| “ | Poor Yamcha, only thing more pathetic than a loser is a loser who thinks he's born to win. | „ |
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Tien Shinhan
From The Codex
| Tien Shinhan |
| Dragon Ball |
| “ | What I say to you is out of concern, not disrespect. You and your brother taught me how to fight, I am grateful for your guidance. I do not wish to see you lose in disgrace. Leave the ring now. | „ |
| ~ Tien to Mercenary Tao |
| “ | Whatever it costs me, I will fight. | „ |
| “ | I might just be a pothole in the road to you big guy, but it's going to be one heck of a deep pothole! | „ |
| “ | Hardly recognize you Gohan. You've changed a lot, inside and out, good for you. But I see Majin Buu did some changing too! | „ |
| ~ Tien to Son Gohan after he saved him and the others from Super Buutenk's blast |
Background
Tien Shinhan is a disciplined, reclusive and heavily devoted martial artist, and one of the strongest Earthlings within the Dragon Ball universe. He also possesses a few non-human traits due to being descended from the alien Triclops race. He was originally a student of the Crane School who desired revenge against Goku for defeating his mentor, Mercenary Tao, but realized he was on the wrong side with the help of Master Roshi. He battles alongside the other Z Fighters against major threats to the Earth, often courageously engaging enemies far more powerful than himself. However, he spends most of his time training with his lifelong best friend, Chiaotzu.
| This dropdown contains the synopsis of Tien Shinhan’s story. Read at your own risk as you may be spoiled otherwise! |
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He has a unique physical composition as a throwback to his ancestors, the Three-Eyed clan; he has the ability to grow arms from his back and split into four people, as well as shoot laser beams out of his third eye. Due to being raised by Master Shen, Tien lost the ability to use the myriad powers of his third eye for good purposes. During the early years of his life, Tien entered Master Shen's Crane School. There, he learned powerful ki-based techniques such as the Solar Flare, the Dodon Ray and the Tri-Beam, and he was taught defensive techniques by Master Shen's younger brother, Mercenary Tao. 22nd Budokai Saga
Using Chiaotzu's mental powers to fix the ordering of the matches in the quarter-finals, Tien decides to first face off against Turtle student Yamcha, whom he had been exchanging hostile words with since the start of the tournament. Yamcha puts up a better fight than Tien expected, but was still not a significant threat to Tien, who not only defeated him, but went further and ended the match by needlessly breaking Yamcha's leg while he was unconscious. Soon after this fight, when Chiaotzu uses the Dodon Ray against Krillin during their battle, and Goku mentions that it is same move that Mercenary Tao used, he learns of the death of his role-model and martial arts teacher Tao by the hands of Turtle student Goku and the tournament becomes more about revenge than victory. Tien's next opponent is the winner of the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament, Jackie Chun and he faces his first true challenge. Jackie Chun challenges Tien not only in physical combat, but also begins to warn him about following an evil path. With the help of the Master Shen, Tien learns that Jackie Chun is actually Master Roshi in a disguise and proceeds to use Master Roshi's signature move, the Kamehameha against him. After this, despite having shown none of his true power, Roshi concedes the match and hops out the ring. Tien proceeds to track down Master Roshi shortly afterwards to find out why he forfeited, to which Master Roshi responds by telling Tien that it is time for younger fighters, Tien included, to take his place. Tien then proceeds to battle in the final round against Goku himself. Goku is a powerful opponent and the fight seems to be relatively even until Goku suddenly becomes unable to throw a punch or dodge an attack without becoming frozen in place. Tien quickly learns that Chiaotzu is rigging the fight under Master Shen's orders and he demands that Chiaotzu stop since he wants a fair match. Master Shen takes this as defiance and orders Tien to kill Goku, but Tien, thinking about his own desires for the first time, humbly refuses (Thus, Master Roshi's words have proven true and Tien rejects the path of an assassin). The now infuriated Master Shen orders Chiaotzu to kill both Tien and Goku, and when Chiaotzu refuses, Shen then threatens to kill him instead. Master Roshi puts an end to this by blasting Master Shen out of the stadium with a Kamehameha, allowing Tien and Goku to concentrate on their match. After deliberately letting Goku give him a beating to make up for the beating he gave him while paralyzed, Tien and Goku continue to battle and Tien sprouts two extra arms to fight Goku. He grabs hold of Goku's arms and legs with his four arms, and then precedes to smash Goku's stomach into his head, which causes Goku a lot of pain. He does this for a couple of times, but then Goku frees himself by slapping Tien in the face with his tail. Goku counters it when he grabs Tien's legs and holds onto them, causing Tien pain. Tien manages to throw Goku off, and they continue the fight. Tien then decides to put an end to the match and use his ultimate attack, the Tri-Beam. He warns Goku to expect and dodge the blast (as there is no way to survive being hit by it) planning to force him out of bounds instead. Tien proceeds to use the attack and destroys the entire arena. Because of his warning, Goku dodged by leaping incredibly high in the air. Tien is convinced he will win at this point, as he can fly and Goku cannot, but Goku uses one final Kamehameha to propel himself into Tien like a rocket. Both fighters then fall to the ground, Goku slightly ahead. Goku attempts to use another, smaller Kamehameha to slow himself down, but is hit by a truck and lands first. Tien lands an instant later, thus winning the tournament. After the match, Tien receives 500,000 Zeni and offers Goku half of the prize money as he recognizes that, it was mere luck that he was the one who landed second referring to the fact Goku would have won otherwise. He also apologizes to Yamcha for using such excessive force during their fight and the two agree to meet at the next tournament. Master Roshi offers to let Tien stay at the Kame House, but Tien declines, stating that he cannot follow the teachings of another, even if he has betrayed his master. King Piccolo Saga
