Powerscaling is nothing new for anime fandom culture, and Dragon Ball Super has been one of the worst places for it. Not only did Super revive all the powerscaling arguments of the original series, but it made things even worse with how much it continued to escalate things to ridiculous degrees while also having a notable lack of internal consistency with its logic, even by Dragon Ball’s standards. This resulted in a popular debate and meme including Cabba, the Saiyan from Universe 6, and Gogeta from Dragon Ball GT.

Powerscaling for Dragon Ball Super is especially bad when contrasted with Dragon Ball GT; Dragon Ball Super essentially made Dragon Ball GT non-canon, so GT’s detractors often find any reason to downscale GT in favor of Super. That’s always been a problem, but recently, a statement surrounding Cabba’s power level has caused the powerscaling discourse between Dragon Ball GT and Dragon Ball Super to go viral in a way that hasn’t been seen in years. Much of the discourse is done in jest, but the ins and outs of it are still complicated, and it all warrants an explanation.

Why People Are Saying Cabba Beats Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta & Dragon Ball GT, Entirely

Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero Puts the Two Characters Together For the First Time

In the Universe 6 saga, Vegeta fought against Cabba, a Saiyan from Universe 6, and in both the anime and the manga, Vegeta stated that he and Cabba were about equal in their base forms. At that point in the story, Goku and Vegeta were roughly equal in power, and since Dragon Ball Super’s first arc famously had Goku and Beerus nearly destroy the entire universe during their fight, that would mean that Cabba is explicitly strong enough to destroy the universe in just his base form according to Dragon Ball Super.

Cabba’s power level has been a major topic of discussion for years, but it wasn’t until Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero that it was brought into powerscaling debates with Dragon Ball GT. Sparking! Zero is the first time Cabba and Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta will be in a game together; because of that, people started seriously debating who would win in a fight, and due to GT having fewer notable feats than Super, Vegeta’s statement about Cabba being as strong as him has led to people saying that Cabba can easily defeat Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta in his base form.

Dragon Ball’s Cabba Vs. Gogeta Debate Is Deeper Than You Think

The Latest In A Decade's-Long Discourse Among Dragon Ball Fans

While all the memes about Cabba and Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta have Cabba wiping the floor with Gogeta, they’re not making fun of just Gogeta. Cabba has always been a divisive character for his skinny design and for how often he’s outclassed by other characters, so at its core, the jokes about Cabba in his base form being stronger than Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta are at Cabba’s expense as much as they’re at Gogeta’s, as people are saying that Dragon Ball GT scales so low that one of Dragon Ball Super’s weakest characters beats its strongest.

The debates about Cabba vs. Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta are largely symptomatic of the ever-ongoing discourse between Dragon Ball Super and Dragon Ball GT. Dragon Ball GT has always been divisive for its poor writing and animation, and when Dragon Ball Super came about and officially rendered it non-canon, that gave people more incentive to criticize it for the past decade. Dragon Ball GT’s writing and overall presentation have made it one of the most infamous aspects of Dragon Ball, and the Cabba vs. Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta debate is the latest way people have decided to criticize it.

Dragon Ball’s Cabba Vs. Gogeta Debate Misses A Key Part Of GT’s Lore

Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta Is Stronger Than People Think

A lot of the basis for the Cabba vs. Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta debate comes from a blatant misunderstanding of the Dragon Ball GT’s lore. In the Shadow Dragon saga, Omega Shenron unveiled his Minus Energy Power Ball attack, which was stated to be strong enough to destroy the entire universe, and Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta deflected it with a single kick. Dragon Ball GT makes it clear that Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta fights on a universal scale, just like Dragon Ball Super’s characters, so Cabba vs. Gogeta shouldn’t be nearly as one-sided as people make it out to be.

The downplaying of Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta and Dragon Ball GT, in general, stems partially from how GT handles its powerscaling compared to other parts of the franchise. While Dragon Ball is often explicit about how powerful someone’s attack is, Dragon Ball GT tended to avoid that, and because its visual feats were often not very impressive, Dragon Ball GT’s visual presentation created the impression that its characters weren’t as strong as the ones in Dragon Ball Super. Whether that’s true is up for debate, but treating it as fact in this debate and others is a major fallacy, regardless.

The Biggest Claim To Goku & Vegeta’s Power In Dragon Ball Super Might Have Been Retconned

Goku & Vegeta Aren't As Strong As People Think

Another reason why the Cabba vs. Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta debate is complicated is because of a potential retcon to Goku and Vegeta’s power. In both the anime and Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, Goku is stated to have absorbed the raw power of Super Saiyan God, thus making his, and later Vegeta’s, base forms as strong as he was as Super Saiyan God. That’s why Super Saiyan Blue was originally called Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan, and that’s also why it’s seen as such a big deal for Cabba to be on par with Vegeta’s base form.

This absorption of the Super Saiyan God power, however, never happened in the manga. Even the anime shows Goku and Vegeta needing to transform into Super Saiyan God several times, so it's safe to say that Goku and Vegeta being at Super Saiyan God level in their base forms was retconned at some point during Dragon Ball Super. This means that Cabba being on par with Vegeta’s base form isn’t the feat people often claim it to be.

Cabba Vs. Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta: Who Would Really Win In A Fight?

Who's The Strongest Between Cabba & Gogeta?

The Cabba vs. Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta debate is as big as it is complicated, and answering who would win isn’t any easier. Considering the feats Super Saiyan 4 Goku and Vegeta have compared to Cabba’s general lack of feats, it’s easy to assume they would be stronger than Cabba, especially since extended media, while non-canon, typically puts Super Saiyan 4 on par with Super Saiyan Blue. By that logic, Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta would far eclipse Cabba’s power.

The issue with that, however, comes from how hard it is to scale Super to GT. Both stories have incredible feats for the characters that are often undercut by inconsistently poor portrayals for everyone, so it’s impossible to definitively powerscale both shows, meaning there will never be a definite answer on who would win between Cabba and Gogeta. The discourse between Dragon Ball Super and Dragon Ball GT is unlikely to ever end, but at the very least, it’s nice to see it come out more humorously compared to when the debate was at its peak.