Characters / Dragon Ball Z Abridged - Main Characters

Dragon Ball Z Abridged Character Index
Main Characters (Son Goku | Vegeta) | Supporting Characters | Villains (Galactic Freeza Army, Cell) | Minor Characters | Movies and Specials

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In general

The main characters of Dragonball Z. In the original show, they're a group of bold heroes who will stand against any evil that threatens the Earth. In this series... well. They try.

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• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: To paraphrase TFS' Four Star Bento episodes, they write the Z fighters more like bickering work friends than True Companions.
• Conditioned to Accept Horror: The sheer absurdity they've faced for over a decade, in addition to virtually all of them (except Chi-Chi and Bulma) dying at some point, has left them rather unflappable.
• Death Is Cheap: Played with - while Yamcha and Krillin treat death much more seriously, they both treat "get resurrected by the Dragon Balls" as a simple fact of life.
• Dysfunction Junction: They're much more dysfunctional as a whole than in canon.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In their own unique ways, they are this - as snarky as they are with each other, they will inevitably do the right thing.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Oh God, yes. Most of the time we see them, they're snarking at each other. Still, they stick together. It's best summed up by this exchange between Yamcha and Tenshinhan:

  Yamcha: Hey, Tien. Since this is the end...

  Tien: If you're about to say, "I love you," I swear to God...

  Yamcha: Actually, I was gonna say, "You're the biggest asshole I know."

  Tien: (eyes widen, surprised) Oh.

  Yamcha: (looks away) And you're also my best friend.

  (beat)

  Tien: (also looks away) So are you, man.

Son Goku

See Dragon Ball Z Abridged - Son Goku

Son Gohan

"I'm beginning to think I have issues."

Voiced by: Lawrence "MasakoX" Simpson (child) ^note Brandon "Vegeta3986" Rainsford (Episode 1 only), Justin Briner (teen Gohan, Super Android 13), Zach Holzman (adult Gohan, History of Trunks), Ryan Palmer (teen/adult)

Goku and Chi-Chi's son. Unlike his idiotic, immature father, Gohan is a rather well-mannered yet socially awkward boy who keeps getting wrapped up in Goku's battles against evil. He may not be too strong on the surface, but get him mad enough and he will kick your ass six ways to Sunday. Since Gohan is half-Saiyan and learned most of his moral/life code from Chi-Chi, he lacks his dad's lust for battle and is far more down-to-Earth, much to the battle-hungry Goku's displeasure.

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• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Goku and Gohan's relationship in Z was, for the most part, pretty happy, healthy and supportive. In fact, whenever Goku's around, he'll put the most faith in Gohan, and congratulate him on a job well done, as well as be defensive of his well being. Here, Goku's not only far less vocal about Gohan's ability (which is not without reason), he's outright neglectful most of the time. Further more, Gohan's view of Goku has changed from looking up to his father to resenting his dad for his idiocy and exasperation for his antics. By the end of the Android Saga, he drops the resentment, and the snippets we do see of their interactions in Buu Bits are Truer to the Text.
• Adaptation Explanation Extrication: Astute viewers of the series may notice that Gohan's hesitation to fight Cell doesn't really line up with the rest of the series, where he's not once shown actual aversion to fighting or killing(for example his failure to attack Nappa is due to being conditioned to dodge when he hears Piccolo yell the word, not due to being actually scared to death.) This is because Gohan in canon was an All-Loving Hero who only sought to fight to protect people, and was shown to enjoy nature and didn't have the vicious fighter spirit necessary.
• Adaptational Badass: For a given value of "badass", abridged Gohan has no real issue with fighting, though he maintains his pacifistic tendincies.
• Adaptational Intelligence: While Gohan's canon counterpart was always smart for his age and desired to be a scholar, abridged Gohan's intelligence is through the roof, with his knowledge outclassing pretty much everyone whose surname isn't Briefs, Gero, or Wheelo.
• Adaptational Jerkass:
  • Far more angsty and fed up with his father than he ever was in the canon series, also far more snarky in general, his All-Loving Hero trait being completely removed.
  • Gohan is a lot more blood thirsty and unbothered by violence compared to his canon counter part when his temper gets going, his anger resulting in him coming up with both vulgar and startling comments that would make Piccolo startled by.
  • His reasoning for holding back against Cell isn't due to him being afraid of letting go, but instead he's simply holding onto his pacifist nature far too tightly than his canon counterpart would. 16 calls him out on this, saying there's no moral high ground to be had when Cell is killing everyone and thinking he's had it worse than them
• Adaptational Wimp: Gohan's feats in this show are ultimately given less attention and value than in canon. He's also shown to be much less durable, being easily taken down for the count during a simple spar with Goku and Piccolo while he ended up impressing the two with his tenacity in canon. Much less focus is on his hidden power here too, as on the Namek Saga both Vegeta and Krillin put some faith in his performance, here, it's treated as nothing particularly notable.
• Angst? What Angst?: In-universe. When Tien and Yamcha gives him their condolences after Goku's second death, he acts more cheerful on the account that they have Dragon Balls. Too bad Goku can't be brought back again after he died the first time with Dende's Dragon Balls.
• Badass Adorable: Though he has yet to hit puberty, he is one of the strongest fighters and not to be taken lightly.
• Badass Boast: Prone to giving them, and usually has the power and skill to back it up. The problem is, he's usually facing someone a lot stronger than he is, leading to an Oh, Crap! moment.
  • He manages to give his most badass one yet in part 2 of episode 60.
  Gohan: Cell, you don't get it. I hate this. The vibrations of my fist through contact, the taste of blood in my mouth, the sound of my heart in my ears. I hate it. I always have, but right now... in this moment... the only thing I hate more than it, is you.
  Cell: Ugh, put that on a valentine.
  Gohan: Because you were right about me. I was a coward. Scared of what would happen if I snap. Afraid that if I lost it this time, I'd never come back. That'd I finally kill someone. But I'm not scared anymore Cell.
  Cell: (Visibly terrified) Well, g-glad I could-
  (Gohan punches Cell)
  Gohan: Because there's no point in being afraid of the inevitable.
• Badass Bookworm: He keeps pulling out literary trivia and uses long words for a lot of situations; even through pure rage. Cell even calls him "the world's strongest bookworm." (Condescendingly, but still accurate.)
• Becoming the Mask: Earlier in the series, he felt iffy about getting books for Christmas. In Plan to Eradicate Christmas, while initially disappointed (probably because he already had a copy in English), he was genuinely happy to receive a French copy of Moby Dick. Probably justified because him growing older, and suffering the type of trauma inherent to being a glorified Child Soldier that regularly sees his friends die, has made him eventually accept a future as a peaceful scholar.
• Berserk Button: He has a few: Being compared to his father and mispronouncing Arkansas being a couple.
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • You really don't want to push Gohan too far.
  Gohan: TAKE THAT, YOU INSUFFERABLE F*CKING SIMPLETON!!
  • Seriously don't piss him off to the point he can achieve SS2.
• Break the Cutie:
  • When he was about five, he was kidnapped, his dad died in front of him, he was kidnapped by a different person, trained in insane conditions, and forced to fight for the sake of the world and watched more people be killed. The cheerful boy he was did not survive.
  • This is especially apparent in History of Trunks. After everything he's been through plus the apocalypse, Future Gohan is extremely jaded and slightly insane.
    Gohan: Well, when I was a toddler, my uncle showed up, kidnapped me, and then Mr. Piccolo killed him, and my dad. Then Mr. Piccolo kidnapped me, the Saiyans showed up, killed a bunch of people including Mr. Piccolo, then we went to Namek, a bunch more people died, we came back, then my dad died again, then all my friends died, and now everyone else is dying.
    Trunks: ...but it was better, right?
    Gohan: No.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Does it twice in the Christmas special, Plan to Eradicate Christmas. Noticeably, Goku is the one to get the ball rolling.
• Brick Joke:
  • Him and dodging, and it's mainly from Piccolo telling him with barely any warning to dodge.
    • Goku even notices and Piccolo says he's still working on it.
    • Then again when Android 20 complains about Android 19 not dodging Goku's attacks, saying doing so isn’t so difficult, Piccolo looks at Gohan.
    • This is ultimately what triggers his transformation into a Super Saiyan.
    • In Episode 60, Gohan actually manages to dodge Perfect Cell's attacks, prompting Kami and Nail to snark that Piccolo must be so proud of him; Piccolo just thinks back "Well he could be dodging better."
  • Comes full circle in History of Trunks, when his training of Future Trunks ends up mirroring his own training under Mr Piccolo.
• Broken Pedestal: Heavily implied towards Goku in The History of Trunks.
  Future Bulma: Oh, you are just like your father!
  Future Gohan: ... in what regard?
  Future Bulma: Well, you're strong and brave, and look at you in that gi!
  Future Gohan: It was the only thing he left me...
  • Zig-zagged in the last several episodes of the Cell Saga. For most of the period of time up until he and Goku go into the time chamber, Gohan does still outwardly show his bitterness and disdain for Goku's neglectful parenting here and there for a majority of the series. But when he goes into the time chamber with his father for an entire year and finally gets to spend a lot of time alone with him without Goku being dead or oblivious to his feelings, Gohan starts to genuinely like his dad for the first time since he was 4 years old, and is noticeably pretty happy around him, even if he has to put up with his Idiot Hero remarks. However, this quickly becomes a Broken Pedestal once again when Goku throws Gohan into the Lion's den to fight Cell all alone, and nearly dies, which is made clear when Gohan makes a threat to Goku about giving Cell a Senzu Bean and making Goku fight him despite being weakened. However, this thankfully becomes a Rebuilt Pedestal after Goku sacrifices himself and apologizes to Gohan for not being a better father, and Gohan accepts Goku's wish to remain dead to keep the earth safe.
• …But He Sounds Handsome: When discussing Gohan's alterego 'The Great Saiyaman' in Buu Bits he's the only one to think the name sounds kind of cool.
• Butt-Monkey: His track record's not as bad as Krillin, but he gets his butt kicked almost as much, especially in the movies. On top of that, there's his first year training with Piccolo, his relationship with his family, and always getting books for Christmas.
• Calling the Old Man Out:
  • In Episode 23, even if it wasn't really his dad he was saying it to. But Goku was there and did overhear it. (Even if he didn't understand.) And most of it wasn't even Goku's fault.
    Gohan: (while beating up Ginyu in Goku's body) Abandoned me for a year with Piccolo, sent me off into space, and the next time I get to see you, you lost your damn body!? YOU'RE NOT EVEN YOU ANYMORE!
  • He does this again in Part 2 of Episode 60, only more in a "The Reason You Suck" Speech, verbally chastising Goku for foolishly letting his opponents give him a real fight and risking everything in the process instead of just killing them and being done with it. This time, it actually sticks.
    Gohan: But what? You're gonna give me advice now? Let me guess, I should let him go so he can be an even better fight later. Or maybe I should let him power up to 100% so I can teach him humility! Wait, I know! I should throw him a goddamn Senzu Bean, and let YOU fight him!
• Character Catchphrase:
  • "Crapbaskets!" whenever things get bad.
  • "...I need an adult."
  • "Mr. Piccolooooo!"
• Character Development: Gohan has three different character arcs within the series. All three of these arcs are resolved in episode 60:
  • Gohan's reluctance to fight. Once 16 spells it out to him that being a Suicidal Pacifist doesn't work against monsters like Cell, and Cell proves 16's point by crushing 16's head, Gohan finally stops holding back.
  • His strained relationship with his father grows more apparent, since Goku loves to fight and he doesn't. Before Goku sacrifices himself he apologizes to Gohan for not understanding that, since Goku thought fighting would make Gohan as happy as it makes Goku, until Piccolo had to spell it out to him.
  • Goku's Parental Neglect and Disappeared Dad status is one of several points of contention for Gohan, since Goku is either off training or dead (sometimes both). After his sacrifice, Goku decides to stay dead because his presence keeps drawing trouble to Earth, which Gohan ultimately accepts. Though he does insist that Goku at least stay in touch.
  • The snippets we see of teenage Gohan in Buu Bits show that he has mellowed out significantly and seems to be on much better terms with Goku. He also is no longer averse to fighting as long as it means protecting others, as he does so under the identity of The Great Saiyaman. It seems he also picked up a bit of his father's love for fighting recreationally, considering he willingly participated in the world tournament.
• Character Exaggeration: In the "Goku's Gonna Show You" gaming videos, he's a lot more fed up with Goku's antics, to the point of treating him with open contempt.
• Characterization Marches On: He's one of the most intelligent characters these days, but back in the pre-TFS Dead Zone Abridged movie, he's much dumber than usual, as he didn't know how many fingers a fish had.
• Child Prodigy: Abridged Gohan has intelligence decades ahead of his age, all thanks to Chi-Chi's endless pushing him to study.
  • A good example is when Trunks tries to explain the branching timelines problem, Gohan instantly catches on and takes over the explanation. He's been studying theoretical physics
    Gohan: ...although at this point, I guess it's just physics.
  • Goku also points out that Gohan is a ridiculously skilled fighter for his age, far stronger than Goku himself was.
• Child Soldier: He was recruited to fight for the fate of the planet at just four years old, and that was just the first example. The series in general explores all of the physical and mental issues of having a child fight on the frontlines, which culminates when he reaches Super Saiyan 2
• Compliment Backfire: People like to compare him to his father. He... doesn't appreciate it. Usually subverted immediately afterwards when they pay him a compliment that he's okay with, such as being as strong or as brave as Goku.
• Compressed Vice: Gohan has had multiple instances in DBZA where he was either fully ok with fighting someone else, or encouraged it before this moment, but Episodes 59 & 60 he is a Straw Pacifist. He does get called a coward, but that he usually wasn't a pacifist is not addressed in the "The Reason You Suck" Speech and he is merely considered a Holier Than Thou type of pacifist.
• Covert Pervert: Due to his Saiyan heritage and his training, he's more than capable of dodging any attack thrown his way by a human. So when Videl came flying at him with the intent to headlock him with her thighs (crotch firmly on face) when she was trying to fight "the Great Saiyaman," he let it happen. Videl presses him slightly on this in Buu Bits, before backing off with a goofy smile and a flustered "No reason" when he confirms he could have dodged.
• Creepy Monotone: After ascending to Super Saiyan 2, Gohan's tone gives off no emotion whatsoever. Piccolo sees this as a red flag.
• Crossdressing Voices: Averted with his younger self, who's been voiced by a woman in nearly every official dub for the series. Here, he's voiced by Masako.
• Deadpan Snarker: Once he becomes a Super Saiyan 2 ^note or a Super Duper Saiyan, he heavily gains this trait, first when dissing both Vegeta and Trunks at the same time ^note "Try to forget you're half Vegeta and don't f*ck it up.", then his backhanded comment on Cell throwing up Android 18 ^note "It's a girl. Mazel tov." and continuing to diss Cell when he inflates as he's about to explode ^note "So what was the plan here? Become so grotesque I wouldn't want to touch you? Because I'll be honest, it's working." and "Not my BMI, obviously," when Cell says he finally knows what he inherited from Gohan's cells., though it quickly vanishes once Cell reveals he really is about to blow up the planet and this time Gohan can't stop him.
• Deconstruction: In the original series, Gohan was a deconstruction of the child warrior taking after his father: not only does he not like to fight and detest having to, but he also begins looking towards Piccolo as a father figure over Goku, even emulating his style of dress. TFS are noticeably more heavy-handed with this, exaggerating his idolization of Piccolo to him developing a complex over Goku's frequent absences and his reluctance to fight being outright verbally torn apart by Cell and 16 as self-pitying cowardice that helps no one.
• Endearingly Dorky: Acknowledged as such in Dragon Ball Z Kai Abridged Episode 1:
  Goku: "I have a kid."
  Gohan: "I'm socially awkward."
  Krillin: "He's adorable!"
• Even the Guys Want Him: Only really applies to Dende who is technically genderless.
• Final Boss: Cell considers Super Saiyan 2 Gohan this, stating him to be "my final challenge."
• Foil: To his future self, believe it or not. In the future timeline, Gohan hated that his father died again, to the point he doesn't even bother to remember him. In the main timeline, Gohan blames himself for his father's second death when he could've ended Cell like he was supposed to.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Goes from a sweet child to a frighteningly powerful Soft-Spoken Sadist during the Perfect Cell fight. Even Vegeta was shocked.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Android 16 remarks that Gohan's issues with Goku do not excuse his self-pity and whining, considering that Trunks doesn't complain all that much despite coming from a Bad Future with his mother being his only surviving relative. And the less said about Vegeta's (and Trunks') childhood the better.
• Generation Xerox:
  • Having it called out on is one of Gohan's Berserk Buttons.
    Trunks: Well, I suppose you take a lot after your father.
    Gohan: [suddenly very serious] In what regard?
  • Echoed in The History of Trunks Abridged.
    Bulma: Oh, you are just like your father.
    Gohan: [suddenly very serious, mouth full of rice] In what regard?
  • In The History of Trunks Abridged he deliberately models himself after Piccolo.
• He Is All Grown Up: In The History of Trunks Abridged movie. Dende notices his teenage self got way more handsome.
• Heroic RRoD: After his defeat of Cell, he is blind, deaf and numb, all of which is fixed by a visit to Dende.
• Heroic Second Wind: Gets three during the final battle with Cell. The first comes from Piccolo telling him to stop being scared and fight back against Cell, the second is Goku giving him more confidence in the Kamahameha clash, and the third is when he takes advantage of Vegeta's distraction of Cell to finish the job with one final burst of power.
• Holier Than Thou: He is accused of being this by Cell and 16. While Gohan's pacifism is ostensibly noble, clinging to it even when the world is at stake and Cell is ready to kill is backfiring spectacularly, especially when he has the strength to stand up to him. The sentiment of it cannot be allowed to stand in the way of saving the world any longer and 16's head calls on him to abandon this behavior.
• Horrible Judge of Character: He seemed to be under the impression that Krillin and Maron were a good couple, despite it being an obvious one-sided relationship based purely around the former's sudden acquisition of wealth, though in truth, Maron was actually an undercover government agent investigating Krillin's insurance fraud and was more than happy to keep all the money he spent on her.
• Hulk Speak: Engages in a little of this after Freeza supremely pisses him off by nearly killing Krillin.
• Hypocrite: Calls out Goku and Vegeta constantly throughout Episode 60 Part 2 for being Blood Knights that prolonged their battles with Freeza and Cell to let them power up for a better challenge and screwing things up for everyone else in the process. He's also oblivious to the fact that he's prolonging the fight with Cell the exact same way under a different reason, which gives Cell the opportunity to screw things up by getting ready to blow himself and the planet up and forcing Goku to sacrifice himself to save everyone. To Gohan's credit, he does realize he just pulled exactly what Goku and Vegeta constantly do.

  Gohan: What is this shit, genetic?!

