The uselessness of them all!

[Mattias]

Isn't it interesting that the longer that Dragon Ball Z draws on, how useless some of the series' previously strongest characters have become? I mean, think about it. As soon as the Cell Games began, Yamcha, Tenshinhan, Kuririn and Piccolo were starting to borderline useless. Then Buu popped in, and they just have no point in being around anymore.

Personally, I've been rather intrigued by this write-off so late into the series. Understandably, Cell and Majin Buu could barely be contained by both Gohan and Goku respectably, not to mention the addition of new characters such as Trunks and Goten to name a few.

What I'm wondering is, with the write-off of the characters mentioned above, was this something sort of inevitable by Toriyama's part? Or was this something that he wanted to do? I know it seems like such a strange and obvious question, but Piccolo for one was a dominant character throughout the entire series. To have him suddenly have no chance versus Buu seemed kind of abrupt.

Not to mention the Z Sword and its almighty power to defeat the great evil was pretty useless considering it broke so easily.

Another possibility was the unavoidable ending that Goku took his claim as the strongest character in the universe. Well, it was never really a claim, but this is pretty clear.

Useless!

[*PINHEAD*]

Well, I guess the best way to continue a series after one nearly incomprehensible power is already shown, is to create something even more powerful. After the Saiyan story arc, it was all about power levels (at least, up till the end of the Freeza arc), making huge drastic differences in power essential to making the series more dramatic. Ending the series with a Genki Dama just gives closure to it all, making it seem like without those useless characters, Son Goku wouldn't have been able to defeat Buu.

[Jerseymilk]

Well part of the problem at least as far as the Majin Buu saga goes is that Toriyama was always changing the way the plot was going to go. He made Gohan the hero, fans complained, so he brought Goku back. Then he brought in the Fusion concept, then he moved Gohan to the forefront again, then he brought Goku out as the hero once more, all the while giving Buu fifty bajillion forms. I swear the man was up too many nights surviving off of nothing but coffee and cigarettes. The caffeine and tobacco must have warped his reasoning.