Was Goku reactive or proactive in Ball, Super, GT and Z?

[Totamo]

I got into an argument about the type of protagonist Goku is.


A proactive one does not need the plot to do something. He has his own goals and motives and is striving to achieve them and the plot is to help him with that. he may even start the plot. good example of this is Luffy.


A reactive one needs the plot to move him because he simply doesn't care and has no personal goal. Good example of this is Ichigo.



Personally, I think in Ball and Super, he was proactive and in Z and GT, he was reactive.

[Anonymous Friend]

Goku is always reactive. Bulma shoots him in the face and asks him to come with her. RR comes after his dragon ball. Tambourine kills Krillin. I'm not sure if he knew Piccolo was going to be at the 23rd Tourney. Raditz shows up, Goku dies and trains for the next set of Saiyans. Once healed, he zipped off to Namek to help out. Adter arriving back on Earth, he is spurred by the news of powerful androids. He was inly interested in Babidi once Gohan was attacked and Supreme Kai asked for their help.

A proactive protagonist is one who goes out looking for trouble. Like Spider-Man or Batman.

[Vijay]

Proactive whenever Goku's ready for some of dat kickass hardcore slam-fest moment (Goku training for Saiyans, Androids, 7 years, 10 years, EoZ~BoGT)

Reactive when Veggie, Piccolo or Gohan is ruling the roost in Goku's absence

[Desassina]

I think that he has only been pro-active in the Buu saga and GT. No one but the opponent whom Goku had to fight almost evenly was close to giving him his joy back, when he postponed every other fight to a new generation, until it came down to him. From there on, it seemed that he could only spar without a conflict, giving up more often than not. DB Super is different: it went back to his roots.

[Michsi]

He always had goals, or one simple goal to be more precise. To be the strongest.
I think it's more evident in DB, since him wanting to win the TB has been his goal for a good portion of it.

[ABED]

Goku is always reactive. Bulma shoots him in the face and asks him to come with her. RR comes after his dragon ball. Tambourine kills Krillin. I'm not sure if he knew Piccolo was going to be at the 23rd Tourney. Raditz shows up, Goku dies and trains for the next set of Saiyans. Once healed, he zipped off to Namek to help out. Adter arriving back on Earth, he is spurred by the news of powerful androids. He was inly interested in Babidi once Gohan was attacked and Supreme Kai asked for their help.

A proactive protagonist is one who goes out looking for trouble. Like Spider-Man or Batman.

That's a misunderstanding of what it means to be proactive. While Batman and Spider-Man go out looking for trouble, there has to be trouble for them to stop. They are reacting to trouble.

Goku is an active character. He has a clear goal and takes steps to achieve it. Even in cases where someone else instigates things, he looks for solutions to solve the problem. For instance, Raditz arrives and instead of just doing as he's told, he and Piccolo agree to work together and launch an early attack. Most of the antagonists that Goku meets are the result of him searching for the DB and coming into conflict with someone else searching for them or because he's fighting to win the TB.

The Cell arc was instigated by Trunks and Goku. Trunks came back to warn Goku and Goku decides he wants a good fight. Due to the time travel mind f--- I guess you could say he's reacting to something that hasn't happened to him yet, but without Goku deciding to let Dr. Gero create the cyborgs, there is no story.

[DBZAOTA482]

Reactive. He's a simple man who wants nothing more than to get stronger but helps those in need even his worst enemies.

[GamerSkull]

Yeah, I would say he was reactive for the majority of the series.

I think the only time he was proactive was when he wanted to build Gohan up to replace him and took an interest in having him be the one to take down Cell.

[SuperCyan2]

Son Gokû was very proactive in Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT and even Dragon Ball Super. Not quite sure what "Ball" is, though.

In Super, the characters just feel like Pokémons changing colors and evolutions.

[Anonymous Friend]

Goku is always reactive. Bulma shoots him in the face and asks him to come with her. RR comes after his dragon ball. Tambourine kills Krillin. I'm not sure if he knew Piccolo was going to be at the 23rd Tourney. Raditz shows up, Goku dies and trains for the next set of Saiyans. Once healed, he zipped off to Namek to help out. Adter arriving back on Earth, he is spurred by the news of powerful androids. He was inly interested in Babidi once Gohan was attacked and Supreme Kai asked for their help.

A proactive protagonist is one who goes out looking for trouble. Like Spider-Man or Batman.

That's a misunderstanding of what it means to be proactive. While Batman and Spider-Man go out looking for trouble, there has to be trouble for them to stop. They are reacting to trouble.

They may be reacting to the possibility of trouble but not to anything that they know for sure is happening. Spiderman can go out and find absolutely nothing to do. And I'm not even refering to Homecoming.

[ABED]

Fair enough, but being proactive isn't limited to actively looking for a threat. A proactive, or an active character will take steps to achieve their goal instead of JUST reacting to whatever happens to them. Kuririn's death may have been the inciting incident, but Goku didn't just go wherever the wind took him. After being defeated, he went to Karin in search of a way to boost his power then he went after Piccolo Daimao when he didn't have to and wasn't told to.

