#granolah arc

[artbybai]

Granolah Sketch ✨💚

✍️🐰💤

“Why are you so hard to draw” I say at 4 am

[sweetescapeartist]

FIXING THE MORO & GRANOLAH ARCS

This is a long post. But, here I will rewrite scenes to make the arcs better because there are a TON of flaws & bad writing. Ppl are OOC, abilities get nerfed without explanation, things are said that contradict the entire series (like 17 & 18 not having life energy when they have been shown to donate life energy to the Genki Dama in the original series). And there are things said that have no payoff and end up being pointoess inclusions. So without further ado, here we go.

GALACTIC PRISONER ARC:

Moro's magical abilities stay consitent. Grand Supreme Kai lost most of his godly energy to seal Moro, so that means barely any of it would be given to Uub. Uub is mentioned, but he does not get involved in any kind of way. Vegeta training with the Yardrats does not happen because he doesn't use any of those abilities after that arc, so it was pointless. And most importantly, there is no "Angel in training" Merus in this. We barely saw Goku train with him and didn't see them form a friendship. We are just told it happened & are given a quick flashback AFTER Merus sacrifices himself. (I dont see any value Merus added to the story besides being a plot device that dies, comes back, removed from being an Angel, and is never mentioned again in the following arc. Toyotaro added an Angel but had to make him not Angel so it does not conflict with Toriyama's future plans.) A lot of things only happen in the current manga arc, then aren't shown again. Toyo makes something up that ends up conflicting with what Toriyama has planned, Toyotaro finds a way to backtrack. So here are my fixes...

Jaco comes to get Majin Buu for help. Goku arrives and asks whats going on. Jaco explains that he was told to awaken the Grand Supreme Kai within Buu. He ends up asking Goku and Vegeta for help since they are actually on Earth & not training at Beerus' planet.

They learn about Moro, Moro escapes and uses his magic to drain the life energy of the prison gaurds. Moro also releases the prisoners. Still at the prison, Goku and Vegeta arrive & fight the prisoners but the two end up getting their ki drained and having to retreat to a ship when Moro destroys the prison. The prisoners were all saved by Moro and put in ships. Goku and Vegeta teleported to Jaco's ship.

At this time, Buu awakes and leaves the ship to fight Moro in space. The Grand Supreme Kai emerges. Their magical battle is what makes them somewhat even but in the end, Buu is defeated and Goku has to turn SSB then teleport in space to save Buu then go back to the ship.

Defeated, they plan on what to do next. They decide they need to train with Whis more. Vegeta DOES NOT train with the Yardrats. Instead, he went to train with Whis more, but ends up training under Beerus. Meanwhile, Goku trains under Whis.

The warriors of Earth fight 7-3 and other minions. Jaco ends up buying them time to train. (This can remain the same.)

Moro arrives with his army who are amped up by his magic. But despite this, the Earth's heroes are victorious. Everyone defeats the minions. Gohan & Piccolo defeat 7-3, Krillin defeats the panda bear guy and he and Roshi defeat the 3 fused women, Yamcha beats his dude up, Tien & Chaozu beat the metal man up. And 17 & 18 fight in some battle too.

Moro decides to get his hands dirty himself. Everyone tries to fight him but get beat up by Moro.

An impatient Goku senses the battle and uses Instant Transmission to get to Earth to help his friends. He fights old man Moro using UI principles while in SSG & SSB. He ultimately loses.

Then Whis & Beerus arrive on Earth with Vegeta. Vegeta shows off his Hakai technique he's been working on. He gives old man Moro a scare by destroying one of his arms.

Moro manages to escape, absorbs 7-3, and regains his youth (I dislike the knock off Cell appearance so this will be young ram Moro). Vegeta tries holding him off but cannot do so alone. Goku jumps in to help along with the others. But they all get defeated. Beerus thinks about helping out, but when Goku sees everyone defeated, Goku finally taps into UI Omen.

UI Omen Goku defeats Moro and finishes him for good.

