#just talking about saiyan stuffs

[maddmuses]

Average Saiyan Soldier?

Average Saiyan Soldier.

We can use contextual cues from various characters to get a sense for this range, and it’s probably a bit weaker than you might suspect.

For the sake of contextualization we’ll be using annoying nerd scale and some annoying nerd articles (search them for the same wiki) to interpret annoying nerd scale relative to power level scale. We’ll be ignoring Movie Pamphlet numbers (ftmp, specifically pamphlet 6) and relying on Daizenshuu values, as well as those otherwise explicitly established. The original Broly scaling will also be largely eschewed, alongside the Bardock special, due to them coming off as “big number” and being given even less thought than normal.

SO!! Here are some ballpark values w/ context given to them: -2,000 is explicitly said by Freeza to be “impressive” in regards to snipers who are trained on him (hard to say if it’s impressive by Cold/Freeza Force metrics, saiyan standards, both; we know it’s not to him)

-Broly’s range of 920-10,000, we know at the high end it’s an unbelievable anomalous value that prompts saiyans to believe that it’s the result of a malfunction in a reading, w/ 920 he’s considered “remarkable” and 1,840 was considered powerful enough to pass Vegeta’s natural power level, which had surpassed all previous recorded child’s natural battle power. This means that, by adulthood, we can probably assume that most saiyan babies are expected to grow by about 10x to adulthood. At the low-end he’s roughly three times as strong one of the strongest 5-C characters (Piccolo @ resting 260).

-Roshi 139-180, based on context from other listings (here) an empowered Kamehameha seems to draw about anywhere from 2-3x the user’s Battle Power. This means that it takes about 280-540 (likely on the low range) is suitable to entirely destroy the moon. Given that Roshi’s blast was able to vaporize it without causing large portions to hit the surface of earth (presumably) this would be a significant excess of the power needed.

-Raditz appears at about 1,500 which carries some controversy as it applies to this. While high-quality Saibamen (stronger than normal) used by Vegeta and Nappa were about 1,200, Raditz was considered impressive enough to serve alongside Vegeta off-planet during the destruction of Vegeta. Assuming some degree of growth during this time, it’s safe to assume that Raditz was considered strong enough to join an elite caste at roughly the range of 1,000-1,200.

-Goku was 334-416 (lower end) when Raditz met him, was strong enough to be one of the only power levels at this level on the planet for Raditz to detect, and was not so weak that he was totally written off by Raditz upon arrival.

-Nappa was at 4,000 and seemed to consider everyone beneath 3,000 utterly trivial (though this might be a character factor)(Probably Low 5-B to potentially 5-B)

-Vegeta was 18,000, above average in the Feeza Force, seemed to be the strongest recorded saiyan to that point. (Low 5-B to 5-A)

-Foot Soldiers in the Freeza Force are sub-1,500 in the Namek strikeforce, meaning the average and median are probably also lower than this for the force at-large. Meanwhile, Kiwi was 18,000, the same as Vegeta’s resting power level, and considered an elite member.

So with the above values in-mind, and some of the context we’ve given to it, what can we figure? Well: 1,000 is considered enough to compatriot alongside elites, so 1,000 must be considered very strong, regardless of potential among saiyans. 300-400 is a moon-buster and considered salvageable for a mission. 1,800 is roughly the upper limit of what saiyan babies have ever been. Meanwhile, 900-1,000 was still powerful enough to be exceptional enough for elite caste, and worth a conversation regarding The Legendary Super Saiyan. 2,000 is considered exceptional for saiyan adults (who are broadly considered weak in the Freeza Force)

If the likes of Raditz is willing to see a 300-400 power “weakling” as worth consideration for such a mission, then it’s safe to assume that he expected some growth over time, and that the value wasn’t able to be construed as dead weight. By the perspective of Vegeta and Nappa, an average saiyan warrior would probably be dead weight, so the potential for growth showcased by Goku must not be that, a secondary Raditz isn’t great but worth something.

We could assume this 300-400 range to be the ceiling for typical saiyan warriors. This value tracks if you assume that they need to be able to bust a moon in a pinch during a mission, to prevent uncontrolled oozaru warriors and children from rampaging. This is consistent with the outlook of warriors in the Freeza Force disregarding saiyans usually, particularly in the case of the Ginyu Force, who probably exist in the 50,000+ range of power levels. 5-C is the typical roundabout for a saiyan soldier in this case, though likely in the lower end for that, and that’s for the majority of them, but likely even a weak saiyan is around 6-A, or 6-B at the absolute low end (thinking Gine).

Yes, even a weak saiyain is about as powerful as a strong Viltrumite.

[hartxstarr-art]

oh, another twin...

[shannonsketches]

”Why don’t you train with Vegeta?” Yesss 7YearGap Headcanons come thruuuuu

[tobiasdrake]

Here we go. It's time to talk about my personal fave. As I said before, this is my Main. In Dragon Ball fighting games, this is the character I seek out to play whenever the roster allows. Also arguably the character who's been done the most dirty by just about every form of Dragon Ball, manga included.

The vanguard of a brand new status quo and a brand new direction for what Dragon Ball would even be, washed away by the tides of a status quo resetting to zero.

We're here to talk about the champion of Satan City who carries the spirit of Dragon Ball in her heart: Videl.

(And that is one cookie to @jcogginsa who guessed it.)

Videl was a kid with a chip on her shoulder. I mean. How could you not be? Her father was the legendary world martial arts champion who famously defeated Cell seven years ago.

Don't pay attention to that. He just tripped for a moment. Once he got his second wind, he came right back and showed Cell what for! It was due entirely to Mr. Satan and nobody else that the Earth was spared from the apocalyptic horror that is Cell.

Look, he even said so himself.

Are you gonna call that man a liar? The man who defeated Cell!? I think we can trust Satan's word over yours.

This is the shadow that Videl grew up under. Raised in what had previously been called Orange City, but was renamed Satan City in honor of the world's greatest hero.

Or "Hercule City/Herculopolis" in the versions that edit out Satan's name.

As his daughter, Videl has a perspective on Satan that neither the world nor the audience gets to see: He's a womanizing playboy who cashes in on his world-savior fame for booty.

He also forbids his teenage daughter from dating by putting up the stipulation that any boy interested in her has to be stronger than him, the world champion - A stipulation naturally designed to weed out any possible suitors through intimidation. Wanna date Videl? FISTFIGHT THE MAN WHO DEFEATED CELL.

Oh, but he doesn't teach her a goddamn thing; At least, not anymore, as she does suggest there was once a time when he was her mentor. She's forced to study martial arts entirely on her own because her dad is utterly disinterested in her development in the art.

This is an angle on Satan we never get to see onscreen. Apparently he's pretty shitty about women. You know, I can believe that.

Videl, when we meet her, is trapped in an unenviable position as a martial artist. She hates what the fame of being a legend has done to her dad and wants to knock him down a peg, but she has no foundation to develop her abilities from. The one man who's supposed to be teaching her isn't doing it, and she's been passively discouraged from pursuing more esoteric martial arts because the world champion said that stuff's all fake.

Videl makes for a fascinating foil to Gohan, because they're both children living in the shadows of legendary fathers.

Gohan is expected to be Goku's successor, but wants to live a peaceful life of academia. Meanwhile, Videl is being denied the ability to become Mr. Satan's successor, but craves the opportunity to prove herself.

Nonetheless, both of these kids are prodigies. Videl has a wealth of potential. She doesn't even realize that, despite these limitations, she surpassed her father long ago. Despite being a self-taught teenager with zero comprehension of ki cultivation, Videl hones her skills and developers her art the only way that's available to her: By punching it out with armed robbers in the region.

Backpack Town isn't even her city! She's a one-woman SWAT team for the tri-state area.

As ambitious and driven as she is, Videl is also clever. The anime extrapolates the adventures of the Great Saiyaman into a several-episode arc as Gohan deftly avoids detection by Videl over and over again, but this has the knock-on effect of depriving Videl of one of her best moments.

Because she pegs him instantly. She was already suspicious of Gohan being the mysterious "Golden Warrior", when he tried to use his Super Saiyan form to disguise himself as a superhero.

Which also showed that she was open-minded about the other people who fought Cell. Satan says they were doing a bunch of tricks, but Videl's willing to consider the possibility that there exist people who can turn blond on command.

And then Gohan did this shit.

