s0nicfan posted...
if it's all arbitrary and decided at the author's whim than you really need to stop pretending like Bulma wasn't central to the plot since the author's whim specifically made her a core part of the story and Goku's journey.
The author's whim didn't make her a core part of the story. The only thing she did was encounter Goku at the start, which someone else could have done (and was going to do sooner or later, as we see with Pilaf), and then she's just used as the butt of countless perverted, misogynist gags for the rest of her time in the series. Since she's only relevant for a very small part of the story at best, you can write her out entirely and nothing important would change.
You can't be important to a plot if the plot itself is unimportant lol. It's nothing more than an excuse to show fighting; if you're not fighting, then you're worthless in the series because you aren't what brings the money in.