History Characters / DragonBallVegeta

* OutOfCharacterMoment: 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 BlatantLies. 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 the series.

** Ignored Trunks' existence when he was a baby, not even bothering to save him when Bulma and he were attacked by Android 19. It wasn't until Future Trunks was killed by Cell that he finally started to show interest in his child. Thankfully, he's shown to be a pretty good parent by the Buu Saga and now plays an active role in Trunks' and Bulla's lives.
** And speaking of Bulla, as soon as Bulma is pregnant again with her, 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.
* ParentalSubstitute: 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 defence against Frieza on Namek, and grows from there.

** To Goku, initially. They are both Saiyans who love to fight and challenge themselves. The difference is that Goku values life and fights to protect those he loves, while Vegeta couldn't have cared less about anyone but himself. In fact he is supposed to represent what Goku would have become if he was raised as a Saiyan, minus the power differential. [[NotSoDifferent The contrast lessens over time]] [[CharacterDevelopment as the two slowly influence each other through the course of the series: Goku comes to take pride in his Saiyan heritage and embrace it as part of him along with his Earth upbringing, while Vegeta eventually learns to value others and to accept and return love, things that were once near-completely alien to him.]]

* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Serves as this to Frieza during the Namek Saga. Both are truly evil with plans on conquering the galaxy, with Dende even remarking Vegeta is NotSoDifferent than Frieza, but Vegeta nonetheless has [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy a warrior's sense of pride]], VillainousValor, and is willing to work with the Z-Fighters against a common threat, while Frieza at his best is far more sadistic and cutthroat than Vegeta at his worst, and a DirtyCoward to boot. In fact, this is the entire reason Krillin [[GodzillaThreshold agrees to make Vegeta immortal using the Dragon Balls]], because while Vegeta is undoubtedly a monster, Frieza is just that much worse.

* MirrorCharacter: Vegeta and Goku, eternal rivals. Both are thrill-seeking Saiyan warriors always looking to test, expand, and overcome their limits. While Goku is a cheerful man who cherishes others, greatly values his Earthly upbringing, and was born weak among commoner parents, Vegeta is a rough, arrogant prince who initially cares only for himself, and was born very powerful and heir to the throne of his planet. However, under Goku's influence, even Vegeta comes to proudly defend Earth and their friends.

* MoralMyopia: He despises Frieza for destroying his planet and driving the Saiyan race to the brink of extinction. This is despite Vegeta being a {{Space Pirate|s}} who destroyed a number of species, as well as the fact that Vegeta not only killed his longtime partner Nappa for losing to Goku, but blatantly refused to even consider using the Dragon Balls to resurrect Raditz because Raditz was a weakling. Dende even states outright that Vegeta is NotSoDifferent from Frieza.

* NotSoDifferent: To Frieza during the Saiyan and Namek Sagas. As much as he hates Frieza, Vegeta is quite similar to him in many ways, particularly in his sadism; he refused to even consider reviving Raditz for being a weakling, killed Nappa in cold blood for [[YouHaveFailedMe losing to Goku]] even as Nappa begged him for help, did the same to a Saibamen for losing to Tien, and slaughtered an entire Namekian village, children included, with a PsychoticSmirk on his face. Dende even initially refuses to heal him for this reason, openly stating that Vegeta is no better than Frieza.

** Although he loved his father, King Vegeta and one of the reasons why he resents Frieza is that he killed him, King Vegeta did raise him to be cold and ruthless, and anything besides physical strength was for the weak.
** He was a lousy father to Future Trunks. Highlights include hitting him the moment the two start to clash (which is often), constantly being dismissive of his son, and betraying his trust to fuel his own self interest. He realizes the error of his ways when Cell kills Trunks, and come the Buu Saga, he's a much better parent.

** Acted like this towards Future Trunks, but learned the errors of his ways after Trunks got killed by Cell.

* TinyGuyHugeGirl: Formed this dynamic with Bulma until ArtShift happened and by ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' he is taller than Bulma.