Because he was raised in the woods by the devil and Goku. Despite trying to keep a low profile, he has absolutely no idea what the baseline for ordinary human ability is.

So. Y'know.

That's pretty fucking suspicious.

Which brings us to Gohan's second outing as Great Saiyaman, and his first meeting with Videl under his new identity. Whereupon she, uh....

Plays him like a fucking sap. It's a great moment that doesn't get its due if it takes several episodes and misadventures for her to reach this point. Videl is exceptionally skilled in the field of paying attention to that time Gohan jumped thirty feet in the air and naturally drawing conclusions from it.

And also his voice and posture and other dead giveaways. Gohan sucks at secret identities.

He's just. So obviously Gohan. There's no way anyone would be fooled by this.

But she's not only adequate at seeing things with her eyes; She's also a legitimately brilliant martial artist in her own right. Due to her upbringing, she's had zero experience with ki cultivation for obvious reasons.

And yet she's talented enough and smart enough to pick up the basics of Bukujutsu in one day.

Oh, don't mind her; That's just Videl making a mockery of Tsuru-senryu by effortlessly devouring their signature technique. This is Goku's first Kamehameha all over again.

She may have started small but Videl learns fucking fast. She has all of the drive and the ambition that Gohan lacks. She wants to be part of this world, she has a ravenous hunger for self-improvement, she's clever and observant, and she picks up concepts insanely quickly.

Videl is fucking primed to be a key player in Dragon Ball's next generation.

...

So now we need to talk about what happened to Videl.

Videl has one major fight in the entire series: Her 25th Tenkaichi Budokai bout against Spopovich.

Which she absolutely dominates. She's stronger, better, and faster than Spopovich. Even the experienced martial artists agree that she's infinity times better than him in every way.

But there's something wrong with Spopovich. He's a decent martial artist, far from the top; He'd competed in the 24th Tenkaichi Budokai and made it through the qualifiers, but was eliminated in the first round. So, y'know, he had no chance in hell against Videl; She's already surpassed Mr. Satan, who won the 24th legitimately.

Uh, by virtue of none of the Kame-senryu or their rivals attending. Mr. Satan is top dog of the same weight class as Pamput from the 22nd.

But, despite being outclassed in every category, Spopovich is also a dead man walking.

He's similar to the Androids in a sense. Spopovich has no ki signature at all, nor does he get worn down by the damage he's taking. This is Vegeta vs. 18 and Piccolo vs. 17 all over again; He isn't feeling the pain from the hits she's landing on him, and so he's able to outlast.

But Spopovich isn't an Android. He's more like a zombie?

At one point, Videl cuts loose and breaks his goddamn neck. Because he's pushing her hard enough that she realizes she needs to go harder, but his body can't take harder. He isn't a match for her. He just. Isn't going down despite not being a match for her.

He can't take this level of force. But he and his ominously vacant absence of ki can put his head right back where it was and continue the fight, no problem. That's honestly scarier than if he'd regenerated.

Also despite not even having the barebones ki signature of a normal person, Spopovich can perform Bukujutsu and fire ki attacks.

Which a fighter of his meager ability shouldn't even be capable of.

All of this adds up to an unwinnable fight for Videl and the setup to... Something. This match has been criticized pretty heavily in the fandom because it gets pretty gruesome and doesn't have a payoff.

We've seen fights go fucking bad for our heroes before. Piccolo once broke all of Goku's arms and legs as well as shooting a hole in his chest, right here in this same arena.

But it's typically building to something. When our heroes get trashed, it's the lead-up to a reversal down the road. Maybe in the same fight. Maybe in a later one. And we seem to be heading in that direction?

After Spopovich and Yamu leave the tournament, we get VIdel a Senzu and she's right as rain.

Spopovich and Yamu steal energy from Gohan and fly off to Babidi's Ship so they can awaken Majin Buu. Kaioshin recruits the various protags to make that not be a thing that happens. And then. Something switches in the narrative flow of this arc.

You can feel it happen.

As our heroes prepare to pursue Spopovich and Yamu, Videl volunteers to join in as well. She's had her eyes opened to a whole new world or possibilities and is hungry to develop her abilities.

And. Then. One chapter later. It's suddenly decided that Videl will not be a part of this storyline after all, and she basically leaves the plot forever.

WHOOPS! Never mind! Didn't want this character here after all. Go home, Videl.

While her adversary Spopovich is unceremoniously unwritten from being a thing that exists.

Babidi just. Kills him. For no reason. Even though his job isn't done yet. Babidi's like, "Oh good, you collected a fraction of the energy we need; That's fine, you can be fired. I don't need anyone to finish the job."

We're just. We're not telling that story anymore. We already threw Videl in the trash; we don't need her nemesis. We're doing a different thing.

Also, because we still have too many characters in this scene, Dabra erases Krillin and PIccolo with magic spit that never comes up again or is meaningful in any way.

You'd think this would be, like, setting up something? Like. Having witnessed it ahead of time, Gohan's able to figure out something about the way Dabra's spit works. So when he fights Dabra in a climactic battle, he can turn this around.

Like when Goku was able to counter Tenshinhan's Taiyoken/Solar Flare in the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai, because he'd seen it before and understood how it works. That's usually what Dragon Ball does with this sort of advance notice of opponent abilities.

But. No. The most this ever comes up again is that it momentarily costs Gohan one of his gloves. It's just here to winnow down the cast because Toriyama brought too many characters to this scene.

You can feel the burnout taking hold. As janky as the Android arc was, the Buu arc's level of jank is through the roof.

And that became it for Videl. Denied any sort of payoff for her one fight and instead relegated to background character, Videl never got a chance to live up to the intriguing potential she was introduced with. She was the face of a new direction for Dragon Ball, a direction that ended up strangled in its crib as the series reverted to old ideas and old formulae - strangling her along with it.

Videl is a character I look at and can't help but wonder what could have been. What could have been if Gohan got to keep his focus, and Videl got to remain a key player in a story about him? What could have been if we got to see Videl developing her skills at the same fever-pace that she learned Bukujutsu with? What could have been if she got that rematch with Spopovich she seemed to have been promised by the narrative, and then got to stay involved throughout the Buu arc?

But I guess we'll never know.

[z0-ne]

Hi! I was wondering if you could please do platonic goku + younger sister reader (like reader 15-16) like goku helps her do saiyan stuff also can it be hc’s please?

YES! I love the platonic Goku request so much <3 I hope you don't mind but I'd like to do a gender neutral version of this too!

TRAINING HEADCANONS! (Big brother! Goku! + younger sister! Reader)

•So first off, the reason why you don't know this is because you werent raised by Goku, you crashed on earth and were raised by Yamcha. Naturally a human can't teach you about being a saiyan so that's where Goku comes in to play!

•And when I say play I mean actually playing with you. You're sixteen but he plays with you like your six for the first few lessons.

•Flying around you in circles as you try to concentrate, talking about how fun it is to fly and you should really give it a shot so you can come up here too.

•"C'mon!Woo-hoo! look how fun it is flying all around! sure would be nice if you could do it too." He may be teaching you but hes also having his own fun teasing you, but when you give him a frustrated look he quickly covers his mouth.

•Of course after that he lets you concentrate, but he doesn't stop floating around you.

•Despite his, he's a great instructor! He explains things in a very simple way and if need be he'll drag Vegeta or piccolo into the mix so he can show you what he means when he says.

•"see how when I'm blocking, I also try to catch his fist and redirect it?" Hes shockingly paitent with you, and sometimes he seems like he slows down just so you can see it better.

•Goku will show you more than once just to make sure you get it.

•May king kai have mercy on you because he does kick your ass during training once you get the hang of things

•He is hard on you, not as bad as it would be if it was Vegeta training you but he won't hold back just because you're a girl.

•once you get a good grip in flying, ki blast, ect. Hes going to come at you, maybe not full force yet but to you its gonna feel like it.

•"C'mon! Villains won't hold back on you y'know!" He says, not exactly scolding you after knocking you flat on your ass for the fourth time today. He laughs when you glare at him.

•Dont worry, he's always going to help you back up right after trainings done, especially if you're out of breath and hardly standing on your own feet, and by the end you'll both eat until your bellies are stuffed and likely pass out under a tree before doing all of this again tomorrow.

