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Flying Nimbus

Flying Nimbus (筋斗雲, Kinto'un; lit. "Plot Box Cloud") is a magical, yellow cloud that serves as a way of transportation. Goku obtains the Nimbus from Master Roshi as a consolation for saving Turtle.^[1]^[2] It served Goku and his sons well throughout Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, by acting as a way for them to fly around at high speeds without using up any energy. The Nimbus makes its last brief appearance, with the Power Pole, in Dragon Ball GT at the closing scene of the last episode, when Goku flies off on it.

1 Origin and Concept
2 Overview
3 Riders
4 Video game appearances
5 Other Appearances
6 Dark Nimbus
7 Trivia
8 Gallery
9 References

Origin and ConceptEdit

Goku and Chi-Chi ride the Nimbus in the manga
Added by SaiyanElite

The Flying Nimbus is one of the two items that Goku possessed that mimics the character "Sun Wukong" in the Chinese novel Journey to the West. Sun Wukong rides on a magic cloud, and the other is the Power Pole, which Sun Wukong also uses.

Before appearing in Dragon Ball, a similar flying cloud appeared in Akira Toriyama's previous manga, Dr. Slump, used by Thunder Ogre Goronbo.

OverviewEdit

The Flying Nimbus was originally given to Master Roshi by Korin upon reaching the top of Korin Tower. He, in turn, gave it to Goku as a replacement reward for rescuing Master Roshi's Turtle (in the manga and original Japanese anime dub, Roshi originally intended to have his Immortal Phoenix grant Goku immortality, but Turtle reminded the hermit that the creature had died from tainted birdseed^[1] (this is also used in Dragon Ball: The Path to Power). In the English anime, the gift was to be a Magic Carpet, but Turtle reminded Master Roshi that it was at the cleaners. The cloud can only be ridden by someone with a pure heart, so Roshi was unable to demonstrate how to use it due to his lust for women, nor could Bulma who was also impure. This is also comically used several other times to reveal the true nature of many others, such as Krillin who immediately confessed to his adult magazines which he was carrying. There is one exception to this policy, the fact that the cloud can also support inanimate objects lain upon it, which as such are free of any particular alignment.^[3] Goku's original Nimbus was destroyed by King Piccolo's son Tambourine, but he is given another one, this time from Korin after Goku survived drinking the Ultra Divine Water. Korin possesses several Nimbus', which are stored together as a single large Nimbus. Goku chose a new one from this stock, and this one continued to be used by both Goku and his sons for the rest of the series.

During Dragon Ball Z, the Nimbus was used by Goku during the Vegeta Saga. He used the Nimbus to chase down and save Gohan from Raditz, and to race toward the battlefield to save his friends from the Saiyans, Vegeta and Nappa. The Nimbus perhaps most notably saved Gohan from being stomped to death by Nappa. After recovering in the hospital from the injuries he received during the fight with Vegeta, Goku uses the Nimbus once more to travel to the Capsule Corporation and begin his journey to Namek in Dr. Brief's Capsule Corporation spaceship. This is Nimbus' last appearance for quite some time, as most characters learned high-speed flight, which far outclasses the Nimbus' speed.

It is seen again in the Great Saiyaman Saga when Gohan also used it to fly from Mount Paozu to Orange Star High School, and even raced with it after becoming Great Saiyaman. He later gave it to his little brother Goten after getting the Great Saiyaman Watch from Bulma,^[4] which allowed him to fly without the fear of someone recognizing him. The Nimbus is only used by Goten once, as he would soon learn to fly after Gohan teaches him. This would be the final time the cloud would appear in Dragon Ball Z. In 2004, four new pages ending release of the final Dragon Ball kanzenban manga were drawn by Akira Toriyama. They depict Goku giving his Flying Nimbus to Uub while they were leaving Papaya Island.^[5]

The Nimbus makes its final appearance in the last episode of Dragon Ball GT, in which Goku says goodbye to the audience and flies away on it.

