Exploring the many tropes in B/V stories
Hi guys, it's the DB Analyst here. Applying real world logic (I think) in the Dragonball world. Well, if you don't know by now, I am a big B/V fan. However, I have noticed quite a few tropes. It's like everybody all over the Dragonball fanfiction world set these themes in stone. And to be honest, I am definitely against them all. It's either because it's completely outside of their personality or just entirely illogical. Let me explain.
Bulma started things – I'm not sure if I've come across one where it was Vegeta who started things. Hmm....
Bulma is a flirt – Things always seem to get started because of Bulma's temptations. Where did it ever occur in all of Dragonball that Bulma dresses skimpy and hyper flirts with not-so-subtle innuendos? (Yeah, she went into teenage girl overdrive when she saw a cute guy but that was all – even with Zarbon, she wasn't as ridiculous). And why all of a sudden after getting out of a serious relationship to just direct her attention to.... the man who's been living in her house for the last two years? Hmm...
Her mother is a flirt – The ever-famous line, “If only I was ten years younger.” Even if she said this, she would not be seriously into him. To take this literal is utterly disturbing to me.
Bulma is afraid of Vegeta – Because who doesn't want the man who has you literally fearing for your life? She tiptoes around what to say and do to appease him. Wow! You do realise she purposefully invited him into her house, right? And there wasn't a reason AT ALL. In comparison, she's bent over pleasing Beerus and Whis - y'know, because he's the god of destruction and will wipe them to smithereens just because.
Vegeta is extra stupid – He doesn't know about food or cooking AT ALL to the point he will starve without them. If the GR breaks, he has no clue as to what to do about it AT ALL.
Vegeta is a manbaby – Because he's so stupid, his favourite lines are, “Woman! I'm hungry” and “Woman! Fix my machine!” He throws a tantrum when he wants his way. Sigh! I'm absolutely certain Vegeta knows where and how to get food for himself (even if he has to threaten someone's restaurant, or just take it up and eat without a care, or simply use some ki blasts on some poor animal)
The GR keeps on breaking – Sigh! Really...the world's greatest top-class make-anything Bulma would make something that breaks on repeat? Oh, and why would Vegeta even bother wasting his time training in something that keeps on breaking?? Either way, this is the basis of their interactions that ultimately leads them to get together...for some reason.
Vegeta has a room there – This is the other popular basis of their interactions. Either they encounter each other when going to bed or at the family table. For me, Vegeta more than likely moved house into that Gravity Room spaceship the second it was built. It literally has everything and food could always be brought to him if needed.
Vegeta vs Yamcha – You can always bet there's a fight somewhere somehow between these two because of Bulma. This can happen either before or after B/V officially get together.
Because Yamcha is a cheater - It's like you can't have a B/V without a cheating Yamcha somewhere in it. Who in their right mind would ever risk to incur that woman's wrath by doing something like cheat on her? Do people really think Bulma would put up with this? Also, Yamcha would never do this to her. First off, he's not that kind of guy and besides he really does care about her. Seriously...who the hell remains good friends with an ex who cheated on them???
And Vegeta is super loyal – So Yamcha is always the big bad cheater and Vegeta is always the ever-loyal one who doesn't even bat an eye at another woman. Sigh! Just curious – if Bulma can forgive Yamcha, who's to say that Vegeta hasn't done the same??
Yet Vegeta is relationship broken – He is super focused on training and nothing else and sees her as a distraction. In other words, he has one foot in and one foot out of the relationship, or more accurately, the situationship maybe. He refuses to speak to her in any meaningful way. He takes off to the other side of the planet just to avoid her. And they're always quarrelling. “You jerk!”
Vegeta got mad about the baby – You know, he is relationship stunted so when he hears about the baby, he gets super angry and even leaves the planet because of it.
Why is there even a baby to begin with – So you have this alien man who you're afraid of in your house for a few years, he behaves like a manbaby, your mom is into him and yet somehow you skip protection one lovely day. Why???
She falls in love with him somehow – So he comes and goes as he pleases, hardly says two words to her, behaves like a manbaby, she's afraid of him, her mom is into him, he's stupid and he ignores her and the baby and yet... “I think I'm in love.” Why??? How??? When???? Huh???
So those are my top tropes and why I'm against them. However, there is one trope out there that I do most certainly agree with. [Drum roll please...] And it has nothing to do with B/V at all. It's that Mrs. Brief's name is either Panchy or Bunny. Both names really suit her to a tee. Don't you think?
Regardless of what was said in the manga or in the show, here's my take on a few things. If Vegeta did not want a child, there were some very clear-cut villainous ways of handling this that could have led to Bulma not being alive, the baby not being alive, or both.
On the issue of him being stupid, he's not Goku. In fact, he is Goku's absolute opposite in every way. He has proven how clever he was by his actions on Namek yet still he's reduced to being seen as another dumb saiyan on Earth. Sigh! At the very least, the internet exists and I guarantee you he knows how to use it.
And with him behaving like a manbaby, I really don't think he behaved like this ever. I'm pretty sure he would've gotten kicked out a long time ago! Why would he waste breath over there being no food instead of just going and get some? Unlike Goku who's sure to be whining and begging Chi-Chi for food when he doesn't see any.
Regardless of how things started, Vegeta is a highly disciplined man. Nothing can and will ever break his focus. There is no way that Bulma would have ever be seen as a distraction by him (no matter what she does). So they should have never ever been a one-night stand. And I don't agree with it being a one-night stand because that just doesn't seem like something Bulma would ever do with anyone. Her venturing out as a naïve 16 year old to wish for the perfect boyfriend strikes me as a die-hard romantic. Something would have had to lead up to it.
Even so, why would it end just after one time? Moreover, why was he still living there or was it a case of “Fix my machine, woman!” leading to something else? Hear me out on this one: How realistic is it for two people who's been living together for a couple years to suddenly have a one-night stand, get pregnant and then don't talk to each other even after the child is born and then all of a sudden one day get married (and stay married)? Even during the Cell saga, she did not seem angry or bothered by Vegeta. I dare say, it was the opposite. Was she fronting? Why would she have to? More on this topic another time. So much more.
Until then, continue to enjoy B/V. I know I will. Need any suggestions? I have over 50 favourite stories that I absolutely love - trope and all!