The Saiya-jin warrior Radditz

[dchan316]

I, for one, think Raditz is pretty badass. He is, afterall, the first villain to bring about the death of Goku (though the honor of killing him went to Piccolo). The only other person who was able to do that was Cell, through a similar means, self-sacrifice on Goku's part.

It would have been cool to see him still around causing trouble. Then there'd be three full-blooded Saiya-jin. Of course, his friends didn't care much for his death, and the Earthlings wouldn't wish him back for the world, and the one person who would have shown him mercy, Goku, was dead, too, so he had little chance to begin with.

[caejones]

I think Raditz both being Goku's brother and having very little screentime works out well, actually, to point out that there's nothing special about being Goku's brother. Heck, I'd imagine Vegeta would have wound up the same if he hadn't functioned so well in the Namek arc.

[Godo]

The reason why the Goku/Vegeta fight is so powerful is because Goku (a low level warrior which is not related to the nobility) is fighting and matching Vegeta (an elite level warrior, the heir to the Sayan throne, a Prince).

Well, sure, stories such as the Sword in The Stone, where a simple boy overcomes a nobility are always wonderful to read, but they are still corny.

The fact that Goku can stand up to him is amazing. A true testement to just how much Goku worked to reach that level of power.

I think that just the fact that Goku defeats a member of an alien race that lives only for fighting is an awesome feat in itself. And it wouldn't matter that much whether the opponent had blue blood either.
The formula is "Goku + overpowered opponent = Sign of Goku's growth".

If Raditz was the one in Vegeta`s place, Goku wouldn`t be fighting a member of the nobility, and so it also wouldn`t be as impressive.

Well, he would be fighting his own friggin' brother!

I get your point, and it's as valid as mine. It's just my inner Radditz love that is erupting, and hopefully infecting you all.

I think Raditz both being Goku's brother and having very little screentime works out well, actually, to point out that there's nothing special about being Goku's brother. Heck, I'd imagine Vegeta would have wound up the same if he hadn't functioned so well in the Namek arc.

Well, that's kinda logical if you think about it. Vegeta was after all to be discarded after his fight with Goku, I believe.
This time I guess the fans liked Vegeta more than Radditz. Maybe it's the "Broly phenomenon"?

Just another thing: It blows my mind Broly has more fans than Radditz.

[ssjcj]

I always thought Raditz had a bit more about him than other villains. For one, he is Goku's brother and Gohan and Goten's uncle. That kind of connection with the main character is quite big, in my opinion. I also really enjoyed the design of the character. It was a lot different to the villains that preceded him. He was the first to wear armour, have a scouter and be introduced as an alien.

I always thought the brother of Goku could have been used more. As stated before in the thread, the Bardock special could have had a small cameo for him, similar to Vegeta and Nappa. I wonder, however, if the story would have been more enjoyable had Vegeta been the random brother and Raditz being a random Saiya-jin warrior. I think it could have added more to the final fight of the arc and given the Goku/Vegeta rivalry another dimension.

That said, I love the Saiya-jin arc as is.

[SaiyaMel]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Raditz show to be a little more in tuned to his Saiyan heritage than Vegeta (who has shown many times he doesn't really give two shits about)?

[Dr. Casey]

Oh yeah, it's hard to be more patriotic than Radditz. That guy had a lot of Saiyan pride.

[SaiyaMel]

If that's true (I'd like to first hear what others have to say on this) I give Raditz credit for that! Vegeta on the other hand only cared about himself and becoming the strongest in the Universe, until I guess the Cell Games..

[Ultimate_DB_Fan]

In actually thinking about it now, I feel that Raditz had pride for both himself and the Saiyans as a race more than Vegeta ever did.

[Sprite Satan]

I dunno, speeding through the episodes, Raditz doesn't seem to show it any more than Vegeta ever did. "Saiyans are strong. I am a Saiyan, therefore I am strong. You're a Saiyan, you shouldn't be a wuss." Outside of expecting to be wished back, I think Vegeta says the same lines even if he obviously didn't care and he yammers on about Saiyan pride a whole bunch on Namek despite it being bull.

