Discussion, generally of an in-universe nature, regarding any aspect of the franchise (including movies, spin-offs, etc.) such as: techniques, character relationships, internal back-history, its universe, and more.
By the age of 16 and EOZ/GT he doesn't even look like Gohan. The change was really weird and I never liked it. Personally the Future Gohan look made more sense (without the scar of course). He kinda looked like Vegeta except with one hair bang, then by the end he looked like vegeta in gt. I wonder why Toriyama liked the design he did. It felt weird to me.
Why Dragon Ball Consistency in something such as power levels matter!
Spoiler:
Doctor. wrote:I've explained before, I'll just paraphrase myself.
Power levels establish tension and drama. People who care about them (well, people who care about them in a narrative) don't care about the big numbers or the fancy explosions. If you have character A who's so much above character B, who's the main character, you're gonna be left wondering how in the hell character B, the character we're supposed to care and root for, is going to escape the situation or overcome the odds. It makes us emotionally invested.
If character B doesn't escape the situation in a believable way that's consistent with previous events, then that emotional investment is gone. It was pointless tension, pointless drama made just to suck in the viewer. It has no critical value whatsoever. The audience is left believing that the author can just create whatever scenarios he wants and what happens to the characters is decided by whatever the author wants to happen, regardless of the events that happened in the story. Which, in fairness, is what happens, but the audience wants to be fooled. The audience wants to know that the world they're following has rules. That the world they're invested in isn't going to bend to external factors that are irrelevant to them.
An author can do whatever he wants with the characters, that's not false. But the author should also have the responsibility to make sure it fits in cohesively with the other events in the narrative he has created.
I don't see the big deal. His face matured and his hairstyle changed. His hairstyle changed quite frequently though. I can see what you mean about that GT picture since he has a similar hairstyle, but that's not really a good picture for Gohan. He's scowling.
That picture of Gohan in GT doesn't really look like Vegeta.
The comparison you made was a mess. You had mixed up fan-arts, weird expressions, and different animated styles. Best way to compare a character's appearance evolution is to compare it to the original manga.
James Teal (Animerica 1996) wrote:When you think about it, there are a number of similarities between the Chinese-inspired Son Goku and that most American of superhero icons, Superman. Both are aliens sent to Earth shortly after birth to escape the destruction of their homeworlds; both possess super-strength, flight, super-speed, heightened senses and the ability to cast energy blasts. But the crucial difference between them lies not only in how they view the world, but in how the world views them.
Superman is, and always has been, a symbol for truth, justice, and upstanding moral fortitude–a role model and leader as much as a fighter. The more down-to-earth Goku has no illusions about being responsible for maintaining social order, or for setting some kind of moral example for the entire world. Goku is simply a martial artist who’s devoted his life toward perfecting his fighting skills and other abilities. Though never shy about risking his life to save either one person or the entire world, he just doesn’t believe that the balance of the world rests in any way on his shoulders, and he has no need to shape any part of it in his image. Goku is an idealist, and believes that there is some good in everyone, but he is unconcerned with the big picture of the world…unless it has to do with some kind of fight. Politics, society, law and order don’t have much bearing on his life, but he’s a man who knows right from wrong.
Some people just experiment with different looks and hairstyles. That's probably my favorite thing about Gohan; he's arguably the least static character in terms of design. Maybe Bulma beats him out.
Keen Observation of Dragon Ball Z Movie 4's Climax wrote:Slug shits to see the genki
You can really see the similarities of his face in the manga version. Personally I would have preferred if he kept some variant of his Cell games hair during the Boo/epilogue arc for consistency sake (and a bit of my personal preference) but it still works regardless.
Cipher wrote:Also, you can seriously like whatever and still get laid. That's a revelation that'll hit you at some point.
The comparison you made was a mess. You had mixed up fan-arts, weird expressions, and different animated styles. Best way to compare a character's appearance evolution is to compare it to the original manga.
I don't see anything wrong with what I did when they all look the same in the end and give an idea.
I don't hate his Boo saga look, it just feels off. Look at Trunks and Goten when there older without considering gt. They have a look that is different but still has the essence of what they looked like before. Goten changes, but his new look does show its evolution from the basic Goku style. Gohan took a left turn as if his look was SSJ2 all the time but slightly altered. Why do you think people have problems distinguishing his SSJ/2 forms. During the Cell saga their is a clear difference. When older its mostly the same. It also ties into how I like the SSJ designs. Gohan practically looks the same as base but blond. Same reason why I hate Vegeta's SSJ look. I let that one go because he probably would look ridiculous since he already has spiked straight up hair. Someone here posted a style on a thread that personally fit Gohan better then the Boo saga style. In Gt it got worse. His expression was what really separated him from Vegeta. They practically looked the same. You can tell from the images above that the Namek, Boo Saga, and GT look just fall completely random. I have showed this to few people who wren't DBZ fans and they didn't think Gohan was Goku's son. When I was younger I once had mistaken Older Gohan for someone else because he looked so different.
