Yo Qaaman, let me run something by you lol If Raditz never came to earth, then Nappa and Vegeta wouldn’t have known about the dragonballs and they wouldn’t have come to earth. If Nappa and Vegeta never came to earth, Piccolo wouldn’t have died and they wouldn’t need to go to Namek. If they never went to Namek, they would’ve never met Frieza and Goku wouldn’t have turned into a super saiyan. If Goku wasn’t a super saiyan, he wouldn’t stand a chance against the androids…so that’s why Raditz is the savior of Earth. Thoughts?

Man, I feel bad for Bulma in Original timeline...she found Trunks dead and time machine was missing and then she lived life alone...so depressing

Disclaimer: the HOT timeline is where goku black arc takes place. Quaaman’s line saying the earth is doomed if someone who is stronger than trunks was far truer than he ever thought

Even after 8 years, this is one of the best videos to explain the complicated timelines of Dragon ball

I don't know if you are gonna see this! I'm watching this ALMOST 7 years later and I want to say that's is probably this best video I've seen in my life! That's an amazing video and your work you've put in is UNREAL! Thanks a lot man!

This is probably one of your greatest videos Quaaman.

Man, this video revolutionized the dbz fandom. This was the biggest video back then because it brought so much logic to a fandom that was.. logically challenged.

Plot Twist: Dragon Ball GT is actually what happens in the unseen timeline...

Am I the only one who think that original timeline is kinda depresing...(no Z fighters, just Bulma) =/

Krillin - "So you're saying I can't just take your time machine go back to the past and tell myself not to date marron?"

I’ve always loved this video. The concept of Cell was great for a villain, but his backstory created a lot of plot holes for the show, which complicates the Android saga.

Man, this got made even messier in Super

This was so well done man. I've had similar general thoughts, so watching this video go in depth was amazing. Keep it up man.

dude u put a lot of work in this god job

I kind of feel sorry for Trunks man, first the androids, then cell, then goku black. Give his world a break :(

I can believe that the HoT androids killed the time traveling Cell. The HoT androids may have been weaker than the main androids, but they were much more vicious. They weren’t strangers to fighting dirty, often grouping up on opponents in a 2v1 battle, unlike the main androids that seemed to prefer 1v1 matchups. I can see imperfect cell having trouble subduing the both of them, even though they’re weaker.

This is honestly one of my favorite topics on Dragon Ball lol, everyone be confused asf. It's honestly an easy concept to grasp for me but I see why others find it difficult.

this is really thought out and well done, I'm really enjoying it. great job

it’s been 10 years since this video was released… wow! this was my first time ever trying to understand dragon ball logic like 5 youtube accounts ago😭 Qaaman is the GOAT

long story short. Akira's writing style just hopes the audience doesn't think too much about it.

I think this is a strong theory. I'd consider this official.

Man... time travel is so confusing sometimes. Lol.

Man, I would love to see an updated video on this with DBS' new timelines. This was one of my favorite videos of yours :)

20:30 Crazy how you predicted Dragon Ball Super lol

In my honest opinion, this is Qaaman's best video even after 8 years. No disrespect to his current work AT ALL. This video is just THAT good and it holds nostalgic value to me as well. Now that Dragon Ball Super has happened this video could probably be redone and updated due to the retcons and changes Super introduced. Also on a side note: I cannot listen to Solid State Scouter and not hear Qaaman's voice explaining something in the background of it. I don't know if any Dragonball KZfaqr has made a song from the series as synonymous with their channel as Qaaman has with Solid State Scouter. Iconic.

Get ready to update your charts because Trunks is coming back

What if Trunks just accidentaly typed 763 instead of another year ?

This makes so much sense. I was racking my brain trying to figure out how the hell did cell make his way to the main timeline from a completely different set of timelines that didn't really interact. But you pieced it together and explained it pretty well. This is very digestible too tbh. Your timeline map really helped alot otherwise these explanations would be just too abstract to grasp.

