roles that could've been distributed among other characters. But for her to do all these things (and have all the screen time accompanied with them), I can''t help thinking some character popularity poll had influenced this
I maintain that she's somewhat similar to Pan in DBGT, except that Pan did a bit fighting, was a young 14-year old character that demands exploring, and she was Goku's granddaughter.

[HeroR]

That Bulma had earned her spotlight in Super just because she got the ball rolling in DB is weak reasoning. Roshi had taught Goku the Kamehameha, kept track of his progress in two Tenkaichi Budokais by entering himself, and had remained extremely relevant up until the Piccolo Daimao arc., but they sure as hell didn't take that into account in neither DBZ nor Super (teaching Goku the mafuba for five minutes was kinda pointless). No one seems to take Bulma's age into account either (it's bad enough that the series strictly follows the adventures of a mid 40sh-year old Vegeta and late 30's Goku). Her involvement with reconstructing Cell's time machine was really the only relevant she did. Everything else from bickering with Jaco, having lunch with Whis, suspecting Beerus's intentions, seeking out the truth about the Super Dragonballs, and being the one with the most comments to make about a fight, were roles that could've been distributed among other characters. But for her to do all these things (and have all the screen time accompanied with them), I can''t help thinking some character popularity poll had influenced this
I maintain that she's somewhat similar to Pan in DBGT, except that Pan did a bit fighting, was a young 14-year old character that demands exploring, and she was Goku's granddaughter.

She fixed the Time Machine after Black broke it and she helped Trunks learn the Evil Containment Wave. So she didn't just fixed Cell's Time Machine. She also having bickered with Jaco since the Champa Saga.

Popularity polls have nothing to do with it since Android 18 scores higher than her. And so what if she isn't a fighter. She proved more useful and resourcement than most of the fighter characters even before Z.

[precita]

You must really be forgetting how much focus Bulma got in previous sagas. The Saiyan saga always focused on her and Roshi while everyone else was fighting. She was there on Namek.

She was there when Cyborg Freeza and King Cold came to Earth. She went to see Android 19 and 20 when they first appeared. She then goes with Krillin and Trunks to find Cell's time machine. She then works on it. She then works on repairing Android 16.

In the Buu saga her role is reduced a bit, but she still gets tons of focus when Trunks is fighting or during the Majin Vegeta episodes.

[sophitia]

Just want to say that Bulma didn't appear in the current opening though

[DragonBallFoodie]

Bulma is not a favourite character of mine, but I respect that she was able to provide intel and support during the Future Trunks arc.

And she did get her comeuppance in that episode where everyone wanted a wish from Shenron, so it's not always her own way.

[Neon Z]

I don't think it had anything to do with popularity. Bulma never ranked high before. If anything, it seems like Toriyama himself was pushing her for some reason even though he didn't seem to care much before. Her increased role really started in RoF, which had a Toriyama script, and she was the only old character from the present that got a new design from Toriyama for the Trunks arc (the outfit with the lab coat). She was also one of the few characters the anime didn't return to their BoGs design and kept with the newer one.

[AloversGaming]

Bulma deserves all the screen time she gets, and a Hell of a lot more than the likes of Goten and Trunks, who've always been a waste of episode time. Each one of their scenes could be deleted from the episodes and nothing of value is lost. Maybe Young Trunks talking to Future Trunks, but outside of that they've been giving too much focus ever since Z.

Characters like Piccolo, Ten, 18, Krillin, should be getting more involved in the series arcs, but not at the expense of Bulma. Remove the two kids; they've added nothing of worth.

[Ki Breaker]

Bulma is an irreplaceable part of Dragonball, she is all over the ending too..
If it's not sexual symbol, she provides assistance in everything else.. she has been there always and will be..

Quite frankly though, she is no longer a sex symbol and that should have been given to Videl, her being a fighter would have helped include her easily as well, instead of the tame housewife she became..