Superhero Media: Dragonball Z - Cooler's Revenge

Much like Lord Slug, Cooler's Revenge feels like a reworking of a previous story arc, in this case, the Freiza Saga. After discovering that his brother, Freiza, was killed by an unknown sayian survivor, Cooler and his minions decide to enact revenge and prove who is the stronger Cold sibling. Right, so can I just use this space to talk about the Cold family? I mean, the film is fine, better than I remembered, but not one of the truly great ones, and kind of just plays out like a low-end DBZ adventure. So, we know of Lord Chilled, King Cold, Freiza and Cooler, throw Frost in there if you like, though he's not technically related, but just what kind of species are they and where do they come from? There are a few explanations in extended DBZ media, as well some nice fan theories, though I tend towards the version from Dragon Ball Multiverse, which likens the lineage to the Frost Giants of Norse myth. In the DBM version, the species is small, only ever a few individuals, functionally immortal and asexual; reproducing only when they choose to. 

The "fourth form" that Freiza reveals back on Namek is to be considered the species' (from here, I'll be referring to them as "Frost", which is used in a few places) "natural" form, from most sources, with the newer translation of Cooler's Revenge I watched claiming that the larger, armoured form into which he transforms is even higher than that. Though DBZ is pretty light-on with details, this seems to be borne out later by Freiza's Golden Form, achieved through the very training Cooler seems to favour more than his brother. So then, why didn't Chilled transform when fighting Bardock or King Cold when fighting Trunks? Theoretically, both had the option. My personal take is that both were simply overwhelmed in the moment, the flexibility of time in DBZ is a well-known issue, but transformation seems to take at least a minute or two, and Trunks and Bardock are some of the more aggressive fighters in the series, going for a fast victory rather than a test of strength. 

On that note, I don't agree with the concept, proposed by DB Multiverse, that King Cold is far more powerful than either Freiza or Cooler, if the Frost bread stronger each generation, it would not only explain how King Cold was easily beaten, but also why there are only so many of them. It's not good practice to foster your own downfall when you're in the empire building game, after all. Back in my DBZ fan fiction writing days (don't ask), I had a character that was an altruistic member of the Frost, but he was visually pretty much Cooler, as the look, especially of the armoured form, is pretty neat, certainly one of the better DB monster designs, it's a shame he never really turns up in the same form again. If you're looking for a major antagonist for a space-faring supers campaign, the Frost are powerful, mutable and have a great deal of visual style, not to mention a disposable army for the heroes to fight through. Cooler's Revenge, however, probably isn't necessary viewing for most.