* HatedByAll: For most of the franchise, nobody liked Vegeta, and given his [[SmugSuper arrogant]], [[ItsAllAboutMe selfish personality]]. He was ostracized and insulted by Frieza's empire [[FantasticRacism for being a Saiyan]], and the Z-Fighters could barely tolerate him and spent most of their time insulting him to his face, with Krillin coming right out and staying he wouldn't care one bit if Vegeta died; even Future Trunks, his own son, spent as much time [[CallingTheOldManOut berating Vegeta]] as he did [[WellDoneSonGuy seeking his approval]]. As revealed in ''Minus'', not even his fellow Saiyans really liked him, with Bardock outright describing him as a pain in the neck. This has leveled off come ''Super'' after Vegeta got a healthy dose of CharacterDevelopment, but even then, Goku, Gohan, and Vegeta's family are the only ones who are completely open with liking having him around.

** [[spoiler:Only for a minute at most, but after Bulma got slapped by Beerus in the ''Battle of Gods'' movie, 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, [[spoiler: 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]].

* RealityEnsues:
** Before his sacrifice against Majin Buu, Vegeta, being somewhat aware that DeathEqualsRedemption in the ''Dragon Ball'' world, optimistically asks Piccolo whether or not he would see Goku in the Other World. Piccolo tells him point-blank that unlike Goku, Vegeta has spent most of his life being a selfish, evil {{Jerkass}}, and one selfless act will ''not'' make up for it; therefore, Vegeta is most likely going to Hell when he dies. And indeed, he does.
** Working your body past its limits all the time will actually hinder you in the long run, since your body does need proper rest to get stronger. Being over-stressed also slows your reaction time since you're always tense. These weaknesses are noted by Whis.

* EveryoneHasStandards[=/=]EvenEvilHasStandards:

* EveryoneHasStandards[=/]EvenEvilHasStandards:

* EveryoneHasStandards:

* PayEvilUntoEvil: 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 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.

** He and Zarbon are also this. They both took pleasure in beating one each other, but eventually Vegeta wins thanks to the Saiyan’s ability to grow stronger from a near-death experience.

** On the subject of Black, Vegeta gets legitimately '''''pissed off''''' at Black when he learns that Black is actually Zamasu, having used the Super Dragon Balls to claim Goku's body for himself and starts screaming in his face about it with more rage than one would expect from Vegeta regarding anything relating to Goku. His ultimate reasoning for why he went off on Black? He's come to respect Goku's tenacity and courage, and seeing Zamasu try to steal Goku's power without putting in even a fraction of the effort that Goku exerted to get where he is turns out to be a BerserkButton for Vegeta. Apparently even ''Vegeta'' didn't realize it till it happened, either.

** In the Frieza Saga, he spent the majority of the arc avoiding a direct conflict with the tyrant, while using subterfuge and quick action to take the Namekian Dragon Balls for himself and pick off his men, reaching the brink of death more than once, so that he can use the Dragon Balls to wish for immortality, and thus finally be able to challenge Frieza. Unfortunately, the Grand Elder, whose life sustains the usage of the magical orbs, dies, and Frieza confronts him and his erstwhile allies, Krillin and Gohan. Seeing no other choice, they battle him head-on, but it's not enough. [[GondorCallsForAid Piccolo is revived and on Namek]] so that turns the tables against Frieza, but it quickly becomes clear that the battle is still a losing one. Thus, in an attempt to become a Super Saiyan, Vegeta has Krillin [[DeliberateInjuryGambit put him to the brink of death]] and Dende revive him, [[CameBackStrong giving him a dramatic power boost]]. It works, but Frieza still toys with him, and he loses all hope when he realizes he's not a Super Saiyan, leading to a savage beatdown at Frieza's hands before he executes him. Everything he did was to free himself from the yoke of Frieza, and all it earned him was [[AlasPoorVillain a pitiful death]].

* BloodKnight: Takes this Saiyan trait to such extremes that he allows Cell to become Perfect Cell in hopes of getting a greater battle from Cell. And boy, did he ever. Of course, being Vegeta, he didn't expect to be handily beaten while Cell was holding back most of his power the entire time.
* BloodUpgrade: When he realizes that Goku, a low-class warrior, has drawn his blood in their first fight, he goes absolutely nuts and tries to blow up the entire planet.

** [[WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged The Goku Button]]: Goku's strength was a walking BerserkButton for him during ''Z'' and even after he admitted Goku was better than him in his WorldOfCardboardSpeech at the end of ''Z'', ''Super'' shows it's still a source of annoyance when people rank him below Goku.