• Informed Judaism: His maternal grandmother was supposedly Jewish, though Chi-Chi was probably lying to increase the chances of him getting accepted into college. He does say "Mazel Tov" when Cell throws up 18, though.
• Innocence Lost: During the debut of Episode 60 Part 2, Kaiser and Lani explained that they see Gohan's ascension to Super Saiyan 2 as this, since he was forced to grow up at metaphorical gunpoint, abandon his childish ideals, and then lost his father due to his own hubris all in the span of a single day. They cited this as the reason for their soundtrack choices: while the Bruce Faulkoner score presents Gohan's transformation as heroic and epic, "Unmei no Hi" is a sad song about becoming evil in order to fight a greater evil.
• It's All About Me: 16, with a large dose of Brutal Honesty, calls him out on this type of behavior. Especially towards his behavior towards Goku, and not noticing once that Trunks has had a far worse life than him.
• It's All My Fault: After Goku's Heroic Sacrifice and apologizing to him, Gohan blames himself for not killing Cell when he had the opportunity.
• Jerkass Has a Point: When Goku told him to stop playing around and finish Cell off, Gohan mutters under his breath that anyone who was a Super Saiyan could do that themselves now that Cell was back to his Semi-Perfect form.
• Kid Detective: Gets to play the part in Episode 42, to his obvious delight, investigating first the wreck of Cell's timeship, then the disappearances at Ginger Town.
  Krillin: Hey, Gohan! You like mysteries?
  Gohan: Do I?!
• Leitmotif: Unmei no Hi ~ Tamashi tai Tamashi (Day of Fate ~ Spirit vs. Spirit) appears to be this to him as it plays when he transforms into Super Saiyan 2.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: Zig-zagged with the dynamic between Goku and Gohan. For all his worth, Gohan does care about Goku even when his life is in danger. And in return, Goku does care about Gohan. History of Trunks Abridged pretty much shows what would happen if Gohan stopped caring about Goku altogether had Goku spent any time with him. Although Gohan may not like it, he has quite a few traits in common with his dad.
• Little Professor Dialog: One of Gohan's main gimmicks is to spout very technical explanations and complex words that a kid his age should not be capable of.
• Misplaced Retribution: During the fight against Ginyu in Goku's body, an enraged Gohan goes a rant blaming Goku for abandoning him to Piccolo and sending him to Namek in addition to getting his body stolen. However none of that specifically is Goku's fault: there was nothing Goku could do to stop Piccolo since he was dead, it was Gohan himself who insisted he go to Namek against Chi-Chi's wishes, and Goku had no way of knowing that Ginyu could swap bodies.
• My God, What Have I Done?: When Cell activates his "Self-Destruct Form", Gohan laments that he let his anger get the better of him and it's his fault that things reached this stage. Of course he still does this by slamming Goku and Vegeta's less than positive tendencies.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: As in the original series, he can sense things. But in the season 2 finale, he looks upon a ship and mentions he senses a "dark force" inside. Cue his mother rushing out demanding to know where Gohan is.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Gives Cell a hell of a one after achieving Super Saiyan 2.
• "No More Holding Back" Speech: Delivers a haunting one to Perfect Cell in Episode 60 part 2.
  Gohan: Cell, you don't get it. I hate this. The vibrations through my fists on contact. The taste of blood in my mouth. The sound of my heart in my ears. I hate it. I always have. But right now, in this moment, the only thing I hate more than it is you. Because you were right about me. I was a coward. Scared of what would happen if I snapped. Afraid that, if I lost it this time, I'd never come back. That I'd finally kill someone. But I'm not scared anymore, Cell. ''Because there's no point in being afraid of the inevitable.'
• "Not So Different" Remark: In Episode 42 when Trunks tells Gohan he isn't that different from Goku in Trunks' time, he asks for some clarification. Like Goku, Gohan is one of the bravest and strongest men Trunks ever knew and idolized. Gohan can accept that.
• Oblivious to Love: He doesn't seem to notice Dende's rather unsubtle feelings for him.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Episode 10 of HFIL indicates that he managed to kill Bojack just like his anime counterpart, though we never get to see it.
• Only Sane Man: For the heroes, especially when put alongside Goku or Krillin.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Everyone, even Vegeta, is quite disturbed by Gohan turning into a Soft-Spoken Sadist upon reaching Super Saiyan 2.
  • More importantly is how little regard he shows for his friends and family, after putting up with all their shit for so long, and finally becoming stronger than all of them combined.
• Parental Issues: Episode 23 reveals that Gohan holds a lot of pent-up resentment towards Goku for being a neglectful parent. He lets it out on Ginyu while he's in Goku's body, and it slowly starts slipping out afterward.
  • In a twist of irony, while in the canon series the thought of Ginyu looking like Goku made him not able to fight at full strength, in Abridged it just motivated him even further.
  • He also has issues with his mother's controlling and domineering behavior and snaps on her shortly before leaving for Namek.
  • In History of Trunks, Gohan lists the loss of Piccolo and Krillin before Goku.
  • He doesn't talk to Chi-Chi in History of Trunks, either.
  • This is actually one of the reasons 16 gets onto him with this behavior. As 16 points out, despite Goku's flaws, his own negligence does not even compare to 16's "father" making him a literal killing machine for the sake of revenge, and Vegeta's outright abusive behavior towards Future Trunks.
• Parental Neglect: Goku has been out either fighting, training, or dying for so much of Gohan's life that when he tries to picture something Goku would say, all he can get is Goku saying goodbye to him.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: His No-Holds-Barred Beatdown of Perfect Cell is this to a T. Unfortunately it backfires when Cell, losing it after suffering said beatdown, decides to blow up the entire planet in a fit of rage.
• Phrase Catcher:
  • He gets told "I AM an adult" from many adults in several contexts.
  • Piccolo serves him a lot of "NEEEEEEEERRRRDD" and "DODGE!!!", the former also being thrown at him by Nappa and Cell.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Still on the short side, as he isn't into puberty just yet, he is a dangerous and powerful force, especially after he goes into Super Saiyan 2 mode.
• The Power of Hate: After 59 episodes of being a meek, Nice Guy Reluctant Warrior, the catalyst for his transformation into Super Saiyan 2 is a combination of his hatred of fighting, his father, and Cell finally pushing him over the edge. Once there, he relishes in hurting Cell and mocking the inept adults around him.
• Precision F-Strike:
  • Usually drops an F-bomb when sufficiently enraged.
  • In Episode 60 Part 2, he starts swearing like a sailor after he ascends into Super Saiyan 2. He also drops an uncensored F-bomb in Part 3.
• Reluctant Warrior: It becomes very clear around the start of the Android saga that he's not very enthusiastic about training and fighting. This tends to come up around Goku, who always mistakes Gohan's distaste for eagerness.
  • This is the reason for Cell's disdain for him, pointing out that his friends and father are fighting for their lives despite how different he is from them. 16, as much as he hates to admit, points out his own pacifism does not work against someone like Cell.
• Sanity Slippage:
  • Being dragged into violent, nightmarish battles and having Goku, Chi-Chi and Piccolo as parents has begun taking a serious toll on his mind.
  • In History of Trunks, his future self has repeated long conversations with an imaginary version of Piccolo.
• Selective Obliviousness: For all the bitterness he has against his father Gohan seems to ignore the fact that Goku wasn't around for a lot of his life because he was dead.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: He's called "Nerd" by Piccolo for this.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: His transformation into 'Super Duper Saiyan' turns him into one of these, it's a massive case of O.O.C. Is Serious Business.
• Sophisticated as Hell:
  Gohan: I'M GOING TO EVISCERATE YOU AND USE YOUR GASTROINTESTINAL TRACT AS A CONDOM AS I FORNICATE WITH YOUR SKULL!!!
  Nappa: ...What?
  Gohan: I'M GONNA SKULL F*CK YOU!!!
• Suicidal Pacifism: Cell and Android 16 call him out for this in Episode 60. When Cell calls him out for being a coward because he doesn't want to fight, Gohan responds by saying he's just a pacifist. Cell basically says it's another way of saying he's "a coward patting himself on the back." This is exaggerated from the source material as the Gohan of the original manga/anime never pretended to have moral scruples against killing villains.
  Android 16: You think you're better than everyone else. But there you stand, the good man doing nothing. And while evil triumphs, and your rigid pacifism crumbles into bloodstained dust, the only victory afforded to you is that you stuck true to your guns. You were a coward. To your last whimper.
• Superpowered Evil Side: Super Saiyan 2 is pretty explicitly this when he first uses it, being the release of years of pent up aggression and fury. Not only does he get downright sadistic towards Cell, but he's pretty insulting and dismissive even towards his friends, acting utterly nonchalant when a Cell Junior threatens to kill Krillin and telling Trunks "Try to forget you're half-Vegeta and don't f*** it up." (On that note, he's absolutely savage towards Vegeta.)

  Gohan: (talking about Cell) Hold on! I'm not done ripping the wings off this butterfly.

  Piccolo: Red flag!

• Tag Along Kid: The only kid Z-fighter for the majority of the series, which Chi-Chi does not approve of.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: In Episode 60 part 1, Gohan gets chewed out by both Cell and Android 16 for basically doing nothing but standing around and whining about his situation when the others were fight for the world. Hell, Cell openly calls him a coward, and 16 agrees.
  • Gohan spends a good bit of Part 2 calling out both Goku and Vegeta for screwing things up with their Blood Knight tendencies and letting mass-murdering monsters like Freeza and Cell run rampant just because they wanted better fights. Of course, he's really no better for prolonging the fight with Cell just because he wanted to torture him.
• Took a Level in Badass: Well, Badass, if disturbingly manic-psychopathic, as after achieving SS2, he coldly efficiently kills off all of the Cell Jr.s with little effort, and gives off a fight that even frightens Cell himself, all while rarely ever lifting his tone above a calm monotone.
• Took a Level in Kindness: He's far more mellow as a teenager by the time of Buu Bits where he gets into friendly conversations with people, and even warns Shin not to provoke Goku, since at that point, Goku is pissed at Vegeta, and doing so would make it worse.
• Tranquil Fury: Goku's antics reaaaally test Gohan's patience with him.
  • Super Saiyan 2 Gohan is a chilling example of this, keeping a firm Creepy Monotone even as he slaughters the Cell Juniors and calmly talks down to Cell as he methodically tears him apart.
• Trauma Conga Line: Age four, his father dies and he gets kidnapped. Age five, he sees several more people die, at least one protecting him, and gets beaten down by Nappa and Vegeta. And that's not even getting into Namek and, eventually, the Cell Games.
• True Final Boss: An Invoked Trope by Cell, who wants a Worthy Opponent for his final challenge, having defeated, by this point, every Z-Fighter present at one point except Yamcha^note He defeats Piccolo before he absorbed 17, he stomps 16 after doing so, he outlasts Tenshinhan's Kikoho barrage, he swats Krillin aside, he defeats Vegeta and Trunks back-to-back after attaining his Perfect Form, and although Goku (having been the first true challenge Cell received in his Perfect Form) gave up, Cell would've outlasted him anyway, and comes to view Gohan as both this trope and as a Super Boss. He was plenty impressed by Goku, viewing him initially as a suitable Final Boss to test his new abilities in his perfect form, and unimpressed by the other Z-Fighters, but then he finds out about Gohan's latent power, and true to this trope, goes out of his way to "unlocking" the most difficult final battle like he was a gamer trying to find and unlock the hidden, hardest boss in a video game, by torturing Gohan's loved ones. Even more true to this trope, Gohan initially didn't even want to fight him, and to continue the gamer analogy, Cell didn't even need to fight Gohan to "beat the game". The result is essentially a Video Game Cruelty Punishment in-Universe.

  Cell: And here I thought that yarn you were spinning was going to turn up short. But here you are! My final challenge!

• Unstoppable Rage: Even more emphasized than it was in the original. Gohan's got issues.
  • When he ascends to Super Saiyan 2, he goes from Unstoppable Rage to Tranquil Fury.
• Vocal Evolution: His voice becomes a little deeper in the Android/Cell Saga in accordance with him growing up. The brief flash forward in Super Android 13 Abridged gave us a teaser of how Teen Gohan would sound like in the future: similar to Goku in the early episodes.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Unlike in canon, where Gohan may not like to fight, but ultimately understands it's something that he will need to engage in from time to time, here Gohan is an Actual Pacifist who detests fighting as a whole and tries to avoid it as much as possible, only pushed to violence when his Berserk Button is pushed. Unfortunately for him, parody or not, this is a Shonen Anime and he is surrounded by BloodKnights, so his pacifism is seen as a weakness, not a virtue, something Cell calls him out on and 16 agrees with him.
• Younger Than They Look: Even his own father mistakes him for a teenager after he emerges from the Hyperbolic Time Chamber:
  Krillin: Crazy. So you're both like a year older now, huh?
  Goku: Yeah-huh, which means he's teen Gohan now.
  Gohan: Actually, I'm eleven.
• Wacky Parent, Serious Child: Even more than canon to Goku's Wacky Parent. In fact, its one of the biggest sources of friction between them in this series; Gohan understands the severity of the threats they constantly face, which makes him incredulous at how Goku only seems to care about having a fun fight. He was not pleased at all when Goku sent him to fight Cell and gives him a Senzu Bean to "make the fight fair."
• Wise Beyond Their Years: At age four, he already knows enough science to point out how training him like Piccolo does might cripple him forever. Gohan's smarts are a bit of a Running Gag.

Bulma

"Bulma: kills droids dead."

Voiced by: Corrine "Megami33" Sudberg

Bulma is Goku's oldest friend, having been the first human he ever met other than his grandpa, Son Gohan (not to be confused with his son, Gohan). A genius inventor, she created the Dragon Radar that allows Goku and company to find the Dragon Balls at an increasingly efficient rate. Her brilliance is somewhat mitigated by her brash and oftentimes arrogant nature. Not really much of a fighter, she prefers to help her friends out from the sidelines.

---

• Adaptational Nice Guy: Bulma in the source material is far more short-tempered and generally irritable than she is here.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Her baby-daddy is Vegeta, who she got into an insult war with that caused Belligerent Sexual Tension, and who she invited to sleep with her afterwards.
  Future Trunks: (exasperated): All [Vegeta] does is scream at you...
  Bulma: (sensually): Yeah he does!
• All Women Are Lustful: Like Chi-Chi, (the other major female character) she has quite an active sex life. She's dated (and, presumably, slept with) Yamcha, had sex with Vegeta, her History of Trunks self propositioned a grown-up Gohan, and she hit on Trunks before she learned he was her son from the future.
  • She's self-aware of her tendencies, though, or at least Future Bulma is - when Trunks tells his mother that present!Bulma made a pass at him, her reaction indicates that she'd actually be surprised if her past self hadn't done that.
• Amicable Exes: After things mellowed out after he cheated on her with Puar, and after Goku prevented his suicide, she and Yamcha remain at least neutral towards each other.
• Badass Boast: After developing the detonation device for the Androids: "Bulma: Kills Droids Dead."
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Vegeta.
• Beyond the Impossible: It's impossible for people untrained in Martial Arts and Ki to sense power levels, so when The Team Normal says that she can feel Perfect Cell's power...
  Bulma: Hey, so, I can't sense power levels, but I can feel that. Does that mean anything?
  Piccolo: We're f**ked!
• Demoted to Extra: Lampshaded, but also inverted. Because the abridged series has a greater focus on dialogue over action, Bulma gets more focus than in her parent series.
• Everyone Has Standards: When she gets in on Piccolo and Tien's action by betting that both Krillin and Vegeta will screw up and doom everyone, both of them are taken aback.
  • While she can be pretty self-centered and mean at times, it's clear she's disgusted by her father's politically incorrect tendencies, from him trying to call Namekians a slur before she called him out on it to her being angry at him approving Gero's idea of kidnapping orphans to experiment on.
• Glamorous Single Mother: Since Vegeta went to space, running away from the responsibility, a year and a half ago. Justified by the fact that, being one of the richest people on the planet who lives with her parents, she doesn't really have to work, and is a genius scientist anyway.
• Good Parents: Once she finds out that Trunks is her son (and they both get past her unknowingly hitting on him), Bulma immediately becomes a sweet and doting mother to him, and the fact that Trunks is a Nice Guy despite having survived an apocalypse is put down to Bulma's influence.
  Trunks: Then again, considering the dysfunction of that whole group...maybe I'm not the worst off.
  Future Bulma: Yeah. Because I raised you right!
• Guilt by Association: Despite him not really doing anything hostile to her, Bulma considers Gohan as someone she will kill in their sleep after leaving her behind to guard the Dragon Ball on Namek.
• Has a Type: As if her actions throughout the series weren't proof enough, History of Trunks reveals that she specifically has a thing for short, black-haired, musclebound Hunks.
• It's All About Me:
  • When Yamcha contacts her through King Kai's telepathy, she dumps him for not contacting her in months. (She doesn't know and may not care that King Kai never told Yamcha that he could contact her, and only let him do it that time so he could laugh at Yamcha getting dumped.) While talking with Yamcha invites Vegeta to her home to stay there.^note It should be noted, however, that Bulma caught Yamcha cheating on her in the pilot, so it's also likely a case of Best Served Cold.
  • Her outraged reaction to Krillin destroying the Androids' detonator is not because he put everyone's lives in jeopardy, but because she spent a whole 20 hours making that thing, dammit! That said, she only THEN learns Android 18 was a girl, at which point she figures out Krillin's reasons and reacts understandingly towards it.
• Jerkass: Kind of an unlikable bitch who treats Krillin and Yamcha the worst out of everyone. See also It's All About Me.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: However, she takes a level in kindness in the Android and Cell sagas, she becomes much more even tempered and more concerned about other people, which may be due to the fact she had a baby putting things into perspective.
• Locked Out of the Loop: No one lets her know the Dragon Balls have disappeared until they're already back.
• Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: She can be a jerk to Yamcha and Krillin quite often, but turns out that she's definitely a much better person than her father.
• The Mourning After: Her sought-after qualities on an online dating site in History of Trunks include "black-haired, short, and likes to work out", implying she did care for Vegeta and never really got over him.
• My Beloved Smother: After learning that Future Trunks was her son she starts doting on him like he's a little boy, with her offering him a snack and a juice box after his fight with Cell and him needing to remind her that he's 18. Not to mention her reaction when Piccolo told her about the fight.
  Bulma: What?! But he's just a baby!
  Beat
  Bulma: Oh-ho, right... the future one... But he's just a baby!
• My God, What Have I Done?: She has a minor one of these when she realizes she propositioned her future son for sex.
• Neutral Female:
  • She winds up playing this role on Namek, much to her chagrin:
    Bulma: Those bitches on Lifetime might put up with it, but not me!
  • Lampshaded in Kai Abridged Episode 2 where she doesn't even have a single line.
    Krillin: Bulma? Do not do anything for this entire trip. [Bulma nods mutely]
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Telling Lord Slug about the Dragon Radar in his movie. Almost all the troubles that Future Trunks runs into are a result of Future Bulma not giving him vital information like the location of Dr Gero's lab or just how much of a stubborn ass his father was.
• Oh, Crap!: Her reaction to discovering that she'd previously solicited her future son for sex. Krillin on the other hand, found this utterly hilarious, much like the audience.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: As of Episode 41 Krillin is still teasing her over the fact that she solicited her own time-travelling son.
• Parental Incest: She flirts with Future Trunks, who is an adult version of her then unborn son. Trunks is understandably disgusted by this, especially when she says "I'll be your mommy". Once she finds out, she's disgusted with herself as well.
  Bulma: Oh, my God, I solicited my son for sex.
• Platonic Life-Partners: Like in the series proper, she and Goku have been thick as thieves for a long time.
• Really Gets Around: Implied by Master Roshi after Yamcha gets killed in Season 1.
  Bulma: I was saving myself for him!
  [beat]
  Master Roshi: Bullshit!
• Replacement Goldfish: In History of Trunks, she keeps trying to find someone kind of like Vegeta.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: How she ends up getting together with Vegeta. They both enjoying clashing and butting heads.
• Smart Ball: Like in the original, she recommends just using the Dragon Balls to simply find and kill Dr. Gero before he ever makes the androids (though unlike it, she makes no bones about how this would be cold-blooded murder). Naturally, this is rejected because Goku and Vegeta want to fight them.
• Suddenly Always Knew That: ...And yet, she knew the location of Dr. Gero's lab. Having the Dragon Balls to locate his lab would've been a waste of time. Though to be fair, she didn't know that it was Dr. Gero who constructed the androids at the time.
• The Tease: Spends the entire month-long trip to Namek walking around the ship in her underwear, to Krillin's chagrin.
• Took a Level in Kindness: She seems to have mellowed out considerably in the Android and Cell Sagas as compared to previous episodes. Being a mom can do that to you.
• Vague Age: She's prone to lying about her age. In History of Trunks, her son notes that she's been 37 for "ten years now".
• What the Hell, Hero?: Although Future Bulma isn't called out to her face, Krillin wonders what she was thinking when she decided not to tell Trunks vital information about the Z-Fighters, especially Goku and Vegeta.
  Krillin: Jesus, Future Bulma! What the shit?

