okay but i love the difference in emotions, expressions, and how far vegeta has come here!!!! this might get long so feel free to scroll past my hyperfixating infodump of shit.
to start, the namek saga vegeta. unhinged, angry, hungry for blood and power. up until this saga, he's spent quite literally his entire life serving frieza. all of frieza's abuse isn't shown on screen, but we know his childhood was essentially him committing planet-wide genocides under the orders of the dictator who killed his father (who GAVE vegeta to frieza as a child) and destroyed the planet and all the people he was destined to rule. one can only imagine what that kind of upbringing can do to someone. vegeta is genuinely scared of frieza, that much is canon. but now, he's forcing down that fear and replacing it with anger and bloodlust and the damn THRILL of it all. this is a man who's feeling the rush of doing something wrong, and it feels GREAT. he's defying his lifelong abuser for the first time, and even though he's terrified, the jittery rush of power over those around him (his former associates, who canonically treated him like garbage for his race) and having control of a situation for the first time. "your loving vegeta" with that shit-eating grin is a sarcastic slap in the face to frieza that he's enjoying every minute of. anyone who's been abused can relate to the giddy feeling of powerful freedom that comes from fighting back/leaving the abuser and knowing you can get away with it. and in this moment, vegeta certainly believes he can get away with it - he almost does, by the end. but i just want to note that feeling angry to the point of mania towards your abuser is common - i myself have experienced it in the past - and i believe it's what vegeta is feeling here.
now, to resurrection f. it's been years - decades, even. we've seen vegeta grow and change for the better. he's slowly gone from a battle-hungry, affection-starved, genuinely evil, abused monster to... a man with a family. a child. allies and friends he's fought alongside with for years. he's learned to trust... he's learned to love. the effects of abuse never really goes away, but the way you look at it can change how you act. maturing and accepting that it happened, but that it's in the past, can make recovery smoother and less painful - especially if you have people who support and care about you. vegeta has MATURED. he has grown past the person he was on namek, and in the adroid saga, and even the buu saga. turning majin, experiencing that relapse, and fighting through it to sacrifice himself for the loved ones he almost killed in his bloodthirsty, manic rage... that made him realize that he HAS changed, and that it's not a bad thing. now, in walks someone he never thought he would see again. his childhood abuser who turned him into the monster he defeated. i'm sure his first instinct was to be angry, scared, fight-or-flight, relapse-! but then he stopped himself. he had a family to protect. and if beating the shit out of his old, long-dead abuser was what it took, he was ready. watching the full fight between golden frieza and vegeta was so different from watching their fight on namek. on namek, before he lost hope, vegeta was fiery, grinning with giddy rage and exhilaration. gloating to frieza and showing off. in his ssj blue form, watching him just slowly stride towards frieza, hit HARD but fast, not doing anything showoffish or dramatic, all with that serious glare... it's chilling. vegeta has gone far on the path of recovery; no gloating, no grinning, no playing. but that burning rage of an abuse victim never really leaves. his hits are powerful and merciless. look at the gifs; vegeta lets his aura DROP as he sees frieza is helpless. and that cold stare is terrifying. he delivers the line that was once part of a mocking message as if it's an execution. a serious event. the old vegeta would've been monologuing and howling with laughter at frieza's state. but this vegeta gets no joy or rush from killing or death anymore. he simply sees it as something he must do, for the good of his family and his planet... and in this case, his childhood.
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