#turns out I love drawing freeza

[amokslime]

Hey! It's me! I'm beyond excited to finally be able to show you my cover art for the @kamehamehamlet script.

Thank you so much, Daniel, for commissioning me to draw two of my favorite characters of all time, during my favorite arc of the series. And a massive thank you to whichever tumblr user/s reached out to ask him about it. Now I'll get to experience a play I never thought I'd get to see again. Seeing it all those years ago really did pull me out of the most difficult art slump of my life. Seeing the actors have so much fun, while being so emotionally sensitive, made me remember why I fell in love with making art in the first place. So I'm really looking forward to reading the script and seeing the staged reading! I hope we can all enjoy it together.

Here's the latest informational post about the script. Please take a look, and please reblog to make everybody look at my drawings of vegeta to make sure all the folks who are lamenting that they missed it get their chance.

[madfantasy]

New 3 things that happened:

*I got my new ID, my id expired and to renew it I had to get photographed, and since I just opened my bank account a year ago it depends on it so already I was giving up on the idea to keep the account but by miracle a photographer agreed to picture us at home, and it turned to us cuz I wanted all my sibs to have theirs taken with me too and because I had to argue first time to get my ID forever, so i didn't have the energy to keep doing it for the rest of my sibs so now it was the chance. The day of the photographer coming I was shaking with fear and I thought I would never leave the bathroom gotten ill. I fear seeing people more than dyin so I don't know how I held it together, I literally don't remember how it went or how I did, but I recall my sibs looking the same as I felt but it was finally done. parents too taken their shoots and because one needed their passport renewed to renew their id, them alone costing 1k$ and the appointment was set 6 months ahead, we R now close to it anyway, and the thought of how we have to pay to exist some more costly made me think of my worthlessness and helplessness even more, making me ashamed of still living.

The thing that blinded me, me the first to be tested on lo

*my eye is better, I still see a dark spot looking in a certain direction, getting an eye mask surprisingly helped keeping my eyes less dry cuz they be the most when I wake up and I had the driest time before it got infected and swelled, and already I'm used to the spot and can ignore it..

*I'm still drawing, literally it's making me live love and laugh, I don't care about improving or drawing my best constantly, ai can get poisoned for all I care as it continues to dehumanise the whole point of art-- keeping humanity alive ( btw use glazing ❤️🖤)

I realised that I don't have any physical collection of my art & since I can't look at the screens forever just to browse, nd printing all my stuff isn't feasible, then I came across those mini albums Nd I got the idea to just print one sheet = 9 pics! They look good too for trashy quality, I love it 8' and yes, purple and silver is the 10% obsession to my 90% red and black pallets, thanks to remembering Freeza c'x

But as usual posting my drawings never cease to eat me alive with anxiety, but I think I'm slowly becoming indifferent to it, even if the thought of that no one actually sees my art but me, which is the main case cuz I am living in isolation and being drawing in secret till few recent years because of my conservative surroundings, I feel much calmer when I'm not seen and maybe it's self destructive in a way cuz to stay posting I need to be commissioned cuz net bill, but it became irrelevant cuz I accepted that i can't have the mental capacity to be a social media person or chase anything that I already knew I can't maintain, I had an art block for a year I almost believed that was it for my art drive and me cuz it my sanity— cuz burning out so bad. If my post has a description it was in my drafts for months cuz I plan for every piece I share, but if can't form words I allow myself to let it be captionless, I draw faster than I form words and that's why art is important to me on a personal level, it's my first way of express even if its indirect, the only bit of human Mani left to live in me to put through lines and paint splodges. Even if no one sees it, and to be honest with myself, have very weak chances of being seen on a level that benefits me financially, I'm on the other side of the world, never seen the sky beyond my schooling days, nonverbal irl and know that I can get taken advantage of easily in social manner because it either I don't get the social cues or can't say no..

I'm grateful that at least I got the chance to experience being in a loving nurturing fandom like Sev's that made me experience genuine human goodness and care I never thought possible, made me have some self worth, personality beyond a made for marriage caretaker, and allowed me to get art tools and clothing that I was never allowed or could afford, and many first time small life pleasures like perfumes, food and toys, even if I only recognise 5 or 10 of you dears now, by DP liking my posts- (I suck at remembering names sorry)

I'm also grateful to have a room after endless years of couch and house movings, I have a safe space to still be able to draw and be cool under an AC in this 50° weather..

I think realistically that's the best it can get having spent all my life trying to get anywhere but isolated, and nothing working. At least I'm indifferent and fine of being the caretaker of my disabled guardians and siblings, I need them as much as they need me, even if it caused me the same cycle of mental anguish and earth leavings hehe

Wish U all the ease and peace and yummy peas 🫶🏽

4 am, sleep deprived

[namedanarchy]

This is my goodbye to Akira Toriyama, whose creation shaped many people’s childhood including mine. Disclaimer, the characters belong to Toriyama-san. Rest in peace.

Where dreams started

By Hollowed-stars

A sudden sharp pain at the front of his forehead woke him up. The moment he opened his eyes it was gone. He didn’t remember falling asleep on his desk, the papers with still wet ink stuck to his forearms. He pulled them away softly, his arms and hands painted black. He laughed softly and shook his head at his clumsiness. Putting the papers softly on the wood he contemplated his pieces. There was some of the recent Sand Land, some of Dragon Ball with Goku doing a KameHameHa, some of Goku when he was little and was training with Krillin under Master’s Roshi’s cuestionable guidance. He looked a bit further and saw some of Arale’s. He stopped for a second. Why had he drawn this? He hadn’t drawn anything from her or Goku in a long while. His apprentice was in charge of Dragon Ball nowadays anyway.

He went to stand up, but under his foot he felt a wooden cylindrical piece that was painfully familiar. It should be impossible. For a moment he thought about questioning what was happening. He reached down and grasped the tool, eyes falling upon it.

It was his pen holder. The one he loved, the one that accompanied him since the tender age of 14.“Oh how I missed you dear friend.”

Maybe drawing one last time wouldn’t be so hard anymore. He took one of Arale’s drawings and traced on the lines, colored in her colors, purple hair, pink cap, blue jumpsuit. A proud and soft smile formed on his face.

He started on one of Goku and Krillin when they were kids. Then one of Gohan and Piccolo, Freeza and Namek, Androids and Cell, Vegeta and Trunks, Bulma, Gohan and Cell, Majin buu and Satan, Videl, Yamcha, Tien, Chiatzu, Chi-chi and Goten, Roshi, Mr. Popo, Kami.

When he finished, Toriyama-san was exhausted. He took another page, wanting to draw something more even though he didn’t have an idea of what. There was so much to do. His pen hovered over the white page when someone knocked on his door.

“Who’s there?”

The door opened and in came a girl with a cap on her head. Toriyama-san gaped at her, struck.

“I’m sorry to interrupt sensei!” she cried, playing with her fingers.

“…it’s okay.”

The girl smiled brightly, nerves forgotten, she rushed to him and grasped his hand with the pen holder in it.

“Come on!”

“Wait-! Where?”

She looked at him, like she was just realizing something. Her smile diminished some.

“It’s time sensei. They are waiting. And he is waiting just outside!”

Akira Toriyama looked back at his desk. His work was still incomplete.

“It’s completed.”

He turned sharply to her, asked her what she meant.

“It’s completed, your work it’s done. The whole world knows.”

He looked at his desk one last time. He let go of her and walked back. He put his pen holder over the drying pieces, caressing the edges of the papers with the tip of his fingers. Arale was waiting at the door, he followed her. She opened the door into the dark night and just outside stood his friend.

“Hi sensei!” the man laughed a little, giving him a smile he knew too well.

“Hello Goku” he smiled back at him.

He walked to him and stood by him. The door closed behind him, Arale nowhere in sight.

“A glimpse through the past. Can’t go back can I?”

Goku sends him a sad smile.

“There is no Shenlong here to grant that wish.”

Toriyama laughed.

“But,” Goku put his finger mischievously under his nose, Toriyama looked on curiously “I can take you there. Where wishes can be fulfilled.”

Goku gave a sharp whistle.

A golden light came down from the clouds, right towards them. Once it arrived it floated shyly in front of them. Goku and Toriyama laughed at it. They climbed on top of the Flying Nimbus and flew away like a rocket piercing through the clouds and the fabric of reality.

As a new star shines now on the horizon, a flame goes out in the dark. An emerald dragon cruises the heavens softly, leaving a path in the golden clouds. A man of fiction and a man of flesh laugh together, eyes crinkled at the corners, tears wetting eyelashes.

Note: This will be posted on my ao3 account too (under the username Hollow_stars).

[scribz-ag24]

You may have probably already drew some but I feel like after seeing you redrawing SU moments with Dragon Ball characters and Gohan in Steven's moments, I feel like you're going to draw the pink steven moments with Super Saiyan 2 Gohan and Vegeta in Jasper's place because why not? Lol.

how dare you call me out like this

anyways since you guessed it anyways, heres the doodle i did like a year ago lol

MAYBE ill actually do it someday lol

umm context under the read more if you wanna read that 'cause i'll prolly won't do anything with this anytime soon, but here's my thought process/headcanon

edit: i feel like rambling a bit so here we go. Context: 7 years timeskip, obv. Vegeta is super depressed and lost without kakarot, he basically ignores his family and just stays quiet in his room alone, beating himself up in GR or just hanging out in lonely places (but unlike piccolo he doesnt actually get any benefit from it lol). On the other hand, Gohan is grieving, deeply, he can't help but feel he's responsible for Goku's death, even if he knows it's wrong and no one blames him (except vegeta maybe?? I can see Vegeta blaming everyone to try and ignore how its HIS fault too). Gohan's also struggling with ssj2, turns out 10 yos with atlas complex should NOT be more powerful than all the adults around them [oh, hey steven, how are you?].

So uhhhh Vegeta's desperate for combat and blood and saiyan goodness, so when Gohan comes visit him to check on him for whatever reason (maybe make sure he doesnt hurt bulma/trunks), he goads him into combat. He specifically goads for the SSJ2, bc of course he does, and enjoys every bloody moment of gohan pushing him back with full power. Finally, another challenge, if Freeza and Kakarot are gone, he WILL surpass this brat. But Gohan, who is the mature adult in this conversation, puts an end to it and refuses to actually fight him to the end. period. This silly pantomime where he pretends to be Goku will end in nothing but misery for both of them. Gohan sees in Vegeta what obsessing over his power and his dad's death will do to him, so he makes the choice to find a way to leave it all behind. He doesn't care about power or legacy, he cares about finally living in a hard-earned peace. Finally ENJOYING life, for what seems like the first time in his life.

Ok so the fight's over. Gohan says sth painfully true about how sad and pitiful vegeta's become/acting. Then he leaves to spend time with his family, the people he loves and is loved by. Some weeks later he overhears his mom talking with Bulma, who's surprised by Vegeta actually letting himself be seen around the house and at least allows Trunks into the GR, not knowing what prompted the change. Gohan is mildly pleased that the confrontation wasnt worth nothing. How he feels about it is undecided cause i didnt care to think that far ahead lol. Maybe he'd try to focus on himself for once, he seemed pretty happy in Buu saga after all.

[heinzpilsnergonewild]

Vegeta + Cat

(Just wanted to draw something silly)

"Young man, you’re supposed to knock before you come in! Didn't they teach you any manners in that Freeza army of yours?"

(... What? Have you never found a cat in the bathroom sink in the middle of the night? What a boring life you must be living lol)

My love for small irises has defeated my desire to draw in a semi-realistic style here lol. Can't help but love the way they make characters look kinda wild

Damn, I just never have the patience to render details. I guess the only way in art for me is to pretend to be an impressionist lol. Also, not a fan of how the color composition turned out, but... to hell with this - let's move on.

