#[Cooler's a racist dick but he's less so compared to Freeza and Cold]

[cxldtyrant]

@long-haired-hottie asked: What are Cooler's thoughts on Saiyans? Are they just barbarians his father lifted from the stones to do his dirty work? Does he agree with Frieza's attempts to completely eradicate them? Does he hope to see a resurgence so he can make use of them in a less overt way?

Initially, when I first started with Cooler, I kind of made him an amalgamation of characteristics from not only the movies, but other forms of media such as the videogames, which did end up exaggerating his hatred for Saiyans to be on par with Freeza. Much as I disliked the exaggeration because it felt too closely aligned with Freeza's personality, I attempted to spin it in a different way: that if Cold had given the Saiyans to Cooler, he would have killed them instantly rather than let them linger for a few years of servitude due to seeing them as a threat to his family's empire. That he recalled the words of warning from his ancestor Chilled, and that rather than risk their threat, he would have eliminated them right away despite their potential. And to him, they do have plenty of potential to be sufficient soldiers and generals for the Cold Empire due to their combat experience. But Cooler, in my mind, is pragmatic. He does not toy with his enemies and will kill anyone he deems a threat. If his ancestor, who was killed by a Saiyan, deemed them dangerous, then he was going to treat them as such and eliminate them.

But then the Dragon Ball Heroes anime and manga came out and showed that Cooler could have a decent enough partnership with Saiyans if he saw the benefit in it. And then XenoVerse 2 came out and if a Saiyan sides with him in the power struggle against Freeza, Cooler tells them they can go ahead and repopulate their race and will leave their planet alone. And then Dragon Ball FighterZ came out and in a team quote with Bardock he states that he was more than willing to let Bardock get his revenge against Freeza (despite the fact that Freeza losing at all is the reason he goes after Goku!).

Let me tell you, my brain broke because it was getting a bit more troublesome to find a middle-ground with all forms of characterization for Cooler given all the inconsistencies. Which is mainly my fault for even trying, but considering how little content we have of him, I was trying to work with what I had. I was tempted not to tweak anything further out of spite.

However, I did end up tweaking some things with Cooler's feelings in regards to the Saiyans. Not just because of the aforementioned examples above, but also because of @risingsouls since Cooler and Turles ended up developing a partnership in universal conquest as a means of overthrowing Freeza, and I really enjoy their dynamic. I think Cooler still deems the Saiyans as a threat overall and loses no sleep in their eradication, but he can be made to see reason if there is an advantage in keeping certain survivors around. He's ruthlessly pragmatic, but that doesn't always mean violence as he can see sparing others as potentially beneficial for himself and his empire. But if he can't, he'll simply exterminate them.