Realizing the gravity of the situation, Tien volunteers to help in any way he can. He is informed of the seven Dragon Balls, which when collected summon the dragon that can grant any wish and, along with Chiaotzu and Master Roshi, is soon on a quest to retrieve them in order to have the Dragon eradicate King Piccolo. After finding several of them though, their radar which informs them of the Dragon Balls locations shows them that the remaining ones are actually coming to them, meaning King Piccolo is also seeking the Dragon Balls and is coming for theirs. Before King Piccolo can confront them, Master Roshi unexpectedly knocks Tien out and hides him in a cave. Master Roshi plans on using the Evil Containment Wave against King Piccolo and, since Goku is thought to have already been killed, Master Roshi considers Tien to be the last line of defense for the planet in case he fails. Semi-conscious, Tien can do nothing but witnesses Master Roshi's ultimately unsuccessful stand against the powerful Demon King, and watches him die. King Piccolo wastes no time joining the Dragon Balls together to summon the Dragon and Tien, in desperation, orders Chiaotzu to quickly make a wish to destroy King Piccolo before the Demon King can make one himself. Chiaotzu tries, but is quickly killed mid-sentence from a blast by King Piccolo, an act Tien can only watch in horror. King Piccolo continues to make his wish and then destroys the Dragon, knowing it is the only thing that can stop him. After regaining his mobility, and King Piccolo has long gone, Tien practices the Evil Containment Wave, having learned it from watching Master Roshi perform it. After many attempts, Tien has fully mastered the Evil Containment Wave and heads off to King Piccolo's location in Central City to confront the demon. After he arrives and challenges King Piccolo, he is horrified on discovering that the vessel to be King Piccolo's prison is cracked and useless from his practicing. Knowing that he will not be able to use the Evil Containment Wave, Tien decides to confront King Piccolo regardless. In the anime, the jar is safely brought to the battle inside of a capsule. King Piccolo, not seeing Tien as being worth fighting, spawns a new minion, Drum, his most powerful son yet, to take care of him. Drum quickly dominates the battle, but Tien is able to knock him down giving him the opportunity to use the Evil Containment Wave on King Piccolo. However, Drum gets in the way of the blast and before Tien can seal Drum in the Electric Rice Cooker, King Piccolo destroys it. Drum is about to finish Tien off when Goku intervenes and saves him, killing Drum with a single kick. Tien, amazed at Goku's new power, can only watch as Goku and King Piccolo then battle it out, using the last of his strength part way through their match to quickly fly in and levitate Goku out of the path of a powerful attack by King Piccolo. When the battle seems to be turning against King Piccolo, the Demon King decides to take Tien hostage in order to force Goku to allow himself to be crippled. Piccolo says that if Goku does not do what he orders, he will crush Tien's head. After King Piccolo severely damages Goku, Tien is discarded by King Piccolo, but Goku is more resilient than King Piccolo thought and uses one final attack to kill the Demon King. With the battle over, Tien now heads back to the Kame House with Goku's friends Launch, Yamcha and Bulma. Tien gets all of his wounds treated by Launch, which he thanks her for. After hearing the huge news that Goku is getting trained by Kami up in the sky for three years, he vows to train harder than ever before in order to for sure bridge the now massive gap between himself and Goku. Piccolo Jr. Saga
Three years after King Piccolo's defeat, Tien, along with Yamcha, Chiaotzu and Krillin, return to compete in the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament. He is somewhat surprised to see the now teenaged Goku and hopeful that he is even more powerful than before. His real shock, however, is seeing Piccolo Jr., and realizing that something of the Demon King has survived. Goku asks him to remain silent about the matter for the time, not wishing to create a panic. When the lots are drawn up to determine the order of the fights, Tien once again has Chiaotzu manipulate the cards so that none of the group (Tien, Yamcha, Goku, Chiaotzu, and Krillin) or Piccolo Jr. fight each other in the preliminaries. Though the others are not aware of the number fiddling, and simply think that it is a coincidence. The early matches seem to be going as usual, with the group quickly dispatching their foes. Tien then receives a horrible sense of something awful happening to Chiaotzu, and races to the scene and finds Chiaotzu heavily wounded and unconscious, which makes him furious. Chiaotzu's opponent turns out to be the now cybernetically repaired Mercenary Tao, greatly surprising Tien, who thought Tao to be dead. Tao explains that after his seeming death by