Freeza’s Race Has a Proper Name
Considering his contemporary relevance alongside Saiyans and Namekians, perhaps it is no surprise that fans have long-wondered: does Freeza’s race have a name? All references to this “race” in Japanese tend to apply a descriptor to Freeza’s name itself; we end up with “Freeza’s clan” as a name, or even more broadly, just “Freeza’s race”.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, FUNimation’s English dub has added a bit of confusion to the mix.
In Dragon Ball Z episode 20, Kaiō explains the history of the Saiyans to Goku during a training recess. At this point in the series, Freeza himself has yet to be introduced; as such, this filler material takes its basis from explanations provided by Raditz earlier in the series, all-new information direct from original author Akira Toriyama himself specific for the scene, and likely Toei’s own collection of arbitrary new information and visuals.
They realized that even though they wanted to fight, they could not go out any farther into space. So the Saiyans joined forces with rich, advanced alien civilizations, and in exchange for furnishing planets to these aliens for use in developing vacation estates, they were able to obtain technology and money.
In the fourteenth episode of FUNimation’s original 1996 English dub of Dragon Ball Z (which corresponds to the aforementioned episode), additional dialog and script punch-ups during this scene create an entirely new race: “Arcosians”.
Well, not far away, the Saiyans met the Arcosians. Now, the Arcosians had money and technology, but the planet Arcos was a dump, so they hired the Saiyans to conquer a planet for them. An unholy partnership was formed. Saiyan might combined with Arcosian ingenuity, to form a fleet of planet pirates.
There is no basis for this name in the original Japanese script, and it is unknown where the name may have come from. “Arkose” is a type of sandstone, so it is possible FUNimation’s script writers of the day created their own pun or reference, though this is entirely speculative. This is the same era of Goku’s father being a “brilliant scientist”; arbitrary script changes were the norm. That all being said, there is no implication here that “Arcosian” has anything to do with Freeza anyway (as he had yet to be introduced) and the characters shown on-screen are an entirely separate race.
When FUNimation redubbed this material with the then-current voice cast in 2005’s “Ultimate Uncut Edition”, the same overall dialog was kept, including this “Arcosian” race name. This dialog continues to be used in all uncut Dragon Ball Z television series home releases from FUNimation, up through and including the 2013-2014 Blu-ray season sets.
Well, not far away, the Saiyans met the Arcosians. Now, the Arcosians had money and technology, but the planet Arcos was a dump, so they hired the Saiyans to conquer a planet for them. An unholy partnership was formed. With Saiyan might and Arcosian ingenuity combined, they formed a fleet of planet pirates.
As this scene is largely filler material, it was cut entirely from the “refreshed” Dragon Ball Kai broadcast in 2009, leaving no opportunity for FUNimation to adjust this scene’s script in the series’ otherwise largely-faithful adaptation.
The Malaysian English dub of the fifth Dragon Ball Z movie features a scene where Coola seems to speak (or rather, mumble through) a word that one could possibly interpret as a name for their race: something that sounds like “Glaeris”.
“What? You are telling me Freeza, who inherited the Glaeris(?) plot, was killed by the lower Saiya people?”
Again, as an adaptation separate from the original Japanese script, its additions can be ignored.
Due to the ever-expanding nature of the Dragon Ball franchise, rights-holders such as Shueisha and Toei have been forced to include SOME sort of naming convention for the race. As noted earlier, the word 族 (zoku) is generally used, meaning “family” or “clan”. For example, King Cold’s character biography in 1996’s seventh Daizenshuu states:
宇宙最強の一族の長だが、フリーザにはやや劣る。
Though he’s the head of the strongest family in the universe, he is somewhat inferior to Freeza.
This word has consistently been used for the race (or, rather, small collection of characters and avatars), particularly for modern-era games like Dragon Ball Online, Dragon Ball Heroes, and Dragon Ball Xenoverse. Players creating original avatars will routinely select from humans, Saiyans, Namekians, “Majin”, gods (or “off-worlders”), and: フリーザ一族, or “Freeza Clan” (clan/family/race). This includes said custom characters:
… as well as specific, original, named characters (such as “Froze” from the Dragon Ball Heroes: Victory Mission promotional manga series):
Fan theories and naming conventions have always been popular ways to fill in knowledge gaps. Over the years, fan names for Freeza’s race have included:
- “Changeling” (or “Changling”): the earliest references on alt.fan.dragonball date back to 1999, where from its context it is clear that the name has already been in popular use for a while
- “Iczers” (or “Icers”): the earliest references on alt.fan.dragonball also date back to 1999, where from its context it is clear that the name has already been in popular use for a while; “Ice” as a base was also adapted as a race or character name into several fan comics many years later
“Frost Demon” had also been in occasional fandom use, but was more heavily popularized beginning in 2010 by the fan comic Dragon Ball Multiverse. In the 326rd page of the series (within its 15th chapter), characters from an alternate universe refer to Freeza and his ilk as “Démons du Froid” (“Frost Demons” in the creators’ own English translation):
With Dragon Ball Multiverse being a fan creation, its naming conventions hold no weight in an official sense. Fans sometimes point to an off-hand comment in 2014’s first Dragon Ball Xenoverse game, where playing as a Freeza clan avatar character against Cell in Parallel Quest #22 will result in the following English dialog:
I have all the data I need on the Frost Demons. I have no interest in you.
This is a change exclusive to the English script, however. In Japanese, Cell simply refers to “your race” (きさまらの一族).
It is possible that the Xenoverse English script writers were familiar with Dragon Ball Multiverse, but it is equally likely that they independently came up with this name the same way fans had done decades prior. As a change exclusive to one language’s version of the script, it holds as much water as “Arcosian”… which is to say: none. For what it is worth, the French translation of the same dialog refers to the race as “Démons du givre”; the script here was clearly translated from the adapted English script, rather than the original Japanese script, and with no direct reference to Multiverse‘s original phrasing.
Though fans seem to still clamor for a proper noun by which to identify the race, as it stands a “clan” or “family” associated with Freeza is the best we have!