Was Raditz wasted potential?

[lancerman]

It would have been better to just make Raditz a normal Saiyan. Making him Goku’s brother when it added nothing to the plot or his story inherently made him more intriguing and this more dissapointing overall than he should have been. Goku being an alien should be shock value enough. Secret brother was cheap and amounted to an unsatisfying payoff.

[Dragon Ball Gus]

I'm surprised you guys aren't talking about the idea of Raditz hooking up with Lunch/Launch. What do you guys think about that idea? Would you see them being a cute couple?

[ABED]

It DID add something by making him Goku's brother. First, it makes sense that he would know Goku was on Earth to begin with, and more importantly, it tells you a lot about the Saiyan race. Despite being family, he wouldn't think twice about killing his brother and his nephew, a 4 year old kid. How is any of this unsatisfying?

[Lord Beerus]

I feel Raditz wonderfully fit into the criteria of characters that exist to be premonition for much greater dangers to come. He worked extremely well as the antithesis of Goku and opened pandora's box, with regards to Goku's origins and just how diverse and vast the Dragon Ball universe is, and the story built up on Raditz's introduction very well with the future introduction of Nappa, Vegeta, Namek and Freeza (and his army).

So, no, I don't feel Raditz was wasted. I feel he was used appropriately.

[BlueBasilisk]

Not really. I think the IDEA of Raditz has merit but if he had stuck around I feel like he'd just fall into the role Vegeta has and there's really no need for both of them.

[TheGreatness25]

Raditz was great and fit into the story absolutely perfectly. If there's any complaint against him, it's that the fight against him was so short and thus, gives off the illusion that it was anticlimactic.

Let's see what Raditz's introduction accomplished:

- Shed new light on Goku's backstory which was a crucial part for the remainder of the series
- Established the Saiyan way of life and philosophy to show just what kind of trash Goku came from, thus making him that much more likable for not ending up like that
- Was the strongest villain to date, giving Goku and Piccolo -- the two world's strongest fighters -- a hell of a fight
- Goku had to sacrifice himself to defeat Raditz establishing Raditz's awesome power and Goku's willingness to die for his son and friends
- Established that despite Raditz's awesome power, he was still a nothing to the upcoming threat, giving the fighters an even greater mountain to overcome
- Introduced us to the idea that while Goku was so special to us, on his own turf, he was easily brushed aside making him the ultimate underdog
- Opened up Dragon World and gave us an insight into the afterlife
- Gave Goku and the others (well not really) an outlet to get a hell of a lot stronger really quickly

Raditz was excellent. His cold demeanor toward Goku was perfect. It really raised appreciation for Goku having turned out who he was knowing where he came from. I know that a lot of people would like the interaction to be more personal, maybe like how Vegeta was with Goku. I could understand there being something to swapping Raditz with Vegeta -- rather instead of having Raditz be Goku's brother, have Raditz be some underling and have Vegeta be his brother. But then it would kind of become cliche to be honest. Plus, Goku's family being easily dismissed by the other Saiyans is much more entertaining than having that Disney route of the protagonist coming from this great royal background.

I thought Raditz was great, but I think he felt lackluster because the battle was too short, and the entire point was a set-up for the "real" focus of the arc. Maybe if Raditz would be an arc on his own with a nice 20 episodes of this crazy epic fight that led into the entire "Well if you think this is bad, just wait until my friends get here!" thing, I think that people's attitude on Raditz would be a lot different.

[Robo4900]

In the actual events of the series, Raditz has no real character. All we see of him is him being a bit evil, and stirring things up before being killed by Goku and Piccolo.

So, with no real characterisation applied to him, all he really is is the plot twist he always existed to be. There is, of course, the potential to do something similar to what they did with Vegeta with him, but I don't really think he has anything in particular to bring to the table on his own unless there's hidden depth to his character we don't already know about.

Thing is, if Raditz had stuck around, that would have probably resulted in many other story opportunities not being taken, because you'd need time to get used to Raditz. Otherwise, he'd probably end up like Tenshinhan in that he'd stick around for an arc or two, then only show up for the odd one- or two-episode spot to make sure everyone knows he's still around before vanishing out of existence for a while again.
So, really, Raditz isn't wasted potential. He was used as much as he was needed in the story, then killed off to create a jumping off point for the rest of the story as told in the Saiyan and Freeza arcs.

[The Patrolman]

No, him being a one time character was perfect to show the greater danger that was coming.

[Bebi Hatchiyack]

All I have to say is *Took a Trump voice* MAKE RADITZ GREAT AGAIN !

I love his charadesign and I think him being developped as a full fledged character would have been wonderful. Just Imagine instead of a no name (Number 16) for Gohan to goes SSJ2 before Cell it's Raditz who sacrifice himself to save his newphew. Thus allowing to number 16 to still exist and being a good assets for the Majin Buu saga, with heck why not Bulma finding a way to upgrade his power.

