Video games have been a consistent form of entertainment in human existence and it sure isn’t losing it’s appeal anytime soon. As a matter of fact, the fanaticism over these games is at an all time high.
The love of video games is based on the fundamental understanding that gaming matters to people. From playing to escape reality to the sense of accomplishment from completing a game, there is a not so explicable appeal behind video gaming.
The Dragon Ball series
For the video game enthusiast, after playing certain games over and over again, nothing could be better than a new game release especially when it is based on the incredibly popular Dragon Ball series. Dragon Ball FighterZ was probably one of the most anticipated fighting games of the past one year.
The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in January 2018. However, the worldwide released for the Nintendo Switching didn’t happen until September 2018.
While DragonBall FighterZ has several iconic characters from the Dragon Ball franchise, for fans, the hype around this game was majorly due to the inclusion of a brand new character named Android 21.
A lot of gamers couldn’t wait to explore the latest feature, regardless of the fact that not much was known about Android 21 prior to the release of the game.
Gamers have to unlock Android 21 to play and it is only appropriate that before a character is unlocked, the gamer has a fair knowledge and understanding of it. This article will give a comprehensive and thorough review of the mysterious Android 21.
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Who is Android 21?
Android 21 is an Android that appears as the main villain and central figure in Dragon Ball FighterZ game. She is unlocked by beating the story arcs in the game’s story mode. In the FighterZ story, Android 21 uses the Namekian Dragon Balls to create evil clones of the characters Frieza, Cell, and the Ginyu Force.
She is also responsible for activating and stimulating the powers of one of Dr. Gero’s inventions, which she uses to weaken other powerful warriors in the story making them vulnerable and easier targets to feed on.
What does Android 21 look like?
In the story, Android 21 is a shapely and buxom female redheaded scientist with long, wild and wavy hair. She wears black framed glasses, black nail polish on her fingernails with a characteristic gold ring.
She is also often seen with a pair of medium-sized hoop earrings, a sleeveless and short dress with rectangular box patterns in red and blue with black arm sleeves. Her heel boots are similar in colour to the dress; a red-colored boot on one foot and a blue on the other paired with black stockings.
In her real form, the Android maintains her curvaceous figure but every other thing changes. Her complexion becomes pink, her auburn hair goes from dark red to a pale shade of pink, her ears become pointed, she develops a tail and the colour of her eyes are dependent on the personality she isoperating at that given time. While she keeps the black arm sleeves, her attire changes to a black tube top paired white baggy pants.
Her earrings are replaced with bigger yellow coloured hoops paired with bangles of the same colour. Players noted that her true form was quite similar to that of a MajinBuu, an observation that is not quite baseless seeing as Android 21’s individuality is a collection of all the characteristics and powers of the Z Fighters; Frieza, Cell and of course, MajinBuu.
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What is Android 21’s personality like?
As a result of Android 21’s biological essence, she is a natural predator with a compulsive instinct to feed. Her taste is likened to that ofMajin who has a preference for sweets and confectioneries, just like Android 21 whose favourite snack is macarons.
Unfortunately, her yearnings and hunger pangs get beyond her control albeit the fact that she fights to keep herself from transforming into her predatory nature.
Her love for food and unpredictability is responsible for her split personality of Android 21 Evil and Android 21 Good. 21’s red and blue dress is a subtle hint at her split personality; considering how red and blue are complementary and contrasting colours.
– Android 21 Good
Android 21 Good is her true persona, the standard side of her without the evil hunger persona. This persona is quite kind-hearted, affectionate, sympathetic and very resentful of her evil half.
When in her good side she is aware of the fact that while human, albeit admitting to having no memory of her existence as a human, she was the mother of Android 16 causing her to develop a motherly affection for him.
Beyond being apologetic for her uncontrollable evil nature, in the game’s story, Android 21 was quite willingly to pair up with the Z Warriors with the hope that their combined powers could defeat Android 21 Evil.
However, even at Android 21 Good’s strongest moment, she is still considerably weaker than her evil self which explains why the Good always gives in to the Evil when she gets wildly hungry, after going for a long time without feeding.
– Android 21 Evil
When Android 21 Evil – her evil persona is in control, she becomes a sadistic, vile and sociopathic creature. In this state, her gluttonous lust puts her in a devouring mood.
Her need to feed on the powerful fighters gets so intense driving her to a near insanity point. She unleashes a wrath deadlier than the likes of the evil of Frieza and Cell.
It is believed that this beastly nature was inherited when MajinBuu’s cells merged with hers. Unlike her good half, Android 21 Evil does not care in the least bit about her son – Android 16. As a matter of fact, she is of the believe that as an Android, there is no place for family and friends in your lives.
Like Cell, a bratty and selfish narcissist, Android 21 Evil views other fighters as lesser creatures beneath her level only needing them to satisfy her hunger cravings.
Even her resurrected villains are viewed as a source of food for her, allowing them to grow stronger so she can consume them and gain more strength when the time is right.
What are Android 21’s powers?
Android 21 has a vast selection of superhuman abilities and. skills. Her powers include; an ability to regenerate infinitely provided there is one active atom in her body, an ability to absorb other fighters to gain more strength and power, ability to survive in the vacuum of space, teleportation, telekinesis, an ability to fly using Ki Blast, the simplest form of energy in the story, possession of a hunger beam capable of turning people into food, possession of a total detonation ball that launches on impact, a death beam based on the photon wave technology which explodes on hitting the ground etc.
