Question About Piccolo

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tlsmith1963
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Question About Piccolo

Post by tlsmith1963 » Tue Jul 04, 2006 9:14 pm

I've been reading the DBZ manga again, & in one volume Piccolo is referred to as a "gastropod". Does anyone know what a gastropod is?

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Post by tarsonis » Tue Jul 04, 2006 9:18 pm

It's a type of mollusk, like snails and slugs. Why he would be referred to as one is beyond me. :?

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Post by Xyex » Tue Jul 04, 2006 9:26 pm

tarsonis wrote:It's a type of mollusk, like snails and slugs. Why he would be referred to as one is beyond me. :?
Because "Namek" (specifically namekuji, the word for the pun) is Japanese for slug. Despite their lizardy looks and plant like fucntions, Nameks are more or less slug-people.
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Post by tarsonis » Tue Jul 04, 2006 11:03 pm

Well, there's your answer. :) I guess that also explains the name of Movie 4's villain.

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Post by BoxerGloves » Tue Jul 04, 2006 11:26 pm

There're also several other Namekians that appear in Freeza Saga that're named after gastropods, such as Nail (a pun for snail) and Cargo (a pun for escargot, the type of slugs that're considered a delicacy in French cuisine, when served with butter sauce, garlic, and spices. Yum!).
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Post by Maphisto86 » Tue Jul 04, 2006 11:51 pm

Heh I tried Namek it's actually quite good... uh I mean escargot. Anyway Toryiama has stated many times he based Piccolo and Kami on Slugs or Snails. Look at their antennae! When Piccolo and Kami where given alien origins Toryiama played more with the gastropod influence though reptilian and plant like characteristics are also shown (ie. Nameks grow back lost limbs, Nameks only need water for sustenance).

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Post by Olivier Hague » Wed Jul 05, 2006 9:07 pm

BoxerGloves wrote:Cargo (a pun for escargot, the type of snails that're considered a delicacy in French cuisine, if served with butter sauce, garlic, and spices. Yum!).
"Escargot" simply is the French word for "snail", actually.

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Post by Akira » Fri Jul 14, 2006 2:03 pm

They eat too, just not often. There is a lizard that lives in souteastern deserts in the United States that can go over 10 months without eating just drinking water. It does have to eat occationally though.

Piccolo is seen to like to eat fish, surprisingly enough. He is seen eating fish once in DB, and talking about eating them once in Z. I'll get screen shots with subtitles if I am not believed. Piccolo can go a long time with water alone, but he does eat on occation.

The nameks mention the Agesai plants that they consume with fish on Namek too. References to them eating are there, just very sparse.

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Post by vl » Fri Jul 14, 2006 2:10 pm

Akira wrote:They eat too, just not often. There is a lizard that lives in souteastern deserts in the United States that can go over 10 months without eating just drinking water. It does have to eat occationally though.

Piccolo is seen to like to eat fish, surprisingly enough. He is seen eating fish once in DB, and talking about eating them once in Z. I'll get screen shots with subtitles if I am not believed. Piccolo can go a long time with water alone, but he does eat on occation.

The nameks mention the Agesai plants that they consume with fish on Namek too. References to them eating are there, just very sparse.
Atleast that explains why they have teeth. Pretty sharp looking teeth anyway.

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Post by Alucard » Sat Jul 15, 2006 2:32 pm

Akira wrote:They eat too, just not often. There is a lizard that lives in souteastern deserts in the United States that can go over 10 months without eating just drinking water. It does have to eat occationally though.

Piccolo is seen to like to eat fish, surprisingly enough. He is seen eating fish once in DB, and talking about eating them once in Z. I'll get screen shots with subtitles if I am not believed. Piccolo can go a long time with water alone, but he does eat on occation.

The nameks mention the Agesai plants that they consume with fish on Namek too. References to them eating are there, just very sparse.
All of the scenes where Piccolo eats something / talks about eating something are fillers. Namekians can survive purely on water, according to what you hear from Kaio-sama on the episodes where Piccolo is on his planet.

