Time Travel and Multiverse Theory(EVERYTHING IS CANON)

[mr.fredsolo]

People always argue over what's canon or not, which I think is ultimately a pointless thing to do. It's not worth arguing over what happened or what didn't since none of it did. It's fiction.
But that's not the only reason that argument is invalid. Because you see there is an In-Universe theory that validates every piece of Media we've seen in Dragonball, from the anime, to the movies, to the games. Everything happened. How? Time Travel.

Think about it. There are 5 different ways to time travel we've seen. Time Machine, Time Ring, Planet Explosion, Magical Scroll, and Whiz's turn back ability.
The rules of how time travel works vary from method to method but something is clear. PEOPLE ARE TIME TRAVELING ALL OVER THE PLACE IN DRAGON BALL.
It's such a problem In-Universe that it has even been made illegal by Galactic Authority and the Gods are highly against it.

I have to assume that since there is so much time travel happening, that this will create a lot of different timelines all with their different canons. This means that everything we've seen that doesn't fit in with what we consider canon, happened in another timeline. That even includes the difference between the manga and the anime. They each happened in a different timeline.


DIFFERENT TIMELINES AND WHAT THEY INCLUDE

Toriyama Timeline: Dragon Ball Manga(chapters 1-519), Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return, Jaco: The Galactic Patrolman, Dragonball Minus, Battle of Gods, Revival of F, Dragonball Online, Dr. Slump Manga

Anime Timeline: Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, DBZ Movie 1, Bardock: The Father of Goku, DBZ Movie 9, DBZ Movie 13, Dragon Ball GT, A Hero's Legacy, Episode of Bardock, Dr. Slump anime

Xenoverse Timeline: Dragonball Xenoverse, Dragonball Xenoverse 2

Super Timeline: Dragon Ball Kai, Dragon Ball Super

Broly Timeline: DBZ Movie 8, DBZ Movie 10, DBZ Movie 11

Cooler Timeline: DBZ Movie 5, DBZ Movie 6

Turles Timeline: DBZ Movie 2, DBZ Movie 3, DBZ Movie 4 (these 3 movies appear to take place in a timeline where the Saiyans were defeated before Piccolo died meaning they never went to Namek)

Garbageshit Timeline: Dragonball Evolution

The rest of the movies and games are the only entries in each of their timelines.

What do you guys think?
I WILL UPDATE THIS LIST BASED ON WHAT'S SAID ON THIS THREAD.

[Grimlock]

Toriyama Timeline: Dragon Ball Manga(chapters 1-519), Dragonball Minus, Battle of Gods, Revival of F

You forgot Jaco: The Galactic Patrolman and Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!. They are also part of that one.

Xenoverse Timeline: Dragonball Online, Dragonball Xenoverse

Not at all. It's not because Dragon Ball Xenoverse borrows elements from Online that they take place in the same continuity, now it's even impossible to conciliate them, as XV2 will bring movies villains. Dragon Ball Online should be on Toriyama timeline.

[Zephyr]

You left out Dragon Ball Evolution.

[mr.fredsolo]

Toriyama Timeline: Dragon Ball Manga(chapters 1-519), Dragonball Minus, Battle of Gods, Revival of F

You forgot Jaco: The Galactic Patrolman and Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!. They are also part of that one.

Xenoverse Timeline: Dragonball Online, Dragonball Xenoverse

Not at all. It's not because Dragon Ball Xenoverse borrows elements from Online that they take place in the same continuity, now it's even impossible to conciliate them, as XV2 will bring movies villains. Dragon Ball Online should be on Toriyama timeline.

I totally forgot about Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return and Jaco.
Also I assumed cause Online and Xenoverse have Time Patrol Trunks that they belonged together but your reasoning makes sense.
I will update my post accordingly.

[mr.fredsolo]

You left out Dragon Ball Evolution.

Oh, you are right. The darkest timeline.
Will update accordingly.

[RedRibbonSoldier#42]

Saying everything is canon is the same as saying nothing is. (Which may be the case). But then it's easier to just get rid of the concept than have a omniversal timeline chart.

[apex_pretador]

If everything is canon then it includes my yet to be written fanfic too.

[Cipher]

No one should waste a moment arguing over what's "canon." The only thing that's important is understanding what previous material whatever you're reading/watching references, and even then, that's usually flexible.

That doesn't require in-universe justification though. Nor do we really have it. The time travel and multiverse models used in Super are discreet and absolutely not encompassing of every meta element of the franchise. Nor do they need to be. There are the different worlds referenced in Super, and then the hodge-podge of all the different versions of Dragon Ball to ever exist outside of that with no fictional connections to one another. Including, for that matter, no fewer than three versions of material covered in Super itself.

tl;dr: Don't think about canon, but you don't need an in-universe parallel-worlds system to justify that. Nor does the most recently presented one really do that in the first place.

[mr.fredsolo]

No one should waste a moment arguing over what's "canon." The only thing that's important is understanding what previous material whatever you're reading/watching references, and even then, that's usually flexible.

That doesn't require in-universe justification though. Nor do we really have it. The time travel and multiverse models used in Super are discreet and absolutely not encompassing of every meta element of the franchise. Nor do they need to be. There are the different worlds referenced in Super, and then the hodge-podge of all the different versions of Dragon Ball to ever exist outside of that with no fictional connections to one another. Including, for that matter, no fewer than three versions of material covered in Super itself.

tl;dr: Don't think about canon, but you don't need an in-universe parallel-worlds system to justify that. Nor does the most recently presented one really do that in the first place.

