How Did Doctor Gero Build Androids Stronger Than Frieza? 

Easy, he made the androids train for 3 days out doing Frieza's 0 days of training.

By sheer coincidence, a scientist made cyborgs that were more powerful than the Alien emperor who rule the universe. They just happen to came right after the Heroes defeated the Alien emperor.

Imagine all the great things Gero could've done if he was a good guy

Because Gero is Built Different (Literally)

I really wish Toriyama would have stuck with his ki absorbtion direction for the androids, aside from being more interesting then "theyr'e just generically stronger/faster and don't tire", it would have given a logical explanation for the threat. Since the androids are enhanced by the ki they steal, the very reason the androids were so powerful was BECAUSE the Z fighters were so powerful, not inspite of it, and the fact that the Z fighters trained thanks to trunks in this time line not only didn't help, but actually made things worse, since upon absorbing their training enhanced ki, they just became even stronger still then they would have been if the heroes didn't train, the ultimate difference making in the time line not being how strong any of the characters were, but new techniques they learned in the time gap that allow them to combat the power level neutralizing ki absorbtion in creative ways. Heck, it could have brought back the old characters to relevance, a straight beam attack is useless, but Yamcha has created a Sou-Ki-Dama, a fully controllable miniature spirt bomb that he can navigate around the absorption points, or whatever just for a random possibility.

Dr. Gero was a hero, even tho he died like a b****. that dude literally created an Android that saved the entire Multiverse.

The real question is scope. Humans can look to stars and imagine going there. The strength frieza shown during the namek saga was unfathomable. If goku and piccolo were the examples, then radditz should have been the goal for the androids. Frieza was hundreds of millions times more powerful than the strongest being gero had ever seen. That's like designing a bomb to destroy the universe after seeing gun powder.

The big question is how did he build himself into an android

I've always wonder why did Doctor Gero make 17 and 18 stronger than himself.

To be honest, even Gero creating a computer that was able to finish his work is incredible.

I really don't think it's a problem that the androids were stronger than Freeza. The only thing that makes it a problem is Toriyama's shortsightedness as he decided that Freeza is the strongest in the universe. The Dragon Team had just ventured out into space and they've already encountered the strongest in the universe? Why couldn't Freeza have just been a strong guy among a universe full of strong guys? Toriyama fetishizes the idea of someone being the strongest, so when someone even stronger comes along afterwards, everyone calls bullshit on it when it didn't have to be a problem in the first place if it were never stated that Freeza was the strongest.

Him being a rival to the briefs in intelligence is why and a calculator.

Are we going to mention Dr. Gero is a God? He gave Cell a soul to go to hell.

For me it's not even a question of HOW he made such powerful androids, but WHY? Even if he extrapolated an increase in Goku's strength based on when he last observed him (Saiyan Saga), there's no way he should have predicted super saiyan. Based on what he knew, his androids should have been like using a nuke to kill a mouse.

Not only that but one Android he created eventually went on to gain God Tier strength or at the very least close to it with no wishes, no training with Gods, no zenkai boosts nothing. 17 is pretty insane when you think about it lol

I think the Mecha Freiza arc was also a way to ease us into believing powerful androids were possible in the dbz universe.

I think it, ultimately, boils down to "He wanted to be absolutely certain Goku would die." Having examined the whole of the Saiyan saga, he realized the explosive, almost exponential growth of Goku in the intervening year of his death. He also saw the Oozaru form for the first time, and realized it offered a ten times increase in power...and it's also possible he saw the Zenkai boost. We also know he worked heavily in DNA, so he could have seen the potential of further massive growth. While I doubt he saw something that would indicate the Super Saiyan transformation, he wanted to be ABSOLUTELY FUCKING SURE Goku was going to die no matter what. All his androids up to that point wouldn't have even scratched Vegeta, so he went for as much power and capablility as possible. Except, he went too far. 13, 14, and 15 just wouldn't have been able to completely, absolutely outclass his maximum estimated growth. At this point, he had already created the power source of the androids, an infinite source of energy, but they couldn't make full use of it. So he built 16, who more than exceeded his wildest calculations. But, in his rush for power, he realized that 16 was too powerful, and sacrificed many limiters for that power to work properly, namely most of the behavior modifications. He couldn't even assume that 16 would TRY to kill Goku due to those flaws. (Also, apparently he was based on his son so...It's really up in the air.) He determined that utilizing this engine with pure mechanics just wouldn't work. This wouldn't give him something that was both strong enough to kill Goku, and completely loyal to him to ensure they would try. So, he went the Cyborg route. He kidnapped the twins who would later be 17 and 18, wiped their minds, and started to put all his Android knowledge into making them the perfect weapons. However, this method was a complete failure in terms of his goals. He had, successfully, turned them and made them more than capable of killing Goku's greatest projected power with ease...but there was even LESS loyalty, and they were still too unrestricted for him to control. The infinite power engine just wasn't going to work. So, back to the drawing board. He returned to the mechanical side of things, and came across the idea of surpassing any projected growth by absorbing it. A method that would keep the Android (comparatively) weaker, but would still be able to kill the Z-fighters without disabling the behavior limitations. Thus, he built 19 with the absorption engine in place. And he worked perfectly! Loyal, powerful, and more than enough to kill Goku by his predictions. But he still wanted to be certain, and one Android of 19's power may be overwhelmed by a combined force of Goku and Vegeta. So, using the knowledge gained from 17 and 18's conversion, he converted HIMSELF using his computer. But, the Infinite Engine was too risky without his personal touch, so he became an absorption model like 19. Now, we know how it all goes from there.

