Dragon Ball Z Abridged/Headscratchers

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


These things about Dragon Ball Z Abridged puzzle somebody:

  • Wouldn't blowing up Planet Vegeta be a 30 year old twitter post by this point? Or does Freeza like reminding people that he blew it up every so often? He probably would, wouldn't he?
    • Freeza, like Cooler, is a massive prick. He's probably the type who'd rub it in the face of the remaining saiyans on a regular basis.
      • He does apparently like to troll-edit Planet Vegeta's space wikipedia page on a regular basis.
    • Doesn't necessarily mean that it was at that exact moment. It looked more like a quick flashback cutaway.
      • Or maybe Space Twitter has been around longer and Vegeta was taking an Archive Binge
      • This. After all, it is SPACE Twitter.
    • If thats true, then why did Vegeta work for him knowing he blew up his planet?
      • Because he had no choice. He was forced to do so by Freeza. We also don't know old Vegeta is, so he could have only been a child at the time, and he could have been raised to obey Freeza until he noticed something fishy about it. This could also mean that the planet he was seen leaving at the start may have been some other planet than his own.
      • Because Vegeta was a pre-teen Saiyan elite standing against someone who genocided an entire race with his FINGER.
        • ...You've never seen Bardock: Father of Goku, have you?
    • Maybe that was the last twitter post Freeza ever made.
  • Why wasn't Chiaotzu telling Krillin that nobody cared that he destroyed the Saiberman counted as a point on the Krillin Owned Count? If they can do it when Master Roshi told Krillin to shut up after Krillin blamed him for not rescuing Gohan, then they should have done it there.
    • The acts canceled each other out, maybe?
  • Dodoria being an "'in the now' kind of guy" despite being outed as a girl after the Bardock special is just a mite curious in hindsight.
    • The line "now you know my terrible secret" indicates that she had been lying about it the whole time.
    • The why did both Freeza and Zarbon seem to know?
      • I'm not convinced Freeza did know. His shock at hearing "She's dead" could be from either word. Zarbon on the other hand is a peer, someone she works with on a regular basis and can relate to.
    • "Guy" can be used as a gender-neutral term.
      • Usually in a sense of plurals, not singular.
      • Depends on region and person. Besides, it would have spoiled the joke otherwise, and if it was a "terrible secret" it's not like Dodoria would've been dropping words that explicitly stated the truth.
  • Why is it that people like Chiatzu, Bulma, and Roshi threaten Krillin and make fun of him for being a weakling when he can kill them in like 3 seconds?
  • Why is it that people consider Dodoria's sex to be a spoiler (one that is very poorly hidden on this wiki) yet Zarbon's sexual orientation is plastered all over the place, unmarked? We thought Zarbon was gay for longer than we thought Dodoria was a man, so why does the first truth to be revealed get spoiler-tagged, but not the second one?
    • Because Dodoria was explicitly a man in the original, meaning its a change and thus a twist, whereas Zarbon was ambiguous in the original, and thus if its a new twist (and thus spoilerworthy) is debatable.
    • Actually his orientation is spoilered on this page.
  • How do we know Zarbon is straight? It could be a Girlfriend in Canada situation. Or even if he does have a girlfriend, he could, as he said in Episode 14, go both ways.
    • Becuase of his shock and disgust of what Vegeta insinuates.

Zarbon: What? NO! God NO!
Zarbon: What, you thought I was single?
Zarbon: ...What?

    • And so on.
    • Freeza doesn't buy it. He's convinced this "girlfriend" is named Chuck. For all we know Zarbon could have been acting shocked and disgusted to Vegeta's insinuations.
    • Or he might have just been disgusted to be accused of molesting an unconscious person. Also, a bisexual might not like people thinking he's entirely gay, which would account for a lot of his indignation over that topic.
    • Here's my headscratcher why are so many people determined to not believe that Zarbon was Camp Straight ? (there's a reason we have that trope, after all) Aside from the "in the now kind of guy" joke, I don't see many people trying to disprove thte whole Dodoria is a woman thing ("Dodoria was originally a guy but got a sex change, or vice-versa" "Dodoria's biologically male but identifies as female" ect.), so why is this such a big deal?
  • Vegeta makes a Your Mom joke, Cui responds with "my species reproduces asexually." Funny, but...does that really negate the joke? After all, if Cui's species reproduces asexually, then Cui still must have one parent, and what would you call that one parent if not the mother? Certainly not the father.
