Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge audio commentary Piccolo's eating habits Production facts about the film: 1991 release at the Toei Manga Matsuri, box office, & production team Other films released alongside this: Magical Taruruto: Magical Battle of Friendship and Dragon Quest: The Great Adventure of Dai 1 Tetsuya Egawa, who created Golden Boy Connections between Magical Taruruto and Dragon Ball including voice work by Megumi Urawa (Uub and Universe 5's Supreme Kai in Dragon Ball Super), and production by Chiaki Imada Riku Sanjo, who wrote The Adventure of Dai, Guyver: Bio Booster Armor, and several Kamen Rider entries including W, Zero One, and Eternal Akia Katada, key animator, from World's Strongest and Wrath of the Dragon Yutaka Nakamura, future Bones animator, with Bones being notable for having gorgeous work in their contemporary anime such as My Hero Academia and Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood The Cooler Armored Squadron Neiz, whose name is based on mayonnaise Dore, whose name is a pun on Salad Dressing Salza, whose name is NOT a pun on Salsa, rather Thousand Island Dressing, and whose design is clearly influenced by Jeice The Cooler Armored Squadron as the we have the Ginyu Force at home squad Cooler, his appearance, name, and personality Predator, or Yautja, and Alien vs Predator being teased from almost the moment there were Alien and Predator movies Toriyama's contributions to this movie being a bit more than usual. Dub peculiarities; Creative Products Corporation and their history with the franchise How Funimation both kept and altered the numetal soundtrack here, and tweaked the use of Disturbed in the film What Shenron and Bulma might be up to at this time A checklist of how this movie pairs with the Frieza arc and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual as we react to this movie and re-evaluate our thoughts on it

Can Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge overcome what is no doubt the WORST Super Saiyan transformation sequence in all of Dragon Ball to become an entertaining movie, or does its threadbare plot crumble under the lack of aura farming? Find out RIGHT NOW!

finalforumpodcast.podbean.com/e/coolers-re...

Super Saiyan Rosé

In an upcoming BRAND-NEW EPISODE (tomorrow: 4/21!) we'll be taking a look at Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge, and of course making sure to talk about the Cooler Armored Squadron!
Here's a sneak peak:

A meme of call the ambulance but not for me but it’s the Buffalo Sabres to the Boston Bruins.

What. A. Game.

#Sabres #Buffalo

Kinda what we do.

…also his pedophilia. So….he’ll be president soon enough

A meme of Lilo & Stitch where Lilo is praying for a friend...but it's edited to make Lilo look like Bulma from Dragon Ball, and rather than Stitch, it's Vegeta who arrives in answer to her wish.

Friday Funny

General Blue from Dragon Ball

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Also feel free to sound off about Blue and depictions of LGBTQIA+ individuals in manga below (respectfully, please)

General Blue from Dragon Ball

That said, I don't want to SHY AWAY from things because they're uncomfortable. General Blue is part of Dragon Ball, and his character should be discussed and contextualized. This is a flawed franchise created by a flawed human being, and it's important to discuss the reality of it.

This creates a conversation best not had on social media, and with no real answer. I personally fall on the side of "these things should not be removed, but should be contextualized and called out, so we can do better moving forward," but I welcome any comments, questions, or DMs to discuss further.

General Blue being freaked out by a rat in Dragon Ball

I won't say "it was different times." I'll never tell anyone who can't get into Dragon Ball because of this that they're wrong. General Blue's characterization was as insensitive then as it seems today, & it's up to individuals whether they can accept it & see Toriyama's growth over time as enough.

Whis, from Dragon Ball Super

Mr Satan and Majin Buu, from Dragon Ball Z

The good news is Toriyama's feelings & approaches towards the community may have changed over time, as a character like Whis exhibits many outward prototypical queer-coding signs, but is never doubted, mocked, or undermined. Also, Buu and Mr. Satan enter into an ersatz homosexual relationship.

A filler sequence from Dragon Ball in which General Blue is attracted to a young boy

The anime makes the character even WORSE, frankly, creating a filler sequence in which Blue encounters a young boy while in Penguin Village during a crossover with Dr. Slump, and being attracted to him, even calling the boy "my type"

General Blue in the manga being accused of being gay

General Blue from Dragon Ball being grossed out by Bulma

Toriyama was a traditionalist, so suffice to say, he did not handle Blue's sexual identity with much care, instead treating it as more of a punchline. This obviously creates an uncomfortable, and unfortunate part of Dragon Ball's history.