[caejones]

I think it makes sense for Raditz to be more about Saiyan Pride, to further accentuate how irrelevant it is to Goku that they're related and such.
With Goku it's about deeds; with Raditz there's an element of blood.
I'd say the series leans toward deeds outmatching blood, but once it takes SSJ to accomplish anything that's pretty well out the window. XD

[SaiyaMel]

Bardock too seemed to have more Saiyan pride - probably for the same reason caejones mentioned.. Yet Bardock also cared more about his people and planet than Vegeta. So Perhaps those in the highest Elite class tended to be more in for themselves than the lower class individuals, and the only thing that mattered to them was becoming the strongest and ruling the universe.

[caejones]

Bardock too seemed to have more Saiyan pride - probably for the same reason caejones mentioned.. Yet Bardock also cared more about his people and planet than Vegeta. So Perhaps those in the highest Elite class tended to be more in for themselves than the lower class individuals, and the only thing that mattered to them was becoming the strongest and ruling the universe.

Now that you mention it, that does seem to make sense; even in a society focused on violence and bloodlust, power tends to corrupt.

[Piccolo Daimao]

I do not consider myself to be a Raditz fan either, although I do think his character was interesting as a villain.

He was the first villain of Dragon Ball Z, and at that point in the series, his battle power was looked upon as being overwhelmingly powerful, shocking even Piccolo Daimao, the series' prominent antagonist before the Saiyans. The fact that such a being could scare even Piccolo Daimao would've probably been a shocking experience for readers at that time. Raditz was also an example of how teamwork can overcome brute strength (albeit, it was mainly because of Piccolo's Makankosappo), despite the fact that later in the series, teamwork helped to do fuck all.

As a villain, I don't think that Raditz is anything especially great, but his character was an intriguing one. I do wish his character was fleshed out a bit more, like others.

[CashmanX]

I hear he ran down Snake way.

[mister yummy]

A cool what-f for radditz I just thought up:

Piccolo has just blasted Radditz and Goku with the ...Special Beam Cannon. <_< >_> <_< Goku and Radditz are laying on the ground with holes in them, and Piccolo is standing close by. But, Instead of delivering the final blow, Piccolo collapses from exaustion. The second use of the Special Beam Cannon took all of his energy. Radditz survives long enough to manage to summon his spaceship, in which he escapes, severely wounded, but at the start of a long road to recovery.

Everything proceeds as normal on Earth. Everyone trains for the saiya-jin, but they assume Radditz will return with them. Radditz, meanwhile, went to the next planet in his Attack Ball's computer, as he was too injured to set a different destination. This planet is very far away from earth, and Radditz is in his ship, slowly healing in the recovery unit onboard, for several months.

After nearly a year passes, Goku's wished back and the Saiya-jin arrive. Nappa clears house on the Z Fighters, just like he did before, but Piccolo, Kurillin, and Gohan's suprise attack succeeds, knocking Nappa out of the fight. Very angry, Vegita attacks them, but Goku arrives, and uses Kaioken to save everyone. Goku and Vegita fight, and everyone sort of forgets about Nappa. After Vegita is defeated, he escapes like usual. Nappa escapes with him.

Everything on Namek transpires as usual, except Vegita has Nappa with him, istead of working alone. Prior to the Ginyu Force arriving, everyone senses another ki. It feels like Goku, even Vegita thinks the ki feels like Kakarott's. A bit later, after the Ginyu's land, but before they find Vegita et al, a sparkle appears in the sky. A spaceship falls through the air and lands. But, inside of it, it isn't Goku, it's Radditz. Having healed from his injuries, he's gotten a massive Zenkai, taking his fighting power to around 24,000. Hmm, let's give Nappa 10,000, about as strong as Kurillin and Gohan at this point.

