MistareFusion's Dragon Ball Dissection! (Updated 3/16/26!)

[Kid Buu]

A character who is considered strong by in-universe standards, but loses to the new character to show how strong the new character is. Example:

Spoiler:

Yamcha has been easily beaten by Jackie Chun, which shocks Goku, as Yamcha was previous able to put somewhat of a fight against Goku.

[Zephyr]

I see. Well, examples of strong characters losing to new ones as a means to lift up the protagonists, off the top of my head:

Yamcha (multiple times)
Krillin (multiple times)
General Blue
Bora
Jackie Chun
Tenshinhan
Piccolo (multiple times)
Gohan (multiple times)
Vegeta (multiple times)
Dr. Gero
#17 and #18
Cell
Dabura
Fat Buu

[Kamiccolo9]

A character who is considered strong by in-universe standards, but loses to the new character to show how strong the main character is. Example:

I was under the impression that "worfing" is used to show how strong the enemy is, not the protagonist.
In which case, virtually every fighter in every fighting manga ever is a victim of this. Honestly, the term is thrown around way too much.

[Gaffer Tape]

To clarify a bit, "The Worf Effect" is named after the character of Worf from Star Trek: The Next Generation (and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but he doesn't really fulfill this trope on that show). For most of the series, he was the chief of security aboard the Enterprise. Worf was also a Klingon, a warrior race (like the Saiyans but usually not nearly as dickish). So basically, any time some bizarre alien threat attacked the ship, it was usually Worf or his crew who first encountered it, as that was their job. However, the episode would obviously end if he actually succeeded, so many episodes featured Worf getting his ass kicked. And since he was a Klingon and security chief, his ass being kicked was often used as a measuring stick, as in, "Oh, my gosh. If he beat Worf, what kind of threat are we up against?" However, the corollary to this effect is the idea that, if you keep a character in that role for too long without letting them actually show how good they supposedly are, and only show them getting beaten up, then it becomes difficult for the audience to continue to believe this is a tough guy to begin with.

So maybe the idea does get tossed around a bit too freely. I honestly wouldn't know. I haven't really seen it get tossed around all that much to begin with. But I do agree that Yamucha (at least in early DB) fits this role to a T. And, yes, Kamiccolo9. It is used to show how strong an antagonist is.

[Kid Buu]

Jackie Chun kind of is the antagonist of that arc. You don't have to be evil to be an antagonist.

And hey, as for every fighter in every series being a worf at one point, Yami-Yugi never gets worfed, does he?

[Kamiccolo9]

Jackie Chun kind of is the antagonist of that arc. You don't have to be evil to be an antagonist.

And hey, as for every fighter in every series being a worf at one point, Yami-Yugi never gets worfed, does he?

In the anime, he gets completely outclassed in his first duel with Raphael, showing how serious these Doma people are. Some people, though not me, would also bring up his first duel with Pegasus.

[Gaffer Tape]

I wasn't under the impression anyone was arguing against Jackie Chun being the antagonist of the arc. Because, yeah, Yamucha getting beaten was to show how awesome Jackie Chun was.

[Kid Buu]

I don't think he is ever legitimately beaten in the manga, though.

I wasn't under the impression anyone was arguing against Jackie Chun being the antagonist of the arc. Because, yeah, Yamucha getting beaten was to show how awesome Jackie Chun was.

Well, that was my example, and looking at Kamiccolo9's response, it seemed like he was saying otherwise with his "I was under the impression that "worfing" is used to show how strong the enemy is, not the protagonist." line. Sorry if I misinterpreted.

[Gaffer Tape]

I think it's because you said "main character" in your initial post, which would be the protagonist, not the antagonist.

[Kid Buu]

WHOOPS, I meant to say new character, not main character.

Also, some would argue that Goku, the main character, was the antagonist of later arcs.

[Kamiccolo9]

I don't think he is ever legitimately beaten in the manga, though.

In the manga, Atem loses to Pegasus, Kaiba, Joey (when he's possessed by Marik), he loses to Bakura in the first "round" of the final game, and he loses to Yugi at the end. Of all of these, I'd say the last two were legitimate losses.

[Saiga]

Actually, Yami Yugi never duelled possessed Joey and that was a draw rather than a loss due to some weird (read: plot convenient) card effects. I don't think you can really count the loss to Bakura since it's one continuous game and the rounds aren't actually a defined thing. Pretty sure that was mostly trash talk, like how fighters will refer to rounds in fights that don't have them just to say "it's time things got more serious" etc.

Mai was the main worf of the Yugioh cast, although even then she was only as a Worf twice that I can remember.

[Kid Buu]

Wait a minute, on the technique discussion, why does Gotenks even know Tenshinhans attack? Neither Goten or Trunks ever met the damn guy. What did they do, watch bootleg VHS copies of the 22nd and 23rd Budokai?

It makes sense that he can do the Rougafuufuuken though, since Gotenks has Yamcha's DNA via Goten. Similar to how Cell can use moves such as the Kamehameha, since he has Goku's DNA, even though Goku wasn't born with said abilities.

Mai was the main worf of the Yugioh cast, although even then she was only as a Worf twice that I can remember.

Yeah, I think even Anzu was shown winning more duels in the manga than Mai did. Mai worfed Panik and I think Marik?

[TheGmGoken]

It makes sense that he can do the Rougafuufuuken though, since Gotenks has Yamcha's DNA via Goten.

Excuse me now?


Back...to...hiatus.

[Kid Buu]

Hey, Gaffer Tape, does Chaozu appear in the 23rd Budokai portion of the manga after being injured by Tao?

[Gaffer Tape]

He has a tiny, tiny panel near the very end, right before Goku and Chichi fly off. Other than that (and the flashback panel)... no.

[Kid Buu]

Ah okay I was wondering.

That's a real shame though. His only important scene after that was when he off-panel froze Mecha Freeza and allowed Fanfic Trunks to one-shot him.

[Doctor.]

I was expecting a flood of dislikes and angry comments the moment I heard in the introduction that you were going to use the original terms. Sadly, and happily, I was disappointed. Great series. As expected, you appear to prefer the original Dragon Ball adventure style more to the sci-fi style of part 2, which is not surprising considering I'm on Kanzenshuu after all.

[Kid Buu]

Wait a minute, is Chaozu even on this one-sheet?

Spoiler:

It's like the DB version of "Where's Wally?"

[RandomGuy96]

So, quick question: will each anime arc be covered in one video? Or will you be going more in-depth for the anime and have the larger arcs take up more than one?