Gonzaga

1) A different kind of Gonzaga team

The first thing that jumps out about Gonzaga this season is how much bigger they are on the perimeter. For the last four years, they started two 6'2 guards - Kevin Pangos and Gary Bell Jr. - which put a ceiling on their program because Pangos wasn't a high-level athlete and Bell couldn't create his own shot and neither guy had the size to match up with bigger backcourts. This season's team goes 6'3 185 (Josh Perkins), 6'4 195 (Eric McClellan) and 6'5 200 (Kyle Dranginis), which gives them the size to play with the vast majority of NCAA teams on the perimeter.

While Bell and Pangos were great NCAA players, the holes in their game were exposed when they went up against elite competition. Their loss to Duke in the Elite Eight last season was the perfect example - Pangos and Bell combined to play 76 of 80 minutes in the backcourt and they scored a grand total of 9 points on 14 shots and handed out 2 assists on 5 turnovers. There just wasn't much they could do against future NBA guards like Tyus Jones on either side of the ball. This year's guards are far from perfect but they at least give the Zags the chance to match up physically with elite competition.

Gonzaga has a pretty short bench this season and they only played 7 guys against SMU on Saturday but all the pieces fit together pretty well. The only guy in their rotation who doesn't shoot 3's is Domantas (son of Arvydas) Sabonis - he dominates the interior of the lane and everyone else spreads the floor around him. They play a pretty reasonable facsimile of an NBA offense, with Kyle Wiltjer opening up the floor for Sabonis to roll to the rim and the other three guards spread out around the 3-point line. They can almost always get a good shot when they throw the ball in to Sabonis and he has such a high basketball IQ that he can read the floor and make the right decision almost every time, whether it's to face up and take it to the rim, put a guy on his back and play bully ball or dissect the defense and find the open man if they double down on him.

The other big difference from last season's team is the absence of Przemek Karnowski, their 7'1 300 mountain man of a C whose career ended following back surgery earlier in the season. Karnowski was an elite defensive anchor and a guy who could facilitate the offense from the high post or the low post, but you could make the argument they are actually a more dangerous team without him. Not only has his absence allowed Sabonis to come into his own as a featured player, having a more athletic and more mobile big man at the 5 position is huge considering that they don't have a ton of elite athletes on the perimeter either.

2) Domantas Sabonis is special 

Sabonis is a guy who really stands out when you see him in person. The biggest thing is how well he moves for 6'11 240. He's not a guy whose going to play at 11-12+ feet in the air, but he's an elite athlete for a guy with his size. He has the whole package - he's very quick, he's well put together, he has a great first step, he has a high motor and he plays with an edge. He actually picked up a flagrant foul against SMU when he cleared out one of the Mustangs guards with an elbow while fighting for a rebound. He's a tenacious rebounder whose not afraid of contact and he wasn't intimidated at all by the raucous home crowd at Moody. I mention that because the contrast with Wiltjer in the way that he handled the environment couldn't have been more telling.

Combine his size and athleticism with his skill-set and feel for the game and you have a guy with the chance to be a very special player. SMU couldn't really handle him on Saturday - he finished with 20 points, 16 rebounds and 3 assists on 14 shots. The interesting part about this match-up for Sabonis is while SMU didn't have anyone taller than 6'8, they had three 6'7+ combo forwards who have been dominating bigger frontlines all season. Given the way the league is going, the name of the game for bigger frontcourt players is that they need the athleticism to defend smaller players on the perimeter as well as the finishing ability to put them on their back and score over the top of them. Wiltjer doesn't have either of those things, which is why he finished with 4 points on 17 (!!) shots.

The strength of Sabonis game is his ability to make plays in the lane, whether it's bullying smaller players in the low post or facing up slower players in the high post. A 6'11+ player with touch, size and athleticism is going to be able to score a lot of points in the paint and there's only so much a defense can do to stop him. When he can pick apart a double team too, they are in an impossible bind. Sabonis made a couple of incredible plays on Saturday when he swooped across the lane, drew multiple defenders and kicked the ball out to an open shooter. Guys his size are not supposed to be on the passing end of a drive-and-kick.

All that said, there are two things holding him back from being an elite player at the next level:

1) Alligator arms. Sabonis only has a 6'10 wingspan, which makes him the rare frontcourt player with arms that aren't longer than his body. He only has an average reach and that absolutely kills him when it comes to protecting the rim. The shame of it is that he would be an absolutely ideal small-ball 5 with a 7'0+ wingspan because he has the quickness to defend smaller guards on the perimeter and the toughness to battle with bigger guys in the post and on the boards. The problem is that when your 5 has very little ability to alter shots it puts a ton of pressure on your other 4 defenders because you basically don't have a 2nd line of defense. If Sabonis is going to be a starter at the next level, he has to be paired with a rim protector, which brings us to problem #2.

2) He doesn't have great range on his jumper. Almost all the damage that Sabonis did on Saturday was in the paint and he didn't really look to shoot at all beyond 15+ feet. That's fine when paired with a guy like Wiltjer but Wiltjer's defense makes him practically unplayable at the next level and you can count the number of shot-blocking + 3-point shooting big men on one hand, which is why people have been calling them "unicorns". The good news is that Sabonis shoots 81.1% from the free-throw line (on 5.7 FTA's) so it shouldn't be inconceivable for him to be a good outside shooter. If he can become a consistent shooter, it would open up the rest of his game and make him practically indefensible. The lack of a jumper puts a real ceiling on his potential at the next level, which is why it probably makes sense for him to come back to school for his junior season.

