Was Goku Retarded?

[Plucky]

Goku thought marriage was food, enougth said.

 

[keinushi]

I'm going to be that guy.
Prove it to me. "numerous occasions" and giving one example of where he needed to train in order to save the world (thus having the personal judgement to put the needs of the many over the needs of the few) is not a good example.

And people hit their head all the time, plus Goku was super duper strong. He gets dinged up all the time. A good whack ain't gonna do much. If your talking about his childlike nature, then that's more a characterization aspect then mental disability. Look, I'm not a huge fan of the show, but I'm calling you out on this one

first off, he got strong later in life, second off, he fell off a cliff. This isn't standing up and hitting your head on a low hanging shelf, he fell off a cliff. Only his saiyan blood allowed him to survive. I'm betting, bare minimum, his skull cracked open.

He was also only 2 at the time. 2. how many 2 year old you know fall off cliffs, land head first, and survive? let alone without severe brain damage.

Though he was basically super man.
Even at the age of 2.

If you call being a prick a super power. He didn't get the training or the kicking strength until he was 8-10. at the age of 2 he was being overpowered by an old man.

 

[Gigaguy64]

I'm going to be that guy.
Prove it to me. "numerous occasions" and giving one example of where he needed to train in order to save the world (thus having the personal judgement to put the needs of the many over the needs of the few) is not a good example.

And people hit their head all the time, plus Goku was super duper strong. He gets dinged up all the time. A good whack ain't gonna do much. If your talking about his childlike nature, then that's more a characterization aspect then mental disability. Look, I'm not a huge fan of the show, but I'm calling you out on this one

first off, he got strong later in life, second off, he fell off a cliff. This isn't standing up and hitting your head on a low hanging shelf, he fell off a cliff. Only his saiyan blood allowed him to survive. I'm betting, bare minimum, his skull cracked open.

He was also only 2 at the time. 2. how many 2 year old you know fall off cliffs, land head first, and survive? let alone without severe brain damage.

Though he was basically super man.
Even at the age of 2.

If you call being a prick a super power. He didn't get the training or the kicking strength until he was 8-10. at the age of 2 he was being overpowered by an old man.

But Goku was stronger than normal human 2 year olds.
And the "Old mad" was a martial arts MASTER.
Besides, its Anime, AND its specifically DBZ too boot.
Arguing over how "Realistically possible" some of the things done in this series is whats retarded.

 

[Kuchinawa212]

I'm going to be that guy.
Prove it to me. "numerous occasions" and giving one example of where he needed to train in order to save the world (thus having the personal judgement to put the needs of the many over the needs of the few) is not a good example.

And people hit their head all the time, plus Goku was super duper strong. He gets dinged up all the time. A good whack ain't gonna do much. If your talking about his childlike nature, then that's more a characterization aspect then mental disability. Look, I'm not a huge fan of the show, but I'm calling you out on this one

first off, he got strong later in life, second off, he fell off a cliff. This isn't standing up and hitting your head on a low hanging shelf, he fell off a cliff. Only his saiyan blood allowed him to survive. I'm betting, bare minimum, his skull cracked open.

He was also only 2 at the time. 2. how many 2 year old you know fall off cliffs, land head first, and survive? let alone without severe brain damage.

Okay
So you're trying to instill logic and physics in a show that features Goku coming back from the dead through the use of orange magical crystal balls that summons a huge talking dragon that grants wishes.
I see your point, I do, but I'm sorry I'm going to have to call you guys out. Again, I'm not a fan of the show but I am putting my two cents in

 

[keinushi]

I'm going to be that guy.
Prove it to me. "numerous occasions" and giving one example of where he needed to train in order to save the world (thus having the personal judgement to put the needs of the many over the needs of the few) is not a good example.

And people hit their head all the time, plus Goku was super duper strong. He gets dinged up all the time. A good whack ain't gonna do much. If your talking about his childlike nature, then that's more a characterization aspect then mental disability. Look, I'm not a huge fan of the show, but I'm calling you out on this one

first off, he got strong later in life, second off, he fell off a cliff. This isn't standing up and hitting your head on a low hanging shelf, he fell off a cliff. Only his saiyan blood allowed him to survive. I'm betting, bare minimum, his skull cracked open.

