Future Trunks

Trunks
Trunks
Dragon Ball Z character
	File:TrunksHead5.jpg Trunks by Akira Toriyama
First appearance	Dragon Ball chapter 330; (Dragon Ball Z chapter 136; Dragon Ball Z episode 104
In-universe information
Relatives	Vegeta (father); Bulma (mother); Trunks (alternate timeline counterpart); Bra (sister, alternate timeline); Dr. Briefs (maternal grandfather); Mrs. Briefs (maternal grandmother); King Vegeta (paternal grandfather)

Future Trunks (未来のトランクス, Mirai no Torankusu, Known simply as Trunks), is a fictional character who first appears in the Dragon Ball manga created by Akira Toriyama, more popularly followed by Dragon Ball Z. Trunks is introduced to be a boy from the future, his father being Vegeta, the prince of the extinct race of fictional aliens called the Saiyans, and his mother Bulma, the heir of a massive company called Capsule Corporation. "Mirai" is the Japanese kanji for 'future'. Trunks' seiyū is provided by Takeshi Kusao. In the English language dub, he is voiced by Eric Vale.

This is the first Trunks that the readers and/or viewers ever see in the Dragon Ball manga (the section he is in is titled Dragon Ball Z in North America) and the Dragon Ball Z anime. Trained by the character named Gohan in an alternate time line, Trunks travels through time to seek help from Goku to prevent the Androids from ravaging the world. Trunks is a determined and loyal warrior. He wields an unusual sword, and wears a Capsule Corporation jacket. His name is an obvious play on "trunks", a type of male clothing. This is also a reference to his family name of "Briefs".

Appearence

Trunks appears tall and slender although still muscular (similar to Goku's stature). He favors his maternal side by having light blue eyes and light purple hair. From the time he first appears to the time he enters the Hyperbolic Timechamber and after the Cell Games, his hair is short. From the time he exits to the end of the Cell Games, his hair is long (due to the Timechamber's a year in a day effect).

He also favors his father, Vegeta, by having a light tan skin tone and the squinted eyes of a Saiyan.

Early on, Trunks wears a black sleeveless shirt and black pants along with his purple Capsule Corporation jacket and goldish boots. After he exits the Hyperbolic Timechamber, he starts to wear attire similar to his fathers, white gloves, white boots with yellow tips, a skin-tight blue jumpsuit, and Saiyan armor.

Personality

Trunks' personality is distinguishable from the other characters because he originally was seen to be cautious and calculating. He often thinks through things and plans, advising against random action because of the horrific events in his own time line. Originally, this is shown in his reluctance to take action unless Goku is present. As the series continues, Trunks becomes more confident and less cautious, but never loses his rational thinking, he is also seen to learn from his mistakes and poor judgment, such as his choice to use the dreaded Super Saiyan 3rd Grade during a battle with Cell.

Unlike his father or alternate time line self, however, Trunks is often shown to be very polite and well-mannered. This is clearly shown in the original version through his speech, as he is often heard using the polite form of Japanese phrases when addressing his allies.

Differences

By growing up in such a bleak future, Future Trunks is much more serious during his childhood. He also becomes much closer to Gohan because Son Goten doesn't exist in that timeline. Present Trunks looks up to and respects Gohan, but he does not have the same relationship with him as his future counterpart.

It is unknown how a grown up Trunks would react to meeting Future Trunks, however this occurs in the video games Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2, and Dragon Ball Z: Legendary Super Warriors. In Budokai 3 as well as in Shin Budokai Trunks states that it is "Just like having a brother" whereas in Legendary Super Warriors and Tenkaichi 2 he does not even realize it is his future self, and the two have a sparring match. They did meet in the manga and anime, however, when Trunks was still just a baby; once when Future Trunks rescued him and Bulma from Dr. Gero's attack, and once when Future Trunks came to Capsule Corp. before the Cell Games announcement. For a minute, Trunks incessantly pulled on Future Trunks' hair.

Character history

Trunks' timeline

File:Tr time machine.jpg

Trunks and the Time Machine

Trunks is from an alternate future timeline, one in which the evil Android 17 and Android 18 have conquered the Earth and are using it as their playground, destroying what they wish.

By the time the audience is introduced to the pair of androids, over three quarters of the world's population has been eliminated by them during their spree of destruction. Gohan is a fully grown adult and has the ability to become a Super Saiyan.

In this time line, Goku dies of a heart disease before the androids arrive, leaving the Z-Fighters without one of their greatest heroes. Trunks' father Vegeta and all of the heroes of Earth are killed, with the androids easily outclassing them in power since they were built to be able to defeat Goku. Gohan becomes Trunks' mentor and trains him in everything he knows. He tries his best to teach Trunks how to become a Super Saiyan as well, necessary for him to compete against the androids' might. However, as there is virtually nothing left to protect anymore, Trunks simply cannot find the motivation to transform.

