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Dragon Ball/Characters/Original Series Villains


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Pilaf's Group

Pilaf (ピラフ; Pirafu)

Voiced by: Shigeru Chiba (Japanese), Dave Ward (Ocean dub), Chuck Huber (Funimation dub)

The first villain in the original series, a short midget with dreams of... what else... taking over the world. After Goku and friends ruin his original attempt and destroy his castle (thanks to Goku's Great Ape form), he appears a few more times as a minor annoyance, but he plays an important role in reviving King Piccolo in the hopes that he'll be allowed to share in his global conquest; Piccolo betrays him as soon as it's convenient. Then he's never seen again... at least not in the Z series. He makes an appearance in GT though, actually kicking off the entire series.

Mai (マイ) and Shu (シュー)

Mai voiced by: Eiko Yamada (Japanese), Teryl Rothery (Ocean dub), Julie Franklin (Funimation dub)
Shu voiced by: Tessho Genda (Japanese), Doug Parker (Ocean dub), Chris Cason (Funimation dub)

Pilaf's underlings. A rather beautiful Asian looking woman and a ninja dog. Not any brighter then their boss to say the least.


Red Ribbon Army

Red Ribbon Army (レッドリボン軍; Reddo Ribon Gun)

An evil organization headed by Commander Red. They get wind of the Dragon Balls and use any means to collect them, including taking innocent life. Goku practically decimates them by himself after they get in his way one too many times.

  • Bigger Bad: Cell, technically since he is both the last Red Ribbon member to be introduced and the strongest member by a loooong shot.
    • Arguably Super 17 as well, since there's the Red Ribbon logo printed on his belt.
  • Evil Army
  • Equal Opportunity Evil: They got no problem with hiring women and homosexuals in their army. Justified given who's in charge, he likely couldn't care less who joins his army.
  • Mooks
    • Mookmobile: Alot of them ride helicopters or other vehicles. This doesn't seem to help their survival rate as Goku typically explodes helicopters(presumably killing the pilot), in comparison Foot Soldiers are almost always just knocked out by Goku.
  • A Nazi by Any Other Name: General Blue's soldiers wear those uniform. Those are mentioned above, they entirely believe in Equal Opportunity Evil.
    • Oh, and just like the Nazis (and to a slightly lesser extent, the Soviets),[1] they also intend to find magical occult items (in this case, the dragonballs) to further their plans of world conquest.
  • Shout-Out: The Red Ribbon Army shares a LOT of similarities to several military dictatorships (at least two could be named):
    • The Nazi regime is referenced by their modus operandum (Heck, one of their members, General Blue, is clearly designed to resemble a Strumabteilung officer, heavily resembles the ideal Nazi soldier in both physical appearance as well as abilities, and has several... quirks taken from Ernst Rohm, the former leader of the S.A., and even spoke German at one point), and the Soviets were mentioned via a similar name, as well as via General White, a high ranking officer who is implied to be of Russian descent.
  • Theme Naming: Almost every major member of the army is named after a color, the exceptions being Full Metal Jacket (although the English version sort of keeps up with the theme naming by calling him "Metallitron"), Captain Dark (as some official sources imply that his name is actually pronounced as "Dock", as in the structure ships stop at), and Dr. Gero (who was created years after the rest of the characters).
  • You Have Failed Me...: The standard Military Code of the Red Ribbon Army is this. Did I mention that they used the concept of "failure" in an extremely liberal fashion (not to be confused with the Liberal political leaning)

Commander Red (レッド総帥; Reddo Sousui)

Voiced by: Kenji Utsumi (Japanese), Josh Martin (Funimation dub)

A red-haired, eyepatch-wearing dwarf who created the Red Ribbon Army to fulfill his dream of ruling the world. Commander Red led the Red Ribbons up until Goku's final assault on his compound; then, his number-two, Staff Officer Black, killed him when Red admitted that the real reason he wanted the Dragon Balls was not to rule the world, but just to become taller. In Dragon Ball Online, he returns centuries later, rebuilt as "Android 9", and creates the new Red Pants Army.

