Dragon Ball Z Abridged has had more than its fair share of times where its jokes end up becoming even more hilarious after a certain event had occurred.
- Dragon Ball Z being recut, remade, abridged if you will? Removing the filler and padding to condense the plot? A crazy idea, I tells ya.Takahata101 in Nappa's Voice: [to Christopher Sabat at a convention, regarding Kai] WAY TO BE FOUR YEARS LATE TO THAT PARTY!!!!
- Also, Megami33's Bulma and Little Kuriboh's Freeza sounded like Monica Rial's Bulma and Chris Ayres' Freeza before either of their performances were broadcast.
- Lanipator's portrayal of Freeza (which was based on Linda Young's version) getting replaced by Little Kuriboh's version in the middle of the Bardock Abridged special wound up accurately predicting Chris Ayres taking over from Young in the middle of the Kai dub.
- So, nudity makes you stronger on this planet.
- Goku's voice actor is named MasakoX, which he confirmed that he named himself after Masako Nozawa, Goku's seiyuu. Take note that he started out two years before being cast as Goku.
- King Yemma's
rant about his mahogany desk is a lot funnier since another meme about mahogany went viral. - Early in the Namek Saga, Krillin continuously screams "Quack" and Dodoria seems to think he's a Space Duck This is made funnier when you know of the Vargas.
- Namekimania 2011 on "GalacTv" in Episode 20. Come Episode 57 of Dragon Ball Super, "GodTube" and GodPads are a thing.
- When Gohan attacks Freeza, it eerily foreshadows the climax of the Avengers film:
- Gohan: Gohan smash effeminate alien! Gohan strongest there is!
- There's a point in Episode 35 where Gero shoots lasers out of his eyes. This occurs:
- Note this was 5 days before release.
- When Piccolo pulls off Gohan's tail, he asks "What the hell is that?" about his penis, setting up the joke in Episode 7 about how Namekians don't have them.
- Bardock notes that Fasha/Celeba wasn't Goku's mother, with that ending up becoming correct when Dragon Ball Minus revealed that his mother was a pacifistic Saiyan named Gine.
- One of Nail's ideas for an attack name is Taco Tuesday.
- During the fight between Vegeta and Android 19, Vegeta says he can't see why anyone would build a fat robot. In 2014, Disney would actually introduce a fat robot, and there are reasons why he's built that way.
- Shenron's demeanor when Mr. Popo summons him at the end of the Freeza Saga is pretty similar to his reaction when he learns Beerus is around when he's summoned in Battle of Gods.
- Freeza's ringtone being 'F' by Maximum the Hormone. The same song that inspired Toriyama to bring the character back in a new movie. Better, one of the trailers and the movie itself uses exact same part of the song as the ringtone.
- While charging the Spirit Bomb, Goku takes his time to get payback on Piccolo for letting him get cream by Raditz when he was charging the Special Beam Cannon. This shocks Piccolo, since he didn't think Goku could hold a grudge. In Super, Goku flicks Beerus on the forehead and chopped him on the back of the neck as payback for his humiliating defeat earlier. Beerus is surprised that Goku could hold such a petty grudge and notes that they're similar in that regard.
- "If I'm really as evil as you say I am, then let God strike me down where I stand." In Resurrection 'F', Goku and Vegeta have both become Gods and take turns beating the tar out of Freeza. For that matter, Vegeta comparing himself to God may also qualify.
- Android 17's argument with Android 18 over him looking better than her as a blonde, given that Dragon Ball Heroes has a version of Super 17 that fuses with Android 18 instead, giving the Android long, blond hair.
- In Episode 25, Freeza is beating up Krillin, causing him to get two 1-ups. He would actually come back from the dead three times, once as a cyborg via his father King Cold, a second time in Resurrection 'F', and a third in the Universe Survival Saga.
- In Revenge of Cooler, Mr. Popo casually creates a new sun after Goku accidentally destroys the old one. In Resurrection 'F', almost three years later, it is revealed that such a feat is even beyond Beerus and Whis. In short, Team Four Star retroactively made Mr. Popo leagues more powerful than the strongest characters in canon.
- Remember when Vegeta killed off Ginyu by stepping on him? Ginyu briefly came back and took over Tagoma's body in Dragon Ball Super, unfortunately for Ginyu he was killed by Vegeta one episode later.
- Goku has stated that he doesn't like grapes. Fast forward to 2015, when a Japanese beverage company called Kirin Mets released two commercials promoting Resurrection 'F'. The heroes represented one flavor while the villains represented the other. Guess which one the villains represented.
