Does Trunks Time Machine have to travel 1:1

[TobyS]

This was debated, Trunks took 8 months to gather fuel to return to the past.
Some fans thought that meant he was coming back in 8 months.
Plot hole or not there does seem to be debate about how far apart his first and second trip was or how old he was versus when he said he would be born.

In the Super manga Bulma says they have to travel at a 1:1 ratio, and the link is weakening.

The time machine gets fixed by Pilaf and he says it's fine now and "can travel to all kinds of futures".

So was the 1:1 rule really a rule? If it was, was it a side effect of the weakning link?
Once it's fixed/improved is it bound by this?

[ankokudaishogun]

Trunks said he'd travel right to 3 years later when he first met Goku

[Mystic-han]

Time travel need to be 1:1 to prevent creating other timelines so yes the rule stand

[TobyS]

Time travel need to be 1:1 to prevent creating other timelines so yes the rule stand

You can't go back further then you did last time, but I haven't seen an explicit confirmation that you can't go later into the timeline that you created, you aren't creating a paradox by changing their past.

[Cipher]

Super (both versions) say yes. The original manga says no, as Trunks waits eight months refuel the time machine between trips in the Cell arc, from his perspective, but arrives in the main timeline again three years after his last visit, on the day of the androids' attack.

A minor and irresolvable disconnect.

You could say he also waits three years in the original manga in his own timeline, but nothing implies that and it would be odd to mention the eight-month wait time otherwise. He says his plan is to survive for that space of time, then hopefully come back.

Since Pilaf corrects Bulma at the end of the arc in the Super manga, as you note, I'm more inclined to just write off the 1:1 requirement mention earlier in the Super arc as a misunderstanding, if anything. Its main purpose is to drive momentary tension anyway.

Time travel need to be 1:1 to prevent creating other timelines so yes the rule stand

You can't go back further then you did last time, but I haven't seen an explicit confirmation that you can't go later into the timeline that you created, you aren't creating a paradox by changing their past.

Indeed. Nothing ever implies that going back further along a timeline that has already been split off creates new splinters. Just changing established history/creating paradoxes.

Trunks' first visit back creates a new timeline since he's changing his own past. But popping back in a few years later along that same new, unwritten split isn't creating any new contradictions or requiring yet another split in history.

[TobyS]

I guess he could be mentioning the 8 months in conversation.
Or the 8 months actively gathering fuel is when he's likely to get killed.
After that it's just chilling 16 months in a bunker.

But yeah future bulma dies and present bulma is dumber so it could be the 1:1 is an extension of whatever problem the linked timelines are having that's coming apart generally.

I liked trunks getting 8 months vs 3 years because it explains why vegeta could surpass/catch up to him, a hybrid saiyan because he had a gravity machine and more time then trunks had. Trunks had 8 months gathering fuel or 16 months without a grav chamber. It works nicely.

[Mystic-han]

Time travel need to be 1:1 to prevent creating other timelines so yes the rule stand

You can't go back further then you did last time, but I haven't seen an explicit confirmation that you can't go later into the timeline that you created, you aren't creating a paradox by changing their past.

Or ...
You could and that's what happened

Are we to forgot that trunks and Cell going to different points in the past created 2 different timelines?

[TobyS]

Time travel need to be 1:1 to prevent creating other timelines so yes the rule stand

You can't go back further then you did last time, but I haven't seen an explicit confirmation that you can't go later into the timeline that you created, you aren't creating a paradox by changing their past.

Or ...
You could and that's what happened

Are we to forgot that trunks and Cell going to different points in the past created 2 different timelines?

Cell finding Trunks split the timeline, not Cell going back before Trunks.
Trunks going home with the knowledge of Cell/and at a different time than before split his future from Cells.

[Mystic-han]

You can't go back further then you did last time, but I haven't seen an explicit confirmation that you can't go later into the timeline that you created, you aren't creating a paradox by changing their past.

Or ...
You could and that's what happened

Are we to forgot that trunks and Cell going to different points in the past created 2 different timelines?

Cell finding Trunks split the timeline, not Cell going back before Trunks.
Trunks going home with the knowledge of Cell/and at a different time than before split his future from Cells.

"Cell finding trunks split the timeline"
"Not Cell going further"

How? Events in the future doesn't change the past

[TobyS]

Or ...
You could and that's what happened

Are we to forgot that trunks and Cell going to different points in the past created 2 different timelines?

Cell finding Trunks split the timeline, not Cell going back before Trunks.
Trunks going home with the knowledge of Cell/and at a different time than before split his future from Cells.

"Cell finding trunks split the timeline"
"Not Cell going further"

How? Events in the future doesn't change the past

It's the creation of large paradoxes splits timelines.

Trunks came from Cells timeline, saving Goku and creating the Unseen Timeline.
Went home killed by Cell
Cell goes back further, but only causes a significant paradox when he's discovered this time, splitting the unseen from the main timeline.
Trunks going home with knowledge of Cell splits Trunks timeline from Cells.