Characters / Dragon Ball: Vegeta – Tropes O-Z

Dragon Ball Main Character Index
Major Characters
Son Goku (A-C | D-H | I-O | P-Z) | Bulma | Krillin/Kuririn | Piccolo | Son Gohan | Vegeta (A-D | E-N | O-Z) | Future Trunks | Allies | Families & Friends (Chi-Chi | Androids 17 and 18 | Trunks and Son Goten | Mr. Satan/Hercule) | Fusions

O-S

• Offended by an Inferior's Success: Until the end of Z, Vegeta subscribed to the Saiyans belief that natural ability was superior to hard work and was outraged to see that Goku, a low-class is stronger than himself, an elite.
• Older Than He Looks: By the end of the series Vegeta is about fifty years old. If you take the years he spent in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber in both the manga and Super into account he is physically between fifty-four and fifty-five years old. He looks to still be in his twenties or early thirties. This is because as a Saiyan he ages slower than a human so he can fight longer.
• Old Shame: By the time Super rolls around, Vegeta has come to regret his former evil ways.
  • When Goku brings up the time Vegeta tried to blow up the Earth to Beerus and Champa, Vegeta elbows him to the ground in annoyance.
  • During The Moro arc, he openly regrets wiping out an entire village of Namekians, and uses it as motivation to save the other Namekians from Moro's wrath.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Dragon Ball FighterZ implies Goku constantly brings up the fact that, not only was Vegeta evil once, but that he also almost blew up Earth on several occasions. Much to Vegeta's dismay.
• One-Man Army: Took on and defeated most of Frieza's army by himself.
• One-Winged Angel: Vegeta's Great Ape form, which he used to literally crush Goku.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Towards Kakarot of course. He won't let anyone kill him before he has his chance at a rematch, as is continually seen in the movies a swell.
  "Kakarot is MINE!!!"
• Only One Name: Like all known Saiyans, he doesn't appear to have a last name.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • If he's ever genuinely terrified of a villain (Frieza, pre-canon Broly, and Beerus most notably) rather than his usual cocky self, you know they're not to be messed with.
  • Should he (if) ever refer to Goku by his Earth name rather than his Saiyan name, it's a sign that Vegeta is Not Himself. In GT, this is how Goku realizes that Vegeta's body has been hijacked by Baby. Slightly downplayed in filler as Vegeta referred to Goku by his Earth name when searching for him as he knows that Goku does not call himself Kakarot (Most of the time....)
  • He's noticeably respectful towards Whis, greeting and bowing when he returns home. He even lowers his head and begs Whis to train him when he learns that he's Beerus' mentor. Only those who are the strongest and most honorable fighters (that aren't Kakarot) have ever gained this privilege.
  • Despite having the opportunity to kill Frost since the rules were changed, Vegeta didn't want to stoop to his level. Even though he requested that Frost be able to break the rules in their match, he decided that his pride as a martial artist was more important than killing someone he hates.
  • When he hears that Goku Black attempted to murder his future son and killed his future wife, Vegeta enters a state of determined Tranquil Fury that would only abate when Fusion Zamasu is dead.
  • Vegeta decides that he will surpass Goku in another way or be stuck as second best because he would rather die than give up his pride. Ultra Instinct requires a zen-like state to obtain, as long as Vegeta has pride clouding his mind he will never obtain it.
• Orcus on His Throne: During his and Nappa's attack on Earth, he merely stood back and watched the show while Nappa wiped the floor with the Z-Fighters, only stepping in after Goku broke Nappa's back. Averted from the Namek Saga onwards, where Vegeta readily gets his own hands dirty.
• Our Werebeasts Are Different: He, like all Saiyans with tails, turns into a giant were-monkey under the light of a full moon. Unique to Vegeta, he can control his transform state, unlike Goku and Gohan who turn into rampaging beasts and can create his own false moon, allowing him to transform at any time.
• Out-of-Character Moment:
  • In the first Broly movie, Vegeta is nearly completely despondent for several minutes upon seeing Broly turn into the Legendary Super Saiyan. And this was after Vegeta came to the planet to defeat the Legendary Super saiyan in the first place, with Trunks and Piccolo both telling him to go fight him while the prince has already given up hope. He gets out of it later, but this flies in the face of Vegeta's characterization, as Vegeta is always willing to at least challenge someone stronger than him and it usually takes getting overwhelmed for him to reconsider.
  • In Super. Vegeta during the Hit arc, quite surprisingly, not only tries to skimp his training with Whis and seems rather uninvested in seeing it to completion, he eventually skips out of it completely by giving Whis some Blatant Lies. This is very odd, as it goes against his Determinator personality as someone who's willing to train until his body can't take it any more, and he has this attitude nowhere else in the series.
• Outside-Context Problem: He was this to Goku since he never expected Vegeta to turn into a giant were-monkey and not even King Kai foresaw him creating a false moon after Piccolo blew up the real moon. He was also the toughest villain that the heroes had to deal with up to that point. Vegeta wouldn't go down even after being beaten up by Goku and sent flying with a massive Kamehameha, hit point-blank with a Spirit Bomb that's supposed to be the ultimate attack and slashed across the back with a sword. It took a Great Ape landing on him to take him down and he still didn't die. Vegeta's ungodly endurance has since become a staple of his character.
• Overshadowed by Awesome:
  • Although almost every character gets hit by this, especially compared to Goku, Vegeta especially stands out. Every time he's finally Goku's equal again, he finds out that Goku has another level of Super Saiyan that he can't compete with.
  • The manga version of Super mostly averts this, with Goku and Vegeta simply being equals after training with Whis. The only exceptions are Goku’s battle with Fused Zamasu, and Vegeta’s battle with Granolah.
• Papa Wolf:
  • Shows this side of him, going completely berserk when Super Perfect Cell kills Future Trunks. Then again when he pulls a Heroic Sacrifice against Majin Buu, allowing Piccolo to move his unconscious son away from the battlefield, knowing the whole time that he would go to Hell after dying. In Battle of Gods, Vegeta also does whatever he can to appease Beerus, both degrading and humiliating himself, in order to protect Trunks from the god's wrath. In Super, he dives in front of the Commeson when it attempted to absorb Trunks, despite phasing out of existence at the time, and his reaction to Future Trunks' returning from the future badly hurt by Goku Black despite being harsh indeed with Trunks at one point believing his strength was unneeded with the sheer power of Goku and Vegeta, is a mixture of paternal concern and boiling Tranquil Fury, and when he hears that Future Bulma's been killed, he makes preparations to go on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge. He even forces himself back on his feet from the brink of freaking death temporarily to stop Black and Future Zamasu from killing his son.
  • After Bulla is born, the mere sound of her crying is enough to enrage Vegeta into going SSJB.
  • The desire to protect his family (along with his promise to Cabba and his pride) is what finally gives him the push to flatten Top with Final Explosion, destroying more than half of the stage.
• Parental Neglect:
  • Ignored Trunks' existence when he was a baby, not even bothering to save him when Bulma and he were attacked by Android 20. It wasn't until Future Trunks was killed by Cell that he finally started to show any of his interest in his child.
  • By the time of Buu Saga, Vegeta is no longer verbally or physically abusive to his son, unfortunately, he is instead very emotionally distant, not even holding him once in the eight years he was born.
  • In Super, as soon as Bulma is pregnant again with Bulla, Vegeta wants to subvert this just so he can be there for them when she is born, to the point of instantly refusing a good fight during the Zen Exhibition Match when Goku suggests that staying with Bulma will let him get even more powerful than Vegeta.
• Parental Substitute: Whenever Goku and Piccolo aren't around, he begrudgingly fills this role for Gohan, especially after Trunks is born. It's first seen when he acts in the boy's defense against Frieza on Namek, and grows from there.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: He was essentially this trope incarnate during the Namek and Frieza sagas. When he wasn’t searching for the Dragon Balls to become immortal, he was assassinating Frieza’s henchmen, who were every bit the "if I have an OK to kill someone, sure" asshole he was if not more so, left and right. Jeice and Android 19 stand out as some of his cruelest murders; while both deserved their fates, they spent their last moments begging for their life and running away in terror respectively.
• Perpetual Frowner: When not being a Smug Smiler, he's this.
• Pet the Dog:
  • After Dende's healing gives him an increase in power, Vegeta spots one of Freeza's Death Beams headed for Gohan and quickly kicks Gohan out of the way. While Vegeta claims he's just showing off, it's quite remarkable that he would act to save Goku's son; this is prior to him making any sort of Heel–Face Turn or being treated with sympathy by the narrative.
  • When being told about the danger of resurrecting Goku and Krillin after Namek blows up would just leave them floating in deep space dead, it's Vegeta who tells the group to simply send their souls to Earth's check-in station and revive them that way.
  • Vegeta waited until Goku was unconscious before rescuing him from Android 19. Given how Saiyans value their pride over their own lives, he most likely did this to preserve Goku's dignity instead of showing him up.
  • When the other Z-fighters are getting beaten by the Androids, Vegeta notably tries to disregard Android 18 (who just broke his arm, mind you) and instead tries to go after Android 17 when he notices the latter has Tien Shinhan in a stranglehold. 18 doesn't let him, though.
  • He takes Trunks to the amusement park after he manages to hit him during their sparring match. Despite being miserable for most of it, he tolerates it because he promised to go.
  • Vegeta knocked out Goku so he can confront Buu by himself. He did it because he saw Buu's resurrection as his fault, but also he didn't want Goku to sacrifice himself again. It was also a form of apology to him for getting Goku killed by Cell in the first place and because he believes that he murdered Gohan.
  • Before he sacrifices himself to Buu, he gives a heart-to-heart speech to Trunks and then hugs him, though how genuine the act is is questionable considering he's clearly trying to make sure the kids stay out of the way. which is its own kinda kindness.
  • He often plays the role of their babysitter due to how much time he spends at Bulma's house. He sometimes gives his (very blunt and angry) advice to both of them, which is usually out of legitimate concern.
  • He helps his fellow Saiyan Cabba become a Super Saiyan by beating the shit out of him and threatening to murder his family and blow up his planet.
  • Vegeta states his intent to win the wish on the Super Dragonballs and use it to resurrect Universe 6 so that Cabba can fulfill his promise to show him the home world of the Saiyans.
  • He's legitimately worried for Master Roshi, and implores him not to use a move that will likely kill himself. Even after Roshi's attempt to help backfires and nearly gets Vegeta eliminated, he doesn't get mad at him or blame him for it, but respects that he made a valiant effort and helped save his friend instead of attacking him.
