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1''For sequences not in the original manga, see Headscratchers/DragonBallFiller.''
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3[[foldercontrol]]
4
5[[folder:General]]
6* Why is the anime's ED so Bulma-centric, despite her only being prominent in the first saga? The fact that Lunch appears in it shows that Toei already knew about later sagas.
7** From a Doyalist perspective [[SexSells the answer seems obvious]]; it would presumably also be the reason Lunch appears. But beyond that, Bulma remains an iconic character for the series as whole, even if she's not as ''plot''-important later on.
8[[/folder]]
9
10[[folder: Emperor Pilaf Saga]]
11* Dragon Ball, chapter one. Goku has never met a girl before, and he has not been shown to wear any underwear. But he says "Doesn't that mean 'bloomers'? Haw haw!" when Bulma introduces herself. How did he know first, what bloomers were and second, that being called 'bloomers' was silly?
12** I think this is a case of translation issues. The fact is her name was supposed to BE "Bloomer" but Toriyama wrote "Bulma" on her shirt in roman letters, not realizing his mistake, and English translators had to work with that (plus western censors would probably not have allowed her to be named after a type of female underwear anyway). In essence, that line is more likely just Goku laughing at her having a silly name and the translation made it awkward.
13** He probably learned that from [[DirtyOldMan Grandpa..]]
14*** He learned "bloomers" but not "panties"?
15*** "Bloomers" is "less offensive" and thus more likely to be mentioned by a grandfather. Then again... "I have a lot of friends in Heaven... most of them are brunettes."
16*** Goku doesn't know much about girls, just that his Grandpa said he should treat them nicely. Presumably, his Grandpa tried to be more of a good influence than Roshi was.
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18* I have often heard how Dragon Ball (or at the very least the Emperor Pilaf Saga) was meant to be a modern retelling of ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'' however I have one problem with this - how exactly? As far as I can see it's nothing more than a very poorly executed reboot. The only similarities Son Goku shares with Sun Wukong are his cloud, the power pole and the monkey like tail (laughably, the Super Saiyan 4 transformation looks far more like Sun Wukong than Goku with his little tail ever did). Goku volunteers to travel with Bulma on their adventure whereas Wukong was forced to travel with Xuan Xang. Where is Goku's mind controlling tiara? Where are Goku's shapeshifting powers? Where is his immortality? Where was the heavenly revolt? The closest we have to gods in Dragon Ball are Kami, Korin and (if we're generous and include ''Anime/DragonBallZ'') the Kais, all of whom are friends, not enemies. Not to mention the fact that Goku is weaker on a considerable scale; Sun Wukong has powers and magic that would surpass Vegetto. At least we have the Red Ribbon army as a parallel to the Heavenly Armies but it's not exactly on the same level of awesomeness is it?
19** Dragon Ball was less "retelling" Journey To The West and more "based on." For instance, the shape-shifting and control device were given to Oolong. The closest Goku had to a RestrainingBolt was his sensitive tail (which he [[CharlesAtlasSuperPower Charles Atlas'd]] his way past). It was never meant to be a straight retelling.
20*** Very, very loosely based on, and quite rapidly abandoned.
21*** Goku still shapeshifts. Take a look at the moon. Hell, he does it "at the finale" of the introductory first arc.
22** It wasn't meant to be a retelling, ''Manga/DragonBall'' just drew inspiration from ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest''.
23** It was definitely based on Journey To The West (originally), but by no means was it a retelling. In fact, in the Chinese version of Dragonball, Son Goku is actually called "Sun Wukong". Some more similarities include the flying cloud and the extending rod, 2 of the Monkey King's SIGNATURE items, not to mention super strength. Furthermore, lots of the story elements are borrowed from the Chinese legend, such as the story of the Ox King and the Bansho fan (not named so, but still in the legends). Rabbits living on the moon is also borrowed from a classic Chinese legend. In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', they quickly changed Goku's story so that he was actually an alien, and ditched his cloud and rod, removing his connections to Chinese folklore.
24** Oolong is clearly Zhū Bājiè (pig, requiring tributes from commoners, several vices). Yamcha could be Sha Wujing, but it's less similar. What strikes more is that no one is searching to atone their vices.
25** The initial quest for the dragon balls immerses the original Journey to the West in the realm of the Dragonball universe. The later parts of the show, as well as the sequel shows, are based on the actual life of Sun Wukong. In his origin story, he was said to have shown off all of his powers to the other demon kings to which he was allied: The Bull Demon King, the Saurial Demon King (lizard king), Roc Demon King (bird king), Lion Spirit King, Macaque Spirit King, and the Marmoset Spirit King. Sun Wukong travels to heaven, makes new enemies, and continues to find foes that can equal his might. By looking at the stories in a reversed order, it is possible to realize the true extent of Journey to the West's influence on the Dragonball saga.