When you finally have your life questions answered by a youtuber

Dr. Gero was able to create many things but his greatest achievement was making Krillen win for once.

The Android Saga was a hugely missed opportunity and a prime example of how Toriyama arguably isn't that great of a story writer, in my opinion. Goku had far outclassed everyone when he achieved his Super Saiyan form. Putting him out of the fight with the heart virus was a great idea. The other characters would need to rise up to combat the new threat (would have made narrative sense for the androids to be weaker than Frieza). Through the tribulations and training, everyone could have closed the gap a little to catch up to Goku and remain relevant. But perhaps coolest of all, Vegeta could have had a huge development arc, initially fighting the androids out of pride, but then achieved Super Saiyan in order to save his son as well as the earth. (Poetic, since he'd tried to destroy it). Oh, and Kami's sacrifice would have actually meant something. And it would have been so dang badass to see the Saiyans alongside Piccolo battling Cell together. It's frustrating to me how much better written the series could've been...

I always found it absurd that A human from earth built a couple of Androids who were indefinitely stronger than an alien tyrant with multiple transformations. Toriyama just needed to process the plot due to popularity

That point you raised at the end is why Baby is a great villain. Despite Dr. Myuu basically being a palette swap Gero with sunglasses. The Tuffles made a good choice for an enemy. They'd already been introduced early in DBZ and were the Sins of the Saiyans. Baby was also the last Tuffle King fused with the machine mutant parasite.

The secret is plot convenience lmao. Seriously though he had brains and serious tech.

Dr gero build this android in a cave with a box of scraps

Nanomachines, son. Seriously, that's how.

Over the years, I had always imagined that since 16, 17 and 18 all had nukes installed within them, then, perhaps their infinite energy supply came from them being fitted with some sort of nanoscale reactors. They took a long time to burn out and (with the right resources and preparations) could be maintained/replaced/recharged somehow. The Androids strongly reminded me of the fleshbound, endoskeletal Terminator models(Which can repair themselves) and I figured Gero likely would have left behind detailed files in one of his many bases on how to repair specific models in the case of an emergency.

I felt like the Androids were way overpowered. It was Shocking to me as a kid watching DBZ that there was that big of a power difference between Frieza and Cell honestly.

Imagine if Gero used Broly to convert into a Saiyadroid.

For me, the only explanation is that gero was able to use the cells from the z fighters and somehow in time, enhance them. Sort of like how a.i. learns/trains itself.

I think the Androids could have combat and other data from the universe's top fighters programmed into them, so they are simply strong because they know how to fight and adapt to them. If Dr. Gero was able to get DNA from the universe's top fighters to create Cell, then I don't think it's implausible that the Androids could have been programmed with a database of each fighter's abilities and how to counter them.

Next time on Laughingstock Media: how did Doctor Gero turn himself into an android? 🤯

Better question: If Trunks went further back in time, would he be able to convince Dr. Gero not to create the androids and cyborgs?

I find it funny you're trying to pass all of Bulma and Dr Brief achievements as humanity as a whole. When really they are freaking geniuses without comparison. It's the same as saying that all saiyans have the power to destroy the universe based solely on the achievements of Goku and Vegeta

The androids have perpetual energy. Giving them free/unlimited energy and in theory, unlimited stamina

Really love some of the what-if ideas you mentioned, would genuinely love to see those expanded in the future.

Future Trunks Timeline and the Android and Cell Saga as a whole still have soo many questions and mysteries that have yet to be explored in depth.

