Episode #0207 (31 January 2010)

[Herms]

I was surprised the baseball career didn't get more of a mention. (I know, it's filler, was shown twice in the series and there's not much to say besides "he was good at hitting things with a stick" but still)

Hmmm...Toriyama suggested that idea for the anime staff to use for filler. Was that mentioned in the episode? I can't remember.

[Sprite Satan]

Hmmm...Toriyama suggested that idea for the anime staff to use for filler. Was that mentioned in the episode? I can't remember.

No, it's not but it is mentioned in the Rumor Guide here. I guess it just wasn't key to the zen of Yamucha.

[Gaffer Tape]

Had I the chance to have been on that episode (if only!) I would have pointed out my theory that, in the early parts of the series (and for a little bit later on as well) he seemed like the equivalent of Fred from Scooby-Doo. When it was just him, Kuririn, and Goku, Yamucha was, in a way, the de facto leader of the party, being the oldest and most intelligent. He served as Mr. Exposition for a while at the beginning, knowing and explaining famous martial artists. And he drove (or flew) everyone around, a job he continued through the Cell arc (trying to catch Cell) and the Buu arc (ferrying everyone to the Tenkaichi Budoukai).

He's also like Worf, in it seems his job in battle was to show off how awesome some new character was. "That old man beat Yamucha?! How could that have happened?!" "That guy with three eyes beat Yamucha?! How could that have happened?!" "That nerdy man beat Yamucha?! How could that have happened?!" Unfortunately, since Toriyama forgot that he kinda had to let Yamucha win once in a while to maintain credibility, it eventually stopped being so shocking when the new badass would come and kick him around.

Sad...