History YMMV / DragonBall

** Goku, despite being the most popular anime character out there, isn't really liked by everyone. Some see him as an unlikable moron who dooms the people around him for the sake of a fair fight, and [[LackOfEmpathy thinks nothing of it]], and his dopey attitude can even come off as [[SmugSuper callous at times.]] The fact that he's constantly touted online as the most powerful, unbeatable fighter in all of fiction can also make some people just sick of him and the arguments that he could beat anyone. There's also the fact that he's not meant to be a character you can root for and someone who outright refuses to change from the NominalHero status, and yet he's the ''main focus'' and always the one to save the day, which can make for a very frustrating experience.

** Frieza, his family, and his race as a whole, have been given the name "Icejins." They have also been called "Changelings". In the fan comic ''Webcomic/DragonBallMultiverse'', they're called "Frost Demons", and this name is used by Cell in the English translation of ''VideoGame/DragonBallXenoverse''.

* SoBadItsGood: Surprisingly averted with the short-lived Harmony Gold dub. When copies of it were impossible to come by, some fans developed a BileFascination for it based on its presumed heavy censorship and bizarre name changes. When copies finally surfaced, some were surprised that, despite the name changes, the dub was surprisingly faithful for its era, and the voice acting was also fairly decent.

* [[MemeticLoser/DragonBall Memetic Losers]]

** Goku, despite being the most popular anime character out there, isn't really like by everyone. Some see him as an unlikable moron who dooms the people around him for the sake of a fair fight, and [[LackOfEmpathy thinks nothing of it]], and his dopey attitude can even come off as [[SmugSuper callous at times.]] The fact that he's constantly touted online as the most powerful, unbeatable fighter in all of fiction can also make some people just sick of him and the arguments that he could beat anyone. There's also the fact that he's not meant to be a character you can root for, and yet he's the ''main focus'' and always the one to save the day, which can make for a very frustrating experience.

* [[WhatAnIdiot/DragonBall What an Idiot!]]

* AmericansHateTingle:
** Well, "hate" is too strong of a word, but in the U.S., while ''DBZ'' is a cultural icon, the original series is far more obscure and mostly known only by fans of the franchise. In parts of Asia and Europe, it's ''Dragon Ball'' that's the better known of the two.

* CantUnHearIt:
** As divisive as her voice may be for non-Japenese fans, Japanese fans just can't imagine Goku (nor Gohan, nor Goten, nor Barduk, nor Goku Black) with a voice that is not Creator/MasakoNozawa's. Considering she's been in the voice acting business for far longer than the vast majority of ''Dragon Ball'' fans have been alive, and that, despite her voice being so associated with Goku, she's far from being a PigeonHoledVoiceActor in Japanese media, even calling it a ''massive'' achievement would be an understatement.

** Akkuman/Devilman for having what could be considered the most powerful attack in all of ''Dragon Ball''/''DBZ''. Hell, he was even a playable character in ''VideoGame/DragonBallZBudokaiTenkaichi 3'' (where he even gets his own what-if story), ''Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure'' and ''Dragon Ball: The Revenge of King Piccolo''.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment:
** A lot of the manga's gags having Kid Goku often run around [[NakedPeopleAreFunny stark naked]] as well as the early RunningGag involving him patting other characters in the crotch because he couldn't tell their gender otherwise can be unsettling with the knowledge that Gerard Jones, who wrote the English adaptation of the manga for Viz, was arrested for possessing child pornography in 2016.
** The first thing Bulma does upon meeting Goku is shoot at him. Come ''Dragon Ball Super'', the Bulma of the alternate future was [[spoiler:killed by a villain in Goku's body]].

** Son Gohan, especially as a teenager. He's such a sweet, friendly, good-natured guy, yet also ''very'' studious, and he gets into many embarrassing social situations, and he has questionable taste in fashion and, er, superhero poses.

** Goten. Gohan's friendly, good-natured hyperactive brother. His innocence and childish personality is what makes him adorkable.

