Characters / Dragon Ball: Trunks and Son Goten

Dragon Ball Main Character Index
Major Characters
Son Goku (A-H, I-Z) | Bulma | Krillin/Kuririn | Piccolo | Son Gohan | Vegeta (A-L, M-Z) | Future Trunks | Allies (Dragon Team/Z Fighters) | Families (Androids 17 and 18 | Trunks and Son Goten) | Friends | Fusions

Character subpage for Trunks and Son Goten.

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The Duo in General

• Achievements in Ignorance: Both Trunks and Goten achieved Super Saiyan form as children with very little effort, and no clue they'd done something remarkable.
• Advertised Extra: The duo were promoted a lot during the early days of the Buu saga, even being the protagonists of two movies involving Broly, which makes sense as they were brand new and still relevant to the plot. However, Trunks and Goten are everywhere in promotional material for Dragon Ball Super including the openings, even though they are minor characters. They even got a promotional poster for Dragon Ball Super: Broly despite only appearing in one scene. Presumably is done due to their kid-appeal.
• Artistic Age: The two suffered from this in Dragon Ball Super, as it would be difficult to depict them growing over the course of the series to the physical ages shown at the end of Z. They finally look like teenagers in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, which is explained away as Saiyans staying children until they have a sudden immediate growth spurt at around teen age.
• Bash Brothers: They not only fight together, they can fuse to become a whole new being. They rely a bit too much on each other, however, as pointed out to them by Vegeta. In their adolescence, they've taken to superheroics and started calling themselves the Saiyamen-X.
• Big Eater: A trait shared among most Saiyans, they both have quite the appetite. Although, Trunks doesn't eat as much as his father or Goku and as he gets older, his table manners are significantly better. Goten however can still eat like his dad, though.
• Blood Knight: Like all Saiyans, these two boys love to fight! However, as teens, they lose this aspect, preferring to go on dates and mess with machinery.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Both of them arguably have the potential to become far more powerful than both of their dads, considering how insanely strong both were at an age where Goku and Vegeta couldn't even dream of reaching such heights. Both were also able to become Super Saiyans without even training for it, Goten before he could even fly. They just lack the natural battle drive pure-blooded Saiyans possess and are far too childish to train seriously.
• A Day in the Limelight: Movie 11, Bio-Broly, features them as the main protagonists, and marks the only time in the entire franchise (besides their brief curb-stompings of Abo and Kado in their base forms) that Goten and kid Trunks had a real fight with a villain while unfused. Trunks gets to show off the power that was more just hinted at in the original series, nearly beating Bio-Broly alongside Goten with their teamwork after the former pulls a complete No-Sell of Android 18's attempts to hurt him.
• Didn't Think This Through: As expected of children, they don't do a lot of forward planning. The best example would be them disguising themselves as Mighty Mask, as they did it on a whim and never thought about anything other than proving their skill to the adults.
• The Friends Who Never Hang: GT turns them into this, having gone from best friends who constantly share screen time to two who barely happen to be in the same scene together. Though it is understandable given that they're older and have their own activities/responsibilities, (with Trunks running the Capsule Corp business and Goten spending time with his girlfriend).
• Fusion Dance: Into Gotenks, and part of the Trope Namer.
• Half-Human Hybrid: They are each half-Saiyan, half-Human.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: They are the best of friends and are always playing with each other. They keep their special bond even as teenagers, becoming a crimefighting dynamic duo.
• Irony: The two are best friends, despite their fathers being former enemies turned fierce rivals. Trunks in Z (and eventually Goten in Super) both think that Gohan's Great Saiyaman costume and posing looks ridiculous. Come the Super Hero Saga where Trunks and Goten begin doing the exact same thing as teenagers, even calling themselves Saiyaman X-1 and Saiyaman X-2 no less!
• Like Brother and Sister: Their interactions with Marron in both Z and Super. By the time of Z's finale, both men are already dating women of their age. Goten and Valese have genuine feelings for each other in GT; Trunks, like his future self, is implied to end up with Mai after Super.
• Like Parent, Like Child: They are best friends like Bulma and Goku were in their early days and get into similarly wacky adventures together.
• Naughty Is Good: They are partners in mischief, although Trunks is the most mischievous one out of the two.
• No Body Left Behind: Their only death in the series were due to Buu blowing up Earth.
• Older Than They Look: In Battle of Gods, they're in their teens (Trunks is 14 and Goten is 13), yet they still look the same age in the Buu Saga. despite Future Trunks' child self not looking much like the present one around the same age. Super Hero would explain it as the result of Saiyans aging slower than humans and hitting a growthspurt at a certain age not unlike Goku did.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Trunks is the blue to Goten's red. Some of the time Trunks ends up playing the red oni, however, as his temper and pride make him easier to rile up than Goten's polite personality.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Trunks is the "manly" part being more eager to show off his strength, arrogant, and dismissive of others with Goten's sensitive part being more naïve, friendly, and easy to anger.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: Along with the Pilaf gang, they're both kept out of the Universe Survival saga on the grounds that they're not experienced enough with actual combat or responsible enough to help and would just get in the way, which leads to Goku and Gohan choosing to bring along Tien and Roshi instead. Trunks only appears in Vegeta's mental images after the battle begins.
• Those Two Guys: They are rarely seen apart. This is averted in GT where they are rarely seen together, and even less often speak to one another.
• Too Dumb to Live: When Super Buu falls asleep after Gotenks' fusion runs out, Goten and Trunks suddenly get the idea that apologizing to him and pulling his tentacle would be a good idea. Piccolo quickly calls them out on their idiocy.
• Unwitting Pawn: They become this to Carmine during the epilogue of the Super Hero arc.
• Wake Up, Go to School & Save the World: The two boys become superheroes called Saiyamen-X during their teens. While Gohan was able to just barely maintain a double-life, Trunks makes every mistake possible.
• Warrior Prince: They're both technically princes. Trunks' father is Vegeta, the Prince of all Saiyans; and Goten's grandfather is the Ox King and his mother is a princess.