    • Piccolo would not appreciate the insinuation that he is his own mother.
    • He probably implied that his species did not have sexual intercourse.
      • Except a couple episodes later, where he says the same Your Mom joke to Vegeta.
        • ...and he completely didn't get that having sex with someone's dead mother is not done. Because he is totally unfamiliar with sexual activity.
          • Based on the tone with which he said, "I know!" when challenged that Vegeta's mother is dead, it sounded less like he didn't understand, and more like he knew how horrible the necrophilia would make it, and used it for added effect. Remember, they weren't using Your Mom as a joke, they were using it to be offensive to each other; necrophilia just makes it that much more so.
    • What would you call that one parent? Parent.
    • Remember the joke? "Off to plow your mother!", if his species reproduces asexually, basically he is his own mother. So, Vegeta said that he went to have sex with Cui himself. At least that's how I got it.
      • Err, no. Asexual reproduction does not make you your own parent; it makes you the parent of your offspring. The only way Cui could be his own parent is if he and said parent were the same organism. Granted, they could be genetically identical (and with some forms of asexual reproduction, even that's not the case), but they're not physically the same being.
  • When Goku saw Mr. Popo while in the hospital, he freaked out something fierce. But... He went to Popo's EARLIER when he was heading towards the saiyans. Why didn't he freak out then?
    • He was capable of movement and self-defense on the lookout.
      • Goku didn't actually see Popo as Popo was too busy making and buttering toast.
  • What the hell does Recoome say in the Ginyu introduction scene? I can't understand it no matter how much I listen. All I hear is "And Pops some hay!" Wat.
    • Sounds like "and bust some heads!" to me.
      • Yep, it's "and bust some heads". However Recoome's voice does make it easy to mistake what he's saying.
  • How does Vegeta and thus Freeza learn about the Namekian dragonballs? Goku tells him the Earth dragonballs are useless with Piccolo dead, but he never tells him where to find alternative balls.
    • Space google. Presumably, previous surveys and researchers visiting Namek have heard about the Dragon Balls but assumed them to be legend or mythology, and left the references buried in reports. Freeza has enough money and underlings to look up if there's any other appearances of the dragon balls, and thus find the erroneously-assumed-to-be-legend report.
    • Also, if one Namekian can create Dragon Balls, it's likely another Namekian can, too.
    • In the original, didn't Vegeta recognize Piccolo as a Namekian on sight? The exact specifics are a bit fuzzy to this troper's memory, but by the time he had left Earth he knew where he was going and what he was looking for.
  • "You all mocked me!... THE WHOLE WORLD STOOD THERE AND MOCKED ME!"
    ...really, Guldo? How in the name of Yemma can he equate "Vegeta made fun of me and threw dog treats at me sometimes" with "The whole world stood there and mocked me"? I mean, we never see the rest of the Ginyu force pick on him; hell, even Freeza seems to respect him, and he loves to abuse his henchmen!
    • He's just overreacting.
    • Judging by the fact that none of them cared that he was dead, Vegeta's treatment of him probably isn't unique. He's a nerdy little guy hanging out with a bunch of big, muscular, douchebags. Figure it out.
  • This exchange between Popo and Bulma while on the flying carpet (the dialogue may not be entirely accurate, but the gist of it is true):

Popo: This carpet gets about 10,000 miles to the soul.
Bulma: What?
Popo: The gallon.

    • The thing is...why did Popo change his statement? It's not like he's afraid of anyone.
    • Most likely Rule of Funny.
      • He probably just didn't want to have to deal with her screaming like a Krillin at the realization.
      • Or he was covering up the fact that he just used Bulma as fuel.
  • Why Ginyu takes King Cold's orders as overriding Freeza's is patently obvious, but why do Cooler's orders also override Freezas, if Ginyu is part of Freeza's personal elite?
    • Because he's a prick.
      • Cooler or Ginyu?
      • Why does it have to be just one?
    • On a slightly more serious note, maybe Cooler is the older brother? I don't recall whether he is in canon, but that would probably put his authority over Freeza's. EDIT: Okay, just checked the Dragonball Wiki, and it says that Freeza is, in fact, the younger brother.
