Launch

Directory: Characters → Earthlings

Launch (ランチ, Ranchi, lit. "Lunch") is a woman with a strange disorder which causes her to switch between two different personalities each time she sneezes. Her first personality is a blue-haired woman, who is sweet, pure-hearted and cheerful and always ready to help. Her other personality is a blonde-haired woman, who is angry and trigger-happy and commits crimes for money and is quick to respond with gunfire when angered. Neither of Launch's personalities remembers the other's actions or anything they said, that is until the King Piccolo arc, which is evident when she remembers who Krillin was when he died.

Appearance[]

Launch's outfits change often, but almost all include a red ribbon in her hair. Launch's initial appearance consisted of a light-green belly-baring crop tank top, yellow shorts with a red belt, brown fingerless gloves and red shoes with the Nike insignia worn with green socks. Launch's primary appearance changes during the General Blue Saga to a pink tank top and a black pair of pants with white knee pads. In the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament, she wore a black shirt with green pants. In the King Piccolo Saga, she wore a purple sleeveless top with gray pants, a brown belt, and a brown sash. During the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament, she wears a red dress with pink boots. Her bust measurement is 82cm, her waist measurement is 57cm, and her hip measurement is 83cm.^[4]

Personalities[]

Good Launch[]

This version of Launch has blue hair and big, blue eyes. The innocent persona of Launch is pure of heart as she is quite capable of riding the Flying Nimbus with Goku in the anime. Her personality in her good form is similar to Bulma.

Launch is happy to carry out her work for Master Roshi, never realizing that he is constantly trying to grab, poke, rub, or catch a glimpse of her butt, breasts, panties, or bra. However, many of his schemes are foiled, if not by his own mistakes. When Launch's nose gets tickled and she sneezes, it causes her to change into her violent half. Launch has a very sensitive nose that, when irritated by even the smallest things, can result in a sneeze. Her sneezes are often provoked by things such as pollen, pepper, dust, and other common irritants.

Bad Launch[]

In her bad form, Launch has blonde hair and thin, green eyes. Goku, Master Roshi, and Krillin are all deeply afraid of her bad side after she shoots them all with a machine gun despite all of them being strong enough to resist such an assault with little damage, a testament to her terrifying demeanor. Afterwards, all of them run behind a boulder several meters away in fear, after being victims of her first assault, when it seemed like she would sneeze, and carefully observing her during dinner, ready to run away at the first sign of a sneeze. Somehow, she always appears to have a machine gun on her, as a component of the transformation. Her personality in her bad form is tough, arrogant and serious. She often antagonizes Goku and Krillin and bullies them, but she is never explicitly evil with them.

Her transformations come in handy during the 22nd and 23rd World Martial Arts Tournaments, when she would clear the crowd and allow her friends to get up in front. Additionally, in the later episodes of the series, she seems to begin to control her maniac tendencies as well as remembering what the other side was doing, whereas her earlier transformations in the series turned her into a berserk maniac with no memory of any of the gang. In fact, later on in the story, the blonde Launch begins to become more caring and loving towards others, caring for Goku and the others, developing quite a crush on Tien Shinhan, and even crying after Krillin's death, though she is still a lot more aggressive than her other half.

Interestingly, both halves of Launch do not appear to disown or regret their other side, implying that both personalities are perfectly fine living with the other.

Biography[]

Dragon Ball[]

Tournament Saga[]

Launch's blonde counterpart was the most-wanted criminal in Brown County. One day, after turning into her blonde self when sneezing in a bar, she robs a train, getting the police to chase her. During the chase, she accidentally sneezes, bringing her back to her weak and innocent form. Launch is saved by the young martial artists Goku and Krillin, while they are on Master Roshi's order to find him a woman. Goku and Krillin think the police officers are just impersonators, and Goku knocks them unconscious while Krillin hides. Launch is then brought to Kame House, where she is introduced to the turtle hermit Master Roshi. She agrees to stay with them so she can train with them and lay low from the authorities looking for her. Roshi gives Launch some clothes which he calls a "fighting uniform" but is actually lingerie. Then, just as they are about to begin, a bee comes and tickles Launch's nose, making her sneeze into her bad side. She does not like what she is wearing, and angrily shoots Master Roshi, Krillin, and Goku. While she is shooting them, she then sneezes again and apologizes for shooting at them and explains that she changes personalities whenever she sneezes.

Once they move to the Training Island, Launch decides to just cook and clean the house instead, since she does not like fighting. Two days after recovering from the poorly prepared pufferfish, Krillin and Master Roshi sleep in the living room while Goku and Launch sleep together in the same bed. In her good side, she sneezes while in her sleep. One morning, Launch (in her bad side) finds Goku in the same bed as her, and shoots at him. Pushing him too far, Goku fights back, and knocks Launch out with a kick to the face. Another time, Launch is eating dinner with the gang when Krillin begins to put pepper on his food, causing Launch to sneeze. She shoots at them, causing them to run away. Launch spends the next eight months cooking for Goku, Krillin and Roshi as they prepare for the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament while all three try to avoid Launch's angry blonde side. Launch stays at the house while the three go to the tournament.

