Cooler

Cooler
“ Yes! It is I who decides who lives and who dies! All living things are mere playthings to me! No one can comprehend my power and cunning! „ ― Cooler “ Yes! It is I who decides who lives and who dies! All living things are mere playthings to me! No one can comprehend my power and cunning! „ ― Cooler “ Yes, by all accounts, I should in fact be dead. Incinerated in the fires of your sun. But fate, it seems, saw fit that I'd have a second chance. And thanks to the power of the Big Gete Star, I have been reborn stronger and sleeker; new and improved, you might say. „ ― Meta-Cooler
Vital statistics
Names	Cooler/Coola, Meta-Cooler
Gender	Male
Race	Frieza Race
Occupation	Commander
Origin	Dragon Ball Z: Coolers Revenge
Alignment	Evil
Age	Several Decades (Older than Frieza)
Created By	Takao Koyama
Height	{{{height}}}
Weight	{{{weight}}}

Cooler is the eldest son of King Cold and the older brother of Frieza. Having not been born with the same extreme power of his younger brother, Cooler developed an intense sibling rivalry with him, training and ultimately discovering a new transformation with the sole purpose of surpassing and defeating him.

Appearance

Cooler's appearance in his base form is similar 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 similar in height to Goku. Along with this, Cooler has a distinctively more masculine appearance than that of Frieza, who is more lean built (excluding the engorged muscle mass when at 100% full power). Cooler also sports several armor-like carapaces on his chest, shoulders, shins, and head; these are apparently natural given how they too change when he transforms.

When he transforms to his true form, however, his body undergoes great changes as opposed to his base form: his chest and muscle-mass have expanded greatly, to a degree similar to that of Frieza's Second Form. His white carapace also changes, with the breast-plates shoulder pads becoming hoop-like in shape, becoming something like white "handles", while the white carapaces on his wrists change drastically, gaining dark-blue sections and developing blade-like protrusions. The tip of his tail gains a white pointed stinger-like carapace as well. However, the most distinguishing characteristic in this form is, perhaps, the change in the carapace Cooler has on his head, which in this form completely encases his entire head except for his eyes, his mouth being covered behind something reminiscent of a visor, four spikes extend from his cranium and there is a large dark-blue section in the middle of his head.

Personality

Cooler's personality is quite similar to that of his younger brother and his father, though with a few noticeable differences. Like Frieza, Cooler handles problems in an intellectual and serious manner. Though, unlike his brother, Cooler is not consumed by his ego and is less likely to underestimate his opponents, as seen when he acknowledged that Goku was still alive despite taking a direct hit from his Darkness Eye Beam, due to the latter managing to utilize a counterattack against him, and thus ordered his subordinates to search for and kill him, and in the English dub also deliberately refuses to use the easy solution of ensuring Goku's death by blowing up the Earth specifically in order to make sure he had confirmed Goku's death with his own eyes despite his preference of blowing it up. Even when they had demolished a large portion of the surrounding environment with continuous barrages of energy blasts, he insisted that they continue their pursuit. Likewise, he does not get overly proud of accomplishments that require little effort as he found Frieza's gloating at destroying Planet Vegeta so childish. This is also implied by his admission that he and his forces deliberately target planets that are considered more difficult to conquer in contrast to his brother. Cooler is also apparently more positively inclined and respectful towards his subordinates than his brother and father, as he has never once been seen abusing, ridiculing, executing them or anything of the sort. He also offers to take on opponents who outmatch them personally, which likely contributes to their undivided loyalty and respect for him. He even seems to be inclined to take his subordinates' advice. However, Cooler still underestimated his opponent, as by allowing Goku's space pod to escape instead of following his subordinates' suggestion of shooting it down, he was paving his own downfall years later when Goku defeated him. Cooler himself lamented that when he looked down on Frieza for being soft that day, he himself was no better for not shooting down Goku's pod.

