Line #17 MemeticLoser/DragonBall


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yamchadeathcomp_169002_6179289.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Even when he wins, [[ButtMonkey Yamcha]] is still a loser.]]
3
4	Being a series defined by MightMakesRight where many fighters are {{overshadowed by\|Awesome}} the Saiyans, it is no surprise that many characters are best known for losing fights.
5
6	[[foldercontrol]]
7
8	[[folder:''Dragon Ball'' and ''Z'']]
9	* Chaozu/Chiaotzu. The character was OutOfFocus for most of the manga, and his most defining characteristic [[SatelliteCharacter is being Tien's friend]]. Even when he was taken out during the tournament, none of the gang went to visit him in the hospital, unlike Krillin. His only well known moment is making a SenselessSacrifice that didn't even scratch Nappa. He doesn't even have a line of dialogue with Goku in all of the manga, and like [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse Launch]], Toriyama seems to have forgotten about him.
10	* The fandom jokes about Krillin always dying. He's been [[DeathIsCheap killed]] four times, by Tamborine, Freeza, Buu, and [[Anime/DragonBallGT a mind-controlled Android 17]]. Also for being constantly OvershadowedByAwesome, to the point the trope was originally called The Krillin. He also happened to be the first eliminated fighter of the Tournament of Power in both mediums by a rather embarrassing defeat by Frost (and unlike the other fighters who got knocked out, was the only one who got chewed out for getting knocked out early on). And it probably didn't help that his ''[[WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged Abridged]]'' counterpart had a "[[RunningGag Krillin Owned Count]]" as a result of how many times he's been humiliated... [[spoiler:only to obliterate ''the counter itself'' when he finally scored with 18.]]
11	* Yamcha is known for getting killed by a sneak SuicideAttack by a [[{{Mooks}} Saibaman]]. That defeat created a [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/yamchas-death-pose meme involving the death pose]] which was pointed out in ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'', whose author is a fan of Yamcha. There is even [[https://www.amazon.com/Funko-Animation-Dragon-Convention-Exclusive/dp/B07FPSX824 a Funko Pop of Yamcha]] in his death pose. He was also taken out instantly at the beginning of the Androids arc, not even getting to throw a punch. Either way, [[NeverLiveItDown the fans will never let Yamcha forget]] how much he's suffered. ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' and modern video games pretty much acknowledge his status, such as ''[[VideoGame/DragonBallZBudokai Budokai 3]]'', in which if a Saibamen lands Self-Destruct on Yamcha, he'll instantly be killed, as opposed to everyone else, who is left with a sliver of HP. He even appears in his iconic death pose if that happens. He's even made fun of in ''Series/TokyoEncounter''.
12	** To add even more insult to his injury, fans claimed that wishing Yamcha to become a more powerful fighter and capable of defeating Saibamen is ultimately beyond Shenron's power.
13	** This appears to have become an AscendedFanon, as new material since the new tens has consistently poked fun at Yamcha, be it either ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' where he is a ButtMonkey during the Universal Survival saga or ''VideoGame/DragonballFighterz''. [[BrokenBase There are some fans who aren't fond of this new characterization.]] They can at least take heart in that in the latter, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yVY5c0IpAs because he can get his revenge on Nappa.]]
14	* [[StarterVillain Raditz]] is an absolute weakling, to the point that after his death it was revealed that he was as weak as a Saibaman. Like with Yamcha, some fans have taken pity on him because of this, and believe he is a JerkassWoobie (which has merit in WhatIf material from the video games). He's also often thought to be one of, if not ''the'' [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter most wasted character]] in the series, since despite being Goku's brother, he's never been brought back (barring a small cameo in ''GT'') or mentioned again in any meaningful way.
15	* On a similar note, the Farmer with the shotgun, for being the first character to die in ''Z''. As well as the fact that nobody knew about his death so he never got revived by the Dragon Balls.
