Turles (ターレス Tāresu; Tullece) is a Saiyan and the primary antagonist in the Dragon Ball Z movie special, The Tree of Might. His first appearance was in the third Dragon Ball Z movie and the second was in the two-volume VHS O.V.A. released as a "Official Visual Guide" for the Bandai NES game, Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans.
Turles's name is a pun on the vegetable "lettuce". The name is written out as ターレス, Tāresu. If the first two syllables are rearranged, it becomes レタース, retāsu. Ignoring the elongated "a" sound, it becomes the accurate Japanese spelling of "lettuce", レタス retasu.
Aside from a different skin tone and two "devil horns" in his hair, Turles looks exactly the same as Goku. In the Dragon Ball Z: Anime Film Comics, it was stated that the reason why Turles and Goku looked alike is because within the low-rank Saiyans, the facial patterns of each warrior were similar, thus making it easy to mark which Saiyans were low-class warriors. However, Turles said that Goku was "low-class trash", implying Turles may not have been a low-class Saiyan after all. Though, he bears a resemblance to Bardock, Goku's father.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Turles is a Saiyan warrior and former servant of Frieza. It is assumed that Turles escaped Planet Vegeta's destruction because he was on a mission. Nearly thirty years after Planet Vegeta's destruction, Turles, along with his squad of henchmen, make their way toward Earth
to check up on the Saiyan, Kakarot (Goku).
Turles' age is unknown, though he appears to be around same age as Goku. But he is older than Goku (as Saiyans age slower than human, in order to stay younger longer and keep fighting), seeing as he abandoned Frieza long before Goku was born.
[]
The seed of the Tree of Might has come into possession of the Turles. When the tree is planted, it saps the energy of the world in which the tree has taken root. Therefore, he seeks out a planet that he would be able to plant the seed on, so he can eat the Fruit of the Gods, and become exponentially stronger than before. With him, Turles has gathered a medley of ragtag thugs, all of whom are quite strong (stronger than the average Z Fighters).After his arrival to Earth, Turles mainly watches the battle between his men and the Z Fighters. He does not appear until he sees Gohan defeating one of his men, single-handedly. He realizes that he is the son of Goku, and soon meets with him. Gohan is shocked to find that he has almost identical
appearance to his father, and is also in fact a Saiyan. Turles asks him to join his team, yet Gohan refuses. Piccolo soon comes to Gohan's rescue, but is defeated easily by Turles.
Turles soon sees that Gohan has grown back his tail. he quickly creates a Bruits Wave energy ball and forces Gohan to look at it. Helpless, Gohan transforms into a Great Ape. Gohan soon goes on a rampage, and nearly kills Goku. He abruptly stops when he sees his friend Icarus in the area. He stops and, thanks to his childhood innocence, plays around with Icarus. Turles, however, attacks Icarus, apparently killing him, provoking Gohan. To Turles's surprise, Gohan is able to control himself and specifically attack Turles. However, Great Ape Gohan is no match for Turles, and is nearly killed. But Goku cuts his tail off before getting hit with Turles's deadly final attack. Goku swears revenge on Turles for harming his son.
With the Z Warriors defeated with much ease, Turles's men all attack Goku. Watching at the sidelines, Turles is ambushed by Piccolo. Turles is able to survive Piccolo's Special Beam Cannon at blank point range, and with one blast, Turles defeats Piccolo. With a single Kaio-ken, Goku kills all of Turles's men with a single hit each. To the anger of Turles, Goku's power continues to increase. Turles soon learns that he had highly underestimated Goku's power, and resorts to eating the fruit from the Tree of Might.
Eventually, Turles successfully grabs and eats a piece of fruit, which causes his strength dramatically increase. Even with a Kaio-ken at ten-times it's normal strength and a Spirit Bomb formed from what little remained of the planet's energy, Goku is unable to topple Turles. It is only with a newly formed Spirit Bomb containing energy from the Tree of Might that Goku is able to obliterate both Turles and the Tree of Might once and for all.