Gohan and teenage Trunks face the androids in battle where Trunks, in his inexperience, is cornered by Android 18. Gohan is forced to sacrifice himself to save Trunks, losing his arm in the process which only further demoralizes Trunks and causes his confidence to fall. Trunks tries repeatedly to attain Super Saiyan during training but still struggles with it, unlike his alternate-timeline self who attains it at a much younger age and with relative ease.

Later the pair are drawn into battle against the androids again, so Gohan knocks Trunks unconscious knowing that if he faces them again he will be killed. Gohan holds his own against the androids, being stronger than each individually but unable to compete with both of them and their infinite energy reserves. Gohan is defeated and killed leaving Trunks to find his body lying in the rain. Overcome with anger and grief, Trunks finally transforms into a Super Saiyan and spends the next few years training and growing, though he still is unable to completely overwhelm both androids.

After another close escape, Bulma reveals her time machine to Trunks with which she hopes he will use to return to the past and save Goku, hopefully altering the future.

Having grown up in an age of apocalyptic terror, Future Trunks had to go through intense training and he should have been stronger than his alternate-self in the main Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z time line, who grows up living in an age of peace. But, for reasons probably related to the power of Vegeta, the child Trunks of the main storyline has developed an incredible power since the early years becoming a Super Saiyan without so much training, just like Goten and resulting stronger that Future Trunks having awakened the "fan-named" Full Power state of Super Saiyan.

Android/Cell Saga

Trunks travels back in time in order to warn Goku about the Android threat in the future, as well as to deliver medication that will cure the heart virus Goku will get. However, upon arrival he is greeted by Mecha Freeza with his father King Cold. They had come to Earth in order to seek revenge upon Goku's loved ones. Trunks, then seventeen-years-old, did not look like much of a threat to Freeza, and he freely told him so. Freeza was then given three opportunities to kill Trunks, but Trunks was able to block and dodge the attacks with ease. Trunks then performs what he calls his Burning Attack , which is followed up by his sword. Freeza, cut in half, was completely destroyed and soon followed by his arrogant father King Cold. Trunks later finds out, to his chagrin, that he interfered with the time line unnecessarily. Goku, although miles away in space, was prepared to step in using his Shunkan-Ido technique when Trunks showed up.

Trunks informs Goku of the future where the androids come and kill them all, also telling Goku not to tell anyone about it, however Piccolo's Namekian ears pick up the conversation and tells the Z-Fighters of the future, inspiring the heroes to train their hardest for the next 3 years. However, inadvertently, Trunks revelation of the future alters it slightly.

When the androids eventually appear they face the Z-Fighters and Vegeta reveals his new Super Saiyan form. Trunks returns to the past to find Android 19 and Android 20, two androids he never saw in his time-line and realizes that this time-line is now branching off considerably from his own. When Android 20 (In reality, Dr. Gero) releases the real androids, #17 and #18, they rebel and kill their creator before releasing the previously unknown Android 16.

Because Trunks warned the heroes of the future and they trained to become stronger, the androids of this time-line have been made considerably stronger, as they defeated Vegeta and himself as Super Saiyans with relative ease, and #16, who did not exist in Trunks time-line, is stronger than the other two androids. Vegeta tries to fight #18 but is no match, so Trunks rushes to his father's aid but is beaten by #18 with ease and has his sword broken.

Eventually, Cell from another alternate time-line is revealed and he sets about absorbing the androids of the current time-line. Superior in strength to any of the fighters, the heroes go to train again, this time in the Room of Spirit and Time.

When Vegeta and Trunks train in the Room of Spirit and Time together, Trunks believes he has surpassed his father in power by ascending to a new Super Saiyan level he believed his father did not attain. However, throughout the year that was spent in the Time Chamber, Trunks realized Vegeta's strong sense of Saiyan pride and thought it was best to hide his new-found power out of fear of upsetting his father.

After Vegeta is eventually defeated by Cell after he allows Cell to absorb Android 18 and reach his "Perfect" form, Trunks transforms into his new form, Ultra Super Saiyan, where the Saiyan is still an "ascended" Super Saiyan, but has greatly augmented their physical strength. However, the benefit of the increase in strength in this form is greatly offset by the large decrease in speed. It is later revealed that Vegeta was just as powerful as if not more powerful than Trunks and had reached this same level of power, but decided against using it due to the form's significant lack of speed, something Trunks failed to spot during their training.

