Goku's long absences in the story

[ABED]

I think the argument in favor of Goku being taken out of the story for a awhile to prevent it being "the Goku show" has nothing to do expecting the supporting cast to save the day (I don't think anyone really expects that lmao). Its that, oddly enough, when Goku isn't in the spotlight the supporting characters are given more room and opportunity to be...well....characters (its hard to explain).

And yet DB still is able to give supporting characters meaningful stories. If the only way to give supporting characters something of substance is to take the main character out of the spotlight, the writer isn't trying hard enough.