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[colorsofinquiry]

I had a thought regarding the conversation between Future Trunks and Goku, when the former talked to Goku after defeating Frieza.

The whole "Goku wanting someone to succeed him" thought may not have crossed Goku's mind if not for this conversation. At this point, Goku knows that if he died during a fight, the Earth's Dragon Balls will not resurrect him again, but maybe the Namek ones would. But what happens when you die not in a fight, but from a disease, and you know that this is not something the Dragon Balls can fix? In fact, given that all the Z-Fighters, including his son Gohan (Gohan may have died 13 years after the others, but he sadly did die) died because he was not there, that was a shocker already, and Goku must have wondered whether the others stopped training or didn't take it seriously.

This is where Goku might have the start of a realization that his friends might be relying on him a bit too much, and they need to find ways to face the dangers without his presence. In fact, this might be where Goku starts wondering who could succeed him, before thinking about Gohan. Of course, Gohan does not want to succeed his father, because even if he is stronger than Goku, he lacked the fighter's instinct, for which as I mentioned in this post, there is a possible reason for Goku not knowing about.

This is just a thought I had.

[dragon-ball-meta]

40 years ago today, a nifty little cartoon show premiered on FujiTV in Japan.

[colorsofinquiry]

One thing that came to my head in Dragon Ball Z was that Raditz’s arrival was an important moment in Goku’s life. I am not just referring to the Saiyan reveal, but also about Goku’s view on future fights.

When Raditz arrived, Goku was not training properly. Raditz defeated him pretty badly. In fact, Piccolo actually calls Goku out on this, saying that he had spent five years developing the Special Beam Cannon (Makankōsappō in Japanese). This fight hurt Goku badly and it ended with him sacrificing himself just to stop Raditz.

The point I felt was being made that Goku cannot slack on his training. Especially, now that he had learnt that there are more powerful warriors going to come in the future, and he had to prepare. Of course, Goku will take part in fights to improve himself, to test his limits, but even then, he cannot go in without any training. This is probably why he trains continuously, because he has probably not forgotten what happened with Raditz. This is just my head canon on something bugging me. You are free to disagree with it.

[colorsofinquiry]

Putting the Harry Potter books Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire really puts Peter Pettigrew (Wormtail)'s fate in perspective.

In Prisoner of Azkaban, by letting Pettigrew escape, Dumbledore said that he owed a debt to Harry. In Goblet of Fire, Pettigrew sacrificed his hand to give Voldemort his body back. In return, Voldemort gave him a silver hand, but dropped a line warning him not to waver in loyalty again. The silver hand is actually important. It seems that Voldemort had some sort of spell on it, so that if Wormtail's loyalty ever wavered for even a second, the hand may kill him.

This debt came back to haunt Wormtail, when he spared Harry in Malfoy Manor. That brief moment of hesitancy from Wormtail, probably was detected by the hand, and as a result the hand strangled him. Essentially, Wormtail has signed his death sentence way back in the Goblet of Fire.

[colorsofinquiry]

One of the things that has been noted about Goku and Krillin’s friendship is that Krillin tends to be pessimistic when Goku’s not around, and perks up visibly when Goku shows up.

One of the things that we are shown about Krillin’s childhood is that he was bullied in the Orin temple by the other monks in training. When these bullies showed up in the 21s World Martial Arts Tournament, look at how he shrinks back from them, Goku may not have completely understood that they were Krillin’s bullies, but he understood that Krillin was intimidated by these guys. That’s why he gives Krillin permission to go all out. Krillin would go on to do just that.

This is my long-winded way to say that given Goku has built his confidence when they were kids, its clear that Krillin has a very pessimistic view of himself, which we see a lot when Goku praises Krillin for improving and Krillin feels it was for nothing.

[theultradork]

I’ll say it again: if a character who was a victim of childhood abuse who overcame his insecurities and trust issues to find friends, who longed for a family of his own only to give up on that dream before it finally came true after so many years of being rejected, who gave his life for his friends and family without question, who took in someone who needed a home and a friend, who had their own set of trust issues and past trauma and helped them expecting NOTHING in return… If that character had been in literally any other series, the fandom, hell this SITE, would be all over him. But because it’s Krillin, they decide, quite literally, that he’s a joke, and that pain is meant to be mocked, and all his motivations must be utterly shallow. Unbelievable.

