THINGS ABOUT FRIEZA Frieza (Japanese: フリーザ Hepburn: Furīza), romanized as Freeza in Japanese merchandise, Funimation's English subtitles and Viz Media's release of the manga, is a fictional character in the Dragon Ball manga series created by Akira Toriyama. Frieza makes his debut in Chapter #247: Dark Clouds Swirl Over Planet Namek (暗雲うずまくナメック星 An'un Uzumaku Namekkusei), first published in Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine on October 6, 1989,[1] as an evil galactic overlord feared as the most powerful being in the universe.
Despite not appearing until the manga's second half, Frieza is considered to be the most iconic antagonist from the Dragon Ballfranchise due to effectively serving as the catalyst of many of the events depicted in the story, such as Goku's arrival on Earth, the Saiyans landing on Earth, and subsequently the main characters going to planet Namek. In his appearances in the manga itself, he is also directly responsible for the murder of Goku's father Bardock, the genocide of the Saiyan race, the first death of Vegeta, and the second death of Goku's best friend Krillin, arguably making him Goku's most personal and significant enemy, and the final confrontation between Goku and Frieza has been hailed as one of the most memorable manga and anime battles ever.
Frieza later appeared as the antagonist in the theatrical film Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' and as an antagonist and recurring character in Dragon Ball Super.
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Creation and conception[edit]
Frieza, a broker who forcibly takes over planets to resell them, was created around the time of the Japanese economic bubble and was inspired by real estate speculators, whom Toriyama called the "worst kind of people."[2] Toriyama purposely does not draw bad guys so unscrupulous that it affects one psychologically, although he admits Frieza is close. Therefore, he paid special attention to how Frieza spoke; because villains typically speak rudely, he gave him polite speech making for an unsettling contrast with his cruelty.[3] The character's name is a pun on freezer, and because of this the members of the Ginyu Force are named after items one would normally put in a refrigerator.[4] The Shenlong Times issue #2, a bonus pamphlet given to some buyers of the Daizenshuu 2: Story Guideguidebook, says that Frieza was modeled after Toriyama's editor at the time, Yū Kondō.[5]
Frieza so far possesses five transformation forms, each one being quite different and more powerful from the previous ones. It is implied that Frieza's fourth form is actually his basic one, with the other three being transformations that suppress his power in order to conserve it,[6] while the fifth one unleashes his true power. Toriyama revealed that he did not think to have Frieza transform until about midway through. He said he has a habit of making characters gradually more tough and complex-looking, until finally making them very sleek, as it is a pain to draw them if their appearance is too complex. The author confirmed this is why Frieza's third and most intricate form is only shown for a short time, and joked that three transformations might be one too many.[3]
Appearances[edit]
Dragon Ball[edit]
Before the start of the series, Frieza destroys Planet Vegeta, after Beerus' authorization, out of both fear of a potential uprising by the Saiyans due to their increasing power and the prophecy of the coming of the legendary Super Saiyan. Frieza spares only Vegeta, Nappa, and Raditz, offering them wealth for their loyalty. However, when Raditz's father made a final stand when Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta, he did not notice the Saiyan's second son being sent to Earth where he became known as Goku.
Frieza makes his official appearance in the story after Vegeta's defeat on Earth at Goku's hands, having traveled to Planet Namek to find the seven Namekian Dragon Balls to wish for immortality. He and his men massacre Namekian villages one after another, until Gohan, Krillin, and Vegeta begin to hamper his efforts in their own way. Though Frieza manages to gain the Dragon Balls, with the Ginyu Force dealing with the interlopers, his inability to speak Namekian forces him to find the Great Elder of Namek. Frieza ends up fighting Namekian warrior Nail, whom he beats repeatedly until Nail reveals that their fight was only to buy time for Dende to give the words needed to activate the Namekian Dragon Balls, for the warriors from Earth. With his entire army killed by Vegeta and the Ginyu Force defeated by Goku, Frieza intercepts Vegeta and the others personally.