Krillin

"We're all gonna DIE!!!"

Voiced by: Nick "Lanipator" Landis

Goku's best friend since childhood, having trained with him as a kid under the tutelage of Master Roshi. A former monk of the Orin Temple with a perverted side to him, Krillin's not really the luckiest of folks out there, but he tries his best to help Goku and co. out whenever he's certain he won't get killed again. Spends his free time training for tournaments and running a gaming show on YouTube.

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• Accidental Misnaming: He doesn't seem to be great with names. He kept referring to Dende as "Little Green" in spite of being told on multiple occasions to knock it off, and he once forgot Korin's name and resorted to "Whiskers the Wonder-Cat" instead. It was really awkward.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: He's one of the few characters who genuinely likes and tries to get along with Vegeta, despite acknowledging his anger issues and past conflicts with him. In canon, Krillin hated Vegeta possibly even moreso than the other Z-Fighters, to the point of admitting to Vegeta point blank that he wouldn't care at all if Cell killed him, whereas in the same scene in Abridged, he's sincerely trying to get him to safety after his lopsided bout with Cell.
• Adaptational Badass: See No-Sell below. He's generally portrayed as more fearful than his canon counterpart, which makes the moments when he can casually shrug off danger all the more striking. For example, in The World's Strongest, he runs in terror at the power Dr. Kochin's Arm Cannon. In the Abridged version, not only does he sit there and take the bullets, he also has time enough to casually reminisce about Launch.
• Adaptational Dumbass: Arguably suffers this the worst out of any of the main characters from the original source material. While Abridged Goku is far dumber, it's not such a leap from the manga. Krillin, on the other hand, is usually characterized as one of the smarter and most strategically minded Z-Fighters, in contrast to his Abridged counterpart who is more often than not portrayed as an absent-minded moron.
• Adaptational Jerkass: He's still not a bad person, by any means, but he's a lot more abrasive and rude than in the original show and more prone to jerkass behaviour. The highlights being constantly calling Dende "Little Green" despite the latter's protests and committing insurance fraud.
• Adaptational Wimp:
  • In Cooler 2: The Return of Cooler's Revenge: The Reckoning. In the original film, Krillin manages to defend himself very well from the robots, and only loses when he is overwhelmed by the numbers. In this version he is easily defeated.
  • In Super Android 13. In the original film, Krillin also attacks Android 13 to give Goku the chance to charge the Spirit Bomb, with the reason he is injured at the end of the movie being that he took an attack from him. In this version, he is the only character who doesn't attack Android 13, with the reason he's injured at the end instead being because Vegeta was thrown into him.
• Animal Motifs: Played for Laughs with ducks being associated with him, starting with him (successfully) impersonating a space duck and Android 16's scanners identifying him as such.
• As the Good Book Says...: Despite being a Buddhist.^note A hungry Buddhist.
• Berserk Button: Post-Cell saga Krillin will shrug off any and all insults directed at him, but if you insult his girlfriend, you're gonna pay.
• Beyond the Impossible: At the end of his day-long Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex marathon with Android 18, she is audibly exhausted while he sounds just fine, meaning that he has more stamina than a woman with literally infinite energy.
• Bigger Is Better in Bed: Implied. When 18 orders him to remove his pants, the sound of something heavy and flesh-like hitting the ground can be heard. Immediately followed by 18's stunned voice "OH! MY! GOD! Get on the bed!"
• Break the Cutie: Goes through this twice. The first time is when he's deeply in love with Android 18 and couldn't bring himself to kill her. The second is once Cell absorbs her, the first thing he does is throw his Destructo Disk, which did not do any meaningful damage to him. And it's not Played for Laughs.
  Krillin: [while tearing up] And because of that, 18 had to die!?
  Trunks: What does it matter!? That was your plan the entire... [sees Krillin struggling to hold back his tears] Oh... shit.
• Brick Joke: In the Freeza Saga, he pretended to be a "space duck" to throw off some soldiers. Later, Android 16 mistakes him for a duck.
• Bring My Brown Pants: Krillin always gets to show he is scared the most out of everyone.
  Krillin: On the bright side, I no longer have to pee anymore.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • In seasons 1 and 2, he is very much likely to be the victim of some cosmic unluckiness or other person's jerkass behavior. It decreases in Season 3, likely because of Yamcha's involvement.
    • It has been stated in an FAQ that the reason why they made fun of Krillin so much during that time was "because Yamcha isn't around enough".
    Krillin: Do you know how many times I've been hit by someone stronger than me since I became an adult? EVERY TIME! Barring Bulma and Chi-Chi, literally every time!
  • Likewise, he's on the receiving end of most abuse in the movies even more than he originally was. Similarly, Yamcha is absent from most of the films, while Krillin appeared in almost all of them.
• Calling Me a Logarithm: When Nappa points out the Namekian in the group (referring to Piccolo), Krillin takes offense. Piccolo immediately corrects him and tells him how stupid his reaction was.
• Calling Your Orgasms: When Krillin and 18 are about to hit their climaxes on Their First Time, he shoots a Scatter Bullet so powerful, it destroys the Krillin Owned Count counter.
• Combat Pragmatist: He makes liberal use of Solar Flares to get out of sticky situations and also uses his Destructo Disk as a sneak attack. Since he's very low on the power scale of the series any straight up fight ends badly for him and even most where he does use combat pragmatism still ends up badly.
• Comically Missing the Point: He doesn't pick up on the fact that Dende doesn't like being called "Little Green" despite Dende repeatedly saying, "My name is Dende" in response, nor does he realize that no one likes the name Team Three Star (including himself) even though Vegeta repeatedly threatens him over it. Gohan has to say it outright for both of these.
  • Also, when Freeza states his killing Dende is kinder than letting him live to watch Freeza butcher everyone, Vegeta points out the joke is on Freeza because Dende hated the "bald one." Krillin indignantly protests, stating Dende just met Piccolo.
• Cowardly Lion: He doesn't see any reason to put his life at risk if he can help it, when it wouldn't (at least from his perspective) really accomplish anything anyway, and he often advocates to run away against the opposition. However, he never abandons his friends and, when the chips are down, he's willing to fight.
• Dating Catwoman: He has a crush on Android 18 that seems to be returned. When he gets ahold of her Self-Destruct Mechanism, his initial enthusiasm fades as it feels heavier than he expected…
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • Stars in Episode 31, where things finally start going his way. Then the feds show up...
  • In Dragon ShortZ Episode 3, co-starring with Android 18 on their first date. This time, barring some hiccups during the episode and at the ending card, it ends on a very happy and heartwarming note.
• Double Entendre: In Episode 31, he makes these about "pounding Chi-Chi's tuna". Completely accidentally.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: After using a Scatter Shot to kill three Saibamen, no one is impressed. Vegeta points out that he and Nappa are stronger still, and Krillin's own allies are more impressed with Piccolo killing one Saibaman.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Due to the series being cut short at the Cell Saga, Krillin's final scene is of him destroying his "owned count" through sex with Android 18.
• Exact Words: He gleefully calls out that he killed Cell. This is true but this version of Cell was just a developing creature in a huge tube.
• Extreme Doormat: Part of the reason for his Odd Friendship with Vegeta - he knows he's barely a step above Yamcha in the pecking order of the Z fighters, and so he has a tendency to agree with any jokes Vegeta makes about him.
• Forgot About His Powers: Even when other characters remind him of his Kienzan, he still doesn't use it.
• Friendship Moment:
  • Goku considers Krillin to be his best friend and Krillin's death is what causes Goku to go Super Saiyan.
  • When Krillin thinks Sauza has destroyed the only means of saving Goku's life in Revenge of Cooler, he goes nuts and launches a hopeless attack on Sauza.
  • When Trunks revealed he was a Super Saiyan to Goku, Goku remembered what had happened to trigger his initial transformation and immediately started asking if Krillin was OK and refused to talk about anything else until he was given an answer. This is very telling of their friendship because Krillin's welfare got GOKU to stay focused on something.
  • Krillin's willingness to stand up to the Androids, who could easily kill him, for Goku's sake.
  • Not played up quite as much, but Krillin is basically a bigger fixture in Gohan's life than his father. At one point, Gohan, thinking to himself, refers to Krillin as his best friend. When Freeza almost kills him in his second form, Gohan briefly goes berserk and dominates the alien overlord, and his future incarnation lists him right after Piccolo in his summation of the deaths that motivate him to go Super Saiyan. If Piccolo is his surrogate father, Krillin is his surrogate big brother.
  • Krillin and Vegeta have a few moments. Krillin says point-blank to Trunks in Episode 52 that, despite Vegeta's constant anger and even after their battles at the beginning of the series, he genuinely likes the prince. This is compounded when they share a few laughs at Krillin's own ineptitude while he helps Vegeta get back up after Vegeta's bout with Perfect Cell. And shortly before Perfect Cell's news conference, Vegeta even messes with Krillin as Krillin and Yamcha talk about heading to the gym, and it lacks most of the malevolence usually seen in any conversations with anyone else. This, however, doesn't stop Vegeta from reacting like one would expect if Krillin accidentally pushes a Berserk Button.
• Friend-or-Idol Decision: An interesting variant. Krillin has to choose whether or not to activate Android 18's self-destruct device, which would prevent Cell from absorbing her, save all of his friends, and make him an important and heroic character, but kill the woman he loves with his own two hands.
• Gag Penis: Subverted on Namek. He keeps getting cut off while trying to wish for a "three-foot -" but it turns out he just wants a hoagie. Then again, if Android 18's reaction a full season later is any indication, he doesn't need it. Krillin was wrong: he is a shower.
  • Three-foot might be more accurate then anyone knows. After his pants hit the floor, there was a second, meatier, thunk.
    18: Oh. My. GOD!
    Krillin: ...what?
    18: Get on the bed!
    Krillin: YES, MA'AM!
• Gallows Humor: Krillin is known to crack jokes while bad things are happening. When Gohan calls him out on it in Episode 59, Krillin snaps at him and yells "Let me cope!"
• Happily Married: Marries 18 in the Time Skip in the Buu Bits shorts, and they both have a daughter Maron.
• Hidden Depths: He, of all people, ignored Trunks' suggestion to give Goku a Senzu Bean in his fight with Cell along with the rest of the Z fighters. Notable because Krillin was standing right next to Trunks staring at the fight.
• Hollywood Tone-Deaf: His rendition of "Don't Stop Believin'" is so bad that it sounds like he's actively trying to sing as off-key as possible.
• Inconsistent Spelling: Officially, he's known as Krillin (the English prounciation/spelling, provided by Funimation), though in the scripts, he's written as Kuririn (an approximation of the Japanese pronunciation, provided by the English manga and Funimation's subtitles). Kaiser initially did this as a gag and intended on stopping, but Lanipator told him to keep spelling Krillin as Kuririn whenever he's speaking, since it made it easier to Ctrl+F and search for Krillin's lines without also highlighting every time he was mentioned in dialogue.
• Innocent Innuendo: In Episode 31 he repeatedly references "pounding Chi-Chi's tuna" by which he simply means Gohan's method of beating up fish to get dinner. He never once realizes the double entendre, even when Master Roshi laughs about it and Chi-Chi gets mad.
• Innocently Insensitive: One of his defining traits. He's friendly and well-meaning, but can not seem to avoid making tactless jokes. Besides the running gag of calling Dende "Little Green", he almost bonded with Vegeta over their shared tragedies (this was after Vegeta was trounced by Cell and Krillin watched Android 18 get absorbed) but a few ill-advised remarks from Krillin (who didn't notice Vegeta's failure to laugh) put an end to that... and increased the owned counter.
• Insistent Terminology: A meta example. KaiserNeko originally spelled his name "Kuririn" in the scripts as a joke, while all the dialogue had everyone say the name "Krillin". Lanipator requested he keep it though, because that made it easy to Ctrl+F his lines during recording sessions.
• Insurance Fraud: He took a large life insurance policy out on himself and named his "brother", who is just himself under a different name, as the beneficiary.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Gohan, like in the original series.
• Iron Butt Monkey: As Trunks observes, if Krillin had Sayian biology, he'd be pretty much unstoppable by the middle of the Cell saga.
  • Although he's the frequent butt of jokes, he is, for the most part, extremely resilient. He had a steamroller dropped on him and all it did was confuse him, much to Guldo's consternation.
  • He took a piece of Freeza debris to the forehead without flinching.
  • He also shrugged off being hit by Bulma's plane at full speed, and even lampshaded it.
  • And he took Dr. Kochin's machine gun straight to the face and all he did in response is wonder about happened to Launch.
• It's All About Me: He is so terrified of dying or being hurt that his empathy for other people is a little delayed. This is a consequence of being one of the bottom two heroic characters in terms of power level.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As noted in the entry for Adaptational Jerkass, Krillin is prone to Jerkass and generally rude behavior. That said, most of Krillin's positive qualities from the original show, particularly his compassion and friendliness, are still present, and he leans much closer to the "Heart of Gold" part overall.
• Karmic Jackpot: At the end of season 3, he gets to have his filthy way with Android 18. His jackpot is so epic it brings his "Owned Count" from 39 all the way down to 0 before it is completely obliterated.
• Locked Out of the Loop: During the Android Saga, Krillin's only information on the Androids is Trunks' experience from the Bad Future and that they completely dominated the last fight they were in, which leaves him increasingly conflicted over the Androids' Self-Destruct Mechanism Bulma hands to him when he develops feelings for Android 18. Upon discovering that the current Androids aren't that bad, he happily rids himself of the remote and destroys it. Not only do Tien, Piccolo, and Bulma want to rake him over the coals for that, even Android 18 thinks it was a bad idea… and so does Krillin, when he realizes how Cell benefits from it.
• Lovable Coward: Downplayed example. He's willing to get into a fight when the chips are down, but he's well aware that he's "the beta male" and doesn't see any reason to put his life at risk if he can help it, when it wouldn't (at least from his perspective) really accomplish anything anyway.
• Made of Iron: Seriously. Lovable Coward or not, he can survive even the most grievous injury from the Big Bad of the saga. Including getting ran through the gut by Freeza or his neck getting snapped by Cell kicking him. Trunks even points out that if Krillin had Saiyan genes, he would be unstoppable given how often he takes damage.
• Masturbation Means Sexual Frustration: He laments that he's unable to "relieve the tension" in episode 12 when Bulma is running around in her underwear the whole time. It's heavily implied he does "relieve the tension" in the cave when they get to Namek in episode 13, with Bulma complaining in a couple future episodes that she's still finding puddles of it.
• The Medic: He takes his role as senzu bean caddy very seriously in season 3.
  Krillin: SENZU BEAN!!!
• Motor Mouth: He can not shut up when he's scared.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In spades, whether out of fear or stupidity.
  • Bulma calls Krillin out on this when he hands a Dragon Ball over to Vegeta. Of course, this is Vegeta we're talking about, so it's quite justified on his part.
  • He also cannot shut up when he is scared.
    • He informed Vegeta about the potential-unlocking Super Kami Guru.
    • He told Captain Ginyu where the majority of the Dragon Balls are located.
    • He screamed out loud about Goku's "secret" attempt to defeat Freeza. The latter thankfully had no idea what he was talking about.
    • And he almost dropped Earth's name as their home planet to Freeza. Unfortunately, it's because of Krillin's mistreatment of Dende that Dende revealed Earth's name to the intergalactic space emperor.
  • Also unwittingly causes one for himself when he reveals to Maron he committed insurance fraud. Turned out Maron was a government agent assigned to get a confession out of him.
  • Then there is the infamous moment when he breaks the remote to Android 18's self-destruct mechanism because he's fallen for her.
    • For all of Trunks' holding a grudge against him, Krillin throws this back at the half-Saiyan when he demands to know why Trunks has been holding back.
• The Nicknamer:
  • "Little Green!" Dende's attempts to correct him fall on deaf ears. At least until Dende becomes the new Kami.
  • And to Nail: "Big Green!" Nail didn't appreciate it, and made that fact clear.
  • In Revenge of Cooler Abridged, he relates how the last time he saw Korin, Krillin couldn't remember his name so he just kept calling him "Whiskers the Wonder Cat."
• Nobody Here but Us Birds: One of his first instincts when scared is to yell "Quack!", whether or not he's hiding. It works out surprisingly well for him. At one point, Goku even recognizes he's in trouble by hearing him yell it out.
• No Indoor Voice: He shouts a lot when he is scared. This happens often.
• Non Sequitur, *Thud*: Krillin has this after getting his 12th owned
  Krillin: HELLO GOHAN HAVE YOU DONE YOUR HOMEWORK BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T, CHI-CHI WILL KICK MY ASS!
  Gohan: Ah, are you okay?
  Krillin: Yeah, seems he threw my nervous system out of whack, there. Can't quite feel the pain!
  (Beat)
  Krillin: There it is! AAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOWWWWW...
• The Noseless: As in canon, he lacks a nose. When he gets buried by rubble during Vegeta and Semi-Perfect Cell's fight, he says, "If I had a nose, I'm pretty sure it'd be broken."
• No-Sell: For all that he's Overshadowed by Awesome and treated as a weakling by other characters, Krillin is still durable enough to resist strong but mundane attacks. Guldo was clearly surprised when Krillin barely reacted to having a steamroller dropped on him.
  Krillin: What the hell was that?!
  Guldo: That… was supposed to crush you.
• Not So Above It All: For one of the most put upon characters in the show, he doesn't hesitate to join the rest in taking shots at Yamcha.
• Oh, Crap!: He naturally gets them a lot, but the greatest has to be when he learns Piccolo and Kami's fusion means the Dragon Balls were wiped from existence and there'll be no more wishing him back to life.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: For the crime of falling for Android 18 and destroying her remote, not only has Krillin gone unforgiven by the others, many of them assume his intent was exclusively to have sex with her.
• Only Sane Man: He has consistently been the voice of reason in Season 3.
  • He doesn't rush in to fight the Androids who completely outclass him.
  • He stops Cell from being able to grow in Gero's lab.
  • He also gives Trunks an incredible What the Hell, Hero? moment in Episode 52.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Frequently lampshaded, and the former Trope Namer. He's stronger than Yamcha, the Saibamen, and Raditz but he can't compete with the other protagonists. Though he finally gets one moment to show just how dangerous he is from a regular human's perspective in Dragon ShortZ when, in response to a lecherous waiter hitting on Eighteen and insulting her for rejecting/threatening him, Krillin's reaction is to break the table in half. With one hand.
• Phrase Catcher: Krillin's thoughtless comments gets him the following often in the beginning of the series.
  Character X: Krillin!
  Krillin: What?
  Character X: Too soon!
• The Power of Love: Doesn't really make him any stronger. But it does give him the balls to stand up to Vegeta and Cell. Like when he was carrying an unconscious Android 18.
  Vegeta: You put that RealDoll down this instant.
  Krillin: Yeah, how about no?
  Vegeta: I can RIP. YOU. IN. HALF!
  Krillin: I know you can.
  Vegeta: ...When did you get the balls?
  Krillin: If I said it didn't have anything to do with holding a beautiful woman in my arms, I'd be a liar.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Surprisingly, inverted as far as possible. He and Yamcha bemoan missing a tournament not because it deprived them of the challenge or some equally hot-headed shonen hero fare, but, in their words, they missed out on "prize money".
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: He's tried to use "It's Kriller time!" when going into combat, but keeps getting casually swatted out of the way before doing anything badass.
• Revival Loophole: Before heading to Namek, he took out a large life insurance policy. After he was killed and subsequently revived by the Dragon Balls, he claimed the money while pretending to be his own nonexistent brother. He loses all the money when his Gold Digger girlfriend turns out to be a government agent who busts him for insurance fraud.
• Running Gagged: The first half of The Stinger for the finale of Season 3 has him reduce the Krillin Owned Count by one when Android 18 propositions him for sex and is impressed by his size. The second half shows that he's rocked her world enough times to be able to reduce the counter to one shortly before destroying it entirely with a Scatter Bullet as they finish.
• Sad Clown: How he deals with the stress of having watching from the sidelines when the stakes are high.
  Krillin: Heh, looks like there's a hole in the ring!
  Gohan: …Really?
  Krillin: Let me cope!
• Screams Like a Little Girl: A Running Gag. He once screamed for 20 seconds straight.
• Sex God: At the end of the Cell Saga, #18's attempt to "rock his world" turned into him rocking her world. 39 times, non-stop, for almost an entire day, reducing and utterly annihilating the Krillin Owned Count!
• Sexual Karma: In Episode 31, when he's using his ill-gotten insurance money to woo Maron, it turns out she was an IRS agent investigating him, and he gets nothing. But his feelings for 18 are entirely genuine. So much so, he's taken aback when she comes to cash in on her desired Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex at the end of the series, but ultimately agrees and they end up having an incredible night together. Their relationship develops rapidly from there, as their appearances in Dragon ShortZ show.
• Shoot the Dog: He kills a defenseless Baby!Cell to prevent him from appearing again in their timeline.
• Strange Minds Think Alike: He and Android 16 click more-or-less immediately, instantly getting one another's jokes and understanding one another's turns of phrase. This is likely a manifestation of Android 18's request for Android 16 to look after Krillin.
• Throw the Dog a Bone:
  • Episode 51 shows that Android 18 actually reciprocates his feelings for her. Her knee-jerk reaction upon seeing Krillin is to think of him as the "cute" one again, she thinks about hooking up with him if they manage to survive the encounter with Cell, and her last plea before getting absorbed is for Android 16 to look after Krillin when she's gone.
  • "Krillin Plays" shows that, if nothing else, he has a good rapport with his YouTube audience, whom he affectionately refers to as "Krillers."invoked
  • He's the one that figured out where Dr. Gero's backup self was, allowing them to destroy it. Then he gets to be the first official person who kills Cell, albeit while he is still a fetus. Though he uses the opportunity to make an abortion joke.
  • In the season 3 finale, Android 18 fulfills her promise to herself rolling back the Krillin Owned Count from 39 to 38. After the credits, the camera cuts back to Kame House at night revealing that the counter has rolled back down to 1 before his "Scatter Bullet" flat out annihilates it. The same scene has 18 give a Big "OMG!" after Krillin drops trou, implying he IS gifted in one manner.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • On more of an emotional level. After coming back from his explosive space death, he seems a lot less scared when dealing with the Androids, compared to the wreck he was on Namek. His status currently shifted to Yamcha means he has time to snark and just enjoy the adventure.
  • As soon as Yamcha left though, he begins to return to his old status. The Krillin Owned Count is back, but he retains his newfound confidence, and got up pretty quickly after Gero owned him.
  • He threatened Cell for trying to absorb Android 18, and later stood up to Vegeta for threatening her.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: He has his moments.
  • In The Christmas Tree of Might, instead of wishing for Shenron to restore the forest that Oolong burned down, he wishes for a Christmas tree. Shenron is so disgusted by the selfishness of this wish that he summons Turles.
  • In Revenge of Cooler, he almost fed Oolong pork.
  • He committed insurance fraud.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Season 3 has him pick up the Jerkass Ball much less, now that Vegeta's joined the main group to fill that role. Tellingly, his affection towards Android 18 is far less superficial than it was for Maron and far more genuine.
• Tranquil Fury: When he's rightfully pissed AND isn't out of his league. Never once does he raise his voice towards a sleazy waiter that tried to hit on 18 in his presence during their date after he badmouths her for rejecting him. Even when he smashes the table offhandedly when the dumbass still won't let up.
• Twin Threesome Fantasy: After Cell turns out to be Not Quite Dead following his vomiting up of Android 18, de-evolution into Semi-Perfect Cell and blowing up, Krillin asks Gohan if there's a possibility that Perfect-er Cell will vomit up a second 18 if Gohan knocks him in the gut again. He was only asking for a friend...
• Uncovering Relationship Status: Krillin admits beforehand that it's probably an inappropiate time for this, but he still asks Android 18 if she's "seeing anyone right now" while they're desperately trying to run away from Cell in Episode 51.
• Vocal Evolution: His voice got a bit goofier as the series went on.
• Wasteful Wishing: On Namek, he wanted to wish for a three foot hoagie.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Tien, Piccolo, Bulma, and Trunks are disgusted when he refuses to kill Android 18 because he's attracted to her. Krillin's decision to stomp the shut down remote is enough to help push Trunks past the Rage Breaking Point. In his defense, Krillin seems to be Locked Out of the Loop since he still thought she and Android 17 were still sociopathic murderers and unaware Cell needed her for his Perfect form.
  • He gives a big one to Trunks for holding back in Trunks' efforts to keep Cell from absorbing Android 18 and reaching his perfect state, all due to Trunks not wanting to crush Vegeta's pride. At the same time he's also indirectly calling Vegeta out for allowing Cell to absorb Android 18 in the first place.
• Wowing Cthulhu: When Krillin picks up Android 18 to bring her to Bulma, Vegeta tries to stop him and tell him to "put that Realdoll down right now", and Krillin refuses. When Vegeta tells Krillin he could kill him, Krillin acknowledges this to be true, yet still stands his ground, causing Vegeta to ask in an impressed, albeit in an angry manner, "When did you get the balls?"
• Yank the Dog's Chain:
  • Immediately tells everyone about getting kissed by Android 18. Tien doesn't believe him, Trunks is sickened and says he can't believe him, Piccolo doesn't care, and Vegeta completely ignored him, though Krillin took his scream to mean that he believed him and was jealous. He later tells Yamcha, who also doesn't believe him.
  • In Episode 31, it appears that Krillin is now a multi-millionaire thanks to cashing in on the life insurance policy he took out on himself. He's even got a smoking-hot girlfriend, until she turns out to be a federal agent, who busts him for insurance fraud. And he has to pay back all of his money, including the over 500 grand he blew on Maron. Unsurprisingly, this causes his owned counter to go up.
  • In Episode 38, when the gang is about to start searching for Gero's lab, Krillin is afraid of Piccolo suggesting that they split up to cover more ground. He's pleasantly surprised when Piccolo instead suggests sticking together for safety. Naturally, it's short-lived as Tien points out how much more ground they'll cover if they split up.
  • After a whole lot of everyone, including himself, giving him crap for not using his incredibly powerful Kienzan, he finally tosses one at Perfect Cell… and it does absolutely nothing.

