Tapion

Tapion is a fictional character from Dragon Ball Z the Movie #13: Dragon Fist Explosion!! If Gokū Won't Do It, Who Will? (Wrath of the Dragon in the english dub). He acts as the protagonist of this film and is described as a 'Legendary Hero' from the planet Konats ('Konnatsuu'). This makes his race the 'Konnatsuu-jin' (Konats Race). He his roughly six feet tall, has light skin and a mohawk (similar style to that of the East Kaioshin) of bright red hair. He wields a sword and an ocarina which he says are gifts from god. His name is a pun on tapioca.

Storyline

The Hirudegarn War

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Tapion (right) and his younger brother Minosha (left)

Thousands of years ago, Tapion and his brother Minosha were ordinary Konatsians living on the peaceful planet of Konats, very similar to Earth. However, one day, a group of black magicians known as the Kash-phar performed an ancient ritual that revived a statue, a ruthless behemoth known as Hirudegarn. With no sense of reason, Hirudegarn would eventually use his incredible power to destroy the planet Konats which it was on.

During the battle between Hirudegarn and the Konatsians, Tapion and Minosha used their special flutes to hold Hirudegarn at bay. Given this opportunity, a Konatsian wizard brandished an enchanted sword and used it to slice Hirudegarn in half. Tapion, Minosha and the wizard were then known as Great Heroes among the Konatsians and Kash-phar, who had also realized their terrible mistake.

To ensure Hirudegarn's eternal imprisonment, Tapion and Minosha agreed to have their bodies guard each spirit of Hirudegarn (his top half went to Tapion and his bottom half to Minosha). They were then enclosed in mystical music boxes, and dispatched to the distant places of the galaxy. Minosha was sent to an unknown planet, while Tapion was sent to Earth.

The Return of Hirudegarn

Unfortunately, a Kash-phar named Hoi, would go off in search for Tapion and Minosha's music boxes in order to free them and unleash Hirudegarn once again.

With the help of the Z Warriors, Goku, Gohan, Videl, Krillin, Goten and Trunks, Hoi managed to free Tapion from the music box (Hoi had not revealed his true intentions to the Z Warriors). But Tapion, furious, stormed off, determined to stay alone in order to ensure the imprisonment of Hirudegarn's top half. He was visited regularly by Trunks, who had taken a liking to him and brought him food, but Tapion refused to eat and always shunned Trunks away.

However, after seeing the bottom half of Hirudegarn invade the city, Tapion came to aid Gohan and Videl by playing the magical tune on his enchanted flute, which weakend and absorbed Hirudgarn's bottom half into his own body. Leaving the battlefield, Tapion came to believe that Hoi had already killed Minosha.

Later on, while Trunks was visiting Tapion, Hoy attempted to steal the flute from Tapion and tell Trunks that Tapion was the true monster, but Trunks didn't believe him, and instead gave the flute back to Tapion. Tapion then befriends Trunks, and asked him to dine with him.

Tapion and Trunks then formed a friendship, and Tapion was invited to stay at Capsule Corp, by Trunks. Tapion explained the whole story to Bulma, whom she would later try to re-create the broken music box so that Tapion could finally rest, much to Tapion's delight.

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Hirudegarn escapes from Tapion's body

Tapion tried sleeping inside the new music box/chamber, but it was still no use, and Hirudegarn managed to get free from Tapion's body. Now whole, Hirudegarn had finally returned and Tapion's nightmare had come true. For a while, Tapion managed to use his flute to absorb Hirudegarn's spirit once again, but Hirudegarn would soon be free. Tapion begged Trunks to slay him with the sword (Tapion and Minosha were Konatsian Knights who always carried swords), but Trunks couldn't find it in his heart to kill his "big brother", and Hirudegarn was free once again. To Tapion's horror, the flute shattered.

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Tapion bids farewell to his friends

After killing Hoi, Hirudegarn went on a rampage throughout the city, battling the warriors Goku, Gohan, Goten, Trunks and Vegeta, but it was no use. Even Goten and Trunks' fusion as Gotenks wasn't enough to stop Hirudegarn (Gotenks managed to destroy Hirudegarn's first form, but he evolved into a more powerful, insect-like behemoth). Eventually, Hirudegarn was distracted while attacking the others, and he was destroyed for good when Goku saw his chance and he pierced through Hirudegarn's chest with a Dragon Fist, oblitierating the monster forever.

To go home, Tapion used a Time Machine similar to future Trunk's machine to travel back to Konats. As a gift, Tapion gave his sword to Trunks, and went 1000 years back in time to the planet Konats, never to be seen or mentioned again.

Video game appearances

Tapion will make his debut video game appearance in the upcoming Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2. It has been confirmed that he will fight using his sword, and well as the ability to use ki attacks...

Trivia

• Tapion is never seen using his sword or fighting at all.
• At first glance, Tapion greatly resembles a re-coloured Supreme Kai.
• Rather than the one used by Future Trunks against the Androids, Tapion's Sword is used by Trunks in Dragon Ball GT.
• Tapion highly resembles many characters from the Jak and Daxter series, especially Torn, Jak, and the rest of the elf-like characters.
• Tapion bears a passing resemblance to the character Link from the Legend of Zelda series. They both wear tunics, belts and boots, have long ears that stick out at an angle from their head, carry swords and use magical ocarinas. They're also quite similar in character in that they're strong, silent warriors (although Tapion, unlike Link, talks).
• Tapion also slightly resembles the character Crono from the game Chrono Trigger, a game which featured character designs by Toriyama. Crono and Tapion share similar tastes in clothing, weaponry (although Crono uses a katana, while Tapion's is more of a longsword), and color palette.
• The reason behind Tapion using the time machine was perhaps that he wouldn't have remembered the location of his home planet.