Since the Earth warriors were made honorary members of the Galactic Patrol like Goku & Vegeta were, they are all in a picture with their medals instead of just Goku, Vegeta, & Buu.

GRANOLAH THE SURVIVOR ARC

Granolah and Gas dont learn Hakai out of nowhere. That's dumb. And Gas can't use Instant Transmission either. That's dumb. They only have amplified versions of the skills they currently have. Monaito does not suddenly get his healing abilities amplified. He just does the best he can.

Goku and Vegeta get back to their training. Goku can use UI Omen at will but is training to use MUI. Vegeta is trying to learn more from Beerus. We actually see Beerus use a purple flaming aura.

Goku & Vegeta fight Granolah. Goku goes first. Once he goes SSB, he thinks he defeated Granolah then gets knocked out by him.

Vegeta fights Granolah and taps into the power he saw Beerus tap into. Vegeta manages to win. And Granolah is surprised that a Saiyan does not kill him. Then, Monaito explains how a Saiyan once spared them before. (Not "save" because that contradicts a lot.)

Flashback; There is an invasion on planet Cereal. The people are fighting for their lives against the invaders but they have mostly lost. Then 7 pods crash land on the planet. From there, Bardock and his crew hop out and start fighting as Oozaru since the moon is out. They kill all the space pirates with ease. Then one of the surviving the Cerealians Flayk destroys the moon to stop the Saiyans from slaughtering them next. From there the pirates kill Flayk then go attack the last few survivors as well as attempting to attack the Saiyans. But the Saiyans finish the pirates off. Bardock's crew leaves, but he decides to stay behind a while. He smells something fishy about these pirates and wonders why somebody other than Freeza's army were attacking the planet. So he looks for clues.

Continued flashback; While searching for some sort of information, Bardock sees a passed out Granolah being held by Muesli and Monaito. In fear they ask why didn't he kill them. He says he saw the destruction from space and just wanted a good fight. He wasnt even supposed to be there & he has no reason to do battle with an opponent who won't fight him (referring to Monaito & Meusli). Then, the Heeters show up. Elec has an high-tech eyepatch over his eye that he uses to detect Bardock. It's his version of the scouters Freeza's soldiers use. Elec asks what the Saiyan is doing here & threatens to tell Freeza. Bardock tells him go ahead and tell Freeza how Elec and his family are trying to take planets from him by hiring pirates to wipe the inhabitants out, then sell the planets to Freeza at a higher price. Elec shows irritation. Granolah wakes up and sees Bardock and yells "Saiyan!" Monaito quickly tries to put him asleep & Meusli covers his mouth, but a beam shoots through the house and hits Muesli. That's the last thing Granolah sees before he passes out again. A Saiyan & his mother being struck by a beam. But it was Elec who killed Granolah's mother.

Continued flashback; Bardock then fires an attack at Elec and his family, but its blocked by Gas' barrier. Then, the two fight with Bardock having the advantage until Gas releases his instincts and hulks out. Bardock is losing, but keeps fighting. Meanwhile" Monaito summons the dragon to wish Bardock and himself and Granolah away, but Bardock says to wait. He wants to beat this guy. With great effort Bardock fights and uses skill to outmanuever the "mindless beast" Gas. Bardock wins, but he collapses from exhaustion.

Continued flashback; Elec arrives. He is angry at the defeat of Gas and plans to finish Bardock off himself. When he pulls out his gun, Bardock blasts it out of his hand as he smirks and begins to pass out. In a fit of rage, Elec removes his pendant & releases his instincts. BUT his transformation is not shown yet. At that exact moment, Monaito wished for Bardock to return home and Bardock who was barely concious & only thought about returning home. Then Bardock is gone & the flashback ends.

Then Moaito in the present explains that a furious Elec found him and threatened to kill him and Granolah if he didn't do as he commanded. Monaito explains that Elec was the one who killed Granolah's mother and he wanted to make Granolah his own personal Saiyan assassin, but the Saiyans were wiped out some time after. Granolah angrily takes off his eyepatch that was given to him by Elec. Monaito picks it up & asks why Granolah did that when he upgraded the eyepatch himself & even named it Oatmil. Granolah says he wants nothing from the Heeters. They've lied to him and used him his entire life.

