The Dragonball Misinformation Thread.

[Kakacarrottop]

On a similar note:

The notion that Shuki Levy composed any music for Dragon Ball.
All available information points to Ron Wasserman being the sole composer of the Saban dub's replacement score.
Shuki Levy was always credited for music that Saban provided, but a lot of the time, it was actually composed by one of many independent contractors, such as Wasserman.
(Also, as bonus trivia: Wasserman tried to reach out to Funi about returning to score DBZ after Saban dropped it, but they didn't return his calls)

Ron Wasserman has said on numerous occasions that he had nothing to do with Rock the Dragon though, which a lot of people are starting to miscredit to him. A guy from Saban named Jeremy Sweet probably sang it since he's listed in the credits alongside Wasserman as a "music producer", and did a lot of other theme songs for Saban which makes his voice easy to identify.

But, for all we know, Shuki Levy could have had a hand in composing the music to that song, without actually singing it.

[Yuli Ban]

One of the earliest I can remember, way back from the early 2000s when I first got into the fandom and have seen repeated as recently as earlier this decade:

"Super Saiyan is based on the legend of the Golden Warrior"

I forget the site where I first read it, other than that this was around 2004. And ever since, it's actually been most religiously repeated by Sonic fans trying to explain why Super Sonic looks like Super Saiyan— a challenge that's only a thing because Yuji Naka lied and said that Super Sonic wasn't an homage to Super Saiyan as a joke in an interview, so people tried to explain it through other means.
And it was also noted that there were other anime characters that turned gold, most notably in Saint Seiya. So at some point, someone on a DBZ fansite came up with a seemingly convincing explanation that the reason why so many Japanese characters turned gold and received major power ups was because of an ancient old legend of a "golden warrior" who attained superhuman power (and a shining golden color). Dragon Ball Z was just drawing from that myth, as was Sonic and others. I myself believed this for a good while.

In actuality, that's utter bullshit. There's no such thing as the "Golden Warrior" (at least, not until Gohan decided to bust some criminals up one day early in his high school career).

Indeed, if in the case this wasn't a lie from the start and was actually a serious attempt at explaining things, it was just a 90s mistranslation of an actual Japanese fable— that of Kintarō, aka the Golden Boy, a tale of a boy based off someone from Heian-era Japan who apparently had superhuman strength (he admittedly shares some bare similarities with Son Goku). However, he wasn't actually gold, nor did he ever transform into a golden-haired form. And it's also come out that Toriyama made Super Saiyan gold just to make it obvious that Goku became stronger, and did it in a way that also saved ink.


This myth has been so totally destroyed that, to my surprise, it's actually somewhat difficult to even find any references of it on Google anymore, though some results still do come up (including one linking back to Kanzenshuu).

[Robo4900]

GT taking place 10 years after EoZ instead of 5 like it actually is.

I mean... this wasn’t clear from the show itself. I suspect it was always supposed to be five years, and this jibes well with some of the old concept art of Pan being kinda short; about as tall as Goku. And in the first episode there are some scenes early on that seem to have been storyboarded long in advance with a chibier Pan which even made it into the final animation. Also in the first ending song.

On the other hand Pan does not act like she’s 8 (third grade) going on dates downtown with what appeared to be a teenage boy. 8 year olds are still fairly simple children. The guidebooks stuck with “5 years,” but the show itself is indecisive and given GT’s inclination to plotholes, you could make a good case that the internal evidence from the show overrides the Perfect Files statements.

I remember hearing that the Perfect Files do contradict the show in one or two places, though; the ice evil dragon states himself to have been born from one wish in the show, but the Perfect Files list a different one. Though I'm not sure if this is just a dub error; been a while since I saw the Evil Dragons arc.

Still, it is entirely possible that the Perfect Files used either draft information, or outright wrong information in one or two places, since its info isn't actually in the show. Having just gone back and checked episode 1, Goku and Oob both talk about how it's been years since they were home, without ever specifying an actual number, so I don't think Toei deliberately gave any specific timeframe.

