Why was Ginyu so slow?

[SSJ2]

For a guy with a power level of 120,000, it's almost inconceivable for him to be slower than Butta, regardless of how fast Butta was. Goku was fast enough to outspeed Butta while only using a battle power of 60,000. Furthermore, when Ginyu fought Goku, he proved to be far slower than Goku while fighting at equal powers, despite having greater reserves. Any thoughts as to why this might be?

 

[Pocket-Gog~]

Ginyu skipped leg day

 

[Papasmurf]

Maybe he wasn't really used to that body

 

[Pocket-Gog~]

Serious response though: I recall that in Dragon Ball there's multiple times when speed and strength are implied to be seperate from one and the other. Cell was able to raise his speed independently of his strength in his fight against Gohan. So it could be a case of Ginyu being strong but slow.

 

[SSJ2]

Ginyu skipped leg day

Bro he was yuge

I'd probably agree with Kenshi's answer if anything. Maybe constantly switching body had this effect on him. Even Recoome who is evidently the bulkiest of the force didn't seem to lack speed. It's bizarre that the most gifted among them would have such a deficit.

 

[sei'taer]

For a guy with a power level of 120,000, it's almost inconceivable for him to be slower than Butta, regardless of how fast Butta was. Goku was fast enough to outspeed Butta while only using a battle power of 60,000. Furthermore, when Ginyu fought Goku, he proved to be far slower than Goku while fighting at equal powers, despite having greater reserves. Any thoughts as to why this might be?

Butta's claim was always a pretty easy bluff. There's no way Ginyu was slower than him based on Ginyu's fight with goku. Goku was faster sure, but he didn't outclass Ginyu anywhere near the level he's faster than Butta.

Speed doesn't correlate directly with strength. I mean you see right here with Butta, he's around the same strength as Jeice and Recoome, but much faster.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

There's a definite difference between one's flight speed and combat speed. This can be seen several times in the series, such as Goku running across the 1,000,000km Snake Road taking roughly a day whereas a far weaker Piccolo's Ki blast got to the moon in seconds, or Gohan thinking that testing out his speed against Kinto'Un, which has only been shown to fly at supersonic speeds, was in any way a noticeable benchmark for any bukujutsu user in Z (bar Videl). Even if Ginyu has greater combat speed, there would be nothing inconsistent about Butta having greater travel speed when the correlation between them is consistently inconsistent, especially when it could be part of Butta's mutation (assuming all the members of the Ginyu Tokusentai are mutants).

Butta's claim was always a pretty easy bluff.

Ginyu was the one who first made the claim, so there would be no reason for it to be a bluff.

 

[Future Warrior]

Perhaps the gravity training that Goku went through just boosted his speed more than it normally would. It's more that Goku is just simply that fast rather than Ginyu being slow.

Piccolo thought that 3rd form Freeza's increase in Ki wouldn't amount to a speed advantage over him (maybe because he carries weights?), so there are a few examples where more power doesn't equate to more speed.

 

[sei'taer]

There's a definite difference between one's flight speed and combat speed. This can be seen several times in the series, such as Goku running across the 1,000,000km Snake Road taking roughly a day whereas a far weaker Piccolo's Ki blast got to the moon in seconds, or Gohan thinking that testing out his speed against Kinto'Un, which has only been shown to fly at supersonic speeds, was in any way a noticeable benchmark for any bukujutsu user in Z (bar Videl). Even if Ginyu has greater combat speed, there would be nothing inconsistent about Butta having greater travel speed when the correlation between them is consistently inconsistent, especially when it could be part of Butta's mutation (assuming all the members of the Ginyu Tokusentai are mutants).

Butta's claim was always a pretty easy bluff.

Ginyu was the one who first made the claim, so there would be no reason for it to be a bluff.

Except we all know it's not true. Ginyu is able to dodge goku's attacks before he even powers up, something the supposed "fastest in the universe" isn't capable of doing.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Of which I offered an explanation for in that post you quoted. Combat speed =/= Travel speed, and Butta's feats certainly point to Ginyu referring to the latter.

 

[Evil Vegeta]

I co-sign the combat-traveling speed stuff as well. Ginyu yelled out "He's even faster than me!!" when Goku showed off his speed.

After stealing Goku's body, Ginyu said the new body was even faster. We saw the same Ginyu with his hands full dealing with Gohan and Krillin, so his newfound speed meant jack in the actual fight.

 

[Tapion]

Finally someone lucid enough to recognize the blatant divide between travel and fighting speed in Dragon Ball, lol. I've seen way too many people try to pretend this is something people made up from night to day.

 

[SSJ2]

I co-sign the combat-traveling speed stuff as well. Ginyu yelled out "He's even faster than me!!" when Goku showed off his speed.

After stealing Goku's body, Ginyu said the new body was even faster. We saw the same Ginyu with his hands full dealing with Gohan and Krillin, so his newfound speed meant jack in the actual fight.

I always found this strange considering his newfound speed was no faster than Jheese's.

 

[KyuubiAhri]

Didnt ginyu state gokus body is faster than his own when he used body change? And at that time he had like 23K pl

 

[Papasmurf]

I co-sign the combat-traveling speed stuff as well. Ginyu yelled out "He's even faster than me!!" when Goku showed off his speed.

After stealing Goku's body, Ginyu said the new body was even faster. We saw the same Ginyu with his hands full dealing with Gohan and Krillin, so his newfound speed meant jack in the actual fight.

I always found this strange considering his newfound speed was no faster than Jheese's.

Maybe Toriyama deliberately made Ginyu still seem like a threat through his fast flight speed so the later reveal that he isn't able to properly control Galu's body is more shocking.

 

[theallpowerfulpuipui]

For a guy with a power level of 120,000, it's almost inconceivable for him to be slower than Butta, regardless of how fast Butta was. Goku was fast enough to outspeed Butta while only using a battle power of 60,000. Furthermore, when Ginyu fought Goku, he proved to be far slower than Goku while fighting at equal powers, despite having greater reserves. Any thoughts as to why this might be?

Butta's claim was always a pretty easy bluff. There's no way Ginyu was slower than him based on Ginyu's fight with goku. Goku was faster sure, but he didn't outclass Ginyu anywhere near the level he's faster than Butta.

I think this was actually pointed out in team four star when Burter was saying he was "the fastest" except for Ginyu and Frieza.

I think that Ginyu never had a lack in speed, he never fought Goku with his full speed. Then he saw 180,000 and was like "fuck that."

Now how he accessed Goku's speed and not his power was lazy writing and deus ex machina garbage. It was really a missed opportunity not to have the gang legitimately beat 'Goku' before taking on a much more powerful foe about an hour later.