Then, Gas shows up as the new strongest in the universe after a wish was made and fights the heroes. They all get defeated until Granolah unlocks his second red eye (his true power) and beats Gas who just released his instincts, but lost control again. Elec gives Gas a pep talk and Gas controls his instincts. Then Gas slims down and fights Granolah, defeating him. Gas also damages his right eye that is unique to his people. Then, Elec shoots Granolah in the stomach. He falls unconcious.

Goku and Vegeta power up and prepare to fight Gas. Their plan is to make him lose control so they can find openings as Bardock did. They do so while Monaito heals Granolah. The plan is working and they manage to defeat Gas together as UI Goku & UE Vegeta (or some similar form), but are exhausted & depleted on ki.

Next, Elec walks up to Gas. Gas begs for help. Then, Elec pulls out his gun in order to shoot Gas who is now useless to him (kinda a refernece to how Vegeta killed Nappa). But, Goku shoots the gun out Elec'd hand with a ki blast & smirks. Elec gets reminded of Bardock. He tells Goku that there is no dragon to save him this time (as if he was talking to Bardock). Elec takes off his pendant, unleashes his instincts, and transforms. It was foreshadowed in CH 80 page 24 that all the Heeters can unleash some sort of instinct power, so why not make use of that?

Elec pumels Goku and Vegeta while saying he may not be the strongest in the universe, but he can handle two worn out Saiyans like them. (Elec is revealed to have been the strongest Heeter until he wished for Gas to be the strongest in the universe.) Before he can land a killing blow on Goku & Vegeta, a blast is fired through Elec's chest. A barely healed Granolah is using Oatmil to assist his aim and shoots elec with his own gun, killing Elec in a similar way how Elec killed his mother. But, Granolah killed to protect others instead.

They all lay tired as Monaito goes to heal them. He heals Goku & Vegeta a bit, then Freeza's ship appears and Freeza leaps from it. He asks where Elec is and sees him dead on the ground. Freeza says its a pity because he wanted to kill him himself. He "asks" if the other Heeter want to work for him. But before they can answer, Gas, who is still following Elecs orders, rages out and fights Freeza. But Freeza effortlessly kills him. Freeza says he'll ask again. Oil and Maki agree.

Freeza looks at Goku and Vegeta who aren't in any kind of fighting condition. He slightly powers up with a powerful aura then stops. He smirks then tells them that killing them.now wouldn't be satisfying. He plans to defeat them at their best to make them bow to him. He would rather they live with the fact that he is above them once again. (A parallel to how SSJ Goku wanted Freeza to live with the knowledge that a "lowly Saiyan" was now far above him.) Then Freeza departs as he says they will meet again.

Soon after, Whis arrives and heals everyone up. Goku asks if Whis was watching the entire time. He says he watched most of the fight. Then the oracle fish adds that none of them looked like the strongest that would rise. Goku & Vegeta are surprised. Then the two part ways with Granolah & Monaito to return to their training. Monaito says he will make a wish to heal the planet & then deactivate the Dragon Balls. Granolah asks if he can make another wish. It's implied thst he wants the Cerealians to cohabit the planet with the Sugarians like how the Cerealians onces cohabited Planet Cereal with Namekians. But it is never shown.

Boom. Done. It aint the best, but its better than what we got. There is a pay-off to things foreshadowed, subtle references, Bardock's personality isnt changed & he retains his DB Minus/DBS: Broly attitude, Goku isn't being nerfed, Vegeta actually wins with his new form without it making Goku look bad, things remain consistent.

[misakialter]

Ok but am I about to Rant?

...You know what? Fuck it.

Why not, I'm gonna end the year talking about something nobody really cares but I certainly do for whatever reason: Dragon Ball Super, babyyyyyy.

Specifically the Granolah Arc.

(In advance, thank you for reading.)

