Does Goku have hidden potential?

[Perfectionist-Cell]

Throughout the series of dragon ball I haven't seen Goku get some sort of rage boost or potential boost like Gohan Krillin or Vegeta. (Not counting Krillins death or divine water)

[Retan]

He certainly got a lot of training advantages that the others didn't get until later and until that power of training was useless. If your asking if he has latent potential, it'll probably be another of Toriyama's trump cards to keep him safely ahead of Vegeta. He also got the God power up from his peers that we didn't see anyone else get thus far.

[FoolsGil]

Wouldn't all those transformations represent all of his potential?

[dbzfan7]

According to Beerus he and maybe Vegeta have more potential than anyone else.

[Doctor.]

No, the point of the entire series is that he's literally shit and got so far due to hard work.

[Perfectionist-Cell]

Wouldn't all those transformations represent all of his potential?

I don't think so he trained to get those forms (not counting ssj1). I mean potential like Gohan or Vegeta type of potential.

To give you a picture I mean.

Vegeta raging at Beerus for slapping Bulma or Gogan going ssj2 because he couldn't save android 16's life

[ekrolo2]

People with potential are presented in the series as people who are either born with an abnormally high amount of power (Freeza, Goten, Trunks) or can access vast sums of it by getting angry (Gohan, fuck off Vegeta). Goku can't do either of those things so I'm inclined to say no. His whole deal is making himself better in spite of this limitation.

[Lunatic Fringe]

No, the point of the entire series is that he's literally shit and got so far due to hard work.

Hard work and a few generous zenkai's along the way, of course.

[emperior]

As a Saiyan, he has limitless potential. Now that he has god power he can get a lot stronger and a lot faster than before until he reaches a gain a limit where he'll still make gains but at a slower rate.

Goku, as other said, is shit. He got there because of his dedication, hard work and his Saiyan-blood.

[LightBing]

Where are you guys getting the idea Goku is "shit"? That only came up during the Saiyan Arc, because of the Saiyans hierarchical society and Vegeta's blind belief in it. Apart from that, Goku has mostly been a prodigy/fighting genius. He trained hard, but he got better than others because he's flat out better. In the early series it's specially emphasized: Goku learns the Kamehameha immediately, get's the water from Karin in just 3 days, the only one to survive drinking the choushinsui.

Regarding the potential, in Dragon Ball it's unlimited. Goku has it and will constantly have it. It might not be so advantageous as Gohan or Freeza, but it's still there.

[Doctor.]

Where are you guys getting the idea Goku is "shit"? That only came up during the Saiyan Arc, because of the Saiyans hierarchical society and Vegeta's blind belief in it. Apart from that, Goku has mostly been a prodigy/fighting genius. He trained hard, but he got better than others because he's flat out better. In the early series it's specially emphasized: Goku learns the Kamehameha immediately, get's the water from Karin in just 3 days, the only one to survive drinking the choushinsui.

Regarding the potential, in Dragon Ball it's unlimited. Goku has it and will constantly have it. It might not be so advantageous as Gohan or Freeza, but it's still there.

Goku's entire character changes the moment he's revealed he's an alien. Yes, in the beginning he was a big shot who could do anything. But, like you said, in the Saiyan arc, one of the main themes was that Goku was thrown out because he was weak, but achieved an incredible level of power through training (this doesn't go away either, this concept remains all the way through the series, there's no way it'd disappear). Our perception of Goku's character flipped from one arc to another.

[NitroEX]

I think Goku's natural potential basically peaked during the Cell arc, we can see this when Gohan starts to surpass him in the time chamber. The only reason he got stronger and achieved SS3 during the timeskip was because he was allowed to train in a dead body which doesn't have the limitations of a living one. The gains he got after Z kind of contradict this but it does sort of make sense when you consider SSG/SS4 as being magical in nature and not the same as regular Saiyan forms.

If the playing field was even and Gohan, Trunks and Goten all had the same transformations as Goku and Vegeta then I think it's only logical they would surpass their fathers.

Where are you guys getting the idea Goku is "shit"? That only came up during the Saiyan Arc, because of the Saiyans hierarchical society and Vegeta's blind belief in it. Apart from that, Goku has mostly been a prodigy/fighting genius. He trained hard, but he got better than others because he's flat out better. In the early series it's specially emphasized: Goku learns the Kamehameha immediately, get's the water from Karin in just 3 days, the only one to survive drinking the choushinsui.