Trunks

Trunks (トランクス, Torankusu)

^{Click here to see EOZ Trunks}

^{Click here to see GT Trunks}

Voiced by (Japanese): Takeshi Kusao, Hiromi Tsuru (Baby)

Kid Trunks voiced by (English): Laura Bailey (Z, movies, Kai), Alexis Tipton (Super) (Funimation dub); Cathy Weseluck (Ocean dub), Erica Mendez (Bang Zoom!/Toonami Asia dub in Super)

Teen/Adult Trunks voiced by (English): Eric Vale (Funimation dub); Allistair Abell (Ocean dub); Matthew Erickson (Blue Water dub); Skip Stellrecht (GT - Final Bout)

Baby Trunks voiced by (English): Stephanie Nadolny (Z), Colleen Clinkenbeard (Kai) (Funimation dub); Jodi Forrest (AB Groupe/"Big Green" dub)

Kid Trunks voiced by (Latin American Spanish): Gaby Willer (current voice), Rocío Garcel (Baby)

Teen/Adult Trunks voiced by (Latin American Spanish): Sergio Bonilla (current voice)

Kid Trunks voiced by (French): Brigitte Lecordier and Anouck Hautbois (Super)

Teen/Adult Trunks voiced by (French): Mark Lesser

After Future Trunks visited the main timeline and averted the apocalyptic future, the Trunks of the main timeline was born. Unlike his Future counterpart, he's a brash, excitable thrill-seeker, no doubt thanks to his father being alive and present throughout his childhood. In addition, thanks to Vegeta and Goku's bonding during the Cell games, he's become close friends with Gohan and Goten, constantly getting into mischief with the latter. Despite this, he mellows out over time by the Super sagas, and is made considerably so in GT— where he's the CEO of Capsule Corporation.

While not referred to as such in the main series, supplementary materials and merchandise typically refer to him as "Kid Trunks," "Present Trunks," or "GT Trunks" to distinguish him from his Future counterpart.

