Theories of how Cell got stronger...

[rereboy]

I don't think it had anything to do with how powerful the androids were. He needed their components to become complete, and the power leaps along the way were predetermined.

I agree with this.

Cell was not Buu who could just absorb anyone he wanted and add his or her power. Cell was an imperfect being which had been made with the main purpose of becoming a "perfect" one by absorbing the androids.

The computer made him with that in mind. He only absorbed humans as nourishment and a supplement for strength increase.

So, by finally achieving that perfect combination that the computer had conceived, he naturally had much more power than any imperfect form of himself.

[Xyex]

I seem to remember Cell showing off his Buff Form for Trunks though. At least in the anime. And that means he had to power up to at least near his maximum. I wouldn't be surprised of SSJU2 Trunks was stronger than MSSJ Goku at the Cell Games.

[Amigo Ten]

I wouldn't be surprised of SSJU2 Trunks was stronger than MSSJ Goku at the Cell Games.

This is just something I can't comprehend.

[rereboy]

I seem to remember Cell showing off his Buff Form for Trunks though. At least in the anime. And that means he had to power up to at least near his maximum. I wouldn't be surprised of SSJU2 Trunks was stronger than MSSJ Goku at the Cell Games.

Why would he be near his maximum just because he showed Trunks that he can use that transformation?

For all we know he is perfectly capable of using only part of his power and activate that transformation with that fraction of his power, while keeping the rest still carefully hidden away.

The way I figure, a SSJ can use the Ki that he has in his body and concentrate it and channel it to his muscles to maximize his strength and power. If the Sayan doesn`t overdo it he doesn`t lose his speed. But if he does overdo it, he loses great speed. But in one case or the other, that type of transformation wastes a lot of energy and power (that`s why FPSSJ or MSSJ is always superior).
Surely that can be done with only part of the total ki, while keeping the rest hidden.

[Xyex]

Why would he be near his maximum just because he showed Trunks that he can use that transformation?

For all we know he is perfectly capable of using only part of his power and activate that transformation with that fraction of his power, while keeping the rest still carefully hidden away.

I don't consider the SSJU forms transformations any more than 100% Freeza is a transformation. They bulk up because they're powering up beyond the natural limit of what the body can handle. There's no transformation involved. Thusly Cell had to power up to get to that size.

I wouldn't be surprised of SSJU2 Trunks was stronger than MSSJ Goku at the Cell Games.

This is just something I can't comprehend.

It's not that far fetched, really. Example:

Goku - 100
SSJ Goku - 5,000
Trunks - 40
SSJ Trunks - 2,000
SSJU Trunks - 4,000
SSJU2 Trunks - 6,000

[Amigo Ten]

It's nothing to do with numbers. Trunks being stronger than Goku just makes no sense.

[caejones]

It's nothing to do with numbers. Trunks being stronger than Goku just makes no sense.

This still doesn't make sense to me. What is there in-story that prevents Trunks from being stronger than Goku?

[HazelMystic]

It would seem to make sense that Cell had a large hidden power... Krillin states it, and he is also confident enough to hold the Cell Games despite the possibility of all the Z Senshi ganging up on him. I am now wondering how Cell got so much power from absorbing humans... Cumulatively, it doesn't make sense... Average humans are 5'ers... so why the jump?

[Bussani]

It would seem to make sense that Cell had a large hidden power... Krillin states it, and he is also confident enough to hold the Cell Games despite the possibility of all the Z Senshi ganging up on him. I am now wondering how Cell got so much power from absorbing humans... Cumulatively, it doesn't make sense... Average humans are 5'ers... so why the jump?

Cell just eats people with his tail. They're nourishment. Remember, he shrank himself to fit into the time machine; he needed to eat in order to grow back to his fully developed self.

Another way of looking at it might be that average humans probably aren't using their full potential at any given time. Even an average person with a battle power of 5 could probably power up somewhat if they knew how (like if you transferred a more knowledgeable person's brain into their body, for instance). Sucking up a whole human for nourishment may be an extremely efficient method.

[Xyex]

It's nothing to do with numbers. Trunks being stronger than Goku just makes no sense.

Which has everything to do with numbers. Forget the power levels of the previous saga if you must, but numbers are still a viable ranking system. They're used in every game out there, especially RPGs, to rank and rate character strength. If Trunks is at A and Goku is at B and Goku's power increases by an mount equal to C while Trunks increases by an amount equal to D why is it impossible for Trunks to yield a higher result than Goku?

It would seem to make sense that Cell had a large hidden power... Krillin states it, and he is also confident enough to hold the Cell Games despite the possibility of all the Z Senshi ganging up on him. I am now wondering how Cell got so much power from absorbing humans... Cumulatively, it doesn't make sense... Average humans are 5'ers... so why the jump?

One Person = PL of 5
One City = (Average) Population of 250,000
One City = (Average) PL of 1,250,000
Ten Cities = (Average) PL of 12,500,000

Given enough time and cities, it adds up. Besides, I've never bought that 5 for the average. That was just the Farmer's level and he wasn't all that in shape. I'd be more inclined to believe 6.5 or 7. That's 16.25 to 17.5 million per ten cities, on average. If Cell were to hit a major city, say population one million, that's 5 million more power for him. You figure Cell wasn't likely much more than 345 million when he first appeared and needed only to be around 430 million to get to 17 like he did, and it's not that drastic an increase. Add to this the fact he started off with a good chunk of Piccolo's energy as well and there you go. He could have gotten a good 50 million from Piccolo before bolting.

