Vegeta (Dragon Ball)

"Fine, Kakarot, you are the mightiest Saiyan, I've admitted that much. At least for now. But don't you dare think that this is over. I won't let you keep me in second place forever, feeding on the scraps of your glory. I will surpass you, and even then I'll keep pushing, I'll surpass every single warrior in the Universe. I won't stop until I'm the ultimate number one!" — Vegeta promising to surpass Goku, Dragon Ball Super''

Vegeta is the prince of the fallen Saiyan race. Vegeta started off as a ruthless, cold-blooded killer, but over the course of Dragon Ball Z, after abandoning his role in the Frieza force, he evolved from a villain, to an anti-hero, to a hero and a defender of the Earth, especially in Dragon Ball GT and Dragon Ball Super. He is one of the main characters of the series, along with Goku, Gohan, Krillin, and Piccolo.

Why He Rocks

 * 1) Arguably has the greatest character development out of all the Dragon Ball characters.
 * 2) Has a multi-layered personality.
 * 3) Is known for some of the best one-liners in the series.
 * 4) Is one of the few non-deity characters to consistently be on par with or just below Goku in terms of power and skill.
 * 5) Unlike Goku, Vegeta rarely shows any mercy in battle, and usually this is a benefit for the Z-Fighters, as Vegeta often eliminates serious threats. However, when he needs to, Vegeta has shown mercy, as was the case when he held back on Frost to avoid killing him and "stooping to his level, even if it was tempting".
 * 6) Vegeta has been shown to be willing to put his life on the line for others, such as when he sacrificed himself to kill Majin Buu, and nearly killed himself by eliminating Toppo.
 * 7) Vegeta has shown remarkable resilience before, recovering from a huge beatdown by Kid Buu, and turning Super Saiyan 2 right after. Similarly, even after being stabbed and knocked out by Goku Black, Vegeta was able to fire one last attack at Black and Zamasu, as a Super Saiyan Blue, before falling unconscious.
 * 8) Occasionally acts out of character for a good enough cause. Two huge examples are when he openly embarrassed himself in Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods to prevent Beerus from destroying the Earth and when, in Dragon Ball Super, he told Trunks a lie that Frieza had a change of heart.
 * 9) He spawned the hilarious "It's Over 9000!!!" meme.
 * 10) Between the two Saiyans, Vegeta has often shown himself to be better than Goku in terms of character. He had more development and was fleshed out further on his journey to heroism. He was also much mature and smarter, and cares more about his family than Goku does. He was willing to put aside his pride to defend his wife and son. For a Saiyan, he is shown to have standards when not to go too far as to risk the universes just to look for a fight, as he often chastises Goku on the idea of fighting warriors across the 11 universes. Speaking of which, in many occasions does Vegeta rightfully scorn his rival for his idiocy. This is also ironic, as Vegeta is the most self-centered while Goku was kind-hearted, making him an inverted foil to the main protagonist.
 * 11) * He shows a massive amount of respect and kinship towards fellow Saiyans, unwilling to let them show weakness and he often lectures them to toughen up, as with his relationship with the Universe 6 Saiyan, Cabba, and his son, Trunks.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) His pride and arrogance leads him to make horrible mistakes, such as allowing Cell to absorb Android 18 and reach his Perfect form. This usually results in losing horribly in battle.He also let Frieza destroy the Planet, because he kept expositioning.
 * 2) He tends to overthink things in battle.