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Dragon Ball Z: Abridged – Plan to Eradicate Christmas Review
Originally posted... today!
Instead of the true meaning of Christmas, we see the true meaning of an abridged series.
Over the course of Dragon Ball Z: Abridged, Team Four Star has established a lot of minute details about its characters. We saw in Christmas Tree of Might that Goku is earth’s most ardent defender of Christmas. We also learned that across the universe, very few people got to celebrate Christmas, as it was replaced by Freeza Day on any planet he conquered. And we learned that even before Freeza conquered Planet Vegeta, Santa was never able to visit them to spread love and good cheer, because the Saiyans tried to shoot him down.
Every single one of those details is capitalized on here in Plan to Eradicate Christmas. Through snippets of character interaction, we learn that Goku has been itching to defend Christmas yet again. We see Freeza’s ego displayed as he commands the Villains of Christmas past to referthemselves as the Villains of Freeza Day Past, despite them having agreed upon Christmas. Even Santa’s inability to deliver presents to Planet Vegeta is called back to, as Vegeta nostalgically recalls his favorite Christmas pastime of shooting energy blasts at Santa’s sleigh.
If these callbacks rested solely on referring back to things we already know, it’s possible that they could fall flat, but every single one is rooted in the nature of these characters we’ve come to know and love. Of course the violent egomaniac Vegeta would try to shoot down Santa’s sleigh. Of course Freeza would refuse to bow to the demands of Cooler, Turles, and King Picc…Lord Slug, who he all views as his lesser. And of course, the battle hungry, ever optimistic Goku would be salivating over another opportunity to save Christmas, his most wonderful time of the year.
The specificity of these characters is also what makes Santa work so well as a villain here. After our heroes defeat the Villains of Christmas Past, they are confronted by Santa, who reveals that all have been naughty and fallen short of the glory of Santa. Vegeta is, well Vegeta, we know what he’s done. Goku’s lust for battle endangers the entire universe, brought to the forefront with a perfectly timed ad for Dragon Ball Super, and Piccolo is held to account for his and his father’s past attempts at world domination.
Even Trunks is at fault, having time traveled so recklessly as to endanger the space-time continuum, brilliantly highlighted with a cut to what I believe is Dragon Ball GT footage. Only Gohan is without naughtiness, and is granted a present by Santa, but like every Christmas before, Santa gives him what he likes, and he likes books.
The jokes in this Christmas special all land so well because they draw on our understanding of these characters, who we’ve gotten to know over the course of the last decade Dragon Ball Z: Abridged has been produced. It’s genuinely delightful to see Team Four Star tackle a Christmas special once more as well, as they manage to turn a story from an uninteresting OVA with a generic villain into a hilarious Christmas romp.
Plan to Eradicate Christmas is a great example of what abridged series can do at their best. They can take weak ideas and repurpose them, giving them new life and meaning with a comedic edge. Team Four Star really did go and give us a gift in Christmas 2018, and showed us what abridging is really all about.
Rating: 4.5/5
Stray Observations
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the fantastic music Cliff Weinstein composed for this special. Christmas Eve-olution / Carol of the Hells is the standout track in particular. It is wonderfully ominous and builds perfectly to the final confrontation and group Kamehameha.
Thanks for reading! You can support her continued film criticism addiction on Patreon.
#dragon ball z abridged#dragon ball z#team four star#tfs#dbz#dbza#dbza special#dbza eradicate christmas#the first piece of new writing on this blog in four years#it feels good to be back :)#can't help but wonder if there is going to be something new up here next week as well#who could possibly predict such a thing?
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Compilation of Dende being jealous from the dbza buu bits. Absolutely loved these Dende crumbs fr
#dbz abridged#dbza#dragon ball z abridged#dragon ball z#dbz#dende#videl#videl satan#thank you tfs for acknowledging him#i am grateful#im also starving bro ive been hyperfixated on dende for WEEKS now its a whole special interest at this point#well dbz as a whole is my special interest tbh#dende(and gohan. together or separated) is just my main fixation rn ykwim#sighs#i love these guys
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Ngl im perfectly willing to just enjoy Daima.
