Xyex wrote:Yeah, Yamcha really got shafted during the series. Though it really all comes down to circumstance. Starting the serious training later than the others, losing out training time because of his broken leg, being dead and missing out on the major power-up that Krillin got on Namek... it sort of all just adds together. Especially since he didn't have the training drive of Tenshinhan to make him keep at it after he falls so far behind.
You know, I don't think Toriyama shafted Yamcha intentionally; it's just that he always decided to pick him as a plot device. It's true that he became Kame-sennin's student later than Goku and Kuririn, but Kame-sennin rarely took disciples, made Goku and Kuririn special exceptions because the former was his former student's adopted grandson and the latter gave him porn, and accepted Yamcha after he'd seen him fight at Baba's place. It's true that he missed out on the major power-up that Kuririn got on Namek, but so did Tenshinhan, and many people (including me) believe that Kuririn's power-up pushed him ahead of Tenshinhan, perhaps until the Boo arc once Kuririn had stopped training and Tenshinhan had continued. In the Tenka'ichi Budokais, he always seemed to be the one to set-up important characters at the Budokais. 21st TB: defeated by Jackie Chun to set up Jackie Chun (who was actually Kame-sennin)'s old man super-strength. 22nd TB: defeated by Tenshinhan after a good fight to set up Tenshinhan's super-strength. 23rd TB: defeated by Shen to set up Shen (who was actually God)'s goofy old man super-strength.
He later died against the Saibiamen to set up Kuririn's rage moment to showcase how much he'd improved over the past year by obliterating multiple Saibaimen. And then later got impaled by Dr. Gero to set up the Androids' power and energy-absorbing.
And I don't think that, if he didn't have a broken leg and had more training time, it would make any difference. He'd be below Kuririn at the 22nd TB (Kuririn was already ahead at the 21st TB due to Kame-sennin's training), would still be by the 23rd TB and would still get trashed by God.
djkalteraphine wrote:Yamcha never came off to me as someone who took it as seriously as Kuririn, or especially Tenshinhan. He seems perfectly willing, in the Cell arc, to say, "I'm surpassed. Derp." Whereas Tenshinhan keeps trying.
Personally, Tenshinhan never finding a way to catch up to the Saiyajins is a problem I'll always have with the series. I know, I know, Saiyajins are hax... but there's no reason Toriyama couldn't just... make Tenshinhan hax, other than having no desire.
Yamcha and Kuririn's personalities seem suited to let Son Goku far surpass them. Ten, less so.
I disagree. Tenshinhan knew that he could never catch up too, and he even declined going into the RoSaT because he knew Cell was absolutely not an opponent he could fight. And both Kuririn and Tenshinhan declined training with Goku, Piccolo and Gohan because they couldn't keep up with them.
I don't think Tenshinhan ever kept training to surpass Goku, but just training to become stronger. I think all of them - Kuririn, Yamcha, Tenshinhan and Chaozu - realized that there was no way for them to ever keep up with the Saiyans and Piccolo. You could say that Tenshinhan's more of a hardened martial artist than Kuririn and Yamcha, since they appear to commit themselves to constant training in isolated mountains (to the point that they don't even wish to see their friends again - Tenshinhan says at the end of the Cell arc that they probably won't see each other again, and it's not as if they can't just fly over there) and apparently still do by the Boo arc, while Kuririn or presumably Yamcha have stopped by the Boo arc. But I don't think any of them believed they could ever catch up to Goku once the Cell arc rolled round.
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