Frieza briefly battles Vegeta, with the Saiyan Prince goading him into transforming and revealing his true power. Frieza transforms into his second form, and during the battle he finally admits to be the one who had destroyed the planet where the Saiyans had settled. After defeating Vegeta, Frieza takes on Piccolo, who has at this point fused with Nail. Although Piccolo appears to be even with him, he transforms into his third form and dominates the powerful Namekian.[7] Following a brief tussle with Gohan, Frieza decides to transform into his final form.[8] He kills Dende to stop him from healing the others[9] and mortally wounds Vegeta just as Goku arrives, who just recovered following his fight with the Ginyu Force.[10] Frieza fights Goku and brutally beats him,[11] however Goku manages to seriously wound him with a Genki-Dama.[12] Frieza then critically injures Piccolo and murders Krillin, which sends Goku over the edge to assume Super Saiyan form for the first time.[13]
Frieza starts to realize that he is outmatched and damages the core of Namek in an act of desperation.[14] He then uses 100% of his power (he had been using 50% up until that point), and regains the advantage, however he cannot sustain this form and is ultimately cut in half. Though Goku spares the crippled Frieza while leaving for his ship to escape the planet's destruction, he ends up seemingly killing Frieza when he makes a final attempt on Goku's life.[15] But in reality, Frieza survives both the attack and Namek's explosion, drifting through space until he is found by his father King Cold (コルド大王 Korudo Daiō) and rebuilt with cybernetic prosthetics. A year later, Frieza and King Cold travel to Earth in order to exact revenge on Goku and his friends, but they are confronted by Trunks, Vegeta and Bulma's son from the future.[16] After a brief battle, Frieza is sliced to pieces by Trunks and blasted into oblivion, with his father following shortly afterwards. Despite finally being dead, his cells are used as a catalyst for the future villain Cell.
Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' / Dragon Ball Super[edit]
After Frieza's death, his spirit was kept imprisoned in Earth's Hell, where he was tortured by being forced to endure the playful antics of an overly saccharine cadre of angels while reliving the memories of his defeats at the hands of Goku and Trunks. But fourteen years after Frieza's demise, his two surviving subordinates Sorbet and Tagoma collected all of the Dragon Balls with the aid of the Pilaf Gang and resurrect him as his disemboweled Mecha Frieza form. The two bring Frieza to their ship and use their advanced medical technology to restore Frieza to full organic form. Bent on revenge while learning that Goku defeated Majin Buu and fought Beerus to a stalemate (the only two beings in the universe Frieza was warned never to cross by his father), Frieza decides to undergo four months of intensive training and achieves a new form which he dubs "Golden Frieza" and sets off for Earth with his army. On Earth, the Z Fighters battle Frieza's minions to stall for time so that Goku and Vegeta, off on a training session with the gods Whis and Beerus, can return. Frieza executes his defeated army for their incompetence just as Goku, Vegeta, Beerus, and Whis arrive. Goku and Vegeta reveal their new Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan forms, and battle Frieza, killing Sorbet in the crossfire. Although Frieza's Golden form is stronger than Goku's strongest form, Frieza's stamina can not endure a prolonged fight with this form, and he is eventually cornered by Vegeta. Frieza destroys the Earth in retaliation for his defeat, killing Vegeta while he survives, but Whis rewinds time and allows Goku to kill Frieza once more. Frieza returns to Hell, where he is once more tormented by the angels.[17]
In the later story arc featuring the tournament between the 6th and 7th Universes, Frieza himself does not appear, however his Universe 6 counterpart Frost (フロスト, Furosuto) makes an appearance as the second fighter on Team Universe 6. Frieza appears in the manga adaption omake alongside Sorbet and Susami in Hell.
In the Universal Tournament Arc, Frieza becomes the 10th member of the Universe 7 team after Majin Buu is ineligible to fight. When visited by Goku in Hell, later revealed to have mentally trained himself maintain his Golden form, Frieza accepts the offer on the condition of being revived by the Dragon Balls after the tournament. Universe 4 finds out about Frieza's enrollment into the Universe 7 team, and convinces Universe 9 to hire assassins to kill him as he is brought back to the living world by Fortuneteller Babba for 24 hours. Goku meets up with Frieza, but before they can meet up with the others they are stopped by a group of assassins that are claiming their heads. Frieza kills most of the assassins before trapping Goku in an energy attack, taking one of the assassin's communicators as he attempted to deal with Universe 9's leaders to join their group before being forced to destroy the item when Beerus and Whis appear. Beerus believes Frieza is plotting something, but Goku vouches for him and the two return to meet with the rest of their team. During the tournament, meeting Frost and setting up an alliance with him to take out the Saiyans, Frieza forces Universe 9's Roselle to forfeit and then easily disposes of Universe 10's Murichim.[18] Frieza later spots Gohan struggling against Universe 2's Jimeze, eventually deciding to intervene and brutally defeats Jimeze. When Frost appears to commence their arrangement Frieza, revealed to tricked his Universe 6 counterpart, momentarily knocks Gohan out so he can eliminate Frost while his guard was down before aiding Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, and Androids 17 and 18 in defeating Universe 3's fighter. Frieza becomes one of the four combatants standing alongside Goku, Android 17 and Universe 11's Jiren, unexpectedly teaming up with Goku to force Jiren out in a triple elimination with 17 declared the winner. Frieza is resurrected soon after by Whis at the behest of Beerus as a reward for his efforts and take his leave to begin rebuilding his empire.
