Most Ridiculous Plot Boost!

[Godo]

Senzu for the most part, makes you feel like you had a filling meal. If anything it would make you sleepy.

The long-term side effects of Senzu beans should really be researched.

[Piccolo Daimao]

If Toriyama didn't have all these stated power levels, then they wouldn't even need the ability to get Near Death Boosts
That's probably a contributing(not the primary one, but still) factor as to why he dropped them.

Well, actually, they would. Wasn't the purpose of near-death power-ups for Goku/Vegeta/(to a lesser extent)Gohan to get beaten by an opponent, and then get strong enough to overpower them? I think you might mean that if Toriyama didn't have all those stated battle powers, then the characters wouldn't get as large power boosts (or we wouldn't see them get as large power boosts).

I think he actually could have rewritten some of the fights, so that Zarbon isn't actually much stronger, than Vegeta when transformed, he's just more brutal and uses his power in the best way possible, completely taking Vegeta by surprise.
Vegeta in the second round could then just do what he did originally(run away, attack from behind and then spam ki blasts severely weakening Zarbon and he wouldn't have needed to get stronger, since emphasis would be placed on his fighting smarts rather than his increased strength.

I honestly think the purpose was so they could get stronger, faster, so their BPs surpassed previous enemies(Vegeta vs. Zarbon round 2, Vegeta vs. Jheese and Vegeta vs. Final Form Freeza) or when they only had 6 days to train to make gains in(his increases was mostly due to Near Death Boosts like that).
That's why it wasn't mentioned again until Cell became Super.

But you're probably also right about the large boosts thing..

Yeah, that would be a good idea. I think the near-death power-ups were a good concept, since it makes sense for Freeza to be afraid of a warrior race who are constantly developing, and it ties in with the whole potential of Saiyans and them "adapting" to fight in stronger battles.

The sad thing was that it was overused. I would've liked it if they'd only used it a couple of times, before the characters found some other means to get stronger or they'd hit their Zenkai limit. I think it was a real asspull to have Cell get it. A whole arc of no Zenkais, and then Cell's like, "Hai guyz, I just got a haxxed near-death power-up, even though it should've been obselete by now, and I'm almost as strong as Gohan lol!"

[Fox666]

The Saiyans' near-death power-ups. A plot device constantly abused to death (pun intended) to boost the Saiyans' strength. And even at times they don't even appear close to death! Gohan getting his neck broken, Vegeta getting a hole blasted through him, I can understand. But Goku gets a normal beating and goes from 90k to 3 million. He didn't get his bones broken by a giant monkey, he didn't get piledriven, he didn't get his neck broken, he didn't have his guts blasted out...and yet he gets the biggest near-death power-up?

Hahaha, I never realized that!

Ginyu was only beaten by Vegeta because he could only access ¼ of Goku power. And still he only got a punch in the stomach and a few hits. Why the hell Goku get such a 30x power-up?

[dbgtFO]

Why the hell Goku get such a 30x power-up?

Toriyama wrote himself into a hole with his power levels. If he hadn't given First Form Freeza 530.000 and maybe only given Goku a 5xKaioken then maybe Goku didn't need to get above 1 million in base form alone, but since it was stated that Second Form Freeza was over a million Goku had to be above it, since he was supposed to come and have the big showdown with a being not even over 1 million Piccolo could beat.

[Piccolo Daimao]

I have no idea why Toriyama made first-form Freeza so high. He could've just put him at, say, 250,000 (still the strongest BP at this point and a good deal stronger than Goku's regular Kaio-Ken), so the battle powers wouldn't have escalated so high.

[dbgtFO]

I have no idea why Toriyama made first-form Freeza so high. He could've just put him at, say, 250,000 (still the strongest BP at this point and a good deal stronger than Goku's regular Kaio-Ken), so the battle powers wouldn't have escalated so high.

And with Goku only having Kaiokenx5 instead of x10, he wouldn't come close to a perhaps full powered Freeza(about 1 million perhaps?) and then he could use KKx10 instead of x20, but the story would happen the same way. That way Goku wouldn't increase when having his last healing and instead just count on Kaioken.

[Fox666]

I would have made Freeza first form even lower than Captain Ginyu. Since Freeza supposedly used his second form before, and claim to have never meet someone stronger than Ginyu before, it would be a plausible level for Freeza.