•Goku is going to have fun with this. Especially since you're technically the first person he's teaching the actual basics to. Piccolo taught Gohan the basics, Gohan taught Goten the basics. He came around and taught them new things sure but this is something completely different.

•Its obvious he's very happy you wanted him to train you.

[shiro-s2e2-erukinzu]

Anime only watchers and people who aren't caught up with the Manga, BEWARE... Cuz I'm about to discuss Spy X Family Mission 104... You have been warned...! 👌

[SPOILERS AHEAD FROM THIS POINT ON]

This chapter was SO MUCH FUN!! 😆 I really liked it...!! 😁👍

I had good time reading Mission 104, so let's talk about it, shall we? 😄

So, when I first opened the chapter and saw Damian...:

...I got really excited!! 😁 I was thinking that maybe Damian was gonna be thinking about the whole "Anya can read minds" thing, but then I quickly realized that we're probably not gonna get into any of that until the kids go back to Eden...! So instead, I started to wonder what kind of shenanigans Damian and his crew might get into, and after seeing that a student got a Stella for discovering some ancient pottery long ago in a book at the library, of course Damian, Ewen and Emile were gonna go for it!!! 😆

Also, Jeeves (who is still very handsome) and the butlers of Ewen and Emile tag along as well on this adventure to most definitely keep an eye on the boys and to make sure that they don't get hurt (like Jeeves hitting a snake with an acorn...!! 👌😎):

DAMN JEEVES, YOU GOT SKILLS!!! 😆

After that encounter with the snake, Damain says that because there are snakes and bugs everywhere in this place, that's why didn't want to go here in the first place...! So, Emile suggests that maybe they should just go home, but Damian refuses because...:

Oh Damian... 😓

After that, Jeeves decides that it's time to take a break to have some food, so him and the other butlers make a delicious meal for the boys before heading back out...!! 😋 Now that they've had some food, it's time resume the expedition, but none of the clues seem to be helping, so Damian tries put himself into the king of antiquity's shoes and...:

DAMIAN LOOKIN' LIKE HE JUST WENT SUPER SAIYAN...!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

But, it didn't last for long because...:

Don't worry Damian, I would also freak out if a spider THAT SIZE landed on me too...!! 👌😌

And though Jeeves knocked the spider off of Damian, he continues to freak out until he falls over and sees THIS:

IT'S AN AWESOME LOOKING GIANT FLOWER...!! 🤩

But... It turns out that this giant flower has already been discovered, and Damian is unamused by this fact because he can't get a Stella for it, so Damian, Emile and Ewen call it a day a head home in their THREE FREAKING SEPARATE HELICOPTERS!!! 😵 (Look, I know these kids are from rich families, but I find it both hilarious and insane that they all didn't just take a single helicopter there...!! 🤣😵 Just sayin'...!! 😌)

While in the helicopter, Jeeves brings up to Damian that it seems that he always doesn't want to go home, and Damian freaks out about it and tells Jeeves that worries about the weirdest stuff...! 😌 Jeeves then offers to call Melinda to cook for Damian again like how she did in the flashback in Mission 76 (though she didn't eat with Damian, which still makes me both sad and mad...!! 😤) Then Jeeves brings up showing Demetrius the picture of the flower they saw today, and what Damian said got me...:

"When DON'T my brother's eyes look like they're bulging out of their sockets?" 😭 WHY WAS DEMETRIUS CURSED TO HAVE HIS FATHER'S EYES!? 😵 THAT POOR BOY...!!! 😩

In all seriousness, that line makes me even more extra worried about what exactly might be going with Demetrius, but besides that Damian warns Jeeves not to say anything weird to his mom, then Jeeves asks like what, and Damian says:

And then, the chapter ends!! 🤭

And that was Mission 104, a nice fun little chapter with Damian and his friends...!! 😆 Though I am a little worried about Jeeves telling Melinda about Damian's dance with Anya, I doubt Damian mentioned to Jeeves about the whole Anya can read minds part because probably still doesn't believe it as of right now...! Well, we'll just have to wait and see what happens when the kids to return Eden Academy...!! 👌😌

Anyway, I think that's pretty much all that I wanted to say on this chapter, so until the next Mission; take care, be safe out there and be kind to one another...!! 😁 (Also, I was trying to finish writing this review a lot sooner, but I was having a really bad headache this morning when I got up to read this week's chapter... 😩 It still hurts a little, but I powered through it...!! 👍) Anyway, LATERS!! 👋😊

[fabuloustrash05]

Things that are canon in Dragon Ball Z Abridged but NOT in actual Dragon Ball Z (Part 5)

~ Buu Saga Addition PART 2 ~

Dende has major insecurities about Gohan being with Videl.

Bababi is the one who came up with the idea of calling them Super Saiyans 2 & 3. Goku finds those names boring and prefers to call them “Super Duber Saiyan” and “Super De-Duber Saiyan”.

Piccolo refers to Gotanks as “Truten”.

Trunks sees Nappa as his uncle (looks like he’s babysat and spent time with Trunks so often that Nappa’s considered family).

Nappa died of a “stroke” (RIP Nappa)

Vegeta and Nappa reunited as ghosts thanks to Gotank’s Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack. Vegeta was horrified, Nappa was so happy.

Super Buu can make the people he’s absorb speak through his body, he used this fucked up trick to mock Gohan and torment him using Piccolo, Goten and Trunks’ voices, crying out to him as they suffer inside Buu.

Super Buu ate the Uber Eats delivery guy.

Also Uber Eats and Doordash exist in the abridged world.

Vegito can not psychically say “Goku”. His Vegeta side will not allow it. This becomes such a problem that Vegito puts his fight with Buu on hold just to argue with himself about this debate!

Goku doesn’t really seem to care about Dende and just sees him as the the literal dragon balls guy. If he wasn’t tied to the dragon balls, Goku would’ve most likely have let him die.

After Dende tells Mr Satan that his daughter is a “man stealing whore”, Satan agrees stating Videl is “just like her mother”. What was Videl’s mother like???

Vegeta is REALLY pissed at Goku for not saving Gohan and refuses to let it go (we are all with ya Geets!).

Goku didn’t use the spirit bomb technique on Perfect Cell because he “knew it wasn’t going to work”.

“Vegeta’s stuff” = Bulma & Trunks

Mr Popo is the reason Goku’s spirit bomb was able to gain so much energy to destroy Kid Buu, and that was only Mr Popo lifting up ONE of his arms. How much power would’ve Goku been given if Mr Popo lifted up both arms???!! This also means that he could’ve easily obliterated Kid Buu but chose not to.

It’s insinuated that both versions of Broly (Z and Super) coexist in the abridged universe.

Trunks’ blue hair in Super was just a phase of him dying it before returning back to his natural lilac color by end of Z.

No one wants to talk about Jiren.

Goku is well aware of GT and what it’ll do to his granddaughter’s character.

Bulma uses her money to help provide for Uub’s family while he’s away training with Goku.

Chichi and Gohan are chill with Goku leaving them to train Uub (it’s Goku, they’re not surprised).

Boob

PART 1 - PART 2 - PART 3 - PART 4

[astral-mariner]

so there's shots in the saiyan saga of bulma futzing around with raditz's scouter and i'm like "MISS BRIEFS, I do not BELIEVE that a piece of alien tech can reasonably be taken apart with a FLATHEAD SCREWDRIVER" so it is a firm headcanon of mine that she had to resort to flathead screws to put it back together after she mangled the original ones by not having the correct weirdo alien screwdriver. AND OF COURSE vegeta brings like half a dozen of them back with him because they're like the spaceman equivalent of like a bicycle repair kit but bulma is DELIGHTED with them anyway and vegeta does not understand what this fuzzy warm 'i did a good' feeling is that is happening underneath his ribcage.

Oh my god, I love this! If someone writes a fic of this, I'd be all about it. That's so funny that she'd use an Earth screwdriver.

Everyone knows I already have a million headcanons about Raditz's scouter too. Like, Bulma and her dad were smart enough to figure out a Namekian ship. So she'd definitely be able to hack Raditz's scouter for whatever data might be left on it. I bet she learns a TON about how the Planet Trade works just from the interface and being able to browse some of its "Internet." And my long ass fic is literally her reading through Raditz's private stuff.

It's such a cool plot device to use---Bulma learning about stuff in space and perhaps other things she shouldn't even know about via the technology she's literally seen with in canon.

