A Shrine To Yamcha

As most of you must wonder, why a shrine to such a weak, useless, moronic, ugly guy?! BECAUSE HE'S NOT LIKE THAT AT ALL!! Yamcha is one of the greatest characters (especially in Dragon Ball) and is strong, useful, smart and cute guy! Just let me show you all that now. A simple look to the picture beside tells you how nice he looks.

At the beginning of Dragon Ball, Yamcha is a desert bandit (in French he calls himself Prince of desert, not sure for English version) and lives with his friend Puar from stealing money and capsules and stuff like that. No, I'm not to tell you his lifestory, but this is just to show you how attracting the character is already! (YES, attracting!! Don't deny that most girls love dark, rebellious guys!!) He has a cool outfit, a sword, doesn't mind using it even against a child (ok, he knew the child was powerful), has confidence in himself and is damn strong. However, we quickly discover the weakness; girls. That's the cute and adorable part of him in the Pilaf serie: how such an arrogant boy loses control in front of a girl like Bulma.

At that point, Yamcha is one of the major 'enemies' of Goku, though he quickly turns into an ally (but against his will!!). He is able to fight against him (even if he does lose...), has brains (come on, he knows about the Kamehameha and many important figures or martial arts!) and charms (else Bulma wouldn't have fell for him). Then the situation makes him drop his 'enemy' status and he leaves with Bulma. Ain't it all cute?! Yes it is.
Just then, Yamcha was an interesting boy to know. A year later, at the tournament, we find him quite changed; hair cut for Bulma, all of smile, still knowing a lot about martial artists and those stuff... Personnaly, I like him best at that period. In the manga, he looks SO cute with that haircut!! Give a look here. It was during the whole Baba thing. Here again, the clothing, people!! The clothing! And at that period again, he was the strongest guy of the gang after Goku, as well as the cute and smart one. He's the one with the girl too, even if they argue and if she's bossy with him.
Yamcha is then accepted by Roshi as a student. Now he has more self confidence, as well as more humility. He also lost his 'problem' with girls and is now 100% of a good guy. Still eager to be stronger to Goku, he follows his example and goes on training trips and things like that despite Bulma's negative reaction to it.
An interesting fact about Yamcha is how, despite two consecutive eliminations at the first Tournaments, he still participates to a third one with the same will and smile and confidence. He's also able to recognize his defeat, which in Dragon Ball/Z/GT is a rare quality.

In Dragon Ball Z now. Yamcha loses his 'main character' status, because he can't keep up with the Saiyans' powers and actually stops training and fighting at some point. But at the beginning, he is a major fighter and his death against the Saļbaļ man is just bad luck (... >.>) And then, even if he trains real hard at Kaļo, his strenght can't compare anymore to the rest of the team. He still tries to help, until the Boo saga when it would just be dangerous for him to go on battlefield. But even out of fights, he sticks with the gang and is concerned about all those things!
As I said, Yamcha knows his limits. Even though he seemed to be living for fighthing when a teenager, that 'passion' fades and, once old and seperated from Bulma, I think he just doesn't see the point of it, since there is so many strongers figures anyway.

To resume all that (mwaha, all that text just for a resume!), Yamcha changed from a dangerous guy to a loyal friend and a great warrior. Even if his strenght is nothing compared to even Piccolo's, you have to admit he is much stronger than the average of humans! He's also one of the nicest guys in the group, funniest too. He knows how to have fun and keep a normal life, and I swear, that's rare in that gang!

They form the very first couple of Dragon Ball and, to my opinion, one of the cutest. However, once Vegeta installed on Earth, it disappears once and for all. The official reason, stated by Mirai Bulma, is that Yamcha was a 'ladies guy'. However, we saw it coming since a very long time, since they argued often since the beginning of their relationship. But how did such a sweet and loving couple such as the one on the picture beside could turn into a pair of good friends?!? AFTER ALL THOSE YEARS?!?! Here's my humble opinion on the subject.

Bulma was the first woman that Yamcha could approach without fainting (well, after a while) or losing control of himself or anything. She was also his first love and, except Puar, his first true friend (for what we know). On her side, he was the first guy who didn't make fun of her name or wasn't only interested by her money or body. Therefor, I believe they meant a lot to each other, especially at the beginning.
However, as time passes, Yamcha's allergy to women goes away and the magic of a first love as well. Now living together, they realize they didn't know each other so well and we all know how bossy and irritated Bulma can be. But being a nice guy in love, Yamcha does his best to please her (even cutting his hair!). But eh, even a nice attitude can't keep a couple together and the fights multiply until the final one. They are smart enough to stay friends though and that's a good thing to me.

