OOC Is Serious Business / Dragon Ball

• There is just one time in which Goku was in no mood to eat a meal. When he sensed that his best friend Krillin was in danger and rushed to help him. It was too late: Krillin was already dead.
  • Following which, the typically happy-go-lucky Goku screams that he'll make whoever killed Krillin pay, and rather brutally does just that. He then fights King Piccolo and eventually strikes an honest death blow on him. It's the first time that Goku becomes truly, irrevocably enraged to the point of no forgiveness.
• Goku also blows his top when Frieza kills Krillin. He becomes so enraged, it triggers his transformation into a Super Saiyan, the usually easy-going Goku now warning his son to get the hell out of here before he loses what little restraint he has left, then subjecting Frieza to a vicious Curb-Stomp Battle. As Goku says in Dragon Ball Z Kai, he's "pure of heart, awoken by fury".
• Krillin is Gohan's Honorary Uncle who is always cheering him on in a fight. When Gohan gets beaten and thrashed around by Recoome, however, Krillin is damn near begging for the poor kid to stop fighting.
• Played for Laughs in the Cell Saga. When Goku actually agrees with Chi-Chi that Gohan should study for once, Gohan, Krillin, and especially Chi-Chi are absolutely shocked; Chi-Chi goes so far as to check Goku's temperature.
• In a Dragon Ball Super Two-Part Episode, Goku was on guard for Hit's planned assassination to the point where he doesn't eat his lunch with gusto like he usually does or go train at Beerus' place. However, the twist is that Goku set the hit on himself.
• Any time Gohan goes from "reluctant warrior" to "enraged doombringer" (or even worse, "calmly confident badass") you better believe someone is about to be hurt. Doubly so when he's up against Cell and is pushed to Super Saiyan 2, where he wants to ouright torture him before his death (this bites him in the ass later).
• During the fight against Vegeta and Nappa, the cocky and enraged Nappa tries to kill his opponents before Goku had arrived, causing Vegeta to harshly berate Nappa for disobeying a direct order. This makes Nappa clam up and apologize, tipping Piccolo off that Nappa is not the strongest of the two.
• Vegeta was the Big Bad of the first story arc of Dragon Ball Z and a cold bastard that didn't seem like he could care about anything besides himself; one arc later, when Goku arrives on the scene to find Vegeta on his death bed at the hands of Frieza. Vegeta cries, reveals that Frieza was the one that wiped out the rest of the Saiyans, and begs Goku to kill Frieza to avenge them.
• Another Vegeta example involves him blowing himself up in order to destroy Majin Buu and save the world, while expressing his love for his wife, his son, and even his rival. He even hugs young Trunks for apparently the first time ever before he makes his sacrifice, to Trunks' shock and confusion.
• Rounding out the trifecta, one of Vegeta's most recognizable character traits is his overwhelming arrogance and pride; even when fighting someone who vastly outmatches him and being aware of it, he tends to enjoy the challenge and trash talk them like none other. Therefore it is a major shock in two of the movies when Vegeta is so terrified of his opponent that he initially cannot muster the will to fight, a sign that these characters are seriously bad news:
  • In the Broly case, he finds Broly such a titanic opponent that he abandons all pretense of fighting. An appeal to his pride eventually kicks in and finally gets him to show his guts.
  • For Beerus he was willing to get up on stage, dance and perform karaoke just to keep Beerus entertained^note Beerus threatened to kill everyone by destroying the planet if he found the party boring in any way. When the fighting does start and he refuses to partake in it, it's witnessing Beerus slap Bulma into the ground that gets him angry enough to get in the fray.
  • Previously happens during the Cell arc. After he's beaten by Super Perfect Cell and Gohan gets his arm broken saving him from being killed by Cell, Vegeta apologized for getting in the way of Gohan's fight. Gohan realizes just how dire the situation is.
• One of Beerus and Champa's notable traits is that as the God Of Destruction, they are shown to be highly egotistic and expect others to bow before him as a sign of respect or else they get wiped out. But when Zeno, the ruler of the multiverse appears, they suddenly became terrified of his presence and immediately try to humble themselves right in front of him. This all makes sense when you realize that Zeno could destroy the entire multiverse on a whim if he so pleases, so they obviously have a good reason to fear him.
• Speaking of Zeno, he is generally friendly and a Perpetual Smiler. When he starts frowning for any length of time, that's when universes start dying. When Goku summons Future Zeno as a last ditch measure against Infinite Zamasu, he's very unhappy to see the state of the world, and soon erases it from existence to kill Zamasu. This action also manages to terrify Goku of all people, to the point where he shouts at his friends to get the hell out of there, and fast. Even Zamasu, who has lost his sanity upon becoming Infinite, is terrified and can only scream in horror as he gets erased.
• Frieza is an arrogant narcissist who would sooner blow up a planet than admit that he was weaker than someone. However, when Jiren trounces Goku and ring-outs Hit, probably two of the strongest fighters people know, Frieza is so unnerved that he gives Goku some of his ki to heal him and flat out tells him he's not fighting Jiren.
• In the beginning of the "Saiyan Saga", the apparently insurmountable Raditz reveals he is in fact notoriously weaker than his partners. Piccolo thinks Goku will be thrilled to hear that, but Goku replies he is actually terrified.
• During the Buu Saga, when Super Buu shows up Goku of all people wants no part in fighting him, even after removing all his absorptions. And when Super Buu first demonstrated his ability to absorb, taking Gotenks and Piccolo, Goku shouts that Gohan needs to kill Buu NOW. Notably, Goku acts remarkably pragmatic in attempting to get rid of him, begging Vegeta to fuse and trying to avoid fighting him by taking him down with internal sabotage instead once said fusion wears off. When Kid Buu shows up, Goku reverts back to his normal personality, refusing fusion with Vegeta even after he loses their first battle, refusing to call for back-up even after Gohan is revived, playing rock-paper-scissors with Vegeta to see who fights first, and openly complimenting his opponent. Kid Buu and Fat Buu, he has fun with; Super Buu, he just wants gone as quickly as possible.

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