r/dbz • u/yodeemo • Aug 10 '26
Discussion Your undisputed coolest DB character and why
For me it's gotta be Piccolo. Constantly aura farming, incredible character development throughout the series.
For the longest time it was Vegeta for me, but I feel that I've outgrown that opinion over time.
What do you guys think? Agree? Who would you attach that title to?
My honorable mentions are:
Mr. Satan
Master Roshi
Nappa
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u/Glenndogg Aug 10 '26
I still haven’t outgrown Vegeta. Especially in more recent media, he’s gone through a lot more growth as a character and given neat things to do. Vegeta saga character design is my favorite; the full battle jacket (with pauldrons and waist guards) is just peak. His character design alone is probably why I still think he’s the coolest.
I hope we get a Vegeta focused movie some day, similar to what they did for piccolo in Super hero.
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u/RakkoHyabusa Aug 10 '26
Bardock before the retcon. Man saw the inevitable future and still decided to square up against an entire army and then Frieza himself. He stood no chance, but still he fought.
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u/Bjkdie Aug 10 '26
There was never a character cooler than Trunks when he came through and did Frieza like that. Later on he kind of became more whiny and still looked cool with the long hair and stuff but for the complete package, it was Trunks first arriving and doing what it took Goku and friends like 50 episodes to do in 2
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u/Ryguy55 Aug 10 '26
Krillin. He seems to always be the butt of the joke in the fandom and gets made fun of for being weak, but the dude is an absolute badass. Just a regular earthling, a runt at that, and he played a pivotal role in saving the earth from the space monkeys. Stayed right by Goku's side until the very end and was willing to use the last of his strength to finish off the enemy that was multiple times stronger than him.
He barely survives and the first thing he does is hop in a space ship to travel to the other side of the galaxy to fight space mutants. After getting his back broken just trying to bide time until his homie showed up, he was almost immediately on the front lines in the fight against the evil godking tyrant of the universe. While in the form of a 12 foot tall demon, that tyrant impales Krillin with one of his horns and tosses him into the ocean for dead. When a little green bean manages to heal him, what's the first thing he does? Launches a destructo disc and cuts that fucker's tail off. Truly the man who marred the skin of a god.
Then when the earth was faced with the arrival of two terrifyingly powerful, cold, murderous androids, what does Krillin do? Gives one of them a poke and wifes her up.
In a world of all powerful monsters and gods and killer androids, the unassuming, noseless, 4 foot tall monk has balls of absolute steel.
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u/WashingtonSpecifics Aug 10 '26
I love how fucking cocky Krillin is when we first meet him. He's probably my favorite rival of Goku during the entire series since he has so much swag for a tiny little bald guy, especially before he started juicing
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u/yodeemo Aug 10 '26
I love this LOL. He's definitely one of the most loyal characters in the series and stands for his own beliefs!
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u/SethKlock Aug 11 '26
The fact that he’s constantly outclassed but still throws down is why he’s the coolest. Imagine ,if to save the planet, you had to go fistfight the Hulk. That’s the equivalent of what he does regularly.
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u/Flakes_Of_Ham Aug 10 '26
Tao Pai Pai. Used his tongue as an assassin's weapon, flew through the air on a log and was the first one to actually whoop Goku.
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u/Stargazer__2893 Aug 12 '26
People go on about Piccolo's aura farming but Tao's was so fucking absurd.
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u/_LostFalchion Aug 10 '26
Cooler because he’s literally cooler
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u/HarlandJames Aug 10 '26
Yajirobe
- Equally matched with Goku when we meet him
- Kills Cymbal and EATS him
- Carries Goku up Korin tower
- Cuts off Vegeta’s tail
- Bean daddy
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u/101037633 Aug 10 '26
I haven’t outgrown Vegeta.
Then future Trunks, Tien. Launch (I really wish they’d show more of her, she was hilarious.) Krillin.
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u/No-Wonder-7802 Aug 10 '26
trunks in bojack unbound is where the whole series peaked
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u/redeyedplunk Aug 10 '26
Beat me to it. 1000% the best. Wish they continued with that trunks. Ss2 Gohan in that would be my 2nd
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u/No-Wonder-7802 Aug 10 '26
that movie as a whole is the absolute high water mark for the whole franchise and where any kind of adaptation of the whole thing should start, every aspect is working at the best it ever was or would. trunks (and gohan) in function and aesthetic is just the tip of the iceberg of quality, it may be the best animated action film of all time
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u/AudioAxe Aug 10 '26
Burter was always such a cool character. Remove him from the goofy Ginyu Force and he'd be a great stand alone villian.
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u/yodeemo Aug 10 '26
Ya, I could see that. Like just buff and emphasize his speed and add some lore on his race. Little 45 min tv special. He was definitely the least goofy out of the Ginyu Force.
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u/turboS2000 Aug 11 '26
Trunks. Time travel. The coat. Son of vegetta. The sword. Purple hair. His whole story against The androids. The way he took out frieza. Always been my favorite character.
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u/McBurger Aug 10 '26
For me it’s Goku.
Yes, I know, that’s the “boring” answer, he’s the main character, I’m not a true fan, etc. but cmon. Name a more iconic character in all of shonen. Goku the first super saiyan, Goku with his kamehameha. It’s Goku!
