Android 19 Appreciation Thread

[Kid Buu]

So I really like the early part of the Android invasion, because despite what Toriyamas editor says, the early villains were pretty cool to me. He and Gero really brought a creepy horror-like vibe to the series, that we only got later on in this arc with Cell's early form. However, I don't hear much about this guy, so I made a thread on it.

[Kamiccolo9]

If nothing else, he gave Vegeta his most badass entrance. So kudos to the fat guy for that.

[Gyt Kaliba]

Honestly, just going on pure design motif...I kinda do like 19 and 20 better than 16, 17, and 18. Sure, 18 is a hottie and I love that Kuririn finally gets his romantic dues, and her and 17's personalities are definitely a lot better than 19 and 20's were, but design wise they're just kind of...boring. They would have worked better for the 'in the city and nobody knows who they are' bit due to blending in better, but beyond that...eh. *shrugs* So yeah, I do kind of wish we'd gotten a little more time with 19 and 20 both.

That said though, I did used to hate 19, purely for that dub voice in the old days. Ugh.

[Kamiccolo9]

That said though, I did used to hate 19, purely for that dub voice in the old days. Ugh.

"I'VE GOT YOU. AND I WILL NEVER, EVER, LET YOU GO."

[DarkPrince_92]

I love the Faulconer Productions theme music that came along with his appearance. I thought it always fit his character. Creepy robotic circus clown...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUjXKd8DZvI


It's called "Android 20 theme" for whatever reason...

[SSJ Electric Fury]

It's called "Android 20 theme" for whatever reason...

Technically, this one is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxPio2dPX10

[Valerius Dover]

Yeah, 19 and 20 both give off a really creepy vibe, and I would've preferred to have them be around longer, rather than get shoved aside for more Androids.

19 really works as creepy due to his limited dialog and unsettling smile he has at times. Also, I think his dub voice works really well for this clown-like character.

[FortuneSSJ]

I don't find anything special about him.
I'm just glad he helped Vegeta being badass once again. Goku losing is always cool though, because there isn't many shounen mangakas that have the balls to make the main character lose. Just makes me like his character even more.

When it comes to appearance, A19 and Gero are the worst too (not counting with Ha-chan).

[BlazingFiddlesticks]

So this thread pops up just as I remembered 19 and 20 had health-draining grabs in the Tenakaichi games and I started making builds around that. I'm not sure if #19 or #20 is the better overall character, though.

They were fun, totally creepy, and however short-lived that was it did feel like an extension of Trunks' ruined future. I think I understand what Toriyama's thought process was with #19; in the same way everything got taller, slimmer, and more angular in Z, #19 comes off as Eighter (Dodges bullet) run through that same "darker and edgier" blender, being silent not because he's simple-minded but because he has very little to say. It stops being cute and starts being off-putting. Then Vegeta goes and pulls the superhero trick and gets him to start gloating (at which point, in superhero logic, he acquires a weakness), only to break him in every sense of the word. A great way to establish in deed that the Z Team's foreknowledge really paid off. That's not throwing 19 away, better that they were not the ultimate villains of the arc, but I don't think Toriyama would have given them the honor even if he had total control.

[Pantalones]

I always liked #19 and #20's designs. Actually really glad that Dragonball Heroes did one Android character with a #19/#20-style outfit, considering that a #17/#18-style one would basically just be normal human clothes. XD

And yeah, #19 is pretty creepy, and the "crazy clown music" definitely fits him pretty well. That weird high-pitched echo-y voice kinda grated on my nerves, though. Is it just me or did the video games (at least Budokai Tenkaichi 3 and possibly later games) tone it down slightly?