Genuinely, I have like a lot to criticize about it but for those who need a refresh or have no idea what I'm about to say but still wanna read my thoughts anyways lemme do a quick summary for you.

The story continues from the resolution of the prior arc, as a power copying enemy known as Seventhree is salvaged by it's creator. Before this guy could do anything though, the titular Granolah trounces and steals the Android.

We find out he's the last of his race, and had his planet wiped out by Saiyans working under Frieza back then. He's serving a faction known as the Heeters, they sell planets but work under intel over force, now holding their own monopoly after Frieza's first death.

Keyword: FIRST. Now that he's back, they are in trouble and tell as much to Granolah, whose trauma kicks in and wants nothing but vengeance, but of course, he's too weak. Though the Heeters start to carefully plot around this development thanks to SevenThree's memory helping them get caught up with last arc's development and our heroes.

Granolah returns to his planet and the topic comes out with his caretaker, a namekian elder. Reminded of their set of 2 Dragon Balls and with the finding of the missing one, Granolah wishes to become the strongest (At a cost) and demands to see Frieza.

The Heeters, of course, tell him to stay put and set in motion their plan: Get rid of Granolah before he destroys the empire they wanna overtale by tricking Goku and Vegeta into coming, while they wish their toughest member, Gas, to be THE strongest to then kill Frieza.

After a long brawl between our heroes trying to talk Granolah down, the elder is forced to reveal some truths: A Saiyan (Bardock) saved them and the Heeters killed his mom actually, he couldn't reveal it prior as Granolah was put to work with them in exchange for their safety.

Thus, Gas turns into the strongest and faces the now teamed up trio who are vastly outmatched as he continues to grow, little by little wearing him down until Frieza's surprising arrival, who wipes out Gas in one clean sweep and leaves Goku and Vegeta with the bitter feeling of being left behind powerwise.

With Granolah now giving up on his vengeance, Goku finding out more about his father and adapting Ultra Instinct in his own way, and Vegeta fueling his newfound Ultra Ego form with his feelings on the Saiyan's past, the gang says their goodbyes and set off.

People with familiarity on the arc will notice me describing the entire second half of it in three paragraphs. And this is for sure not a mistake: This IS the relevant information of that section. So you know, we'll be here for a while when I get there. :)

So like, was the arc bad from the start?

No. Much like the grand majority of DBS, I think it's got one of, if not the most promising start so far, because as it stands, the arc set in motion a very character centric narrative over something with a bigger plot in motion. This is actually the most enjoyable part of it which we hardly get in this series at all, so it feels fucking good when people come to blows because we have so much baggage on each side the clash gets hype, much like how DBS: Broly toyed with (Or you know, how Battle Shonen that go hard do it).

Granolah is an interesting character, despite having his arc rushed at the very end and with some missed out chances. Already having seen a similar concept with Baby from GT, we know the idea of a surviving race member of a wipeout from the Saiyans writes itself. Not to mention his unique aspects such as his trauma or his combat quirks help him stand out beyond the cool design. He's also integrated into the world with as much grace as the new group, the Heeters, who serve as our "people to punch" this arc.

From the duo of Maki and Oil proving to be a little more comedic than threatening but still effective, and the cunning Elec being modestly entertaining, they don't feel out of place in the world of DB. Gas in particular I'm going to put off for now, but know that his interactions with Elec is what make the latter vastly more unique in terms of narrative role. Commander Red comes to mind but if he was played entirely straight. I think they serve the narrative pretty damn fine without the need to go beyond as characters, Gas nonwithstanding.

When it comes to Goku and Vegeta's role in the story, the latter gets the most out of it. His training with Beerus, his theraphy session with Granolah, his showcase of the Ultra Ego to an extent and him getting to interact with the Saiyan's past in a fresh way. They have never fucking fumbled Vegeta since the "doing the same thing as before but worse" allegations from prior arcs, which is a strong positive for his fans, but yeah, he doesn't get any Ws lmao.

