Son Goku (1987-2015, 2018-present)

"'''I'm the Saiyan who came all the way from Earth for the sole purpose of beating you. I am the warrior you've heard of in legends, pure of heart, and awakened by fury. That's what I am. I AM THE SUPER SAIYAN, SON GOKU!'""— Goku confronts Frieza on Planet Namek"

Son Goku (born Kakarot) is a male Saiyan and the main protagonist of the Dragon Ball meta-series created by Akira Toriyama. Originally sent to Earth as an infant with the mission to destroy it, until a childhood accident alters his memory and allows him to grow up to become Earth's greatest defender, as well as the informal leader of the Z-Fighters. Throughout his life, he constantly strives and trains to be the greatest warrior possible and to fight stronger opponents, which has kept the Earth and the universe safe from destruction many times.

NOTE: His character went downhill starting with the Buu Saga, but did not become bad until 2015 onwards, as seen here.

Why He Rocked

 * 1) Goku is a happy-go-lucky person, the kind of person who is friendly to everyone and everything (unless you're a villain, in which case you're as good as dead).
 * 2) He is one of the most powerful characters in all of fiction.
 * 3) In spite of his stupidity and lack of knowledge of the outside world, Goku makes up for it for his loyalty towards his friends and his willingness to give up his own life to protect them. When pushed to his breaking point, he is willing to put aside his pride to save the Earth from all threats.
 * 4) Being a Saiyan, a race of warriors, Goku has the following characteristics;
 * 5) * He is insanely strong, and grows increasingly in might as he trains, fights even more dangerous foes, and attains various powers along the way. Just recently, he was able to attain the difficult-to-master Ultra Instinct, making him the mightiest in his universe.
 * 6) He has an insanely fast metabolism, requiring him to chow down an entire buffet without suffering a stomachache, and it makes up for comedic effect as he stuffs down everything in his mouth at blinding speeds.
 * 7) * He can adapt to any situation at hand and has excellent mental processing in spite of his lack of intelligence, in the midst of a fight of course.
 * 8) * He always has an innate drive to fight strong opponents and is eager to test his own limits against an even bigger challenge. Even then, he is capable of putting it all aside to fight for a common cause. Despite this, he is very sportsman-like when it comes to fighting and never kills his opponent unless they do something that forces his hand.
 * 9) He has a sibling-rival relationship with the Saiyan prince, Vegeta, and both are very competitive with each other.
 * 10) He is pure of heart and is willing to grant his opponents mercy so long as they don't do anything dirty again, unless they force his hand. This also makes him incapable of feeling any negative emotions nor anything that affects his character.
 * 11) He has an uncanny ability to turn many foes into his friends, and throughout his life does his companionship grew even larger, with the likes of Tien, Vegeta, Piccolo, the Androids, Buu, Beerus, and even Grand Zeno joining his side once earning their trust.
 * 12) He also strongly believes in repaying debts, as he gave the then-evil Vegeta a senzu bean for saving Gohan and Krillin from the Ginyu Force, as well as giving the Grand Zeno a friend to play around with after promising him so.
 * 13) He is remarkably effective at applying himself once properly motivated, able to quickly comprehend the situation and likewise learn the basics of anything presented to him, if not master it.
 * 14) He is one of the most iconic figures in manga and anime history, his influence wide across the world thanks to his enduring popularity.
 * 15) He is a major inspiration for many shonen protagonists after him, such as Luffy, Naruto, and Ichigo, who are known as the Big 3 of Shonen.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Goku is kind of dumb in book smarts. This may be due to the lack of a proper education and the head injury he suffered as a child.
 * 2) Due to wanting to fight everyone at his fullest, he inadvertently helps villains that literally want to destroy the planet.
 * 3) His lack of nervousness or fear when fighting might get him in trouble or on the brink of death.
 * 4) He has a tendency to be too relaxed and recklessly challenge anyone he views as strong to a fight.
 * 5) When Chi-Chi forces Goku to take up a job as a radish farmer, he is regularly shown to have little interest in it, often looking for excuses to get out of work to train instead.
 * 6) He has little modesty and is not at all concerned about public nudity (though he later comes to have a better appreciation for it).
 * 7) Goku screws up a lot, to the point where it ends up having dire consequences for his family and friends.
 * 8) Before his flanderization, he's both a horrible husband (to Chi-Chi) and a terrible father (to Gohan and Goten).
 * 9) As mentioned above, he was flanderized in 2015.

Trivia

 * Goku's Saiyan birth name, Kakarot, is a pun on "carrot". Goku's family are all named after root vegetables (burdock, negi (a Japanese variation of the spring onion), radish and carrot). Ironically, in Dragon Ball, Goku says he hates carrots when fighting against Monster Carrot.