[Dragon Ball GT] Was Goku Becoming A Kid A Good or Bad Idea?

[NeoKING]

What's your take on the idea to have Goku become a kid again in GT? A lot of people criticize it, but I honestly can't imagine GT with Goku as an adult.

The fact is, Goku was more or less broken by the end of Z. Making him become a kid again did balance things out, and this was especially true in the fights like the ones he had on the Baby-infected Earth and against the Evil Dragons, specifically Yi Xing Long.

[Savage68]

I've no problems with the decision. What gets me, though, is that he didn't seem any weaker after being wished into his child body. I mean, I'm sure he was, but when I see him fighting General "Stronger than Boo" Rild and singlehandedly dispatching of Cell and Freeza without becoming a Super Saiyan, then it kinda gives off the impression that the change was made for naught. Or that it was just a haphazard attempt to reclaim some of early Dragon Ball's "magic," one that wasn't seen through.

[Kingdom Heartless]

I've no problems with the decision. What gets me, though, is that he didn't seem any weaker after being wished into his child body. I mean, I'm sure he was, but when I see him fighting General "Stronger than Boo" Rild and singlehandedly dispatching of Cell and Freeza without becoming a Super Saiyan, then it kinda gives off the impression that the change was made for naught. Or that it was just a haphazard attempt to reclaim some of early Dragon Ball's "magic," one that wasn't seen through.

Exactly... the thing that kills the concept the most for me is seeing kid Goku in base kicking powerful villains asses kind of damages the threat they once posed to the heroes. If he was an adult, it would still be irritating, but would seem slightly less ridiculous.

It's a concept that worked at some times, and didn't at others.

[Bussani]

I've no problems with the decision. What gets me, though, is that he didn't seem any weaker after being wished into his child body. I mean, I'm sure he was, but when I see him fighting General "Stronger than Boo" Rild and singlehandedly dispatching of Cell and Freeza without becoming a Super Saiyan, then it kinda gives off the impression that the change was made for naught. Or that it was just a haphazard attempt to reclaim some of early Dragon Ball's "magic," one that wasn't seen through.

I completely agree. I actually kind of like the idea of Goku becoming a child again. In fact, I like a lot of GT's ideas. It's always the execution where everything seems to fall apart.

[CatouttaHell]

I'm kind of biased (if the avatar and signature didn't give it away) but I think Son Goku becoming a kid again was an awesome choice. Like NeoKING said I can't imagine GT with Goku as an adult. Him becoming a kid again mixed things up instead of continuing on with the same old Goku for three more Arcs. I really don't mind Base Goku being as strong as He was. After 15 whole years I can definitely see Base Goku surpassing everyone in Z. Also Ki shouldn't change depending on one's body size IMO. Otherwise Teen Gohan would be > Kid Gohan. Kid Goku vs. Cell and Freeza was a great fight IMO. Freeza trying to kill Goku with the Kienzan only for Goku to jump on it and ride it like a hoverboard was awesome on so many levels.

[JulieYBM]

I think the premise is a good idea, but the way it unfolds...not so much. They didn't stick to their guns and keep Gokû powered-down enough and didn't seem to give it any focus past the first few episodes. How he becomes a child again also feels pretty contrived, too.

[Zephyr]

I personally didn't care for the idea at all.

[Savage68]

Also Ki shouldn't change depending on one's body size IMO.

Kid Goku being weaker than his adult self isn't conjecture; it's a fact that someone(s) at Toei implemented the idea because they felt that Goku had become too powerful by the end of Z.

[CatouttaHell]

Kid Goku being weaker than his adult self isn't conjecture; it's a fact that someone(s) at Toei implemented the idea because they felt that Goku had become too powerful by the end of Z.

Wasn't He stated in the GT Perfect Files to be as strong as His adult self though? Maybe they wanted Adult > Kid at first but it seemed to very quickly be retconned. SSjin 3 Adult Goku might be >>> SSjin 3 Kid Goku though.

[Savage68]

Yeah, in the Perfect Files it says that Goku's strength didn't seem to be any different, though his stamina was diminished. I don't really know how they got from A to B, because Goku would never be expected to seriously measure up with anyone on Boo's level in his normal form, but whatever.

[GamingBuddha]

After 15 whole years I can definitely see Base Goku surpassing everyone in Z.

I agree. In 15 years, Goku went from being weaker than Raditz to being able to defeat Kid Buu. It seems like that's a big enough improvement to indicate that he completely surpassed everyone in that time.

[Savage68]

I think some of the key differences are that in Z, we were privy to the extent of Goku's progression: healing boosts, new transformations, training under gods, etc. In the 5 year span of time that leads up to the first episode of GT, he's only had Oob to train with. The human whose power he wanted to draw out for an all-out rematch. In no way does does that constitute him surpassing "everyone in Z."

[Zephyr]

I think instead of turning him into a kid just so he could feasibly stay in the spotlight, they could have introduced some sort of plot device to give him a back seat for a bit.

Would have given some of the other characters a chance to shine more. Maybe give the newly reformed Vegeta the leading role for a bit? I also think that Pan, being Gohan's daughter, could have believably had more potential than him, which could steadily have been released over the course of the story had she been given a more central role in the major battles.

At the very least, I would have enjoyed seeing him permanently turn back into an adult as a result of SSJ4. It already magically materializes pants, so why not?

