The name Piccolo has been associated with various meanings, since the beginning of Dragon Ball. From the first Demon King Piccolo, to his offspring and the most popular among the current fans; Piccolo Jr. Despite Piccolo's impressive background as once being the mortal enemy to Goku during the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament, following into the later half of Dragon Ball Z, and for the majority of Dragon Ball Super, Piccolo's relevancy and strength has always been questionable if not outright removed from the story's importance. With exceptions to the Tournament of Power arc, even Piccolo there only had a brief moment of strength and golden moments before being knocked off the stage in a humiliating fashion. Which makes his eventual transformation and return to relevancy in the Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero movie much more invigorating and exciting to many fans. However, what is the importance of such a thing, and what could this mean for the future?
Piccolo Jr., or just Piccolo now, is a Namekian born on Earth, and originally with a goal to fight against Goku and take revenge for his father, the Demon King Piccolo. While in the early days of Dragon Ball Z, he was instrumental to teaching Gohan the skills necessary to fight and gain enough power to survive the encounters with the Saibamen and Nappa and Vegeta in the Saiyan Saga. Even through the Namekian and Cell Saga, Piccolo remained an even player with the ability to play with the big boys and fight against the androids, and only briefly against Imperfect Cell. However, ever since the beginning of Dragon Ball Super, his character relevancy has been in jeopardy outside the two recap movie arcs, and even during the Goku Black arc, where he was hardly a factor in the story. Only in the tournament of Power did his character become more actively involved in the story, and only for as long as the story allowed him to be in it. He still wasn't a big enough player compared to Goku, Vegeta, Frieza, and Android 17 to be considered relevant or important. That is until the new Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero movie.
The Cause Of Piccolo's Return To Relevancy
With the focus of the newest movie having been on Piccolo for the majority of the story, along with Gohan's gradual ascent to power, Piccolo became a major player in the story thanks to the wish that he made with the Dragon Balls. This awakened his power and latent potential even further, pushing him to be able to fight against Gamma 1 and Gamma 2 along with Gohan. While his power for the most part proved to be just shy of powerful and overpowered, his transformation to Orange Piccolo proved to be the ultimate clinching point for many fans of Piccolo, learning that he may yet return to the world of Dragon Ball's main cast and main defenders. In fact, this very transformation is the main reason why many of the fans are excited and even eager to see how much Piccolo will grow in the future thanks to his new transformation.
Its appearance may be bulky, but ever since achieving this transformation Piccolo has accomplished impressive feats in the movie alone, defeating Gamma 2 in an impressive display of power, and even holding up against Cell Max by using his old techniques from all the way back in the World Tournament Saga. And to many fans, this presented an opportunity for Piccolo to return to the limelight of the story as a main character that would return to glory and excitement. Orange Piccolo played a huge part in the movie, and certainly helped with defeating the villain Cell Max in its final moments. Ever since this movie, Piccolo's relevancy and reputation has been positively impacted in the eyes of fans. Most of them have even theorized that he has become strong enough to stand alongside Goku and Vegeta.
Why It's Important And How It Changes The Narrative
Shifting our attention from Piccolo's transformation to Piccolo himself, why exactly are fans of Piccolo raving about his return to relevancy in the first place? He has had severely shameful moments in Dragon Ball Super, but his nostalgic value can't be denied to the fans, along with narrative potential of his transformation as well as how important he is not just to the story but also to Son Gohan, his first ever student. It is an important value to understand that Piccolo's new strength will see that Goku and Vegeta are no longer the top dogs or simply the only two characters focused on when it comes to major threats. If Piccolo becomes as strong as these two, that means that he will most likely catch the attention of Whis and Beerus, and the potential that lies with catching the attention of a God Of Destruction is varied and filled with myriad possibilities.
Overall, Piccolo's character and recognition has been rightfully earned and deserved after years of being out of the spotlight and given lackluster scenes. To many fans, this could mean the start of great things for the rest of the cast of the original Dragon Ball series, and to the story, this provides a great variety of potential.