•Expectations: on the ground
•willingness to just roll with it: high
If i dont like it, oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ i still got dragonball and dbz
#thing i just said on twitter#unsolicited opinion#itll be fine#its like that special where they introduce tarble#its fun#sure it grinds against established lore in a way thats not quite wrong#but still immensely frustrating#but if ya just chill and roll w it its got a lot of fun moments#as a side note. someone should give vegeta a hard time about his claim that goku was the last remaining saiyan when he was dying#same way tfs dbza had him give trunks a hard time about the number of androids#like yeah goku was it. except for turles. aaand broly and paragus. and ur own brother tarble apparently#goofy ass man needs to be bullied more
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If Shadow has to reference Vegeta in the Sonic 3 movie, he has to reference DBZA Vegeta throwing dog treats at people
That or the DBZA moment where Vegeta screamed so loud it could be heard from Earth 20 years later
That would be a dream xD
#hunnieasks#the distant scream would be gold#DBZA holds a special place in my heart#shadow the hegdehog#DBZA
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I would once again like to thank TFS for creating my favourite Christmas special, “Plan to Eradicate Christmas”. I watch it every year and it never fails to make me smile and laugh.
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Did you hear of the news?
I have. :(
Everyone else has their tributes so, here, a summary of my experience with Dragon Ball.
I was in fourth grade art class. A kid had the February 2005 issue of Shonen Jump, back when Shonen Jump was still physically printed here. I recognized Atem on the front cover because the Blockbuster around the corner from our house had DVDs (I think they were DVDs and not VHSs then since I distinctly remember it having a menu and special features) of some of the later episodes of Duelist Kingdom and my brother and I watched them on repeat. So I was like oh, hey, what's this? They make books of that stuff? I don't remember the conversation but the kid ended up giving me that issue, and I took it home with me.
There were a LOT of significant, groundwork things happening in that issue, now that I think about it. We were just beginning to see Sanji truly in action against Pearl. The Dark Tournament was in it's early stages still with Roto fucking around and finding out against Kurama. Sakura shears off her hair in a move that rearranged sexualities the world over. The reason Atem was on the cover was because Yu-Gi-Oh Millennium World was just debuting its first and second chapter. Bleach wasn't even serialized yet. And Dragon Ball, of course, was also there, about a hundred and fifty chapters ahead of everybody else.
Keep in mind that this was my first experience with manga, period. So my very first experience with Dragon Ball opened on this:
and ended on this:
Yeah. Truth be told, at the time Yu Yu Hakusho piqued my interest more than Dragon Ball (a guy fighting with plants? how creative!) but I never did forget these chapters. I thought the art style was so different from the others.
At some point after this, probably between several months and a year and a half, the TV happened to be on one evening when Toonami was airing Dragon Ball Z. Oh hey, I said, I recognize that art, I know those characters. So I hung around and watched some of episode 281. Two things about watching that episode stick with absolute crystal clarity in my mind to this day. Firstly: Buu choking Vegeta out with his arm freaked me the FUCK out as a child. I could not tell you why I had a fear reaction to it but hey, there you go. The second is this:
Specifically I remember 'You died once. If anything happens to you now, you won't exist anymore. There'll be nothing I can do to bring you back.' Not precisely word for word over the years, but Schemmel's tone of voice on this particular lineread. If I had to guess I'd say it was because at that point in my life, uh, death was kinda permanent? So wait, what do you mean died ONCE. Doesn't that apply to everyone?
This still wasn't enough to get me super invested in it though, it just didn't seem like something that would appeal to me that much. So a couple years go by, I don't think about it all that much, and then of course, TFS hits the scene and drops DBZ Abridged. So you know. As a shithead middle schooler with a shithead sense of humor I thought it was the best damn thing since sliced bread. (My biggest character flaw is that I still think a lot of Season 1 is genuinely funny)
And that was really the extent of my interaction with the franchise for the next several years. Say what you will about DBZA but they did manage to put it all together such that someone who had a nonexistent concept of what the original context was could grok it with not a lot of effort. Some time in high school, I think I was around 15, I decided to bite the bullet and read all the manga, as much to increase the funny factor of DBZA as sheerly for the sake of being able to say I had. Stick it to the other weebs, y'know. Now they can't say I didn't know anything about good anime. This was unfortunately at a time when all that was available online were dirty poor-quality scans and questionable translations, but read it I did. I went 'yep, that sure is about what I expected', and proceeded to get on with my life. GT came and went, I looked up and saw Battle of Gods coming out and went 'oh hey that's still a thing huh', kinda was peripherally aware of all the divisiveness of Super as it was happening, didn't really pay it much attention, just stuck to DBZA and quite a lot of wiki-ing.
