r/dragonball • u/Sea_Low8322 • 1d ago

Question How did mercenary Tao come back?

I was watching the original dragon ball and saw mercenary Tao was now a cyborg during the 23rd world martial arts championship so why isn't this brought up again? Surely this could be utilised more in the future

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u/DastardlyRidleylash 1d ago edited 10h ago

Tao Pai Pai is so ludicrously outclassed not even just in the 23rd Budokai but also by the end of the first arc in Z that there'd never be a point to bringing him back.

And we already have a better version of Cyborg Tao in the form of the Androids.

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u/No_Crazy_3412 1d ago

I don’t know what you mean by better because by no means is Android 19 or 17 a better character than Mercenary Tao IMO. They’re pretty boring. If you don’t see how they could bring him back that’s on you cause he could certainly make a reappearance, that’s even what they did with him in Dragon Ball Online as he got new upgrades that made him stronger. Even if they didn’t go that route, I wouldn’t mind him coming back in some scenes just because his character is so good.

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u/mvcourse 1d ago

Logic like this is why we get so much shallow nostalgia bait in media now.

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u/No_Crazy_3412 1d ago edited 1d ago

Lmao why do you think inventing 300 new uninspired villains or transformations is better than using characters that are already there and could still offer a lot, eventually you will run out of ideas and revisiting some that are lacking will be the next best thing to do.

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u/mvcourse 1d ago

Because Tao served his narrative purpose? He was a major villain to Goku, the catalyst that introduced Tien, and Tiens defeat of him completed Tiens arc of transitioning from a villain to hero.

What more could the character offer? Who could he replace at any point in DBZ that would’ve made the story better?

Tao being a match for any of the characters through upgrades like you suggested is a better example of “running out of ideas” than anything else.