Dragon Ball 25 Hidden Details About Saiyan Families

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Dragon Ball 25 Hidden Details About Saiyan Families

There's a lot going on behind the scenes in Goku and Vegeta's families. What is it that makes a Saiyan a Saiyan? As the series has progressed, Dragon Ball’s answer to the age-old question has more or less boiled down to: Saiyans loving a good fight, Saiyans being selfish, and Saiyans being loners by nature. It’s an interesting point of view, and one that helps at making Goku a more compelling character, but said answer isn’t all there is to the average Saiyan. Despite working on their own more often than not, Saiyans are shown to be a familial race, actively creating families of their own. Where the original series kept Saiyan families rather dejected from one another, the revival has placed more emphasis on the idea of a kinder Saiyan race, one capable of genuine love. This can be clearly seen in the four major Saiyan families: Son Goku’s, Vegeta’s, Son Gohan’s, and Bardock’s. Each Saiyan father represents a different ideal, a different type, of Saiyan parentage. Through them, we can glean quite a bit about what it truly means to be Saiyan and realize that there is no one individual answer. All Saiyans are created differently. Goku is not like Vegeta, Gohan is not like Goku, and Bardock is like no one else in his family. Each Saiyan family is nuanced in their own right. THEGAMER VIDEO OF THE DAY

Vegeta s Family Has The Most Potential

Image Source: Toei Animation Vegeta Considering just how strong Goku and his sons are by the end of the original series, it makes sense that so many fans would automatically label the Son family as one of prodigies. They’re the main character after all. In actuality, this isn’t the case at all. Goku is actually naturally weak for a Saiyan. The real potential lies in Vegeta’s genes. It's hard not to be powerful when you're royalty. Born with a Battle Power of 18,000, Vegeta is the apex of the Saiyan race. At least before Broly was canonized. As a result, his family has far more potential than Goku’s. As just a boy, Trunks is already nearly as strong as an adult Gohan. With the proper training, Trunks could surpass everyone in the cast.

Every Generation Is Stronger Than The Last

pixilart.com One of the series’ main themes is the idea of a conceptual “next generation.” Introduced as a philosophy as early as the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai, the next generation will always rise to surpass the last. This is the main caveat of the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai and is only further reinforced up through the end of the Piccolo Junior arc. Come the Saiyan arc, it’s really no wonder that Gohan is stronger than Goku. When you get to the Buu arc, of course, Goten and Trunks are as strong as they! Hitting Super, it definitely makes sense that Pan would be even stronger than those before her.

Gohan s Genes Are The Strongest

via lucasconegundes.deviantart.com While Vegeta’s genes offer up the most potential, with quite the radical starting point, Gohan arguably has the strongest genes in the entire series. Even though Goten and Trunks catch up to him rather quickly, Gohan’s entire shtick is that his potential is utterly limitless. Naturally, this extends to Pan. His strongest form is called "Ultimate" for a reason. This is a big reason why Pan, in Super at least, is so ridiculously powerful. She can fly as just an infant. GT was a bit of an anomaly, downplaying Pan’s role and even depriving her of a Super Saiyan transformation. Super has course corrected things and you can expect to see her carry on Gohan’s legacy in full.

Pan Will Be The Strongest Saiyan

via aminoapps.com Speaking of Pan, let’s muse just a bit on how ridiculously overpowered she is. In Super, as an infant, she can already fly into the Earth’s stratosphere. Regular flying? No problem, it makes sense! Up into near outer space? That’s power like we haven’t seen attributed to a child before. It only makes sense as to why Goku is training her at the End of Z. With training, which she will most definitely get, Pan will end up the single strongest Saiyan in the series. Simply having Gohan as a father ensures that she will be able to rival his Ultimate state. If Kale and Caulifla didn’t exist, Pan would likely end up the first female Super Saiyan as well. Maybe first female to get Ultra Instinct?

Goku Didn t See Gohan s Birth

via: coronajumper.com Although nothing in the original series lends itself to the idea that Goku is some awful father- contrary to popular belief- Dragon Ball Super does feature one very strange detail that completely, irrefutably casts a rather poor light on Goku: Son Goku, despite being a part of Gohan’s early life, did not witness his birth. Mt. Paozu's a big place, Goku can't be expected to be everywhere at once! While Chichi was giving birth to Gohan, Goku was out in the mountains doing Kami knows what. There is genuinely no excuse for him to miss his son’s birth. He simply left his pregnant wife at home, likely went training for a bit, and came back home to find a son. It’s comically quite a Dragon Ball moment, but not a great one for Goku.