- Krillin adopting a fake identity and revealing his Hispanic heritage in the process in DBZA became a lot funnier after Dragon Ball Super had him going around in a T-shirt that says "Tacos".
- In Episode 23, Krillin jokes to Gohan that Bulma's bitchy attitude could be done away with if she got a little *winkwink*nudgenudge*clickclick*whistle*, and Gohan reminds him that he's making a sex joke to a five-year-old. In History of Trunks Abridged, the "23"-year-old Gohan is propositioned by Bulma for exactly what Krillin was talking about.
- If Frost had a dick, then Vegeta would have kicked it.
- Dragon Ball Super revealed that the omniverse is ruled by a short, otherworldly figure with a blank expression and Dissonant Serenity that instills fear in just about everyone. No, it's not Mr. Popo.
- The "Power levels are bullshit" line, after the Goku vs Superman episodes of DEATH BATTLE!, where Superman's distinct lack of a finite limit is brought up.
- The high placementnote of Dead Zone in Team Four Star's best movies and specials list for DBcember 2016 is hilarious when considering that most of the humour in Dead Zone Abridged comes from mocking the seemingly endless parade of plot holes in the original.
- At one point Vegeta says to Bulma, regarding Goku, "You must be as stupid as he is if you think he knows how to work a phone!" In Dragon Ball Super, Bulma gives Goku a phone because he wouldn't stop bugging her, telling him she'll call when Whis shows up so he can ask to train with him and Vegeta.
- KaiserNeko in a podcast says that he considers the Abridged movies to be alternate universes that branched off from the "main" timeline. Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 said the movie antagonists are from alternate timelines in the first gameplay trailer for the game.
- Krillin manages to stall Nappa during their fight in Episode 9 by pointing out it's his turn, then proceeds to do nothing, effectively bringing the battle to a crashing halt. Sans would use a similar tactic in the genocide route of Undertale.
- In what is likely the fastest one yet, in 55 Goku has to be coerced into conceiving Goten by Chi-Chi in a manner that makes it seem like he doesn't know what she intends to do with him (he does know what sex is, he's just unaware that it makes babies). That very weekend in Super, Goku claims he never kissed his wife on the lips despite being a married man and father of two.
- Sixth rule of Popo's training: don't break Popo's stuff. In Episode 91 of Super Mr. Popo threatens to ban Vegeta from the Hyperbolic Time Chamber if he destroys it again, complete with a close-up of Mr. Popo's eyes like DBZA often does.
- In Episode 6, The Stinger has Kami refusing to "hang up" his psychic link with Piccolo because he's lonely, causing him to irritably scream, "GET OUT OF MY HEAD" Joined first by Nail and now by Kami himself, he's never going to be alone in his head again.
- In Abridged canon, Mr. Satan (Hercule) is portrayed as an actor as well as a martial artist. Guess what he does in Super's 73rd episode?
- On Christmas Day 2016, part one of Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan Abridged was released (the full movie being released later in January next year), finally answering the infamous question, "Wen Broly?" Around the same time the full movie came out, Dragon Ball Super released a trailer for the upcoming "Universe Survival Saga", which revealed Kale, a female Legendary Super Saiyan from Universe 6, the first canon instance of the form in the main series. Even more hilariously, there was a joke in the movie about Trunks being called Princess and Broly not minding either way. The now-canon Legendary Super Saiyan is, as stated before, female (and, it should be noted, has plenty of Les Yay with her partner Caulifla).
- Remember all those "Kaio-Ken" "Kaio-what" jokes? Guess what Goku pulls on Zamasu in Super. It almost makes you wonder if Toei Animation is watching this show for ideas or something.
- One of the more famous running gags of Team Four Star was "Ghost Nappa." In Episode 76 of Super, multiple Ghost Nappas actually appear. Technically, they're Illusion Nappas and they're haunting Krillin instead of Vegeta, but still.
- Among the common Running Gag of the abridged is how Goku kept forgetting he has a son...fast forward to Episode 78 of Super and when Vegeta suggest to take his son for the tournament, he thinks that Vegeta meant Goten before realizing that he meant the other son.
- Cell comments on how Yami Yugi has an abnormally deep voice. In the English dub for Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions Yami Yugi's voice sounds just like Yugi's, but more assertive. Also, Cell comments on how a bunch of Yugi's cards, including Monster Reborn and Brain Control, are banned in tournament play. Said cards were unbanned in February 2018.
- In Episode 22, Goku analyses Captain Ginyu and wisely notes that he is purple. Episode 45 of Dragon Ball Super has Goku make a similar analysis of Copy Vegeta.Goku: You're purple, which is weird, but [Vegeta]'s see-through, which is also weird.