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• '90s Hair: He sports a mushroom cut most of the series.
• The Artifact: Like his alternate, future self, his purple hair was probably inherited from Bulma (who has purple hair in the manga, but blue hair in the anime). He retains his purple hair in Super, even though Bulma and Future Trunks consistently have blue hair in both the anime and the manga. Then the Super Hero movie happened in 2022, where after growing up closer to his “EOZ” appearance Trunks’ hair is also colored blue, making everyone consistent.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Vegeta is around; what did you expect?
• Badass in a Nice Suit: He may be the President of Capsule Corp, but he can still kick ass.
• Big Brother Instinct: Towards Bulla. Despite initially wanting a little brother, Trunks quickly warms up to Bulla and becomes rather protective of her during Super.
• Blatant Lies: A few times in Z, whenever Trunks tries to claim he knows something Goten's openly curious about, he starts visibly sweating and gives blatantly false answers, which Goten accepts without question.
• Blue Blood: His dad is the Prince of all Saiyans and his mother's family is the richest on Earth.
• Book Dumb: Super shows that Trunks' intelligence and skill in GT with machinery definitely came later in life, as he struggles with his schooling and has to rely on Emperor Pilaf for help with understanding his classes and can't tell a regular calculator from Bulma's spare parts.
• Born Lucky: He grew up in a peaceful era where the Bad Future never happened. It's his conversation with his future self that makes him realize he was lucky his life turned out this way, rather than having to constantly survive as being the last Saiyan bloodline left.
• Bratty Half-Pint: What distinguishes him from Future Trunks, thanks to growing up in a time of peace (and having his father around).
• Brilliant, but Lazy: His fighting potential was much more immediately apparent than that of Future Trunks (presumably since his more experienced father took the time to train him in optimal circumstances as opposed to Future Gohan having to train Trunks in between his bouts of fighting the Androids), and he can become much stronger than his father. But he doesn't take the time to train outside of play fighting Goten or spending time with his dad. Vegeta all but calls him lazy in the last episodes of Z. Vegeta also calls him and Goten out for this in Super, frustrated that they haven't learned to stop depending on each other for fighting.
• Casanova Wannabe: Another notable difference is that Trunks seems very interested in dating, Dub Text even saying he already has a girlfriend during the End of Z era, while GT largely ignores this in favor of Goten (who is taken during that time), Super has him immediately crushing on Mai.
• Challenge Seeker: The first time he starts to really express himself is when him and Goten have their fight in the junior division as Goten is the only one who could realistically provide a challenge. He then convinces Goten in teaming up as Mighty Mask to similarly find some way for them to be challenged. Later on when Super gives the teenaged Trunks a bit of spotlight in the manga, it's revealed that he actually has grown bored of a peaceful life and desires stronger foes to fight instead of petty crooks.
• Child Prodigy: Able to become a Super Saiyan at the age of eight, much sooner and more easily than Future Trunks, and is more powerful than Frieza was on Namek. At the very least, he and Goten, in their base forms, are able to handily overpower a pair of opponents on par with Frieza's first form.
  • Averted when it comes to academics. While his becoming a Gadgeteer Genius like his mom is a Foregone Conclusion, his performance in his studies as a young boy in Super is laughably bad.
• Cool Big Bro: In Super, he absolutely adores his younger sister, Bulla. He even attempts to try changing her diaper himself (until he realized he didn't know how, and asked Vegeta for help).
• Cool Sword: In the Wrath of the Dragon movie, Tapion gives him his sword as a parting gift. Some sources say it is the same as Future Trunks' sword.
  • He's completely aware of how cool swords are in-universe and tries to imitate Future Trunks to impress Mai using a handsaw as a sword. It ends up missing the mark.
• Cowardly Lion: While he enjoys playing superhero, Trunks is scared of ghosts and zombies. The only reason he overcomes his fears was because some zombie-themed androids are giving Mai a hard time.
• Deadpan Snarker: Trunks often gives shrewd remarks full of dry wit. Something he undoubtedly inherited from both of his parents.
• Demoted to Extra: Loses focus GT after Baby's arrival on Earth and for most of Super outside of the Goku Black arc, although he lasted longer than most of the cast.
• Destructive Savior: Trunks went out one night to investigate an issue with some Capsule Corps. robots being abducted. He finds the thieves and kicks their asses, but in the commotion he ended up wrecking the robots he was trying to reclaim. To add insult to injury, Pilaf, Mai and Shu were saddled with repairs and maintenance, so Trunks couldn't take Mai on a date for over a month.
• Divergent Character Evolution:
  • Played Straight in Z and Super. Due to having very different worlds to grow up in and having Vegeta in his life, Present Trunks is evidently different from his future counterpart: He's rowdy, a trouble maker, arrogant, and competitive but still a nice kid despite it all, and mellows out somewhat over the years.