• Physical God: Vegeta gained the power of a Super Saiyan God after some training with Whis, and defeated Golden Frieza easily as a Super Saiyan Blue. During the Tournament of Power he managed to unlock a new form of Super Saiyan Blue that was strong enough to match Jiren and overpower Toppo in his God of Destruction form. In the Galactic Prisoner Saga, it was stated by Goku that he managed to surpass him, and that was during Vegeta’s fight with Moro before he absorbs Seven-Three, and during his fight with Granolah he achieves another new form called Ultra Ego, which seems to draw upon a severe level of self-indulgence in battle, in contrast to Ultra Instinct and in this form, he was able to overpower Granolah in battle.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: He's not that short, but he was the smallest of the four Saiyans that originally came to Earth, and at that time he was by far the strongest even before climbing the power ladder. Out of the adult protagonists, only Krillin and Chiaotzu are shorter than him.
• Point of Divergence: Vegeta's seemingly harmless decision of napping after Krillin, Gohan and himself ended up shaping just how the last bit of the Frieza saga would play out.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: One of his beefs with Goku, and primary motivations to surpass him, is that Goku is a lower-class Saiyan, born at the absolute bottom of the pecking order, and thus should be a nobody while he's the Saiyan prince and should be the strongest by default.
• Porn Stache: In GT. Thankfully, Bulla makes him shave it off.
• The Power of Love: When motivated by love, Vegeta can be outright terrifying.
  • Even when faced with the imminent obliteration of all sentient life at the hands of Buu, Vegeta refused to unite with Kakarot because he felt the latter warrior besmirched his pride and honor by refusing to fight him as a Super Saiyan 3. The motivating force that finally shattered his all-important pride was the possibility of saving his wife and son from Buu's gullet. Love is what allowed Vegito, the ultimate Saiyan Warrior, to finally come into existence.
  • Vegeta punched Beerus in the face and drew blood because Beerus assaulted his wife.
  • How he ends up achieving a level beyond Super Saiyan Blue and utterly demolishing a Destruction-powered Top, both in the Tournament of Power. The first happens when he remembers his promise to bring Cabba back to life, should universe 6 be eliminated. The second happens when he literally has his back against the wall and realizes that if he loses, his family will end up erased because of it.
  • In the anime, the only reason he lasted so long against Jiren's beating and attempts to crush his values were the visions of Bulma telling him to keep going. Approaching the verge of unconsciousness multiple times, his thoughts of his loved ones push him through the incredible pain. When Jiren questions why he continues when it is literally impossible for him to do anything, Vegeta tells Jiren that explaining where his strength comes from to an emotionless monster like him would be a complete waste of time. Even when he inevitably fails, his desire to protect her no matter what leads to a massive choice for his character, coming to the decision to donate his last energy to Goku as he falls from the stage and telepathically telling Kakarot he trusts him to win.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • Both he and Nappa are surprised that human-Saiyan hybrids are more powerful than either race alone. Nappa suggests that they conquer the Earth, then use their women to breed a race of powerful warriors. Vegeta promptly shoots him down — not because he's against the plan itself, but because it would be stupid to breed a race of warriors that would one day be more powerful than they are.
  • When they first arrives on Earth, Nappa's very first act is to blow up an entire city For the Evulz; Vegeta scolds him for it... because one of the Dragon Balls might have been in the city and Nappa may have destroyed it.
  • He was also going to let Goku reunite with his friends, but upon realizing Goku's stronger than expected, he orders Nappa to execute everyone so they won't have an issue later.
  • This is why Vegeta doesn't commit any atrocities throughout the time from Frieza's defeat to the Android Saga, while he's the strongest person on Earth and has no loyalty to anyone there, he knows that there's no point in causing a mess on the planet. So he waits for Goku to return, and later, focuses on defeating a powerful opponent.
• Pretender Diss: The first time Goku Black fights Vegeta, he wins decisively. The second time, Vegeta just whales on him while dishing out a "The Reason You Suck" Speech, declaring that Black is just a fake Saiyan who stole Goku's body and thus the power Goku worked so hard to achieve, and he could never use Goku's body as well as the real deal.
  Black: How? How can there be a such a power gap between us!?
  Vegeta: You really want to know? That's simple: you're just an interloper, a Saiyan imposter, while I'm the real thing! THE ALMIGHTY PRINCE VEGETA!
• Pride: Vegeta’s inflated ego as a Proud Warrior Race Guy and Saiyan instincts of wanting a challenging opponent makes him the god of this trope. Pride is so central to Vegeta's character that if the only way to be Goku's better is to give it up, he would rather remain second best.
  Jiren: Your fighting style reeks of arrogance, ego infects your techniques and makes them impure — you think you're entitled to greatness.
  Vegeta: Is that supposed to be insulting? You say I'm arrogant, I say damn right! That's pride! Pride in the Saiyan I am! The mighty prince of the ultimate warrior race!
• Pride Before a Fall: Happens every time Vegeta gets a huge power boost, at least in Z.
  • In the Namek/Frieza Saga, he goes to Namek, stronger than ever after his near-death battle on Earth, and gets nearly killed by a transformed Zarbon after taking down two of Frieza's best men. After he gets a boost from that battle and takes care of Zarbon, the Ginyu Force comes and wipe the floor with him. Then once again, he gets a major power-up to fight Frieza and he gets easily murdered.
  • In the Android/Cell Saga, he easily destroys Android 19 before getting the ever loving crap beating out of him by Android 18. After going into Hyperbolic Time Chamber and becoming 'Super Vegeta', he picks apart Semi-Perfect Cell only for his pride to get the best of him and allow Cell to become complete. After that, he can never touch Cell again and his actions lead to Trunks being murdered, and Goku sacrificing himself.
  • Reaches in climax in the Buu Saga. After selling his soul to Babidi and allowing himself to be possessed to gain more power, he tries to fight Buu only to be completely outmatched. Even giving his life did nothing, and Goku still remained more powerful than him. Only THEN does the lesson of humility finally stick.
• Principles Zealot:
  • He will not — repeat, WILL NOT abandon his Saiyan pride or his love of his family for anything after his Character Development in Z. Even if it results in him never becoming stronger than Kakarot. He'd rather die than throw away who he is. He contrasts himself to Top in this regard, who casts aside his belief in justice when the going gets rough.
    Top: Our universe will remain, no matter the price! Hakai!
    (Vegeta yells and punches his way through the Hakai sphere, slugging Top afterward)
    Vegeta: Only a failure abandons his principles and pride! Do you actually think I'd let you stop me!?
  • It should be noted that while he does have his pride in being a Saiyan, Character Development eventually leads to him admitting the Saiyans ultimately got what they deserved.
• Progressively Prettier: When Vegeta was introduced, he was somewhat short and stocky, and had a cartoonish face; even Toriyama thought he was odd looking with an even odder hairdo. As Art Evolution kicked in, Vegeta's proportions were changed to make him taller and more muscular, and his facial features became more conventionally handsome. In the Universe Survival arc, the Universe 9 warrior Hop outright calls his face "pretty".
• The Proud Elite: He fits the trope perfectly, especially considering how he's always going on about how (A) the Saiyans are a race of elite fighters who value their pride, and (B) as the Prince who would be King he is "the culmination of everything superior in the Saiyan race."
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: A Trope Codifier for manga and anime. He is extremely proud of his race and calls them the greatest warrior race in the universe. He is also very quick to tell or remind people that he is the Prince of All Saiyans.
  • This pride even extends to other universes, where he gets on Cabba, a Saiyan from Universe 6, for not honoring his Saiyans pride during their match.
  • When Frost reveals that he's a backstabbing, cheating, lying, honourless deceiver, and revels in not having to keep up his Bitch in Sheep's Clothing, Vegeta screams four words which are rooted firmly in this trope before delivering a Curb-Stomp Battle by way of Megaton Punch.
    Vegeta: YOU MAKE ME SICK!!
• Psychopathic Manchild: Has shades of Type C. His determination to surpass Goku and constant bragging about how he's the Prince of all Saiyans sounds like a petulant spoiled brat throwing a tantrum because no one's kissing his ass. Especially in the Buu Saga: while fighting Goku as Majin Vegeta, he rants about how Goku's very existence is an insult to him because even Goku's son had surpassed him at some point. Thankfully for everyone he gets over this by the end of the Buu Saga.
• Psychotic Smirk: One of the most iconic users of this trope in anime. If he's not scowling, he's doing this. He keeps this habit even after becoming a good guy in late Z and Super.
• Pure Is Not Good: He achieved Super Saiyan by having a pure heart. Heart of pure evil he states it must be. Though it's hinted immediately afterwards that the purity in his heart was instead his single-minded desire to grow stronger and surpass Goku.

  ''Vegeta: My motivation was very different than Kakarot's. My motivation was to be the best, to be the greatest Saiyan alive as I always had been.

• Purple Is Powerful: When using Ultra Ego, his hair turns a bright purple and his eyes turn magenta. Since this technique comes from the Gods of Destruction, who give off a purple aura (and in Beerus's case, is purple), this makes sense.
• Put the "Laughter" in "Slaughter": During his Evil Prince days. He slaughtered an entire village of innocent Namekians all while laughing and acting smug, and during his battle with Goku, he ruthlessly crushed every bone in Goku's body with his bare hands, gleefully laughing his head off as Goku screamed bloody murder.
• Rage Quit: During his fight with Goku, after Goku gains the upper hand and counters all his attacks Vegeta flips and tries to destroy the Earth with his Galick Gun. This leads to the iconic Beam-O-War.
• Readings Are Off the Scale: On his first visit to Earth when his scouter read Goku's power level is at, well, you know what it is.
• Real Men Wear Pink: In the Super adaptation of Battle of Gods, he takes on the role of chef to appease Beerus rather than dance for him. And when doing housework under Whis, he wears a pink apron when cutting grass and changing Beerus' sheets. While he's sleeping. There is also the infamous pink 'Bad Man' shirt he wore at the beginning of the Android Saga.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • He gives one to Goku Black of all people as he beats him up. According to Vegeta, Goku Black is just a fake who's borrowing Goku's body, but can never use it as well as the original.
  • He gives a particularly scathing one to Top (accompanied by a brutal pummeling) for abandoning what is important in his life for God-of-Destruction strength, something Vegeta himself did many times in the past but never would again.
  • He gives one to Nappa during the Super 17 saga of GT, after the latter just destroyed a city.
    Vegeta: You're still the brainless idiot who knows only how to destroy! One would think that a man with your experience would know when to call it quits, you bald-headed buffoon! I recommend you split town Nappa, immediately... unless you want to be killed by me again.
• Recurring Element: In a number of ways, he's Piccolo 2.0. Like Piccolo, he's a humanoid alien (well, Piccolo was retconned to be one, but still) who gets introduced as a villain, becomes a Token Evil Teammate to the protagonists, and, through fatherhood (surrogate fatherhood in Piccolo's case, biological fatherhood in Vegeta's case), and despite having much, much more blood on his hands and his bad attitude lingering longer, pulls a full on Heel–Face Turn & becomes more towards a true hero in his own right.
