The Red Ribbon Army’s Greatest Creations - The Androids

The Red Ribbon Army was known throughout the first half of Dragon Ball as the ruthless yet somehow comical organization that wanted to take over the world but consistently failed. 

As the series progressed, a new character would enter the stage who would turn things to a more serious level - Dr. Gero, chief scientist of the Red Ribbon Army. Dr. Gero was the mastermind behind all the Androids, the main protagonists of the 3rd arc of the Z series. He also created the infamous bio-organic android, Cell.

Dr. Gero would never be mentioned in the original series, instead working in the shadows. He started by creating androids in numerical order, but the early attempts were deemed a failure and destroyed. The first fully functional version was Android 8, who again was seen as a failure because of his good-minded nature. He later became friends with Son Goku. 

However, things take a darker turn when we enter Dragon Ball Z, the more out-of-this-world action-packed series. Dr. Gero’s next creation would be Android 16, who stood out with his orange mohawk and towering body height. This was followed by the twins, Android 17 and 18. Both were a serious threat to the Z fighters, and also played a vital part in the creation of Cell. Cell needed to absorb both twins in order to reach his final transformation. 

The androids marked yet again another point in Dragon Ball where the plot turned a lot darker than in the early series. We can see this in situations like when Android 20, who possesses an artificial body but the brain of Dr. Goro, and his vicious companion Android 19 kill Yamcha [again]. The twins would wreak havoc to cities and brutally murder civilians, all before eventually becoming protagonists later in the series.

Even though the androids were brutal and vicious we have to agree on one thing; they were badass and had an undeniable fashion sense for two cold-hearted robots.