Characters / Dragon Ball: Androids 17 and 18

Dragon Ball Main Character Index
Major Characters
Son Goku (A-H, I-Z) | Bulma | Krillin/Kuririn | Piccolo | Son Gohan | Vegeta (A-L, M-Z) | Future Trunks | Allies (Dragon Team/Z Fighters) | Families (Androids 17 and 18 | Trunks and Son Goten) | Friends | Fusions

Character subpage for Androids 17 and 18. For their Future counterparts, see this page.

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Android 17 (Lapis) and Android 18 (Lazuli)

Two androids created by Dr. Gero to kill Goku. They end up being activated prematurely, then turn on their creator and destroy him. They're actually cyborgs, as it's stated a few times that they were originally human teenage twin runaways kidnapped and experimented on by the old man.

Future Trunks travels to the main timeline to warn the Z Fighters about how, in the Future Timeline, the Androids go on a rampage across the Earth, causing destruction and chaos, with even the Z Fighters ending up dead at their hands, leaving Future Trunks the only one capable of stopping them. However, in the main timeline, they're more subdued, deciding to only focus on finding and fighting Goku — 18, in particular, seems to hardly care about fighting at all and only does so when she finds an incentive to. The reasons for this are unknown, though Future Trunks theorizes that it's some kind of side effect from his time travels; the anime adaptation of History of Trunks implies that due to Future Gero moving forward with his plans for world domination following the news of Future Goku's death via heart virus, he programmed them to have a hatred of humanity so he could then manipulate them into aiding him in conquering the planet, creating the possibility that Dr. Gero modified 17 and 18 further in the Future timeline than in the Main one. It's also possible that their interactions with Android 16, as well as the fact that they take a purposely long amount of time hunting Goku, who survived in the main timeline, means that they develop more empathy for other people. The two eventually turn out to be the necessary sacrifices for Gero's greatest creation, Cell, who absorbs them to attain his perfect form. Super Saiyan 2 Gohan ends up quite literally beating 18 out of Cell, and 17 is revived following Cell's final defeat.

After Z, they both take some prominence again in GT's Super 17 arc. In Super, both Androids take part in the Tournament of Power to ensure the survival of their universe.

17's real name is Lapis and 18's is Lazuli, as revealed by Word of God.