[nothing-here-90]

Don’t forget that when he actually does try to improve his life in various ways he gets ridiculed. On top of that, people complain about how the human characters don’t improve and aren’t relevant in any way. Krillin then does increase his strength but it’s Krillin so it’s considered an asspull.

[theultradork]

That too, yeah! Like Krillin legit got a big chunk of character development in Super, but because it was HIM it was “an asspull”, it was “sh!t”, it was stupid and anyone pointing out how he overcame his PTSD and learned to cope and improve on it was “an idiot”.

But we’ll get ten paragraph posts on how Vegeta so clearly had it and overcame it based on three dub-exclusive lines from a filler scene. We’ll get to hear nonstop about how the human characters are always ignored. We’ll get to hear about how it was SO AWESOME AND MAKES SENSE how Gohan literally asspulls his strength when fighting Kefla in Toyotaro’s manga, but Krillin finally overcomes that mental barrier, is stronger for it, and has almost a year or so to train with it and… him being even a little stronger is an asspull.

Literally everything he does is marginalized by this fandom, and everything he suffers is mocked.

[colorsofinquiry]

Its sad to see haters deny Krillin's growth. He needs to be respected for not only confronting his fears but learning and growing from them the way he did in Super.

[dailycupofcreativitea]

Goku and Gohan hugging redraw 🥹

[colorsofinquiry]

One thing about Goku and Vegeta’s rivalry that has been noticed is that the rivalry is from Vegeta’s side. From Goku’s perspective, after his first fight with Vegeta, he said that he wanted to fight Vegeta again, but it was only to test his limits and to surpass them. From Vegeta’s perspective, his ego was hurt that Goku was able to raise his power level above his own, and this is important. Until meeting Goku, who he saw as a Saiyan reject, Vegeta saw himself as the elite, the mere idea that a reject surpassed him on a power level shocked him. It always been about a power level struggle, not a defeat, because Goku has not defeated Vegeta, but his power level has been below Goku, and a gap emerged, especially during the Cell Game and the realization that Vegeta faced that led him to have his mind taken over by Babidi, just to get a boost to close the gap.

[db-shipposting]

so given all this

and especially this

remind me why people think Krillin is the most likely to be cucked again? the dude who actually keeps his wife happy is somehow the cuckhold candidate in this show?

make it make sense

[db-shipposting]

and before any of you decide to get it twisted, I’m not saying Vegeta should be either just that these standards make no sense Bulma can somehow be portrayed as happy with Vegeta despite all this, people have zero issue seeing it, but the moment 18 says something harsh people are hooting and declaring she’s bored with krillin and probably letting someone else smash and it just… makes no sense to me how the one is accepted and not the other

or why Yamcha gets branded as some neglectful lover in comparison for that matter

[kuramirocket]

Also the same way people say Goku is a bad father and doesn’t love his wife or family, meanwhile Vegeta is the epitome of a family man. And it’s like what show are these people watching?? Bulma, as shown above, has complained various times that Vegeta leaves for long periods of times to train without visiting sometimes for weeks or months. And Vegeta is definitley a lot less likely to show affection unlike Goku who is kind and supportive despite disliking pda.

Like don’t get me wrong, Vegeta does love his family, ofc, he does. We’ve seen him show great anger and rage when his loved ones are hurt. Just like Goku.

What’s annoying are these double standards. Goku is demonized and labeled a bad family man for the same exact things Vegeta does!!

[colorsofinquiry]

I know there’s this thought in the Harry Potter fandom, that Voldemort should have used a random object as a horcrux. But the story itself makes it clear that he would not do that.

From the time we see Voldemort as a kid, it is shown that he loved to collect objects, or souvenirs. The box we are shown in Dumbledore’s memory clearly showed that he had stolen these from others and loved to keep it. This is important because it shows a secondary purpose to the horcruxes. In essence, how did Voldemort get the objects? He stole them from others (Nagini and Harry may not count). Voldemort stole the objects and then had a portion of his soul kept in them. Its not just a way to grant himself immortality, but it’s also a mark to show that these were his possessions and nobody can take them. Sure, he may give these to others for safekeeping, but ultimately, they were his.