26* This only happened once that I recall, but just before the whole "Boss Rabbit" part Bulma buys a whole bunch of Capsules (or Dynocaps as they were called back then) and was about to pay for them when she got them for free. However, why would she even need to pay for them? Since Bulma is the daughter of Dr. Briefs, the Capsule Corps president, and they make the Capsules and everything in them, couldn't she just scan a card or whatever and and have it billed to the company or something like that?
27** Bulma would still be paying for them, just in a more roundabout manner. Besides, Bulma was on an adventure and probably wanted to do things on her own (and the fact that the money she had is most likely company money).
28** Dragon Ball has really weird variations in technology levels. Sure, there are flying cars and capsules that can carry portable houses in them, but who said credit cards exist?
29* How did Bulma and Yamcha know that cutting off Goku's tail would turn him back to normal and prevent further transformations?
30** I don't think they did. They just remembered his tail was a general weak point.
31* Something that's always bugged me about the PlayboyBunny outfit that Bulma is stuck wearing for awhile, is why does she bother with the accessories (cufflinks, bowtie, and especially the bunny ears)? Wearing the main bodysuit makes sense, since she has nothing else to wear, but the rest of that stuff is separate and not necessary to cover anything. So why wear it all if she hates it so much?
32[[/folder]]
33
34[[folder:21st Tenkaichi Budokai]]
35* So does Krillin have a nose or not? He didn't lose to Bacterian in the Tenkaichi Budokai because he supposedly had no nose, but then he snorted boogers at Jackie Chun right afterwards. And around vol 7 when Bulma took a diamond from her pants he sniffed it so he can obviously smell. What gives?
36** RuleOfFunny?
37*** WordOfGod from one of the backpage letters goes something like, 'Whoops, I, like, totally forgot I said that.'
38** In the King Piccolo arc, Goku clearly states that Yajirobi is like Krillin, but with hair and a nose. It is possible that Krillin can smell, but has no nose. Perhaps it is just a huge mistake.
39*** To be fair, that whole scene was played for laughs. And what Goku says is that Yajirobe's voice is like that of Krillin. Yajirobe smugly comments "that Krillin must have been a handsome guy since they say that people with similar voices also have similar faces" to which Goku replies "he had no hair and no nose", causing Yajirobe to angrily retort "he was almost a monster!".
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41* During the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai, Roshi (as Jackie Chun) used a powerful (electric?) attack (Ban Koku Bikku Rishou) against Goku. Before that, he only used it once against Son Gohan (Goku's grandpa) and the only reason Goku was able to escape was because he transformed into his giant monkey/ape/Oozaru form. Why didn't Goku learn that technique? Even if it's hard to copy (they tend to do that a lot), Roshi could've taught it to him or any of the other fighters normally.
42** When would he? After that tournament Goku never went back to train with Roshi like Krillin, he went on his merry way to find his Dragon Ball. Also, you are forgetting that Roshi didn't want to reveal that he was Jackie Chun, and it's not like Goku needed that particular technique at that point in the series, they couldn't just keep having him learn every single different technique he came across, could they?
43** It's also fair to say the Electric Shock attack would have gone the same way as the Wolf Fang fist - devastating to ordinary humans but completely outclassed by anyone stronger than King Piccolo.
44*** I doubt it, Wolf Fang Fist was shown to be a pretty weak that could only beat enemies weaker than the user. While we only saw that electric attack once we know Roshi and Goku were about the same strength, and the attack nearly made Goku surrender, I think from that we can gather that it was much better than the Kamehameha.
45*** Much better than the Kamehameha? During the exact same battle, we witness it effortlessly ''destroy the moon.'' Yes it nearly made Goku surrender but he was also low on energy from fighting Roshi and in many ways was actually very weak overall at this point in the series: Goku was far more reliant on his great physical strength and endurance as opposed to his Ki - something he wouldn't start to improve until Kami and Popo started to train him. You ''may'' have been able to defeat Yamcha with it but certainly not Tien or Piccolo.
46*** Many powerful moves in the series are [[ForgottenSuperWeapon only used once]].
47
48* Expanding on the above, why doesn't Roshi continue to train Goku after the tournament? He's taught them the "basics", in terms of increasing their strength and skill, but he could have taught them a lot more, not only techniques but also tactics like how to anticipate an enemy's attack (something Goku later learns from Korin). Instead, he says he's taught them all they can and they're on their own. Is he just a really lousy teacher? Is he tired of having them around?
49** As I recall, Roshi was retired when Goku and Krillin turned up at his island, and basically only trained them as a favour to Grandpa Gohan. Was he tired of having them around? Oh, absolutely. He wanted to go back to his life of sunbathing, drinking, and admiring (perving) on sexy women without having two noisy kids running around.
