Vegeta

Vegeta, or Prince Vegeta, is the prince of the fallen Saiyan race and arch-rival to Goku. He is the eldest son of King Vegeta, the older brother of Tarble, the husband of Bulma, the father of Trunks and Bulla, and the great-great grandfather of Vegeta

Jr. Alongside Goku, Gohan, and Piccolo, he is easily one of the most prominent characters in the series, receiving more character development after being introduced than a number of other characters. Regal, egotistical and full of pride, Vegeta was once a ruthless, cold-blooded warrior and outright killer,[4] but later abandons his role in the planet trade, instead opting to remain and live onEarth, fighting alongside the Z Fighters; all the while striving to become the universe's most powerful warrior, specifically with the mission to defeat and surpass Goku in power.[5] His character evolves from villain, to anti-hero to protagonist through the course of the series.

History
Vegeta was once a young member of the Saiyan Army under the Planet Trade Organization, but after his race's demise, he worked alongside Nappa and Raditz, directly under Frieza. He later joins the Z Fighters while battling alongside them onNamek, and returns to Earth with them as well, where he remains for the rest of his life.

Appearance
Vegeta is 5'5" tall (in comparison with Goku's 5'9" height). His hair firmly stands upwards, and has a prominent widow's peak. Like most Saiyans, he possesses black eyes and jet black hair, though his hair is infrequently black with red highlights in various media (posters, trading cards, and similar merchandise in particular). A main characteristic of Vegeta's is the fact that he is the only living Saiyan who has continued to don the traditional Saiyan armor. He has also been seen wearing alternate forms of the armor, customizing the armor to better suit his persona. However, once he integrates into Earthly society, he abandons the Saiyan armor, at first gradually inDragon Ball Z, then completely in Dragon Ball GT, in favor of clothing more characteristic of a human (Vegeta's uniform transition is symbolic of his adjustment to a human lifestyle).[citation needed] However, even after Vegeta loses the armor inDragon Ball Z, he is always seen wearing iconic white gloves and white boots in battle. During Dragon Ball Z: Revival of "F", Vegeta wore a new battle armor, with a black jumpsuit and altered chest plate. Vegeta once had a tail, but it was cut off byYajirobe to remove Vegeta from his Great Ape state during theVegeta Saga.

Vegeta's hair never grows in length. He states to Bulma, in an episode of the Perfect Cell Saga, that a pure-blooded Saiyan's hair does not change from the day they are born, aside fromSuper Saiyan transformations.

If observed closely, Vegeta actually changes appearance physically over the course of the series. He was originally intended to appear deceptively small, lean, and less threatening in comparison to his massive partner, Nappa. However, by the end of Dragon Ball Z, he seems to be taller and more muscular, the length of his hair having also been shortened, though he is still comparatively shorter than Goku, who also appears to have grown taller. Vegeta's facial features also look more distinct and sharply defined as the series progresses, making him look older (though this may be attributed to gradual aging). It should be noted however that some of these changes (mainly the more defined facial and anatomical features in most male characters, and the increase in muscularity in all characters) are due to, at least partly, a visible shift in Akira Toriyama's artistic style over the course of the series.

Personality
Vegeta is arrogant throughout the series, and becomes bitter due to the abuse his race suffered at the hands of Frieza. Following the destruction of his home world Planet Vegeta, his hatred toward Frieza grows. His royalty seems to have bestowed upon him an inflated sense of superiority, holding himself above nearly everyone he encounters. He is immensely proud of his Saiyan heritage and believes his race to be the most powerful in the universe. As the Prince of a demolished Planet Vegeta, Vegeta is initially introduced as an unrepentant villain. Judging from his evil intentions before joining the Z Fighters, Vegeta has been consistently characterized as extremely arrogant, vengeful, and at times, cold. Many of Vegeta's early heroic acts are because of self-interest or revenge, although he later settles down and grows fond of Earth as his home, raising a family with Bulma. Having been born into the upper tier of Saiyan society, Vegeta was fixated on achieving the legendary status of Super Saiyanand becoming the most powerful warrior in the universe.