Am I the only one who understands the whole theory I found everything to make some sort of sense?

...my brain hurts...

Basically the androids would of been the true ending of dbz, if it weren’t for time travel. Pretty dark I say

I haven't been back to this video in a looong time, it definitely deserves more viewers with the amount of work in this video. I know this video is 8 years old, but I believe there is a way to fix the whole Cell problem in this video down below. Cell goes back into the past of the alternate timeline that was already created by Trunks from Timeline 1, thus creating an alternate timeline that branches from it. And of course, Future Trunks would also arrive 3 years later because he is a part of its history.

The second plothole you pointed could not be a plot hole. See, I think that trunks was setting the time in the timemachine, where he wanted to go but as he was navigating AGE 760....761....763....763 Cell showed up and trunks could not enter his intended timeline on the timemachine and got killed by cell. So cell entered the time machine and pressed the button and went to age 763. Does this make Sense?

Me: What the hell is the HOT timeline? Oh, History of Trunks. (facepalm)

6 years later and still my favorite video on KZfaq!!! Clears things up so well!!!

The original timeline is so depressing. The earth is in ruins & all of the Z fighters are dead.

With Future trunks coming to super. You will probably have to do a uodate video. lol

is anyone else scratching their heads while watching this video lol

Turns out the Blue Timeline turned out to be almost exactly like the Present timeline. Now we know the ''Future?'' :D

And this all happened because some doctor got mad at goku

Let me offer an "Occams Razor" explanation for why the Time Machine was set to 763 when Cell stole it from Trunks: We can see that Trunks was just preparing to climb into the machine as Cell came up on him. It's entirely possible (and the simplest answer) that Trunks hadn't yet punched in his intended destination of 767. It might just be the case that each digit is entered manually (push a button to increase number, 1 -> 2 -> 3 -> 5 -> 6 -> 7 etc.) and Trunks had only reached the age "763," when Cell ambushed him and killed him. And not knowing how to program the machine, himself, Cell just hopped in the machine and let it do its thing.

10 years later and still watching this video here and then , fantastic work ✨

"Multiverse Theory's a bitch."

i think you're giving this more thought than toriyama

Am I alone in that I understand his explanation perfectly? After his explanation I can wrap four timelines and five Cells around in my head and admit that the time travel cell in the H.o.T. timeline is a problem. The way I see it is that either he was too weak when he fought 17 and 18 and was killed by their combined efforts or 16 existed in this timeline and he defeated Cell but was destroyed/too badly damaged afterwards.

you must add another rule: "The cell who will ambush trunks is always the orignal cell of that respective timeline"

i’m not gonna lie i’ve watched this vid every night for like 3 weeks now. i learn something new each time and helps me sleep 😭 wake up and hear something new crazy how old this is. if we get a super-updated version this will be three hours long

this needs an update now with DBS and Goku Black/Future Trunks

Anybody agrees Future Gohan should've lived?

Over the years I’ve watched this a bunch of times and always find this video so interesting. Would love to see a remastered version where you include super into the timelines!

Just imagine how long of a video it would take to go into this kind of depth with the DBS Zamasu saga timeline LOL.

Are you eventually going to update this to include the black Goku events in the HOT timeline?

For those of you who are not convinced that there are 5 Cells, consider the following: You have a machine that can duplicate anything that you want to. You have 3 baskets, each one containing an orange. You take one orange from basket no.1 and put it in no.2. So, basket no.1 is empty, no.2 has two oranges, and no.3 has one. Now, you duplicate basket no.2. Now we have 4 baskets. No.1 is empty, no.2 has two oranges, no.3 has one, and the new no.4 has two. Think of basket no.1 as the Original Timeline. The Cell (orange) from this timeline (basket) traveled to the HoT Timeline (basket no.2), where there is already another Cell (the orange that was already there). The HoT Timeline (basket no.2) was duplicated when Trunks traveled to this timeline, creating the Main Timeline (basket no.4), where, just like HoT Timeline (basket no.2) is two Cells (oranges). Basket no.3 is just the Unseen Timeline. So, there are now 5 Cells....or oranges...whatever...

