BeforeDragon Ball Zwould eventually establish a different power dynamic as well as the established characters of Goku and Vegeta, there was the Z-Warriors. During Goku’s first journey from the classicDragon Balladventure, he met individuals who at first may have been adversaries, even enemies at first, before eventually becoming trusted allies and friends; Krillin, Yamcha, Tienshinhan, Chiaotzu, and even Piccolo in the early stages ofDragon Ball Zall consisted of the original Z-Warriors. However, as ofDragon Ball Superand even in the Manga their presence almost seems to have been entirely forgotten by many fans. While Tienshinhan and Krillin both have had their moments during the Tournament of Power, they didn’t last long or paled in comparison to the displays of strength from Goku and Vegeta. This begs the question of how, and why did the Z-Warriors become a forgotten relic?
The Z-Warriors were individuals who banded together over the years after Goku managed to convince them to join good as well as become better people by themselves. During the King Piccolo arc, they became the Earth’s protectors in the face of international crisis and had their presence felt as well as importance focused on throughout the story. Even in the first arc ofDragon Ball Z, they had to pick up the slack and train for their fight against Nappa and Vegeta at the time when they were waiting a year for theDragon Balls to resurrect Goku. Even if most of them have perished in the fight, at the time Tienshinhan, Piccolo, and even Yamcha both demonstrated their efforts and showed why they were the protectors of earth. However, eventually the spotlight moved from them to entirely on Goku, and Vegeta, resulting in their forgotten memory.
RELATED:Dragon Ball: Best Parents, Ranked
Where It All Began
Even if the Z-Warriors are looked upon fondly by many fans, some are confused and baffled as to why these cast of warriors were forgotten and eventually put as an afterthought by the timeDragon Ball Supercomes. Although, the answer would be difficult at first, the Saiyan Saga provides a bit of insight as to the beginnings of the Z-Warriorseventual removal from the spotlight. When continuing towards the Freeza Saga, the goal may have been on finding Namek to use their Dragon Balls so that they can resurrect the Z-Warriors from death, but the focus moved gradually from getting the Dragon Balls to defeating Freeza’s forces the best they could and facing off the Galactic Emperor himself. When Goku transformed into a Super Saiyan, the battle that ensued greatly shook the world ofDragon Balland the fans focus on seeing how strong Goku can be in the future.
Eventually, the Z-Warriors were resurrected back to life, but their presence and moments during the Android/Cell Saga put them in minor roles that accentuated their contribution and unwillingness to stand aside. While the benefits were seen, they become far outweighed by the fact that the spotlight moved from their contributions to presenting the strength in scale that Vegeta, Trunks, Goku and eventually Gohan would display against the threat of the Androids and Cell. Because of this, the Z-Warriors didn’t necessarily garner much against Cell or could even approach that level of power and instead wererelegated to being spectatorswhen Gohan unlocked Super Saiyan 2. Which brings us into the results of these stacking effects intoDragon Ball Super.
The Result And The Root Cause.
Ultimately, by the time the fans cheered for Dragon Ball Super, Toei had decided to focus less on the Z-Warriors from the original run ofDragon Balland focused more on the Saiyan warriors who stood a chance against greater cosmic threats. Toei turned them more into side characters and cameos rather than actual characters with a thought about their lack of power. Of course, they are satisfied with their lives; Yamcha and Tienshinhan both are in good positions of their lives and Krillin has a family. However, this doesn’t mean that the fans weren’thoping for these classic warriorsto have become relevant again in the future. Still, the root cause behind the Z-Warrior’s forgotten state is due to a simple concept.
When the Saiyan’s were introduced, along with their Zenkai Boosts; this meant that Goku and Vegeta could infinitely grow stronger with enough training and even after surviving losses. The Z-Warriors are mostly human, and so they can’t reach the same levels of power, but rather they fall behind, and the power creep that Dragon Ball has steadily struggled with as the story increases in scale takes form. This ultimately resulted in the gradual decline and obscurity of the Z-Warriors inDragon Ballas a whole, only kept alive by the many fans who remember and looked into their history.
While the Z-Warriors were highly rememberedduring the early days ofDragon Ball,Toei doesn’t have many plans to bring them back into the fray of the story. Tienshinhan and Yamcha have their own lives, and aren’t even called upon for battles when needed; with the only exception being Piccolo and Krillin at the moment. However, with Piccolo’s resurgence with his new form as well as the story taking a different direction; many fans can hope for the Z-Warriors to get more spotlight. If not for the purposes of battle, then to catch up and be remembered for being warriors in their own right. After all, these characters established the foundation for the success ofDragon Ballin the future as well as being beloved characters. It may take time, and certainly won’t happen soon, but fans can hope for these characters to be remembered in the future.
MORE:How Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 4 and FighterZ can Coexist