Dumbledore rightfully knew that Voldemort would not use random objects, which is why seeing his memory of his first meeting with Voldemort was important.

[colorsofinquiry]

I just had a thought regarding the Buu Saga of Dragon Ball Z, specifically why Gotenks failed.

The idea to teach Goten and Trunks the fusion technique was a last ditch effort, because Vegeta and Gohan, whom Goku would have taught the technique were dead (Gohan was still alive, but they didn't know). While Goku hyped the technique, there was a problem that he didn't think about, the personality.

See, Goten and Trunks may had more power than their fathers at their respective age, but they are still kids, so while Goku does impress the seriousness of the situation on them, he didn't have any idea on what would be the kids' personality when fused.

When Gotenks was formed successfully, the arrogance of the boys came through, and it got them beaten up. That was the issue : the arrogance. This arrogance was a huge problem for the boys. Even in the fight against Super Buu, Gotenks did a lot of showboating, and it led to bad consequences (the others dying). Piccolo really had to deal with their arrogance a lot, which knowing their fathers must have pissed him tremendously.

In fact, its likely why the boys were kept out of fights in Super, because no one wants to deal with their arrogance again, or watch them escalate a situation.

[colorsofinquiry]

I didn't think much about two scenes between Goku and Chi-Chi that take place post Trunks killing Frieza and in the Android Saga.

The first scene is after Trunks has explained the threat of the Androids, and the Z fighters resolve to fight to change the future. After Goku asks Piccolo to train with him and Gohan, they go back where Goku and Chichi have a discussion. Naturally, Chi-Chi is angry and Goku is trying to be calm and explain that Gohan wants to fight. Of course, it ends in Goku accidentally knocking her out of the house because he doesn't understand his strength. The second scene is when Goku recovers from the heart virus and decides to train in the Time Chamber. He asks Chi-Chi if he could take Gohan with him to train as well.

The reason I am bringing these two scenes is because we see Goku and Chi-Chi discuss Gohan's involvement in battles for the first time. In the Saiyan saga, they could not discuss it because Goku dies and Gohan got kidnapped. While the Frieza saga involved Gohan deciding to go with Krillin and Bulma on his own. These two actually shows them discussing as parents about their child. Goku asking Chi-Chi for permission shows how much he values her permission to train Gohan, because he knows how protective she is of him, along with everything that has happened plus how important Gohan's studies are to Gohan. Goku does not want to disrupt his son's education unless there is no choice.

I may be reading too much into it, but its a thought.

[colorsofinquiry]

The more I watch The Dark Knight Rises, the more I see it is as a very interesting movie. One of the subplots is about the relationship between Bruce and Alfred. When Bruce is introduced in the movie, it’s made clear that he has been a recluse for a while, and Batman was not seen for eight years. After Selina steals his fingerprints, Bruce goes back to the Batcave to figure out who she. When he and Alfred discuss her, Alfred jokingly says that Bruce and Selina should exchange notes over coffee. Bruce retorts about Alfred setting him up with a thief, and Alfred retorts that he would set Bruce up with a chimpanzee if it meant that Bruce would go back into the world.

This is where we see Alfred’s frustration with Bruce. Its clear that Bruce was hit hard with Rachel’s death plus his belief that she chose him over Harvey Dent. Alfred also burned the letter that Rachel had written where she said she chose Harvey over Bruce to avoid hurting Bruce more. Its clear that this choice was now showing consequences. Alfred tells Bruce that losing people is a part of living, but Bruce is not living, he was just waiting for things to go bad to become Batman again. He tells Bruce about his fantasy of seeing Bruce with a wife and kids at a café in Florence. And then, Bane’s arrival makes Bruce want to put the cowl again.

After seeing Bane in action, Alfred gets more worried and tells Bruce that he is quitting. He can’t bear to see Bruce die, and he will be content if Bruce decided to stop going down his path of destruction and finally reveals the truth. Naturally, Bruce is hurt and calls out Alfred for using Rachel to stop him. Alfred feels that it was time to let the truth out. Bruce being hurt, bids farewell to Alfred.