As an engineer, i really think this is the only explanation that doesn't have logic flaws, reason for which i want to congratulate you. Not even Toriyama knew how the system worked, and that's why there are some plot holes. The only plot hole i consider relevant and can't find solution for is the fact that Imperfect Cell (from Original TL) in Main TL states that Frieza cells were extracted just prior to being killed by Trunks in age 764, and that if Dr Gero wanted he could have used Trunks' Cells (although he didn't want). The thing is that Cell (from the Original TL) couldn't ever possibly be created with Trunks' Cells even if Dr. Gero wanted, because Trunks wasn't even born in year 764 (fight with Mecha Frieza) and no Trunks arrived to that Original TL. Besides, in that timeline, as you well said, Goku was the one who killed Mecha Frieza due to Trunks non-existence. The other 2 are easy to vaguely justify (in HOT timeline, Original TL Cell was killed by the Androids) and the year 763 time-travelling set up could simply be due to the time machine not being yet set up correcly as Cell interrumpted the operation.

I'm sitting here thinking, "Damn, what a nerd to have made a 43 minute video on Dragon Ball timelines." But then I realize, I'm watching a 43 minute video on Dragon Ball timelines. Haha I'm a nerd too.

Cell: How much do you know about time travel? Trunks: Less than I should...

Seeing this 8 Years later, im surprised that we had not considered the battle of gods movie to be the cannon continuation of the storyline.

Man, everything and anything about time travel in any context is always such a dark topic

This actually made a lot of sense. It's a really good video and cleared things up. Thanks for the video.

Your Theory seems solid to me.

ADJUSTMENT TO TIMELINES // PLOT HOLES EXPLAINED First, before getting into my timelines explanation, I want to thank you largely for this video, as it helped me greatly in piecing together the puzzle My timelines are essentially the same as yours, but with a little twist to take care of the plot holes ... First, Cell in the “main timeline” said to Piccolo that Trunks killed Frieza ... so that means the Cell from the “main timeline” came from the “unseen Timeline”, NOT the “original Timeline” How this happened? While all is speculation, the most obvious answer is that a Time Machine can just as easily be made in the “unseen Timeline”, especially since Bulma and the others already know it can be done from seeing Future Trunks ... then the Trunks that is killed by Cell is the Trunks that grew up from a baby, NOT Future Trunks from the “original Timeline” The beauty of all the above is that we can actually scrap the term “unseen Timeline” and instead have 1) the original Timeline, 2) Cell’s timeline (beforehand thought to be “unseen”), 3) History of Trunks [HOT] Timeline, and 4) The main Timeline The coordinates were set to Age 763, as Cell claimed to just push the button ... perhaps there was a good reason for the all-grown-up-Trunks from the “unseen Timeline” (...known in my theory as Cell’s Timeline) to make a trip back to 763, whether it was a new threat or whatever Finally, one may say there is one glaring error in this theory, which is what happens to Future Trunks from the “original Timeline” in regards to Cell showing up ... 1) either Trunks defeats him, which is highly unlikely from all we know, or 2) Cell kills Future Trunks also in the “original Timeline”, wants to go find the androids to become “perfect” and just “presses the button” in the Time Machine, but this Time Machine would be set to Age 767 or sometime thereafter, perhaps with Future Trunks actually planning to tell the Z Fighters that he deactivated the androids in his time, and this Cell would just be going to the “unseen Timeline” just as Future Trunks would have ... given the Cell larval stage and approximate 4 years needed to mature, the Z Fighters could have defeated this Cell in the “unseen Timeline” (AKA my “Cell Timeline”) around Age 771, as they would have been far stronger than his “Imperfect” self and the androids would have been long gone ... the assumption here though is that the Z Fighters would have killed him without getting a backstory from him, perhaps right after he sucked up an entire city (Piccolo did try to eliminate Cell in the “main Timeline” before he was able to get the backstory) ... without knowing the backstory, then the all-grown-up-Trunks would still be susceptible to being attacked and killed by the Cell still growing in Dr Gero’s underground lab in Age 788 ... Let me know thoughts or if anything in the show directly conflicts with my theory above ... One more cool thing from all the above in terms of what the futures look like in the 4 different timelines ... one timeline would have no heroes left (original Timeline) ... one timeline would have all the heroes left minus Trunks (“unseen Timeline” which is my Cell Timeline) ... one timeline would have no heroes left except for Trunks (HOT Timeline) ... and one timeline would have all the heroes left (main Timeline)

