Coola
From Dragon Ball Encyclopedia, the ''Dragon Ball'' wiki
"It is I who decides who lives and who dies! All living things are mere playthings to me! No one can comprehend my power and cunning!"
— Coola in Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge
Coola (クウラ, Kūra; FUNimation "Cooler") is the older brother of Freeza and the eldest son of King Cold. Like the rest of his family, he is also shown to be involved in Freeza's Force, although he does not appear to work closely with his family. He also leads his own squadron of warriors and employs a variety of soldiers as grunts. Much like his brother, he can push his body through transformations to increase his power. Although only two forms are seen (the last two), it is stated in the fifth film that Cooler possesses the same number of forms as Freeza does, as well as a fifth and more powerful form which he uses to combat Son Goku. Also like his brother, Cooler gains a bio-mechanical final form after merging with the Big Gete Star.
Cooler was designed by Akira Toriyama, the original manga author for Toei Animation's theatrical production (and later adapted as needed for future appearances). Toriyama's designs can be seen in Dragon Ball: Daizenshū 6.
Contents
Name pun
Like his brother and father, Coola's name is a pun on all things relating to the cold. Originally, both Coola's and Freeza's Japanese names end in a short "a" vowel, ("Coola" and "Freeza"), but many English translations had dropped the "a" and added an "er" at the end due to many of the kana spellings on English words ("Cooler" and "Freezer"). Officially, both of their original names typically are spelled with an "a" at the end (as opposed to the "Cooler" and "Freezer" spellings). Logic would follow that the character's name should in turn be spelled in a similar fashion, (as opposed to "Cooler") but this was not the case. FUNimation, the company responsible for Dragon Ball's production and distribution in North America and Australia, choose to spell the name as Cooler despite spelling "Freeza" closer to the original as "Frieza".
Biography
Dragon Ball GT
Coola made a cameo appearance in Dragon Ball GT when many villains escaped from Hell. He and the rest of the villains were sent back to Hell shortly afterwards.
Films
Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge
Main article: Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge
"Well, well... not bad, rather impressive actually. Frieza, yes, I could see how he would have trouble with you. My brother was a pest, I would have killed him myself sooner or later. He was always trying to beat me, trying to prove that he was the best, and he definitely had the edge. But then it happened... I transformed! As you know, I am in the third transformed state, but I found a fourth beyond it! You should feel privileged, you will be the first one to witness this form! First you will see then you will DIE!"
In the year 737 Age, while Freeza destroyed Planet Vegeta, the homeworld of the Saiyans, a newly-born Kakarrot (Son Goku) was being sent to subjugate Earth. Seeing that Goku had escaped the explosion, Cooler's henchmen made plans to shoot the space-pod down. Cooler unexpectedly delayed the order, lamenting that his brother was still far too soft to allow a child's escape and that Frieza's conceit would delay the annihilation of the Saiyan race and jeopardize his family's absolute control over the galaxy (well, that, and also the fact that he had seven planets to conquer/destroy by the end of the day [Depending on the version], thus making him too busy to carry out the order anyways). Also, as Goku was only an infant at the time, he didn't believe him to be any sort of immediate threat.
Roughly Twenty-seven years later, Cooler was given word that his brother had been killed... by a Saiyan. Initially skeptical, he soon comes to believe it, and heads to Earth to avenge Frieza's death; however, he has no compassion for his brother and only desires to do so to restore his family honor. Upon arriving, he had his henchmen encounter a Saiyan, who of course is Goku. He succeeds in mortally wounding him in a shot intended for Gohan, but loses sight of his quarry after Goku is washed down a waterfall. Not content to blow up the planet - being too proud and eager to smite the one who injured his family name - Cooler goes to some lengths to have him tracked down.
