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    Yamcha

    Character » Yamcha appears in 642 issues.

    Yamcha, the notorious desert bandit, is a fictional character from the manga Dragon Ball and the anime Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z.

    Short summary describing this character.

    Yamcha last edited by deactivated-5b84653fcb1d9 on 08/20/18 03:00PM View full history

    Origin

    Yamcha entered the series early in Dragon Ball as an antagonistic desert bandit; he ambushed Son Goku, Bulma and Oolong as they were traveling the desert in order to steal their money and capsules. When challenged by Goku, they fought each other until the presence of Bulma made him retreat due to his fear of women. Yamcha returned to their camp that night and, while spying on them, learned of the Dragon Balls and their ability to grant a wish, he then decided to steal their Dragon Balls and make a wish to overcome his phobia. He and his companion Puar broke into the groups van one night to do so, but were foiled when the orbs under the sheet which Yamcha thought were Dragon Balls were actually the breasts of a nude and sleeping Bulma, causing him to leave in a confused daze. He attacked again the following day, destroying the group's van with a panzerfaust, but was again challenged by Goku and retreated when Goku damaged his vanity by knocking one of his teeth out.

    Realizing that he probably can't beat Goku in a fight, Yamcha instead decided to let the group collect all seven balls and then steal them. He again came to the group, this time apologizing for his behavior, and gave them a car to make up for destroying their van; the car of course had a tracking device in it.

    While on the groups trail, Yamcha encounters a mysterious girl; she mistakes him for a monster and attacks him, causing him to retaliate and knock her out. Later, when eavesdropping on Goku's conversation with Gyu Mao (the Ox King), he realizes that the girl is Chi-Chi, Gyu Mao's daughter. Not wanting to face the wrath of an angry Gyu Mao, Yamcha races back to the scene and apologizes to Chi-Chi, saying he did what he did because he is crazy with love for her. He quickly hides when he sees Goku coming and, by luck, witnesses Chi-Chi pull Goku's tail, exposing his weak spot. Yamcha returns to Gyu Mao's castle and remains hidden as Goku returns with Chi-Chi and Muten Roshi, the legendary martial arts master who trained both Gyu Mao and Goku's grandfather Son Gohan. He is awed by Rôshi's display of the Kamehameha, an energy wave Rôshi used with the intention of putting out the massive fire at Gyu Mao's residence but instead destroyed the castle and the entire mountain it was on. He also can't help but be somewhat envious after Goku is chosen by Rôshi to be his disciple.

    Yamcha continues to tail the group after they recover the sixth Dragon Ball from Gyu Mao into a remote village; there, he has to intervene and help Goku after Bulma is turned into a carrot by the Carrot Master. He orders Puar to turn into a bird and rescue the hostage carrot-Bulma while he takes out the Carrot Master's two henchmen; Yamcha quickly hides again after this, letting Goku deal with the gang without having to worry about Bulma's safety.

    When Pilaf's henchmen ambush Goku, Bulma and Oolong, stealing five of their six balls along with destroying their car, Yamcha has to again intervene, this time joining the group. They track the balls to Pilaf's castle but are soon trapped. From a hole blasted in the wall by Goku they witness Pilaf summoning the dragon and Yamcha orders Puar to go with Oolong and stop it. Pilaf's wish is interrupted by them and, as punishment, the group is moved into a giant solar-oven like cell to die the next day when the sun comes up; they are not contained long though before Goku transforms into a giant ape and destroys their cell by the light of the full moon. Just as Goku's about to crush Bulma, who'se pinned by some rubble, Yamcha comes to the rescue and grabs his tail, stunning him long enough for Puar to transform into a giant pair of scissors and cut the tail off, returning Goku to his normal state. The next morning, with the balls now inert, the gang goes their separate ways. Yamcha and Bulma are satisfied though, as they now have each other and, therefore, no need to make any wishes. They go with Bulma back to the city while Goku goes off to train with Muten-Rôshi.

    Yamcha next meets up with Goku at the 21st Tenkaichi Budoukai where he makes it to the quarter-finals, but is eliminated by Jackie Chun, who dodges all of Yamcha's attacks and knocks him out of the ring with a simple hand gesture; this level of power, along with the physical likeness causes Yamcha to (rightly) suspect Chun is Muten-Rôshi in disguise.

    After the tournament Yamcha is not seen again until near the end of the Red Ribbon Army Saga when he is informed that Goku is making a head-on assault at Red Ribbon's headquarters and is called by Bulma to assist. By the time Yamcha and the others arrive though, the battle is over, with Goku victorious.

