Vegeta

This article is about the Dragon Ball Z character. For other uses, see Vegeta (disambiguation).

Vegeta
Dragon Ball Z character
File:Vegeta Freeza Saga.PNG Vegeta by Akira Toriyama
In-universe information
Relatives	King Vegeta (father) Tarble (brother) Bulma (wife) Trunks (son) Bulla (daughter)

Vegeta (ベジータ, Bejīta) is a fictional character in the Dragon Ball franchise created by Akira Toriyama. Vegeta first appeared in the manga chapter #204 Sayōnara Son Gokū (さようなら孫悟空, Goodbye Son Goku) first published in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine on December 19, 1988, and in episode 6 of its anime adaptation Dragon Ball Z, as the prince of the nearly extinct race of alien warriors called the Saiyans. Vegeta was the original enemy of the series, hoping to use the seven Dragon Balls to gain immortality and galactic rule. As common enemies appear, Vegeta is forced into an often unstable alliance with the protagonists of the series. By the end of the manga, Vegeta develops into a trustworthy ally of the series' main character, Son Goku. Vegeta's character is known for his bitter rivalry with Goku, because in spite of his vigorous training and royal heritage, he often finds his strength and skill inferior to Goku's. Later in the series, Vegeta reluctantly admits that Goku has a natural skill for battle, something that no amount of his own training could ever match.

Appearance

Vegeta's initial appearance in the manga is as a short and slightly stocky character, with upright standing hair and a defined widow's peak. Though Toriyama's work never showed the prince otherwise, other artists' imaginings of him as a child show him sporting bangs which cover his forehead. Due to the apparent popularity of Vegeta, Toriyama continued with him as a primary character and changed his appearance, gradually making him leaner, more masculine, and more mature-looking, this gradual change in appearance has lead to several fans agitation though many fans accept his general appearance as that of his Namek and post-Namek days. Vegeta's appearance is again modified in Dragon Ball GT, in which he appears with a shorter hairstyle and wearing Western-style casual clothes. As a Saiyan, Vegeta also has a tail, which he loses in his initial battle on Earth with Goku and his allies.

Plot overview

Vegeta is introduced into the series as the proud prince of the Saiyan race. After overhearing Piccolo tell Raditz the legend of the Dragon Balls through his scouter, he and his comrade Nappa travel to Earth in the hopes of using the Dragon Balls to wish for immortality, and also exterminate all life on the planet. However, he is defeated by Goku with the help of Gohan, Krillin, and Yajirobe but manages to escape with his life. After being restored to health, Vegeta seeks to travel to Piccolo's home world Planet Namek to wish for immortality using the Namekian Dragon Balls after overhearing from his rival Cui that Frieza has already taken off to get the Dragon Balls for himself.

Upon arrival, he manages to kill Frieza's henchmen, Cui and Dodoria, in a series of confrontations. Vegeta is brutally beaten by Frieza's right-hand man Zarbon in a fierce battle, although Vegeta recovers and defeats Zarbon afterwards due to his Saiyan genes that increase his strength dramatically after recovering from a near-death experience. However, when he senses the approaching arrival of the Ginyu Force, he is forced to ally himself with Gohan and Krillin, who are also on the planet. His efforts to stop them are in vain, and he is subsequently beaten by Recoome, but is saved from death when Goku, with his power greatly increased from training at 100x gravity, arrives on Planet Namek and takes out the remaining members of the Ginyu Force. Later, after Goku is severely injured during the battle with Captain Ginyu, Vegeta takes him to a regeneration chamber inside Frieza's spaceship to restore him to full power. Soon afterwards, Vegeta, Gohan and Krillin are confronted by Frieza, angered that they had made off with the Dragon Balls to get their wish. Despite getting another massive power increase from the brink of death, claiming that he has become a Super Saiyan, Vegeta is killed by Frieza. During Goku's battle as a Super Saiyan with Frieza, Vegeta is revived and transported to Earth using the Dragon Balls from both Earth and Namek, and after hearing that Goku will be coming back to Earth later, he flies into space using a spaceship in the hopes of finding Goku and becoming a Super Saiyan. However, he is unable to find Goku and returns back to Earth to wait for the Super Saiyan's arrival. When Goku eventually does return, he endures a grueling training schedule under intense gravity for three years to prepare for a battle against two powerful androids. His son Trunks is born in this period.

Three years later, Vegeta finally becomes a Super Saiyan and easily destroys Android #19, with Piccolo stating that he might have even surpassed Goku in strength. However, even as a Super Saiyan, he is defeated by Android #18. Contemplating his defeat, Vegeta soon learns that Super Saiyans aren't invincible, and seeks to ascend the Super Saiyan level. While training with his son Trunks in the Room of Time and Mind (Hyperbolic Time Chamber in English dub) for a year (while in the real world time passes in one day), Vegeta ascends to a power even greater than a Super Saiyan's, and pummels Cell, who has absorbed Android #17. But his cockiness leads him to allow Cell to absorb Android 18 and achieve his perfect form, which greatly surpasses even Vegeta's power. Vegeta's efforts to destroy the monster are in vain when he is nearly killed by Cell, and he is forced to participate in a martial arts tournament created by Cell called the Cell Games, in which he fights one of the seven Cell Juniors created by Cell, who are later destroyed by Gohan. During this time, Gohan surpasses both his father and Vegeta by ascending to Super Saiyan 2, and defeats Cell, saving the Earth from total destruction.