Despite these honorable qualities, Cooler is a ruthless killer, even by his own admission. While he does not appear to relish in the agony and despair of his opponents like his brother does, he is willing to attack children, ambush enemies from behind and inflicting great harm upon an already incapacitated opponent without a second thought. Upon entering his final form, Cooler displays a personality similar 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. Other similarities he has with Frieza is that he is completely assured of his own superiority over his opponents, and his ego is also quite pronounced as he denotes himself as the "supreme master of the universe". After merging with the Big Gete Star, Cooler also ends up ironically adopting some of his brother's traits such as his sadism (as especially evident by his referring to Goku and Vegeta's agony from being drained as "absolutely exquisite" and laughing maniacally) and his knack for underestimating foes (as especially evident by his boasting that Goku can't win against him in his ultimate form and ignoring Vegeta until it was too late).

With regards to his relationship with his family, Cooler appears to have had a simple sibling rivalry with Frieza, labeling him as arrogant, foolish, a spoiled brat and a pest, and even goes as far as to admit that if Goku had not killed Frieza, he himself would have done so. He also says that Frieza was the "favored" one in regard to their parents. In Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans, however, Cooler and Frieza appear to be more than capable of working together to defeat a common foe, though this is likely due to the both of them having been defeated by Saiyans and their subsequent desire for revenge. Cooler is never shown with King Cold, but dialogue implies that he holds the same lack of respect for his father as Frieza did. The English dub of Cooler's Revenge has Cooler privately blame King Cold "spoiling [Frieza] rotten" for the latter's defeat at the hands of what he believed at the time to be a standard Saiyan. Cooler appears to not care for his father, as upon Cold trying to get help from him in the Prison Planet Saga, Cooler proceeds to kill him. In Cooler's only interaction with Cold in Supersonic Warriors 2, he opposes him. In Cooler's ending in Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road, Cooler and Frieza are shown to have a good relationship, as they plan to destroy the Saiyans together, and the two complement each other at several points.

In Frieza's arcade mode in Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai, Frieza mentions that Cooler believes that violence is the answer to almost anything, something which Frieza disagrees with. Cooler also has a certain sense of pride and lust for battle as he took Videl hostage, then quickly releases her after present Gohan agrees to have a one-on-one match.

Biography

Background

Like the rest of his family, Cooler is shown to be involved in the Frieza Force, although he does not appear to work closely with his family. He also leads his own squadron of warriors as a planet subjugator for the Frieza Force. According to an issue of Shonen Jump, Cooler has control of at least 256 planets, as his henchman, Dore is stated as hailing from planet Coola No. 256.

In Age 737, while Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta, the home planet of the Saiyans, a newly born Kakarot 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 belayed 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. He and his squad were also tasked with the subjugation (destruction in the FUNimation dub) of seven planets by the end of that day.

Cooler always had a sibling rivalry with Frieza and even went as far as to admit that if Goku had not killed Frieza, he himself would have tried to kill him. At some point, Cooler found the means to gain a clear advantage over his younger brother: he transformed into a Fourth Transformation, with power surpassing even his younger brother's full power at the time.

Cooler's Revenge

"Well, well... not bad. Rather impressive, actually. Frieza... yes, I could see how he would have trouble with you. My brother was a pest - I would have killed him myself sooner or later. He was always trying to beat me, trying to prove that he was the best, and he definitely had the edge. But then it happened. As you know, I'm in the third transformed state, but I found a fourth beyond it! You should feel privileged, you will be the first one to witness this form! First you will see, then you will DIE!"

Cooler first appears in the prologue to the movie, where he orders for Salza and the rest of the Armored Squadron to delay an order to intercept and destroy an attack pod containing a Saiyan infant, citing that Frieza made the mistake of letting him escape, and sees absolutely no reason why he should interfere with his schedule regarding seven planets that day to cover for Frieza (depending on the version of the movie, he either intended to conquer [Japanese] or destroy [Funimation dub] the planets in question), and also figured that the Saiyan would pose no threat to them due to only being an infant. In the Funimation dub, when complaining about how Frieza is too blinded by his arrogant pride to notice the space pod, he stated that the space pod could have contained King Vegeta for all Frieza knew. He then had the ship flee the system, due to wanting to evade the destructive waves posed by the planet's destruction.

