The Cadre of Black Appears [Golden Age][Black Arc Preview][Sketch] (Patreon)

I'm gonna be straight with all of you- I absolutely despise the Goku Black Arc and everything it stands for. For me, it is the embodiment of the failure and poor writing that encompasses the majority of Dragonball Super, and is perhaps the worst Dragonball saga I have ever born witness to.

Don't get me wrong, the concept behind the Goku Black Arc is awesome- you're dealing with an evil version of a hero from an alternate timeline who has supposedly been hopping between multiple universes and eras killing and destroying heroes and wiping out mortals. That is cool- a genocidal warrior and a God working in tandem to eliminate all life in existence. This eventually crosses over with the present day heroes (first it crosses paths with Future Trunks of course), and the heroes get involved and have to solve the problem.

However, the EXECUTION and overall PLOT behind the Goku Black Arc is very poorly handled- not just in terms of a lot of the elements introduced, but narratively the entire arc falls apart.

I don't even know where to start when breaking down why I hate the Goku Black Arc.

-The explanations behind the life-link between the God of Destruction and Supreme Kai itself is flawed as a concept

-The fact Future Trunks looks younger than he was before and has blue hair instead of lavender is very distracting, when in fact the coloured version of Future Trunks in the DBZ manga has him with purple hair

-Future Trunks is very annoying, more so than usual, trying to argue with a genocidal maniac like he thinks he can change the guy's mind all throughout their battle and he just doesn't stop whining (hence the jokes in TFS have more legitimacy)

-The time limit on the potaro earrings is stupid and makes no sense in terms of lore, because the Elder Kai stated (or at least implied) in the DBZ manga that he'd seen mortals fuse before and that the fusion was permanent, which was why he warned Goku about it. But the writers retconned the fusion anyway. Also, it implies that Vegito in his fight with Super Gohan Buu just so happens to defuse the moment he was absorbed. If he had defused while outside of Super Buu before the absorption, then Goku and Vegeta would've been fucked

-Vegeta blowing up the Time Chamber from the inside is stupid and also makes no sense, since the Time Chamber is a completely different dimension, not a room inside the Lookout.

-Goku has never kissed Chi-Chi? Are you serious?

-The time paradox of Goku Black's inception is impossible, because Goku Black was conceived in the exact same timeline, or at least a complete carbon copy of the timeline Beerus, Whis and Goku witness Zamasu kill Gowasu. This makes no sense because Goku Black must've existed at some point for him to be created, but he wasn't. Beerus, Whis and Goku also apparently watched Zamasu kill Gowasu in that timeline and apparently did nothing to stop him, which makes even less sense, because that allowed Zamasu to make a wish on the Super Dragon Balls, which gave birth to both Immortal Zamasu and Goku Black

-Zamasu is one of the worst characters I have ever seen and watched in action. He acts the same way most other villains acts in the show, he doesn't stop ranting about how evil mortals are and why they must die, and even cries over the fact that no one can understand his viewpoint, and the reason for his murderous rampage across the multiverse is shallow and not well-developed as well. I had no sympathy or empathy for him or his cause at all

-The Spirit Bomb Sword attack against Zamasu is the most-fanfiction, Gary Stu attack, since Trunks did it with no setup, build up, or development behind it at all

-And Super Saiyan Rage is so stupid. Why does Trunks have this completely unique transformation all to himself? To top it off, the animation frames in which Trunks achieves the form were ripped straight from Gohan's moment when he went Super Saiyan 2 against Cell, which is even worse because it feels like the show is trying to rip straight from a far more superior arc to make this moment a one-of-a-kind transformation, when in reality it wasn't.

I can go on and on ranting about this arc, so I'll stop here.

Now, you may ask, HOW do I plan on improving this arc for my Golden Age timeline? Well, the answer is simple. DON'T do what Dragonball Super did and improve upon the elements that were actually great from that arc. Since I'll be dealing with parallel universes, alternate timelines and different universes early on, I'm going to go full in on this arc and introduce, not only an alternate timeline Goku that comes to the present, but also Future Trunks who works for the Time Patrol and the Supreme Kai of Time, who is pursuing all of these Black versions of the heroes across the multiverse trying to stop them from wiping out all life.

And the punchline is that ALL these Blacks have joined forces into a coalition to accomplish their plan, which is far more airtight and less flawed than the original. On top of that, the characters that are involved gives other heroes the opportunity to fight and grow from this encounter, and the encounter isn't going to be self-contained to a single saga either, as this will have effects post this saga.

The versions of Black you can see in the artwork are Zamasus who have possessed the STRONGEST characters from each of the universes each version originated from- each one being regarded as the best fighter of that universe or timeline. This brings the concept of alternate universes and alternate timelines fully into the spotlight and makes a lot more sense conceptually, because originally it was JUST Goku Black, which makes me roll my eyes because it implies in every single multiverse and timeline, Goku is regarded as the strongest. That is bullshit and completely devoid of imagination and creativity. You can do so much with this concept and I plan to develop this concept in spades.

The characters you can see featured in this picture are as follows:

The Good guys:

-Future Trunks (Time Patrol)

-Supreme Kai of Time (Head of the Time Patrol)

-Karott (Alternate Timeline Goku)

-Vegeta (The main hero who will be spearheading this arc)

The Bad guys:

-Goku Black (obviously)

-Vegeta Black (from a timeline where he defeated Frieza and became Emperor)

-Future Gohan Black (a timeline where he defeated the androids and became the strongest in his timeline)

-Obsidian Frieza (a timeline where Frieza killed all the heroes on Earth, including Goku and Vegeta, and became the most powerfull)

-Grey (a mysterious female Saiyan from another alternate timeline who was abandoned on a planet and went on to wipe out her entire universe and was left alone in the void. Zamasu found her and, because she'd long forgotten her name, he acknowledged her strength would be useful and named her Grey)

-Zamasu (the big man himself. A Supreme Kai who was at first benevolent and once attempted to fix all the problems in his universe. However, after seeing the mortals plunge themselves into war and slaughter one another, killing families and children, this version of Zamasu snapped and decided to wipe out all life in existence to start it anew, without war or conflict. A far better backstory than watching two rockmen kick the shit out of each other).

Let me know what you guys think.