[ General ] [ Movies / TV Specials ] [ Characters ] [ Video Games ]
[ Fansub Dialogue ] [ Dub Mistakes ]

[ Characters ]

These have been some of the hardest rumors to deal with, simply that because they have been around for so many years, they are just assumed to be fact. Are certain characters actually brothers? Who are those mothers out there we never hear of... did we actually see them, and were expected to put 2 + 2 together? Will the Earth REALLY explode if "Mystic" Gohan goes SSJ?

RUMOR: Goku died on Planet Namek.

STATUS: False.

EXPLANATION: This one is extremely easy to put to rest if you actually analyze the facts of the series. Unfortunately, if you are not paying close enough attention, the anime's addition of filler material into the surrounding incidents makes it a little more confusing than it should be.

In chapters 322 and 323, a newly-SSJ Goku is fighting against a final-form Freeza. Goku launches a Kamehameha against his foe, who proceeds to fly into it and eventually bust right through, knocking Goku down underground. At the very same time, back on Earth, Mr. Popo has summoned Shenlong and proceeds to wish all those killed by Freeza back to life. Freeza laughs to himself with pride, but looks around wondering what is going on with the sky. We see the murdered Namekians begin to stand up (having been wished back to life), and much to Freeza's surprise, a very exhausted-looking SSJ Goku rises up out of the ocean like a phoenix from its own ashes.

So wait... did Goku just get wished back to life...?!?

It is inherently impossible. Shenlong can only bring a person back to life once; he brought Goku back to life during the previous story arc on Earth (right before the battle with Nappa & Vegeta). Therefore, Goku was not dead. Just a little tired. He got better.

Additionally, someone who has been killed and brought back to life typically will not still be in SSJ the entire time. Furthermore, wounds are generally healed and the individual brought back to life does not look as if they are still in the middle of a giant life-or-death battle.

The anime (DBZ episode 100) does not help the situation, adding in additional filler material where Gohan drones on and on about how he can no longer feel his father's ki, and proceeds to fly back to battle with Freeza. Just as in the manga, Goku rises up out of the ocean after the wish is made, but the fact still remains that Shenlong could not have brought Goku back to life for a second time.

RUMOR: Goku and Vegeta are brothers.

STATUS: False.

EXPLANATION: This rumor is pure speculation, based on nothing logical. Goku and Vegeta had different fathers (Bardock and King Vegeta, respectively), so at the very best, they would be half-brothers. Again, this is based on nothing; it is nonsense spouted by fans looking for a connection where none exists.

RUMOR: Goku and Tullece (the main villain from DBZ movie 3) are brothers.

STATUS: False.

EXPLANATION: They look identical, and early fansubbers didn't quite... err... know Japanese, which has led to vast frustration and confusion over the origin of Tullece. In the movie, he states that there "weren't that many types" of "expendable lower-level warriors" like themselves. This does not mean they had the same parents; rather, it seems to suggest that there were many other similar-looking Saiyans (but remember that this is a movie, where plot continuity does not really matter).

Tullece also explains that they should fight on the same side, since they have the same background; however, there is absolutely NOTHING in the dialogue that even remotely suggests that they are of any blood relation. In the dramatic sense, their identical character designs are simply a plot device to show the "other" side of Goku: a literal representation of what he could have become without his human influence. So let us rejoice that Goku had that terrible fall and hit to the head as a child... we could have had identical Saiyan terrorists!

One source of major confusion has been the UK release of DBZ movie 3 entitled Super Battle In The World. While this is indeed an official, English-dubbed release of the movie, it is not an accurate release of the movie, and was not produced by the same companies many fans have become familiar with. Produced by the AB Groupe and distributed by Warner Vision International, this release of the movie features dialogue that flat-out states that Tullece (or "Turles", or even just "Terlz" depending on which character is speaking) is related to Goku. While one of his henchmen states that their upcoming new power is all thanks to the fruit of the tree, this particular dubbed Tullece states:

"No... thanks to my idiot brother. Heh!"

