"KING PICCOLO TIME!"
— Piccolo's entry phrase in BT3
Demon Emperor Piccolo (ピッコロ大魔王Pikkoro Daimaō, lit. "Piccolo the Great Demon King") is an alternate timeline version of King Piccolo where he was successful in killing Goku and fused with Kami in order to ensure nobody could challenge him again, eventually coming into conflict with a resurrected Red Ribbon Army. King Piccolo would eventually meet his end at the hands of the Time Patroller known as Percel.
"Reports tell me that the present king is nothing more than a bleeding heart peace-lover! Ha ha ha ha! It's always the sentimental ones who are my favorite to destroy! Don't you agree?" — "King Piccolo's Wish"
Being the concentrated evil that lived within the Nameless Namek, King Piccolo's personality is the exact opposite of his good counterpart, Kami; he is presented as a cold, ruthless, sadistic, and power-hungry villain with little to no sense of compassion whatsoever. He has demonstrated on many occasions that he is willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish his goals, regardless of how many innocent lives need to be taken in the process. Piccolo has also been shown to have a very warped and twisted sense of humor, often breaking out into a maniacal laughter after causing some form of death and destruction and creating a holiday where he would destroy a city every year on the anniversary of his take-over.
King Piccolo before his wish for eternal youth
Along with being extremely evil, Piccolo is also very arrogant, believing himself to be the most powerful being in the universe. Up until he was defeated by Goku, he was one hundred percent convinced that there was no one out there who could exceed his power. For all his many displays of arrogance however, he was completely terrified of the Evil Containment Wave(presumably due to suffering its effects before) and completely froze in horror the very moment it is performed. As a result, he made it his sole mission to eliminate all martial artists that either knew how or had the capacity to use it.
An enraged King Piccolo
King Piccolo, like most other villains, happens to be very intellligent, being able to think ahead and learn from his previous mistakes. This was shown when he destroyed Shenron after making his wish (so that no one would be able to use the Dragon Balls to stop his reign), as well as when his reincarnation decided to injure both of Goku's arms at the World Martial Arts Tournament (as opposed to before, when he ended up leaving one of them unharmed). King Piccolo also happens to be somewhat manipulative, as demonstrated when he used Emperor Pilaf and his associates, Mai and Shu, to gather the Dragon Balls for him. Rather typically, he decided to dispose of them when he figured that he no longer had a use for them. Despite being pure evil, King Piccolo shows mercy on a few occasions; The first time is when he leaves Master Mutaito to die but spares Mutaito's students Master Roshi and Master Shen; The second time is when he does not kill Yajirobe, who hid from him during his fight with Goku (King Piccolo can sense power levels, as he states Master Roshi, Chiaotzu, and Tien are hiding from him); Later, after regaining his youth and becomming agurably more maniacal than before, he also spares the lives of Emperor Pilaf, Mai, and Shu, and later the life of King Furry (though he kills almost all of King Furry's guards). Also, during the worldwide announcement of his take-over, Piccolo stated that he deeply sympathizes with the criminals. According to himself, he sympathizes with them, because he viewed their imprisonment as being no different from his own, having been sealed within the electronic jar for many years.
Biography[]
Pre-Dragon Ball[]
Main article: King Piccolo wars
King Piccolo breaks away from his good counterpart, later known as Kami
King Piccolo came into being some 300 years before the beginning of Dragon Ball sometime after a nameless Namek on Earth attempted to assume the position of guardian of Earth, he was denied the position due to the evil that occulted within (a guardian's motives must be pure, but the nameless Namek also wanted the job for the power it brought). As a result, the Namekian concentrated and trained to relinquish the evil within; which conspired into producing two separate entities — if one should perish, the other would also. This resulted in two beings — the concentrated evil being
King Piccolo sometime early in his first conquest
known as King Piccolo, and the pure being known as Kami. At first, the name "Piccolo" was a reference to the wind instrument, but then a revelation by Mr. Popo to Bulma meant it translated to "different world" in Namekian.
Piccolo created several offspring and watched as they terrorized and killed helpless citizens and destroyed the cities they lived in but stepped in himself later on, after his sons were killed by Master Mutaito's pupils, including a young Master Roshi and a young Master Shen who were the only two who survived. Master Roshi and Master Shen could not as much as lay a finger on Piccolo, and Mutaito soon steps in, but is himself outclassed and left to die by Piccolo. Despite Piccolo's devastating attacks, Mutaito lived. After being nursed back to health by his two remaining pupils, but before he could heal his wounds, Mutaito left, in shame because he lost in front of his two students. While Master Roshi never lost faith in his master, Master Shen did, and the two parted ways, with Master Roshi escaping to the mountains while Piccolo continued to kill human after human and destroy city after city.