* WorldOfCardboardSpeech: During the final battle with Kid Buu, Vegeta has a long internal monologue in which he comes to terms with Goku being better than him. After spending most of the series resenting Goku for this and trying to surpass him by any means, Vegeta finally lets go of his grudge. The best part, [[Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF by him letting go he gains the ability to almost bridge the gap between them]]:
--> '''Vegeta:''' Amazing. How do you do it, Kakarot? [[{{Determinator}} You've always been like this, ever since the day I first met you; always ready to meet the next challenge, even if it's bigger than you are.]] It was the same on Namek, [[MyKungFuIsStrongerThanYours you had improved so much that it made Recoome like he was standing still. Your power had increased so dramatically since our battle on Earth that I thought you had done it, I thought that you had become a Super Saiyan!]] It tore me apart! How could a low-class soldier accomplish so easily what I... I had to struggle my whole life to achieve!? [[TheProphecy After three millennia, it has finally happened; a new Super Saiyan has emerged]], and, somehow, I have become this pauper's witness. Then at last, it happened. I too transformed. After living every moment of every day for the singular purpose of surpassing you, I finally became a Super Saiyan myself, the Prince had reclaimed his throne and fulfilled his destiny. [[CantCatchUp But no matter how strong I became, your power still exceeded mine.]] [[HeroicResolve At first, I though it was your loved ones; that it was your instinct to protect them that spurred you on and pushed you beyond your limits.]] But then I found myself with a family of my own, and my power... didn't increase at all. [[BloodKnight I used to fight for the sheer of pleasure of it; for the thrill of the hunt, oh I had the strength unmeasurable... I spared no one.]] [[EasilyForgiven And yet, you showed mercy to everyone, even your fiercest enemies, even me!]] [[TechnicalPacifist Yet, you never fought to kill, or for revenge.]] [[SpiritedCompetitor Only to test your limits and to push yourself beyond them, to become the strongest you could possibly be.]] [[BlueAndOrangeMorality How can a Saiyan fight like that and at the same time be so gentle that he wouldn't hurt a fly? It makes me angry just thinking about it!]] [[CharacterDevelopment But, perhaps it is my anger that has made me blind to the truth for so long. I see it now, this day has made it all too clear.]] [[WorthyOpponent You're better than me Kakarot. You are the best.]]

** [[TokenEvilTeammate He's so bad]] [[NoSocialSkills about pissing everyone off]] that it wasn't until ''Super'' (almost thirty years after he first came to Earth in-universe) that all of the Z Fighters began to form anything resembling friendship with him, and even then only [[MagneticHero Goku]], [[NiceGuy Gohan]], and [[ThePowerOfLove Vegeta's family]] are completely open with that they like having Vegeta around. Everyone else has a mutual {{Tsundere}} act going with him.

* HairstyleInertia: Much like Goku, Vegeta has the same hairstyle since he was a child. It remains in place even when wet. This is a racial trait of pure-blooded Saiyans. Their hair never changes. In ''GT'', he's [[https://64.media.tumblr.com/b00486ae520245af3d46ed12caeb6fde/tumblr_inline_p76pjn4DbH1ucoewy_1280.png cropped his hair]], but eventually goes back to [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/vsbattles/images/1/10/Vegeta_by_akumadesign500-d6k7rgh.png/revision/latest?cb=20150119151708 a shorter version of his familiar hairstyle]].

->'''Voiced by (Japanese):''' Creator/RyoHorikawa
->'''Voiced by (English):''' Creator/ChristopherSabat, Creator/LauraBailey (young, ''Kai''), Creator/JustinBriner (young, ''Super'') (Creator/{{Funimation}}); Creator/BrianDrummond (Ocean); Roger Rhodes (Blue Water); Ed Marcus, Doug Rand, Sharon Mann (AB Groupe/"Big Green"); Milton James (''Final Bout''); Raymond Buyco (Creative Products Corp., Philippines); Creator/KaijiTang (Bang Zoom!/Toonami Asia in ''Super'')
->'''Voiced by (Latin American Spanish):''' Creator/ReneGarcia '''(current voice)''', Creator/LuisDanielRamirez (young), Andrés Gutiérrez Coto (''Kai''), Carlos Díaz (young, ''Kai''), Xóchitl Ugarte (young, ''DBS: Broly'')
->'''Voiced by (Brazilian Portuguese):''' Alfredo Rollo
->'''Voiced by (French):''' Eric Legrand
-> '''Voiced by (Italian):''' Gianluca Iacono

-->''"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."''

