Is Vegeta extremely popular in Japan?

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Is Vegeta extremely popular in Japan?

Post by ToshioWrites » Wed Jun 20, 2018 10:45 pm

I've seen a lot of stuff on twitter/forums by multiple people that vegeta is only a big deal overseas and is only loved by western fans. is this true?
How big is he in japan?

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Re: Is Vegeta extremely popular in Japan?

Post by sintzu » Thu Jun 21, 2018 1:48 am

He's popular enough to be the story's 2nd main character.
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Re: Is Vegeta extremely popular in Japan?

Post by Shaddy » Thu Jun 21, 2018 1:57 am

Vegeta is constantly pushed in marketing and writing, has the longest consistent active character progression in the series and is constantly doing cool shit. None of that would happen if he were only popular overseas. Besides the whole "old CEOs in Japan can be xenophobic" thing, it doesn't even make sense to constantly cater to a demographic that is neither where the series is from nor the biggest moneymaker they have for 2 decades.

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Re: Is Vegeta extremely popular in Japan?

Post by Michsi » Thu Jun 21, 2018 4:46 am

Definitely super popular, though I don't know how much of his current popularity he owes to the rival status he has been given, which is a huge deal in modern shonen. He didn't have that during the series, and wasn't second place during DB's original run based on popularity polls.

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Re: Is Vegeta extremely popular in Japan?

Post by Baggie_Saiyan » Thu Jun 21, 2018 11:18 am

Shaddy wrote:Vegeta is constantly pushed in marketing and writing, has the longest consistent active character progression in the series and is constantly doing cool shit. None of that would happen if he were only popular overseas. Besides the whole "old CEOs in Japan can be xenophobic" thing, it doesn't even make sense to constantly cater to a demographic that is neither where the series is from nor the biggest moneymaker they have for 2 decades.
Vegeta's actually not pushed that much in marketing, at least not this past year. He had a new form in the show and everything but they did nothing with it. Goku completely owns DB merchandise, and now that UI has proven extremely popular along with the already ridiculously popular SSGSS they're all set now for the foreseeable future, I think they're just gonna quadruple down on Goku now.

It is bizarre. Vegeta had a big role in DBS but if you just followed the marketing and merchandising there is no way one will ever know that.
Michsi wrote:Definitely super popular, though I don't know how much of his current popularity he owes to the rival status he has been given, which is a huge deal in modern shonen. He didn't have that during the series, and wasn't second place during DB's original run based on popularity polls.
You maybe on to something actually. Vegeta is hardly marketed on his own always with Goku. See the new movie as an example first KV was just Goku however every Vegeta desgin we've gotten he's also accompanyed with Goku...

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Re: Is Vegeta extremely popular in Japan?

Post by Michsi » Thu Jun 21, 2018 12:33 pm

Baggie_Saiyan wrote:
Michsi wrote:Definitely super popular, though I don't know how much of his current popularity he owes to the rival status he has been given, which is a huge deal in modern shonen. He didn't have that during the series, and wasn't second place during DB's original run based on popularity polls.
You maybe on to something actually. Vegeta is hardly marketed on his own always with Goku. See the new movie as an example first KV was just Goku however every Vegeta desgin we've gotten he's also accompanyed with Goku...
I've been saying this for a long time, Vegeta's current relevance seems to be a byproduct of the moden shonen mentality : every story needs a rivalry, the more blue vs. red codded, the better. It's been proven to be an effective trope. What's ironic is that even though Vegeta has been viewed as Goku's rival long before Super started, there is little in the original story to suggest he was ever meant to be seen as that. Now don't get me wrong, he has always been a popular character, but I'd say he nabbed the second spot in the 2004 poll because Future Trunks didn't stick around after the Cell arc and Gohan lost a lot of his appeal in the Buu arc (both of these characters surpassed Vegeta in the 1993 poll.)

Naruto, Bleach, Haikyuu, KnB, MHA, all of these have incorporated the rivalry plotline in some form or another, and Naruto is the best example for that as Kishimoto's original draft didn't even have Sasuke and he came up with him because his editors told him to include a rival for Naruto. Naruto's design was based on Goku's , so he then gave Sasuke's Vegeta's colors.
So yes, it's a marketing strategy.

