Who Goku Is
If you were gathered with the family watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade indoors on this frigid hell of a Thanksgiving Day, there’s a good chance you had to explain to them who Goku is. It’s here where they (and perhaps you) will realize how long and complicated Goku’s backstory is.
The Dragon Ball franchise and Goku himself are popular enough that the character received a balloon in this year’s parade, but he doesn’t demand the level of widespread popularity of characters like Charlie Brown or Spongebob Squarepants. He’s also not on par with the Pillsbury Doughboy or the Green Giant, the more blatant brand advertisements of the bunch.
Your family and folks could be the nosy type, which might have necessitated delving into how Goku isn’t actually human, but a Saiyan from the Planet Vegeta. By this point, everyone around you should already have a look of befuddlement upon their faces, making it a memorable Thanksgiving moment. It’s good times, particularly when you had to correct their pronunciation of “Saiyan” after Al Roker flubbed it.
This isn’t getting into the follow-up questions. Other family members might be aware of who Goku is, but are curious as to why he suddenly has blue hair. They’re the type who grew up watching a good portion of Dragon Ball Z but haven’t seen the recent DBZ movies or Dragon Ball Super. This requires how Goku came to have the powers of a god, and how the Super Saiyan Blue (aka the hilariously verbose Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan) level came about when Goku achieved Super Saiyan form while in a godlike state.
This explanation will be even better if some of your family members are religious, and think you’re talking about the “God” they know — a potentially blasphemous sin. If that also describes your predicament, then, well, God help you.
It was a fun time explaining to everyone who this comparable enigma of a character is. (Whether the “fun” there is non-ironic or sarcastic depends on your experience and your relatives.) Overall, though, it was actually a joy to see Goku enter the literal big leagues through the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, especially as someone who’s watched Dragon Ball for a good part of their life on Earth. He was there to promote the upcoming Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie, which opens in Japan and America on December 14th and January 16th, respectively. Have fun dodging spoilers in the month between the releases for both regions, and I definitely don’t mean that in a non-ironic way.
Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Hopefully you make it a good one, because most of us deserve a temporary reprieve from the hellscape that is life in 2018 — frigid or not. Take pleasure in how your relatives now know who Goku is.
About The Author
Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
