Tambourine

Directory: Characters → Villains → DB villains → Namekian

"Giran was just a job. Your father I killed for fun." — "Terrible Tambourine"

Tambourine
タンバリン
Tanbarin
Debuts
Appears in
Manga Debut	"The Death of Kuririn"
Anime Debut	"Enter King Piccolo"
Characteristics
Race	Mutant Namek
Gender	Genderless
Height	188cm
Weight	74kg
Birth Date	May 7, Age 753
Death Date(s)	May 8, Age 753
Professional Status
Occupation	Right-hand man
Allegiance	King Piccolo's Demon Clan
Address	The World of Death
Personal Status
Relatives	King Piccolo (parent) Piano (sibling) Cymbal (sibling) Drum (sibling) Piccolo (sibling)

Tambourine (タンバリン, Tanbarin) is a supporting antagonist who appears in the Dragon Ball manga and the anime Dragon Ball. One of King Piccolo's children, he is a humanoid gargoyle-like mutated Namekian.

Appearance

Tambourine is a mutant Namekian of average height, with wings and fangs.

Personality

Tambourine's favorite hobby is slaughtering humans, as he considers them inferior to his kind. Tambourine is extremely cold-hearted, killing innocent people just to entertain himself, and has no remorse for any of his victims nor their loved ones. He considers all other races besides his useless, stating humans serve no purpose other than to be killed. Even on duty, he will kill people not involved in his mission just for fun. At most times Tambourine is very arrogant, constantly taunting his opponents, and declaring that he is superior. When Tambourine meets an opponent stronger than him however, he seems to show a cowardly side. As after being pummeled by Goku he attempted to fly away and flee.

Biography

Dragon Ball

King Piccolo Saga

Main article: King Piccolo Saga

Tambourine after beating down Goku

Tambourine is born offscreen shortly after King Piccolo was released by Emperor Pilaf. Under orders from King Piccolo, Tambourine sets out to assassinate all the competitors of the last three World Martial Arts Tournaments who may pose a threat to Piccolo's return to power, and collect any Dragon Balls that he comes across in the process.

His first victim is Krillin, whom he confronts shortly after the end of the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament when Krillin goes back to the area to collect Goku's objects that he forgot. Krillin fights with everything he has, but proves no match for Tambourine, who kills him by kicking him on the head, crushing his frontal lobe. Tambourine then steals the Four-Star Dragon Ball and a list of all tournament contestants.

Tambourine is attacked by King Chappa's disciples

While on his way, Tambourine is confronted by Goku, who is determined to avenge Krillin's death. Tambourine gloats over Krillin's death, which only enrages Goku further. Goku and Tambourine engage each other in combat, but as Goku was still weak from his fight with Tien Shinhan, Tambourine easily outmatches him and destroys the Flying Nimbus. Tambourine proceeds to beat Goku senseless and drop him to the ground, leaving him for dead. Tambourine subsequently attacks and murders King Chappa, Pamput, Bacterian, Man-Wolf, Giran, and a few other fighters, facing no problems. In the anime, he subsequently confronts Yamcha, but before he can kill him, he is telepathically ordered by King Piccolo to track down the one responsible for the death of Cymbal, one of Tambourine's brothers.

Tambourine killed by Goku's Kamehameha

‎Tambourine confronts Yajirobe, but is distracted from attacking him when Goku shows himself. Tambourine is surprised Goku is still alive, and starts off this rematch confident that he can quickly beat Goku again, but instead, Goku overpowers him and viciously beats him into the ground. After failing to destroy Goku, Tambourine realizes he cannot win and desperately attempts to escape, but Goku finishes him off once and for all with a Kamehameha. Tambourine's death gives King Piccolo the location of where Goku is, which leads to King Piccolo taking his Dragon Ball and gaining eternal youth.

Dragon Ball Super

"Future" Trunks Saga

Main article: "Future" Trunks Saga

Tambourine in Dragon Ball Super

An illusion of Tambourine appears in a forest Master Roshi sent Goku and Krillin to train. Krillin, remembering his first death at Tambourine's hands, notably showed more fear of this illusion than any other, even when they were surrounded by such foes as Super Buu, Cell, and Frieza.

Power

Manga and Anime

At the time of his death, Tambourine was the most powerful son of Piccolo. He is shown to effortlessly defeat several martial artists, including Krillin, Goku (albeit tired and hungry), Nam, Giran, and in the anime: King Chappa and Bacterian as well. King Piccolo also references him as being several times more powerful than his younger brother Cymbal. However, Tambourine is far inferior to a prepared and enraged Goku at full power. Goku who defeated him effortlessly when at full power, possessed a power level of around 180.

Later, King Piccolo births a son named Drum. Drum is much more powerful than Tambourine.

Statements according to authors and guidebooks

"Movie Pamphlets" state that his power level is 340.

Techniques

• Flight – Tambourine has the ability to fly using his wings.