Staff Officer Black (ブラック参謀; Burakku Sambou)

Voiced by: Masaharu Sato (Japanese), Christopher Sabat (Funimation dub)

The second-in-command of the Red Ribbon Army. Black puts up with years of verbal abuse from Commander Red due to his loyalty to the Red Ribbons' goal of conquering the world, but finally snaps when Red admits that he wasted hundreds of lives getting the Dragon Balls just so he could become taller. He executes Red for insubordination and assumes command of the Red Ribbon Army, but is quickly defeated by Goku.

  • Ambiguously Brown: In The Path To Power.
  • The Dragon
    • Dragon Ascendant: Black becomes the Big Bad for the final part of the saga after Red ends up executed by Black for basically ruining the Red Ribbon Army and was planning to wish for something that was either at best a long-term achievement of the Red Ribbon Army and at worst not going to benefit the Red Ribbon Army at all (Red wished to become taller).
  • Hypercompetent Sidekick: Assistant Black is much smarter then Commander Red.
  • Mini-Mecha: The robot he uses the fight Goku.
  • Scary Black Man: Subverted, despite the hilariously insensitive name. He's as dangerous as his position expects, but also probably the sanest Red Ribbon Army officer.
    • Played straight in the Path to Power special, where he lapses into a Villainous Breakdown after having killed Red. However, he's more tan than black in said special.
  • The Dog Bites Back: He had enough of Red after Red intended to essentially demolish his own army just to get taller and killed him.
  • Theme Naming: After a color.
  • Treacherous Advisor: Subverted. He actually was very loyal to the Red Ribbon Army, and used to be very loyal to Commander Red. He didn't think to betray Red until after overhearing the fact that Red was actually intending to use the Dragon Balls to grow taller, and even then only because Red's actions were going to kill off the Red Ribbon Army.

Colonel Silver (シルバー大佐; Shirubaa Taisa)

The first member of the Red Ribbon Army to go up against Goku.

General White (ホワイト将軍; Howaito Shougun)

Voiced by: Tessho Genda (Japanese), Kyle Hebert (Funimation dub)

A Red Ribbon leader searching for a Dragon Ball in the snowy arctic, General White built a fortress called Muscle Tower, kidnapped a nearby village's leader, and forced the townsfolk to comb the landscape for the Dragon Ball. His retinue of followers almost had Goku on the ropes, but Android 8 defeats him and saves Goku.

Ninja Murasaki (ムラサキ曹長; Murasaki Souchou)

Voiced by: Takeshi Aono (Japanese), Duncan Brannan (Funimation dub)

  • Butt Monkey: The guy landed directly on Goku's powerpole!
  • Dirty Middle-Aged Man: Murasaki has a lot of girlie magazines in his quarters. In addition, he also secretly took pictures of two women changing into ninja outfits, two women who were also heavily implied to be General White's sisters.
  • Doppelganger Spin: Subverted as they're actually his quintuplet brothers.
  • Laughably Evil
  • Ninja: Subverted in that he's a bumbling idiot
  • Not-So-Harmless Villain: At times he can be dangerous. He would've self destructed Eighter if Goku hadn't intervened.
  • Stock Ninja Weaponry

Captain Yellow (イエロー大佐; Ieroo Taisa)

A tiger-person who briefly faces off against Goku, commanding a plane trying to raid an Indian village.


General Blue (ブルー将軍; Buruu Shougun)

Voiced by: Toshio Furukawa (Japanese), Sonny Strait (Funimation dub)

A high-ranking member of the Red Ribbon Army with formidable psychic powers. General Blue was searching for a Dragon Ball in the ocean when Goku and Bulma stumble into his camp. He quickly becomes a deadly enemy to Goku and friends. When he fails to obtain the Dragon Ball, Commander Red orders him to fight Mercenary Tao, who kills him.

