History Fanfic / WhatIfFriezaTurnedGood

* ForWantOfANail: Frieza attempting an ISurrenderSuckers gambit on Goku blows up in his face, resulting in him being sent into a downward spiral ending with him being forced into self-imposed exile, wandering aimlessly with his ego shattered, with King Cold taking his Empire back and setting to work on a new genetically engineered son to replace Frieza. Due to knowing Frieza is no threat to anyone anymore, Goku stays on Yardrat longer and learns more of Spirit Control than he did in the original timeline.

* AxeCrazy: There is something deeply wrong with Trogen. Unlike his brothers, he has very little in the way of restraint or long-term planning. If he wants to hurt someone, he does it as soon as the moment arises. [[spoiler:All of Cold's children despised him, but Trogen is the only one to kill him outright the moment he tried to verbally restrain him one too many times. Even Cooler [[EvenEvilHasStandards finds him disturbing]]. He takes it a step further later on by blowing up Yardrat just because Frieza ''might'' have been hiding there and manically demanding validation from Cooler for his action.]] Masako compares Cooler and Cold to LawfulEvil, Frieza (as he was originally) to NeutralEvil and Trogen to ChaoticEvil.

* BeingEvilSucks: Frieza, and later Cooler after being stuck with [[AxeCrazy Trogen]], figure out over the course of the story just how screwed up their family business actually is and their own limits for how much they can stomach it. For Frieza, it comes with his huge BreakTheHaughty moment. For Cooler, it's a work in progress as he becomes progressively more disgusted with Trogen's horrific mounting crimes. In the end, Frieza tells Cooler that he can lead the former Frieza and Cold Force, since Frieza is not interested in ruling his empire, anymore.
* BigBad: Trogen, the AxeCrazy third son of King Cold and his intended successor after exiling Frieza. Initially, King Cold's exile of Frieza and creation of Trogen causes the conflict, but he ends up dead by Trogen's hand as his drive to kill Frieza surpasses Cold's desire to leave a successor to run the empire. From there, Trogen is regarded as the biggest threat in the story.

* AbusiveParents: King Cold is this. It's implied he genetically engineers his sons to be exactly what he desires and to act as a PuppetKing for him. So long as they live up to his expectations, he treats them nice enough...but the moment they stop, he'll throw them away like trash and replace them. He did this to Cooler before the story began, and promptly does the same to Freeza as well. Understandably, ''all'' of his children hate him and want him dead [[spoiler:though only Trogen actually went through with it]].
* TheAce: Freeza, being so naturally powerful [[spoiler: that at Yardrat, he is able to learn how to clone himself, heal ''and'' Instant Transmission]].

** Freeza becomes stronger than he was when he went to Earth the first time, thanks to Cuit's ugrades to his mechanical parts, able to defeat a stronger Vegeta without much effort. As of the end of episode 5, he's even going to Yardrat to train. After 6 months of training, he can feel a "great power" growing in himself, and Pybara can sense it, too. He starts training by himself, in addition to his training with Pybara. He learns Instant Transmission and the cloning technique to better train and [[spoiler: becomes Golden Mecha Freeza in part 7. Presumeably, it's True Golden Mecha Freeza, since he mastered the Spirit Control]]. He can also sense power levels ''and'' use HealingHands.

** The green-skinned street urchin that Freeza breaks up a tussle between her and somebody she stole from is strongly implied to be Cheelai, who wouldn't appear originally until the ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'' movie that takes place 16 years after the events being depicted. Episode 4 confirms that it is Cheelai.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Freeza, as evidenced by this What If. He eventually develops feelings towards Cuit and Cheelai, as well as Yardrat.