16	** This makes for a rare example of a character simultaneously serving as a MemeticLoser ''and'' a MemeticBadass, given [[MemeticMutation the popular trend]] of having the farmer be responsible for the deaths of several ''Dragon Ball'' characters (predominantly the villains) with his weapons, ranging from [[RussianReversal Raditz]] to Cell to (as of ''Super'') [[StoryBreakerPower god-tier combatants]] like Ultra Instinct Goku and Jiren.
17	* An odd case of this is Goku, whose incredible power and success in battle have led to an ironic trend of photoshopping obviously weaker characters (like [[https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/214/543/8e6.jpg SpongeBob,]] [[https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/167/259/a91.jpg Shaggy,]] [[https://pm1.narvii.com/6286/aa0b5284ff935f10eea61815003a524b3c174b48_hq.jpg Goofy]] or [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/yRAzEc8ydUw/maxresdefault.jpg Wallace]]) into his fights to [[TheWorfEffect suggest they're beating the stuffing out of him]].
18	* King Cold, despite being arguably the most politically powerful person in the entire universe up to that point and, depending on the source, around the same or even slightly higher the level of strength as Frieza, is mainly remembered for being on the receiving end of a [[CurbStompBattle completely lopsided fight]] against Trunks involving the latter's sword and then [[VillainsWantMercy pathetically pleading for his life]] before being unceremoniously killed off forever with a single ki blast. Unlike his son, he is barely ever mentioned or referred to again and makes no further appearances beyond a few non-canon filler scenes in Hell, where he receives another swift beating at the hands of Pikkon. Even when Frieza finally returns proper in ''Super'', he doesn't even bother to have Cold resurrected when the idea is suggested to him, simply citing that he was "too bossy".
19	* Vegeta often gets this reputation, due to him [[{{Jobber}} never beating a main villain]] (except for Semi-Perfect Cell and Golden Frieza, but they hardly mattered since Cell paid him in kind after manipulating Vegeta into allying with him and Frieza destroys Earth anyway due to Vegeta not being able to react in time which forces Goku to finish off the Emperor himself) and usually getting humiliated by them [[TheWorfEffect to show how strong they are]]. Combine that with [[https://youtu.be/f84ciGBhK8o?si=v1ZzDZiInJhTUZ0- "Vegeta's Technique"]] (the infamous ki blast spam move that never seems to work) and the [[https://youtu.be/D919lqv2iOQ?si=KYm9S1dkNkEefeOs "Thumb Pose"]], and you have a character who is often joked about losing fights against all odds.
20	[[/folder]]
21
22	[[folder:''Dragon Ball GT'']]
23	* While all the supporting characters besides Pan and Vegeta get shafted in favor of Goku, none get it worse than Gohan. At least he catches up in ''Super'' and then some in the Tournament of Power arc. Here, he gets wiped out by a Baby-possessed Goten. He also doesn't bother going Super Saiyan against General Rilldo, a being stronger than Majin Buu, and gets curb-stomped for his efforts. Said villain gets killed by Uub with one shot very soon after. It's telling that Gohan is at his most impressive when he's possessed by Baby and even then, he still needed help fighting Goku and Vegeta. A far cry from the Gohan shown in ''Z''. Even stranger is the fact that, unlike his ''Super'' counterpart (see below), ''GT''!Gohan is actually said to have kept up with his training after the end of ''Z'', [[InformedAttribute a claim]] [[ShowDontTell that does not match up well with his feats in-series]].
24	* [[FauxActionGirl Pan]] is widely criticized for [[TheLoad being useless]], not helped by the fact that she was [[DamselInDistress written to have Goku come to her rescue]]. The only victories she gets don't contribute anything to the plot and the rest of the time she can only win a fight if someone else is backing her up... if she wins at all since the bulk of the time she fights she simply ends up losing. She also stands out as the only Saiyan among the protagonists who never turns Super Saiyan long after [[UniquenessDecay the transformation ceases to be a big deal]], even though her descendant is seen using the form.