File:Ussjtrunks.jpg

Ultra Super Saiyan Trunks

Trunks is the second Saiyan to take on Perfect Cell. Although Trunks' power was enough to deal significant damage to Cell, Trunks simply kept increasing his power, unaware that his speed was greatly decreasing. His body became too bulky and slow from the large quantity of muscle, giving Cell the upper hand. Trunks quickly realized that he was too slow noting that his father must have realized the setbacks of the form and decided against using it. He then gave up hope right before Cell's eyes, saying Cell could destroy him if he wished to. However, Cell was intrigued at how strong Trunks had become in such a short period of time and posed a challenge to the strongest fighters on Earth (Mainly Goku) to train as much as they could over a period of ten days. At the end of these ten days all the fighters of Earth will compete in the Cell Games. Trunks then left the battlefield and spread the word about the Cell Games before re-entering the Room of Spirit and Time for a second time.

When Trunks emerges from his training the second time, he does become more powerful, but like Vegeta, is unable to push his limits as a Super Saiyan. Trunks never gets the opportunity to fight Perfect Cell in this timeline and instead is forced to contend with Cell's smaller but incredibly powerful clones along with the other heroes. After seeing Gohan reach Super Saiyan 2, Trunks notes that Gohan has reached a full ascension of the Super Saiyan level by significantly increasing both his speed and strength.

After Cell prepares to self-destruct out of fear and humiliation of being defeated Gohan, and Goku teleports Cell and himself to Kaio's planet where he would carry out his self-destruction, his nucleus survives and he uses it to resurrect himself. Upon his reappearance he impales Trunks through the chest with a powerful energy blast, killing him. After seeing the fate of his son, Vegeta is sent into a rage. Vegeta then gives everything he can give to try and kill Cell, although he fails and is overwhelmed by Cell. Once wished back to life by Dende's new Shenlong at Kami's Lookout after Perfect Cell's defeat, Trunks is informed by Yamcha of his fathers actions after seeing him get killed by Cell. Trunks then becomes proud that had earned his fathers acception and affection.

Back to the future

After Goku's funeral, Vegeta acknowledges Trunks while Trunks says his goodbyes. After saying his goodbyes, Trunks returns to his own time to exact revenge on the androids for all the death and destruction they caused. After reuniting with his mother, Bulma, Trunks sees a news update on Androids 17 and 18, and he quickly powers up into his Super Saiyan form. Meanwhile, the androids are about to kill another innocent man (in the manga he is killed before Trunks' arrival), when suddenly Trunks fires an energy attack that narrowly misses Android 17. The cocky androids foolishly underestimate Trunks, oblivious to the significant increase in his power since they last met, and try to rush him. Trunks easily dodges their attacks and punishes them duly, obliterating Android 18 with a point-blank energy blast. Android 17 looks on in disbelief and his feelings soon turn to hatred when the completely out-classed android charges Trunks again, but he too is terminated with ease.

The completely unscathed Trunks returns home since everything now seems at peace with the Earth, except for one thing, Cell. The determined bio-android roams around in his weakest form looking for the now non-existent androids and comes across Trunks and Bulma saying their goodbyes near the time machine. As Trunks is about to leave for the past one final time to inform them of his success, he senses Cell and sends his mother away. He turns towards Cell and begins to taunt him with his knowledge from the alternate past. He informs him that he has killed the androids from the current time.

The cocky Cell approaches the half-Saiyan under the false impression that Trunks is still at the level of power when he initially went back in time and warned Goku. Cell is clearly outclassed as Trunks hurls him outside of the city with a simple Kiai in his base state. Trunks then goes into Super Saiyan and takes action by grabbing Cell's tail and swinging him around in a circle, building up momentum, and then hurling him high into the air. Cell realizes that he has no hope against the new Trunks, and prepares a Kamehameha large enough to destroy the planet, knowing all too well that he could survive in space. Trunks interrupts the attack with a large ki blast which completely destroys Cell. With the future finally at peace, Future Trunks is seen for the last time in the series.

Alternate Trunks

In another alternate main time line, Trunks went into the past and helped Goku just as in the main time line. Trunks manages to defeat the Androids with a remote control and travels back to his alternate future time line. Because Trunks did not stay, and defeated the androids with the control, he did not encounter Cell, and did not train in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. At his alternate future time line he disabled the other future androids and was going to go back to the past to tell the others of their defeat. Instead he ran into and fought with Cell who killed him and then went on to take Trunks's time machine into the main time line. Peace was also restored in this time line though, as Cell and the Androids were gone, though it came at the loss of Trunks and ultimately the Saiyan race.

