Team Four Star's influence on Dragon Ball's revival

[Rory]

Though I can see what KBABZ is trying to say, 'destructive' is a really poor choice of wording for this topic. It implies it's doing damage to the show, like, financially? Like this will destroy/end the series. Probly best to use another term here.

DBZA did actually start going for a more serious tone in season 3 and had some genuine emotional moments just like the show did.

Moments that have nothing to do with the original show, flat-out re-writing of characters to the point of fan-fiction (poorly written fan-fiction at best). It just continues to muddy conversation, it's as if we just managed to shake off the original dub's effect on discourse, now we have a whole new wave of bad takes to deal with.
Also on a more personal note I couldn't give two shits whether some e-celeb has watched Dragon Ball.

[Peach]

I think it played little role on the popularity of the revival. Dragon Ball games never stopped. It has been a world wide phenomenon for years.

It's only slightly more popular than Yugioh Abridged. I grew out of it years ago.

I think Dragon Ball Z Abridged actually hurt Dragon Ball Z Kai's popularity because younger people watched the internet show online instead of the actual series.

[ABED]

It would be one thing if it were just relegated to a fan parody that I didn't like but it's not. Sadly, far too many people place far too much importance on the show than it rationally deserves. The parody is NOT a way to watch DB anymore than Spaceballs is a way of watching Star Wars. This should not have to be said, but apparently it does over and over.

Give credit where credit is due -- they're synonymous with the series.

They're not to anyone outside of this bubble.

There's an article on comicbook.com titled "What Dragon Ball Z Abridged Does Better than the Original Anime". There's one claim that shows you how blind that show's fandom can be

Adding the necessary bit of levity to the admittedly goofy aspects of the franchise, Abridged found the right balance of action, character drama, and comedy that only those who understand Dragon Ball on a deeper level could really pull off... The original takes itself seriously, and it's to the point where all of its goofier elements stick out like a sore thumb... Abridged adds the comedy that Dragon Ball Z so sorely needed.

Because as we know, DBZ lacked necessary bits of levity.

[Cure Dragon 255]

No I wont stop hating thank you very much. Not when preposterous notions like a shitty fanfic video series is held up as "Synonymous with Dragon Ball."

[XanatosVanBadass]

The video games, 2008 special reception and the like did way more for the DB revival than TFS. That notion is embarrassing in its America centrism.

[ABED]

Also, isn't Toriyama's dissatisfaction with Evolution a significant reason for the revival?

[10gigtriforce]

I'm not sure how much influence DBZA had on Super, either way i'm glad it exists.

It had enough to the point where they reused jokes from dbza in super. When vegeta goes to train in the room of spirit and time before the ToP they do the same cut to "scary popo eyes" that TFS does, and have him threaten vegeta while they do it.


I'll admit the show is good for a cheap laugh, BUT it did more harm than good to dragon ball's community. Taking little derp derp jokes to the point where people are pushing them as 100% canon.

Yeah goku isnt dad of the year but hes far from a shite father. He goes to rescue gohan from raditz, once cares/is upset when he sees him on nakem beaten up the the special forces, happy to see him after the 7 years. Now he isnt particularly a great dad ether, just ask cell and thats the tip. But, to go along with the new fan interpretation of goku, super made him not only a full idiot but so bad a dad and person the universe almost died.

krilin gets his butt handed to him time and again, but hes not a gag character who looses on the same level as dang yamcha( who in and of himself isnt *just* a gag character only mostly one)

And do I really need to mention all the piccolo is gohans real dad jokes that are also bs? At most hes a big brother, he is only 4ish years older.

really the problem isnt so much with tfs but with the new generation of fans who wait on baited breath for their word as law. I mean tfs didnt set out to do anything other than make a fun joke, the fans however (like always with weebs) ruined it worse than anyone could have imagined

[Kataphrut]

People are trying to downplay it, but I'll be frank- I got back into Dragon Ball because of DBZA. Before that, Dragon Ball was just another cartoon on Cheez TV I occasionally watched and didn't even like that much. But I discovered DBZA in uni, enjoyed it a lot, ended up diving deeper into the main series, that year Resurrection F came out in the cinema, and it all went from there.