Personally, I always thought it made sense for it to be about ten years; the way Pan behaves is much more believable for a 12-year-old than an 8-year-old, I think... Though I think she looks younger than 12 tbh.

TBH, though, it would make a lot of sense if Toei had no specific number in mind, and both the guidebook and Funi's dub just chose whatever number they thought sounded about right.

[Yuli Ban]

I remember hearing that the Perfect Files do contradict the show in one or two places, though; the ice evil dragon states himself to have been born from one wish in the show, but the Perfect Files list a different one. Though I'm not sure if this is just a dub error; been a while since I saw the Evil Dragons arc.

The dub had many errors. The one that always stuck out to me in particular, despite being a minor problem, was when Goten mentioned that he and Trunks fused as Super Saiyan 3s right before we got SS4 Gogeta. The implication in the dub being that there exists SS3 Goten and SS3 Trunks when, in the original, he meant that their fusion achieved Super Saiyan 3, so it's not impossible for there to be a fused Super Saiyan 4.
This led to me believing, for a while back in the 2000s, that Adult Goten and Trunks really were that strong. I think discovering that wasn't the case was my first introduction to how much shit the dub messed up.

[Robo4900]

And now...

The biggest misinformation of all that I'd like to address:

The very idea that there is a logical sense of power scaling and, in general, any absolute power measurable by any kind of mathematical or analytical method.
Ultimately, Dragon Ball was not written by an expert in any kind of idea of power scaling or video game type logic, and trying to apply that kind of logic to the Dragon Ball stories will just result in endless debate that boils down largely to matters of perspective and opinion about specific things that certain characters say.

Now, sure, it's fun for some people to debate an discuss power levels, but personally, every time I see a power levels debate, or any kind of talk of "What power multiplier is X transformation?" or anything else like that, I kinda just want to run a mile away from wherever this has happened. It's entirely a subjective, emergent idea, and not something that was ever supported in the show itself.
In fact, the one brief time when they played with this, and introduced power levels, they made a point of the fact that they're utterly useless outside of the Freeza forces using it as, basically, dick-measuring. The earth crew's power levels were stated to constantly vary based on the attacks they're using, what techniques they're employing, etc. etc.
Vegeta and Nappa literally threw the scouters aside in the Saiyan arc because of how useless they are for actually measuring the strength of the protagonists, and as soon as Vegeta had developed his ability to sense peoples' ki by the time he was kicking ass on Namek, he destroyed his, and then aside from members of the Freeza forces who still depended on their scouters (and ultimately were curbstomped by one person or another), no one in the franchise ever cared about what a power level was ever again.

By all means, enjoy discussing power levels in the proper places, but don't pretend for even a second that there's any actual consistent logic behind it (aside from something for the Saiyan/Namek era villains to shout about in more detail when expressing their shock at how strong Goku is), or that it's anything to do with knowledge of the franchise, or misinformation. Essentially, it's a huge matrix of fan theories/fanfic that really doesn't factor into the franchise itself in any real way.

Not to yuck anyone's yum, of course, but it really annoys me to see people criticise Super or GT for ruining their masters thesis on Dragon Ball power levels, scaling, and transformation multipliers, when it's entirely unrelated to any form of logic or thinking that the franchise's writers were ever even considering... How strong any given character is, either absolutely or relatively to anyone else, is entirely determined by what they think will make the best story.
"Does this story's version of that track reasonably well with the last story's?" and calling it a plot hole if it doesn't track is a fair opinion to hold, but "This contradicts the fact that Super Saiyan 2 is an X multiplier and at this point Goku says he's got Y stronger than his Z power level from this arc from a while back, so it doesn't make sense" is just a standard case of Jossing; a fan theory has been proven false by events of the show itself.

[WittyUsername]

GT taking place 10 years after EoZ instead of 5 like it actually is.

