Am I the only one who thinks the Yamcha meme is in poor taste?

[LuckyCat]

That meme was due to him always failing from the time he was introduced till now. No one would even bring that up had he done some important things after and before.

It's not just that Yamcha fails often, it's that he usually brags a lot first before he fails. In early Dragon Ball, it's painfully obvious Yamcha has it coming because of his overconfidence. Overconfidence leading to mistakes is a major theme in Dragon Ball, and Yamcha happens to exemplify it.

[Akyon]

I think I'd be less annoyed over Yamcha's treatment if the fanbase acknowledged Chiaoutzu is a hundred times worse.

"Yamcha dies a lot"
No he doesn't. He's died two times, three if we count the one Whis reversed. That's equal to Goku if you count that instant reversed one.
Meanwhile Chiaoutzu has died four times if we count that rewind death and is tied for most deaths overall.

This wouldn't be so bad if he'd been involved with as many conflicts as Krillin, but he's died four times and only been involved in two conflicts. Comparatively Yamcha has been involved a bit more story wise and at least showed up to events in z putting him in the firing line of super powered monsters regularly.

Yamcha usually gets to throw a punch before being taken out but Chiaoutzu doesn't even get that, yet he doesn't get anywhere near the mocking Yamcha does.

Yamcha has won the odd fight. Not many, granted but he beat a few such as the Invisible man, the rabbit gang, Chichi, Goku (granted a hungry Goku), technically he kicked that Saibamen's ass before that cheap shot and gets further than Chiaoutzu in the 23rd Tournament.

Meanwhile Chiaoutzu has beat...himself. Unless we count filler in which case Yamcha gets at least three more wins.

OK, rant over, I just don't get how mime boy has been immune to memetic mutation whilst Krillin and Yamcha get joke status amongst the community.

[MainJPW]

I think I'd be less annoyed over Yamcha's treatment if the fanbase acknowledged Chiaoutzu is a hundred times worse.

"Yamcha dies a lot"
No he doesn't. He's died two times, three if we count the one Whis reversed. That's equal to Goku if you count that instant reversed one.
Meanwhile Chiaoutzu has died four times if we count that rewind death and is tied for most deaths overall.

This wouldn't be so bad if he'd been involved with as many conflicts as Krillin, but he's died four times and only been involved in two conflicts. Comparatively Yamcha has been involved a bit more story wise and at least showed up to events in z putting him in the firing line of super powered monsters regularly.

Yamcha usually gets to throw a punch before being taken out but Chiaoutzu doesn't even get that, yet he doesn't get anywhere near the mocking Yamcha does.

Yamcha has won the odd fight. Not many, granted but he beat a few such as the Invisible man, the rabbit gang, Chichi, Goku (granted a hungry Goku), technically he kicked that Saibamen's ass before that cheap shot and gets further than Chiaoutzu in the 23rd Tournament.

Meanwhile Chiaoutzu has beat...himself. Unless we count filler in which case Yamcha gets at least three more wins.

OK, rant over, I just don't get how mime boy has been immune to memetic mutation whilst Krillin and Yamcha get joke status amongst the community.

A hundred times this.

[VegettoEX]

The thing is, Chiaotzu barely speaks in the scenes he's actually even in (and as I always like to rely on as a point courtesy of Lance, I don't think him and Goku ever actually exchanged two words in the manga). There's hardly any character to grab onto there, and following suit, there's hardly anything "memetic" about his portrayal. Sometimes he's there, most of the time he's not, and even in death there's literally nothing to show for it (he explodes leaving no remains).

There's (probably?) a good deal of observational humor value lying dormant with Chiaotzu, but nothing about him, his portrayal, his dialog, his design, etc. can actually lend itself as a contribution toward the same cultural currency I was talking about with Yamcha. It begins and ends with "silly vampire clown dude lulz maybe gay?" That's... not actually funny, and can't really go anywhere beyond that.

[precita]

I think had Yamcha not been in the very first Dragonball arc, his character would have been viewed as expendable, at least more than usual. It's just weird that the Dragonball manga started off with him at the very beginning and then he wound up less and less important as time went on. And unlike Oolong/Puar he's not a useless animal character but a fighter, so he could have still been relevant for longer.

What's weird is TOEI still advertised Yamcha with all the other fighters in the old Super openings and endings. Even if he doesn't fight in-series anymore.

[LuckyCat]

What's weird is TOEI still advertised Yamcha with all the other fighters in the old Super openings and endings. Even if he doesn't fight in-series anymore.

For all the jokes Yamcha is the butt of, he's still a popular character and has a popular voice actor (Tōru Furuya). From my experience in talking with Japanese fans, the Yamcha jokes are considered good-natured ribbing and probably just add to his popularity.