Here's another way to look at it. If he can make that jumper (or maybe even knock down 3's), he could be an All-Star. Without it, he's coming off the bench as an energy 4/5 big man. That's how big a deal shooting ability has become at the highest levels of the game.

3) Kyle Wiltjer was born 5 years too late to play in the NBA

Wiltjer is a Wooden Award Candidate who has put up montrous numbers since transferring from Kentucky. (Here's how old he is - he was in the same recruiting class with Anthony Davis and Marquis Teague. Teague's entire NBA career has played out while Wiltjer has been in college). As a 5th-year senior, Wiltjer is averaging 22 points and 6.5 rebounds a game on 50.5% shooting and he's almost a prototype stretch 4 at the next level. At 6'11 240, he's big enough to stand behind guys in the post, he has the shooting ability to where he has to be guarded 25+ feet from the basket and he has enough versatility in his offensive game - whether it's attacking a close-out or playing with his back to the basket - to where he's not just a shooting specialist.

Here's the problem. What the league has figured out is that smaller players can shoot 3's just as well as stretch 4's while bringing a lot more to the table in terms of being able to defend on the perimeter and play with the ball in their hands. Conversely, the ability to stand behind guys in the post isn't nearly as important given the way that the league has moved away from throwing the ball inside to putting guards in ball screens as the primary way to generate offense in the half-court. Who cares about whether a 6'10 guy can win wrestling matches around the rim better than a 6'7 guy - the real question is whether he can get down in a stance and defend 25+ feet from the basket as well as the 6'7 guy.

Kyle Wiltjer has a lot of strengths in his game but sliding his feet from side to side certainly isn't one of them. He is literally as slow as molasses and you could time his 40-yard dash or his lane agility drill with a sundial. SMU was determined to not give him any space on offense and they went right at him on defense and there wasn't much he could do about it. And it's not like Jordan Tolbert, Markus Kennedy and Ben Moore are guaranteed to play at the next level. The types of 6'7+ guys that Wiltjer would have to face in the NBA are so much worse. Imagine Wiltjer trying to post up Harry Barnes or defend him on the 3-point line and you can see why he's probably destined for a long and successful career in Europe. That's the question you have to ask about pretty much any stretch 4 these days and it's not going to be a pretty answer for the vast majority of them.

A good way to think about it is that a stretch 4 needs Sabonis type athleticism to really thrive at the next level these days. The difference between Wiltjer and Sabonis in athleticism is about as wide as the difference between Sabonis and Aaron Gordon. We're talking about guys who are barely the same species.

4) Gonzaga is Transfer U

This year's team features two guys who started their careers at high-major schools - Wiltjer (Kentucky) and McClellan (Vanderbilt) - and Gonzaga has a long line of guys who have come to Spokane and given their careers new life under Mark Few. No matter what happens this season or even if they lose Sabonis to the NBA, the program won't fall off much next season, not with these two guys in the pipeline - Nigel Williams Goss (Washington) and Johnathan Williams III (Missouri).

Here's the numbers those guys put up at their previous stops:

NWG: 15.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, 5.9 assists on 2.8 turnovers on 44.2% shooting, 25.6% from 3

JW3: 11.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, 0.6 blocks on 41.2% shooting, 34.4% from 3

At 6'3 185, NWG is a fairly complete PG who was recruited by just about every school in the country. At 6'9 230, JW3 is the type of super bouncy big man that Gonzaga hasn't had too often in recent years. The really intriguing thing about those numbers is that NWG shot much better from 3 as a freshman and JW3 blocked a lot more shots. If the Gonzaga coaching staff can harness their games during this redshirt season, the rest of the WCC isn't going to know what hit them. Williams even said that one of the primary reasons why he chose Gonzaga was the way they developed Wiltjer and Kelly Olynyk during their redshirt seasons with the program. If Sabonis stays and gets to play with those 2 guys and a ton of shooters, they would have by far the highest ceiling of any team that Gonzaga has had under Mark Few.

5) Gonzaga is on the bubble

Gonzaga is 20-6 with a 12-2 record in the WCC but they haven't done all that much to impress the selection committee. Their best wins - Washington and UConn in the Battle 4 Atlantis - are over fellow bubble teams while they have come up just short to teams who could have punched their ticket with a win - Arizona, Texas A&M, UCLA and SMU. On the plus side, they don't have any bad losses as their two WCC losses came to the other traditional powers in the conference - BYU and St. Mary's - by a combined total of 4 points. Add it all up and a lot of the pundits have Gonzaga sweating if they lose in the WCC Tournament.

The funny part about it is that all their losses are pretty explainable and don't really say all that much about the overall quality of the team. This is a team with one of the best frontcourts in the country and they can play with just about anyone. Very few teams are going to run the table in conference play while Gonzaga was right there with some of the best teams in the country. They lost to A&M by 1, Arizona and UCLA by 5 and the loss to SMU was closer than the 9-point margin indicated. In a normal season, wins over Washington and UConn would be enough in and of themselves to get a mid-major program in the field of 68. It's just Gonzaga's bad luck that they came in relative down years for those programs.

