Before the debut of the Dragon Ball anime, Bulma made her first anime debut in the film, Remember My Love in the Urusei Yatsura series, released on 26 January 1985, albeit in a cameo role.
In filler episodes of Dragon Ball Z, during the Namek arc, Bulma travels to a fake Namek. While on Namek, she meets Captain Ginyu after his defeat by Goku, which results in him switching bodies with a frog. Because she does not know the frog's true identity, she bonds with him, leading her to create a machine for him to communicate with her. Ginyu uses the machine to utter the name of his technique Body Change, allowing him to switch bodies with Bulma and leave her trapped in the frog's body. Bulma manages to stay around him as he looks for Frieza, and the two encounter Gohan, Krillin, and Piccolo while they are watching Goku and Frieza fight. Gohan realizes the change just as Ginyu attempts to switch bodies with Piccolo, and Bulma receives her body back when Gohan throws her in the way of the technique. Bulma is then blown away from the battlefield and later uses Ginyu to try to find out how the battle is progressing. During the Garlic Jr. arc, Bulma falls under the control of the Black Water Mist, leading her to attack her unaffected friends, being freed of the condition later on.
In Dragon Ball GT, she becomes possessed by Baby, who takes her as his apparent queen (or second in command), as possessing Vegeta gave him all of his memories and emotions. During this time, she organizes the migration to Planet Vegeta (renamed Planet Tuffle), and creates the Super Bruits Wave Generator (超ブルーツ波発生装置, Chō Burūtsuha Hassei Sōchi) that helps Baby become the Saiyan's Golden Great Ape transformation. However, the Holy Water hidden in Dende's Lookout is used to free her and the rest of Earth from Baby's enslavement. Later, she helps Vegeta reach Super Saiyan 4 by exposing him to a new Super Bruits Wave Generator, and witnesses Omega Shenron's defeat at the hands of Goku.
Bulma usually appears as a non-playable character in cut scenes for most Dragon Ball video games, such as Advanced Adventure, Budokai and Budokai 3. However, she is a playable character in Dragon Ball: Origins and its sequel. In Dragon Power, the North American version of Dragon Ball: Shenlong no Nazo that removes all references to Dragon Ball, her character was named "Nora". In Budokai 2, Bulma sells capsules in the Skill Shop. In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi, Bulma appears in the Options Mode explaining how the various game settings work. In Budokai Tenkaichi 2, she appears in the data center, explaining about custom characters and in practice mode. Bulma is a Help Koma in Jump Ultimate Stars; giving more SP for collected coins to the Battle Koma she is attached to. Though she does not appear in Dragon Ball: Xenoverse, she is mentioned during the story mode fight against Beerus as having slapped him, as the fight is based on the film Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods. Bulma is an assist character in Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butōden, firing a gun.
Bulma has been portrayed by Jeannie Hsieh in the unofficial live-action Dragon Ball movie Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins. She was also featured in the 1990 unofficial Korean adaptation, where she was played by Lee Ju Hee. Bulma appeared in the live-action film Dragonball Evolution, portrayed by Emmy Rossum. Rossum described her portrayal of Bulma in Dragonball Evolution as "pretty bad-ass, but still quirky and fun, and kind of ridiculous in the way she is in the anime."
Bulma has a cameo in the 2006 Dragon Ball and One Piece crossover, Cross Epoch. She is partnered up with the character Nami and the two act as a pair of space pirates. In the final chapter of Toriyama's 2013 manga series Jaco the Galactic Patrolman, it is revealed that the series is set before Dragon Ball, and Bulma makes an appearance as a child, as do her father and mother. The character Tights (タイツ, Taitsu), is actually revealed to be Bulma's older sister. To promote the 2015 Resurrection 'F' movie, a blog run by Bulma was launched on the website Ameblo.
