DBZ - Do you feel that the ending was a cop out?

Goku as a parent has been a tricky situation for me. It was this father-son dynamic that got me into Dragon Ball Z. It's why I like Tree of Might despite its unpopularity. Of course, I ended up liking Dragon Ball even better (It had humor and action, and a Goku with no strings attached).
Anyway, I would consider that Goku was probably the most dutiful father in those first years of Gohan's life before Raditz attacked. The scene of Goku's expression of loss and rage after Gohan gets kidnapped certainly shows the kid was the center of his world at the time.
And then comes Gohan's wilderness year. What does this show about Goku? Judging by the aforementioned evidence and Goku's aloofness during his training, there can be one conclusion: Goku did not know. He probably believed his son was safely returned home. Kami-sama, knowing the importance of Goku's training for the upcoming Saiya-jin battle, probably decided to be discreet.
Then there is SSJ Goku's 'tough love' moments with Gohan, demanding him to get away from a very dangerous situation. So far, there is little to judge harshly. The first problem comes after Freeza. It is acknowledged that Goku survived Namek's explosion, but he decides not to return home yet. One has to feel sorry for Gohan: this long experience of threats that started with Raditz and ended with Namek's explosion is now over (at least, that's what he believed), and the father he has barely seen in those three years has found something better to do than be with him. Despite what the filler shows, I think the kid might have suffered some heartbreak. Who kid wouldn't?
Then Goku comes back. We have the three years of training, and that one year where father and son trained in a dimension by themselves. It's rather interesting to note that Goku has spent more time with his son than with anyone else. Of course, one can say that isn't saying much.
This leaRAB to the Cell Games, and Goku's demise and subsequent decision to stay dead. Whether his reason was that peaceful Earth was going to be boring, or that he believed himself a danger-magnet, Goku's decision must have hurt Gohan. If one looks deep- and this has been a fruitful idea for many a DBZ fanfic writer- Gohan possibly felt guilt for not ending the battle sooner, and thus averting Goku's sacrifice. Goten's birth and his lack of a father could have bothered Gohan very much.
So what to say about Goku as a father? He's a fighter first. Humanitarian reasons like protecting the world are secondary. As long if it leaRAB to a good fight, that's what matters. He's happier fighting than being with his family. It doesn't mean he is indifferent and cold to his wife and children (far from it). It's just he's a fighter first.
But Gohan is different. He trains and fights to protect his family. If there is one good result from Goku's shaky parenting, it served to make his first-born son the better person.
 
Actually it seemed like to me Goku was more of a father figure to Pan than anything else.

I guess there are some positives to the Boo saga, as you guys have stated. The biggest being Vegeta having more development and finishing his storyline with Goku. On the other hand, Piccolo was completely out of character the entire time, especially once Kaioshin appeared. Again though, when you talk about what Goku wanted, he did want an actual Earthling to be there to protect the Earth, and it seems like he begged for Oob because both of his sons ended up becoming disappointments in his eyes. At least with Oob, he now is able to leave Earth's future to him, whereas GT is all about Goku again. Now that we've had this discussion, and I finished watching the series yesterday (for the first time in years), it does make a lot more sense.
 
The thing about Goku abandoning his children for his own selfish reasons -

Goku learned to raise himself as a boy after Son Gohan died, and probably figured that it would be no different if Gohan and Goten were to do the same thing. At least that's what I think the logic was behind this.

I think I would've been more satisfied had Goku not have died during the Cell games, and to have the Buu saga end with Goku forming the humongous genki dama/spirit borab and handing it over to Gohan/Goten so that they can finish Buu off. I also would've wished for the final tournament with Pan and Uub to be fleshed out longer and become a full fledged arc.

I have more hangups with GT than I do with the ending of DBZ. The storyline was pretty farfetched and ridiculous. Goku transforming back into a child felt kinda awkward. It also would've been cool had the main characters consisted of Goten, Trunks, Pan and Uub, while Goku, Piccolo and Vegeta were simply there for moral support and mentorship.

Or even better, GT would've just been a noncanonical extension of DBZ and picked up immediately after the end of DBZ with unofficial arcs, while trying to bring back elements found in the original Dragon Ball until the series was cancelled. Sure, it would've been filler quality, but it would have been a whole lot better than the fate GT received.
 
I think there is a lot of overemphasizes being put on the father son relationship between Goku and Gohan. It takes only until the end of the Sayian arc to figure out that Piccolo was to be the father figure to Gohan in Goku's absence. He was his protector and the person Gohan looked up to more then anyone in the DBZ world. Gohan emulated Piccolo in ever possible way (I wanna note that he wore piccolo's garments all the way until the seven year gap). IMO Gohan was so used to never really having Goku around that his subsequent abesence throughout the series proally didnt affect him as much as say if Piccolo had been absent for years at a time. You could even throw in Krillen as he was by Gohans side throughtout the entire Namek saga. Goku really never abandoned his children as Gohan had Piccolo and nearly everyone in the DBZ family looking after him and Gotens had Trunks and his big brother Gohan.
 
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