Goku or Vegeta?

Z: Goku

Super: Vegeta

Since Super is trash, Goku wins.

Vegeta is more interesting to me. Goku is likable, but he's a goody two shoes and a horrible father/husband. I only watched the stuff in the 90's.

Gogeta.

@nicksmi56: I genuinely agree with your first two lines. Still on the fence about the last one.

Yeah Jeets.

Vegeta is so much cooler. He actually has a character arc.

@wchigo: I know people like it, but it really feels like they ran out of ideas. They just took a bunch of ideas from Z, recolored them (literally when it comes to the new Super Saiyan forms) and walked back characters because they couldn't think of anything new or interesting to do with them.

Vegeta's back to trying to outdo Goku (even though he outright admitted Goku was better in Z), Goku's back to being an airhead (he's even DUMBER than his kid self for some reason), Trunks' future is messed up again, the Pilaf gang is back for some reason, Freiza loses because he overextended himself again, Vegito's supposedly permanent fusion randomly unfuses again, etc etc.

And on top of that, they threw in a bunch of god characters to make sure nothing bad will ever happen to any of the main characters. Ever.

It just feels like they didn't try even a little bit. But you know, "new" Super Saiyan forms and Goku still exists, so greatest anime ever.

OG Dragon Ball is best Dragon Ball.

I mean, I'll say that if Trunks was on the list I'd have picked him, but... yeah, Vegeta by a country mile.

Actually has an interesting character arc and experiences failure more often than Goku; insofar as Goku NEVER experiences legitimate combat failure - at least in Z, I haven't even seen Super - making him seem like the better underdog than the protagonist of the underdog story.

God, I wish Dragonball Sai got an entirely fleshed out manga/anime.

Since I generally prefer plain Dragon Ball to DBZ, gotta vote Goku. He's a great hero, regardless of his absent-mindedness. Vegeta is cool, but I find it hard to root for someone so self absorbed.

Vegeta because he's honestly a better person than Goku by such a large margin late into the series. Ignoring Super's revelations that Goku is a bad person because he didn't care about being at Goten's birth because he was dead and never kissing Chi-chi (in addition to being a worse grandpa to Pan than Piccolo), Vegeta is genuinely better from a technique perspective.

Vegeta has several original techniques that he uses multiple times. He changes his perspective and how he reacts to Future Trunks because of him actually learning from his past actions. He swallowed his precious Saiyan pride to ask for help training from Whis and fully invested in "training" Cabba to feel prideful in his race.

Goku is a tech-thief. The only "original" attack he has is headbutting his opponent's chest. Even taking Super into account, he never comes up with his own technique until Ultra Instinct (which isn't exactly original, just a state of being). Goku's idea of "limit-breaking" is using Kaioken while Vegeta found a legit higher form of Super Saiyan Blue (that I call "True Blue").

I'm really glad for Super just for the Vegeta redemption. Half of the point of Vegeta in the original DBZ storyline was to job to Goku and just hate that he wasn't as powerful as Goku. In the regular DBZ timeline it was only when he went Majin Vegeta that he felt like a seperate person and not a dumb plot point. Super, until Ultra Instinct became a plot point, actually managed to make sure Vegeta and Goku were on the same-ish power level. There wasn't an obvious "Well of COURSE Goku would beat Vegeta" thing happening where Vegeta was relegated to Krillin/Yamcha status where he just commented on whatever Goku was doing. And when he wanted to start training he manged to throw aside his pride and focus on appeasing his trainer (namely Whis in this situation). Vegeta legit learned about the best cuisine Earth (and Bulma) could offer and made sure he could give that to the most powerful beings in the universe just so he could train. Meanwhile, Goku piggy-backed on Vegeta's efforts so he could train with Whis while exerting no effort beyond "When does training start?"

All in all, if you don't count Super, Goku barely wins by a super small margin whereas if you count Super, Vegeta is clearly the winner by a landslide. Also Goku would never say "Mondo cool" so there's that.

Vegeta. Best character in Dragon Ball full stop.

Kid Goku from Dragon Ball is a pretty endearing character. Vegeta has a more interesting character arc in DBZ, though.

End of original Dragon Ball and beginning of Z Piccolo was always my favorite. I know he wasn't an option, but his Japanese theme music alone makes me like him the most out of the entire cast of characters.

@nicksmi56: There are parts of Super I do like, but there are also parts that really rub me the wrong way. That's why I think I need more time to mull over how I feel about it before I give a definitive statement of I do or don't like it.

Vegeta trying to outdo Goku I'm okay with. They're kind of eternal rivals and each one pushes the other to be better. I mean, it's pretty blatant with that when Vegeta is falling off the stage in the ToP and says he's leaving the rest to Goku while giving him what little energy he has left, that he still admits that Goku is the stronger fighter.