And later with him around for let's say the Tournament of Power Frieza wouldn't have been revived and instead of Roshi Number 16 would have been there, like that less people would have been pissed with Frieza being revived and Whis would have not been showed his hack power. See how convenient Raditz could have been.

I'm on the team #MakeRaditzAlive

[ABED]

In the actual events of the series, Raditz has no real character. All we see of him is him being a bit evil, and stirring things up before being killed by Goku and Piccolo.

So, with no real characterisation applied to him, all he really is is the plot twist he always existed to be. There is, of course, the potential to do something similar to what they did with Vegeta with him, but I don't really think he has anything in particular to bring to the table on his own unless there's hidden depth to his character we don't already know about.

He's an arrogant, evil, sadistic, and overconfident prick of a person. How is that not characterization?

[Bebi Hatchiyack]

He's an arrogant, evil, sadistic, and overconfident prick of a person. How is that not characterization?

So like Vegeta who was given a chance to shine longer So we can conclude that Raditz was a potential character to have developpment

[ABED]

He's an arrogant, evil, sadistic, and overconfident prick of a person. How is that not characterization?

So like Vegeta who was given a chance to shine longer So we can conclude that Raditz was a potential character to have developpment

Why do the same thing with two characters?

I think Raditz is different than Vegeta in that he is about the Saiyan lifestyle of destroying planets for money. For Vegeta, it's a means to an end. Raditz sees himself as more important than he truly is. His allies don't actually care about him.

[Bebi Hatchiyack]

Why do the same thing with two characters?

I think Raditz is different than Vegeta in that he is about the Saiyan lifestyle of destroying planets for money. For Vegeta, it's a means to an end. Raditz sees himself as more important than he truly is. His allies don't actually care about him.

They are the same in regard they have high value about themself and about their goal, but I agree with you in the fact that Raditz thought that he was useful for Vegeta which him wasn't caring that much (Nappa being clear exemple) Vegeta saw both Raditz and Nappa at that time as disposable pawn.

Which is interesting, because if Raditz survived the Makankōsappō of Piccolo and have fled being hugely wound, Vegeta would have surely told him through Scouter that he was useless and if he does show his face before him again he would be killed. Now we have a Raditz stranded on Earth being enemies of both Vegeta and Nappa but also enemies of our Z-Warrior.

So he basically become here a wild card, and wild card character are interesting in some anime/manga look at Hisoka in Hunter x Hunter. Let's say that during the Saiyan saga he side with the Z-Warrior for beat Vegeta who betrayed him, Gohan will influence him in the same regard he did with Piccolo, Piccolo would see him as an assets against Vegeta.

With him I'm sure he would have saved Piccolo from Nappa's Ki blast, Let's say he survive with Piccolo there are still dead warrior who can't be revived, Chaozu because remember the earth Dragon Ball can't revived twice the same person, so Yamcha will be the only revived, Allowing him to go to Namek with Bulma, Gohan, Kuririn, Piccolo, Raditz and Goku.

See the presence of Raditz change something and allow Yamcha to be useful, Yamcha could have been given the same thing Saichōrō did to Gohan and Kuririn. The battle against the Ginuy gang would have a different dynamic with Raditz around. The Battle against Frieza would have been different too, with Raditz and then Vegeta reminding more to Goku of his Saiyan heritage and of how Frieza was attrocious.

And with more peoples to torture Frieza cruelty would have been more apparent to Goku.

The Cell Saga with Raditz around things would have been different mainly in regard to number 16 he could have survive. And I think with Raditz around the show would have been less Goku centric. Just my opinion here.

[Michsi]

I feel like the brother thing was added only to make it easier to explain why he remembered Goku after all these years and never planned to do more than that with the concept. As far as wasted potential goes, I dunno. I feel like there are enough saiyans in the story already, although design wise I prefer him over what we've been seeing lately.

[ABED]

No way Raditz could survive a gaping wound like that. His heart would be destroyed.

With him I'm sure he would have saved Piccolo from Nappa's Ki blast

And take away Piccolo's moment? I don't like any of the ideas you posit.

And I think with Raditz around the show would have been less Goku centric.

No, apparently it becomes The Raditz Show. Why is it a positive that the show becomes less Goku centric. He's the central character. DB is his story.

[Toxin45]

No way Raditz could survive a gaping wound like that. His heart would be destroyed.

With him I'm sure he would have saved Piccolo from Nappa's Ki blast

And take away Piccolo's moment? I don't like any of the ideas you posit.

And I think with Raditz around the show would have been less Goku centric.

No, apparently it becomes The Raditz Show. Why is it a positive that the show becomes less Goku centric. He's the central character. DB is his story.

Yeah and super continues that along with the upcoming movie.

[DiegoBrando]

Anyone looks like wasted potential if you listen to hours of what-could-have-been fanfic theories. Raditz was just fine for what he was. In fact, the Raditz arc is one of the best arcs in the series imo. People who treat him as a joke are idiots though, mostly comparing him to saibamen due to Vegeta/Nappa comments. Without realizing Goku was much weaker then a saibamen at that point too. And that power levels are all bullshit anyway.