* AffectionateNickname: Cuit calls Freeza "Droidy Boy". At first, Freeza is quite angry about it, but later accepts it.
* AnArmAndALeg: Freeza gets his mechanical arm broken or torn off twice. First, was by King Cold when he initially banished Freeza and the second was [[spoiler: when Trogen breaks it during their fight]].
* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler: After Freeza kills Trogen]], he and his crew head off into space for more adventures. Masako eventually started releasing audio adventures of Freeza and his crew called ''[[MythologyGag Revelation F]]''.
* AntiHero: Freeza has evolved into this, along with his crew, which consists of street urchin thief Cheelai, as well as antisocial GadgeteerGenius, Cuit.
* AppealToInherentNature: How Freeza gets [[spoiler: Cell on his side. Freeza appeals to the Saiyan in Cell, telling him that his brother is even stronger than himself]].

* TheArtfulDodger: Street urchin Cheelai seems alright with her lot in life, but loves it that Freeza brought her out of her former life. She's still [[GuileHero very clever]], with Freeza calling her his "passepartout", meaning "someone who can go anywhere", literally "Master key".
* AxeCrazy: There is something deeply wrong with Trogen. Unlike his brothers, he has very little in the way of restraint or long-term planning. If he wants to hurt someone, he does it as soon as the moment arises. [[spoiler:All of Cold's children despised him, but Trogen is the only one to kill him outright the moment he tried to verbally restrain him one too many times. Even Cooler [[EvenEvilHasStandards finds him disturbing]]. He takes it a step further later on by blowing up Yardrat just because Freeza ''might'' have been hiding there and manically demanding validation from Cooler for his action.]] Masako compares Cooler and Cold to LawfulEvil, Freeza (as he was originally) to NeutralEvil and Trogen to ChaoticEvil.
* BadassAndChildDuo: Freeza and Cheelai have this dynamic, and quite a few of the associated tropes. Cheelai's age is never specified, but Masako only ever refers to her as "young girl" or "girl" in terms of age. Given that it takes place around 16 years before the ''Broly'' movie and she looks like she's in her 30s at the latest in the film, her being at most a teenager in this is likely.
* BadBoss: Trogen is even worse than Freeza, and that's saying a ''lot''.
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: After Vegeta reveals his identity in Part 5, Freeza says that he fully expects Cuit and Cheelai to take the ship and run away. However, they explain that they owe him for getting them out of the terrible places they were in, and for protecting them from bigger threats. Freeza is genuinely stunned by this show of honest loyalty.
* BeingEvilSucks: Freeza, and later Cooler after being stuck with [[AxeCrazy Trogen]], figure out over the course of the story just how screwed up their family business actually is and their own limits for how much they can stomach it. For Freeza, it comes with his huge BreakTheHaughty moment. For Cooler, it's a work in progress as he becomes progressively more disgusted with Trogen's horrific mounting crimes. In the end, Freeza tells Cooler that he can lead the former Freeza and Cold Force, since Freeza is not interested in ruling his empire, anymore.
* BigBad: Trogen, the AxeCrazy third son of King Cold and his intended successor after exiling Freeza. Initially, King Cold's exile of Freeza and creation of Trogen causes the conflict, but he ends up dead by Trogen's hand as his drive to kill Freeza surpasses Cold's desire to leave a successor to run the empire. From there, Trogen is regarded as the biggest threat in the story.
* BigBadWannabe: King Cold and Perfect Cell are active villains during the plot, but the former is suddenly killed off by Trogen and the latter is easily bested by [[spoiler:Golden Freeza]] and forced to join the heroes, highlighting that Trogen is the biggest threat.
* BigBrotherInstinct: Freeza now has this to Cuit and Cheelai. When Cheelai is grabbed on Yardrat, [[spoiler: [[SecretTestOfCharacter only as a test by Pybara]]]], Freeza immediately rushes to rescue her. [[spoiler: It's revealed that he switches midway between learning cloning to learn HealingHands to protect Cuit and Cheelai]].

