Does anyone else think that Vegeta joining the Dragon team was ridiculous in retrospect?

[jjgp1112]

Gonna address this more specifically after reading through the thread: This complaint is going in my "Stuff I never personally had a problem with but other fans think is irredeemably awful" file with "Gohan's role in the Buu arc" because I have the same viewpoint on this as I do on that:

Could it have been written better? Sure. I get the complaint.

Do I care that it wasn't? Not really.

Vegeta is still an asshole at the start of the Cell arc and the story doesn't shy away from that. I don't think you're supposed to view him as a changed man at that point.

It may not be much of a defense, but him joining the Dragon Team feels like one of those "it just kind of happened" things- Like a lot of stuff in life. It was a situation no one in-universe really saw coming, it was simply a consequence of recent (and future) events.

I guess this sums up the point here very well.
Vegeta allying himself with the team despite being a complete asshole and very much still evil is a good idea, Namek itself does a good job on it. But, as many people who hate the guts out of GT love to say: "Good idea, bad execution, I hate it."

Nobody's saying "Go there and kill Vegeta, for he has committed many sins and we hate evil characters!" What we're saying is, "This part of the story should've been written better."

The Dragon Team shouldn't have accepted Vegeta so openly. Again, if after Raditz was defeated, Bulma invited Piccolo to her home, flirted with him and he resigned himself to a life of peace, people would be complaining about that just as much.

But what Toriyama did with Piccolo works: He's still evil, the Dragon Team still don't trust him 100%, he kidnaps Gohan still fully intent on world domination, the Dragon Team can't do anything about him because he's stronger than all of them combined, he then flies off somewhere to do his own thing. It's only after he proves he changed that the others start accepting him.

Piccolo's redemption from a storytelling standpoint makes sense, Vegeta's doesn't. Simple as that.

But Vegeta is still largely treated with scorn by the cast up until the Buu arc. Even Bulma says something to the effect of "You' think I'd still live with that jerk?!" AFTER letting him give her the ol' creampie special! Vegeta just kinda hangs around and it's mutually beneficial for both him and the Earth folks to selectively tolerate each other despite the variety of problems Vegeta brings, too. Vegeta's going to fuck things up, but he's also one of the few people strong enough to fix the very things he breaks. In essence...he's a more volatile, narcissistically motivated version of Goku.

[GreatSaiyaman123]

You know, I think you guys are overreacting here. Bulma was the only one fine with Vegeta. Everyone else was still scared of Vegeta or hated his guts. It's not until the start of the Boo Saga that the gang is fine with him. He was basically still one of the antagonists for most of the Cell Saga.

Not everyone is practical and proactive, so why should fictional characters?

THANK YOU!

This isn't even aimed at any particular post or idea in this thread, but I'm tired of people saying a character making wrong choices is bad writing. Specifically someone like Vegeta, whose main goal is to fulfill his own ego to the detriment of others.

They were whereas King Piccolo and the Saiyans were concerned, it's from Cell onward that the inaction shit starts.

Not really? Piccolo wanted to kill everyone, and the effort was mostly coordinated by Roshi (a more sensible character who's not as active later in the series). Goku's first reason to jump in was blind rage to avenge Kuririn's death. And the Saiyans were literally coming for them! I think Oolong even suggested wishing for Shenlong to destroy their spacepods, but I might be mistaken.

Gonna address this more specifically after reading through the thread: This complaint is going in my "Stuff I never personally had a problem with but other fans think is irredeemably awful" file with "Gohan's role in the Buu arc" because I have the same viewpoint on this as I do on that:

Could it have been written better? Sure. I get the complaint.

Do I care that it wasn't? Not really.

Vegeta is still an asshole at the start of the Cell arc and the story doesn't shy away from that. I don't think you're supposed to view him as a changed man at that point.

It may not be much of a defense, but him joining the Dragon Team feels like one of those "it just kind of happened" things- Like a lot of stuff in life. It was a situation no one in-universe really saw coming, it was simply a consequence of recent (and future) events.

This is how I feel about any criticism towards Dragon Ball (Even including Super and GT, to a certain extent). I've known this series for so long that I just accept this is how these characters act. So Gohan can't commit himself to training? Well, that's just the kind of person who he is. He gets cocky and fumbles the bag vs Boo? Well, it happens.

That's what liking a series so much for so long does to you. You see them as real people, making questionable choices real people do. Except it all goes well for them in the end.