Goku's character is what really upsets me, especially as I'm now watching Kai along with Jeff and Dan. Goku was always trying to better himself in martial arts, but that wasn't the ONLY thing on his mind. He still thought of his family and friends and was concerned for their safety and well-being. It stuck out even more when he first was killed by Piccolo and got sent to the other side. Kami helped him keep his body so he could get training with Kaio-sama, but he was ready to get training from Enma-sama instead once Goku heard how easily he restrained Raditz. Compare this with Goku from DBS and I'll bet that instead of trying to get training from Enma, he'd be asking to fight him instead. Same would've happened when he got to Kaio-sama's world, I'm sure he would've even tried fighting Bubbles if it was DBS Goku.

Trunks's future is not only messed up, but outright gone now because of how badly they screwed the pooch and had to get Zeno-sama in to just nuke that universe out of existence. Pilaf gang stuff I'm kinda okay with, they're not that bad. The Potaro fusion is a terrible retcon and basically just makes it another power-up that is arguably even easier to perform than the fusion dance, with essentially the same rules (lasts only 30 mins, not permanent, etc.)

I thought the Battle of Gods movie was okay, Resurrection F was a terrible concept (Frieza trains for 4 months and now he's even more powerful than SSGSS even though he was weaker than SSJ1 before??), Universe 6 vs 7 was kinda fun, Future Trunks arc was not great, ToP was pointless because the state of things is pretty much the same before and after, except that Frieza is alive again.

I was considering doing a blog series of each arc of Super and what I felt like were the problems of each. Eventually interest kind of waned on that idea but after typing out this post, the urge is coming back a bit...

THE PRINCE OF ALL SAIYANS

Krillin.

This

Piccolo. But if given the option between these two, Goku. I just prefer the air headed goody-two shoes in this case.

Goku/Gokou without him there is no Dragonball.

Yes the American dub likes to portray Vegeta as the second lead character but he is not. As in the manga and original Anime works, Gohan and Piccolo are the Second leads of the series whenever Goku is not present. Toriyama has even said that many times as well as he doesn't really like Vegeta "he's just useful to have around."

This has always even been reflected even in all merchandise until DB Super, Where if a Figure or model line and what have you came out, it always started with either Goku, Piccolo or Gohan being first character released the other 2 being next.

Their "rivalry" is actually one sided and nonexistent on Gokus side of things in the original (yes he lets Vegeta live but that is because he didn't beat him on his own and wants to fight him again because of that) After the Freeza arc, anytime Vegeta expresses his will to surpass Goku, Goku just looks at him and pretty much is like "whatever". He doesn't care.

The "rivalry" is something that Funimation blew out of proportion then it moved on into Japan with DB Super.

Vegetas character is far better when he randomly shows up at points of the series attaining a higher power for awhile, only to be shockingly surpassed by 1 of the 3 characters I mentioned above. It keeps him striving for more and gives him motivation to be better overall rather than to be better just for the sake of Goku.

After settling down in the Boo arc. For DBSuper I would have preferred family man Vegeta from the get go, who has stopped training as much only to find that when the earth needs him everyone else has over taken him forcing him back into training.

Toei's current DB staff of recent years who are not necessarily people I trust with the series. Take Dragonball Kai for example this was only made because Toriyama did not want to make a new series at the time, so Toei cut the series up to be more "manageable" however it is not filler-less by any means. The second Goku & Vegeta fight is a throwaway few pages in the manga and not a big deal but Kai keeps it pretty much intact from the anime, shots of hell, filler characters still being present. Kai plays favorites and you lose allot of character development with characters that aren't named Goku or Vegeta.

Also Dragonball & Dragonball Z has a very low filler count its nothing like Naruto or something like that.

I'm still of the belief that Dragonball's filler is actually very good and sometimes needed! Take right after the Freeza arc for example youre a given the feeling of time passing and a fragile peace that the gang is not only trying to enjoy but protect. You get Krillin teaming up with Gohan and Piccolo to keep the earth safe while Goku is gone, You have Vegeta killing off remnants of Freezas army while searching for the Super Saiyan and in a quest to become one himself, all the while getting a slice of life without Goku, All this lends so well to set the stage for the Artificial Human/Android Arc extremely well.

Yes in Dragonball Super Vegeta had great amounts of development as a character but it was soo much, it became the him and Goku show where everyone else is forgotten about, yes I love slice of life episodes but with the whole cast! DBGT had this same problem (being just Goku, Trunks and Pan) Toriyama himself was very upset with the state of the show which is why he put more input into the recent Tournament of Power arch which yes it had everyone in it and 2 different people in the top 3 than most were used too/expecting which was great as a whole but damage had already been done.

It was strange to me, being on Japanese and a few other non English speaking boards and seeing their disappointed reactions to the tournament eliminations (Like when Piccolo got eliminated with no big fight) and just supers treatment of everyone else in general, Then going to English speaking db forums and just seeing allot of fans not care as long as Vegeta was there because "Vegeta should win" A big part of that though is I think a dub thing, It comes across as if you cannot transform you can't get stronger, when the whole cast has throughout the series by training, the passing of time, learning new moves and awakening/unlocking (barring the Boo arc which throwsout series tropes in order to end the series)

I love Vegeta as character but absolutely not as this second to only Goku that Super has turned him into.

Frietza

I guess I should clarify that I have not seen any of Dragonball super or the original Dragonball, and fell off of Z somewhere in the Majin But saga.

