#Those bastards (The saiyan squad) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

iamtheempress · 4 years

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A Vegeta x OC Fanfiction (part 3)¤ ¤ ¤

Many things ran through her mind and all she could think was, abit of excitement! Something to prove herself and show her worth, that shes not just some pretty piece to hang onto the emperor's arm, she pushes the button on the wall and the door to the Saiyan chambers and comes face to face with Nappa out of his armor. “Calamatta! Was just wondering why it took you so long to get back!” He smiled down at her and rubbed his hand over his bald scalp.

The sliding door shut and they both walked side by side in tandem, Calamatta walked abit faster to keep pace with Nappa. “Did Vegeta tell you about the mission?” “Briefly! He didnt look too happy about it.. What gives.” She gets to her room and she sighs a bit anticipatory for this month long excursion made extermination mission.

“Vegeta and I are to go to this one super planet… to completely wipe within a month but its just the both of us.” Nappa blinks and shakes his head Raising his eyebrow his eyebrow looking down at the small Saiyan. “Are you serious? Dont get me wrong your great at conquering planets entirely, but… what happens if you dont.” Calamatta looks away from Nappa and her tail deflates to the floor. “I...Dont know..” She answers. At the end of the day, Saiyan or not shes terrified of what could happen, the last thing she wants is to have everything come crashing down all because of her.

Nappa stood up straight and pat her on the shoulder and startled her straight out of her stupor, grinning. “hey now! Where's that pride you had in you earlier!? Dont you get down on yourself now that your life's on the line!" She gawped at him and shook her head. "What do you-" "What i mean is when you start facing something dire, you gotta pull your head out of your ass and charge forward!!" He bellows to her, Raditz shuffled over to her and pat her shoulder. Both of them looking down upon her. "Listen to Nappa. Hes got experience on all of us.. and you're a killer. Youll realize that when you get to To-Rot."

Calamatta nodded and smiled hopefully for the first time in a while. Actual hope. Actual excitement! "Thank you Nappa." "AHEM" Calamatta rolled her eyes and punched Raditz in the arm. "Yea yea thank you too Raditz…" she turned and went into her room, holding her suit up she twitched and groaned. "Your fucking with me…" her tail deflated to thw floor.

She put the suit on and goddamn did she think of herself as some kind of joke, she knows she's shapely but this is egregious. A form fitting blue bodysuit bikini type briefs and short sleeves to her elbow, the new armor covered her chest in a more shapely manner than the men. She rolled her eyes shamelessly, checked herself out in the mirror and pulled up her boots and jumped upon hearing hard pounding on the door. "Calamatta? You decent?"

It was Vegeta

"I mean yea." The door slid open and he was focused on the holopad in his hand to notice what she looked like "dinner is ready. Get out of your room and ……." He had to do a double take and it kinda made her sneer "its the… new suit Lord Frieza wants me to wear." He made a disgusted face and turned his head "W-whatever just come out so we can eat and you can turn in…" he turned fully and the prince blushed a tiny bit.

Calamatta followed side by side with him and he kept with all his might to keep his eyes forward. "A-are you serious.. they made you wear th-" "yeap.. trust me it's uncomfortable to walk around in." she kept her eyes forward heading to the table with Nappa and Raditz who both simultaneously dropped their food. "Nice costume change! You can see those killer legs!" Nappa barked, bringing alittle attention to the small Saiyan and making her face red as hell. "Nappa, i'm pretty sure she wants to be wall paper at this point." Raditz kicked his shin and pushed a plate over to her. "Eat up, Cala.." she groaned.

They spent their time sitting together all eating except Cala who earned some hoots and hollers. A degrading damn get up for a saiyan who wants to be seen for more then yarm candy to the fucking emperor.. her respect for him has dindled to 0 but she has to cater to him till the 20 hours are up.. she dejectedly pushes the rest of her food away "i cant eat anymore." She sat up and realized theres a chair flush against her back "no your gonna eat.." Raditz protests as he nudges her shoulder.. a big brother figure to the little saiyan.. she felt more comfortable near him, no matter how big a jackass he is. "No damn saiyan is going hungry because of whay they have to wear." He glares at her, and smirks.

Vegeta looks at her and leans back. "We will walk back with you to ensure you dont get any seedy looks." "Dontcha think thats pathetic" she said between bites. "Nonsense.. as the last woman of our kind you deserve alittle respect." Raditz protested, earning a curt nod from both Nappa and Vegeta.

Her mini family is small, its made up of men. But it's all she's got and she's got a hefty amount of respect for them all.