[hanaflowersofficial]

For the anon ask, how did Tillo and Jhett meet? And who is Jhett? Also I really love your art style!!

thanks so much for this ask!!! i'm excited that i finally have time to answer it :3

i'll put this under a read-more because i'm sure i'll get wordy, plus there's a couple lil drawings, and there's gonna be brief mention of oviposition and i know that's not everyone's cup of tea hahah (sweats)

all right, so to give some background here, Tillo was a royal guard, specifically he was the queen's closest guard. Tillo was in love with her for yearrrrrs and years, never once made a move because that's how loyal and by-the-books he used to be.

but the queen liked to play games with him, and one time King Vegeta caught them when she was too close for comfort. King Vegeta was gonna have Tillo executed, but the queen felt guilty and talked him down to exile, so Tillo was shipped off-planet. a year later, planet Vegeta is destroyed by Freeza.

all of that sets Tillo on a downward spiral. he's severed from his people, his queen, everything that made him proud to be Him. so he slowly begins to self destruct and ruin himself now that he believes his life serves no purpose.

he drinks, gets into dangerous situations, gets himself hurt, beat up, worse. he takes increasingly hazardous jobs for increasingly seedy individuals. he steals, he betrays, maims, he kills. if the money's good he really doesn't care what the job is.

enter Jhet.

Jhet's species is called a Quall. Qualls are very lawful and generally peaceful, they have rules and regulations and red tape and forms for every little thing. Jhet's 140 years old but he's still considered "young" by his people (about mid-30s in our years), and even though he's a younger Quall he runs a very successful import/export business and is super wealthy. i can't decide if he has a fiance in the story...if he does, it makes a lot of things a lot messier (and thus harder to plot haha)

so Tillo gets hired to kill him. by who? haven't decided yet. he gets into Jhet's mansion at night, intent on taking him out in his sleep (Qualls are peaceful, but they're generally bigger and stronger). he ends up interrupting Jhet in the middle of some tryst.

see, Qualls are egg-layers, and generally they need another (warmer) species to lay their eggs in. of course there are specific species that are legally acceptable, and both parties have to undergo rigorous health screenings and there's tons of shit to sign, it's a whole process.

so Tillo interrupts Jhet and this dude right before the deed would've been done, and the dude just bolts. now Jhet's in a bind because the physical process of laying the eggs is like...ready to happen. and there's no time for any of the legal stuff.

and so Jhet, in his desperation, pleads for his life by offering Tillo like ten times what he was paid for the hit, plus of course food and lodging while the eggs are growing. he can't have Tillo speed off into space with his precious eggs.

Tillo accepts, and i'll spare everyone the details, but he basically spends the next month or so living it up in luxury in Jhet's mansion. and it turns out that eating, bathing, and sleeping regularly have profound impacts on one's mental health, and Tillo starts to feel...good. and it doesn't hurt that Jhet dotes on him constantly and treats him kindly.

(THIS ISN'T THEIR REAL SIZE DIFFERENCE THIS IS A JOKE LMAO)

my thought is that they end up in this arrangement year after year after year, Tillo living his typical life for 11 months and then spending one with Jhet. of course over time they both realize they love each other. :') or, well, Jhet figures out his own feelings pretty early on. Tillo takes a lot longer, poor damaged thing.

okay my god.... i'm so sorry for that novel but i just love these guys so much. if anyone has read all of this, i'm giving you one digital candy of your choice and my eternal thanks.

[saiyanblood2]

Songs for some darkest timeline stuff, re: Vegeta IV, Tarble, and Future Trunks:

-Tarble never getting sent to Planet Tech-Tech and having to stay in the Freeza Force after Planet Vegeta gets destroyed:

1. "Peacemaker", from The Mechanisms' album High Noon Over Camelot.

With Vegeta IV as Gawain and Tarble as Mordred.

"GAWAIN:

Oh, Peacemaker, where you gonna run to?

Oh, Peacemaker, are these your friends?

Oh, Peacemaker, what'cha gonna do now?

Is this your end?

Oh, Peacemaker, nowhere left to hide now.

Oh, Peacemaker, you have failed.

Oh, Peacemaker, draw your gun now.

And end your tale.

MORDRED:

No path past hatred’s stain

I see that hope for unity made me a fool

Corpses leer 'round Gawain

Tell me dear brother is this how you’ll rule?

Narrator:

'And so Mordred fought, seeing in each slain Saxon the face of she who saved him. And as his cheeks grew warm with tears and blood, so too his heart grew cold.'

MORDRED:

Oh Warmonger, is this what you wanted?

Oh Warmonger, is this all you know?

Oh Warmonger, is your world so empty?

Just friend or foe?

Oh, Warmonger, see ’em flee before you.

Oh, Warmonger, watch them fall.

Oh, Warmonger, their flowing blood implores you

To heed its call."

-For if Future Vegeta got revived after Future Trunks deals with the androids and Future Cell, and Vegeta going all Majin when Babidi shows up and Future Trunks (and maybe Future Tarble, if he's alive) having to fight him. Or, in the worst case scenario, kill him:

1. "Once and Future King", from The Mechanisms' album High Noon Over Camelot.

[Narrator singing:]

"A broken man lies in the rust that's stained his whole life through

The blood that pools beneath him doesn't change the metal's hue

Like rainfall long forgotten, Mordred's tears in his wounds do sting

To Arthur in his arms he sings, 'You're the Once and Future King'

[...]

[Note: Mordred's parts in purple and parentheses, overlapping with the Narrator.]

A kiss upon his forehead binds, at last,

His son's goodbye (We could saved them all, yet you could not see)

Just one more shot will send him out into the

Endless sky (Now you'll always be the Once and Future King)

Here at the end of history,

As the final high noon rings (The key

Was in our hands, yet you could not see)

Mordred sits and waits without the Once and Future King (Now you'll always be the Once and Future King)"

With, obviously, Future Vegeta as Arthur, the Once and Future King, and Future Trunks as Mordred.

(If Future Tarble is alive in this timeline, then Mordred's parts could fit him, too. He wouldn't want his nephew to have to kill his own father, no matter how much of a selfish bastard Vegeta is. He especially wouldn't want Future Trunks getting hurt.

Gods, if anything cemented Future Tarble's resolve to kill his own brother, it'd be Future Vegeta hurting Future Trunks. Tarble loves that boy like his own. He wouldn't want anything to happen to him. Especially not... this...)

This is also the kinda general mood of my main timeline when Vegeta goes all Majin at the World Martial Arts Tournament, too.

-For Future Tarble and Future Trunks. Mostly if Future Tarble died to the androids and never got to really see his nephew grow up. And for if Future Tarble was then brought back after Future Trunks defeated the androids and Future Cell. He'd feel so guilty for not being able to be there for his nephew. For being too weak.

This especially works for a Future Tarble that a) was closer to my main timeline, where he was involved in the plot pretty much since the Saiyan Saga, b) survived past the androids arriving (probably by fleeing, so he can be there to help raise his nephew and take care of Future Gohan) and rampaging around and c) couldn't save Future Gohan from being killed by the androids. (And also possibly losing an arm.)

Especially if he was there when Future Trunks found the body. Especially if Future Tarble found the body with him. He'd hold the boy while Future Trunks cried and screamed to the heavens as the boy went Super Saiyan for the first time.

This also kinda fits my main timeline's Tarble, too, especially by the Goku Black arc in Super.

1. "II B: Unrest in the House of Light" by The Protomen, from their album, The Protomen (2005).

Most of it fits Tarble's feelings of frustration and guilt and regret at not being strong enough to protect his family, but it'd ESPECIALLY fit Future Tarble in the verse where Future Gohan died.

Tarble's protective of kids, and I think he'd feel a special kinship with Gohan because Gohan is so peaceful by nature, despite Gohan's latent skills as a fighter. And Tarble would get that, because he's like that too. He doesn't like fighting and hurting people, but he'll do it if its to protect innocent people and his family.

Tarble looked after Gohan from the Saiyan Saga onward, especially on Namek. He basically looked at the kid and was just like, "Is anybody gonna parent that?" and then didn't wait for a response.

In the verses were Freeza killed him and Vegeta with that Death Beam to the heart (Tarble hurled himself in front of his brother to try and stop the beam, or to at least slow it down, but it didn't work), Tarble would spend his last moments turning to Gohan, smiling through the blood bubbling out of his mouth, and trying to telepathicly tell the kid that everything was going to be okay.

He wanted the kid to remember him smiling.

He'd spend his time fighting the androids with Future Gohan and helping Future Gohan train Future Trunks. They'd be like family to him, I think. So when Future Gohan died...

"There was another who came before you

He was a hero, and your brother and my son

He fought the darkness, the darkness won

And he fought bravely, and he died bravely

[...]

And I am sorry, because I was wrong

And I'd take away the weight his shoulders had to bear

[...]

That story's finished. That story's ended

Understand there's nothing more that we can do

And I will not risk losing you

[...]

"So you will stay here. You will obey me

And I will keep grieving for the son I sent to death

You are all that I have left

You need to know

You are not him

This fight's not yours

You cannot win!"

I think the main thing that would keep Tarble's faith in humanity alive would be Bulma. Like, he likes humans well enough, too, even if he still feels out of place with them sometimes, but mostly it's his sister-in-law that inspires him. He sees the best of humanity in her- and in Gohan and Trunks.

-You could tweak pretty much all of The Protomen songs that deal with Dr. Light, Dr. Wily, Protoman, and Megaman to fit Future Trunks.

1. "IV: Vengeance" by The Protomen, from their album, The Protomen (2005), could also fit Future Trunks especially well, especially with regards to his feelings towards the androids and Cell.

"Send your armies

There's no man or machine

Who can stop me

And you'll soon see

I come for vengeance

For the first Son of Light

And I'm ready, and I'm willing, and I'm prepared to fight"

Tarble's precious baby nephew has some anger/vengeance issues.

Honestly? So does Tarble.

[catbowserauthor]

Dragonball 30 Day Challenge: Day 21 Favorite Movie

So I actually really like most of these movies. I’ve never been bothered by the “it wouldn’t fit into canon” argument. I view them as fun AU adventures so I just judge them based on their individual traits. I won’t be including the specials in here as I think that’s a different topic.

So, let’s do a quick countdown to my favorite, from the worst to the best!

16: Resurrection F: Sorry, I have never been a huge fan of Freeza. He was fine as a villain in the Namek saga and his unexpected return until he was killed by Trunks was interesting. Beyond that, I don’t find him an engaging bad guy. He’s a Bond villain. He’s not fun for me to watch and him growing that much stronger in four months is stretching my sense of disbelief even for Dragonball. Vegeta getting robbed of that kill was crap and introducing Whis’ ability to rewind time killed any tension for future battles for me.

And I don’t wanna talk about what they did to Gohan.

15: Lord Slug: There’s nothing “wrong” per say with this movie but it’s just...well, it’s Piccolo Daimao all over again. So, it’s kind of boring. I do like seeing the colder climate as Toriyama didn’t draw that very often (claims he hates the cold so it’s usually summer or spring in his manga) so we didn’t get to see it as much. I also love the brief interaction Goku has with Gohan during the battle and Gohan and Icarus are way too adorable.

14: Bio Broly: Okay so I don’t hate this movie. It’s not good but I don’t think it’s utterly horrible like some people do. But the reasons I like it might be different than others. I like this one because you get to see Goten and Trunks’ friendship. You see them pal around, you see them argue but then when they’re close to getting killed you also see Trunks refuse to leave an unconscious Goten to die alone. I freaking LOVE that.

13: Return of Cooler: I think my issue with this movie is the same issue I have with Super in general. It’s focused on Goku and Vegeta almost the whole way through. We get small cuts to the others but otherwise it’s just them. I like both these characters but I like to see a mix of the cast so that’s why it falls lower.

12: Dragonball Super Broly: Okay so I really like the adaption of Dragonball Minus. It turned out way better than I hoped and the animation in this movie is absolutely amazing. I’d recommend it just based on that alone. I really enjoyed the new characters. But again, not a fan of Freeza and the fact it was really only Goku and Vegeta—again—really hurts it for me. Still a fun movie though.

