Correlation between Saiyan tails and power?

[cheddarsword]

Reading through the DB manga and I'm a the first world tournament that they attend, right after training with Roshi.

Goku's fighting that dragon thing (Giren? Gilen? something...) and he's stuck in it's gum spit stuff, when his tail grows back out of nowhere and he's suddenly able to break the gum spit stating that he feels better with his tail.

Is this a true indication that at the very least, pure breed saiyans have greater power with their tails than without them? Not sure if this applies to Gohan (half saiyan born with tail) or Trunks (half saiyan possibly born without tail).

When Raditz and Vegeta mention their tails being the source of a saiyans greatest potential, I just assumed they meant having access to the Oozaru form.

Is this legitimate? If Goku had kept his tail, would he have been stronger during the Frieza fight, or would it have proved to be of such little help that it wouldn't matter?

[dbgtFO]

The lore of the Saiyan tails could have been explored a bit more.
I definitely took the Giran situation as proof that Saiyans are a little bit stronger with their tails, however the question remains, if that would always be the case.

Toriyama stated later on that he just didn't want the tails around anymore, but in another interview he also provided an in-universe reason, that they were simply too strong IIRC.

That is something I would have liked be a part of the story, not just in DBZ, but also Super with the U6 Saiyans.

Spoiler:

Basically the Saiyans' genetic makeup evolves rapidly, so from their early years they have their Ozaru form, as the source of their power and so having their tail makes them stronger, as it draws them a tiny bit closer to their true power.

With enough training and power ups from near death however, they go beyond the need of Ozaru and draw closer to Super Saiyan and so their bodies respond by not growing back their tails and changing their genes, which also means any offspring conceived after that inherit the altered genes (Future Trunks).
After they reach Super Saiyan, it alters their genes further and here too the offspring inherits it (Trunks and Goten).

So U6 Saiyans by virtue of not destroying each other and instead creating a sustainable society, eventually became so powerful that they evolved past the need of tails and are instead closing in on Super Saiyan.

That's how I would have liked it to be.

[Saturnine]

It might matter when the powerlevels are in the region of a hundred or something, and be inconsequential later on. If it mattered, Goku and Vegeta would have tried something to recover their tails. They never did.

So I think this plot point is a GTism, from Toei writers taking their interpretation of that early fight too far.

[cheddarsword]

It might matter when the powerlevels are in the region of a hundred or something, and be inconsequential later on. If it mattered, Goku and Vegeta would have tried something to recover their tails. They never did.

So I think this plot point is a GTism, from Toei writers taking their interpretation of that early fight too far.

Not sure what you mean. I'm reading the Manga... Toei didn't touch that. Unless you're talking about Toei using the tails as the SS4 catalyst.

[Saturnine]

It might matter when the powerlevels are in the region of a hundred or something, and be inconsequential later on. If it mattered, Goku and Vegeta would have tried something to recover their tails. They never did.

So I think this plot point is a GTism, from Toei writers taking their interpretation of that early fight too far.

Not sure what you mean. I'm reading the Manga... Toei didn't touch that. Unless you're talking about Toei using the tails as the SS4 catalyst.

I was talking about the general idea of having your tail making you stronger. It did work in the manga, but like I said, the differences in power were so inconsequential then that it would probably have no bearing at all once the fighters' powers went into the millions.

[cheddarsword]

It might matter when the powerlevels are in the region of a hundred or something, and be inconsequential later on. If it mattered, Goku and Vegeta would have tried something to recover their tails. They never did.

So I think this plot point is a GTism, from Toei writers taking their interpretation of that early fight too far.

Not sure what you mean. I'm reading the Manga... Toei didn't touch that. Unless you're talking about Toei using the tails as the SS4 catalyst.

I was talking about the general idea of having your tail making you stronger. It did work in the manga, but like I said, the differences in power were so inconsequential then that it would probably have no bearing at all once the fighters' powers went into the millions.

True. It didn't seem to affect Vegeta enough to matter during the Saiyan Saga.

[miguelnuva1]

My understanding is that Saiyans have more physical strength but not more Ki. So if Goku had his tail his power level wouldn't go but he would be stronger. Example: Buu arc Goku would have lifted that 40 tons fine with out SSJ.