Should characters take advantage of enemies' physical weaknesses more often?

[LoganForkHands73]

Without sparking yet another discussion about Dragon Ball turning into nothing but a brute-force numbers game of who's stronger than who when it comes to battles, I wanted to talk about a very specific element of fights that is rarely included in more recent battles: combatants' exploitable physical weaknesses.

Here's what I mean...

Remember that Majin Buu fella? A lot of characters would grab him by the head-tentacle to use him as a fat pink paddle board ball, most memorably in his fight against Super Saiyan 3 Goku. Vegetto also uses it against Super Buu to even more devastating effect and even blows it up after ripping it off Buu's disintegrated body for good measure. Dragon Ball sure can be violent...


While this can mainly be used to add some entertaining spice to fights, it can also make battles feel more uniquely personal and, well, physical. It's like in any UFC match -- if a competitor has a weaker left leg, chances are their opponent are going to shin-kick it to oblivion. While Dragon Ball did in many ways become a pure strength contest, the physical confrontations naturally remained a huge draw and still are. Even though the later Z sagas represent a point where battle strategy had long since been thrown out the window for the most part, these nice touches were still included in the fights against Buu.

Going back much earlier, we have the legendary showdown between Jackie Chun and Son Goku at the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai, in which a simple difference in height is a pivotal factor in Contestant Chun's victory. Going for a dramatic mid-air kung fu kick, Rosh- ahem, I mean Jackie Chun's longer leg allows him to land a much more damaging kick to Goku's jaw, whereas he only takes a glancing hit from Goku's stubbier limb and therefore wins by endurance.


I'd like to see more of this in Dragon Ball fights. Looking at the Super manga, I always thought Moro's horns would be a glaring weakness in hand-to-hand fights in a similar way to Buu's tentacle. I thought characters would be grabbing onto them left and right, using them as leverage to throw him around. Looking more broadly at the whole franchise, hardly anyone grabs onto the Saiyans' hair -- I only remember Jiren doing it once to Goku in the Tournament of Power. *cough* I sure don't mind a bit of hair-pulling *cough*

Thoughts? I was partly inspired by the discussion by nickzambuto about Super Saiyan Grade III's physical bulk being its main weakness. Check it out!

[Polyphase Avatron]

Gohan warned Videl about opponents pulling her hair in fights. Perhaps he should have warned his dad when he went SSJ3.

[JulieYBM]

I want characters who aren't martial artists to fight dirty. Grab hair! Spit into eyes! Pee on your foes!

[Lionel]

It's the essence of Dim Mak, isn't it? What I mean is striking vulnerable points on a person's body like the temple, eyes, groin, nerve areas, and others. Pragmatically it would make sense and it's technically part of martial arts but so many characters who aren't villains seem adverse to that kind of approach. Personally, I would welcome it as it would be a nice deviation from the brash might obsessed powerhouses who have come to dictate the terms of fights.