** Well, "hate" is probably too strong of a word, but in the U.S., while ''DBZ'' is a cultural icon, the original series is far more obscure and mostly known only by fans of the franchise. In parts of Asia and Europe, it's ''Dragon Ball'' that's the better known of the two.
** In Japanese polls, Mr. Satan typically scores really high; in Dragon Ball Forever's poll, he even beat Master Roshi, Yamcha, Tenshinhan, Bulma, Yajirobe, and his own daughter Videl in that order. In American polls, [[BaseBreakingCharacter he ranks considerably lower. He doesn't rank well in Europe either.]]
** Kid Trunks (and Gotenks) got this bad when the Buu Saga first aired in America. Viewers didn't take kindly to the fact that he ended up [[ReplacementScrappy replacing]] [[EnsembleDarkhorse Future Trunks]]. In his home country, Kid Trunks is just as popular as Future Trunks. In fact, Trunks/Gotenks was rated as the [[https://i.imgur.com/cLxYR0I.jpg third most popular character]] in a fan poll taken during the Buu Saga, just a hair below Vegeta and handily beating out Gohan and Piccolo.
** In his home country, Buu is consistently ranked as either the second most popular antagonist in the series or ''the'' most popular depending on the poll. [[https://i.imgur.com/cLxYR0I.jpg Dragon Ball Forever's poll (taken in 2005) had him at #1 for villains and #8 overall,]] more popular than ''Frieza''. In the West, however, [[BaseBreakingCharacter he's a much more divisive figure]], where he's as likely to be called an inferior retread of Cell as a good final boss. [[note]]Conversely, Cell is considered an inferior follow-up to Frieza in Japan, making Cell the least popular Z villain over there.[[/note]]
** Creator/MasakoNozawa as Goku. In Japan, her performance [[http://comicbook.com/anime/2017/01/12/japanese-voice-actors-rate-goku-lelouch-as-best-voiced-character/ is iconic and beloved]] because she voiced Goku in the original ''Manga/DragonBall'', where he was a child or young teen for most of the series, and her voicing adult Goku is a result of the GrandfatherClause and attempting to keep the character familiar. In regions such as English speaking countries and Latin America, ''DBZ'' was exported much more successfully than ''DB'' and Goku debuted as an adult, voiced by a man. As such, fans accustomed to such dubs are [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dNbqj5Ik3o more divided]] on Nozawa's performance because, rather than seeing it as the character keeping his beloved voice actress even while growing up, they see it as an awkward instance of a fully grown, manly hero [[VocalDissonance sounding like]] an old lady, hence the derisive FanNickname of "Granny Goku". While Nozawa has her fans in the West, her performance is a rare and interesting case of North American anime fans outright ''rejecting'' the original Japanese voice en masse. This reaction is debatable for [[ActingForTwo the other members of Goku's family]], but none moreso than his father [[Anime/DragonBallZBardockTheFatherOfGoku Bardock]], whose Japanese performance, which is identical to Goku's, is derided even among some fans who enjoy Nozawa's performance as Goku. [[TakeAThirdOption And then there are Western fans]] that enjoy ''aspects'' of Nozawa's performances but find them to be a mixed bag overall (i.e. praising Goku's voice when calm or serious and enjoying Goku Black's original voice for that very reason, but finding Goku's screaming and/or goofy tones in Japanese to be annoying and/or unfitting).
** Inverting the name of the trope a little bit, there's the Falconer replacement score for [=DBZ=]. While it's kind of [[BrokenBase divisive]] in English-speaking countries, it still has a significant amount of fans. Outside of that demographic, however, finding such fans is nearly impossible. Even finding people who just feel neutral about it can be a challenge. It definitely doesn't help that the original Kikuchi score was used in all other dubs (many of them which started airing ''long before'' the Funimation dub did), meaning there's no NostalgiaFilter for them.

* AwesomeEgo:
** Vegeta falls into this when he fights a foe he can actually beat.
** Vegito, the fusion of Goku and Vegeta. He has Vegeta's arrogance, with the power to back it up.

** Vegeta. A strong badass who gets more development than Goku or a whiny adult who keeps getting his ass kicked as a result of aiding the villain resulting in several NiceJobBreakingItHero moments? There is also his extreme KarmaHoudini case.