During the events of the film Dragon Ball Super: Broly, Frieza started to rebuild his forces while deciding to use Earth's Dragon Balls to make a wish to increase his height by five centimeters. Freiza recruited Broly and Paragus who accompany him to Earth for the last Dragon Ball, realizing the former's potential as he matched Goku and Vegeta in their Super Saiyan Blue forms. This inspires Freiza to kill Paragus to force Broly's transformation into a Super Saiyan, only to be caught in Broly's rampage after the latter quickly defeated Goku. But Freiza is saved at the last second by Gogeta, who thwarts his attempt to kill off his former subordinates Chirai and Lemo when they used the Dragon Balls to save Broly's life with Frieza falling back while vowing revenge.
Abilities[edit]
Frieza is capable of moving at superhuman speeds, flying, and has quick reflexes.[19] Like most characters in the series, he can harness a supernatural energy known as Ki and manipulate it into powerful and devastating concussive beams of said energy, with which he is able to destroy planets with relative ease. Some of Frieza's signature ki techniques include the Death Beam (デスビーム Desu Bīmu), a sharp piercing beam from his finger, and the Death Ball (デスボール Desu Bōru), a large energy sphere he used to destroy planet Namek. He is capable of surviving in the vacuum of space, and also seems to possess some form of telekinesis, being able to lift opponents without touching them and cause them to explode.
Frieza's power was so great over time, that his body could not comfortably contain it and a series of physical transformations were developed that limit his actual strength.[20] While changing shape from his "first-form", each alteration builds on the previous. In all, Frieza has three transformed states, each with increasing power, some larger than others and each resulting in different physical attributes, although the two transformed states (along with his first form) were merely to suppress Frieza's power, and that his third transformed state is actually his true form, while a fourth further transformation that he discovered after his four months of training actually increases his power drastically and lets out most of his latent strength.
- First form
In his weakest form, Frieza is a relatively short humanoid with a large chestnut-shaped skull and two horns. He also has a tail with a spiked end, as well as having three talon-like toes.[21] Frieza wears the same upper-body armor and shorts that many of his subordinates are shown to wear, and while traveling, often gives the appearance of weakness by exclusively using his hoverchair for transportation, leaving his henchmen to do his "dirty work". Though frail in comparison with his succeeding forms, Frieza still boasts sufficient force to destroy planets.[22] While shifting to his next stage, Frieza breaks his battle-jacket, revealing a natural white armor covering his chest and shoulders.
Frieza's 6th Universe counterpart, Frost, also initially appears in this form.
- Second form
His second form is much larger, both in height and muscle mass. He grows longer horns, which now instead of protruding sideways from his head curve sharply upwards into near right angles.[23] In this form, Frieza does not have any trouble taking out Vegeta, Krillin, and Gohan. However, Frieza notices that Piccolo's power level is about equal to his own level, leaving Frieza with no choice but to transform again. This form largely resembles his father, King Cold.
Frieza's 6th Universe counterpart Frost also takes on a second form, however it bears a greater resemblance to Frieza's third form and is said to be the equivalent of it by Piccolo.
- Third form
Frieza's third form is again more brutish, with an extremely elongated skull (like an Alien). His facial features contort and change, with his nose melding into his mouth to form a crude beak. His original horns recede and are now white in color, erupting in pairs along the length of his head. His tail tip, which had been cut off by Kuririn, did not regenerate and he now has a slight hunch. Although his tail was surprisingly not regenerated, the rest of his wounds disappeared as if nothing ever touched him.[24]
- Fourth form
Drastically differing from his previous transformations, in his final, true form, Frieza's third form (being more like a shell for this final form) cracks and shatters open, revealing a shorter and less bulky appearance. His horns and spikes disappear with his physique becoming entirely streamlined and his skin is now a pure, solid white with purple sections on his head, shoulders, forearms, chest and shins. All injuries taken in other forms are healed. This is the form that allows him to release his full potential. Frieza is also able to attain 100% power of this form, his muscle mass becoming engorged compared to his previously sleek frame.[25] This is the peak of Frieza's natural potential, and the maximum amount of power his body can output. This form gives Frieza enough strength and speed to make even Super Saiyan Goku struggle; however to obtain such power, Frieza's body is subjected to a muscle strain, which slowly lowers his energy, reducing his speed until he cannot compete with Super Saiyan Goku anymore. This transformation is therefore not suitable for prolonged combat, with Frieza trying to finish the fight as quickly as possible by destroying Planet Namek.[26]
Frieza's 6th Universe counterpart, Frost, also briefly uses this form d
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