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“I never had thoughts that control me
Until something bad left me so lonely
And I want it back, I want the old me
I'm trying to forget, but things just remind me
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There's a million things
There's a million things I could say
But you never really knew that
But you never really knew I felt this way
Wanna take it back, wanna take it back to when we
Had it just like that, had it right on track”
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✸ Desert Wolves, Androgynous Spirits & My Complicated Love for Yamcha ✸
*An unapologetically long headcanon dive, identity post, and soft confession from a tired queer nerd*
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> “He came from the desert with a smirk like broken glass, eyes like questions, and a heart nobody really knew how to hold—not even himself.”
Before I begin, I want to preface this post with something personal: I’m not here to argue or educate trolls. I’m writing this because I needed to. I needed a space to be transparent—not just as a creator and fan—but as someone navigating the world as an agender/demigirl person who goes by *she/they*, who deals with “womanly” body pain while not identifying fully as a woman, and who grew up deeply, unapologetically attached to fictional characters like Yamcha.
So, if you came here hoping to start discourse or throw around “woke agenda” buzzwords, I suggest you pause and take a deeper look at why *other people’s joy and identity* make you uncomfortable. Maybe that discomfort has more to say about *you* than me.
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🐺 Why Yamcha?
Yamcha has always felt like the *almost*. The *could’ve been*. He’s the original desert rogue, rough-edged and clever, with charisma that often gets overshadowed by stronger characters and louder stories. That in-between-ness? That’s what made him so real to me.
But the canon only gives you crumbs. And sometimes crumbs are enough to bake your own damn cake. So here’s mine. 🍰
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✹ Headcanon: Yamcha as a Demiromantic, Androgynous, Two-Spirit Desert Nomad
This headcanon isn’t *about rewriting canon*. It’s about building on it—spiritually, emotionally, and culturally. Yamcha, to me, is a demiromantic man: someone who *only* develops romantic attraction after forming a deep emotional bond. He’s not a flirt or a seducer. He’s awkward, tongue-tied, intensely private. His fear of women wasn’t comedic to me—it felt like deep discomfort in the role he was expected to play. That was queer-coded *as hell*.
I also see Yamcha as *androgynous in energy*, not necessarily in appearance. A two-spirit energy—soft-spoken but deadly, emotionally rich yet socially clumsy. A protector and a survivor who never quite fit the mold. In Diné (Navajo) cosmology, the concept of **Nádleehi** embraces a fluidity between roles, a sacred identity that walks between. I imagine Yamcha being told he was “different” as a child—not just for his powers, but for how he moved, what he wore, how he felt things.
And sure, we’re not on “real Earth” in DB, but in my heart, my Yamcha is *half Chinese, half Navajo*. His fighting style reflects the grace of Shaolin monks, while his deep love for the land—the **Diablo Desert**—feels like a generational inheritance from his mother’s people.
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🏜️ A Rewritten Backstory: From Son to Sand
He didn’t lose his parents. They didn’t die. That’s not this story.
Yamcha ran away at twelve.
Not out of rebellion, but *out of grief that wasn’t allowed to breathe*. He was the eldest of four boys—Zhen, Atohi, and Coyen trailing behind. The house was full of noise, responsibility, and unspoken pain. His father—a reserved Chinese herbalist—saw him as the heir to a tradition Yamcha didn’t understand. His Navajo mother, fierce and poetic, tried to teach him old songs and stories, but he never felt he belonged *fully* to either.
At twelve, with hands still shaking from his first real fight with his father, Yamcha slipped out under the desert moon with a pouch of dried meat, a rusted compass, and a message scribbled on hide:
> “I’ll make something of this confusion. I’ll survive it.”
The desert didn’t welcome him kindly. He was bitten, burned, and nearly starved. He learned to pick through old Capsule Corp junk buried in the dunes. He met Puar, who’d been cast out from their own clan of shapeshifters. The two became inseparable—not master and pet, but kindred outcasts.
The “bandit” title came later. He wasn’t a thief for pleasure. He took what he needed—from those who could afford to lose it. The Diablo Desert taught him pragmatism. Fighting became his language.