11: Wrath of the Dragon: This one has a really fun plot and it’s neat to see Trunks really bonding with someone. I think the brief interactions at the BBQ are some of the best. The downtime in this movie has some of my favorite moments. The final battle is fun but I think it would have been better if someone other than Goku got the finishing blow.

10: Super Android 15: This one, again, I really love for the downtime! Seeing Goku’s family shopping, going out for lunch—I love that kind of stuff! The Androids themselves are interesting enough and while I know a lot of people don’t like it, I really like they gave 15 a redneck accent in the dub. Gave him some character. I also love Gohan and Krillin trying to help even though they are completely outmatched. Gohan throwing himself in front of a blast to protect his father who is creating a spirit bomb is one of my favorite small scenes.

9: Broly Second Coming: The interactions between Videl, Goten and Trunks are pure gold. I’d love to see them just...shooting the breeze with each other. The battle against Broly is fun but I love the ending where Goku pops in from the Other World (presumably) to lend his aid. That entire family Kamehameha is just brilliant.

8: Battle of Gods: So this is going to sound weird because Beerus and Whis are some of my favorites in DBS. I did not like them here. No idea why, just didn’t. The Super Saiyan God ritual is kinda weird but I love all the character interactions before this! This is what I really love about Dragonball, all these interesting personalities working off one another. I like how Goku and Beerus’ fight goes and the animation is really well done. Pretty solid. And Vegeta defending Bulma—awesome.

7: Bojack Unbound: This is how I pictured Gohan growing up into after Cell—still studies but plays outside and still trains and ChiChi being okay with it. This is the personality I love Gohan with—confident but not overly confident, shy but with pride in himself and a great blend of his human and Saiyan sides.

Freaking. Love. It.

The rest of the movie is meh. Save one element—Goku saying “screw it” to the rules and intervening to save his son

and Gohan utterly owning everyone with SSJ2.

But I have to rank it high with having my absolute favorite characterization of Gohan.

6: Broly the Legendary Super Saiyan: Yes, I’m ranking the old one higher than the new one. I don’t care. I watch this one more.

I like the aliens, I like all the other characters being involved. I love the fact that Gohan is a kid in this one. I love Vegeta’s being utterly and completely terrified. I love Piccolo coming in for the save, I love Goku forgetting about the battle and Broly and rushing to try and save his kid. And when Broly threatens his son...

“Kakarot, how much do you love your son?”

“Gohan, leave.”

“But Father—“

“NOW.”

I think having more characters and introducing peril to all of them makes it more engaging.

5: Dead Zone: Quick trivia fact, this is the movie that got me into Dragonball. I caught the end of it on Cartoon Network and was intrigued from them on. I really like that this has a younger Goku. Goku from the Saiyan Saga to the Android Saga is probably my favorite characterization of him. That really shows here. He doesn’t care what beef Kami and Garlic Junior have. He’s there for his kid. “Return my Gohan!” There’s so great choreography in this one too and more martial arts than just ki blasts which I always love seeing.

4: World’s Strongest: Little Gohan is fun. I love seeing him interact with Goku’s friends and an enemy that still thinks Roshi is the strongest makes for some great throwback scenes. I like seeing Goku’s friends get involved in the action. Goku intervening to protect his son against a brainwashed Piccolo and Gohan having to watch the two men he admires most in the world fight makes for great drama.

3: Fusion Reborn: This movie is just fun. It’s wacky, it’s crazy, the fights are insane, the dialogue is hilarious, it’s bright and colorful and Goku and Vegeta while being the main heroes don’t completely dictate the plot. There’s enough fun stuff going on with other characters that I can enjoy any aspect of this movie.

2: Tree of Might: The scents between Goku and Gohan are why I love this movie. Them playing in the tub, Goku letting him keep Icarus in a cave in the yard...the ENTIRE scene of Goku trying to break through to Gohan once he’s become a giant ape just breaks my heart. “Gohan! It’s Daddy!”

Then having time cut off his own son’s tail to save him and ooo, Goku’s “I’m so done” glare to Turles. I adore that when Goku is at his lowest, it’s his son’s voice that gets him to stand back up.

1: Cooler’s Revenge: I like these slice of life moments and this movie has lots of them. I love Goku and his friends and son just wanting to go on a camping trip. I love that Cooler comes not to avenge his brother but because Freeza being beaten by a Saiyan looks bad on their entire family. That is brilliant.

This scene:

Daddy Goku for the win here. I love how they show his relationship with Gohan in this movie. They’ve always been my favorites so I’m biased by nature. I love how the battle against Cooler goes. I love how they have to struggle not to use their ki when they’re tending to Goku. The characters and scenarios in this movie really make it for me.

One thing I noticed as I did this list is that most of my top movies have Gohan as a kid. I don’t think that’s random. I much prefer his characterization at that age and I like it when the others can still contribute to the plot. But as I said, except for my top most disliked one, I really like all of these in some manner. They’re always a fun time!

[saiyanhajime]

DBS: Broly - Review

I was excited to see “Dragon Ball Super: Broly”, obviously… It’s Dragon Ball! But I wasn’t expecting to be as blown away by it as I have been, to fall in love with it. For me, Dragon Ball has always been more about the fandom than the official media. When I first formed a love for the franchise, it was elusive and unattainable, so I had to get my kicks elsewhere.

I think DBS Broly might be my favourite piece of DB media, ever. It’s everything I ever wanted and everything I didn’t realise I needed from this franchise. I haven’t loved a piece of media like this in a long, loooong time.

Worth noting that, at the time of writing, I have only seen the English dub. I’ll wait for home release to see the subtitled Japanese audio version as I struggle to keep up with text and visuals at the same time!

The Cinema Experience

My first viewing was a small, packed screen on opening night here in the UK. The audience seemed to be mostly around 25-30 year olds, almost entirely fellow guys (my friend was one of maybe 5 women - seriously, where are you all??). But the ethnic diversity of Dragon Ball’s audience is something most movies could only dream of attracting. It was a great time, with people audibly laughing out loud and clapping at the end. The movie is genuinely so brilliantly funny, a surprise in itself.

My second viewing, the following night, alone, was a larger screening. Roughly the same audience demographics, but this time, the audience erupted into cheering with each transformation… It was so fucking incredible to be a part of. I was grinning the entire time. It’s hard to overstate just how important the social aspect of enjoying this movie in the cinema was.

It’s incredible to finally be living Dragon Ball “up to date” like this and the excitement shows.

Spoilers incoming...

Story Isn’t King

That's coming from someone who has always wished for more depth to DB, but what I've realised recently is that the level of storytelling the community plugs into this franchise is not something that belongs in the official media. We do it better, because we do it free of constraints the official releases require to be Dragon Ball, that it requires to be so widely popular. The official text is a framework, not a rulebook. I think one of the things that contributes to Dragon Ball’s insane popularity and ability to speak to so many people in so many cultures is how vague it can be. The snippets of depth are there for us to draw our own conclusions. DB doesn’t need canon absolutes in backstory.

Overall, I prefer the old “Bardock - The Father of Goku” telling of the prequel events that set up the Broly movie, though man it's been an age since I saw that. I wonder how much of my preference is just nostalgia? How much is knowing that Bardock: Father of Goku wasn’t “canon”, and so didn’t really matter? That is liberating. Now Dragon Ball Minus and DBS: Broly seem to demand that this is the way it actually happened with no room for headcanon and I feel a little turned off. There is plenty to like with this retelling. Gine is a delight, more of the saiyan homeworld is welcomed and just look at small details like Bardock actually moving his tail in this scene rather than it constantly being wrapped around their waists ready for combat. Ideally, I would like a perfect blend of the best elements from both tellings. And ya know what? That's the beauty of fandom... I can have that.

It is so obvious that huge chunks of story are missing here, yet it already drags for me a little... I’m not sure what the solution is, really. I’ve seen people suggesting it should have been two movies, but I’m not sure I agree.

Once the movie skips forward to present day, the storytelling revolving around the discovery of Broly, Paragus and their recruiting into the Freeza force is entertaining and I’m way more invested. So maybe it is just apathy for a prequel story retold a slightly different way…

But when the insane 30-40 minute non-stop action starts in the latter half, that’s when the movie comes into its own for me. This is Dragon Ball.

Overall, the narrative does something new for the series. It sets up, foreshadows and references back in a more conventional pattern than ever before. It feels, I dunno. It feels… Westernised? It feels, both narratively and in overall quality, more like a movie and not just a tacked on side-story. There’s no unnecessary inclusion of side characters irrelevant to the plot making cameos. Everyone is here for a reason.

Character Personalities

The characters behave like themselves again, and not just through exposition dumping monologues the series is famous for, but through visual storytelling! There is so much not said, so much told through the fight, through their expressions and movements.

From the moment Vegeta’s playful spar with Goku ends at Bulma’s vacation house, you get a very different Vegeta to the one we’ve seen through Super. His turn to listen to Goku and Whis's conversation is full of character. He's so on edge about something. And proceeds to tell us why with a humorous but genuinely livid jab at Goku for wishing Freeza back to life. Vegeta is worried. In the scene where Bulma is reviewing the CCTV footage of the Dragon Ball theft, Vegeta double takes and glares at Goku when it becomes obvious the thieves are Freeza’s men. They say nothing. It’s all character acting. It tells us so much.

Vegeta's anxiety continues on, affecting his fight with Broly… He barely has a chance to enjoy the fight at all. We get so little cocky Vegeta enjoying a battle and instead a very serious Vegeta who feels the need to to end this threat right now. What I take from all this is an example of quality character development - instead of Vegeta simply becoming more friendly, his personality that we all love is still there, but his morals have changed. His entertainment isn’t as important as protecting his family. And having witnessed Goku’ recklessly endanger their friends and families in throughout DB Super, Vegeta is not prepared to take any chances here, attempting to deliver a finishing blow very early on.

And Goku, who’s characterisation in Super felt so utterly insulting at times, is back on form here. His idiotic moments don’t feel so absurdly stupid that they’re unbelievable, but instead come across as cute and heartwarming. Moments like his talk with Broly mid fight, with Piccolo when he’s lying on the ground battered and bruised and when he’s simply watching Broly transform into a super saiyan for the first time convey Goku’s ability to be serious and regretful. It was so refreshing to see Goku back on form. The first half of his fight with Broly is incredible - going from excitement, to confidence that he could talk Broly round, to being put firmly in his place, on the ground. People who criticise the series for having no stakes fail to understand that the stakes are truly nestled in the characters personalities and their pride. The stakes are whether they will be able to overcome their flaws, both metaphorically through transformations, and literally.

Voice Acting (Dub)

Whilst on the subject of the characters, the voice acting is unbelievably good… Chris Ayres as Freeza steals the show, but the others are brilliant also.The line delivery is one thing, the ability to so brilliantly match that to the mouth flaps another, but the writing for a Western, English speaking audience is just superb. I cannot wait to see what differs in the original Japanese - I’ve heard that Freeza’s “Hello Monkeys!” line was a dub change from “Greetings!” for example, which in my opinion is so appropriate and elicits an uncomfortable, awkward laugh from the aforementioned ethnically diverse audience in the west in a such good way. Freeza as a tyrannical, racist, piece of shit, is an important character trait to a Western audience. The jokes that ride on line delivery alone are so numerous - one personal highlight for me is Whis’ ever-so-gay coded “Oh my…” when Gogeta bursts in. Took the words right out of my mouth, Whis. The voice acting is on a whole different level to anything before now from the American team. The scene I’ve already mentioned where Goku is contacted by Piccolo, Schemmel really sells the pain Goku’s in. And lets not forget Broly himself, played by Vic Mignogna, whose line delivery really conveys him as this Tarzan-like character in his sane scenes… But really shines in moments of mania when he’s flailing, yelling, crying as a cornered, manic, rabid ape who cannot control his emotions or immense strength. The scene where he’s just making noises at Goku, copying his fighting stance before he launches at him - wow. Even new side characters like Lemo have an outstanding quality to their voice acting that blows any previous English speaking Dragon Ball performance so far out of the water it’s insane.

