Son Goku & Vegeta's Child Appearances

Piccolo Daimao · Post by **Piccolo Daimao** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 6:56 am

At the beginning of Dragon Ball, Son Goku appears as a 12-year-old boy. But despite being 12, Goku looks much younger than his age. Throughout the series, Goku retains an appearance of a boy not even past his teenage years, even against Piccolo Daimao when he's 16 years old.

I assume that this is because Saiyans don't retain their youth longer than Earthlings, despite the fact that Toriyama probably hadn't even thought up the idea of Goku being a Saiyan.

But another thing I want to touch upon: Vegeta in the Bardock Special. He is 5 years old here, but I've seen comments from people say that he looks older than 5. I'm not a good judge, but Vegeta does look older than 5. However, the Bardock Special was made by TOEI, and TOEI has been known for making a number of inconsistencies. The Bardock Special may not be classed as canon, but there are a number of people who do think it is canon (and Toriyama did include two panels of Bardock's rebellion against Freeza in the manga).

Any thoughts?

Innagadadavida · Post by **Innagadadavida** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 7:17 am

My thoughts are just that TOEI hadn't considered it. Either that or the art style changed so drastically that character designs were also altered. The latter is more likely.

An in-universe explanation... Perhaps royal blood ages to a ruling body quicker, to prevent the race from being ruled by a child. I mean, we saw how much Vegeta aged through out Dragon Ball Z, so it's obvious he wasn't done by the time he landed on Earth.

jda95 · Post by **jda95** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 7:23 am

I think Goku just looked young because..... some kids are just really small! I admit it was pushing it when at the 22nd Budokai and with Piccolo (by the way, he was actually 15 there). As Toriyama's style changed, Goten looks the same way a 15 year old Goku looked, and an 11 year old Gohan looks like a normal 13 or 14 year old should.

Bussani · Post by **Bussani** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 7:36 am

I always thought Gohan looked older than 5 when he was 5. I forget how Vegeta looked in the special though.

rereboy · Post by **rereboy** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 7:53 am

Bussani wrote:I always thought Gohan looked older than 5 when he was 5. I forget how Vegeta looked in the special though.

Bussani · Post by **Bussani** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 7:55 am

rereboy wrote:
Bussani wrote:I always thought Gohan looked older than 5 when he was 5. I forget how Vegeta looked in the special though.

Thanks. I guess they did make him look older than 5 there.

B · Post by B » Sat Apr 25, 2009 8:03 am

That's just anime. No one ever looks their age. Ever.

Piccolo Daimao · Post by **Piccolo Daimao** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 8:10 am

jda95 wrote:I think Goku just looked young because..... some kids are just really small! I admit it was pushing it when at the 22nd Budokai and with Piccolo (by the way, he was actually 15 there). As Toriyama's style changed, Goten looks the same way a 15 year old Goku looked, and an 11 year old Gohan looks like a normal 13 or 14 year old should.

Herms' Age Guide begs to differ concerning Goku's age: http://db.schuby.org/daizex/viewtopic.p ... sc&start=0

But whatever. It could just be to do with Toriyama's art style when drawing the Saiyans. Goten does look the same as 16-year-old (or 15) Goku does, but he's 7 years old, and he does look his age. Goten was half-human, but who knows - Goku could've looked like Goten did when he was 7 years old too!

Xyex · Post by **Xyex** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 9:01 am

Herms' Age Guide begs to differ concerning Goku's age: http://db.schuby.org/daizex/viewtopic.p ... sc&start=0

That's because he goofed with Goku's age at the 21st Budokai. He put him as 13 instead of 12 so that put off all of Goku's ages by a year. And probably several others, too.

Bussani · Post by **Bussani** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 9:55 am

Xyex wrote:
Herms' Age Guide begs to differ concerning Goku's age: http://db.schuby.org/daizex/viewtopic.p ... sc&start=0
That's because he goofed with Goku's age at the 21st Budokai. He put him as 13 instead of 12 so that put off all of Goku's ages by a year. And probably several others, too.

