History Characters / DragonBallAllies

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: In the original manga and anime, he acts a bit looney and chipper, prone to cackling hysterically (such as when reading funny manga), acting like a {{Troll}} and being a DirtyOldMan like Master Roshi. Later appearances in the franchise downplay these traits in favor of playing up his GrumpyOldMan attitude and status as a BigGood ReasonableAuthorityFigure.

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: When first introduced, Shin is a mix between a SmugSmiler and TheStoic and seemingly a morally grey character in the world of Dragonball, unphased by the brutality of Spopovich's beatdown on Videl unlike everyone else watching and actively allowing Gohan to get attacked and have his energy drained by Babidi's minions so that they could be pursued to their master's hideout. But as the saga goes on, he is shown to be ''much'' nicer, have a much wider range of emotions, and his moral compass is far stronger than it first seemed.

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: When first introduced, Shin is a mix between a SmugSmiler and TheStoic and seemingly a morally grey character in the world of Dragonball, unphased by the brutality of Spopovich's beatdown on Videl unlike everyone else watching. But as the saga goes on, he is shown to be ''much'' nicer, have a much wider range of emotions, and his moral compass is far stronger than it first seemed.

* TopGod: He was introduced as the highest godly authority in the Saiyan arc, with other gods such as Kami and Yemma being deferential to him. Retcons rendered him increasingly irrelevant as higher gods were introduced, though he's still supposed to be the highest god of North Galaxy at least. First the other Kais, then the Grand Kai, then the Supreme Kais, then the Grand Supreme Kai (currently deceased), then the God of Destruction, then the other Gods of Destruction, then the Grand Minister, and finally the Omni-King (Zeno).

[[folder:Dragon Team/Z-Fighters]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dbz_earths_special_forces.jpg]]
A group of Earth's mightiest warriors. Formed as a team during the Saiyan invasion, they gradually gathered beforehand over time, and have always fought many battles in order to test their skills and reach other goals, and in turn, have become the unofficial defenders of Earth.
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* AbortedArc: After dying in the Saiyan invasion, Tien, Piccolo, Chiaotzu, and Yamcha are all introduced as training under King Kai in Otherworld, and all had gotten there significantly faster than Goku himself. There are a few episodes of {{Filler}} showing them training and even beating the Ginyu Force with relative ease, which would put them significantly around Goku's level when he first arrived on Namek, building up their strength. Unfortunately, this amounts to nothing as three out of four of them never truly have a proper fight again after that point.
* BloodKnight: All of them enjoy a good fight, some more than others. Best shown in the Android/Cell Saga, where all of them go against Bulma's [[StatingTheSimpleSolution suggestion]] that they find Dr. Gero and stop him before he can activate the Androids,[[note]]though Krillin's reasoning was that Vegeta would stay in line if they had a common enemy to fight[[/note]] deciding instead to spend the three years training in preparation. This is despite the fact that Future Trunks had already told them that the Androids would ''kill them all''.
* CantCatchUp: Unfortunately, anyone who's not a Saiyan...
** ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' goes to some lengths to redress the problem by giving many of the Z-Warriors large power-ups. But, if anything, the problem is worse than before. Ever since Goku and Vegeta gained divine ki and Super Saiyan God transformations, everyone else has been left in the dust, including Gohan and the other Saiyan hybrids (who originally had the most potential of them all). Occasionally, someone like Android #17 will come along with a significant power boost and briefly put Goku on edge, but by the next arc, Goku will only grow even stronger and surpass everyone else once more.
** [[spoiler:Finally {{averted|trope}} for real in ''Anime/DragonBallSuperSuperHero'', where both Gohan and Piccolo gain exclusive new transformations that put them in the same ballpark as Goku and Vegeta.]]
* DefeatMeansFriendship: The large majority of them were once past enemies of Goku's, to varying degrees. (Krillin and Tien were rivals, Piccolo was a villain but reformed by the end of the following arc after his debut, and Vegeta was a TokenEvilTeammate through and through until the end of ''Z''.)
* EveryoneHasStandards:
** In the Frieza Saga, while Gohan, Piccolo, and Krillin all make it perfectly clear they hate Vegeta's guts and wouldn't care if he died, they're still left shocked and horrified at the sight of Frieza [[ColdBloodedTorture brutally torturing him]]. Similarly, in the Buu Saga, Krillin and Piccolo are mournful when Vegeta sacrifices himself ([[SenselessSacrifice in vain]]) to destroy Fat Buu, with Krillin actually screaming his name.
** Come the Cell Saga, despite all of the horrible things Cell has done and wanting him to go down, most of them are left horrified at sweet little Gohan's [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness sadistic joy]] in cruelly picking the android apart. Well, except for [[GoodIsNotSoft Goku]], who was less concerned that his son was torturing someone to death and more concerned that Gohan was taking too long and would eventually drive Cell to [[EarthShatteringKaboom do something desperate]].
* FireForgedFriends: Most of the Z-Fighters (barring Gohan) were initially enemies or rivals to Goku but the number of hardships they endure like facing the same goal (like the Dragon Balls or sharing the same enemy) resulted in them becoming great friends and allies.
* TheFriendsWhoNeverHang: In the ''Z'' era at least, the Z-Fighters as a whole would rarely hang out unless the world was in danger and could go for years without even seeing each other, either due to their other responsibilities or simply living too far away from each other and losing contact. This is mostly averted in ''Super'' where they are more close-knit, often having parties and get-togethers at Bulma's place.
* HardWorkHardlyWorks: All of them get hit with this ''hard''. They often put themselves through TrainingFromHell, but they simply CantCatchUp to Goku or the Saiyans.
* HonorBeforeReason: They generally prefer not to gang up on opponents even when it would be pragmatic to do so.
* IHaveManyNames: Bearing in mind that these guys are a RagtagBunchOfMisfits rather than some highly organised superhero team, they don't have any official InUniverse name, though there are several non-diegetic names that are used by fans and marketers for convenience. "The Z-Warriors/Z-Fighters" is the most common name derived from the anime [[note]]Though it is often assumed to be a dub-ism due to how ingrained it is with the English-speaking fandom, the term was actually featured in the original Japanese text (as "Zetto-Senshi")[[/note]]. However, Creator/AkiraToriyama prefers the more inclusive "Dragon Team" name, which can be used to describe Goku's entire friend circle rather than just the combatant members. Other names include "Earth's Special Forces", "Super-Warriors", "Group Z"[[note]]German dub[[/note]] "Team Universe 7" and simply "the Dragon Ball Gang", among others.
* InformedAttribute: Chiaotzu, Tien, Yamcha, and Piccolo are all stated to be students of King Kai, however, the ''results'' of said training isn't really shown outside of a power boost, something that isn't shown outside of {{Filler}}. None of them use the techniques of the Spirit Bomb or the Kaioken, or any moves attributed to his training.
* MagneticHero: Nearly all of them were brought together by their shared association with Goku. The group as a whole has gradually built up a massive number of allies and won the begrudging respect of many opponents.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[NiceJobBreakingItHero/DragonBall Some more than others]], but more often than not, the current conflict is exacerbated by the Z-Fighters' own actions. Cell and Majin Buu in particular would ''never'' have gotten as far as they did had the heroes not kept screwing things up again and again.
* NotWearingTights: Make no mistake, the Dragon Team are '''not''' superheroes. Hell, they're not even an official team as such. They're just a group of warriors who happen to fight powerful threats to the Earth, but in their daily lives, they do not go around looking for crime to fight or global problems to solve (only Gohan and Krillin do this as a part-time superhero and police officer, respectively).[[note]]And even then, neither of them are exactly doing as much as they could with the power they have at their disposal.[[/note]]
* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: A monkey boy from outer space, his half-human son, a short noseless monk, a desert bandit, a former demon king, a three-eyed assassin, an alien prince, etc. Essentially, they're a random collection of warriors that the earth AND the whole universe is ''lucky'' to have, in every sense of the word, to keep them safe from evil.
* RivalDojos: Way back when the main gang was mainly comprised of Master Roshi's Turtle School pupils and their friends, the Crane School were their main rivals. When Tenshinhan and Chaozu turned over a new leaf, they joined Roshi while keeping their Crane martial arts teachings. Since then, the various world-ending threats that the Dragon Team run into can be viewed as twisted variations of the Rival Dojo trope, e.g. King Piccolo and his Demon Clan, Vegeta and his Saiyan comrades, Dr. Gero and his Android creations. Most of them get absorbed into the Dragon Team in some fashion [[DefeatMeansFriendship after their defeats]].
* RootingForTheEmpire: InUniverse. When Mr. Satan challenges Cell, most of the Z-Fighters get so irritated by his loudmouth, overbearing, braggart attitude and his constant underestimation of Cell's ability that they all find themselves taking the latter's side during their "fight". After Cell [[SingleStrokeBattle easily dispatches Satan in one hit]], Krillin freely admits to Gohan that he was rooting for Cell, and even Piccolo winds up being disappointed that Cell didn't just kill him.
* SkewedPriorities: Nearly all of them suffer from this to one extent or another as they can prioritize their desire for a good fight over the safety of the Earth. Even the human fighters, despite having a higher willingness to be pragmatic, have codes of honor that would be seen as quite alien to normal people.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Their initial alignment with [[TheFriendNobodyLikes Vegeta]] was riddled with this. The trend continued in ''Super'' with their brief team-up with [[EnemyMine Frieza]].
* TrueCompanions: They're all close friends, despite going anywhere from three to ten years without speaking to each other, and although Vegeta spends the rest of his life resenting how Goku beat him up, he eventually becomes part of the group.
* WeAreTeamCannonFodder: In later arcs, the effectiveness of the characters in the grand scheme of things was basically whittled down to a few Saiyans. The overall narrative structure of ''every one of Z's sagas'' could be summed up as "major characters of varying degrees of importance lose against the main villain one by one (if they're lucky, they'll be able to kill a secondary enemy or two) until Goku is able to step in, fully recovered from whatever last held him back and stronger than ever, to finally defeat them."
* WeHaveBecomeComplacent:
** All the heroes, except for Goku, Vegeta, and Tien (the last having ''never'' stopped training despite a case of CantCatchUp), become this in the Buu Saga. After Cell's defeat, the Earth went through seven years of peace without incident. Then Babidi came with his most powerful minion being only as strong as last season's main villain. Still, he was able to effectively kill Piccolo and Krillin and fought Gohan to a draw because he had actually gotten weaker from not training. Vegeta also sold his soul for power, making Goku the only person able to stop him. Things got worse when Buu was awakened, who is ''many'' times stronger than any previous villain catching the entire cast, except Goku, flatfooted. They spent most of the saga frantically trying to get strong enough just to challenge Buu.
** From the Cell Saga onwards, Goku finds himself exasperated with his friends and loved ones for their tendency to do this, especially since they constantly [[CrutchCharacter depend on him]] to save the day when one day, he ''will'' die permanently and when that day comes, no one will be able to counter the next big threat to Earth unless they stop being so dependent on him. This leads to him trying to [[PassingTheTorch pass the torch]] to first Gohan, then Goten and Trunks, but sadly, they end up being [[BrilliantButLazy too lazy]] to keep training, adding to his annoyance.
* WeakButSkilled: Many of the Z-Fighters, especially compared to Goku and Vegeta, and even then, they fall into it on occasion. ''Super'' shows this especially, where many of the non-Saiyan Z-Fighters manage to hold their own against, or even defeat, comparatively stronger opponents using unique skills or greater experience.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Master Roshi]]
!!Master Roshi (武天老師, ''Muten Rōshi''/''Wutian Laoshi'', lit. Martial Heaven Old Master)\\
AKA The Turtle Hermit (亀仙人, ''Kame Sen'nin'')
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/roshi_dbz.png]]
->'''Voiced by (Japanese):''' Kouhei Miyauchi (''Dragon Ball'' and ''Z''), Creator/JojiYanami (''DB'' episode 137 only), Hiroshi Masuoka (''Z'', ''GT'', ''Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!''), Creator/MasaharuSato (Movie 13, ''Kai'', ''Battle of Gods'', ''Resurrection [='F'=]'', ''Super''), Kinya Aikawa (''The Path to Power''), Takkou Ishimori (''Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure'')\\
'''Voiced by (English):''' Clifton Wells (Harmony Gold dub); Creator/MichaelDonovan (''DB'' ep. 3, ''Curse of the Blood Rubies''), Creator/IanJamesCorlett (''DB'' ep. 7-8, ''DBZ'' ep. 1-34, Edited version of Movie 3), Peter Kelamis (''DBZ'' ep. 50), Don Brown (''DBZ'' Movies 1-2, Uncut version of Movie 3), Terry Klassen (''DBZ'' Season 4-6) (BLT/Ocean dub); Creator/MikeMcFarland (Funimation dub);[[note]]Chris Forbis as Jackie Chun in ''Z'' ep. 166 flashback[[/note]] Dean Galloway (Blue Water dub); Ed Marcus (AB Groupe/"Big Green" dub); Nesty Ramirez (Creative Products Corp., Philippines); Dave Bridges (Animax dub); Creator/KirkThornton (Bang Zoom!/Toonami Asia dub in ''Super'')\\
'''Voiced by (Latin American Spanish):''' Jesús Colín (''DB'', ''Z'' and ''GT''), Jorge Roig (''Kai''), Miguel Ángel Sanromán (''Battle of Gods'', ''Resurrection 'F''', ''Kai the Final Chapters'' and ''Super'')\\
'''Voiced by (French):''' Pierre Trabaud (''DB'', ''Z''), Gérard Surugue (''GT''), Creator/GilbertLevy (''Kai'', ''Super'')\\
'''Voiced by (Italian):''' Creator/MarioScarabelli

-->''"Now listen to me boys! Always remember these words: Work hard! Study well! and eat and sleep plenty. That is the Turtle Hermit way! We must master the art of peace in addition to the art of war!"''

Goku's first mentor. A hermit whose home is located on a small island in the middle of the ocean. Very strong (at least at the start of the series) and with a keen eye. Also very perverted and usually hits on any pretty tail that comes his way.

