I find Goku to be the worst character in this show

[Lord Beerus]

I remind people. Goku is a battle maniac idiot but he never once toyed with other people's lives in order to have fun.

He absolutely has done that. And on quite a few occasions.

Feel free to name these moments.

I already did.

That the universes will be destroyed and Goku says "I don't care, I want to fight!" is not Goku for me. And it has nothing to do with his past mistakes.

That's totally Goku though. If anything, I actually admire him for blunt and upfront about it, instead of showing "regret", only to go back and do the same reckless shit again. And besides, why should he even give a damn about the other universes to begin with? He has not personal ties with them. And besides, he was already in a scenario where he was damned if held back and damned if he went all out. It was a total lose-lose situation.

Its very interesting to see how people react when they find out their childhood hero is actually not very heroic.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Goku is not meant to be a hero or to be looked up and admired as one. The only kind of "hero" that Goku is comparable to are classical heroes. Goku is basically a Japanese version of Hercules.

[SansrivaaL]

Its very interesting to see how people react when they find out their childhood hero is actually not very heroic.

Well I assure you it wasnt a fun time, when I was a kid I was this hardcore Goku fan to the point of saying Goku is a better hero than Superman, God how wrong that turned out to be.

[Mazingerdestro]

He absolutely has done that. And on quite a few occasions.

Outside of the "Vegeta" example and the "Not turning SSJ3" things we love to bring up where did this happen?

- Allowing Freeza to power up to 100%. There was no guarantee that Freeza would have been weaker than Goku, so for him to take that gamble was absurd. Freeza could have killed him, escaped Namek and went to terrorise Earth.
- Goku not taking Bulma advice to stop Dr Gero from activating the Androids because he wanted to challenge himself, even though Future Trunks outright states that those same Androids are responsible for destroying the world in the future.
- Giving Cell a senzu to make his battle with Gohan fair
- Not killing Majin Boo when he had the chance to so that Goten, Trunks and Gohan could take care of him. What's even worse is that Goku makes Majin Boo promise to not kill anyone for two days so that Goten and Trunks have enough time to train and fight him. And then Majin Boo literally goes straight to killing millions of people right after Goku leaves and Babidi is killed by Majin Boo. In a single day, Majin Boo wipes out 80% of humanity.

Even though some of these moments look dangerous most of them are debatable.
With Frieza, Goku already surpassed him by far. Also he had secured first thst every namekian+friend has left the planet.
-With Gero it was a mutual decision. Everyone wanted to fight.
-The senzu for Cell was also a low threat moment since he had already secured that Gohan was stronger than him in ssj1.
-It was a way to secure the planet's future.

Yes most of these moment show a quite I irresponsible person but they are debatable since he always had the possibilities on his side. Here we see everyone calling him a killer and him saying "hhhhmmmmm fuck them".
I already explained that he is an idiot who loves fighting but if one person came to Goku and said "Buu will kill 80% of the planet" he would immediately kill him. (also the buu part is debatable story wise since it feels like Toriyama is bsing us and retcons his ideas)

Still debatable moments with questionable results.

Here there is no question.
Unless Goku had a plan

[Lord Beerus]

Even though some of these moments look dangerous most of them are debatable.
With Frieza, Goku already surpassed him by far. Also he had secured first thst every namekian+friend has left the planet.
-With Gero it was a mutual decision. Everyone wanted to fight.
-The senzu for Cell was also a low threat moment since he had already secured that Gohan was stronger than him in ssj1.
-It was a way to secure the planet's future.

Yes most of these moment show a quite I irresponsible person but they are debatable since he always had the possibilities on his side. Here we see everyone calling him a killer and him saying "hhhhmmmmm fuck them".
I already explained that he is an idiot who loves fighting but if one person came to Goku and said "Buu will kill 80% of the planet" he would immediately kill him. (also the buu part is debatable story wise since it feels like Toriyama is bsing us and retcons his ideas)

Still debatable moments with questionable results.