Roughly 27 years after the genocide of the Saiyans, Cooler is given the word that his brother had been killed by a Saiyan. Initially skeptical, he soon comes to believe it, and heads to Earth to restore his family's honor (he makes the point that he is not doing this to avenge Frieza. In the FUNimation dub, he also bitterly states that part of the reason Frieza got beaten was that their father, King Cold, "spoiled Frieza rotten"). Upon arriving, he makes his henchmen encounter a Saiyan, who of course is Goku. As Goku was unaware of Frieza having a brother, he mistakes Cooler for Frieza and is shocked at the apparent survival of "Frieza". Cooler wounds Goku in a blast intended for Gohan but loses sight of his quarry after Goku is washed down a waterfall. This encounter leads Cooler to suspect that Goku did, in fact, kill Frieza, since Goku had thrown a powerful ki blast from a very compromising position after he had been hit by Cooler's eye beams. 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 Dore and Neiz killed by Piccolo and Salza almost defeated by him, Cooler finally enters the battle himself, with Piccolo expressing shock, believing him to be Frieza and stating that he should be dead. Cooler punctures a hole through Piccolo and has Salza go after Gohan. Goku, revived by consuming a Senzu Bean, encounters Cooler, learning he is Frieza's brother as Cooler demonstrates how much mercy he lacks, by dropping Piccolo, (pretending to let Piccolo go for Goku to rescue him) and then blasting Piccolo before Goku could catch him. Goku, enraged, condemns Cooler as ruthless as his brother before beginning his battle with Cooler. Initially, he and Cooler are a fairly even match; Cooler then understands how Goku gave his brother trouble. He soon reveals to Goku 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, and desired to kill Goku mostly for robbing him of his chance of doing so, rather than family matters. Cooler soon tells Goku of his ability to transform once more than Frieza and shows him his recently acquired ultimate transformation (in Funimation's dub). He additionally implies that not even his Armored Squadron knew about this transformation and tells Goku to consider this to be an honor due to Goku being the first to witness the transformation as well as vowing he'll also be the last. After the transformation concludes, Goku privately notes in shock that Cooler's ki was superior to Frieza's in his form (the English dub omits this by having Goku loudly declare in utter shock Cooler's extreme increase in overall height instead).

Cooler now easily overpowers Goku in this form and keeps to his word to make sure the Saiyan suffers for bringing shame upon his family's legacy, by attacking Goku with back-breaking techniques, almost bringing Goku to death, 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 overpowered by the Saiyan; he realizes how Frieza lost to Goku and laughs crazily at it. Finally becoming desperate, he gathers enough energy to form a Supernova Cooler to obliterate the Super Saiyan and Earth. However, with a powerful Super Kamehameha, Goku is able to offset his attack and send Cooler hurling into the Sun (In the Funimation dub, when Cooler first notices the Sun while being knocked back by Goku's Super 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). Cooler realized that Goku was the Saiyan child he had allowed escaping nearly three decades ago and that in scolding his brother and not lifting a finger, he had been far too soft himself. Cooler is then incinerated in the Sun.

The Return of Cooler

Cooler's remains float around in space and eventually fuse with the Big Gete Star, a planet sized A.I . The Big Gete Star revives Cooler by finally fusing with his brain, causing his consciousness to fuse with it into Meta-Cooler Core. Meta-Cooler Core sets 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 fight the Cyclopian Guards. Throughout the battle, Goku is distracted by a familiar face; that of Cooler on a metallic body (a Meta-Cooler). Goku battles the Meta-Cooler, but it is apparent that Goku, even in Super Saiyan form, is no match for Cooler in his metal form, which gives him the ability to regenerate himself. Meta-Cooler reveals that the Big Gete Star constantly monitors his body, and fixes any problems or glitches that may occur (like Cooler's arm getting torn off for example) while also strengthening him in such a way that it can't happen the same way twice. Goku goes in for a final attack, but Meta-Cooler grabs him and starts to strangle him. Vegeta suddenly appears and saves Goku, himself transforming into a Super Saiyan.

