#vegeta.txt

It’s so fucking INTERESTING to me, the way that both Piccolo and Vegeta come to a major conclusion about themselves through putting themselves on the line for Goku specifically. 

Mind you, this is hardly anything new for a Dragon Ball villain, but there’s always been a consensus that these two are Goku’s ultimate rivals. Piccolo because he was born to hate Goku, a dying wish with the mission of ‘kill kill kill’ in the egg he hatched from- and Vegeta because he was raised to hate the kind of challenge someone like Goku presents him. They maintain the bulk of their personality and distinctive traits because of the sustained relevance that their position measured relative to Goku’s grants them. 

You have these two former villains with not only the kind of baggage that your Z-Fighter prior had, but on steroids. A child’s desire to be worth the legacy and remaking of a ‘King’ and his great evil vs the child’s bottomless ambition for power so as to never be helpless again, to be the boot crushing the ant instead of the ant.  Piccolo was “born” evil, not raised. Vegeta was raised into a culture that delights in other people’s pain, strength for strength’s sake- and also with Frieza as his “parent” in some respects. 

There’s this fundamental similarity in the trajectory of their arcs- though Piccolo inevitably finds it much easier because he doesn’t have to contend with the expectation of cultural norms. He doesn’t have a context of that until he’s an adult. And like I mentioned before, the crowning moment of when their characters earnestly have shifted their beliefs rings rather similarly in both cases. 

Piccolo wanted to stay on Namek to fight by Goku’s side, even if it meant putting himself in Frieza’s line of fire. 

Vegeta admitted out loud that he didn’t stand a chance against Buu and committed to a fight WITHOUT the goal of winning- the goal was explicitly a support role to Goku. Holding Buu off to give him time to power up and beat the monster. 

Both of them put down their goals right on the floor and stepped into what their earlier selves would’ve considered humiliating positions. They are admitting second fiddle and for the first time they’re not taking it as an insult. They want to see him win! They NEED him to win. 

So much of it is the stakes- wanting to see a common foe go down, yes. But for both of them we see that they’ve got people they love that they’re doing this for. It’s not about what they want or even need or themselves anymore. These monologues happen after several turning points- it’s like closing the book on the chapter of a compulsion that they realized wasn’t making them happy. 

They both allow themselves to get brutally tortured not as a consequence of fighting to fight around the time of these revelations, but because they realize that there’s someone to go home to- and that home won’t exist anymore if they don’t do it. 

And— what the shit. I realize as I’m writing this that they both did it so that Goku could charge the spirit bomb. Piccolo for the bomb against Frieza, Vegeta for the bomb against Kid Buu. Straight up scene after scene of them not just getting thrashed; but very visibly put in the ground like a dog. Worse than death, because it isn’t over. 

You get to hear these men getting beaten brutally (the visual style communicates a lot more than a blow for blow fight in instances where one character is severely outmatched. Think Tien vs Nappa, Frieza and Vegeta at the waterfall, the Androids and the Z-Fighters), 

- knowing that Goku’s the only way, and that they’re only getting up because he needs them to. They know he needs them, and they need him right back. 

It’s their home they’re bleeding for. Now is the time to do the noble thing- and it is noble. Because it requires no shortage of fighting their innate selfishness, their drives and the goals that subsumed a good deal of their lives. 

Now here’s the monologues and some companion scenes signaling the shift in their characters at different points. 

The Monologues + Companion Quotes:

Piccolo’s monologue [Spoken after being transported to Earth while SSJ Goku fights Frieza]

"Goku... Our paths have crossed many times along the way. It's because of you that I was even born. 

From the very beginning, when I was nothing but an egg, even then I wanted you destroyed. I was born hating you. As a young fighter, those tournaments against you were all that I had. I lived for the chance to see you die.

(Flash to the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament)

I will never forget our fight in the World Martial arts tournament. With my newly learned ability to increase my size, I knew that this would be it. This would be my chance to finish you. But still you found a way to beat me, your power, I've never seen it anything like it. 

From that day forward, I knew that there was something different about you. Something... Not of this world. And then the fight with Raditz—

(Cut to the killing blow between Raditz and Goku, the Special Beam Cannon)

Huh. I can't say I objected to destroying you.

After all, it's what I'd been waiting for my whole life. But as you lay there lifeless, the job wasn't what I'd imagined. 

How could I hate someone with such an honorable sacrifice? Goku, why did you have to send me back to Earth? I wanted to fight alongside of you... It's vexing, but your powers have become far greater than my own, and so has your character. You chose to beat Frieza at the cost of your own life. You're always like that."