With all three of his henchmen defeated by Piccolo, He finally enters the battle himself and easily defeats Piccolo before facing Goku. Goku, revived by consuming a Senzu bean, begins his battle with Cooler. Initially, he and Cooler are a fairly even match (too much even for Cooler's tastes), so he honors Goku by showing him his ultimate transformation, Final Form Cooler (クウラ 最終 形態, Kūra Saishū Keitai). He increases dramatically in size, speed, and strength; four horns grow to form a crown atop his head as spikes form on his forearms, and he now sports a face-mask of sorts, hiding all facial features except his eyes, which are now red without pupils.
Cooler is able to easily overpower Goku in this form, until at length he grows tired of the fight and feels Frieza had further shamed his family by dying at Goku's hand. As he makes plans to destroy the planet, Goku's rage transcends, transforming him into a Super Saiyan. Off-guard and arrogant, Cooler is batted around easily, and then he realizes how Frieza lost to Goku. He gathers enough energy to form a large orange sun-like attack (the same attack Frieza used to destroy Planet Vegeta and to try and kill Future Trunks) that he hopes will not only be enough to obliterate his opponent, but the Earth along with him. But with a powerful Kamehameha, Goku is able to offset his attack and send Cooler hurling into the Sun. It was then that Cooler realized that Goku was the Saiyan child he had allowed to escape nearly three decades ago, and that in scolding his brother and not lifting a finger he had been far too soft himself. After this, Cooler incinerates in the fires of the sun.
Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler
Main article: Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler
"Spare me the theatrics, you've made your demands clear. It's a shame my Cyclopian Guards are unable to answer, but then even if they were... what would you really expect them to say?"
Coola's remains floated in space until he eventually fused with the Big Gete Star, a giant machine planet. The Big Gete Star revived Coola when it fused with his brain, eventually allowing Coola to take control. Coola set a course for New Planet Namek intent on draining the planet and using the Namekians as fuel for the Big Gete Star. Dende, learning of this horrible news, called to Earth's warriors for help. Son Goku, Son Gohan, and Piccolo, as well as Kuririn, Turtle Hermit, Oolong, and Yajirobe, traveled to New Planet Namek to assist the Namekians. When they arrived, they found Cyclopian Guards and the revived Coola as Metal Coola (メタル クウラ, Metaru Kūra), a wholly metallic and enhanced form. Stronger than ever, he was able to easily repel Goku even as a Super Saiyan. Had it not been for the unlikely appearance of Vegeta, Goku most likely would have been killed. The two Super Saiyans, however, still ran into difficulty handling Metal Coola. The nano-machines that made up his body would instantly detect and repair any defect, and made it so that the defect would no longer hinder the "new-and-improved" version. He also had a built-in Scouter. Only by working together in a joint attack would Metal Coola finally be destroyed.
The Big Gete Star housed not one Metal Coola, however, but thousands. Goku and Vegeta, battered and beaten, soon realized they had no chance of beating them all, especially as only a single Metal Coola gave them so much trouble. Goku and Vegeta were soon attacked and absorbed by the Big Gete Star itself where they found the brains behind it all, the actual Metal Coola - an obscene and grinning head split with one remaining eye and strung up by wires and sheets of metal. All of the Metal Coola seen previously were under remote control, and the Big Gete Star itself formed Metal Coola's true body. He plotted to drain Goku and Vegeta of all their energy for his own purposes (in the Japanese dub, he stated that he planned to use their energy to create an army of metal Super Saiyans which he would use to take over the universe) and said, "Oh, the exquisite agony!" and laughed maniacally. Their power was too much for him, however, and he begun to overload the capacity of his systems. The Super Saiyans then flooded the Big Gete Star with energy and caused it to crumble and his remote-controlled Metal Coola to self-destruct as the real Metal Coola started to lose his hold on the Big Gete Star. Sickened that such "scum" had yet again foiled his plans, Metal Coola fashioned a final body and intended to throttle Goku in wires. Even to this end, Metal Coola believed victory was inevitable and his arrogance cost him his life when Vegeta sheared off one of his mechanical arms with a powerful energy blast and gave Goku time to break out and destroy what was left of his body with a deadly energy ball. With the "brain" gone, the Big Gete Star disintegrated over New Planet Namek. Vegeta then crushed the Big Gete Star chip in his hand, ensuring that Coola would never come back again.
