Why did Vegeta cry?

[Fantastische Hure]

I think this is quite interesting. We've seen Vegeta defeated many times in the series through-out and heavily out-matched at that (vs #18 or Perfect-Cell or Boo), yet the only time he cried is when he knew Freeza was out of his league.

Do you think he cried because of the fear of death or do you think it was something deeper? After-all he was also thought he was going to die on earth before Goku spared his life. And he definitely felt pain then but never just stood there and was going to accept his fate (like he did with Freeza). He kept fighting and getting angrier but here he just lost his will and started crying. I don't think it could only be the pain/death he was fearing. He's from a warrior race after-all and was willingly getting himself blasted from Kuririn to get a Zenkai. Probably a culmination of feelings. All his life he was probably hoping to eventually free himself from Freeza and all those terrible memories of serving under him and one day defeat him, all that hope disappeared when he realized that Freeza was still just too much for him and that he was about to die at the hands of the monster that ruled over him for all those years. It was was frustration that he couldn't achieve the one thing he prepared himself for all his life. As if everything was for nothing. Humiliation.

Maybe that was it. I don't know. That's just a theory. What do you think?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

It likely had to do with his history with Freeza and how much freeing himself of his control and overthrowing him meant to Vegeta. This had been Vegeta's desire for decades and what he'd actively worked towards his entire time on Namek. The power creep of the Freeza Arc through the Zenkais and how their effects got progressively greater was also such an ego boost to Vegeta in his belief of becoming the Super Saiyan who would defeat Freeza, so seeing all that made meaningless by Freeza not even trying just broke Vegeta.

On Earth, he'd at least die as the result of two fellow Saiyans' efforts. Against Cell, he didn't really have time to get over his shock at Cell's regeneration and the ego trip he had wasn't really as deep as his hatred of Freeza since it was more of just his way of trying to assert dominance after being freed of Freeza. Against Boo, he was sacrificing himself for his family. Against Freeza, he was facing the wall he couldn't overcome throughout his entire life and learnt everything he'd done was meaningless in the end.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

Yeah, although there were also Zarbon and Recoome from before.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Zarbon, whilst someone Vegeta would have great hatred for, was just a stepping stone towards Freeza and Ko'd Vegeta before he could have any reaction but fighting for his life. Reacoom wasn't implied to have had as long a history with Vegeta, if any at all.

 

[Let's Go Fearless!]

Because he was humiliated by Freeza who killed his father, race and his own home planet that he was destined to rule. He felt that even with how he went too far with Zenkai he was still no match with Freeza and also didn't become a SSjin like he claimed he did.

 

[SSJ2]

Definitely due to his history with Freeza. The guy was a slave for the entirety of his life. As an extremely prideful prince, to finally feel like he was good enough to defeat Freeza, only to get humiliated as CC said...it was simply too much for him.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

I just want to make things clear here. I think everyone knows from what I read but I mean before he cried to Goku and died. I mean right-after his attack was deflected but I think everyone knows.

 

[SSJ2]

I just want to make things clear here. I think everyone knows from what I read but I mean before he cried to Goku and died. I mean right-after his attack was deflected but I think everyone knows.

Oh, sorry.

Well, he was so caught up in his delusions about being a Super Saiyan and finally possessing the power to defeat Freeza, that when the situation proved to be hopeless, he broke down.

The narrator says it well..

The situation was one of true despair. Vegeta had so much passion and rage against Freeza. This was naturally the only way he could react after playing himself up the entire arc.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

Yeah, the way he didn't even try to run-away anymore and just stood there and accepted his fate was definitely something. He probably realized that everything he did upto that point amounted to nothing and he was going to be tortured/killed by the same gai he hates the most and wanted to free himself from.

 

[Spiral-Force]

Just sheer hopelessness induced by the reality of the situation. His power far surpassed the Saiyan limit and he had the Super Saiyan hype filling his mind, but all of it was zilch in front of the tyrant that he was intent on overcoming. A historical blunder, so to speak. In the battle on Earth, his loss was narrow and was the result of a joint effort, plus he had no doubt in his mind that he'd finish them for good the next time he pays them a visit. After his first battle with Zarbon, Vegeta's survival gave him confidence that a Zenkai would tip the scales in a rematch (which it did), so it's not like he had no hope of getting revenge. Vegeta had no history with Recoome, #18 or Cell prior to getting stomped by them, and the gaps were not nearly as pronounced as they were with Frieza, so it's not the same. Against Fat Buu, he didn't approach the fight with the same arrogance as he was known for and accepted his fate without fear when he realised that the only option he had remaining was to sacrifice himself. Against Kid Buu, it was a stalling mission; he knew that he couldn't beat him, but he did a good job of buying time for Goku. It's just that, unfortunately for them, Goku's energy kept dropping after rising.

 

[Notaka]

Cause he's a lil bitch

In all seriousness, it's like the people above said. He wanted to free himself from Frieza for decades and when he thought he could, Frieza showed him the harsh truth.
It kinda helps that this was really the first time Vegeta was this helpless. My guess is that he kinda got used to the feeling of being overwhelmed the time he fought the androids.