I feel like rambling about a few of my Perfect Cell headcanons!
Mostly in relation to the Reformed Cell AU. I tend to go into detail about the hows and whys. So strap in, this is a long one.
• Hyper-Cleanliness & Self Care
Once his eyes are opened to the concept of showers and using human hygiene and self care products, he can NEVER go back to a life without them again. He's not necessarily a germophobe, but he takes hygiene very seriously. He treats his exoskeleton armor like his most prized possession, keeping it as immaculate as possible. He cleans and polishes his body regularly, incuding the black areas and his wings, ensuring that they look pristine, shiny, and flawless. After training, he cannot stand the thought of not bathing/showering immediately afterwards and feels disgusted sitting (or standing) in his own dirt and sweat.
He definitely treats himself to spa and personal care days. They are a must. Exfoliating scrubs, facial masks, aromatherapy candles, a bath with Epsom salts, the whole works! He does not skimp on anything. He gives himself the pampering he feels someone as perfect as him deserves. This has less to do with personal cleanliness and everything to do with boosting his vanity
This one is a no brainer, but at times, his perfectionism can be his own worst enemy. He can't stand clutter or disorganization. He'll compulsively organize the whole house if he finds anything out of place: straightening objects, re-stacking books (by height, size, alphabetical orderor, whatever he deems the most appropriate way), color-coding items, ect. until things feel visually "correct" by his personal standards. Cell has a severe form of behavioral OCD centered around visual symmetry. If he is sitting in a room, the objects around him must be perfectly aligned. A case in point being when he kept remaking his arena over and over in Abridged all because of one imperfect marble tile. What seem like tiny, harmless, inconveniences and imperfections most people can look over, feel like significantly huge problems to him and it completely throws him off kilter.
Same goes for any plans he makes or routines and expectations he sets for himself. If thrown off course or changed in any way for any reason, it disrupts his control of the situation and he gets extremely upset and agitated when things don't go as he intended, sometimes even going to the extreme of emotionally crashing, as seen while fighting against Gohan. When his perfection is successfully challenged (like it was by Super Saiyan 2 Gohan), his calm, sophisticated demeanor instantly shatters. He completely loses his composure, throwing temper tantrums, resorting to cheap tactics because his ego cannot handle failure.
Due to his cicada DNA, he expresses certain insectoid behaviors such as creating the loud iconic buzz noise. Real cicadas use specialized ribbed membranes called tymbals in their abdomens to click and buzz. In his Perfect Form, Cell's tymbals are internalized, located just beneath his chest plating near his serratus anterior muscles. Cell contracts these internal muscles at blistering, superhuman speeds. The sound echoes inside his hollow, armor-like carapace, which acts as a literal acoustic amplifier.
The buzz Cell produces is lower than the normal high frequency sound (This video is the best I could find to how I think it would sound. Somewhere in between the 50/3% and 50/4% audio speeds), but it's just as loud and intense at times, to the point you can physically feel the vibrations through your body if you're near him.
To Cell, the buzz is a humiliating reminder that he began his life as an ugly larva borrowing through the dirt and is ashamed of this ability. He cannot fully control it. When he is calm or comfortable enough to let his walls down, it's an involuntary reaction when feeling genuinely happy, content, excited or surprised. He hates that his bug DNA literally "tells on" his true emotions, stripping away his cool, collected facade. During the hot months, the sound of cicadas outside doesn't annoy him; it relaxes him. Because he carries their genetic traits, he finds a strange, instinctual comfort in their chorus. Sometimes he even catches himself joining in and forces himself to stop immediately.
Also, like with most insects, cold and rainy weather makes him visibly sluggish, becoming tired and lethargic. He loathes the winter and hates when stormy weather forces him to remain indoors, as he naturally prefers being outside the vast majority of the time. Cell’s internal sensors and insect biology make him a walking weather vane. Hours before a storm arrives, his mood shifts. He will become intensely irritable, his wings might twitch, or he might experience a sudden urge to hide or go completely silent, throwing off his usual talkative, gloating demeanor.
Aside from the usual intense training, Cell often indulges in other ways to pass time. He completely claims the largest couch or armchair in the house. He sits with an imposing posture, usually with his legs crossed and arms resting along the backrest, asserting his dominance over the room even while doing nothing. Firmly claiming without words that that is "his spot" and may remain there for hours in deep meditation or using the time for image training.
If he watches television, he avoids mindless reality shows and cartoons. He gravitates toward intense psychological thrillers, high-stakes strategy games, or complex documentaries. He loves pointing out the tactical flaws of characters on screen with smug satisfaction.
Cell designed the Cell Games arena himself, carving the stone tiles with precise measurements using his telekinesis. He genuinely loves architecture and also has as a bit of a knack for the traditional arts and sculpting.
While his bio-android physiology does not require food or water to survive, he's still able to eat and drink if he chooses to, and possessing the DNA of the universe's greatest gluttons, Goku and Vegeta, can make it difficult for him to remain stoic and refined once he tastes something mouthwatering. Because of his Saiyan DNA, Cell actually possesses an incredibly high, active metabolism and an intense, latent craving for massive quantities of meat and protein-dense meals. He views these feral urges as undignified and fiercely fights them to maintain his distinguished persona.
