Taunt

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Directory: Techniques → Supportive Techniques

Taunt (挑発, Chōhatsu) is a support technique used by many fighters.

Overview[]

Kid buu tounge taunt — Kid Buu sticking out his tongue and performing *Akanbe*

Taunting is performed by a user performing some form of gesture, remark, or insult to annoy or enrage their opponent and throw off their thinking.

Usage[]

Taunting has been used throughout the Dragon Ball series by a variety of characters. Even young Goku has been known to playfully taunt his opponents on occasion. Krillin suffered taunting from the Bullies of the Orin Temple who often picked on him. In the anime only, Krillin also attempts to bait General Blue into recklessly attacking him after managing to inflict a nosebleed via a kick to the face on the latter, but this massively backfired due to General Blue using his psychic powers to pin Krillin in place. As a young martial artist, Mr. Satan along with his Master foolishly taunted Mercenary Tao by making fun of his hairstyle, resulting in Mr. Satan being injured and his master being killed by Tao. Goten and Trunks cheekily taunted the powerful Broly as well as his clone Bio-Broly, while their fusion Gotenks taunted the powerful Super Buu. Due to his childish personality, Majin Buu has also been known to taunt opponents.

After being healed by Dende following being almost killed by HAIL Frieza, Krillin heroically used the technique to divert second form Frieza's attention away from Gohan giving Dende time to heal him.

While trying to goad a then-recently stage-frightened Uub into fighting him, Goku proceeded to taunt Uub by making disparaging remarks about the latter's village and his parents as well as proceeding to turn around, bend over slightly, and slap his behind at him.

During the Dark King Mechikabura Saga in Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Dark Demon Realm Mission!, Xeno Pan taunts Demon God Shroom as he is destroyed by her father Super Saiyan 4 Xeno Gohan's Kamehameha.

Film Appearances[]

In Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn, the crystallized excess evil energy and by extension Janemba himself, was highly vulnerable to being taunted, as taunts literally caused the crystallized substance to break. This was later exploited by Pikkon to weaken Janemba long enough for Goku and Vegeta to do a successful fusion and finish Janemba off.

In Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon, Goku utilized various taunts in an attempt to bait Hirudegarn into repeatedly physically attacking and thus staying tangible long enough for him to finish the Phantom Majin off with a Super Dragon Fist (with the English dub also implying that the taunts themselves force it to remove its intangibility).

Variations[]

Taunt EX - A Special Skill variant of Taunt from Dragon Ball Fusions. Has a chance of Inflicting Rage status on the opponent causing them to focus their attack on the user. Unlike the Special Move version, Taunt EX costs no ki though it can only be used once per battle.
The Savior Has Come - Mr. Satan's Ultimate Skill in the Dragon Ball Xenoverse series that forces opponents to lock-on to the user and acts as an Ultimate variant of Taunt. It can also be used by Majin Buu and Jaco in Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 as one of their available skills within their Custom Skillsets.
Pressure Sign - Vegito's variation on the Taunt is a counterattack where Vegito taunts the opponent into attacking him, only to use Rapid Movement upon being attacked to deliver a kicking counterattack.
Rough Ranger - Android 17's variation of the Taunt is a counterattack where he taunts the opponent to come and attack him, then counter with either a kick if it is a strike or standard ki blast fired at point blank range or deploy his Android Barrier if is a Ki Blast Super or standard Ki Blast fired at mid-to-long range.
Dark Dragon Beam - The user mocks their opponent by waging their index finger before firing a powerful finger beam. Syn Shenron's Super Attack which can be learned by all Hero Avatar types, races, and genders via a wish to Super Shenron in World Mission.
Bluff Kamehameha - A comical version of the Kamehameha where the user pretends to charge a Kamehameha but instead of an energy attack, they fire out confetti and streams. Used by Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta to taunt and scare Omega Shenron.

Video Game Appearances[]

Taunt was named in the Budokai series.

In the Budokai Tenkaichi series, taunting can be performed by a specific input, or not pressing any buttons for a short amount of time, depending on the game. Taunting cannot be cancelled and leaves the user wide open. In Budokai Tenkaichi 2, certain characters such as Cui will remove a bar of ki from the opponent when taunting near them.

In Dragon Ball Heroes Universe Mission 9, Xeno Pan taunts Salsa.

In Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z and Dragon Ball Xenoverse, taunting is used to force opponents to lock-on to the user and in team battles can be used prevent them from targeting one's allies by forcing them to lock-on the user.

In Xenoverse, Vegito has a variation called Pressure Sign and Mr. Satan has a variation called The Savior Has Come.

In Dragon Ball Fusions, Taunt appears as a Special Move used by several characters and has a chance of inflicting Rage status on a single opponent causing them to focus their attack on the user. There is also a stronger version called Group Taunt and a Special Skill variant called Taunt EX.

In Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, Taunt, Pressure Sign, and The Savior Has Come all return as skills and function the same way they did in Xenoverse. After the 1.09.00 Update, Taunt can be added to Krillin's custom skillset after it has been purchased in partner customization.

In Dragon Ball Legends, Taunt appears as a game mechanic in Hyper Dimensional Co-op Battles and can be used to increase the Aggro which determines who the boss targets. The one with the higher Aggro will be targeted by the Co-op Boss thus Taunts are a good way to increase Aggro outside of attacking the boss. It is available to all characters when used in a battle that utilizes Hyper Dimensional Co-op rules.

In Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission, during the Dark Dragon Beam Super Attack, the user will taunt the opponent by wagging their index finger before firing a powerful finger beam at them.

