For a series that has run for nearly 35 years, it's no surprise that Dragon Ball has built itself up to be one of the more information-dense series in anime and manga, especially now that multiple universes have been introduced with different versions of fan-favorite species and characters.

Related: Dragon Ball: 10 Times The Heroes Acted More Like Villains

With this in mind, it easy to see how some information can be lost over time, or completely skipped over in favor of the over the top action scenes that the series is known for. Some backstories and facts are so well hidden that even long time fans fail to realize they had been revealed to them until many years later.

10 How Old Is Vegeta

Vegeta's official birth year is Age 732, making him 48 years old by the end of Dragon Ball Super in Age 780. However, this doesn't take into account the amount of time he has spent inside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, which he has spent a collective 5 years inside.

This makes him, theoretically, 53 years old by the end of the Universal Survival Arc. As old as he seems, he was born only 1 year before both Yamcha and Bulma and the same year as the long-forgotten side character, Lunch.

9 17 & 18's Real Names

Androids 17 and 18 from Dragon Ball Z.

Believe it or not, Android 17 and 18 are not the sibling's original names. In their youth, the twins were called Lapis and Lazuli, known for being delinquents in their village and eventually getting the attention of Dr. Gero, before being kidnapped as he searched for people to conduct his android experiments on.

They would later go on to be his least robotic androids, as Gero opted to alter their genetic makeup rather than use a heavy amount of implants as he did with himself and Android 19.

8 Dragon Ball's Origins

Dragon Ball manga Cropped

Although Dragon Ball has shifted greatly from its fantasy adventure origins, now being squarely rooted in the sci-fi action genre, it originally drew heavy inspiration from the Chinese tale Journey to the West, with much of the original cast being influenced by the story. Notable examples are Goku and Oolong, who were influenced by the Monkey King and Pig respectfully.

Related: Dragon Ball: Every Main Character's Biggest Fault, Ranked By How Detrimental It Is

During the very first quest for the Dragon Balls, the group is constantly following the Dragon Ball radar to the west and is a not-so-subtle nod to the original tale.

7 Goku's Voice Actor Once Passed Out From Screaming

As many fans of the anime know, characters will often power up while screaming at the top of their lungs, to the point where it's almost unheard of for a fight to carry out without one of the main cast members shouting.

With the amount of screaming going on in the show, it's no wonder that the actors sometimes suffer from their performance, like when Goku first turned Super Saiyan 4 in Dragon Ball GT. Sean Schemmel, the voice behind Goku and King Kai, passed out for a few seconds while recording the scene as he admitted during a London Comic-Con panel, saying he miscalculated how much air he would need to perform the scream.

6 Piccolo Skipped The Awkward Teen Phase

If, like many people who didn't get into Dragon Ball until Z, someone thought that Namekians aged similarly to humans and Saiyans, they would be forgiven for being completely and utterly wrong. Aside from the fact that Namekians seem to be able to live for thousands of years without looking even as old as Master Roshi, Piccolo, in particular, seems to age weirdly even among his own kind.

When King Piccolo is defeated by Goku, he spits out an egg that eventually becomes the Piccolo that fans know of today, minus his future fusions with Nail and Kame. What makes his aging so odd though, is how quickly Piccolo went from a newborn to a full-grown adult. Even Dende has a long period as an adolescent, but Piccolo apparently didn't get the memo.

5 Yamcha Gets Abused By The Z Story

Krillin is the butt of many useless character jokes among Dragon Ball fans, as he is often the victim of the villains in the series. Even though Krillin is basically a human punching bag, Yamcha gets even worse treatment during Dragon Ball Z.

Yamcha is unceremoniously killed off early in the Saiyan Saga, is dead for all of the Namek and Frieza Saga, gets impaled and almost killed by Dr. Gero in the Android Saga, is basically useless in the Cell Games and gets turned into chocolate and eaten by Majin Buu in the Buu Saga. Needless to say, Yamcha needs to catch a break.

4 Goku Has Only Died To Green People

As the main character of the series, it's not surprising that when Goku dies, he usually goes out in a blaze of glory that causes a heavy impact on the people around him. What may be surprising, however, is that not only has Goku only died twice but both times it was by sacrificing himself at the hands of a green-skinned monster.

Related: Dragon Ball: The 5 Weakest Saiyans (& The 5 Strongest)

Goku's first-ever death was by Piccolo in Dragon Ball Z, when he sacrificed himself to help defeat his brother, Raditz, and take back Gohan. The second, and better-remembered death, was when he transported Cell to King Kai's planet so he wouldn't destroy Earth.

3 Master Roshi Won't Fly Out Of Pride

Master Roshi bulks up into his Max Power mode in Dragon Ball

Before the introduction of Tien, Chiaotzu, and the Crane School, the main cast's ability to fly was limited to capsule vehicles and Nimbus. Once it was revealed that fighters could fly using their Ki, nearly every main fighter in Dragon Ball taught themselves how to do it, but one of them flat out refused to learn: Master Roshi.

As a rival to Master Shen, the head of the Crane School and creator of the flight technique on Earth, Roshi refuses to learn the technique, especially since Shen embodies a side of martial arts that he is heavily opposed to.

2 Akira Toriyama Can Be Forgetful Of His Own Work

As with any series as long-running as Dragon Ball, it can be difficult for its creator to keep track of the many small plot points and characters dotted throughout its run. In Toriyama's case, he has done this more than once. Lunch, the girl with a dual-personality that changes when she sneezes, was all but abandoned during Dragon Ball Z when Toriyama forgot she existed.

Toriyama sort of did this again later in the series, when new Saiyans were born without their trademark tail, something he didn't omit with Gohan but subsequently did with Goten, Pan, and Trunks. In this case, Toriyama consciously decided to remove them from Dragon Ball, although the series never explained the change.

1 Turtle Has A Son

One side character who has very little screen time is Turtle, the 1000-year-old companion of Roshi who often tries and fails to keep his perverted nature in check. During the majority of the series, not all that much is known about his character other than his loyalty to Roshi; however, in one episode, Kame House: Found!, Turtle is shown to have at least one child with his son, Taru.

Taru never shows up in the series again, and the audience learns next to nothing about him after his one-time appearance. He doesn't even show up at his father's 1000th birthday party.

Next: Dragon Ball: The Best Technique Goku Learned From Each Of His Masters, Ranked