Theories on why Androids not as evil?

[the_abberration]

No, it's the other way round. After being defeated by the present Androids, Trunks says that his Androids "weren't that terribly strong...I could put up a fight, at least...", then later clarifies his statement when he says that the present Androids are even stronger than the ones in his time.

You're right. Got mixed up there.

The future Androids aren't any more evil than the present ones. The future Androids saw destroying Earth as a game; the present Androids saw killing Goku as a game. Both sets purposely played with their opponents. We don't know exactly when the Androids killed the Z-Warriors (as in, whether it was in their first battle with them or they had more battles before being killed), but remember #17 revealed that he wasn't even using half his power in their last fight. And Trunks barely survived the Androids' attack, and before #18 says "He's getting annoying. Can I kill him?", #17 says "That'll make one less toy for us".

I feel that is the other way around. The androids of Trunks' timeline started off killing right from the start, plunged the world into turmoil, then out of boredom started making a game out it. Which is why they don't use full power against Gohan and Trunks later on.

As for their power difference, since the androids from Trunks' time may have been holding back, it could be possible they were acutally stronger the the manga version IMO. Also since a pattern (at least to me) seems to be that the more power an opponent has, the more likely they are to give into their blood lust or murderous intent (even SSJ Goku and SSJ2 Gohan showed signs of this), maybe that factored into how the androids of each time reacted.

The History of Trunks' movie suggests that all the Z warriors were killed on the day three years after Goku returned to Earth. Also, Trunks has a flashback when he faces off against Cell in which (apparently told to him by Gohan) that the androids appeared, hunted down, and killed all of them upon their appearance. I know that is anime only evidence but I think it could have happened like that though.

And about the present Androids killing for self-preservation and the future ones doing it (it wasn't said it was as soon as they were activated in the manga, btw)...IMO, that's wrong. In the present, #17 killed Dr. Gero because he was telling #18 to not activate #16. They were not at harm or risk, because #17 had the control and the two of them were far stronger than Dr. Gero anyway. #17 just did it because he was pissed off with Gero, and it could've easily happened in the same way in the future. #17 takes Gero's remote control, so Gero starts shouting at him and #17 kills him to shut him up.

IMO in the original time line, Dr. Gero was not forced to activate #17 & #18 as a result of the Z warriors chasing him. Since that element doesn't play a factor, I feel that he was killed shortly after activating them for the first time. As for the manga time line I see #17 killing Gero out of self preservation because if he left him alive, he would just build another controller. It would be the same as a person holding a gun on you and saying if you don't listen to me I'll shoot you. Even if you get the gun away from him, if you leave that person alive they'll only find another way to kill you. So out of self preservation you would kill them so that you may live.

[Fox666]

The fact that the present Jinzoningen spared the Z-Senshi while the ones in the future killed them makes me disagree with the theory that they just gradually turned evil out of boredom.

If Krillin didn't have Senzu (which he wouldn't because they wouldn't be expecting a fight)
If Krillin joined in the fight (which he would if he wasn't forewarned of his death)

Then everybody but Gohan would've died there.

The androids themselves told Kuririn go gave Senzu to his friends...

Also, no one would have died. They got some punches in the stomach, but that is not a letal blow. And Vegeta had his arms broken, which is not letal either...

[Herms]

Actually, I'm pretty sure Trunks said that the population in his time is only in the tens of thousands (or was it hundreds of thousands?). They killed a lot more than half.

Well, technically we don't know what the population of DB Earth was to begin with.

[Chibi Mystic Gohan]

Well, somebody said six-billion people in Neko Majin Z, but that probably won't fly with everybody...

[dbgtFO]

If Krillin didn't have Senzu (which he wouldn't because they wouldn't be expecting a fight)
If Krillin joined in the fight (which he would if he wasn't forewarned of his death)

Then everybody but Gohan would've died there.

The androids themselves told Kuririn go gave Senzu to his friends...

