Why was Ultimate Gohan so popular?

[Bullza]

From the time that Resurrection F came out up until the Tournament of Power, people were unhappy with the way Gohan was portrayed especially as he was made out to be weaker than he used to be and all and I always saw comments about how he was so "bad ass" back in the Buu saga when he fought Super Buu and he's so lame now etc and then also the anticipation and excitement for when he finally got back his Ultimate form.

So it's always seemed to be pretty popular and I've never really understood why. One reason being, it isn't like it's got a unique look about it, it's just Base Gohan with a bang but mainly for all this talk of him being bad ass and the frustration of them making him weaker....Ultimate Gohan never really did anything.

In the manga, he showed up, kicked Super Buu's ass for a mere 5 pages and then in the very next fight he had with Buutenks he just got his ass kicked around and then he died. Even in the Wrath of the Dragon movie he was utterly useless, probably more than any of the others.

He's probably the most hyped up character in the series who actually achieved nothing. Ironically he actually accomplished more when he was nerfed in Resurrection F because at least there he killed Shisami.

It wasn't really until the Tournament of Power did Gohan do anything of note with the form.

[Logania]

I don't think there's really a main reason why it's so popular, but there's a few things that people like about the form/Gohan at that time that they really enjoyed.

• A transformation that isn't a Super Saiyan form (considering the only forms people had in Dragon Ball until this point was just higher grades of Super Saiyan, it made it stand out a bit)

• At the end of Z, this Gohan was the strongest non-fused character in the entire series (until Battle of Gods of course)

• His fight he did have with Super Buu, while short, was pretty badass (Anime not manga, manga is just bare)

• It made Gohan a fierce warrior that people missed so much, like he was from the Cell Games

I'm personally indifferent to the form myself, as it's just a retread of a concept already done earlier in the series, much like Ultra Instinct and Light-Speed Mode are in my opinion.

[90sDBZ]

I think the buildup had a lot to do with it. Gohan losing for his lack of training, pulling out the Z-Sword as if he were the "Chosen one", and his subsequent training with the sword while he vowed to redeem himself. Then there's the mystery behind Old Kai's abilities mixed with his goofy character. It makes both Gohan and the viewer have doubts about his claims. Meanwhile we see the powerlevels on earth get crazier than ever with SS3, Fusion, and Buu transforming further adding to the doubt that Gohan can really get strong enough. Then the episode were he loses his temper with Old Kai happens and we get our first glimpse at Mystic, and the way it's portrayed is awesome. Everyone is shocked that Old Kai wasn't exaggerating or pulling their leg.

And then there's the actual "transformation", Goku and Gohan's goodbye, Kibito's last conversation with Gohan, his Goku-like entrance onto the battlefield, and his subsequent dominating of Super Buu who had seemed near invincible up to that point. Classic DBZ really.

Taking all of this into consideration it's not hard to see why people get annoyed at what followed. I do respect Toriyama for throwing us all for a loop and reversing the whole passing of the torch cliche though.

[Slangh]

Probably because he went all 'Goku arrives on Namek' on Super Buu, with him blowing everybody's minds with his confidence and calmness before having even landed a blow. He wore Goku's clothes, as if he finally assumed the position as his successor. And his eyes were drawn differently which also signified his transformation into a new badass hero. But he also was pretty arrogant, like his younger SSJ2 self, as he could have just blown Super Buu away without even trying.

[Whatever]

Why do people like Cell Games Gohan despite being so out of character?
Because he dominated the villain,with the reason why highlighting Gohan's potential which is his gimmick and what most of Gohan's fan only seem to care about.
So same case for Ultimate,it also remembered 'fondly' as well because the Buu saga,was the last canon saga for years,Gohan's last form which put him as the strongest.

Taking all of this into consideration it's not hard to see why people get annoyed at what followed. I do respect Toriyama for throwing us all for a loop and reversing the whole passing of the torch cliche though.

Same here but for another reason.
The whole Ultimate Gohan thing was written so badly that tossing all the build up around it aside was the best choice he could make.

[ABED]

It's still easy to get why people were irritated that there was all that set up that wasn't paid off.

[Bullza]

Why do people like Cell Games Gohan despite being so out of character?