I really do think that was a big thing that brought her and Vegeta closer---them talking about things out in space. She'd be curious, of course, and it would come up naturally as she's doing tech repairs for Vegeta. How he trained between missions, what tech he used, what might be useful to adapt (as she makes her own version of Vegeta's PTO armor). And Vegeta might be his usual brusque self and give only perfunctory details... But even the way he talks about things, what he avoids talking about, and what little slips of personal details come out would tell Bulma quite a bit about him and would leave her wondering about more. Of course a genius scientist is going to take every opportunity to interview a humanoid alien that could tell her all about life in space.

And Vegeta might act like he merely tolerates her because she provides his training equipment, but you know for a fact that man is lonely, and he'd secretly enjoy when they end up talking for more than a few minutes. Finds excuses for it even. Finds little things wrong with the gravity simulator, finds little reasons to start a fight with her. Because gods know he could never just...go and visit and talk to her because he enjoyed her company or anything.

[thestargayzingheroine]

My Adventures With Superman - A Rambling Set Of Thoughts

Okay, I know I don't USUALLY make posts like this and I especially hate getting cynical and nitpicky about these sorts of things because I just don't wanna contribute to all the negativity on the internet... But this is something I just couldn't shake.

So last night I watched the first season of My Adventures With Superman and... I have a lot of mixed feelings about to be brutally honest which is a shame because I know SO many people really loved this show.

Spoilers for season 1 obviously

For the most this show is great and it has a good foundation for Superman and gets him and his relationship with Lois so right. I love how Clark is this big, soft himbo twink dork who really reminds me of Adora from She-Ra and Lois is this fun tomboy who falls head over heels for him. And to be honest, all of their moments were genuinely the highlight of the show for me. SERIOUSLY ITS LIKE CLARK AND LOIS BUT MADE FOR SAPPHICS LIKE ME AND I ADORE THEM

I love the art style and animation too and really does put a very fresh new aesthetic on DC stuff. Sure, it's a bit too much like She-Ra and Voltron in places, but for DC, it's a really good breath of fresh air. Seriously, look at the designs of Deathstroke and Livewire!

But sadly, that's not all the show is and this is where I have to sadly talk about my negatives with it.

Sooooo… this show was written a lot of the same people who wrote She-Ra and it seems to be a big fan of various anime things too, especially Dragon Ball Z and Neon Genesis Evangelion.

To that end, the show has basically... turned Superman into a mixture of Adora and Goku, not just in terms of personality traits and in Adora's case, her relationship with Catra (Seriously, if Clark was a woman and blonde, I would swear she and Lois would just be Catradora)

This sadly does apply to how this show portrays the Kryptonians, who are implied to MOSTLY be a race of evil conquerors who tried to attack Earth only for Krypton to be destroyed. This is VERY similar to how the First One's were depicted in She-Ra, as well as how the Saiyans were in Dragon Ball Z. One could also argue that their attack on Earth is a weird mashup of the movie Arrival and the Second Impact from Evangelion but that's me getting very nitpicky.

So naturally, we have Adora and Goku's traits being applied to Superman. And…. those traits don't really work for Superman, at all. Now I should be clear, it seems to be that Jor-El and Lara were actually like rebels fighting the evil Kryptonians (which is ironically Mara's whole deal... you seeing the She-Ra pattern here yet?) but like... I don't like this idea at all. Poor Clark even has a fucking breakdown later on and thinks he's actually some evil weapon meant to conquer Earth AGAIN just like Adora from She-Ra being used as a weapon by the First One's. And I just feel bad for him because he's trying to be the good decent Superman we all love... but he's getting dragged into this plot that pretty much breaks him... and I don't really like it.

And then there's a whole subplot about Lois meeting alternate versions of herself and discovering alternate versions of Superman who are evil (which is bizarrely how Kryptonite is introduced in this show) which.... yeah I don't like that plot either. Nor am I the fan of Task Force X pulling the whole "the Government is treating clark as hostile because they think he's an evil alien" plot which I have gotten kinda tired of seeing in a lot of modern Superhero media. It's either Superheroes being hated or hunted by the government or being made to work for them.

And you know where this all probably came from for this show in particular? Fucking Zack Synder and Man of Steel. It's kind of ironic because a lot of this show feels like its in response to the Synderverse, like it feels obligated to comment on how people see Superman now because of those crappy movies, something that I know James Gunn is probably gonna do as well with his superman movie basically a live action version of Superman vs the Elite.

And just…. no, none of this shit is really necessary nor is it a good idea. Because it kinda takes away some bits of Superman that I like. I know the show isn't done yet but… I can already make a good guess of where it's going to go. And where it's going… idk if I'm gonna like a whole lot.

It is clearly a show wanting to be different from all that has been done before with Superman…. but by being different for the sake of it, it's doing a lot of stuff I just don't like.

I just want there to be a day when we get a Superman thing that doesn't have to justify the man's own existence and role in a story because some objectivist edgelord made a bad movie with him in it eleven years ago.

So yeah, by turning Superman into more or less mostly Adora from She-Ra... I think they might have messed him a bit in my eyes. I hope season 2, whenever that comes out hopefully pushes things in a more hopeful direction and I could genuinely call this a good adaption of Superman. Because there is so much potential with just from the relationship of Clark and Lois alone that tells me that these creators just GET how Superman's character is.

So yeah, I hope that long rambling thought made sense.

[mikanlardyclinic]

"Oi kale been waiting for you at the usual spot for a while! Everything okay?.."

"i..I'm okay! J...Just d..don't come in please.. I..im not feeling okay! I..i can't train with you today.. S..sorry!.."

"kale! You've been saying the same excuse for 3 months! I haven't seen you leave the room once! Listen i care for ya but I'm getting worried I'm going in! If you're in your underwear or somethin just cover yourself as best you can!"

THUMP... THUMP!

"huh?.. What.. The.. Kale did you block the door with somethin?.. Come on! You know damn well that won't work just because i don't like wrecking our hideout that doesn't mean i won't do it! You got me worried sick over here!"

"j..just don't come in please!!.."

"kale if you got hurt or something atleast let me see it so i can help you!"

THUMP.. CRACK!!

Caulifla's fist broke through the door grabbing something squishy while looking for the handle..

"The hell?! Did you smuggle a new throne for me or something?! Wow.. This stuff is really soft like jello... a..anyhow! I'm still coming in!"

"n..no please d..dont!"

Caulifla entered the room cleaning some debri from her fist as whe looked at the reason why kale didn't wanna come out..

"P..please d..dont look at me!!"

"sniff.. P...please..sniff.. C..close t..the door please d..dont.. Don't look at me.. !"

Tears streamed from the timid saiyan's face her sweaty lardy body exposed.. All that hard work done with caulifla buried beneath heavy layer of lard..

"oh.. Oh.. Oh crud.. Kale kale calm down.. Shit maybe i shouldn't have come in.. I was just worried nobody's seen you in weeks and i didn't know if you even wanted to hang out with me anymore.. Just. Okay okay calm down please.."

Caulifla hugged her protege her arms burying into her sides and into the sweaty rolls in kale's body.. She reeked of sweat and food.. She hadn't even gone out for a shower..

"it's okay.. I..im sorry if i was too rash just tell me what happened.. Why don't you wanna go train with me? Or hang out anywhere for that matter! "

"i..it's.. I.. I don't wanna hurt you!.. L..last t..time i really really hurt you.. I was so scared i blacked out while sparing and i woke up with you on the brink of death!.. I..i don't want to harm you.. A..and i..i ruined this body so much.. T..the body you helped me tone a..and that you looked so happy to see grow.. "

"and after that you went to hide and keep eating the normal amount we usual eat right?.."

caulifla gropes kale's gut trying to derrail the conversation a bit.. She was also scared at that moment not of getting killed.. But that she had pushed kale too far.. That she might have been unable to get back undercontrol.. That she would become a mindless beast.. She liked fighting with kale.. But she didn't want her to be lost in bloodlust or self hatred forever..

".. Listen i get it i was a tiiiiny bit scared then too.. But when you started avoiding me i thought i had really messed up as well.. I won't push ya to train anymore i get that you don't like fighting me.. Plus it's not like you destroyed it.. Your body is still yours you treat it how you wanna! I don't mind you being buff or a complete butterball you dummy! I love ya all the same! "

"you're not mad?.. I..I've been just gorging myself in here and lying to you for so long.. I..i don't think I'll ever be in any condition to spar or train again.."

