Cooler

Cooler (クウラ Kūra, Coola) is the main villain in the fifth and sixth movies of the anime Dragon Ball Z. He is the

older brother of Frieza, the eldest son of King Cold, and by extenision the uncle of Kuriza from Neko Majin Z. Just like the rest of his family, he is also shown to be involved in the Planet Trade Organization, although he does not appear to work closely with his family, He simply leads his own squadron of warriors, and employs a variety of soldiers used as grunts. Much like his brother, he can push his body through transformations to increase his power. Although only two forms are seen (the last two), it is stated in the fifth film that Cooler possesses the same number of forms Frieza does, as well as a fifth and more powerful form, which he uses to combat Goku. Also like his brother, Cooler gains a bio mechanical final form (from merging with the Big Gete Star) after being defeated and assumed dead by Goku. Unlike his brother, Cooler is not afraid of Super Saiyans. Cooler was designed by Akira Toriyama, the original manga author, for Toei's theatrical production (and later adapted as needed for future appearances). Toriyama's designs can be seen in Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 6.

Cooler is also much stronger then his brother Frieza. His Meta form is extremley powerful.

Overview

Appearance

Cooler's appearance in his base form is similiar to that of Frieza's Final Form, though Cooler's skin is deep-purple as opposed to the pure white of his brother. Cooler is also much taller than Frieza, being roughly the same height as Goku. Along with this, Cooler has a distinctively more masculine appearance than that of Frieza, being quite

Cooler Design in Daizenshuu 6

muscular. Cooler also sports several armor-like carapaces on his chest, shoulders, shins and head; these are appearantly natural given how they too change when he transforms.

When he transforms however, his body undergoes great changes as opposed to his base form, his chest and muscle-mass has expanded greatly, to a degree similiar to that of Frieza's Second Form. His white carapace also changes, with the breas-plates shoulderpads becoming hoop-like in shape, while the white carapaces on his wrists change drastically, gaining dark-blue sections and procuring blade-like protrusions. Perhaps Cooler's most distinquishing characteristic in this form however is the change in the carapace he has on his head, which in this form completely encases his entire head except for his eyes, his mouth being covered behind something reminescent of a vizier, four spikes extend from his cranium and there is a large dark-blue section in the middle of his head.

Personality

Cooler uses his Darkness Eye Beam to attack Goku

Cooler's personality is quite similiar to that of his younger brother and his father, though with a few noticeable differences. Like Frieza, Cooler handles problems in an intellectual and academic manner. Though unlike his brother, Cooler is less likely to understimate his opponents, as seen when he acknowledged that Goku was still alive despite taking a direct hit from his attack, and thus ordered his subordinates to search for and kill him. Even when they had demolished a large portion of the sorrounding environment with continous barrages of energy blasts, did he insist that they continued their pursuit. Cooler is also appearantly somewhat more positively inclined towards his subordinates than his brother and father, as he has never once been seen abusing, ridiculing them or anything of the sort; and even offer to take on opponents whom outmatch them personally, which likely contributes to their great loyalty to him.

Cooler shows off his power to Goku

Despite these things though, Cooler is a ruthless killer, even by his own admission. While he doesn't appear to relish in the agony and despair of his opponents like his brother does. He is fully capable of attacking children, ambushing enemies from behind, and inflicting great harm upon an already incapacitated opponent.

Upon entering his second form (which in reality is really his fifth), Cooler displays a personality similiar to the one shown by his younger brother in his second form, though not quite as pronounced. Cooler becomes exceedingly more brutal in his efforts to kill Goku, his ego is also quite pronounced as he denotes himself as the "supreme master of the universe".

Species

The name of Cooler's species is never revealed in the anime, manga, or movies. However, it should also be noted that there is never any hint given as to whether King Cold was able to transform. If not, then his shown form would be his "true" form (being his only one) which would suggest the transformations are unique to his sons (the only person who might be able to clear all of this up would be author Akira Toriyama himself). Although maybe unique to the sons, the grandson from the parody, Neko Majin Z, Kuriza can also transform.

