Dragon Ball Super Previews Ultimate Squad: Android 8

Bandai has started to show off cards from the next official Dragon Ball Super Card Game expansion. This June 2022 set is the seventeenth main set and is notably also the eighth and final expansion under the Unison Warrior Series banner. The set, titled Ultimate Squad (with its full name being Unison Warrior Series BOOST – Ultimate Squad) focuses on the androids and robots of Akira Toriyama’s universe. It will include cards that recreate scenes and feature characters from the upcoming movie Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, the space-travel adventures of early Dragon Ball GT with a de-aged Goku, the Cell Saga, the Cooler movies, and the Red Ribbon Army. As Dragon Ball Super Card Game debuts artwork from this upcoming set, Bleeding Cool will offer a look into the upcoming cards from a collector’s perspective.

Eighter! Android 8 isn’t the only numbered android to become an ally of Goku, but he’s certainly the first. This Frankenstein-inspired android was the heart of the Red Ribbon Saga. One of Goku’s more memorably short-term allies, he’s a character that has gotten to shine in appearances in video games (Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is a standout) and some really fun filler in the anime. Android 8 was both powerful and likable, and the vast potential of the later numbered androids like 17 and 18 to train and grow stronger makes me wonder how storylines would’ve changed if 8 got the same treatment. It would’ve been so fun to see this fan-favorite from the early days of Dragon Ball participate in later battles in Z and beyond.