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In General

• '90s Hair: Both Androids have them. 17 sports the curtain hairstyle, while 18 has a slick Rachel. They were conceived by Toriyama around that time period, after all.
• Adaptational Badass: In the manga, neither of them has power level detectors, although 18 does manage to learn how to sense ki by Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!. In the anime, 17 at least does have said detectors, though they were faulty since they told him that he was stronger than 16 and he never detected anyone's power ever again.
• Adaptational Wimp: For gameplay purposes, Android 17 and 18's infinite energy ability is different in the video games to prevent them from being overpowered. Budokai Tenkaichi 3 has the two (and all Android-based characters) automatically regenerate energy albeit slower than characters who can charge their energy manually. Supersonic Warriors 2 slightly averts this with Android 18 where she needs to be at maximum energy to activate the "Infinite Energy Type" ability where all energy-consuming abilities can be used without a limit.
• Affably Evil: During the relatively brief time they spent as the Z-Fighters' enemies, they were the friendliest cyborgs programmed for killing you'll ever meet. They were much nicer and less evil than most previous villains even before they pulled a Heel–Face Turn. They spared all the Z-Fighters after winning their first fight (with 18 even giving Krillin a kiss) and whenever they get accosted by various civilians they're content with just scaring them away by demonstrating their powers. Their counterparts from Future Trunks's timeline are more Faux Affably Evil, clearly seeing everything and anyone other than themselves as toys to blow up for their own amusement.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Dr. Gero couldn't create an android evil/obedient or powerful enough to carry out his desires to rule the world or destroy Goku to save his life - until he "made" these two. Or so it seems... except he can't control them at all, and it turns out they're always just waiting for him to let his guard down so they can off him permanently. Its also implied that their Bad Future versions wanted to kill all humans because Dr. Gero preprogrammed them to hate humans so he could use them to conquer the world. The other explanation is the present timeline versions were changed by their interactions with Android 16 and the horrors of Cell.
• And I Must Scream: The Dragon Ball Super manga reveals that 17 and 18 were fully conscious while inside Cell after the latter absorbed them, and could see and hear Goku all throughout.
• And Then What?: After they killed Dr. Gero, Krillin points out to them that they don't have to follow the objective to kill Goku that he programmed into them. It appears that they followed it because they felt they had nothing better to do. They do make something of their lives, eventually.
• Anti Anti Christ: Designed by Dr. Gero to kill Goku and wreck havoc. It didn't exactly play out that way, to say the least.
• Anti-Villain: Unlike their future counterparts, 17 and 18 aren't portrayed as straight up homicidal villains, instead the two only go after Goku because of the programming Gero installed and because they didn't have any other plans after killing the doctor. Notably, they don't go out of their way to harm or kill any humans despite the fact that they easily could. They don't even fight the Z-fighters until they're challenged personally, or the former try to interfere with a fight. Once Cell shows up, they both are willing to team up with their enemies with little hesitation to try and prevent him from becoming perfect.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: They've been turned into Androids with limited emotional ranges that seem to consist of snark more than anything else. In spite of that, moments prove that they're still very much siblings who look out for one another.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: A frequent pose for these two when in combat.
• Badass Adorable: A pair of very attractive, cute teenage siblings who are downright badass in a fight thanks to their unending stamina, and with help from training have become god-level fighters. Between their dynamic 17 is handsome and 18 is adorable (who's only gotten more cuter overtime thanks to her marriage to Krillin (who's naturally one himself) and having an adorable daughter named Marron).
• Blank Stare: Their default facial expressions.
• Blessed with Suck: Super heavily implies that the reason they are both so stoic most of the time is that whatever Gero did to them made it a little harder for them to feel emotions than when they were regular humans. This side effect has been particularly annoying to 17, who now seems to wish he was still a human.
• Blood Knight: The both of them enjoy a good fight, though 17 more so than his sister. This is particularly true of their Bad Future counterparts where they engage in carnage explicitly for their amusement, and they would repeatedly beat Future Gohan and Future Trunks within an inch of their lives before leaving them alone, because killing them would rob them of their favorite 'playthings'. In the main timeline though, it becomes downplayed once the threat of Cell surfaces. Post-Cell's defeat and after starting their own families, they seem to have completely outgrown this trait, with 17 more concerned with his job of protecting wildlife and 18 focusing on raising her daughter and getting rich.
• Break the Haughty: Downplayed as their egos are nowhere near as inflated as their Bad Future counterparts, but it's clear they're pretty damn proud of their strength on their first introduction, especially given how little a challenge the Z-Fighters, even Super Saiyans Vegeta and Future Trunks, proved to them. The first chink comes when Piccolo after fusing with Kami is able to equal 17, but it's when Cell shows up, brutalizes 17 and later absorbs him, and sends 18 for the short time she's still free running and hiding while relying on the mercy of Tien, Krillin, and Future Trunks before she's absorbed that seems to put a permanent damper on their ego after they recover.
• Brother–Sister Team: They were originally human twin siblings, and work extremely well together. In Super, the fact they now lead separate lives and hardly see each other does nothing to diminish how in-tune they are with each other while teaming up in a fight. Lampshaded in an episode where the suggestion is made that they'd be good candidates for Potara fusion due to their observed compatibility, much to Krillin's discomfort.
• Combat Pragmatist: 17 and 18 are not above fighting dirty.
  • In the Tournament of Power, 17 outright attacks Brianne, Sanka, and Suu as they're in the middle of transforming into their Magical Girl forms. This follows with a hilarious scene with them, Top, and even Goku calling him out for interrupting their transformation.
  • In general, if there's a way to quickly end a fight, 18 will take it. One of her favorite moves is a punishing kick to the elbow designed specifically to shatter arm bones, which she used on Vegeta in their fight. In the Tournament of Power, Cocotte puts herself inside her dimensional ball as protection, as it takes considerable amounts of power to destroy, but 18 instead simply picks the ball itself up and tosses it out of the ring, eliminating Cocotte. She also fries Tupper's back with Ki blasts until he lets go of Goku, a move that even her opponents thought was ruthless.
  • This also applies to their counterparts from Future Trunks's timeline in the anime adaptation of History of Trunks who killed Future Gohan by double-teaming him.
• The Comically Serious: Both are adept at this.
  • By Super, 17 is even more stoic than he already was. He makes a habit of dropping idiosyncratic remarks in the most dull, deadpan manner that just serves to make them more hilarious.
  • 18 is this in her interaction with the less serious characters such as Muten Roshi and Mr. Satan. Goten and Trunks found the latter interactions hilarious while Krillin was worried she might hurt him.
• Coordinated Clothes: While their taste in clothes (apart from an apparent preference for denim) is quite different, they have very similar haircuts and wear identical pairs of hoop earrings. The hoop earrings were characteristic to all of Dr. Gero's androids, but they've both continued to wear them long after killing their creator and leaving his lab.
• Creepy Monotone: In the early outings of the English dub, they both speak in a semi-robotic, monotone manner with only slight variation when expressing emotion, emphasizing their nature as "Androids". As the voice actors get more acclimated with who the characters are, they gradually come to sound pretty much completely normal, if unemotional most of the time. In the Japanese version, however, they were consistently the latter from the start.
• Creepy Twins: At first. They both speak in monotone voices and for the most part don't seem to show much emotions outside of dull surprise. This is something 17 hates about his transformation into an android in Super, and is truly happy to be able to feel selfless as he dies to protect Goku and Vegeta. Except he doesn't die. Even after they Heel–Face Turn their largely stoic demeanors can make them unnerving to be around, especially when they’re both together. In the alternative timeline with Future Trunks, they are truly creepy twins who only show emotion when they are killing people.
• Cyborg:
  • Contrary to their "names", they are actually humans turned cyborgs under the Android project, and their "enhancements" are actually made out of organic substances, as with the "bioborgs" of Rifts or the Space Marines of Warhammer 40,000. Some translations correct this by referring to them as "C-17" and "C-18", with "C" being short for "cyborg" (which creates an inconsistency with every other "C-", who actually are androids).
  • This is to their benefit: they get the massive power boost and unlimited stamina from being androids, but their organic side means they can train and get stronger, unlike a pure robot ^note though much like a pure robot due to their android conversion, their physical bodies won't change period regardless of how much training they put in. Meaning that 17 and 18 can't gain muscle mass like a normal human could, and the only physical changes that can happen is by pregnancy in 18's case. This means that just through training, they now completely dwarf Cell and are in the realm of the god-tier characters.
• Deadpan Snarker: Both possess a rather dry sense of humor. Upon their series introduction when Dr. Gero reactivated them to battle the Z-Fighters who confronted them, Gero mentions that they managed to destroy Android 19. 17 and 18 immediately take the time to rub it in that Gero who regarded 19 (who absorbs energy, rather than use a battery supplying infinite energy like herself and 17) as more controllable, is now forced to reactivate them because he can't beat Goku and his allies without them.
  Dr. Gero: Goku's friends are very determined to stop us, but they will not. We will destroy them, as they destroyed Android 19!
  Android 17: Android 19? So you built him after all...
  Dr. Gero: Yes.
  Android 17: I see...But he was of a different design from 18 and myself. He was an energy-absorbing model, was he not?
  Dr. Gero: Yes. He was...
  Android 18: How very interesting...
  Dr. Gero: Hmph?
  Android 18:...and you have chosen the energy-absorbing design for yourself? You thought that an energy-absorbing model would be easier to control?
  Dr. Gero:...Yes.
  Android 18 And now he's been destroyed.
  (Dr. Gero growls angrily)
• Defeating the Undefeatable: Both twins were strong enough to defeat a Super Saiyan upon activation, a transformation said to be legendary to the Saiyan race, as shown when they made short work of a newly-ascended-to-Super-Saiyan Vegeta and Super Saiyan Trunks. In the History of Trunks TV special, their future counterparts were able to kill Super Saiyan Vegeta and Future Gohan and nearly killed Future Trunks when he was at their mercy.
• Defiant to the End: Even when they're hopelessly outmatched and at risk facing death in mere moments, they both keep pushing forward at all costs, not entertaining the thought of giving up.
• Determinator: Gero kidnapped them and turned them into semi-androids to begin with, even destroying their human memories in the process, then proceeded to repeatedly manipulate their programming and turn them on and off at will in trying to control them. The fact they retained their sense of independence through all that is a feat in and of itself.
• The Dog Bites Back: After all the abuse they undoubtedly withstood in turning them into what they are, 17 and 18 killed Gero as soon as they got the chance.
• Dragon Ascendant: After they killed Gero, they became the primary threat to the heroes, before Cell takes over this role once his existence is revealed.
• Fate Worse than Death: They are both absorbed by Cell in order to achieve his perfect form. Android 18 is eventually freed after Cell throws her up. But Android 17 wasn't so lucky as he dies when Cell self-destructs himself trying to kill Goku (while 17 was still trapped inside Cell at the time), he is eventually resurrected after the Z fighters use the Dragon Balls after Cell is killed for good.
• Foil:
  • To themselves, or more specifically, the versions from Trunks's future. While the latter are sociopaths whose idea of fun is mass murder, the former merely create mayhem for their entertainment and have the capacity to care for people other than themselves. The twin androids are the only characters whose personalities are intrinsically different in the two timelines for unexplained reasons (for Trunks, the differences are obviously due to how he was raised), although dialogue in the anime version of The History of Trunks indicates the possibility that in that timelime Dr. Gero 'programmed' them differently. The most important example is that while Future 17's destructive sociopathy doomed the Earth, Present 17's developing empathy and selflessness is what saves the entire multiverse.
  • 18's story in Supersonic Warriors have the present versions of 17 and 18 encounter the future versions of themselves, and they are both clearly disturbed over their genocidal ways, and proceed to fight their evil counterparts and win.
• Forehead of Doom: Their foreheads are very big. Android 17's hairstyle exposes a lot of his, while half of Android 18's hair covers hers.
• Former Teen Rebel: Both of them were rebels against Gero and wanted to kill Goku for sport. They also had no problem breaking the law like stealing a van, attacking the police, and not paying for clothes^note which was likely what they did during their time as runway humans, if supplementary material is taken into account. By the Majin Buu Saga, 18 had settled down with Krillin and had a daughter, although she isn't above blackmailing for money. 17 has his own family with a natural born child and two adoptive kids and a steady job as a park ranger.
• Friendly Enemy: They are friendly towards the Z-Fighters and allowed them to heal after they beat them. They even offered to fight them again when they had gotten stronger and treat hunting Goku like it's a game.
• The Gadfly: They both clearly enjoy saying or doing things that get under other people's skin, and do so quite frequently, though mainly 17 moreso than 18.
• Gone Horribly Right: Gero was trying to perfect his Android technology after his previous experiments fell short of the mark, and chose to implement some special experimental Organic Technology in them, and settled for technology he knew was comparatively antiquated but safe to implement when converting himself into an Android. They turn out to be highly erratic and destructive from the moment they awaken, and dispatch their own creator moments after being activated by easily overpowering him, since he gave himself a weaker body. Then came the events of the Tournament of Power. Considering the events of the Bad Future, Dr. Gero would be spinning in his grave to know they had saved the main multiverse, which ironically enough saved his own spirit from destruction.
• Half-Identical Twins: They're a set of male-female twins with different hair colors and slightly different skin tones, but they otherwise look very alike in facial features and are even roughly the same height. On top of that, they keep their hair in similar styles at a similar length. When he finally meets 17 in Dragon Ball Super, Goku says outright that he knew him right away because he has the same eyes as 18.
• Hand Blast: They can do these, as is standard in the series, though they apparently shoot some artificial type of energy instead of using ki.
• Happily Married: Both 17 and 18 have gotten their own spouses. 17 married a unknown zoologist while 18 married Krillin.
• Heel–Face Turn: For both of them, although 17 later undergoes a Face–Heel Turn as a result of Brainwashed and Crazy in GT (but he gets better).
• Icy Blue Eyes: Both of them have icy cold ones, with 18's eyes being a darker blue color.
• Identity Amnesia: Both of them don't seem to have any memory of their time as runaway teenagers before Dr. Gero kidnapped them or of their real names. It's implied that Dr. Gero's programming wiped out all of those memories during the Android conversion process^note considering that these two were notorious for being teenage delinquents during their human lives as Lapis and Lazuli, they would have been likely news reports and police records/footage involving their crimes before Gero found them, which are now lost.