I mean... this wasn’t clear from the show itself. I suspect it was always supposed to be five years, and this jibes well with some of the old concept art of Pan being kinda short; about as tall as Goku. And in the first episode there are some scenes early on that seem to have been storyboarded long in advance with a chibier Pan which even made it into the final animation. Also in the first ending song.

On the other hand Pan does not act like she’s 8 (third grade) going on dates downtown with what appeared to be a teenage boy. 8 year olds are still fairly simple children. The guidebooks stuck with “5 years,” but the show itself is indecisive and given GT’s inclination to plotholes, you could make a good case that the internal evidence from the show overrides the Perfect Files statements.

I remember hearing that the Perfect Files do contradict the show in one or two places, though; the ice evil dragon states himself to have been born from one wish in the show, but the Perfect Files list a different one. Though I'm not sure if this is just a dub error; been a while since I saw the Evil Dragons arc.

Still, it is entirely possible that the Perfect Files used either draft information, or outright wrong information in one or two places, since its info isn't actually in the show. Having just gone back and checked episode 1, Goku and Oob both talk about how it's been years since they were home, without ever specifying an actual number, so I don't think Toei deliberately gave any specific timeframe.

Personally, I always thought it made sense for it to be about ten years; the way Pan behaves is much more believable for a 12-year-old than an 8-year-old, I think... Though I think she looks younger than 12 tbh.

TBH, though, it would make a lot of sense if Toei had no specific number in mind, and both the guidebook and Funi's dub just chose whatever number they thought sounded about right.

I don’t think the ice dragon ever said what wish he was born from in the show.

[Robo4900]

I don’t think the ice dragon ever said what wish he was born from in the show.

Skimming through various scenes, I can't find a mention of it either, so it may just be a dub error.

[WittyUsername]

I don’t think the ice dragon ever said what wish he was born from in the show.

Skimming through various scenes, I can't find a mention of it either, so it may just be a dub error.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen the dub, but I can’t recall it ever stating what wish he was born from either.

[90sDBZ]

I always assumed the Ice Dragon was made from the wish to revive Frieza's victims, and Syn Shenron from the one to make people forget Buu. I feel like the Ice Dragon having that connection to Frieza works, because both had that similar moment when they beg Goku for mercy, only to turn on him.

Plus Ice/Frieza just makes sense.

[Grimlock]

Personally, I always thought it made sense for it to be about ten years; the way Pan behaves is much more believable for a 12-year-old than an 8-year-old, I think... Though I think she looks younger than 12 tbh.

Well, that may be because technically Pan is ten years old in the first two sagas, and eleven in the last two sagas. Dragon Ball GT begins in AGE 789.

[Zestanor]

Personally, I always thought it made sense for it to be about ten years; the way Pan behaves is much more believable for a 12-year-old than an 8-year-old, I think... Though I think she looks younger than 12 tbh.

Well, that may be because technically Pan is ten years old in the first two sagas, and eleven in the last two sagas. Dragon Ball GT begins in AGE 789.

I was under the impression she’s three at EoZ, and if GT is 5 years later, she’d be 9 at most. How does that math work?

The GT ages seem like this to me: Goku has de-aged 40 years or whatever since EoZ. Pan has aged 10 years. Trunks has not aged at all; from a narrative perspective and from the expectations of the audience he’s the same character as future Trunks. Marron aged five years, and Bra aged aged to make her slightly older than Pan.

[WittyUsername]

I always assumed the Ice Dragon was made from the wish to revive Frieza's victims, and Syn Shenron from the one to make people forget Buu. I feel like the Ice Dragon having that connection to Frieza works, because both had that similar moment when they beg Goku for mercy, only to turn on him.

Plus Ice/Frieza just makes sense.

Freeza is the most ruthless villain in the series, so thematically, I think it makes sense for the ultimate Evil Dragon to be born from the wish that used to bring back Freeza’s victims. Plus, the one star dragon has a tendency to refer to Saiyans as “monkeys”, so there’s that.