The four walked in tandem with one another Raditz and Calamatta leading the way and Nappa and Vegeta following.

"So does being a daughter of a general give you a leg up?" Raditz asked, tucking his hands behind his head, Calamatta walked with her hands folded in front of her, peering over at the tall long haired Saiyan. “I mean. Not entirely, same sort of treatment as everyone else here actually! Im just something pretty to gawk at while Lord Frieza does what he needs to.” Vegeta pipes up keeping his voice dead flat as he makes his point known. “If any race sees Frieza with a Saiyan at his side they’ll perceive him as a threat. Why do you think he has her within arms reach.. A warrior race reduced to a pet and something to look at is insulting but i cant necessarily blame her for not going after him.” He flippantly rolls his eyes. “I suppose your right… Calamatta is basically the next best thing to Vegeta.” “Hey now i'm not that great… i only went out once with yall.” She nudges Raditz and rolls her eyes.

The 4 were stopped in their tracks when Zarbon cut a corner and met with them, promptly making the tension between the four starkly apparent. “So apes travel in packs now? Hmhm.. Calamatta. Come. I wish to speak with you please.” The tall reptilian walked in the opposite direction of the saiyans, shoulder checking the Saiyan prince causing the vein in his forehead become more prominent, he crossed his arms and scoffed, raising his chin and moving forward. “Well go follow the vain bastard…” Vegeta growls and marches away. Calamatta turned on her heels and ran to catch up to him.

Zarbon had his hands behind his back beneath his cape, he chuckled upon seeing the short saiyan besides him. “Took you long enough, Calamatta.” “What is it you wanted to speak with me about Zarbon?” He ushers her into a room overlooking a massive planet, ripe with lush greenery and red deserts. “Thats the planet you and Vegeta are set to conquer. It has a high population density of 4 billion. What that document that Vegetas been analyzing doesnt mention the fact that the planet experiences a full moon every other day. The inhabitants will attack on sight… i should know weve sent 15 other squads before you and Vegeta.” Calamatta gawked at the planet then up to Zarbon. “Why are we just being sent then?” “I asked the same to Lord Frieza… He said he sees the prince of nothing as an excellent protege and this will prove Frieza right if one or the both of you return in one whole piece.” Calamatta looked over the two multi colored belts in the distance.. One bright white and the other red, absolutely magnificent and terrifying in retrospect. The magnitude of this entire planet was bigger then shes ever seen before.

While she was busy being thunderstruck she was caught off guard by a weighted cloth on her shoulder. Becoming strapped to her one shoulder followed by Zarbon cooing. “Its a shame Dodoria doesn't really like your acquaintance. You'd be beautiful as a General.” It caught her off guard as he adjusted it perfectly to her armor, the end of his long velvety cape dragged haphazardly on the floor.

“Dodoria… i never understood why he never liked me...what about you Zarbon? You have been so kind to me for years and you really don't have to be.” The green haired general tilted his head and sighed as he took two hair bands from his wrist and walked behind Calamatta and started to pull her hair back. “You're just a kid. You'll never understand the position Dodoria is in. He wants to be the general in the spotlight instead of you.”

Calamatta remained silent and allowed him to pull her hair into two large buns on her head, he pulled any fly aways out and reviewed her facial features in the reflective window. “I honestly could give a damn one way or another but on account of why I like you is purely because you're not like the rest of your ape-ish race.. You're pretty, you have a defined face and you have a way of carrying yourself with grace and poise… the amount of times i have heard other alien councils talk about how attractive you are adds to Lord Frieza's intimidation factor..A beautiful little warrior on his arm is a display of power... So yes he prefers you much more highly then the likes of Dodoria.” He pats her shoulders and she looks back at herself. She never puts her hair up so this is something new.

Two large pretty black buns on her head, loose fly aways of her hair make her look effortless, she could actually see her gold piercings on her ears. “You have plenty of hair so i couldnt put it all in one hair tie…” The hatch door to the side slid open, the two of them turn to see Lord Frieza seated in his chair, a small smile grew on his face as he saw Calamatta all dolled up.

“Well WELL my little monkey is playing dress up! OHohohohooo stunning.” Calamatta goes to disrobe the cape and is promptly stopped by Zarbon. “Keep it Calamatta. It suits you. Farewell.” He turns on his heel and saunters out of the room leaving her and the Emperor in this room. She bows respectfully to him, when she raises back up Frieza is out of his chair, tail fluttering around with his arms behind his back.

Calamatta gulped while Frieza analyzed her up close; both her and the emperor are easily the same height but the Saiyan knew her place to him. Behave and dont die. “I want you to take a good look at that planet right there. Realize that you and Vegeta are my star pupil...and that being the star pupil means that one of you two simians is the best!” He preens and moves the cape to see her hands held at her front, he smirks devilishly and tilts his head.

