Despite being incredibly popular among Dragon Ball fans, the Champion of the West Quadrant, Pikkon, has been absent for decades — but why?

Dragon Ball is a massive franchise with hundreds of unique characters who have won the hearts of millions. Unfortunately, with a franchise with as big of a cast as Dragon Ball, it’s inevitable that a few characters—even fan favorites—will fall to the wayside as writer Akira Toriyama continues to create new cast members.

While some of these ignored characters eventually receive a glorious comeback, such as Android 17 and Broly through Dragon Ball Super, there are many more who fall into the pits of obscurity never to be heard from again. With Dragon Ball’s 39th Anniversary this month, the time seemed right to remind fans of one such character: the undead champion of the West Quadrant, Pikkon.

Pikkon Was A Consistent Ally In DBZ’s Last Story Arcs

Debuting in Dragon Ball Z’s “Other World Saga,” Pikkon was a warrior from Universe 7’s West Quadrant who, after dying a heroic death, became the champion of the West Kai in the afterlife realm known simply as Other World. There he met and formed a serious rivalry with Goku, who himself had died a heroic death, sacrificing himself to stop the villain Perfect Cell. The two would go on to battle all the major Dragon Ball Z villains who escaped from hell and later compete in the massive ethereal Other World Tournament.

Ultimately, the two formed a warrior kinship with one another, with Goku calling upon Pikkon for assistance to battle the demon Janemba in the non-canon Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn movie and Pikkon volunteering to help defend Goku’s friends during the “Kid Buu Saga.” Ultimately, Pikkon would be one of the few surviving warriors in the aftermath of Kid Buu’s rampage alongside Goku, Vegeta, and Mister Satan, watching on in the climactic final battle of the entire Dragon Ball Z series. For a character who had such a presence in the final few arcs of Dragon Ball Z, one would have expected that Pikkon would continue to make a few cameo appearances in the Dragon Ball Super sequel series. However, through several unfortunate factors regarding the character, Pikkon ultimately faded out of Dragon Ball’s narrative.

Pikkon’s Anime-Exclusive Origin Prohibited His Return

While he appeared in the Dragon Ball Z anime, Pikkon did not actually appear in the original manga series. This was because Pikkon’s debut in the “Other World Saga” was a filler arc meant to pad out the runtime of the Dragon Ball Z anime and thus all the events within it were not canon to Akira Toriyama’s original narrative. As such, when Toriyama began writing the Dragon Ball Super manga, Pikkon was not included in the already extensive lineup of returning Dragon Ball Z characters. This placed the canonicity of Pikkon in a precarious position, as while he was certainly a prominent character in the anime, his lack of a manga origin has essentially resulted in him being treated in the same light as the non-canon Dragon Ball Z movie characters.

This was especially unfortunate as there were numerous moments throughout the story of Dragon Ball Super where Pikkon would have been incredibly useful. The most prominent example that fans have pointed out was during the “Universe Survival Saga” wherein a group of Universe 7’s greatest fighters were tasked to fight in a tournament that would determine the fate of Dragon Ball’s Twelve Universes. Due to the team not having enough eligible members, Goku was forced to bring the genocidal warlord Frieza back from the dead, even though he could have easily done the same for the more trustworthy and dependable Pikkon.

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Xenoverse Showed Fans What Could’ve Happened If Pikkon Remained

Fortunately, the video game Dragon Ball: Xenoverse 2 rectified this by providing fans with an alternate take on the ‘Universe Survival Saga’ as a part of the game’s first “Legendary Pack” DLC. This saw Pikkon’s existence properly acknowledged as he was selected to join the Universe 7 team in the Tournament of Power. The alternate version of the “Universe Survival Saga” saw Pikkon help battle the immensely powerful Jiren and Toppo of Universe 11 and later even battle the player character after the organizers of the Tournament of Power, Present Zen-Oh and Future Zen-Oh, demand that Universe 7’s team all fight one another.

Dragon Ball: Xenoverse 2’s DLC was a fun bit of fan service for Dragon Ball fans desperate to see what would have happened if Pikkon was included in Dragon Ball Super. However, with that said, the video game in no way allowed Pikkon to become a more recognized character or be reintroduced into the main Dragon Ball manga or anime. There was, however, one spin-off anime that did manage to bring Champion of the West Quadrant out of his decade-spanning retirement from the franchise and into the modern age of Dragon Ball.

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Pikkon Has Had A Modern Anime Appearance

During the “Supreme Kai of Time Saga” of the Japanese-exclusive anime, Super Dragon Ball Heroes, Pikkon made his triumphant return in animated form. There, Pikkon played a role in fighting the armies of the Demon Lord Demigra alongside Goku, Hit, and the Supreme Kai of Time Chronoa. From thereon, Pikkon would continue to feature in some additional roles within the Super Dragon Ball Heroes, such as fighting long-time character Piccolo in a sparring match. Pikkon was even given a new modern design known as Super Pikkon, as well as a more inquisitive and reserved variation of his original personality from Dragon Ball Z.

However, the Super Dragon Ball Heroes anime is largely not canonical to the main Dragon Ball universe and is merely a means to advertise the Super Dragon Ball Heroes game and provide a healthy amount of fan service to the Japanese audience. But while Super Pikkon is not canon, the fact that he has continued to show up throughout the Dragon Ball franchise shows that Pikkon is still very popular among the fandom. While it’s not likely, there is still a chance that one day the Champion of the West Quadrant will return in an official capacity to help his friend Goku once again.

Source: CBR.com