Why Dragon Ball Consistency in something such as power levels matter!
Spoiler:
Doctor. wrote:I've explained before, I'll just paraphrase myself.
Power levels establish tension and drama. People who care about them (well, people who care about them in a narrative) don't care about the big numbers or the fancy explosions. If you have character A who's so much above character B, who's the main character, you're gonna be left wondering how in the hell character B, the character we're supposed to care and root for, is going to escape the situation or overcome the odds. It makes us emotionally invested.
If character B doesn't escape the situation in a believable way that's consistent with previous events, then that emotional investment is gone. It was pointless tension, pointless drama made just to suck in the viewer. It has no critical value whatsoever. The audience is left believing that the author can just create whatever scenarios he wants and what happens to the characters is decided by whatever the author wants to happen, regardless of the events that happened in the story. Which, in fairness, is what happens, but the audience wants to be fooled. The audience wants to know that the world they're following has rules. That the world they're invested in isn't going to bend to external factors that are irrelevant to them.
An author can do whatever he wants with the characters, that's not false. But the author should also have the responsibility to make sure it fits in cohesively with the other events in the narrative he has created.
I still say he would of looked better if he looked like seen here.
Despite being a somewhat error on the part for him meant to be looking like a 9 - 10 kid, the design looks and feels like a natural evolution from the Cell to Buu arc if it was actually used.
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Mayuri Kurotsuchi wrote:"In this world, nothing perfect exists. It may be a cliche after all but it's the way things are. That's precisely why ordinary men pursue the concept of perfection, it's infatuation. But ultimately I have to ask myself "What is the true meaning of being perfect?" and the answer I came up with was nothing. Not one thing. The truth of the matter is I despise perfection! If something is truly perfect, that's IT! The bottom line becomes there is no room for imagination! No space for intelligence or ability or improvement! Do you understand? To men of science like us, perfection is a dead end, a condition of hopelessness. Always strive to be better than anything that came before you but not perfect! Scientist's agonize over the attempt to achieve perfection! That's the kind of creatures we are! We take joy in trying to exceed our grasp, in trying to reach for something that in the end, we have to admit may in fact be unreachable!"
Gonstead wrote:I still say he would of looked better if he looked like seen here.
Despite being a somewhat error on the part for him meant to be looking like a 9 - 10 kid, the design looks and feels like a natural evolution from the Cell to Buu arc if it was actually used.
I agree. Personally I would prefer his future look as his adult look. But I easily would settle for something like that as well. Someone on the forum posted an alternate look that was like that but his hair was shorter, and his face still had the pure innocence he always showed.
Why Dragon Ball Consistency in something such as power levels matter!
Spoiler:
Doctor. wrote:I've explained before, I'll just paraphrase myself.
Power levels establish tension and drama. People who care about them (well, people who care about them in a narrative) don't care about the big numbers or the fancy explosions. If you have character A who's so much above character B, who's the main character, you're gonna be left wondering how in the hell character B, the character we're supposed to care and root for, is going to escape the situation or overcome the odds. It makes us emotionally invested.
If character B doesn't escape the situation in a believable way that's consistent with previous events, then that emotional investment is gone. It was pointless tension, pointless drama made just to suck in the viewer. It has no critical value whatsoever. The audience is left believing that the author can just create whatever scenarios he wants and what happens to the characters is decided by whatever the author wants to happen, regardless of the events that happened in the story. Which, in fairness, is what happens, but the audience wants to be fooled. The audience wants to know that the world they're following has rules. That the world they're invested in isn't going to bend to external factors that are irrelevant to them.
An author can do whatever he wants with the characters, that's not false. But the author should also have the responsibility to make sure it fits in cohesively with the other events in the narrative he has created.
That was the one I liked. I still would prefer the Future Gohan look cause his face was more matured, but this is a good second.
Why Dragon Ball Consistency in something such as power levels matter!
Spoiler:
Doctor. wrote:I've explained before, I'll just paraphrase myself.
Power levels establish tension and drama. People who care about them (well, people who care about them in a narrative) don't care about the big numbers or the fancy explosions. If you have character A who's so much above character B, who's the main character, you're gonna be left wondering how in the hell character B, the character we're supposed to care and root for, is going to escape the situation or overcome the odds. It makes us emotionally invested.
If character B doesn't escape the situation in a believable way that's consistent with previous events, then that emotional investment is gone. It was pointless tension, pointless drama made just to suck in the viewer. It has no critical value whatsoever. The audience is left believing that the author can just create whatever scenarios he wants and what happens to the characters is decided by whatever the author wants to happen, regardless of the events that happened in the story. Which, in fairness, is what happens, but the audience wants to be fooled. The audience wants to know that the world they're following has rules. That the world they're invested in isn't going to bend to external factors that are irrelevant to them.