Well he at least did have a huge impact and was the one to finish off the main villain in an epic way. He dismantles the Cell Jr's like they were nothing, overwhelmed Cell and then killed him. He then did something pretty similar in Bojack Unbound. So that I can easily understood.

Ultimate Gohan didn't really do anything though. He was all build up, had a brief but non important victory and then he was useless again. The whole thing was like 60% build up, 10% victory and 30% getting his ass kicked.

I also forgot that he came out with the form in the Battle of God's movie too and he also got his ass kicked but that time in like 20 seconds.

So between him getting stomped by Buutenks, Hirudegarn and then Beerus back to back...why were people so mad that they weakened him for Resurrection F when he finally actually beat people up in that one?

[Baggie_Saiyan]

That Super Buu fight was awful as he was written as an absolute idiot, I was literally face palming when watching TFC. I don't care if he was "cocky" he NEVER should have allowed Gotenks to fight at all then should have been more alert and realised what Buu was up too but instead stood at the back with a smug smile on his f**king face bah!

The entire Buu arc was let down by this reoccurring theme of characters being cocky letting thus letting the villain get stronger. Honestly I got fed up of it.

[Lightdasher]

I think once fans find a character or form they feel is awesome enough to stick to, they don't need much logic to root for it. We could ask this for so many other characters actually: Vegito, Super Vegeta, Gotenks, even Super Saiyan 3 as a form has yet to still canonically lead to a high-stakes victory (and only once if we're talking non-canon), but these characters and forms are all commonly praised. Honestly, I feel similarly about Super Saiyan 2 Teen Gohan as OP seems to feel for Ultimate. Sure, he dispatched the Cell Jrs. quickly, but he also asserted himself into a position of being the only one capable of taking Cell down and not doing it, then he does exactly the same thing when coming back as Ultimate Gohan. I personally can't look passed this as far as character flaws go for a character who'd never even shown hints of brashness before that initial mark as Super Saiyan 2.

All that said, I know that's not going to take away from why Ultimate Gohan has his fans. I guess the positives are so great for them that the negatives matter quite little. And honestly, it's kinda' hard to find characters and forms that have deserved their praise through proper wins. While Gohan almost surely couldn't have done it without Super Saiyan 2, the form by itself didn't lead to Cell's end as the audience likely thought it would. Neither did Kaio-Ken when it was new. There are more examples like this, and I think Toryiama's knack to do something unexpected is what leads to these happenstances, but what we end up getting doesn't completely diminish the impact to the cool things that happen before the finales.

[Doctor.]

There's no reason ultimate Gohan in specific is popular. He's popular because he's Gohan, a popular character. And ultimate Gohan is the strongest version of the character. So naturally people want Gohan to be at his strongest. Nothing else to it.

[Vijay]

Ultimate Gohan and popularity are antagonistic as North & South Korea (bad metaphore I know

Cell Games SSJ2 Kid Gohan WAS popular

Great Saiyaman Gohan itself destroyed the hype & hoopla. Take him outta main fights, sideline him with crappy sword swinging, potential unlock in desolated Kaioshin Realm & you expecting readers/viewers to instantly root so-called "Ultimate/Mystic" Gohan? Eh?

5 page worth Super Boo beatdown doesnt warrant "popularity".

You wanna talk bout "strength" as reason for his popularity? Gimme a break

Strongest unfused "Mystic/Ultimate Gohan" was not even in Top 5 list in Boo Arc

While I think his design (Goku's gi, Base yet single bang with flat-eyes) is distinct, I dont think the character itself is popular

[TheZFighter]

Speaking purely for myself here, Gohan was never a character I particularly liked during Z when he was younger. Much like with Goten and Trunks, I'd sigh and lose interest a bit during his scenes, but I loved what happened to him during the Buu Saga.

He was thought to be dead, found, taken to the Sacred World of the Kai's, pulled a sword out of a stone (always a cool moment), trained with that sword, (I'm presuming he) became a lot stronger and more proficient with a sword, broke the sword, released an old Kai who then unlocked his power and turned him into the strongest unfused character, with more confidence to boot.

Typically Tien, one of my favourite characters, summed it up best: "Hardly recognise you Gohan. You've changed a lot, inside and out. Good for you".

