How do you view the racial/ethnic appearance of Saiyans?

[emperior]

What is told about them in cannon is:

- All have dark hair (and possible sometimes slight shades of red or brown, like Vegeta sometimes was/is portrayed);
- Their hair is usually spiked and doesn't grow (possibly similar to animals, if you trim it it will grow back to its default size);
- Their bodies are more resilient than earthlings, since they originally come from high gravity environments;
- They have tails, like monkeys (that apparently fall off and/or stop growing when saiyans get too strong);

Considering that saiyans were rather low populated (in the hundreds, according to DB-), my personal theory is that in their original planet - planet Sadla - they were scattered around the planet in small tribes, or clans, or something resembling it. Similar to us, they evolved to adapt the regions where they live but since they are capable of easily using ki to fly (and other uses), it was easy for them to mingle so whatever racial traits they might have developed eventually mixed up. With the destruction of their home planet, which forced them to invade and later conquer planet Plant, they were probably reduced to very low numbers and repopulated with whatever they had, so these traits became less clear.

My conclusion is that after generations of miscegenation, these saiyans could be born with any types of features that resemble different etnicies on Earth.

A population in the low hundreds? Jeesus Freeza killing them off was a mercy, because a population with those low numbers is doomed to die. So its ironic that the saiyans were doomed to die either way.

They weren't in the low hundreds, there were a few thousands of Saiyans on Planet Vegeta

[Gog]

What is told about them in cannon is:

- All have dark hair (and possible sometimes slight shades of red or brown, like Vegeta sometimes was/is portrayed);
- Their hair is usually spiked and doesn't grow (possibly similar to animals, if you trim it it will grow back to its default size);
- Their bodies are more resilient than earthlings, since they originally come from high gravity environments;
- They have tails, like monkeys (that apparently fall off and/or stop growing when saiyans get too strong);

Considering that saiyans were rather low populated (in the hundreds, according to DB-), my personal theory is that in their original planet - planet Sadla - they were scattered around the planet in small tribes, or clans, or something resembling it. Similar to us, they evolved to adapt the regions where they live but since they are capable of easily using ki to fly (and other uses), it was easy for them to mingle so whatever racial traits they might have developed eventually mixed up. With the destruction of their home planet, which forced them to invade and later conquer planet Plant, they were probably reduced to very low numbers and repopulated with whatever they had, so these traits became less clear.

My conclusion is that after generations of miscegenation, these saiyans could be born with any types of features that resemble different etnicies on Earth.

A population in the low hundreds? Jeesus Freeza killing them off was a mercy, because a population with those low numbers is doomed to die. So its ironic that the saiyans were doomed to die either way.

They weren't in the low hundreds, there were a few thousands of Saiyans on Planet Vegeta

Was it less than forty thousand saiyans on Planet Vegeta?

[emperior]

A population in the low hundreds? Jeesus Freeza killing them off was a mercy, because a population with those low numbers is doomed to die. So its ironic that the saiyans were doomed to die either way.

They weren't in the low hundreds, there were a few thousands of Saiyans on Planet Vegeta

Was it less than forty thousand saiyans on Planet Vegeta?

DB Minus says there were several thousands of them. There were probably enough to avoid their species to go extinct.

[Gog]

They weren't in the low hundreds, there were a few thousands of Saiyans on Planet Vegeta

Was it less than forty thousand saiyans on Planet Vegeta?

DB Minus says there were several thousands of them. There were probably enough to avoid their species to go extinct.

Wait, this is an embarrassing question but how much is several thousands? Do you mean several thousand?

[emperior]

Was it less than forty thousand saiyans on Planet Vegeta?

DB Minus says there were several thousands of them. There were probably enough to avoid their species to go extinct.

Wait, this is an embarrassing question but how much is several thousands? Do you mean several thousand?

Was it necessary to make a whole post to grammar-nazi me?
Yeah I meant several thousand without the "s"
Thanks for the correction though, it's actually helpful.

