Sandbox / Dragon Ball: Tenshinhan

Tien Shinhan (天津飯, Tenshinhan)

Voiced by (Japanese): Hirotaka Suzuoki (Dragon Ball, Z), Kōichi Yamadera (Z eps. 82 and 84 only), Mitsuaki Madono (Burst Limit, Infinite World, Revenge of King Piccolo and Heroes), Hikaru Midorikawa (Kai and Super)
Voiced by (English): Eddie Frierson (Harmony Gold dub); Matt Smith^note Not to be confused with the Doctor Who star (Ocean dub); Chris Cason (Most of Z Season 3; 1999), Lane Pianta (Z Season 3 eps. 104, 106-107; 1999), John Burgmeier (All other media including remastered Z Season 3) (Funimation dub); Brendan Hunter (Blue Water dub); Doug Rand (Z Movie 3), David Gasman (Z Movie 9), Sharon Mann (The History of Trunks) (AB Groupe/"Big Green" dub); Richard Jonson (Creative Products Corp.); Ray Chase (Bang Zoom!/Toonami Asia dub in Super)
Voiced by (Latin American Spanish): Ismael Larumbe (current voice), Esteban Desco (Z eps. 267-268 and 285), Armando Coria (Dragon Ball Harmony Gold), Gabriel Ramos (kid)
Voiced by (French): Georges Atlas (DB, Z), Marc Bretonnière (Kai, Super)
Voiced by (Italian): Claudio Ridolfo

"I might just be a pothole in the road to you, but it's going to be one heck of a deep pothole!"

Introduced in the second World Martial Arts Tournament arc, Tenshinhan and Chiaotzu were initially rivals to Goku, Krillin, and Yamcha (as they belonged to an opposing dojo to Roshi's). The two eventually become friends to our heroes after realizing the lack of honor in their own methods. They become instrumental in the next few arcs following their introduction, but by Z their roles had become less and less till they were reduced to cameo appearances and a few references in Dragon Ball GT. His role is expanded in Super, as he is shown to have founded a dojo himself, and participates in the Tournament of Power.

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A-L

• Adaptational Badass:
  • Tien performs better in the anime version of his fight with Goku in the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament, being able to match Goku who only has a slight advantage. In the manga, the fight is far more one-sided with Goku dominating Tien until Chiaotzu paralyzes Goku, allowing Tien to badly injure Goku. Although Tien gets on Chiaotzu for this and allows Goku to pummel him as repayment, the damage was done.
  • A minor example. In the manga, Drum completely outmatches Tien, who only lands a couple of good hits before going down and nearly being killed. He also never gets to use the Evil Containment Wave because he was using a broken rice cooker. In the anime, Tien puts up a better fight and manages to score several hits on Drum, and effectively defeats him with the Evil Containment Wave (granted, he was aiming for Piccolo and Drum intercepted it). Too bad Piccolo just let Drum out right after.
  • During his battle with Cell, he's only able to fire off half a dozen Shin Kikoho / Neo Tri-beam blasts before collapsing. In the anime, Tenshinhan manages to keep Cell pinned down for a whole episode, pushing himself to the absolute limit while the other cast panic over how long he can hang in for.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: In the manga, he and Chiaotzu make their debut at the World Martial Arts Tournament. In the anime, he appears as an antagonist in a filler episode set between the Baba arc and the Tournament. As such, Goku recognizes him as the villain on-site.
• Adaptational Jerkass: In the manga, his only real "crimes" are being too cocky for his own good, having the order of fights rigged, and unnecessarily breaking a downed opponent's leg. In anime filler, he's a con man who tortures an animal, attempts murder at least twice, and actually kills a man (albeit in a case of manslaughter rather than murder).
• Adaptational Wimp: In the anime version of the Tournament of Power, Tenshinhan manages to last for a decent amount of time, earning a few eliminations prior to his ring out at the hands of Universe 2's Harmira, due to letting his guard down after defeating him and even then, Tien managed to take Harmira down with him. In the manga, he tries to fight Frost from Universe 6 after Frost knocked out Krillin, but Frost takes him down in a flash after tanking his Neo-Tri Beam.
• Aloof Ally: Spends the majority of the Buu Saga training in isolation with Chiaotzu.
• Always Second Best: Despite being even with Goku during the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament, he falls behind Goku after he drinks the Ultra Divine Water and never catches up again. He still tries, despite knowing he can't catch up.
