History DragonBall / TropesAToD

** The title of the work itself has been zig-zagged over the course of its history. Dragon Balls are the focus of three arcs out of ten, and while most non-tournament arcs do have them featured at some point with great importance, they aren't the focal point like in the Pilaf and Red Ribbon Army arcs.

* DiedInIgnorance: Although Raditz is otherwise a spineless DirtyCoward, after he's fatally wounded by Piccolo's Special Beam Cannon, he dies with a smirk on his face, confident that his fellow Saiyans, Vegeta and Nappa, will resurrect him with the Dragon Balls when they arrive on Earth. While Nappa expresses a passing interest in doing so, Vegeta overrules him immediately, and thus Raditz's soul remains damned to Hell forever.

* AwesomeButImpractical
** Goku's self-invented technique Tornado. He spins around like a top and nearly pushes Nam out of the ring. Before Nam can fall out, Goku becomes too dizzy to continue and nearly loses the match. There is a reason why he never uses this again.
** At first, the Kamehameha. It took a lot of energy out of Goku and got progressively weaker every time he used it.

** Centuries before the story takes place, a human martial artist named Master Mutaito is forced to confront King Piccolo, the embodiment of evil. He uses the [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Mafuba]] to [[SealedEvilInACan imprison Piccolo in an urn]], but only at the cost of his own life.

* ArmorPiercingSlap: Master Roshi is MadeOfIron and fast enough to catch bullets, but whenever he gets on Bulma's nerves (usually by trying to grope her), he always ends up the worse for wear.

* DarkestHour: Near the end of the King Piccolo arc, the world is at its lowest point. King Piccolo has conquered the capitol and outlawed the law itself, swearing to destroy one city each year just to savor the despair and chaos. The world's greatest martial artists have been murdered, including Krillin. Goku is missing and believed dead. Master Roshi [[SenselessSacrifice died in a failed attempt to re-imprison Piccolo,]] and Chiaotzu was killed trying to use the Dragon Balls against him. All that stands between Piccolo and complete global domination is Tien, slowly being broken down by Piccolo's demonic spawn Drum.

* In the climax of the Buu Saga, where Goku needs the energy of everyone on Earth to make a Spirit Bomb? He utilities King Kai's telepathy to try and convince everyone to contribute. Only the people who actually recognize Goku contribute, because he's so relatively unknown by the planet and his request is not only strange, but genuinely terrifies the people who attempt it. When Vegeta tries this, he's not only met with skepticism due to nobody really knowing who he is? Both he and Goku are essentially told to screw off after both insult the entire planet for not listening. It takes Mr. Satan, a world-renowned and beloved public figure, to get the entire world to listen.
* When Captain Ginyu swapped bodies with Goku, he expected to have access to the same level of power Goku has. But instead, he found himself having the same power level he had in his original body. He may have had Goku's body but he had no idea how to use it.
* The Maiden Squadron enters the Tournament of Power not in their already transformed states, but in their weaker, if still powerful, base forms, and to transform they go on one of the tallest pillars in the arena, announce it to everyone, and ''then'' start their lengthy transformation sequence, [[TransformationIsAFreeAction expecting everyone to let them]]. Android 17 promptly blasts them mid-transformation, and has to be talked into letting them transform by the Squadron, Goku and Toppo... Much to Beerus' chagrin, as in a battle for the literal fate of eight universes "you should always crush your opponent before they have a chance to go all out".

* DidntThinkThisThrough: After seeing Roshi fail to seal King Piccolo with the Mafuba because he missed the rice cooker he was using as a container, Tien makes a point of practicing with ki blasts until he can reliably hit the rice cooker. When he turns up to fight King Piccolo, he realizes the rice cooker is now broken from being hit with ki blasts and can't serve as a container any more. This is changed in the anime however where Tenshinhan ''doesn't'' break the rice cooker and gets to use the Mafuba, but is still thwarted by Drum and Piccolo.

* BlackAndWhiteMorality: There is very little grey in this series. All the villains are either irredeemably evil or make a HeelFaceTurn. The heroes are mostly good people with some mean-spirited or selfish streaks.

** And the one he spells out: ''Accept that even with all of your training, there is AlwaysSomeoneBetter''. Master Roshi goes out of his way to ensure that Goku and Krillin get into the Tenkaichi Budokai, and that they do not become the Champion, or else they'd think they're the best and wouldn't need to train. He forfeits his match the second he realizes that they've learned this lesson.

** The Flying Nimus is commonly purple in the manga but is buttery yellow in the anime. The sheath for the Power Pole is often depicted purple in the manga but is red in the anime.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: The first ''Dragon Ball'' dub done by Funimation, which only dubbed the first 13 episodes, edited out a lot of stuff such as nudity, changing the dialog to get rid of the sexual humor which completely rewrote Master Roshi's character, and cutting scenes like Goku taking off Bulma's underwear. Their later dub was completely uncut but still toned down the sexual humor, which is raunchier in the Japanese dub.

* BigBad: King Piccolo. He is the reason that the titular Dragon Balls exist. Kami created them as a symbol of hope to humanity after Piccolo's first rampage. Even after his death, he lives on through his son, Piccolo Jr, who inherited his soul and all of his memories.

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass:
** Master Roshi. He's short, [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld old]], and is an [[DirtyOldMan unabashed pervert]]. Yet, he easily takes out a squad of Red Ribbon Army soldiers that invade his island, destroys an entire mountain and later the moon with his Max Power Kamehameha, and comes close to defeating King Piccolo on his own.
** Many characters refuse to take Goku seriously due to his youth and innocent naivete. This is always a mistake. He might be small, wide-eyed, and easily distracted by simple tricks, but he also fights the greatest martial artist in the world nearly to a standstill as a preteen and personally dismantles the most powerful military force in the world at 15.

* AsLongAsThereIsOneMan: Master Roshi fails to re-seal King Piccolo, expending his life in the process. He then tells Piccolo not to feel too comfortable, as one day, someone strong enough will come to challenge him, and dies afterwards.