How powerful is Android 21 ?

[Keedounan]

Android 21 might be one of the hardest characters to pinpoint due to the presence of the waves inhibiting everyone (including herself), as well as the fact that she tends to absorb people quite a lot. Here is my opinion.

Original power (good side dominant): 21 is far stronger than Cell ever was according to 16, which appears to be true in the third arc when she managed to defeat him even even after he has drastically powered up by using the artificial soul he has been implanted with, while she was still inhibited by the waves. In Cell's defense, though, 21 was backed up by 16, 18 and 17 (who noted that their performance against him in a 4 vs 1 was unimpressive). That makes her the android with highest natural power as well as the highest potential (as indicated by 16). I would also assume that since she has Boo's datas, she must be at least stronger than him.

Original power (evil side dominant):

1st arc: for the 3 arcs, I'll assume that everyone recovered most of their power by the end of the story through linking. Even after absorbing Freeza, Cell, Nappa and the Ginyu Force, she still lost to the combined blast of the Z-Fighters.

2nd arc: since she hasn't absorbed anyone worth mentionning in this arc, she's undoubtedly weaker than in the first arc. Notably, 4th form Freeza, Perfect Cell and SSJ Goku at their full power, thanks to Bulma overreading the waves, are enough to defeat her.

Good/Evil 21: As with Boo, the evil side alone is obviously weaker than the original 21, but she took most of her power, making her far more powerful than Good 21 even before she absorbed Cell.

Good 21 (End of FighterZ): after becoming much stronger and no longer inhibited by the waves, she is able to hold her own against her evil side (who has absorbed Cell and many clones) in a one on one fight for an extended period of time, but is still unable to defeat her, since even alongside Goku and the others, 21 was still considerably weaker than her evil persona.

Evil 21 (Cell absorbed): the strongest incarnation of the character. After regaining their full power due to the wave machine being destroyed by 21, Vegeta states that even their full power isn’t going to be enough to beat 21, and that the only chance of victory is if they acquire “new power”, in contrast to the first arc, where he boasted that he could beat 21 alone if he had his full power. Also, thanks to her endurance and regeneration, the combined might of Goku in his Super Saiyan forms, Super Saiyan Vegeta, Ultimate Gohan, Piccolo, Krillin, Androids 18 and 17 and the Android 21's true persona is not enough to defeat her. She is even able to hold off a Spirit Bomb fired by Goku.

To sum it up, I would say...

Evil 21 (Cell absorbed) > Good 21 (End of FighterZ) > Original 21 (1st arc) > Original 21 (2nd arc) > Original 21 (base power) > Evil 21 > Good 21

As for the general powerscaling, I would put her base power at least in the same realm as SSJ Goku (post-God), and all versions besides Good 21 (before EoF) and Evil 21 (pre-Cell) are significantly above that level.

 

[Keedounan]

bump

 

[Captain Cadaver]

I agree with the analysis and the chain. It's hard to pinpoint whether Goku/Vegeta and Piccolo are indeed as strong as their post-God selves and U6 Arc self respectively though given even after the waves' effects were removed, as they don't seem to be leagues above all the other characters. For instance, there's each of the good guys contributing to the final battle in the Super Warriors Arc, as well as the Enemy Warrior Arc implying Cell to at the very least be on par with True form Freeza (though I guess you could assume his broken assortment of DNA gave him an instant GAINZ hax like Freezie boi).

Assuming they are indeed as strong as their main series' selves, then original #21 from the 1st arc ought to be vastly above U6 Arc SSJ Goku/Vegeta and Initial Manga Hit, given it took the combined power of SSJ Goku/Vegeta, Piccolo and the rest of the fighters to bring her down. She's most likely around their SS2 level, with the rest of the #21 incarnations scaling as not being massively superior or inferior to her.

Alternatively due to the game mechanics with Goku's Meteor Smash, you could assume that Goku used SS3 during the battle or at least for the #21 Arc, which would make him resorting the the Genki-Dama far more believable. This would be a more unlikely route though, seeing as how Freeza can still use his Golden form in battle via the same method despite stating the waves had prevented him from using it.

 

[Keedounan]

Another opinion ?

 

[Papasmurf]

I wouldn't trust the meteor smash mechanics considering it's openly stated Freeza can't go golden in the story mode, but they did nothing to seal off his Golden form MS.

Although in fairness, SSJB clearly requires more ki to activate than SSJ3 so you could just say Galu could still use it momentarily, I dunno.