And then, this time of year about three years ago now, in the middle of conversation with @prophecydungeon, Dragon Ball somehow came up. Something to do with 'Even though I'm not hugely into DBZ's story or whatever Toriyama does have some great character designs' (yes I was referring to Vegeta and Future Trunks at the time, no i will not stop being predictable, yes i am a parody of myself). They eventually brought up the DBS Broly movie and said, and i quote: 'that was a solid 1.5h of unbelievably fun and wacky animation'. Having seen the Gogeta vs Broly part of it on twitter and been like 'damn that animation's kinda off the hook actually, good for them good for them', my response was to be like. Oh word? I've got a spare hour and a half to kill, sure, fuck it, why not, time to watch DBS Broly.
I think that movie was precision crafted to hit me in the hyperfixation, if we're being honest. Opening on a solid 20 minutes of Lore and Worldbuilding and then having most of the rest of the runtime being mindless slobberknocker fun by way of some of the hardest animation flexes ever? I was done for.
In summation. I have been aware of Dragon Ball for a lot of my life, in that its presence was pervasive and enduring as I grew up. I may have been late to the game of actually wholeheartedly enjoying it, but enjoy it I do. Dragon Ball is the roots of a vast tree of anime, and in reading it I began to understand why that is. I respect it for that, and I love it for that. My current fixation may have shifted, but as far as time devoted to one individual thing goes... it took me a year and a half to watch my way through all of the anime and read all of the manga. ALL of it. So there's something good in there, I'd say.
#rip to a legend#text from the mod#tangentially related: i am not actually dead#it's just that between school and my job and the pirate brainrot#(the previous four months of which was feverishly consumed with a 16k word project)#i have had neither time nor impetus to make dragon ball funnies#there is also the fact that my stupid autism brain is still fuming over the website changes#that have fucked up the Aesthetique of the text posts and made them much more annoying to get in a usable form#thus adding steps to what was a simple and comfortable process#and aforementioned idiot dumb brain has not stopped pitching a bitch fit over the inconvenience.#i know it's a stupid hangup. believe me i am fully aware. but there is so little i can do about it#so i am sorry about my long absence. i really truly am.#especially to the asks that have been chillin in my inbox for all this time now#it's just that they're interesting questions that deserve me giving 100% of my brainpower to them ya feel#i want to devote appropriate attention to these little funnies and not phone it in or half ass it LOL
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Can you rank ur 4 fav dragon ball boys or do you love them all equally? and why you love each one?
Ooooh what a fun question!!
Okay, well, I certainly love them all to death! But, I think I can rank them all:
Frieza and Frost
Zamasu
Cell
The only reason Cell is at the bottom is because technically I haven’t watched very many episodes with him yet (I’m been watching DBZ Kai and took a break right after the episode Mecha Frieza died 🥲). So why do I like him so much?
TeamFourStar. I watched the entire abridged series and absolutely loved it - and definitely fell in love with Frieza and Cell as well. Specifically Cell’s hilarious smug attitude, snarky comments, and his unexpected sex jokes. And I even liked him more when watching the HFIL series (Kami I want more episodes 😭). To get not only all of that, but also see a more relatable side of Cell. Seeing his intelligent insight on people, his casual attitude, and even the occasional moments of him looking back on his actions. It made me realize he had the potential to be a big softie, and I loved it.
Now, Zamasu is pretty special to me. Honestly, I think I lot of the Kai characters are pretty boring, except for Shin, so I usually don’t bother. But Zamasu is different. Honestly, I was fascinated by his conflicting feelings towards mortals, and what’d be the best way to preserve the multiverse. It was one of those things for a villain where they wanted to do the right thing, but in the wrong way - in Zamasu’s case, it was the very, very, very wrong way. He went all Kira on the multiverse (Death Note reference).
However, I wish that DBS did something different with his character: specifically, I think they could’ve somehow taken the present Zamasu, and instead of straight up erasing him, could’ve just tried to lead him down a better path. Maaaaybe keep him locked in up in a temporary jail. But I think there could’ve been a great chance at a redemption arc there. To finally open his eyes to the importance of mortals.
Ironically, though, while I LOVE Zamasu - I actually really don’t like Goku Black. Almost hate him.
and before someone says “they’re the same person”, no I’m not accepting that explanation because Black is technically from a different timeline. And as we’ve seen with several other characters, they can be a completely different person in another timeline. But Black just felt more cocky, more arrogant, and overall wasn’t likeable to me. If you like him, awesome! I don’t judge. I just don’t care for him.
