Why was Tiеn always so serious and reserved?

[dbboxkaifan]

He looks like a strong, confident, and wise guy (unlike Yamucha) but Tiеn hardly ever showed up, and when he did it wouldn't last too long or he'd get himself hurt (example: Shin-kiko-ho to the max against Cell).

[Marco Polo]

That's just his personality. He's kind of a loner.

Besides, he never forgave Vegeta, so he probably doesn't like hanging around the Z Fighters who have all forgiven him.

[penguintruth]

Well he was raised to be one man's personal killing machine, disowned said man who took care of him for years, got surpassed by a kid, his best friend/f***puppet keeps getting killed, and was of no consequence to the goings-on of the world but unlike Yamucha had some shame about it and didn't hang around all the time and sponge off of others.

[MCDaveG]

He was hiding his homosexuality he shares with Chaozu by this cold and introvert nature.... Everyone is so muscular with big V-shirts and their bulks are shining and it's hard to exist in this brutal sexual tension among fellow fighters.
Plus I bet that Chaozu is damn jealous and will make a suicidal scenes if Tenshinhan would show his feelings to someone else. Tenshinhan is simply a sad pathetic homo......

[TheMightyOzaru]

Well it was how he was brought up by the Krane Hermit I suppose.

[Kuwabara]

He was hiding his homosexuality he shares with Chaozu by this cold and introvert nature.... Everyone is so muscular with big V-shirts and their bulks are shining and it's hard to exist in this brutal sexual tension among fellow fighters.
Plus I bet that Chaozu is damn jealous and will make a suicidal scenes if Tenshinhan would show his feelings to someone else. Tenshinhan is simply a sad pathetic homo......

Made my day, thanks for this!

[Ginkasa]

was of no consequence to the goings-on of the world but unlike Yamucha had some shame about it and didn't hang around all the time and sponge off of others.

This is probably closest to what would be "true." He was never a friendly guy and only ever spent time with everyone when the world was in danger and they were fighting, etc. He really stuck around for Goku; he saw Goku as a rival and wanted to surpass him in strength. As penguintruth mentions, eventually he just can't measure up at all (his fault for being a human). In his mind he was probably waiting until he felt he could take on Goku; he never could so he kept traning remotely. Obviously he wasn't above helping when he could as shown in both the Cell and Buu sagas.

[Nex Carnifex]

He was hiding his homosexuality he shares with Chaozu by this cold and introvert nature.... Everyone is so muscular with big V-shirts and their bulks are shining and it's hard to exist in this brutal sexual tension among fellow fighters.
Plus I bet that Chaozu is damn jealous and will make a suicidal scenes if Tenshinhan would show his feelings to someone else. Tenshinhan is simply a sad pathetic homo......

You just won

[90sDBZ]

He was just dedicated purely to his training and only cared about becoming a better fighter similar to Ryu from Street Fighter. The guy deserves more respect than he gets though. He never gives up (see fight with Nappa) and managed to hold off Semi-Perfect Cell thanks purely to him inventing and mastering a technique that allowed him to do so through hard training. He also saved Dende and Mr Satan in the Buu saga which in turn saved everyone in the end. Also unlike Krillin and Yamcha he was man enough to fight 17 and 18.

[Marco Polo]

What Tenshinhan really should have done is try to find out more about his ancestors. He is limited by his human heritage but maybe he could have gained access to some kind of powerup specific to the Three-Eyed Clan race or something.

[JeffJarrett]

I want a spin-off about Tenshinhan adventures while not with the gang, where we see Launch and Chiaozu, and him fighting strong opponents that have his level and other martial artists and gangsters. It would also give more information about his origin and the Three-Eyed Clan.

[NitroEX]

He's just a very disciplined martial artist who's obviously been brought up to have control over his emotions.

Plus not everybody can be a charismatic person.

[Olympian]

Well he was raised to be one man's personal killing machine, disowned said man who took care of him for years, got surpassed by a kid, his best friend/f***puppet keeps getting killed, and was of no consequence to the goings-on of the world but unlike Yamucha had some shame about it and didn't hang around all the time and sponge off of others.

Who did Yamucha sponged anyway? He had his own place and was always seen as handling the mecanical work at Capsule Corp.

Seems to me he was paying his stay with his body of work

[Saiga]

Since when is he seen handling mechanical work?