This makes the battle with the ginyu's more interesting. 5 on 5 instead of 5 on 3. Radditz and Nappa wouldn't likely make much difference in the fight, but it would be interesting all the same. If Radditz and Vegita double teamed Recoome, they might have done some more damage, perhaps. Nappa and Kurillin could do a double bald guy attack on Guldo or something.

There could also be interesting interplay between Nappa and Radditz, with Radditz having become stronger than Nappa for the first time. Then it could reverse back after another zenkai.

Anyways, a Zenkai each for Radditz and Nappa after fighting the Ginyu's makes for more cannon fodder for Freeza. Freeza and Vegita would go beyond a mild shoving match, with Vegita landing a few good hits, but Freeza ultimately overpowering him. Freeza then gloats how he was toying with him, while Vegita, stupidly arrogant as ever, goads him into transforming.

I love this period in the anime, Vegita, Kurillin, Gohan and Dende desperately evading and attacking Freeza, healing each other, etc. I guess I like the cat and mouse feel. Add Nappa and Radditz in to it, and it becomes even more awesome.

Of course, at some point, they have to be killed off. Perhaps Freeza could kill Radditz in his first form, in his rage about missing the Dragon. Or, perhaps, Radditz is killed by Freeza's second form, something that Dende couldn't heal him from. Nappa could maybe be killed by Freeza in his third form, from a random shot that missed Piccolo. Or, maybe, Forth form Freeza kills Nappa in front of the beaten, broken, defeated Vegita, after he won't fight anymore.

Anyways, the story goes on. Wish em back, or forget about them, either way. It's hard to imagine them living on earth. Nappa would get bored and start blowing stuff up. Radditz would go offworld trying to find a fight, or maybe he'd stay, and get to know his family. I don't think he and Goku would ever be too close, but maybe Gohan would become close to him. Radditz would probably end up trekking off on his own out into space, looking for a fight though.

[Rocketman]

A cool what-f for radditz I just thought up:

Piccolo has just blasted Radditz and Goku with the ...Special Beam Cannon. <_< >_> <_< Goku and Radditz are laying on the ground with holes in them, and Piccolo is standing close by. But, Instead of delivering the final blow, Piccolo collapses from exaustion. The second use of the Special Beam Cannon took all of his energy. Radditz survives long enough to manage to summon his spaceship, in which he escapes

Gohan destroyed the spaceship.

[mister yummy]

Bah! You're right! OK, so...also, Gohan didn't destroy the spaceship. The door magically opened for him instead.

[DBZ_1997]

I would have like to see some stuff on Raditz in the Bardock TV special. Missed opportunity.

For Sure

[Godo]

I never thought that this thread would reach 2 pages! Well, that's a quite a good proof that we have some good Dragonball fans that visit these boards, that haven't forgotten good ol' Radditz.

I would like to add that when I first saw Radditz, I thought: "That's a damn muscular guy!", and I even thought that him not wearing much underneath that armor was kinda...feminine.

Here is a cover I wrote on Shakira's "Underneath your clothes", which I have renamed "Ode to Radditz":

You're a warrior
Created by the semen of Bardock
Don't get me wrong cause
This might sound to you a bit odd
But you own the place
Where all my thoughts go hiding
And right under your armor
Is where I find them

Underneath Your Armor
There's an endless power
There's the warrior I chose
There's my Saiya-jin
And all the things I deserve
For being such a good fan, dude

Because of you
I learned all the smart ways to lie
Because of you
I'm getting all new reasons to war-cry
When the fiends are gone
When the fight is over
You still look like a badass

Underneath Your Armor
There's an endless power
There's the warrior I chose
There's my Saiya-jin
And all the things I deserve
For being such a good fan, dude

I admire you more than all that's on the planet
Shootin' fightin' eatin' resting
You know it's true
Oh dude it's so funny
You almost don't believe it
As every voice is screaming from the silence
Lamps are crushed on the floor
Like a guy you teach some manners
I'm addicted to this feeling

Underneath Your Armor
There's an endless power
There's the warrior I chose
There's my Saiya-jin
And all the things I deserve
For being such a good fan, dude