* AchillesInHisTent: He doesn't get involved with the Red Ribbon Army Saga despite being superior to Son Goku around this time.
* AdaptationalBadass: In the anime version of the Tournament of Power, he was already formidable enough, but in the manga, even though a lot of his spotlight got sidetracked, [[VictoryByEndurance he was able to survive long enough, being the 6th overall fighter to get taken out from the Tournament of Power, even outlasting Gohan, Piccolo, and Android 18.]] He singlehandedly took out a Pride Trooper (Kahseral) and even managed to endure [[WorldsStrongestMan Jiren]] temporarily as an attempt to buy Goku time to rest.
* AdaptationalJerkass: While Roshi was always characterized as lecherous in the manga, he never outright assaulted anyone and his only crimes were acts of voyeurism. On the other hand, Toei's anime filler goes out of its way to give him far more dodgy sexualized scenes for comedic relief, mainly of him groping female characters (with the character Maron basically being created to be the butt of these "jokes"), that would certainly get him indicted on some kind of register in real life. He usually receives comeuppance for his dirty deeds, however.
* AnimalMotif: Turtles. His teaching style is based around them and he wears a shell on his back for training.
* AwesomeButImpractical:
** His [[HulkingOut Max Power]] form makes him strong enough to destroy entire mountains and the Moon with a single Kamehameha, but the muscle increase greatly slows him down, and using even one ki attack will burn him out. As of ''Resurrection 'F''', he's more mobile and can use more than one energy attack while in that state.
** The Mafuba. In terms of power and use, it's virtually a OHKO that can work on anyone, even beings who are far stronger than Roshi is, and since very few people know about the attack, Roshi is almost guaranteed to land it when he is able to use it. However, the technique has a steep cost to use, and can often kill the user if they are unprepared for it, such as what happened to Roshi when he used it on Demon King Piccolo back in ''Dragon Ball''. Even if the user doesn't die, they are left exhausted as a result, and if someone is able to learn about the attack, they can reverse it and seal the caster, or another target.
* BaldnessMockery: For all the depth of his conflict with Master Roshi, Master Shen, Roshi's EvilCounterpart, is not above teasing the "300-year-old pervert with a head that is bald and shiny".
* BigGood: In ''Dragon Ball'', by virtue of being the wisest and most experienced of the group. Kami effectively took this role after his introduction up until his fusion with Piccolo.
* BilingualBonus: A very interesting case for his name. Outside of the translations of his titles seen above at the top of his page near the folder, note that "Laoshi/Rōshi" literally means "Old Master" In the most current English dub, he basically is called "Master Old Master" if one literally translates "Master Roshi".
* BishonenLine: When he buffs up, his missing teeth grow back.
* BrilliantButLazy: Roshi was, for a long time, one of the most powerful people on the planet. However, he spends his days watching porn and exercise videos, letting his students save the earth rather than get off his island.
** Subverted when Frieza comes back to life and invades Earth while Goku and Vegeta are absent, during which he's seen fighting off the alien armada alongside Gohan and Piccolo. He would then join Team Universe 7 in the Tournament of Power and was able to hold his own for a relatively impressive amount of time.
* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: He came the closest to stopping King Piccolo by using the Evil Containment Wave to seal him into a rice cooker. He misses the cooker and dies soon afterward, allowing Piccolo to get his wish to regain his youth.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: He's a [[MethuselahSyndrome 300-year old]] [[DirtyOldMan perverted man]]... who happened to be the creator of the Kamehameha, tutor of Goku and Krillin and in early parts of the series, the greatest martial artist on Earth.
* ButtMonkey: To extreme levels after being DemotedToExtra, but had moments in ''Dragon Ball''.
* BuxomBeautyStandard: He's attracted to women with large busts, such as Bulma, Launch and Krillin's {{Filler}} girlfriend Maron, though it's shown that he'll go for any girl in general regardless of bust size as long as they're considered attractive which he does later on with Krillin's wife Android 18 and Gohan's future wife Videl.
* CantCatchUp:
** He retires from fighting during the second tournament arc, admitting that the new generation is both stronger and no longer needs his guidance. During later story arcs, he expresses frustration at not being able to help during the major fights. Though, considering how strong Frieza, Cell, and especially both Buu and Beerus were, he wouldn't had a chance.
** Averted as of ''Resurrection of 'F''. He takes on Frieza's henchmen with ease and Toriyama states that he could have always been that strong, and started to train himself rigorously again.
** In ''Super'', during a brief arc where he gets mind-controlled, he defeats Tien and Goku had to put effort into beating him and later notes that he must have been training in secret the whole time. He is later chosen to be a part of the team in the multiverse tournament, while Yamcha, Goten, and Trunks, are not. This is partly because, due to the way the competition is entirely based on ringing out opponents, combat experience is as equally important as raw strength. While Yamcha had tournament experience, he's deemed too rusty to be a strong competitor. In contrast, the fact Master Roshi clearly had been continuing his training, in conjunction with being a character with one of the most experience under his belt leads to the hope that he'll be a good teammate. [[spoiler:Goku's judgment is spot on, as Roshi quickly proves to be one of the most effective members of the team.]]
* ChickMagnet: He's perfectly capable of getting women if he wanted to. As Jackie Chun, girls even asked for his autograph before his fight with Man-Wolf.
* ClarkKenting: His disguise of Jackie Chun involves taking off his shades and putting on a wig. Only Yamcha saw through it until Roshi tricked him and Goku didn't think he was Master Roshi since they didn't smell the same, Roshi covered his scent with perfume.
* CombatPragmatist: What he becomes ''by necessity'' in ''Super''. He's absolutely ancient by human standards and even with the arena specifically designed to prevent Ki-based flight abilities and balancing the JustForFun/SuperWeight that [[{{Heavyworlder}} heavyworlders (or those who train like them)]] gain when fighting on an optimal field, he relies on trickery, esoteric techniques, and wisdom to defeat opponents who outclass him by power alone. This goes so far as Roshi ''[[{{Determinator}} specifically seeking out]]'' warriors he knows will trip up his stronger, but less canny, students. The no-flight clause is played to his advantage, as Roshi never actually learned the ability to fly without assistance.
* ComedicSociopathy: He's a perverted old man who would be in jail for sexual assault if he was a real person. Him being regularly beaten up by Bulma, Blond Launch, adult Chi-Chi, and Android 18 is karma for the most part and invokes almost no sympathy from anyone.
* ConfusionFu: When he's using his DrunkenMaster technique. He pretends to be drunk to make his movements unpredictable. This works extremely well against Goku since he can't copy this technique since he has never been drunk.
* CoolOldGuy: Back in ''Dragon Ball''. Regains most of this status in ''Super'' and ''Resurrection 'F'''
* CoolShades: Never without them since he fought as Jackie Chun in the 22nd Tenkaichi Tournament. Until the Tournament of Power in ''Super'' forces him out of retirement, that is.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass:
** The poster boy for this trope since he's normally a goof and a DirtyOldMan, but when he decides to get serious, he is a very skilled fighter with the power to ''destroy the moon with one shot'', making him one of the biggest badasses in the original ''Dragon Ball'' up to as far up in the timeline as the later parts of the Saiyan Saga.
** The sunglasses, Hawaiian shirts, and (most of) the sex jokes fall by the wayside during the King Piccolo arc, as he takes charge of the situation.
** Taken to extremes where it's revealed via ''Resurrection 'F''' that he could have stood up to a few of the ''Z'' villains if he'd bothered trying rather than letting his students take care of everything.
** In ''Super'', he proves that despite not having the raw strength of his two students anymore, he more than makes up for it with his wisdom and skill, effortlessly dodging combatants using direct attacks and outwitting the trickier opponents. [[spoiler:And when all of that fails, he reveals that his signature move, the Kamehameha, is still nothing to scoff at.]]
* CuttingTheKnot: When Goku transforms into a Great Ape during the World Martial Arts Tournament. Yamcha tries to tell him he needs to cut off [[AchillesHeel Goku's tail]] to change him back. Roshi opts for a more permanent solution by [[DefaceOfTheMoon blowing up the moon itself]].
* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: The Mafuba (Evil Containment Wave in the dub) is the technique that Master Mutaito used to seal King Piccolo during his original rampage. The attack requires so much energy that it more often than not kills its user, as Master Mutaito died from using. Master Roshi attempts to use the Evil Containment Wave to reseal King Piccolo after he escapes, [[SenselessSacrifice but not only does he misses the rice cooker, he end up dying like his master]]. In ''Super'', [[spoiler:he reluctantly teaches the Evil Containment Wave to Goku since it's the only way to defeat Future Zamasu who is an immortal]]. By the time of the Tournament of Power, Roshi has trained enough to be able to use it three times before being fatigued, with the last two times being very close to each other in terms of usage.
* ADayInTheLimelight: The second ''DBZ'' movie, ''The World's Strongest'', gave him a pretty big role, helping Goku and friends fight against Dr. Wheelo. ''Resurrection 'F''' also gave him a considerable role, helping to fight off Frieza's army. The Universe Survival arc in ''Super'' has a whole episode dedicated to him taking out 3 of Universe 4's fighters.
* DeathSeeker: Played with in that he's not actively trying to die during the Tournament of Power, but he's more than willing to spam dangerous techniques on multiple occasions even if he risks killing himself in the process just to give U7 any edge he can so his disciples can go on living. [[spoiler:His heart ''actually stops beating'' after he puts everything he has into a giant Kamehameha and Goku has to ki-blast jumpstart his heart working again]]. And even after ''that'', he continues to fight until he ends up [[spoiler:getting saved from having to perform a HeroicSacrifice by Vegeta, who urges Roshi that it's time to forfeit and let the others take care of the rest because he's done his part.]]
* DemotedToExtra: In ''Z'' and ''GT'' to ridiculous degrees like everyone else. By the time ''Dragon Ball Z'' rolls around, the only purpose he really serves is just having a house for all the characters to frequently meet up at in-between fights or for the non-fighting characters to wait around while watching TV. In ''Super'', he does get a little more screen time since the series retells ''Resurrection 'F''', in which he fights Frieza's men, and [[spoiler:he teaches Goku the Evil Containment Wave]]. He is also chosen to be part of Universe 7's team for the Universe Survival Saga.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Roshi means "old master". Therefore, in the English dub, Master Roshi leaves us with "Master Old Master".
* DirtyOldMan: Probably one of the most recognizable anime examples. He provides the page image, having made perving on women his favorite pastime. He has a steady supply of girly mags, is easily distracted by any female that catches his eye, and will [[ThanksForTheMammary cop a feel]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3nzL_H_JVo at every given opportunity.]] Roshi always ends up paying for it, but [[WorthIt he'll just do it again anyway.]] In ''Super'', he realizes these tendencies are his greatest weakness, and undergoes training to learn to control his urges... and in the Tournament of Power, we see this ''actually worked'', as he does not fall for a female opponent's attempts to seduce him, and he is able to NoSell Universe 2's Maidens use of a love-themed attack.
* DotingParent: Whenever Master Roshi spends quality time with young Goku and Krillin (such as eating with them, playing with them, and teaching them how to read and write) and whenever he affectionately pats their heads in praise. For both now-adult warriors, he is the closest thing they have to a father. Especially for Krillin, as he ends up living with Roshi through the rest of the series (even when he gets married and has a kid!).
** His horrified reaction to [[spoiler:Jiren brutally beating Goku to as close to death as he could without killing him is much like a father who doesn't want to see his son get hurt but can do nothing about it. He sounds like he's on the verge of tears and can't help but avert his eyes.]]
* DrunkenBoxing: One of his fighting styles. It acts as the perfect counter to Goku's AwesomenessByAnalysis since he has never been drunk before, so he can't properly [[PowerCopy copy it]]. However, Goku is able to counter it by [[ConfusionFu just acting completely insane]].
* EccentricMentor: To Goku, Yamcha, and Krillin. He is a big pervert who spends his days reading and watching porn and hitting on hot women. He was also the strongest man in the world until Goku's generation.
* {{Ephebophile}}: Went too far on this trope. He did a few times showed his perverted side to minors, once with Bulma (asking to see her underwear in exchange for his Dragon Ball, though he originally didn't expect her to be completely bottomless), groped Android 18's breasts (not only is 18 still physically a teenager herself, he did this right in front of her ''infant daughter'' Marron no less), and one with Videl (poking her chest on Kami's Lookout). Both Bulma and Videl were 16 at those points, while 18's age is far harder to guess as she has no memory of her old human life.
* {{Flanderization}}: The anime adaptations of both ''Z'' and ''Super'' massively overplayed the pervert aspect of his character, to the point of turning him into a multi-time attempted rapist. His HiddenDepths come off as inexplicable by comparison.
* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: The foolish sibling to Baba's responsible, Baba is a capable and serious fortune teller that is well known for her magical abilities and essentially has her own business. Roshi is a very perverted martial arts hermit that is more invested in ogling ladies than he is actually teaching.
* ForgottenPhlebotinum: In the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament, he almost defeats Goku using an electricity-based attack that paralyzes the nerves, leaving the target helpless. This potential StoryBreakerPower is never mentioned again until Roshi is suddenly catapulted back to relevance in ''Super'' and uses the technique against Tien while under mind control. He uses it again during the tournament to paralyze a fighter from Universe 4, helping Tien easily knock the man out. It's heavily implied that he simply doesn't like using it because the technique is potentially lethal and he's a MartialPacifist.
* GeniusBruiser: He has many years of wisdom, as well as being the strongest human at the start of the series
* HardWorkHardlyWorks: Despite spending roughly a hundred years training, Goku is almost equal to him after a few years of training. In fact, it took Roshi ''fifty years'' to master the [[KamehameHadoken Kamehameha Wave]], and Goku learned how to do so [[PowerCopying after simply seeing Roshi use it once]]. To make matters worse, Krillin was able to use it on the basis that he saw Yamcha do it and reasoned he should be able to do it as well.
** His training regimen is demonstrated to be one of the toughest on the planet. It would soon be overshadowed by aliens, mutants, and supernatural beings who were born leagues above Roshi's strength, along with secret techniques and fantastic methods that amplify an individual's strength far more than Roshi's training ever could.
* HermitGuru: Well, he is called the Turtle Hermit.
* HisNameReallyIsBarkeep: He shows his driver's license in an episode of the anime (confirmed to be accurate by Daizenshuu 4) which shows that his name really is Muten-Rōshi, or "Master Roshi" in the [=FUNimation=] dub. For context, Muten-Rōshi would never be perceived as a proper name by someone who knew its Japanese meaning; [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C5%8Dshi Rōshi]] just means "old master", while "Muten" is a combination of mu (martial) and ten (heaven), meaning his name is literally "Old Heavenly Martial Arts Master."
* HorrifyingTheHorror: Despite being much weaker than King Piccolo, he manages to scare the Demon King shitless by revealing that he knows the Evil Containment Wave. Although Roshi fails to trap Piccolo and dies, Piccolo is left shaking on the ground for several seconds.
* HypnoticEyes: Has been shown hypnotizing Goku into falling asleep and the Man-Wolf into [[ItMakesSenseInContext believing that Krillin's head was the full moon so he could recover his human form]].
* IAmNotLeftHanded: In most of his fights, he appears to be a wrinkly old man. However, he can bulk up to Hulk-like levels with his MAX power. Also, there's his ''immense'' collection of techniques and tricks, including hypnosis and ''shooting lightning from his hands''.
* IAteWhat: During the tournament arc in the original manga, he, Launch, and Krillin accidentally ate pufferfish stew. They all ended up bedridden.
* IWasQuiteALooker: Claims he was very attractive when he was young. In a filler storyline, Goku went back in time and met the young Roshi, who showed there was truth to his claim. When looking at an old photo of him, even Bulma commented he looked attractive.
--> '''Bulma:''' Whoa, he's handsome! Who is he?
--> '''Roshi:''' That's me.
--> '''Bulma:''' Nuh-ah. That's impossible, he has hair!
--> '''Roshi:''' I wasn't born bald, you know!
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He can be an obnoxious pervert, but beneath it, he's still a kind-hearted person. His first lesson for Goku and Krillin was to never use martial arts for aggression and only for self-defense. During the first tournament, he showed compassion to Nam by explaining he did not need the prize money to buy water after he was defeated by Goku and gives him a capsule to store water from a well to take back to his village. In the English Dub, it's even implied Roshi would have thrown the fight if Nam beat Goku and made it to the finals.
* KamehameHadoken: [[TropeMaker He invented it.]] The first half anyway.
* KilledOffscreen: Played straight in the manga which only shows a stick figure of Super Buu killing off the majority on Kami's Lookout via the Elder Kai's globe. Averted somewhat in the anime where we get the admittedly horrifying [[ShadowDiscretionShot Shadow Discretion Shots]] of Roshi and the others being changed into chocolate bars and eaten by the Majin.
* LivingLegend: When he was introduced, Master Roshi was revered as the God of Martial Arts and the WorldsStrongestMan; in the episode "Tien's Atonement", he's even able to get Tien off the hook for a murder accusation just through his personal endorsement.
* LovableSexManiac: Roshi is seriously perverted but he's shown to be a really nice person at several points. He loves Goku and Krillin like they were his own sons and lets the latter start a family at his home.
* LustMakesYouDumb: He can be such a horndog that he'll sometimes [[BullyingADragon harass women who are more than capable of seriously harming or killing him]], such as Launch, whose SplitPersonality is a violent, gun totting criminal, and Android 18, who is strong enough to fight people who can [[EarthShatteringKaboom blow up planets]]. This habit of his is so bad that in ''[[Anime/DragonBallSuper Super]]'', part of his training for the Tournament of Power involves learning to control himself enough to prevent any female opponents from [[ShowSomeLeg seducing him]] into letting his guard down. [[spoiler:During the tournament, one his female opponents, [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe Caway]] does try to seduce him and it looks like it works at first... but he only acted that way to get her to let her guard down.]]
* ManChild: Master Roshi is of old age, but behaves like a child. A ''very'' perverted child.
* MasterApprenticeChain: He is the master of a number of characters who pass his style to the next generation, giving him one of the longest chains in the series: Mutaito and Korin > Master Roshi > Son Gohan, Sr and Ox-King > Son Goku, Yamcha, Krillin, and Chi-Chi > Son Gohan, Son Goten, Pan, and Uub
* MeaningfulName: "Roshi" means master.
* MentorOccupationalHazard: Sacrifices his life to try and reseal King Piccolo, only for the attempt to fail. He does get resurrected later, although, by that point, his role of mentor has been passed to other characters. He tries it again in ''Super'' several times, thinking he must have this mindset for his students, [[spoiler:until [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Vegeta]] makes it clear in a few short words it isn't necessary to die there and that he has already fulfilled his duty as a warrior in this battle.]]
* MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning: Gives such a speech to King Piccolo after his failed attempt to reseal him:
-->'''Roshi:''' You haven't won. Your dark dreams will never come true. Somewhere, someone ''will'' succeed where I failed. Until that day, live in fear. You ''will'' fall. We're only human... but... but we ''will'' survive. We will... survive...]]
-->'''Roshi [Latin American Spanish dub]:''' I...I thought...that this would bring your end and all would return to normal, but unfortunately, I was wrong. I have the hope that someday, someone more powerful than you...will be able to finish you and save the whole world, of that I'm sure...it wouldn't be fair to be wrong.
* ObsoleteMentor: For everyone but Krillin by the start of ''Z''. Even Krillin is mentioned as explicitly being stronger than him in the very beginning when Bulma gets the Scouter working. This gets {{Subverted}} somewhat in ''Super'', since Goku goes to him to learn [[spoiler:the Mafuba, called the Evil Containment Wave in the dub]]. During the tournament arc, Goku and Krillin also went to him specifically to re-train their basics, and he was actually able to still teach them a thing or two. So, yeah, his students may now be stronger than him, but his wisdom definitely makes him by no means obsolete.
* OlderHeroVersusYoungerVillain: Roshi vs. Goku at the climax of the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai is told from Roshi's perspective, with Goku as the HeroAntagonist.
* OldMaster: Was once the strongest man in the world and mentor to several of the main characters, and they still think of him as their master despite most of them being stronger than him.
* PassingTheTorch: Did this when he retired from being Jackie Chun.
* ThePeepingTom: Roshi tried to use Bulma's inventions for this twice. Before, he used a watch that can shrink the person who is wearing it as a way to spy on Bulma while she is on the toilet but failed. Again, when he used Bulma's little fly robot to spy on some girls on the beach.
* PornStash: Owns a huge collection of lewd magazines. Strangely, he also sometimes leers at [[PoorMansPorn women's aerobics shows]] despite all the ''actual'' porn he owns.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Thanks to the Immortal Phoenix (or Paradise Herbs in the ''Super'' anime), he's over 300 while still looking in his 70s.
* TheResenter: Briefly, when he realizes that Goku has surpassed him during the 22nd Martial Arts Tournament, he's so upset about it that he can barely concentrate on his matches. Fighting with Tien snaps him out of it, as he realizes that the new generation surpassing the old is good for the future of the Martial Arts and that he's truly proud of his best students.
* RetiredBadass:
** When he was satisfied that the younger generation had surpassed him, he stopped training. [[CantCatchUp Though at times when the world's at risk, he regrets this]]. However, considering the ridiculous amount of SortingAlgorithmOfEvil that happens in ''Z'', he couldn't reach the level of Frieza's {{Mook}}s, let alone Frieza. And that's not even getting into Cell, Buu, and Beerus.
** Averted in ''Resurrection 'F''', where he fights off Frieza's army along with several other Z-Fighters.
** Again in ''Super's'' fifth major arc, where he's part of the team representing Universe 7.
* ReusedCharacterDesign: His appearance is based on the God of Earth in ''Manga/DoctorSlump'' (not to be confused with ''Dragon Ball'''s Kami-sama).
* TheRival: To Master Shen and his Crane school. They used to be friends until the Crane Hermit turned to evil after being corrupted by King Piccolo.
* SecretKeeper: Knew that Goku was really an alien after Grandpa Gohan confided to him, and kept it a secret from Goku until the day that Raditz came to Earth and confronted Goku.
* SecretIdentity: Jackie Chun. He never does let the others know he and Chun were the same person.
* ShockAndAwe: His used-only-twice ultimate technique, the Thunder Shock Surprise/''Bankoku Bikkuri Shou''. Justified in that he can't actually do anything else while he's using the move, and it doesn't cause enough pain to severely harm opponents of extreme durability.
* SignatureLaugh: The English dub gives him an extremely unique laugh that anyone can recognize. Yamcha even uses it as evidence that he was Jackie Chun since they literally had the same laugh.
* SignatureMove: The Original Kamehameha.
* SunglassesAtNight: ''Rarely'' takes his shades off. When he does it when not wearing a disguise, [[LetsGetDangerous get ready to run.]]
* SuperMode: His "Max Power" form, where he basically bulks up like the [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]].
* SupernaturalSealing: Roshi can use the Mafuba to seal demons away by sucking them into a special container, which requires a large amount of stamina. Roshi later uses the technique in the Tournament of Power, using it to eliminate one opponent, and nearly succeeds with two others, but is prevented from completing the seal both times.
* TeamDad: In the original ''Dragon Ball''. He was the mentor and father figure to Goku, Krillin, and later Yamcha and even Tien.
* {{Telepathy}}: The first to use it in the series. Nam, a participant of the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai, even suggested this ability is a sign of a great martial arts master.
* TemporaryBulkChange: His [[SuperMode Max Power form]] causes him to bulk up greatly.
* TookALevelInBadass: During the lead-up to the Tournament of Power, Goku realizes Roshi has gotten stronger over the years. It's not nearly at the level the Z-Fighters are usually fighting at, but Roshi can hold his own against opponents at roughly the same tier as base-level Goku. As icing on the cake, he [[ChekhovsSkill learns to get over his habits]] as a DirtyOldMan.
** In episode 107, Roshi, ''while exhausted from previous fights'', is briefly able to fight off '''Frost''' in close combat, even though Frost outpowers him by orders of magnitude!
** In the ''Super'' manga, he manages to outlast 18, Piccolo, Gohan, and every other universe outside of U11 to be one of the 10 remaining fighters in the Tournament of Power after Kale's rampage, subsequent fusion with Caulifla into Kefla, and her elimination by Gohan.
*** Also from the manga, he [[spoiler:fights Jiren alone in order to teach Goku that skill can surpass raw power. He lasts a while, dodging Jiren's attacks far more efficiently than anyone else up until that point -- Beerus compares Roshi's technique to ''Ultra Instinct'']].
* TrainingFromHell: In-universe, he's infamous for it... And it's actually ''harsher'' than rumored. The exercises he's seen subjecting his pupils to are:
** Delivering milk on foot over vast distances that include climbing a mountain (there's a staircase, but it's still a few kilometers), crossing a river near the top of a waterfall, walking on a fallen tree over a cliff, crossing a desert, and ''being chased by a dinosaur'', all with a single break on top of the mountain. All but the mountain is to be done ''running'', as it's speed training and the delivery has to be made in time. ''This is only the '''early morning training''''';
** Plowing a large field ''bare-handed'' to reinforce their hands. This is done after a short break after the Milk Run from Hell, and before breakfast... Assuming they do the job quick enough to ''earn'' the breakfast;
** Perform construction work for at least five men, each, to increase physical strength (and earn some money). They can use tools for this, but nothing with an engine;
** Swimming across a lake and back ten times. While chased by a ''[[ThreateningShark giant shark]]'';
** Reflex training? Dodge angry bees while tied to a tree. After the shark, this is pretty tame;
** After the first day, he has them wear 20 kilos shells on their backs ''all the time'', progressively increasing the weight. He himself wears a 40-kilo shell all the time;
** {{Reconstruction}} as he knows what he's doing, he gives his pupils only exercises they can deal with (and actually makes sure they're strong enough before accepting them as trainees), grants them enough rest between the exercises (something Goku takes to heart for his and Gohan's training session in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber; it's also at first implied and later stated outright that Vegeta, having been born supremely powerful, never learned the importance of rest, resulting in his own training from hell being far less effective than Goku's), feeds them all they need (even [[BigEater Goku]]), and takes time to teach them other basic skills such as writing and reading, math (this actually was crucial for Krillin's victory over Chiaotzu: the latter was winning until Krillin distracted him with math questions, and [[CombatPragmatist pummelled him when he tried to count on his fingers]], as Chiaotzu's teacher had neglected to teach him math), common knowledge, manners, honour, and so on. In fact, the Milk Run from Hell, plowing a field and performing construction work double as legitimate work, so they can learn its value..
--->"Work hard, study well, and sleep plenty, that's the Turtle Hermit's way to learn."
* {{Tritagonist}}: For the First and Second Tournament Arc and the King Piccolo Arc.
* WakeUpCallBoss: Serves as this when disguised as Jackie Chun. He easily beats Yamcha and Krillin, and hands Goku his first real defeat, showing them that they still have a lot to learn. He is also the first one to really challenge Tien, although he surrendered.
* WarriorPoet: Rarely shows it clearly, but his wisdom is undeniable-and more covertly, his TrainingFromHell includes lessons of basic skills such as reading, writing, and counting, and teaches both the value of hard work and some hard but useful professions.
* WaxOnWaxOff: His method of training includes having his students work by delivering milk by foot at the break of dawn, then sowing fields with their bare hands, then helping out at a construction site, all the while wearing heavy turtle shells on their backs. And ''boy'', does it pay off. Unlike the trope namer, Master Roshi is actually upfront about it (although there's little room to argue considering the tasks are anything but easy).
* WeakButSkilled:
** Roshi's hat in the Universe Survival Saga; he may not have a ton of raw power, but he has a lot of experience, and unconventional techniques on top of that, such as hypnosis, the Evil Containment Wave, and his paralysis technique. Roshi himself notes that compared to most of the cast who usually get focus, he's more inclined to fight dirty if he is allowed to. During his one-on-one fight with Ganos, the latter is explicitly stated to be much stronger and faster, but Roshi beats him anyway because he can easily read Ganos' movements and turn his own power against him, leading him to be the third consecutive fighter from Universe 4 that Roshi knocked out.
** This doesn't hold up nearly as well when facing an opponent who was powerful ''and'' cunning. Roshi got stomped by Frost, had to resort to the Evil Containment Wave, but ended up missing after his stamina was drained. He tried it again for Magetta, but Frost intercepted it and successfully turned it on Vegeta. Roshi was able to salvage the situation by using a directed ki blast to shatter the bottle and free Vegeta.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: He and the Crane Hermit used to be friends who trained under the same master. That is until King Piccolo corrupted Shen and they became bitter rivals.
* WigDressAccent: Well, more like "Wig, take off the sunglasses" and "NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent"... Now, who is this mysterious Jackie Chun? For a moment, it seemed like kid Goku saw through it, but Goku actually guessed that Roshi and "Chun" were related. Roshi [[CrazyPrepared pulled out a prop family tree]] and falsely acknowledged Goku's guess.
* WorldsBestWarrior: Even though he's no longer the world's strongest, he's still the most skilled martial artist in the world by far, to the point where even Goku still comes to him for fighting advice. The Tournament of Power arc showcases this nicely, as he beats several opponents ''far'' stronger than he is, and he displays insight that is so finely attuned that Beerus actually mistakes it for the god-like Ultra Instinct ability.
* WorldsStrongestMan: He was, at one point, the most powerful human being on the planet. He willingly gave up this position at the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai, where he stepped aside to let the next generation take over. By ''Super'' however, he has become the most powerful flightless human, and, more notably, the most powerful flightless mortal in Universe 7.
* WowingCthulhu: His successes in the Tournament of Power are so great that he impresses ''Beerus''.
* WouldHitAGirl: Inverted when he is habitually beaten by the majority of the female cast, and he never makes an effort to fight back. He just takes the beatings. He ''is'' a creepy old hermit, but ''still...''
** In ''Super'', he had no problems fighting Yurin, and he states that he will fight the female combatants of the Tournament of Power. It seems that while he ''normally'' will not fight women, he makes exceptions if they are causing evil or need to be defeated to save the universe.
** Alternatively, the hits he gets from women he pervs on aren't fights, and most of them aren't fighters. He doesn't bring out the kung-fu skills against them for the same reason most wouldn't seriously fight someone who simply slapped them in the face a single time. In short, if approached as a true martial artist, he WILL give the honor of a fight regardless of gender.
* WrestlerInAllOfUs: At the end of the 21st Tenkaichi, he considers using the Cobra Twist and the Figure Four Leglock to defeat Goku before discarding them due to Goku's excessively small size. We later see him using his considerable grappling skills against Tien in the following tournament, to such great effect it would have been a very quick victory by ring-out had Tien not been able to fly.

[[folder:Yamcha]]
!!Yamcha (ヤムチャ, ''Yamucha'')
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/card_100144_character_yamcha.png]]
->'''Voiced by (Japanese):''' Creator/ToruFuruya\\
'''Voiced by (English):''' Kerrigan Mahan (Harmony Gold dub); Creator/TedCole (BLT/Ocean dub); Creator/ChristopherSabat (Creator/FUNimation dub); Victor Atelevich (Blue Water dub); Doug Rand (''Z'' Movie 3), Matthew Géczy (''Z'' Movie 9), David Gasman (''DB'' Movie 1), Jodi Forrest (''DB'' Movie 2-3) (AB Groupe/"Big Green" dub); Darren Pleavin, Scott Evans (Animax Asia dub); Creator/GrantGeorge (Bang Zoom!/Toonami Asia dub in ''Super'')\\
'''Voiced by (Latin American Spanish):''' Creator/RicardoMendoza '''(current voice)''', Creator/JesusBarrero (''DB'' eps. 5-60), Enrique Mederos (''Z'' eps. 127-132), Rafael Rivera (''Dragon Ball'' Harmony Gold), Óscar Flores (''Path of Power'')\\
'''Voiced by (French):''' Eric Legrand\\
'''Voiced by (Italian):''' Diego Sabre

Yamcha was a desert bandit, Bulma's first love, and Goku's first rival. Even in the original series, Yamcha was often used as the primary victim of TheWorfEffect, hardly winning any important fights despite being one of the most powerful protagonists. By Z he was pretty much a target to show how tough the villains were, so much so that around the Buu Saga he gave up fighting entirely (except for fillers in which he somehow defeated enemies even Goku had trouble with a few years before).

Yamcha was the series' originator for a lot of the tropes and quirks that would later be popularized by characters like Krillin, Tenshinhan, Piccolo, and Vegeta. The ArrogantKungFuGuy, rival-turned-friend, ButtMonkey, MrExposition, and "bad boy" roles these characters fulfill all started with him. Even Gohan and Future Trunks draw from him; they both inherited his shy awkwardness, sword fighting, and long-haired character designs.

