So what age is Goku REALLY?

[Escuro]

In an effort to sort out a fanfic timeline, I was on the timeline page on the Dragon Ball wiki. Things have clearly changed since I last looked.

Now, instead of Goku being born in 737, the same year that Planet Vegeta is destroyed, he was apparently born in 734. So now he's no longer 12 at the start of Dragon Ball, but 15??? Surely by this point, he should look about akin to Bulma, grown up like he was after the timeskip to the tournament he fought Tien in. Since, you know, he canonically IS 15 in that tournament.

So what age is he supposed to be really? Did someone just mess up with the timelines and make a baseless claim about Goku that fans took seriously? or is he retroactively three years older in every scene?

[theherodjl]

DB: Minus & DBS: Broly have established that Goku was infact 3 years old at the time of Planet Vegeta's destruction; so Goku was 15 or almost 15 when he met Bulma, which roughly lines up with his initial count of being 14 when Bulma asked how old he was. It's Toriyama's retcon so it is what it is, even if Goku's initial age of 12 makes more sense.

[Magnificent Ponta]

Isn't the change rather to the date of Planet Vegeta's destruction, instead of to Goku's birth year?

Goku arrives on Earth "around 10 years" before the events of Dragon Ball, according to the Jaco manga, and Dragon Ball begins in Age 749. So Goku is still born around Age 737, and is around 12 when he meets Bulma - it's just that he's around 3 in Age 739, which then becomes the date of Planet Vegeta's destruction.

[GreatSaiyaman123]

Isn't the change rather to the date of Planet Vegeta's destruction, instead of to Goku's birth year?

Goku arrives on Earth "around 10 years" before the events of Dragon Ball, according to the Jaco manga, and Dragon Ball begins in Age 749. So Goku is still born around Age 737, and is around 12 when he meets Bulma - it's just that he's around 3 in Age 739, which then becomes the date of Planet Vegeta's destruction.

This. I never got why people were so confused about Minus.

What's really confusing is DBS: Broly saying Freeza inherited the throne 41 years ago and Chapter 77 of DBS saying Bardock was in Cereal 40 years ago.

780-41 = Year 739. So the movie was right to put a 41 year gap, but they put it in the wrong place.
781-40 = Year 741. Now this one makes no sense.

This is a rare case where we should trust guidebooks over the writer since Toriyama can't get his dates right. Bulma's age in BoG is another example.

[Grimlock]

Now, instead of Goku being born in 737, the same year that Planet Vegeta is destroyed, he was apparently born in 734. So now he's no longer 12 at the start of Dragon Ball, but 15???

Typical mistake one could expect from wiki. I'm actually more surprised wiki is even used in 2024... Anyway, Vegeta's destruction and Goku's birth year do not occur in the same year. Goku's birth year is either in AGE 736 or AGE 737, while the destruction of the planet happens in AGE 739.

Surely by this point, he should look about akin to Bulma, grown up like he was after the timeskip to the tournament he fought Tien in. Since, you know, he canonically IS 15 in that tournament.

Goku was the same age Bulma was when she met him during the 22nd tournament, AGE 737 + 16 = AGE 753. So not really, as Goku is a pure Saiyan, by that age he probably still should deceive those who look at him.

So what age is he supposed to be really?

Currently? He is forty-five years old, going by the AGE 737 date, and the fact that Dragon Ball Super Super Hero takes place in AGE 782.

The only thing you should concern yourself with is if you prefer that Goku spent full three years in an incubator. If that's the case, then his new birth year is AGE 736 and you must assume he is one year older than what he is supposed to be. So if Goku is twelve by the time he meets Bulma, then he will turn thirteen at some point later that same year, for instance.

Did someone just mess up with the timelines and make a baseless claim about Goku that fans took seriously?

Yes. And that on top of official stuff constantly not giving the correct information. The perfect recipe for confusion.

[nineko]

Currently? He is forty-five years old, going by the AGE 737 date, and the fact that Dragon Ball Super Super Hero takes place in AGE 782.

Don't forget that he spent several years in the RoSaT, though. 782 - 737 might be equal to 45, but Goku is a few years older than that (I should be able to calculate that, but it's been a long day at work, so I'll leave that to the reader).

[Yuji]

12 at the start of the series.
15 post 22nd Budokai.
18 post 23rd Budokai.
23 post Raditz.
24 chronologically, 23 physically after Vegeta/Namek
25 chronologically, 24 physically after Trunks arrives
28 chronologically, 27 physically once the androids attack
28 in the Cell Games
35 chronologically, 28 physically in the Boo arc
39 chronologically, 32 physically in BoG
40 chronologically, 33 physically during RF
40 chronologically, 36 physically during U6/FT
41 chronologically, 37 physically during ToP/Moro/Granolah
43 chronologically, 39 physically during Superhero
45 chronologically, 41 physically during EoZ
50 chronologically, 12 physically during the first half of GT
51 chronologically, 13 physically during the later half of GT
151 chronologically, (1)47 physically during the ending of GT

Something like that?

[Grimlock]

Don't forget that he spent several years in the RoSaT, though. 782 - 737 might be equal to 45, but Goku is a few years older than that.