Despite this line of dialogue not appearing in the 1998 edited, dubbed airing of the movie in syndication on North American television or the 1998 unedited, dubbed home release of the movie in North America or the 2006 re-released unedited dubbed home release of the movie in North America (nevermind the Japanese original), the producers of this European English dub saw fit to include it. This would easily explain why many English-speaking dub fans would swear up-and-down that the character stated they were brothers in the movie, while other English-speaking dub fans would equally swear up-and-down that such a line was never so much as uttered. These conversions apparently never come to a point where someone happens to mention that they are watching a different dub than the other person.

Another country that further complicates the issue is France, which used the word "jumeaux" in reference to Tullece and Goku. Unfortunately, this word typically applies to biological twins, when in the case of these characters, it is more along the lines of a doppelganger with no evidence what-so-ever of biological relation.

If you are still looking for further evidence, check out this image from the DBZ movie 7 "Film Anime Comic". It is a Saiyan family tree, showcasing the various fathers and children. There are also indications of subordinates (buka) with the dotted lines. Notice how Tullece is off to the side with no family or subordinate relationships. Consider this official indication from Toei, themselves, on their own character!

RUMOR: Goku's mother is Selypa, the female member of Bardock's team.

STATUS: Unsubstantiated.

EXPLANATION: Once again, this rumor is pure speculation. One would think that if she were Goku's mother, she would have gone with Bardock when he went to see him in the hospital complex (or have still been in there from the process of child-birth). As with most characters in DB, no mention of Goku's mother is ever made, and there's no evidence what-so-ever that Selypa was it. This is the topic of many dôjinshi and fan-fiction, however.

Again, this image from the DBZ movie 7 "Film Anime Comic" clears things up quite well, showing no relation of Selypa to anyone other than Bardock, and only in a subordinate (buka) relationship along with her other three crewmates.

RUMOR: Piza, Mr. Satan's manager (who was at the Cell Game), is Videl's mother.

STATUS: Unsubstantiated.

EXPLANATION: This is 100% pure speculation. No mention is ever made of Videl's mother, other than that she died when Videl was young (and even this is only mentioned in passing). The anime guide DragonBall Z: Son Gokû Densetsu even goes as far as to put in a separate entry for Videl's mother, even though she is never seen (citing her as the likely reason for Videl's good looks, as opposed to her father). We can only assume that we are never actually shown Videl's mother in the series, and are left to our own imaginations as to what she looked like.

RUMOR: Pan & Trunks get married / have a child / have Vegeta Jr.

STATUS: False.

EXPLANATION: If we go by the logic expressed in the final episode of DBGT, this is impossible. Goku Jr. is Pan's great-great-grandson; this we cannot dispute (it is clearly noted in the final episode of DBGT). Therefore, if Goku Jr. is her great-great-grandson, it is impossible for Vegeta Jr. to also be her great-great-grandson, as well. It is quite obvious that after GT's normal continuum ends, the Son and Brief/Vegeta families either have some sort of "falling out," or just normally lose contact with one another. Vegeta Jr.'s mother does not recognize Pan, while Pan recognizes the Capsule Corporation logo and its connection to Bulma. Also, when Vegeta Jr. appears in the Budôkai ring, Pan is surprised to see someone who resembles the elder Vegeta (clearly meaning that she has not had any contact with that family for at least as long as the child has been around; a great-great-grandmother probably wouldn't be so disinterested in her own descendants).

Vegeta Jr. is not necessarily Trunks' progeny, either, since Pan and Trunks are relatively far apart in years (14 in the manga, 15 in the anime). It seems more logical to assume that he is Bra's great-great-grandson, and not Trunks'. (His mother's teal-colored hair, the same as both Bulma and Bra had in the anime, seems to lend credence to this theory; however, since we don't know the dominant / recessive genetic characteristics of anime hair colors, we can't completely rule out Trunks, either.) Regardless, Pan has obviously not been in contact with them for many years, to have to take a minute to recognize the extremely Bulma-like woman who sits down next to her. Of course, you could make the argument that Pan could be going senile in her old age, but since she recognized all those other things from her youth, that seems highly unlikely.

RUMOR: Freeza has a son named Kuriza.

STATUS: Interestingly enough, quite true!

