Goku

"I'm the Saiyan who came all the way from Earth for the sole purpose of beating you. I am the warrior you have heard of the legends. Pure of heart and awakened by fury. That's what I am. I am the Super Saiyan, Son Goku!"

- Goku to Frieza after becoming a Super Saiyan in Kai Dub

Goku is the main protagonist of the Dragon Ball franchise. He is voiced by Sean Schemmel in the FUNimation dub as a teenager and as an adult and Stephanie Nadolny as a child while Schemmel reprised his role in Dragon Ball Z Kai and in Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, Resurrection of F and Dragon Ball Super and Colleen Clinkenbeard voices Kid Goku in Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies and Masako Nozawa voices Goku as an adult, teen and kid in the Original Japanese dub.

Super Saiyan
Goku unlocks this form after witnessing the brutal death of his best friend Krillin by the hands of Freiza with his resulting explosive rage unlockinghis dormant super saiyan potential and transforming him into a Super Saiyan, the first one in centuries. In this form his power is 50x stronger than in his normal state and allows him to fight and defeat opponents who could easily overpower Goku in his normal form with little effort. In his Super Saiyan form Goku's hair rises on end and turns golden blond, his skin considerably lightens, his aura becomes fire like, and his eyes become a turquoise green.

Super Saiyan 2nd Grade
Goku is able to achieve this form alongside the further extreme of the form known as Super Saiyan Third Grade. However, although this new power up would not take a hit on his speed as the successor would, he decides that staying transformed like this demands far too much ki to be spent, and so decides that the regular Super Saiyan form is best suited for combat, and thus never takes the form again.

Super Saiyan 3rd Grade
Goku achieves this form in the Time Chamber while training with Gohan. Although apparently stronger than Cell in this state, Goku told Gohan he could not defeat him because the form drastically reduced speed for offensive power and thus couldn't beat Cell, because "all the power in the world would do no good if you can't even hit the guy." Because of this incredible flaw, Goku never took the form again.

Full Power Super Saiyan
After realizing the weaknesses the weaknesses of the 2nd grade and 3rd grade super saiyan forms, Goku concluded that mastery over the basic Super Saiyan form would be more effective and went on to improve his endurance in that form. To which, he focuses his training on learning to maintain Super Saiyan form for extended periods of time, gradually overcoming the heightened aggression that accompanies this form and reducing the energy drain to nearly nothing, thus achieving a max output for a Super Saiyan without drawbacks allowing him to fight at his full potential and not lose energy like an untrained Super Saiyan.

Super Saiyan 2
Goku achieved this form in other world at some point during the 7 years he was dead between the Cell and the Majin Buu story arcs. It double the powers of a Super Saiyan and thus increases Goku's power by 100x that of his normal state. Goku first used the form in his battle with Majin Vegeta and since then it became his go to form for battle as it was more powerful than Super Saiyan and while weaker than Super Saiyan 3 it suffered less drawbacks. Goku's hair is slightly longer and further on end in this form and his body now gives off lightning like electric discharges from his increased power.

Super Saiyan 3
As a Super Saiyan 3 Goku's power reaches an incredible level as a Super Saiyan 3 which gives 4 times the increase of Super Saiyan 2 so it multiplies Goku normal state's power by 400. As a SS3 Goku's hair reaches down to past his waist and a single bang hangs over his face, his eye brows disappear, his brow ridge becomes more pronounced. He achieved this form by going through intense training during the 7 years he was dead following the events with Cell. However he has limited experience with the form which showed in its first usage as it ate through his power reserves just to maintain it as after he fought Fat Majin Buu he lost the majority of the 24 hours he had been given to return to Earth, the second attempt in front of Trunks and Goten both taking his remaining time and nearly making Goku collapse within seconds. Due to its severe drawbacks, Goku used the form as a last resort for the rest of the Buu sagas. He was forced to bring it out when he fought Kid Buu though it proofed ineffective and ate through his energy faster since he was alive again. However during Dragon Ball Super Goku has shown to have apparently overcome these drawbacks as he maintained it easily when fighting Beerus and later Future Trunks.