Piccolo

Voiced by: Nick "Lanipator" Landis

"Alright, better save Gohan."

The son of the identically-named demon king, Piccolo initially served as one of Goku's biggest foes, aiming to kill him as vengeance for the death of his father. However, over time Piccolo grows into one of Goku's most valuable allies, albeit begrudgingly at first. Though Piccolo's the Demon Prince, he's actually a Namekian, a sluglike creature from the distant planet Namek. His lifespan is also linked with that of Kami, the creator of the Dragon Balls, meaning that if one dies, so will the other. A stoic and wise fighter with plenty of snark, Piccolo is certainly one of the more unique members of the Z Fighters.

---

• Actually Pretty Funny: While trying to come up with some more badass names for his attacks, reluctantly admits to liking Nail's suggestion of "Nail Gun".
• Adaptational Dumbass: While Abridged Piccolo is usually given cases of Adaptational Intelligence, there are a few exceptions which are Played for Laughs:
  • His Heroic Sacrifice is a Stupid Sacrifice here, due to getting to Gohan long before the beam arrived and having time to lament his sacrifice, think about other options, choose another option, and then agree on the action.... all while standing there in place in front of the beam and ultimately dying an otherwise avoidable death.
  • When Gohan becomes a rampaging Great Ape, Piccolo destroys the moon, not because he knew that the moon was the cause of Gohan's transformation but because he thought the moon was mocking him.
• Adaptational Dye-Job: In The World's Strongest, his skin is blue for most of the movie. He states outright that it's too cold for him as a Namekian whose body is mostly water. Hence why he's turned blue. In the original he was still green.
• Adaptational Intelligence: The original Piccolo was a Genius Bruiser, but he tended have a fatal flaw of Didn't Think This Through a lot, or have his emotions blind his judgment. Abridged Piccolo is subtly portrayed as far smarter, partly because KaiserNeko and Lanipator are self-admitted Piccolo fans.
  • In the manga, Piccolo gloated to a dying Raditz that Goku could be brought back with the dragon balls, a decision that directly kickstarted the Saiyan Saga as Nappa and Vegeta overheard this and chose to come to earth in pursuit of immortality. Here, Goku’s the one to tell Raditz about the dragon balls (and even suggests wishing for immortality).
  • In the original manga, Piccolo orders Gohan and Krillin to bring him back to Namek so he could fight Freeza, despite the latter's protests. This was monumentally boneheaded, as the whole reason they were there was to revive him (if he dies, the dragon balls disappear and the whole trip is pointless), and Nail outright confirms that he completely overestimated his power and never would have had the slightest chance against even first form Freeza. Here it's the opposite: Piccolo tells them not to bring him back to Namek, only for Krillin to do it anyway.
  • Instead of just letting Freeza transform, Piccolo gets distracted by Nail talking about the lack of apps in his brain.
  • In the original manga, Piccolo loudly agreed with Vegeta that they should let Gero create his androids for the challenge of it, which ultimately turned out to be a terrible decision. This scene is pointedly excluded in TFS's version and emphasis is put solely on Vegeta and Goku. Piccolo just stands in the background looking annoyed.
  • In the original manga, Piccolo freaked out and instantly assumed Cell killed Gohan after the first blow, not bothering to use his ki sensing abilities to confirm that Gohan was A. much stronger than Goku and thus able to take a punch, and B. completely undamaged bar a superficial cut. Goku had to be the rational one and point it out to him. Here, Goku has a line about Gohan intentionally hiding his power level, so Piccolo doesn't look too dumb for not even trying that method.
• Adaptation Personality Change: This Piccolo has his Blood Knight tendencies pretty Downplayed, he's far more explicit and emotional about his protectiveness of Gohan, and he's far more interested in social interaction and making friends than in canon.
• Adaptational Villainy: In the original source, Piccolo, identifying Gohan's potential as a fighter, kidnaps him to train in preparation for the arrival of the Saiyans. Here, Piccolo, identifying Gohan's potential as a fighter, kidnaps him to train for use in taking over the world. He's actually not even aware that the Saiyans are coming until Kami warns him a few days beforehand, since Raditz died without saying anything about other Saiyans coming to Earth, and Piccolo had already left when the others overheard Vegeta and Nappa over Raditz's scouter. Afterwards he's pretty much in line with his original portrayal, though. In addition he basically straight-up murders Goku without his permission; unlike in the canon where Goku was fine with dying.
• Adaptational Wimp:
  • He doesn't seem to be as strong as he was in canon (in the anime, at least) when fighting Freeza's second form. In the anime, he was able to give Freeza a cathartic beatdown after removing his weighted clothing, forcing Freeza to transform into his third form. Here, it's implied that removing his weighted clothing didn't give him that much of a power boost.
  • World's Strongest Abridged reveals he has zero tolerance for extreme cold, which he has no problem with in established canon.
  • Downplayed in that it ultimately didn't matter much, but Piccolo is unable to go through an entire year in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber unlike Goku, Vegeta, Gohan and Trunks. Giving up in three days due to his hallucinations, which would translate to a couple of minutes outside. On the other hand, it's implied his hallucinations were a result of him going into the Chamber alone (discounting Nail and Kami). Vegeta, who was much stronger than Piccolo at the time, was suffering from even worse effects in a shorter amount of time because he didn't have anyone to accompany him inside.
• Aloof Ally: After his Heel–Face Turn, although this decreases over time.
• Anti-Anti-Christ: Like in the series proper, he's an emergency successor to his Demon King father/past life that eventually pulls a Heel–Face Turn. Furthermore, in an awkward attempt at small talk, he apologizes to Tien for the Demon King's murder of Chiaotzu.
• Attention Deficit... Oh, Shiny!: After absorbing Nail, he learns that it's very difficult to focus on what's happening around him when there's a voice in his head that can't leave him alone. Eventually, he gets over it... and then he gets another new voice in his head after absorbing Kami.
  [During Freeza's second transformation]
  Nail: Hey, you wanna play me in Minesweeper?
  Piccolo: You can't play someone in Minesweeper, it's a single player game!
  Nail: No, see, first I play, and then you try to beat my time and - oh hey, is he transforming?
  Piccolo: Dammit!
• Awesome, but Impractical:
  • Fully admits that having to charge the Makankosappo/Special Beam Cannon is a bit of a weakness.
  • When he spin kicks Cell, simply because he'd always wanted to do so, Nail and Kami ask him not to do so again. He promptly does, and whiffs the second one, then doesn't try it again.
• Badass Boast: In Episode 46, we get this gem.
  Android 16: He has fused with Kami!
  Android 17: Kami? Wha—? *Piccolo hits him across the field* Seriously, what the hell's a "Kami"?!
  Piccolo: It means "God". Now bow.
• Berserk Button:
  • Piccolo takes offense to perceived attempts to make fun of him.
    Piccolo: STOP MOCKING ME!!
  • Being reminded that he never managed to beat Goku gets him enraged enough to smash a robot he was having trouble to even damage to scrap metal in Cooler 2.
• Big Bad Wannabe: As per the legacy of King Piccolo, he was still intent on taking over the world, right up until the exact moment he became aware of the Saiyans' arrival. Glimpses of his own brand of villainy are still present in Dead Zone, where he's outwardly antagonistic to Goku, and has an almost Eviler than Thou mentality against Garlic Jr. and his cronies.
• Big Damn Heroes: Constantly, and he knows it.
  • When he shows up during the fight with form 2 Freeza after having fused with Nail, complete with Magus' battle theme playing^note Magus being a similar character designed by Akira Toriyama. He then proceeds to send Freeza flying with a single punch.
  • In the Lord Slug movie, he shows up to save Gohan while "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's theme song plays, and one mook asks if he's Batman. It's hard to find a bigger damn hero than that.
  • In the Lord Slug movie, he also lampshades his tendency to do this.
    Piccolo: [while Taking the Bullet for Gohan] WHY CAN'T YOU SAVE YOUR OWN DAMN SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELF!?
  • In Cooler 2, when the smoke clears from the exploding Meta-Coolers, Piccolo shows up with the terminator theme in the background, complete with an appropriate line.
    Piccolo: Come with Me If You Want to Live.
  • In Broly, he rushed to Gohan's help the moment he screamed his name and saves him in the nick of time. What makes it truly impressive is that Piccolo was on Earth while Gohan was on a far away planet.
• Brutal Honesty: Even more so than in the original series, as shown in the Totally Not Mark Buu Saga.
  Vegeta: But before you go, tell me... do you think I'll see Kakarot before I die?
  Piccolo: What, like in Heaven? Because- (Snickers) No!
  Vegeta: Okay, fuck you! But, fair.
• Butt-Monkey: Obviously not as much as Krillin or Yamcha, but shows signs of this from time to time, especially around other Namekians.
• Character Catchphrase:
  • Piccolo has some harsh words for Gohan when they train.
    Piccolo: DODGE!!!
    Piccolo: NEEEEEEEERD!
  • Once he is fused with Nail he often just has one thing to say.
    Piccolo: Shut up, Nail.
• Characterization Marches On: He started off as a rather goofy character before slowly evolving into The Comically Serious. In fact it seems as though his hammier traits moved on to Vegeta.
• Character Development: Much like the show he was initially a hammy, self-proclaimed Card-Carrying Villain who only saw Gohan as little more than an annoying brat. Now he’s a stoic (or tries to be) Jerk with a Heart of Gold who cares for the boy as if he was his son. Then come the Androids Saga and Creator Commentary outright says Piccolo starts to care for Goku at least to make sure he won't mess up everything and in Episode 38 he says Gohan is a "good kid" after seeing the shitshow that was Future Trunks and Vegeta's interactions fully cementing him as the Parental Substitute figure for Gohan, a far cry from the "gonna kidnap and turn this kid with volcanic temper into a weapon for world domination" guy Piccolo used to be.
• Curse Cut Short: Happens quite a lot with him, usually when he screams the f-word.
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Inverted. Nail and Kami suggest he start a clothing line with his clothes-beam.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • Frequently, though he does it in rapid succession in the Lord Slug movie.
    Piccolo: And that, no doubt, would make you the big, tough, stupid one.
    Dordabo: You take that back or I'll kill you!
    Piccolo: All right, all right, you're not tough.
    Dordabo: That's better.
    [beat]
    Gohan: Wait, didn't you—
    Piccolo: Give him a minute.
    [beat] [beat] [beat]
    Dordabo: ...Hey! You son of a bitch! [Attempts to punch Piccolo, but punches a hole in a truck instead]
    Piccolo: Now, now, that truck is not your eating disorder.
    Dordabo: You're a penis!
    Piccolo: So long since you've seen yours, you don't even recognize one, do you?
  • There's also this exchange with borderline Bishōnen Angira.
    Angira: We're just here for your planet. But if I had to pick [a gimmick], I'd say I'm the pretty one.
    Piccolo: Meh. 6 out of 10.
    Angira: You sassy bitch.
• Detonation Moon:
  • Piccolo blows up the moon in the Abridged series for a different reason than in canon...
    Piccolo: STOP MOCKING ME!!
    Piccolo: Ha! Take that, moon! "Perfect orbit" my ASS!
  • This gets abridged even further in Dragon Ball Kai Abridged.
  • MOOOOOOOOOOON!!!
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Piccolo's "training" with Gohan barely qualifies, simply beating Gohan while screaming "DODGE!!!". For bonus points Gohan points out actual forms of martial arts training Piccolo could put him through, but Piccolo doesn't listen.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: He was less of the Deadpan Snarker he is now and a lot more of ham.
• Easily Forgiven: Despite flat out murdering Goku, kidnapping Gohan, rubbing it in the kid's face that his father was dead, and beating the kid with the intent of using him to take over the world, nobody holds any ill will towards him. Nobody but Goku even seems to remember that Piccolo actually kidnapped Gohan, and even then, Goku doesn't seem to consider it a big deal.
• Everyone Has Standards: Piccolo is a Drill Sergeant Nasty towards Gohan, but even he's disgusted by seeing Vegeta call Trunks a bastard, to the point that he even says Gohan is a good kid for no reason beyond kindness.
• Forgot I Could Fly:
  • When it comes to his ability to stretch his arms.
    Nail: Huh, I didn't know we could do that.
    Piccolo: Yeah, I forget about 'em sometimes too.
  • During his rematch with 17, he starts backflipping to gain some distance from his opponent which fails. Kami annoyedly points out that Piccolo can fly.
• Friendless Background: Part of Piccolo's motivation to help in the beginning of the series was to get some friends since he had none except for Tom on his MySpace.
• Genre Blind: Briefly. He misses the tone shift when Kami starts to discuss Cell. Nail doesn't.
• Good is Not Nice: He's always an ally but he was happy to kill Goku and Raditz at the same time before becoming a relentlessly harsh mentor to Gohan.
• Guile Hero: Piccolo has his moments. He often targets other people's egos in order to get them to do what he wants. He's so good at it that he causes Freeza to forget about a potentially lethal attack buildup for five minutes. In fact, he's so good, it even works when the other party acknowledges he's doing it.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Piccolo tries his best to keep up his image of a tough guy and The Stoic but it's clear he's not as hard as he likes people to think he is. Shown even more when Gohan asks him to make an outfit that looks just like his. Kami and Nail just can't help but comment on it.
  Gohan: Mr. Piccolo could you uh...
  Piccolo: What? You want me to make you a Gi just like your dad's?
  Gohan: Actually, I was hoping I could get one just like yours?
  Piccolo: [sounding genuinely touched] Oh.
  Nail: Did our heart just skip a beat?
  Kami: That is precious.
  Piccolo: [teeth gritted] Shut the F$#K UP!
  [beat]
  Piccolo: [To Gohan trying to seem nonchalant] Yeah, sure, I guess.
• Homeless Hero:
  • Nail suggests he buys one, but he can't and won't get a job.
    I’m a big green slug man. No amount of affirmative action is going to get me a job.
  • In Dead Zone Abridged and World's Strongest Abridged Piccolo's motivation is primarily making a home out of or near to the villains' lairs.
• Hypocritical Humor: Comments that Cell's name is pretty lame, despite, as Cell points out, that Piccolo himself is named after an instrument.
• Hypocrite: Downplayed Trope. Every protest he makes about Goku sending Gohan to fight Cell is true. However, it's easy to forget Piccolo is the last person who should make said protests, because this is exactly what Piccolo did in the Saiyan Saga when Gohan was even younger and much less powerful. Not to mention Piccolo deliberately murdered Goku to kill Raditz, and kidnapped Gohan to begin with and then loudly screamed Gohan's father was dead to Gohan's face. Partially justified, since Piccolo hasn't bonded with Gohan yet, while Goku was always Gohan's father.
• I Just Want to Have Friends:
  • He agrees to aid Goku in the first episode when Goku offers to friend him on MySpace.
    Piccolo: Tom, you've been replaced!
  • His first words upon spotting a dying Nail miss the point a bit.
    Piccolo: SOCIAL ACTIVITY!
  • When Tien states rather bluntly that he has no friends in Bald This Way, he actually runs off the set in tears.
• Ineffectual Loner:
  • Zigzags this with I Just Want to Have Friends. He becomes even more ineffectual a loner after Nail starts sharing his head.
    Nail: So, you wanna go hang out with our race?
    Piccolo: No.
  • As of Episode 34 he seems to be growing out of this, having developed something of a friendship with Goku. He covers for Goku's idiocy not once, but twice, and also goes with Goku to race cars.
  • Exploited in Episode 35, when Tien turns to Piccolo to ask for directions to the nearest wasteland they can safely fight in, counting on him knowing where that would be. He does.
  • Surprisingly, in Episode 38, he suggests he, Tien, and Krillin stick together for safety, rather than split up, as Tien suggests right afterwards.
  • He also immediately flew off to Kami's to fuse with him right after Krillin suggested it knowing full well he'd have another voice in his head as a result.
• Insistent Terminology: The Demon King Piccolo was, generally, just as much this Piccolo's past life as he was Piccolo's father. He always refers to the Demon King as his father around the Z Warriors though. ^note When it's just Kami around, he refers to King Piccolo as "me", and Mr. Popo even calls Piccolo "young Kami" when he first arrives on the lookout.
• Jerkass: A massive one in Season 1, on par with Vegeta. Examples include smiling and watching Nappa beat Tenshinhan to death while ignoring the latter's desperate cries for help, calling Krillin a weakling and telling him "face it, you're basically here as a meatshield", and constantly beating Gohan for a year to the point that the boy now freezes just from hearing the word "dodge." His crowning moment of jerkassery is probably the first time he talked to Gohan, having just killed his father. "Hate to tell ya, kid. But your dad's DEAD!... Actually, I kinda like saying that. HA HA! YOUR DAD'S DEAD!"
• Jerkass Has a Point: When he calls out Kami for being terrible in his job as Guardian of Earth, such as letting Goku—a guy unable to look after his own son—a chance to take the job for him, and being indecisive about how to deal with the Androids.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Piccolo has become one in the later episodes, when he was healed by Dende on Earth, the first thing he did when he woke up was call out for Gohan. He continues looking after Gohan and outright tells him that he's a good kid.
• Large Ham: From the start of the series until about the end of the Freeza saga, he is the loudest and hammiest outside of Vegeta. In the Android Saga, he's only really hammy when Gohan's in danger during the Cell Games.
• Made of Iron: Namekians can regenerate and regrow missing body parts as long as their head is undamaged. Piccolo survives having entire chunks of his torso blasted away and near-drowning this way.
  Cell: I blew a hole in him! How durable is he!?
• Manchild: He's 8 years old during the Saiyan Saga and 16 during the Android/Cell Sagas. However he tends to think up cool attack names, doing spin kicks, and going Large Ham any male teenager would. It's to the point even 17 thinks Hellzone Grenade was a cool name.
• The McCoy: To Nail and Kami.
• Mind Hive: Nail retains his individuality inside Piccolo's head after the two fuse, and happily snarks with him. The two are later joined by Kami.
• Morality Pet: He's developed some actual affection for Gohan. After witnessing Vegeta's crappy treatment of his son, Trunks, he makes a point of telling Gohan he's a good kid.
  Piccolo: Alright, better save Gohan.
  Kami: What about the others?
  Piccolo: What about the others?
• No Biological Sex: Dr. Kochin confirms in The World's Strongest that he doesn't have a penis, since Namekians reproduce asexually.
• No Social Skills: Even when he tries to be friendly with someone, his first words turn the atmosphere awkward. First when he has to work with Tien, the first think he says is "Sorry my dad killed Chaotzu". Kami and Nail try to encourage him to make friends with Trunks. Even after he starts with "Do you hate your dad?", fortunately Trunks turns out to be equally as awkward as he is.]]
• Not So Stoic: In the "Bald This Way" video. Tien bluntly telling him that he has no friends causes him to run off the stage while sobbing audibly.
• Obsolete Mentor: By the end of the Cell saga, Gohan became much stronger than Piccolo after training with Goku.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Neither Nail nor Kami are willing to let him live down the Narm-tastic "I feel great" speech he made after fusing with Nail. invoked
• Only Friend: At the start of the series his only friend on MySpace was Tom.
• Only Sane Man: If he's not raging at Gohan for being a nerd, he's often in this role.
• Papa Wolf: Towards Gohan, despite not even being his real father. Piccolo outright states at one point that he looks after Gohan far more than his own father does.
  Piccolo: What's amazing about watching your own eleven year old son get murdered?
• Parental Substitute: Towards Gohan, since Goku tends to be rather dead or in space. In History of Trunks, Gohan outright says it's the deaths of Piccolo and Krillin than allowed him to go Super Saiyan, and refers to Piccolo as "the father I never had." When Trunks mentions Goku's death after noticing the omission, Gohan's reaction can be summed up as "Sure, Let's Go with That".
  Piccolo: [after rescuing Gohan from Broly] Gohan! Are you alright? Do you need some juice? Did you get into that school you wanted?!
  • The Canadian subtitles have some fun with this, referring to Piccolo as "Gohan's Dad".
  • In episode 60, Cell tells Gohan that he'll kill his dad last, then he shouts "You hear that, Piccolo?"
    Piccolo: I mean, if you're just gonna say it.
    Goku: Wait, I don't get it.
• Pet the Dog:
  • In Episode 38 after Vegeta calls Trunks a bastard:
    Piccolo: Gohan?
    Gohan: Yeah?
    Piccolo: You're a good kid.
  • Later, when facing down a powered-up Cell, he has a breakdown thinking about all the innocent people Cell consumed to get to that point.
• Phrase Catcher: "You know, I know you're playin' me, but..."
• Politically Incorrect Villain: He's still a villain in the first half of season one, and on two occasions he uses the word "retard". The first time was to describe Goku's suicidal strategy of taking Raditz on one-on-one (never mind the fact that Piccolo was the one who tricked Goku into doing that in the first place), and the second one was when he sees Gohan staring blankly at the moon.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: He gives one to Goku that's arguably more scathing than in canon.
  Piccolo: Well, seems like you thought of almost everything.
  Goku: I just treated it like one big fight. Kinda like everything in my life...
  Piccolo: Unfortunately, you skipped one small detail.
  Goku: Whazzat?
  Piccolo: GOHAN DOESN'T LIKE FIGHTING, YOU MORON!!
  Goku: Whaaaat? Nooooo... I mean... right?
  Piccolo: Have you ever in your life actually asked your son what he likes?
  Goku: Um... But he went in that chamber with me for that whole year!
  Piccolo: Because he wanted to spend time with you! His father! The man who spends half his time training and half his time dead! Sometimes both!
  Goku: I mean... does anyone else?! (met with sounds of disapproval) I've made a terrible mistake.
• Selective Obliviousness: When Kami wonders if Roshi is carrying, Piccolo fails to understand, even after both Kami and Nail attempt to clarify by referring to it as "grass" and "pot", respectively.
• Series Continuity Error: In World's Strongest Abridged It's established that Piccolo doesn't have a tolerance for the cold due to his unique biology not being especially compatible with extreme temperatures. However, Super Android 13 Abridged would contradict this as it's revealed near the end of the movie that Piccolo was actually looking to live in the Artic, which would make absolutely zero sense even if one was to keep in mind they are not connected.
• Sharing a Body: With Nail. Later joined by Kami.
• Shoulders of Doom: His default weighted clothing includes massive shoulder-pads to help him build strength while moving and fighting. When he makes a copy for Gohan, he warns him that he'll have trouble with crowds and it'll be easier to enter doors at an angle.
• Sink or Swim Mentor: To Gohan. The first thing he did as the kid's mentor was to throw him at a giant rock formation so Gohan could break it. He crashes into the formation and starts bawling.
  Piccolo: [walking over to a crying Gohan, annoyed] This is going to be a loooooooooooooong training session.
• Stupid Sacrifice: Lampshaded due to the fact that he realized he could just grab Gohan and save them both instead of Taking the Bullet. Note that the beam was much faster in Z where Piccolo's act was justified.
  Piccolo: Alright, it's time to redeem myself through one final act of redemption. I'll save Gohan an- wait a second, why didn't I just grab him? I can probably still do that now, actually. Yeah, that's it, I'll grab him, and throw him out of the wa— AAAARRRRRGH!''
• Super-Senses: His hearing is good enough for him to have heard Goku and Trunks' whole conversation despite being a few hundred yards away. Unfortunately, he can hear Vegeta yell from the other side of a planet as well as having a weakness to whistling, a weakness all Namekians seem to have.
• The Smart Guy: Has to be, with guys like Goku and Vegeta around.
• Talking to Themself: Apparently he never felt the need to actually tell anyone that he literally has two people in his head.
  Dende: It's good to have you back Nail.
  Piccolo: I'm not Nail.
  Nail: Technically you kinda are.
  Piccolo: Shut up Nail.
  Dende: Why are you talking to yourself?
• Took a Level in Kindness: At least enough to recognize how much of a dick he used to be in response to Kami's reluctance to re-merge with him.
• Token Evil Teammate: In Season 1, anyway. By Season 3 he's become a straight-up hero while Vegeta has taken his place.
  Gohan: [commenting on Tien getting his ass kicked by Nappa] Sh-should we help him?
  Piccolo: Can't you see that he has to do this on his own? He's fighting for the honor of his fallen comrade!
  Tien: [While Nappa is wailing the ever living shit out of him] HELP ME! FOR THE LOVE GOD! HELP MEEEE!!!
  Piccolo: [Smirking] Like a hero.
• Unnecessary Combat Roll: In his fight with 17, he backflips away from 17 to gain some distance. Naturally, Nail and Kami immediately point out that it would be much more practical to just fly away.
• The Unreveal: He created a brand new technique called "Nail Gun", unseen in the canon episodes, and seems to consider it his "last last ditch effort". He's rekt by Cell before he can use it.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Seems to be developing this with Nail. The relationship seems to form a weird symbiosis. Piccolo finally has someone to fill his social void and Nail finally has someone he can bicker with. And now Kami is added to the mix with him and Nail annoying him together.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Just as in canon, it turns out in Lord Slug Abridged that whistling causes intense pain and discomfort to Namekians. But only if they can hear it.
  Piccolo: "WHAT?!"
• What Would X Do?: A deleted scene from episode 3 parodies this. Gohan's crying starts to be too much for Piccolo, so Piccolo tries to think "What would my dad say in this situation?" Then Piccolo remembers that his father didn't actually raise him because he was killed by Goku. Piccolo then starts bawling over his own father's death.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • While not directly to his face, Piccolo definitely calls Goku out on his parenting skills — while calling Kami out on his attitude.
    Piccolo: This can't be about the job! The first time you had a chance to drop this gig, you tried to hand it off to Goku — GOKU! He doesn't even look after his own kid! I look after his kid more than he does!
  • Then directly to him in Episode 59 for the latter technically tagging out for Gohan. Naturally, Goku doesn't take the hint that, powerful or no, he's still just 11 years old and nothing like Goku is or even was.
• The Worf Effect: Just as in the original series, and particularly in the specials. Piccolo shows up, makes an incredibly badass showing of taking out the minions, and then gets utterly trounced by the Big Bad.
• Younger Than They Look: He is technically 16 in the Android/Cell saga. It makes his tendency to think attack names so such sense as he acts like a teenager trying to think up cool attack names.

Vegeta

See Dragon Ball Z Abridged - Vegeta

Yamcha

"Let's be honest, if I stay I'll probably just get in the way."

Voiced by: Brandon "Vegeta3986" Rainsford (Season 1), Chris "Faulerro" Tout (Season 2 & 3)

A former desert bandit who befriended Goku during the latter's childhood, the result of him trying and failing to steal the Dragon Balls. Yamcha's an experienced martial artist and a former student of Master Roshi, though his skills don't exactly shine in a world full of supermen.

