TheGmGoken wrote:What if U6 was the manga universe or the GT universe?
I agree with all the previous responses and reactions to this.
The events depicted throughout the 153 episodes of DB and the 291 episodes of DBZ need to be seen as a continuous sequence of the one and only timeline.
GT, the 4 DB movies and the 13 DBZ movies don't "happen" in a different timeline or in an alternate universe, they're rather side-stories which depict "what-if" scenarios. They were also made to explore interesting new characters and circumstances with some potential in terms of background and character development. In actual fact, the only movies from the 13 DBZ ones that COULD fit into the series' main timeline without causing any inconsistencies or plot holes would be movies 9 (right after the Cell Games, and I mean right after it, as Goku's still with Kaiou-sama in the Snake Way) and 13 (soon after Kid Buu's defeat).
All the others WOULD have "happened" in the following circumstances:
Movie 1 - It WOULD have happened slightly before the arrival of Raditz on Earth.
Movie 2 - It WOULD have happened IF Goku had beaten Vegeta and Nappa in the Saiya-jin arc, since he uses Kaio Ken in the movie.
Movie 3 - IF there had been an additional Saiya-jin to have survived the genocide of the race and the destruction of Planet Vegeta and later came to Earth to find Kakarotto. It WOULD have taken place IF Goku had beaten Vegeta and Nappa in the Saiya-jin arc before Tenshinhan, Yamcha, Chaozu and Piccolo died.
Movie 4 - IF there had been an additional Namek-sei-jin who survived the extreme weather conditions on the planet that led to Piccolo being sent to Earth and IF Goku and the others somehow had managed to either beat Freeza after Piccolo is resurrected and Vegeta dies but before he became a full-fledged Super Saiya-jin or had left Namek before that, for some reason.
Movie 5 - IF Cooler ever existed and Goku had somehow beaten Freeza on Namek without having become a full-fledged Super Saiya-jin. It WOULD take place in the 3 year gap between Mirai no Trunks' first arrival from the future and the appearance of #19 and Dr. Gero, since Goku has already returned to Earth.
Movie 6 - IF Cooler ever existed. It WOULD take place right before the Jinzouningen arc, in the 3 year gap between Mirai no Trunks' first arrival from the future and the appearance of #19 and Dr. Gero
Movie 7 - IF the only two Jinzouningen which actually ever existed had been #19 and Dr. Gero (no #16, no #17, no #18, no Cell), and after either Goku or Vegeta and Piccolo had beaten them. It would have happened right after that.
Movie 8 - IF two additional Saiya-jin had survived the genocide of the race and the destruction of Planet Vegeta, and IF one of them WOULD just happen to be the Legendary Super Saiya-jin. It WOULD have happened if Paragas came to Earth during the 10 day-period between Cell's announcement of the Cell Games and the Cell Games themselves, after Goku and Gohan leave the RoSaT, since Gohan is a Super Saiya-jin.
Movie 10 - IF Brolly ever existed and had come to Earth. It WOULD have taken place during the period of time Gohan trains Videl and Goten.
Movie 11 - IF Brolly ever existed. It WOULD have taken place right after the previous movie (and after the Tenkaichi Budokai that led to the Majin Buu arc, but without the arc itself ever happening, as there WOULD have had been a Tenkaichi Budokai which for some reason had a final in which #18 lets Mr. Satan win in exchange for quite a large sum of money).
Movie 12 - IF Goku had defeated Majin Buu in his fat form and had returned to the other world, since both Goku and Vegeta are dead (the latter after blowing himself up against Majin Buu)
Both the Bardock special and the Trunks special depict events which happened off-screen in DBZ's storyline (in Trunks' movie case, before he decided to go back in the past to warn Goku and the others about the Jinzouningen, which generated a different timeline - pretty much similar to what happened in Back to the Future 2)
The 2008 special, BoG and Fukkatsu no F were up until very recently considered to be follow-up continuations of DBZ's main, one and only timeline, and the 2008 special by itself can still be considered to be canon, as there's nothing there that contradicts what we've been seeing or hearing about in DBSuper, but BoG and Fukkatsu no F have also been basically turned into side-stories which are going to be retold, with the introduction of the same characters and stages but at a different timing and in different circumstances.
On that note I wonder what a Toriyama written Broly would be like?
