Bulma and Vegeta

[dylanmorgan17]

Building upon the 'Vegeta-as-a-boy' argument, I believe that Bulma is possibly a hybristophile. In real life terms, hybristophilia is a sexual paraphilia surrprisingly common in women where they are attracted to highly dangerous personalities or criminals. This may explain how she was attracted to Oolong's human form, Yamucha the desert bandit, the vampire, Blue and Zarbon in the first place (although Blue and Zarbon may reveal a thing Bulma has for gay guys). A common trait among women with a hybristophilia condition is that they try to change a man who is highly dangerous, this is perhaps their love story. Maybe Yamucha was too easy and she saught out a challenge in Vegeta.

[Saiga]

Why the hell is everyone obsessed with shoe-horning affairs into a kids series?

[DBZAOTA482]

Why the hell is everyone obsessed with shoe-horning affairs into a kids series?

I don't know, ask Piccolo Daimao.

[LiamKav]

I don't get the "Vegeta" is so much stronger argument. At the time, Yamcha would have been, what, the third strongest human on the planet, capable of flying, blowing up mountains, etc? If he used even half of his full strength, Bulma would be smeared against the wall. Would she really be that shallow that she'd need someone stronger than that? Likewise for Vegeta's "chissled abs", Yamcha appears to be pretty buff as well. If anything, you'd think Vegeta's physical features would hurt him against Yamcha, as he's shorter and (sort-of) balding.

I prefer to place all the blame on the god-awful haircut Yamcha was sporting when mecha-Freeza arrived.

[Gaffer Tape]

But even so, one look in the mirror at that time should have caused her to realize those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. Purple headband fro anyone?

EDIT: 3,000th post!

[soulnova]

What about this... How about a DARE.

Vegeta daring Bulma to some sexy time, thinking he would scare her away and shut her up. But it back fired. xD

Gaffer Tape, congrats for the post.

[Deep Thought]

Bulma is paired with Vegeta because she legitimately deserves to be paired up with someone better than Yamcha. She contributed quite a lot to the series and as such she should be kept relevant and not relegated to "wife of the most useless fighter in the series (with the exception of Chatzou)." Compared to Yamcha, she was much more useful to the series as a whole, and it's a shame that out of the two, she is the one looked down upon the most, probably because she's more brainy than brawny and that's an inherently bad thing in this series. Indeed, I see posts to the degree insinuating that Yamcha is too good for Bulma anyway, but is that really the case?

Here are Yamcha'sre (positive) contributions to the cast:

- Helped Goku beat the Rabbit Gang.

- Gave Goku and Bulma a ride.

- (With the aid of Puar) Cuts off Goku's tail.

- (With the aid of Kurrin, Bulma, and Roshi, aka so many people that it can barely be called his feat) Beat the invisible man.

- Takes Goku home after he nearly dies due to his heart disease.

-----

Bulma's contributions to the cast were small but definitely noticeable:

- Invented the Dragon Radar, one of the most important inventions in the series ever, and it's existence was vital countless times in the story.

-Invented the shrink watch, which was significant for obtaining Muten Roshi's submarine.

-Fixed Raditz's scouter, which was not only significant to understanding how the Sayajin enemies detected power, but was instrumental in gathering the humans.

- Came up with the idea to utilize the Sayajin's space pods to travel to Namek. While this was initially a failure, her initial findings were refined by her father to produce a space-pod worthy enough for Goku.

- Piloted Kami's spaceship on the way to Namek.

- With the aid of her father, created the super gravity chamber and let Vegeta use it to train in and get stronger.

-Invented the time machine, importance is self-explanatory.

- Pinpoints the location of Gero's base.

- Builds a remote to shut down cyborgs Eighteen and Seventeen. (This doesn't become insignificant just because Kurirrin was too stupid to use it)

- Repaired android Sixteen, whose actions and "death" lead to Gohan becoming a Super Sayajin 2.

- Created the Great Saiyaman costume (seemingly stupid, but without a costume Gohan would probably give up the superhero thing [or it would go a lot differently], therefore no moment where Videl discovers his identity, no incentive to participate in the Tournament, no Boo Arc).

I could count smaller acts like repairing the radar after Goku broke it, deducing the exact location of Namek relative to Earth, and for inadvertently turning Goku into something far more than just a strong monkey-boy in the woods, but Bulma is already seeming more significant than Yamcha ever was. Yamcha was very important in the first two volumes of Dragon Ball, but that's it. Ever since then he was used as an indicator for how strong everyone is by being the punching bag and quickly becoming a joke. Bulma, while not a hugely useful character, at least consistently had her moments of being useful, and is in-arguably the most important female character in the series (Chi-Chi and Videl were written as love interests with little other qualities and cyborg Eighteen did precisely jack and shit after her fight with Vegeta). I'm glad that she got paired with the second-third most important overall character in the series, especially since their attributes work out nicely. They're both prone to anger, bother initially selfish but become less so over time, and both (at the time) are some of the more intelligent characters (Vegeta was quite intellectually resourceful until the Android arc where he went full moron and never recovered from it).

