Vegeta

Vegeta (ベジータ) is a fictional character and antihero in the Dragon Ball franchise created by Akira Toriyama. Vegeta first appeared in the manga chapter #204 Sayōnara Son Gokū (さようなら孫悟空) first published in Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine on December 19, 1988, and in episode 5 of its anime adaptation Dragon Ball Z. Vegeta was originally a dangerous enemy who sought to use the Dragon Balls to gain immortality, but later became an anti-hero as even greater threats were introduced in the series. In the series, Vegeta is a member of the royal Saiyan lineage, the extraterrestrial race of warriors that Goku also belongs to. Even though Vegeta is viewed as a dangerous enemy to Goku for the beginning of part 2, he later becomes an ally to Goku and assists in the defeat of powerful enemies such as Cell and Majin Buu. He always strives to "surpass Kakarot (Goku's birth name)". He was created by Akira Toriyama to be the main rival to the main character of the series, Goku.

Creation and conception
Following a common name trend that Toriyama developed in Dragon Ball, Vegeta's name is a pun of the word, vegetable, in the series, he is the prince of the Saiyans. In the special Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!, Vegeta's younger brother named Tarble is introduced. When the two names are combined, they create what would roughly be "vegetable" in English, being that vegetables are the naming theme for all pure Saiyans in the series. Vegeta was conceived as an anti hero and main rival of Goku who, with his arrogant and competitive nature, is the opposite of Goku's calm demeanor and lack of competitiveness as Goku only fights when absolutely necessary.

Appearance
Vegeta's initial appearance in the manga is as a short and stocky character, with upright standing hair and a defined widow's peak. When compared to the main character Goku, Vegeta is noticeably shorter. As the series continued, Toriyama's artwork evolved, and as a result, Vegeta became more lean looking. In the anime adaptation's spin off called Dragon Ball GT, Vegeta's appearance goes through a drastic change, more so than any other previous time. Vegeta is seen to completely abandon his Saiyan style attire, and dress in an Earth clothing reminiscent of real life Western cultures. He also appears to be more muscular. When he is first introduced in the series, Vegeta has a tail, which he loses in his initial battle on Earth with Goku and his allies. Over the course of the series, he has worn several variations of the Saiyan suit, but began abandoning the armor after the fight against Cell, even though his gloves and boots still reflect his Saiyan roots throughout the end of the written series. However, beginning in the Dragon Ball GT series, he abandons any indication of Saiyan style clothing for a more Earth-based appearance.

Personality
When Vegeta is introduced in the series, he is seen as sadistic and merciless, murdering his long time comrade Nappa, seeing the latter's inability to defeat Goku as an unforgivable weakness. During this time, Vegeta is seen to have a fierce desire for immortality and galactic rule, a facet of his bitter resentment over his long-term employer, Frieza. Following Frieza's death at Goku's hands, Vegeta's personality changes from a sadistic killer to a vengeful anti-hero, obsessed with becoming the strongest and surpassing Goku. Because of his arrogance, attitude, and past wrongdoings, Vegeta gains a lot of disdain from those around him (particularly Piccolo), except Goku, who is often friendly despite the animosity Vegeta has towards him. After a long time, Vegeta becomes romantically involved with Goku's close friend Bulma, after which she bears him a son named Trunks and later on a daughter named Bra (Bulla in the English adaptation). As a result of his love for Bulma and the birth of his son, Vegeta soon simply becomes a rival of Goku's, and thinks of Earth as a good place to settle down and live. As a result of this change he sees within himself, Vegeta attempts to return to his old sadistic self by willingly letting the wizard Babidi control him with his spell and thus becoming Majin Vegeta. However, the devotion that he feels towards his family soon overcomes the evil within him. In the end, he becomes Goku's closest ally, and even a good friend. Despite this, Vegeta is still annoyed by Goku's ignorance. His change in personality is shown in the last episodes when he decides to finally join the party and became more of a friendly rival and no longer obsesses himself with defeating Goku. Another example is when he is defending innocent people (though sometimes through force).

Overall, Vegeta is displayed as being extremely proud of his Saiyan heritage, frequently referring to himself as the "Prince of all Saiyans" and always addressing Goku as "Kakarot" even when everybody else calls him "Goku", possibly to remind him of his Saiyan ancestry. Vegeta's personality is primarily based on his rivalry with Goku, and how Goku was able to change him over the course of time, despite his obsession with surpassing Goku in power. Vegeta has a deathly fear of worms as shown in Dragon Ball Z episode 273, "The Innards of Majin Buu" (although this could be regarded as non-canon, as most of the episode is filler, yet that this could explain why he often insults people that he disliked as "miserable vermin").

