Shorty (ブロッコ, Burokko) is an anime-only Saiyan in the Dragon Ball franchise. He makes his debut in the seventeenth Dragon Ball Z episode, "Pendulum Room Peril" ("Showdown in the Past" in the edited dub). Shorty's name derives from a credit roll in the FUNimation dub of Dragon Ball Z; he was named Brocco in the video game Dragon Ball Z: Kyōshū! Saiyan and in the Japanese Daizenshuu books. His original name, Brocco, is a pun on "Broccoli" (like Broly's name).
Biography[]
Shorty is a Saiyan soldier who works alongside his partner Scarface, tormenting anything other than their own kind. While training for their battle against the forthcoming Saiyans (Vegeta and Nappa), Tien Shinhan, Yamcha, Krillin and Chiaotzu use the Pendulum Room at Kami's Lookout to travel backwards in time by 100 years (although in the Japanese dub, Kami does not express how far in time the Z Fighters will be traveling). The group materializes in a ravaged city on Planet Vegeta, littered with the corpses of Saiyans. It is here that they encounter Shorty and Scarface.
Shorty is the first to appear. While Chiaotzu observes a helmet in the window display of what might have once been a shop, the helmet liquefies, revealing Shorty's head beneath it. Chiaotzu attempts to flee and catch up to Tien and the others, however Shorty grabs him and drains of his life force. Tien's attempts to defend his friend with a Tri-Beam prove inferior when he is counterattacked by Scarface. In a fit of rage, Tien attacks Shorty using his martial arts, but Shorty proves to be fast enough to evade each move. Yamcha's Spirit Ball is successful in hitting the two Saiyans, but fails to have any effect on them.
He and Scarface are also unfazed by a simultaneous barrage of the Tri-Beam, Spirit Ball and Kamehameha techniques. While Shorty takes flight against Tien, Scarface drags Krillin through a decimated floor, to his temporary doom. The two remaining Z Fighters Tien and Yamcha hold their own against the Shorty and Scarface for only a short time, before Scarface's Kankousen kills the martial artists. The original group is soon transferred back to the Pendulum Room where they are astonished to find themselves alive, but find themselves uneasy having experienced the power of Saiyans first-hand.
Voice actors []
- Japanese dub: Yukimasa Kishino
- Ocean Group dub: Paul Dobson
- FUNimation dub: Phil Parsons