Some anime series have their ups and downs and temporarily fade into obscurity, but Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball franchise has been a major player every decade since its debut in the 1980s. Dragon Ball has been able to build an amazing universe across several anime series and it’s helped establish a new framework for shonen series that’s become the standard in many ways.
The core themes of Dragon Ball remain the same, but the anime is full of extreme changes as characters grow in strength and the threats expand in scope. Dragon Ball is filled with strong fighters and breathtaking transformations, but there’s also a wide range of unusual vehicles and technology that give the series’ world a distinct flavor.
10 The Princess Bulma Boat Travels In The Height Of Luxury
The Dragon Ball franchise has never hidden the fact that Bulma comes from a very affluent family and that the Briefs aren’t just brilliant scientists, but also exceedingly wealthy individuals. Dragon Ball Super: Broly begins with some deserved downtime for Earth’s defenders and everyone celebrates Bulma’s birthday on a massive luxury cruise liner.
The Princess Bulma is technically transportation, but it’s probably fancier than many of the homes in Dragon Ball’s West City. That being said, it’s still a very effective way to cross the sea, even if it’s not exactly financially reasonable.
9 Mr. Popo's Magic Carpet Provides The Mysterious Figure With Mystical Travel
Dragon Ball has such a wide cast of supporting characters that there are certainly some individuals that slip through the cracks and don’t get their due, even if they serve an important purpose.
Mr. Popo is a faithful guardian on Kami’s Lookout and a familiar face for the location, along with Korin the cat. Mr. Popo is sometimes shown with a magic carpet that aids him in travel. The logic behind it is never explained, but it adds to the mystical image of Mr. Popo that the series cultivates.
8 General Tao’s Flying Lumber & Dark Nimbus Are Wildly Unconventional Methods Of Travel
The Red Ribbon Army is a persistent thorn in Goku’s childhood adventures in the original Dragon Ball series. Most of the determined army members are no match for Goku, but their resident assassin, General Tao, does give Goku a rest. General Tao is a vicious and exaggerated martial artist that shows off his strength in unusual ways.
Tao’s main method of transportation is to hurl a tree in the air and then hop on top of it. General Tao is also briefly shown with a Dark Nimbus, which functions as the evil inverse of Goku’s own cloud transport.
7 Red Ribbon’s Army Battle Jacket Functions As Both A Vehicle & A Weapon
The Red Ribbon Army sends its collective forces against Goku and he finds himself taking on many skilled and dangerous enemies. Dragon Ball still features primarily human antagonists at this point in the series, so technology like the Battle Jacket gives these ordinary people a serious advantage.
The Battle Jacket is basically a versatile mech suit that can fly around and also fire off missiles. Officer Black makes use of it in Dragon Ball, but it gets redesigned in Dragon Ball GT. Pilaf’s crew also pilots a Pilaf Machine mech suit, which seems to employ the same technology.
6 Saiyan Space Pods Are A Very Direct Means Of Transportation
A number of different vehicles that travel through space come into play during Dragon Ball Z, but one of the earliest and most recognizable are the Saiyan Space Pods that Goku, Raditz, Nappa, and Vegeta all arrive on Earth in.
These vehicles are minimalist in nature and small enough to only fit one passenger. These ships get programmed with a destination to arrive at, and despite their tiny size, they’re still an efficient means to get around, especially since they can work on autopilot and allow the passenger to rest during travel.
5 The Namekian Spaceships Are A Roomy Way To Travel
The scope in Dragon Ball Z increases in a major way when the characters leave Earth’s atmosphere and head off to Planet Namek. This isn’t an easy mission and Gohan, Krillin, and Bulma are only able to make it thanks to a Namekian spacecraft.
This model is significantly bigger than the previous means of space travel in the series. It’s not just speedy, but also allows several perks that cater towards training and a way to improve oneself during travel. Frieza’s spaceship uses a similar design, but is even bigger.
4 Cooler’s Big Gete Star Turns A Mechanized Planet Into A Vicious Vehicle
There’s still debate over whether the various Dragon Ball Z movies belong in the series’ canon or not, but Cooler is a movie antagonist that’s become quite popular and found a second life through video games and Super Dragon Ball Heroes.
Cooler’s second appearance has him commanding a giant planet-sized supercomputer known as the Big Gete Star. This vehicle corrupts whatever it encounters into a part of Cooler’s mechanized army. It’s a truly intimidating presence that’s like an even more dangerous Death Star. It’s gigantic, but still covers a lot of distance when it’s necessary.
3 Goku’s Flying Nimbus Becomes Trademark Travel For His Family
It’s hard to believe that there’s a point in Dragon Ball when the characters didn't know how to fly, and such a concept seems like an impossible idea. Goku masters the ability by the end of the original Dragon Ball, but before that, he largely depended on the Flying Nimbus to get around.
The unusual and intuitive cloud only allows pure-hearted individuals to ride atop it. Goku gets a lot of use out of the Nimbus during his youth, but it’s really sweet to see it pass over to both Gohan and Goten over time, too.
2 Trunks’ Time Machine Provides Hope For All Timelines
Dragon Ball Z features unbelievable villains and heroes that can shoot out crazy blasts of energy, but the series leans into even more outrageous material once it incorporates time travel into its narrative.
Time travel is introduced as a remedy to defeat Cell and the Androids, but it returns in a big way in Dragon Ball Super. Trunks’ time machine isn’t necessarily fast, but its ability to move through time is invaluable and makes it a vital vehicle. There’s a special fuel that’s required to make it run, but Bulma and Future Trunks have it under control.
1 The Transport Cube Is Transportation That Can Bridge Universes & Dimensions
Dragon Ball Super expands the boundaries of the Dragon Ball universe in major ways with the introduction of a multiverse and powerful Gods of Destruction and Angels that govern these dominions. Dragon Ball Super allows these different universes to square off in combat, which sometimes requires a neutral zone that exists between universes.
Whis brings forward a large Transport Cube that facilitates travel and observation of the battles that take place during Universe 7 and 6’s Tournament of Destroyers competition. It again plays an important role during the epic Tournament of Power.
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