General Blue from Dragon Ball, espousing his high rank and class as a general of the Red Ribbon Army

Back to Dragon Ball...did Toriyama EXPLICITLY know any of this? Unlikely. But he WAS a fan of WWII, and may have heard of the hypocrites lurking within the ranks of Nazi leadership, and thought he should do something similar with his own fascist army bent on world domination.

Ernst Rohm, 1931, Bavaria

As Heinrich Himmler and Joseph Goebbels rose within the Nazi ranks, they convinced Hitler to get rid of Rohm, concocting a supposed coup, used as an excuse to arrest and execute Rohm and many prominent SA members, later revealing their sexuality and the "coup plans" to the public as justification

Rohm and Hitler together.

As Hitler further consolidated power, Rohm began to be more outspoken about wanting more power put into the hands of the SA, about further revolution in Germany to make it truly socialist, and butted heads with Nazi leadership, becoming seen as a dangerous potential rebel rather than a useful ally.

Ernst Rohm, founder of the SA, at one point, second-highest ranking German politician, friend of Hitler...and openly gay man.

Enter Ernst Rohm. Rohm was a high-ranking Nazi official, founder of the SA (precursor to the SS), very good friend to Hitler, and known homosexual. Hitler tolerated Rohm's sexuality and that of the men Rohm surrounded himself with as he felt they were valuable Nazi warriors, in spite of being gay.

Aaron Schock was a US congressman who was outspokenly anti-gay, voted actively against LGBTQ+ rights, and was later outed and wound up coming out as gay.

But what about a gay man in a prominent role in a gay-hating group? Let's set aside recent hypocrisy and how many conservative Republicans who have been outspoken against the LGBTQ+ community have been later outed and focus on Nazi history itself.

The pink triangle symbol used by Nazis to identify homosexuals for prison camps and extermination

Krillin calling General Blue gay in Dragon Ball

This reveal creates a slew of problems. Let's start with whether it matters for world-building. Krillin questions whether the RRA allows gays. Also, keep in mind the Nazi inspiration. Nazis persecuted gays, branding homosexuals with a pink triangle for identification (and eventually elimination)

General Blue being called gay in the Viz translation of the Dragon Ball manga.

The manga makes it plain. General Blue is gay. HE never says so but he is repulsed by Bulma, has many feminine qualities, & if we go to Japanese language, the word Bulma uses is a slur, which makes him angry. Later on, Krillin will call him gay, without the slur, & he will not react as angrily.

General Blue in Dragon Ball being unaffected by Bulma's attempts to flirt

Blue is also pretty much the only person we ever see who is REPULSED by Bulma's attempts to win him over via flirting. Other characters have been confused, thrown off their game, or found it inappropriate, but Blue actually says he's going to be physically ill from her attempts to use her femininity

General Blue from Dragon Ball, holding a phone with his pinky up, and angry because his "beautiful face" has been marred from battle

Blue's speech patterns (in particular in the original Japanese) are very effeminate. He uses word modifiers and pronouns used typically by women & is voiced in a more high-pitched, almost cutesy way. He has an affinity for pretty things, holds objects daintily & is concerned about personal beauty.

A complete look at the character General Blue from Dragon Ball, whose appearance is meant to evoke feelings of a Nazi Brownshirt, precursors to the SS.

A Nazi Brownshirt uniform

Beyond his physical appearance, his clothing is evocative of Nazi brownshirts, precursors to the SS. The brown shirt, armband, tie, calf-high jackboots, and flat cap are all staples of Nazi uniforms. Note also that his belt has a spread eagle on it, which was a symbol of the Nazi party.

General Blue, saluting his commander, Red in the show Dragon Ball

1930s-era Nazi propaganda depicting an "ideal" family.

Remember, the RRA is inspired partially by the Nazis, and General Blue is the best example of that inspiration as he is an ideal ubermensch, an ultimate Aryan with blue eyes, blonde hair, and impeccable physical prowess.

General Blue in his natural element from the show Dragon Ball

General Blue affirms that RRA color naming isn't random colors for characters, rather, the color reveals SOMETHING about the character. Metallic was a robot. Murasaki was 5 people named for the colors making that shade. White lived in a frozen tundra. General Blue is all about islands and the ocean.

As usual, we've done an entire episode on this character, which can be found here:
finalforumpodcast.podbean.com/e/episode-35...

We've also talked about him in the subsequent episodes where his character appears, so make sure to subscribe and check out our back catalog for more!

General Blue of the Red Ribbon Army from Dragon Ball, seen here smelling a rose.

Dragon Ball's MOST controversial character?

Let's talk about General Blue in today's Thursday Thread 🧵

Last time I had gone through the movies (~20 years ago) I also thought Tree of Might was good and then on a recent revisit was like “Oh no. This is…kinda bad…”

Whistlin' Wednesday!