Tambourine's Ki blast

• Ki Blast – The most basic form of energy wave. We see him use one to destroy a hay wagon and kill the horse in "Tien's Atonement".
• Lick Twister – Tambourine wraps the opponent in his tongue and then does a high speed spin.
• One-Hundred Arms – After mocking King Chappa's eight arm technique, he uses this more advanced version.
• Wah-Tah Kick – Tambourine leaps and does a stereotypical kung fu movie pose kick. Used on Pamput.
• Shocker Flatline – Tambourine channels electricity through his palm into his opponent. Used on Bacterian.
• Sidearm Flamer – His hand glows orange like fire for a second and he then impales his opponent from the side with it. Used on Giran.

Lick Twister

• Tommy Gun Tsuki – Similar to Tien's Machine Gun Tsuki, except with kicks.
• Evil Cannon – Like King Piccolo and most of his offspring, Tambourine has the ability to shoot a beam of energy from his mouth. He uses it to destroy Goku's Flying Nimbus, and later tries it on Goku during their final battle. Tambourine's version was named Evil Cannon in the Dragon Ball Collectible Card Game, and is called Chou Makouhou in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3.
• Soumasen – Also like King Piccolo, Tambourine is also capable shooting lasers from his eyes. He is never actually seen using this technique in the anime and manga, but he uses it in Budokai Tenkaichi 3.
• Super Marengeki – Tambourine's ultimate attack in Budokai Tenkaichi 3. An advanced version of the sidearm flamer (see above). Tambourine kicks his opponent into the air and attacks them with a series of punches, until using his hand to impale his victim. This attack never appears in the anime nor manga, though it is possibly the attack he was about to use on Yamcha before he was interrupted with news of Cymbal's death.
• Mystic Breath – One of Tambourine's Blast 1 in Budokai Tenkaichi 3.
• Afterimage – One of Tambourine's Blast 1 in Budokai Tenkaichi 3.

Video Game Appearances

Tambourine in Budokai Tenkaichi 3

• Dragon Ball: Daimaō Fukkatsu
• Dragon Ball 3: Gokuden
• Dragon Ball Z: Super Gokuden: Totsugeki-Hen
• Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure
• Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3
• Dragon Ball Z: Scouter Battle Taikan Kamehameha - Ora to Omee to Scouter
• Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo
• Dragon Ball Online
• Dragon Ball Heroes
• Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle
• Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission

Voice Actors

• Japanese: Ryūsei Nakao
• Funimation dub: Dameon Clarke
• Latin American Spanish dub: Humberto Solórzano
• German dub: Dietmar Wunder
• Italian dub: Gianluca Iacono
• Brazilian Portuguese dub: Affonso Amajones
• Portuguese dub: António Semedo(†)
• Macedonian dub: Vancho Petrushevski(†)

Battles

Dragon Ball

• Tambourine vs. Krillin
• Tambourine vs. Goku
• Tambourine vs. King Chappa (anime only)
• Tambourine vs. Pamput (anime only)
• Tambourine vs. Bacterian (anime only)
• Tambourine vs. Man-Wolf (off-screen; anime only)
• Tambourine vs. Giran
• Tambourine vs. Yamcha and Launch  (anime only)
• Tambourine vs. Goku

Dragon Ball Super

• Tambourine (illusion), King Piccolo (illusion), Vegeta (illusion), Nappa (illusion), Ginyu (illusion), Burter (illusion), Jeice (illusion), Recoome (illusion), Guldo (illusion), Frieza (Final Form) (illusion), Cell (Perfect Form) (illusion), Super Buu (illusion), Dabura (illusion), Raditz (illusion), Bulma (illusion), and Super Shenron (illusion) vs. Goku (Base/Super Saiyan/Super Saiyan 3/Super Saiyan Blue) and Krillin (anime only)

List of characters killed by Tambourine

• Krillin - Killed when he kicked him in the forehead causing his neck to break.
• King Chappa - Punched into a pillar after using his One Hundered Arms technique on him causing his neck to break.
• King Chappa's students - Killed after they try to avenge their teacher's death.
• Pamput - Killed by his Wah-Tah Kick causing him to slam into a turnbuckle and break his neck.
• Nam - Killed during his mission to eliminate the tournament fighters.
• Bacterian - Killed by his Shocker Flatline technique.
• Man-Wolf - Stabbed in the back with a spear.
• Giran - Impaled by his Sidearm Flamer technique.
• Father Bear - Chest sliced open with his claws.