Despite how late I'm watching this, this made it really easy to understand how all the different Cells, and all the timelines work.

Coming back to watch this in 2024, the different alternative timelines are really well explained

I don't think cell ever went to the hot timeline. He just went directly to the main timeline. In the hot timeline he was just born years later and killed by trunks.

There ARE 5 cells #1. Killed by gohan during cell games #2. Possibly killed by trunks in larva form after finding artificial human's blueprints. #3. Possibly killed by artificial humans in attempt to absorb them. #4. Killed by trunks in failed ambush. #5. Killed by trunks and kuririn while destroying dr. gero's lab.

Even that fan theory doesn’t hold up, because (at least in the anime) Trunks remarks that the androids they were facing were somehow stronger than the ones in his timeline. And cell was far above them both, so there is no way that they could’ve defeated him in an ambush. It’s bound to happen when you mess with time travel narratively, it’s really hard to avoid inconsistencies Great vid, definitely cleared some things up!

I wonder if the unseen timeline is the timeline Zamasu used to take goku's body....?

Why can't dbz be on netflix😩

You made a mistake the cell that returned from the original timeline didnt go back to the HoT timeline, (he is also never seen there anyway which further proves my point), but he only returned to our known timeline which we are currently in (where the cell games and stuff happens) .

we are now in the "original" timeline where the Z Fighters and Cell were all gone.

Boy does this video bring back memories

Wow, that was a lot of stuff, but I can agree with it, never though it would be that complicated. I guess Toriyama never though of that much.

This timeline, adds up with the extra 4 green Time Rings in super.... and this video is before that episode Good stuff

Bro, what if I told you that this video 8 years ago not only introduced me to your channel and got me subscribe, but got me interested in Dragon Ball again after I had moved onto other things at the time? This is by far still one of if not THE best Dragon Ball fan theory vids on KZfaq.

I would just like to say this was the first video I found from you and I’m glad I’ve stuck with you since then

2022 and I hear rumblings of Qaaman making an updated timeline video? HFIL YEAH.

No wonder Zamasu was really mad at Trunks... He created many different timelines.

That would also explain why would Cell be extra careful in the dbz timelime. Once he realizes he's sharing a timeline with future trunks, he would know he had failed at least once already. Of course he got careless when he achieved his perfect form as his objective had been already accomplished.

25:00 First plothole means there is FIVE timlines not four. there is one more timeline before oryginal timeline in vid. 1. First lane - goku died, trunks back in time but failed (maybe go without medicine?) and created line with same history as his, didnt find out how defeat androids who killed him. cell didnt use timemachine but stay in future without trunks, reaching his perfect form - everybody died. 2. Failed line (oryginal in vid but with timetraveler) - goku died, trunks back in time and created unseen line in vid, ending killed by cell who knows about timtraveler and cell go back in time to 4th timeline - almost everybody died. 3. Unseen timeline in vid - trunks know about cell and destroy lab with him. So there is no cell - happy timeline until buu who kiled everybody because goku didnt achive ssj3 - everybody died. 4. Future trunks line we know from dbs (HOT in vid) - almost everybody died. 5. Changed time line from dbz - the golden winner - everybody live! This is only explanation. And there is no first plothole then! And there is even 4 rings in dbs. All created by timemachine. :p No wonder zamasu was furious at trunks for messing with time and chronoa from dbh punished him :p trunks you bad boy...

