#Toei trying to group Goku and Vegeta as two people who would rather train than be with their families and Toriyama said NO Vegeta wants

[shannonsketches]

Why is the anime so weird, it's not even the same series dude?? It's like,

Anime:

GOKU: I have a great idea to bring peace to the universe, and my leadership and compassion alone will unite us all. I have No Flaws and am A True Relatable Everyman :)

VEGETA: NO! I AM THE BEST AND I WILL CAUSE PROBLEMS UNTIL I AM RECOGNIZED AS SUCH!!!!

Manga:

GOKU: Vegeta what's cornmeal made of? I know it's what the corn eats, but what's it made of? VEGETA: Hey Kakarot let's play the quiet game until one of us dies.

#silly hours #I do not understand this writing it's so bad aklsdlkasjd #Toei wants Goku to be Clark Kent SO bad and he SO isn't lmao #they're so good and dumb and rounded and complex in the manga what is the anime so afraid of #Toriyama said 'no no this man is a detached faux-immortal who has a dear pure heart but he's childlike and selfish even though he's kind' #and toei went 'got it goku's never done anything wrong ever in his life' #toriyama said 'Vegeta's gone through a lot and he's finally settling into his more mature leadership role with the confidence he's earned' #and toei said 'got it vegeta has the confidence of a high school bully except now he can interact with his family as a comedy bit' #girl hWHAT #Toei trying to group Goku and Vegeta as two people who would rather train than be with their families and Toriyama said NO Vegeta wants #to be HOME this is the first time in years that he's HAD ONE and it makes him HAPPY to be with his wife and children!! #Vegeta trains so that he can protect the things he doesn't want to lose again and Goku trains because it's the thing that makes him happies #They are NOT the same lmao And yeah Vegeta still wants to beat Goku but he also knows that Gohan could dogwalk both of them if he wanted #He also knows Trunks and Goten are going to surpass them it's not about being the best anymore he's past that he just wants to Not Need Gok #He just doesn't want to have to rely on Goku to save the day he wants to be Enough on his own he just wants to know he can be #because every time it's mattered he WASN'T and people he loved were lost to his inability to protect them and he carries that #Like Whis diagnosed him with anxiety and cptsd out in the open and Beerus said he was self-centered for feeling guilt #+ he lowkey enjoys the rivalry it keeps him goal-oriented so he can't get complacent and lazy which is what triggered his Buu Saga breakdow #realized how Fucked Up it was that having a home and loving family made him feel like he was failing and went 'wait no I won actually??' #now he's chill as fuck in the manga. cool confident leader. #and sometimes he is childish and dumb with Goku as a treat #you know what rocks about his rivalry with Goku in Super though is that it's Playful. Vegeta is learning how to Play. #You ever seen a shelter dog get introduced to a really playful dog and it takes a minute for the shelter dog to understand it's safe here #And then they're both running around the backyard playing hot potato with one braincell?? That's Goku and Vegeta's relationship #and the way the anime sleeps on that dynamic is so fucking criminal especially when it's literally canon it's in print it's out there #you had the playbook how'd you fumble it this bad #anyway that's my 25+ year blorbo thoughts I love Geets a lot okay #And I love Goku in the manga a lot I'd forgotten that he's actually a great character when Toei's not fucking up his whole vibe

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Z 044

Last time, the crew from Earth finally found out that they weren’t on planet Namek at all, but a Fake Namek.    This is the fourth episode of this arc, and I feel like they kind of made a mistake dragging it out for so long.   I think the issue here was that Toei needed to do some filler episodes, but most of the cast was dead, hospitalized, or en route to Namek, so the only possible way to go was to have Bulma stop off someplace for a side-story, except she would never do that, because the mission is too important.    So someone had the bright idea to have her go to the wrong planet by mistake, and get scammed by a couple of aliens.    It’s a lot like the Princess Snake episode from the Saiyans Saga, but Princess Snake worked a lot better because it was just the one episode.  In theory, I could get behind a four-episode arc about the heroes being deceived, but the longer you draw out the deception, the harder it is to suspend the audience’s disbelief.    Holes start to form in the plot.   Princess Snake’s scheme didn’t make a ton of sense either, but her true motives were exposed so quickly that it didn’t matter.

I do like the designs for Lychee and Zurkuro.    They bear a slight resemblance to Dodoria, but they’re different enough to keep things fresh.   

I don’t know which one is talking right now, so let’s just say it’s Lychee.    I don’t even know if that’s his real name, but whatever.   He tells Bulma the truth: that they were castaways who got stranded on this planet much the same way Bulma’s group crash landed here.   But Bulma’s ship is still mostly in tact, which means they finally have a chance to escape.

This is a flashback to how they found the Earth crew after the crash.  Gohan’s pose is hilarious to me. 

So why didn’t they just take the spaceship as soon as they found it?   Well, Lychee says there’s a “cosmic tidal current” blocking their way off the planet.   I’m guessing that same force was what made Bulma’s landing so rough.

The two aliens really did have telepathic abilities, which they used to find out everything they needed to know to deceive Bulma and Co.  I’ll be coming back to this later.

Everything else that happened on this planet was an illusion generated by their psychic powers, which must have been pretty impressive, since they weren’t even nearby when they found the last Dragon Ball.

So why didn’t they just kill Bulma, Krillin, and Gohan and take the ship?   Apparently they just didn’t want to?   I doubt Lychee actually treated their injuries, though, so I’m guessing none of them were seriously hurt in the first place.   On the other hand, it would be rather interesting if the gang really had been on the brink of death, and Lychee did everything in his power to save them, even knowing that he was going to trick them later.

