Why Was Vegeta Such A Big Hit In The West?

[Codarik]

Vegeta is a "big hit" everywhere, not just the West. Mainly because he had the most character progression in the series and he is just a plain badass. Everyone likes badasses. *insert Mr. Torgue quote here*

[Dbzfan94]

Vegeta is a "big hit" everywhere, not just the West. Mainly because he had the most character progression in the series and he is just a plain badass. Everyone likes badasses. *insert Mr. Torgue quote here*

Hahaha I loved Mr. Torgue. He was hilarious. And having the same voice actor as Mr Satan helped too.
On that note, I noticed a lot of Funi voice actors in BL2.

On topic, I think people like Vegeta is he doesn't take any shit and is, like everyone has said, a badass.

[sailorspazz]

It's true, bitches love badasses. And, uh, I guess dude-bitches love them, too.

But yeah, as others have said, it's not just the West that loves Vegeta, since he ranked high in a lot of the Japanese character popularity polls (curious if there's an archive somewhere that shows all the character rankings throughout the years...wait, there isn't one on the site, is there? *cue "there's a site, too?* joke*) And even though that one old interview became the basis of the "fact" that Toriyama hates Vegeta, it seems that he's come to like the character more, especially considering he said he'd like the next movie to star Vegeta (unless he just wants him to be the star so he can subject him to even more humiliating comedic scenes like the ones from Battle of Gods )

His badassness certainly plays a role in his popularity, but I think it's also due to the fact that he develops far beyond his original villain role. Sure, lots of villains in Dragon Ball end up siding with the heroes, but I think Vegeta's transformation is the most well done. For example, I was just reading the 22nd Budoukai section of the manga, and Tenshinhan's turning from evil was basically just Kame Sennin saying, "hey, you shouldn't be evil anymore!" and Tenshinhan being like "Shut up, you can't tell me what to do! *pause* OK, I'll be a good guy." Vegeta's change is much more complicated, going from outright villain, to having an "enemy of my enemy is my friend" arrangement with the heroes, to a reluctant ally, and finally to a man who ends up saving the planet he was originally going to wipe out. I think the West places a lot of value on personal growth and development, so that could contribute a lot to his popularity here.

[ABED]

Vegeta is a "big hit" everywhere, not just the West. Mainly because he had the most character progression in the series and he is just a plain badass. Everyone likes badasses. *insert Mr. Torgue quote here*

I have to ask, what's the deal with the small font? I don't understand why people do this.

[PolatGuy92]

Toriyama doesn't like him, fans of the Japanese version don't like him, and yet the west just eats him up. Why do you think this is? Do people see Vegeta as some kind of symbol for 'murica or something?

I don't think he's any more liked or disliked in America, or indeed the Western world, than he is in Japan.

Also, I think any official note of Toriyama disliking the character tends to relate back to when he was writing the Freeza arc, and he received numerous fan letters asking him not to kill Vegeta - so he intentionally did the opposite. Even then I think he was just being playful, the only other thing he had to say about Vegeta was that he couldn't understand his popularity - as he's not a nice character and is weird looking.

But does Toriyama still hate Vegeta? I think Toriyama's thoughts about Vegeta has changed over the years. He even says that if a new movie is coming out,
that he wants to make Vegeta the main protagonist! I don't think Toriyama still hates Vegeta since Vegeta is now more a relaxed yet still badass guy with
great pride inside him. Yeah Vegeta truly is something...
He is someone that you can look up to him. He wants to prove everyone in the world that pride is important and that you can be proud of something you are. Well atleast that is one of the reason why I like him, but indeed it's because he's a badass