Other than that, I would remove the Kaio-ken 10x and 20x and replace it with mere 2x and 4x. The Super Saiyan would have been a 10x multiplier instead of 50x.

In the end it would look like this:
• Ginyu: 120,000
• Freeza 1st form: 53,000
• Freeza 2nd form: "over 100,000"
• Goku: 300,000
• Goku Kaio-ken 2x: 600,000
• Goku Kaio-ken 4x: 1,200,000
• Freeza 50%: 1,200,000
• Freeza 100%: 2,400,000
• Goku Super Saiyan: 3,000,000

This way the battle powers wouldn't have unbeliveable skycrapped. Not to mention it would fix the "plot hole" of Vegeta gaining power from a nap...

[Piccolo Daimao]

I have no idea why Toriyama made first-form Freeza so high. He could've just put him at, say, 250,000 (still the strongest BP at this point and a good deal stronger than Goku's regular Kaio-Ken), so the battle powers wouldn't have escalated so high.

And with Goku only having Kaiokenx5 instead of x10, he wouldn't come close to a perhaps full powered Freeza(about 1 million perhaps?) and then he could use KKx10 instead of x20, but the story would happen the same way. That way Goku wouldn't increase when having his last healing and instead just count on Kaioken.

I think it had more impact to have Goku master the Kaio-Ken x10. If it was only Kaio-Ken x5, there wouldn't be as much of an impact since Goku used the Kaio-Ken x4, one level below, in the Vegeta battle (albeit, fucking up his body in the process).

I would have made Freeza first form even lower than Captain Ginyu. Since Freeza supposedly used his second form before, and claim to have never meet someone stronger than Ginyu before, it would be a plausible level for Freeza.

Other than that, I would remove the Kaio-ken 10x and 20x and replace it with mere 2x and 4x. The Super Saiyan would have been a 10x multiplier instead of 50x.

In the end it would look like this:
• Ginyu: 120,000
• Freeza 1st form: 53,000
• Freeza 2nd form: "over 100,000"
• Goku: 300,000
• Goku Kaio-ken 2x: 600,000
• Goku Kaio-ken 4x: 1,200,000
• Freeza 50%: 1,200,000
• Freeza 100%: 2,400,000
• Goku Super Saiyan: 3,000,000

This way the battle powers wouldn't have unbeliveable skycrapped. Not to mention it would fix the "plot hole" of Vegeta gaining power from a nap...

It's not a plothole. Vegeta hadn't rested for days, so it's entirely possible he wasn't aware or couldn't use his full power until he'd had a good sleep. That explains how he believes Goku is a SSj and is astounded by his abilities post-Zenkai, but later declares himself as a SSj and goes on to fight Freeza evenly afterwards.

And I don't agree with first-form Freeza being below Ginyu. It sounded like Freeza had never needed to transform before meeting Vegeta. I don't think it says anywhere that Freeza had supposedly used his second-form before. All Zarbon told Vegeta is that he can transform.

And I think reducing the Kaio-Kens Goku uses against Freeza to x2 and x3 are basically means to reducing the battle powers just to make them neater. There wouldn't be as much impact if Goku had only mastered Kaio-Ken x4, just two level above a level he'd already mastered back when he fought Vegeta.

I think 250,000 is a good level for first-form Freeza. That's stronger than Ginyu's full power and Goku's regular Kaio-Ken, and still the strongest battle power at this point. Then second-form could be double his first-form's power, making it 500,000.

[dbgtFO]

Not to mention it would fix the "plot hole" of Vegeta gaining power from a nap...

More likely this:

[...]and claim to have never meet someone stronger than Ginyu before, it would be a plausible level for Freeza.

I think it had more impact to have Goku master the Kaio-Ken x10. If it was only Kaio-Ken x5, there wouldn't be as much of an impact since Goku used the Kaio-Ken x4, one level below, in the Vegeta battle (albeit, fucking up his body in the process).

Yeah, but it would be amazing enough, if he mastered a level that previously fucked him up hard, since he did after all only have 6 days and it would be somewhat logical.. or not, I don't know.

[Piccolo Daimao]

I think it had more impact to have Goku master the Kaio-Ken x10. If it was only Kaio-Ken x5, there wouldn't be as much of an impact since Goku used the Kaio-Ken x4, one level below, in the Vegeta battle (albeit, fucking up his body in the process).