  • Subverted in GT however, as his personality is much closer to his future counterpart's than it ever was when he was young.
• Disguised in Drag: Hilariously in GT as part of a Bride and Switch plan. The groom is still interested in him even after the ruse is revealed.
• Does Not Know His Own Strength: Downplayed, but present. While fighting Android 18 as "Mighty Mask", Goten has to specifically tell him to keep his battle power suppressed so that he doesn't accidentally kill Android 18 ^note this is the same Android 18 who broke Super Saiyan Vegeta's arm in one blow in the Android arc (and before Vegeta got a power boost via the Hyperbolic Time Chamber). He insists that he knows how to hold back enough to only knock 18 out of the ring, but 18's shocked reaction to his held-back ki blast (which she just barely avoids, before noting its speed and power) indicate that he probably didn't do a good enough job and that she clearly didn't expect a fighter of his level, this was also the reasoning that led her to expose "Mighty Mask".
• Family Theme Naming: The Briefs family (Bulma/Bloomer, Dr. Briefs, Trunks, Bra) are named after undergarments.
• Foil:
  • To Goten. They're both sons to some of the most powerful beings in the universe, but while Trunks is born into privilege, Goten is born into a common family that is somewhat poor. Goten is also very silly but grows into being somewhat more sensible, while Trunks tries to play the serious, big brother role but rarely thinks things through.
  • After the split in the timelines, Kid Trunks becomes this to Future Trunks. Kid Trunks is irresponsible, spoiled, playful during battle, and somewhat arrogant. Future Trunks is very responsible, humble, a Combat Pragmatist, and will kill to ensure peace. Kid Trunks is affected by living during a time of peace with both of his parents still alive, while Future Trunks lived After the End where the androids killed all his loved ones, including his father, and Gohan, his mentor.
• Freak Out: He has one of these when he thinks Future Trunks is his illegitimate brother, thanks to Pilaf and Mai putting ideas in his head. He also freaks out often in the Black Star Dragonball Saga in GT to the point of it being a running gag.
• Future Me Scares Me: When Future Trunks returns in Dragon Ball Super, the mystery surrounding him and his relation to Bulma and Vegeta is very unsettling to Present Trunks, especially when the former freaks out and attacks Goku immediately after recovering. After he calms down though, Present Trunks is more surprised by them being the same person.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Like father, like son. It's his main trait that sets him apart from his future self. When he thinks his older version is acting like a coward, he gets pissed off and starts a brawl with him.
• Heroic Bastard: While they do eventually marry between the Cell and Buu sagas, he was born after a one night stand between Vegeta and Bulma.
• Heroic Lineage: How 'heroic' Vegeta is in "Z" is very questionable, but Bulma certainly qualifies and according to Piccolo, Trunks comes from a heroic family. He absolutely qualifies for this on both sides in Super.
• Heroic Willpower: Subverted. Trunks thought that he drove Baby out of his body by turning into a Super Saiyan, in truth Baby had gotten all the information he needed, and simply left his body after leaving an egg behind to keep him under control.
• Hero-Worshipper: He highly admires his dad and believes that he's the strongest in the universe above Goku and Gohan, especially since Vegeta is a prince. He also refused to believe that a giant blob-like Majin Buu could kill his father. It's played with because Vegeta definitely was not a hero at the time, but these days Trunks' admiration is much more deserved.
• Honest Corporate Executive: GT depicts a suave and successful adult Trunks who has succeeded his mother and grandfather as CEO of Capsule Corp.
• Hopeless with Tech: Super shows that Trunks didn't start taking after his mother in the academics and engineering department until later, though he was a little distracted with trying to impress Mai at the time.
• I Got Bigger: By the EOZ, he becomes a perfect match to Future Trunks.
• Just a Kid: Before his first fight at the tournament, he was belittled by the other children (he was forced into the kids' division) since he was so small and young. Didn't last after the first fight.
• Kid Hero: Shares this with Goten.
• Lineage Comes from the Father: Unlike Future Trunks, his personality and demeanor are more like Vegeta. At the same time, he is good with his hands like Bulma and his grandfather. He's also very easy to be friends with, something Vegeta is absolutely horrid at, as his brotherly relationship with Goten and his constant hanging out with the Pilaf Gang shows.
• Locked Out of the Loop:
  • In the "Resurrection 'F' Saga" of Dragon Ball Super, Trunks has no idea why everyone reacted with surprise when he talked about slicing Frieza in half, implying that he's unaware of his future counterpart who did exactly that. This is confirmed in the "Future Trunks Saga" when he clearly doesn't recognize his future self and is shocked to learn that they have the same name and are the same person.
  • He and Goten are kept out of the loop about the Tournament of Power because everyone knows they would complain about not coming along. Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan realize that the two of them are too inexperienced and irresponsible to be trusted with being on the team especially after what happened with Buu, so what everyone is gathering to do is kept secret from the boys.