Like Rocketman said: Krillin wouldn't have brought the senzus and would probably join the fight as well, so in Trunks' timeline the androids wouldn't confront Krillin, because he would be deader, than dead by then.

Also, no one would have died. They got some punches in the stomach, but that is not a letal blow. And Vegeta had his arms broken, which is not letal either...

#17 said, they were going to die, if they didn't receive the senzus, so Rocketman's point stands.

[Chibi Mystic Gohan]

I imagine Vegeta and Piccolo, at least, had some internal bleeding going on, since they took those blows to the stomach.

[roidrage]

I think both sets were more or less the same in initial personality, although Future Android 18 probably wouldn't have spontaneously kissed Kuririn. As other people have pointed out, the present Androids were somewhat mollified in that they could find a diversion in killing Goku, whereas the future Androids didn't have that and had to create their own entertainment. I also think encountering Cell almost "scared them straight". They'd never seen someone so powerful and all-consuming, and they were frightened in a way the future androids never were, until Future Trunks killed them.

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

They were never really evil. They are literally just a bunch of snot nosed teenagers who don't care about anything. In Trunk's timeline they kill because they are bored. There is nothing to do, so the world became there playground. It's almost the same in the present timeline only Goku is alive so they want a challenge.

[Piccolo Daimao]

I think both sets were more or less the same in initial personality, although Future Android 18 probably wouldn't have spontaneously kissed Kuririn.

I think she would've. #18 was mindfucking with Kuririn by giving him a teasing peck on the cheek. No reason to assume that, given the chance, Future #18 wouldn't have done the same.

[Michie]

#17 said, they were going to die, if they didn't receive the senzus, so Rocketman's point stands.

In my copy of the manga the lines are something like "Don't worry they aren't dead, give them a senzu bean so whe can fight them again".

I think she would've. #18 was mindfucking with Kuririn by giving him a teasing peck on the cheek. No reason to assume that, given the chance, Future #18 wouldn't have done the same.

Yes there is. Krillin was the last one left and they killed him without any sign of emotion.
I just watched the History of trunks special again and the future androids where sadistic killers right from the start. Really different than the androids of the normal timeline who where only having fun without killing people.

I'm guessing the androids of the normal timelime where more human the androids of the future and that was why they didn't went on a killing spree.

[Herms]

In my copy of the manga the lines are something like "Don't worry they aren't dead, give them a senzu bean so whe can fight them again".

No.17 says they'll die in the original.

I just watched the History of trunks special again and the future androids where sadistic killers right from the start. Really different than the androids of the normal timeline who where only having fun without killing people.

True, but that is all anime-only. In the manga we don't get to see what the future androids were like from the start.

[Piccolo Daimao]

I think she would've. #18 was mindfucking with Kuririn by giving him a teasing peck on the cheek. No reason to assume that, given the chance, Future #18 wouldn't have done the same.

Yes there is. Krillin was the last one left and they killed him without any sign of emotion.
I just watched the History of trunks special again and the future androids where sadistic killers right from the start. Really different than the androids of the normal timeline who where only having fun without killing people.

I'm guessing the androids of the normal timelime where more human the androids of the future and that was why they didn't went on a killing spree.

#18 could've kissed him and then killed him. I don't believe the future Androids were any different than the present Androids. The present androids just didn't have a world where Goku was dead and they were bored as fuck.

[Fox666]

Huh, I think the androids of the present were shown to have a different personality. They spared Vegeta & co, they avoided to kill the humans while they were riding to Kame's house, and besides I think some character said they were different, don't?

[Super Saiyan Turlast x4]

The only difference I remember being stated is how powerful the Present Androids were compared to the Future Androids, which was, of course, stated by Trunks.

You also have to remember that they were more focused on playing their "game" than finishing off the others. If Goku was no longer there, anything could be possible for the Androids.

However, I do recall #16 acknowledging the fact that they were awesome for never killing others for no reason or along those lines. He obviously never saw the Future Androids in action, so perhaps something in his design told him that they were fully capable of being vicious monsters. I have no clue.

