Current Events > Trunks going SSJ for Frieza was an incredible scene

(+) Yeah! (+)

1:21
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6FboEQRRsI

Frieza's look of fright, Trunk's taunting, King Cold's fearless curiosity. Captured it so well, and such a great way to transition into the next arc

Trunks has the best introduction in all of Dragon Ball/Z/Super. That whole sequence is one iconic moment after another.

I forget how slow DBZ used to be.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

That's...not really what a Deus ex Machina is. His presence is a very major part of the ongoing plot from there. Plus, Goku said when he arrived that he was about ready to use Instant Transmission to come down and wipe up Frieza himself.

Deus ex Machina is reserved for things that come out of literal nowhere to solve an unsolvable problem, whereas Trunks is more of an enigma who brings with him a greater purpose and plot development. He's basically the exact opposite of a Deus ex Machina. He's there to move the story forward, not to tie it up neatly.

Gobstoppers12 posted...

Trunks has the best introduction in all of Dragon Ball/Z/Super. That whole sequence is one iconic moment after another.

This

I remember watching this in 03 as a teen, I rented the trunks special vhs and watched this scene on that.

Gobstoppers12 posted...

That's...not really what a Deus ex Machina is. His presence is a very major part of the ongoing plot from there. Plus, Goku said when he arrived that he was about ready to use Instant Transmission to come down and wipe up Frieza himself.

Deus ex Machina is reserved for things that come out of literal nowhere to solve an unsolvable problem, whereas Trunks is more of an enigma who brings with him a greater purpose and plot development. He's basically the exact opposite of a Deus ex Machina. He's there to move the story forward, not to tie it up neatly.

how do you figure these things out by watching the scene? Genuinely curious, your analysis is very insightful

WalkingLobsters posted...

how do you figure these things out by watching the scene? Genuinely curious, your analysis is very insightful

I've seen DBZ a bunch of times. I know it pretty well at this point lol

WalkingLobsters posted...

how do you figure these things out by watching the scene?

at the risk of sounding insulting, it's not my intention, having a basic understanding of story flow and structure helps a lot

Ugh, maybe it's cause I'm American and I grew up with dub, however I just cannot get into Japanese DBZ. It really bothers me that the same elderly woman voices Goku, Gohan, and Goten as just a starter. Also did they change the music when they went dub as well? That bass got way funkier than I remembered.

WalkingLobsters posted...

how do you figure these things out by watching the scene? Genuinely curious, your analysis is very insightful

Because he knows what comes after. Trunks went there to warn them about the androids and save Goku's life with future medicine, doing this caused different androids to be the antagonists as well as Cell, as Cell was only a thing because of Trunk's time-traveling. He's the reason the whole android/cell saga exists. Trunks is also present throughout all of that.

Nostalgia aside, to me it was the start of why DB is so awful.

It was like the start of...
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/4/7/AAYK8WAAEpAj.jpg

NatsuSama posted...

Nostalgia aside, to me it was the start of why DB is so awful.

I sincerely feel like the Android/Cell Saga was the best part of DBZ.

Gobstoppers12 posted...

I sincerely feel like the Android/Cell Saga was the best part of DBZ.

It was great when I was a kid. It became awful for me mid teen and beyond due to how it played out, power scaling getting nonsensical, transformations being questionable, and the level of stupidity the heroes kept perpetuating. And the Buu Saga cranked the problems up even more. I didn't watch Super, but I heard it gets even worse.

Not knocking those who want to like it, just saying for me nostalgia is the only thing DB had. I couldn't even touch Super and what little I do know about it makes me not want to.

Gobstoppers12 posted...

I sincerely feel like the Android/Cell Saga was the best part of DBZ.

It's one of the best written sagas for sure, well at least until Perfect Cell when it then kinda sucked.

And it's odd because Toriyama's editors had him change the story several times.

DoctorPiranha3 posted...

And it's odd because Toriyama's editors had him change the story several times.

I think that's one of the reasons it's so unique. The different developments and subversions made the story a lot more dynamic. It was literally impossible to guess what might happen next, and Toriyama did a good job taking the editor's input in stride to make a compelling story out of it.

Definitely wouldn't classify that Saga as a compelling story.

Tbh, I think Cell saga felt like a good conclusion to the story. The whole build-up of DBZ being Gohan's potential and ending with him finally passing up the legendary Goku and ascending beyond the mythical super saiyan form Vegeta thought as the ceiling of the saiyan race felt like a great conclusion to that story.

NatsuSama posted...

Definitely wouldn't classify that Saga as a compelling story.

I would. Thank you for your opinion, though!

PiOverlord posted...

Tbh, I think Cell saga felt like a good conclusion to the story. The whole build-up of DBZ being Gohan's potential and ending with him finally passing up the legendary Goku and ascending beyond the mythical super saiyan form Vegeta thought as the ceiling of the saiyan race felt like a great conclusion to that story.

but he didn't pass him up. Gohan gets arrogant and gets wrecked, and Goku has to step in and guide him every step of the way

there was a lot more to gohan's arc that the Buu saga was supposed to complete but failed to