Frieza, Cell and Buu Saga: which one has the LESS iconic moments?

[TheRed259]

Between these 3 big arcs of Dragon Ball Z which one do you think has the less iconic moments? The Frieza, the Cell or the Buu Saga?

[MasenkoHA]

Let's see

Freeza
1.Vegeta's dying speech
2. Goku becoming a Super Saiyan
3. Goku's I am Speech
4.Freeza saying Namek is gonna explode in "5 minutes"
5.Freeza getting sliced in half by his own attack

Cell
1. Trunks showing up and going Super Saiyan and making quick work of Freeza and Cold
2.Vegeta showing he can become a Super Saiyan
3.Cell becoming perfect
4. Gohan turning Super Saiyan 2
5. Father and Son Kamehameha

Boo
1.Goku and Vegeta's long awaited "rematch"
2. Goku turning Super Saiyan 3
3. Vegeta sacrificing himself for Bulma, Trunks, and Goku
4. The earth's genki dama

I guess there is a lot of debate at what constitutes "iconic" but Boo, I guess?

[Hugo Boss]

Boo
1.Goku and Vegeta's long awaited "rematch"
2. Goku turning Super Saiyan 3
3. Vegeta sacrificing himself for Bulma, Trunks, and Goku
4. The earth's genki dama

I guess there is a lot of debate at what constitutes "iconic" but Boo, I guess?

Goku and Vegeta fusing?

[Yuji]

I'd say the Freeza arc. Most fans seem to gloss over the initial cat and mouse half of the arc and the more remembered moments are concentrated when the Ginyus start showing up.

[ABED]

Between these 3 big arcs of Dragon Ball Z which one do you think has the less iconic moments? The Frieza, the Cell or the Buu Saga?

Not to divert this, but big three? Are we not considering the Vegeta arc its own arc?

Just eyeballing it, I'll say the Buu arc. There are probably not just fewer moments, but the iconic moments don't feel as big either.

If we are considering the Vegeta arc as part of the Freeza arc, how is that not the top of the list of iconic moments?

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Why not Vegeta's acknowledgement Goku is better than him for the Boo arc?

I'd say the Cell arc has the least iconic moments. I'm not sure I'd consider his transformation to Perfect Cell iconic. Maybe an argument could be made for Goku putting his hand on Cell to transport him to Kaio-Sama's world? That's an act people look to as one of Goku's most (if not the most) heroic deeds.

[TheRed259]

I guess there is a lot of debate at what constitutes "iconic"

Yeah, that's true.

From the Cell Saga for example, Vegeta's Final Flash or Goku's Instant Kamehameha are also iconic moments for me but for others maybe not.

Not to divert this, but big three? Are we not considering the Vegeta arc its own arc?

The Vegeta or the Saiyan Saga in general isn't that big so it wouldn't be a fair comparison. That's why I didn't include it.

[MasenkoHA]

Goku and Vegeta fusing?

Why not Vegeta's acknowledgement Goku is better than him for the Boo arc?

I guess there is a lot of debate at what constitutes "iconic" but Boo, I guess?

[ABED]

I guess there is a lot of debate at what constitutes "iconic"

Yeah, that's true.

From the Cell Saga for example, Vegeta's Final Flash or Goku's Instant Kamehameha are also iconic moments for me but for others maybe not.

Not to divert this, but big three? Are we not considering the Vegeta arc its own arc?

The Vegeta or the Saiyan Saga in general isn't that big so it wouldn't be a fair comparison. That's why I didn't include it.

It's not as long but it has so many iconic moments - Raditz telling Goku he's a Saiyan, Yamcha's death, Goku vs. Vegeta, Kaio-ken, Piccolo killing Raditz and Goku with the Makankosappo, etc.

[Desassina]

It's very difficult for a Dragon Ball arc to have the least amount of iconic moments, but if I were to compare them to the arc's overall running length, then the Freeza arc dragged and diluted their overall importance to the story. Vegeta's effort to get the Dragon Balls is somehow subdued by the sudden arrival of the Ginyu Force and Goku's triumphant arrival from space training is put to rest once his body is stolen. By the middle of Namek, I was tired of seeing Namekians and Saiyan armor, and wanted the planet's color to show some variety already. This brings me to the last chapters of that arc: the planet finally saw some reds from the explosion, Goku flared up his golden hair and Freeza got butt naked with his purple jewels showing, and it came from a last ditch effort to introduce something new. People revered this arc because of Super Saiyan without knowing how it would overstay its welcome later. It was one of the most important moments of Dragon Ball Z due to its historical impact. Without it, Namek would be a land of recycled material, whose pace is worse than the Red Ribbon Army arc.

[90sDBZ]

I'll say the Cell saga was the least iconic. It probably had just as many big moments, but they feel less significant to me on average.

Frieza:
-Goku's arrival on the battlefield against the Ginyu Force and again with Frieza.
-Frieza's multiple transformations being so iconic that they're a meme.
-Vegeta's death
-Kaioken x20
-Spirit Bomb
-Krillin's death and Goku going SS1
-Goku blasting Frieza at the end of the fight

Cell:
-Trunks arriving, going SS1 and killing Frieza
-Vegeta going SS1
-Super Vegeta
-Final Flash
-Gohan going SS2
-Goku's sacrifice
-Father son kamehameha

Buu:
-Goku vs Majin Vegeta
-Vegeta's sacrifice
-Goku going SS3
-Mystic Gohan vs Super Buu
-Vegito
-Vegeta's "You are number 1!" speech
-The entire Spirit Bomb sequence and the scenes leading up to it
-Goku leaving with Uub

[Majin Buu]

I'll also go with the Cell arc. Trunks' introduction, Gohan going Super Saiyan 2 and overwhelming Cell, Goku sacrificing himself, and Gohan killing Cell are the only 4 moments of the arc that I would call iconic; and they're all either at the very beginning of the arc or in the arc's final battle.

