Zarbon is one of the minor antagonists in the Dragon Ball Z anime franchise—a fairly notable bad guy during the first half of the fantastic Namek Saga. Sure, he was working for the forces of evil, but he was well-designed and had a decent little story arc.

Alongside Dodoria, Zarbon serves as one of Frieza’s top two henchmen. He has no qualms about following orders—gathering the Dragon Balls and killing anyone who gets in their way.

Eventually, he crosses paths with Vegeta and is both shocked and horrified to learn that the Prince of all Saiyans is actually stronger than him.

Well, at least in his base form anyway—LOL. Zarbon usually looks like some kind of handsome space prince, but his monstrous transformation helps close the gap. In fact, he’s one of the few characters who actually manages to beat Vegeta in combat. He even brings Vegeta back to Frieza’s camp so they can interrogate him for information.

But as usual, Vegeta bounces back. Thanks to his Zenkai boost after the beating from Zarbon, he escapes, recovers, and becomes even stronger. At that point, not even Zarbon’s monstrous form or best techniques could do him much good.

I always thought it was funny how Zarbon tried to strike a desperate bargain with Vegeta to save his own life. Obviously, it didn’t work—Vegeta isn’t some naive, forgiving imbecile like Goku tends to be.