[Gog]

DB Minus says there were several thousands of them. There were probably enough to avoid their species to go extinct.

Wait, this is an embarrassing question but how much is several thousands? Do you mean several thousand?

Was it necessary to make a whole post to grammar-nazi me?
Yeah I meant several thousand without the "s"
Thanks for the correction though, it's actually helpful.

Several thousand? Than the death of the saiyans was only a matter of time, seriously Freeza didn't even need to blow up their race, they didn't even have a big enough population number, to sustain themselves

[emperior]

Wait, this is an embarrassing question but how much is several thousands? Do you mean several thousand?

Was it necessary to make a whole post to grammar-nazi me?
Yeah I meant several thousand without the "s"
Thanks for the correction though, it's actually helpful.

Several thousand? Than the death of the saiyans was only a matter of time, seriously Freeza didn't even need to blow up their race, they didn't even have a big enough population number, to sustain themselves

https://www.google.it/amp/s/www.newscie ... ent=safari

By this article, only 160 people are needed to maintain a stable population.
You also have to consider Saiyans are aliens and work in a different way than us.
A real world example would be gray wolves, which were only around 300 in 1960, by 2013 there were 5400+
There are many other animals who were even closer to extinction (like elephant seals)

[Gog]

Was it necessary to make a whole post to grammar-nazi me?
Yeah I meant several thousand without the "s"
Thanks for the correction though, it's actually helpful.

Several thousand? Than the death of the saiyans was only a matter of time, seriously Freeza didn't even need to blow up their race, they didn't even have a big enough population number, to sustain themselves

https://www.google.it/amp/s/www.newscie ... ent=safari

By this article, only 160 people are needed to maintain a stable population.
You also have to consider Saiyans are aliens and work in a different way than us.
A real world example would be gray wolves, which were only around 300 in 1960, by 2013 there were 5400+
There are many other animals who were even closer to extinction (like elephant seals)

160 people is for space travel, and the people have to actually return by twenty generations. http://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/ ... ble-colony 160 people is just not enough diversity.

The saiyans, are similar enough, to the point where they can breed with us, they are literally humans. But those animals are not humans, and honestly I actually found the proper amount of genetic diversity it's four thousand. Those lucky bastards just managed to scrap it.

[emperior]

Several thousand? Than the death of the saiyans was only a matter of time, seriously Freeza didn't even need to blow up their race, they didn't even have a big enough population number, to sustain themselves

https://www.google.it/amp/s/www.newscie ... ent=safari

By this article, only 160 people are needed to maintain a stable population.
You also have to consider Saiyans are aliens and work in a different way than us.
A real world example would be gray wolves, which were only around 300 in 1960, by 2013 there were 5400+
There are many other animals who were even closer to extinction (like elephant seals)

160 people is for space travel, and the people have to actually return by twenty generations. http://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/ ... ble-colony 160 people is just not enough diversity.

The saiyans, are similar enough, to the point where they can breed with us, they are literally humans. But those animals are not humans, and honestly I actually found the proper amount of genetic diversity it's four thousand. Those lucky bastards just managed to scrap it.

By making some more research on the web it seems like the number I was looking for is 5000. My bad. You were surely smarter than me in your researches. And yeah, it looks like the Saiyans barely made it. I think they were more around the 8000, but they couldn't get those numbers higher due to the numbers of Saiyans dying in mission.

[Gog]

https://www.google.it/amp/s/www.newscie ... ent=safari

By this article, only 160 people are needed to maintain a stable population.
You also have to consider Saiyans are aliens and work in a different way than us.
A real world example would be gray wolves, which were only around 300 in 1960, by 2013 there were 5400+
There are many other animals who were even closer to extinction (like elephant seals)

160 people is for space travel, and the people have to actually return by twenty generations. http://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/ ... ble-colony 160 people is just not enough diversity.

The saiyans, are similar enough, to the point where they can breed with us, they are literally humans. But those animals are not humans, and honestly I actually found the proper amount of genetic diversity it's four thousand. Those lucky bastards just managed to scrap it.