50** Roshi tells the boys that they're taking a break before their next phase of training, so Goku decides to use the time to go find the Four-Star Dragon Ball, leading into the Red Ribbon Army Saga. By the time it's finally over, Goku has already trained with Korin, and Roshi admits that he's surpassed what training he can give him, and tells Goku he should travel the world and train himself. As for Krillin, he does keep teaching him. And for the "techniques" thing, Roshi addressed that himself before the first tournament.
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52* When Goku and Krillin are training, they have to plow a field with their bare hands every day for eight months. The fields are pretty big, and they get bigger every day. How does the island not run out of fields to plow? Do they do other things like sewing and pulling weeds and rocks?
53** It's not unreasonable to guess that Roshi found other stuff for them to do, like peeling bark off of trees.
54[[/folder]]
55
56[[folder:Red Ribbon Army/General Blue/Mercenary Tao Saga]]
57* The dragon balls take a year to recharge. But only 8 months passed between Goku's first and second ball hunt. After the Pilaf thing, he went straight to Kame-sennin's, where he trained for 8 months and entered the Tenka'ichi Budokai. Right after finishing that he set out to look for the balls. How did they recharge so fast?
58** I was about to say that he could still look for them before they recharged, but I realized they probably wouldn't have shown up on Bulma's radar.
59*** Implied Time Skip? AssPull?
60*** Highly unlikely. Toriyama was very specific about the dates this time.
61*** For that matter, how did these ancient pirates get ahold of a dragon ball? It was found in the mouth of a dead pirate... And how did Bulma even know where it was, to tell Goku?
62*** The Dragon Balls move everywhere after they spread around the world. The pirates probably never found it; the Dragon Ball went to them.
63
64* How was Tao Pai Pai beaten by a grenade?
65** Grenade + Face + Not expecting Goku to bat it back. Seems pretty straightforward to me. Not to mention it must've been a pretty strong bomb to do the kind of damage responsible for his look the next time we see him.
66** Remember, Mercenary Tao was just an unusually strong normal human, not one of the ImmuneToBullets Z-Fighters. Throw in the above, plus the proximity of the blast, and it's much more of a surprise that he survived at all.
67** Simple math. Goku was a little bit better than Tao, which is why Tao was resorting to the trickery with the grenade. Why would Tao expect a grenade that can't even kill him to kill someone even better? So obviously he had one hell of a grenade. Plus, Tao is totally ImmuneToBullets.
68*** Dragon Ball tech is all over the place, with police in hover-cars equipped with energy guns who carry around apparently normal revolvers and a military that flattens a mountain using a short bombardment of artillery and handheld weapons fire. Besides, Tao has access to someone who can turn him into a super-powerful cyborg (maybe Dr. Gero, if they met before Red Ribbon had hired him?), so it's quite plausible for him to know where to buy a sickeningly powerful grenade. And Goku was almost immune to bullets in his first appearance, and Tao (in addition to casually throwing pillars across continents and brainstabbing a guy who was barely scratched from crashing a jet into a mountain at full speed ''with his tongue'') easily punked a Goku who was orders of magnitudes stronger and tanked a Kamehameha as well.
69** "When you encounter a great enemy, aim for his eyes. No one can train his eyes." -Shihoro Okada ([[OrSoIHeard supposedly]]), boxer. Perhaps the grenade to the face launched shrapnel, or even (if he was amazingly, coincidentally ''un''lucky) just ''[[RazorWind atmospheric pressure]] and [[KillItWithFire heat]]'' [[EyeScream through his eye sockets]], killing him?
70
71* What happened to Arale and company before the Saiyans arrived? When she first meets Goku she's stronger than him, and I'm sure she's been training since then. Surely she'd put up some kind of a fight.
72** Arale's a robot. Unless someone gives her an upgrade, she's as strong as she's ever going to be. Which means she's toast against any of the DBZ cast this side of Chi Chi.
73*** You don't know anything about Arale, do you?
74*** Would Arale be able to last for more than a few minutes against Piccolo Jr-era Goku? Or Piccolo Jr himself? Standing by the original answer: without a specific upgrade from Senbei or Turbo, she's somewhere around Yajirobe's level. Not to mention Power =/= Skill.
75*** Different troper here, but I've gotta agree that she'd be outclassed by most DBZ villains. She might be able to survive Raditz, but that's about it. She's ridiculously strong, yeah, but not planet-buster strength, which everyone after Vegeta is. If I had to estimate her power level, I'd guess somewhere in the mid-hundreds. Over 300, less than 900. Low thousands, tops. As compared to Goku, who is generally estimated to have been between 100 and 200 when he met her.
76*** We have to take into account that Arale's strength is based on RuleOfFunny, so depending on the mood of the fight, she would be able to win against Frieza, Buu and Cell. At the same time.
77*** Eh, the DB version of Penguin Village was very watered down compared to the Dr. Slump version and that entire bit seemed like a final farewell to the cast, what with the Fourth Wall breaking and all. I {{facepalm}}ed when I saw Senbei (who used toon physics to build devices Bulma couldn't even begin to dream of) gawping over the Dragon Radar, and Arale herself often does crap like casually splitting the planet or popping the moon with a thrown rock, using nothing more than brute strength.