* BreakTheHaughty: Freeza's ill-fated ISurrenderSuckers gambit completely shatters his ego, as not only did his power fail him against Goku, so did his cunning. His further humiliations at King Cold's hands serve to utterly break him until he's literally limping away from his homeworld into self-imposed exile. This is ultimately what makes Freeza redeemable: with his pride broken and left with nothing, he is forced to rely on others and actually develop empathy for them. Oddly enough, it's incredibly similar to what canon Vegeta goes through, but in a fraction of the time.
* BullyingADragon: The patron of the eating establishment that Freeza went to provokes Freeza. Freeza nearly kills him with one punch.

* CarFu: Well, spaceship-fu, but Cuit [[spoiler: rams Trogen's flagship into him, just before Freeza and Trogen start to fight, and drives the ship into the sun with Trogen still on the front]].

* CassandraTruth: When Future Trunks shows up, neither Mecha-Freeza nor Goku appear on Earth as per his timeline, which means the rest of the Dragon Team is less inclined to believe his stories about evil Androids or Goku suffering a fatal heart virus.

** Vegeta is on the receiving end of 3 so far, against Mecha Freeza, 5th form Cooler and 2nd form Trogen.
** Yamcha is simply tossed aside by Freeza.
** In Part 9, Cooler is KO'd by Trogen and Android 17 is dominated by Freeza.
** Part 10 has Freeza first stomping both 17 and 18, [[spoiler: before Cell absorbs them. Freeza then goes Golden and stomps Perfect Cell]].
* {{Cyborg}}: As in canon, Freeza gets [[WeCanRebuildHim turned into a cyborg]] after his fight with Goku. [[spoiler:When he first unlocks his Golden form, the raw power is actually more than his cybernetics can handle, necessitating an upgrade to make them stronger.]]

* DidntSeeThatComing: [[spoiler: Freeza heals Goku, to the surprise of everyone, ''including'' Cuit and Cheelai]].

* DoppelgangerAttack: Vegeta and later Freeza learn this technique on Yardrat.
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Freeza has one of these, [[spoiler: after Vegeta gives away Yardrat's location to King Cold, Cooler and Trogen, which Freeza sees]].

** [[spoiler: Freeza tells Goku that "He has finally seen sense' and asks for Goku to ''train him in martial arts''. This is in part because Freeza now hates Vegeta ''more'' than he ever did Goku after Vegeta's actions get Yardrat destroyed.]].
** [[spoiler: The end of Part 10 has Golden Freeza trying to get Perfect Cell on his side to fight Trogen. He ultimately does side with them...only to save his own life]].

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: When a junk dealer, Cuit, genuinely thanks Freeza for doing a job, Freeza is left confused, as no one has ever shown him genuine compassion or gratitude before.

* FantasticRacism: Freeza naturally hates the Saiyans, but Cheelai also does, revealing that Vegeta and his crew were the ones to attack her planet and possibly orphan her.
* FlawedPrototype: How King Cold sees Cooler. While Cooler was powerful and competent, he was too similar to Cold in personality and thus unable to be easily controlled as Cold desired. As such, he threw Cooler away and replaced him with Freeza. He comes to see Freeza the same way, which is why he replaced him with Trogen.
* ForWantOfANail: Freeza attempting an ISurrenderSuckers gambit on Goku blows up in his face, resulting in him being sent into a downward spiral ending with him being forced into self-imposed exile, wandering aimlessly with his ego shattered, with King Cold taking his Empire back and setting to work on a new genetically engineered son to replace Freeza. Due to knowing Freeza is no threat to anyone anymore, Goku stays on Yardrat longer and learns more of Spirit Control than he did in the original timeline.
* GadgeteerGenius: Cuit, the junk dealer from the junk planet of the Cold Force, is able to upgrade and repair Freeza's mechanical parts significantly better than King Cold's mook's were able to do. Later, he upgrades him even more, as well as his ship. After Cuit reveals he's been laid off, Cheelai suggests Freeza let him join them.