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🎭 The Fear of Women: A Queer Lens
This needs to be said because it’s always reduced to a joke: Yamcha’s “fear of women” never felt like slapstick to me. It felt like something *deeper*—a social misalignment. He didn’t know how to “be a man” around women because “being a man” had always been a costume stitched from expectations that didn’t quite fit.
To me, he’s someone who was deeply romantic but confused about how to connect. He wasn’t afraid of sex—he was afraid of *being seen*. Of being touched *inwardly*. That’s the core of demiromanticism. He could *want*, but he couldn’t *feel* until he trusted. And trust, for Yamcha, is something holy.
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💥 Flaws, Theories & A Little Self-Roasting
Look, I get it. There are contradictions here.
* If he was so spiritually rich, why was he robbing people?
* If he was half Navajo, why wasn’t it ever shown?
* If he was a soft-hearted romantic, why couldn’t he keep a relationship?
The answer is: **it’s messy**. Like people are. Like trauma is. Like cultural intersections are.
I’ll admit my headcanon is indulgent. Maybe a little *too* poetic. But it’s also grounded in love. I don’t need this to be “canon-accurate.” I need it to *mean something*—to me, to people like me. Yamcha being flawed isn’t a problem. Yamcha being forgotten is. So I’m here to remember him differently.
And yeah, I laugh at myself too. “Angel, why are you making DBZ characters two-spirit demiromantic desert runaways?” BECAUSE I CAN. BECAUSE IT’S FUN. BECAUSE IDENTITY ISN’T A PROPAGANDA PIECE.
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✨ Outro: The Desert Still Remembers Him
He never saved the world. He never got the girl. He never became a god. But in this version? Yamcha is a survivor of himself. A soul caught between tradition and transformation. A brother, a wanderer, a fighter, a lover-in-progress.
He is soft desert thunder.
He is dusk in motion.
He is not less for being quiet.
And maybe, just maybe… he was always more than people gave him credit for.
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✸ Sand, Silence, and Soft Men: A Yamcha Character Study (Part II) ✸
*Or: Why Being Loyal Isn’t Always Loud, and Why He Never Cheated on Her*
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If Part I was about skin, spirit, and survival, then this… this is about what *lingers* in a man when the sand finally settles. It’s about *love*—not the firework kind that makes headlines or fights gods—but the soft, confusing, low-burning kind that teaches you who you are. That makes you confront the parts of yourself you’d rather bury under bravado and desert wind.
This is about Yamcha, again. And this time, I’m not pulling punches.
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🏳️🌈 A Queer Realization in the Sand Between Battles
He didn’t know what to call it back then.
After the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai, when the heat of the arena still clung to his skin and his pride was cracked (along with his leg), Yamcha found himself thinking about **Tien** a lot more than he should’ve. Not in the “rivalry” way. No. There was something else. Something deeply confusing.
He hated how composed Tien was. How sharp. How *still*. And that *stillness* made Yamcha want to tear his own chest open.
The crush started there—quiet, reluctant, wrapped in shame. Yamcha didn’t know how to process it. He thought maybe it was adrenaline, or humiliation. But when he dreamed about him—when he saw his reflection distorted in Tien’s indifferent eyes—he realized it wasn’t about losing the fight. It was about *longing to be seen*… and the fear that he wasn’t “man enough” to be wanted by someone so stoic, so powerful.
He didn’t pursue it. Of course he didn’t. It was the ‘80s or something spiritually similar. You think a desert-dwelling ex-bandit with emotional constipation is going to sit down and unpack his bisexuality? No. But the feeling stayed. A footnote in his heart.
Yamcha, in my headcanon, is **bisexual with a strong demiromantic lens**—his attraction never comes quickly. It brews over trust, over shared silence, over time.
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🧍🏽♂️“Not Man Enough”: Masculinity & Identity
Yamcha struggled deeply with his masculinity, especially after the Saiyan arc. That moment when he died—not from a grand beam struggle or noble sacrifice, but from a **self-detonating cabbage man**—solidified something internal:
> “I’m not the warrior they are. I’m not who I thought I was.”