With Goku, we have... Things happening for sure, of varying qualities, but the praises are getting short on that end, so I'm going to save it for later. On paper, I do appreciate the attempt to do more with this character and he still is not the weakest part of the character centric narrative.

In general, the central core of said narrative is one of the more interesting and cool so far. It makes the entire portion of the fight against Granolah all the better, not to mention that section having bouts of good coreography and action. I love having an enemy worth punching in a series where punching people happens so much they can be souless bricks to punch, especially if the bricks aren't interesting unlike, say, Frieza.

Speaking of, he turned out the be the funniest, most shocking element in this arc. Like not even as a joke, his presence is a legit highlight from the sheer absurdity of his impact. He barely gets foreshadowed at the first half, with the asumption it's the character who is most commonly tied to everybody what makes you think of him at all times, and isn't even used until the very last minute. But when he DOES show up, he ONE SHOTS GAS, VEGETA AND GOKU, claims to have been OUT OF RANGE for the "make me the strongest" wish to account for him, found a HYPERBOLIC TIME CHAMBER in space and proceedes to brag that he knew what's up and that got a brand new form only to LEAVE.

It's truly a chaotic shock to the system which matches the ridicolousness of Dragon Ball Heroes whipping out a new Broly out of nowhere every anniversary or so, but in an oddly positive way. Like you could've done more with the concept but honestly I can't truly be mad with the sheer boldness in display. But that's because... Well...

So like, is the second half bad or what?

I can certainly say the ending woke me up. But it's kinda fucked up how once Granolah stopped being the opponent everything else kinda crumbles into fighting a boring nothing character with no connection to the heroes and progression being constantly halted JUST so we can attempt to give this opponent some fluff.

Let's be fair: Gas holds his own with Granolah padding and brick personality aside, there is some setup to their rivalry and the backstory works, albeit motion is wasted to highlight aspects that only come out now instead of beforehand: The fact that he was envious, the stubborn devotion to his own techniques, Granolah feeling anything beyond towards him, etc. Still works fine, still patched up now.

There's also his relationship with Elec as a highlight, the former manipulating him and hyping him up in spite of Gas doubting himself, showing devotion and loyalty back to Elec and even being grateful he made him strong as he is, which is kinda tragic once he realizes what he becomes.

But I can't fucking caaaaare.

I believe the core problem with Gas is that they waited too fucking long to start showing his development and choosing the very distracting battle that HALTS ALL PROGRESSION to try and do something with him.

This is also after the big break which was the Bardock flashback, we'll get to that, but since the goal became his defeat and he has no one to bounce from naturally, the second Goku steps up as the main opponent (After the fight has had MANY twists and he powered up several times) everything resets completely harder than when each form turned the tides. Because Goku still had no internal change, he doesn't remember Bardock yet, and the story didn't think of bringing Gas along to recruit Goku and Vegeta and build THEIR personal rivalry outside of Bardock's impact on Gas after defeating him so it feels limp without the connective tissue.

So what we have is a scene which deadass could've played like this:

Their goal is to kill Frieza. They did not want to waste time. They literally just believed they killed Granolah and incapacitated both Goku and Vegeta. What are they gonna fucking do? Defend Frieza? They don't fucking care if he dies again, maybe they wanna fight them, but it would provide a fucking change of scenery which hasn't happened since the start of all the fighting. Gas too, like, sure, he would want to kill them for knowing too much but at this point NO ONE is a threat.

As a result the jawdropping moment of Ultra Ego and Ultra Instinct together feels wasted on a very lame opponent. The revelation Goku has to use Ultra Instinct his own way is just kinda there because Gas is the least important part of said development. The epic struggle to take him down feels done already.

It's tiring. Really tiring. No matter how fancy the techniques, the core character is being built as we speak in a narrative that SOLELY focused on characters on the last minute. And I can't care as a result.

Speaking of breaking progression and being tiring, we also need to talk about a little something.

This is another joke page, dw.

But uh, anyone feels like the first flashback would've been enough? Technically, they could skim on HOW Bardock defeated Gas interrupting an already glacial paced conflict, especially not without any substantial information to the characters, Goku's development aside.

