Dragon Ball
Akira Toriyama changed Goku’s clothes, taking him completely away from the iconic gi we always remember him with
An alternative design that breaks with the iconic image of the hero.
Throughout almost 40 years, Dragon Ball has shown us all kinds of unpublished content related to its characters. Costumes, transformations, and stories that, for various reasons, never became part of the canon: either because its creator, Akira Toriyama, came up with something better, an editor decided to discard them, or simply because they were left in the inkwell. Today, there are elements so engraved in the collective memory that it is difficult to imagine completely different versions. How to think, for example, of a Goku who does not wear his classic orange gi?
The bizarre alternative outfit once worn by Goku
In the world of shonen, the design and costumes of the main characters are something almost immovable, and Dragon Ball is no exception. During the first years of the series, the young Goku wore a simple blue suit, characteristic of his initial adventure with Bulma in search of the Dragon Balls. But once he began his training with Muten Roshi, the iconic orange uniform became his trademark throughout Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball Super.
Of course, throughout history we also saw him in other outfits: from the Saiyajin armor in the Cell saga to some civilian outfits or even the complete redesign of his clothes in Dragon Ball GT. However, few know that Akira Toriyama even illustrated his protagonist with a completely different and unusual costume, a design that never appeared in the main story and that almost no one knows about.
It is a child Goku, dressed in green pants, a traditional-style crossed shirt, a rustic belt, and, as always, his inseparable Power Pole. This design appeared on the back cover of volume 8 of the Kanzenban deluxe edition—the Perfect Edition—of Dragon Ball, published in 2003.
It is fascinating to see Goku in an outfit that breaks with the usual image, especially since Toriyama never used to change Goku’s costumes on the covers. Although this costume was never part of the canon—because by then the manga had already concluded—it is one more sample of certain aspects that remain to be discovered by some fans.
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