• Ambiguously Human: He's never presented as anything but human, but he does have a third eye and unique abilities. There are much more human-seeming aliens throughout the series. Some of the tie-in games refer to him as an alien, but Toriyama has at various times stated that Tien is a descendant of a three-eyed clan of humans and/or that the third eye is the result of achieving enlightenment. Daizenshuu 7 was the source of the claim that has alien ancestry, but it should be noted that it says it's distant and explicitly classifies him as a human alongside Krillin, Yamcha, Bulma, etc.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Tenshinhan was one of these before he became one of the heroic characters. While most Dragon Ball villains are this to a certain extent, Tenshinhan is the clearest example of it as afterward the villains are all aliens, demons, androids, and genies. He was likely the Trope Codifier of an Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy for anime.
• The Artifact: Due to the power escalation in the series, Tenshinhan's role as The Rival for Goku ended up getting taken over by Piccolo and later Vegeta. Tenshinhan himself actually ended up getting briefly written out of the series during the Buu Saga only to later return. At the same time, he still sees Goku as his rival, as in the bar to surpass, but he's fully aware that it will never happen.
• Ascended Extra: Move-wise, the Dodon Ray is this for him. He, canonically, only really used it one or two times. In games, it's his standard Kamehame Hadoken.
• The Atoner: After his Heel–Face Turn.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: How he learns the Kamehameha and the Evil Containment Wave in Dragon Ball. He is stated to have the ability to copy techniques.
• Badass Boast: To Yamcha in his villain days.
  Tenshinhan: Poor Yamcha. The only thing more pathetic than a loser is a loser who thinks he's born to win.
• Badass and Child Duo: Tenshinhan and Chiaotzu in Dragon Ball. Mess with the kid and he'll tear you apart.
• Badass in Distress: He is nearly killed by Cell after he uses almost all his energy pinning him down with a Tri-Beam Cannon. He is saved by Goku who pulls a Teleportation Rescue.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: In the anime, his Establishing Character Moment is torturing his "ally", an innocent pig, before Goku attempts a rescue.
• Bald of Evil: Before he became a good guy.
• Bare-Handed Blade Block: During his fight with cyborg Tao, the mercenary reveals a hidden blade and attempts to stab him in the heart (after successfully slashing him once), but Tien blocks it with his hand.
• Berserk Button: Hurting Chiaotzu, who is like a little brother to Tenshinhan.
• Big Brother Instinct: Which also falls under this.
• Big Damn Heroes: Tenshinhan gets some pretty awesome moments.
• The Big Guy: Until his resurrection, his role was the heavy hitter, mainly by virtue of his Tri-Beam, which was more powerful than any technique at the time. In the Piccolo Daimao and 23rd Budokai arcs, he's the second-strongest hero after Goku, fights the secondary antagonists, and (in the anime) nearly defeats Piccolo with the Mafuba. In the Saiyan arc he's either the second or third strongest hero (depending on where you see Piccolo at this point) and easily defeats a secondary antagonist before himself being easily defeated by Nappa (though he does manage to damage him a bit) to show how serious the situation is. Incidentally, he's also the second tallest member of the group after Piccolo, at 6'2. While he's dead, the gap between him and Goku becomes so vast that they aren't even comparable any more.
• Blood Knight: He is the only human, along with Chiaotzu, who keeps training long after the others accepted that they can never catch up to the Saiyans. He also went against Bulma's plan to stop the androids early by using the Dragon Balls because he wanted to fight them. Despite the huge power difference, he still strives to match Goku.
• Boring, but Practical: A lot of Tien's move set isn't particularly flashy, but it definitely focuses on practicality above all else. Of particular note, the solar flare is such a useful ability that it gets used by multiple heroes in a pinch and occasionally the villains will use it as well, but all it is reflecting light and amplifying it. It works particularly on enemies who can't sense Power Levels, making them actually dependent on their eyes while the heroes can fight nearly as well blind just with their sixth sense.
