"Vegeta's never been one to misread his opponent's strength"

[Yuji]

I remember this line in the Moro arc caused a bit of controversy but I'd like to propose a defense.

I don't think Saiyan arc and Namek arc Vegeta needs to be defended. He was very defensive and cautious in those arcs and constantly fought on the backfoot. The one time you can put this into question is when he fought Freeza, but that's an isolated incident.

In the Android arc is where most fans feel Vegeta's arrogance is at its highest, but in both his defeats this arc, he shows keen perception regarding his opponents' hidden strength. He can tell #18 is hiding her power and toying with him, and is the only person to realise perfect Cell is hiding his strength too, surprising even #16 whose sensors up to this point had been pretty spot on

He may be arrogant and goad his opponents into getting stronger, but it is true he has been good at knowing whether or not he's outclassed in a fight.

[Miracles]

Piccolo was right. The details in the text prove that.

[GreatSaiyaman123]

Vegeta could tell how strong 19 and 20 were without even fighting them. He just had to see 19 from far away. That’s very impressive.

Vegeta vs 18 doesn’t count because Piccolo only arrived later. From what Piccolo knows, Vegeta misread Freeza, Cell twice and Hit.

[Koitsukai]

I never had a problem with that line, I think people just love to not consider the context of things in order to be right or just plain hate on something.

The scene that prompted that line was one with Vegeta getting tossed around again and again, and still acting like he got this and trying the same thing that seems to not be working at all.
The guys are wondering if he cannot admit defeat because he is still fighting even though Moro is not budging an inch, but, stubborn as he is, seems to not understand the gap between them. Piccolo is basically saying that Geets probably has something up his sleeve, he understands the gap, he knows they are not equals, (insert infamous line), but he is still going for something...

It's not a line meant to recap his past failures or successes but to point out that he is not an idiot that thinks he can win when it's clear he cannot.
I'd say he only misread Freeza's FP, what Perfect Cell was going to be (once he started fighting Perfect Cell he kinda knew he was out of his league), and Buu, but that's on Buu and his crazy nature. Everybody misread Buu, even SS3 Goku.
But in those occasions, he changed his approach, he tried ki blasts once he couldn't tag Freeza, he tried an ultimate attack once Cell tanked his suppabejita kick, he blew up after Buu bested him. Here, he kept on throwing the same futile punches even though they weren't working, odd right? he is not one to misread his opponent and think that he can win with the same bullets that are bouncing off the other guys' chest... he is not even being smart about it, he is going head-first like a mad man.

[Seekeroftruth]

I never had a problem with that line, I think people just love to not consider the context of things in order to be right or just plain hate on something.

The scene that prompted that line was one with Vegeta getting tossed around again and again, and still acting like he got this and trying the same thing that seems to not be working at all.
The guys are wondering if he cannot admit defeat because he is still fighting even though Moro is not budging an inch, but, stubborn as he is, seems to not understand the gap between them. Piccolo is basically saying that Geets probably has something up his sleeve, he understands the gap, he knows they are not equals, (insert infamous line), but he is still going for something...

It's not a line meant to recap his past failures or successes but to point out that he is not an idiot that thinks he can win when it's clear he cannot.
I'd say he only misread Freeza's FP, what Perfect Cell was going to be (once he started fighting Perfect Cell he kinda knew he was out of his league), and Buu, but that's on Buu and his crazy nature. Everybody misread Buu, even SS3 Goku.
But in those occasions, he changed his approach, he tried ki blasts once he couldn't tag Freeza, he tried an ultimate attack once Cell tanked his suppabejita kick, he blew up after Buu bested him. Here, he kept on throwing the same futile punches even though they weren't working, odd right? he is not one to misread his opponent and think that he can win with the same bullets that are bouncing off the other guys' chest... he is not even being smart about it, he is going head-first like a mad man.

Didn't piccolo see vegeta being a complete idiot when he thought he was nearing SSJ and could beat frieza?