It's such a shame how Uub was handled, he could have been the first strong black DB hero

[ABED]

I'm not suggesting they write him out or anything, but in Super Goku and Vegeta get almost all of the fights. Lets give these new characters something to do! One of the things that was cool about the Cell arc is that Piccolo, Trunks, Gohan, Tien, a bunch of different characters had stuff to do.

Did they really have anything to do in that arc beyond delaying the inevitable? In the Namek arc, characters were given something to do, but not really in the Cell arc, at least not anything substantive.

[Soppa Saia People]

well gohan literally kills the final villain in the arc and is set up to be the main character in the next arc, but yeah i never understood why people say that the cell arc was good in terms of its character usage. by the time cell fully enters the picture, piccolo, tenshinhan, vegeta and trunks really only exist to fail. they're doing stuff but they're not really doing anything, if that makes sense. piccolo kinda has the same issue during the freeza fight, but here it's with like more than half the cast and it's kinda ridiculous.

[MyVisionity]

I don’t understand where people get this idea that Oob is supposed to be black. Everything about him would suggest that he’s meant to be the Dragon Ball equivalent of a South Asian.

Exactly. In addition to the lack of the racist lips, his hair is also not that of a Black person. Also with the references to his parents being "piles of poop" or whatever it was seems like that could be something intended specifically for dark-skinned South Asians. At least that's the sense I get without knowing. I've never heard that one before.

I agree about Oob being a thematic device rather than a character. That doesn't excuse what they did with him in GT though.

[Grimlock]

About whether he's black or not;

Don't worry about that. To determine someone's skin color is actually a matter of cultural thing. In one, you will have people saying something, in another, something else. Where I live, people with darker skin generally fall under the "black category". Also because we don't actually have specific words for everything (like in English, where a freaking baby that is learning to walk is called "toddler" for random reasons, for example. We don't have a specific word for that, we just call it "baby").

We will never reach a consensus on this matter so it's pointless (and beyond the goal of this thread) to keep arguing whether Uub is black or not.

[MyVisionity]

About whether he's black or not;

Don't worry about that. To determine someone's skin color is actually a matter of cultural thing. In one, you will have people saying something, in another, something else.

No one's talking about "skin color" though. It's a question of Oob's race, and by "Black" I'm sure that most are referring to those descended from the peoples of Sub-Saharan Africa who have been historically designated as "Black". Obviously that designation is not fixed nor universal, and can indeed vary among cultures, but I don't think that's where the confusion lies. Unless I'm mistaken I don't think the OP was referring to South Asians when using the phrase "black".

[jjgp1112]

Uub is clearly supposed to be Middle Eastern and not black, and if you could stop making these insulting threads that would be awesome

[goku the krump dancer]

This thread should've been locked three posts in. He's not black thats it, thats all.

Why are folks insisting on making these instigating topics? Progressive conversation is one thing, but wording and intent is another. Lets stop.. PLEASE.

[miguelnuva1]

Uub is not Black and as a black man myself I never liked the charcter at all. I always thought in the back of my head Buu's reincarnation should have been Goku's kid rather it be a son or a daughter.

That way it would truly be his responsibility to deal with Buu. Buu's reincarnation could have also felt with a lot of nature vs nurture themes but I'm off topic now.

How many offsprings you want Goku to have? Gohan...Goten...next? go....whatever...at least with Uub as his student my boi Goku would finally get over his sons as he'd finally have an all-out fighter...rather than scholar...or playboy

One that actually likes to train with him.

[Vijay]

Uub is not Black and as a black man myself I never liked the charcter at all. I always thought in the back of my head Buu's reincarnation should have been Goku's kid rather it be a son or a daughter.

That way it would truly be his responsibility to deal with Buu. Buu's reincarnation could have also felt with a lot of nature vs nurture themes but I'm off topic now.

How many offsprings you want Goku to have? Gohan...Goten...next? go....whatever...at least with Uub as his student my boi Goku would finally get over his sons as he'd finally have an all-out fighter...rather than scholar...or playboy

One that actually likes to train with him.

Dude's a grandfather now. No hope for next kid. Only grandkids

[Jord]

This thread should've been locked three posts in. He's not black thats it, thats all.

Why are folks insisting on making these instigating topics? Progressive conversation is one thing, but wording and intent is another. Lets stop.. PLEASE.

Just look at how he looks in GT.

[ABED]

This thread should've been locked three posts in. He's not black thats it, thats all.

Why are folks insisting on making these instigating topics? Progressive conversation is one thing, but wording and intent is another. Lets stop.. PLEASE.

Just look at how he looks in GT.

I have and he doesn't look black. He looks Indian or middle eastern. Given Toriyama's history, the likelihood of him being black is small.

[MasenkoHA]

This thread should've been locked three posts in. He's not black thats it, thats all.

Why are folks insisting on making these instigating topics? Progressive conversation is one thing, but wording and intent is another. Lets stop.. PLEASE.

Just look at how he looks in GT.

Look at how Toriyama draws black characters and look at how he draws Oob. Oob is not intended to be black.

[jjgp1112]

This thread should've been locked three posts in. He's not black thats it, thats all.

Why are folks insisting on making these instigating topics? Progressive conversation is one thing, but wording and intent is another. Lets stop.. PLEASE.

Just look at how he looks in GT.

Look at how Toriyama draws black characters and look at how he draws Oob. Oob is not intended to be black.

I'm pretty sure OP already knows this and is just trying to make another "edgy" political thread.

[SpiritBombTriumphant]

Jord, why are you always making posts about identity politics in Dragon Ball? All it does is divide people. Even VegettoEX once said on Twitter he was happy about how DB has yet to be politicized like most everything else in the world. Just leave it alone and let us all (try to) come together and enjoy an anime without having to think about politics.

Hell, a part of me thinks you are doing this simply because you enjoy watching people argue. You could just be a damn troll.

[Jord]

This thread should've been locked three posts in. He's not black thats it, thats all.

Why are folks insisting on making these instigating topics? Progressive conversation is one thing, but wording and intent is another. Lets stop.. PLEASE.

Just look at how he looks in GT.

Look at how Toriyama draws black characters and look at how he draws Oob. Oob is not intended to be black.

I know how Toriyma draws black characters, usually very exaggerated with thick lips etc. However, in GT Uub does decidedly look more black / dark brown than before and that's actually where I remember Uub most from. When you look at how he's drawn at the end of Z, he's looking more indian, like others mentioned. He kinds reminds me of Nam actually.

Whether he's black or indian or purple doesn't really matter however. What does matter is how much potential he has. His design really sticks out as unique, especially in GT where Goten and Gohan look incredibly alike. It's cool how they made Pan a main character but I think it would be even better if the team was more diverse. Not for political reasons, but just to see a bunch of different looking characters with unique attacks. I like GT but it's a shame how most of the fights consist of the same punches and ki attacks.

Uub (or Majuub) had unique attacks, a real cool look and could be a great character if given the chance.

[ABED]

Once GT returned to Earth as a setting, I can see why using Uub makes sense, but I still think fans place too much emphasis on strength and cool techniques and not enough on interesting character dynamics. For that reason alone, I find Pan's inclusion into the main cast to be far more interesting (at least on paper) than Uub.