Trivia

• Like his siblings, Tambourine is named after a musical instrument, the "Tambourine" in this case.
• Out of all the henchmen seen in the Dragon Ball series, Tambourine has one of the highest onscreen body counts, killing 50 or more people.
• In the Japanese dub of Dragon Ball, the young bear Giran was attempting to kill in the Animal Village thought that Tambourine was actually "Kami" (meaning "god" in Japanese). Coincidentally, the guardian of Earth (Kami) and Tambourine are technically related.
• Out of all of King Piccolo's sons (with the exception of Piccolo), Tambourine is one of the few to come close to resembling a normal Namekian (with the shape of his body and head, as well as his pointy ears, making it easier to compare to a normal Namekian).
• Another offspring who closely resembles Tambourine with different colored clothes and lighter skin was seen earlier in Master Roshi's flashback, depicting him terrorizing various Earthlings.
• In the Funimation dub of Dragon Ball, Tambourine is voiced by Dameon Clarke, who also voiced Cell in their dub of Dragon Ball Z. Clarke's depiction of Tambourine is nearly identical to the voice used for Imperfect Cell. Tambourine is also genetically related to Cell who has Piccolo's cells and like King Piccolo treated taking over the world and striking fear in the population of Earth as if it were a game which Akira Toriyama himself wondered was due to the influence of Piccolo's Cells. Additionally Imperfect Cell referred to himself as a "brother" to Piccolo when they first met.
• Nuova Shenron and Eis Shenron, who later appear in Dragon Ball GT, resemble Tambourine. This is somewhat appropriate considering Nuova was born out of King Piccolo's wish to restore his youth, and Tambourine was one of Piccolo's offspring.
  • Nuova Shenron and and Eis Shenron can also be seen as homages to Piccolo and Tambourine as Nuova Shenron is noble and ends up becoming Goku's ally like Piccolo did while Eis Shenron is evil to the core like Tambourine.
• There is a what-if where Tambourine survives Goku's Kamehameha in Budokai Tenkaichi 3. This is unlocked by pressing the transformation button once in story mode when Goku fights King Piccolo but not the second time. If this happens, Tambourine appears, but Goku is too tired to beat him. Chi-Chi then appears and finishes Tambourine off.
• In the same game, if the player arranges for a match between Tambourine and Krillin, they will have a special dialogue where Tambourine expresses confusion about Krillin still being alive and then decides just to kill him again, with Krillin stating that he will not let him this time around.
• Tambourine is the final villain to be killed by Goku's Kamehameha in the original Dragon Ball.
  • Tambourine is also the first villain to have killed Krillin to have been killed by Goku with a Kamehameha, the second being Frieza whom Goku killed with the Dash Kamehameha.
• Tambourine shares three similarities with Frieza: both villains are mass murderers, both have killed Krillin, and both end up being killed by Goku using a Kamehameha (Goku's Dash Kamehameha in Frieza's case). Also, they are voiced by Ryusei Nakao.
• Also, Ryusei Nakao shares another link with Tambourine and Frieza: Tambourine killed Giran and Frieza killed King Vegeta, both of whom are voiced by Banjō Ginga.
• In Dragon Ball Super, it is shown that Krillin has a post-traumatic fear of Tambourine years after his death at the hands of the mutant Namekian and even after having been killed by the likes of Frieza and Super Buu. Tambourine was shown to cause Krillin more fear than even Frieza or Super Buu.
• Tambourine is technically Piccolo's older brother (as Piccolo is both King Piccolo's reincarnation and final offspring), yet Piccolo ironically becomes allies with Goku (who killed Tambourine) and Krillin (who Tambourine murdered) in Dragon Ball Z. Additionally Piccolo killed Goku's evil elder brother Raditz, meaning both Goku and Piccolo are responsible for the death of the other's elder sibling (though in the case of Raditz, Goku assisted by sacrificing his own life, while Tambourine was killed by Goku alone).
  • In Dragon Ball FighterZ, Krillin also refers to Tambourine as Piccolo's brother and mentions being killed by him in the past.
    • Ironically Piccolo and Krillin can utilize fusion to create Prilin or EX Prilin in Dragon Ball Fusions. Furthermore, Prillin and EX Prillin are technically half-brother to Tambourine.
• Tambourine's hobby was killing people.

Gallery

Tambourine steals Krillin's Dragon Ball Tambourine killing Krillin Tambourine followed by Goku Tambourine flying Tambourine facing Goku Tambourine fires a Chou Makouhou Tambourine Tambourine attacks Goku Tambourine looking below Tambourine grabs Goku by the neck Tambourine flies Tambourine holding Fighter Profiles with addresses Tambourine looks at a fighter profile of Krillin Tambourine confronts King Chappa Tambourine fighting King Chappa Tambourine approaches Giran Tambourine jumps back to kick Giran Tambourine kicks Giran Tambourine hits Giran with a barrage of kicks Tambourine fighting with Giran Tambourine breaks free from Giran's Merry-Go-Round Gum Tambourine kills Giran with the Sidearm Flamer Tambourine fights Yamcha Tambourine stands prepared Tambourine beaten by Goku Tambourine down Tambourine injured Tambourine beaten by Goku Tambourine in Daimaō Fukkatsu Goku battles Tambourine in Dragon Ball: Daimaō Fukkatsu Tambourine attacks Goku in Daimaō Fukkatsu Tambourine's combo attack Tambourine dodges Goku's attack Tambourine in the Bandai CCG Tambourine attacking Krillin in Advanced Adventure Tambourine in Budokai Tenkaichi 3 Tambourine art with his card for Dragon Ball Heroes Ghoulish Burst Tambourine card in Dokkan Battle Tambourine drawn by Toyotarō

See also

• Tambourine (Collectibles)