“That suit looks very nice on you, powerful shapely little legs for a warrior..” He raises his hand and makes a fist to emphasize the word power. Calamatta remains quiet and blushes alittle bit. “Thank you, Lord Frieza.. What exactly do you mean by the best..? I only helped out with one planet!” She stated only to be met with the steely flat stare of Frieza.

“What im saying is that i expect you to listen to what i say, woman…” She nodded obediently and her tail droops abit. “Yes Lord Frieza sorry..-” She was cut off almost instantly “Hush now Calamatta if you know whats good for you.” He states making little calamatta bite on her lips.

“Good.. Both of you are excellent but just so you know so you dont get a big head about it… Vegeta is the better of the two of you.. By lightyears infact.. I suspect that Zarbon told you that I plan on making Vegeta my protégé, I dont expect you to be any better than what you already are, your prince would possibly say the same of you… your untrained and unskilled in anything and i'm surprised you even came back alive and without a scratch, girl. The three other apes were to see you as useless and not want you anymore… not want you apart of their damned group.”

Calamatta looked upon Frieza disheartened, her stomach dropped to her feet and she felt like nothing, like her purpose was to be nothing more then a pretty face and nothing more, living a hollow existence. SHe felt ultimately like nothing. She twiddled her thumbs infront of her and drooped her head abit.

“Oh now now Calamatta.. No need to look so sad.. I'm just speaking the truth to you, child… Here i know a way of earning your trust. Give me your tail.” Her head shot up and she gulped. “My-my tail?” She shivered and let her long pretty fully groomed tail come from behind her back and with trepidation she handed her most sensitive-untrained limb- to Frieza.

"You stupid little runt…" The Emperor smirked and narrowed his eyes closing his fist tightly around the tail sending Calamatta to the floor with a pained cry and a beg. “L-Let it go please! Frieza please!!” SHe begged him feeling this hot pain rocket up her back as she looked at the emperors feet through pained tears.

Her head raised to be met with the end of Frieza’s pointer finger inches from her nose. "The prodigal prince is no where to be seen to protect you now.. oh woe is you.." The very one that death beams people without care. She panted heavily, started to sweat and tear up “W-Why I dont understa-”

Frieza’s voice became dark and grave, she feared Frieza but this was a side of him she had never seen first hand and to be directed at her. “Your life though as entertaining as it is.. Is forfeit to me. You only serve your worth as useful until I become bored of you and when I do you will die by my hand. You will come to realize that on To-Rot your life is just as forfeit to Vegeta as it is to me… Vegeta works alone, I know him better than anyone here, Calamatta. You will discover that when your need is used up and you're on the ground begging for help… he will gladly leave you to die… tragic isn't it…? To be worthless to everyone including your own races Prince…”

He furrowed his brow and stared her sadistically in her face and chuckled upon seeing a single tear. “I dont expect you to return after your little trip… should you return you can go with your little mates so they can ravage you.” He growled and released her tail making her tail disappear under the cape, she gasps and scrambles to her feet. “You are excused, Calamatta. Sleep well!” He turned on his lizard-like feet and left to his hoverpod. Leaving Calamatta frightened, depressed… and worthless.

She just wanted to go to bed. She just wanted to stop caring. She just wanted to feel like a Saiyan.

The day had drawn to a close and the 4 waved eachother off to wish each other a good night, Vegeta said nothing and returned to his room. The small saiyan lay down in her bed and fell asleep very quickly, a deep peaceful and relaxing sleep to ease her tense and tight muscles and weary emotional state.

5 hours later Vegeta opened her room door and walked right in like he belonged there. the prince being deep in thought and not really in any mood to fully wake Calamatta up. He sat at the end of her bed and looked through acouple files. That being the inhabitants of To-Rot.

An insatiably hungry and carnivorous race that wiped the original inhabitants of the planet by the guise of an infection which then grew into hunger then a form or zombified state where food is the only primary objective, while still maintaining full sentience they scour the planet for new victims to eat or to find other like minded groups and repopulate. Vegeta sneered and twitched at the sight.. both he and Calamatta wont be the first of the Frieza Force to go there, and meet an untimely demise. "Dammit.." he grunts and the female saiyan begins to stir sitting up in bed to see the spikey haired prince hunched over with his chin in his hand at the foot of rhe bed.