Super Saiyan 4
This form appears in the anime only spin-off Dragon Ball GT. After Goku spots the Earth up in the sky of Planet Tuffle, he transforms into a Golden Great Ape which is similar to the Great Ape only larger and possessing golden fur. Loosing all control, Goku went on a rampage which only stopped when confronted by Pan who helped him regain himself and he somehow managed to condense the power of the Golden Great Ape into the form of the much more powerful Super Saiyan 4. Super Saiyan 4 proves to be the strongest form gained by Goku in DBGT as it multiplies his power by 500x his normal state, suffers none of the drawbacks of Super Saiyan 3, and is powerful enough to negate Ultimate Shenron's wish and restores to him his adult body while using the form. A s aSuper Saiyan 4 Goku became able to take on incredibly powerful threats such as Baby Vegeta, Super 17, and the Shadow Dragons whose powers couldn't be matched with ordinary Super Saiyan transformations. As a Super Saiyan 4 he keeps his original hair though in a wilder style, his eyes turn golden yellow with red pigmentation, and he gains scarlet fur over his entire body. For unknown reasons when he transforms into a Super Saiyan 4, Goku's clothes change in not just color but also style as well.

Super Saiyan God
This form of Goku appears in Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods as well as Dragon Ball Super. This form easily surpasses all Super Saiyan forms seen before it's introduction though can only be obtained through a ritual involving 5 righteous saiyans infusing their powers into a 6th saiyan who undergoes the transformation. Goku transformed into this after getting energy from five other saiyans who were Vegeta, Gohan, Trunks, Goten & Videl (who was pregnant with Goku's 1/4th saiyan granddaughter). Goku used this form to take on Beerus who threatened to destroy Earth unless he got to fight the Super Saiyan God. The power of this form is great enough to allow Goku to fight against the Beerus who had effortlessly defeated Super Saiyan 3 Goku as well as the other Z-Fighters and a fully powered Super Saiyan 2 Vegeta, and was thought to be strong enough to defeat even a fusion of Goku and Vegeta. This form also allows Goku to sense and possess godly ki which can only be sensed by deities. As powerful as the form is, it however has drawbacks: it required some time for Goku to fully tap into its power and it drained his borr energy reserves fairly quickly, thus creating a time limit. The sheer power of Goku and Beerus' fists colliding sent ripples throughout the universe with Old Kai commenting that just three punches could wipe out everything in the universe, leaving a void of nothingness. It also has regenerative abilities as Goku completely heal a deep wound in his stomach inflicted by Beerus. Though the form has a time limit the form's power can be retained if it was fully tapped into which Goku did unknowingly, keeping the power when he reverted to his super saiyan form. which was empowered to just below this form's power.

When in this form, Goku's general appearance remains unchanged with the exception of a few slight differences: his skin tone becomes darker; the hair loses any stray hair, lifts up slightly and gains his Super Saiyan form bangs, as well as adopts a red coloring; his eyes grow, becoming sharper and the irises become red; the overall body structure appears to become younger, thinner, and somewhat taller; and the aura becomes more explosive and flame-like in appearance.

Super Saiyan Blue
This form made it's debut in Dragon Ball Z: Revival of F. Originally it was called by the tongue-twister name Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan but was later renamed Super Saiyan Blue when Goku bit his tongue during an argument about the form and Whis suggested the form's new name. Goku gained this form following him keeping the power of Super Saiyan God after he lost the form and following mastering that power while training under Whis, he became able to enter this form by simply turning Super Saiyan while using his Super Saiyan God power. This form surpasses all of Goku's Super Saiyan forms and is stronger than Super Saiyan God yet not strong enough to challenge Beerus.alone. Due to the calm mind and clear focus required for the form, it grants perfect innate Ki control which Goku makes use of when he combines it with his Kaio-Ken technique which he had been unable to safely do to it's full potential with the original Super Saiyan Form. It does have a major flaw in stamina in that Goku can't transform back and forth as easily like the original Super Saiyan form so the form must be used wisely or else the power granted by the form will be considerably lessened.

It was originally gained during a sparing session with Vegeta but only as a brief glimpse and wasn't a full transformation. It was first seen in battle against Golden Frieza who, while putting out more energy than Goku as a super saiyan blue, possessed much less stamina and Goku's Super Saiyan Blue power outlasted his opponent's power.

When Goku uses the form he is near identical to his Super Saiyan state only that the hair and irises are light blue in color and are slightly bigger; the overall body structure is thinner and somewhat taller, similar to Super Saiyan God. and boasts a vibrant, fiery, electric blue aura.