[Whatever]

Why do people like Cell Games Gohan despite being so out of character?

Well he at least did have a huge impact and was the one to finish off the main villain in an epic way. He dismantles the Cell Jr's like they were nothing, overwhelmed Cell and then killed him. He then did something pretty similar in Bojack Unbound. So that I can easily understood.

Ultimate Gohan didn't really do anything though. He was all build up, had a brief but non important victory and then he was useless again. The whole thing was like 60% build up, 10% victory and 30% getting his ass kicked.

I also forgot that he came out with the form in the Battle of God's movie too and he also got his ass kicked but that time in like 20 seconds.

So between him getting stomped by Buutenks, Hirudegarn and then Beerus back to back...why were people so mad that they weakened him for Resurrection F when he finally actually beat people up in that one?

I mean outside of killing the villain,Ultimate Gohan did what Cell Games Gohan did as i mentioned.
People got mad he got weaker in Rof because it made him look bad that he barely could turn super saiyan,of course you are right that people should have known better but thats the way it is.

[MozillaVulpix]

For me personally, although I didn't really like how they executed the form in the Buu arc at all, conceptually, it's a really cool idea and also something that kind of makes a lot of sense if you think about it a bit. After all the new Super Saiyan forms and crazy haircuts, Gohan's final power-up involves him looking pretty much exactly the same. It makes it feel like he's completely in control of his power instead of the usual berserker rage mode. It's almost like a heroic version of Freeza's final form - you expect it to be really complex, but it turns out incredibly simple, which sends the idea that it's more his 'true power' rather than an incredibly powered-up form with a ridiculous strain on the body. And it makes sense that that would Gohan's 'final form', so to speak. He was the character whose power-ups always seemed internal rather than externally obtained from intense training. So you could believe whatever his true potential power was that was being hinted at from his very introduction, it was something purely internal and unique to him and not related to the newest Super Saiyan form. Especially once Super Saiyan 2 was named and given to everyone like candy.

But yeah, besides it being cool conceptually, there was a lot of build-up to it, he acts cool and confident and in-control for around 2 chapters, at least, and it sort of feels like it's this 'what a grown-up, badass Gohan was always destined to be like'. In execution, it had its own issues, but I can at least appreciate the idea. It makes sense.

[Pirina_Fusee]

I feel like a lot of it has to do with the mystery of why Toriyama would build this form up so much and then backpedal on it so quickly. All we've gotten on the subject are vague statements about how using Gohan as the big hero "didn't feel right" to Toriyama, essentially.

[sintzu]

His form wasn't a Ssj form but instead his base form with slight changes to his looks that made him more badass. His beat down against Buu in the anime was very well handled and it showed how far above he was from Gotenks who was above Goku. He got his badass personality back from his fight with Cell which is a fan favorite. I think Gohan as a whole was very well handled in the original manga, even after he lost some of his power as Toriyama made sure to still write him as one of the most powerful characters despite that so fans looking back at that and comparing it to Super just see a very superior version of their favorite character.

[Bullza]

Having just watched the anime version, they did him give a bit more time. His beat down on Super Buu was extended as was his fight with Buutenks but the major difference there is that when they actually started fighting, they were evenly matched at first.

In the manga, I don't think he ever even landed an attack on Buutenks.

[sintzu]

Having just watched the anime version, they did him give a bit more time. His beat down on Super Buu was extended as was his fight with Buutenks but the major difference there is that when they actually started fighting, they were evenly matched at first.

In the manga, I don't think he ever even landed an attack on Buutenks.

If I remember correctly all the fights in the Buu arc apart from Gotenks' with Buu were very short and rushed.

[Puaru]

Because he was strong.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

Having just watched the anime version, they did him give a bit more time. His beat down on Super Buu was extended as was his fight with Buutenks but the major difference there is that when they actually started fighting, they were evenly matched at first.

In the manga, I don't think he ever even landed an attack on Buutenks.

Which is why I prefer the Manga of the Buu arc so much more. Less time wasting, if Gohan vs Buu wasn't gonna amount to anything then why waste my time with it? Make it short and simple, same for most of the other fights too.