"Hm…? Vegeta.. what gives?" She yawned and gently kicked the princes back with her bare feet. "Read this.. brush up on what were going to face.. its not going to be easy. Especially with me doing all the heavy lifting." He growls and hands her the holo pad. "Hey.. i'm just as capable as you dont give me that crap when i just wake up, Vegeta..." "im not 'giving you crap' i'm being realistic and percautionary. The planet before hand wasn't that hard. This ones lethal and were not the firsts to go here" she pulls her tail under the covers of her blanket and rubs her eyes. Still very in a daze of sleep. "If you are tryna scare me im not scared. Well be fine and well do this planet and ill be with the 3 of yall." She reads over the holopad.

Feeling a sense of dread and nervousness bubble up in her stomach. "Dont pass that arrogance around so easily… its not just YOUR neck on the line here its mine. And i'm not willing to die because you end up being cocky." "Can you lighten up? Your the one that came into my room and looked pretty comfy at the end of my bed." She retorts to the prince who looks mighty taken aback by the implication hes looking comfy around her.

"Gah! Quit with your nonsensical babbling and take this seriously! Ugh.. just read that over.. ill be in my room. Ill see you in 5 hours, i need my sleep too." He goes to the door. "Vegeta, you haven't slept yet?" He stops before the button, confused as to what's with the change in tone, he turns his head and looks at her through his bangs that still hung in his face. "Please.. sleep for like.. a little longer than that. Ok? I need you as much as you need me" she asked and smiled softly, pressing her hand to her chest.

Vegeta scoffed and blushed from nose to the tips of his ears "worry about yourself, woman… go to sleep" the begrudging prince leaves and Cala smirks. Laying back and looking at the ceiling and sighing a tear ran down her cheek and she grit her teeth hard.

“Atleast he pretends to give a damn…” Calamatta sighed wearily. CUrling in on herself and letting herself fall back into her slumber.

¤ ¤ ¤

Tags: @memevember @dragonblobz @gonuclear @msgreenverse @fallen--lilith @jimbobslurpnchug @dragonballzforlife @nikabriefs @lilhemmo @lizardhipsdontlie @hierophantblue @supremeleadershitlord @thotful-writing @chickiedinner @anti-jaina @dragonball-hcs-or-sum-shit

#A Planet To Conquer Fic #Vegeta #Frieza #Calamatta~#Nappa #Raditz #intimidation tw #threats tw #depression tw #this part made me question my sanity #dbz fanfiction

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fangzeronos · 5 years

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Young Justice Outsiders finale

Ok, guys. Here’s the finale wrap up for Young Justice Outsiders! Massive spoilers under the cut, so read at your own risk.

Episode 24: Into the Breach

Ok, so this picks up just before M’gann’s teams infiltrate the Orphanage from Ep 23 Terminus. The Outsiders, minus Static (who’s been with Black Lightning), and Geo-Force, who was with M’gann’s team, infiltrate Building 16, a props department with no surveillance. Vic’s powers come in hand to get rid of the illusion and find the Apokoliptan tech, leading Granny to show up after putting the Outsiders in the X-Pit’s Ghost Dimension.

Gar and Granny fight, and since when can Gar turn into a Ma’ale’fak? We haven’t seen one of those since M’comm tried to fight M’gann back early on in the season. I know he can turn into things from other planets, like that weird bird thing from Rann, but this was new. I really enjoyed the fight, even yelling “GAR GET YOUR ASS UP!” several times.

Vic, while all this was going on and they were being tortured, worked his technomagic on Overlord and kicked it’s ass, breaking Granny’s hold on the Ghost Dimension and causing them to win the fight. After he and Beetle destroyed the tech he’d found earlier, he boom tubed to the Orphanage and found Violet and Granny, whose two selves (Granny Goodness and her “avatar” Gretchen Goode) fused back together. He blasted the control goggles off of Halo’s head, and y’all this is where it got good!

MY GIRL WENT SUPER SAIYAN! All of her auras, lookin’ like motherfucking Rainbow Brite before laying a hurt on Granny’s candy ass. She cleansed the Anti-Life Equation, freeing her friends before she, Vic, Superman, and Captain Atom blew up the device on the Orphanage. The reunion with Brion was sweet and I’m glad they’re together again, even though I know something bad is about to happen later on.

Connor and M’gann, however, aren’t so kosher. He’s still dealing with her hiding the Anti-Light from him, and who knows how they’re going to end up. I know a lot of people hate SuperMartian as a ship, but we already lost Spitfire and BluePulse isn’t going to happen, so can we please leave at least one ship intact?

Vic officially joined the Outsiders too! Cyborg is now officially born!