78*** I think it's fair to say that the Dragon Ball Penguin Village is an AlternateUniverse. As previously stated, in the Dr Slump Prime Universe, Arale has the physical strength of Buu and Senbei is smarter than a [[Franchise/{{Whoniverse}} Timelord]]. Whereas in the Dragon Ball universe, Arale is no stronger than 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament Goku and Senbei is easily confused by a hand-held radar. If you think of it this way, Arale being both weak and apparently never upgraded in any way is perfectly explained when you consider that Dragon Ball Senbei has a pretty pathetic level of intelligence.
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80* During the Red Ribbon Army Saga, when Krillin and Bulma were cornered by General Blue, Krillin and Bulma referred to Blue as being gay, apparently solely due to the fact that he was either ignoring Bulma's advances or telling her off for advancing on him. However, Goku and even Yamcha acted in a very similar manner towards Bulma and yet weren't considered as such. Krillin and Bulma also didn't even have any other reason to deduce him as such due to the fact that they never even saw how Blue held the phonepiece or how he loved roses.
81** I don't remember how it was in the anime, but in the manga Blue basically goes "Aah! A woman! A woman! How disgusting! I don't want to be touched by you!", which is kind of telling if you ask me. By contrast, Goku was "What's a woman?" and Yamcha was "I'm too shy to talk to her, but I wanna get married!" (Until he got over his shyness).
82*** I'm pretty sure Goku mentioned something about not wanting to touch "[Bulma's] dirty butt" or something like that; at least, that's what I heard. Plus, has it ever occurred to Bulma that he may just be born asexual? Heck, I'm straight, yet the concept of people seducing another is antithetical to my beliefs. Maybe if General Blue's immediate first action had him hitting on Krillin and trying to molest him, I could understand the part about their belief that he is gay, since he is at least trying to hit on a guy.
83*** Wait, are you saying homosexuals are paedophiles and child abusers? Seriously?
84*** The "dirty butt" in question stems from Bulma trying to bribe Goku to get (as Goku called it back then) his grandpa (4-star Dragonball).
85*** ...Now you are just thinking waaaay too deeply about it. Blue is flamboyant, Goku is a kid and Yamcha had his own issues, it's not unreasonable to jump to conclusions, specially if it's just for the sake of a quick joke. [[MST3KMantra Deal with it.]]
86*** Goku is explicitly presented as a pre-pubescent kid at that age while Blue is a grown man. You're comparing oranges and apples.
87*** Funny how nobody bothered pointing out to the guy that calling him asexual makes no sense since he specifically called Bulma out for ''being female and touching him''. Why would an asexual have a problem with one gender making physical contact with him, but not the other? Also, as noted, Goku is a kid who'd never seen a girl before (or any guys aside from Gohan) and Yamcha was shy. Plus, unlike Blue, Yamcha wasn't stereotypically gay/feminine.
88*** Doesn't blue scream "THEN I'LL KILL YOU" when she tells him that's she's a guy? Or was that only in the localization I read?
89*** In the manga Bulma says "What if I said I was really a guy?", Blue goes "You're a freak!" and promises to kill her later.
90*** Blue doesn't believe her. He says something along the lines of "What kind of man has a chest swollen like that?"
91* When wishing Upa's father, Bora, back to life, Goku asks Shenlong if it is possible. Shenlong replies "There is no wish Shenlong cannot grant"... yet we later find out there's quite a lot of wishes Shenlong can't grant.
92** Yes. Shenlong was engaging in a bit of self-flattery there.
93** Alternatively, Toriyama retconned the Dragon's power when he realized just how story breaking its power could be. Not allowing Shenlong to kill, resurrect more than once or not allowing him to affect any creature beyond the level of Kami was a stroke of genius given how you could effectively use it to end every saga in the most boring way possible.
94*** Not the first time something has turned out to be less powerful that it was made out to be. Remember the "Water of the Gods?" The one that was supposed to draw out "any and all potential" from a fighter? Despite which Goku went on to become ''waaaaaay'' stronger than his post-drinking self?
95*** The "Water of the Gods" draws out dormant power, not potential. That's why those who have dormant power drawn out can continue to get stronger.
96*** No, I'm pretty sure it said "potential", at least in the manga.
97*** It is a {{Hand Wave}}, more than genius, since, for example regarding Vegeta and Nappa, they simply could have wished to teleport their spaceships in the sun. Even if Shenlong could not teleport the two sayans along with their spaceships (and it would be pretty damn strange, anyway) they would have died in the void of the space.
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99* In the Red Ribbon Army saga, Colonel Silver destroys Goku's Nimbus cloud. A bit later when Goku is about to leave Snow's village the villagers tell him Nimbus clouds cannot be destroyed, and Goku calls it back. Yet when Tambourine destroys it, it's gone for good. So what happened to the can't be destroyed rule?