There'd be a lot of stories like mine out there. They've definitely had an impact on the fandom. A few people will try to blame them for all the crappy jokes that have spawned, but a) Goku is a bad dad and Krillin/Yamcha/whoever is a loser have been fandom jokes far longer than DBZA, and b) blame the idiot fans who treat a parody series like it's a substitute for the official release. Team Four Star themselves never encouraged that.

[kemuri07]

Jeez. The old men grumbling in here...


I like TFS. I like TFS a lot and find that it enhances my enjoyment of the original series. Like I'll be watching a random episode at home and a scene reminds me of a DBZA joke, and I chuckle. I'd say that TFS is a net positive for the culture, and probably got more people to check out the series proper.

Sure, does it annoy me when people try to claim that DBZA is better than DBZ proper? Sure. Because I don't think DBZA stands on its own because it is a parody: It's dependent almost entirely on your own history with the franchise. And considering the story beats and scenes they used are lifted from Dragon Ball Z, I don't think you can claim that it's an independent product that's superior to the original one. Besides, dogging on DBZ has been in vogue long before TFS enter the public conscious. I'd argue that the biggest hit to DBZ is the near constant cycle of jokes that sum up the series with basically two jokes: hurp durp 5 min, lol and WHAT DOES THE SCOUTER SAY ABOUT HIS POWER LEVEL.

It's funny as a joke, but there are people who literally think DBZ is nothing more than two buff guys powering up for 20 minutes.

[MasenkoHA]

krilin gets his butt handed to him time and again, but hes not a gag character who looses on the same level as dang yamcha( who in and of himself isnt *just* a gag character only mostly one)

Krillin being a loser who dies a lot has always been a meme.

The whole “Goku is a bad father and Piccolo is Gohan’s real dad where it counts” take that was at least amplified by TFS if not outright started by their parody. Find any video of the actual show with Piccolo in it and there will be some comment about him being Gohan’s dad. Those kinds of comments didn’t honestly exist before TFS.

Goku being a bad dad might have been a meme with the fandom of the Japanese version. But the casual base, the one that’s now super hardcore in parroting TFS jokes snd hot takes” really didn’t run up on that interpretation before especially since the Funi dub tried to push Goku as a loving father and husband.

[kemuri07]

Right. That's not the tone of DBZ. Gohan throughout the series is very much the dutiful son who pretty much worships his father. Piccolo is just his mentor.

But at the same time. meh? It's people having fun, so it's not that big of a deal.

[Planetnamek]

Though I can see what KBABZ is trying to say, 'destructive' is a really poor choice of wording for this topic. It implies it's doing damage to the show, like, financially? Like this will destroy/end the series. Probly best to use another term here.

DBZA did actually start going for a more serious tone in season 3 and had some genuine emotional moments just like the show did.

Moments that have nothing to do with the original show, flat-out re-writing of characters to the point of fan-fiction (poorly written fan-fiction at best). It just continues to muddy conversation, it's as if we just managed to shake off the original dub's effect on discourse, now we have a whole new wave of bad takes to deal with.
Also on a more personal note I couldn't give two shits whether some e-celeb has watched Dragon Ball.

I think you're flat out dead wrong about it being a "Bad take", especially when many have praised it for improving on the original show(since some didn't like the Buu saga and claimed it felt tacked on).

I'm not sure how much influence DBZA had on Super, either way i'm glad it exists.

It had enough to the point where they reused jokes from dbza in super. When vegeta goes to train in the room of spirit and time before the ToP they do the same cut to "scary popo eyes" that TFS does, and have him threaten vegeta while they do it.


I'll admit the show is good for a cheap laugh, BUT it did more harm than good to dragon ball's community. Taking little derp derp jokes to the point where people are pushing them as 100% canon.