Seven years later, Vegeta marries Bulma and, when Trunks is old enough, begins to train him in an attempt to make him more powerful than both Gohan and Goten (since he believes Gohan's Super Saiyan 2 was Goku's doing). He later fights one of Babidi's minions, Pui Pui, and kills him, but allows himself to be consumed by Babidi's evil for his own desire to become evil again, becoming Majin Vegeta while he demonstrates his Super Saiyan 2 form for the first time, and fight Goku without any boundaries. However, when Majin Buu is revived by their fight, he later realizes his foolishness and goes to face Majin Buu alone and redeems himself when he sacrifices himself in a vain attempt to defeat Majin Buu, despite knowing that he would go to Hell rather than Heaven. After King Yemma gives Vegeta back his body and sends him down to Earth to help against the threat of Buu, who has grown much stronger (by absorbing his own good half/Fat Buu, Gotenks, Piccolo and Gohan) since their last fight, he reluctantly combines with Goku using the Potara Earrings, creating Vegito, who completely overwhelms Buu with his strength. Eventually, he is absorbed into Buu's body and subsequently, the fusion splits, most probably due to the strange innards of Buu's body. Because they weren't absorbed successfully due to Vegetto's forcefield, Goku and Vegeta are not trapped and soon find Piccolo, Gohan, Goten and Trunks inside Buu's body, along with Fat Buu. The two rip out those who were absorbed and escape. On the Supreme Kai's planet, Vegeta and Fat Buu battle Evil Buu again to buy time for Goku to gather energy for the Spirit Bomb, which he uses to defeat Evil Buu once and for all. Ten years later, Vegeta is seen to accept Goku as a friend rather than a rival, no longer wanting to kill Goku, ultimately.

In Dragon Ball GT, Vegeta is possessed by Baby and battles Goku, but is eventually split from Baby's body before Baby is destroyed. Later he fights Super Android 17, but again he is knocked out and nearly killed. When Omega Shenron wreaks havoc, he fuses with Goku as a Super Saiyan 4 to become Gogeta, who defeats the evil Shenron but his arrogance doesn't allow him to finish the job, and the fusion time runs out, reverting the two back to normal. Finally, Omega Shenron is obliterated by Goku's gigantic Spirit Bomb. At the end of Dragon Ball GT, Vegeta says a farewell to Goku, who leaves the duty of protecting Earth in Vegeta's hands before he flies off into the sky on Shenron.

Development and origin

Vegeta's first appearance in the anime depicted him with a radically different color scheme.

Following a common name trend that Toriyama developed in Dragon Ball, Vegeta's name is derived from the word for vegetable, being that he is the prince of the Saiyans, who are all named after vegetables. When he first appears in the series, Vegeta is arrogant and selfish, having a fierce desire for immortality and galactic rule. He is also vicious and cares for nobody but himself, which is shown when he dispatched of his comrade Nappa when he failed to defeat Goku. Vegeta's plans are thwarted by Goku. Because of Vegeta's overwhelming pride and ego, being defeated by someone who he considered inferior transforms his character into a jealous and vengeful anti-hero. By the end of the series, Vegeta's bitter rivalry with Goku softens when he comes to respect Goku as an ally and even a friend.

One of Vegeta's distinguishable characteristics was the fact that he was the only living Saiyan who still wore the traditional Saiyan battle armour on a regular basis. Over the course of the series, he has worn several variations of the suit, though later on in the series (and subsequently the Dragon Ball GT series) he abandons the Saiyan armour completely for civilian clothing.

Vegeta's priorities can be seen to gradually change as the series progresses, though one facet remains constant: his rivalry with Goku is fuelled by Goku's ability to stay ahead of him in power. Because of this, Vegeta is seen to pursue an insane desire to surpass Goku in strength, but whenever he seems to train and continually push himself harder than Goku does, he can never close the gap between him and Goku permanently.

When Vegeta finds a home on Earth, he is pursued romantically by Bulma, where they are married later at some time. They have two children together, a son Trunks and a daughter Bulla. Vegeta prioritizes his rivalry with Goku over any relationships with his family, at least until the end of the series.

Abilities

Main articles: Oozaru and Super Saiyan

File:Goku vs vegeta.png

In an iconic scene from the anime, Vegeta's Garlic Gun clashes with Son Goku's Kamehameha

Vegeta has the ability to create and enhance attacks with the use of chi. Like most other primary characters in Dragon Ball, Vegeta has the ability to use buku-jutsu (舞空術, lighter than air) which enables him to fly. Constant training and his Saiyan heritage have given him enhanced strength and possesses superhuman speed, durability and reflexes.