• Love at First Sight: In "Battle of The Gods" he instantly develops a huge crush on Mai and convinces everyone she is his girlfriend. It gets a truckload more Ship Tease when Future Trunks comes back and had also developed feelings for her future counterpart. It's made more ambiguous in Super's adaptation of the movie, but by the time the Future Trunks arc he's definitely crushing hard on her.
• Mooning: Does this to Broly, TWICE!
• Morality Pet: He and Bulma become this to Vegeta and he's fully aware of it, which is why he allows Babidi to turn him into a Majin. He wants to recapture the feelings he once had when he was evil. In the end, he can't turn his back on his family and comes to regrets his actions. To make amends, he gives his life to protect them from Majin Buu, his first truly selfless act.
• Mr. Fixit: In GT, he is the one who works on the ship and other gadgets. Ironically, in Super he's Hopeless with Tech.
• Nice Guy: Outside of his occasional over-competitiveness and smug attitude, Trunks is just as easy to get along with as his future counterpart was and is very friendly.
• Nobody Calls Me "Chicken"!: Again, like father, like son. His reaction to Future Trunks acting cowardly is to fly into a rage.
• No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: Implied to be just another trait he got from Vegeta. He's very reserved and uninterested in what happens in the Junior division's matches Trunks and Goten attend due to knowing they'd all be easy wins for the duo. When he and Goten fight, however, he becomes much more engaged, even accepting a challenge to make the fight more interesting (even if he breaks it not long after to secure the win).
• Out of Focus: In GT. Following the Baby Arc, Trunks ceases to be an important character and melts into the background with the other Z-Fighters who aren't Goku and Pan.
• Perpetual Frowner: He got the frowning face of his father. He smiles much more in Super and only brings out the Vegeta glare when he's legitimately upset.
• Pint-Sized Kid: Whereas Future Trunks as a teenager is at an appropriate height for an average teenager, Kid Trunks at the same age is still as small as he was at 8 years old.
• Practically Different Generations: He's 14 years older than his sister Bulla.
• Precocious Crush: In Super, he has a crush on Mai, who, while having been physically restored to about his age, is three years older than his mother chronologically. He also has a slightly more standard variation on Mai's future counterpart, who despite being nearly one hundred is physically in her early twenties.
• Pretty Boy: He shares his future counterpart's Bishōnen looks as a teenager in the epilogue of Z, and graduates to biseinen in GT. He's so pretty that one episode of GT has him Disguised in Drag to get close to a monster, and the monster falls for him even after his disguise is blown.
• Pride: Perhaps one of the strongest differences between himself and Future Trunks is that the former is far more eager to fight, has a bigger ego, and is quicker to anger whenever he feels slighted. That said, he's still a good kid, and is less narcissistic than his father.
• Purely Aesthetic Glasses: GT, but only when he dresses up to work at Capsule Corp.
• Purple Is Powerful: Has purple hair (at least until Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero) and a purple Battle Aura.
• Scarf Of Ass Kicking: He mostly wears a scarf in GT.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In GT, Trunks rather suddenly quits his job as Capsule Corp's president because he was long shown to be thoroughly uninterested with the position.
• The Smart Guy: In GT. Granted, his competition is Goku and Pan...
• Spoiled Sweet: Unlike Future Trunks, he grew up privileged. Still a decent guy, he just picked up a noticeable amount of Vegeta's arrogance. Though by the time he reaches around age his future counterpart was when introduced, his personality mellows out to being similar, though still slightly more haughty. He's already showing signs of mellowing out in Super, but he is still overeager to fight Frieza and gets pissed when Future Trunks is in a Heroic BSoD.
• Straight Man: To Goku and Pan in GT, but it got phased out after the Baby arc.
• Superior Successor: To both his father and Future Trunks. He becomes a Super Saiyan at only eight years old and is stronger than Frieza was during the Namek arc.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Not originally, as Present Trunks in Z had been defined as very different from his future self. Played Straight in GT, where he not only acts significantly like Future Trunks, he's given a sword in both the U.S. and Japanese version of the show's opening to further play up this role.
• Team Mom: He's a male version of this in GT. He's just not enough of a disciplinarian to be a Team Dad.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Because he only fights for fun, he doesn't really train. In Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! Vegeta and the others are visibly disappointed in how much trouble he and Goten have fighting Avo and Cado because they've forgotten how to use basic skills like sensing ki to counter a Flash Step. Gohan has to step in and coach them, and he's similarly disinclined to train. He's always going to be stronger than any human by virtue of being a Super Saiyan, but he doesn't really work for it.
• Warrior Prince: He's descended from Saiyan royalty, but it never really comes up in the story.