      • Ginyu states that he's contractually obligated to perform the dances. It was probably slipped in without him knowing about it, and Cooler pointed it out to him at some point. Rather than change his contract, he just goes with it.
    • Cooler is older and therefore outranks him. That's cannon.
    • Also, possibly Asskicking Equals Authority.
  • What is that song that plays when Gohan tries to talk down Recoome before he knocks him out?
  • In Episode 19, Vegeta's scouter-beep censored rant doesn't sound anything like the The Stinger made it out to be in the end. The "Fu-" and "Sh-" sounds are especially noticeable. It's not a big deal, but it does make me think The Stinger is just a non-canon joke.
  • Why is it that Krillin rants to Bulma about how much of a bitch she is? If anyone deserved that it was Chichi.
    • First of all, Bulma was there, so Krillin put up with her bitching for longer. Secondly, Krillin is TERRIFIED of Chichi (she threatened to castrate him in his sleep in episode three of season one and, as far as anyone knows, given DBZ Abridged's love of the Call Back, Continuity Nod, and Brick Joke tropes, Krillin probably still has that bounty on his head), so yelling at her wouldn't make any sense.
      • Well, I meant this more aimed at Team Four Star themselves, not Krillin. Sure, Chichi got a brief moment from Gohan, but it doesn't really cut it. It's really telling that Bulma showed Goku more consideration for his injuries inflicted by Vegeta than Chichi did.
        • Go ahead, rant to Chichi about how much she's a bitch, I can wait.
      • The thing that bothers me is that almost everyone in the series is so much stronger than Chi Chi and yet they put up with her bitchery. Gohan I get because she's his mother, Goku I get because he wants Mouth Present but there's no real reason for Krillin to put up with it, not when he's able to take her damn head off with a single bitchslap.
        • Cause even in the source material they are scared to death of her.
      • And she's only a bitch some of the time
      • In addition to all of that, he's only met Chi Chi four-six times in his entire life to that point and she's generally been pleasant when it didn't involve her fiancée forgetting her, her husband getting murdered, her four year old getting kidnapped by Satan and her five year old deciding to go to an unknown planet to resurrect the aforementioned Satan. In comparison, he's been on numerous adventures with Bulma and seen her do things like leave Goku to die (though she did get better about stuff like that and he missed her worst acts of bitchy-ness from the first DB arc). And she'd earlier told him that she didn't care that her letting Gohan go get a dragonball without supervision on a planet with multiple hostile, invincible, dragonball-seeking supermonsters that knew what he looked like might get him castrated by the boy's mother and had just blamed him for not fighting off one/two of the aforementioned supermonsters. Also, manga/abridged Chi Chi didn't chew Goku out after the Vegeta fight, and even in the original anime she was shown taking care of him in the hospital during his recuperation.
  • "Oh, my eyes! Oh, God, it's like walking in on Freeza in the shower! Wait a minute Freeza's always naked! AHHHH!!!!!!!!!": Except Vegeta had only seen Freeza's first form at that time -- a form that wears both black underpants AND battle armor.
    • He was wrong about Dodoria being a man and Zarbon being gay too. Maybe he was wrong again
    • I always just assumed that the armor was designed based on Freeza's body, and that he was still always naked.
  • I can understand Zarbon acting stereotypically gay, and yet still having a girlfriend. What I can't understand is the fact that he doesn't understand why everyone thinks he's gay! Why is he so oblivious?
    • It's just funnier this way.
    • Maybe acting stereotypically effeminate by our standards is considered very masculine on his planet (and in hindsight, most of his innuendos would seem to be oblivious)? That his behavior makes people think he's gay would then be more like Values Dissonance.
      • I'd go with the latter explanation above, while adding that no one ever seems to call him on the way he's acting. Every time he says something suggestive, it goes more or less ignored - the closest anyone ever got to pointing out the innuendo was during that awkward moment with Appule, in which case Zarbon seemed to figure it out for himself before making a quick leave. So, if indeed he came from a planet were acting like that was normal, it seems quite believable that he could've gone on being totally unaware of everyone thinking he's gay, as nobody ever says it outright.
  • Are the two movies made before TFS got together (Dead Zone and World's strongest) supposed to be canon in this universe? Every single character seems to be exactly the same... except Gohan. Gohan was less intelligent in those two movies (Ox King even says that he goes to "retard classes") but in the series he's one of the smartest of the bunch.