6) How far could Gonzaga go in the Tourney?

The ironic thing is that Gonzaga actually has a team that's better equipped to make a Tourney run than many of their predecessors, even if they haven't been able to match their regular season results. The key is to look at their personnel. Gonzaga has as much size and athleticism as they have ever had on the perimeter (which isn't saying a ton), they have as good a shooting big man as they have ever had in Wiltjer and they have never had a player with a skill-set like Sabonis. They've had 13 guys who have at least had a cup of coffee in the NBA under Few and Sabonis should end up as the best of them. The only guy on his level is Olynyk and I like Sabonis a lot more as a two-way player, even if he never adds a consistent jumper.

Here's the basic formula for Gonzaga. Pound the ball into Sabonis, whether it's rolling to the rim or playing in the post, and use the threat of his offense to open up shots for Wiltjer and their guards. From there, control tempo and use your size to your advantage on offense and limit the number of possessions for the other team. They are going to want to avoid two things - a team with a 6'6+ athlete on the perimeter whose too big for Dranginis and teams with multiple 6'9+ frontcourt players who can match up with Wiltjer and Sabonis. What you saw in the loss to SMU is that there's no Plan C - none of the guards can really step up if either of their big men has an off night.

They would probably run into a team with the pieces to give them trouble in the 2nd week of the Tourney, if not the 1rst, but there's no guarantee given the overall weakness of the field this season. Sabonis is one of the most talented players in the country and they have the shooting to allow him to play 1-on-1 so they have a pretty high ceiling in a one-and-done scenario. Let's hope they can make the Tourney because they could make things real interesting if they get the right draw.

A Dragon Ball Fanboy vs Akira Toriyama and Toei: Vegeta Fans, Be Afraid

Unsubtle Metaphor!!!

So after some thinking in the bathroom (the best place to think), it's become apparent to me that Vegeta has inherited Piccolo's former role in Dragon Ball Super, right down to his benevolent relationship with Goku.  Piccolo has inherited Tien's former role, and Tien...well Tien's still Tien. 

Okay, now stay with me on this one.  Before, Vegeta was always the loose cannon, the one who wanted to kill Goku when he got a chance.  He only kept Goku around as motivation to get stronger.  "I won't let you kill that clown cuz I reserve that right for myself" was always something he said to villains who would try to get the better of Goku.  Now he and Goku are best friends in Dragon Ball Super and Vegeta has softened up considerably even compared to the Buu saga.

Hmm...I wonder who used to always threaten to kill Goku once they were done beating the bad guy to then being his mellowed out close friend?  Well, you can say that about a lot of Goku's friends but Piccolo was in that role not too long ago and look what happened to him.  Vegeta has mellowed out a lot in Dragon Ball Super, just like Piccolo before him, and now that he's been defanged just like the Namek was, I fear that he is destined to follow the same route as Piccolo.  Just look at the facts.

Just before his ultimate combat irrelevance, Piccolo had three massive upgrades in power.  The first was on Namek when he fused with Nail where he briefly became the strongest fighter, the second was after his insane training with Goku that boosted his powers to near Super Saiyan levels apparently, and the third came when he fused with Kami and briefly became the strongest warrior in the show, even stronger than Goku.  That was twice in the show that he surpassed Goku.  Now let's look at Vegeta's trajectory of power.  He had apparently surpassed Goku in power during his fight with Beerus.  Once Beerus slaps Bulma, Vegeta forces him to use 10% of his power or something like that.  Visibly he seemed to give the God of Destruction more trouble than Super Saiyan 3 Goku.

That's a big jump in power from the Buu saga.  Then once Goku attains the god form from the ritual, Vegeta does his own personal training with Whis and once again seems to surpass Goku during his training.  I'm not sure how his power stacks up to Goku now that they've been training together, but so far that's two major power boosts he got over Goku, not counting what he got in the Buu and Cell sagas.  So that follows what Piccolo did, but it doesn't prove anything really, not yet anyway.

Now this is what I fear, for you Vegeta fans.  Taking into account Vegeta's drastic personality change, and his similar powerups over Goku, compared to Piccolo.  I feel that he will soon be replaced by a character that will inhabit the role that he once did.  It will be a character who is bloodthirsty but somewhat reformed like he used to be.  It will be someone who's a fan favorite antihero, like he used to be.  Someone who will be Goku's new rival.  Yes, Vegeta isn't a proper rival for Goku anymore.  Once you train with Goku, that's it, he's done with you as a rival.  It happened with Piccolo.  They lost that element of danger in their relationship, just like Vegeta has now lost.  I mean look at this:

They're sitting on a couch together.  Remember whose character decay came an arc after hanging out at Goku's house and partnering up with him for a driving test?  If you said Piccolo, you'd be right.  Unfortunately, this kills a lot of Vegeta's appeal with many of his fans, I think.  Now I think many of his fans will gravitate towards the new badass on the block.  My prediction is Hit or Frost.  One of them will join the Z-Senshi and Vegeta will be tossed aside while Goku gets new forms and fights stronger baddies.  The current Vegeta has a new sort of appeal with fans, but those other fans who prefer the bloodthristy badass who waxes poetic about battle and killing will flock to the new guy who gives them that.  That's it, unless Vegeta somehow returns to his roots and sharpens his fangs again.  As a Piccolo fan, I'm always hopeful that he'll sharpen his again one day, but my hope has been constantly dying out since the Buu saga.  Now it looks like it'll die completely once he's thoroughly trounced by Frost in the tournament.  For you Vegeta fans, I hope it never reaches that point.