25	[[/folder]]
26
27	[[folder:''Dragon Ball Super'']]
28	* The Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan/Super Saiyan Blue transformation has become something of a joke in the fandom, due to its surprisingly lackluster nature. Being the most powerful transformation for the vast majority of the run of ''Super'', it ends up being the biggest victim of [[StrongAsTheyNeedToBe the show's famously wonky powerscaling]], as despite being claimed to be stronger than Super Saiyan God (a transformation noted to be ''universal'' in its destructive power), it seems to be incapable of winning a straight fight against a peer opponent without some kind of major asterisk, and has often been combated or stalemated by foes that seem like they should be far below that level (most infamously Krillin). Even in its debut movie, it ends up being earned offscreen, and only beats Frieza because Frieza couldn't manage his Golden Form's power consumption (implying it to be the weaker of the two in actual strength). Then in the later arcs of ''Super'' and the manga, Ultra Instinct and Ultra Ego were introduced, which meant Blue didn't even have its niche as the strongest transformation anymore. Even outside of powerscalers, its status as a PaletteSwap with no standout unique traits aside from its powerboost gives it a reputation for being dull.
29	* Poor Gohan got a lot of crap from the fandom after he was hit with BadassDecay again, and gets nearly killed three times in the Resurrection 'F' Saga. Him being the only major character not to attend the tournament between Universes 6 and 7, and him not asking Future Trunks about why he returned to the past didn't help matters. However, he's finally working this off after his performance in Episode 90.
30	* Gowasu. His obsession with tea and [[Platform/YouTube Godtube]], not noticing the fact his pupil was turning evil, and the fact he took Zamasu to a planet called [[BarbarianTribe Babari]] has made him the butt of a lot of jokes on [[Platform/FourChan /a/]]. [[spoiler:The fact that he's killed three times in the series (one of them being undone) doesn't help.]] It also doesn't help that [[spoiler:he went to the future just to tell his pupil how disappointed he is. [[NoNonsenseNemesis Black almost kills him on the spot.]] [[TooDumbToLive Worse, he does get impaled by Black in the manga]].]] Keep in mind, however, that Gowasu is actually well regarded within the fandom, and is considered a huge [[TheWoobie Woobie]] alongside Trunks.
31	* Tien got this for his poor performance against a possessed Master Roshi, getting hammered by base form Gohan, doing nothing useful in the two-on-two match with Piccolo and Gohan, and having no awesome moments like the other characters who were recruited to be on Team U7.
32	* With the introduction of Caulifla and Kale, a delinquent and a DistaffCounterpart to Broly respectively, Cabba has become this, with the fandom joking about the two bullying him.
33	* Universe 3, at least early on in the tournament. Even though they have the third highest mortal level (only behind Universes 2 and 11) of the universes forced to participate in the Tournament of Power, their actual showing was initially abysmal. Narirama's Super Survival Mode is touted as perfect, yet it was easily stopped by Basil and Hit, the latter of whom would go on to eliminate Narirama with no effort. Nigrisshi is considered Universe 3's best modified fighter, yet he gets casually beaten up by Vegeta and Cabba sends him flying out of the ring in one hit without even breaking stride. Additionally, Universe 3 is the last universe that gives somebody on-screen trouble, with Maji Kayo initially putting Goku on the ropes, but it's implied that if he went Super Saiyan Blue, things would've gone to his favor. When Maji Kayo faces the three remaining Pride Troopers later, he initially has an advantage against Dyspo, but completely gets humiliated when Jiren intervenes. They've been faring a bit better in later episodes, but their ButtMonkey status still remains, especially through [[IronButtmonkey Katopesla]], who failed in ambushing Jiren and has made himself look like a complete fool in front of Frieza (who proceeds to just ignore him -- and one of Frieza's victims very early in the tournament), Android 17 (in retaliation to him trying to punch his sister), and Vegeta (retaliation for trying to attack him in an attempt to achieve Ultra Instinct). It really turns [[TheSpock Ea]] (who was preaching on how intellect was superior) into a NoRespectGuy. However, Universe 3 does have some redeeming qualities, such as [[spoiler:outlasting 5 universes and only having such a losing streak early on. Additionally, their LastStand members, Koichiarator and ultimately, Anilaza, gave the Universe 7 team a hard time. In fact, Anilaza was very close to winning the Tournament of Power for Universe 3 until Android 17 figured out his weakness.]]
