"And I'm not gonna lie... sometimes, I think he doesn't like me."
—Goku, to Gohan, about Vegeta
Original Airdate: June 3, 2016
Having unleashed his full potential, Trunks is confident that he has exceeded his father's power and can beat Cell. However, such power always comes at a price... and he is about to learn it the hard way.If I had a dime for every trope in this episode, I might not be in crippling debt!
- Actually Pretty Funny: Krillin tries cheering Vegeta up how they are similar in getting their asses kicked, and he actually starts laughing. Unfortunately, when Krillin takes it a step too far-remarking about how Vegeta's defeat was even worse-Vegeta stops laughing and punches him.
- Answer Cut: Cell mockingly tells Trunks that Trunks'll never beat him with his new form. We then hear Gohan ask why before cutting to Goku in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, explaining to Gohan the speed drawbacks on the new form before returning to Trunks and Cell.Cell: (To Trunks) You will never... ever beat me in that form.Gohan: (To Goku) But why? It's so strong![...]Goku: (To Gohan) Silly Gohan. In a ''lame-man's'' terms...Cell: (To Trunks) You. Can't. Hit. Me.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Just before their fight, Cell delivers a particularly scathing one to Trunks that slams down hard on both his Trauma and Berserk Button at the same time.Trunks: I'm gonna make you pay in blood for what you did to [Vegeta]!
Cell: Oh, don't lie, Boy Scout. That must've been catharsis by proxy! He's gonna be waking up for the next five years in a cold sweat remembering today! (laughs)
Trunks: I'm not a psychopath like—!
Cell: Kind of like you.
Trunks: Like me?
Cell: Does Gohan know, by the way?
Trunks: Does he know what?
Cell: That you let him die.
[(Beat) as waves crash behind them]
Trunks: I'm going to power up now.
Cell: (winks) I'd be disappointed if you didn't! - Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Cell describes Goku's accomplishments in the original Dragon Ball series as this:Cell: Hell, at your age, Goku had defeated an entire army, several demons, and sent a rabbit to the moon!
Trunks: Did...did you make that last one up? - Badass Boast: Cell delivers an impressive one to Trunks.Cell: I'm impressed! Behind all that angst and ridiculous hair, there's a real fighter!
Trunks: And behind all that insufferable smarm is a dead man!
Cell: Trunks...you couldn't fathom the amount of dead men behind me. - The Bad Guy Wins: From last episode, Cell achieves his perfect form and utterly defeats Vegeta and later humiliates Trunks. Thanks to Trunks' comment, Cell decides to spare him and heads off to plan his "revolution", only telling Trunks to check the news.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: Tien calls Trunks' new form "infuriating." Piccolo thinks it's because the power gap between them and the Saiyans keeps on widening, but Tien says it's because Trunks didn't use the form earlier to kill 18, Cell, or Vegeta.Piccolo: Why Vegeta?
Tien: Because I deserve something today! - Berserk Button:
- When Krillin indirectly suggests Vegeta should retire, he stops laughing and promptly punches Krillin in the face, upping his owned count to 36.
- Cell provokes a particularly angered reaction from Trunks by rubbing it in his face that he let Gohan die in the future timeline.
- Call-Back:
- Goku mentions a rule of Popo's Training in the same manner that Krillin did in episode 7.
- Android 16 is still suffering from his head injury, as he refers to Trunks as "Unreasonably Buff Bird."
- Cell is also still trying to befriend 16, namely in this episode by using common ground that they both find the prospect of killing Goku fun.
- When Cell is preparing to leave to give his announcement about the Cell Games to the people of Earth, Trunks asks him what he's planning now. Cell replies "My revolution", referring to a lyric from his Villain Song in Episode 51.
- That "crippling debt" Krillin was referring to references all his money being taken by Maron in Episode 31.
- Continuity Nod: Cell drops some to the original Dragon Ball series during his "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Trunks.
- Do I Really Sound Like That?: Cell mocks Trunks at one point.Cell: Look at me, I'm Trunks! Please love me, Daaad!
[...]
Trunks: ...That's a terrible impression.
16: But not inaccurate!
Trunks: WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?! - Experience Entitlement: When he loses to Cell, a stunned Trunks asks how he's so thoroughly outclassed. Cell answers that it's because he lacks experience.Trunks: "Why...? How...?!"