+

Scene — Gohan asleep by the fire 

PICCOLO: (gently pushes Gohan’s bangs back) Until now, training you has been about vengeance. But something’s changed. No matter what happens, I’ll always be there to protect you, Gohan. Sleep well, my friend. 

Scene — Flying toward the battle with Frieza

PICCOLO: Gohan’s energy signal is fading! I’m not gonna let it happen, cause we’ve been through too much together.  

(Flashback, spanning their time training together) 

You were just a pampered kid when I took you in, but you never gave up. You never failed to surprise me either. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so hard on you. But you took it without complaint and I could tell despite the hardship I put you through;  You truly cared about me. So I died for you... And I’d do it all again. 

Scene — Piccolo and Vegeta’s final talk

PICCOLO: I was just like you once, until Gohan’s love changed me. I know you were changed too, I know how much courage it took to do what you did. 

                                                             VS.

Vegeta’s Monologue [spoken while SSJ3 Goku fights Buu off]

“Amazing. How do you do it Kakarot? You’ve always been like this. Ever since the first day I met you. Always ready to meet the next challenge, even when it’s bigger than you are. 

It was the same on Namek, you had improved so much it made Recoome look like he was standing still. Your power had increased so dramatically since our battle on Earth that I thought you’d done it! That you had become a super Saiyan. 

It tore me apart. How could you, a low class soldier, accomplish so easily what I- I had struggled my whole life to achieve? Then at last it happened. I too transformed. After living every moment of every day for the singular purpose of surpassing you, I finally became a super Saiyan myself. The prince had reclaimed his throne and fulfilled his destiny! But no matter how strong I became, your power still exceeded mine. 

At first I thought it was your loved ones —

(flash to Gohan, Chi-Chi, Piccolo, Bulma, Krillin, Oolong, Yamcha, Puar— all in that order) 

— that it was your instinct to protect them that spurred you on and pushed you beyond your limits. But then I found myself with a family of my own and my power didn’t increase at all. 

I used to fight for the sheer pleasure of it. For the thrill of the hunt. Oh, I had the strength unmeasurable. I spared no one. And yet… you showed mercy to everyone. Even your fiercest enemies, even me. Yet you never fought to kill or for revenge. Only to test your limits and to push yourself beyond. To become the strongest you could possibly be. How can a Saiyan fight like that and at the same time be so gentle that he wouldn’t hurt a fly? 

Oh, it makes me angry just thinking about it! But perhaps it is my anger that’s made me blind to the truth for so long. I see it now. This day has made it all too clear. 

You’re better than me Kakarot. You are the best.”

+

Scene — Goten and Trunks arrive. Vegeta hugs Trunks.

VEGETA: Trunks, there’s something you must know. You’ve made me proud, son. 

Scene — Before The Explosion

VEGETA: Trunks, Bulma, I do this for you. And yes… Even for you, Kakarot. 

Scene - Asking The Earth for Its Energy (cutting between Namek and The Sacred World of the Kais)

KIBITO KAI: Do you think Vegeta could soften his request somewhat? You know, ask them nicely? (The people of the Earth)

ELDER KAI: He could. If he wasn’t a proud, pigheaded, arrogant fool! 

KIBITO KAI: Look! He’s trying again.

VEGETA: (now pleading): People of the earth, please. I beg of you. You have to listen to me, please. We’re running out of time. 

(either sweat or a tear that runs down his face at this point. It’s ambiguous) 

Raise your hands. Do it before it’s too late. don’t let Majin Buu destroy you and your children! PLEASE! DONT LET HIM WIN!

These considerations in mind: It makes a great deal of sense as to what people would see in pairing them together- be it for the sake of putting the two stoic men who used to be the big bad in the same panel together while Goku fights the big battles, or for shipping purposes. They’re kindred spirits, and sometimes when you see yourself in someone else you decide: Boy, I don’t fucking like you.

Here’s my thesis: 

Love is Funimation Dragon Ball Z’s call to action. Bear with me here, it seems like an obvious cliche, but it’s one of those threads woven through every major story arc. It’s by far one of the more consistent themes expressed in its scripting of the characters and their priorities. There are lots of different definitions of love, typically we think of romantic, familial, and platonic love as our qualifiers. Maybe you’re an 8 types of love categorizer. At different points you see how central at least one of those definitions is to moving the emotional plot line along, there’s an intensity built into the displays of unbridled emotion that get the audience into a power-up scene. 

Every single one of those scenes is steeped in the things that the characters value. Their relationships and their reason for fighting. These reasons are born from the connections they have with their loved ones, or the things that they love and hold sacred in their lives. Below are some key examples from each arc. 