  • Alternative Character Interpretation: Invoked in-universe with Mystical Adventure: The General Blue in that one (named Lieutenant Blue in that film) was shown to be somewhat of a nice guy, or at least a good guy. He also acted as a genuine Sacrificial Lion to General Tao (the movie's counterpart of the main series Mercenary Tao), being killed by him after he tried to warn his boss, Chiaotzu about their treacherous plans against Chiaotzu after he stumbled upon Ranfan inside Shen's bedroom.
  • All Gays Are Pedophiles / Shotacon: He makes a pass at Obotchaman during the crossover sequence with Dr. Slump.
  • All Germans Are Nazis: General Blue. Well, sort of. It is implied that he hails from Germany or at least a German-speaking country (He says "Auf Wiedersehen" when leaving Goku, Roshi, and Bulma to be blown to bits after stealing the Dragon Balls, which is the German equivalent of "Goodbye"), and everything about him basically speaks "Nazi."
  • Ax Crazy: He has one of his own men shot for picking his nose, and relishes in the sound of the gunfire.
  • Badass Gay
  • Bad Boss: Considering the fact that he executed soldiers for picking noses, failure to hit Goku twice, and cowardice/sleeping on the job (the last of which he executed in person the soldier who did these actions). The only one whose even worse of a boss in his army is his own boss, Commander Red, who once was implied to have executed a soldier just because he couldn't evade his cat in time, and also has a chilling disregard for his own troops, even willing to kill off his own army just to get himself taller.
  • Berserk Button: Sloppiness and especially getting his looks messed up.
  • Blond Guys Are Evil
  • Blue Eyes
  • British Accents: General Blue is... an odd variation. The Funimation dub (or at least their work on Budokai Tenkaichi 3) has him speaking in a British accent, even though it's all but heavily implied that his country of origin was Germany.
  • Disney Death: An entire underwater cave collapsed on him. He somehow survived. Was also knocked high enough to forcibly travel and crashland from Penguin Village to an Egypt-like country and survive relatively intact.
  • Evil Brit: In the Funimation dub.
  • Evil Eye / The Paralyzer: Via Psychic Powers; see below.
  • Genius Bruiser / Informed Ability: Aside from being the strongest Red Ribbon Army soldier (which is demonstrated), General Blue was also stated by Commander Red to be a tactical genius on the battlefield. However, this was not showcased much outside of drawing a fake arrow in place of Krillin and Bulma's arrow to trick Goku into going the wrong way.
  • Giggling Villain / Noblewoman's Laugh
  • Macho Camp: Scared of mice, and a bit of a neat freak (however, see Ax Crazy). Otherwise, he's every bit a man's man, and one of the first truly threatening enemies Goku faces.
  • Psychic Powers: Including paralyzing anyone who meets his gaze and animating ropes.
  • Psychopathic Manchild: Sort of. Blue's reaction to girls is almost similar to a young boy feeling as though interacting with girls would get him infected with cooties.
  • Puss in Boots: General Blue is shown to have superhuman strength, endurance, and possessing Psychic Powers, and thus could easily overthrow Commander Red and Staff Officer Black's chain of command if he so desired, but he instead follows their commands to the letter.
  • Putting on the Reich
  • Sissy Villain: On the one hand, he's super-strong and possesses frightening Psychic Powers. On the other, he's terrified of mice and obsessed with his looks.
  • Smug Snake
  • Sorry, I'm Gay: Bulma's attempt at seducing him fails miserably.
  • Super Soldier
  • Super Strength: Such as lifting boulders and crushing phone booths with his bare hands. Also goes in line with superhuman endurance due to his surviving an electric eel's shocks with no apparent ill effects afterwards, and snapped its neck.
  • Theme Naming: After a color.
  • "Wake-Up Call" Boss: He's the first villain who's both willing and able to kill Goku.
  • Walking Shirtless Scene: After he ditches his uniform to swim through a sea cave.
  • Wolverine Publicity: Let's put it this way: He's the only Red Ribbon Army member who is actually playable in any of the DBZ fighting games (Budokai, Budokai Tenkaich, etc). Sure, it was only for one game (Budokai Tenkaichi 3), but the rest of the Red Ribbon Army didn't get playable in any of those games.
  • You Have Failed Me...: He callously shoots any of his lackeys who fail him... or who pick their nose in his presence.
    • When he fails to stop Goku, Blue himself is essentially executed by Commander Red, who offers to spare his life if he can beat Mercenary Tao, knowing that Blue stands no chance.