Goku, he was rebuilt into the half-man half-machine before them, and that he seeks revenge on both Goku and the Crane School "traitor" Tien. Tien claims he has not betrayed Shen, but realized Shen's teachings were wrong. He gladly accepts his former mentor's challenge, wanting to avenge his best friend. They get their wish as Tien and Mercenary Tao are the first of the eight finalists to fight. After a long silence, Tao lunges at Tien, but Tien quickly sidesteps and counters, knocking Tao to the ground. Tien then states that he does not want to embarrass Tao, since he taught him how to fight. Tien also forgives Mercenary Tao for what he did to Chiaotzu and tells him to forfeit. Tao refuses this and presses on his assault, though he is clearly outclassed by Tien, who dominates the whole battle. After Tien grabs one of Tao's wrists and attempts to escort him off the ring, the cyborg pulls a surprise maneuver and detaches his mechanical hand, revealing a knife that he quickly uses to slash Tien, scarring him permanently. Though disqualified for use of a weapon, Tao does not care, as he only participated in the tournament to kill Tien and Goku. Tao quickly drops his other hand to reveal a cannon and fires a Super Dodon Wave at Tien, claiming Tien has no chance of survival. Tien however nullifies the large blast with his Kiai and then proceeds to defeat Tao with a single punch to the gut. He takes Tao's unconscious body out of bounds and presents it to the watching Master Shen, telling him to take his brother and leave, and to never bother him again. Tien's next fight is the one he has been waiting for, a rematch against Goku. The battle starts with numerous quick sparrings and shows to be fairly even, but with Tien having an edge in raw speed. This changes after Goku removes his weighted clothing though, making Goku fast enough to steal Tien's belt without Tien even noticing; resulting in Tien's boxers to be exposed to the audience. Realizing that he will not be able to defeat Goku physically, Tien uses a new technique he has created, the Multi-Form, and splits into four identical copies of himself. The Tiens disperse to the four corners of the ring, each one then firing a Ki Blast Cannon at the center, where Goku is, resulting in a large explosion which Goku has to leap to avoid. The Tiens quickly fire again, this time from their third eyes, at Goku, sending him crashing back to the ring. The Tiens warn Goku to give up before he gets hurt, but he appears unfazed by their attacks, and states they will not be able to pull off that trick again, which they then promptly attempt. Goku dodges the beams this time though, and uses the Solar Flare against them, blinding the Tiens. He then quickly dispatches each of them, causing them to revert to the single being. Goku states that the new technique Tien has a critical weakness, as Tien's power is divided amongst the duplicates. With the fight over, Tien looks forward to their next rematch, suspecting that Goku was still holding quite a bit back. Tien plays little role in following battles, he can only watch as Goku fights the seemingly all-powerful Piccolo Jr. He offers his assistance at several points, but is denied by Goku who wants to fight the demon alone, though he does open the Sealed Flask, which Piccolo Jr. used to trap Kami, after Goku tosses it to him. Tien also helps to evacuate their friends, creating a pit in the earth for them to take shelter from the Hyper Explosive Demon Wave, one of Piccolo Jr.'s more devastating attacks. When it looks like Goku has been beaten, him having most of his limbs broken and with Piccolo Jr. close to finishing him off, Tien reluctantly accepts the order from Kami to kill the elderly guardian, thus also killing Piccolo Jr. He is stopped by Goku though, who says there will be no need for such extreme measures, he then evades the demon's onslaught and ends up defeating him with a surprise attack. After Piccolo Jr. is defeated, Tien joins in on the tournament victory celebration, and even shares a couple of laughs with Goku and Roshi. He is also among with the others very shocked over Goku's decision to give the demon a Senzu Bean to heal his wounds. Only a few moments after this, Kami asks Tien if he is expecting a visitor, and to his surprise he sees Chiaotzu flying towards him with a bandage warped around his head, and he is very happy to see that his best friend is alive and well. He then watches as Goku and Chi-Chi flies away from the World Tournament area on the Flying Nimbus. Saiyan Saga
In the early days, the wild Launch develops a bit of an infatuation with Tien, and she continues to chase him wherever he goes. Tien wastes no time, and is invited, along with Yamcha, Chiaotzu, Yajirobe and Krillin, to train at The Lookout so they can aid Goku when he is wished back to life in a year, after he completes his training with King Kai. In filler during this period, Tien and the other Z Fighters on Earth fight Shorty and Scarface, two illusion Saiyans they met on Planet Vegeta when using the Pendulum Room at Kami's Lookout to go back in time. Tien and his friends are overpowered greatly by the Saiyans, before they are transferred back to Kami's Lookout. The experience frightens Tien and the others, so they continue to train as hard as they possibly can. When the Saiyans finally do arrive, the Z-Fighters decide to hold them off until Goku can arrive. Tien and Chiaotzu eventually find the Saiyans, Piccolo, Gohan, and Krillin's location, and join them, soon followed by Yamcha. Vegeta, deciding to toy with his opponents, has Nappa grow several Saibamen in the soil so that he can hold a small challenge. Knowing that they have to buy time, the Z-Fighters agree to this, and Tien volunteers to go first. He manages to quickly defeat the