Poor, poor Goten.

[KBABZ]

Shaddy hits it on the head; as a fighter Goten spends too much time as a part of Gotenks, and so he doesn't have enough screentime when the shit hits the fan to show what he's made of (and due to simple math he'd be trounced anyway). He also doesn't have Gohan's knack of getting more powerful when upset to give him a boost in a pinch. He sort of grows as a character in GT having having an out-on-the-town lifestyle, but personally I'm more endeared by the child outlook he had in Z. It was different from Kid Goku because Goten didn't grow up on his own in the wilderness, so he technically knows a lot more about the world than Goku does. As well, he lives in a world of true titans that he can look up to and admire, far more so than Goku did when he was a child, and Goten looking up to big brother Gohan was adorable. Goku and Goten having some one-on-one sparring time would be a treat to see so that we can see Goten develop as a fighter and find is own style.

Plus I like the long-sleeved undershirt.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

Anyone else dislike when OP's start a thread and barely leave any content in the actual OP and expect others to carry the thread? Instead people just seem to rely on clickbait thread titles, "Poor poor Goten" and then basically all that has to be said is "worse than Yamcha" with absolutely no context for anything, comes across as cheap posting to me.

[DragonBallFoodie]

Anyone else dislike when OP's start a thread and barely leave any content in the actual OP and expect others to carry the thread? Instead people just seem to rely on clickbait thread titles, "Poor poor Goten" and then basically all that has to be said is "worse than Yamcha" with absolutely no context for anything, comes across as cheap posting to me.

But it's clear to all, isn't it? And is the situation going to improve for Goten?

[shadowmaria]

I am glad I am not included.
Goten's problem itself is also his solution. It will be nice if he notices too and tries to do something about it as he realizes he looks too Goku and his mother is trying to make him a Gohan and he relies too much on Trunks or his fusion. Of course I don't know if this will make him too different or better.

With that said, watching only the scenes featuring Goten during DBS, he has actually matured since he was introduced at the start of the Buu arc. He didn't have much screentime, but the screentime he did have was utilised to develop his maturity.

The Toilet Water, Planet Poutafeu, and Hit vs Goku episodes (the ones that aired a month ago for FUNimation) all highlight this in particular.

[Dbzfan94]

I honestly love Goten. He's an underrated character and if you ask me he has so much more to offer than what the series shows of him.

[Waluigiman]

I am glad I am not included.
Goten's problem itself is also his solution. It will be nice if he notices too and tries to do something about it as he realizes he looks too Goku and his mother is trying to make him a Gohan and he relies too much on Trunks or his fusion. Of course I don't know if this will make him too different or better.

With that said, watching only the scenes featuring Goten during DBS, he has actually matured since he was introduced at the start of the Buu arc. He didn't have much screentime, but the screentime he did have was utilised to develop his maturity.

The Toilet Water, Planet Poutafeu, and Hit vs Goku episodes (the ones that aired a month ago for FUNimation) all highlight this in particular.

Good. I wonder where will that lead to.

[Gligarman]

I do appreciate that even though he totally got the shaft in Super, especially during the Future Trunks arc, he at least was more distinguished among his family. Son Goku's a hillbilly with an adrenaline addiction. Chichi's overprotective. Gyu-Mao's a lovable, reformed, not-so-gentle giant. Son Gohan is a dork. Videl use to be the no-nonsense tomboy but unfortunately her personality has been reduced to "Gohan's wife." Now Goten is the mature one.

[Attitudefan]

I honestly dislike Goten (and Buu era Trunks) quite a bit. I find their antics annoying which drag the plot from moving forward. It is a slog to get through their scenes during the Tournament portion of the Buu arc.

However, oddly enough, I enjoy Gotenks as a character much more. Maybe it is because of the fusions' personality in a much more dire situation is more entertaining whereas the tournament has nothing really at stake?

[Kataphrut]

Gotenks was the death-knell for both Goten and Trunks. He cemented them as characters that can only work as kids, because he's their only claim to relevancy but a glorified gag character. Unlike Goku and Vegeta, there's no way to develop them without fusion, they're too far behind. That's my theory for why they haven't aged.

It's vicious cycle. They can't age because Gotenks only works as a kid, but Gotenks is a useless fighter so they can't get actually involved.

[Jaetinh]

Hey, at least he is not considered an absolute joke by 90% of the viewers like Yamcha, Tien and Krillin.

And the people that think like that generally haven't seen Dragon Ball and most of their exposure has been Yamcha's death to the Saibaman, Krillin's meme'd existence, and then Tien only put up a(n excellent) fight against Nappa, proved to be able to stall Semi-Perfect Cell, was able to take Super Buu (Gohan Absorbed) by surprise before getting knocked out.