Red Ribbon Army Saga[]

After the World Martial Tournament is over, Launch, Krillin and Roshi moves back to Roshi's island and Launch continues her duties of cooking and cleaning. When Goku and Bulma come to the get a submarine from Roshi. Roshi receives Bulma's Micro Band in exchange for his submarine and, once Goku, Bulma and Krillin leave in the submarine, Roshi into constantly bugs Launch into to taking a bath, so he can spy on her. Soon, Launch's bad form comes out and takes command in Kame House, which then comes to an agreement to not shoot Roshi as long as he does what she says. One time, Master Roshi gives her some food, which tastes awful. She is about to shoot at him when Turtle, who came back from vacation recently, brings Launch back to her good form by rubbing her nose with a weed.

After returning to her normal form, some Red Ribbon Army troops led by Captain Dark show up, demanding the Dragon Balls Goku had left behind. Roshi easily defeats them, but one threatens to shoot Launch if he does not give up. Turtle luckily turns Launch back to her bad form by once again by rubbing her nose with a weed, resulting in her beating the soldier herself. Later on, Launch joins Yamcha, Roshi, Bulma, Turtle and Krillin to go help Goku fight the Red Ribbon Army at their main base, but by the time they got there, all the troops were single-handedly defeated by Goku.

Tien Shinhan Saga[]

After three years have passed and the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament is approaching, the good Launch is going to stay behind at Kame House, but she sneezes, and her bad form decides to come along. Before the preliminaries Bulma arrived and offered Launch her room and the two went next door to change. Roshi being the pervert that he is fallowed them. Just as Launch removes her tank top and prepares to unclasp her bra to put on one of Bulma's nightgowns and Bulma takes off her jacket Roshi sneaks into their room pretending to offer them blankets. Launch got angry and instead of pulling out her pistol to make him dance the bullets out the door, she and Bulma punched him and broke his glasses that he stumbled all the way back to the boys room defeated with a nose bleed. When the tournament started, Roshi meets up with his old rival Master Shen, the crane hermit. While getting annoyed with him Launch tries shooting him with her machine gun, but Master Shen is able to catch all the bullets with his hand without being hurt. Next, Launch is able to get the crowd into the front row by shooting a gun up in the air, causing people to get scared and move. She cheers for her friends and sneezes at times, appearing either in her good side or bad side in the crowd.

Later on, when Goku was matched against Pamput, Pamput's manager tricked Goku into leaving the arena so he would be disqualified for not showing to the match, but Launch who was getting ice cream at the time saw this and chased after the car on a motorcycle. Launch chased them into an alleyway, and then beat up his bodyguards and the manager, allowing Goku to get to the fight on time. During Goku and Krillin's fight, Launch urges her friends to get some backbone and pick a side, while she chooses to root for Krillin. However, after the match is over, she compliments both of their skills and joyously wants to go out to eat to celebrate. In the final match, Master Shen has Chiaotzu stun Goku so Tien Shinhan can easily beat him. Launch goes over and tries to smash Chiaotzu with a mallet, but the Crane Hermit interferes with his pinky and easily pushes Launch out of the way. After the tournament is over, Launch becomes attracted to Tien.

King Piccolo Saga[]

Launch is with the group when they find Krillin dead. Despite being in her bad form, she is just as sad as everyone else. While Goku raced off to find Krillin's killer, Master Roshi tells the group of King Piccolo as he explains the symbol on a piece of paper nearby. Launch finds his name stupid. Later on, while the group is still waiting for Goku to return, Launch is the one holding Krillin, she also tells Oolong that no one feels compassion for him right now. Eventually, the group returns to Roshi's house. When Tambourine arrives to try and kill Yamcha, Launch shoots him with an uzi but the bullets do no damage, so she flees. Launch, Bulma, Yamcha, Puar, and Oolong remain at the house, they even fight off three convicts who tried to burgle Kame House. Later on, Launch along with Bulma accompanies Yamcha in going off to fight King Piccolo. She claims that if King Piccolo hurts Tien, she'll make him pay by shooting at him with her gun, but just after she says that she sneezes into her good side. When Goku defeats King Piccolo, Launch nurses Tien at the Kame House.

