Theory: Vegeta's beatdown by Kid Buu pushed him into "good guy"

[Fionordequester]

Whether I agree with it or not, DBZ's after-life seems to operate under a "merit-based" system. A person can be dragged down by their past sins, even if they're currently good... Or they can coast by on their past good deeds, even if they start making questionable decisions later.

So, when Vegeta sacrificed his life against Fat Buu... It didn't change his fate. It DID, however, push his "alignment" way further into "Good" than it was previously. So what would put it over the top?
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1) Willingly becoming fusion material for Vegetto

2) Getting the ever-loving snot beaten out of him by Kid Buu, just so Goku could charge the Spirit Bomb
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From a practical perspective, it was stupid for Goku to not just bring in Gohan to finish the job. From a big picture perspective, however? Perhaps this was the final push Vegeta needed to be eligible for heaven. His "Final Atonement" was almost enough... He just needed a little something extra to put him over the top.

What do you all think?

[Peach]

I don't know about Vegeta getting into heaven, but the Kid Buu fight definitely pushed him into being a good guy. I remember when he was narrating internally watching Super Saiyan 3 fight Kid Buu, he finally accepted that Goku was stronger. He finally put his ego and pride behind him, let go of the resentment, and acknowledged Goku as a superior warrior.

The Kid Buu fight was pivotal to him letting go of his pride.

Vegeta would not be the same character in the Dragon Ball Super or Dragon Ball GT epilogue series if he didn't accept Goku as the best during that fight. He would still be a guy pushing himself to be better than Goku out of jealousy and arrogance.

[theherodjl]

Vegeta was already a good guy and had been for awhile prior to fighting Pure Boo. However, Vegeta was still holding onto the obsession of defeating Goku until the final battle with Boo gave him his moment of clarity to simply let go of said-obsession. Allowing Babidi to take control of his mind and kill people at the Tenkaichi was a moment of pure desperation on Vegeta's part and not indication that he was still evil to any significant extent, similar to how a person suffering an addiction would perform deeds that allow them to act on their addiction against the guilt & shame of it.

[miguelnuva1]

Goku didn't bring Gohan because Vegeta said he would get absorbed again. Wierd because their were several ways around that.

Hell Goku and Vegeta could have fused while Fat Buu was getting beat, the Kid Buu battle actually had several other ways out.

[LoganForkHands73]

I always see Vegeta being spared as a "good" person as a token reward from the higher levels of the universe for having helped save everyone, not a significant marker of his moral alignment. For the audience, we realise his goodness in his acknowledgement of Kakarot as his superior, but I think the only really notable good things he did throughout the fight was allowing himself to get the shit kicked out of him by Kid Buu to stall for Goku, and coming up with the Genki dama plan. There was probably much more he could have done, but the simple fact was, he was still too proud to fuse with Goku a second time and in classic Dragon Ball fashion, he spends a majority of the battle standing on the sidelines letting Goku have his turn even though the fate of the universe is at stake.

It's certainly a major turning point for Vegeta but realistically, if the situation were less dire, he should have still been bound for hell. I see it as Shenron, Yama or whoever else up there (i.e. God Toriyama) giving him a second chance to fully atone for himself with his new lease on life.

[Angelus]

On a side note, do you think he was SSJ2 when he fighting Kid Buu?

[Fionordequester]

I think the only really notable good things he did throughout the fight was allowing himself to get the shit kicked out of him by Kid Buu...

As someone who's "gotten the shit kicked out of himself" before, I feel like that's more significant than you realize .