    Regardless, Yamcha decides to accompany Goku and travels with him to see the fortune-teller Uranai Baba and learn the location of the last Dragon Ball. Baba doesn't give readings free though and will only do it after her five warriors are beaten. Yamcha faces her second warrior, the invisible man.

    Unable to see his opponent Yamcha can’t land a blow and was losing the match. He tried to locate his opponent by sound, but is foiled when Baba starts singing. Kuririn thinks quickly though and brings both Bulma and Roshi to the ring; he then exposes Bulma's breasts causing Roshi to have a nose bleed which covers the invisible man. With his opponent now visible, Yamcha uses his Rogafufuken and quickly dispatches him.

    Baba then takes the warriors to a new ring, the Devil's toilet which has a thin platform over a pool of powerful acid. In this arena Yamcha battles his next opponent, Myra, who is both a fast and strong mummy. Things look bad for Yamcha until he manages a quick sneak attack, tripping the mummy off the ledge; though it is proved futile as the mummy is able to use his bandages like a rope and climb his way back up. They fight again, and again Yamcha is pummeled until, being held up by his neck over the ledge, he surrenders.

    Goku takes over the fighting at this point and defeats the mummy with one hit, as well as the rest of Baba's fighters. It isn't in vain for Yamcha though, as Roshi accepts him to become one of his students.

    Three years later, Yamcha competes in the 22nd Tenkaichi Budoukai.

    While in the preliminaries he has confrontational words with Tenshinhan, the prize student of a rival school. When the finals are about to begin, Tenshinhan has his partner Chaozu magically fix the fight schedule numbering so that he and Yamcha face off first in the quarterfinals.

    In their fight, they seem to be relatively even at the start, trading an equal number of blows. Yamcha then attempts his Shin Rogafufuken, but it is beaten by Tenshihan who parries the assault and counters with a quick punch to Yamcha's gut. Yamcha decides to go all out and utilizes, to everyone's surprise, the Kamehameha; this is stopped by Tenshinhan who reflects the attack back at Yamcha and quickly counters, knocking him out. Tenshinhan does not stop at that though, and shatters the unconscious Yamcha's leg with a diving knee attack. (Note that this is Yamcha's only tournament match where he is defeated by KO rather than ring-out).

    Yamcha is eliminated by KO and goes to the local hospital and can only listen to the remainder of the fights on the radio. He arrives back at the arena once the tournament is over where a now reformed Tenshinhan apologizes for the unnecessary beating.

    Due to his injuries, Yamcha spends the majority of the following the King Piccolo Saga on the sidelines. He is powerless to intervene as first Kuririn, followed by Goku, and then Roshi and Chaozu are killed by the Evil Demon King. When he learns of King Piccolo's takeover of the world capital, as well as Tenshinhan's seemingly suicidal mission to take him out, Yamcha joins in and races to the scene. He arrives with Bulma and Lunch only to find it a desolate wasteland. They soon encounter a battered Tenshinhan who fills them in that Goku's actually alive and defeated the Demon King; Yamcha then assists Tenshinhan in getting back to the Turtle House to recover.

    Not long after, Goku quickly bursts in and announces that he is training with Kami before taking off again after recovering his nyoi-bō (a magic bo staff). This knowledge causes Yamcha to redouble his preparation for the next Tenka'ichi Budokai.

    Yamcha trains along with Tenshinhan and the resurrected Kuririn and Chaozu until Kame Sen'nin informed them that, to be able to reach Goku's level of power, they are going to need to find better ways to train than those available at the Kame House. After that, they all head to Karin's Tower and train with him before each going their own separate way in preparing for the next, 23rd Tenkaichi Budoukai.

    Yamcha next meets with the group at the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, he has trained for last three years for this tournament (earning his trademark scars in the process) and looks forward to the fights.

    Yamcha makes it to the quarter-finals and must contend with a nerdy human named Shen and finds himself injured by what seem like accidental clumsy mistakes made by his opponent. When they both state that they'll fight seriously, Shen proves to be a fighter in a class well beyond Yamcha and quickly counters every move Yamcha makes. In desperation Yamcha uses his secret weapon, the Sokidan, a powerful ball of guided energy. While it proves to be an effective attack, it's ultimately futile as Shen (who is actually Kami) recovers from being hit with it and knocks Yamcha out of the ring.

    Yamcha can only watch from there on out, in awe at the massive power displayed in the fight between Goku and Piccolo at which he is powerless to intervene. When Goku eventually does defeat Piccolo, Yamcha joins the others in celebrating his victory.

    Saiyans and the Afterlife

    After Goku sacrifices his life to defeat Raditz, Yamcha is summoned along with Yajirobe, Tenshinhan, Kuririn and Chaozu train at Kami's Lookout for the battle against Vegeta and Nappa. After completing Kami's training he then trains on his own until the Saiyans arrive.