Piccolo Jr. Saga[]

Three years after Goku defeated King Piccolo, Launch attends the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament with Master Roshi. There, they meet back up with everyone. When the gang has trouble seeing through the crowd, Bulma tickles Launch's nose with a plant, causing her to sneeze into her bad form. Launch then takes out a gun and starts shooting to make everyone move. With her friends, Launch spectates the fights in the tournament, cheering for her friends that are fighting, such as throughout matches between Tien vs. Mercenary Tao and Goku vs. Piccolo Jr., and she remains in her blonde state until the end of the tournament.

Dragon Ball Z[]

Saiyan Saga[]

Launch's first appearances in Dragon Ball Z is as her blonde self during the Vegeta Saga, and apparently, she has stayed with Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu since the end of Dragon Ball. Launch is shown in the Mushroom Forest, fleeing from the police on her S-Cargo after she robbed a bank to buy food for Tien. She manages to blow up one of the chasing police cars with her Rocket Launcher and outruns the other one.^[5]

Later, she joins Tien and Chiaotzu, who are training by a waterfall, and screams Tien's name, bringing him out of his concentration. When all of a sudden there is an earthquake, and the waterfall bursts which heads at Launch. Tien quickly intervenes and saves her, making her blush (while in bad form). After being saved, she sneezes into her good side and leaves. While leaving, she spots a bunch of flowers and plays in them, but eventually Launch ends up sneezing back into her bad form and finds Tien and Chiaotzu again.^[6]

When the two go to the Lookout in order to train for the battle against the Saiyans, Launch is seen at the Sacred Land of Korin, rummaging Bora's tepee in order to find something that will help her climb Korin Tower and find Tien again, but Upa and Bora find her and they tell her to leave. She refuses and begins shooting at Upa with a gun, but Bora hits it away from her, and when she tries to get it back, she sneezes into her good side, frightening Upa and Bora.

After Tien is killed, she is seen in a bar drowning her sorrows and soon she feels the earthquake caused by the battle of Goku and Vegeta.^[7]

Frieza Saga[]

In the anime, Launch appears in Goku's flashback when he was losing badly against Frieza.^[8]

Launch's final appearance in the manga is actually during an extra scene in the Frieza Saga, the only instance where she appears after the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament. These extra scenes were inserts to the chapters found in Weekly Shōnen Jump 1991 #3 and #4. Since they are only gag-manga done at the request of the magazine, resulting in each author from those two issues contributing holiday-themed gag-manga inserts, they were never included in the tankōbon (compilation volume).

Cell Saga[]

In the anime, Launch also appears in a flashback when the gang was having memories of Goku after he died saving the Earth.^[9]

Majin Buu Saga[]

In the anime, Launch is in the city, where she emerges from a food truck labeled "Lunch Express" (a pun on her name) to give energy to Goku for his Super Spirit Bomb.^[10] Although this did not occur in the manga by Akira Toriyama, it is one of the many filler stories written by Toriyama and his staff.^[11]

Interlude[]

After this, Launch finds Tien Shinhan once again; she fell in love with him at first sight and had been constantly pursuing his whereabouts. He even reluctantly lives together with her, but she is not cut out for farming and Tien has no interest in romance, so she leaves after just a few days. After that, Launch apparently drops in from time to time.^[12]

Dragon Ball GT[]

Shadow Dragon Saga[]

Launch appears in a flashback in the last episode of Dragon Ball GT.^[13]

Super Dragon Ball Heroes[]

Supreme Kai of Time Saga[]

Launch tends to Tien's wounds after his battle with Krillin.^[14]

Film Appearances[]

Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle[]

Launch goes to the Devil's Castle in order to steal the Sleeping Princess, which is a giant jewel. But then, she sneezes and turns into her good side. Launch as well as Goku and his friends are captured and encased in a wall of rock. It is the night of a full moon, and the moonlight used to power the jewel also turns Goku into a Great Ape. Goku grabs Launch, but he then returned to normal thanks to Yamcha and Puar. Goku, his friends and Launch eventually escape the Devil's Castle after Goku defeated Lucifer. Goku and Krillin return to Kame House with Launch, and Master Roshi takes them both on as students, thinking Launch is the sleeping princess. He then tries to take advantage of Launch, but she sneezes into her bad side and attacks Master Roshi, Krillin, and Goku instead. Then she sneezes back into her good side, and Master Roshi, Krillin, Goku, and Turtle back away in fear.

Mystical Adventure[]

In the movie Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure, Launch is first seen eating with Roshi and his students when they hear sirens. Launch is worried it is the cops, but Krillin tells her not to worry so she relaxes. Then, some guys with guns walk in and one of them think Goku is Launch's kid, which gets Launch angry and calls him an idiot. When a really large man comes and attacks the restaurant they are in, Launch tries to shoot him down with her machine gun, but with no success. During the film, Launch demonstrates more reserve and compassion in her violent state than normally expected, especially considering that she is one of the lead characters here and is only seen in her innocent state during an early scene in the film. Later on, Launch goes with Bulma, Oolong, and Puar to find the Dragon Balls. Oolong and Puar shapeshift to look like Shen and Chiaotzu, and Launch and Bulma claim to be their nuns. When asked where they are from, Launch angrily states that it doesn't matter. She then grabs a necklace she likes from a woman, which frightens Bulma, Oolong, and Puar.