Super Saiyan Blue Kaio-Ken
This a combination form made up of Super Saiyan Blue and Kaio-Ken used exclusively by Goku. This variation boasts a double aura effect, placing a crimson Kaio-ken aura outside of a typical blue Super Saiyan Blue aura. The outer Kaio-ken aura manifests as violently fluctuating and jagged while the Super Saiyan Blue aura maintains a gentle, flame-like contour. When using the transformation to increase his power level by one order of magnitude (10x Kaio-ken), the energy aura is so intense that Goku's blue hair appears several shades lighter than normal, and his skin appears to be illuminated by the Kaio-ken's aura to a light shade of red. Additionally, the normally cyan colored lightning effects of Super Saiyan Blue upon the user become almost pink in color. Goku developed this technique for eventual use against Beerus. To use it, Goku transforms into a Super Saiyan Blue, then simply activates Kaio-ken in addition to it. As Goku has not yet mastered the technique, it has only a 10% chance of working and a 90% of failing which would either damage his body or kill him Thus, Goku must maintain an extraordinary amount of focus when activating the technique in order to ensure its success. Since Super Saiyan Blue has perfect innate ki control, Goku is able to utilize the power of the Kaio-ken in a similar manner to the way in which he can control it in his base form. Use of this technique gifted Goku with such power that Hit's Time-Skip technique became useless, as Goku became so powerful that he could move despite time being frozen. This form was even able to make Beerus nervous even before Goku used it's multiplier abilities. Goku is only able to maintain Kaio-ken x10 as a Super Saiyan Blue for short periods of time because it puts a great deal of strain on his body. Currently the max multiplier he's used is x10. Due to the nature of the technique, Goku can be inflicted with serious body pains after ceasing it as well as even develop Delayed onset Ki Disorder which potentially could have completely destroyed his ability to control his own ki and leave him both weaker and unable to fight properly ever again.

Ultra Instinct
An enlightened transformation attained by Goku during his battle with Jiren when he absorbed the Spirit Bomb's energy into his body. This form allowed Goku to fight on par with Jiren until it's time ran out. This form can allow Goku to automatically react to any threat. Goku's body can continuously adapt even while in battle. It's been said that even Gods have trouble attaining this state. Goku later reactivates this state during his battle with Kefla. Upon sensing this, Jiren came out of his meditation to witness Goku's power in this form once again. Goku uses this form to defeat Kefla. After, he drops out of this form due to his lack in stamina.

Trivia

 * Not only is Goku loosely based on, the main protagonist in the Chinese legend Journey to the West, but their names are in a way, exactly the same; Son Goku (孫悟空) is a Buddhist name that means “The Child Aware of Emptiness” or "Grandson that Perceives Air" and comes from his character development based on Sun Wukong (in Chinese and Japanese: 孫悟空; Sūn means "grandchild" in both languages and implies his origin as a monkey, and Wùkōng means "Aware of Emptiness"). The Wu syllable means "Enlightenment", and the Kong syllable means "Sky, Air or Emptiness". Sun (孫) is also a common Chinese surname. From there, the name Son Goku is simply the name Sun Wukong converted into the Japanese on'yomi reading, albeit even with the same exact Asian characters used between both "Wukongs/Gokus" (孫 悟空), due to the similar writing systems both Chinese and Japanese happen to share with hanzi/kanji.
 * The Dragon Ball universe began as a loose adaptation of the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, with Goku starting off as more or less a parody of Sun Wukong the Monkey King. Similarities between the two include Goku's prone for mischief as a child (due to his innocence), possession of Nyoibo (Sun Wukong's staff that can fill the entire universe), and Flying Nimbus (the magical cloud the monkey rode on in Journey to the West). As the Dragon Ball manga continued its run, he was able to develop differently, eventually turning out to have similar origins, while still retaining the very same name as his source material.
 * Through this, there have been many other characters named after the Japanese reading of Sun Wukong; The Four Tailed Beast in Naruto Shippūden is called Son Gokū in the same vein as one example of many.
 * In romaji/kana, it often varies on how the "kū" part is written; some sources may write the name as "Son Gokuu" with an extra "u" (to match the furigana) or with an overline; however in the Namek Saga, while training in the Capsule Corporation spaceship, it is seen that his name is written with an "h" in the place of the long vowel (as Gokuh) when he has to go to repair the ship. Most of Toriyama's personal sources often romanize the kana reading of his name that way. Meanwhile, certain toy-based production lines instead romanize it as "Gokou" instead (to model it after "cou"), though doing it as such would incorrectly make the name be read as "Go-koh" instead of "Go-koo".
 * Goku's Saiyan birth name, Kakarot, is a pun on "carrot". Likewise, all pure-blood Saiyans that appear in the series are named using vegetable-related puns. Goku's family are all named after root vegetables (burdock, negi, radish, and carrot). Comically, in Dragon Ball, Goku says he hates carrots when fighting against Monster Carrot.
 * Goku's FUNimation English voice actor, Sean Schemmel also voices Nail, King Kai and Mr. Popo while Kid Goku's FUNimation English voice actress, Stephanie Nadolny voices Kid Gohan and KO while his second FUNimation English voice actress, Colleen Clinkenbeard voices Kid Gohan in the FUNimation dub of Dragon Ball Z Kai.

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