Talk:Goku/@comment-30400431-20160520214654/@comment-3463132-20160523192015

@DBFan

Do not mistake "Word of God" with "narrator statements". The two are similar but one is absolutely above the other in terms of canon. Also do not say an "official website" says something therefor it must be true either.

Also, for the comics in particular, it matters WHEN something is said. If Iron Man's repulsors were stated to only be supersonic in speed years ago- then later a feat was shown where they exceeded that speed- then we can safely say the character may have changed over time. But we'll get back to that later.

As for "destroy" I want this to be clear- you guys sometimes use the word wrong.

Look, at these , defintions.

'Destroy' doesn't always mean totally removing the thing from existence- it just means you damage it so much that it cannot retain its purpose. You could destroy the Earth for example but just burning away the atmosphere or impacting the ground hard enough to knock dust into the air to blot out the sun. The Earth is totally still there and functionally the planet was destroyed- the injuries imparted on it cannot be reparied- but doesn't require planet-busting power.

That's the thing- seldom is destroy ever considered to be the lesser variation of the word by vsdebators. That's the same reason I take massive issue with the simply line about Demise (with his army!) being able to "destroy the world" being a viable claim for continent-level Demise. Nothing about that statement gives any actual information.

Now back to the start- leave aside "understanding" the character for the moment. You're also (by extension) saying the Word of God can't "change" the character.

Prime example- I have an OC named Ripper- big troll-type monster. He previously held the feat of ripping an Abrams tank in half (hence the name). Now say this was an episode of a tv show and that feat happened. Now say later I realized Ripper was too strong and needed to be weaker. I say as much in a FAQ- "He isn't actually that strong." Perhaps you're right- at the time of writing the feat- I didn't understand how powerful that would make the character- but you're also by extension saying I can't change my own character.

Furthermore- authors can make mistakes. Prime example again- I wanted Ripper to be quite strong- so I had lift a tank over his head. I wanted him to lift a couple of tons and I say so in the little box above the picture, "Ripper lifts tons of metal tanks over his head- screaming in fury before hurling it at his foes." And imagine I drew an abrams tank there because I thought it looked cool.

What is the result? I wanted that feat to make Ripper capable of lifting only a few tons- an abrams tank weighs 70 tons- far more than I intended. But if I say in a later interview "Ripper can only lift 5 tons" then it contradicts the scene right? That's not what was shown or calculated by fans- I'm wrong by this "it contradicts" logic- even thought it's my character and my feat.

That's what this comes down to for me- not how well they understand their character- but whether they deserve the ability to decide what their character should be. I personally say yes, any writer has the right to say a character is capable or incapable of anything.