Bardock doesn't feel entirely realized either. I appreciate the fact they are trying to bridge the gap between Minus and Z Bardock to make it look like it's mostly the same character but it's not until he's fighting where this seems to be at play.

He feels like he's on autopilot on his own plot thread. There's feeling his actions are arbitrary (To the point of needing a flashback within one for justification) as him being conveniently set up to be there, rather than let his character flow naturally. His impact is felt across the characters but "just so happens to be there" is not the card they play. This isn't a rando — Nonono, this is Goku's Dad™, therefore he MUST be important... Which goes against the core idea of making Minus Bardock and Z Bardock the same character, but topic for another time.

Point is: When the story could've chosen to use the Saiyans as a positive influence (A loaded statement but yet another topic for some other time), they really chose to tell this story in a rather clunky way, contradicting the core idea of a typical Saiyan without exploring Bardock's uniqueness regarding it (If he has it) when we need it to buy into it. We're coming off from the character from Minus, you HAVE to expand on it because that one had ALSO next to nothing going for him.

So yeah, I may be beating this aspect way too much but in hindsight, if the story decided it should be focused heavily for breaks between fight while also having a half that is meandering just to trigger Goku's memories, then maybe they should've thought about it a little more when telling this story.

Which leads us to perhaps the biggest weakness of writing for DB: Getting Goku involved in the plot without him feeling less like a problem solving plot device they are forced to keep out the action. He's active, sure, but he has no connection to anybody, so what do?

His arc this time around is Ultra Instinct being a technique Goku needs to improve on despite everyone in the fandom swearing that the one we were calling MASTERED Ultra Instinct for years wasn't really it. As such, he has to find a path to use it on his own, which obviously means "dodge on your base form" but there's more to it: He has to learn and stop mimicking Whis when doing so.

The solution is simple and it works in every aspect but to make UI less impactful, but asuming we saw that coming and we don't mind, this leaves Goku accepting his emotions instead of repressing them while using UI, thus getting the most out of the Sign form.

...And it's kinda disconnected to everything? They tacked in Bardock's sole focus on his drive to win as a catalyst which is why they used the second flashback, and that kinda gets a little lost when this still doesn't tie him to Gas and with how little that statement says on it's own. "He has the same determined look" doesn't work and the Sign reveal loses a lot of impact, so what we're left is with what feels like a very random power up.

This scene of Goku recovering his memories is used as a superficial aspect as a result, because the memories themselves don't make for anything beyond one disconnected touching moment. It's even lacking impact on Goku as a character because he sure knows the thing which never mattered to his core identity at all save for being a fighting freak, it would be nice if this was important as it wants to be. But that's it. Him being positively in touch with his Saiyan side internally has always been a thing, he's supposed to be the opposite of the stereotypical one, so yeah, sure. It's not awfully offensive but it sure feels wasted.

Wait, that's it? Those are your takes?

Listen, you probably expected me to go off over the new set of DBs making the story lame with how anyone can wish for strength or what I think about the new forms and how I think they are either ugly or cool, but like, I feel there was a bigger urge to talk about the core narrative problems and less about the window dressing of the action. The balls have always been in a downward spiral to becoming too convenient already, and forms as punctuations for progression is like, tiring but it works visually, it's not a specific problem to the arc but the series as a whole.

Overral, I just feel uneven about it. The character driven conflict is obviously gonna leave you with a lot of holes if you don't keep it PERSONAL so the failure to do something so cool with DB hurts a lot. Undeniably though it's first half was the best part of this entire Manga on setup alone.

The second half is an atrocity however that makes me call the arc trash without the hesitation that I should be having. The fighting? Drags on with a nothing opponent. The opponent? Boring us to death as momentum has to stop to develop them. The developments? Tied to Bardock between breaks in a couple of flashbacks, used sloppily with a protagonist that feels uneven. Our actual protagonist? Hardly there.