Vegeta is more of a tactical fighter who often rushes in the brawl without hesitation. However, his rage or arrogance often causes him to underestimate his opponent. His royal blood and intense fighting style has both benefited and harmed him in many battles. Vegeta has been shown to be one of the more intelligent characters of the series, as well as one of the most serious, rarely exhibiting humor. When he does so, his humor is often very dry and in some rare occasions it is based on black humor.[citation needed] However, he does delight in mocking his enemies, as demonstrated when he offers to reconstruct Android 18 into a "toaster" or a "washing machine" (FUNimation dub only). He also shows his bleak sense of humor towards Goku when he was about to battle him in the World Martial Arts Tournament. Normally, his ego and arrogance overshadow his positive qualities.

Vegeta is extremely aggressive and cold-blooded. Since his childhood, Vegeta has proven himself a ruthless killer, merciless like most Saiyans. During theNamek Saga, he began to exhibit changes; rather than killing Krillin or Gohan as he promised in the previous saga, he instead forges an alliance with them. Throughout the first half of the Frieza Saga, whomever he defeated, he killed without mercy. His only sign of mercy is when he let Namekian Frog Captain Ginyu live, taking delight at the notion of Ginyu being stuck in the frog's body as punishment enough. After his defeat at the hands of Frieza, Vegeta tearfully explains to Goku that Frieza forced him to be ruthless and that he never had the chance to be anything else (implying that he could have been kinder and more merciful were it not for Frieza). From then on, Vegeta softened up and occasionally showed compassion to his new family, Bulma,Trunks, and Bulla. In addition, during the Kid Buu Saga, he notably became enraged when he learned that Goku's deal with Old Kai involved allowing the latter to take advantage of Bulma, feeling it was very senseless of Goku. It was not until the Babidi Saga that he gave in to his obsession of overtaking Goku in might, becoming a Majin and "evil" once more. This was a desperate, failed ploy to restore his former wickedness, believing it to have been the source of his true power. Goku believes Vegeta is bluffing, and correctly so; Vegeta demonstrates his prevailing softness in hugging Trunks for the first time and telling him that he is proud to be his father, before performing a sacrificial Final Explosion against Majin Buu. Arguably, his most defining trait is his rivalry with Goku and obsession to surpass him in power. In Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn, he goes so far as to break down in tears over his inability to surpass Goku. However, this obsession has led him to save Goku's life on several occasions, insisting that only he will defeat Goku. When Goku sacrifices himself to save the Earth from being destroyed by Cell, Vegeta is devastated to the point that he vows never to fight again.

From the beginning of the series to near the end, Vegeta is shown to be exceptionally vain and egotistical. A tragic example of this is in his fight withSemi-Perfect Cell. Though he could have easily destroyed this weaker form of Cell, his arrogance bested him, and he purposely let Cell absorb Android 18 just to have a challenge in Cell through which to test his power. While fighting Super Buu, as well as while fighting Janemba on a different occasion,[6] Vegeta vehemently opposed fusion with Goku due to his pride, but Goku managed to persuade him. Later, Vegeta becomes more willing to fuse, going so far as to propose it himself in the battle against Omega Shenron in Dragon Ball GT. On several occasions, Vegeta conceitedly underestimates his opponents; in the cases of Perfect Cell and Kid Buu, Vegeta was fooled by their diminutive appearances, believing that they had only "shrunk", which is somewhat ironic, given his own short stature, yet large power. In some instances, Vegeta has been seen afraid of opponents such as Frieza, Broly,[7] or Beerus (he does everything he possibly can to ensure that the God of Destruction is not angered when the latter arrives at Bulma's birthday party).[8] However, he often visibly has a change of heart, displays his pride, and takes to the fight.

"The boy doesn't mean any harm, Zarbon. He just hasn't learned how to control his passion. Give him the hardest assignment that you have, and Vegeta... do come back alive."

— Frieza when responding the young Vegeta's plea for another combat assignment.

His opinion of Goku always being one step ahead of him, even though Goku is a lower class Saiyan, runs the gamut from contempt to rivalry, and later to respect and friendship. Because of his arrogance, attitude and past wrongdoing, Vegeta gains a lot of disdain from those around him. Naturally, Goku always takes an optimistic opinion about Vegeta. Vegeta almost always addresses Goku by his Saiyan birth name, Kakarot, but has on rare occasion addressed him as Goku. After the defeat of Kid Buu, he has a change of heart and his angry grudge against Goku becomes a friendly rivalry. Though he is still highly annoyed with Goku on the grounds of his immature tendencies.