An author can do whatever he wants with the characters, that's not false. But the author should also have the responsibility to make sure it fits in cohesively with the other events in the narrative he has created.
For some reason I always thought that the SSJ2 transformation influenced his hair style. I mean, his Buu arc hair is basically a smaller, black version of his Cell Games SSj2 hair.
Not much in universe evidence for this though, seeing as it's later implied that he only used the form once prior to he 25th Tenkaichi Budokai, twice if you consider movie 9 canon.
Of those concept designs, I actually really like the one in the top right hand corner.
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Kingdom Heartless wrote:Of those concept designs, I actually really like the one in the top right hand corner.
Same, I like that one too a lot!
And the clothes he's wearing are just too ironic not to pass up.
Visit DragonBallFigures for all your Dragon Ball figure info and needs!
Mayuri Kurotsuchi wrote:"In this world, nothing perfect exists. It may be a cliche after all but it's the way things are. That's precisely why ordinary men pursue the concept of perfection, it's infatuation. But ultimately I have to ask myself "What is the true meaning of being perfect?" and the answer I came up with was nothing. Not one thing. The truth of the matter is I despise perfection! If something is truly perfect, that's IT! The bottom line becomes there is no room for imagination! No space for intelligence or ability or improvement! Do you understand? To men of science like us, perfection is a dead end, a condition of hopelessness. Always strive to be better than anything that came before you but not perfect! Scientist's agonize over the attempt to achieve perfection! That's the kind of creatures we are! We take joy in trying to exceed our grasp, in trying to reach for something that in the end, we have to admit may in fact be unreachable!"
The right hand corner design is my favourite as well. I would much prefer that to what we have officially.
Why Dragon Ball Consistency in something such as power levels matter!
Spoiler:
Doctor. wrote:I've explained before, I'll just paraphrase myself.
Power levels establish tension and drama. People who care about them (well, people who care about them in a narrative) don't care about the big numbers or the fancy explosions. If you have character A who's so much above character B, who's the main character, you're gonna be left wondering how in the hell character B, the character we're supposed to care and root for, is going to escape the situation or overcome the odds. It makes us emotionally invested.
If character B doesn't escape the situation in a believable way that's consistent with previous events, then that emotional investment is gone. It was pointless tension, pointless drama made just to suck in the viewer. It has no critical value whatsoever. The audience is left believing that the author can just create whatever scenarios he wants and what happens to the characters is decided by whatever the author wants to happen, regardless of the events that happened in the story. Which, in fairness, is what happens, but the audience wants to be fooled. The audience wants to know that the world they're following has rules. That the world they're invested in isn't going to bend to external factors that are irrelevant to them.
An author can do whatever he wants with the characters, that's not false. But the author should also have the responsibility to make sure it fits in cohesively with the other events in the narrative he has created.
I always loved that right hand corner look, made it my avatar elsewhere (colorized) and it was my initial plan for creating a character in Ultimate Tenkaichi, until I found out that this hairstyle was not available.
It is possible that this incarnation looked too cool to match Gohan's temper in the storyline. He's not supposed to be the cool guy in high school on whom all girls turn around to look at him in the corridors or in class.
It is also possible that Toriyama chose his definitive hairstyle so that when he turns Super Saiyan early on the Majin Boo saga, the haircut would remind everyone, despite the drastic seven-years-gap, that it's the same amazing boy we remember as Super Saiyan 2 against Cell, looking like a taller version of Super Saiyan 2 Gohan. Kinda raises the charisma rather than keeping his haircut for when he hadn't revealed his inner power yet. The draft seems to show that he was interested in having "Super Saiyan 2" kind of hair, but he couldn't make Gohan go to that state for simple city crimes, so it might have motivated him into giving him a hairstyle that does makes him look like his teenage Super Saiyan 2 self even when being Super Saiyan. Purely hypothetical though.
But I guess we'll never really know. However, despite prefering this unused version, I understand why he needs to look like he does in the final: he's not supposed to be the cool, charismatic hero, he is the clumsy good student with a wacky side (Great Saiyaman) who has lost his past strength and will only have it revived when coming back from the Kaio Shin Kai with his potential extended.
You can see Toriyama pushed the clumsy good student to the extreme in his drafts (left side), and the cool side to the extreme (right side), and finally chose an appearance in between those two.
I also wondered about this. I think I remember reading somewhere that Toriyama stated somewhere that Gohan is supposed to look exactly like Goku, just with different hair, but in all honesty, I've always seen him as slightly more angular and thinner built.
In Toriyama's designs for him that was posted, I do like that one in the right corner. It reminds me of Future Trunks's look.
I wipe it off the tile, the light is brighter this time, everything is 3D blasphemy.
My eyes are red and gold, the hair is standing straight up, this is not the way I picture me.
I can't control my shakes, how the hell did I get here? Something about this, so very wrong.
I have to laugh out loud, I wish I didn't like this. Is it a dream or a memory?