• Redemption Demotion:
  • He eventually caught onto this, which is why he allows Babidi to make him a Majin. He does manage to avoid the worst of this trope however, unlike most of the others who get hit with it in this series. Vegeta manages to remain in the top three among the heroes in terms of power and ability fairly consistently. He's even the number two behind Goku during the latter parts of the Frieza Saga and the beginning of the Buu Saga. He also co-stars with Goku in Resurrection ‘F’ and gets one of the bigger roles in Battle of Gods.
  • Even in GT (where if your name isn't Goku or Pan, you're automatically doomed to get Demoted to Extra), he was close to Goku in his Super Saiyan 4 state at the last arc.
• Redemption Earns Life: When Vegeta asked everyone except for the evil people to be revived after the Earth was restored, he was one of the people brought back, showing that at least in the eyes of the Namekian Dragon, Vegeta wasn't evil anymore. He didn't see it coming at all.
• Redemption Equals Death: Subverted against Majin Buu. Although, he fought for others for the first time in his life (often mentioned so despite him losing it at Future Trunks being mortally wounded seven years prior), Piccolo makes it clear that one selfless deed didn't make up for his years of being a Jerkass and a former Space Pirate. He is later semi-revived to fight Majin Buu, and along with his other acts of humility, finally fully earns his redemption.
• Redemption in the Rain: He screams the rain clouds away.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: In his earlier episodes, he was the blue to Nappa's red, calmly directing traffic while Nappa and the Saibamen attacked, and currently the blue to Goku's red. But he is red oni to Goku's blue oni when fighting as Vegeta is more aggressive and focuses on beating his opponent to death but Goku is more relaxed and when his back is against the wall he has a more graceful and dodging way of fighting.
• Reformed, but Rejected: After the Frieza Saga. Aside from Goku and Bulma, none of the other Z-Fighters can stand him and have no qualms against informing him as such to his face, not that he'll seven show he gives a damn what they think of him; after Vegeta is curb-stomped by Cell, Krillin states outright that he's only helping him for Trunks' sake and wouldn't care if Vegeta did die. Justified, since even if he was technically on their side at the time, Vegeta was still a self-absorbed Jerkass, and the Token Evil Teammate; he didn't make an actual Heel–Face Turn until the Buu Saga.
• Reformed, but Not Tamed: He's still cold and aloof, a curmudgeon who can be quick to run his mouth, but he genuinely cares for his family, the few friends he made, and even his rival.
• The Resenter: From the end of the Frieza Saga to the near the end of the series, he was very resentful towards Goku for always being stronger than him to the point it became one of his defining characteristics.
• Resurrected for a Job: After his death during the Buu Saga. With the fight with Buu becoming increasingly dire, King Yemma and Fortuneteller Baba semi-revive Vegeta and send him to Earth to help Goku.
• Retired Monster: At the end of the Frieza Saga, he's put his mass-murdering ways behind him to focus on surpassing Goku. He still can lash out in ways that would cost lives and doesn't really pull a Heel–Face Turn until the Buu Saga.
• Revenge Before Reason:
  • After Cell kills Future Trunks, Vegeta has a Jerkass Realization about his poor treatment of the latter and attacks Cell in a rage, doing no damage and causing Gohan to suffer a Game-Breaking Injury by Taking the Bullet for him. At the time, Trunks could still be revived by the Dragon Balls, and Gohan could still have defeated Cell, so Vegeta freaked out like that for nothing; Krillin even flat-out calls him an idiot.
  • During the Buu Saga, he lets Babidi turn him into a Majin for the sake of getting enough power to beat Goku. He knew that the resulting fight would give Babidi enough energy to revive Majin Buu, but was so obsessed with topping Goku that he just didn't care. From that point on, the remainder the Buu Saga consists of the rest of the universe paying the price for Vegeta's selfishness and obsession.
• The Rival:
  • While not the first, he's Goku's biggest one, and a good candidate for the Trope Codifier of the archetypical anime/manga rival.
  • Before Goku, Cui, who had the same power level as him, as well as Zarbon and Dodoria. Other comparable fighters in the organization were the Ginyu Force and Abo and Kado (who Vegeta was stronger than under a full moon but weaker than otherwise).
  • Directly invoked by Vegeta in Resurrection 'F'. After Frieza tells him that he will make Vegeta supreme commander if he personally kills Goku, Vegeta refuses, saying that although he can't stand Goku it is their rivalry that drives him to become stronger.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: He's had his fair few of these. The first time was when Cell murdered his Future son, prompting him to go into an Unstoppable Rage and try to take Cell apart with his bare hands. His rampage against Fat Buu was partially motivated by him believing that he murdered Gohan. Then when Goku Black kills his Future wife and tries to kill Future Trunks, then it's safe to say that Vegeta won't be giving up the ghost on that one until the day he violently murders him.
• Royal Blood: Something he obsesses over. He truly believes that since he is the Saiyan Prince that he is the Chosen One destined to become a Super Saiyan and rule the universe. He's not happy when a certain low class scumbag clown surpasses and he spends most of Z trying to regain his 'birthright'. Ironically, neither of his children seem to give a hoot about it.
• Royal Brat: In his youth and even as an adult he still have signs of this, like him losing it when he was getting beating up by Goku and decides to Rage Quit out of spite.
• Royalty Superpower: He initially believes that a Super Saiyan is this along with one needing to be the Chosen One. He is proven very wrong when he couldn't ascend to defeat Frieza and it's Goku who becomes the first Super Saiyan in a thousand years.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Say what you will about his character, but he isn't the type to sit around and let people do stuff for him, unless it's beneath his notice, like how he let Nappa wipe the floor with the Earth defenders since him joining in would end the 'fight' in seconds. The moment Nappa proves to be ineffective, he steps in.
• Sadist: Especially in the earlier seasons where he could be just as cruel as Frieza, often killing people with a Psychotic Smirk on his face. He massacred an entire Namekian village with a huge grin on his face and, in just the manga, had a smirk when it's revealed that they weren't wished back by Shenron because of the way the wish was worded. Before then, in his Great Ape form, he ruthlessly crushed every bone in Goku's body while laughing his head off. He does get over it once he settles down on Earth and tends to kill people for pragmatic reasons more than any sense of joy.
• Sadistic Choice: After becoming a Majin, he forces Goku into one. Either Goku fights him and risk awakening Majin Buu who has the power to destroy the universe, or he lets Vegeta keep killing people at the World Martial Arts Tournament, which can possibly kill both of their families. Goku chooses to fight Vegeta and beat him before they can awaken Buu. He fails and Vegeta's selfishness costs him his life.
• Sanity Has Advantages: Vegeta is all around a better, smarter fighter and calmer person when he's not letting his ego and Hair-Trigger Temper run his actions. Best displayed in the Namek Saga, where he's able to play it smart against Frieza's army, defeating many of them and even managing to snag the Dragon Balls right under their nose. Then comes the Cell Saga, where he becomes a Super Saiyan and completely throws all of that away, making things much worse before they get any better.
• Sanity Slippage:
  • While possessed by Babidi and releasing all the evil in his heart. He then breaks of Babidi's control and becomes more ruthless and unhinged.
  • During his fight with Goku in the Saiyan Saga, Vegeta becomes enraged that Goku made him bleed to the point where he almost blew up the planet.
• Scars Are Forever: Has a scar on his back from where Yajirobe slashed him in the Saiyan Saga.
• Second Place Is for Losers: He can't stand being Always Second Best to Goku, which plays a key factor in his Deal with the Devil during the Buu Saga. Thankfully, by the end of said saga, he's accepted that Goku's better than him and made peace with it.
  Vegeta: I will not live my life as your second! That time is over!
• Seeking Ultimate Strength: Vegeta is the ruthless and arrogant prince of the Saiyan race, who enjoys crushing his enemies to prove his superiority. Formally a member of the Frieza Force, he joins Goku's side so he could eventually prove himself stronger.
• Senseless Sacrifice: Despite creating a giant blast that can be seen from space, Vegeta's sacrifice fails to kill Buu. He isn't happy when he learns this from King Yemma.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Zigzagged, although Vegeta acts more macho than Goku, he is actually more emotional, especially when it comes to showing anger. He also gives into his feelings and is seen crying more than Goku.
• Shadow Archetype: Pre-Character Development. It's made clear from his first scene that Vegeta is everything Goku could have become had he not suffered his childhood head injury and forgotten his Saiyan instincts: a more coherently intelligent, bloodthirsty, sociopathic conqueror.
• Shipper on Deck: Yes, even Vegeta doesn't hesitate to embarrass his son in front of his Love Interest like any good father should. It didn't help their case that Future Trunks and Mai's attempts to convince him otherwise weren't fooling anyone, including Goku.
• Shirtless Scene: Particularly when training for the coming androids.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog Story:
  • When Frieza is going into his final form, Vegeta pulls off a Deliberate Injury Gambit, having Krillin mortally wound him and then having Dende heal him in order to obtain a Zenkai boost, believing this will allow him to ascend and become a Super Saiyan. Sadly, while it does make him much stronger, Frieza is still way out of his league, and he doesn't become a Super Saiyan; once this happens, Vegeta completely loses the will to fight before Frieza beats him to a bloody pulp. When Frieza subsequently finishes him off, Vegeta spends his final moments tearfully begging Goku to defeat Frieza and avenge the Saiyans.
  • Vegeta gets hit with this a second time during the Buu Saga, where he becomes so obsessed with finally surpassing Goku that he sells his soul to Babidi so he can reclaim his place as the strongest of all Saiyans. As it turns out, Goku had unlocked Super Saiyan 3 during the seven-year Time Skip and had been holding back against Majin Vegeta the whole time, so Vegeta sold out his family and friends, forsook his own convictions, and helped unleash Majin Buu upon the world for nothing. When he tries to atone for his selfishness by taking on Buu himself, he's soon outmatched; even blowing himself up does nothing more than slow Buu down for a few minutes, making his sacrifice utterly pointless. When he finds all this out from King Yemma when he's brought back to help fight Super Buu, he's not pleased in the slightest.
    Vegeta: I sent myself into a cold oblivion, and I did it on a lie!
• Shower Scene: He has a scene at the start of the Cell saga, partly to showcase his many and varied scars, and partly to highlight the Unresolved Sexual Tension between Vegeta and Bulma, but mostly to get him to wear the infamous pink "BADMAN" shirt and bright yellow pants.
• Shut Up, Kirk!: When Shin calls Vegeta out on focusing on his "meaningless squabble" with Goku over saving the universe from Majin Buu, Vegeta responds with a Motive Rant about how humiliating he finds being Goku's second and how he wants to reclaim his honor after everything he's been through.
  Vegeta: "Meaningless", huh? WHAT DO YOU KNOW OF MEANINGLESS? Spend most of your life ruled by another...watch your race dwindle to a handful...and then, tell me what has more meaning than your own strength! I have in me the blood of a Saiyan Prince! He is nothing but a joke! Yet I've had to watch him surpass me in strength, my destiny thrown to the wayside! He's...he's even saved my life as if I were a helpless child. He has stolen my honor. And his debts must be paid.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: With his younger brother, Tarble. Vegeta is a hot-headed person, and has jerkass tendencies ready to fire off even after he mellows out. Tarble is kindhearted and respectful much like Goku except even more extreme since he does not have the Saiyans' natural love for battle. Because of these traits, he was banished from his home planet.