Yeah, but it would be amazing enough, if he mastered a level that previously fucked him up hard, since he did after all only have 6 days and it would be somewhat logical.. or not, I don't know.

I understand what you mean, but I think there was more impact and emphasis on how awesome Goku's training was and how strong he'd become when it was Kaio-Ken x10. It sounds like you'd only reduce it to Kaio-Ken x5 to restrict the battle powers.

[Perfect]

Why the hell Goku get such a 30x power-up?

Toriyama wrote himself into a hole with his power levels. .

Or you know, he didn't care because it's stupid to complain about large power increases.

[CODii]

Hm... Plot Boost? Maybe the events in Cell Saga involving the Room of Spirit and Time? Saiyan's got ridicoulusly strong in one day! They were quickly defeated by cyborgs and now without any problem they can beat 2nd form Cell?

But it wasn't a single day. They spent an equivalent of a year inside the RoSaT training in high gravity and low oxygen.

[dbgtFO]

Why the hell Goku get such a 30x power-up?

Toriyama wrote himself into a hole with his power levels. .

Or you know, he didn't care because it's stupid to complain about large power increases.

Obviously there's some truth to this, but I still find it an interesting subject to discuss, since we really have all these crazy things going on, that is explained quite poorly(like Goku's Godly Near Death Boost).
And this thread isn't about outright complaining. It's about what you find the most ridiculous boost and why, as stated in my OP.

And I think Toriyama actually did write himself into a hole, since he didn't make Freeza state power levels above 1 million, because it's so ridiculous in the first place, that Goku would have to get stronger than his Kaiokenx10, while in normal form to be of any use against Final Form Freeza.

That's why I believe he dropped Power Levels(along with other stuff factoring in), since the boosts were getting too out of hand, because he had previously stated levels, which the characters had to surpass(Goku & Vegeta) and as such limited him in his story writing.

And I hope that maybe you could also come with a contribution instead of just stating what you did, otherwise maybe this isn't the thread for you
Don't take it in a bad way...

[thegluestick1]

Goku's 5 days in the spaceship for sure. His training could not have been so ridiculously intense that his power level went from that of Vegeta to rivalling Frieza..

[Rocketman]

Goku's 5 days in the spaceship for sure. His training could not have been so ridiculously intense that his power level went from that of Vegeta to rivalling Freeza..

It didn't. It went from ~9000 to 90,000.

[rereboy]

The most ridiculous power boost is the one Piccolo gets on Kaio`s planet.

He spent 6 days there (while Goku spent 100 plus days and was only able to reach a power of 8000 plus) and went from a power of about 2000 to a power that Nail (with 40.000 plus) was impressed by.

Even if Piccolo had multiplied his power by 5 in just 6 days on Kaio (about 10.000), a feat that if Goku had managed to mimick every 6 days he spent on Kaio`s would make Goku way above Vegeta in the sayan arc, it would be really impressive... But since 10.000 shouldn`t be really impressive to Nail, it implies that it must be even larger, maybe even rivaling Nail`s power.

Since Piccolo has no "zenkais", this increase is really way out there, and probably the most ridiculous in the manga.

The most ridiculous increase in filler, however, is the increase of Tenshinhan and Yamcha also at Kaio`s. In less than ten days, they became strong enough to defeat the members of the Ginyu force (except Ginyu himself), and they were in the 40.000 or 50.000.

[Savage68]

I don't believe for a second that Nail's marveling at some random Namek's power entails Piccolo's BP to have even broken the 10,000 mark. The most ridiculous plot boost, for me, is Goku's 33x near-death power-up later on in the Namek arc.

[dbgtFO]

I don't believe for a second that Nail's marveling at some random Namek's power entails Piccolo's BP to have even broken the 10,000 mark.

Chapter: 28, P11.4-5
Context: after Goku runs 100 meters with new shoes
Kame-sennin: “Eigh…8.5 seconds…”
Goku: “Is that fast!?”
Kuririn: "What kind of training did you do…?”

Chapter: 295 (DBZ 101), P1.4, P2.1-5, P3.1
Nail: “I-I’m astonished…I don’t know what kind of training you’ve done, but you’ve acquired unbelievable power…Still, it’s unfortunate…If you had only returned to the original, single Namekian you were, you might have been able to defeat even Freeza…”[...]