* TheAce: During the baseball episode of ''Super'', being the only player on either team with any skill (or knowledge in general) in the game.
* AccidentalPervert: Quite lots in earlier chapters of the manga, when his fear of women is still intact, no less. Such as when he accidentally watched Bulma take a bath and likely [[ThanksForTheMammary touched Bulma's boobs]] when she was naked while sleeping.
* AdaptationalBadass:
** He fares either worse or better in the anime. Yamcha does more to contribute in anime-only battles and situations, but sometimes he comes off better in the manga's version of events (an example of this is Yamcha had no trouble holding down Great Ape Goku in the manga).
** Yamcha gets more feats to his name in anime filler after his post-Saiyan Saga irrelevancy in the manga. In Namek Saga, Yamcha, after completing his (mostly unseen) training with King Kai, gets to show off his new power and manages to soundly beat down Recoome, a character who was giving Vegeta, Gohan ''and'' Krillin serious trouble only a few episodes prior. Much later in the Buu Saga, he and Krillin train with King Kai in the Other World again; Yamcha is shown taking on Olibu, a centuries-old dead warrior who competed alongside Goku in the Other World Tournament against Pikkon, as well as an unnamed gorilla fighter at the same time, and Yamcha defeats them both with a [[WrestlerInAllOfUs dropkick.]] Yamcha's (non-canon) performance against Olibu and the gorilla fighter might indicate that he could be on the same level as ''Perfect Cell'' during the Buu Saga [[labelnote:explanation]]Pikkon effortlessly defeated Frieza, King Cold and Perfect Cell. Unlike the three antagonists, Olibu put up a very good fight against Pikkon. Later, Yamcha easily took out Olibu and an unnamed fighter in a battle.[[/labelnote]]
** Like the other canonically-weaker characters, he can fight leagues beyond his weight class in video games. In ''VideoGame/DragonBallFighterZ'', his fast-paced playstyle has made him the memetic badass of the game. [[ButtMonkey This does not stop Cell, Nappa, Frieza, AND GOKU from making fun of him for being too weak to be affected by the waves.]]
** A relatively minor example but in the {{JRPG}} ''[[VideoGame/DragonBallZAttackOfTheSaiyans Attack of the Saiyans]]'', Yamcha is often considered to be the second or third best character in the game, only behind Goku and Gohan respectively. Being a fast, melee-based character, Yamcha can inflict lots of damage very quickly and evade enemy attacks fairly reliably. His skill set is also all around quite good, with lots of heavy-hitters like ''Wolf-Fang Fist'', ''Wolf Hurricane'', ''Spirit Ball'' and ''Neo Wolf Fang Fist''. Yamcha even has his own piece of exclusive equipment (the only non-Saiyan character to do so) which doubles his Power and Speed, but cuts his defense in half, effectively making him a damn powerful GlassCannon. Most people even consider Yamcha one of the more viable characters for fighting [[Characters/DragonBallBroly Broly]] with. However, despite his badassery, Yamcha still dies to the Saibamen in the end game.
** In a What-If? Saga in ''Raging Blast'', Yamcha defeats Vegeta and Future Trunks one after another in order to win over Bulma.
* AmicableExes: He maintained a close relationship with Bulma after their breakup. Even telling Future Trunks about Vegeta going PapaWolf on Cell to make him feel better.
* AlwaysSecondBest: The first of many characters to always be behind Goku despite giving him a decent challenge when they first met. He is also the overall weakest of the Turtle School (not counting Ox King and Gohan Sr.).
* AnimalBattleAura: His battle aura takes the shape of a wolf.
* AnimalMotifs: Oftentimes, his aura will give him the appearance of a wolf even when he isn't using one of his Wolf Fang techniques.
* AnimalThemedFightingStyle: Yamcha's "Wolf Fang Fist" technique involves him [[RapidFireFisticuffs rapidly]] punching and clawing the opponent like a wolf.
* ArrogantKungFuGuy:
** In his debut, Yamcha was this ([[LoveMakesYouDumb except]] [[ShrinkingViolet around]] [[CannotTalkToWomen Bulma]]). He lost most of this after his HeelFaceTurn. Yamcha usually has an ArrogantKungFuGuy moment every time he gets a large increase in power from training. Perhaps this trait of his was finally lost during his fight against Shen in the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament. Coming into the match, Yamcha was absolutely sure of his victory, but after being embarrassed by some of Shen's moves, Shen chastises Yamcha for his arrogance, saying that Yamcha's overconfidence on his own strength as well as his opponent's appearance made him blind to the subtlety of Shen's attacks. After listening to Shen's lecture, Yamcha seemed to have wised up, even managing to land a good hit on Shen before losing, and becomes a lot more focused and dependable on the fights that followed.
** His arrogance did return in the Saiyan Saga. After he easily beat the second Saibaman, he challenges Nappa and Vegeta and says he will fight all the Saibamen at once. This caused him to lower his guard, allowing the defeated Saibaman to grab him and blow him up.
* ArtEvolution: During most of the original Dragon Ball series, Yamcha had small eyes that were shaped similar to Tenshinhan's eyes. It wasn't until the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai that his eyes started looking more like Goku's.
* AscendedMeme: His infamous death pose is referenced every once in a while. In ''Super's'' Episode 70, he even makes it, crater and all (alive, this time), when he steals a base.
* BarbarianLonghair: His most frequent hairstyle. He mentioned his short haircut was at Bulma's request (Goku couldn't even recognize him when he first showed up with his new 'do) and could be considered an example of him trying to change from an outlaw in the desert to an ordinary citizen in the city.
* BecomingTheMask: He initially assisted Goku and the others in gathering the Dragon Balls with the intention of stealing them once they got all seven. It wasn't until the events at Pilaf's castle that he and Puar became friends with them for real.
* BeingGoodSucks: The reason Yamcha fought the Saibamen was to protect Krillin, who wanted to go next. As he pointed out, Krillin was revived already with the Dragon Balls so him dying would have been permanent, while Yamcha could be revived if the worst happens. For his good deed, Yamcha gets suicide bombed by the Saibaman, making him the first casualty of the Saiyan Invasion and he never even gets the chance to fight Nappa. And worst of all, the fandom won't ''ever'' let him live this down.
* BigNo: He lets out a pretty loud, desperate, ''pleading'' no to Roshi when it seems like Roshi's about to kill Goku due to his transformation to a Great Ape. He lets another one out just before Namek explodes and he's begging Goku not to die.
* BittersweetEnding: Yamcha is never seen accomplishing his dream to marry and have a family. In ''Dragon Ball GT'', he's even seen going back to his life alone with Puar in Diablo Desert. After the Cell Saga, he also gave up martial arts and competing in tournaments, when both were things he loved to do. Though he seemed perfectly happy with how things turned out, [[NiceGuy makes sense seeing how he's such an easygoing guy.]] [[EarnYourHappyEnding He just takes every curve life can throw at him in stride.]] The end of the Cell arc had him talk about a girl he was seeing, so he's still socializing and dating on his own time, even if we never see it.
* BigDamnHeroes: Saves Goku when he was being pummeled by the Rabbit Mob who held Bulma hostage. Also invoked in the same arc, when Yamcha lends the stranded heroes a ride, as part of his plan.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: In both metaphorical AND literal sense of ''break''. In the 8th chapter of the manga, Son Goku sends Yamcha in the air with his punch but Yamcha ''breaks'' and bounces off the frame's border back to the ground.
* ButtMonkey: He has it worse than Krillin. From his first appearance, it was always something of a RunningGag that Yamcha was unlucky. And while he puts up a fight, he NEVER gets past the quarter-finals round of the tournament. He never even gets to fight Vegeta and Nappa with the others; he gets distracted and killed in a SuicideAttack by a [[{{Mook}} Saibaman]]. In the Android Saga, he gets badly injured by Dr. Gero who puts a hand through his chest, and nearly dies. Oh, and then his ex-girlfriend has Vegeta's baby. During the Universal Surviving Saga, he expects to be asked to join the U7 team and waits at home for an invitation. Goku ''never'' considers him even when [[spoiler:Buu needed to be replaced]]. Poor guy just can't catch a break.
* CannotTalkToWomen: Used to be like this to such a degree that he couldn't even be around women without freaking out. After spending time around Bulma in the Pilaf Saga, and even picking her up to get her to safety at one point, Yamcha mostly gets over his phobia (although he sometimes still does show some nervous tendencies around beautiful women).
* CantCatchUp: Yamcha retires from fighting after the Cell Saga. He [[LampshadeHanging Lampshades]] it himself when, unlike Krillin, he decides to forgo participating in the 25th World Tournament.
* CharacterDevelopment:
** Starts as a thief that's willing to attack and possibly kill others for their supplies in the desert and only teams up with Goku to get a chance at making his own wish come true, he then bonds with Goku and Bulma for real after the ordeal with Pilaf, becoming a genuine NiceGuy and loyal friend.
** In a more negative example, after his death in the Saiyan Saga, he becomes much more reluctant to fight, and seemingly decides to be on the sidelines after Android 20 nearly kills him, though still willing to fight if need be. Come the Buu Saga, he's retired from fighting entirely, having accepted he just can't hope of catching up to the others. However, in ''Super'', Yamcha has seemingly turned this idea around, wanting to be involved in the Tournament of Power, and not hesitating against taking up a fight in the Moro arc, and defeats three of Moro's mooks.
* ChickMagnet: Being a handsome guy, he is very popular among girls. In ''Dragon Ball'', he even has his own fan club.
* CentipedesDilemma: Inverted. He thought he was cursed with the inability to talk to or even be around women, and for that reason, once he learned about the existence of the Dragon Balls, he decided to use them to wish away his fear of women. Much to his surprise, by the end of a long period of time where he was forced to be around Bulma, Yamcha learned that his fear of women was all in his head and that it was only when he consciously invoked it on himself that he felt uncomfortable around women. Shortly afterward, he and Bulma started dating.
* CluelessChickMagnet: Yamcha's quite popular around women despite his shyness.
* CombatCommentator: Yamcha's apparently read up on all of the local legends and famous martial artists: he's able to identify Goku's bo staff, Master Roshi, Grandpa Gohan, Ox-King, and the rabbit boss. He even knew that Roshi was the one who trained Gohan and Ox-King and that the two of them were best friends.
* ComedicSociopathy: Mostly in the first story arc where he tries to kill a 12-year-old Goku and robs people for a living. He also planned to steal the Dragon Balls and cripple Goku by grabbing his tail, all just to wish away his fear of women. So, his being constantly humiliated by having Bulma grab him and his amusing injuries were a joy to watch.
* CompositeCharacter: Initially, Toriyama used Sha Gojo from ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'' for the character. A likely prototype design for Yamcha was the title character to Akira Toriyama's one-shot Pink. Although Pink is a female, she also is a bandit living in a desert hideout who has an animal companion and rides a flying vehicle similar to Yamcha's Jet Squirrel. After cutting his long hair for the first time in the series, Yamcha looks very similar to the character Tsukutsun Tsun from ''Manga/DoctorSlump'' in both appearance and characteristics.
* CoolSword: He wields a ''dao'' early in ''Dragon Ball''.
* CommutingOnABus: It's pretty easy to forget that he and Puar were among the first characters introduced into the story.
* ADayInTheLimelight:
** In ''Super's'' 70th episode, Champa decides to play baseball against Beerus and brings their universe's fighters together to do it. As someone who ''actually plays baseball for a living'', '''Yamcha''' is the only one besides umpires Whis and Vados to have ''any'' idea what they're doing. While he suffers a ton of AmusingInjuries, he manages to give the other team a run for its money by stealing bases in true bandit style and wins the game by stealing home during a battle between the Gods of Destruction...despite ending up in his memetic death pose while doing so. We also see how his training affects his baseball game since he uses Wolf Fang Fist and Spirit Ball to expertly control any ball he pitches.
** In the Moro arc, Yamcha finally gets a chance to shine and help defend Earth from Moro and his army. He easily defeats three of Moro's goons (despite their strength being enhanced by the evil wizard).
* DeadpanSnarker: Has cracked comments like these. He descends into GallowsHumor when the gang is captured by Pilaf and left to die, which Oolong doesn't appreciate.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: Though it was initially a ruse, Yamcha came to befriend the group and turned good for real.
* DemotedToExtra: Cell Saga, Buu Saga, ''GT'' and ''Super''.
* DesertBandits: He was originally one.
* {{Determinator}}: Yamcha's pretty eager to fight most of the time, he eagerly volunteered to fight King Piccolo when his leg was broken. Until he goes down against #20, at which point [[KnowWhenToFoldEm he calls it quits]] (he still tags along with the others at the Cell Games, but only sits at the sidelines until the Cell Jrs. attack).
* DeusAngstMachina: Yamcha and Bulma's breakup was never explained, though this was mostly due to Toriyama's disinterest in romance and romantic relationships.
* DubText:
** Funimation changes his dialogue more than most characters. For example, Bulma being mad at Yamcha for canceling a date due to being broke, became him taking another girl out to a concert in the dub. Even in ''Kai'', Funimation changed a line of Yamcha saying he's got to help Goku with "I'll be there" to "I'll just watch".
** Perhaps one of the cruelest cases happens in the Lookout, as Bulma fondly remembers Goku. Chi-Chi teases her, saying that Bulma is in love with Goku, but she should give up because Chi-Chi is prettier. Yamcha then says that Chi-Chi looks very pretty today, which makes Chi-Chi upset because that implies that she doesn't always look pretty. In the DubText, Chi-Chi suggests that, since Bulma likes Goku so much, they should trade husbands: Bulma gets Goku and Chi-Chi gets Vegeta. Yamcha then says that he is available, to which Chi-Chi responds that she wants an even trade, not a downgrade (though he appeared to take her comment as the friendly joke it was intended to be).
* EasilyForgiven:
** Yamcha is generally shown as pretty forgiving, possibly due to being bad once himself. When Tenshinhan apologizes for breaking his leg, he just shrugs and says it's nothing.
** Once he stopped trying to prove he was better than Vegeta, they seemed to get along pretty well. He's even paid the prince a genuine compliment once or twice.
** [[HypocriticalHumor Hilariously]], at one point, ''Tenshinhan'' criticizes Yamcha for making nice with Vegeta.
* EmpoweredBadassNormal: He has always been very strong for a normal human. He was able to trade blows with Goku and knock him back, Goku tells Krillin in chapter 37 that Yamcha is extremely strong and fast. He was also able to make it to the final eight of the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament without any formal training, unlike Goku and Krillin. By the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament, he taught himself the Kamehameha. At the 23rd, he learned a powerful technique known as the Spirit Ball that nearly knocked Shen (Kami's human host) to the ground.
* EnemyMine: When they were still ostensibly enemies, he helped Goku against the Rabbit Mob.
* EnergyBall: His first original Ki attack is the Spirit Ball, which he can control at will.
* TheEveryman: He is perhaps one of the most relatable characters among the Z warriors. For instance, he is commonly seen wearing outfits other than his combat gear and he has been shown driving vehicles like sky cars and airships instead of flying everywhere like most of the other characters. He also has grounded interests like romance and sports and is actually concerned with having money, as opposed to most of the other protagonists, who do not seem to work at all and spend most of their time training. A notable example of how normal he is happens at the end of the Cell Saga when the other protagonists are struggling to think of one last wish to be granted by Shenron. Yamcha suggests that, since nobody else could think of any important uses for that wish, they should wish for something for themselves, like lots of money. The other characters silently stare at him as if shocked that he would ever as much as consider using one of the wishes for purposes that are not altruistic. In response, Yamcha timidly apologizes and agrees to leave the last wish to Krillin.
* {{Expy}}: He starts out as a clear stand-in for Sha Wujing from ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest''.
* FakeUltimateHero: The whole gag with Yamcha is that he looks like a cool, powerful hero on par with the other Z-Warriors (he is even mistaken for Goku by an enemy at one point), but he's actually quite useless.
* FailureHero: In ''Dragon Ball'' and especially ''Z'' Yamcha seldom wins clear victories outside of fillers (and never important ones). Though he's had his moments in filler.
* FireForgedFriends: Became friends with Goku and company after battling Pilaf.
* {{Flanderization}}: What undoubtedly pushed him from "unlucky" to "one of Dragon Ball's biggest memes" is that while Yamcha ''never'' had any major victory over the enemies of the story, and was constantly subjected to TheWorfEffect, there were still times Yamcha had a CurbStompCushion in the original series. In ''Z'', Yamcha never even gets this, sure, he defeats the Saibaman like Tien does, but is killed by it soon after in a sneak attack. The fact that he's killed so suddenly was supposed to be a shock factor that AnyoneCanDie, but due to the ease the other Saibamen are taken out, and the fact that Yamcha is repeatedly put in situations he simply can't win in, he's reduced to being a character on the sidelines who's perceived in-and-out of universe as unreliable and kind of a joke fighting wise.
* GracefulLoser: Was polite and respectful to Jackie Chun and Kami when they beat him in the World Tournament. He was the first to clap when Tenshinhan decided to turn over a new leaf. He's also very friendly to Trunks, his ex's son. They're shown watching TV together and Yamcha is the one who tells him about Vegeta's reaction to his death.
* HardWorkHardlyWorks: He was shown to do TrainingFromHell prior to the Buu Saga. Taken to the extreme in the Piccolo Jr. Saga; he worked like a dog for the tournament for ''three years'', created a brand new technique from scratch... and still lost in the quarter-final match.
* HeelFaceTurn: One of the first of ''many'' throughout the series.
* ImageSong: Say what you want about the guy but he's got a very good [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89DxgVdFOrQ one]].
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: After Dr. Gero did this to Yamcha, the poor guy retired from fighting.
* InformedFlaw: Toriyama's statement is that he's a cheater, with Future Trunks even mentioning how Yamcha was unfaithful to Bulma. However, what we see on-screen is that Bulma tends to be the one who flirts with multiple guys while Yamcha was never once shown to be seriously unfaithful and in a later interview, Toriyama even mentioned how Yamcha got fired from a bouncer job because of his fear of women, making it difficult to view Yamcha as the philandering playboy he's made out to be and even late into the series, Yamcha is still shown to be single and without anyone in his life resembling a significant other.
* KamehameHadoken: He was the second student to learn it, though he doesn't use it much.
* KilledOffscreen: For his second death in the manga near the climax of the Buu arc. Averted somewhat in the anime, but even then [[ShadowDiscretionShot we only see his shadow.]]
* KnowWhenToFoldEm: He turned down the offer to participate in the 25th Tournament knowing how outclassed he was.
* TheLancer: Sometimes holds this role, mainly in the absence of Krillin.
* TheLeader: In ''Dragon Ball'', he used to take the role of de facto leader when in a group with Goku, Bulma, and the others.
* LongHairedPrettyBoy: When he has long hair.
* LoveableRogue: During his bandit days.
* LoveMakesYouDumb: Clumsy around women he likes.
* LoveMartyr: Explained to Puar, this was basically why he puts up with Bulma's mistreatment in Dragon Ball.
* MasterApprenticeChain: He trained under Master Roshi and became a master under the Turtle School: Mutaito > Master Roshi > Yamcha.
* MistakenForCheating: The CluelessChickMagnet above has resulted in this happening on several occasions in ''Dragon Ball''.
* MrFanservice: He was the first handsome adult male in the cast.
* MundaneUtility: He uses his SupernaturalMartialArts skills when playing baseball.
* MysteriousPast: We have no clue what Yamcha or Puar did before they were desert bandits.
** We don't even know the status of Yamcha's family.
* NiceGuy: As an Adult, Yamcha is one of the more chill and forgiving characters. He hardly holds grudges, is quick to laugh off most anything, and he's a pretty supportive friend. Despite his occasional arrogance and occasional selfish desires for a wish, he remains one of the most selfless people around.
* NowLetMeCarryYou: When Goku falls sick during the battle with the androids, Yamcha, who has been protected and saved by Goku several times, physically carries him back to his house and helps care for him along with his wife.
* OlderThanHeLooks: Despite being an ordinary human, Yamcha looks about the same at 57 in ''Dragon Ball GT''.
* OvershadowedByAwesome: Yamcha is one of the strongest humans on the planet, with Krillin and Tien being the only ones outright stronger than him. By the time of the Cell Games, he is at the very least comparable to Goku when he left for Namek, and likely stronger than the Goku that fought the Ginyu Force[[note]]Yamcha during the Saiyan Saga was able to defeat a Saibaman, a being which is equal to Raditz in power. When he is encountered roughly four years later by Dr. Gero, he thought he was Goku from looking at his power, implying that Yamcha is at least around Goku before he left for Namek[[/note]]. But he's much too far behind his alien peers and eventually gives up fighting entirely.
* ThePollyanna: Yamcha will never, EVER, stop seeing the bright side of life, no matter how much of a CosmicPlaything he ends up as.
* PrettyBoy: Yamcha's been described as "good looking in a boyish sort of way" and "a pretty boy". Very slightly lessened after he gets his scars. He also ages ''very'' gracefully by the end of the series while Bulma and Krillin are both visibly past their prime.
* ProphetEyes: His eyes turn totally white when he uses many of his moves like the Wolf Fang Fist.
* RapidFireFisticuffs: His SignatureMove, the Wolf Fang Fist/''Rougafuufuuken''. Also his improved version, the Neo Wolf Fang Fist/''Shin Rougafuufuuken''.
* ReallyGetsAround: According to Future Trunks, this is the reason Bulma eventually left him for Vegeta in that timeline. What's ironic is that Yamcha was initially extremely shy around girls at the start of the series and said he wanted to get married.
* RedemptionDemotion: Yamcha generally remained useful in ''Dragon Ball'' and in the first arc, where he and Puar actually saved everyone from Great Ape Goku. In ''Z'' Yamcha was really only useful for distracting villains or taking care of wounded characters.
* RetiredBadass: After the Cell Games. However, in the anime OVA special, he reveals that he still wears his fighting gi under his suit, suggesting that he still misses fighting.
* TheRival: The ''very'' first one, also one of the shortest-lasting ones. Back then, he teamed up with Goku to save Bulma from Monster Carrot.
* {{Roboteching}}: His Spirit Ball Attack/''Soukidan'', a guided attack that he first develops while training for the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament.
* RuggedScar: After coming back from offscreen TrainingFromHell at the end of ''Manga/DragonBall'', Yamcha sports a few facial scars indicating that he's come back stronger, although he still CantCatchUp.
* ScarsAreForever: It's never revealed exactly how he got them. After Yamcha came back from his three-year TrainingFromHell in the Timeskip, he had them on his face.
* ShrinkingViolet: A male example. At first, Yamcha couldn't even be around women without blushing and fleeing the scene. Even after he hooked up with Bulma, he was still somewhat shy at times.
* SignatureMove: Wolf Fang Fist and Spirit Ball.
* SpikyHair: During the Android and Cell arcs.
* SurpassedTheTeacher: He eventually surpasses all of his masters and becomes one of the strongest humans on Earth.
* SuperiorSuccessor: By the time of the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament, he's surpassed Master Roshi. He also surpasses Kami after training with him to fight the Saiyans.
* SurferDude: His English voice has this type of sound and speech pattern in the dub of ''Z''.
* TakingTheBullet: Ever since his HeelFaceTurn, Yamcha has been shown as willing to sacrifice himself for his friends. In one of the movies, he even painfully catches a boulder about to crush Bulma. His Saibaman death was actually the result of him volunteering ahead to protect Krillin from a second and final death.
* ThereIsAnother: Surprisingly enough, he and Krillin are chosen by King Kai to be the backup B-Team and last hope of the universe against Kid Buu's rampage if Goku and Vegeta fail to stop him, in anime filler only.
* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: In Episode 70 of ''Super'', when Champa challenges Beerus to a baseball match, Yamcha is the only one who has any idea what the hell he's doing, since he spent the time-skip between ''Dragon Ball'' and ''Z'' playing in the pros.
* TheToothHurts: During one of their earlier encounters, Goku knocked one of his teeth out. He's reluctant to go see a dentist.
* ThrowTheDogABone:
** ''Dragon Ball Super'' Episode 70 is one long (and long deserved) one for Yamcha. He still gets his ass kicked and there was nothing important at stake in the first place, but he still ends up saving the day, and receives glowing respect and acclaim from the rest of the Z characters in attendance. Even #18 and Bulma blatantly vocalize their newfound respect for Yamcha.
** In the original manga canon he holds one important victory against the Invisible Man during Baba's Tournament.
* TrainingFromHell: Yamcha had been shown to go through this a lot of the time, particularly when the date for the World Martial Arts Tournament nears. For the first tournament Yamcha trained alone in the wilderness for a month, the second time with Krillin under Roshi, and the third was for three straight years.
* TrueCompanions: Yamcha seemed to have become this for real with the gang when in Pilaf's desert oven. Even getting distressed when Ape Goku was attacked, hard to believe earlier he was planning to beat up Goku to steal the Dragon Balls.
* TookALevelInBadass: In {{Filler}}, at least, Yamcha sometimes does better. He defeated Recoome, a guy who beat ''Vegeta'' to within an inch of his life while training on King Kai's planet. While training in the Other World along with Krillin, he also defeated some of the top fighters in the tournament that Goku had won while he was there.
* TookALevelInKindness: Like most of the cast, he reforms significantly after his DefeatMeansFriendship from Goku's hands.
* {{Tritagonist}}: In the Legacy of Goku Arc, he gets the most amount of focus after Goku and Bulma.
* TwinkleSmile: It happened occasionally in the ''Dragon Ball'' anime.
* UnbalancedByRivalsKid: Surprisingly nuanced. At first, he's upset when Gohan asks him if he's Trunks' dad, but he's still respectful and friendly to future Trunks.
* UniquenessDecay: Yamcha was the ''first'' Turtle School student to invent his own ki based technique, which is considered an impressive feat that earns praise from Kami himself. However, this was quickly pushed to the side as many more characters have made far more dangerous uses of ki techniques since then.
* WakeUpCallBoss: He's the first person able to physically challenge Goku and defeat him to running out of energy (though the latter was due to Goku's getting hungry at the end of the fight).
* WeAreTeamCannonFodder: In ''DBZ'', he kicks off the trend by being the first to go down in the fight against the Saiyans, at the very beginning before Nappa even gets his hands dirty. Granted, it was a HeroicSacrifice, and he technically won the fight that killed him, but he plays basically no role in Z from that point forward.
* WeakButSkilled:
** Yamcha's Spirit Ball is the first fully controllable ki attack shown in the series. While Yamcha was beaten handily by the powerful Shen in the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament, he managed to show his combat smarts by, after failing to hit Shen with his Spirit Ball, he made the energy ball travel underground and erupt under Shen's chin, catching him off guard. Shen even complimented Yamcha on his skills after the battle.
** He was the second student of the Turtle School to master the Kamehameha and surprised everyone by showing this in the 22nd Budokai.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: At the start of the series, he was intimidated by women, such that Bulma's very presence could force him into retreat. He sought the Dragon Balls to help him overcome his phobia. Ultimately, he conquered his fear after spending time around and eventually dating, Bulma.
* TheWorfEffect:
** Save for Vegeta, no other character got hit with this more. Yamcha suffers from this as early as ''Dragon Ball'', always losing in his first round in the three world tournaments he participates in to show how powerful Jackie Chun, Tenshinhan, and Hero/Shen/Kami are, despite his training. By the time ''Z'' came around, Yamcha was the first to fall in the Saiyan Arc and again in the Android Saga.
** In the first story arc, Yamcha has the advantage over Goku due to him being [[WorfHadTheFlu hungry]]. He could have won, but he sees Bulma and runs away since he's terrified of girls. When he fights Goku the next day, he gets his tooth knocked off and humorously ends the fight early out of pride.
* WorfHadTheFlu: He had most certainly won his initial fight with the second Saibaman, but was so caught up with the ease that these mooks were being beaten that he let his guard down to taunt Nappa and Vegeta. This gets him killed in a surprise attack.
* WouldHitAGirl: Zigzagged. In ''Dragon Ball'', he is forced to knock out Kid Chi-Chi when she attacks him. On the other hand, Yamcha seems unable to strike a beautiful girl in ''The Legend of Shen Long.''
* WrestlerInAllOfUs: He uses an elbow drop to save Goku from the Rabbit Gang.
* XMarksTheHero: After the three-year time skip at the end of ''Dragon Ball'' he gets an X-shaped scar on his cheek.

