Frieza

Frieza (フリーザ) is a fictional supervillain from the Dragon Ball universe created by Akira Toriyama. The character first appears in the Dragon Ball manga, followed by Dragon Ball Z. Frieza also appears in the television special Bardock: The Father of Goku, a few Dragon Ball Z movies, the special Plan to Destroy the Saiyans, and in Dragon Ball GT. At the time of his appearance, Frieza is feared even by North Kai.

Appearance
Frieza's design is an amalgamation of what Toriyama thought monsters looked like in his childhood.

Frieza is one of the supervillains in the series who possesses an entire range of transformations, each one being quite different than the others. It is implied by the character Vegeta in the series that Frieza's fourth, most powerful form is actually his basic form, with the other three being transformations that suppress his power in order to conserve it. Frieza later confirms this while fighting the series' main protagonist, Son Goku.

Character overview
Frieza is an alien, introduced in chapter #247 Dark Clouds Swirl Over Planet Namek (暗雲うずまくナメック星) first published in  Weekly Shonen Jump magazine on November 6, 1989. Here he is portrayed as a powerful galactic overlord on a personal mission for immortality and conquest. He is said to control seventy-nine or more planets. Frieza creates armies from the planets that he conquers, his most utilized race were the Saiyans. Frieza had heard about the legend of the Super Saiyan, a being with unrivaled power, but dismissed it as simple mythology; however, after several Saiyans emerged with rapidly evolving strength, Frieza began to fear that the legend would indeed come true, so as a result, destroyed the entire Saiyan race, along with their home planet, Vegeta. His actions and lust for power eventually bring him into conflict with the heroes of the series when he learns of the wish-granting Dragon Balls on Planet Namek from Vegeta's scouter and tries to take possession of them alongside his henchmen Zarbon and Dodoria. Frieza's fears were realized when he was defeated by Goku, who in turn had become a Super Saiyan.

His character would return shortly thereafter, having survived the encounter with Goku but had been left with multiple metal prosthetics as a result of lost limbs/organs. Though accompanied to Earth by his father, King Cold, Frieza is unable to avenge his loss. He is killed with relative ease by a newcomer to the series: the half-Saiyan time traveler, Trunks. A blood sample taken before his ultimate fate would later become a catalyst for the next arc's featured villain, Cell, a warrior genetically engineered to be "perfect".

Toei Animation would continue to make use of the character in their anime adaptation, with Frieza making brief cameo appearances during later episodes of the series, animated features and Dragon Ball GT. He is last referenced in the manga as a measure of the strength of the Kaioshin, the supreme lords of the Dragon Ball universe, as "each of whom could have felled Frieza in one blow". In Toriyama's self-parody of his earlier work, Neko Majin Z, Frieza sends Vegeta, serving as his henchman, on errand to retrieve his missing son, Kuriza, on Earth.

Aside from Zarbon (ザーボン), Frieza has two other high-ranking henchmen: Cui (キュイ) and Dodoria (ドドリア). Cui is a rival of Vegeta and sets out to defeat him, but is killed. He is voiced by Kōji Totani in Japan, Jason Gray-Stanford in the Ocean Group dub and Bill Townsley in the Funimation dub. Dodoria is a large, fat, pink alien with short spikes on his head and forearms who travels with Frieza to Namek in search of the Dragon Balls. There he encounters Vegeta. Hoping to save his life, he tells Vegeta the truth about the destruction of Planet Vegeta, but Vegeta still kills him. He is voiced by Yukitoshi Hori (in all Japanese media save for Dragon Ball Kai, where Takashi Nagasako took over), Ward Perry in the Ocean Group dub, Chris Forbis in the Funimation dub, and John Swasey in Dragon Ball Z Kai.

Abilities
Frieza is first seen moving at superhuman speeds and flying unaided in volume 9. He also appears to have quick reflexes.

Forms and transformations
Frieza's power, including his enhanced strength, became so great over time that his body could not comfortably contain it, and a series of physical transformations were developed that limit his actual strength. While changing shape from his "first-form", each alteration builds on the previous. In all, Frieza demonstrated four transformed states, each with increasing power (some larger than others and each resulting in different physical attributes).

In his weakest form, Frieza is a relatively short humanoid, albeit with a large chestnut-shaped skull with two horns. He also has a tail with a spiked end, as well as having three talon-like toes. Frieza wears the same upper-body armor and shorts that many of his subordinates (including the Saiyans) are shown to wear, and while traveling, often gives the appearance of weakness by exclusively using his hoverchair for transportation, leaving his henchmen to do his "dirty work". Though frail in comparison with his succeeding forms, Frieza still boasts sufficient force to destroy planets, stating during his battle with the Namekian fighter Nail that his power level is 530,000. While shifting to his next stage Frieza breaks his battle-jacket, revealing a natural white armor covering his chest and shoulders.
 * First form

His second form is similar to his father King Cold, much larger, both in height and muscle mass, Frieza claiming to have at least doubled his power (of over 1,000,000) in this state. He also grows longer horns, which now instead of protruding sideways from his skull curve sharply upwards into near right angles.
 * Second form