[tonysoprano300]

Genuine question, how did Vegeta prove his worth?

Imagine a scenario where someone vandalizes your car, then later they come back and help you repair it.

Would you say that you gained something from that ordeal? If the only time Vegeta really helps is after he fucks things up tremendously, then is the Dragon team gaining something from him?


I get people love Vegeta(I like him too) but thats a crazy standard to hold him too

Well, in the context that I needed my car to take my mom to the ER. He fucked it up, yes, but then was key in making it work and my momma made it to the hospital in time, with some bumps on the road, sure. His worth being the best mechanic available at that time.
My answer sounds like a body shop scam, lol, but I think the point stands. He's a dick but when he has to he turns up and delivers beyond what others can do.

I actually never liked him.

Yea but you would have been better off had someone not vandalized your car to begin with, all that person did was waste your time and add stress to your life.

[kemuri07]

But I mean what were they going to do? Tell him to fuck off? Post-Frieza, the only person who could possibly handle Vegeta was fucking around in Space. They only tolerated him because he was the second strongest of the team, and that his near obsession with besting Goku is at least convenience in that his whole "ONLY I CAN DEFEAT KAKAROT" means that he will sometimes help take down the bad guys.

I mean it's not like Vegeta was drinking brewskies with the bros, so even while he was living at Capsule Corpse, his relationship with the Z team was volatile--at best.

It's almost like you didn't read my response beyond the first sentence.

#3: Only Goku could have physically removed him from Earth.

Reply to #3: Mafuba. Put him in a rice jar and chuck him into space.

And most likely to even achieve any of that would mean half of their team getting merced even if they did pull it off, and a royally pissed off Vegeta stomping around earth if they didn't. If we're going to take this serious than the consequences and collateral damage that could incur if they tried to fight Vegeta had to have been on their mind. And with knowing that Goku was going to come back--It just wasn't worth the risk.

[AliTheZombie13]

But Vegeta is still largely treated with scorn by the cast up until the Buu arc.

Only Kuririn and Tenshinhan ever display any sort of resentment towards Vegeta.
Everyone else treats him like a good, misguided man.

In the Boo arc, everyone acts shocked that Vegeta is being evil and I'm like...
"Did y'all get amnesia and pretend the Cell arc didn't happen or something? He never redeemed, why are y'all acting like he did?!"

In fact, Vegeta suggested letting Cell do as he pleases and absorb the Cyborgs to Piccolo, and when Piccolo advised him not to do that, Vegeta's response was to lash out at Piccolo, saying if he dared stop him from getting what he wanted, Vegeta would kill him.

So, let's recap: Vegeta screwed things up in the Cell Saga by letting the Cyborgs get activated, threatened to kill the Dragon Team if they dared to intervene, just threatened to screw things up even more, just threatened to kill Piccolo if he tried to intervene again, and Piccolo did absolutely nothing in response.

Mind you: At this moment, Piccolo was stronger than Vegeta. So the excuse of "They can't do anything about Vegeta because he's the strongest" can't be applied here. The excuse of "We need him" can't be applied either since Vegeta just shouted out loud he will sabotage the team and make things worse, again.

Even Bulma says something to the effect of "You' think I'd still live with that jerk?!" AFTER letting him give her the ol' creampie special!

I don't know what she says in the dub, but she never says anything of the sort in Japanese.
In the manga, it's even worse, they never interact or talk about their relationship until Vegeta kills the spectators.
And what she says in response is basically, "I can't believe Vegeta would do something like this..."
And I'm like, "How can you not believe it? That's literally what he threatens to do all the time."

[jjgp1112]

This is how I feel about any criticism towards Dragon Ball (Even including Super and GT, to a certain extent). I've known this series for so long that I just accept this is how these characters act. So Gohan can't commit himself to training? Well, that's just the kind of person who he is. He gets cocky and fumbles the bag vs Boo? Well, it happens.

That's what liking a series so much for so long does to you. You see them as real people, making questionable choices real people do. Except it all goes well for them in the end.

This is why I've never had a problem with the Cell saga being driven by the crew making mistakes - all the mistakes were perfectly in character, and when they were out of character like Gohan, that was the whole point. It's a fascinating dive into every character's flaws.

The Buu saga is where it descends into "Idiot ball," though, and has some legit "bAd wRiTiNg"

[jjgp1112]

Only Kuririn and Tenshinhan ever display any sort of resentment towards Vegeta.

