Future Trunks Arc: Characters Influence Rankings

[Nejishiki]

I think Future Trunks destroying Zamasu's body is his own inspired accomplishment. I suppose you'd credit "The Humans" the same way you'd credit them for genki in Boo arc.

If anyone surprises me, & it really shouldn't, little Trunks placing 10th does the trick! I'll blame that on continuously hearing opinions that "he didn't do enough". I think present Zamasu's placement is fitting. He believed in his future so vibrantly that he didn't consider a premature death at all. Overall, the list seems about right, on my end.

[LightBing]

If anyone surprises me, & it really shouldn't, little Trunks placing 10th does the trick! I'll blame that on continuously hearing opinions that "he didn't do enough". I think present Zamasu's placement is fitting. He believed in his future so vibrantly that he didn't consider a premature death at all. Overall, the list seems about right, on my end.

I have to agree with those opinions. If you look at the comic-relief gang, Trunks only has six more points and taking into account that he was always grouped with them, it's disappointing.
Not that I expected him to be really high up there. I just can't let go of the potential for development and the tease right before the arc started, when his voice actor basically told us he would grow up or at least start to.
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Points Changes:

OK! Let's talk changes to the system. I want to start the new thread before the next episode, we need to solve this.

First, I will remove the points for appearances. I will simply count them and put them into two categories: regular appearances and flashback appearances. My reasoning is that a lot of characters who did close to nothing, have a decent amount of points just by being around. If we separate them, we can see a much clearer picture I believe.
The distinction between flashback and regular appearance is because I had to add people like Piccolo Daimao and Hit, who were a simply hazy memory from x character in x episode.

I also want to add another layer to the fight's section. It would be divided into three tiers:
Main Fight:6 points. I would consider this head-to-head fight's against Goku Black for example. It should be fairly obvious to spot them.

Secondary Fight: 3 points. Basically if you think a fight doesn't deserve to be in the category above it goes in here. Goku vs Future Trunks is an example.

Supportive Fight: 1 point. Just providing support to those who are in the actual fight. It's like an assistance bonus. Like when Mai used her weapon to distract and annoy Goku Black.

The plot contribution category, I don't have a formed idea yet. My problem with it is the narrow scope it currently gives. Shoving everything into a major and minor range is incredibility limiting.
So my two ideas are doing like the above with the fights, add more tiers and therefore more nuance. Or adding subcategories, which also increase the complexity.

Thoughts, suggestions, ideas? Don't be shy people. If you think any of these is bad, go ahead and say it. If you have you own idea share it. If you think some tweaks here and there is all it takes make yourself heard.

[Nejishiki]

Flashback characters are fair. In-universe, somebody is recounting a story. With recurring background characters, I'd ask "Is there potential for setup with their inclusion?". Or alternatively, a placeholder mark for hindsight, removed or revamped for future reference. While not all-inclusive, I think "storyline sparring" would categorize itself in secondary fights while "casual sparring" would place as 2 points. Of course, my interpretation would bump up "Supportive Fight's" value (3-4 points, half or near half an independent effort?). Borrowing from Herms' tier system, let's place "plot contribution" aside for the finale while steadily building the tower.

EP086 introduces "The Rules" & "Recruitment".
EP087 introduces "Hierarchy Exposition".
EP088 features a destroyed universe.

1: Hierarchy Exposition
2: The Rules
3: Recruitment, Destroyed Universe

Essentially, one's judging the plot via comparable weights. I'm not sure how complicated that is in the long run though.

[LightBing]

Flashback characters are fair. In-universe, somebody is recounting a story. With recurring background characters, I'd ask "Is there potential for setup with their inclusion?". Or alternatively, a placeholder mark for hindsight, removed or revamped for future reference. While not all-inclusive, I think "storyline sparring" would categorize itself in secondary fights while "casual sparring" would place as 2 points. Of course, my interpretation would bump up "Supportive Fight's" value (3-4 points, half or near half an independent effort?). Borrowing from Herms' tier system, let's place "plot contribution" aside for the finale while steadily building the tower.

EP086 introduces "The Rules" & "Recruitment".
EP087 introduces "Hierarchy Exposition".
EP088 features a destroyed universe.

1: Hierarchy Exposition
2: The Rules
3: Recruitment, Destroyed Universe

Essentially, one's judging the plot via comparable weights. I'm not sure how complicated that is in the long run though.

What is the difference between casual and storyline sparring?

Quantifying that system at the end of the arc would be a lot of work, besides how complicated it would probably become. This arc will likely be even longer than the last one to make matters worse.

I think most situations will be fairly straightforward, for example Beerus challenging Goku and Goku ignoring everyone to precipitate the tournament all fall in obvious categories. It's just about allocating points for such categories and analysing how their relation will affect the final table.
In the Future Trunks arc the appearances had far too much weight, for example.

Regarding situations that aren't as clear, the retroactive rule we applied in this arc would do the job. We might even take it a step farther and put certain situations on hold until more information is revealed. I would obviously underline the status of those cases. Which looking back at the Future Trunks arc, won't be many.

Maybe breaking down situations into character development, plot contribution and other categories is best. It narrows down our evaluation within a specific category but it makes it much more complex overall, especially compared with the "minor" and "significant" standard we had going on.

[Nejishiki]

I did warn against it being a broad feature! For the sake of an answer (& whatever comes to mind first), God's (filler) time travel training is meant to support the narrative. Deathly intense, but it serves to setup story through sparring nonetheless. I'll include Vegeta training with his son in the gravity chamber as "casual sparring". It conveys necessary information without being immediately necessary (if it were saved for a surprise later, it wouldn't change anything). But yeah, if "minor & major" are preferred outlets, I'd go for specifying the why with "character development", "plot contribution", etc., too.

[LightBing]

Hey guys/girls. I'm not going to start the Universal Tournament Arc. Sorry about that. I was thinking about this and it felt like a chore. The anime being a writing mess makes it much harder to try and take it seriously, for me.
So I rather use my Dragon Ball time into other endeavours, probably fan fiction.

That said if anyone wants to continue, you have my blessing.

Thanks to everybody who helped out with the thread, special mention to Nejishiki.