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DragonBallGT 8597

Step into the Grand Tour!

Dragon Ball GT is the anime-only continuation of the Dragon Ball series. Set five years after the epilogue of Dragon Ball Z, Goku has finally finished training Uub and is ready to return home until an unexpected reunion with Emperor Pilaf and his minions, who have managed to obtain the Black Star Dragon Balls, even more powerful than the originals. However, since failure has always been the only option for Pilaf's attempts to Take Over the World, he messes up the wish accidentally turning Goku into a child.

It is soon revealed that unlike their regular variants, the Black Star Dragon Balls scatter throughout the entire universe, and that if they aren't found within a year, the Earth will be destroyed. And so, Goku heads out into space with Trunks and his granddaughter, Pan. Starts off with the trademark humor of the early parts of Dragon Ball, before rapidly returning to the more action-oriented style of Dragon Ball Z.

Also had a largely-unrelated TV Special (known as A Hero's Legacy in the Funimation dub), that was generally better received than the series itself. The special told the story of Goku's descendant, the cleverly-named Goku Jr.

Character sheet covering both this series and its predecessors can be found here.

Tropes used in Dragon Ball GT include:


  • Abridged Series: Three of them. One by FanInTheAttic, one by GTShadowProductions (who has also started to abridge the movie), and one by TheDBGTAbridged.
  • Action Girl: Pan. Her power level has to be higher than Android 20, as she was able to beat Android 20 easily, and was shown to be physically stronger than him. The only reason she seems weak is because Rilldo was stronger than Buu and the first Big Bad was in Vegeta's body, and had several power-ups, making him stronger than Rilldo. All the Big Bads after that were even stronger than them, making her seem a lot weaker than she would be against most everything in the galaxy.
  • Adventure Towns
  • Affably Evil: The Four-Star Dragon ("Nuova Shenron" in the FUNimation dub). He's nice, kind, polite and even just knocks out Pan when he could have easily burned her to a crisp. He's also trying to turn the world into a desert and wants to kill Goku, and was born out of the wish that restored King Piccolo's youth. He eventually pulls a Heel Face Turn after his brother, the Three-Star Dragon, starts using underhanded tactics in his attempt to kill Goku.
  • Afraid of Needles: Goku
  • After the End: Planet M-2
  • Age-Inappropriate Dress: Bra is about the same age as Pan. Her outfit really doesn't seem like it, though.
  • AI Is a Crapshoot: Why would you EVER involve the Android that had previously killed you in your plans, Dr. Gero?
  • Air Jousting
  • Alien Among Us
  • Aliens Speaking English: As with previous Dragon Ball series, everyone in the galaxy speaks Japanese.
  • Almighty Mom
  • Always Second Best: Vegeta gets a whole episode ("The Heart Of The Prince") lamenting this, before Bulma comes up with a plan to deal with it.
  • Amusement Park of Doom: The first half of the battle with the One-Star Dragon takes place in a ruined amusement park.
  • Anyone Can Die: Piccolo and Krillin, with the former staying dead for good.
  • Apocalypse How: Class 0 is standard for a minor villain to do. Baby is aiming for a Class X, and the Super One-Star Dragon wants to pull off a Class X-4.
  • Artistic Age: An in-universe version is done with Goku's biological age. Goku's biological age is never stated, but Pan thinks he's gone to being 3 or 4. Others think he's about 10. Pan's age is officially 10, but due to this trope, nobody's completely sure, due to other sources giving different ages (but she's supposed to be 10). It is important to note that Goku is identical to how he looked age-wise in Dragon Ball, so it is likely he is the same age as he was when he first fought Pilaf.
  • Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: A certain Saiyan named Goku.
  • Attack Backfire: Goku tries to take down Super 17 with a variety of ki-based attacks, only to discover that he can increase his strength level by absorbing them.
  • Attack Its Weak Point: The key to killing Luud.
  • Authority Equals Asskicking: General Rilldo, the most powerful Machine Mutant.
  • Aw, Look — They Really Do Love Each Other: 18 holding Krillin's dead body and telling him she loves him.
  • Back for the Dead: Piccolo makes a brief appearance when Baby arrives on Earth, disappears after being blasted by Baby Gohan, and suddenly returns afterwards, only to die when the Earth explodes to stop the Black Star Dragon Balls from ever being used again.
  • Back for the Finale: Almost every surviving character Goku, Pan and Trunks encountered in space shows up and has a speaking part (or at least a grunt) in episode 63 where they give Goku their energy to help him take down the Super One-Star Dragon with the Universal Genki-Dama.
    • Goku Jr. and Puck from A Hero's Legacy show up in the epilogue for episode 64.
    • A video montage featuring every major character from Dragon Ball, Z and GT is shown while Goku is walking through the tournament halls in the last minutes of GT in episode 64.
    • The original Shenron returns in the final episode.
  • Back From the Dead: Many villains from all 3 series during the Super 17 Saga.
  • Backup From Otherworld: Piccolo talks to Dende and works with him to rip open Hell so Goku can escape.
  • Badass Adorable: Pan. She may be a bit emotional, and can't really take pain at first, but no matter where you are in the show, she can kick ass. She just doesn't really get a chance to do it too often because the villains all need to be on Goku's level. Her lightning fast domination of Android 20 is a good example, however.
  • Badass Arm-Fold: Scroll up. It happens a lot.
  • Badass Automaton: Most of Planet M-2, and things that come from there, like Luud.
  • Badass Boast: Goku gets one after his energy is restored to full near the end of his fight with Baby:
Cquote1

Goku: "All you can see is the light shining through the cracks around the edges of the door, Baby, and you just don't think that little bit of light can overcome your dark plans. But what you can't see is what's behind the door. That's what I am."