- When the #CellGames went beyond the DBZAbridgedverse into the rest of fiction in the wake of Episode 54's release, Sonic's response on Twitter was that making him jealous of his Super Sonic swagger sounds tempting. Cut forward to the Cell Vs. series where he joins the line-up and actually attempt to fight (actually race) him, only to be outclassed entirely and was not able to use Super Sonic.
- In the backstory to "Cell VS Deadpool", Nappa hired Deadpool to kill Cell on the condition that he'd pressure Hollywood into making a Spider-Man/Deadpool movie adaptation happen, something that would otherwise cause legal headaches for the studios involved due to the rights being complicated. Bear in mind that this skit was released months before Disney revealed their plans to buy most of the entertainment assets from 20th Century Fox, which include the rights to Deadpool and multiple other Marvel properties. As long as Sony's willing to cooperate with Marvel on the front of putting Spider-Man in such a crossover, the movie that Wade was dreaming of may actually happen one day!
- Vegeta and Bulma's Slap-Slap-Kiss relationship. Vegeta at one point says, "You're bitchier than usual, and not in the hot way!" implying that Vegeta is usually turned on by Bulma acting like a bitch. Come Dragon Ball Super, and Vegeta explains to Goku that Saiyan men are naturally attracted to strong-willed women, and all Saiyan women were like that. Piccolo is shocked at how much sense that makes.
- In Abridged, Team Four Star took the gag of Android 17 wanting to steal a car (despite not needing one) and extended it by having him want to steal a boat after the Androids figure out that Goku is at Kame House. And then along came Super and the Universe Survival Saga, where 17 reveals that he wants to use the Dragon Balls to wish for a cruise ship so he can give his wife and kids a nice vacation. TFS seemingly acknowledged this in Episode 60 where 17, upon being wished back to life, remarks that he never got that boat.
- Broly flirting with Trunks looks even funnier in light of Kale's implied romantic feelings for Caulifla.
- In Dragon Ball Super, Freeza states that he "enjoys a moving target" in regards to blasting Gohan, only this time he's already had him tortured to near-death by Death Beams.
- The Running Gag of there being more Androids than Trunks initially thought and Vegeta keeping tally, becomes even funnier when Dragon Ball FighterZ revealed there yet another android that he missed, Android 21. So that makes it 8 Androids Trunks missed. (5 if you don't count the movies and specials)
- Vegeta: DO I HEAR 9!?
- The series features, unlike the canon series, Goku and Ginyu's voices staying in their proper bodies, with Ginyu-As-Goku having a voice akin to a British accent. In Xenoverse 2 and Dragon Ball Fighter Z, Sean Schemmel altered the voice of Goku Black from his rougher, Super Saiyan 3-esque voice he initially had in his base form to one roughly similar to a British accent.
- Abridged Goku is well-known for his love of muffins. Dragon Ball Fighter Z reveals that Goku doesn't actually care for dessert, something Team Four Star themselves commented on in their Let's Play.
- Remember all those comments Super Kami Guru made about Dende becoming a superhero after losing his family? Well, there happens to be a certain Universe 11 warrior who just happened to lose his family and become a superhero. Or it could be Harsher in Hindsight, depending on how dark your laughs are.
- Part of why Team Four Star was so excited for adapting The World's Strongest was to let Master Roshi "Be a badass one last time." In Super Roshi ended up as one of the tournament fighters alongside the juggernauts of Goku, Vegeta, and Freeza, and puts up a hell of a fight you wouldn't expect from a human fighter who hasn't been relevant since OG Dragonball.
- The end credits song for Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan Abridged has Lanipator express frustration with the "Wen Broly?" meme and relief that they’ve finally answered that question. Cue the surprise announcement that Broly would be a Canon Immigrant in the new Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie and "wen Broly" started all over again.
- In Bardock - The Father of Goku Abridged special, Bardock mistakens Broly's power level with that of his son until he dismisses him. Now that Broly is oficially canon, this makes this particular scene hilarious than it needs to be.
- Speaking of Broly, TeamFourStar's version is a Saiyan with a meek personality that happens to have a berserker Split Personality. Super introduced Kale, a female Saiyan with a meek personality that happens to have a berserker Split Personality. And then re-introduces Broly as a Saiyan with a meek personality that happens to have a berserker Split Personality.
- In Episode 48, Gohan hopes that Vegeta and Trunks can defeat Cell, but Goku dismisses them, coming off as Innocently Insensitive. Then Episode 60 reveals that Goku masterminded pretty much the entire Cell Saga, including counting on Vegeta screwing up the chance to kill Cell (well, either him or Krillin) so that Gohan would have to achieve Super Saiyan 2 and do it himself. He wasn't being insensitive on accident, he was being brutally honest.
