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Matt Vs. Vegeta


Dragonball/ Dragon Ball Z was a hit manga  and anime series created by Akira Toriyama during the 1980s and 1990s that found success both in Japan and in the United States. Its success created at series of movies, video games, and merchandise and inspired subsequent manga series including One Piece. Dragonball  followed young Son Goku and his friends as he gathered the seven mystical Dragonballs , fought enemies and rivals, and became the strongest man in the world. During DragonBall Z Goku is revealed to be an alien and has to defend the Earth from aliens and other threats. While the original DragonBall was fighting manga with comedic overtones, DragonBall Z has a more serious series with heightened violence and danger. Goku's son Gohan is introduced and Piccolo, a villain from the previous series, becomes an ally. One the major characters of DragonBall Z is Vegeta who is the prince and one of the last remaining Saiyans. The Saiyans are a  harsh race of super-strong alien warriors. He is a very popular character due to his brash personality and his status as an anti hero. He also is the unfortunate creator of the tired 'Over 9000' internet meme. However I believe his fame is overdone and he outstayed his welcome.

  During Dragonball Z's first story arc, Vegeta comes to Earth in order to use the Dragonballs to wish for immortality but Goku and his friends defeat him. The next time we see Vegeta is when Gohan and Krillin are on Namek to wish those killed during Vegeta's attack back to life using that planet's dragonballs. Vegeta is not the primary antagonist as Freeza the strongest alien in the universe and Vegeta's master is also after the Dragonballs. Freeza controlled Vegeta and the Saiyans to do his bidding until he eventually killed nearly all of them to stamp out a potential threat After a reign of terror of his own, Vegeta is forced to team up with the protagonists to try to survive and the thwart Freeza's plan. Ultimately they fight Freeza and Vegeta is mercilessly beaten and killed but not before begging Goku to avenge his and their race's death.

I feel like that if this was the end of the story for the character I would have liked his character more. He has a solid arc of  being a villain that slowly becomes an anti-hero without  losing his edge but still showing some 'humanity' Subsequently, Vegeta is kind of just a jerk that talks trash and is obsessed with being stronger than Goku.  He devolves from a great antagonist to a obsessive one-note character who's only contribution to the series is his son Trunks. While he shines and some points near the end of the Cell and Buu arcs, he often is used as a way to portray how strong those respective sagas' villains are. He often actively helps the villains' cause due to his ego and pride. He doesn't show the tenacity or the intelligence he used in the first two story arcs. I just feel that he is an exaggerated version of Piccolo that has a largely undeserved  fanbase. Dragonball Z is mostly known for its ridiculous fights and transformation so perhaps I expected too much from a character.

Images courtesy of IGN

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