Dragon Ball Creator Breaks Down Reasoning For Piccolo’s New Look

With Piccolo set to unlock his potential in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, the Namekian brawler is finally set to compete with the likes of Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan once again. To help in hyping the new Shonen film, creator Akira Toriyama took the opportunity to discuss why the decision was made to change Piccolo’s skin color with his new transformations as the mangaka revealed that the former Demon King remains his favorite character to arrive via Dragon Ball.     

Warning. Akira Toriyama’s comments will touch upon spoilers for Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero as well as the new power-ups that Piccolo receives within the film so be forewarned.

After stating that Piccolo was his favorite character, Toriyama went into detail regarding the Namekian’s new transformations, not just touching upon his unlocked potential but also the form that has been dubbed “Piccolo Orange”:

“My favorite character is Piccolo, because of his quiet stoicism. It’s rare to see him talk and run around as much as he does this time around and this is also probably the first time he’s gotten a proper transformation. Since he doesn’t have any hair to stick straight up, I tried making him really buff instead. But I figured on its own this would make it kinda hard to tell he had transformed, so I also made him orange, although there are probably still times when it’s hard to tell the difference between this and his normal form.

Maybe I should’ve made it a bit more over-the-top, but personally, I’m just happy that he’s finally obtained battle power on par with Goku and company. Doesn’t the name ‘Orange Piccolo’ sound like something he’d come up with? Since PIccolo’s not good at naming things.”

Piccolo hasn’t been a part of the Granolah The Survivor Arc in the pages of Dragon Ball Super’s manga, so most likely, we won’t see Piccolo Orange making an appearance in the fight against Gas, though we would imagine that the Namekian will one day arrive in the series proper with his new transformation.

What do you think of Toriyama’s take on the new Piccolo? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of Dragon Ball. 

Via Herms98