• Karmic Jackpot: In a rather twisted way; Dr. Gero created all manner of killer androids, caused a Bad Future, and nearly destroyed the solar system in the main timeline all out of his Irrational Hatred for Goku for destroying the Red Ribbon Army, on top of being a Smug Snake, so not one tear was shed when 17 offed him. Which is where this comes into effect—someone at Toei must've found it funny, because it kept happening again and again—Dr. Gero's death scene is depicted again in a Bloodier and Gorier manner in Super Android 13!, and after Dr. Gero escaped from Hell, 17 kills him again in Dragon Ball GT.
• Killer Robot: A variation. They were humans that Dr. Gero turned into Cyborgs with the purpose of killing Goku, but they ultimately only tried to follow that purpose at first because they were bored teen rebels, before dropping it completely. Played straight with their Future Trunks' timeline counterparts, who went on a rampage on Earth.
• Legacy Character: They are the last known remaining remnants of the Red Ribbon Army that served as major antagonists in the original Dragon Ball series. Upon awakening, they both wore clothing with the Red Ribbon insignia, long after the army had been taken down, before finally changing into proper clothes down the stretch.
• Limited Wardrobe:
  • Up until Super, 17 wore the same outfit since his first appearance, only wearing a jacket over it in the Majin Buu Saga (blue) and GT (tan), with Future 17 even mentioning he has several of the same shirt. While 17 gets a new outfit befitting his Ranger occupation in Super, he still limits himself to one outfit.
  • While 18's gone through a lot of outfits over the series, she's always seen in one outfit for most of Super, only changing into a pink tracksuit similar to Gohan's during the Universe Survival arc and wearing a variation of it with different colors in Super Hero.
• Lost in Translation: Technically averted. While it is certainly more accurate to refer to the pair as cyborgs, the fault of this misnomer lies more in Toriyama, who either didn't know or didn't care to make a distinction between modified humans like 17 and 18 and actual artificial humans such as 16 and 19. And so they were all referred to as the latter, Jinzo Ningen. The more accurate word in Japanese for cyborgs is Kaizou Ningen. So the actual translation is correct, it's just that what was translated was incorrect. It's safe to assume they were still called androids for consistency. That said, they were dubbed C17 and C18 in translations of the manga and some dubs of the anime, as a nod to the fact that they're actually cyborgs.
• Lovable Rogue: They're more rebels without a cause than the merciless killing machines from Future Trunks's timeline. Following the Cell Saga, they have become far more friendlier with the cast.
• Marionette Motion: More pronounced in 17, but they sometimes move in a very mechanical fashion that make it seem as if they were actually all machine rather than just partially. This combined with their frequently emotionless facial expressions ups the Creepy Twins factor they share.
• Meaningful Name: They're named for a deep blue, semi-precious stone. Rather appropriate for a pair of attractive people with striking blue eyes.
• Mysterious Past: Nothing is known of them from before Dr. Gero kidnapped them (even their original names were revealed in supplementary material). The only hint to their past is that they may have been runaways, which implies a not-so-happy home life that would lead the twins down a path of crime to where they became notoriously known for their delinquent activities. It doesn't help that they have no interest in their own past, choosing to identify under Dr. Gero's designations even when they settle down and get married.
• No Name Given: Everyone only ever refers to them by their respective numerical designations and their real names never get revealed in some way during the course of the manga or anime series. During the World Martial Arts Tournament in the Majin Buu Saga, Android 18 signs up for the tournament as "Number 18", which is rather humorous when one considers that she could have easily used a pseudonym instead if giving her real name was not an option or she did not feel inclined to do so. When questioned by the announcer on the reason she is called "Number 18", depending on the version her answer is somewhere between "it doesn't matter" and "my father was pretty dull..." Toriyama later revealed that 17 and 18's names as ordinary humans were (respectively) Lapis and Lazuli. Given the brainwashing they underwent by Dr. Gero while being converted into androids though, it's very possible neither of them actually remembers their original names.
• Non-Indicative Name: Due to Toriyama not making naming distinctions between the artificial humans and modified humans Gero makes, 17 and 18 are widely known as "androids" when in reality they are cyborgs.
• Non-Malicious Monster: In the main timeline, aside from Dr. Gero himself they don't actually kill anyone, just cause mischief, and they pursue Goku more out of boredom than anything else. By the time either of them actually meets Goku, events have long since caused them to abandon the idea of killing him.
• Older Than They Look: Since their bodies age very slowly, they still pretty much look like the teenagers they were prior to becoming cyborgs.
• Organic Technology: Their cybernetics are largely organic on a cellular level, rather than mechanical, which is why Cell can absorb them on a similar level as opposed to 16. This may also be why Shenron is unable to restore them to their original human states.
• Outside-Context Problem: Like all the androids, save for Cell, they have no energy that can be detected, making them nearly impossible to track. They also have an endless power supply meaning that they can never grow tired or weak from fighting too long. The only true way to beat them is to overwhelm them since they will always win a prolonged battle.
• Pale Females, Dark Males: In addition to having black hair to his sister's blond, 17 also has slightly but still noticeably darker skin than 18.
• Perpetual-Motion Monster: Their main strength. They have infinite energy generators inside them that prevent them from ever tiring out. In addition, they don't need to eat (but still require hydration). In Super, Android 18 has been seen eating Chi Chi's cooking, so it is likely they can eat for pleasure similar to Piccolo.
• Phlebotinum Rebel: Transforming a pair of unwilling test subjects into a more powerful model than the one you yourself transformed with, turned out to not be such a good idea for Dr. Gero, and even less so after it's revealed that his "greatest creation", Cell, needs to absorb them to reach his perfect state.
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy:
  • This is averted in Z and GT but played straight during Super where 17 wears a shirt with green sleeves while 18 wears a pink tracksuit.
  • In the Budokai games, 17's special moves are colored blue while 18's are a deep pink.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Unlike the versions of themselves from Future Trunks's timeline, the 17 and 18 of the present don't actively cause chaos outside of their goal in trying to hunt down Goku. When they curbstomp the Z-Warriors they leave them alive and leave Krillin unharmed so that he can give them Senzu Beans.
• Punny Name: As per Dragon Ball tradition, their human names are Lapis (for 17) and Lazuli (18).
• The Runaway: It's heavily implied they were this prior to getting kidnapped and experimented on by Dr. Gero.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Android 17 is the red oni and Android 18 is the blue oni. While 18 tends to only care about fighting when she's incentivized to, 17, while usually being as stoic as his sister, is almost giddy every time somebody challenges him to a fight during the Android saga, and even more than once proclaims himself to be the strongest Android. As of Super though this dynamic has changed; They both continue to have very stoic personalities but 17's seems to have gotten even more so, lacking the flashes of hotblooded arrogance he used to have, while 18 in contrast has become slightly more expressive than she once was.
• Relative Error: At the end of the Cell saga, Krillin revealed that he mistakenly believed that Android 17 and 18 were a couple rather than twins. An annoyed 18 sets him right, much to his embarrassment.
• Rock Theme Naming: Lapis lazuli is a famous type of semi-precious stone, quite beloved for its blue tone which is befitting as both twins have icy cold blue eyes.
• Self-Destruct Mechanism: Both had one originally until Krillin wished for them to be removed with a request to Shenron. Doesn't stop him from using Chiaotzu and Vegeta's method, but he lucked out and survived it.
• Siblings in Crime: Prior to settling down, this was basically their whole lives. It's said they were a pair of delinquent human teenagers who got into all sorts of trouble before being kidnapped and turned into androids. In Future Trunks's timeline they murdered all the grown Z fighters and then proceeded to terrorize and obliterate numerous cities along with their inhabitants for years until Trunks finally was able to destroy them and put an end to their reign. Even in the main timeline, their earliest actions involved picking fights and causing mayhem for fun ^note it's highly likely this was their MO during their lives as Lapis and Lazuli.
• Single-Minded Twins: Mostly averted actually. 17 and 18 lead separate lives and have enough unique characteristics to stand on their own as individuals, but they play this straight when they team up in a fight. They work flawlessly together and often adopt the exact same pose as each other when launching coordinated attacks. In the Xenoverse video games, 18 explains that the coordination just comes naturally to them and they don't have to think about it.
• The Starscream: To Dr. Gero in all timelines, personality differences be damned. They kill him the first chance they get.
• The Stoic: They sport a serious, uninterested facial expression most of the time. Aside from looking scared when Cell was pursuing her and smiling a few times when teasing Krillin or together with her family, Android 18 always looks either bored or slightly annoyed in Z, even in situations where everyone else is surprised or distraught (keep in mind that this also includes the time when Goku had to solemnly inform the other Z Fighters that Vegeta and, as they incorrectly believed, Gohan, were killed during the Majin Buu saga), though she defrosts quite some in Super, while when Goku finally met Android 17 during the Universal Survival arc of Super, he turns out to be even more stoic than before, rarely raising his voice or emoting other than quick smiles. Compared with most characters, including gods, he was barely surprised at all when seeing the Super Saiyan Blue transformation for the first time. However, much like his sister, he is still able to have fun, having a Ham-to-Ham Combat with Ribrianne who considered him evil. 17 and 18's conversations in Super hint at their modifications dulling their emotional responses. It isn't that they aren't capable of feeling emotions, as both of them being Happily Married and being loving parents shows, but both of them have noticed that it is a bit harder for them to experience strong emotions than when they were human.
• Stone Wall: Their enhancements give them infinite energy, and the fact that they're still mostly human means they can still train to be stronger. As long as their opponents aren't too powerful in comparison, they can win through attrition.
• Strong and Skilled: While they seem like they'd be Unskilled, but Strong, both 17 and 18 show skill in how they fight their opponents, being able to outmaneuver and punish their more skilled opponents with help from their enhanced endurance and stamina. Notably, they are only ever defeated by running into foes that essentially dwarf them in power so thoroughly that their capabilites don't matter.
• Story-Breaker Power:
  • Not only do they have infinite energy, but because they're organic they can train themselves to increase their strength — so long as their opponent isn't stronger by a wide margin, they could practically defeat anyone through endurance alone, to say nothing of the strategic advantage of being nearly undetectable. It's probably no coincidence, then, that Android 18 largely stopped fighting after Cell's defeat, while 17 was Put on a Bus for several years.
  • When they return in Dragon Ball Super, it shows. Android 17 can fight Super Saiyan Blue Goku to a draw (though both were withholding their power), passed through Anilaza's^note A being whose power was somewhat stronger than 17, Super Saiyan Blue Goku and Vegeta, Ultimate Gohan, and Golden Frieza combined energy ball to attack his weak point, and allowed him to put a prolonged effort against Jiren despite being severely outclassed. While not quite on the same level as her brother, 18 certainly isn't too far behind as she easily handled foes that Post-God Base form Goku was having trouble with, kicked away a suppressed SSB Kamehameha without a sweat (albeit so heavily suppressed that it was intended for Krillin), and defeated Ribrianne's most powerful Kaiju-sized form and was only eliminated because she was saving 17.
    Android 17: [after pretending to be worn out fighting Kakunsa] I'm pretty confident in my stamina.
• Supernaturally Young Parent: Both of them have children, and thanks to their cyborg nature, they age extremely slowly and have kept their youthful looks throughout the decades.
• Superpower Lottery: 17 and 18's enhancements make them the only humans who can actually keep up with the Saiyans. They have infinite energy generators which means they never get tired, and the rate at which they can become more powerful through training is at the same level as Gohan, as shown in Super.
• Swallowed Whole: A variation as both 17 and 18 are absorbed by Cell who opens up his tail to consume their bodies whole. Android 17 is the first to be absorbed and 18 follows soon after.
• They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: Krillin is genuinely surprised that they, the two androids who caused a Bad Future in one timeline, look just like regular people you see on the street. Justified since (although Krillin didn't know at the time) they're actually cyborgs who are still mostly human.
• Too Dumb to Live: Despite being told multiple times by Android 16, Piccolo, Krillin, Trunks, and Tien to run from Cell while he was distracted, both of them stayed and 17 was even arrogant enough to believe he could take out Cell until he was absorbed.
• Turned Against Their Masters: In every timeline and interpretation, the very first thing they do upon activation is to kill Dr. Gero.
• Tragic Villain: They were forcibly made into evil androids by Dr. Gero rather than of their own free will. Neither is very happy with their situation, but both have come to make the most of it.
• True Companions: Despite their time with him being relatively short, they get this with 16, spending their time together getting along and the three are often portrayed as watching out for one another. The second 16 gets this again in Dragon Ball Fighter Z, but is killed in the halfway mark of the story.
• Twin Banter: Their sarcastic senses of humor are similar and they know how to play off of each other without missing a beat.
• The Unfought:
  • Goku in either timeline never fought them, in the Future timeline due to having died of the heart virus, and in the main timeline because by the time he saw 18, she was already married to Krillin and 17 had become a park ranger. If you count GT, then he technically fought 17 as Super 17. He finally does formally fight 17 in Super, who had continued training while working.
  • The video game Supersonic Warriors what-if story, 18 fights Goku after he's recovered from his heart virus affliction, and instead of killing him, they part ways with Goku after 18 defeats him.
• Vague Age: Their ages are never actually stated, but we know they were kidnapped while they were teenagers and age very slowly. Considering 18's interactions with Krillin, and no one pointing out any age difference between them, it's likely the twins are within that age range when first introduced. Generally, it is speculated they are anywhere from their 20's to their early 30's during the Z series ^note though since they age very slowly, its likely they're around their early 20's throughout the events of Z as of the Buu Saga and Super, and early 30's during the events of Dragonball Super Super Hero, which leads into End of Z right into GT, not counting the deaths and resurrections they both had over the series (with 17 dying to both Cell and Buu) and 18 dying to Buu, which also stops their aging temporarily, until they're wished back.
• Victory by Endurance: Thanks to their Perpetual-Motion Monster ability, they can keep on fighting forever unless they get physically restrained or severely injured. Both 17 and 18 know how to take advantage of this. Android 18 explicitly kept dodging Vegeta to tire him out during the Android saga, and the androids are some of the longest-lasting fighters in the ring during the Tournament of Power in part because they don't have to worry about stamina whatsoever. 18 sacrifices herself to save Android 17, who proceeds to win the tournament.