Kid Gohan Looks Like Gine

via: deviantart.com (Maniaxoi)/aminoapps.com Long hair runs in the Son family. At the start of the Saiyan arc, Gohan had fairly long hair that only got longer during the first half of the Cell saga. At the very end of the original series, even Goten sported a longer haircut. This is to say nothing of Raditz’s long hair at the start of DBZ. All this hair stems from one source. Introduced in Dragon Ball Minus, Gine is Goku’s soft-hearted mother who unfortunately perished with the rest of Planet Vegeta. Gohan’s hair resembles her quite a bit as a child. It’s nice that, even decades after her demise, a part of Gine lives on in Goku’s children. Look forward to seeing her animated for the first time in the new film!

Saiyans Aren t Always Born With Tails

via: swanofwar.deviantart.com The idea that all Saiyans are born with tails is a fallacy bred from the fact that every Saiyan we saw up to Trunks had a tail. While the implication does seem to be that Saiyans should always have tails and Toriyama just forgot, that’s not quite right. He actually addresses Trunks’ lack of tail in the Cell saga. Tails are a weakness. This is to say nothing of the fact that Dragon Ball Super later introduced the Universe 6 Saiyans, Saiyans who are always born without tails. In fact, they’re so powerful, that they evolved past the point of ever needing tails. Not every Saiyan will be born with a tail, a fact the series surprisingly backs up consistently.

Vegeta Didn t Care About Trunks Initially

via: https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/ If you asked “which Trunks” upon reading this header, I’ve got bad news for you: it’s both. Vegeta did not care for either version of his son whatsoever. At least at the start. Present day Trunks wasn’t even an afterthought for Vegeta. Not once does he acknowledge his newborn son during the Cell saga. Future Trunks, on the other hand, gets an arguably crueler fate. Vegeta outright hates Future Trunks for not only being a Super Saiyan, but for actually being stronger than him when they first met. This is a resentment Vegeta carries all the way up to the Cell Games, never getting over it until Trunks loses his life.

Goku s Children Look Just Like Him Even Gohan

via phazen1.deviantart.com Goku has some pretty potent genes. Well, Bardock does, but that’s beside the point. Both Gohan and Goten look a startling amount like Goku. Goten is an obvious case, basically just sharing Goku’s design from the series’ first five arcs, but Gohan is an odder case. Does he really look that much like Goku? Goku's hair is never going out of style. Yes, actually! He has very different hair and his features are much softer, but Gohan shares his eyes, eyebrows, and general facial expressions with his father. This is easier to see in the manga where Toriyama’s art maintains a consistency the anime staff doesn’t, but you can still see the resemblance closely in both the Saiyan and Buu arcs.

Vegeta s Children Look Just Like Bulma

via: lamwin.deviantart.com/ Where Goku’s children look just like Goku, Vegeta’s take after Bulma far more than they do their father. Trunks goes without saying. While it’s not out of the question that he’s Vegeta’s son (and we’ll touch on that,) his hair and features resemble Bulma. This is to say nothing of Bra who’s just a little Bulma. Vegeta’s genes just aren’t as potent as Goku with his two children failing to inherit much from their father. At the same time, perhaps that’s a better fate for Vegeta. For someone so consumed with ego, having children who don’t look like him is a nice way of showing how humbled he’s become with time.

Trunks Has Vegeta s Eyes In The Manga

via fvckfdaname.deviantart.com Although Trunks initially looks exactly like his mother and nothing like his father, there is one key detail that Toriyama slips in so that readers understand Trunks’ origin before ever realizing who he is: the eyes. In the manga, Trunks’ eyes are drawn just as sharp as Vegeta, indicating his parentage quite clearly. Trunks had to inherit something from his father. Unfortunately, this is not a detail that carries over to the manga, at least not as often as it should. Due to different animators with different styles working on the series, Trunks’ eyes don’t have the same consistency they do in the source material. As a result, sometimes he’ll look like Vegeta and other times he won’t.

Gohan Is The Best Father

via: salvamakoto.deviantart.com Of all the Saiyan fathers in Dragon Ball, no one even comes close to matching Gohan. Goku is a bit too selfish despite not being malicious; Vegeta is outright cruel and distant until after he’s spend the better part of a decade redeeming himself; Bardock is a jerk; King Vegeta is aloof; and Paragus is a monster. What makes Gohan the best father isn’t just process of elimination, though, it’s the simple fact that he does what no other Saiyan father does: parent. Gohan is an actual parent who takes time for his child and raises them like a regular person would. That alone puts him leaps and bounds above the other dads.

Goku Isn t A Bad Dad

via wattpad.com On that note, Goku isn’t a bad father. He’s selfish, sure, and he wasn’t even around for Gohan’s birth, but he genuinely does do quite a lot of good for his sons. He clearly loves Gohan and would do anything for him as evidenced by his sacrifice during the Saiyan arc, and he genuinely cares for Goten a lot. Gohan sees Piccolo more of a brother than a father anyways. Goku and Goten spend a ridiculous amount of time together in Super just bonding with one another. Let’s not forget how much pride Goku showed for Gohan during both the Cell and Buu arcs. This is a man who loves his sons more than fans are willing to admit. Let the meme wash away in the annals of history. Goku is a good dad. Kind of.