Saiyan saga. 

Starting with an example exclusively from the Filler: we have Gohan and C-6 in episode 9. Gohan makes friends with an abandoned robot buried in the ruins of a cavern and through his kindness, gives him a friend: The first in 80 years. This newfound affection and maybe even love (categorized as “philia” under the 8 Greek definitions I mentioned) for Gohan is what makes C-6 sacrifice himself to get Gohan out of the cavern when it starts to crumble around them. 

Most important for his character going forward: Piccolo came to love Gohan, he admits that what started as a quest for revenge turned into something different and his love for Gohan made him sacrifice his life to keep him from dying. Gohan’s kindness and care for him introduced Piccolo to the concept of more than hatred. He developed a concept of love from their interactions and it made him a better person. This gave him the necessary context to GROW. 

Gohan’s love for Goku awakened his power at the very beginning of the saga and stopped him from wreaking more havoc in his ape form than he already had. 

Frieza/Namek saga: 

Guru’s love for every Namekian child he bore killed him, the strain of them all dying was the direct cause of his death. He couldn’t have been brought back by Porunga otherwise- Qualified under a death of “natural causes.” 

Porunga means “Dragon of Love.” in the Namekian language. Porunga, the original wish granting dragon, whose existence is the very reason that the Dragon Balls can bring back the loved ones of the characters in this series. 

Goku’s love for Krillin and the anger that sprang from losing his friend gave him the power to become a Super Saiyan. Krillin, with Bulma, is one of Goku’s very best friends. 

Android/Cell Saga

It was Future Gohan’s love for Trunks that made him knock the kid out to fight the Androids alone. Trunks’ love for Gohan not only triggered his transformation, but it made him determined to travel to the past with the chance of preventing his future. 

Chi-Chi very clearly loves Goku, the scene they share after he wakes up from his coma is a good example of what she understands to be true about him and his nature. She encourages him to fight Cell and give it all he’s got. This is a marked difference from her begrudging acceptance and downright disapproval (for her own really good reasons). She knows what kind of person he is and steps out of the way to give him the space he needs to prepare for that trial.

Before Cell kills Android 16, 16 pleads with Gohan: “Let it go. It is not a sin to fight for the right cause. There are those who words alone will not reach, Cell is such a being. I know how you feel, Gohan. You are gentle, you do not like to hurt. I know because I too have learned this feelings. But it is because you cherish life that you must protect it. Please, drop your restraints. Protect the life I loved.” 

Gohan’s love for peace- the anger that accompanied having something as sacred as life ripped from a kindred spirit broke the barrier between his fear of losing control and his power. 

Android 16’s love for living in general, he is another character born to kill. And yet he, a machine, finds something to love in nature. Gentle with birds, at peace. 

Contentious as Goku’s choice is at the end of the arc, its intentions are pure- he removes himself from the lives of his loved ones because he believes HE is drawing the danger toward them. It’s a decision that stems from a selfless love for his friends and family.  

Buu Saga. 

Gohan’s love for Videl- whether you want to categorize it as friendship and loyalty or a budding romance by this point- it’s responsible for the dangerous move that makes him go full-power, leading to Yamu’s theft of his energy to take back to Babadi. I’m calling it love specifically because of the intensity its treated with in the narrative.

Daikaioh’s love for life and Shin was a redeeming force for the pure evil Buu. 

Majin Buu’s love for Hercule and Bee the dog was what turned him good and made him separate from the evil half. Had he not learned to love them, the rest of the arc wouldn’t have taken place. 

Piccolo sympathizes with the sacrifice Vegeta makes because he knows what it’s like to walk through that door himself, “Gohan’s love changed me.” 

Vegeta’s getting his own category not only because I write him, but because of how strange his relationship with love is, and how it continues to come up

The famous “Trunks, Bulma, I do this for you.” line before he blew himself up to try and take out Majin Buu. How he, in this new form after claiming that they meant nothing to him, holds his child and tells him he’s proud. Knocks him out and sends him safely back with Piccolo. This is a very clear change from the android saga, where he didn’t give a fuck about whether Bulma and Trunks died when 20 shot them out of the sky. 

Goku lays Vegeta out when he refuses to entertain fusion: “Look. You’ve always talked about our Saiyan race. How we’re the last of a mighty people. Well it’s time we accept we’re starting a new race! One that’d be just as strong! Just as proud! But not if we’re caught up in so much of our old “birthrights” to see what we have right in front of us! We’ve lost our old race Vegeta! Let’s not lose THIS one too!” It’s THIS that makes him get his fucking act together, along with the revelation that Bulma has been killed. 

