Unpopular DB opinions

[Jord]

He did win one fight - The Invisible Man.

Yamcha also beat Son Goku

I would not say he "beat" Goku, since the fight did not have a proper conclusion. Yamcha just ran away because he saw A wOmAn.

Goku was down for the count though.

[Koitsukai]

Wasn't Yamcha's spot taken over by Roshi in RoF already? I can't recall why Yamcha didn't fight Freeza's Army, but I do remember Roshi in Movie 8 mode beating up Appules and Blueberries.

[Matches Malone]

Wasn't Yamcha's spot taken over by Roshi in RoF already? I can't recall why Yamcha didn't fight Freeza's Army.

Tien wouldn't allow him to join the fight due to it being "too dangerous" for him.

[PurestEvil]

Yamcha also beat Son Goku

I would not say he "beat" Goku, since the fight did not have a proper conclusion. Yamcha just ran away because he saw A wOmAn.

Goku was down for the count though.

They were not in a tournament, so there were no strict rules like that.

[MasenkoHA]

He also wasn’t down for the count.

[ABED]

If I recall, he wasn't at his best since the desert was wearing on him and he hadn't eaten in a while.

[MasenkoHA]

If I recall, he wasn't at his best since the desert was wearing on him and he hadn't eaten in a while.

Yeah Yamucha thought he had killed Goku and then Goku poked him in the eyes and smacked him around with his janken technique. Yamucha was charging with his Roga Fufu Ken while Goku was worn down from hunger and then Yamucha was stopped dead in his tracks by the sight of Bulma.


It was a draw.


And then Goku won their next fight the very next episode when neither fighter was handicapped (i.e Bulma was out of commission and out of sight and Goku had just ate and wasn’t starving)

[ABED]

To sum up, it makes no sense to ask Yamcha to join the team when he hasn't won a fight in decades.

[WittyUsername]

When was the last time Roshi won a fight? He beat Goku in the 21st Budokai, but Goku was significantly weaker back then. Also, Goku didn't know that he was fighting Roshi.

[MasenkoHA]

When was the last time Roshi won a fight?

Roshi didn’t have a track record of losing fights. The only fight he outright lost was against Tenshinhan by forfeit

. Also, Goku didn't know that he was fighting Roshi.

Irrelevant. Goku wouldn’t have fought harder if he knew it was Roshi

[WittyUsername]

When was the last time Roshi won a fight?

Roshi didn’t have a track record of losing fights. The only fight he outright lost was against Tenshinhan by forfit.

He also lost against Piccolo Daimao.

Irrelevant.

Not really. If I recall, Goku is the one who suggests recruiting Roshi to begin with, and he presumably still doesn’t realize that Roshi beat him, or that he fought Tenshinhan to a standstill. Besides, Roshi’s fight with Tenshinhan ends with him essentially passing the torch to a new generation, meaning that he’s basically done fighting. That’s why he doesn’t help fight the Saiyans or the Artificial Humans.

As I said, Toriyama’s decision to have Roshi compete in the Tournament of Power over Yamcha wasn’t done because “it makes more sense”, it was done because Toriyama likes the character, and doesn’t care for Yamcha. That’s also why Yamcha didn’t get to be in RF.

[MasenkoHA]

He also lost against Piccolo Daimao.

He didn’t exactly lose against Piccolo Daimao as much as he died trying and failing to use the mafuba. Obviously he would have lost (as would Yamucha or anyone but Goku pre drinking Super God Water) but there was no actual fight

Not really. If I recall, Goku is the one who suggests recruiting Roshi to begin with, and he presumably still doesn’t realize that Roshi beat him, or that he fought Tenshinhan to a standstill. Besides, Roshi’s fight with Tenshinhan ends with him essentially passing the torch to a new generation, meaning that he’s basically done fighting. That’s why he doesn’t help fight the Saiyans or the Artificial Humans.

Okay but that goes back to Goku knows Roshi as a martial artist that while retired has 300+ years of experience and knowledge. Yamucha’s a dude with a losing streak who basically retired from fighting in his late 20s/early 30s

[ABED]

If Yamcha were included, the best use of him would be for him to have an unexpected hero moment. Like, you know those shows or movies where the unassuming or geeky or nebbishy person has their big hero moment? That's all I can see coming from Yamcha. And honestly that's not that bad an idea, come to think of it.

[Kid Buu]

To sum up, it makes no sense to ask Yamcha to join the team when he hasn't won a fight in decades.

Do you think they should have retired him after the Saiyan Saga?

And it always felt like Mankind was a measuring stick in regards to your earlier post.

[MasenkoHA]

To sum up, it makes no sense to ask Yamcha to join the team when he hasn't won a fight in decades.

Do you think they should have retired him after the Saiyan Saga?

They essentially did. After that his biggest contribution was...getting impaled by Gero’s hand.

[ABED]

To sum up, it makes no sense to ask Yamcha to join the team when he hasn't won a fight in decades.

Do you think they should have retired him after the Saiyan Saga?

And it always felt like Mankind was a measuring stick in regards to your earlier post.

How was he a measuring stick?

[PurestEvil]

To sum up, it makes no sense to ask Yamcha to join the team when he hasn't won a fight in decades.

Do you think they should have retired him after the Saiyan Saga?

And it always felt like Mankind was a measuring stick in regards to your earlier post.

How was he a measuring stick?

Yamcha was defeated a lot of times over the course of the story, most of the time by very important characters. For the cases of Jackie Chun, the Mummy, and Tenshinhan, it was to give the reader/viewer a "first impression" on how powerful the characters were to create anticipation for when Goku had to step up and fight them. For Shen/Kami-sama, it was to subvert the reader/viewer's expectations, as it showed how Yamcha's cockiness and underestimation would lead to his embarrassment. For the Saibaimen and Dr. Gero, it was mainly for shock and characterizing the villains.
In all these cases, Yamcha's defeats introduces the high stakes of their respective arcs. He is not so much a "measure stick" as he is a "bar-setter".

[ABED]

How do you tell how powerful a character is after they defeat Yamcha? As has been stated, he loses a lot. Defeating Vegeta or Piccolo or Gohan or Goku means something. Yamcha isn't exactly a jobber, but he is a curtain jerker or the opening act.

[MasenkoHA]

How do you tell how powerful a character is after they defeat Yamcha? As has been stated, he loses a lot. Defeating Vegeta or Piccolo or Gohan or Goku means something.

In early Dragon Ball I think it was handy device to show how strong the opponent was.


Oh Yamucha wasn’t that much weaker than Goku when we met him and we saw him handily defeat opponents significantly bigger than him while training for the tournament and during the preliminaries so Jackie Chun swiftly and easily defeating him showed us just how good Roshi really is (who up to this point had blew up a mountain with his kamehameha, pushed a big rock, and ran really fast but otherwise hadn’t really shown off his martial arts prowess yet)


Yamucha just went through intense Kame Sennin style training for 3 years and then gets defeated and crippled by Tenshinhan showing us not only how strong Tenshinhan is but he’s also dangerous.


But you can only do it so many times before the character just looks weak and especially when in universe he’s surpassed by most of the fighters (he’s stronger than Chaozu I guess and that’s about it) so certainly in the tournament of power there would be no way to use Yamucha to show how strong an opponent is. Vegeta had long since taken on that role anyways as designated character to get beat to show how strong the enemy is.

[ABED]

Agreed. In the beginning when everyone's strengths were shown to be closer, he was useful in that regard, but as the losses piled up and powers broke the scale, his role in the narrative shifted.