Vegeta Isn t A Good Dad

via: denofgeek.com You know who isn’t a good dad, though? Vegeta. Yeah, we said it, Vegeta is not a good father. He tries, and he clearly cares for both his children- Bra more so than Trunks- but that doesn’t excuse the fact that he was a distant father for most of Trunks’ life who seems to have learned nothing from the Buu arc. In Super, Vegeta is back to being distant. He shows no affection to Trunks throughout the series’ entire run and is more compassionate to his future son than his actual son. Vegeta is kinder to Cabba than he is to Trunks. If nothing else, he sticks around for Bra’s birth, but that’s basically the bare minimum when it comes to fatherhood.

DBS Paragus Seems To Genuinely Love Broly

via www.deviantart.com/lssj2 In an interesting twist of fate, Akira Toriyama decided that the next film in the series would star none other than the franchise juggernaut Broly. More interestingly, Broly has gotten a massive makeover. He’s now a supposedly sympathetic character with an emotional backstory. Not just that, this seems to extend to his father. Paragus' fate will likely be the same regardless. As all three trailers have shown us, we’ve been painted a portrait of a Paragus who does seem to genuinely love his son. He takes pride in Broly and wants to see him grow. Unfortunately, like with the original film, Paragus will likely fall victim to the scheme of revenge- controlling his son only to have his beloved turn on him.

King Vegeta Only Loved Vegeta For His Power Level

via: https://4.bp.blogspot.com/ When you take into consideration just how awful King Vegeta was, it only makes sense that Vegeta ended up so drastically disturbed for most of the original series. King Vegeta was a man who valued power above all else, only loving his son for his insane Power Level, something the new film seems to explore. From what the trailers have shown us, we can glean that King Vegeta is “proud” of his son. Keep in mind, Vegeta is a baby at this point. King Vegeta is only proud because of the numerical value attributed to him. King Vegeta only loves his firstborn son because of what he is capable of, not because of who he is.

Minus Bardock Genuinely Cared About Goku

via bardocksonic.deviantart.com Dragon Ball Minus is one of the hotter topics in the fandom, mainly because of how divisize it is. Some fans like it since it makes Bardock into a nicer fellow while introducing Goku’s mother, whereas most hate it for those very reasons. One of the biggest points of contention is Bardock’s love for Goku. You're a bad dad if Bardock loves his son more than you love yours. Minus retcons Goku’s entire origin to not involve him being sent to Earth to destroy it, but Bardock sending him to Earth to protect him. Believing that Freeza is plotting the end of Planet Vegeta, Bardock saves his son. It’s a noble feat, but it’s not one that actually manages to respect his original characterization.

Original Bardock Did Not

via Dragon Ball Wiki - Fandom When it comes down to it, the original Bardock never cared about Goku. Throughout his entire TV special, he is completely disinterested with the birth of his son and only shows any semblance of interest when his final vision reveals that Goku would avenge him and the rest of the Saiyan race. For Bardock, Goku isn’t so much a son as he is a means of revenge. Goku represents the hope that the Saiyan race will live on. At the same time, Bardock is so callous that you have to wonder if the Saiyans even deserve to live on. He’s a bad guy who doesn’t care about his son. It makes for a very compelling character if nothing else.

Goten Grows Up To Look Like Gine

via: anime-rocks.wikia.com Gohan’s not the only member of the Son family who resembles Gine. During the End of Z era, and only in the End of Z era, Goten is depicted with long hair. The manga states that he grew out his hair so not to look exactly like his father, but said result actually makes him look just like Gine. Of course, Goten does have his father’s harder features, but his hairs and eyes make him look like a manlier version of Gine. Considering Gine was created after the fact, it’s quite nice that Toriyama looked to the Son family’s recurring long hair to model Gohan and Goten’s grandmother.

What s Up With Trunks Hair

via: pixiv.net/member.php?id=2296507 What of the biggest mysteries that’s come out of Dragon Ball Super has been Future Trunks’ hair. Starting with the Goku Black hair, Future Trunks has been consistently depicted with blue hair in both the anime and manga. Despite this, his younger self still has purple hair. What’s going on here? Blue is the new purple. Honestly, not much. The fact of the matter is, Toriyama has been coloring all versions of Trunks with blue hair since Battle of Gods, Toei simply ignored said colorings. When it came time for the Goku Black arc, Toei likely felt they could not stray from Toriyama’s designs this time around and was forced to keep his hair blue.