Name Pun

Like his brother and father, Cooler's name is a pun on all things relating to the cold. Originally, both Cooler's and Frieza's Japanese names end in a short "a" vowel, ("Freeza" and "Coola") but many English translations had dropped the "a" and added an "er" at the end due to many of the kana spellings on English words ("Freezer"). However officially, both Frieza and Cooler's original names typically are spelled with an "a" at the end (as opposed to the "Freezer" spelling). Logic would follow that the character's name should in turn be spelled in a similar fashion, (as opposed to "Cooler") but this was not the case. FUNimation Entertainment, the company responsible for Dragon Ball's production and distribution in North America and Australia, choose to spell the name as Cooler, despite spelling "Freeza" closer to the original as "Frieza".

Biography

Attack on Earth

In the year Age 737, while Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta, the home planet of the Saiyans, a newly-born Kakarot (Goku) was being sent to subjugate Earth. Seeing that Goku had escaped the explosion, Cooler's henchmen made plans to shoot the space-pod down. Cooler unexpectedly delayed the order, lamenting that his brother was still far too soft to allow a child's escape and that Frieza's conceit would delay the annihilation of the Saiyan race and jeopardize his family's absolute control over the galaxy (well, that, and also the fact that he had seven planets to conquer/destroy by the end of the day depending on the version), thus making him too busy to carry out the order anyways). Also, as Goku was only an infant at the time, he didn't believe him to be any sort of immediate threat.

Roughly Twenty-seven years later, Cooler was given word that his brother had been killed... by a Saiyan.

Cooler in his final form attacks Goku

Initially skeptical, he soon comes to believe it, and heads to Earth to avenge Frieza's death; however, he has no compassion for his brother and only desires to do so to restore his family honor. Upon arriving, he had his henchmen encounter a Saiyan, who of course is Goku. He succeeds in mortally wounding him in a shot intended for Gohan, but loses sight of his quarry after Goku is washed down a waterfall. Not content to blow up the planet - being too proud and eager to smite the one who injured his family name - Cooler goes to some lengths to have him tracked down.

With all three of his henchmen defeated by Piccolo, He finally enters the battle himself and easily defeats Piccolo before facing Goku. Goku, revived by consuming a Senzu bean, begins his battle with Cooler. Initially, he and Cooler are a fairly even match (too much even for Cooler's tastes), so he honors Goku by showing him his ultimate transformation. He increases dramatically in size, speed, and strength; four horns grow to form a crown atop his head as spikes form on his forearms, and he now sports a face-mask of sorts, hiding all facial features except his eyes, which are now red without pupils.

Cooler after he throws his Supernova at Goku

Cooler is able to easily overpower Goku in this form, until at length he grows tired of the fight and feels Frieza had further shamed his family by dying at Goku's hand. As he makes plans to destroy the planet, Goku's rage transcends, transforming him into a Super Saiyan. Off-guard and arrogant, Cooler is batted around easily, and then he realizes how Frieza lost to Goku. He gathers enough energy to form a Supernova (the same large orange sun-like attack attack Frieza used to destroy Planet Vegeta) that he hopes will not only be enough to obliterate his opponent, but the Earth along with him. But with a powerful Kamehameha, Goku is able to offset his attack and send Cooler hurling into the Sun (Interestingly, when Cooler first notices the sun while being knocked back by Goku's Kamehameha, he considers destroying the sun with the intention of causing the Earth and the surrounding Solar System to freeze in darkness, but stops when he realizes that he is heading right towards it). It was then that Cooler realized that Goku was the Saiyan child he had allowed to escape nearly three decades ago, and that in scolding his brother and not lifting a finger he had been far too soft himself. After this, Cooler incinerates in the fires of the sun.

