Saiyan vs Tsufurujin war: why did Baby's race create him?

The battle between Goku and Baby in Dragon Ball GT (1996) was almost poetic, because it symbolized the final battle between the last survivors of the two races that once inhabited Planet Vegeta. I've always found it interesting that these races are symbolically so different. One is driven by power and brute strength. The other is scientific and prefers to use its brains over its power.

Dragon Ball GT didn't have much creative input from Toriyama, but Toriyama did write the original notes for this backstory back in the Dragon Ball Z era. Those notes were animated in a filler scene in Dragon Ball Z episode 20. While reading translations of the Dragon Ball GT Perfect Files, I was captivated by an article in them about these two races, so I decided to look at the history of the two races, the conflict between them and the impact it had on Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball GT. It's thought-provoking, too, in how it can somewhat mirror the real world in some ways.

This is the story as it was originally written back in the 90s, told in the Perfect Files and the original anime. It is not the version in Dragon Ball Super, which contains many Toriyama retcons, like Broly and Bardock, and many changes to the backstory. I'm also keeping the original Japanese names: the Saiyans, and the Tsufurujin, the race known in the English dub as the Tuffles.

The Perfect Files cast the Tsufurujin as thinkers and the Saiyans as warriors

The Perfect Files start with the philosophical differences between the two races. The Tsufurujin are a scientific race, gifted when it comes to intellect. They invented many machines, including the original scouters, the devices worn over the ear and face to measure an enemy's battle power. That would probably have come in handy in the war that followed. The real winner there was Frieza, who ended up adopting this technology for himself. Toriyama retconned the scouters' origin later on.

The Saiyans, as I've said in the past, are a class-based society that measures your value by the battle power you're born with. They are a warlike race that always wants to fight and always wants to get stronger. The Perfect Files state that a squad of just five of them can reduce a planet to ruins in just a few days.

Physically, the Saiyans are much stronger and have more stamina, which makes fighting easier for them. They can also transform into a great ape and cause a real problem. The way the Dragon Ball Z anime depicted it, though, the Tsufurujin were able to combat that with tanks, laser guns and similar weapons. They had military technology to use against the Saiyans.

Planet Vegeta was never the Saiyans' homeworld

One fact many Dragon Ball fans forget is that Planet Vegeta wasn't the Saiyans' homeworld. Dragon Ball Super brought this back when it revealed that they originally came from Planet Sadala, the Universe 7 version of the planet. The idea was discussed back in the original material too, just without the name Sadala. Planet Vegeta was originally called Planet Plant, and the entire Saiyan race migrated there.

The Perfect Files state that the Saiyans came to the planet in a mysterious spaceship, but we don't know exactly how they got the technology to build it. The Perfect Files also suggest their original planet might still be out there somewhere. At the time, I thought that could end up being a story arc someday. Who knows.

A guidebook theory says the Saiyans began as great apes

The guidebooks include a theory that the Saiyans were originally great apes. Over time, the theory goes, they gained intelligence and became human. That correlates with what happened to Goku in Dragon Ball GT, when he gained control of himself to tap into Super Saiyan 4.

It's very possible that the race itself went through this first with the regular great ape form, and that Goku's transformation was a callback to it. I've always found that to be very fascinating.

King Vegeta and the benevolent king of the Tsufurujin

The Saiyans' king at the time was, of course, King Vegeta. He was the strongest of their race, and he's famous for commanding the army that eventually wiped out the Tsufurujin for good. What's interesting is that the Tsufurujin had their own king too. As you may know from GT, that king's cells were used to create Baby, who sought revenge many years later. The Tsufurujin king is described as a benevolent ruler who maintained peace on Planet Plant until the war came.

The Tsufurujin had superior technology and intellect, but King Vegeta is also described as a master strategist in battle. He wasn't simply a brute. He knew how to win battles strategically, and that's what helped the Saiyans win when things turned bad.