Episode 25: Overwhelmed

Ho, boy. Let’s start with the easy and get to the emotional stuff, because that’s where the meat of the episode is.

Connor and Forager go to Geranium City, a city created and inhabited by Genomorphs, the same ones that were under Cadmus’ control back in the early days. Forager’s trying to find his place on Earth since Mantis was arrested at the end of the last episode for helping Granny Goodness, and he’s torn between returning to his home world or staying on Earth. He and Connor have work to do regarding both of them coming to the light, so to speak.

Metron returned long enough to basically kidnap Vic and Violet, and unfortunately little Lian since she was in Violet’s arms at the time. Turns out, since they’re both “children” of MotherBox and FatherBox technology, they’re technically Metron’s grandchildren, which is something I never thought I’d hear. He warns them that they may be the key to stopping Darkseid’s plans if they don’t die in the process.

Gregor Markov is back. He’s with Brion and Tara in Beverly Hills, meeting his siblings in secret. The first time all of them have been together in years. Tara, however, has other plans and tells Deathstroke Gregor’s out of the country, allowing them to put their plan into action in Markovia, allowing their uncle, Baron Bedlam, to stage a coup and take over the country. It’s going to be interesting to see how they pull this off.

And now the emotional stuff. Artemis. After coming home and seeing Will had made dinner and set up candles and shit, the two talk before kissing. She breaks the kiss and apologizes, running off to her room and grabbing the picture of her and Wally and apologizing to it. She called Zatanna and meets with her, M’gann, and Rocket under the willow tree they met Dr. Fate under early on in the season. Zatanna casts some magic (or so we think) and Artemis goes into Limbo, seeing Wally.

She’s only got until sunrise, so she imagines their house, they’re engaged, she’s pregnant, and then ends up with a nameless baby. She knows it’s fake, because the tv in the mindscape has Zatanna saying she’s going to cast a spell to “raise the sun”, and then it turns to an episode of “Hello, Megan!” which should have been a clue as to what the hell was going on.

Wally tells her its time to wake up, step through the door and find someone to love again, saying she deserved a chance. “I already had my chance” fucking hurt. She walks through the door (all that’s left of the house after everything faded from around them) and comes back under the willow, and she walks off with the girls.

Rocket questions what happened, and Zatanna admits she cast a spell, but it was all M’gann’s doing. She created a mindscape in Artemis’ head that let her get the closure she needed to be able to move on after two years. The day Artemis finds out that her best friends did that to her, I can very easily see it blowing up in M’gann and Zatanna’s faces and Artemis either threatening her friends or just outright cutting them out of her life.

Violet got home with Lian who was sound asleep, and she tells Will it was “an average night” before going to lay Lian down. Artemis arrived a minute later, her and Will talking about the kiss and what happened, but they both agree it was wrong and felt wrong the moment it happened. They’re still in-laws, after all.

Side note: Can you please bring Wally back already? The Goode Goggles hallucination for Garfield in ep 12, Dick’s fever dream in ep 23, and now a fake limbo by M’gann in ep 25, I am tired of being teased about my boy. Bring him back or stop fucking with our emotions, you bastards. Seriously!

Episode 26: Nevermore

Other than sharing its name with my favorite Teen Titans episode, let’s dive into the big finish!

Three teams lead the charge into Markovia to deal with Baron Bedlam. Tara, Garfield, Victor, and Brion are one squad, M’gann leading El Dorado, Blue Beetle, Traci 13, Static, Wonder Girl, and a couple of others are a second, and Connor, Artemis, Dick, Forager, and Violet are the last. Connor’s squad faces off with Bedlam who takes off running, Count Vertigo coming in to keep the squad down.

Bedlam runs right into Gar’s team, and he’s confronted by his niece and nephew. Brion knocks him out of the window after Bedlam backhands Tara, and the two fight in the courtyard where it gets publicly broadcast. The fight goes either way, but Brion finally manages to get the upper hand on his uncle. Despite everyone telling him not to, Brion executes his uncle on international television! We find out later it’s the Ambassador using a low-level psychic ability to influence Brion’s actions, but the damage is done. Brion is now king of Markovia, estranged from his sister and broken up with Violet who is horrified at his actions. We see later the Ambassador is now a member of the Light, controlling Brion for a puppet government, along with Dr. Jace back in the picture looking happy to have her “Son” back. I honestly fear that Brion is going to be a season 4 antagonist.

I’m so glad to see that Tara’s not going to end up betraying everyone to Deathstroke and we’re not getting Judas Contract again. IT’s about time to do something new with her character, and where she is now is a good place to give her a new direction.