Battle on New Namek

Cooler's remains float around in space and eventually fuse with the Big Gete Star, a giant machine. The Big

A Meta Cooler with several Cyclopian Guards

Gete Star revives Cooler by finally fusing with his brain, eventually allowing Cooler to take control. Cooler set a course for New Namek, intent on draining the planet and using the Namekians as fuel for the star. Dende, learning of this horrible news, calls to Earth's warriors for help; Goku, Gohan, and Piccolo, as well as Krillin, Master Roshi, Oolong, and Yajirobe, travel to New Namek, ready to assist its people. Upon arriving, they find many robotic beings known later as Cyclopian Guards, as well as the revivedMeta-Cooler, now in a wholly metallic and enhanced body. Stronger than ever, he is able to easily repel Goku even as a Super Saiyan, and had it not been for the unlikely appearance of Vegeta, Goku most likely would have been killed. However, even the two Super Saiyans run into difficulty handling Meta-Cooler; the nano-machines that made up his body would instantly detect and repair any defect, and make it so that defect would no longer hinder the "new-and-improved" version. Only by working together in a joint attack would Meta-Cooler finally be destroyed. However, the Big Gete Star housed not one Cooler, but thousands. Goku and Vegeta, battered and beaten, soon realize they have no chance of beating them all, especially as only a single Meta-Cooler gave them so much trouble.

Meta-Cooler

Goku and Vegeta are soon attacked and are absorbed by the Star itself, where they find the brains behind it all, the actual Cooler; an obscene and grinning head split with one remaining eye, strung up by wires and sheets of metal. All Meta-Coolers seen previously were under remote control, and the machine itself formed Cooler's true body. He plots to drain Goku and Vegeta of all their energy for his own purposes (in the Original Japanese version, he states he plans to use their energy to create an army of Metal Super Saiyans which he would use to takeover the universe), saying "Oh, the exquisite agony!" and laughing maniacally. But their power is too much and begins to overload the capacity of his systems. The

What is left of Cooler after most of his entire body being incinerated by the Sun

Super Saiyans then flood the Big Gete Star with energy, causing it to crumble and his remote-controlled robots to self-destruct, while Cooler starts to lose his hold on the planet. Sickened by such "scum" yet again foiling his plans, Cooler fashions a final body from what's left of his organic self, intending to throttle Goku in wires. Even to this end Cooler believes victory is inevitable, and his arrogance costs him his life as Vegeta shears off one of his mechanical arms with a powerful energy blast, giving Goku time to break out and destroy what's left of his body with a deadly energy ball. With the "brain" gone, the Big Gete Star disintegrates over New Namek, with Vegeta crushing the original chip in his hand, ensuring that Cooler will never come back again, ending the family bloodline.

Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans

A phantom Cooler, along with what appears to be a resurrected Frieza,

Cooler in Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans

Turles, and Lord Slug, attack Goku and his friends in the 1993 VHS OVA special (and later Playdia re-make) Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans, but these are merely false ghost-warriors meant to harass the heroes (while not the real ones, it is interesting that this is the only time in anime that Cooler and Frieza are seen together as allies).

Dragon Ball GT

Cooler and other villains from the past escape from Hell

Cooler later makes a cameo appearance in Dragon Ball GT, when all villains escape from Hell. He and the rest of the villains are sent back to Hell shortly afterwards.

Cooler's Henchmen

Like the mercenary Ginyu Force (right down to the vapid posing) called upon by Frieza on Planet Namek, Cooler's Armored Squadron (クウラ機甲戦隊 Kūra Kikō Sentai) compose the elder brother's own special fighting team. These three warriors serve as Cooler's subordinates throughout the course of the fifth film. Their dress is

Cooler's Minion. Salza

the customary garb of soldiers in Frieza's military; an extended length of armor juts from their left shoulder, while the uniforms themselves are in Cooler's primary colors of purple and white, they are shown to have a habit of blocking or reflecting Ki Blasts rather than dodging them, this habit causes Doore to be killed when he tried to block a blast more powerful than he could handle. Unlike the Ginyu Force, they appear to be more serious, with their posing being more limited (as Cooler might not be as tolerant of it as his brother Frieza) and less awkward than the Ginyu Force's Special Fighting Poses. It is also worth noting that Akira Toriyama provided the character designs for these characters, as seen in the sixth Dragon Ball Daizenshuu. Interestingly, the Armored Squadron's insignia resembles Cooler's head in his fifth form.