"of course not you dummy! I care more about you being okay than you getting stronger pluuuus!!"

"with all this extra plush you're even softer to cuddle with! So just relax and keep gorging yourself if you wanna! I just want you to feel okay! Buut if you ever wanna lose the tummy you tell me okay?.."

"Y..yes! G..gosh you just lifted a weight off my shoulders caulifla i..i really d..didn't know how to talk to you about this and.. Eeep!"

"And speaking of lifting weights!" caulifla lifted kale's gut with one hand seeing the unbuckled belt and shorts struggling to contain the saiyan's girl fupa

"if you ever need help relieving some stress around don't be shy and just ask!~ i wouldn't mind going spelunking under there~"

A brightblush appeared on the flabby girl face..

"I..I'll k..keep that in mind hehe!~"

[sith-qween]

Come, Let Us Teach You

Fandom: DBZ

Pairings: Reader x Vegeta, Reader x Nappa, Reader x Raditz

Words: 3.2K

Rating: M

Warnings: Sayian Reader, Mating Cycles/Heats, Ginyu Force, Dark Frieza, No protection, probably more, I will update as we go lol

One | Two | Three | Four |  Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Nine | Ten | Eleven | Twelve | Thirteen | Fourteen | Fifteen |

He wasn’t exactly one for pillow talk and cuddles, much like you would have assumed in the first place. In fact it might have shocked you more if he had been. Instead he cleaned himself up when you turned your back to him and left without much more than a couple words. You were given one more painful reminder that you needed to toughen up and he was gone. 

Did you expect anything to come from what had just happened, no. Hell you already knew you’d probably never hear the end of it and that alone was enough to make your blood boil. Even if he had been amazing and satisfied everything you needed him to in the moment - you would rather drop dead than ever give him the satisfaction of knowing that. He was an arrogant prince and you didn’t need to give him any more of an ego boost on top of everything else. 

Laying there in the pit of confusion over how you felt now, you finally decided enough was enough. There was still enough time to get some training in and you would rather not lose any more time, lest they try to hold it against you for slacking. Dragging yourself from the inner war in your head, you stood, not without a pleasant reminder that was ghosted throughout your skin, and headed into the bathroom. 

The shower was hot and quick, scrubbing your skin rougher than normal, trying to erase it from your thoughts. Granted there was no way to forget his lips on your skin or just how right it had felt. Honesty you chalked it up to being that time and probably something to do with him being a Saiyan. After all you’d dealt with your time before but it had never felt quiet as right as that had. Needless to say you weren’t exactly in the biggest hurry to find out about it either. 

Everything was routine from there. Dressed. Stretched. Straight to the training rooms. You were pretty sure it would be safe to avoid Vegeta there, he was probably busy reporting the mission and trying to brown nose Frieza or Ginyu. He was very proud, but he also bowed his head when he wanted to keep his life. After all you probably made his life a little bit more difficult when you had lipped off about Frieza. 

With a hiss the door pulled open and you stepped in. The dull roar that was humming in your muscles was enough to remind you how badly you needed to let off some more steam. While you had been hopeful that you would be able to steal the training room to yourself, your tail lashed with annoyance as you spotted a certain hulking Saiyan in one of the corners of the room. Great. Just one of the people you wanted to see the most at that moment. It wasn’t like dealing with any of them was an easy task, let alone when you were all wound up.

Deciding it would be in your best interest to ignore him, as you headed over towards your own section of the room. It was nothing special, and it wasn’t like any of the higher ups were in a hurry to use any of their budget on your group. The stuff was older and worn, but you figured it gave it some character; after all so far there had been a great deal of memories made in this room, and you weren’t sure if you would really change that if you could. Even if some were unpleasant, and others were just plain embarrassing. Over the dulled smack against the leather of the punching bag you hadn’t noticed a loud voice trying to get your attention. Well that being until suddenly he was in your vision.

“Just because you can get some doesn’t make you that much better than the rest of us you know?” the voice jabbed, the loud sound breaking from the haze that had been fogging everything else was the least recommended at the moment. Stopping you lifted your eyes to meet the others, narrowed in displeasure of being interrupted. 

“And what makes you think that? Besides, I know I’m better either way, keep that in mind.” you pointed out, voice level not wanting to really give anything away. Knowing their history it would be something quickly turned against you, and the questions of who would be quick to follow. After being so against any of them, you weren’t exactly ready to admit they weren’t that bad. Especially when you knew they all had one goal in mind, and it was the one thing you were most against.

He could see the calculating look behind those [e/c] eyes, and he wanted to know what you were holding back, but he was also wise enough not to pry at the wrong times. His face was lit with his grin as he watched you with a curious gleam, “Now now, I know a glow when I see one, but clearly you don’t want to brag.. I mean, I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to demonstrate, wouldn’t feel nearly as jealous..” he hinted, amusement lighting his eyes as his words managed to get a reaction. Honestly, you swore there was a guide on how to push your buttons, were you just that easy to read?

“I think you need to wake up from whatever disillusioned dreamland you’re floating in, you might just walk into something and hurt yourself” you practically snarled at him, the bite in your words was back and as strong as ever. Hell you could have even fooled yourself into thinking absolutely nothing happened in this very room only a few days ago. 

“So cold, I don’t know what I did to deserve such treatment…” his laugh came, making it plainly obvious that he knew why, and that he liked the reaction. A small twitch reached your eye as you tried not to let him get under your skin, this wasn’t the time to start anything else. You just wanted to train, and hopefully clear your mind from earlier. That wasn’t something you really wanted to have lingering around in the back of your mind for long. Not only would it be a pain if anyone else found out, but it was always not something you wanted to have haunting you either. The sooner it was gone from your mind, the better off you would be, mentally and physically. 

“You know full well what you did, now do you plan on bugging me further or may I get back to warming up?” you managed to get out, the sharpness edging into your voice. Your eyes flicked to the side to where he stood, just within your peripheral vision. You could hardly make out the smug expression he wore, but then again you knew better by now - it was more surprising for him not to be so smug.

“Warming up? [Y/N], what would you do after that? Not like you can make as much progress alone, as you could if you had a partner. After all, it has been a while since we spared last - wouldn’t that be more worthwhile?” he suggested, but it was much more like a nudge. This was enough to get you to turn slightly to face him, the hints of challenge already budding,

“If I am not mistaken, last time we spared someone got upset when I landed a hit on him. I believe they were even considered ‘rusty’ by a lower class saiyan. Or am I mistaken, Nappa?” you responded. The venom lacing your tone was as clear as day, and you could visibly see his muscles tighten at the taunt. Sure he wasn’t the best person to rile up, but it was only fair he knew that two could play at that game.

“And didn’t someone else get their feathers in a bunch when someone hit them back? I recall a scrawny little thing huffing off with anger because they weren’t ready to block.” 

There was a silence in the room, his words seeping into your veins and causing anger to fuel you. Of course, on again about how much smaller you were from the others. It wasn’t even like you hadn’t been exposed to the life of a saiyan, or that you were a female. No, that had nothing to do with it, clearly not. Sure, you weren’t as skilled or built as them, but your spirit burned stronger than theirs, and you would be damned if you let the massive man just walk all over you with his words. 

“So long as you don’t hold back for the sake of pity.. I think maybe I will take you up on this offer this time. I would much rather smack you around than a bag of sand.” your eyes were narrowed, watching him carefully. Turning to face him fully, you could see the sheer size difference. Hell Nappa made Vegeta and Raditz look small in comparison, you could only imagine how small you must look next to him. 

“Hold back? Now why would I do that? You’ve proven you need some sense knocked into that thick skull of yours, and after all what go would me holding back do? It wouldn’t do either one of us much good, now would it?” his face was making a change from smug brat, to an over confident fighter. Now most would feel intimidated by all that, but for once you felt like one with your roots, a deep burning to rise above this obstacle and beat down a strong opponent? Oh you could feel the phantom itching in the tips of your fingers. Curling your hands into fists, a grin of your own started to grow. No matter what, you refused to end up in the medical bays again.