Shin Budokai - Another Road

This story is only featured in Shin Budokai - Another Road. After Cell was defeated, Trunks has entered the world martial arts tournament and meets the Supreme Kai and Kibito and has to hold off Babidi and Dabura but he knew he couldn't do it alone. So he goes back into the past and brought Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Kuririn, Piccolo, Android 18, Goten and Kid Trunks to help him stop Majin Buu. With Broli, Coola and Janemba also on the loose, the Z-Fighters made Dende the future world's new guardian. Gohan also brought the now alive Future Gohan, Pikkon and Burdock (who Goku was surprised to see) to help them. Babidi stole the Dragon Balls but Hercule stole his wish from conquering the universe. Babidi lashes at Hercule, but Buu took the blow and he turned Babidi into candy and ate him. He became his pure form when he did that. Goku, Gohan, Goten, Burdock and Future Gohan defeated him with a Kamehameha together and so the future world was in peace once again.

Forms and transformations

Super Saiyan

This is Trunks in his Super Saiyan form. He transforms for the first time after seeing his mentor Gohan killed at the hands of the Androids in his time line. The energy involved in the transformation causes Trunks' hair to stand on end and turn a golden color. His facial expression is sharpened, and the color of his eyes turns a bright emerald green. When in this state Trunks' power level increases dramatically. Even so, he always maintains his sincere, serious demeanor.

Super Saiyan 2nd Grade After their defeat at the hands of Android 18, he and Vegeta underwent severe training in the Room of Spirit and Time, during which Trunks' gained the ability to take form. When taking this form, Trunks' muscles swell, making his body several sizes than normal, his power and speed are elevated beyond his previous Super Saiyan limits. He first used this form to fight against Semi-Perfect Cell, in a attempt to keep him from absorbing Android 18 and reaching completion. This fight scene only happened in the anime, while in the manga, he was about to fight Cell but was knocked away by Vegeta.

Super Saiyan 3rd Grade

Another transformation Trunks gained while training in the Room of Spirit and Time. Trunks utilizes this state while fighting the recently completed Perfect Cell. In this form Trunks muscles swell even larger than in his Super Saiyan 2nd Grade form. In this stage, however, the increase in power comes at a cost of reduced speed and mobility, and because of the massive energy required to maintain this form, it is not sustainable for long periods of time, which ultimately puts him in a life-threatening disadvantage.

Powers and abilities

Trunks possesses a limited number of signature attacks in the manga that are actually named. In the Budokai and Budokai Tenkaichi series, he has an attack named "Buster Cannon", which looks similar to an attack he used against Vegeta when he was trying to stop Cell from absorbing Android 18 and reaching his Perfect Form. He also has one called "Finish Buster", and another one called "Shining Sword Attack" which mimics his movements when he killed Mecha Freeza, as well as "Heat Dome Attack", the move he killed Cell with after returning to his own time line.

Bukuu Jutsu (Lighter Than Air Skill): The ability of flight through Ki manipulation.

Burning Attack

A powerful blast Trunks uses by performing a series of rapid arm movements, then releasing an energy blast from his hands, with his index fingers and thumbs touching.

Masenko (Demon Blast): Trunks used this attack against Broli in [[Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan]]. He most likely learned this skill from Future Gohan, seeing as how he was Trunks' sensei in the time line he came from.

Buster Cannon: Trunks charges ki in both his hands and thrust them into each other, releasing a massive ki blast. This technique is one of the several unnamed outside of video games.

Finish Buster: Trunks charges a large amount of ki in both hands over his head and releasing it in a blast of ki. This technique is one of the several unnamed outside of video games.

Shining Sword Attack: If failing a Burning Attack, Trunks slashes the distracted enemy in half before cutting them into several more pieces before releasing a stream of ki from his palm, vaporising what remains of the enemy.Trunks first used this technique against Freeza, resulting in the tyrant's death. This technique was named Burning Slash in the Budokai series and Burning Flash in Battle Stadium D.O.N.. This is one of the several techniques unnamed outside of video games.

Heat Dome Attack: After launching the enemy into the air, Trunks harnesses ki in a heated barrier or ring of heat that discharges a massive wave of burning ki upon the enemy. He uses this attack to defeat Imperfect Cell when he returned to his own time zone. This technique is one of the few to be unnamed outside of video games.

Video game exclusive

Cyclone Buster: In the Shin Budokai series, Trunks releases a massive barrage of ki blasts before bolting into the air and firing a massive ki blast in the same fashion and resemblance of Vegeta's Big Bang Attack.

Appearances in other media

Video games

Manga

He appears aboard Captain Vegeta's flying ship in a Dragon Ball and One Piece crossover.

Notes and references