Other Dragon Ball stories[]

Dr. Slump and Arale-chan: N-cha! Love Comes From Penguin Village[]

Launch's good state makes a cameo appearance in the audience of a performance at Yapaiya castle attempting to make Princess Puruah laugh. She is covered up behind Oolong and alongside the Pilaf Gang, King Nikochan and his servant, Robotoriyama and the two characters to Akira Toriyama's one-shot Pink.

The Return of Son Goku and Friends![]

Two years after Majin Buu's defeat, Launch is shown in her good side, and she is at the Kame House. She attends Mr. Satan's banquet at his newly made hotel in celebration of defeating Buu. The celebration is then crashed by a brother duo, Abo and Kado, whom are after Vegeta's brother, Tarble. The brothers are challenged by Goten and Trunks but they fail in defeating them. The brothers, merged as Aka, unleash a technique that destroyed the hotel. Aka gets defeated by Goku with a Kamehameha. After this encounter, they continue their feast.

Dragon Ball Online[]

Launch makes the news in Age 779, somehow, as she jailbreaks successfully for the 100th time.

Kakarot[]

In Kakarot, Bad Launch can be first encountered in the East Ravine near the Steel Bridge. If spoken to she reveals her getaway car she was carrying loot in from her recent heist ran off into the ravine as she was trying to get away from the authorities. If the player follows her car's tracks, they can find it at the bottom of the ravine where they can collect the items from her heist.

Launch, however, is properly introduced during the Intermission following the Saiyan Saga. After meeting Master Roshi at Kame House, he tells Gohan he sent Krillin and the others to search for Launch as he is afraid, she might have gotten into trouble during the Saiyan Invasion due to her chasing after Tien. He then tells Gohan he heard that a woman fitting her description was seen near West City and plans to tell the others when they get back but Gohan offers to check himself. Master Roshi gives him a description of Good Launch but fails to mention her personality shifts and hair color change to Gohan. Near the Lake Fishing Spot close to Ginger Town and West City, Gohan finds Bad Launch (identified only as Blonde Woman before her introduction) threatening a Man and Blue-haired Woman whom Gohan mistakes for Launch due to Master Roshi's description. When the couple fails to meet Bad Launch's demands, she throws a Capsule containing Portable Attack Robots. However, this causes Gohan to step in to protect the woman he thinks is Launch. After defeating the robots, Bad Launch mentions he reminds her of Goku and Gohan asks how she knows his dad. She explains that the couple stole her map and she was trying to get it back. The couple, however, are tight-lipped causing Bad Launch to threaten them to drop the dumb act and the Blue-haired Woman complies. Gohan asks if that means she's not Launch causing Bad Launch to reveal she is the real Launch. Gohan is confused as Roshi described her as having Blue Hair. She simply says it complicated in reference to her odd split personality disorder. She takes her map back and the Blue-haired Woman asks if Bad Launch can forgive her. However Bad Launch tells the woman "Screw you!" before telling her to get out of there before she sends her packing herself. After the couple leaves, Gohan apologizes for butting in though Launch says she's over it. She reveals it is a map leading to a man she is looking for (obviously it is Tien she is referring to though Gohan is unaware of this). Determined to make him fall in love with her this time, she runs off without mentioning it is Tien she is looking for, thus Gohan is unable to give her the bad news that Tien recently died fighting the Saiyans. Gohan decides to return to Kame House to inform Master Roshi of what happened.

Back at Kame House, Gohan tells Master Roshi about finding Launch and her running off. Master Roshi then reveals she has already returned to Gohan's confusion. Then Good Launch comes out of Kame House and introduces herself confusing Gohan further. Gohan mentions the Launch he encountered before having Blonde Hair and Launch explains it was her other self. Good Launch says people tell her that her personality changes whenever she sneezes and that her hair also turns blonde. Gohan is shocked and Launch suggests it is the result of some condition she has which Gohan thinks to himself is the best way to describe it. Master Roshi remembers that is what he forgot to mention earlier and apologies for the confusion which Gohan nervously laughs off. Launch says she hopes her other self didn't cause him too much trouble as she can be a bit harsh sometimes, though Gohan says she didn't and says he's surprised to see her there as she said something about looking for someone. Launch explains she was near West City when she came too (apparently a result of Bad Launch sneezing) and had no clue what was going on and so she decided to return to Kame House. Good Launch decides to cook something for Gohan to thank him for dealing with Bad Launch as she's been wanting to try out a few recipes for a while now. Master Roshi thinks that's a great idea and they can all eat together. This leads to Gohan receiving Launch's Soul Emblem. Gohan enjoys Launch's meal. Good Launch decides to remain at Kame House and that it would be nice living there again as long as she doesn't sneeze.