The one thing that can save Vegeta

What can save Vegeta is the fact that he has an easy reason in the story for himself to stay close to Goku's level.  He's a saiyan, so he can easily remain at least one step behind Goku like he's been shown to be so far.  Don't count on that to save him in the end though.  Remember how irrelevant he was in GT until the very end when he used a plot device to gain relevance again.  Sure, when possessed by the current villain he gained a powerup to compete with Goku, but right after he was irrelevant again on his own.  Also look at Gohan.  Being the strongest unfused Saiyan at the end of Dragon Ball Z didn't stop him from being an utter joke in Super did it?  Oh, I'm so afraid for Vegeta and his fans that it's not even funny.  Unless he gets some of his "edge" back, I'm just sure he'll be relegated at best to "Goku's backup".  At worst, he'll be the new Tien along with Piccolo and old Tien.  Let's hope it never comes to that.

As always, thanks for the browse my glorious readers!

A Dragon Ball Fanboy vs Akira Toriyama and Toei part 5: The Right Way To Power a Character Up! (round two)

This post is a direct continuation of my last post, part 4 in A Dragon Ball Fanboy vs. Akira Toriyama: http://belartscorner.blogspot.com/2015/12/a-dragon-ball-fanboy-vs-akira-toriyama.html.

In the last part, I ran with the theory of all the Z fighters including all the human protagonists getting serious about protecting the Earth after Frieza's last invasion.  To that end, I had included Piccolo and Tien training on King Kai's planet and mastering several levels of the Kaioken.  Piccolo took the training and used it as a basis for the rest of his training and Tien did the same.

Now also in that last scenario, I had other humans train with Tien.  My list of humans that trained with King Kai were Tien, Yamcha, and Chiaotzu but this time they were joined by Krillin, #18 aka Lazuli, and Master Roshi for some good ol' fashioned perverted comic relief and cuz it'd be cool to see two of Goku's old masters getting together and recollecting the journey that the Saiyan fighter has blazed throughout the years.

Now for this to work, I'll have to move forward in the timeline a bit from my last post a few weeks ago.  Dragon Ball Super has changed the catalyst for all my powerups by having Piccolo get revived instantly, thusly he doesn't go training on Kai's planet in the afterlife right after his death.  However, that's not to say that the humans have no motivation to seek out Kai.  So I'll say that this power boost happens during either the few months timeskip between RoF and the U6 Tournament or it happens after the U6 tournament.

Krillin  

Motivation: To be his wife's equal in protecting their family and to make a difference in defending Earth.

The battle against Frieza changes something in all of the human Z-Fighters, especially Krillin.  Things change when the bad guys start bringing thousands of soldiers to the party.  In order to be of more use and better prepared for similar invasions in the future Krillin and Tien meet and have a discussion about Earth's protection.  What should happen if Goku was stuck in space like he was with Frieza latest trip to Earth.  Tien and Krillin agree that it can't be helped if some monster like Frieza comes.  The wise old perverted Master Roshi overhears them, as does #18 and there is a tense frustration within the group.  #18 gets upset that the men have abandoned their fighting spirits in the face of powerful opponents.  It sparks a fire in everyone, Roshi included.  Tien mentions that he never completed his training under King Kai, despite being there for who knows how long.  Krillin tells him that he never trained with the North Galaxy ruler.  Tien mentions Kai's training regiment and the 10x gravity on his planet.  Roshi, Tien, Krillin, and even 18 all agree that they need to train hard.  They telepathically call out to King Kai and he agrees to train them all again.  They tell Yamcha about it and of course Chiaotzu learns about it as well.  They leave Marron with Gohan and Videl for a while, while they go off to train.  They go to the lookout and Dende takes them to the start of Snake Way.

Now let's get to the training.  The experience of high gravity is new to Krillin so he initially has to adjust to that.  We see in an earlier saga that Piccolo, being stronger than Goku when he first arrived, has no trouble at all with the gravity.  But later on Gohan, whose power blows them both out the water at the time, still struggled with the high gravity.  So I think Krillin would struggle for a bit too.  After he gets used to the gravity, he begins to spar with Yamcha.  He also notices that Tien is doing some advanced stuff over with King Kai, including a move he saw Goku use a few times, the Kaioken.  Krillin and Yamcha get a lot stronger and they watch as Tien goes one on one with #18 while trying out his new technique.  Krillin wonders how Tien has always been so strong, how they've been neck in neck in power even when Krillin had gotten much of his potential unlocked.  He even curses himself for slacking off, guessing that Tien has already surpassed him.  He asks Tien to spar with him and Tien proves that he is the superior fighter even still.  Krillin continues his training and sees that Tien's boosts in power are getting even greater.  It's something to do with the technique that King Kai has taught him.  Even though he still loses to #18 Tien still puts up a much better fight than he did before, even surprising her at a few points.  Krillin is now motivated to learn the Kaioken.  He remembers when Goku used it against Nappa.

