Vegeta's power throughout Z and Super and his current co-star role

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MaGyunia
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Vegeta's power throughout Z and Super and his current co-star role

Post by MaGyunia » Thu Jan 03, 2019 7:03 am

I'd like to share this with you to get your opinions on the subject.

Vegeta was introduced in DBZ as (what was thought to be, and what he claimed to be) the strongest warrior in the Universe at that point, by far the strongest of the few survivors of a nearly extinguished warrior race (far above Nappa and Raditz). By the end of the Saiya-jin saga, pandora's box is open and it's actually revealed that he's just one the members of said race, a race which was just a branch of a galactic empire ruled by a monster (both in terms of personality and in terms of power). The thing is that it wasn't just Freeza who was far above Vegeta in terms of power; his best soldiers were either in the same league or above him. Up until the point upon which he learned about the Dragon Balls, he was basically stuck knowing perfectly he would have no chance against Freeza, and, unless something extraordinary happened, he would be under his thumb for the rest of his existence, which wasn't quite pleasant for an ultra-proud warrior, who nevertheless has always been realistic and intelligent (he kept this horrible feeling inside him throughout his entire life and, much more than losing his planet, his race or his father, it was having to take Freeza's orders constantly that corrupted him from the inside and made him beg to Goku, who he nevertheless despised, to defeat Freeza in his name, and in the name of the race, seconds before dying).

Upon learning of the Dragon Balls on Earth, he saw that as the perfect chance to get rid of Freeza's rule and take his place as the ruler of the entire Universe. His logic was sound: by gaining immortality, even if he couldn't defeat Freeza right away, he still couldn't be killed by him either, and one day, regardless of how much time it would take, he would eventually become stronger or find a way to kill that bastard. He went to Namek as a one-man army but was forced to forge an alliance with Goku, Gohan, Krillin in order to combat Freeza's forces. It was a series of battles, a war. He thought the legend of the Super Saiya-jin was just that: a legend, a fairy tale, and even if it was true he should be the only one capable of achieving it. One of Vegeta's biggest shocks in the entire series was seeing how Goku, the lower-class warrior who managed to overcome him on Earth (another huge shock and a turning point for him) could in fact be the legendary Super Saiya-jin, that the legend could be true, and, of all people, it was Goku who was that legendary, invincible warrior, or was in the process and close to becoming it.

By the time of the actual fight against Freeza, with so much constant new extremely significant stuff happening around him, Vegeta had developed two major obsessions and I speculate that he was in a not-too-healthy state of mind as a result of the shocks I referred to in the previous paragraph. The first obsession, which went on continously throughout the next arcs, the entirety of DBZ and even throughout DBSuper, quite in fact up to this point, was to overcome Goku. The other obsession was to turn into a Super Saiya-jin. During the fight with Freeza he first speculates that it could be Goku, then he even theorizes that it might be Gohan who was the one who was the closest to becoming one, and at more than one instance he believes he's the one who's closest to achieving it, and in fact, when taking on Freeza one-on-one after the last Zenkai he's absolutely convinced he HAS become a Super Saiya-jin (not knowing it pressuposes a physical transformation, etc.).

Upon - finally - receiving the trigger anyone needs to become a SSJ and transforming into one, the second obsession was gone and he was convinced he had surpassed Goku and taken his place as the strongest warrior there is, when confronting the Androids. He thrashes #19, but is soon overcome by #18, and in fact even dominating #19 completely (Piccolo also speculates he might have indeed overcome Goku) a few episodes later there's a relatively large list of warriors who are either at his level (Goku, Trunks) or above (#16, #17, #18, Cell, Piccolo). After so much work and obsessive training to become a SSJ and surpassing Goku, it was a short-lived satisfaction. Something needed to happen if he was to defeat the Androids and Cell, defeat Goku and surpass the limits of a SSJ, if such a thing was possible (Goku thought exactly the same thing). There you go: training in a special room and achievement of SSJ Dai Ni Dankai, thrashing Cell, claiming he's going to take care of both the Androids and Cell by himself but ultimately failing due to his pride (he could have ended the arc there...). And it wasn't even one of the above-mentioned warriors who actually defeated Cell, it was another one who spent most of the Androids/Cell arc unnoticed, a kid, and besides, Goku's kid: Gohan. And Goku died. He vowed to never fight again but kept training. Another set of huge blows to his pride and ego throughout the arc.

