Recap / Dragon Ball Z Abridged M 4

The peaceful days of Earth are disrupted when an evil, all-powerful alien tyrant with campy elite soldiers descends onto the planet. His one goal is to destroy Goku, for he is...Not Freeza. It's his brother, Cooler.

I'MMA PLANT ME SOME DUMBASS TROPES!

• Affably Evil: Unlike his brother, Cooler is a lot more amicable towards Goku even though he's trying to kill him. He even rolls with Goku's response of "Cooler than Freezer? You must be ice cold" with "No, that would be my father". They even had an underwater conversation where he gives (unspecified) explanations about his family history, and their equal contempt of Freeza. Goku even pities his Daddy Issues. This characterization gets dropped in the sequel.
• Call-Back:
  • The movie opens with a repeat of Cooler's cameo appearance from Bardock: Father of Goku Abridged, albeit with different dialogue. Here, Cooler predicts that Freeza's sloppiness in destroying the saiyans will come back to bite him. When time snaps forward to Cooler being told of his brother's demise at the hands of a saiyan on Namek, Cooler triumphantly gloats that he was right.
    Cooler: Well, I do hope somebody picks up that phone... because I f*cking CALLED IT!
  • When Cooler's henchmen do their Quirky Miniboss Squad poses reminiscent of the Ginyu Force, Goku gets a sense of deja mustard.
  • Goku's first line to Cooler once he turns Super Saiyan is a reference to a brand of candy bar... though unlike when he made the Kit-Kat one-liner to Freeza, quoting the tagline of Snickers doesn't really make sense as a threat.
  Cooler: I... can't help but feel we're both missing some context here..
  • When Piccolo shows up, he immediately lampshades the predictable roles of Cooler's Quirky Miniboss Squad, much like he did with Lord Slug's minions in the previous abridged movie.
• Carnivore Confusion: Krillin cooks a pork stew for the gang, only to realize the problem when Oolong asks what's in it. He hastily corrects his answer mid-word to "porpoise", but Sauza spills the beans later.
  Sauza: As a space Frenchman, I must say I find this food completely detestable. Ze pork is completely overcooked.
  Oolong: ROT IN HELL, KRILLIN! I ALMOST ATE THAT!
• Forgot About His Powers: Piccolo's extending arms are briefly utilized for the first and only time since Dragon Ball, to Nail's surprise.
  Nail: Wow, I didn't know we could do that.
  Piccolo: Yeah, I forget about 'em sometimes, too.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Krillin feels awkward around Korin because last time they hung out he forgot Korin's name and called him Whiskers the Wonder Cat instead. That was Korin's name (or at least his favorite of many names) in the short-lived Harmony Gold dub of Dragon Ball.
  • The part where Goku heals a dying bird when he becomes a Super Saiyan, and then named it Toriyama and asks it to teach a dinosaur to ride a ball? That is a reference to lyrics from the anime's original Japanese opening song Cha-La Head-Cha-La.
• Oblivious to His Own Description: Piccolo tries to poke fun at the Armored Squadron's obvious Quirky Miniboss Squad setup by predicting their gimmicks, but it falls flat:
  Piccolo: Alright, I think I got this. Pretty one; stupid one; one with weird powers.
  Doore: Oi! I appreciate that, but I'd say I'm more handsome than pretty!
  Sauza: And my powers are not that weird!
  Neiz: (Hissing roar)
  (Beat)
  Piccolo: Okay, I take it back; you're all stupid.
• Quirky Miniboss Squad: Cooler's Armored Squadron serves as Cooler's equivalent to the Ginyu Force under Freeza, transparently enough that even Goku finds the whole routine familiar. Piccolo also instantly recognizes the setup and mocks them for it.
• Running Gagged: This is the third time in the movie series where Piccolo tends to make fun of a featured villain's Quirky Miniboss Squad. In the Lord Slug Abridged movie, he takes a step further and labels who is "pretty", who is "stupid", and who has "weird powers". Thanks to them being Oblivious to His Own Description, he gives up and declares them "all stupid".
• Shout-Out:
  • Nail compares Piccolo's battle with Sauza in the forest to Star Wars. He even compares Sauza's Energy Hand Blade to a Lightsaber, both which emit the same sound.
  • Both reference characters in live-action movies whose steel face masks resemble Cooler's final form.
  • After transforming, Cooler says, "Tonight, I dine on monkey soup."
  • Cooler tells Goku, "When your planet is in ashes, then you have my permission to die."
• Skewed Priorities: Goku consistently treats eating as the highest priority, more so than any actual conflict in the movie.
  • Goku catches a giant talking fish, who says he'll grant one wish for Goku if he's let free. Goku would still rather just eat the fish.
  • There is also this line:
    Goku: Hey! You get away from my food, my friend [Krillin], my two emergency foods [Oolong and Icarus], and my son [Gohan]! In that order!
  • Despite Goku focusing on dealing with Cooler and protecting his friends, he's even more focused on wanting to eat Gohan's pet dragon Icarus throughout the plot. Which he does offscreen, because as the credits rolls we get a good look at Icarus's bones, picked completely clean of meat.
• Space "X": Sauza, who identifies himself as a "space Frenchman". There's also his final words:
  I will see you in Space Hell... Cousin Jeice.
• Transformation Is a Free Action: Goku can only stand there shocked as Cooler powers up to his stronger form, only to immediately ask himself why he lets people do things like that. To be fair, this case is relatively mild as it lasts only a few seconds.
• Who's on First?: A rather short take on this trope when Goku eyes Cooler.
  Goku: FREEZER!
  Sauza: Hah! You think this is Freeza? No. He... is... Cooler!
  Goku: Cooler than Freezer? You must be ice cold.
  Cooler: No. That would be my father.
• Waxing Lyrical: When Goku is introduced to Cooler, Goku remarks that Cooler must be ice cold, a reference to "What's cooler than being cool? Ice cold" from OutKast's "Hey Ya".
• Yo Yo Plot Point: This is the second time Icarus gets eaten. The first time was in the Lord Slug Abridged movie.