Summary
Tongpoo and Plamo from The Adventures of Tongpoo served as prototypes for Goku and Bulma from Dragon Ball, but with reversed intelligence characteristics. In the original manga, Tongpoo is a genius robot, while Plamo is portrayed as an unintelligent airhead, the complete opposite of Goku and Bulma. Tongpoo's Adventures allowed Akira Toriyama to correct the flaws in storytelling before creating the iconic characters of Goku and Bulma in Dragon Ball.
Before Dragon ballAkira Toriyama wrote and illustrated another manga series called Tongpoo Adventures, featuring characters who seem to be prototypes of classic Dragon Ball heroes such as Goku And Bulma. While these prototypes closely resemble the iconic Z-Fighters in every aspect, Tongpoo Adventures completely overturned the original relationship between Goku and Bulma.
In Dragon Ball chapter 1 by Akira Toriyama, Goku and Bulma meet after Bulma accidentally encounters Goku while searching for the Dragon Balls. Bulma has the Dragon Radar (which she designed and built herself) and Goku happens to have a dragon ball, which is why they met in the first place. After Bulma convinces Goku to give her the Dragon Balls, she realizes that his super strength can be used to obtain the other six Dragon Balls, so she decides to keep him with her.
Bulma's first appearance shows her inventing a piece of technology that can track wish-granting orbs, then controlling a metahuman to get the rest for her. Then, as the series progresses through multiple eras – including Z, GT and Super – Bulma proves her intelligence more and more with each passing Dragon Ball adventure. Now, Bulma is easily considered one of the smartest people, not only in Dragon Ball but also in anime/manga novels. However, that certainly wasn't the case with her prototype in The Adventures of Tongpoo.
Bulma's pre-Dragon Ball prototype was an Airhead, not a genius
The Adventures of Tongpoo by Akira Toriyama
Reminiscent of what fans would later see in Dragon Ball with Goku, Tongpoo's Adventure introduced Tongpoo himself as a boy from another world who crashed on an alien planet. Soon after, Tongpoo is approached by the archetypal Bulma character named Plamo. However, unlike Bulma and Goku's first interaction, Tongpoo and Plamo's initial meeting made it clear that Tongpoo was the smarter of the two of them, with Plamo actually being a jerk. stupid.
Goku's prototype, Tongpoo, is an android from another world, meaning he has access to advanced technology that many Dragon Ball fans will recognize as the prototype for Capsule Corp's technology. Tongpoo will use these capsules in front of Plamo, who will appear extremely amazed and dumbfounded at the level of technology she is witnessing – a level of technology that she clearly does not understand at all. Not only is Plamo clearly unintelligent, but Tongpoo is also a genius.that is Quite the opposite of the relationship fans will see between Goku and Bulma in Dragon Ball.
Akira Toriyama corrected the obvious mistake with Bulma's prototype in Dragon Ball
What's interesting is that Tongpoo and Plamo are the exact opposite of Goku and Bulma from Dragon Ball, despite being comparable. Tongpoo is a superhero from another planet, while Plamo is the one who found him, thus sparking the manga's adventure. However, it seems like Tongpoo already has every interesting character trait, while Plamo has none, making her just a stupid side character who adds nothing to the story. Even without Goku and Bulma to compare, this was clearly a storytelling mistake by Akira Toriyama, one that he quickly corrected in Dragon Ball.
Tongpoo's adventures laid the foundation for the characters that later flourished in Dragon Ball. While Tongpoo's meta shifted Goku turning a forgettable protagonist into an iconic hero, it's safe to say that no character benefited more Bulmaas her prototype pales in comparison to the peerless genius she has become Dragon ball.
Dragon Ball is now available to read on VIZ!
Dragon ball
Summary: From the creative mind of Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball is a massive multimedia franchise that has spanned since the 1980s. Dragon Ball expanded rapidly, starting as a manga serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump in Japan. Copy. It has spread abroad through manga and anime adaptations that are loved worldwide. Dragon Ball is the first original animated series that follows the adventures of young Son Goku as he searches for the Dragon Balls. These mystical orbs will grant wishes to anyone who gathers them together. The series would later branch into the hugely popular Dragon Ball Z, which followed Goku as an adult and featured intense battles and Goku's tireless drive to become the strongest. The series has also been adapted from several popular video games and went on to spawn several new animated series and films until the recent hit Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.
Created by: Akira Toriyama
First movie: Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Ruby
Latest movie: Dragon Ball Super: Superhero
First TV show chapter: Dragon ball
Latest TV show chapters: Dragon ball superhero
Date of first episode airing: April 26, 1989
Latest episode: 2019-10-05
Cast: Sean Schemmel, Laura Bailey, Brian Drummond, Christopher Sabat, Scott McNeil
Current line: Super Dragon Ball
Video games): Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Dragon Ball: The Breakers, Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission, Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z, Dragon Ball Xenoverse, Dragon Ball Z Kakarot