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Re: Is Vegeta extremely popular in Japan?

Post by Baggie_Saiyan » Thu Jun 21, 2018 1:15 pm

Michsi wrote:
Baggie_Saiyan wrote:
Michsi wrote:Definitely super popular, though I don't know how much of his current popularity he owes to the rival status he has been given, which is a huge deal in modern shonen. He didn't have that during the series, and wasn't second place during DB's original run based on popularity polls.
You maybe on to something actually. Vegeta is hardly marketed on his own always with Goku. See the new movie as an example first KV was just Goku however every Vegeta desgin we've gotten he's also accompanyed with Goku...
I've been saying this for a long time, Vegeta's current relevance seems to be a byproduct of the moden shonen mentality : every story needs a rivalry, the more blue vs. red codded, the better. It's been proven to be an effective trope. What's ironic is that even though Vegeta has been viewed as Goku's rival long before Super started, there is little in the original story to suggest he was ever meant to be seen as that. Now don't get me wrong, he has always been a popular character, but I'd say he nabbed the second spot in the 2004 poll because Future Trunks didn't stick around after the Cell arc and Gohan lost a lot of his appeal in the Buu arc (both of these characters surpassed Vegeta in the 1993 poll.)

Naruto, Bleach, Haikyuu, KnB, MHA, all of these have incorporated the rivalry plotline in some form or another, and Naruto is the best example for that as Kishimoto's original draft didn't even have Sasuke and he came up with him because his editors told him to include a rival for Naruto. Naruto's design was based on Goku's , so he then gave Sasuke's Vegeta's colors.
So yes, it's a marketing strategy.
Since 2013 this I think was the only time Vegeta was ever marketed on his own & had his own release:
[spoiler]Image[/spoiler]
All other times he's either with Goku or after Goku. That's actually kinda crazy.

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Re: Is Vegeta extremely popular in Japan?

Post by Michsi » Thu Jun 21, 2018 4:17 pm

Baggie_Saiyan wrote:
Michsi wrote:
Baggie_Saiyan wrote:
You maybe on to something actually. Vegeta is hardly marketed on his own always with Goku. See the new movie as an example first KV was just Goku however every Vegeta desgin we've gotten he's also accompanyed with Goku...
I've been saying this for a long time, Vegeta's current relevance seems to be a byproduct of the moden shonen mentality : every story needs a rivalry, the more blue vs. red codded, the better. It's been proven to be an effective trope. What's ironic is that even though Vegeta has been viewed as Goku's rival long before Super started, there is little in the original story to suggest he was ever meant to be seen as that. Now don't get me wrong, he has always been a popular character, but I'd say he nabbed the second spot in the 2004 poll because Future Trunks didn't stick around after the Cell arc and Gohan lost a lot of his appeal in the Buu arc (both of these characters surpassed Vegeta in the 1993 poll.)

Naruto, Bleach, Haikyuu, KnB, MHA, all of these have incorporated the rivalry plotline in some form or another, and Naruto is the best example for that as Kishimoto's original draft didn't even have Sasuke and he came up with him because his editors told him to include a rival for Naruto. Naruto's design was based on Goku's , so he then gave Sasuke's Vegeta's colors.
So yes, it's a marketing strategy.
Since 2013 this I think was the only time Vegeta was ever marketed on his own & had his own release:
[spoiler]Image[/spoiler]
All other times he's either with Goku or after Goku. That's actually kinda crazy.

Huh. Since I don't follow merch releases I'm gonna take your word for it, but somehow I always assumed Vegeta had his own thing going on, toy-wise.

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Re: Is Vegeta extremely popular in Japan?

Post by Baggie_Saiyan » Thu Jun 21, 2018 4:33 pm

Michsi wrote:
Baggie_Saiyan wrote:
Michsi wrote:
I've been saying this for a long time, Vegeta's current relevance seems to be a byproduct of the moden shonen mentality : every story needs a rivalry, the more blue vs. red codded, the better. It's been proven to be an effective trope. What's ironic is that even though Vegeta has been viewed as Goku's rival long before Super started, there is little in the original story to suggest he was ever meant to be seen as that. Now don't get me wrong, he has always been a popular character, but I'd say he nabbed the second spot in the 2004 poll because Future Trunks didn't stick around after the Cell arc and Gohan lost a lot of his appeal in the Buu arc (both of these characters surpassed Vegeta in the 1993 poll.)