Son Goten

Son Goten (孫 悟天, AKA Sun Wutian)

^{Click here to see EOZ Goten}

^{Click here to see GT Goten}

Voiced by (Japanese): Masako Nozawa

Kid Goten voiced by (English): Kara Edwards (Funimation dub); Jillian Michaels (Ocean dub); Philece Sampler (Bang Zoom!/Toonami Asia dub in Super)

Teen/Adult Goten voiced by (English): Robert McCollum (Funimation dub); Gabe Khouth (Ocean dub); Scott Hendrickson (Blue Water dub)

Kid Goten voiced by (Latin American Spanish): Laura Torres (current voice), ? (Battle of the Gods)

Teen/Adult Goten voiced by (Latin American Spanish): Víctor Ugarte

Kid Goten voiced by (French): Brigitte Lecordier

Teen/Adult Goten voiced by (French): David Lesser

The second son of Goku and Chi-Chi, born some time after the Cell Games. Has a very childlike naivety not unlike Goku when he was little; though also has Gohan's childhood crybaby tendencies. Like Trunks, he eventually mellows out some in time, and by Super, he surprisingly becomes something of a voice of reason for both his family and Trunks, though he usually goes along with the latter's ideas anyway. In GT, he is depicted as settling down to live more or less as a normal teenager, worrying more about girls than fighting.