??? Piccolo sure as hell doesn't - the only positive thing he has to say about him is his tactical genius, otherwise their relationship is entitrely antagonistic and Piccolo is disgusted at the suggestion of wearing his armor.

Trunks - At one point he finds himself questioning what the fuck his mom ever saw in that asshole

Yamcha - HAHAHAHAHA thanks for playing

That leaves us with Goku and Gohan - the former the most apathetic of the crew, the latter the most polite and nonconfrontational of the crew; hell, the most Gohan even says about Veggie here is "Wow, if THAT motherfucker is apologizing, we are absolutely fucked" which speaks volumes of his opinion about him.

In the Boo arc, everyone acts shocked that Vegeta is being evil and I'm like...
"Did y'all get amnesia and pretend the Cell arc didn't happen or something? He never redeemed, why are y'all acting like he did?!"

Well, yeah. He had spent the last 7 years evidently being pretty chill and behaving himself, and his actions at the end of the fight with Cell suggested he was slowly but surely learning how to not be a piece of shit. Seven years of being a relatively regular guy is more than enough time for people to think you've changed and end up surprised by a relapse.

In fact, Vegeta suggested letting Cell do as he pleases and absorb the Cyborgs to Piccolo, and when Piccolo advised him not to do that, Vegeta's response was to lash out at Piccolo, saying if he dared stop him from getting what he wanted, Vegeta would kill him.

So, let's recap: Vegeta screwed things up in the Cell Saga by letting the Cyborgs get activated, threatened to kill the Dragon Team if they dared to intervene, just threatened to screw things up even more, just threatened to kill Piccolo if he tried to intervene again, and Piccolo did absolutely nothing in response.
Mind you: At this moment, Piccolo was stronger than Vegeta. So the excuse of "They can't do anything about Vegeta because he's the strongest" can't be applied here. The excuse of "We need him" can't be applied either since Vegeta just shouted out loud he will sabotage the team and make things worse, again.

Let's revisit this scene:



On a Dragon Ball scale, this is just two guys talking shit. Vegeta prefers to fight Cell, Piccolo not only tells him no, but pushes Vegeta's pride button and Vegeta has a pretty standard "DON'T DISRESPECT ME, FUCK N****A" response. And then on top of that, he indicates he actually has a plan on how to get strong enough to handle Cell; Piccolo is astounded by this idea and so you can infer that even if he's proceeding with his way he's aware that Vegeta just might be onto something, too.

And Vegeta is essentially saying "You guys can try your bullshit, but I know what EYE will be doing instead." The threat was in response to the perceived disrespect, not the notion of Piccolo interfering. Hell, we actually see the same interaction flip-flopped at the beginning of the arc!



Obviously here Vegeta truly was being a dickhead while in the later scene Piccolo was just being brutally honest, but both Piccolo and Vegeta respond to the feeling of being slighted the exact same way. Just guys being dudes.

I don't know what she says in the dub, but she never says anything of the sort in Japanese.
In the manga, it's even worse, they never interact or talk about their relationship until Vegeta kills the spectators.
And what she says in response is basically, "I can't believe Vegeta would do something like this..."
And I'm like, "How can you not believe it? That's literally what he threatens to do all the time."

[Cure Dragon 255]

That leaves us with Goku and Gohan - the latter the most apathetic of the crew, the former the most polite and confrontational of the crew; hell, the most Gohan even says about Veggie here is "Wow, if THAT motherfucker is apologizing, we are absolutely fucked" which speaks volum

I agree with you but I think you messed up who is former and who is latter here.

[jjgp1112]

That leaves us with Goku and Gohan - the latter the most apathetic of the crew, the former the most polite and confrontational of the crew; hell, the most Gohan even says about Veggie here is "Wow, if THAT motherfucker is apologizing, we are absolutely fucked" which speaks volum

I agree with you but I think you messed up who is former and who is latter here.

Yup, and I also meant non confrontational, typo on my part

[Cure Dragon 255]

That leaves us with Goku and Gohan - the latter the most apathetic of the crew, the former the most polite and confrontational of the crew; hell, the most Gohan even says about Veggie here is "Wow, if THAT motherfucker is apologizing, we are absolutely fucked" which speaks volum

I agree with you but I think you messed up who is former and who is latter here.

I meant non confrontational, typo on my part

Thanks, I wasnt sure I didnt make a mistake myself lol.

