The height conundrum

[RandomGuy96]

It seems more than just a couple steps to me. Alternatively, Vegeta is still a midget bastard in this arc.

What convinces me that this is just a change in art style/a case of the art exaggerating differences rather than Vegeta growing in-universe, aside from the proportions on all other characters changing, is Krillin. He's a head shorter than Goku at the beginning of Z, matching his official height, but for most of the rest of the series he's as tall as four year old Gohan. When Gohan turns ten, he's as tall as ten year old Gohan.

[Attitudefan]

He's still a manlet, but looks less of a mnalet than previously. Granted, he was still a head taller than Krillin, I don't know if that would warrant Namek arc Vegeta to be remotely close to Trunk's chin save for his hair.

[Attitudefan]

I just want to point out that in the new Kai opening and endings, it looks like they are going with a 6'3" Ten, 6'0" Yamcha, 5'11" Gohan, at the very least Piccolo is looking like a 7 footer, and they have gone back to the original height ratio between Bulma and ChiChi where Bulma is taller! I wonder what reference chart they are using these days? Old ones from way back where Ten does look 6'3", ones used in the Buu and GT era in the 90s or brand new ones?



Goku is standing in front of most of the gang along with ChiChi, Oolong, and Trunks

[RandomGuy96]

Piccolo is definitely not his official height there, even if Gohan did get a few inches taller. Gohan and Goku should be at his lower chest, Vegeta and the girls should be at his stomach. If Gohan is 5'11, he looks at best 7'0-7'1 in that shot. 18's too short (she's the same height as 5'2 Videl).

Krillin, Roshi, Oolong, and the kids are too short, but that's par for the course. Vegeta's too tall (or Bulma is too short), and the same goes for Goku (or Chi Chi is too short). Chi Chi doesn't even reach his shoulder, which makes her what, 4'10 in that shot, if Goku is really 5'9? Ten is also too tall- he towers over Yamcha and goes past Piccolo's chin. Maybe 6'6?

[Attitudefan]

Piccolo is definitely not his official height there, even if Gohan did get a few inches taller. Gohan and Goku should be at his lower chest, Vegeta and the girls should be at his stomach. If Gohan is 5'11, he looks at best 7'0-7'1 in that shot. 18's too short (she's the same height as 5'2 Videl).

Krillin, Roshi, Oolong, and the kids are too short, but that's par for the course. Vegeta's too tall (or Bulma is too short), and the same goes for Goku (or Chi Chi is too short). Chi Chi doesn't even reach his shoulder, which makes her what, 4'10 in that shot, if Goku is really 5'9? Ten is also too tall- he towers over Yamcha and goes past Piccolo's chin. Maybe 6'6?

Yeah, Vegeta is way too tall, Goku is looking too tall, Piccolo is looking to be just 7 feet, and Tenshinhan is looking too tall. That is why I questioned what source they are using since Ten, in the older reference charts towers over everyone, like Goku comes up not even to his shoulder. Actually, why are they trying to show Vegeta be taller than Bulma all the time these days when it was official that he was shorter?

Spoiler:

Tenshinhan towering over everyone in about the same ratio as Kai.

Now that I think about it, but they seem to want to shrink everyone who is shorter than Goku other than Vegeta. Is it wrong to have a woman's head reach the middle of a man's face these days?

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

They really want the male characters to look larger than life I guess. I mean, originally, it was portrayed properly to what is officially stated, and is drawn out realistically.

EDIT: Looking at it now in comparison, Goku looks like he could be over 6 feet tall and Vegeta looks like he could take Goku's official height! Weird.

[RandomGuy96]

It's weird, because that M3 height chart is otherwise pretty accurate and consistent with official heights, at least as far as Piccolo, Krillin, Goku, and Yamcha go. It's mostly Tenshinhan who messes the whole thing up by being seven feet tall.

I don't know why Goku, Vegeta, and Tensinhan look too tall. I guess Ten is that tall because he's kinda like Piccolo in role and personality early on, and his is an archetype that is usually portrayed as tall. As for Goku and Vegeta, it just seems to be the thing to have the man a head taller (or more) than the woman (even though that's not very common), or at least taller in general in the case of Vegeta.