- Again, as I stated, there was absolutely no guarantee that Freeza would be still weaker than Goku after powering up to 100%. That was total gamble on Goku's part and luck heavily favoured him.
- And... what was the justification for letting the Androids being activated? They destroy the world in the future and are created by a man who worked with an army that tried to take over the world.
- Again, a needless gamble. Never mind that Goku had no idea just how strong Cell was, but it was already an insane gamble to throw Gohan into the lions den without any plan and just hoping that he'd be able to spontaneously tap into the hidden power that he saw when he was training with Gohan in the ROSAT and defeat Cell. I don't give a shit how much Goku loves fighting and a good competition. That was such a fucking reckless thing to do. It essentially put Gohan at a disadvantage. And for what? A fair fight? Fuck that nonsense.
- A gamble that horribly backfired. Gotenks and Gohan fool around and don't get the job done and end up getting absorbed. Then Kid Boo destroys the planet.

Here there is no question.
Unless Goku had a plan

Goku had no idea that Zeno wanted to wipe out eight universes. And he was put in a situation where he could hold back or throw the fight or all 12 universes would be destroyed and if he defeat Bergamo Zeno would still destroy the losing universes. He was fucked either way. And I mention before, why should even give a shit to begin with? He's ultimately fighting to save his own universe. He at least brought up of talking to Zeno to call off destroying the losing universes in the multiverse tournament, but his propsal was shot down by Whis. So it's not doesn't care entirely about the fate of the other universes. He's just accepted the fact there's nothing he can do other than fight to protect his won universe. Hence why he shows confidence, enthusiasm and disregard of the approving attitudes that the other Hakaishin, Kaioshin and fighters from the other universes have towards him.

[HybridSaiyan]

Goku just doesn't care about anything anymore, that's the problem. If he could rattle up a good fight, then yeah fuck everything else right?
At this rate, I wouldn't be gobsmacked if he had to sacrifice Krillin to fight a strong guy lol. What happened to the Goku that had concern and worry?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjPIj4uGLvg

It's like two completely different Goku's.

[Faustus]

The only episode Goku's been written in-character this arc is 77, when he was courting danger but not yet glibly continuing to be cheerful in the face of the consequences.

In 77 though those consequences hadn't yet come to light, and ever since he's found out animation and scripts together have been heroically consistent in portraying him as thoughtless and cavalier to the point of callousness. I don't know what's going on. His exaggerated response to Bergamo's parting words in the latest episode struck me in particular and has me increasingly doubtful that it's really down to shoddy episode-by-episode execution and not ultimately Toriyama's design. ...Which I'm not sure I'm sold on as a direction to take the character, but could it be anything but intentional at this stage? It's not just that they're eschewing psychological conflict for him but that they seem to be sparing no effort to paint him in a bad light. It's... too much, too hyperbolic.

Or is it possible that everyone at Toei's so fundamentally (and therefore consistently) misunderstood the character and Toriyama's intentions in this way? Perhaps an intention to have Goku contrasted/pitted against a team of righteous superheroes is being woefully misconstrued, taken too far? In any case I'll be eager to see Toyotaro's take.

[Mazingerdestro]

Even though some of these moments look dangerous most of them are debatable.
With Frieza, Goku already surpassed him by far. Also he had secured first thst every namekian+friend has left the planet.
-With Gero it was a mutual decision. Everyone wanted to fight.
-The senzu for Cell was also a low threat moment since he had already secured that Gohan was stronger than him in ssj1.
-It was a way to secure the planet's future.

Yes most of these moment show a quite I irresponsible person but they are debatable since he always had the possibilities on his side. Here we see everyone calling him a killer and him saying "hhhhmmmmm fuck them".
I already explained that he is an idiot who loves fighting but if one person came to Goku and said "Buu will kill 80% of the planet" he would immediately kill him. (also the buu part is debatable story wise since it feels like Toriyama is bsing us and retcons his ideas)

Still debatable moments with questionable results.

- Again, as I stated, there was absolutely no guarantee that Freeza would be still weaker than Goku after powering up to 100%. That was total gamble on Goku's part and luck heavily favoured him.
- And... what was the justification for letting the Androids being activated? They destroy the world in the future and are created by a man who worked with an army that tried to take over the world.
- Again, a needless gamble. Never mind that Goku had no idea just how strong Cell was, but it was already an insane gamble to throw Gohan into the lions den without any plan and just hoping that he'd be able to spontaneously tap into the hidden power that he saw when he was training with Gohan in the ROSAT and defeat Cell. I don't give a shit how much Goku loves fighting and a good competition. That was such a fucking reckless thing to do. It essentially put Gohan at a disadvantage. And for what? A fair fight? Fuck that nonsense.
- A gamble that horribly backfired. Gotenks and Gohan fool around and don't get the job done and end up getting absorbed. Then Kid Boo destroys the planet.