Piccolo rejoining with Kami gets an honorable mention. I'm not sure if it's iconic so much as a great character moment.

[90sDBZ]

As nobody else has mentioned it, I think the Saiyan arc is also very iconic for the following reasons;

-The introduction of Raditz and the revelation Goku is an alien.
-Special Beam Cannon/Makankosappo scene
-Gohan's training/bonding with Piccolo
-Goku's training with King Kai
-Earth's greatest warriors standing together to defend it
-Several emotional death scenes (Piccolo's sacrifice in particular)
-Goku's arrival and beatdown of Nappa, ending with the introduction of Kaioken
-Pretty much Goku and Vegeta's entire fight. The iconic poses, Kaioken x3, the beam struggle, Oozaru Vegeta, and Goku's first time using the Spirit Bomb in battle.
-Goku telling Krillin to spare Vegeta

It might actually be the most iconic, if it wasn't for the Frieza arc having the moments the franchise is most known for, and establishing the formula going forward.

I'll rank it Frieza>Saiyan>Buu>Cell from most to least iconic. I think that pretty much lines up with my favourite to least favourite too.

[Civic]

Frieza:
- Goku stomping Burter and Recoome
- Ginyu switching bodies with Goku and back again
- Gohan (briefly) kicking the shit out of second form Frieza
- Frieza's final transformation
- Vegeta's death speech
- Goku's Kaioken x20 Kamehameha
- Spirit Bomb
- Krillin's death and Goku's SSJ
- Frieza's bisection and the "You fool!" moment

Cell:
-Trunks obliterating Mecha Frieza and King Cold as SSJ
-Vegeta's first SSJ appearance
-Vegeta killing Android 19
-18 breaking Vegeta's arm
-Cell's first appearance
-Piccolo vs Android 17
-Tien's Tri Beam against Semi-Perfect Cell
-Super Vegeta's domination of Semi-Perfect Cell
-Perfect Cell's transformation
-Vegeta's first Final Flash
-Trunks' SSJ Grade 3 transformation
-Goku vs Cell (including Instant Kamehameha)
-Gohan's SSJ2 transformation
-Gohan murdering the Cell Jrs
-Kicking 18 out of Cell
-Goku's sacrifice
-Vegeta attacking Super Perfect Cell after Trunks' death
-Gohan vs Cell Kamehameha battle

Buu:
-Gohan's SSJ2 transformation during the WT
-Majin Vegeta attacking the crowd and that wicked smile
-Goku vs Majin Vegeta
-Majin Vegeta's speech
-Majin Vegeta's Final Explosion
-Goku's first SSJ3 transformation
-Buu splitting and being absorbed by his evil half
-Gotenks' first SSJ3 transformation
-Buu and Gotenks yelling a portal
-Buu absorbing Gotenks
-Vegito's fusion
-Vegito fighting on as candy
-Kid Buu's Planet Buster and destroying Earth
-Vegeta's speech on the World of the Kais
-Vegeta's Spirit Bomb plan
-Goku's Spirit Bomb attack against Kid Buu

Frieza Saga for me. There are less of them, but they're still impactful.

[Cipher]

I wanted to say the one least present in public consciousness was Boo, since it only really has the final Genki Dama and the Fusion dance, but Cell really on has the father-son Kamehameha climax, so… Weirdly, Cell, I guess.

Although Cell himself might curry a little more cultural presence/iconography than any single new character in the Boo arc, so maybe it evens out.

The Namek arc is hands down the most culturally present and referenced arc of the entire series and it’s not even really a contest.

[jjgp1112]

I wanted to say the one least present in public consciousness was Boo, since it only really has the final Genki Dama and the Fusion dance, but Cell really on has the father-son Kamehameha climax, so… Weirdly, Cell, I guess.

Although Cell himself might curry a little more cultural presence/iconography than any single new character in the Boo arc, so maybe it evens out.

The Namek arc is hands down the most culturally present and referenced arc of the entire series and it’s not even really a contest.

I think at least in American fandom, the Cell saga has had the most staying power and reverence.

[Majin Buu]

I think at least in American fandom, the Cell saga has had the most staying power and reverence.

Yeah. From what I've heard, in Japan the Cell arc isn't that popular and Cell himself is considered a step down from Freeza (which...he is).

The Cell arc being popular and iconic is mostly an American thing.

[ABED]

Wait, do we mean less or fewer?

[Desassina]

Wait, do we mean less or fewer?

I was going to ask this myself, but then I remembered that I wrote "the least amount of iconic moments", so I'm suspect despite having talked about their importance (Namek and Freeza's only though).

[Cure Dragon 255]

I was going to ask something similar to ABED but somewhat different. Topic creator did you mean which arc has the LESSER ICONIC MOMENTS (Moments that matter less) or which arc has MORE ICONIC MOMENTS (Arcs that have the most moments)?