Vegeta (ベジータ Bejīta), more specifically Vegeta IV (ベジータ四世 Bejīta Yonsei),[7] recognized as Prince Vegeta (ベジータ王子 Bejīta Ōji), is the prince of the fallen Saiyan race and the husband of Bulma, the father of Trunks and Bulla, the eldest son of King Vegeta, as well as one of the main characters of the Dragon Ball series.
Regal, egotistical, and full of pride, Vegeta was once a ruthless, cold-blooded warrior and outright killer, but later abandoned his position in the Frieza Force for a peaceful life on Earth. He would repeatedly fight alongside Universe 7's most powerful warriors in order to protect Earth and his family, as well as to surpass Goku in power.
Vegeta's strong character development has received high praise and is regarded as the biggest in the series. He initially debuted as the main antagonist of the Vegeta Saga but progressed into a more anti-heroic tritagonist role for the rest of Dragon Ball Z. Since the Majin Buu Saga and going into Dragon Ball Super, Vegeta has been the main deuteragonist/secondary protagonist behind Goku.
Appearance[]
Vegeta is a well-built man of below-average stature, standing at 164 centimeters tall. His hair is black (or dark reddish brown, depending on the media) and spikes upwards with a prominent widow's peak. Like most Saiyans, he possesses defined eyes with a consistently stern look to them. Like other Universe 7 Saiyans, he was born with a prehensile, brown-furred tail, until it was permanently cut off by Yajirobe.
Over the course of the series, Vegeta's physical appearance changes. While originally appearing very short and lean, especially compared to his massive partner, Nappa, he later seems to be somewhat taller and noticeably more muscular. His hair and forehead appear to be shorter and his facial features, which are perpetually in a scowl (in contrast to before he lost his first fight with Goku, when he smiled most of the time), also look more distinct and sharply defined as the series progresses, making him look much older in later sagas compared to what he looked like in his debut.
A major characteristic of Vegeta's is the fact that he is one of the only Saiyans who have continued to don the traditional Saiyan armor in combat. His general look is a blue, full-bodied jumpsuit with white gloves and boots with the said armor on top. He has also been seen wearing alternate forms of the armor, customizing it to better suit his persona. During most of Vegeta's adult life working under the Frieza Force, as well as his appearance in the Saiyan Saga, he wore a white armor, which consisted of yellow shoulder pads, yellow stomach and lower back plates, and yellow skirt pads, that covered his hips and groin. Underneath his armor, he wore a blue bodysuit, where he also wore white gloves and boots, in addition with them. He would often wrap his tail around his armor in a belt-like fashion, and usually wore a red lens scouter (green in the manga) over his left eye. After the Saiyan Saga and during the Namek Saga, he wore a similar outfit to what he wore previously, but replaced his heavily damaged armor with a similar armor that lacked the skirt padding around his waistline. While wearing this outfit, he also no longer possessed his Saiyan tail, due to having it permanently cut by Yajirobe during his battle against the Dragon Team on Earth in the Saiyan Saga. He also briefly wore another scouter, until deeming it unnecessary and destroying it. When his armor and bodysuit were damaged in his battle against Recoome, he replaced his outfit with an older model design, where he wears a navy-blue bodysuit underneath a white armor, that had brown stomach and lower back plates, but lacked shoulder pads like his previous armor. He also wore a new pair of his white boots and gloves from his previous ones, after also being damaged. He collectively wore this outfit during the Captain Ginyu and Frieza Sagas respectively. In the Trunks Saga, he wore a pink short sleeved loose button shirt with the sign "Bad Man" at the back, a white sleeveless undershirt, yellow pants and green shoes with a brown trim. During the Androids/Cell Saga, he wore a similar outfit to what he wore in the Namek Saga, but wore an updated version of his armor and bodysuit, where his armor now has yellow shoulder straps, instead of shoulder guards, and the armor plates now taking on polygonal shapes instead of semi-oval ones, meanwhile, his bodysuit now extends to cover the lower half of his neck. From the Perfect Cell Saga and onwards, Vegeta now regularly wears an updated version of his white boots, where they now show yellow striped tips. During the Buu Saga, to be allowed to fight in the World Martial Arts Tournament, Vegeta sported a sleeveless dark blue tank top tucked into matching sweatpants along with white gloves and boots. He later wore a similar outfit in Dragon Ball Super: Broly and Super Hero but with the color being more of a dark teal blue, and his boots being rounder and having gray soles at the bottom.