Android 17

Android 17 (人造人間17号, Jinzou Ningen Juunana-Gou) / Lapis (ラピス, Rapisu)

^{Click here to see him in Super}

Voiced by (Japanese): Shigeru Nakahara
Voiced by (English): Chuck Huber (Funimation dub); Ted Cole (Z), Ethan Cole (GT) (Ocean/Blue Water dub); Sharon Mann (AB Groupe/"Big Green" dub)
Voiced by (Latin American Spanish): Genaro Vásquez (Z, Kai The Final Chapters and Super), Rolando de la Fuente (Kai)
Voiced by (French): Thierry Bourdon (Z, Super), Vincent Barazzoni (GT)
Voiced by (Italian): Patrizio Prata (Z and Super), Gabriele Calindri (GT)

Dr. Gero's seventeenth android creation and the twin brother of Android 18, designed to serve Gero's vendetta against Goku, however, Android 17 ends up killing Gero after the sibling's rebel against him.

After their initial arc, he makes a cameo appearance in Z's final battle. He makes a return a decade later in Super, working as a national park ranger preserving wildlife from poachers when he is asked by Goku to join Team Universe 7 in the Tournament of Power in the Universe Survival Saga.

For information on Super 17, click here. For information on Future 17, click here.

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• Action Dad: Even though we never see his family on-screen, 17 is revealed to be Happily Married with three children, one biological and two adopted. Getting married after the Cell saga doesn't doesn't deter his fighting skills in any way, and he can still kick ass, and can fight on Goku's level in Super.
• All Up to You: Though at the time he was still among 5 remaining U7 team members in the Tournament of Power, 18 makes it a point to tell 17 this before punting him back into the ring and taking the fall for him, with a disclaimer that she's saying it because she knows he likes that over-dramatic, sappy sort of thing.
• Ascended Extra: Though he was memorable, he had the least screentime and importance of any Android bar maybe 19, due to being the first absorbed by Cell, and never made a particularly meaningful return for the Buu arc beyond a cameo. He has a brief stint as half of the Arc Villain against his will in GT's shortest arc, but other than that for real-world decades he was pretty untouched. In the Tournament of Power in Super, though, he ends up having the most screentime of any U7 member that isn't a Saiyan and makes very significant use of nearly all of it, functioning as an integral part of the team long after people expected his run to end. Which he is not only one of the final fighters to last in the tournament, he is the winner and champion.
• Arc Hero: Alongside Frieza (as well as Goku and Vegeta, of course), Android 17 is one of the most significant protagonists of the Universe Survival Saga in both the anime and manga adaptations, receiving substantially more development than the rest of the Universe 7 team partially due to his long absence. His role is so great, in fact, that he ends up winning the whole Tournament of Power.
• Badass on Paper: While he is definitely a badass, he's in the range of being the 6th to maybe 4th most powerful of the Universe 7 mortals (not an easy feat mind you) and can't win against some of the strongest characters from other universes one on one. This doesn't stop him from currently holding the title of the strongest mortal from 8 of the 12 existing universes.
• Barrier Warrior: Although Android 18 can do it as well, Android 17 in particular specializes in using barriers composed of Artificial Ki for combative purposes. The Tournament of Power arc of Super actually turns it into 17's Signature Move.
• Become a Real Boy: His behavior in Super suggests he misses the range of emotion being human allowed despite the power being an android gave him. 18 even points out to him that he loves human emotions and actions. His interactions with the Love Freak Universe 2 show him enjoying their wearing their emotions on their sleeves. During his Heroic Suicide to protect Goku and Vegeta, he self-destructs glad knowing that he's giving up everything for the two of them is a human emotion, and tells them to make use of him giving up the time he could've spent on a boat with his wife and children.
• Big Brother Instinct: 17 is actually the younger twin, but in the Tournament of Power he's always there to back 18 up. When 18 injures her ankle in the middle of the competition, 17 insists on splinting it for her.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The Brunette to Android 16's Redhead and Android 18's Blonde.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: In GT, he is brainwashed by Hell Fighter 17, an Evil Knockoff of him created by Dr. Gero and Gero's Suspiciously Similar Substitute in GT, Dr. Myu, into fusing with Hell Fighter 17 to create Super 17, a supreme fighting Android.
• Break Them by Talking: Knowing he stands no chance in a full-out power struggle against Jiren, 17 prods his sensitive past to throw Jiren off his game and it works when he hits a nerve.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • In Dragon Ball GT where he becomes a villain as Super 17.
  • In Dragon Ball Super, he joins the main cast's tournament team for the Universe Survival Saga.
• Call to Agriculture: He became a park ranger after the Cell Saga.
• Cavalier Competitor: Of the first variety. Even keeps some of this as Super 17.
• Character Development: He's still a little self-centered when he's reintroduced in Super even if he is much nicer about it. He takes some convincing to join the Tournament of Power, as he doesn't even care if the world ends even if it means he and his family won't exist anymore and accepts it as the natural order of things. He initially refuses to leave his island because he doesn't care about anything other than protecting the animals there from poachers and entering the tournament would just be an annoying interruption to his fulfilling lifestyle. Even if he won the tournament, he decides to selfishly wish for a family cruise mostly because it is all he could think of that he wanted and partly because he thinks it would be interesting to use the wish for something so comically mundane. By the end of the Tournament of Power, not only does he care about what happens to Universe 7 and the rest of the Z Fighters, he even now feels sympathy for universes other than his own to the point where he decides to be selfless and help them by using the wish to bring them back instead of using the Super Dragon Balls for himself, unknowingly passing Zeno's test of mortals' capacity for good. This saves not only the erased universes but all of existence. He and 18 admit he's only become like that because of Goku.
• Chekhov's Skill:
  • His energy barrier technique is shown all of once in Z. Come Super, he gets a lot more use out of it.
  • The old detail that one can't sense the androids' artificial energy allows him to get the drop on several opponents in the Tournament of Power, including first blood from Jiren.
  • 17's new occupation working in a nature preserve seems like a fun, but mostly throwaway detail to his life. However, his newfound knowledge about wildlife ends up being incredibly handy in Super during the Tournament of Power, such as when he comes up against a beast girl who fights with animalistic movements and then when facing a bug man who tripped everyone else up due to being tiny in size.
• Clothing Damage: His Ranger shirt gets scratched early on during his battle against Kakunsa, he later rips one of his sleeves off when 18 injures her ankle, and is later fully torn into tatters during his attempted suicide against Jiren, revealing 17 to be quite attractive underneath as well as toned.
• Combat Medic: Downplayed. In the Tournament of Power, he notices 18 had injured her ankle and immediately sets to bind it with a section of his shirt sleeve. He attributes this to his experience treating animals on the island, which included a lot of injured legs.
• Cool Uncle: He acts very friendly and nice with his adorable niece Marron.
• Death Means Humanity: By Super, Android 17's behavior indicates that he misses the human emotions he once had that the experiments and enhancements now suppress and make both him and Android 18 feel Not Quite Human. He later self-destructs in order to save Goku and Vegeta from elimination during the tournament and comments on how human it feels to die for others.
• Deflector Shield: The first (canonical) character to use one. He most notoriously used it in Z to nullify Piccolo's Hellzone Grenade, and by the time of the Tournament of Power arc in Super it becomes his Signature Move, using it to nullify even a Kamehameha from a suppressed Super Saiyan Blue Goku, and several more times during the Universal Tournament.
• Disney Death: The self-destruct he used actually did not kill him. It only knocked him out throughout most of Goku and Vegeta's fight with Jiren.
• Even Evil Has Standards: While programmed to kill Goku, 17 doesn't harm innocent people, and is outright disgusted at Cell's sadism. His programming was also completely ineffective anyway and he only hunted Goku out of boredom.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: Subverted with 17, who killed Gero, but didn't do anything evil afterward other than trying to kill Goku for sport, which he failed to do since Cell absorbed him. Afterward, he went his way and became a park ranger.
• Evil Knockoff: Hell Fighter 17 in GT.
• Face Death with Dignity: In episode 127 of Super, Android 17 self-destructs to save Vegeta and Goku from elimination. He comments of how human it feels to sacrifice himself for others. Though it turns out he survived his own explosion just like Vegeta did, though 17 himself wasn't sure if he would live through it.
• Failed a Spot Check: In the anime, he overestimates himself, ignores Gero's warnings, and belittles the inactive 16's power level. The older android turns out to be far far more powerful than both he and 18 are in addition to carrying a bomb capable of destroying anyone caught in the close-proximity blast. Were it not for the fact Gero modeled 16 after his deceased son, giving him gentle programming, both rebellious androids would have likely been killed.
  Android 17: [scanning 16's power readings] Heheh, according to this data I am much stronger than this model is.
  Gero: IT. MAKES. NO. DIFFERENCE!
• Foil: To Son Goku, the very being he was programmed to destroy. They both enjoy the challenge and the thrill of battle, both are never-back-down types, smiling is seemingly second nature to both of them as well, and both were sent out for destruction but would much rather just have adventures and test/show off their strength. However, whereas Goku got all of his power through sheer hard work, 17 was first powered through Organic Technology. Plus he has a Vegeta-sized ego, is likely not as reluctant to kill a worthy opponent, and his somewhat cool attitude doesn't lend as well to making friends as Goku's absolute zest for life. Furthermore, 17 and Goku were both renamed out of one Punny Theme Naming structure into another by an old man — they were born Lapis and Kakarot, respectively. However, from the circumstances and purposes of this to the old guys' general nature, Dr. Gero could not be more different from the Elder Son Gohan if he tried. Ironically, in Super 17 becomes more serious about being a protector of Earth, taking on a job as the sole line of defense between a royal nature preserve and poachers who would come after its most valuable rare species while Goku, for the most part, gets increasingly focused on honing and testing his combat skills above anything else. 18 herself even lampshades how the two are alike. Also, just like Goku, he loves to train and improve himself to become the strongest, which is implied to be yet another reason he took the ranger job. He can train all he wants in the middle of nowhere like Goku would LOVE to be able to do and has spent the time since the Cell Saga doing so, leading to him perfecting the powers of his Android tech and competing with Buu and Gohan for the spot of fourth strongest Z Fighter. As a point of comparison, 17's first confrontation with Ribrianne from Universe 2 mirrored Goku's first confrontation with Top from Universe 11, with their opponents considering them evil, which they react with an "So I'm evil huh?" and playing along. Both also considered the fighting style of the Kamikaze Fireballs "worth studying".
• Fluffy Tamer: In the Dragon Ball Super manga he's shown to have tamed the seven Cell Juniors that had regenerated after Gohan was believed to have killed them during the Cell Games. They now help him defend the island from poachers and are friendly toward anyone with ranger tags on their shoulders. It's implied this is how he became so strong.
• The Ghost: Not 17 himself, but his family are only vaguely described to us and, as of this writing, have been never depicted onscreen/on-panel.
• Happily Married: Toriyama stated that after the Cell Saga, 17 ends up marrying a zoologist and having three kids, two of them adopted, and one being born naturally. Super reveals that he had to work away from his family because he has to protect rare species on the island he was on. He does own a cellphone, so contacting them isn't an issue for him. With Bulma's assistance, he spends his celebration on a Capsule Corp luxury ship with his family while calling Krillin and his sister on his phone, while Goten and Trunks continue to protect the island in his absence.
• Heel–Face Turn: Offscreen, after being brought back to life, he makes an honest living as a remote park ranger, trains in his spare time, and joins Team Universe 7 in the Tournament of Power after initially refusing for selfless reasons. The only time he goes back on this is the Super 17 arc in the non-canon GT, and he had a pretty fair reason there. In fact, he goes on to become one of the most selfless characters in the franchise, using his life to protect endangered species, and uses an intended suicide attack to defend Goku and Vegeta.
• Heroes' Frontier Step: Android 17 did this when he, at first, sacrifices himself so his teammates can survive, then when he wins the tournament he use his wish to bring back all the Universes that were erased.
• Heroic Neutral: He initially passes up Goku's invite to represent Universe 7 in the Tournament of Power because he doesn't want to abandon his post. Justified because it's his job to protect the island, the last Minotaur is there, and the poachers are so determined to get the Minotaur's horns that they'd even use military-grade weaponry to take him down (which probably cost more than the horns would give), running the risk of destroying all the wildlife on the island, it isn't until Goku and 18 offers Goten, Trunks and Marron to take up 17's role as honorary rangers in his absence that he finally accepts.
  • Averted in the manga version, where he immediately accepts knowing that Krillin is going to fight too and for feeling indebted for him removing his and 18's bombs, with the 3 kids taking up his ranger duties.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Blows himself up in an attempt to defend his team to buy Goku and Vegeta time. He survives.
• Hidden Depths: His ultimate desire, however, was to travel around the world with his family in a luxury cruise ship should he ever get a wish on the Super Dragon Balls. He gets that wish, but it's not what you'd expect. He actually used his real wish to resurrect the fallen universes.
• Hidden Heart of Gold:
  • By the Buu Saga, Android 17 becomes a park ranger at a nature reserve and eventually uses a gun to hold up some random people, which was actually a way to unknowingly let them give Goku's Spirit Bomb enough power to defeat Kid Buu by raising their hands, 17 raises his hand shortly after.
  • He shows some hidden kindness towards Krillin. One of the things he asks Goku is if Krillin is doing well when they first met, implying he's truly accepted Krillin as part of his family.
• Humble Hero:
  • Doesn't care for money unlike his sister and tells Goku that he is happy with his normal salary.
  • Rather than using his own wish to sail across the world in a luxury cruise ship with his family, he chooses to resurrect the fallen universes.
• Hunk: Despite being appearing to be quite lanky in an almost porcelain way, Super reveals 17 to be drawn quite ripped much like the male characters when his shirt gets destroyed while attempting to sacrifice himself, though he's a far skinnier example of the trope.
• Hypocrite: He calls Vegeta’s pride foolish, but 17 himself is also prideful while arrogantly declaring that he’s Dr. Gero’s ultimate creation.
• I Owe You My Life: Part of the reason 17 agrees to take part of the Tournament of Power in Super is that he feels indebted to Krillin for having the explosives removed from both himself and 18.
• Informed Flaw: 18 notes that between Goku and 17, they both have an immature side. In Super it's difficult to see this element at first glance, but it's quickly evident that he does like to mess with people.
• It Amused Me: 17, more than his sister, likes to do or say outlandish things to evoke reactions out of people. His initial "interaction" with Krillin. Right after killing Dr. Gero, he silently gestures to Krillin to come closer to him. Krillin is initially too frightened to confront him, but eventually slowly does, and all 17 does is raise himself to get a panicked reaction out of him before he turned his interest elsewhere. Vegeta later mocked Krillin for confirming to 17 he's not a threat to him. His tendency to mess around in fights comes up often in Super, where he's just as likely as Goku to go easy on his opponents for shits and giggles (although he also knows when to be pragmatic in a fight). It's also implied that his own amusement is a small part of why he likes the idea of wasting the all-powerful Super Dragon Balls to wish for cruise tickets for his family. The revelation that he seems frustrated with his limited emotional range and enjoys watching the way other people emote serves as an explanation for why he finds this entertaining.