Summation: I'm glad Bulma hooked up with Vegeta because she was much more useful and important than Yamcha.

[GS7X7]

Yamcha also killed a Saibaman.

In the end, Toriyama loved himself some Kurillin- he even made him stronger than Ten. So, Yamcha got put on the bench (along with Ten and Chaozu) in order to help Kurillin shine.

[Michsi]

Bulma is paired with Vegeta because she legitimately deserves to be paired up with someone better than Yamcha. She contributed quite a lot to the series and as such she should be kept relevant and not relegated to "wife of the most useless fighter in the series (with the exception of Chatzou)." Compared to Yamcha, she was much more useful to the series as a whole, and it's a shame that out of the two, she is the one looked down upon the most, probably because she's more brainy than brawny and that's an inherently bad thing in this series. Indeed, I see posts to the degree insinuating that Yamcha is too good for Bulma anyway, but is that really the case?.

I think you are contradictiong yourself here a little. You claim that it's a shame that she is looked down upon because she is brainy ( which, by the way, I do not believe is the case at all ), but at the same time you say she deserves to be with Vegeta, when Vegeta being stronger than Yamcha is pretty much he only thing he has going for him when comparing the two as love interests. Vegeta had nothing to do with her being useful or staying somewhat relevant in the story and I don't see how having ended up with Yamcha would have changed that. You're saying that Vegeta is better than Yamcha and this is very debatable since we are talking about aromantic relationship and the qualities that might make him a more interesting character in a series about fighting, they don't exactly make him an ideal husband. It's almost as if you are saiying that Bulma deserves someone who is cold and distant and dangerous and prone to very bad decisions that can also endanger her and their child's life.

[hleV]

Yamcha also killed a Saibaman.

I don't think we should count it as a kill to Yamcha's account. It was Saibaimen who killed Yamcha, not the other way around. Just that the Saibaimen also killed himself in the process.

I think you are contradictiong yourself here a little. You claim that it's a shame that she is looked down upon because she is brainy ( which, by the way, I do not believe is the case at all ), but at the same time you say she deserves to be with Vegeta, when Vegeta being stronger than Yamcha is pretty much he only thing he has going for him when comparing the two as love interests. Vegeta had nothing to do with her being useful or staying somewhat relevant in the story and I don't see how having ended up with Yamcha would have changed that. You're saying that Vegeta is better than Yamcha and this is very debatable since we are talking about aromantic relationship and the qualities that might make him a more interesting character in a series about fighting, they don't exactly make him an ideal husband. It's almost as if you are saiying that Bulma deserves someone who is cold and distant and dangerous and prone to very bad decisions that can also endanger her and their child's life.

He simply meant that Bulma deserved to be with a guy who doesn't die everytime he has a chance to and is actually important to the series, just like herself (though in a different way). It's more of an out-universe explanation, though.

[Michsi]

He simply meant that Bulma deserved to be with a guy who doesn't die everytime he has a chance to and is actually important to the series, just like herself (though in a different way). It's more of an out-universe explanation, though.

In-universe or out-universe, it makes no difference. Just because Vegeta was more relevant to the story does not make him the better choice. It doesen't make him a better choice in- universe because of his character,of how he acts and it doesn' t make him a better choice out-of-universe, because her usefullness and role in the story does not depend on her relationship with Vegeta. Chichi is married to Goku, the main character, and that didn't help her character at all. At most, it serves as an interesting ship for some fans, but not more than that because it has close to no relevance in the story.

Oh and Vegeta has died just as many times as Yamcha in the story.

[Piccolo Daimao]

Building upon the 'Vegeta-as-a-boy' argument, I believe that Bulma is possibly a hybristophile. In real life terms, hybristophilia is a sexual paraphilia surrprisingly common in women where they are attracted to highly dangerous personalities or criminals. This may explain how she was attracted to Oolong's human form, Yamucha the desert bandit, the vampire, Blue and Zarbon in the first place (although Blue and Zarbon may reveal a thing Bulma has for gay guys). A common trait among women with a hybristophilia condition is that they try to change a man who is highly dangerous, this is perhaps their love story. Maybe Yamucha was too easy and she saught out a challenge in Vegeta.

That actually sounds about right. Maybe this was why she wondered if "Jackie Chun", Yamcha's opponent in the 21st Tenkaichi Budoukai, was attractive on mere mention of his name before she'd even seen the guy.