If you were to admit that Nappa was right, it might be time to try fighting more seriously. After all, everything up until this point was all reckless and foolish fighting. No plan, no real power, just anger and rage. You would have to take it a step up if you wanted to avoid anything fatal this time around, and clearly the other was on the same page as you. The air started to grow heavy, and it took a couple of quick back steps before you felt at a safe distance. The ground under him had started to dent slightly and a deep chuckle emanated from him as he watched you blink in surprise. Well, guess there was no use avoiding it, you had to admit he was right this time around.

Meeting his eyes in a challenge, you took on a defensive stance, focusing on building up your own power. Honestly, this was never your strong point seeing as your old base never pushed you nearly as hard as this one already had. After all you were in a no name base, the expendable ones who were the lambs to the slaughter. Here the stronger warriors, not to mention a handful of Frieza’s strongest men, were often seen patrolling the halls and hanging around. The jump was huge, and now was as good a time as any to start working on improving your power levels. 

Unlike the brutish force that the other was giving off as he powered up, yours was more elegant in a way. Much more liquid compared to his explosive burst. The equipment near you started to crack and break down, hitting the ground in a sharp clutter. The feelings of energy rushing through you could be akin to that of a warm drink on a cold day. The distinct contrast as it rushed through you. This was much better, so much better. Not like it would’ve helped with Frieza, but now you were on a closer playing field with the other, closing some of the power gap. 

Neither one of you was ready to move, and neither one of you was willing to let the other out of their sights. Everything paused for a moment before you saw him rush towards you. It was a quick movement and you managed to block, your size giving you the advantage with speed as you shift and land a kick to his legs. However your strength was only so much against his muscles. Grabbing the leg that connected he was quick in pulling you off and hurling you into the wall across the room. 

Stunned for a brief moment you saw him rushing you again and you were quick to duck out of the way, making sure to leave a well timed ki blast in order to blind him and gain some distance. Yeah, okay right. Now wasn’t the time to get careless. You could hear him growl at the little stunt and you were on the clock. Taking your turn in rushing him you unleashed a series of blows, catching him off guard as he turned around. He had to take a moment to worry about blocking your attacks before he finally  resumed his own attacks. 

Well that alone was progress. He had to actually block and worry about your attacks now, better than his good old, fuxe worries. You weren’t just trying to find a chance to hit him, you were hitting him, and making him react in earnest now. Only, you would have to take time to be proud of that later, right now you were more worried about not getting to comfy with the floor like you had in previous fights. 

The fight continued on for a while, each of you holding your own against the other. Hits are getting harder and faster, and focus getting sharper and more dangerous. Parting for a moment, you both needed to catch your breath, hovering in the air. You were sore, but it felt so good. In fact it was only serving to boost the adrenaline you were already feeling. Noticing a shift in his stance as he readjusted you didn’t give it to him, rushing in you went right for him. 

With a grunt he just managed to catch your fist before it landed between his eyes. The curl of his lips causes you to practically snarl in response. Damn, you were so close to getting that one in, but he had experience on his side, otherwise the match probably would’ve been yours. 

“Playing dirty, I gotta say it makes me proud to see you can fight now. Then again maybe something has you riled up.. You aren’t normally so serious in a fight.” he started, the grip on your fist tight, making sure you didn’t just wiggle out. One thing was for sure, you didn’t miss the darkening gleam in his eyes as he continued, “besides it seems I wasn’t too far off with my observation earlier. Can’t say that you don’t smell amazing right now. You smelled good earlier on that mission too. You know you don’t have to fight against it right?” he growled, the hunger in his eyes sending shivers along your spine.

And like that you could vividly feel strong hands on your waist, the heavy heat in your mouth and how primal it had all felt. You needed only to not fight it and you were sure the man before you could dish it out just as well as the prince, maybe even better. However reason was setting in and you had already given into it once, you weren’t planning on making it a habit either. In quick succession you managed to free your fist from his hand before a heavy leg came down on his head, taking the hulking man spiralling to the ground below. 

“Don’t go pressing your luck, Nappa. If it got so bad that I needed the help, I would rather find just about anyone else on the ship than one of your three.” you growled. Honestly the sooner they moved past that the better it would be for you all. However instead of the explosive anger you were half expecting, you got a heavy laugh from below as the other started to sit up from where he landed.

“Well now, guess you can dish out more than I gave you credit for.” he admitted as you jumped down to meet him on the ground. Extending a hand to help him up, he took it with a grin and he got to his feet. However before you could retract your hand, he pulled your body in close, enclosing you in his arms. The action throws you off guard for a moment, but recovering quickly you go to move back before he speaks, “don’t worry, I just want to hold you. May tease you a lot, but I’m not interested in anything if it’s forced.” 

“Well, guess even you can be full of surprises..” you muttered, not sure how to react in such a situation. Raised as a fighter and warrior, this wasn’t really something you were exactly used to. Hell even earlier with Vegeta, there wasn’t anything like that, and that was closer to what you were used to. In the midst of your thoughts you could feel the older man’s chuckle in his chest before he pulled away to look down at you, his hands resting on your waist. Unsure how much you trusted him, you tensed as one hand moved to the tail wrapped around your waist. 

“Last time we were alone I gave you some advice, and I never saw you use it..” he started as he unravelled your trail, watching your reactions. What he wasn’t expecting was the grin that grew upon your features, “however, I guess I was mistaken.” 

“I guess you were, after all - seeing how much you all liked to use that as leverage, even block heads like you guys should have known I would work on remedying that.” you smirked. While you didn’t feel sharp, paralysing pain anymore, your tail was still sensitive and it was harder than you thought to keep a straight face. However it was clear that the other knew what he was doing, then again he was born and raised with other Saiyans, he probably wasn’t inexperienced either. 

His touch was soft and careful as the calloused hand moved along the soft fur. Naturally you were still not completely satisfied after Vegeta, but at least it was a duller roar now. However you weren’t going to let him distract you like this either. In his arms you used your tiptoes to close the distance as you pulled him down by the neck to connect your lips, using his moment of distraction to pull your tail free from his grasp. The smirk on his lips was all the warning you needed to cut it off. 

“Geez, make a man jealous why don’t ya? C’mon who was it? I need to know their secrets,” he smirked before you pushed him off and put some distance between the two of you. And just like that he managed to ruin the otherwise fine mood. You swore the three of them had this hidden ability to ruin anything good they started. Expressioned hardening once again you shook your head in disappointment, 

“Jealous or not, it’s not your business. Now can we get back to training? I enjoyed kicking your butt.” And like that he was focused on the fight once again. For once you felt confident with your skills, and you had a good sparring partner, and you were liking the results that were showing. 

[willowisapillow]

🐉 Next Time On South Park Z 🐉

The couple of all time 💝

Here it is, the true (super belated) Valentine’s Day picture. Yet another cringe crossover absolutely nobody asked for yet I deliver because I can. Apologies if I’ve been posting way too much South Park stuff, it’s yet another franchise that I’m currently unhealthily hyper-fixated on. Enjoy some more Randy and Sharon appreciation art from me, because these two dorks are just everything to me <3

This was also made as a small tribute to Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball after I found out that he passed away earlier this month on March 1st. Even though I’m a casual fan of the series, still makes me sad that he’s no longer and that we lost another anime/manga legend.

This whole art became a thing based on a phone call between me and one of my older brothers. We were just talking about random dumb stuff and he jokingly asked me to draw Cartman as Naruto and Kyle as Saskue (which is an art project that y’all know damn well I’ll be drawing in the future so look out for that lmao). I just started laughing to myself, but then I thought to myself, “What other anime could I cross over with South Park?” then Dragon Ball popped up in my head all of a sudden, and that’s how this cringefest came to be.

I can kinda see some connections with it, tbh. Both Goku and Randy are dumbass but funny as hell dads (they also have black hair), and both Chichi and Sharon are no-nonsense moms who are often exasperated by their hubbies’ idiotic actions, but do love them deep down and have shared some wholesome cute moments together with them. Both series also feature a lot of fighting and deaths too lol

And since it is the year of the dragon, this pic is pretty fitting :>

I thought I would take forever with this picture because a. I’m total garbage at drawing realistic-ish, non-animal guy characters, and b. I don’t draw side-view faces that much, but surprisingly it wasn’t too hard. I did get kinda lazy with the lower half of Randy’s body and didn’t draw it, but besides that, the whole art was pretty easy. Minus drawing the hands. Because Jesus tap dancing Christ, the hands took me lightyears to get right 🙃

All in all, this might be one of my favorite 2024 pieces of art I’ve drawn so far. Again, these two are special to me, and I finally got the chance to cross over some of my favorite things, cartoons and anime. Maybe I might draw Stan and Wendy as Gohan and Videl in the future as a little follow-up ^^

Also, the mental image of Randy going Super Saiyan is just the funniest shit to me, istg someone needs to make fanart, an animation, or some other sort of meme of that 💀

That’s all that I have for now. Hope you guys have a great day or night, and make sure to stay safe out there.