Frieza's third form is again more brutish, with an extremely elongated skull. His facial features contort and change, with his nose melding into his mouth to form a crude beak. His original horns recede and are now white in color, erupting in pairs along the length of his head. His tail tip, which had been cut off by Krillin's Kienzan, did not regenerate, so it is not known if it would have appeared any differently. He now carries a slight hunch.
 * Third form

Drastically differing from his previous transformations, in his final, true form Frieza instead regresses, becoming shorter and less bulky. His previous form shatters, causing his horns and spikes to disappear with his physique becoming entirely streamlined. The lines of color and stripes present on Frieza before completely disappear; his skin is now a pure, solid white with purple sections on his head, shoulders, forearms, chest and shins. All injuries taken in other forms are healed. This is the form that allows him to release his full potential.
 * Final Form

Frieza is also able to attain 100% power, his muscle mass becoming engorged compared to his previously sleek frame. This is literally the peak of Frieza's potential, and the maximum amount of power his body can output; at full power, he is able to fight Super Saiyan Goku on an almost even level. However, due to the strain on his body, Frieza can not fight at maximum strength for long, slowly weakening whether he is dealing or receiving damage.
 * 100% power

Physically ruined while caught in Planet Namek's explosion after Goku defeats him, what remained of the still-living Frieza was salvaged and rebuilt with cybernetic enhancements by scientists under the order of King Cold. The whole of the lower half of his body and right side of his face are replaced, as is his left arm from the shoulder down, with scarring and metal accouterments covering what little was left of his organic self. These enhancements allowed him to exceed the limits of power imposed by his fully organic form, and it is stated that he was more powerful than ever.
 * Gourd Frieza

Other media
Frieza has made numerous appearances in other media. The Japanese nu metal/punk band Maximum the Hormone released "「F」" as part of an A-side of a music single on July 9, 2008. The entirety of the song references Frieza and his character's arc, with the single itself rising as high as number two on the Oricon music chart. In the manga Black Cat, the character Sven Vollfied is often seen using his cell phone. At the top of the phone's wrist strap is a miniature-sized badge of Frieza's head. A caricature of Frieza mixed with a Greys was parodied as a mech pilot in an episode of Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi. The anime Yakitate!! Japan featured a spoof re-enactment of the fight between Goku and Frieza, with a character clad in a refrigerator representing the latter. The Cartoon Network staple Codename: Kids Next Door had a parody of their own of the climactic fight and the Frieza character, with the Delightful Children From Down the Lane portraying him as a multi-headed monstrosity. Frieza was among other evil imaginary characters also appears in an episode of South Park in "Imaginationland Episode II".

Video games
Frieza has been featured in nearly every video game covering Dragon Ball Z and further. Often, he's both a playable character and boss, though more frequently the latter. He is also usually able to transform into his many different forms, his mecha form being a separate character.

Frieza appears in the Famicom game (and later Playdia remake) Dragon Ball Z Gaiden: Saiyajin Zetsumetsu Keikaku. Frieza seems to be somehow resurrected, and he and other past villains start attacking Goku and his friends. Once it's revealed these are merely ghost-warriors meant to distract the heroes, however, the false Frieza and his allies are easily dealt with. Other games highlight Frieza in alternate story paths, including those where he successfully attains immortality and goes on to threaten Earth.

In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2, Frieza and Cell are resurrected by Babidi and are transformed into Majin as a distraction for the player. During the Super Buu stage, if either are absorbed, Buu will take on their appearance.

In Super Dragon Ball Z, Toriyama took Mecha Frieza's original design and slightly remodeled it specifically for the platform version of the game. Toriyama's revamp included a mine belt around his waist, an RPG strapped to his back, and razor explosives down the length of his tail.

Voice actors
In the original Japanese Frieza is voiced by Ryūsei Nakao in all media. In the Ocean dub of the series he would be voiced by Pauline Newstone. In Funimation dub Frieza is voiced by Linda Young Young currently voices him in the majority of the Dragon Ball media. The only two exceptions are the PlayStation game Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout, where he was voiced by Eddie Frierson, and the anime Dragon Ball Z Kai (after episode 1), where he is voiced by Christopher Ayres.

Reception
His voice in the English dub is criticized; with that and various features in his character design like his dark colored lips leads to some gender confusion with new fans. Frieza was mentioned as one of the "most beloved characters" in an article by GamePro. Also on pages D1 and D3 of The Ledger's December 8, 1999 paper, he is one of the reasons that DBZ was listed as a violent show for children back then stating, "In one recent episode, beads of sweat form on the brow of a character named Vegeta, as he is nearly strangled to death by an evil foe named Frieza. In another, Frieza uses the horns on his head to impale a good guy named Krillin through the chest." As well as opinions on his appearance: "Little Gohan is abruptly in the icy metallic grip of one of his arch-nemeses, Frieza, a silvery androgynous giant who looks like a cross between the monster in Alien and Batman's Mr. Freeze." He was also in a "List of the Top 11 Anime Villains" made by That Dude in The Suede (an affiliate of That Guy with the Glasses) in which Frieza is ranked #6.