Here there is no question.
Unless Goku had a plan

Goku had no idea that Zeno wanted to wipe out eight universes. And he was put in a situation where he could hold back or throw the fight or all 12 universes would be destroyed and if he defeat Bergamo Zeno would still destroy the losing universes. He was fucked either way. And I mention before, why should even give a shit to begin with? He's ultimately fighting to save his own universe. He at least brought up of talking to Zeno to call off destroying the losing universes in the multiverse tournament, but his propsal was shot down by Whis. So it's not doesn't care entirely about the fate of the other universes. He's just accepted the fact there's nothing he can do other than fight to protect his won universe. Hence why he shows confidence, enthusiasm and disregard of the approving attitudes that the other Hakaishin, Kaioshin and fighters from the other universes have towards him.

Are seriously supporting that this episode was written with Goku in character?
So Goku giving zero fucks when Bergamo said "you are nothing but a villain" , "you really want to kill everyone in all universe", and "you are a devil", was for you an in character moment? How and why? Did Goku ever acted like that? Because even when his idiotic actions backfired in Z, he immediately got that he was wrong. His biggest mistake, sending Gohan to fight Cell, gave us the best reaction Goku would ever have. Once Piccolo explains him that Gohan is no fighter, Goku turns and looks at Piccolo scared for the life of his son while asking for a senzu to go fight. That's Goku.

Here he is just like "ohhhh innocent people will die? Fuck them. Hey Losers let's fight!! If you lose, your families will burn in fucking hell!!! Have fun!!! He is literally Grand Priest's puppet.
Also it's not like Zen-chan is lying. Goku knows from the start of this arc that universe will be destroyed. Beerus told him that he should take responsibility.
This is just an awful written episode.

Heck it's like Toei is saying us "support the other fighters!!!!". I am team Toppo next week.

[TheMikado]

I'm not going to refute everything being said in the thread but a simple Goku knew what Frieza was like at 50% of his final form. Goku already knew he was more than twice as strong so it wasn't a gamble, it was simple math which Goku is capable of contrary to what Super wants you to believe.

Anyway the point is Goku didn't care, he literally shows zero remorse. The Goku we know would have offered himself up as sacrifice to Zeno in exchange for the universes. Not being a hero but he doesn't want people to die at his expense either.

Anyway, a little remorse would have gone a long way to show he's the same Goku. He's not and that's by design, people should get over it because that's the story plot they are going with in universe and people need to stop denying it because the in universe story is actively trying to paint Goku as the villain which is something Goku proper has never been portrayed as before.

[Basako]

I think the problem is that Goku is reacting more excited for the fight than worried about the universes being erased. Putting that apart, what should he do? Fight the two Zenos? Well, I think he accepts him as a ruler god and there is no point in opposing him. He did ask if it was possible to tell Zeno to take out the rule, but he was told not to do that, look, maybe he should have disobbeyed Whis here too. Then, the only thing to do is fight. He can't avoid to feel excited about fighting stronger guys, which is not new. Bergamo has a golden peak, he made Goku look responsible to the others, himself as a savior and Goku shouting he wants to fight strong guys didn't help either. But Goku had no choice than going in full strenght, I think that's clear. Next episode will be interesting, Toppo, a justice warrior, we'll see what happens.

About letting Freezer live in Namek. It's true he was so naive doing that, there was no way Freezer would change. But, in his defense, Freezer had more than half of his body gone, he thought he would never be a menace like before again. Obviously, he was wrong, as we saw one year later. But it's also true that Goku kept being stronger and he did kill him in the original timeline, where no time travellers interfeered. Which was kind of screwed in the RoF arc, showing that Freezer only needed four months to obtain god power level.

[Simere]

Did you guys see Gohan proudly happy of Goku's spirit in challenging all comers? Universes are going to be erased and this sociopath is fucking smiling?

[Lord Beerus]

Even though some of these moments look dangerous most of them are debatable.
With Frieza, Goku already surpassed him by far. Also he had secured first thst every namekian+friend has left the planet.
-With Gero it was a mutual decision. Everyone wanted to fight.
-The senzu for Cell was also a low threat moment since he had already secured that Gohan was stronger than him in ssj1.
-It was a way to secure the planet's future.

