Favourite Anime Character - Piccolo (Dragon Ball)

This will be the last post of this type for the foreseeable whilst I am committing to future projects. It has been a fun little aside to take part in while my most recent animation has been in the works and now its time to move onto new things.

Piccolo made his first appearance in the latter half of Dragon Ball (the series that preceded Dragon Ball Z, when Goku was just a boy.) He was introduced as the reincarnation of Demon King Piccolo. 

The aforementioned King Piccolo was a powerful villain that once terrorised the Earth. With the efforts of Goku's mentor Master Roshi, Piccolo was sealed in an electric rice cooker using the Mafuba containment technique. 

Centuries later King Piccolo is purposely released, and subsequently targets the World's strongest fighters to eliminate potential competition. This brings him into direct conflict with Goku, and following a tough battle, the Demon King was killed after Goku punches a hole clean through his body.

In a final desperate effort to survive, King Piccolo spit out an egg containing his reincarnated form -before promptly exploding. When Piccolo Jr. re-appeared at the World Martial Arts tournament, he was fully grown, intent on revenge and immediately became a formidable opponent for Goku.

When Goku's brother Raditz arrives on Earth and kidnaps his nephew Gohan, Piccolo forms an uneasy alliance with Goku to neutralise the new Saivan threat. An intense battle followed in which Goku. deciding to sacrifice himself to save his son, held Raditz in place whilst Piccolo fired a Special Beam Cannon through them both. Thus began Piccolo's path towards redemption as he chose to train his nemesis' son for an impending battle with a two more Saiyans on course to Earth.

What I've always liked about Piccolo is his brooding, cool guy attitude - he has a low tolerance for nonsense, particularly in the early sagas of Dragon Ball Z. He has consistently been the most powerful Z Warrior outside of the Saiyans and has even been the strongest on several occasions. He has had some pretty epic moments throughout the run of the show and that influenced why he has always been my favourite.

Stand out moments include when the Salyans arrive with their Saibamen minions that are roughly equivalent to Raditz, who Goku and Piccolo had such trouble defeating. Following on from the death of earthling Yamcha, one of the Saibamen attempts to attack Gohan. Piccolo grabs the creature by the arm, tosses it into the air and destroys it with a single mouth blast, literally stripping the flesh from its bones.

He rose to prominence again during the Frieza saga after having trained under King Kai and subsequently fusing with Nail, the Grand Elders protector. Following this, Piccolo became the strongest Z Warrior and was able to best Friezas 2d form. Sadly, he would be swiftly taken down by Frieze's 3rd form, and frankly humiliated by the Lord of the Universe.

Under similar circumstances during the Android saga, Piccolo fused with Kami - the God of Earth. King Piccolo had once been a single entity but split into a good and evil half so that Kami could take on the role. Upon the Androids arrival they decimated the Z Warriors, including the Salyans Trunks and Vegeta. Piccolo was once again able to cement his place as the strongest Z Warrior, surpassing even the Super Saiyan form that had been held in such high regard. Piccolo was able to fight on an equal footing with Android 17. who had earlier (alongside 18) decimated the Z fighters. Android 18, the weaker of the two, had earlier single handedly humiliated Vegeta in their fight. This fight is often regarded as one of the best in the series and concludes with 17 and Piccolo combining forces to take on Imperfect Cell.

Unfortunately. this was Piccolo's last truly great moment in Dragon Ball Z. His last few storylines mainly involved him looking after the kid Saiyans, teaching them the fusion dance and spending a period turned to stone by Supreme Demon King Dabur. Forfeiting his bout against the relatively weak Supreme Kai in the 25th Tenkaichi Budokai was also a low for the Namekian.

I am pleased to say that he has had a bit of a redemption of late, getting a new evolved form known as "Orange Piccolo" in the recent Dragon Ball Super Super Hero which has once again brought him up to a level rivalling the saiyans once again.

A Long Overdue Update!

Hello all!

It's been a little while since l've posted anything of any substance in the blog other than a few pieces here and there. As I've previously discussed in a few different posts, I have been working hard on an animation since last July - the first since Hashtag Live in late 2022. This project is now 95% completed including sound and we are now awaiting final approval from the client. I plan to cover more about this animation in the blog - breaking down the processes behind the work. This will be planned out once everything has been approved and the final production is public.

In September last year I also completed illustration work on a feature length film titled "Make it to Munich." The film follows Ethan Walker, a young Scottish footballer who, following a life-changing car accident, makes the decision to cycle to Munich for Scotland's opening match against Germany in Euro 2024 - only nine months later.

The film premiered at the Glasgow Film Festival on March 9 2025. I am pleased to say that I was in attendance, getting to spend some time on the red carpet and soak in the experience of a film premiere. I initially had the opportunity to meet with all the cast and crew in a function at the Dakota Hotel and even got the chance to catch up with Martin Docherty and lan Bustard, whom we animated in "Marty Goes to Hollywood" in 2014.

Make it to Munich itself was fantastic, a deeply enjoyable film on many levels with the ideal balance of emotion and comedy. The film will be released in Scottish cinemas in May, though could possibly see a wider release.

I have also taken part in two local fayres (Christmas and Easter) in which I have been selling my prints. These have been an enjoyable experience and not entirely outside of my comfort zone since I have a background in sales and upselling.

Going forward I have a checklist of smaller projects that I intend to get through before taking on anything bulky. I will be taking a laid-back approach and treating this period as a break whist I recharge for what's next. However, I do have a few ideas for future graphics work and there is a certain animation that I started a few years ago that I may just revisit.

On the subject of animation, I have learnt over time that these projects tend to be few and far between, my next animation project may well be 2 years away. I have no idea what the future holds in this regard, how exciting!