• Bond Villain Stupidity:
  • In his fight against Goku during the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament, Tenshinhan, who was starting to feel overpowered by Goku's tremendous stamina and having several of his techniques outdone by Goku's very own, ingeniously decided that, if he could not knock Goku unconscious or push him out of the platform, he would simply destroy the entire platform; that way, Goku would lose by ring out because there would be no platform left to stand on. Tenshinhan, who possesses the ability to fly, did not have that problem. He managed to destroy the platform with his powerful Tri-Beam attack, but instead of simply waiting for Goku, who had jumped very high to escape the blast, to hit the ground, Tenshinhan decided to fly close to him, accompanying Goku as he fell down, in order to gloat about his inevitable victory. That opened an opportunity for Goku to use one last attack that knocked Tenshinhan unconscious, and now both fighters were falling to the ground. Subverted because Tenshinhan, by a stroke of luck, actually won the fight, but he was likely in worse physical condition than Goku by the end of it.
  • In the manga he's a bit smarter, he intended to stay where he was and watch Goku fall, but Goku reacted quickly.
• Broken Pedestal: Tien idolized the assassin, Mercenary Tao, even after his Heel–Face Turn, which is logical since Tao was his former master. That all came to an end during the Piccolo Jr. Saga when, during their fight, Tao breaks the tournament rules by resorting to a Blade Below the Shoulder.
• Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu:
  • Tien uses the Tri-Beam Cannon to try and kill Nappa and avenge Chiaotzu's death. His final attack barely destroyed Nappa's armor and he dies for nothing.
  • He uses a new version of the Tri-Beam Cannon to pin Semi-Perfect Cell and allow Android 18 to escape. He is only saved because Goku teleports him to safety. In the long run, his efforts amounted to nothing since 18 is still absorbed, allowing Cell to become complete.
• Call to Agriculture: According to Toriyama, he and Chiaotzu took up farming in addition to their training at the end of Z.
• Cannot Tell a Joke: He did manage a joke. Once. But it took rigorous discipline and concentration.
• Can't Catch Up: He lasted a little longer than Yamcha and Krillin and was still useful after he fell behind though.
• Captain Ersatz: Is based on Hosuke Sharaku from The Three-Eyed One.
• Cast from Hit Points: Tenshinhan's Tri-Beam drains its user's life and will kill him if he uses it too much. On the plus side, attacks that use life force, such as this one, far exceed the potential of ki attacks. He kept Semi-Perfect Cell in check with it (it didn't actually cause any damage, but Cell couldn't move until he stopped using it).
• Celibate Hero: According to Toriyama, Tien and Lunch briefly lived together some time after the Buu Saga. But due to Tien's commitment to life as a martial artist and Lunch not being cut out for life on a farm, Lunch eventually left though she would drop by at Tien's place from time to time.
• Characterization Marches On: Upon his introduction, Tenshinhan is an arrogant fighter who enjoys taunting and mocking his opponents, and even has a somewhat acid sense of humor, like when, after an accidentally humorous and rather embarrassing exchange between Roshi's students, Tenshinhan mockingly suggests that comedy must be one of the disciplines taught at the Kame school of martial arts. Once he changes sides, Tenshinhan became a lot more serious and composed, rarely smiling and so humorless that he is shown struggling to tell a simple joke. That's likely because his earlier humor was mean-spirited and not meant with any sense of irony. As he became nicer and more emphatic that kind of humor probably would be hard for him to pull up again. This is best shown in the Galactic Patrol Prisoner Saga where Tien struggled to come up with any insults towards Bikkura, a Metalman whose species is weak to insults, a large contrast compared to his interactions with Yamcha as an antagonist.
• Character Development: Tien becomes much more kind and respectful towards others once he switches sides to join Roshi, his humor and attitude take a drastic change to be much more serious than the smug snarker he once was. This, of course, was a result of him realizing that what he had been taught was wrong, and needed to atone for what he had done in the past. Presumably, his Deadpan Snarker habits have gone away because he's much less malicious and smug than he used to be.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Gets Put on a Bus during the Buu Saga with the only explanation being that Tenshinhan left to train. He later returns to save Dende from being killed by Buu.
• Combo Platter Powers: Force fields, reflecting energy, sealing, Power Copying, Telepathy, Self-Duplication, growing extra limbs, creating blinding light...
• The Comically Serious: After his Heel–Face Turn. He completely dropped his serious tone under the training with Piccolo, Kaio, Yamcha, and Chiaotzu. Constantly goofing off, even to the point of incurring the wrath of Piccolo, who respected him back in Dragon Ball.
• Con Man: Anime Only. Tenshinhan and Chiaotzu's first appearance in the anime shows them as a pair of traveling con artists.