Yes most of these moment show a quite I irresponsible person but they are debatable since he always had the possibilities on his side. Here we see everyone calling him a killer and him saying "hhhhmmmmm fuck them".
I already explained that he is an idiot who loves fighting but if one person came to Goku and said "Buu will kill 80% of the planet" he would immediately kill him. (also the buu part is debatable story wise since it feels like Toriyama is bsing us and retcons his ideas)

Still debatable moments with questionable results.

- Again, as I stated, there was absolutely no guarantee that Freeza would be still weaker than Goku after powering up to 100%. That was total gamble on Goku's part and luck heavily favoured him.
- And... what was the justification for letting the Androids being activated? They destroy the world in the future and are created by a man who worked with an army that tried to take over the world.
- Again, a needless gamble. Never mind that Goku had no idea just how strong Cell was, but it was already an insane gamble to throw Gohan into the lions den without any plan and just hoping that he'd be able to spontaneously tap into the hidden power that he saw when he was training with Gohan in the ROSAT and defeat Cell. I don't give a shit how much Goku loves fighting and a good competition. That was such a fucking reckless thing to do. It essentially put Gohan at a disadvantage. And for what? A fair fight? Fuck that nonsense.
- A gamble that horribly backfired. Gotenks and Gohan fool around and don't get the job done and end up getting absorbed. Then Kid Boo destroys the planet.

Here there is no question.
Unless Goku had a plan

Goku had no idea that Zeno wanted to wipe out eight universes. And he was put in a situation where he could hold back or throw the fight or all 12 universes would be destroyed and if he defeat Bergamo Zeno would still destroy the losing universes. He was fucked either way. And I mention before, why should even give a shit to begin with? He's ultimately fighting to save his own universe. He at least brought up of talking to Zeno to call off destroying the losing universes in the multiverse tournament, but his propsal was shot down by Whis. So it's not doesn't care entirely about the fate of the other universes. He's just accepted the fact there's nothing he can do other than fight to protect his won universe. Hence why he shows confidence, enthusiasm and disregard of the approving attitudes that the other Hakaishin, Kaioshin and fighters from the other universes have towards him.

Are seriously supporting that this episode was written with Goku in character?
So Goku giving zero fucks when Bergamo said "you are nothing but a villain" , "you really want to kill everyone in all universe", and "you are a devil", was for you an in character moment? How and why? Did Goku ever acted like that? Because even when his idiotic actions backfired in Z, he immediately got that he was wrong. His biggest mistake, sending Gohan to fight Cell, gave us the best reaction Goku would ever have. Once Piccolo explains him that Gohan is no fighter, Goku turns and looks at Piccolo scared for the life of his son while asking for a senzu to go fight. That's Goku.

Here he is just like "ohhhh innocent people will die? Fuck them. Hey Losers let's fight!! If you lose, your families will burn in fucking hell!!! Have fun!!! He is literally Grand Priest's puppet.
Also it's not like Zen-chan is lying. Goku knows from the start of this arc that universe will be destroyed. Beerus told him that he should take responsibility.
This is just an awful written episode.

Heck it's like Toei is saying us "support the other fighters!!!!". I am team Toppo next week.

This argument is really going nowhere, so let's agree to disagree.

[ekrolo2]

Its very interesting to see how people react when they find out their childhood hero is actually not very heroic.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Goku is not meant to be a hero or to be looked up and admired as one. The only kind of "hero" that Goku is comparable to are classical heroes. Goku is basically a Japanese version of Hercules.

The sooner people stop idealizing shit from their past, the sooner stuff like this won't bother them. You don't see me losing any sleep after I realized most of Batman TAS is either really shitty or painfully average instead of the perpetual "INSTANT CLASIX!" machine people LOVE to hype it up as.

[Lord Beerus]

Did you guys see Gohan proudly happy of Goku's spirit in challenging all comers? Universes are going to be erased and this sociopath is fucking smiling?

Every time I see people throw around the word "sociopath" to describe Goku, a puppy dies in the hands of a kitten in a burning house.

Do people know what it means to qualify as a "sociopath"? Because it's extremely complicated. And it should never be used as a blanket term for somebody's character.

[SansrivaaL]

Did you guys see Gohan proudly happy of Goku's spirit in challenging all comers? Universes are going to be erased and this sociopath is fucking smiling?

Every time I see people throw around the word "sociopath" to describe Goku, a puppy dies in the hands of a kitten in a burning house.