• I Work Alone: To a certain extent. 17 doesn't mind collaborating with others in the grand scheme, but he prefers to fight his own battles over overt teamwork. Whether this played a part in him not showing up for the majority of the Buu arc is unclear, though Daizenshuu 7 states he fell victim to Super Buu's Human Extinction Attack despite his power and speed being greater than Tien's and Chaotzu's ^note implying he was caught off-guard due to having no ki to sense, meaning that he wouldn't live long enough to give said support against Buu, such as fusion. In Super he pragmatically takes this stance in recognition that he's never really fought alongside the others before so he's not confident in how well they'd pull it off. The only exception is 18, who, as his sister, was his partner in crime for most of his life and with who he works masterfully alongside.
• Killed Offscreen: According to Daizenshuu 7, he was killed by Super Buu's Human Extinction Attack, implying he was caught off guard (not Kid Buu blowing up the Earth like what was previously lead to believe). Thankfully, he was revived by Porunga near the end of the arc.
• Laser-Guided Karma: The positive kind. Having outlasted Goku, Frieza, and Jiren, 17 chooses to resurrect the fallen universes. He gets his wish to sail around the world as his other consolation prize.
• The Leader: Out of the trio he made with Androids 18 and 16, he's the one that makes all the decisions, and 18 and 16 just let him have his way. 18 in their interactions after reuniting doesn't play along with him much anymore and sees his mischief as him being a Manchild.
• Long Bus Trip: He wasn't heard from again after being absorbed by Cell until a brief cameo in the Buu arc. Again, after Super 17 is killed, he is only mentioned to have been revived in theory at the tail end of the series when Shenron grants his final wish. It took until the Tournament of Power Saga for him to return to prominence again.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: His hair is a little longer than most other male characters in the series, only surpassed by Yamcha's numerous hairstyles (which is far longer and shaggier, depending on the saga) and Future Trunks' hairstyle after coming out of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber (where it grew so long that he ties it into a ponytail).
• Made of Iron: That self-destruct ki explosion that supposedly killed him? He lived through it.
• Married to the Job: He spends most of his time protecting his island from poachers, at times spending months on end without seeing his family. This is something he seemingly wants to change since he desires the Super Dragon Balls to wish for a cruise liner that he can use to go on vacations with his family.
• Nature Hero: What 17 becomes as a park ranger. He lives by himself on a small island, protecting it fiercely from poachers even if they come from space. While he tries not to kill anyone, he isn't afraid to spill blood or sacrifice himself.
• Nature Lover: As strong as he is, he refused to go all out with Goku because he didn't want the island he is protecting to be destroyed.
• Nature-Loving Robot: To a lesser extent, as he's a cyborg rather than an actual robot, Android 17 qualifies once the Cell Games are over, as he becomes a Park Ranger. By the time of Dragon Ball Super it's apparent he spends most of his time in the woods, and rarely interacts with other people - never even having visited his twin sister. Dende brings up 17's ranger duty as an example of how he's become more peaceful. It is possible that one of the reasons he took up the job was in memory of Android 16 who couldn't be revived.
• Nerves of Steel: Faced down by a newly ascended God of Destruction? 17 doesn't show an inch of fear and doesn't back down.
  • He's completely unfazed when he decides to use an attack like Vegeta's Final Explosion and has no idea if he would be able to survive or not. His reaction to surviving it a few episodes later when he regains consciousness and comes out of hiding boiled down to an equally stoic "Huh, I didn't think I would still be alive."
• No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: Unlike his future counterpart who relishes in murder and terror, main timeline 17 enjoys himself much more when he's got an even fight on his hands as opposed to a Curb-Stomp Battle, even leaving his defeated opponents alive so they can come back stronger and fight him again in the latter case. He also only follows his programmed directive to seek and destroy Goku for the sake of something entertaining to do, which he makes clear by deliberately sacrificing efficiency for fun in this hunt.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: His reaction to Brianne, Sanka and Suu's transformation into their Magical Girl forms is to blast them while they're in the middle of their Transformation Sequence. This easily gets him on the top of their shit list.
  • In the manga version of the Universe Survival arc he's even more ruthless. The instant the Tournament begins, he immediately bum-rushes Universe 10's weaker fighters before they can even react and singlehandedly scores the first elimination of the Tournament.
• Not Quite Dead: He survives his suicide attack during the Tournament of Power, but is presumed dead for several episodes.
• Not So Above It All: During his fight with Ribrianne, he shows that he's not above her Magical Girl antics, acting like a character in a magical girl show to humor her. After getting told off for interrupting the transformation, he clearly decided to just have fun with the whole thing of beating all of them anyway.
  Krillin: Surprisingly, No. 17 enjoys kidding around.
  • Despite ostensibly being one of the more business-minded Team Universe 7 members, he disregards Shin and Gohan's teamwork strategy to wander off and do his own thing shortly after the Tournament of Power begins.
• Ornamental Weapon: He keeps a pistol holstered on his hip, but never uses it. Understandable, as his punches and energy blasts do far more damage than a pistol ever could. His future counterpart uses it once against an old man who shot at him.
• Psychopathic Manchild: He intends to kill Goku just to "have fun", intentionally decides to not ask Krillin where Goku is as well to waste time driving instead of flying straight there all because it's "part of the game", has a tendency to go off in terms of a shortcut just because he thinks it's fun, and actually treated holding up some hunters as being like a game, claiming they won. The last part was justified, however, as he was trying to get them to contribute to Goku's Spirit Bomb. He eventually loses these mindsets in Super because he takes his job very seriously.
• Put on a Bus: In the manga, 17 was never seen again after being absorbed by Cell other than a brief cameo towards the end of the Buu Saga, giving Goku energy for the Spirit Bomb against Kid Buu. He finally returned during the Universal Survival arc.
• Refuge in Audacity: When Belmod asks, he says he plans to use the Super Dragon Balls to go on a trip with his family in a cruiser. It's unclear whether or not he's serious or just trolling again. He actually uses them to bring the other universes back.
• Refusal of the Call: He initially refused Goku's proposal to fight in the Tournament of Power, even after knowing the Universe is at stake. He passes it on saying if the universe is to die and everyone erased together, "so be it," and wished Goku luck. He does eventually relent in the anime when Goku helps him save some animals and offers Goten, Trunks and Marron the role of guarding the island, while in the manga version he doesn't want to enter until he learns that Krillin is participating, after that he immediately accepts.
• Revenge Before Reason: In the original and Kai dubs, he refuses Android 16's order to run before Cell recovers from the Hell Flash because he wants to kill Cell himself as payback for the beating he suffered at the former's hands. Needless to say, this bites him in the ass.
• Scarf of Asskicking: 17's original outfit included an orange bandana scarf, he trades it in for a Ranger armband for his return in Super.^note  Ironically enough 17's bandana scarf may have been the basis for Pan's own orange bandana that she wears in GT.
• Secret Test of Character: He ends up undergoing one as per Zeno's plan to test the worthiness of all mortals due to 17 being the winner of the Tournament of Power. Because his wish was to bring back the other universes and not a selfish wish, Zeno decides that the multiverse deserves to exist, saving the entire world of Dragon Ball. It's implied that he really was going to use the Super Dragon Balls to wish for something petty like a boat at first, but he changed his mind after being around Goku.
• Sixth Ranger: Prior to the Tournament of Power, he was the only member of Team Universe 7 to have never even met Goku, meaning that they build a new relationship from scratch over the course of the arc. While he does have established relationships with others such as Piccolo and of course 18 (and by extension Krillin, due to him being 17's brother-in-law), he is still treated as an outsider. This is further cemented by his reluctance to even join the team, but it turns out his lack of personal stake in the battle makes him an extremely valuable ally (he has zero baggage against Frieza, for example). After his Character Development in the Universe Survival Saga, he seems to have been promoted to a full-fledged member of the Z-Fighters, reappearing to help save the world in the Moro Saga and in Super Dragon Ball Heroes.
• The Smart Guy: During the Universe Survival arc, he ends up fitting this in practice even more than Krillin, Gohan, and (arguably) even Piccolo. He takes full advantage of his infinite energy, is the only person who even thinks to attack people mid-transformation sequence - out of a cast that generally subscribes to Honor Before Reason - and uses his powers/the ring itself in ways nobody else even thinks of. He was also the one to deduce the secret of Universe 4's second "invisible" warrior after he'd already managed to eliminate the aforementioned Piccolo.
• Smug Super: He openly declared to Cell that he was the strongest in the world, and arrogantly believed that he could beat him. Cell showed him firsthand how wrong he was. He loses this trait by Super where he admits that Goku could have probably beat him back then after their sparring match. He's still pretty smug against people that he knows for sure that he can beat, however.
• Sole Survivor: He's the last man standing in the Tournament of Power. Thanks to Goku and Frieza causing a Ring Out for themselves and Jiren, 17 won the tournament for Universe 7.
• Stone Wall: Android 16 says he and Piccolo are equal in power level. Piccolo thinks 17 might be faster than him and is surprised by his barrier, but also says that 17 doesn't hit very hard. Cell's power level is too high for 17's defenses (or Piccolo's superior offense) to matter though. Super shows that he's upped his offensive game, but he still defaults to tanking an enemies' offense until he finds an exploitable weakness. This works quite well for him, as he fights several high level fighters without taking any damage, and takes a couple of beyond Goku fighters off guard by simply charging straight through their best energy blasts.
• Suicide Attack: Attempts to blow himself up to dispel Jiren's blast that would have ringed out Goku and Vegeta, though miraculously he survives this. He actually does it again after he realizes that he can take it, this time doing it to Jiren at point-blank range with his shield to hold in the blast. 17 gets up after that, while Jiren is almost eliminated because of how injured he was. If it wasn't for Top's speech, Frieza would have eliminated Jiren before he stood back up.
• Supernaturally Young Parent: By Super he's a father of three children, but he still looks like a teenager due to the fact his partially android body ages extremely slowly.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: He gives one to Jiren about dwelling on a past that only the Super Dragon Balls can change that gets cut off early when he hits a nerve.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Despite the many years he has been Out of Focus between Z and Super, he reveals he hasn't slacked off, and is much stronger than before, getting one of the biggest power boosts in the franchise. His shield alone manages to protect him from a Kamehameha from a suppressed Super Saiyan Blue Goku. Goku and Dende agree that it would be terrifying to have him as an enemy. Then he becomes one of the stars for Universe 7 during the Tournament of Power: He's eliminated a lot of opponents, has always assisted his allies, has figured out critical weaknesses at clutch times and is one of the last four fighters standing, even outlasting the likes of Top, Gohan, and Vegeta.
  • As of episode 131, he can even call himself the strongest fighter in the multiverse, as his right as the Tournament of Power's champion . That's right: he outlasted Frieza, Jiren, and GOKU.
• Tranquil Fury: He threatens a poacher by bending the barrel of his gun, telling him to take care of nature or become one with it. When the animals under his care are kidnapped by an intergalactic poacher, he maintains his composure almost all the way through it up to the point he attempts a Heroic Sacrifice via sucking him into space.
• Transformation Is a Free Action: He defies this trope whenever possible, actively attacking others while they are charging attacks or in the middle of transforming ^note this is likely due to him suffering from PTSD while he was inside Cell.
• Troll:
  • When a pissed-off Ribrianne labels him as evil during their fight, he decides to play along and goad her into attacking while putting on some theatrics.
  • 17 holds back massively against Kakunsa to make her believe he was getting tired, just to see her reaction when she saw that he wasn't even trying.
  • It's implied that a lot of the reason he wants to wish for a cruise is just because he thinks it would be hilarious to use the Super Dragon Balls for something so incredibly mundane, although he does legitimately want to go on one. In the end, he changes his mind and does the right thing by using the balls to save the defeated universes. As a result, he unknowingly saves all of the multiverse.
• Underestimating Badassery:
  • He gravely underestimates Cell and believes that he can take him in a fight. After being proven wrong 17 still wants to try again on the reasoning Cell should be weaker after fighting 16. He gets Eaten Alive for his stupidity.
  • In the Universal Tournament, he's the underestimated badass in several fights. When he was then ambushed by an opponent while trying to aid his sister, he knocks out the poor fellow off-screen.
  • Jiren fails to realize that 17 can create ki bombs that are actually strong enough to cause serious damage, something Ultra Instinct Goku had been able to do, until after 17 burns a small chunk of his uniform and skin to a crisp. He treats 17 much more seriously afterward, but it doesn't stop 17 from doing it to him again. The second time Jiren realizes the danger, but 17 almost knocks him unconscious with the explosion.
• Unfazed Everyman: What he basically becomes after the Android Saga: 17 simply settles down with a family, gets a job, and outside of apparently keeping up with his training doesn't really get involved in the whole "saving the world" business like the other Z-fighters. By the time he is participating in the Tournament of Power, nothing really gets a rise out of him, not even having to fight a God of Destruction. He is enjoying the experience, however, as his fights with the Fireballs show.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Upon his debut, he primarily overwhelmed opponents using brute strength and endless stamina, but was very reckless in his fighting style and had a tendency to leave himself open. Someone who happened to have both the strength and skill (like Piccolo after fusing with Kami) could prove to be quite a challenge for him, to the point where they lampshaded during one interval that the fight would come down to whether 17 first makes a critical mistake or Piccolo tires out before that. This gets averted in Super where he Took a Level in Badass, seemingly training and learning how to use his android abilities to their full potential over a decade, allowing him to shoot all the way to god tier.
• Victory by Endurance: He won the Tournament of Power by just lasting longer than anyone else. With Goku and Frieza both causing a Ring Out for Jiren, this left 17 as the last guy standing, even though he was far away from the action. Having unlimited energy certainly helps.
• Warrior Therapist: He attempts to invoke this on Jiren by saying that Jiren was using his friends for his own benefit. Unfortunately for him, Jiren's response is Talk to the Fist.
• World's Strongest Man: By Super, Android 17 could technically be considered the strongest Earthling. Granted, he is a cyborg, so comparing him to the likes of Krillin and Tien wouldn't be fair, which is probably why Toriyama considers Krillin the strongest 'human'. But as far as is known his android design was still created using entirely Earthly materials, and by Super, he's basically become god tier, enough to clash with Super Saiyan Blue Goku. If nothing else, the summaries outright say he's the strongest Android by a gigantic margin.
  • By virtue of winning the Tournament of Power, 17 is technically the strongest mortal in the entire multiverse. Though he'd probably rank seventh at highest in terms of actual power level behind at least Goku, Jiren, Vegeta, Top, Frieza, and Broly, 17 certainly survived through enough that he can at least be called the most resilient mortal in the multiverse.
• Worthy Opponent:
  • Piccolo. They even briefly team up when Cell interrupts their fight. To expound on this, 17's arrogance could rival Vegeta's. After Piccolo saves him from Cell, he even thanks him for the help, showing that he no longer considers him inferior (like everyone else in existence).
  • He and Goku later have this experience in Super after crossing fists for the first time when Goku comes to recruit 17 for the Tournament of Power.
  • In a lesser vein, he does compliment Kakunsa before ringing her out, saying her aggressive fighting style was worth studying.

