Goku

"No see, I don't think like I'm saving the world. The fact is, it's cause I'm usually trying to challenge the strongest warriors I can find. That's how this tournament happened too. But I can't bear the thought of innocent lives getting wiped out just cause I wanna fight the best. So I'll do what I can for them."

- Goku to Android 17 in Funimation's Dragon Ball Super dub.

Son Goku, born Kakarot, is the main protagonist of the Dragon Ball franchise. Born on the planet Vegeta to a race of powerful alien warriors, Kakarot was sent to Earth by his father Bardock upon discovering that the evil alien warlord Fritz’s went to wipe out their civilization. There, he would befriend its populace and devote himself to protecting it and all life from evil.

Story
Goku/Story

Personality
Coming Soon...

Great Ape/Oozaru
The Great Ape/Oozaru form is a transformation natural to all full-blooded and half-blooded Saiyans and activated by looking at a full moon. Goku had this form throughout his childhood but had it permanently removed by Kami sometime during the Piccolo Jr. Saga timeskip. In this form, Goku's power was 10x that of his current power level. He only ever utilised the regular Great Ape twice in his whole life, and each time was accidental, once when he unknowingly killed his Grandpa Gohan and again during the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament against Master Roshi. The reason Goku barely used this form was due to suffering the same weakness all low-class and half-breed Saiyans suffered: turning into a Great Ape also turned him into a mindless destructive monster with no recollection of what happened. Goku regained the power to turn into a Great Ape in Dragon Ball: GT when Old Kai regrew his tail for him, though this was only because Goku was losing against Baby and wished to experiment by combining the Super Saiyan and Great Ape forms together. After gaining Golden Great Ape and subsequently Super Saiyan 4, Goku never utilised this form again.

Kaioken
Goku unlocks Kaioken after spending a year training with King Kai, being the first to do so. Kaioken is technically not a transformation, but it functions like one and can even be merged with multiple Super Saiyan forms. Kaioken is a technique that multiplies ki, speed and power and Goku demonstrates the ability to heighten the effect of the Kaioken to increasingly higher multiplications from x2 to as high as x100. However, the glaring problem with Kaioken is that using it takes a heavy toll on the users body, the higher the multiplication, the more damage the user will taken once they drop out of the form. While using Kaioken the user gains a red and exploding aura, which coats their whole body and clothes with a heavy red tint. After unlocking Super Saiyan, Goku practically abandons Kaioken for years as it's drawbacks were too dangerous and it's power didn't match up to Super Saiyan. Goku only begins using Kaioken again 17 years later to combine it with Super Saiyan Blue.

Super Saiyan
Goku unlocks this form after witnessing the brutal death of his best friend Krillin by the hands of Frieza with his resulting explosive rage unlocking his 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 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. While in this state Goku manifests his chi as red and pink lightning electricity in the golden aura around him.

Super Saiyan 2
Goku achieved this form in another world at some point during the 7 years he was dead between the Cell and the Majin Buu story arcs. It doubles the powers of a Super Saiyan and thus increases Goku's power by 100x that of his normal state. Goku first used this form in his battle against Majin Vegeta and it became this form for battle as it was more powerful than Super Saiyan and while weaker than Super Saiyan 3 it suffered fewer drawbacks. After the discover of Super Saiyan Blue, this form saw much less usage and only appeared when Goku fought enemies he believed not strong enough to face Blue or he didn't have enough energy to go Blue. 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 eyebrows 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 proved 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 though was revealed to still be present as shown when during his fight with Caulifla he accidentally transformed into the state and tired himself out.

Golden Great Ape/Oozaru
The Golden Great Ape/Oozaru is the result of combining the Great Ape and Super Saiyan forms together, creating a transformation that dwarfs even Super Saiyan 3 in strength and power. While Vegeta (in the anime) recalled it as the form Yamoshi (the first Super Saiyan) was remembered for. The form was truly discovered by Goku who, after having his tail regrown by Old Kai, was thought up as both an experiment and a last ditch effort to defeat Baby. The form achieved it's purpose, quickly putting Baby on the defensive with it's raw strength and power but unfortunately, it was instantly discovered that it had the same weakness as the regular Great Ape transformation: it turned low-class and half-breed Saiyans into mindless monsters and it caused Goku to almost attack his own granddaughter Pan. However, Pan was able to get through to Goku by reminding him who she was and showing him memorabilia of their family. This allowed Goku to regain his senses and subsequently unlock Super Saiyan 4, after which he never utilised Golden Great Ape again.