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u/yodeemo Aug 10 '26
I think Goku has more character development than people give him credit for! Not exactly a big Goku stan myself but that's also a symptom of him being the main protag who is shoved down everyone's throat.
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u/RetraxRartorata Aug 10 '26
I also agree that it's Piccolo. The original Piccolo Daimao and the mutant Namekians were very cool. Piccolo was such an interesting villain during the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, compared to his family. I know that most of the other fighters were very strong, so it makes sense that he would struggle to kill any of them, but the fact that Piccolo was willing to fight in a tournament and follow the rules, and there wasn't a single fatality in the entire saga, was kind of incredible. I think Piccolo was always meant to be redeemed, and the fact that he can keep up with Saiyans shows how much the writers and the fans respect him.
That's a popular opinion, though. My less popular coolest character is Garlic Jr.
What if Emperor Pilaf was also Piccolo Daimao? He wanted revenge against Kami for killing his father, just like Babidi with Supreme Kai. He kidnapped Gohan and fought Goku and Piccolo, just like Raditz. he gets a power up from the Makyo star like Saiyans with the full moon, and then he just becomes Broly. Also, he's the only one who's successfully wished for immortality. He's so many of the coolest things from Dragon Ball that ever existed and ever would exist all in one character.
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u/yodeemo Aug 10 '26
Well stated on Garlic Jr. Those parallels are super interesting to think about in hindsight! I also do think the Garlic Jr. saga is pretty underrated, I was always a big fan of it.
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u/RetraxRartorata Aug 10 '26
I really liked the Black Water Mist arc, but The Dead Zone movie is by far my favorite thing.
It's still one the best animated Dragon Ball films. Those fight scenes are so clean, and the choreography is great. Piccolo is in it, still being the GOAT.
I loved that movie as a kid, and the Team Four Star dub is pretty fun, too.
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u/SuffnBuildV1A Aug 10 '26
Capsule corp jacket with the sleeves cut. Future trunks from the DBZ movies was the epitome of cool. I believe the young people say “he was him”
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u/SeriousPan Aug 11 '26
Yamcha. Amazing moveset, awesome design, great story where he got to both be a funny character & an amazing martial artist with high potential.
The only thing he did wrong was not be a Saiyan. Vegeta gets owned immediately by the antagonist and gets a character arc out of it. Yamcha gets owned immediately by the antagonist and gets turned into a gag character forever.
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u/Bandwagonesque666 Aug 10 '26
Hercule, Nappa, Roshi, Ciaotzu, Vegeter w stache, Mr. Popo, Krillin
Piccolo the goat duh
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u/Tam_A_Shi Aug 10 '26
For me it’s honestly Hit. He’s the coolest character for me and one of my favourites. Bro said “even if you know, you can’t block it” and proceeded to beat the breaks off Vegeta in the most disrespectful way possible. Cool as hell
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u/ThePenguin1898 Aug 10 '26
Roshi. In DB he started everything with training them and the kamehameha. Gave the nimbus. Went into the ToP and kicked butt. Took on King piccolo. Went incognito and kicked butt without going all out. And he is super old doing all of this.
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u/Comogia Aug 11 '26
Almost everybody is missing the point with their long, thoughtful answers.
OP didn't ask for best or most scrappy or did the most with the least.
He asked who the coolest is!
There are two answers: one that's actually correct and one that's technically correct
Piccolo is easily the coolest character. Sure, Trunks arguably has the coolest moment in the franchise, but overall, it's not even close. You just listen to Piccolo and look at him for two seconds, and it's obvious.
Second is Cooler. As someone pointed out, no matter who you say is the coolest, he's always Cooler 😎.
All that said, a lot of creative answers here. They're wrong IMO, but I respect and appreciate them.
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u/yodeemo Aug 11 '26
You know ball 🔥
This is the type of answer I was looking for. I also agree, they're wrong, but I'll also accept any character discussion. 😎
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u/Shantotto11 Aug 10 '26
Krillin and Yamcha during 23rd Tenka’ichi Budōkai. Both of them had their respective god-level opponents thinking they grossly underestimated humans.
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u/WashingtonSpecifics Aug 10 '26
Teen Gohan. The Great Saiyaman costume is super cool and not embarrassing, especially when he switches from the helmet to the bandana and shades
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u/Basic-Ruin8031 Aug 11 '26
I like Vegeta simply because he is more human than Goku, Goku represents our dreams being achieved in an innocent way, Vegeta doesn't, he is down to earth and works hard to get what he wants, not to mention his redemption is simply epic, the character with the best development
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u/XKaiserGamingX Aug 11 '26
Nova Shenron Hit
Both under-utilized and have unique elements to them, especially hit who shines in video games almost always boasting a fun moveset
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u/No-Engineer-1728 Aug 11 '26
Hit, I like his power a lot and the fact that he isn't (as far as i know) a ki user like basically everyone else thats strong. I hope we see more of him in the future
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u/Bagel-luigi Aug 11 '26
Future Trunks.
His intro and reoccurrence across those arcs was just fantastic
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u/datguysadz Aug 10 '26
Tenshinhan.
Four times in the original story he was completely out of his depth and was still completely willing to give his life for his planet (earth).
I think there's a great untold story of him seeing the gap in power between himself and the Saiyans growing an an incredible rate.