Kid Vegeta wasn't that strong

[Future Warrior]

Chapter: 204 (DBZ 10), P12.1-2
Vegeta: “At any rate, the battle power of Kakarot’s son is unusually high, even by the standards of Saiyan children.”
Nappa: “Maybe his reading was wrong.”
Vegeta: “No, it wasn’t wrong. Raditz really took a large amount of damage from that brat’s attack. It seems that mixing Saiyan and Earthling blood begets a powerful hybrid.”

 

[Let's Go Fearless!]

Does the standard means in general? Because the way I see it just that Vegeta could be an exceptional IMO. The new movie has baby Broly almost around 1000 which is similar to Gohan I guess.

 

[GreatSaiyaman123]

As if a "Super Elite" were standard…

 

[Future Warrior]

Standard probably means generally speaking I think. Otherwise elites would also be regarded as Super Saiyans.

 

[Papasmurf]

AT hadn't even planned on Vegeta being the prince, much less Freeza being the one to kill the king at that point

 

[Captain Cadaver]

The statement of Vegeta surpassing his father as a child overrides this, even if not explicitly referring to around the time of Planet Vegeta's destruction. Also, Vegeta had always been considered a prodigy by any Saiyan standard.
It's also worth noting Vegeta didn't know Gohan's age as Raditz was never in the vicinity to hear Gohan say he was 4. Couple that with his base battle power of 1 and it would be no surprise if Vegeta initially believed him to be just 1-2 years old.

 

[Future Warrior]

Who's to say Vegeta didn't gain significant power many years after the destruction of planet Vegeta?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

He could have, though I think it would be a big stretch to say that the bulk of his gains came so late in his childhood, especially since DB Minus shows he was already well acquainted to going on missions at that time.

 

[Future Warrior]

How old was he?

 

[GreatSaiyaman123]

Between 3 and 8 years old. Old sources say he's 5 years older than Goku (Whose age was stated to be around 3 in Minus IIRC), but the new movie says Vegeta's as old as Goku.

 

[Spiral-Force]

Who's to say Kid Vegeta's PL wouldn't fit into the category of being unusually high as well? Unusual =/= impossible. Following your logic, you'd have to assume the BP standards of Saiyan children tightly revolve around Kid Vegeta's level, which isn't supported and would make the emphasis on Vegeta's status + notion of surpassing King Vegeta as a child appear pretty meritless.

 

[ahill1]

It's worth noting though that Vegeta stated if him and Nappa used the women earthlings to give birth to half Saiyajins, they could have ingrate brats running around with battle powers bigger than theirs. Wouldn't that indicate that Vegeta thought half Saiyajins had more potential than himself?

I know that later Vegeta stated that if the SSJ legend had any meritt, he should be the only one with the potential to become one, which likely goes back to what Kenshi said -- AT hadn't planned for Vegeta to be the prince at that time.

 

[Future Warrior]

Except Vegeta, who is the epitome of Saiyan strength at the time, is the one that is making this remark. Vegeta could have surpassed his father at age 10 or above and it would still be consistent.

I honestly don't think it's a stretch to assume Vegeta was weaker than Gohan when he was around the same age. Seeing the 1300+ reading was enough for Vegeta and Nappa to jokingly regard earthling-Saiyan hybrids as Super Saiyans.

 

[ahill1]

I don't think it matters too much, tbh. We know that Vegeta was above his dad (who should be at least above Raditz, and likely above Nappa as well), but "kid" is a broad statement. It could refer to him at 10 years, who knows. We never even saw 4 years old Vegeta, manga-wise at least.

 

[Future Warrior]

Daizenshuu says King Vegeta was the strongest Saiyan at the time.

 

[Spiral-Force]

Except Vegeta, who is the epitome of Saiyan strength at the time, is the one that is making this remark.

Why does that matter?

Vegeta could have surpassed his father at age 10 or above and it would still be consistent.

10 or above (stopping at 12) still falls into the age range of a kid, and you didn't specify beyond that at first.

 

[Future Warrior]

Why does that matter?

It wouldn't be that unusual if elites at that age displayed similar power.

 

[Spiral-Force]

It wouldn't be that unusual if elites at that age displayed similar power.

He simply said 'Saiyan children', so the elite ones are not the only factor in his scaling (and speaking of elites, it isn't implied that there were many - at least not in proportion to non-elite Saiyans)