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• All-Loving Hero: A trait he shares with the rest of his family.
• Always Save the Girl: In GT, always tries to save Valese.
• Always Second Best:
  • His relationship with Trunks. Trunks is always a little stronger than him because of his age and being trained by Vegeta. Goten isn't bitter about this, just mildly annoyed.
  • He also has a mild case of this with Gohan. When training, he becomes frustrated at how easily Gohan can beat him. Gohan assures him it's because he's older and has more battle experience.
• The Baby of the Bunch: Goten is the youngest of the cast, the most naive, and overall the least skilled. He is still a powerful fighter, stronger than the human cast outside of Androids 17 and 18.
• Badass Adorable: Considerate, kind, sensitive, warm-hearted, polite AND can kick the ass of evil.
• Beware the Nice Ones: While he doesn't get the chance to make something of it in the way his father and brother do, if pushed far enough Goten's temper noticeably runs hotter than Trunks'. In the various anime, his reaction to both Buu killing Chi-Chi and Hit (temporarily) killing Goku is to swear to hunt down and kill them, both times requiring someone else to talk him down from doing something stupid.
• Big Brother Worship: He absolutely loves and adores Gohan to the point of thinking that hideous Saiyaman costume is cool. At least until Super where, while he thinks the costume looks cool in movies, thinks it looks utterly embarrassing in real life. Gohan's spirit is crushed.
• Break the Cutie: He goes through this after watching Super Buu murder his mother by turning her into an egg and crushing it.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Like Trunks, his fighting potential far surpasses his father and he is the youngest Super Saiyan. However, he loses interest in fighting as a teenager and prefers to go on dates. As a child, the extent to which he likes fighting seems to be more as a game than anything serious.
• Butt-Monkey: In the final episode of Z he's beaten by his four-year-old niece with her slapping him across the face.
• Challenge Seeker: While not as evident as say, Goku or Kid Trunks, but he's pretty excited when a challenge comes up every now and then, and willingly looks for stronger fights at Trunks' urging.
• Cheerful Child: He's a Generation Xerox of Goku.
• Chick Magnet: Much like his father and big brother. In GT, college-age Goten seems to be going out with girls all the time.
• Child Prodigy: Although not to the extent of Gohan, he is the youngest Super Saiyan ever and is only a little weaker than Trunks mostly due to age.^note Since Goten only ever trained with his mom, who would be far weaker, and he didn't have to go through trauma to become a Super Saiyan.
• Children Are Innocent: As a child, Goten is much more openly naive than Trunks or Gohan at his age, and tends to believe what Trunks says due to not having a reason to doubt him most of the time, no matter how false his answers may be.
• Cool Uncle: Goten seems to have a good relationship with Pan, his niece. He is often seen playing with her in Super.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Like his older brother and father, he's easy-going, innocent, and inherited his father's naivety. However, like everyone else in his family, he's a cute bruiser who holds the title for the youngest Super Saiyan.
• The Cutie: Look at him. He is just like his father when he was a child, who was also extremely cute looking.
• Demoted to Extra: In GT and Super. Unlike Trunks, Goten never received focus that didn't rely on his friendship with Trunks, and while he received some individual focus in GT, he is overall unimportant in the grand scheme of things.
• Disappeared Dad: Goku was dead for the first seven years of his childhood.
• Family Theme Naming: Son Goku, his sons—Gohan and Goten and Goku's grandfather Gohan. Further, the kanji for "ku" in Goku's name (空) means "sky" and the "ten" in Goten's name (天) means "heaven." Also overlaps with Bilingual Bonus, as in Chinese pinyin, his name can be read as "Sun Wutian". However, unlike in on'yomi, this basically gives him the same name formatting as Master Roushi's name in pinyin (from "Muten Roushi" to "Wutian Laoshi"). Tien also literally has the same "heaven" (天) character in his name as well, but unlike Wutian/Goten's, his version in the English dubs to this day is rendered in a slightly-butchered pinyin style as opposed to full-on Japanese on'yomi.
• Foil:
  • To his big brother, Gohan. They both have many similarities to their father like their pure-hearts, love of animals, and their innocents and fun-loving nature. Goten inherited his father's carefree personality, while Gohan is serious and down to Earth. Goten is quite hyper, while Gohan is very reserved. Goten is allowed to be a child and Gohan was forced to grow up fast because of the constant danger the Earth was exposed to.
  • To Trunks as well. They're both sons to some of the most powerful beings in the universe, but while Trunks is born into privilege, Goten is born into a common working family that is somewhat poor. Goten is also very silly, while Trunks tries to play the serious one.
  • To some extent, he is this to his own father, Goku. Goten share his dad's pure-heart, love of animals, innocence, and fun-loving nature. However, where Goku grew up in the wilderness for a long period of time without any adult supervision, Goten lived with Gohan and Chi-Chi and was best friends with Trunks since they were toddlers, all of which allowed him to have more of a sense of how to act in public. In Super, Goku's slight lack of proper social skills comes into play from time to time, to which Goten occasionally has to reign in his father's antics when no one else is around to do so.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The Foolish Sibling to Gohan's Responsible Sibling.
• Friend to All Living Things: His love for animals is identical to that of his father's, too.
• Generation Xerox: Look at the picture; he's basically Goku as a child!
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: His remains a pure-hearted person even as a Super Saiyan. Unlike Goku and Gohan, he didn't have to train himself to relax or go through periods of intense rage.
• Heroic Lineage: He is the second son of Goku. By the time he was born, his father saved the world five times and that's not including the entire incident on Namek.