Dragon Ball Z Gaiden: Saiya-jin Zetsumetsu Keikaku
Main article: Dragon Ball Z Gaiden: Saiya-jin Zetsumetsu Keikaku (film)
A phantom Cooler, along with what appears to be a resurrected Freeza, Tullece, and Slugg, attacked Goku and his friends in Dragon Ball Z Gaiden: Saiya-jin Zetsumetsu Keikaku (film)|Dragon Ball Z Gaiden: Saiya-jin Zetsumetsu Keikaku]] and its remake, Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans, but they were merely false Ghost Warriors meant to harass the heroes (while not the real ones, it is interesting that this is the only time in the anime that Cooler and Freeza are seen together as allies).
Video games
Cooler makes several video game appearances. Cooler makes an appearance as a boss character in Dragon Ball Z III: Retsusen Jinzōn Ningen (Famicom) and Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II. He is also a playable character in several versus fighting games, including Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi, Dragonball Z: Infinite World, Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors 2, and Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai. He is also in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 and Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 along with Salza, with his base form, transformation, and Meta-Cooler. Cooler also appears as a boss in Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi.
In Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors 2, Cooler gets his own Story mode that can either follow a standard story line, or branch off into a few "what if" scenarios. In one scenario, Cooler and Frieza join forces to take over Earth, which ultimately ends in Cooler killing his brother for treachery. In another scenario, Cooler revives Zarbon, Dodoria, and The Ginyu Force with the Dragon Balls and enlists them into his army. In this story line, he ultimately defeats a newly Perfected Cell, and (in a somewhat comedic ending) grudgingly agrees to take part in a large group pose with the Ginyu Force.
Cooler also made an appearance as an alternate costume for Freeza in Dragon Ball Z 2 V, a special edition of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 given out in a contest through the Japanese magazine V Jump. Cooler also appeared in Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans available with Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2.
Race
The name of Coola's race is never revealed in the anime, manga, or films. It should also be noted that there is never any hint given as to whether Cold is able to transform. If not, then his shown form would be his "true" form (being his only one) which would suggest that transformations are unique to his sons (the only person who might be able to clear all of this up would be author Akira Toriyama himself).
Coola's henchmen
Main articles: Coola Armored Corps and Cyclopian Guards
Like the mercenary Ginyu Special Corps (right down to the vapid posing) called upon by Freeza on Planet Namek, the Coola Armored Corps (クウラ 機甲 戦隊, Kūra Kikō Sentai) composed the elder brother's own special fighting team. These three warriors served as Coola's subordinates throughout the course of the fifth film. Their dress was the customary garb of soldiers in Freeza's Force. An extended length of armor jutted from their left shoulder. While the uniforms themselves were in Coola's primary colors of purple and white, they were shown to have a habit of blocking or reflecting a Ki Blast rather than dodging them. This habit caused Dore to be killed when he tried to block a blast more powerful than he could handle. Unlike the Ginyu Force, they appeared to be more serious, with their posing being more limited (as Coola might not be as tolerant of it as his brother, Freeza) and less awkward than the Ginyu Force's Special Fighting Poses. It is also worth noting that Akira Toriyama provided the character designs for these characters, as seen in the sixth Dragon Ball Daizenshuu. Interestingly, the Armored Squadron's insignia resembles Cooler's head in his fifth form.
Cooler has two groups of henchmen in The Return of Cooler, his Cyclopian Guards and of course his Meta-Coola clones. It should also be noted that the word Gete in the Big Gete Star comes from the word Getemono, which roughly means "cobbled together".
Powers and techniques
Cooler possesses many of the same techniques as his brother, though often noticeably stronger. Very little of his individual techniques differ from that of Frieza. It is notable that he possesses a powerful fifth form, his fourth transformation. However, this form was still no match for the power of a Super Saiyan. Also, Cooler can power up his Supernova attack faster than Frieza can thus making him much more dangerous.