• Signature Move: Galick Gun (the move he used against Goku in their iconic Beam-O-War), Big Bang Attack (which he used to finish off Android 19 after showing off his Super Saiyan form for the first time), and Final Flash (by far one of his strongest attacks).
• Simple, yet Awesome: The enhanced Super Saiyan Blue form that he attained in the Tournament of Power. It is less visually impressive than Goku's Ultra Instinct, merely being a different shade of blue, and it is also less powerful than Ultra Instinct. That being said, it still places Vegeta squarely in God of Destruction territory, and he can seemingly activate it at will. Could also be applied to Ultra Ego, which is much simpler in practice than Ultra Instinct (take the hit, hit back) but has the potential for seemingly limitless rapid growth.
• Sixth Ranger: To the protagonists on Namek.
• Sixth Ranger Traitor:
  • To Frieza after he decides to fully rebel and fight to gain control of the Dragon Balls.
  • He is also this to the protagonists when he sold his soul to Babidi in the Buu Saga. Although, this is Subverted in that Vegeta has no loyalty to Babidi and outright ignores his orders, doing whatever he wants. However, he is still a traitor in the sense that his direct actions leads to Buu being revived.
• Skewed Priorities:
  • In the Buu Saga, he cared less about saving the world and more about getting powerful enough to beat Goku, which led him to allowing Babidi to turn him into Majin Vegeta, and led to Majin Buu getting released.
  • While watching the battle between Copy-Vegeta and Goku, he repeatedly berates his doppelganger for not doing better against Goku — even though Copy-Vegeta needs to be destroyed in order to save him from fading away.
• Slasher Smile: When he's neither grumpy nor smug, but on a powertrip, he'll be wearing this. And he wears it well.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Although he actually is among the fighting elite from the moment he's introduced, and by the end of the series legitimately ranks among the strongest fighters in the universe, Vegeta has a tough time seeing himself as anything but the best, period. By the end of the series, he has finally managed to accept that Goku is the better fighter, but it took multiple Break the Haughty moments, as well as him being killed twice, for him to do so.
• The Smart Guy: Seems to be this in GT and the post-Z movies. He notices that Baby has possessed Gohan, and that Omega Shenron is too powerful for him and Goku to defeat without fusion. After Battle of Gods, Whis points out that Vegeta thinks too much during a fight, which leads him to hesitate when he should act. And of all the Z-Fighters, Vegeta is the quickest to understand Bulma's inventions and even assists her if the situation calls for it.
• Smile of Approval: After years of him being unable to stand Goku and wanting nothing more than to best his rival in combat, Vegeta finally has an epiphany in the Majin Buu Saga where he openly acknowledges Goku as being better than him and cracking a smile while he does so.
• Smug Smiler: When in battle, he's this, especially if he's confident enough to win.
• Smug Snake: Though he is actually quite smart, Vegeta typically falls into this due to his ego. While undoubtedly powerful, he has a very bad tendency to overestimate himself and underestimate his opponent, which often leads to an epic Break the Haughty moment. The most notable example of this is during the Cell Saga, when he becomes so confident that he's stronger than Cell no matter what that he deliberately allows Cell to absorb Android 18 and become perfect purely for the sake of a more challenging fight. He got one, all right.
• Smug Super: When faced with an enemy that's not above him, his ego is backed up with his power. It's to the extent that he helps Cell absorb 18 and become perfect simply for the sake of having a challenge, arrogantly refusing to consider the possibility that he would actually lose until Cell's beating him to a pulp.
• The Social Darwinist: Vegeta believes the Saiyan race is the most powerful in the universe and that Earthlings are fit to grovel. His transition to Majin Vegeta is largely because of how even edging away from such a belief was making him softer, saying (in the English dub) "It's brute strength that determines the outcome of a battle, not goodness. The mightiest survive and the weak perish!" Even Goku pointing out that during their battle they may have inadvertently revived Majin Buu is dismissed by Vegeta, saying (though he hardly believes it himself) that the two of them have evolved far beyond even Shin's expectations to the point that Majin Buu was not a concern anymore. He was right that the Saiyans have evolved past any expectations of any god. He's very wrong about Majin Buu.
• The Sociopath: His pre-Character Development self. Unlike the other Saiyans shown in the series who have some care towards their kinsmen, Vegeta didn't give a damn about anyone except himself - at bare minimum, openly. He dismisses reviving Raditz for being weaker than the others were and personally murdered Nappa who was asking for his help. He also tries to slowly crush Goku to death as a Great Ape and then tries to kill Goku in front of his son. On Namek, he's confused about why Dende won't heal him, despite the fact that he personally killed an entire village of Namekians for their Dragon Ball (which he actually smirks about later, possibly laughing in the anime filler), and doesn't understand why anyone would want to help him since he, at least deep down, knows that he's been an asshole. That's not even getting into how he treated Future Trunks, who he physically and mentally abused. It takes a lot of Humiliation Congas, Break the Haughty, and Laser Guided Karmas before he finally becomes a better person.
• Sociopathic Hero: Even after sort of becoming one of the good guys, he never lost his penchant for using violence as an answer to his problems... and then laughing maniacally. This gets greatly tone down by the end of the Buu Saga, where he's more willing to solve problems without fighting; like him trying to please Beerus by any means necessary since he knows he stands no chance against him. This includes throwing his pride away by dancing or serving Beerus food.
• So Proud of You: Implied Trope. Vegeta is never open about his feelings, and has his Hidden Heart of Gold very well hidden, but there are many occasions in the series where he will show how proud he is of someone. Usually another Saiyan.
  • At the end of the Frieza Saga, a newly-revived Vegeta is delighted to see that Goku took his words to heart and achieved the Super Saiyan form.
    Vegeta: (laughs) Well, well, well. Kakarot, you dog! You did it! You actually did it! You're a Super Saiyan. I can see it.
  • In the Super anime, at the end of the Universal Survival Saga, an arrogant Belmod boasts about how Goku won't be able to control Ultra Instinct and defeat Jiren. Vegeta shuts that idea up, stating that during the whole tournament, all the Saiyans in it have broken through their limits. This includes Goku and Gohan all right, but also Caulifla, Kale, and Cabba, the last one sharing an apprentice bond with him. That's right, Vegeta is proud of all of them.
• Sore Loser: Throughout most of Z, Vegeta finds dealing with defeat to be very hard and is very prone to acting like a whiny brat when things aren't going his way and it's not until the very end that he grows out of this mindset. This is a guy who is incredibly proud of his race and fighting heritage after all...
  • After Vegeta loses his cool after being injured twice in a row by Goku's Kaioken attack, he decides to blow the Earth up (what he came to do in the first place) with his Galick Gun.
  • Vegeta spends much of his time berating Android 18 for being weak because she's a woman that when he's easily defeated by her, he chooses to fly away to a rocky wasteland and stare up at the sky and internally monologue about how humiliated he feels to have been beaten by a girl. It takes a while before he gets over it.
  • When Cell bests him as soon as he reaches his Perfect Form, Vegeta promptly goes back to sulking and lashing out at anyone because his promise of a good fight was wasted by him being defeated and humiliated so easily.
• Space Pirates: He was the prince of an entire race of pirates who stole planets by wiping out the inhabitants and selling them for a high price. Though given they were working for Frieza's company, most examples outside of their home planet Vegeta would more accurately be cases of space extirpation rather than "piracy". Nappa and he went to Earth not only for the Dragon Balls, but to also kill everyone and sell the planet. Although he does enjoy his job since he gets to kill and fight strong opponents, his true desire is to kill Frieza and take his place ruling the universe. By the time he cut ties with Frieza and his former life, he puts his pirate days behind him.
• Spanner in the Works:
  • During the climactic Beam-O-War between Gohan and Cell, the latter easily tanks Krillin, Piccolo, Yamcha and Tien's attempts to help Gohan by attacking him, swatting them away by merely raising his Ki. Then Vegeta enters the fray and attacks him as well; Cell is genuinely surprised and thrown off by Vegeta's interference, which gives Gohan just the chance he needs to overpower Cell and kill him once and for all.
  • Him being semi-revived completely screwed Super Buu, who was only seconds away from a complete victory since Goku had no one to fuse with except Mr. Satan.
  • He screwed Super Buu again, who was about to kill Goku, by pulling down the pod that held Fat Buu. This action completely erased Super Buu from existence.
  • He becomes this to Frieza's revenge plan in Resurrection 'F'. Frieza knows Goku will be powerful and has a backup all ready just in case he is defeated again. He didn't know Vegeta was on Earth and he sure in hell didn't know Vegeta can become a Super Saiyan, let alone a Super Saiyan Blue like Goku. Frieza's plan is entirely undone because he missed this vital piece of information.
• Sphere of Destruction: His Finishing Move the Big Bang Attack.
• Spit Take: He does this in GT when Bulma tells him that the machine she made can help him turn into Super Saiyan 4.
• The Starscream: He was this to Frieza. He planned for years to rebel and overthrow Frieza, even before learning Frieza destroyed his planet. The Dragon Balls gave him his best opportunity since he could wish for immortality and in time, surpass Frieza. In the end, it didn't end well for him since he missed his chance to live forever and is tortured and killed by Frieza with little fanfare.
• Stealth Mentor: Helps Cabba become Super Saiyan by acting like a villain.
• Stealth Pun: A particularly cruel one in the Frieza Saga. When Frieza's Death Beam punctures Vegeta's heart, he breaks down crying and tells Goku the sad story of the Saiyans' fate and begs Goku to avenge the Saiyans at any cost right before he dies which means he both literally and figuratively dies of a broken heart.
• Stock Shōnen Hero: Despite being one of the Trope Codifiers for the Stock Shōnen Rival, Vegeta also has the whole "Hot-Blooded Determinator who wants to be the best" shtick that is typical of Shonen heroes.
• Stock Shōnen Rival: Vegeta is one of the Trope Codifiers. He started as a Arc Villain, and after he was defeated by Goku and co., he would then make it his life purpose to surpass Goku and later gives into evil in an attempt to defeat Goku. He would later regret his actions and pull a true Heel–Face Turn.
• The Stoic: Vegeta tries to be this, often wearing a scowl or frowning. But Vegeta is far too passionate and prideful to stay stoic long and start trash talking his opponent.
• Stone Wall: He's one of the most durable characters in the franchise, even once scared Kid Buu after stubbornly refusing to stay down.
• Story-Breaker Power:
  • After training with Whis he gains the power of godhood and is able to fuse it with a regular Super Saiyan to become a Super Saiyan Blue. He is also within striking distance of Goku again after falling behind during the events of the Cell Saga and is one of the top fighters in the entire universe. If Goku and he worked together against Golden Frieza, they would have ended the threat without any problem.
