Gohan intended to take the leading role?

[Amigo Ten]

He only put Goku back in as the hero in the Buu saga because that's what the fans wanted.

Source, please? Toriyama says in his Daizenshuu 2 interview that he ultimately felt Gohan was unsuited for the role of main character. That's the only official word on the subject that I'm aware of.

Glad someone said this. Not that the suggestion is totally implausible, but when you have the author's own explanation, I don't see why people keep bringing it up. Especially since he's fairly open about having to make unplanned changes to his story.

[Godo]

Well, that's your opinion. I just personally believe that Gohan isn't the kind of hero Dragon Ball required.

I don't believe that either. In the end, he didn't take his power seriously at all. I'm just saying that he could be the main hero, although he wouldn't be as good as Goku, he could pull it off.
I'm just arguing the fact that some members say that he could never ever in the whole wide world and time and space be the main hero.
If Toriyama kept Gohan as he was in the end of the Cell games, where he had understood that his peaceful nature wouldn't do any good in a fight and that you should fight enemies with your full will, he would do a helluva good leading hero.
But somehow in that 7 year time-skip, his personality changed again, as if the fight never happened, and he had slacked off big-time.

The point of that was that Son Goku was the intended main hero and is THE hero of Dragon Ball, and strength isn't the main element of that.

Well, up until the Cell saga, it was. Everytime Goku defeated someone, he was the strongest of all the fighters. Although that red line changed by the time he went into the ROSAT, and we had already seen Vegeta as the strongest between the two. By the time of Buu saga, the main hero was accompanied with a so-so strength, and a helluva amount of luck.

[Piccolo Daimao]

OK, I admit that Son Gohan could be the main hero, even if he wouldn't be as good as Son Goku.

Referring to the first bit of your post, in those 7 years, he seemed to actually be eager to fight Dabra, so it may be a sign that he was more enthusiastic about fighting than before, despite his slacking-off.

I do sort of hate it that Gohan suddenly turned into a pacifist into the Cell Arc. I mean, Piccolo does seem to imply that Gohan had always been that way, but the way it's set across was a bit weak in my opinion. You may say that the previous times he had decided to fight was because his friends were in danger, but that was the same situation during the Cell Games. It just seemed somewhat abrupt to me.

[Kendamu]

He only put Goku back in as the hero in the Buu saga because that's what the fans wanted.

Source, please? Toriyama says in his Daizenshuu 2 interview that he ultimately felt Gohan was unsuited for the role of main character. That's the only official word on the subject that I'm aware of.

Glad someone said this. Not that the suggestion is totally implausible, but when you have the author's own explanation, I don't see why people keep bringing it up. Especially since he's fairly open about having to make unplanned changes to his story.

Well, when trying to come up with named for Dragonball Z, "Gohan's Grant Adventure" or something like that was one of the suggested titles. It's easy to see that Gohan was intended to be the main character after awhile and that Toriyama kept trying to put Gohan back in the spotlight, but something kept happening to screw Gohan over. So, unless Toriyama's just that fickle I'm guessing that there were outside influences that kept Gohan from being the main character.

If you wanna run with the idea of, "Pics or it didn't happen," then whatever. I'm just gonna not read too deeply into it and see what's obvious.

[Amigo Ten]

I can only think of one single time when Gohan was given the spotlight and then had it taken away again, and that was right at the end of the series. And along with that we have the author saying that he just felt Gohan wasn't suited for the role. He wanted to give it to him. He even did at the end of the Cell arc, but obviously as he kept going he realised he didn't particularly like it. Why shouldn't I go with the "pics or it didn't happen" mentality? We have "pics" for one side of the argument. Like I said, it's not a totally implausible suggestion that he changed the story due to outside influences, I just don't know why people go with that rather than the man's own word.

Honestly, from the story it doesn't seem he was that committed to the idea at all, since when we come back to Gohan he's gone back to his studies and neglected his training, and he has to go through some silly ritual where he just sits down for a day so he can have his shot at being the hero. If anything Gohan being the hero seems more forced than the alternative.

[PatPat]

I can only think of one single time when Gohan was given the spotlight and then had it taken away again, and that was right at the end of the series. And along with that we have the author saying that he just felt Gohan wasn't suited for the role. He wanted to give it to him. He even did at the end of the Cell arc, but obviously as he kept going he realised he didn't particularly like it. Why shouldn't I go with the "pics or it didn't happen" mentality? We have "pics" for one side of the argument. Like I said, it's not a totally implausible suggestion that he changed the story due to outside influences, I just don't know why people go with that rather than the man's own word.