Mercenary Tao (桃白白; Taopaipai)

Voiced by: Chikao Ohtsuka (Japanese), Scott McNeil (Ocean dub), Kent Williams (Funimation dub)

A mercenary and assassin hired by the Red Ribbon Army to collect the Dragon Balls for them. Swift and merciless, he's the first human character to hand Goku a defeat outside the World Martial Arts Tournament. After some training though, Goku manages to return the favor and Tao accidentally blows himself up when a grenade is kicked back at him. He returns later as a cyborg but is quickly defeated again despite the upgrades. Makes a few more appearances in filler of the Z series.

Officer Violet

A female member of the Red Ribbon Army who's sent on an interference mission against Goku's allies to stop them from getting the Dragonballs.

  • Ascended Extra: She only has about two panels in the manga before she's never seen again. The anime expands a bit more on her showing she only working with RR for the money.
  • Bad Boss: Doesn't give a lick about the people who work under her as she leaves her squad to their deaths while retrieving a Dragon Ball.
  • Blue Eyes
  • Pet the Dog: Despite her bad boss status, she does love animals and went out of her way to save a monkey while escaping.
  • Mercenary: Heavily implied to be her relationship with the Red Ribbon Army.
  • Only in It For the Money
  • The Smurfette Principle
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In the anime, once Goku begins his invasion of the Red Ribbon base. She heads straight for the vault, grabs as much cash as she can and bolts. She's one of the few RR officials to escape Goku's wrath at the time and, considering she doesn't appear later in the show, probably went on with her life after the RR's downfall.
  • Theme Naming: Guess.
  • You Gotta Have Violet Hair

The Crane Hermit

Master Shen (鶴仙人; Tsuru Sen'nin ("Crane Hermit"))

Voiced by: Ichiro Nagai (Japanese), Clark Robertson (Ocean dub), Chuck Huber (Funimation dub)

Master Roshi's rival and Mercenary Tao's older brother. Tien and Chiaotzu's original teacher, Shen has his students enter the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament in order to show up Roshi, hearing how far Goku and Krillin went in the previous tournament. When he hears that Goku defeated Tao, he changes his plans and tries to get his students to kill Goku and company. However, his interference in the final match causes his students to make a Heel Face Turn, and he is sent flying by Roshi's Kamehameha. He shows up at the next tournament with his brother, but is forced to flee when his ex-prize student easily beats Tao.

Piccolo's Kingdom

Tambourine (タンバリン; Tambarin)

Voiced by: Ryusei Nakao (Japanese), Adam Hunter (Ocean Dub), Dameon Clarke (Funimation Dub)

Tambourine was King Piccolo's second oldest son at the time he was released from his imprisonment and the longest lasting of the three named sons who engaged in combat (Piano lasted longer and seemed to be older, but he never fought before Goku killed him by throwing his father at him), he is by far the most evil and sadistic of the three, he was ordered by his father to hunt down and kill any martial artists who participated in the World Martial Arts Tournament to prevent him from being sealed, he becomes Goku's arch enemy for the first half of the saga because he murdered his best friend Krillin, he stole his Dragon Balls, and he destroyed his Flying Nimbus, after these events Goku faces off against him and loses, he eventually faces off against him again for a final showdown and Goku kills him with a Kamehameha.

Demon King Piccolo (ピッコロ大魔王; Pikkoro Daimaou)

Voiced by: Takeshi Aono (Japanese), Scott McNeil (Ocean dub), Christopher Sabat (Funimation dub)

Not to be confused with the main series Piccolo, his son. King Piccolo was originally identified as a Demon before the revelation that he originated on planet Namek. The evil side of Kami that gained sentience, he proves to be the toughest opponent yet for the young Goku. Of course, like all the villains he goes down eventually, in this case by a fist straight through his midsection.