Cquote2
  • Badass Bookworm: Gohan, even more than before. He has brainy specs now.
  • Badass Family: While most of them are now retired from fighting, Goku's family still applies. Chi-Chi is still likely the second-strongest pure human on Earth, Videl is the strongest pure human woman on Earth, Gohan could be the strongest anything on Earth if he applied himself, Goten could likely be just as strong as Gohan, Goku is the strongest non-fused character in the universe and is stronger than every single god in the universe, and even Pan has to be stronger than Android 20. Vegeta's family is pretty badass as well, seeing as Bulma was actually a badass at one point, Trunks has always been a badass, as has Vegeta.
  • Badass Grandpa: Though he doesn't look it (and after Pilaf makes that idiotic wish, he REALLY doesn't look it), Goku.
  • Badass in Distress: Happens to most of the badasses sooner or later.
  • Badass Moustache: Subverted with Vegeta. It's so bad that his own daughter chews him out on it.
  • Bad Boss: Pan's ideas for getting the Capsule Corp. engineers to design new stuff is to cut their pay in half and take all their benefits - because they said breaking the laws of physics was impossible, and they were wrong. Good thing she isn't in charge.
  • Balance Between Good and Evil: The premise of the Shadow Dragons Saga. The good wishes our heroes made with the Dragon Balls over the course of the saga were displaced by an equal amount of negative energy, which was stored in the Balls. Thanks to the Dragon Radar being able to track the Balls so easily, new wishes were made far sooner than they were meant to. So rather than allowing the negative energy time to dissipate, it instead accumulated over time, eventually leading to the creation of the Shadow Dragons.
  • Barbie Doll Anatomy: Averted, much to Pan's annoyance.
  • Bare Your Midriff: Pan and Bra.
  • Bash Brothers: Goku and Vegeta become this when they work together to fight the Super One-Star Dragon.
  • Battle Aura: It's Dragon Ball. What did you expect?
  • Bazaar of the Bizarre: The bazaar on Imecka sells everything from ammo (including huge bullets) to alien food and jewelry to living birds used as hats with red and white tail feathers and snakes for wearing around your neck.
  • Beam-O-War
  • Beam Spam
  • Between My Legs: This shot is used with Super Saiyan 4 Goku, showing us the Super One-Star Dragon.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Oh god, yes. People in this universe are nice because they can afford to be. Do not get on their bad side.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Goku killing the Super One-Star Dragon with the Universal Genki-Dama, just as the latter is about to kill Vegeta.
  • Bigger on the Inside: Depending on the scene, the ship. Other times, it looks about as large as it would need to be for the size of the rooms.
  • Big Bad:
  • Big Good: Shenron, who only appears in the final episode.
  • Bilingual Bonus: Eis is German for ice. So "Eis Shenron" is literally "Ice Shenron". The German version was likely used because of similar pronunciation, but with the right letter for the acronym.
    • The names of the evil Dragons are all based on the Dragon Ball they sprang from, which is written in Chinese in the original Japanese version. They're in the form of "_ Xīng Lóng" ("[#]-Star Dragon"), rather than "Shén Lóng" ("God Dragon").
  • Bittersweet Ending: Goku defeats the Shadow Dragons, before leaving with Shenron to teach people to stop using the Dragon Balls for everything. The bittersweet part of this ending is that said mission will last for 100 years, and Goku will never see his family and friends again because, by the time he returns, they'll be dead by then. Well, except for Pan, her grandson, the Androids, Master Roshi and Dende.
  • BLAM Episode: When Kaioshin drops Goku in Sugoroku Space. I mean, one minute Goku is in a fight for the Earth... and then he's playing some crazy board game.
  • Blood Knight: Goku and Vegeta. Pan takes it even farther than her grandfather at times.
  • Body Snatcher: Baby
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: Baby does this to EVERYONE ON EARTH, complete with Mind Control Eyes.
  • Bratty Teenage Daughter: Bra, even though she's actually only about 10. She bitches at her father, Vegeta, until he shaves his mustache, and he almost kills a group of guys who hit on her, destroying their car and running them off the road, into the ocean. Plus, as a half-saiyan, she's easily strong enough to do her own bag carrying, and can fly, but won't.
  • Break the Cutie: Pan, after her Tuffleized parents try to kill her.
  • Butt Monkey: Trunks and Krillin. Vegeta has his moments too.
  • Call Back: Goku's spacesuit has the typo "Gokuh". This was the same typo that was on his spacesuit while going to Namek.
  • Calling Your Attacks
  • Casual Danger Dialog: Pretty common.
  • The Cavalry: Giru, for the encased Goku and Pan.
    • Vegeta is this in the battle against the Super One-Star Dragon.
  • Canon Discontinuity: Much of what occurs in this series has recently been contradicted by Dragon Ball Online, a MMO with significant input from Akira Toriyama himself.
  • Canon Immigrant: Frieza's brother Cooler makes a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo in the Super 17 Saga.
    • Gogeta in the Shadow Dragons Saga.
  • Can't Catch Up: Is your name Goku? If not, then you're pretty much irrelevant to the plot. Vegeta is pretty annoyed when he discovers Goku has left him in the dust AGAIN, with Super Saiyan 4. "The Heart Of The Prince" really gives us a look into his mind. Everyone else is pretty much pointless. Trunks is useful at first, but by the time Goku gets SSJ4, he's been left behind again. Pan is the only other character to stay important.
    • Even when Vegeta acquires the means to transform to Super Saiyan 4, he's still completely outclassed by the Super One-Star Dragon and is forced to fuse with Goku for them to have any chance against him.
