Dragon Ball retcons: why was Goku never meant to be an alien?

Like any long-running fictional story, Dragon Ball is loaded with retcons, and some of the biggest have changed the series forever. Here are my top 10 most important retcons in Dragon Ball's history, and at the top of the list is the one that so many of the things fans love about the series are rooted in: Goku was never meant to be an alien.

First, it helps to be clear on what a retcon is, because many people confuse it with a plot hole. A retcon is not a plot hole, although it can certainly create one. Retroactive continuity is an author taking an idea, a concept, a backstory or some kind of statement and changing it later to fit a different narrative, or to create a new narrative that wasn't originally planned. Akira Toriyama was a discovery writer. He didn't plan things out, so Dragon Ball has tons of retcons. Some of them are brilliant. Some are worthless and a bit silly.

10. Majin Buu's origin changed from Bibidi's creation to an ancient evil

In the original 42 volumes of the manga, the story of Majin Buu was vastly different from what Toriyama would later say. We were told that Majin Buu was created by the wizard Bibidi, the father of Babidi.

Ironically, that relationship became a retcon of its own. Toriyama later said Babidi was a reincarnation of Bibidi, which was nowhere in the original manga. It didn't show up until a more recent interview.

The bigger retcon was Buu's origin itself. Toriyama would explain that Bibidi didn't create Majin Buu at all. Bibidi was a warlock who conjured him. In this version, Majin Buu had existed since the beginning of time as a purely evil entity, until Bibidi called him up again. That isn't the original story in the manga, and it's up to you to decide whether you like the change.

9. Super Saiyan 3 wasn't planned during Goku vs. Vegeta

This one could have different explanations depending on the time frame, but it's clear that Goku didn't use Super Saiyan 3 during his fight with Vegeta. You'd think he would have used it to knock Vegeta out and end the fight, knowing Majin Buu was about to hatch. The reason he didn't is that Toriyama hadn't thought up Super Saiyan 3 yet.

We do have notes from Toriyama in which he was working on a new Super Saiyan form beyond the second one, which he planned to bring into the series. But it's clear that when he was writing this part of the story, he had no plans for it. It seems that shortly afterward he had to come up with the new form. He knew Goku would fight Majin Buu after Super Saiyan 2 Vegeta failed to defeat him, and he needed a new transformation so it made sense that Goku could hold his own against Buu as a distraction while Trunks went home to get the Dragon Radar.

We have those notes with Toriyama's original Super Saiyan 3 designs, but the manga's time frame says otherwise, and so does Goku himself. He told Piccolo that he fought Majin Vegeta at his max power. That was obviously a lie, or what it really was is a retcon, because Toriyama is a discovery writer.

8. The tingling back Super Saiyan explanation in Dragon Ball Super

This one is controversial. The tingling back explanation for going Super Saiyan is based on an ancient martial arts philosophy, but it's not one we ever got in Dragon Ball. It didn't come up when Goku trained Gohan or anybody else. The idea that Cabba explains to Caulifla and Kale was never discussed until that episode.

This came from Dragon Ball Super, and because we don't have access to Toriyama's manuscripts, the idea may have come from Toei Animation. Remember that Toriyama worked on Super very loosely. The character of Kale wasn't even his idea. He didn't come up with her.

So you also have to take into account that this may not be a Toriyama retcon at all. It may be Toei Animation throwing it in. Please keep that in mind.

7. The Potara fusion stopped being permanent

This is a big one, and once again it may not have been Toriyama's idea. We know Toriyama didn't originally intend Vegito Blue to appear in the Zamasu fight. That was a Toei Animation idea that Toyotaro later adapted into his manga, not one from Toriyama.

The original lore of the Potara in Dragon Ball Z, in the original manga, is that putting the earrings on creates a permanent fusion with no time limit. Of course, when Buu absorbed Vegito, they split apart, and there have been all kinds of fan theories about why.

Dragon Ball Super changed all of that, and it's a polarizing change. Some folks love it and some hate it. We found out that the fusion isn't permanent and lasts one hour for beings who aren't gods. That's why the Old Kai's fusion with the witch lasted: he's a god, even though she may not be. Goku and Vegeta have god forms, but they aren't actual gods, so they get the one hour limit. The fusion also runs out if you use too much power, which is how they always get out of it. That's a huge retcon that Dragon Ball Super introduced.

6. Future Trunks' hair color has changed numerous times over the years

The reality is that Future Trunks' hair color has changed numerous times over the years. Even in the original manga it could be gray, blue or purple, and in some cases it's even red. That's just how the hair looks.

Dragon Ball Super then warped everyone's minds with Trunks' new hairstyle.

5. The origin of the scouters moved from the Tuffles to Kikono

In the original run of Dragon Ball, the 90s era, we were told the scouters were Tuffle technology, using the English dub's name for that race. The Saiyans adopted them after they took over the Tuffles' planet. They took their tech, so to speak.