[Attitudefan]

It's weird, because that M3 height chart is otherwise pretty accurate and consistent with official heights, at least as far as Piccolo, Krillin, Goku, and Yamcha go. It's mostly Tenshinhan who messes the whole thing up by being seven feet tall.

I don't know why Goku, Vegeta, and Tensinhan look too tall. I guess Ten is that tall because he's kinda like Piccolo in role and personality early on, and his is an archetype that is usually portrayed as tall. As for Goku and Vegeta, it just seems to be the thing to have the man a head taller (or more) than the woman (even though that's not very common), or at least taller in general in the case of Vegeta.

Yeah, that M3 chart is accurate, and most of the older charts are accurate. That is what is bugging me now in how they are changing all this up.

But that what makes Vegeta interesting too, him even being smaller than everyone, even his lover just makes him seem more interesting. It bothers me too that they are being inconsistent since it is well established that Vegeta is a muscular, Napoleon complex, psychopathic midget. I mean, they were able to be consistent in the past, why not now?

Nitpicking aside, this is why I would put Tenshinhan 6'1" or a over to about 3 inches (despite the exaggerated height they give him) or I make Goku shorter than 175 cm. But then when we get something like this, where everyone else is helluva lot smaller, it just messes everything up.

Also, you know how you gave Piccolo different heights in different arcs, I might give teen Goku circa 23rd tenkaichi budokai, lowest 5'7" and tallest 5'8.9" (175cm). He can look really small or fairly average during this arc. 5'8.9" for the rest of his adulthood.

[RandomGuy96]

Nitpicking aside, this is why I would put Tenshinhan 6'1" or a over to about 3 inches (despite the exaggerated height they give him) or I make Goku shorter than 175 cm. But then when we get something like this, where everyone else is helluva lot smaller, it just messes everything up.

Also, you know how you gave Piccolo different heights in different arcs, I might give teen Goku circa 23rd tenkaichi budokai, lowest 5'7" and tallest 5'8.9" (175cm). He can look really small or fairly average during this arc. 5'8.9" for the rest of his adulthood.

Tenshinhan usually just looks too tall in general. He ranges between being ~6'2 (what he is officially listed as) and 6'11. On another note, am I the only one who doesn't get why Piccolo is usually drawn too short? This is a series that if anything highly exaggerates height differences, yet an actual extremely tall character is rarely portrayed as extremely tall.

I actually had Goku at 5'7 at age 18. That seems about right; he seems on the short side here.

[Olympian]

For some reason, as Vegeta grew in popularity and ended up with Bulma, he grew up in height. Which is actually possible with some training....just not drastically so. He went from being just taller than Kuririn but shorter than everyone else to..taller than Kuririn and Bulma.

It`s a small nitpick, but I prefer otherwise

Tenshinhan seems totally a role thing when it comes to the animation department. He was never that tall in the manga.

[Patrick]

Yeah, Ten looks too tall in those pictures, almost 6'6" or 6'7". Or Piccolo shrunk a little bit (maybe to get under the average door?). How tall is Chi-Chi supposed to be, 5'4"? She looks accurate right next to Goku's 5'9" in those pictures.

[RandomGuy96]

Chi Chi's 5'4, yeah. And Piccolo is definitely not full-sized in the Kai image. Maybe 7'-7'1 there, with Ten being 6'7.

[Attitudefan]

I guess at worst we can label characters in certain height ratios if need be when comparing characters who are not official and their heights vary often.

4'5-5'0 males short or midget like Oolong and Krillin
5'0-5'5 males short or stumpy like Vegeta
5'6-5'9 males average short like Goku
5'10-6' males average tall like Yamcha and Adult Gohan
6'1 and above start to get mixed up such as Ten and Piccolo where they are either too tall or too short. As a 5'9 guy myself, I can see why it can be like this. Though, personally, I would go with 6'3 and above can get away with looking too tall or proper height. Once a person is 6'3 and over, they are all just tall.

