What is the purpose of Majin Buu's character?

[Asura]

So Majin Buu has fallen asleep once more, and has been replaced by Freeza. Now that Freeza's return is being very well received, it seems we've all forgotten about what caused a lot of this outrage to begin with, which was that Majin Buu was once AGAIN being sidelined. This is now the third time in three separate arcs where Majin Buu has fallen asleep and as a result, misses out on the fighting (RoF, U6, US).

This now leads me to ask, what exactly is the purpose of Majin Buu's character? What is it that they want to do with this character? Why does he even exist? He's clearly not a fighting cast member since he's only ever gotten one fight in the entirety of Super (which he almost fell asleep for AGAIN). He's not a comedic relief character like Yamcha since nothing he does is actually funny, and I'm not even sure if it's intended to be funny. He sleeps and he eats, that's literally his entire character. Not much of a joke to be had there.

Why does it seem like no one really knows what to do with this character? He's not in the main cast, he's not comedic relief, hell he's not even a support or side character because he barely even exists within Super. He's always sleeping or simply not on screen. So why is it so hard to figure out what to do with him?

How do we fix Majin Buu?

[precita]

He should have been a comical and silly fighter and used in both the Champa tournament and this Universe one. I didn't mind him sleeping when Freeza came to Earth, because I could see how he'd be too overpowered there at least until Freeza powered up, but excluding him from both tournaments is absurd.

Toriyama obviously kept him around at the end of the Buu saga because he liked him, so it really does not make sense that now he doesn't want to do anything with him anymore. They should have just had Buu never pop back out again when Kid Buu was formed if this was the case. Real disappointing because Fat Buu's fights were always fun to watch.

[Drellz26]

I've been contemplating starting a similar discussion for weeks. I don't know Toriyama's feelings towards Buu but it seems like him or someone high up in this shows production regrets keeping Buu around after the saga...But then there's episodes like him training for the tournament that make it all so confusing. I know at this point that I wish Buu never rehatched or at least sacrificed himself, it makes no sense for him to be around now.

[sintzu]

When Toriyama brought back Buu he didnt intend to continue so he probably did it to end things on a light/positave note, not that he expected himself or anyone else to use him in future stories.

In terms of how to fix him, if I was the writer I'd just have him fight every now and then (assuming I don't kill him and everyone else off in favore of a complete Vegeta show ).

[PeanutSaiyan]

I'd love a scenario where he regresses to the point that they have to put him down like in Old Yeller. Unfortunately he's still in EoZ, but Super seems to retcon everything and anything so..

[precita]

I wonder if they'll do the same thing GT did and have Buu fuse with Uub permanently at some point.

[MozillaVulpix]

At this point, it almost feels like his purpose is to put the heroes at a disadvantage. They're always going to want him there because he's strong and nigh-indestructible, but he'll fall asleep at the wrong moment. Or fail the written test.

[Akyon]

To waste everyone's time it seems. "Oh cool, Buu is going to fight? Oh, no. He's asleep again at a vital moment for some forced drama."

Mr. Satan's friendship aside, Buu hasn't really got a reason to exist since he's had a grand total of two fights in Super, nearly caused Earth to get destroyed in the Beerus arc and aside from that has spent the entire show out of focus or asleep. I forgot he nearly fell asleep before the Basil fight too. Must have erased it from my memory since he at least woke up for that battle.

Buu doesn't even have any real character interaction outside Satan and occasionally Goku.
For example, what's his relationship with Gohan like? They're bound to have hung out since he's a part of the Satan family. Unknown.
How does he feel about the rest of the gang? Unknown.
Does he have a dream he wants to achieve? Well, yeah in Xenoverse and Online he wants to know about love. But what would be the point in populating Earth with more Buus when the staff aren't sure what to even do with regular Buu?

[Makai]

Buu has two fights, actually.

[LightBing]

He has no purpose.
Remember that the manga ended shortly after the Boo Arc, it' not a stretch to say Mr.Toriyama didn't have any intentions for the character and him joining the cast is because of circumstances and continuing the pattern of redeemed villains.