  • Cassandra Did It: One Monster of the Week actually manipulates this, using his power to predict earthquakes to make it seem like he causes them.
  • Celestial Bureaucracy
  • Cerebus Rollercoaster
  • Cerebus Syndrome: After General Rilldo comes into the picture, the series' tone reverts to the action-oriented style of Dragon Ball Z.
  • Chekhov's Army: Almost everyone Goku met in the first arc reappears to help him with the Universal Genki-Dama.
  • Chekhov's Boomerang: The Sacred Water that Kami used to counteract Garlic Jr.'s Black Water Mist back in Z appears again, this time being used by Kibito Kai to cleanse all of humanity of Baby's control.
  • Chekhov's Gag: The warning about abusing the Dragon Balls.
  • Chewing the Scenery
  • Chickification: Videl. So very much.
  • Chunky Updraft
  • Clip Show: "The Heart Of The Prince".
  • Clothing Damage
  • Combined Energy Attack: Played with by Baby Vegeta, gathering his followers' hatred of Goku in a massive energy attack appropriately named the Revenge Death Ball.
    • Played universally straight by Goku, killing the Super One-Star Dragon with it.
  • Continuity Nod: Pan makes Trunks dress in drag so that he can defeat a monster demanding brides from a local village in order to obtain a Dragon Ball. Trunks' mother made Pan's grandfather do the exact same thing during their first Dragon Ball hunt.
    • Note: She actually tried to use Goku first (why she was so excited to dress her grandfather in drag is something we should never, ever examine). He actually brought up the previous incident, saying it (Pan's plan) won't work.
  • Cool Starship: It has multiple rooms, a flatscreen TV, a game system and other things. Plus, it can break the laws of physics without being designed to do so.
  • Covers Always Lie: The season sets. SSJ4 Goku is on the first one, containing the first 34 episodes. He first shows up in episode 35.
  • Crapsack World: Just about every planet ever. The only ones to not be this had low-level civilization. Even the galaxy, and the universe, could be seen as this, with Hell opening up, a dimension that screws people over and kills them, and plenty more.
  • Cross-Dressing Voices
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: A lot of the Z-Fighters, especially Goku.
  • Cult Colony: Planet Luud (pronounced lewd).
  • Curb Stomp Battle: Most of the fights against the weaker Shadow Dragons.
    • SSJ3 Goku gets this treatment by Baby Vegeta, and then proceeds to give it back when he becomes SSJ4.
    • The Super One-Star Dragon is the most powerful villain in the entire Dragon Ball franchise and he still gets this from SSJ4 Gogeta. Yeah, he's that good.
  • Cute Bruiser: Pan, and possibly Goku again, depending on your definition of cute.
  • Cycle of Revenge: Depending on who you believe, Vegeta or Baby. This either started with Baby's creation or the Saiyan-Tuffle War. According to Vegeta, the Saiyans were treated like slaves by the Tuffles. According to Baby, the Saiyans were unprovoked. Either way, the Saiyan-Tuffle War happened. The Tuffles then created Baby, who would later take over Vegeta's body, as well as most of humanity, and all the people with Saiyan blood on Earth besides for Goku and Pan. Because of this, Goku is forced to kill Baby. Luckily, Baby had no family, ending it.
  • Darker and Edgier: Starting with Planet M-2, the series' tone shifts to that of Dragon Ball Z.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Super Saiyan 4 Goku. Longer, even blacker hair, a deadly serious voice and personality, covered in dark red fur, dark red eyeliner, and downright frightening to fight against. However, it's still Goku.
  • A Day in the Limelight: "The Heart Of The Prince", a full episode devoted to Vegeta.
  • Death Is Cheap: Played straight at first, then averted with Piccolo, then played straight again with Krillin.
  • Defeating the Undefeatable: All. THE. TIME.
  • Deliberate Injury Gambit: Majuub's plan to help beat Baby. He got himself turned into chocolate and eaten. Mind you, Baby chewed, so it doesn't make that much sense.
  • Demoted to Extra: ...So uh, wasn't Uub supposed to be Goku's successor or something? Trunks also qualifies for this. Heck, this really happens to pretty much everyone who isn't Goku or Pan. If their name is not Goku, then alas, they are to be pitied.
    • At least Trunks got a bit of time during the Black Star Dragon Balls arc. Goten and Gohan barely got anything.
    • One of the reasons the show failed to appeal to fans of the original Dragon Ball was the tendency for it to basically pretend that the Earthling cast never existed. Characters such as Oolong, Yamcha and Tien Shinhan only got literally 5-second-long cameos where they didn't even say anything.
    • This is one major thing that puts GT's canon status in some serious controversy and is among the biggest criticisms at the series. Toriyama just created too many characters by the end of Z to manage.
  • Determinator: It's easier to list the people who AREN'T this.
  • Diabolus Ex Machina: The Shadow Dragons.
  • Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: When Goten, Trunks and Gohan (and Majuub) give the Super One-Star Dragon trouble to let Goku and Vegeta fuse.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Goku killing the Super One-Star Dragon. Oh, you just killed a guy whose very existence could wipe out an entire universe? No biggie.
  • Dirty Old Man: The Elder Kaioshin.
  • Disc One Final Boss: This show loved this trope. Each "apparent" Big Bad really just made way for the next one all the way up until the One-Star Dragon.
