Imperfect Cell (Initial) Battle Power?

[kriss-]

Is there any actual evidence that implies how powerful he was before absorbing people? Or can it be reasonably explained that he wasn't that powerful to begin with?

 

[sei'taer]

You mean before absorbing people in Gingertown?

There's pretty much no way to tell, since beyond piccolo sensing that he felt like goku and the others, no one senses him before he powers up after absorbing people. Kami sensed his general threat, but not his current power.

 

[kriss-]

Ohhh!!!

So he DOESN'T have to be stronger than 100% Organic Freeza? Cool. @Uchiha

 

[sei'taer]

I mean he doesn't have to be but it seems highly unlikely. He kills trunks before reverting to his larval form and I can't imagine his post larval imperfect form being that weaker. Cell just hides his chi.

 

[kriss-]

So what if Cell absorbed whomever was left in Trunks timeline? Before realizing that there weren't enough people left for him to over-power the Androids, but surely Trunks. Hence why he was FORCED to go back in time.

This makes much more sense.

 

[sei'taer]

That wasn't the implication we're given from trunks timeline when cell shows up to similarly steal the time machine.

 

[Evil Vegeta]

Cell said the Androids were gone in his timeline because Trunks defeated them. When he found Trunks, he just happened to come across the time machine.

 

[kriss-]

So he could have still theoretically absorbed the remaining humans and/or taken Trunks completely off-guard. I just went through the Manga and Cell doesn't say anything that discredits either of these theories.

 

[Tapion]

It is highly implied that he took Trunks off guard on his timeline because of the scene on Trunks's timeline after Trunks killed the Androids, where Cell tries to sneak on him.

 

[Papasmurf]

The future Cell implies that he was above the future cyborgs. No reason to assume he was born much weaker than them or Trunks, especially the latter who he considered to be an ant until being overpowered.

 

[kriss-]

Please list the statement, because Cell said nothing of the sort.

 

[Evil Vegeta]

Cell: “Trunks…All of your data has been scanned by the spy robot…With your power, you couldn’t possibly defeat No.17 or No.18, let alone me…”

There's no reason why Cell would go looking for the Androids if he was weaker than them.

 

[kriss-]

Cell: “Trunks…All of your data has been scanned by the spy robot…With your power, you couldn’t possibly defeat No.17 or No.18, let alone me…”

There's no reason why Cell would go looking for the Androids if he was weaker than them.

When Cell was fighting Kamiccolo, Android 16 said only ONE of them rivaled Android 17 or Android 18; Kamiccolo is the logical answer here, and this was after Cell absorbed a-lot of people.

The statement you brought does not imply that Cell hadn't already absorbed a myriad of people, it actually suggests the opposite. Because as we already know, Cell had to absorb hundreds of people to manage something against Kamiccolo, but he still wasn't strong enough to go up against 17 or 18 on his own.

 

[Evil Vegeta]

Cell regressed into an egg for four yrs. It's not a stretch to believe he weakened. Besides that, the same Cell said he couldn't find the Androids after he was activated. When he realized that Trunks most likely was the reason why, he went looking for him. There's nothing implying he went on an absorption spree anywhere. Not that there were many people in that time to begin with.

The human population was reduced to the ten thousands in the future according to Trunks. Cell had to absorb over a hundred thousand people to surpass Piccolo and the Androids. Cell was designed to absorb the Androids, so there's no reason why he'd be created to be weaker.

 

[kriss-]

There really no way we can make any other theory work, both are self consistent; albeit, neither side can can invalidate the other because both rely on some form of speculation.

Absorbing people has never been recognized as a stationary increase of battle power, because Babadi wondered how many hundreds of people Yamu and Spopobitch absorbed in order to attain as much energy as they did.

As it stands, I don't see a reason to think Cell was so powerful when he was first incarnated.

 

[Evil Vegeta]

There's no speculation. Cell was activated in the future and eventually realized the Androids were gone. That's straight-up telling us he went searching for them after he was activated. Outside of a Cell that had to revert to a larva for yrs, we're given no reason to assume he needed to absorb large amounts of people.

Trunks' timeline barely has any people left, so Cell wouldn't get anywhere close to the amount he got from the present. Future Cell did exactly the same thing his other counterpart did: went looking for Trunks after he couldn't find the Androids.

 

[kriss-]

There is speculation, you're assuming that he lost what he absorbed, this surely isn't a fact.

Absorption has never scaled linearly, so that is a reach on your part.

 

[Papasmurf]

Why would he be created to be weaker than the cyborgs he's intended to absorb? The amount of humans that were even alive in his time ain't even too different from the population of Gingertown, after which he still felt he was weaker than the cyborgs and Piccolo. Whereas his original self in his time clearly states he's more powerful. It's not a stretch to say he weakened after regressing to an egg and thus became inferior to both the future and present cyborgs; he even has an aura in the future and lacks one until absorbing many cities' worth of humans in the past.

 

[kriss-]

He was weaker than the Androids that he was intended to absorb, but absorbing people to maximize his capacity (in his initial form) was required before he would be capable of doing so. Otherwise the introduction of his tail and capability and stacking battle powers on top of his would be meaningless. Imperfect Cell tells Piccolo that is he approaching the limits of his current form and HAS TO absorb the Androids to continue to go further, but he was still too weak to take them on.

Wherever he was initially is up for anybody to interpret, but it doesn't mean your interpretation invalidates someone else's.

 

[Evil Vegeta]

I never said it was a fact, did I? I said he went looking for the Androids when he was activated, which is stated. If he went searching for them, then it means he was confident taking on both of them like he was after absorbing over a hundred thousand humans in the present. One points to him needing that amount, the other seemingly doesn't.

I'm not focused on how they scale. We're told there's simply less opportunity for him to gain power akin to what the other Cell did, so it wouldn't factor into anything.