We all frequent message boards and online forums (such as alt.fan.dragonball), and we all contribute as much as we can. Unfortunately, we don't KNOW of all the places people post questions, so it's impossible for us to reach everyone. However, if you're reading this, you at least know where WE are, so it's possible for you to ask us directly.

What we're going for here is sort of an "Answerman" or "Ask John" (from Anime News Network and Anime Nation, respectively). We'd like you to e-mail in whatever questions you may have, so long as it somehow relates to the world of DragonBall; be it the manga, the anime, merchandise.. whatever. We've been around for a few years, now, and we know the ropes... we like to think we know our stuff.

And we want to help. E-mail your questions to VegettoEX@aol.com with the subject "Ask VegettoEX." We'll try to update this section every weekend with at least one question straight from the fans. Thanks!

[ Last Updated: Saturday, 27 March 2004 ]
[ Past "Ask VegettoEX" Archives ]

Q. I'm just curius, there are rumors about something called Dragonball AF where Goku reaches Super Saiya-jin 12. Is it true that it exist in Japan? - Sarp

A. Me thinks some people may still find some use of the "Rumor Guide" pages we have available. It's bad enough that people say SSJ5 exists... but 12?! Sheesh!

There is no DragonBall AF, and if one is ever made, I will eat my shorts. - VegettoEX

Q. Whatever happened to Lunch? - Animeguy6869

A. Toriyama forgot about her, plain and simple. We know that he's forgetting things more and more as time pases since DB's end, but it's hilarious that he was already forgetting his main character back during actual production. Toei threw in two scenes of Lunch during the Saiyan saga as filler (one where she's off with Tenshinhan while he's training, the other wasted in a bar drinking herself stupid after watching Tenshinhan die during the fight against Nappa). Other than this (and the one scene of her donating energy to Goku's Genki-Dama at the end of the series), we never se her again... - VegettoEX

Q. Alright, so we all know that Goku is that strongest out of all the good guys... but who ranks in at #2? Is it Gohan or Vegeta? And don't tell me Gohan is #1 because of what that crusty old Dai Kaioshin says. Also, let's not factor in the garbage that is DBGT and how Vegeta goes SS4 and Gohan forgets his Ultimate form. Based on canonized info, who is number 2? - Mike Song

A. I'd have to definitely say that at the end of the Buu arc, Gohan was easily the second (maybe even first?) strongest. Vegeta's got his pride, and he had his Majin power-up... but Toriyama was absolutely trying to get the fans to accept Gohan as the strongest (once again, just like at the end of the Cell arc)... and I think that's pretty obvious. - VegettoEX

Q. Have you seen any of the myriad DBZ parodies and tributes on Newgrounds? What do you think of them, if so? If not, check em out. Also, do you know of any sites that center on DBZ inspired Flash animation? - Stephen Hohmann

A. I know absolutely nothing about any Flash parodies / animations, other than what few I've seen have been very stereotypical, pretentious, and extremely not funny. I don't even really know what Newgrounds is ^^;;. - VegettoEX

Q. Have you ever heard about or thought of a fan based project dealing with a complete overhaul and re-editing of DBZ, hardcore style; fixing all the plot holes and adding more substance. As far as I know, Toriyama wrote each chapter of DBZ off the top of his head, leaving the many many plotholes there are today. Wouldn't it be cool for someone to go back and make like a master version of the show with correct references and neat additions and all that jazz? "Wouldn't it be cool if... blah blah blah" I sound kinda dumb, but wouldn't it? I'm not saying the current version is bad by any means, but going back and sort of trimming the fat and sharpening it all up. - Stephen Hohmann

A. I've thought about this many times, yes. How cool would it be to go and re-edit the entire DragonBall Z TV series to get one that's completely devoid of filler and plot-holes?! It would probably cut down on the amount of pretentious (hey, I used the word "pretentious" two answers in a row!) anime fans saying "DBZ is crap!" (I can't even count how many of them always cite the Freeza / five minutes garbage on Namek as their sole reason for hating the show).

At the same time, a lot of the filler was actually beneficial to the story, or at least made us laugh our asses off. For example, look at the end of the Cell arc; I thought that having Piccolo, Tenshinhan, Yamcha, and Kuririn all join in with their blasts against Cell in that last battle added a great deal to the story, and let these (minor) characters really show us what they (and the over-all) story was about: friendship. Moments like those are completely heart-warming, yet are no-where to be found in the manga. Then there's things like the Goku / Piccolo driving filler; that stuff's amazing! I'd hate to see that cut from the show.

