In this post we are going to discuss the strange but intriguing relationship of Vegeta and Bulma from Dragon Ball Z. How it came to be, the awkward moments along the way, and the eventual conclusion of a happy marriage with two children: Trunks and Bulla.
The backstory of Vegeta and Bulma
Bulma dbz character status is probably one of the highest in the story. She is the main character Goku’s first friend, a temperamental and selfish girl, who nevertheless has a good heart and a good sense of humor. Bulma isn’t a physical fighter like most characters in the series, but she is a very gifted scientist and her gadgets and inventions play a big role in the overall story.
Her outgoing nature is also expressed in her being flirty and straightforward with the men she likes. Most notably, she has had a thing for “bad boys” since the beginning of the series, falling for Yamcha, while he was still a dangerous mountain bandit, trying to seduce a minor villain General blue and so on. This is also basically the first part where Vegeta and Bulma start making sense as a couple.
Vegeta was introduced to the story as main villain, a fallen prince of the Sayan race, to which Son Goku also belongs. At the beginning of the story he is an egoistical, ruthless killer that had destroyed entire planets and felt no qualms doing so. As royalty and a member of one of the strongest fighting races in the galaxy Vegeta feels highly superior towards other people and earthlings among them.
The primary influence that changes Vegeta at first is meeting Goku, a strong adversary of his own race, who Vegeta is is forced to respect due to his strength. what really changes Vegeta is learning how compassionate and kind Goku is towards others, despite being very powerful. By wishing to learn more, he forges an alliance with Goku and starts to slowly change for the better and see the error of his ways.
So in Vegeta’s character development we could talk about the villain phase, the anti-hero phase and the hero phase. During the second phase, the first romantic encounter with Bulma happened.
Start of the relationship
The story of Vegeta and Bulma begins as an off screen fling after Bulma’s relationship with Yamcha breaks up. Bulma’s boyfriend at the time, Yamcha, was unfaithful himself on couple of occasions, and the relationship was steadily declining until Bulma broke it off for good. At the time, Vegeta was completely obsessed with training and obtaining the dragon balls so their first child Trunks seems to have been the result of a one-time fling which could have easily resulted in Vegeta being a deadbeat dad (a story that sort of came true in the timeline where future Trunks lives).
The “Vegeta x Bulma” train really took off, however during the Namekian saga and the Frieza saga, where Vegeta slowly has a change of heart and begins to care for his family. He fell in love with Bulma and settled down on earth, eventually sacrificing himself for his family in the Maijin Buu saga, coming a long way from his initial egoism. Luckily he was eventually resurrected with the aid of the dragon balls. The main driving force that really led Vegeta to develop from anti-hero to hero is the time he spent with his family on Earth and witnessing them in great danger, thus feeling compassion and understanding towards losing someone you love.
Couple Dynamics
Whereas the story how Vegeta and Bulma met and forged a relationship is a strange and long-winded story, there are aspects to their personality that make them a great match. For once, both Bulma and Vegeta are very self-reliant, independent people with their own goals and motivations. Whereas neither of them would do good dating a pushover, it is the kind heart of Bulma that helped open up Vegeta more and turn his character into a benevolent one. Even showing affection to his children other than battle training, it is truly apparent that the Bulma dbz character is one of the most influential in terms of impacting character development in the story and the “Vegeta x Bulma” is approvedby us.