We all frequent message boards and online forums (such as alt.fan.dragonball), and we all contribute as much as we can. Unfortunately, we don't KNOW of all the places people post questions, so it's impossible for us to reach everyone. However, if you're reading this, you at least know where WE are, so it's possible for you to ask us directly.

What we're going for here is sort of an "Answerman" or "Ask John" (from Anime News Network and Anime Nation, respectively). We'd like you to e-mail in whatever questions you may have, so long as it somehow relates to the world of DragonBall; be it the manga, the anime, merchandise.. whatever. We've been around for a few years, now, and we know the ropes... we like to think we know our stuff.

And we want to help. E-mail your questions to VegettoEX@aol.com with the subject "Ask VegettoEX." We'll try to update this section every Saturday, with at least one question straight from the fans. Thanks!

[ Last Updated: Saturday, 31 January 2004 ]
[ Past "Ask VegettoEX" Archives ]

Q. Okay, try this: Did you and Meri ever have one of those "dates from hell" when you first got together? Not to pry too much into your personal life, but we've all got some stories to laugh about. - Eric Faris

A. Greatest question ever! Unfortunately, I don't really have a satisfying answer! Well... maybe I do. Back in August 2001 we went into the city (that's New York City for all you people who don't know :P) for a Reggie & the Full Effect show. The show was awesome... really small club, the people who were there were really into James and his stuff... just a really, really good, intimate (crazy ass) show. So we're exhausted after the show and start heading back on the subway to the train station. Meri's somewhat more alert than I am, and thinks we're at the correct stop... and hops off without saying anything. I look up to see the most insane look of horror I've ever seen on that woman's face as the door shuts and the subway takes off... with me still on it :P.

Let it be known that Meri was wrong, and got off at the wrong stop. *cough* Anyway...

So I get off at the next stop, which is a one-way-only stop (so I can't just cross and go BACK a stop to where Meri was). So I run back up to the street, and try to figure out which freakin' way I came from. So I start walking and looking around, realize where the Hell I am, and find my way back to the stop Meri had gotten off at. Luckily, she was still sitting there, so we didn't miss each other trying to walk around and look around... heh.

Then there was the time we were going to see Mest and Midtown in Philly at the Electric Factory, which we had been to quite a few times (in fact, I even know the best parking spot... there's this Chinese guy that runs a little parking area right down on 10th street slightly before where the Trocadero is... NO-ONE EVER PARKS THERE, despite it being RIGHT there by the Trocadero, and a really which walk to the Electric Factory). Anyway... on the drive that we've done many times before, Meri decides to randomly get off in some other lane, and we end up driving around in pitch-black CAMDEN, NJ.... yes, we went from NJ to PA to NJ. We eventually got back to the Electric Factory, after having missed Mest.

So... uhh... that's really it, and they both revolve around shows. Hope that's close enough :P. Can't say we've ever REALLY had any "Hellish" experiences :D. - VegettoEX

Q. Here's a head scratcher: What would be Vegeta's family name (before meeting Bulma)? And, since he is named after his father, wouldn't he be referred to as "Vegeta the Second"? Just a thought to think about. - Thomas Collingwood

A. Interesting question. I've always thought of the Saiyans as like the barbarians of Europe and Asia of the past; they really only had first-names. In fact, the first example of a real "last-name" that I'm aware of is the son of Viking Erik the Red. His son was named "Leif Eriksson" (with "Eric" being his father's first name, and "son" indicating that he was the man's son). I guess the Saiyans just never got to the point where they needed to have a last name in this fashion.

Besides... when you said "Vegeta," I'm sure they knew who you were talking about ^_~. - VegettoEX

Q. Hi, A thought just occurred to me recently, about a problem/plothole that I wasn't sure was cleared up in DBZ.

If Vegeta and Nappa killed a bunch of people upon their arrival on Earth, and the wish for that year was to bring Goku back, and the wish for the following year was to bring back all the people on Namek that Freeza killed, where does that leave the people the Saiyans killed when they arrived at Earth? Shenron's the dragon with the "one year to bring back the dead" rule, right? So did Kaio and Kami just kinda forget about Nappa and Vegeta's original victims or was this addressed somewhere? Or, heh, did Vegeta and Nappa actually not kill anyone because it was a Sunday and all the buildings were TOTALLY empty? - actionmike84

A. It leaves them dead! You're right. People can only be revived up until a single year after their death. At this point, the only known DragonBalls were the Earth ones, and the single wish made a year later was to bring Goku back to life. Never were the people killed in that explosion ever addressed... poor, poor Earthlings!