[AliTheZombie13]

??? Piccolo sure as hell doesn't - the only positive thing he has to say about him is his tactical genius, otherwise their relationship is entitrely antagonistic and Piccolo is disgusted at the suggestion of wearing his armor.

Piccolo, the self-proclaimed "smart one" of the group, by all means should've displayed the same bravado of "Try me!" when Vegeta threatened everybody else with killing them if they took the pragmatic approach and stopped the Cyborgs 3 years early. I consider that him letting Vegeta do as he pleases, even if it puts everyone else, Piccolo included, at risk of death.

And of course, he let Vegeta trash-talk about killing him on his face. He might not have a good opinion of Vegeta, but apparently a good opinion enough to let Vegeta get away with bullshit.

Trunks - At one point he finds himself questioning what the fuck his mom ever saw in that asshole

And then, just like everyone else, he decides to let Vegeta do as he pleases, even though he had surpassed him in the ROSAT, because... "I admire him and didn't want to hurt his feelings. Oops, sorry."



This line right here says a lot. Tenshinhan is bothered with the mere fact Vegeta is living on Earth, semi-tamed or not. Bulma, Yamcha, Gohan, Piccolo and everyone else don't give a damn. Kuririn is the only one out of the group to get an explanation for this: He's scared of him. But everyone else doesn't give a damn.

Like, forget for a minute Cell happened, pretend the story ended right there... Why is Vegeta still living on Earth? Why is everyone okay with this? Why is everyone still okay with him when he threatened to kill them for even daring to stop the Cyborgs early?

I don't know what she says in the dub, but she never says anything of the sort in Japanese.
In the manga, it's even worse, they never interact or talk about their relationship until Vegeta kills the spectators.
And what she says in response is basically, "I can't believe Vegeta would do something like this..."
And I'm like, "How can you not believe it? That's literally what he threatens to do all the time."

OK, I stand corrected.
Still, how the hell is she saying "Like I'd live with that jerk."
When she's the one who invited him to live with her?
Reaffirming my feelings that the story would've been so much better if Vegeta just flew off somewhere to live in isolation instead of living at Bulma's if it made that much of a difference in the end.

[MasenkoHA]

OK, I stand corrected.
Still, how the hell is she saying "Like I'd live with that jerk."
When she's the one who invited him to live with her?
Reaffirming my feelings that the story would've been so much better if Vegeta just flew off somewhere to live in isolation instead of living at Bulma's if it made that much of a difference in the end.

"This asshole I'm attracted to is actually still an asshole even after we had a baby together never mind fuck him" isn't exactly unheard of behavior.

Not that I necessarily think Bulma thought she could fix Vegeta but its not a big stretch for her to go "hey come live with me" to "I cannot live with this asshole" four years later. It's definitely a thing that happens.

[AliTheZombie13]

"This asshole I'm attracted to is actually still an asshole even after we had a baby together never mind fuck him" isn't exactly unheard of behavior.

Not that I necessarily think Bulma thought she could fix Vegeta but its not a big stretch for her to go "hey come live with me" to "I cannot live with this asshole" four years later. It's definitely a thing that happens.

Fair enough.

[jjgp1112]

Piccolo, the self-proclaimed "smart one" of the group, by all means should've displayed the same bravado of "Try me!" when Vegeta threatened everybody else with killing them if they took the pragmatic approach and stopped the Cyborgs 3 years early. I consider that him letting Vegeta do as he pleases, even if it puts everyone else, Piccolo included, at risk of death.

And of course, he let Vegeta trash-talk about killing him on his face. He might not have a good opinion of Vegeta, but apparently a good opinion enough to let Vegeta get away with bullshit.

And now you're just circling back to "They should've made perfect decisions!" Piccolo makes a pointed "If you're not up for this then stay your bitch ass at home" message to everyone, plainly indicating his desire to actually fight the Androids, too. And since Goku immediately jumps in , agrees with Vegeta's sentiment and effectively shuts Bulma down and everyone takes their side...every single thing you're saying is again, moot.

And then, just like everyone else, he decides to let Vegeta do as he pleases, even though he had surpassed him in the ROSAT, because... "I admire him and didn't want to hurt his feelings. Oops, sorry."

Well, yeah. It's his father. And being couped up with him for a year helped him gain some understanding of the twisted way he operates. People are complicated, especially when it comes to their parents and toxic relationships

This line right here says a lot. Tenshinhan is bothered with the mere fact Vegeta is living on Earth, semi-tamed or not. Bulma, Yamcha, Gohan, Piccolo and everyone else don't give a damn. Kuririn is the only one out of the group to get an explanation for this: He's scared of him. But everyone else doesn't give a damn.