A young King Piccolo, as seen in one of Master Roshi's flashback
Several years later, Mutaito, carrying an electric rice cooker in a bag, reunites with Master Roshi in the cave Master Roshi was training in (balancing on a stick while meditating) and the two track Piccolo down for the final confrontation, which by this time most of Earth's population had been slaughtered. They find Piccolo in the ruins of a city, which is hauntingly quiet, and Mutaito wastes no time launching his attack on him, this special technique is revealed to be the suicidal Evil Containment Wave technique. Piccolo is trapped in the Electric Rice Cooker and Mutaito dies, and sometime afterward Master Roshi personally tosses the rice cooker into the deepest depths of the ocean.
King Piccolo sitting stationary on his throne, which resembles Guru's.
Afterwards things slowly return to normal, with the cities being rebuilt and the Earth being repopulated, and over time people eventually forgot King Piccolo ever existed, with the exception of Master Roshi, Master Shen and of course Kami. Some, such as Tien Shinhan and Yajirobe, heard the tale, but dismissed it as a mere bedtime story.
Dragon Ball[]
King Piccolo Saga[]
"For some reason, every time I meet a martial artist, I have this incredible urge to destroy them. Even one as tiny and pathetic as you!" —Goku vs. King Piccolo
Decades to a few centuries later, he is released from his confinement by Emperor Pilaf, and King Piccolo decides to have all the current and former finalists of the World Martial Arts Tournament murdered, there by removing all those who might be able to learn the Evil Containment Wave. To aid him in this, he spits out two eggs containing his first two sons shown on screen, Piano and Tambourine.
Tambourine quickly goes about the task, his first victim being Krillin, and he also dispatches Goku shortly after by blasting his Nimbus Cloud apart and throwing him down to the ground, though he survives. King Piccolo then spits out an egg containing a third son, Cymbal, who he assigns the task of gathering the Dragon Balls. King Piccolo seeks the Dragon Balls so that he can wish to regain his youth and full power.
When King Piccolo senses that Cymbal has been killed, he orders Tambourine to hunt down the assassin. Guided by Emperor Pilaf's Global Dragon ball Radar, Tambourine arrives at Cymbal's last known location to discover Yajirobe and Goku, and in a vengeful rage for Krillin's death, Goku kills Tambourine. Again sensing that another of his sons has died, King Piccolo decides to deal with the fighter responsible personally. Upon arriving, King Piccolo confronts Goku, and despite his age he easily defeats the boy (though King Piccolo was forced to admit that Goku was an exceptional fighter for forcing him down to the ground once). Goku is left severely beaten and near death. Master Roshi then challenges King Piccolo (using the remaining five Dragon Balls as a trap), attempting to trap him using the Evil Containment Wave. Master Roshi is able to catch the demon king in the wave, but when he attempts to hurl him into a container, he misses at the last second. The attempt leaves Master Roshi completely drained, and he dies shortly after swearing to King Piccolo that his plans will never come to fruition.
King Piccolo is then able to gather the Dragon Balls to summon Shenron. Chiaotzu attempts to make a wish himself to prevent King Piccolo from doing so, but is killed before he can finish, allowing King Piccolo to wish for eternal youth, becoming much more powerful than before since he was returned to his physical prime. However, before Shenron can disperse, King Piccolo kills him with a single blast to prevent anyone else from using the Dragon Balls against him.
With no one left who can properly challenge him, King Piccolo decides to savor his victory, rather than all out destroy civilization like he did the first time, and instead overthrows King Furry to become the ruler of the Earth. As part of entertaining himself, he institutes several evil policies such as releasing all criminals and a more planned system of destruction.
King Piccolo tries to block Goku's Penetrate!
He is then confronted by Tien Shinhan, who has now learned the Evil Containment Wave Technique but cannot perform it as the electric rice-cooker which would have been used to seal King Piccolo is broken (in the anime, Tien successfully performs the wave, but Drum is caught in it instead, and the rice cooker is destroyed before Tien could trap him). King Piccolo decides not to get his hands dirty, and instead spits out an egg containing Drum, his most powerful son yet. The battle between Tien and this new son, Drum, is of course in the Namekian's favor, and King Piccolo orders Drum to finish Tien off, but a much stronger Goku arrives just in time and quickly kills Drum with a kick so hard that it knocks his eyeballs out.