100** They probably meant "can't be destroyed by anything that we know of". They didn't even imagine that someone as powerful as Tambourine would come along and vaporize the cloud.
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102* If Tao Pai Pai had the strength to throw a pillar fast enough to reach Karin Tower then jump fast enough to catch up with said pillar and ride it, why didn't he just jump there directly? RuleOfCool?
103** Tao is strong and fast, but he's not a cosmic frog.
104* For being supposedly good at gathering intel, how exactly did the Red Ribbon Army not know of Roshi being the famed martial artist that he was hyped to be at the Martial Arts Tournament and were dumb enough to think he was a scientist?
105** They were expecting a scientist and found a guy who looked like one. That simple. Famous martial artists are probably not terribly high up in a paramilitary group's intelligence priorities.
106** Just because his name is famous doesn't mean his face or his place of residence is.
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108* Why did Goku and friends fight Baba's warriors when Bulma could have easily paid her bill?
109** Goku never turns down a fight. He lives for it. Lucky for him, he accepted and got the chance to see his Grandpa Gohan one more time. Also, they were all over confident that they would easily win and Bulma was not hanging with them when they go for the fight.
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111* How did Goku snagging Korin's jar of water make him strong enough to defeat Tao Pai Pai? As revealed, it was just tap water; it's the training that comes from trying to take it from Karin that is supposed to make you strong. However, it only took him a few days. By contrast, it took Roshi ''three years''; a few days should have provided Goku with very little training. What's worse, Goku didn't catch Karin legitimately; he cheated, by fooling him into thinking that he was falling off the tower, and then grabbing the jar while he was distracted.
112** The physical aspect to the training was only part of it. He learned to read his opponents to predict their moves. And there was no rule saying he couldn't use that trick. He just had to get the water from Korin however he could.
113** It's never stated how Roshi managed to get the water jar. He could've been practicing and trying various tricks until he finally found something that worked on Korin, like Goku did. It just took Roshi a lot longer because he was much weaker and thus had a lot less to work with.
114* Another point about the Red Ribbon Army: where did they get the personnel, equipment, and especially funding for their organization? Considering they have high tech weaponry and are implied to be powerful enough to intimidate Earth's own military, I find it strange they could get all that without drawing attention to themselves during their buildup.
115[[/folder]]
116
117[[folder:Tenshinhan/Tien Shinhan Saga]]
118* Why does Tien, a human, have a third eye? and has it ever been shown to grant him any extra abilities?
119** IIRC it was stated in the [[WordOfGod Daizenshuu]] that he's an alien.
120*** Almost. He's descended from an alien race.
121*** In other words, he's more than likely a HalfHumanHybrid
122*** Or an UnevenHybrid.
123** Also, from a Doylist perspective, it could be seen as a nod to ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'', where the Buddha (third eye on the forehead, geddit?) is one of the main antagonists of Sun Wukong. About the extra abilities, IIRC, during one of the Tenkaichi Budokai it is implied that he has supernatural perception, with all the scenes where he is able to clearly see actions going too fast for the crowd.
124* Why didn't Jackie Chun/Roshi use any of the moves he used on Goku during the previous tournament against Tien?
125** Because he realized Ten Shin Han, as well as Goku and Co., had already surpassed him. That's the reason he gave up the fight, to make room for the "new generation" of martial artists.
126* When Tien charges his Tri-Beam/Kikohou against Goku in the tournament, Roshi compares its power to the Kamehameha. When it then obliterates the arena, Roshi corrects himself, saying the Kikohou is much stronger. Except Tien used the Kikohou to blow up an arena. Roshi used the Kamehameha to blow up the friggin' ''moon.''
127** Well Kikohou also drains life force when used so it can be assumed that the technique grows in power as it takes the users ki and life force.
128[[/folder]]
129
130[[folder:King Piccolo Saga]]
131* Kami was very ''very'' careless with the jar Mutaito sealed King Piccolo into. Right up until the point Goku killed him, King Piccolo was the strongest and most evil creature on the planet barring himself. Not only this, Kami's very ''lifeforce'' was spiritually linked together in a way that meant his survival instinct had to evolve to include them both. So... imagine you're Kami in this situation, would you A) Keep this jar in a safe next to your bed, on your unreachable palace in the sky (remember, at this point in the series only the Power Pole could reach unaided - it was higher than the Nimbus or any aircraft of the day) or B) Keep it far out of your reach hundreds of miles away, apparently unguarded. He was just ''begging'' for Pilaf to come and steal it.
132** He probably thought it was safe down there, or couldn't retrieve it without the Dragon balls or something, hell he was right for a few hundred of years, don't exaggerate.