Like, forget for a minute Cell happened, pretend the story ended right there... Why is Vegeta still living on Earth? Why is everyone okay with this? Why is everyone still okay with him when he threatened to kill them for even daring to stop the Cyborgs early?

Yet again, we are talking about a group of people who have Piccolo amongst their ranks. As I have pointed out several times already, Vegeta isn't bothering anybody, his motive that put him at odds with everyone is dead, and he's waiting for Goku. He's there, nobody's in any position to order him around and since Vegeta has absolutely nowhere to he clearly would rather not destroy the only place that not only gives him somewhere to live but has everything he needs to get the strength he's obsessed. You don't seem to understand how pragmatic Vegeta is despite being evil as fuck. People aren't just one thing all the time.

OK, I stand corrected.
Still, how the hell is she saying "Like I'd live with that jerk."
When she's the one who invited him to live with her?
Reaffirming my feelings that the story would've been so much better if Vegeta just flew off somewhere to live in isolation instead of living at Bulma's if it made that much of a difference in the end.

So then obviously, sex aside, the experience of living with Vegeta turned out to be altogether unpleasant and now she has a different outlook on it compared to her "Lol fuck it" approach four years prior

[AliTheZombie13]

And now you're just circling back to "They should've made perfect decisions!"

I have an issue with consistency.

If in one scene, Piccolo is going, "Shut the hell up, Vegeta. If you even try anything, I'll kill you. After I kill Freeza, you're next! Oh, and by the way, I want to fight to test my abilities, screw the fate of the world! Stay at home if you don't like my way of doing things!"

And then in another scene, Piccolo is going, "Uh, sure, whatever Vegeta, do what you want, I won't kill you. Anyways, we're better kill this Cell guy or at least one of the Cyborgs before they get stronger, the entire universe is at stake."

Then that is not a character mistake, it's just plain bad writing.

[tonysoprano300]

Piccolo, the self-proclaimed "smart one" of the group, by all means should've displayed the same bravado of "Try me!" when Vegeta threatened everybody else with killing them if they took the pragmatic approach and stopped the Cyborgs 3 years early. I consider that him letting Vegeta do as he pleases, even if it puts everyone else, Piccolo included, at risk of death.

And of course, he let Vegeta trash-talk about killing him on his face. He might not have a good opinion of Vegeta, but apparently a good opinion enough to let Vegeta get away with bullshit.

And now you're just circling back to "They should've made perfect decisions!" Piccolo makes a pointed "If you're not up for this then stay your bitch ass at home" message to everyone, plainly indicating his desire to actually fight the Androids, too. And since Goku immediately jumps in , agrees with Vegeta's sentiment and effectively shuts Bulma down and everyone takes their side...every single thing you're saying is again, moot.

And then, just like everyone else, he decides to let Vegeta do as he pleases, even though he had surpassed him in the ROSAT, because... "I admire him and didn't want to hurt his feelings. Oops, sorry."

Well, yeah. It's his father. And being couped up with him for a year helped him gain some understanding of the twisted way he operates. People are complicated, especially when it comes to their parents and toxic relationships

This line right here says a lot. Tenshinhan is bothered with the mere fact Vegeta is living on Earth, semi-tamed or not. Bulma, Yamcha, Gohan, Piccolo and everyone else don't give a damn. Kuririn is the only one out of the group to get an explanation for this: He's scared of him. But everyone else doesn't give a damn.

Like, forget for a minute Cell happened, pretend the story ended right there... Why is Vegeta still living on Earth? Why is everyone okay with this? Why is everyone still okay with him when he threatened to kill them for even daring to stop the Cyborgs early?

Yet again, we are talking about a group of people who have Piccolo amongst their ranks. As I have pointed out several times already, Vegeta isn't bothering anybody, his motive that put him at odds with everyone is dead, and he's waiting for Goku. He's there, nobody's in any position to order him around and since Vegeta has absolutely nowhere to he clearly would rather not destroy the only place that not only gives him somewhere to live but has everything he needs to get the strength he's obsessed. You don't seem to understand how pragmatic Vegeta is despite being evil as fuck. People aren't just one thing all the time.

