Summary

• Despite Yamcha's initial badassery and success in defeating Goku as a Great Ape, his relevance and contribution to the Z Fighters has dwindled, and he is now barely a member of the squad.
• Trunks' actions in the time stream reveal that Yamcha's inaction indirectly saved Goku's life and prevented two Dragon Ball timelines from being obliterated.
• Yamcha's missed opportunities in love, including his failed relationship with Bulma and his ruined romance with Vidro, further add to his disappointment and lack of significance in the Dragon Ball universe.

Yamcha is perhaps the most frustratingly disappointing character in the entirety of Dragon Ball lore. However, it seems as though the world of Dragon Ball has finally found some use for this seemingly useless Z Fighter, and it’s just as pathetic as fans would expect.

Yamcha was one of the first members of the Z Fighters in Dragon Ball history. Originating as a desert bandit with his shape-shifting partner, Puar, Yamcha was immediately introduced to fans as a total badass complete with a gnarly sword and martial arts training that made it seem like he was not to be messed with. Yamcha was even successful in defeating Goku when the Saiyan was in his Great Ape form–a transformation that is famous for laying waste to entire planets.

Yamcha's Most Useful Act Was Doing Nothing

Essentially, Yamcha was pretty cool when he first started out, but that status quo changed drastically with one solitary battle. When Nappa and Vegeta invaded Planet Earth, Yamcha was killed by one of their Saibamen in an absolutely pathetic display that still remains infamous to this day. Since then, Yamcha has seemingly given up trying to keep up with the other Z Fighters in terms of power, and is currently barely a member of the squad as his last notable contribution was during a baseball game in a filler episode of the Dragon Ball Super anime. However, Goku perhaps owes his life to Yamcha thanks to one action taken by the Z Fighter–or more accurately, inaction.

In Dragon Ball chapter 335 by Akira Toriyama, Trunks arrives in the alternate past respective to his future for the sole purpose of alerting the Z Fighters of the impending threat of the Androids with the hope that his actions will fix the events of his future (something he later discovers isn’t possible). During his visit, he immediately starts changing things from his history, including giving Goku a life-saving drug that will heal him of a deadly heart disease he is destined to contract. Not only that, but Trunks tells Goku that he is legitimately a man from the future and that his parents are two people Goku is close with: Bulma and Vegeta.

Trunks’ news gives Goku quite a shock, especially the bit about his true parentage since at that point in time, Bulma was still romantically involved with Yamcha. However, as Trunks explains, Yamcha was too non-committal so Bulma dumped him and got together with Vegeta, which resulted in Trunks' birth. If Yamcha had committed to Bulma, those two may have ended up getting married and had a family of their own–which would have resulted in the apocalypse.

Dragon Ball Ruined Yamcha's Other Romance, Too

Bulma isn't the only time Yamcha missed out on love, though. In Super Dragon Ball Heroes, a web-based series, Yamcha rescued an alien woman named Vidro during a fight, instantly winning her affections. The series teased the idea of Yamcha and Vidro quite a bit, only to ruin everything with a gag. Vidro wants to marry Yamcha, but she tells him that she must wait until the age of marriage on her homeworld--a wait that will take 1,200 years, leaving Yamcha long gone. This reveal instantly killed their relationship, which had been a rare bright spot for the oft-maligned Yamcha.

Trunks literally saves two separate Dragon Ball worlds single-handedly with his meddling in the time stream. Trunks saves the prime Dragon Ball timeline by giving Goku life-saving medicine and alerting the Z Fighters to the threat of the Androids, allowing them time to train and mentally prepare for the battle ahead. Plus, Trunks saves his original timeline by growing in power enough to stop the villains that plagued his world all by himself. Both of those Dragon Ball timelines would have been obliterated if it weren’t for Trunks, and Trunks is only alive because of Yamcha’s inaction–proving once and for all that Yamcha is quite literally good for nothing.