Broly

Having a Dragon Ball story focus on so many characters who aren’t Goku is refreshing for a franchise that’s been so heavily criticised for being The Goku Show… For years we’ve wanted to see other characters step into the limelight. I still haven’t forgiven the last movie, Resurrection F, for stealing the win out from under Vegeta.

Vegeta still doesn’t get the long awaited limelight here… But this “new” saiyan, Broly, is something rather special. I wasn’t a fan of the original Broly. Loved the idea, but never liked the execution. His visual design I found personally off-putting, but more importantly it failed to convey his character very well. He looked so prestigious?  And the idea of being so affected by Goku crying as a baby next to him, that it sent him into uncontrollable rage whenever he heard the same “Kakarot” is so laughably stupid. I’m glad that’s not here.

The cool concept of the legendary super saiyan, though... I think most people dig that. Here that’s kind of gone too - but the idea of a freakishly strong saiyan from birth who is the embodiment of their animalistic heritage and rage-induced potential is beautifully executed. The great ape form, or rather Broly having found a way of accessing that power without transforming, is referenced more than once throughout the story. There’s this sense that the way Goku and Vegeta have learnt to control themselves has perhaps potentially hindered them. That maybe the ultra-instinct forms Whis has foreshadowed for so long is related, or could be used to tap into the natural potential of saiyans. Huh.

With a visually pleasing design to boot, Broly is absolutely awesome as the star in his own movie as a tragic menace. So much is done to sell this as Broly’s movie, from his sheer amount of screen time and characterisation in both his placid and manic states, to that awesome first person perspective part of his fight - incredible.

Animation and Aesthetics

You don’t need me to tell you this film looks gorgeous and I’ve already mentioned some scenes where the characters convey so much through movement alone. This looks like Dragon Ball never has. It feels nostalgic, but refreshing. It’s stylistically so unique and fluid and choreographed and magical. Impacts hit with such full-force conviction, the characters gracefully zooming around each other in dueling harmony, the electrifying ki beams piercing through the bleak environments with their vibrant colour and form. For once you really believe just how powerful and fast these superhumans are… Perhaps one of the reasons why the first half of the film is so much weaker for me is simply because there's less of this beautiful action. But the entire film is steeped in impressively bold and emotive colour pallets that sell the mood of each location so well.

But there’s a great big elephant in the room… The cgi.

It would seem I have a different opinion to most on this subject. I don’t mind the environmental cgi, but the character animation is jarring and I hate it. It is a blemish on an otherwise gorgeous piece of art. Now, I’m really funny about “bad” cgi. I also don’t know dick about animation. I just know when something looks really, really wrong. It’s as if the cgi characters have no squash and stretch applied that keeps them fluid. They’re stiff. There’s no elasticity, no umph. They move like someone just put strobe lights on. Their joints like that of action figures. I’ve seen so many people say it’s not bad or they even like these parts and I’m really glad it didn’t ruin it for most people, but my god does it ruin those scenes for me. Just look at the awkward mouth flaps and dead eyes, especially on Goky, in the Kamehameha/Galick Gun combo scene. Yuck.

Soundtrack

I love the score.

Before I saw the movie, I heard a lot of people talking about the chanting and how weird it was - but the second it started my first thought was how much it reminded me of Akira. And yeah, it’s kinda weird. And I love it. It hypes up this epic match and I don’t find it cheesy at all. I love it both in context and even when listened to in isolation.

The entire score is all over the place yet manages to feel whole as it attempts, and succeeds, to convey the atmosphere and emotion of each location, narrative beat and every swing of a fist or blast of ki. The only track I’m not keen on is the rendition of Chala Head Chala. I think it’s a pretty pants rendition of the song and is immensely distracting in an otherwise moving soundtrack. The movie totally needs a rendition of Head Chala right there, but not this rendition. I just don’t like it. The weird boingy sound is awful.

Final Thoughts

The success of Dragon Ball Super: Broly, especially in the west, is a joyful reminder what this 30 year old franchise means to so many people. Very few non-fans are going to have set foot in a cinema to see this movie, and yet the current total earnings at the time of writing on January 29th 2019 is $98,584,176 according to Box Office Mojo.

That is truly insane.

It feels like this movie was made especially for me and for that I am eternally grateful. Speaking to fellow fans and reading their reviews, it’s so clear that everyone has different things to love about this movie. There’s so much content here for every fan to find something they love. I cannot wait to get hold of a home release and I cannot wait to see what’s to come, ho-ly shit! What a time to be a Dragon Ball fan.

[shinygoku]

Top 5 DBZ episodes

Ahh dang, this is a hard pick, partly as I’m quite spoiled for choice and partly as I’m currently mired in Early Extended Jinzo Funtimes on my watchthrough, so I only really have the first half to fairly draw from.

Still, the Freeza Saga is the best, so from what I’ve seen of Zettou, five stand out episodes (listed in ep order rather than preference) would be as follows:

Episode 31 - Now, Goku! A Final Technique with Everything on the Line

I was a bit torn between this ep and the one right before, on the basis that #30 has the Iconique pre battle banter and extremely sexy animation, but this one just has the edge for the walloping Goku gives with the Kaioken and the also very iconic Garlic Gun vs 4x Kamehameha. Seeing Goku repeatedly punch Vegeta in the face is always a fun time, even if it’s short lived. This is also the days where Z had a delightful blending of actual martial brawling with flying and beams mixed in evenly so that earns extra points!

Episode 46 - Goku’s Power Unleashed!! Six Days to the Ends of the Galaxy

The Namek saga is So Cool, dude! It’s the best and my favourite and there will be more of it on this list lmao. This is during the early stages, where the current A-Plot Gang of Gohan, Kuririn and Bulma have just barely landed and have only just seen-a Freeza. Also Vegeta is there. Son Goku, meanwhile, gets the news and a senzu in this episode, so now he’s throwing his hat into the ring (just with a time delay because space is mega big, yo). But anyway, his cheerful exposition and short lived awkward interaction with Bulma’s Parents is gold. Even with the high stakes, it feels light and slice of life-y from his angle, and back at Namek is the intruiging diabolical plot just starting to unfold, and I love every minute.

Episode 74 - Whoops!! Ginyu Has Turned into a Frog

First of all, take a moment just to enjoy that title.

Hopefully it tells you why it’s so delightful, for me, at least! But I’ll go on a bit longer anyway. It’s really fucking funny. I have deeper picks below and above, more based on character moments and fight choreography, but this episode never fails to tickle me and thus it earns a solid place here. The Ginyu Tokusentai side show has been much needed leverage in the plotline featuring genocide as front and centre and the anticlimatic nature of them as a whole versus Son Goku and the even more daft snatching victory from the jaws of defeat as pictured here is exactly what the doctor ordered, right before the story gets more dire again.

Episode 95 - Transformed at Last!! Son Goku, the Legendary Super Saiyan

Hey, this one may be obvious but it’s for a good reason! Not so much for the B-plot padding in this episode, and again I was torn between this and the ep next to it, but this wins because the transformation scene is so palpable and scary. It’s one of the darkest moments and the building up of Super Saiyans finally bears fruit, but instead of a moment of triumph and hope, like most of Goku’s entries, it’s fuelled by his torment and fury, the sounds he makes as his body quivers with wrath sounds more like something’s clawing from inside, trying to get out. Absolutely watch the original version of this, I cannot emphasize this enough. In the next episode we get his famous speech (also make sure it’s the original lol) and it’s closer to the Goku we know and love, but the horrified faces both Gohan and Freeza pull when this change is occuring, and when Goku snaps at Gohan to hurry the hell up as he’s not sure how long he can stay rational, are very indicative of how strange and unexpected and terrifying this first transformation really is.

Ep 103 - Pathos of Freeza! Once He Starts Shaking, He’s Unstoppable!!

I’ve not talked about Freeza much here, but he’s the perfect Wuxia Villain. And man, after such a long stint of him being an unstoppable force with no remorse, the episode where Goku sees that Freeza has lost is very, very satisfying. Freeza, though, can’t or refuses to process that he’s not the strongest anymore, even as Goku’s attacks hit harder and harder, in a brutal smackdown in the crumbling, volcanic landscape of Freeza’s own making. It’s so metal! Freeza, not one to turn down dirty moves, makes one more attempt to claim victory, but instead is hoist by his own petard. That’s some Classic and Rad storytelling, right there!

So there we go, 5 super cool episodes from the first half of Z! If this list were to include the latter half of that, and/or DB and GT, selecting 5 woulda been way harder, and even with this limited scope I had to pass over many classics. I hope no one is shocked that Goku is front and centre for all of these lmao

[cryptoriawebb]

My Little Pony: the Movie (review)

I really wanted to love this movie. I really really did. 

I’ve been following along this series almost from the beginning; when I heard a proper animated film was in the works I was very excited. I had no idea what lay in store, of course, but it seemed like such a milestone, and rightly deserved. I can’t believe this series has come as far as it has, and still going after all these years. Not only that, but the characters have continued to grow organically, one-off characters return and develop as well, and story arcs went from episodic to partially serialized. It’s really inspiring for someone like me, to see a little show about colorful ponies evolve into quite frankly, a phenomenon I’ve never before seen. Nor have I seen a company/studio respond the way Hasbro did: they’ve really seemed to embrace their fanbase and both broadened and improved their merchandise along with it. I’ve said it before but I really hope one day I’m able to create something with half as much meaning and inspiration as I’ve seen My Little Pony give so many others, myself included.

So to walk away from their film with a mediocre “meh” hurts me to admit. It really does. I wanted something new, fresh and impressionable from this movie. Both the plot and characters felt standard, expected and honestly, tired because of that. The Storm King felt essentially like a rehashed Tirek, without half the same terror. While I maintain season four of MLP was essentially Dragonball’s Goku vs Freeza, it was still one heck of a finale. Tirek stands as my favorite villain in the series: he was threatening, powerful and quite honestly, terrifying in his own right. He straight up ate magic.  Changed physically because of it. Came very very close to destroying Equestria and my gosh I wanted to feel that same sense of dread in the movie. I didn’t. Instead, I saw a wannabe and less-impressive Tirek conquer Equestria in a less-impressive way.  He also received no backstory whatsoever. I suppose that’s the case with most MLP villains, I suppose I just hoped for something different in the first feature for this incarnation.

Likewise, I also hoped for a far more interesting backstory for Tempest. She had such a presence on-screen, and I’ve never seen the concept of a broken horn explored before. Her song, too, was by far the most powerful in the film…which is why I was so disappointed to learn she became the way she was through an Ursa Major attack. Ursa Majors are huge and intimidating, I get that, it just seemed a bit weak for such a powerful villain against friendship…and reminded me strongly of Starlight Glimmer’s origin. A pony turned against others due to feeling abandoned. Just like Tirek, Starlight’s conclusions and subsequent revenge against the mane six made for a much greater impact. I’m also not at all surprised she turned around when the Storm King (surprise surprise, I say sarcastically) betrayed her but Twilight saved her. How often has this happened in the series? I know friendship is Twilight’s title, and the focus of the series, but I wanted something stronger, something—as I said—unique to this movie. 

Honestly, Tempest embodies a lot of what I love about Zira from Simba’s Pride (the Lion King sequel, because there are some people who don’t know that.) The way she carries herself, speaks and sings…just with a lot less maniacal bloodlust. The murderous mania I can do without, I just wish Tempest felt more like a villain, a proper villain. The Storm King, too. They were caricatures, and I don’t think caricatures don’t always work well in a feature.

