Raditz

[Budogenkai]

I thought his character design was awesome, but holy crap was he under-developed.

[CatouttaHell]

He was one of those characters that were awesome for what they were but would really suck if they continued to exist after that (like Broli after his first movie.)

[Piccolo Daimao]

He's garbage, just like Vegeta said lol. He was on a 10x gravity planet for his whole life, and only pooped out a powerlevel of 1500ish

He was a low-class Saiyan, though. I thought his power was about average for a low-class Saiyan.

[JulieYBM]

I think it's kind of a funny coincidence that his Ocean dub VA went on to play one of the main characters on Monk while that show as running.

?!?!?!?!?

I can't believe I never knew that they guy who played Lieutenant Disher voiced Raditz. That is pretty funny. I suppose that in many ways, Raditz is the Disher of the Saiyans.

I remember being really suprised when I found out, too.

I never really liked his Raditz. It's almost as irratating as Cook's. >_<

[StarRot]

I like Raditz; I really like his character design.
I liked what they did with his character in the Attack of the Saiyans game (won’t spoil it for those of you that haven’t played it yet) it would have been interesting to see scenarios like that in the anime/manga.
I’m very fond of Shigeru Chiba also; he’s one of my favourite voice actors.

[Scarz]

I don't know what to say about Raditz. To be honest I never really liked him when he first appeared but I love his long hair though. I wish more male characters had hair like his. I've read a lot of bizarre fanfiction about Raditz, it was your average "What if he turned good and stuck around?" type of fiction and I read some slashy stuff out of pure curiosity.

The slash fanfiction was the worst, not because I'm against yaoi, I'm against bad pairings. RaditzxPiccolo, RaditzxGoku, and RaditzPuar. Seriously Raditz and Puar! That just ain't right.

Yeah got a little off track there but that's all I really have to say about Raditz.

[ShiningMoon]

He's garbage, just like Vegeta said lol. He was on a 10x gravity planet for his whole life, and only pooped out a powerlevel of 1500ish

He was a low-class Saiyan, though. I thought his power was about average for a low-class Saiyan.

Not to mention that he can't have possibly lived there for his whole life.

Long story short, I love Raditz (see: avatar) because he is such a failure (even though we all would have expected otherwise). He's so ingratiatingly...something. I love that he's underhanded and kind of a sore loser. (Not that other villains aren't, but of course it's so adorable for Raditz to be a sore loser considering that when we later get to see the kind of people who work for Freeza, we realize everyone and their mom could beat Raditz. Clearly he was hoping that he could at least move out of the position of "weakest Saiyan" -- but alas, that didn't last long.)
I've read some good fanfiction with Raditz in it. (I'm also writing some; won't be so cocky as to promise it's good, but I hear tell it's not too shabby.)

Added to all that, I think his character design is pretty awesome.

[Piccolo Daimao]

I was unhappy that we didn't get to see head nor tail (pun intended) of Raditz in the Bardock special. Assumedly, Toei didn't think he was important enough in the story to warrant an appearance in the special, but I would've at least liked a little cameo. After all, to those that first watched Dragon Ball Z, he was the series' first villain, Bardock's son (and Bardock was the central character of the special), one of the Saiyans who actually appeared in the manga, and one of the Saiyans who escaped the destruction of the Saiyans and Planet Vegeta. Bardock was in the special, Goku was in it, Vegeta was in it, Nappa was in it, the King was in it...yet we didn't even get a glimpse of a younger Raditz. It's as if he never existed.

[Hellspawn28]

I enjoy the character even though he did not last very long. I did like his story mode in BT2/SN though.

[kaialone]

I like him I dont mind that he wasnt strong.Its kinda sad he doesnt appear later,not even in Hell fillers.But going by Manga canon its likely that he was simply reborn

[Chibi Mystic Gohan]

I just want to say that I was unhappy that we didn't see head nor tail (pun intended) of Raditz in the Bardock special. Assumedly, Toei didn't think he was important enough in the story to warrant an appearance in the special, but I would've at least liked a little cameo. After all, he was one of the Saiyans who actually appeared in the manga and escaped the destruction of Planet Vegeta. Bardock was in it, Goku was in it, Vegeta was in it, Nappa was in it, the King was in it...yet we didn't even get a glimpse of a younger Raditz.