    • Or, if you want the longer explanation, Pilaf shows up, but ceases to be important after the first episode. His wish causes the Black Star Dragon Balls to be flung all over the universe, where the "apparent" real Big Bad Dr. Myuu and his minions start collecting them. However, he's eventually killed by Baby, who takes on the role (until he gets killed by Goku). While in Hell, Myuu joins forces with Dr. Gero and creates Super Android 17, scheming to reclaim his status as main villain... but then 17 kills both him and Gero. 17 kills a lot of people before being taken down. This forces Goku and company to use the Dragon Balls to try and undo the damage. Unfortunately, the overused balls summon Black Smoke Shenron and the Shadow Dragons. In other words, with the exception of the One-Star Dragon, every one of these villains was a Disc One Final Boss.
    • Largely caused by Executive Meddling. Baby was originally supposed to be the Final Boss (mostly why his final form was made so absurdly powerful). However, producers wanted the series to coincide with the release (and marketing) of Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout for the Playstation. So two more arcs were hurried out the door and into production, accounting for their much shorter length and continuity issues (i.e. movie villains appearing in the Super 17 Saga).
      • General Rilldo was definitely one of these as well, and a disappointing one at that. At first, he's introduced as more powerful than Majin Buu (the strongest villain in DBZ), has multiple forms and actually DEFEATS and imprisons all three of the heroes at first. He then gets killed disappointingly easily two episodes later.
        • This may have had something to do with the fact that his Ultimate Form was flat-out broken. He could turn any object into metal, and couldn't be killed if there was metal present.
  • Disguised in Drag: Trunks does this in order to fool Zoonama.
  • Disney Death: Happens a lot.
  • Distant Finale: Is 100 years distant enough for you?
  • Distribution of Ninjutsu
  • The Dog Bites Back: What Super 17 does to Dr. Myuu.
  • Dragons Up the Yin-Yang
  • Dressing as the Enemy: Pan, on Planet M-2, using a broken robot.
  • Dub Induced Plot Hole: Quite a few in Funimation's dub, but the most egregious example is Goku wondering whether he would have to go back to school after being turned into a child. Not only he was raised in the mountains, lived in complete solitude and never even met another person besides his grandfather until he was 12, but he NEVER went to school.
  • Dub Name Change: This happened to the Shadow Dragons; in Japan they were simply referred to by their number (as in "Six-Star Dragon"), while the US dub gave them descriptive names. The Canadian Blue Water dub kept the original names.
  • Earth-Shattering Kaboom: The side-effects of the Black Star Dragon Balls. You use them, and you get one year to retrieve them. Otherwise, boom. The first time they get used, they are retrieved. The second time, everyone is too busy stopping Baby after he uses them. The Earth explodes, but not before everyone who isn't Piccolo is saved. They then wish Earth back with the Namekian Dragon Balls.
  • Elemental Powers: Used by the Shadow Dragons.
  • Enemy Mine: The fight with Luud ultimately boils down to this.
  • Establishing Character Moment: Pan gets one that lasts from her first appearing to them going to space. First, her breaking up the bank robbery, and then her being treated like a kid and subsequently complaining about it (she's 10, so it does make sense). Then, her stowing away and basically stealing the ship when Goku and Trunks discover her. Trunks gets one in the form of him abandoning Capsule Corp. and flying off, changing his outfit in the clouds.
  • Everything's Worse with Bees: Averted. The giant bees are pretty much harmless, though they do mistake Pan for their queen. The baby bees are the cutest things ever, though.
  • Evil Costume Switch: Baby, in Vegeta's body. He alters it more and more over time until Vegeta's body is almost completely transformed into a look-alike of Baby's.
  • Evil Counterpart: Black Smoke Shenron is this to the original Shenron.
  • Evil Is Deathly Cold: Played straight with the Three-Star and Four-Star Dragons. Three-Star has powers over ice, and Four-Star has powers over fire. Three-Star is bad, Four-Star is good. They're twin brothers, by the way.
  • Evil Knockoff: Dr. Gero and Dr. Myuu create a new Android 17 in Hell and somehow use him to open a portal to Earth.
  • Evil Sounds Deep: Played with. Baby is high-pitched, but some of the Shadow Dragons are extremely deep.
  • Evolving Credits: About halfway through the series, the opening credits, which originally ended with Goku, Pan and Trunks beating up some mechanical giant, now ended with the three of them fighting Baby, even after the Baby Saga ended.
  • Expository Theme Tune:
    • The Blue Water dub version of "Dan Dan Kokoro Hikareteku", but not the Funimation version.
    • The rap that Funimation used in the initial DVD release.
  • Face Palm: Vegeta's reaction after seeing Goku lose to an incredibly weak boy in episode 41.
  • Fan Service/Fan Disservice: A close-up of Pan's butt and a fawn trying to breastfeed from her, as well as her shirt.
  • Fiction 500: Bulma, Trunks and Vegeta. Need a spaceship to save the Earth? Okay. Need an even bigger spaceship? Okay. Need a mobile Blutz Wave Generator within a day? Gotcha!
  • Fight Magnet: Goku, as usual.
  • Final Battle: Every Big Bad gets one.
  • Five-Bad Band: This is what Goku's friends and family become after Baby's conquest of Earth:
  • Forgot About His Powers: Honestly, how often do the characters seem to forget that they can fly? Or have super powers in the early episodes?
    • Or have the ability to turn their opponents into chocolate or other harmless objects?
  • Franchise Zombie: Z already showed signs of this in the Buu Saga, but Toriyama no longer had any involvement in the story outside of a basic outline.
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus: At one point, Chi-Chi slaps a Baby-possessed Goten so hard that he goes careening past a shelf and knocks over two pictures. One of them is a generic picture of Bulma, Vegeta and their kids, but the other is of a tiny, DBZ-aged Bra being held by Vegeta and pulling his face into a really annoyed smile.
