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) Since Goku is the main character of the series, we've seen lots of him.
 * 4) He is one the few characters we've seen grow from a boy into a man.
 * 5) He is incredibly voiced by Sean Schemmel for the English dub and Masako Nozawa for the Japanese dub, becoming the staple voices for Goku.
 * 6) He always finds a way to surpass his limits, from a new super transformation to a new ki move.
 * 7) He is well-noted for his love of any food, which can be comical at times.
 * 8) He is not perfect; he makes mistakes like every human. An example of this is his inability to drive a car.
 * 9) His strength and ability are enough to rival that of Superman.
 * 10) His brotherly relationship with the "Prince of all Saiyans", Vegeta.
 * 11) He can adapt to any environment and train as long as he needs to.
 * 12) Like most Saiyans, Goku loves combat and loves to challenge strong opponents.
 * 13) He rarely shows nervousness or fear when fighting.
 * 14) He is pure of heart, possessing no negative feelings or thoughts.
 * 15) He is highly loyal to his friends and family, even willing to sacrifice himself to save others as he did against Raditz and Cell.
 * 16) 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.
 * 17) 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.
 * 18) 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.