133*** Kami's gross negligence on behalf of Piccolo's jar is by no means an exaggeration. True, it did remain undiscovered for hundreds of years but that had far more to do with blind luck than anything on Kami's part. Remember who recovered this jar... Emperor Pilaf. His only power is that he's rich - and that's it. His empire consists of two fairly incompetent people, a modest amount of military hardware and a palace. If a guy this small and unimportant could recover the jar with such minimal effort then there is no way he had hidden it effectively. Now, it is arguable that the rise of technology rendered the original hiding place obsolete. In which case, he's guilty of not only keeping a watchful enough eye over it and/or not keeping updated with the current affairs of the Earth. A few years previously the Red Ribbon Army had risen to become a global threat - if at any point they had got wind of this jar, it would have taken them days to find the damn thing.
134*** When it comes to technology, Pilaf is a genius on the same level as Bulma and Gero, as shown by such inventions as a Dragon Radar superior to Bulma's, a material that keeps Dragon Balls hidden from a Dragon Radar (something that being in a cave under the ocean's floor failed to do), and three [[CombiningMecha Combining]] MiniMecha that almost defeated post-Red Ribbon Goku. It's perfectly normal that Pilaf could find it, as his stupidity manifests in his decisions (such as tracking down King Piccolo to begin with).
135** Actually it was Master Roshi who hid Piccolo's jar (actually an electric rice cooker) by burying it within the ocean floor.
136
137* Why weren't King Piccolo's spawns regular Namekians?
138** Because King Piccolo was pure evil? I mean literally, he was all of the original Namek's evil tendencies split off into one being, with Kami being the manifestation of his more peaceful ones, prolly affected anything he spawned making them twisted mockeries of what they could have been
139*** Wrong. At the time that King Piccolo was introduced, there was no such thing as Namek. In other words, Akira Toriyama just didn't think of it. Furthermore, Piccolo was the incarnation of Kami's evil side, not the evil side of all of Namek.
140*** The respondent above didn't say he was the evil side of all of Namek, they said he was the evil side of the original Namek. Meaning the one who became Piccolo and Kami. They said "his", not "their".
141*** But it worked out so well in the end! If it wasn't planned it might as well have been.
142** Namekian powers generally have an aura of mystery. Since I've seen Kami Sama create Dragon Balls and appear in human form, and seen Guru doing God knows what, I'm fine with Demon King Piccolo creating non-Namekian spawn.
143** It was mentioned that Kami + Piccolo is very gifted, so his abilities may not be typical to Nameks. Also, Kami Sama didn't take human form, he possessed some random middle-aged guy to prove his point that ''no one'' is to be judged on appearance.
144*** The current generation of Namekians are all the offspring of the Elder, and they come in different shapes and sizes, so it's not that strange that King Piccolo could have weird kinds of offspring.
145*** Plus, it's implied by Guru that Piccolo has some kind of special lineage.
146*** From the Dragon Clan, if I recall correctly. Same as Guru or Guru wouldn't have been able to make the Namekian Dragon Balls. Guru mentions that only the Dragon Clan could make Dragon Balls at one point if I recall correctly.
147*** But aren't all living Namekians (aside from Kami/Piccolo) descended from Guru anyway? Maybe "clan" has a different meaning here, more like "caste" or "class", where training or culture is involved. Of course, there's always the possibility that the more genetically diverse pre-cataclysmic Namekians were more like King Piccolo's children with the more varied biology. Perhaps they looked so different because they reflected more of the natural diversity of the Namekian species... [[ArtisticLicenseBiology somehow]]...
148** I got the impression that Drum, Tambourine, etc. weren't truly independent creatures like Piccolo Jr. was, but more extensions of Piccolo Daimaou's will. They weren't true offspring because unlike Piccolo Jr, they weren't supposed to be fully-powered Namekians, but merely cronies strong enough to assist Piccolo but weak enough to not pose a threat to him.
149*** I got the same idea. Anyway, he's ''Demon King'' Piccolo. Having winged, fanged, clawed minions would be much scarier to the populace than a bunch of green-and-pink guys that mostly look like humans (except for the coloration, the pointy ears, and the antennae, anyway).
150** According to the ''VideoGame/DragonBallOnline'' MMO, Namekians have the ability to choose the physical appearance of their offspring to a degree. The events of that game are more or less canon in Toriyama's eyes, so...
151*** Uhh, just so you know, Toriyama has a tendency to just say "Yeah, sure, throw it in" to anything the anime makers/game makers say. He ''really'' doesn't care about Dragon Ball anymore, and hasn't in a while.
152*** Not really. The fact that he explicitly declared that ''Anime/DragonBallGT'' is NOT canon while Dragon Ball Online IS pretty much shows that he not only still cares, he's starting to grow a backbone and stand up for his franchise.
153*** Alternatively, the mass distaste for DBGT may have convinced the franchise-people that "getting Toriyama to declare something canon actually means something to the fans" (as evidenced by the mostly filler-less Kai) and thus make it more popular and profitable, so now they make sure he's on board (or at least publicly say he is). This isn't a black and white issue, though, as it may also have given Toriyama's perspective (if not the man himself) more influence over the creative process.