Like most of the characters in the series, Vegeta is known to give names for his various energy attacks. In his early appearance, Vegeta is seen to use attacks similar to several of the protagonists of the series, such as a ki disk (気円斬, kien ki), a two fingered laser-like blast, and a chi wave similar to Goku's Kamehameha blast. This beam known as the Garlic Gun (ギャリック砲, Gyarikku Hō, or Galick Gun in the English dub) is used by Vegeta during his battle against Goku in an attempt to destroy the Earth. The Garlic Gun is the main attack used by Vegeta in most Dragon Ball Z video games though he uses it only once in the manga. Vegeta later develops the Big Bang Attack (ビッグ・バン・アタック, Biggu Ban Atakku) and the Final Flash (ファイナルフラッシュ, Fainaru Furasshu) attacks, which are much more powerful than his older energy attacks. Vegeta's most commonly used attack in the series is when he bombards an opponent with an array of small chi blasts. Vegeta is not known to have a name for this attack, but it is officially called Renzoku Energy Dan (連続エネルギー弾). Also in Dragon Ball GT he displays a powerful new attack entitling it the Final Shine Attack, where Vegeta uses his right hand to fire off a massive beam of green chi that widens with distance.

Vegeta also possesses several transformations that greatly enhance his abilities to varying degrees. Early in the series, he has the ability to become an Oozaru, which increases his power tenfold, so long as he still has his tail. He eventually gains the ability to transform into a Super Saiyan and, through training, can further transform into advanced states of Super Saiyan as the series continues, including Super Saiyan 2nd Grade and Super Saiyan 2. For an unknown reason the only Saiyan transformation Vegeta has never been able to achieve is Super Saiyan 3. In Dragon Ball GT, he reaches the Super Saiyan 4 level when Bulma powers him up using Blutz Rays.

Vegeta can also fuse with Goku and create a warrior who has the combined power and skills of both. One method is by using the Potara Earrings presented to Goku by the Elder Kai. This results in a 'perfect fusion' creating Vegetto. The other method is by performing the Metamorese Fusion Dance, which creates Gogeta.

Voice actors

In the original Japanese language by Toei Animation, Vegeta is voiced by Ryo Horikawa. In the first English language dub by the Ocean Group, Vegeta was voiced by Brian Drummond, making a high-pitch male voice. He would reprise his role during the Blue Water dub of the rest of series and would continue the role for the Blue Water dub of Dragon Ball GT. When Funimation took over distribution in the United States, Vegeta would be voiced by Christopher Sabat, who currently voices him in all English adapted Dragon Ball Z video games, having a gruffish voice for the character, and with the exception of Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout where he was voiced by Milton James.

Appearances in other media

File:Cross Epoch Vegeta.PNG

Captain Vegeta as he appears in Cross Epoch.

Vegeta has appeared in many video games related Dragon Ball franchise as both a playable character and boss. Vegeta has also appeared in other non Dragon Ball-related video games. He featured in Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars. Vegeta is a playble character in the Dragon Ball Z/One Piece/Naruto crossover game Battle Stadium D.O.N.

Vegeta has made several appearances in other manga's. In Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball self parody Neko Majin where he battles the main character "Z". In Cross Epoch Vegeta is reimagined as a captain of a crew of air pirates which include Trunks, Usopp, and Nico Robin. On September 15, 2006, Vegeta, would make a guest appearance in a chapter of the Kochikame manga Super Kochikame entitled Kochira Namek-Sei Dragon Kōen-mae Hashutsujo (こちらナメック星ドラゴン公園前派出所, This is the Dragon Police Station in front of the Park on Planet Namek)

Vegeta has also been the victim of parody, in the Shonen Jump Gag Special 2005 issue released on November 12, 2004, featured a Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo one-shot Dragon Ball parody manga. The manga was a humorous retelling of the battle between Goku and Vegeta in the Saiyan Saga. Jelly Jiggler was Goku and Don Patch was Vegeta.

Vegeta has made one contribution to music, in the eighth installment of Hit Song Collection series entitled Character Special 2 Vegeta sings the song "Vegeta-sama no Oryori Jigoku!!". The song focuses of Vegeta cooking a special Okonomiyaki. Other Dragon Ball-related songs that center around Vegeta are "Koi no NAZONAZO" by Kuko and Tricky Shirai which focuses on his and Bulma's relationship and "Ai wa Ballad no Yō ni~Vegeta no Theme~" by Shin Oya which represents Vegeta reflections on his life and then current family.

Bibliography

• Dragon Ball Z manga, Volume 12 — ISBN 1-56931-985-5
• Dragon Ball Z manga, Volume 13 — ISBN 1-56931-986-3
• Dragon Ball Z manga, Volume 16 — ISBN 978-1-59116-328-2
• Dragon Ball Z manga, Volume 22 — ISBN 978-1-4215-0051-5
• Dragon Ball Z manga, Volume 23 — ISBN 978-1-4215-0148-2