Tapion

"I know death seems cruel, but I welcome this blade."
— Tapion in Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon

Tapion (タピオン, Tapion; FUNimation "Tapion") is a Conutsian.

Tapion's Japanese name is a pun on the word Tapioka, or Tapioca in English.

Appearance

Tapion is roughly six feet tall and has light skin and a mohawk (a similar style to that of East Kaioshin) of bright red hair. He wields a sword and a Flute.

Biography

The Hirudegarn war

Main article: Hirudegarn war

Tapion and Minotia being told about the Music Boxes.

Tapion appeared in Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon and was described as a hero from Planet Conuts.

A thousand years ago, Tapion and his brother, Minotia, were ordinary Conutsians living on the peaceful Planet Conuts, very similar to Planet Earth. One day, a group of evil warlocks known as the Kashvar drifted in and performed an ancient ritual that revived a statue, a ruthless behemoth named Hirudegarn. With no sense of reason, Hirudegarn would eventually use his incredible power to destroy Planet Conuts.

During the battle between Hirudegarn and the Conutsians, Tapion and Minotia used their special Flutes to hold Hirudegarn at bay. Given this opportunity, a priest sent by Planet Conuts' Kami brandished an enchanted sword and used it to slice Hirudegarn in half. Tapion, Minotia, and the priest were then known as heroes among the Conutsians.

To ensure Hirudegarn's eternal imprisonment, Tapion and Minotia agreed to have their bodies guard each spirit of Hirudegarn (his top half went to Tapion and his bottom half to Minotia). They were then enclosed in mystical Music Boxes, put in space pods, and dispatched to different galaxies. Tapion's space pod eventually landed on Planet Earth.

The Return of Hirudegarn

Tapion and Trunks battling against Hirudegarn.

Tapion playing his Flute.

Unfortunately, a Kashvar named Hoi would go off in search for the Music Boxes in order to free them and unleash Hirudegarn once again.

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

After he saw 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 weakened and absorbed Hirudgarn's bottom half into his own body. Leaving the battlefield, Tapion came to believe that Hoi had already killed Minotia.

Later on, while Trunks was visiting Tapion, Hoi 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 Corporation by Trunks. Tapion explained the whole story to Bulma and she announced that she would try to re-create the broken Music Box so that Tapion could finally rest, much to Tapion's delight.

Tapion tried sleeping inside the new Music Box, 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 Minotia were Konatsian knights who always carried swords), but Trunks could not find it in his heart to kill his "big brother" and Hirudegarn was freed once again. To Tapion's horror, the flute shattered.

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 Gotenks (the fusion of Goten and Trunks) 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 destroyed for good when Goku (as a Super Saiyan 3) saw his chance and pierced through Hirudegarn's chest with a Dragon Fist, obliterating the monster forever.

To go home, Tapion used a Time Machine (similar to the one that Future Trunks Brief had used) to travel back to Planet Conuts. As a gift, Tapion gave his sword to Trunks and went 1000 years back in time to his home. He was neither seen nor mentioned again.

Video games

Tapion appeared in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 and Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3. He fights using both his sword and ki attacks.

Techniques

• Brave Cannon – Tapion throws a large, powerful ball of ki.
• Brave Slash – Tapion slashes his opponent with sharp ki attacks created by his sword.
• Brave Sword Attack – Tapion slashes his opponent and then he slices them in half. This technique is originally used by the Conutsian Priest to cut Hirudegarn in half.
• Bukujutsu
• Hero's Flute – Tapion plays a song on his Flute and creates a barrier of mystical energy.
• Ki Blast
• Zanzo-ken

Voice actors

• Japanese dub: Hiro Yūki
• FUNimation dub: Jason Liebrecht

Trivia

• Tapion makes a cameo appearance as a statue in an episode of Blue Dragon, an anime adaptation to which Akira Toriyama contributed.
• Link from the Legend of Zelda franchise shares several notable features with Tapion. Link from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time resembles Tapion the most. Both have a mystical blade and a mystical ocarina. They are also known as heroes, have pointy ears, lived in a (relatively) ancient time, and represent courage as well as time travel, however, the Japanese theatrical release of Wrath of the Dragon preceded the Japanese release of Ocarina of Time (The game in which Link prominently uses the Ocarina of Time) by a full three years.
• In terms of clothing and hairstyle, Tapion and his brother also bear some resemblance to Crono, the lead protagonist of Chrono Trigger, released by Square shortly before the theatrical release of Wrath of the Dragon in 1995. This may have to do with Akira Toriyama being one of three lead developers of Chrono Trigger along with Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi and Yuuji Horii.
• Tapion and Future Trunks have special dialogue in Budokai Tenkaichi 2 where Future Trunks says, "Long time no see." and Tapion responds by saying, "Let's see how strong you've become." This dialogue suggests that Tapion appeared in Future Trunks' timeline, meaning his sword could have been Tapion's Sword as in the main timeline. As this is a game and the events of Wrath of the Dragon contradict the known facts of Future Trunks' timeline, the canonicity is debatable.