For decades, Akira Toriyama has been the mastermind behind anime series Dragon Ball. Since creating the animated series, he’s written numerous enthralling sagas with a rotating cast of beloved heroes and villains. However, there was one Dragon Ball Z character that slipped his mind, as long-time voice actor Christopher Sabat told us.
“I happened to be literally there at the release of Shonen Jump magazine back in the early 2000s in New York City, and Akira Toriyama himself was there and I actually got to shake his hand,” Sabat recalled to The Digital Fix. “Some fan asked him, ‘Whatever happened to Launch?’, and he said, ‘I forgot’.”
If you don’t remember Launch, don’t worry, you’re not the only one. She’s a woman who has a Jekyll-and-Hyde-type disorder where she switches personalities when she sneezes. You can tell which version is in charge because of her hair, one side’s blonde, the other blue. She appears regularly through-out Dragon Ball, even having a role in one of the anime movies, but then becomes more of a side-character early in Dragon Ball Z, and just drifted into obscurity since.
Sabat has long been the voice-actor for Piccolo, and he’d like to see Launch come back in a future animated movie. “I always pitch the concept of Resurrection L. I want to see Launch come back in a major way,” he says. “We need Launch back in a cool way as Tien misses her dearly and I miss her because I think she was a really fun, awesome, cool character.”
Currently, Piccolo and Gohan are facing the Red Ribbon Army in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. Goku and Vegeta are away training – typical – so it’s up to Gohan and his Namekian stepdad to fight the Gammas, a pair of android constructed by Dr Gero’s grandson, Dr Hedo.
Super Hero brought back the Red Ribbon Army, and we’ve had Frieza and Broly in recent films as well. Perhaps Launch’s time is coming! Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero is in theatres on August 19.