People in the Dragon Ball fan community, and Youtubers like SethTheProgrammer have been quite passionate in applying Battle Power scaling in Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, and currently Dragon Ball Super. This is in spite of the fact that such scaling has long been discontinued after Goku's first battle with Frieza back in Dragon Ball Z. I've even said it before that Battle Power scaling is thrown out in the battle against Merged Zamasu. Yet, these people insist the scaling still applies, somehow. And now with these recent episodes of Dragon Ball Super, fans are freaking out, throw tantrums or whatever, because once again, the scaling of Battle Powers is literally thrown out of the window.
Let's provide a bit of context so you can catch up just in case. The recent arc of Dragon Ball Super is the Tournament of Power, where 10 fighters representing each universe engage in a Battle Royale where the winner has its universe safe from being erased by the Omni-King. The tournament begins in less than 2 days and Goku is tasked to build a team of 10 fighters to represnet Universe 7 on such short notice .
A few episodes ago, Goku recruited Krillin and Android 18 to represent Universe 7. Prior to that, Goku and Krillin had a battle to see if Krillin has what it takes to compete in the Tournament of Power. Near the end, Goku activated his Super Saiyan Blue or SSB form, and both he and Krillin throw Kamehamehas at each other, but Krillin was able to hold it down.
"what the hell is going on?!" fans say because no way someone like Krillin can hold down a Kamehahema attack against a Super Saiyan Blue powered Goku. Does that mean Krillin is somehow just as powerful as Golden Frieza, or more recently Toppo?
Some say Goku was holding back by lowering his Battle Power to match Krillin's even in his Super Saiyan Blue form. I find that very hard to believe. The purpose of Goku's transformations is to multiply his base power, making him stronger.
Imagine this. Let's pretend Goku's Battle Power at the most basic level is 1000. When he goes Super Saiyan Blue, his base power is multiplied by another 1000. So 1000 x 1000 is 1 million. Krillin, at his strongest level is 500, which is HALF of Goku's own base power. Why would Goku go Super Saiyan Blue to have his power shoot WAY UP to 1 milliion, and then LOWER it to 500 to match Krillin's? If the purpose is for Goku to have an even fight with Krillin, it makes no sense for him to use the SSB form when he can just as well lower his power at base level.
Now in the most recent episode, Goku and Android 17 finally met for the first time. Historically, the two never met in Dragon Ball Z and their only encounter in the franchise prior to this episode was in Dragon Ball GT. In any case, the two went all out, Goku goes Super Saiyan Blue, throws a Kamehahema, and 17 erects a barrier that deflects it like it was NOTHING!
And everyone just went bonkers! "Why 17 is so strong now?!", "SSB IS A JOKE!", "Screw Toriyama!", are some of the initial reactions I see in social media outlets. And once again, everybody starts butting heads with one another TRYING to explain what is going on and STILL insist some Power Scaling is involved even when it's crystal clear in the anime it is not!
Let me put it this way. From the official announcement of the Tournament of Power in the series up until the actual start of the tournament, every episode we are seeing in Dragon Ball Super are, for the lack of a better word, filler. What I mean is the episodes where Goku recruits members for Universe 7 are stories the writers from Toei have come up with in order for the series to go for as long as possible. None of the episodes we are seeing so far, are part of creator Akira Toriyama's outline of events for the entirety of Dragon Ball Super. The manga version of Dragon Ball Super by Toyotaro is obviously way behind the anime version. But once it reaches the Tournament of Power arc, I will bet you ten bucks Toyotaro will not do chapters of Goku recruiting Krillin, 17, and the rest and will instead skip that part entirely and have everyone gathered up by the start of the Tournament. I would also think these "fillers" are also made so Toyotaro can catch up.
And because these episodes are "fillers", we are not supposed to take the power scaling, or lack thereof, in these episodes way too seriously, as they are not an integral part of the arc's narrative. The battles we see in these episodes are trivial at best. What really counts is what happens in the Tournament of Power and that is where we WILL see what was in Toriyama's outline.
Having said all of that, if I were to provide the most sensible explanation as to why Krillin and 17 are somehow catching up to Goku in terms of Battle Power, I can think of two theories. Let me re-iterate, that what I'm about to say are THEORIES and not facts.
1. Goku has defined Super Saiyan Blue as the Super Saiyan version of the Super Saiyan God or SSG. In other words, if we were imagine SSG as Goku's new base form, then SSB would be the equivalent of the Super Saiyan form (the first one).
However, throughout Dragon Ball Super, we never saw Goku activate the Super Saiyan God form again after his fight with Beerus. Instead, we always see him go SSB from his base form, or in rare occasions, while still in any of his previous Super Saiyan forms from 1 to 3. The perks of using SSB over Super Saiyan 2 or 3 is not just in terms of a stronger output in power. Goku can maintain the Super Saiyan Blue form for as long as he wants without draining his Ki in the process, a major drawback of the Super Saiyan 2 and 3 forms. You could say Super Saiyan Blue is, in a way, a better version of Super Saiyan 3. That, of course, opens a can of worms with regards to Super Saiyan 4 or what happened in Battle of Gods and all that, but let's set that aside for now.
2. Although the manga and anime are both different, with the similiraties being they follow parts that are from Toriyama's outline, it MAY be possible that Toei must've somehow slipped the mechanics of the Super Saiyan Blue form in the manga quietly into the anime because Goku is using it so very often in the latter. In the Toyotaro manga, it's been stated that the more times Super Saiyan Blue is used consecutively, the more it loses its power by up to 90%. This explains why in the manga Vegeta lost easily to Hit, as Vegeta used SSB on Cabba in the previous match, ergo losing the form's effectiveness when he used it again in his fight with Hit.
I would think it's a way to show Super Saiyan Blue is no longer as effective as it used to be and a new form is needed as per the Power Up Trope that Dragon Ball has been the staple of - For Goku to defeat the enemy, he needs to be stronger. For Goku to be challenged, the next enemy must be stronger than him. Rinse and repeat.
Again, everything I said earllier is just a theory. Not facts, just speculations, just guesses. And I said before, these episodes are "fillers" and shouldn't be taken seriously as they are not important to the actual Tournament where will see Toriyama's outlines in play.
Let me do a prediction. The next episode will have alien poachers going after the island Goku and Andorid 17 are protecting. These poachers won't be pushovers so Goku and 17 have to take them seriously. If Goku goes Super Saiyan Blue on one of them and the bad guy still puts up quite a fight, unless your brain is screwed to something, you can completely forget power scaling in Dragon Ball for good. It is gone. Se fue. Kieta. Meiliao. Nicht mehr. Bol'she ne nado. Andato.
I don't know. Maybe it would be a curbstomp and Goku beats them withoout having to go Super Saiyan. But this mini skirmish has to last for 15-20 minutes tops. So the alien poachers have to do something that would make Goku take them on a little more seriously. We will see when the episode comes.
Until then, keep calm, just put the power scaling aside, and just take the show as it is, for now.
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