And I doubt he's the only Saiyan who's smart either. We know that Saiyans are said to be of simple thoughts as they have this constant drive of fighting, but we can't forget that they are also people with a brain and have to function in other ways as well in regards to work and technology.
The thing with Paragus is that this guy, who was running low on food, as well as water, and whatever other supplies he had, managed to make an electronic device to shock a super powered force like Broly to keep him at bay.
I doubt that he had a damn blueprint on how to make it.
This man took the time out to gather scraps and parts of the ship in order to make a collar and a remote device that functions to activate the collar and send volts through it. Like how? I'm not saying we need an explanation, but given his situation, that's pretty damn lit if you ask me.
Not to mention, he was colonel of the Saiyan army, so he undoubtedly knows strategy and military operations, and as he worked his way up, the guy probably dabbled in science and technology and many other areas of occupation that aided in success on the battlefield. I doubt that Saiyan culture was just solely all about brute strength given that they had an army, so they most likely planned and did a whole lot of other things.
It makes me think about just how smart Saiyans truly are as a whole. People like to pass them off as brutes and sure, the inherent urges of combat may have them focus on battle more than other things, but we see that they have the ability to excel in other areas as well.
Some Saiyans aren't workers, so they work on ships and in fields of science.
Toriyama points out that Saiyans have trouble with studying and it isn't just the kids, which I chalk it up to their patience being extremely low. So for them to push through and educate themselves in different areas doesn't show just intelligence, but discipline as well, which is a bit correlative to the former if you ask me.
For the longest, people believed that Saiyans were just a technologically inferior species in every way. But before King Cold even recruited them, the Saiyans on their own, had already made enough advancements to partake into intergalactic travel as they purged worlds and sold them for their own profit before they were exploited by Freeza's father.
They weren't advanced like Cold's forces and his connections were, but being able to travel out in space is a grandiose feat in itself.
For the life of me, I would love to explore more Saiyan history, not to get more characters and to see more fights, but to see how they worked as a culture. Their society was mainly based on war, sure, but what of other fields and the rules that they tend to undergo as a society?
Many think Saiyans are just evil brutes and yes, for the most part, they are; my thing is that there is an entirely different side to these people that can, and in my opinion, should be explored sometime down the line.
For now we have enough Saiyan lore and should explore others, but it should be on the bucket list (doubt that'll ever happen, though).
All things considered, Paragus is a really sophisticated individual; Saiyans aren't just brutes.
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Re: All things considered, Paragus is a really sophisticated individual; Saiyans aren't just brutes.
I'll cut down your post into a few points and respond:
"Saiyans are typically seen as brutes"
That's really due to their demeanor and behavior. They prefer rugged hand-to-hand, ki-based, and Oozaru combat. Their society, as advanced as it sometimes is, does still seem to be borderline primitive at many times, with many Saiyans living in what looks like rock huts. They have some high-tech conveniences, but they certainly don't live for leisure as we do. It's a very spartan existence (pun intended) that doesn't seem to focus much on other aspects of culture like the arts. Their sciences are largely dedicated towards war and sustaining the war machine.
Not to mention back in the day at least, they had wild 80s hair you'd expect from glam metal or goth-punk caveman. It's easy to see where this conception came from, especially considering the casual bigotry within the Freeza Force where just about anyone and everyone is demeaned along with their race. I suppose racism makes slightly more sense in a world where there are different sapient species entirely rather than just one with different skin color and a few secondary features, but it still reflects poorly on them.
"Saiyans are seen as low-tech"
Funnily enough, I think that's more of a retroactive thing. At the time when the Saiyan arc was first unfolding and well into the days of Z and GT, there was no real indication that Saiyans were "low-tech cavemen" other than Kaio-sama's flashback that depicted Saiyans as humanoid monkeys who traded their services for high technology, something which at the time we had no idea when this occurred— for all we could ascertain, this trade between Saiyans and this mysterious other race (Arcosians, if I recall) could've taken place hundreds or thousands of years ago; we only learned a more specific timeline of events later (which retconned this anyhow).
But for all intents and purposes, Saiyans were perceived once as high-tech space barbarians for a good while. Because when we first encountered them, what did we see? Space men in colorful space suits that look suspiciously a lot like 80s aerobics/fitness geek chic + sci-fi armor with 80s hair (or no hair!) with high-tech ki-reading scouters and advanced alien technology. The Bardock special didn't help since the one Saiyan city we saw (more from afar than anything) didn't at all show off Saiyans as anything other than an uber-80s Sci-Fi group of people.
This is more of a real-world thing, though.
"What were Saiyans like as a society?"
