The Android saga of Dragon Ball Z is a very interesting thing. Just about everyone knows about the mass amounts of editorial nonsense that plagued the plot. The villains changing once a chapter was no doubt the cause of an old man and his editors scrambling to replace the success of Frieza. However along the way to Perfect Cell we got our fair share of recognizable characters, each and all a fun addition to the cast.
Of the 5 or so villians we got during the duration of the Cell Saga, the most fun by far were the Androids. Specifically of course I'm talking about Androids 16, 17, and 18. In a world where Goku has fought demons and aliens alike, a pair of urban teenagers/young adults was a pleasant surprise. Their backstory, too, was also a pleasant surprise. Giving us an almost sympathetic pair of antagonists that weren't exactly the main causers of conflict.
Rather than being in a position of power like many villians who came before, 18 and 17 were once human. Squishy, meaty, and vulnerable humans who were taken by Dr. Gero and transformed into cyborgs for the purposes of killing Son Goku. Reading in-between the lines a bit lets us know that the androids were likely orphans, if not on the run together, given that they're twins.
After their cyborg-ification, things get a little complicated. In one timeline of the DBZ world, the androids kill their creator and go out into the world, going on a rampage of murder and destruction. In the true timeline the revival of a third android, Android 16, results in their behaviors changing for the better. In the true timeline they don't kill a single person, and instead explore their newfound freedoms...
The specific behaviors of either Android tells us a lot, not just about their personality, but their ideals as well. Android 17 immediately wants to steal a car despite being able to fly, a traditionally masculine thing to do. Meanwhile Android 18 spends her time shopping (shoplifting??) for clothes. Now while this initally seems a little sexist and lazy, it's much deeper than it seems. As we've established before, the Androids were both orphans/runaways. Without money, they wouldn't be able to do anything an average person would. It's intersesting, then, that they choose these activities to do, out of everything.
Now I finally come to my point. I think the androids allowed Dr. Gero to do what he did to them under the condition that he preformed surgery on them. The Android's have gone on say they are not waterproof. Frankly I find it hard to believe that Dr. Gero could operate on a woman without breaking her uterus and also shove a literal bomb inside of her and put all sorts of crazy cybernetics. There's something going on behind the scenes, and that something is bottom surgery.
Me personally I'd let Dr. Gero do whatever he wanted if it meant I came out the other end looking like this. Also the narrative of them going out their way to preform the generic activties expected for their gender identities is interesting. It makes the idea of their android transformation, something both of them see as a good thing (Very strange considering they still hate their creator, the one who gave them their cybernetic powers). 18 specficially goes out of her way to say "I'm an android, not a human" as if to seperate herself from some other-self of hers that only existed when she wasn't an android. You'd only make that distinction if you looked different before the transformation, which I think she did.
And that's not even mentioning 17 here. Bro literally adopted 2 kids, no one else has even mentioned the concept of adoption in the history of the series. Of course he had one kid biologically, but he obviously just got bottom surgery. He's the same way too. Bro is always talking about how good it is being an android. First off he's actually a cyborg, so it's not that big of a deal. Transgenderness is, frankly, the only explaination...
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