He was also only 2 at the time. 2. how many 2 year old you know fall off cliffs, land head first, and survive? let alone without severe brain damage.

Okay
So you're trying to instill logic and physics in a show that features Goku coming back from the dead through the use of orange magical crystal balls that summons a huge talking dragon that grants wishes.
I see your point, I do, but I'm sorry I'm going to have to call you guys out. Again, I'm not a fan of the show but I am putting my two cents in

Yes I'm trying to bring logic into it. I'm a nerd. Its what I do. I calculate. I just want to explain how the show interacts with its own universe.

The DBZ universe is earth set about 200-500 years from now, where much of the polution filled cities have been filled with cleaner capsule corp. cars. Everything human must follow our laws and physics or mystical beliefs. Every human in the show that has power also has a mystical element attached. Normal humans just use guns and fail ^_^.

Likewise, the saiyans can be injured, we've seen this numerous times. So I am positive that he sustained heavy brain damage after suffering a life threatening fall so early on in life. Which also explains why he's so strong later. "You know us saiyans, get strong every time we almost die." -vegeta. So after that he was much stronger, but he was weaker prior.

Logic can be applied to anything.

 

[Risingblade]

He was innocent and never went to school his first contact with any other human was at around the age of ten. Besides In that world Dinosaurs are alive and talk and they have dogs as mayors, presidents...

 

[Plurralbles]

Now that I think about it, he thought that Majin Buu was hilarious until he started eating everyone, so I'd say that it isn't a stretch.

dude, I thought he was hilarious too. I mean... it's a pink fluffly fat blob... what could it do....OOOOOOOOOOOOOO SHIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTT!

 

[PurplePlatypus]

He?s more thoughtless and naive/dense rather than actually mentally impaired. At least he displays some form of intelligence in certain areas of his life, he can hunt and take care of himself for instance, if anything a lot of it can be attributed to him growing up away from society.

Vegeta on the other hand, his ego and pride are genuine disabilities.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Judging by the sound of his voice in the Japanese version......

Definately!

 

[Kuchinawa212]

I'm going to be that guy.
Prove it to me. "numerous occasions" and giving one example of where he needed to train in order to save the world (thus having the personal judgement to put the needs of the many over the needs of the few) is not a good example.

And people hit their head all the time, plus Goku was super duper strong. He gets dinged up all the time. A good whack ain't gonna do much. If your talking about his childlike nature, then that's more a characterization aspect then mental disability. Look, I'm not a huge fan of the show, but I'm calling you out on this one

first off, he got strong later in life, second off, he fell off a cliff. This isn't standing up and hitting your head on a low hanging shelf, he fell off a cliff. Only his saiyan blood allowed him to survive. I'm betting, bare minimum, his skull cracked open.

He was also only 2 at the time. 2. how many 2 year old you know fall off cliffs, land head first, and survive? let alone without severe brain damage.

Okay
So you're trying to instill logic and physics in a show that features Goku coming back from the dead through the use of orange magical crystal balls that summons a huge talking dragon that grants wishes.
I see your point, I do, but I'm sorry I'm going to have to call you guys out. Again, I'm not a fan of the show but I am putting my two cents in

Yes I'm trying to bring logic into it. I'm a nerd. Its what I do. I calculate. I just want to explain how the show interacts with its own universe.

The DBZ universe is earth set about 200-500 years from now, where much of the polution filled cities have been filled with cleaner capsule corp. cars. Everything human must follow our laws and physics or mystical beliefs. Every human in the show that has power also has a mystical element attached. Normal humans just use guns and fail ^_^.

Likewise, the saiyans can be injured, we've seen this numerous times. So I am positive that he sustained heavy brain damage after suffering a life threatening fall so early on in life. Which also explains why he's so strong later. "You know us saiyans, get strong every time we almost die." -vegeta. So after that he was much stronger, but he was weaker prior.

Logic can be applied to anything.