  • Possibly the reason why he wasn't around during Second Coming, since Vegeta was stronger than Gohan at the time and could give Broly a tougher fight, maybe even win.
• Strong Family Resemblance: He looks like a shorter version of his father without the beard and mustache — and indeed, when he shows up with a beard in Super (post-three years in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber), he's a dead ringer for his father. His younger brother also looks like a shorter version of him. In contrast, both of his own children break this tradition by resembling their human mother, only slightly favoring Vegeta in their facial structure and athletic builds.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Especially after Character Development. He is distant and cold but has shown a caring and protective side to his loved ones.
• Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum: During the Saiyan Saga, he pulled this by trying to blow up the Earth, without showing the ability to travel without a space pod or survive in a vacuum, purely because he was pissed that Goku, a low-class warrior, had managed to land a hit on him and draw blood.
• Super Mode: Every Super Saiyan transformation he has so far in the franchise.
• Superior Successor: According to Vegeta, he surpassed his father when he was still a kid. Frieza agrees, saying that he didn't need to transform to kill King Vegeta.
• Supernaturally Young Parent: Thanks to being a Saiyan he hasn't changed a day since the fight with Buu, while his wife aged less gracefully, much to her annoyance.
• Superpowered Evil Side:
  • Vegeta gets an upgrade when he submits to Babidi, putting him on even terms with Goku at SS2. Subverted in that Vegeta's own will overrides Babidi's and he ends up opening his heart.
  • Vegeta points out that his Ultra-Ego form is the counterpart to Ultra-Instinct. A major difference being that while Ultra-Instinct requires a clear mind to utilise, Ultra-Ego feeds on the warrior's vanity. The end result is that when Vegeta unlocks Ultra-Ego, he acts increasingly savage and more of a maniacal Blood Knight that gets progressively more absorbed in his primitive instincts the longer the battle goes on. In order to use it to its full potential you must seemingly abandon your morality in favour of amoral destruction, something Vegeta is ultimately unable to do.
• Superpower Lottery: Finally hit the jackpot after training with Whis and gaining the power of godhood, making him Goku's true rival again.
• Supporting Leader: During the final fight against Kid Buu, and briefly against Majin Buu.
• Sweet and Sour Grapes: Before his Heel–Face Turn, he could never truly surpass Goku. In Battle of Gods, long after he both pulled a Heel–Face Turn and stopped caring about surpassing Goku, he actually surpassed Goku by, in the words of a random YouTube commentator, punching the primal force of entropy and drawing blood. On top of that, he was a Super Saiyan 2 while doing that even though Goku got curbstomped at Super Saiyan 3.

T-Y

• Talent vs. Training: This is the main factor in Goku and Vegeta's iconic rivalry. While both are members of the exceptionally powerful warrior race known as the Saiyans, Goku was born with a very low power level and became the impressive fighter he is known as today thanks to the training and trials he went through on Earth. Vegeta by contrast was born with the high power level expected of a Saiyan elite, and while he was a powerful fighter in his own right, he frequently finds himself playing second to Goku when it comes to getting stronger. That Goku unlocked the fabled Super Saiyan form before Vegeta only inflames Vegeta's wounded pride.
• Tame His Anger: He took the longest to do this out of the main characters, but by the end of the Buu Saga Vegeta had made his peace with Goku's superiority.
• Tears of Fear: When he realized he had no chance against Frieza. Pointed out by the narrator in the manga and King Kai in the anime.
• Tears of Joy: In the anime, Vegeta is in tears when he sees Super Saiyan Goku. He is so overwhelmed that he can barely speak.
• Tears of Remorse: As he self destructed in an attempt to kill Majin Buu.
• Technician Versus Performer: The technician to Goku's performer, at least when his arrogance and temper doesn't get the best of him. He uses much more strategy than Goku, is a skilled tactician, and trains longer and harder than any character in the series barring Tien and maybe Piccolo. His only real shortcomings in this area is that his techniques are limited to being more destructive than the next with very little variation and his over-reliance on beam spams, putting his technical skills below Piccolo and Tien. Whis notes, however, that Vegeta is too thoughtful, which makes him slow to react when the unexpected happens. He also trains too much, not giving his body time to unwind and relax, making him tense, slow, and hinders him from reaching his full potential.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Krillin and Gohan during the Frieza Saga, and with Goku near the end of the Buu Saga.
• Third Act Stupidity: Throughout the Namek Saga, Vegeta approaches the fight with Frieza intelligently, using guerrilla tactics and playing it smart to stay ahead of Frieza, who uses brute force and his resources to get ahead. By the end, Vegeta casts all this aside and stupidly goads Frieza into transforming, arrogantly believing that Frieza wouldn't get much stronger; it costs him his life. Not the he had much choice at that point, since Frieza had cornered them and was going to kill everyone regardless, but goading Frieza into transforming faster instead of trying to delay him until Goku could get there to help was a stupid idea.
• This Cannot Be!: He's initially surprised but still level-headed when Goku turns out to be stronger than he and Nappa anticipated. He crosses into this trope completely when Goku, a low-class warrior, can actually deal damage to him and, with the help of his friends, come on the verge of killing him outright.
  Vegeta: This shouldn't be happening! I don't understand! I'm a super elite!
• This Is Gonna Suck
  • Vegeta has this reaction after he volunteers himself to fight Kid Buu while Goku charges up to his max power as a Super Saiyan 3. Goku needs one minute.
  Vegeta: One minute in this fight is an eternity.
  • He has another one after Fat Buu is taken down by Kid Buu and he has to act as a distraction again while Goku charges the Spirit Bomb.
• Throw the Dog a Bone:
  • Only for a minute at most, but after Bulma got slapped by Beerus in Battle of Gods , Vegeta snapped and tried to attack Beerus with a sudden burst of power. Roshi noted that Vegeta may have finally been stronger than Goku. A claim backed up by the fact that despite only being a Super Saiyan 2 at most, he tanked a punch from Beerus and powered through it to continue comboing him — and lest we forget, Beerus only had to finger-flick Goku to send him hurtling across King Kai's planet as a Super Saiyan 3.
  • While the original Z manga ended with him way behind Goku due to him not attaining Super Saiyan 3, the animes and movies let him catch up again by him attaining Super Saiyan 4 (even if he cheated) and Super Saiyan Blue respectively. He is still behind Goku, but only by a thin margin. This is maintained even better late in Super, as while Goku attains Ultra Instinct, Vegeta achieves a unique God of Destruction-level evolution to his Super Saiyan Blue form. Even better, unlike Goku's Ultra Instinct, Vegeta can consciously use it at will.
  • In the Granolah arc in the Super manga, Vegeta gained a new form obtained by training with Beerus. Given that this form was unknown even to Granolah, who managed to beat Goku, Vegeta may have finally one-upped his rival in power at long last.
  • In The Stinger of Super Hero, Vegeta finally, FINALLY beats Goku in a one-on-one sparring match. Sure, it took several hours and neither of them were allowed to use Super forms or ki attacks, but in the end Vegeta was indeed the last man standing.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Formed this dynamic with Bulma until Art Shift happened and by Dragon Ball Super he is taller than Bulma.
• Time to Unlock More True Potential:
  • Vegeta trains frantically for three years to reach the level of Super Saiyan to beat Goku. After losing to Android 18 and finding out about Cell, Vegeta claims he will go beyond Super Saiyan, shocking everyone since they never considered such a level existed.
  • Vegeta gives himself to Babidi to invoke this. Once he's possessed, he rivals Goku as a Super Saiyan 2. It still isn't enough to close the power gap between them.
  • In the Universe Survival arc, his desire to protect those he loves causes him to reach a level beyond Super Saiyan Blue.
• To Be a Master: His goal once he admits and accepts that Goku is stronger than him. Vegeta is still determined to surpass Goku and become the strongest in the universe, but he goes about it in a much healthier way.
  Vegeta: Fine, Kakarot, you are the mightiest Saiyan, I've admitted that much. At least for now. But don't you dare think that this is over. I won't let you keep me in second place forever, feeding on the scraps of your glory. I will surpass you, and even then I'll keep pushing, I'll surpass every single warrior in the Universe. I won't stop until I'm the ultimate number one.
• Token Evil Teammate: After his Heel–Face Turn. He is anything but good in the Android/Cell Saga. He only helps the heroes so he can kill Goku and later for the sake of his own pride since 18 and Cell utterly humiliated him. He's a little better in the Buu Saga, but he's still not a good person and he willingly gives himself to Babidi so he can finally settle the score with Goku. He doesn't completely become good until the final leg of the Kid Buu fight, where he finally swallows his pride and admits that Goku is better than him. However he still isn't a properly nice guy even after his character development.
• Too Dumb to Live: Vegeta has a habit of recklessly rushing into battle with opponents that he has little to no chance of defeating. A prime example of his idiocy is Cell's attempt to let him absorb 18 and become perfect; Vegeta realized right away what Cell was trying to do, but decided to go with it anyway.
• Took a Level in Badass: Vegeta's power has gone from super elite to surpassing the gods.
  • He took several levels throughout the Frieza Saga, taking full advantage of the Saiyans' ability to grow stronger from near death. He went from being beaten by a transformed Zarbon to being able to stand up for a couple minutes against Frieza's final form.
  • Like Goku, every time he reaches a new level of Super Saiyan.
  • In Resurrection 'F', he is able to reach the same level of Super Saiyan God as Goku. That's right, in the span of two movies he went from being unable to reach Super Saiyan 3 to being almost equal with Goku again. Even more impressive, in Super he did it without going through the Super Saiyan God ritual.
  • From Super, he gets a major power-up after training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber for six months. He went from being no match for Goku Black to easily pounding him, forcing Black to evolve himself again.
  • Later in the anime version of Super, during the Tournament of Power, Vegeta eventually pushes himself to a new transformation, an enhanced version of Super Saiyan Blue that even Goku hasn't achieved, at least matching Goku's Kaio-Ken x20 Super Saiyan Blue combination. In this form he's able to completely overwhelm and defeat God of Destruction Top, who had previously wrecked No. 17 & Golden Frieza.
• Took a Level in Dumbass: Compare Vegeta during the Frieza Saga and Vegeta during the Cell Saga. During the Frieza Saga: a Combat Pragmatist and Genius Bruiser who manages to stay one step ahead of Frieza and his army for most of the arc through guerrilla tactics. During the Cell Saga: Lethally Stupid Dumb Muscle who's easily played like a harp by Cell, deliberately letting him absorb Android 18 and power up purely to sate his Blood Knight tendencies and ego.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: He gets special mention here, as he manages to do this in every big saga of Z until the very end.
• Took a Level in Kindness:
  • By the end of the series he finally admits that he never could surpass Goku because of his selfishness and flawed ideology and pulls a real Heel–Face Turn, which is further showed in Battle of Gods and Super, where his desire to surpass Goku is more for the sake of being strong for his family and friends than just to stroke his ego.
