My explanation for Omni-man's power scaling

[u/Nat_Libertarian]

I think we have all noticed the problem- sometimes Omni-Man can tank massive explosions, a space laser, air-to-air missiles and can use his body as a wmd by flying through an alien city like a MAC projectile, but other times he gets hurt from a punch to the face or a tiny little cherrybomb. I came up with a theory to help explain this.

In the first episode he explains to Mark thay Viltrumites can manipulate their position and move freely in space, allowing them to fly, and also how they can use this to make their own leverage for punches. It might be a leap here, but I think this is how they appear to be nearly invincible at times as well.

Later in the episode when Mark confronts the bully he looks hurt from the first punch, then gradually takes them until at the last one he looks like a brick wall, as if his durability is something that he has to conciously control and he is just learning how it works.

I think this is true with Omni-Man as well. Every time we see one of his extreme feats of invincibility he is focused specifically on taking it, not flinching in the face of terrible force. On the other hand, when he is caught off-guard or while facing multiple opponents in hand-to-hand combat he cannot focus on defense as much, and thus he can be hurt or even potentially killed by far weaker opponents than himself, to the point where even just mechanically-assisted human corpses could rough him up.

[u/Fufflewaffle]

This is my headcanon for how Dragon Ball characters work aswell. I always thought their invulnerability was a power they control, like manipulating their energy. Makes sense as to how Goku gets almost killed by a small laser beam in the Cooler movie, he was paying attention and thus couldn't protect his body. Might just be like how if we get punched in the gut unaware, it hurts. But we can engage our core to absorb most of the energy.