A character like Piccolo definitely tends to make a lot of mistakes. Because he started out as a villain who had it in for Goku, Piccolo made a lot of questionable decisions in the early days of Dragon Ball.
But as he learned how to be a good guy, he made some equally bad choices, though they were usually for good reasons. But what are mistakes if not learning moments? Here are 10 mistakes that Piccolo made that we can learn lessons from.
10 Blowing Up The Moon
Piccolo is very fond of Gohan, and he treats him and thinks of him as his own son. But one of the things that can happen to Seiyans like Gohan is that they can turn into a rampaging, uncontrollable gorilla. This happens during full moons, much like werewolves, and is hard to stop without cutting off the Seiyan’s tail.
Piccolo took another route and instead just blew up the moon. It’s clear that Piccolo loves Gohan and would do anything to protect him, but this seems drastic and like an overreaction. Plus, he likely didn’t think of the consequences of this and how it could affect other people.
9 Training Gohan
Piccolo decides to train Gohan in combat when he’s a young boy, which isn’t a mistake in itself. The real problem is that Gohan doesn’t end up really using much of this training.
Despite the fact that Piccolo is one of the most powerful beings on earth, Gohan decides to hang up the gi, so to speak, and retires from being an active fighter and defender of earth. This means that all of that time Piccolo spent teaching him was wasted and could have been used elsewhere.
8 Facing Goku In A Martial Arts Tournament
When Piccolo is first introduced, he’s training to get his vengeance on Goku, who defeated his father. But instead of just having a one-on-one match with Goku or seeking him out in a surprise attack even, Piccolo plans to face Goku in a martial arts tournament.
This is an incredibly silly idea, since it means that both of them will have to fight other people as well, so it won’t be a match of two people at their best and strongest, and also it gives Goku time to prepare; instead of getting easy vengeance on him, Piccolo really has to work for it in this plan.
7 Spawning Children
One of Piccolo’s abilities is that he can essentially clone himself, creating children in his own image. They can aid him in battle and otherwise serve him, and they usually end up dying for him.
When Piccolo was doing this, he hadn’t really spent a lot of time around actual children, which means he didn’t understand why this was such a bad thing to do. His selfish desires made other living beings, even if they were just copies of him, into cannon fodder, and that has not aged well.
6 Wanting To Destroy The World
Piccolo comes to Earth planning to kill Goku and destroy the planet. It’s a self-absorbed desire that all hinges on revenge and feeling like his own experiences and his own life are more important than anyone else’s. He must especially regret these feelings now since he is very fond of Earth.
He has turned a corner since joining Goku’s team, and now he does everything he can to defend Earth and the family he’s created on it.
5 Trying To Kill Goku
Martial arts tournament aside, Piccolo’s attempt to kill Goku was a pretty silly thing to do. He was acting in the name of his father, King Piccolo, who was incredibly powerful and still lost to Goku, which means that Piccolo almost certainly didn’t stand a chance anyway.
But beyond whether Piccolo could actually win a fight against Goku, with enough skill and force to kill him, he and Goku are now good friends, practically family, to the point that Goku puts Piccolo in charge of his son’s training. If he had actually killed Goku, he wouldn’t have been able to create the life he now has.
4 Letting The Macareni Gang Go
Piccolo defeats and captures the Macareni Gang as they try, once again, to steal things and cause havoc on Earth. But instead of destroying them, he ultimately takes pity on them, not knowing that they’re working with Moro, who is threatening the whole universe and Earth in particular.
Piccolo likely puts the entire planet in danger by taking pity on these criminals who aren’t very smart or successful but who have been roped into a bigger plot. He should have considered their past actions and taken that into account when deciding what to do with them.
3 Kidnapping Gohan
So “kidnapping” is kind of a strong word, but there aren’t a lot of other ways to describe it. Piccolo essentially takes Gohan captive, dragging him out to the woods so Gohan can train and get stronger.
It’s not that there’s anything particularly wrong with an intensive, immersive training session, though, as mentioned above, it might be wasted on Gohan. But the fact that Piccolo just took off with him was probably not his best idea.
2 Creating The Special Beam Cannon
The Special Beam Cannon is one of Piccolo’s strongest moves, and for that reason, it’s probably a good thing he has it; it helps him a lot in battle.
However, Piccolo isn’t the only person who uses it, and while heroes like Goku have learned the technique from Piccolo, a lot of villains also use it. It’s incredibly powerful and can destroy humans and large objects, like Goku’s spaceship, alike. Making this kind of ability available for villains to use puts everyone in even more danger.
1 Getting Beaten By Frieza
Frieza is one of the most powerful villains in Dragon Ball, and he definitely gives all of the heroes a run for their money in battle. Piccolo is one of them, and Frieza pretty handily defeats him.
As Piccolo is essentially the first line of defense against Frieza, by not being strong enough to hold him back, despite being one of the most powerful beings on Earth, he puts just about everyone in danger.