  • Gainax Ending: Clear proof that GT was a very rushed concept. What happens to Goku in the last 2 episodes is inexplicable and there's no official explanation. He's finished, then he's dead and he talks to the world, then suddenly he's alive again, then in base form, he cannot be killed by the Super One-Star Dragon (there's not even a halo to give us any idea), then after the bomb's thrown, he's apparently dead again and brought back to life, then he leaves. Vegeta knows something's up, then suddenly we see Goku's clothes left on the ground (that shot is chronologically out of sequence and is shown at the end of the next couple of events). DBZ's version of No Body Left Behind doesn't leave clothes behind. But then he's off to visit Roshi and Piccolo still fully clothed, and both also know something's changed about him, but "Are you...?" is not very helpful. When they take their eyes off him for a second, there's suddenly no one there, which is almost creepy. Then for some reason the Dragon Balls merge into Goku, then he disappears. Where does he go? What happened to him? He doesn't return for 100 years, and, if you leave aside what you saw in A Hero's Legacy, it's not clear if he's alive or dead (and, if he's alive, why he's only aged about 30-40 years instead of the full 100). To top it all off, he doesn't even seem bothered by the fact that almost everyone he knew is dead.
    • Needless to add, forests of Epileptic Trees abound across the part of the Dragon Ball fandom who like GT.
    • It doesn't add up to his fate in A Hero's Legacy, Goku is clearly gone and it makes it appear like the whole cast went to the Otherworld when their time was up. However, A Hero's Legacy was made earlier just after the Baby Saga and they intended Goku to be clearly dead by this point and be the Spirit Advisor to Goku Jr. At that time, no one had any idea how GT was going to end or just how they were going to get there. Seriously.
  • Generational Saga: Finishing the one started in the last two works.
  • The Glasses Come Off: Gohan and his utterly pointless glasses. When he takes those off, you're about to learn why you don't mess with him.
  • A Glass of Chianti: Dr. Gero and Dr. Myuu celebrate the successful first part of their plan with a toast.
  • Gotta Kill Them All: Goku and Pan have to destroy all 7 of the evil Shadow Dragons to purify the Dragon Balls.
  • Grandma, What Massive Hotness You Have!: Bulma looks like she's in her mid-40s, when she's more in her mid-50s. Her mother still looks like she's in her 20s.
  • "Growing Muscles" Sequence
  • Half-Human Hybrid: And how! Bra, Trunks, Gohan and Goten are half-Saiyan. Pan is 1/4 Saiyan, and Goku Jr. is 1/16 (or maybe more) Saiyan (you know, on the off chance the Pan/Trunks shippers are right).
  • Happy Flashback: Used to get Goku under control when he was a Golden Great Ape.
  • Happily Married: Vegeta and Bulma, Gohan and Videl, 18 and Krillin.
  • Harmless Freezing: Via the Three-Star Dragon.
  • Heel Face Turn: The Four-Star Dragon.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Piccolo (twice, once after he's dead), Good Buu and possibly Earth Android 17. Android 18 attempts it, but Goku talks her out of it.
    • The Four-Star Dragon dies saving Goku from the Super One-Star Dragon. Fridge Brilliance kicks in when you remember he's created from the most evil wish (King Piccolo's wish to become younger), and comes from the Dragon Ball that belonged to Grandpa Gohan and later Goku. Therefore, he'd have the least negative energy (as it seems it builds up from being used for good), hence his similar opinion to Goku.
  • Hell on Earth: The Legions of Hell return in the Super 17 arc.
  • He Who Fights Monsters: The Tuffles. They were a peaceful people (according to Baby, at least), who were completely wiped out by the Saiyans (who may or may not have been previously enslaved). As part of a last-ditch effort, they created Baby, who plans on turning the entire galaxy into Tuffles. Nice job, Baby, you turned your race of genocide victims into genocide perpetrators.
  • Hoist By Their Own Petard: Dr. Gero (again) and Dr. Myuu, at the hands of Super 17.
  • How Do I Shot Web?: Hey Goku, you got your tail back! Too bad nobody told you that you need to use the Earth to turn into a Golden Great Ape, then get yourself under control to become a Super Saiyan 4!
  • Hulking Out
  • Ineffectual Death Threats: Pan threatens to kill Giru all the time, to the point where it doesn't make any sense that he's even scared anymore.
  • In the End You Are on Your Own: Each Big Bad was mainly taken out by Goku, with both him and them too powerful for anyone else. The best thing they could do was lend him their power and stand there.
  • Involuntary Shapeshifting
  • It's Personal: Here's an FYI - don't mess with humanity. Otherwise, you'll anger Goku. An angry Goku is a very, very dangerous Goku. Baby, Super 17 and the Super One-Star Dragon found this out the hard way.
  • Just a Kid: Both Goku and Pan get this, though only one of them is truly a kid. The other one is pushing 60, and finds it pretty annoying.
  • Ki Attacks
  • Kid Appeal Character: Pan is a Type 3. Even if she gets destroyed in the main fight, she still tends to try, and if she's not doing that, there's a good chance she's doing something else on her own, which tends to help out (pursuing Giru, finding and saving the kid who was possessed by Baby, and calming Goku down while he was a Golden Great Ape are all good examples).
  • King of All Cosmos
  • Knight of Cerebus: General Rilldo. Up until he showed up, nobody other than Luud's high priest died, and the overall tone was still more silly than serious.
  • The Last Dance: Vegeta, Trunks, Goten and Gohan all making one last attempt to kill the Super One-Star Dragon.
  • Lego Genetics: Baby's creation. Mixing the DNA of a synthetic organism with your leader? Sure, why not?
  • Like a Badass Out of Hell: All the villains who have ever died break out of hell, kicking the asses of everyone who was supposed to stop this kind of thing. Then they realize that they forgot to level grind, and get their asses sent straight back home.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Everyone.