At the start of "Evil Emperor Frieza Episode: 1" that follows the Intermission, Good Launch reverts back to Bad Launch who ends up learning about Tien's demise as a result of his battle with the Saiyans. She travels to the Central Plans Area in a Convertible Hovercar. Gohan can find her near Gizard Wasteland north of the area with the Fishing Spot where he began his wildness training. There she can be found mourning Tien's death. If spoken to, she laments it was a waste of all the time she has been looking for him, that Tien just went and died on her, She tells she knows he and the others are working to bring Tien and everyone that died back to life. She tells his she's counting on them and that she feels better after doing so and gives him three High-Quality Herb as thanks. She thanks Gohan but tells him not to go dying on her like Tien.

During the game's Cell Saga, Launch can be found standing next to her Hovercar on the side of the road near cave path leading into the small village in the Continent Central Area. If spoken to, she reveals she's looking for shortcuts to cut down her time in the Hovercar Races (a racing mini game) so she can win the best prizes. It should be noted that Launch's name often appears on the record times for the races usually in the number one slot (unless one of the Z Warriors has beaten her score).

Launch has two-character entries in the Z-Encyclopedia one for each personality identified by their respective hair color. Good Launch named Launch (Blue Hair) while Bad Launch is named Launch (Blonde Hair). Bad Launch's entry also has extra section called "Secrets of Launch (Blonde Hair) 1".

Power[]

Manga & Anime

Launch is very strong in her blonde-haired form (compared to the average human male), being able to defeat characters such as Red Ribbon Army soldiers or Vodka's bodyguards by herself.

Statements by authors and guidebooks

The movie pamphlet for Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might states that, while in her normal blue haired personality, Launch has a power level of 18.

Abilities[]

• Techniques
• Forms and Transformations
• Equipment

Fighting

When Launch is in her bad side, she is good at hand-to-hand combat. She once defeated a group of bounty hunters all by herself in a bar. She also fought a bear person when she and Krillin were grocery shopping, saying "Don't talk with food in your mouth!" while constantly punching the bear and then saying "What kind of shop doesn't sell green onions, this is ridiculous! Come here!". She then threw Krillin a great distance into the sky. She later fought and defeated members of Captain Dark's troops when they attacked Roshi at Kame House.

Cooking

When Launch is in her good form, she seems to cook very often for Master Roshi, Goku, and Krillin. She once cooked a pufferfish for Roshi and Krillin and made them ill indicating she isn't skilled enough to remove the toxic parts of the pufferfish without contaminating the meat.

In Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, Good Launch cooks Gohan a meal using some new recipes for dealing with her Bad self. The meal is delicious according to the text though it has no effect on Gohan's stats implying that while she can make a tasty meal, it apparently has no nutritional value and indicates her cooking skills are inferior to Chi-Chi's as hers are both tasty and nutritious.

Pre-transformation

In this form Launch possess blue hair and is known as "Good Launch".^[15]

Post-transformation

In this form Launch possess blonde hair and is known as "Bad Launch".^[15]

Infected

Main article: Tuffle Parasites

In The Breakers, Launch is taken over by a tuffle parasite from the evil machine mutant, Baby.

Launch has good skills of weaponry when she is in her bad side. She often shoots people such as Goku, Master Roshi, and Krillin.

Launch's arsenal is carried via capsules; this was revealed in the Tien Shinhan Saga, opening a capsule to use a pistol and a machine pistol to clear away a crowd so that Bulma and the others could get a better seat for the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament. It is highly conceivable then, that Launch could have an entire arsenal of weaponry at her disposal, all within the size-reducing capsules.

Weapons and vehicles

• Rocket Launcher – Launch uses it to stop a train that she is about to rob. She is later seen attempting to shoot King Piccolo with it, but she changes back to her nice form before she can. Later on, she accidentally activates it nearly blowing up herself, Yamcha, and Bulma.
• Grenades

• Sub Machine Gun – Master Roshi gives Launch some lingerie to change into, and after she changes she sneezes. She quickly pulls out a submachine gun and fills the boys full of bullets for making her wear such a thing. This gun is also used during the saloon scene at the beginning of episode 15, appearing much sooner in the anime than it does in the manga, later in the series, in order to protect Yamcha from Tambourine, she tries to kill him with this, but the bullets have no effect. According to Launch, it "is a high-performance, automatic weapon," and "it fires 100 rounds in less than 10 seconds". This is in line with the IMI Uzi, the real-world firearm that Launch's gun is based on. With NATO ammunition, its cyclic rate is 600-700 rounds per minute (10-12 per second, though the magazine only holds 30).
  • Achoo! - Bad Launch's Super Attack in Dokkan Battle where she fires her machine gun at the opponent just as she is about to sneeze. As the opponent is hit, she sneezes off-screen turning into a confused Good Launch.