EXPLANATION: Believe it or not, Freeza does indeed have a son named Kuriza... only if you're going by recent Toriyama-parody-logic, though! Akira Toriyama completed his Neko Majin (and later Neko Majin Z) parody manga, but not without bringing in some fun new elements into fandom. In Neko Majin Z 2, Toriyama introduced his first true villain to the series... Kuriza! Looking very similar to Freeza's first form, but with a chestnut-shaped head (thus the "kuri" for a name beginning), Kuriza seems to be just a spoiled brat of a son, sporting the same ego as his father.

Kuriza ultimately transforms (into a form similar to Freeza's final form) in his battle against Neko Majin Z. To poke even more fun at the series, Vegeta is called to pick up Kuriza and save him from Neko Majin Z's amazing strength.

Taking things even further was the Japanese release of Budokai 2 (simply titled DragonBall Z 2 in Japan) for the PlayStation 2. In the game, players are able to choose alternate costumes for characters by simpy pressing "up" or "down" while highlighting a character on the character select screen. Most characters have two outfits, with some (such as #18) having up to three. Surprisingly, Freeza's third "outfit" is none other than Kuriza! Complete with his trademark chestnut-shaped Death Ball for a final move, Kuriza is a fully playable character in the game (albeit only as an "alternate outfit" for Freeza). There is even an extra stage in the "Dragon World" mode that contains characters from the Neko Majin Z series.

It remains to be seen if Kuriza will show up in any more official DragonBall merchandise or stories, though he did make a little cameo in Toyble's DragonBall AF...

RUMOR: (Future) Trunks can reach Super Saiyan 2.

STATUS: False.

EXPLANATION: The "USSJ" stage really has not helped knock this rumor away. For starters, let us clear one thing up. Trunks is never shown to be able to reach SSJ2; this is fact. Trunks is able to reach SSJ, and both stages of USSJ (or better put, all three sub-stages of SSJ1)... but not SSJ2. Think about it... if Trunks were able to reach SSJ2, why would it be such a huge deal when Gohan reaches it, and is finally able to defeat Cell? Furthermore, wouldn't their "SSJ2" forms look too different from each other?

The Budokai games certainly do not help out the cause, either. The first game did a good job of going with the traditional Japanese naming convention, calling SSJ Trunks "Super Saiyan Trunks," and USSJ Trunks "Super Trunks" (same with Vegeta). Along comes Budokai 2 with a "Super Saiyan 2" capsule for Trunks, and any progress made is thrown out the window. Unfortunately, this is not even a translation error; it is actually called the SSJ2 capsule for Trunks in Japan, as well.

The USSJ stages (two of them) would each be considered, as Goku puts it, "ichi-dankai no henshin" ("transformations of the first stage"). However, these two USSJ stages are thought of by Vegeta and Trunks as "Sûpâ Saiya-jin ni-dankai" and "Sûpâ Saiya-jin san-dankai" ("stage 2 / stage 3 of Super Saiyan," with "ni" and "san" meaning "two" and "three," respectively) Technically, these descriptions would probably better fit the actual SSJ2 and SSJ3, but we'll use them here as Trunks would.

In his terms, Trunks is able to reach:

• Sûpâ Saiya-jin dai ichi dankai (the normal Super Saiyan, or SSJ1)
• Sûpâ Saiya-jin dai ni dankai (USSJ 1; the second stage of SSJ1)
• Sûpâ Saiya-jin dai san dankai (USSJ 2; the third stage of SSJ1)

Throw in some phrases that are only used a couple times in the series, together with some numbers... and you have some confusion going on! Rest assured, we never see any Trunks from any timeline actually go SSJ2. Official guidebooks also back this up, time and time again stating in charts that Trunks never achieves anything beyond the three levels of the first SSJ stage. Look for even more detailed explanations of the various SSJ levels in our "Transformations Guide," specifically on the "Saiyan" page.

RUMOR: Yamcha knows the Genki-Dama ("Spirit Bomb" in FUNimation's English dub).

STATUS: False.

EXPLANATION: This is not quite a "Dub Mistake" since the confusion is not because of anything FUNimation did or changed; it is actually due to fans not hearing correctly!