Nice to see Luthor getting what he deserves. Connor outing himself as a clone created by Luthor was a nice touch, and it’s good that Troia might be getting the big chair.

I’m glad SuperMartian is going to stay together. At least two of my ships continue to sail. I was so worried they were going to split for good at the end of Ep 24, and I’m happy to see them going to last.

Dick outing everything they did to the Team and the League was a nice way to end it. Everyone coming back together, and Black Lightning getting the League chair was great. Dude has had a shit run the entire season and it’s good to see him get a win.

A FUCKING LEGION OF SUPERHEROES RING IN THE END SHOT?! WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!? Are we getting the Legion in season 4?! That would be so crash!! We almost got Slobo! And Lobo showing up and squashing his clone made from his severed finger was goddamn hilarious.

Overall, this was a great season. There were some slow parts, a few things that could have been expanded on and shortened, but all in all I loved it from the word go. I’m glad we got to see a handful of “one-off” characters in Spoiler, Arrowette, and Orphan, and I hope to see them get more screentime in Season 4. Loved all the new characters, Cyborg was great, Halo was my all time favorite, loved Forager, and up until the end of Ep 26, I enjoyed Brion.

Hats off the all of the voice actors this season, man. Stephanie Lemlin did so good as Artemis still struggling with Wally’s disappearance, and every time she talks about him, you feel the weight and emotion behind each word. Zehra Fazal, if you guys follow my twitter, you know how I feel about this woman. She voiced like a dozen characters, and she did such a damn good job in each scene she was in, and you felt the weight she was carrying trying to discover who and what she was. Zeno Robinson had some big shoes to fill as Cyborg, but MY GOD did the due kill it! From either of the spectrum, Zeno quickly rose up in the ranks of my favorite VA’s.

I’m sad to see the season end, but let’s look forward to Season 4!!

#Young Justice Outsiders #Young Justice Outsiders Spoilers

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ginnyzero · 4 years

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An Unlikable Protagonist Case Study: Vegeta

Okay, okay, there are going to be people who disagree with me that Vegeta is a protagonist. Surely, he’s an anti-hero or something similar. And we can debate over Vegeta’s place in the Dragon Ball Z, Super and let’s everybody forget GT exists universe. What we can’t argue is that from his introduction in Dragon Ball Z to the end of the Z series and now into Super, Vegeta has become a major character outstripping all of the characters originally introduced in Dragon Ball including his own wife, Bulma. A character with perhaps the most well rounded character arc in Z.

That in my mind makes him a protagonist. And while we’re supposed to like protagonists, not all protagonists have traits that are at first glance likeable. But it is possible to take a person with negative character traits and have the audience like them, even if in Vegeta’s case at first it was for his sheer badassery. “Hello Cui, Good Bye, Cui.” So how did this happen?

Well, they gave Vegeta a character journey while still keeping his essential stubborn, proud, arrogant, cold character traits.

Vegeta was originally written as an antagonist. His goal was to come to Earth, collect the dragon balls and then wish for immortality. And the way he was presented, filler or not, showed him to be a ruthless and evil person. (How ruthless and evil depends on if you feel Arlia is canon.) He declared cold heartedly that he wasn’t going to bring Radditz back from the dead, even though Nappa said that he would do so if he had a wish to use, despite the fact that Radditz had told the others that the saiyan race was mostly dead.

Vegeta wanted immortality. And at this point in the series, we didn’t know why. But those who wanted immortality were generally not considered good guys. So, given the way the confrontation with Radditz ended, the Dragon Warriors weren’t expecting Vegeta and Nappa to ask and say please. They prepared for a fight because they believed that Vegeta would destroy their planet on his quest to get the Dragon Balls.

Granted. They weren’t wrong. Even more so if you feel that Arlia is canon.

It’s clear from the beginning that we aren’t supposed to like this guy. He’s pretty selfish, arrogant and extremely cold. And the fights that follow when he and Nappa come to Earth solidify this as Vegeta pretty much demands the dragon balls, let’s Nappa and the saibamen run roughshod over the dragon warriors killing many of them.

So when Goku arrives and proceeds to break Nappa’s back and tells Vegeta to leave, Vegeta killing Nappa is supposed to solidify in our minds that Vegeta’s an evil bastard. It takes a combination of Goku, Krillin and Gohan and a timely slice from Yajirobe to defeat Vegeta.

Then Goku asks Krillin to let Vegeta leave. Now, depending on when AT was asked about this, Goku’s motivations are twofold. Originally, it was “there but by the grace of Kami, go I.” and then later it became “This guy is so strong! I want to fight him again!” I’ll leave you to decide which is in more character for Goku. (Given the Frieza Saga, I lean towards number 2 myself.)