  • Little Miss Snarker: Pan, at times.
  • Little Stowaway: Pan. The reason they don't take her home is because she takes the device that would let them go home and easily keeps it away from the out-of-practice, not to mention larger, Trunks. Goku refuses to interfere with it, and she finally drops it down her shirt (which, when you think about it, shouldn't work), causing Trunks to give up.
  • Living Prop: Bra does about three things in GT. Get Vegeta to shave off that awful moustache, make Vegeta take her shopping and give some power to Baby. About the only reason they introduced her seems to be to give Vegeta another kid who's nothing like him - and perhaps someone for the Yuri Fans to ship Pan with.
  • Magic Music: The Para Para Brothers
  • Magic Pants: Super Saiyan 4, the form with its own instant tailor! Works both back and forth.
    • Vegeta even gets gloves and a leather belt to match.
  • Make Room for the New Plot: The last few Black Star Dragon Balls are found a lot faster and easier so that the heroes will return to Earth, discovering that Baby has taken it over.
  • Male Gaze: Pan has had at least one awkward close-up of her butt. The fact that she might be as young as ten didn't stop the crew.
  • The Man Behind the Man: Dr. Myuu to Dolltaki and Mutchy, beginning the transition to the Baby Saga.
  • Mecha-Mooks: Dr. Myuu's forces. Though, it turns out, at least some of them had souls (like Rilldo).
  • Miracle-Gro Monster: The Five-Star Dragon.
  • Misplaced Retribution: Baby's genocidal campaign against Goku, Trunks, Pan, Vegeta and the other people with Saiyan blood, as well as all of humanity, is all revenge for what the Saiyans did to the Tuffles. Vegeta and Goku were not even born yet (and Vegeta would have been a baby if he was), the others were certainly not born yet, the rest of the galaxy wasn't involved and Frieza killed all the Saiyans who could have been there in a combat role (as in, not babies). Basically, he's taking out his anger over what King Vegeta and Bardock's generation did on their kids, grandkids, great grandkids, friends, family members and fellow inhabitants of the Earth.
  • Missed Moment of Awesome: While all the bad guys escape from Hell, there is no confrontation between Raditz and Gohan or Pan. Who wouldn't have loved to see Gohan say something like "Hey, Uncle Raditz!" - just like Goku did to Mercenary Tao in the Cell Saga, dismissing him as no threat whatsoever?
  • Missing Episode: The Funimation dub initially skipped straight to the action-oriented part of the series on television, but later dubbed and released the other episodes on DVD as The Lost Episodes.
  • Mr. Fanservice: Trunks is an in-universe example with all the women (and Otokosuki) of Capsule Corp. lusting after him as he walks the halls of the company.
  • The Mole: After arriving on Planet M-2, it's revealed that Giru was working for the bad guys all along, except it turns out he wasn't and that he was working for the good guys by deceiving Rilldo and the Machine Mutants. So he was actually a Reverse Mole.
  • Monster of the Week: In an interesting display of symmetry, the show used this format in the Black Star Dragon Balls Saga (the first arc) and the Shadow Dragons Saga (the final arc).
  • Mood Whiplash: Often caused by trying to accommodate both early Dragon Ball's comedic tone and the more serious action of Z. The worst offender is by far the Shadow Dragons Saga.
  • Mr. Exposition:
    • Trunks when he explains the Xanatos Gambit he used on Planet M-2.
    • Baby when he tells his backstory to Vegeta.
  • My Husband Is Hotter Than Your Husband: Chi-Chi and Bulma fight over which Super Saiyan 4 is hotter when Vegeta first transforms.
  • Nice Hat: Pan's bucket hat in episode 64 and A Hero's Legacy.
  • Never My Fault: Bulma manages to blame Goku for starting the cycle of searching for the Dragon Balls, when he didn't even know what they did until he met her.
  • New Powers as the Plot Demands: Vegeta regrows his tail when he gets bombarded with Blutz Waves.
  • New Season, New Name
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The constant overuse of the Dragon Balls over the course of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z is what causes the creation of the Shadow Dragons.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Baby does this, having used the Black Star Dragon Balls to bring back Planet Plant. Because of this, by the time he's dead, Earth has two weeks left. Luckily, there's still a planet just sitting there, as well as a giant spacecraft and Super Saiyan 4 Goku, who can use Instant Transmission. So, had Baby used that wish for something like immortality or even just Planet Plant in its old place, Earth and its inhabitants would have been screwed.
  • No Endor Holocaust: Earth is so lucky this universe ignores physics. For one thing, it would be bombarded with the remnants of... itself from the last two times it exploded. For another thing, if a planet were as close as the restored Planet Plant in real life, the gravity of the two would first pull them to the point where they'd be slightly elongated. Second, their gravity would pull them towards each other. The two would then collide, doing massive damage to both. A very popular theory these days is that Earth used to be a Super Earth, a giant Earth-like planet almost completely covered in oceans. Then it hit a Earth-sized planet. The chunks left over from the two gave us the moon, and the Earth became what it is today (after millions of years of pulling itself together).
    • Fridge Brilliance: When the Earth was wished back, it was restored using the fragments left over from the explosion.
  • No Guy Wants an Amazon: Pan's date in the first episode. He's not exactly a fan of her kicking the asses of a group of bank robbers and saving (what she thinks is) a small child.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Super Android 17 and the One-Star Dragon love this way of fighting.
  • No One Could Survive That: Majuub gets turned into chocolate and CHEWED UP by Golden Great Ape Baby Vegeta, yet he lives.
  • No One Should Survive That: At one point, Pan, Goku and Trunks get so close to a sun that, by all scientific information available, their ship should have melted and they should have instantly been burnt to a crisp.
