Who took the worst beating?

[ABED]

What does her being a woman have to do with anything?

Everything. You think her fight would have the same reactions and be mentioned so many times in this topic if she wasn't a woman? That's pretty much most of the reason why people think its so brutal. There are lots of fights in Dragon Ball where the fighter gets way worse injuries than Videl got. But somehow many remember her fight right away when thinking of worst beatings in Dragon Ball.

There's definitely truth to your point, but I think many would feel the same if it was a child taking that beating.

[KentalSSJ6]

What does her being a woman have to do with anything?

Everything. You think her fight would have the same reactions and be mentioned so many times in this topic if she wasn't a woman? That's pretty much most of the reason why people think its so brutal. There are lots of fights in Dragon Ball where the fighter gets way worse injuries than Videl got. But somehow many remember her fight right away when thinking of worst beatings in Dragon Ball.

There's definitely truth to your point, but I think many would feel the same if it was a child taking that beating.

I think Videl's beating kinda stuck with me. Whenever I'm getting my butt handed to me in the games ill just play as Mystic Gohan and just god stomp Spopovich on easy mode. Gah I wish we could have seen Gohan get his hands on the guy.

[Blade]

I think Videl's beating kinda stuck with me. Whenever I'm getting my butt handed to me in the games ill just play as Mystic Gohan and just god stomp Spopovich on easy mode. Gah I wish we could have seen Gohan get his hands on the guy.

I dunno, keep in mind that he was under Babidi's control and had every semblance of evil in his heart brought to the fore. Gohan could have torn him apart - but would that have really been the right thing to do? Spopovich was a vessel for Babidi's will, and had been turned into a mindless, subservient thug with an axe to grind.

Frankly, I think that makes him sort of a victim too.

[rereboy]

What does her being a woman have to do with anything?

Everything. You think her fight would have the same reactions and be mentioned so many times in this topic if she wasn't a woman? That's pretty much most of the reason why people think its so brutal. There are lots of fights in Dragon Ball where the fighter gets way worse injuries than Videl got. But somehow many remember her fight right away when thinking of worst beatings in Dragon Ball.

There's definitely truth to your point, but I think many would feel the same if it was a child taking that beating.

In that case, it would leave a stronger impression because its a child. In conclusion, we can say that it leaves a stronger impression because its a more vulnerable being taking the beating.

Videl leaves the same kind of impression because we, as a society, simply view women as more vulnerable than men.

And that's in a nutshell why that fight is considered especially brutal.

But rationally, it shouldn't be, since Videl isn't vulnerable, she's arguably stronger than her opponent and she even would have killed him if he didn't have that strange "zombiefied" body.

We can't even say that what her opponent did to her was that much worse than what she did to him, since she also was trying to beat him up and she landed a fatal blow on him that would have killed him if he was completely human (and she didn't know he wasn't completely human).

[flashback0180]

There's definitely truth to your point, but I think many would feel the same if it was a child taking that beating.

Like kid Goku getting brutally beaten up through out dragon ball.Or Kid Krillin brutally dieing...or even child Dende and rest of his little pals .

[RandomGuy96]

What does her being a woman have to do with anything?

Everything. You think her fight would have the same reactions and be mentioned so many times in this topic if she wasn't a woman? That's pretty much most of the reason why people think its so brutal. There are lots of fights in Dragon Ball where the fighter gets way worse injuries than Videl got. But somehow many remember her fight right away when thinking of worst beatings in Dragon Ball.

Oh. Well that's BS then. I always thought the reason the fight was so disturbing was that Videl didn't really have any super human powers, so what you're watching is basically a pseudo-realistic scene of a giant muscle bound fighter brutally beating on a regular teenager. The impact is lessened when you know the fighters are super human and can survive being punched through mountains, since it can disconnect you from them as a result of what's painful to them not being necessarily the same as what's painful to you.

But as you noted, many have taken worse beatings. Videl didn't even get hit by a fatal or near fatal blow while she broke Spopo's neck before.

[Cursed Lemon]

Though Videl being a woman might've contributed to the sympathy that we felt for her, I don't feel it is the largest source.

Videl was depicted as being absolutely, utterly, 100% helpless during her fight with Spopovich. We knew she wasn't a "real" fighter, so we weren't sitting there with the inevitable expectation that somehow she would prevail and that the violence was just an obligatory precursor for the sake of drama. She legitimately got the living daylight beat out of her, and there was no ulterior reason for it besides a loosely related plot point. There was no heroic aftermath, no magical rebound into a hard-fought victory. Not only that, Spopovich continued to beat her senseless even after she was unable to move.

Vegeta against Freeza is the only other battle perhaps in all of DBZ where the on-screen situation and directing created an equally unsettling visual.

[rereboy]

Though Videl being a woman might've contributed to the sympathy that we felt for her, I don't feel it is the largest source.

Videl was depicted as being absolutely, utterly, 100% helpless during her fight with Spopovich. We knew she wasn't a "real" fighter, so we weren't sitting there with the inevitable expectation that somehow she would prevail and that the violence was just an obligatory precursor for the sake of drama. She legitimately got the living daylight beat out of her, and there was no ulterior reason for it besides a loosely related plot point. There was no heroic aftermath, no magical rebound into a hard-fought victory. Not only that, Spopovich continued to beat her senseless even after she was unable to move.

Vegeta against Freeza is the only other battle perhaps in all of DBZ where the on-screen situation and directing created an equally unsettling visual.

She was arguably stronger than her opponent, and even broke his neck before she had any idea he could survive that. She only lost because he had that freakish body with supernatural resilience (otherwise he would be dead) and she only got as beat up as she did because she refused to give up even when it was more than clear that it has hopeless.