All of this was my long way to say that given the fact that Alfred is Bruce’s parental substitute, this subplot feels like a father watching his child go down a path that will definitely end in his child’s destruction and he can’t bear to see that. He shares his hope that his child would lead a better life instead. Sadly, the child is determined to go down that path.

That’s why Bruce decided to fulfil Alfred’s fantasy. He went to the café with Selina to show Alfred that he had indeed stopped going down that destructive path and truly moved on, giving Alfred, who is like his father peace and the idea that he had not failed.

This is just an opinion.

[colorsofinquiry]

Looking back at the Gohan v/s Cell fight, I realized that Goku’s gamble on Gohan’s hidden powers makes sense. Goku was aware of two things, one that Gohan was stronger than him. He trained him to be stronger than him. Second, Cell had both Saiyan and Frieza’s cells in him. So, he decided to take advantage of that Saiyan instinct in Cell to make Cell bring about his own destruction.

Giving Cell a Senzu bean was also because Cell had lost energy, and in a way Goku negated the fact that Gohan had an advantage because he was fresh while Cell had lost a huge chunk of energy.

The only flaw in the plan that Goku did not account for was Gohan’s reluctance, on which I have expressed my opinion in this post as to why he might not have considered it. Nevertheless, fans like to ignore that once Piccolo’s words got through to Goku, he made up his mind to screw that plan and take a Senzu bean to go back into the fight, but Cell stole the beans, so he could not.

[colorsofinquiry]

I just had an interesting thought on Dumbledore's injury that he sustained between the events of Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince.

In the Half-Blood Prince chapter, "Spinner's End", when Snape, Narcissa and Bellatrix are discussing about Dumbledore, Snape said that the duel with Voldemort had shook him and he had sustained an injury because his reactions were getting slower. It may be true to some extent, but I believe Snape said that because Dumbledore may have told him so.

In The Deathly Hallows, when Dumbledore and Harry are conversing about Dumbledore's usage of the stone in the chapter "King's Cross", Dumbledore said that he lost his head when he saw the stone, because he was overcome by his belief that he could use the stone and see his parents and his sister and apologize to them. He forgot that the ring would be a Horcrux, hence his injury.

Its highly possible, that Dumbledore may have given his injury this spin to others, because he didn't want others to know about his personal affairs. Given that he admits to Snape that he was tempted by the ring, and when Snape questions him on what tempted him and Dumbledore did not answer, it quite likely that he didn't want anyone to know.

[colorsofinquiry]

Episodes 75-76 of Dragon Ball Super are becoming my favorite episodes because of the role they play for Krillin.

When Krillin is on his job as a police officer, he gets injured by a stray bullet. #18 chides him for getting injured by a stray bullet. Its clear she's worried for him, because she did not expect his durability to get lower. Marron also wonders whether her dad was weaker. This spurs him to accept Goku's decision to spar before they both go to Master Roshi's island like the old days.

This is where we see the issue Krillin is facing. Master Roshi catches on that Krillin is feeling lost. He feels frustrated with his strength and wants to grow, but he had no idea how. Roshi explains that he can feel this in the hesitations in Krillin's punches and footwork. Krillin then opens up about Marron wanting a strong dad, and #18 calling him timid. Its clear that what happened in the episode has impacted him deeply on top of everything he has gone through.

By this point, Krillin has died thrice, plus the enemies they have faced were stronger than he was and he feels like a weakling surrounded by 2 full Saiyans, 3 Hybrid Saiyans, a Super Namek and his own wife, along with the case that he cannot catch up to his best friend. All of this has weighed him down.

This is why I think Master Roshi sends him along with Goku to the Forest of Death. It was more for Krillin than Goku, because Krillin had to confront his fears and face them head on. He himself admits that this is what Roshi wanted him to do. After this, Krillin finally decides to start training again.

That's why these episodes are good, as they give Krillin his desire to become stronger again, and play into his growth.

[dragon-ball-meta]

Absolutely beautiful callback.

[colorsofinquiry]

It took me a while, but I am glad I remember this one.