King Piccolo and Goku face off again with Goku blocking every attack King Piccolo tried, and Goku manages to punch King Piccolo into Piano with his crushing weight and Goku's strength, killing his son.
Goku using Penetrate! to kill King Piccolo
A fierce battle ensues, with Piccolo briefly gaining the upper-hand a couple times when he manages to knock off Goku's Power Pole (after which he is able to fire a weakened version of the Explosive Demon Wave), only for Goku to survive. After being unable to destroy him, King Piccolo resorts to a cowardly effort; he uses Tien as a human shield, threatening to crush his skull if Goku moves a muscle. Upon discovering that King Piccolo has killed Shenron and the Dragon Balls no longer exist, Goku resigns himself to do whatever King Piccolo wants despite Tien's pleas. King Piccolo then throws rocks at Goku with great force, costing the young hero the use of his legs and left arm. Satisfied, King Piccolo throws Tien aside and prepares to finish Goku off.
Despite Goku’s best effort, King Piccolo dodges him sandman stab him in the chest, killing him.
Xenoverse[]
Over the next three years, Piccolo Jr. would go on to challenge Goku at the next tournament for a rematch, however later Piccolo Jr. becomes good ironically befriending Gohan, the son of King Piccolos enemy Goku. After this, King Piccolo is seen again a few times in the Piccolo Junior Saga in Goku's flashbacks before fighting Piccolo Jr. and later appears in the Namek Saga in a flashback when Guru probes Krillin's mind and in Piccolo Jr.'s flashback in the Freeza Saga.
King Piccolo's psyche briefly returns from within Piccolo Jr. while he is under the control of Dr. Wheelo
Beyond his anime appearances following his death, King Piccolo briefly appears in Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku when Bardock has visions of Goku's life on Earth.
Also, for a short time Piccolo Jr. reverts back to a more mindless version of King Piccolo's personality when brought under Dr. Wheelo's control in the movie Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest.
It is presumed that King Piccolo did not know he was a Namekian, since the Nameless Namek lost his memories during childhood, though he was shown to know the language, and some of his powers and techniques are of Namekian origin, even replicating Grand Elder Guru's throne.
In the English dub of the anime, when questioning how Goku could withstand his power, he remarks that he had fought all over the universe and never met anyone who could match his strength. This may have been a vague way of implying King Piccolo had used the ship in which Kami had originally come to Earth to seek stronger opponents in space sometime before being sealed away, though the original Japanese versions makes no mention of this, as the ship and Kami's origins had not been revealed during this time. Later, when the ship was finally revealed, it did not appear to have been used since it had landed on Earth with the Nameless Namek on board.
While King Piccolo didn't appear later (other than as his reincarnate), Piccolo did recieve one mention in the movie Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound, where Goku compared the evil alien known as Bojack to King Piccolo in terms of motivations.
Appearance[]
King Piccolo's appearance during a flashback in Dragon Ball Z, incited while Guru probes Krillin's mind
When King Piccolo was introduced in chapter #135 The Conspiracy of Kuririn's Death Comes Fearfully first published in Shonen Jump on August 10, 1987, he was designed to appear as a strange-looking divine creature, like a goblin, who had pointy ears and fangs. Later in the series, when other normal Nameks were introduced, it was revealed that this was their typical appearance. At over eight feet tall he was by far one of the tallest and largest of the villains in the original Dragon Ball series, towering over all his opponents, including Mutaito, Master Roshi, Tien, and Kid Goku. King Piccolo's size and height are never explored upon, as no other Namekian (including Kami) was shown in their normal state to be King Piccolo's size and height, being that most are shown to be the size of normal humans, even Nail, their last remaining warrior, being at the height of Piccolo's reincarnation who was slightly shorter, though it's never determined if he's actually taller than Kami in his advanced age. One explanation to this could be ancient Namekians were much larger and less sleek, as shown from the Great Elder of Namek and his humongous size. He was also the tallest player in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, the others are Broly (in his Legendary Super Saiyan form), Burter and Super 17.
King Piccolo before his death in the hands of Goku
When he first fully appeared he was very old, and did not fight much (though he was still capable of defeating Goku and even taking a Kamehameha unharmed still effectively making him the strongest being on Earth during that time), wearing a robe outfit similar to Kami's except black with a red cape and his own kanji (symbol) on the chest, along with brown light-weight footwear. His main outfit without the robe and cape was an indigo Asian martial arts uniform, with a light purple obi. King Piccolo's outfit is later retconned in the Namek Saga as being of Namekian origin, rather than actually having much to do with martial arts, though his kanji is something he added when he came into being which was meant to be the opposite to Kami's kanji.