    • I don't think so.
    • Not sure if this is the appropriate place to ask, but where can these movies be found?
    • Space Youtube.
    • Perhaps Gohan's "retard classes" are to make him retarded? That way, since he's only mentioned to have taken them in the movies, he could have either not "learned" to be retarded in the main TFS series or just plain forgotten his teachings and become intelligent again.
  • Did Team Four Star forget to keep track of the Krillin Owned Counter? It's turned 13 twice in a row now. Did the first 13 (Seizure Procedure) not count? Or is it a setup for a joke later?
    • In the new episode, when Freeza gores him, it turns from 13 to 15.
      • Then he gets repeatedly owned, taking it all the way up to 25. One for every episode. Team Four Star saw their mistake and corrected it.
  • As funny and within character as Guru's dick move was, it creates a tiny little problem. Since his death is a suicide and not being a victim of Freeza, how is he supposed to be revived by the Dragon Balls?
    • If I remember correctly, Popo is the one who finds the dragon and wishes everybody to life. That's your justification.
    • Didn't look like a suicide to me... I just thought he died of old age and Guru thought it would be dick move to stop fighting it.
    • His voice sounds weak and weary through the whole scene- he probably was dying already, and just decided that it would be funnier to go right when he did.
    • I interpreted it as him whispering to himself about how much of a dick move it would be to die when they just summoned the dragon. When he decides to do it, he just holds his breath until he dies from lack of oxygen.
    • Just to clarify, in the regular canon, Guru dies of grief over the massacre of his people so when they use the Earth dragon balls to wish back the people that Freeza and his minions killed, Guru comes back as well because his death was a result of that. The question is, how Guru will come back if it's obvious his death wasn't in grief. I figure it's an easy enough solution for the Earth balls to be used to wish all the Nameks back to life, not the victims of Freeza.
    • The problem with the Namekian revival theory is that Vegeta, who is not a Namek, is on Freeza's killed list. I think we should just go with the Popo theory.
    • Or maybe the dragon is so happy at someone other than the Z warriors summoning him that he just does whatever he's told.
  • So, is Vegeta3986 still on Team Four Star? In the latest episode, Yamcha was interrupted before he could say anything and Kami had a completely different voice actor.
    • Nope, he's left the team.
      • What happened?
      • To be more precise, there was no "drama" to it. Vegeta had become distant to the team and they decided they'd rather carry on with certain characters in different directions, at a quicker pace. There was no drama to it, merely recasting to make things easier for everyone.
  • Why exactly does Gohan pissed at Goku for abandoning him for a year? As I recall, Goku was dead. Which, and this may just be me here, seems like a pretty damn good reason for not being there. I can understand why Gohan would be pissed at Goku for sending him to Namek, but the accusations of full out Parental Abandonment seem a little extreme. Because, y'know, DEAD.
    • Y'know when he says, 'Huh ... where did that come from?'? Yeah, when you figure that out, the answer is pretty much what you're looking for.
    • Not sure if this is relevant, but in canon the dragonballs were gathered long before the full year was finished, but weren't used immediately because Baba told Roshi to wait. Goku could have come back within a few months, but due to his training needs he was gone a whole year. Assuming Gohan knew about this, it would appear that he was secondary to what his dad really wanted, training. Still a stretch I'll admit, but not as big a stretch.
    • The key to remember is that Gohan is six years old. He's gone through a -lot- and almost all of it -without- his father. He's a logical little guy, but he's still young and had a rough, rough childhood so far.
    • Since when is death a good excuse for abandoning your family in the Dragon ball universe?
      • When you need to train to become strong enough to protect your family, and the life of everybody on the planet you grew up on from being horribly slaughtered?
    • And there's the fact Gohan himself was the one who wanted to go to Namek. Goku didn't tell Gohan to go to Namek at all. Can't remember it exactly, but I'm pretty sure Goku was sedated and foaming at the mouth at the time the conversation took place.
    • If anything, where his aggression is coming from, it could be possibly coming from Chi-Chi. Or, as Christmas Tree of Might has shown, it could be the fact that he has to put up with her implied abuse (which is probably fueled by her anger of Goku not being around).