Android 18

Android 18 (人造人間18号, Jinzou Ningen Juuhachi-Gou) / Lazuli (ラズリ, Razuri)

^{Click here to see her in the Buu saga}

^{Click here to see her in Super}

^{Click here to see her in the Universe Survival Arc}

Voiced by (Japanese): Miki Itō

Voiced by (English): Meredith McCoy, Colleen Clinkenbeard (Kai) (Funimation dub); Farrell Spence (Z; Season 4 and some eps of Season 5), Willow Johnson (Z; most of Season 5 and all of Season 6) Jennifer Bain (GT) (Ocean/Blue Water dub); Tamara Ryan (Bang Zoom!/Toonami Asia dub of Super)

Voiced by (Latin American Spanish): Cristina Camargo (Z, Battle of Gods, Resurrection ‘F’), Mónica Villaseñor (Bio-Broly, Kai The Final Chapters and Super), Lourdes Morán (GT), Jocelyn Robles (Kai and DBS: Super Hero)

Voiced by (French): Brigitte Lecordier

Voiced by (Italian): Debora Magnaghi

Dr. Gero's eighteenth android creation and the twin sister of Android 17, designed to serve Gero's vendetta against Goku. After the androids' first bout with the Z Fighters, 18 comes across a frightened Krillin and kisses him on a whim. He falls for her after this, and she reciprocates after he wishes away the duo's self-destruct devices, ensuring that they can never be controlled by someone else again. Eventually, Android 18 becomes an on-and-off supporting character after this, becoming a member of the Z Fighters, as well as the wife of Krillin and the mother of their daughter Marron.

For information on Future 18, click here.