What I’m getting at is that it seems like these two have a very strange sense of morality, at least by human standards.  I think most people would agree that if you’ve already decided to betray three people and abandon them on a hostile planet, you might as well kill them, especially if there’s a good chance that they’ll kill you if they find out what you’re up to.    Instead, Lychee and Zurkuro went through this whole elaborate ruse just to keep them occupied (and alive) before they had their chance to take the ship.   Now that the conditions are favorable for launch, they’ve sprung their trap.

They even grab Bulma’s Dragon Radar and make plans to travel to Namek themselves, in hopes of finding the Dragon Balls.    What a couple of assholes.

Krillin tells Bulma to go after them, since she’s the only one who isn’t tied up with nautilus tentacles.   Incidentally, they’re not even that dangerous.   Lychee and Zurkuro said they were man-eaters last episode, but this time they explain that the nautili will just hold Krillin and Gohan for a while and eventually let them go.  This is a weird planet.

So here’s where things really go off-track for me.   So these guys’ entire scheme was for the sake of taking Bulma’s ship, but they never figured out until now that they would need a password to get the door open.    They literally read Bulma’s mind to find out about everything else they would need to know, but they just skipped the part about how to get into the ship?

It’s not like they didn’t probe her knowledge of the ship, either.  They know that it’s operated by voice commands, after all.  This seems like a pretty big plot hole to me.

While Bulma wonders what to do, Gohan and Krillin break free of the nautilus-creatures, because they have super powers.    Really, it was kind of foolish of the aliens to think they could trap these two, knowing how strong they are.   

Back at the ship, the aliens find Bulma and force her to open the ship for them.   She suggests that they all go together, which seems like the simplest solution to all of this.    Seriously, why did they treat this like a zero-sum game?   Lychee and Zurkuro are literally trapped here, and when help arrives, they decide to viciously betray their saviors, albeit in a nonlethal way.

Well, they tell her that it’ll take fifty years for them to reach their own homeworld.   Guys, you just told her you planned to go to Namek first.    That’s where they’re going.   Just hitch a ride to Namek, and then head back to Earth, and by then Bulma won’t even need the ship anymore, and she’d probably let them have it.  

Also, why do they even care about going back to their home planet?  Anywhere would be better than here, right?   I understand being homesick, but this is a matter of survival.

Bulma starts to cry as they tell her that there’s snakes and lizards on the planet that she can eat.    Well, she’d better not eat Snakey, because he’s awesome.    Also he’s huge, so I don’t know if he’d be easy to cook.

The aliens get into the ship, but then the platform lowers and they see... Krillin!   I don’t know why his signature catchphrase, “I hate snakes,” never caught on in the States. 

The aliens aren’t much on brawn, but they’re desperate at this point, so they stand their ground...

SCHMACK.

YAHTZEE.

LIFTOFF. 

TIME TO GO TO THE REAL F’N NAMEK ALREADY.

And these two idiots are stranded again.   Congratulations, you played yourselves.

Meanwhile, Vegeta is also on his way to Namek.   The narrator is careful to point out that he’s coming from a different direction.   It’d be funny if he ended up on Fake Namek like a few minutes after Bulma left, and he ended up killing Lychee and Zurkuro.

Back on Earth, Goku still keeps trying to sneak out of the hospital.   Dude, just chill out.   Honestly.

Then finally  Bulma’s ship arrives at the real Namek.   Thank goodness.   It took nine episodes, but we’re finally here.

This time Bulma leaves nothing to chance.   After verifying their position, she starts checking the atmospheric conditions outside...

...Except Gohan and Krillin have already left the ship.   Really, it shouldn’t be a surprise that it’s an Earth-like environment, since Kami and Piccolo were able to live on Earth.

Gohan thinks this place resembles where Piccolo trained him, so maybe Piccolo chose that area out of an instinctive yearning for his homeworld. 

Bulma gets a signal on the Dragon Radar, so she’s feeling optimistic.  Krillin and Gohan sense a lot of ki in the distance, but Bulma figures that must be the Namekians, since they ought to be very strong.

And then Vegeta lands on the planet.   Ruh-Roh.

Krillin tells Gohan to suppress his power so Vegeta’s scouter won’t pick them up, and then he throws down his hat in frustration.  

He starts improvising a new plan.   Krillin suggests that Bulma leave the Dragon Radar with them while she returns to Earth.  She promises to come back with Goku, but it’ll take two months to make the round trip.    That’s a long time to be stuck on a planet with Vegeta.

Elsewhere, Vegeta starts taking stock of the situation.   Frieza and his men are already here, but he has no idea about the Earthling contingent.    He seems confident that he can whoop any of Frieza’s henchmen, but he admits that he wouldn’t stand a chance against Frieza himself.    This would be the first direct confirmation that Frieza is stronger than everyone else.

Bulma sets up an interstellar communicator and phones... Master Roshi of all people.    I guess she doesn’t trust her dad at all.   She updates him on the situation, and tells him to fill Goku in, but not Chi-Chi.

Meanwhile, here’s a real, honest-to-goodness Namekian... and he’s dead.

As expected, Frieza has wasted no time gathering the Dragon Balls, and he already has four of them.   Also, the Dragon Balls here are huge.

So yeah, this marks the official entry of Frieza into the story.  He’ll be around for a good long while, so get used to him.

#dragon ball #2019dbliveblog #gohan #bulma #krillin #goku #vegeta #lychee #zurkuro #frieza #zarbon #dodoria #master roshi #fake namek #real namek #dead namek #namek saga