Future Trunks waiting for Cell to be born when he knows where the basement is...

[TobyS]

It just hit me when thinking on the Unseen timeline,

According to the Dubious dragonball Wiki future Cell is completed in Age 786.
But it's not untill 788 he attacks Trunks and either kills Trunks in the Cells Future, or is killed by him in Trunks Future.

If Cells Trunks got the blueprints from the Unseen timelines basement after inspecting the ruins (he mentions to Gohan about the possibility of a shutdown device) he'd only see a fetus Cell and have no context for it.
If he got them in his own futures perhaps undestroyed lab he'd see nearly a fully grown Cell imperfect Cell and it's weird he'd leave it or not investigate further.
Cells Trunks perhaps not bothering with the future lab is one thing, but why did Future Trunks, who trained in the ROSAT wait for Cell to attack him? Why not just do a late stage cellbortion like he and Kuririn did in the past?

[OhHiRenan]

The very first thing Trunks does when he travels back in time is create a butterfly effect when he fights Freeza instead of waiting for Goku. I think it's reasonable he doesn't want to poke the bear when he returns to his timeline. He knows when, where, and how Cell will confront him, which is more than enough to be in control of the situation.

But, realistically, yeah, he probably could have killed Cell just fine when he traveled back to the future.

[TobyS]

The very first thing Trunks does when he travels back in time is create a butterfly effect when he fights Freeza instead of waiting for Goku. I think it's reasonable he doesn't want to poke the bear when he returns to his timeline. He knows when, where, and how Cell will confront him, which is more than enough to be in control of the situation.

But, realistically, yeah, he probably could have killed Cell just fine when he traveled back to the future.

Yeah weird he left it, what if he got sick that day or cell attacked earlier or ate more people before.
I can't find a good source for cell being born that year but I wonder how long he spent in his cockroach form. Maybe he was outta the lab and underground before trunks came back?

I'm unclear on how his gestation works normally, perhaps that explains it.

[MasenkoHA]

I don't think there was anything indicating Cell was born two years before he attacked Trunks? Seems like the wikia making crap up again

[TobyS]

I don't think there was anything indicating Cell was born two years before he attacked Trunks? Seems like the wikia making crap up again

I think it's based on Cell telling Piccolo that the computers research won't be completed for another 24 years.

But that was in 767 and Cell would be completed in 791.... But Trunks killed Cell in 788...

[dbgtFO]

I don't think there was anything indicating Cell was born two years before he attacked Trunks? Seems like the wikia making crap up again

I think it's based on Cell telling Piccolo that the computers research won't be completed for another 24 years.

But that was in 767 and Cell would be completed in 791.... But Trunks killed Cell in 788...

Yes, the official timeline disregards some statements in order for it to make sense.
Going purely by manga statements you could feasibly make a timeline, where the Android Arc takes place in Age 764 and thus Cell to his knowledge will be completed in Age 788, the same year, he sought out and killed Trunks and stole his timemachine.
But the people in charge had to come up with something relatively consistent and Toriyama's writing wasn't really that at the time, so this is what we ended up with.

[Zephyr]

According to the Dubious dragonball Wiki future Cell is completed in Age 786.
But it's not untill 788 he attacks Trunks and either kills Trunks in the Cells Future, or is killed by him in Trunks Future.

I don't think there was anything indicating Cell was born two years before he attacked Trunks? Seems like the wikia making crap up again

This much more helpful source for dates confirms this to be true:

AGE 786
Timeline III, perhaps II:

—Cell completes his 24 years of development. However, the computer informs him that in order to reach his perfect form, he must absorb two specific life-forms: Androids No.17 and No.18. Cell begins looking for these androids.
[Ref: The date is from Cell’s Daizenshuu 7 bio. Cell mentions his 24 years of development in Chapter 363, though counting from that year (767) would mean Cell only finishes development in 791, despite the fact that he’s supposed to have come from 788. It’s all a bit knotty, but basically Daizenshuu 7 tries to fix this by counting the 24 years as starting in 762, when the first (known) cells for Cell are collected. This leaves a two year gap between when his development completes and when he uses Trunks’ time machine, but I guess he just wandered around looking for 17+18 during that time. If Cell was in the lab for a year after Trunks returned from his second trip to the past, then it’s not clear why Trunks in Timeline II waited 3 years for Cell to show himself, rather than just going to destroy Cell in Gero’s laboratory right away. Well, whatever.]

