‘Dragon Ball’ Reveals Its Original Scouter Prototype

When it comes to Dragon Ball, there are few things which fans all seem to know. Goku’s Super Saiyan form ranks high on that list, but Vegeta made his people’s scouting tech plenty famous back in Dragon Ball Z. However, it turns out fans don’t know everything about that special headgear.

After all, the Saiyans had scouters long before Freeza upgraded them, and fans just got a first-look at the old tech.

Recently, Saikyo Jump put out its latest issue, and it was there Dragon Ball schooled fans on its scouters. As you can see below, Freeza gave the technology a huge upgrade when he came to Planet Vegeta, and the Saiyan race was probably grateful for the overhaul.

As it turns out, the Saiyan race had Scout Scopes before they were given wearable scouters. The breakdown above shows fans what the tech looked like, and the piece resembles an old-school camcorder. The single-eye scope is leagues bulkier than the scouter Vegeta popularized years ago, but it does have its charm.

“They’re telescope-shaped, bulkier than a scouter, and non-wearable,” translator Herms98 wrote. “You have to hold them up to your eye like some kind of moron.”

There is no definitive date on which these Scouter Scopes debuted, but fans know they were phased out once Freeza arrived to Planet Vegeta. When the tyrant took control of the Saiyan planet, he brought some tech upgrades with him. After all, the Saiyan race was known more for its brute strength than its brains; The fact it even had Scouter Scopes is impressive, but Freeza knew he could improve upon the design. As such, the tyrant allowed one of his engineers Gichamu to overhaul the design, and the alien created the wearable scouters fans were introduced to years ago.

So, which of these scouters do you prefer? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

Dragon Ball Super: Broly officially releases in Japan this December, so fans will get to see more of Super Saiyan Blue Goku in action soon enough. Funimation will be bringing the film to theaters in the United States on January 16th. Dragon Ball Super currently airs its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonami programming block Saturday evenings at 9:30 p.m. It is also available to stream on Funimation and Amazon Video. The Japanese language release of the series is complete, and available to stream on FunimationNOW, VRV, and Crunchyroll.