Why Dragon Ball’s Power Creep Needs To Change

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Key Takeaways

  • Power creep in Dragon Ball has led to inconsistent power scaling, diminishing storytelling impact.
  • Eliminating power creep would lead to a clearer power hierarchy and less debating over character strength.
  • Transformations should serve as landmarks and each form should stay at the same level of strength throughout the story.

As a lifelong Dragon Ball fan, I’ve witnessed the evolution of our favorite characters from humble beginnings to cosmic titans capable of destroying entire planets with a casual punch. While the series has undeniably delivered epic battles and thrilling moments, the rampant power creep has left me scratching my head more often than not.

As a devoted fan, I can’t think of another anime quite like Dragon Ball, which sees its protagonist, Goku, undergo such an astounding power surge from the series’ early stages. Initially, Goku and his peers were typical Martial Artists, channeling their Ki for combat against formidable adversaries. Yet, even in those days, they demonstrated superhuman abilities, like destroying planets such as the moon.

In the present day, the world of Dragon Ball Super presents a stark contrast to its earlier portrayal of character strength. Characters who once battled with immense power have now evolved exponentially and can effortlessly destroy planets due to their multiversal strength. However, it’s worth noting that the power balance within the series is inconsistent, which we’ll delve into further. One significant contributing factor to this inconsistency is discussed below.

What Is Power Creep?

How Does Power Creep Affect Scaling?

In the world of Dragon Ball, power creep can be understood as the continuous growth in characters’ strength over time. This happens because the enemies they face grow stronger as the series advances. Consequently, after battling these adversaries, the base form of each character becomes more powerful. As a result, every character now possesses enough strength to offer some resistance against the new villains that the story presents.

This action disrupts the balanced progression of power levels and weakens the significance of events that occurred previously. For instance, in the series Dragon Ball Super, Goku in his base form now has more power than even the combined strength of Super Vegito at the conclusion of the Buu Saga. Not only is this illogical, but it’s also detrimental to the narrative as a whole.

Keep training and get stronger. I’ll always be one step ahead of you, though.

The issue at hand has traditionally been attributed to factors like Zenkai Boosts or the presence of Divine Ki, but the truth is that the narrative could have been stronger if power levels were consistently scaled. For instance, even though Goku possesses Divine Ki and appears in “Super”, his base form should always be less powerful than his Super Saiyan transformation from the Frieza Saga. This would provide a more solid basis for determining the strength of other characters moving forward.

Inconsistency in storytelling, such as power creep, becomes problematic because it often makes events later in the narrative seem arbitrary, like if Beerus had awakened or Moro returned earlier, their opponents’ powers would have been inconsequential. To maintain a coherent and engaging series, each transformation and character should be consistent regarding strength. For instance, Android 17 and Krillin being able to compete with Super Saiyan Blue Goku is an example of the issues power creep can create.

How To Fix This Issue

How Rectifying This Can Fix Power Scaling In Dragon Ball

If power imbalance (or “power creep”) were removed from Dragon Ball, and the power progression remained consistent for all characters, there would be significantly fewer discussions about who is stronger, as things would be much more straightforward. Power imbalance seems illogical because Android 17 and Krillin can perform equally against Goku despite not training nearly as intensely as he does.

As a gamer, I’ve noticed that each transformation in this series acts as a marker, showcasing the current power balance among the characters. If a character wants to surpass their current stage, they either need another transformation or a fusion. This system makes it simpler to assess the strength of different characters. For instance, if Kid Buu reappeared today, Goku could potentially defeat him in his base form without assistance.

This argument seems to be a simplistic way of diminishing the efforts and struggles the heroes endured in their past battles against this villain, if it’s suggested that an ordinarily weak character could now easily defeat him, due to their recent power increase. This type of power progression is often the subject of humor in the popular meme comparing Base Cabba to Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta, where it’s jokingly stated that the former would effortlessly beat a character who held the title of the strongest Dragon Ball character for nearly two decades.

To summarize, each modification to the sequence must have a significant role and maintain consistency throughout its power level. At no point in the narrative should Goku’s basic, untransformed state surpass the strength of his Super Saiyan form.

Dragon Ball can be streamed on Crunchyroll.

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2024-10-29 18:04