Wow amazing this video surely required a big effort.

This is before DBS came along. DBS is cool in some parts for me but it really messed this is up. I'll just consider this as the pre DBS timeline theory and I'm sticking with this theory. 👊

its crazy how this video is almost 10 years old. man time flys. this brought back alot of memories rewatching some of your old videos.

also what many people don't realize is, when bulma sent trunks back in time, they actually thought that their timeline could change at the time. But when trunks went back to his future after defeating frieza and giving goku the medicine, that's when they realized there timeline wouldn't reap the benefits from trunks changing history in the past.

This needs to be redone bc of dbs black goku saga

20:35 Funny you said Earth is doomed because That's what eventually Happened in DBS

I did mi research and you were right all along waoo I thought it was three time lines but is four and it makes sense to me now

Good job!!!! I was puzzled by all the timeline shits when I selectively picked fight scenes to watch. However, I understood the 4 timelines in cell arc now thanks to you!

Not gonna lie I'm here after endgame I love Dragonball tho

Watching this now makes the HOT timeline more depressing.

Great video, but there is one mistake. Cell from the original timeline went to the main timeline only, he was never in the HOT one. The one you see there is the one who was made in that timeline and has been allowed to grow throughout the years.

I agree that the first fan theory for the third plothole is more accurate for two additional reasons that I just thought of. The first one being that it just might explain what happened to Android 16. It was stated that Cell was weaker than the androids, but Cell was being compared to the stronger androids of the Main Timeline when that statement was made. So maybe Cell was stronger than the weaker androids of the HOT timeline and it was 16 who stepped up just like we saw him do when Cell blasted Piccolo and was trying to absorb 17. And maybe he could only beat Cell by grabbing him and self destructing using his bomb like we saw him try to do in the Cell Games. I know a lot of people think Android 16 was never activited in the HOT timeline, but I could never think of a reason why 17 and 18 would not activite 16 after killing Dr. Gero. The only reason I could think of that makes sense would be if they knew Goku was dead from the heart virus. But if they did know that, there would've been no android saga at all because that would have defeated the whole entire reason for unleashing the androids in the first place. Remember they ignored the other Z fighters and flew off because they were only interested in Goku and Goku was not there with them. The second reason is that the second fan theory does not explain what happened to the present day Cell of the HOT timeline. Now watching this timeline theory gave me some great ideas for two What if scenarios I'd like to see you do Qaaman. First, what if there was no Future Cell in the android saga. You're always talking about we don't know this about the Unseen Timeline and we don't know that about the Unseen Timeline, but from what I've seen the only thing that makes the Unseen Timeline different from the Main Timeline is that there's no Future Cell. Future Trunks and Krillin would not have known what Present Day Cell was but would've blown up the lab anyway, but even if Cell did not die in the lab explosions he would've been too weak to do anything to the Z fighters by the time he developed. I believe that these would've been weak androids as well and that Piccolo fusing with Kame alone was all that was needed to beat them. So the other Z fighters had no need to use the time chamber. I think this because it's the only reason I can think of for why Trunks was weak enough for Imperfect Cell to kill him and steal his time machine after he killed the androids with the remote control device. So this What If scenario is how the Unseen Timeline would've played out. And the second one is what if Super Android 13 was also unleashed alongside 16, 17, and 18? I could never think of a reason for why the events at Dr. Gero's lab did not also unleash Super Android 13 in the main tv series other than plot convenience. So I would love to see that What if scenario as well.

The fact that this is 7 years old is insane to me.