Now, I’m sure it’s no surprise Frieza and Frost are at the top. And for awhile, I thought I liked Frieza a bit more. But now I can never think of one without the other, so it’s safe to say I like them both equally.
Similar to Cell, I fell in love with Frieza in DBZA first, and even more in Super and Kai. I fucking loved his voice actor, Chris Ayres (creepy fact, he died on my birthday 😱). It was SO awesome to see a character like him, and have everyone be utterly terrified of him. He always presents himself with a terrifying presence, and I love it. But again in the HFIL series, I also realized he had the potential to be more. A lonely person who in truth just wants to be liked and appreciated.
As for Frost, I naturally took a liking to him in Super, but it didn’t intensify until I saw one particular scene - the part where Hit recruits him to TOP. Seeing Frost on the run, paranoid and fearful, and desperate to preserve his life….oh man did the angst ideas come flowing. Usually when it comes to any show, game, etc, there’s one character I cling onto as the “precious baby I need to protect”. And yeah, Frost filled that slot rather quickly.
But of course, I also just really enjoy his character overall, including his unique use of poison needles.
Also, I just really loved both their character designs. I’m always, always drawn to inhuman characters, simply cause they’re more interesting than humans. And somehow, the way Frieza and Frost were made just feels like perfection, especially when they look so alike and so different at the same time. Especially their tails, I love the tails!
….crap, that ended up being way longer than I expected. Oh well, hope you liked this answer!
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OC Stuff - BKW - The Bomb Brigade
This one's a doozy cuz each member has a lot going on so strap in!!!
Their job is to hunt intergalactic monsters, beasts, and other such dangerous anomalies. With Kisyku running around rampant across the Cosmos, he quickly becomes their biggest target yet!! While their heavy duty weaponry and means of combat mean serious business, the brigade often gets caught up in numerous misadventures (sometimes they're just outright hard to take seriously...)
Also.. I call them the Bomb Brigade as their official title, but I'd imagine in the actual story the name alliteration gets mixed up and butchered every single time, as if no one can remember the actual name hahahaha. Anywhos..
Bombs
Bombs is the head-honcho of the Brigade. He's a human from Earth who leads his team with great confidence (sometimes to a fault). He can be stubborn.. and.. hard to co-operate with sometimes.. but all in all he's a captain who cares deeply for the whole team. Each member to him is like family, so he's always doing anything he can to look out for them.
I'd imagine whenever the Brigade needs to put up with Kisyku (like a temporary truce, or whenever they eventually form an alliance later in the story), him and Bombs would be that kind of friendly rival dynamic that just has them constantly arguing while they have to put up with each others annoyances.
Bombs also has an interesting speech-style, adding a lot of S to the end of words and stuff.. He also has a big rocket launcher, because he believes anything can be solved with explosives.
Bits and Blitz
Bits is little shark-manta-alien-thing who was recruited by Bombs for his incredible technical prowess. He's super smart, and having four hands is quite helpful when you're the team's primary mechanic. Outside of his technical craft, however, he enjoys gardening a lot. Bombs even lets him have his own garden room on the ship! He also just talks with a lot of sailor/sea terminology hahaha
Bits invented Blitz before joining Bombs, but she was just the orb/eye part back then. She didn't get the laser cannon extension until Bits built Bash (yeah he built Bash too!!). Bits has been meaning to give her a proper robot body, but she's actually happy being just the way she is.
Blitz is like a sister to Bits, having a cheery heart-of-gold. She speaks in beeps, chirps, and whirs, but everyone can still understand what she has to say anyways. She's a great listener, and often the one the Brigade members (especially Bury...) confide in to talk about their feelings. Despite her physical limitations she's still a girl at heart, doing things like makeup and stuff. :P
Bash
The Brigade often searches through the aftermath of places Kisyku’s been for anything useful. He tends to really bust up facilities and machines for some reason. Bits managed to collect enough scraps and parts to give Blitz a laser cannon, and eventually construct Bash.
Bash is forged from the scraps of Kisyku’s destruction. He has one goal and one goal alone and it's to "kill the Celestial." That tunnel-vision mindset is kinda like Android 16 in DBZA, except Bash is also very arrogant too. He often sees himself as the superior being, the greatest, flawless, you get the idea. Somehow though, he's just co-operative enough to still be tolerable... except with Bury... him and Bury kinda argue like a LOT.
