Vegeta is never declared a worthy successor to Goku and the hero of Earth for the battle(s) where he breaks down in tears. That's the difference.Travis Touchdown wrote:People are always so hard on Gohan's character because of how much Gohan whined and moaned and cried. But he was 4-5 when he did most of his crying, and 11 when he cired again. Vegeta was a grown adult when he did all of his immature bawling and at the very least, neither Gohan, Goku, or even his son, Trunks, ever threw a tissy fit like he did over a stronger opponent.
Also, I like Vegeta's evil-good transition, as it's far more complex than anyone else's.
Remember Tien's? "RAR me evil!" "You should be good!" "Really? Hm... ok, I'll be good!"
Piccolo was already magically less evil than King Piccolo before he met Gohan (Raditz went to the afterlife, remember?), and he gets huge personality changes from his two fusions.
In fact, I'm going to say that's the main reason I like Vegeta - he doesn't get anything for free, but he turns out to be a decent person, a good father, and a powerful warrior with no freebies.
When Cartoon Network re-aired the beginning of DBZ (in early 1999?), I finally got to see how Vegeta's story had started (while watching the Namek episodes, I had no idea why he always used Kakarrot instead of Gokuu), and the love only deepened. I just admired the tenacity he showed during his fight against the Earthlings, how even with all the shit being hurled at him, he just kept going.
). His development happens in stages, and I think a big contributor to it was when future Trunks died in front of him. Vegeta's had his share of rage-filled freakouts over the course of the show, but that was the first one that was fueled by something that happened to another person, rather than himself. I honestly wonder if he would have gotten back together with Bulma again and started being a father to baby Trunks if he'd never been forced to realize his emotions like that. I know a lot of people complain about Vegeta's asshattery during the Cell saga, but it doesn't really bother me, honestly. He still had some great moments and great fights during that time period, so he's forgiven for a little excessive whining.
), in the end, he sacrificed everything in order to protect his loved ones. He even gave up his pursuit of trying to be better than Gokuu. The most telling evidence of his transformation is to compare his views of how he wants the dragon balls to be used. At his first appearance, he wants to use them selfishly, to gain immortality and rule the universe. At the end of the series, he uses them to save everyone. Quite a turnaround, I'd say.
