It's Christmas time, and Krillin decides that there's only one way to get a decent tree- Dragon Balls! Naturally, Shenron takes offense over being summoned for such a trivial thing, and brings to Earth a group of Space Pirates who plant a tree that sucks up all of the joy in the world...the Christmas Tree of Might.
If Chi-Chi finds out about these tropes, I might not get that mouth present:
- Adapted Out: Icarus, almost completely, who goes from taking up about half the movie to being a Credits Gag.
- Butt-Monkey: Poor Yamcha. Shortly after buying a new car, an explosion throws it onto his house. Because he used all of the money he had from his current baseball salary, he is forced to crash with his friends.
- Christmas Episode: Yes. Hilariously, Lanipator has stated that this is his favourite installment in the abridged series because of the fact that the joke he came up with for the title, Christmas Tree of Might, is what the whole Christmas-themed plot and humour is written around. This title is pretty much the entire reason for the movie being a Christmas Episode.
- Call-Back: Tien calling Jinga and Beru "f**king weeaboos" is a call-back to The Stinger of Episode 16, where King Kai refuses to teach the Earth Z-fighters the Kaioken because Yamcha misprounced its name.
- Frivolous Summoning: Krillin summons Shenron because he wants to wish for a Christmas tree instead of restoring the burned forest. This pushes Shenron over the edge, and he grants the wish by directing Turles and his evil tree to Earth in retaliation.
- Lampshade Hanging: Gohan comments how much easier gathering Dragon Balls has become overtime. Relying on Bulma's Dragon Radar may have something to do with it.
- Lighter and Softer: The third movie was the darkest Dragon Ball adaptation in the Z banner where the protagonists are trying to prevent the Earth from being a drained and desolate planet. This adaptation turns it into a Christmas Episode, and cuts back on the Earth literally dying as the result of the titular Christmas Tree of Might.
- Motive Rant: Turles gives one on why he hates Christmas.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The whole special happened because Krillin wanted a Christmas tree from Shenron. Asking for it right in front of the animals that lost their home to a forest fire probably didn't help.
- Non-Serial Movie: The movie being non-canon is heavily lampshaded in the credits and post credits scene.note Vegeta: This is so non-canon, it hurts.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Of all of the Misfit Minions, Reese earns this title and a permanent spot on Santa's Naughty List for raping Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Krillin also thinks this as when Slay reveals he killed a kid to get rid of his cancer, he comments that Slay's one of the worst mall Santas ever, right behind the ones who molest children (implying murdering them is less evil than molesting them). Slay's response?Slay: So I'm the worst Mall Santa.
- Title Drop: Said word for word when the Misfit Minions plant the tree. Humorously, the one who plants it doesn’t know what the lead one means because he isn’t specific enough, so he has to drop the title for it to get planted.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Shenron actually seems begrudgingly okay with being summoned to return the forest that Gohan, Krillin, Bulma and Oolong (semi) accidentally burned down. Then Krillin says he just wants a Christmas tree, despite being surrounded by the now-homeless forest creatures at that very second. You can hear the complete and utter disgust in Shenron's voice as he agrees, kicking off the film's conflict.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: The credits state that Krillin got a girlfriend (Maron), but wasn't allowed to keep her because she wasn't canon.