The audience is later introduced to Kami, of whom is King Piccolo's good counterpart, and the two share an almost identical resemblance. Kami's outfit was more or less a palette swap of King Piccolo's robe outfit before he fought Kid Goku the first time, before removing the robe for better performance when Goku forces him to the ground prior to taking it off. He nearly kills Goku with simple blasts soon afterward and even temporarily stops his heart, which may imply that like his son Piccolo Junior's cape, it may be weighted; it was never expounded upon as to how a mere robe could hinder the demon king. Kami never removes his robe for combat, but in a flashback of Dragon Ball Z, he is shown wearing the same outfit with his own kanji on under it.
Power level[]
At his introduction, King Piccolo was quite possibly the strongest being on the Earth at that time, aside from Kami and Mr. Popo. Even in old age, he proved to be strong enough to defeat Goku with minimal effort, not to mention surviving a battle with Master Roshi and managing to kill Chiatozu with a single blast, and he boasted that he was "somewhere between invincible and immortal" after using Shenron to become young again. Years later, Nuova Shenron would label King Piccolo as Goku's "first true rival". It is stated in Daizenshuu #7 that his and Goku's power levels were 260 during their fight at King's castle.
Techniques and Special Abilities[]
Ki Blast – The most basic form of energy wave.
Finger Beam – Basic energy attack fired from the index finger.
Explosive Demon Wave – A very powerful blast shot from one hand while the other hand is used to support the arm that is firing the blast. King Piccolo can turn an entire city into dust using this move. This technique is called the Destructive Wave in English translations of the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z video games (except for Super Dragon Ball Z, which uses Bakurikimaha, but misspells it as "Bukiri Maha").
Levitate – Literally meaning "lighter than air skill", the user forces their ki upon the ground in order to levitate and take to the skies.
Magic Materialization – A magical ability used to create objects from seemingly thin air. King Piccolo was never actually seen using this technique, but it is assumed he knew it since he was seen with the same skeletal-like throne of his twice (the first was in Pilaf's airship and apparently, the same throne appeared in the king's castle). Also, King Piccolo and Kami, his counterpart of purity and good twin brother, were apparently capable of this technique as well, all the more evidence to believe that he would be capable of doing the same, which is especially likely given his son's ability to create capes and clothes for Gohan and himself at various points in the series, though one could argue that it may take some degree of power to do so, as Piccolo decides to reuse the weighted cape that he removed prior to fighting Raditz than make another. His skeletal throne was alike to that of Guru's from Namek.
Telekinesis – This technique involves controlling and manipulating people or objects with the mind. King Piccolo performed this just by lifting a finger, as it was first seen when he magically lifted the five Dragon Balls that Master Roshi had hid under the ground.
Eye Lasers – A precise (red-colored) laser eye beam is shot from both eyes. This attack was first used by King Piccolo to kill a guard posted at the gates leading to King Furry's Castle. He later used it during his battle with Goku in order to incapacitate one of Goku's legs. He uses this ability in the video games Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 and its sequel Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, however it is calledSoumasen (his humanoid gargoyle-like Namekian son, Tambourine also uses this move in the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai video games and it too is called Soumasen).
Mouth Energy Wave – A beam shot from the mouth; considerably more powerful than normal ki bolts. King Piccolo used this attack to destroy Shenron after having his wish for eternal youth made. This move is usually spelled as Kochi kara kikou ha.
Masenko – King Piccolo fires power ki beams from each hand, one after the other. He first uses it at the end of his first fight with Goku, causing the young boy's heart to stop momentarily. The first blast is intentionally meant to be a distraction; forcing the opponent to evade it, while the second more powerful blast actually hits the target dead on. Goku falls for this trick a second time but is unharmed by the second blast that hits him.
King Piccolo uses Pokopen to spit out an egg containing Cymbal
Pokopen – The ability to spit out an egg from his mouth. King Piccolo can give the son part or all of his powers and memories. It is related to Namekian asexual reproduction, where the Namekian spits out a new egg from the mouth (his is most likely a corrupt version of it, his son are likely Namekians, which is especially supported by the fact that Piccolo deemed it only fitting that the son gathering the Dragon Balls for him would resemble a dragon, after which he spawns him in his akin appearance). As shown when he gave birth to Cymbal, creating eggs in both ages it takes much of his energy (so much that when aged, Piano feared for the King's ebbing life-span, saying that he might die prior to gathering the Dragon Balls for regaining his youth if the process continued). When King Piccolo had eternal youth, he no longer had to rechant this phrase, hence, he was able to quickly spit out an egg from his mouth which would immediately hatch into Drum. He also used this technique to give birth to Piccolo Jr..