Now, for the "Yamcha is a bastard and Vegeta and Bulma belong together" freak. Must I say that
1) Yamcha is a nice guy from the beginning to the end
2) Seeing how Bulma and Yamcha stay friends, even during the Androids saga, I don't think he must have been so mean to her
3) Even if Mirai Bulma said he went to other girls (and if the anime tends to confirm it), I believe it wasn't the exact reason of their break-up. Remember that Bulma exagerates a bit and if she was upset when she told her son about it, it can't really be considered as the truth.

In resume (another one!), I believe that couple was really cute, but not meant to last. And if it had last, no Trunks, no time travel, no Goten, no Marron, no Bra, no Pan, no much, eh ^^'''

The very first pair of best friends in the whole Dragon Ball story. I think it's a quite special one too, since it isn't really based on fighting. Plus, it lasts until the very end (and beyond!), always just as strong as in the beginning.

We first see them as desert bandits, working together to survive, but we soon see that Puar is taking care of Yamcha more than everything. Like all those times Yamcha panics because of Bulma, who is there to take him back home and make sure he's fine? PUAR!! And in the second tournament, who turns into a flying carpet to take Yamcha to the infirmery because of his broken leg? PUAR!
Through the whole serie, we have a lot of occasions to see how Puar cares for his friend. During the first adventures, he even followed him into battles! I think Yamcha sees him like a little brother he has to take care of. Kinda like Tenshinhan with Chaozu, but even cuter because a floating cat is cuter than a talking doll.

About the people who believe Puar is a female (I can understand, with the voice he has... but I sweat he is a male!) and that 'she' could fall in love with Yamcha... Well it's always possible, but I stick with the friendship relation, since Puar is a cat anyway.

We often picture Yamcha as a good friend. It is wrong. He is not a good friend. He is a GREAT friend!! Got you all here huh?! Ok, now to the people who dare doubting it, here are facts to prove it!

1) When Goku is destroying the Red Ribbon Army and his friends come to his rescue (thinking he's only attacking them and having no chance), Yamcha is really into it and tells the others they owe at least that to the little boy.
2) He did want to go and help Tenshinhan against Piccolo (father), even though his strength was no match for the Demon. As we see, Yamcha is always ready to fight for his friends.
3) In the fight against the Saiyans, it is said that Yamcha fought first because he somehow felt it would be a mortal fight and he wanted Krilin to live. Now I don't really think that's true but eh, it can count!
4) When C-18 leaves Kami's palace after not thanking Krilin, he says he's going to kick her ass. Now even though he knows he has no chance against her, it's still good to see he'll do something about his friend's heartbreak.
5) When Goku and the others are gone with Kaioshin and the public part of the gang is cheering because C-18 is in finale, he's the only one concerned about what's going on for the fighting part of their group.

That's pretty much all I can think of for now, but you gotta admit they are good points! Also consider that most fans see him as a model of great friend!

Ok, I already can see everybody wondering "With kids?! But Yamcha isn't even a father!", so I will explain it right away. Being 16 years old at the beginning, Yamcha is therefor considered as a 'young adult' and Goku and Krilin, being younger (and much shorter) are seen as kids. Not even that though, but also Yamcha's behavior with a certain child pushed me to add this.

First of all, Yamcha with Goku. Despite the fact that Goku is terribly stronger than his elder, he's still a kid and acts like it for a long period of his life. The best scene of his childish behavior and Yamcha's attitude toward it is the one right before they go to Baba's place for the first time. At least in the manga. They go in town to get Goku new clothes and Yamcha just freaks out because he changes in the street and all. It was hilarious and quite cute as well.
However, what I really want to talk about is Yamcha and Marron. Remember that scene, during the Tournament, where she worries about her dad and he comforts her? WASN'T IT JUST CUTE?!?! In the manga (always the manga!), he puts his hand on her head and that is just so nice. Plus, his attitude toward Goten and Trunks (just smiling as they fool around) is good too. Yamcha would be a great father.

Fanfics
In fanfics, Yamcha is often a stupid weakling guy running after any girl passing by, drinking as if there is no tomorrow and unable to fight for his life. I have no idea where that comes from (see above if you don't understand the character yet), but I want here to collect fanfics treating him well, as he deserves. I have to precise that he's mostly bashed in V/B-get-together fics where authors need a villian and a reason for Vegeta to come to Bulma's rescue. V/B fics with a nice Yamcha are getting hard to find, which is very sad. However, fanfics about his childhood and things other than his break-up with Bulma do exist! I only have a few of them here, so if you have one, please submit!