Can Dabura and Babidi sense chi?

[ahill1]

Well, they seemingly sensed them when they were hiding on the rocks, but then were completely taken aback by their performance...

What do you think?

 

[SSJ2]

No. Didn’t Dabra want to take on everyone at the same time after witnessing SSJ2 Goku’s burst power?

 

[ahill1]

Well, he seemed to be going off of the chiri meter for SSJ Goku's power, so maybe it can be argued Dabura and Babidi couldn't sense them from where they were.

 

[GreatSaiyaman123]

They can't and it's never implied they can, it's shown in a couple situations.
1) Babidi and Dabra require the Kili Meter to sense SSJ Goku's power and are unaware of SSJ2 Goku's strength (Though it can be argued Goku was too far to be sensed, being in Yakon's planet and stuff).
2) Babidi and Dabra can't sense Boo's cloud forming above them, and Dabra thinks Boo has no power despite Gohan considering him a serious threat.

It's not the default for one to sense Ki, it's an ability mostly related to deities/good characters who have trained their spirites and such. Babidi and Dabra are shown to be sorceres/dark magic users and Babidi even possesses his own crystal ball, an object strongly related to divination. That even explains how he found out about the Saiyans: He most likely divinated who were the strongest between them, akin to how he somehow knew the Budokai would have people with enough strength to revive Boo, but didn't know who or how exactly.

 

[SSJ2]

I agree with most of what you said GSM.

The fact that he sent Pocus out to fight all 3 Saiyans + Kaioshin tells me that he/Dabra cannot sense. I don’t buy the “they couldn’t sense them from their location”. They were both in the same space ship..

 

[GreatSaiyaman123]

What do you think he was sensing, SSJ2? I like the idea of Babidi being clairvoyant, but the way Guidebooks have never classified him as one makes me doubt it a bit.

I'm not sure if they were on the same location. Goku and co. were moved to Yakon's planet, whilst Babidi stayed back on the ship.

 

[SSJ2]

I don’t think there is a logical way to make sense of what Babidi/Dabra saw, but I guess by using the Kiri meter?

Clearly it differentiates between weak and strong energy, so I assume that is what they were going by.

Also I am referring to before the group was teleported to Planet Zoon. They were all on the same ship still. Dabra said that the energy of the 3 Base Saiyans would fill half of Boo’s prior to the group moving planets. Given that he/Babidi were still confident in Pocus to beat the all, it seems pretty clear they had no accurate read on their power. Babidi even asked how the earthlings had this much power despite Dabra saying they could fill half of Boo’s meter.

 

[ahill1]

[mention]SuperSaiyan2[/mention]

Well, Babidi and Dabura weren't using the Kiri meter there, likely, as all the warriors were suppressed down to 0, and as we can see in the scan you posted Spopo didn't detect Gohan as a high energy when he was suppressed.

But yeah, it probably wasn't chi-sensing there, as they were all suppressed. Magic maybe?

 

[SSJ2]

I’m not sure. I’d have to read the entire segment over as it has been a while. I just know that regardless of what explanation you try to come up with, something will not make sense.

 

[Let's Go Fearless!]

They can sense but they're terrible at it.

 

[Boo Brand Milk]

They can sense but they're terrible at it.

This seems to apply to everyone after the Frieza saga, even the Androids.

 

[GreatSaiyaman123]

[mention]SuperSaiyan2[/mention] I know we both disagree with that, but what are your thoughts on Babidi’s claim that the Base Saiyans can fill the meter and all the implications that SSJ2 Gohan is fodder overall?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

For reasons GSM already covered, no, they can't. The only scene pointing to the contrary would be Dabura somehow discerning who the three strongest members of the group were, but I'd chalk that up to either Dabura somehow having the most inconsistent Ki sensing in the series or it simply being a retcon; and in the case of retcons, the later material always takes precedent on the canon in DB after the Saiyan Arc such as Super Saiyan being always remembered as a Saiyan legend rather than the joke Nappa and Vegeta had for hybrids or how characters conveniently forget Trunks originally said #19 and #20 were the Artificial Humans in his timeline.

 

[GreatSaiyaman123]

Nappa’s joke about Super Saiyan and the Super Saiyan legend don’t contradict each other.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Nappa’s joke about Super Saiyan and the Super Saiyan legend don’t contradict each other.

The tone in which Nappa states it whilst also talking about repopulating the Saiyan race without factoring in the new generation being far stronger seems to definitely go against the idea of him treating "Super Saiyan" as this legendary, invincible warrior that only one person can be.

Spoiler

 

[GreatSaiyaman123]

Or he's just comparing a hybrid to the idea of a Super Saiyan. Or he's just using the adjective "Super" to describe a hybrid and coincidentally sounds the same as the legend. I think you're overthinking it, [mention]Captain Cadaver[/mention].

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Or he's just comparing a hybrid to the idea of a Super Saiyan.

If that were the case, Vegeta would've definitely rebuked him with something like "only I could become a Super Saiyan", considering how seriously he treat the idea of the legend in the following arc.

Or he's just using the adjective "Super" to describe a hybrid and coincidentally sounds the same as the legend.

Nappa says it as "Suupa" in Japanese just like the transformation rather than using the common kanji form of "Chou" so it's highly unlikely he was using it as an adjective.

I think you're overthinking it,

Or Toriyama wasn't thinking that hard when first using the term, then needed something to refer to his plot device transformation as in the next arc.