• Hereditary Hairstyle: Got the wild hair from his father, Goku, and his grandfather, Bardock.
• Holding Your Shoulder Means Injury: Does this in the Bio-Broly movie twice. Justified, since he really did injure his shoulder during the fight, and even whines about the injury.
• Hybrid Power: As a Saiyan-hybrid he has far more inherent power than pure members of either race. He becomes the youngest Super Saiyan in the series.
• I Got Bigger: By the EOZ, he grows to a fairly tall young man, although he's shorter than his dad.
• Identical Grandson: As stated with Strong Family Resemblance below, Goten also looks like his late paternal grandfather Bardock when he was young. He gets in the habit of cutting his hair to better stand apart from Goku when he gets older. When his hair gets longer, he resembles his grandma Gine.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Just like his father and big brother, this is what allows him to ride the Nimbus cloud before he learns how to fly.
• Innocent Prodigy: He didn't even know what a Super Saiyan was when he accidentally transformed during his sparring match with Chi-Chi.
• Just a Kid: Like Trunks above, was underestimated by the other children during kid diversion of the tournament. And just like Trunks, it didn't last after his first match.
• Kamehame Hadoken: On occasion, he can fire a Kamehameha wave like his father and brother.
• Keet: Super energetic, and rather loud.
• Kid Hero: Shares this role with Trunks in the Buu saga where he and Trunks attempt to fuse into Gotenks to stop Super Buu from destroying the Earth.
• Kill the Cutie: Blew up along with the Earth twice. He gets better both times.
• Lineage Comes from the Father: Even more so than Gohan. Not only does he inherit his father's love of nature, animals, and happy outlook, he looks exactly like Goku as a kid.
• Master-Apprentice Chain: Goten was trained by Chi-Chi and later Gohan:
  • Mutaito > Master Roshi > Ox-King > Chi-Chi > Son Goten
  • Mutaito > Master Roshi > Son Gohan, Sr > Son Goku > Son Gohan > Son Goten
  • Mutaito > Master Roshi > Son Goku > Son Gohan > Son Goten
  • Master Korin, Kami, and King Kai > Son Goku > Son Gohan > Son Goten
  • Piccolo > Son Gohan > Son Goten
• Meaningful Name: Goten is a mixture of Goku's name, and "ten", which in Japanese means heaven/afterlife. He is Goku's son born after his father was in Otherworld.
• Momma's Boy: Is this to Chi-Chi along with Gohan. Downplayed, as he is shown still living with her in GT, and she's not trying to make every single decision for him.
• Naughty Is Good: He is partners in mischief with Trunks, after all.
• Nice Guy: He's the nicer one of the Trunks/Goten duo. This overly trusting attitude also makes him slightly more gullible than Trunks.
• Only Sane Man: Develops into this somewhat in Super, generally being depicted as more reasonable than his grandfather, his best friend, his mother or even his big brother at times. Several episodes pair Goten with Goku mostly so that Goten can point out when Goku is being silly.
• Out of Focus: In Super, Goten is the only Saiyan to have little actual role in the story and largely serves as a background character. Unlike Trunks, who at least had a few scenes such as meeting his Future self, Goten rarely appears in any meaningful way.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: He's more powerful than Namek Saga Frieza and he's only seven.
• The Pollyanna: Just like his dad and older brother. Goten is one big ball of joy who is always seen smiling or laughing.
• Practically Different Generations: He's 11 years younger than his older brother Gohan, and 12 years older than his niece Pan.
• Ret-Gone: Inverted. He doesn't exist in the original timeline (the timeline Future Trunks comes from), but the changes made by Future Trunks and Cell's time-traveling allow him to come into existence.
• Satellite Character: In Super he can sometimes feel so Out of Focus compared to Trunks that the only role he serves in the story is to make Gotenks.
• Shared Family Quirks: He shares his father's love for food, nature, helping others, pure heart, and is as hyperactive and fun-loving as Goku when he was a child. He also inherited his father's powerful temper that flares up when his loved ones are in danger.
• Shipper on Deck: For Gohan/Videl. He asks her to be his big sister in Z. In Super, once she is his sister-in-law, he's so impressed by how kind she is to Gohan that he and Trunks spend half an episode trying to find her a gift.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: He's the foolish childish younger brother to Gohan's more serious and responsible older brother.
• Someone to Remember Him By: He was born nine months after the Cell Games and Goku's death.
• Strong Family Resemblance: When first introduced, he looked almost exactly like Goku did back at the start of Dragon Ball, without the tail and wearing longer sleeves. As a teenager, he mentions he grew his hair out specifically because he was sick of looking identical to his dad. Funnily, this only serves to make him look like a male version of his paternal grandmother, Gine.
• Super Gullible: As a kid, he generally believes whatever Trunks tells him no matter how ridiculous it sounds. Justified, as a young child would naturally believe their best friend who's older than them.
• Superior Successor: To his father, Goku, and even Gohan to an extent. He becomes a Super Saiyan at only seven and did it much easier than Gohan. He is also possibly stronger than Namek Saga Frieza.
• Tareme Eyes: Like his father and brother.
• Unskilled, but Strong: He was a Super Saiyan and yet couldn't even fly. In Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! Vegeta and the others are visibly disappointed in how much trouble he and Trunks have fighting Avo and Cado, because they've forgotten how to use basic skills like sensing ki to counter a Flash Step. Gohan has to step in and coach them, and he's similarly disinclined to train. He's always going to be stronger than any human by virtue of being a Super Saiyan, but he doesn't really work for it.
• Warrior Prince: Technically, Gohan and Goten are this, as their grandfather is the Ox King, making Chi-Chi, their mother, a princess. (Though, like Trunks, they were never really referred to as a prince.)
• Wise Beyond Their Years: In Super he shows himself to be a pretty normal and educated kid, working as a foil to his father. One standout instance is his insistence that Goku show Beerus respect by getting properly wrapped food when taking him a gift.