Dragon Ball Official Worldwide Character Popularity Poll

[MasenkoHA]

For those that don’t want to watch a video:
https://db1.dragon-ball-official.com/en/

Nothing terribly surprising since it is a popularity poll. The top 4 was pretty much a given. I’m slightly surprised Teen Trunks didn’t beat Vegito but otherwise pretty standard list at least for the top 20. I think everyone knew #18 was going to be the highest ranked female character and everyone knew Goku and Vegeta were going to be the top 2 with Gohan and Piccolo behind them

I’m a little over Burdock, dude really should a be non-entity but Toei, Shueisha, and Bandai Namco been riding the wave of one well received tv special from over 35 years ago. I also think Bulma at least should have outranked Yamcha but I’m guessing most fans are sick of the Yamcha bashing and gave him a lot of sympathy votes.

[funrush]

Bardock at 7, Raditz at 21....

I wonder if Raditz gets that high because he's the first enemy in Dragon Ball Z so a lot of people have fond memories of getting into Dragon Ball through that fight. Cause aside from being Goku's brother he doesn't have much going on and is often the butt of jokes.

Also I wonder if this poll will have any effect on future stories. For example will Vegito show up soon since he scored so high? Or with Bardock at 7 is it finally time to do a "Goku meets Bardock" story? A Goku/Bardock/Raditz story? Will small characters that performed well here show up more, such as Mr. Briefs cat or Farmer With Shotgun?

I also think the section that's separated by age is fascinating because with each decade Piccolo goes up the ranks. He's #2 with people 50+. And #1 with specifically women in their 30s. Apparently the older you get the more you like Piccolo. Maybe it's something about Piccolo that resonates with people born in the 70s, maybe it's people who were reading the manga as it was coming out and got hype to see Piccolo turn good. Or it's because Piccolo is a good dad to all the kids he's around.

Japanese men apparently love King Chappa for some reason? Wonder what that's about. Maybe it's a meme.

Another fascinating thing is if you choose sort by responses of people who put "Other" as their gender, for some reason Mr. Briefs' cat is #5 in half the age groups. What is it with nonbinary people and Mr. Briefs' cat?? I gotta say, that is an adorable cat. And it got #15 overall!! Wow!

[dragonballhero]

For those that don’t want to watch a video:
https://db1.dragon-ball-official.com/en/

Nothing terribly surprising since it is a popularity poll. The top 4 was pretty much a given. I’m slightly surprised Teen Trunks didn’t beat Vegito but otherwise pretty standard list at least for the top 20. I think everyone knew #18 was going to be the highest ranked female character and everyone knew Goku and Vegeta were going to be the top 2 with Gohan and Piccolo behind them

I’m a little over Burdock, dude really should a be non-entity but Toei, Shueisha, and Bandai Namco been riding the wave of one well received tv special from over 35 years ago. I also think Bulma at least should have outranked Yamcha but I’m guessing most fans are sick of the Yamcha bashing and gave him a lot of sympathy votes.

Hmm... yeah, none of this is all too surprising to me either. I'll admit that while I like Goten, I AM a tad surprised that HE got into the top 20. Maybe because of his whole thing of looking nearly identical to Young Goku? I don't know.

Conversely, I'm a bit fascinated by how 'Trunks-Prime' (i.e. the Trunks who was a major player in the Majin Buu arc) ISN'T among the top 20. It always felt/feels like the series goes out of its way to give him FAR more of a presence, compared to Goten.

As for Yamcha, I actually had a similar thought. Obviously, there was no way he was beating out Vegeta, but as someone who believes Bulma (Prime AND Future counterpart alike) was lying through her teeth about Yamcha being a cheater and all... well, I can't say that him outranking her isn't a little cathartic for me.

[MasenkoHA]

Bardock at 7, Raditz at 21....

I wonder if Raditz gets that high because he's the first enemy in Dragon Ball Z so a lot of people have fond memories of getting into Dragon Ball through that fight. Cause aside from being Goku's brother he doesn't have much going on and is often the butt of jokes.

I think he’s popular entirely because he’s Goku’s brother. Like there’s a segment of the fandom that is obsessed with bringing Raditz back and making him a major character and there’s really no reason other than I think it grind fans gears that Toriyama “broke the rules” and made the main character’s evil brother insignificant in the grand scheme of the story. If he was just Saiyan from Vegeta’s team who remembered Goku existed and went after him I don’t think he would have cracked the top 30

Also I wonder if this poll will have any effect on future stories. For example will Vegito show up soon since he scored so high? Or with Bardock at 7 is it finally time to do a "Goku meets Bardock" story? A Goku/Bardock/Raditz story? Will small characters that performed well here show up more, such as Mr. Briefs cat or Farmer With Shotgun?

Don’t we get enough of Burdock in the video games and what not? Didn’t he have a role in one of Super’s manga only arcs? That’s a genuine question I don’t read the Super manga but I thought I remembered seeing something about that. God, I hope Goku meets Burdock never leaves fanfiction.net


I don’t think Vegito being popular is shocking to the powers that be. That’s why we got the whole stupid “”Ackshually potara fusion isn’t permanent for non-deities you guys can totally use them and become Vegito again” retcon in the Zamasu arc. I’m somewhat surprised we didn’t get Vegito vs Kefla in the Tournament of Power

Another fascinating thing is if you choose sort by responses of people who put "Other" as their gender, for some reason Mr. Briefs' cat is #5 in half the age groups. What is it with nonbinary people and Mr. Briefs' cat?? I gotta say, that is an adorable cat. And it got #15 overall!! Wow!