Though they grew up apart, Vegeta does care about his younger brother Tarble. Though he is highly disappointed with Tarble's extreme lack of fighting power despite the fact he comes from the powerful royal bloodline.

At the end of the Buu Saga and in Dragon Ball GT, Vegeta is much more relaxed. He is often seen smiling and cracking jokes, such as when he forced Trunks to enter the 28th World Martial Arts Tournament, threatening to "cut his allowance" if he did not enter the competition. Often being more caring and kind to his family, especially his daughter, Bulla, Vegeta admittedly has a kinder side, per his adjustment to Earthly life. The best example of caring for his family is the aforementioned example of hugging Trunks before he fights Majin Buuas Majin Vegeta. However, Vegeta can still be seen sitting on the sidelines, while everyone else is happy, enjoying themselves in the thick of things. Later on, Vegeta developed a strong age-crisis. For example, when driving home with Bulla and seeing two teenagers in another vehicle flirting with his daughter, he ignores them. After a while, one of the boys calls Vegeta a "geezer", causing him to become angry and break their car.

In the anime, Vegeta is shown to have a fear of worms, as when the small roundworms appear behind a larger one when inside Buu, Vegeta bolts behind Goku.[9] Vegeta and Bulma initially meet on planet Namek, but neither actually talked to the other; Bulma was too frightened, and Vegeta did not care, especially when his main concern was to find the Dragon Balls. However, their first interaction with each other was prior to his rematch with Zarbon, to which Vegeta threatened to kill both Bulma and Krillin. The first time any affection is displayed between them is in "Immortality Denied", in which Vegeta, during a conversation with Gohan, refers to Bulma as a "Gorgeous Girl" in the Ocean dub.

Despite their rocky start, Bulma was more than willing to put up with Vegeta, even if he scared her. Upon his resurrection after being killed by Frieza, and then being teleported to Earth, Bulma invites Vegeta to live at Capsule Corporation as he has nowhere to go, on the condition that he does not touch her. Vegeta reluctantly accepts her offer, but quickly leaves Earth in search of Goku after he discovers his unwillingness to return to Earth from the Namek Dragon. During his absence on Earth, Bulma begins to slowly but surely show signs of affection towards the Saiyan Prince, after having a dream about him; she also shows a deep concern for him after being informed that his ship is about to run out of fuel soon. Her then boyfriend Yamcha not only begins to get jealous, but also shows resentment towards Vegeta, who has no idea about Bulma's feelings towards him.

At one time, Vegeta is seriously injured after his training capsule explodes while he tries to train under 300 times Earth's gravity. Bulma shows immense concern for Vegeta and tries to convince him to stop training and to rest. Vegeta defiantly attempts to return to his training, but collapses, and Bulma then takes him to Capsule Corp to nurse him back to health. Later, Vegeta awakes to find Bulma asleep beside him, and wonders why she's there (having no idea of Bulma's feelings for him). When Bulma sees Vegeta return to training, she firmly tells him to stop because of his injuries, but Vegeta refuses to listen, and shouts at her to leave him alone. This leaves Bulma feeling very bitter about Vegeta and his stubbornness for a while afterwards.

After approximately a year since Future Trunks' warning about the Androids, Bulma breaks up with Yamcha and becomes romantically involved with Vegeta, ultimately leading to the conception of Trunks. However, even the birth of their son was not enough to bring the two together, as of that time Vegeta prioritized his rivalry with Goku before anything else, even his relationship with Bulma. Arguments were common between the two, with Bulma often calling Vegeta a "jerk" and Vegeta showing little to no care or emotion for either his son or his future wife; this was demonstrated during an incident in which Bulma's plane is destroyed and their lives are at risk. When Future Trunks saves the two and questions Vegeta as to why he did not try to save them, Vegeta responds that he has "more important things to worry about than that foolish woman and her blasted child." Bulma later humiliates Vegeta in front of everyone when she says that every time he sticks his "Ugly Mug" up to Trunks, it makes Trunks cry, much to Krillin and Gohan's amusement and Vegeta's anger.[10]

Vegeta's and Bulma's indifference to each other during the Androids Saga strongly implies that the circumstances surrounding their child's conception was no more than a brief fling; Future Trunks states to Goku that in his timeline, even though Bulma fell in love with Vegeta, they did not stay together very long because their attraction was solely based on passion and loneliness.[11] Also, in the alternate timeline, Future Vegeta was killed by the Androids soon after Trunks was born, so his relationship with Bulma did not have a chance to progress in that timeline.