Villains aside, I also had a lot of problems with the behavior of the mane six. From what I’ve read, production for this movie began in 2014, which would explain why they act so different from the ponies we see in season 7, now. I don’t believe the Twilight of 2017 would angrily state it might’ve been better if she hadn’t been friends with Pinkie and the others. I also do not believe she would have tried to steal a magic pearl. Ever. Even in season one. That is not a Twilight thing to do, no matter the stakes. Of course, compared to the others she was the only one taking this entire threat seriously. I’d witness fear and dread in her friends but then they’d carelessly make a scene and draw attention to themselves, something that, again, did not work for a feature like this. I know this movie is primarily for children, but the balance between humor and darkness didn’t flow as well as it does in the series itself. With more time to carry out a story, it should have. (Also, didn’t Spike get over his Rarity-crush?) Most of the characters behaved like they might have in seasons three or four, not seven. It felt really out of place and at times took me out of the urgency.

On a more positive note, I adored the seapony sequence. Everything about it: the backstory, the design and visuals, and the characters! I will say I figured out pretty quick they held some kind of relation to the hippogriffs, but it was cool nonetheless! The princess’ introduction felt very “Little Mermaid.” Kind of a fun nod, although I’m not entirely sure if it was intentional. Definitely the best part of the movie. A friend of mine pointed out—and I agree, actually—a movie set almost entirely underwater would’ve been a lot more fun than what we got. It was so colorful, and the origin blurb has a lot of potential for deeper development. Pinkie Pie was by far my favorite of the mer-designs!

I’ll go back to visuals in a second: I want to talk about characters for a minute. I don’t for a second think there needed to be as many new characters as there were. Was it cool to see pirate-bird-creatures-seriously-what-were-they and an anthromorphic cat? Yes, yes it was. Did we need them? No. No we didn’t. Too many characters, not enough time to develop them beyond tropes seen time and again. I would’ve preferred the creative team use this opportunity to bring more minor characters to the forefront: a “Slice of life” combined with the mane cast for an epic adventure or something. Actually—and I was talking to the same friend about this—if this movie had been written even a year later, it might’ve been a great opportunity to throw Starlight at the forefront of the other mane ponies to rescue/stop a corrupted Twilight Sparkle. I know that’s not something done so easily in a kid’s movie: they want to root for their favorite princess to save the day. However…Midnight Sparkle made such a great impact, at least I think so, in Equestria Girls, and the older Tempest might very well have succeeded in corralling a disheartened Twilight to her side, even if she were reluctant. Maybe Twilight’s magic gained an explosive side when reacting to negative emotion: similar to Tempest and even Starlight. Or maybe she really felt like there was no other way out or that she hurt her friends beyond recovery or something… just something. Something better. I’m not sure how I felt about the series kind of making fun of itself, either. I liked that they were out of their element, that their streak of making friends and solving problems so easily wasn’t working and yet essentially did by the end. However, they’ve traveled to other kingdoms before, and made friends, solved problems in these kingdoms, despite not always seeing eye to eye with the locals. It seemed a little weird they’d grow frustrated with themselves over leaving equestrian and expecting the same results: they have left Equestria and gotten the same results. Makes enough sense to me they’d grow used to expectation.

Now to the visuals.

WOW. W-O-W. Absolutely stunning in every, and I do mean every, possible way. Fluid, colorful, sparkly, the very definition of eye candy. I can’t get over it. The added shadows and movement in their hair, eyelashes, everything…I wish the show were animated like that all the time. It was a tiny bit jarring, trying to adjust to so much more on a big screen but I’m not complaining. There were definitely a few shots in there I’m sure the studio put in to show off their animation but again, not complaining. They worked hard on this movie and deserve to show off.

It was also really wonderful to see an animated film reminisce the hand-drawn cel-animated look of old. I know that computer-generated look is cheaper and the next “big” step in animation, but I’m a little old school at heart. Disney, Don Bluth, Dreamworks, you name it: they created such wonderful, fluid work back in the day…I miss it. Some highlights that stood out to me: THE EYES. They were so big and sparkly. So expressive. My gosh. The hair/mane, especially on Celestia and Luna. Such volume! Really mystical. The sonic rainboom, however foolish of Rainbow Dash, might’ve been the most visually appealing moment in the film. So vibrant and rich. Wow. As I said, the seapony sequence. Although Tempest’s magic gets special mention because I definitely felt her rage and dazzling power whenever it went off. 

I can’t think of anything else to add…I think this about sums up my thoughts. If there’s anything else, it’s the jokes/references to Hungry Hungry Hippos and the Wizard of Oz. Not necessary, exactly, but done, at least I thought, with more taste than Moana’s attempt at pop culture. As much as I loved that movie. Setting them in the background, or split apart amongst a group made you do a doubletake: a ‘listen-close-or-you-might-miss-it’ sort of thing. I liked that.

So to sum up: Average movie, not good or bad, although disappointed with the storytelling. I’ve seen this team do so much more, pull off concepts that would otherwise come across dull and cliché. What happened?

[blundergato]

ebbywaffle replied to your post “i want to complain about super.”

Super sucks, not quite in the same way GT sucks, but it’s Not Good

This is going to be really long because I’m gonna rant about EVERYTHING.

i was talking to friends where i made a claim that super is probably just as bad as GT was.

but it was a really ignorant thing for me to say because i honestly havent seen GT since...late high school, early college, so i dont remember the levels of bad that it hit.

They both have the same issue in having really cool concepts and craptastic execution.  Super Saiyan 4 (way cooler design wise than Super Saiyan Blue or God), the idea of the Tuffles gaining revenge on the Saiyans, the dragon balls actually turning on the heroes for once, etc., but none of it was done well, the show had massive pacing issues despite being only like...64 episodes long and it was just generally boring.

Super has really cool concepts that it usually fails to do in satisfying way, though it has hit the mark at times.  The Zamasu arc was a whole lot of nonsense, but it was so fast paced and fun that it was really easy to look past how ridiculous it was because RULE OF COOL.  

Trunks going into that weird ultra transformation and stomping holes in the ground was one of the hypest moments in the series.  Trunks getting to slice Zamasu in half with the spirit sword while delivering an awesome hero speech was SO SICK.  Super Saiyan Blue Vegito was awesome!  Bulma apparently creating bullets strong enough to bother god level beings is sick.  I loved that Mai, a minor character from freakin Dragon Ball, played a major role.  I adored the expansion of the Kaio/god of destruction lore.

Beerus destroying Zamasu is one of the single coolest scenes in all of Dragon Ball.

Almost everything else that has been story relevant has been...well...bad.

The highlight of Dragon Ball Super are usually the “filler” episodes where there’s no fighting.  Seeing Goku be a grandpa and Piccolo be an uncle.  Watching Gohan be in a movie.  Seeing Krillin and 18′s general home life.  The episode with Arale kicking everyone’s ass because she’s a gag character and therefore not bound by any sort of power was wonderful.  Bulma gathering the dragon balls and everyone crashing her party was really funny.  I love the little moments where we get to see these characters outside of the usual “oh no the earth is doomed” scenarios.

But anything with plot relevance usually falls flat on its face, mostly because EVERYTHING OUTSIDE OF ZAMASU HAS BEEN A TOURNAMENT ARC, or a worse retelling of the movies.  

The tournament arcs feel like the Garlic Junior saga to me.  They have to make it so a bunch of garbage jobbers somehow stand a chance against a god-tier cast and the fights end up being snooze-fests while also making some characters look absolutely terrible (Mr. Boo and Piccolo, I’m looking at you).

And some episodes that had potential to be great ended up being really flat.  There was an episode where Krillin was dealing with self doubt because of the trauma he has from being killed in the past.  I think the idea of this is so freakin’ good and they toyed with it when Freeza attacked Earth at the beginning of Super where Krillin was scared to fight even though he was definitely way stronger than any of Freeza’s grunts.  

The later episode is about him regaining his confidence.  But it’s just so...flat and boring.  I want to see Krillin triumph so much because Krillin is the coolest, but this episode was just so uncreative and it felt rushed, not to mention that the animation was terrible.  There were some cool touches, like having Tambourine, the first villain to kill him, make an appearance, but nothing really came of it.

Of course, that’s not even getting into the absurd power creep in this show.  Dragon Ball has had this problem for a long time, but it’s extra awful in Super.  Krillin holding a beam battle against SSB Goku.  Android 17 somehow fighting evenly with SSB Goku.  Piccolo powering up all the way to a level where he can hurt Ultimate Gohan.  Freeza keeping up with every one else’s power levels because he “mind trains” in hell.  It’s all nonsensical trash garbage that only ends up making every single character look bad.

If SSB Goku is already stronger than Hit and can hurt him, then why doesn’t using Kaioken instantly vaporize Hit the second Goku touches him?  If Goku was holding back in that beam battle against Krillin, why did he even go Blue in the first place?  Why would he go Blue and then drop his power level by like a factor of bazillion to go easy on Krillin?  Just stay in your base form?  Why does Goku say that he’s trying to conserve energy during the universal tournament by not going Super Saiyan, when he showed during the Cell saga that he can stay in Super Saiyan form for literal DAYS without tiring?  Why does Goku say he’s trying to conserve energy but then immediately go Blue to knock some jobbers out of the ring with a giant energy blast?  Why is Tien in this show?  How did Roshi not get insta-murdered the second Goku laid a hand on him?  How did Roshi DEFEAT Tien, a character whose been stronger than him since his freakin’ introduction?  How does Freeza have a henchman that is apparently stronger than first form Cell?  Why couldn’t Piccolo beat Frost easily, when Frost is around the strength of Freeza at his original appearance and Piccolo, by this point, is AT LEAST as strong as first form Cell?  How did Gohan’s power level drop so dramatically that he struggled to reach even regular Super Saiyan?  How did he even lose his Ultimate power in any case as that wasn’t really a transformation in the first place?  How did Krillin and Goku get bruised/hurt by bullets, when Goku was tanking bullets in his first appearance in Dragon Ball issue ONE, and Krillin probably has the power to obliterate the planet a few times over?

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHFDHAKFJLSTJAELJGALFJADKLFJl

And the last thing I’m going to bring up is character design in Super.  Outside of Beerus and Whis, most of the new character designs in Super are not that great.  Hit and Jiren, two new heavy hitters i think have really boring, cookie cutter designs, especially Hit.  He looks like a Frankenstein monster cobbled together with design elements from all of the previous Dragon Ball villains.  Or like a shitty purple Namekian.  His power is cool, but his design is wackadoodle.  I think Jiren is actually not that bad, but I hate his “ears”, the same ears given to every goddamn alien character since Freeza (think about it).  Though I actually kind of dig how he looks like the stereotypical alien. 👽

The new Saiyan characters from Universe 6...I HATE Caulifla’s and the boy’s general design.  They just look badly drawn.  Caulifa’s body proportions look all over the place (her waist looks like it’s imploding in on itself) and her hair is just out of control and the boy’s face looks like it belongs in a “how to draw anime” book.  Kale’s design is good though.  

Frost is a boring design.  The three wolf dudes they fought in the boring pre-Universal tournament arc tournament arc were laughably awful.  All the jobbers in the Universal Tournament look trash. Outside of a couple, the God’s of Destruction are uninspired.   A lot of the Kaio’s designs are really same-y.

It’s like all of their creative juice went into Beerus and Whis, two undeniably amazing character designs and they just had none left for the rest of the new characters.

Whew, okay rant over mostly.

[retphienix]

I'm really excited about this one, which is funny since I have a rough start to share.

This is "Dragon Ball Z II: Gekishin Freeza!! (ドラゴンボールＺⅡ　激神フリーザ!!, Doragon Bōru Zetto Tsū Gekishin Furīza!!"

It's mostly labeled as either "Dragon Ball Z II: Freeza the Planet Destroyer!!" or a favorite of mine "Evil Freiza" but I'll stick with "Dragon Ball Z II: Gekishin Freeza!!".

This is an old NES Dragon Ball Z RPG that was never released in the states and that I am beyond excited to play.