He was never the alpha. Not the strongest. Not the most reliable in battle. So he wondered if he had anything left to offer. As the others evolved—training with gods, becoming literal Super Saiyans—Yamcha felt stuck in human fragility. But what he didn’t realize is that *humanity itself* is divine in its own way.
He wasn’t the fighter who’d save the universe. But he was the friend who’d show up. The protector who never ran. The man who kept *trying*. That’s a masculinity too soft for war stories—but strong enough for love.
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🩹 The Cheating Lie: Character Assassination in the Name of Plot
Let’s be clear: in *my canon*? **Yamcha didn’t cheat on Bulma**.
That narrative always felt cheap—like it was forced just to push Bulma into Vegeta’s arms. You know, **Vegeta**—the same guy who:
* Tried to kill everyone they loved.
* Mocked Yamcha as he *bled out*.
* Wore his pride like a chokehold.
But sure, let’s ship him with Bulma for the ~~spice~~.
Let’s talk reality: Yamcha was loyal. He was *awkward*, not adulterous. Bulma was fiery and intelligent, and he *adored* her. But they were different people in the long run. Her ambition needed challenge. He needed safety. They outgrew each other—and that’s not betrayal. That’s growth.
In my version, he ended things *quietly*, with tears and too many pauses between words. And after that? **He didn’t date for three years.** Not seriously. Puar tried setting him up—bless her eternal matchmaking heart—but it never clicked. He smiled through dinners and nodded through conversations, but his soul wasn’t in it.
He wasn’t looking for a girlfriend. He was trying to find *himself again*.
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🦊 Enter the Fox Girl (Yes, It’s Me. No, I’m Not Sorry.)
During the *Android Saga through Buu*, Yamcha found companionship with someone completely outside the expectations of his world: a **kitsunemimi girl**—wild, mute, instinctive. She didn’t speak English. She didn’t *act human*. She walked on all fours, sniffed everything, and slept curled in corners. To most, she seemed more pet than partner.
But to Yamcha, she was a mirror of something sacred.
She was gentle, loyal, unpredictable. She didn’t see him as “less than.” She didn’t care he wasn’t a Saiyan. She didn’t ask for heroics. She just *wanted him*.
Still, it couldn’t last. Not then. He couldn’t bridge the gap between intimacy and understanding. He didn’t want to infantilize her or fetishize her. So he broke it off—gently, respectfully, with a kiss on the forehead and a whispered, “When we’re both ready.”
And she returned. Years later. During Super. More human. Still walking like a fox, still unkissed. But this time, Yamcha had changed.
He taught her English. Gave her a room. Let her sleep beside him, not below him. He cooked for her. Prayed with her. Showed her how to use a fork. And slowly—**so slowly**—he let himself fall again. Not out of lust, but out of a commitment to *nurture something real*.
Because by then, **he was Christian**. Not preachy, not rigid. But deeply spiritual. He believed in second chances. In redemption. In *earning love*, not owning it.
He didn’t touch her body until she said yes. Not with words, but with trust.
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⚠️ Some Flaws & Self-Reflection
Sure, this headcanon has some kinks to iron out (pun intended):
* The fox girl dynamic *can* come off weird to people not in tune with therian/furry/otherkin lenses.
* The Tien crush is unrequited and somewhat sad.
* Yamcha being single for over a decade might feel “pathetic” to some.
But you know what? **Flaws make it honest**. Not everyone heals at Saiyan speed. Not everyone finds a soul mate before 30. Yamcha’s journey isn’t clean. It’s cracked, uncertain, deeply human. And that’s why I *love* it.
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✨Final Thoughts Again: He’s More Than Comic Relief
Yamcha is not a joke. Not a filler character. Not a meme in a crater.
He’s a soft-spoken survivor of grief and quiet growth.
He’s queer in ways he may never fully understand.
He’s spiritual in the stillness.
He’s loyal even when it hurts.
And he’s the kind of man who—despite loss, shame, or misrepresentation—**chooses to love again anyway**.
That’s more heroic than any god form.