Great Theory as usual The only discrepancy I have is that when Vegeta and the other Z-fighters were defeated by Android 17 and 18 in the canon (main) timeline Future Trunks says that they are stronger than the androids in the HOT timeline. If that is true than how would the HOT androids be able to defeat Cell if that pair is weaker than the Main Timeline androids (who struggled against Cell when he tried absorbing them). My mini-theory is that Android 16 in the HOT timeline blew himself up along with Cell since Goku was already dead in that timeline and Cell contains a fraction of DNA from Goku so that he can completely eradicate his existance This would explain why Android 16 is not present in the HOT timeline and why Future Trunks doesn't know about him

Also thanks for the in-depth analysis of this whole theory. I'm doing a story off of the same time travel system and this is helping me make sure I avoid plot holes

One more point I can make that supports my theory that the 2 Trunks are coming from different timelines is the fact that in History of Trunks TV special it is shown that Yajirobe dies, but in Dragonball Super we know that Yajirobe isn't dead. so we have one future where Yajirobe died, and another where he lived.

If Cell were to return in Super it could be the one that was implied but not confirmed to have died, the plothole one, or possibly from a new unexplored timeline maybe tieing in with the Goku Black arc. As for his powerup to remain relevant and his knowledge of how strong everyone is now and how a different version of him was defeated would be difficult to reasonably explain

What if: Rule #2 doesn't exist? Rule #2 Once a time traveler has established a link between two alternate timelines, he can move back and forward between those timelines without creating a new timeline. Trunks made it clear that he and Bulma were not sure about the effects of time traveling. That means Trunks wouldn't find out about this until he goes back a second time to help the Z fighters against the Androids.

I'd like to think that the unseen timeline was the original android saga Akira Toryama had in mind where 19 and 20 were the only 2 Androids.

Based on the concept of "a new timeline is created when a time traveler appears" then it should be like 7 different timelines to make "some sense", and it contradicts itself too. - We have the default timeline (let's call it #1) where no one has traveled from another time period. - A new timeline is created when Trunks arrives and kills Frieza (#2) then he gives Gokuh that medicine. - Trunks instead of going to his present time goes to the moment the androids are supposed to appear (#3) (Yes, it would've created another timeline), and this is the timeline where we follow in DBZ next with Buu. Now here is what doesn't make sense: When everything is over, Trunks being in timeline #3 goes to "his present" (784) but it shouldn't have arrived to timeline #1 because he already is in a timeline where his is not a thing, so technically there would be now 2 Trunks on that timeline, making it timeline #4 instead of #3. Now, to make the Cell thing coherent (if there's such thing as coherent in all this), it should be: - Default timeline with no timetravelers (#1) - Trunks defeat Frieza and gives Gokuh the medicine. (#2) - Trunks goes back to 784 (#3) and for some reason is able to defeat the androids (when they shouldn't be really a threat), then prepares to go back to the past but Cell kills him and steals the time machine. - Cell appears in 763 (#4). This Cell should be from timeline #2 (well, technically #3). - Trunks defeat #4's Frieza and gives Gokuh the medicine. (#5) To make it possible it should be #4 Trunks instead of #1 Trunks - Trunks decides this time that instead of returning to 784 he will help the Z warriors of this timeline. (#6) - Trunks returns to 784 (#7). Now this makes inconsistencies because a timetraveler never could return to their original timeline, the best case scenario is that their interactions make no changes and they can return to a timeline virtually equal so the timetraveler thinks it's the same. If Trunks succeded in creating timeline #2, he couldn't possibly have returned to a timeline as #3 UNLESS the medicine from timeline #1 that Trunks gave to Gokuh in #2 didn't do anything and died anyway along with every Z warrior except Gohan, but in that case the medicine of timelines #1 and #2 must be different and Cell in #4 doesn't appear for some bizarre reason in 767, so it's impossible. Well, I bet Toriyama didn't think it though... i I heard that in DBS there's another time travel with Trunks, I don't watch DBS (and I won't) but I suppose the time travel issue is still the same.

20:25 black goku / goku black