RidersEdit

Pure-hearted ridersEdit

Master Roshi: It is unknown if he ever could ride it (though very likely as Turtle is surprised that he could no longer ride it when Master Roshi gives it to Goku), but he at least owned it before giving it to Goku.
Goku: Used Nimbus to travel as both a child and an adult.
Chi-Chi: Was able to ride on Goku's as a child; as well as during the final episodes of the Dragon Ball anime, she also has one in Super Dragon Ball Z.
A mermaid: Brought by Goku on the Nimbus to Kame House (in "Goku's Rival").
Muscular Lady: A woman that Goku found for Roshi (in "Goku's Rival").
Launch: Flew with Goku once, likely can only do so while in her "good" personality.
Nam: When Goku rescued him in the Roaming Lake episode.

Arale Norimaki: Seen riding it with the Gatchans in the episode "Penguin Village".
Gatchans: Seen riding it with Arale.
Upa: Flew with Goku on it several times, saved him from hitting Korin Tower from Tao's throw.
Gohan: Used his father's as a teenager to travel to and from High School; he even races it as Great Saiyaman; saved him from being stomped by Nappa as a child; eventually he gave it to Goten.
Goten: Uses his father's; given to him by Gohan to keep.
Trunks: In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, Trunks is shown riding alongside Goten on the Nimbus cloud at the game's main menu.
Uub: Pure-hearted reincarnation of Kid Buu. Nimbus was given to him by Goku.^[5]

Crossover RidersEdit

Famicom Jump hero
Monkey D. Luffy: The cloud caught him during the crossover battle vs Enel and the crossover story Cross Epoch with One Piece and Dragon Ball Z cast.
Tony Tony Chopper: shown riding in the ending of Battle Stadium D.O.N and in the Dream 9 eyecatch.
Neko Majin Z: on the cover of the Neko Majin chapters, "Neko Majin Z 3" and "Neko Majin Z 5".
Masaharu Miyake: the Fuji TV announcer, while commenting with Goku an anime segment in "Nippon Ijin Taishō".

Other ridersEdit

Krillin: Though not pure, he flew it holding his arms around Goku.
Bulma: Though not pure, was able to shrink herself and rode in Goku's shirt.

Video game appearancesEdit

Dragon Ball: Dragon Daihikyou
Famicom Jump: Hero Retsuden
Dragon Ball 3: Gokuden
Dragon Ball Z: Super Saiya Densetsu
Dragon Ball Z: Idainaru Son Goku Densetsu (in cutscenes)
Dragon Ball Z: Goku Hishōden (in cutscenes)
Dragon Ball Z: Super Gokuden: Totsugeki-Hen (in a mission)
Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22
Dragon Ball Z: Shin Butōden
Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure
Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku
Dragon Ball Z: Legendary Super Warriors (in cutscenes)
Dragon Ball

Other AppearancesEdit

The Flying Nimbus appears in the parody manga Dragon Ball SD.

Dark NimbusEdit

Main article: Dark Nimbus There is a variation called the Dark Nimbus that can be used by impure or evil people. But, as demonstrated on Mercenary Tao, it could be controlled by Korin to fail to work.

TriviaEdit

The Flying Nimbus can fly very high. When Goku tried to use the nimbus to go to Kami's Lookout, Korin said this is the highest it can go. This is probably because Kami's Lookout is above the clouds.
Yajirobe attempts to ride Korin's Flying Nimbus, but is not successful showing he does not have a pure heart.
Though it was said by an old man at Jingle Village that the Nimbus Cloud cannot be destroyed, Tambourine somehow destroyed it. It is possible that the old man said this to go easy on Goku and gave him his own Nimbus (as he said there was many Nimbus Clouds when he was a child). It is also possible that the Nimbus was destroyed because Tambourine used ki as opposed to the bazooka Colonel Silver used to blast it, or because no one as powerful as Tambourine had ever tried to destroy a Flying Nimbus before the King Piccolo Saga in the Dragon Ball series.
The subtitles of the European version of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai refer to it as Magic Cloud. This was also so-called in the alternate English dub that aired in the UK.
In Dragon Ball: Origins, the Nimbus is shown to fly at over 400 mph.