Red Ribbon Androids

Androids 18, 16 and 17

The Red Ribbon Androids (レッドリボン軍人造人間, Reddo Ribon Gun Jinzōningen; lit. "Red Ribbon Artificial Humans") are various Androids and Cyborgs developed by Dr. Gero and other scientists for the Red Ribbon Army, as well as following the defeat of the army in order to avenge the army's destruction at the hands of Goku.

Overview

Dr. Gero's process of turning a human into an android completely halts their aging, thus making the cyborg immune to at least natural death/illness.

Future Trunks notes that the androids of his timeline, while much stronger than him, are not as strong as the ones seen in the main timeline. This may be due to the fact that Dr. Gero's remote tracking device gathers information later on that notes Goku's strength. In the main timeline, Goku is considerably stronger than before he dies in Future Trunks' timeline, as he spends three years training. This also helps to highlight the main timeline androids' difference in mentality from the sociopaths of his timeline, as they can have laid waste to the others and to the world with even more harrowing dominance if they had want to. The Android 18 and Android 17 of the main timeline and the Future Android 18 and Future Android 17 of Future Trunks' ruined timeline seem to have differing morals: in Future Trunks' timeline, the duo enjoy destroying everyone and everything in sight, not caring who they hurt, while looking for a good time in the process. However, in the main timeline, Android 18 impatiently wants Android 16 to fight Goku, whereas Android 17 just wants to have fun driving around. The main timeline's trio never actually killed anyone, excluding Dr. Gero.

Gero's Androids 13 through 20 (Dr. Gero himself) all wear loop earrings. In the anime, Android 19 often flicks one of his earrings before attacking. Android 13 and Android 17 also do this once, against Piccolo. Super 17 does this while searching for Goku once during their fight in Dragon Ball GT as well.

Androids

Prototype Androids

Main articles: Prototype Android and Unnamed Blue Android Created as early test models by Dr. Gero , they are briefly seen during flashbacks of him in his laboratory and are featured as villains in the video game Dragon Ball Z: Sagas.

Androids 1 through 7

All these units have design flaws or other problems which lead to them being scrapped. They are mentioned twice during the Cell Saga of Dragon Ball Z.

Android 8

Main article: Android 8

Android 8 during the Red Ribbon Army Saga

A larger-sized construct, Android 8 looks like (and is modeled after) the more modern takes on Frankenstein's monster. Despite this, he is actually a very gentle soul. He is deemed a failure due to this fluke in his programming.

When Ninja Murasaki learns he cannot defeat Goku in Muscle Tower, he activates Android 8 to do his dirty work for him. However, the android refuses to fight Goku. Murasaki threatens to activate the self-destruct mechanism in Android 8's body, but Goku saves the android from being destroyed and the two become friends afterwards, taking down Muscle Tower (as well as the Red Ribbon Army near Jingle Village) together. Android 8 still resides there to this day.

Note: Due to Dr. Gero not existing at the time of the manga, a new character, Dr. Flappe, is created to be his inventor. It's generally assumed that in the anime timeline, Dr. Flappe and Dr. Gero worked together back in the days of the Red Ribbon Army.

Androids 9 through 15

Android 9 in Dragon Ball Online

These and the androids that follow were created with the sole intention of killing Goku. However, like 1 through 7, 9 through 12 all have problems which eventually lead to them being scrapped. In Dragon Ball Online, Android 9 is Commander Red revived as a Cyborg.

In the Dragon Ball manga, 13 , 14 , and 15 are nearly complete, though they are not ready enough to be activated (implying that they were still needed to be worked on). However, in the movie Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13!, a secret super computer continues working where the doctor had left off, eventually releasing the trio out into the public to track down and kill Goku.

Android 13

Main article: Android 13

Android 13

Presumably the most powerful of the three androids of the movie Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13!. He is able to keep up with Goku in his Super Saiyan form, he is eventually defeated, but soon catches his breath and absorbs bits and pieces of his destroyed colleagues to become Super 13.

Super 13

After absorbing parts of Androids 14 and 15, the truck driver-styled android transforms into a massive blue beast of unbridled power and strength. Nigh-invincible in this form, it takes the power of Super Saiyan Goku absorbing a Spirit Bomb to stop him. He is never seen again after his defeat.

Android 14

Main article: Android 14

Android 14

Built alongside 13 and 15, Android 14 is a large, powerful, gray-colored android. Generally the silent type, he prefers to do his talking with his fists. He is killed by Future Trunks (after becoming a Super Saiyan) and subsequently his remains are absorbed by Android 13. He is never seen again.