OK, I stand corrected.
Still, how the hell is she saying "Like I'd live with that jerk."
When she's the one who invited him to live with her?
Reaffirming my feelings that the story would've been so much better if Vegeta just flew off somewhere to live in isolation instead of living at Bulma's if it made that much of a difference in the end.

So then obviously, sex aside, the experience of living with Vegeta turned out to be altogether unpleasant and now she has a different outlook on it compared to her "Lol fuck it" approach four years prior

I can accept that they wouldn’t start shit with Vegeta, however living at capsule corp and sleeping with the woman he formerly widowed is probably where it jumps the shark. It wouldn’t even be in character for Vegeta to do that much less bulma.

Admittedly the anime did a much better job of this by actually trying to show us how their relationship developed( and overall showing us the psychopathy of Vegeta’s obsession with achieving the SSJ prophecy and by extension surpassing Goku) but its still not substantive enough imo. They did fix the whole thing with living at capsule corp though.

Ill say in general, Vegeta’s development is almost always off screen. You never get to see how his training in ROSAT with Trunks changed him, you don’t get to see how he and bulma got together and you don’t get too see how the 7 years on earth shifted his priorities towards settling down. Majin Vegeta was played to be this absolutely shocking turn of events that nobody could have seen coming but from the POV of the reader its just Vegeta doing his thing. Maybe in the end, that’s the primary issue.

[AliTheZombie13]

Ill say in general, Vegeta’s development is almost always off screen. You never get to see how his training in ROSAT with Trunks changed him, you don’t get to see how he and bulma got together and you don’t get too see how the 7 years on earth shifted his priorities towards settling down. Majin Vegeta was played to be this absolutely shocking turn of events that nobody could have seen coming but from the POV of the reader its just Vegeta doing his thing. Maybe in the end, that’s the primary issue.

Yeah, that's a thing I wanted to talk about, too.
Vegeta's development is almost never shown to the viewer/reader. A particular example: Vegeta spends the entirety of the Cell arc abusing Trunks and never once displaying an ounce of fatherly care towards him. He didn't care about Bulma and Baby Trunks' safety when they were about to be blown up. Then Trunks dies at the end, and Vegeta suddenly cares, without explanation.

A fan might go, "Oh, they probably grew closer during their time in the ROSAT." But that's not something the story shows or even leaves implied to the reader/viewer during the entirety of its run, it's just something that happens and makes Vegeta lash out and screw things up even further. His development from asshole to good husband and father comes out of absolutely nowhere.

"People are complicated. People can change."
A story isn't real life. When a character acts in a way that contradicts the way they've acted before, it needs a good justification from the part of the writer or else it rubs the audience off in a bad way. Dragon Ball doesn't get a pass on that rule, I'm sorry.

[jjgp1112]

And now you're just circling back to "They should've made perfect decisions!"

I have an issue with consistency.

If in one scene, Piccolo is going, "Shut the hell up, Vegeta. If you even try anything, I'll kill you. After I kill Freeza, you're next! Oh, and by the way, I want to fight to test my abilities, screw the fate of the world! Stay at home if you don't like my way of doing things!"

And then in another scene, Piccolo is going, "Uh, sure, whatever Vegeta, do what you want, I won't kill you. Anyways, we're better kill this Cell guy or at least one of the Cyborgs before they get stronger, the entire universe is at stake."

Then that is not a character mistake, it's just plain bad writing.

Piccolo's attitude towards Vegeta on Namek and his attitude with him on Earth are within several years of each other and you're skipping a fuck load of context here - when Piccolo returns to Namek, he's coming off being wished back to life from the fight with Vegeta's goon that killed him and is now seeing Vegeta for the first time since then. So yeah, duh, of course his attitude at that very moment is "I'm gonna fucking kill you," especially since he was riding high off his power up. Four years later, he and Vegeta are begrudgingly on the same side and like...that was four years ago and he has bigger things to worry about then getting his lick back.

And as much as people harp on the inconsistency of them choosing to fight the Androids at first but being more proactive later - I never bought into that. The big reason they were moving the way they did later on, much to Vegeta's chagrin, was the fact that Goku was out of commission. And bigger picture, the immediacy of the situation vs. having a three year head start.

Hell, Piccolo was actually still pretty convinced that Vegeta could handle them; it wasn't until Trunks said they were too much for himself that he got on board with deactivating the Androids. And with Cell, after dealing with 17 and 18 they now having a FOURTH enemy who will supposedly make those two look like jobbers - it's an actual tangible threat that Piccolo can reasonably assess is beyond what he's capable of. But of course, Vegeta and Goku still have the same confidence that they can just train their problems away.