By Maffo1989

Krillin learns the Kaioken but quickly learns that his body can only take a certain amount of strain.  Tien seems to be able to boost himself to insane degrees with it, almost like a Saiyan, all thanks to his comfort with life-or-death techniques.  Krillin eventually overcomes his initial x5 limit and is able to max out his Kaioken at x10.  He uses his Kaioken in conjunction with his other techniques like the Scatter Kamehameha to create some devastating combinations.  He challenges Tien again and they have an even match with the x10 Kaioken, with Krillin having a bit of an edge in their fight.  Krillin knows that Tien can push himself upwards to x50 but Krillin is satisfied with being able to use the Kaioken to amplify his own techniques to even greater levels rather than his body.  In this way, Krillin becomes the technique master that he is destined to become in Dragon Ball Online.

#18

Motivation: To protect her husband and daughter from universal threats using the power she was cursed with.

Continuing from Krillin's path, #18 starts her training journey in a bit of a rut.  Because she is so much stronger than the others she doesn't initially gain as much as they do from the training.  The gravity barely affects her movements so she doesn't have to get accustomed to it like Krillin.  Tien mainly uses #18 as a sparring partner to gauge his progress.  Master Roshi tries to cop a few feels under the guise of training with her.  He also teaches her some turtle school techniques like the Kamehameha.  During this training we learn some unique things about #18 source of energy.  King Kai refers to her "ki" as unnatural but states that he can feel it buzzing all around her in an endless cycle.  He has her demonstrate by shooting a ki blast and when she does he notes that her energy source replenishes itself almost instantly.  He then has he use a bigger blast, the Kamehameha that Master Roshi was taught her.  She uses a huge blast and King Kai notices that her energy returns a little more slowly when she expends it on a large ki draining technique.

By OPunkreas

#18 decides to have a spar against all of Kai's students like Piccolo did during the Namek Arc.  She goes through everyone mostly with ease until Tien and Krillin get serious and use their x10 Kaioken.  She commends them for getting so much stronger but tells them that the still have a long way to go until she is nearly defeated by Tien's x50 Kaioken until King Kai stops the fight due to Tien's overexertion.  Now with two suitable sparring partners, #18 can finally increase her physical strength through intense sparring.  After seeing how strong Tien and Krillin have gotten with the Kaioken, #18 tries to get Kai to teach it to her as well.  Kai states that #18 can't learn the Kaioken because it would create an unstable effect with her type of energy.  He teaches her some of the properties of the Kaioken to help her form a version of it that is a little weaker but lacks the ki and body strain.  She learns to at least double her strength with a technique she calls "Heating Up."  She continues her training with Krillin on Earth and they both continue to hone their skills.  There's also potential for #18 to even get an upgrade from Bulma and her dad.  There's literally limitless potential to her character.  We just don't know about the limits of science and her type of energy in Dragon Ball.  Maybe both her and android #17 can come back and get a power up to defend the Earth.

Trunks

 

By EmiyanSaiyan

Motivation: Wants his dad to be proud of him and wants to be able to defend the Earth like Gohan did when he was younger.

In the latest episode of DBS, Vegeta told Trunks that the little warrior couldn't compete in the tournament because he needed to strengthen himself as opposed to relying on fusion.  This combined with the fact that his mother recently told him and Goten about the battle with Cell and the Androids.  Trunks was baffled to hear that his future self was so strong, even stronger than Piccolo and about as strong as Vegeta.  This sparks a desire in him to get much stronger.

Now at this point strengthening up Goten and Trunks goes against what was established with the End of DBZ,  Trunks and Goten are shown to have slacked off, with them being scared of fighting Buu in the tournament.  But since they've already produced a retcon in Super (Goku telling Vegeta about Uub when he seemingly first told him about Uub in the EoZ tournament) I simply don't care.  We're also never told exactly how strong the boys have become so let's go ahead and power them up.

By Cauai-desu

Trunks and Goten are the perfect sparring partners.  Both are Saiyans, both are sons of proud warriors, both are competitive and have a rivalry, and both are the best of friends.  They can and will always be able to push each other to new limits when it comes to training together.  Both boys train amongst themselves in the days leading up to the U6 tournament and after the tournament is over they ask their fathers to train them.  This training lasts for a little while until Goku and Vegeta get caught up in their own training again.  The boys then turn to Gohan, who they notice is getting a lot stronger than he was against the Evil Majin Buu on his own.  Gohan teaches the boys the basics and then spars with them from time to time.  They do this almost daily and all of them benefit from the training.  Goten and Trunks benefit the most and they manage to raise their levels past Gohan's when he fought against Cell by unlocking Super Saiyan 2.  The boy's next goal is to unlock Super Saiyan 3 and get stronger on their own than they were as Gotenks.  They get bored with this however and ask their fathers about Super Saiyan God.  Now here's where we'll go with different paths for the boys to make things interesting.

By Immateengohan

Path 1: Goku and Vegeta see that the boys are making some major gains in strength and decide to take them under their wing and teach them about SSG (Super Saiyan God) in order to prepare for a looming threat.  Together Goku and Vegeta teach Trunks and Goten how to control their ki in order to harness God Mode.  The boys attain SSB (Super Saiyan Blue) and are right under Goku and Vegeta's level.

