Trunks waited a year to use the time machine?

[TobyS]

Trunks the story happened in 780, time skips to 783 Bulma says the machine is ready. Trunks runs off and gets fucked up by the Androids. He says he will use the time machine when he is better. But Trunks then doesn't use the machine till May 7th 784, does he take over 4 months and 8 days - 16 months and 7 days to heal? Or are some fandom dates wrong here?

[ScouterSSJ]

Well, since in the future there were no senzus recovering from a bad injury can take some time (even months).
And there's also the fact that they didn't know exactly where to go to meet Goku, since he died soon after the fight with Frieza and King Cold.
I guess Bulma needed some time to think about Goku's spaceship, send Trunks to retrieve it and analyze its data ^_^

[L3anD3RStar]

Well there’s “ready” and then there’s READY. I think Bulma was probably adjusting the Time Machine until the very end when it was finally used. Also she might have been exaggerating how “ready” it was in an effort to keep her son from following Gohan. She knew she needed to keep Trunks’s hopes up and make sure that even if SHE wasn’t sure the machine would work, she needed to pretend to be, so that HE doesn’t become convinced that a last-stand suicidal charge at the Androids is the only option left.

Maybe, if Trunks had used it back when he was 16, there’s a good chance it might have exploded on him. Bulma only called it “ready” to try and stop him from going. She was so certain he wasn’t going to come back alive from that. She also probably exaggerated the severity of his injuries and kept him confined for as long as she could, to give herself more time to work out all the kinks. At some point she must’ve decided she’d rather lose him to a malfunctioning Time Machine then lose him to the Androids, but it took time to convince HIM it was worthwhile to use it.

[Grimlock]

There's nothing wrong here. There is a timeskip between Trunks getting defeated by the androids and him leaving. The issue is that neither the manga nor the TV Special tells that, so that's where the confusion springs from.

Spoiler:

Well, if neither the manga nor the TV Special states that timeskip, then there is no timeskip. Trunks left as soon as he got better.

Alright, let's see what would happen if Trunks had left his timeline as soon as he got better (i.e. AGE 783):

• AGE 783 - 20 = AGE 763 (that's one year after Freeza saga). Goku took two years to return to Earth. - There's your first contradiction.

• Trunks upon finding another Time Machine says it came from three years ahead of his time, which would be AGE 787*. However, Trunks himself states it came from AGE 788. - There's your second contradiction.

• Trunks says the androids would appear in three years time, which would be AGE 766. However, the androids appear in AGE 767. - There's your third contradiction.

• Trunks says he will be born in two years, which would be AGE 765. However, Trunks is born in AGE 766. - There's your fourth contradiction.
Also, this would make Trunks be nine years old in Majin Buu saga, not eight. - There's your fifth contradiction.
Also also, this would make Trunks be ten years old in Dragon Ball Daima, not nine. - There's your sixth contradiction.

Yeah, timeline would get fucked. There is indeed a timeskip between Trunks getting beaten by the androids and using the Time Machine for the first time, even though it is not explicitly told you anywhere.


(* Note: Remember that when Trunks returned to his timeline, there's an eight-month timeskip to recharge the Time Machine, at some point, the year in the future changed).