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TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
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#6526: May 15th 2014 at 10:12:01 AM

Dende recognized Piccolo as Nail. He even asked for a hug, and was really sad when Piccolo shot him down.

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TyeDyeWildebeest Unreasonably Quirky from Big Rock Candy Mountain Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: How does it feel to treat me like you do?
Unreasonably Quirky
#6527: May 15th 2014 at 10:47:52 AM

[up] I thought they were just making the joke that all Namekians look alike.

No beer?! But if there's no beer, then there's no beef or beans!
KBSL Since: Mar, 2013 Relationship Status: Forming Voltron
#6528: May 15th 2014 at 10:58:02 AM

Well, the really young and adult looking ones did all look alike except for clothes. Except when they got old for some reason, then they started to look distinct. I always found that weird.

Anomalocaris20 from Sagittarius A* Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: Love blinded me (with science!)
#6529: May 15th 2014 at 11:17:34 AM

Makes sense if you think about it. Their asexual reproduction means there is little genetic variance, so they should all look very similar due to genetics, and any visual differences would come about from nongenetic differences (Such as lifestyle, scarring, "diet", ect) that would only become apparent after years, hence there being more variance between the old Namekians compared to the young ones.

edited 15th May '14 11:17:56 AM by Anomalocaris20

You cannot firmly grasp the true form of Squidward's technique!
TyeDyeWildebeest Unreasonably Quirky from Big Rock Candy Mountain Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: How does it feel to treat me like you do?
Unreasonably Quirky
#6530: May 15th 2014 at 11:19:48 AM

[up] NEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRD

No beer?! But if there's no beer, then there's no beef or beans!
Eriorguez Since: Jun, 2009
#6531: May 15th 2014 at 1:20:10 PM

Nail is pretty much Piccolo with different clothes, even if most Namekians look alike. Identical Stranger and all that...

KBSL Since: Mar, 2013 Relationship Status: Forming Voltron
#6532: May 15th 2014 at 9:19:20 PM

And here it is in all it's glory.

Edit: Someone should remove Faux Affably Evil from both Android 17 and Cell, one, because that really does seem to 17's personality and not just a show, and two, we haven't seen enough of Cell to gauge what his personality is like. Someone jumped the gun on both and now they're just there. And I'm not allowed to edit things.

edited 15th May '14 9:47:24 PM by KBSL

KnownUnknown Since: Jan, 2001
#6533: May 15th 2014 at 11:09:45 PM

The Faux Affably Evil bit is still on 17's page? I think that (as well as a couple other tropes that I don't think are on there any more) was initially added that solely because of his demeanor when killing Gero, and not taking into account the rest of his personality.

Though I'll admit the country music gag muddled things a bit.

edited 15th May '14 11:22:14 PM by KnownUnknown

KBSL Since: Mar, 2013 Relationship Status: Forming Voltron
#6534: May 16th 2014 at 10:28:35 AM

So, does anyone notice how a lot of people don't actually seem to know what "abridged" actually means, and just assume that every other line is supposed to be a joke? That's a complaint I've been seeing a lot about the newer episodes.

edited 16th May '14 10:30:11 AM by KBSL

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#6535: May 16th 2014 at 10:35:15 AM

Even though there's still a very high volume of gags despite the Cerebus Syndrome that's been occurring since the Freeza arc.

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randomness4 Ghost '11 from The Land of Inconvenience Since: Sep, 2011
Ghost '11
#6536: May 16th 2014 at 10:52:09 AM

[up][up]Well the thing that people are thinking abridged means...is actually just something that happens more in a parody.

Abridged just means its a shortened version of something.

Plus its called TFS: Abridged Parody

edited 16th May '14 10:52:50 AM by randomness4

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#6537: May 16th 2014 at 10:53:43 AM

I honestly thought abridged series makers had no idea what "abridged" meant.

"It's liberating, realizing you never need to be competent." — Ultimatepheer
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
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#6538: May 16th 2014 at 11:23:00 AM

The Faux Affably Evil bit is still on 17's page? I think that (as well as a couple other tropes that I don't think are on there any more) was initially added that solely because of his demeanor when killing Gero, and not taking into account the rest of his personality.

Though I'll admit the country music gag muddled things a bit.

Both the country music gag and the killing of Gero are demonstrations that he's evil, but they don't disprove his affability.

  1. Is he genuinely affable?
  2. Is he genuinely evil?

If he meets both of these criteria, he is Affably Evil. If he fails the first criteria but meets the second, he is Faux Affably Evil. It doesn't matter how Evil the Evil part is; what matters is whether or not the Affable part is genuine or a lie.

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KBSL Since: Mar, 2013 Relationship Status: Forming Voltron
#6539: May 16th 2014 at 12:30:19 PM

[up]I think we've seen that 17 is the same even when beating people down or bickering with his sister. That may change when Piccolo starts fighting evenly with him and Cell starts beating both of the down, but I doubt it. Even in the original he was pretty affable even if you couldn't really call him and his sister "evil".

That might be another reason to take it down, it's unlikely either of them are actually evil in this series either.

TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
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#6540: May 16th 2014 at 12:54:39 PM

If pressed for an Alignment, I would describe 17 and 18 as Chaotic Bored.

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Kurgy Since: Feb, 2013
#6541: May 17th 2014 at 6:21:29 AM

Chaotic Bored needs to be a thing.

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#6542: May 17th 2014 at 2:21:53 PM

Might be more Bored Evil, really.

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#6543: May 17th 2014 at 2:50:47 PM

Rewatching the episode, Cell's singing was more Narmy than creepy if you ask me.

"It's liberating, realizing you never need to be competent." — Ultimatepheer
Soble Since: Dec, 2013
#6544: May 17th 2014 at 2:57:33 PM

Got to go back here, Anomalachris.

I missed something. What were Androids 16-20 based on?

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Anomalocaris20 from Sagittarius A* Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: Love blinded me (with science!)
#6545: May 17th 2014 at 3:12:20 PM

16 is based on Dr. Gero's late son, 17-18 are just kidnapped humans, 19 is apparently based on a doll he had on his desk at the Red Ribbon Army (?), and 20 is presumably modeled after himself.

You cannot firmly grasp the true form of Squidward's technique!
Soble Since: Dec, 2013
#6546: May 17th 2014 at 3:42:27 PM

Okay, just watched the episode.

-claps-

Cell's introduction is marvelous. I love how he sings off-key. I'm going to have a hard time re-watching DBZ without hearing these voices and gags. I was getting tired of everyone saying "Oh Cell's so creepy in this", but that scene - you can see it.

[up]Huh. Gero's son? Was that mentioned in the anime, or the recent lore? I didn't see that in the article about 17 and 18's names, nor do I remember 19 being based off of a doll. Interesting.

And on a different note:

Dragonball Abriged has better characterization and depth.

(I googled and CTRL-F'd this to gather opinions, and these pages came up, with at least one person mentioning that DBZA's characterizations are better)

That's interesting. Despite being a fan, I haven't watched the series in its entirety since I was little, and only researched events and characters on it when they were brought up in discussion.

While I can see things like Gohan being Adorkable and Yamcha gradually being less of a Butt-Monkey, and Tien being a Deadpan Snarker toward Vegeta - I didn't immediately see it as any improved characterization. Piccolo and Kami going back and forth this episode? Yeah, I saw that. Gohan being pissed off at Goku while Ginyu was in control of his body? Sure. Piccolo complimenting Gohan after Vegeta verbally bitchslapped Trunks? Indeed. Bulma realizing she just hit on Trunks? Definitely.

But here we're saying that the Abridged version is making these characters 'better', for lack of a better word. A lot of it, I see as just humorous, a lot of the details we get about these characters are just funny to me, I don't see them as particularly meaningful. If anyone can better explain the Adaptation Expansion of this abridged series to me, I'd appreciate it.

edited 17th May '14 6:26:04 PM by Soble

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DamascaRamza (Ancient one)
#6547: May 17th 2014 at 4:39:50 PM

I think it's mostly because DBZ came out 20-30 years ago, so there's only basic character depth and character development outside of Gohan. When it comes to DBZ characters, you tend not to think "Oh wow, they're really well written.", you think "Oh wow, they're good fighters and have some cool fight scenes." because they have the very basic character traits.

BaffleBlend Hey there! Having fun? from Somewhere Since: Dec, 2012 Relationship Status: LET'S HAVE A ZILLION BABIES
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#6548: May 17th 2014 at 4:58:17 PM

Yeah, DBZA doesn't give them new traits so much as portray their existing traits a bit more realistically.

"It's liberating, realizing you never need to be competent." — Ultimatepheer
KBSL Since: Mar, 2013 Relationship Status: Forming Voltron
#6549: May 17th 2014 at 7:55:18 PM

[up][up][up]Agreed. I love this series, but I don't need to try to make it out to be anymore than it is. Though that's how the internet works apparently; people can't compliment something without saying something else sucks or something similar it seems.

Saiga Since: Feb, 2011 Relationship Status: Getting away with murder
#6550: May 18th 2014 at 2:12:12 AM

And I just disagree that DBZA has better characterization. For the most part all it does is exaggerate certain aspects of people's characters for comedy, and it will be inconsistent or nonsensical with characterizations for the sake of a joke.

There are some things I think they handle better - I love their take on Freeza, and I like that they're showing Gohan's academic smarts more as well as showing his Adorkable side earlier than canon did (where it didn't appear at all until after Cell) but there are many things that are worse. Gohan's anger against Goku is nonsensical, especially when Goku has yet to actually do the things that make the fandom paint him as a bad father. Yamcha's introduction is inconsistent with how everybody reacts to him later. Kuririn's an idiot and other people's mistakes are changed into being his fault.

Overall DBZA is better at characterizing its characters for the sole purpose of comedy, something that the original rarely tried to do.


Oh, and to answer your question Soble, those Android tibits are very recent and were released in the Q&A section of the colour edition of the Dragon Ball manga currently being released in Japan. To be more specific about 19, the doll is one Gero found while conquering an enemy base and was taken as a trophy.

edited 18th May '14 2:35:05 AM by Saiga


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