That's all true, sure.
But it's fun to speculate about ways to connect everything we've seen together, even if it's ultimately pointless and (probably) won't be acknowledged by the show itself. Also whether we like or not the conversation over canonicity will never end so we might as well throw things at it to make it more interesting.

[Ozotto]

I agree everything official is canon.
Except there are various continuities for each canon.

Which one is the main or definitive continuity? Most people would agree it's the Japanese manga.

However some prefer the anime.

[DragonBallLove]

You will need a few merchandise timelines for DB Heroes, DB Heroes VM, DB Discross, etc. Also, try to integrate the non-DB Toriyama manga (other than Dr. Slump), as many of them are considered "Dragon World" (Tomato, Escape, Ackman, Kajika, Nekomajin,etc.)

DB Super should go with DB and DBZ as backings, nevermind them being repeated.

Path to Power contradicts DB anime. Can't go together.

You're forgeting the three DB movies, alltogether a whole new timeline.

[fadeddreams5]

Heroes is about the only thing I wouldn't consider canon, considering it takes place in our world, where DB is a show/game.

[Nejishiki]

Heroes is about the only thing I wouldn't consider canon, considering it takes place in our world, where DB is a show/game.

You could say that we're the original source, Dragon Ball Heroes is an adaption, and the characters within talk about Dragon Ball as we know it as a manga, anime, video game, etc. series, effectively tying everything into anything. It's reminiscent of Duel Monsters becoming reality due to it catching on "out-of-universe". This influences writers, such as Akira Toriyama, Naho Ooishi, and Takao Koyama, to bring those products to life from passing interest. The game expands as time progresses because of everyone's contributions. Really, even we have lost the original drafts aside from stuff like Dr. Slump and Dragon Boy. It's a mix-mash of ideas that's occasionally made sense of by Shueisha executives for stories or products. It explains why most Dragon Ball Heroes advertisements are mostly introducing concepts without context. That's to be determined later. Well, if we're going to get extra imaginative about this!

[mr.fredsolo]

You will need a few merchandise timelines for DB Heroes, DB Heroes VM, DB Discross, etc. Also, try to integrate the non-DB Toriyama manga (other than Dr. Slump), as many of them are considered "Dragon World" (Tomato, Escape, Ackman, Kajika, Nekomajin,etc.)

DB Super should go with DB and DBZ as backings, nevermind them being repeated.

Path to Power contradicts DB anime. Can't go together.

You're forgeting the three DB movies, alltogether a whole new timeline.

Do any of the other Toriyama stories explicitly state they take place in the same universe Dragon Ball or Dr. Slump?

Maybe we can put Dragon Ball Kai in Super's timeline?

I confused Path to Power with A Hero's Legacy. I corrected that now.

I think the three DB movies each take place in their own separate timeline

[Nejishiki]

Do any of the other Toriyama stories explicitly state they take place in the same universe Dragon Ball or Dr. Slump?

Penguin Island exists on the official map of Dragon World. However, the Dr. Slump serialization mentions Gengoro Island is in Japan. So, however you may figure it, the Dr. Slump characters in their native series and in Dragon Ball are similar, but different on account that Dragon World is a unified nation, where Japan shouldn't exist.

[ShadowBardock89]

You need to move DBZ movie 5 and GT in the same timeline, as Cooler appears in GT.
There's also TPTETSS (Plan To Eradicate The Super Saiyans) Timeline where DBZ Movies 3-5, 8, and Trunks killing Freeza happened.

[Hellspawn28]

DBZ Movie 13 fits better in the original anime timeline not Movie 12. There is no way for Gohan to be on both Earth and Kaioshin Planet when the movie was being released. Not to mention Goten, Trunks, Videl and everyone else thought Gohan was dead.

[mr.fredsolo]

DBZ Movie 13 fits better in the original anime timeline not Movie 12. There is no way for Gohan to be on both Earth and Kaioshin Planet when the movie was being released. Not to mention Goten, Trunks, Videl and everyone else thought Gohan was dead.

Shit. I got the movies mixed up again. I meant to put down 13 instead of 12. Fixed it now.
Also, I added DBZ Movie 9 to the anime timeline since I don't think that one creates any big continuity problems.

[mr.fredsolo]

You need to move DBZ movie 5 and GT in the same timeline, as Cooler appears in GT.
There's also TPTETSS (Plan To Eradicate The Super Saiyans) Timeline where DBZ Movies 3-5, 8, and Trunks killing Freeza happened.

The Cooler cameo in GT is so small you'll literally miss it if you blink. We don't know for sure that this is the same Cooler and if he died under the same circumstances.

I don't even want to think about how to fit Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans anywhere in there. Stuff from like 5 different timelines is in that one so I think is best if we have that one in it's own timeline. I guess each version of the special(the one from the 90s and the one from Raging Blast 2) is in it's own timeline.

[Cipher]

For what it's worth, if you're organizing everything into tidy continuity families, the Dr. Slump manga and anime can't properly take place in the same world as Dragon Ball, as they have different gods. (There are other logic problems, but that's a big difference in their mythology.)

And yeah, the first three Dragon Ball movies are totally their own little story. Even if it's accidental, they connect a lot more smoothly than any two Z movies (even ones which share a villain). They basically pick up where the previous one leaves off.

Episode of Bardock is a Heroes promotion. I don't think there's any reason to lump it in with the original three anime. Nothing continuity or production-wise links it to that version of events except its using the Bardock TV special as a base. Technically it complicates things more than anything, as GT's ancillary material hints that the golden oozaru form being linked to the "legendary" Super Saiyan is not unintentional.