** Krillin. A similar argument is made against him as the one against Yamcha. Is he a good fighter who tries his best, or a fighter who is too OvershadowedByAwesome and needs to leave the fighting to more competent characters?
** Videl [[{{Chickification}} becoming more "girly"]] after the Buu Saga has also met with mixed results [[CultureClash in the West]].
** Buu, especially to [[AmericansHateTingle American fans]]. Is he an interesting and threatening villain with varied personality changes and unique abilities, or a whiny, childish brute that doesn't cover any territory previous villains hadn't already done better? To be fair, the ArcFatigue that the Buu Saga went through does nothing to earn him any popularity points.
** The [[SpotlightStealingSquad Saiyan race]] as a whole. There's one camp that says the Saiyans are great and the original cast were too boring, and another that feels the Saiyans are boring and one-dimensional characters compared to the original cast and hates them for it. Most fans split the difference and say that the Saiyans were cool and interesting, but that the series shouldn't have shafted the Earthling cast.
** Mr. Satan/Hercule: Hated by many due to his SmallNameBigEgo tendencies and his knack for taking credit for the Z Fighters' work, though others find him a humorous JokeCharacter. Some take the stance that he was unlikable at first but [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap redeemed himself]] in the Buu Saga by getting Fat Buu to stop killing people, beating up the two gunmen that shot Bee the dog, and providing a ''huge'' assist in the final battle with Kid Buu. Notably, he's much more popular in [[AmericansHateTingle Japan than other countries]].
** Broly, a frightening, badass [[GenericDoomsdayVillain force of nature-type]] villain or [[DumbMuscle a boring character with no personality beyond "super strong crazy guy"]] with an [[EvilIsPetty extremely flimsy motivation to kill Goku]]? The fact that even his fans tend to agree he got [[WolverinePublicity two more movies than he really should've]] does him no favors.
** Bulma. While she has plenty of fans, many found her constant whining grating. This was especially troublesome in the Namek Saga, because unlike all the other instances of Bulma complaining, it was in an arc [[TheLoad where she was completely unnecessary]]. It got even worse in ''Super'' due to her being much more involved in that series than before while her importance to the plot of the episode often varies between her being negligible or not.
** Is Chi-Chi a good mother who was just concerned that her children will follow their father's lifestyle or is she a harpy who robbed Gohan of reaching his true potential?
** Gotenks. A BadassAdorable who brings good humor to the series, or the worst parts of Goten and Trunks amplified. Toriyama admitted he simply created Gotenks as a means to create comic relief. Still, Gotenks' personality got a lot of negative feedback in contrast to how a child Gohan took fights very seriously to fit the atmosphere. A third camp argues that Gotenks' personality flaws at least make sense given that Goten and Trunks are more like typical bratty little boys in comparison to the polite, studious kid Gohan was at that age.
** Beerus proved a popular antagonist on his introduction in Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods for providing a wildly different and fun villain, but he was also criticized by those who found less him interesting than previous villains, annoying, and to be a KarmaHoudini given he does whatever he feels like while getting no commupance for it. This continued with his later appearances, with some fans liking his fun antics and CharacterDevelopment in Anime/DragonBallSuper. Beerus' critics dislike him for his presence killing tension [[note]]Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF for example suffered from Frieza's threat diminished given that the movie made it clear Beerus could kill him at any moment[[/note]] on top of appearing when his presence doesn't add anything besides comic relief. Not helping things is that the best received plots since Beerus' introduction have been the ones where his involvement is kept to a minimum.

** Comparisons between ''GT'' and ''Super'' were bound to happen. Some complain that ''GT'' was moving the pace forward by its second episode while ''Super'' takes its time to cover the events of two films, which in turn draws out the old laundry list of ''GT''[='=]s narrative flaws. Overall, most agree that right now it is impossible to compare ''Super'' with ''GT'' since ''Super'' is ongoing while ''GT'' ended decades ago. However, since the start of the [[GrowingTheBeard Champa Saga]], most fans have considered ''Super'' to be superior to ''GT''. Even before the end of the retellings, some thought ''Super'' was better than ''GT'' simply because of the character interactions, characterizations, and the fact that ''Super'' gets to benefit from twenty years of technological advancement in animation production.
** Who makes the better Goku -- Creator/MasakoNozawa in the original, or Creator/SeanSchemmel in the most well-known English dub? Is Nozawa a charming fit for the character due to the GrandfatherClause carrying over from ''Manga/DragonBall'', or does she simply not work because Goku is no longer a little boy and turn him into a ([[OlderThanTheyThink retroactive]]) [[VocalDissonance age-displaced]] Manga/{{Naruto}} clone? Does Schemmel improve Goku and make him more likable, or does he simply make him more watered-down and generic, even after the character started being dubbed more faithfully? Some fans, whether they prefer either version of Goku or like/dislike them both, at least acknowledge that they work well for their respective target audiences (as AmericanKirbyIsHardcore is in play). Similar comparisons with Nozawa's other characters are also debated, such as Creator/KyleHebert for adult Gohan or Creator/SonnyStrait for Bardock. It's generally agreed that Nozawa provides the performances that basically define the Son family, and most of the debate in the west comes from whether adult men sounding boyish breaks the WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief too much and is too distracting, and whether the more distinct and unique English performances are an improvement.
** In the same vein as Nozawa's Goku are Frieza's original English female voice actors, Pauline Newstone and Creator/LindaYoung. Some fans grew up with the voices and find that they rather fit Frieza as a creepy, [[SissyVillain effeminate]] villain, while others find them to be very grating and poorly-acted, particularly compared to Frieza's Japanese voice actor (Creator/RyuseiNakao) and later English voice actors (Creator/ChrisAyres and Daman Mills). Notably, while Nozawa herself is considered a SacredCow for her raw talent and how she's stuck with all her ''Dragon Ball'' characters well into old age (even among those who dislike some or all of her ''DB'' voices), Newstone and Young hold no such status and it's considered acceptable to criticize them and their Frieza voices more harshly.
** ''Dragon Ball Minus''. A refreshing new view on Goku's backstory and his family before coming to Earth, or an inferior origin story that is too much like Franchise/{{Superman}} and should have never taken the place of the beloved [[Anime/DragonBallZBardockTheFatherOfGOku Bardock Special]]?