Path 2: Half Saiyans can't become SSG.  Goku and Vegeta tell the boys this and they are forced to go back to their original Super Saiyan 3 training.  The boys easily become SSJ3's because their bodies remember the feeling of the form from being fused.  They consider it a dumb form because it makes them tired to quickly and so they fused into Gotenks in order to get some better ideas about transforming.  As Gotenks they discover a form similar to Super Saiyan 4 that powers them up greatly.  The boys keep this a secret until the next big villain where they reveal their new form that they called Super Omega Gotenks.

By hddragonballafhd

Path 3: Gohan teaches the boys the path he has taken to Godhood.  He teaches them Elder Kai's method of gaining god ki and they power up tremendously with relaxed "base forms".  They can then power up in Super Saiyan form though the multiplier isn't the same since they can already access most of their power in base form.

Path 4: The boys give up once they master SSJ2 and start relying on Gotenks again, but he's a lot stronger now, able to keep up with God Level fighters.  At this point they start slacking off, slowly becoming their End of Z selves.

Goten 

By Vicdbz

Motivation: Wants to be able to defend the Earth without fusion like his older brother did and father did.  Wants to train with Trunks.

Goten's training journey is the same as Trunks'. Also, it would be cool if he decided to mimic Yamcha's fighting style as he grew older, since he looks similar to him and chases girls like him at the end of Z.  That's the closest we'd get to a Saiyan Yamcha lol.

Yamcha

Motivation: Wants to be able to lend a hand when the Earth is in danger.  Training with Tien, Krillin, and Chiaotzu reminds him of the old days reigniting old rivalries.

I don't have much for Yamcha.  I used to believe in the guy but he seems to fade away more and more with each new arc.  Continuing from the Krillin powerup, we have a Yamcha who is determined to get stronger no matter what.  As always, however, he still greatly lags behind both Krillin and Tien.  His gains will be great, just like theirs.  I believe he can master the Kaioken very well but I don't think his mastery will approach the same levels as Krillin or Tien, neither will his application of the technique to his other techniques.  I can see Yamcha maxing out his Kaioken at a x5, which is half of what I had for Krillin.  So Yamcha can get pretty powerful, but I can't see him catching up with the other two especially Tien who never stops training and Krillin who had his potential unlocked and who spars with a Super Saiyan level opponent in his wife.  It would be cool if Yamcha focused on his speed more so that he would be the fastest Earthling fighter, you know, something to call his own.  Imagine a high speed wolf fang assault from the master of the Wolf Fang Fist.  T'would be baddass!  Maybe afterwards he can train Goten, like I alluded to above.  It wouldn't make a ton of sense--well no it would--since Goku seems more interested in training foreign children who are the reincarnation of ancient demons anyway.  Yamcha and Goten could be like a bro version of Gohan and Piccolo.  I'd watch that spinoff.

Chiaotzu 

Motivation: Tags along with Tien and wants to be of use to him.

I really don't have much to say for Chiaotzu.  Maybe I shouldn't have even added him to the training, but we all know that wherever Tien goes, Chiaotzu follows.  Chiaotzu should also be fairly above Master Roshi so it'll be interesting to see if Roshi can catch up to him at least.  Chiaotzu may secretly be a badass though.  He was on Kai's planet almost as long as Tien was, but Tien usually leaves him behind during hectic encounters.  IDK this one's tough.  Chaiotzu does get much stronger but I don't see him learning Kaioken.  He seems rather delicate when you get right down to it.  But I do think he can at least get strong enough to wipe the floor with Ginyu level goons, if he's not already.

Master Roshi 

Motivation: Even though his fighters have long since left him in the dust, he wants to be able to better defend his planet against the likes of ruthless aliens like Frieza's soldiers.

Roshi is training again, what more can I say?  Roshi reveals that he's been secretly training this whole time on Earth to which Yamcha, Tien, and Krillin all go "duh" collectively after his good showing against many of Frieza's soldiers.  Master Roshi has a difficult time with the gravity since he's so old and he still wears his weighted turtle shell.  He gets to Kai's planet later than the others since he still can't fly.  He gains a lot of strength just from running down the entirety of Snake Way.  His power jumps from the mid-hundreds to the mid-thousands like the boys' did when they first trained with King Kai.  Roshi also helps the boys refine their technique, teaching Yamcha and Krillin the buff form as a way to release massive amounts of their own power.  He also teaches #18 the Kamehameha Wave.  Even with this training session, the master isn't able to surpass his students and he is unable to learn the Kaioken thanks to his old body.  Roshi does take what he's learned from Kaio back to Earth to advance his Turtle School style.

Welp, that ladies and gents is my list of how to power up some fan favorite characters.  What I really don't like about new Dragon Ball, from the Buu saga onwards, is how they neuter so many fan favorite characters just to progress the plot and a handful of Saiyans.  Goku and Vegeta need powerful allies and even if their allies aren't quite as strong as they are, these warriors should not just stop their quest for martial mastery and perfection.

Well anyways, thanks for reading my ramblings my glorious readers!  You all have a great weekend!

Motivasi Menulis

Produktivitas menurun? Itu bisa. Bukankah penulis juga manusia yang tidak sempurna. Jadi wajar dong kalau suatu  ketika produktifitasnya menurun. Ada beberapa hal yang menyebabkan produktifitas penulis ini menurun seperti rasa bosan, mati ide, dan lain sebagainya.