Sure, she took a very serious beating, but what's so special about it compared to the other beatings we've seen in the series, besides her being a woman? Did she have any limb clearly broken? Any limb ripped off? Any large hole in her body? Any clearly permanent wound?

All we have is a beating that went longer than necessary to determine the winner because she refused to give up and because her opponent refused to throw her out of bounds and kept beating her. Replace her with a man, and its still a serious beating, but the fans would care way less.

[RandomGuy96]

Spopo isn't the only one who has beaten their opponent until they couldn't move and proceeded to beat them some more anyway. Vegeta, Freeza, Cell, and Buu all do the same.

[GogetaSSJ2]

Videl did, at the world tournament....that fight was brutal...

[penguintruth]

The fight between Goku and Ma Junior (Piccolo) in the 23rd Tenkaichi Budoukai was incredibly brutal for both combatants, but I'll still have to go with Spopovich's beating of Videl. Not by much, but just enough.

[DBZAOTA482]

Though Videl being a woman might've contributed to the sympathy that we felt for her, I don't feel it is the largest source.

Videl was depicted as being absolutely, utterly, 100% helpless during her fight with Spopovich. We knew she wasn't a "real" fighter, so we weren't sitting there with the inevitable expectation that somehow she would prevail and that the violence was just an obligatory precursor for the sake of drama. She legitimately got the living daylight beat out of her, and there was no ulterior reason for it besides a loosely related plot point. There was no heroic aftermath, no magical rebound into a hard-fought victory. Not only that, Spopovich continued to beat her senseless even after she was unable to move.

Which is why I consider Kaioshits a dick. He knew about this all along and kept everything a secret 'til the last second. Fuck him. Awful character.

[MediaFanGirl93]

I never liked the whole Recoome vs Kid Gohan fight in the Frieza Saga, even though it's filler. Maybe it's because Gohan was a small child and Recoome was a giant alien.

[DBZAOTA482]

I never liked the whole Recoome vs Kid Gohan fight in the Freeza Saga, even though it's filler. Maybe it's because Gohan was a small child and Recoome was a giant alien.

It's in the manga, though the bits where Gohan was able land a few flurry of punches on Reacoome were filler.

[MediaFanGirl93]

I never liked the whole Recoome vs Kid Gohan fight in the Freeza Saga, even though it's filler. Maybe it's because Gohan was a small child and Recoome was a giant alien.

It's in the manga, though the bits where Gohan was able land a few flurry of punches on Reacoome were filler.

Even so, it's a really underrated fight. It sucks how Gohan was basically on the receiving end of this beatdown.

[ABED]

I never liked the whole Recoome vs Kid Gohan fight in the Freeza Saga, even though it's filler. Maybe it's because Gohan was a small child and Recoome was a giant alien.

It's in the manga, though the bits where Gohan was able land a few flurry of punches on Reacoome were filler.

Even so, it's a really underrated fight. It sucks how Gohan was basically on the receiving end of this beatdown.

Sucks for Gohan, but makes for some good drama as it showed Gohan's courage and pluck.

[MediaFanGirl93]

Sucks for Gohan, but makes for some good drama as it showed Gohan's courage and pluck.

Yeah, Gohan was basically Determinator-personified.

[Cursed Lemon]

She was arguably stronger than her opponent, and even broke his neck before she had any idea he could survive that. She only lost because he had that freakish body with supernatural resilience (otherwise he would be dead) and she only got as beat up as she did because she refused to give up even when it was more than clear that it has hopeless.

Sure, she took a very serious beating, but what's so special about it compared to the other beatings we've seen in the series, besides her being a woman? Did she have any limb clearly broken? Any limb ripped off? Any large hole in her body? Any clearly permanent wound?

All we have is a beating that went longer than necessary to determine the winner because she refused to give up and because her opponent refused to throw her out of bounds and kept beating her. Replace her with a man, and its still a serious beating, but the fans would care way less.

You're missing my point.

It's not because she was a woman, it's because she was feeble.

[rereboy]

You're missing my point.

It's not because she was a woman, it's because she was feeble.

No, I'm not. I just don't consider anyone feeble if that person is arguably stronger than her opponent.

She only lost because the opponent had better resistance and resilience. Otherwise it was a close match, both of them were close in power and she even broke his neck, a normally fatal injury, but his supernatural resistance and resilience gave him the win.

But explain to me exactly how she is feeble, I'm curious to see how exactly she can be viewed as feeble in that situation besides the obvious social preconception of always seeing women as more feeble. And saying that she is feeble compared to Gohan for example doesn't cut it because she isn't fighting Gohan, she is fighting an opponent perfectly within her range of power.

[Cursed Lemon]

No, I'm not. I just don't consider anyone feeble if that person is arguably stronger than her opponent.

She only lost because the opponent had better resistance and resilience. Otherwise it was a close match, both of them were close in power and she even broke his neck, a normally fatal injury, but his supernatural resistance and resilience gave him the win.

But explain to me exactly how she is feeble, I'm curious to see how exactly she can be viewed as feeble in that situation besides the obvious social preconception of always seeing women as more feeble. And saying that she is feeble compared to Gohan for example doesn't cut it because she isn't fighting Gohan, she is fighting an opponent perfectly within her range of power.

I...really don't think the in-universe justification of WHY she got the shit kicked out of her is particularly relevant.

She got the shit kicked out of her - to a degree and in a manner exceeding that of almost all other beatdowns in the series except for things like Vegeta and Freeza.