Having expectations of the character is a recipe for disappointment. To add insult to injury, his abilities make him a hassle to write.

It's possible to develop him, it would just take a bunch of work. The character is childish, likes to eat and enjoys fighting to some degree. There's not much going own.

Personally the character isn't very interesting and I would rather they develop others or just focus on new, more rewarding characters, like Caulifla for example.

[Cipher]

Boo seems to be one of the more prominent and unfortunate tells that the Boo arc was designed to be (and was!) the series finale. His temperament precludes substantial character growth, and his power set is unwieldy. Both GT and Super seem reluctant to keep him in the action for long.

I think it's a bit unfortunate, as between his little skirmishes with Beerus and Baby, we do have examples of his being outclassed by an opponent playing just fine. He's a fun character we've still barely gotten to see interact with the rest of the cast.

It's not a huuuuuge issue, but it stands out.

[buutenks]

Majin Buu's arc ended in the Buu saga, i still have no idea why Toriyama created Mr Buu.

So basically in SUper, he's a side character, that might get some small screen time if Toei wishes. I somehow doubt Toriyama made mention of Buu in his outline apart from, he falls asleep at the u6 tourney and ToP tourney.

[Asura]

Buu has two fights, actually.

What's the second fight? Can we even call Buu vs Beerus a fight? There's also Goku vs Skinny Buu, but that was more of a spar instead of a real fight.

[precita]

The thing is a lot of characters are now far more powerful than Buu, and remember Fat Buu is a lot weaker than he was when he first hatched in the Buu arc after he split from Evil Buu.

Goku, Vegeta and Gohan can all destroy Buu in an instant now if they wanted to, so i don't see how he's overpowered anymore. Even Buu turning people to candy makes no difference, he did it to Vegito in the Buu arc and Vegito was able to move around as a candy attacking Buu until he got changed back.

[Asura]

The thing is a lot of characters are now far more powerful than Buu, and remember Fat Buu is a lot weaker than he was when he first hatched in the Buu arc after he split from Evil Buu.

Goku, Vegeta and Gohan can all destroy Buu in an instant now if they wanted to, so i don't see how he's overpowered anymore. Even Buu turning people to candy makes no difference, he did it to Vegito in the Buu arc and Vegito was able to move around as a candy attacking Buu until he got changed back.

Yeah I've seen quite a few people say that Majin Buu is too overpowered with his regeneration and that's why they don't want to do too much with him, but that doesn't really make any kind of sense at all given how weak he is in comparison to most of the main cast.

[Master Xar]

The thing is a lot of characters are now far more powerful than Buu, and remember Fat Buu is a lot weaker than he was when he first hatched in the Buu arc after he split from Evil Buu.

Goku, Vegeta and Gohan can all destroy Buu in an instant now if they wanted to, so i don't see how he's overpowered anymore. Even Buu turning people to candy makes no difference, he did it to Vegito in the Buu arc and Vegito was able to move around as a candy attacking Buu until he got changed back.

Yeah I've seen quite a few people say that Majin Buu is too overpowered with his regeneration and that's why they don't want to do too much with him, but that doesn't really make any kind of sense at all given how weak he is in comparison to most of the main cast.

It's not just the regeneration, he has the Candy Beam, Telekinesis, can split himself up, can copy moves on sight, generally rubber-like, absorbtion, healing, and has ridiculously high stamina, I've seen people come up with really simple ways that Buu can easily turn the tide, especially with his healing and Candy Beam. As a fighter in a strategy related tournament he easily breaks the setting. If Goku or the other fighters were equalized in power they'd easily lose because when it comes to abilities and hax the guy is a walking Swiss Army knife.

[MagmonKai]

The only reason he exist is because at some point he is going to fuse with Uub. Other than that, yeah he's fuxing useless.

[Asura]

The thing is a lot of characters are now far more powerful than Buu, and remember Fat Buu is a lot weaker than he was when he first hatched in the Buu arc after he split from Evil Buu.

