What's the best Cell saga time paradox explanation?

[ScouterSSJ]

Hi! One of the reasons I decided to participate in this forums was to see if there was any Dragon Ball expert able to fully explain the time-paradox of the Cell saga.
I of course have my own explanation on how it all went, but I was interested on seeing other takes on the subject since it was such a well constructed mystery and Toriyama led so many things to our imagination.
Of course, if you know a good Twitch, Instagram, Youtube (or whatever) video/post that explains it, a good link to it would be welcomed!

Thanks! ^_^

[ScouterSSJ]

I'll expand a bit on the topic. I've looked for good explanations on my own, of course, but I haven't been able to find one that correctly explains the paradox in full detail.
For example, the explanation of the Daizenshuu is a crime against Toriyama's work, full of contradictions and impossible scenarios that aren't even coherent between themselves, so of course, that's not what I'm looking for.
Another example of a bad explanation I've found on the internet is Qaaman's video on the subject. There he says that in the Timeline of the Future Trunks we see in the manga, that there was a Cell that came from the future there as well, which is so obviously not the case.

So, if you know better/more accurate explanations, I'd like to hear them since I'm very curious about the subject ^_^

[Desassina]

By no means I am a Dragon Ball expert, but a fan who has some time to spare on time travel shenanigans, and I'm of the opinion that you should follow the events from the same perspective that we're shown, without wondering about whether the other timelines exist as a place or not, because they could be branches of the same one connected by the time machine despite their diverging nature. I wish I could update this chart that I did a while back, because the remote blueprints are not a necessity, but a convenience that came from Dragon Ball official material (they ought to know something that we don't):



In this chart, Cell is always at the present, whether it's Goku or Trunks who kills Freeza and King Cold, because it's an event that took place before Trunks arrived. The future that develops from either event leads to Trunks's departure, not to the past of his own line since that has been occupied by Goku, but to another that split off from Cell having arrived earlier, and the androids can be released without Trunks being present, because he will have departed later to witness that event on the following sequence of events.

If you keep going like this, then Trunks can either depart to the future with the blueprints to kill the androids with the remote, or stay in the present and train to grow stronger so that he can kill them with his own power. Alternatively, he doesn't need to have found the remote blueprints, but trained for the androids without knowing about Cell, so that he's killed in the future. From the future branch where he kills the androids without having trained for Cell, the latter will have departed to the past where he has always been present, while he will be killed by Trunks on the other.

I hope that this is enough and makes sense.

[Grimlock]

The years in that chart are surprisingly accurate, with the exception that we don't know when Majin Buu saga happens to Trunks. It's somewhere after AGE 788 and before AGE 796. Goku Black witnessed the death of Kaioshin of East in the manga version, yes, but still nothing suggests he acted right after that. He could still have taken some time for preparations or whatever.

[Vegeta th3 4th]

We actually have 4 timelines:

1- The main timeline we're all familiar with.

2- The timeline which Trunks is from.

3- The timeline which Cell's from where he killed Trunks.

4- The timeline that Trunks was going back to before getting killed by Cell. This timeline in particular is interesting, because it's one in which Goku didn't die in, and one that still had a Cell growing in that basement.

[Desassina]

The years in that chart are surprisingly accurate, with the exception that we don't know when Majin Buu saga happens to Trunks. It's somewhere after AGE 788 and before AGE 796. Goku Black witnessed the death of Kaioshin of East in the manga version, yes, but still nothing suggests he acted right after that. He could still have taken some time for preparations or whatever.

Thanks to the Age Keeper, I was able to correct it back then, hence why it's close to accurate .

[GurixDr34]

Cell Timeline Future Trunks Timeline Super Goku Black Timeline Zamasu Timeline i wonder which one is the Original? for me its the Cell Timeline you can even consider the Bardock special the 2011 OVA as another paradox with Bardock traveling to the past

[TobyS]

What paradox?

There is none? That is to say going back in time and creating a sufficiently large paradox creates a new timelines.

Putting aside Super there's Cells Timeline, The Unseen Timeline, The "Main" timeline, Future Trunks timelines.

What do you consider a plot hole or contradiction that needs explaining?