Obscure(st) Characters.

[Grimlock]

Been a while since I created a thread, so just for a casual fun:

Who would you say is the most obscure character these days? Prior to the games, I would say Fu and Ozotto, the former only existed in a guidebook and the latter in a game I don't think any of us can play. Xenoverse 2 and Dragon Ball Heroes changed that for those characters, respectively. Nowadays, I think I would say Bonyu and Yamoshi. The former is just an NPC in a game not everyone played or maybe even heard about it and the latter only exists in an interview. With an honorable mention going to Makaios and Makaioshins.

What other kind-of-forgotten characters would you say deserve some spotlight?

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

If fans didn't obsess over the driving test episode an argument could be made for Cynthia and Yuzukar as they never even have a cameo again after the filler episode they debut in, although both are in Kakarot.

[angeldreamZ004]

I don't think I recall of any other character who had the same status as Majin Ozotto and Fu prior to Heroes and XV2, or obscurity in the level of Mechikabura and other Heroes original characters.
Similar to Yamoshi what I can think of is Zalama and Katatz, though those two at least got a mention in-universe.

From forgotten characters I would like to see again other than just in some mobile game is definitely Shula, character with a very cool design and interesting techniques imo. With that also included the original characters of the "Training in the Road" arc in the first Dragon Ball anime. It's my favorite filler section in the franchise alongside the "Training with Popo" arc. These and other filler from the first anime had unique feeling to me that I can't feel in any of the filler that came out later in Z or Super with maybe the exception of the Training Filler Arc before Vegeta and Nappa's arrival, and I feel the original characters and locations add a lot of charm to those fillers, So I would include all those characters as well as I feel fans generally only care or remember about Z or Super filler characters.

First anime filler characters are overlooked with the only one who's popular being Flappe just because he's "Dr. Gero before Dr. Gero", which is sad for me who thinks that the first anime had the best filler episodes, I like the Introductions of Red Ribbon, Tenshinhan and Chaozu a lot more in the anime than in the manga, and both were in filler with their own set of original characters mixed with Toriyama characters. Episode 81 being amongst my favorite fillers, also really enjoy the Makaimura vibes from that episode.

[Zebra]

Objectively, it's a character who was only mentioned in some random interview or guidebook, like Lanfan's husband Trunks. But those characters probably shouldn't count when we've never even seen what they look like. They don't really qualify as being characters.

Despite only being mentioned in one interview, Yamoshi isn't that obscure in the fandom, since there was a lot of interest in him.

Characters like Bonyuu aren't that obscure, either. A lot of people played Kakarott, after all, and for whatever it's worth, there was a fair amount of "fan-art" for Bonyuu.

I'd say it's characters who've only appeared in older videogames. DB Online has a lot of characters most people wouldn't recognize, like Oob's descendant Ooby and Gyumaoh's descendant Thrash. Likewise, nobody's gonna remember God Guardon from the Hatchiyack OVA.

[Makaioshin]

For characters designed by Toriyama, Kurilien still ranks pretty high on the obscurity scale. They brought back Ozotto...will he ever have his time?

Other than that we have so many minor video game characters like Fagotto though that feels like cheating. Gichamu is a fun bit of trivia though his exist as the creator of the scouter has been supplanted now by Kikono.

[Hellspawn28]

One of the first Dragon Ball toys had a Red Ribbon Army member named "Vegeta". Years before we had the Vegeta that we all know and love.

[Alruneia]

The fairy from Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans comes to mind. Especially since she's not in the Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans version most people would be familiar with.

[NeoZ Duwang]

Pandanuki and Pongitsune I think?

There's also a Mazoku exclusive to one of the famicom games, if I'm not mistaken. If anyone who actually knows their stuff can verify this I will be thankful.

[Zinnia]

Likewise, nobody's gonna remember God Guardon from the Hatchiyack OVA.

Well I do, you have to beat like 4 or 5 of him in the NES game to progress

[angeldreamZ004]

The ones mentioned above made me remind of a special case that I think is quite interesting, which is Copyman. He's introduced in Super Saiya Densetsu from the Famicom as a black variant of Saibaiman but with the special technique of copying the appearance of other characters such as Raditz and Freeza.
He does return in later games, even most recent ones such as Xenoverse and Legends keeping the same name and colors, but he lacks his copy ability.
That means most people are only familiar with this downgraded version of the character where he's just a recolored Saibaiman with nothing special. While the way the character was originally idealized remains pretty much in obscurity.

[VegettoEX]

Likewise, nobody's gonna remember God Guardon from the Hatchiyack OVA.

Well I do, you have to beat like 4 or 5 of him in the NES game to progress

He has a written name show up literally on-screen in animation, which I think elevates him as far more "potentially-known" than some of the other mentions here.



I think the fairy's a good choice (only in the game, not the VHS), Trunks-the-husband is as well (just a name in a guide book), the Red Ribbon Army diorama toys, and some of the other one-off video game characters that doesn't necessarily get a close-up with their name written on-screen front and center. Pongitsune and Pondanuki are also great choices.

I think any potential "top" choice would have to be pre-revival, since as has been noted, even names like Yamoshi and Gichamu get widely documented and spread almost immediately in the modern era, even if they're exclusive to a single page in a Japanese magazine.

So I dunno... maybe the bats from Dragon Dai-Hikyo...??? They only appear in this game, and Shueisha don't even acknowledge it exists anymore! Too bad they don't seem to have a real name...

[SorikaiWolf89]

Who would you say is the most obscure character these days? Prior to the games, I would say Fu and Ozotto,

What other kind-of-forgotten characters would you say deserve some spotlight?

The fact that I don’t know who Ozotto is says it all right there haha
Fu is a good contender bc he’s pretty darn obscure if you don’t play or know about DB Heroes or play the Xenoverse 2 Future Arc DLC Parts 1-4

Besides Fu and whoever Ozotto is I’m gonna say pretty much any character you only see once on screen or in just one episode like filler episodes like Lime for example from that one Cell arc Gohan filler episode

Plus all of the fighters from the Otherworld Tournament arc which I know is filler but you only see those characters specifically only in that arc including Pikkon whose last appearance is in Fushion Reborn
He hasn’t been seen since then except for the video games usually as DLC for the more modern games

[Grimlock]

Yeah, we really need to go into this thread with a Google tab opened. I have never played any Dragon Ball game prior to the PlayStation ones, so anything and everything (with the exception of Ozotto) from before that, I wouldn't know.

I remembered Soba, the Yadorat from Dragon Ball Sagas, though I guess he's also very well documented since it's a way more recent game.