The world of Dragon Ball has a vast array of characters varying from all sorts of backgrounds, be it humans, monsters from earth, aliens, alien monsters and even gods and angels. It came a long way from the story of a boy who wanted to collect dragon balls and become the greatest fighter in the world to the savior the universe on multiple counts. He has saved the day more times than we can count, and things always seem to work out for him. During his adulthood, he met someone who had the same tail he had as a child: Vegeta. Vegeta was the prince of all saiyans; a warrior race that was the dominant species on the planet Vegeta. Their race was brought to near extinction by Frieza, who feared the legendary super Saiyan, who was the only one with the power to defeat him (and this was retconned in Dragon Ball Super to say that Frieza destroyed the planet on Beerus’ orders.) When Vegeta was introduced, he wanted to conquer the world, and was even willing to destroy his last Saiyan companion simply because he was paralyzed (he did destroy him). That was an abhorrent act in Goku’s eyes, and he saw Vegeta as nothing more than a monster, the same way the audience saw him. But then, how do we, the audience see him now? How is Vegeta, compared to Goku? What are the key difference between them? That’s what we can find out together.
1. Vegeta’s Pride
Vegeta, to put it simply, was a very proud Saiyan. That was what he valued above all else in the universe. He did not surrender to anyone, did not accept defeat and always wanted to be the one on top, no matter how underhanded his means of achieving such would be, such as when he could have teamed up with Goku against the Ginyu Force but abandoned him to fight them alone so that he could get to Frieza on his own. His pride was in full swing when he screwed everything up during the Cell saga and let Cell absorb the androids so that he could show off his newfound power. His pride is also what destroyed his will to fight by the end of the Cell Saga when Goku sacrificed himself. When he saw that both Goku and Gohan had surpassed him, he did not see the point in improving himself anymore and declared that he would never fight again, and that was the end of it…until Goku came back years later.
2. Their Priorities
Being full-blooded saiyans, Goku and Vegeta enjoy the thrill of a good fight, and are always ready for more battles. Their bodies were designed for battle. Their most unique (albeit forgotten) ability is their ability to increase their powers exponentially every time they heal from fatal injuries. Vegeta used this trick when he wanted to transform into a super Saiyan on Namek to fight Frieza. He got Krillin to mortally wound him and Dende to heal him so that his powers would increase to the point that he could become a super Saiyan. Goku trained until he reached the point of transformation. While Vegeta was always training to become powerful enough to match Goku in power, Goku was always training to protect those around him. Vegeta’s motivations changed overtime, though, and he became more focused on raising his family, while Goku never changed. He continued to fight and train the whole time. When there was peace and the world had been saved from Buu, Vegeta relaxed and focused on raising his family, and only had a relapse when Goku came back, even letting his pride doom the world. He even killed innocent people in the name of his pride. Again, instead of working together with Goku to defeat the threat, he chose to go through underhanded techniques in order to increase his power so that he could destroy Goku. In the end , he changed and once again settled, only to start fighting when Beerus showed up and wanted to destroy the Earth. Goku stayed training the whole time. Vegeta’s priority became raising his family. Goku’s was getting stronger to protect the world.
3. Their alignment
As much of a stooge Goku is (or a clown, as Vegeta puts it), he has always been on the good side. No matter which story the saga is telling, Goku is always on the good side. He has the innocence and naivety of a 10 year old, but the power to reshape the fate of the universe, and the desire to do so, but in a good way. His innocence was a result of him hitting his head when he fell. When he was a baby, he was a savage, a true Saiyan who didn’t care who or what he hurt, and it seemed that he took pleasure from it. Grandpa Gohan had his hands full with baby Goku. When he hit his head, he was like an angel sent from above and became the greatest defender Earth has ever had. Vegeta started off villainous and wanted to destroy the Earth after using its dragon balls to get immortality. He fought off the Z Fighters and eventually lost, only to go lose to Frieza and die by his hand on Namek. When he was resurrected, he trained to become a super Saiyan. At that time in publication, becoming a super Saiyan meant required one to be pure of heart. Vegeta put it very explicitly: he achieved the transformation because he was pure of heart…pure evil. When it was shown that heachieved the transformation, it was more of a cause for concern rather than comfort, even though he was using his power to destroy the androids of Dr. Gero. Even years after that, he held a grudge with Goku and his family due to how they always surpassed him in terms of power, and endangered the world because of that. He still fought in the end after realizing his mistake, to save the world, and has since fought to defend the world. Does that put him on the good side? Yes and no. Although he fights alongside Goku, his stained history would put him more on the grey area and make him an anti-hero rather than a hero like Goku. His status as that is made even more clear by the fact that fans say that he should be Beerus’ replacement as the god of destruction.
4. The Way Their Power Levels Are Defined
The Saiyan race was very practical in the way they conducted their business of conquering planets and selling them to the highest bidder. They made good use of their bloodlust. They sent their weakest borns to the planets with the weakest populations in order for them to have an easier time conquering them. The strongest borns would be sent to the planets with the strongest beings. Goku was considered a low class fighter and was sent to Earth, which is probably among the weakest planets in the universe. Vegeta was born with an elite’s power level, and so was sent to planets with tougher beings. How is it that Goku constantly surpasses Vegeta, then? Easy. Even though Goku is a lower class Saiyan, he trains a lot more than Vegeta and it appears that he has an easier time getting power. Vegeta, on the other hand, trains less, and is still able to catch up to Goku. His training is shown to be more intense than Goku’s but doesn’t happen as often as Goku’s. Have you ever had that feeling when Vegeta reaches the same power level as Goku, Vegeta seems to deal more damage, take more damage or just have a stronger presence than Goku? That would be a coincidence if it happened once. The thing is, it happens all the time. Let’s see an example from Battle of Gods. Goku as super Saiyan 3 could not land a hit on Beerus, and when he was in super Saiyan god mode, he landed a few hits on Goku, but they were casual hits. Typical hits taken in a fight. Vegeta was in his super Saiyan 2 form and he drew blood from punching Beerus ONCE. That says a lot about the difference in their power levels and how one can describe them.
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