** Whether or not the movies before ''Battle of Gods'' should be canon. Supporters note that the existence of such EnsembleDarkhorse like [[Anime/DragonBallZCoolersRevenge Cooler]], [[Anime/DragonBallZFusionReborn Gogeta]], and [[Anime/DragonBallZWrathOfTheDragon Tapion]] should be enough to justify them, and scenes such as Goku's Dragon Fist leave a sizable impact on the franchise. Detractors note, however, that most of the movies have severe trouble fitting into the timeline, and are often just alterations or flat out copies of previous arcs.
** How heroic is Goku? Thanks to some AdaptationalHeroism from both Toei and Funimation, most fans tend to see Goku as a typical goody two shoes hero like Superman, which often leads straight to FandomRivalry between the two. Others who have taken [[http://www.kanzenshuu.com/2015/03/27/new-interview-translations-akira-toriyama-special-talks/ Toriyama's]] interview about Goku and his other less than flattering moments to [[RonTheDeathEater its most extreme conclusion]] view Goku as an amoral, coldhearted prick who only cares about fighting and doesn't care about anyone else unless they can give him a good battle. There is a third group that admits that Goku can be slightly self-centered, but is ultimately a good and an unambiguously heroic person who will protect others even if it means sacrificing his pride and a good battle.
** Goku's parenting skills. Does he do his best with what he knows and has his heart in the right place even if he does fall short most of the time, or is he a [[ParentalNeglect neglectful parent]] who is a horrible father and husband because he "abandoned" his wife and children several times? This comes from CultureClash, as Goku is not seen as a bad father in Japan or rest of Asia, even Europe. Also, Gohan never thinks Goku is a bad father, ever. There was one case when Goten thought his dad was a coward for not saving Gohan and Vegeta, but that's it. As soon as he saw the Super Saiyan 3 form, his respect for his father was rekindled. His sons adore him the way he is, and Goku, ''especially'' in the English dub, does not hesitate to voice his belief, faith and love for his sons.[[note]] This has mainly been exasperated by fans of the Abridged, who's take on Goku being an [[AbusiveParents abusive parent]] had skewed views so bad it leaked over to the original series, and TFS themselves have even ''apologized'' for causing massive FanDumb, not expecting the belief to explode as much as it did.[[/note]]
* CanonFodder: While there are several canonical PowerLevels, the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters and tons of forms for those characters means there’s a nigh-infinite well of power levels left for fans to calculate.

** In Latin America, anyone who has heard the Mexican dub growing up will tell you that Creator/MarioCastaneda is the official voice of Goku, the same with Creator/ReneGarcia as Vegeta and Creator/LauraTorres as Kid!Goku and Kid!Gohan, reason why not many have enjoyed the dubbed version of ''Anime/DragonBallZKai'' for the change of cast.
** In Spain there was the same case with Alberto Hidalgo, Vegeta's voice. For all the problems and criticisms that the Spaniard dub of the series has, Hidalgo was one of the few actors who was considered a perfect casting choice, and his voice became truly iconic for Spaniard fans. However, Hidalgo decided to retire from voice acting in 2017, half-way through ''Dragon Ball Super'', and fans haven't been exactly kind to his replacement, the much younger-sounding Paco Prieto.
** For Brazilian fans, Wendel Bezerra is very strongly associated with Goku as a grown up. Even when you hear him as WesternAnimation/{{Jackie Chan|Adventures}}, it's not easy not to think of Goku.
** While there's been more than one English dub for the franchise, the Funimation voices are the ones most Western fans prefer, with Creator/SeanSchemmel's Goku and Creator/ChristopherSabat's Vegeta standing out as the most iconic. Creator/StephanieNadolny's distinctive voice is also closely associated with Kid Goku and Kid Gohan, to the point that some fans [[BrokenBase took issue]] when she was replaced by Creator/ColleenClinkenbeard, starting with ''[[Anime/DragonBallZKai Dragon Ball Z Kai]]''.
** Impressively, despite its drastic difference and status as a fan work, the same reaction has been had to several of the Dragon Ball Z Abridged voices, especially Perfect Cell, the FountainOfMemes himself.
* ContinuityLockout: ''DBZ'' averts this by not relying too heavily on the original manga's events and explaining them when necessary. On the other hand, ''GT'' is borderline incomprehensible without watching ''DBZ'' first. ''Super'' isn't quite as bad about it as ''GT'', but it still rides on the events of ''DBZ'' pretty hard, and the Future Trunks arc especially would be incredibly confusing if one hadn't seen ''DBZ''.

* DesignatedMonkey: Son Gohan. After the Cell Saga set up him [[PassingTheTorch becoming Goku's successor]], the Buu Saga had suffer from BadassDecay. While it appears as though he will have his power unlocked by Elder Kai, he fails to defeat Majin Buu thanks to Gotenks being absorbed by Buu, and then gets absorbed by Buu himself. By the movies he's demoted to the sidelines and can barely maintain Super Saiyan, supposedly because he wasn't keeping up with his training, and despite the movies having a shorter time skip than between the Cell and Buu Saga, he's become even weaker. His fans weren't pleased with him being treated this way.