  • In the same vein as the above, Vegeta implicitly acknowledges that his real source of power comes from his love of his friends and family, especially the latter, and that Bulma, Trunks, and Bulla are his absolute pride. Beerus finds this out the hard way after having the temerity to strike Bulma; Vegeta gets so pissed that Master Roshi outright senses that he's the strongest non-deity in existence at that particular moment, and true enough, Vegeta draws blood from Beerus.
  • Also visible in the non-canon Wrath of the Dragon movie, Vegeta actually goes out of his way to protect innocent bystanders from Hildegarn's fire breath, which he even lampshades himself.
  • Seen further in Super where he takes his family on vacation, although he did eventually leave after it becomes too much for him. And, unlike Battle of Gods, he went to Bulma's party on his own without knowing that Beerus is coming. After failing to stop Beerus, Vegeta is ashamed not because his pride is hurt, but because he failed to protect everyone. Vegeta is also more supportive of Goku, showing that he has complete faith that he can defeat Beerus and is the one to catch Goku after he falls to Earth. He does chew Goku for losing despite having even his power, but he's actually quite concerned for Goku's health.
  • Also in Universe 7 vs Universe 6, while he was a little angry at Cabba, he helps him to become a Super Saiyan and despite defeating him does asks Cabba to surpass him one day, a stark contrast from the Vegeta who'd throw a hissy fit anytime anyone surpassed his power even slightly.
• Too Qualified to Apply: When the Z-Fighters enter the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament, they all give a light tap to the punch machine (which, being what they are, still registers outrageous numbers despite their restraint). Then Vegeta, being Vegeta, comes along and obliterates it.
• Tough Love: His bread and butter. Even after becoming nicer to his family and friends, he is still a fault-finding, tough person to please. The way he helps Cabba to achieve Super Saiyan is to beat the crap out of him while threatening to murder his family and blow up his planet. He also beats on Future Trunks as a Super Saiyan Blue and calls it training. Despite the physical abuse floating in there, his heart is in the right place, and the people he manhandles are grateful to him in the end. As Goku explains to Bulma when she tries to make him stop, it may seem harsh, but it's how Saiyans work.
• To Serve Man: In their first appearance, Vegeta and Nappa are shown successfully invading an alien planet and, at least in Vegeta's case, chewing on an arm of the planet's sort-of Human Alien inhabitants.
• Tragic Villain: Oh, dear Lord, yes. He was used by Frieza as a hostage and then had his father murdered and his entire race exterminated by the cruel tyrant, who continued to use him as a low-level enforcer afterwards. Goku eventually realizes that Vegeta was largely shaped by Frieza into becoming a remorseless killing machine.
• Training from Hell: A deconstructed example. After the events of the Frieza Saga, Vegeta puts himself though torturous training sessions that sometimes leaves him bedridden. Despite all his hard work, he can't surpass Goku who also works hard, but doesn't destroy himself while training. It is explained by Whis that Vegeta works too hard and doesn't allow his body to properly rest, which slows his reaction time and keeps him from reaching his maximum potential.
• Tranquil Fury:
  • Surprisingly, he does have a moment of this in Resurrection ‘F’. After he steps into the fight after Goku is temporarily taken out of action, he proceeds to beat Frieza out of his Golden Super Mode and dish out a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on the bastard without raising his voice and with the only sign of his fury being his usual Death Glare.
  • He also takes this tack in Super, where after Frost is revealed to be a sociopathic scumbag in the same vein as Frieza, Vegeta asks Champa to spare him and allow him back into the tournament after he's disqualified for cheating. Frost then gloats at him about how he's going to poison him to death after getting the no-kill rule lifted while Vegeta stares at him silently. As soon as the match starts, Vegeta takes Frost out with a single Megaton Punch. Then when he hears about Goku Black and the fact that he killed the future version of his wife, nearly killed Future Trunks, and wiped out 99% of humanity in his timeline, he doesn't change facial expression but is utterly pissed.
  • After Cabba is erased along with the rest of Universe 6, Vegeta makes his displeasure clear by calmly informing Katopresla that he’s not in the best of moods and plans to let off some steam by using him as a punching bag.
  • Vegeta appears to get a power boost through anger whenever something happens to Bulma and Trunks, and when he's in control of this anger, the boost is even bigger. When out of control, he was briefly able to go toe-to-toe with Beerus, but after mastering this anger and completely destroying the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, he crushes Goku Black in their rematch, at least until Black powered up again.
• Trickster Mentor: Cabba begs Vegeta to teach him to how become a Super Saiyan so he can better protect his universe from threats. Vegeta becomes angry that Cabba would ask this during their match and beats the crap out of him while he's a Super Saiyan and refuses to allow Cabba to give up. He then threatens to kill everyone Cabba knows after their match. This pushes Cabba over and he ascends to Super Saiyan, exactly as Vegeta had planned.
• Tritagonist: Shares this role with Piccolo in the Frieza and Cell sagas and is promoted to Deuteragonist in the Buu Saga onward.
• Troubled Abuser: In the Cell Saga, he was a horrible father to Future Trunks, physically and mentally abusing him on occasion (those being when Trunks interfered with his chances at a good fight). Of course, his own father raised him to be a cold, ruthless Social Darwinist who at best did not realize any sense of life being precious, and after King Vegeta's death, Vegeta ended up under the care of Frieza, who, by word of the dub at least, twisted him into a cold-blooded sociopath even by Saiyan standards by nurturing his darker tendencies and regularly subjecting him to Fantastic Racism. By the end of the saga, Vegeta has a Jerkass Realization regarding his treatment of his son, and come the Buu Saga, he's a much better parent.
• Troubled, but Cute: In-universe, this is his appeal to Bulma.
• True Companions: After many trials and betrayals, he become somewhat of this to the main cast, especially to Goku.
• Tsundere: A rare male example. Since his introduction he can go from calm and even playful, like his entire commentary on Nappa's fight with the Earth's fighters, to out of control angry and sadistic, his entire battle with Goku. After the Frieza Saga, he makes it his life's goal to surpass Goku, saying several times that he wants to kill him. Despite that, he does show some concern for Goku's well-being like him reprimanding Goku for fighting while sick after he rescues him and making it a point to say that he will fight Goku to the death, as soon as he's well, instead of trying to kill him when he's comatose. The Buu Saga is the most extreme example where his entire hangup about how Goku is always better than him and how he only has this one day to fight Goku reads like some old jealous-ex given a Motive Rant. He then knocks Goku out while his guard is down so he won't sacrifice himself again and to give an indirect apology for him dying in the first place, it was his actions that made Cell complete. After the Buu Saga, Vegeta is more willing to show his Hidden Heart of Gold, but he is still harsh and is unwilling to admit that he cares for anyone, like him trying to deny that he yelled, 'That's My Bulma' when Beerus slaps her. In Super, when Beerus asks about his relationship with Goku, Vegeta is unable to really answer since he doesn't want to call Goku a friend, but only halfheartedly calls him an enemy.
  • It's near lampshaded when he comes to Master Roshi's aid against Frost. Vegeta goes out of his way to make it clear he isn't helping Roshi to keep him from being tortured by Frost, only because he hates Frost. Roshi just rolls his eyes and doesn't buy it.
• Tsurime Eyes: Even in normal state.
• Tyke-Bomb: Like all Saiyans, he was raised since birth to be a ruthless warrior who happily wiped planets for profit. Vegeta was raised especially cruel even by Saiyan's standards by Frieza, who wanted him to be one of his loyal dragons. This sorta backfired since Vegeta rebelled the moment he got the chance. Frieza was able to easily kill him, but not before he laid the groundwork for Goku to ascend to Super Saiyan and he murdered all of Frieza's top men.
• The Unchosen One: He becomes this after Goku surpasses him by becoming the first Super Saiyan in a thousand years. He hates that Goku defeated the space tyrant while he, the Prince of all Saiyans, was given an extremely pitiful death. Even after accepting that Goku is just overall better than him, he still strives to surpass him, although with far less bitterness.
• Underestimating Badassery: He has a terrible habit of doing this with every major Z villain and even the heroes, though he's also been on the giving end too:
  • When he first meets Goku, he sees him as low class trash despite him overpowering Nappa. Although he does have the edge, he completely loses it after Goku uses his Kaio-ken to knock him around and draw blood.
  • Cui, Dodoria and Zarbon were all caught off guard by how powerful Vegeta could become after recovering from near fatal injuries. Zarbon briefly managed to turn it back on Vegeta who, riding high after killing Cui and Dodoria with ease thanks to his boost from his near-death on Earth, thought Zarbon would be easy rusty pickings up until Zarbon transforms and beats him to near death again. Zarbon then makes the mistake of underestimating Vegeta once he recovers and loses his life for it.
  • Although he knows that Frieza is extremely powerful, he provokes him to transform thinking that he won't become that much more powerful and is quickly proven wrong. Even after witnessing multiple levels of Frieza's transformations, he still somehow thinks his Zenkai boosts alone would close the gap, only to wind up suffering a Curb-Stomp Battle for it. It's even worse given he cites how Zarbon's transformation didn't help in in the end, despite having nearly died to said transformation the first go-around that he only survived through luck and Frieza wanting to interrogate him on the hidden Dragon Ball.
  • He scoffs at Piccolo coming back to life to fight Frieza, citing how easily he was killed on Earth. He is shocked when Piccolo is able to fight evenly with Frieza's second form.
  • Androids 19 and 20 didn't think Vegeta was anything special, particularly since 19 was defeating Goku in spite of his unexpected Super Saiyan transformation (not knowing about his heart virus). Then Vegeta reveals his own Super Saiyan transformation and tears 19 apart.
  • Fresh off easily taking out Android 19 and sending 20 running, he wants to fight Androids 17 and 18 because the former two were weak and boring, despite Trunks warning him several times that wasn't a good idea. Trunks is proven correct.
  • In the same saga, Vegeta lets Cell become complete to have a better match. After Cell transforms, he dismisses Cell's final form as unimpressive. Cell then proceeds to beat the daylights out of him.
  • When Pui Pui realizes he is outmatched against Vegeta, Babidi uses his magic to transport them to Pui Pui's home planet, which has 10x Earth's normal gravity — Vegeta doesn't point out that his own homeworld had that level of gravity, but does point out, to Pui Pui's horror, that he's long been training in conditions which are hundreds of times Earth's gravity. Vegeta effortlessly blows the clown away without even needing to go Super Saiyan.
  • Due to being utterly unimpressed by Babidi's minions up to this point, Vegeta sees Majin Buu as something he could handle, calling him puny. It takes Gohan being killed (so he thinks) before he realizes that he was badly mistaken.
  • Vegeta thinks Magetta will be a pushover since he fits the definition of big and slow. He ends up badly mistaken after Magetta speeds up and becomes more powerful. The second time he is only saved by the rules, which really pisses him off.