Android 15

Main article: Android 15

Android 15

Android 15 is best described as "a little man in a fancy outfit". His outfit and purple skin give him the look of a gangster, though he says little more than Android 14. A strange quirk of this android is the fact he carries and drinks from a small alcohol flask kept in his front pocket from time to time. Ultimately, he is destroyed by Super Saiyan Vegeta and absorbed by Android 13, then never heard from again.

Android 16

Main article: Android 16

Android 16, considered a failure

Strong and silent, Android 16 stands tall as one of the doctor's largest creations. He shares a gentle nature to Android 8, seen staring off into space and admiring nature time and time again. He is programmed to kill Goku, but it's unknown if he would have as the chance to do so never came up in the storyline. This is why he is considered a failure in Dr. Gero's eyes.

His ultimate fate is to play a pivotal role in the defeat of Cell . It is his demise that inspires teenage Gohan to release his rage and push to Super Saiyan 2 form.

Android 17

Main article: Android 17

The Human-like models known as Android 17 and 18, considered too powerful to control

The male of the twin androids, Android 17 , looks like an average teenage boy wearing a casual outfit. Unlike all other androids before him (except for #9), he is less a robot and more a cyborg, he and 18 are runaways who are abducted and experimented on by Dr. Gero. Because of his rebellious nature, he is considered a failed android and sealed away until Dr. Gero, in a fit of desperation, releases him and 18. Ironically, he ends up killing Dr. Gero. After he and 18 finish pummeling the Z Fighters into submission, he, 18, and 16 wander off on a long and fun road trip to Goku's house.

Later in the series, Android 17 becomes little more than fodder for Cell, becoming a part of Cell's very being and powering him up to his Semi-Perfect form. After Cell's defeat, he is revived and continues to wander the countryside, messing with people and having a fun time all by himself.

In Dragon Ball GT, he once again plays the role of a victim, being fused together with Hell Fighter 17 to become Super 17. After Super 17's defeat, he is once again revived by the Dragon Balls and presumably goes back to aimlessly wandering.

Android 18

Main article: Android 18 Looks can be deceiving, as this beautiful young lady can be very dangerous when riled. Much like her twin brother 17, she is too rebellious to control and considered a failed android. Also like 17, she was a normal, human girl until Dr. Gero experiments on her. In her first appearance, she humiliates Vegeta (who had just become a Super Saiyan) and helps 17 defeat the Z Fighters before she, 17, and 16 hijack a Lucky Foods Company van and take a road trip to Goku's house .

Later on, she is absorbed by Cell, which allows him to achieve his Perfect Form . A few days later, she is spat back out after Cell receives an extremely powerful kick to the gut from an enraged Super Saiyan 2 Gohan. After Cell is defeated by Gohan, she wanders off for a while before returning to the Z Fighters and ultimately marrying Krillin, who falls in love with her during the Cell Saga. The two also have a daughter named Marron.

During Dragon Ball GT, she plays a much more subdued role, becoming one of Baby's minions during the Baby Saga as well as fighting off Super 17 later on.

Android 19

Main article: Android 19

The energy absorbing models, #19 and Gero himself as #20, considered successes but are far weaker than others

A very strange, round man of an android, Android 19 is one of two energy-absorbing models made by Dr. Gero. Despite being destroyed by Super Saiyan Vegeta, he is considered a successful android given that he follows his programming to the letter and has enough power to destroy Goku.

During the Dragon Ball GT series he is seen flying from hell in the sky and destroying the city. He is later sent back to hell by Trunks and Goten .

Android 20

Main article: Android 20 First shown as an android, 20 is actually a combination of a robotic body with the brain of Dr. Gero implanted in its head. Much like 19, he is an energy-absorbing model and also considered a success by the doctor.

Long before he becomes an android, Dr. Gero is an engineer working for the Red Ribbon Army. It is not until Goku single-handedly takes down the entirety of the Red Ribbon that Dr. Gero focuses his attention to motives of pure revenge. As Future Trunks predicts, two androids meet the Z Fighters on the battlefield three years after Goku's return to Earth, but unlike Trunks' prediction, it is Gero himself and 19 who meet them, rather than 17 and 18. Ultimately, Dr. Gero is destroyed by Android 17 and ends up in Hell.

Dragon Ball GT introduces a new doctor, Dr. Myuu. After Dr. Myuu's defeat at the hands of Goku, Trunks, and Pan, Dr. Myuu and Dr. Gero team up to get revenge on them by creating Hell Fighter 17 (and eventually Super 17). After a complicated series of events, Myuu and Gero escape Hell only to be killed again by Super 17, much to their surprise.

