Xeno (Suffix)

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Five Dragon Ball Heroes Time Patrol Xeno characters, as featured in the promotional video for Universe Mission set 3.

Xeno is a suffix appended to multiple characters in the Dragon Ball Heroes and Super Dragon Ball Heroes arcade games, home ports, collectible data cards, and related media. It is used to distinguish versions of established characters whose histories are unique to the fiction of Dragon Ball Heroes, and who are in some way connected to the games' version of the Dark Demon Realm. Characters bearing this suffix are sometimes referred to by both staff and official media as "Xeno characters."

Use

The suffix "Xeno" is appended to a number of card titles and subsequently character names in the Dragon Ball Heroes and Super Dragon Ball Heroes data card games and related fiction, always appearing after a semi-colon and the character's usual name.

The Super Dragon Ball Heroes 8th Anniversary Super Guide notes that "Xeno" signifies, as with its real-world use as a as a prefix, "something different," or "something changed." The same guide notes that Dragon Ball Heroes producer Wataru Higuchi intended for the phrase to distinguish characters connected to the Dark Demon Realm in Dragon Ball Heroes fiction. Accordingly, all characters currently bearing the "Xeno" designation maintain some connection to the Demon Realm, either being seen fighting against it—primarily but not exclusively as members of the Dragon Ball Heroes incarnation of the Time Patrol—fighting for its revival, or somehow running afoul of its schemes.

In all cases, both the arcade games and related media present "Xeno" characters as being versions of pre-established characters whose histories are unique to the fiction of Dragon Ball Heroes. The origin of these different histories may be given no in-universe explanation—as is the case with most members of the Heroes incarnation of the Time Patrol—or be the result of in-fiction time-travel unique to Dragon Ball Heroes story lines, as is the case with various "Xeno" versions of main-series villains who appear in Super Dragon Ball Heroes Set 1-Set 6 and the Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Dark Demon Realm Mission! manga.

Use of the "Xeno" suffix currently applies only to characters with main-series counterparts, rather than all Demon Realm-related characters who are from timelines unique to the fiction of Dragon Ball Heroes. To that extent, Dabra: Xeno is given the suffix uniquely among the series' Demon Realm cast due to his prominent role in the main series, while all other Demon Realm characters lack the suffix, presumably due to their appearing only in Dragon Ball Heroes and other ancillary media.

Despite its existence as a meta-fictional term, "Xeno" is sometimes used by characters within Heroes-related fiction themselves, without in-universe explanation.

The use of suffixes to distinguish different versions of core characters within the Dragon Ball Heroes arcade games is not unique to "Xeno" characters. In addition to separating different areas or transformations of select characters, the games and cards also employ suffixes such as "GT" to distinguish version of characters as they appeared in the Dragon Ball GT TV series or new scenarios using its story as a foundation, "BR" to distinguish versions of characters specific to their appearances in Dragon Ball Super: Broly, etc.

In some cases, a character meeting the criteria for the "Xeno" designation may be branded with an alternate title instead, such as Broli Dark, who nevertheless is accompanied by his father, Paragus: Xeno.

Origin

Details of HJ6-63 Trunks: Xeno, the first Heroes card to feature the "Xeno" suffix, on the official Bandai Carddass site.

The term "Xeno" debuted in Dragon Ball Heroes on 11 September 2014 with the release of HJ6-63, Trunks: Xeno, in Evil Dragon Mission Set 6. This version of Trunks featured a design based on the Trunks of the then-upcoming Dragon Ball XENOVERSE—whose own Trunks is based on the character's role in the defunct Korean MMORPG Dragon Ball Online—and was intended to preview the direction of the upcoming God Mission update while gradually introducing elements from Online into Heroes.

暗黒帝国編は時間をかけて展開！　新たな世界をどう就てるかに苦心！！「ヒーローズ」で「オンライン」の設定や世界観を取り込むにあたり、難しいのは「何をきっかけに物語を見せれば興味を持ってもらえるのか」という部分だと語る樋口P(プロデューサー）。突然ミラやトワが出てきても、子供たちは混乱してしまう。そこで白羽の矢が立ったのが仮面のサイヤジンで、設定は変えず見せかたや扱いかたを工夫したという。また、「ゼノバース」で先に登場していたトランクスのデザインでトランクス：ゼノを予告的に邪悪龍M（ミッション）でリリースするなど、少しずつ展開したそうだ。

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The Dark Empire Arc is a story that leaps through time! Figuring out how to present a new world was tough!! In preparing to bring the world of Online into Heroes, the difficult part according to producer Higuchi was, "How can we introduce this story in a way that will garner interest?" If Mira and Towa appeared suddenly, children would only be confused. So the Masked Saiyan was singled out among other characters and, without changing anything, the team set about finding ways to work him into the story. In addition, by doing things like using the design of the Trunks who had appeared earliery in XENOVERSE and releasing Trunks: Xeno as a preview during the Evil Dragon Mission, they were able to introduce new developments a little bit at a time.

(Though Trunks: Xeno predates the release of XENOVERSE by some months, it is likely that the reference above refers to the characters' appearance in advertisements and press material.)