vicious creature (in two hits to be precise), which causes Vegeta to destroy it for its severe incompetence. After all the Saibamen are killed, Nappa decides to enter the fray himself, taking on Tien as his first opponent. Tien is no match for the giant Saiyan warrior, and has his left arm ripped off in a single hit. Immediately, Tien tries to use levitation to escape, but is quickly smashed to the floor hard with the second hit. Seeing this, Chiaotzu sacrifices himself with a a self-destruction attack against Nappa, but it was in vain as Nappa remains completely unharmed and starts to fight with the now ally Piccolo and Goku's son, Gohan though even altogether they prove to still be no match for him. Tien, enraged by the death of Chiaotzu, puts all his remaining strength into one final Tri-beam through his remaining right hand, killing himself from exhaustion in the process. The attack manages to do serious damage to Nappa's armor, but does not seriously damage the Saiyan warrior. In the anime however, Nappa goes as far as to praise Tien's efforts, claiming that had his aim been better, it would have seriously injured him. The attempt also shocked Vegeta, as he was the one to warn Nappa of its power and stating that if he had not warned Nappa, it could have killed him. Frieza Saga
Tien, along with Chiaotzu and Yamcha, remains on King Kai's planet and learns of everyone's (Goku, Vegeta, Krillin, Gohan, Dende and Piccolo fused with Nail) mighty struggle with the evil tyrant Frieza on Namek. While there, in a filler scenario, King Kai calls upon the deceased Ginyu Force (excluding Captain Ginyu) to challenge Tien, Yamcha and Chiaotzu. Tien takes on both Jeice and Burter, and disposes of them rather quickly and easily, showing off how much stronger he had gotten. Knowing the Ginyu Force at one time defeated Vegeta, gave them all a sense of pride. Tien is eventually wished back to life along with Chiaotzu by a wish made to Porunga, as they willingly agreed on getting revived 4 months after Yamcha, in order to not get separated. Once back on Earth, Tien and Chiaotzu go into solitude, training in the mountains. Frieza-Androids Interlude
Androids Saga
Not too long after this, Future Trunks arrives to the battlefield, bringing them the unexpected news that the Android pair that they have been fighting with, are not the ones that he had warned them about. Shocked and concerned at the reveal of this game-changing info, Krillin, Piccolo, and Tien head off after Android 20 (who is revealed to be Dr. Gero), in search for his laboratory. Tien himself does not get the opportunity to do any fighting until Android 16, Android 17, and Android 18 appear. He attacks Android 17, but is quickly over-powered by him, and ends up being choked until he is dropped. When the Androids leave to continue their pursuit of Goku, who is recovering from a heart disease, Tien concludes that these Androids turned out to be far stronger than anything they could have anticipated, and so he goes off with Chiaotzu to train and become powerful enough to help against this new threat. Cell Saga
Tien quickly catches up with Imperfect Cell, and witnesses his battle against the combined force of Piccolo and Android 17. Imperfect Cell defeats Piccolo though. When Imperfect Cell gets up, after being shot by Android 16, Tien tries to warn Android 17, but Android 17 ends up absorbed. This allows Imperfect Cell to become Semi-Perfect Cell. Semi-Perfect Cell then makes his move to absorb Android 18 as well, but is held off by Tien, who uses his Neo Tri-Beam to hold Semi-Perfect Cell in place. He knows the risk of the technique, that it can kill him if he spends too much energy, but he proceeds nonetheless. This maneuver stops Cell from pursuing Android 18 for some time, but slowly drains Tien's life force. Tien uses every ounce of energy he has, which ends in Tien passing out. Goku arrives and relieves the thoroughly drained Tien before he is destroyed by Semi-Perfect Cell. When Perfect Cell declares his Cell Games, Tien decides to remain on the sidelines out of the fight; he even is given the chance to enter the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, but he bitterly declines the invitation, stating he has no chance against Cell. He does however get thrown into the mix when Perfect Cell spawns seven Cell Juniors to torment the Z-Fighters, in an effort to make Gohan angry. He and the other Z-Fighters soon get saved from the Cell Jrs. by Gohan, who turned Super Saiyan 2. During Gohan's final battle with Super Perfect Cell, Tien vows not to let Gohan die as he feels guilty for letting Goku sacrifice himself (especially since Goku was largely the reason he trained extensively at martial arts). Tien, Piccolo, Yamcha, and Krillin all repeatedly fire energy blasts at Cell from behind in order to aid Gohan. The Z-Fighters are eventually brushed aside by Cell who is then finally defeated by Gohan with the help of an apologetic Vegeta. At Kami's Lookout, Tien tells the other Z-Fighters that he is going to get Chiaotzu and that they will most likely never meet again (which stays true for about 7 years). Saying his farewells, and confidently telling Trunks he will have no trouble whatsoever with defeating the future Androids, he then flies into the distance. Majin Buu Saga