Yeah goku isnt dad of the year but hes far from a shite father. He goes to rescue gohan from raditz, once cares/is upset when he sees him on nakem beaten up the the special forces, happy to see him after the 7 years. Now he isnt particularly a great dad ether, just ask cell and thats the tip. But, to go along with the new fan interpretation of goku, super made him not only a full idiot but so bad a dad and person the universe almost died.

krilin gets his butt handed to him time and again, but hes not a gag character who looses on the same level as dang yamcha( who in and of himself isnt *just* a gag character only mostly one)

And do I really need to mention all the piccolo is gohans real dad jokes that are also bs? At most hes a big brother, he is only 4ish years older.

really the problem isnt so much with tfs but with the new generation of fans who wait on baited breath for their word as law. I mean tfs didnt set out to do anything other than make a fun joke, the fans however (like always with weebs) ruined it worse than anyone could have imagined

I don't think it did any real "harm", I find that claim highly dubious at best since there's no real way to prove it.

[ABED]

I think you're flat out dead wrong about it being a "Bad take", especially when many have praised it for improving on the original show(since some didn't like the Buu saga and claimed it felt tacked on).

Define "many."

[MasenkoHA]

I think you're flat out dead wrong about it being a "Bad take", especially when many have praised it for improving on the original show(since some didn't like the Buu saga and claimed it felt tacked on).

How are those two things even related? They never abridged the Boo saga.

Also the Boo saga was tacked on always felt like a bad take. Ending at the Cell saga for the actual manga would have been a lackluster conclusion.

[jjgp1112]

I've been seeing and making jokes about Goku's bad parenting skills for as long as I've been in the fandom, which goes back to 2001.

95% of the TFS's jokes originated from in-jokes in the fandom. When Gohan first said the "At least they're AROUND" line I was just surprised it took them that long to broach the subject.

This might be a two Americas thing too because among the black DB fandom Goku's always been labeled an ain't-shit deadbeat

[Planetnamek]

I think you're flat out dead wrong about it being a "Bad take", especially when many have praised it for improving on the original show(since some didn't like the Buu saga and claimed it felt tacked on).

How are those two things even related? They never abridged the Boo saga.

Also the Boo saga was tacked on always felt like a bad take. Ending at the Cell saga for the actual manga would have been a lackluster conclusion.

That was apparently where Toriyama wanted to end it though, Buu was said to have only have happened because of demand for fans for more, and considering how all-over-the-place that arc is it's easy to see that.

I think you're flat out dead wrong about it being a "Bad take", especially when many have praised it for improving on the original show(since some didn't like the Buu saga and claimed it felt tacked on).

Define "many."

The millions that watched the DBZA episodes on Youtube

[ABED]

I doubt millions have claimed that. In effect, you're saying the majority of fans claim it improved on Toriyama's work. Not buying it. I'm also not buying the numbers. There might be a million views, but is that from millions of individuals?

[It_Is_Ayna_You_Flips]

This might be a two Americas thing too because among the black DB fandom Goku's always been labeled an ain't-shit deadbeat

That and Bulma's villain taming pussy are the two oldest community in-jokes I can think of.

[Lord Beerus]

I like TFS as much as next guy, but... come the fuck on. They have had zero influence on Dragon Ball's revival. Dragon Ball was still getting yearly video games, home video re-releases and occasional reruns on TV, so even amongst the most niche part of the fandom, Dragon Ball always had a presence in the West. This isn't to dismiss they work or even the recognition they come from the some prominent members of the FUNimation staff, but man, some fans are VASTLY overestimating the significance of the show. Hell, I'd say its had a negative impact in some parts of the community as so many fans will take the most prominent gags in the show and try to crowbar them into the actual story.

[Robo4900]

Also, isn't Toriyama's dissatisfaction with Evolution a significant reason for the revival?

No. It was going to happen anyway, but his dissatisfaction with Evolution was one reason why he elected to take Toei up on their offer to work with them on Battle Of Gods.