Naruto, Bleach, Haikyuu, KnB, MHA, all of these have incorporated the rivalry plotline in some form or another, and Naruto is the best example for that as Kishimoto's original draft didn't even have Sasuke and he came up with him because his editors told him to include a rival for Naruto. Naruto's design was based on Goku's , so he then gave Sasuke's Vegeta's colors.
So yes, it's a marketing strategy.
Since 2013 this I think was the only time Vegeta was ever marketed on his own & had his own release:
[spoiler]Image[/spoiler]
All other times he's either with Goku or after Goku. That's actually kinda crazy.

Huh. Since I don't follow merch releases I'm gonna take your word for it, but somehow I always assumed Vegeta had his own thing going on, toy-wise.
Nope. Vegeta either has stuff released along side Goku or for new figures lines after Goku has had his released first and opened the line or nothing. Goku even has his own FES line (we're just about to hit the 8th volume this September and next month the FES line is getting a special re-release). Vegeta doesn't have anything remotely like that. And the frustrating thing is Goku still bleeds into other lines all the time, last month Goku had a UI, UI "Omen", SSGSS KK, SS4 and Base and Rosé Black meanwhile Vegeta just had one generic SSGSS figure marketed alongside the UI's (and I think also might have been his first regular figure of 2018 now I think about it!)

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Re: Is Vegeta extremely popular in Japan?

Post by majinwarman » Thu Jun 21, 2018 5:03 pm

Baggie_Saiyan wrote:
Michsi wrote:
Baggie_Saiyan wrote: Since 2013 this I think was the only time Vegeta was ever marketed on his own & had his own release:
[spoiler]Image[/spoiler]
All other times he's either with Goku or after Goku. That's actually kinda crazy.

Huh. Since I don't follow merch releases I'm gonna take your word for it, but somehow I always assumed Vegeta had his own thing going on, toy-wise.
Nope. Vegeta either has stuff released along side Goku or for new figures lines after Goku has had his released first and opened the line or nothing. Goku even has his own FES line (we're just about to hit the 8th volume this September and next month the FES line is getting a special re-release). Vegeta doesn't have anything remotely like that. And the frustrating thing is Goku still bleeds into other lines all the time, last month Goku had a UI, UI "Omen", SSGSS KK, SS4 and Base and Rosé Black meanwhile Vegeta just had one generic SSGSS figure marketed alongside the UI's (and I think also might have been his first regular figure of 2018 now I think about it!)
Marketing is not kind to Vegeta.
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Re: Is Vegeta extremely popular in Japan?

Post by Forte224 » Thu Jun 21, 2018 5:46 pm

Vegetable can't catch a damn break, can he?

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Re: Is Vegeta extremely popular in Japan?

Post by 8000 Saiyan » Thu Jun 21, 2018 5:47 pm

I don't see why he wouldn't be.
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Re: Is Vegeta extremely popular in Japan?

Post by sintzu » Thu Jun 21, 2018 11:00 pm

majinwarman wrote:
Baggie_Saiyan wrote:
Michsi wrote:

Huh. Since I don't follow merch releases I'm gonna take your word for it, but somehow I always assumed Vegeta had his own thing going on, toy-wise.
Nope. Vegeta either has stuff released along side Goku or for new figures lines after Goku has had his released first and opened the line or nothing. Goku even has his own FES line (we're just about to hit the 8th volume this September and next month the FES line is getting a special re-release). Vegeta doesn't have anything remotely like that. And the frustrating thing is Goku still bleeds into other lines all the time, last month Goku had a UI, UI "Omen", SSGSS KK, SS4 and Base and Rosé Black meanwhile Vegeta just had one generic SSGSS figure marketed alongside the UI's (and I think also might have been his first regular figure of 2018 now I think about it!)
Marketing is not kind to Vegeta.
If the marketing is anything to go by then we probably won't even see him in the anime anymore once Toriyama's done.
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Re: Is Vegeta extremely popular in Japan?