If he does give in, his Frieza DNA completely forbids him from eating like a savage. He can consume a huge mountain of food, but he will do it with terrifyingly swift, mechanical precision. Using a silver fork and knife, keeping his posture perfectly rigid, and never getting a single drop of sauce on his face.
His tail still has the ability to absorb or "drink" people and/or animals for their energy, but he actively chooses not to, insisting that it is beneath him to do now that he's perfect
When someone handles him with genuine tenderness and care, treating him like someone worth empathizing over instead of a monster or a weapon, his proud, confident front crumbles slightly. His mind begins short-circuiting as his brain struggles to process a physical contact that isn't meant for combat. On the outside, he remains calm and collected, while he's completely emotionally disheveled on the inside. He was not programmed to handle such things, and it feels extremely foreign to him. But from the first moment he receives any form of physical affectionate touch: a hug, a comforting hand on the shoulder, or a reassuring hand atop his, after awhile, he reluctantly finds himself craving more.
He develops coping mechanisms and habits to keep the confusing, foreign feelings at bay. His nervous system becomes hyper-vigilant and restless. Hugging a large, firm pillow tightly against his chest replicates the therapeutic effect of deep-pressure stimulation. The solid weight against his torso forces his hyper-reactive nervous system to calm down, slowing his racing mind so he can finally drift off (Yes, yes he absolutely fucking would sleep cuddling a pillow! Though he'd rather blow himself up again then to ever be caught doing it lol). At night, once he knows for sure he's alone, his regal posture completely drops. He will quietly hoard the softest, heaviest body pillows and blankets on the couch, locking his arms around them in a tight embrace to satisfy his biological need for a physical counter-weight.
While his signature crossed-arms stance is viewed as his ultimate expression of imposing confidence and intimidation, it later becomes a calculated, desperate attempt to self-soothe. Because his biomechanical body is incredibly dense and heavy, light pressure does nothing for him. He presses his forearms across his chest with enough force to crack concrete (or break an eleven year old's bones lol). This crushing, internal counter-pressure mimics the sensation of being tightly hugged, cause Kami forbid he'd ever ask for a hug from someone, his pride wouldn't allow it.
Because his immense pride makes it impossible to openly ask for closeness or admit he is touch-starved, he weaponizes psychology, faux vulnerability, and his elegant manners to force others to bridge the physical gap. Cell will deliberately move into another person’s personal space until he is mere inches away, looming over them. He won’t touch them immediately; instead, he stands close enough that his chest armor or the edge of his wings occasionally brush against them when he breathes. If called out, he will smoothly gaslight them, claiming they simply can't handle being in his grand presence.
His contact seeking behaviors are carefully calculated, brief touches disguised as acts of arrogance, correction, or sheer convenience. He will never openly ask for affection, but he will deliberately create situations as an excuse for physical contact to be less obvious, such as insisting on tending to Kariyah’s injuries after training, or something as small as brushing away dirt from her shoulders or smoothing out the wrinkles on her shirt. Even critiquing her posture for an excuse to be close, touching her arms and adjusting her stance proper. Wanting physical closeness from a friend under the guise of tactical instruction. By initiating this highly invasive, quiet contact disguised as "civilized etiquette," he forces the other person (in this case Kariyah) to either freeze in confusion or swat his hand away—either way, he successfully triggers a moment of physical skin-to-skin contact.
Using his tail is his more straight-forward approach. When he's around someone he's comfortable with, his long tail will extend and slowly creep around, gently wrapping around their ankle, waist or wrist, anchoring them to him like a protective safety rope. His wordless way of saying "I want attention, but I'm not gonna be overbearing about it" Basically the equivalent of a friend placing a hand on your knee or shoulder.
In combat, Cell will openly mock and belittle anyone who uses Ki blasts or energy beams from a distance. He will cross his arms, yawn, and say things like, "Is that the best you can do? Hiding behind light shows? A real fighter proves their strength face-to-face." He manipulates his opponent's pride, calling them cowardice, practically begging them to ditch the energy attacks and rush him for a brutal, up-close physical brawl.
He has an accumulation of multiple. Though more are on the psychological side than material, like Goku’s fear of needles, which yes, Cell has that too. Thanks to his combined DNA, he has subconsciously inherited the fears of his "fathers," while having his own personal fears on top of that. But to be fair, people can have more than just one fear. Cell’s personal fears stem more from failure and a loss of control.
His entire identity and sanity are tied to being in his final form. His absolute worst nightmare is being forced to devolve back into his Semi-Perfect or Imperfect states. To Cell, his lower forms are ugly, degrading, and deeply humiliating. Regressing back to his previous forms links to his atelophobia: the fear of being imperfect. This condition causes severe panic and harsh self-judgment when things are not flawless.
When Gohan punched him hard enough to force him to regurgitate Android 18, Cell devolved back into his Semi-Perfect form. His reaction was pure, unadulterated terror. He chose to try and blow up the entire Earth rather than exist as an imperfect being. He literally preferred non-existence over a flawed existence.
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