It’s a real double-edged sword to be a Vegeta fan. The character gets to have some of the arguably the coolest moments in the entirety of Dragon Ball, but at the same time he also experiences a large amount of humbling defeats that crush him.

Vegeta will always come second to Goku in Dragon Ball and that’s a realization that’s devastating to both Vegeta and his fans.

He’s a character with insane reservoirs of determination, strength, and pride, but it seems like he’ll forever be stuck in a “Charlie Brown and Lucy football scenario,” where his goal always gets snatched away from him at the very last second.

Strength and pride are important to many characters in the Dragon Ball universe, but Vegeta is really the textbook definition of these ego-driven traits. For someone that cares so much about honor and pride, it’s only fitting that the secret transformations of the Saiyans would be incredibly important to Vegeta.

Vegeta has a complicated relationship with his transformations, but he never gives up. If anyone is going to unlock unbelievable, new power then shouldn’t it be him?

Accordingly, we’ve broken down the lengthy list of Vegeta’s many transformations, with Vegeta’s 9 Best (And 9 Worst) Transformations In Dragon Ball, Ranked.

Worst: Spirit Bomb Super Saiyan

Vegeta Spirit Bomb Super Saiyan Shin Budokai

Vegeta’s Spirit Bomb Super Saiyan transformation is rather lame for a number of reasons, but the biggest deterrent against it is that it depends on another character’s abilities- and not just any other character, but Goku, who at times Vegeta would rather ignore than accept help from.

Furthermore, Spirit Bomb Super Saiyan doesn’t look that different from the standard Super Saiyan fare.

It also only appears once in the Dragon Ball Shin Budokai video game. For all of these reasons it’s easy to not even be aware that such a transformation exists.

Spirit Bomb Super Saiyan basically involves Super Saiyan 2 Vegeta absorbing the energy of a Spirit Bomb to gain more power.

This power upgrade makes Vegeta strong enough to defeat Janemba on his own, which is something that requires the strength of Gogeta in Rebirth of Fusion, so at least it packs some strength.

Best: Villainous Mode Vegeta

Villainous Mode Vegeta Dragon Ball Xenoverse

Ever since Vegeta made his transition over to becoming one of the good guys in Dragon Ball, it seems like there have been people who are hungry for the return of “Evil Vegeta.”

Villainous Mode Vegeta very much plays into that want in the fan community, but this character unfortunately doesn’t have that much pull since he’s restricted to the Dragon Ball: Xenoverse video game titles.

Villainous mode is a result of when characters— typically villains— are taken under the mind control of Towa or Demigra's dark magic.

This amplifies the dark motives that are already inside the individuals and also turns them into bidding slaves. This condition can also happen by succumbing to the fruit of the Tree of Might from the Demon Realm.

Villainous Mode is basically like the Majin upgrade, but even more severe, but again, it’s only in games.

Worst: Super Saiyan 3

Vegeta Super Saiyan 3 Dragon Ball Dokken Battle

Vegeta turning into Super Saiyan 3 seems to be one of the most demanded sequences in Dragon Ball history. Many fans were infuriated when Vegeta coasted from Super Saiyan 2 over to Super Saiyan 4 or Super Saiyan Blue because they thought that they’d finally get to see it happen.

The sight of Vegeta gaining that massive main has still yet to happen canonically in Dragon Ball manga or anime, but some video games have been smart enough to capitalize on this missed opportunity and give the people what they want.

Obviously, Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta would be quite strong, but it’s because his appearance is limited to titles like Dragon Ball Dokkan Battle that he bottoms out this list.

Interestingly enough, it’s also said that Baby Vegeta’s strongest form is said to be the Tuffle-Saiyan Super Saiyan 3 equivalent, so Vegeta kind of achieves it in that way, too.

Best: Super Saiyan God

Dragon Ball Super Manga Vegeta Super Saiyan God

Vegeta seems to have a penchant for skipping steps, which can be both a blessing and a curse. It’s great to see the character to hit such hearty, new levels of power without all of the proper “prerequisites,” but that means he also misses out on some fun transformations as a result.