  • Goku and Vegeta badly underestimated Goku Black since they were told that he was only going to be as strong as Super Saiyan 3 Goku at his maximum power. They didn't expect him to fight back against a Super Saiyan Blue or have his own energy sword.
• Undignified Death: During the Frieza Saga; after being beaten to a pulp by Frieza and shot through the heart, Vegeta dies while crying his eyes out and begging Goku to kill Frieza and avenge the Saiyans.
• Ungrateful Bastard:
  • Even if he's close to death, he'll still be enraged at someone if they try to help him due to his pride.
  • After Goku saves his life and heals him after he got manhandled by Recoome, Goku asks him to fight Jeice while he handles Ginyu. Instead, Vegeta chooses to ditch Goku so he can steal the Dragon Balls and hopes that Ginyu and Goku kill each other.
  • Frieza accuses him of this while beating him senseless, chewing him out on betraying him despite the fact that Frieza showed him "favoritism." Of course, Frieza's idea of "favoritism" was making Vegeta one of the three Saiyans he didn't kill.
• Unknown Rival:
  • To Goku Black. Vegeta made it his mission to hunt down and kill Black because he tormented Future Trunks and killed Future Bulma; Black sees Vegeta as nothing more than a Warm-Up Boss, even when Vegeta temporary overpowered him.
  • Downplayed in regards to his relationship with Frieza. Frieza is easily the one person Vegeta hates the most, and while the feeling gets mutual with Frieza once Vegeta turns on him, it's clear that he sees Goku as a greater adversary. This is driven home in Super: Broly, where he tells Paragus that Broly is free to kill Vegeta, but wants him to keep Goku alive so he can deal with him personally.
• Unskilled, but Strong: When he was first introduced, Vegeta was by far the strongest person in the series, easily outclassing everyone on Earth besides Goku. However, he had little experience dealing with someone equal in strength to him, best shown when he had a freakout when Goku beat him up using Kaio-ken X3 and chose to become a Great Ape to overpower him. It's not until his defeat on Earth that Vegeta began to acquire skills like sensing energy and suppressing his power. Even then, he relied on the Saiyans' ability to grow stronger from near death to become stronger. It wasn't until Goku became a Super Saiyan and completely surpassed him he started training and developing his fighting skills outside pure brute strength.
• Unsportsmanlike Gloating: Wastes no time in gleefully indulging on this towards Goku, at least to an extent, when Trunks beats Goten in the World Martial Arts Tournament.
• Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Not heavy on the comedy aspect, but even after his Heel–Face Turn, particularly in the Cell Saga, Vegeta was still being a prick. Even Piccolo and Tenshinhan treat him like this. Doesn't stop him suffering Humiliation Conga one after another.
• Unstoppable Rage: He's normally pretty angry already, but he goes ballistic when Cell kills Future Trunks and when Beerus slaps Bulma. In the Future Trunks Arc after he finds out that Goku Black killed his wife and is hunting down his future son with the intent to kill him too, he enters his training room and goes absolutely berserk, destroying the bots he trains with in his rage. When he and Black clash for the final time however he goes into a quieter rage and savagely pulverizes him (at least until Black's Adaptive Ability bails him out), intending to not relent until he's nothing more than a broken mangled corpse after what he did to his Future wife and son.
• Villainous Breakdown:
  • When Vegeta first fights Goku and finds himself struggling, his pride and vanity are pricked so hard that he completely forgets A) why he's on Earth in the first place and B) that he cannot breathe in space. He then tries to blow up the planet, and is narrowly prevented from doing so.
  • If you still, more easily, see him as a villain at this point, when Vegeta is fighting Frieza's true form. By the end, he's willing to destroy the planet he's fighting on to defeat Frieza given the angle in which he fired the blast. However, after Frieza deflects his most powerful blast with just a kick, he goes past Villainous Breakdown and into Despair Event Horizon, breaking down into tears.
• Villainous Rescue: On Namek when he saves Krillin and Gohan from Guldo, and then saving Gohan again from Frieza - pretty much so he can have an audience while he would annihilate his enemies in a display of great power.
• Villainous Valour: Even back during the days when he was an outright villain, his bravery was admirable. One of his most consistent traits is that he's genuinely courageous in a fight, as well as a true Determinator when it comes to pushing himself harder and further to achieve the standards he sets for himself.
• Villainous Widow's Peak: It's hereditary.
• Villain Protagonist:
  • During the Frieza Arc, he mercilessly slaughters Frieza's Elite Mooks and killed innocent Namekian men and children... at least somewhat just for the hell of it. Even when working together with Gohan, Krillin, and Goku against The Ginyu Force and Frieza, it was Teeth-Clenched Teamwork at best. And had no qualms about leaving Krillin or Gohan behind when things got rough, beating them up out of spite, or threatening to kill them if they got in his way, and believe me, he would have done it to ensure his goals are won.
  • He still fits this role during the Android/Cell Saga, being the Z-Fighters' Token Evil Teammate. Vegeta freely states he's still evil and is only willing to work with the heroes as long as their goals align with his, openly threatening to kill them once they diverge and hitting Trunks on top of that. He ends up being directly responsible for the final conflict when he deliberately lets Cell become perfect for the sake of a better fight and to stroke his ego.
• Villain Respect: Develops this to Goku over the course of the Frieza Saga. He still wants to kill Goku for the hard time he gave him on Earth, but he does genuinely respect Goku's strength and sees him as a necessary ally against Frieza. In the anime, Vegeta sees Goku as a Super Saiyan after he's revived. Instead of being jealous or angry, Vegeta is close to tears of joy...at least for a time being.
• Villainous Friendship: He initially appears to have this with Nappa. Despite Vegeta being the prince and Nappa his aide, Nappa constantly addressed Vegeta in a casual manner, calling him by his name without honorifics like "prince" or "sir". The two seemed to get along due to their sadistic senses of humor, and while Nappa did seem somewhat fearful of Vegeta due to their power gap, and Vegeta did scold Nappa a couple of times, overall, their relationship seemed positive, with Nappa being very loyal to Vegeta. Ultimately subverted once Nappa loses to Goku and suffers a badly damaged back; rather than help him out as Nappa expected, Vegeta declares the possibly crippled Nappa to be dead weight and kills him in cold blood. Though some media suggests even that was a twisted display of respect on Vegeta's part by giving Nappa a warrior's death rather then letting him live as a cripple.
• Virtue Is Weakness: Firmly believes this. It's part of the reason why he allows himself to fall under Babidi's mind-control. He wants to get rid of the feelings he developed for Earth and his family. By the end of the series, he come to embrace some of Earth's virtues like love and friendship.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Goku as of the Buu Saga. He still wants to fight and defeat Goku, but he's much more willing to fight alongside him in order to end a common threat. In a manga translation, he refers to Kakatrot/Goku as names fitting of a Beavis and Butt-head styled argument.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Has full control of his Great Ape form and has a technique specifically to artificially create full moonlight in order to transform when there is no natural moonlight.
• Wants a Prize for Basic Decency:
  • After Dende heals him as part of his Deliberate Injury Gambit during the fight with Frieza, the first thing Vegeta does afterwards is kick Dende aside and angrily tell him to be grateful he didn't decide to kill him. This is despite the fact that, as Dende himself pointed out beforehand, Vegeta was just as evil and cruel as Frieza and had personally killed numerous innocent Namekians, and Dende had no reason whatsoever to help him.
  • Before his Heroic Sacrifice during the Buu Saga, he asks Piccolo if he'll be able to see Goku in the Other World. Piccolo tells him point-blank that Vegeta is most likely going to Hell because, unlike Goku, he's spent most of his life being a selfish, evil bastard and one selfless act is not enough to make up for his sins. Vegeta accepts that and goes through with it.
• Warm-Up Boss: Goku Black calls Vegeta a warm-up after he impales him on his energy sword and he's ready for the main course, Son Goku.
• Warrior Prince: The ultimate anime example. He is the prince of the Saiyan, the strongest warrior race in the universe, and will remind anyone in the vicinity of this on a regular basis.
  Vegeta: I am the prince of all Saiyans.
• Weak, but Skilled: He of all people gets this on more than one occasion:
  • In his second battle with Zarbon, he found out that, even with the recent Zenkai boost, he was still weaker than his opponent. However. he was a battle-hardened fighter and Zarbon had grown rusty due to being around Frieza for years, so Vegeta managed to get around his defenses and land two crippling blows. No-Holds-Barred Beatdown ensues.
  • During his fight with Recoome, Vegeta showed much more skill than his opponent... and not enough power to actually hurt him, something Recoome mocked him for.
  • When dealing with Perfect Cell, Vegeta found himself just as outmatched in terms of physical power as he had been against Recoome, something Cell mocked him for just like Recoome. Then, much to Cell's horror, Vegeta revealed the Final Flash and nearly killed him with what was formed from his exceptional skill in ki manipulation alone— Cell had to dodge, and even then he received what would have been crippling damage against anyone without his immense regenerative power.
  • After Vegeta was defeated by Cell, Trunks stepped in with his newly revealed Ultra Super Saiyan form, powerful enough to overcome Cell... but too slow to actually hit him, in addition to draining his energy and stamina far faster than normal. Cell promptly revealed that Vegeta could have done it too (as seen when his muscles do bulk up somewhat); he just hadn't bothered because, being far more skilled than Trunks, he knew that it was useless because of said very drawbacks.
  • In Battle of Gods, he has the best showing against Beerus because of his good fighting sense, outperforming the far stronger SSJ3 Goku, Gohan, and Gotenk. Beerus even laments that he's "highly skilled, but lacks the power to match it."
• We Can Rule Together: Dub-induced example during the Saiyan Saga; before their fight, Vegeta offers Goku a partnership, declaring that with the two of them, they could rule the universe and have whatever they wanted. Goku declines, stating that he already has everything he ever wanted on Earth, and also states that, since Vegeta just killed Nappa, his longtime partner, in cold blood for losing to Goku, there's "not much job security". Goku's refusal ironically earned both men the throne in a different sort of way, as through years of trial and ascension dealing with common enemies, they became brothers-in-arms (though Vegeta will never admit this) as well as the two strongest mortals in their universe.
• Welcome Back, Traitor:
  • Despite selling his soul, murdering hundreds of people to provoke Goku to fight, and his actions being responsible for Buu's revival, Goku is happy to see him after he's semi-revived, even saying that he thought he was wiped out in Hell. Then again, if Vegeta wasn't there, Goku would have to fuse with Mr. Satan to have even a remote chance against Super Buu. Vegeta is also welcomed back with open arms among the rest of the group, but by that point, all was forgiven since those he killed were wished back and it was his plan that finally killed Majin Buu.