Tien later reappears alongside Chiaotzu whilst they are training in the mountains. Here, himself and Chiaotzu manage to evade being hit by Super Buu's Human Extinction Attack, which was used to exterminate the population of Earth. They then briefly examine the small craters left behind by Super Buu's attack. When Tien finally intervenes into the main battle, he saves Mr. Satan, Gohan, Dende and Bee from being killed by Super Buu (w/ Gotenks absorbed). Tien's strength appears to have increased dramatically, but due to the enormous power differences he is unable to make any further impacts in the battle. Both annoyed and entertained by the sudden interruption, Buu shoots a small ki blast at him, which he is able to dodge quite easily. Whilst in mid-air, Tien quickly takes a look at the destruction caused by the ki blast, before landing on a cliff edge. He then fires a Tri-Beam at Buu, but is unable to damage the monster at all. He then says the situation is just like he feared, and that the power differences are too big for him to be of any help. After being cut in half by Goku, Buu's legs land right next to Tien, who is soon dispatched after a single sucker kick from Super Buu. Throughout the rest of the fight against Buu, Tien presumably lays unconscious on the ground. In the anime he gets healed by Dende as soon as Buu goes chasing after Goku and Vegeta, but is not seen after that. When the Earth was destroyed by Kid Buu, Tien and Chiaotzu are also killed in the process. Once the Earth is restored and everyone is revived by the Namekian Dragon Balls, he and Chiaotzu later donate their energy to the Super Spirit Bomb so that Goku without a doubt will be able to kill Kid Buu, which he does not long after. He is later on seen over at a party held at Bulma's house. After the end of the saga, the stoic Tien Shinhan mainly does farming in addition to his training. He can split into multiple bodies and grow extra arms, so harvesting the crops goes quickly. He is found by Launch, who fell in love with him at first sight and had been constantly pursuing his whereabouts, once again and even reluctantly lives together with her. As she is not cut out for farming and Tien has no interest in romance, she leaves after just a few days. After that, Launch apparently stops in from time to time. Though Tien gave her the cold shoulder, she still tenaciously persisted and eventually she and Tien got together as she wanted. |
Statistics
Key: 22nd Budokai Saga | 23rd Budokai Saga | Saiyan Saga | Namek Saga | Android Saga | Buu Saga
Tier: 7-A, Higher with Ki-Ko-Ho | At least 7-A, likely Higher | 5-C | 5-B | At least 5-B. At least High 5-B, likely Higher with Shin Kikoho | At least 5-B. 4-B with Shin Kikoho
Name: Tien SHinhan
Origin: Dragon Ball
Sex: Male
Age: Unknown
Classification: Earthling, Three-Eyed Human
Status: Has been both Alive and Deceased (Tien has died a total of two times, the first time was during the invasion of the Saiyans he died after using spirit tri-beam against Nappa, killing himself from exhaustion, and the second time he died to Kid Buu when he destroyed the planet. He was then revived both times)
Alignment: Initially Neutral Evil (Initially Tien was noted as one that follows the path of evil with Master Roshi throughout the tournament trying to tell him to follow the good path), Neutral Good during his fight with Son Goku (After witnessing Chiaotzu paralyzing Goku making his hits illegitimate he immedieatly orders him to stop and tells his master he no longer wants to be an assassin, along with telling Goku he is no longer fighting him for vengance or to kill him but to simply win and become the martial arts champion, with him finally noted to be a good guy by Son Goku)
Dimensionality: 3-D
Attack Potency: Mountain level (Can fight against Master Roshi who has trained to grow strong enough to keep up with the new generation, where a weaker version of him destroyed Frypan Mountain), Higher with Ki-Ko-Ho (The Ki-Ko-Ho's power is so great that it destroyed the entire arena and was noted by Master Roshi that its destructive power is far greater then the kamehameha. It's even noted that 22nd Budokai Saga Son Goku would've been killed by this attack if he took it at full force)| At least Mountain level, likely Higher (Grew far stronger after training for 3 years, could fight against a casual 23rd Budokai Saga Son Goku, but ultimately lost) | Moon level (Casually defeated a Saibamen who are each noted to be equal to Raditz who casually overpowered both Piccolo and Son Goku, the former of whom destroyed the moon) | Planet level (Fought against both Jeice and Burter, the former of who has a power level of 42,000, which is 2.2x stronger than Saiyan Saga Vegeta, who was going to destroy the Earth with a charged galick gun; his Power Level would be above Kaio-ken x4's which would be a power level of 32,000) | At least Planet level (Trained for 3 years in preparation of the Androids, though still noted that a heart virus Goku powering up tO Super Saiyan). At least Large Planet level, likely Higher with Shin Kikoho (With his Shin Kikoho, he was able to repeatedly push back 2nd Form Cell, who is far beyond First Form Frieza, who destroyed Planet Vegeta which has ten times the gravity of Earth, requiring a GBE of this level to overcome) | At least Planet level. Solar System level with Shin Kikoho (Blased away Buutenks blast with his Shin Kikoho, Buutenks is far beyond Super Perfect Cell, who was going to destroy the solar system with his solar kamehameha)
Durability: Mountain level | At least Mountain level, likely Higher | Moon level | Planet level | At least Planet level | At least Planet level
Striking Strength: Mountain Class | At least Mountain Class, likely Higher | Moon Class | Planet Class | At least Planet Class | At least Planet Class
Lifting Strength: Class 100, likely Higher (Superior to 21st Budokai Saga Son Goku, who moved a giant boulder with a lot of effort) | Class M (Comparable to King Piccolo Saga Son Goku who fused his untapped potential with the Oozaru within him, making his power tenfold above his previous self who moved a giant boulder with a lot of effort) | Class M | Class M | Class M | Class M