• Handgun - During the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament, Launch uses a handgun to scare the crowd in order to make room for herself and her friends, as well as get good seats.
• Shotgun – This is a sawn-off pump-action shotgun that Launch tries to use against the police that are chasing her. She does not get the chance to use it, as she sneezes just before she is about to shoot. She also uses a double-barrel shotgun to threaten Bora in a Dragon Ball Z filler episode.
• Hammer – It is a huge mallet that she used once in the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament to stop Chiaotzu from controlling Goku. Master Shen stopped it and threw Launch at a wall and the hammer was not seen after that.

• S-Cargo – Launch is seen driving this one-wheeled bike as she is being chased by the police after robbing a bank. The name itself is a pun, with "escargot" being the French word for "snail". The bike's design actually resembles a snail.
• Jetpack - In both Dokkan Battle and Dragon Ball Legends, Launch uses one to fly due to her inability to use ki-based Flight.
• Hovercar - Launch has a red Hovercar which she uses as a getaway vehicle. She also uses it to participate in Hovercar Races. Used in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot.
• Airplane - In addition to her Hovercar and Motorcycle, Launch uses an airplane in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot.
• Portable Attack Robots - A portable variant of the Skull Robo Type 1 which can be carried inside a Capsule. Bad Launch uses three of them to threaten a Man and Blue-haired Woman that stole her map to Tien Shinhan in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot but they are destroyed by Gohan who mistakes the Blue-haired Woman for Launch based upon Master Roshi's description of Good Launch (Gohan was not aware of her personality and hair color shifts).

Manga Appearances[]

Video Game Appearances[]

• Dragon Ball: Daimaō Fukkatsu
• Dragon Ball 3: Gokuden
• Dragon Ball Z: Super Saiya Densetsu
• Dragon Ball Z: Gekitō Tenkaichi Budōkai
• Dragon Ball Z: Goku Hishōden
• Dragon Ball Z 2: Super Battle
• Dragon Ball Z: Super Gokuden: Totsugeki-Hen
• Dragon Ball Z: Super Gokuden: Kakusei-Hen
• Dragon Ball
• Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3
• Dragon Ball Z: Bakuretsu Impact
• Dragon Ball Z: Harukanaru Densetsu
• Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3
• Dragon Ball: Origins
• Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans
• Dragon Ball: Origins 2
• Dragon Ball RPG
• Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle
• Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butōden
• Dragon Ball Heroes
• Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission X
• Dragon Ball Legends
• Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot
• Dragon Ball: The Breakers

In Super Battle, Launch is seen in the background of the World Martial Arts Tournament battle stage.

In Budokai 3, Launch continues to appear until the end of the series, always looking for Tien. In addition to that, she also sells capsules in the Skill Shop, switching between her good and evil side randomly.

In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2, Launch is mentioned in Tien's character illustration.

In Budokai Tenkaichi 3, Launch appears as the Z-Item shop owner switching between her good and evil side randomly.

In Bakuretsu Impact, Launch appears as an assist character.

In Attack of the Saiyans, while at Jingle Village with Tien and Chiaotzu, Launch goes to the Holly Plain, caring for a sick boy, in order to find a medicinal plant called Frozen Hyacinth. Unfortunately, she gets lost. Krillin, Tien and Chiaotzu investigate the area and find and save her.

In Origins 2, it is revealed in the bonus level 5-6 that a Quetzalcoatlus pterosaur attacked Launch in her bad form and took the Pirate Cave's diamond she stole from Bulma to bring it to his nest inside the pyramid near the Sacred Land of Korin. After a tailor told him about the "fabulous treasure" inside the pyramid, Krillin defeats the pterosaur and Launch steals the diamond once again.

In Dragon Ball Xenoverse, Launch's traditional outfit does appear as a clothing option that can be worn by a Female Future Warrior (Saiyan, Earthling, or Majin race). Launch's wig and 4 costume pieces are part of the GT Pack 1 DLC. If the Launch Costume is worn while talking Tien to when he is Future Warrior's current master, he will notice them wearing it and will mention that the costume agitates him but tells the Warrior they are free to wear whatever they like.

In Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, Launch's outfits return.

In Dokkan Battle, Launch's antagonistic personality makes her debut as a playable character for the first time. She also appears as a random enemy during certain main story quests. Like Emperor Pilaf, she is searching for Incredible Gems and will fight the player's team to keep them dropping 15 Incredible Gems if she is defeated. Her card can be unlocked randomly through World Tournament Summons.

