Piccolo's Death in GT

[ABED]

They're war buddies. They're bonded for life.

[Makaioshin]

I get that, my problem is that they don't hang out much past Dragon Ball.

Yeah, they just sorta go from rivals to best friends off screen. That is just Toriyama's writing. Characters are together a lot and then seem a lot closer when one of them dies(Goku and Kuririn, Kuririn and Yamcha, Piccolo and Gohan, Vegeta and Bulma, etc.).

[Kamiccolo9]

Their on screen interactions don't set up a deep friendship.

A shared experience like that doesn't set up deep friendship? Goku and Kuririn are both good people at heart and love martial arts, so there's shared interests.

I get that, my problem is that they don't hang out much past Dragon Ball.

Well, they were kinda busy. For most of the Saiyan Arc, Goku is dead. Then for most of the Freeza Arc, they are on different planets, and then Krillin dies. For most of the Android Arc, Goku is unconscious, then Goku dies again. In the Buu Arc, Krillin gets turned to stone, and a few hours after he gets better, Goku has to go back to the otherworld, and by the time he returns to Earth, Krillin is dead again.

However, Krillin did form a strong bond with Goku's son, and was basically an uncle, he was the catalyst for Goku's SSJ transformation, and he stuck by Goku when fighting the Androids and Cell. I think he was a pretty good friend in Z.

[InfernalVegito]

Now that I've seen it again, after quite some time, it's even better. The music makes this scene. So infinitely sad and nostalgic.

[DragonBalllKaiHD]

I liked the moment itself, especially Piccolo's conversation with Son Goku right before it happens. I really don't like the placing. Baby was just defeated and then the Ultimate Dragon Balls were still a thing and something happened so everyone was still going to die. Then Piccolo, who you thought died in the only other GT episode he was in, comes back and then dies. It was a good moment and a great character ending but it is sorta weighed down by everything else.

Wasn't it hinted that Piccolo was still alive, since Goten was shown not to be heavily damaged from Gohan's Kamehameha?

[MasterVampire]

So he wanted to stay behind so that the back star dragonballs would turn to stone making it impossible for anyone else to use them.

Why not just hide them instead?
Put one on the planet of the kai's away from the rest.

Problem solved.

[Blade]

For me Piccolo's death is representative of the fact that the GT writers had absolutely no idea what to do with the character other than to kill him. It filled an episode.

[IIMaxII]

The lack of Piccolo, Vegeta and some of the other Z fighters kind of ruined GT for me...Sure Vegeta was in a few episodes...but not till later on.

[Raykugen]

One of the most stupid things of GT, he deaths for the Dragon Balls but he can't destroy them with a single punch.

[ABED]

THe dragon Balls are mystical orbs and we've never seen them destroyed before, so I don't see that as a plot hole.

For me Piccolo's death is representative of the fact that the GT writers had absolutely no idea what to do with the character other than to kill him. It filled an episode.

People will find ANY reason to hate on GT. Even if they didn't know what to do with his character, it's still a great or at the very least a good scene.

[Hellspawn28]

I always believed that Piccolo killed himself to keep the Black Star Dragon Balls away since him and Kami are now one. Piccolo helping out Goku in Hell was nice, but I felt like it was something they came up with on the last second.

[Makaioshin]

Wasn't it hinted that Piccolo was still alive, since Goten was shown not to be heavily damaged from Gohan's Kamehameha?

They didn't really hint at it. The episode ends with us believing Piccolo was obliterated and then the next episode opens with both Gohan and Goten chilling somewhere else. I don't even think Piccolo is mentioned in the "Last time on GT!".

[Blade]

People will find ANY reason to hate on GT. Even if they didn't know what to do with his character, it's still a great or at the very least a good scene.

You'll never see me recklessly contributing in any GT-bash threads, so I think you're quite wrong to assume, incorrectly, that I'm opportunistically criticising it.

The finality of Piccolo's death it makes it almost feel, to me, like they were more interested in getting rid of the character than providing a solution to the Black Star Dragonball saga, and that they simply connected the dots to the Dragonballs to make his death seem meaningful. They could have used Piccolo all the way through the Black Star Dragonball arc - he made the damned things, who else would be more expert at being involved in the search to find them? But they didn't - he wasn't in their plans, but the character, one of the primary protagonists of the franchise, nevertheless existed within the narrative with no explanation as to his whereabouts or activities. As a scriptwriter how do you circumvent that conundrum? You can either make the character interesting, ignore him completely, think of a way to properly involve him in the narrative or kill him off. Option D) was the simplest way to proceed.

