EOB or DB MINUS? Which hurt Gokuu's character more?

[RedRibbonSoldier#42]

Goku isnt a prodigy among humans because he isn't human.

Until Raditz showed up, everyone in the story and reading the series thought he was human, and he was depicted as super powerful from the very first chapter. Gokuu was never a low class fighter. Vegeta thought he was for an arc, but then Gokuu quickly became stronger than any saiyan before.

I thought he was always low class fighter, but through hard work surpassed even the elite ones?

Nopers. Gokuu did a Kamehameha on his first try. No hard work needed.

[coola]

During Vegeta vs Zarbon, Kuririn also mentioned that Goku power always increased after fighting much stronger opponent

[WittyUsername]

I'd go with Minus solely due to the fact that it's actually regarded as canon. Changing Goku's backstory from being sent to Earth to destroy it, to being sent to Earth because his parents care about him was a terrible idea that only served to emphasize the parallels to Superman (if Superman's parents were space pirates). I don't know what Toriyama was thinking.

I'm not even sure why Toriyama decided to retcon the Bardock special in the first place. He didn't create the character, so why decide to change him? Bardock was portrayed as being an aloof warrior who only ended up seeing value in Goku when he learned that he would be the one who would defeat Freeza. Why retcon him into being a family man with a loving wife?

[Kuririn Fan]

Nopers. Gokuu did a Kamehameha on his first try. No hard work needed.

He was just a weird, strong boy at that point. Kamehameha was a human technique, both Kuririn and Tenshinhan did it in their first try. Goku and Vegeta's conversation before their first legendary fight supports my theory.

[RedRibbonSoldier#42]

Nopers. Gokuu did a Kamehameha on his first try. No hard work needed.

He was just a weird, strong boy at that point. Kamehameha was a human technique, both Kuririn and Tenshinhan did it in their first try. Goku and Vegeta's conversation before their first legendary fight supports my theory.

Vegeta didn't know Gokuu or how genius he was.

[TheGreatness25]

I think this was a byproduct of the fans' adoration of Burdock. For some reason, based on one TV special, one panel in the manga, and a 30 second appearance in the anime, the fans were absolutely in love with Burdock. And I understand; I liked Burdock too. But it went to a silly level. I've known many fans that would discuss Burdock as if he was a regular member of the story instead of basically a ghost to the series before it even began.

I think fans really, really, really liked Burdock and Akira Toriyama and Toei reacted. In running out of ideas for new content, I think the decision was made to take the fan favorite and dust him off for a new adventure.

I think that Episode of Burdock did not damage Goku as much as Minus. Episode of Burdock is basically the retelling of Goku vs Freeza. Burdock was a low-class Saiyan, who was weak. Burdock did overcome the limits of his power through... um... getting angry. So it's not like Goku comes from a powerful bloodline or anything. What bothered me about Episode of Burdock is that he wasn't a good guy like many fans kind of wrote him off as. He was a selfish Saiyan who didn't care about his son, who had no emotions toward anything but his comrades. I think that the reason why he tried to gather the other Saiyans to rise up against Freeza was because he didn't want to get killed. Even Vegeta didn't care about Freeza destroying planet Vegeta as much as he cared about Freeza being able to kill him. Then, at the end of the Burdock original special, he finally remembers his son, feeling pride that he would be avenged. If he didn't get that vision of Goku, he'd never care. Now in Episode of Burdock, he's portrayed basically as a superhero after being kind of a dick to that cute little alien boy who tries to take care of him. He was not exactly portrayed as the ruthless Saiyan monster that he was up until the day before.

All in all, I was bothered by Episode of Burdock because it messed up Burdock's personality. I never really thought it had any ramifications against Goku's character.


Now Minus... Holy hell. If Burdock's character bothered me in Episode of Burdock, then Minus is a whole new level of terrible. First of all, Goku being 3 (as someone stated) in Minus is crazy. It's been established 20 years ago that Goku was born and almost immediately sent off to Earth. It was also established 20 years ago that Burdock didn't care at all about his NEWBORN son and went off to do his thing. In Minus, it turns out that the arrogant, selfish, ruthless Saiyan who didn't even look at his son twice... apparently loved his wife and son. All along, Saiyans were established to not care at all about their mates, but wouldn't you know who won the pony; it turns out that Burdock was a special exception. I would be fine with all of this, to be honest, if this was established from the beginning. I can understand Burdock being an exception because Goku is an exception. But you can't tell me 20 years later that suddenly Burdock's entire character establishment was incorrect. What does Minus do for Goku's character? Well it means that he was actually raised as a Saiyan for a few years, it means that he was not sent to Earth to destroy it, and it means that basically everything we've known for 20 years has kind of been wrong.

This is exactly why I don't like the new material. Once it starts mucking up the established story, that's when I have a problem with it. For example, Beers telling Freeza to destroy planet Vegeta. Was it really necessary to go back and change something that was established 20 years ago? It's such a trivial thing, it's not like it's relevant to the new story, but no, we had to go there.

Basically, I feel like Episode of Burdock messes up Burdock's character much more than Goku's. Minus does basically rewrite everything that happened to Goku before he came to Earth. Mostly, I just think these stories were driven by Burdock's popularity with the fans and the fans always wondering about Goku's mom. Well, she didn't matter in the story for 20 years and well wouldn't you know, suddenly she's such an important nice lady.

[sintzu]

I think that Episode of Burdock did not damage Goku as much as Minus.

What does Minus do for Goku's character ? Well it means that he was actually raised as a Saiyan for a few years, it means that he was not sent to Earth to destroy it, and it means that basically everything we've known for 20 years has kind of been wrong.

Beers telling Freeza to destroy planet Vegeta. Was it really necessary to go back and change something that was established 20 years ago ?

It makes it seem like he was always going to be a Ssj due to his father seemingly being the legends Vegeta spoke of unlike the original where he reached it due to his hard work and it had nothing to do with him being special.

It also hints at his parents having a hand in him becoming good which also goes against what was told 20 years ago.

No but it was more than likely done to try and make a better connection between the original story and the current new ones or even try to make it seem like they're one story instead of an original (the manga) and the 20 years later stories but like Minus, it's not working and doing more harm than good.

If anyone says a story's author is always right, just show them Minus and the other current DB stories.

[Kuririn Fan]

Nopers. Gokuu did a Kamehameha on his first try. No hard work needed.

He was just a weird, strong boy at that point. Kamehameha was a human technique, both Kuririn and Tenshinhan did it in their first try. Goku and Vegeta's conversation before their first legendary fight supports my theory.

Vegeta didn't know Gokuu or how genius he was.

He was trash, he did Gods training and still was nothing to Vegeta.