---

• Adaptational Skill: While the punching bag of the entire universe, especially as the show goes along as he's at the very bottom of the Can't Catch Up totem pole, Yamcha surprisingly has exactly one trait that does put him leagues ahead of the others of the cast: his business sense. In canon, while not necessary destitute, Yamcha's only hallmark to himself was his baseball skills and it didn't make him all that wealthy... but in Abridged's canon, Yamcha's competency at baseball is so over-the-top that to keep him from ruining the sport the managers had to pay him off with millions so he wouldn't keep playing at a professional level; but rather than be Money Dumb with his sudden fortune, Yamcha makes the most of it and manages to invest it smartly, making himself not only miles richer than he already was, but managed to buy out the Hetap Corporation and open up a food chain to make himself even richer—enough to have the confidence to supply his friends with free food all-you-can-eats at his restaurants for the rest of their lives.
• Adaptational Wimp: He wasn't the best fighter in the original show, but he was far from being a joke either. This is best shown on King Kai's planet — in the anime (granted, it was filler), he was able to single-handedly beat up Recoome, something not even Vegeta could do before his power-ups. However, here King Kai curb stomped all of the Ginyu Force by himself off-screen (mainly because King Kai didn't resume the training after Yamcha mispronounced the Kaioken). His infamous death is also made even more humiliating; in canon he manages to beat up the Saibaman effortlessly, whereas in this show the Saibaman immediately decides to blow up in his face before he can even fight.
• Butterfly of Doom: Inverted. Takahata101 suggests during Episode 45's Creator Commentary that by preventing Yamch's suicide in the current timeline, his presence in the conflict against the Androids turns their attention away from the rest of the heroes briefly enough to make a difference in the outcome and avert the Bad Future that Trunks hails from.
• Character Catchphrase: Most of the time when Tien and Chiaotzu are affectionate towards each other, though this mainly phased out in the second and third seasons. He brings it back in the final episode one last time to be sarcastic.
  Yamcha: Hah, gay!
• Characterization Marches On:
  • He was introduced as a reverse Butt-Monkey, where characters would put emphasis on how awesome he is, however he was later revamped into a No-Respect Guy, especially when Faulerro takes over. He even appears to have taken over Krillin's job of being the Cowardly Lion.
  • In the first season Vegeta3986 gave him an exaggerated "Surfer Bro" accent, which Faulerro tried to imitate when he took over the role during the Freeza Saga only to drop it altogether for the Android/Cell Saga.
  • Yamcha was also a furry in the first season, openly sleeping with Puar and dressing as a wolf for the Halloween special. These traits haven't been referenced ever since.
• The Chew Toy: Perhaps the biggest to the main characters, even more than Krillin:
  • In the second F.A.Q. special, the characters specifically say they pick on Krillin so much because Yamcha doesn't show up as often. Best stated by Bulma:
    Bulma: No one screws Yamcha but life.
  • It's to the point that anyone on the receiving end of a Curb-Stomp Battle or being killed off unceremoniously is referred to as getting "Yamcha'd."
  • He can't even get through an FAQ without getting blown up.
  • Cell has DNA samples and the powers of every fighter... except Yamcha.
    • Though this is an extension of another Butt-Monkey moment—the reason Cell doesn't have Yamcha's DNA is that in the timeline Cell is from, Yamcha killed himself.
  • It extends to a meta level, where in the commentary for Episode 42, KaiserNeko was going to give Yamcha the line about Goku sweating purple, only to realize he was in the shot where Krillin was describing the Androids (and Master Roshi was trying to get him to describe Android 18's boobs). Faulerro even provided the "Goku sweating purple" line. They revised it so it was Turtle who gave the line instead.
• Comically Missing the Point: When Gohan and Krillin are discussing about energy signatures from Cell, Yamcha completely misses the point of their conversation. Even funnier the fact that Krillin of all people is part of Cell's energy signature, but not Yamcha.
• Cowardly Lion: When the Androids attacked, he very reluctantly responded to cries for help when no one else was around to do it instead.
  • Cell actually somewhat respects this about him (and Krillin), since for all his complaints and worrying, he still comes out to fight alongside the other Z-Fighters, despite how outmatched he is and despite knowing he'll probably get his ass kicked (at best).
• Damned by Faint Praise: Cell essentially uses him to get a burn on somebody else by saying he's contributed more than Vegeta. What did Yamcha provide? Some towels and water.
• Death Is Cheap: Seems to be the only character who doesn't believe this, as opposed to Tien and Chiaotzu. In his case, he still finds it rather awkward to talk about that they've died unless someone else brings it up.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Averted. He's the only one who's bothered that Vegeta, the man who is in some way responsible for most of their deaths at one point or another, is taking a shower in the next room and moving in with Bulma, though the reactions of the other Z-Fighters to Vegeta indicate they don't like him much either.
• Despair Event Horizon: In Future Trunks' timeline, learning that Vegeta got Bulma pregnant put him in such a state of depression that he killed himself. In the main timeline, he's upset to learn about this, but his friendship with Goku kept him from falling into despair.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Applies to his future self in Trunks's timeline. Whereas he is killed by the androids like all the other Z-Fighters bar Goku in canon, the way he dies in the abridged series... well... see below.
• Driven to Suicide: In Future Trunks' timeline, where he hangs himself after learning that Vegeta got Bulma pregnant. He avoids this fate in the Present timeline by simple fact that Goku shows him some decency and appreciation.
• Ear Worm: The "Cat Loves Food" jingle is freaking...EVERYWHERE...and it gets stuck in your head very easily, if Tien is any indication.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After spending almost the entire series as The Chew Toy with only the occasional brief Throw the Dog a Bone moment, Yamcha's legendary skill as a baseball player in Dragon ShortZ Episode 4 leads to the owner of his baseball team firing him for being so good at baseball that it kills any intrigue, thus giving Yamcha a massive severance pay that makes him extremely rich. He then successfully invests his money both buying Hetap and creating his own sports bar chain that his friends (and Vegeta) are allowed to eat at for free.
• Fake Ultimate Hero: In the first season, the rest of the Z-fighters get a morale boost by Yamcha simply showing up on the battle field. And then he gets one-shotted by a Saibamen.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Nowhere near as badly as Vegeta, though everyone looks down on him. Goku makes some slight effort to be nicer to him as of Episode 34, since Goku learned Yamcha's fate in Trunks' timeline, Krillin does treat him slightly better than others, in a Vitriolic Best Buds kind of way, and Cell pays him compliments and defends him when Tien mocks him.
• Giving Up on Logic: When Goku starts trying to "reason" with the Tree of Might and the tree appears to answer, Yamcha gives up in disgust.
• I Just Want to Be Loved: It's heavily implied that the reason keeps spending time with the Z-Fighters despite their constant disrespect towards him is because he's desperate for any kind of affection, which would explain why Goku's claim of their friendship and Cell's affable demeanor towards him are so readily accepted. It's also a reason that could be why he's willing to ditch the present timeline on the mere idea of hooking up with Future Bulma.
• I Was Young and Needed the Money: He did a jingle for a cat food commercial. He maintains that he was desperate at the time and needed the money. And no, it wasn't worth it.
• Invincible Hero: Turns out to be this when it comes to baseball, since, despite trailing far behind his friends, he's still significantly more superhuman than most other players. He racks up five hundred straight home runs. True to this trope, however, it ends up against his favor as it drives off crowds, leaving only the friends he gave season passes to^note Krillin, 18, Puar, and Roshi as consistent audience members. However, see the last Throw the Dog a Bone entry below...
• Killed Mid-Sentence: After giving a Rousing Speech, he's stopped at the final part when a Saibaman blows him up.
• Laser-Guided Karma: In a Black Comedy kind of way. He selfishly spends all his money on a new car at Christmas time in the Tree of Might Christmas special instead of buying gifts for others. His car is promptly blown up and the wreckage destroys his house and more or less makes him destitute.
• Lost in Imitation: The line about Bulma thinking Yamcha was cheating in the first episode is based on Funimation Dub Text. In the original Japanese dialogue, Bulma is mad at Yamcha in the beginning of DBZ for canceling a date. Possibly lampshaded by Krillin, who comments that it seems out of character for Yamcha before trying to hit on Bulma.
• Modern Major General: His job is to fight and help defend the Earth. Ask him to help take care of a very sick Goku? He's great. Ask him to pilot a cargo plane? He's great. Ask him to sing an advertising jingle? He's great. Ask him to play baseball? He's great. Ask him to run a multinational soft drink company and a chain of sports bars? He's great. Ask him to actually fight? Well...
• Never Found the Body: Or rather, they never looked for it at all.
  Yamcha: Where did you bury me anyway?
  Bulma: Bury?
• Nice Guy: It says a lot that he's still protective of Bulma, after all the shit she gives him.
• No-Respect Guy: To the point where you think TFS hates him.
• Old Shame: His cat food commercial jingle is this In-Universe. He regrets making it, commenting that it wasn't worth it.
• One-Hit Wonder: In-Universe. He sang a cat food song for a commercial since he needed the money. Now everybody listens to it when Yamcha just wants to forget about it. It's almost every song played as a ringtone or on the radio after that, even having a country cover.
  "Cat loves food, Yea-Yeah-Yeah-Yeah! Cat loves food, Yea-YEAAAAAAAH!"
• Only Sane Man: As of season 3, he's the voice of reason even more than Gohan is.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Yamcha suffers this more than anyone else, arguably even more than Krillin, but it's easy to forget that Yamcha is perfectly capable of flight and fighting on superhuman levels, even if not even remotely close to Saiyans, Namekians or Androids. Episode 4 of ''Dragon ShortZ shows a bit of what the bottom of the barrel of the main cast is capable on a human level: Yamcha is perfectly capable of being such supreme ace in baseball that he essentially destroys it and he's forcibly retired because of that.
• Person as Verb: Getting Yamcha'd means getting killed unceremoniously.
  Goku: Oh no! Yamcha's been Yamcha'd!
• Phrase Catcher: "I don't know what this Yamcha is, but it sounds..."
• The Pollyanna: As Tien points out, the fact that Yamcha has any hope left at all is his most admirable trait. Even though he probably just didn't realize he was insulted, Yamcha sincerely thanks him for the compliment.
• Rags to Riches: After life as a desert bandit and struggling for cash, the otherwise-ignoble end of Yamcha's baseball career results in him becoming so rich he's practically set for life, and that's before he buys Hetap, maintains a successful sports bar franchise, and potentially takes sponsorships.
• Running Gag: For several episodes after Vegeta3986 left TFS, whenever Yamcha is about to speak someone cuts him off, cementing his Butt-Monkey status.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: In the season three finale, he admits that he sometimes wonders if he was ever brought back, or if he's having a very long Dying Dream.
  Krillin: Oh my God, someone finally put it into words!
  Yamcha: Is it any easier the second time?
  Krillin: Believe it or not, it's worse.
• Staring Down Cthulhu: When Vegeta makes one of his usual condescending remarks towards him and Krillin, Yamcha has officially had enough and manages to talk back and actually holds his ground. Vegeta seems to be begrudgingly impressed.
  Yamcha: Ya know, if you're gonna skulk around, you could at least try to not be a total dick about it!
  Vegeta: Oh, you're right. Allow me to try again. *ahem* Hello, earthling! How's that gaping chest wound?
  Yamcha: Just fine! How's your spine?
  Vegeta: ...I'm giving you a five-minute headstart.
  Yamcha: Thank you! I'm going to need it; you're very fast.
• Straw Loser: To the point where he makes Krillin look good by comparison. You know you're a loser when Krillin can point out your flaws faster than you can point out his.
• Throw the Dog a Bone:
  • Goku telling him that he's his friend. He's genuinely touched by somebody not treating him like shit. Note that Goku specifically told him this because he'd learned that Yamcha committed suicide in Future Trunks's timeline over Vegeta and Bulma having a child.
  • He also gets a pretty good burn on Vegeta when Vegeta tries to be "nice".
    Vegeta: (mockingly) Hello, Earthling, how's that gaping chest wound?
    Yamcha: Just fine! How's your spine?
    • Vegeta is so impressed with this that he gives Yamcha a five minute head-start.
  • When it seems as though Cell is defeated, Tien decides not to mock his attempt at a Post-Mortem One-Liner
    Yamcha: Ha! Well those guys with the camera better stop rolling, 'cause looks like Cell's going topless!
    Tien: You know, just because everyone somehow survived this... I'm gonna let you have that.
  • Despite how condescending Cell is, he actually defends Yamcha when Tien delivers a Stealth Insult to Yamcha.
    Cell: Yamcha, for the love of god, don't thank him!
  • Cell outright tells Gohan that he respects Yamcha more than he respects Gohan, because despite knowing how utterly outclassed they are, Yamcha and Krillin are still fighting as hard as they can to defend their world.
    • Cell also thinks to himself that Yamcha really doesn't deserve the beating he's receiving from one of the Cell Jrs., although Cell doesn't do anything to stop it because he still thinks it's funny.
  • He gets Tien to admit how close they are as friends in the final part of Episode 60 (while also lightly calling him out on being a dick).
  • Just when it seems like Yamcha would get probably the biggest and last in a long line of Yank the Dog's Chain moments, Episode 4 of Dragon ShortZ instead becomes the biggest case of this trope. While he's barred from playing baseball due to being such an Invincible Hero that people stop watching (though that in itself is amazing, as he had five hundred straight home runs), he gets a severance pay of TWENTY BILLION ZENI^note Keep in mind, one zeni is equivalent to either 1 or 1 1/2 yen, either way still making him insanely rich. In U.S. dollars, he's a multi-millionaire!!!, which he invests very well, including buying Hetap, and setting up a sports bar chain. Not to mention, while he's barred from playing again, he's still free to take sponsorships or promotional tie-ins, so he's still making more money.
  • In fact, Takahata went out to say that had the series carried onto the Buu Saga, Yamcha would have been instead been treated like this in perpetuity with his sudden Fiction 500 status to compensate for how badly of a Butt-Monkey he was for the entire series up to that point because the sheer contrast in status to how he was before would have been a hilarious offset and amazing payoff to the character who was practically the butt of every joke to now have something to call his own.
• The Unfought: For Cell, in a sense. Cell wished to test his mettle against the strongest fighters in the world, but in the Cell Games, he's the only fighter present that Cell hasn't fought (and defeated) besides Hercule, Goku, and Gohan. Cell defeats the former 2 before losing to the latter, and never fights Yamcha. Not that Yamcha minds that.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Krillin and, to a lesser extent, Tien. They don't treat him like crap just for giggles, and Krillin's verbal jabs at him are done with more good humor than the rest of the cast.
  • He explicitly states this about his and Tien's relationship in Part 3 of the Season 3 finale.
    Yamcha: Hey, Tien. Since this is the end...
    Tien: If you're about to say, "I love you," I swear to God...
    Yamcha: Actually, I was gonna say, "You're the biggest asshole I know."
    Tien: (eyes widen, surprised) Oh.
    Yamcha: (looks away) And you're also my best friend.
    (beat)
    Tien: (also looks away) So are you, man.
• What You Are in the Dark: As the Z-Fighters split up to sweep the city in search of the Androids, Yamcha is unlucky enough to be the first to find evidence of them when he hears a woman screaming. Despite heavy reluctance and knowing the fact that he could easily turn a blind eye, he still goes to help. It ends very poorly for him, and yet, it's been implied that this act single-handedly averted the Bad Future, drawing the villains' attention long enough to change the course of history for the better.
• The Worf Effect: Inverted - due to becoming The Chew Toy, the show treats it as if it's no big deal. In fact, when Gero stabs him with his robotic arm, Tien isn't surprised that Gero could do that, but rather, that Yamcha couldn't even last 30 seconds.

Tien (Tenshinhan) and Chiaotzu

That's Tien on the right and Chiaotzu on the left. They're very close.

Tien voiced by: Marc "Ganxingba" Soskin
Chiaotzu voiced by: Whiteash (Episode 6), Corinne "Megami33" Sudberg (Current)

A pair of martial artists who trained under Master Roshi's rival, the Crane Hermit; under his training, the duo's biggest specialty was the ability to levitate via ki manipulation, though this became irrelevant once the whole Z-Warrior gang learned to do it. After a Heel–Face Turn, the two have been close friends with the rest of the Z-Warriors, though it's pretty clear that they're far closer with each other.

