Frieza

Frieza (フリーザ), is a fictional supervillain of the Dragon Ball universe created by Akira Toriyama, who first introduced the character in his manga Dragon Ball, followed by its anime adaptation Dragon Ball Z. Frieza also appears in the television special Bardock: The Father of Goku, two Dragon Ball Z movies, the side story The Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans, and in Dragon Ball GT.

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. Frieza is capable of amazing power. Frieza is capable of changing into a wide array of forms, looking more menacing each time. Although his fourth and Final Form looks scrawny and weak, he possesses unbelievable power in that form. And in his final form he can undergo a huge power change, bulking him up and making him slightly weaker than a Super Saiyan. This form is known as his 100% Full Power Form.

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, plus his special forces, the Ginyu Force. 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, Eiji Takemoto in Dragon Ball Kai, 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.

Abilities
Frieza is first seen moving at superhuman speeds and flying unaided in volume 9. He also appears to have quick reflexes. He is also highly resistant to all but the hardest of physical blows.

Although in other media such as videogames, several techniques are added to his arsenal, the techniques that Frieza uses in Toriyama's manga and its anime adaptation are Death Beam (デスビーム), a sharp piercing beam from his finger, Death Ball (デスボール), a large energy sphere he used to destroy planet Namek, 100% Death Ball (100%デスボール), its name is revealed in the videogames, but Frieza used it against Goku and Super Nova (スーパーノヴァ), which he used to destroy planet Vejita.

Also, Frieza attacks using sharp energy razor discs called Death Saucer, similar to Krillin's Destructo Disc, or Kienzan.

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 three 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 (like an Alien). 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. Although his tail was surprisingly not regenerated, the rest of his wounds that were taken from Piccolo, disappeared as if nothing ever touched him.
 * 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. In this form he is able to use anywhere from 1% to 100% of his full power and was able to match Goku using only 1% in the english dub as this was never stated in the manga which is regarded as true canon. He later powered up to 50% full power in order to easily beat Goku, in which he did. He was powerful enough at this phase to survive a Large Spirit Bomb with few scratches, besides a damaged tail. 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.
 * Final Form
 * 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 (however even with this increase in power, he was still no match against the power of a well trained Super Saiyan).
 * Mecha 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 Freeza's head. A caricature of Freeza 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 Freeza, 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 Freeza character, with the Delightful Children From Down the Lane portraying him as a multi-headed monstrosity.

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 Freeza and his allies are easily dealt with. Other games highlight Freeza in alternate story paths, including those where he successfully attains immortality and goes on to threaten Earth.

In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2, Freeza 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 Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3, Freeza is fought on planet Namek as a boss character in the "Dragon Universe" mode. He is also a playable character in other modes as well. Freeza starts out in his weakest form, but his other forms can be accessed by charging up, and going into "Hyper mode", once in this mode, activate Hyper Mode again, and Freeza will change into one of his other three forms depending on how many energy bars he has.

In Super Dragon Ball Z, Toriyama took Mecha Freeza'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 version, Freeza is voiced by Ryūsei Nakao in all media. In the PlayStation game Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout, he was voiced by Eddie Frierson. In the Ocean dub of the Dragon Ball Z series he was voiced by Pauline Newstone. In the Funimation dub, Freeza is voiced by Linda Young Linda Young continued to voice Freeza in the video games, and other media of the series over the span of 10 years, until the role was re-cast in Dragon Ball Z Kai (after episode 1), where he is voiced by Christopher Ayres. Ayres confirmed he will voice Frieza in all future video games, as well.

Reception
His voice in the original FUNimation dub is often 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."