Artificial Human No. 8

"It's your turn to suffer!"
— Artificial Human No. 8 in "The Fall of Muscle Tower"

Artificial Human No. 8 (人造 人間 8号, Jinzō Ningen Hachi-Gō; Viz "Mechanical Man #8") is Doctor Gero's eighth creation.

Appearance

No. 8 bears a heavy resemblance to Frankenstein's monster.

Biography

No. 8 was designed to serve the Red Ribbon Army, but was seen as faulty because of his well-spirited nature.

Dragon Ball

Red Ribbon Army Saga

No. 8 and Goku during the Red Ribbon Army Saga.

Murasaki intended to use No. 8 against Son Goku, however, No. 8 refused to battle the child. When Murasaki threatened to detonate No. 8 via remote control, Goku knocked the trigger out of his hand and knocked out Murasaki. Goku nicknamed him Eighter and he became Goku's friend. When General White threatened No. 8 with an ultimatum – kill Goku or the Jingle Village Mayor would be shot – Goku decided to stop the torment by turning his back so that White could shoot him unopposed, but an enraged No. 8 punched White clean out of Muscle Tower's uppermost window. Afterwards, No. 8 proceeded to destroy Muscle Tower and put an end to at least part of the evil Red Ribbon Army. After he eliminated the contingent in Jingle Village, No. 8 revealed that he had discovered the Dragon Ball that the Red Ribbon Army had been looking for and hid it because he knew that they intended to kill the villagers once it was found. Hearing this, the Jingle Village Mayor invited No. 8 to live among them.

King Piccolo Saga

No. 8 is seen again during the King Piccolo Saga of Dragon Ball when he goes to rescue Suno after she falls victim to King Piccolo's assault on King Castle. No. 8's appearance in "Lost and Found" was his last in the Dragon Ball anime.

Dragon Ball Z

Kid Buu Saga

No. 8 makes cameo appearances throughout Dragon Ball Z, the most prominent being during the Kid Buu Saga when Goku was forming a Genki Dama and No. 8, along with his fellow villagers, supplied Goku with his energy to use against Kid Boo. The fact that he is alive at this time proves that completely artificial life can be revived by the Dragon Balls, as he appeared to have been revived along with Planet Earth's inhabitants after the planet's destruction by Kid Boo.

Dragon Ball GT

Baby Saga

No. 8 was very briefly seen in Piccolo's Decision where he was transported off of Planet Earth by Goku before it exploded.

Films

No. 8 appeared in Dragon Ball: The Path to Power, a retelling of the early Dragon Ball story altered from canon for theatrical purposes. One major plot change was that No. 8 was destroyed by the newly titled "Commander Black" of the "Black Ribbon Army", which caused Goku to snap and push himself into a severly powered up stage, allowing him to destroy the giant mech that Black was inside and ultimately kill Black along with it. After Commander Black was defeated, Goku used the Dragon Balls to wish No. 8 back to life and remove the bomb within him.

Video games

No. 8 in Budokai Tenkaichi 3.

No. 8 made his first playable appearance in a Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3.

No. 8 was captured by General White and turned evil (for the first time) in Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans.

No. 8 appeared in the cutscenes of Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo.

Games

He is named Hatchan (ハツチャン, Hatsuchan) in Super Barcode Wars.

Inconsistent origin

As Gero was not introduced to the series until five years later in Dragon Ball Z, a filler episode of the Dragon Ball anime established that the scientist Dr. Flappe was the inventor of No. 8. The fact that Flappe does not appear in Akira Toriyama's manga work, nor is he mentioned as the creator of any android models in Dragon Ball Z, coupled with the fact that Toriyama was in fact involved in the production of anime filler material, makes it difficult to identify exactly who designed No. 8. To compromise for this, there have been suggestions that both Gero and Flappe created No. 8 as a joint effort. Another possibility is that No. 8 came from a totally different line of Red Ribbon Artificial Humans, and so would not have been included.

Artificial Human No. 17 asserts during the Androids Saga that Gero had destroyed the first fifteen Artificial Humans he had designed, however, this contradicts the canonicity of both the mainstream series (as No. 8 makes cameo appearances throughout both DBZ and Dragon Ball GT) and Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13!, which features Artificial Humans Artificial Human No. 13, Artificial Human No. 14 and Artificial Human No. 15 as its lead villains, and provides an original explanation that Dr. Gero was murdered by No. 17 and Artificial Human No. 18 prior to personally completing No. 13 through No. 15 (leaving an underground supercomputer to finish the models posthumously).

Techniques

• Android bomb – Since most Artificial Humans were given a built in bomb, it is well known that No. 8 also had one, giving him the ability to self-destruct. He loses this ability after the bomb is removed by Dr. Flappe.
• Eighter's Anger (八憤, Hachiikidooru) – No. 8 releases a massive fiery wave of energy similar to Super Explosive Wave. This attack is named and only seen in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3. This is most likely inspired by No. 8's self-destruction ability before the bomb he had was removed by Prof. Flappe.
• You Hurt Goku! – No. 8's ultimate attack in Budokai Tenkaichi 3. No. 8 attacks the opponent with a punch that sends his opponent reeling. He then repeatedly uses chop and punch-like attacks to beat the opponent further backward, finishing them off with a massive punch that sends them flying across the stage. This move was likely inspired by the punch he used to defeat General White.
• Eighter Attack – No. 8 zooms through the air out into the distance with his arm out like Superman and flies into the opponent. This technique is named in Budokai Tenkaichi 3.
• Flight – No. 8 can fly with great speed as seen in The Path to Power.

Voice actors

• Japanese dub: Shōzō Iizuka
• FUNimation dub: Mike McFarland
• Ocean Group dub: Dale Wilson (Dragon Ball Z)
• Latin American dub: Ricardo Hill (Dragon Ball), Arturo Mercado (Dragon Ball Z)
• Portuguese dub: António Semedo
• Italian dub: Pietro Ubaldi

Trivia

• Goku calls No. 8 8-Man in the manga. Goku calls No. 8 Eighter in the anime and Tenkaichi 3.
• No. 8 has been called Franky in reference to his resemblance to Frankenstein's monster.
• No. 8 is the only Artificial Human to appear in all three series: Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT.
• A character created for Dragon Ball Online resembles No. 8, and located on its armor is the number '8000'.