Clearly Gero knew about the ultimate form of humans and tapped into that 100% potential through augmentation. Lol

Laughing stock. What is your personal favorite arc in all of dragon ball?

Great vid 👌🏼 very well put and puts a lil context to some unanswered questions

I stopped asking rational questions about DBZ along time ago... Like they coexist with dinosaurs

Never underestimate a man of genius. Creation and destruction are one of the same. Dragonball universe is far more advanced than ppl think. Gero already made synthetic sentient beings when goku was a child. 20 years is gonna give him plenty to invent.

I think one of the issues a lot of people have is the jump in scale. Gero with the backing of the entire Red Ribbon Army and tons of help and funding created androids beat up by a child Goku with a power level of 100 or so. Next outing he has androids he built on his own in secret with no outside funding or help with a power level thousands of times stronger than anything he had seen up to that point.

I love this type of video format with the clips instead of just a webcam

1:39 Capsule Corp didn't have faster-than-light space travel from the beginning. It was only thanks to reverse engineering Goku's old saiyan space pod that Dr. Briefs was able to develop the technology. At the start of the Namek Saga, Bulma points out that getting to Namek using Capsule Corp's existing tech would take more than 4,000 years one-way.

Gero had friezas cells... He knew how powerful the androids needed to be. Imagine how strong 16 would have been had he not been released sooner than he was supposed to be.

Simple; Gero calculated the power that he believed Goku had, and then aimed higher.

Sam and Jake stood under the warm spray of the shower, steam swirling around them. Their laughter echoed off the tiles as they washed away the grime of the day. “You know,” Sam said, lathering shampoo into his hair, “I was reading this article about the history of hand jobs. It’s fascinating.” Jake chuckled, rinsing soap off his arms. “Only you would find that interesting. What did it say?” “Well,” Sam began, “it turns out that hand jobs were a common part of male bonding rituals in some cultures. It was more about camaraderie than sex.” Jake raised an eyebrow. “Really? That’s pretty wild. Imagine explaining that at a family dinner.” They both laughed, the sound blending with the noise of the water. “Hey, knowledge is power,” Sam grinned, rinsing his hair. Jake nodded, smiling. “Just another quirky piece of trivia for the books. Only you, Sam.”

Great video my guy!

I mean, when you have a decade long vendetta as Gero in wanting to destroy your enemy, it's simple to have that determination to make a break through in science to develop that advance technology.

It’s definitely odd. Gero was collecting data from battles on Earth. Not sure if he unknowingly collected data from Frieza and the party when they arrived. But also there is a point of him keeping up with all of Goku’s battles from Dragonball through Z before he went to namek. It’s possible Gero seen the progression and how fast Goku could develop and estimated it over a time period. Granted which makes sense because Gero was not ready for the SSJ form or the multipliers it gave or further training as a SSJ. I think Gero just estimated as far as he could into the future and just thought ahead.

Great video. Subbed! Looking forward to more DB videos. :)

Doctor Gero spied on Goku long enough to see his growth potential. Therefore he calculated how strong the androids needed to be, he kept making more so he could control them. The androids being stronger then Frieza makes sense because they were made for Goku.

Good thing that in the present time 17 and 18 are living great lives using their powers for good. Android 16 should be greatly partially credited for that change. Krillen falling for 18 and vice versa also helped.

I was literally thinking about this yesterday 😲💯❗️

And people say dragon ball super power scaling sucks, everything after the frizea saga honestly made no sense power scaling wise in dragonball z

What always used to bug me wasn't so much that Gero could create the androids, but that no one else did. There was no society as technologically advanced as Earth in all the years that King Cold and Frieza were conquering planets that could create this tech, but Gero could? You'd think if it were possible to create machines that could so substantially dwarf Frieza in power, someone would have done it. But then someone said to me that there must be several warrior races besides the saiyans and among all of them, only Goku managed to overpower Frieza. Maybe, just as this was the unique power of Goku, this was also the unique genius of Gero. That satisfied me.

I think you’re still underestimating alien tech. We’ve seen scouters, space pods, the elastic saiyan armor, healing tanks, etc. in universe not made on earth. Human tech is great but alien tech is equally as impressive. So all things considered, I think the tyrant Frieza should’ve still been stronger, but new arch = new enemies, so I get it

This makes things so much clearer lol but either way I’ve always enjoyed the Android/Cell arc!

This is a damn good video. I always wondered that.