Vegeta pretty much goes vowing to return and kill Goku.

The plot intervenes as Vegeta had found out that after Nappa killing Piccolo, the Earth Dragon Balls were dead, but Piccolo wasn’t a demon, he was an alien from Namek and now, there might be Dragon Balls on Namek and Vegeta’s owner, Lord Frieza, has gone to Namek to collect them for himself.

So, Vegeta (and some of the Dragon Warriors) goes to Namek with the intent of collecting those Dragon Balls to again wish for immortality. But, we now know that Vegeta is in rebellion against Frieza. For a good portion of this part of the story, Vegeta remains on his own side. He ruthlessly kills the supporting soldiers of Frieza and even kills several villages of Nameks himself when they won’t give him the dragon balls.

He remains arrogant, cold and pretty much insufferable. His emotional armor very rarely cracks. It doesn’t even crack when Dodoria reveals to him that Frieza killed his planet. But, at this point, we know enough about Frieza that the viewer might start feeling a bit more sympathetic towards Vegeta. (And to be honest, he hasn’t been coming off as completely rational since the fight against Goku.)

It takes the arrival of the Ginyu Force, a squad of soldiers much more powerful than all of them for Vegeta to decide that maybe the enemies of my enemies are my friends and join forces with the Dragon Warriors. (And hey, that blue haired chick is pretty hot.) Even with the three warriors working together (though Gohan is like five and can be forgiven here), the Ginyu Force has them outclassed and almost kills them before Goku shows up.

Goku tries to be merciful to them.

Vegeta kills them after Goku breaks their backs. Then scolds Goku about how the one had almost killed Gohan, Goku’s son, just moments ago. In the dragon warrior’s eyes, this makes Vegeta evil! Vegeta is pointing out that mercy is just going to get them killed again. And if they don’t have the spine to kill Recoome and Burter, he will.

Then Captain Ginyu changes bodies with Goku and Vegeta has to go out of his way to get Goku his body back (putting Ginyu into a frog) and while Goku is recovering, they manage to collect most of the dragon balls before Frieza and after wrangling a promise out of Gohan and Krillin not to do anything until he wakes up, Vegeta decides to take a well-deserved nap.

And Krillin and Gohan gather the rest of the dragon balls and make their wishes anyways reviving Piccolo and bringing him to Namek. Thus, betraying Vegeta. (Vegeta puts his trust in someone that claims they’re good people and they betray him. I’d be pissed too.)

Of course, Frieza doesn’t take this well and it throws them into a fight against Frieza that without immortality, despite Vegeta’s significant power boosts, Vegeta’s not ready for it. And though he manages to get Frieza to transform into another form or two and Frieza confesses to killing Vegeta’s father the King, Vegeta still dies.

And then Goku shows up.

And Vegeta finally breaks. He’s been chasing this dream of turning Super Saiyan and defeating Frieza and avenging the saiyan people, but he’s dying and now Goku is going to have to do it. This is significant. Proud Vegeta finally has a second of humility. So, he dies. Goes to Hell for a few minutes. Is brought back to life by the dragon balls, sees that Goku has succeeded in turning into a Super Saiyan and is then wished to Earth where he has to suffer the humiliation that Goku managed all of this and manages to kill Frieza when he couldn’t. (And he doesn't know how Goku didn't. To be fair, I don't think Goku knows how he did it given the way he trains Gohan later.)

Vegeta is the harshest critic of himself.

But on the bright side, despite losing his purpose of “kill Frieza,” the pretty blue haired woman invites him to live with her, as long as he doesn’t touch her. What’s interesting to note is that Vegeta doesn’t kill Bulma. He doesn’t destroy Earth. And when the dragon balls are regenerated and able to use, he doesn’t insist on getting a wish for immortality.

The story skips ahead and depending on if you feel filler is canon, Vegeta does or doesn’t steal a space ship and goes looking for Goku for a year after he finds out that Goku survived the destruction of Namek. Nothing of interest really happens until Frieza arrives with his father King Cold and the mysterious teenager from the future warns them about the androids.

And suddenly Vegeta has a purpose again. Sure, he still wants to defeat Goku and now he has more urgency to become a super saiyan and there are stronger enemies on the horizon to pit his strength and abilities against. He demands Bulma create him a gravity machine that can go up to 300Gs and starts obsessively training.

And somehow enters a relationship with her that results in one baby boy.

Once the time is up and the warriors reconvene (3 years being 3 episodes) he’s still portrayed as an arrogant selfish ass who wants nothing to do with his son; toddler or from the future. Insists that he’ll defeat the androids and then Cell, gets over confident and pretty much guarantees the end of Earth and the death of Goku.