[[folder:Tien Shinhan/Tenshinhan]]
[[Characters/DragonBallTienShinhan Has his own page]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Chiaotzu/Chaozu]]
!!Chiaotzu (餃子, ''Chaozu'')
[[quoteright:180:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chiaotzu_alt_outfit.png]]
->'''Voiced by (Japanese):''' Creator/HirokoEmori\\
'''Voiced by (English):''' Creator/RebeccaForstadt (Harmony Gold dub); Creator/CathyWeseluck (Ocean dub); Monika Antonelli (All media up to 2007), Creator/BrinaPalencia (''Budokai Tenkaichi 3'' onward) (Creator/FUNimation dub); Sean Broadhurst (Blue Water dub); Jodi Forrest (''DB'' Movie 3 and ''Z'' Movie 3), Barbara Anne Weber Scaff (''Z'' Movie 9), Ed Marcus (some battle grunts in ''Z'' Movie 3) (AB Groupe/"Big Green" dub)\\
'''Voiced by (Latin American Spanish):''' Creator/PatriciaAcevedo '''(current voice)'''\\
'''Voiced by (French):''' Céline Monsarrat\\
'''Voiced by (Italian):''' Creator/FedericaValenti

Introduced in the second Tournament arc, Tenshinhan and Chiaotzu are initially rivals to Goku, Krillin, and Yamcha (as they belong to an opposing dojo to Roshi's). The two eventually become friends to our heroes after realizing the lack of honor in their own methods. They become instrumental in the next few arcs following their introduction, but after the Saiyan Saga, Chiaotzu becomes less important (and after the Cell Saga, so does Tenshinhan). By the Cell Saga they become side characters who are mentioned and seen frequently but rarely do anything significant.

* AdaptationalBadass: Slightly, combined with ThrowTheDogABone. Chaozu in the manga never becomes anything close to important again after his SenselessSacrifice against Nappa. In the anime, he at least gets to show off his training under King Kai by mopping the floor with Guldo.
* AdvertisedExtra: Chaozu is often billed as one of the main Z-Fighters, but he never does anything of any real consequence to the plot. His main role is being a SatelliteCharacter to Tenshinhan.
* AmbiguouslyHuman: It's unclear if he's human or a JiangShi, and the fact that he never seems to age doesn't help.
* AscendedExtra: He plays a much larger role in ''[[Anime/DragonBallMysticalAdventure Mystical Adventure]]'', being the Emperor of Mifan.
* BalloonBelly: After eating a lot, being a BigEater like the rest of the cast.
* BloodKnight: Like Tien, he keeps training long after most of the cast left him in the dust. Whether he does so just to spend time with Tien or because he really does love to fight is debatable.
* BookDumb: He has trouble with basic math and can't tell left from right without pausing to think which hand he holds chopsticks in. Apparently, unlike Roshi, Shen doesn't bother providing his students with basic schooling.
* BrattyHalfPint: A more introverted example, but it showed when he was first introduced, insulting Krillin for being short and bald.
* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: He tries to self-destruct on Nappa to keep Tien from being killed, knowing that he can't be wished back with the Dragon Balls. [[SenselessSacrifice Not only did his suicide attack do no damage to Nappa]], Tien dies soon after anyway trying to avenge his death.
* CantCatchUp: Gets hit with this worst than the other human characters. Chiaotzu literally gets left behind during the fight against the androids and the Cell Games.
-->'''Tenshinhan''': ''I left Chaozu behind. We bother trained... But frankly, he wouldn't be able to keep up with this battle...''\\
'''Goku''': ''Yeah, it's better that way.''
* CharlieBrownBaldness: Has only one strand of hair on his head which he proudly displayed to annoy Krillin in his introduction.
* ChineseVampire: Has the appearance of a particularly cute one. It's [[AmbiguouslyHuman unclear]] if he's really a JiangShi or a human with the appearance of one.
* ConMan: ''Anime Only.'' Tenshinhan and Chiaotzu's first appearance in the anime shows them as a pair of traveling con artists. Also fits the sub-trope of TheFixer for his tendency to rig the number of draws at the World Martial Arts Tournaments.
* CreepyChild: He starts out like this, particularly in his match with Krillin.
* CripplingOverSpecialization: Chiaotzu is a legitimately powerful psychic but lacks durability and physical prowess, and the fact his psychic abilities can be no selled, means that he won't be lasting very long in any fights.
* DavidVsGoliath: Him against Nappa. He loses.
* DeathFromAbove: During his fight with Krillin, Chiaotzu took advantage of his ability to fly to stay out of Krillin's reach and bombard him with his Dodon Ray.
* DemotedToExtra: In ''Z'' more than anyone else.
* EnemyMine: After King Piccolo attacks, Krillin is dead, Yamcha has a broken leg and Goku is off trying to beat up Krillin's killer. Ergo, Tenshinhan and Chiaotzu get recruited by Roshi to gather the Dragon Balls before Piccolo gets to them.
** Tenshinhan notes this as much, saying even though he acknowledges his previous actions as wrong, he still considers himself and Chiaotzu as the Crane Hermit's students, and a simple ask for forgiveness won't be enough.
* EvilCounterpart: Was originally this to Krillin.
* ExtremityExtremist: During his fight with Krillin, he exclusively uses kick-based strikes. Justified because, as Krillin deduces, his hands are being used for his psychic powers.
* FailureHero: In ''Z''. The poor guy didn't get to show off his skills that much in ''Dragon Ball'' either.
* FragileSpeedster: Quite quick on his feet, in large due to his flight, but goes down quite easily if hit.
* HardWorkHardlyWorks: Even after his TrainingFromHell alongside Tenshinhan, he's not considered strong enough to participate in the Cell Games.
* HeroicSacrifice: Against Nappa.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Tien. They are almost always together and he sacrifices his life to try to save Tien from Nappa. The primary reason he turns against the Crane Hermit is that he ordered him to paralyze Tien so he can kill him. Chiaotzu refuses, saying he would obey any order from his master, but he can ''never'' harm Tien.
* HypocriticalHumor:
** Upon seeing Krillin for the first time, he insults Krillin for his height. Chiaotzu is even shorter than Krillin.
** Subverted humorously when he calls Krillin baldy. Krillin calls him out on this but he reveals he has a single strand of hair under his hat. Although Krillin states that hardly counts.
* InconsistentSpelling: Chaozu? Chiaotzu? Chaotzu? Gyouza? Chaos? Kaos (used by the original translation of the Spanish manga. No idea where they came up with that)?
* KickTheDog: His and Tenshinhan's introduction in the anime has them betray [=InoShikaChō=] when their con spree is spoiled by Goku. Chiaotzu himself, in the anime, also badly burned one fighter in the 22nd World Tournament preliminaries that said fighter had to be bandaged like a mummy.
* KilledMidSentence: His first death. On Tien's orders, he attempts to wish the Demon King Piccolo out of existence... only to be permanently silenced by him halfway through.
* KilledOffScreen: His third death wasn't shown, but it happened after Buu blew up Earth since he and Tien were the only ones who could dodge Buu's energy blasts.
* KillTheCutie: He dies against both King Piccolo and Nappa.
* MasterApprenticeChain: He trained under the Crane School whose founder, Master Shen, studied under the same master as Roshi: Mutaito > Master Shen > Chiaotzu
* MoralityPet: To Tenshinhan during his villain days. Particularly notable in ''[[Anime/DragonBallMysticalAdventure Mystical Adventure]]''.
* MysteriousPast: What exactly is he? Is he a type of human or an alien hybrid like Tien? How did he come to meet Tien and the Crane Hermit? It doesn't help that Chiaotzu gets the least amount of screen time of the original cast.
* NoBodyLeftBehind: His second and third deaths. The former was due to performing a Kamikaze attack against Nappa, the latter was due to Buu blowing up Earth.
* NotSoDifferentRemark: When Goku gets confused about how he's eighth in the tournament when he didn't choose a number (despite the fact that Goku was the last to even draw), Tien mocks them for this only for Chiaotzu to be confused as to what's wrong about choosing their own number.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Aside from getting slightly taller in the Piccolo Jr. Saga, he looks exactly the same throughout the entire series.
* OrderedToCheat: During the 22nd World Tournament, Tenshinhan finds that their master, the Crane Hermit, has been having Chaozu use his telekinesis to paralyze Goku during their fight.
* OutOfFocus: He was never given much of a spotlight compared to Tien, but come Z, it'd be easy to forget he even exists.
* OvershadowedByAwesome: Following the fight with Nappa, he doesn't fight anymore.
** KnowWhenToFoldEm: This being the main reason.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: A wise young Emperor in ''[[Anime/DragonBallMysticalAdventure Mystical Adventure]].''
* RedemptionDemotion: Post HeelFaceTurn, he is subjected to a lot of losses; Nappa's being the most notable.
* PintSizedPowerhouse: Shorter than Krillin and child Gohan, yet he still managed to be a Z-Fighter.
* PsychicPowers: Demonstrates both telepathy and telekinesis.
* SacrificedBasicSkillForAwesomeTraining: He needs to use his fingers to solve basic math problems, like 3 + 4. He also can't tell left from right without pausing to think about which hand he holds his chopsticks in. In exchange, he has telekinesis, telepathy, flight, etc.
* SatelliteCharacter: After his debut, he's mainly just there to be Tien's best friend. He has little to no effect on the plot aside from being a SacrificialLion ''twice'', and barely ever interacts with any of the other Z-Fighters. He does get to help Goku in ''Super'' for one episode with his psychic abilities, but that's it.
* SenselessSacrifice:
** He tries to wish King Piccolo away in the latter's saga, but only succeeds in getting himself killed for his efforts.
** During the Saiyan Saga, he self-destructs in an effort to [[TakingYouWithMe take Nappa with him]], knowing that the Dragon Balls can't bring him back to life again. Nappa survives without a scratch, and the other Z-Fighters are left horrified and grief-stricken that Chiaotzu died for nothing.
* SignatureMove: Dodon Ray, shared with all three other Crane-related characters. He was also the first character to really showcase the flying technique[[note]]Technically, flying is the signature move of the Crane style, but Chaozu got the honor of demonstrating how hard it will wreck your opponent if they can't do it, too[[/note]], which (like Tenshinhan's Taiyouken/Solar Flare) quickly became a staple of the others' strategies.
* TheSociopath: He comes off like this since he shows almost no emotion in his first appearance, except for annoyance with some bits of sadistic happiness when he's fighting Krillin. This changed the minute the Crane Hermit ordered him to paralyze Tien so he can kill him. Chiaotzu refuses, saying that he will do anything his master says, but he can never hurt Tien.
* SquishyWizard: He has an assortment of unusual, useful techniques and skills including telekinesis, telepathy, and flight, however, he doesn't have much in the way of physical ability and is left pretty defenseless if an enemy can overcome his abilities.
* SurpassedTheTeacher: He surpasses Master Shen by the time of the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament. He also surpasses Kami after training with him.
* SuperiorSuccessor: He becomes stronger than the Crane Hermit after training for the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament. After training with Kami to fight the Saiyans, he becomes stronger than him too.
* TakingYouWithMe: Tries this on Nappa. It doesn't work.
* ThousandYardStare: Particularly when he was a villain, Chiaotzu could usually be seen [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall facing]] [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou forward]] with the blankest expression you'll ever see. It becomes a lot less disturbing after his HeelFaceTurn where in one moment during the 23rd World Tournament, he cutely makes the peace sign after setting up the preliminary draw so none of his friends will have to fight each other.
* TookALevelInBadass: Shown best in his battle with Guldo, who nearly killed Gohan and Krillin. Chiaotzu managed to mop the floor with him in under a minute. In ''Super'', Chiaotzu's telekinesis powers have been strengthened where he went from being unable to restrain Nappa to being able to hold down ''Goku'' that he felt his body becoming extremely heavy. This implies that Chiaotzu's telekinesis strength is at least ''100 times'' the strength of Earth's gravity.
* TheStoic: At first he was very emotionless, but got more CuteBruiser after his HeelFaceTurn
* UseYourHead: Against Krillin. Master Shen even comments that Chiaotzu's head is as hard as a diamond.
* WeakButSkilled: Uses psychic powers due to having a lower endurance than his comrades.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Chiaotzu needs to use his hands for his psychic attacks. Krillin gets around this by asking him difficult math questions -- Chiaotzu needs to count on his fingers to solve 9 - 1. Chiaotzu attempts to counter with double-digit problems, but Krillin was taught math by Master Roshi, in ''addition'' to fighting!
* WeAreTeamCannonFodder: All the time. In the fight against Nappa, the poor little guy ''blew himself up'' and didn't make a DENT!
* TheWorfEffect: He loses a lot, the fight with Nappa being the prime example. In fact, it took until the ''Galactic Patrol Prisoner Saga'' in ''Super'' for Chiaotzu to win against a named opponent.
** He becomes the first Z-Fighter to participate in a World Martial Arts and not make it past the preliminary elimination rounds (alongside Yajirobe, who fought unbeknownst to the others due to disguising himself with a mask). This was done to show that Mercenary Tao had returned (now as a cyborg) and was seeking revenge on Goku and Tien.

!!Kami's Palace & Karin's Tower
[[folder:Shenron/Shenlong]]
!!'''Shenron (神龍, ''Shén Lóng'')'''
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shenlong.png]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/KenjiUtsumi (''DB'', ''Z'' eps. 21-100, ''DB'' Movies 1 and 3, ''Z'' Movies 1-4, ''The Path to Power'', ''Kai'' eps. 8-51, ''Battle of Gods'', video games up to ''Raging Blast 2''), Creator/MasaharuSato (''Z'' eps. 192-193), Shin Aomori (''Z'' ep. 240, ''Z'' Movie 13), Creator/TesshoGenda (''Z'' Movie 12), Creator/DaisukeGori (''GT''), Koji Yada (''Dr. Slump''; 1997 series), Creator/RyuzaburoOtomo (''Kai'' eps. 97-123, ''Super'', ''Resurrection [='F'=]'', ''Broly'', video games from 2015 onward)\\
'''Voiced by (English):''' Creator/ChristopherSabat (Creator/FUNimation dub); Doug Parker (''DB'' 1995, ''DB'' Movie 1), Don Brown (''Z''), Dave Pettit (''DB'' 2004, ''GT'') (Ocean/Blue Water dub); Creator/SteveKramer (Harmony Gold dub); Ed Marcus (AB Groupe/"Big Green" dub); Creator/PatrickSeitz (Bang Zoom!/Toonami Asia dub in ''Super'')\\
'''Voiced by (Latin American Spanish):''' Abel Rocha (''DB'', ''Z'', ''GT'', ''Movies'', ''Kai'' and ''Super''), Óscar Gómez (''DBS: Super Hero'')\\
'''Voiced by (French):''' Georges Atlas (''DBZ''), Antoine Nouel (''Kai'', ''Super'')\\
'''Voiced by (Italian):''' Creator/GiovanniBattezzato

The dragon of the Earth's Dragon Balls, Shenron always comes out to grant wishes to whoever summons him. He was created as a small statue by Mr. Popo, then given life by Kami. After Kami merges with Piccolo, Shenron is given life anew by Dende.

* AchillesHeel: Like other dragons, he'll die (and his balls will become inert) if his creator passes.
* BackFromTheDead: He actually got killed by King Piccolo after granting his wish, but was later resurrected when Kami and Mr. Popo revealed that he was connected to a small statue version of him, which had broken when he died. Gluing the pieces back together subsequently revived him.
* BenevolentGenie: The wish he grants is always exactly what the wisher wants, subject to the limitations of his power. On top of that, if there are legitimate problems with him granting the wish (like how Frieza will come back in pieces when resurrected in ''Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF''), he'll voice his critique without wasting a wish.
** [[NotSoAboveItAll He was also nice enough to give Mai her ice cream in a bucket with ice rather than just dumping it on the ground, even though he technically wasn't supposed to because it wasn't part of the wish. This is also the only case where Shenron was not a]] LiteralGenie.
-->'''Shenron:''' No extra charge for the ice. Your wishes have been granted.
* ButtMonkey: Ever since Beerus' addition to the cast, he's been present at nearly all of Shenron's summonings. And since the normally imposing and awe-inspiring Eternal Dragon is scared out of his mind of the God of Destruction, this has led to Shenron being subject to a previously unheard-of amount of comedy at his expense.
* CantLiveWithoutYou: Shenron dies if his creator dies. When Piccolo dies in the battle against the Saiyans, Kami, being Piccolo's good half, and Shenron die with him, forcing the heroes to go to Namek in order to revive their fallen allies. Interestingly enough, when Kami and Piccolo remerge back into the nameless Namekian they originally were, Shenron vanishes again, since it was Kami, not the Namekian he and Piccolo split from, that created Shenron, again forcing the heroes to go to Namek and use their set of Dragon Balls, later bringing Dende as the new guardian.
* CatchPhrase: "Your wish has been granted. Until the next summoning..."
* DeadpanSnarker: He gets very sarcastic when made to hang around for too long.
* DoNotTauntCthulhu: He does not take kindly to mortals getting uppity with him, suggesting that he has killed people for copping an attitude with him, or simply taking too long to make a wish.
* DragonsAreDivine: Shenron is a benevolent, powerful ''lung'' dragon who grants wishes to those that summon him. Also, "divine dragon" is the [[MeaningfulName literal meaning]] of "Shen Long."
* {{Expy}}:
** The Shenron made by Earth's Kami (and later sustained by Dende) is one of Namek's Porunga. Pretty much every aspect of them is otherwise quite different, though it still comes as a bit of a surprise when the latter turns out to be a bit more personable(Fitting considering Porunga is the god of love for the Namekians).
** Both Shenron and Porunga are this to Super Shenron, from which all other Eternal Dragons are derived.
* ExactWords: This is one of the small dilemmas when dealing with him. You have to word your wish very carefully, or else risk some unforeseen side effects. One of the biggest is that while Shenron can basically rewind everything to just before the recent disaster happened (if they needed to restore something AND revive people in one wish) if they don't specify who they want to leave out, it literally puts them back to where they were at the beginning of the whole mess. It doesn't help that sometimes just saying "except the bad guys" won't always work, considering there's a good number of {{Token Evil Teammate}}s on the Z-Fighters' side.
* FlatCharacter: For a time, Shenron was more of a stoic plot device than an actual character, largely owing to the fact he literally is the dragon balls given form. ''Super'' has decided to give him some personality, however, namely in his fear of Beerus.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom: When he grants a wish, his eyes glow brighter.
* HourOfPower: Shenron has a limit to how long he can maintain his physical form without making a wish, which is why he gets annoyed with people who waste his time and may just leave of his own accord if they take too long. In ''Super'', he ends up pushing himself to the limit thanks to Bulma threatening him with retaliation from Beerus.
* InformedAttribute: Shenron's described as a dragon that one does not want to anger, lest he retaliate. This is never shown at any point, even when characters start to disrespect him and ask impossible things for him. The worst he ever does is swat at Icarus when he tries to attack him and even then that was quickly overlooked.
* ItOnlyWorksOnce: Shenron can't grant the same wish twice. This means he can only revive a specific person once. Fortunately, Porunga can revive people Shenron has already revived once.
* LiteralGenie: While he's not a [[JackassGenie jackass]] about it, he sticks to the parameters of the wish; the people Vegeta killed on Namek weren't revived when "everyone killed by Freeza or his minions" was. This is viciously lampshaded by Vegeta.
-->'''Vegeta:''' The missing ones must be from the village '''I''' slaughtered. The conditions were "killed by Freeza's men", correct? Well, since Freeza "discharged" me from his employment, I no longer qualify as one of "Freeza's men", yes? (Chuckles)
* MagicAIsMagicA: There are rules regarding what kind of wishes Shenron can and can't grant and those rules are usually followed. It becomes a RunningGag post ''Z'' that people keep asking Shenron to grant impossible wishes.
* MeaningfulName: Shenlong is [[BilingualBonus Chinese for "God/Divine Dragon".]]
* NotSoStoic:
** In ''Fusion Reborn'', he gets annoyed when nobody makes a wish -- which is carried over into ''Kai'' and ''Super'', as when they keep him waiting even for a few minutes, he's similarly affected. You can see a few sweat droplets appear when Icarus attacks him in ''Anime/TheTreeOfMight'' (feeling awkward rather than afraid).
** In Movie 14 when he learns he's in the presence of Beerus the God of Destruction he freaks out, and even politely apologizes before he leaves.
--->'''Goku:''' Well, this wish isn't for me, it's actually for Lord Beerus, so...\\
'''Shenron:''' What!? He's ''here''? ''(sees Beerus)'' Ah... g-good day, Lord Beerus.
** The first time he showed a trait like that was in manga itself. After the battle with Cell he's summoned so everyone killed by Cell is resurrected, and when Goku doesn't come back, the characters start to wonder what they'll do to bring him back, only for Goku to contact them via Kaio, telling them he's okay with being dead, and after the conversation is over, Shenlong is confused why no one asked about the second wish.
-->'''Shenlong''': ''*ahem*. I'm still waiting for that second wish. Hello...?''
* OurDragonsAreDifferent:
** He grants wishes. Not many dragons do that.
** This applies to the difference between Shenron and Porunga as well as there are different rules.
* RealityWarper: Naturally, being a wish-granter and all.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]; he's got an intimidating presence, limited patience, and would prefer that his summonings be brief but other than that he's a benevolent deity.
* RightForTheWrongReasons: In ''Resurrection 'F''', when Sorbet first wishes for Frieza's revival, Shenron says that it's pointless to bring him back since he would return in pieces. After talking with Tagoma, Sorbet demands that his wish be granted. Shenron calls it a foolish wish but grants it anyway. Turns out, Shenron was right, although for the wrong reason. Freeza being in pieces wasn't the problem, because healing tank technology had progressed to be able to bring him back from that. [[spoiler:The wish was extremely foolish since Frieza chose to get revenge on Goku instead of returning to his empire. That decision led to his entire army and what is left of the empire being destroyed, [[{{Irony}} the very thing Sorbet originally brought Frieza back to prevent]].]]
* SeenItAll: Shenron is remarkably unflappable, and odd wishes (like Oolong's wish for panties) don't even make him blink. The only thing that makes him crack is [[TheDreaded Beerus]].
* SeriesMascot: A chibified version of Shenron serves as one of the main mascots for the franchise, alongside Goku himself.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS:
** The name Shenron comes from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese reading of Shenlong (the actual on'yomi rendering would be Shinryuu). In the English dub, it's been often mispronounced as "Sheh-n-rah-n" instead of as "Sheh-n-roh-n".
** Some European versions were weirder by calling him Sheron, pronounced basically as Sharon.
* StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: The amount of wishes he can grant isn't consistent since Dragon Ball's revival. Originally, it was one wish per use when they were linked to Kami. In Cell saga, Dende's Shenlong can grant two wishes, but later in Buu saga it became three[[note]]In Cell saga Dende says he can make the dragon balls grant three wishes, but if mass revivals are to be within Shenlong capabilities, he will only be able to grant two wishes. Buu saga doesn't explain why Shenlong can do mass revivals while also having three wishes. Either Dende upgraded Shenlong further or Toriyama forgot it was just two wishes.[[/note]]. In [[Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods Battle of Gods]] he can only grant one wish in the movie and anime. In [[Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF Resurrection F]] he can grant one wish in the manga, two wishes in the movie, and three in the anime. In [[Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly Broly]] he can grant only one. In [[Anime/DragonBallSuperSuperHero Super Hero]] he can grant three. While a few of these can be justified (For example, two wishes were used up in the anime before Broly's movie), they generally can't be.
* TookALevelInBadass: Once Kami and Piccolo re-merge and Shenron disappears, the heroes recruit [[ChekhovsGunman Dende]] to make a new set of Dragon Balls for them, and the new Shenron comes with a whole range of improvements. Around the time of the Cell arc, he gains the ability to grant two wishes, and later in Buu saga he can grant three, which's a huge improvement since Dende in Cell saga said Shenron would have to grant only two wishes to be able to do mass revivals, and in Buu saga Shenron can grant three while still being able to do mass revivals. He then gets another during ''Super Hero'', allowing him to unlock hidden potential just like Guru [[SuperMode plus a bit extra]].