Abilities
Up until his tail was cut off by Yajirobe, he could turn into a Great Ape, or Ōzaru under a full moon. This is a capability of all Saiyans with tails. Vegeta has the ability to create and enhance attacks with the use of ki. He also has the ability to use Bukū-jutsu (舞空術), which enables him to fly. Constant training and his Saiyan heritage have given him vast superhuman strength, durability, speed and reflexes.

Vegeta is known to give names for his various energy attacks. In his early appearance, Vegeta is seen to use attacks similar to several of the protagonists of the series, such as a Ki Disk Razor (気円斬), a two fingered laser-like blast, and a ki wave similar to Goku's Kamehame-Ha. This beam, known as the Galick Gun (ギャリック砲), is used by Vegeta during his battle against Goku in an attempt to destroy the Earth. The Galick Gun is Vegeta's main attack and one of his favorites, used in most Dragon Ball Z video games, although he uses it only once in the manga. He later develops the Big Bang Attack (ビッグ・バン・アタック) and the Final Flash (ファイナルフラッシュ) attacks, which are much more powerful than his older energy attacks.One of his most powerful attacks in the series is The Final Explosion which is a nuke like explosion which he performs as Majin Vegeta to sacrifice himself and nearly kills Majin Buu. Vegeta's most commonly used attack in the series is when he bombards an opponent with an array of small ki blasts. He is not known to have a name for this attack, but it is officially called Rapid-Fire Energy Balls (連続エネルギー弾). Also, in Dragon Ball GT, Vegeta displays a powerful new attack, entitling it the Final Shine Attack (ファイナルシャインアタック), where he uses his left hand to fire off a massive beam of green ki that widens with distance. Because of his immense strength and power, Vegeta, along with few other characters from the Dragon Ball franchise, can destroy entire planets with single attacks if he intends to.

Vegeta also possesses several transformations that greatly enhance his abilities to varying degrees. He gains the ability to transform into a Super Saiyan and, through training, can further transform into advanced states of Super Saiyan as the series continues, including Ascended Super Saiyan and Super Saiyan 2. While he was not able to achieve Super Saiyan 3, in Dragon Ball GT he reaches Super Saiyan 4. In the Raging Blast, Raging Blast 2 and Dragon Battlers games he has a Super Saiyan 3 form.

Vegeta can also fuse with Goku and create a warrior who has the combined power and skills of both. One method is by using the Potara Earrings presented to Goku by the Elder Kai. This results in a 'potara fusion' creating Vegito (Vegeta/Kakarot). The other method is by performing the "Fusion Dance", which creates Gogeta (Goku/Vegeta), or if performed incorrectly, results in the ineffective "Veku".

Plot overview
Vegeta is introduced in Dragon Ball Z as the proud prince of the Saiyan race. He travels to Earth with his comrade Nappa in order to use the Dragon Balls to wish for immortality. He and Nappa fight off the Z-Fighters, but then Goku arrives, having finished his training with King Kai. Vegeta kills Nappa for losing so easily to Goku, but soon finds that he himself is unable to prevail against the Z-Fighters and Vegeta barely escapes with his life. After the fight, Vegeta travels to Planet Namek in an attempt to wish for immortality using the Dragon Balls of Namek. Upon arrival, Vegeta manages to kill many of Frieza's henchmen as well as members of the Ginyu Force. Also, he destroys a whole Namekian village for their Dragon Ball. Later, he is defeated and subsequently killed by Frieza, but is revived with a wish from the Earth Dragon Balls. Vegeta then chooses to stay on Earth and enters into a relationship with Bulma, resulting in the birth of his son, Trunks and his daughter, Bra.

Years later, Vegeta finally becomes a Super Saiyan and easily destroys Android #19, sent by the Red Ribbon Army to kill Goku. However, even as a Super Saiyan, he is defeated by Android #18. Afterwards, Vegeta ascends the Super Saiyan level while training with Trunks in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and pummels the android Cell, who has absorbed Android #17. But his cockiness leads him to allow Cell to absorb Android #18, upon which Cell achieves his perfect form. Vegeta fails to defeat Cell, and he is forced to participate in a martial arts tournament created by Cell, called the Cell Games, in which he aids Gohan (Goku's first son) in order to defeat Cell in his perfect form.

Seven years after the Cell Games, Vegeta allows himself to be consumed by magician Babidi's evil power for his own desire to become powerful enough to fight and defeat Goku. However, when the monster Majin Buu is revived as a result of the energy released from their fight, Vegeta goes to face him alone and sacrifices himself in a vain attempt to defeat Majin Buu. After King Yemma gives Vegeta back his body and sends him down to Earth to help against the threat of Buu, he combines with Goku using the Potara Earrings, creating Vegito, who completely overwhelms Buu with his strength. Eventually, he is absorbed into Buu's body and subsequently, the fusion splits. Goku and Vegeta then recover their allies who have been absorbed by Buu, causing him to undergo a new transformation, which results in his return to his original form, called Kid Buu. On the Supreme Kai's planet, Vegeta and the fat Majin Buu battle Kid Buu again to buy time for Goku to gather energy for the Spirit Bomb, which he uses to defeat Kid Buu once and for all.