Dragon Ball Super’s anime shows Vegeta return from a hiatus and he can suddenly become Super Saiyan Blue, yet he appears to never reach the previous stepping-stone of Super Saiyan God.

Curiously enough, Vegeta does reach this red-haired form, but its presence remains only in the manga.

Furthermore, Vegeta strategically switches between Super Saiyan God and Super Saiyan Blue in battle to better use their abilities and not limit his strength.

He arguably uses the form better than even Goku does, but it’s low here because of its non-anime status.

Worst: Completed Super Saiyan Blue/Perfected Super Saiyan Blue

Dragon Ball Super Manga Vegeta Super Saiyan Blue Completed Versus Beerus

Super Saiyan Blue status begins to make Dragon Ball power levels as complicated as they were back in the days of the original Super Saiyan.

Completed/Perfected Super Saiyan Blue is not the same thing as Vegeta’s Beyond Super Saiyan Blue.

However, it’s easy to mix up their similar names because Completed Super Saiyan Blue only appears in the Dragon Ball Super manga.

Vegeta is training prior to the Tournament of Power, Beerus and Whis notice this, and they declare that Vegeta is exceptionally stronger and reached “Completed Super Saiyan Blue.”

This seems to be as far as Super Saiyan Blue can be taken. Goku also achieves this form during their battle with Fused Zamasu.

This also leads to Beerus telling Vegeta that he’s now eligble to be a God of Destruction for another universe due to this level of power at his disposal, which is pretty damn cool.

Best: Super Saiyan 2

Super Saiyan 2 Vegeta Versus Goku

There’s a lot of debate out there on whether Vegeta becomes a Super Saiyan 2 during the seven-year gap between the Cell and Bull Sagas, or if it’s the power boost that Babidi gives him as Majin Vegeta that allows him to reach the level for the first time.

Some dialogue during Goku’s fight with Yakon seems to imply the former, but it’s a shame that there isn’t a big catalyst surrounding this moment like the other transformations in the series.

The same, of course, can be said for the first time that Goku becomes a Super Saiyan 2 and it’s because of the muted theatrics around these transformations that the form is so low here.

There’s nothing wrong with Super Saiyan 2, but out of all of Vegeta’s canonical transformations, it just feels like this and Super Saiyan God get the least attention.

Worst: Baby Vegeta

Baby Vegeta Dragon Ball GT

Baby Vegeta has a bad reputation because Dragon Ball GT has a bad reputation. One became toxic so it’s easy to see how most things associated with it still cause a lot of fans to cringe.

Dragon Ball GT calls back to the early roots of the Saiyan’s conflict with the Tuffles and turns out a sprawling body-snatching revenge scheme courtesy of the alien, Baby.

Baby takes over a lot of Saiyans while he looks for a proper host, but he soon settles on Vegeta as the ultimate conduit.

Baby Vegeta recycles the whole idea of “Evil Vegeta” that the series had already returned to with Majin Vegeta, but this time Vegeta is even more passive through the material.

Baby gets access to a bunch of his abilities and their final hybrid form looks pretty cool, but this still just feels like a re-hash of stronger previous ideas.

Best: Super Saiyan Blue

Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta Attack

It’s a big deal for both Vegeta and Goku when they reach the new plateau of Super Saiyan Blue (which is a lot catchier than its dreadful original name, Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan).

Vegeta is much more tactful about his mastery of the transformation and he just casually drops in with it during the showdown with Golden Frieza rather than making it a big deal or rubbing it in everyone’s faces.

What makes this an even more significant accomplishment for Vegeta is that he scrapes away and somehow achieves both Super Saiyan Blue and Super Saiyan God by himself, whereas the norm requires a whole group ritual of Saiyans.

Vegeta makes Super Saiyan Blue his dominant form throughout Dragon Ball Super and even though Goku reaches it first, Vegeta appears to master it before he does.

Plus, the guy just looks good with blue hair.

Worst: "Prince of Rage Vegeta"/Rage Mode Super Saiyan 2

Vegeta Prince of Rage Mode

This is certainly one of the more obscure transformations of the series and it really only happens once. That being said, it’s still all sorts of awesome, super powerful, and it deserves as much attention as possible.