Farewell, Toriyama. May your memory and legacy live on 😇

[sannin-three]

Can we talk about how Hiruzen aged like fucking milk?

Like he was doing okay for a while there

Aging pretty steadily. Hair gradually going into Super Saiyan mode, but still.

Then the stuff with Naruto's birth happened and he got put back in the Hokage role. And in a flashback with Asuma just a few years later...

Being forced out of retirement did not agree with him

[sweetescapeartist]

A DBS MANGA CHAPTER 102 REVIEW. KINDA...

Some stuff about chapter 102 of the DBS manga I don't really like/I want to quickly discuss. Meant to post this last month but didn't. I'm behind on a lot of things.

All those folks saying True UI is Goku's strongest form... The upcoming chapter says otherwise. Goku uses the silver haired UI form & Beerus apparently views that as Goku at his strongest. Heck, Goku calls it his best move. Good job Toyo for creating True UI (black hair) and confusing fans to believe that was stronger than Mastered UI (silver hair) when in reality True UI is simply UI Sign (black hair) that changed how UI works so it matches more closer to how the anime depicted the technique. UI Omen in the anime allowed Goku to use his emotions, but the more control he has over them, the stronger he becomes until he transforms into Mastered UI. UI Sign in the manga was depicted as Goku needing to be emotionless & stated that emotions hinder the power. This was from the ToP Saga all the way until Toyotaro "created" True UI to function off of controlled emotions like how the DBS anime always has & gave it Omen the name "True Ultra Instinct." [Link to a long post that I paraphrased, so you ain't gotta read it unless you're really interested.]

I get tired of the same expressions in this Super Hero Saga. Its a pouty or surprised face accompanied with an oval shaped mouth. Toyotaro is overusing the hell out of that. Here's a compilation & I left out like 4 other panels with this same expression. (There's more in CH 103)

I saw ppl talking about the poses when Goku & Gohan fight look cool.... Looks pretty stiff imo. At least from what I've seen. Lacks a feel of movement. And you don't even see most of the fight. It doesn't make it cool imo. We've seen MUI in action against powerful opponents. If MUI Goku & Beast Gohan are close to equal strength, why not show actual combat between the two other than the aftermath of clashes? There was more attention to choreography with Gohan vs Trunks & Goten than there is with Gohan vs Goku. (Chapter 103 does better with the combat for Goku vs Gohan)

Toyotaro doing the "this form is called such & such" is weird for me. Seems like he's trying to hype up Western fans or something. Like when Goten & Trunks name Gohan's potential unleashed form "Ultimate." Its just dialogue for the sake of some sort of fanservice. Some ppl will like it, others wont. I just wasn't a fan of it. Feels like its placed here just for fanservice. If they called it ultimate & didn't draw too much attention to it, I would've prefered that. Its naming it but not stopping the narrative flow.

Also wasn't a fan of Goku asking Gohan is his new power was SSJ2 or SSJ3. Goku knows dang well Gohan's Potential Unleashed form is far stronger than SSJ2 & was stronger than SSJ3. He should've just asked "So, what's this form of yours?" and leave it there.

Some Vegeta fans are calling him a proud uncle when he smiles at Gohan & Goku about to spar. No, he is a Saiyan who is ready to see a good fight just as Broly smiled when he watched Goku & Vegeta fight. Is there some pride there? Yes. But Vegeta ain't no uncle figure to Gohan. That's Piccolo & Krillin.

Why are Carmine & Soldier 15 there on Beerus' planet? Goku could have just had his sons & Trunks put a hand on his shoulder then teleported. And why would Gohan see Carmine & 15 who shot at his home & at him, turn Beast out of anger, then hop into the same vehicle as them as if he forgot what happened in the last chapter? It was literally a few seconds ago.

This was just for them to record Goten & Trunks in their costumes (can they even keep up with how fast they are moving?) And it just seems like a plot device that won't matter at all. Anyone remember 7-3 in the Granolah Saga?was there for a moment & served no purpose other than a reference. I bet this with Carmine is for a simple joke to be quickly thrown aside.

[tobiasdrake]

FUN FACT: Did you know that Vegeta wasn't blowing smoke on Namek when he claimed to have become a Super Saiyan?

Well. Not entirely, anyway.

And also the process of becoming a Super Saiyan is kind of complicated, and Goku is an enlightened martial arts master.

The process of becoming a Super Saiyan is complicated. The English dub got a bit confused on this point while they were frantically erasing as much spirituality and also martial arts and general power levels talk as they could from the series.

The dub was bad. I don't think that's a surprise to anyone. It was a 90's anime dub. It scrubbed the source material of a lot of stuff.

But specifically here, the dub confused matters when it said that to become a Super Saiyan, you have to be pure of heart. This confused matters, because being purehearted is a thing in Dragon Ball. You have to be purehearted to ride the Nimbus.

This concept of pureheartedness exists in Dragon Ball. But it has nothing to do with the Super Saiyan.

This isn't the same as that. To become a Super Saiyan, you need something else. Notably, the Viz manga also translates this idea as "pure of heart"....

But the idea being translated here is more along the lines of tranquility than innocent goodness.

Becoming a Super Saiyan is a bit of a process. To understand the Super Saiyan, we need to talk about limit-breaking. This is a concept that's expressed repeatedly throughout Dragon Ball. In order to become Dragon Ball Powerful, you have to break your limits. You hit a ceiling and that's as far as you can go, until you find some new way to push through and break that ceiling. The series is big on this idea.

As an example, Mr. Satan is an incredibly formidable martial artist. He is peak. Top-tier fighter. ...within human limits. But he doesn't hold a candle to Krillin because Krillin broke the human limit in childhood.

Mr. Satan is basically Panput from the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai.

Saiyans are in a different league from humans, and they have different set limits. Different norms, different standards, and different potentials. But, like humans, there's a ceiling. The first step to becoming a Super Saiyan is breaking the Saiyan limit.

Goku, as a low-class Saiyan trained on Earth in martial arts, was able to break through the Saiyan limit during his gravity training in space. This wasn't the goal of his training, mind; Goku had a particular goal in mind. He was subjecting himself to intense gravity so that he could acclimate his body to withstanding higher levels of Kaioken.

Not even realizing that was what he was doing, Goku was the first to shatter his Saiyan boundary and take the first step to becoming a Super Saiyan.

That Goku has transcended Saiyan abilities isn't lost on either Vegeta or Captain Ginyu, both of whom peg him as a Super Saiyan... before walking it back because Goku lacks the overwhelming bloodthirst and battle hunger that characterizes the legend.

Poor Goku has no idea what any of these people are on about. He might as well be listening to Game of Thrones fans infodump about the Lannisters.

But he wasn't alone. During his fight with Jeice following his third Zenkai of the arc, Vegeta finds himself trashing Jeice. Vegeta's as surprised as Jeice is, to be honest. Even with a Zenkai, he should not be doing this well.

Vegeta's last Zenkai wasn't just a Zenkai. It pushed him through the Saiyan limit.

You see, something happens to a Saiyan as they cross that boundary. Their ki begins to swell astronomically in preparation for becoming a Super Saiyan. Both Goku and Vegeta at this point have entered a sort of proto-Super Saiyan state. Their powers are passively being inflated.

Goku, too, eventually realizes that his power is growing at an astronomical rate that cannot be explained by his training or his Zenkai boosts or any phenomenon he's aware of. He's just. Swelling with power for reasons he can't fathom.

Neither of them are Super Saiyans yet. They still need the right spark to ignite it - and, despite knowing more about the Super Saiyan legend than Goku, Vegeta has no idea what that spark is. But they're both inflating like balloons in preparation for ignition.

Vegeta brings up the proto-Super Saiyan again in his first showdown with Frieza.

He recognizes that he is not yet the Super Saiyan. But he is a proto-Super Saiyan. He still feels it, still feels his power inflating within himself. He just. Needs. That. Spark.

