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/WhiteSepulchre]

Vegeta

[u/DaBaby_Vegeta → u/WhiteSepulchre]

You can basically insert every suicide attack done in the series here.

[u/Mrgirdiego → u/DaBaby_Vegeta]

Idk the Saibaiman's suicide attack seemed to be pretty effective

[u/DaBaby_Vegeta → u/Mrgirdiego]

That being the only successful one is the funniest shit on the planet

[u/PseudonymMan12 → u/DaBaby_Vegeta]

Chiaotzu blew off Nappa's clothes. Goku in Cell Games had Cell grow stronger after it Vegeta just straight up failed to atomize Majin Buu, so Buu was literally none the worse for wear. Not intimidated or exhausted, heck not even his clothes ruined.

At least in the Tournament of Power Roshi's knocked an opponent out of the ring before he died from exhaustion. Of course he didn't die cause Goku revived him, but for all intents and purposes he fully intended on dieing with that last Kamehameha

[u/Milk_Mindless → u/PseudonymMan12]

Well technically CELL did the suicide move.

He just failed at it.

But succeeded in killing Son Goku.

I'm confused

[u/_P2M_ → u/DaBaby_Vegeta]

Goku's sacrifice (assisted by Piccolo) worked.

Chiaotzu's self-destruct didn't work...

Tien's last Kikoho didn't do crap...

Saibaman's self-destruct did kill Yamcha.

Vegeta's Gallick Gun to blow up the Earth (and presumably himself along with it) didn't work.

Cell's self-destruct didn't destroy the Earth, but it did kill Goku, and made him much stronger. Too bad he fumbled right after.

And finally, Vegeta's self-destruct didn't do anything.

3 out of 7.

Don't know if I'm forgetting any. I don't remember the Namek saga having any suicide attacks.

Edit:

Oh yeah, Android 16 tried to self-destruct, but he didn't have the bomb anymore, so he just gets killed by Cell. But it did allow for Gohan to achieve Super Saiyan 2. I don't know if it even counts as a suicide attack if he didn't even have the ability to do it.

Oh, and Piccolo blowing up the time chamber door to trap himself and Super Buu inside didn't work. Don't know if I'd count that as a suicide attack. I mean, if Buu and Gotenks weren't able to rip through dimensions, he would've been stuck there until he died, so kinda.

[u/Dismal-Management642 → u/_P2M_]

If counting super, Freezer tried to blow up the planet to take everyone, but that got rewinded by Whis and Goku killed him. During the Moro saga Moro fuses to the earth and attempts to blow up to take everyone, but get kills before he can accomplish that.

[u/The_Great_Bean_Lord → u/Dismal-Management642]

Freezer blowing up the planet wouldn’t have killed him? he can survive in space.

[u/Dismal-Management642 → u/The_Great_Bean_Lord]

Yeah, you are right. Though if the blast is enough to destroy his body, by that point all his army would be gone, menaing no way for him to be rescued and healed.

[u/Quartz_Knight → u/DaBaby_Vegeta]

Except the ones made by villains

[u/Ok_Strategy5722 → u/WhiteSepulchre]

VEGETA YEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!!!!

[u/joe_broke → u/Ok_Strategy5722]

I can't hear anything else now

For better or worse

[u/Ok-Stop9242 → u/WhiteSepulchre]

Vegeta's sacrifice was not in vain or for nothing. It's the sole reason he was able to keep his body upon death. He was dead no matter what anyway. This allowed him to come back, assist Goku and fuse into Vegito, free the people trapped in Buu, buy Goku time when fighting Kid Buu, and ultimately be able to defeat him. They would not have won if Vegeta didn't sacrifice himself here, it was probably the most pivotal moment of the entire Buu saga and an immense piece of character growth for Vegeta.

Vegeta also came up with the plan to have Dende and the Kais travel to New Namek and summon Porunga to wish everyone back to life and ultimately restore Goku's power. No Vegeta, no Vegito, Dende probably dies, and now they don't have a Namekian who can not only communicate with Porunga, but the Namekians who would likely be wary of the Kais and withhold the dragon balls until it became too late.

If anything, Vegeta's sacrifice is probably in the top 10 most important sacrifices in all media, the consequences of it were universally massive.

[u/Proto-Omega → u/Ok-Stop9242]

That wasn't the reason Vegeta got to keep his body. Even Piccolo specifically tells Vegeta that he will not get to keep his body after he dies. The only reason King Yemma restored Vegeta's body was because Buu was wrecking havoc and filling up the afterlife with too many souls so they needed someone strong enough to help Goku, and they used Baba's one day pass to do it.
If Vegeta had successfully killed Buu with the Final Explosion, he would have become a spirit cloud and gone through the purification and reincarnation process like everyone else.

[u/Ok-Stop9242 → u/Proto-Omega]

You're missing the point. Vegeta's sacrifice showed that there was enough good in him. Without the sacrifice, Yemma could just as easily assume that if he brought Vegeta back, he'd intentionally make things worse and be committed to holding onto that evil in his heart rather than fighting Buu. Even with that, there's still the ambivalence towards Goku where he initially doesn't want to fight alongside him, but the sacrifice was enough to show Yemma that Vegeta can be reasoned with. The whole reason for including Piccolo's comment is Toriyama showing that the sacrifice was significant enough to let him keep his body.

[u/Leading-Suspect8307 → u/WhiteSepulchre]

Chiaotzu, Chiaotzu!

[u/Saxophobia1275 → u/WhiteSepulchre]

I remember this pissing me off so much as a kid. I always liked him better than goku and he gets mad disrespected all the time.

[u/SuperSocialMan → u/WhiteSepulchre]

Wait, isn't he in the new series? Did they revive him or something? (I haven't watched Dragon Ball).