Then we've got things like Gohan and the orphans, fake Namek, and Garlic Jr. that totally detract from the story and add absolutely nothing to it in any way... those I wouldn't mind seeing cut, at all ^^;; - VegettoEX

Q. I have a few DBZ albums and I was wondering if you or anyone know where Everanime ( the CD company) is? The email, phone, fax, or address? Thanks for you help! ^-^- Amy

A. EverAnime is a bootleg company. Even Taiwan has signed the Berne Convention, now, so there's absolutely no legality to this crap. Buy official~! It's what the cool kids do. - VegettoEX

Q. I came across by chance a video that said "Dragonball: LIVE ACTION MOVIE!!" It looked real enough, until I read the back: "'Inspired' by Dragonball". It said something about Goku having to get the "dragonpearls before King Zord." What's with this? Was it a crappy fan video? Or an unknown Asian DB movie (I don't think it was necessarily a Japanese movie...). - Makankoposo

A. It's not just a cheap knock-off... it's real, baby!

OK, so it's not the live-action movie, but it's a live-action movie that's been around for years and years and years, actually. It was released in the US on DVD in 2000 under the title DragonBall: The Magic Begins. It's a Chinese (in Mandarin, I believe... correct me if I'm wrong) movie that was released in 1989 under the title Xin qi long zhu shen long de fu shou, starring... no-one of any importance and directed by... no-one of any importance.

I first saw the movie fansubbed, in Chinese, years before it came out on disc. I couldn't finish the movie once back then on VHS, and I can't finish the movie even now that I own it on DVD (the DVD is English-dubbed only). It's... pretty terrible. It's fantastic for some laughs, but I don't think even a huge group of people doing MST3K on it could last the entire length.

Shenlong is a puppet. - VegettoEX

Q. Which of all the Dragon Ball / Z CDs made actually have background music? - Miguel Angel Arellano

A. Interesting and important question. Let's break it down by CD series:

• Hit Collections: Unless you consider "Solid State Scouter" and/or "Battle Points Unlimited" BGM (they're on Hit 4 & 6, respectively), there is no BGM on any of the "Hit Collection" CDs. Note that the newly released 3-CD sets compile the "Hit Collection" CD series, but only "Solid State Scouter" can be found, there.
• 5 CD Daizenshuu: This is really the only holy grail of DB / DBZ BGM. Disc 2 is BGM from the DragonBall TV series; Disc 4 is BGM from the DragonBall Z TV series (up slightly into the Buu arc); Disc 5 is BGM from DragonBall movies 1-3 and DragonBall Z movies 1-9.
• Ongakushû - Volume 1: This is almost the same as the 5 CD Daizenshuu fifth disc, but it actually contains slightly more music (such as the "Dun-Dun-Dun" piece from DBZ movie 3 that we have available for download over on the "Music Downloads" page). This disc only contains music from DBZ movies 1-7, however.
• Ongakushû - Volume 2: Essentially the OST for DBZ movie 8. Some of the pieces were later used in the DBZ TV series, however (around the Majin Vegeta arc and later).
• DBZ Movie 10 & 11 OSTs: They're exactly what their titles say they are. As far as I can tell / know, none of this BGM was ever later used in the DBZ TV series, though.
• DB 10th Anniversary Movie OST: Another movie OST. This is as close are you're going to get for a DragonBall GT OST, as well; much of the BGM from this movie was later used in the DBGT TV series.

That's really all there is! Hopefully that's a good help, though. - VegettoEX

THIS WEEK'S MESSAGE BOARD DISCUSSION:

Here we are in the latest week of this new feature! I think it's a really neat thing to add to the section, and I'm glad to see people are getting involved. Please feel free to contribute to the discussion, and even start up your own!

Q. A lot of former villains eventually became allies with Goku in the Dragonball series, but out of the ones who didn't, which of them would be most willing/capable of working with the good guys to accomplish some mutual goal?

My guess would be Freeza or King Cold, since they appeared to be slightly more rational and restrained than the average villain. They also didn't appear to be mindlessly destructive or incapable of realizing when an alliance would best serve their interests. - James R. Cadwell

A. Read over the discussion, here! Lots of great input from quite a few people.

We're trying to stay with our weekly schedule for the section... so... e-mail us your questions for next week's update! We love getting all these questions, each week, so the more you send us, the more we can (try to) answer for you!

[ "Ask VegettoEX" Archives ]