She also has access to the Soul Linking technology developed by Dr Gero. Like the name implies, the technology was designed enable the linking of thesouls of characters. It works in such a way that the artificial or natural soul of a person is linked another person, allowing the new being to possess and control the other.
Essentially, as a composite of cells from the evilMajinBuu,Kid Buu, CellandFrieza, Android 21 is not just pernicious, her tenacity andstrong survival instincts are unmatched.
Who created Android 21?
Android 21 was created by Dr. Gero. She was once a human type earthling before her conversion to an Android making her a bio-android unlike most Red Ribbon Androids with no prior human history – the mecha types and the modified humans.
In flash back scenes in the game’s story, the human version of Android 21 is sometimes depicted as a Red Ribbon Army scientist and researcher wearing a white lab coat.
Android 21’s intellect is believed to be similar to that of Dr. Gero, but in actuality, her intellect possibly surpasses Gero’s. Interestingly enough, she never out rightly admits to knowing who her creator is although it is heavily implied that she is aware of being Dr. Gero’s creation often referring to him as “the scientist”.
For example, in one of her many conversations with the player, Android 21 Good acknowledges that her creator is a brilliant scientist while also recognizing the fact that he may not necessarily be a good person.
She also admits that while she would love to have a conversation with him to know the true reason behind her creation, she succumbs to the realization that while he may not even answer the question, if he actually did, she may not like the truth anyway.
In the story, it is suggested that Android 21 Evil values Gero mainly for his labs and scientific research. This is due to the fact that while her primary aim in the evil form may be to feed, she also seeks to understand the concept of galactic conquest which she believes could be answered by Gero’s work.
What is Android 21’s real name?
Android 21’s real name is JinzōningenNijūichi-Gō. Her aliases include 21, No. 21 and Majin Android 21. In the story, she discloses that thinking about what her original name as a human might have been is something she was fond of doing.
Who is Android 21’s husband?
Android 21 wears a wedding band which hints at the fact that she may be married. Factually, Android 21 was married to Dr. Gero, before he turned her into an Android, she was his lover. Android 21 had a son who became the model inspiration for the Android 16 template.
Their son, a high-raking soldier in the Red Ribbon army of which Android 21 is the defacto leader, had died after he was caught by an enemy’s bullet. The grief stricken Gero, father and scientist, decided to commemorate his fallen hero by creating the Android 16.
In the story, Android 16 is actually one of the very few people who can get through to his mother which explains why he offered to help her suppress her evil half despite her villainous impression on other fighters.
While Android 21 has no memory of her human life, her history with Gero is believed to have sipped through get subconscious which would explain why despite the fact that everyone in the story sees Gero as a villain, she fondly thinks of him as a brilliant scientist with little acknowledgement of his baneful nature and atrocious deeds.
Her evil half however, cares little for Gero. This fondness of Gero is presumably from the little memory she has of her son Android 16 and the research she conducted about her existence. This memory was stimulated during a Soul Linking incident where it was revealed to her thatwhile human, she had a son who inspired the template for Android 16.
What are Android 21 Video Game Appearances?
As previously mentioned, the global gaming community was first introduced to Android 21 as the main antagonist in the Dragon Ball FighterZ game. However, while that may have been her debut appearance, that is not her only video game feature.
21 is also featured in two video games from the Dragon Ball series; Super Dragon Ball Heroes and Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle. In Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle, 21 is introduced as one of the several playable characters and is present in both forms; her standard true self, Android 21 Good and her evil half, Android 21.
In Super Dragon Ball Heroes, 21 is a playable character in her human form, her Android version is however featuredin one ofthe story arcs of the Universe Mission series. Her character is voiced by Jeannie Tirado in the English version and by HoukoKuwashima in the Japanese version.
Is Android 21 canon?
In the Dragon Ball franchise; there are two components to every story in every game; a canon story and a non-canon story. Canon in this context refers to every character and every element present in the original storyline of the Dragon Ball manga as created by Akira Toriyama.
A non canon story essentially means a story never actually occurred and has no basis in the main story of the series. Non canon stories would include most filler episodes and OVAs. Now the question is; is Android 21 canon? Ideally the Dragon Ball FighterZ game story is non canon thus, any new character introduced in the story is also non canon. In other words; Android 21 is non canon.
The place of Android 21 has become a hotly debated topic among gamers in the Dragon Ball world. The debate revolves around the notion that any character from the non-canon storyline should not be intermixed with the canon storyline. Still, there’s a lot more to it than that.
It is pertinent to understand that there are multiple universes and alternate timelines with different continuities of sorts in Dragon Ball world. As such, any thing can be canon if it can be placed in between the various events and timelines of the series.
Nevertheless, not only does she come with a great character design, Android 21 also has a fascinating story arc which makes her stand out from the typical antagonist in the series. Also, Dragon Ball FighterZ has all the right story bits.
From plenty of interesting character interactions to tough, but new in-game situations, the story has all the elemets required for great character exploration. Still, Android 21 was designed by Akira Toriyama who also happens to be the author of the series meaning he can state her as a canon and she would be.
Finally, the entire “canon” of the Dragon Ball series is primarily afan made concept so whether 21 is canon or not is irrelevant to the game.
Conclusion
Conclusively, Android 21 additions to the franchise can not be ignored. 21 is inherently a very brilliant and amiable character and seeing her constantly struggle with her evil form makes a tragic story. It is undeniable that the effect of her presence in the game will always be felt by the gamers.