• Curb Stomp Cushion:
  • While Tien never properly catches up with the Saiyans and Piccolo in Z or any known media, his Tri-Beam holds the honor of being one of the most powerful techniques in the series, at least from the perspective of its relative effectiveness in comparison to its user. The fact that it can pin down Semi-Perfect Cell and deflect attacks from Buutenks despite both eclipsing Tien in power means that if it was used by the likes of Goku, its output would be insane.
  • He fights Future Trunks in the Bojack Movie, while he loses in a couple of minutes, he does force Trunks to use Super Saiyan to get the win, which is an incredible testament for a human. Tien's punch at Trunks's face was enough to convince the latter that he'll be needing to go Super Saiyan to defeat him.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique:
  • Like Master Roshi, he knows the Mafuba/Evil Containment Wave, the technique that can seal evil at the expense of one's life. He learns it after witnessing Master Roshi use it during his failed attempt to reseal King Piccolo. He challenges King Piccolo and tries to seal him with it. Depending on if you read the manga or watched the anime, Tien either never gets the chance to use the technique since the rice cooker he was going to use got damaged while he was training, or he succeeds in using it, but Drum interferes, indirectly saving his life.
  • He knows another dangerous technique, Kikoho (Tri-Beam in the dub). It uses energy directly from his life force and causes an energy blast that is more powerful than him, which allows him to pin Semi-Perfect Cell and deflect an energy blast from Super Buu. The only problem is it will kill him if he uses it too much like it did when he used it against Nappa. Even when it doesn't kill him, it still exhausts him to the point of not being able to fight and shortens his life.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • In his early appearances, he displayed an acidic sense of humor:
    Tenshinhan: (to Yamcha) For someone who doesn't speak pain, you sound very fluent.
  • Even after a long time, he still hasn't lost it.
    Yamcha: (to #18, who had just rebuffed Krillin after being revived) Why you...! You should be thankful! Or do you wanna get beat up?
    Tenshinhan: I assume it won't be you to do that...
• Death by Disfigurement: His first death, due to losing his left arm to Nappa.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Subverted. Tenshinhan actually won; Goku didn't beat him until the next tournament. For that matter, he'd already made his Heel–Face Turn before the fight was even over.
• Demoted to Extra: In the Buu Saga, GT and Super. He shows up again to fight in the Buu Saga only to be one-shotted while his GT appearance is reduced to mere cameos. While he did fare better in Super as one of the members of Team Universe 7, he lacks any focus episodes compared to the other members and only managed to knock out two fighters before being unceremoniously eliminated from the Tournament of Power.
• Determinator: He has no problem rushing into battle with opponents he knows he can't beat.
  • He stands his ground against Semi-Perfect Cell to buy Android #18 time to escape and uses his Neo-Tri-Beam/Kikoho (which is Cast from Hit Points) against Cell. Despite the huge gap between their power, Tien is able to keep Cell pinned down, until he literally collapses from having burned all his energy. The man just does not quit!
  • In the Buu Saga, despite already retiring from fighting, he pulls a Big Damn Heroes and intervenes during Majin Buu's rampage, neutralizing one of the Majin's attacks using his Neo-Tri-Beam, saving Mr. Satan and Dende. He tries to use this attack against Majin Buu himself, but it doesn't work, with Buu knocking him out with a kick.
  • In Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, he's the only human who had the balls to fight Beerus.
• Deuteragonist: From the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament to the end of Dragon Ball.
• Doppelgänger Attack: His Multiform/Shishin no Ken technique, but unfortunately the copies are weaker than the original.
• Dragon-in-Chief: To Master Shen. He's stronger, but still follows orders until his Heel–Face Turn.
• Dub Name Change: Not as obvious as other examples but "Tien Shinhan" is most definitely not the single name Tenshinhan. Also, Latin American Spanish material gives his name as Ten Shin Han, and some European localizations give his name as Tenshin Han, often shortening it to just Tenshin. See Spell My Name With An S for more details. Bizarrely, the full name "Tien Shinhan" is only ever used in the dub of the original anime, not Z and not even in the more accurately translated properties Kai and Super.