[Kanassa]

That meme was due to him always failing from the time he was introduced till now. No one would even bring that up had he done some important things after and before.

It's not just that Yamcha fails often, it's that he usually brags a lot first before he fails. In early Dragon Ball, it's painfully obvious Yamcha has it coming because of his overconfidence. Overconfidence leading to mistakes is a major theme in Dragon Ball, and Yamcha happens to exemplify it.

Really, Yamcha is Vegeta before Vegeta made it look cool.

[sintzu]

Really, Yamcha is Vegeta before Vegeta made it look cool.

Pretty much. When Vegeta brags he either delivers or goes down trying in an epic way. When Yamcha goes down he doesn't even try to fight back.

[ABED]

It's a very common trope if a character is too happy, settled, or full of themselves, tragedy will befall them.

[sintzu]

It's a very common trope if a character is too happy, settled, or full of themselves, tragedy will befall them.

Batman's none of that yet disasters are always happening to him. He just put someone close to him 6ft under and now demons are coming for his head, Before that the joker brought a cave down on him & Before that a group of owls tried to drive him crazy (as if he was sane to begin with).

[precita]

Even back in that old DBZ poll from 2004, Yamcha placed higher than Tenshinhan, even Bulma, 17, Videl, Yajirobe, etc.

And that was from 14 years ago before Super or Kai even existed.

[ABED]

It's a very common trope if a character is too happy, settled, or full of themselves, tragedy will befall them.

Batman's none of that yet disasters are always happening to him. He just put someone close to him 6ft under and now demons are coming for his head, Before that the joker brought a cave down on him & Before that a group of owls tried to drive him crazy (as if he was sane to begin with).

Did you just want to show off your Batman knowledge. I'm not sure why you seem to be disagreeing with me. I wrote "common". It's not a hard and fast rule. Besides, Batman courts disaster.

In any case, is "poor taste" the right term or just the only one the OP could think of?

[sintzu]

Did you just want to show off your Batman knowledge.

I'm not sure why you seem to be disagreeing with me.

It's the only other franchise I could think of simply because I haven't seen many things. In Naruto Sasuke is somewhat like Vegeta but he mostly comes up on top so I think it's up to the writers to decide how that type of character turns out rather than it being a rule that everyone follows.

I mostly agree but just wanted to point out that even if someone like Yamcha wasn't full of it he might've ended up the same anyway.

[MR.Mark]

I don't find the memes particularly offense or even funny. I also don't think it's in poor taste because Yamacha is a fictional character.

[RandomGuy96]

[fadeddreams5]

Fans always viewed Yamcha as a bit of a joke, along with Krillin. However, the series itself only started acknowledging this recently (he was treated seriously in DBZ). I mean, Yamcha started as a comical character in DB, so it's fitting, tbh.

[jjgp1112]

It's a silly joke..."poor taste" is exaggerating like crazy.

[sintzu]

Fans always viewed Yamcha as a bit of a joke, along with Krillin. However, the series itself only started acknowledging this recently (he was treated seriously in DBZ).

Which is one of the worst things about modern DB, taking jokes made up by fans and turning them into official material.

[precita]

Well the point is Toei should have just not showed Yamcha wanting to enter the tournament of power. I mean if he was off-screen all that time it wouldn't have mattered because it wouldn't be viewed as some joke. Instead Yamcha actually wanted to fight and be chosen but of course since Toriyama didn't want him Toei couldn't use him. But Toei still added him in all those episodes leading up to it.

I mean when Yamcha didn't fight Beerus like 18/Tien/Piccolo/Buu did or enter the Universe 6 tournament, nobody cared because nobody expected him to. But this time around to put in a long running joke just for it to go nowhere was bizarre. They should have just not shown him at all.

It's weird because Yamcha was present for the entire Buu arc yet Toriyama never wrote him going against Buu just to watch him fail. He was just treated like the regular non-fighter cast at the time.

[ABED]

It's the only other franchise I could think of simply because I haven't seen many things. In Naruto Sasuke is somewhat like Vegeta but he mostly comes up on top so I think it's up to the writers to decide how that type of character turns out rather than it being a rule that everyone follows.

I mostly agree but just wanted to point out that even if someone like Yamcha wasn't full of it he might've ended up the same anyway.

Then clearly you haven't seen enough and I never said it was a rule. I said it's a trope. That could come off harsher than I intended, but if Naruto and Batman are the only other franchises you can think of, then you haven't seen much. I see it all the time and it's typically true that characters get the rug pulled out from under them because conflict and drama is the essence of story telling. Characters just getting what they want is usually less interesting. Joss Whedon does it all the time. In the case of Yamcha and Vegeta, hubris being "punished" is also very common. It goes back to at least Ancient Greece.