Frieza coming back to end the arc feels cathartic on top of hilarious as a result. It's a spit to the face to the whole of it. And it's not horrendous as the Future Trunks Arc's ending thanks to at least having promises for the upcoming stories and ultimately being more interesting too.

o(-(

I don't know. This especially sucks because we were going so hard on something amazing like always but DBS just has a mystifying way to fuck things up for literally no reason. But you've heard me ramble enough. I still enjoy the series for that alone: I can't stop peeking no matter if it's a trainwreck with thousand dead. It's easy to pick apart the pieces.

Thank you for reading this if you did. I really appreciate it.

Take care! <3

[shannonsketches]

Toei does not like Vegeta part #12849, this is their Vegebul moment.

vs Toriyama's Vegebul moment:

I will continue complaining under the cut (with additional samples)

toei's vegebul moment:

Toriyama's Vegebul moment:

toei's:

toriyama's:

ykwim??

I'm don't even want to talk about how bad they fucked up the Goku Black arc from what I can tell so far so just have this instead

LIKE THEY EVEN CHANGED WHERE VEGETA WAS SITTING??

WHY?

FOR WHO??

ANYWAY it's fine if you like the anime I'm just gently loudly suggesting reading the manga if you're a fan of Vegeta and Bulma separately and/or together

[cuddlesomeone]

POV you are me reading DBS volume 15

[jojolightningfingers]

the hell of vegeta swearing to never fight again is that he actually follows through, at least in the beginning.

there are seven years between cell and buu. in every version of the media i’ve gone through--english manga, uncut dub, uncut jp, kai dub--bulma says that vegeta has trained the last five years before the tournament. which can only mean that there was a two year gap right after the cell games where he didn’t train at all.

and like. can you really blame him. his purpose in life has been cut out from under him not once but twice, first by goku attaining super saiyan and avenging their people by killing freeza, and then by goku’s decision to stay dead and deny him the opportunity to surpass him. his strength has proven insufficient time and again no matter how hard he works, overshadowed by a boy half his age. his pride hinges on both of those things and even before that was mercilessly trampled on. he dies on namek crying at the feet of both of his bitterest enemies, begging one to kill the other for his sake, after being thoroughly thrashed in front of an audience of people weaker than him (no basia, i won’t get over this). he has no people. no planet. no purpose, power, or pride. i really do think the only things keeping him going by this point are inertia and spite.

what he does have is has seven years to gnaw on a question that will not let him rest. why is goku so much stronger than he is, being what he is? why is he so inadequate? almost without doubt, this is the absolute nadir of vegeta’s existence: at least, the nadir for the man he thinks he has to be, or can’t reconcile not being. if he has nothing, if the last things tethering him to his supposed innate nature (to borrow a turn of phrase from @kanthia, shameless plug,) are torn away from him, what is left for him to do but accept defeat and submit to change?

what he doesn’t know yet is that that’s okay. he doesn’t know yet, but the seven years that goku is no longer a presence in his life is perhaps the best thing goku could have possibly given him. there’s space for new things to grow where his animosity and aggression burned holes in him. even if vegeta is still focused on nursing the embers of that blaze and ignoring the encroaching growth as hard as he can (bulma mentions to gohan that he’s dead set on making trunks stronger than him, and why would he care about that goal specifically otherwise), he is still beginning to care about things that the old him wouldn’t.

and then.

and then all of a sudden, goku is back in the picture. there is now a window, fleeting as it may be, for vegeta to get some answers he probably thought he’d never get. there is now the terrible possibility that he can put things ‘right’. and goku’s willing to let him take that shot and get those answers, right up until the whole business surrounding buu disrupts everything and then he isn’t anymore.

because the thing is, they were scheduled to fight each other before anybody else. vegeta was not supposed to see the gap between him and goku until he was experiencing it for himself, and then his only recourse would be to demand answers from goku--who would surely give them, to the best of his ability!--or to come to his own conclusions and act from there. instead, he's given time to realize that he’s still inferior, he still doesn’t understand why, and most importantly that babidi is an option. there is a way, at the cost of his will.