Unlike the weaponry used by the rest of the Brigade, Bash specializes in sheer physical strength and agility. He can spin his body around a whole 360 degrees, making him very a versatile threat able to keep up with someone as quick and nimble as Kisyku.
Eventually, Bits constructs the Giga Bash, a giant mecha that the Brigade uses at the climax of their rivalry with Kisyku in attempt to finish him off once and for all! This form of Bash is piloted by the rest of the Brigade, and has tons of features like missiles, swords, lasers, and all sorts of heavy duty artillery.
Kisk does.. end up beating the Giga Bash though.. I'd imagine it's then that they finally put the bounty stuff aside for good. Though I imagined later big story beats will have them bring Giga back out again to help out with massive threats Kisk faces.
Bury
Oh boy uhm. Bury is. interesting. She's my personal favorite member of the Brigade! It's probably why she's the only one I have a proper reference sheet of, haha
Not much is really known about Bury, The Brigade, by complete and utter luck, just found her unconscious on a desolate planet. They were there just looking for parts and stuff, so it was a complete "right place right time" sorta deal to even have found her.
Thankfully, they were able to recover her back to health, Bits even gave her a prosthetic arm to replace the one she was missing.
But Bury is a total mystery to the Brigade, she refuses to elaborate about her past, why she was stranded, etc. Whenever they prod her about it, she's very cold, rude, and defensive about it.
Eventually they just stop trying to push something out, and learn to just live with her as she is now. Doesn't mean things are awkward though. Despite her mean-girl nature, Bury gets along moderately well with the Brigade, still following orders where needed. While she has her problems with the gang, she still manages to tolerate her relationships with em fair enough.
Except Bash..... Bury argues with Bash like all the time them two like never get along, but it's mostly played up for laughs than anything really serious.
Though I'd imagine with time she grows a secret soft spot for them that she just doesn't wanna admit. It's probbaly why she still sticks around them. Not like she has anywhere else to go.
So the best way I can describe her is "space tsundere/troubled sister" hahaha
In terms of abilities though, Bury excels at both close quarters and long range combat, making her a threat on all covers.
Her laser scythe can be turned into a sniper rifle and vice versa with just a spin of the handle, so it's not like she's stick to one mode of combat at any time.
She REALLY doesn't like Kisyku, and is the only member of the Brigade who seems to ACTUALLY give him a a run for his money (see this saying is ironic because Kisyku is constantly broke but it's not actually about money sorry idk why I'm rambling I thought I felt so cool saying it)
But yeah, them two seem to not get along very well.... It's especially awkward when the Brigade is forced to team up with Kisyku for episodic antics. Kisyku genuinely doesn't know what her deal is though.
She just seems to have a lot going on that she just doesn't wanna talk about. For her to be so locked up about her past leaves her shrouded in complete mystery to the rest of the cast. I hope that one day if I can truly get BKW out there, I'll get to uncover her secrets to you all.
And wow that's them!! Hopefully you learned a lot about these guys, it's my first time sharing info about them like this!! Now I can go and draw my silly doodles about them :P
#jenukioc#bkw#bodacious kisyku world#bomb brigade#bombs#bits#blitz#bash#bury#oc#original character#oc lore#original story#lore
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Welcome to the finale of our Marvel Injustice game or as it's going to be called from now on:
MARVEL AXIS WARS
Guidelines:
There are 24 characters in the base game, 12 Heroes and 12 Villains. This doesn't include clone characters.
Cosmic and Multiversal Characters like the Guardians of the Galaxy or Spider-Man 2099 won't be added to keep the game grounded.
Anti-Heroes like Deadpool and Punisher also won't be added.
However, if some characters fit into the previous category, I'll consider them if they're a big enough deal in terms of history and importance to the storyline.
The storyline is based upon Marvel's AXIS Story, so with the exception of two characters, everyone will have a hero and villain persona.
So, here is our final roster:
Why did they make it:
Dr. Voodoo: I was surprised by the lack of magic users on the Hero Side. Plus, Dr. Strange and Wanda felt like boring choices
Killmonger: I knew I'd get skinned alive if I didn't add a Black Panther character, and since I used all the Hero Spots, Killmonger won out.
Agent Venom (DLC): The only reason Venom made base roster was because I remembered he existed. Fun Fact: Carnage was going to be a clone for Venom, but I didn't want too many symbiotes.
