NEWS
10.01.2023
Weekly ☆ Character Showcase #87: Zarbon!
Zarbon
The Weekly ☆ Character Showcase is an article series where we introduce one character from the Dragon Ball universe each week. This week we're looking at Frieza's suave right-hand man, Zarbon.
Story
Zarbon is a calm and collected soldier first introduced alongside Dodoria as a high-ranking member of the Frieza Force who works closely with Frieza himself.
He has a taste for the finer things in life and is well aware of how debonair and handsome he is, making him a bit of a narcissist.
He is already considerably powerful in his normal state, but his species is able to unlock their true strength by transforming.
However, his appearance while transformed is monstrous and ugly, which is why he declines to use it unless absolutely necessary.
(Tale 247)
He arrives on Planet Namek in order to help collect the Dragon Balls so that his leader, the evil tyrant Frieza, can attain immortality.
(Tale 247)
He travels to village after village, using his elegant power to attack the unsuspecting Namekians under Frieza's orders in order to ascertain the whereabouts of the Dragon Balls by force.
(Tale 252)
While operating independently in order to locate more of the Dragon Balls, he's attacked by none other than Vegeta, who uses the power he's attained to put Zarbon on the ropes.
With his pride injured, Zarbon decides to turn the tables by transforming, allowing him to display his true strength that he had kept hidden for years.
(Tale 262)
Zarbon then wastes no time using the menacing power his transformation from beauty to beast grants him to decimate the Saiyan prince.
(Tale 263)
After reporting Vegeta's defeat to Frieza, Zarbon learns that Vegeta had already hidden one of the Dragon Balls they were searching for.
In order to learn its location, he finds Vegeta on the verge of death and brings him back to Frieza's ship to be healed.
However, the fallen Saiyan recovers much faster than anticipated and uses the element of surprise to steal all of the Dragon Balls the Frieza Force had procured so far.
(Tale 265)
Frieza orders Zarbon to give chase, and the graceful warrior takes on his hideous transformation once again after catching up with Vegeta.
However, things don't go the same as last time as the boost in power Vegeta gained from defying death during their previous encounter is enough for him to send Zarbon to a watery grave.
(Tale 268)
First Appearance
"Dragon Ball" Tale 247
Techniques
Transformation
Zarbon can transform, gaining a monstrous appearance and an equally monstrous increase in power.
Trivia
He doesn't want to get on Frieza's bad side, but he also hates to get wet!
Zarbon sent Vegeta sinking to the bottom of a deep lake, but declined to dive in and finish the job.
To his displeasure, Frieza is immediately able to determine the reason for this is because Zarbon didn't want to get wet. Even though Zarbon knew his leader would be furious to hear that a mission had been left unfinished, he couldn't bear to ruin his perfect appearance.
(Tale 264)
→Preview: Next week's character is a certain someone with a similar hairstyle to Zarbon!
*All images in the comics are from the Japanese version.
This site includes machine-translated texts. Please be aware that you might find some unusual expressions that are difficult to understand.