Toriyama's left bits and pieces around, and the one that stuck with me was that they had massive fighting rings in lieu of amusement parks; that kids fought rather than played, and that Saiyans with battle powers too low were always sent off to labor (which was an early indication that not every Saiyan was a warrior, though I don't recall when he said this).
As for Saiyan intelligence, I don't think Saiyans are any dumber or smarter than humans in real terms. However, the ones we see do offer a good example of sapient intelligence directed towards different aims and impulses. They may be as smart or even smarter than humans, but if their impulses and desires are directed towards war and combat (rather than, say, greed and development like with humans with war more as a result), then of course we'd perceive that as dumber since they're too inclined to resolve issues through conflict rather than, say, diplomacy or compromise.
Honestly, the single best way to think of the Saiyans is that of "Thermonuclear Klingons." Whatever works for Klingons is probably relevant to Saiyans as well.
Speaking of which (and here's a massive TV Tropes warning):
Klingon Scientists Get No Respect
"Saiyans are typically seen as brutes"
That's really due to their demeanor and behavior. They prefer rugged hand-to-hand, ki-based, and Oozaru combat. Their society, as advanced as it sometimes is, does still seem to be borderline primitive at many times, with many Saiyans living in what looks like rock huts. They have some high-tech conveniences, but they certainly don't live for leisure as we do. It's a very spartan existence (pun intended) that doesn't seem to focus much on other aspects of culture like the arts. Their sciences are largely dedicated towards war and sustaining the war machine.
Not to mention back in the day at least, they had wild 80s hair you'd expect from glam metal or goth-punk caveman. It's easy to see where this conception came from, especially considering the casual bigotry within the Freeza Force where just about anyone and everyone is demeaned along with their race. I suppose racism makes slightly more sense in a world where there are different sapient species entirely rather than just one with different skin color and a few secondary features, but it still reflects poorly on them.
"Saiyans are seen as low-tech"
Funnily enough, I think that's more of a retroactive thing. At the time when the Saiyan arc was first unfolding and well into the days of Z and GT, there was no real indication that Saiyans were "low-tech cavemen" other than Kaio-sama's flashback that depicted Saiyans as humanoid monkeys who traded their services for high technology, something which at the time we had no idea when this occurred— for all we could ascertain, this trade between Saiyans and this mysterious other race (Arcosians, if I recall) could've taken place hundreds or thousands of years ago; we only learned a more specific timeline of events later (which retconned this anyhow).
But for all intents and purposes, Saiyans were perceived once as high-tech space barbarians for a good while. Because when we first encountered them, what did we see? Space men in colorful space suits that look suspiciously a lot like 80s aerobics/fitness geek chic + sci-fi armor with 80s hair (or no hair!) with high-tech ki-reading scouters and advanced alien technology. The Bardock special didn't help since the one Saiyan city we saw (more from afar than anything) didn't at all show off Saiyans as anything other than an uber-80s Sci-Fi group of people.
This is more of a real-world thing, though.
"What were Saiyans like as a society?"
Toriyama's left bits and pieces around, and the one that stuck with me was that they had massive fighting rings in lieu of amusement parks; that kids fought rather than played, and that Saiyans with battle powers too low were always sent off to labor (which was an early indication that not every Saiyan was a warrior, though I don't recall when he said this).
As for Saiyan intelligence, I don't think Saiyans are any dumber or smarter than humans in real terms. However, the ones we see do offer a good example of sapient intelligence directed towards different aims and impulses. They may be as smart or even smarter than humans, but if their impulses and desires are directed towards war and combat (rather than, say, greed and development like with humans with war more as a result), then of course we'd perceive that as dumber since they're too inclined to resolve issues through conflict rather than, say, diplomacy or compromise.
Honestly, the single best way to think of the Saiyans is that of "Thermonuclear Klingons." Whatever works for Klingons is probably relevant to Saiyans as well.
Speaking of which (and here's a massive TV Tropes warning):
Klingon Scientists Get No Respect
The Yabanverse
My own take on Saiyajins in a fanverse.
My own take on Saiyajins in a fanverse.
Re: All things considered, Paragus is a really sophisticated individual; Saiyans aren't just brutes.
I heard about the Klingons and them being very similar to Saiyans. It's something I'm going to have to look into for sure since I don't even know where to start in regards of watching Star Trek. Everything you said, I agree with; you did well on condensing all that I pointed out in the post while also expanding up on the meaning of the post, so props to you for that. And to get a bit off topic, I don't know if you really care that much considering we both come from the boot, but WHO DAT, lol. (I also have the interview where Toriyama pointed out how kids preferred to fight rather than play. I can send the link if you want).