Travel Speed: At least Supersonic, likely Far Higher (Far faster than Mercenary Tao, who stated that a jet would take too long and used his pillar, with fighter jets reaching up to 1000 mph) | At least Supersonic, likely Far Higher | At least Supersonic, likely Far Higher | At least High Hypersonic (Superior to Saiyan Saga Goku, who traveled over a million kilometers in 2 days making Goku move at 5787 m/s) | At least High Hypersonic | At least High Hypersonic
Combat Speed: FTL | FTL | FTL | FTL | FTL | FTL
Reaction Speed: FTL (Beyond Red Ribbon Army Saga Son Goku, who could avoid a point blank laser beam, could avoid the Kamehameha which could reach the moon in a very shot timeframe, along with tagging someone who could react to a Kamehameha) | FTL | FTL | FTL | FTL | FTL
Stamina: Superhuman (Fought with Son Goku in a very long and drawn out battle where both had to use there greatest skills against each other. Held off Cell for a long while with a special technique that drained him of his life energy)
Range: Standard Melee Range, Interstellar with Ki Attacks (Ki attacks can reach out of the planet and to other planets. All ki attacks should be comparable to Goku's kamehameha, which reached all the way to the sun)
Intelligence: Extraordinary Genius (Tien Shinhan was a prized student of the Crane School, far suprassing his master in power and Master Roshi in power, he made use of various clever tricks and techniques against Son Goku, was able to replicate the kamehameha wave against Master Roshi, which it was noted by him that it takes 50 years of hard training to learn that move. Roshi even noted that Tien's skill was so great that he could go back into happy retirement as he felt the world was safe with the skill of the new generation. Along with this, Tien developed a technique so great Roshi noted that the kamehameha could not compare to its destructive power)
Powers and Abilities
Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Acrobatics, Martial Arts, Enhanced Senses, Extrasensory Perception (Goku has been trained by Mr. Popo in learning to hone his sixth sense to be able to notice people attacking him from behind without using his eyes and feeling the environment around him, other users such as Tien Shinhan have learned the ability of ki sensing from training with Kami), Body Control (Tien can grow two extra arms), Duplication (Tien can duplicate himself into 4 different clones at the cost of splitting his power into 1/4th), Accelerated Development & Reactive Power Level (Tien’s power level will grow at a higher rate than some humans who have trained for their entire lives, in order to keep up with the other Z Fighters, with it also being noted that saiyans (and Earthlings as they have received massive power boost too) grow incredibly stronger when up against stronger opponents), Power Nullification (Can negate attacks from just shouting alone), Sealing (With the mafuba technique, can seal one in a jar), Ki Manipulation (Piccolo can generate Ki for attacks. All beings in Dragon Ball have ki, the very life force energy of all characters, ki allows a fighter to extend beyond their bodies limits, allowing them to even block attacks that would otherwise kill them from raising their guard, higher level users can lower their own durability to allow people far below them to fatally wound them. A users ki aura can exert itself as a weapon to attack), Attack Reflection (All Ki users are able to reflect attacks just by being stronger than their opponent. Examples include, Nappa deflecting a masenko from Son Gohan, Son Gohan being able to bounce back the spirit bomb, Son Goku deflecting a crusher ball from Jeice, Frieza deflecting a Final Burst Cannon from Vegeta, Son Goku reflecting multiple death beams back to back from Frieza, and Future Trunks being able to completely repel an energy blast with his hand from a Frieza Soldier just by being much stronger than them), Homing Attack (Ki users can create attacks that will home in and chase a target forever), Mind Manipulation (Characters can link their ki together and train within each other’s mind enacting in image training), Power Absorption & Transferal (Ki users can transfer their ki to others and absorb the ki given to them from others), Aura (He can surround himself in an aura of Ki. Has an aura of ki surrounding him whenever he exerts ki), Vibration Manipulation (Powerful ki users can cause the very ground itself to shake when they power up), Pseudo-Fear Manipulation, Limited Soul Manipulation & Pain Manipulation (Ki is the manifestation of one’s lifeforce, along with the aura giving one the feeling of being crushed, exerting fear into the target, sometimes making them incapable of moving as their body is instinctively stuck due to the sheer difference in power), Forcefield Creation (Ki users such as Cell can generate forcefields around themselves. These forcefields can be expanded, and used to protect others and defend against attacks far higher then the user), Immortality Negation (Type 7; Gotenks can destroy the Dictator’s undead army with their Ki; others with Ki should thus be able to do the same), Light Manipulation (Ki can be used as a flash of light), Non-Physical Interaction (Those with Ki were able to harm the Ghost Warriors), Healing (Ki can be used to heal beings, allowing them to survive even with half their torso, it can also heal from near death), Fusionism (Tien can perform the Fusion Dance), Resistance to Sleep Manipulation (Tien resisted the sleep gas Master Roshi put on him)
Standard Equipment
- Electric Rice Cooker: Electric Rice Cookers are the most used containers in the Evil Containment Wave technique, with an ofuda talisman stuck on it. Roshi and Tien Shinhan attempted to use one each to seal King Piccolo again, but both failed; Roshi's strike missed the cooker and Tien's cooker was destroyed by training.
