VegeBul

VegeBul is the het ship between Vegeta and Bulma from the Dragon Ball fandom.

Canon
Bulma first sees Vegeta shortly after he arrives on Earth to find the Earth Dragon Balls and she witnesses most of her friends, including her then-boyfriend Yamcha, get killed while fighting against him and Nappa. Bulma is devastated by the death of Yamcha and wants Goku to kill Vegeta for this. However, Vegeta retreats after he is left gravely wounded. Bulma later accompanies Gohan and Krillin to Planet Namek to use its Dragon Balls to resurrect their friends, and she is horrified to learn Vegeta is also on the planet. She even has a nightmare where he attacks her. Bulma and Vegeta meet for the first time when he follows Krillin to her hideout and threatens to kill them both if they don’t give him the Dragon Ball Krillin had. Vegeta is later forced to fight and kill Zardon, which scares Bulma. Vegeta then spared the Two once Krillin surrenders the Dragon Ball. In the Ocean dub, Vegeta refers to Bulma as a “gorgeous girl” to Gohan.

When Frieza is about to blow up Planet Namek, Vegeta is teleported to Earth along with everyone else and Bulma is disappointed he was brought back to life after Frieza killed him. She also expresses disgust as him for mocking Goku and picking a fight with Gohan. However, Bulma offers Vegeta to stay with her at Capsule Corp since he has no where else to go but warns him not to touch her. In the Funimation dub, she jokes how cute he is and that he should lighten up a bit, much to Vegeta’s bafflement. After half a year, Vegeta leaves Earth to search for Goku and doesn’t return until nearly two years pass. During that time, Bulma slowly begins to exhibit an interest in Vegeta when she tells Yamcha she had a dream of kissing him. When Vegeta returns, he is openly rude and hostile towards everyone but Bulma berates him for his attitude and tells him to get cleaned up, which irritates Vegeta but he grows quiet and submits to her demands, much to the shock of Yamcha of how well Bulma can keep Vegeta under control. Due to the inevitable arrival of the Androids, Vegeta continues living on Earth and Bulma provides him with a Gravity Room to train in. In an incident when he nearly kills himself while training, she tends to him, and tells him to not push himself and assures him that he doesn’t have to prove himself because he is strong enough, much to the amazement and disgust of Yamcha. Vegeta rebuffs her concern and resumes his training, despite Bulma’s warnings.

After a year and a half pass, Bulma breaks up with Yamcha due to his infidelity and inability to commit himself to her. She turns to Vegeta as a source of comfort and Vegeta, in turn, turns to Bulma as he struggles to become a Super Saiyan. Ultimately, they develop a mutual attraction and succumb to their passion, and begin an affair. In the manga and Kai versions, it is said to have been a one night stand. The affair ends when he impregnates her and she decides to keep the baby while he makes it clear the baby is not a priority to him and he leaves for space to continue his training. Bulma gives birth to their son, whom she names Trunks. The birth of their son is a waking point for both of them; Vegeta is uninterested in his son and ignores him, whereas Bulma is a doting mother who loves her son dearly. For the first year of Trunks’ life, Vegeta shows almost no interest in him and Bulma, who ignores this treatment as she is too busy caring for Trunks. However, she insists that Vegeta really does love Trunks despite the contrary, and she is open to a relationship with him as long as he feels the same way. Vegeta initially plans to leave Earth after the defeat of the Androids and Cell because he never wanted to have children and saw Bulma and Trunks as burdens. However, after witnessing Future Trunks get killed by Cell, Vegeta has a change of heart and decides to stay on Earth to be there for Trunks as a father. Overtime, Vegeta and Bulma reconcile and get married.

Over the next seven years, they have a better relationship, as they have fallen deeply in love with each other. However, while Vegeta has grown to love his new family and he is content with living on Earth, he secretly feels ashamed for sacrificing his warrior lifestyle for the sake of his family. A confrontation to settle his rivalry with Goku gives him the opportunity to reveal this and he attempts to return to his old evil self, which causes him to nearly kill Bulma, who is horrified and feels betrayed. Vegeta goes as far as to tell Goku he doesn’t care if his family dies by Majin Buu but Goku calls him a liar because Vegeta still has a conscience. Vegeta accepts this as true and starts to feel remorse for his betrayal, and decides to atone by sacrificing himself to kill Majin Buu. However, this fails and when Bulma learns of his death, she breaks down in despair. Similarly, when Vegeta is allowed to return for another fight against Majin Buu and learns his family had been killed, he reacts with sadness and rage that he has lost his family and agrees to fuse with Goku in order to avenge them. Vegeta later learns Goku promised Old Kai he could kiss Bulma in exchange for his help, and Vegeta was enraged. During the final battle, Bulma hears Vegeta as he hatched a plan to kill Majin Buu and she is happy that he is back. After Majin Buu is defeated, Bulma happily welcomes Vegeta back, showing she forgives him.

