#the way Toriyama had to keep beating “Vegeta is a Chronic Overthinker” as a theme over the head because Toei keeps deciding he's volatile

[shannonsketches]

Actually I need to talk about this real quick re chatting with Tiny about Vegeta: In the manga he's just generally reserved and observant, and his more Loud Villainous Behavior is an extreme reaction to feeling threatened by something Specific, but Toei writes him like he's threatened by everything.

Like, his behavior in the android saga reflects how he was panicking on Earth when Goku wouldn't just die, which makes sense! Dude was a highly successful imperial lord now getting slow-roasted in peaceful earth customs for a year after being revived by mistake, then he's told he's the first one to die in an attack three years from now, then he's told he's gonna be a father in half that time, and then finds out that future kid is his future kid and he came back in time to make sure Goku didn't die, because that's the life that's going to make a difference!!

kicking biting scratching clawing snapping growling and putting in overtime to make sure everyone, especially himself, understands that he Does Not Care About These People and regain some kind of control over his life/self is pretty normal in abused abducted scared stressed people. Which is exactly what happened when Goku came back in the Buu saga. Vegeta realized he had 24 hours (and one (1) fight) to validate all of the time he's spent working his ass off between that very first retreat and now, and he gets desperate and spirals overthinking about how he's not who he was anymore.

Goku has to tell him to his face that he knows he cares about his family when he's trying to do what he did in the android saga, back when nobody knew him well enough to call him a liar. But that's the great and infuriating thing about Goku in the manga, he lacks all sense of formality and shares Honest Observations with his Whole Chest, so Vegeta knows if Goku points something out, it's the truth (which is also why it was such a big deal that he lied to Krillin in Super but I digress!!), which is what makes him resign to that truth (Which is also visited again in Super, that Vegeta is not who he used to be. The difference is that, by then, he's smiling when he says it).

Anyway this is me once again being old man yell at clouds about how Vegeta is done SO dirty throughout the anime old and new, and it kneecaps so much of his character arc, and why the other characters want him around at all, much less for over a decade (because !! he's NOT a dick all the time, turns out!! He's clever and grounded and highly controlled and extremely competent most of the time!! Even ROSHI points out Vegeta's Majin behavior isn't like him. Which is how he survived the Freeza Force for thirty goddamn years, Toei. I can't beLIEVE you would cut out the casual water cooler banter between Geets and Freeza while Goku's sitting there bleeding out what's wrONG with you that is the funniest part of the movie askldjas)