Do people know what it means to qualify as a "sociopath"? Because it's extremely complicated. And it should never be used a blanket term for somebody's character.

They simply want to label Goku with one of the worst labels you can put on a character, it seems Sean's "I am the hope of the universe, I am the answer to all living things that cry out for peace, I am light in the darkness, ally to good, nightmare to you" still rings in their hearts, I blame Funi!

[Asura]

I honestly don't understand and can't see at all where some of you guys are coming from when you make the defense that "Goku has always been like this" or that "Goku has never been a hero".

What version of Dragonball/Dragonball Z were you guys watching/reading in which Goku literally cared this little about the lives of other people? Goku was fighting to save the people of Earth literally every single time in DBZ. People keep bringing up the excuse of "Well Goku was always like this, but you wouldn't understand because the dub changed his character completely into Superman!" but that's simply not true. Or rather, yes it is true, but only to an extent. The dub did make Goku into more of a typical Superman hero, but to imply the difference between the dub and the original is as big as good(dub) vs evil(original), now that's absolutely insane. Goku is more selfish in the original, this is true. Goku was never "evil" or borderline "not giving a shit about anyone" though in the original like so many of you are claiming. I really suggest some of you re-read the manga or watch the series again, because Goku was nowhere near as evil as some of you say he was, and the examples brought up to "prove" he's equally as bad fall short and don't compare to the current situation at all. Goku is a being that is pure of heart. We learn this very quickly in Dragonball. "Pure of heart" varies as a definition from person to person, but I highly doubt there is any definition out there where someone can literally not give a shit about destroying the lives of trillions of people and still be considered "pure of heart".

That being said, I have a very good feeling this character shift is being done purposefully by TOEI, and they aren't just horrible writers who forgot Goku's character. Goku has been constantly propped up as evil since this arc started, by the fans and now by the other characters. We've seen some real disturbing looks from him, like the one he gave Beerus, and even the creepy smile in the opening under the "new transformation". Goku is definitely being written as a villain on purpose, the question is why? What is TOEI's endgame here? What is their explanation for this shift in character? Is he corrupted somehow? By who?

If this were actually the case and there was some reasoning behind why Goku is acting more evil/like a villain, I'm curious as to what the people who have been saying "he's been like this since his DB/DBZ!" would have to say.

[ekrolo2]

I'm really shocked that people find it hard to grasp how you can't find other reasons to watch a protagonist beyond "I like him!". If you can't handle the comparatively tame selfishness of Goku, I dread to think how these people would react to James Delaney or John Constantine or Elric.

A character doesn't need to be likable or inspirational for someone to want to watch them. I find Goku the epitome of an overly loved asshole and I don't like him but that's also what makes him interesting to watch for me.

[Lord Beerus]

Did you guys see Gohan proudly happy of Goku's spirit in challenging all comers? Universes are going to be erased and this sociopath is fucking smiling?

Every time I see people throw around the word "sociopath" to describe Goku, a puppy dies in the hands of a kitten in a burning house.

Do people know what it means to qualify as a "sociopath"? Because it's extremely complicated. And it should never be used as a blanket term for somebody's character.

They simply want to label Goku with one of the worst labels you can put on a character, it seems Sean's "I am the hope of the universe, I am the answer to all living things that cry out for peace, I am light in the darkness, ally to good, nightmare to you" still rings in their hearts, I blame Funi!

I can't even blame FUNi anymore since the wonderful job they did with Kai. But yeah, the original FUNi dub of Goku being Superman-lite didn't help matters.

[Asura]

I'm really shocked that people find it hard to grasp how you can't find other reasons to watch a protagonist beyond "I like him!". If you can't handle the comparatively tame selfishness of Goku, I dread to think how these people would react to James Delaney or John Constantine or Elric.

A character doesn't need to be likable or inspirational for someone to want to watch them. I find Goku the epitome of an overly loved asshole and I don't like him but that's also what makes him interesting to watch for me.

This has nothing to do with "the protagonist isn't a good guy, so I don't like him!". It goes beyond that.

It's "The protagonist is different all of a sudden, what the hell happened? This isn't the protagonist I've known for years, what's wrong with him?"

The problem that people have is that the character is just different all of a sudden, with no explanation (yet) as to why.