- Weighted Clothing: Clothing fitted with built-in weights to make them heavier than ordinary clothes.
- Senzu Bean: Senzu Beans are mystical beans with immense rejuvenation properties, being capable of healing entire wounds, such as one's stomach being punctured.
Notable Techniques
- Flight: The capability to fly by using the ki. At first, this technique was used only by Tien and Chiaotzu, then it was learnt also by all the Z Warriors, except for Yajirobe and Master Roshi.
- Ki Blast: The most basic form of energy wave.
- Ki Sense: The ability to sense the energy of other beings.
- Domination Blast: A combination of many energy waves, much more powerful than the average ki blasts, and fired at a very rapid rate. The name of Tien's Renzoku Energy Dan (Continuous Ki Blast) technique he uses in the Butōden series and Budokai series.
- Kiai: A technique where the user affects the air currents around him with ki to produce powerful shockwaves in order to strike the opponent at mid range. In the Raging Blast series, it is known as Kiai Return and is Tien Shinhan's signature attack.
- Dodon Ray: The signature finger beam technique of the Crane School invented by Master Shen.
- Super Knee Uppercut: A diving knee attack to break the opponent's leg, causing an extreme amount of damage.
- Machine Gun Punch: Tien swings his arms so fast they appear to be windmills on his shoulder and pummels his opponent uncountable times. It is called Jackhammer Fist in the Budokai series.
- Volleyball Attack: Tien uses his opponent as a ball and makes them fly with two hits before giving a final blow to stamp them into the ring.
- Four Witches Technique: The user temporarily grows two extra arms from the back, seemingly under the shoulder blades. This allows the user to attack with twice the intensity that they would normally be capable of.
- Multi-Form: Tien splits himself into four identical copies, with all the same power.
- Multi-Form Attack: Tien uses the Multi-Form to split himself into four identical copies and then, at the same time, each copy fires a Ki Blast Cannon.
- Ki Blast Cannon: Tien holds out both palms, one behind the other. He then charges up and fires a beam similar in appearance to a large Dodon Ray. In the Budokai series, the Ki Blast Cannon is fired in the same fashion as the Tri-Beam.
- Tri-Beam: Tien forms a vaguely diamond-shape "tunnel" with the hand's by keeping the fingers on each hand together, overlapping the index finger on the one hand with the pinky of the other hand, and overlapping the thumbs. The object being focused on gets zoomed in on and visualized inside that diamond, then he shouts "Tri-Beam, ha!" while releasing the large yellow beam from the hands. It is called Ki Blast Cannon in Budokai series.
- Spirit Tri-Beam: A one handed version of the Tri-Beam, which uses Tien's life energy.
- Neo Tri-Beam: A significantly more powerful version of the Tri-Beam.
- Solar Flare: The user places their hands close to the center of their face with the fingers spread toward their eyes. The user then calls out the name of the technique, which provokes a white light to fire out and blind everything watching except the user, since they are projecting the light. Tien called it "Solar Flare of Crane School" because at that time he was Master Shen's pupil.
- Afterimage Technique: An ability to move so swiftly that an image of the user is left behind. Tien uses a variation of the afterimage, the Wild Sense, in the Budokai Tenkaichi series.
- Kamehameha: A powerful Ki blast fired with two hands after concentrating a large amount of Ki.
- Evil Continanment Wave: A technique designed to seal demons away by sucking them into a container with a special "Demon Seal" ofuda on it. The move requires huge stamina and endurance to perform, if user does not have enough life force they will die soon after performing it, despite the success of the technique.