Odinson (DLC): Considering the concept of the game, Thor had to lose his hammer to Jane. Fun Alternate Skin Idea: Wedding Dress Alt. (Mythology joke that holds a special place in my heart)
Magneto (DLC): 'Twas never a matter of if...only when.' -Korrin DBZA
Darth Vader (DLC): It was either him or Akuma, and you guys chose Vader.
#marvel comics#brother voodoo#erik killmonger#agent venom#thor odinson#magento#darth vader#carnage#source: team four star#akuma#Marvel Axis Wars#super smash bros ultimate#disney smash bros#x men vs street fighter#star wars
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DBS SUPER HERO EASTER EGG BELOW THE BREAK
So I just finished watching Super Hero for the first time, I know I’m late, and after a bit of research, I’ve made an incredible (but not very new) discovery:
Akira Toriyama might be a Abridged fan
See, for those who didn’t realize, in the beginning of the movie we get to see Dr. Gero’s family tree. Now, there’s a couple cool Easter eggs here, including his wife being 21’s base, but what I’m interested in is there son, Gevo, also known as Android 16.
For those even more out of the loop, there was a special addition to DBZA’s Cell Saga which shows a locked off file in 16’s brain playing a video. This video happens to show a turnip-boy, who calls Gero “dad”, and who has a bird, talking about how he just enrolled in the Red Ribbon Army. Suddenly, we hear a boy’s voice yelling in the background, and a Kamehameha destroys the camera.
This was decades before DBSSH, so it is 100% possible that Toriyama was inspired by the folks at FourStar.
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Dragon Ball Z: History of Trunks Abridged Review
Originally posted May 13th, 2016
The darkest entry yet.
“History of Trunks” is an odd entry in the Dragonball Z: Abridged, as it toes the line between traditional anime melodrama and comedy, yet comes out more often on the side of actual drama than any other episode, special, or film has. Where Team Four Star merely hinted at their interest in directly engaging with this drama in “Fear and Loathing in Ginger Town,” “History of Trunks” dives directly into the melodramatic meat of Trunks’ backstory, while the comedy has a far subtler role.
I call the comedy in “History of Trunks” subtle because despite the presence of cutaway gags and an often sarcastic narrator, the special focuses far less on the comedy than it does the narrative of Trunks himself. We get to follow him from being a doe-eyed teenager obsessed with heroism to a functional nihilist who has sacrificed his innocence for the sake of personal strength, and it’s this very subtext that makes his transformation into a Super Saiyan so goddamn poignant.
We saw this with Goku as well, back on Namek, when Krillin’s demise and the hopelessness of the fight against Freeza triggered the first Super Saiyan transformation we would witness on the show, but the context here is even bleaker: even post-transformation, Trunks is nowhere near as strong as Gohan, and Gohan never stood a chance against the Androids himself. Where Goku’s transformation gave us hope in the fight against Freeza, Trunks’ transformation gives us nothing more than the pain of pointlessly battling for a world that is too far gone to ever be saved.
The overlay of “Doomsday” from the Doctor Who soundtrack1 adds to this moment tonally and thematically in an incredibly powerful way as well; the Doctor is time traveling hero of eternal optimism and hope, and in the moment “Doomsday” first plays for him, he’s forced to accept the hopelessness of ever being able to reconnect with the person in the universe he loves the most. In this moment, Trunks is forced to deal with the first great loss of his life, and he lashes out in anger, transforming into bestial version of himself for no reason other than to physically embody his own pain, because his last hope for his own world has died, and there’s nothing else to be said.
I realize that so far I’ve spent the entirety of this review focusing on that singular moment, a single scene that lasts no more than two minutes, but “History of Trunks” is at its core, the story of Trunks, and the entirety of Trunks’ person can be traced back to that singular moment where his world was shattered before his eyes.
The rest of the characters in this special are confronted with this same experience: Gohan refuses to validate Trunks’ romanticizing of the past, viewing it in stark terms of constant death, fighting, and abuse; Android 18 slowly becomes disillusioned with the destruction he and his sister wreak across the world, unable to find joy in the end of the world; Bulma refuses to believe in destiny and only holds hope in the possibility that she might undo everything horrible that’s happened to the world. The only characters that find any solace at all in the destruction of the world are TJ and the Wombat, and their solace stems from purely selfish desires, justifying their lack of pain by dismissing the value of the people they love.