** Few topics on the Internet can match the volatility brought about by the question: who would win in a fight between Goku and Superman? Fan art, essays, and ridiculously detailed videos have been created in an effort to answer this. This extends to Franchise/TheDCU in general. With other characters from both universes being constantly pitted against each other in versus debates. ([[Characters/DragonBallVegeta Vegeta]] vs. [[Characters/BatmanTheCharacter Batman]], [[Characters/DragonBallPiccolo Piccolo]] vs. ComicBook/MartianManhunter, and [[Characters/DragonBallFrieza Frieza]] vs. [[Characters/NewGodsDarkseid Darkseid]] are some notable examples.)

* FandomSpecificPlot:
** Kakarot/Goku's pod [[ForWantOfANail lands somewhere else]]. This may be another location on Earth, like Capsule Corp or Kami's Lookout, or another planet entirely.
** Raditz is sent to Earth with his younger brother.
** Fanfics centered around [[BadassBookworm Gohan]] like to feature him in high school, where Videl tries to expose him as Saiyaman, and, through a bunch of events that never happen in canon, falls for him.
** A subset of the Gohan/Videl fics includes Gohan's class being invited to Capsule Corp, at which point the universe conspires to expose Gohan's secrets as quickly as possible.
** The fandom has also produced [[HalfHumanHybrid Gohan]] fics on the premise that "Gohan trained after the Cell Saga, and subsequently killed Buu." And there are equal amounts of fics that pair him with someone other than Videl.
** It is common to see [[DitzyGenius Bulma]]/[[TokenEvilTeammate Vegeta]] stories that expand upon the events at Capsule Corp during the three year TimeSkip before the Android's arrival, in an attempt to pace and/or explain the circumstances of Trunks' eventual conception. Frequent tropes involved within these are the FlorenceNightingaleEffect, AngelDevilShipping, OppositesAttract, and a good bit of BreakTheHaughty. Most humor is often gathered from the grumpy ProudWarriorRaceGuy Vegeta's FishOutOfWater and AlienAmongUs experiences. (Even ''WebVideo/DragonBallAbridged'' tackled that one. SlapSlapKiss ensued.)
** A common theme is to have Pan/Bulla become Super Saiyans (with any of the remaining transformations). In fact, all the half-saiyans, and saiyans with unexplored aspects (Tarble, Gine, Bardock's team) are prone to fanfictions where they get to interact with the main characters/get their transformations.
** Also very prominent are the "humans becoming useful" fics. Given Yamcha, Krillin, Tien and Chiaotzu pretty much were unable to catch up due to TheWorfEffect, some fics work to subvert that and give the characters new powers to somewhat or outright completely catch up. These fics tend to throw the usually looked down upon characters a bone and even get them hooked up. Like for instance, Tien finally gets with [[SplitPersonality Launch]], or Yamcha finds love in a girl who has flirted with him in the past, such as [[TheDitz Maron]], [[FemmeFataleSpy Hasky]] or [[TreasureHunter Raven/Pasta]].
** Another common theme is Vegeta becoming the hero at Goku's expense. Sometimes Goku will [[OutOfCharacter simply stop training]] or [[FaceHeelTurn become evil]], or he'll be revealed as [[RonTheDeathEater always being evil]], either way gives Vegeta a chance to be in the spot light.
** Then there's craptons of "Planet Vegeta was never really destroyed/gets revived" fics.
** After ''Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods'' it become common to see fan fics that explore the day to day operations supreme kai and gods of destruction have to go through.
** If a fanfic features both Bardock and Turles, chances are they will be revealed to be twin brothers, explaining their strong resemblance.