Goku, Vegeta and Gohan can all destroy Buu in an instant now if they wanted to, so i don't see how he's overpowered anymore. Even Buu turning people to candy makes no difference, he did it to Vegito in the Buu arc and Vegito was able to move around as a candy attacking Buu until he got changed back.

Yeah I've seen quite a few people say that Majin Buu is too overpowered with his regeneration and that's why they don't want to do too much with him, but that doesn't really make any kind of sense at all given how weak he is in comparison to most of the main cast.

It's not just the regeneration, he has the Candy Beam, Telekinesis, can split himself up, can copy moves on sight, generally rubber-like, absorbtion, healing, and has ridiculously high stamina, I've seen people come up with really simple ways that Buu can easily turn the tide, especially with his healing and Candy Beam. As a fighter in a strategy related tournament he easily breaks the setting. If Goku or the other fighters were equalized in power they'd easily lose because when it comes to abilities and hax the guy is a walking Swiss Army knife.

Your walking swiss army knife isn't going to help you when someone with an AK-47 shows up and blows a hole in your head.

Majin Buu has a lot of different tools, but none of the power. Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, or someone comparable to them can probably wipe Buu out in an instant. Vegetto showed how little all Majin Buu's abilities matter when he could just destroy him with brute force and ignore most of his abilities.

You could say the same thing about Roshi who has a plethora of different abilities that are great and possibly even overpowered in a strategy based tournament (like his abilities that literally throw people off the ring), yet he's still participating. Buu isn't overpowered, he can be defeated. If he had shown up in RoF, Final Form Freeza probably would have made a fool out of him. Likewise, Hit would have annihilated him in an instant if he fought in the U6 tournament.

[GodKaio-Ken]

I agree with thepremise of the OP....we must fix Buu.


Ideally, to me, he would be a very powerful fighter whos childlike naivety and overall mind would lead to him being outsmarted by upper tier fighters.

In that role he could be both comedic and showcase his fighting.

[Master Xar]

Yeah I've seen quite a few people say that Majin Buu is too overpowered with his regeneration and that's why they don't want to do too much with him, but that doesn't really make any kind of sense at all given how weak he is in comparison to most of the main cast.

It's not just the regeneration, he has the Candy Beam, Telekinesis, can split himself up, can copy moves on sight, generally rubber-like, absorbtion, healing, and has ridiculously high stamina, I've seen people come up with really simple ways that Buu can easily turn the tide, especially with his healing and Candy Beam. As a fighter in a strategy related tournament he easily breaks the setting. If Goku or the other fighters were equalized in power they'd easily lose because when it comes to abilities and hax the guy is a walking Swiss Army knife.

Your walking swiss army knife isn't going to help you when someone with an AK-47 shows up and blows a hole in your head.

Majin Buu has a lot of different tools, but none of the power. Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, or someone comparable to them can probably wipe Buu out in an instant. Vegetto showed how little all Majin Buu's abilities matter when he could just destroy him with brute force and ignore most of his abilities.

You could say the same thing about Roshi who has a plethora of different abilities that are great and possibly even overpowered in a strategy based tournament (like his abilities that literally throw people off the ring), yet he's still participating. Buu isn't overpowered, he can be defeated. If he had shown up in RoF, Final Form Freeza probably would have made a fool out of him. Likewise, Hit would have annihilated him in an instant if he fought in the U6 tournament.

Yes and that's what I mean, while power is a big placement yes, that doesn't change that his abilities could very easily turn the tide,

You're forgetting the main objective of the tournament: Knock your opponents off the ring until only your universe is left standing, or survive long enough until the time runs out with more teammates on your side still on the stage

He almost completely covers the team in the second objective, he could just play medic with the team and heal up Goku or the others, or split himself so that even if he is knocked off he remains on the stage still as a technicality.

Roshi is nowhere even close to as overpowered in the setting as Buu, the worst thing he has would be the Mafuba to throw them off, but it costs a huge amount of energy while Buu doesn't have any endurance weaknesses unless someone COMPLETELY crushes him.