[Kaboom]

I say it was a good idea and a unique way to mix up the usual formula for the new series, and it was nice to see Goku acting like his old, even-more-childish-than-usual self again. Don't know if they really did all they could with it, though.

[Herms]

Wasn't He stated in the GT Perfect Files to be as strong as His adult self though?

It says his bodily strength seems unchanged but his stamina is reduced. The Perfect Files is also where it notes that the anime staff's reasoning behind making Goku a kid again for GT was because they felt he had become too powerful as an adult, as Savage68 said.

[Deep Thought]

While I'm impartial about the decision to make Goku a kid, I think that there was no reason it should have lasted as long as it did. It made sense for him to be a kid in the first few episodes, because they were trying to recreate the Dragon Ball hunt in the original series, only on a much bigger scale, obviously. Although I think using an adult Goku would've worked better (because it'd be like the original Dragon Ball hunt only it'd convey how much time passed, Goku would be older, and Bulma would be succeeded by Trunks, her son, now if only they made Pan perv-er and older or if she was replaced by Goten then Oolong's role would be covered, but I digress), I don't particularly mind that they made Goku a child for that arc. However, when the series took a more serious, "Z-esque" turn, it made no sense for Goku to be a child. Even Toei bore little love for child Goku later on when they made Super Sayajin 4 a magical "warp-to-adulthood" (which I approve of, the thought of a small Super Sayajin 4 brat biting the ankles of villains makes me retch) transformation and, as the series progressed, he became more and more entrenched in the Super Sayajin 4 transformation, until the sight of base (kid) Goku was a rarity. So if Toei wasn't fond of kid Goku later on, why keep him like that? Besides, there were a lot of oddities to kid Goku's existence. For instance, his fight with Bebi Vegeta was supposed to symbolically represent both the unfinished duel that Goku and Vegeta were going to fight and the war with the Sayajins and Tsurufus. However, the effect is diminished because Goku is a kid. If Vegeta and Goku were kids when they first fought, then kid Goku fighting Bebi Vegeta would work, but..... they weren't, so it doesn't, really. Conversely, the Tsurfus weren't massacred by kids, they were massacred by adult Sayajins. In fact, childhood plays an extremely small part of Sayajin development, as children Sayajins (besides Goku) are never seen in the manga, and are only seen once in the entire anime prior to GT. In short, it would've been infinitely more fitting to have adult Goku with his tail to be the avatar of the Sayajin race.

So yeah, that, combined with some other oddities, like the fact that it was weird to be Gohan and Videl look old enough to be his parents, and the fact that it was really annoying to have a kid ordering the Z-Warrors, should adequately show why I don't like Goku being a kid in GT.

EDIT: If TOEI's intent was to make Goku less overpowered as a kid, then they sure dropped the ball when they gave him two more transformations to stack on top of his already robust repertoire of moves and transformations.

[Chuquita]

Didn't like it. While Goku being turned into a kid didn't bother me as much as Vegeta's awful haircut and "moostache", I still felt kind of cheated by it. I was used to adult Goku back when I first saw GT; that's who I wanted to watch. (Also felt it was unfair that he can only be an adult in ssj4; how does that even work? Shouldn't he be a child in that form as well? He is in all the other ssj forms. >_> )

[MetaMoss]

I think the idea of reverting Goku to a child was interesting, but I do really think the execution did not impress me. When I first saw him power-up to SSJ4, I was hoping that his turning back to an adult would be permanent. I could see back when Toei started GT and they wanted to revive the magic of DragonBall that Goku would be a child, but when GT became more DBZ-like, they should've had Goku become an adult again. I also agree with Zephyr that maybe some of the other characters get the spotlight. Seeing more growth out of Pan or Trunks would have been excellent.

[SylentEcho]

I don't like the idea of him being a kid again. The show would turn into a nostalgia act. IF he were a kid, he should have stayed a kid, but it's still no fun because everybody else is an adult or old.

I feel GT should have been this way:
1. Goku should have remained an adult and then reached SSJ4
2. Gohan should have reached SSJ4
3. Vegeta should have reached SSJ3 if not 4 on his OWN. No brute ray machine.
4. Gohan and Gotenks should have defeated Yī Xīng Lóng after Goku exchanged his life for everybody else's on earth.
5. Freeza, Cell and Nappa should have shown up with some new powers or forms.

[CatouttaHell]

I agree. In 15 years, Goku went from being weaker than Raditz to being able to defeat Kid Buu. It seems like that's a big enough improvement to indicate that he completely surpassed everyone in that time.

Well a lot of people think that everybody maxed out by the Cell Games for some reason. Doesn't make much sense to me. Goku's been getting ridiculously huge increases for the whole series. 15 years of hard training, 5 of them with the reincarnation of the guy Toei considers to be the strongest, should no doubt propel Him to the heights He was in GT IMHO.

It says his bodily strength seems unchanged but his stamina is reduced. The Perfect Files is also where it notes that the anime staff's reasoning behind making Goku a kid again for GT was because they felt he had become too powerful as an adult, as Savage68 said.

Ah, I see. I find the whole thing of them making Him a kid because as an adult He was too strong kind of funny to be honest. Like Goku is just so freaking strong that they can no longer control Him, despite being a fictional character, and have to resort to turning Him into a kid again.