* HoYay: [[HoYay/DragonBall Has its own page]].
* JerkassDissonance: Vegeta is a perfect example of this. He may be a badass with a big fandom, however if he was a real person, ''nobody'' would want to go anywhere near him, despite whatever redeeming traits he may have.
* OneTrueThreesome:
** An [=OT3=] that became a bit more popular is Android 17/Krillin/Android 18.
** Goten/Trunks/Marron gained followers among those who can't imagine [[HeterosexualLifePartners the two men]] [[HoYay/DragonBall not being in a relationship]] but can see them with women as well. Marron is sometimes paired up in an [=OT3=] with Pan and Bra as well, though it doesn't seem as common as pairing her with Goten and Trunks.
** Future Trunks/Goten/Present-timeline Trunks.
** Gohan/Videl/Future Trunks as well. Interestingly, this started out as an example of ShipsThatPassInTheNight, since Videl and Future Trunks had never met, and it was a fairly niche triad. But after Future Trunks and Videl met in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', they were shown to get along very well, and the threesome spiked in popularity amongst the fandom practically overnight.
** The [[https://dragonkink.dreamwidth.org/1166.html DBZ Kink meme]] has quite a bit of Bulma/Vegeta/Yamcha.
** The Universe 6 Saiyan trio (Cabba/Caulifla/Kale) has gained some traction due to their interactions within Anime/DragonBallSuper's Tournament of Power Arc.
* SelfFanservice:
** Given how fanboys (and fangirls) hyped him up, you probably wouldn't think that Vegeta was a perpetually scowling midget in ''Anime/DragonBallZ''.
** Some fanart of ''Anime/DragonballGT'' will depict Bra ([[YoungerThanTheyLook who's canonically 8 years old, but looks like a young teen]]) as suddenly being much more developed than she is in the show, especially with her chest. The assumption is that apparently [[GenerationXerox she'll look exactly like her mother when she grows up]].
** Pan (who actually looks like a child) is prone to getting the aged-up treatment. As well as [[Manga/DragonBall young Chi-chi]], normally by way of having her adult self fill out her younger self's [[ChainmailBikini armor]].
** Young Bulma who was 16 years old in the original ''Manga/DragonBall'' will often be drawn with more buxom and hips.
** The trend continues during ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' with the Saiyans from Universe 6, Caulifla and Kale. They are short, rather flat in their base form, lacking any sort of muscle definition (well, with the exception of Kale who goes full Broly, but her controlled form is the epitome of AmazonianBeauty). In fanart, however, they are drawn full MsFanservice. Cabba, from the same universe, get this to a lesser extent, but mostly giving him more muscle (since he lacks any sort of muscle, looking like he has noodles for arms).
* WinBackTheCrowd: Seems to creep up in the motivation behind a lot of the franchise's offerings ever since the dreaded ''Film/DragonballEvolution'', from the recut and re-dubbing of ''DBZ'' via ''Kai'', the reintroduction of new content started with the animated films ''[[Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods Battle of Gods]]'' and ''[[Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF Resurrection ‘F’]]'', and even stretching into the new series ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' with one of ''Film/DragonBallEvolution''[='=]s actors (Creator/JamesMarsters, who portrayed [[AdaptationNameChange Lord Piccolo]]) returning for the Funimation dub in a much better received lead villainous role as Zamasu.
* TheWoobie: [[Woobie/DragonBall Has its own page]].

** Goku, despite being the most popular anime character out there, isn't really like by everyone. Some see him as an unlikable moron who dooms the people around him for the sake of a fair fight, and [[LackOfEmpathy thinks nothing of it]], and his dopey attitude can even come off as [[SmugSuper callous at times.]] The fact that he's constantly touted online as the most powerful, unbeatable fighter in all of fiction can also make some people just sick of him. There's also the fact that he's not meant to be a character you can root for, and yet he's the ''main focus'' and alawys the one to save the day, which can make for a very frustrating experience.

** Few topics on the Internet can match the volatility brought about by the question: who would win in a fight between Goku and Superman? Fan art, essays, and ridiculously detailed videos have been created in an effort to answer this.
*** This extends to Franchise/TheDCU in general. With other characters from both universes being constantly pitted against each other in versus debates. ([[Characters/DragonBallVegeta Vegeta]] vs. [[Characters/BatmanTheCharacter Batman]], [[Characters/DragonBallPiccolo Piccolo]] vs. ComicBook/MartianManhunter, and [[Characters/DragonBallFrieza Frieza]] vs. [[Characters/NewGodsDarkseid Darkseid]] are some notable examples.)

* [[MagnificentBastard/DragonBall Magnificent Bastard]]

* WeirdAlEffect: A lot of the pop culture references in ''Dragon Ball'' go unnoticed by the overseas fandom, so expies and parodies of old Chinese or Japanese film or TV characters became more famous because of this series than their original incarnations:
** Goku was originally conceived as [[MonkeyKingLite a parody of Sun Wukong]] of the classic Chinese fantasy novel ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'', and his name is in fact identical to the Japanese approximation of Sun Wukong. Note that Goku being more well-known is only the case overseas; in China and Japan, Wukong is a widely-known mythical figure who has ''dozens'' of shows and big-budget films based on his adventures.
** Many other characters in the first arc were meant as parodies of ''Journey to the West'' characters too, most notably Yamcha, Oolong, and the Ox-King.
** Tao Pai Pai is nigh-identical in appearance and personality to [[https://i.imgur.com/ZHAEpxB.jpg Sheng Kuan]], the main villain of the martial arts action film ''Film/SnakeInTheEaglesShadow''.
** Chaozu is, in design at least, a {{Jiangshi}}, a type of undead Chinese vampire. Toriyama probably threw him in there because Jiangshi films were ''huge'' in China, Japan, and Korea at the time, and throwing one into your story offered it an automatic bump in popularity. This doesn't really translate to modern North American, South American, or European viewers.