- Telepathy: A way to communicate with others using one's mind.
- Telekinesis: A technique that allows the user to manipulate objects and other people with the power of one's mind. In the anime, Tien is shown using this to halt the waterfall near his home during the Vegeta saga.
Other
Standard Tactics: Tien will incoporate different techniques with his martial arts along with ki attacks, against far stronger foes he will attempt his Shin Kikoho.
Weaknesses: The Multi-Form technique divides Tien's strength into 1/4, Kikoho drains his strength and if he uses it too much, he will die. The mafuba requires a container to use.
Note: Some clips used on the profile come from an anime or movie due to the fact that some abilities Goku use shouldn't function much differently from how they can in canon, along with this sometimes the anime version/video game version of a scene will be used for cleaner visuals. Toriyama himself directly overlooks scenes in the anime and movies and gives Toei the thumbs up[1].
Note 2: The speed scaling for PLs are taken with a grain of salt as there are noticeable times where someone's speed isn't equal to their power, such as Burter being faster then Recoome and Jeice, along with Super Saiyan Grade 3 Trunks having his power greatly increased but his speed decreased.
Trivia
- Tien Shinhan's Japanese name pun is tenshindon (天津丼), a quasi-Chinese dish actually invented in Japan and consisting of a crabmeat omelet over rice. It gets its name from the fact that it was originally made using high-quality rice. The character’s name is written in hanzi/kanji 天津飯 via the on'yomi rendering, making it read as Tenshinhan (Teh-n-shee-n-hah-n).
- However, the "tien" part in the English dub is mainly modelled after the Mandarin/pinyin pronunciation of the kanji/Chinese character for "sky/heaven" ("Tee-ean" as opposed to "Tee-ah-n"). The proper pinyin formatting for his name due to having Chinese characters as its base is Tiānjīnfàn, and is pronounced either as "Tee-ah-n-jee-n-fah-n" or "Tee-ean-jee-n-fah-n".
- Tien supposedly has had hair, as Master Shen states that he shaves his head.
- At the end of the episode "Full-Moon Vengeance", due to an animation error Tien is briefly seen without his third eye when Chiaotzu leaves to enter the ring.
- The scar on Tien's chest is from his fight with Mercenary Tao in the 23rd World Tournament. Oddly, it never healed, even with the aid of any Senzu Bean he ate after the tournament.
- A minor three-eyed background character is referred to as Tien's Mom in the Funimation dub credits for "Day 1".
- Tien is one of the most notable characters who does not appear in Dragon Ball: The Return of Son Goku and Friends!. This was done because his original voice actor, Hirotaka Suzuoki, had died 2 years earlier, although this can easily be explained story-wise by Tien and Chiaotzu's reclusive nature. He appears with Chiaotzu in the opening and is briefly mentioned when Gotenks utilizes his Volleyball Attack technique in battle against Aka. However, they are included in the manga adaptation.
- In Dragon Ball Forever's poll of the top 20 best characters, he was voted number 16 by Japanese fans. This is above Bulma, Android 17, Yajirobe and Videl.
- Tien Shinhan's hobby is playing volleyball with Chiaotzu.[2]
- Tien Shinhan favorite foods are jiaozi and shumai.[2]
- Tien Shinhan's favorite vehicle is a llama and ostrich.[2]
- In Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, while you are doing a training session with Tien, Yamcha will state that "Tien is doing this to just impress Launch".
- In the original 1997 FUNimation episode of Nappa... the Invincible?, when Tien's arms got chopped off by Nappa, Tien infamously claims that he could grow his arm back, very likely said to tone down the severity of such injury since Piccolo has regenerated his arm earlier despite the fact that Tien is a human and likely wouldn't have such ability.
- Tien Shinhan is the only Earthling character in the series to fight against Beerus the Destroyer.
- In Xenoverse 2, if the Future Warrior talks to Whis while having Tien as their instructor, Whis will say that Tien is very brave to fight against Beerus and hopes that they will be as brave as him.
- Tien shares parallels to another mythological figure from Chinese mythology that has appeared in Journey to the West: Yang Jian, also known as Erlang Shen, the three-eyed demigod who is able to see through lies and deception with his third eye, and has a dog companion by the name of "Howling Heaven Hound/Dog". Like how Tien fought against Goku, Erlang Shen was also known for fiercely combating the original Son Goku/Sun Wukong in order to subdue him during his prequel tale before the journey west, which was overall both Tien and the Three-Eyed People's likely inspiration.
- A coincidental tie-in to Journey to the West/Chinese mythology in general is also the usage of his Four Witches Technique; Nezha was another known figure who could also both sprout extra arms and/or heads that also was one of the original Sun Wukong/Son Goku's prior adversaries.
- There's a rap song named after him and Yamcha by rapper Sada Baby.
- In the first Budokai game's Legend of Mister Satan mode, before fighting Tien as Mister Satan notices that Tien has 3 eyes, he wonders what Tien's glasses would look like.
References
Battle Records
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