* GoldenSuperMode: Vegeta goes Super Saiyan and then later [[spoiler: Freeza becomes Golden Mecha Freeza]].
* GoneHorriblyRight: Cold made Trogen with the expressed purpose of him being far stronger than Freeza ever was and different from himself unlike Cooler who he found ''too'' similar to himself. He succeeded in both, [[spoiler:but unfortunately 'different from himself' turned out to be 'a raging psychopath' who is also far stronger than himself. Trogen kills him the instant he gets tired of his orders. Freeza even points out that in his rush to create a superior version of Freeza, he ended up creating a monster that would leave his empire in ruins.]]
* GoodIsNotNice: Freeza is much better, but still haughty with plenty of [[{{Jerkass}} jerkass tendencies]]. He is still Freeza, after all.
* HealingHands: Goku gains this ability to heal others during his now extended time on Yardrat. It's notably not as good as Dende's healing, though. [[spoiler: Freeza also learns it as well]].

** The entire point is Freeza having one.

* HistoryRepeats: Goku and Freeza point out that [[spoiler: Trogen not perfecting the 5th Form was basically like Freeza using 100% power on Namek: He burned through his energy too quick.]] This gets lampshaded by Goku and Freeza.

** Freeza's attempt to trick Goku into thinking he's helping him escape Namek alive so he can kill him in space backfires ''big time'', resulting in him losing everything.
** [[spoiler:King Cold is ultimately killed by Trogen, who he created to replace Freeza.]]
** [[spoiler:Trogen transforming into his fifth form was his undoing, because he didn't bother to perfect that form, unlike Cooler did, resulting in a quick drop on stamina and power. Freeza even lampshades this by saying that [[HistoryRepeats history repeats itself]].]]
* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: Freeza, Emperor of Universe 7 formally feared as the most powerful being alive, ultimately flees his empire a broken wreck, physically and mentally, with nothing left but the ship he's on. Gets worse in part 2 when Freeza is forced to perform menial labor just to repair himself. Lampshaded by King Kai, who outright tells Goku that Freeza's no threat to anyone in his current condition. This is important, as Freeza is only in a position to be redeemed due to having lost everything and had his pride broken.
* HumiliationConga: Freeza choosing to attempt an ISurrenderSuckers gambit on Goku ends in complete failure with Goku besting him ''again'' and throwing him into space and Namek's proximity right as it explodes directly in his face. King Cold is sickened by Freeza's failures and strips him of his title to retake the throne himself while also belittling his son, and then Freeza attacks Cold in a rage only to get curb-stomped. All this humiliation [[BreakTheHaughty completely crushes Freeza]]. Freeza is then forced to perform menial labor just to repair himself.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Freeza's condemnation of the Saiyans for their genocidal actions and refusal to forgive them. While this would be perfectly understandable coming from any other character, at the end of the day, it's still coming from FREEZA. Even if he's turned over a new life, he still committed just as many horrible crimes as Vegeta.

* ISurrenderSuckers: The Nail: Freeza attempts to trick Goku into thinking he's given up and is helping him escape Namek alive just so he can throw him into space. This fails catastrophically and starts Freeza's downward spiral.
* InSpiteOfANail: Despite easily beating Androids 17 and 18 down, and nearly destroying them, [[spoiler: Cell shows up and Freeza lets him absorb them to become Perfect Cell]].
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Freeza has evolved into this. He cares for Cuit and Cheelai, and also cared for the Yardratians after spending around a year there.
* JustToyingWithThem: After a little bit, Freeza starts just toying with Android 17, not even bothering [[spoiler: going Golden]] due to having gotten a power up from training. Later, he does this against both 17 and 18 and [[spoiler: when Cell becomes Perfect, Freeza goes Golden and toys with Cell]].
* KarmicThief: When Yamcha says he's not a bandit anymore and wouldn't steal from regular people, Cheelai tells him that Freeza and his crew only steal from people who deserve it.
* KingIncognito: The reason Freeza can wander the galaxy undetected despite being the "Emperor of Universe 7" is because he's in his final form. As Masako points out, very few people had ever seen him use that form before. The fact that he's cybernetic probably contributes.
* LaserGuidedKarma: Freeza's attempt at tricking and betraying Goku backfires immensely, resulting not only in him being no better off than in canon initially but ultimately losing ''everything''.