Did I ever say it was wrong to do so? But remember there is give and take. The people fly and shoot lasers out of their hands, so one super strong kid getting mentally retared from being dropped is totally plauseable? But is there proof Goku smashed his head like egg? Causing mental effects? XD I mean we see them get beaten to a pulp, thrown through buildings, walls, mountains etc, but we don't see their backs break, legs snap, and so on. Yeah they can get beaten to the brink of life, actually that happened quite a lot, but they always came back. So I agree he took major head trauma, but I'm not ready to say that makes him retarted. Like I said. Prove it to me. Show me instances of him displaying his retardation, then we'll search for a cause. ;P

Remember, goofy and retarded aren't the same thing. Goku is a goofball.

 

[supermariner]

Goku was an idiot, yes
but surely a bigger cause for concern is Roshi's incredible libido
or Tiens third eye (i know its a symbol of elightenment and all but it just looks plain wrong)

 

[CheesusCrust]

Most likely as a result of his injury as a child. In the flashbacks with his adoptive grandfather we see Goku as a very destructive child, but right after his accident he totally changes personality and mellows out. Although he did basically self raise himself in the middle of a forest after he went giant ape and killed his grandfather and all Gohan seemed to teach him was fighting techniques so you wouldn't expect him to be very bright.

 

[Agayek]

I've heard more insane theories that made perfect sense. my favorite being that Indiana Jones got radiation poisoning after being nuked in the fridge and hallucinated the entirety of The Crystal Skull.

That makes the whole movie make a lot more sense.

It also relieves me that there's an possible excuse for that movie.

 

[Ranorak]

raditz: Ah attacking a opponent roughly 4 times your strength in a one on one battle. a cunning stratagy.
No. n-not cunning.. what's the opposite of that?

Piccolo: Retarded!?

Raditz: That's it, thank you! Now disregarding the Namakian,,

Goku: Ah-uh! Yoshi!

Piccolo: I'm not a God damn Yoshi

Goku: But you said you were!

Piccolo: It's called Sarcasm!

Goku: What's that taste like

Piccolo: DAMN IT GOKU!


Yeah.... I'd say he's retarded!

 

[Deep Thought]

Goku is literally brain-damaged (when he bumped his head when he was a child, erasing his Sayajin programming, that damaged his memory, therefore, his brain), that is a fact. However, that doesn't necessarily make him retarded. There is a difference between those terms.

EDIT: To clarify, brain-damage doesn't always affect intellect, it can affect other functions as well.

 

[Nautical Honors Society]

I don't mean in the annoying middle-school-insult definition of the word, I mean this in the legitimate psychological terminology sense. [sub](I hate it when people use "retarded" as an insult, but that's another thread)[/sub]

I guess "brain damaged" would actually have fit better.

At the very beginning of the series, he hits his head, getting amnesia in the process. It's quite possible that he sustained permanent brain damage. However, it's never clear what the full extent of his childhood injuries are. There are several alarming instances of poor decision making and lack of problem solving abilities, as well. Possibly the worst of these being his unannounced abandoning of his family for several years to go train Uub, who was a reincarnation of a monster that once almost destroyed the world.

Yes. These are the sorts of things I think about when bored.

No he is just extremely uneducated, illiterate, and uncultured.

Also he is like a quadruple zombie...which could definitely harm brain functions.

 

[Genixma]

You should watch DBZ Abridged on Youtube.

 

[Zaik]

Not just brain damaged, but also raised himself with no formal education or socialization.

Also, he's a stereotypical japanese hero character. The japanese version of the Western world's roided raging gun shooting one liner spitting Aryan action movie star.

 

[WolfThomas]

I think he's not "retarded" or perhaps more appropriately, doesn't have an intellectual disability. He probably however did have some degree of acquired brain injury, seeing as he intially fought Gohan and then became a docile afterwards. I have a friend who had two sub-dural haematomas (bleeds onto the brain), he remained as intelligent, but personality wise he changed. He has little to no inhibitions, say whatever he thinks and is kind of a compulsive gambler now. So Goku perhaps had something happen to change his personality. But I think it's simply that combined with poor education. If you don't learn certain things by certain ages, it becomes a lot harder. So Goku's poor social skills can be seen as part of that.

 

[Nouw]

Man this thread is hilarious.

Anyway, he's not retarded. Just void of any life skills. Hell he couldn't differentiate from a guy and a girl for a while.