Why didn't Trunks & Goten have tails?

[the_abberration]

Actually, Vegeta's not aware of both transformations. Otherwise he wouldn't think that Goku, who is still in his base form, could possibly be a Super Saiya-jin. Consider the reason for the line in question. He was thinking that Goku was a Super Saiya-jin and reflecting that Legend said he could only maintain that power while in the transformed state.

And then, twice in the battle against Freeza, Vegeta statets that Freeza is fighting a Super Saiya-jin. First himself, after Krillin blasted him, and then Goku, right before Freeza killed him. Obviously he felt that a "Super Saiya-jin" was just an absurdly powerful Saiya-jin. Which both he and Goku were at this point.

He didn't know about the SSJ transformation itself, he believed that it was merely a level of power and that the SSJ of legend was probably around his own power during the Ginyu Force battle but, unlike him, possessed a tail and the ability to trasnform. And that was what made him so powerful. It wasn't until he saw the kind of power Goku had against Recoome that his opinion on the matter changed.

Point taken. In the picture, the LSSJ's Oozru appeared as if it had "golden" hair, so I assumed he knew about it. But as you pointed out Vegita did equate SSJ to a massive power-up. I concede to the fact that yours is the better explaination. I enjoyed the discussion.

[Xyex]

Hey, no sweat. 'twas fun! I still say that the 'golden' look to the Oozaru's fur was thanks to the lighting they used. At that point I don't think that Goku had even transformed yet so Toei wouldn't know what an SSJ looked like anyway. Mere coincidence. Though it's understanable where the confusion (and for some people, hope) comes from.