Dragon Ball: 20 Surprising Things You Didn’t Know About Piccolo
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Piccolo might be a fan-favorite character on Dragon Ball Z, but there’s a lot of things that even his biggest fans don’t know about him.
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Piccolo is commonly cited as being one of the most popular characters in Dragon Ball Z. It’s probably safe to say that he is the most popular non-Saiyan in the cast.
So why is it that people love Piccolo so much? He definitely has a cool and unique look that sets him apart from the rest of the cast. His backstory acts as a dark mirror to Goku’s, as Piccolo started out as a vicious warrior who descended from a peaceful race. Piccolo is also the only good guy who can stand up to the Saiyans in a fight, as his power briefly eclipsed theirs. The real reason might be due to his fight against Android 17, which is often cited as being the best battle in the entire series.
Piccolo is one of the few Dragon Ball characters to have remained relevant throughout the story. He taught both of Goku’s children and has acted as Dende’s right-hand man in a role where he protects the Earth in his stead. Piccolo continues to remain relevant in Dragon Ball Super, despite all of the silly new Saiyan forms that have tried to take over the story.
We are here today to look at the most surprising facts about Piccolo that even the most die-hard of Dragon Ball Z fans may not be aware of. From the true final form of the Super Namekian, to the time he appeared in commercials for a far more successful series.
Here are Twenty Shocking Things You Didn’t Know About Piccolo!
20 A Secret Final Form
Piccolo briefly became the most powerful Z-Fighter in the series. The power of the Androids finally convinced him to abandon his old prejudices and fuse with Kami, so that they could return to the form they once had and become a Super Namekian. This fusion made Piccolo far more powerful than a Super Saiyan, as his strength was natural and didn’t burn through his energy.
The Dragon Ball Z video games included a final form of the Super Namekian fusion that Piccolo never performed in the series. In Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors, Piccolo can use the Dragon Balls to wish King Piccolo back from the dead. If Piccolo can defeat him in battle, then the two will fuse into the true final form of the Super Namekian, which is even more powerful.
19 Changing Color
It’s not unusual for fictional aliens to have blood that is different from that of humans. Spock from Star Trek has green blood (as Vulcan physiology is copper-based), while the Xenomorph from Alien has acidic blood.
Piccolo’s blood is even stranger because it keeps changing color.
In the original Dragon Ball anime, Piccolo had red blood, which he shed a lot of during his battle against Goku. When Piccolo fights on Namek in Dragon Ball Z, his blood turns purple. In Dragon Ball Super, his blood has changed color again as it is now green. The original English dub of Dragon Ball Z removed as much blood as possible, so it was much harder to tell the color in the old days.
18 You’re My Favorite
Akira Toriyama is a notoriously forgetful person. This is why most of the human cast members of Dragon Ball (save for Krillin) were abandoned as the story progressed. He totally forgot that Launch existed, which is why she barely showed up after the arrival of the Saiyans.
There is no denying that Akira Toriyama has a soft spot for some of his characters, which is why Krillin ended up with a hot blonde. When asked who his favorite character was, Toriyama said that it was Piccolo. This explains why Piccolo remained relevant in the story for so long.
Akira Toriyama has also stated that Goku is his favorite character, so maybe he even forgets who he likes the most.
17 The Video Game Fusion
One of the earliest Dragon Ball Z video games to deal with “what if” scenarios was Dragon Ball Z: Legend of the Super Saiyan for the Super Famicom. This game never left Japan, though a fan-made English patch has existed for a while now.
In Dragon Ball Z: Legend of the Super Saiyan, it’s possible for Goku to return from the afterlife a lot quicker, which will allow him to save Chiaotzu, Tien, and Yamcha from the Saiyans. Piccolo still dies in a cutscene, as his death is the inspiration for the Z-Fighter’s journey to Namek.
When Piccolo is revived on Namek, it’s possible for him to fuse with three Namekians other than Nail. One of these is Dende, which likely didn’t power up Piccolo that much and would have screwed up the continuity later when they needed a new Guardian of Earth.
16 He Screwed Up The Continuity
If a manga becomes popular enough, then it will likely receive an anime adaptation. This usually results in the problem of the anime catching up to the manga, as even a weekly series can’t compete with a production composed of numerous different artists. As such, these animes usually have filler seasons, which are created by the TV staff.
The filler episodes generally aren’t well-received, as they can’t screw around with the continuity too much, which makes them disposable. If they do have a permanent effect on the story, then they can mess with the continuity later on.
Piccolo messed with the continuity in a filler episode where Gohan discovers the pod that Goku traveled to Earth in. Piccolo ends up destroying the pod. This causes a plot hole later on, as Dr. Brief uses the same pod to build a spaceship for Goku.
15 Piccolo With A Beard
Akira Toriyama’s 2nd most famous project after Dragon Ball Z is his work on the Dragon Quest franchise. Dragon Quest is one of the most popular video game properties in Japan, even though it has only found a cult audience in other parts of the world. Akira Toriyama’s contribution to the series is as a character designer, which includes the numerous monsters that you battle.
