History DragonBallZ / TropesHToP

* {{Padding}}: One rather infamous aspect of the show is [[TalkingIsAFreeAction the immense amount of talking]], taking several episodes to gather enough energy, or just flat out delaying fights for a later time.

* InactionSequence: One rather infamous aspect of the show is the immense amount of talking, taking several episodes to gather enough energy, or just flat out delaying fights for a later time.
* IncompletelyTrained

** In Chapter 389, Cell originally announced that the Cell Games would take place on "M 17th". "M" cannot stand for May, as it's been several days since the Androids arrived on May 12th and the Cell Games are supposed to take place nine days after the announcement. The kanzenban and full-color editions changed this to the more reasonable May 26th.

* HilariousInHindsight: Mister Satan tells Buu to turn rocks into food the same way Satan tempted Jesus into turning rocks into bread if He were really the Son of God.

* InjuredSelfDrag:
** After losing to Zarbon and being on death's doorstep after getting thrown into a lake, Vegeta tries to weakly crawl and drag himself out of the lake he was in and then escape somewhere safe to recover, succeeding at moving somewhat far from the shore before finally collapsing from exhaustion; the only reason he lives afterwards is that Frieza orders Zarbon to retrieve his body and heal him so they can interrogate Vegeta about the Namekian Dragon Balls.
** In the ''History of Trunks'' TV special, Future Gohan is forced to hide from Androids 17 and 18, with neither one being able to find him or Future Trunks. The duo then decide to just destroy the entire area, with both Gohan and Trunks being caught in the crossfire, Gohan losing an arm in the process. With only one senzu bean left, Gohan drags himself over to an unconscious Trunks in order to feed it to him.

* InjuredSelfDrag: After losing to Zarbon and being on death's doorstep after getting thrown into a lake, Vegeta tries to weakly crawl and drag himself out of the lake he was in and then escape somewhere safe to recover, succeeding at moving somewhat far from the shore before finally collapsing from exhaustion; the only reason he lives afterwards is that Frieza orders Zarbon to retrieve his body and heal him so they can interrogate Vegeta about the Namekian Dragon Balls.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: In a universe filled with {{Jerk Ass}}es, {{Smug Snake}}s, and {{Smug Super}}s this trope comes up more than once:
** After [[TheBrute Nappa]] fails to defeat Goku and can only nearly equal his strength (without Kaio-Ken) and got his back broken, [[WarriorPrince Vegeta]] [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness throws him up the air and obliterates him.]] Although the action itself is pretty surprising (Nappa was his partner), Nappa had spent most of his screentime slaughtering thousands of innocents and most of the Z-Fighters and nearly killed Gohan while laughing about it. Still, many fans do see this as Vegeta's lowest moment.
** Vegeta IS this trope in the Namek Saga with his fight against Zarbon being among the best moments. Until about an arc and a half later when he makes a more genuine HeelFaceTurn, Vegeta is basically an evil guy killing even eviler guys.
** However, contrast this with [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown final form Frieza's fight against Vegeta]]-- whilst Vegeta's actions up until now have hardly been worthy of any sympathy, the fight plays out to evoke as much sympathy for Vegeta as possible. The fact that he is finally facing up to the cruel tyrant who has held him in bondage his entire life, and getting smacked around and humiliated because of it, resulting in Vegeta breaking down and crying, is fairly emotional despite his villainy. Helps that King Kai lampshades that Vegeta's treachery was about to be paid back.
** When one thinks about it, Frieza's genocide of the Saiyans. Yes, killing the people he's been working with for years just because he's scared of their ever-growing strength was cruel and unnecessary, but one must keep in mind that the Saiyans were not gentle and kind beings like Goku. As a matter of fact, they were selfish, arrogant, and ruthless; they had no remorse over sending children into space nor killing BILLIONS if not TRILLIONS of people. Even Vegeta killed his partner Nappa just for being crippled by Goku.
** Frieza who gets his well-deserved beatdown from Goku, despite the fear that Goku was losing himself to rage and was becoming a threat to himself and others. If Goku had ignored Frieza's pleas for mercy as he lied dying on the ground, no one would had thought badly of him.
** Even if 17 and 18 had turned out to be as evil as their future counterparts, most still would cheer when 17 stepped on Gero's decapitated head.
** It was frightening to see sweet-hearted Gohan torture Cell after the former went Super Saiyan 2. Although, it was frightening for Gohan's sanity and not Cell who deserved everything he got.
** Buu killing Babidi by crushing his skull in. Although Buu went on a complete rampage afterwards, no one regretted Babidi's demise.
** Van Zant, an AxCrazy TriggerHappy lunatic who had gone on a killing spree for fun with the justification that [[ScrewTheRulesItsTheApocalypse Buu would be destroying the Earth soon anyway]], decides to drop that excuse and try to kill Majin Buu so he can go on killing people. Instead, he causes Buu to spawn Evil Buu, and the very first thing Evil Buu does is [[DisintegratorRay completely vaporize]] Van Zant. With the fact that he had been shooting innocent people ForTheEvulz, and had previously [[KickTheDog shot Buu's puppy Bee]] for fun, it's hard ''not'' to cheer when Evil Buu kills him.

* ProbabilityPileup: {{Justified}}. The legendary [[SuperMode Super Saiyan]] transformation was seen as impossible to achieve, yet so powerful and dangerous that it merited the destruction of the Saiyan homeworld and the [[GenocideBackfire near-genocide]] of their race. It takes Goku, the prophesied pure-hearted warrior, to get it by means of great emotional and physical stress to achieve it. Ditto for Future Trunks, Vegeta, and Gohan. Then they discover that there are levels to the Super Saiyan transformation. Then Chibi Trunks and Goten --respectively, Vegeta and Goku's pre-teen children-- discover they can transform at will. The reason is that the level of power of the Saiyan parent at the moment of conceiving is directly proportional to the power of the child.

** The Grand Elder Guru initially dies from the stress and despair of sensing the deaths of his people (I.e. his own children) by Freeza and his henchman's hands. But because his death was prematurely influenced he was able to be temporarily revived by Shenron in a BatmanGambit. Afterwards he dies again for real.

* PowerMakesYourVoiceDeep: In the English dub, Goku and Gohan's voices becomes noticeably deeper in Super Saiyan 1 and 2 respectively. Goku becomes an outright BadAssBaritone when he transforms into a Super Saiyan 3.