Oh yeah. I meant to mention that in the thread, but forgot. Goku says that he's 12 at the 21st tournament (although considering he got it wrong once already...) so that should make him 15 by the 22nd.

Post by **Herms** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 11:32 am

It's just because his birthday was later in the year than the tournament (or he miscountd again). Goku's official birth year is 737, and the 21st Tenkaichi Budoukai is in 750, the year Goku turns 13. Since we don't know anyone's exact birthday, I figured the best thing to do would be to list everyone as a year older each time a new year came around (since Goku is 12 at the start of the series, he's at least 12 2/3 eight months later at the tournament; essentialy I'm just rounding up). I mentioned all this already at some point in that thread.

On the same principle, I've got Kuririn listed as 14 when he says he's 13 at the tournament (Kuririn was born in 736), and Gohan as 17 at the start of the Buu arc, when the narrator says he was 16 (Gohan was born in 757 and the Buu arc is in 774).

FuniYamcha · Post by **FuniYamcha** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 12:13 pm

I wouldn't put too much stock into the heights of the characters, considering in the anime, we've seen the Ox King anywhere from 15-20 feet tall (when first shown) to probably 5-6 feet tall (after the Cell Games with Gohan). Not to mention that Goku at the 22nd tenkaichi budokai seems to be no more than 3 feet tall even though he's between 15-16 years old. Then at the next tournament he's slightly taller than Bulma at 18-19 years old, then hits a growth spurt somewhere around the Cell arc and becomes much taller than her. Oh, and there's the 10 year old Gohan looking so much older that he's has been called Teen Gohan.

The Time Traveller · Post by **The Time Traveller** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 12:16 pm

I'd like to believe it has something to do with strength, technically Tarble should be older than Goku, but because he's a weakling he's short, Goku was naturally short and week for a saiyan but his power grew as he went through puberty for some reason (Most likely proper training other than killing the weak and becoming a giant monkey all the time).

Bussani · Post by **Bussani** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 8:50 pm

Herms wrote:It's just because his birthday was later in the year than the tournament (or he miscountd again). Goku's official birth year is 737, and the 21st Tenkaichi Budoukai is in 750, the year Goku turns 13. Since we don't know anyone's exact birthday, I figured the best thing to do would be to list everyone as a year older each time a new year came around (since Goku is 12 at the start of the series, he's at least 12 2/3 eight months later at the tournament; essentialy I'm just rounding up). I mentioned all this already at some point in that thread.

On the same principle, I've got Kuririn listed as 14 when he says he's 13 at the tournament (Kuririn was born in 736), and Gohan as 17 at the start of the Buu arc, when the narrator says he was 16 (Gohan was born in 757 and the Buu arc is in 774).

Ahh, that makes sense. Sorry for questioning your logic!

Post by **Herms** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 8:57 pm

Bussani wrote: Ahh, that makes sense. Sorry for questioning your logic!

Well, I'll spare your life this time, as it's a first offense.

Seriously though, don't ever hesitate to question my logic. Logic's no good if it can't be questioned.

You know, I just realized that Goku really can't know when his actual birthday is, since Grandpa Gohan simply found him. Makes me wonder what he used as his birthday, if anything. Maybe the date Gohan found him?

Rod · Post by **Rod** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 8:59 pm

jda95 wrote:I think Goku just looked young because..... some kids are just really small!

You could be right, I'm 16, and a girl thought I was 12 just a few days ago, and everyone seems to always think I'm way younger than I am

jda95 · Post by **jda95** » Sun Apr 26, 2009 1:06 am

Rod wrote:
jda95 wrote:I think Goku just looked young because..... some kids are just really small!
You could be right, I'm 16, and a girl thought I was 12 just a few days ago, and everyone seems to always think I'm way younger than I am

When I was turning 10, the cake maker thought I was 5.