** In both the Saiyan and Namek arcs, Vegeta is a full on GeniusBruiser and a brutal pragmatist. [[note]]He has no problem ganging up on Frieza with Gohan and Krilin to increase his own adds of victory or beheading Guldo while he's distracted freezing them, and his only objection when Krillin and Gohan intervene in his fight with Recoome is that they didn't attack aggressively enough. He concots effective plans on the fly, such as his impressive gambit to steal Frieza's dragon balls or taking advantage of Gohan's show at the Namekian village to ambush Dodoria and Zarbon while they're split up (knowing he can't beat both at the same time). Finally, he is shown to be a more skilled fighter than even Goku on top of being, until the end of the Namek arc, more powerful. His Galick Gun overpowers Goku's Kaio-Ken x3 Kamehameha despite his inferior base PowerLevels, he instantly recognizes Krillin's advanced Kienzan technique (telling Nappa to dodge it) and later uses his own version, he instantly picks up ki sensing while Goku needed years of training under Popo to master it, he can control his Oozaru state while no one else can, he develops a technique to be able to turn Oozaru even without a full moon (even giving a TechnoBabble explanation for it).[[/note]] He beats guys stronger than him ''three'' different times[[note]]His second bout with Zarbon, by throwing sand into his eyes and sucker punching him while his guard was down. His first fight with Goku, who temporarily exceeded him with Kaio-Ken x3 but was forced into a BeamOWar with Kaio-Ken x4 that exhausted most of his energy (he admitted he was done for regardless of whether or not Vegeta used Oozaru). And his brief clash with Oozaru Gohan, which he won by cutting off Gohan's tail with an energy disk.[[/note]] while putting up a damn good fight even when he's too outclassed to win [[note]]In his first fight with Zarbon, the power difference between them was about the same as that between himself and Cui, yet Vegeta got in a couple good hits and [[CurbStompCushion at least made Zarbon bleed]]. In his fight with Recoome, the power gap is similarly massive, yet he lands a lot of good hits on Recoome through a combination of determination and sheer strategy, noticeably destroying his armor, putting several gashes on his body, drawing BloodFromTheMouth, and leaving him covered in scratches and developing bruises. [[MadeOfIron Not that Recoome cares]].[[/note]], and so on. From the Android arc through to just after he's brought back by Baba in the Buu arc, Vegeta is LethallyStupid DumbMuscle who ''helps'' his enemies to power up, gets incredibly mad whenever someone suggests teaming up against an opponent, and is constantly schooled in matters of both power and skill by Goku (for example, Goku lecturing Vegeta about how his Ascended Super Saiyan form was the 'wrong' way to train). After quite a few BreakTheHaughty moments, in ''Super'', Vegeta leans back toward the former a lot more, particularly in later arcs, but this time with more unique traits and DivergentCharacterEvolution for himself.

** He loses almost all his pragmatistic thinking from the Cell Saga onward, willing to let his enemies transform or power-up so he can have a better fight, even if that means letting his enemy eat another person.

*** After getting a Zenkai power-up from Zarbon's beatdown, he returns the favor and kills him, and later takes Jeice down with little effort.

** When he decides to help Cell become Perfect to get a better fight, he scoffs at Future Trunks' threats, convinced that he wouldn't have the guts to attack his own father. He's InstantlyProvenWrong and caught flat-footed when Trunks, without hesitation, blasts him out of the sky.

* GoodParents: For all of his faults, Vegeta attempts to be this to Trunks. Although he showed some signs of ParentalNeglect early on -- he admits he didn't hold Trunks much when he was a baby -- Vegeta gradually grows out of it and becomes a caring yet gruff father to Trunks and Bulla, and they grow up to be well-adjusted young adults (if a tad spoiled, which comes more from their mother's family fortune than anything else).

** As ''Battle of Gods'' shows, he's skilled at making Takoyaki.

* HiddenDepths: Despite looking like all he does is train all day and nothing else, Toriyama has said that his "bargain sale" line possibly came from something he saw on television. Likewise, Toyotaro drew him dancing his bingo dance from a workout video on television. So yeah, the prince of all Saiyans has some curiosity for Earthling's television, folks.