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Final Forum Podcast
@finalforumpod.bsky.social
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A podcast for the discussion of all things Dragon Ball! Uncovering the culture and hidden history behind Akira Toriyama's seminal franchise.
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Screenshot Saturday
A screenshot from Dragon Ball Z with interesting timing of Vegeta fighting Zarbon…but it’s Bill Clinton and Donald Trump’s recent scandal.
November 15, 2025 at 5:11 PM
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What a time to be alive…
A meme depicting an edited-to-remove-blood moment from Dragon Ball Z where Frieza is pummeling Vegeta, and it looks suggestive, with captions added to reflect the latest news about Donald Trump having performed…certain acts on Bill Clinton
November 14, 2025 at 5:11 PM
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Friday Fun
Fan art of Dragon Ball if it were Donkey Kong with Goku as Donkey Kong, Bulma as Pauline....and Mario....and Oolong...and Yamcha and Puar....listen, it's far from perfect (could have made Yamcha be Mario) but it's fun and cool and credit to the artist.
November 14, 2025 at 3:57 PM
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Follow us for more threads, subscribe to the podcast, like, review, rate, & share to spread the word and help us grow

Also feel free to sound of on General White, Muscle Tower, the Red Ribbon Army, or anything else in the comments!
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Muscle Tower, and General White, as seen in the Dragon Ball manga.
November 13, 2025 at 4:20 PM
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These all underscore something about White himself. This will happen throughout Dragon Ball, especially with Frieza, where Dodoria is his ruthlessness, Zarbon his vanity, Ginyu his showboating nature, etc...Toriyama understood that fights are fun, but the true sauce is the character work underneath.
General White holding a gun to the village elder's head in Dragon Ball, reflecting his ruthlessness, monstrousness, and willingness to kill a la Buyon. General White being undone by a single kick, reflecting his over-reliance on his strength a la Major Metallitron, and his true nature as a bit of a weakling, a la Ninja Murasaki General White showing off his physique, a la Major Metallitron General White exploiting Goku's weakness, showing his cunning, a la Ninja Murasaki
November 13, 2025 at 4:20 PM
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Buyon is defeated by exposure to cold air, a bit of foreshadowing that perhaps the nature/locale of Muscle Tower itself will be its own undoing, as well as a commentary on the fragility of those with such monstrous personalities.
Buyong freezing and being destroyed in Dragon Ball
November 13, 2025 at 4:20 PM
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Buyon (aka The Jiggler) is a hidden villain, existing on a floor only accessible via a trap door in General White's actual command center room. This shows White's hidden monstrous nature, and how he is basically not even a human being, but a grotesque beast that kills indiscriminately.
Monster Buyon from Dragon Ball
November 13, 2025 at 4:20 PM
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8er (Hachan, Android 8) isn't loyal to General White, so I only want to mention him for completeness, but his creation and the way White treats him ARE revealing in showing just how little General White values the lives and feelings of others.
The creation of Eighter is meant to reflect the Frankenstein Monster Frankenstein is hot right now with Guillermo Del Toro's new movie having just been released
November 13, 2025 at 4:20 PM
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Murasaki is also clowned on pretty heavily, which is a bit of foreshadowing in telling us that perhaps General White is not AS powerful and unconquerable as he might seem at a glance. There's a lot to the Murasaki character, which we'll discuss in another thread some day, as well.
Ninja Murasaki with the power pole sticking out of a sensitive place.
November 13, 2025 at 4:20 PM
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Up next is Ninja Murasaki, who exposes the cunning nature of General White. Murasaki is crafty and deceitful, and his interactions with White underscore this deceptive nature. He's also arrogant and brash, incapable of understanding how anyone could compete with him, another trait shared with White.
Ninja Murasaki from Dragon Ball
November 13, 2025 at 4:20 PM
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Major Metallitron is defeated resoundingly, and Goku moves on to his next opponent, but the reveal that this character is a robot underscores the entendre of his name being Metallic/Metallitron. Every RRA member is named after a color, and that color underscores their personality in some way.
Robotic Major Metallitron/Sergeant Metallic from Dragon Ball
November 13, 2025 at 4:20 PM
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Goku then fights Major Metallitron (aka Sergeant Metallic). This character shows General White's physical strenght, his reliance on that strength, and his machine-like lack of empathy, decision-making, and obedience to his own superiors.
Major Metallitron, aka Sergeant Metallic from Dragon Ball, crushing Goku in their battle. This character model is very much based on Arnold Schwarzenegger as he appears in Terminator
November 13, 2025 at 4:20 PM
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When Goku enters Muscle Tower, he fights a bunch of goons. These are actually the lieutenants & sergeants of the Red Ribbon Army (Goku skips the first floor that houses enlisted men) This underscores how little the RRA (White, specifically) cares about the "nameless" underlings in their command.
Goku facing off against a bunch of nameless goons inside Muscle Tower
November 13, 2025 at 4:20 PM
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General White is the ranking officer of the Red Ribbon Army overseeing Muscle Tower, and due to this arc's very video-game-like progression, as Goku fights his way through the tower, we learn more and more about this commander, how he treats his troops, and his own personality/psychology.
General White from Dragon Ball
November 13, 2025 at 4:20 PM
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Toriyama was a master at examining the psychology of his main villains via their underlings.
Let's look at that a little deeper with Muscle Tower and General White in today's Thursday Thread 🧵
Fan Artwork from the Muscle Tower arc of Dragon Ball, featuring Goku taking on the Red Ribbon Army, Major Metallitron, Ninja Murasaki, Android 8, and General White
November 13, 2025 at 4:20 PM
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November 12, 2025 at 8:14 PM
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Day 14: Our last day in Japan 😭 Ramen at Ichiran traditional-style ramen shop, & went up Tokyo Skytree to get a feel for how sprawling & impressive Tokyo is as a city.
We also had a Dragon Ball merch sighting!
This was the trip of a lifetime & I loved sharing & reliving it these past several weeks.
Ichiran ramen shop features private booths where you order and eat without really interacting with the staff. It's a unique experience. A view of Tokyo (I believe the Asakusa area) from atop the Tokyo Skytree Towards the right on this picture, is the Tokyo Metropolitan complex, where Tokyo Night and Light is projected...it's also the location for the climax of Godzilla vs King Ghidorah Various manga being sold in the Tokyo Skytree included Akira, One Piece, and Dragon Ball, including the Visual History book. I would have bought that if I didn't already own it.
November 12, 2025 at 3:40 PM
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12...40.
How Old were you when you first started watching Dragon Ball Z and how old are you now?
November 11, 2025 at 5:50 PM
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Bananas or apples?
November 9, 2025 at 5:30 AM
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Screenshot Saturday.
Zarbon could totally be a punk frog.
Zarbon from Dragon Ball Z in his transformed state The punk frogs from teenage mutant ninja turtles
November 8, 2025 at 3:25 PM
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Let's give it a go:
Looking for your next favorite podcast? Interested in Dragon Ball or learning about East Asian Culture? Want to join a growing (🤞) community of like-minded fans?