Sebagai manusia biasa, yang namanya penulis itu memang perlu liburan. Penulis toh bukan mesin naskah yang bisa terus menerus memproduksi naskah tanpa henti. Bahkan naskah yang dihasilkan pada saat otak sudah jenuh justru akan buruk. Bisa jadi naskah itu ditolak penerbit, atau bisa juga diterima tapi dengan banyak revisi. Kalau sudah begitu menulispun tidak lagi memakai hati. JAdi bisa ditebak, pembaca juga tidak akan tertarik untuk membaca tulisannya.

Untuk mengembalikan semangat menulis, seorang penulis perlu motivasi untuk menuls. Seperti misalnya :

1. Membaca buku
Jenuh dengan kegiatan berpikir dan menulis, maka membaca buku bisa menjadi vitamin. Berbagai ide baru bisa saja tiba-tiba muncul dan semangat menulis kembali meningkat.

2. Mengobrol dengan teman
Sesekali pergi keluar dan bertemu dengan teman sambil ngopi atau makan bersama bisa jadi akan menyegarkan pikiran dan mendapatkan ide baru.

3. Pergi ke Toko Buku
Kalau pergi ke toko buku bukan berarti harus punya banyak uang kemudian membeli buku ya. Bisa saja kita melihat-lihat buku baru untuk sekedar cuci mata.

4. Ke Pasar Buku bekas.
Di tempat ini ada banyak sekali buku-buku terbitan lama yang bisa saja sudah tidak diterbitkan lagi. Buku-buku lama ini akan membuat kita semangat untuk menjadikannya bahan tulisan dan membuat buku baru yang lebih baik lagi isinya.

5. Travelling
Piknik itu penting buat penulis. Tapi yang namanya piknik gak perlu jauh dan mahal juga. Terkadang aku cukup piknik dengan naik kereta commuter line dari stasiun dekat rumah ke bogor, terus makan soto mie di taman topi dan balik lagi. Biayanya murah meriah cuma Rp 25 ribu. saja. Itu juga kadang masih sisa uangnya.

6. Membuat daftar impian.
Sebelum memutuskan jadi penulis aku punya impian. Salah satunya pengen menghasilkan buku Best Seller. Nah kalau semangat menulis menurun, maka untuk menumbuhkan kembali motivasi menulis aku akan membuat catatan kira-kira buku apa yang bisa aku tulis dan bisa menjadi best seller. Kadang daftar impian ini bisa berkembang menjadi draft buku. Selain itu impian lain juga bisa meningkatkan motivasi menulis. Seperti misalnya impian mempunyai mobil, rumah dll.

7.Nge-Blog
Saya mempunyai beberapa blog. Tapi gak setiap hari up date karena blog bagi saya adalah sebuah pelatian. Jadi kalau jenuh menulis buku maka saya akan lari ke blog. Di blog saya bisa nulis suka-suka dengan bahasa merdeka.

8. Nonton Film/TV
Nonton TV bisa jadi menghilangkan rasa jenuh menulis yang murah meriah. Kalau mau lebih menikmati lagi maka kita bisa nonton film di bioskop. Siapa tahu setelah nonton  gak cuma semangat menulis yang didapat tapi juga ide-ide baru

Jadi intinya kalau sudah berniat jadi penulis itu gak boleh patah semangat. Dan banyak cara untuk menemukan motivasi menulis kembali ketika jenuh dan semangat menurun. Kalau seorang temanku pernah bilang bahwa :

 "Seorang pengarang atau penulis buku, dituntut harus KRETIF, INOVATIS, OBJEKTIF dam DEDIKATIF. Bermental baja, pantang menyerah. Tak kenal kata gagal, karena sekali gagal, seorang penulis akan kembali bangkit dan berusaha untuk meraih impiannya. Tunjukkan pada PENERBIT bahwa karyamu adalah pantas untuk dipublikasikan. Jelaskan pada penerbit, kelebihan-kelebihan yang ada pada karyamu dibanding karya orang lain. 

New Emotions Anonymous Group Commencing.

A new Emotions Anonymous group is commencing at Karingal Place Neighbourhood Centre on Wednesday 10th February at 7pm and every Wednesday thereafter.

Emotions Anonymous is a twelve-step organization, similar to Alcoholics Anonymous. Our fellowship is composed of people who come together in weekly meetings for the purpose of working toward recovery from emotional difficulties. EA members are from many walks of life and are of diverse ages, economic status, social and educational backgrounds. The only requirement for membership is a desire to become well emotionally.

Our program has been known to work miracles in the lives of many who suffer from problems as diverse as depression, anger, broken or strained relationships, grief, anxiety, low self-esteem, panic, abnormal fears, resentment, jealousy, guilt, despair, fatigue, tension, boredom, loneliness, withdrawal, obsessive and negative thinking, worry, compulsive behavior and a variety of other emotional issues.

As an anonymous program, EA respects the confidentiality of its members at all times. As a spiritual program, there is an emphasis on a higher power. Experience has shown the EA program works equally well for those with or without religious beliefs or affiliations.

EA provides a warm and accepting group setting in which to share experiences without fear of criticism. Through weekly support meetings, members discover they are not alone in their struggles. We may each have different symptoms, but the underlying emotions are the same or similar.