  • No Saving Throw: Earth Android 17 vs. Hell Fighter 17, when Earth 17 attacks Krillin and 18.
  • Not-So-Harmless Villain/Obfuscating Stupidity: The Seven-Star Dragon ("Naturon Shenron").
  • The Nth Doctor:
    • In the FUNimation dub, Goku is played by Stephanie Nadolny in his kid form, Sean Schemmel in his SSJ4 transformation and Shane Ray in his Golden Ape transformation
    • In the same dub, the One-Star Dragon is initially voiced by Bob Carter, but his VA switches to Christopher Sabat after he transforms into the Super One-Star Dragon.
  • Oddly Common Rarity: In Dragon Ball Z, the need for a spaceship was something really, really bad. Not even Capsule Corp. could pull that off. Now, Capsule Corp. can build spacecraft within the week, complete with extras like a flatscreen TV. And that's when it takes off before it's even ready.
    • Justified. It's been at least twenty years since Capsule Corp. built their first spaceship, and Bulma and her dad could have only gotten more efficient. That, plus the series' general adherence to reality, makes it easier to rationalize.
  • Off-Model: Less common than in Z, but still there.
  • Older Than They Look:
    • Goku. It's apparently a Saiyan trait. Even before turning into a kid, he's supposedly in his 40s-50s, and yet barely looks any older than he did in the Cell Saga of Z. Immediately after being reverted to child-size, he makes a reference to Compulsory School Age in the Funimation dub.
    • Vegeta, for the same reason (as he's the only other full-blooded Saiyan left). He's 5 years older than Goku, meaning he's in his mid-to-late 50s by now.
    • Despite looking like a little kid, Pan might actually be somewhere in her early teens. It depends on how long you think the Time Skip between Z and GT is (5 in the original Japanese version, 10 in the Funimation dub).
  • Ominous Walk
  • The Omnipotent: Ultimate Shenron, the dragon of the Black Star Dragon Balls. He also lacks the limitations of Shenron and Porunga.
  • One True Sequence: The first time Goku and the others meet the Para Para Brothers. Of all the Dragon Balls for them to find, they find the only one that the heroes just found at the same time.
  • One-Winged Angel: The Super Seven-Star and One-Star Dragons.
  • Only I Can Kill Him: Oh look, someone other than Goku is trying to kill the Big Bad! How cute!
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You
  • The Other Darrin:
    • The Blue Water dub, which aired in Canada and the UK, had a different voice cast to their dub of Dragon Ball Z.
    • The Funimation dub mostly averts this. The only exceptions were Videl and Pan (the latter of which makes sense, as she's 5 years older now).
  • Our Hero Is Dead: Following Goku's initial loss to Baby Vegeta and after the Super One-Star Dragon's first attempt to destroy the Earth.
  • Overprotective Dad: Possibly Vegeta. It's up to the viewer whether he attacked the teenage punks because they made fun of him or whether he didn't like them hitting on his daughter... or both.
  • Overshadowed by Awesome: Anyone who isn't SSJ4 Goku or Vegeta is pretty much as helpless as your average innocent bystander by the end.
  • Overtook the Series: It's an anime-only continuation of the Dragon Ball story after the manga ended.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: Think of it like this: The weakest Z-Fighter, Pan, is stronger than Third Form Frieza (as she was stronger than Dr. Gero, who was at least stronger than Frieza's lesser forms). Frieza could blow up an entire planet with one attack. That's the weakest person who still shows up and fights.
  • PG Explosives
  • Planet of Hats: According to Baby, the Tuffles were a planet of peace-loving, kind-hearted people.
  • Please Put Some Clothes On: Goku has no objections to being naked. Pan does.
  • Plot Hole: The entirety of the Headscratchers page makes you wonder how the series was even possible at all.
  • Porn Stache: Vegeta... then Bra tells him that it looks awful and he shaves it off.
  • Post Script Season: Twice. The show itself is a Post-Script Season for Dragon Ball Z, while everything after the Baby Saga is a Post-Script Season for the show itself.
  • Power Glows: The Four-Star Dragon, in his red form.
  • Power Limiter: Goku's power drops along with his size, though not to the same level he was at when he was actually a kid. Also, he loses his ability to teleport.
  • Power Makes Your Hair Grow
  • The Power of Friendship: Tends to be what allows Goku to win, though his friends mainly sit on the sidelines before and after.
  • Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: Since it's Dragon Ball, there's plenty of these.
  • Privately-Owned Society: Imecka.
  • Psychotic Smirk: Baby, along with anyone who's under his control. It eventually evolves into a full-on Slasher Smile as it becomes increasingly clear that Baby's undergoing some serious Sanity Slippage.
  • Punched Across the Room
  • Punny Name: Don Kee (it makes more sense in Japanese, where he's "Don Kia", a pun on akindo, meaning "merchant").
  • Put on a Bus to Hell: Piccolo, quite literally. After he's already dead. But on the other hand, he went there on purpose, actually prefers being there and uses his newfound position to guard Hell as seen at the end.
    • Actually kinda makes sense, considering the fact that some of the folks being kept down there are exponentially more powerful than the gods of the universe - and Piccolo's stronger (or at least more tactically brilliant) than them.
  • Quirky Miniboss Squad/Team Rocket: The Para Para Brothers.
  • Real Song Theme Tune: In stark contrast to earlier series, GT used hit songs from popular Japanese artists of The Nineties, including the late Izumi Sakai (the lead vocalist of Zard), J-Pop idol Shizuka Kudo and J-Rock bands Field of View, Deen and WANDS. They're fairly memorable, but they really have absolutely nothing to do with the series in terms of lyrical content.