In Dragon Ball GT, Vegeta is possessed by Baby and battles Goku, but is eventually split from Baby's body before Baby is destroyed. Later, he fights Super 17, but again, he is knocked out and nearly killed. When Omega Shenron wreaks havoc, he fuses with Goku as a Super Saiyan 4 to become Gogeta, who defeats the evil Shenron, but his arrogance doesn't allow him to finish the job, and the fusion time runs out, reverting the two back to normal. At the end of Dragon Ball GT, Vegeta says a farewell to Goku, who leaves the duty of protecting Earth in Vegeta's hands before he flies off into the sky on Shenron.

Voice actors
In the original Japanese version of the anime, Vegeta has been voiced by Ryo Horikawa. In the first English language dub by the Ocean Group, Vegeta was voiced by Brian Drummond. He would reprise his role during the international Ocean dub of the rest of series. Saffron Henderson voiced younger Vegeta in flashbacks for the Ocean Group dub. When Funimation took over distribution in the United States, Vegeta would be voiced by Christopher Sabat in all media, including English adapted Dragon Ball video games, and also Vegeta in child flashbacks. Vegeta is voiced by Laura Bailey as a child in flashbacks in Dragon Ball Z Kai. In Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout, he was voiced by Milton James.

Appearances in other media
Vegeta has appeared in many video games related to the Dragon Ball franchise as both a playable character and boss. He has also appeared in other non Dragon Ball-related video games, such as Jump Super Stars, Jump Ultimate Stars, and even in the Dragon Ball Z/One Piece/Naruto crossover game Battle Stadium D.O.N.

Vegeta has made several appearances in other manga. One of which is in Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball self parody Neko Majin, where he battles the main character Neko Majin Z. In Cross Epoch, Vegeta is reimagined as a captain of a crew of air pirates which include Trunks, Usopp, and Nico Robin. On September 15, 2006, Vegeta would make a guest appearance in a chapter of the Kochikame manga Super Kochikame, entitled Kochira Namek-Sei Dragon Kōen-mae Hashutsujo (こちらナメック星ドラゴン公園前派出所)

Vegeta has also been the victim of parody: the Shōnen Jump Gag Special 2005 issue released on November 12, 2004 featured a Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo one-shot Dragon Ball parody manga. The manga was a humorous retelling of the battle between Goku and Vegeta in the Saiyan Saga. Jelly Jiggler was Goku and Don Patch was Vegeta.

Vegeta has made two contributions to music: in the eighth installment of Hit Song Collection series entitled Character Special 2, Vegeta sings the song "Vegeta-sama no Oryori Jigoku!!". The song focuses of Vegeta cooking a special Okonomiyaki, and in Dragon Ball Kai: Song Collection he sings the song "Saiyan Blood", which he brags about how great he is. Other Dragon Ball-related songs that center around Vegeta are "Koi no NAZONAZO" by Kuko and Tricky Shirai which focuses on his and Bulma's relationship and "Ai wa Ballad no Yō ni~Vegeta no Theme~" by Shin Oya which represents Vegeta's reflections on his life and then current family.

Reception
The character of Vegeta has received praise and criticism from various reviewers from manga, anime and other media. Todd Douglass Jr. from DVDtalk commented on Vegeta's skills and anger, noting them to be a good combination for any fight even though it is a one-sided battle due to how powerful he is. During the appearance of Babidi, his reveal as a villain was considered to be "the real meat" from the story. Theron Martin from Anime News Network noted Vegeta's pride as being partially responsible for the success of the series. His fight against Goku during such time was also commented to be very entertaining, despite its length as well as Goku and Vegeta's fighting styles, which were considered to be becoming stale. In another review, Theron noted Vegeta's overcoming his pride to help defeat Cell as the best scene from the fight against said antagonist due to how it creates the climax from the scene. Carlos Ross from Them Anime Reviews found Vegeta and Bulma's relationship to have too much comic potential and comments that such characterization was lost. Vegeta's voice actor in the English dub from the series, Christopher Sabat, has referred to Vegeta as his favorite character from the Dragon Ball Z anime. In About.com "Top 8 Anime Love Stories", Vegeta and Bulma's relationship ranked second with Katherine Luther commenting that such a relationship was unpredictable by fans. Mania Entertainment writer Briana Lawerence listed Vegeta 9th in the article 10 Male Headaches of Anime, criticizing his personality and his repeated desire to surpass Goku's power. Vegeta has appeared in the 1991 and 1992 Anime Grand Prix polls, taking high places in the category "best male character." Vegeta was placed twenty-first in IGN's Top 25 Anime Characters of All Time list.