Very true, they should've stuck him in there, somewhere. You'll notice that Raditz said he and one of the other Saiyans were off conquering another planet at the time, so I'm assuming he was with Nappa. They should've shown Raditz and Nappa together at the end, when Nappa was informing Vegeta that their planet was wiped out. (That scene is really creepy...)

[Piccolo Daimao]

You'll notice Raditz said he and one of the other Saiyans were off conquering another planet at the time, so I'm assuming he was with Nappa.

He did? I thought he just said something like, "We Saiyans only survived because we were off conquering other planets". Could you provide a scan, please?

And I don't think he would've been with Nappa. I don't see low-class and elite-class Saiyans mingling, since I think Raditz mentions that adult Saiyans conquer planets with stronger natives, while child Saiyans conquer planets with weak natives. I think that would correspond to strength (since, obviously, adult Saiyans would generally be stronger than child Saiyans), plus I don't see Vegeta, the Prince of the Saiyans and probably far stronger than all the other adult Saiyans, taking missions on weak-natived planets. And I think elite Saiyans would be far too arrogant to work with low-class Saiyans. Remember that Vegeta and Nappa considered Raditz and Goku trash.

I think Raditz, Nappa and Vegeta only banded together because they were the only Saiyans left alive and they could come up against planets that wouldn't be enough for just two elite Saiyans--they'd need a low-class Saiyan(s) too (like that planet Raditz came to Earth to recruit Goku for, because he said even 3 Saiyans might have trouble).

[Chibi Mystic Gohan]

He did? I thought he just said something like, "We Saiyans only survived because we were off conquering other planets". Could you provide a scan, please?

Nope, I don't have a scan. He basically says that he and another were off conquering a planet, while the other one, "like Kakarrot," was sent off to a weak planet. (That's kinda a plot hole, because neither Vegeta nor Nappa were weakling babies at the time... but, whatever.) I think Viz altered that line a bit, but I don't remember what they had Raditz say.

[Piccolo Daimao]

He did? I thought he just said something like, "We Saiyans only survived because we were off conquering other planets". Could you provide a scan, please?

Nope, I don't have a scan. He basically says that he and another were off conquering a planet, while the other one, "like Kakarrot," was sent off to a weak planet. (That's kinda a plot hole, because neither Vegeta nor Nappa were weakling babies at the time... but, whatever.) I think Viz altered that line a bit, but I don't remember what they had Raditz say.

Oh, OK. And about that plothole...I'm guessing Toriyama just hadn't thought up the idea that the other Saiyans (Vegeta and Nappa) would be elite-class at the time. Actually, I don't think we even learn about classes until Goku fights Nappa and Nappa shouts that he's an elite warrior of the nobility (or something like that). Before that, I think it's just said that they're stronger than Raditz. I may be wrong, though...

[Chibi Mystic Gohan]

Nope, you're correct. Raditz just says that the other two are far stronger than him.

[Piccolo Daimao]

Nope, you're correct. Raditz just says that the other two are far stronger than him.

Ah, that's good then.

[Chibi Mystic Gohan]

In fact, I think Raditz calls himself something like a "first-rate warrior," which is kind of silly, when you consider Vegeta and Nappa...

[Cipher]

I think I'd like him a lot more if he wasn't Goku's blood brother. That just screams wasted potential to me, and seems like a weak plot hook.

There's no reason he couldn't just have been another low-class Saiyan who happened to discover another member of his race had been sent to Earth. It's just so strange that the brother angle is introduced and hardly touched upon again.

[Piccolo Daimao]

In fact, I think Raditz calls himself something like a "first-rate warrior," which is kind of silly, when you consider Vegeta and Nappa...

Yeah, which is why I don't think Toriyama had thought up the idea of classes between Saiyans at that time.

Or you could just attribute it to Raditz's arrogance, since it's not as if anyone's going to argue against him being a "first-rate warrior". He was "first-rate" to Goku and Piccolo, considering he was far stronger than them and everyone else on Earth.

[ssgOverlord]

Well, I think the "first rate" line refers to his battle experience. With his power he could at least take over a bunch of lesser planets, but I suppose it wasn't much to test his strength if his power is what it is...