* MoralityPet: Freeza, after having his ego completely broken and being forced to wander the universe, actually begins to develop connections with Cheelai and Cuit, and begins to have PetTheDog moments towards them.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler: Vegeta feels terrible when Trogen blows up Yardrat and he was the one to give away their location. A few seconds later, Freeza does as well and actually sheds a tear]].
* MySignificanceSenseIsTingling: [[spoiler: Freeza senses that Yardrat gets destroyed in this manner]].

** The thumbnail art for Part 10 has [[spoiler: Golden Mecha Freeza doing the famous back-breaker move that Perfect Cell did to Vegeta, except ''against Perfect Cell'']].
** Android 18 tells Freeza "You have no right to assume anything, you monster!", with Freeza responding that he's "[[WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged unfazed by all the insults and rhetoric from those who tried to stop me, in the past.]]"

* NotMeThisTime: Cheelai asked Freeza whether it was him who ordered her planet attacked or someone else. Freeza reveals that he didn't send anyone to her homeworld, as it "wasn't ready, yet", and that Vegeta, Nappa and Raditz did it on their own.
* NotSoDifferentRemark: Pybara comments that Freeza and Vegeta both learned the Yardratian cloning technique to train better by themselves.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: [[spoiler:Goku gives Freeza a chance after seeing him genuinely show remorse for the destruction of Yardrat.]]

** The Z team when they sense Freeza suddenly appearing on Earth and then raging, before then teleporting to Goku's house.
** [[spoiler: The Z team when Freeza lets Cell become Perfect, and then everyone including Perfect Cell after Freeza becomes Golden Freeza]].
* TheParanoiac: By his own admission, Trogen is this and doesn't trust anyone or anything but his own desire to find Freeza.
* PayEvilUntoEvil: [[spoiler: Freeza contemplates sparing Trogen for a second, but decides against it and vaporizes him.]]
* PluckyGirl: Cheelai. She is possibly orphaned, having not seen her parents in years and had been abandoned by everyone else before that ''isn't Freeza''.

** Cuit, pronounced like "kit", is a repairman and junk dealer and is from "circuit". It also works as a double pun, since "kitting out" means improving something, which is what Cuit did to Freeza's mechanical parts and their spaceship.

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: Former Emperor Freeza later is joined by street urchin Cheelai, and out of work repairman/junk dealer Cuit. Former bandit Yamcha and shapeshifter Puar also join them in the finale.
* RedemptionEqualsLife: Freeza turns over a new leaf after giving up his former evil ways and gets to live as a result.
* ReformedButRejected: The Z-Fighters are very hesitant to help Freeza against 17 and 18, because, well, he's Freeza. Though he doesn't really need any help...
* RevengeBeforeReason: Subverted: due to having his ego completely and utterly shattered, Freeza acknowledges that going after the Saiyans for revenge is a fool's gambit likely to just get him and Cold killed. [[spoiler:By the time he actually ''does'' meet Goku, its to form an EnemyMine.]]

* ShapeshifterModeLock: Freeza is stuck in his final form, due to the mechanical repairs done to him. [[spoiler: The mechanical parts don't prevent him going Golden Mecha Freeza, however...]]
* ShoutOut: The start of most episodes begins with a "[[Franchise/StarTrek Freeza Log]]..."
* SiblingMurder: [[spoiler: Freeza eventually kills his brother, Trogen]].
* SiblingRivalry: Cooler, Freeza and Trogen are all vying to defeat King Cold. [[spoiler: Trogen kills Cold, Freeza kills Trogen, but doesn't want the crown and gives it to Cooler]].

** Paragus tries to get Cuit and Cheelai to betray Freeza. [[UndyingLoyalty They have none of it]].
* StickyFingers: Cheelai is introduced having been caught pickpocketing a wealthy patron at the restaurant that Freeza was going to.