Honestly, from the story it doesn't seem he was that committed to the idea at all, since when we come back to Gohan he's gone back to his studies and neglected his training, and he has to go through some silly ritual where he just sits down for a day so he can have his shot at being the hero. If anything Gohan being the hero seems more forced than the alternative.

Well all i know is that at one point they were prepping gohan up to take the lead but then at the very end it got scrapped. I think it was a mistake and thats one of the main reasons why the buu saga is my least favorite. I mean lets just have goku beat the main villian for the 100th time I mean it didnt have to be gohan that defeated the final villian but it would have been nice if at least once it could be vegeta who saved the day. Hell I would have been happier if it would have been gotenks even.

[Kendamu]

I can only think of one single time when Gohan was given the spotlight and then had it taken away again, and that was right at the end of the series. And along with that we have the author saying that he just felt Gohan wasn't suited for the role. He wanted to give it to him. He even did at the end of the Cell arc, but obviously as he kept going he realised he didn't particularly like it. Why shouldn't I go with the "pics or it didn't happen" mentality? We have "pics" for one side of the argument. Like I said, it's not a totally implausible suggestion that he changed the story due to outside influences, I just don't know why people go with that rather than the man's own word.

Because the word is coming from a forgetful guy who makes up his story as he goes along and generally follows the direction of his editor without much argument.

Honestly, from the story it doesn't seem he was that committed to the idea at all, since when we come back to Gohan he's gone back to his studies and neglected his training, and he has to go through some silly ritual where he just sits down for a day so he can have his shot at being the hero. If anything Gohan being the hero seems more forced than the alternative.

Again, makes stuff up as he goes along. You can't really see the ritual thing as something planned back when DBZ was pitched with the name "Gohan's Grand Adventure."

[Herms]

If you wanna run with the idea of, "Pics or it didn't happen," then whatever. I'm just gonna not read too deeply into it and see what's obvious.

If you're not wanting to read too deeply into it, then why are you trying to second-guess what the author's intentions were?

Because the word is coming from a forgetful guy who makes up his story as he goes along and generally follows the direction of his editor without much argument.

He's forgetful, therefore you can just ignore what he says? If you want to claim that he was forced by either his editor or fan pressure to oust Gohan from the leading roll, you need some actual evidence for that goes against Toriyama's actual words on the topic, other than that it simply "seems obvious" to you.

Again, makes stuff up as he goes along. You can't really see the ritual thing as something planned back when DBZ was pitched with the name "Gohan's Grand Adventure."

That title was proposed by the people at Toei, not Toriyama. Toriyama's proposed title was "DragonBall Z".

[PatPat]

That title was proposed by the people at Toei, not Toriyama. Toriyama's proposed title was "DragonBall Z".

I've heard that as well, i read somewhere that he just put the Z at the end because he wanted people to think it was ending soon but i guess they didn't get the hint and it kept going lol.

[Amigo Ten]

Because the word is coming from a forgetful guy who makes up his story as he goes along and generally follows the direction of his editor without much argument.

Well I don't see why he would just say that's what happened.

[TheLastSaiyan]

I think the big thing we're missing here is that if Gohan had beaten Buu then we would have not seen the likes of Vegetto.

[Hujio]

I think the big thing we're missing here is that if Gohan had beaten Buu then we would have not seen the likes of Vegetto.

And then VegettoEX may never have existed...
Or at least he'd have a different handle.

[Gaffer Tape]

Hmm. Mike said he chose Vegetto because he looked like a badass character, the most badass in the series. So had he not existed, it would have had to have been the second most badass character...

ChaozuEX?

[Amigo Ten]

Hmm. Mike said he chose Vegetto because he looked like a badass character, the most badass in the series. So had he not existed, it would have had to have been the second most badass character...

ChaozuEX?

That would be the obvious choice.

[Xyex]

Hmm. Mike said he chose Vegetto because he looked like a badass character, the most badass in the series. So had he not existed, it would have had to have been the second most badass character...

ChaozuEX?

Oh, come on. How can you tell me you missed this? It'd be AppuleEX, of course!

[Savage68]

Hmm. Mike said he chose Vegetto because he looked like a badass character, the most badass in the series. So had he not existed, it would have had to have been the second most badass character...

ChaozuEX?

No, ChaozEX. There's a huge difference.

[hleV]

[offtopic]No, CuiEX.[/offtopic]

[Gaffer Tape]

Hmm. Mike said he chose Vegetto because he looked like a badass character, the most badass in the series. So had he not existed, it would have had to have been the second most badass character...

ChaozuEX?

Oh, come on. How can you tell me you missed this? It'd be AppuleEX, of course!

Okay, as much as it pains me to admit it... you win with that one. There's nothing else I can say.