    Yamcha arrives at the battlefield just prior to the fight beginning, and volunteers to do battle with one of Nappa's spawned Saibamen after Tenshinhan defeats one. Yamcha's fight with the Saibaiman is fast, and he seemingly defeats the creature after evading its attack and smashing it with a Kamehameha from behind. He then lowers his guard, thinking the creature is destroyed, but it was quite alive and was able to leap and cling onto him and self-destruct, killing both Yamcha and itself.

    Yamcha, along with Tenshinhan, Chaozu and Piccolo (who were also killed in the battle with the Saiyans), goes on to train with North Kaiō in the afterlife just as Goku did, growing greatly in power. Through Kaio, he is able to witness his friends battles on Planet Namek; when Goku is thought to have been killed in the destruction of Namek after defeating Freeza, Yamcha relays the information to everyone through Bulma. He is returned to life 130 days later in the first batch of wishes from Porunga and continues to live at Capsule Corp with Bulma and now Vegeta.

    The Androids and Cell

    When a rebuilt Freeza and his father (King Cold) invades the Earth, Yamcha is one of the defenders who prepares to confront him, though he is overwhelmed by the tyrants' power. He is just as amazed as everyone else though when a mysterious youth suddenly appears and quickly destroys Freeza and his force. He listened to the youth, who claims that Goku will be arriving shortly and, after waiting for Goku's return, witnesses their sparring in awe. He was then filled in by Piccolo, who could hear the entire conversation between the two, that in three years powerful androids will appear and kill everyone if they are not fully prepared; Goku invited Yamcha to train with him, but Yamcha refused, saying that he liked training at his own pace. Nevertheless, he spent the next three years in training for the Androids' arrival. During this time, he and Bulma breakup once and for all. Interestingly, though the exact circumstances of their separation in the present time line are never stated, in the Japanese version of the anime Trunks explains to Goku that in his world, Yamcha was a playboy and because of that Bulma got fed up with him and left him for good so there's a good chance that this is the reason Bulma left him in the present.

    After the three years, Yamcha meets Goku, Gohan, Piccolo and Tenshinhan at the location of the androids arrival. Realizing that they can't sense the androids, the group splits up and searches the city for them. Yamcha is the first to find them, and unaware that the two are the androids is quickly grabbed around the mouth by Android 20 (Dr. Gero), draining his energy and preventing him from calling for backup or battling them. Yamcha is then incapacitated after Dr. Gero punches a hole clean through his mid-section; the sudden drop in his ki alerts the rest of the group though, and they arrive shortly after.

    Kuririn quickly takes Yamcha away from the battle and gives him a senzu, causing him to recover to full strength. Though he doesn't want to fight the androids again, he then tags along to watch the fight and, after Goku succumbs to his heart disease, takes him home to get him his medicine. Yamcha soon after transports Goku to Kame House to hide him from androids 16, 17 and 18.

    From watching the news he hears of the new threat, Cell, a monster that goes around absorbing people. He aids Piccolo on the search for Cell by piloting a plane so it won't detect their ki, but it continuously evades them. When the androids later arrive on Roshi's island looking for Goku, Yamcha stays behind while Piccolo goes off with them to fight on a deserted island.

    When Cell broadcasts his intentions to hold his Cell Games, a tournament of sorts with himself as the only opponent, Yamcha decides to enter. Yamcha does not get the opportunity to fight until Cell creates his Cell Juniors, who attack the Z Fighters and quickly take most of them, including Yamcha, out. He quickly recovers after eating a senzu once Gohan destroys the Cell Jr's and spends the rest of the match as an observer.

    Once Gohan finally destroys Cell, he carries Gohan back to Kami's Lookout and then makes the wish to resurrect everyone killed by Cell. When the group has difficulty thinking of a second wish, he jokingly contemplates asking the dragon for an expensive diamond necklace for the girl he's going out with. He and the rest of the group see Trunks off as he leaves for his own time and then they go their separate ways.

    Majin Buu

    Seven years later, Yamcha attends the 25th Tenkaichi Budoukai as a spectator since he gave up fighting. Soon the tournament is interrupted though as the other Z Fighters leave, and then return with Vegeta now possessed by an evil wizard.

    After Majin Vegeta attacked the crowd, Yamcha went with Bulma and a few others to ask Shenron to resurrect all non-evil-doers who were killed that day. He then heads to Kami's Lookout to take refuge from the assault of the new terror, Buu, and witnesses Goten and Trunks first attempts at fusion. When Buu eventually finds them and attacks, Yamcha is quickly turned into chocolate and eaten with the others.