Shock Wave – An invisible ki blast of a sudden wind attack that can be launched theoretically from any part of the body. It is generally not as powerful as other attacks.
Telepathy – This is the ability to channel one's thoughts to another being. King Piccolo used this technique to immediately contact Tambourine to avenge Cymbal's death.
Mystic Attack – Although he never displays the ability to expand his arms in the anime or manga, he is capable of doing so in most video games he has appeared in. His reincarnation also displays this ability frequently, aswell as a few other Namekians.
Kyodaika (possibly) – The Namekian ability to increase size. King Piccolo increases his size after becoming enraged when Goku knees him in the face with a boost from his Power Pole after losing the use of his right leg. During this, King Piccolo's strength and power increased, but he was unable to destroy Goku with his destructive wave. It's never stated if this was the same technique, or even a technique at all.
Live-action Movie[]
King Piccolo is known simply as Piccolo in the live-action movie Dragonball Evolution, and is portrayed by James Marsters.
Video Game Appearances[]
King Piccolo is a boss in:
Dragon Ball: Daimaō Fukkatsu
Dragon Ball 3: Gokuden (and its remake for WonderSwan Color)
Dragon Ball Z: Super Gokuden: Totsugeki-Hen
King Piccolo appears as playable character in:
Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure
Super Dragon Ball Z
The Japanese/PAL Wii versions of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3
Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo
He is also an alternate costume for Piccolo Jr. in:
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 (America's "Greatest Hits" Edition, European Collector's Edition, and Japanese version)
Dragon Ball Z: Legendary Super Warriors
Voice Actors[]
Japanese Dub: Takeshi Aono
Latin America Dub: Carlos Segundo
Ocean Group Dub: Scott McNeil
FUNimation Dub: Christopher R. Sabat
German Dub: Jürg Löw
Italian Dub: Mario Zucca
Portuguese Dub: Ricardo Spínola
Brazilian Dub: Fábio Tomazine (old) and Luiz Antônio Lobue (young)
Trivia[]
King Piccolo is the only non-filler villian to succesfully get a wish from the Dragon Balls (the others one being Garlic Jr., Dr. Kochin, and Lord Slug, all of who appeared exclusively in filler or movies).
Early in the anime, King Piccolo's blood is portrayed as red. Later, when Nameks are recognized as a true race within the series and not a simple demon clan as initially suspected, their blood is portrayed as purple, even though Drum's blood was seen as purple before the Vegeta Saga, the beginning of which still portrayed their blood as red.
In the final battle between Goku and the rejuvenated King Piccolo, Goku shows complete dominance over Piccolo, yet their power levels were both 260.
In the series, Kami and Piccolo don't know they are aliens until meeting Vegeta and Nappa. King Piccolo and his reincarnation Piccolo Jr. (as well as his brothers) were believed to be of demon origins. Strangely, King Piccolo is shown to know he is a Namekian in Budokai Tenkaichi 3: if the player pairs him against Lord Slug or Nail, he will say "I wont let anybody stand in my way, even if they're a Namekian!". This is a slight error because, if King Piccolo knew his heritage, Piccolo would also have known because they share the same memories. The same goes for Kami as well, due to the fact that they are two halves of the same being.
In the Game Boy Advance game, Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors, both Kami and King Piccolo (after being beaten in a fight) fuse with his son/reincarnation Piccolo Jr., becoming the original nameless Namek. This fusion is enough for Piccolo to equal and surpass the power of Super Buu.
Despite not being referred to as Piccolo Daimao in the english dub, an attack increase item in Budokai 3 is called "Daimao's Power" and can only be used by Piccolo.
In Budokai Tenkaichi 3, in a pre-battle conversation, King Piccolo desires to merge with his son, Piccolo Jr. However, Piccolo Jr. is disgusted at the mere thought of such a union.
Despite being a Namekian who are stated to only need water for nourishment, King Piccolo is shown to eat food when a feast is prepared for him.
Majin Buu is very similar to King Piccolo. They both wreaked major havock long before the story began, and were sealed away by a spell for thousands of years because of this. Then they were resurrected by weak characters seeking world domination (also, both were short in stature). They then quickly betrayed the one who brought them back. They then preceded to kill many close to Goku. Shortly before their defeat, they were in a battle by a character who was once an antagonist (Tien for Piccolo, Vegeta for Buu). Then after their deaths, they were both reincarnated.
All of King Piccolo's children are named after musical insruments.
King Piccolo is the only character to kill an Eternal Dragon, this one being Shenron.
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