Lionel wrote:
Actually, we have seen on at least occasion the roles being reversed with Goku acting as the proverbial damsel in distress who is awaiting for some gallant knight to rescue him. In this exact situation, though, it's Goku being relieved of his torture session courtesy of Oozaru Vegeta by Gohan and Krillin. No one can say that the the Saiyan arc Vegeta fight wasn't a team effort because everyone contributed in a meaningfully tangible way which made a difference all throughout. What separates that occasion from, say, Vegeta momentarily distracting Cell for Gohan is that the main fighting force of the time, Goku, was pretty much down for the count. The second half of that fight was committed to everyone still alive besides Goku doing everything they can to stay alive while improvising ways to chip away at Vegeta's seemingly unstoppable might. It's true that Goku helped steer this segment fight along with incidents like bequeathing Krillin with the Spirit Bomb and directing Oozaru Gohan's attention towards Vegeta, but all of that was strictly tactical in nature.
You don't see such levels of proactivtiy from the subsidiary characters in overwhelming an antagonist except for Zamasu who was brought to his knees and executed by Future Trunks.
I'll start my reply with repeating myself. "Plagued this series since the
Frieza arc."
The saiyan arc, as I had already pointed out, was the last time the trope was used effectively. This was primarily because Goku had a personal connection to the saiyan and like every other arc was doing something while in Otherworld. Infact this is a case of the anime filler really helping. Likewise as you point out, the Goku is our Savior is subverted because Goku cannot beat Vegeta alone.
But then we skip to the Frieza arc. Goku is not the main character of the Frieza arc, its Krillin, Gohan and Vegeta. So Goku swooping in to save the day completely undercuts their journey as characters, save Vegeta's. The Ginyu Force and his fight with them serve as nothing but padding to make sure Goku has something to do on Namek. Once they are dealt with Goku is once again taken out of the plot just so he can swoop in and save the day AGAIN. In both cases Goku has no connection to whats going on in the story and it really hurts the narrative. Its like Superman turning up out of the blue in a Batman story and curbstomping the bad guy. While his fight with Ginyu is just padding, what happens with Frieza is just sad for most of the other characters. Gohan and Krillin give it there all and do nothing. Piccolo comes back from the dead, puts the whole plan at risk and even gets a new power up......all for it to be worthless. From the opening fight with Frieza to the point he takes his final form, everything that happens is just an utter waste of time because in reality they have zero chance of actually winning and are only alive because Frieza is screwing around. But the single worst part is what that means for the beginning of Goku and Frieza's relationship. Goku dose not know Frieza, he dose not care that he blew up Vegeta and killed his farther, Goku just thinks Frieza as a strong, bad person who he's heard a lot about. Likewise Frieza dose not know or care who Goku is, Goku is some random jackass in orange and blue who wants to fight him. Never in all my life have I ever seen such a bland beginning to an ultimate rivalry. The main hero and villain have almost no idea who the fuck the other is, they have had no interactions of any kind up to this point to begin building any kind of relationship and they are almost completely apathetic to each-other, especially on Frieza's part. In every arc before this, save the first, Goku and his foe always had some connection, not here. Yet despite all that, Goku is the one to battle Frieza in the end, sole by virtue of being the main character. From a narrative stand point it takes away almost all the stories build up and throws it away. All the other characters hard work has no pay off and they get relegated to the side lines. Vegeta only gets a pay of because he gets killed. The only saving grace for this is how Goku and Frieza's relationship would develop beyond this point.
The Android arc is just as bad. Goku is put in a coma thanks to the heart virus and he's out of the arc proper until the Cell games. During that time the he dose one helpful thing, the rest he just stands and watchs or is training in an isolated location AGAIN. Now everything, and I do mean everything, after Goku gets sick is made pointless by Goku and Gohan at the end of the arc. The only single thing that helps is moving Goku to kami house. Apart from that, the caste could have literally sat on their assess all that time and nothing would change. Goku could just wake up, go into the chamber with Gohan and the story would play out the same. All the hard work Piccolo, Tien, Trunks and Vegeta put in is rendered utterly pointless. And once again Goku has barely any connection to the main threat. Cell just wants to kill him because thats what he was made to do and he wants to fight the strongest. Goku is in almost exactly the same position he was on Namek, Goku speaks to Cell once before he become's perfect and saves his friend from getting hurt, creating a bare minimum connection between the two beforehand. But then we have Gohan come in and do the exact same thing to Goku! While the ending manages to give them both some payoff, apart from throwing a very small bone to Vegeta, the the rest of the caste are left out in the cold again. The anime did fix this however.
The Buu Saga what can I say that has not already been said. The second Super Buu absorbs Gohan, Goku steps in and pulls the rug right out from under his sons and Piccolo AGAIN. The one saving grace is Vegeta's involvement and development.
Those are 3 of Z's 4 arcs and in each of them having Goku taken out of the story only served to make everyone elses hard work look pointless. Say what you will about GT but at least by focusing just on Goku he feels like a part of his own story and he never steals anyone elses thunder. In Super the only time they really dropped the ball hard was Piccolo and Buu in the U6 tournament, they were utterly wasted there and Vegeta's death at the hands of Frieza in RoF. In every other arc the characters they included did something relevant that was not undercut by Goku.