* StreetUrchin: What Cheelai was when she is first introduced. She then joins up with Freeza for the rest of the saga.
* StoryBreakerPower: Subverted, despite Freeza getting a power up and [[spoiler:gaining Golden Freeza]], Masako has stated he's not actually ''Super'' levels of strength due to being a cyborg. While his organic parts can get stronger, his mechanical ones can't, so he's only about half as strong as his ''Super'' self. The ending of Part 12 has Cuit upgrading Freeza's mechanical parts further [[spoiler: to better work with his Golden form, making him able to use his full Golden power and playing this trope straight]].
* StrongerSibling: Trogen is an {{Invoked|Trope}} version of this. Cold intentionally designed him to be far stronger than his brothers, and succeeded with Trogen being as strong as Freeza's Final Form in his ''first'' form. So far, he's proven able to demolish everything in his both, even Cooler and Super Saiyan Vegeta, without ever having to go past his Second form. [[spoiler: Golden Freeza eventually takes him down after Trogen runs out of stamina due to not having bothered to perfect the 5th Form]].
* SuperiorSuccessor: King Cold intentionally created Trogen using data gathered from Freeza to make him superior to any of his other sons. As such, Trogen's ''first'' form is as strong as Freeza's ''final'' form and his Second Form is more than enough to curbstomp Super Saiyan Vegeta.

** [[spoiler:Freeza gains Golden Freeza, but his cybernetics limit his power, making him weaker than he is in ''Super''.]]

* {{Teleportation}}: Freeza and Vegeta learn Instant Transmission. Freeza even uses it to teleport his entire ship and crew to Vampa. And then to Earth.
* ThemeNaming: Freeza's new brother, Trogen, is named after liquid nitrogen, to go with Freeza's family's cold theme naming.
* ThrowingOffTheDisability: DefiedTrope by Freeza twice, as whenever it's suggested he should get his flesh back and discard his [[ArtificialLimbs cybernetics]] (which do limit him occasionally, most notably in the finalé) he immediately counters with how he needs a reminder about how [[EvilOverlord horrible he was]] and how he can’t go back to that.
* TookALevelInKindness: Freeza opts to not kill some guards that were guarding his repossessed ship, which prompts Cheelai to ask him why. He's surprised at himself at first and says that he didn't want her to see someone killed. [[spoiler: He also learns HealingHands to protect them]].
* TrueCompanions: Freeza, Cuit and Cheelai remain friends even after it's revealed who Freeza is.

* TutorialMission: The first mission that Freeza chooses for Yamcha is one that he think's will be easy.

* UnskilledButStrong: Freeza, just like in the main timeline, realizes that training will make you even stronger, but significantly earlier. After Part 7, he's StrongAndSkilled.
* VictoryByEndurance: [[spoiler:Trogen has the same flaw as Freeza did on Namek in his Fifth Form and thus while initially overwhelming Golden Freeza, quickly burns through his energy and allowing Freeza to take control of the fight.]]
* VillainousBreakdown: Trogen was never sane to begin with, but has one when [[spoiler:Freeza doesn't get angry at being told he was a coward for abandoning Yardrat and instead admits it's true and praises Trogen for not being stupid. Trogen gets so furious that he [[OneWingedAngel turns into his fifth form]].]]

* WeHaveReserves: While Freeza was a BadBoss, Trogen is ''far worse'' and even more psychotic than he ever was. As such, his men ''despise'' him. [[spoiler:They refuse to obey him when he orders them to attack the Z-Fighter.]] This is followed by [[spoiler:the utterly insane Trogen obliterating them without a second thought.]]
* WorfHadTheFlu: [[spoiler:Golden Freeza can't reach close to its original power as Freeza is a cyborg and his cybernetics can't increase in power without being manually upgraded.]]
* WithMyHandsTied: Freeza lampshades this to [[spoiler: Trogen]], after he regains control of the fight.
--> '''Freeza:''' I can beat you with one hand tied behind my back- oh, wait. ''([[AnArmAndALeg waves the stump of his mechanical arm, broken off earlier in the fight]])'' I already am.