By making some more research on the web it seems like the number I was looking for is 5000. My bad. You were surely smarter than me in your researches. And yeah, it looks like the Saiyans barely made it. I think they were more around the 8000, but they couldn't get those numbers higher due to the numbers of Saiyans dying in mission.

I'd imagine that the reason why the sayians had such a low population is because, even though a lot of sayians die everyday, a lot of saiyans are born every day, meaning that the population hardly rose. But I'd imagine that there would be a -1000 decrease from all the sayians dying on missions

[Rubens]

What is told about them in cannon is:
- All have dark hair (and possible sometimes slight shades of red or brown, like Vegeta sometimes was/is portrayed);
- Their hair is usually spiked and doesn't grow (possibly similar to animals, if you trim it it will grow back to its default size);
- Their bodies are more resilient than earthlings, since they originally come from high gravity environments;
- They have tails, like monkeys (that apparently fall off and/or stop growing when saiyans get too strong);

Considering that saiyans were rather low populated (in the thousands, according to DB-), my personal theory is that in their original planet - planet Sadla - they were scattered around the planet in small tribes, or clans, or something resembling it. Similar to us, they evolved to adapt the regions where they live but since they are capable of easily using ki to fly (and other uses), it was easy for them to mingle so whatever racial traits they might have developed eventually mixed up. With the destruction of their home planet, which forced them to invade and later conquer planet Plant, they were probably reduced to very low numbers and repopulated with whatever they had, so these traits became less clear.

My conclusion is that after generations of miscegenation, these saiyans could be born with any types of features that resemble different etnicies on Earth.

Very good post. Let's hope we will learn more of Saiyans thanks to Planet Sadla and U6 Saiyans

First off, thank you ; secondly, yeah I also hope we get more out of U6.

They weren't in the low hundreds, there were a few thousands of Saiyans on Planet Vegeta

Was it less than forty thousand saiyans on Planet Vegeta?

DB Minus says there were several thousands of them. There were probably enough to avoid their species to go extinct.

You guys are right they were thousands, I made a mistake and placed hundreds instead... my bad

[SingleFringe&Sparks]

I've always found it odd that the same people who were adamant Goku be white "because he's an alien" are the same people who claim Chi Chi and Yamcha should be Asian. Am I the only one who sees no difference between the three, feature-wise? Am I really to believe if Yamcha was revealed to be a lost Saiyan, people would be like "nah, he looks too Asian to be a Saiyan." When I first started watching DBZ I thought Goku and Yamcha were cousins.

The only reason I assume people come to that is, because:
a) Most of the White-American fans project that Goku is white to them because he is the protagonist, and most protagonists in cartoons are white males.
I've even heard some people think Gohan is white, despite his mother being clearly Chinese themed in the same context.
b) People generally assume that most Anime characters are white, unless they look stereotypical of an East Asian (granted Goku's Gi isn't that identifiable)

Most people on the other side:
a) Goku is Asian because the series is Japanese.
b) Dragonball was inspired by a Chinese story, and Goku lives in a very Chinese setting home (Mount Paozu) thus prior to Z he must have been Asian.
c) The White characters in the series are more defined by blonde hair and very angular faces, as Japan generally sees Europeans in their stereotypes.

With Z its harder to really go by the Asian-esc Goku only because of the artstyle changing so much from Dragonball. Though to me Gohan, and Pan are more definable toward assuming they look more japanese than Goku himself does. Though to me if Goku stayed as he was in SS4, him having more monkey-king symbolism, I would have just said because of that, and his name he just would be Chinese, at most by motif. Though we already saw how jarring it looked in Dragonball Evolution to see Justin Chatwin of all people play Goku, and being called "Son Goku" just didn't fit at all knowing the motifs of the series' origins.

