Who's a worse Dad? Homer Simpson or Goku

The stakes are obviously different and I've watched limited amounts of each but none of Homer's kids have died under his watch as far as I know.

That's a strong case...

Homer is downright physically and emotionally abusive to bart,

Goku is neglectful but isnt intentionally abusive to Gohan.

Goku's once arch nemesis raised his eldest son when his wife wasn't doing it. Goku gave Cell a sensu bean to keep the fight between Gohan and Cell going. And I'm not even sure if Goku knows who Goten is.

Vegeta is a better Dad than Goku. Piccolo is a better dad than Goku. (And while we're at it, Android 18 is a better mom than Chi-Chi, but so is Bulma and Chi-Chi doesn't actively endanger her kids).

Yamcha is worst dad. Yamcha is worst everything.

Homer rotates from being an awful person to a saint so often in the show, but he still does whatever he can for his family in the end.

Goku's first idea when he had a Saiyan son wasn't to cut off his tail so he doesn't rampage every month but to put a Dragonball on his head, instantly making him a target for whoever was searching for then at the time. I think most of the "Goku is a bad dad" sentiment comes from the TeamFourStar redubs, but he really doesn't seem to care for his family at all. He leaves his family in the dust more than he spends time with them.

Contrasted with Vegeta, a dude who literally decided to fight a planet destroying God to defend his wife when moments ago he was cowering in fear, Goku doesn't have many good marks beyond "saving the world" but that's only because it lines up with "fight somebody strong".

@skullomania: They also don't age in The Simpsons, but death in Dragonball isn't permament and not even an issue. Souls seem to have a jolly good time in that universe.

The Simpsons as a series is by far less realistic than Dragonball is as a whole. My main argument would be that The Simpsons doesn't showcase personal and individual growth at all. Furthermore a series such as The Simpsons is always staged in a similar way since due to its episodic nature, personal growth and realization isn't character dependant and is only there to the viewer to reflect their own reality with the series. Dragonball is way more nuanced and personal to its characters as the characters are always confronting the extreme.

In other words, the characters in The Simpsons literally never change their ways, either physiological or psychological for the sake of its timeless metaphorical impact of modern culture. While this works for a couple of times it does become tiresome and unrealistic pretty fast. The result of this is that the main cast of characters become reduced to mere caricatures and thus become devoid of any sort of soul in the long run.

Look at Dragonball Super, which basically turns this set of tropes around to become funny playful and original, while being way less serious in tone and what it tries to tell to the viewer. You can also for sure argue that even Goku alone has more personality than the entirety of the cast that has ever appeared on The Simpsons.

I also would say that Goku is a better dad, as hes actually actively caring about his family in a larger way than Homer does or ever did. Due to the nature of shounen anime and the Dragonball universe things would be worse without Goku around while Homer Simpson basically is a walking catastrophe (for the sake of showcasing the caricature of an american family man) without even knowing about it, though its still an important comedic representation of american family values.

So my vote goes for Homer Simpson for being (slightly) worse than Goku.

EDIT: Some good counter arguments in this thread. I always felt like The Simpsons episodic structure is too erratic to really showcase Homers nature in a proper way, but thats also partially because way to many writers worked on that perticular character.

Goku is not bad at anything.

@49th: Hes bad at holding glasses.

"Here son, fight this genocidal maniac even I couldn't beat, and we'll just hope you realize what the heck I'm trying to do before he blasts you out of existence. Oh, and I'm healing him. Your life isn't even a bit more important than my amusement. Go get 'em!"

Homer, all gokus kids are super heros so he did something right

A quote from Freezer Planet 419, "Gohan is the strongest in the universe but still doesn't do craaaap."

Goku might be a bit neglectful, and doesn't always make the best choices (like the dragonball hat), but also he has to save the world, and seems to think of Gohan as taking his place as the strongest, hence all the training. Obviously it doesn't pan out in the end with Gohan taking his place, at least so far, but still. Throwing him at Cell wasn't great but he was still there. And then Goku dies and Gohan has no choice. Same with Piccolo taking Gohan, Goku died. Sure, death isn't like, the worst thing in the show for the cast, but he still died and literally couldn't be there until he ran Snake Way and got training from King Kai's.

