The prince of all saiyans. He is
dragonball z's second villain (along with nappa). He is named after his father and his home planet, formerly Planet Plant. It is when he first arrives on
namek that he begins to change his evil ways, and later in the series, he would become one of the good guys. After witnessing Goku (Kakarot)'s strength, he understands his potential to become a super saiyan, and obsesses over becoming one throughout the rest of the series.
He falsely believes he is a super saiyan after coming back from near death some time after realizing that Goku is a super saiyan. He starts to become less evil after arriving on Earth after
Frieza's defeat, but still retains his mean and arrogant attitude. He starts dedicating every hour of every day to training, pushing himself to hit limits and beyond, training at 450x normal gravity in order to become a super saiyan, and nearly killing himself in a training accident on earth. He goes to train in space as not to be bothered by Bulma or anyone else, and finally transforms on a planet where a meteor shower was going on.
His name, like all Saiyans is a pun on vegetables, his name is a pun on the word vegetable.
Example:
Vegeta was able to transform into a
super saiyan because of his motivation to be the best, and more importantly, better than Goku. His extreme frustration and NEEDING to experience becoming a super saiyan, he finally transforms after giving up his selfish ambition. For the brief period of time between Goku getting sick and transforming, he becomes stronger than him, but is surpassed during his training in other world where he learns to become a
super saiyan 3. He does not surpass Goku until he transforms into a
super saiyan 4.