Alternate #17 and #18: Tao Pai Pai & Crane Hermit

[Blackstripe]

So, this is an idea that just popped into my head.

What if, after the failure of #16, Dr. Gero decides he wants his next Artificial Humans to be willing allies that share his desire to kill Goku and rule the world. To that note, he contacts Tao Pai Pai and Crane Hermit and offers to build for them new Android bodies modeled after their own when they were in the prime of their lives. They'll be roughly as powerful as #17 (Tao) and #18 (Crane Hermit) respectively, and have the appearance of young (25ish) Tao and Crane Hermit. They'll of course be the infinite energy model, rather than the absorbing model.

This is an unexpected change caused by Trunks changing the past by killing Frieza, etc., so Mirai Trunks will still be involved. The two Androids are unleashed in the place of #19 and #20 at roughly the same time. What is the result of this change?

[saunasolmu]

That'd be great since Tao Pai Pai is a great villain. Too bad Toriyama had probably already forgotten about him at this point

The result is that they violently kill every Z fighter. No one can stop them.

[Diotor]

Tao Pai Pai and Shen would be far more dangerous than #17 an #18, as they'd add the factor of being highly skilled combatants who would also make efforts to increase their power further through training- something which you didn't see (at least in the story) the current androids doing.

Would love to have seen Kamiccolo throwing a SBC at Tao who would counter with a Super Dodonpa.

[Lord Beerus]

If Tao Pai Pai and Shen were turned into super powerful androids like Lapis and Lazuli, they would have wrecked the Z-Fighters the minute they debuted.

[Duo]

If nothing else, this type of scenario would have made a great movie (especially as a replacement for movie 7), but measuring the immediate consequences on the artificial human arc would take a lot of time to reason out.

[HG-Project]

Yeah...and if they decide not to stop after they kill Goku and Cell still casually shows up to pick at any leftovers, Earth is pretty much SOL.

[DBZAOTA482]

They'd be far more dangerous than Lapis and Lazuli. They're already superhuman level fighters so the increase would be just too much for the Z-Senshi especially since they'd kill them on the spot.

[Herms]

I admit to having at first been unbelievably confused by this topic until I remembered that "Shen" is what the Funi dub calls the Crane Hermit. In the original version (and the Viz manga), the Crane Hermit is simply the Crane Hermit, while "Shen" is the alias Kami takes when he secretly enters the 23rd tournament as that bespectacled guy...the same character who gets called "Hero" in the Funi dub.

(Not to derail this too much, but what the heck happened there, anyway? I mean, I assume Funi used "Hero" for the Kami alias guy because they had already used the name "Shen" for the Crane Hermit, but why did they call the Crane Hermit "Shen" in the first place? I guess the two characters do look a little alike, but if they honestly got them mixed up that's quite a slip-up. Also, even if they couldn't use "Shen" for the second character, why go with "Hero" instead? What's the connection there?)

[Blackstripe]

I admit to having at first been unbelievably confused by this topic until I remembered that "Shen" is what the Funi dub calls the Crane Hermit. In the original version (and the Viz manga), the Crane Hermit is simply the Crane Hermit, while "Shen" is the alias Kami takes when he secretly enters the 23rd tournament as that bespectacled guy...the same character who gets called "Hero" in the Funi dub.

(Not to derail this too much, but what the heck happened there, anyway? I mean, I assume Funi used "Hero" for the Kami alias guy because they had already used the name "Shen" for the Crane Hermit, but why did they call the Crane Hermit "Shen" in the first place? I guess the two characters do look a little alike, but if they honestly got them mixed up that's quite a slip-up. Also, even if they couldn't use "Shen" for the second character, why go with "Hero" instead? What's the connection there?)

Fixed it to avoid confusion.

[Gyt Kaliba]

As much as I like 17 and 18 - especially 18 for Kuririn's sake - I have to admit, this idea really appeals to me. I mean, it is kind of sad that despite them claiming to come back for revenge, they never did. Talk about wasted potential.

[Marco Polo]

I admit to having at first been unbelievably confused by this topic until I remembered that "Shen" is what the Funi dub calls the Crane Hermit. In the original version (and the Viz manga), the Crane Hermit is simply the Crane Hermit, while "Shen" is the alias Kami takes when he secretly enters the 23rd tournament as that bespectacled guy...the same character who gets called "Hero" in the Funi dub.

(Not to derail this too much, but what the heck happened there, anyway? I mean, I assume Funi used "Hero" for the Kami alias guy because they had already used the name "Shen" for the Crane Hermit, but why did they call the Crane Hermit "Shen" in the first place? I guess the two characters do look a little alike, but if they honestly got them mixed up that's quite a slip-up. Also, even if they couldn't use "Shen" for the second character, why go with "Hero" instead? What's the connection there?)

They treat Roshi as a proper name so I think they just wanted to give the Crane Hermit a name too.

[Gyt Kaliba]

On the Shen/Crane Hermit thing, I have a small theory, but I dunno how accurate it is - does anyone remember how often they refer to him as 'Tsuru-sennin' compared to Roshi being called 'Kame-sennin'? Actually, the Crane Hermit was never really referred to as anything else, right? My thoughts are maybe they pulled it from that, somewhat. They wanted another 'Master' name like with Roshi, as Marco Polo said, and looking for anything that sounded good and fit the flaps, culled "Shen" from the "Senn" in "Sennin".

On a different tangent, but slightly related, I want to say they changed the name Kaio-shin entered the tournament under too. Instead of "Shin" it was something else, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was.

[FoolsGil]

Tao Pie Pie sure, but not the Crane Hermit. Crane Hermit really isn't that memorable, so bringing him back after 10 years in story doesn't make me think it's as awesome as Tao.

[Polyphase Avatron]

Crane Hermit was underrated

[Blackstripe]

I think Tenshinhan would more actively involve himself in the fight against them in this case, and maybe buy the Z-Fighters time to escape with his Shin Kikoho if they needed it. He might die, either from overexerting himself or from being killed, but it would give the others a chance to regroup.

[TripleRach]

(Not to derail this too much, but what the heck happened there, anyway? I mean, I assume Funi used "Hero" for the Kami alias guy because they had already used the name "Shen" for the Crane Hermit, but why did they call the Crane Hermit "Shen" in the first place? I guess the two characters do look a little alike, but if they honestly got them mixed up that's quite a slip-up. Also, even if they couldn't use "Shen" for the second character, why go with "Hero" instead? What's the connection there?)

IIRC, the name "Master Shen" was first used in the dub of DB Movie 3, which was released before they even started on the DB TV series.

Not that that really answers any of your questions. But it puts it in the same production time frame as the infamous "General Tao" flashback and other oddities.

[Sinestro]

I love this idea!

I would totally read that fan-fiction.