[Piccolo Daimao]

However, I do recall #16 acknowledging the fact that they were awesome for never killing others for no reason or along those lines. He obviously never saw the Future Androids in action, so perhaps something in his design told him that they were fully capable of being vicious monsters. I have no clue.

#16's inherently more peaceful than #17 and #18, and only cared about killing Goku. #17 and #18 saw killing Goku as a game, and as we saw in the future, they saw destroying the Earth as a game too. They never got to killing others for no reason because they hadn't gotten to killing Goku yet. I have no doubt in my mind that once #17 and #18 killed Goku, they'd lay waste to the planet like they did in the future.

Huh, I think the androids of the present were shown to have a different personality. They spared Vegeta & co, they avoided to kill the humans while they were riding to Kame's house, and besides I think some character said they were different, don't?

That was Kuririn, the guy who had a raging hard-on for #18. But #16 (who wasn't activated or didn't exist in the future) was genuinely not a bad guy, while #17 and #18 didn't get to the planet-destroying stage because they hadn't killed Goku yet. #17 and #18 didn't spare Vegeta and co. in the sense that you're talking about--#17 said that they'd die if Kuririn didn't give them Senzu. If Kuririn had stepped in, they would've all died.

But #17 mentioned they were free to play with them any time, which is like how #17 toyed with Gohan (and possibly Trunks too) in the future.

[darren42]

I disagree with the main arguement here claiming that there was no difference between the past and future Androids. There was obviously a major difference!

I know in the future they had not got Goku to hunt down, nor anybody to challange there powe-but they still had plenty of opportunitie's to cause trouble in the past well during there Hunt for Goku. They let the Z fighters live, 18 did not blow up the clothes store she ripped off, they diden't even kill the cops trying to arrest them-just threw the empty car into the mountain to scare them and drove of.

They did not cause any other destruction in any citys/towns they passed through. They did not destroy Kame house. 17 told Piccolo on at least 5 occasions that he had no want to fight him whatsoever, and that he should just give up and go home.

This doesen't seem like ANYTHING the androids in the future timeline would have done, as they used any excuse at all to cause chaos and destruction. My guess for the difference in them would be as another user stated ''Gero was not in a rush to activate them in the future time line'' And this perhaps he had more time to work on them and make them more Machine like and cold. Whatever the reason there deff not the same Androids at all

[Kaboom]

20 years is a lot of time to spend in bored outright superiority. Their attitudes and "purpose" could easily have changed over so long a time.

[Nineteen]

I don't think they were any less 'evil' in the main timeline than in Trunks', and I think that if events had played out similarly, they'd still have annihilated all of the Z Fighters.

I also don't put much stock in Trunks' statement that the Androids of his timeline are weaker than the ones in the mainstream timeline. He can't sense their ki at all in either case, so he would have no idea whatsoever just exactly how strong each set respectively is.

[TonyTheTiger]

That's what I think, too. That they essentially went crazy with boredom and lack of purpose in life. And it just got the better of them. Trunks was only familiar with the androids after they grew to be all nihilistic. So when he saw them in the past, it threw him for a loop. Absurd analogy but given what we know about Joseph Stalin, imagine going back in time to meet him during his formative years.

Subsequently, the altered timeline with Gohan beating Cell, Krillin rescuing 18, etc. was enough to give the androids whatever measure of inner peace they needed to stay out of trouble (relatively speaking).

As for the current androids being stronger, that I have no clue. Probably just a throwaway plot device Toriyama tossed in without much concern for it's implications. I'll just chalk it up to the butterfly effect.

[Kaboom]

Subsequently, the altered timeline with Gohan beating Cell, Krillin rescuing 18, etc. was enough to give the androids whatever measure of inner peace they needed to stay out of trouble (relatively speaking).

Not to mention that their primary mission was now null and void, because 1) Goku was now dead already, and 2) Even if he wasn't, he was now far, FAR too strong for them to have any hope of killing anyway.