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• Accidental Hero:
  • Had Android 18 decided that directly winning the tournament prize money was more worth it (and she could easily do it), Mr. Satan would lose credibility and he would have failed in using his fame to empower Goku's Spirit Bomb and then cost him the fight against Kid Buu. Thanks to her more cunning but selfish, money-minded act, she inadvertently set up the events to save the world and the entire Universe by letting Mr. Satan keep his fame, even though 18 (along with her husband and her daughter and friends) end up getting eaten and killed by Super Buu.
  • Happens again the in the Universe Survival saga: instead of 17 being ringed out, 18 took the fall for him and sent him back into the ring, eliminating herself. Because of this, 17 would go on to help the remaining U7 members defeat Agnilasa (particularly his attacking its reactor), give his all in the battles against Top and Jiren, and ultimately not only win the tournament, but have his wish to restore the erased universes save all of existence. Had she not saved her brother, there's little telling what differences might've occurred, nor who would've taken his place/given his wish as the tournament winner, which the fate of everything hinged on.
• Action Girl: One of the only women who can compete with the Z fighters and be able to beat three Super Saiyans. Even when she isn’t a particularly active fighter, she still avoids Chickification compared to Videl by participating in the fighting tournament in the Buu arc, attempting to fight Beerus, being one of the fighters representing Universe 7 in the Universal Survival saga, and helping Gohan and Piccolo fight against Cell Max.
• Action Mom: Despite giving birth to Marron, she's still a force to be reckoned with, if you give her a good reason to kick your ass. At first, she was considerably stronger than your base Super Saiyan, yet by the Universe Survival Saga is handling foes who can cause some trouble to base form Goku (which is much stronger than Z-era SS3 by that point).
• Adaptational Badass: Well, kinda. In Resurrection ‘F’ movie she stated she should go and help fight against the revived Frieza because she was stronger than most of the people there, including Krillin, who acknowledges she's correct. In Super however, she instead says she's stronger than all of the people going to fight Frieza, implying that by the time the Resurrection ‘F’ arc in Super happens, 18 somehow managed to get stronger then Piccolo and Gohan.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Volume cover art for Toyotaro's Dragon Ball Super manga depicts her hair as an extremely light shade of platinum blonde, bordering on colorless. This closely mimics Toriyama's concept art for Android 18, which itself seems to have resulted from Toriyama forgetting what color 18's hair was supposed to be.
• All Amazons Want Hercules: While Krillin is much weaker than her, 18 admits in Super that his naturally earned strength is part of why she is so attracted to him. Her lamenting how much weaker he has gotten, to the point that he is badly injured by normal bullets, inspires him to come out of martial arts retirement again prior to the Tournament of Power.
• Alto Villainess: When done by Miki Ito and Meredith McCoy, the latter even references this while doing her voice.^note  Interestingly, this did not actually apply as much to the former during the original run, where her voice, while still deep, was still a bit softer and a pitch higher, actually sounding like the teenager 18 resembles. Combined with the fact that Miki Ito doesn't normally do her younger character roles like Mineva Lao Zabi anymore, this is a case of her voice aging to what we get now from Kai, Super, and other recent Dragon Ball media.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other:
  • She may act cold and distant, but she dearly loves her husband. She smiles tenderly at Krillin as she patches him up after he stupidly asked Goku to punch him and she wants to fight alongside him against Frieza since she fears for his life.
  • Episode 68 of Dragon Ball Super has her being the only one aside from Gohan with a remotely selfless reason for wanting Goku to let her have the second wish; she wants to get something she can give to Krillin as a present, to thank him for all he's done for her and Marron. The lovestruck expression on her face when Bulma reminds her that Krillin would probably want some quality time with his wife and daughter really shows how much they love each other.
  • In Episode 117 of Super, she defeats Ribrianne with The Power of Love for Krillin. That should say volumes about her feelings.
  • She really does care for her twin brother despite how she barely bothers to contact him and usually treats him with a mixture of sarcasm and annoyance. She eliminates herself from the tournament to keep him from falling off, bursts into tears when he seemingly dies, and is more than a little relieved when this isn't actually the case.
• Badass Adorable: Subverted early in the Android Saga when she was a temporary villain and literally broke Vegeta's arm in one swift kick. Played Straight Post-Cell Saga as of the 7-year Time Skip as seen with her sweet interactions with Krillin and especially Marron, moreso in Super which had some very adorable highlights of 18 tending to Krillin's injuries and her interactions with Marron getting more precious (her most notable adorable moment came in the Luminescent Blush scene as detailed below). It helps that #18 herself is still techinally and physically a teenager due to her Android conversion slowing her aging down tremendously, and was even labeled cute by many of the cast, most notably Krillin and Future Trunks. She stops being this during post-End of Z and GT due to her being slightly older compared to her appearance in Z and Super. Played completely straight with the upcoming Daima anime, with Android 18 getting de-aged from adult to child, by an unknown wish.
• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Her fight with Vegeta climaxes with her wearing him down before brutally shattering his arm. While 18 is supposedly a murderous android who will bring about a Bad Future if she isn't stopped, she has yet to actually do anything evil or remotely bad, whereas Vegeta has spent most of his screentime being an arrogant, self-absorbed Jerkass, as well as a horrible father to Trunks, going so far as to physically attack him just for suggesting they wait for Goku to recover from the heart virus before pursuing the Androids.
• Berserk Button: Don't diss Krillin, or suggest that she doesn't love him. Ribrianne got her butt kicked for making that mistake. This works retroactively, as well; she gets furious when she confronts Frieza in Dragon Ball FighterZ because he killed Krillin long ago.
  • On that note, anyone directly talking about how she does love him will also invoke her wrath. Just ask Shin, who almost got a hole put in his head.
  • On another note, don't attempt to ask her out on dates^note as of her marriage to Krillin or attempt any lecherous moves on her, or you'll end up like Jewel ^note whom she easily flattens within seconds once she got serious and Roshi^note whom likewise gets punted like a football every time he sexually harassed her.
  • Also threatening to or scaring her daughter will also provoke her into attacking you for sure, if not killing you outright ^note she was clearly ready to fight Buu due to his presence scaring poor Marron who cried for her mom to make him go away, but she had to relent due to Buu having recently killed Chi-Chi and having the power to both regenerate from any of her attacks and multiple different ways to One-Hit Kill her outright, which he does later on to 18 and her daughter via turning them both into chocolate and eating them.
  • Speaking of Buu, he's also a literal berserk button for 18 in the video games, should 18 face off against him, likely because of her and her daughter's deaths at his hands.
  • Also misspelling her daughter's name as Maron, instead of Marron is also another good way to earn her wrath, 17 got threatened with destruction ^note 18 was ultimately joking over it. ^note Heavily implying that Maron may end up being canon, but so far has yet to reappear.
• "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: You got to hand it to 18 for being quite the cunning bitch. She makes it to the final round of the World Martial Arts Tournament, clearly out-classing the "champion" Mr. Satan, but rather than beating him up and taking the title (which would draw unwanted attention), she decides to throw the fight in exchange for double this tournament's prize money and a cut of all future prize money Hercule ever earns.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The Blonde to Android 17's Brunette and Android 16's Redhead.
• Boyish Short Hair: Her hair comes up close to her chin. She cuts it even shorter when Marron is in her early teens, which is proven by the events of Super Hero set a year before the End of Z.
• Character Tic: She tends to move the left side of her hair behind her left ear.
• Characterization Marches On: Weirdly in the events to both the Buu Saga and Super. In the Buu Saga, she acts very type A Tsundere to Krillin and a Manipulative Bitch, and the Tsundere personality carried over to the final tournament of the series. In Super however, she is a lot nicer and shown smiling while tending Krillin's injury by Goku (because he wanted to know strong he's gotten). By the time Resurrection ‘F’ arc occurs, as Krillin flies off, she whispers to herself "So cool…".
• Clingy Jealous Girl:
  • In Bio-Broly, at least to the extent that she wasn't really happy with the sexy scientist hugging Krillin.
  • Also, in some of the fighting games, she also expresses heavy disapproval of Zangya from Bojack Unbound eyeing Krillin.
    Zangya: Your man's kinda cute.
    18: Skank.
  • She shows extreme anger over her daughter's name being mispronounced as Maron as seen leading up to the Tournament of Power, heavily implying that 18 and Maron may have crossed paths at some point off-screen ^note most likely after the Cell Saga as Maron isn't seen after Cell's defeat , and due to Maron's bimbo antics or possible flirting tendencies around Krillin was more than enough to have angered 18.
  • She also shows displeasure when Krillin and Yamcha talk about Android 21 in Dragon Ball FighterZ; specifically, when Yamcha wonders if Krillin has a thing for female androids.
• Clothing Damage: Happens to #18's initial Red Ribbon Army outfit during her battle with Vegeta, where he destroys it with a powerful ki blast before 18 delivers the infamous kick to defeat him, this act forces the Androids to quickly curbstomp the Z Fighters (sans Krillin) and flee to raid a nearby clothing store where she switches to a cowgirl outfit for a while before switching it out for the white t-shirt and demin pants outfit she wears for the remainder of the Cell Saga while raiding Goku's house due to finding the cowgirl outfit ridiculous.
• Colossus Climb: In the Tournament of Power, she has to take this approach to defeat Ribrianne's Kaiju-sized form, since the rules forbid ki-based flight.
• The Cutie: Her kid self in the upcoming Daima anime is just downright adorable and precious as her daughter.
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • The movie Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly gives her a lot more screen-time, though Character Development eluded her in the film.
  • She also helps Goku defeat Super 17 in GT.
  • Episode 117 in Super gives this to her and 17, though more so her than her brother.
  • Dragon Ball FighterZ gives her and 17 their own scenario which explores their history, alongside the main story for the Z-Fighters and Frieza's gag-themed Villain Episode.
• Deadly Disc: She can use the Destructo Disc like Krillin but has only used it once in her fight with Goten and Trunks while they are disguised as Mighty Mask. She uses it more frequently in the video games.
• Deer in the Headlights: The sheer number of times various characters tell her to get lost because Cell is nearby, only for 18 to stand there gawking in fear, really needs to be seen to be believed. She at least has the excuse that she'd just seen her brother die in front of her (though he wasn't really dead) and wasn't in a great state of mind, but really.
• Defiant to the End: No matter how much stronger her enemy may be, she will try and hurt them to the end, even trying to punch Semi-Perfect Cell after being sucked in by his tail.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Very gradual, but it's there. She's still stand-offish and blunt during the Buu saga, but come Dragon Ball Super she's much more relaxed among her husband's friends, and even smiles a whole lot more. By the time of Future Trunks' reappearance, she's pretty much defrosted completely; her first reaction to seeing him is to smile warmly and make a lighthearted joke about him killing her alternate self. This is played up to contrast the 18 Trunks' remembers.
• Demoted to Extra: The Super manga drops her off in focus heavily, to the point where she barely appears at all. The manga version of the Tournament of Power is noticeable for this reason, as she was only shown fighting a couple of Universe 2 warriors and eventually, the Maiden Squadron. She overpowers them and gets ready to take them out until Gamisaras from Universe 4 jumps in and does a sneak attack on her, knocking her out. In contrast, the anime's take has her last until the second to last Universe is left for Universe 7 to defeat, and she does very well overall by comparison.
• Demoted to Satellite Love Interest: She was introduced as an independent villain alongside her brother, but had mostly retired to a more peaceful lifestyle by the time of the Buu arc, just like her husband Krillin. This doesn't mean that she can't fight when she has to — in both the Battle of Gods movie and Dragon Ball Super, she's one of the ones at Bulma's party who try to stop Beerus' rampage, and in Resurrection ‘F’ and Super she points out to Krillin that she could fight in his place against Frieza's forces, because when one comes down to it, she's still much more powerful than he is. Subverted in the Universe Survival arc where she lasts much longer and helps much more than Krillin (something he even lampshades). She also stays more important than Krillin even after being eliminated, being the one most pained when 17 detonates himself to protect Goku and Vegeta.
• Designated Girl Fight:
  • Averted in both Z and GT, since she fought only against males (Vegeta, Cell, 17, and some tournament fighters).
  • Played straight during the Tournament of Power of Super, however, by fighting three of the female fighters of the tournament, besides other members:
    • She fights Universe 11 Pride Trooper Cocotte during the first minutes of the Tournament. While the fight didn't go anywhere, 18 is also the one to take her down thanks to Cocotte being trapped in her own dimensional shield from her fighting the Universe 6 Saiyans.
    • She fights Universe 9 fighter Sorel off-screen, and takes her out without no one noticing.
    • She is the warrior to take down Universe 2 fighter Ribrianne, someone who loved to boast about love, with her love for Krillin as motivation.
• Doting Parent: To Marron, one of the few people besides Krillin who has made her smile.
• Dude Magnet: Obviously Krillin falls for her, Future Trunks mentions her cuteness and beauty early on before her debut, she gets hit on by Roshi more than once, and gets hit on by Jewel at the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament during the Buu saga, whom 18 proceeds to deliver a well deserved Curb-Stomp Battle to him for simply annoying her.
• Everyone Loves Blondes: Krillin for her.
• The Fashionista: Loves to shop and doesn't shy away from other people's wardrobes, either, first raiding a clothing store to replace her damaged clothes from her fight with Vegeta, where she tries on different clothes before settling on the cowgirl outfit, she does this again going through Chi-Chi's clothes when they stop off at Goku's house to find a replacement set due to finding the cowgirl set she stole from the clothing store too ridiculous, she also criticizes Chi-Chi's choice of fashion sense as being lame due to her preference for Chinese-style clothes, stealing a white t-shirt and light blue denim clothes.
• Fountain of Youth: Android 18 gets magically turned into a child due to a wish by an unknown enemy in Dragonball Daima.
• A God Am I: Played for Laughs during Universe 2's Last Stand, where she shows she's Not So Above It All to play along with her brother.