34	* In a similar vein to Universe 3, we have Universe 10, whose performance in the Tournament of Power was even ''worse''. They were the first universe to lose a warrior (specifically, Lilibeu, whose ability to fly without ki should have given her a huge advantage), and several of their other warriors were eliminated in the most unceremonious way imaginable (including their team leader, Murichim). The only warriors who had an even halfway decent showing before getting offed were Obuni, Rubalt and Napapa. Most humiliatingly, they're the only universe that didn't have an eliminated fighter in their count [[spoiler:unless if you count Android 18's knockout as a self-destruct, but she was taking a knockout meant for Android 17 by Universe 3's Anilaza]].
35	* Universe 4, particularly during Gamisaras, Damon, and Shantza as Universe 4's LastStand. The only redeeming qualities for Gamisaras and Damon is that they were able to score a knockout for Universe 4 before they got erased, but even then, all three of them got taken out in very embarrassing fashions. Gamisaras was easily taken out by Piccolo after getting exposed, Shantza was effortlessly wiped out immediately after his gimmick was revealed, and and although Damon proved to be somewhat tough at first, he was taken out in a very humiliating way by getting stuck in a forcefield after his strategy got crippled. What's worse is that Damon and Gamisaras were hyped up to be very dangerous fighters, especially in the Grand Priest's rundown of remaining fighters in Episode 107 and when Quitela seemed confident after his strongest fighter, Monna, got eliminated.
36	* From Universe 11, we have Dyspo, the speedster from the Pride Troopers. While the Pride Troopers themselves let an underwhelming show in the actual tournament, most of them can be forgiven for generally being fodder as Jiren and Toppo were clearly the most important characters out of them with their "mortal who's apparently stronger than a God of Destruction" and "God of Destruction apprentice" storylines, respectively. However, in the case of Dyspo, WordOfGod made him to be the third strongest member of the Pride Troopers after the two, but when it came time to have him show off, Dyspo was the constant victim of TheWorfEffect and was not given the chance to show why he was designed to be such. In his introduction, he was unable to remotely handle the large monster that Jiren and Toppo had to step in to take care of, and when he finally got a fight in the tournament, he was almost taken down by Hit after showing off his power in a way that made it seem he would be eliminated. Then he was nearly beaten by Maji Kayo and required his teammates to help, and in the final battle against Universe 11, he only was a threat because his speed made him too hard to hit, not because he was actually stronger then Frieza or Gohan. In the end, he accomplished nothing except being used to get [[spoiler:Gohan]] knocked out, and he's often joked to be the weakest threat overall faced in the finale.
37	* Since the start of the Universal Survival Arc, the Supreme Kai Shin became this, to the point of being considered a good example of GodIsInept. This all started way back in the Majin Buu saga, when he was the only survivor of Majin Buu's rampage and something of a NonActionGuy who was beaten badly (who Goku made fun of due to Old Kai being better than him). But due to ''Super'' expanding the lore about the gods, among these changes, the fact that the God of Destruction and the Supreme Kai need to work together for universal balance makes Shin look even more incompetent since he wasn't even aware of who Beerus was for (at least) ''5 million years'' (especially since the last time Beerus was awake was when Vegeta was a child). This got played even further in the Future Trunks saga where not only does a more competent Supreme Kai and his apprentice appear (Gowasu, for being wiser despite his flaws, and Zamasu, who is stronger than South Supreme Kai, who gave a good fight to Kid Buu) and Shin didn't do anything in the saga besides being on the sidelines (and his manga counterpart, despite being braver, risks both his and Beerus' lives while fighting Zamasu and would have bit the dust had Goku and Vegeta not arrived). By the time of the Tournament of Power, it is later revealed Universe 7 has the ''second worst handled universe'' out of all twelve with only 28 planets with intelligent life, thus making Shin the victim of mockery in the fandom, to the point of people [[TheWoobie feeling pity for the guy]] (after all, he was incompletely trained and looks like a puppy in many shots).