Dragon Ball Super largely leaves the traditional Super Saiyan transformations behind for Vegeta and Goku, but before they both gain God-level strength Vegeta gives Super Saiyan 2 one final push towards relevancy.

In Dragon Ball Super/Battle of Gods, Beerus slaps Bulma and Vegeta temporarily loses his mind.

This births “Rage Mode Super Saiyan 2,” which is able to hold its own against Beerus and force him to use 10% of his power.

Goku couldn’t even do this while in his Super Saiyan 3 form, so this is a significant power boost.

In the Battle of Gods version of this, Master Roshi even states that Vegeta is officially stronger than Goku.

Best: Super Saiyan

Vegeta Standard Super Saiyan

This is it, the crowning moment that for years Vegeta thought would define his entire existence. The honor of Super Saiyan was a legendary birthright that Vegeta was convinced was his destiny.

He is the prince of the entire Saiyan race, after all. Then Vegeta sees some lame Saiyan named Kakarot turn into a Super Saiyan before he does and he snaps.

If there could only be one Super Saiyan, Vegeta would maybe never be able to live down this humiliation.

Thankfully, the Saiyan eventually reaches the plateau and it becomes a testament to the Saiyan’s undying battle spirit.

Honor might be what awakens Goku, but for Vegeta it’s a need to overcome Goku.

Vegeta essentially puts himself into a dangerous mission that might end his life. He trains in gravity conditions that are 450 times that of Earth’s, pushes himself to the limit, and accepts his ultimate end. It’s at that moment that he finally awakens.

Worst: Golden Great Ape

Golden Great Ape

The original Great Ape is an extremely cool power play for Vegeta, but the Golden Great Ape that appears in Dragon Ball GT possesses none of the same appeal.

This transformation is such a clear attempt to suck the success from a cooler idea and try to make something old some new again.

Of course, a Golden Great Ape has all of the powers of the normal Great Apes, plus they also wield some mean fire breath.

Furthermore, the Golden Great Ape doesn’t even hold any significance on its own-- it’s just meant to act as a gateway towards Super Saiyan 4.

This transformation only exists as a means to unlocking something even stronger.

Plus, Vegeta cheats his way through all of this and artificially induces these transformations. For such a prideful character, this should be a real low point for Vegeta. It’s like he takes steroids to beat Goku.

Best: Great Ape

Vegeta Great Ape Versus DBZ Warriors

The Great Ape form is far from the strongest transformation on this list— in fact, it’s the weakest— but there’s much to be said for what it represents in the series and how much mileage Vegeta gets from it.

The Great Ape form has been around since the original Dragon Ball, but it’s not until the Saiyan invasion of Vegeta and Nappa in Dragon Ball Z that the transformation’s potential gets to be seen.

Goku and Gohan were never able to control the raging giant beast, but as a Saiyan elite, Vegeta actually holds mastery over the Great Ape.

This means that Vegeta can use this creature like the weapon that it’s meant to be.

He even wields a Power Ball technique that allows him to shift in and out of the form at will to make it even more convenient.

Worst: Copy Vegeta/Duplicate Vegeta

Dragon Ball Super Copy Vegeta

Copy Vegeta is a bit of a more deep cut for the more casual Dragon Ball fans. The character appears in episodes 44-46 in Dragon Ball Super, which features Trunks and Goten off on a misadventure on the Planet Pot-au-feu.

The planet possesses a dangerous weapon in the form of a living water that can produce clones of anyone it overwhelms. What’s worse is that when the clones gain more power, the original versions become weaker.

Copy Vegeta makes for some fun filler and it’s satisfying to see Vegeta face off against another version of himself (plus another Vegeta and Goku fight).

The real joy here though is how much personality gets injected into this minor villain.

Funimation’s dub even recruits Vegeta’s original English voice actor, Brian Drummond, to voice Copy Vegeta. The character’s a fun distraction that works a lot better than it should.

Best: Majin Vegeta

Majin Vegeta World Tournament Destruction

The birth (and end) of Majin Vegeta is such a bittersweet moment for the series. After Goku’s passing at the end of the Cell Saga, Vegeta has been able to find some peace of mind and stop his endless training to top his rival.

