Geekdom101: Toyotaro Just Revealed Vegeta's Mother for the First Time in Dragon Ball History

The official Dragon Ball site dropped a genuinely interesting update this morning, and the biggest part of it is that Toyotaro has drawn Vegeta's mother for the first time in the franchise's history. Nobody has ever seen even a hint of what she looks like before now, and she shows up hidden in the background of a brand new piece of cover art.

This came out of the weekly Dragon Ball news segment hosted by Shueisha editor Victory Uchida, who edits the Dragon Ball Super manga and has also worked on Dragon Ball Heroes manga material, alongside Toyotaro, whose face is always obscured in these segments even though he shows it at some conventions. The gimmick for this episode had fans voting for their favorite Dragon Ball Super manga volume art cover.

Fans voted the Goku family cover into first place, with Bardock and Gine reflected in the water

The winning cover shows Goku's family, with Gohan present and the current generation mirrored by Bardock and Gine down in a puddle reflection, illustrating that the bloodline continues. There's also a Gohan variant, showing Gohan with baby Pan and Videl, mirrored below by Goku with kid Gohan and Chi Chi.

I'm a big fan of variant covers in general. That's a way more common thing in American comics produced by Marvel and DC than it is in Japan, outside of some special manga editions, and publishers use them both to raise secondary market prices for collectors and to boost the overall sales numbers of that issue. These particular images are, in my words, "incredibly wholesome, beautiful, just amazing."

Dragon Ball fans have to remember that even though the show and manga are often violent and dark, nobody can deny that, Akira Toriyama was a light hearted gag manga writer for the majority of his career. Dragon Ball has always had that juxtaposition between darker moments, like Demon King Piccolo about to rule the world, the Future Trunks special where everybody is dead, the anime only Bardock special, or the Saiyan Saga where the Z Fighters get wiped out, and Toriyama's underlying light hearted enthusiasm that the show is supposed to be fun. That's why I think wholesome covers like this one are always appreciated.

Toyotaro's alternate cover shows Vegeta's family, with Bulma, Trunks and Bra reflected by King Vegeta's generation

The alternate cover, done by Toyotaro, shows Vegeta's family: Vegeta with Bulma on the left, Trunks on the right, and Bra, also known as Bulla, on his shoulders. In the reflection below is the previous generation, a younger Vegeta in armor alongside King Vegeta. As revealed in Dragon Ball Super: Broly, both the movie and the novelization, Prince Vegeta is Vegeta the fourth, which means the King Vegeta who ruled Planet Vegeta when Frieza destroyed it was actually King Vegeta the third.

Zooming in closer on that reflection reveals kid Vegeta, King Vegeta, and Tarble, marking the first time Toyotaro has ever drawn Tarble. Behind King Vegeta's cape is another figure whose identity is being deliberately obscured, wearing what looks like a dress.

The obscured figure behind King Vegeta's cape is Vegeta's mother, drawn for the first time in over 40 years of Dragon Ball

As I put it looking at the art, "This is Vegeta's mother. This is the first time we've ever, in the history of Dragon Ball, over 40 years at this point, seen any depiction of Vegeta's mother." The official site does not directly confirm it, but since the equivalent figure in the original image is Bulma, the obscured woman has to be the female equivalent, King Vegeta's wife.

The site's own description reads: "You can see the level of detail that went into depicting King Vegeta and his family reflected on the water surface. This marks the first time Toyotaro has ever drawn Vegeta's younger brother Tarble as well as the mysterious figure obscured by King Vegeta's cape." It also notes the contrast in parenting styles: "In contrast to Vegeta, who's carrying Bulla on his shoulder with a fatherly smile, King Vegeta's grabbing Tarble by the scruff of his neck."

Does this hint at a future story, the way Gine's 2013 reveal did for Goku's mother

This is the first time we've ever gotten even a hint or a clue as to what Vegeta's mother looked like. This echoes 2013, when Gine was revealed as Goku's mother and her design became a big story for a while, since fans had previously only ever seen the fathers, Bardock and King Vegeta, and never the mothers.

Does this mean a full reveal of who Vegeta's mother is could be coming someday? "I don't know about that. I don't want you to get your hopes up," is honestly where I land on it, even though Toyotaro is clearly still keeping her a mystery here. I did see some people online noting that her wrist bracelets resemble Broly's, with someone joking that Broly and Vegeta might be half brothers. I'm sure that was a joke, and my guess is those bracelets are probably just something a lot of Saiyans wear, with Broly far from the only one.

I do wish we'd someday get a story about Vegeta's family, even if it was just a short one, a single one-shot chapter focused on Vegeta's mother, because I'm curious what kind of woman the queen of the Saiyans would be. Was she a warrior? Was she more like Gine, working at the meat factory? I've always wanted to know more about these characters' backstories and families, and Toriyama unfortunately never gave us too much beyond a little bit here and there.

Still no update on when the Dragon Ball Super manga will return

Unfortunately, this special had no update at all about the manga's return. I'm genuinely not sure it will even happen this year. Last year it was reported, when Victory Uchida was asked about it at a convention, that it would not be 2025. Now it's past 2025 and we're in 2026 with still no announcement.

So it looks like we just have to keep waiting until Shueisha, Victory Uchida and Toyotaro decide to bring the manga back. As I said, nobody knows what's going on except for the people deeply involved in this.

What kind of person do you think the queen of the Saiyans really was?