Anyway, as for the three star dragon, I think it would’ve made a lot more sense for him to be born from the wish that was used to bring back Piccolo Daimao’s victims, if only because it would provide a plausible explanation for why he and the four star dragon are twins.

[Grimlock]

I was under the impression she’s three at EoZ, and if GT is 5 years later, she’d be 9 at most. How does that math work?

No, the manga specifically tells us she is four in the tournament. In her case, we must make a slight "adjustment":

The manga says she is four years old in AGE 784 despite been born in AGE 779 (making her five actually). To "fix" this we just need to think that the tournament happens before her birthday. She's four during the tournament, but she'll turn five later that same year.

We have to do this kind of adjustment for Bulma's and Gohan's ages too, by the way.

[VegettoEX]

I remember hearing that the Perfect Files do contradict the show in one or two places, though; the ice evil dragon states himself to have been born from one wish in the show, but the Perfect Files list a different one. Though I'm not sure if this is just a dub error; been a while since I saw the Evil Dragons arc.

Oh, I've got the receipts on this one! Just gonna quote Herms from a tweet thread (that started about a different hilarious subject we got as a question, and turned into this):

The Perfect Files are the only source for which wishes generated Yi and San Xing Long (it's never specified in the show itself), but the other wishes all match what's said in the show.

Notably, that image next to Yi Xing Long of Freeza and the DBs is shown in GT when discussing all the wishes made over the years, but they never specify which dragon or wish it represents.

So it seems that they always intended Yi (or one of the dragons anyway) to have been created by the wish to resurrect those killed by Freeza and co, but didn't get to squeeze that info into the show itself.

(Same thing with that image of Buu and San Xing Long)

Photos of the pages in question are in this tweet from me.

With regard to the time span, it's officially five years (backed up and reprinted constantly in guides and at events and such), but no-one externally ever seemed to get it right from the start. Here's a fun collection of article writers just making things up.

[Robo4900]

Spoiler:

I remember hearing that the Perfect Files do contradict the show in one or two places, though; the ice evil dragon states himself to have been born from one wish in the show, but the Perfect Files list a different one. Though I'm not sure if this is just a dub error; been a while since I saw the Evil Dragons arc.

Oh, I've got the receipts on this one! Just gonna quote Herms from a tweet thread (that started about a different hilarious subject we got as a question, and turned into this):

The Perfect Files are the only source for which wishes generated Yi and San Xing Long (it's never specified in the show itself), but the other wishes all match what's said in the show.

Notably, that image next to Yi Xing Long of Freeza and the DBs is shown in GT when discussing all the wishes made over the years, but they never specify which dragon or wish it represents.

So it seems that they always intended Yi (or one of the dragons anyway) to have been created by the wish to resurrect those killed by Freeza and co, but didn't get to squeeze that info into the show itself.

(Same thing with that image of Buu and San Xing Long)

Photos of the pages in question are in this tweet from me.

With regard to the time span, it's officially five years (backed up and reprinted constantly in guides and at events and such), but no-one externally ever seemed to get it right from the start. Here's a fun collection of article writers just making things up.

Thanks. Glad to have that all cleared up.

Funny about those articles making crap up.
Guess those articles are like the proto-DB Wikia.

On that note, another common piece of misinformation:
[Literally anything you read on DB Wikia that you're unable to back up with a secondary, actually reliable, source]

[VegettoEX]

On that note, another common piece of misinformation:
[Literally anything you read on DB Wikia that you're unable to back up with a secondary, actually reliable, source]

A couple of us occasionally partake in a drinking game where we finish an article for our own wiki, and then out of sheer masochism morbid curiosity load up what is there on Fandom's Wikia.

It's not a very fun game.

[Bebi Hatchiyack]

A good misconception / misinformation is thinking that Yamoshi is the original SSGod but he is not. Yamoshi is the original Super Saiya-jin that is all.