submitting to babidi to force goku’s hand and close the gap is the act of a man who knows that he is running out of time. vegeta’s pride would not possibly have allowed this unless he was so desperate for closure that he couldn’t see another way. for ten years he’s been trying to rebuild a sandcastle below the high tide line, and it’s not that he’s too stupid to move farther up so he isn’t freshly shattered at every pass--it’s just that trying to power through in the face of futility is literally all that he knows to do. he has been coming apart, stitch by stitch, his worldview and his preconceptions of destiny and self dissolving under his feet in slow motion ever since he met goku. this is the last chance he has, and he knows it. he knows he’s not going to see goku in the afterlife, even before he asks piccolo.

what the fuck else was he supposed to do?

the beauty of his sacrifice is that he still has the mark of evil on his forehead when he dies, even though he’s bucked babidi’s mind control by that point. he chooses to symbolically and very literally raze his old self to the ground for the sake of all that his new self cares for. WHICH IS WHY, his coming back to life actually narratively works for his character: new growth roots in ashes, phoenixes and sapling trees both.

[blushinggoku]

Been watching some dbs related videos and I'm sosoo glad I gave up on that anime because oh my god the story gets worse with every arc. Wtf are they even doing anymore

[ilpiubelbruttomisandro]

Dragon Ball fandom that read super, why the fuck Goku and Vegeta trains for two/ almost three years non stop without visiting family once? I was shocked reading superhero, that was so unnecessary

[uraveragevegetakinnie]

[edgelord-of-the-day]

Edgelord of the Day #55:

Granolah the Survivor

Series: Dragonball Super

[bakarrot]

if they skip animating the granolah arc im gonna blow up toei's ceo with my mind powers

[artbybai]

LOCK ON!!! 💚 Bunnified Granolah

[apocalypseayanami]

Vegeta Ultra Ego, Granolah Arc

[shannonsketches]

I think I wouldn’t be as mad about Toei’s choices for Super if the things they overwrote wouldn’t have translated so beautifully to animation.

I have my beef with the gaps in my sense of humor and Toei’s writers room and our opinions on characterizations, sure, but so many of the cool things that happened in the manga and the movies that Toei reiterated were changed, botched, or removed completely, and that sucks.

Vegeta being so cool and so protective of his family during the Goku Black arc, and Gohan being a total badass during Ressurection F are my biggest “why did you change this??” beefs. But also man. The tournament had so many good moments in the manga that were totally snubbed in the anime.

As a fan it makes me angry but as an artist it makes me sad. Toya is such a cinematic storyteller and his pacing and compositions were just. Thrown away. :(

EDIT: Someone in the notes pointed out that the anime caught up with the manga before the GB arc so I do take back that they threw away Toya’s later work in the GB and Tournament arcs, but I will never understand why they weren’t sharing assets when they were in production at the same time. And I still can’t forgive them for fumbling the retellings of BotG and ResF so hard OTL

[amartbee]

the granolah arc

[fandom-trash-xl]

Another Incorrect Quotes Handful, but I feel like some of these would do better as audios

Vegeta, during the Granolah arc: Leave us alone, Frieza, you're supposed to be dead! Frieza: (turning into Black Frieza) SO YOU THINK YOU CAN STOP ME AND SPIT IN MY EYE! Vegeta: NO NO NO NO!! (proceeds to get 1HKO) --- Cabba: No offense, but how can you afford all this? Frost: None taken, and I can't. (referring to Hit) It's kind of a... sugar daddy situation. Cabba: :) Sugar what? Frost: ... Cabba: ... --- Frieza: And when we finally kill the gods neither hell nor heaven will be waiting for them because they created those to imprison us! Frieza: ...they burned my eggs. --- Yamcha: My son was so cute today. He asked me: Kuriza: Dad, are clouds candy? Yamcha: I told him they were water. Then he asked: Kuriza: Dad, what's Earth's defense system? Yamcha: Then, I remember I don't have a son, and he asked again, his eyes now piercing red- Kuriza: What is the defense system, father?