Akira Toriyama has often been accused of reusing character designs. One example of this can be seen with Nimzo, who is the antagonist of Dragon Quest V. Nimzo is basically Piccolo with a beard and set of wizard robes. He even has the same yellow parts on his arms.
14 The Bizarre Kami Cut
Piccolo and Kami share a unique bond due to the fact that they were once the same being. This bond is connected to their very life force, which means that both will die if one of them perishes. The death of either Piccolo or Kami was also dangerous because it meant that the Dragon Balls would lose their power, which means that they couldn’t be wished back without the help of the Namekian Dragon Balls.
There was a scene near the start of Dragon Ball Z that explained this connection. This was included as foreshadowing, as Piccolo’s death at the hands of Nappa was relevant to the plot. For some reason, the original English dub of Dragon Ball Z totally skipped this scene, despite the fact that it was important to the story.
13 He Inherited King Piccolo’s Wish
One of the wishes that Shenron can grant is immortality, which is what Garlic Jr. asked for. This can also include eternal youth and vitality, which is what King Piccolo asked for. These wishes don’t necessarily include invulnerability, as it didn’t take much to kill King Piccolo.
The link between King Piccolo and Piccolo was so strong that it even included one of Shenron’s wishes. According to Daizenshuu 2, Piccolo inherited all of his father’s abilities and powers at birth. This also included King Piccolo’s wish for immortality and eternal youth. We saw this in action in Dragon Ball GT, as Piccolo is one of the only characters who remain unchanged in the future.
12 DeviantArt Is Wrong About Piccolo’s…
Kami, King Piccolo, and Piccolo are the only Namekians who are revealed in Dragon Ball. If you ignore the non-canon movies, then we didn’t get to see any more Namekians until Bulma, Gohan, and Krillin arrived on Namek. It was at this point that we realized that the Namekian race appeared to be made up entirely of males. This raised the question of how they reproduced?
According to Akira Toriyama, the Namekian race is made up of individuals who reproduce on their own. This involves eggs which are brought out of the body through the mouth. This confirms that Piccolo lacks any reproductive organs, which means that all of the dirty pictures of him on DeviantArt are all anatomically incorrect.
11 A Different Kind Of Fusion
Before the Dragon Ball manga became a success, Akira Toriyama was best known for a series called Dr. Slump. This was a comic about a man who builds a robot girl named Arale and the life they lead among the strange residents of Penguin Village. Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump both take place in the same world and have crossed over on multiple occasions. Arale recently had a cameo in Dragon Ball Super.
The villain of Dr. Slump is a scientist named Dr. Mashirito. In the Nintendo DS game Jump Super Stars, it is possible for Piccolo to perform the Fusion Dance with Mashirito. This fusion is meant to be a reference to one of Akira Toriyama’s former editors, who was the inspiration for both Piccolo and Dr. Mashirito.
10 The Krillin Cosplay Joke
Goku is a horrible father. Piccolo was a demonic despot who wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and take over the world, and even he was a better father to Gohan than Goku was.
One way in which Piccolo is a better father to Gohan happened in the Dragon Ball Z movies, as he always saved him from danger at the last minute. This became such a recurring moment that one of the later movies made a reference to it involving Krillin. In Dragon Ball Z: Broly – Second Coming, Gohan is saved by Krillin, who happens to be dressed like Piccolo. This is also because Piccolo doesn’t appear in the film, so it was up to Krillin to make the reference.
9 He’s Nothing But A Sell-Out
One of the cars produced by Ford is called the Fusion. This name eventually led to the bizarre crossover between Ford and the Dragon Ball Z franchise, which resulted in a pair of commercials that were released in 2015.
The second commercial takes place on Kami’s Lookout and is set during the period in the Buu Saga when Piccolo was teaching the Fusion Dance to Goten and Trunks. Instead of turning into Gotenks, Goten and Trunks turn into the Ford Fusion. Piccolo gushes about how the fusion is “unbelievable.”
Piccolo wasn’t the only guy who sold out, as Krillin also tried using all of Porunga’s wishes for an awesome car in the first commercial. Clearly, the cheque he got from Ford was enough to make him forget about wishing Chiaotzu, Tien, and Yamcha back from the dead.
8 Sharing A Name With The Devil
Dragon Ball Z has always had a problem with fans disagreeing over how the character’s names are supposed to be spelled. The Internet has been host to many arguments about whether Krillin should be called Kuririn or if the Saiyans should be called Saiya-jins.
The names of the Dragon Ball Z characters can also be different depending on the region. One example of this happened to Piccolo, as he is referred to as another name for the devil in certain foreign dubs of Dragon Ball Z. This is likely due to fact that Piccolo was sometimes referred to as Satan Piccolo, in order to differentiate him from King Piccolo.
Piccolo isn’t the only person to be called this name in Dragon Ball Z, as Hercule’s original Japanese name was Mr. Satan.
7 The Santa Outfit
With great popularity comes a ton of licensed merchandise. Dragon Ball Z was no exception to this, as Goku & his friends have had everything from action figures to shower gel bear their face.
