A question I feel hard to put into a sentence for a title

[ahill1]

Piccolo's action impacted Goku's life at that time. Killing his friends directly/indirectly and what was worse was that Shenron was killed as well which mean his friends and the Budokai participants would be dead forever and their soul wouldn't "go on".

That was a while after his introduction though. I think FH questions pertains more to who seemed more menacing when introduced.

That's not what he said but even if we assumed that was what he said, still King Piccolo's introduction was a big deal. You got to see Roshi demanding Goku seriously to not follow Tamborine which pretty much shows you how serious was that.

That Piccolo's introductions was good is true, nobody is questioning it. However, there's no way to convey him as more threatening merely by reiterating how serious was his introduction. It's up to personal feeling. I just happened to feel a more... Eh, not tense, but a "wow" feeling when Tao Pai Pai got into the story. If you know what I mean.

 

[GSM123]

Piccolo for sure. Tao was mostly a one note character brought up out of nowhere. Granted he was the first to truly beat Goku, but he was quickly beaten and forgotten after that sans a cameo in the 23rd Budokai. Him being Shen’s brother didn’t do much to the story as well.

Piccolo on the other hand introduced several concepts to the story, killed a bunch of characters (Including THREE characters from the main cast) to show how much of a big deal he was and was really frightening as well.

 

[Let's Go Fearless!]

I think the better comparison would be between Vegeta and Piccolo Sr/Jr. I get the feel that they're both in the same level.