What was Toriyama's plan for Goten before fusion?

[Deathbringer]

So as some of you would know, Toriyama wasn't the one who came up with the idea of fusion, it came about when he was talking to Masakazu Katsura and said he couldn't think of anything stronger than a super saiyan which is when Katsura suggested that the characters should just fuse together. Now, depending on when this conversation took place it was very likely that Goten had already been introduced and as we all know Goten only becomes a relevant fighter after fusing with Trunks to become Gotenks, but what was Toriyama planning to do with Goten before his conversation with Katsura?

[RedRibbonSoldier#42]

I thought he was just to be the gokuu replacemnt in the Gohan centric story

[Cetra]

No one know how the fusion talk really was. Not only Toriyama-san but also Katsura-san was once asked in an interview about that so just the interview with Toriyama-san alone does not really help about that.

And when it comes to Goten - I guess we was just introduced as another "free to use" character. Toriyama-san once said he does not really plan in advance and even always had no other choice but to come up with something awesome whenever he announced something awesome even though he did not actually have something up his sleeve. Which shows how much of an improvising genius he is. I guess writing scripts now for sagas months before they air is something very new for him in Dragon Ball.

[Draconic]

With Gohan now a teenager he just wanted to have another Son kid be part of the story, so that the target audience would have who to relate to.

[ekrolo2]

With Gohan now a teenager he just wanted to have another Son kid be part of the story, so that the target audience would have who to relate to.

Could've just used Trunks instead

Given the popularity of his Future self that's rubbed off on any Trunks incarnation, he could've gotten away with just making Trunks the resident kid of the group. Goku shows up really damn fast anyhow and for a long swath of the early Boo Saga, Goten's pretty much a non-entity with the focus primarily on Gohan and Videl instead.

[Xeztin]

Hmm.. My guess would be the original plan was for him to be to Gohan as Gohan was to Goku and Piccolo (Training wise). It's probably also to give Trunks a playmate since one kid would have been kind of awkward. They just ended up being Comic releif and creating Gotenks of course. It really makes you wonder where the story would have gone if Goku remained dead and Gohan took over as the main character. It would have effected everyone not just Gohan.

[Lord Beerus]

If Goku were to retire from the story, there's a perfectly good clone to take his place.

[Deathbringer]

If fusion hadn't been introduced then Goten wouldn't have been able to fight Majin Boo so would he have just stayed on the sidelines for the whole arc? Either way it's quite clear that Toriyama makes it up as he goes along so maybe there never was a solid plan for Goten.

[MozillaVulpix]

To add to what everyone else said, it also helped to add another reliable fighter to the supporting cast. If Toriyama was REALLY trying to treat Gohan in the same way he treated Goku, he needed more than just Trunks (and Vegeta, I guess) to make up the brigade of second-tier fighters whose job was to stall for time until the hero arrived. Super Saiyan 2 meant Piccolo couldn't catch up without getting another powerup, so someone had to replace him in terms of being competent power-wise.