• Enemy Mine: After King Piccolo attacks, Krillin is dead, Yamcha has a broken leg, and Goku is off trying to beat up Krillin's killer. Ergo, Tenshinhan, and Chiaotzu get recruited by Roshi to gather the Dragon Balls before Piccolo gets to them. Tenshinhan notes this as much, saying even though he acknowledges his previous actions as wrong, he still considers himself and Chiaotzu as Shen's students, and simply asking for forgiveness won't be enough.
• Enlightenment Superpower: Subverted. According to Toriyama, Tien has achieved enlightenment and should have godlike powers, but the evil influence of the Crane Hermit prevents him from ever using those powers to their full potential.
• Epiphany Therapy: He turned rather quickly.
• Extra Eyes: Has a third eye on his forehead for unexplained reasons, representing his awakened Psychic Powers.
• Eye Beams: He can fire beams from his third eye according to the anime. It was only demonstrated during his rematch with Goku at the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament.
• Finger Gun: The Dodon Ray/Dodonpa.
• Flight: One of the first characters in the series to fly, as it is the signature technique of his martial arts school.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: The scar on Tenshinhan's chest is a memento of his tournament battle with Taopaipai, who had hidden a knife in his cybernetics.
• Handicapped Badass: He lost his left arm during his fight with Nappa. It didn't stop him from continuing the fight.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: Tenshinhan is the only character among the human protagonists who has no interest in living a normal life and spends most of his time training, even during peaceful times. Unfortunately, all of his efforts are still not enough to put him in the same league as the Saiyans or Piccolo, making his usefulness against the incredibly powerful enemies the protagonists must go up against very limited.
• Heel–Face Turn: Introduced as a rival trained by an evil dojo. Becomes one of Goku's best allies.
• Heir to the Dojo: According to Dragon Ball Online, he becomes the heir to the new Crane School despite breaking ties with his former master.
• Heroic Build: Tien is exceptionally muscular thanks to years of non-stop training to keep up with the natural raw power of his comrades. He reaches peak capacity of swollenness in the Cell Saga, but from Battle of Gods onwards he is drawn as slightly more slender.
• Heroic RRoD: His Tri-Beam/Spirit Cannon attack, which is supposed to kill the user if used too long; nevertheless, Tenshinhan is able to master it so that it can be used repeatedly. In Z, given the exponential power rise of the opposition, it quickly becomes Tenshinhan's first-choice technique, and using it, he's even capable of pinning Semi-Perfect Cell down for a while before getting incapacitated.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Early on in the King Piccolo Saga, he briefly suffers this; in the episode "Tien's Atonement," he's nearly arrested on suspicion of the murders of several martial artists, though Tambourine is the real culprit. It's not unjustified, since Tien did have a reputation for being exceptionally brutal during fights, most notably breaking Yamcha's leg when he was already down For the Evulz.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Chiaotzu. They are almost always together and Tien doesn't feel complete without him. When it looks like Chiaotzu won't be revived since Shenron can't bring someone back to life twice, he's willing to stay in the afterlife with him.
• Honor Before Reason: Even while Shen's pupil. When he realizes that Chiaotzu is paralyzing Goku under Shen's orders, he immediately orders him to stop because he wants to beat Goku in a fair fight, and after he does so and Shen is dealt with, he even lets Goku give him quite a beating to even things out.
• How Much More Can He Take?: His battle with Cell is this in the anime, as he fights through exhaustion to keep Cell pinned down for as long as possible.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: He blames himself for Chiaotzu's death. Both in the original DB and Z, sadly enough.
• In-Series Nickname: Tsurusennin calls him "Ten," while Chaozu calls him "Ten-san."
• Kamehame Hadoken: He copied it off of Yamcha.
• Kick the Dog: He breaks Yamcha's leg after he was already defeated and unconscious.
• Kick Them While They Are Down: At the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament, he beats Yamcha by landing a powerful kick to his gut while they were in mid-air. After Yamcha falls back into the ring, Tien decides to land a knee drop onto Yamcha's leg, breaking it. Goku calls out Tien on this, saying how Yamcha was already unconscious, so breaking his leg was unnecessary. Tien shrugs him off while laughing. The King Piccolo filler shows that this tendency was not new when he had to confront a man he permanently crippled in the past to retrieve a dragon ball from his property.
• Killed Offscreen: His second death was not shown, but it happened due to Buu blowing up Earth.