In Dragon Ball Legends, Launch (DBL31-05S) flies using a jetpack and wields a sub machine gun (her IMI Uzi) for her Tap Blast and Blast Arts as well as her sawed-off Shotgun for her Special Move Arts and Rising Rush. Additionally, her Special Quirk Skill Arts will cause her to sneeze and revert to her good persona who will apologize and will switch out if she has any teammates regardless of her substitution gauge. She also has two different victory cutscenes. Her usual win screen features her sneezing and reverting to Good Launch who wonders what she has been doing. Her second more rarer win screen features Bad Launch brandishing a brown pineapple style Grenade in her right hand while holding her IMI Uzi in her left hand.

In Dragon Ball Heroes and Ultimate Mission X, Launch makes a minor non-playable appearance where she appears running a shop in the Demon God Demigra Saga. She will randomly appear in either her good or bad persona.

In Kakarot, Launch can be encountered in various locations or during certain missions, mini, and sub stories. She also meets Goku's son Gohan after the Saiyan Saga during "Look for Launch!".

Voice Actors[]

• Japanese: Mami Koyama (most media), Tomiko Suzuki † (DBZ episode 285), Mayumi Tanaka (DBZ Kai - TFC)
• English:
  • Harmony Gold dub: Edie Mirman (DB movie 3)
  • Funimation dub: Christine Marten (Mean, DB movie 2 only), Monika Antonelli (Nice, DB movie 2 only), Meredith McCoy (most media), Kara Edwards (DBZ episode 285 [270 edited] only), Colleen Clinkenbeard (DBZ Kai)
  • Blue Water dub: Kris Rundle
  • AB Groupe dub: Jodie Forrest † (DB movie 2), Sharon Mann (DB movie 3)
  • Creative Products Corporation dub: Ethel Lizano (Mean), Michelle Elizabeth Frankenberger Pellicer (Nice)
• Spanish:
  • Castilian Spanish dub: María Dolores Seco (DB eps. 27-153, DBZ Saiyan Saga), Nonia de la Gala (DBZ ep. 285)
  • Latin American Spanish dub: Dulce María Romay (DB first dub), Olga Donna-Dío (DB first dub movie), Cristina Camargo (redub)
• Portuguese:
  • European Portuguese dub: Cristina Cavalinhos
  • Brazilian Portuguese dub: Raquel Marinho (DB first dub), Márcia Regina (most media), Adriana Pissardini (DB movies 2-3 first dub)
• Italian dub: Marina Massironi (Mean); Cinzia Massironi (Nice)
• Tagalog dub: Klariz Magboo
• Vietnamese dub: Huỳnh Thị Thu Hiền.

Battles[]

Dragon Ball

• Launch (Good/Bad) vs. The Police
• Launch (Bad) vs. Goku
• Launch (Bad) vs. Red Ribbon Army Soldiers
• Launch (Bad) vs. Goku's Kidnappers
• Launch (Bad) and Yamcha vs. Tambourine
• Launch (Bad) vs. Jail Breakers

Dragon Ball Z

• Launch (Bad) vs. The Police
• Launch (Bad) vs. Bora and Upa

Films

• Launch (Bad) vs. Devil's Castle Ogres
• Launch (Good), Krillin, Yamcha, Oolong and Puar vs. Goku (Great Ape)
• Launch (Bad), Krillin, Goku vs. Sergeant Metallic
• Launch (Bad) vs. Mifan Soldiers and Minister Shen

Trivia[]

• Her blood type is AB.^[4] Notably, this is believed in Japanese culture to represent those who have a split personality.