[Amigo Ten]

I don't see how the numbers help. And I can't see Trunks being stronger than Goku because Trunks is just as shocked as everyone else at Goku's power, even at just 50%. When Goku revealed his full power, Trunks's reaction was "Unbelievable... Goku's unbelievable...".

It makes no sense to me that he was stronger. Even at 50%I'd say Goku was stronger, and probably by a good deal.

[Godo]

I don't see how the numbers help. And I can't see Trunks being stronger than Goku because Trunks is just as shocked as everyone else at Goku's power, even at just 50%. When Goku revealed his full power, Trunks's reaction was "Unbelievable... Goku's unbelievable...".

It makes no sense to me that he was stronger. Even at 50%I'd say Goku was stronger, and probably by a good deal.

Or he was shocked because of the following reasons:
1) Goku and Gohan just came out of the ROSAT with SSJ as their normal state, a genius move
2) Goku could yield such a power just from using the normal SSJ stage

Those are possible reasons too.

[Xyex]

I don't see how the numbers help. And I can't see Trunks being stronger than Goku because Trunks is just as shocked as everyone else at Goku's power, even at just 50%. When Goku revealed his full power, Trunks's reaction was "Unbelievable... Goku's unbelievable...".

It makes no sense to me that he was stronger. Even at 50%I'd say Goku was stronger, and probably by a good deal.

It makes perfect sense to me that he was. All that bit from Trunks means is that he's shocked Goku's got that much power in SSJ after less than a year. Not even using an SSJU level. This tells me that his 50% MSSJ level is higher than the SSJ levels of Vegeta and Trunks but that's the extent of it. Which is exactly as I outlined with my powers below. 50% MSSJ Goku would be at 2,500 while SSJ Trunks is only at 2,000.

[Amigo Ten]

He didn't act shocked when they came out, and he couldn't see what Goku was doing when he went to 50%.

[Amigo Ten]

I don't see how the numbers help. And I can't see Trunks being stronger than Goku because Trunks is just as shocked as everyone else at Goku's power, even at just 50%. When Goku revealed his full power, Trunks's reaction was "Unbelievable... Goku's unbelievable...".

It makes no sense to me that he was stronger. Even at 50%I'd say Goku was stronger, and probably by a good deal.

It makes perfect sense to me that he was. All that bit from Trunks means is that he's shocked Goku's got that much power in SSJ after less than a year. Not even using an SSJU level. This tells me that his 50% MSSJ level is higher than the SSJ levels of Vegeta and Trunks but that's the extent of it. Which is exactly as I outlined with my powers below. 50% MSSJ Goku would be at 2,500 while SSJ Trunks is only at 2,000.

His reactions tell me he's just weaker than Goku, period.

[Bussani]

Even though they couldn't see Goku powering up, the last panels before he did were Vegeta telling Trunks he was a fool for thinking Goku would transform for battle and telling everyone that he had picked Super Saiyan as their best form. Since no one disagreed before or afterward, they probably assumed that Goku had been SSJ1 (or FPSSJ--you know what I mean) the whole time.

Personally, I think it's one of those things that can be taken either way. There's no solid reason that Trunks couldn't have had more raw power in his USSJ2 form, but I did personally get the impression that Goku was stronger when I read that part. If we asked Toriyama himself and he told us which it was, I wouldn't be surprised regardless of the answer.

[Xyex]

Even though they couldn't see Goku powering up, the last panels before he did were Vegeta telling Trunks he was a fool for thinking Goku would transform for battle and telling everyone that he had picked Super Saiyan as their best form. Since no one disagreed before or afterward, they probably assumed that Goku had been SSJ1 (or FPSSJ--you know what I mean) the whole time.

Yeah. Vegeta had already said there'd be no transforming or such for them, they were just going to use straight SSJ. Trunks also knew they were suppressed. No reason for him to assume he was going into a SSJU form and not just powering up.

[Dayspring]

I always saw it as Goku used MSSJ as a means of tapping into USSJ power without diverting everything to muscle strength alone (especially since his aura when he goes full power against Cell is identical to his USSJ2 aura). Thus, he found a way of making his SSJ strength more efficient to train in and probably surpassed Trunks. Granted Trunks trained another year in ROSAT whereas Goku trained 6 days outside, since Trunks was so shocked, I too don't see Trunks as being stronger. And not just as he's only in regular SSJ, while Trunks would need USSJ2 to compare.

[Ketchup_Revenge]

MSSj is complete mastery of the Super Saiyan. This means that the ki consumption is non-existent in this form, unlike regular Super Saiyan or the higher grades. This also means the ability to suppress the ki output to conserve it, just like they can do in their base forms (and like Freeza does).

Trunks's max ki could have been a little higher than MSSj Goku's base, not his max. Which would also explain why Cell said that Trunks was stronger than him. Also there's the fact that SSjG3 consumes ki while MSSj does not. Trunks's initial level could've been higher than Goku's MSSj base, but the ki consumption could've dropped it as the battle continued with Cell. Also there's the speed thing that everyone knows about.