Cooler has two groups of henchmen in movie 6, his Cyclopian Guards and of course his Meta-Cooler clones. It should also be noted that the gete in the Big Gete Star comes from getemono, which roughly means "cobbled together".

Powers and Abilities

Cooler in his final form

Cooler possesses many of the same techniques as his brother, though often noticeably stronger. Very little of his individual techniques differ from that of Frieza. It is notable that he possesses a powerful fifth form, his fourth transformation. However, this form was still no match for the power of a Super Saiyan. Also, Cooler can power up his Supernova attack faster than Frieza can thus making him much more dangerous.

He is able to suppress his ki signature (as he was able to sneak up on Goku and Piccolo without detection, something he couldn't have done otherwise). He is also one of the few DBZ villains able to use Instant Transmission (the others being Super Perfect Cell and Kid Buu). Calling it one of his favorite techniques.

He also possesses the ability to survive in the vacuum of space and like Frieza has the ability to survive even the most horrifying injuries and still function, as shown in Movie 6, in which all that remains of him is his disembodied head. Like his brother, he becomes a cyborg after his defeat at the hands of Goku, only to be defeated once and for all.

In The Return of Cooler, the Big Gete Star gave Cooler the

Meta Cooler before he uses Nano-regeneration to grow back his arm

ability to create metal body duplicates. These metal bodies were incredibly deadly as they had the ability to repair any damage done to them up to a certain point (similar to Cell's regeneration), forcing Goku and Vegeta to blast the Meta-Cooler they were fighting into pieces so small he couldn't repair himself. These repairs also had a much deadlier side effect. When repairing himself, Cooler could also analyse how he was damaged and upgrade himself accordingly. In other words, every time the Meta-Cooler was damaged in any way it could instantly become stronger. Such as the power boost it gained when it repaired itself after Goku's attack. These upgrades would then become standard for every new Meta-Cooler created.

Power

In movie 5, it was shown that Cooler was near evenly matched with Goku in his base form. However, one interesting fact is that base Goku (after his received a zenkai during the events of the movie) had become so powerful that Cooler states after battling him that Goku is powerful "enough to have defeated Frieza". Cooler then transformed into his final form where he far outclassed Goku even when he went into Kaio-ken x20, and lost only when Goku transformed into a Super Saiyan who dominated him and blasted him into the sun. However, Cooler was saved and rebuilt by the Big Gete Star after his battle against Goku. Cooler revealed to Goku before his final transformation that Frieza was always trying to beat him at everything and that he would have killed him sooner had it not been for his father. This implies that Cooler was planning on killing Frieza before his confrontation with Goku. It is implied by Cooler that Frieza was more powerful than himself until he achieved his 5th form, when he stated that Frieza was always trying to prove he was stronger, and that he did in fact have the edge. From this, we can estimate that Cooler in his 4th form is most definitely weaker than Frieza using 100% full power, and more than likely weaker than his 50% full power form, if not weaker still. Given the fact that Goku had recieved a zenkai after his battle with Frieza, and had trained on Yardrat, and trained more still after arriving on Earth, one may estimate Goku as having a power level of approximately 20,000,000 at max, maybe less. Judging from the fact that Cooler himself was equal with base Goku, his power level must also be around 20,000,000.

Techniques and Special Abilities

Afterimage – A move he used in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3.
Death Ball – A spark of ki that may grow to the size of a small moon.
Supernova – In his final form, Cooler has the ability to gather tons of ki in seconds to create the supernova. This was to be Cooler's trump card versus Goku, but his attack is blocked and he is subsequently pushed by the force of it and Goku's Kamehameha into the sun.
Death Beam – Like most members of the Cold Familly, Cooler has the power to use death beam, as seen in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3.
Chaotic Death End – A variation of the Death Beam used on Piccolo.
Death Chaser – In final form, Cooler punches the opponent in the stomach, followed by a knee and a back-punch, knocking the opponent to the ground. Then, Cooler kicks the opponent in the stomach. Used against Goku.