I could go on about how the characterization of our protagonists embody typical responses to trauma, as the voice of Piccolo lingers in Gohan’s mind or Bulma embraces hypersexuality as a coping mechanism, but this review has gotten bleak, and truthfully, “History of Trunks” is interested in more than simply exploring the darkness at the end of the world.
Bulma’s hope, in fact, is the one thing that saves Trunks and allows him to retain some form of optimism, even if he’s only optimistic about being able to rewrite the entire timestream. In the face of this destruction, he and his mother still have the gall the write “Hope!!!” on the outside of their time machine, to look to a possible alternate universe where things don’t end up nearly as shitty.
Trunks may have been forced to embrace the hopelessness of the Doctor, but he embodies the same kind of foolish optimism too, understanding the true capability of humanity to fight back against its failures and mistakes, even if that battle only results in a better universe that isn’t even your own. For all the darkness “History of Trunks” has to show us, there’s a tiny glimmer of optimism too, and that optimism is ultimately far more important than anything else.
Especially since it means Trunks will finally get to see his father.
Rating: 5/5
If you liked this review, consider supporting me on Patreon.
Stray Observations
1Specifically the season two soundtrack, for the curious.
Trunks: “Mom, do you believe in destiny?” Bulma: “I’m a scientist, so, no.”
Gohan: “I’ve got one Mr. Piccolo.”
“We’ve got plenty of room, but no extra beds, so we’ll have to share.” Now, I don’t know about you all, but I hope to someday have the same unflinching confidence in my sexuality as Bulma does here.
Ox-King: “So, is dinner happening?” Chi-Chi: “Will dinner bring my husband back!?” Ox-King: “Maybe?!”
Gohan: “If you’re already bored, maybe you should take a ride on my fist!”
Trunks: “She wasn’t wrong. I, however, was.”
Android 18: “After you wipe an entire genre of music off the face of the earth, what’s left?”
Android 17: “I’m gonna range the shit out of that park!”
I love how monkey-like Trunks is made to look when he first goes Super-Saiyan. It’s a very nice touch by the original animators.
Vegeta’s scream though! That’s real commitment to continuity right there.
Bulma: “And…multiverse theory it is. Shit.”
#dragon ball z abridged#dragon ball z#team four star#tfs#dbza#dbz#dbza special#dbza trunks#i am really proud of this one#i don't have anything to add#i just think it's well written#and i do the ideas of history of trunks abridged justice
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Would it be in-character for Vegeta to tell Trunks and Bulla that Santa isn't real when they're kids because his pride wouldn't let a pigment of their imagination take credit for getting the presents and eating the cookies?
i choose to go with the belief that santa is real in the db universe and vegeta dreams of killing him 🤣 there's a dbza christmas special featuring this and i like going with that
but to give an actual answer, i don't think bulma would let him do that, since it's most definitely her getting the presents for the kids and wanting them to have a nice christmas. he's a tough father but he doesn't want his kids unhappy, so if he would maybe want to tell them santa isn't real, i don't think he would do it out of pride. but largely i don't see him caring all that much outside of maybe thinking believing in santa is silly
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Damn the whole thing!? No wonder you needed a break ahaha, isn't the fight against freiza something like 50 episodes for a "5 minute fight" 😂 whenever you do feel upto it tho, deffo check out the abridged version, it's funny af and even tho they had to stop after the cell saga (some behind the scenes reasons idk I didn't really follow them or anything) the voice actors actually got hired into doing the English/American dub for dragonball super 😮 anyways, hope you have a good day, just throwing my 10 cents in or whatever they say ahaha
Yup, the whooooole series 🥴 do not underestimate the power of a neurodivergent girl with a special interest LMFAOOOOO
well yes the DBZ fight with frieza was like 50 fucking episodes but thats because DBZ had terrible pacing 😂 it's wayyyy better in DBZ kai! but to be fair the first super saiyan transformation was more hype in DBZ because the build up was longer lolol
i'll check it out sometime!! ppl keep recommending it to me so it must be good lol. and thats cool af i didnt know the VAs were invited to work on super!!! dream job fr!!! do u know who they voiced?
i guess im just a lil hesitant because DBZA has given the dragon ball fandom a bad name because a lot of new fans watched that instead of actually watching the show/reading the manga, so they miss out on a LOT of important context. thats where the whole "dont fuck with dragon ball fans, we havent watched the show" comes from 🥴🥴🥴
#asks#onelessdreamer#i feel like im the ONE fan thats actually watched the show in its entirety lolol#i have extensive knowledge of dragon ball lore so when ppl get shit completely wrong i go feral
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Q & A Regarding my HFIL Series (FINAL POST REGARDING TFS / DEVILARTEMIS)
Q: Is your HFIL Series TFS? A: No, I made it clear several times over, that it isn't and that it's meant to be a redid ver of Hazbin Hotel. Hence the entirety of the story taking place, and there's religious focus.
