YamBul

YamBul
GENERAL
Dragon Ball
Character	Yamcha
Character	Bulma
Canonical?	Canon
Status of Relationship	Friends/Exes
IN FANDOM
Type (?)	Het
Tropes	• Amicable Exes

1

YamBul is the het ship between Yamcha and Bulma from the Dragon Ball fandom.

Canon

Dragon Ball

Yamcha first encountered Bulma while he was fighting against Goku in the desert. Yamcha had gained the upper-hand against Goku, but Bulma woke up from unconsciousness, and Yamcha fled after seeing her because he was afraid of women. Determined to get even with Goku, he followed them and eavesdropped on them talking about the Dragon Balls. He decided to use them to wish his fear of women away and tried to steal them, but he accidentally saw her naked and was traumatized. Bulma had only briefly seen Yamcha but thought he was attractive and hoped he would show up again despite being their enemy.

Yamcha decided it was easier to let Bulma's group gather all of the Dragon Balls and then steal the wish, and aided them from afar. He gifted them with a car at one point, and when Bulma was turned into a carrot by Monster Carrot, he helped Goku fight him until he changed her back. Shu later blew up their car and stole all of their Dragon Balls except for Goku's, so Yamcha was forced to give them a ride. Bulma immediately cuddled up to him which freaked him out.

As the group was pursuing Pilaf in his castle to steal the Dragon Balls back, Yamcha showed concern for Bulma whenever she was in danger, but was afraid whenever they accidentally touched. At one point, he was forced to carry her to safety. After Oolong wasted the wish and Bulma revealed that the Dragon Balls would be inert for a year, she lamented that she would have to spend another year without a boyfriend, and Yamcha complained that he had to spend another year being afraid of women. After hearing each others comments, Yamcha and Bulma exchanged glances, and then Goku arrived and saw that they were now a couple. When Goku asked if they wanted to hunt for the Dragon Balls again in a year, Bulma and Yamcha giggled before explaining that they did not need the Dragon Balls anymore.

Yamcha went to stay with Bulma in West City. He decided to compete in the World Martial Arts Tournament and left to train in the wilderness for one month, which agitated Bulma. Yamcha saved her from being hit by a truck when he got back, and she complained that he never called her. Yamcha ended up getting his hair cut before the tournament after Bulma suggested it. Bulma later broke up with Yamcha or was at least mad at him after he had a fan club of girls crazy for him and relished in the attention. However, they seemed to be back together by the time that Goku defeated the Red Ribbon Army. When Yamcha asked to train with Master Roshi, he was hesitant, until Bulma promised that she would visit them if Yamcha were there.

Three years later, Yamcha competed in the next tournament and had his leg broken by Tien. Bulma was horrified and checked on him in the hospital. When King Piccolo took over the world, Yamcha had to spend most of his time in hiding with Bulma because he was still recovering from his injuries and unable to fight. Bulma eventually accompanied him to the Capital City only to find that it was a wasteland, but an injured Tien informed them that Goku had already defeated King Piccolo. Yamcha then spent the next three years separated from Bulma to train.

Bulma and Yamcha were reunited at the next World Tournament. When everybody was talking about who would win, Bulma complained that she wanted Yamcha to have a fighting chance, and he had always lost in the quarterfinals. When Goku proposed to Chi-Chi, she approached Yamcha afterwards and apologized for not being able to be with him, which angered Bulma, as she was unaware of what he had said to her as a child.

Dragon Ball Z

Bulma and Yamcha were revealed to have broken up prior to the start of the series, and Bulma did not want to talk about him. When the Saiyans were threatening earth, she had to accompany Krillin to recruit Yamcha to train with Kami, and was visibly annoyed with him when she saw him. Bulma late watched the Z Fighters battle the Saiyans on live television. To her horror, she saw a Saibaman explode and kill Yamcha. She immediately cried and said that she would have been willing to marry him and wished she had treated him better.

Bulma later traveled to Namek to help gather the Namekian Dragon Balls so that Yamcha and the others could be wished back, as earth's were no longer usable after Piccolo was killed. Bulma stated her excitement in wishing him back when they were close to gathering the Dragon Balls. Yamcha was finally wished back when they were back on earth, and they were happy to see each other again. Yamcha continued to stay with Bulma in West City, but Vegeta joined them too.

Vegeta's presence ended up causing tension with Yamcha, who began to grow jealous of him. At one point, Yamcha snuck into the gravity chamber and tried to train in gravity that he could not handle to try and catch up to Vegeta. At some point, Yamcha and Bulma broke up for good. Bulma ended up having a baby named Trunks with Vegeta. When the Z Fighters first saw Trunks, they assumed he was Yamcha's son, but he was annoyed and said that they would be surprised to learn who the father was, which Goku then guessed was Vegeta, which surprised Yamcha, as he did not know how Goku already knew that.

Yamcha and Bulma still remained on friendly terms. Whenever Bulma hosted a party at Capsule Corp, Yamcha would always be invited. When Majin Vegeta killed spectators at the World Tournament, Yamcha helped Bulma gather the Dragon Balls to wish them back. When looking for the last Dragon Ball which was underwater, he did not want to get his suit wet, and Bulma berated him and told to strip down to his underwear then. When Bulma learned that Vegeta died against Majin Buu, she cried, and Yamcha comforted her.

Dragon Ball Super

Yamcha continued to be friends with Bulma and attended her birthday party. When her daughter Bulla was born, Yamcha quickly came over to meet her. Bulma introduced him to Bulla as a family friend, and Yamcha decided to introduce himself to her. When Yamcha held Bulla, she cried because he accidentally scared her, and Vegeta turned Super Saiyan Blue in response, but Bulma did not seem to think much of it.

Fanon

YamBul is a popular ship in the Dragon Ball fandom. It has a heavy amount of support due to its canonical status, and many fans expected them to end up together in the end. Many fans were disappointed when they broke up for good, with many feeling that Yamcha was treated unfairly by the story, as even Krillin had a happy ending. However, as the rival pairing resulted in the popular character Trunks, many YamBul fans still accept VegeBul, and some multiship both pairings. On AO3, there are over 350 works for the pairing. YamBul rivals the VegeBul, GoBul, and YamVidro pairings.

Fandom

FAN FICTION

Bulma/Yamcha tag on AO3

Yamcha/Bulma Dragon Ball tag on FanFiction.Net

Yamcha/Bulma Dragon Ball Z tag on FanFiction.Net

TUMBLR

YamBul posts on Tumblr