Cooler uses his Death Flash against Goku

Death Flash – An energy wave Cooler used in his base form after he injured Goku with the Eye Laser when he was aiming for Gohan. He used it to chase Goku after he falled in the river. Cooler also used it in his final form against Super Saiyan Goku, immediately before the Supernova, in Cooler's Revenge. In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, the move was called Full Power Energy Wave.
Eye Laser – A small thin beam shot from both eyes.
Darkness Eye Beam – An attack similar to the Eye Laser but instead of going in a straight line, this attack moves in a horizontal direction. Named in the Budokai Tenkaichi series.
Flight – Like almost all Dragon Ball Z characters, Cooler is able to fly through use of his ki.
Ki Blast – The most basic form of energy wave.
Psychokinesis – A technique Cooler used in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3.
Psycho Barrier – A technique he used in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3.
Salza Blade – A powerful blade of pure ki which Cooler uses to cut his opponents in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 and Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World. This technique was originally used in Cooler's Revenge by Salza.
Transformation – An extra transformation Cooler learned to go beyond Frieza's. Originally, Cooler merely told Goku that he had one more transformation than Frieza.
Telekinesis – Cooler can lift or move large objects through the air with his mind.
Cooler, like his brother, Frieza, is able to survive even the most horrific injury, even decapitation and incineration. He can also survive in space.

Voice Actors

Japanese Dub: Ryūsei Nakao
FUNimation Dub: Andrew Chandler
Latin American Dub: Ricardo Brust
German Dub: Peter Flechtner

Trivia

• Cooler only mentions his father once, when in the English dub he exclaimed "father always spoiled you rotten, you little brat", in which he was showing his dislike for his brother. A year or so prior to his arrival on Earth, King Cold and Frieza are actually killed by Future Trunk's, not Goku. In regards to this line, it's interesting to note that his statement of Cold "spoiling" Frieza is slightly contradictory of his behavior towards him in the Trunks saga (e.g., his criticizing of Frieza at any moment he can get in regards to fighting him), as well as the implied physical abuse that Cold gave him in the Frieza saga ("My, my, you're the first person to actually inflict pain on my true form, well, besides my loving parents").
• Cooler and Garlic Jr. are the only movie villains who appear in the anime since Garlic Jr. had his own saga and Cooler made a cameo out of Hell in Dragon Ball GT.
• In the Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler, it is revealed that Cooler knows Instant Transmission, having learned it sometime before his attack on Earth (he uses the technique to escape the Earth's sun, but is reduced to a disembodied head). This means that he could sense ki, unlike his brother or father, as Instant Transmission teleports by homing in on a ki signature. He may also be able to suppress his large ki-signature, since none of the Z Fighters were alerted to his presence (both his brother and father were detected by the Z Fighters, even before their ship reached Earth's orbit). His being able to sense ki is supported by him not wearing a Scouter (though he may not have been able to wear one anyways, like Guldo because he doesn't have any hinges/bumps near his eyes and in the case of Guldo, his having four eyes hinders wearing a scouter), and it may also explain how he was able to appear whenever his henchmen were in over their heads as well as being able to remain hidden the entire time from Piccolo and able to launch a surprise attack on him (for instance, in their encounter with Piccolo during the events of Cooler's Revenge).
• Interestingly, even though Cooler's head in The Return of Cooler was that of his 4th form, his voice is that of his final form, which can be consider the opposite in his brother's case. As, although Frieza was in his final form, after his battles on Namek, he speaks with the same voice as his 1st form.
• According to Shonen Jump, Cooler is implied to have control of at least 256 planets, as Doore was stated as hailing from planet Coola No. 256.
• Cooler is the only character who survived being thrusted to the Sun, unlike Broly and Baby. This may have been due to his body being able to function even after taking the most horrifying injuries (as shown when he was still alive even though all that remained of him was half of his disembodied head; Frieza too was able to live even when he was cut in half and caught in the explosion of Planet Namek).
• Cooler did not appear in Fusion Reborn, but he did appear on the movie's cover.