---

• Actor-Shared Background: Kaiser and Lani have admitted to, over time, writing Tien to share traits with his actor Marc (specifically in regards to Tien being a hobbyist of fantasy sports), to the point that Marc eventually called them out on it and they insisted they'd continue on with it anyway.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Tien is far more frustrated than his canon counterpart about the fact that he Can't Catch Up.
• Adaptational Badass: If not in their fighting prowess, then in their attitude. Tien's the only character who can backtalk Vegeta and get away with it. He's also quite ready to take on Gero, to the point that the Doctor changes his mind about fighting him. Heck, after his Shin Kikoho, even Cell takes him more seriously. Chiaotzu, while not having that much of a physical presence, has a vicious sense of sarcasm, to the point that it shocks even Tien.
• Adaptational Intelligence: In the original DBZ, Tien flies to Piccolo's and 17's fight despite the fact he felt he was too weak to help, and proceeds to spectate all the way until Piccolo gets defeated and 17 is absorbed, never thinking to try attacking the androids or Cell until it's too late. Here, Tien arrives after 17 is absorbed and immediately attacks Semi-perfect Cell as soon as he gets the chance.
• Adaptational Jerkass:
  • Chiaotzu - he takes shots at the audience in the FAQ Special and calls the Ginyus "a bunch of queers". When a man is killed on TV by Cell, he's shown smiling.
  • Tien as well in the "Born This Way" parody—he manages to ruin the song and make Piccolo run off the set crying in less than 30 seconds. Tien also insults Yamcha for getting taken out by Dr. Gero, which wasn't even Yamcha's fault. Furthermore, Tien broke Yamcha's good leg without hesitation when King Kai told him to, for no reason other than to shut Yamcha up.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • While friendly with the rest of the Z-fighters bar Vegeta, Tien and Chiaotzu were not actually friends with them until Battle of Gods, their strongest relationship being Friendly Rivals to Goku and to a lesser extent Yamcha and Krillin. Here, they're much more evidently friends with the others despite being much snarkier, especially evident during season 3. ^note In canon, Tien outright tells the others it's doubtful that they'll see him and Chiaotzu again soon after the final wishes are made in the Cell Saga, and the two aren't present at Trunks' goodbye, or when Goku returns to compete in a tournament after seven years. Here, he says no such thing.
  • Tien and Vegeta's relationship is actually more strained here than in canon. While in canon Tien would frequently voice his dislike and distrust of Vegeta, the prince would simply brush it off with some snark or a taunt. Here, animosity would flow far more freely, Vegeta actually being bothered by what Tien has to say, and Tien taunting and prodding Vegeta without a care in the world.
• Arch-Enemy: Tien of all people managed to become one to Cell, all because he's the one guy who managed to stand up to and humiliate the bio-android... and likely also because he's human, and at that point Cell considered humans far beneath him. Cell despises Tien more than anyone else, not even Vegeta and Trunks (who thrash him far worse) ticks him off as much as Tien does. Cell even regards not choking Tien to death as his greatest failure in HFIL.
• Audience Surrogate: Tien's Shin Kikoho barrage was reworded to reflect the frustrations of fans of any character that Can't Catch Up (most notably, fans of the Earthling characters).
• Beam Spam: Tien uses this to stall Cell so 16 and 18 can get away, much to Cell's annoyance.
• Berserk Button:
  • Tien is very defensive with fandom-related matters.
    Tien: F*cking Weeaboos.
  • Do not tell him he won't be as strong as an Android, Namekian, or a Super Saiyan.
  • Do not tell him that it's not healthy to work out as much as he does.
• Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: Managed to stall Cell by bombarding him with the Shin Kikoho, exhausting himself in the process to the point where he would have died if Goku hadn't come to save him. Tien's efforts proved to be for nothing as Cell succeeded in absorbing 18 anyways, much to Tien's rage. As he points out Kikohoing himself half to death only gets Krillin laid after all is said and done.
• Bullying a Dragon: Tien makes fun of Vegeta all the time. Nobody denies Vegeta deserves it, but Krillin does point out that Vegeta could easily kill Tien for his insults. When called on it, Tien says that it's a game, and if Vegeta snaps and kills him, they both know that means Vegeta lost.
• Can't Catch Up: Discussed but ultimately played straight; after spending a sizable portion of the fights with the Androids and Cell sidelined and helplessly watching his friends risk their lives, Tien finally snaps, declares that he isn't going to be a bystander any longer, and rushes off of Roshi's island to join the fight against Semi-Perfect Cell. Sadly, his constant barrage of Shin Kikohos serves only to earn Cell's animosity, fruitlessly distract the bio-android from finding Android 18 for a brief time, and nearly killing himself from the strain of his attack, and he wisely sticks to foes more on his own level for the rest of the Saga such as the Cell Jrs.
• Characterization Marches On:
  • Funny as it is, Tien's "HELP ME, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, HELP ME!" scene in episode 8 really doesn't gel with the proud, stoic warrior he'd be in the future. ^note Of course, season one did run a lot more on Rule of Funny.
  • Tien and Chiaotzu's relationship goes from focusing on the Heterosexual Life-Partners aspect of it (thus Yamcha's snide comments of "Gay") to establishing Tien as more of a guardian figure to Chiaotzu starting from late season 2. Ultimately this Early-Installment Weirdness is given a nod to when Yamcha and Tien part ways, this time done in a much friendly manner.
• The Comically Serious: Most of the time, Tien is this, although he has some Not So Above It All moments, such as joining in on singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat", and he apparently likes Yamcha's cat food jingle much more than he'd like to admit. As Kai Abridged 1 summed him up:
  Tien: I am the only serious character in this show. That's the joke.
• Deadpan Snarker: The first thing Tien does when the group meets up to fight Freeza is comment on Vegeta's shirt, and then spends most of Episode 34 mocking Vegeta about not being a Super Saiyan. When Vegeta finally does become a Super Saiyan and Krillin makes note of it, Tien dismisses it and instead mocks Vegeta for naming his technique the Big Bang Attack with Piccolo.
  • Chiaotzu is worse than Tien, callously dismissing the possibility that their friends might die, due to the Dragon Balls trivializing death.
• Death Is Cheap: Both of them have firmly come to believe this, especially Chiaotzu.
  Chiaotzu: Next time, I get a free sundae!
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?:
  • Tien frequently gets away with insulting Vegeta, who is much more powerful than him. He even got away with flipping the bird at Vegeta.
  • Even Cell wasn't safe from this when Tien mockingly recalled how he used the Shin Kikohou on him.
• Doomed Moral Victor: A preemptive version. Tien constantly taunts Vegeta because they both know that while Vegeta could kill him, in doing so, Tien would have the last laugh. Vegeta's pride keeps him from following through.
• "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner: Although the bullet gets stopped in time.
  Cell: You know, if you want my personal opinion, "Kikoho" is a pretty sad choice of last words. But to be fair, it's far from the worst decision you've made today.
  Tien: Kiko-f*ck yourself.
  Cell: Ah, see, that's the spirit.
• Flanderization: Tien started off as a Comically Serious straight man, but as the series goes on, he's become more of a Deadpan Snarker Jerkass. Ironically, this puts Tien's personality more in-line with what he was originally like when he was an antagonist in Dragon Ball.
• He Had a Name:
  "You stupid... ugly... son of a bitch! His name was Chiaotzu!"
• Heroic Sacrifice: Chiaotzu did one when fighting Nappa, but it ended up being a Senseless Sacrifice. Notably, in a variation from the original, Chiaotzu starts out thinking that he can just be revived by the Dragon Balls. Tien has to point out he's been revived once already... mere moments before Chiaotzu explodes. When Freeza and King Cold arrive on Earth, Tien makes a point to ask Chiaotzu not to try it again.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Chiaotzu.
• Hidden Depths: Tien apparently keeps up with Battleball. He even has a fantasy team.
  "What? I have hobbies!"
• Homoerotic Subtext: As a short running gag.
• Hypocritical Humor: Makes fun of King Kai's Berserk Button of the mispronunciation of Kaioken, calling him a "Freakin' Weaboo" and get's angry with the Engrish of the Jinga Beru Brothers' names. But he uses the Japanese name of Neo Tri-Beam in Episode 48. (Though it must be said that, at this point, Tien is, a) pissed off due to his sense of powerlessness and b) focused on stalling Cell so 18 and 16 can escape)
• Informed Judaism: Parodied in Christmas Tree of Might with Tien. Doubles as an Actor Allusion, since his voice actor is Jewish. Corrine herself is half-Jewish.
• Irony: His change from being the Comically Serious Straight Man to a proud Deadpan Snarker is the exact inversion of Tien's Character Development in Z.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Tien isn't the most tactful person, but that doesn't mean he isn't on the money at times.
  • When it seems like Goku has perished along with Namek, Yamcha breaks down crying. Tien nonchalantly reminds him that they can just wish Goku back to life now that the Dragon Balls are usable again. When Yamcha notes how Tien is making death sound meaningless, Tien bluntly retorts that death stopped meaning anything a long time ago, and even reminds Yamcha that isn't the first time Chiaotzu has died either.
  • When Trunks reveals his true power to Perfect Cell, Tien points out that Trunks could have stopped Cell becoming perfect by either killing Cell or killing 18 before he absorbed her.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: That said (while still being really sarcastic), he genuinely cares for Chiaotzu like a little brother. In Season 3, he befriends Piccolo to the point of making bets with him on whether Krillin or Vegeta would screw up in killing Cell and the Androids (both of them did). And he bets on Vegeta failing while openly putting his faith in Krillin.
• Know When to Fold Them:
  • When the fight with Nappa starts disastrously, Tien seriously considers grabbing Chiaotzu and running. Unfortunately, Chiaotzu had already gotten involved in the fight and was going for a Taking You with Me attack.
  • When Freeza and his father appear, Chiaotzu immediately brings this moment up, and implies that he'd rather not do that again.
• Lack of Empathy: Chiaotzu's reaction when a man is murdered on live broadcast by Cell? "Wow! Brutal!" Said while smiling.
• Last-Second Word Swap: Averted. Chiaotzu can't think of a word to switch "pork" with fast enough. But fortunately, Oolong was more mortified about the fact that his own kind was delicious
• Manchild: Chiaotzu is only a little younger than Tien, but begs Tien to go to McDonald's and cheers over ice cream. Lampshaded by Roshi in Episode 41 when he is later serving Chashu Ramen, implying that he knows how to professionally make it.
  Master Roshi: How old are you?!
• Mistaken for Gay: Yamcha often makes an ill-timed joke based on Tien mentioning how close they are as fighting partners.
• Not So Above It All: Often seen as The Stoic, Tien has some subtle interests throughout the series:
  • He actually likes Yamcha's "Cat Loves Food" song.
    Tien: [to Piccolo] You heard. Nothing.
  • He reveals to play fantasy battleball, insisting that he has a hobby outside of martial arts.
  • During one memorable verbal throwdown between Krillin and Yamcha, he decides he's glad he stuck around just for the comedy gold he got to witness, despite complaining how he's tired of being sidelined.
• Not Worth Killing: He exploits this to get away with mocking Vegeta and later Cell. Sure, they could kill him instantly for any of his insults, but that would be admitting the insult got to them. Their respective egos would rather swallow the mockery rather than acknowledge someone as beneath them as Tien got the better of them in a conversation.
• Off the Grid: As of Dragon ShortZ, Vegeta notes that he went off the grid and cannot be reached.
• Out of Character: Whenever Tien says or does something that goes against what a person thinks his character is. This leads to the other person wondering out loud...
  Other Person: I can never read that guy...
• Phrase Catcher: As seen referenced in Out of Character above.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Episode 48 gives this line after Cell taunts Tien a bit too much:
  Tien: Yeah? Well, you know what? F*ck power levels! F*ck! Super Saiyans! AND F*CK! YOU! SHIN! KI KO HO!
• Punctuated Pounding: KI! *boom* KO! *boom* HO!!! *boom*
• Refuge in Audacity: Tien's taunting of Vegeta is grounded in the belief that Vegeta's pride won't allow him to lethally retaliate. Vegeta being...Vegeta...he's not wrong.
• Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?: Tien gets under Vegeta's skin during the Cell Games by pointing out that -between the two of them- he's the one who actually managed to beat Goku in a fight.
• The Rival: Yamcha sees him as his rival. Tien doesn't care.
• Running Gag: The other Z-fighters can never get a read on Tien, whether it's about his relationship with Chiaotzu, or anything else for that matter.
• Say My Name: "CHIAOTZUUUUUUUUUU!"
• Shut Up, Hannibal!:
  • When Cell taunts him about his power level and how it's weaker than Androids, Namekians, and Super Saiyans.
    Tien: Yeah? Well, you know what? F*ck power levels! F*ck! Super Saiyans! AND F*CK! YOU! SHIN! KI KO HO!
    * Fires the Shin-Kikoho and blasts Cell into the ground.*
  • Then, while he lies dying on the ground with Cell telling him "Kikoho" were terrible last words.
    Tien: Kiko-f*ck yourself.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Tien is this to both Vegeta and Cell.
• Taking You with Me: Chiaotzu tries to do this to Nappa. It didn't work. At all.
• Team Dad: Tien, at least to Chiaotzu.
• Troll:
  • Tien to Vegeta. He taunts the Prince of all Saiyans just for the hell of it, knowing Vegeta is too prideful to just kill him because he can't handle insults.
    Krillin: Why do you antagonise [Vegeta] like that? You know he can kill you right?
    Tien: At this point, it's a game: If he gives in, I win and he knows it.
  • He's done it to Cell now, too. When the group shows up at the Cell Games to watch Goku's match, Cell greets them all as if they're good friends. But when he gets to Tien?
    Perfect Cell: [still annoyed from the Shin Kikohou] ...Tenshinhan.
    Tien: Ki-ko-how ya doing?
    Perfect Cell: [irritated] Perfect.
• Took a Level in Cynic: TFS confirmed that, after dying and getting revived twice, Chiaotzu just kind of doesn't give a shit and doesn't take anything seriously anymore.
• Useless Useful Spell: Zigzagging all over the place with the Shin Kikoho. Tien isn't strong enough to do any actual damage to Semi-Perfect Cell, but the physical force of the Shin Kikoho is enough to knock him down and keep him down for several minutes, giving Android 18 a chance to escape as long as Tien can keep up the barrage. However, he can't keep at it forever, and 18 ultimately wastes the opportunity standing around. But his stalling does ultimately give Vegeta and Trunks time to finish their training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, as well as Krillin getting the detonator from Bulma; and then Vegeta and Krillin both win Bulma a bet...
• Vocal Evolution: Tien's voice wasn't quite as deep in season one.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Tien makes Piccolo cry during the "Bald This Way" segment. Krillin is audibly shocked and Nappa calls Tien out for it.
  • Happens again to Tien in episode 60, when Yamcha directly calls him "the biggest asshole I know" because of his snide attitude. Tien seems genuinely taken aback to hear this, and then admits that he truly considers Yamcha a friend.
• Worf Barrage: Tien's Shin Kikoho did nothing more than piss Cell off. To be fair, by the end of it, Cell was super nettled.
• The Worf Effect: When Tien shows up to fight and stall Cell, the creature asks if Krillin was too busy. (All the more hurtful because it's literally true.) Granted, this is before Tien spammed Shin Kikoho on him.
• Worthy Opponent: Well, "worthy" might be an exaggeration since Cell still knows Tien wouldn't last a second against him if he gets serious in his Perfect form, but Cell has a special enmity towards Tien. While he's practically pally with Goku, treats Vegeta and Trunks with mockery and barely even notices the others, thanks to the Kikoho incident, Tien is the only Z-Fighter other than Gohan who has actually gotten under Cell's skin and earned his hatred. In fact, in HFIL episode 7, Cell's biggest regret is shown to be not choking Tien to death.
  • In Dragon ShortZ episode 5, Vegeta considers fighting Yamcha and Krillin to be beneath him, but not Tien. Given Bojack Unbound shows Tenshinhan actually can hold his own against Trunks in his base form, this might not be unreasonable.
• You Wouldn't Shoot Me: The basis of Tien's "game" with Vegeta. Tien knows that Vegeta's more than capable of killing him, but is banking on Vegeta being too proud to let him win by killing him over the taunts.

Future Trunks

"Wait a second -- have all five of you DIED?!"

Voiced by: Scott "KaiserNeko" Frerichs

The bastard son of Vegeta and Bulma, this version of Trunks comes from a future that was turned into a Fist of the North Star-esque wasteland as a result of Dr. Gero's androids. Being a skilled fighter and the former student of Son Gohan in his own timeline, Trunks does everything he can to help the Z Fighters in their fights against the androids and later Cell, all the while hoping to gain the approval of his estranged father in the present timeline. Often mistaken for a girl due to his pretty face and girly name.