    Later Yamcha and Krillin are attacked in heaven by Buu,tought they best efforts they are no match for Buu, however before Buu could kill then (according to Goku if Buu killed either of then,they would disappear forever),Goku and Vegeta power up to call Buu's attention

    He is eventualy resurrected among the others , Yamcha's last real action in the series is giving Goku his energy to help form the Genki Dama that defeats Kid Buu.

    Powers and Abilities

    Yamcha was one of Goku's first antagonists and later one his first allies that could compete with him in terms of martial ability. Yamcha lived his early life as a desert bandit and used both guns and a large schimitar to steal capsules and money from travelers. He originally did not have any energy attacks, relying on fast and swift martial arts moves to overwhelm opponents. Later under Master Roshi, Yamcha begins to be able to utilze his energy for flight, energy blasts, and even learns the Kamehameha wave as well. Yamcha is later eclipsed in DBZ due to the Saiyans increase in power though he remains one of the most powerful humans on Earth along with Uub, Tien, and Krillian. Yamcha would go on to give up fighting as he didn't see the point since he could not keep up with Goku or Vegeta.

    Super Strength: By the end of DBZ, Yamcha can lift approx. 50 tons. He is immensely strong, but not among the strongest of the Z Warriors (we see him struggle to even move in 100x gravity, when he attempts to train in the same space capsule in which Vegeta was training during the beginning of the Android Saga)

    Super Speed : Yamcha can fly at about Mach 2.

    Energy manipulation: Yamcha is an expert at ki manipulation and has come up with various ki techniques. His highest power blast is easily at continent wrecking level.

    Techniques

    Fusion Dance - A video game only power, Yamcha can perform the Fusion Dance with Tien to form Tiencha.

    Kamehameha Wave - Yamcha uses the signature move of the Turtle School and forms a large blue energy wave between his palms and fires the blast after saying the name of the technique.

    Spirit Ball - Yamcha forms a large yellow energy ball from his palm and the can control it via hand movements. The ball seems to do more concussive damage as if it was made of matter instead of energy.

    Super Spirit Ball - Is Yamcha's most powerful attack where he forms an even larger energy ball and throws it as his opponent which hits them multiple times before exploding on them.

    Spirit Punch - Yamcha energies his fist with energy and delivers a close range hit with added damage.

    Wolf Fang Fist - Yamcha's signature move which are a series of quick punches, swipes, and kicks. A wolfs howl is heard during the initiation of the move.

    Alternate Timeline

    In the alternate timeline where Goku died from a heart virus and the Z-Fighters never learned of the eventual attak of the Androids, Yamcha was killed by Android 17 by an energy wave through the chest. Yamcha was the thris Z-Fighter killed after Vegeta, but before Tien. Gohan was the only survivor of the battle and would eventually go on to train Future Trunks.

    Video Games

    • Data Carddass Dragon Ball Z
    • Dragon Ball
    • Dragon Ball 3: Gokuuden
    • Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure
    • Dragon Ball: Daimaou Fukkatsu
    • Dragonball: Evolution
    • Dragon Ball Heroes
    • Dragon Ball Kai: Ultimate Butōden
    • Dragon Ball Online
    • Dragon Ball: Origins.
    • Dragon Ball: Origins 2
    • Dragon Ball: Raging Blast
    • Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2
    • Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo
    • Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans
    • Dragon Ball Z: Bakuretsu Impact
    • Dragon Ball Z: Budokai
    • Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2
    • Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3
    • Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi.
    • Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2
    • Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3
    • Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit
    • Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury
    • Dragon Ball Z: Collectible Card Game
    • Dragon Ball: Zenkai Battle Royal
    • Dragon Ball Z: Goku Hishōden
    • Dragon Ball Z: Harukanaru Densetsu
    • Dragon Ball Z II: Gekigami Freezer
    • Dragon Ball Z III: Ressen Jinzou Ningen
    • Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World
    • Dragon Ball Z: Kyoushuu! Saiyajin
    • Dragon Ball Z: Legacy of Goku II
    • Dragon Ball Z: Sagas
    • Dragon Ball Z Super Gokuden: Kakusei-Hen.
    • Dragon Ball Z Super Gokuden: Totsugeki-Hen
    • Dragon Ball Z: Super Saiya Densetsu
    • Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors
    • Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors 2
    • Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku
    • Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi
    • Dragon Power
    • Dragon Ball: Xenoverse
    • Dragon Ball Fusions
    • Dragon Ball: Xenoverse 2

    Other Media

    In the 2009 film Dragonball Evolution, Yamcha is portrayed by Joon Park.

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