Bow before the Prince of all Saiyans.

He'd certainly appreciate it.

Vegeta enters Dragon Ball as a ruthless Saiyan warrior with enormous power, an even larger ego, and absolutely no intention of becoming one of Earth's greatest heroes. Proud, relentless, and obsessed with proving his superiority, Vegeta initially sees Goku as little more than a low-class Saiyan who should know his place.

Goku...

Does not cooperate.

Their rivalry becomes one of anime's greatest, driving Vegeta to constantly train harder, push further, and discover increasingly ridiculous new levels of power. Yet what makes Vegeta truly compelling isn't simply his desire to surpass Goku.

It's how much he changes without ever really becoming less Vegeta.

The arrogant warrior who once came to conquer Earth gradually finds himself defending it. He builds a life with Bulma, becomes the father of Trunks and Bulla, develops genuine respect for his former enemies, and discovers that his legendary Saiyan pride can mean something beyond proving that he's the strongest person in the room.

Not that he's stopped trying.

Vegeta's journey from villain to reluctant ally to genuine hero is one of Dragon Ball's greatest character arcs because it never requires him to suddenly become nice. He's still stubborn. Still competitive. Still hilariously easy to enrage. And still utterly incapable of letting Kakarot get ahead without immediately beginning another unreasonable training regimen.

Fans love Vegeta because underneath all that armor, arrogance, and spectacular shouting is someone who learned that having people worth protecting doesn't make a warrior weaker.

It gives him something worth becoming stronger for.

Just don't expect him to get sentimental about it.

He's got a reputation to maintain.