Battle Armor^[1] (Sentō Jaketto)^[2] called Saiyan (Battle) Armor by the Earthlings before the Namek Saga, is a standard-issue combat attire currently mandatory throughout the Planet Trade Organization.

OverviewEdit

Battle Armors are made of an unknown material, which is said to be stretchy, yet very durable. Even Saiyans in their Great Ape form are able to wear their armor without having any size issues. It is said by Malaka that his Battle Armor saved Vegeta from being crushed to death when he was fallen on by Great Ape Gohan, a sign of the armor's durability. However, they are known to shatter when dealt enough damage, showing that they are indeed hard and solid. Vegeta once stated that Battle Armor is the Saiyans' formal attire.^[3] Also, he once remarked "one size fits all"; though in the Dragon Ball manga, the original Japanese version of Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball Z Kai, he mentioned that there are other sizes as he complained that Frieza only had the older model in his size.

The most commonly seen ones have dual shoulder guards and some form of skirt armor or crotch guard. Matching boots (often white in color, but others do exist) are standard issue, as is a pair of white gloves or fingerless wrist guards. Standard armor has large shoulder plates, but some simply have reinforced shoulder straps. Many also have skirt armor or plate shielding the crotch. Most Saiyans wrap their tails around the armor's waist, appearing as if they have a furry belt. Some armors feature capes, either pinned to the shoulder guards such as that of King Vegeta and King Cold, or extending from the back of the lower half of the armor such as Zarbon has. Battle Armor for females does exist too, as seen in Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku where Fasha and some women in a bar are wearing it. It does not include the crotch guards or the shoulder plates, and looks like Vegeta's jumpsuit, but having one strap, same body armor, knee pads with a covering on one leg, and white gloves and boots.

ModelsEdit

Ancient modelEdit

Many years before the events of Dragon Ball, a different model of armor is sported by the henchmen Chilled, like Toobi and Cabira. Those armor model resembles Cooler's white upper body, with the addition of two shoulder plates. Unlike later models, this model does not cover the lower torso area, leaving the abdomen open for attack. This may be for better flexibility and movement.

Bardock's Elite modelEdit

Bardock's elite armor is worn by Bardock, Fasha, Shugesh, Borgos, as well as a few other Saiyans in the TV special Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku. Unlike most other early models used by the Saiyans, this model offers no shoulder protection and features shoulder straps instead of shoulder guards. This armor also implements limited lower body protection, with thigh guards on each side. While Bardock's model has thigh guards, Fasha's, Shugesh's, and Borgos's model do not. Fasha's model also only uses one shoulder strap. One of the other distinguishing features of this armor is the color scheme, which unlike most other Battle Armors, uses the cooler colors of the color wheel.

Basic modelEdit

Basic armor is is essentially just the torso piece of the RIT or full Battle Armors without the added shoulder, upper thigh, or crotch guards and instead has straps that simply extend the white part of the armor. It offers protection to the torso, as well as only basic protection of the clavicles. After being wounded by Recoome, Vegeta switches to this armor and uses it for the remainder of the Captain Ginyu and Frieza Sagas. In the Japanese dub of "Captain Ginyu... The Frog" and in Dragon Ball Z Kai, Vegeta says that his armor is an older model and that he wears it because it is the only kind left in Frieza's spaceship that can fit his base size. In the FUNimation Dub, Vegeta says that his armor is a newer model than the armor Krillin and Gohan have. The latter statement is likely a mistake, since all of Frieza's men, including Vegeta earlier on and even Frieza himself wear the RIT model.

Full armor modelEdit

Full body armor is the first type of Battle armor featured in the series, and is worn by the three main antagonists of the Saiyan Saga. It offers the traditional torso protection of other armors, but also offers crotch, upper leg, and shoulder protection. Unlike other armors with shoulder guards, the shoulder guards of full Battle Armor seems to point at more of an upwards angle. They come in a variety of colors such as white and gold, black and brown, and blue and gold.

In the fillers of Dragon Ball Z, Vegeta wears an altered full Battle Armor which is consists of a green khaki chest piece and burnt orange guard pieces, gloves and boots. Vegeta is seen wearing this when he is traveling to Earth in the Saiyan Saga. When he actually arrives on Earth, the armor is much more consistent to the traditional Battle Armor color scheme. The only thing that sets it apart from regular Battle Armor is its coloring. This occurs in the anime as, at the time the scene was animated, no official colored scenes of Vegeta or Nappa had been introduced in the Dragon Ball manga, so Toei Animation had to make up their own color schemes. In Dragon Ball Z Kai, Vegeta's colored armor is changed to the normal armor.

RIT armor modelEdit

RIT armor^[4] is the most commonly used variant of Battle Armor. It is more flexible than full body armor due to the lack of lower body guards, but still offers good upper body protection because of the inclusion of shoulder guards. Unlike the full Battle Armor, the shoulder guards of RIT armor seems to point outwards more than at an upwards angle. During the Namek Saga it sees use by most of Frieza's men including Dodoria, Zarbon, and even Frieza. For most of the early Namek Saga, Vegeta sports this armor, as does Gohan in the Frieza Saga. Krillin sports a modified version of this armor which comes in black and features thigh guards.