The Tsufurujin were also quite short compared to other races, almost like children. The theory is that this was because Planet Plant has ten times gravity, and because they weren't a warrior race, they never truly evolved to adapt to it. The Saiyans, meanwhile, were big and strong and could handle that gravity. So you have a race of powerful fighters against a race that isn't as powerful but is smarter. The key to who won is that the Saiyans can become great apes, and that ended up being the problem for the Tsufurujin.

The legend of the Super Saiyan supposedly played out in Age 238, not on Planet Vegeta

The story goes back to around Age 238, and there's a tidbit from that year worth noting. The legend of the Super Saiyan, the one Vegeta talked about on Namek and that has come up over and over again, supposedly took place in Age 238. That was hundreds of years before the Saiyans reached Planet Vegeta.

So whenever this legendary warrior appeared and couldn't control his power, as Vegeta described in the anime, it didn't happen on Planet Vegeta. It makes you wonder if that could be a reason the Saiyans wanted a way off their original planet. Maybe he did some kind of damage to it. Maybe he was impossible to control and destroyed their civilizations. We don't have much information on this, but I thought it was surprising that the GT Perfect Files reveal it wasn't on Planet Vegeta.

How the Saiyans arrived on Planet Plant in Age 550

Moving forward to Age 550, the Saiyans were drifting in space. From what the guidebook says, I guess they weren't looking for Planet Plant specifically. They were drifting, and they found a planet the Perfect Files describe as one "where science has flourished in peace."

They landed and started to reproduce, and it took some years for things to change. These primeval, Neanderthal-like warriors began to gain intellect and evolved at an extraordinary rate, but their thirst for battle and destruction grew at the same time.

For a while, the two races cohabited. The Tsufurujin lived mostly in their cities, while the Saiyans lived elsewhere on the planet. They weren't allies, but both were using the planet's resources. The Tsufurujin, including their king, approved of the Saiyans being there. It wasn't an issue, until everything fell apart.

The war of Age 720 to 730 had no clear trigger

The war began between Age 720 and Age 730. We don't know exactly what its purpose was or what triggered it. We can theorize that King Vegeta decided it was time to take over the Tsufurujin and the planet, and maybe his fellow Saiyans were happy to go along because they wanted to fight.

Let's be real: King Vegeta and the Saiyans were not good people. Goku turned out to be a good guy, of course. King Vegeta's son, Prince Vegeta, was eventually redeemed and became a good guy, and Toriyama's version of Broly was also good. For the most part, though, these were not good people.

There was also a recent retcon stating that Prince Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z is actually the fourth Vegeta. That would make the king in this war King Vegeta the Third. We're not sure who King Vegeta the First and Second were, but it's presumed they also led the Saiyans, with the title passed down through the royal bloodline the way it is in the real world. That isn't stated in the Perfect Files. It somewhat fits if you combine the new story with the old one, but I'm trying not to do that here.

The Tsufurujin used their remaining technology to create Baby during the war

The Perfect Files section on the war says the Tsufurujin used their remaining technology and scientific prowess to develop the parasitic life-form known as Baby, which is of course part of the GT story. This life-form carried the genes of the Tsufurujin king and was launched into space during the battle.

The war was an overwhelming victory for the Saiyans, and the entire Tsufurujin race was wiped out. That was primarily because the Saiyans countered their technology by becoming great apes, and the Tsufurujin had no chance at all of winning. Planet Plant was renamed Planet Vegeta, with King Vegeta the Third as its leader.

Frieza gave the Saiyans the same fate they gave the Tsufurujin

King Vegeta reigned as undisputed king of the planet until Frieza ultimately killed him. The war ended in Age 730, and King Vegeta first met Frieza in Age 731. That began a partnership that lasted until Age 737, when Frieza blew up the planet.

It's an interesting and ironic twist that the Saiyans ended up suffering the exact same fate, the same genocide, that the Tsufurujin went through at their hands, with very few survivors. And those survivors would go to war one more time in Dragon Ball GT.