Marvel Comics doesn't have a main character. It's an ensemble narrative.
Dragon Ball is very specifically the story of Goku and his supporting cast. There was a short time where it tried to shift focus and be the story of Gohan, but even that fell by the wayside in favor of more Goku adventures.
As for minions, the fundamental flaw with that is that scenarios where supporting characters fight the minions don't generally have as large a power gap as Dragon Ball. The Super Saiyans are so far ahead of the supporting characters that any minion Krillin is strong enough to fight could be effortlessly exterminated in huge quantities within seconds by a half-assed gesture from Vegeta, Goku, or Gohan.
If, say, Cell were to show up with a dozen Cell Jrs. each as strong as one of the human fighters, Vegeta would blow them all up with a single ki blast and then everyone would dogpile on Cell anyway, with the only people who matter still being the ones who can actually harm Cell.
Now, the solution to that is to keep the dangerous characters busy and have the other action take place where they can't be, but ultimately, that serves very little purpose beyond fanservice; bringing Krillin back into the game for another fight just to let Krillin have a fight doesn't contribute anything to either his character arc or the overarching plot.
Sometimes, a character's story ends because there's nothing left for that character to do. Krillin got his happy ending he always wanted. Tien redeemed himself and surpassed his former idol. Piccolo found redemption and acceptance, and reunited his two halves. Gohan retired happily to become a scholar like he wanted. Etc.
edited 24th Jul '15 9:04:20 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.And Yamcha ended up losing everything and going absolutely nowhere.
I'm the Wade Barrett of this thread. All the talent and credibility in the world but no chance of ever advancing because of the Randah Ortens and the Shenas!
"If you weren't so crazy I'd think you were insane."I am clearly the Ultimate Warrior of the thread.
Clearly.
And not because he's one of the very few wrestling guys I know anything about.
Let the joy of love give you an answer! Check out my book!You chose a good one.
Be careful giving off your next speech though.
He did die literally a day after his last live appearance.
One Strip! One Strip!For a second, I thought that was Spiritomb.
what do you mean I didn't win, I ate more wet t-shirts than anyone elseRemember when Oolong gave Bulma and Goku sleeping pills? Well, in the manga, it turns out that he did this with the express intent of raping Bulma.
WHAT THE FUCK, TORIYAMA.
My various fanfics.So, I was just looking at my copy of V-Jump that I got recently (don't ask me why I got it. It's the one with chapter 1 of the DBS manga). And, looking again through the Dragon Ball heroes section, it turns out a card that I thought was SSJ 3 Goku was actually SSJ 3 Future Gohan.
Goddamn it, Heroes. I didn't even realise that was a thing.
The *Legendary* Super Saiyan is motivated by a crying infant! He is a literal giant f***ing baby!Given that he treated said girls like queens, at least in the anime, the surprise is understandable.
Let the joy of love give you an answer! Check out my book!It's worth mentioning that he 'treated them like queens' because he was such a pushover that he couldn't say no to them. He'd kidnapped them with the intent of them being housewives in traditional Japanese fashion and failed utterly at that.
himitsu keisatsu seifu chokuzoku kokka hoanbu na no da himitsu keisatsu yami ni magireru supai katsudou torishimariYeah. Oolong was always a rapist, he was just an incompetent one. His character weirdly conflates Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain with sexual assault, possibly with some "It's okay because Bulma's a bitch," Patriarchal justification mixed in, because early Dragon Ball in general has an uncomfortable relationship with sexual shenanigans of dubious consent, most of which are at Bulma's expense.
I blame Early-Installment Weirdness mixed with Japan's extremely different social values, especially where sex and relationships are concerned. They're a very Patriarchal culture.
edited 25th Jul '15 6:06:27 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.

WWE? I guess I'd be Naomi Knight. Talented, driven but nonetheless sloppy and lacking in charisma, or press and (presumably)screen time...too bad Jazz isn't still around(can I gender bend for Samoa Joe?). This also explains all those potholes without name spaces. It was you, handsome Rob! Wasn't it?
And you know something, humans not getting Kaioken because it wouldn't close the gap with the Saiyans is really short sighted. Why does it need to close the gap? Think about Marvel comics. Does anyone say it was useless for Spider-man to get armor to stand up to Electro because it did nothing to close the gap between him and The Hulk? Is any number of X-mutants learning to better control their powers or undergoing secondary mutations useless because it does nothing to close the gap between them and Professor X\Magneto?
The humans, Piccolo, Androids, even Majin Buu, none of them really needed to be as powerful as the saiyans, they just needed something to do. They all still live on islands, in cities and such and no matter how 'weak' any dragon ball villain might be, they're all quite capable of destroying those things as long as they're stronger than the Ox King. Anyone stronger than Tao can destroy the moon and anyone stronger than Nappa can destroy the Earth. If the saiyans are not immediately available to deal with any of that, for whatever reason, who does? It's already been shown in Yo, Son Goku And His Friends Return as well as Revival Of F that the mutants who make up Freeza's army are capable of raising their power levels and are in the middle of a galaxy spanning dispute. That alone could be a well of side plots for the weaker characters.
Any Goku\Vegeta\Gotenks threat could easily have minions, Teammates or controllers that someone else could fight. As suggested in this very thread, something as simple as Videl getting a victorious rematch with the man who beat her in the tournament would have gone along way.
edited 25th Jul '15 10:34:56 AM by IndirectActiveTransport
Buldogue's lawyer