But he won't find it. He said it himself: He doesn't think Goku and his "soft heart" can become the Super Saiyan. The Super Saiyan is supposed to be filled with rage and battle hunger.

But breaking the Saiyan limit isn't enough. You need the spark: A tranquil heart awakened by rage.

There are two pieces to that. The first is a tranquil heart. What does that mean? It means tranquility. Stillness. Peace. Becoming one with yourself and the cosmic universe.

During his training in space, with nothing to concern himself with and no distractions, Goku found tranquility. Alone in the void of space with only his beloved art, he achieved a measure of serenity and peace that he's never known before.

When Goku steps off that ship, he's different. He's entirely focused on the task at hand. He doesn't even want to fight the Ginyus, which is a stark departure for his character. He has no interest in the joy of battle; Only in doing what he came for and going home.

Goku asks the Ginyu Force multiple times to just go away. He does not care about this. He is thoroughly disinterested in fighting.

He's not even mad. They beat up his son and his best friend, and Goku does not care. Also, he can read minds now. Because he is the Heavenly Buddha, I guess.

This is a super weird moment, but its main purpose is to demonstrate that Goku has become... something else. He's not just "Goku but stronger"; he's changed on a fundamental level.

Goku is no longer a rash, impulsive student. He has become a master of his art. Do you see that kanji on his back? Kaio presented Goku with this new dogi after he got out of the hospital... uh... somehow.

You. Uh. You gonna elaborate on where the fuck that came from, Goku? No? Okay, man. You do you.

In any case, Goku's new dogi is distinctive because it erases the sigils of both the Kame school and Kaio. Originally, he would wear the Kame sigils on both front and back to reflect his status as a student of Kame-senryu.

Even if he did only technically study Kame-senryu for less than a year. It's fine; the Muten-Roshi filled him with a lot of philosophy that's guided him over the years so it still counts.

After he trained under Kaio, the sigil on his back was replaced with Kaio's sigil, to reflect that he is Kaio's student now as much as he is the Muten-Roshi's. Though he left the Kame-senryu sigil on Goku's front, because he is a student of both.

But from the moment Goku steps off that ship, both Kaio and the Kame sigils have been replaced by this new one.

This new sigil serves two purposes. First is that it's the first kanji of Goku's name. Both of his masters are now gone from Goku's expression, replaced by Goku himself; This symbolizes that Goku has, himself, become the master. His art is now fully his own.

Goku is at the peak of his journey. There is nothing more for him to learn. It falls to him now to cultivate, develop, and evolve his art for himself, using the knowledge and mastery he's acquired. And, as we'll see in the next arc, to ultimately pass it on to the next generation to come.

But, bringing this back to the tranquil heart thing: The kanji for 'Go' also represents enlightenment. Goku has found peace with himself and his place in the cosmic universe. That is why he, and not Vegeta, is ready to have his spark ignited.

He's broken the Saiyan limit. He has a tranquil heart. All he needs now is to snap, and have his tranquil heart awakened by rage.

But Vegeta still has a ways to go. Because his heart is far from tranquil.

The best he can come up with is "I Zenkai'd into this, I can Zenkai out of it!" Vegeta is very fettered, especially in conflict with Frieza. He is not one with the cosmic universe. He is a nervous wreck of emotions and wants and distractions. He was so close, but he could never have ignited here. Not under these circumstances.

No, Vegeta would only find his tranquility after becoming stranded on Earth. (No, anime, Vegeta did not have a spare spaceship on hand to leave immediately.)

Three years, living at Capsule Corp until he moved out and got his own place. Free from the yoke of Frieza and able to pursue nothing more than his own self-improvement. Driven by a desire to surpass Goku but in a low-stress environment...

...and apparently hanging out with Bulma in his downtime.

That's where Vegeta found his tranquility. And the spark of rage that ignited his tranquil heart? His own inadequacies, of course.

Never change, Vegeta. XD

[iobartach]

okay! this has been a LONG time coming, so brace yourselves for this... we're gonna talk about that injection scene from ats.v so comic purists especially please don't hunt down my ass for what i'm about to put out into the universe 😂

....so ..... let's talk about ... atsv's injection scene ;

what was intended by it? fuck knows, waiting for sony to send answers on a postcard. buuuut, for my take, let me be clear on the interpretations / meanings that i'm not gonna perpetuate ;

it's not rapture. i'm drawing a HARD STOP under that thought. noooo thankkk you.

it's not the source of his spider powers. we're staying true to our Cronenberg-inspired metamorphosis horrific-ness here 😎 even if more... recent reinventions of miguel shown in the comics would tell you he willingly opted to make himself half-spider, i ain't subscribing to it. (miguel's perspective on his transformation probs deserves its own hc post eventually! stay tuned!

so... if not this... what then? well...

i'm gonna posit that the injection(s) are a way for miguel to manage his 'condition'

for that, lemme do a little recap / reminder;

following his accident, miguel has experienced a multitude of changes. one of the most prominent changes is that he's become an obligate carnivore / hypercarnivore if you will. which means, meat is his new bff - he'll crave the calories, he'll eat it cooked or even raw, especially if it placates his tendency to gnaw when starving. and when he does eat, he tears and swallows chunks - not really a chewer any longer.

whiiiich introduces a new issue; anything plant based? loses its appeal to him. it's a slow progression, too. he'd start with reducing portions. taking a bite or two. leaving the rest. until there's next to no greenery left on the plate, when he knows he needs the nutrients they provide.

and ooh, it's actually gets a level worse than that : )

not only does he stop eating vegetables, fruits, *maybe* fungai? idk? but wellll his own mutated body might even stop producing the important stuff like vitamin c, and things of that ilk ! so ... what's a hybrid to do? how's he gonna make up the difference and get the nutrients he needs? ( especially when you consider... whilst he doesn't eat often, due to a combination of altered metabolism and slowed digestion rate, he could eat and consume calories in the magnitude that could make a damn saiyan blush --)

but, even so, it won't make up for the deficiencies 😔 so what's a spooky spider lad to do?

Come up with a solution, duh!

Yesss, baby, we're talking supplementation! operating in a similar manner to a diabetic needing insulin, or someone with B12 deficiency, for the all important food stuffs that miguel has perhaps tried, and tried again to consume, he's gonna turn to science for a lending hand, load up on what's either missing from his diet now, or that which his body simply can't absorb any longer

And, in addition to this, these shots are important in another sense 👀

they help miguel to manage his spider tendencies

since the way i've approached this with my earlier hcs is, well, tl;dr my mig's human / spider dna isn't a 50/50 split, it's gradually veering more towards spider as the years pass

this means that, it's a bit of a perfect storm brewing; lack of nutrients + behaviours & tendencies that he is likely chronicling by the day is ... a recipe for trouble! i can bet that miguel by himself can ... manage / hold himself together ... to a point, but, to paraphrase a friendo; have you ever met a hangry person? there's a limit to everything!

and we've seen miguel breach that limit already, during the miles chase in atsv. if ya had a bingo card for just about the worst everything happening in a single day? that card probably got filled UP during that chase! 😔 perhaps stress also played as factor there was well - the dude's carrying a LOT on his shoulders!

anyyyway! back on topic! let's expand the supplementation too - let's also throw in some sort of hormones? i know this is a whole science in itself, and ain't scientist 🥹 so i'll leave this a bit more broad, and say that they also play a part in stabilising miguel, ground him, so he won't go chasing a kid across the city... .ahem 😔

leading on from this, though, i wanna add some last things here. i know, i'm... meandering here , but lemme say;

take note of the intensity of miguel's eye colouration!

r e d - sorry, but you're shocked, buddy, best of luck surviving 💀

scarlet / bright red - feeling aggro, but holding enough of himself together to not act on his impulses

garnet - the default, feeling spidery, but also feeling human as close to a harmonious state as he can manage for the most part

dark brown - the goal!👀this is potentially a state that achieved after he injects himself. it floods him with a calm like nothing else he's ever felt. it's when he feels the most human again, a memory that's easily forgotten when you've got fangs and shoot webs from the back of your hands!!!

and it's with this last point, with the brown eyes, that i wanna bring this home with the little ritual miguel develops; after takin an injection, he'll make a point of brewing the strongest cup of black coffee that he can manage. a rare treat these days for him... especially given that caffeine does not agree with spiders. 💀

so yeah!!! thanks for reading through this ! 👋