My opinion on GT is very much as it always has been: that it contains some wonderfully imaginative ideas, some of the best in any Dragonball, but it rarely executes them properly. GT's script writing feels like the core concepts were devised with proper care and attention, but the episode-by-episode plotting itself was quickly knocked out during Toei coffee breaks, with most resolutions being rounded off to the nearest common denominator or the simplest, quickest option.

[ABED]

People will find ANY reason to hate on GT. Even if they didn't know what to do with his character, it's still a great or at the very least a good scene.

You'll never see me recklessly contributing in any GT-bash threads, so I think you're quite wrong to assume, incorrectly, that I'm opportunistically criticising it.

The finality of Piccolo's death it makes it almost feel, to me, like they were more interested in getting rid of the character than providing a solution to the Black Star Dragonball saga, and that they simply connected the dots to the Dragonballs to make his death seem meaningful. They could have used Piccolo all the way through the Black Star Dragonball arc - he made the damned things, who else would be more expert at being involved in the search to find them? But they didn't - he wasn't in their plans, but the character, one of the primary protagonists of the franchise, nevertheless existed within the narrative with no explanation as to his whereabouts or activities. As a scriptwriter how do you circumvent that conundrum? You can either make the character interesting, ignore him completely, think of a way to properly involve him in the narrative or kill him off. Option D) was the simplest way to proceed.

My opinion on GT is very much as it always has been: that it contains some wonderfully imaginative ideas, some of the best in any Dragonball, but it rarely executes them properly. GT's script writing feels like the core concepts were devised with proper care and attention, but the episode-by-episode plotting itself was quickly knocked out during Toei coffee breaks, with most resolutions being rounded off to the nearest common denominator or the simplest, quickest option.

But at least it's something. Of course they could've built to it better but it still makes for a good moment. I'd rather they use Piccolo the way they did than how they used Goten (barely and what we did see wasn't interesting). So what if it's simple, as long as it works? I agree that Piccolo's choice to die could've meant more had he been used better in the series to that point but that didn't seem like that was your issue with it. Ultimately Piccolo is gone, but he's not forgotten. They make good use of him in the super 17 arc, and having him keep the evil spirits in Hell in line feels like an appropriate end. Having his death amount to nothing would've been more disappointing than what lead up to it. Killing off characters can be lazy but the worse sin is not having the death mean anything.

Toriyama had a lot of great ideas and many were executed well, but he flew by the seat of his pants, so plotting during coffee breaks doesn't feel like it's enough to land them in writers' jail.

[Scott]

Piccolo being killed off never really annoyed me so much because in the Dragon Ball world death is not so bad, it's him being stuck in hell that annoys me, it's just not right.

[Makaioshin]

Piccolo being killed off never really annoyed me so much because in the Dragon Ball world death is not so bad, it's him being stuck in hell that annoys me, it's just not right.

I liked him becoming the warden of hell. Not only does it close the possibility of villains breaking out of hell but I also couldn't really see him doing much in heaven other than mediating.
And I guess if he ever wanted to leave he would just need to find that secret path Goku found in Z.

[ABED]

Piccolo being killed off never really annoyed me so much because in the Dragon Ball world death is not so bad, it's him being stuck in hell that annoys me, it's just not right.

He went there by choice.

[Hellspawn28]

I also couldn't really see him doing much in heaven other than mediating.

They could have him stay with King Kai on the Grand Kai's planet instead just having him stay in Heaven. They had Yamucha and Kuririn with King Kai during the filler parts of the Buu saga in the DBZ anime.

[Makaioshin]

I also couldn't really see him doing much in heaven other than mediating.

They could have him stay with King Kai on the Grand Kai's planet instead just having him stay in Heaven.

I forgot about that martial arts haven. Still, Piccolo was never about increase his own skills as a martial artist by meeting new opponents like Goku was. After his merge with God he seemed more interest in the benefit of the people of Earth. So I think an ending where he gets to use his skills to help the entire Dragon World is better. It is almost like he got a new godly position.

[Kamiccolo9]

I also couldn't really see him doing much in heaven other than mediating.

They could have him stay with King Kai on the Grand Kai's planet instead just having him stay in Heaven.

I forgot about that martial arts haven. Still, Piccolo was never about increase his own skills as a martial artist by meeting new opponents like Goku was. After his merge with God he seemed more interest in the benefit of the people of Earth. So I think an ending where he gets to use his skills to help the entire Dragon World is better. It is almost like he got a new godly position.

Toei Piccolo's idea of free time seems to be sitting around meditating anyway. I seem to recall quite a few of the movies having Piccolo sitting around floating in the air a lot.