Cell

Main article: Cell

Cell, considered a success

The ultimate "android", Cell, is actually a combination of cells extracted from a number of sources (such as the Z Fighters and Frieza and his father). As such, he has the fighting knowledge, power, and even the moves of some of the most powerful fighters in the universe. In addition, because of the manner in which Cell is created, Cell is the only one of Dr. Gero's androids whose ki can be sensed by the Z Fighters. Coming from the future in which Android 17 and Android 18 are already dead, Cell seeks to absorb the duo in order to climb to his perfect form. Oddly enough, he has no intention of taking over the world, but instead wants to destroy it if Goku cannot beat him. His present form is destroyed after Trunks and Krillin destroy Gero's lab and Cell's embryo stage.

Ultimately, Cell is defeated by an enraged Gohan and sent to the Other World. He forms a union with Frieza and his Ginyu Force, generally causing havoc and being a pest to the ogres who maintain the peace. Goku (who dies in the battle with Cell) is about to stop him, but Pikkon steps in and promptly puts Cell in his place, for the time being. After that, the show pretty much shows Cell being in Hell.

Cell once again becomes a thorn in Goku's side in Dragon Ball GT. Goku, having to go to Hell, runs into Cell and Frieza. However, the two are ultimately defeated and detained by the ogres of Hell once again by Goku trapping both of them in Hell's ice.

Cell Jr.

Main article: Cell Jr. While not created by Dr. Gero directly, after reaching his perfect form, Cell can reproduce asexually through his tail. Taking the shape of child-like, blue Cells, each Cell Jr. is almost as powerful as Perfect Cell himself. However, they are far from durable as a single attack from Super Saiyan 2 Gohan is able to destroy each of seven spawned Cell Jrs. They somewhat resemble the Saibamen who first appear during the Vegeta Saga of Dragon Ball Z.

Hell Fighter 17

Main article: Hell Fighter 17 Created in Hell by Dr. Gero and Dr. Myuu, Hell Fighter 17 is, aside from being a Machine Mutant, an exact copy of Android 17 and is created to locate, control, and eventually fuse with the original 17 in order to create Super 17.

Super 17

Main article: Super 17

Super Android 17

The fusion of Android 17 and Hell Fighter 17 is a spectacular success, yielding the large and powerful Super 17. With the power of both 17 and Hell Fighter 17, he is able to fight and defeat all of the Z Fighters, including Goku, albeit turning and killing Dr. Gero and Dr. Myuu in the process, until Goku finds his weakness and destroys him for good.

Team attacks

• Accel Dance (18 & 17)
• Non-stop Violence (18 & 17)
• Hell Spiral (18, 17, 16)
• Combined Energy Ball (15 & 14)
• Energy Squall (15 & 14)
• Twin Drain (Gero & Cell)
• Cell Junior Dance (Cell & Cell Jrs)
• Absolute Evil (Cell & Frieza, or Frieza, Cell, Super Buu)
• Hell Bazooka (Cell & Frieza)
• Fusion (Android 17 & Hell Fighter 17)

Trivia

Maybe Android 3?

• Interestingly, even though Android 13, 14, and 15 are not featured in the Dragon Ball manga, the "Androids A-B-C's" section mentions that Androids 13, 14, and 15 are very close to the Android concept.
• The Pirate Robot which Goku, Krillin and Bulma encounter in the pirates' cove in "The Trap is Sprung", the 50th episode of the Dragon Ball anime, has the number '2' painted on both of its legs. However, since this is apparently the Red Ribbon Army's first venture into the cave and they appear to have no knowledge of the robot, it seems highly unlikely that this is the Android 2 that Dr. Gero created. Still, the pirate cove robot bares resemblance to a failed project, possibly Android 3, which hangs strung above what is the third android's laboratory pod in a scene during Future Trunks' telling of Dr. Gero's plot in Dragon Ball Z.

Gallery

Androids 20 and 19 Androids 19 and 20 Androids 17 and 18 Androids 20 and 17 Androids 18 and 17 Androids 20, 18 and 17 Androids 17, 16 and 18 Androids 18 and 17 Androids 16, 17 and 18 The Androids as Future Trunks remebers Androids 18 and 17 in Goku's dream Androids 16, 17, and 18 (Budokai 2 opening) Androids 18, 16 and 17 Android 16 defending Android 17 Androids 16 and 18 hiding Cell and Android 16 Cell with Android 16 Androids 15 and 14 Androids 14 and 15, as designed by Toriyama (Daizenshuu 6)