And Blooma didn't even know that Blue was gay until she assumed that he was after he knocked her back. And after that, she was pretty much rooting for Kuririn to kick his ass. And Zarbon was never confirmed to be gay (Toriyama's not subtle about that kind of stuff; if he wants you to know that a character's gay, he'll do more than just make him look effeminate - see Blue's overall disgust of women and Otokosuki in Village People garb flirting with Trunks at the 25th TB). They're just both your stereotypical "pretty boy" that pretty much most girls go ga-ga over.

Why the hell is everyone obsessed with shoe-horning affairs into a kids series?

I don't know, ask Piccolo Daimao.

Not just me, just read through the archives if you want more shit like this. Besides, we're Dragon Ball fans. It's what we do. You might as well ask, "Why the hell is everyone obsessed with scrutinizing characters' battle powers in a kids' series?"

[DBZAOTA482]

Why the hell is everyone obsessed with shoe-horning affairs into a kids series?

I don't know, ask Piccolo Daimao.

Not just me, just read through the archives if you want more shit like this. Besides, we're Dragon Ball fans. It's what we do. You might as well ask, "Why the hell is everyone obsessed with scrutinizing characters' battle powers in a kids' series?"

Yeah, maybe so.

[Saiga]

Not just me, just read through the archives if you want more shit like this. Besides, we're Dragon Ball fans. It's what we do. You might as well ask, "Why the hell is everyone obsessed with scrutinizing characters' battle powers in a kids' series?"

Eh, battle powers actually have some relevance.

[Piccolo Daimao]

Not just me, just read through the archives if you want more shit like this. Besides, we're Dragon Ball fans. It's what we do. You might as well ask, "Why the hell is everyone obsessed with scrutinizing characters' battle powers in a kids' series?"

Eh, battle powers actually have some relevance.

Not to the degree that many fans make them out to be. But don't be pedantic; you know what I mean.

[Saiga]

Not to the degree that many fans make them out to be. But don't be pedantic; you know what I mean.

No, actually, I really don't.

[Piccolo Daimao]

Not to the degree that many fans make them out to be. But don't be pedantic; you know what I mean.

No, actually, I really don't.

So it really matters whether or not Super Gogeta was 40 billion, even though the battle power system is inconsistent, something Toriyama himself didn't even bother laying out that well or was nothing more than just a guideline for keeping tabs on characters' strengths and highlighting the flaws of using scouters to reduce powers to mere numbers, and then discarded them after a mere two arcs of the entire ten arcs (more, if you count the filler arcs)?

It's about as nitpicky as talking about how the fuck Blooma and Vegeta got together, and some would say that's more interesting than OCD-ing over a manga panel of Vegeta panting and using it as proof that Vegeta actually wasn't near Freeza's 530,000 when he grappled with him, or multi-interpreting a minor, meaningless, insignificant line to prove that Gokuu was stronger than Gotenks or some shit like that.

[DBZAOTA482]

Not to the degree that many fans make them out to be. But don't be pedantic; you know what I mean.

No, actually, I really don't.

So it really matters whether or not Super Gogeta was 40 billion, even though the battle power system is inconsistent, something Toriyama himself didn't even bother laying out that well or was nothing more than just a guideline for keeping tabs on characters' strengths and highlighting the flaws of using scouters to reduce powers to mere numbers, and then discarded them after a mere two arcs of the entire ten arcs (more, if you count the filler arcs)?

It's about as nitpicky as talking about how the fuck Blooma and Vegeta got together, and some would say that's more interesting than OCD-ing over a manga panel of Vegeta panting and using it as proof that Vegeta actually wasn't near Freeza's 530,000 when he grappled with him, or multi-interpreting a minor, meaningless, insignificant line to prove that Gokuu was stronger than Gotenks or some shit like that.

Agreed and Toriyama even dropped the battle power system after the Freeza Saga because it was limiting the story.

[SpacePie8]

I agree with the person who said Toriyama paired them up to produce another SSJ character. Vegeta was the most highly used plot device in the series, and this is one example of it. Plus, how long was Vegeta going to stay on earth solely because of his desire to defeat Goku? It'd be harder to keep him on the show's canvas if he's galavanting in the depths of space. Being tied to Bulma(first by her super incredible training equipment and then Trunks) gives him more reason to stick around.

It's funny..as much as Toriyama supposedly disliked Vegeta, you have to know he hated Yamcha even more. Vegeta got The American Dream and Yamcha didn't even have a gf in the very end, and Yamcha actually expressed desire for a family numerous times.

Btw, shame on the person who said Vegeta was balding. You should know better than to start a dumbshit arguement of that magnitude.

[rereboy]

Bulma was always fighting with Yamcha anyway. This is made clear very early on in the series, way before the Saiyans are introduced (no matter who has the blame for it). Its also implied that they broke up at least once, so they eventually just didn't work out.

Therefore, Bulma ended up having some sexy time with Vegeta later on and having a kid thanks to it. I'm sure they didn't plan to be a real couple, but thanks to the kid, they actually became a family.