Even the cast of Dragon Ball Z isn’t safe from the merchandising blitz of Christmas. Piccolo was also not spared from dressing up for the holidays, as he was among the official Dragon Ball Z Christmas figures. These are the ornaments you should buy if you want a figure of Piccolo wearing a Santa outfit hanging from your tree.
Piccolo technically is related to God (which is Kami’s official title in the Japanese version of Dragon Ball Z) and he did die and return from the grave, so you could argue that he is the anime equivalent to Jesus.
6 All Namekians Come From Springfield
One of the ways in which the Dragon Ball manga and anime differ is in the hands of the Namekians. Akira Toriyama drew all of the Namekians with three fingers and a thumb. This was changed to a standard four-fingered hand and thumb for the Dragon Ball anime.
The change was made to the hands of all Namekians. This was likely a cost-cutting measure, as it meant that special attention wasn’t needed for Piccolo’s animation. It was easy for Akira Toriyama to keep track of the fingers, as they could always be changed in future printings of the manga if he screwed up (which he sometimes did.) If the anime staff screwed up, then it would have been a lot more expensive to fix.
5 With The Power Of Jean Grey…
The ability to manipulate ki at a high-level can sometimes be misinterpreted as telekinesis or psychokinesis. Characters like Perfect Cell had the ability to seemingly affect real-world items with their mind alone, yet this could simply have been him exerting control over his ki.
There are some Dragon Ball Z characters who possess legitimate mental abilities, such as Chiaotzu. The filler episodes of the anime also established that Piccolo possessed telekinesis, as he was able to lift several Pyramids out of the ground with his mind while he was training for the arrival of the Saiyans.
This ability is likely one of the things that he inherited from King Piccolo, who also demonstrated telekinesis when he lifted the Dragon Balls with the power of his mind.
4 Majin Piccolo
The idea of “what if” scenarios have always been popular with the Dragon Ball Z fanbase, to the point where they have been heavily featured in the video games. The Dragon Ball Xenoverse games are almost totally based on alternate timelines, where you play your own fan fiction insert character who gets to fight alongside the Z-Fighters.
In Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors 2, there is a scenario where Piccolo is possessed by Babidi and transformed into Majin Piccolo. The power he gained from Babidi allowed Piccolo to defeat the Saiyans and revive Frieza and Perfect Cell. It’s up to Gohan and Vegeta to try and break the control over Piccolo and stop the rampaging Majin Buu.
3 Fused Together
The only canon fusion characters (not counting the Namekians) in Dragon Ball Z were Gotenks and Vegito. Gogeta only appeared in the movies and in Dragon Ball GT, which seems to have been replaced in the canon by Dragon Ball Super. The Dragon Ball Z video games really ran with the idea of theoretical fusions between characters, which formed the basis for several different titles.
Akira Toriyama was creating his own fusions in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, though they didn’t appear in the actual Dragon Ball manga. He drew a fusion of Piccolo and Krillin, called Prilin, who was created through the use of the Fusion Dance.
Prilin might not have appeared in the Dragon Ball manga, but he has made several playable cameos in the Dragon Ball Z video games.
2 Which Show Are You On, Anyways?
Dragon Ball used to hold the title of best-selling manga in the world. This has since been usurped by One Piece, which has sold almost double what Dragon Ball did and is still going!
Eiichiro Oda (the creator of One Piece) has cited Akira Toriyama as his biggest influence and the two of them have collaborated on multiple occasions. This means that the Z-Fighters have encountered the Straw Hat Pirates many times in official crossover works.
When Dragon Ball Kai was on the air, it featured several crossovers with One Piece. These appeared in the form of “eye catches”, which are short vignettes that played before the commercial. Piccolo appeared in one of these with Roronoa Zoro of One Piece, where the two of them tried to convince the audience to stay tuned for One Piece after Kai had finished.
1 He Appeared As A Villain In Puzzle & Dragons
Puzzle & Dragons is one of the most popular mobile phone games in the world. It combines the match-three nature of Bejeweled with the monster battling/collecting of Pokémon. The Puzzle & Dragons series is especially popular in Japan, which has helped it make over a billion dollars in profit.
When Dragon Ball Kai was first on in the air in Japan, the series was promoted with several crossover events in Puzzle & Dragons. This involved numerous Dragon Ball characters appearing as enemies that you could battle and collect for yourself. Piccolo appeared in several different forms during this promotion, which meant that you could defeat him and use him on your team.
Scott has been writing for The Gamer since it launched in 2017 and also regularly contributes to Screen Rant. He has previously written gaming articles for websites like Cracked, Dorkly, Topless Robot, and TopTenz. He has been gaming since the days of the ZX Spectrum, when it used to take 40 minutes to load a game from a tape cassette player to a black and white TV set. Scott thinks Chrono Trigger is the best video game of all time, followed closely by Final Fantasy Tactics and Baldur’s Gate 2. He pretends that sorcerer is his favorite Dungeons & Dragons class in public but he secretly loves bards.
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