Some common questions and answers relating to the home of the All-New, All-Different GINYU FORCE!

Q: This isn't the Ginyu Force.

A. Maybe not, but that's not a question.  Try again.


Q. Why isn't this the Ginyu Force?

A. This is a Ginyu Force. Not the one led by the big purple guy, though. Actually, you can learn about why these folks call themselves the Ginyu Force by reading the Character Profiles. The short of it is that most all of these characters were created by me in a Dragonball Z Role Playing Game campaign I ran for some friends for several months over the spring/summer of 2000. The game, FYI, is published by R. Talsorian Games.


Q. Kiwi and Nappa are alive?!? But Vegeta killed them!

A. Yeah, and Piccolo killed Chiaotzu, Master Roshi, Goku, and many more. They're all still alive. Buu destroyed the whole world, and it's back. I'm not trying to rob Vegeta of his kills, but death is almost never permanent in Dragonball, and Kiwi and Nappa (at least in my world) are among the many who cheated it. Kiwi's resurrection was somewhat different than that of most DB characters though; check the Character Profiles section for more details. Nappa was brought back with a third set of Dragonballs, but that story was actually a part of the DBZ RPG campaign mentioned above. The best way to learn about it would be the RPG summaries in the Miscellanea Section.


Q. What's with all the Saiyans? Only Goku, Raditz, Vegeta, and Nappa survived the destruction of their planet!
A. I've never bought into the fact that only three Saiyans survived the destruction of Vegeta... There's no way they were all on the planet when it blew. I'm sure several escaped and went into hiding, or in the case of some of my characters, they left the planet before Freeza ever arrived.


Q. Why are so many of the main characters women?

A. I've wondered about this myself many times. It's what I call "Claremont Syndrome," after legendary X-Men comics writer Chris Claremont. He used to get complaints that he spent way too much time on the female characters, and that with the exception of Wolverine, he often neglected the males. Now, I don't think I neglect all the males, but I do give the women a lot more screen time... Maybe it's just because there were barely any female fighters in DBZ, and I wanted to see them get some action. We may never know.


Q. Why add Yamcha to the cast?

A. I generally try to keep away from using too many integral DBZ characters in my stories except for cameos, but I just got this idea to use him... I wanted to see him become useful again, instead of standing by while everyone saves the universe. Also, I figure he helps to better ground the story in the DBZ universe. Since everything so far takes place in the ten year gap between the defeat of Buu and the end of DBZ, I can use him. What will bring him back to Earth before the end of the series, though, remains to be seen. I'm actually toying with diverging further from established DBZ continuity, and making a mighty big change in Yamcha, so DBZ purists should watch out.


Q. Where were Goku and the Z-Fighters when the new Ginyus fought the Been Team on Earth?

A. I tried to hint in the story that they were otherwise occupied fighting the monster Hildegarn, from DBZ movie 13. Before everyone hits me over the head and says, "that movie doesn't fit in continuity," I'd like to reply that, to my knowledge, the only thing that most people consider as keeping it out of continuity is that Trunks is given his sword from Tapion, and the end credits montage implies that it's somehow the same sword Future Trunks uses in the series. Just because they show those clips, doesn't mean this has to be that sword. Anyway, if that doesn't work for you, consider that Goku and his pals could have been facing some other world-shattering dilemma. Who knows what was going on in the ten years between Buu and the end of the series? I don't, and I doubt you do either.


Q. Why do you use some FUNimation spellings and some original spellings for names? Why do you call Tenshinhan both "Tenshinhan" and "Tien?"

A. I generally go with what I like better, and often simply with what I knew first. I was introduced to "Master Roshi" before "Kamesennin" or "Muten Roshi," so I call him Master Roshi. On the other hand, I was introduced to "Tsurusennin" before "Master Shen," so I call him Tsurusennin. Likewise for Mr. Satan/Hercule, King Kai/Kaio-Sama, etc. I also tend to choose the romanizations that look better to my eye. Goku is Goku, Vegeta is Vegeta, Yamcha is Yamcha, and Chiaotzu is Chiaotzu simply because those romanized spellings look more attractive to me than Gokuu or Gokou or Vejita or Yamucha or Chaozu. Most of these characters are barely so much as mentioned in my stories anyway, so no one should worry. As for Tien... Well, if someone named Robert can have the nickname Ted, then someone named Tenshinhan can have the nickname Tien.


Q. What's with the Urusei Yatsura and Pokemon crossovers?

A. They can barely be called crossovers; more just mini-guest appearances. The reason is because in the DBZ RPG campaign I keep referencing, my players kept playing characters from other pseudo-serious comedy animes for fun. At last count, my fictional DBZ universe is the home to Urusei Yatsura, Pokemon, Ranma 1/2, andStreet Fighter II V in addition to DB, DBZ, and Dr. Slump, since we already know it exists in DBZ. As for where they live... We know where Penguin Island is on DBZ's world map. In my world, Tokyo is somewhere near South City, so that's where the Urusei Yatsura and Ranma characters are from... And the Pokemon continent and islands are somewhere on the other hemisphere, across the world from the huge DBZ continent we see in most official maps. Where the Street Fighter characters come from is anyone's guess, since that series uses several real cities all over the world. It's an odd concept, but you get used to it.


That's all I have for now… as the stories continue, I will add more. If you have a question, e-mail selfmodifier@aol.com for the answer!