Q: Do you really hate DBZA? A: No, I just find it cool someone managed to make it big on the fandom, but like as I said, people have their own interpretation of the characters, and if a creator says "No this is MY work, don't ref anything" then you should respect it.
Q: Will you allow DBZA content in yours in the future? A: Never, DBZA is it's own thing as with DevilArtemis, and my work is it's own thing. People can't seem to accept the fact that it's THEIR works not someone elses, did you NOT learn from FlowerFell?
Q: What was FlowerFell? A: A Undertale AU that had Frisk covered in flowers, and everytime they reset more flowers were added, until they died. This was a pretty big AU back in the day and spawned a lot of Frans Shippers, Kinners, Selfshippers, and other people to harass the creator to "add personal things" like Frans and Kinnie headcanons that it caused the creator stress and subsequently left the internet. This is WHY I don't want my work being compared to others or having it in the same universe as TFS. It causes so many issues and many people are unforgiving.
Q: Will you ever engage in DBZA Content? A: I mean, if my work is noticed by Devil or Abriged then, oh well. I'm not complaining. I would respect them, and treat them like any normal person. I don't revere content creators as "special people" because they make mistakes like any normal person. Big woopdedoodoo. Someone that the fanbase worships and reference 10x has recognized me. I don't care for recognition I care for having fun.
Q: You say that your content isn't TFS, then why is it named HFIL isn't- A: Let me stop you there, HFIL is NOT coined by TFS, it's a name for the Funimation Dub, because Hell was "inappropriate" do all of you NOT watch the original DBZ? I mean ffs, it tells you in DBZA that you SHOULD watch it beforehand.
Q: But HFIL = TFS A: Alright kiddies lets learn your shapes! Okay 1, 2, 3. This is Hazbin Hotel and this is HFIL Series, this show focus' on Redemption Hazbin Hotel and my HFIL Series, this show focus' on exterminations in hell, Hazbin Hotel and my HFIL Series. WHERE DOES TFS HFIL SERIES HAVE EXTERMINATIONS!?
Q: But like, it's not fair to blacklist TFS/DevilArtemis Fans from your content- A: Well it's NOT fair to me to have to explain my thought process on everything. I have a right to keep my space clean and free, just because a content had ended doesn't mean you go around and spread that shit to some random persons content.
Q: What sets this apart from TFS? A: It focus on Black Comedy, Serious Topics, Coming of Age. It's also intended for a mature audience which DBZ never was to begin with. Sure, occasionally there's the swearing but that's beyond the point, afaik, DBZA:HFIL features Comedy and the such. EWTHFIL features a lot of issues and goes deep into characters rather then being jokes. Sure, there's jokes but most of the time its for gags.
#dbz#dragon ball#dragon ball hfil#hfil#erm what the hfil!? dragon ball#series#dragon ball z#dragon ball super#dragon ball heroes#dragon ball gt#fanfiction#dbz fanfiction#dragon ball fanfiction#. 💞 ; txt
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Another dream: was playing an rpg, like guild wars crossed with guild wars 2, and I was being run through a map, had to wait on top of a dresser in a house with others to avoid a deadly gas while the runner fought a rare random boss that was a clown from a circus who'd been corrupted. Killing him opened up special boss zone called the theater and we all ran to it. The entrance hall was a spiral staircase down that led to a small main gate. At the gate we ran into shadow spiders we had to fight 2 gw wind riders but in the dream they were some of the hardest monsters. They stopped when a strange lady came up. She was singing (to the tune of dbza day of fate). We all stopped and listened. "The mind darkness is aware, the mind of water is asleep, the mind of metal is between, all 3 work to keep/find? the peace." She was in a trance almost and as soon as she walked away the fight continued. Many people saw her from far away but never met her. No one knew she talked. I realized that if we kept fighting the bosses, eventually or something far, far worse would come. Something that could break the game. Then I woke up.
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youtube
DBZA is really something special.
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