He is able to suppress his ki signature (as he was able to sneak up on Goku and Piccolo without detection, something he couldn't have done otherwise). He is also one of the few DBZ villains able to use Instant Transmission (the others being Super Perfect Cell and Kid Buu). Calling it one of his favorite techniques.
He also possesses the ability to survive in the vacuum of space and like Frieza has the ability to survive even the most horrifying injuries and still function, as shown in Movie 6, in which all that remains of him is his disembodied head. Like his brother, he becomes a cyborg after his defeat at the hands of Goku, only to be defeated once and for all.
In The Return of Cooler, the Big Gete Star gave Cooler the ability to create metal body duplicates. These metal bodies were incredibly deadly as they had the ability to repair any damage done to them up to a certain point (similar to Cell's regeneration), forcing Goku and Vegeta to blast the Meta Cooler they were fighting into pieces so small he couldn't repair himself. These repairs also had a much deadlier side effect. When repairing himself, Cooler could also analyse how he was damaged and upgrade himself accordingly. In other words every time the mecha Cooler was damaged in any way it could instantly become stronger. Such as the power boost it gained when it repaired itself after Goku's attack. These upgrades would then become standard for every new meta Cooler created.
Powers
In movie 5, it was shown he was evenly matched with Goku in his base form. However, when he transformed into his 5th form, he far outclassed Goku even when he went Kaio-ken x20 (which made him at least equal to Frieza at 50% of his maximum power, and presumably much stronger, as Goku at this point had already defeated Frieza and become stronger by an unknown degree since then) and lost only when Goku transformed into a Super Saiyan who dominated him and blasted him into the sun. However, Cooler is able to survive at the end of the battle with Goku.
Cooler revealed to Goku before his final transformation that Frieza was always trying to beat him at everything and that he would have killed him sooner had it not been for his father. This implies that Cooler was planning on killing Frieza before his confrontation with Goku.
When he returned in Movie 6, his new form enabled him to not only keep up with Goku in his Super Saiyan form, but to outmatch him overall as well. Even with the appearance of Super Saiyan Vegeta, he still retained the upper hand. It took all the energy of them both to eliminate only one Meta Cooler.
Techniques
- Bukujutsu
- Death Ball – A spark of Ki that may grow to the size of a small moon.
- Death Beam – Like most members of the Cold Familly, Cooler has the power to use death beam, as seen in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3.
- Death Chaser – In final form, Cooler punches the opponent in the stomach, followed by a knee and a back-punch, knocking the opponent to the ground. Then, Cooler kicks the opponent in the stomach. Used against Goku.
- Death Flash – An energy wave Cooler used in his base form after he injured Goku with the Eye Laser when he was aiming for Gohan. He used it to chase Goku after he falled in the river. Cooler also used it in his final form against Super Saiyan Goku, immediately before the Supernova, in Cooler's Revenge. In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, the move was called Full Power Energy Wave.
- Eye Laser – A small thin beam shot from both eyes.
- Darkness Eye Beam – An attack similar to the Eye Laser but instead of going in a straight line, this attack moves in a horizontal direction. Named in the Tenkaichi series.
- Ki Blast – The most basic form of energy wave.
- Lock-On Buster – An attack used in his metal form. Cooler focuses his energy into one point, then releases it into an invisible beam. It is one of his most powerful attacks.
- Instant Transmission – A unique ability to teleport nearly anywhere. In FUNimation's English version Meta-Cooler claims it to be "one of his favorite moves". Originally he was surprised Goku knew the technique.
- Nano-regeneration – Any injury Meta-Cooler might suffer is instantly detected and repaired, and whatever flaws in his design that allowed the injury are corrected; thus, he cannot be harmed in the same way twice and become extremely stronger than before. This was named Rebirth in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3.
- Psycho Barrier – A technique he used in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3.
