Piccolo’s statement on the androids

[GreatSaiyaman123]

Chapter: 347 (DBZ 153), P3.2-3
Piccolo: “It seems that in the original history, we were supposed to be wiped out by you two androids…But it looks like the future has changed somehow…Was it that you weren’t as strong as we thought?...Or have we grown too strong?...

I’m not sure what to make of this. Piccolo knows his own strength and 20’s strength from fighting him. So why is he unsure of whether he was too strong or the androids were too weak?

 

[SSJ2]

He's not unsure of where he stands against these androids. He's unsure of how the future changed, whether they became too strong or if the androids were weaker than expected.

 

[SIAD]

It means that the Androids turned out to have the minimum power within the expected range.

Only slightly stronger than SSJ Trunks (Debut) instead of much stronger than this.

 

[Hector]

I think it was both.

 

[GreatSaiyaman123]

I think it was both.

Piccolo’s wording here sounds like a either/or, situation, but Viz and the anime subs suggests it could be both. And it sort of was, since these androids weren’t even the real ones.

He's not unsure of where he stands against these androids. He's unsure of how the future changed, whether they became too strong or if the androids were weaker than expected.

So what does that mean for their powers? I’ve digged up the versions from Viz, Z and Kai for comparison.

Z

According to the original order of history, you two Artificial Humans were supposed to have killed about every single one of us. But it looks as though that future is going to change, doesn’t it? Does that mean you guys weren’t as strong as you were supposed to be? Or maybe… we just became too strong for you?

Kai:

Apparently, in the original history, we were supposed to be wiped out by two Artificial Humans, but it would seem that history has been changed. Are you not as strong as we thought you were? Or, instead… is it that we have come too strong for you?

“You guys weren’t as strong as you were supposed to be” sounds like Trunks was flat out wrong. Which is possible since these androids can absorb energy and their power is ever changing.

“Are you not as strong as we thought you were?” sounds like the Z Fighters simply overestimated the androids. Kai Piccolo isn’t calling them weak, just overrated. Like Piccolo > 20 > Trunks.

Viz has Piccolo pretty much saying “whatever, we won”. They definitely changed the line here so I’m not even bothering to post it.

Herms’ “you weren’t as strong as we thought” is pretty vague and I’m not sure whether Z or Kai got the meaning better.

 

[SSJ2]

So what does that mean for their powers? I’ve digged up the versions from Viz, Z and Kai for comparison.

There's really no need to make it that complicated. Toriyama has Piccolo present both options because both are true to some degree. Future Trunks spoke of Androids with immeasurable power that far outstripped him. The Z Senshi went ahead and became as strong as possible in preparation of this, and became too strong for the current Androids, but that isn't to say that they were so weak that they would lose to Trunks from 3 years ago. It's somewhere in between.

 

[Pyro]

It corroborates Vegeta's line that the androids weren't as terrible as Trunks made them out to be. It was a combination of the androids not being as strong as Trunks foretold and the Z Fighters powering up past their future selves, presenting worthy opposition.