Hi. Here's the scenario. What if the Gohan angle panned out? What do I mean, you ask? Well, at the end of the Cell Saga, Goku was killed and Gohan was made the lead character. But for some reason or another, it never caught on to the fans and Goku was once again made into the lead character of DBZ. So, what if the fans DID like the idea of Gohan being the new lead? How would the series have changed? The following is a rant/essay that'll give you a clearer view of what I mean. The challenge is at the end.

Everything is in my opinion only:
At the end of Dragonball, Mr. Toriyama had Goku grow up, get married and even have a kid. This was accepted by the fans and actualy made the series more popular.  He also made everybody on the cast really powerful and introduced new elements (such as the Saiyajin) which brought the series into a whole new direction, from a martial arts/adventure/comedy to something much different and IMO heavier. Anyway, regardless of the tone, I think the series was great.

Now, imagine if you will, when Goku died and Gohan took over, the series became even more popular. Would it have lasted longer than it did? How would the plot/story have changed. Here's what I think and for convenience sake, I'm calling the series from when Gohan takes over: DBX.

I noticed that DBZ differed from DB in that the characters became more powerful and took on a more serius tone. I also noticed that DBX differed from DBZ in that it concentrated on a younger cast, had a lighter atmosphere and seemed to target a school going audience. Leading me to believe that Mr. Toriyama may have wanted to perform a 'changing of the guard' so to speak. To switch to a younger generation of fighters. You may have noticed the Z warriors were practically non-existent during the Buu Saga.

How would the story have changed? Well, for starters, Gohan would have probably been the one to finish off Buu. (incidently, since Mystic Gohan was so much more powerful than Buu, wouldn't his energy for Goku's Genki Dama have been powerful enough to destroy Buu without the energy of everyone else on earth? just a thought) Whether or not he would have become Mystic Gohan or not I'm not sure but the Z sword would probably still play one part or another as it seems to have been Mr. Toriyama's intent from the beginning for Gohan to reach a new level. As for the Great Saiyaman, let us thank the Almighty that it didn't last long.

I also believe that Videl would have played a bigger part. She might not have married Gohan right away (unless of course, Mr. Toriyama skips a decade or so), but she may have become the equivalent of Kurilin in the series.

Then there's Trunks and Goten. Well, what can I say? Nothing really I guess. Had the series continued, they may have been a force to be reckoned with, as it was, they were great as Gotenks but not much else IMO.

Picollo? Vegita? Kurilin? No. 18? Picollo seemed to play an insignificant role at teh start of DBX. Vegita probably would have stayed on as a regular, considering his popularity. Kurilin seemed to have been there for no other reason than he had hair. No. 18 had some potential IMO.

Tien Shin Han probably would have played some sort of pivotal role. Considering he couln't be found when Gohan started gathering fighters for the tournament. Yamcha was non-existent in DBX.

Finally, so as not to rant too long, Goku would have probably stayed dead but came back to life long enough to teach the fusion dance.

There's more I want to say but let's leave things as is for now. Here's the challenge. Write what you think would happened had the Dragonball fans liked it when Gohan took over as the new hero of the series. How the story would have changed. I'm not asking you to write an essay or anything. Think of it as an alternate reality fic but rather than change something in the DRAGONBALL universe, have something change in OUR universe. How would this change affect the DB universe? The Buu Saga probably would have stayed but then what?

You can rewrite the Buu Saga and take it from there or you could pretend Buu never existed and make up a new threat since I don't think Buu was mentioned in the first issue of DBX.

New characters? SSJ4 wouldn't be a buffed up version of a regular Saiyajin cause DBGT wouldn't have existed to show us what SSJ4 looks like. What WOULD SSJ4 looked like? Could Gohan go any further up. Probably yes but would he get to be blond again? What role would the Fusion Dance play in the future? Surely, Vegita would not degrade himself by doing it like he did in DBGT.

Note: The Buu Saga probably would have stayed roughly the same with the main difference being Gohan doing the killing blow rather than Goku. IMO anyway.

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE!!!: I am NOT trying to start a character debate. So please don't start flaming me on Goku being the one true hero of the DB universe and thus getting this thread and possibly myself banned from the ffml. This is merely an idea and challenge for a fic.

And all the character changes I mentioned are based on my own personal opinions which are based on the translated copies of DBZ that I own. Incidently, the opinions are mostly taken from the first few issues of DBX. I figured Mr. Toriyama's vision changed after the first few and that's when it started reverting back to focus on Goku once more.

Please send your opinions on the matter and thanks for reading. I'll stop ranting now.

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