However, the seven years of peace that came after the conclusion of the Cell Games would suggest that the two settled their differences and began to have a much better relationship than previously. Vegeta eventually became fond of his family in the Majin Buu Saga, but is ashamed of himself for doing so, wanting to be the coldhearted prince he once was. Nonetheless, Vegeta eventually realizes what is really important in his life, and sacrifices himself to save his family and Earth when fighting Majin Buu.

Another more comical show of his fondness towards Bulma can be seen in his angry reaction when he finds out that Goku promised Old Kai that he could kiss her (in the original version, Goku promised to show Old Kai some sexy pictures of Bulma), causing Vegeta to throw a fit, yelling to Goku "Let him kiss your woman!", to which Goku's replies "Your wife is prettier than mine!" (in the manga, Vegeta yells at Goku to show the Old Kai pictures of Chi-Chi, to which Goku responds "But Chi-Chi would kill me! *And she's flat-chested...*).

To prove that Bulma really has grown on him, he is seen in rage after Beerus slapped Bulma; Master Roshiand Goku note that Vegeta has grown powerful when it angered him.[8]

Childhood
Vegeta is born around Age 732. His father, King Vegeta, is the King of theSaiyan race. In his youth, Vegeta saw his father being stepped over by theGod of Destruction Beerus.[8] King Vegeta and his race are also under the rule of the interplanetary warlord Frieza, and the former was also forced by Frieza to surrender him to the latter through undisclosed means. While under Frieza's grip, Vegeta was pressured by Frieza to do his bidding or else Frieza would murder Vegeta's father.

A few time before the genocide of the Saiyans, Vegeta is shown effortlessly destroying 6 to 7 Saibamen during a training, and soon later conquering a planet for Frieza.[12] Despite this, Frieza kills King Vegeta anyway after the latter attempted to form a mutiny against him to free Vegeta. While Vegeta is on another planet, Frieza destroys the Saiyan planet, Planet Vegeta. As a result, all the Saiyans (except for Goku, Raditz, Vegeta, Nappa, Turles,Paragus, Broly and Tarble) are killed.Frieza keeps Vegeta, Nappa, and Raditz as slaves to do his bidding, while Goku escapes the devastation by being sent to cleanse Earth of its inhabitants moments before Planet Vegeta was destroyed. In the manga chapter of the Namek Saga, Vegeta is angry over working under Frieza. Vegeta is especially reluctant to take orders from Frieza's right-hand man, Zarbon, whom Vegeta states is responsible for mocking him for many years and "working him like a slave." Despite being Frieza's underling, Vegeta constantly and proudly calls himself the "Prince of all Saiyans." Vegeta does not refer to himself as the "King of all Saiyans", possibly out of respect for his father, a refusal to admit the extinction of the Saiyans, or because he was never formally declared King. Vegeta planned to assassinate Frieza several times. However, after witnessing Frieza's incredible display of power when he destroyed an entire planet and the rebels who opposed Frieza on it with a single gigantic energy ball fired from his index finger, Vegeta decided that he would need to wait before challenging Frieza.[13] After an assignment to wipe out the planet Shikk alongside his comrades Raditz and Nappa, Vegeta restrained Nappa when the latter attempted to brashly attack Frieza, Zarbon, and Dodoria for mocking the manner in which they took out the planet as he realized that his group did not stand a chance against Frieza's Elite. Nonetheless, he was still visibly angry and had to restrain himself from attacking when Zarbon mocked him as he was leaving.

At one point during his time serving under Frieza, Vegeta gets into a squabble with the Ginyu Force memberGuldo, over how Vegeta is more important in the eyes of Frieza. Guldo mocks Vegeta for being a Saiyan and says he should take orders from them, and Vegeta responds that Guldo takes orders from Frieza the same as he does and mocks Guldo for being a "four-eyed freak". As the angry Guldo prepares to attack Vegeta, Frieza arrives and blasts Guldo away. Frieza then has Vegeta come with him to conquer a planet.