From these two examples it would seem that Toriyama makes characters say the bolded lines, when they have been surpassed.
Thought it was an interesting point...

[Perfect]

There's nothing ridiculous about having power levels over one million. He dropped them because the story shifts tones. Power levels or battle powers were created to show where each opposition stood, and that even though someone with a higher power looks they'll win from a numerical standpoint, they might not. It was made to make things easier as well. Kondou (Toriyama's editor at the time) guided him in the direction of making power levels escalate, and so they did. They fit the theme of the story at the time, the whole Freeza and the battle for part of the universe. A direct tie-in with the Saiyan saga. As you can see during the Buu arc, a system of units was introduced very vaguely to measure power in Babidi's ship. That's the last instance of anything of the sort we see again. It shows that there's other technology that reads things differently, from different cultures.

Would using a scouter work in the Buu or Cell saga? No, not at all. You'd have to completely alter the system or perhaps use whatever type of system Number 16 used. Being that Dragon Ball was a weekly serialization, deadlines were Hell. The numbers were intended to get big, to fit the theme at the time as previously stated. Now what if, Toriyama had to take a ton of time to think about whose power level is what during what time? The theme had changed to drama, mellow-drama and angst (A few other genres are also present), but we still had that science fiction element there. What were the scouters? Science fiction. However that may be, science fiction takes a backdrop (Cell and the Artificial Humans) as these new genres are introduced and the series takes a slightly more serious pace (Leading to some mellow-drama along the way). The scouters were a method of showing how strong the opposition was, as I said. There is however, a bit more to it. As Kondou guided Toriyama towards escalating power levels in the Saiyan saga, an ulterior use was ultimately set up. Whether or not Freeza was going to happen at that time is irrelevant. The scouters being used as a tool to numerically measure chi served its purpose of leading up to show how terrible Freeza was. What!? 530,000!? What, over one million!? What!? A number... Unfathomable! No scouter could possibly measure something of that magnitude! The technology just isn't there! At first Freeza's power level is on a measurable scale, but then it slowly drifts off. By his third form, we have no idea. He's the strongest villain ever, just like the God/Lord of worlds has warned (Kaio-sama). As you can see, these power levels and scouters were merely adding to show how terrible and nasty this Freeza guy was.

After they served their purpose, why repeat the same thing? Freeza's defeated, why bother introducing more numbers to rack not only the author's brain as he writes on a weekly schedule, but the audience's as well. Once the "theme" of showcasing the all mighty Freeza was over, the series took a new approach. Cell wasn't the same as Freeza, so he was introduced through other means, so to speak. He wasn't to be measured in power for his first appearance, given that he wasn't all that strong. The Artificial Humans were a little different, Toriyama didn't need to use power levels with them for two reasons. He avoided it by making it so Goku and friends couldn't pick up their chi (I doubt a scouter could, perhaps #16's) and by making a comparison to Freeza and Trunks. Freeza is the guy who has unfathomable power, only Goku, the savior of the universe could match him in power, but then here comes Trunks. This guy is nearly as strong as Goku, he makes Freeza look like a cat that fell into a meat grinder (Literally). Now Trunks has bad news, there's a duo, that are terribly evil (Not in this time line buddy) with power even greater than his (Greater than he thinks; hell, the same guys don't even show up at first).

There's absolutely no need for them to have measurable power levels by this point, the themes and focuses of the story have shifted so that they're not needed. There is no corner he wrote himself into, it seems more like a "fanon" ideal or theory. You seem to be missing the context of one million not being a big number in the context of chi or the story as it may be in others. From what I can tell Goku's increase is simply because he's genetically gifted (Look how fast Bardock rose to 10,000 and surpassed everyone) and he was beaten up pretty bad. There's nothing that states they have to be linear increases. They seem to be completely randomly based on the Saiyan (Foreshadowed plot convenience). It's probability. Vegeta's boosts are no where near this big, and from what's implied, he was stronger than his father as a child (Who Bardock was likely stronger than). In the perspective of Toriyama not taking into account fans going, "What was he thinking!? He can't make them that strong!", it's complaining. I usually don't have a problem with the complaints I see around here in these type of threads, but when something such as the author writing himself into a hole with something as simple as this, well I can't help but reply.

[astrallite]

Tien holding back Cell was pretty ridiculous, it's basically implying he's above Freeza.