...

AGE 788
Timeline III:

–Unable to find Androids No.17 and No.18, Cell finally concludes that Trunks must have destroyed them. Learning of Trunks’ time machine, he kills Trunks and uses the time machine to travel to Age 763, to find the androids in the past. To fit inside the time machine, Cell reverts into an egg.
[Ref: Cell explains this in Chapter 363. In Chapter 358 Cell is said to have come from Age 788, the only specific year actually stated in the original series. The specific year Cell travels to is from Daizenshuu 7.]

Timeline II:

--In the three years since the androids’ destruction, reconstruction of Earth society has advanced considerably. Unable to find Androids No.17 and No.18, Cell learns of Trunks’ time machine and attempts to kill Trunks and steal it. However, thanks to his trip into the past Trunks knows Cell is coming, and uses the strength he gained training in the Room of Spirit and Time to easily destroy him.
--DB Chapters 419-420 (DBZ 225-226) are set on this day.
[Ref: These events are shown in the above-mentioned chapters. The date is from Daizenshuu 7’s alternate timeline explanation, and is based on Chapter 358 where Cell is said to have come from Age 788.]

Herms seems to echo the confusion of Trunks waiting for Cell to attack him. If I had to throw some guesses out there, maybe Trunks wanted to fight him, and/or maybe he wanted the satisfaction of pulling a dramatic Reverse Uno on Cell at the original moment of his death.

[GreatSaiyaman123]

In the main timeline Trunks and Kuririn take it upon themselves to go the lab to kill Cell. I don't remember if they discussed the idea of searching the lab before, but I'd think that it was someone else who raided the lab in the unseen timeline and didn't tell Trunks about the weird embryo for some reason.

Alternatively, it's only assumed that Cell's Trunks deactivated the androids. It's the most likely option, but ultimately we don't know how this Trunks defeated the androids.

The main Future Trunks probably just wanted to face Cell himself. Like how he chose to trash talk Freeza instead of killing him right away.

[TobyS]

In the main timeline Trunks and Kuririn take it upon themselves to go the lab to kill Cell. I don't remember if they discussed the idea of searching the lab before, but I'd think that it was someone else who raided the lab in the unseen timeline and didn't tell Trunks about the weird embryo for some reason.

Alternatively, it's only assumed that Cell's Trunks deactivated the androids. It's the most likely option, but ultimately we don't know how this Trunks defeated the androids.

The main Future Trunks probably just wanted to face Cell himself. Like how he chose to trash talk Freeza instead of killing him right away.

Well Gohan and Trunks talk about a shut down remotes probable existence, but it's unclear if Trunks intended to look in the rubble or just search the lab in his timeline. He could delegate the task to someone else, but until Goku wakes up and possibly still invites them into the ROSAT he's free to do it himself.

The Daizenshuu timeline flat out says he used the controller but it also says there is a cell games without Trunks, and kid trunks is stronger than rusty gohan or whatever, but still it's something.

Herms seems to say he got the controller in the past but I can't find a source for that.

Terez on reddit was saying it's more likely he got the blueprints back in the future, but that means either he still trained in the past (and I've never bought the trained Trunks being jumped, or Cell knowing he needs to jump him) or went back to the future not knowing the future lab is intact either, he'd then need 8 months or more to gather fuel to go back again... so I just don't see him risking it. I've flip flopped on it, but I think

Another thing, would cicada form cell stay in the test tube till he's ready to become imperfect cell or does he have to leave the test tube and burrow in the ground somewhere? Could this be why no future Trunks discovered him? he was either underground or running around as a cicada form somewhere?