It's purely subjective, given the source material that Dragon Ball was based on, but I've always viewed Goku as a Chinese-Asian character, while Vegeta and Nappa being more "Caucasian." I could see Tullece being "Indian", while Broly and Paragus being tan-skinned Hispanic

I can't see Goku and Vegeta being Caucasian though, with the fact that in most of Toriyama's manga cover art, Goku and Vegeta had very deeply tanned skin in between Broly (Second Coming) and Paragus. The anime series also makes it pretty clear which characters are most parallel to the ethnic stereotype even if it takes the strongest of them. Sharpner for example is definitely Caucasian and he does not look anything like Goku or Vegeta in that natural bases.

[Pickle_Jar]

Vegeta has an IRL bodybuilder doppleganger named Tuan Tran, so this is what I think he would look like if he popped off the TV and stood in front of you.


Hubba-hubba!

I kinda think Saiyajins may look predominantly Asian with varying skin tones from very pale to very dark, but I may be biased a bit because I associate Dragon Ball stuff with Japan.

[Gog]

Vegeta has an IRL bodybuilder doppleganger named Tuan Tran, so this is what I think he would look like if he popped off the TV and stood in front of you.


Hubba-hubba!

I'm speechless, that man looks like Vegeta if he jumped from the screen. It also doesn't help the fact that he is beyond attractive. Actually who is the doppelganger of Goku?

[SingleFringe&Sparks]

Vegeta has an IRL bodybuilder doppleganger named Tuan Tran, so this is what I think he would look like if he popped off the TV and stood in front of you

He definitely has Vegeta's face. I see it spot on.

[Esfír Dedragón]

I've always found it odd that the same people who were adamant Goku be white "because he's an alien" are the same people who claim Chi Chi and Yamcha should be Asian. Am I the only one who sees no difference between the three, feature-wise? Am I really to believe if Yamcha was revealed to be a lost Saiyan, people would be like "nah, he looks too Asian to be a Saiyan." When I first started watching DBZ I thought Goku and Yamcha were cousins.

The only reason I assume people come to that is, because:
a) Most of the White-American fans project that Goku is white to them because he is the protagonist, and most protagonists in cartoons are white males.
I've even heard some people think Gohan is white, despite his mother being clearly Chinese themed in the same context.
b) People generally assume that most Anime characters are white, unless they look stereotypical of an East Asian (granted Goku's Gi isn't that identifiable)

Most people on the other side:
a) Goku is Asian because the series is Japanese.
b) Dragonball was inspired by a Chinese story, and Goku lives in a very Chinese setting home (Mount Paozu) thus prior to Z he must have been Asian.
c) The White characters in the series are more defined by blonde hair and very angular faces, as Japan generally sees Europeans in their stereotypes.

With Z its harder to really go by the Asian-esc Goku only because of the artstyle changing so much from Dragonball. Though to me Gohan, and Pan are more definable toward assuming they look more japanese than Goku himself does. Though to me if Goku stayed as he was in SS4, him having more monkey-king symbolism, I would have just said because of that, and his name he just would be Chinese, at most by motif. Though we already saw how jarring it looked in Dragonball Evolution to see Justin Chatwin of all people play Goku, and being called "Son Goku" just didn't fit at all knowing the motifs of the series' origins.

It's purely subjective, given the source material that Dragon Ball was based on, but I've always viewed Goku as a Chinese-Asian character, while Vegeta and Nappa being more "Caucasian." I could see Tullece being "Indian", while Broly and Paragus being tan-skinned Hispanic

I can't see Goku and Vegeta being Caucasian though, with the fact that in most of Toriyama's manga cover art, Goku and Vegeta had very deeply tanned skin in between Broly (Second Coming) and Paragus. The anime series also makes it pretty clear which characters are most parallel to the ethnic stereotype even if it takes the strongest of them. Sharpner for example is definitely Caucasian and he does not look anything like Goku or Vegeta in that natural bases.