For women in Dragon Ball they all fall in the range of 5'0 to 5'6. Rarely are they taller. Baba is an exception for being super short.

[RandomGuy96]

I'd say Vegeta is drawn 4'10-ish (same height as Danny DeVito) in the Saiyan and Namek arcs. He barley comes up to Nappa's stomach, is right at Piccolo's waist, and is around the same size as true form Freeza when the latter strangles him, with Freeza himself being at Goku's chest.

[Attitudefan]

I'd say Vegeta is drawn 4'10-ish (same height as Danny DeVito) in the Saiyan and Namek arcs. He barley comes up to Nappa's stomach, is right at Piccolo's waist, and is around the same size as true form Freeza when the latter strangles him, with Freeza himself being at Goku's chest.

Good point! I was saying maybe 5'0 cause he could look taller than Freeza. Generally, like in the example you pointed out, Vegeta is Freeza's height back in those arcs. So yeah, the Vegeta we see when he is still evil is 4'10 and maybe on average a 5'1" since in Bulma's nightmare he looks about 3 inches shorter than a 5'4" Bulma. But it depends, cause nowadays he looks to be 5'4 - 5'6" and is taller than Bulma in some depictions!

[RandomGuy96]

I'd say Vegeta is drawn 4'10-ish (same height as Danny DeVito) in the Saiyan and Namek arcs. He barley comes up to Nappa's stomach, is right at Piccolo's waist, and is around the same size as true form Freeza when the latter srangles him, with Freeza himself being at Goku's chest.

Good point! I was saying maybe 5'0 cause he could look taller than Freeza. Generally, like in the example you pointed out, Vegeta is Freeza's height back in those arcs. So yeah, the Vegeta we see when he is still evil is 4'10 and maybe on average a 5'1" since in Bulma's nightmare he looks about 3 inches shorter than a 5'4" Bulma. But it depends, cause nowadays he looks to be 5'4 - 5'6" and is taller than Bulma in some depictions!

I think Freeza's only 4'8 anyway.

Yeah, he can look taller (like the scene with 5'5 Bulma) or shorter (during his fight with Goku), but I think 4'10 is a good average for his pre-"retcon" height. Nappa looks three heads taller than him, yet smaller than Piccolo. In the Buu arc, he looks closer to 5'4.5, but Bulma seems to shrink.

I presume you're talking about that Buu arc height chart with Gohan, Vegeta, Chi Chi, Videl, and Bulma? Because Gohan looks 6'4 there.

[Attitudefan]

I'd say Vegeta is drawn 4'10-ish (same height as Danny DeVito) in the Saiyan and Namek arcs. He barley comes up to Nappa's stomach, is right at Piccolo's waist, and is around the same size as true form Freeza when the latter srangles him, with Freeza himself being at Goku's chest.

Good point! I was saying maybe 5'0 cause he could look taller than Freeza. Generally, like in the example you pointed out, Vegeta is Freeza's height back in those arcs. So yeah, the Vegeta we see when he is still evil is 4'10 and maybe on average a 5'1" since in Bulma's nightmare he looks about 3 inches shorter than a 5'4" Bulma. But it depends, cause nowadays he looks to be 5'4 - 5'6" and is taller than Bulma in some depictions!

I think Freeza's only 4'8 anyway.

Yeah, he can look taller (like the scene with 5'5 Bulma) or shorter (during his fight with Goku), but I think 4'10 is a good average for his pre-"retcon" height. Nappa looks three heads taller than him, yet smaller than Piccolo. In the Buu arc, he looks closer to 5'4.5, but Bulma seems to shrink.

I presume you're talking about that Buu arc height chart with Gohan, Vegeta, Chi Chi, Videl, and Bulma? Because Gohan looks 6'4 there.

Yeah, I am talking about the Buu arc height chart. Bulma does shrink from that chart from previous examples (which I did post in this thread earlier if you don't remember seeing them), where Bulma shrinks to be shorter than ChiChi and all the males grow.

