The is a fictional group of characters featured in Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball anime and manga series. The many operatives of the Red Ribbon Army, led by , serve as opponents for series protagonist Goku during his second quest for the Dragon Balls. In the aftermath of the Red Ribbon Army's defeat by Goku, a surviving member known as Doctor Gero continues the group's legacy and creates a series of powerful artificial humanoids known as Androids as part of his vendetta against Goku. The group was generally well received by reviewers. Commentators noted that the Red Ribbon Army arc, in which the group is presented as the first legitimate threat to Goku, represented a shift to a darker tone for the series, as well as a notable example of antiquated or politically incorrect attitudes towards real world stereotypes and tropes in Japanese anime. Some of the group's individual members, including the Red Ribbon Androids who appear as recurring villains in the franchise, have left a lasting impression in popular culture and specifically received commentary by media outlets. Conception and creation Dragon Ball series creator Akira Toriyama drew inspiration for the military organization, particularly its base, from the video game Spartan X (known as Kung-Fu Master internationally), in which enemies tend to spawn at a rapid rate while the player character ascends a tower; the game itself was based on two Hong Kong martial arts films, Jackie Chan's Wheels on Meals (known as Spartan X in Japan) and Bruce Lee's Game of Death. Some of the Red Ribbon Army members wear uniforms reminiscent of the Hitler Youth, the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, albeit without their signature swastika armbands. One of the group's major characters, , is coded as a stereotypically homosexual character, and is similar in concept to the Sturmabteilung co-founder Ernst Röhm. Blue's Japanese voice actor, Toshio Furukawa claimed said it was a difficult role to play due to the character's sexuality. The North American English releases of the manga by Viz Media edited the lips of , Staff Officer Black in English anime, by shading them in; D.F. Smith from IGN remarked that the character is a "ridiculous caricature of a black man". Toriyama created Androids 17 and 18 after Kazuhiko Torishima, his former editor, expressed his disappointment with Androids 19 and 20 being depicted as the villains of the Android Saga arc. When