Then Goku comes back and all of Vegeta’s worst impulses flare up again.

Furthermore, Vegeta knows that he’s softened up during the past seven years so he’s desperate for someone to remove his inhibitions. That’s exactly what Babidi does, and then some.

Vegeta turns back to the dark side when he hands himself over to Babidi for his Buu resurrection purposes.

This power upgrade doesn’t really give Vegeta any new attacks, but Vegeta hopes the boost is enough to bridge the gap in power between himself and Goku.

Of course, he’s terribly misguided on the topic, but it does lead to an explosive few episodes.

Worst: Super Saiyan 4

Vegeta Super Saiyan 4 Dragon Ball GT

Fans either love the Super Saiyan 4 transformation or they absolutely despise it. To a lot of people, the hairy, monkey-centric form resembles the very worst of fan art and there were some very real sighs of relief when Dragon Ball Super didn’t carry Dragon Ball GT’s example and dropped the form.

Super Saiyan 4 drops the whole yellow hair motif and makes the user look like a brooding homunculus. Sure, there are unbelievable powers available that certainly feel like they’re on the same level of Gods, but it just feels off.

Even when considering the positive traits of Super Saiyan 4, the transformation acts as a shameful reminder of Vegeta at his weakest.

He uses a machine to artificially induce his Super Saiyan 4 transformation. Does that sound like the Prince of all Saiyans? Goku would never take the easy way out, even if Vegeta was stronger than him.

Best: Super Saiyan Second Grade/Super Vegeta

Vegeta Super Saiyan Second Grade Punches Imperfect Cell

Let’s be honest, the whole sub-stages of the original Super Saiyan transformation are a real headache. It makes sense to have different delineations of power, but things get pretty messy in the time between the defeat of Frieza and the defeat of Cell.

The series wants everyone to get stronger, but not strong enough to be the ultimate hero, thus all of these “Super Saiyan 1.5” forms are born.

Super Saiyan Second Grade is basically a refined version of the first level of Super Saiyan, but a whole lot more practical than Super Saiyan Third Grade.

It looks slightly different than the original form and Vegeta embraces it so much that he refers to this version of himself as Super Vegeta.

It’s not as strong as Full Powered Super Saiyan/Fourth Grade, but it’s Vegeta’s dominant look through the Cell Saga.

Worst: Super Saiyan Third Grade/Ultra Super Saiyan

Vegeta Ultra Super Saiyan

The training period during Cell’s time on Earth certainly leads to some growing pains for Dragon Ball.

It’s always fun to see characters get stronger, but these episodes explore an uncomfortable time where the show doesn’t know just how strong to make everyone and turns to some weird concessions.

For instance, Trunks, Goku, and Vegeta tap into Ultra Super Saiyan, which on paper is stronger than Super Saiyan Second Grade, but it’s also incredibly bulky, slow, and ineffective.

The strength isn’t worth the problems.

Future Trunks seems to enjoy this form a lot and attempts to get as much out of it as he can, but Vegeta constantly complains about how terrible it is.

His level of hatred for this wasteful form makes it seem like the appropriate choice to put at the top.

Best: Super Vegeta Blue/Beyond Super Saiyan Blue

Vegeta Beyond Super Saiyan Blue from Dragon Ball Z

This is currently Vegeta’s strongest form when Dragon Ball Super comes to the conclusion of its massive Tournament of Power arc. That’s not to say that Vegeta won’t ever hit new levels of strength, but Beyond Super Saiyan Blue is pretty crazy stuff.

Towards the end of Dragon Ball Super, it looks like the threat of Jiren will be impossible. Goku eventually taps into a new form called Ultra Instinct that gives him a certain advantage.

When Vegeta tries to do the same, he fails, but he instead stumbles upon something else called Beyond Super Saiyan Blue.

This shouldn’t be confused with Completed Super Saiyan Blue and this actually looks like some new stage of the form (like SSB2).

It’s unclear if this is a Vegeta-specific capability or the next evolution of Saiyan’s powers, but the future of the series will surely explore this deeper along with Goku’s Ultra Instinct.

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What do you think? What is Vegea's best (or worst) transformation in Dragon Ball? Sound off in the comments below!