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Post by Akira » Thu Jul 20, 2006 10:26 pm

It is more believable that they DO eat occationally though. I will have to double check my mangas to see if it is never shown there or not.

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Post by Swift » Sat Jul 22, 2006 11:59 pm

Well, as for the thing about Namekians only drinking water, I looked back in my DBZ Volume 6 (22 of DB), and found a line about it. Dende, when a tray of food is placed in front of him while he is inside Bulma, Gohan, and Kuririn's capsule house house, specifically says, "We don't eat food like this... We just need water." This doesn't seem to imply that they eat rarely and can survive on only water for a short amount of time... It just says that they don't eat food, and just need water. Sure, it would be more believable the other way, but that theory's plainly contradicted in the manga. I say that Piccolo apparently eating food in the anime is just another one of those anime-only contradictions, like how Goku's spaceship was "completely intact" despite being blown up by Piccolo in the anime.

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Post by Super Sonic » Sun Jul 23, 2006 12:28 am

Well also remember that when little Piccolo ate that fish, he wasn't even a Namekian yet. Just a demon warrior.

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Post by Swift » Sun Jul 23, 2006 12:38 am

...Wha? I'm sure that at that time in the series, Toriyama had intended him to be a demon, and had not thought up the concept of the people of Namek, but in the actual universe, Piccolo had always been a Namekian. He was never a demon warrior; he just though he was, since he was so evil.

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Post by Xyex » Sun Jul 23, 2006 12:50 am

Well also remember that when little Piccolo ate that fish, he wasn't even a Namekian yet. Just a demon warrior.
This matter's how? He's always been a Namek, he just didn't know it. And it's not like Toriyama-sama had him eat anything, ever. All instances of Piccolo eating are pure filler. He's never eaten.
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Post by Tyro » Sun Jul 23, 2006 12:53 am

I see him as half Namekian. He is a demon but has all the powers and looks of a Namekian. I mean, al King Piccolo was was evil in a physical form. Then making a younger more powerful version of himself to become Piccolo Jr.

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Post by Akira » Sun Jul 23, 2006 5:20 am

Well, you can make that line fit your case either way. Maybe he doesn't eat the same type of food as humans & saiyans. I implied that they could survive a LONG time without food, months for sure, maybe even over a year, but at some point, they do eat a little. There is nothing that contradicts this in the manga, and the anime is known to further flesh out some things not touched upon in the manga.

So for the manga purists that reject all else, then have it your way. For everyone else who accepts the parts of the anime that are not in direct, undeniable contradiction with the manga, then they DO eat, but very rarely.

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Post by Guest » Sun Jul 23, 2006 5:44 am

Basically just as they said, it's a pun with words, DAMN TORIYAMA! YOU CONFUSE US! But we still love ya.

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Post by Xyex » Sun Jul 23, 2006 8:50 am

Akira wrote:Well, you can make that line fit your case either way. Maybe he doesn't eat the same type of food as humans & saiyans. I implied that they could survive a LONG time without food, months for sure, maybe even over a year, but at some point, they do eat a little. There is nothing that contradicts this in the manga, and the anime is known to further flesh out some things not touched upon in the manga.

So for the manga purists that reject all else, then have it your way. For everyone else who accepts the parts of the anime that are not in direct, undeniable contradiction with the manga, then they DO eat, but very rarely.
Except that Toei even retcons that mistake. Goku mentions, in movie 6, that Piccolo doesn't eat. And, as previously stated, Dende states that they don't eat too and just need water. That's it. Just water. So Piccolo eating does directly contradict the manga.
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Post by desirecampbell » Sun Jul 23, 2006 1:52 pm

I don't understand what people are arguing. The manga, anime, and movies state that Namekkians "don't eat". Do we see Piccolo eating? Sure. He's got a mouth, damnit :P Why does shots of him doing something led you to believe he absolutely needs to do it to survive?

He can eat, he just doesn't need to and rarely chooses to do so .

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