Post by Michsi » Fri Jun 22, 2018 1:41 am

sintzu wrote:
majinwarman wrote:
Baggie_Saiyan wrote: Nope. Vegeta either has stuff released along side Goku or for new figures lines after Goku has had his released first and opened the line or nothing. Goku even has his own FES line (we're just about to hit the 8th volume this September and next month the FES line is getting a special re-release). Vegeta doesn't have anything remotely like that. And the frustrating thing is Goku still bleeds into other lines all the time, last month Goku had a UI, UI "Omen", SSGSS KK, SS4 and Base and Rosé Black meanwhile Vegeta just had one generic SSGSS figure marketed alongside the UI's (and I think also might have been his first regular figure of 2018 now I think about it!)
Marketing is not kind to Vegeta.
If the marketing is anything to go by then we probably won't even see him in the anime anymore once Toriyama's done.
Never going to happen; he IS popular. At least he is always featured in posters and promotional material. Unless they're going to come up with another rival-like character, Vegeta's not going anywhere. Look at the movie images.

Though I suppose this merch thing really does show how untouchable Goku is in terms of popularit. Polls are nice and all but only a very small percentage participate in those so it might differ once you look at the larger audience that also includes casual fans. (Yes, casual fans do buy figures, too)

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Re: Is Vegeta extremely popular in Japan?

Post by Baggie_Saiyan » Fri Jun 22, 2018 4:17 am

sintzu wrote:
majinwarman wrote:
Baggie_Saiyan wrote: Nope. Vegeta either has stuff released along side Goku or for new figures lines after Goku has had his released first and opened the line or nothing. Goku even has his own FES line (we're just about to hit the 8th volume this September and next month the FES line is getting a special re-release). Vegeta doesn't have anything remotely like that. And the frustrating thing is Goku still bleeds into other lines all the time, last month Goku had a UI, UI "Omen", SSGSS KK, SS4 and Base and Rosé Black meanwhile Vegeta just had one generic SSGSS figure marketed alongside the UI's (and I think also might have been his first regular figure of 2018 now I think about it!)
Marketing is not kind to Vegeta.
If the marketing is anything to go by then we probably won't even see him in the anime anymore once Toriyama's done.
If marketing is anything to go by Goku will be the only one left in the show. :P But I wouldn't worry about it as long as Goku is there Vegeta will also appear next to him, it's just the marketing dept refuse to get out their comfort Goku zone, I love Goku and it drives me up the wall!
Forte224 wrote:Vegetable can't catch a damn break, can he?

My phone auto suggest vegetable too. I've probably typed "Vegeta" 10,0000 more time then "Vegetables"! I usually just select vegetables and delete the excessive letters lol.

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Re: Is Vegeta extremely popular in Japan?

Post by Forte224 » Fri Jun 22, 2018 9:35 am

Baggie_Saiyan wrote:
Forte224 wrote:Vegetable can't catch a damn break, can he?

My phone auto suggest vegetable too. I've probably typed "Vegeta" 10,0000 more time then "Vegetables"! I usually just select vegetables and delete the excessive letters lol.
I also occasionally get "Begets" instead of "Vegeta". Proves my point further, can't catch a break.

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Re: Is Vegeta extremely popular in Japan?

Post by ABED » Fri Jun 22, 2018 10:08 am

I can't imagine Vegeta wasn't as over in Japan as he was here.
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Re: Is Vegeta extremely popular in Japan?

Post by majinwarman » Fri Jun 22, 2018 3:22 pm

Baggie_Saiyan wrote:
sintzu wrote:
majinwarman wrote: Marketing is not kind to Vegeta.
If the marketing is anything to go by then we probably won't even see him in the anime anymore once Toriyama's done.
If marketing is anything to go by Goku will be the only one left in the show. :P But I wouldn't worry about it as long as Goku is there Vegeta will also appear next to him, it's just the marketing dept refuse to get out their comfort Goku zone, I love Goku and it drives me up the wall!
Forte224 wrote:Vegetable can't catch a damn break, can he?

My phone auto suggest vegetable too. I've probably typed "Vegeta" 10,0000 more time then "Vegetables"! I usually just select vegetables and delete the excessive letters lol.
Goku is easy money. As long as he is around no other character is going to be number one.
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