What if Goku was never revealed to be an alien?

[Ringworm128]

Out of all the "what if" discussions, one I've never seen is people talking about what would have happened if the Saiyan arc was never written and Goku was never revealed to be an alien.

Pretty much everything that's been made for DBZ since Raditz showed up can be traced back to the plot twist that Goku is a Saiyan. But where could the series have gone both in and out of universe if Toriyama had never come up with the whole Saiyan thing?

[MozillaVulpix]

Besides the big personal rivalry Vegeta gets, I don't think the core of the story would really change. You could have still introduced aliens and have Goku fight them. Earthlings could have just been written to have a lot more potential power than they do in the world of DBZ. The heroes could have explored more metaphysical/fantasy/mystical martial arts ideas to help them fight the aliens who could have been ignorant of all that. And something like Majin Buu could have still existed almost exactly as-is. Not much about his character screams "We need a Super Saiyan to deal with this". Except maybe the 'blowing up the planet' parts.

[Chuquita]

I agree with "if Gokû remained a human in-universe, the skies are limitless for the rest of the human characters' potential strength". There'd be a good in-universe plot reason for Krillin and Tenshinhan to be able to catch up to Gokû.

[Pantalones]

I figure we'd still get something like the Android saga if the concept of Saiyans was never introduced -- the whole "Red Ribbon army scientist wants revenge on Goku, makes more androids even stronger than #8 was" thing doesn't require Saiyans or any alien involvement at all. Cell would be a bit tougher to fit in (no Freeza cells, and his entire look is basically "Freeza-type alien plus Namekian plus bugs") and a lot of things would have to be different (no Super Saiyan means no "trying to go beyond Super Saiyan" training or Gohan's rage pushing him to SSj2), but some "Red Ribbon's revenge" storyline could still happen.

[Boo Machine]

Super Saiyans might have not been introduced. No Super saiyans, i feel, can open up a bunch of cool stories that could involve more humans and not the planet busting action we know and love.

A human Goku sounds pretty cool actually. I mean he would probably be the same guy.

[ABED]

Nothing about Goku would change from a character perspective, Vegeta and he would still be rivals, and while the humans would be closer in strength to Goku, they still wouldn't reach his level.

[Lord Beerus]

More mileage out of the story could have gotten in Goku was never revealed to be an alien. The human fighters would have not fallen behind as quickly as they did, there would have been more opportunities to provide world building for Earth, and most importantly, there would have been one set of Dragon Balls. Meaning death wouldn't have evolved into the minor inconvenience that is later becomes in the original story.

[ShadowBardock89]

I'm sure Goku would have fought Piccolo again, but would have eventually succumbed to the heart virus (or would have been killed by the Androids).

[Rubens]

Probably the super saiyan stuff wouldn't be around, but Goku always proved to be someone different than all earthlings: how strong he became still as a child (compared with other characters), his progression, certain remarks about his tail and his transformation (oozaru) would still force the story to explore his origins. Even if he wasn't a alien, he would likely have been revealed as something else other than human (earthling).

Storywise, several elements from Z could have been kept such as aliens, demons, androids, etc., Goku could still learn the kaio ken, the other humans too, then perhaps Goku could have different transformations, possibly inspired in his "oozaru" nature, a more advanced kaio ken, amongst many things. Who knows?

[ABED]

I'm sure Goku would have fought Piccolo again, but would have eventually succumbed to the heart virus (or would have been killed by the Androids).

Why would he have succumbed to the heart virus?

The human fighters would have not fallen behind as quickly as they did, there would have been more opportunities to provide world building for Earth, and most importantly, there would have been one set of Dragon Balls. Meaning death wouldn't have evolved into the minor inconvenience that is later becomes in the original story.

They fell very far behind before he was ever revealed to be a Saiyan, and the second set of Dragon Balls have nothing to do with Goku being an alien.

[TobyS]

I'm sure Goku would have fought Piccolo again, but would have eventually succumbed to the heart virus (or would have been killed by the Androids).

Why would he have succumbed to the heart virus?

The human fighters would have not fallen behind as quickly as they did, there would have been more opportunities to provide world building for Earth, and most importantly, there would have been one set of Dragon Balls. Meaning death wouldn't have evolved into the minor inconvenience that is later becomes in the original story.

They fell very far behind before he was ever revealed to be a Saiyan, and the second set of Dragon Balls have nothing to do with Goku being an alien.

Because despite it being a fan theory there is no evidence that Goku got the heart virus from space, so he'd still get it.