EA is not a medical or psychiatric service, nor does it provide personal or family counselling. Leadership of group meetings rotates and is non-professional. The leader's function is simply to conduct the meeting, not to serve as an authority. Our meetings are structured to assist individuals who want to achieve and maintain emotional health by understanding and utilizing the Twelve Steps of Emotions Anonymous in their daily lives.

Please join us if you think our program may help you.

Dragon Ball Super and Team Universe 7: Piccolo and Buu (Gohan) part 2

Spoilers ahead for those who haven't read the latest chapters of the Dragon Ball Super manga by Toyotaro.  Read at your own risk.

Welp, it already looks like a few of my predictions were wrong.  To see those and get some giggles out of my lack of foresight, go ahead and check out this link http://belartscorner.blogspot.com/2015/12/dragon-ball-super-and-team-universe-7.html.

Included was my idea that Buu would actually make it to the tournament.  He didn't even pass the written exam.  It was so predictable that even I didn't think Toriyama would go for it.  He did and sadly there's no Buu in the tournament despite the hype of him on the promotional materials.  So the poster should look more like this.

Nothing to see here, move along...

Yup, just four U7 fighters, as it always was. Good ol' Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, REDACTED, and Monaka *whistles and slowly walks away.*

Now with what he know of the end of Super's Fukkatsu no 'F' arc, let's see if we can figure out Piccolo's role.

Resurrection no 'P'

At the end of the Dragon Ball Super anime's Fukkatsu no 'F' arc, Piccolo is resurrected with the Namekian Dragon Balls not long after his death at Frieza's hand.  As you all should know at this point, he stepped in and took a blast from the tyrant that was aimed at his protege Gohan.  At the victory party, Gohan apologizes and earnestly asks Piccolo to retrain him so that he can protect his family.  Piccolo seems to agree, but tells Gohan that he'll have to properly retrain his weak body.  So now it seems that these two have a proper motivation to train.  Like many of you, I'm stuck wondering what will come of these results.  I did a post about ways Akira can power these characters up in an interesting way http://belartscorner.blogspot.com/2015/12/a-dragon-ball-fanboy-vs-akira-toriyama.html but he's missed the window for the powerups I had for Piccolo in the after life.  So now what will he do?

More than 5 days to train

I'm relieved that my concerns about the manga and Piccolo's mere 5 day training window for this tournament seem to be old news now.  The anime presents us some evidence that a nice chunk of time has passed since the end of the FnF arc.  Krillin has had enough time to grow his hair back and Gohan has even changed hair styles.  So maybe some months have passed.  It's seemingly so since Goku and co. can use the Earth's Dragon Balls again.  So does this mean that Piccolo and Gohan have been diligently training in that time?  As is now shown in the preview for next week's episode, if they have been training with the sort of intensity shown in this gif then they both might just jump by several levels.  They are fighting like bitter enemies it looks like.  Look at how aggressively Piccolo is attacking.  I don't think he's holding anything back.

Training gains in Dragon Ball have always been wildly inconsistent.  Most of them are largely based on the plot.  But if a character is getting some screen time dedicated to intense training, usually they end up with a decent role in the the upcoming or current arc.  So with Piccolo and Gohan being the "B Team" of Dragon Ball Super, will something come of this?  That's the question many of you want to know, I suspect.  And the answer to that is yes in my opinion.  I don't think this nicely animated and well drawn action scene was just added to pad anything out.  I believe that this training session between two series favorites, who are the main defense Earth has behind Goku and Vegeta and who are leagues upon leagues behind the two in strength, will ultimately result in a substantial powerup for the both of them.

But how strong will they get?

That's definitely up in the air.  It wouldn't make a ton of sense for them to reach Goku and Vegeta levels in only a few months of training, especially when Goku and Vegeta are still constantly training.  I think this training will put both Gohan and Piccolo in a realm of power where they can both be recognized by Beerus and Whis.  As idiotic and crazy as it sounds, I think Piccolo will reach Super Saiyan 3 Goku levels.  I don't really know what's going on with Gohan though.  He should have already been way ahead of Super Saiyan 3 Goku, so is this training meant to get him back at that level?  Will he surpass the Vegeta who pushed Beerus to use 10% of his power?  I just don't know.

Predictions

My guess is Gohan will unlock something new.  It won't be Super Saiyan God or the blue haired form though.  It'll be something just for him and he'll be back in the second arc or whenever the hell sh** hits the fan in this arc to show off his new power.

Piccolo will maintain his role of outclassed badass, kinda like the Tien role in late Dragon Ball Z.  Though Tien is still a boss too for going hand to hand with the freakin' God of Destruction!  But I don't think Piccolo will reach the realm of Goku and Vegeta by any means and I also don't think he's being set up for it in a later arc.  I think AT just wants to make him a little stronger so that he can tag along with Goku and Vegeta and make some smart observations about their battles while also being able to lend a hand every once in a while in some small way.  It's a disappointing role to see for a Piccolo fan, but at least he's being utilized.

Anyways, that's my predictions about this latest arc and Piccolo and Gohan's role in it.  No, I don't think Gohan will fight in the tournament, but I do think he's being pushed for something later on.  Who knows, I've proven to be wrong before on calling the obvious.  But please, share your own thoughts, opinions, and theories below or just comment on mine.

As always, thanks for the browse, my glorious readers!