---

• Accidental Misnaming: He calls Goku "Sun Wukong" (Goku's Chinese name) on accident, along with a mental "Damnit!". Goku however doesn't correct him, only replying with "I'm Son Goku, yes". He decides to just roll with it.
• Adaptation Personality Change: The only major character to really avert this - With the exception of being more socially awkward, he's more or less the same as he was with Z, with the humor of his character mostly coming from how wildly this contrasts him with everyone else.
• Adaptational Dumbass: It's subtle, but much more emphasis is put on this Trunks' lack of understanding of time travel. In canon he figured out on his own that alternate timeline was the reason how Cell could be there, while Abridged Trunks has to have it spelled out to him by Cell himself.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: His Fantastic Racism is Downplayed here, as he's less outwardly hostile towards androids he meets and sounds more defeated and reacts with fear upon discovering more, rather than hostility and frustration. He also laments what the future androids could have been like when confronting them for a final time, something he had no interest in doing in canon.
• Adaptational Wimp: A minor example during his fight with Cell. While the outcome is pretty much the same, in canon, Trunks was genuinely able to land hits on Cell as an Ultra Saiyan before the gradual stamina loss led to Cell easily dodging his attacks as the fight progressed. Here, Cell reveals to Trunks that during the beginning of the fight, he simply let himself get hit out of pity.
• Angrish: The circumstances leading to Cell achieving his perfect form reduce him to this for a bit.
• Badass Boast: "If it's a Super Saiyan you're looking for, I can fill the part." Cue doing so while King Cold and Freeza are arguing during his transformation.
• Bad Liar: After Bulma asks him about his jacket, if you listen over Vegeta's monologue, you can hear him awkwardly explaining it away.
  Trunks: I'm a big fan of Capsule Corp. [beat] Yep. Love storing things.
• Battle Strip: Inadvertently and much to his displeasure; the Broly special depicts the jacket Future Bulma gave him getting incinerated by him going Super Saiyan.
• Big "NO!": When Cell talks Vegeta into letting him absorb Android 18 for a better fight, Trunks lets out one so big it's cut off by the credits. It can be heard in the background of Episode 51 as Krillin tried to bring himself to blow up the Androids first.
• Break the Cutie: In a Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene-variety when he finds Gohan dead.
• Break the Haughty: After Cell reveals how useless Super Saiyan Grade 3 is, he depowers, and is despondent enough to just let Cell kill him.
• Broken Pedestal: Like in the original series, actually meeting Vegeta is a giant letdown for him. Unlike in the original, Goku is also not what he was expecting. Future!Bulma has an Oh, Crap! moment when she realizes he's going to actually meet both of them.
  • In general he finds himself being severely disappointed by most of the Z-Fighters of the past. Though he does gradually build up a rapport with the nicer ones, at least.
• Butt-Monkey: He really can't catch a break, especially when Vegeta is around.
• Calling the Old Woman Out: In the Episode 60 Epilogue, when he returns home the very first thing he does is call Future Bulma out for not telling him what kind of person his father Vegeta was.
• Cannot Keep a Secret: Has a tendency of giving away his secrets by accident.
• Character Catchphrase:
  • Shares "Oh, crapbaskets," with Gohan. Lampshaded by both Gohan and Krillin when they hear him say it.
  • He also has a habit of thinking "Dammit" after messing up some dialogue with Goku, only to follow up with "Roll with it" when Goku doesn't notice.
• Character Development: He starts out disappointed with Vegeta and not very good at standing up to him, as well as incredibly naive regarding the Dragon Team and unable to handle their eccentricities. Eventually he comes to accept Vegeta's antics and develops a Deadpan Snarker attitude and learns to stand up and to the group as a whole, to the point that he's willing to blast Vegeta away to try and stop Semi-Perfect Cell from becoming Perfect and calls out the group as a whole during the Cell Saga except for Gohan and Goku.
• Chick Magnet: In a funny and rather squicky case of this trope. He's drawn the attention of two women so far. Unfortunately they're his mother and grandmother from another timeline.
• Combat Pragmatist: He retains this from Z, being quick to either just go for the killing blow immediately or suggest it and other underhanded methods. Kills Future #18 by charging her while she's arguing with #17 and obliterates her point blank before she can even react. He later kills Future Cell before Cell is finished charging a Kamehameha.
• Cool Ship: If Episode 34 is anything to go by, Trunks' time machine? It's a TARDIS.
• Cool Sword: It's able to slice Freeza into sandwich meat, but gets a large chunk of it broken when 18 blocks it. Super Android 13 breaks it in half after Trunks makes a Badass Boast of killing him with it.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: If you knew the source material of him and Freeza, then it's inevitable.
  • He has several inflicted on him by Future #17 and #18 during the History of Trunks Abridged special over the events of the movie. He returns the favor when he returns from the past way stronger than before.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • All throughout his fight with Freeza, every other line that came out of Trunks' mouth was pure snark.
  • He also tries one on Gohan, but given it's Gohan he can't keep up the act.
    Gohan: We live in a world without Dragon Balls now!
    Trunks: Oh yeah, that sounds terrible. I'm so sorry.
    Gohan: It's alright, we'll manage.
    Trunks: I can't be mad at you.
  • He eventually adopts this attitude towards dealing with his father's abrasiveness.
    Vegeta: First of all Paragus; your seed couldn't compare to my own, and he's a filthy halfling.
    Trunks: (completely indifferent) Love you too, dad.
• Despair Event Horizon: Pretty much shuts down once Cell points out how useless Super Saiyan Grade 3 really is and actually asks Cell to kill him.
• Diagonal Cut: Justified; apparently, he's been practicing that for a few months. Also, it's not as easy as they make it look.
• Didn't See That Coming: Since he didn't know about there being more androids than the two he knew of, he then never goes into detail about what the androids look like, leaving everyone including him surprised when Dr. Gero and Android 19 are ones he has never seen before.
• The Dog Bites Back: He finally stands up for himself against Vegeta in Episode 51 and blows him over the horizon, as Vegeta attacks him to stop him from killing Cell. This was also the trigger point of Vegeta's Papa Wolf tendencies towards Trunks, and was much less abusive than him.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Informed trope. After their first meeting, Goku comments to himself "What a nice young lady", while he and Vegeta both mention that his name was girly. In the Broly movie, Paragus confuses Trunks for a girl because of his hair and calls him "Princess Trunks", prompting everyone to address him as such, and Vegeta "allows Broly to bed Princess Trunks to repopulate the planet", with Broly complimenting his hair, to Trunks' dismay. This is also the complete inverse for anyone who was a teenager back then. Trunks had a very masculine haircut. But in truth, Trunks looks just as masculine as any of the other z fighters.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Made an appearance in Episode 18, where he heard his father's scream all the way from Namek, two decades into the future.
• Exact Words: He tells the future versions of 17 and 18 in the next minute, if he doesn't kill them, he'll offer an explanation. He wastes future 18 in 21 seconds.
• Fantastic Racism: A downplayed variant. Has prejudice against all androids. While understandable due to what the Future versions of 17 and 18 did to his timeline, it makes his immediate rejection of the peace-loving Android 16 rather noticeable. He mellows out on it by the end of Episode 60, and in the Epilogue, he admits to the future versions of 17 and 18 that they didn't have to turn into the murderous monsters they became in his timeline.
• Fridge Logic: In-universe. After Android 14 Blade Catches Trunks' sword, Trunks wonders why he even brought the sword when they were supposed to be shopping.
  Trunks: Why did I even bring this? Wait, why did I bring this? We were shopping before-
• Future Badass: His Establishing Character Moment cements it. He, much like his source counterpart, annihilates all but one of Freeza's squad just by cutting them with his sword.
• Future Imperfect: As both Tien and Vegeta lampshade, Trunks has a tendency to make a lot of assumptions on what he thinks happened in the past, rather than what actually happened, as well as what people were like. This can be blamed on Future Bulma's less than thorough explanations alongside.
  Krillin: Jesus, Future Bulma! What the shit?!
  • He also grew up in a world without Dragon Balls, and while he's obviously not ignorant as to what they can do, he also doesn't properly realise how much that affects the Z-Fighters' perspectives on life and death. This leaves him stunned when he finds out that most of them have already died at least once before and they take it with stride.
• Gender-Blender Name: According to both Goku and Vegeta, "Trunks" is a girl's name, and Vegeta's "Princess Trunks" cracks aside, Trunks is very definitely male. Of course, given that Trunks isn't a name at all in real life, this is something of an Informed Attribute, though it may also suggest that Trunks is a feminine name in Saiyan culture, or it may just be because Goku's a dumbass and Vegeta's a jerkass.
• Going Native: He gradually acclimates to the wackiness of the past. Best seen in the Epilogue, where he calls 17 and 18 "androids" out of habit and declines to rush off to stop their onslaught because his tea would get cold. Back in his much more serious timeline, this comical delay results in a man being killed.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Avoids saying, "motherf*cking". He says "Monkey-fighting" and "Monday-to-Friday" instead.
• Heroic Bastard: He was born from Vegeta and Bulma's Belligerent Sexual Tension and the fact that Vegeta doesn't know what a condom is. When Bulma told Vegeta she was pregnant and asked him to get a job to support her, his reaction was to immediately take off into space. Trunks himself had no idea his parents never married until Vegeta breaks it to him in the most dick-ish way possible, later literally calling him a bastard while blowing off his warnings.
• Heroic BSoD: Has one in Episode 51, after realizing Cell found 18 and Krillin destroyed the remote.
• Honor Before Reason:
  • Reaches a peak in Episode 52, when it's clear he's holding back for Vegeta's honour, not his own due to his "Well Done, Son" Guy traits.
    Krillin: And I can tell when someone is holding back...TRUNKS.
    Trunks: ...I can explain.
    Krillin: I don't think you can.
  • He winds up averting it later in Episode 59 when he suggests they give Goku a senzu bean during his fight with Cell.
• Idiot Ball: A minor hilarious example. While everyone is flying (inside a vehicle) to Kame House, Trunks decides to decapsulize his time machine to show the rest that he still has it. It ends up on Goku's chest.
• Inadequate Inheritor: Vegeta doesn't think much of him, even less so when he finds out that the "killer androids" Trunks is so afraid of are a couple of delinquents.
• Incompletely Trained:
  • He describes Future Gohan's training methods as "dodgy". As in, Gohan only ever taught him how to dodge. He did try to give Trunks "real training" on the battlefield, but it didn't go very well.
  • While Trunks becomes somewhat better trained during his time with Vegeta in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, he still retains this status due to not realizing how useless the bulky Super Saiyan Grade 3 form is until Perfect Cell spells it out to him after he gives Trunks some pity hits. Perfect Cell notes quite correctly that Trunks lacks a lot of practical experience and proper training from an actual martial arts master, having only trained with Gohan and Vegeta (the former of whom didn't get the same amount of actual instruction time as his father, and Vegeta wasn't interested in teaching Trunks practical battle advice) and having only really only fought 17, 18 and Freeza up to this point (all of whom have never trained a day in their lives), whereas the rest of the Z-Fighters had fought many, many more opponents over the years.
• Inelegant Blubbering: The Android's rampage reduces him to this in History Of Trunks Abridged. Twice.
• Informed Attribute: Him looking like a girl. He's definitely a pretty boy, but his features still come across as fairly masculine. There's also the matter of his "girly name" — Trunks isn't a name at all in real life, so we just have to take the show's word for it.
• Lightning Bruiser: Catches and lifts Freeza's Death Ball with one hand, fast enough to escape its explosion when Freeza blows it up, and strong enough to slice Freeza to pieces with his sword, not to mention catching said sword when King Cold tried to use it against him.
• Like Father, Like Son: As much as he denies it, his focus on pride makes him a lot more like Vegeta than he thinks. His Pre-Asskicking One-Liner before his Curb-Stomp Battle against Future Cell is cribbed straight from his dad and even has similar enunciation.
• Mad Scientist's Beautiful Son: He is a Bishōnen whom even the guys want. He is also the son of Bulma, who probably qualifies as a Mad Scientist at least in this version.
• Mighty Glacier: The increased muscle mass of his alternate Super Saiyan form turns him into one. Unfortunately he only realises this after Cell spells it out to him.
• Morality Pet: Very, very slowly becomes one for Vegeta, although no one, not even Vegeta, realizes it until Cell kills him and Vegeta goes nuts.
• Naïve Newcomer: The kid's not dumb, but he doesn't actually know that much about the main characters, their past, or their relationships to each other, and he starts off with a number of assumptions about them that are a bit... innocent.
  Trunks: Wait… you mean you two never got married?
  Vegeta: What is that, some kind of food?
  Trunks: No, just… listen. When two people love each other—
  Vegeta: Oh, wow, I'm just f*cking with you. My god, who doesn't know what marriage is. Also, "love each other"? Making a lot of assumptions here.
  • Made even worse for him in Episode 40, with the reveal that he was completely unaware of Vegeta's past as a villain or that he'd tried to kill them all so many times, they barely even react to it anymore.
    • In the Broly movie, he isn't aware of the Saiyans past as a killer race. After informing Vegeta about the enslavement of the Shamoshans, the results were not what he expected.
  • In Episode 53 Cell mentions this as the reason why Trunks thought Super Saiyan Grade 3 was a viable form to fight Cell in. Vegeta, Goku, and Cell are all more experienced fighters who could pull off the form but knew of its weaknesses.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: As Perfect Cell explains, Trunks is the reason why Cell is in the present to begin with.
  Trunks: Then you're here...
  Cell: ...because of you. But please don't beat yourself up. You're just a child playing hero, complete with spandex.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: He practically deatomizes Freeza and King Cold as part of his first few minutes in the present. Later on, he gets one-shotted by Cell, who's comprised of Freeza's (and by extension, King Cold's) DNA.
• No One Could Survive That!: He survives a point-blank blast of a nuke from Future 17 when Future 18 unintentionally shields Trunks from certain death because she called "dibs".
• Not So Above It All:
  • History of Trunks Abridged reveals that while he's still naturally benevolent, he still inherited some traits from his crass father and all around offensive grandfather:
    Trunks: [to Bulma] The only good cyborg is a dead cyborg?
    Future Bulma: You really are your father's son.