Super Saiyan 4
This form appears in the anime only sequel Dragon Ball GT. After regaining his tail in a last ditch effort to defeat Baby, Goku combined Super Saiyan and Great Ape together, creating the Golden Great Ape. However, like a regular Great Ape Goku lost his mind, nearly attacking his own friends and family. But fortunately Pan, through words and memorabilia, brought Goku back to his senses. Goku then discovered that becoming a sane Golden Great Ape was the key to unlocking 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, none of the slowness being a Great Ape has and is powerful enough to negate Ultimate Shenron's wish and restores to him his adult body while using the form. As a Super 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 a 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 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 its 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 the 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 but with aid from Vegeta in the same form, he is noted to be capable of potentially winning. 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 its 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 the 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 form is a combination of Super Saiyan Blue and Kaio-ken. It 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 has 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 ki control and leave him unable to fight permanently.

However, Goku still continued to use the technique but only for brief periods when he needed an extra amount of power when in trouble though when fighting in the Tournament of Power he used the technique for increasingly longer periods. Eventually, Goku worked his multiplier up to 20x as shown when attempting to reach Jiren's level during the Tournament of Power though it was of little help.

Perfected Super Saiyan Blue
In the manga, Super Saiyan Blue is revealed to only be able to grant its users the forms full potential during the first few minutes of transformation before dropping in strength. Goku overcame this stamina flaw by sealing the massive overflow of energy within his body, allowing himself to reach the full potential of his Super Saiyan Blue transformation with the only visual difference being the absence of an aura. The granted power of this form was great enough to allow Goku to not only combat Fused Zamasu but even have a slight advantage with his enemy only surviving because of his immortality. Despite the power increase, the form still possesses flaws in that Goku must continually keep his energy in check because even the slightest leakest of Ki could cause great harm to Goku and potentially become unstable and cause him to die.

Perfect Super Saiyan Blue (Power-Stressed)
During the Tournament of Power, Goku attempted to surpass his limitations through brute force and pushed his power as a Perfected Super Saiyan Blue via a method similar to the Kaio-Ken technique with the end result was a Perfected Super Saiyan Blue with a jagged aura around his body. Unfortunately not only did the power-up not majorly contribute in his fight with Jiren, but it also caused damage to Goku's body as the power-up conflicted with the energy sealing method of Perfected Super Saiyan Blue.

Ultra Instinct Sign
An enlightened transformation attained by Goku during his battle with Jiren when he fell into the center of the Spirit Bomb as it exploded, absorbing the Spirit Bomb's energy into his body and broke through one of his "shells", allowing him to tap into the deeper potential he possessed. In the manga, Ultra Instinct Sign is obtained as a result of Goku focusing on the lessons taught to him by his various teachers since he was a child and then combining them following Master Roshi's words of Martial Arts being more than simply strength and involves personal strength and letting go of self-doubt.

In this state, Goku's hair rises halfway between his normal and Super Saiyan hairstyle and his eyes become more defined and sterner with silver irises and his aura becomes a complex mix of silvery sparkled aura. In this state, Goku's physical, mental, and spiritual strength is augmented to the extreme. He processes information quicker and more efficiently as he can dodge and react near immediately without even being aware of it. In this state, Goku's moves are constantly evolving, becoming more efficient as he gets closer to his true potential as he gradually adapts to the form. Unfortunately entering this state requires Goku to be pushed to and past his absolute limit, it becomes more and more difficult to break his shell with each transformation as well as leaving him drained of energy after returning to normal. Also, this state only incorporates the defensive nature of Ultra Instinct and when it comes to attacking, his conscious mind interferes and limits his offensive potential.

Autonomous Ultra Instinct
When fully synchronizing his defensive impulse with his natural drive for combat, Goku finally comes into the full power of Ultra Instinct and his full potential this results in him fully transforming by gaining silver hair and gaining a more ethereal skin tone.

In this state, Goku's power skyrockets to levels that made him far superior to all Gods of Destruction and comparably close to the realm known to the Angels, perhaps even already equal in power to one. In this state, Goku has complete control of his Energy to the point that he effortlessly repel and contain Jiren's energy attacks and his physical prowess was able to render Jiren nearly helpless to fight back. Unfortunately due to his mortal body and inexperience with the Autonomous Ultra Instinct, Goku can't hold it for longer than a few minutes as it burned through his stamina and eventually his body will give out with his own energy attacking him as the transformation fades away. Furthermore, Goku can not access this transformation willingly and only activates while in the direst of situations. However, after training with the former angel, Merus, Goku can now access this form at will.

Trivia

 * Not only is Goku loosely based on Sun Wukong, 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 real 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 K.O. while his second FUNimation English voice actress, Colleen Clinkenbeard voices Kid Gohan in the FUNimation dub of Dragon Ball Z Kai.
 * Goku's outfit in Dragon Ball GT resembles his original outfit from the beginning of Dragon Ball, but with gold pants and pink wristbands.