It becomes even more difficult when some anime characters have natural multi-colored hair, multi-colored eyes, and even Western-style clothing and people automatically assume that they are inherently European but the anime may include some dialogue about how they are either Japanese or from other parts of Asia(!)

Even in Europe, there is a bit of a spectrum in terms of who is "really white". A native Swede with green/blue eyes and yellow/red hair and an Italian/Greek with a light tan and black hair are undoubtedly considered white, even if the former is about as pale as sour cream and the latter could be mistaken for biracial person if you squint your eyes from a distance.

...

I've actually viewed Karl Urban as a decent actor to portray Vegeta and Tony Jaa to portray Goku.

[SingleFringe&Sparks]

It becomes even more difficult when some anime characters have natural multi-colored hair, multi-colored eyes, and even Western-style clothing and people automatically assume that they are inherently European but the anime may include some dialogue about how they are either Japanese or from other parts of Asia(!)

Thats true. I mean blonde hair in DB is the only immediately notable thing to what a character ethnically reflects in parallel to the real world. Characters like Videl were always hard for me to really tell if she was supposed to be Japanese, or if she was Caucasian as she has blue eyes but black hair and pale skin. She also has the large 'youthful' girl eyes that you generally see common in DB. Where as characters like Tao Pai Pai are more definitively Chinese because they do have the share of those aesthetic characteristics. Then there are cases like Bulma with blue hair and blue eyes or Sakura with Pink hair and green eyes. To Japan they will say the characters are Japanese, while it would not be far-fetched to assume those characters are white to Americans because of that. Though its only more prominent in more modern anime that hair-color is more connected to personality types rather than ethnicity. Most characters to Japan are japanese unless stated otherwise. Even blonde characters, because they either think lemon yellow just stands out more on paper or it also has a personality type.

Even in Europe, there is a bit of a spectrum in terms of who is "really white". A native Swede with green/blue eyes and yellow/red hair and an Italian/Greek with a light tan and black hair are undoubtedly considered white, even if the former is about as pale as sour cream and the latter could be mistaken for biracial person if you squint your eyes from a distance.

That gets complicated because the standards what people are defined by, tends to vary often superficially instead of by actual ethnic lineage. Its why italian people tend to be on the fence between if some appear white, or israeli, and eastern Europeans tend to fall in between lines with Middle Eastern as well. Then with that people tend to over expect a person to have the exaggerated forms of their ethnic stereotypes in order to fit something objectively and that isn't realistic anymore. Its also why in Anime, most characters with darker skin are debated a lot on if they are constituted as Black, South East Asian, Hispanic or Indian, especially in anime that are very artstyle specific like Pokemon and Dragonball get that a lot.

With the Saiyans as a whole to me they just tend to have a Mongolian look and that theme of their warrior culture (if that's accurate). I lean more with Mongolian only because of Shugesh/Panbukin, Nappa and (early) Scouter Vegeta that off to me like that the most especially the mustaches on Nappa and Shugesh and their overall medium tanned skin. There are also Ancient Chinese people who look like that as well and with Goku being based on a Chinese character it wouldn't be farfetched at all to say Goku was Chinese themed while the Saiyans were Mongolian themed.

[coeper2000]

the saiyans are asian , the word saiyan came also from asian , goku and vegeta are both asian , an asian alien race , goku was always

depicted as little asian kid when he was younger it was all based

on chinese cultures , and yamcha and tien are also saiyans and yamcha looks like he could be goku brother or gohan broher , mr roshi and krillin are also asian , they only one who is not asian is bulma

[VegettoEX]

the saiyans are asian , the word saiyan came also from asian

This part is not true. The サイヤ Saiya in "Saiya-jin/Saiyan" comes from and is an anagram of 野菜 yasai, the Japanese word for vegetable. There is nothing rooted from the term "asian" in there whatsoever.

Furthermore, this is the third post you've made, and all are extreme necroposts -- that is to say, you are responding to posts that are multiple, multiple years old (nearly a decade in one case), which is against our community guidelines. Please consider this a free warning. Thank you!