I'd give Vegeta 4'10" for, as I think will now be unofficially called "pre-retcon height", at 4'10". He's barely taller than Freeza and Krillin and depicted a few times to be their height! So 4'10" is fine!

5'5" Bulma is consistent until the Buu arc I think. I guess the stress of being a mom shrunk her! Haha!

[Attitudefan]

I was just looking through my Manga from viz, and while looking through the panels, and the page with character descriptions, I can tell you this:

When Goku is in the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai up through the end of the Saiyan arc, Krillin comes up to Goku's shoulders or just above. Goku looks to be Bulma's height or slightly taller in most instances. When I looked at Buu arc Vegeta, Goku looks close to that. Pre-retcon height Vegeta is a few centimeters taller than Krillin as we see on the chapter title page from the fight with Freeza being nearly eye level, where as I said in comparison to Buu arc Vegeta, Krillin comes up to his shoulders. As for Goku, in the Cell arc, Krillin comes up to about the lower part of his pecs. In other words, the top of Krillin's head come up to Goku's nipples.

I wonder how this changes things? I will have pics up soon.

[RandomGuy96]

Does Bulma's head go up to the middle of Goku's face?

Krillin's one of those characters who is drawn inconsistently on part of Toriyama liking to to exaggerate the (lack of) heights of short characters. E.g. he was a little more than a head shorter than Goku at the 23rd/during Raditz's arrival (consistent with his official height), as tall as four year old Gohan in the late Saiyan arc, and then suddenly as tall as ten year old Gohan at the Cell Games.

[Attitudefan]

Well, with Bulma, from going through the pages just now, during the Ma Jr arc and the beginning part with Raditz, in the Manga, Goku and Bulma are the same height. Goku had a slight edge where Bulma looks a centimeter shorter but no less than that. Chichi comes up to the middle of Goku's head/face.

Only in the anime does Bulma come up to roughly the middle of Goku's face (I think she is past Goku's eyebrows) as we see in the island get together at the beginning of Z. Looking at that image I posted of Buu Kai, the Bulma Vegeta height is exactly how Goku is with Bulma at the beginning of Z in the anime. I'm actually really surprised the Manga had Goku at eye level with Bulma. Yamcha and Ten look much, much taller.

With Krillin, his proportions start to look a lot smaller when Vegeta arrives on earth. Before then, his height fluctuates. After however, he is the same height as 5 year old Gohan, a little taller, and barely comes past Goku's knee even when he has a perspective advantage. He shrunk.

[RandomGuy96]

Well, with Bulma, from going through the pages just now, during the Ma Jr arc and the beginning part with Raditz, in the Manga, Goku and Bulma are the same height. Goku had a slight edge where Bulma looks a centimeter shorter but no less than that. Chichi comes up to the middle of Goku's head/face.

Only in the anime does Bulma come up to roughly the middle of Goku's face (I think she is past Goku's eyebrows) as we see in the island get together at the beginning of Z. Looking at that image I posted of Buu Kai, the Bulma Vegeta height is exactly how Goku is with Bulma at the beginning of Z in the anime. I'm actually really surprised the Manga had Goku at eye level with Bulma. Yamcha and Ten look much, much taller.

With Krillin, his proportions start to look a lot smaller when Vegeta arrives on earth. Before then, his height fluctuates. After however, he is the same height as 5 year old Gohan, a little taller, and barely comes past Goku's knee even when he has a perspective advantage. He shrunk.

Exact same height? Weird.

Yep. Later, he's the same height in relation to ten year old Gohan as he was to five year old Gohan. He's clearly a character who has no size consistency, and can look "merely" really short one panel and inhumanly tiny the next (like when he confronted Raditz). He only seems correctly proportioned at the beginning of Z (next to Goku at the island) and sometimes at the 23rd Budokai. Weirdly, the opposite is true for most other characters, who start looking a bit closer to their listed heights in the Buu arc, most noticeably Vegeta. Or maybe Vegeta's height was always counting his hair

"Then c'mon, bring all four feet of ya. Or should I could your stupid hair?"