      • Yeah, about that. I'm waiting for some of the Z Warriors to call her on her bullshit on raising Gohan. Its one thing to allow Chi-Chi to raise a smart son. That I don't have a problem with. He doesn't get to play or be a well-developed little boy throughout the series thanks to her, and that should be called out on by the Abridged Series. Not to mention that most of the girls have smart mouths, and while I'm all for progression, the fact remains that the guys really aren't as bad as they say.
        • See above about Chi Chi's bitchiness; whenever someone she loves isn't dead/being sent to fight a waking Armageddon, she's usually pretty polite and friendly and has no problem with Gohan going with Goku and his friends to go camping and stuff (not to mention that, in spite of all her complaining, she never gets her way until after Goku bites it for the second time, after which she was a lot more permissive about her kids fighting). He doesn't have much interaction with people his own age because she and Goku seem to live out in the sticks until the end of the series and she's probably uncomfortable with her beloved four-nine year old WMD with rage issues wandering the globe relatively unsupervised. She's a strict Education Mama until after the Cell Saga, but considering that her issues were about keeping her preteen son from facing off against the most powerful and psychotic monsters in the universe, a little bit of resistance is to be expected.
        • Really? When he has shown to hold his own, despite her issues? I am of the understanding that she's just angry and a little abusive to Gohan, especially in the Abridged series. While what you say is true in the original series, her actions strike me in this Abridged as overwhelmingly cruel to people who mean well by the EARTH, not just individuals, and good friends. She could stand to recognize that.
  • In episode 21 when right before Vegeta finishes Recoome, there was a symbol in the corner, what is it?
  • How did Freeza know about the parts he wasn't there for?
    • Nappa, I'm guessing.
      • The Scouter was on the entire time. The entire time.
      • GODDAMMIT NAPPA!
  • I'm sorry, 'how about one-hundred?' This is Gohan we're talking about here. Those pea-shooters are weaker than your normal ki-blast, which Gohan can deflect. Not buying that. Sorry.
    • What? No, seriously, can you be more specific as to what you're talking about?
    • In Lord Slug, Gohan gets shot down by a bunch of Mooks with blasters. To answer the question, Gohan can deflect the blasts- but they were all shooting at him at once, so that at least some got through.
    • For a more appropriate answer: They're working with the material they have. DBZ filler arcs and movies play so loose with continuity that you're lucky they're getting the characters' names right.
    • For further reference on how movie continuity is not our earth continuity, see also Talking Movie Bubbles, Piccolo's christmas present, and Vegeta's "This is so non-canon it hurts."
  • Speaking of LSA, why did Goku say at the end He could now revive Chiatzu, Master Roshi and Krillin? The first two didn't appear in the special and the third seemed more kinda tacked on.
    • It's a reference to King Piccolo's arc from DB. According to Lanipator's review, it was because Lord Slug is basically a rip off of the said arc.
    • OP: thanks, that helps
    • Also from LSA, Why is Krillin Mr. Pink? I got pretty much all the other references, but this flew over my head.
      • It's sort of a cross-reference, Reservoir Dogs via Armageddon. In the previous scene, Dr. Briefs says "get me Bruce Willis and Steve Buscemi" in reference to the latter movie, and Buscemi played Mr. Pink in the former.
    • Again, from LSA, if Slug is Guru's good half, why he tries to froze the whole planet, killing all its inhabitants and use the planet as a vessel while Guru, despite being a massive jerk tries to be helpful to the heroes? (even unlocking Krillin and Gohan's full potential, no matter how small about it?)
      • The original Namekian Slug and Guru split from must have been a real piece of work. Though I wouldn't say that Guru was trying to be helpful for the sake of being helpful- he probably just thought it was amusing, and may well have figured they'd all get killed by Freeza anyway. And letting himself die in order to kill the dragon and interrupt the wishing was fairly evil...
  • How did Nail know Freeza passed by a little Namekian on his way to Guru's?
    • They were right in front of Guru's when they passed, so he probably saw it happen.
  • Gohan told Chi-Chi it was his fault that Piccolo sacrificed himself, so he wanted to go to Namek. Later, when Ginyu steals Gokus body, Gohan exclaims "you send me to space, and you aren't even you anymore!"., that is a head scratcher. Why does Gohan claim Goku was the fault of him going into space? That isn't a rage inducer, that's a childlike misinformation. Gohan wanted to avenge Piccolo sacrificing himself. Goku had nothing to do with Gohan traveling into space. His rage is unfounded and uncharacteristic.
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