  • In Resurrection 'F', Frieza is more than willing to accept Vegeta back into his army on the condition that he kill Goku for him; of course, why Frieza would think Vegeta ever would want to work for him again after Frieza freely admitted to destroying his home planet, took every possible opportunity to demean and insult him, and brutally tortured him to death for fun back on Namek is anyone's guess. More jarringly, it's a mystery why anyone in the Z-fighters would openly assume that he'd accept the offer despite some of them being there to see the brutal treatment he got in the first place.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: After first losing his tail, Vegeta points out to a henchman that it doesn't matter since it'll grow back again soon. Then it doesn't grow back again and it's never mentioned again.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Although Vegeta is at best a dubious hero after the Frieza Saga he still frequently gets called out by his son, friends, and wife for the often idiotic decisions he makes based off of his pride, helping Cell and selling his soul to Babidi just to name a few.
• When He Smiles: After sacrificing himself to save everybody, he is shown genuinely smiling. It's even in the image for the Tear Jerker page.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: It doesn't come up very often, but he dislikes "squirmy things". Watch his reaction to meeting a family of giant worms inside Buu's body (though this scene is filler). "Kakarot, I think I'm going to puke."
• Wild Card: Towards the Z-Fighters. For the longest time, he had an Enemy Mine alliance with the protagonists to deal with bigger threats and, as was put on the Dragon Ball Dissection series, threatens both sides.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Started as one. He had to be taken by Frieza, one of the universe's most evil characters from his father, King Vegeta, when he was a little boy in what was heavily implied to be a deal Frieza forced upon him. Then, stated in the dub anyway, Vegeta is forced to obey Frieza's commands or else he would murder his dad, and despite this, Frieza killed him anyways, and then committed genocide against his own people, and even afterwards, he was treated by a slave by Frieza and his henchman, especially Frieza and Zarbon. When Goku learns of these details when Vegeta was dying from Frieza puncturing his heart with a death beam, even Goku took pity on him.
• The Worf Barrage:
  • Vegeta's Beam Spam is this in spades, as even when it does connect with the opponent, it fails to do anything significant, and yet it is one of his most common techniques.
  • Downplayed, but Final Flash becomes this too when it was used on Perfect Cell and Jiren. Both tanked the attack but Perfect Cell (who is leagues ahead of Vegeta) had chunks of his body obliterated and only survived as he dodged at the last second while Jiren was forced to defend at the last second.
• The Worf Effect:
  • In the Frieza Saga, he is always beaten up to show how dangerous a new foe is; best shown with Recoome who utterly toys with him and Frieza's true form who he can't even touch and is brutally murdered.
  • In the Android/Cell Saga, he gets crushed after allowing Cell to become Perfect. And again, when Cell returns as Super Perfect Cell, he didn't even lay a scratch on him.
  • Buu can't be harmed by Vegeta even after his massive power-up and self-destruction. In the Buu Saga, he performs even worse against Kid Buu, who nearly beats him to death several times. And he was already dead through most of it, so he couldn't help but suffer as well.
  • In Battle of Gods and its adaptation in Super, him and everyone who isn't Super Saiyan God Goku got their butts handed to them by Beerus.
  • Double subverted with Resurrection 'F' where Vegeta seemingly in his Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan transformation managed to gain the upper hand on Golden Frieza after leaving Goku to near-death with a sneak attack but just as he's about to finish the Frieza off, the latter decided to destroy Earth out of spite with Vegeta not being able to stop him in time, forcing Whis to rewind time and for Goku to finish off the Emperor himself.
  • Gets utterly dominated by Hit in the Champa Saga of Super to show off how hard of a time Goku will have against him.
  • Despite fighting as a Super Saiyan Blue, an already tired and fatigued Vegeta is knocked off-guard by the powerful and skilled Goku Black.
  • In the anime, Fused Zamasu's fight with Vegeta already demonstrates he's in a different dimension than Vegeta. But in the manga, it serves a handy purpose so Goku's "CSSB" state can look better fighting him.
  • In the manga, Jiren pulls a No-Sell on Vegeta and then beats him to death with ease. In the anime, it's more of a case of Worf Had the Flu. However, given how enormously Jiren powers up later, it likely wouldn't have mattered in the anime either.
• Worf Had the Flu: Somewhat in the Super manga. Vegeta getting owned by Black in their second fight is partly due to the fact that Vegeta accumulates damage and loses stamina (having used his only senzu bean early), while Black is healed twice by Future Zamasu when Vegeta actually manages to inflict some damage (which also makes Black stronger). If his confidence in their next encounter is any indication, Black probably would have won without Future Zamasu's intervention anyway (especially considering some of his techniques like his energy sword and ki whip paralyzer), but Vegeta would have been able to put up a much better fight if he wasn't the only one whose strength was progressively dropping.
• Wolverine Wannabe: Vegeta can be considered the manga equivalent to Wolverine. He's got a short yet muscular build with distinct hair, his signature outfits are blue and yellow, he has a Dark and Troubled Past, was in a Love Triangle (though Wolverine Did Not Get the Girl), possesses a Hidden Heart of Gold and tends to think with his fists.
• World's Strongest Man: Around late Z, he and Goku trade this title off between one another for Universe 7 quite often, though admittedly Goku has the edge more often.
  • In Battle of Gods, Beerus slapping Bulma presses Vegeta's Berserk Button so hard that he goes positively ape-shit and attacks at full force, becoming the first fighter to actually land a solid hit on the God of Destruction. At the end of the movie, Goku freely admits that at that time, Vegeta's strength surpassed his own.
  • In the anime version of the Universe Survival arc, he gains a currently-exclusive-to-him upgrade to Super Saiyan Blue that, while still weaker than Jiren, is shown to be at least as strong as Super Saiyan Blue Kaio-ken x20 Goku, and at max output surpassed that of freshly-ascended God of Destruction Top. As of the end of the arc, while Mastered Ultra Instinct is the strongest transformation achieved by a mortal in the entire franchise so far, Goku still needs to be in extreme peril to even call upon its weakened Omen form, while Vegeta was able to briefly access his new form even in-universe seconds after completely running out of stamina. As of the end of Super, at least, Vegeta is tied for strongest mortal in Universe 7 in terms of consistent output. In the manga continuation, Vegeta can instantly access his Evolved form throughout the Moro arc and gains a massive power boost through spirit training but as Goku learns to control Ultra Instinct, he falls behind again. The Ultra Instinct and Ultra Ego forms are such polar opposites it's very difficult to tell which is ultimately more powerful.
• Worthy Opponent:
  • He comes to sees Goku as this by the end of the series. Although he accepts that he may never surpass Goku, he still tries and Vegeta outright admits that his rivalry is the reason why he has become so powerful.
  • Deconstructed by Whis again: Whis thinks Vegeta is too much focused on being better than Goku to realize his own potential.
  • Vegeta's respect for Goku and seeing him as this causes him to completely flip out on Goku Black when he learns that the evil Kai has taken over Goku's body. He's come to respect Goku's raw tenacity and all the effort he put into being as strong as he was by the time of the Goku Black arc. Finding out that Zamasu simply tried to steal Goku's body, thinking he would gain all of Goku's power with none of the effort turned out to be a minor Berserk Button that even Vegeta didn't know he had. Bad enough to kill and torment Vegeta's family. That alone would earn his unending rage. But apparently, his respect for Goku had reached levels even he was unaware of, and learning that someone was just trying to steal what Goku earned, in part due to battle against Vegeta himself was just a bridge too far for the proud Saiyan prince.
• Would Harm a Senior: He ruthlessly killed elderly Namekians who were no threat and could not defend themselves, just because they wouldn't hand over a dragon ball.
• Would Hit a Girl:
  • Vegeta didn't hold back in his fight with Android 18. He still got utterly crushed.
  • In the Universal Survival saga, Vegeta also does not hold back against Hop. In this case, it is the opposite, as Vegeta beats the crap out of her without breaking a sweat when he decides to get serious.
• Would Hurt a Child:
  • He didn't mind beating Gohan near the end of the Frieza Saga and kneeing him in the stomach during the Namek Saga. Not to mention beating and nearly killing him in the story arc before.
  • He also coldly murdered several Namek children when he was searching for the Dragon Balls.
  • He struck Dende after he healed him from his self-inflicted wound because Dende originally left him to die.
  • Vegeta has no problem training his own children, although he looks more than a little startled when he actually punched an eight-year-old Trunks in the face. He even takes him to the park afterwards for landing a solid hit on his father's person.
  • He knocks out Trunks and Goten to make sure they won't interfere in his sacrifice, while he quickly and efficiently knocks out his son, Goku's son is given a pretty painful punch to the stomach.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: After Vegeta is restored to life by the Namekian Dragon Balls, Goku happily tells him that none of the evil people were wished back, meaning that Vegeta is now a good person. Vegeta is completely shocked and partly annoyed by Goku's observation.
• You Are Worth Hell: A literal case with his wife and son. He knows that he will go to Hell when he dies since he has done many horrible things in his life. It still doesn't stop him from laying down his life to stop Buu.
• You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: Vegeta usually calls Goku by his Saiyan birth name, "Kakarot," as a form of pride for their shared Saiyan heritage. When Vegeta opts to call him "Goku," something is going on.
• You Don't Look Like You: Vegeta's child design from Battle of Gods looks very different from his Bardock: The Father of Goku/anime/Super design. His Battle of Gods design is his adult self in child form while his anime appearance is based on his Bardock design. That being said, it is consistent with Toriyama’s style, as child Vegeta’s appearance remains same as his Battle of Gods design in Dragon Ball Super: Broly, both of which had greater involvement of Akira Toriyama and actually verifies Vegeta’s claims about Saiyan hair not changing, so this is more of a Depending on the Artist case.
• You Have Failed Me:
  • Vegeta kills Nappa after he fails to kill Goku, and does the same to a Saibaman for losing to Tien. Judging from Nappa's reaction to both these events, this is a new thing.
  • He was waiting for the right time to invoke this on Gohan and Krillin in the Frieza arc.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: In the anime, he has that expression when he realized the item that was used to keep him alive while Copy-Vegeta was prowling around, a pacifier, is used by babies to suck on something. He later declares that he would rather die than to have his life saved by a pacifier.
• You Shall Not Pass!: He delivers an epic one to Majin Buu. He stops Buu from going after Piccolo who is carrying an unconscious Goten and Trunks.
• Your Size May Vary: Vegeta is significantly short compared to the other Z-Fighterz, being perhaps 5'2'' without his hair, but his size varies greatly from series to series, and even within Z itself, he sometimes looks to be a foot shorter than Goku, or just a few inches shorter. In fact, in End of Z, he's actually noticeably shorter than his wife. And in Super he is significantly taller than Bulma who remains the same height as in Z.
• You Wouldn't Shoot Me: When Vegeta decides to help Cell become Perfect to get a better fight, Trunks intervenes, making it clear he intends to stop Cell even if it means killing Vegeta himself. Vegeta simply scoffs, convinced Trunks wouldn't have the guts to attack his own father, only to be caught flat-footed when Trunks, without hesitation, blasts him out of the sky. Vegeta is a bit surprised that he actually did it.

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