Wait, you're right... it was Sunday. Nevermind! :D - VegettoEX

Q. Since Namekians only reproduce by spitting out eggs, are DragonBall's Drum, Cymbal, etc. also Namekians? ... since they really don't look like ordinary Namekians. - Jordy Baar

A. Keep in mind that by this point, Toriyama probably hadn't even thought of the idea of Planet Namek and its respective race; Piccolo (and his son) were meant to be the pure devil (the other half of Kami-sama), rather than members of some strange race.

I've always tried to justify it by pointing out that Piccolo-Daimaô was certainly a different type of being. While we can classify him as a Namekian, he was created in a different way than normal Namekians (being purged from another body, rather than born via an egg), and was pure evil. Combine these two factors, and yeah... sure... he's got some weird spawn! - VegettoEX

Q. How can Imperfect Cell be so strong? I mean, he only knows the moves and techniques of the Z warriors which they had at the end of the Saiya-jin Saga. Shouldn't his battle power have a maximum of the warriors from which he got the techniques from combined? - Jordy Baar

A. Just because he only knows so many techniques shouldn't have any effect on his raw strength. I can throw a pretty good punch. If a stronger person were to learn that punch from me, they'd be able to wield it in a much more powerful fashion than I could, despite learning that technique from me.

Plus, he doesn't have just one person's set of techniques... he's got a crap load! Combine this insane number of attacks with the DNA of so many warriors running through his blood, also combined with the number of innocent humans he took in... and we've got a pretty bad-ass strong villain on our hands. - VegettoEX

Q. When Majin Buu first expelled his evil side after Mr. Satan's near death, the resulting form was a tall and thin (but pure evil) Buu. Later on though, Supreme Kai informs Goku and Vegeta about Buu's real beginnings as Kid Buu, who was pure evil, but then became Fat Buu after absorbing the Dai Kaioshin (mainly, as well as the other Supreme Kais), and explaining that his fat appearance was due to the good he had in him from the Kais. Now, when the good side of Buu first expelled the original evil side in the show, shouldn't Kid Buu have been the one that appeared and not the tall thin one that did? - Kris Mendes

A. You're kinda taking it on a different side than I would (earlier rather than later), but let's do the break-down, anyway... there's definitely some bad continuity, here:

• Original Majin Buu (Chibi)
• Original Majin Buu + Dai Kaiôshin = Fat Buu
• Fat Buu --> Vents --> Skinny Buu
• Skinny Buu + Fat Buu = Super Buu
• Other character absorptions... disregarded, because they are equally expelled
• Super Buu - other characters = ... Chibi Buu? WTF?

The last step is where the problem resides. Despite Goku seeing Fat Buu inside of Super Buu, they did not take him out (although they did cut him down). Fine, whatever. But when everyone else is taken out... why is Chibi Buu remaining? By taking out the exact same characters that were put in before... shouldn't he have turned back into regular Super Buu, just as he was? Why did he turn into Chibi Buu? He shouldn't be Chibi Buu, because the "Fat Buu" is still inside him (why Fat Buu and Chibi Buu are even able to co-exist is another headache).

In fact, I'm going to stop trying to figure it out, because it makes no sense. Someone with more patience than me really needs to sit down and write an editorial about how the various forms of Buu make no sense, what-so-ever, and yet somehow all end up co-existing with each other! Egads, the pain! Oh, and if you want to use it as a resource, Buu's transformation page is pretty much complete... eh hehe... slowly working through that section... - VegettoEX

THIS WEEK'S MESSAGE BOARD DISCUSSION:

Here we are in the third week of this new feature! I think it's a really neat thing to add to the section, and I'm glad to see people are getting involved. Please feel free to contribute to the discussion, and even start up your own!

Q. I love Dragonball GT, but my only problem with the series is Gohan's strength. I suppose he some how lost his mystic power between the series, and is now just a tough SSJ2. It's just disappointing to see Gohan be a character that can't fight at the top with Goku. Especially since Gohan's potential was such a big part of Z. I can see Goten and Trunks, stopping intensive training, but how can Gohan loose so much power? - Manga Ka Kyo!

A. Read over the discussion, here! Lots of great input from quite a few people.

We're trying to stay with our weekly schedule for the section... so... e-mail us your questions for next week's update! We love getting all these questions, each week, so the more you send us, the more we can (try to) answer for you!

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