[[folder:Kami]]
!!'''Kami (神)'''
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kami_trans.png]]
->'''Voiced by (Japanese):''' Creator/TakeshiAono (Most media), Creator/BinShimada (''Kai'' ep. 66 onward)\\
'''Voiced by (English):''' Creator/ChristopherSabat (Most media including remastered ''Z'' eps. 76-77), Chris Forbis (''Z'' eps. 76-77 only; 1999) (Creator/FUNimation dub); Dale Wilson (''Z'' Seasons 1 and 4), Ward Perry (''Z'' Season 2, ''Z'' Movie 1), Creator/ScottMcNeil (''Z'' ep. 54 in a flashback), Mike Shepherd (''DB'') (Ocean/Blue Water dub); Ed Marcus (AB Groupe/"Big Green" dub)\\
'''Voiced by (Latin American Spanish):''' Creator/CarlosSegundo (''DB'' and ''Z''), César Árias (''Kai'')\\
'''Voiced by (Italian):''' Creator/MarioZucca

-->''"There's a good reason you mistook me for Piccolo, my boy. Ages ago, we two beings were one. A single coin with two opposing sides. My name is Kami, and I am indeed the guardian of this planet."''

Goku's third mentor, and literally the ''God'' of Earth, Guardian of Earth in the English dub. An alien who was sent from Namek during a climate disaster, Kami, in his eagerness to earn this title, hastily expelled the evil within him to be worthy of it; this gave rise to the tyrant known as the Demon King Piccolo, and the guilt of being responsible for his existence has haunted Kami for centuries. He is also the creator of Earth's Dragon Balls and the Eternal Dragon Shenron.

* TheAce: The Nameless Namekian, aka Piccolo and Kami. The Elder Namek called him a prodigy among the Namekians and Dragon Clan, which was why they sent him to Earth when the weather changed on Namek. When Krillin tells the Grand Elder that Piccolo was killed by a Saiyan, he asks if it was a Super Saiyan who did it. After reading Krillin's mind and learning that the Nameless Namekian split into Piccolo and Kami, he says that if they were whole no ordinary Saiyan would have been able to kill him. Nail echoes these thoughts, telling Piccolo that if he had come back whole he would have been stronger than Frieza. It is not until the Cell Saga that we finally see the power of Nameless Namek, and he doesn't disappoint. He's stronger than a Super Saiyan at the time and Imperfect Cell and is an even match for Androids 17 and 18. He also combines the battle experience and wit of Piccolo, and the godly knowledge and wisdom of Kami.
* AchillesHeel: Pre-fusion, he's Piccolo's walking, talking AchillesHeel. He's not as powerful as Piccolo, and both die if one does.
* TheAtoner: For creating Demon King Piccolo. He feels so much guilt that he begs Tien to kill him to save Goku from Piccolo Jr.
* BigGood: Until Z. He was the Guardian of the Earth and looked over the planet for centuries. After returning to life, he shares the role with King Kai, helping him revive the Namekians and bringing everyone safely to Earth using the Earth and Namek's Dragon Balls. He officially steps down once he merges with Piccolo.
* BilingualBonus:
** In the third tournament arc he possesses a person named Shen ("Hero" in the English dub). "Shen" is Chinese for "God".
** Also "Kami" means God as well.
* BornWinner: Much like the Saiyans, the Namekians are born winners with their larger-than-average battle power along with their mystical talents like some being able to heal, awakening others' hidden powers, and creating Dragon Balls. However, the Nameless Namekian is a winner even among them. He's called a prodigy among his race and is said to be strong enough to challenge a Super Saiyan and beat Frieza, according to the Elder Namek and Nail.
* CantLiveWithoutYou: If he dies, then Piccolo will die and vice versa.
* CessationOfExistence: By re-fusing with Piccolo, Kami sacrifices his entire being; body, mind, and soul to allow Piccolo to gain not only his knowledge but the power they once had as the Nameless Namekian. Kami is one of the few characters to essentially no longer exist within the series.
* CombatPragmatist: Used and abused ObfuscatingStupidity to win easier during the 23rd Tenkaichi, and infamously [[UseYourHead headbutted Yamcha]] [[GroinAttack in the crotch]]. The latter should have gotten him disqualified, but his act made it look like an accident.
* CoolOldGuy: He is the least eccentric and/or perverted mentor in the entire series.
* DemonicPossession: {{Inverted|Trope}}--he ends up possessing a person named Hero ("Shen" in the Japanese original) to fight Piccolo Jr. before being sealed away. Fortunately, he exits his host before being sealed off so the poor man doesn't share Kami's fate.
* DidntSeeThatComing: During the Piccolo Jr. Saga, he tried to use the Evil Containment Wave to trap Piccolo just as Mutaito had trapped King Piccolo. He's completely caught by surprise when Piccolo Jr. reverses the wave back on him, gloating about how foolish Kami was to try it in the first place:
-->'''Piccolo:''' If you thought ''this'' incarnation would be beaten like the last, then you have ''not'' thought!
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: He has a premonition about a monster stronger than the androids ending all life, and wonders if it has anything to do with that thing that came crawling out of the time machine. After finishing the series and looking back, it seems he was getting visions of two different monsters.
* DrivenToSuicide: When the situation with Piccolo gets bad enough, he tries to get Tien to kill him to put an end to it. After the battle when he confirms none of the heroes will finish Piccolo off, Kami attempts to do so to atone for his mistakes and stop Piccolo permanently. He's talked out of it by Roshi, who points out all the good he and the Dragon Balls have done.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Kami is his title rather than his actual name. [[NoNameGiven His real name is never mentioned, and he doesn't know what it is]] since he has long forgotten it.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: Sort of, when he fuses with Piccolo he basically ceases to exist and doesn't mind.
* ForYourOwnGood: He permanently removed Goku's tail on the grounds it was limiting his progress (and people wanted the moon back).
* GodJob: "Kami" is a title given to the God of Earth, an individual who works as Earth's spokesperson to the divine, in a manner of speaking. Kami, unlike the other gods introduced in the series, was not born a god on the Planet of the Kais, and he is in fact a mortal. He inherited the title of Kami after succeeding on a number of trials that proved his worth to the previous Kami, who then made him his successor.
* GodzillaThreshold: When Piccolo comes to the Lookout wanting to merge with him, Kami wants to watch things unfold more, since merging meant his personality would be assimilated into Piccolo, ending his existence. When he sees Cell and what he did to Ginger Town, along with the Saiyans being powerless against the Androids and Goku being sick, he decides to once again become the Nameless Namekian.
* GoodCounterpart: To Demon King Piccolo, whom he inadvertently created. He is the good half of the Nameless Namekian.
* ICannotSelfTerminate: The biggest problem he has with dealing with Piccolo is his insistence that God cannot kill himself. This isn't out of any fear of dying, since he is more than willing to train Goku to the point he can kill Piccolo, and when Goku refuses tries to get Tien to kill him to stop Piccolo Jr.
* LiteralSplitPersonality: When he first meets Goku, he explains that the Demon King Piccolo is his evil half that he willingly expelled centuries ago to become Earth's guardian.
* TheLoad: Piccolo's life is linked to Kami so any pain one feels the other feels as well. This means that if Piccolo dies, so does Kami and the Dragon Balls, by relation, will vanish. Piccolo even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it, saying the only reason they even keep Kami around anymore is because of the Dragon Balls, which comes off as ironic since Piccolo is the one most likely to die given how he throws himself into dangerous battles like the Saiyans, Frieza, and the Androids. This is also why he immediately agrees to let Piccolo's body be the basis for their remerged self. Piccolo's body is young and strong while Kami's only value is in his wisdom which the new self will inherit anyways.
* LongLived: Lived for over 300 years before the events of ''Dragon Ball''.
* MadeOfGood: He's the physical incarnation of Piccolo's good half.
* MasterApprenticeChain: Mr. Popo and he trained Goku during the three-year time-skip for the 23rd Martial Arts Tournament: Kami > Son Goku > Son Gohan, Pan, and Uub
* MosesInTheBulrushes: He was sent away from Namek when a cataclysm struck the planet and killed all but one of his kind, the Grand Elder. Unlike most examples of this trope he had no parental figures to raise him, so he spent his entire childhood alone in a frozen wasteland waiting for someone to come for him. Eventually, he realized this wasn't going to happen and left to explore the world.
* MyGreatestFailure: Creating Demon King Piccolo in his haste to become Kami; he was quite willing to die for this sin.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: In the 23rd Tenkaichi he puts on this. It's awesome... [[HilarityEnsues And incredibly funny]]. He wins all his matches by making it look like it's an accident and makes utter fools out of the people fighting him.
* ObsoleteMentor: By the time Vegeta and Nappa invaded Earth, the only meaning to Kami's existence is to keep the Dragon Balls working. Something he is very aware of.
* ObstructiveCodeOfConduct: Part of his role of Guardian of Earth means that he must not interfere with human history, leaving mortals to decide their own fates. The only exception is King Piccolo, who he can't directly fight since his life is linked with him, and Mr. Popo refuses to fight Piccolo since he doesn't want to cause Kami any harm.
* PhysicalGod: Mostly in the title, but he is the {{God}} of Earth.
** Until ''Z''. He was the strongest character in the series until Goku and Piccolo Jr surpasses him during the 23rd Martial Arts Tournament and even then he easily beat Yamcha and Yajirobe without really trying. He remained stronger than most of the cast until the beginning of the Saiyan Saga in which he trained the Z-Fighters to surpass him.
** To bring this home, he actually possesses a [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith human as to not cause alarm]] in the 23rd Tenka'ichi Budokai, and even after [[CurbStompBattle easily defeating Yamcha]], and fighting Piccolo, he explicitly states that using a human body made him ''weaker''. Though, he still claims that even if he'd fought Piccolo without doing that, he'd still be no match for him.
* RenownedSelectiveMentor: Being the Guardian of the Earth, aka god, he rarely takes students and when he does it's under abnormal circumstances. He trains Goku because he is the only person able to beat Piccolo outside of himself and Mr. Popo. He can't kill Piccolo without killing himself and Mr. Popo won't do anything that will bring harm to Kami. He then trains the other Z-Fighters because the Saiyans were coming to wipe out all life on Earth and they needed every strong fighter that they could get their hands on.
* RestoredMyFaithInHumanity: As stated in the King Piccolo Saga, he had originally created the Dragon Balls to serve as a symbol of hope for humanity, but the exact opposite happened as humans only wanted to use the Dragon Balls for their own selfish purposes; thus, after King Piccolo destroyed Shenron, Kami initially chose to just let Shenron stay dead. It is seeing Goku's love for his friends, as well as his valiant efforts against Piccolo, that convinces Kami there are still good people in the world.
* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: In the Ocean-dubbed version, he does it when getting fused by Piccolo.
* SupernaturalSealing: In the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament, Kami attempts to use the Mafuba against Piccolo Jr., who uses a "reverse Mafuba" in response. Being the stronger of the two, Piccolo Jr. wins the resulting BeamOWar and captures Kami in a bottle. Goku manages to retrieve the bottle and free Kami. No one dies as a result of using the technique.
* {{Telepathy}}: He can talk to people through his mind. He uses this to communicate with King Kai during the Frieza Saga.
* {{Troll}}: His entire fighting style as Hero is this along with being ObfuscatingStupidity. He defeats his opponents in the most ungraceful and humiliating way possible, including allowing Yamcha to slam his nuts into his head. He only drops the act when fighting Yamcha since he saw him as too talented to let him lose in embarrassment.

[[folder:Dende]]
!!'''Dende (デンデ)'''
[[quoteright:230:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/teen_dende.png]]
[[caption-width-right:230:[[labelnote:Click here to see Kid Dende]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dende.png[[/labelnote]]]]
->'''Voiced by (Japanese):''' Tomiko Suzuki (Kid, Teen; ''Z''), Creator/HiromiTsuru (Kid; video games up to 2008), Creator/HiroYuki (Adult; ''Z''), Creator/AyaHirano (''Kai'', ''Super'')\\
'''Kid Dende voiced by (English):''' Ceyli Delgadillo (''Z''; originally), Creator/LauraBailey (''Z''; remastered, Movie 6, and video games up to 2008), Creator/MaxeyWhitehead (''Kai'' and video games from 2011 onward) (Creator/FUNimation dub); Creator/AndrewFrancis (''Z'' Season 2 and ''Z'' ep. 159), Dillon Moen (Most of ''Z'' Season 4), Peter Kelamis (''Z'' ep. 166 in a flashback) (Ocean dub); Paul Bandey (AB Groupe/"Big Green" dub)\\
'''Teen/Adult Dende voiced by (English):''' Creator/JustinCook (Creator/FUNimation dub); Dillon Moen (''Z''), Jeffrey Watson (''GT'') (Ocean/Blue Water dub); Creator/MichelleRuff (Bang Zoom!/Toonami Asia dub of ''Super'')\\
'''Voiced by (Latin American Spanish):''' Creator/IrwinDaayan (''Z'', ''GT'' and ''Kai''), Javier Olguín (''Battle of Gods'' ownwards)

A Namekian child who befriends Gohan and Krillin during their quest for the Dragon Balls of his planet. Later, after Kami merges with Piccolo, he becomes the new Kami of Earth to make sure the Dragon Balls stay active on the planet.

* TheAce:
** Grand Elder Moori calls him "A true scion of the dragon clan" when explaining to Goku Dende's ability to create dragon balls and it shows. His dragon balls are stronger than Kami's since he initially could make Shenlong grant two wishes instead of just one, and could make it three if Shenlong were to resurrect only one person per wish instead of many, so he's overall better than Kami at making dragon balls. Eventually in Buu saga his Shenlong could grant three wishes while also being able to resurrect more plenty of people with a wish, essentially making Shenlong be a better version of Namek saga's Porunga.
** In ''Super's'' manga, other Namekians with healing powers show up, and they're all much worse at healing than Dende. Esca from Moro's arc couldn't get Goku and Vegeta to tip top conditions even after three days of healing them. Monaito from Granola's arc initially had to use up all of his power just to heal a small cut[[note]]Gradually he gets much better to the point he can heal Goku, Vegeta and Granola without much effort, and he wonders if it's because he's been healing a lot lately, something Dende never had to do as his healing was very strong from the start.[[/note]], and he mentions really gifted ones can heal in the blink of an eye, so Dende's healing is particularly powerful for Namekians.
* ActionSurvivor: Although he dies (briefly) by Frieza's hand, Dende is notable for being one of the handful of characters to survive the entirety of the Buu saga (thanks to Popo throwing him off of the Lookout during Buu's rampage there, and Goku and Kibitoshin saving him via Instant Transmission just before the Earth was destroyed). Of those who regularly appeared throughout the saga, the only others to match him were Hercule and Supreme Kai. Fortuneteller Baba is another case, though she appeared far less frequently.
* AngstySurvivingTwin: While his brother [[http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Cargo Cargo]] is never explicitly stated as his twin, he still had to witness Cargo being murdered and was unsurprisingly shocked with this.
* BigBrotherWorship: To Nail, and later Piccolo after Piccolo fused with the former.
* BigGood: He tries to become this after he takes the position as Guardian of the Earth. But he's hindered by his lack of experience and doesn't have the power to fight on the front lines with the rest of the heroes. He often defers to Piccolo or Goku when trying to make a tough decision.
* BigNo: Upon seeing why Super Buu's Human Extinction Attack is titled as such. When all is said and done, he collapses in anguish.
* TheBusCameBack: He returns to replace Kami and restore the Earth's Dragon Balls.
* TheCameo: He appears in a filler scene on New Namek during the Perfect Cell Saga consorting with Grand Elder Moori about sensing the titular villain's power and how it poses a threat to the entire universe.
* ChekhovsGunman: The fact that he and Mr. Satan are the only other survivors of Earth's destruction by Kid Buu's hand aside from Goku and Vegeta becomes significant when he (with some convincing from Goku) makes the final compassionate decision that would reshape the course of the franchise: using his powers to heal a barely living Majin Buu.
* DeadpanSnarker: Dende is one of the nicest characters in the ''Dragon Ball'' multiverse and he didn't have a single snarky bone in his body... until he met [[FakeUltimateHero Mr. Satan]] and had to put up with his antics. It helps that at this point his dub voice actor was Creator/JustinCook.
-->'''Mr. Satan:''' Hey! How come Boo's still alive?! I'm out of ammo!! [[UnderestimatingBadassery I can't]] [[ShootingSuperman finish him off!]]
-->'''Dende:''' [[SarcasmMode ... Such a pity...]]
* EarlyBirdCameo: We see Dende in his position as Kami in ''Anime/DragonBallZTheReturnOfCooler''. The kicker? That movie came out months before Dende became Kami in the manga.
* FamilyThemeNaming: Dende, Nail, Cargo, Moori, are all named after snails and are siblings since they are all children of the Eldest Namek.
* GodJob: Dende doesn't have the fighting skills to protect the Earth but he does have the knowledge to create dragons, so he got the job.
* GoodIsNotSoft: If he wasn't pressured by Krillin and reminded that Vegeta was their ''best'' hope of standing up to Frieza, he would have left the mortally wounded Vegeta to bleed out.
* HealingHands: The reason why the Z Warriors heal up and why he's killed in the Frieza Saga.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Gohan and Krillin during and after their adventures on Namek.
* IncompletelyTrained: While his version of Shenron is stronger than Kami's, he does not have the centuries of knowledge and experience that the latter has and basically has to learn how to be Kami while on the job.
* KillTheCutie: During the Frieza arc. He is mercilessly killed by Frieza once he learns that Dende can heal.
* LastOfHisKind: Very briefly, but still.
* TheMedic: During the Frieza Saga, due [[HealingHands to his healing powers]]. Unfortunately, Frieza eventually notices this and [[ShootTheMedicFirst reacts appropriately]].
* MoeCouplet: With Gohan. Dende's the only kid Gohan is seen interacting with, and they are so cuuuute. Especially watching Dende go from very timid and shy to looking up to Gohan as a lifelong friend throughout the show.
* MoralityPet: Very close to Piccolo. It makes sense in that Piccolo fused with Nail, who was a sort of BigBrotherMentor to Dende.
* MurderByInaction: After Vegeta takes a mortal wound from Krillin as part of a plan to have Dende heal him and receive a [[CameBackStrong Zenkai boost]], Dende initially refuses to do so and is fully prepared to let Vegeta die since Vegeta was just as evil as Frieza and had killed numerous Namekians himself. Ultimately averted when Gohan, Krillin, and Piccolo persuade him to do so since they ''need'' Vegeta to stand a chance against Frieza.
* NiceGuy: Even after becoming Guardian of Earth, he sometimes lets others call him by name instead of his title (Kami-sama). Piccolo sometimes disagrees with this, such as seen in ''Battle of Gods''.
* NonActionGuy: One of the only main ones in the series.
* PhysicalGod: He's only this in name, but he is, effectively, Earth's God.
* PutOnABus: After the Frieza Saga ended, he left with his fellow Namekians to find a new planet after Frieza destroyed Namek.
* RefuseToRescueTheDisliked: Since Vegeta was just as evil and cruel as Frieza, and just as responsible for the Namekians' genocide, Dende initially refuses to help him and is fully prepared to walk away and let him bleed out when he pulls off his DeliberateInjuryGambit. He ultimately gives in and does so when Piccolo, Krillin, and Gohan point out that they need Vegeta's help if they expect to have any chance at beating Frieza.
* ShootTheMedicFirst: And holy crap, Frieza '''did'''.
** Super Buu attempted the same too, [[BigDamnHeroes fortunately, Tenshinhan showed up at the last second.]]
* SoleSurvivor: He was the sole survivor of the Namekian genocide until Frieza killed him.
* SquishyWizard: Despite his magical abilities, he's implied to be physically weaker than Mr. Satan, as Goku considers fusing with the latter to be a better option.
** Well, if he ''had'' fused with Dende, then [[HistoryRepeats the dragon balls would have disappeared again]].
* StoryBreakerPower: His healing is as good as senzus, and despite using it a lot he never seems to get tired from it, and this was crucial for everyone to survive long enough against Freeza for Goku to arrive. His Shenlong is stronger than Kami's and in [[Anime/DragonBallSuperSuperHero Super Hero]] [[spoiler: Dende is capable of upgrading Shenlong further, allowing him to draw out Piccolo's inner potential and throw in "a little extra" bonus, which was crucial in giving Piccolo the much needed power to surpass Gamma#2 long enough to talk things out, and fight Cell Max long for Gohan to kill him with Special Beam Cannon]]. So while Dende himself isn't strong, his support with healing whenever he can use it, and capacity to create and upgrade dragon balls beyond their previous limits are incredibly powerful.
* SuperiorSuccessor: Dende [[ZigZaggedTrope zig zags]] this compared to Kami. Dende's Shenron is a ''lot'' stronger than Kami's Shenron. [[spoiler:Especially so when Dende reveals he can power up Shenron with water, which Kami never hinted to be possible,]] however as Earth's guardian he's still worse because of inexperience, so he isn't as wise as Kami used to be.
* WhatTheHellHero: He did this twice toward Piccolo;
** When Piccolo orders him to heal a dying Vegeta during the final battle with Frieza, Dende angrily reminds him that Vegeta is just as responsible for their people's genocide as Frieza is. He calms down when Piccolo points out how outclassed they are, but he's still pretty pissed.
** He gives Piccolo another one after he tells Buu to kill everyone on the planet before he could fight Gotenks.
* YouShouldHaveDiedInstead: More of an indirect example than most, but after Buu destroys the Earth, Vegeta calls Goku out on making an effort to save Dende and Hercule, as it resulted in them leaving behind their sons (and Piccolo), who were all subsequently killed in the explosion. Granted, it's hard to blame Goku for that specifically, as Hercule and Dende were on the way to the drop-off point, and Vegeta (who hadn't stopped to grab them) likely wouldn't have been able to make it to the boys anyway. However, given the circumstances, it's also hard to call Vegeta out on this, as shown when Dende can do nothing but [[SurvivorGuilt offer a meek "sorry" as an apology.]]

[[folder:Mr. Popo]]
!!'''Mr. Popo (ミスター・ポポ, ''Misutaa Popo'')'''
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mr_popo_artwork.png]]
->'''Voiced by (Japanese):''' Toku Nishio (''DB'', ''Z'', ''GT'', ''Z'' Movie 6), Dai Matsumoto (''Budokai 3'', ''Budokai Tenkaichi''), Yasuhiko Kawazu (''Kai'', ''DBS'')\\
'''Voiced by (English):''' Chris Cason (''Z'' Season 3; 1999, ''Kai'', ''Super''), Creator/ChristopherSabat (All other media) (Creator/FUNimation dub); Alvin Sanders (''Z'')[[note]]Don Brown in ''Z'' ep. 206[[/note]], Dave Pettit (''DB'', ''GT'') (Ocean/Blue Water dub); Doug Rand (AB Groupe/"Big Green" dub)\\
'''Voiced by (Latin American Spanish):''' Creator/CarlosSegundo ('''current voice'''), Jorge Palafox (''Kai'')\\
'''Voiced by (Italian):''' Flavio Arras, Graziano Paloforo (''Super'')

Kami's (and later Dende's) assistant and caretaker of his floating palace, Mr. Popo is a black (''really'' black) genie person. Mr. Popo has apparently been around even longer than Kami has. ''Daizenshuu 7'' clarifies that he's an attendant sent from Heaven to advise Earth's god. Mr. Popo helps train a young Goku for his fight against Piccolo in the 3rd Tournament arc, and in Z, shows the heroes Kami's old spaceship and teaches Bulma how to use it. Shortly after Kami's resurrection, Mr. Popo quickly gathers all the Earth's Dragon Balls in no time and assists in King Kai's plan to revive Freeza and his men's victims on Planet Namek.