Four years later, Vegeta and Bulma go on a family vacation with Trunks for the first time because, as he explains to her, he wants to keep a promise to Trunks. The vacation goes well until Vegeta grows annoyed with other people and leaves. Bulma admits she is impressed he put up with it this long and is thankful for him. Bulma later tells Vegeta to come to her birthday party and he refuses but changes his mind after she gets on his nerves. When Beerus slaps her after she slaps him for ruining her party, Vegeta flies into a heated rage and attacks Beerus but he is easily defeated. Goku later teases Vegeta for how he reacted when she got hit and Bulma says she felt loved by Vegeta, who denies it all.

For the Tournament of Destroyers, Bulma makes a new armor for Vegeta and she later defends him when Beerus sends him to collect the Dragon Balls and mocks him for how fast he gathered them. Bulma praises his hard work and kisses his cheek, which embarrasses him and he says he hates it when she does it to surprise him. Vegeta tells Jaco not to do anything suspicious with Bulma while she goes with him and he admits to Goku that he likes Bulma’s feistiness. Goku says he feels the same way with Chi-Chi, and Vegeta reveals that’s because Saiyans like strong women. Bulma later teases Vegeta for being jealous that she went with Jaco to space. During the tournament, she cheers for him up until he is eliminated against Hit. When Goku accidentally teleports Vegeta and Bulma’s house and Vegeta finds Goku sitting on their bed and Bulma in nothing but a towel, he is embarrassed but then becomes furious when Goku comments on how saggy her breasts are. When Future Trunks returns from the future and reveals Future Bulma has been killed by Goku Black, Vegeta appears stoic, but when he is alone, he is actually sad and enraged, and vows to never forgive Goku Black. This shows that regardless of the time dimensions, Bulma is Bulma to him.

Shortly after, Bulma tells Vegeta that she is pregnant with their second child and Vegeta makes it a priority to do things right. He does this by dropping training during her pregnancy and picking out a name for the baby. He also appears happy and proud that she is carrying his child, as he is seen smiling and looking at her direction from afar. When Goku asks him to train and take part in the Tournament of Power, Vegeta repeatedly refuses because he wants to be here for Bulma and be present for the birth. When their daughter, named Bulla, is born, Bulma is delighted and Vegeta is obviously smitten with the baby, even going Super Saiyan Blue when Yamcha and Mr. Satan make her cry. They have a brief disagreement over their daughter’s name, as Vegeta wants to give her a Saiyan name but eventually settles for Bulla, which is what Bulma chose.

During his fight against Toppo in the tournament, Vegeta is disgusted with Toppo throwing everything away to become a God of Destruction and he declares he will never throw his family away for power. This gives him the willpower to defeat Toppo. However, as he is losing his fight against Jiren, Vegeta refuses to forfeit despite being drained and unable to continue fighting because he is determined to protect his family. He recalls the memories of Bulma and their children throughout the fight. When Vegeta is thrown out of the arena, he feels immensely guilty for failing to protect his family and sheds tears as he mentally apologizes to Bulma. After the tournament ends with Universe 7 winning, Bulma cries and hugs Vegeta while he holds Bulla because she is relieved he came home safely.

Months later, During the battle with Broly, Vegeta agreed to fuse with Goku after Goku asked if he was alright with Bulma dying if Broly destroyed Earth. Dismayed, Vegeta said that was an unfair tactic.

Trunks
Trunks is their first child and only son. He was conceived as a result of a one night stand between them. While Bulma was happy to be a mother, Vegeta did not care and wanted nothing to do with him at first. Overtime, Vegeta came to appreciate his son and made it a priority to teach Trunks everything he knows, and later to give him the peaceful life he never had. Trunks resembles Vegeta in facial features and personality but has Bulma’s blue eyes and lavender hair on the maternal side of the family.

Bulla
Bulla is their second child and only daughter. She was born 14 years after her older brother Trunks and she is more of a surprise baby. In contrast to his initial reaction to Trunks, Vegeta was happy to learn of his forthcoming daughter and he tends to spoil her. Bulla looks almost identical to her mother in looks and personality but she also has traits of her father’s personality.

Fanon
VegeBul is an extremely popular ship, and is also the most popular ship in Dragon Ball fandom, due to the pair being former enemies and their relationship progressed to lovers and then a married couple. They are also popular on the grounds that they are polar opposites but are shown to have a unanimous and loving relationship.

Fans of the fandom praise the pairing for how they grew closer to each other and learned to love each other following their son’s birth, and how they rub against each other; Bulma is able to keep Vegeta under control by rationalizing with him and shows him affection he wasn’t accustomed to. Whereas Vegeta is willing to do whatever it takes to protect her even if it means humiliating or sacrificing himself. Critics however say their relationship started off badly due to Vegeta’s indifference towards her and that he did it care what happened to her and Trunks, and that Bulma acted submissive towards his callousness by not confronting him.

As of Dragonball Super many fans felt that it was the best ship in the franchise. It rivals YamBul.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Vegeta/Bulma tag on FanFiction.Net
 * Bulma/Vegeta tag on FanFiction.Net
 * Vegeta/Bulma tag on FanFiction.Net
 * Vegeta/Bulma tag on FanFiction.Net