  • Recycled in Space: For the first arc, the early Dragon Ball series In Space!
  • Red Alert: Giru has a tendency for this. "Danger! Danger! Pan! Danger!"
  • Redundant Rescue: When Goku and Pan try to "save" Trunks from being stuck as a metal... thing.
  • Religion of Evil: The worshippers of Luud.
  • Retired Badass: Vegeta, Gohan, Videl, Piccolo and quite a few other characters.
  • Revenge: Baby's primary motive.
  • Robot Buddy: Giru.
  • Scenery Gorn: Most of the battles with the Shadow Dragons have place in the middle of some ruins of modern cities.
  • Screaming Warrior
  • Separated From the Adults: The many, many times Pan's separated from everyone else.
  • Serial Escalation: All of the villains are much stronger than Frieza. Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta stands out the most, as he's the single most powerful character in the Dragon Ball universe.
  • Series Continuity Error: After Gohan was given the ultimate power-up by the Elder Kaioshin in Dragon Ball Z, he was told that he no longer needed the Super Saiyan transformation. Yet here, he uses it.
    • Of course, one has to remember he didn't lose his Super Saiyan transformation, and was explicitly stated to have completely given up fighting during the period between Z and GT. So it only makes sense he would need it again after going soft for all those years.
  • Shoo Out the Clowns: Giru has a tendency to become incapacitated whenever the Big Bad rears their ugly head.
  • Shoot the Hostage: In an attempt to stop Super 17's rampage, Pan and Giru manage to grab Dr. Gero and threaten him with death. However, since Dr. Myuu secretly modified Hell Fighter 17 in order to make him respond to his and only his orders, Super 17 doesn't recognize Gero as his boss anymore, which leads to Gero's second death at the hands of one of his own creations.
  • Shout-Out: Hey, when the heroes get encased in metal, they look pretty familiar.
  • Significant Acrostic: The American names for the Shadow Dragons start with the letters S-H-E-N-R-O-N.
    • Specifically note that the letters are in Dragon Ball order too (for example; the One-Star Dragon being "Syn Shenron" and the Seven-Star Dragon being "Naturon Shenron").
  • Sins of Our Fathers: Baby is out for revenge against the Saiyans, of whom Goku and Vegeta are the only full-blooded survivors.
    • And he gleefully states this word-by-word when he's telling Vegeta his backstory.
  • Sissy Villain: Lord Don Kee of Imecka, and Master Dolltaki, the "oracle" of Lord Luud.
  • Sliding Scale of Anime Obscurity: Level 1.
  • Sliding Scale of Villain Effectiveness
  • Solar-Powered Magnifying Glass: The Four-Star Dragon summons a giant lens and uses it to fire an extremely hot sunbeam.
  • Sole Survivor: Baby, to the Tuffles.
  • Space Brasilia: The ruins of the city seen on M-2 are clearly this, just with a long period of abandonment after the apocalypse.
  • Specs of Awesome: Gohan
  • Spit Take: Vegeta's reaction, after Bulma tells him she can help him become a Super Saiyan 4.
  • The Starscream: Super 17.
  • Stealth Based Mission: The Don Kee story arc features an episode like this.
  • Super Mode: While Z only went to level 3 of the transformation, GT in particular is notable for introducing Super Saiyan 4, which is so powerful that a Saiyan must become a Golden Great Ape before attaining this form, and unlike all others, this form involves a Saiyan keeping their hair dark but having a copious amount of it as well as growing red fur all over their body and regrowing their Saiyan tail if it's missing. Needless to say, it's awesome.
    • Interestingly, the mechanics allow one to skip levels, as Vegeta manages to become a Super Saiyan 4 without ever achieving Super Saiyan 3.
  • Supernatural Martial Arts: Duh.
  • Super-Powered Evil Side: Golden Great Ape/SSJ4 Goku. Golden Great Ape is just plain destructive, but SSJ4, at least the first time it's used, is like the first time Goku went Super Saiyan, only even more serious.
  • Super Strong Child: Pan, and Goku again (though only biologically).
  • Team Dad: Trunks to Pan, Goku and Giru in the first saga.
  • Theme Tune Rap: Infamously, for the broadcast version of the FUNimation dub (the DVD season sets are mercifully free of them).
  • This Way to Certain Death: Under the Black Star Dragon Balls is a whole bunch of skeletons. One must wonder, were those people there for the Dragon Balls, or did Mr. Popo just need to get rid of some bodies?
  • Those Two Bad Guys: Cell and Frieza.
  • Timeshifted Actor:
    • In both English dubs, Goku's actor changes as he shifts between his child and adult/SSJ4 bodies.
    • In the Funimation dub, Pan's actress changes during the flashbacks from when she was a toddler. Oddly, this is averted with old lady Pan, who has the same VA as 10-year-old Pan.
  • Time to Unlock More True Potential: The Kais think Goku's in for this after his first defeat by Baby Vegeta. Played with in a sense, as all Goku needs to unlock his potential is to have his tail grow back in a particularly painful manner involving a pair of pliers.
  • Transformation Is a Free Action: Subverted during the final battle with the Super One-Star Dragon. SSJ4 Gogeta had him completely outmatched in every way, but when the fusion wore off sooner than they expected (likely because the SSJ4 form was straining the fusion), the villain would not (and did not) allow them to fuse again, interrupting them whenever they tried.
  • Trash Talk: Goku to Pilaf in the Blue Water dub, after the latter says he would have easily defeated Goku back in the old days when he was the bigger of the two.
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Adult Goku: "Even as a child, I don't ever recall being shorter than you!"

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A Hero's Legacy Contains Examples of:[]

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