While Piccolo goes inside the Big Gete Star to save the others who have been taken there by the Cyclopian Guards, he encounters another Meta-Cooler who attacks him with a green ki blast. During this encounter, Piccolo expressed shock at how Meta-Cooler got there as quickly as he did, unaware that the Meta-Cooler Goku and Vegeta were fighting was just one of several. Meanwhile, Goku and Vegeta run into difficulty handling the Meta-Cooler and only by working together in a joint attack, the Meta-Cooler is finally destroyed. However, thousands of Meta-Coolers then arrive. Goku and Vegeta soon realize they have no chance of beating them all, especially as only a single Meta-Cooler gave them so much trouble. Beaten, they are taken inside the Big Gete Star and meet the Meta-Cooler Core, the remains of Cooler's head, strung up by wires and sheets of metal and integrated into the Big Gete Star's main computer. All Meta-Coolers seen previously were under remote control, and the machine itself formed Meta-Cooler Core's true body. He plots to drain Goku and Vegeta of all their energy to create an army of Metal Super Saiyans which he would use to take over the universe (in the English dub, he states he plans to use their energy for his own purposes), saying "Oh, the exquisite agony!" and laughing maniacally. But their power is too much and begins to overload the capacity of his systems.

The Super Saiyans then flood the Big Gete Star with energy, causing it to crumble and his remote-controlled robots to self-destruct, while Meta-Cooler Core starts to lose his hold on the planet. Sickened by such "scum" yet again foiling his plans, Meta-Cooler Core manifests his Battle Form, intending to throttle Goku in wires. Even to this end, Meta-Cooler Core believes victory is inevitable, and his arrogance costs him his life as Vegeta shears off one of his mechanical arms with a powerful Destructo Disc, giving Goku time to break out and destroy what's left of his body with a deadly energy ball. With the "brain" disabled and Meta-Cooler Core destroyed, the Big Gete Star explodes over New Namek. The very last portion of the Big Gete Star is soon destroyed when Vegeta crushes the original chip in his hand, ensuring that the cybernetic menace will never threaten another planet again.

The Meta-Coolers end up malfunctioning and self-destructing after Goku and Vegeta used the remainder of their Super Saiyan energies to overload the Big Gete Star and the true Cooler.

Trivia

• While the name appears to come from the word "Cooler" to follow the Frieza Race's cold naming scheme, Cooler's name actually comes from the phrase “meshi demo kūra” (which is roughly the equivalent to "let's chow down" in English). 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, 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".
• In Dragon Ball Super, Frieza is familiar with Instant Transmission and implies he had past experience fighting people who used it, potentially referencing Cooler.
• Cooler did not appear in Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn, but he did appear on the movie's cover.
• In some versions of the FUNimation remastered DVD releases, Cooler's voice in his base form is deeper and has more of a slight echo in his fifth form.
• In Xenoverse 2, unlike Lord Slug and Turles who are revealed to originate from alternate timelines where their films take place, Cooler's timeline of origin is never specified. However, an incarnation of Cooler exists in the main timeline, as Frieza recognizes his brother when he appears on Planet Namek after being transported there by Towa.
  • Also in the Super Dragon Ball Heroes anime, Vegeta recognizes Cooler because he was destroyed by Goku in Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler.
• In at least the dub version, Cooler is the second movie villain to at least consider blowing up the sun as part of his plans, the first being Lucifer.
• Similarly to the third form of his brother, who was inspired by the Xenomorph, the final form of Cooler appears to be inspired by a famous alien species of cinema: in his case, the Predator.
• Promotion for Cooler's appearance in Budokai mistakenly refers to the episode "End of Earth" as his first appearance.