Why was present Chibi Trunks so much stronger than future Trunks?

[ahill1]

I mean, they're practically the same persona.

 

[SSJ2]

Unless you think Future Trunks would be able to spar nearly equally with SSJ Gohan, then no. There are also some noticeable differences between them such as present Trunks being a mastered Super Saiyan without any training. That alone shows that they are different.

Edit: I misread your thread title as "Was present Trunks stronger", my bad.

Perhaps Vegeta was a Super Saiyan when he conceived present Trunks and wasn't at that level yet in the future.

 

[Future Warrior]

Seems like Kid Trunks was born with far more potential than the future version, for whatever reason.

 

[Papasmurf]

Vegeta probably passed more S-Cells into Present Trunks as a result of training harder in this timeline, I guess. Prior to Toriyama's asspull S-Cell explanation I would've just said Vegeta became SSJ before impregnating Bulma.

 

[Papasmurf]

I could also use the tailless half-Saiyan prodigy explanation from the Daizenshuu, but I doubt AT remembers nor has ever considered it, so...

 

[SSJ2]

Vegeta being more powerful is the most likely option. Look at the difference of Gohan and Goten at birth despite having the same parents.

 

[Papasmurf]

Future Trunks seems to have less potential than Gohan (pre-Super anime anyway) despite Vegeta at the time of Trunks' conception being leaps and bounds above Galu's power during Gohan's conception though.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

The most an official source has shed on the matter is Kid Trunks' bio in Kakarot.

"Much like Goten, Trunks was able to become a Super Saiyan without any special training. It's thought that the large amount of S-Cells passed down to him by his father may be the cause." - Trunks (Kid, Super Saiyan) summary, Z Warriors Character Index

Most likely, the same time travel shenanigans that caused #19 and #20 to appear or #17 and #18 to be stronger despite Trunks having no active interference with these things probably caused Present Trunks to have more S-Cells at birth. That, and Vegeta had more stimulus to get stronger in the main timeline when the existence of more than one Super Saiyan confirmed he could become one whereas his future timeline self having attained it at all is arguable manga-wise. Pretty sure either the Daizenshuu or SEG have Toriyama confirm the peaceful environment also played a part in better developing Trunks' power.