It'd be kinda interesting to see what the Android saga would've been like if #20 had actually stayed the main villain longer rather than introducing #17 and #18 and then immediately getting killed. I assume in this alternate universe #20 would have a significant power gap on #19, rather than only being slightly stronger as he seemed to be in the series as shown... or maybe their initial levels would stay the same but he'd go on an Imperfect Cell style absorbing rampage? Or maybe we'd see him unleash an army of lesser androids, and then get to see a Super 13/Perfect Cell style "final boss" form of Gero (...for some reason I'm imagining that the parts of the destroyed androids reform into an armor that looks like a mechanical Imperfect Cell, complete with tail as a third absorbing limb... and he'd lose the fake "skin" on his robot face at some point and end up looking like a Terminator-Cell for the final battle... might as well go ahead and have an obvious Terminator reference in the story about killer robots from the future, after all!) when the weaker androids are destroyed and Gero absorbs their components himself to power up into an overpowered mutant freak.

I can't really picture him doing the Cell Games though, unless a glitch in the energy-absorbing program did something odd like... absorbing fragments of the personalities of people whose ki was used to destroy the lesser androids (a good place to introduce the "parts that make up ki" concept we've heard mentioned in guidebooks and interviews which had things like courage and youthfulness and "being in one's right mind" making up parts of total ki? like... Gero didn't account for ki being a semi-spiritual force and thought of it as nothing but energy used as a power source, so he didn't make any attempt to "filter out" these bits with his absorbing method?), and becoming more "fighting-obsessed" along the lines of Goku and Vegeta as a result of their ki signatures probably being the strongest among those who fought, and thus influencing him the most. Basically Gero ends up turning into Cell.

[Valerius Dover]

^Echo? I don't recall his voice ever having any kind of echo. I am aware that he had a voice filter of some kind in the original 2000 release of the dub, but I have no idea what it sounded like. Is what you're referring to?

[Pantalones]

I am aware that he had a voice filter of some kind in the original 2000 release of the dub, but I have no idea what it sounded like. Is what you're referring to?

Yeah, the original Funimation dub's #19 voice. I don't know if "echo-y" is really a good description or not (it's been a while since I've heard the original voice for #19, honestly) but I do remember that it was definitely a really strange-sounding voice.

[Valerius Dover]

I am aware that he had a voice filter of some kind in the original 2000 release of the dub, but I have no idea what it sounded like. Is what you're referring to?

Yeah, the original Funimation dub's #19 voice. I don't know if "echo-y" is really a good description or not (it's been a while since I've heard the original voice for #19, honestly) but I do remember that it was definitely a really strange-sounding voice.

Does anyone perhaps have a clip of what this voice sounded like? I'm only familiar with the unaltered voice used in the 2008 release.

[dbboxkaifan]

I found him much more appealing and interesting than Yamucha for the entirety of the series and during the end of Z (filler, I think) he forced the humans to raise their hands to give Ki for the Genki Dama so he's not all bad. Cool edgy guy.

[Kid Buu]

I found him much more appealing and interesting than Yamucha for the entirety of the series and during the end of Z (filler, I think) he forced the humans to raise their hands to give Ki for the Genki Dama so he's not all bad. Cool edgy guy.

That's Android #17. #19 is the one that Vegeta kills.

[DBZAOTA482]

I liked watching him get his ass kicked, and he's responsible for one of my tracks from the dub (Electronic Circus).

[dbboxkaifan]

Ah yes, correct you are, KB.

Artificial Human No. 19 is the Humanised Pokémon but I've got to say he was too a good addition to the series and had some intense moments, as well as a horrible death although the English dub (FUNimation) gave him a weird robotic voice so if I had watched that version it wouldn't have been as good.

[Valerius Dover]

Ah yes, correct you are, KB.

Artificial Human No. 19 is the Humanised Pokémon but I've got to say he was too a good addition to the series and had some intense moments, as well as a horrible death although the English dub (FUNimation) gave him a weird robotic voice so if I had watched that version it wouldn't have been as good.

It appears only the older release has this. The Remastered version, the one that matters, doesn't give him any robotic voice to speak of. It sounds just as organic as anybody else's. The only exception, interestingly enough, is when his laugh is still heard after getting his head blown off. The same applies to the deaths of 20 and 16.

[Neshawn]

If nothing else, he gave Vegeta his most badass entrance. So kudos to the fat guy for that.

Preach!

[TheUltimateVegito]

He gets major points for being one of the few characters to actually beat Goku without losing in a rematch.