I don't forget, I just don't take any of that detail into consideration. Toriyama doesn't consider it either, otherwise he wouldn't have said Gohan was sixteen in the Majin Buu saga, he'd have said he was eighteen. The years spent in the Time Chamber and the years spent dead are details, at most worthy of parenthesis information.

Something like that?

No. It is like this:

AGE 749 - 12 years old (Goku meets Bulma).
AGE 750 - 13 years old (21st tournament).
AGE 753 - 16 years old (22nd tournament / Red Ribbon saga).
AGE 756 - 19 years old (23rd tournament).
AGE 761 - 24 years old (Saiyans saga, first part).
AGE 762 - 25 years old (Saiyans saga, second part / Freeza saga).
AGE 764 - 27 years old (Goku returns and meets Trunks).
AGE 767 - 30 years old (Cell saga)
AGE 774 - 37 years old (Majin Buu saga).
AGE 776 - 39 years old (Tarble OVA).
AGE 778 - 41 years old (Movie 14).
AGE 779 - 42 years old (Movie 15 / Universe 6 saga / Future Trunks saga)
AGE 780 - 43 years old (Universe Survival saga / Dragon Ball Super Broly / Moro saga*).
AGE 781 - 44 years old (Granolah saga).
AGE 782 - 45 years old (Dragon Ball Super Super Hero).
AGE 784 - 47 years old (end of Dragon Ball Z).
AGE 789 - 52 years old (First half of Dragon Ball GT).
AGE 790 - 53 years old (Second half of Dragon Ball GT).
AGE 801 - 64 years old (Goku leaves Earth).
AGE 889 - 152 years old (Dragon Ball GT TV Special).

* You can place Moro saga in AGE 781, if you want. Bear in mind no timeskip is mentioned between Dragon Ball Super Broly and Moro saga. Again, he is one year older if you want his birth year to be AGE 736, otherwise this is his actual age.

[Ashur]

In an effort to sort out a fanfic timeline, I was on the timeline page on the Dragon Ball wiki. Things have clearly changed since I last looked.

Now, instead of Goku being born in 737, the same year that Planet Vegeta is destroyed, he was apparently born in 734. So now he's no longer 12 at the start of Dragon Ball, but 15??? Surely by this point, he should look about akin to Bulma, grown up like he was after the timeskip to the tournament he fought Tien in. Since, you know, he canonically IS 15 in that tournament.

So what age is he supposed to be really? Did someone just mess up with the timelines and make a baseless claim about Goku that fans took seriously? or is he retroactively three years older in every scene?

Yes, someone messed up the timeline, it was Toriyama, by having Bulma be too young during Jaco in relation to Goku, ignoring his previous retconning of Goku's age that has him as 12 during the start of the series.

[Grimlock]

Huh? Bulma's age in Jaco, the Galactic Patrolman is completely fine.

She's stated to be five years old, which is a minor mistake as she was born in AGE 733, which would then mean she should be six years old, and which we can easily fix it by placing that manga before her birthday, she will turn six later that same year. Nothing wrong there.

[MasenkoHA]

DB: Minus & DBS: Broly have established that Goku was infact 3 years old at the time of Planet Vegeta's destruction; so Goku was 15 or almost 15 when he met Bulma, which roughly lines up with his initial count of being 14 when Bulma asked how old he was. It's Toriyama's retcon so it is what it is, even if Goku's initial age of 12 makes more sense.

He was still 12 when he met Bulma. Minus and Super Broli establishing he was 3 when he was sent to earth doesn't magically change his stated age at the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai.

[GokuHater]

To be fair I never took any world years, or minus retcons to deduce Goku's age. At least not until his state on 21 BT is retconned. And if it does, no problem. Tori may even say Goku got his age wrong or something. It isn't that much of a deal anyway.
But having 12 years as a base, for me it looks something like that:

Pilaf/21TB/RR arc: 12 years as stated by Goku

22TB/Piccolo Daimao: 15 years (as 3 years have passed)

23TB: 18 years (as 3 years passed again)

Saiyan/Frieza saga: 23 years (as 5 years have passed [I don't technically count his year with King Kai as he was dead so was he really aging?])

Trunk's arrival: 24 years (as 1 years has passed)

Android saga: 27 years (3 years passed on training)

Cell games: 28 years (1 year spent in RoSaT)

Buu saga: 28 years (technically he IS dead so he does not age, if he did that would be 35)

BoG: 32 years (I believe it is official BoG took place 4 years after Buu)

RF-U6 Arc: 32/33 years (I am not sure was it officially stated what time has passed? It surely wasn't in the manga/anime)

U6 - second half: 35/36 years (Goku and Vegeta trained 3 months in RoSaT)

U6, Zamasu, ToP, Brolly, Moro, Granolah, SuperHero:
Anything between 36 and 38 :p

EoZ - Goku SHOULD be 38 (10 years passed after Buu) at this point but Super kind of questions it.

GT: Fuck knows :p

[theherodjl]

He was still 12 when he met Bulma. Minus and Super Broli establishing he was 3 when he was sent to earth doesn't magically change his stated age at the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai.

Well damn, I haven't looked at the timeline in forever. Although now that I looked it up again, it is odd to me how Planet Vegeta's destruction is two years after Goku was born, yet he was stated to been in his incubator for 3 years just prior to being sent to Earth. I guess maybe Goku's age was a rough estimate, or maybe the timeline just doesn't make sense?