Goku is a natural prodigy when it comes to fighting ability and learning new techniques but he didn't have anywhere near the same level of dormant power that Gohan, Goten or Trunks had. I think this is what most people in this thread are thinking of when it comes to "potential". Also a lot of his feats in early Dragonball can easily be attributed to Saiyans being naturally stronger than Earthlings.

[LightBing]

Goku's entire character changes the moment he's revealed he's an alien. Yes, in the beginning he was a big shot who could do anything. But, like you said, in the Saiyan arc, one of the main themes was that Goku was thrown out because he was weak, but achieved an incredible level of power through training (this doesn't go away either, this concept remains all the way through the series, there's no way it'd disappear). Our perception of Goku's character flipped from one arc to another.

I agree it changes our perception to prior events in Goku's life. But the "weakling view" should have ended in the following arc, probably in the same. It is never mentioned again, with the exception of Freeza's racism and Vegeta's superiority and inferiority complex.
During the Saiyan arc, it's played to be a struggle between High Class and Low Class, Goku is never determined to be a weakling, I think people exaggerate this idea from Bardock's movie special. I mean he mastered the Kaioken, who no one else could, not even a God or his other prodigy friends (Piccolo, Tenshinhan, Yamcha and Chiaotzu) and this was in the same arc were the problem arises.
Goku keeps up with Vegeta aka the Prodigy Prince, who trains as much as Goku or more.

I always felt during the series that Goku was a prodigy, Vegeta crap was proved wrong quickly and all posterior events reinforced that idea. Very recently Whis and Beerus called both prodigy's.

Goku is a natural prodigy when it comes to fighting ability and learning new techniques but he didn't have anywhere near the same level of dormant power that Gohan, Goten or Trunks had. I think this is what most people in this thread are thinking of when it comes to "potential". Also a lot of his feats in early Dragonball can easily be attributed to Saiyans being naturally stronger than Earthlings.

Yeah, the hybrids are presented as having incredible power. Gohan and Goku time in the RoSaT are the perfect example.

[Doctor.]

Of course Goku is a prodigy. He's a prodigy compared to his friends because he's a Saiyan, and that itself already grants him higher potential than the others. He's not a prodigy, he's the farthest thing from it, when you compare him to other members of his race, and that's why I said he's "shit" who achieved success through hard work.

[LightBing]

Of course Goku is a prodigy. He's a prodigy compared to his friends because he's a Saiyan, and that itself already grants him higher potential than the others. He's not a prodigy, he's the farthest thing from it, when you compare him to other members of his race, and that's why I said he's "shit" who achieved success through hard work.

I gave you a comparison, Vegeta. Similar training methods, similar results. In fact the last training both share, Vegeta puts extra work so that he doesn't fall behind Goku (Super Episode 18).
I would also argue his friends are prodigy's in their own right, sure most of them are humans and might be at an disadvantage.

[Lord Beerus]

Goku's potential is bottomless. He always finds new ways to become stronger. That's pretty much the core concept behind his entire character, something Vegeta noted in the Majin Boo arc.

[buutenks]

Considering goku past the buu saga didnt get that much stronger id say he hit his limit with ssj3.Vegeta's higher power over goku was shown in the bog saga,when he flipped and surpassed goku.

So for a moment it was back to saiyan arc,where vegeta was the superior one.

Though,now it seems vegeta and goku are equals power wise,perhaps till the very end of super.

[GTX]

Yes that's why he can get this much stronger. There are a lot of potential types though because martial artist is not a sumo wrestling. Even much skinner people can win in sumo wresting. The result prove goku has a lot of hidden potential.

[Captain Strawberry]

He has a strong passion for fighting, martial arts.

[DanielSSJ]

I believe the point of Goku is that he has to work for his strength, instead of just having a bunch of hiiden potential lying around like Gohan does. For example, if Goku underwent Elder Kaioshin's unlock ritual, it would've probably alocated his Super Saiyan 3 powers to his base form and add a modest increase on top of it. Definitely not up there with Ultimate Gohan.