  • He also admits to Krillin that he makes laser sounds in his head when he fires energy blasts, joining him in doing so out loud while destroying Dr. Gero's lab.
  • While he rightfully castigates Krillin for destroying the detonator that would have blown up 18 thus depriving Cell the chance of achieving his perfect form because he was attracted to her, and Vegeta for letting Cell absorb her so he could fight Cell's perfect form instead of finishing him off, Krillin figures out Trunks was holding back and bitterly throws the fact that he could have gone full power and destroyed Semi-Perfect Cell himself the entire time back in his face. The fact that Trunks didn't want to upstage his petty, selfish, abusive, dickhead of a father shows he can endanger everyone for stupid, selfish reasons as well.
• Oblivious to Love: He fails to notice Krillin's love for 18, until it was far too late. Perhaps justified by the fact that he only knows her as an utter monster from his own time, and couldn’t conceive of people liking her. And, y'know, living in an apocalypse his whole life probably didn't help either.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • When he realizes there more Androids than the two he encountered. And when Bulma brought his present infant self along.
    Future Trunks: Did she bring me!?
  • In 42, he finds the word "Hope" on the rusted time machine, and later on touches some gunk in Cell's molt.
  • Played for Drama in History of Trunks Abridged when he sees the remnants of a city destroyed all he could say was "Oh no..." And then he finds Gohan dead...
  • He knows exactly what will happen when Cell says if he were perfect he'd wipe the floor with Vegeta.
  • In the Broly special, he does not take well to Broly's sadistic interest in him.
    Broly: You dirty boy.
    [Cue Trunks looking horrified]
    Future Trunks: Goku, get me off this planet right now!
• Only Sane Man: While he still has some comical quirks, he's still competent, smart, and relatively serious. He outright (and pretty much accurately) calls himself "the only voice of reason here" during Episode 51, calling out both Krillin and Vegeta for their part in helping Cell become perfect^note though in fairness Krillin had no idea that Cell's transformation process involved absorbing the Androids, nobody actually informed him, which is made evident when he's confused when Android 18 tells him he shouldn't have destroyed the remote. Vegeta, on the other hand, has no such excuse and even admitted Cell was playing him, and this comes back to bite him immediately after Cell becomes Perfect; and remarks on how profoundly dysfunctional the Z-Fighters are in the Episode 60 Epilogue.
• Patchwork Kids: He has his mother's family lilac hair, and Vegeta's look and Saiyan strength. Trunks gets very uncomfortable when his mother admits that her Affectionate Nickname "Peanut Buttercup" was because she thought her genetics and Vegeta's combined like peanut butter and chocolate.
• Phrase Catcher: People tend to say "Making a lot of assumptions there..." in response to his ill-informed perception of what kind of person his father was. Vegeta himself says it after Trunks says that he and Bulma love each other, and Tenshinhan says it after Trunks says that Vegeta is their friend.
• Post-Mortem One-Liner: After he kills an entire squad of Freeza's soldiers in one hit.
  Trunks: So. How many points are those?
• Pragmatic Hero: He's the only one of the Z-fighters to suggest giving Goku a Senzu bean during his fight with Cell. And calls them out on for ignoring him.
  Trunks: Okay guys, if you're bothered by cheating, either loosen your moral code or stop hinging the fate of the world on DEATH MATCHES!
• Parental Issues: Of course, it wouldn't be Future Trunks without them. He never knew Vegeta when he was growing up and when he travels back to the past, Vegeta makes sure to compound his issues from having a Disappeared Dad by being an abusive parent to Trunks and generally showing him absolutely no respect. It isn't until he stands up to his dad on the matter of letting Cell achieve perfection that Vegeta shows him any respect and it takes Trunks dying (and of course being resurrected) to set their relationship on a less toxic path. As a result though, present Vegeta's made at least some effort to actually be a father to present Trunks in post-series content.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Gives one in Super Android 13 Abridged to the film's titular character.
  Trunks: Hey, you big blue bastard! I'm a time traveler from 17 years in the future and you don't exist there! You know why? Well, besides multiverse theory, it's because you die, right here, by my sword!
• Precision F-Strike: One of the most underrated elements of this iteration of Trunks is that amidst all of the foul mouths such as Vegeta, Krillin, Cell, ...Vegeta, he rarely swears. And when he does, he uses light swears such as "damn" and "Hell". He only swears when the circumstances are justified.
  • Episode 52 sees him break out "shit" remorsefully when he realizes Krillin's feelings for Android 18.
    Krillin: [angry] AND BECAUSE OF THAT, 18 HAD TO DIE?!
    Future Trunks: [oblivious to Krillin's anger] What does it matter? That was your plan the entire... [looks at Krillin's tears] oh... shit.
  • Drops a huge "Holy Shit" upon seeing Cell still alive after Gohan's enormous Kamehameha.
    Piccolo: Uh, guys?
    Trunks: Holy shit!
  • In the epilogue, he says "f*ck" for the very first time, and it was glorious.
    Trunks: Get out of my f*cking timeline!
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner:
  • It's almost like Trunks was preparing for Freeza.
    Trunks: HEY FREEZA! YOU SHOULD SPLIT!!!
  • After King Cold's attempt to kill him fails and Cold asks if Trunks is still not sure whether or not he hates him.
    Trunks: Actually, that pretty much sealed it.
  • He has a rather blunt one for the Cell of his timeline in the Epilogue.
    Trunks: Get out of my f*cking timeline!
  • The fact that he doesn't use these at all while fighting Future 17 and 18 serves as a sign as to just how much he hates them.
• Pretty Boy: His bishie character design ends up working against him in Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan, wherein Vegeta starts calling him "Princess Trunks".
• Rage Breaking Point: After putting up with Vegeta's abuse, he finally snaps and blasts him away when Vegeta tries to stop him from stopping Cell.

  Vegeta: What're ya doin'?!

  Trunks: What am I doing?!

  Vegeta: Thwartin' mah plans?!

  Trunks: Thwarting your plans?!

  Vegeta: ARE YOU?!

  Trunks: YA KNOW WHAT, YES!!!!

• Rebuilt Pedestal: Vegeta and Trunks made up after the latter (offscreen) learnt about how Vegeta went apeshit on Cell when he killed Trunks. Their farewell was also a sweet Saiyan moment. The Epilogue shows that he still called Future Bulma out on not telling him Vegeta was like that though.
  • In general he builds a rapport with the more sane and nicer Z-Fighters, though this zig-zags a bit with Krillin for understandable reasons, though he doesn't seem to hold any grudges against him.
• Running Gag: In regards to his name being a girl's name.
• Sacrificial Lion: Just like in canon, not only was Cell was back and Came Back Strong, he was killed by him by his first attack.
• Saying Too Much: He lets slip to Goku that Bulma is his mom before getting him to promise to keep it a secret. Cue Trunks going "Dammit!" internally.
• Screaming at Squick:
  • After Bulma makes a pass at him, even saying she can be his "mommy". On the surface, he still manages to keep a straight face, but internally he is screaming bloody murder
    • In The Stinger of the Epilogue, after Bulma reveals that Trunks' birth was caused by a one-night stand and going into far too much detail about it, Trunks unfortunately does NOT manage to keep a straight face and starts externally screaming bloody murder.
  • After getting gunk all over his hands from Cell's moult, he barely manages to keep himself composed.
• Skilled, but Naive: During his fight with Perfect Cell it gets pointed out by the villain that he really doesn't have the kind of experience the other Z-Fighters have in fighting so his intended trump card comes across as an almost rookie mistake.
• Soldier vs. Warrior: Future Trunks is firmly in the Soldier category due to his Pragmatic Hero and Combat Pragmatist leanings as compared to the Z-Fighters Warrior category, even calling them all out on not trying to help Goku out in his fight against Perfect Cell by tossing him a Senzu Bean when he's on his last legs.
  Trunks: ...Okay guys, if you're bothered by cheating; either loosen your moral code, or STOP HINGING THE FATE OF THE WORLD ON DEATH MATCHES!!
  Vegeta: I can't believe you're my son.
  Trunks: Hey you said it, not me.
• Straight Man: Another thing he inherits from his dad. During the first two seasons, Vegeta was the Straight Man reacting to everyone else's insanity. In Season Three, with Vegeta himself now just as insane as the rest, Trunks takes over that role.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Downplayed, but upon seeing what the present 17 and 18 are like, Trunks tells their future counterparts that things don't actually have to go down with a death match, but the future twins aren't interested in what he has to say, and Trunks shows no hesitance to destroy them in turn.
• Technology Marches On: Is a victim of it. He's never heard country music (long story) and has no idea what a fax machine is.invoked
• Tell Me About My Father:
  • Seen in a flashback he once had this conversation with Bulma, but her comments about Vegeta being "an abrasive loner with a lot of trouble making friends" didn't really prepare him for the reality.
    Kid Trunks: Am I a lot like him?
    Future Bulma: ...you have his gender.
  • He does the same trope in History of Trunks, only Gohan is the receiver in that.
    Trunks: Speaking of dads, mom never talks about mine. You knew him right? What's he like.
    -cut to Vegeta pounding on Kid Gohan in a flashback.-
    Vegeta: SO WHAT!! YOU THINK HAVING A DAD AS A SUPER SAIYAN MAKES YOU BETTER THAN ME!!?
    Kid Gohan: NOOOOO!!!
    Vegeta: WRONG ANSWER!!!
    -Cut back to Trunks and Gohan-
    Gohan: He had a lot to prove.
  • When he finally finds out what Vegeta was like and goes back to the future.
  Trunks: Hey, mom? You ever met dad?!
• This Is Gonna Suck: During the Broly special, the poor guy knew exactly what he was in for when Broly turned his attention on him after his Legendary Super Saiyan transformation.

  Broly: Princess Tru~nks.
  Future Trunks: Please no.

• Tongue-Tied: Whenever he gets upset his sentences get jumbled up into incomprehensible gibberish.
• Too Much Information: He has this reaction in the Season 3 Epilogue when Future Bulma describes her relationship with Vegeta, and when she defends her younger self hitting on Trunks. Taken even further in the deleted scene shown at the end of the Epilogue where Bulma goes into unnecessary detail about the relationship, over Trunks' desperate protests.
• Torso with a View: Cell blows a hole through his chest once he comes back from his self-destruction and finishes his Dark Reprise.
• Tragic Time Traveler: The abridged series deconstruct this by depicting him as a Failure Hero. Like in canon, he goes back in time from a Bad Future where the future Androids caused chaos, but because multiverse theory is a bitch, his timeline remains unchanged. He still travels back to try and help the Z-Fighters, but most of his attempts to help either don't do much to actually aid them, or don't help them at all. As if that wasn't bad enough, his preconceptions of Goku and Vegeta are taken apart by seeing how dysfunctional they and their group are, and he doesn't even end up stopping Cell, being unceremoniously killed off and leaving Gohan to be the one to take him out. Luckily, his experiences at least managed him to get strong enough to take care of his androids, and while the future is ravaged in the Super version of abridged, the end of the series proper has Future Trunks' end his tenure by splitting Fusion Zamasu in half.
• Tranquil Fury: When he goes back to finally put an end to the Future Androids, his manner reeks of it, as while he does have a couple moments of banter with them, he blows away 18 without a single word, and kills 17 in short order afterwards while calmly chastising him for killing his mentor.
• Traumatic Superpower Awakening: He goes Super Saiyan when Future Gohan is killed. The original is even the page image.
• Unskilled, but Strong: He's strong enough to surpass Vegeta, but not skilled enough to realize the method of said surpassing makes him a Mighty Glacier in a series full of Lightning Bruisers.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
  • It's implied that Krillin sensed Trunks' higher power level, which lead to him smashing the detonation remote - Krillin didn't expect Trunks to hold back to soothe Vegeta's ego and Trunks (nor anyone else) didn't realize that Krillin had the right idea.
  • He gives Cell the idea for the Cell Games as a way for the world to remember him - which on the one hand ensures the world will face untold terror as it waits for the end of the world, but on the other hand did cause Cell to spare their lives in the here and now.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy:
  • His relationship with Vegeta is beautifully spelled out in Episode 45.
    Trunks: NOTICE MEEEE!
    [beat]
    Vegeta: NOOOOOO!
  • Vegeta is actually proud when Trunks sends him flying in Episode 51. It's just overshadowed by his unyielding rage that Trunks is trying to interfere with him having a challenging battle.
  • When Piccolo asks him point-blank if he hates Vegeta, Trunks wearily admits that "disappointed" would be the better word.
    Trunks: He's the single most frustrating man I've ever met.
  • Cell even Lampshades it.
    Cell: (Powers up to imitate Trunks) Look at me, I'm Trunks. Please love me dad. (Powers down) See anyone can do it.
    Trunks: ...That's a terrible impression.
    Android 16: (Off screen) But not inaccurate.
  • Of course, Episode 60 ends with Vegeta flipping Trunks off. Trunks smiles and flips him off right back. Vegeta gives a smug little smile in return.
  • In general, Trunks gets over this mindset around Episode 51-54, first in 51 when he actively defies his father, and after learning the hard way that his "trump card" (aka Super Saiyan Grade 3) was not actually worth holding back and he held it back out of consideration for Vegeta's pride for basically nothing, he stops being submissive and becomes more actively snarky towards Vegeta, less willing to follow his lead and more willing to criticise him.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Calls out the other Z Fighters for adhering to Honor Before Reason when he suggests giving Goku a senzu bean to give him an edge over Cell.
  Trunks: Okay, guys, if you're bothered by cheating, either loosen your moral code or stop hinging the fate of the world on deathmatches!
• Willfully Weak: In Episode 52, it's revealed that he's actually stronger than Vegeta following their training, but deliberately hid this from his father because he knew the prince's fragile ego couldn't take it. Subverted by Episode 53, as all his "power-up" really did was trade speed, energy, and efficiency for muscle mass and raw power, so a competent opponent could just dodge everything he does. Goku and Cell can both do it, they both know its weakness, and Cell, who believes the same is true of Vegeta, uses this little fact to utterly crush Trunks. Vegeta probably would've actually told him this if Trunks had actually been willing to show him what he had found out.
• You Fight Like a Cow:
  • Used it on Freeza, and kept repeating the joke when Freeza failed to react.
    Trunks: Well Freeza, looks like you dropped the ball! [beat] Drropped. The. Ball. [beat] Drrrrrrrrropped the—"
    *Cue Freeza shooting him*
  • In the prequel movie, he tried it on Android 18. It works about as well as it did on Freeza.
    Trunks: You hit like a girl.
    Android 18: Well... you're not wrong. [prepares to blast him]
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: In regards to Vegeta's ego escalating further, the lad had this to say:
  Trunks:...do you really believe your own hype that much?
  Vegeta: I AM THE HYPE!

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