154** Piccolo Daimaou was explicitly a Demon in addition to being a Namek (like how Kami-sama/Dende are Gods in addition to being Nameks), so that's probably the reason behind it. Another demonic trait was that the souls of his victims (and his children's, IIRC) were forced to wander the Earth instead of going to the next world, and the fact that Radditsu's soul showed up before Enma was shown as proof that Piccolo Jr was not an actual Demon.
155** It should also be pointed out that neither King Piccolo or Kami are ''true'' Namekians in a real sense - they're copies of the original Namek that crash-landed on Earth. The story goes that the Nameless Namek approached the Guardian of Earth (along with Garlic Junior's dad) to try and become his successor, however the Guardian decided they were both too impure for the job and turned them both away. The Nameless Namek decided to split himself into a Demon and Pure of Heart side which became King Piccolo and Kami - thus its not inconceivable that they both would have developed powers that fit along this theme. Piccolo gained the ability to pervert his reproductive organs to the extent he could create monsters and Kami gained the ability to transfer his mind into the body of another. Note also that Piccolo Junior isn't a true Namekian either; he is the reincarnation of King Piccolo. (You have to wonder if Piccolo Junior could actually conceive a normal child seeing as he appears to have absolutely no desire to reproduce despite being a healthy adult.) When the Nameless Namek was reborn during the Cell Saga, no mention is ever made of these incredibly useful abilities ever again - implying that he lost them. I admit its a bit of a WMG, but it does fit the available facts.
156** Since King Piccolo created Piccolo Jr. not long after Drum, apparently he's able to make perfectly normal Namekians anyway if he wants to, so there's nothing restricting KP from doing so, which means the only explanation is that King Piccolo just wanted his children to look like that.
157*** Piccolo Jr. is his reincarnation, so of course he's going to look like his dear old daddy. The others are Namekians mutated by King Piccolo's dark magic.
158
159* Why did King Piccolo explode when Goku impaled him?
160** Because StuffBlowingUp is [[RuleOfCool cool]]?
161** Maybe since it was dying anyway King Piccolo blew himself up to avoid the pain of the several minutes it would have taken him to die?
162** He'd passed his soul into Piccolo Jr. already, his body probably reacted to that.
163* At his introduction, Yajirobe was using a Dragon Ball as a pendant, with a string passing right through it. After the ball is taken by King Piccolo, however, the hole disappears. Did the Ball repair itself? And how?
164** Dragon Balls can ([[AllThereInTheManual apparently]]) repair themselves, just part of the magic in them.
165*** Dragon Balls are also supposed to be completely unbreakable too. At the very least able to take Tao's Dodon Ray at point blank without breaking. So either Yajirobe is ridiculously strong or that's just another plot hole.
166*** Nothing in the manga ever suggest that the Dragon Balls are unbreakable. In fact in DBZ it was mentioned at least 3 times that Dragon Balls can be destroyed and broken. In fact Kid Buu was able to destroy the Dragon Balls pretty easily along with the earth so they are not unbreakable.
167* What happens if Krillin's body rots away and you wish him back to life? Does he become a zombie?
168** He would die instantaneously.
169** According to Shenron in ''Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF,'' up until a year he can restore the body of the revived person. After that, they stay in the state they were, meaning they would die again in seconds. Unless you're Frieza and are just absurdly sturdy and have high tech healing equipment close by.
170** If one wanted to resurrect someone dead for over a year and they didn't have Frieza's tech at their disposal, they'd need Porunga, and to use the multiple wishes to circumvent this (One to request to bend the rules of resurrection, the other to actually resurrect the individual)
171* As strong as they are, why didn't Mr. Popo and Kami intervene in thwarting Piccolo Daimao during both his reigns of terror? Granted killing Piccolo would end Kami's life. But not doing squat allowed Piccolo to wreak havoc and have baddies like Pilaf and the Red Ribbon Army wanting the Dragon Balls for their own selfish reasons.
172** Kami insists that God cannot kill himself which killing Piccolo apparently qualifies. Mr. Popo is unwilling to let Kami die at all, even forestalling his attempts during the Piccolo Jr. Saga to have Goku kill him. Since they didn't have any way to take out King Piccolo, they had to leave it to the humans. And after the humans stopped him with the mafuba, there was no reason to fear Piccolo or make moves against him. It's only after Piccolo is freed and Piccolo Jr. is born that Kami learns the mafuba to take care of his evil half without killing himself.
173[[/folder]]
174
175[[folder:Piccolo Jr. Saga]]
176* How come Piccolo grew so fast? Other Namekians like Dende are shown aging normally, but Piccolo went from an egg to young adulthood in THREE years. A Wizard Did It?
177** It probably has to do with the fact that he has both his father's aged soul-half ''and'' his father's memories.