Kakarot - Yamcha's Taunt — Yamcha's Taunt pose in *Kakarot*

In Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, Taunt appears as one of Yamcha's Super Attacks where he confidently smiles (causing his teeth to sparkle) while taunting which draws the attention of enemies causing them to target him.

Taunt appears as a mechanic in Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle starting from the 9th Anniversary where if the conditions are met, they'll redirect all of the enemy attacks to that unit.

Trivia[]

Most villains have met their end at some point after showing their middle finger, Recoome was defeated by Goku and killed by Vegeta. Babidi was killed by Majin Buu, and Super Buu's existence came to an end when he reverted to his pure Kid Buu form, who was later killed by the Super Spirit Bomb.
- Vegeta was also met with defeat at the hands of Recoome and later killed by Frieza after using it on Krillin during the Battle on Planet Namek though he was technically an anti-hero when he did it to Krillin and ironically joined forces with Krillin after using it in order to combat the Ginyu Force and Frieza which was what actually lead to his defeat and later death, though he was later accidentally resurrected by Mr. Popo's wish to revive everyone killed by Frieza and his men, though this is likely a reflection to his anti-hero status and eventual redemption.
Due to its status as an obscene hand gesture, the notorious middle finger taunt is often censored in TV broadcasts of the anime and movies including Dragon Ball Z Kai, though it can be seen in the original and uncut versions. Mooning, more specifically the portions where they drop their pants, is also censored due to being considered a form of nudity. The clothed variant is still shown, however. Starting from Dragon Ball Super, no characters are shown using the gesture even in the original version.

Goku shows his tail to the crowd 4 — Goku mooning the crowd during the 21st World Tournament in *Dragon Ball*.

Goku has been the victim of The Finger twice, first by Recoome on Namek and later by the Wizard Babidi. However, both villains met their ends shortly afterwards, as the defeated Recoome was killed by Vegeta and Babidi was killed by Majin Buu. Interestingly, Goku indirectly caused both villain's deaths, as he had defeated Recoome which gave Vegeta the chance to kill him (though Goku later admonished Vegeta for killing a defenseless opponent) and Babidi was only killed by Majin Buu after Goku suggested that someone as powerful as Buu shouldn't have to take orders from someone weak like Babidi (meaning Goku killed Babidi by proxy).
- Although not an actual usage of the finger, General Blue does demonstrate a similar gesture just before fighting Goku in the anime, where he extends his pinkie finger.
At least three members of the Z Fighters have used The Finger to taunt an enemy of theirs at least once during their lives and interestingly all are members of the Brief family. Bulma flipped off Pilaf in Dragon Ball, Vegeta flipped of Krillin during the Namek Saga (Vegeta was still technically an antagonist when he used it on Krillin ), and Trunks flipped off Bio-Broly in the Bio-Broly film. However as in most cases its use by then tends to be censored in edited TV broadcasts, as it can be considered a bad influence to have protagonists (even Vegeta who was technically an anti-hero at the time he performed it and became an ally not long after he used it) using such an obscene hand gesture.
- Additionally, Trunks and Goten's fusion Gotenks can also use the technique though he presumably inherits it from Trunks, given Goten's good-natured personality and having better manners than Kid Trunks. Goten himself would likely avoid using it even if he did learn or know of it (presumably from being around Trunks) for fear of getting in trouble with his mother (as Chi-Chi would likely not approve of either her sons using it given, she would probably view it as both extremely bad manners and sign of delinquency given her personality).
- Veku also uses it in Fusion Reborn to taunt Janemba. His knowledge of the technique likely comes from Vegeta.
- The chapter page for Cell vs. Android 16 features Tien Shinhan, Krillin, Yamcha, and Future Trunks flipping off Imperfect Cell with disgusted glares at him. This marks the only time it has been used by Krillin, Tien, Yamcha, and Future Trunks, though not in the actual storyline.
Both Goku and his descendant Goku Jr. have mooned someone. Goku Jr.'s great-great-grandfather Mr. Satan also threatened to use the taunt on Cell in the manga, though he did perform the clothed version on Cell in the anime.
In Granddaughter Pan, a unnamed punk kid gives the young Pan the finger (in censored versions it was edited to a clenched fist), an act which in real life is viewed as form of sexual assault on a minor if done to children and can result in jail time for the offender.

Sdbh Universe mission 9 Xeno Pan Akanbe Taunt — Xeno Pan performing Akanbe

Akanbe (あかんべえ, Akanbe) is a childish gesture in Japanese culture, made by pulling a lower eyelid down to expose the red underneath. In the Dragon Ball series, it is often used in tandem with other taunting gestures, such as Jimmy Firecracker using Akanbe in combination with the finger and Kid Buu using it and sticking out his tongue.
- Xeno Pan uses Akanbe to taunt Salsa in the opening to Universe Mission 9 of Dragon Ball Heroes.
Although technically not a taunt, Amorous Glance does utilize similar behaviors to taunts, in particular the mooning variation.
- Similarly, although technically not a taunt, Farting sometimes incorporates the mooning variation, particularly the pants removal variation as a way to ensure the resulting waft has a full effect.
In the Japanese anime, after General Blue threatens Krillin over the latter injuring him by kicking his face, Krillin proceeds to taunt Blue by telling him to act on attacking him and proceeds to bait Blue by calling him a "flaming homo" in reference to the latter's sexual preference. This was toned down in the English dub to Krillin merely daring Blue to delivering his best shot. In both instances, this massively backfires on Krillin due to Blue proceeding to paralyze Krillin via his Psychic Eyes ability.

Taunt

Contents

Overview[]

Usage[]

Film Appearances[]

Variations[]

Video Game Appearances[]

Trivia[]

Gallery[]

References[]

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