Granted it's been...a while...since I've seen the actual show, but that's what I can recall. So I could be wrong on some points.

Now if we're talking Abridged, then oh god yes he's the worst. Hilariously so.

I don't know who Goku is so I voted Homer.

@dray2k: I think you're right that the episodic nature of The Simpson doesn't allow for much growth. I still think the 22 minutes we spend with the family each episode count for something in terms of building character. I've never felt like I've gone on a journey with a Simpsons character but I do feel I know their personalities and quirks after all this time... Lisa's Buddhism and love of jazz, Bart's adoration of comedy and distrust of authority, Moe's "tough guy" facade. What they lack in development they make up for in character (as stereotypical as they are.. product of their era I guess.)

What I'm trying to say is, while his kids are far less capable than Gohan or Goten, I could see Homer giving up everything to protect his family based on what I know about his character. I haven't watched Dragon Ball Super so you'd have to fill me in on that as far as Goku's growth... but the Goku I saw in DBZ was often selfless and kind but I never once got the feeling that this guy would go out of his way to be with or provide the best life for his family. He fight's because he has to/ wants to save the world.

@oursin_360: Yeah. He fucked Chi-Chi.

I had sex once and I'm still an asshole.

While both are neglectful and frequently endanger their kids, Homer is at least involved in his kids daily life's where as Goku is a absentee father 90% of the time and his kids are raised by His wife and Piccolo. At one point Goku even turns down being revived so he can train and fight in space heaven and abandons his pregnant wife and 12 year old son even though there's no imminent threat to earth anymore.

Holy shit I wish my dad could go Super Saiyen.

Homer, at least in the last seasons...

Goku is absent and neglectful, but not intentionally. During Gohan's adventures, he spent most time: a) in a hospital, b) in another planet, o c) dead; so it is kind of unfair to blame him on "not being there for them". When he spend most time with his son (in the hyperbolic chamber) he is shown to be, mostly, a caring father. He cares about his children, but he appears neglectful at times because he is not really aware of what it means to be the economic support for a modern family or he is worried about other issues, which is natural considering how he was raised and the kind of problems his family faces.

Homer and his family life varies wildly from chapter to chapter. In some chapters (specially in the earlier seasons), he is a mostly decent, if sometimes clueless, well intention father; but in others he is a careless, irresponsable sociopath or downright abusive to his children. If Goku can be accused of not having a real job to "put food on the table", he downright hardworking compared to Homer, who lives in a constant middle age crisis in which he drops everything and tries anything... most times he is more interested on the crazy work of the week, whether it is becoming a rock star, an inventor or a bounty hunter, than on his family. Again, it is the result of too many writers with too many portraits, but the end result is that the character's personality varies wildly, and at his worst he is a lot worst than Goku...

It would probably be terrible to have any cartoon as a father.

Goku is worse. At least Homer is around for most of the time and not focusing on himself to get stronger. Is it to save the whole world? Sure...but parent teacher conferences are important too.

I genuinely expected this to be at least an 8-year-old thread.

"You've made me proud...finally" - Goku, 2018

Goku is a jerk

Original Homer is actually a good dad. He's accepting of his children, tries to care for their needs and makes hard sacrifices for them. He has anger problems but even then they're exaggerated.

Flanderized Homer is a garbage dad. He neglects his kids and treats them like shit.

But even flanderized Homer is better than Goku. Goku is the most garbage dad of garbage dads. Even in the context of Japan being a nation of garbage dads he still manages to be above and beyond on the Mount Awfuldaddom. Like said already, he fucking helps the bad guys beat his own son for his own sick, twisted amusement. He's a fucking psychopath who only cares about fighting and should not be let near children.

There is no way Goku is a worse dad than Homer.

Homer's heart is in the right place even if he is a self-centered imbecile. Where as Goku is a negligent father who'd rather train and fight then spend time with his kids or wife.

Come for the macing, hopefully stay for the recommended video of a 16.5 minute compilation of Homer strangling Bart.

Goku by a long shot. He doesn't actively care about Gohan grades (only ChiChi did), pushed Gohan harder during the Cell games, and left him with Piccolo to train during the Sayian saga at the age of 5. You can make the argument that Piccolo is a way better dad to Gohan than Goku ever was.