Cell: "Because you're green."
Trunks: "Wait, you mean...?"
Cell: "No, not green like me, you idiot. As in, you're a novice, an amateur. You're surrounded by fighters who have seen more action in a week than you've seen in your entire life! Hell, at your age, Goku had defeated an entire army, several demons, and sent a rabbit to the moon!" - Felony Misdemeanor: When Goku and Gohan accidentally wreck the clock at the HTC entrance at the end of the Cold Opening, Goku freaks out that they broke Rule #6 of Popo's training: "Don't break Popo's stuff."
- Fridge Horror: Invoked by Cell on Trunks when he calls attention to how he arrived in the past and the implications of that. While Trunks was already aware of the "how" (using Trunks' time machine) he never stopped to think about what that meant until Cell spells it out for him.Cell: What do you know about time travel?
Trunks: Less than I should.
Cell: How do you suppose I got here?
Trunks: Well, you used my time machine.
Cell: Ya-huh. And how do you suppose I got said time machine?
Trunks: (Beat) I don't want to answer that. - Happy Ending Override: Cell pretty much rubs it in that the Trunks of his time had this happen to him: he saved the world from the Androids and was the hero...only to run into Cell who brutally killed him right afterwards as he was heading back to the past to celebrate. Cell then regresses into his larval state and takes the time machine to a past where the Androids exist so he can complete his quest for perfection.
- If I Had a Nickel...: Krillin does this for Vegeta while trying to console him.Krillin: I mean, if I had a dime for every time I got my ass kicked, I might not be in crippling debt!
- Know When to Fold Them: Following Cell's "The Reason You Suck" Speech, Trunks powers down, finally accepts defeat, and prepares to die, but his own comment of no one remembering Cell once Goku kills him ends up changing Cell's plans.
- No-Sell: Regarding the Smart Ball and Answer Cut, Cell summarizes that Trunks can't beat him because he's too slow due to the increasing mass of his ascended Super Saiyan form. He only took Trunks' blows earlier out of pity, and proves his point by dodging a round of his attacks.16: Trunks, do not worry. He is just playing you.
(Sees Cell effortlessly dodging Trunks attacks)
16: Correction: he's been playing you. - Once More, with Clarity: The brief flashback of Cell killing his timeline's Trunks and stealing the time machine while explaining his backstory to Piccolo in Episode 43 is brought up again with Cell telling Trunks the full story behind it.
- Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: Trunks attempts one against Cell while telling Krillin he won't need a Senzu, but doesn't realize that he gave Cell the perfect setup for his own.Krillin: Bad. Ass.Cell: Also accurate!
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Cell points out how much Trunks' inexperience with fighting and lack of proper training has left him at a disadvantage. To top it all off, he notes how Trunks' revelatory ascended form of Super Saiyan isn't even that unique, revealing that not only he can do it too, but that Vegeta probably accessed it during training but was smart enough to realize how ineffectual it would be in battle.
- Shout-Out:
- The title is one to Temple O' Trunks
, Meri LaBrie's old Trunks fansite. - "I can't tell which is more shattered: Your [father's] body or your spirit."
- The title is one to Temple O' Trunks
- Smart Ball: Goku perfectly outlines why using the third grade of Super Saiyan is incredibly impractical, noting that while it increases the raw strength immensely, it also drastically reduces one's speed and mobility. Gohan is left nearly speechless at this rare moment of insight from his father, and Goku, as if he were coming out of a trance, apologizes for the tangent, saying that he was "thinking about fighting".
- Villain Has a Point: Cell mentioned that he can bulk up just like Trunks. He then states that Vegeta can as well, but is not dumb enough to try in his fight due to limitations that Trunks just discovered.Cell: ...And as we've seen today, that threshold is vast.
- Wham Line: With all of the Timey-Wimey Ball issues Trunks has learned up until now, Cell summarizes it all with this:Cell: Here's the thing: multiverse theory's a bitch.
- You Just Had to Say It: Krillin goes a bit too far—not to mention, beyond the point—in pointing out Vegeta's flaws while trying to console him after his defeat at the hands of Perfect Cell. It earns him a punch to the face, and #36 on the Krillin Owned Count.
"Can I get a dime for that?"