Subscribe to the show:
www.podbean.com/site/podcatc...

And join our Discord Server:
discord.gg/KGGeyt2jWD
The logo for Final Forum: A Dragon Ball Podcast Dragon Ball has a wealth of cultural context and inspiration that’s often overlooked because the fights are cool. Though not averse to fawning over animation and allowing for the Rule of Cool, Jelli and Bekinney delve into the world of Akira Toriyama, and discuss lesser-known facts about the worldwide manga and anime phenomenon that is one of the most well-known and popular Japanese pop culture exports of all-time. Want to learn about the cultural importance of moments, literary inspirations behind scenes and characters, production facts, and more? Whether you‘re a fan of Goku, Vegeta, or any of the cast of characters including Piccolo, Gohan, Frieza, or even Broly, there should be something for you to enjoy as we cover all things Dragon Ball, including DBZ, GT, Super, Daima, and more! We‘ll have discussions, guests, interviews, reviews, and commentaries so grab a senzu bean, power up your fan level to Super Saiyan, and get ready to learn about Kakarot and his friends; and of course, thank you for helping us achieve our FINAL FORUM...We hear it‘s over 9000.
November 7, 2025 at 6:37 PM
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Friday Funny
November 7, 2025 at 1:26 PM
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When you see this posted as SUPER BIG NEWS, remember: this is the tankoban/trade paperback. The chapters it’s collecting will be 2+ years old by the time the volume is released.

OR: ZOMG SUPER BIG NEWS WHOA NEW DRAGON BALL SO AMAZING!!! SHARE FOR CLICKS AND ENGAGEMENT!!!!
Dragon Ball Super Volume 24 is officially set to release on March 3, 2026.
November 6, 2025 at 12:47 AM
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I had to add a few photos from our hotel stay on Day 13, called Hotel Tavinos Asakusa, which is not only manga-themed with flooring and interior design looking like manga pages, but includes a massive collection of manga for guests to read as they please (no Dragon Ball though! HARUMPH!)
The hallways at Hotel Tavinos in Asakusa make it seem as if you're walking in a manga The lobby at Hotel Tavinos in Asakusa carries the manga theme of the hotel A collection of One Piece manga at Hotel Tavinos in Asakusa A collection of Naruto manga at Hotel Tavinos in Asakusa
November 5, 2025 at 4:35 PM
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What Up Wednesday?
Day 13 in Japan: Seibuen Park outside Tokyo for the Ultraman & Godzilla rides. A SMALL theme park mostly enjoyed as a waterpark but has a quaint charm, especially in its main street entrance area where you can see Kamishibai stories (I saw Momotaro) & other fun street performances
Signs for the Godzilla and Ultraman rides at Seibuen Park The rides are in the same building and use the same equipment, which is a flight motion simulator, with a concave dome screen and artificial wind and water sprays to make it feel like you are flying around a scene featuring either Godzilla or Ultraman. For the Ultraman ride, you are recruited by the SSSP to help Ultraman fight Zetton and you're flying around in a jet pack. For the Godzilla ride, you're attempting to evacuate a building, while Godzilla attacks and then you get trapped in a fight between Godzilla and King Ghidorah. The Godzilla ride experience has been changed since my visit in July and now features Godzilla battling Mechagodzilla. As part of the Godzilla/Ultraman ride experience, you can utilize an AR filter on your phone to make it appear as if you are part of the battle between Ultraman and Zeton As part of the Godzilla/Ultraman ride experience, there is a QR Code that allows you to put yourself face to face with Godzilla himself via AR on your phone's camera A kamishibai street performer in Seibuen Park, telling the story of Momotaro to a group of young children. This was a fun part of the park, and the performer even went out of his way to involve me (an English speaker) into the performance. It was really cool, honestly.
November 5, 2025 at 4:35 PM