I've had DB on the mind lately, and I remembered back when ProJared mentioned a few RPG titles back in his DBZ retrospective so I started browsing.

My first thought was that DBZ Gaiden: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans sounded fun, but after starting the game I quickly changed my mind. It had two major stinging points for me, those being that combat was useless due to no reward for fighting (no XP or other similar system) and that combat was borderline annoying unless you let Auto roll you through the game.

I actually gameovered because I was trying to play it "correctly" but the game demands building combinations of cards that let you use special moves, or stacking high numbers. In 'trying' to play I failed, but if I let the auto system take over (or simply ran away) I saw incredible success.

It got boring fast.

Returning to the drawing board, I knew I wanted a Dragon Ball game and that there were similar games to this that might be better. After some more research, and a quick revisit to that video from earlier, I decided to give this a try and holy cow.

I’m loving this.

The combat is much more intuitive (in that you can actually understand it due to less card matching since you play ONE card per character instead of three) and is actually WORTH something as you can build up your characters.

Also, it might just be the bad taste it left in my mouth, but I find this spritework much more enjoyable compared to Gaiden.

Movement, thus far, has been much simpler with no random events tied to my movement cards, instead each round of movement has me draw a specific event card that can be anything from a random battle to a full heal or training. This just feels better compared to ending up with a hand of all trap event cards in Gaiden.

I'm already excited to level up my team and throw kamehamehas at Frieza, this is going to be awesome.

This is directly after Vegeta and the saiyans attacked Earth, with Goku out of commission for now while the others (a few 'more' than canon says) head to Namek to get the dragon balls. I've successfully dealt with the kids who warn us of Freiza and landed on Fake Namek only to get completely piledrived out of existence... Will be tackling that one again. Oh, and since the translation isn't complete we get some nice gibberish from the fake Namekians.

The roughness, sadly, does go beyond my pre-game nonsense as I managed to mess up twice here just in this intro post.

*Cheating*

My first run of the training minigame prompted me to try and cheat with save states. Turns out you definitely can abuse that and that can break your character by power leveling them to an unbelievable degree.

I didn't do it for too long, but I ended up making Krillin twice as strong as he started and I felt like I might have overdone things a little bit for so early in the game, so I restarted.

I might abuse this at some point late in the game, but this definitely wasn't necessary and made things too easy to start out as.

*Game Over* On my first real run I ran into a few bad luck fights and tackled the fake Namek battle in poor shape, so it turned out that my first 'real' run wasn't a success either.

For reference, the fourth gif is how poorly things were going FROM THE VERY START. Blinking means they are currently knocked out and must be fully healed to fight again, so yeah...

Luckily I saved pretty close to the event, but with enough time to at least attempt to heal up before the fight, so here's to the next attempt! It's been more than fun enough to keep going.

It really was just a few bad rolls with the foe perfectly blocking my moves that left me a bit ragged by the time I got to Fake Namek.

[heinzpilsnergonewild]

Vegeta’s Character Analysis Looooooooooong Read

Oh my, what can I say? I just really love to write long essays in a language that isn’t even native to me, lol.

Well, nobody’s perfect, I guess. ... Were you expecting a Cell joke here? I may not be perfect, but that doesn't mean I have to be that predictable.

Ahem, anyway.

This isn't exactly a psychological analysis of the character - more like, hmm, a storytelling analysis. Or something in between, really.

You may not find anything fundamentally new in this text, but I definitely had fun writing it, haha.

It's mostly amateur. I have a useless psychology degree, but not a literature one.

My classic rant about vegebul fics is included, of course.

Summary: proper psychological analysis requires a single continuous personality, which Vegeta simply doesn’t have.

The more I think about Vegeta, the more I come to the conclusion that he is only pretending to be a consistently evolving character.

In fact, he's a bit like 10 different characters in one, which abruptly replace each other (and that's without considering the difference caused by the voice actors’ approach and the changes in his looks). Essentially, Vegeta's a collection of disparate images, arbitrarily lined up by Toriyama and hastily glued together. And the beginning of this line is so far from the end of it that these two extreme images cannot be perceived as belonging to the same person. Well, because human psychology just doesn't work that way.

(Not that Vegeta is unique in this respect – it’s a common feature of characters in long stories that authors compose as they write. Still, his case is quite extreme and interesting as example.)

I mean, take Vegeta in the Saiyan or the Namek arc. He's a complete psychopath. He clearly doesn’t suffer at heart from the unnecessary violence (as, for example, Guts from Berserk). His behavior looks like something natural for him, not an unhealthy defensive reaction. He enjoys it, he smiles happily, killing and torturing weak innocent people. And such a degree of psychopathy is not something that can be healed by a couple of deep personality crises or years of peaceful family life. Vegeta's redemption arc works through strong emotional impact and forgetfulness of the audience, but makes very little sense when viewed in retrospect.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Perhaps the biggest, hmm, splitting of the personality occurred with Vegeta right after the Namek arc. Toriyama had already made a small retcon of the character’s motives before (to include Vegeta in the context of the Freeza army after the Saiyan arc), but it didn't feel that drastic.

You see, until Vegeta was invited to Bulma’s house…..

(Gosh, Toriyama, you could’ve done it more subtly, really. Vegeta killed Yamcha, threatened to kill Bulma, gutted Zarbon in front of her eyes, slaughtered an entire Namekian village... Oh well.)

…Ahem, anyway, right up to Bulma's invitation, Vegeta looked to me like a character who, hmm, has a life of his own? I mean, you have always felt that his motives and behavior were generated by the bizarre social system, not related to the little world of Goku and his friends. Simply put, Vegeta was a natural product of the big space civilization, an organic part of it. His whole personality was formed by it, all his plans, motivation and ambitions were associated with it. And although in the Saiyan arc, he gave the impression of an independent entrepreneurial chief at the head of a small hierarchy, in the Namek arc it was revealed that Vegeta is actually far from independent. He lost his throne and his people, he was in slavery to the tyrant all his life, and wants to take power for himself. So, his social background and the motives caused by it post factum get much more complex. But in short, Vegeta wanted a highest possible position in the hierarchy he knew. In this way, he was… social? His belonging to the Saiyan race was only a small (although important) part of the overall picture. Because the Saiyans were dead, but the Freeza Empire was alive.

But when Toriyama realized Vegeta's popularity and decided to keep him in the story after Namek, it came as a blow to the character's personality. Apparently, the author simply couldn't come up with an elegant way that could keep the character in all its complexity around, and therefore did a very clumsy thing. He roughly cut Vegeta out of his social context and almost forcibly glued him to the main character group like a poorly done appliqué. But although you see rough edges and glue drips, the story moves on rapidly, distracting you with Freeza and Future Trunks, and you don't stop to think about what happened. This is how, almost imperceptibly, Toriyama changed Vegeta's motives (and, consequently, the basis of his personality). Yes, Vegeta's saiyan pride was also significant part of his character previously, but when it became his sole and central motivation after Namek, you feel like a very big and important piece of him has been arbitrarily cut off. This wouldn't have happened if Toriyama had followed the logic of previously established social motives, rather than his desire to make Vegeta a convenient figure. Now, bound hand and foot by the author, the character is forced to behave as the plot requires.

Still, all this can be justified by the fact that Vegeta experienced a deep emotional shock as a result of death, which forced him to rethink his life priorities and wait for Goku (especially in the manga, where he just lived with Bulma for a whole year after Namek, without even trying to use dragonballs) ... And then he waited for the androids (despite the final death of Freeza and his father, which was an excellent chance to try to take over the decapitated empire). Anyway, this rationalization doesn't negate the fact that the character, as a result, has lost a significant part of the fire that he demonstrated in the Namek arc. His new energy, the energy of obsession with surpassing Goku, turns him into a new character – bitter, marginalized and focused on training.

(Ironically, the very splitting that made him a less attractive character in my eyes allowed vegebul to take place. After all, imagining the romantic relationship of the nice Bulma and Vegeta at the height of his villainous ambition is really difficult. That just would be a psychologically implausible story.)

In the Android and Cell arcs, after brief glimpses of the SSJ superiority, Toriyama turned Vegeta into a plot tool, whose personality flaws he could use to spoil the situation favorable for the heroes. As a result, Vegeta continued to be an angry and unhappy character who has lost most of his charisma, but on top of that, he also started to be really annoying. ... Still, also kinda amusing thanks to his truly impressive inability to draw obvious conclusions from the ego bruises he gets.

(If you ask me, the character's biggest contribution to the Cell arc was to ignore the existence of condoms, lol. Although strictly speaking even it was an achievement of Future Vegeta (RIP). But seriously, Vegeta's relationship with Trunks turned out to be one of the few things that I was really interested in about this part of the story.)

And then there was Goku’s death and the 7-year-gap. ... At the end of which Vegeta still didn't look like a happy man who has found his place in the world. Even though he had seven whole years (and a spaceship) to change something. I mean, this is the case when it'd be logical to expect changes in the character, but for some reason they didn't really happen (or they did, but veeery quietly and unstable). I mean, Vegeta trains with Trunks, yes. And he's married to Bulma now, apparently (which we learn only at the end of the arc though). And he hasn’t killed himself yet, which means that he sees some meaning in his existence. Hurray, I guess?.. The problem is that when we first see Vegeta after the timeskip, he keeps walking around with such a sullen expression, as if Goku had died just yesterday. (Remember Vegeta in the Saiyan arc? He smiled quite often. For the wrong reasons, but hey.) Basically, Toriyama tried to sit on two chairs at the same time here - 1) keep Vegeta as recognizable as possible (because he hasn't decided what to do with him yet) and 2) keep him around (which doesn't make sense for the character if he hasn't undergone significant changes during the timeskip). And the result of this hesitant approach is an undesirable effect - it feels as if Vegeta hasn't built a new life for himself all these years, but only waited for Goku to return.

As if the man is unable to evolve without Goku's influence. Until Kakarot does or says something, or is just around, everyone else in Vegeta's life and his own reflection has little or no meaning. Old social ambitions? His wife and child? New insights gained from life on Earth? Pffft. Goku is able to destroy the seven years’ worth progress (no matter how small it may seem) in one day, and at the same time, one fight with him is enough for Vegeta's character development to jump forward explosively. It sounds like a solid ground for shipping, but In fact it’s just a direct consequence of the author's poorly chosen narrative structure.

The thing is, Toriyama tend to avoid romance and slices of life, and shows Vegeta's personality mainly through fights and their consequences. And at the time Goku just turned out to be the only significant character for Vegeta, the fight against whom could be used as an excuse to develop the character in front of the audience. Well, Toriyama couldn't get Vegeta to fight Bulma or himself, you know.

I believe that the plot structure chosen by the author (rapidly changing action events immediately after a long timeskip) is not a very good basis for a redemption arc. For a good redemption, a character had to have screen time during which small changes accumulate gradually, between the big points. And Vegeta simply didn't have it. Besides, the scheme by which Vegeta develops is really messy. Because at first, Toriyama kinda froze his development at the neutral point (thereby partially devaluing the influence of Vegeta's family on him). Then in one moment, the author abruptly reversed even this the-end-of-the-Cell-arc development with Majin Vegeta (this time completely devaluing the family factor, because the betrayal was Vegeta’s conscious decision). God, how I hated the Majin Vegeta idea. And in the next scene, the author made a quick retcon, which gave the family’s influence the status of a ground for Vegeta’s personal growth again for no apparent reason. It's as if a huge bundle of family values was post factum squeezed into the character in defiance of everything that we just saw with our own eyes. This is a complete narrative mess.

But... oddly enough, Vegeta's redemption still manages to work, and work spectacularly. My guess is that it's because by that time the audience is already SO sick of Vegeta, frozen in his bitter anti-heroism, that it desperately wants the author to finally do something new with the miserable guy. Well, at least get him out of his misery. So people are willing to accept it in any possible form.

... And the author chose the form of a powerful emotional catharsis. The explosion was legendary, haha.

