Top 10 Things Dragon Ball Wants You to Forget About Goku
Top 10 Things Dragon Ball Wants You to Forget About Goku
Welcome to WatchMojo and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the top 10 things “Dragon Ball” wants you to forget about Goku. For this list, we’ll be going over the facts, plotlines, and attributes about “Dragon Ball” protagonist Goku which fans and the franchise itself have often glossed over or tried to hide. If there’s an embarrassing Goku fact whose power level is too big for our scouters to detect, please let us know in the comments!
#10: His Father’s Ocean Dub Backstory
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Goku’s father’s name is Bardock. In the early Ocean Group dubs of “Dragon Ball Z,” Vegeta tells Goku while he’s fighting him about a technique for allowing Saiyans to transform into their enormous monkey forms without a full moon. He also claims that it was Bardock who devised this technique. Vegeta also throws shade at Bardock’s abilities as a warrior while complimenting his intelligence. Not only is this a complete invention of the Ocean dub, it’s also directly contradicted by Bardock’s backstory. The guy may have been a capable fighter, and wise enough to see Freeza was up to no good, but calling him a scientist seems like quite the stretch.
#9: He Was a Crybaby
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All babies cry, but Goku crying had a particularly unfortunate, and embarrassing side effect. In the original “Broly” film, we learn that the eponymous legendary Super Saiyan once shared a nursery with Goku. Despite Broly being born much stronger than Goku, he was traumatized from an early age by Goku/Kakarot’s cries. This led Broly to fly into a berserker rage as an adult. As cool as Broly is, this is pretty dumb. It certainly isn’t a good look for Goku either. So when “Dragon Ball” creator Akira Toriyama decided to adapt Broly for “Dragon Ball Super,” he understandably rewrote the character’s backstory, removing Goku from it entirely. Few, if any, tears were shed by anyone.
#8: He Nearly Died From Stupidity
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When Trunks comes back to the past to warn Goku and company about the android threat, he also tells Goku that he’ll die in the future of a heart virus. Fortunately, Trunks also gives him medicine to cure the ailment. Of course, travel to the past causes the ripple effect of Goku not contracting the illness until months after he originally did. However, rather than keep the medicine that a stranger from the future said could save his life on him at all times, or taking it immediately, Goku is left gasping and dying at the worst possible time – in the middle of fighting androids. Sure, Goku’s absence does give us some great fights, but it’s still an idiotic move on his part.
#7: He’s Never Defeated Vegeta
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That’s right! NEVER. At least, not in a serious fight. The franchise and fans may see Goku and Vegeta as rivals, with Goku as the stronger and Vegeta as the frustrated second fiddle, but the truth is, Vegeta isn’t as far behind as he or the audience think. Their iconic first fight on Earth concluded with Goku mangled on the ground and his son and friends left to pick up the pieces. Sure Vegeta retreated, but he was in much better shape than Goku. Their second fight ends in a stalemate, since Buu awakening leads to them calling it off. “Super” also sees them spar several times, but we don’t get anything definitive. Bottomline, popular perception of Goku’s superiority to Vegeta is flawed.
#6: Everything in “Dragon Ball GT”
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If the “Dragon Ball” franchise has a black sheep show, it’s easily “Dragon Ball GT.” At best, people consider it a mixed bag, with a few good ideas, but mostly bad execution. And since the advent of “Dragon Ball Super,” it has essentially become non-canon. The events of “Super” could technically be set between “Z” and “GT,” but the power scaling would be all out of whack and there would be a whole host of contradictions. Overall, the franchise seems determined to supplant “GT” with “Super” as the official “Dragon Ball” sequel series. We’re hardly complaining, since Goku challenging gods and taking part in high stakes battles is a lot more fun than him being turned into a kid and touring the universe.
#5: Instant Kamehameha Plot Hole
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During the Cell Games, Goku uses his Instant Transmission technique to teleport right in front of Cell to fire a Kamehameha point blank at the villain. This vaporizes his upper body. However, he still manages to regenerate it. Later, when Cell explodes on King Kai’s planet, he again returns from seemingly fatal injuries, explaining that if one of his brain cells exists, he can regenerate. This contradicts his earlier injury from Goku’s Instant Kamehameha.
#4: Inappropriate Behavior With Women
Goku didn’t have the most conventional upbringing. He doesn’t even meet a woman until he’s almost a teenager. While that does explain some of his ignorant behavior upon meeting girls like Bulma and Chi-Chi for the first time, it doesn’t excuse the fact that he does something incredibly inappropriate when trying to determine their genders. And you’d think that age would improve Goku’s behavior, but not by much. His accidental intrusion into Bulma’s home as an adult in “Dragon Ball Super” sees him get an eyeful of Bulma as she comes out of the shower. And commenting on her breasts is just rude! Body shaming is not cool bro!
#3: He Doesn’t Have as Many Victories as You Think
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It isn’t just Goku’s track record against Vegeta that’s over inflated in fans’ minds. It’s also his number of victories in general. While Goku generally wrecks house in “Dragon Ball,” he still loses against a good number of opponents the first time he fights them. In “Z,” he died in the fight against Raditz, and he left it up to his son to defeat Cell. And his victories in “Super” are few and far between. He loses or doesn’t achieve a definitive victory against Beerus, Hit or Zamasu, and it’s only through teamwork that Goku is able to eliminate Jiren. Goku always wins? Hardly.
#2: His Goodness Is Due to Brain Damage
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Goku may be as fight hungry as any other Saiyan, but he’s still generally a good person who cares for his family and people in general. However, he wasn’t always. When young Kakarot was first sent to Earth, his “grandpa” Gohan originally found him as violent and willful, like most other Saiyans. One day, Goku fell off a cliff and hit his head. When he woke up, his personality had changed to the point where he was nice. It’s understandable why “Dragon Ball” would gloss over the fact that its protagonist is more heroic because of brain trauma.
#1: He Tried Passing the Torch
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Goku has been the protagonist of “Dragon Ball” since the beginning of the story. However, Goku has tried multiple times to appoint a successor. During the Cell Games, Goku almost literally steps aside so that Gohan can defeat Cell instead. And after his death and long absence, Gohan is in many ways the protagonist of the story. Likewise, the end of “Dragon Ball Z” sees Goku eager to train Buu’s reincarnation, Uub, as a potential successor for Earth’s protector. However, neither of these candidates end up taking up the mantle, and both “GT” and “Super” have had Goku squarely at the forefront. It wasn’t broken, so they didn’t fix it.