• Logical Weakness: Pretty much the entire idea against the Solar Flare. No matter how strong an opponent may be, their eyes are still sensitive to light, especially if that light's about tens or hundreds of times brighter than the sun. In fact, this technique proves useful many times throughout the series.

M-Y

• Man in a Kilt: In Battle of Gods onwards, he wears a long, flowing monk-like skirt.
• Master-Apprentice Chain: He trained under the Crane School whose founder, Master Shen, studied under the same master as Roshi: Mutaito > Master Shen > Tien
• Moral Myopia: When he was the Crane Hermit's student, he is angry at Goku for killing Mercenary Tao. This is despite Tao being a renowned assassin and Goku tells him that he was only defending himself.
• Multiarmed And Dangerous: The rarely-seen but very-dangerous Four Witches Technique allows him to grow additional arms from behind his shoulders.
• Mundane Utility: According to Toriyama, Tien uses his multi-form technique for extra hands while farming.
• Mysterious Past: He gets almost no background information outside of being the Crane Hermit's student and training to be an assassin. How he met the Crane Hermit or Chiaotzu is never explained.
• No Body Left Behind: His second death was due to Buu blowing up Earth.
• Odd Friendship: Hints of it with Piccolo in the Cell Saga.
• Older Than They Look: Looks the same age in GT. By then, he's in his early sixties.
• One Free Hit: Way more than one, actually. The Crane Hermit has Chiaotzu interfere in Tien's first match against Goku by using psychic powers to freeze Goku in place, allowing Tien to score major hits on Goku. When Tien realizes what is happening, he forces Chiaotzu to stop, kicks Crane out of the tournament, and then allows Goku to beat him up until it roughly equals the damage that Tien had done to Goku.
• Only Sane Man: Shares this role with Piccolo and Future Trunks.
• Ordered to Cheat: In the 22nd World Tournament, The Crane Hermit orders Tenshinhan to kill Goku while he's paralyzed by Chiaotzu. He refuses.
• Out of Focus: In the Namek/Frieza Saga after dying, and again in the Buu Saga onwards.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Par for the course in this series, as everyone and their grandmother are casually outclassed by even the weakest Saiyans, but Tien is still one of the strongest non-Saiyan Humans. He's won more battles than many other characters, including against Yamcha, Goku, and Taopaipai (in Dragonball), a Saibaman (In Dragonball Z) and Jeice and Burter (in Z filler). That's not too bad considering he's not a Saiyan.
• Papa Wolf: Around Chiaotzu most of his life as well as around Gohan during the Saiyan and Cell Saga.
• Pants-Pulling Prank: During his duel with Goku in the original Dragon Ball, Goku steals his belt, and his white boxers are revealed to the crowd.
• Power Copying: Tien experiences both ends of this trope, learning a move after he witnesses it and having other people learn his moves. During the 22nd World Tournament, Tien uses a Kamehameha against Jackie Chun to show off how he can easily learn his opponents moves. However, Goku, Krillin and even Cell learns the Solar Flare/Taiyoken and puts it to great use. In Krillin's case, it even becomes his signature move alongside the Destructo Disk/Kienzan, despite the Solar Flare/Taiyoken being Tien's move. The Cell Juniors also use Solar Flare and Tri-Beam in the video games, although this is justified considering the nature of the Cell Juniors and that they have the knowledge of almost all the Z-Fighters attacks during the Cell Saga.
• Put on a Bus: After the Cell Games, Tenshinhan had no more reason to hang out with the Z gang since Goku chose not to be revived and went into hiding with Chiaotzu. Throughout the Buu arc, he and Chiaotzu had a couple of brief appearances until Tenshinhan saved Mr. Satan and Dende from getting killed by Buu. He returns as a regular for Super.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: Tenshinhan has no spoken lines in Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! special for Shonen Jump's 40th anniversary due to Hirotaka Suzuoki not being among the living anymore. Toei Animation felt the reason to pay their respects this way because the entire original cast came back to voice their characters, meaning only Tenshinhan would have been the odd one out.
• Redemption Demotion: When he was first introduced as an antagonist, his powers were as great as Goku's. After he became one of the good characters, he was surpassed by Goku and, as the series developed, his powers were thoroughly outclassed by the Saiyans, Piccolo, and most enemies.