That was established in the guidebooks and various other sources for many, many years. In 2018, it all changed. During the promotion for Dragon Ball Super: Broly, the official movie website listed Kikono, a brilliant scientist who had served since King Cold's time, as the one who created the scouters, the armor and the spaceships.

That totally contradicts what Toriyama said in the past, but as Herms said, that's business as usual.

4. The Legendary Super Saiyan story keeps changing

This one is debatable, and I'm not going to get into a debate over it, but it is a retcon. The original story Vegeta told about the Legendary Super Saiyan was that this warrior couldn't control his own power and only came along every thousands of years.

That was later changed, because there are now something like seven different possibilities for who the Legendary Super Saiyan could be. It could be Yamoshi. It could be Broly. It could be Goku, who in GT is the first one in a long time to really tap into that power. Even Bardock, based on Episode of Bardock, has been considered the first Legendary Super Saiyan.

This one has been changed so many times over the years that we may never know the truth, and if we do, it might change again. It doesn't affect the story that much, but it still needs to be on this list because it has confused tons of people.

3. Where the Dragon Balls came from: Kami, the Namekians and the Super Dragon Balls

In the original manga, we know the Namekians created the Dragon Balls. Kami and Piccolo were once one being, the son of a Namekian, who came to Earth after Namek suffered some kind of cataclysm. He created the Dragon Balls based on his memories of being a Namekian. That was the origin of the balls.

That's not what we were first told in the original Dragon Ball anime, though. There, Roshi tells a strange origin story in which the Dragon Balls were originally one giant ball that slowly became seven small ones. That's completely false, and it was bad anime filler. Toriyama hadn't yet come up with Kami's story in the manga, and he never watched the anime back then, so he had no idea they'd come up with that.

Later, Toriyama introduced Kami. So the origin went from that filler story, to God, to the Namekians, and then it changed yet again in Dragon Ball Super. In what I believe was episode 33, we found out that the Namekians had shaved pieces off the Super Dragon Balls, made by the mysterious being known as Zalama, and used them to somehow make the Namekian balls. This has been a consistent change over the years, and that's just the way it is.

2. Bardock and the fate of the Saiyans

Bardock's fate has been told something like four different ways. First there's the original TV special, Bardock: The Father of Goku, which was referenced in the original manga. That was the original story.

Then there's Episode of Bardock, and there's Dragon Ball Heroes, where Bardock becomes Time Breaker Bardock after being saved. Most folks aren't going to consider that story canon, but it's still worth including. There's also Dragon Ball Minus, where Toriyama told a different version of Bardock and the last day of the Saiyans, and that story was expanded on in Dragon Ball Super: Broly. That isn't a big change, but he still added to it.

Then there's the fact that Raditz told Goku the Saiyans' planet was destroyed by a meteor, which the series later retconned into Frieza's doing. When Toriyama was writing that part of the manga, he hadn't come up with Frieza yet. It was just Raditz and the Saiyans. He didn't even know Frieza would be a character until later in the writing.

So there are a lot of retcons when it comes to the fate of the Saiyans, and it changed constantly in the series. To me, it's a lot. It's my number two because it gets talked about so much and still confuses people to this day.

1. Goku was never meant to be an alien or a Saiyan

The biggest retcon, the story change that altered the Dragon Ball series forever, is Goku being an alien. Goku being a Saiyan was not planned whatsoever when Toriyama first came up with Dragon Ball. The story was based on Journey to the West, and Son Goku was Sun Wukong. Because of that, Goku was only meant to be a strange monkey boy who would turn into a giant ape when he looked at the moon. That would be his story.

Then, when the Dragon Ball Z period rolled around and Raditz showed up, Toriyama created an elaborate backstory with Goku as an alien. He later added to it by introducing Frieza, and then Bardock came into the picture, along with Goku's mother, Gine. Toriyama has always added to Goku's backstory as the years went by, but none of it was planned.

Toriyama himself admits this, so it's not up for debate. In Daizenshuu IV, from 1995, Toriyama writes: "when I thought up goku's tail and the great ape I did not think goku was an alien or anything piccolo either because I thought that up when kami came out." So Toriyama wouldn't have guessed Goku was an alien until around the Piccolo arc. There were some subtle teases here and there throughout the series, but the clear answer is that he never intended it. Around the Piccolo arc he decided to come up with the backstory, and he went on to change it, because that's what he does and that's what retcons are.

It's the most important retcon because Goku being a Saiyan introduced so many new characters and so many important parts of Dragon Ball: the Super Saiyan transformations, Vegeta, Trunks. All the things that made up Dragon Ball, the things so many fans love, are rooted in the fact that Goku wasn't from this Earth. To me, that's the most important retcon of them all.