Despite Heroes adapting story lines and characters from XENOVERSE, staff discussion published in the Super Dragon Ball Heroes 8th Anniversary Super Guide indicates that the broad use of the term "Xeno" is not intended to draw a connection to the game, instead trading on its real-world usage of signifying differences to act as a unique branding for Heroes-specific characters:

「ゼノ」初登場から3年経過　ファンにも浸透しつつある！「暗黒帝国編」などに登場するキャラクターは「ゼノ」と呼ばれているが、これは「異質な物、異なるもの」という意味。樋口P（プロヂューサー）としては暗黒魔界に関わるキャラクターを独立させ、さらに「Z戦士」のようにブランド化を狙ったのこと。「ゼノバース」が由来ではなく「ヒーローズ」の独自ルールなので、他の作品では今のところ出ていない。ユーザーへの浸透も進んでおり「ヒーローズ」をプレイしない層にも玩具などで知られつつある。

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Three years after the introduction of "Xeno," it's becoming a mainstay with fans! Characters who debuted in the Dark Empire arc, etc. are called "Xeno," but this simply means "something different," or "something changed." To producer Higuchi, the term distinguishes characters who are connected to the Dark Demon Realm, and was also aimed at providing a branding along the lines of "Z Warriors." Since it doesn't stem from XENOVERSE, but is a unique rule of Heroes, at this point it hasn't appeared in any other works. It's continuing to gain traction with users and is even starting to be known by people who don't play Heroes, through toys and other merchandise.

Staff Commentary

In the Super Dragon Ball Heroes 8th Anniversary Super Guide, Higuchi and XENOVERSE producer Masayuki Hirano each offer commentary on the popularity of Xeno characters:

ゼノキャラクターは「ゼノバース」にも登場希望の声がたくさん届くんです

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We get a lot of requests for Xeno characters to appear in XENOVERSE.
— Masayuki Hirano

すごい勢いでゼノ戦士の商品が出ていていつも実物を見てから驚いてます（笑）

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Xeno warrior merchandise is coming out at an absolutely incredible rate. I'm always surprised when I see the real thing. (laughs)
— Wataru Higuchi

In Fiction

In Video Games

In the story mode of Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission X, the player character is sucked into the world of Dragon Ball through a Dragon Ball Heroes arcade machine in his or her own world, and subesquently recruited by Trunks: Xeno to work other members of the Time Patrol to cut off the source of multiple time-space anomalies. The anomalies are ultimately revealed to be the work of Towa and, later, Demigra. Trunks: Xeno, Son Goten: Xeno, Son Gohan: Xeno, Vegeta: Xeno and Son Goku: Xeno all appear as player allies during the course of the story, while Dabra: Xeno plays a prominent role as a villain, attempting to take vengeance upon the heroes after they defeat his sister, Towa.

In Manga

Various Xeno characters appear in starring roles in the Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Dark Demon Realm Mission! manga by Yoshitaka Nagayama, based on the Dark Demon Realm and Dark Empire arcs of the arcade game. The Kaioshin of Time summons Trunks: Xeno to her Time Nest so she can chastise him for manipulating time and space with his time machine. Before she can finish reprimanding him, however, a newly discovered anomaly in space-time leads the two to cooperate in a battle against Towa, Mira and the Masked Saiyan. Forming the Time Patrol with Trunks: Xeno and Goku: Xeno, whom the Kaioshin of Time summons after reading Trunks' memories, the heroes eventually recruit Vegeta: Xeno, Gohan: Xeno, and Goten: Xeno in their continued battles against members of the Demon Realm.

After Towa uses a brainwashed version of Dende to create a new set of Dragon Balls, which scatter across time and space, the parasitic properties of these Dark Dragon Balls causes them to latch onto various villains of the past, increasing their powers and stripping them of their reason. Various members of the Demon Realm, attempting to collect and use the balls to restore the youth of their resurrected ruler, Mechickaboola, encounter the heroes in different historical eras as they mutually grapple with these Dragon Ball-enhanced Xeno villains.

Notably, Majin Boo: Xeno absorbs both Dabra: Xeno and Janemba: Xeno. Mechickaboola keeps the company of a mysterious masked warrior known as the Dark Masked King, eventually revealed to be King Vegeta: Xeno, who willingly gave himself over to the Demon Realm in exchange for power which would allow him to defeat Freeza and Beerus. Paragus: Xeno and Broli Dark are pulled into the Demon Realm's schemes when Mechickaboola seeks to use the brainwashed, Dragon Ball-enhanced Broli in an experiment.

Various fused Xeno characters also appear during the course of the story line, including Vegetto: Xeno, Gogeta: Xeno, Gotenks: Xeno, Vegeks: Xeno and Gohanks: Xeno. As she gives Trunks: Xeno a set of Potara to fuse with his father should the need arise, the Kaioshin of Time also utters one of the few instances of the "Xeno" suffix within fiction itself, as she proclaims she would name the resulting fusion "Vegeks: Xeno."

In the following Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Universe Mission manga, Xeno characters have a drastically reduced role, but Goku: Xeno and Vegeta: Xeno still appear as members of the Time Patrol, following the space-time fugitive Fu to his gigantic laboratory, the Prison Planet. The two fuse into Vegetto: Xeno as well.

In Animation

Xeno characters, although unnamed as such in dialogue, make their debut in animation in the opening story line of the promotional Super Dragon Ball Heroes anime, based on the arcade game's Prison Planet arc. Though reduced in length and scope from both the arcade and manga versions of the story line, as in other versions, Goku: Xeno and Vegeta: Xeno enter Fu's Prison Planet to apprehend the villain, encountering versions of themselves which more closely resemble their Dragon Ball Super counterparts, and becoming locked in a series of desperate battles against the evil Saiyan Cumber.