- LittleKuriboh originally auditioned for Ginyu for this series before the guys decided he was perfect for Freeza during the audition process. Back in 1999, this was the same character, as well as arc, that Sean Schemmel auditioned for when the official Z dub was being recast in Texas to continue the dub, only to be cast as Goku instead.
- LK's Freeza voice also has him affecting a more Posh British accent than he usually speaks in to fit Freeza's royal status and his original speech patterns in the Japanese portrayal. When Kai was being dubbed, they recast the role to Chris Ayres, who affects a similar accent and voice to LK, for the character to do the same thing. This was done completely independent of the Abridged series, obviously, due to the timing of both shows being produced, but it's a great coincidence that both shows would introduce similar portrayals for the character in English.
- LK’s audition for Captain Ginyu landing him the role of Freeza gets rather poignant after Shin Kamen Rider (2023) turned him into a massive Converted Fanboy for tokusatsu and pulled him down a rabbit hole into the Kamen Rider and Super Sentai franchises that inspired the Ginyu Force.
- In Broly Abridged:
- In the movie, Paragus is using his kind-hearted, passive son as a tool of Revenge against Vegeta for "crimes" his father King Vegeta committed. Dragon Ball Super: Broly has the exact same plotline, with a few added twists like Freeza's involvement.
- In Broly Abridged, the subtitles refer to Vegeta as "King Vegeta II" after Paragus refers to him as King. An eerily similar thing happens in DBS: Broly, when Paragus appears and reveals that Vegeta's father was known to him as Vegeta III, and as a result refers to Prince Vegeta as Vegeta IV.
- Abridged has Goku (briefly) striking up an Odd Friendship with Broly because they're not that different. This happens in DBS: Broly as well, the main difference being that it comes after the big fight rather than before.
- In Episode 56, Krillin offers to help Goku deal with Chi-Chi's sexual demands by "tagging in", which Goku briefly contemplates. Episode 60 shows that he could have done it, too: Krillin goes for forty rounds with Android 18, while Goku was ready to call it quits after nine.
- In Episode 44, Vegeta swears to get a form stronger than Super Saiyan, and Tien mocks him by giving him a bunch of phony nicknames for it. One of them, "Ultra Saiyan", becomes hilarious in hindsight with the introduction of "Ultra Instinct".
- In Super episode 119, after Piccolo rings out Shantza, Quitela yells at Shantza, asking why he didn't dodge.
- The Halloween Special has Piccolo dressing up as Spike, a reference to James Marsters playing King Piccolo in Dragon Ball Evolution. Later on, Marsters would voice another green-skinned, pointy-eared alien in the English dub of Dragon Ball Super.
- As he's ignoring Bardock's rant, Freeza is trying to decide which wine he'll have after he's done blowing up Planet Vegeta, the one he singles out in particular being rosé. Super villain Goku Black has a transformation named after the drink called Super Saiyan Rosé.
- One fanfiction crossover between Dragon Ball, Ranma ½ and Sailor Moon sees Ranma get killed and end up in the afterlife stark naked. In light of the gag where King Yemma keeps tricking newly deceased souls into stripping (which also extends to another Abridged series where a similar scene happens), this seems outright prophetic.
- Yamcha's song "Cat Loves Food, Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah," and its endless remixes are even funnier now that Lord Beerus is in the cast.
- A few jokes are made in the beginning wherein Krillin is called "Curly." Come the Tournament of Power and that's also what Lord Beerus calls him.
- On the meta side of things, during one of their in-character FAQ videos someone asks when the next episode will be and, after Bubbles gives a long answer, King Kai responds with "Wow, incredible. I can't believe they schedule all the way through the Cell Saga." With the announcement that DBZA has officially ended, that joke from nearly 10 years ago becomes kind of funny given the final arc covered in the show. Also crosses over into Harsher in Hindsight for those who actually wanted to see season four of DBZ Abridged, regardless of the quality.
- In Super Android 13 Abridged, Trunks complains aloud why he even brought his sword when #14 catches it, before internally asking why he even carried his sword in the first place when he was just out shopping. Dragon Ball Super reveals that the reason he carries the sword around is for comfort like a Security Blanket.
- Much later in the Super manga, Vegeta gets his own unique form to match Ultra Instinct. As if calling back to this particular scene, he decides to name it Ultra Ego.Vegeta: I AM THE HYPE!
- Also... this line from Tien.