I don't even know if this is a good reason to call Toriyama a genius (after all, he found a very clever way out of a difficult situation, in which he found himself thanks to his own bad decisions.)

The only thing I'm sure of is that despite everything I was very sad because of Vegeta's death. I didn't even realize that I had become emotionally attached to this asshole until he made such a spectacular exit, lol. As if something had broken inside of me, and all the analyticity of my mind couldn’t prevent it. I was surprised when I found myself crying really hard - usually my emotions don't reach this level due to fictional stories. (Well, maybe it was due to the fact that my own father was dying of cancer at that time, and the moment just triggered my emotions. ... Oops, it seems a little too personal, doesn't it? Well, at the end of the day, this fact is an integral part of my unique dbz experience. Come to think of it, in dbz, fathers die regularly).

But while this scene greatly affects emotions and forces a new viewer (or reader) to truly reconsider their attitude towards the character for the first time, the absence of a neat gradual movement towards this moment weakens its influence somewhat.

At this point, Vegeta’s character splits once again (perhaps the last time within DBZ). You simply cease to understand who this man really is and who he was before.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, when I look at all the images of Vegeta in general, I come to the conclusion that I like this character the most in the first two arcs and in the end of the last arc. Two directly opposite moral poles.

(Funny enough, because my initial reaction to Vegeta and Nappa was annoyance: "Well hello, the next stereotypical villains who like to chat and laugh maliciously instead of simply killing their victims." (Still, against the background of Freeza, Vegeta turned out to be a much lesser evil in every sense, haha). You see, usually I'm not a person who likes villains. Basically, I only distinguish such characters from others as a result of romance or redemption. It’s only after that I begin to see aesthetics in their villainous charisma as well.)

And now, in retrospective, I believe that at the beginning of the story Vegeta is at the maximum of his vitality and charisma. Especially compared to his ever-crisis moody version (who supposedly lives happily with a loving family). In the Saiyan arc, he's objectively the most powerful character (Freeza didn’t even exist in Toriyama's head at the time). Vegeta is domineering, playful and unpredictable, but most importantly - his self-confidence is fully justified. Oh well, it was good while it lasted. He's really in control. These are, if I may say so, quite exciting qualities in a man, haha. Even if he looks like an evil dwarf in stupid armor and bullies some weaklings. I'd even say his demeanor in the Saiyan arc (especially with the voice of early Horikawa) is suspiciously easy to translate into a sexual context (well, until he loses control and gets hysterical, lol).

The Namek arc, placing Vegeta in a broader context, somewhat spoiled his original image (after all the big words, it turned out that he was running errands for Freeza all this time), but gave him a more interesting background and a strong drive. He had ambitions and a socially significant goal, and he actively and passionately fought for them against a clearly superior enemy. In addition, his inability to defeat Freeza by brute force forced him to use his brains from time to time, and not just pull another power up out of his ass, as is now traditionally done in DragonBall. (Needless to say, I consider high intelligence to be one of the most attractive traits). All this made his position in the plot as interesting as possible. He literally sparkled with energy.

Well, we know what happened next. Brain Death, an eternal chase after Goku, and an off-screen family life on a backwater planet that Vegeta is supposedly happy with. Until he suddenly became a really beautiful character without a proper justification for this (well, at least the explosion was spectacular). Really, I like the general concept of redemption, and yet... the way Toriyama portrays it in the story just doesn't work convincingly enough for me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another point I’d like to cover in this already too long essay ahhh I'm a monster is Vegeta’s personality in fanfiction.

Reproducing (?) Vegeta is a bit like playing with a lego set - his personality and behavior is always the result of a conscious reconstruction, which is based around a specific point on the long contradictory line. Depending on which end of the spectrum the chosen point is, the author is forced to shade facts related to the opposite end, or to give new context to Vegeta's past (or future) actions. It's always noticeable when the author extends the later, sympathetic Vegeta's image to an earlier segment of the story. Apparently, it's possible to kill the person who raised you (with an evil smile on your face) just because the situation was too stressful lol. Likewise, when the authors allow Vegeta to remain a charismatic psychopath, the story wouldn't work without ignoring some parts of the later canon.

(And, of course, there is always a "medium" type of Vegeta - Vegeta from the 3-year-gap, whose personality is almost entirely based on anime fillers. Yay, here comes the promised vegebul rant

Honestly, I'm pretty tired of this "gravity room exploded again woman grrr" type of Vegeta.

Because if you take the manga, we have no idea how Vegeta actually behaved with Bulma and her parents, what his training regimen was, and what he did in his free time besides unprotected sex. People elevate his rudeness and irrational self-torturing to the absolute because of all these filler patterns, but this is just one of the possible versions of the events and the character's behavior during this time (albeit partly canonical). But... there are also alternatives. There are smart Vegeta, curious Vegeta, civilized Vegeta. Honestly - I don't think Bulma would've married him later if there was nothing in his personality that’d make communication with him enjoyable. I mean, she's a rich modern woman, she doesn't need a husband just for convenience and Vegeta is a marginal freeloader anyway. And if we subtract good looks (which people often attribute to Vegeta) from the equation, then the idea that he has no interest in anything other than training and cannot maintain an interesting conversation becomes completely unconvincing. Toriyama clearly didn't attach much importance to the fact of their marriage, and generally avoided romantic scenes as if they were on fire (and, perhaps, did the right thing), but these two just had to be capable of adequate and mutually pleasant personal interaction in order to take this step.

In general, Toriyama's lack of attention to most aspects of the characters' lives other than fighting and training, on the one hand, can be considered a drawback of DBZ, but on the other, it creates a lot of room for fans' imagination. But not everyone uses it. Most authors generally repeat the same tropes over and over again and don't try to look at the three-year-gap from a new angle, although the canon provides all the possibilities for this. Because of this, fics in this genre often seem boring. But in fact, it's not the setting itself that is boring, but only dusty formulas in the heads of the authors.)

Ahem, so where were we?.. Oh yes.

Actually, Vegeta's inconsistency is a very handy character trait for the authors, as it minimizes the chance of accidental OOC. Indeed, it's quite difficult to make someone to behave out of character if he has many different canon versions of himself, lol. On the other hand, this leads to the fact that the character seems to... kinda disintegrate. You never see his whole face, because he simply doesn't have it. As a result, Vegeta turns into a mosaic that must be reassembled each time. And I keep staring at this crazy kaleidoscope like an idiot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, that's... quite a lot of contradictions in my relationship to Vegeta, haha. Still, life without contradictions would be somewhat boring, I guess.

Thanks for your attention I suppose?..... lol, as if someone really got to this point

The End.

P.S. 1: The antisocial version of Vegeta who doesn't understand stupid human rituals and hates crowds, but puts up with it for the sake of his family is my spirit animal, haha. This is just so damn relatable to my autistic personality. Maybe I'm an alien myself.

P.S. 2: Actually, my favorite dbz character is Piccolo. Yep.

[mo-art-please]

Bound by Steel : Chapter 2

Title: Bound by Steel Type: Fanfiction Characters: Vegeta and Bulma Rating: R (violence, language, sex, drugs and alcohol use) Disclaimer: I don’t own the characters, I just love to either draw or write about them  Chapter Two Chapter 2

The hot steam enveloped the room as Bulma dumped another bucket of hot water over Princess Chichi and continued to scrub the dirt off the young woman. Bulma had figured out who she was quite quickly after speaking those few words with Prince Vegeta. It made since that she would be the Human Princess since Vegeta had no real use for anyone or anything weaker than even the lowest Oni Demon race and definitely not humans. So, this was it, Vegeta and the Saiyan race were actually doing it; they were fighting back against the most powerful Oni race known to Terra, Icejins. How many times had Vegeta and her had secretly schemed and fantasied about Freeza’s death; the demon who held their freedom and free will in his hands.

“Owe! You’re scrubbing too hard!” the Princess’ voice brought Bulma back from her thoughts. Bulma blinked and smiled politely despite wanting to roll her eyes. She had to remember this girl was not brought up and raised in the midst of war and battle. She had no doubt lived a sheltered life where everything had been handed to her on a silver platter instead of earned through fighting and killing.

“Forgive me your Majesty, sometimes I don’t know my own strength. Are you feeling refreshed?” Bulma pulled out a large fluffy towel and wrapped it around the young woman. She could see why Goku seemed to have an eye for her, the Princess was beautiful in a humanistic way. Goku always had a soft spot for the underdogs, the weak and helpless.

“How do you know who I am?” Chichi asked under wet bangs and looked at Bulma quizzically. Bulma just smiled slightly and tapped her temple with her finger.

“No worries Princess, I’m just good at putting two plus two together. I’m also more informed about the world around me than the Prince would let you believe.” Bulma stood up from the side of the tub and straightened her clothing. “I have brought you a kimono to wear while I repair yours, please make yourself comfortable while you stay here my Lady. My doors and home are opened to you.” Bulma bowed with her words and left the bathroom, leaving the Princess to dress.

Bulma walked down the hallway quietly her body automatically pinpointing Vegeta’s aura and seeking it out. She exited the back of her shrine and entered her cherry blossom garden and traveled down the stone path until she found what she was looking for. There, in front of her, Vegeta was waist deep in one of her Koi pounds scrubbing himself with a washcloth.

“You do realize I have a tub in my house do you not?” Bulma questioned while crossing her arms across her chest. Vegeta’s back tightened but he did not turn around. She had no doubt he knew she had come up behind him but decided he would ignore her. Typical Vegeta, ignore the annoying and it will ‘go away’. It hardly worked but it seemed like he still used that technique.

“I’m not bathing after a human,” Vegeta snorted and Bulma rolled her eyes.

“So you rather bathe in a cold pond? That’s very Princely of you.” Vegeta just shrugged his large scarred shoulders and continued to scrub his chest.

“I hope you aren’t killing my Koi, it takes a long time for them to get that large.”

“I suppose six years.

“That’s not fair, Vegeta, and you know that. I had to leave, Vegeta, I couldn’t do it anymore. The mindless killing…. Men, women, children. Entire towns wiped out just because we were told to? I just couldn’t take it anymore; my conscience couldn’t take it. I was losing myself to the blood lust and then the depression afterwards. You know what it can do to people; it destroys them from the inside out. My Oni blood wasn’t able to keep up. So, I saved up my coin and bought my freedom. I tried to buy yours but you wouldn’t leave…

Vegeta whipped around to look at Bulma standing behind him with a look of hurt and duress across her face. Good, maybe she could feel an ounce of pain that he had to go through. He narrowed his eyes and then threw the cloth he had been using to wash the dirt off him to the side. “What did you want me to do Woman? Huh? Did you want me to leave Nappa, Radditz, and Kakarrot behind as we run off hands free of them? Huh? Did you want me to have that weighing on my conscience as you got to play ‘house’ here with me?”

The look of hurt on Bulma’s face was raw and real. But Vegeta wasn’t done. “And what do you want from me now? Do you want me to feel sorry for you? To pretend what happened didn’t? To forgive you for leaving?”

” Yes! That’s what I want! I want you to stop hating me for something you were just as equal apart of as I was! I offered you freedom too! I saved for both of us!” Bulma threw her hands up over her head and began to pace. “I wrote you, time and time again once I was free, and you never answered a single letter. Even after you left Freeza you never once tried to contact me, to come find me. We planned it, Vegeta, you were suppose to come here when you were released and we were to be family.”

” What about my duties?! Huh?! Was I to forget them? Just drop everything to come here? I’m a Prince, Bulma, I don’t have the luxury to just run off and hide from the world like you! I have obligations to keep. I have honor!” Vegeta raised his voice to a harsh whisper as they argued quietly between each other. It wouldn’t do any good for anyone else to hear them.

” Honor? Honor?! You speak of honor for a Country that sold you into servitude to a monster? You don’t owe them a thing. It’s not honor but Pride that has you dancing to your own peoples’ tune and to a Father that sold his son out to keep his own head.”

