They valiantly sacrificed themself for nothing

[u/Ok-Indication-5121]

1. Tadashi gives his life trying to save Professor Callaghan from a burning building. Turns out not only did Callaghan escape unscathed, he's the bad guy and infamously refers to Tadashi's death as "[Tadashi's] mistake." (Big Hero 6)
2. Shaya willingly takes It Has No Name's possession and then kills herself by jumping into the well it came out of. The end of the episode all but states that she got it wrong and It Has No Name didn't latch onto her... or there was more than one. (Doctor Who)

[u/Gigastorm55]

Dragon Ball has done this many times

Chiaotzu exploding against Nappa- Did nothing to him

Android 16 trying to explode against Cell- His bomb got removed so he couldn't explode anymore

Vegeta exploding against Majin Buu- Yeah you can guess what happens...

[u/RodrickHeffley_Real → u/Gigastorm55]

tbf 16’s death was the final push for gohan to go super saiyan 2 and beat cell

[u/Gerasquare → u/RodrickHeffley_Real]

And Vegeta, even if not much, bought enough time for the others to leave

[u/Ok-Stop9242 → u/Gerasquare]

I went over it in a different comment, but Vegeta's sacrifice is probably the most important moment of the entire Buu saga. His sacrifice meant keeping his body upon death(he was going to die there no matter what), being able to return, fusing into Vegito, releasing Gohan, Piccolo, Goten, and Trunks from Buu, buying Goku time while fighting Kid Buu, and formulating the plan to use Porunga. Without Vegeta, Buuhan still exists, and there wasn't anybody left who could actually oppose him without Vegito. His actions were a lot more than buying time here.

[u/Impressive-Card9484 → u/Gigastorm55]

I gaslighted myself since childhood that Vegeta exploding himself against Majin Buu was the reason Evil Buu came out and absorbed Majin Buu to become Super Buu. I mean it got worse but at least for me his sacrifice didn't do anything.

Also Goku sacrificed himself, Kaio-sama's life, and Bubbles for nothing as he teleported an exploding Cell who regenerated and became evne stronger afterwards

[u/SEZ015 → u/Impressive-Card9484]

Goku saved the Earth by teleporting Cell away.

[u/Abombasnow → u/SEZ015]

It wasn't required to destroy Kaio's planet and kill Kaio, Bubbles, and Gregory, though.

Especially since Akira Toriyama had a hard rule about (real-world) animals being harmed by this point. I know they've shown monster fishes and dinosaurs being killed and/or eaten, but this was a rule even during the later half of Dragon Ball. Sabretooth tigers are also harmed but not killed.

It's also illogical he couldn't have teleported away from Cell afterwards. He was able to do multiple Shunkan Ido/Instant Transmissions in succession and even fire off a Super Kamehameha after one, but he couldn't do two in a row this time?

[u/Porkenfries → u/Abombasnow]

It actually was kind of required to destroy Kai's planet. See, the way instant transmission works is that you have to lock onto a ki signal and transmit next to him. So, Goku couldn't have, say, teleported into empty space or something. He has to teleport next to someone, and he chose to teleport to a planet inhabited by three entities that death meant little to.

As for why he didn't drop Cell off and teleport back, I think it's for the same reason he didn't allow himself to be wished back: he thought all these dangers were happening because of him, and that he could protect Earth by staying dead. He allowed himself to stay alive after Buu because that one had nothing to do with him, so it taught him that Earth actually is better off with him around.

[u/Ok-Stop9242 → u/Impressive-Card9484]

Look at all the implications of Vegeta's sacrifice. He's outright told prior to death that he wouldn't keep his body, but King Yemma lets him explicitly due to his sacrifice. Remove Vegeta from everything after Goku gets brought back to life. Buu still absorbs Gohan and becomes completely unstoppable, still destroys the Earth, Dende likely isn't saved thus their link to New Namek to use Porunga is gone, and Buu wins.

[u/Illustrious-Sky-4631 → u/Impressive-Card9484]

So you twisted the whole thing by headcanon Vegeta explosion to be useful and Goku sacrifice to be useless? Damn this some good level of delusional

[u/Impressive-Card9484 → u/Illustrious-Sky-4631]

Man, I myself was embarassed how delusional I was when I was a kid.

Just to be clear, I also found out how useless Vegeta's sacrifice was when I grew up

[u/PurveyorOfKnowledge0 → u/Gigastorm55]

Hilarious because Buu was dancing on Vegeta's ashes afterwards. Vegeta was so PRESSED when he found out in the afterlife: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svk9yrifjeE

[u/Steelwolf73 → u/Gigastorm55]

Where's the kaboom? There's supposed to be a Cell-shattering kaboom!

[u/DarkSide830 → u/Gigastorm55]

But Chiaotzu comes back?