Homer is a complete moron but at least he is shown to care about his family.

I voted for Goku but I have no issues with the Cell stuff. After training for a year or two(hyperbolic time chamber) with Gohan he knew how strong his son was, that is why he fought Cell first and had no problems giving up. He was trying to help Gohan grow up, give him self-confidence, and tap in to the potential his son had shown for years. Helping Cell recover was a sign of respect for Cell (he did give the Z fighters time to get ready) and vow of confidence for Gohan.

If you're going with that angle, you have to take into account that they're in vastly different environments. Homer doesn't have all powerful villains constantly trying to kill his son... except sideshow bob.. but that's more of a Wile-E-Coyote situation...

Also, homer literally strangles his son very often.

Goku is a well meaning but almost permanently absent father.

Homer has actual sincere moments with his children, but also intentionally abusive ones.

Judging by these results, I'll post these gifs of the two characters reacting to the poll:

Homer wanting to create a party seeing he's not the worst Dad:

Goku seeing the results:

so i don't remember much about dragon ball z or even the simpsons for that matter, but what i do seem to remember is that goku cares a lot about his gohan and his other kids(i think), while homer constantly strangles bart, while caring about lisa and maggie.

From order of best to worst:

Homer (season 1-8) >>> Goku >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Homer (season 9+)

Once upon a time, Homer was a generally good, albeit kinda dumb, guy who in the end cared about his family and tried to do right by them. That ended about 20 years ago though, and ever since then he's been an oblivious jackass.

Okay, I initially voted for Homer, but someone made a fair point about none of Homer's kids dying under his (limited) watch. Then again, given the context, I'd have to go with Homer being the worse dad since he doesn't really seem to care about his kids and instead is too engrossed in being lazy or having a duffy's beer with his mates, while Goku was always busy because he was off trying to save the world, and whenever he wasn't he would be training his son.

Homer, at least gohan got some good genes.

Actually I think this is a hard one. I think that really depends on how you see goku, more the child that kind of doesn't think of other responsibilities or more towards the slacker dad who isn't around. You could explain this away by the fact that he is an alien, so who knows what is normal for him.

People probably got the right idea that Homer gets progressivly worse as a dad as the simpsons continue while Goku stays at a stable, albeit questionable level.

Yea with all the talk about Gohan I really think its the way he treats Goten that brings it over the top for me.

I feel like Goku gets a bad wrap. Except for when he was off planet learning instant transmission, which turned out to be the right move, the only time Goku wasn't in his childrens lives is when he was dead.

As far as putting Gohan in danger, Goku sent Gohan to Namek because everyone thought it was just going to be a milk run. He had no idea Freeza and crew was going to be there.

He made Gohan fight Cell because Gohan was the only one who could beat him. Goku then sacrificed his own life to save his son and the planet by teleporting Cell off planet, right after telling his son he was proud of him. Goku then chose to remain dead because he thought it would help keep the Earth safe by him not attracting every bad guy in the universe.

Goten was a bit different. Goku probably could have beaten fat buu if he tried but I can see how he would think it was better to have Goten and Trunks do it. Goku was was trying he pass the mantle to him. He was only supposed to be back from the dead for the day. It makes sense to have his children prepared to fight in his absence if the had to.

Both are equally dumb and kind of terrible, so my question is who is the better mother to offset their ineptness?

Without their wives, the kids would be even worse off. Bart would be rinsing his mouth out with soda every night, while Gohan would've never read a thing.

Can somebody please photoshop the "Do It For Her" image but with Goku covering the message with photos of Gohan instead (and make it say "Do It For He")?

Homer is worse, though they're not too far from each other in terms of child endangerment. Though Goku never strangled his kids.......

Its a running gag that Homer literally strangles his son constantly.

I mean, taken from the good years of The Simpsons when I would watch, Homer is a deeply flawed person who makes a lot of mistakes but darned if he doesn't try to do right by the end of an episode. Goku is a douchebag. Fuck Goku.

Homer cares about his family. Goku just wants to eat food and be better then Vegetta ?

Homer does raise his kids even if poorly, Goku prefers to leave his wife to raise the kids on her own and go train somewhere because he wants to be stronger or he's dead. He's never around.

Vegeta is best dad. though.