In the Majin Buu arc, despite being (as he always was and never, ever ceased to be) one of the strongest members of the good guys, he was easily outclassed by any of the several versions of Buu and didn't come even close to posing a challenge as the warriors who stepped forward to try to put an end to this unprecedented menace: he's far below SSJ3 Gotenks, SSJ3 Goku, Gohan (potential unlocked - what some refer to as Mystic Gohan) and, of course, leagues below Vegetto, of whom he's part, for that matter. He fought well against the fat version of Buu but had to die to try to put an end to him, only to fail and die in vain. Upon coming back to Earth as a last resource after Gotenks and Gohan failed, as well as SSJ3 Goku not being enough for any version of Super Buu, he was easily and quickly thrashed and outclassed by Super Buu and Kid Buu. So, in fact (and this is reflected in the last two DBZ movies from the ninetines - 12, Janenba, where he's quickly outclassed as well, and especially 13, Hildegarn, where he basically just appears for one or two minutes before collapsing...), it appeared that, while being a key member of the team, below Goku and, at some points, Gohan, his level of power and protagonism appeared to be faining.

Of course, Vegeta is a fan favorite, and I bet his first death at the hands of Freeza was supposed to be final, but he's such an interesting and important character and a fan favorite that they had to find a way to bring him back to life and assume a decisive, critical role again. The same exact thing happened in his second death. I also bet his suicide against Majin Buu was supposed to be final, but again, because of the reasons mentioned, they brought him back, and it wasn't out of place at all. Actually, they managed both revivals quite well.

However... In DBSuper he keeps his Buu-era level of power, but after begging to train under Whis he climbs quite a big mountain and achieves a level of power equal to that of Goku ("skipping" SSJ3 and, in a certain perspective, SSJ God), which is saying quite a lot. It's at this point, or from this point onwards that, in DBSuper, he takes on a prominent, protagonist role again, but more so than ever before in DBZ, which saw a progressive decline with its peak in the Buu arc; "now" (in the arcs of DBSuper) he's in the same league as Goku (he didn't surpass him in a stable manner, but he became equal to him) and his protagonism is almost equal to that of Goku. Of course, Goku almost "needs" to be the one to take care of things, the untouched star, but now we have two stars. Vegeta is the co-star, both in terms of protagonism and in terms of the power that enables him to have said protagonism. I believe the decision to make Vegeta as strong as Goku was a deliberate one, again for the already mentioned reasons. And I believe it's obvious that his appearance alongside Goku in front of the rest of the cast in the first openings for DBSuper (from Freeza's resurrection onwards) isn't a coincidence. It illustrates his co-star role. Of course Goku will always be the main star, the main protagonist, but now, in the arcs of DBSuper and the Broly movie and the future stories and the continuation of the series, we have Vegeta just one small layer below. The co-star. The duo, instead of relying on just one (Goku, or, in a particular period of time after Goku's demise in the Cell Games, Gohan, a deliberate attempt to switch the protagonism from Goku to Gohan, a move which ultimately failed).

As far as his obsession to surpass Goku goes, at first he has absolute confidence he can easily take Goku in battle, which soon proved to be a mistake. Then there was the shock on Namek. Then Goku turned Super Saiya-jin. He even stole a ship to look for him in space. It's just that, an obsession, perhaps unhealthy but something which helped him a lot to continue surpassing his limits through continous, constant intense maniacal training.

So Goku is like: oh, you've finally achieved Super Saiya-jin too? That's cute. Actually we'll need to go to the Hyperbolic Chamber to achieve a SSJ level above that. Oh, you've reached SSJ Dai Ni Dankai and temporarily surpassed me? Cool, I'll go to the same place and train there and I'll come out in a SSJ form even stronger than that, lol. Oh, you've also achieved Super Saiya-jin 2? Me too. Actually... during this seven-year gap I've achieved Super Saiya-jin 3 ! And then Super Saiya-jin God. Oh, you've become a Super Saiya-jin Blue too? Nice, I'll add Kaio-Ken to it, lol. Oh, you've achieved SSJ Blue Shinka? Cool... then I'll master Migatte no Gokui.