Tien: Yeah, more like pure, unadulterated ego. - A frequent Running Gag is Piccolo trying to look for somewhere to live, culminating in him being allowed to move into the Lookout after Cell's death. In the Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero movie, Piccolo is revealed to now have his own house.
- A joke in the Plan to Eradicate Christmas special is that Goku denies a claim that his lust for battle presents a threat to the universe while a pop-up ad shows off him in the Tournament of Power, with the Funny page brings up started because of his lust for battle. However, the hindsight being that the universes were never in any real peril as it was simply a Secret Test of Character by the Zenos and that all the universes they "erased" would come back if someone wished it so.
- In episode 51, Vegeta questions how Cell can be semi-perfect, noting how perfect is an absolute state: "You're either perfect or you're not...". Come Super, we would get Fused Zamasu, a fusion of an immortal and mortal being, making him half immortal. Turns out that a semi-immortal perfect being gets bumped down to a mere mortal with an absurd Healing Factor.
- In episode 34, when Goku goes Super Saiyan to show to Trunks, he giggles and goes "it still kind of tickles". A little over four years later in Super, Cabba reveals that going Super Saiyan requires focusing on a tingling part in the upper back area.
- In History of Trunks, a hallucination of Piccolo tells Gohan to use the Makankosappo as a joke. Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero sees Gohan do just that.
- In episode 58 Tien snarks to Vegeta by asking him how many Gokus he has beaten. In Super Hero Vegeta actually manages to get his first legitimate win against Goku in a friendly sparring match and unlike Tien, Vegeta also has the honor of never losing to Goku in a proper 1v1 fight.
- In episode 22 Guru noted to himself that if Nail was trained in the new ways of Namek warriors he might have a chance against Freeza. In Super Hero it is revealed that Namekians do have a way of using the power of the Dragon Balls to increase their power to massive heights, allowing Piccolo to be at the same level of Goku, Vegeta, and Freeza after their power was amongst the gods.
- Similarly all the Piccolo Can't Catch Up jokes get funnier in retrospect after his new power up. Goku says that Piccolo can become as strong as Vegeta is a lot less degrading and more funny after Vegeta got within throwing distance of Goku and Piccolo still caught up. On that note Piccolo despondently notes that Cell transformed twice after beating him, Super Hero has him transform twice and still get beaten by a Cell.
- In episode 33, once Future Trunks become Super Saiyan, Gohan thinks it's Goku then thinks it's Freeza's mom. When Kriliin asks "Who here thought of Freeza with boobs? Really? I'm the only one?" with Vegeta shouting "Yes!" and internally thinking 'He must never know'. In Dragon Ball: The Breakers, female survivors can use the Raiders' moveset and appearance, which includes Freeza. Naturally, TFS lampshade this.
- In the song parody Bald This Way, Tien refuses to go along with Nappa's music video and even makes Piccolo cry by pointing out the latter's only joining since he doesn't have any friends, despite how much stronger the two are compared to him. This retroactively foreshadows his Sitcom Arch-Nemesis dynamic with Vegeta and Perfect Cell in the third season despite outclassing him in power.
- In the opening of Lord Slug Abridged, Piccolo thinks of using the Special Beam Cannon with two hands and Nail asks if it's like the Kamehameha. Piccolo retorts that the Kamehameha doesn't drill things. In Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, when Gohan charges the Special Beam Cannon, it looks like the Kamehameha as a drill.
- Gohan's frequent complaints about Goku being a neglectful parent because he's always training when he's not dead become ironically funny when Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero reveals that Gohan is such a workaholic that Videl and Pan haven't seen him in ten days. Gohan's excuse when Piccolo calls him out on this is the exact same as Goku's— he can always just hoist all parenting duties onto Piccolo himself and continue neglecting his family to do what he loves. Like Father, Like Son, eh, Gohan?
- When Gohan punches Cell in the gut, he expels 18. After self-destructing and returning to his perfect form, Krillin asks if punching Cell again will make another 18. Dragon Ball Fighter Z would later feature a glitch during the story mode that added a second 18 to your team. The guys would even exploit this glitch themselves during their Let's Play.
- When Trunks finally defeats Cell in his own timeline his last though before The Stinger can perfectly describe the feelings of many viewers as this is the last part of the anime properly covered by the abridged series.Trunks: It's over...after everything, this feels...this feels...anticlima-
- In Super Android 13 Abridged, Justin Briner voiced teen Gohan for a Flash Forward sequence, but was replaced by Ryan Palmer for Buu Bits. Justin would play Deku in My Hero Academia while Ryan would play Deku on My Hero Academia in 5 MINUTES.
