However, I'm not claiming coincidence - I'm claiming that much of what is perceived to be direct derivation is in fact a pretty basic configuration of well-worn 'Dragon Ballish' elements that the franchise regularly uses as its 'stock-in-trade'. One doesn't need to posit connection to a specific antecedent character to explain broadly similar features.The Undying wrote: Mon Nov 30, 2020 7:42 pmI think it's actually more of a stretch to claim all of those similarities in tandem, especially given their specificity, are purely coincidental.
Which is also why all the specific features you mention also have a number of otherwise unrelated (or not obviously related) exponents:
- The facial markings naturally have their first exponent in Freeza (as far as I can recall), but lots of unironically straightforward 'edgy/cool' Dragon Ball antagonists have these features, particularly once one moves beyond the main storyline. OG73-I is probably drawn from rejected concept art for Shiirasu/Sealas, a Toyotarou design (credit to DragonWukong, I think, for mentioning that way back when) - Moro's new facial features accommodate to that more human look. Which is, as I've said, simply a logical process without necessary reference to Cell.
- Characters using other characters' abilities has always been a staple of Dragon Ball, and it's been a feature for antagonists from Tenshinhan onwards. Why does Cell get a proprietary claim as the derivation for a feature that was seen before him and crops up a number of times?
- The 'absorption' connection is fairly tenuous - Moro quite literally eats things, whether the ki of others or OG73-I. You yourself mentioned that presentation makes a big difference - how differently does this have to be presented to not really be a salient comparison?
- The reveal panels are fairly typical of transformation reveals generally. Freeza's fourth form is pretty similar, too. Moving beyond villains, even the first depictions of the SSj forms aren't very different from this type of panel. Which is why I question its overall significance, as it emerges as something of a stylistic commonplace. Why is this more obviously an 'I want to reference Cell' beat than just a generic 'I want to showcase the new transformation in a way that new transformations are usually shown in Dragon Ball' beat?
Sure, but that's kind of the issue I've been driving at, isn't it? The fandom is predisposed to make this specific set of interpretations, irrespective of how deliberately constructed the similarity is. And I think they've mostly been fishing up a red herring, is all.LoganForkHands73 wrote: Mon Nov 30, 2020 8:08 pmThe question of whether or not it was intentional derivation (and I severely doubt it wasn't, seeing as Toyble is a bigger Dragon Ball nerd than most people here and the arc is full of homages) shouldn't really matter that much since we can't know for certain Toyotaro's, or any artist's intentions anyway. We can only interpret what's presented to us.
For sure, that's not an unreasonable position to take, in theory. I just think it's a lot more limited than people are disposed to see, and the reason I've picked on the fan identification of Cell as an inspiration (albeit, as you say, from that point on) is because beyond the face (which is mostly just a fairly standard Toriyama-style villain face constructed from some generic face bits, really), assertions of 'derivation' from Cell specifically seem very flimsy to me.LoganForkHands73 wrote: Mon Nov 30, 2020 8:08 pmBut just because he is the only inspiration Toyotaro has publicly admitted to doesn't mean he's the only inspiration period. I think there's sprinklings of most Dragon Ball villains in Moro.
This particular bit was less a case of misunderstanding your casual reference to where the ability comes from, and more me seizing on a case-in-point of how easy it is for people to say stuff like this as though it's evidence of a derivative connection. For you, it may be a mere infelicity of wording, but in this very topic there have been people who have forcefully tried to say this is a way in which Moro is a Cell rip-off, from this point. Which is a misidentification - they both take the inspiration from elsewhere, independently (not coincidentally, but also not clearly with reference to each other). Which also serves as a convenient little example of my overall argument, which is why I wanted to point at it.LoganForkHands73 wrote: Mon Nov 30, 2020 8:08 pmI see a misunderstanding from my own poor wording about gaining techniques, I should've made it clearer that's not what Cell did. Stealing Piccolo's regeneration kind of brings a circularity to it all, since both Cell and Moro stole from Piccolo (though the original Demon King never demonstrated the ability). If you can take some solace in Moro stealing from both another villain and another villain who stole from that other villain, I guess...![]()
I don't disagree, exactly - but I think looking at, and talking about, why that decision was probably made (to push a new variant of the overarching arc theme) and to what extent that may have been successful in achieving its aim (even if one grants, as you say, that it also had negative impact on the momentum of the story) is the more interesting thing, personally.Ziegander wrote: Tue Dec 01, 2020 2:45 amRegardless of faulty Dragon Ball memory or Moro being/not being a pastiche of all Dragon Ball villains, can we not all agree that once Moro absorbed 7-3, that's all his power was about?