In episode 17 of DragonBall Z (episode 11 in FUNimation's original English dub), several of the Z-Senshi use a special room in Kami's Palace to essentially "time travel" and fight a pair of Saiyans, all in preparation for the upcoming battle against Nappa & Vegeta. During this fight, Yamcha uses one of his new trademark techniques, the Sôki-Dan ("Spinning Ki Bullet," first shown versus Shen/Kami at the 23rd Tenka-ichi Budôkai).

In FUNimation's original dub, we hear Yamcha speak the name of the movie/attack, and many fans just are not sure of what is actually being said. If you turn on the closed-captioning, you will see that the script calls for Yamcha to say "Spirit Ball" as he forms the attack. Many fans, having seen the remainder of the first season and being familiar with the attack from Goku, thought Yamcha was actually saying "Spirit Bomb" (which is the Genki-Dama, the ball of life energy he would use against Vegeta, Freeza, and Majin Buu).

Needless to say, Yamcha does not know how to perform the Genki-Dama (whether or not he could possibly learn it from Kaiô-sama or Goku and then use it is never explored).

RUMOR: The earth will explode if Gohan goes Super Saiyan after receiving his so-called "Mystic" power up from Old Kaiôshin.

STATUS: False.

EXPLANATION: This rumor possibly goes back as far as even 1998; its origins are completely unknown. It would appear, though, that fans are simply looking for a reason as to why Gohan does not become a Super Saiyan after receiving his so-called "Mystic" powerup from the Old Kaiôshin. However, there is nothing in the series that implies that the Earth would be in any type of danger if he did go Super Saiyan again.

A much more logical explanation would be that after he gets powered up, he does not need to become a Super Saiyan anymore. With all of the latent strength within him awakened, he would simply be using up valuable ki energy by doing so. Of course, nobody really knows whether he keeps the powerup after he gets absorbed by Buu, but on the other hand, he does not need to exert that much strength afterward, either (we do have to discount GT, though, because even though he does go SSJ, the series has numerous plot holes and continuity errors that would add too much confusion to this discussion). Nevertheless, the argument of this rumor, that the earth would explode if Gohan went Super Saiyan after receiving his powerup, is completely ridiculous and baseless.

RUMOR: The name of Lunch's "evil" blonde alter-ego is "Kushami."

STATUS: False.

EXPLANATION: This one comes to us from Curtis Hoffmann's old DragonBall manga summaries (which he wrote while the manga was still being released in Weekly Jump in the mid-90s!). Lunch is never actually referred to as "Kushami" in either her "good" or "evil" forms in the series. Rather, it seems as though Hoffmann invented the nickname (which is Japanese for "sneeze") as shorthand so he would not have to write out "Blonde Lunch" or "Lunch's evil side" every time she appeared in said form.

Since these manga summaries were pretty much the only thing comparable to an actual translation out there until 1998 (aside from some scanslations of dodgy quality), fans took Hoffmann's words as gospel, assuming the name "Kushami" was present in the Japanese version. Despite its widespread use, it is really a fan-created term. AH-CHOO—!!!

(Special thanks to Steve Simmons for helping us out with this one.)

RUMOR: Paikuhan is Namekian.

STATUS: False.

EXPLANATION: This is another one that is extremely easy to answer if you look at the evidence, but a lack of attention may add some confusion. Normally that would be it, but there is a little bif of interesting tidbits from the character's production that fleshes out the confusion a little bit.

In a nutshell, Paikuhan is from the Western Galaxy (as seen by his fighting for the Western Kaiô), where-as Planet Namek appears to be under our own Kaiô's jurisdiction in the Northern Galaxy. You can pretty much drawn your own conclusion from that.

However, as we can read in the recent Son Gokû Densetsu anime guide book, there is some merit to Paikuhan's confusion with a Namekian, and in particular, Piccolo:

He's a Piccolo-type character, and even in the anime's production materials, there are memos left that say "use Piccolo as a reference for the facial expressions."

So there you have it. While Paikuhan may not be Namekian, it is clearly a lazy character design that lends credit to the confusion!