Vegeta BEGS the people of Earth to give their energy- what’s very important to this appeal is that it’s to their pathos. He uses ‘children’ in the plea, knowing that he’s just lost his own. Genuine empathy, born of what I struggle to categorize as anything OTHER than the love he has for his family- however complicated it may be. Put himself on the chopping block, pride be fucking damned just to have a chance at keeping him safe in the Otherworld (because Buu can go there too). This man is anti-sentiment and vulnerability, but you can hear him earnestly beseeching- and that’s part of his love for his family forced to come out. The kind of desperation he has isn’t for his own sake- he’s someone who doesn’t treat his life with any sort of sacredness. 

Finally, on the subject of love: Majin Buu’s love for Mr. Satan is actually what saved the entire fucking planet! Had Kid Buu not spit him out because of the burden that is his hesitation to kill Satan, there wouldn’t have been a way to stall for time while Goku gathered energy for the Spirit Bomb. Majin Buu held Kid Buu off with Vegeta, they needed that help. 

Among some fan favorite scenes out of this dub are: 

Goku going Super Saiyan for the first time; 

Future Trunks finding Gohan’s body and transforming, and; 

Gohan’s snap into Super Saiyan 2. 

Many fans latch onto the anger, and for good reasons! It goes toward the dramatic weight of the scenes, but here’s the thing:

Saiyan Culture

- I fucking refuse to believe that “we’re wired that way” shit lmao. The implications of Saiyans as a genetically savage race who are wired to fuck fight and die and do only that because they dont have the genetic human capacity for 'civility' are uh, not good when we factor in their place in the narrative as an in-universe example of a marginalized people. I know it’s aliens and shit but it’s soooo much richer to account for how universally a society’s values influence the people who are a part of it. but yeah I think that a social culture that prioritizes fighting and killing and battle over everything else is bound to turn out people who by and large are defined by their ability to use their bodies to fight. They have high metabolisms and a culture of fighting, so it only makes sense for them to have high protein diets- not some inherent need to kill and eat the spoils. It's survival and also a collective sense of what's successful, what is efficient no matter how brutal it is. They value partners who can fight/who are vicious because that is the common conscience of what makes someone ‘worthy’. Also, Vegeta’s attitude can be explained by his status as a royal + what is likely the recontextualization of Saiyan glory to fit what the child version of himself thought they were and Goku’s can be explained by the fact that he was (1) dropped on his head as a baby and (2) raised in the woods. Have you MET rural folk? Completely bonkers.

- The Saiyans and Tuffles evolved from a common genetic ancestor, but that the Saiyans settled on Planet Plant later than the Tuffles did.

- Per the Saiyan-Tuffle war and the disparity between what happened (based on King Kai’s account, stating the Tuffles were a peaceful docile nonaggressive race that treated the Saiyans as equals vs Vegeta’s account in Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans where they forced the Saiyans to live out in the badlands as second class citizens)- What actually happened probably falls more to the middle. The Tuffles allowed them to settle on the land out in the deserts and to their credit- gave them the resources to start, but never really saw them as equals in terms of intellectual development vs their big advanced sprawling cities. A big microagressive cycle of holding out and tensions rising that culminated in the Saiyans deciding to say fuck it and commit tactical mass murder for their own advancement. I don’t want to push Saiyans out of accountability for their colonizing and take no prisoners philosophy, but I also don’t want the Tuffles to be totally absolved of their stake if there are other parts involved (because even if it’s true, they still didn’t deserve that! Complex storytelling you guys) so that’s my take.

Muse Stuff

Bulma:

- She was very obviously your typical child-prodigy. By the time she met Goku I’d put her in college, taking a gap semester to live her teenage life and hunt for the dragon balls

- Bisexual, she is sooooo bisexual. No further context here except that if Son Chi-Chi ever gets a divorce that she will love her soooo so right

- Bulma is 100% a sports TV girl, beer and belligerent yelling at bad calls is a very nice break from the hard intellectual work of being the team AND company scientist

- She cannot fight. Somebody get this bitch a gun (that works on ki users), something please.

- Her and Yamcha’s relationship didn’t work out because they were too similar/generally incompatible, not because of cheating or anything like that (seriously, they weren’t dating anymore when Yamcha took another girl to some concert or whatever.) For the longest time they had a ‘break-up-make-up’ relationship, coming back to each other because they were each other’s firsts and because quite honestly neither of them were ready to let go of the good times. But I think they gave it one more go during year 1 of the Android time-skip and broke it off relatively amicably.