- Psychokinesis – A technique Cooler used in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3.
- Salza Blade – A powerful blade of pure ki which Cooler uses to cut his opponents.
- Transformation – An extra transformation Cooler learned to go beyond Frieza's. Originally, Cooler merely told Goku that he had one more transformation than Frieza.
- Telekinesis – Cooler can lift or move large objects through the air with his mind. A Meta-Cooler uses this ability to drive Goku through a mountain on New Namek.
- Cooler, like his brother, Freeza, is able to survive even the most horrific injury, even decapitation and incineration. He can also survive in space.
- You Are Stronger Than I Expected (そうでなくてはつまらん！) is a counterattack used by Meta Cooler.
- Zanzo-ken – A move he used in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3.
Voice actors
- Japanese dub: Ryūsei Nakao
- FUNimation dub: Andrew Chandler
- Latin American dub: Ricardo Brust
- German dub: Peter Flechtner
Trivia
- Cooler only mentions his father once, when in the English dub he exclaimed, "Father always spoiled you rotten, you little brat", in which he was showing his dislike for his brother. A year or so prior to his arrival on Earth, King Cold and Frieza are actually killed by Future Trunks not Goku. In regards to this line, it's interesting to note that his statement of Cold "spoiling" Frieza is slightly contradictory of his behavior towards him in the Trunks saga (e.g., his criticizing of Frieza at any moment he can get in regards to fighting him), as well as the implied physical abuse that Cold gave him in the Freeza saga ("My, my, you're the first person to actually inflict pain on my true form, well, besides my loving parents").
- Cooler and Garlic Jr. are the only movie villains who appear in the anime since Garlic Jr. had his own (filler) saga and Cooler made a cameo out of Hell in Dragon Ball GT.
- It is revealed in Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler that Cooler knows the Instant Transmission technique, having learned it sometime before his attack on Planet Earth (he uses the technique to escape Earth's sun, but is reduced to a disembodied head). This means that he could sense ki, unlike his brother or father, as Instant Transmission teleports by homing in on a ki signature. He may also be able to suppress his large ki signature, since none of the Z Fighters were alerted to his presence (both his brother and father were detected by the Z Warriors, even before their ship reached Earth's orbit). His being able to sense ki is supported by him not wearing a Scouter (though he may not have been able to wear one anyways, like Guldo because he doesn't have any hinges/bumps near his eyes and in the case of Guldo, his having four eyes hinders wearing a scouter), and it may also explain how he was able to appear whenever his henchmen were in over their heads as well as being able to remain hidden the entire time from Piccolo and able to launch a surprise attack on him (for instance, in their encounter with Piccolo during the events of Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge).
- Interestingly, even though Cooler's head in Return of Cooler was that of his 4th form, his voice is that of his final form, which can be consider the opposite in his brother's case. As, although Frieza was in his final form, after his battles on Namek, he speaks with the same voice as his 1st form .
- Cooler is one of the few Dragon Ball Z film villains to not be finished off by Goku. Notable others are Garlic Jr., Bojack, and Bio-Broly (if one counts Gogeta as an entirely different character, then Janemba also counts as well, and if one says that Goku wasn't actually present in Second Coming, then Broly as well). In fact, he is also the only main movie villain that was finished off by Vegeta (while Goku did disembody Cooler, he was actually finished off by Vegeta because, by destroying the Big Gete Star Chip, he also killed Cooler).
- According to Shonen Jump, Cooler is implied to have control of at least 256 planets, as Dore was stated as hailing from Planet Cooler No. 256.
- Cooler is the only character who survived being thrusted to the Sun, unlike Broly and Baby. This may have been due to his ability to survive without air and his body being able to function even after taking the most horrifying injuries (as shown when he was still alive even though all that remained of him was half of his disembodied head; Freeza too was able to live even when he was cut in half and caught in the explosion of Planet Namek).
- Cooler did not appear in Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn, but he did appear on the movie's cover.
References
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