V-neck Battle ArmorEdit

It the variant of Battle Armor used by King Cold's soldiers and the Ginyu Force (with the Ginyu Force logo on it).^[2] Captain Ginyu sports a modified version of this armor which comes in black and features thigh guards. Recoome's model comes in white and includes both thigh and crotch guards.

Bulma's armor modelEdit

It is a variant of Battle armor which is largely based upon the basic model. The actual armor is near identical to the basic model, with only a subtle difference in the shoulder area. While the basic model implements an actual armored section to cover the clavicles, Bulma's uses two straps instead, which provides less protection comparatively. All the users wear a blue jumpsuit under the armor that covers the whole back from the neck down. White gloves and yellow tipped boots are also worn with the outfit. The actual design of this armor seems to have influenced the concept and drawing of Bardock's Elite armor.

Bulma originally makes the armor for her husband, Vegeta. However, she later provides the armor for Goku, Gohan, and Future Trunks. She actually makes this armor for all of the Z Fighters, however, Krillin was in a rush to find Android 18 and had no time to put it on. Piccolo refused to wear one because he was a Namekian, "not a Saiyan" and did not want to dress like one, even though various races were known to wear the armor. Tien Shinhan refused as well, stating that he would never wear the same outfit as Vegeta. Bulma apparently failed to offer the armor to Yamcha and Chiaotzu as well.

Bulma's armor mostly sees use in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, where they hold up well considering they endure a full year of battle, implying that Bulma's model is more durable than previous models. Prior to this, previous models are often easily destroyed by energy blasts, such as when Piccolo's Special Beam Cannon, which had a power level of 1,440, pierced through Raditz's armor.

Other modelsEdit

The cyborg member of Turles Crusher Corps., Cacao, has a completely silver, metallic armor which seems to be based on the RIT armor. It is unique in that is the only armor seen in the series which comes equipped with an on-board weapons system. Amond, another member of the Crusher Corps, has a modified RIT armor with spikes on it.

Cooler's Armored Squadron sports armor that combines traits of both the RIT model and the older armor model worn by Vegeta during the Captain Ginyu Saga. Notable differences include a lime green coloration instead of white or black and the Squadron's insignia (which resembles Cooler's head in his final form) fully covering the abdominal portion of the armor, and a single shoulder plate over the left shoulder.

In comparison to other Saiyans, Paragus wears a unique armor. Its overall design resembled the clothing of those on Yardrat.

Video game appearancesEdit

Battle Armor appears in virtually every Dragon Ball video game that takes place during or after Dragon Ball Z, as one of the series' main characters, Vegeta, usually wears it. Battle Armor can be used as an item that increases the user's defense in Dragon Ball Z: Harukanaru Densetsu.

In the Budokai Tenkaichi series, a Battle Armor appears as a symbol on the screen to indicate that a character has got a defense increase after using a Blast 1 technique.

In Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi, the three customizable hero characters (Standard, Light, and Heavy) can obtain two different styles of Battle Armor to wear. They are referred to as Saiyan Armor Suit 1 (which resembles Nappa's armor) and Saiyan Armor Suit 2 (which resembles the model worn by Vegeta when he first came to Earth). Like all other costumes worn the hero character in the game, the player can set the armor's color as well. If logo mark is choose it will appear on the chest of their armor. When either armor suit is worn by the hero, their Saiyan tail will be wrapped around their waist (as most Saiyans wearing Battle Armor typically do), instead of hanging loose as with other costumes. The two Saiyan Armor Suits can be obtained in Hero Mode after the second fight against Omega Shenron (the one that takes place in the Cell Games Arena) and before the Ultimate Shenron giant boss fight. They can be located on the space pod near West City (it will show up as a star-shaped blip on the Dragon Radar).

TriviaEdit

• In the manga, Battle Armor is referred to as Battle Jackets, while in Dragon Ball, Battle Jackets are the armor worn by the Red Ribbon Army.
• Piccolo's weighted clothing looks like the shoulderguards of a full Battle Armor.
• The Spice Boys' armor greatly resembles Battle Armor.

GalleryEdit

A Saiyan wears a Battle Armor after meeting the Planet Trade Organization Nappa carrying Kid Vegeta's armor Raditz wearing a variant of the armor without a jumpsuit Nappa and Vegeta's first appearance Saiyans' armors Vegeta wearing a variant of the armor during the Vegeta Saga Vegeta in his Great Ape form showing the armor's stretching abilities Vegeta puts on a new uniform Malaka with Vegeta's damaged armor Vegeta's armor during the Namek Saga and Captain Ginyu's armor Vegeta's armor during Captain Ginyu and Frieza Sagas Krillin and Gohan holding Battle Armors Krillin in Battle Armor, after launching a Destructo Disk at Frieza Krillin, Vegeta, and Gohan wearing different Battle Armor variants Frieza in his Battle Armor Gohan in armor Turles in armor Z Fighters receive Battle Armors from Bulma Goku and Future Trunks in armor Gohan wearing Bulma's model Gohan wearing Bulma's model Goku and Gohan both wearing Saiyan armor Add a photo to this galleryAdd a photo to this gallery

ReferencesEdit