The humans hadn't fallen that far behind, they were always one "large power boost if you train under me" master behind Goku, at BoZ the humans have yet to receive Kami training, his 5000 to their 2000 ish is post Kaio training they were yet to receive.

He pulls a bit ahead during grav training but by that point it's revealed he's saiyan and has been exploiting the saiyan-exclusive 'zenkai' thing, he's then one zenkai away from that going away as a factor too. Sans Kaio-ken he's not thaaaat far off humans without x20 and x50 multipliers on the scene.

I kinda wish he was still just an unusual monkey tailed young human now... Vegeta sucks and is no compensation imo.

[Captain Strawberry]

Than he would be a mythical Ningen. Back when Dragon ball focused more on the fantasy part.

[ABED]

I'm sure Goku would have fought Piccolo again, but would have eventually succumbed to the heart virus (or would have been killed by the Androids).

Why would he have succumbed to the heart virus?

The human fighters would have not fallen behind as quickly as they did, there would have been more opportunities to provide world building for Earth, and most importantly, there would have been one set of Dragon Balls. Meaning death wouldn't have evolved into the minor inconvenience that is later becomes in the original story.

They fell very far behind before he was ever revealed to be a Saiyan, and the second set of Dragon Balls have nothing to do with Goku being an alien.

Because despite it being a fan theory there is no evidence that Goku got the heart virus from space, so he'd still get it.

The humans hadn't fallen that far behind, they were always one "large power boost if you train under me" master behind Goku, at BoZ the humans have yet to receive Kami training, his 5000 to their 2000 ish is post Kaio training they were yet to receive.

He pulls a bit ahead during grav training but by that point it's revealed he's saiyan and has been exploiting the saiyan-exclusive 'zenkai' thing, he's then one zenkai away from that going away as a factor too. Sans Kaio-ken he's not thaaaat far off humans without x20 and x50 multipliers on the scene.

I kinda wish he was still just an unusual monkey tailed young human now... Vegeta sucks and is no compensation imo.

I don't see how where he got the virus is relevant to whether he succumbed to it.

The humans had fallen very far behind by the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai. Goku defeated Tenshinhan without breaking a sweat. If those humans got a power boost, Goku would've gotten one too. Goku was stronger than 5000 even before Kaio-ken. He's constantly 10 steps ahead of his friends.

[ShadowBardock89]

I'm sure Goku would have fought Piccolo again, but would have eventually succumbed to the heart virus (or would have been killed by the Androids).

Why would he have succumbed to the heart virus?

No Saiyans = No Trunks = Dead Goku.

[ABED]

I'm sure Goku would have fought Piccolo again, but would have eventually succumbed to the heart virus (or would have been killed by the Androids).

Why would he have succumbed to the heart virus?

No Saiyans = No Trunks = Dead Goku.

1 - The topic was what if Goku wasn't an alien. It didn't say there weren't Saiyans, and even if that was the case, Bulma still exists, either she or whoever her child was could go back in time, it didn't have to be Trunks.

[Hellspawn28]

Goku would have caught the hear virus nevertheless. I remember Trunks saying that many people succumbed from the virus.

[ABED]

Goku would have caught the hear virus nevertheless. I remember Trunks saying that many people succumbed from the virus.

True, but Goku would likely survive because someone would come back to give him the cure.

[TobyS]

Goku would have caught the hear virus nevertheless. I remember Trunks saying that many people succumbed from the virus.

True, but Goku would likely survive because someone would come back to give him the cure.

Goku died a while before the androids murdered everyone else on the Dragon Team. It was only then that Bulma built the time machine, until then they had accepted his natural causes death, she simply decided to save Goku too, mainly because they wanted his power to tip the android fight.

[Hellspawn28]

Toriyama could have Trunks be the son of Yamcha and Bluma. He would have to create a way for him to be very strong. If we never got the Saiyan and Namek saga, it would be interesting to see how Toriyama would pull it off.

[floofychan333]

I don't think the series would change much if Goku and Vegeta were just thought to be ridiculously overpowered humans but if they eliminated Saiyajins from the whole series I don't think it would've lasted much longer because I can't see much happening after the Return of King Piccolo arc I've imagined that would take place after Dragon Ball. The story would have become repetitive earlier if it had continued with Dragon Ball's structure so in a way I'm glad that Dragon Ball Z introduced a new plot structure though I'll always miss good ol' kid Goku flying around the world on the Nimbus, fighting strong guys and regularly searching for the Dragon Balls with Bulma.