* AdaptationalBadass: The animated Buu Saga added a brief filler scene of him fighting Goten and Trunks as Super Saiyans, and he manages to defend himself rather successfully.
* TheAgeless: Biologically, Mr. Popo is immortal -- in fact, if Kami (later Dende) should die, it's Mr. Popo's job to find a replacement for him. However, he ''can'' be killed in other ways, like being turned into chocolate by Buu.
* AlmightyJanitor: Kami's assistant who actually oversaw much of Goku's (and later the other Z-Fighter's) training, a task he proved qualified for by making a complete fool of Goku when they fought. He's the only one to really get under Goku's skin by taunting him for being weak. He also took on two Super Saiyans and in the initial fight with Goku, he literally ate the Kamehameha and didn't feel a thing.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Says this almost word-for-word to Goku who had grown arrogant from defeating King Piccolo.
* AmbiguouslyHuman: It's not explained what exactly he is. His design takes inspirations of genies, his skin color is literally black and he doesn't resemble any of the dark-skinned characters of the series, he seems to possess some form of magic powers and he can literally swallow a Kamehameha. He's TheAgeless who has lived long before the good half of the Nameless Namekian became God, but it's not exactly clear if he counts as a divine being or a human/mortal. He does seem to count as an Earthling, though, albeit, not in the realm of mortal humans.
* AscendedMeme: In ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', his MemeticBadass[=/=]MemeticPsychopath status from ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' is referenced as we get to see a close-up of his eyes while he speaks to Vegeta in a threatening tone.
* BadassTeacher: Taught Goku while he was on the lookout and (at least in an anime filler) held his own against Goten and Trunks as Super Saiyans.
* {{Bowdlerization}}:
** The US manga removed his large lips so Popo wouldn't be perceived as a [[BlackfaceStyleCaricature racist caricature]].
** In the 4Kids TV airing of ''Kai'', they recolored him blue.
* DeadpanSnarker: Had shades of this while fighting Goku (Well, not really ''fight'', more like ruthlessly tease him).
* DubNameChange: To Momo in some European countries, where [[CleanDubName "popo" means "butt"]].
* EyePop: His eyes are the size of grapefruits when he sees Super Buu's Human Extinction Attack (almost) literally destroy all life on the Earth.
* KilledOffscreen: Played straight in the manga when Buu turns everyone on the Lookout into chocolate and eats them. The anime gives a brief flashback to Popo pushing Dende off the temple so that the dragon balls will still exist, [[DoubleSubversion but we still never see his "conversion".]]
* MagicCarpet: Can go to the other side of the world in seconds.
* NumberTwo: To Kami and Dende, and every god before them.
* OhCrap: The look on his face as Buu destroys nearly all of humanity is priceless.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: He's been around longer than ''Kami'' has.
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: In the Funimation dub, he talks like a college professor or wise old mentor instead of the ThirdPersonPerson from the Japanese anime and Viz version of the manga.
* ThirdPersonPerson: In the Japanese version, Latin American version, German version and Viz releases. He does this in the anime's dub once in the Garlic Jr. Saga when the titular villain accuses him of lying about not knowing Kami's whereabouts.
* {{Troll}}: He comes across as just a humble garden keeper that Goku doesn't take seriously. He then proceeds to beat Goku in increasingly humiliating ways, including letting Goku literally run into his fist.

[[folder:Karin/Korin]]
!!'''Korin (カリン, ''Karin'')'''
[[quoteright:328:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/karin_db.png]]
->'''Voiced by (Japanese):''' Creator/IchiroNagai (''DB'', ''Z'' ep 34-193, ''Kai''), Creator/NaokiTatsuta (''Z'' ep. 217-241, ''True Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans'', ''Budokai''), Ken Uo (''Super'')\\
'''Voiced by (English):''' Mark Britten (''Z'' ep. 110-193, ''Mystical Adventure'', ''Budokai''), Creator/ChristopherSabat (Most media), Creator/EricVale (''Cooler's Revenge'', remastered for one line only) (Creator/FUNimation dub); Creator/PaulDobson (''Z'' Season 1-2), Creator/TedCole (''Z'', Season 4-6), Roger Rhodes (''DB'') (Ocean/Blue Water dub); Ted Lehmann (Harmony Gold dub); Paul Bandey (AB Groupe/"Big Green" dub); Raymond Buyco (Creative Products Corp., Philippines)\\
'''Voiced by (Latin American Spanish):''' Creator/ArturoMercado ('''current voice''')

Goku's second mentor, Korin[[note]]Karin in the original Japanese[[/note]] is an 800-year-old talking cat who lives in a tower directly under Kami's lookout. Korin's Senzu Beans, which cause full healing from physical injury after being eaten, play a big part in the series. Korin was also Master Roshi's mentor 300 years earlier.

* AdaptationDyeJob: He is portrayed with blue fur in the color pages of the manga and the video games ''Dragon Ball Z: Super Saiyan Legend'' and ''Dragon Ball Online''. The anime and most other media give him white fur.
* BadassAdorable: A mere cat, yet as a martial arts master and deity he could easily defeat any human martial artist when he's introduced, including the likes of Roshi and Tao. Goku doesn't surpass him until the three-year time skip after they met.
* BrutalHonesty:
** He tells Goku point-blank that if he faced King Piccolo again he will die for sure this time.
** He straight up tells Goku that even after his stint in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber that Cell is still stronger than him.
* CatsAreSnarkers: He's got a playful sense of humor and gets a kick out of pranking others regardless of whether the recipient finds it funny themselves.
* CuteKitten: He's smaller than Kid Goku.
* DeadpanSnarker: Mostly to Yajirobe who he loves teasing for his laziness and eating habits. He also teases Goku when they first met about how easy his mind was to read since 'there weren't too many chapters'.
* DubNameChange: Funimation renamed him "Korin", probably because "Karin" sounds like a girl's name ("Karen") in English.
* ExpectingSomeoneTaller: Goku at first is dumbfounded that the Wiseman spoken of in Bora's story is a diminutive cat even shorter than him. Bulma has the same reaction to him in the Saiyan Saga, much to Master Roshi's dismay.
* EyesAlwaysShut: Never seen with his eyes open. Goku lifts his lids once to reveal an entire sea complete with swimming fish!
* FunnyAnimal: He's a talking cat holding a stick, how could he ''not'' be one?
* GodJob: An Earth deity just like Popo and Kami, though his actual position isn't very well defined.
* ItAmusedMe: According to Kami, this is basically why Korin didn't bother to tell Goku that Kami is Piccolo's [[LiteralSplitPersonality other half]]; because he thought it'd be funny.
* KaleidoscopeHair: In the color chapters of the manga, his fur is never the same color twice. This is never commented upon. (For what it's worth, he was based on a ''black'' cat).
* KilledOffscreen: He and Yajirobe were killed by Super Buu's Human Extinction Attack, but like with so many other characters, it's not depicted even in the anime.
* MasterApprenticeChain: He trained Goku who went on to train his own students. He also trained Master Roshi who has a very long chain:
** Master Korin > Master Roshi > Gohan, Sr and Ox-King > Son Goku, Yamcha, Krillin, and Chi-Chi > Son Gohan, Son Goten, Pan, and Uub
** Master Korin > Son Goku > Son Gohan, Pan, and Uub
** Master Korin > Son Goku > Son Gohan > Son Goten
* ObsoleteMentor: His martial arts teachings become outclassed once Kami enters the picture. However, Korin is still an invaluable source of wisdom and experience, not to mention the ''only'' source of the priceless healing resource of senzu beans.
* OddFriendship: With Yajirobe. He lives with Korin after the events of the King Piccolo Saga.
* OldMaster: Trained Master Roshi and most of the original cast. He's 800 years old, making him even older than Kami.
* PoorCommunicationKills: When sending Goku up to Kami's Lookout for the first time, he doesn't bother informing Goku that Kami is King Piccolo's LiteralSplitPersonality. Thus, when Goku first sees Kami, he immediately assumes he's Piccolo BackFromTheDead and attacks him. Kami lampshades it:
-->'''Kami:''' I should have known Korin wouldn't explain it to you. He thinks he's ''very'' funny.
* PowerUpFood: His senzu beans. They fill a person up for 10 days and heal any wound.
* PsychicPowers: He can read minds. Goku's was especially easy because there hadn't been many chapters of the manga yet.
* PunnyName:
** On ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karinto Karintou]]'', a Japanese snack food. It's more obvious with the tower itself, which is just ''Karin-tou'' ("Karin Tower") in Japanese.
** The English dub changed his name to Korin, which is a pun on corn.
* RenownedSelectiveMentor: He only teaches those who can climb Korin Tower, which is a very, ''very'' long climb. Even then, he is more of a TricksterMentor since people climb to drink the Sacred Water to become stronger, not to specifically train.
* ShesAManInJapan: He's a female cat in the British dub of the 3rd movie and throughout the Hungarian dub of ''Z''.
* {{Telepathy}}: He has the ability to read minds, as shown when he reads Goku's thoughts when he wanted the Sacred Water.
* TricksterMentor:
** The Sacred Water that would supposedly multiply Goku's power [[MagicFeather was actually just ordinary water]]. The training Goku underwent to steal the water from Korin was what ''really'' improved his skills.
** Subverted with the Ultra Divine Water, where the water itself brings out the person's power... ''if'' they survive drinking it.
* {{Troll}}: Comes with being a TricksterMentor. When he first meets Goku he gives him the run around for several minutes about whether he knew about the Sacred Water before allowing him to have it... before hitting him with his staff and taking the Sacred Water. He also throws Goku's Dragon Ball off the tower, forcing him to climb down and climb back up again. There's also that not mentioning that Kami would have the same appearance as the evil King Piccolo that Goku almost attacked him for.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Korin often chastises Yajirobe for being lazy and rude, but he has yet to kick the latter out of his tower. The future version of him even gives Yajirobe the very last Senzu before dying.

[[folder:Yajirobe]]
!!'''Yajirobe (ヤジロベー)'''
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yayirobe_render_6.png]]
->'''Voiced by (Japanese):''' Creator/MayumiTanaka\\
'''Voiced by (English):''' Creator/MikeMcFarland (Creator/FUNimation dub); Creator/BrianDrummond (''Z''), Lucas Gilbertson (''DB'') (Ocean/Blue Water dub); Ed Marcus (AB Groupe/"Big Green" dub); Ethel Lizano (Creative Products Corp., Philippines)\\
'''Voiced by (Latin American Spanish):''' Creator/AraceliDeLeon (''DB'' until chapter 60 of ''Z''), Creator/LuisDanielRamirez (''Z'', ''Kai'', ''Kai The Final Chapters'' and ''Super''), José Arenas (Arc Majin Buu and Movie 4-6) Creator/MarianaOrtiz (''Kai'' until chapter 58), Ricardo Rocha (''DBS: Super Hero'')
->'''Voiced by (French):''' Gilbert Levy (''Super'')
->'''Voiced by (Italian):''' Paolo Sesana (''Z''), Federico Zanandrea (''Super'')

Yajirobe is a fat samurai vagabond who eventually started living with Korin. He usually acts as a Senzu Bean delivery man, but also helped fight off King Piccolo's henchmen and Vegeta himself.

* AbsurdlySharpBlade: His katana can not only cut off Vegeta's tail, it can slice through Vegeta's armor, which required a Spirit Bomb from Goku to break.
* AccentAdaptation: Yajirobe speaks in a nasally and obnoxious Nagoya-ben dialect, which is Creator/AkiraToriyama's native prefecture (so unlike other dialects you hear in anime, this one's accurate). Toriyama-sensei likes to play up the stereotype and [[SelfDeprecation make fun of himself]] for not being from [[TokyoIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse the Big City]]. This was adapted in English as sort of a husky-voiced thuggish bully who smokes cigarettes after school (think [[WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers Dr. Girlfriend]]) to play up the idea that he's "uncivilized". Nagoya-ben speakers are considered like the Beverly Hillbillies, which makes sense since Yajirobe spent most of his [[CrazySurvivalist life in the mountains]] (Nagoya has lots of people living at the feet of mountains) isolated from people. Whenever he saw people, he would attack them. But since DefeatMeansFriendship, Goku introduced him to Capsule Corp and helped him adapt to civilization.
* {{Acrofatic}}: Surprisingly fast for someone his weight.
* ActionSurvivor: A rather surprising example. [[spoiler:He was shown to be among the victims of Androids 17 and 18's massacre in Future Trunks' BadFuture in a flashback in ''Dragon Ball Z'' (18 fired a blast through his torso). However, it is revealed in ''Dragon Ball Super'' that he actually survived after being given the last Senzu Bean in existence by Korin.]]
* ArbitrarySkepticism: [[DevilButNoGod He met the devil but didn't believe in God]]. He could be a practitioner of an atheistic religion such as Theravada Buddhism but there were no hints of it prior.
* BadassNormal: He can't use ki attacks nor can he fly, but he single-handedly killed one of King Piccolo's minions, climbed Korin's Tower with Goku on his back, and launched two surprise attacks on Vegeta and ''lived''. He also fought evenly with an enraged Goku when they first met.
* BalloonBelly: After eating a handful of Senzu Beans at once.
* BigDamnHeroes: Despite being outclassed in power by both the heroes and villains, he always manages to arrive in a critical moment to save the heroes. The remainder of the cast is alive due to him and he has saved Goku from certain death twice.
* BigEater: It's pretty much one of his defining characteristics. He ''ate'' Cymbal, a dragon-like monster several times his size, and planned to do the same with every member of the Demon Clan that tried to avenge him (at least until he learned they were King Piccolo's minions, as he knew his story), and is repeatedly shown eating multiple Senzu Beans in a single sitting. And just ''one'' Senzu Bean contains about a week's worth of nourishment, so Yajirobe is literally eating enough calories to nourish a person for a ''couple of months'' in a single sitting. It might also explain how Senzu became scarce from ''Z'' onward.
* BrilliantButLazy: He can be described as this. During the training at Kami's lookout, he sits it out most of the time, but when the training began, he had shown that he was more than a match for the others, and according to Toriyama, his power level was quite close to the other Z-Fighters after their training despite barely training himself, and also considering the fact that he was Goku's equal originally, lends credibility to the idea he might've been on the same level as the big guys if he had tried.
* CantCatchUp: He retires from fighting early on, after the Saiyan Saga, and mostly just hangs out with Korin after that.
* CowardlyLion: One minute he's hiding somewhere scared out of his wits, the next he's doing a sneak attack on the BigBad and rescuing his friends.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: As stated above against Vegeta. It is a CMOA as Vegeta never saw it coming despite Krillin trying and failing to do the same just seconds ago.
* CutLexLuthorACheck: He eventually convinces Korin to let him grow senzu beans down at the base of the tower, some 40 years after End of Z, in the [[VideoGame/DragonBallXenoverse Xeno]]/[[VideoGame/DragonBallOnline Online]] timeline.
* DeadpanSnarker: He snarks, sneers, and taunts people all the time. Despite the fact he's well-aware he's outclassed by the real fighters in the series and so he's pretty much a coward
* DemotedToExtra: Yajirobe was actually the {{Tritagonist}} of the King Piccolo Saga. Despite this, his role becomes more and more trivial as the show goes on to the point where he gets reduced to a minor character after the Saiyan Saga.
* TheDragAlong: Yajirobe hates training and getting into dangerous situations. During the Saiyan Saga, he flat out told Krillin that he did not want to go to the Lookout to train with Kami alongside the other Z fighters, but Korin wouldn't let him sit this one out. He is still a valuable ally that has too much of a conscience to just stand idly by while his friends give their lives to protect the Earth.
* ExtremeOmnivore: Yajirobe kills and then ''eats'' one of Piccolo's minions.
-->'''Yajirobe:''' You're not gettin' any!\\
'''Goku:''' I don't ''want'' any.
* FlatEarthAtheist: Doesn't believe in the existence of Kami-sama (literally "God" in Japanese), despite having witnessed the embodiment of {{Satan}} wreak havoc on Earth and saying this while he's on top of a tower owned by a talking cat who's given his friend the "Divine Water" so he could defeat said incarnation of the devil and restore the wish-granting magical balls said to have been created by God himself.
* {{Foil}}: He's basically a human counterpart of Goku. He has SpikyHair, is a BigEater, [[BookDumb not exactly bright,]] is incredibly strong and fast, and he was raised in the wilderness, much like Goku. He also carries with him a Dragon Ball, which he received as a gift from his loved ones. The difference between them, however, is that Yajirobe is cowardly and believes in self-preservation while Goku is fearless in the face of death.
* GutFeeling: Yajirobe loses in the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament against Hero (who was Kami in disguise), and while he is mocked for it, he constantly thinks that Hero is much more than he lets on. When Yamcha is paired up with Hero he actually pities Yamcha, stating he has no chance against Hero. After Yamcha gets swatted like a fly by Hero, he is the only one not surprised by this outcome.
* HiddenDepths: Other than his surprising strength and observation skills, Yajirobe is one of the few persons, other than Roshi and Shen, on Earth who knows about King Piccolo and his terrifying power and reputation when the demon king returns, and quickly panics when he hears that King Piccolo is here. This implies that he's far more knowledgeable and cultured that he looks like.
* IaijutsuPractitioner: He shows this ability in his fight with Cymbal, one of Piccolo's minions.
* ImAHumanitarian: Yajirobe contemplated eating Goku after he was seemingly killed by Piccolo. Granted, Goku isn't exactly human, but he looks it enough to count and at the time no one knew he was an alien.
* JerkassHasAPoint
** After tasting the Ultra Divine Water, he argues with Korin that it's a simple poison with no magical properties. When Goku's strength greatly increases and his senses sharpen, Yajirobe seems to be proven wrong. However, given what we later learn about Saiyans becoming stronger through near-death experiences, it seems Yajirobe ''was'' correct, if WrongForTheRightReasons.
** He invokes this after the fight against Vegeta, calling out Chi-Chi for focusing entirely on [[MyBelovedSmother Gohan]], who was merely unconscious while ignoring Goku, who didn't have a single unbroken bone in his body.
** His adamant refusal to let Bulma fly them to the Android battle while it is still in progress where he threatens to throw infant Trunks out the sky plane's window. Throwing a baby out of a plane is certainly going too far, even if Bulma casually talks him out of it when she mentions that it's Vegeta's child he's holding, but Yajirobe's logic isn't without merit. Once Dr. Gero spots them, he immediately capitalizes on the distraction and shoots the plane down, almost killing the occupants (if not for Future Trunks) and keeping the team occupied while the wily old Android flees the scene. Yajirobe is grumbling under a pile of debris afterward, likely annoyed that Bulma disregarded his warnings on top of no one bothering to save him.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He might be seen mostly as a selfish guy, but is still willing to help his friends, even if it's just transporting Senzu Beans to other fighters, and immediately leaves afterward.
* KatanasAreBetter: It's not just for show. He uses it to one-shot Cymbal and severely injured Vegeta by cutting off his tail.
* KilledOffscreen: Either he died when Super Buu used the Human Extinction Attack or when Kid Buu blew up the Earth, but either way, after a brief filler scene following Vegeta's sacrifice, he isn't heard from again until Goku asks for energy for his Spirit Bomb.
* KnowWhenToFoldEm: He knows King Piccolo's legend and when Piccolo arrives in person to deal with him and Goku, Yajirobe quickly retreats to avoid the devil's wrath. He's proven to be right as Piccolo easily trounces Goku.
* LetsGetDangerous: Almost every time he takes out his sword he either kills or greatly wounds his opponent.
* LetsYouAndHimFight: In his first encounter with Goku, they fight due to a misunderstanding (Goku annoyed him by eating his fish without thinking and, seeing his dragon ball, assumed he was in league with Piccolo). They reach a draw and each is astonished by the strength of the other.
* MasterSwordsman: He appears to be a pure physical fighter and is almost never seen using ki-based attacks. So, he mostly depends on his katana.
* MeaningfulName: Yajirobe roughly translates as "taunting noodle spine", which is very fitting for a trash-talking coward like himself.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Him yelling at Krillin to throw the Spirit Bomb already allowed Vegeta to notice its presence and dodge it.
* NoNameGiven: The French dub of ''Z'' and its many European derivatives don't give him a name until the Android Saga. Even when other characters sharing a scene with him are named, he's still called "you" or "him", or at best, "the tower's guard".
* OnlyOneName: Like many people in the series.
* OvershadowedByAwesome: This guy was equal to ''Goku'' in his first appearance. However, Goku [[TimeToUnlockMoreTruePotential unlocked more of his hidden potential]], and it quickly went downhill by the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament, where he didn't even become a finalist (granted he was going against a disguised Kami). This is in part self-inflected, as he has absurd amounts of potential and is shown to casually catch up with the Z-Fighters without really trying, but has zero real interest in actually applying himself.
* RandomlyGifted: A downplayed example compared to others in the franchise, but Yajirobe at the time of his introduction was on the same level as Goku and Tien Shinhan, despite having no formal training. Despite barely training in the lead up to the Saiyans, he still catches up with the rest of the Z-Fighters without even trying.
* SkintoneSclerae: His eyes are colored in peach in both the manga and the anime, which causes Goku to compare him to Krillin when they meet in the anime (along with [[ActorAllusion their shared voice actress]]).
* SmallRoleBigImpact: Yajirobe's screentime in the Saiyan Saga is negligible at best, but he has ''the'' most important role in earning the victory on Earth, slicing off Vegeta's tail and denying him access to his Oozaru form, which turns the tables completely against Vegeta for the rest of the fight.
* SpannerInTheWorks: Vegeta had Goku dead to rights as he crushed him in front of Gohan and he successfully dodged Krillin's Destructo Disc since he correctly guessed that Gohan wouldn't return alone. He didn't see Yajirobe coming at all and it cost him his tail. He also keeps Vegeta from killing Gohan when he discovers that Gohan's tail had regrown.
* StealthExpert: PlayedForLaughs. Yajirobe was hiding for nearly the entire duration of Nappa and Vegeta's invasion of the Earth, he remains out of sight from Vegeta for so long he doesn't even know the man ''exists'' until he cuts off his tail.
* VitriolicBestBuds: He and Korin act like they hate each other, but they continue to live together at Korin Tower.
* WorldsStrongestMan: The most powerful flesh and blood human who can neither fly, nor fire energy waves.

