Quote Originally Posted by Devonix View Post
Btw can we finally agree that 17 is at near SSgod level?
Not sure. Didn't we think Ribrianne was SSgod level before she was tossed around by base Vegeta for awhile, then beaten by 18 after getting two transformations?
In the manga, Goku doesn't fight 17 is SSB. The power consistency is nonexistent.

Even after Krillin's power-up in the little story between him and Goku where he gained that new aura he never used in the ToP, he banned Super Saiyan when they sparred. When he powers up into that fist-aura he's still around base Goku level.
Weaker characters are able to triumph in beam struggles with stronger characters rather often by being just powerful enough to surprise the stronger character that didn't put enough into the attack. That happened with Beerus's Death Ball and Zamasu's Death Ball before when Goku shot through it and hit Zamasu. The narrative relies on our understanding that Goku was well out of his league in terms of power but he still managed to push back. The difference was, he was pretty much out of the fight until he got a bean while his opponent kept throwing down.
Fairing well against an opponent that doesn't want to hurt you happens pretty often, and it's useless for scaling.

And while I agree that the episode with 17 was clearly trying to show that he was god-tier, I've always been hesitant about including him on the list of god-tier fighters because I doubted the narrative would consistently show him there. He certainly has been punching high, but we won't know just how high until we pit him against the opponents we have adequate scaling for, like Dyspo (Low to mid-god tier depending on whether you figure out his gimmick) and Toppo (mid-god tier, roughly equal to SSB).
So we'll see very soon.