I have no respect for those people.

Basically half of the North American fan base then.

I agree with you, neither do I.

[dragonballhero]

If no one minds me making this comparison, I've always sort of likened Gohan and Goten in Dragon Ball to Dick Grayson and Tim Drake in Batman: The Animated Series (and its sequel series, The New Batman Adventures, where Tim would make his debut).

While the two of them were both Robin at different points in the series, but some argue that Dick seemed to have development (and screentime) during both series (comparable to Gohan), while Tim (despite being Robin) didn't get as much of that (similar to Goten).

[Thanos]

GT made it worse by making him a weaker version of Gohan with a different haircut. Also, taking the one line about having a date at the end of Z and making that a central point of his character. Brilliant.

[Grimlock]

Oh, we cannot forget that Goten played a major role in the years following the manga, in Dragon Ball Online of course. He (along with Trunks) opened a swordsman dojo and is the responsible for the existence of swordsman class. Nice end for the character if you ask me and obviously it is more than what he did in Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT and Dragon Ball Super combined. What Goten did is obviously accompanied by Trunks but this time he is not overshadowed by him in any way, he gets as much credits as Trunks for once.

But you know, great things don't last forever and so we never got to see an image of adult Goten from Dragon Ball Online since it closed too soon. I would like to see images of how the cast came to look like after the events of the manga.

[Waluigiman]

Oh, we cannot forget that Goten played a major role in the years following the manga, in Dragon Ball Online of course. He (along with Trunks) opened a swordsman dojo and is the responsible for the existence of swordsman class. Nice end for the character if you ask me and obviously it is more than what he did in Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT and Dragon Ball Super combined. What Goten did is obviously accompanied by Trunks but this time he is not overshadowed by him in any way, he gets as much credits as Trunks for once.

But you know, great things don't last forever and so we never got to see an image of adult Goten from Dragon Ball Online since it closed too soon. I would like to see images of how the cast came to look like after the events of the manga.

Oh gasp. I hope the lack of adult Goten outside of Gt is not a stealth joke that he has no future as a character. Probably has to do that he was intended to be a kid character and may not functioun unless he was given the Goku treatment where the saiyan cub grew up to be the Goku we know.

[PsionicWarrior]

I believe he was first introduced as a replacement for Goku in case Goku would not come back from the other world, they made him and Trunks a solid asset against Buu at some point but in the end things were drawn back to Goku and Vegeta again instead of their respective sons, I honestly wouldn't have minded if the series evolved with them growing up and becoming main protagonists and have few instances of Goku and Vegeta but I'm also fine with the way it went, just concerned with them never aging lol

[Grimlock]

Oh gasp. I hope the lack of adult Goten outside of Gt is not a stealth joke that he has no future as a character. Probably has to do that he was intended to be a kid character and may not functioun unless he was given the Goku treatment where the saiyan cub grew up to be the Goku we know.

Huh? I just said Dragon Ball Online gave him a future. We just don't have images of almost anyone after the events of the manga except for Piccolo, Karin and Dende, but I'm pretty sure there would be. And Goten is an interesting case because Dragon Ball Online ignores Dragon Ball GT, so I'm pretty sure Goten would look quite different than what we see in the anime or retain the same appearance from the end of the manga.

[GreatSaiyaJeff]

Personally I thought Goten was great in the Buu arc and in the two Broly movies. Sure he is seen as Trunk's sidekick but they are fun together. Even in GT I thought he had a great fight with Baby and his little dates with his girlfriend is cute. Although it seems like when it came to Super, the writers and Toriyama didn't know what to do. While I am glad Roshi and Tien are apart of the group, but with how Tien was used, I would have prefered him and Trunks to join. While Trunks isn't sidelined nearly as bad since he did have an active role in the Goku black arc, it is just a shame since Goten who has a lot of potential just fell flat.

Its a shame, Trunks and Goten wanted to join the U6 tournament but it was a no from Vegeta, and they could have been fun in the TOP but they thought they would be to immature. Gohan was fighting when he was even younger then them are now, it just seems like the writers just don't want to have kid like shenanigans. So both them and Buu kind of got the shaft when it came to Super.

[Apslup]

I wouldn't mind Goten if he was given stuff to do. It doesn't even have to be significant stuff, maybe just slice of life stuff with Chi Chi or Trunks, just to show how he's actually growing up (since he genuinely looks younger in Super than he does in Z and he's supposed to be nearing his Teen Years at this point, yet he still acts like a 7 year old).

I'm also really annoyed how he and Trunks got Super Saiyan so easily without working at all. I would've preferred if they trained to go Super Saiyan at the same time they were learning Fusion.