“Quiet Woman, you are treading on thin ice here. If I was not put into servitude to the Icejin race, Vegeta-Sai would have been attacked and in their current state we might have been wiped out. The contract with Freeza was to buy time to build our armies and give me inside intelligence of our enemy. So, watch what you say about the Saiyan Empire.”

“Fine, Vegeta, fine. Whatever helps you sleep at night. So while you are playing Prince, Commander of the Saiyan Army, and future King your mate has been living alone, waiting to hear from her husband. Yeah that’s real honor Vegeta… I’m sure any Oni would agree with you on that.” Bulma snidely and sarcastically said in defeat and turned her back to Vegeta wading in the pond.

For so long she had waited for him to come to her. She knew she would never be welcomed in Vegeta-sai. She wasn’t Saiyan and she was a half-breed on top of that but the young Vegeta she knew long ago didn’t care. He had made her his, for now and eternity binding them together in the ways Onis do. Only she could complete his soul, bare his children, and give him true pleasure. But this older Vegeta seemed bound to the destiny to be a King; prideful and cold.

Bulma took a step to leave before she paused. It was a lost cause, he had made his mind and he put his people before her. She would now have to deal with that decision. Obviously, it didn’t bother him as much as it did her. Besides, he had a new flame…. “By the way, congratulations to your engagement. I’m sure her Elite Saiyan blood makes your parents and people proud. From what I hear she’s quite the beauty and strong too. I wonder how long it will take before they realize there will be no heir?”

There was a rush of movement behind her but before she could turn around Vegeta had leaped out of the water and his wet body was pressed firmly against her back. His hands held her arms down and she had to bite her lower lip to keep from yelling out expletives. The heat from his body was immense, she had forgotten how warm he was even when he acted so cold.

“Do you think I care one fucking bit about that woman? It’s my duty, nothing more nothing less.” Vegeta growled deep and low in his throat right by her ear. Bulma’s whole body shivered not only by the contact but from the vibrations of his words. Vegeta’s own body reacted harshly to her presence. He thought he had overcome their bond. He had slept with many women, found some pleasure in their company but nothing like this. Just holding her he could not keep his body from reacting. Even fully clothed he could feel every curve of her body and his body molded and melted into her. He could not contain his excitement and he nestled his hard cock into the soft plush curve of her rear end. It had been a mistake to touch her. He knew it now. It awakened the bond, the need to claim her after so long was almost unbearable. His blood pulsed at a fast rhythm, pounding in his eardrums the demands for sexual gratification, of completion.

“Let go of me before you regret it.” Bulma hissed but instead of sounding angry it came out as a seductive temptation. Vegeta nestled deeper into her, his mouth finding the curve of her neck and hovered there. The urge to bite down and reclaim her was over powering. The need to taste her blood, feel her heart beat, to be a part of her heat pounded loudly in his veins. She was shaking under his grip, her body in tuned with his waiting for that moment where his teeth broke skin and their bond reunited.

Vegeta could not fight it. He never could when it came to Bulma. She was his, always his. His own mind was giving in to the sweet temptation and he placed his hot lips onto her neck. The moan from her lips was like pure ecstasy and he dragged his tongue and teeth across the spot.

“I’m—warn—ing—you,” was all she managed to make out as her hips rocked backwards and stroked along the long hard length of his cock placed right in the crack of her rear.

That was all Vegeta needed. He pushed Bulma hard forward into the brush of a bush to hide them from view and she fell front first onto the ground. She barely had a chance to breathe before he flipped her round to lay on her back and began piling the layers of her kimono up to reach the apex of her thighs.

Bulma didn’t have a chance to say a word or even utter a sound until he rammed himself balls deep into her hot passage. She cried out from the forceful intrusion despite her body always being ready for him but if was muffled by his scorching mouth as it devoured the sound. He thrusted like a man would drink water after walking the desert for weeks and all she could do was cling onto his broad shoulders as he pounded relentlessly bringing them both quickly to a mind-blowing orgasm. Her body shivered in ecstasy around him and his own body shook with the pure unbridled pleasure. ‘This is how it was suppose to feel,’ Vegeta thought as he spilled his boiling seed into her. All those other women, his current fiancé, they felt nothing like this. It was not even a quarter of the pleasure he felt with his mate. He looked down at her finally being able to get some symbolism of control. She was beautiful, her hair had fallen out her bun and sprawled out like a giant blue halo around the most gorgeous face he had ever seen. Her eyes were closed with long black lashes brushing her flushed cheeks. He wanted to see her eyes, wanted her to know it was him, her mate, giving her pleasure. What anger he had, whatever bitterness he held felt like it was miles away now that he had her in his arms again. He would have to make the most of this visit. Bulma could not go back to their old lifestyle. She was too sensitive, too caring to be in a war again. He would take this precious time he had with her and use it until he was exhausted. It was the only way he would be able to leave her. To watch her as he walked out of her life for a second time.

“Bulma…” it was a moan and his hips began rocking into her once more. Her eyes fluttered open and focused on his endlessly deep black eyes. Her mouth parted and he placed his lips over hers to try to keep her from being too loud. He could probably get a couple more orgasms in before the others would notice their disappearance. ***

Bulma cursed at herself the whole time she cooked. Agreeing to make a feast for three hungry Saiyans was one of the worst decisions in her life. She’d be dead from exhaustion before she finished cooking. Or maybe it was exhaustion from her tryst with the Saiyan Prince that made her so tired. After the first flurry of sex he managed to rein himself in and they had long sensual sex for nearly two hours before they heard the others wandering about her home. Which means one thing, they were still bonded. For years, she wondered if maybe her half breeding interfered with their bond but it seemed now that that was not the case. Vegeta’s undying pride and honor did. She should have known, he was always stubborn to a fault but now she knew how much. ‘ Duty she snorted. He believed he was carrying out his duty as a Prince. Bulma suppose she could understand that since it was vengeance, a form of duty, that had her volunteering to join Freeza’s regime many years ago to find the man that murdered her father. And she had, after three years of service, finally did find him and kill him. That’s when she no longer found joy or excitement of mindless killing. Before it was fine, it was practice for the bastard that sunk his blade in her father’s back, but after her revenge she found no joy or amusement of killing for another. She had used Freeza and his army to find that man and once everything was said and done she no longer needed them. Except she had fallen in love with her squad leader and mated with him.

“Are you done yet?” Goku popped his head into the room and his hands quickly found a hot fresh dumpling.

“Get your hands out of there,” Bulma smacked his hand with a wooden spoon, “and yes I’m done. Here,” she handed him plate after plate of food until she could no longer see his face. “Take this out to everyone, I’ll bring the rest.” Bulma sighed as she watched Goku turn and easily walk his way into the dining hall where everyone was sitting crossed legged at the table. Bulma smiled and laid down the last bit of food in front of Vegeta before sitting across from him. She smiled softly to him before bowing to everyone at the table.

“Please, everyone, eat up! I hope you all enjoy”

[therealtr4g1c]

Dragon Ball Super Episode 108 Review "Easter Eggs" #DragonBallSuper #TR4G1C #DBSuper #Anime #DBS Dragon Ball Super Episode 108 Review Easter Eggs Dragon Ball Super Episode 108 Review with TR4G1C Dragon Ball Super Episode 108 Frieza and Frost The Conjoined Malice....oh boy...The Froza Clan is beginning to form Saiyans vs Froza Race( Name I made for Frost & Frieza Union) was set up in Dragon Ball Super Episode 107 and continues now in 108 being informed to us by the New Dragon Ball Super Spoilers with TR4G1C With Animage Recent Magazine Info We Now find out that Frost vs Vegeta Rematch is going to happen and Frost uses the Mafuba to seal up Vegeta but...also Freeza Betrays Universe 7....Freeza vs Gohan going Down! So They Question Now Turns to Will Dragon Ball Super Being Doing this to Finally Shed light on This Mysterious Clan and Race? Will Frieza and Frost Co-exist with there Deceptions with each other? Has Quitela recruited them to Universe 4 knowing the rules? Is Frieza Using his skills at Deception to Bait Frost? So many questions!Geekdom101: Arcosians Explained and Debunked: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppKUKgbc1n8CHECK OUT Genki dama Explained & 3 Theories as well! The Genki Dama Explained: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4gD5w8UTFIThe Genki Super Saiyan Blue Dragon Ball Super Genki Dama Theory with TR4G1C part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU-y0PjTmGIGoddess To Her Universe Dragon Ball Super Genki Dama Theory with TR4G1C part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhrwpz33bDoJiren's Power Unleashed Dragon Ball Super Genki Dama Theory with TR4G1C part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCp8mEI4vCkCHECK OUT these Dragon Ball Super Talks video out! Dragon Ball Super Speedsters of The Tournament with Detective Q: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mwkbPl8K0QDragon Ball Super Super Saiyan God Indepth with TR4G1C: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mNG0B1-oggGoku's NEW Transformation Discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTapnwXhmwYAugust and Dragon Ball Super Talks with Geekdom101!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWnvzNWKmNEUniverse 6 Namekian Theory with Geekdom 101: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1JxRVNkt6sSuper Saiyan Transformation's Discussion with GeeklistTV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1u2y-t0VFYDragon Ball Super Tournament of Power Stats and Current Results | INDEPTH with TR4G1C : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfd3UIwzJFsWizardry and Witchcraft in Dragon Ball Super | Dragon Ball Super Questions with TR4G1C: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1yXzUprPcUDragon Ball Super The Mystery of the Godpad | Anime Theories with TR4G1C: https://www.youtube.com/edit?video_id=pwxHggkB3EQAll 12 symbols we found and used: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DD8EU3jXgAAZNu3.jpg:largeDragon Ball Super Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/DB_super2015Dragon Ball Super Evaluating the New Ending:Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sbJKkXqniQ Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSfoahqnNDI Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMhV3_nedPoSidra Manga Cover: https://twitter.com/therealTR4G1C/status/878429369181634560Thanx again and make sure to watch and follow us! I got you covered on All Dragon Ball Super News. Make sure to check out theses past videos and see ya in the next vid! We are doing things different with Dragon Ball Super Questions with TR4G1C and now Dragon Ball Super Images with TR4G1C we are bringing new life to this great community! also do not miss out nights with Anime Art with TR4G1C your going to love them we do them on twitch! Could we see a Manga with TR4G1C series soon! stay tuned!Do you Draw? Love Mangas? Then Shonen Jump Paint is the app for you! And now with there upcoming worldwide Contest you have a chance to win 10 thousand US dollars. Shonen Jump New App! Jump Paint! & Worldwide Contest! Shonen Jump has teamed up with Medibang and has released a new manga-drawing app called JUMP PAINT. This free app comes loaded with tons of tools that will help you draw manga on your PC, tablets or phones.Shonen Jump New App! Jump Paint! & Manga Worldwide Contest! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YefY_u8CZrkThumbnail Done by and Drawn by me!Custom Art & Commisions: Programs Used: Procreate App for Ipad http://procreate.art/ MediBangPaint App for Ipad https://medibangpaint.com/en/ipad/Equipment Used for Art: Apple Pencil, Ipad Pro 12.9 inch***Prices: Panels: $20 for any panel 2100x2800  Headers: $15 1500x500 Profile Icon: $10 400x400 Device Size: start $100 2732x2048 this is Better then 1440p close to 3k resolution!***Want to support hit us up here https://streamjar.tv/tip/TR4G1C all proceeds go to the Streaming Platform Fund! thanx and Godbless!***https://vid.me/TR4G1C https://mixer.com/TR4G1C https://www.twitch.tv/therealtr4g1c Discord: https://discord.gg/DPkwzUY Lootcrate: Lootcrate.com/TR4G1C Promo Code: tr4g1c Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealTR4G1C Business Twitter: https://twitter.com/TR4G1C_LLC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TR4G1C Instagram: therealTR4G1C PS4: therealTR4G1C