During his early cameo, debut, and filler appearances in the Dragon Ball Z anime, Vegeta originally appeared with a totally different color scheme from his usual one, where he was shown with red hair and was wearing an outfit that composed of a battle armor that was khaki green with burnt orange guard pieces (the shoulder and skirt guards), orange gloves, a navy-blue jumpsuit, and boots with orange leg tops and dark brown shoes. This occurred only in the anime, as at the time Vegeta was introduced in the anime, no official colors of Vegeta were released in the Dragon Ball manga for the animators to use for Vegeta, when adapting him into the anime, so Toei Animation guessed his colors. It's not until the anime's depiction of him in his first arrival on Earth, that his color scheme completely changes to become more consistent to his traditional look, once the manga eventually revealed his actual color scheme. This color scheme also appears as an alternate color for his Battle Armor in various video games.
In his initial design as a child in Bardock - The Father of Goku, Vegeta was depicted with bangs, but still maintained his traditional spiky hairstyle. He wore a similar white armor, to the one he was seen wearing as an adult during the Namek Saga, but had a red cape that was attached to the shoulder pads, where the armor also possessed the Saiyan Royal family crest on its left chest plate. Underneath his armor, he also donned a similar sleeveless tanktop and matching sweatpants, to the ones he was seen wearing as an adult during the Buu Saga, while also wearing white gloves and boots. During flashbacks of him as a child in Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super, Vegeta was constantly shown in this design. However, in his depiction as a child in the Dragon Ball Minus manga chapter, as well as Broly, which adapted parts of the Dragon Ball Minus manga chapter, Vegeta in his childhood is instead seen with his traditional hairstyle that has a widow's peak, instead of bangs. This is to keep it consistent with his prior statement in the Perfect Cell Saga that "a pure-blooded Saiyans hair does not change from the day they are born". Also in this design, he wears a similar armor to the one he wore in his original design as a child, but with the armor being black, rather than white in the original design, and lacking the red cape and Saiyan royal family crest he had on his armor in the original design. Underneath his armor, he wears a blue bodysuit, and also wears white gloves and white boots, where his boots appear to be rounder and has yellow stripes on their tips. In a flashback of him as a child in Battle of Gods, Vegeta is shown with his widow's peak, but wears the same outfit he wore in his design as a child in Bardock - The Father of Goku, where in this depiction of him, his undersuit now extends to cover the lower half of his neck. In all designs of Vegeta as a child, Vegeta would often let his tail hang loose, instead of wrapping it, like he did in his adulthood.
In Dragon Ball GT, Vegeta swaps out his outfit in favor of clothing more characteristic to an Earthling, wearing a crimson tank top, violet gloves, dark blue jeans and violet boots along with a black leather vest. He also cropped his hair, which still spikes upward, and grew a mustache (albeit temporarily, as he immediately shaves it off after Bulla mocks him for it).
In Dragon Ball Super, Vegeta returns to wearing the same outfit he wore in the Androids/Cell Sagas during the God of Destruction Beerus Saga, that becomes his most regularly worn outfit throughout the rest of the series. During the early part of his training under Whis, Vegeta wore a new outfit made by Bulma, which changes to have a grey bodysuit, futuristic-looking versions of his regular boots and gloves, with the boots possessing darker gold striped tips, and a sleeker armor with a narrow chest plate, that possesses a dark gold stomach and lower back plate, along with a dark gold lining on the shoulder area of the armor. Whis also placed his insignia on the left side of the armor's chest without Vegeta noticing when they were training. Vegeta also donned this outfit during the Golden Frieza and Universe 6 Sagas. After the Universe 6 Saga, Vegeta again returns to wearing the same outfit he wore in the Androids/Cell Saga. In Broly, to compensate for the Ice Continent's cold weather, Vegeta wears a light green winter jacket, on top of his outfit, that has a high turtleneck, a long white line on each sleeve of the jacket, and a bold violet "SAB" sign in the left chest of the jacket. Also in the film, the appearance of his outfit was similar to his usual outfit, though his bodysuit was dark teal blue, his armor light gray with white accents rather than pure white, and his boots appeared rounder with gray soles at the bottom, though in the brief Dragon Ball Super manga recap version of the Broly events, Vegeta wears his regular outfit. In the Galactic Patrol Prisoner Saga, while working as a temporary member of the Galactic Patrol, Vegeta receives the Galactic Patrol emblem in the left chest plate of his armor, while donning his regularly worn outfit. He also wears the traditional Yardrat outfit while training on Planet Yardrat. Under Beerus' tutelage and Energy of Destruction training in the Granolah the Survivor Saga, Vegeta returns to his familiar look and wears a golden earpiece on his left ear, just like the Destroyer, as a symbol that he can use Energy of Destruction.
In Super Dragon Ball Heroes, when he appears in the Prison Planet Saga, Vegeta is back to wearing the outfit he wore during Resurrection ‘F’ and the Universe 6 Saga, but with the armor having a Capsule Corp logo in place of Whis' symbol. The armor also has small white hip guards and no lines going across the stomach plate. In the latest mission of Super Dragon Ball Heroes, the gray sections of the armor have changed to a bright blue, similar in color to Vegeta's old bodysuit.