  • Big Bad: He and his son would be the villains of the last arc of Dragon Ball.
  • Breath Weapon: Notably used it to kill Shenron.
  • Card-Carrying Villain: "There are two things that I, Demon King Piccolo hate most in this world: Peace and Justice."
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: He actually killed Shenron with a mouth blast. Just to prevent anyone from using the Dragon Balls again.
  • Do Not Adjust Your Set: The first thing he does as Global Dictator is to declare on International Television "I DON'T intend to lord over you: in fact, you are free to do as you please from now on: Kill, pillage, steal and rob to your heart's content: I hereby declare the end of peace and justice!!" . Cell must have taken notes from his genetic memory to have done the same 14 years later.
  • Earn Your Title
  • Enemy Without: To Kami.
  • Evil Counterpart: To Kami.
  • Evil Overlord
  • For the Evulz
  • Dangerously Genre Savvy: His first course of action upon being reborn is to send out his henchmen to assassinate every great martial artist in order to prevent anyone from using the Mafuba technique against him ever again. And when he beats Goku down the first time they met, he checks for a pulse before assuming he's dead. Too bad for him that Goku's heart started again after he left, for some reason. Also, he as also genre savvy enough to realize the likelihood that the heroes would most likely attempt to stop him with the dragonballs either before or after he got the wish, so at first, he swallowed them. Then he threw them back up once there was sure there was no-one else around left to challenge him, and to finish it off, he killed Chiaotzu when he attempted to give his own wish and interfere with his wish before he could finish, and after gaining the wish, he then proceeded to one-hit-kill Shenron with his breath blast just to ensure that none of the heroes ever attempt to use the Dragonballs to defeat him.
  • Hero-Killer: Killed Chiaotzu and was responsible for the death of Roshi, Krillin, and many other World Martial Arts Tournament players.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: How he met his end at the literal hand of Goku, having punched right through him.
  • Knight of Cerebus: The wackiness of Dragon Ball with its childish enemies ended officially with him.
  • Large and In Charge: He's well over 8 feet tall.
  • Magnificent Bastard
  • Mook Maker
  • Psychic Link: He has this with all his "children".
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Delivers this to Goku in their first encounter. The beating was so severe he even stopped Goku's heart briefly.
  • Omnicidal Maniac: Decides to destroy one section of the world once a year. His first target was Bulma's hometown West City, but was stopped by Goku before he could go that far.
  • Post-Mortem Comeback: Right after Goku ran straight through his gut, Piccolo threw up an egg that carried his offspring - his way of getting revenge for dying by the hands of Goku. Junior was definitely a powerful opponent at the time, but a subversion comes in the form of that legendary Enemy Mine between the two against Raditz and Vegeta.
  • Put the Laughter In Slaughter
  • Satan: In the Latin American dub, they literally called him this.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: He was sealed inside an electric rice cooker for over 100 years before being released by Emperor Pilaf.
  • Starfish Character: He's a Namekian (not it was known at the time).
  • Take Over the World: He was actually successful in doing this. But Goku quickly restored the natural order of things.
  • Theme Naming. A piccolo is a type of flute. His name is not based on pickles.
  • Truly Single Parent: Parent to green demons, dragons and a pterosaur man. Also Piccolo.

Piano (ピアノ)

Voiced by: Masato Hirano (Japanese); Brian Beacock, Sonny Strait (Funimation dub)

The oldest and weakest of King Piccolo's children, but also the one who lasted longest (besides Piccolo, Jr.). Piccolo created the pterodactyl-like Piano to serve as his attendant and majordomo. Piano was accidentally killed when Goku punched King Piccolo so hard that he fell on his son and crushed him.

  1. ↑ The Nazis were known to dispatch the Thule Society and the Ahnenerbe for expeditions and experimentations on occult devices, and as for the Soviets, they often attempt to unleash psychic powers from within a person.
  2. ↑ The kind who can kill anyone who makes fun of him for it.
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