!!Otherworld
[[folder:King Kai/Kaiō-sama]]
!!King Kai (界王, ''Kaiō-sama'')/North Kai (北の界王, ''Kita no Kaiō'', "North King of the World")
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kai_0.png]]
->'''Voiced by (Japanese):''' Creator/JojiYanami (most media), Creator/NaokiTatsuta (''Super'' episode 12 onward)\\
'''Voiced by (English):''' Creator/SeanSchemmel (Creator/FUNimation dub); Don Brown (''Z'')[[note]]Creator/ScottMcNeil in Episode 231[[/note]], Dean Galloway (''GT'') (Ocean/Blue Water dub); Paul Bandey (''The Tree of Might'' and ''Lord Slug''), Ed Marcus (''Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan'' and ''Bojack Unbound'') (AB Groupe/"Big Green" dub); Creator/MichaelMcConnohie (Bang Zoom!/Toonami Asia dub in ''Super'')\\
'''Voiced by (Latin American Spanish):''' Ricardo Hill ('''current voice'''), José Luis [=McConnell=] (Arc Majin Buu, Movie 4-12 and ''GT''), Leonardo García (''Kai'' until chapter 58), Eduardo Fonseca (''Kai''), Héctor Lee (''Battle of Gods'')

Goku's fourth mentor in the series (after Master Roshi, Korin, and Kami). A small cricket-like man with a penchant for bad jokes. Helps train Goku to fight Nappa and Vegeta while Goku is in the afterlife. Also provides much information on the races in the series. He's actually the North Kai--one of four gods who rule over the four galaxies of the universe (and who act like bickering siblings).
----
* ActuallyThatsMyAssistant: He's a bit bemused to find Goku imitating his pet monkey Bubbles when they first meet.
* BeyondTheImpossible: Downplayed. Several times he lays down "safety rules" about his technique or procedures, occasionally ''just'' as Goku is about to exceed them. A good example is his rule about never going higher than Kaio-ken x2, higher than which you might explode. Goku's max is Kaio-ken x10 (x20 in the anime); against Lord Slug he even hit Kaio-ken x100.
* BigFun: He can be amusing, but comes across as an OnlySaneMan when Goku is around.
* BigGood: Shares this role with Kami during the first part of the Saiyan Saga and the last leg of the Frieza Saga. He remains the primary big good until the Cell Games.
* ButtMonkey: Becomes this to the other Kais after he dies. Is nearly resurrected by Goku at the end of the "Future" Trunks saga of Dragon Ball Super, but the latter is interrupted one too many times, leading Shenron to disintegrate before the wish can even be made.
* TheChessmaster: He came up with the plan to use the Earth's Dragon Balls to revive everyone that was killed on Namek. He gambled that the Grand Elder would also be revived since his life was shortened by Frieza killing his children. With the Grand Elder alive, the Dragon Balls on Namek were revived, and he used the last wish to wish everyone except Frieza and Goku (upon the latter's request) to Earth. His plan all but saved the Namekian people from extinction.
* CoolCar: He owns a red 1950s Chevrolet sedan that he drives around his planet when he gets bored. He's jealous of the Grand Kai's car, a blue Cadillac convertible, that he considers much cooler than his Chevy.
* CoolShades: He wears round glasses. [=ALL=] the kais at his tier have them.
* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: True of almost every character, but lampshaded and PlayedForLaughs when Goku transports a self-destructing Cell to his planet, annihilating him (and Goku... once again.) But since this is the afterlife, they both pop back instantly with halos. King Kai is very annoyed and has to put up with ribbing from the other Kais for a while.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: While training Goku for his fight against Vegeta and Nappa, he realizes on the day before the Saiyans arrive on Earth that he forgot to take into account that Goku would have to travel back down the Snake Way before returning to the living world. Luckily, Goku's improved speed meant he would ''only'' be a day late...which was enough time for Nappa to mercilessly kill the other Z-Fighters except for Krillin and Gohan.
* DubNameChange:
** To Kaito in some European dubs. This even got carried over to his Kaio-ken technique.
** The name King Kai itself is also a name change. It's Kaiō in the original Japanese version (with "ō" meaning "king"), making Kaio-ken LostInTranslation in the English dub.
* DudeWheresMyRespect: Despite being a god and overseeing the entire northern galaxy, he gets little respect from Goku or the other lower Kais. Goku treats King Kai like an old buddy. He eats all his food and often uses his planet for training without any regard for him. To the other lower Kais, he's the ButtMonkey because he's dead.
* EccentricMentor: His methods are very unorthodox and he comes across as very silly.
* GreatGazoo: Subverted. He's got incredible power and abilities that bely his funny-looking appearance and personality, but it's established very early on that he's outclassed by Nappa and Vegeta at his weakest.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Played for laughs when Piccolo [[BlatantLies promises]] not to use Kaioh's training to fight Freeza.
-->'''Kaioh:''' Hmm... Alright, you have an honest face.
-->'''Piccolo:''' ''(thinking)'' You have terrible eyesight.
* KilledOffForReal: When he and his friends die in the Cell Saga, they are never revived. ''Kai'' adds some lines about him coming back, but retains scenes of him with his halo. It's really a moot point given he already lives in the afterlife. Even so, he wants to be revived, and it's a RunningGag in ''Super'' that the heroes keep forgetting to wish him back whenever they summon Shenron. In the manga, it's said that he was revived by the wish about Cell's victims but later panels have him and Bubbles keep halos anyway...though the halos ''are'' gone in the Buu arc's panels.
* LoserDeity: Played with. King Kai for the most does his job quite well, but he became a joke among his fellow Kais due to being the only one who died thanks to Goku, necessitating a halo above his head.
* MasterApprenticeChain: He is Goku's third teacher and he went on to teach his own students: King Kai > Son Goku > Son Gohan, Pan, and Uub.
* MentorOccupationalHazard: Ironically his cause of death wasn't to get Goku as a student but because Goku teleported the '''exploding Cell''' to his house.
* ObsoleteMentor: Subverted. Even though he was already ''weaker'' than Vegeta ''before'' he taught Goku, King Kai is still a veritable library of skills, techniques and literally centuries of wisdom.
* OnceDoneNeverForgotten: King Kai (as well as Gregory and Bubbles) are all to eager to remind Goku that ''they are still dead'' every time he visits them.
* OnlySaneMan: He's the wisest and most serious of the four lower Kais. He's also kept up to date on current events in the living world.
* ParentalSubstitute: When King Kai starts berating Piccolo for his decision to fight Frieza alongside Krillin and Gohan (worried that he'll just get himself killed again), Piccolo jokes that this must be what it's like to have a mom.
** He definitely has this relationship with Goku. When Goku wants to stay on a soon-to-explode Namek to fight Frieza, King Kai is VERY reluctant to leave Goku there.
* PhysicalGod: The status, not the power that the fighters wield. It should be noted however that his power level is given in Weekly Jump and Daizenshuu 7 as 3,500. This makes him far stronger than the likes of Raditz and in the same league as Nappa (stronger if he can do even a basic version of the Kaio-Ken which he invented, which would boost him to 7,000). So he's actually quite strong (''far'' stronger than anyone from ''Franchise/DragonBall''), he's just far outclassed by most fighters in ''Z''. However, his telepathy is much better than that of East Supreme Kai, despite the latter being his superior. While East Supreme Kai couldn't let Vegeta communicate with the Earth's entire population as Babidi did, North Kai had that ability.
* PromotedToPlayable: ''Dragon Ball Kai: Ultimate Butouden'' marks his debut as a playable character.
* PungeonMaster: In addition to being a martial arts master. Before he agrees to train you, you have to make him laugh, and he only likes really lame jokes.
* PsychicPowers: Can use his "cricket antennae" to have psychic conversations with others. He uses this to communicate with Goku and the others, coordinate plans (the wishes to revive everyone who died on Namek and send them to Earth while Goku was fighting Frieza, and later convince everyone on Earth to contribute to Goku's Spirit Bomb while fighting Buu), and warn Goku of potential danger to Earth (several of the movies). And anyone touching his back can piggyback on his telepathy.
* RenownedSelectiveMentor: He is one of the lower gods of the ''Dragon Ball'' universe and only trains those who can make it to the end of Snake Way, which is several times longer than the circumference of the Earth. Although he trains Tien, Yamcha, and Chiaotzu, Goku is the only one he teaches the Spirit Bomb and Kaio-ken to. Goku is also the only one he keeps a personal relationship with.
* SenseLossSadness: His main point of contention when it comes to being dead. When pressed on why he wants so badly to be brought back to life, he explains that just because he's still got a physical form in the afterlife, that doesn't mean he still feels the same as how he did when alive. [[DudeWheresMyRespect Nobody especially believes him or cares however.]]
* SignatureMove: He invented the Kaio-Ken and Spirit Bomb, although we only see Goku using them.
* {{Telepathy}}: He has possibly the strongest form of telepathy in the series since he can communicate with an entire planet and allow others to do the same. Notably, despite being far lower on the totem pole of divinity than the East Supreme Kai and the Elder Supreme Kai, his skill with this far surpasses theirs as he is able to broadcast a message to the entire population of Earth, something both Supreme Kais admitted to being unable to do.
* TopGod: He was introduced as the highest godly authority in the Saiyan arc, with other gods such as Kami and Yemma being deferential to him. Retcons rendered him increasingly irrelevant as higher gods were introduced, though he's still supposed to be the highest god of North Galaxy at least. First the other Kais, then the Grand Kai, then the Supreme Kais, then the Grand Supreme Kai (currently deceased), then the God of Destruction, then the other Gods of Destruction, then the Grand Minister, and finally the Omni-King (Zeno).
* TookALevelInJerkass: {{Downplayed|Trope}} and {{justified|Trope}} towards Goku in ''Super'', where King Kai is noticeably bitter towards him. Given Goku keeps forgetting to wish him back to life and constantly uses his planet as training grounds (thrashing King Kai's planet as a result), it's not surprising that Goku's attitude has become too much to handle for King Kai. Even Goku himself [[LampshadeHanging noticed]] this change in behavior multiple times... although he keeps forgetting why it's the case.
* UnreliableExpositor: Unintentionally, but King Kai makes a ''lot'' of assumptions that flat out aren't true. Some notable examples include: When he assumes Goku reached Super Saiyan in the Slug movie, when he claims Frieza was defeated by the Spirit Bomb, and when he states Goku was killed on the explosion of Planet Namek.
* WaxOnWaxOff: First task: catch a monkey. Second task: hit a bug with a hammer (though the second task is anime only).
* WeakButSkilled: When he debuted he was already weaker than Vegeta. He also happens to be an ''awesome'' martial arts master, training Goku from being weaker than Raditz to be able to mop the floor with Nappa ''without'' the Kaio-ken... that he also invented alongside the Spirit Bomb. To say nothing of Goku just taking his training a little further in insanely high gravity, and getting strong enough that Ginyu got a major freakout. Then his next power-up from coming back from death's door would put Goku on Frieza's final form's tier.
* WhatTheHellHero: He gets on Goku for fighting Beerus despite warning him several times that he stood no chance against him. And also for getting him, Gregory and Bubbles killed.
* YankTheDogsChain: Goku finally intends to have him and his friends wished back to life at the end of the "Future" Trunks saga... but the rest of the gang on earth has other ideas, interrupting him until Shenron disappears again.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Shin/(East) Supreme Kai/(East) Kaiōshin]]
!!Shin (シン)/(East) Supreme Kai ((東の)界王神, ''(Higashi no) Kaiōshin'', "(East) World King God")
[[quoteright:225:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kaio_shin_del_este_artwork.png]]
[[caption-width-right:225:[[labelnote:Click here to see Kibito Kai]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kibito_shin_artwork.png[[/labelnote]]]]
->'''Voiced by (Japanese):''' Creator/YujiMitsuya (''Z'' and ''Kai''), Shin'ichiro Ota (''GT'' and ''Super'')\\
'''Voiced by (English):''' Creator/KentWilliams (Creator/FUNimation dub); Creator/MichaelDobson (Ocean dub); Creator/DavidVincent (Bang Zoom!/Toonami Asia dub in ''Super'')\\
'''Voiced by (Latin American Spanish):''' Genaro Vásquez ('''Current Voice'''), Creator/JoseGilbertoVilchis (''Battle of Gods'')

The TopGod (until Old Kai is released) who appears to be a short, purple alien with a white mohawk. He is assisted by his servant Kibito. He is the last surviving Supreme Kai since Majin Buu came to his world and killed/absorbed the others. However, he managed to avenge them by killing the monster's creator, the wizard Bibidi and leaving Buu's cocoon on Earth. Millions of years later, he returned to Earth when Bibidi's son, Babidi, sought to revive Majin Buu and enlisted Goku's, Gohan's, Vegeta's, Krillin's and Piccolo's help to stop him. While they failed to prevent the release of Majin Buu, he was generally surprised by the incredible powers of Super Saiyans and assisted Gohan. One fusion later, he resumes his role as the second Supreme Kai.
----
* AchillesHeel: He's Beerus' walking, talking AchillesHeel. He's the Kami to Beerus' Piccolo in that he's a much weaker being than Beerus that, through a life link, will take Beerus to the grave with him if he's killed.
* AllForNothing: PlayedWith. Almost all of Shin's efforts go to waste: He fails to prevent Buu from waking up, and fails to defeat him afterward, his wayward attendant Kibito is murdered, he fails to get a meaningful powerup from his fusion, and he fails to convince Goku and Vegeta to fuse again. Luckily, Buu is still killed thanks to Goku, Vegeta, and the planet Earth.
* AscendedExtra: He has a far more active role in ''Super'' than he was in ''GT'', since ''Super'' heavily surrounds the plotlines of {{Top God}}s in each universe, [[CantLiveWithoutYou his life being linked with Beerus]], and the Future Trunks Saga, which surrounded the plot of a [[Characters/DragonBallZamasu renegade Supreme Kai in training]]. This is especially true in the manga adaptation of the Future Trunks Saga, where he takes a time ring to confirm Zamasu's evil deeds, and he personally fights him to avenge [[spoiler:Gowasu being stabbed]] despite being outclassed.
* BigDamnHeroes: He arrives at the very last minute as Kibito Kai to save Goku and Vegeta (along with Hercule, Bee and Dende) from being blown up along with Earth.
* BigGood: Takes over from King Kai for the first half of the Buu Saga. He tells the heroes about Buu and the need to stop him. After failing to stop Buu's revival, he takes Gohan back to the World of the Kais to release the Z Sword and train. He eventually shares this role with Old Kai for the rest of the series.
* BreakTheCutie: In the past, when Bibidi had Buu kill his TrueCompanions and the other Supreme Kais at the time, right before his eyes.
* ButtMonkey: In the ''Super'' manga, at least, Beerus has no respect for him and the amount of crap he gets from him is quite pitiful. ''Z'' has a bit of this as well, where part of the Buu saga's comedy comes from his (and Kibito's) reaction to how he never expects things to go the way they do.
* CantLiveWithoutYou: Similar to Piccolo and Kami, Old Kai and his life are tied with Beerus, meaning if he dies, so will Beerus. He happens to be lucky that the Grand Supreme Kai sacrificed himself so he can live. Humorously, this pretty much makes him capable of mouthing off to Beerus despite being several orders of magnitude weaker, as the God of Destruction wouldn't dare harm him.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: When first introduced, Shin is a mix between a SmugSmiler and TheStoic and seemingly a morally grey character in the world of Dragonball, unphased by the brutality of Spopovich's beatdown on Videl unlike everyone else watching. But as the saga goes on, he is shown to be ''much'' nicer, have a much wider range of emotions, and his moral compass is far stronger than it first seemed.
* CowardlyLion: He's constantly freaking out, even in the face of threats ''weaker'' than he is, but when the chips are down he can be trusted to fight with all his might, even if he has no chance. He gave it his best against Buu and saved Gohan's life during that battle despite getting hammered himself, and pulled an effective HeroicSacrifice in Trunks' timeline to help him defeat Dabura. He was also very willing to potentially take on Super Buu once he fused, who had a status as TheDreaded. And in the ''Super'' manga, he was willing to take on '''Black''' after the latter nearly killed Gowasu. He had no chance and got a beating from Future Zamasu for his trouble, but give him points for his guts. ''GT'' unfortunately [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderizes]] his cowardice as he outright tries to run and hide when he hears what the Shadow Dragons' negative energy would do to the universe.
* DidNotThinkThisThrough:
** He never once thought about how strong the fighters of Earth would be, and by allowing Spopovich and Yamu to take Gohan's energy while powered up, they provide Babidi with most of the energy needed to be revived, much to his concern.
** After killing Bibidi, he manages to seal Buu and leaves him on Earth with the assumption no one would ever be able to revive him, so no other precautions were taken. Justified as Bibidi would be the only person who could manage to wake and control Buu. However, he never considered that one of Bibidi's clones would survive to continue the original's work, as he manages to recover the sealed Buu easily enough.
** PlayedForLaughs. He decides the best way to test the Z-sword is to throw the hardest material in the universe at it: Katchin Steel. This, unsurprisingly, ends up turning the Z-sword into the Z-dagger. Fortunately, this ended up helping Gohan significantly.
* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: He harshly critiques Beerus's work ethic during the Universe Survival Arc. Luckily, since he's life-linked to Beerus, he can get away with it. That said, as he probably didn't know that killing him would kill Beerus himself, it took some serious moxie to say so to a Destroyer who is far stronger than Goku.
-->''(Beerus is blaming him for U7's low mortal level because of his [[TheGodsMustBeLazy merely watching events]].)''\\
'''Shin:''' What about ''you?'' What have you done besides spend most of your time ''sleeping?''
* ADogNamedDog: He's a PhysicalGod whose name means god.
* DubNameChange:
** To Neptune in the French dub and all the dubs derived from it (the translators got his title, Kaioushin, mixed up with the Japanese name for the planet Neptune, Kaiousei).
** The name Supreme Kai itself is also a name change. It's Kaiōshin in the original Japanese version. The Viz English manga translation goes with "Lord of Lords", a somewhat liberal translation of his title (God of the Kings of the Worlds).
* {{Foil}}: His intended role with Beerus in-universe. Shin is the God of Creation while Beerus is the God of Destruction. Dialogue in ''Super'' states it is his role to create new planets and nurture newer lifeforms while Beerus is supposed to destroy planets to fill in new ones. While he is weaker than Beerus, one another cannot live without each other, and Shin and Old Kai are the only two Supreme Kais left who are linked to Beerus.
* FusionDance: PlayedForLaughs with his servant Kibito, which results in his more elf-like appearance [[PowerUpLetDown and little else]]. [[spoiler:Until they use the Namekian Dragon Balls and separate in ''Super''.]]
* GoThroughMe: Prior to Goku and Majin Vegeta's fight, Shin steps in-between the two, stating that Goku will have to get around him if he truly believes this is the right decision. Goku [[GoodIsNotSoft shocks everyone present]] when he charges a Ki Blast and makes it clear he ''will'' blast Shin if he doesn't get out of the way, and ultimately, Shin is forced to give in.
* GodIsGood: Regardless of his level of competence, Shin really cares for all living beings, and is willing to put his life on the line to stop monsters like Babidi and Zamasu.
* GodIsInept: While he means well, he's unsuccessful at preventing Buu's revival and spends most of the saga in OhCrap mode. In the end, he's completely reliant on Earth's fighters and Old Kai to stop Buu. Justified by him being young and IncompletelyTrained, along with the Saiyans not listening to him when he warns how powerful Buu is.
* TheGodsMustBeLazy: ZigZagged. He takes no direct action against beings like Frieza, most likely seeing Frieza as being orderly and not destroying planets willy-nilly despite being evil. However, he takes personal action to stop Buu's revival. It doesn't work and he's helpless to stop Buu once he's released. Dialogue in ''Super'' suggests that the Kais aren't ''allowed'' to interfere on the mortal plane (only the God of Destruction is allowed to do that); he and his fellows only went after Buu because Buu attacked the Kais first. However, other universes show the two are supposed to work together, and Shin didn't know who Beerus ''was'' to allow that, justifying it on some level.
* GoodIsNotSoft: While certainly ''polite'', Shin is not above doing dirty things to get results. Notably, he actually forces Gohan to be drained of his energy so that they could track down Babidi's ship.
* GreaterScopeParagon: He's the highest-level Universe 7 Kai after the Grand Supreme Kai got absorbed by Buu.
* HeroWorshipper: He appears to be this to Gohan in ''Z'', while Goku and Vegeta critique Gohan's rustiness resulting in his battles taking longer than they should, Shin never once has his faith falter in Gohan. He verbally puts his belief in Gohan multiple times during their time together and is eager to have him try what the kais could not, even ribbing Kibito for his insensitive comments when doing so.
* HisNameReallyIsBarkeep: He was introduced using the name "Shin", which turned out to be shorthand for his title of "Kaiōshin". ''Super'' later revealed that his actual name was indeed Shin, making his use of it as an alias during the World Tournament a case of RealNameAsAnAlias.
* HumbleHero: As the last Supreme Kai ruling over at least 6 other lesser Kai, Shin had every right to declare himself the Grand Supreme Kai. For whatever reason, he never did but it had to with being IncompletelyTrained.
* IncompletelyTrained: Old Kai's assessment of him when he appears. The Supreme Kai is trying his best, but he missed out on a lot of instruction when Buu killed all of his superiors, forcing him to take on the role before he was ready. This is expanded in ''Super'' where he is shown to be even more ignorant by not knowing who Beerus was except for rumors, which stands out since he's supposed to work with Beerus. He didn't even know who ''Zeno'' was, much to Old Kai's annoyance.
* InformedAbility: Piccolo regards Shin to be much stronger than he was, which was why he threw the fight upon discovering Shin's identity. However, Shin's combat record doesn't really back up those claims. It doesn't help that surpassing Piccolo (who was as strong as a regular Super Saiyan at least) was SoLastSeason now that Super Saiyan 2s and 3s have made an appearance.
* ISenseADisturbanceInTheForce: Being a Kai, he would have some degree of omniscience, and doesn't need antennae for it.
* ItsPersonal: Not only does Shin judge Buu to be a threat on a universal scale out of his general knowledge, he also attempts to interfere because the Majin had been responsible for taking four people from him that he held dearly.
* LoserDeity: While he seems like a proper God at first, the more time there is spent in his company the more it becomes clear [[GodIsInept he's terrible at his job]]. He's practically [[AChildShallLeadThem a child]] with little experience and prone to making mistakes, which is especially prevalent when his ancestor Old Kai is released and shows him how it's done. Old Kai has called him out on being an idiot, while even Goku teases Shin for being less useful than Old Kai.
* MeaningfulName: Shin is part of Kaio''shin'', emphasizing his position as the ''Supreme'' Kai. This is how Piccolo was able to figure out his true identity when he was using his name as a mysterious alias.
* NiceGuy: He's polite and hardly gets mad at the good guys.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: He deliberately ''let'' Spopovich and Yamu absorb Gohan's energy, and explicitly forbade the Z-Fighters from interfering, for the purpose of following them back to Babidi's hideout; said energy gave Babidi half of what he needed to revive Majin Buu in one shot, something he [[OhCrap wasn't expecting]]. On top of that, his plan for stopping Babidi from gathering enough energy to resurrect Buu involves... bringing individuals with a lot of energy right to him. Though Babidi's plan has a few hitches, it succeeds without sacrificing [[BadBoss anything Babidi cares about]]. Babidi takes great pleasure in rubbing in the Supreme Kai's face how he pretty much handed him victory on a silver platter.
* NoIndoorVoice: In the Westwood dub, as Kibitoshin, he more often than not shouts his dialogue, even when the situation doesn't require it.
* NormalFishInATinyPond: He's ''extremely'' powerful compared to nearly all mortal lifeforms and even the gods -- he could have felled Frieza (the strongest mortal in the universe at the time) as he was on Namek in a single blow, and was considered stronger than Piccolo at the time they faced each other, and probably could have given Cell a decent fight even if he couldn't win. However, he's fairly weak for a Supreme Kai since his fellow Supreme Kais (his teachers) were killed by Buu before his training could be completed, coupled with his (for a god) young age. As of ''Super'', he's outclassed by most if not all of the Z-Fighters, despite being in a position that normally means he would hopelessly dwarf most of their powers.
* NotQuiteTheAlmighty: As the only Supreme Kai to survive Buu's onslaught, Shin was introduced as the strongest and highest-ranked god in the series. ''Battle of Gods'' and ''Super'' would reveal that he's not only surpassed in strength by [[DestroyerDeity Beerus]] (though they share the same place in the pecking order) but that both are only the [[TopGod top gods]] in one of twelve universes, with [[KingOfAllCosmos the Omni-King]] being their superior.
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: At some point, Shin was able to track down and kill Bibidi and sealed Fat Buu after the latter killed four of his fellow kais and nearly him as well.
* OhCrap:
** His reaction to discovering the power of the Saiyans on Earth. To really understand his surprise, imagine that you thought you were the ultimate lifeform in the universe...until you went to a backwater planet and found a group of beings who were so powerful as to render you utterly insignificant engaged in what amounts to a pissing match.
--->'''Supreme Kai:''' Who ''are'' you people?!?
** Goes FromBadToWorse when his plan to let Spopovich and Yamu absorb Gohan's energy in order to get them to lead him to Babidi backfires. He wasn't expecting Gohan's energy to supply half of what Babidi needed to revive Majin Buu.
** His reaction when he realizes that Vegeta is the new fighter Dabura mentioned.
** He, along with Kibito, has a comical version when the Z-Sword broke on accident (they were expecting it to be much sturdier). Luckily it released Old Kai from it.
** When he fused with Kibito, he has this reaction about its permanent effects.
** He is absolutely ''terrified'' when he realizes that Super Buu is changing back into the mindlessly destructive Kid Buu.
** In ''Super'', he has a massive freak-out when Zeno wanted to meet Goku. It nearly took a toll on him due to how casual [[IdiotHero Goku]] was being towards Zeno.
** Has an even bigger one after [[spoiler:Universe 9 is erased]]. The look on his face is of pure despair.
** He has his biggest one yet after his gushing over how romantic 18 and Krillin's relationship is, which angers 18 so much that she shoots a ki blast at his head from inside the arena.
* PhysicalGod: He is strong enough to make Z-era Piccolo piss himself, which makes him many times stronger than most of the cast outside of the adult Saiyans, Dabura, and Majin Buu. He becomes even stronger after merging with Kibito and gains the ability to teleport to any of the lower worlds, whether they have life or not. He can also materialize objects with a mere thought. Despite his powers, he is the ''weakest'' and least experienced of all the Supreme Kais in Universe 7. His superiors were murdered by Buu.
* PoorCommunicationKills: He has a bad habit of only mentioning important information ''after'' it's needed such as Dabura's spit turning people into stone or details on Babadi's fighters. The worst part may be he never bothered to mention Buu's absorption abilities. Because of this, no one expects Buu to absorb them.
* PowerUpLetDown: After fusing with Kibito he says he is ready to fight alongside Goku but Old Kai stops him, saying that he's still no match for Buu.
* PragmaticHero: ''Tries'' to be this, but is less than effective due to constantly [[UnderestimatingBadassery underestimating how strong the Saiyans are]] and [[BloodKnight how much they love fighting]]. His counterpart from Future Trunks' timeline succeeds (if at the cost of his own life) specifically because Future Trunks' relative weakness and much greater pragmatism allow him to not underestimate the situation.
* PurpleIsPowerful: He is still a PhysicalGod, even though the Saiyans have long eclipsed him in power.
* RealNameAsAnAlias: Originally subverted, later played straight. The name "Shin" was introduced as a stealth shorthand for his title of "Kaiōshin", which Piccolo was able to figure out alongside his attire and aura in order to identify him as the Supreme Kai. Once his Kai status was out and the adventure left the tournament he was never simply called "Shin" again since there was no more need to be coy about his identity. When the newer material introduced the concept of the Kais having names outside their titles, Toriyama decided to go ahead and make Shin his real name. It wasn't much of a stretch to do so -- his assistant Kibito was using his own real name, their fusion was called Kibitoshin ("Kibito Kai" in the dub, but Sabat as Vegeta has occasionally slipped up and called him Kibitoshin as well), and if it helps any, Universe 11's Supreme Kai, Shin's {{foil}} among the Kaiōshins, also a name that's also ShapedLikeItself -- ''Khai''.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Even though he's millions, or maybe even ''billions'' of years old, he's still seen as the "junior" Supreme Kai and looks much younger than the other Kais.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Despite some actions of DidNotThinkThisThrough, Shin is a rather reasonable person who knows how to set his priorities straight, he makes it clear that rushing ahead without a plan, or getting distracted by age-old rivalries, are all lower than stopping Buu from being revived. He's only actively hindered because the only people strong enough to help are the ChallengeSeeker Saiyans, as the more pragmatic Piccolo and Krillin are taken out of the fight before it began, along with Kibito.
* RedHerring: His first appearance at the tournament seems to imply that he'll be the arc's BigBad, and the Latin American Spanish dub even gave him the same voice actor as Android 17, another young-looking guy who spelled trouble in his first appearance, but it turns out he's a good guy. Spopovich and Yamu were the ones you should've watched out for.
* {{Retcon}}: Kibito Kai still existing in ''GT'' is retconned by ''Super'', who have them using the Dragon Balls to defuse.
* ShesAManInJapan: The Catalan dub and the European Spanish edition of the manga (Planeta-Deagostini Comics) turned him into a woman.
* SkewedPriorities: During the end of the Buu arc, when Goku and Vegeta are fighting Kid Buu on the World of the Kais, Shin is more worried about the damage the Saiyans are doing to the planet then defeating Buu. Old Kai calls him out on this since it is more important they defeat Buu then worry about the damage done to "some old rock." On the flip side, Shin has numerous [[OhCrap panic attacks]] as Babidi reveals his enslaved fighters, while the Z-Fighters themselves are playing rock-paper-scissors to determine who gets to fight first. He's less than amused.
* SmallRoleBigImpact:
** It was he who killed Bibidi and stopped Buu's initial rampage 5 million years ago. Had he failed and been killed, Universe 7 (or at least the sapient life within) would probably have ceased to exist.
** His future counterpart only appears for one chapter in the ''Super'' manga, yet it is only by his intervention that Trunks is able to defeat Dabra and Babidi. Not only would he have been ''much'' weaker ''and'' unaware of their coming if not for Shin, but he would not have been able to best Dabura in combat without Shin first distracting and then paralyzing him. Finally, Shin is the one who grants him his HealingHands powers, which come in handy to ensure victory during the fight against Fused Zamasu.
* TheStoic: He manages to pull this off at the tournament in the Buu Saga, with his emotive range and expression being calm cool, and collected, if not a bit smug no matter what happens. However, as time goes on we see that this is thoroughly subverted.
* SoLastSeason: He's apparently stronger than Piccolo was at the time of the 25th world tournament, while Piccolo was as strong as a Super Saiyan during the Cell Games and might have been training since then. That would've been considered amazing seven years ago; not so much in the Buu Saga. Still, he's ''far'' stronger than many of the heroes outside of Gohan, Vegeta, and Goku. Piccolo gave up his match instead of even trying to fight him.
* SquishyWizard: While he is extremely powerful by regular standards, his magical abilities are more impressive than his raw power. He can completely paralyze Super Saiyan 2 level fighters with his psychic powers, teleport anywhere in the universe at will, materialize any desired object from thin air, read minds, heal people from the brink of death, and so on.
* {{Teleportation}}: After fusing with Kibito, he can do something akin to Instant Transmission called ''Kai Kai'' or Instant Movement, although, unlike Instant Transmission, he doesn't need to sense ki and can go anywhere he wants in the lower realm. In ''Super'', he can still perform the Instant Movement even after being defused from Kibito, suggesting that he always knew it even before fusing. He has teleported in at the last minute to save Goku from deadly predicaments in ''Z'', ''GT'' and ''Heroes''.
* TopGod: Shares this title with Beerus for Universe 7; he's the Creator Deity that opposes, and compliments, Beerus' DestroyerDeity.
* ATragedyOfImpulsiveness: His future self in ''Super'' had tried to rush Babidi out of impulsiveness when Trunks couldn't compete with Dabura in a straight fight anymore (due to Dabura's strength significantly surpassing the former's outside of a duel between swords). Unfortunately, Dabura managed to shoot him down before he can try anything. This results in Kibito's guard being lowered and getting killed, and Shin sustaining injuries that led to his death. Granted, his efforts do get Trunks the win by helping trigger a Super Saiyan 2 transformation but still counts. Even worse, his death leads to the death of his timeline's Beerus due to them sharing one life force, allowing Goku Black to come and lay waste to the timeline without opposition.
* UnderestimatingBadassery: He doesn't quite seem to realize just what Vegeta, Goku, and Gohan are capable of, and when he sees their true power he is outright flabbergasted at how such fighters could exist in the lower realms. He also doesn't recognize the power of the Saiyans' ego and pride. For that matter, ''Super'' retroactively makes his judgement on Frieza a lot more iffy; While Shin wasn't wrong in his assessment that he could beat Frieza with ease he seemed to believe this was all Frieza was capable of, when in reality Frieza wasn't rven scratching the surface of his potential.
* WhatTheHellHero: In the Universal Survival Arc of ''Dragon Ball Super'', when it's revealed that [[spoiler:Universe 7 is the second weakest universe and all universes who lose the Tournament of Power will be eradicated]], Beerus calls out the Supreme Kai for deciding to take a back seat and let the mortals of that universe grow stronger on their own. He shoots back that Beerus is at fault too since all he does is sleep.
* WhiteHairBlackHeart: Completely averted. It only ''looks'' like he's being set up to be the BigBad of the arc when we first see him entering the tournament.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Anything related to Majin Buu, in particular, his Fat and Kid forms. He freaks out about those forms more than the much stronger and smarter Super Buu. Justified by his background; those two Buus are the ones who rampaged across the galaxy and murdered his fellow Kais (and de facto family) millions of years ago, and the former in particular is a twisted caricature of the old Grand Supreme Kai created when Buu absorbed him. Going by the flashback in the manga, the fat form is also the one who beat him nearly to death (in the anime, it's South Supreme Kai-Buu).
* WildHair: While it isn't that noticeable, in ''Super'', he apparently grew out his hair as he has more fringes on his head.
* TheWorfEffect: He has raw power strength and ki far surpassing Piccolo's level and PsychicPowers strong enough to incapacitate [=SS2=] Gohan with little effort, yet even when teaming up with Gohan, neither can do anything against Fat Buu.
* YouAreInCommandNow: After Majin Buu's attack on the Supreme Kai's, he was left as the functional Grand Supreme Kai of Universe 7. Both ''Z'' and ''Super'' reveal he's ignorant of several things an acting grand supreme Kai should be aware of, like that he can order Beerus to destroy dangerous mortals.
* YouKilledMyFather: Babidi's reason for hating him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Old Kai]]
!!'''Old Kai (老界王神, ''Rō Kaiōshin'')'''
[[quoteright:290:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kaio_shin_anciano_artwork.png]]
[[caption-width-right:290:[[labelnote:Click here to see his younger self]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ro_kaio_shin_joven_new.png[[/labelnote]]]]
->'''Voiced by (Japanese):''' Reizou Nomoto (''Z''), Creator/TetsuyaIwanaga (''Z'', Young), Isamu Tanonaka (''Budokai 3''), Ryouichi Tanaka (''Battle of Gods'' onwards)\\
'''Voiced by (English):''' Creator/KentWilliams (Creator/FUNimation dub); Creator/ScottMcNeil (Ocean dub); Creator/SteveKramer (Creator/Bang Zoom!/Toonami Asia dub of ''Super'')\\
'''Voiced by (Latin American):''' Enrique Mederos (''Z'' and ''GT''), Ernesto Lezama (''Battle of Gods'' and ''Super''), Pedro D'Aguillón Jr (''Kai: The Final Chapters'')