  Android 18: And I am Android 18! The goddess of Universe 7 who defeated the goddess Ribrianne!
• Good Parents: Despite her flaws, she is a very caring mother to Marron.
• Happily Married: She got married to Krillin at some point after Cell's defeat and they're now living happily with their daughter. Perhaps to show she's really loyal to her husband, she is completely unfazed when Chick Magnet Jewel attempted to flirt with her during the 25th World Tournament, though 18 quickly eliminates him for getting on her nerves after she turns down his date offers. She does so again in the Tournament of Power against Ribrianne with her love for Krillin being the motivational key to defeating her for good.
• Helpless Kicking: One of the Cell Saga's iconic scenes is 18 frantically thrashing her legs about as she is gradually Swallowed Whole.
• Heroic Sacrifice: It doesn't cost her, her life, but in Episode 121 of Dragon Ball Super, she saves a falling Android 17 from being eliminated by kicking him back up to the stage, causing her to fall out of bounds herself.
• Humanity Is Infectious: Partially justified by her formerly being human before Gero got through with her, but by the time Marron is a teenager, she's perfectly content being a mother and wife. This comes full circle when Android 17 dismisses her and her emotional ties with the insult of "stupid human" in GT. In Super she states that she knows this trope happened to her and how much 17 wishes that it was more infectious for him.
• Informed Ability: 18 herself claims in the Resurrection ‘F’ Saga of Super that she's stronger than all the other people going to fight against the revived Frieza. We never see 18 do anything that otherwise proves her claim right... at least until the Universe Survival Saga, where she effortlessly picks up Tupper with one hand (whose weight density was giving Post-God Base form Goku trouble) and tosses him toward the edge of the ring, giving credibility to this claim.
• Ink-Suit Actor: A coincidental example. Meredith McCoy bears a positively spooky resemblance to 18, especially around the time when she was actually doing the series. A Google image search for "Meredith McCoy Android 18" will bring up enough pictures to show just how similar they look. This is coincidental because Toriyama designed 18 and drew her in the manga years before the English dub of the anime was ever recorded.
• Kick Chick: While she's good at both, 18 favors kicking over punching, with her signature move being a roundhouse kick that she typically aims with the intent of breaking her opponent's arms.
• Little Miss Badass: Set to become this in the upcoming Daima anime, when a wish turns Android 18 and her friends and family into kids.
• Luminescent Blush: Sports a deep one when Bulma tells her that Krillin's most likely answer if asked want he wants from her is probably "As long as I have 18 and Marron, I'm happy." Seeing her blush like that is even rarer than seeing her smile.
• Mama Bear: You're in deep shit if you think of screwing with her daughter, or any of her daughter's childhood friends (even though they're more than capable of defending themselves), especially if 18 is around.
• Manipulative Bitch: It's how she cons Hercule out of his prize money plus interest in the tournament.
• Ms. Fanservice: Downplayed While not nearly as sexualized as the original female characters ^note in fact, 18 is probably the least sexualized main female of the entire franchise next to Videl (who lacks fanservice scenes in general outside of the Leg Focus and Roshi grabbing her breast), in a series that's full of heavily sexualized females such as Bulma, Chi-Chi ect., it's clear that the series finds 18 as ridiculously attractive nonetheless. Her first outfit gets destroyed by Vegeta in the Android Saga, showing off a lot of how shapely Android 18 is, and then we see her wear a beach outfit in the early portion of the Buu saga that shows off her figure, then later on in a filler episode while they're out gathering the Dragonballs (to wish back everyone who was killed by Majin Vegeta at the tournament), 18's breasts get major focus during an interaction with Master Roshi who gropes them (right in front of her own daughter), which leads to 18 beating him senseless and there was this scene in GT.
  • Her video game appearances somewhat subverts it depending on the game. In Dragon Ball Xenoverse and it's sequel, Android 18 can be made to wear a two-piece Turtle Helmet bikini ^note which can only be unlocked for #18's custom slot by maxing out her mentor friendship meter by participating in missions and giving her gifts, it's the only way to unlock Bulma's iconic camouflage bikini set from the original Dragon Ball for playable female custom characters which 18 highly dislikes for obvious reasons and will make her utter distaste for it famously known when players select her in the outfit,^note it's heavily implied that the bikini gift might have been Roshi's doing as it has the Turtle Helmet logo on it and #18 does forgive the Time Patroller by giving them a bikini set of their own to keep (see above). In Dragonball Ultimate Butouden for the DS, Good Launch's outfit is an unlockable outfit for Android 18. Played Straight with official and unofficial merchandise featuring her, such as the Dragonball Gal figurine lineup that 18 was in which had heavy Fanservice Pack by upping her bust and hips to it's logical conclusion far beyond her canonical portrayal, and she had the most figurines of the cast ^note her original Red Ribbon outfit, her Cell Saga outfit and her beach outfit from the early Buu Saga, even moreso than the original fanservice girl in Bulma ^note the same set also had Videl in it's collection.
• Ms. Vice Girl: After her Heel–Face Turn, she becomes rather fixated on becoming rich. In Battle of Gods and its adaptation in Dragon Ball Super for example, she's rather interested in the bingo prizes at Bulma's birthday. This particular example is likely due to the second place prize being a big castle, which her family can move into instead of living at Kame House on a small island with Roshi and Oolong. Though later on it's shown she and Krillin bought a nice house in the city but she still keeps this trait.
• No One Gets Left Behind: Despite 16 rightfully insisting that 18 leaves him behind in order to escape from Cell, as in his injured state he is neither capable of being a defender or doing damage to the bio-android, she absolutely refuses to do so, which only ends up being another factor in her being absorbed.
• Not So Above It All:
  • Despite her cold demeanor she does get her share of goofy moments, mostly when money or prizes are concerned. See her moment in the Resurrection ‘F’ movie, where she watches her husband fly off to battle and help his friends against Frieza's forces, and says that "he's so cool."
  • She channels a bit of her brother's trolling attitude when she decides to scare Future Trunks for no reason other than her own amusement.
  • Does it again during the Universe Survival Arc where she goes along with 17's playful attitude against the Universe 2 fighters, calling herself a goddess for defeating Ribrianne in a Large Ham kind of way. She also joined 17 in (unsuccessfully) pressuring Goku in an attempt to make him do the same. Krillin lampshades how out of character it is for her.
• Not So Stoic: Even 18 looks a little mortified after watching Cell absorb Android 17.
• Proper Tights with a Skirt: Her first main outfit has this one.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: 18 sees past Krillin's shortness and noselessness for the decent guy he is.
• Stepford Snarker: Subverted. While 18 may come off as cold, she's not really depressed, but she's very sarcastic.
• Strong Girl, Smart Guy: Has a bit of this with Krillin. 18 is consistently shown to be stronger than Krillin in terms of pure power but is lacking somewhat in skill, while Krillin relies a lot on his wits and cunning to ensure he can keep much stronger opponents on their toes. As of Super though, 18 has gotten better in the strategy department herself.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Her cold and distant demeanor tend to thaw when she's around her husband and daughter. Her brother too, in the right circumstances.
• Supernaturally Young Parent: Because she ages much more slowly than a normal human. She does look slightly older by the time GT rolls around if only because she cut her hair and her choice of clothes isn't as youthful anymore.
• "Take That!" Kiss: Sorta played with between her and Krillin. In the aftermath of the Z-Fighters first battle with the androids, Krillin is the only one who didn't get beat up due to not joining the others. After Krillin asks the androids nicely to not kill Goku but is rejected, 18 walks over to the terrified Krillin and kisses him on the cheek before whispering him a goodbye. While this can seem like a mocking gesture it is also the start of a relationship between them that results in marriage.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: To Krillin. Though it's really more of a "Tiny Guy, Average-sized girl". Android 18 isn't particularly tall, Krillin's just short...really short.
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: She was initially a rebellious teenager who never wore dresses, but she also shops and dresses nicely.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Between the Cell and Buu sagas, Krillin taught her his Signature Move the Destructo Disc.
  • By the Universe Survival Saga, she's powerful enough to fight next to Post-God base form Goku and hold her own, being at the very least stronger than his base form and able to kick away a suppressed SSB Kamehameha ^note though Goku was heavily holding back as to not hurt Krillin during their training, as the beam was meant for him. She even has one of the highest elimination numbers out of the entire tournament.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness: In Super, to the point where she's even laughing and making jokes. She even mimics a Magical Girl villainess with her brother.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Also, in Super, Android 18 offers to go with Krillin to fight Frieza after Krillin laments that he won't be killed a second time by the same person. In the movie, she offers to take Krillin's place because she's much stronger than him and therefore will be much more useful. Here, the offer is done more out of concern for his life ^note this is likely due to her mistake of allowing Krillin to sacrifice himself against Buu to allow #18 and Marron to lead the survivors, only for them to get killed next after him, showing that she's not making the same mistakes again. This also shows the development of her character since the Buu Saga seeing as she is more willing to show her concern for her husband when before she tries to hide behind an air of indifference. Her brother even outright points this out in the Tournament of Power.
• Tsundere:
  • 18 has more dere-dere moments in the anime, particularly GT, as well as Resurrection ‘F’ and Super, in which she even finds herself musing at one point that Krillin is "so cool". On the other hand, in the "Universe Survival" Saga, 18 scolded Krillin for letting his guard down, resulting in his elimination, and reminded him of all the money he spent on training equipment, with the latter apologizing as a result.
  • She acts more or less in this way towards Goku, as well early on in the early part of the Buu Saga (this is due to the fact she was designed to kill him, implying some of Gero's programming still lingers, which was fully dropped by the time Super begins). She gets annoyed at his stupidity but she still treats him like a brother-in-law and they are good friends.
  • She's also always been like this towards 17. She frequently gets pissed at him for being annoying or pulling stupid stunts and describes him as being immature, but she also becomes emotionally wrecked when Cell absorbed him and cries her eyes out when he blows himself up to stop Jiren's attack, believing he has truly dead.
• Twitchy Eye: Happen once in a filler scene in the Buu Saga, when Master Roshi has a chance to sexually harass her by groping her breasts. Judging by her reaction afterwards, she immediately crushes him over the deed, seeing as her own daughter Marron was present.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: To Krillin. You may or may not find him ugly, but Krillin doesn't have a nose. Just don't point this out to her, as Ribrianne learned the hard way.
• Use Your Head: She headbutts Vegeta during their fight by flying towards him unexpectedly.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Has the raw power to overwhelm Vegeta in an endurance match, but doesn't seem to have much finesse or style. Case in point: she accidentally scores the highest on the punching machine (at the start of the Buu arc) because said raw power is difficult to control. Or, it could be because she simply did not care much like Vegeta who broke the punching bag. This gives another aspect to her and Krillin's Opposites Attract relationship, as he's Weak, but Skilled. They seem to have worked on it a little, as she finished her tourney match with Mighty Mask using a Kienzan — notedly not to kill, but to expose "him" as Trunks and Goten pulling a Totem Pole Trench.
• Villainous Face Hold: During her fight with Vegeta, she lands a devastating knee to his stomach when he tries to rush her, causing him to start to fall over in pain. She catches him by the chin with a single finger and pushes him back up to face her while taunting him before striking him with her open palm and sending him crashing into the mountain wall.
• When She Smiles: She actually has a genuinely beautiful smile, which Krillin tries to bring out as much as possible. While not readily apparent in the original series or the movies, come the Battle of Gods and Resurrection ‘F’ movies, and Dragon Ball Super, any scene where she's with her family there's sure to be a part where she does this. Even Future Trunks thinks so when they meet in Super and her Luminescent Blush scene in Episode 68 of Super evokes the spirit of this trope, even if the smile only comes later for a different reason.
• Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: Played for Laughs when she participates in a World Tournament and the announcer is understandably baffled at her name being "Number 18", to which she answers, depending on the version, either "it doesn't matter" or "My father was pretty dull..." Then it turns out that her still-bizarre-but-less-so real name is Lazuli as Toriyama later revealed.
• World's Strongest Woman: It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call her one of the most dangerous women in the series. She's certainly the only one to win against main characters in a fair fight, in addition to being the first person to defeat a healthy super Saiyan in general, which is a really impressive feat when you consider the series's legendary power creep. She officially claims this title by being the only female character representing Universe 7. She also proves to be one of their more reliable fighters, only dropping out right before the final round in order to save 17, allowing herself to be eliminated instead. The only female characters that aren't Gods or Angels that are for sure stronger than her are Kale, potentially Caulifla, both of whom are Saiyans, and Kefla, the fusion of said Saiyans, meaning it is even more impressive. Cocotte, the female Pride Trooper, is also a possibility; they seem about evenly matched in their brief clash in the anime with different specialties (barriers and infinite stamina, even though #18 has barriers of her own), and never directly clash in the manga (though Cocotte being able to somewhat hurt a tired SS Kale, who even in her heavily reduced state was miles above 18, suggests she'd have the edge in that continuity).
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Downplayed in the anime due to her having become a mom herself in the 7 years between the Cell and Buu Sagas, 18 was hesitant on fighting against "Mighty Mask" knowing very well that they were really Goten and Trunks in disguise pulling a Totem Pole Trench ^note not helping the boys' case was Trunks implying he can control his high power level before their match (as to not clue #18 in on their idenity), which wasn't the case as she was caught off-guard by Trunks' massive power, #18 knew she had to end the fight quickly as possible and was afraid of possibly killing them. Subverted in the video games where she will fight against them as she would against any tough opponent.

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