[Anonymous Friend]

Fair enough, but being proactive isn't limited to actively looking for a threat. A proactive, or an active character will take steps to achieve their goal instead of JUST reacting to whatever happens to them. Kuririn's death may have been the inciting incident, but Goku didn't just go wherever the wind took him. After being defeated, he went to Karin in search of a way to boost his power then he went after Piccolo Daimao when he didn't have to and wasn't told to.

So ... Goku reacted to defeat by trying to get stronger in order to defeat Piccolo the next time?

Goku's only goals in life are to become stronger and fight stronger people. In those, he is only truly proactive in one area: his continued training. He never goes out looking for stronger opponents. Either people find him, or the news about stronger fighters finds him.

[ABED]

Fair enough, but being proactive isn't limited to actively looking for a threat. A proactive, or an active character will take steps to achieve their goal instead of JUST reacting to whatever happens to them. Kuririn's death may have been the inciting incident, but Goku didn't just go wherever the wind took him. After being defeated, he went to Karin in search of a way to boost his power then he went after Piccolo Daimao when he didn't have to and wasn't told to.

So ... Goku reacted to defeat by trying to get stronger in order to defeat Piccolo the next time?

Goku's only goals in life are to become stronger and fight stronger people. In those, he is only truly proactive in one area: his continued training. He never goes out looking for stronger opponents. Either people find him, or the news about stronger fighters finds him.

He doesn't have to search for stronger opponents. He's active in achieving his goals. He wants to be a better fighter and he takes steps to achieve it. He actively seeks out methods and masters to help him.

And yes, he reacts to defeat by taking a step to defeat his opponent.

John McClane wasn't purely reactive because he reacted to the takeover of Nakatomi Plaza. He took steps to save his wife and the other hostages.

[MKCSTEALTH]

He has characteristics of both. He constantly seeks to fight stronger people and get stronger, but has moments where the plot drives him forward. I feel for most of Dragonball he was reactive, Z he was reactive till the Buu saga where he became more proactive, Super saw him become reactive for a while with hints of proactive, and GT he was fairly reactive

[ABED]

He was reactive in DB?

[TheZFighter]

Reactive. All he wants is to be the strongest, but in the mean time all of these enemies come along.

I wonder how long he'd have stayed on that mountain alone if Bulma hadn't come along...

[ABED]

Reactive. All he wants is to be the strongest, but in the mean time all of these enemies come along.

I wonder how long he'd have stayed on that mountain alone if Bulma hadn't come along...

Okay, but he's not passive. He has a very simple goal and sets out to achieve it. The enemies do come along, but he doesn't just wait for them. He encounters the bulk of them in pursuit of his goals. The whole Red Ribbon Army arc begins because Goku sets out to find the four star ball which brings him into conflict with the RRA. That's not reactive, that's active.

[Anonymous Friend]

Reactive. All he wants is to be the strongest, but in the mean time all of these enemies come along.

I wonder how long he'd have stayed on that mountain alone if Bulma hadn't come along...

Okay, but he's not passive. He has a very simple goal and sets out to achieve it. The enemies do come along, but he doesn't just wait for them. He encounters the bulk of them in pursuit of his goals. The whole Red Ribbon Army arc begins because Goku sets out to find the four star ball which brings him into conflict with the RRA. That's not reactive, that's active.

Maybe you should explain what you think his goals are and how you think he is proactive in accomplishing them.

[ABED]

His goal is simple - to become as strong as he possibly can be. He is constantly working towards that goal. He seeks out stronger opponents, new masters, etc. He also refines his training methods over time.

[Wizardon]

I got into an argument about the type of protagonist Goku is.


A proactive one does not need the plot to do something. He has his own goals and motives and is striving to achieve them and the plot is to help him with that. he may even start the plot. good example of this is Luffy.


A reactive one needs the plot to move him because he simply doesn't care and has no personal goal. Good example of this is Ichigo.



Personally, I think in Ball and Super, he was proactive and in Z and GT, he was reactive.

Here's how I see it; Goku is proactive towards his own goals, like training. But where the plot is concerned, he's reactive.

If somewhere were to tell a kid Goku that King Piccolo was a threat to the world, and was going to eventually take it over, I don't think he'd be terribly concerned about preventing it. Only taking care of it once it started happening.

I don't think he really wouldn't have even gotten involved with Piccolo until he saw Krillin dead.
He was reacting to Krillin's death.

But due to Goku's character changing over time, I'd argue that if this same situation were to occur now and someone told Goku "This slug alien demon is going to take over the world!" Goku would ask if this slug alien demon is strong; if yes, he'd proactively seek him out to fight him.
If no...he'd probably blow it off and then reactively fight him only after it becomes a problem.

I guess it varies arc to arc. I'd say Goku, in the Tournament of Power is proactive because he sparked the whole thing off. He didn't wait for it to start then participate.