Bulma

Bulma. She's okay, could've been better.

Her primary function in the first series was to be presented like a peice of meat, while being the smart one.

Got slightly better in later DBZ, but her attitude wasn't much better. Even Krillin pointed out how insufferable she is to Future Trunks, I also hate Krillin but that was the one time his comments was 100%.

Unlike Chi-chi, Bulma's genius gives her an (almost pass) because she's useful in some scenarios but she's just an example of Akira's childish mentality that "strong willed" = "loud mouth"

And sometimes the things she says is just out of pocket. Example: DBZ EP216, Chichi comments on Videl's fighting skills being a good match for Gohan, thus
"looks like she won't have any problem keeping him line"
Excuse me, what the actual fuck?

• Picture it, a guy wins a boxing match.
• And one of his buddies comments, "Yeah, Max & Julie would be great together. And by the looks of it he'd have no trouble keeping her in line."
• See how off that sounds, that's what she said, implication being Videl would assault Gohan if he doesn't conform to her wishes.
• See how she's technically no better than Chi-Chi? Both of them are just toxic people. Way too dramatized tempers for the sake of gags, Toriyama & co. failed their characters in that respect.

Being strong-willed doesn't entail being unlikable asshats who have to scream like 3 yr old babies to get a point across.

In terms of characterization, Bulma is not as bad as Chi-Chi but she's not an improvement.

Just making some state of the art toys doesn't negate taking baby Trunks into battle zones casually, slapping a god of destruction just cause your little party got interrupted, just a character with some shitty traits. Her IQ points which would be most people's justification to give her pass.

• The ONLY REASON Why MCU's Tony Stark was not an insufferable little shit, when he has every personality to be exactly that: an annoying pos
• Is because the people around him from Pepper, to Steve, to Fury to Widow all call him out and gave him push back.
• Hell Thor choked his one time.

Bulma & Chi-chi overall do NOT work as people, because not enough people hold them accountable or check them when they say stupid shit, zero -challenge, without backing down to their tantrums.

Chi-Chi, while a decent mother, is the bigger insufferable toxic asshole, Bulma is just not as toxic, smart, useful at times. Wise even.

18 & Videl are way better. Clear signs of Toriyama trying to improve the (DB female character formula) at the time.

And it's funny, when Bulma & Shit-Chi have fewer lines, calmer they're actually ok to stomach. It's just a shame their reactions to nothing situations is 5000x more dramatic than it needs to be and them being absolute emotional burdens to the people around them is supposed to be funny.

Absolute waste.

• I repeat, the only reason why Stark isn't considered one of the most unlikable characters in MCU is because he wasn't allowed to just domineer everyone. He was challenged, hence the back & forth, hence comedy.

Just someone being an asshole isn't comedy, it's banter that makes real comedy. Akira didn't get that just characters screaming & being pissed wasn't funny.

Challenge, that's all Bulma & Chi-chi have been missing all these years, nuance, consequence to their tantrums.

And the one time Bulma gets a consequence when Beerus hits her back AFTER SHE ASSAULTED HIM FIRST, it's played like Beerus did something wrong, Bulma's the frail little victim for Vegeta to save.

Like this jackass didn't start the whole thing slapping people, and Vegeta didn't do anything until she got a consequence.

So now, the audience FINALLY sees Bulma put in her place and somehow she's the victim. Which means she's not going to learn or change, she's going to keep hitting people, and keep doing what she wants because if there's any consequence she gets bailed out.

Her best version was her Future Trunks version, the most emotionally mature. And the sole reason why Trunks was able to go back in time and make a difference, it was because of her, Mama Bulma. Very underrated.

DB mishandles Chichi & Bulma like a tradition, which is show in Super where they're still the exact same people but Videl oddly enough has matured and grown the fuck up as a person.

It's actually criminal how poor the writing is with those two.

Bulma not bad, just bad characterization at times.

One of my fav moments in the DBZ series of Bulma, is teen Gohan going to Caspule Corp. for her advice, and a disguise (DBZ 200-201), and she casually helps him out like a cool Auntie (while smoking a cig, in a turtle neck sweater, a vibe of maturity). That's Bulma at her best, just cool, swag. No fanservice, no screaming, no hitting people, no stupidity, just Bulma being peak Bulma.

Wish that characterization was consistent across the board solely for her benefit, but I'm glad moments like that exist at all for the character, to say the least. Good ol days.

she's a genius teenage girl who's constantly being sexually harassed and objectified, so i think her reaction to most situations is totally reasonable given the circumstances

Bulma and Launch are the best characters than Chi Chi.

Mfs wouldn't be able to find the dragon balls without her. I admit she was annoying in Dragon Ball but I really like her in Z and Super.

smart A.F but really annoying too..