[GhostEmperorX]

A lot of these subjects are video-worthy if they don’t have one already. It would be about time to clear up a lot of these for good as for too long they have clouded internet discussions about DB.

[Sadala Elite]

And now...

The biggest misinformation of all that I'd like to address:

The very idea that there is a logical sense of power scaling and, in general, any absolute power measurable by any kind of mathematical or analytical method.
Ultimately, Dragon Ball was not written by an expert in any kind of idea of power scaling or video game type logic, and trying to apply that kind of logic to the Dragon Ball stories will just result in endless debate that boils down largely to matters of perspective and opinion about specific things that certain characters say.

Now, sure, it's fun for some people to debate an discuss power levels, but personally, every time I see a power levels debate, or any kind of talk of "What power multiplier is X transformation?" or anything else like that, I kinda just want to run a mile away from wherever this has happened. It's entirely a subjective, emergent idea, and not something that was ever supported in the show itself.
In fact, the one brief time when they played with this, and introduced power levels, they made a point of the fact that they're utterly useless outside of the Freeza forces using it as, basically, dick-measuring. The earth crew's power levels were stated to constantly vary based on the attacks they're using, what techniques they're employing, etc. etc.
Vegeta and Nappa literally threw the scouters aside in the Saiyan arc because of how useless they are for actually measuring the strength of the protagonists, and as soon as Vegeta had developed his ability to sense peoples' ki by the time he was kicking ass on Namek, he destroyed his, and then aside from members of the Freeza forces who still depended on their scouters (and ultimately were curbstompedK9siL8The person or another), no one in the franchise ever cared about what a power level was ever again.

By all means, enjoy discussing power levels in the proper places, but don't pretend for even a second that there's any actual consistent logic behind it (aside from something for the Saiyan/Namek era villains to shout about in more detail when expressing their shock at how strong Goku is), or that it's anything to do with knowledge of the franchise, or misinformation. Essentially, it's a huge matrix of fan theories/fanfic that really doesn't factor into the franchise itself in any real way.

Not to yuck anyone's yum, of course, but it really annoys me to see people criticise Super or GT for ruining their masters thesis on Dragon Ball power levels, scaling, and transformation multipliers, when it's entirely unrelated to any form of logic or thinking that the franchise's writers were ever even considering... How strong any given character is, either absolutely or relatively to anyone else, is entirely determined by what they think will make the best story.
"Does this story's version of that track reasonably well with the last story's?" and calling it a plot hole if it doesn't track is a fair opinion to hold, but "This contradicts the fact that Super Saiyan 2 is an X multiplier and at this point Goku says he's got Y stronger than his Z power level from this arc from a while back, so it doesn't make sense" is just a standard case of Jossing; a fan theory has been proven false by events of the show itself.

The "Power Levels are Bullshit" argument itself is the biggest piece of misinformation in the Western fandom. Literally everything you posted is false and has been easily debunked numerous times.
https://youtu.be/SuBR-K9siL8

- 1st off, scounter readings have consistently shown to be proven right rather than wrong, which actually shows that they are in fact very useful.

- 2nd, there's never been a single instance in the series where a person with a lower PL beats someone with a higher PL in an all out 1v1, which actually shows that PLs do matter.

- 3rd, the fact that raw power is consistent shown to be the biggest factor when it comes to battles in this franchise, not skill, strategy or even had.

- 4th, the fact that Toriyama himself (as well as Toei and Jump) uses power levels and scaling in interviews and official guides to explain the series. They never say anything like "PLs don't matter" or "its all about the message" or some nonsense like that.

[Sadala Elite]

Here's some more misinformation amongst the fandom:

- The idea that Saiyan-beyond God was retconned.

- That Ultra Instinct isn't a power boost.

- That Toriyama was in any way forced to create DBS out of some obligation.

- That Toriyama actually has an official outline written somewhere for DBS.