* [[WhatAnIdiot/DragonBall What An Idiot]]

* DesignatedHero: The protagonists often veer into this. [[TokenEvilTeammate Vegeta]] in his earlier days [[SkewedPriorities put the entire planet on the line for the sake of one-upping Goku]], [[BloodKnight who isn't really a saint himself]], more often than not prioritizing fights over just about anything else, even when it endangers entire worlds just for the sake of a fair fight. He also has a habit of taking HonorBeforeReason to its infuriating extreme, not only letting the villains get stronger just for a fair fight, but even ''[[IdiotPlot giving said enemies Senzu Beans to heal their injuries.]] '' Unfortunately, this gets heavy {{Flanderization}} in ''Super'' when he causes other people grief, his reactions range from ignorant to pushing aside their concerns. The biggest example is when he's called out for making the Tournament of Power a thing, something that caused distress and anger of many, ''many'' people. He's called out on this, and he simply tells them to bring their strongest fighters. The SecretTestOfCharacter twist doesn't alleviate how appalling he acts about this tournament he started. He then pushes his stupidity further by reviving Frieza, a dreaded who is known for decimating entire planets just for his own gain, for this tournament, then [[WhatTheHellHero the protagonists let him run free,]] even though he'll just kill more innocent people and force countless more under his boot, something [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality neither Goku, nor the other fighters, have any intention to stop.]] He wasn't meant to be a good person, but it's difficult for some to want him or the others to succeed when [[{{Jerkass}} they act]] [[TooDumbToLive like this.]]
** To clarify, the Z-Fighters sometimes [[DeathIsCheap revive all the people on their world who get killed in their scuffles.]] That being said, there are plenty of men, women, children, and alien civilizations that got destroyed by Vegeta or someone else, and they were never brought back. Yet no one really punishes Vegeta for his actions beyond dying once for unrelated reasons and getting his shit kicked in.
** The other fighters aren't any better. 17 and 18 are pretty much told their universe is at stake, and the only way to save it is to win a tournament. 17 takes quite a long while to change his mind, initially deciding to just stay in his animal preserve, [[LackOfEmpathy despite having a wife and child]], and 18 wants to ditch the tournament when she discovers [[SkewedPriorities there's no cash prize.]] This is the team you're supposed to root for by the way.
** This really goes even beyond the main fighters. Bulma has spent a good chunk of her screentime over the years flirting with men in front of her boyfriend, [[TheUnfairSex but gets pissed when a woman shows interest in him.]] Master Roshi also spent years being appallingly perverted, even ''[[MoralEventHorizon groping and feeling up multiple women, and once asked a teenage Bulma to flash him.]]'' Oolong acts like a perverted freak. Beerus is a lazy god who enabled (and is known for carrying out) mass decimation of life. The list goes on.

** This really goes even beyond the main fighters. Bulma has spent a good chunk of her screentime over the years flirting with men in front of her boyfriend, [[TheUnfairSex but gets pissed when a woman shows interest in him.]] Master Roshi also spent years being appallingly perverted, even ''[[MoralEventHorizon groping and feeling up multiple women, and once asked a teenage Bulma to flash him.]]'' Oolong wants to take over the world, and also acts like a perverted freak. Beerus is a lazy god who enabled (and is known for carrying out) mass decimation of life. The list goes on.

* DesignatedHero: The protagonists often veer into this. [[TokenEvilTeammate Vegeta]] in his earlier days [[SkewedPriorities put the entire planet on the line for the sake of one-upping Goku]], [[BloodKnight who isn't really a saint himself]], more often than not prioritizing fights over just about anything else, even when it endangers entire worlds just for the sake of a fair fight. He also has a habit of taking HonorBeforeReason to its infuriating extreme, not only letting the villains get stronger just for a fair fight, but even ''[[IdiotPlot giving said enemies Senzu Beans to heal their injuries.]] '' Usually, when he causes other people grief, his reactions range from ignorant to outright callous and smug Goku almost ended his entire universe and numerous others by throwing them into a tournament to the death. Why did he do this? Was it some big plan? Was it a gambit to save millions? Nope, he just wanted to fight someone, and it nearly cost countless lives. He's called out on this, and he simply tells them to bring their strongest fighters. The SecretTestOfCharacter twist doesn't allievate how appalling he acts about this tournament he started. He then pushes his stupidity further by reviving Frieza, a dread tyrant with the power to destroy planets, for this tournament, then [[WhatTheHellHero the protagonists let him run free,]] even though he'll just kill more innocent people and force countless more under his boot, something [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality neither Goku, nor the other fighters, have any intention to stop.]] He wasn't meant to be a good person, but it's difficult for some to want him or the others to succeed when [[{{Jerkass}} they act]] [[TooDumbToLive like this.]]

