For the most part, Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball is about Goku and his new Super Saiyan transformations that he achieves to save the day from a villain who is bent on destroying Earth and its inhabitants. Parallel to the eye-pleasing action, it teaches its viewers to never stay stagnant and urges the fans to keep working hard and achieve their very best version of themselves.
Although Kakarot is featured as the primary protagonist in the series, Toriyama-Sensei eventually makes room for Vegeta. Despite being introduced as the primary antagonist in the Saiyan Saga in DBZ, he eventually switched sides and became a warrior alongside Kakarot and his friends.
Though the character has often been negatively showcased, where fans would consider him full of himself and his Saiyan Pride, there has been a turning point in his life, which has made him an altogether different man in DBS!
Iconic Moment in Dragon Ball Z: Metamorphosized Vegeta’s Nature
Vegeta was first introduced in the fifth episode of Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball Z, where he was showcased as a ruthless warrior who would not let anything come between him and his lofty ambitions. As a result, he did not even hesitate to kill his long-time comrade, Nappa, when Kakarot broke his back, making him unable to walk.
The Prince of All Saiyans was obsessed with the idea of surpassing everyone in an effort to showcase his dominance. Hence, the defeat at the hands of Son-Goku and his friends was a huge blow to his ego and made him see his fellow Saiyan as a worthy rival. Though he became stronger, many fans felt that his character was quite static, until Future Trunks died in front of him during the Cell Games saga.
Well, that’s not really true because a fan has come up with a theory of their own in r/dbz, where they have talked about the potential event that altered his personality. The fan stated that upon reading the manga, they felt that the proud Saiyan Warrior was a “pretty static character” until the death of Trunks.
Interestingly, his character started to change when he used the Potara earrings to fuse with Kakarot to become Vegito during the Majin Buu Saga. The fan believes this because, before the fusion, he was quite stubborn and did not take help from his close ones.
Additionally, he did not feel that Trunks was worthy enough to be his sparring partner, like Goku was. Hence, he preferred to train alone and often felt “enraged with his inadequacy when thinking about Goku and why he can’t catch him.”
However, after using the fusion, he potentially got a glimpse of his rival’s brain, and he probably would have found the answer, “to be a better fighter in person.” Hence, this gives the answer to why he spends more time with his family and is more on “equal footing” with his rival.
Akira Toriyama Gave Vegeta A Pretty Useless Super Saiyan Transformation
There’s no denying that Akira Toriyama has a soft spot for Vegeta, but the author did him dirty, as he has not only put him in the spotlight but also given him a pretty useless transformation in Dragon Ball Z.
During the Android Saga, Vegeta and Future Trunks achieved a new Super Saiyan form called the Super Saiyan Third Grade or Super Saiyan 1.5. Though it felt promising to defeat the antagonist, it managed to hold him for a short period of time.
Even Cell in his second form acknowledged that this new form outmatched him in sheer strength, but the inability to maintain speed was its downfall. The form looked utterly ridiculous, where the muscles bulged out, but to make matters worse, the agility was greatly reduced.
As a result, the form would end up putting the user at a massive disadvantage because of massive stamina depletion and slow but heavy punches. The form is practically useless if the opponent is fast and agile to begin with.
Even Kakarot had achieved the same form after he trained with Gohan in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, but he realized the uselessness of the form and explained to his son the downsides of preferring strength over speed.
Dragon Ball Super can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