The Z-Fighters are generally much more proactive when they're at a disadvantage - their recklessness and responsibility are bound to their confidence in their abilities. Same reason why Goku teaming up with Piccolo to take on Raditz when his son is in danger but preferring to go solo otherwise isn't "bAd wRiTiNg" either. Hell, it's the same reason why Vegeta's behavior in the Android saga isn't some crazy departure from the more pragmatic and intelligent attitude he had in the Frieza saga - against Frieza, he's dealing with people he's known all his life that he ain't fucking with, and he's desperate. And then the minute he starts thinking he's in the driver seat, he starts acting every bit as stupid and overconfident as he was in the Android saga. Piccolo even spells it out.

[Koitsukai]

I think there's a moving goalpost going on here. We're going from 'everybody let him in' (it was only Bulma) to 'they should gang up on him' (totally in-character of them to start shit up just out of spite while knowin daddy is coming home), to parking at 'why isn't Piccolo starting another battlefront during the transition from the android arc to the Cell arc and just kill Vegeta, now that he has the muscle to, because of his big mouth and genocidal history?' sometimes truces and alliances have to be made to take on bigger things, that's literally what DB has been all about.

I get not liking DB, it's not perfect, but one cannot complain about how dumb they act at times for only wanting them to act even dumber instead. Characters do and must behave differently from time to time and from each other, they might be cartoons but they are not supposed to be sprites. If, with different circumnstances, they act and react the same now, last year and next year then that's bad writing.

[AliTheZombie13]

Right, we're diverting from the topic here.
Toriyama isn't all that subtle when he wants to indicate a character acting different is an intended character mistake.
"What? But I thought they knew about Cell!"
"What? But I thought my son liked fighting, just like me!"
"What? Marriage? I thought that was food!"

None of the many ways the characters act different or illogical during the Cell Saga are explained or justified by the story, it just happens without rhyme or reason. I don't buy any of that was some grand master characterization done by Toriyama, I find it much easier to buy he was just winging it and didn't plan things well in advance. Otherwise, we wouldn't have had excellent characterization such as "Yamcha is a cheater, because he is, deal with it!"

But moving back to the original point:

Vegeta isn't the "Please, kill Freeza for me, for he made me evil :'(" character he is in the dub, he's just as much of a murderous psychopath as Freeza in the original.

"He has nowhere to go." So what?
"The main obstacle of his life is gone." And?
"He won't bother you if you don't bother him." And that's just plainly untrue, given how much he has an entire speech talking about how much he enjoyed genociding planets and killing innocent Namekians.

Vegeta is well consistently portrayed in Namek as willing to murder the Earthlings and wanting to acquire immortality to rule the universe. No, none of this is an invention of the anime, it comes straight out of Vegeta's mouth. "After I wish for immortality and defeat Freeza, I will destroy the Earth and put the entire universe under my rule!"

The "Freeza retcon" impacted nothing about his original motivation, he still quite clearly says long after Freeza is introduced that he still wants immortality to rule the universe. Their alliance against Freeza was only meant to be temporary. As soon as they were done, they were going to go back at each other's throats, which... doesn't happen for reasons the story doesn't bother to explain.

Vegeta suddenly starts acting completely different from every single thing he ever said during Namek, to the point the anime staff diverged from the canon quite drastically one episode before the arc ended. That wasn't the anime staff jumping the gun or mischaracterizing Vegeta, it was them following what was logical given everything Vegeta was presented as.

It made a lot more sense than Vegeta forgoing his quest for immortality, his quest for ruling the universe, his quest for killing the Earthlings, and for everyone else to just let him stay there and get away with bullshit. That Bulma aids him in "waiting for Goku so I can kill him myself" is equally asinine.

Bulma's a bitch, but she's never been "I'll let my enemies kill my friends just because they're hot" bitch. Even then, I find it quite difficult to believe Bulma would find anything about Vegeta hot, which makes me question again: Why exactly did she invite him home? Last time they interacted, he was trying and only barely missed killing her. Is it because she's attracted to him?

I know the actual reason: Because Toriyama decided to pair the two for the next arc, but narratively, it makes no sense and the story doesn't bother to explain how they went from hating and wanting each other dead, to suddenly finding each other attractive.