178*** Namekians have Genetics?
179** Perhaps it's because Piccolo is not a regular Namekian. After all, the original Piccolo was created once the Nameless Namekian expelled all the evil from his body. Maybe he is a hybrid of fiend and Namekian, which would explain why his biology is different from the average Namekian's.
180** Maybe the fact that he grew up on Earth as opposed to Namek, which it's already known had a year about a third of Earth's - assuming Dragonball!Earth has a 365 (or so) -day orbit. In any case, that would make it 10 Namekian Years. And it's never explicitly stated at what point a Namekian reaches maturity, or if it's even consistent. Some Nameks grow tall, some stay short. The older ones seem to become more stout and then grow quite large indeed when they've lived a few hundred years. And a close look at Piccolo Jr. in comparing him to a few years later in the first part of DBZ, he's ''not'' quite fully-grown, but like Goku, seems to be physically in an adolescent phase, as he's tall (but not nearly as tall as he is in his first DBZ appearance) and somewhat gangly, much like a kid that's hit a sudden growth spurt but not quite filled out yet.
181** It is not necessary to be geniuses, the explanation is very simple, simply PICCOLO before separating in kami and piccolo, the same kami explains that he wait 30 years to his parents (when he still does not know the biology namek) returning to a where his ship was , and you can see flashbacks where you see piccolo passing through childhood, adolescence and adulthood while he wait those 30 years, so it is understandable that piccolo like other namekians have a level of maturation similar to humans. The only reason that he grows in 3 years after the rebirth, is simple that maybe is other of his techniques decided to accelerate his maturity biologically, since it not had case to go through childhood again. Maybe some kind of unknown technique that accelerates his age.
182* This is annoying to think about. As we learn later on, if Kami or Piccolo gets killed, the other one dies. So why did Goku meet Kami '''after''' killing Demon King Piccolo? Is this an epic PlotHole or what? Or am I just looking into it waaay too much?
183** King Piccolo put his soul into Piccolo Jr.
184** Remember that the egg containing Piccolo Jr. was spit out right before Piccolo Senior died. Since, as the above reply said, he put his soul into Jr, that also saved Kami. I reiterate: It happened while he was still alive, thus Kami never had a chance to die, as his next soul-link came along before the old one died.
185* Why did Kami need to possess a random man who had never had any intention of entering the tournament to fight Piccolo? Would it have been too much to go to one of the regular, competent fighters, explain the stakes and ask for their help? Possibly not put an innocent and helpless man in serious danger? Not once again make Yamcha a butt monkey?
186** Ask a competent fighter for help? You mean, like Goku? Possessing a human was the plan B. And it didn't really matter to Kami whether it was a fighter or a Muggle whom he possessed because he was going to use his own strength anyway. Also, look at it this way, Shen became very popular and bonded with his son after the whole thing ended so it worked out fine for him.
187** Kami did not realise that Piccolo Jr. had grown so powerful, and might have thought that he did not have to be picky.
188* In ''Dragon Ball'' Volume 14, Taopaipai says "I had to spend every cent I'd ever earned to have myself brought back to life as a cyborg." (p.195) Wait, "brought back to life"? Meaning he was dead? How can a dead person spend money?
189** I always got the idea he was speaking figuratively.
190*** Literally, perhaps the best answer is "on his deathbed".
191** I presume he was saved preemptively and then was under the control of someone or something until he could earn enough money to pay them back - which might also explain his absence from the narrative for so many years.
192** A guy like him? Death is the only thing he fear. He probably had that whole plan set up as a contingency: make a deal with some engineer promising him a vast fortune to rebuild him as a cyborg should anything happen to him. And though he likes to extort goods, he wouldn't dare renege on this deal because he just might need that engineer again someday.
193*** Considering how much money Tao charges for a single kill, several billion Zenni I think, either Tao spends almost all of his money after every job ridiculously fast or the price for the cybernetics was astronomically high.
194* Presumably, Tien ate a senzu bean after his match with Mercenary Tao, as later in the day his massive chest laceration is no longer bleeding (nor bandaged or stitched in any way). But don't senzu beans heal without leaving scars?
195** He probably ate it too late.
196** No senzu was involved, as it would not leave a scar, and there's never been any such thing as taking a senzu "too late," as there have been many occasions all throughout the series when a person didn't get a senzu until hours after their injuries. Hell, Goku didn't get his senzu after the Saiyan saga until days and days later, and it healed him perfectly. Tien just took a break and it stopped bleeding on its own. Cuts don't continuously bleed, they stop after a while, even if you don't bandage them. Biology, folks. - Tropers/EBsessed
197* Is it possible for Piccolo Jr. to meet his father King Piccolo in the afterlife? I wish we could see the 2 Piccolos battle each other.
198** Since Piccolo Jr. is also King Piccolo's reincarnation in addition to being his son, there's no "King Piccolo in the afterlife" to meet.

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