That being said I feel like the obvious choice is Vegeta. Despite Goku being "the guy" who pretty much is always the strongest and saves the day, he's such a dope. While Vegeta is infinitely cooler and more of a badass.

@scottjay01: be honest. Are you one of the people telling Jeff and Dan that they are watching DBZ wrong?

@tophar01: Never. If anything I put up the guide recommending Kai if you wanted to watch an English dub.
I have had 26 years of being a fan of this series, reading and seeing it start to finish in multiple languages, So when ever I write anything up about it, I always talk about it in depth with detailed reasoning behind it.

Goku is the right main character, insofar as any one character could be the main in such a series. He's so sunny and forthright and dopey that any new good guy or villain can instantly stand out in contrast to him.

Vegeta is the more interesting character, which is only possible because he's a supporting character. Constantly chasing to catch up to Goku's power level, and being trapped in the supporting character orbit around Goku, leads him to so much of his character growth.

@tophar01: I had to laugh!

Trunks, so Vegeta.

So Goku.

But Vegeta.

Geets has my overall favorite character arc throughout the series, though Piccolo is also pretty good. I like all the stuff they end up doing with Gohan later on, too. But yeah out of those two choices I'd go Vegeta.

Also he's the goddamn best in Abridged.

love that goku

Kid Goku.

Goku is dumb but Vegeta is pathetic. He's basically Sega of the 90s. Everytime he has a slight edge he's leapfrogged tenfold. I've gotten into dragonball over the last few years and it's not a surprise that the shitty annoying anime boys who I was ringing up in gamestops would so frequently have a Vegeta shirt on.

@scottjay01: Fair enough, I've just never seen somebody write that much about DBZ lol. Glad you can get so much enjoyment out of it. :)

(O) None of the Above

You're making me proud, guys.

Hmm... I don't agree with his Krillin killing policy, but I do approve of his Frieza killing policy.

Vegeta.

@tophar01: It's cool bro, I know I info dump :)

Get yourself a man who can be both

Gohan

Vegeta.

Yeesh since when have the forums turned into Comic Vine? It was always Vegeta. The first time these two fought VEGETA WON! It took 3 extra dudes running interference and a Spirit Bomb (which doesn't even use Goku's own ki) and it still wasn't enough to put him down. The many ways with which his enormous ego gets crushed or humbled throughout the show are arguably some of the absolute best parts of the entire 'Z' time frame, and those moments are rarely if ever done by Goku himself (outside of 'grrrr he leveled up again!'). It's strange that the fiction depicts him as playing second fiddle to Goku for the rest of ever when his popularity as a character was always plainly obvious.

Super's great, especially for the Vegeta moments.

Goku is a great guy, a good role model, but he doesn't really change much

Vegeta evolves from an evil self-serving villain into an anti-hero into a genuine good guy. I vote Vegeta.

Vegetal is just an edgy version of piccolo so I'm going with Goku

Vegeta definitely has the better, more interesting character arc and as a kid, I was definitely way into Vegeta over Goku. But as I got older, I learned to appreciate Goku's goofiness more, especially in Super. In the end, you gotta realize it's a cartoon and a pretty silly one.

Vegeta the GOAT

DBZ shoulda ended with Goku dead and Gohan taking the reins after the Cell arc

Vegeta to me has some of my more enjoyable moments in Super, and the way they wrote Goku in super became a bit too self aware of how he is at times, even compared to DBZ and DB. I still REALLY like Goku in Super, but they do kind of mess up his character somewhat. He seems to basically care about NO one in Super. In DB and DBZ he always had a desire to fight and train but he at least got serious and would fight for his loves ones.. but in super now he just is really dumb.

Here are a few of my fave moments:

First one of the best Vegeta vs Goku battles ever [I love so much about this filler episode, it was like the episode in Z where Goku and Piccolo learn to drive a car, and this one is especially good with yamcha that pays off BIG time in the end [of the full episode, not this clip]]. Basically they are all playing baseball and NO one but Yamcha even knows the rules. Pretty great. You can find the whole episode legit on crunchy role I think for free no login or anything required. I recommend it even if you are not caught up to what is going on [but maybe some minor spoilers as to what happens in Cell saga and early Majin Buu era in DBZ]

One where Goku's powers are all broken cause of some sickness for a few days he can't control them. I put this one in a link cause half the video isn't that important, so jump ahead to the good part. Vegeta is in that one too pretty good.

https://youtu.be/gsglakl9ei8?t=64

Then here is where goku "Forgot his tractor" which I though twas pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk6wSsgk7ts

Those were all from filler episodes of super but those sometimes give the best character building.

In DBZ it is tough. I think Vegeta has some of my favorite character building in the series, especially in a episode coming up with Frieza in a couple weeks in the podcast. But Goku totally. Vegeta wouldn't be that interesting in Z without Goku there too. I mean Vegeta is still like a hair short of Goku, but I think Vegeta being so reliant on Goku for his own character makes me put it to Goku. Plus I just plain like Goku as a main hero character.

The real question should be

Gogeta or Vegeto.