That was awesome that you included Arnold Schwarzenegger at the end of the video

something scary to think of is that gero created the androids in his secret lab with very limited resources so imagine what Bulma could do if given enough schematics and time

I think it might've made more sense power wise if they came before the saiyan saga. How do modified humans with materials(presumably from earth) be able to surpass a guy that casually destroys planets like popping fireworks? I get the whole "sum is greater than the parts" thing but yeah, Im glad you did this video. Something that has stood out to me

Let’s not forget the fact that Gero was clearly underprepared for his fight with Goku, since he had no idea what happened on Namek, and therefore did NOT know who Frieza was or what Super Saiyan is. And also, 17 and 18 did not know what Super Saiyan was either, and The Z-Fighters trained vigorously for three years in preparation for them. BUT STILL 17 and 18 kicked their asses, and Trunks stated that present 17 and 18 were stronger than their future variants 😲😲, despite warning them.

Thanks for the great video

Dr. Breef’s spaceship was made with the engine of a space pod

Wow! This is absolutely mindblowing! We must have been ignorant or even dumb to think Dr. Gero was an ass pull Move! It’s not! The humans in DB have so much potential! Their Technology outclasses everything we know in our world! Damn!! Kudos man!!!💪🏽 too strong

I always wanted to know this! Thanks man

I’ve been going through my first watch of DBZ for the first time and this is the question I’ve been asking through the whole android saga lol

To me it sounds like Toriyama hadn't prepared for a scenario where DBZ continued after the Frieza saga, so he had to come up with a dumb idea which he thought was okay 'because comic book logic' and decided he'd just have it loosely tie in with earlier established canon. Having Cell be stronger than all the other warriors would actually make sense to me.

Greatest mind in genetic engineering

Love you analysis man

I think the problem feels so glaring because it defies what TVTropes calls the “Sorting Algorithm of Evil”. Where every villain is a bigger threat than the one that came before. 1-Pilaf was a silly manchild who had 2 henchmen under him. 2-The Red Ribbon Army was a powerful military bent on world domination. 3-King Piccolo was the greatest evil the world had ever known. And now he’s back to plague the Earth once again. When Goku defeats Piccolo Jr he becomes the strongest being on Earth. The next logical step is to introduce threats beyond planet Earth. 4-The reason Goku was so strong was because he was a member of a powerful race of space warriors. Raditz was a being from the same planet that Goku is from and has the same abilities but even greater power. 5-It turns out Goku and his brother were both weaklings among their people and Earth’s heroes must now face the elite of the Saiyan race. Particularly, Vegeta, the mightiest Saiyan of all. 6-The adventure leaves planet Earth and enters the very stars as our heroes must now face an intergalactic empire made up of the universes strongest fighters; led by the same invincible tyrant that annihilated the Saiyans and rules the universe. This tyrant can only be defeated by fulfilling an ancient alien prophecy. 7-The heroes must change their fate by defeating 2 cybernetically enhanced humans created by a scientist who worked for an organization that Goku already defeated when he was a kid. You can kinda see how the Androids might feel out of place to some people.

My theory on how the androids are so powerful is that Dr geron manage to get frieza tech that was destroyed by trunks and reverse engineering frieza technology and when trunks time travel dr geron had analyzed all of earth warriors dna especially goku he's been tracking goku since dragon ball and had no information on trunks so dr geron decided to enhance both 17 and 18 which is why trunks said that his presence might had made the androids stronger

I have a question - if Gero made Cell, and artificially enhanced the once human Androids, and turned them into super cyborg soldiers of the Red Ribbon Army - why didn't Gero just design Cell to be perfect from the get go? Why not just do whatever he did to the Androids, to Cell from the get go, and skip the whole hunting and absorbing process?

I’d imagine Earth is considered a back water planet both because of how naturally weak the humans are (even though the Human Z-Fighters have all but surpassed your average Saiyan Warrior at this point) plus the fact that while they are capable of FTL travel they haven’t actually colonized any other planet.

Humans are so good, they couldn't beat King Piccolo.

I always just assumed android 19 handled the basics and gero took it from there once he had a functional body

What’s crazy to me is how unnecessarily strong Gero made the androids if he thought that Goku only had a power level of 9,000-90,000 since he didn’t follow him to namek. I definitely don’t think the humans actually got that strong in super though. They just wanted the characters to have some useful scenes. I definitely don’t think any of the human fighters ever passed frieza level strength.

Nice Analysis!!!