A Kai from 15 generations in the past, he was sealed inside the Z Sword by [[Characters/DragonBallUniverse7 Beerus]] (at the time described only as "a terrible monster"). When it is broken, he is released and aids the heroes in their fight against Majin Buu. Being more experienced and knowledgeable than the current Supreme Kai, it is implied that he takes that position, or that the two rule jointly.
----
* AmbiguousSituation: It is currently unknown if his life is still severed from Beerus. ''Super'' makes it clear that the Supreme Kais and Gods of Destruction are linked with each other, and Shin is currently active in his role. Before restoring Goku back to life, he willingly gave up his own to resurrect Goku, and immediately came back with a halo. However, he was restored ''back to life'' via Vegeta's wish. Whether or not his link with Beerus still holds is up to Toriyama.
* BackFromTheDead: He was brought back to life with the Namekian Dragon Balls by Vegeta's request to bring back good people prior to the Tenkaichi Budokai tournament.
* BigGood:
** For the remainder of the series he shares this role with the Supreme Kai. Although not physically strong, he's by far the most knowledgeable character in the series. In ''Anime/DragonBallGT'', he is the one Goku asks for advice more than anyone since he knew about the Super Saiyan 4 transformation.
** He also serves this role in ''VideoGame/DragonBallXenoverse2'', serving as half of the MissionControl role with the Supreme Kai of Time.
* BoringButPractical: His ability to power up a being to beyond its full potential: It takes ''hours'', but the returns are ''very'' good.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: He often acts like a fool and an old pervert. He's also a lot more competent than Shin and has abilities that no other Supreme Kai has.
* BusCrash: His AlternateSelf in Future Trunks' timeline, apparently, was a victim of this, courtesy of Dabura's Stone Spit destroying the Z Sword before he could be freed. This is on top of [[spoiler:Future Zeno destroying the Future Timeline, and making him, along with everyone else in that timeline, DeaderThanDead]].
* CantLiveWithoutYou: It's left ambiguous if his life is still tied Beerus' own but if it is, that means if him and Shin die so will Beerus.
* ClippedWingAngel: He regrets fusing with the witch, as though it gave him all sorts of nifty abilities, it also made him an ugly old geezer. It's also implied that it made him a lot weaker in terms of raw strength.
* DeusExMachina: Quite literally. He is introduced into the story after being released from the Z-Sword, but the build-up to his first appearance is nonexistent since none of the characters even knew who he was. However, his role in unlocking Gohan's full potential makes him quite vital to the plot.
* DirtyOldMan: Uses his "omniscient vision" to peep on girls across the universe. During the Tournament of Power, he felt interested in the fighters of Universe 2 and was openly excited when Universe 4 fighter, Caway, was trying to trick Roshi by taking her clothes off, much to Shin's annoyance.
--> '''Old Kai:''' That's right! Take it off!
* DubNameChange: Like his successor, he is also called Kaiōshin in the original Japanese version, being called the one from "15 generations in the past" (１５代前の東の界王神; ''Jūgo-daimae no Higashi no Kaiōshin'') when needing to distinguish him from Shin. In English, most characters just call him "Old Kai", while Shin refers to him as "ancestor".
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Beerus simply sealed him away after a dispute rather than killing him outright as would be more typical for him because a Destroyer's life is tied to their Supreme Kais.
* FusionDance: The reason he looks so wizened is that he accidentally fused with an old witch a long time ago. On the other hand, this also added to his already considerable magic powers.
* GrumpyOldMan: Despite his goofiness, he has a bit of a temper.
* {{Hermaphrodite}}: In a technical sense, since he's the fusion of a male Kai and a witch. In practice, the Kai is always the dominant personality and form of a fusion with a non-Kai, meaning the witch's power and wrinkles were likely all that was added to him.
* HonourBeforeReason: While Old Kai is usually pretty good at inverting this (such as trading in his life for Goku's or allowing the Saiyan's to destroy the empty world of the Kai's to fight Kid Buu) he is adamant against using the Dragon Balls since they upset the natural balance of the Universe even though the Universe is at stake against Buu. As ''GT'' shows though [[ProperlyParanoid he had a damn good reason to be nervous.]]
* {{Hypocrite}}: He berates the defused Goku and Vegeta for allowing Vegito to toy with Buu instead of finishing him off, despite having waited five minutes himself to tell Gohan he was powered-up for the sake of drama.
* ImmortalImmaturity: While waiting to unlock Gohan's hidden powers, he spends the time reading manga. He also threw a tantrum when the crystal ball couldn't [[ItMakesSenseInContext see the action inside Super Buu's head]].
* {{Irony}}: He boasts about his knowledge over the current Supreme Kai by telling the heroes about the Potara fusion, but seems to also have significant details not known to him when he fails to mention that the fusion is permanent when a Supreme Kai is a factor, otherwise it is temporary. Goku and Vegeta ''not'' knowing this almost costs them their victory against Super Buu.
* IWasQuiteALooker: His younger self prior to his permanent fusion with the witch looked like a purpler, slightly more mature Shin.
* MagicFeather: Played with, since the Z-Sword, a regular, if heavy, sword is given billing as a legendary weapon of great power, whereas, in actuality, he's the real source of the legend, and he's trapped inside it.
* NoNameGiven: Since ''Super'' has introduced more Supreme Kais with their own names, including revealing U7 Supreme Kai name [[RealNameAsAnAlias was really Shin]], Old Kai's name hasn't been revealed yet.
* NowYouTellMe: He introduces Potara fusion and guides Shin and Kibito through it as a demonstration, but he doesn't mention until after they've fused that it's permanent. Luckily, the two are able to unfuse in ''Super'' with the Namekian Dragon Balls.
* OhCrap: He had a startling reaction when he realized Beerus had awakened and had already destroyed several planets in the process in ''Super''.
** Back in the early days, he had this reaction moments before he and the witch merged into one.
* ProperlyParanoid: In the Buu arc, Old Kai is adamantly against using the Dragon Balls since they disrupt the natural balance of the Universe. This seems overly paranoid until ''GT'' wherein the Dragon Balls' constant abuse leads to the creation of the Shadow Dragons, which threaten all of reality.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Outside of his reluctance with using Dragon Balls (''Anime/DragonBallGT'' justifies it, but outside of that it's largely just paranoia) and some of his loopiness, he's largely this, being fully aware in the Buu saga of just how far the GodzillaThreshold has been crossed. He gives away his life to revive Goku and allows Goku to use the world of the Kais as a battleground to prevent collateral damage.
* SealedGoodInACan: Many generations ago, a powerful monster [[spoiler:(Beerus)]] sealed him inside [[spoiler:the Z Sword]], out of fear of his abilities (or, as [[http://www.saiyanisland.com/2014/05/akira-toriyama-reveals/ Toriyama suggests]], as a short-tempered response during a petty argument).
* SkewedPriorities: He only agrees to help out the heroes (by making Gohan stronger and helping them use the Namekian Dragon Balls) when Goku offers to send him naked pictures of Bulma (to Vegeta's anger). Also, when Gohan offers to have his powers unlocked, he spends five hours on a traditional 'ceremonial dance' to presumably celebrate the unlocking of his potential, despite knowing that for someone like Gohan, the process would take around twenty hours, while Majin Buu was nearly done wiping out Earth's inhabitants.
* SquishyWizard: He acts pretty frail and fails to deflect even a very weak blast from base Goku. He {{Lampshade|Hanging}}s this himself, stating that it's his mystical abilities that make him powerful, not his physical strength.
* StrongFamilyResemblance: He's Shin's ancestor, and looked a lot like him prior to fusing with the old witch.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Dirty old man who, while lacking in physical power, holds a vast amount of wisdom and is able to teach the heroes something new. When Goku meets him, he immediately thinks of Roshi. When Caway tries to seduce Roshi in Super, they both [[DirtyOldMan have the same reaction]].
* TimeAbyss: He claims to be the Supreme Kai from 15 generations prior to Shin's. Considering that Shin is a several million-year-old deity himself, this can only make Old Kai unfathomably ancient.
* TimeToUnlockMoreTruePotential: One of his abilities is to power up a person to above the absolute maximum of their potential. It takes over 24 hours and involves a strange dance and lots of meditation, but it also made Gohan the single most powerful fighter in the universe (for a time, anyway. Goku's immediately speculating on how the state can be surpassed).
* {{Troll}}: As stated before, he likes acting ridiculous and seemingly enjoys ticking people off. This may also be a kind of SecretTestOfCharacter since he tries to teach Gohan patience and focus (Old Kai doesn't need to even focus on the unlocking ceremony since he is so good at multi-tasking and keeping his mind clear). Unfortunately, it doesn't stick, as Super Buu uses mind games to slowly break Gohan down.
* WhatTheHellHero: In ''GT'', when the heroes' constant use of the Dragon Balls leads to the creation of the Shadow Dragons, he tells everyone that he warned them about constantly abusing their power and singles out Bulma in particular for creating the Dragon Radar.
[[/folder]]

[[Characters/DragonBallSonGoku Son Goku]] ([[Characters/DragonBallSonGokuTropesAToC A-C]] | [[Characters/DragonBallSonGokuTropesDToH D-H]] | [[Characters/DragonBallSonGokuTropesIToO I-O]] | [[Characters/DragonBallSonGokuTropesPToZ P-Z]]) | [[Characters/DragonBallBulma Bulma]] | [[Characters/DragonBallKrillin Krillin/Kuririn]] | [[Characters/DragonBallPiccolo Piccolo]] | [[Characters/DragonBallSonGohan Son Gohan]] | [[Characters/DragonBallVegeta Vegeta]] ([[Characters/DragonBallVegetaTropesAToD A-D]] | [[Characters/DragonBallVegetaTropesEToN E-N]] | [[Characters/DragonBallVegetaTropesOToZ O-Z]]) | [[Characters/DragonBallFutureTrunks Future Trunks]] | '''Allies''' ([[Characters/DragonBallTienShinhan Tien Shinhan/Tenshinhan]]) | [[Characters/DragonBallFamiliesAndFriends Families & Friends]] ([[Characters/DragonBallChichi Chi-Chi]] | [[Characters/DragonBallAndroids17And18 Androids 17 and 18]] | [[Characters/DragonBallTrunksAndSonGoten Trunks and Son Goten]] | [[Characters/DragonBallMrSatan Mr. Satan/Hercule]]) | [[Characters/DragonBallFusionCast Fusions]]-]]]]]

* KamehameHadoken: [[TropeMaker He invented it.]]

* ButtMonkey: He has it worse than Krillin. From his first appearance, it was always something of a RunningGag that Yamcha was unlucky. And while he puts up a fight, he NEVER gets past the semi-finals round of the tournament. He never even gets to fight Vegeta and Nappa with the others; he gets distracted and killed in a SuicideAttack by a [[{{Mook}} Saibaman]]. In the Android Saga, he gets badly injured by Dr. Gero who puts a hand through his chest, and nearly dies. Oh, and then his ex-girlfriend has Vegeta's baby. During the Universal Surviving Saga, he expects to be asked to join the U7 team and waits at home for an invitation. Goku ''never'' considers him even when [[spoiler:Buu needed to be replaced]]. Poor guy just can't catch a break.

* ADayInTheLimelight: In ''Super's'' 70th episode, Champa decides to play baseball against Beerus and brings their universe's fighters together to do it. As someone who ''actually plays baseball for a living'', '''Yamcha''' is the only one besides umpires Whis and Vados to have ''any'' idea what they're doing. While he suffers a ton of AmusingInjuries, he manages to give the other team a run for its money by stealing bases in true bandit style and wins the game by stealing home during a battle between the Gods of Destruction...despite ending up in his memetic death pose while doing so. We also see how his training affects his baseball game since he uses Wolf Fang Fist and Spirit Ball to expertly control any ball he pitches.

* DesertBandits: Was originally one.
* {{Determinator}}: Yamcha's pretty eager to fight most of the time, he eagerly volunteered to fight King Piccolo when his leg was broken. Until he goes down against #20, at which point [[KnowWhenToFoldEm he calls it quits]] (he still tags along with the others at the Cell Games, but only sits at the sidelines).

* MasterApprenticeChain: He trained under Master Roshi and became a master under the Turtle School: Mutaito > Master Roshi > Yamcha

-->''"Goku... Krillin... You're the ones who showed this old fossil he still had something left to give. That it was too soon to let the limits of age sentence him to sit idly by on the sidelines. You boys who were never content to stop, who kept aiming for and climbing greater and greater heights want me to take it easy? Now listen to me boys! Always remember these words: Work hard! Study well! and eat and sleep plenty. That is the Turtle Hermit way! We must master the art of peace in addition to the art of war! The Turtle Hermit School will be with you... always! This will be my greatest, most powerful Kamehameha!"''

** In the Frieza Saga, while Gohan, Piccolo, and Krillin all make it perfectly clear they hate Vegeta's guts and wouldn't care if he died, they're still left shocked and horrified at the sight of Frieza [[ColdBloodedTorture brutally torturing him]].

** In the Buu Saga, despite spending most of the series hating him, Krillin and Piccolo are mournful when Vegeta sacrifices himself ([[SenselessSacrifice in vain]]) to destroy Fat Buu, with Krillin actually screaming his name.

** Yamcha gets more feats to his name in anime filler after his post-Saiyan Saga irrelevancy in the manga. In Namek Saga, Yamcha, after completing his (mostly unseen) training with King Kai, gets to show off his new power and manages to soundly beat down Recoome, a character who was giving Vegeta, Gohan ''and'' Krillin serious trouble only a few episodes prior. Much later in the Buu Saga, he and Krillin train with King Kai in the Other World again; Yamcha is shown taking on Olibu, a centuries-old dead warrior who competed alongside Goku in the Other World Tournament against Pikkon, as well as an unnamed gorilla fighter at the same time, and Yamcha defeats them both with a [[WrestlerInAllOfUs dropkick.]]

* InconsistentSpelling: Chaozu? Chiaotzu? Chaotzu? Gyouza? Chaos? Kaos (used by the original translation of the Spanish manga. No idea where they came up with that)?

[[Characters/DragonBallSonGoku Son Goku]] ([[Characters/DragonBallSonGokuTropesAToC A-C]] | [[Characters/DragonBallSonGokuTropesDToH D-H]] | [[Characters/DragonBallSonGokuTropesIToO I-O]] | [[Characters/DragonBallSonGokuTropesPToZ P-Z]]) | [[Characters/DragonBallBulma Bulma]] | [[Characters/DragonBallKrillin Krillin/Kuririn]] | [[Characters/DragonBallPiccolo Piccolo]] | [[Characters/DragonBallSonGohan Son Gohan]] | [[Characters/DragonBallVegeta Vegeta]] ([[Characters/DragonBallVegetaTropesAToD A-D]] | [[Characters/DragonBallVegetaTropesEToN E-N]] | [[Characters/DragonBallVegetaTropesOToZ O-Z]]) | [[Characters/DragonBallFutureTrunks Future Trunks]] | '''Allies''' ([[Characters/DragonBallTienShinhan TienShinhan/Tenshinhan]]) | [[Characters/DragonBallFamiliesAndFriends Families & Friends]] ([[Characters/DragonBallChichi Chi-Chi]] | [[Characters/DragonBallAndroids17And18 Androids 17 and 18]] | [[Characters/DragonBallTrunksAndSonGoten Trunks and Son Goten]] | [[Characters/DragonBallMrSatan Mr. Satan/Hercule]]) | [[Characters/DragonBallFusionCast Fusions]]-]]]]]

** [[spoiler:Finally {{Averted}} for real in ''Anime/DragonBallSuperSuperHero'', where both Gohan and Piccolo gain exclusive new transformations that put them in the same ballpark as Goku and Vegeta.]]