Every nonbinary I know is a huge cat person. More surprised Karin didn’t rank higher but I think Bulma’s family cat was just too funny for the irony voters to pass up. Or maybe because Karin barely existed after the Daimao arc where Dr.Brief’s kitty stuck around in Z over hanging over Brief’s shoulders

[Saiya6Cit]

Shame Goku is on top, as series went on, he became more and more selfish and dumb, and right now, he is weakest part of Dragon Ball for me.

I agree Goku did change for the worse.... but he is the face of the franchise, and nothing will ever beat that, he is the equivalent to Mickey Mouse, and I guess that makes Vegeta Donald Duck....

BTW, Bulma is number 13??? What happened? only the Incels voted? You guys realize it was Bulma who took Goku out of the mountains, it was Bulma the one who invented the radar that made it possible to find the other balls, it was Bulma who invented the Time Machine, oh dear ... Guess I should have voted Bulma instead of Vegeta, it is always hard for me to choose...

[Makaioshin]

Most of it is predicable aside from elementary school age girls who have Tenshinhan in their top 3. Nieces are the vanguard of the world. They will seek the path towards strength.

[Zebra]

BTW, Bulma is number 13??? What happened? only the Incels voted? You guys realize it was Bulma who took Goku out of the mountains, it was Bulma the one who invented the radar that made it possible to find the other balls, it was Bulma who invented the Time Machine, oh dear ... Guess I should have voted Bulma instead of Vegeta, it is always hard for me to choose...

Dragon Ball is mostly about fighting. Bulma doesn't fight, so she doesn't leave much of an impression on viewers. She's never ranked high in any of the popularity polls.

Nothing even proves Gokuu wouldn't have left the mountains without Bulma, and she wasn't the only person who built a Dragon Radar. Furthermore, her building things like that and the Time Machine are just convenient off-screen plot devices. It's only the fighting that really gets focused on in the story, and that's all most viewers care about seeing.

How can you say "only incels voted" when Android 18 is no.8? People just don't care much about Bulma, because she never fights.

[MasenkoHA]

Nothing even proves Gokuu wouldn't have left the mountains without Bulma,

He was living in Mount Paozu for basically his entire life and seemed perfectly content. I think it’s a given he wasn’t going to leave if Bulma didn’t sway him with a chance to see a magic dragon.

How can you say "only incels voted" when Android 18 is no.8? People just don't care much about Bulma, because she never fights.

Adding to that, the demographic where 18 cracked the top 5 was the Male over 50 crowd…

I still think Bulma should have placed over Yamcha, who I’m still convinced got sympathy votes and that being a memetic punching bag has been the best thing to happen to that character, but otherwise her placement seemed fair. In the top 15 and below obvious favorites.

[Zebra]

Nothing even proves Gokuu wouldn't have left the mountains without Bulma,

He was living in Mount Paozu for basically his entire life and seemed perfectly content. I think it’s a given he wasn’t going to leave if Bulma didn’t sway him with a chance to see a magic dragon.

Bulma wasn't the only person looking for the Dragon Balls; someone like Pilaf or soldiers from the Red Ribbon Army would've eventually come for Gokuu's ball. It's anyone's guess what would happen next, but Burdack already wished for Gokuu to survive into adulthood, so nothing would kill him at this point.

[JulieYBM]

Artificial Human #18 gets votes because she's 'cool' and 'fights' and isn't overtly feminine in a way that Blooma or Chi-Chi are. Blooma and Chi-Chi 'get in the way' of the male characters getting to be Men™, while—despite once defeating Vegeta in a fight—#18 is otherwise not a threat because Vegeta immediately turns around and grows stronger, so #18 isn't viewed as a threat to the viewer's self-insert's masculinity.

Men want to control women but they will still have more respect for 'women who emulate masculinity' than they do for women—and men—who are feminine. There's also the masturbation factor to consider, too, since men can treat #18 as someone to be 'conquered' sexually, which just ties back into rape culture.

[Big Black Sayian]

Funny enough

Shame Goku is on top, as series went on, he became more and more selfish and dumb, and right now, he is weakest part of Dragon Ball for me.

I agree Goku did change for the worse.... but he is the face of the franchise, and nothing will ever beat that, he is the equivalent to Mickey Mouse, and I guess that makes Vegeta Donald Duck....

BTW, Bulma is number 13??? What happened? only the Incels voted? You guys realize it was Bulma who took Goku out of the mountains, it was Bulma the one who invented the radar that made it possible to find the other balls, it was Bulma who invented the Time Machine, oh dear ... Guess I should have voted Bulma instead of Vegeta, it is always hard for me to choose...

To be fair it's popularity poll of people picking their favorite character. I don't think most people have any serious thought. The cat was definitely trolling tho.

[BernardoCairo]

The top 4 is perfect. Exactly what you'd expect from a poll like this. These are the most iconic Dragon Ball characters. I'd put Piccolo a little above Gohan, but the current ranking is fair. It could be either one.

I'm also surprisingly happy with Yamcha's high position, since he's in my top 5 favorite Dragon Ball characters.