TheGreatness25 wrote: Sat Jun 01, 2024 12:30 pmIt's not a lack of umderstanding, it's accepting that the story is completely inconsequential, so what's the point of building on something like that?
That screams lack of understanding. But alright, I will once again indulge this and try to explain the reality of the situation the best I can:
A story may be inconsequential to the timeline you call "the main one", but it still is consequential to the timeline it belongs to. That's the very point of building on something like that. A story set outside of the "main one" does not mean it is invalid, inconsequential, pointless and not worth one's time. Especially in franchises that deal with multiple realities. Marvel's "main continuity" is "Earth-616", but that does not mean the other Earths "didn't happen", "don't exist", "are inconsequential", and etc. DC's "main continuity" is "Earth-Prime", but that does not mean the other Earths "didn't happen", "don't exist", "are inconsequential", and etc. Dragon Ball's "main continuity" might be the original manga, but that does not mean the dimension where the movies, Dragon Ball GT and OVAs take place "didn't happen", "don't exist", "are inconsequential", and etc.
Just because manga Goku has never interacted with GT Goku so far does not mean the latter is a little ghost. Lack of evidence is not an evidence. The thing you have to understand is just that we (very unfortunately) haven't had stories exploring this (without counting Xenoverse and Heroes). In other words, this is purely an out-of-universe issue, not an in-universe. In fact, from an in-universe perspective, there have been opportunities for stuff like this to happen. We merely didn't have an author who put those gears into motion.
The questions are why would you only care about just one timeline? Why does it need to happen specifically on the timeline you call "main one" for you to care? All realities "exist", the dimension where stories outside of the manga happen is as valid as any other. This is what you should understand by now. Dragon Ball Super is not more valid than Dragon Ball GT (and vice versa). Dragon Ball Super does not erase Dragon Ball GT out of existence. They merely take place in different places, that's all that there is to it. Stories set in the Dragon Ball Super timeline will be consequential to Dragon Ball Super, stories set in the Dragon Ball GT timeline will be consequential to Dragon Ball GT. Dragon Ball Super Broly is not more valid than Dragon Ball Z Broly. Super Broly does not erase Z Broly out of existence. They merely live in different realities, that's all that there is to it. Whatever happens to the former will be consequential to him, whatever happens to the latter will be consequential to him. They can meet each other in-universe, there's absolutely nothing preventing this from happening, it's just a matter of who has the guts to tell that story.
You need to stop thinking that Dragon Ball is a straight line, having just one continuity, just one timeline. Dragon Ball is actually a tree, with a lot of branches. Each of those branches should be important to you. Now, it is in your right to prefer to stick to just the "trunk" of that tree, and even outright ignore the branches. But it is not in your right to say "it didn't happen". The only ones that have the authority to say whether something happened or not are Shueisha and the authors of their respective works.
Another question you should ask is: "what's the main timeline anyway?". Is it just what the author does? If that's the case, why do we still have so many discrepancies in the answers? What I consider "main timeline" is different from what you consider. Who's to say who is right and who is wrong? Because there's nothing official on that matter. Who did state that only what the author does is valid and that we should ignore everything else? In the absence of an official statement, who's gonna point a gun to my head and tell me I'm not allowed to consider this or that?
Can you see how the only thing "inconsequential" here is trying to force an idea that doesn't even work in the first place?
TheGreatness25 wrote: Sat Jun 01, 2024 12:30 pmThis interdimensional explanation is just something fans came up with to cope with the fragmented storytelling because there are several hands in the Dragon Ball cookie jar
No, this is not just some explanation fans came up with. This has been a staple and of official use since long before we were born. DC first did this with its "Wonder Woman #59" in 1953; Transformers first did this with its "Rhythms of Darkness!" in 1990 and so on. Multiverse has been in use as a way to "explain things away" since forever ago. And the concept of Multiverse itself is much older than you may think.
(A reminder: the "Multiverse Appreciation Thread" that I said I would do is still on the plans! I intend to explain this and much more, in details, in that thread. So please bear with me!).
TheGreatness25 wrote: Sat Jun 01, 2024 12:30 pmit's not an official explanation of anything and it's not something that I have to subscribe to.
Dragon Ball Heroes and Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 continuously state that the movie villains come from "another timeline". While you can say "duh, but that's only for the narrative of the game", they are still official explanation. Also, how much do you want to bet Shueisha thinks the same? In fact, who's to say it wasn't Shueisha that suggested Dimps to come up with that explanation? I'm willing to bet whatever you say. Also also, there's Toriyama himself acknowledging the movies as taking place in "alternate dimension". So even if you ignore those two games (which are official products, and so should be more than enough), are you going to ignore him as well?
TheGreatness25 wrote: Sat Jun 01, 2024 12:30 pmSo, yes, GT didn't happen
IN THE MAIN TIMELINE (as I'm pretty sure I said originally) and while I always thought expanding on the Goku Jr. story would be cool, it would ultimately make no difference to anything, so what's the point? They could just as simply create a totally different future world that would be even more built and better written than Goku Jr. and Vegeta Jr. I think my fascination with that story was because that's what we had to work with, but now, they could just write anything they want. Add it to the "interdemensiomal" storytelling.
Expanding on the Goku Junior story would ultimately make a difference to Dragon Ball GT, as it would be a story set in that dimension, serving as a sequel to that series. It would have the exact same point as a story set in the Dragon Ball Super dimension, serving as a sequel to it. It would have the exact same point as a story with "a totally different future world that would be even more built and better written than Goku Jr. and Vegeta Jr.".