I'm all for complicated protagonists that aren't necessarily good people (Bardock for example is a great protagonist that fits this bill) but that's not the way the character of Goku has been written. Goku isn't the beacon of shining light Superman that the dub makes him out to be, but he is nowhere near this evil either.

[ekrolo2]

I'm really shocked that people find it hard to grasp how you can't find other reasons to watch a protagonist beyond "I like him!". If you can't handle the comparatively tame selfishness of Goku, I dread to think how these people would react to James Delaney or John Constantine or Elric.

A character doesn't need to be likable or inspirational for someone to want to watch them. I find Goku the epitome of an overly loved asshole and I don't like him but that's also what makes him interesting to watch for me.

This has nothing to do with "the protagonist isn't good anymore, so I don't like him!"

It's "The protagonist is different all of a sudden, what the hell happened? This isn't the protagonist I've known for years, what's wrong with him?"

The problem that people have is that the character is just different all of a sudden, with no explanation (yet) as to why.

I'm all for complicated protagonists that aren't necessarily good people (Bardock for example is a great protagonist that fits this bill) but that's not the way the character of Goku has been written. Goku isn't the beacon of shining light Superman that the dub makes him out to be, but he is nowhere near this evil either.

No, but he's been this selfish for years and years and years, though. Goku's whole character basically since fighting Vegeta is "I will have a good fight and common sense be damned at all costs!".

This is nothing but the ultimate culmination of bad behavior going unchecked and being basically rewarded for decades. It also doesn't help that he knows he's got 3 sets of plot devices that can instantly fix anything, making his behavior that much worse.

Make no mistake, this IS where Goku was going to end up as a person given his previous trajectory. It is the worst thing you can have him do without starting to kill people on purpose so he can get a good fight in Perfect Cell style.

[Mazingerdestro]

I honestly don't understand and can't see at all where some of you guys are coming from when you make the defense that "Goku has always been like this" or that "Goku has never been a hero".

What version of Dragonball/Dragonball Z were you guys watching/reading in which Goku literally cared this little about the lives of other people? Goku was fighting to save the people of Earth literally every single time in DBZ. People keep bringing up the excuse of "Well Goku was always like this, but you wouldn't understand because the dub changed his character completely into Superman!" but that's simply not true. Or rather, yes it is true, but only to an extent. The dub did make Goku into more of a typical Superman hero, but to imply the difference between the dub and the original is as big as good(dub) vs evil(original), now that's absolutely insane. Goku is more selfish in the original, this is true. Goku was never "evil" or borderline "not giving a shit about anyone" though in the original like so many of you are claiming. I really suggest some of you re-read the manga or watch the series again, because Goku was nowhere near as evil as some of you say he was, and the examples brought up to "prove" he's equally as bad fall short and don't compare to the current situation at all. Goku is a being that is pure of heart. We learn this very quickly in Dragonball. "Pure of heart" varies as a definition from person to person, but I highly doubt there is any definition out there where someone can literally not give a shit about destroying the lives of trillions of people and still be considered "pure of heart".

That being said, I have a very good feeling this character shift is being done purposefully by TOEI, and they aren't just horrible writers who forgot Goku's character. Goku has been constantly propped up as evil since this arc started, by the fans and now by the other characters. We've seen some real disturbing looks from him, like the one he gave Beerus, and even the creepy smile in the opening under the "new transformation". Goku is definitely being written as a villain on purpose, the question is why? What is TOEI's endgame here? What is their explanation for this shift in character? Is he corrupted somehow? By who?

If this were actually the case and there was some reasoning behind why Goku is acting more evil/like a villain, I'm curious as to what the people who have been saying "he's been like this since his DB/DBZ!" would have to say.

Goku was never superman and Goku was never a heartless monster.
He was a martial artist that enjoyed fights.
Also due to his training with grandpa Gohan in the wild and the fact that Goku is illiterate, he grew up acting like an animal. Probably that was grandpa gohan's idea of strengthening his instincts.
As a result he treats other people like an animal would do.
However, he was always pure and a nice person. He never harmed innocent people. He was the average guy and that made him lovable, that he looked so real.
Calling this (episode 81) Goku, in character means that you never understood the character.
Maybe people online keep saying (he is no superman) and as a result others who watched the series once take it as "he does whatever he wants and cares for no one".
It's not even hard to understand that this episode had issues.
Been selfish or a battle maniac idiot is totally different than a person that is called a monster or killer and doesn't even react to it.