- Her teal hair is the result of putting toner in her conditioner

- Bulma doesn’t really… Run the business logistical side of Capsule Corp as much as you’d think. She’s CEO, but I think that along with her keen business acumen that she maintains a very elite term to fill in her gaps and coordinates them to manage her affairs in more tedious divisions. She’s very hands-on in Capsule Corp’s technological advancement/R&D division and quite frankly cannot stand the idea of sitting still for 6 hour board meetings. She goes when it’s necessary and will generally crunch the numbers if things aren’t right, but otherwise you will find her in her lab and on the ground tinkering.

Gohan:

- His relationship to fighting is less him giving into his innate urge as a half-Saiyan and more an evolution of a child’s sense of personal responsibility after watching his friends and family die to the idea that training to protect his loved ones will be what makes him strong enough for just that task. Gohan does not, and will not ever possess the zest for fighting that his father and the Z-Fighters have.

- Speaking of [jazz hands] childhood trauma, I think he had some major unpacking to do during the time skip after cell. A lot of how he’d been handling it up to that point was rationalizing the circumstances and viewing himself as having fundamentally failed because he wasn’t up to the task fast enough to keep things from going the way they did. Getting Gohan to see himself as a child after all of that was /a lot/, not to mention the sibling envy of Gohan getting to train from the outset and generally having it easier than he did growing up. But I do think that he was able to sort it out with himself, and I think in sorting it out he REALLY pushed to go to public high school for a sense of normalcy he didn’t have before. He loves his family and the Z-Fighters, but I do think it was a good means for him to cultivate that kind of life for himself. He’s not quite the scholar-pacifist that his mother wanted (for his own safety and well-being, but for him- still to the detriment of taking agency for himself to help), but he’s not the hot blooded fighter his dad was hoping he’d be. He has his happy medium and he is oh so happy where he is now.

- Baby bisexual. Because I said so.

- Also, tangentially: As much as I love Videl - we have Chi-Chi and 18 for the stay at home mom stuff. Videl is a gotdamn fighter, I think having her either succeed Hercule as the champ (having effectively surpassed him) or running a dojo for young girls who want to fight while ALSO being a kickass mom is a good path for her to take as opposed to being defined solely as Gohan’s wife or Pan’s mom yknow? Let her maintain her grit and haughtiness while allowing her to have evened out from her teens. Her and Chi-Chi spar in the off-season to keep in shape

Vegeta:

- He is the ‘toxic hypermasculine to malewife OG’ no I will not be explaining. He’s cooking dinner for his daughter in an apron to keep his clothes clean as we speak and that’s on that

- The reason why he dogged Goku so long wasn’t because he beat him- Goku /did not beat him during the Saiyan saga/, the combined efforts of Goku, Krillin, Gohan and Yajirobe did. But because Goku was in his eyes ringleader and a full-blooded Saiyan, he latched onto attaching the blame to him for his humiliation. It was a shake-up of his status quo and he would spend so many years trying to get back that security. Tsk tsk, what a fragile ego.

- His relationship to kindness and affection can be aptly described as “you’re being facetious, cut the bullshit or I’ll kill you” because well [gestures to Frieza]. For a while, saccharine sweetness meant some shitty things. But see, him accepting those things (even if he bitches you out about it) shows that he HAS learned to like it in a fashion. Nobody can make him do anything he doesn’t want to do. He is actively engaging with this shit you guys.

- I am personally a fan of the idea that by the end of Z/GT that he recognized Goku as the better warrior, and that in some sense he gave up dogging his footsteps and started giving more of himself to the peace that followed, BUT I don’t necessarily thing that stopped him from pushing himself to the limit. He will never be free of his pride and that competitive push, but I personally enjoy the idea of a Vegeta that has learned something of a rest-fight balance. Not being as strong as Goku is no longer ‘not being strong at all’

Misc:

I was ranting about how good GT looks on paper condensed into these short points for your viewing. If you didn’t already want to shoot me then you’ll proooobably be fine with these takes.

- a Return to form. Widening Dragon Ball’s original scope of a journey to collect the dragon balls- but including more of the south galaxy in it.

- Reckoning with the Saiyan legacy in the form of the Tuffles, the race they slaughtered for their own advancement. How the ones left remaining have to deal with the fallout of those actions and what the Saiyans were

- The very real consequences of how frivolously everyone has used the dragon balls for the last 15 years or so given physical form. How the balls weren’t /meant/ to be used like this, a resource pushed to its limits and what it’s done to the planet as a result of their reliance. It’s like the exhaustion of a resource and kind of like a tie to the idea of what overconsumption does to the natural world and the (speaking here) magic around you. Consequences, give me some.

- Super Saiyan 4’s harkening back to the great ape motif.