But there are glimpses that underneath this that Vegeta is changing. He grudgingly admits that Trunks is stronger than him and is his son. And when Trunks dies at the hands of Cell, he goes ballistic and tries to kill Cell then and there.

As much as Vegeta doesn’t want to he’s changing.

In fact, after the Cell Saga, the next time we see him, he and Bulma have married and they’re settled as a family. Vegeta seems almost content.

Then he betrays them, allowing Majin Wizard Babidi to take control of his mind and switches sides to take on the returned for a day, Goku. He claims to view his affection for his wife and son and his settling on Earth as a weakness. Fortunately, this doesn’t last long and Vegeta throws off the mind control, admits to Trunks that he is proud of his son, actually hugs him and then tries to kill Buu by suicide basically.

Obviously, this doesn’t work. The fact that Vegeta resorted to sacrificing his own life in order to try and save Earth shows how far he’s come from the man who was going to destroy it the first time he came. His self-sacrifice and openly admitting his feelings is where most viewers agree that Vegeta finally redeemed himself.

He returns for his one day to help Goku and the others to defeat Buu by merging with Goku. (An action he despises.) Evil Majin Buu is destroyed and Vegeta is wished back to life.

The next time we see Vegeta in any chronological timeline is Super. (Because we’re pretending GT doesn’t exist remember.) Dying twice, once at the hands of an enemy and once of his own choice, has seemingly given Vegeta some needed perspective. He still hates mostly everyone but his wife and child. (Seeing no difference between the Bulma of his timeline and the Bulma of Future Trunks’ timeline.) But he’s also willing to go to extreme lengths to protect them. (Taking blows and almost dying again in order to protect Future Trunks from Goku Black.) He’s also more intent on finding his own limits while still one upping Goku instead of desiring to kill Goku.

Maybe rivalry is just a healthy mindset among saiyans. (The lack of world building for saiyans is wincingly bad. It’s not until Super that Vegeta casually mentions that Saiyans like strong willed women in an aside to Goku. Mostly, it seems to get a rise out of the listening Piccolo. “That explains everything.”)

Vegeta still insists on figuring things out on his own. Letting Goku go through the ceremony to become Super Saiyan God to fight Beerus, even though Beerus hurt Bulma. (And Vegeta attacked him screaming about “my Bulma” surpassing Goku for a moment.) He then trains to achieve the Super Saiyan Blue state on his own merits. Causing Goko to admit that Vegeta would always be stronger than him because of Vegeta’s persistence in not taking short cuts.

So, by the Tournament of Power, even if you don’t like Vegeta, even after all this time. You can still root for him to succeed in the tournament and to master his limit break in order to meet the Saiyans of Universe 6.

Because Vegeta has clearly changed.

Vegeta started out as an antagonist, one that killed others and planets without a care and revealed little of his mind and true feelings to others, especially those in power over him. He died and because he had nothing left to lose, he shared the pain he’d lived with to Goku. He showed vulnerability. Then, he was granted a second chance. It took time and for a very long time he was very focused on his own goals and agenda of ‘ascend to super saiyan and kill Goku’ due to his stung pride that he remained an arrogant ass, but at least he was willing to be a helpful arrogant ass. (For the most part, I mean, allowing Cell to become perfect was clearly a bad idea all around. In character for Vegeta, still a bad idea.)

Then Goku dies and he has to calibrate his life and he figures out that having a woman and child isn’t a bad thing even if part of him sees it as weak. And he does give into that part of him, and then later rejects that they're weaknesses and he does love them finally truly redeeming himself. From that point forward, Vegeta is more committed to the defense of Earth and his wife and son than chasing his own goals. He even forsakes training to help Bulma during her second pregnancy because she asks him to.

Writing a good unlikable protagonist is writing their journey and putting glimmers of hope that they can become a good person. (Though Vegeta will always be an untamed badass.) The path shouldn’t be smooth and the path needs a clear ending where they are redeemed. They have to show vulnerability. They have to show “weakness” in order for the viewers/readers to believe they’ve truly changed.

And that’s what happened, intentionally or unintentionally with Vegeta’s story arc through Dragon Ball Z and into Super. He may not be a likeable person. He’s still a protagonist (at least in my eyes.)

By now the rivalry between the fans of Goku and Vegeta is probably as big as the rivalry of the two saiyans in the show itself. So, depending on what team you’re on is really going to depend on if you’re rooting for Vegeta or not.

Personally, just give the guy a win already.

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