• Launch's bounty is $2,000,000 as shown in "Look Out for Launch". This makes Bad Launch (as the Good Launch persona is likely mistaken by the authorities as either a disguise or Launch altering her appearance to avoid arrest) one of the only known members of the Dragon Team that is a wanted criminal (it is unknown if Yamcha had a bounty from his days as a desert bandit).
• Launch's disorder is similar to the dissociative identity disorder (once known as Multiple Personality Disorder). It is possible that within the Dragon Ball universe, Launch's disorder is an undiagnosed, unknown, and/or unique form of this disorder.
• Launch's good and evil personas resemble Android 21 who is part Human-type Earthling (in addition to being part Majin, Saiyan, Namekian, and Frieza Race), who due to some of her cells getting out of control, resulted in Android 21 developing an insatiable hunger and evil persona that embraces it while her original good persona opposes her evil personality along with a reconstructed Android 16 though during the Android 21 Arc she eventually splits into Good and Evil Fissions like Innocent Buu.
  • However, in the case of Bad Launch, she isn't completely evil as while she was initially hostile towards Goku, Krillin, and Master Roshi, she eventually befriends them and is among the early supporters of the Dragon Team. In contrast, Android 21's evil persona and evil fission appear as the main villain in Dragon Ball FighterZ.
• The appearance of Launch may have been inspired by a character in the 1984 Jackie Chan movie Wheels on Meals. A female character (played by an uncredited Western actress) who has a similar hair style to Launch briefly appears early in the film, saying "Hello" to Yuen Biao's character while she walks down the streets of Barcelona, Spain.^[16]
• There are noticeable similarities between the Super Saiyan transformation and Good Launch's change into Bad Launch (going from gentle Good Launch to the violent Bad Launch) and hair color (from Good Launch's Blue hair to Bad Launch's Blonde hair). Both Bad Launch and the Super Saiyan form result in blonde hair and become more violent. The only difference being the Super Saiyan and higher forms are somewhat voluntary transformation (as the users first transformation can be achieved involuntarily) exclusive to Saiyan's and Human/Saiyan hybrids which intensifies violent emotions such as rage and/or ruthlessness, while Launch is a human with an unknown unique form of dissociative identity disorder (commonly known as multiple personality disorder) that involuntarily causes her switches between her Good & Bad personas whenever she sneezes. Akira Toriyama himself even mentions the similarities between them when giving his reasons for Launch's absence in Dragon Ball Z.^{[citation needed]} Good Launch hair color is also blue which is added similarity towards Super Saiyan Blue which requires a calm mind which Good Launch tends to normally be.
  • Furthermore, in Dragon Ball Xenoverse, when Launch's Wig is worn in battle by a female Saiyan and uses any Super Saiyan transformation skill, the wig will change color from Good Launch's blue color to the Super Saiyan's golden blonde, making it resemble Bad Launch's blonde hair. When the transformation wears off its color revert to blue. This change only applies to Female Saiyan's in Super Saiyan form, as the Wig's blue color cannot be changed when worn by female Earthling or Majin characters, due their inability to use any Super Saiyan forms. However, in Xenoverse 2, with the addition of Super Saiyan and Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan, if a female Saiyan wearing Launch's Wig uses either of those transformations, the hair will remain blue to match though this is due to an update that stops wigs or accessories with hair from changing color when a Super Saiyan form is used. Like most head accessories, Launch's wig is removed during the Super Saiyan 3 transformation.
• Akira Toriyama has stated that the reason Launch stopped appearing during Dragon Ball Z was because he simply forgot about her^{[citation needed]} (there is only a brief mention of her by Bulma at the beginning of Dragon Ball Z Kai when she asks Krillin where Launch is during the reunion at Kame House, with Krillin stating she left chasing after Tien five years earlier, thus explaining her absence).
• In the Funimation dub, Bad Launch has a Jersey accent.
• In the Blue Water dub of Dragon Ball, Good Launch has a soft Southern accent.
• While shown in a filler when Goku needed energy for the Spirit Bomb to defeat Kid Buu, Launch was shown to have aged somewhat, but when in Dragon Ball: The Return of Son Goku and Friends!, she was shown to be young again.
• The Traffic Agent Lady from "Goku's Traffic Safety" is often referred as being Launch, because they are both voiced by Mami Koyama and have a similar character design, which is of Launch's good form but with blonde hair. Also, the Dragon Book mentions the appearance of Launch in the special, while only the Traffic Agent Lady appears.
• While Launch does not appear in Dragon Ball Z Kai, she appears in the credits. However, like in the original manga and anime, it is explained in the first episode that she went chasing after Tien, so she was long gone.
• While shown in her blonde-hair state in the promotional poster of The Return of Son Goku and Friends!, she only appears in her innocent state during all the film.
• Launch does not appear at all in Dragon Ball GT, but she is shown in the flashback montage of the three Dragon Ball series at the very end when Goku is leaving the World Martial Arts Tournament 100 years later.
• Launch makes a cameo appearance while in her good state in the 7th Dr. Slump film, Dr. Slump and Arale-chan: N-cha! Love Comes From Penguin Village. She is seen in a crowd with Oolong, the Pilaf Gang, King Nikochan and his servant and the two characters to Akira Toriyama's one-shot Pink.
• The personality of Launch's bad form seems to be modeled after Polly Buckets from Akira Toriyama's previous series Dr. Slump, although their roles are the opposite since Launch is a criminal and Polly Buckets is a cop.
• Launch's line "Doesn't he know it's an offer he can't refuse!" is a reference to the famous gangster film The Godfather.
• Launch's S-Cargo was an inspiration for the real life Rynocycle vehicle, created by Chris Hoffmann after his daughter came across seeing Launch's motorcycle in the anime.
• All scenes and references of Launch were cut from the original Funimation/Saban dub of the first 53 Dragon Ball Z episodes as well as her scene in the Westwood dub of the Kid Buu saga.
• Launch was redesigned for other characters: Pasta (Evil Launch with orange hair), Traffic Agent Lady (Good Launch with blonde hair) and Hasky (Evil Launch).

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References[]

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