Still watching but i like how you basically answered the question right at the beginning, humans smart, they build stuff 😂

Ok so say...gero builds the andriods. Then cell. And the andriods don't kill him...then what?whats his end game? Does he put them back to sleep until cell is ready to absorb them? Would cell take orders from gero or does cell end up killing him? Say they 17 and 18 kill the z warios and goku and don't kill him. Does he cancel the cell project? Does he leave 17 and 18 in stasis? No no i think his ultimate goal wasn't to kill goku it was world domination and expansion. I think the natural progression of a military mind like his was to build the andriods and then build an army. With the z warriors dead and the worlds governments yielding to him he can now build more androids like 16. No longer in hiding and with much more ease. With 2 he owns the world. And with his life elongated earth becomes to small for him. Augmenting entire armies into walking nuclear weapons he expands into the stars and humanity enters an unprecedented golden age.

The technological ability of humans relative to that of aliens is a good point. Unfortunately the Dragon Ball series has never been good with consistency. However, it's worth pointing out that Yamcha and Tiene became stronger than even the Ginyu force by training with King Kai, which could mean that humans have more potential even than saiyans, at least before the super saiyan transformation. That means they surpassed by far what Goku was able to achieve training with King Kai in presumably the same amount of time. Maybe turning humans into androids is thus the human equivalent of the super saiyan transformation. It unlocks the full human potential. In the end, we have to remember that the Dragon Ball universe is full of magic and other things that make no logical sense whatsoever. It seems to be more about telling a story with emotions.

I was just searching this topic recently too

4:00 actually there was and is a coffin that allows travel between univeres, shown in universe 6 tournament.

The real question is why he didn’t make king cold a android Instead of just getting his DNA I’m pretty sure king cold as a android would have been stronger then cell

As far as I know, Capsule Corp's tech is based on the tech provided by Jaco, which makes me think that human ability may be something of a super learning rather than superintelligence. Which forced by different situations, like a Bulma from the future much more pressured results in the creation of the technology of the time travel machine, or a Dr. Gero from the future who saw Goku fight with Frieza and King Cold, instead of a brief fight with Trunks, which led to more aggressive and apparently more destructive Androids, who killed Gero before building 19 and 20, and surely Cell of the original line would have developed being less powerful since it did not have DNA of a Goku who fought on Namek. Although I know that looking for the logic to an Anime is a bit absurd, I think that this explains better that exception of the beings of the earth, benefited at first with magical objects such as Roshi and Uranai Baba, the dragon balls created by the unnamed Namek, the arrival of Goku / Jaco, then Frieza's DNA, and so on. They have the power of luck xd

He read gathering data from the fighters the entire time with those little fly things

Very well done video

My actual question is more importantly how did Dr gero move his own brain to a Android body

With the type of technology Dragon Ball's Earth's civilization have, they should at least be type 1 or type 2 specie on Kardashev Civilization Scale, but they are not.

In this house we obey the law of thermodynamics! -Homer

During the story I’ve written I’ve found it’s more engaging that the power scale doesn’t really climb that much. Yes the most powerful character by the end can use the entire power of a neutron star by himself. But for the most part the scaling is in planning, intelligence, tactics, and most importantly bargaining

I think that in DBZ the Andriods may not have been as strong as a Super Saiyan at first but when Frieza came in the same ship with the technology that gave him cyber enhancements and made him stronger; Dr. Gero was able to reverse engineer some of that technology from the debris same how and add it to the Andriods.

But of course. The man made a hot as hell babe and a beautiful dude bro strong enough to beat the shit out of a super saiyan with ease. Gero is one smart ass old man. Man.

I remember seeing the time Goku as a kid fought the pirate robot and being surprised because before that no one could take tank a punch by Goku and be unfazed by it. I thought of it as a bit of foreshadowing (or just repeated material) for the Android saga.

The frieza force themselves seem to have very advance technology yet gero was able to go even above that with what was probably limited resources reminet from red ribbon army and kidnapping orphan

Please stop being in denial it's bad writing that is the answer

I can live with the Androids being as strong they were, it doesn't shatter my immersion. But you can't take the examples you pulled from DBS even remotely seriously in my opinion. The argument "they have immense potential" makes no sense when you consider that Krillin was wounded by a bullet from a gun, and essentially turned around and went toe to toe with Goku. It's absolutely ridiculous. There's a limit to how much you can push a fictional world's internal logic after it's been established.

You're asking the real questions my guy

It's almost weird how Toriyama never cared about any consistency. But he did implement a variant of time travel that does not break everything and causes paradoxes left and right. On the other hand it fits perfectly into his style. I guess that is just proof that in the end it was pretty intentional and he was just very aware of his limitations. The Doctor Slump Manga and fan post segments also hint to this