38	--> '''Platform/FourChan user:''' Shin is made for bullying.
39	!! Manga specifics
40	* The manga version of Goku Black almost immediately got hit with this after he got the living shit beat out of him and completely humiliated by Super Saiyan 2 Vegeta, despite being a [[spoiler:Super Saiyan 2 himself]], having a VillainousBreakdown, and needing [[spoiler:Future Zamasu]] to save him. Even him gaining [[spoiler:Super Saiyan Rosé]] and stomping Vegeta did little to quell this image since Black admitted to [[spoiler:running to Future Trunks' timeline and teaming up with his future self because he was incapable of using Goku's body, was a weakling who couldn't fight the Z-Fighters, and spent an entire year beating up a weaker Trunks to get stronger]]. This view of Manga Black became solidified after he got stomped and pushed into yet another VillainousBreakdown after Vegeta humiliated him again as a Super Saiyan God.
41	* The manga version of Future Trunks gets this despite starting out stronger than his anime counterpart. He is nowhere near as active as anime Future Trunks even before he got Super Saiyan Rage and most chapters have him sitting on the sidelines giving commentary while Goku and Vegeta do all the fighting. Fans also liked to tease manga Future Trunks since [[spoiler:the Supreme Kai and, by extension, Beerus]] all died under his watch since he had trouble with Dabura while anime Future Trunks wiped out the Majin threat without anyone dying, and he did it with no prior training from the Supreme Kai unlike his manga counterpart. When he learned that he could [[spoiler:heal with his hands]], this caused the fandom to compare him unfavorably to [[Manga/{{Naruto}} Sakura]].
42	* Hit, in the manga. While in the anime, Hit is shown to be very formidable and even won against Goku in his first two matches against him, Hit is a huge AdaptationalWimp in the manga. In the manga version of the Tournament of Destroyers, Hit's time skip powers aren't nearly as powerful and would have lost easily had Goku not decided to go straight to Blue. Then in the Tournament of Power, while he has a small spotlight in the anime, he still eliminates a couple of fighters until falling to Jiren. The manga version? Hit is one of the first victims of Jiren, being taken out shortly after Universe 9's erasure. That's right, not only the likes of Ribrianne outlast him, almost all of Universe 10 (along with fighters like Roshi, Botamo, Magetta, Ganos, and others) outlast him as well in this adaptation. What's worse is that his famous killing techniques come out more as an InformedAbility in the manga.
43	* Kefla. In the anime, she's an extremely powerful fusion that was able to hold her own against Goku and forced him to [[spoiler:tap into Ultra Instinct "Omen"/Sign]]. In the manga, however, she gets [[spoiler:ringed out in a draw against ''Gohan'']] who by then has been [[OvershadowedByAwesome heavily outlasted by god-tier characters]] in what was seen as a lackluster fight that wasn't even the primary focus of the chapter. Her overall performance comes off as worse than her fusion component Kale in the previous chapter who was practically a OneManArmy that eliminated nearly all the other fighters. Not helping matters is how in an out-of-character moment, she outright calls herself as inferior to Universe 7.
44	* Even ''Goku'' himself suffers this treatment, particularly in Chapter 39. The manga portrays him as a fighter whose main "strategy" to defeating his opponent is trying to find a way to steamroll them through powering up or attaining new transformations. While Goku was [[IdiotHero never smart to begin with]], he was always portrayed as a fighting genius. Here, the manga makes him come off as a novice fighter in order to make [[WeakButSkilled Roshi]] look good in comparison. In the anime, he has one of the highest elimination counts in the tournament, but in the manga, he has yet to eliminate a single person. And that is still not going into the anti-climactic manner [[spoiler:his Ultra Instinct "Omen" form was introduced]]...

Context MemeticLoser / DragonBall