Other appearances[]
Turles also appears in the OVA Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans as a "ghost warrior", but is eventually killed again, this time by Gohan..
In an alternate ending in the Playdia version,turles is much stronger then gohan is and Turles ends up killing Gohan instead.
turles kicks gohan
turles hits gohan in back if his neck
turles brokeing gohan,s neck
gohan is dead after turles killed him
He made his first appearance as a playable character in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2, featuring a never before seen Great Ape transformation. His Great Ape form in the game is typical of untrained lower-class soldiers, and cannot control his mind.
Power level[]
It was stated by Turles himself that Goku had a power level of roughly 30,000. A battle ensued with the two being roughly equal with Goku gaining a slight edge, which meant that Turles' power level was comparable to 30,000. After eating a piece of fruit from the Tree of Might, Turles' power level increased dramatically. Goku then multiplied his Kaio-ken by tenfold to try and match him, but Turles defeated Goku's Kaioken x10 with ease. Goku's power level was roughly 300,000 when he used the Kaio-ken x10. If Turles was able to defeat that with ease, this would possibly put Turles at a level to where he could rival that of Frieza in his first form, who had a confirmed power level of 530,000.
Association with Goku[]
Toriyama stated that Turles's physical similarities to Goku are not coincidental, and that Turles was intended as an alternate version of him. Turles was developed as a version of Goku if Goku had not bumped his head and forgotten his purpose, however, his in-universe story has varied from dub to dub from Goku's long lost twin to simply a Saiyan that shares his appearance, like several other characters in the series.
[]
In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 and the next installment, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, Turles and Vegeta have a special pre-battle conversation (He and King Vegeta have the same dialogue). Vegeta starts it by saying "Your face is utterly disgusting!", to
which Turles replies by saying "Well, this brings back memories." When Turles defeats Vegeta he mocks by calling him "The Princess of all Saiyans."
However, Turles' only two anime appearances are in The Tree of Might and Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans, both of which are non-manga. Turles is never mentioned in the main storyline of the series.
[]
- Fruits of Tree of Might: Turles has somehow obtained the seeds of the Tree of Might, and has planted them on various planets to produce fruit that gives the eater immense strength enhancement. Turles has eaten plenty of them to become extremely powerful, dramatically transcending the levels of his former status as a low-class warrior.
- Levitate: Like most characters in the series, Turles can manipulate his ki to push him off the ground and take flight.
- Power Ball: By combining his ki with the planet's atmosphere, Turles can create a ball of condensed Bruits ray, which simulates the effects of a full moon, allowing him to transform into a Great Ape. In the FUNimation dub, he calls this technique a Moon Blast.
*Great Ape: Like all Saiyans with a tail, Turles can transform into a Giant Ape at the sight of a full moon (or similar sources). Though he has never transformed in the Movie, and he stated that he would lose his wits if he does, he is seen transformed in the games.
- Pulse Drive: Turles fires a large and powerful beam of purple energy from either his palm or index finger. Upon impact, a second, larger column of purple energy erupts from target causing a double hit.
- Kill Driver: Turles creates a fiery ring of ki and launches it at his opponents, releasing a massive explosion that is strong enough to kill a Great Ape.
- Continuous Energy Bullets: Turles releases a rapid barrage of energy blasts at his opponents, causing a massive accumulation of damage.
- Meteor Burst: His ultimate blast in the Tenkaichi series. Turles charges at the foe and knocks them into the air, then flies up to them in midair, knees them in the gut and smashes them down to the ground, then right before the foe hits the ground, Turles charges down at them, knees them in the gut again, and then lets them fall. Then to finish them off, he blast the helpless enemy with the same column of energy that he used against Piccolo in the Film.
Voice Actors[]
- Japanese Dub: Masako Nozawa
- Ocean Dub: Ted Cole
* FUNimation Dub: Chris Patton
- Latin American Dub: Mario Castañeda