History DragonBallZ / TropesHToP

* OffModel: Due to this being a LongRunner, it's bound to happen often.
** In particular, sub-contractors Last House and Creator/StudioLive have earned their (rather negative) reputation [[http://www.kanzenshuu.com/animation-styles/from traits like pointed chins]]. On top of that, they handled no less than half of the entire franchise '''''combined'''''.

* ProbabilityPileup: 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 took Goku, who was prophesied to get it, amazing emotional and physical stress to achieve it. Ditto for Future Trunks, Vegeta, and Gohan. Then they discovered that there are ''levels'' to the Super Saiyan transformation. Then Kid Trunks and Goten, Vegeta and Goku's ''pre-teen children'', discovered they could transform at will, ''just because''. And '''then''' they discovered that the key to the truly legendary transformation (the one that warranted the genocide in the first place) were the Saiyan tails that Goku and Vegeta had long since gotten removed as liabilities.

* KillEmAll: What Majin Buu eventually did to natives of Earth. You can do that when you have an attack called "Human ''Extinction''."
** The only characters who don't die in the entire series are Mr. Satan, Fat/Good Buu, Lord Enma, Fortune Teller Baba and the minor characters born post-Buu arc do not die either.

** Kid Buu takes it UpToEleven, mastering both the Kamehameha and Instant Transmission ''on sight''.

** The Creator/FUNimation dub seems to take this [[UpToEleven even further]]... just check out Goku's Super Saiyan 3 transformation and then wonder how Sean Schemmel is still voice acting today. The editing of the clip suggests some reuse of the best voice take-- but he hopefully still got a few days off to recuperate.

** Cell constantly switches which side of the beat down he's on, at first fleeing whenever Piccolo shows up (being massively outclassed) to beating on both Piccolo and #17. Android 16 then hands his ass to him until he absorbs #17 and stomps #16. This is all in the same fight. [[UpToEleven And this is before Vegeta shows up and the tables continue to turn...]]

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Toriyama admitted to having forgotten some of them entirely.

* ProperlyParanoid: Gohan may be a Half-Saiyan, but [[EducationMama Chi]]-[[{{Tsundere}} Chi]] was not okay with Gohan leaving to go to Namek for two months. While Chi-Chi may be unreasonable sometimes, she was rightfully paranoid with Gohan going to a potentially dangerous planet and leaving her alone for two months [[AdultFear (she had not seen him for a whole year)]] to revive Piccolo, the same guy who blasted a hole through Goku, her husband, and killed him in the Saiyan arc. She displays this trope throughout the series when Gohan goes up against the Androids and Cell, fearing for Gohan's health and well-being when he's fighting bad guys.

* ObligatoryWarCrimeScene: Frieza's introduction lets the audience spend ''four'' agonziningly long and suspenseful chapters from Krillin and Gohan's perspective as they can only helplessly watch Frieza and his goons ''slowly'' threaten, torture and murder Namekian civilians, elders and even ''children'' so by the time Gohan erupts and rescues Dende from Dodoria's fist, you'll hate Frieza and his army as much as he and Krillin does.

** [[SpacePirate Bojack]], an evil space pirate assumed to be on the same level as Cell was sealed away by the four Kaio centuries ago. Now take into consideration that Goku surpassed each of them in strength before the first saga of DBZ was over.
** After Goku and Vegeta save Gohan, Goten, Piccolo, Trunks, and Fat Buu from Evil Buu's body, he technically should have reverted to his original gray self. Instead, he becomes ''another'' Kid Buu, as the original turned into Fat Buu after absorbing one of the Kais.

* HumanMomNonhumanDad: Have five of these, all born from Saiyan dads and human moms: Gohan, Goten (sons of Goku and Chi-Chi), Trunks, Bra (children of Vegeta and Bulma) and Pan (daughter of Gohan and Videl).

* NotSoDifferent:

** [[EvilCounterpart All of the villains from King Piccolo onward]] [[ShadowArchetype share many aspects with Goku]]. King Piccolo and his son Piccolo share similar backstories to Goku. The Saiyans all share Goku's love for fighting, pride in their power, and challenging themselves. Like Frieza, Goku has an enormous amount of raw natural talent, represents the strongest his race have to offer, and becomes just as sadistic as Frieza after turning Super Saiyan. After becoming perfect, Cell gains Goku's laid-back demeanor and gives his opponents sporting chances so he can enjoy the fight longer. Majin Buu shares Goku's love of food, fighting, playfulness, crude manners, and is much smarter than people give him credit for. [[TheDreaded He is also among the most feared beings in the universe]]. The fact that Goku has a conscience and a set of morals are what set him apart from his enemies.

* InactionSequence: Very common of the fanbase is the immense amount of talking, taking several episodes to gather enough energy, or just flat out delaying fights for a later time.

** Freeza was nearly killed by his own Kienzan/ Destructo - Disc-like energy attack. (He got better.)

** Freeza was nearly killed by his own Kienzan-like energy attack. (He got better.)

** 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 10 days after the announcement. The kanzenban and full-color editions changed this to the more reasonable May 26th.

** Despite being born and classified as a lower class Saiyan, Bardock has a power level around 10,000 before he died. For reference, Goku didn't get that high until he trained with King Kai and he was still only around 8 to 9,000 without the Kaioken. That also makes him much stronger than Nappa, an elite solider. In fact, he's about as strong as King Vegeta. Some of this is explained as Bardock regularly coming back from missions half-dead.

* OnlyThePureOfHeart: The condition for riding the Nimbus or controlling the Spirit Bomb. For the record, the number of people in the show who can do either can be counted on one hand. Baby has his own version of the Spirit Bomb; created by pure ''hatred''.

* OurTimeTravelIsDifferent: The Dragon Ball universe runs the idea of a branching timeline. When Future Trunks came to the past to help the Z Fighters prepare for the Androids, he changed ''their'' future but his remained the same. When he came back, he crossed over from his timeline into the main timeline, and again when he came back in ''Super''. During that entire era of the show, things can get a little confusing to keep track of.

* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe

* PrimalScene:Subtly averted. A few days before the Cell Games, Goku has Gohan stay on the Lookout for reasons that boil down to "because I said so." Goten was conceived roughly around this time.

* PrimalScene: [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar Subtly averted.]] A few days before the Cell Games, Goku has Gohan stay on the Lookout for reasons that boil down to "because I said so." Goten was conceived roughly around this time.