** This really goes even beyond the main fighters. Bulma has spent a good chunk of her screentime over the years flirting with men in front of her boyfriend, [[TheUnfairSex but gets pissed when a woman shows interest in him.]] Master Roshi also spent years being appallingly perverted, even ''[[MoralEventHorizon sending two children out to capture a sexy woman for him.]]'' Oolong wants to take over the world, and also acts like a perverted freak. Beerus is a mad god who wiped out almost all life in his universe. The list goes on.

**

** This really goes even beyond the main fighters. Bulma has spent a good chunk of her screentime over the years flirting with men in front of her boyfriend, [[TheUnfairSex but gets pissed when a woman shows interest in him.]] Master Roshi also spent years being appallingly perverted, even ''[[MoralEventHorizon sending two children out to capture a sexy woman for him.]]'' Oolong wants to take over the world, and also acts like a perverted freak.

* DesignatedHero: The protagonists often veer into this. [[TokenEvilTeammate Vegeta]] in his earlier days [[SkewedPriorities put the entire planet on the line for the sake of one-upping Goku]], [[BloodKnight who isn't really a saint himself]], more often than not prioritizing fights over just about anything else, except while Vegeta at least grows to care for his family, even when it endangers entire worlds just for the sake of a fair fight. Usually, when he causes other people grief, his reactions range from ignorant to outright callous and smug. AS for Goku, he wasn't meant to be a good person, he certainly pushes it when he leaves villains alive so he can fight them again...even though they'll just kill more innocent people, something [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality Goku, or the other fighters, very rarely make an effort to stop.]]

** Goku almost ended his entire universe on more than one occasion. Why did he do this? Was it some big plan? Was it a gambit to save millions? Nope, he just wanted to fight someone, and it nearly cost countless lives. Like Vegeta, Goku can be very self centered, though no one holds it against him for long. He also has a habit of taking HonorBeforeReason to its infuriating extreme, not only letting the villains get stronger just for a fair fight, but even ''[[IdiotPlot giving said enemies Senzu Beans to heal their injuries.]]''

* DesignatedHero: The protagonists often veer into this. [[TokenEvilTeammate Vegeta]] in his earlier days [[SkewedPriorities put the entire planet on the line for the sake of one-upping Goku]], [[BloodKnight who isn't really a saint himself]], more often than not prioritizing fights over just about anything else, except while Vegeta at least grows to care for his family, Goku really doesn't give a crap about how ''anyone around him'' is [[LackOfEmpathy personally affected by his actions]], even when it endangers entire worlds just for the sake of a fair fight, and [[MoralEventHorizon has let his own family die at least once without a second thought]]. Usually, when he causes other people grief, his reactions range from ignorant to outright callous and smug. While he wasn't meant to be a good person, he certainly pushes it when he leaves villains alive so he can fight them again...even though they'll just kill more innocent people, something [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality Goku, or the other fighters, very rarely make an effort to stop.]]
** To clarify, the Z-Fighters sometimes [[DeathIsCheap revive all the people on their world who get killed in their scuffles.]] That being said, there are plenty of men, women, children, and alien civilizations that got destroyed by Vegeta or someone else, and they were never brought back. ''VideoGame/DragonBallFighterZ'' doesn't do wonders for Vegeta's reputation, as he's met with Nappa, a [[UndyingLoyalty guy who served Vegeta loyally]] and even liked the idea of being a hero more than Vegeta did, [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness only to have been killed in cold blood when he stopped being useful to the prince.]] Nappa is upset for obvious reasons, and despite whatever CharacterDevelopment he's gone through (Said development is debatable), Vegeta acts like a smug prick to the guy he callously backstabbed, without even considering how he acted.
** Goku has also gotten quite a [[InferredHolocaust large number of innocent populants]] killed in his fights with Buu and Beerus. The only time [[WhatTheHellHero he's called out on this]] is from Babadi, and yet he gets off scot-free. Even for a NominalHero, that's very hard to accept.
** Goku almost ended his entire universe on more than one occasion. Why did he do this? Was it some big plan? Was it a gambit to save millions? Nope, he just wanted to fight someone, and it nearly cost countless lives. Like Vegeta, Goku doesn't notice, or even care about the people who suffer because of his actions, even if they're his own family. He also has a habit of taking HonorBeforeReason to its infuriating extreme, not only standing by and letting his "[[WithFriendsLikeThese friends]]" die painfully, not only letting the villains get stronger just for a fair fight, but even ''[[IdiotPlot giving said enemies Senzu Beans to heal their injuries.]]''
** And if you're wondering, no, the other fighters aren't much better. They're told about androids that will kill them and completely wreck the world, and they're more interested in fighting these new opponents as opposed to preventing mass-destruction and death. These said androids, 17 and 18, [[HistoryRepeats act similarly]] in the above-mentioned tournament that could doom their whole universe. 17 is, at first, perfectly fine just letting everything die, and 18 considers leaving the tournament [[SkewedPriorities because there is no cash prize.]] These are the characters you're meant to root for by the way.