• The Rival: Was this to Goku and gave him one of his toughest matches in the original series. He's also one of the few people to defeat Goku, even if it was a stroke of luck. Although outmatched during the 23rd Martial Arts Tournament, he still gave Goku a decent match and forced him to remove his weighted clothes. In Z, Goku completely surpasses him, but he still tries to reach Goku's level, despite knowing it's futile.
• Secret-Keeper: He is aware that Master Roshi is Jackie Chun, but never discloses this to anyone else out of respect.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: One of the only people with this ability (the Evil Containment Wave).
• Senseless Sacrifice: In the Saiyan Saga. After Chiaotzu's own Senseless Sacrifice and losing an arm, Tien channels all of his remaining power into a one-handed Tri-Beam to attack Nappa with. It only damages his armor, and Tien kicks it while bemoaning his failure; to add insult to injury, according to Vegeta, the technique probably would have done more damage had Nappa not seen it coming at the last second.
• Shadow Archetype: Before his Heel–Face Turn, Tien represents what Goku would be like if he allowed his arrogance and natural talent for fighting to go to his head. This difference also highlights the difference between the Turtle and the Crane Schools. Master Roshi went out of his way to teach his students humility and that there was always someone better. The Crane Hermit bloated his students' egos, telling them that there was no one stronger than them.
• Signature Move: Kikoho / Tri-Beam + variants. He's also known for Taiyouken / Solar Flare— this is so much his move that Goku mentally apologizes to him for stealing it while fighting Great Ape Vegeta with Krillin following suit using it against Dodoria on Namek. While not as used as frequently, the Multi Form technique is also of his creation and used by the Z fighters and Cell.
• Simple, yet Awesome: His Solar Flare (Taiyōken) technique. It doesn't require a lot of power, it is easy to learn, and can blind almost any opponent.
• Smug Super: When he was introduced, he truly believed that no one was stronger than him since he trained under the Crane Hermit. He regularly demeaned Yamcha and all of the Turtle School as weaklings. Despite his smugness, he backed it up by beating Yamcha, despite Tien admitting it was a tougher fight than he thought, and Master Roshi, who acknowledged that Tien may have won even if Roshi hadn't forfeited. He also fought Goku, a powerful Human Alien, to a standstill and won because luck was on his side. After the tournament, however, he drops this attitude after acknowledging that he still had a lot to learn.
• The Sociopath: He tries to be this, being both emotionally cold and taking delight in causing pain to others like breaking Yamcha's leg after he's knocked unconscious. His goal in life is to be a great assassin like his idol Mercenary Tao. Master Roshi sees right through this and in the dub says that Tien will never be a good assassin because he has a conscience, unlike Tao. During his match with Goku, he also comes to realize that he never had the heart of a killer, since he cares more about winning fairly than killing Goku out of revenge.
• Spell My Name With An S: Tien Shinhan vs. Tenshinhan.
• Spirited Competitor:
  • Of all the humans, he's the one fighting means the most to. In the original Dragon Ball, he was a Borderline Blood Knight. He stops Chiaotzu from weakening Goku with psychic powers so Tien can have a fair fight with him.
  • In Bojack Unbound, he insists post-Cell Games Trunks fight him without holding back. He knows he'll lose, but he'd rather lose honestly than lose with Trunks going easy on him.
• Sphere of Destruction: Tri-Beam/Kikouhou, though it's actually more of a square.
• Surpassed the Teacher: He's surpassed Master Shen when he's introduced in the story. Three years later, he completely outclasses Tao, even after he's stronger than ever as a cyborg. After training with Kami, he becomes stronger than him too.
• Superior Successor: He is stronger than the Crane Hermit when he is first introduced and he also greatly surpasses Mercenary Tao even after he's rebuilt into a cyborg. He becomes even stronger than Kami after training with him to prepare for the Saiyans. Going by Dragon Ball Online, he becomes the new master of the Crane School and this plotline is carried into Super where he opens his own dojo. At the same time, while he's a superior fighter to his masters, he's inferior as an assassin since he has a conscience.
• Super-Senses: With three eyes, it's only natural that he has better-than-average eyesight.
• The Stoic: Besides frustration, he rarely shows any emotion even when badly matched. It helps to make him the Comically Serious. He only shows real anger if Chiaotzu is in danger.
• Supporting Leader: During the King Piccolo Saga.
• Tame His Anger: Master Roshi specifically wanted to do this with Tenshinhan. And he's one of the first major characters to do it (Yamcha and Krillin weren't really angry).
• Technician Versus Performer: Despite never being able to catch up to the Saiyans or Piccolo, Tien has several powerful and effective techniques that make him a useful ally. His Solar Flare is one of the best techniques in the series, able to blind even the most powerful opponent and is copied by several characters. His Tri-Beam can pin down monsters like Cell and deflect a planet buster from Super Buu, although at the cost of his lifespan.
• Third Eye: On his forehead. Sources vary on how he got it, though it's either due to heritage or reaching enlightenment.
• Those Two Guys:
  • Him and Chiaotzu, of course, but he also gets lumped into this with Yamcha - particularly in America, where Dragon Ball Z was aired first. While major characters in the original series, in Z he and Yamcha are just the two human fighters who pop up when a battle is going on.
  • During the Cell Saga, he's also shown with Piccolo a lot, where the two of them chased after Imperfect Cell, while later observing the events from Kami's Lookout while conversing.
• True Companions: Inverted. Tenshinhan and Chiaotzu only associate with the Z-fighters when there's a crisis and seem to have no interest in them socially. They didn't attend the reunion party at the beginning of the Saiyan saga and after the Cell Games, Tenshinhan tells the others that they'll probably never meet again. Tenshinhan and Goku don't even meet face-to-face in Z until Goku returns to Earth at the beginning of the Android saga, eight years after their last meeting at the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai. He seems to loosen up a little about this after Buu is defeated, showing up at the big post-Buu celebration party at Capsule Corporation near the end of Z and appearing at Bulma's birthday party that takes place during Battle of Gods and the beginning of Super. In fact, by the end of Super as a whole, he's grown quite a bit closer with the team, and may just consider them this now.
  • Though this is played straight with him and Chiaotzu, as the two are almost always together as well as train in solace together and when Tenshinhan prepared to pull a Heroic Sacrifice to stop Cell his only regret was that he wouldn't be able to say goodbye to Chaiotzu.
• Underestimating Badassery: When he was introduced, he was a typical Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy who regularly trashed the Turtle School as a bunch of weaklings. He was especially confrontational towards Yamcha and specifically had Chiaotzu rig the lottery so he would fight him first. Although he beat Yamcha, he does admit that Yamcha was stronger than he thought. He then goes on to say that the rest of the Turtle School should be easy since Yamcha was obviously the strongest since Krillin and Goku were just kids, not knowing that Yamcha was actually the weakest of the three. He only changed his mind after Goku revealed that he killed Tao. After his fight against Goku, he overall becomes a more humble person who never underestimates his opponents again.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: He is the first opponent since Mercenary Tao and Gohan Sr. to really give Goku a good match and push him past his limit.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Tenshinhan mostly fights topless.
• Warm-Up Boss: Serves as this to Goku during the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament. He forces Goku to remove his weighted clothes and fight somewhat seriously, but he never really pushes Goku, something he notes after their match.
• We Are "Team Cannon Fodder": In DBZ, though he does get one decent fight in the Cell Saga (see You Shall Not Pass!).
• Weak, but Skilled: Though originally he was Strong and Skilled, he possesses an incredible repertoire of techniques (including growing a pair of extra arms) and is one of the most technical fighters in the series. Several characters have copied his techniques for their own use, most notably the Solar Flare. Goku even took it a step further and turned that very attack against Tenshinhan in their rematch.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: In the Majin Buu Saga, after Dende healed Tenshinhan from Buu's attack (in the anime only), he wasn't seen again until after the Earth was restored and everyone was revived.
• The Worf Effect: Just like the other Earthling characters. He gets destroyed by Drum who Goku takes out with one kick and couldn't match Goku in their rematch at the 23rd Tournament. In Z he loses his arm to Nappa after he punched it off and is choked out by Android 17. He also goes down in one kick by Super Buu.
• Worthy Opponent: Part of his Heel–Face Turn happened because he acknowledged Goku as his rival and equal. Even after Goku completely surpassed him, he still trains to fight him.
• You Shall Not Pass!: Tenshinhan kept Cell (in his Semi-Perfect form) pinned down using his Neo Tri-Beam so that #18 could get away and hide until the Saiyans completed their training. Note that this is pretty late in the Z series, and he was useless in hand-to-hand combat compared to the now-Super Saiyans. Also, it was only not a Heroic Sacrifice because of Goku's instant transmission and a Senzu Bean.

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